and, having, in ridicule of his expected kingdom, foretold the sufferings that our Lord was to undergo, carries him back into the wilderness, and leaves him there. Night comes on : Satan raises a tremendous storm, and attempts further to alarm Jesus with frightful dreams, and terrifick threatening spectres; which however have no effect upon him. A calm, bright, beautiful morning succeeds to the horrours of the night. Satan again presents himself to our blessed Lord, und, from noticing the storm of the preceding night as pointed chiefly at him, takes occasion once more to insult him with an account of the sufferings which he was certainly to undergo. This only draws from our Lord a brief rebuke. Satan, now at the height of his desperation, confesses that he had frequently watched Jesus from his birth, purposely to discover if h: was the true Messiah ; and, collecting from what passed at the river Jordan that he most probably wus so, he had from that time more assiduously followed him, in hopes of gaining some advantage over him, which would most effectually prove that he was not really that Divine Person destined to be his “fatal Enemy." In this he acknowledges that he has hitherto completely failed; but still determines to make one more trial of him. Accordingly he conveys him to the Temple at Jerusalem, and, placing him on a pointed eminence, requires him to prove his Divinity either by standing there, or casting himself down with safety. Our Lord reproves the Tempter, and at the same time manifests his own Divinity by standing on this dangerous point. Satan, amazed and terrified, instantly falls ; and repairs to his Infernal Compeers, to relate the bad success of his enterprise. Angels in the mean time convey our blessed Lord to a beautiful valley, and, while they minister to him a repast of celestial food, celebrate his victory in a triumphal hymn.

PARADISE REGAINED.

BOOK IV.

PERPLEX’d and troubled 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 persuasive rhetorick
That sleek’d his tongue, and won so much on Eve,
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
In cunning, over-reach'd 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 fies in vintage time,
About the wine-press where sweet must is pour’d
Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound;
Or surging waves against a solid rock,
Though all to shivers dash’d, 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,
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,
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
Porches, and theatres, baths, aqueducts,
Statues, and trophies, and triumphal arcs,
Gardens, and groves, presented to bis eyes,
Above the highth of mountains interpos’d:
(By what strange parallax, or optick skill
Of vision, multiplied through air, or glass
Of telescope, were curious to inquire :)

And now the Tempter thus his silence broke.

The city, which thou seest, no other deem Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth, So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd 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 dispos’d My aery microscope,) thou may'st behold, Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs, Cary'd work, the hand of fam’d artificers, In ceder, 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 Appian road, Or on the Emilian; some from farthest south, Syene, and where the shadow both way falls,

Meroe, Nilotick 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 wreath'd;
From Gillia, Gades, and the British west;
Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north
Beyond Danubius to the Taurick pool.
All nations now to Rome obedience pay :
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 mayst prefer
Before the Parthian. These two thrones except,
The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight,
Shar'd among petty kings too far remov’d;
These having shown thee, I have shown thee all
The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory..
This emperour hath no son, and now is old,
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
All publick cares, and yet of him suspicious;
Hated to all, and hating. With what ease,
Endued with regal virtues, as thou art,