Classic Poem

In Hus, a land which near the sun's uprise,
And northern confines of Sabaea, lies,
A great example of perfection reign'd;
His name was Job, his soul with guilt unstain'd.
None with more zeal the Deity ador'd,
Affected virtue more, vice more abhorr'd.
Three beauteous daughters and sev'n hopeful boys
Renew'd his youth, and crown'd his nuptial joys.
Lord of much riches, which the use renowns,
Sev'n thousand broad-tail'd sheep graz'd on his downs;
Three thousand camels his rank pastures fed;
Arabia's wand'ring ships for traffic bred;
His grateful fields a thousand oxen till'd,
They with their rich increase the hungry fill'd.
Five hundred asses yearly took the horse,
Producing mules of greater speed and force.
The master of a mighty family,
Well order'd and directed by his eye.
None was more opulent in all the East,
Of greater pow'r, yet such as still increas'd.
By daily turns the brothers entertain
Each other; with the week begin again.
This constant custom held; not to excite
And pamper the voluptuous appetite,
But to preserve the union of their blood
With sober banquets and unpurchas'd food.
Th' invited sisters with their graces blest
Their festivals, and were themselves a feast.
Their turns accomplish'd, Job's religious care
His sons assembles; whose united pray'r
Like sweet perfumes from golden censers rise;
Then with divine lustrations sanctifies.
And when the rosy-finger'd morn arose,
From bleating flocks unblemish'd fatlings chose,
Proportion'd to their number; these he slew,
And bleeding on the flaming altar threw.
Perhaps, said he, my children in the heat
Of wine and mirth their Maker may forget,
And give access to sin. Thus they the round
Of concord keep, by his devotions crown'd.
Jehovah from the summit of the sky,
Environ'd with His wing'd hierarchy,
The world survey'd. When lo! the prince of hell,
Who whilome from that envi'd glory fell,
Like an infectious exhalation
Shot through the spheres, and stood before His throne.
" False spirit, " said th' Almighty, " that all shapes
Dost counterfeit to perpetrate thy rapes,
Whence com'st thou? " He replied, " I with the sun
Have circled the round world; much people won
From Thy strict rule to my indulgent reign;
Taught that no pleasure can result from pain. "
" Hast thou, " said God, " observ'd My servant Job?
Is there a mortal treading on the globe
Of earth so perfect? can thy wicked arts
Corrupt his goodness? all thy fiery darts
The armour of his fortitude repells;
In justice he, as thou in fraud, excells;
Our power adores, with sacrifices feasts,
Loves what thou hat'st, and all thy works detests. "
" Hath Job serv'd God for nothing? " Satan said:
" Or unrewarded at Thy altar paid
His frequent vows? Hast Thou not him, and all
Which he calls his, inclosed with a wall
Of strength impregnable; his labours blest,
And almost with prosperity opprest?
Left nothing to desire? Yet should'st Thou lay
Thy hand upon him, or but take away
What Thy indulgence gave, in foul disgrace
He would blaspheme, and curse Thee to Thy face. "
Jehovah said: " His children, all he hath,
Are subject to the venom of thy wrath,
Alone his person spare. " The tempter then
Shrunk from His presence to th' abodes of men.
As at their elder brother's, all the rest
Of that fair offspring celebrate his feast
With liberal joy; and cool th' inflaming blood
Of generous grapes with crystal of the flood:
A messenger arriv'd, half out of breath,
Yet pale with horror of escaped death,
And cried: " O Job! as thy strong oxen till'd
The stubborn fallows, while thy asses fill'd
Themselves with herbage, all became a prey
To arm'd Sabaeans, who in ambush lay;
Thy servants by their cursed fury slain,
And I the only messenger remain. "
Another enter'd, ere his tale was told,
With singed hair, and said: " I must unfold
A dreadful accident: at noon a night
Of clouds arose, that day depriv'd of light;
Whose roaring conflicts from their breaches threw
Darts of inevitable flames, which slew
Thy sheep and shepherds; I of all alone
Escap'd, to make the sad disaster known. "
This hardly said, a third, with blood imbrued,
Brake through the press, and thus his grief pursued:
" The fierce Chaldaeans in three troops assail'd
Our guards, till they their souls through wounds exhal'd,
Then drave away thy camels; only I,
Thus wounded, live to tell thy loss, and die. "
As thronging billows one another drive
To murmuring shores, so thick and fast arrive
These messengers of death. The fourth and last,
With staring hair, wild looks, and breathless haste,
Rush'd in and said: " O Job! prepare to hear
The saddest news that ever pierc'd an ear.
Lo! as thy children on soft couches lay,
And with discourses entertain'd the day,
A sudden tempest from the desert flew
With horrid wings, and thunder'd as it blew;
Then whirling round, the quoins together strook,
And to the ground that lofty fabric shook;
Thy sons and daughters buried in the fall,
Who, ah! deserv'd a nobler funeral.
And I alone am living to relate
Their tragedies, that was denied their fate. "
He who th' assaults of fortune like a rock
So long withstood, could not sustain this shock,
But rising, forthwith from his shoulders tare
His purple robe, and shav'd his dangling hair.
Then on the earth his body prostrate laid,
And thus with humble adoration said:
" Naked I was at my first hour of birth,
And naked must return unto the earth.
God gives, God takes away; O be His Name
For ever blest! " Thus free from touch of blame
Job firmly stood, and with a patient mind
His crosses bare, nor at his God repin'd.