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,1 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 2 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;
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 upbore
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 celestial 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
1 A giant of Libya, son of Terra (the earth) and Neptune (the sea). Alcides (Hercules) attacked him; and as every time the giant touched the earth he received new strength, Hercules lifted
him up into the air, and squeezed him to death in his arms. Irassa was a city in Libya.