Perplex'd and troubled at his bad fuccess
The Tempter food, nor had what to reply, Difcover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope So oft, and the perfuafive rhetoric
That fleek'd his tongue, and won fo much on Eve,
So little here, nay loft; but Eve was Eve,
This far his over-match, who felf-deceiv'd
And rafh, before-hand had no better weigh'd
The ftrength he was to cope with, or his own:
But as a man who had been matchlefs held
In cunning, over-reach'd where leaft he thought,
To falve his credit, and for very spite,
Still will be tempting him who foils him ftill.
And never ceafe, though to his fhame the more;
Or as a swarm of flies in vintage-time,
About the wine-prefs where fweet must is pour'd,
Beat off, returns as oft with humming found;
Or furging waves against a folid rock,
Though all to fhivers dafh'd, th' affault renew,
Vain batt'ry, and in froth or bubbles end;
Of vifion multiply'd through air, or glass
Of telescope, were curious to inquire:
And now the Tempter thus his filence broke.
The city which thou feeft no other deem
Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth
So far renown'd, and with the fpoils enrich'd 46
Of nations; there the capitol thou feest
Above the reft lifting his stately head
So Satan, whom repulfe upon repulfe
Thence to the gates caft round thine eye, and fee
Met ever, and to fhameful filence brought, Yet gives not o'er though defp'rate of fuccefs, And his vain importunity pursues.
What conflux iffuing forth, or entring in,
He brought our Saviour to the western fide
Of that high mountain, whence he might behold
Another plain, long but in breadth not wide,
Wafh'd by the fouthern fea, and on the north
To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills,
That fcreen'd the fruits of th' earth and feats of
Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings: Or embaflies from regions far remote
In various habits on the Appian road,
Or on th' Emilian, fome from fartheft fouth, Syene', and where the fhadow both way falls, 70 Meroe Nilotic ile, and more to weft
In ample territory, wealth and power,
Civility of manners, arts and arms,
And long renown, thou jully may'st prefer
Before the Parthian; these two thrones except, 85
The rest are barb'rous, and scarce worth the fight,
Shar'd among petty kings too far remov'd;
Thefe having fhown thee, I have shown thee all
The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.
This eniror hath no fon, and now is old,
Old and lafcivious, and from Rome retir'd
To Capree an iland fmall but strong
All public cares, and yet of him fufpicious,
Hatef all, and hating; with what case,
Indu with regal virtues as thou art,
Appariar, and beginning noble deeds,
Might't the expel this monster from his throne
Now made a kye, and in his place afcending 101
A victor pele free from forvile yoke?
And with my heip thou may'ft; to me the pow'r
Is giv'n, aby that right I give it thee.
Aim thuatfor, at no less than all the world, 105
Aim of the Fh'eft, without the high'eft attain'd
Will be to the no fitting, or not long,
On David's throne, be prophecy'd what will.
To whom the Son of God unmov'd reply'd.
Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,
More than of arms before, allure mine eye,
Much lefs my mind; though thou should'st add to
tell
(For I have alfo heard, perhaps have read)
Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,
Chios, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold,
Crystal and myrrhine cups imbofs'd with gems
And fuds of pearl, to me fhould't tell who thirst
And hunger ftill: then embaffies thou fhow'ft 121
From nations far and nigh; what honour that,
But tedious waste of time to fit and hear
So many hollow compliments and lies,
Outlandish flatteries? then proceed'it to talk 125
Of th' emperor, how easily fubdued,
How gloriously; I fhall, thou fay'ft, expel
A brutish monfter: what if I withal
Expel a Devil who firit made him fuch?
Let his tormenter confcience find him out;
For him I was not fent, nor yet to free
That people victor once, now vile and base,
Defervedly made vaffal, who once juft,
Know therefore when may feafon comes to fit
On David's throne, it fhall be like a tree
Spreading and overshadowing all the earth,
Or as a stone that fhall to pieces dafh
All monarchies befides throughout the world, 15
And of my kingdom there shall be no end :
Means there fhall be to this, but what the means,
Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell.
To whom the Tempter impudent reply'd. I fee all offers made by me how flight Thou valueft, becaufe offer'd, and reject'ft: Nothing will please the difficult and nice, Or nothing more than ftill to contradict: On th' other fide know alfo thou, that I On what I offer fet as high esteem, Nor what I part with mean to give for nought; All these which in a moment thou behold', The kingdoms of the world to thee I give ; For giv'n to thee, 1 give to whom I please, No trifle; yet with this referve, not else, On this condition, if thou wilt fall down, And worship me as thy fuperior lord, Eafily done, and hold them all of me; For what can lefs fo great a gift deserve?
Whom thus our Saviour answer'd with difdain.
I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers lefs,
Now both abhor, fince thou haft dar'd to utter
Th' abominable terms, impious condition;
But I indure the time, till which expir'd,
Thou haft permiffion on me. It is written
The first of all commandments, Thou shalt worship
The Lord thy God, and only him fhalt ferve;
And dar'ft thou to the Son of God propound
To worship thee accurs'd, now more accurs'd
For this attempt bolder than that on Eve,
And more blafphemous? which expect to rue.
The kingdoms of the world to thee were given,
Permitted rather, and by thee ufurp'd;
Other donation none thou canst produce:
If giv'n, by whom but by the King of kings, 185
God over all fupreme? if giv'n to thee,
By thee how fairly is the giver now
Repaid? But gratitude in thee is loft
To whom the Fiend with fear abafh'd reply'd. Be not fo fore offended, Son of God,
Though fons of God both Angels are and Men, If I to try whether in higher fort
Frugal, and mild, and temp'rate, conquer'd well, Than these thou bear's that title, have propos'd
What both from Men and Angels I receive, 200
Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the earth
Nations befides from all the quarter'd winds,
God of this world invok'd and world beneath;
Who then thou art, whofe coming is foretold
To me fo fatal, me it mott concerns.
The trial hath indamag'd thee no way,
Rather more honor left and more esteem;
Me nought advantag'd, mifling what I aim'd.
Therefore let pafs, as they are transitory,
The kingdoms of this world; I fhall noʻmore 220
As morning fhows the day. Be famous then 221
By wifdom; as thy empire muft extend,
So let extend thy mind o'er all the world
In knowledge, all things in it comprehend:
All knowledge is not couch'd in Mofes' law, 225
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 perfuafion as thou mean'ft; 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 evinc'd.
Look once more ere we leave this fpecular mount
Westward, much nearer by southwest, behold
Where on the Ægean fhore a city stands
Built nobly, pure the air, and light the foil,
Athens the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence, native to famous wits
Or hofpitable, in her sweet recefs.
City' or fuburban, ftudious walks and shades;
See there the olive grove of Academe,
Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird
Trills her thick-warbled rootes the fummer long;
There flow'ry hill Hymettus with the found
Of bees industrious murmur oft invites
To ftudious mufing; there Iliffus rolls
His whifp'ring stream: within the walls then view
The fchools of ancient fages; his who bred
Great Alexander to fubdue the world,
Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next:
There shalt thou hear and learn the fecret power
Of harmony in tones and numbers hit
255
By voice or hand, and various-measur'd verse,
Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes,
And his who gave them breath, but higher fung,
Blind Melefigenes thence Homer call'd,
Whose poem Phœbus challeng'd for his own. 260
Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught
In Chorus or lambic, teachers beit
Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd
In brief fententious precepts, while they treat
Of fate, and chance, and change in human life;
High actions, and high paffions beft defcribing:
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Those ancient, whofe refiftlefs eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democratie,
Shook th' arsenal and fulmin'd over Greece, 270
To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne:
To fage Philofophy next lend thine ear,
From Heav'n defcended to the low-rooft houfe
Of Socrates; fee there his tenement,
Whom well infpir'd the oracle pronounc'd
Wifeft of men; from whofe mouth iffued forth
Mellifluous ftreams, that water'd all the fchool.
Of Academics old and new, with thofe
Surnam'd Peripatetics, and the fe&t
Epicurean, and the Stoic fevere;
Thefe here revolve, or, as thou lik'ft, at home,
Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight;
Thefe rules will render thee a king complete
Within thyfelf, much more with empire join'd.
To whom our Saviour fagely thus reply'd. 285 Think not but that I know thefe things, or think I know them not; not therefore am 1 fhort Of knowing what I ought: he who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light, No other doctrin needs, though granted true; But thefe are falfe, or little elfe but dreams, 291 Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm. The firft and wifeft of them all profefs'd To know this only, that he nothing knew; The next to fabling fell and fmooth conceits; 295 A third fort doubted all things, though plain fense; Others in virtue plac'd felicity,
But virtue join'd with riches and long life;
In corporal pleasure he, and careless eafe;
The Stoic lait in philofophic pride,
By him call'd virtue; and his virtuous man,
Wife, perfect in himself, and all poffeffing,
Equals to God, oft fhames not to prefer,
As fearing God nor man, contemning all
Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life,
Which when he lifts, he leaves, or boafts he can,
For all his tedious talk is but vain boast,
Uncertain and unfettled ftill remains,
Deep vers'd in books and fhallow in himself,
Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys,
And trifles for choice matters, worth a fpunge;
As children gathering pebbles on the shore.
Or if I would delight my private hours
With mufic or with poem, where fo foon
As in our native language can I find
That folace? All our law and story strow'd
With hymns, our pfalms with arftul terms in-
fcrib'd,
Our Hebrew fongs and harps in Babylon,
That pleas'd fo well our victors ear, declare
That rather Greece from us these arts deriv'd; Ill imitated, while they loudeft fing
The vices of their Deities, and their own
In fable, hymn, or song, so perfonating
Their Gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame.
Remove their fwelling epithets thick laid
As varnish on a harlot's cheek, the rest,
Thin fown with ought of profit or delight,
Will be found far unworthy to compare
With Sion's fongs, to all true taftes excelling,
Where God is prais'd aright, and God-like men,
The Holiest of Holies, and his Saints:
Such are from God inspir'd, not fuch from thee,
Unless where moral virtue is exprefs'd
By light of nature not in all quite loft.
Their orators thou then extoll'ft, as thofe
The top of eloquence, ftatists indeed,
And lovers of their country, as may feem;
But herein to our prophets far beneath,
As men divinely taught, and better teaching
The folid rules of civil government
In their majestic unaffected stile
So fpake the Son of God; but Satan now 365 Quite at a lofs, for all his darts were spent, Thus to our Saviour with ftern brow reply'd. Since neither wealth nor honor, arms nor arts, Kingdom nor empire pleases thee, nor ought By me propos'd in life contemplative, Or active, tended on by glory' or fame, What doft thou in this world? The wilderness For thee is fittest place; I found thee there, And thither will return thee; yet remember What I foretel thee, foon thou shalt have caufe To wish thou never hadst rejected thus Nicely or cautiously my offer'd aid,
Hungry and cold betook him to his reft, Wherever, under some concourse of shades, 404 hose branching arms thick intertwin'd might fhield
From dews and damps of night his fhelter'd head,
But shelter'd flept in vain, for at his head
The Tempter watch'd, and foon with ugly dreams
Difturb'd his fleep; and either tropic now 409
'Gan thunder, and both ends of Heav'n, the clouds
From many a horrid rift abortive pour'd
Fierce ran with lightning mix'd, water with fire
In ruin reconcil'd: nor flept the winds
Within their ftony caves, but rush'd abroad
From the four hinges of the world, and fell 415
On the vex'd wilderness, whofe tallest pines,
Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest oaks
Bow'd their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts,
Or torn up fheer: ill waft thou shrouded then,
O patient Son of God, yet only stood'st
Unfhaken; nor yet stay'd the terror there;
Infernal ghofts, and hellish furies, round
Environ'd thee; fome howl'd, fome yell'd, fome
fhriek'd,
Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou
Satft unappall'd in calm and finless peace. 425
Thus pafs'd the night fo foul, till morning fair
Came forth with pilgrim steps in amice gray,
Who with her radiant finger still'd the roar
Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds,
And grifly spectres, which the Fiend had rais'd
To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire. 431
And now the fun with more effectual beams
Had chear'd the face of earth, and dry'd the wet
From drooping plant, or dropping tree; the birds,
Who all things now beheld more fresh and green,
After a night of ftorm fo ruinous,
Clear'd up their choiceft notes in bush and spray
To gratulate the sweet return of morn;
Nor yet amidst this joy and brightest morn
Was abfent, after all his mifchief done,
The prince of darkness, glad would also feem
Of this fair change, and to our Saviour came,
Yet with no new device, they all were spent,
Rather by this his last affront refolv'd,
Defp'rate of better course, to vent his rage, 445
And mad defpite to be fo oft repell'd.
Him walking on a funny hill he found,
Back'd on the north and weft by a thick wood;
Out of the wood he ftarts in wonted shape,
And in a careless mood thus to him faid.
Fair morning yet betides thee, Son of God,
After a difmal night; heard the wrack
As earth and sky would mingle; but myself
Was diftant; and thefe flaws, though mortals fear
them
As dang'rous to the pillar'd frame of Heaven, 455
Or to the earth's dark bafis underneath,
Are to the main as inconfiderable,
And harmlefs, if not whok fome, as a fnecze
To man's lefs univerfe, and foon are gone;
Yet as being oft times noxious where they light
On man, beat, plant, wateful and turbulent, 461
Like turbulencies in th' affairs of men,
Over whofe heads they roar, and seem to point,
They oft fore-fignify and threaten ill :
This tempeft at this defert moft was bent
Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'ft.
Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject
The perfect season offer'd with my aid
To win thy deftin'd feat, but wilt prolong
All to the pufh of fate, purfue thy way
Of gaining David's throne no man knows when,
For both the when and how is no where told,
Thou shalt be what thou art ordain'd, no doubt;
For angels have proclam'd it, but concealing
The time and means: each act is rightlieft done,
Not when it muft, but when it may be beft. 476
If thou obferve not this, be fure to find,
What I foretold thee, many a hard affay
Of dangers, and adverfities, and pains,
Ere thou of Ifrael's feepter get faft hold;
Whereof this ominous night that clos'd thee round,
So many terrors, voices, prodigies,
May warn thee, as a fure fore-going fign.
So talk'd he while the Son of God went on And stay'd not, but in brief him anfwer'd thus. Me worse than wet thou find'ft not; other harm 486 Thofe terrors, which thou speak'st of, did me
Thy manhood laft, though yet in private bred;
Till at the ford of Jordan, whither all
Flock to the Baptift, I among the rest,
Though not to be baptiz'd, by voice from Heaven
Heard thee pronounc'd the Son of God belov'd.
Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view
And narrower fcrutiny, that I might learn
515
In what degree of meaning thou art call'd
The Son of God, which bears no single sense;
The Son of God I also am, or was,
And if I was,
I am; relation ftands;
All men are Sons of God; yet thee I thought 520
In fome respect far higher fo declar'd.
'Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour,
And follow'd thee ftill on to this wafte wild;
Where by all beft conjectures I colle&
Thou art to be my fatal enemy.
To th' utmost of mere man both wife and good, Not more; for honors, riches, kingdoms, glory, Have been before contemn'd, and may again : Therefore to know what more thou art than man, Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heaven, Another method I muft now begin. 549
So fay'ing, he caught him up, and without wing Of hippogrif bore through the air fublime Over the wilderness and o'er the plain; Till underneath them fair Jerufalem, The holy city, lifted high her towers, And higher yet the glorious temple rear'd Her pile, far off appearing like a mount Of alabafter, topt with golden fpires: There on the highest pinnacle he fet The Son of God, and added thus in fcorn. There ftand, if thou wilt ftand; to stand upright,
Will afk thee skill; I to thy Father's houfe
Have brought thee', and highest plac'd, highest is
Now how thy progeny; if not to stand,
Caft thyfelf down; fafely, if Son of God:
For it is written, He will give command
Concerning thee to his Angels, in their hands
They fhall up lift thee, left at any time
Thou chance to dafh thy foot against a stone.
To whom thus Jefus; Alfo it is written,
Tempt not the Lord thy God: he faid, and ftood;
But Satan fmitten with amazement fell.
As when earth's fon Antæus (to compare
Small things with greatest) in Iraffa ftrove
With Jove's Alcides, and oft foil'd still rofe, 565
Receiving from his mother earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple join'd,
Throttled at length in th' air, expir'd, and fell;
So after many a foil the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh affaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to fee his victor fall.
And as that Theban monster that propos'd
Her riddle', and him who folv'd it not, devour'd,
That once found out and folv'd, for grief and
Caft herself headlong from th' Ifmenian steep; 575
So ftruck with dread and anguifh fell the Fiend,
And to his crew, that fat confulting, brought
Joylefs triumphals of his hop'd fuccefs,
Ruin, and defperation, and difmay,
Who durft fo proudly tempt the Son of God. 580
So Satan fell; and ftrait a fiery globe
Of Angels on full fail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumy vans receiv'd him foft
From his uncafy station, and upbore
As on a floting couch through the blithe air, 585
Then in a flow'ry valley fet him down
On a green bank, and fet before him spread 2 [૨]
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