Discovered in his fraud, thrown from his hope

So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric

That sleeked his tongue, and won so much on Eve,
So little here, nay lost; but Eve was Eve,
This far his over-match, who, self-deceived
And rash, beforehand had no better weighed
The strength he was to cope with, or his own;
But as a man who had been matchless held
In cunning, over-reached where least he thought,
To salve his credit, and for very spite,

Still will be tempting him who foils him still,
And never cease, though to his shame the more;
Or as a swarm of flies in vintage time,

About the wine-press where sweet must is poured,
Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound;
Or surging waves against a solid rock,
Though all to shivers dashed, the assault renew,
Vain battery, and in froth or bubbles end;
So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse
Met ever, and to shameful silence brought,
Yet gives not o'er, though desperate of success,
And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Saviour to the western side
Of that high mountain, whence he might behold
Another plain,' long, but in breadth not wide,
Washed by the southern sea, and on the north
To equal length backed with a ridge of hills,
That screened the fruits of the earth and seats of men
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 adorned,
Porches and theatres, baths, aqueducts,
Statues and trophies, and triumphal arcs,
Gardens and groves, presented to his eyes,
Above the height of mountains interposed;
By what strange parallax, or optic skill
Of vision multiplied through air, or glass
Of telescope, were curious to inquire;
And now the tempter thus his silence broke:

Italy, which is washed by the Mediterranean on the south, and screened by the Northern Alps on the north, and divided in the midst by the river Tiber.

2 Northern.

"The city which thou seest no other deem
Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth
So far renowned, and with the spoils enriched
Of nations; there the capitol thou seest
Above the rest lifting his stately head
On the Tarpeian rock, her citadel
Impregnable, and there Mount Palatine,
The imperial palace, compass huge, and high
The structure, skill of noblest architects,
With gilded battlements, conspicuous far,
Turrets and terraces, and glittering spires.
Many a fair edifice besides, more like
Houses of gods (so well I have disposed
My airy microscope), thou mayst behold
Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs,
Carved work, the hand1 of famed artificers
In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold.

Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see
What conflux issuing forth, or entering in:
Prætors, proconsuls to their provinces

Hasting, or on return, in robes of state;

Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power,

Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings:
Or embassies from regions far remote
In various habits on the Appian3 road,
Or on the Emilian, some from farthest south,
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls,
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 Chersonese,
And utmost Indian isle, Taprobane,

Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed,
From Gallia, Gades, and the British west,
Germans and Scythians, and Sarmatians north
Beyond Danubius to the Tauric pool.5
All nations now to Rome obedience pay,
To Rome's great emperor, whose wide domain
In ample territory, wealth and power,

Handywork, a Latinism, as in Virg. Æn. i. 455. 2 Troops, the Latin turme.

3 The Appian road from Rome led towards the S., the Emilian

towards the N. of Italy,

4 Mauritania.

5 The Palus Mæotis.

Civility of manners, arts and arms,

And long renown, thou justly mayst prefer
Before the Parthian; these two thrones except,
The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight,
Shared among petty kings too far removed;
These having shown thee, I have shown thee all
The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.
This emperor' hath no son, and now is old,
Old and lascivious, and from Rome retired
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 2

All public cares, and yet of him suspicious,
Hated of all, and hating; with what ease,
Endued with regal virtues as thou art,
Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,
Mightst thou expel this monster from his throne
Now made a sty, and, in his place ascending,
A victor people free from servile yoke?
And with my help thou mayst; to me the power
Is given, and by that right I give it thee.
Aim therefore at no less than all the world,
Aim at the highest, without the highest attained
Will be for thee no sitting, or not long,
On David's throne, be prophesied what will."
To whom the Son of God unmoved replied:
"Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show
Of luxury, though called magnificence,
More than of arms before, allure mine eye,

Much less my mind; though thou shouldst add to tell

Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts

On citron tables,3 or Atlantic stone

(For I have also heard, perhaps have read), Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,

Chios, and Crete, and how they quaff in gold,

Crystal, and myrrhine5 cups, embossed with gems

1 Tiberius Nero. This account is strictly conformable to history. 2 Sejanus.

3 Citron-wood tables were in such request among the Romans, that Pliny calls it mensarum insania, see Hist. Nat. xiii. 29.

4 The three former wines were Italian; the two latter Greek.

5 These kind of cups are constantly mentioned together, Pliny xxxiii. 2; rechious myrrhine, cups among fossils.

And studs of pearl, to me shouldst tell who thirst
And hunger still. Then embassies thou show'st
From nations far and nigh: what honour that,
But tedious waste of time to sit and hear
So many hollow compliments and lies,
Outlandish flatteries? Then proceed'st to talk
Of the emperor, how easily subdued,
How gloriously; I shall, thou say'st, expel
A brutish monster: what if I withal
Expel a devil who first made him such?
Let his tormentor conscience find him out;
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, conquered well,
But govern ill the nations under yoke,
Peeling their provinces, exhausted all
By lust and rapine; first ambitious grown
Of triumph, that insulting vanity;

Then cruel, by their sports to blood inured
Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts exposed,
Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still,
And from the daily scene effeminate.

What wise and valiant man would seek to free
These thus degenerate, by themselves enslaved,
Or could of inward slaves make outward free?
Know, therefore, when my season comes to sit
On David's throne, it shall be like a tree
Spreading and overshadowing all the earth,
Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash
All monarchies besides throughout the world,
And of my kingdom there shall be no end:
Means there shall be to this, but what the means,
Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell."

To whom the tempter impudent replied:
"I see all offers made by me how slight
Thou valuest, because offered, and reject'st:
Nothing will please the difficult and nice,
Or nothing more than still to contradict:
On the other side know also thou, that I
On what I offer set as high esteem,
Nor what I part with mean to give for nought;
All these which in a moment thou behold'st,
The kingdoms of the world to thee I give;

For given to me, I give to whom I please,
No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else,
On this condition,' if thou wilt fall down,
And worship me as thy superior lord,
Easily done, and hold them all of me;
For what can less so great a gift deserve?"

Whom thus our Saviour answered with disdain. "I never liked thy talk, thy offers less,

Now both abhor, since thou hast dared to utter
The abominable terms, impious condition;
But I endure the time, till which expired,
Thou hast permission on me. It is written
The first of all commandments, Thou shalt worship
The Lord thy God, and only him shalt serve;'
And dar'st thou to the Son of God propound
To worship thee, accursed, now more accursed
For this attempt bolder than that on Eve,
And more blasphemous? which expect to rue.
The kingdoms of the world to thee were given,
Permitted rather, and by thee usurped;
Other donation none thou canst produce:
If given, by whom but by the King of Kings,
God over all supreme? If given 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,

To me my own on such abhorréd pact,2
That I fall down and worship thee as God?
Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st
That evil one, Satan for ever damned."

To whom the fiend with fear abashed replied:
"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

Than these thou bear'st that title, have proposed

1 "In my opinion," says Bishop Newton (and with good reason), "there is not anything in the disposition and conduct of the whole poem so justly liable to censure as the awkward and preposterous in troduction of this incident in this place. The tempter should have proposed the condition at the same time that he offered the gifts, as he does likewise in Scripture; but, after his gifts had been absolutely refused, to what purpose was it to propose the impious condition."" 2 Treaty, agreement.