In ample territory, wealth and power,
Civility of manners, arts and arms,
And long renown, thou justly may'st prefer
Before the Parthian; thefe two thrones except, 85
The reft 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 emp'ror hath no fon, and now is old,
Old and lafcivious, and from Rome retir'd
To Capreæ an iland small but strong

90

On the Campanian fhore, with purpose there

His horrid lufts in private to enjoy, Committing to a wicked favorite

95

All public cares, and yet of him fufpicious,
Hated of all, and hating; with what ease,
Indued with regal virtues as thou art,
Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,
Might'it thou expel this monster from his throne
Now made a flye, and in his place afcending 101
A victor people free from fervile yoke?
And with my help thou may'ft; to me the pow'r
Is giv'n, and by that right I give it thee.
Aim therefore at no less than all the world,
Aim at the high'eft, without the high'eft attain'd
Will be for thee 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 less my mind; though thou fhould't add to
tell

105

115

Their fumptuous gluttonics, and gorgeous feafts
On citron tables or Atlantic stone,
(For I have alfo heard, perhaps have read)
Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,
Chics, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold,
Crystal and myrrhine cups imbofs'd with gems
And ftuds of pearl, to me should'st tell who thirst
And hunger ftill: then embaffies thou show'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'ft to talk 125
Of th' emperor, how eafily fubdued,
How gloriously; I fhall, thou fay'it, expel
A brutish moniter: what if I withal
Expel a Devil who first 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 bafe,
Defervedly made vaffal, who once juft,
Frugal, and mild, and temp'rate, conquer'd well,
But govern ill the nations under yoke,
Peeling their provinces, exhaufted all
By luft and rapin; firft ambitious grown
Of triumph, that infulting vanity;

Then cruel, by their sports to blood inur'd

130

135

Of fighting beafis, and men to beafts expos'd, 140
Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still
And from the daily feene effeminate.

What wife and valiant man would feek to free
Thefe thus degenerate, by themselves inflav'd,
Or could of inward flaves make outward free? 145

Know therefore when may feafon comes to fie
On David's throne, it fhall be like a tree
Spreading and overshadowing all the earth,
Or as a stone that fhall to pieces dash
All monarchies befides throughout the world, 150
And of my kingdom there fhall be no end:
Means there fhall be to this, but what the means,
Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell.

155

160

165

171

To whom the Tempter impudent reply'd. I fee all offers made by me how flight Thou valueft, because offer'd, and reject'st: Nothing will please the difficult and nice, Or nothing more than still to contradict: On th' other fide know alfo thou, that I On what I offer fet as high efteem, Nor what I part with mean to give for nought; All thefe which in a moment thou behold'ft, The kingdoms of the world to thee I give; For giv'n to thee, I 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, Easily done, and hold them all of me; For what can lefs fo great a gift deferve? Whom thus our Saviour anfwer'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 permiflion on me. It is written The first of all commandments, Thou shalt worship The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve; 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 fuprcme? if giv'n to thee, By thee how fairly is the giver now Repaid? But gratitude in thee is loft Long fince. Wert thou fo void of fear or fhame, As offer them to me the Son of God, To me my own, on fuch abhorred pact, That I fall down and worfhip thec as God? Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear' That evil one, Satan for ever damn'd.

175

185

190

To whom the Fiend with fear ahafh'd reply'd. Be not fo fore offended, Son of God, 195 Though fons of God both Angels are and Men, If I to try whether in higher fort Than these thou bear'ft 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 foreteld To me fo fatal, me it moit concerns. The trial bath indamag'd thee no way, Rather more honor left and more esteem; Me nought advantag'd, miffing what I aim'd. Therefore let pafs, as they are tranfitory, The kingdoms of this world; I fhall no more 210

205

As morning fhows the day. Be. famous then 221
By wisdom; 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 alfo 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 converfation meet?
How wilt thou reafon with them, how refute
Their idolifms, traditions, paradoxes?
Error by his own arms is best evinc'd.

275

Whom well infpir'd the oracle pronounc'd
Wifeft of men; from whofe mouth iffued forth
Mellifluous ftreams, that water'd all the schools
Of Academics old and new, with thofe
Suruam'd Peripatetics, and the fect
Epicurean, and the Stoic fevere;
Thefe here revolve, or, as thou lik't, 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.

280

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 I short 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 first and wifeft of them all profeís'd To know this only, that he nothing knew; The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits; 295 A third fort doubted all things, though plain sense; Others in virtue plac'd felicity,

235

But virtue join'd with riches and long life; In corporal pleasure he, and careless cafe; The Stoic latt in philofophic pride,

300

Look once more ere we leave this fpecular mount Weftward, much nearer by fouthwest, behold Where on the gean fhore a city ftands

Or hofpitable, in her sweet recefs.

By him call'd virtue; and his virtuous man,
Wife, perfect in himself, and all poffefling,
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,

304

Built nobly, pure the air, and light the foil,

Athens the eye of Greece, mother of arts And eloquence, native to famous wits

240

245

City' or fuburban, ftudious walks and fhades;
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 induftrious murmur oft invites

To ftudious mufing; there Iliffus rolls

His whifp'ring ftream: 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 fhalt thou hear and learn the fecret power
Of harmony in tones and numbers hit

By voice or hand, and various-measur'd verse,
Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes,

255

And his who gave them breath, but higher fung,
Blind Melefigenes thence Homer call'd,
Whofe poem Phœbus challeng'd for his own. 260
Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught
In Chorus or Iambic, teachers beft
Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd
In brief fententious precepts, while they treat
Of fate, and chance, and change in hunian life;
High actions, and high paffions best describing :
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Thofe ancient, whofe refiftless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democratie,

Shook th' arfenal 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,

340

345

That rather Greece from us thefe arts deriv'd;
Ill imitated, while they loudest 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 reft,
Thin fown with ought of profit or delight,
Will be found far unworthy to compare
With Sion's fongs, to all true tastes excelling,
Where God is prais'd aright, and God-like men,
The Holieft of Holies, and his Saints:
Such are from God infpir'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, ftatifts 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 file

Than all th' cratory of Greece and Rome.
In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt,
What makes a nation happy', and keeps it fo,
What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat;
Thefe only with our law best form a king.

351

355

360

370

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 stern brow reply'd. Since reither 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 fitteft place; I found thee there, And thither will return thee; yet remember What I foretel thee, foon thou shalt have cause To wish thou never hadft rejected thus Nicely or cautiously my offer'd aid,

376

Which would have fet thee in fhort time with ease
On David's throne, or throne of all the world,
Now at full age, fuinefs of time, thy feafon, 380
When prophecies of thee are best fulfill'd.
Now contrary, if I read ought in Heaven,

Or Heav'n write ought of fate, by what the fltars
Voluminous, or fingle characters,

In their conjunction met, give me to spell,

385

Sorrows, and labors, oppofition, hate

Hungry and cold betook him to his reft, Wherever, under fome concourse of shades, 404 Whofe branching arms thick intertwin'd might fhield

409

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
'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 475
On the vex'd wilderness, whofe tallest pines,
Though rooted deep as high, and sturdieft oaks
Bow'd their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blafts,
Or torn up fheer: ill waft thou shrouded then,
O patient Son of God, yet only stood'st 420
Unfhaken; nor yet stay'd the terror there ;
Infernal ghofts, and hellifh furies, round
Environ'd thee; fome howl'd, fome yell'd, fome

fhriek'd,

425

Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou
Satft unappall'd in calm and finlefs peace.
Thus pafs'd the night fo foul, till morning fair
Came forth with pilgrim fteps in amice gray,
Who with her radiant finger ftill'd the roar
Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds,
And grifly spectres, which the Fiend had rais'd
fo 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 storm fo ruinous,
436
Clear'd up their choiceft notes in bush and spray
To gratulate the fweet return of morn;
Nor yet amidst this joy and brightest morn
Was abfent, after all his mifchief done,
The prince of darknefs, glad would alfo feem
Of this fair change, and to our Saviour came,
Yet with no new device, they all were spent,
Rather by this his laft affront refolv'd,
Defp'rate of better course, to vent his rage, 445
And mad defpite to be so 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 starts in wonted shape,
And in a careless mood thus to him faid.

449

450

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 feafon offer'd with my aid
To win thy deftin'd feat, but wilt prolong
All to the pufh of fate, purfue thy way

465

470

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 fcepter get faft hold;
Whereof this ominous night that clos'd thee round,
So many terrors, voices, prodigies,
May warn thee, as a fure forc-going fign.

480

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'st not; other harm 486 Thefe terrors, which thou fpeak'ft of, did me

none;

I never fear'd they could, though noifing loud And threatning nigh; what they can do as figns Betokening, or ill boding, I contenin

490
As falfe portents, not fent from God, but thee;
Who, knowing I fhall reign paft thy preventing,
Obtrud'ft thy offer'd aid, that I accepting
At leaft might feem to hold all pow'r of thee,
Ambitious Spirit, and wouldit be thought my
God,

And ftorm'ft refus'd, thinking to terrify
Me to thy will; defift, thou art difcern'd
And toil'it in vain, nor me in vain moleft.

495

To whom the Fiend now fwoln with rage reply'd.

Then hear, O Son of David, Virgin-born; 500
For Son of God to me is yet in doubt :
Of the Meffiah I have heard foretold
By ali the Prophets; of thy birth at length
Announc'd by Gabriel with the firft I knew,
And of th' angelic fong in Bethlehem field,
On thy birth-night, that fung thee Saviour born.
From that time icidom have I ceas'd to eye

Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth,

505

510

Thy manhood laft, though yet in private bred;
fill at the ford of Jordan, whither all
Rock to the Baptift, I among the reft,
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
Aad narrower scrutiny, that I might learn
In what degree of meaning thou art call'd
The Son of God, which bears no fingle fenfe;
The Son of God I also am, or was,
And if I was, I am; relation ftands;

515

All men are Sons of God; yet thee I thought 520
in fome refpect far higher fo declar'd.
Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour,
And follow'd thee ftill on to this waste wild;
Where by all beft conjectures I collect
Thou art to be my fatal enemy.

VOL. II.

525

530

Good reafon then, if I before-hand feck
To underftand. my adverfary, who
And what he is; his wifdom, pow'r, intent;
By parl, or compofition, truce, or league,
To win him, or win from him what I can.
And opportunity I here have had
To try thee, fift thee, and confefs have found thee
Proof against all temptation, as a rock
Of adamant, and as a center, firm,
To th' utmost of mere man both wife and good,
Not more; for honors, siches, 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.
540

534

545

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 ftand up right,

Will afk thee fkill; to thy Father's house

To whom thus Jefus; Alfo it is written, 560 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 greateft) 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, amidft 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

spite

570

3573

Caft herself headlong from th' limenian steep;
So ftruck with dread and anguish fell the Fiend,
And to his crew, that fat confulting, brought
Joylefs triumphals of his hop'd fuccefs,
Ruin, and desperation, and difmay,
Who durft fo proudly tempt the Son of God. 580
So Satan feil; 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 uphore

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 fpread
2[Q]