278
��PARADISE REGAINED
��Of alablaster, topt 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 551
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 writ- ten, 560 Tempt not the Lord thy God.' " He said,
and stood;
But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell. As when Earth's son, Antaeus (to compare Small things with greatest), in Irassa
strove With Jove's Alcides, and, oft foiled, still
rose, Receiving from his mother Earth new
strength, Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple
joined, Throttled at length in the 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; 57.
And, as that Theban monster that proposed Her riddle, and him who solved it not de- voured, That once found out and solved, for grief
and spite Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian
steep, So, strook 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. 580
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 upbore,
As on a floating couch, through the blithe
air;
Then, in a flowery valley, set him down On a green bank, and set before him spread A table of celestial food, divine Ambrosial fruits fetched from the Tree of
Life,
And from the Fount of Life ambrosial drink, 59 o
That soon refreshed him wearied, and re- paired
What hunger, if aught hunger, had im- paired,
Or thirst; and, as he fed, Angelic quires Sung heavenly 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 Heaven, en
shrined
In fleshly tabernacle and human form, 599 Wandering the wilderness whatever place, Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing The Son of God, with Godlike force endued Against the attempter of thy Father's
throne
And thief of Paradise ! Him long of old Thou didst debel, and down from Heaven
cast
With all his army; now thou hast avenged Supplanted Adam, and, by vanquishing Temptation, hast regained lost Paradise, And frustrated the conquest fraudulent. He never more henceforth will dare set
foot 6 10
In paradise to tempt; his snares are broke. For, though that seat of earthly bliss be
failed,
A fairer Paradise is founded now For Adam and his chosen sons, whom thou, A Saviour, art come down to reinstall; 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 Heaven,
trod down 620
Under his feet. For proof, ere this thou
feel'st Thy wound (yet not thy last and deadliest
wound)
�� �
