tells him that he might with the greatest ease ex- semnal compeers to relate the bad success of his pel Tiberius, restore the Romans to their liberty, enterprise. Angels in the mean time convey our and make himself master not only of the Roman blessed Lord to a beautiful valley, and, while Empire, but by so doing of the whole world, and they minister to him a repast of celestial food, inclusively of the throne of David. Our Lord, celebrate his victory in a triumphant hymn. in reply, expresses his contempt of grandeur and worldly power, notices the luxury, vanity, and PERPLEX’d and troubled at his bad success profligacy of the Romans, declaring how little The tempter stood, nor had what to reply, they merited to be restored to that liberty, which Discoverd in bis fraud, thrown from his hope they had lost by their misconduct, and briefly re- So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric fers to the greatness of his own future kingdom. That sleek'd his tongue, and won so much on Eve : Satan, now desperate, to enhance the value of his So little here, nay lost; but Eve was Eve; proffered gifts, professes that the only terms, on This far his over-match, who, self-deceiv’d which he will bestow them, are our Savior's fall. And rash, beforehand had no better weigh'd ing down and worshipping him. Our Lord ex- The strength he was to cope with, or his own: presses a firm but temperate indignation at such But as a man, who had been matchless held

proposition, and rebukes the tempter by the title In cunning, over-reach'd where least he thought, of - Satan for ever damned.” Satan, abashed, To salve his credit, and for every spite, attempts to justify himself: he then assumes a Sull will be tempting him who foils him still, new ground of temptation, and proposing to Jesus And never cease, though to his shame the more ; the intellectual gratifications of wisdom and Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time, knowledge, points out to him the celebrated seat About the wine-press where sweet must is pour'd, of ancient learning, Athens, its schools, and other Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound; various resorts of learned teachers and their dis- Or surging waves against a solid rock, ciples; accompanying the view with a highly- Though all to shivers dash'd; the assault renew finished panegyric on the Grecian musicians, po- (Vain battery!) and in froth or bubbles end ; ets, orators and philosophers of the different sects. So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse Jesus replies, by showing the vanity and insuf- Met ever, and to shameful silence brought, ficiency of the boasted heathen philosophy; and Yet gives not o'er, though desperate of success, prefers to the music, poetry, eloquence and didac- And his vain importunity pursues. tic policy of the Greeks, those of the inspired He brought our Savior to the western side Hebrew writers. Satan, irritated at the failure of that high mountain, whence he might behold of all his attempts, upbraids the indiscretion of Another plain, long, but in breadth not wide, our Savior in rejecting his offers; and, having, in Wash'd by the southern sea, and, on the north, ridicule of his expected kingdom, foretold the suf To equal length back'd with a ridge of hills serings that our Lord was to undergo, carries him That screen’d the fruits of the earth, and seats of men, back into the wilderness, and leaves him there. From cold Septentrion blast ; thence in the midst Night comes on : Satan raises a tremendous Divided by a river, of whose banks storm, and attempts further to alarm Jesus with On each side an imperial city stood, frightful dreams, and terrific threatening spectres; With towers and temples proudly elevate which, however, have no effect upon him. A On seven small hills, with palaces adornd, calm, bright, beautiful morning succeeds to the Porches, and theatres, baths, aqueducts, horrors of the night. Satan again presents him- Statues, and trophies, and triumphal arcs, self to our blessed Lord, and, from noticing the Gardens, and groves, presented to his eyes, storm of the preceding night as pointed chiefly at Above the height of mountains interpos'd : him, takes occasion once more to insult him with (By what strange parallax, or optic skill an account of the sufferings which he was cer- of vision, multiplied through air, or glass lainly to undergo. This only draws from our Of telescope, were curious to inquire :) Lord a brief rebuke. Satan, now at the height And now the tempter thus his silence broke. of his desperation, confesses that he had frequent- “ The city which thou seest, no other deem ly watched Jesus from his birth, purposely lo dis. Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the Earth, cover if he was the true Messiah; and, collecting So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd from what passed at the river Jordan that he most of nations; there the Capitol thou seest, probably was so, he had from that time more as-Above the rest lifting his stately head siduously followed him, in hopes of gaining some On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel advantage over him, which would most effectual- Impregnable, and there mount Palatine ly prove that he was not really that Divine Per- The imperial palace, compass huge and high son destined to be his “ fatal enemy.” In this he The structure, skill of noblest architects, acknowledges that he has hitherto completely With gilded battlements conspicuous far, failed; but still determines to make one more Turrets, and terraces, and glittering spires : trial of him. Accordingly he conveys him to the Many a fair edifice besides, more like Temple at Jerusalem, and, placing him on a point- Houses of Gods, (so well I have dispos'd ed eminence, requires him to prove his divinity My aery microscope,) thou may’st behold, either by standing there, or casting himself down Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs, with safety. Our Lord reproves the tempter, and Carv'd work, the hand of fam'd artificers, at the same time manifests his own divinity by in cedar, marble, ivory, or gold. standing on this dangerous point. Satan, amazed Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see and terrified, instantly falls; and repairs to his in- What conflux issuing forth, or entering in;

Pretors, proconsuls, to their provinces

That people, victor once, now vile and base; Hasting, or on return, in robes of state,

Deservedly made vassal ; who, once just, Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power, Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquer'd well, Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings: But govern ill the nations under yoke, Or embassies from regions far remote,

Peeling their provinces, exhausted all
In various habits, on the Appian road,

By lust and rapine; first ambitious grown
Or on the Emilian; some from farthest south, Of triumph, that insulting vanity;
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls, Then cruel, by their sports to blood inur'd
Meroe, Nilotic isle ; and, more to west,

Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd
The realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor sea; Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still,
From the Asian kings, and Parthian among these ; And from the daily scene effeminate,
From India and the golden Chersonese,

What wise and valiant man would seek to free And utmost Indian isle Taprobane,

These, thus degenerate, by themselves enslav'd ? Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreath’d; Or could of inward slaves make outward free! From Gallia, Gades, and the British west;

Know therefore, when my season comes to sit Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north On David's throne, it shall be like a tree Beyond Danubius to the Tauric pool.

Spreading and overshadowing all the Earth ; All nations now to Rome obedience pay;

Or as a stone, that shall to pieces dash To Rome's great emperor, whose wide domain, All monarchies besides throughout the world; In ample territory, wealth, and power,

And of my kingdom there shall be no end : Civility of manners, arts and arms,

Means there shall be to this; but what the means And long renown, thou justly may'st prefer Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell." Before the Parthian. These two thrones except, To whom the tempter, impudent, replied. The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight," I see all offers made by me how slight Shar'd among petty kings too far remov'd ; Thou valuest, because offer'd, and reject'st: These having shown thee, I have shown thee all Nothing will please the difficult and nice, The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory. Or nothing more than still to contradict: This emperor hath no son, and now is old, On the other side know also thou, that I Old and lascivious, and from Rome retir'd

On what I offer set as high esteem, To Capreæ, an island small, but strong,

Nor what I part with mean to give for nought; On the Campanian shore, with purpose there All these, which in a moment thou behold'st, His horrid lusts in private to enjoy ;

The kingdoms of the world, to thee I give, Committing to a wicked favorite

(For, given to me, I give to whom I please,) All public cares, and yet of him suspicious ; No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else, Hated of all, and hating. With what ease, On this condition, if thou wilt fall down, Endued with regal virtues, as thou art,

And worship me as thy superior lord, Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,

(Easily done,) and hold them all of me; Might'st thou expel this monster from his throne, For what can less so great a gift deserve ?" Now made a sty, and, in his place ascending,

Whom thus our Savior answer'd with disdain. A victor people free from servile yoke!

“ I never lik'd thy talk, thy offers less ; And with my help thou may’st; to me the power Now both abhor, since thou hast dar'd to utter Is given, and by that right I give it thee.

The abominable terms, impious condition: Aim therefore at no less than all the world; But I endure the time, till which expir'd Aim at the highest : without the highest attain'd, Thou hast permission on me. It is written, Will be for thee no sitting, or not long,

The first of all commandments, “Thou shalt wor. On David's throne, be prophesied what will."

ship To whom the Son of God, unmov'd, replied. The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve;' “ Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show And darst thou to the Son of God propound Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,

To worship thee accurs'd ? now more accurs'd More than of arms before, allure mine eye, For this attempt, bolder than that on Eve, Much less my mind; though thou shouldst add to And more blasphémous; which expect to rue. tell

The kingdoms of the world to thee were given ? Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts Permitted rather, and by thee usurp'd; On citron tables or Atlantic stone,

Other donation none thou canst produce. (For I have also heard, perhaps have read,) If given, by whom but by the King of kings, Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,

God over all supreme? If given to thee, Chios, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold, By thee how fairly is the giver now Crystal, and myrrhine cups, emboss'd with gems Repaid! But gratitude in thee is lost And studs of pearl; to me shouldst tell, who thirst Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame, And hunger still. Then embassies thou show'st As offer them to me, the Son of God ? From nations far and nigh: what honor that, To me my own, on such abhorred pact, But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear

That I fall down and worship thee as God? So many hollow compliments and lies,

Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st Outlandish flatteries? Then proceed'st to talk That Evil-one, Satan for ever damn'd." Of the emperor, how easily subdued,

To whom the fiend, with fear abash'd, replied. How gloriously: I shall, thou say'st, expel “ Be not so sore offended, Son of God, A brutish monster; what if I withal

Though sons of God both angels are and men, Expel a devil who first made him such ?

If I, to try whether in higher sort Let his tormenter conscience find him out; Than these thou bear'st that title, have propos'd For him I was not sent; nor yet to free

What both from men and angels I receive,

Tetrarchs of fire, air, flood, and on the Earth, To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne:
Nations beside from all the quarter'd winds, To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear,
God of this world invok'd, and world beneath: From Heaven descended to the low-roof'd house
Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold Of Socrates ; see there his tenement,
To me most fatal, me it most concerns;

Whom well inspir'd the oracle pronounc'd
The trial hath endamag'd thee no way,

Wisest of men; from whose mouth issued forth Rather more honor left and more esteem;

Mellifluous streams, that water'd all the schools Me nought advantag'd, missing what I aim'd. Of academics old and new, with those Therefore let pass, as they are transitory,

Surnamed Peripatetics, and the sect The kingdoms of this world; I shall no more Epicurean, and the Stoic severe; Advise thee; gain them as thou canst, or not. These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home, And thou thyself seem'st otherwise inclin'd Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight; Than to a worldly crown; addicted more These rules will render thee a king complete To contemplation and profound dispute,

Within thyself, much more with empire join'd.” As by that early action may be judg’d,

To whom our Savior sagely thus replied. When, slipping from thy mother's eye, thou went'st " Think not but that I know these things, or think Alone into the temple, there was found

I know them not; not therefore am I short Among the gravest rabbies, disputant

Of knowing what I ought: he, who receives On points and questions fitting Moses' chair, Light from above, from the fountain of light, Teaching, not taught. The childhood shows the man, No other doctrine needs, though granted true; As morning shows the day: be famous then But these are false, or little else but dreams, By wisdom; as thy empire must extend,

Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm. So let extend thy mind o'er all the world

The first and wisest of them all profess'd
In knowledge, all things in it comprehend. To know this only, that he nothing knew;
All knowledge is not couch'd in Moses' law, The next to fabling fell, and smooth conceits ;
The Pentateuch, or what the prophets wrote; A third sort doubted all things, though plain sense ;
The Gentiles also know, and write, and teach Others in virtue plac'd felicity,
To admiration, led by Nature's light,

But virtue joined with riches and long life;
And with the Gentiles much thou must converse, In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease;
Ruling them by persuasion, as thou mean'st; The Stoic last in philosophic pride,
Without their learning, how wilt thou with them, By him call’d virtue; and his virtuous man,
Or they with thee, hold conversation meet? Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing
How wilt thou reason with them, how refute Equal to God, oft shames not to prefer,
Their idolisms, traditions, paradoxes ?

As fearing God nor man, contemning all
Error by his own arms is best evinc'd.

Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life,
Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount. Which, when he lists, he leaves, or boasts he can,
Westward, much nearer by south-west, behold For all his tedious talk is but vain boast,
Where on the Ægean shore a city stands,

Or subtle shifts conviction to evade.
Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil; Alas! what can they teach and not mislead,
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts Ignorant of themselves, of God much more,
And eloquence, native to famous wits

And how the world began, and how man fell
Or hospitable, in her sweet recess,

Degraded by himself, on grace depending? City or suburban, studious walks and shades. Much of the soul they talk, but all awry, See there the olive-grove of Academe,

And in themselves seek virtue; and to themselves Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird

All glory arrogate, to God give none; Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long; Rather accuse him under usual names, There flowery hill Hymettus, with the sound Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites

of mortal things. Who therefore seeks in these To studious musing; there Ilissus rolls

True wisdom, finds her not: or, by delusion, His whispering stream: within the walls, then view Far worse, her false resemblance only meets, The schools of ancient sages; his who bred An empty cloud. However, many books, Great Alexander to subdue the world,

Wise men have said, are wearisome; who reads Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next :

Incessantly, and to his reading brings not There shalt thou hear and learn the secret power A spirit and judgment equal or supcrior, Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit

(And what he brings what needs he elsewhere seek?) By voice or hand; and various-measur'd verse, Uncertain and unsettled still remains, Æolian charms and Dorian lyric odes,

Deep vers’d in books, and shallow in himself,
And his, who gave them breath, but higher sung, Crude or intoxicale, collecting toys
Blind Melesigenes, thence Homer callid,

And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge ;
Whose poem Phæbus challeng'd for his own : As children gathering pebbles on the shore.
Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught Or, if I would delight my private hours
In Chorus or lambic, teachers best

With music or with poem, where so soon of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd

As in our native language, can I find In brief sententious precepts, while they treat That solace ? All our law and story strew'd Of fate and chance, and change in human life, With hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscrib'd, High actions and high passions best describing : Our Hebrew songs and harps, in Babylon Thence to the famous orators repair,

That pleas'd so well our victor's car, declare Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence

That rather Greece from us these arts deriv'd; Wielded at will that fierce democratie,

Ill imitated, while they loudest sing
Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece The vices of their deities, and their own,

In fable, hymn, or song, so personating

From many a horrid rift, abortive pour'd Their gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame. Fierce rain with lightning mix'd, water with fire Remove their swelling epithets, thick laid

In ruin reconcil'd: nor slept the winds As varnish on a harlot's cheek, the rest,

Within their stony caves, but rush'd abroad Thin sown with aught of profit or delight, From the four hinges of the world, and fell Will far be found unworthy to compare

On the vex'd wilderness, whose tallest pines, With Sion's songs, to all true tastes excelling, Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest oaks, Where God is prais'd aright, and godlike men, Bow'd their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts The Holiest of Holies, and his saints,

Or torn up sheer. Il wast thou shrouded then, (Such are from God inspir'd, not such from thee,) O patient Son of God, yet only stood'st Unless where moral virtue is expressid

Unshaken! Nor yet staid the terror there; By light of Nature, not in all quite lost.

Infernal ghosts and hellish furies round (shriek'd, Their orators thou then extoll'st, as those

Environ'd thee, some howl'd, some yell’d, some The top of eloquence; statists indeed,

Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou And lovers of their country, as may seem; Sat'st unappall’d in calm and sinless peace! But herein to our prophets far beneath,

Thus pass'd the night so foul, till Morning fair As men divinely taught, and better teaching Came forth, with pilgrim steps, in amice grey; The solid rules of civil goverement,

Who with her radiant finger still’d the roar In their majestic unaffected style,

Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds, Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome. And grisly spectres, which the fiend had rais'd In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt, To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire. What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so, And now the Sun with more effectual beams What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat;

Hlad cheer'd the face of Earth, and dried the wet These only with our law best form a king." From drooping plant, or dropping tree; the birds,

So spake the Son of God; but Satan, now Who all things now behold more fresh and green, Quite at a loss, (for all his darts were spent.) After a night of storin so ruinous, Thus to our Savior with stern brow replied. Cleard up their choicest notes in bush and spray,

“ Since neither wealth nor honor, arms nor arts, To gratulate the sweet return of morn. Kingdom nor empire pleases thee, nor aught Nor yet, amidst this joy and brightest morn, By me propos'd in life contemplative

Was absent, after all his mischief done, Or active, tended on by glory or fame,

The prince of darkness; glad would also seem What dost thou in this world ? The wilderness of this fair change, and to our Savior came; For thee is fittest place; I found thee there, Yet with no new device, (they all were spent.) And thither will return thee; yet remember Rather by this his last affront resolvid, What I foretell thee, soon thou shalt have cause Desperate of better course, to vent his rage To wish thou never hadst rejected, thus

And mad despite to be so oft repell'a. Nicely or cautiously, my offer'd aid,

Him walking on a sunny hill he found, Which would have set thee in short time with ease Back'd on the north and west by a thick wood; On David's throne, or throne of all the world, Out of the wood he starts in wonted shape, Now at full age, fullness of time, thy season And in a careless mood thus to him said. When prophecies of thee are best fulfillid.

· Fair morning yet betides thee, Son of God, Now contrary, if I read aught in Heaven,

After a dismal night: I heard the wrack, Or Heaven write aught of fate, by what the stars As earth and sky would mingle; but myself (them Voluminous, or single characters,

Was distant, and these flaws, though mortals fear In their conjunction met, give me to spell,

As dangerous to the pillar'd frame of Heaven, Sorrows, and labors, opposition, hate

Or to the Earth's dark basis underneath,
Attend thee, scorns, reproaches, injuries,

Are to the main as inconsiderable
Violence and stripes, and lastly cruel death; And harmless, if not wholesome, as a sneeze
A kingdom they portend thee, but what kingdom, To man's less universe, and soon are gone;
Real or allegoric, I discern not;

Yet, as being oft-times noxious where they light Nor when; eternal sure, as without end,

On man, beast, plant, wasteful and turbulent, Without beginning; for no date prefix'd

Like turbulencies in the affairs of men, Directs me in the starry rubric set."

Over whose heads they roar, and seem to point,
So saying he took, (for still he knew his power They oft fore-signify and threaten ill:
Not yet expir'd,) and to the wilderness

This tempest at this desert most was bent;
Brought back the Son of God, and left him there, of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st.
Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose, Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject
As daylight sunk, and brought in lowering night, The perfect season offered with my aid
Her shadowy offspring; unsubstantial both, To win thy destin'd seat, but wilt prolong
Privation mere of light and absent day.

All to the push of fate, pursue thy way
Our Savior meck, and with untroubled mind Of gaining David's throne, no man knows when,
After his aery jaunt, though hurried sore,

For both the when and how is nowhere told ! Hungry and cold, betook him to his rest,

Thou shalt be what thou art ordain'd, no doubt; Wherever, under some concourse of shades, For angels have proclaim'd it, but concealing Whose branching arms thick intertwin'd might shield The time and means. Each act is rightliest done From dews and damps of night his shelter'd head; Not when it must, but when it may be best: But, shelter'd, slept in vain ; for at his head If thou observe not this, be sure to find, The tempter watch'd, and soon with ugly dreams What I foretold thee, many a hard assay Disturb'd his sleep. And either tropic now Of dangers, and adversities, and pains, 'Gan thunder, and both ends of Heaven: the clouds, Ere thou of Israel's sceptre get fast hold;

Whereof this ominous night, that clos'd thee round, “There stand, if thou wilt stand ; to stand upright So many terrors, voices, prodigies,

Will ask thee skill; I to thy Father's house May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign." Have brought thee, and highest plac'd : highest is So talk'd he, while the Son of God went on

best :
And staid not, but in brief him answer'd thus : Now show thy progeny; if not to stand,

- Me worse than wet thou find'st not; other harm Cast thyself down; safely, if Son of God:
Those terrors, which thou speak'st of, did me none; For it is written, · He will give command
I never fear'd they could, though noising loud Concerning thee to his angels, in their hands
And threatening high: what they can do as signs They shall uplift thee, lest at any time
Betoking, or ill-boding, I contemn

Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone."
As false portents, not sent from God, but thee ; To whom thus Jesus: “ Also it is written,
Who, knowing I shall reign past thy preventing, • Tempt not the Lord thy God.'” He said, and stood :
Obtrud'st thy offer'd aid, that I, accepting,

But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell.
At least might seem to hold all power of thee, As when Earth's son Antæus. (to compare
Ambitious spirit! and wouldst be thought my God; Small things with greatest,) in Irassa strove
And storm'st refus'd, thinking to terrify

With Jove's Alcides, and, oft foild, still rose, Me to thy will! desist, (thou art discern'd, Receiving from his mother Earth new strength, And toil'st in vain,) nor me in vain molest." Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple join'd,

To whom the fiend, now swollen with rage, replied. Throttled at length in the air, expir'd and fell ; * Then hear, O son of David, virgin-born,

So, after many a foil, the tempter proud, For Son of God to me is yet in doubt;

Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride, Of the Messiah I had heard foretold

Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall : By all the prophets; of thy birth at length, And as that Theban monster, that propos'd Announc'd by Gabriel, with the first I knew, Her riddle, and him who solv'd it not devour'd, And of the angelic song in Bethlehem field, That once found out and solv'd, for grief and spite On thy birth-night that sung thee Savior born. Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian steep ; From that time seldom have I ceas'd to eye So, struck with dread and anguish, fell the fiend, Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth, And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred ; (Joyless triumphals of his hop'd success,) Till at the ford of Jordan, whither all

Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,
Flock to the Baptist, I, among the rest,

Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.
Though not to be baptiz’d,) by voice from Heaven So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe
Heard thee pronoune'd the Son of God belov’d. Of angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view Who on their plumy vans receiv'd him soft
And narrower scrutiny, that I might learn From his uneasy station, and upbore,
In what degree or meaning thou art call'd

As on a floating couch, through the blithe air;
The Son of God; which bears no single sense. Then, in a flowery valley, set him down
The Son of God I also am, or was;

On a green bank, and set before him spread
And if I was, I am ; relation stands;

A table of celestial food, divine
All men are sons of God; yet thee I thought Ambrosial fruits, fetch'd from the tree of life,
In some respect far higher so declar'd :

And, from the fount of life, ambrosial drink,
Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour, That soon refresh'd him wearied, and repair'd
And follow'd thee still on to this waste wild ; What hunger, if aught hunger, had impair'd,
Where, by all best conjectures, I collect

Or thirst; and, as he fed, angelic quires Thou art to be my fatal enemy :

Sung heavenly anthems of his victory Good reason then, if I beforehand seek

Over temptation and the tempter proud. To understand my adversary, who

“ True image of the Father; whether thron'd And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent: In the bosom of bliss, and light of light By parl or composition, truce or league,

Conceiving, or, remote from Heaven, enshrin'd To win him, or win from him what I can : In fleshly tabernacle, and human form, And opportunity I here have had

Wandering the wilderness ; whatever place, To try thee, sift thee, and confess have found thee Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing Proof against all temptation, as a rock

The Son of God, with godlike force indued Of adarnant, and, as a centre, firm:

Against the attempter of thy Father's throne,
To the utmost of mere man both wise and good, And thief of Paradise! him long of old
Not more ; for honors, riches, kingdoms, glory, Thou didst debel, and down from Heaven cast
Have been before contemn'd, and may again. With all his army; now thou hast aveng'd
Therefore, to know what more thou art than man, Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing
Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heaven, Temptation, hast regain'd lost Paradise,
Another method I must now begin."

And frustrated the conquest fraudulent.
So saying he caught him up, and, without wing He never more henceforth will dare set foot
Of hippogriff, bore through the air sublime, In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke :
Over the wilderness and o'er the plain,

For, though that seat of earthly bliss be faild,
Till underneath them fair Jerusalem,

A fairer Paradise is founded now The holy city, lifted high her towers,

For Adam and his chosen sons, whom thou, And higher yet the glorious temple rear'd

A Savior, art come down to re-install, Hler pile, far off appearing like a mount

Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be, Of alabaster, topt with golden spires :

Of tempter and temptation without fear. There on the highest pinnacle, he set

But thou, infernal serpent! shalt not long The Son of God and added thus in scorn.

Rule in the clouds like an autumnal star,

M