by Coleridge · Cluster: Temptation · Good vs Evil · Serpent Snake
Abstract
A comic-satirical epigram (after Logau) on the Book of Job, where the Devil cunningly spares Job’s wife and is outwitted by Providence.
Connections
Archetypes: Satanic Figure Themes & Concepts: Providence, Marriage and Fidelity, Good vs Evil Forms & Genres: Epigram Historical References: Bible Characters: Satan
Testo integrale / Full text
Sly Beelzebub took all occasions
To try Job’s constancy and patience;
He took his honours, took his health,
He took his children, took his wealth,
His camels, horses, asses, cows —
And the sly Devil did not take his spouse.
But Heaven that brings out good from evil,
And loves to disappoint the Devil,
Had predetermined to restore
Twofold all Job had before,
His children, camels, horses, cows, —
Short-sighted Devil, not to take his spouse!
1799. First published in Morning Post, Sept. 26, 1801. Included in
Annual Register, 1827, and Keepsake, 1829. First collected 1834.
The first stanza of ‘Job’s Luck’ is adapted from Fr. v. Logan’s
Sinngedicht, Hiob’s Weib. Lessing’s edition, Bk. III, No. 90: —
‘Als der Satan ging von Hiob, ist sein Anwalt dennoch blieben,
Hiobs Weib; er hätte nimmer einen bessern aufgetrieben.’
The second stanza is adapted from Fr. v. Logan’s Sinngedicht, Auf den
Hornutus, ibid. Bk. I, No. 68: —
‘Hornutus las, was Gott Job habe weggenommen,
Sei doppelt ihm hernach zu Hause wiederkommen:
Wie gut, sprach er, war dies, dass Gott sein Weib nicht nahm,
Auf dass Job ihrer zwei für eine nicht bekam!’
The original source is a Latin epigram by John Owen (Audoenus
Oxoniensis), Bk. III, No. 198. See N. and Q., 1st Series, ii. 516.
Title] The Devil Outwitted M. P.