Paradise Regained Part 2

The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory, Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts-- Best school of best experience, quickest in sight In all things that to greatest actions lead.

The wisest, unexperienced, will be ever 240 Timorous, and loth, with novice modesty (As he who, seeking a.s.ses, found a kingdom) Irresolute, unhardy, unadventrous.

But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit Those rudiments, and see before thine eyes The monarchies of the Earth, their pomp and state-- Sufficient introduction to inform Thee, of thyself so apt, in regal arts, And regal mysteries; that thou may'st know How best their opposition to withstand." 250 With that (such power was given him then), he took The Son of G.o.d up to a mountain high.

It was a mountain at whose verdant feet A s.p.a.cious plain outstretched in circuit wide Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flowed, The one winding, the other straight, and left between Fair champaign, with less rivers interveined, Then meeting joined their tribute to the sea.

Fertil of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine; With herds the pasture thronged, with flocks the hills; 260 Huge cities and high-towered, that well might seem The seats of mightiest monarchs; and so large The prospect was that here and there was room For barren desert, fountainless and dry.

To this high mountain-top the Tempter brought Our Saviour, and new train of words began:-- "Well have we speeded, and o'er hill and dale, Forest, and field, and flood, temples and towers, Cut shorter many a league. Here thou behold'st a.s.syria, and her empire's ancient bounds, 270 Araxes and the Caspian lake; thence on As far as Indus east, Euphrates west, And oft beyond; to south the Persian bay, And, inaccessible, the Arabian drouth: Here, Nineveh, of length within her wall Several days' journey, built by Ninus old, Of that first golden monarchy the seat, And seat of Salmana.s.sar, whose success Israel in long captivity still mourns; There Babylon, the wonder of all tongues, 280 As ancient, but rebuilt by him who twice Judah and all thy father David's house Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste, Till Cyrus set them free; Persepolis, His city, there thou seest, and Bactra there; Ecbatana her structure vast there shews, And Hecatompylos her hunderd gates; There Susa by Choaspes, amber stream, The drink of none but kings; of later fame, Built by Emathian or by Parthian hands, 290 The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon, Turning with easy eye, thou may'st behold.

All these the Parthian (now some ages past By great Arsaces led, who founded first That empire) under his dominion holds, From the luxurious kings of Antioch won.

And just in time thou com'st to have a view Of his great power; for now the Parthian king In Ctesiphon hath gathered all his host 300 Against the Scythian, whose incursions wild Have wasted Sogdiana; to her aid He marches now in haste. See, though from far, His thousands, in what martial equipage They issue forth, steel bows and shafts their arms, Of equal dread in flight or in pursuit-- All hors.e.m.e.n, in which fight they most excel; See how in warlike muster they appear, In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings."

He looked, and saw what numbers numberless 310 The city gates outpoured, light-armed troops In coats of mail and military pride.

In mail their horses clad, yet fleet and strong, Prauncing their riders bore, the flower and choice Of many provinces from bound to bound-- From Arachosia, from Candaor east, And Margiana, to the Hyrcanian cliffs Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian dales; From Atropatia, and the neighbouring plains Of Adiabene, Media, and the south 320 Of Susiana, to Balsara's haven.

He saw them in their forms of battle ranged, How quick they wheeled, and flying behind them shot Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the face Of their pursuers, and overcame by flight; The field all iron cast a gleaming brown.

Nor wanted clouds of foot, nor, on each horn, Cuira.s.siers all in steel for standing fight, Chariots, or elephants indorsed with towers Of archers; nor of labouring pioners 330 A mult.i.tude, with spades and axes armed, To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill, Or where plain was raise hill, or overlay With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke: Mules after these, camels and dromedaries, And waggons fraught with utensils of war.

Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp, When Agrican, with all his northern powers, Besieged Albracea, as romances tell, The city of Gallaphrone, from thence to win 340 The fairest of her s.e.x, Angelica, His daughter, sought by many prowest knights, Both Paynim and the peers of Charlemane.

Such and so numerous was their chivalry; At sight whereof the Fiend yet more presumed, And to our Saviour thus his words renewed:-- "That thou may'st know I seek not to engage Thy virtue, and not every way secure On no slight grounds thy safety, hear and mark To what end I have brought thee hither, and shew 350 All this fair sight. Thy kingdom, though foretold By Prophet or by Angel, unless thou Endeavour, as thy father David did, Thou never shalt obtain: prediction still In all things, and all men, supposes means; Without means used, what it predicts revokes.

But say thou wert possessed of David's throne By free consent of all, none opposite, Samaritan or Jew; how couldst thou hope Long to enjoy it quiet and secure 360 Between two such enclosing enemies, Roman and Parthian? Therefore one of these Thou must make sure thy own: the Parthian first, By my advice, as nearer, and of late Found able by invasion to annoy Thy country, and captive lead away her kings, Antigonus and old Hyrca.n.u.s, bound, Maugre the Roman. It shall be my task To render thee the Parthian at dispose, Choose which thou wilt, by conquest or by league. 370 By him thou shalt regain, without him not, That which alone can truly reinstall thee In David's royal seat, his true successor-- Deliverance of thy brethren, those Ten Tribes Whose offspring in his territory yet serve In Habor, and among the Medes dispersed: The sons of Jacob, two of Joseph, lost Thus long from Israel, serving, as of old Their fathers in the land of Egypt served, This offer sets before thee to deliver. 380 These if from servitude thou shalt restore To their inheritance, then, nor till then, Thou on the throne of David in full glory, From Egypt to Euphrates and beyond, Shalt reign, and Rome or Caesar not need fear."

To whom our Saviour answered thus, unmoved:-- "Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm And fragile arms, much instrument of war, Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought, Before mine eyes thou hast set, and in my ear 390 Vented much policy, and projects deep Of enemies, of aids, battles, and leagues, Plausible to the world, to me worth naught.

Means I must use, thou say'st; prediction else Will unpredict, and fail me of the throne!

My time, I told thee (and that time for thee Were better farthest off), is not yet come.

When that comes, think not thou to find me slack On my part aught endeavouring, or to need Thy politic maxims, or that c.u.mbersome 400 Luggage of war there shewn me--argument Of human weakness rather than of strength.

My brethren, as thou call'st them, those Ten Tribes, I must deliver, if I mean to reign David's true heir, and his full sceptre sway To just extent over all Israel's sons!

But whence to thee this zeal? Where was it then For Israel, or for David, or his throne, When thou stood'st up his tempter to the pride Of numbering Israel--which cost the lives 410 of threescore and ten thousand Israelites By three days' pestilence? Such was thy zeal To Israel then, the same that now to me.

As for those captive tribes, themselves were they Who wrought their own captivity, fell off From G.o.d to worship calves, the deities Of Egypt, Baal next and Ashtaroth, And all the idolatries of heathen round, Besides their other worse than heathenish crimes; Nor in the land of their captivity 420 Humbled themselves, or penitent besought The G.o.d of their forefathers, but so died Impenitent, and left a race behind Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce From Gentiles, but by circ.u.mcision vain, And G.o.d with idols in their worship joined.

Should I of these the liberty regard, Who, freed, as to their ancient patrimony, Unhumbled, unrepentant, unreformed, Headlong would follow, and to their G.o.ds perhaps 430 Of Bethel and of Dan? No; let them serve Their enemies who serve idols with G.o.d.

Yet He at length, time to himself best known, Remembering Abraham, by some wondrous call May bring them back, repentant and sincere, And at their pa.s.sing cleave the a.s.syrian flood, While to their native land with joy they haste, As the Red Sea and Jordan once he cleft, When to the Promised Land their fathers pa.s.sed.

To his due time and providence I leave them." 440 So spake Israel's true King, and to the Fiend Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles.

So fares it when with truth falsehood contends.

THE FOURTH BOOK

Perplexed and troubled at his bad success The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply, Discovered in his fraud, thrown from his hope So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric That sleeked his tongue, and won so much on Eve, So little here, nay lost. But Eve was Eve; This far his over-match, who, self-deceived And rash, beforehand had no better weighed The strength he was to cope with, or his own.

But--as a man who had been matchless held 10 In cunning, over-reached where least he thought, To salve his credit, and for very spite, Still will be tempting him who foils him still, And never cease, though to his shame the more; Or as a swarm of flies in vintage-time, About the wine-press where sweet must is poured, Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound; Or surging waves against a solid rock, Though all to shivers dashed, the a.s.sault renew, (Vain battery!) and in froth or bubbles end-- 20 So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse Met ever, and to shameful silence brought, Yet gives not o'er, though desperate of success, And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Saviour to the western side Of that high mountain, whence he might behold Another plain, long, but in breadth not wide, Washed by the southern sea, and on the north To equal length backed with a ridge of hills That screened the fruits of the earth and seats of men 30 From cold Septentrion blasts; thence in the midst Divided by a river, off whose banks On each side an Imperial City stood, With towers and temples proudly elevate On seven small hills, with palaces adorned, Porches and theatres, baths, aqueducts, Statues and trophies, and triumphal arcs, Gardens and groves, presented to his eyes Above the highth of mountains interposed-- By what strange parallax, or optic skill 40 Of vision, multiplied through air, or gla.s.s Of telescope, were curious to enquire.

And now the Tempter thus his silence broke:-- "The city which thou seest no other deem Than great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth So far renowned, and with the spoils enriched Of nations. There the Capitol thou seest, Above the rest lifting his stately head On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel Impregnable; and there Mount Palatine, 50 The imperial palace, compa.s.s huge, and high The structure, skill of n.o.blest architects, With gilded battlements, conspicuous far, Turrets, and terraces, and glittering spires.

Many a fair edifice besides, more like Houses of G.o.ds--so well I have disposed My aerie microscope--thou may'st behold, Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs Carved work, the hand of famed artificers In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold. 60 Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see What conflux issuing forth, or entering in: Praetors, proconsuls to their provinces Hasting, or on return, in robes of state; Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power; Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings; Or emba.s.sies from regions far remote, In various habits, on the Appian road, Or on the AEmilian--some from farthest south, Syene, and where the shadow both way falls, 70 Meroe, Nilotic isle, and, more to west, The realm of Bocchus to the Blackmoor sea; From the Asian kings (and Parthian among these), From India and the Golden Chersoness, And utmost Indian isle Taprobane, Dusk faces with white silken turbants wreathed; From Gallia, Gades, and the British west; Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians north Beyond Danubius to the Tauric pool.

All nations now to Rome obedience pay-- 80 To Rome's great Emperor, whose wide domain, In ample territory, wealth and power, Civility of manners, arts and arms, And long renown, thou justly may'st prefer Before the Parthian. These two thrones except, The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight, Shared among petty kings too far removed; These having shewn thee, I have shewn thee all The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.

This Emperor hath no son, and now is old, 90 Old and lascivious, and from Rome retired To Capreae, an island small but strong On the Campanian sh.o.r.e, with purpose there His horrid l.u.s.ts in private to enjoy; Committing to a wicked favourite All public cares, and yet of him suspicious; Hated of all, and hating. With what ease, Endued with regal virtues as thou art, Appearing, and beginning n.o.ble deeds, Might'st thou expel this monster from his throne, 100 Now made a sty, and, in his place ascending, A victor-people free from servile yoke!

And with my help thou may'st; to me the power Is given, and by that right I give it thee.

Aim, therefore, at no less than all the world; Aim at the highest; without the highest attained, Will be for thee no sitting, or not long, On David's throne, be prophesied what will."

To whom the Son of G.o.d, unmoved, replied:-- "Nor doth this grandeur and majestic shew 110 Of luxury, though called magnificence, More than of arms before, allure mine eye, Much less my mind; though thou should'st add to tell Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts On citron tables or Atlantic stone (For I have also heard, perhaps have read), Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne, Chios and Crete, and how they quaff in gold, Crystal, and myrrhine cups, imbossed with gems And studs of pearl--to me should'st tell, who thirst 120 And hunger still. Then emba.s.sies thou shew'st From nations far and nigh! What honour that, But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear So many hollow compliments and lies, Outlandish flatteries? Then proceed'st to talk Of the Emperor, how easily subdued, How gloriously. I shall, thou say'st, expel A brutish monster: what if I withal Expel a Devil who first made him such?

Let his tormentor, Conscience, find him out; 130 For him I was not sent, nor yet to free That people, victor once, now vile and base, Deservedly made va.s.sal--who, once just, Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquered well, But govern ill the nations under yoke, Peeling their provinces, exhausted all By l.u.s.t and rapine; first ambitious grown Of triumph, that insulting vanity; Then cruel, by their sports to blood inured Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts exposed; 140 Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still, And from the daily Scene effeminate.

What wise and valiant man would seek to free These, thus degenerate, by themselves enslaved, Or could of inward slaves make outward free?

Know, therefore, when my season comes to sit On David's throne, it shall be like a tree Spreading and overshadowing all the earth, Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash All monarchies besides throughout the world; 150 And of my Kingdom there shall be no end.

Means there shall be to this; but what the means Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell."

To whom the Tempter, impudent, replied:-- "I see all offers made by me how slight Thou valuest, because offered, and reject'st.

Nothing will please the difficult and nice, Or nothing more than still to contradict.

On the other side know also thou that I On what I offer set as high esteem, 160 Nor what I part with mean to give for naught, All these, which in a moment thou behold'st, The kingdoms of the world, to thee I give (For, given to me, I give to whom I please), No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else-- On this condition, if thou wilt fall down, And worship me as thy superior Lord (Easily done), and hold them all of me; For what can less so great a gift deserve?"

Whom thus our Saviour answered with disdain:-- 170 "I never liked thy talk, thy offers less; Now both abhor, since thou hast dared to utter The abominable terms, impious condition.

But I endure the time, till which expired Thou hast permission on me. It is written, The first of all commandments, 'Thou shalt worship The Lord thy G.o.d, and only Him shalt serve.'

And dar'st thou to the Son of G.o.d propound To worship thee, accursed? now more accursed For this attempt, bolder than that on Eve, 180 And more blasphemous; which expect to rue.

The kingdoms of the world to thee were given!

Permitted rather, and by thee usurped; Other donation none thou canst produce.

If given, by whom but by the King of kings, G.o.d over all supreme? If given to thee, By thee how fairly is the Giver now Repaid! But grat.i.tude in thee is lost Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame As offer them to me, the Son of G.o.d-- 190 To me my own, on such abhorred pact, That I fall down and worship thee as G.o.d?

Get thee behind me! Plain thou now appear'st That Evil One, Satan for ever d.a.m.ned."

To whom the Fiend, with fear abashed, replied:-- "Be not so sore offended, Son of G.o.d-- Though Sons of G.o.d both Angels are and Men-- If I, to try whether in higher sort Than these thou bear'st that t.i.tle, have proposed What both from Men and Angels I receive, 200 Tetrarchs of Fire, Air, Flood, and on the Earth Nations besides from all the quartered winds-- G.o.d of this World invoked, and World beneath.

Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold To me most fatal, me it most concerns.

The trial hath indamaged thee no way, Rather more honour left and more esteem; Me naught advantaged, missing what I aimed.

Therefore let pa.s.s, as they are transitory, The kingdoms of this world; I shall no more 210 Advise thee; gain them as thou canst, or not.

And thou thyself seem'st otherwise inclined Than to a worldly crown, addicted more To contemplation and profound dispute; As by that early action may be judged, When, slipping from thy mother's eye, thou went'st Alone into the Temple, there wast found Among the gravest Rabbies, disputant On points and questions fitting Moses' chair, Teaching, not taught. The childhood shews the man, 220 As morning shews the day. Be famous, then, By wisdom; as thy empire must extend, So let extend thy mind o'er all the world In knowledge; all things in it comprehend.

All knowledge is not couched in Moses' law, The Pentateuch, or what the Prophets wrote; The Gentiles also know, and write, and teach To admiration, led by Nature's light; And with the Gentiles much thou must converse, Ruling them by persuasion, as thou mean'st. 230 Without their learning, how wilt thou with them, Or they with thee, hold conversation meet?

How wilt thou reason with them, how refute Their idolisms, traditions, paradoxes?

Error by his own arms is best evinced.

Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount, Westward, much nearer by south-west; behold Where on the AEgean sh.o.r.e a city stands, Built n.o.bly, pure the air and light the soil-- Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts 240 And Eloquence, native to famous wits Or hospitable, in her sweet recess, City or suburban, studious walks and shades.

See there the olive-grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long; There, flowery hill, Hymettus, with the sound Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites To studious musing; there Ilissus rowls His whispering stream. Within the walls then view 250 The schools of ancient sages--his who bred Great Alexander to subdue the world, Lyceum there; and painted Stoa next.

There thou shalt hear and learn the secret power Of harmony, in tones and numbers. .h.i.t By voice or hand, and various-measured verse, AEolian charms and Dorian lyric odes, And his who gave them breath, but higher sung, Blind Melesigenes, thence Homer called, Whose poem Phoebus challenged for his own. 260 Thence what the lofty grave Tragedians taught In chorus or iambic, teachers best Of moral prudence, with delight received In brief sententious precepts, while they treat Of fate, and chance, and change in human life, High actions and high pa.s.sions best describing.

Thence to the famous Orators repair, Those ancient whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce democraty, Shook the a.r.s.enal, and fulmined over Greece 270 To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne.

To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear, From heaven descended to the low-roofed house Of Socrates--see there his tenement-- Whom, well inspired, the Oracle p.r.o.nounced Wisest of men; from whose mouth issued forth Mellifluous streams, that watered all the schools Of Academics old and new, with those Surnamed Peripatetics, and the sect Epicurean, and the Stoic severe. 280 These here revolve, or, as thou likest, at home, Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight; These rules will render thee a king complete Within thyself, much more with empire joined."

To whom our Saviour sagely thus replied:-- "Think not but that I know these things; or, think I know them not, not therefore am I short Of knowing what I ought. He who receives Light from above, from the Fountain of Light, No other doctrine needs, though granted true; 290 But these are false, or little else but dreams, Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.

The first and wisest of them all professed To know this only, that he nothing knew; The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits; A third sort doubted all things, though plain sense; Others in virtue placed felicity, But virtue joined with riches and long life; In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease; The Stoic last in philosophic pride, 300 By him called virtue, and his virtuous man, Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing, Equal to G.o.d, oft shames not to prefer, As fearing G.o.d nor man, contemning all Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life-- Which, when he lists, he leaves, or boasts he can; For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle shifts conviction to evade.

Alas! what can they teach, and not mislead, Ignorant of themselves, of G.o.d much more, 310 And how the World began, and how Man fell, Degraded by himself, on grace depending?

Much of the Soul they talk, but all awry; And in themselves seek virtue; and to themselves All glory arrogate, to G.o.d give none; Rather accuse him under usual names, Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite Of mortal things. Who, therefore, seeks in these True wisdom finds her not, or, by delusion Far worse, her false resemblance only meets, 320 An empty cloud. However, many books, Wise men have said, are wearisome; who reads Incessantly, and to his reading brings not A spirit and judgment equal or superior, (And what he brings what needs he elsewhere seek?) Uncertain and unsettled still remains, Deep-versed in books and shallow in himself, Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge, As children gathering pebbles on the sh.o.r.e. 330 Or, if I would delight my private hours With music or with poem, where so soon As in our native language can I find That solace? All our Law and Story strewed With hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscribed, Our Hebrew songs and harps, in Babylon That pleased so well our victor's ear, declare That rather Greece from us these arts derived-- Ill imitated while they loudest sing The vices of their deities, and their own, 340 In fable, hymn, or song, so personating Their G.o.ds ridiculous, and themselves past shame.

Remove their swelling epithetes, thick-laid As varnish on a harlot's cheek, the rest, Thin-sown with aught of profit or delight, Will far be found unworthy to compare With Sion's songs, to all true tastes excelling, Where G.o.d is praised aright and G.o.dlike men, The Holiest of Holies and his Saints (Such are from G.o.d inspired, not such from thee); 350 Unless where moral virtue is expressed By light of Nature, not in all quite lost.

Their orators thou then extoll'st as those The top of eloquence--statists indeed, And lovers of their country, as may seem; But herein to our Prophets far beneath, As men divinely taught, and better teaching The solid rules of civil government, In their majestic, unaffected style, Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome. 360 In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt, What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so, What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat; These only, with our Law, best form a king."

So spake the Son of G.o.d; but Satan, now Quite at a loss (for all his darts were spent), Thus to our Saviour, with stern brow, replied:-- "Since neither wealth nor honour, arms nor arts, Kingdom nor empire, pleases thee, nor aught By me proposed in life contemplative 370 Or active, tended on by glory or fame, What dost thou in this world? The Wilderness For thee is fittest place: I found thee there, And thither will return thee. Yet remember What I foretell thee; soon thou shalt have cause To wish thou never hadst rejected, thus Nicely or cautiously, my offered aid, Which would have set thee in short time with ease On David's throne, or throne of all the world, Now at full age, fulness of time, thy season, 380 When prophecies of thee are best fulfilled.

Now, contrary--if I read aught in heaven, Or heaven write aught of fate--by what the stars Voluminous, or single characters In their conjunction met, give me to spell, Sorrows and labours, opposition, hate, Attends thee; scorns, reproaches, injuries, Violence and stripes, and, lastly, cruel death.

A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, Real or allegoric, I discern not; 390 Nor when: eternal sure--as without end, Without beginning; for no date prefixed Directs me in the starry rubric set."

So saying, he took (for still he knew his power Not yet expired), and to the Wilderness Brought back, the Son of G.o.d, and left him there, Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose, As daylight sunk, and brought in louring Night, Her shadowy offspring, unsubstantial both, Privation mere of light and absent day. 400 Our Saviour, meek, and with untroubled mind After hisaerie jaunt, though hurried sore, Hungry and cold, betook him to his rest, Wherever, under some concourse of shades, Whose branching arms thick intertwined might shield From dews and damps of night his sheltered head; But, sheltered, slept in vain; for at his head The Tempter watched, and soon with ugly dreams Disturbed his sleep. And either tropic now 'Gan thunder, and both ends of heaven; the clouds 410 From many a horrid rift abortive poured Fierce rain with lightning mixed, water with fire, In ruin reconciled; nor slept the winds Within their stony caves, but rushed abroad From the four hinges of the world, and fell On the vexed wilderness, whose tallest pines, Though rooted deep as high, and st.u.r.diest oaks, Bowed their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts, Or torn up sheer. Ill wast thou shrouded then, O patient Son of G.o.d, yet only stood'st 420 Unshaken! Nor yet staid the terror there: Infernal ghosts and h.e.l.lish furies round Environed thee; some howled, some yelled, some shrieked, Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou Sat'st unappalled in calm and sinless peace.

Thus pa.s.sed the night so foul, till Morning fair Came forth with pilgrim steps, in amice grey, Who with her radiant finger stilled the roar Of thunder, chased the clouds, and laid the winds, And griesly spectres, which the Fiend had raised 430 To tempt the Son of G.o.d with terrors dire.

And now the sun with more effectual beams Had cheered the face of earth, and dried the wet From drooping plant, or dropping tree; the birds, Who all things now behold more fresh and green, After a night of storm so ruinous, Cleared up their choicest notes in bush and spray, To gratulate the sweet return of morn.

Nor yet, amidst this joy and brightest morn, Was absent, after all his mischief done, 440 The Prince of Darkness; glad would also seem Of this fair change, and to our Saviour came; Yet with no new device (they all were spent), Rather by this his last affront resolved, Desperate of better course, to vent his rage And mad despite to be so oft repelled.

Him walking on a sunny hill he found, Backed on the north and west by a thick wood; Out of the wood he starts in wonted shape, And in a careless mood thus to him said:-- 450 "Fair morning yet betides thee, Son of G.o.d, After a dismal night. I heard the wrack, As earth and sky would mingle; but myself Was distant; and these flaws, though mortals fear them, As dangerous to the pillared frame of Heaven, Or to the Earth's dark basis underneath, Are to the main as inconsiderable And harmless, if not wholesome, as a sneeze To man's less universe, and soon are gone.

Yet, as being ofttimes noxious where they light 460 On man, beast, plant, wasteful and turbulent, Like turbulencies in the affairs of men, Over whose heads they roar, and seem to point, They oft fore-signify and threaten ill.

This tempest at this desert most was bent; Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st.

Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject The perfect season offered with my aid To win thy destined seat, but wilt prolong All to the push of fate, pursue thy way 470 Of gaining David's throne no man knows when (For both the when and how is nowhere told), Thou shalt be what thou art ordained, no doubt; For Angels have proclaimed it, but concealing The time and means? Each act is rightliest done Not when it must, but when it may be best.

If thou observe not this, be sure to find What I foretold thee--many a hard a.s.say Of dangers, and adversities, and pains, Ere thou of Israel's sceptre get fast hold; 480 Whereof this ominous night that closed thee round, So many terrors, voices, prodigies, May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign."

So talked he, while the Son of G.o.d went on, And staid not, but in brief him answered thus:-- "Me worse than wet thou find'st not; other harm Those terrors which thou speak'st of did me none.

I never feared they could, though noising loud And threatening nigh: what they can do as signs Betokening or ill-boding I contemn 490 As false portents, not sent from G.o.d, but thee; Who, knowing I shall reign past thy preventing, Obtrud'st thy offered aid, that I, accepting, At least might seem to hold all power of thee, Ambitious Spirit! and would'st be thought my G.o.d; And storm'st, refused, thinking to terrify Me to thy will! Desist (thou art discerned, And toil'st in vain), nor me in vain molest."

To whom the Fiend, now swoln with rage, replied:-- "Then hear, O Son of David, virgin-born! 500 For Son of G.o.d to me is yet in doubt.

Of the Messiah I have heard foretold By all the Prophets; of thy birth, at length Announced by Gabriel, with the first I knew, And of the angelic song in Bethlehem field, On thy birth-night, that sung thee Saviour born.

From that time seldom have I ceased to eye Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth, Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred; Till, at the ford of Jordan, whither all 510 Flocked to the Baptist, I among the rest (Though not to be baptized), by voice from Heaven Heard thee p.r.o.nounced the Son of G.o.d beloved.

Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view And narrower scrutiny, that I might learn In what degree or meaning thou art called The Son of G.o.d, which bears no single sense.

The Son of G.o.d I also am, or was; And, if I was, I am; relation stands: All men are Sons of G.o.d; yet thee I thought 520 In some respect far higher so declared.

Therefore I watched thy footsteps from that hour, And followed thee still on to this waste wild, Where, by all best conjectures, I collect Thou art to be my fatal enemy.

Good reason, then, if I beforehand seek To understand my adversary, who And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent; By parle or composition, truce or league, To win him, or win from him what I can. 530 And opportunity I here have had To try thee, sift thee, and confess have found thee Proof against all temptation, as a rock Of adamant and as a centre, firm To the utmost of mere man both wise and good, Not more; for honours, riches, kingdoms, glory, Have been before contemned, and may again.

Therefore, to know what more thou art than man, Worth naming the Son of G.o.d by voice from Heaven, Another method I must now begin." 540 So saying, he caught him up, and, without wing Of hippogrif, bore through the air sublime, Over the wilderness and o'er the plain, Till underneath them fair Jerusalem, The Holy City, lifted high her towers, And higher yet the glorious Temple reared Her pile, far off appearing like a mount Of alablaster, topt with golden spires: There, on the highest pinnacle, he set The Son of G.o.d, and added thus in scorn:-- 550 "There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright Will ask thee skill. I to thy Father's house Have brought thee, and highest placed: highest is best.

Now shew thy progeny; if not to stand, Cast thyself down. Safely, if Son of G.o.d; For it is written, 'He will give command Concerning thee to his Angels; in their hands They shall uplift thee, lest at any time Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.'"

To whom thus Jesus: "Also it is written, 560 'Tempt not the Lord thy G.o.d.'" He said, and stood; But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell.

As when Earth's son, Antaeus (to compare Small things with greatest), in Ira.s.sa strove With Jove's Alcides, and, oft foiled, still rose, Receiving from his mother Earth new strength, Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joined, Throttled at length in the air expired and fell, So, after many a foil, the Tempter proud, Renewing fresh a.s.saults, amidst his pride 570 Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall; And, as that Theban monster that proposed Her riddle, and him who solved it not devoured, That once found out and solved, for grief and spite Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian steep, So, strook with dread and anguish, fell the Fiend, And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought Joyless triumphals of his hoped success, Ruin, and desperation, and dismay, Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of G.o.d. 580 So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh, Who on their plumy vans received Him soft From his uneasy station, and upbore, As on a floating couch, through the blithe air; Then, in a flowery valley, set him down On a green bank, and set before him spread A table of celestial food, divine Ambrosial fruits fetched from the Tree of Life, And from the Fount of Life ambrosial drink, 590 That soon refreshed him wearied, and repaired What hunger, if aught hunger, had impaired, Or thirst; and, as he fed, Angelic quires Sung heavenly anthems of his victory Over temptation and the Tempter proud:-- "True Image of the Father, whether throned In the bosom of bliss, and light of light Conceiving, or, remote from Heaven, enshrined In fleshly tabernacle and human form, Wandering the wilderness--whatever place, 600 Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing The Son of G.o.d, with G.o.dlike force endued Against the attempter of thy Father's throne And thief of Paradise! Him long of old Thou didst debel, and down from Heaven cast With all his army; now thou hast avenged Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing Temptation, hast regained lost Paradise, And frustrated the conquest fraudulent.

He never more henceforth will dare set foot 610 In paradise to tempt; his snares are broke.

For, though that seat of earthly bliss be failed, A fairer Paradise is founded now For Adam and his chosen sons, whom thou, A Saviour, art come down to reinstall; Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be, Of tempter and temptation without fear.