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النشر الإلكتروني

Good reason then, if I before-hand feek
To understand my adversary, who

And what he is; his wisdom, pow'r, intent;
By parl, or compofition, truce, or league

To win him, or win from him what I can.
And opportunity I here have had

To try thee, fift thee, and confefs have found thee
Proof against all temptation, as a rock

Of adamant, and as a center, firm,

530

To th' utmost of mere man both wife and good, 535 Not more; for honors, riches, kingdoms, glory Have been before contemn'd, and may again:

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Therefore to know what more thou art than man, Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heaven, Another method I must now begin.

540 So fay'ing 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 Jerufalem, The holy city lifted high her towers, And higher yet the glorious temple rear'd Her pile, far off appearing like a mount Of alabafter, topt with golden fpires: There on the highest pinnacle he fet

545

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hither and thither; but Milton would infinuate that he employ'd no fuch machinery.

549. There on the highest pinnacle be fet

The Son of God,] He has chofen to follow the order obferved by St. Luke in placing this temptation laft, because if he had with St. Matthew introduc'd it in the middle, it would have broke that fine thred of moral reafoning, which

Thyer.

But all the rest may with a horse compare. Such beafts as these the hills of is obferved in the course of the Ryfee yield, other temptations. Though in these parts they have In the Gofpel account of the temptation no difcovery is made of the incarnation; and this grand mystery is as little known to the Tempter at the end, as at the be

been feen but feeld.

Ariofto frequently makes ufe of this creature to convey his heroes VOL. I.

ginning.

The Son of God, and added thus in fcorn.

550

There stand, if thou wilt ftand; to stand upright Will ask thee skill; I to thy Father's house Have brought thee', and highest plac'd, highest is best, Now show thy progeny; if not to stand, Caft thyself down; fafely, if Son of God:

ginning. But now, according to Milton's fcheme, the poem was to be clos'd with a full difcovery of it there are three circumftances therefore, in which the poet, to ferve his plan, hath varied from the accounts in the Gofpels. 1. The critics have not been able to afcertain what the aliquor or pinnacle (as we tranflate it) was, on which Chrift was fet by the Demon: but whatever it was, the Evangelifts make no difficulty of his ftanding there. This the poet (following the common ufe of the word pinnacle in our own language) fuppofeth to be fomething like thofe on the battlements of our churches, a pointed fpire, on which Chrift could not ftand without a miracle. 2. In the poem, the Tempter bids Chrift give proof of his pretenfions by ftanding on the pinnacle, or by cafting himfelf down. In the Gofpels, the laft only is or could be fuggefted. 3. In the Gofpel account the prohibition Thou halt not tempt the Lord thy God is alleged only as a reason why Chrift (whofe divinity is concealed there)

555

For

must not throw himself down from the top of the temple, because this would have been tempting God. But in the poem it is applied to the Demon, and his attempt upon Chrift; who is thereby declared to be the Lora his God. Calton.

561. Tempt not the Lord thy God:

he faid and food:] Here is what we may call after Ariftotle the avalvagios, or the difcovery. Chrift declares himself to be the God and Lord of the Tempter; and to prove it, ftands upon the pinnacle. This was evidently the poet's meaning. 1. The miracle fhows it to be fo; which is otherwife impertinently introduc'd, and against the rule,

Nec Deus interfit, nifi dignus
vindice nodus
Inciderit.-

It proves nothing but what the Tempter knew, and allow'd before. 2. There is a connection between Chrift's faying and standing, which demonftrates that he food, in proof of fomething he had faid. Now the prohibition, Tempt not the

Lord

For it is written, He will give command
Concerning thee to his Angels, in their hands
They shall
up lift thee, left at any time

Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.

To whom thus Jefus; Also it is written, Tempt not the Lord thy God: he said and ftood:

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I cannot entirely approve this learned Gentleman's expofition, for I am for understanding the words, Alfo it is written Tempt not the Lord thy God, in the fame fenfe, in which they were fpoken in the Gospels; because I would not make the poem to differ from the Gofpel account, farther than neceffity compels, or more than the poet himself has made it. The Tempter fet our Saviour on pinnacle of the temple, and there required of him a proof of his divinity, either by ftanding, or by cafting himself down as he might fafely do, if he was the Son of God, according to the quotation from the Pfalmift. To this our Saviour answers, as he answers in the Gofpels, It is written again Thou halt not tempt the Lord thy God, ta

a

560

But

citly inferring that his cafting himfelf down would be tempting of God. He faid, he gave this reason for not cafting himself down, and food. His ftanding properly makes the difcovery, and is the principal proof of his progeny that the Tempter requir'd: Now show thy progeny. His ftanding convinces Satan. His ftanding is confidered as the difplay of his divinity, and the immediate caufe of Satan's fall; and the grand contraft is formed between the ftanding of the one and the fall of the other.

He faid, and ftood: But Satan fmitten with amazement fell.

and afterwards ver. 571.

Fell whence he stood to fee his victor fall.

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But Satan fmitten with amazement fell.
As when earth's fon Antæus (to compare
Small things with greateft) in Iraffa ftrove
With Jove's Alcides, and oft foil'd still rofe,
Receiving from his mother earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple join'd,
Throttled at length in th' air, expir'd and fell;
So after many a foil the Tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he ftood to fee his victor fall.
And as that Theban monster that propos'd

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565

570

Her

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