Was Solomon
Accurst of God? yet to his talismans
Obedient, o’er his throne the birds of Heaven
Their waving wings[76] his sun-shield, fanned around him
The motionless air of noon: from place to place,
As his will reined the viewless Element
He rode the Wind: the Genii reared his temple,
And ceaselessly in fear while his dead eye
O’erlooked them, day and night pursued their toil,
So dreadful was his power.
THALABA.
But ’twas from Heaven
His wisdom came; God’s special gift ... the guerdon
Of early virtue.
LOBABA.
Learn thou, O young man!
God hath appointed Wisdom the reward
Of study! ’tis a spring of living waters,
Whose inexhaustible bounties all might drink
But few dig deep enough. Son! thou art silent,...
Perhaps I say too much,... perhaps offend thee.
THALABA.
Nay, I am young, and willingly as becomes me,
Hear the wise words of age.
LOBABA.
Is it a crime
To mount the horse, because forsooth thy feet
Can serve thee for the journey? is it sin
Because the Hern soars upward in the sky
Above the arrow’s flight, to train the Falcon
Whose beak shall pierce him there? the powers which All
Granted to man, were granted for his use;
All knowledge that befits not human weakness
Is placed beyond its reach.... They who repair
To Babylon, and from the Angels learn
Mysterious wisdom, sin not in the deed.
THALABA.