The Lord 'despised and rejected' by His own people.
See, O my kinsmen, what strange thing is this!
Christ in's own country a great stranger is.
The thief which bled upon the Cross with Thee
Was more ally'd in consanguinity.[44] B.
IV.
Ad Bethesdae piscinam positus. Joan. v. 1-16.
Quis novus hic refugis incumbit Tantalus undis,
Quem fallit toties tam fugitiva salus?
Unde hoc naufragium felix medicaeque procellae,
Vitaque tempestas quam pretiosa dedit?
The cripple at the Pool of Bethesda.
What Tantalus is this, who health still craves
So oft, yet vainly, from the refluent waves?
And whence this happy wreck, this healing strife,
This storm that drifts its victim into life? Cl.
ANOTHER VERSION.
What new Tantalus is here,
Couch'd by this swift-ebbing wave,
Whom the healing flood comes near,
Then retiring fails to save?