Paradise Regain’d, Book 4

Perplex'd and troubl'd at his bad success
The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply
Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope
So oft, and the perswasive Rhetoric
That sleek't his tongue, and won so much on Eve, [ 5 ]
So little here, nay lost; but Eve was Eve
This far his over-match, who self deceiv'd
And rash, before-hand had no better weigh'd
The strength he was to cope with, or his own:
But as a man who had been matchless held [ 10 ]
In cunning, over-reach't where least he thought
To salve his credit, and for very spight
Still will be tempting him who foyls him still
And never cease, though to his shame the more;
Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time, [ 15 ]
About the wine-press where sweet moust is powr'd
Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound;
Or surging waves against a solid rock
Though all to shivers dash't, the assault renew
Vain battry, and in froth or bubbles end; [ 20 ]
So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse
Met ever, and to shameful silence brought
Yet gives not o're though desperate of success
And his vain importunity pursues
He brought our Saviour to the western side [ 25 ]
Of that high mountain, whence he might behold
Another plain, long but in bredth not wide;
Wash'd by the Southern Sea, and on the North
To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills
That screen'd the fruits of the earth and seats of men [ 30 ]
From cold Septentrion blasts, thence in the midst
Divided by a river, of whose banks
On each side an Imperial City stood
With Towers and Temples proudly elevate
On seven small Hills, with Palaces adorn'd, [ 35 ]
Porches and Theatres, Baths, Aqueducts
Statues and Trophees, and Triumphal Arcs
Gardens and Groves presented to his eyes
Above the highth of Mountains interpos'd:
By what strange Parallax or Optic skill [ 40 ]
Of vision multiplyed through air, or glass
Of Telescope, were curious to enquire:
And now the Tempter thus his silence broke
The City which thou seest no other deem
Then great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth [ 45 ]
So far renown'd, and with the spoils enricht
Of Nations; there the Capitol thou seest
Above the rest lifting his stately head
On the Tarpeian rock, her Cittadel
Impregnable, and there Mount Palatine [ 50 ]
The Imperial Palace, compass huge, and high
The Structure, skill of noblest Architects
With gilded battlements, conspicuous far
Turrets and Terrases, and glittering Spires
Many a fair Edifice besides, more like [ 55 ]
Houses of Gods (so well I have dispos'd
My Aerie Microscope) thou may'st behold
Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs
Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd Artificers
In Cedar, Marble, Ivory, or Gold. [ 60 ]
Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see
What conflux issuing forth or entring in
Pretors, Proconsuls to thir Provinces
Hasting or on return, in robes of State;
Lictors and rods, the ensigns of thir power, [ 65 ]
Legions and Cohorts, turmes of horse and wings:
Or Embassies from Regions far remote
In various habits on the Appian road
Or on the Æmilian, 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 Black-moor Sea;
From the Asian Kings and Parthian among these
From India and the golden Chersoness
And utmost Indian Isle Taprobane, [ 75 ]
Dusk faces with white silken Turbants wreath'd:
From Gallia, Gades, and the Brittish 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 Emperour, 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, [ 85 ]
The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight
Shar'd among petty Kings too far remov'd;
These having shewn thee, I have shewn thee all
The Kingdoms of the world, and all thir glory
This Emperour hath no Son, and now is old, [ 90 ]
Old, and lascivious, and from Rome retir'd
To Capreæ an Island small but strong
On the Campanian shore, with purpose there
His horrid lusts in private to enjoy
Committing to a wicked Favourite [ 95 ]
All publick cares, and yet of him suspicious
Hated of all, and hating; with what ease
Indu'd with Regal Vertues as thou art
Appearing, and beginning noble deeds
Might'st thou expel this monster from his Throne [ 100 ]
Now made a stye, 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 then all the world, [ 105 ]
Aim at the highest, without the highest attain'd
Will be for thee no sitting, or not long
On David's Throne, be propheci'd what will
To whom the Son of God unmov'd reply'd
Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show [ 110 ]
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence
More then of arms before, allure mine eye
Much less my mind; though thou should'st add to tell
Thir sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts
On Cittron tables or Atlantic stone; [ 115 ]
(For I have also heard, perhaps have read)
Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne
Chios and Creet, and how they quaff in Gold
Crystal and Myrrhine cups imboss'd with Gems
And studs of Pearl, to me should'st tell who thirst [ 120 ]
And hunger still: then Embassies thou shew'st
From Nations far and nigh; what honour that
But tedious wast of time to sit and hear
So many hollow complements and lies
Outlandish flatteries? then proceed'st to talk [ 125 ]
Of the Emperour, how easily subdu'd
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 vassal, who once just
Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquer'd well
But govern ill the Nations under yoke, [ 135 ]
Peeling thir Provinces, exhausted all
By lust and rapine; first ambitious grown
Of triumph that insulting vanity;
Then cruel, by thir sports to blood enur'd
Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd, [ 140 ]
Luxurious by thir wealth, and greedier still
And from the daily Scene effeminate
What wise and valiant man would seek to free
These thus degenerate, by themselves enslav'd
Or could of inward slaves make outward free? [ 145 ]
Know therefore when my season comes to sit
On David's Throne, it shall be like a tree
Spreading and over-shadowing 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 repli'd
I see all offers made by me how slight [ 155 ]
Thou valu'st, because offer'd, and reject'st:
Nothing will please the difficult and nice
Or nothing more then 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 giv'n to me, I give to whom I please
No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else, [ 165 ]
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 answer'd with disdain. [ 170 ]
I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers less
Now both abhor, since thou hast dar'd to utter
The abominable terms, impious condition;
But I endure the time, till which expir'd
Thou hast permission on me. It is written [ 175 ]
The first of all Commandments, Thou shalt worship
The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve;
And dar'st thou to the Son of God propound
To worship thee accurst, now more accurst
For this attempt bolder then that on Eve, [ 180 ]
And more blasphemous? which expect to rue
The Kingdoms of the world to thee were giv'n
Permitted rather, and by thee usurp't
Other donation none thou canst produce:
If given, by whom but by the King of Kings, [ 185 ]
God over all supreme? If giv'n to thee
By thee how fairly is the Giver now
Repaid? But gratitude in thee is lost
Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame
As offer them to me the Son of God, [ 190 ]
To me my own, on such abhorred pact
That I fall down and worship thee as God?
Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st
That Evil one, Satan for ever damn'd
To whom the Fiend with fear abasht reply'd. [ 195 ]
Be not so sore offended, Son of God;
Though Sons of God both Angels are and Men
If I to try whether in higher sort
Then these thou bear'st that title, have propos'd
What both from Men and Angels I receive, [ 200 ]
Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the earth
Nations besides from all the quarter'd winds
God of this World invok't and world beneath;
Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold
To me so fatal, me it most concerns. [ 205 ]
The trial hath indamag'd thee no way
Rather more honour left and more esteem;
Me naught advantag'd, missing what I aim'd
Therefore let pass, 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 inclin'd
Then to a worldly Crown, addicted more
To contemplation and profound dispute
As by that early action may be judg'd, [ 215 ]
When slipping from thy Mothers eye thou went'st
Alone into the Temple; there was 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're all the world
In knowledge, all things in it comprehend
All knowledge is not couch't in Moses Law, [ 225 ]
The Pentateuch or what the Prophets wrote
The Gentiles also know, and write, and teach
To admiration, led by Natures light;
And with the Gentiles much thou must converse
Ruling them by perswasion as thou mean'st, [ 230 ]
Without thir learning how wilt thou with them
Or they with thee hold conversation meet?
How wilt thou reason with them, how refute
Thir Idolisms, Traditions, Paradoxes?
Error by his own arms is best evinc't. [ 235 ]
Look once more e're we leave this specular Mount
Westward, much nearer by Southwest, behold
Where on the Ægean shore a City stands
Built nobly, 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 [ 245 ]
Trills her thick-warbl'd notes the summer long
There flowrie hill Hymettus with the sound
Of Bees industrious murmur oft invites
To studious musing; there Ilissus rouls
His whispering stream; within the walls then view [ 250 ]
The schools of antient 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 hit [ 255 ]
By voice or hand, and various-measur'd verse
Æolian charms and Dorian Lyric Odes
And his who gave them breath, but higher sung
Blind Melesigenes, thence Homer call'd
Whose Poem Phœbus challeng'd for his own. [ 260 ]
Thence what the lofty grave Tragœdians taught
In Chorus or Iambic, teachers best
Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd
In brief sententious precepts, while they treat
Of fate, and chance, and change in human life; [ 265 ]
High actions, and high passions best describing:
Thence to the famous Orators repair
Those antient, whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce Democratie
Shook the Arsenal and fulmin'd over Greece, [ 270 ]
To Macedon, and Artaxerxes Throne;
To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear
From Heaven descended to the low-rooft house
Of Socrates, see there his Tenement
Whom well inspir'd the Oracle pronounc'd [ 275 ]
Wisest of men; from whose mouth issu'd forth
Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools
Of Academics old and new, with those
Sirnam'd Peripatetics, and the Sect
Epicurean, and the Stoic severe; [ 280 ]
These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home
Till time mature thee to a Kingdom's waight;
These rules will render thee a King compleat
Within thy self, much more with Empire joyn'd
To whom our Saviour sagely thus repli'd. [ 285 ]
Think not but that I know these things, or think
I know them not; not therefore am I short
Of knowing what I aught: 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 profess'd
To know this only, that he nothing knew;
The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits, [ 295 ]
A third sort doubted all things, though plain sense;
Others in vertue plac'd felicity
But vertue joyn'd with riches and long life
In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease
The Stoic last in Philosophic pride, [ 300 ]
By him call'd vertue; and his vertuous man
Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing
Equal to God, oft shames not to prefer
As fearing God nor man, contemning all
Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life, [ 305 ]
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 God 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 awrie
And in themselves seek vertue, and to themselves
All glory arrogate, to God give none, [ 315 ]
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 wearisom; 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) [ 325 ]
Uncertain and unsettl'd still remains
Deep verst in books and shallow in himself
Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys
And trifles for choice matters, worth a spunge;
As Children gathering pibles on the shore. [ 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 strew'd
With Hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscrib'd, [ 335 ]
Our Hebrew Songs and Harps in Babylon
That pleas'd so well our Victors ear, declare
That rather Greece from us these Arts deriv'd;
Ill imitated, while they loudest sing
The vices of thir Deities, and thir own [ 340 ]
In Fable, Hymn, or Song, so personating
Thir Gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame
Remove their swelling Epithetes thick laid
As varnish on a Harlots cheek, the rest
Thin sown with aught of profit or delight, [ 345 ]
Will far be found unworthy to compare
With Sion's songs, to all true tasts excelling
Where God is prais'd aright, and Godlike men
The Holiest of Holies, and his Saints;
Such are from God inspir'd, not such from thee; [ 350 ]
Unless where moral vertue is express't
By light of Nature, not in all quite lost
Thir Orators thou then extoll'st, as those
The top of Eloquence, Statists indeed
And lovers of thir Country, as may seem; [ 355 ]
But herein to our Prophets far beneath
As men divinely taught, and better teaching
The solid rules of Civil Government
In thir majestic unaffected stile
Then 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 God; but Satan now [ 365 ]
Quite at a loss, for all his darts were spent
Thus to our Saviour with stern brow reply'd
Since neither wealth, nor honour, arms nor arts
Kingdom nor Empire pleases thee, nor aught
By me propos'd 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 [ 375 ]
To wish thou never hadst rejected thus
Nicely or cautiously my offer'd 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 fullfill'd
Now contrary, if I read aught in Heaven
Or Heav'n write aught of Fate, by what the Stars
Voluminous, or single characters
In their conjunction met, give me to spell, [ 385 ]
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 prefixt
Directs me in the Starry Rubric set
So saying, he took (for still he knew his power
Not yet expir'd) and to the Wilderness [ 395 ]
Brought back the Son of God, and left him there
Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose
As day-light sunk, and brought in lowring night
Her shadowy off-spring, unsubstantial both
Privation meer of light and absent day. [ 400 ]
Our Saviour meek and with untroubl'd mind
After his aerie jaunt, though hurried sore
Hungry and cold betook him to his rest
Wherever, under some concourse of shades
Whose branching arms thick intertwin'd might shield [ 405 ]
From dews and damps of night his shelter'd head
But shelter'd slept in vain, for at his head
The Tempter watch'd, and soon with ugly dreams
Disturb'd his sleep; and either Tropic now
'Gan thunder; and both ends of Heav'n, the Clouds [ 410 ]
From many a horrid rift abortive pour'd
Fierce rain with lightning mixt, water with fire
In ruine reconcil'd: nor slept the winds
Within thir stony caves, but rush'd abroad
From the four hinges of the world, and fell [ 415 ]
On the vext Wilderness, whose tallest Pines
Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest Oaks
Bow'd thir Stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts
Or torn up sheer: ill wast thou shrouded then
O patient Son of God, yet only stood'st [ 420 ]
Unshaken; nor yet staid the terror there
Infernal Ghosts, and Hellish Furies, round
Environ'd thee, some howl'd, some yell'd, some shriek'd
Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou
Sat'st unappall'd in calm and sinless peace. [ 425 ]
Thus pass'd the night so 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 grisly Spectres, which the Fiend had rais'd [ 430 ]
To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire
And now the Sun 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 behold more fresh and green, [ 435 ]
After a night of storm so ruinous
Clear'd 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 resolv'd
Desperate of better course, to vent his rage, [ 445 ]
And mad despite to be so oft repell'd
Him walking on a Sunny hill he found
Back'd 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 God
After a dismal night; I heard the rack
As Earth and Skie would mingle; but my self
Was distant; and these flaws, though mortals fear them
As dangerous to the pillard frame of Heaven, [ 455 ]
Or to the Earths dark basis underneath
Are to the main as inconsiderable
And harmless, if not wholesom, as a sneeze
To mans less universe, and soon are gone;
Yet as being oft times noxious where they light [ 460 ]
On man, beast, plant, wastful and turbulent
Like turbulencies in the affairs of men
Over whose heads they rore, and seem to point
They oft fore-signifie and threaten ill:
This Tempest at this Desert most was bent; [ 465 ]
Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st
Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject
The perfet season offer'd with my aid
To win thy destin'd seat, but wilt prolong
All to the push of Fate, persue thy way [ 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 proclaim'd it, but concealing
The time and means: each act is rightliest done, [ 475 ]
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 assay
Of dangers, and adversities and pains
E're thou of Israel's Scepter get fast hold; [ 480 ]
Whereof this ominous night that clos'd thee round
So many terrors, voices, prodigies
May warn thee, as a sure fore-going sign
So talk'd he, while the Son of God went on
And staid not, but in brief him answer'd thus. [ 485 ]
Mee worse then wet thou find'st not; other harm
Those terrors which thou speak'st of, did me none;
I never fear'd they could, though noising loud
And threatning nigh; what they can do as signs
Betok'ning or ill boding I contemn [ 490 ]
As false portents, not sent from God, but thee;
Who knowing I shall raign past thy preventing
Obtrud'st thy offer'd aid, that I accepting
At least might seem to hold all power of thee
Ambitious spirit, and wouldst be thought my God, [ 495 ]
And storm'st refus'd, thinking to terrifie
Mee to thy will; desist, thou art discern'd
And toil'st in vain, nor me in vain molest
To whom the Fiend now swoln 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 Messiah I have heard foretold
By all the Prophets; of thy birth at length
Announc't by Gabriel with the first I knew
And of the Angelic Song in Bethlehem field, [ 505 ]
On thy birth-night, that sung thee Saviour born
From that time seldom have I ceas'd 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 ]
Flock'd to the Baptist, I among the rest
Though not to be Baptiz'd, by voice from Heav'n
Heard thee pronounc'd the Son of God belov'd
Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view
And narrower Scrutiny, that I might learn [ 515 ]
In what degree or meaning thou art call'd
The Son of God, which bears no single sence;
The Son of God I also am, or was
And if I was, I am; relation stands;
All men are Sons of God; yet thee I thought [ 520 ]
In some respect far higher so declar'd
Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour
And follow'd thee still on to this wast wild;
Where by all best conjectures I collect
Thou art to be my fatal enemy. [ 525 ]
Good reason then, if I before-hand seek
To understand my Adversary, who
And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent
By parl, 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 Center, firm
To the utmost of meer man both wise and good, [ 535 ]
Not more; for Honours, Riches, Kingdoms, Glory
Have been before contemn'd, and may agen:
Therefore to know what more thou art then man
Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heav'n
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're the Plain;
Till underneath them fair Jerusalem
The holy City, lifted high her Towers, [ 545 ]
And higher yet the glorious Temple rear'd
Her pile, far off appearing like a Mount
Of Alablaster, top't with golden Spires:
There on the highest Pinacle he set
The Son of God, and added thus in scorn: [ 550 ]
There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright
Will ask thee skill; I to thy Fathers house
Have brought thee, and highest plac't, highest is best
Now shew thy Progeny; if not to stand
Cast thy self down; safely if Son of God: [ 555 ]
For it is written, He will give command
Concerning thee to his Angels, in thir hands
They shall up lift 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 God; he said and stood
But Satan smitten with amazement fell
As when Earths Son Antæus (to compare
Small things with greatest) in Irassa strove
With Joves Alcides and oft foil'd still rose, [ 565 ]
Receiving from his mother Earth new strength
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joyn'd
Throttl'd at length in the Air, expir'd and fell;
So after many a foil the Tempter proud
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride [ 570 ]
Fell whence he stood to see his Victor fall
And as that Theban Monster that propos'd
Her riddle, and him, who solv'd it not, devour'd;
That once found out and solv'd, for grief and spite
Cast herself headlong from th' Ismenian steep, [ 575 ]
So strook with dread and anguish fell the Fiend
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
Joyless tryumphals of his hop't success
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay
Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God. [ 580 ]
So Satan fell and strait a fiery Globe
Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh
Who on their plumy Vans receiv'd him soft
From his uneasie station, and upbore
As on a floating couch through the blithe Air, [ 585 ]
Then in a flowry valley set him down
On a green bank, and set before him spred
A table of Celestial Food, Divine
Ambrosial, Fruits fetcht from the tree of life
And from the fount of life Ambrosial drink, [ 590 ]
That soon refresh'd him wearied, and repair'd
What hunger, if aught hunger had impair'd
Or thirst, and as he fed, Angelic Quires
Sung Heavenly Anthems of his victory
Over temptation and the Tempter proud. [ 595 ]
True Image of the Father, whether thron'd
In the bosom of bliss, and light of light
Conceiving, or remote from Heaven, enshrin'd
In fleshly Tabernacle, and human form
Wandring the Wilderness, whatever place, [ 600 ]
Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing
The Son of God, with Godlike force indu'd
Against th' Attempter of thy Fathers Throne
And Thief of Paradise; him long of old
Thou didst debel, and down from Heav'n cast [ 605 ]
With all his Army, now thou hast aveng'd
Supplanted Adam, and by vanquishing
Temptation, hast regain'd 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 fail'd
A fairer Paradise is founded now
For Adam and his chosen Sons, whom thou
A Saviour art come down to re-install. [ 615 ]
Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be
Of Tempter and Temptation without fear
But thou, Infernal Serpent, shalt not long
Rule in the Clouds; like an Autumnal Star
Or Lightning thou shalt fall from Heav'n trod down [ 620 ]
Under his feet: for proof, e're this thou feel'st
Thy wound, yet not thy last and deadliest wound
By this repulse receiv'd, and hold'st in Hell
No triumph; in all her gates Abaddon rues
Thy bold attempt; hereafter learn with awe [ 625 ]
To dread the Son of God: he all unarm'd
Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice
From thy Demoniac holds, possession foul
Thee and thy Legions; yelling they shall flye
And beg to hide them in a herd of Swine, [ 630 ]
Lest he command them down into the deep
Bound, and to torment sent before thir time
Hail Son of the most High, heir of both worlds
Queller of Satan, on thy glorious work
Now enter, and begin to save mankind. [ 635 ]
Thus they the Son of God our Saviour meek
Sung Victor, and, from Heavenly Feast refresht
Brought on his way with joy; hee unobserv'd
Home to his Mothers house private return'd

The END