Brought back the Son of God, and left him there,
Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose,
As day-light sunk, and brought in louring Night,
Her shadowy offspring, unsubstantial both,
Privation mere of light and absent day.
Our Saviour meek and with untroubled mind
After his aery jaunt, though hurried sore,
Hungry and cold, betook him to his rest.
Wherever, under some concourse of shades, [shield
Whose branching arms thick intertwined might
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 Heaven, the clouds
From many a horrid rift abortive pour'd
Fierce rain with lightning mix'd, water with fire
In ruin reconciled: nor slept the winds
Within their stony caves, but rush'd abroad
From the four hinges of the world, and fell
On the vex'd wilderness, whose tallest pines,
Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest oaks
Bow'd their stiff necks, loaded with stormy blasts;
Or torn up sheer ill wast thou shrouded then,
O patient Son of God, yet only stood'st
Unshaken! Nor yet stay'd the terror there,
Infernal ghosts, and hellish furies, round [shriek'd,
Environ'd thee, some howl'd, some yell'd, some
Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou
Satst unappall'd in calm and sinless peace.
Thus pass'd the night so foul, till morning fair
Came forth with pilgrim steps in amice grey,
Who with her radiant finger still'd the roar
Of thunder, chased the clouds, and laid the winds,
And grisly spectres, which the Fiend had raised 430
To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire.
And now the sun with more effectual beams
Had cheer'd the face of earth, and dried 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,
415. Hinges; a translation of the Latin Cardo, from which we derive the word cardinal, and hence cardinal points.
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,
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 resolved,
Desp'rate of better course, to vent his rage,
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:
Fair morning yet betides thee, Son of God, After a dismal night; I heard the wrack As earth and sky would mingle; but myself Was distant; and these flaws, tho' mortals fear them As dangerous to the pillar'd frame of Heav'n,
Or to the Earth's dark basis underneath,
Are to the main as inconsiderable
And harmless, if not wholesome, as a sneeze
To man's less universe, and soon are gone;
Yet as being oft times noxious where they light 460 On man, beast, plant, wasteful and turbulent,
Like turbulencies in th' affairs of men,
Over whose heads they roar, and seem to point,
They oft fore-signify and threaten ill:
This tempest at this desert most was bent;
Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st.
Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject
The perfect season offer'd with my aid
To win thy destined seat, but wilt prolong
All to the push of Fate, pursue 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 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,
Ere thou of Israel's sceptre get fast hold;
Whereof this ominous night that closed 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 stay'd not, but in brief him answer'd thus: 485
Me worse than wet thou find'st not; other harm
Those terrors which thou speak'st of did me none;
1 never fear'd they could, though noising loud
And threat'ning nigh; what they can do as signs
Betokening ill boding, I contemn
As false portents, not sent from God, but thee;
Who knowing I shall reign 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 refused, thinking to terrify
Me 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 replied:
Then hear, O Son of David, Virgin-born ;
For Son of God to me is yet in doubt:
Of the Messiah, I had heard foretold
By all the prophets; of thy birth at length
Announced by Gabriel with the first I knew,
And of th' angelic song in Bethlehem field
On thy birth-night, that sung thee Saviour born.
From that time seldom have I ceased 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
Flock to the Baptist, I among the rest,
Though not to be baptized, by voice from Heav'n
Heard thee pronounced the Son of God beloved.
Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view
And narrower scrutiny, that I might learn
In what degree or meaning thou art call'd
The Son of God, which bears no single sense;
501. I have before observed that there does not seem sufficient reason for supposing Christ's nature and character unknown to Satan. Milton, by laying so much stress as he has done on this idea, rendered it necessary for him to pursue an argument, which contributes nothing either to the interest or the sublimity of the subject.
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
In some respect far higher so declared.
Therefore I watch'd thy footsteps from that hour,
And follow'd thee still on to this waste wild;
Where by all best conjectures I collect
Thou art to be my fatal enemy.
Good reason then, if I before-hand seek
To understand my adversary, who
And what he is; his wisdom, power, intent;
By parle or composition, truce or league,
To win him, or win from him what I can.
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 centre, firm;
To th' utmost of mere man both wise and good, 535 Not more; for honours, riches, kingdoms, glory Have been before contenin'd, and may again: Therefore to know what more thou art than man, Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heav'n, Another method I must now begin.
So saying he caught him up, and without wing Of hippogrif bore through the air sublime Over the wilderness and o'er the plain; Till underneath them fair Jerusalem, The holy city, lifted high her towers, And higher yet the glorious temple rear'd Her pile, far off appearing like a mount Of alabaster, topp'd with golden spires: There on the highest pinnacle he set
The Son of God, and added thus in scorn:
There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright
Will ask thee skill. I to thy Father's house
Have brought thee, and highest placed, highest is best:
Now shew thy progeny; if not to stand,
Cast thyself down; safely, if Son of God:
For it is written, He will give command
Concerning thee to his angels, in their hands
They shall uplift thee, lest at any time
Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone
To whom thus Jesus: Also it is written,
Tempt not the Lord thy God. He said and stood;
But Satan smitten with amazement fell:
As when Earth's son Antæus (to compare
Small things with greatest) in Irassa strove
With Jove's Alcides, and oft foil'd still rose,
Receiving from his mother Earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple join'd,
Throttled at length in th' air, expired and fell;
So after many a foil the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall
And as that Theban monster that proposed
Her riddle, and him who solved it not devour'd,
That once found out and solved, for grief and spite
Cast herself headlong from th' Ismenian steep; 755
So struck with dread and anguish fell the Fiend,
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
Joyless triumphals of his hoped success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,
Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.
So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe
Of angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumy vans received him soft
From his uneasy station, and up bore
As on a floating couch through the blithe air;
Then in a flow'ry valley set him down
On a green bank, and set before him spread
A table of celestia! food, divine,
Ambrosial fruits fetch'd from the tree of life,
And from the fount of life ambrosial drink,
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 heav'nly anthems of his victory
Over temptation, and the Tempter proud:
True image of the Father, whether throned
In the bosom of bliss, and light of light
Conceiving, or remote from Heav'n inshrined
561. This is the grand catastrophe of the poem; the discovery of Christ's divinity and the discomfiture of Satan.
563. The giant Anteus dwelt in Irassa, a place in Libya, and was killed by Hercules in wrestling.
572. The Sphinx who threw herself into the sea when dipus solved her enigma 581. Matt. iv. 11.
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