The Complete Poetry of John Milton (144 page)
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Authors: John Milton
Tags: #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #Poetry, #European
535
To th’ utmost of meer man both wise and good,
Not more; for Honours, Riches, Kingdoms, Glory
Have been before contemn’d, and may agen:
Therefore to know what more thou art then man,
Worth naming Son of God by voice from Heav’n,
540
Another method I must now begin.
So saying he caught him up, and without wing
Of
Hippogrif
47
bore through the Air sublime
Over the Wilderness and o’re the Plain;
Till underneath them fair
Jerusalem
,
545
The holy City lifted high her Towers,
And higher yet the glorious Temple
48
rear’d
Her pile, far off appearing like a Mount
Of Alabaster, top’t with Golden Spires:
There on the highest Pinacle he set
550
The Son of God; and added thus in scorn:
There stand, if thou wilt stand;
49
to stand upright
Will ask thee skill; I to thy Fathers house
Have brought thee, and highest plac’t, highest is best,
Now shew thy Progeny;
50
if not to stand,
555
Cast thy self down; safely if Son of God:
For it is written,
51
He will give command
Concerning thee to his Angels, in thir hands
They shall up lift thee, lest at any time
Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.
560
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 Earths Son
Antæus
(to compare
Small things with greatest) in
Irassa
strove
565
With
Joves Alcides
,
52
and oft foil’d still rose,
Receiving from his mother Earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joyn’d,
Throttl’d at length in th’ Air, expir’d and fell;
So after many a foil the Tempter proud,
570
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to see his Victor fall.
And as that
Theban
Monster
53
that propos’d
Her riddle, and him, who solv’d it not, devour’d;
That once found out and solv’d, for grief and spight
575
Cast her self headlong from th’
Ismenian
steep,
So strook with dread and anguish fell the Fiend,
And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought
Joyless triumphals of his hop’t success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,
580
Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.
So Satan fell and strait a fiery Globe
Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumy Vans
54
receiv’d him soft
From his uneasie station, and upbore
585
As on a floating couch through the blithe Air,
55
Then in a flowry valley set him down
On a green bank, and set before him spred
A table of Celestial Food, Divine,
Ambrosial, Fruits fetcht from the tree of life,
590
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 Heavenly Anthems of his victory
595
Over temptation, and the Tempter proud.
True Image of the Father whether thron’d
In the bosom of bliss, and light of light
Conceiving, or remote from Heav’n, enshrin’d
In fleshly Tabernacle, and human form,
600
Wandring the Wilderness, whatever place,
Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing
The Son of God, with Godlike force indu’d
Against th’ Attempter of thy Fathers Throne,
And Thief of Paradise; him long of old
605
Thou didst debel,
56
and down from Heav’n cast
With all his Army, now thou hast aveng’d
Supplanted
Adam
, and by vanquishing
Temptation, hast regain’d lost Paradise,
And frustrated the conquest fraudulent:
610
He never more henceforth will dare set foot
In Paradise to tempt; his snares are broke:
For though that seat of earthly bliss he fail’d,
A fairer Paradise is founded now
For
Adam
and his chosen Sons, whom thou
615
A Saviour art come down to re-install,
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
620
Or Lightning thou shalt fall from Heav’n trod down
Under his feet: for proof, e’re this thou feel’st
Thy wound, yet not thy last and deadliest wound
By this repulse receiv’d, and hold’st in Hell
No triumph; in all her gates
Abaddon
57
rues
625
Thy bold attempt; hereafter learn with awe
To dread the Son of God: he all unarm’d
Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice
From thy Demoniac holds, possession foul,
Thee and thy Legions, yelling they shall fly,
630
And beg to hide them in a herd of Swine,
Lest he command them down into the deep
Bound, and to torment sent before thir time.
58
Hail Son of the most High, heir of both worlds,
Queller of Satan, on thy glorious work
635
Now enter, and begin to save mankind.
Thus they the Son of God our Saviour meek
Sung Victor, and from Heav’nly Feast refresht
Brought on his way with joy; hee unobserv’d
Home to his Mothers house private return’d.
(
1646–48 ?; revised or, according to some critics, written after 1665
)
59
1
The central Italian plain, with the Tyrrhene Sea to the south and the Apennines to the northwest, is divided by the Tiber, on which lies Rome.
2
northern.
3
the apparent displacement of an object seen from two different positions.
4
See
EL
1, n. 11.
5
chiefly judicial magistrates, next in rank to consuls.
6
provincial governors.
7
officers, carrying fasces (a bundle of rods), who cleared the way for magistrates in public.
8
tenth parts of a legion; a turme was a tenth part of a wing, a flank of the cavalry.
9
lying between Rome and Brindisi.
10
lying between Rome and the Adriatic Sea.
11
a city on the Upper Nile. Bocchus was in northern Africa, and the Black-moor Sea means the Mediterranean along the northwestern African coast.
12
the Malay peninsula.
13
Ceylon.
14
Cadiz.
15
people of a region between the Vistula and Volga rivers.
16
the Sea of Azof.
17
Tiberius.
18
Sejanus.
19
tables of fine wood from citrus trees or of marble.
20
The first three are Italian areas and the last two Greek islands all famous for wines.
21
made of a semiprecious stone; the glassware was transparent, showing pieces of embedded colored glass (perhaps with gems).
22
stripping.
23
Luke i. 33.
24
fastidious.
25
Matt. iv. 10; Luke iv. 8.
26
rulers of a quarter of the world (l. 202), but referring too to the four enumerated elements.
27
See Luke ii. 42–47.
28
the first five books of the Old Testament.
29
the nightingale.
30
Aristotle.
31
the “porch” in the marketplace of Athens where Zeno taught his Stoic philosophy.
32
referring primarily to Sappho and Pindar.
33
king of Persia, who sided with Sparta against Athens. The orators were Demosthenes and Pericles, respectively.
34
followers of Aristotle.
35
Socrates.
36
Plato.
37
Pyrrho, founder of the Sceptics.
38
the Peripatetics.
39
Epicurus.
40
statesmen.
41
a hood worn by the clergy.
42
the universe.
43
Svendsen (p. 39) points out that a sneeze was thought a benefit to health because it purged the brain (“mans less universe”).
44
from.
45
not only because as an angel he was a fiery essence, but because such immersion absolved man of Adam and Eve’s original sin. Though he had instigated that sin, he had not inherited it as had the descendants of Adam.
46
Note that it is Satan who is called the “Adversary” in I, 33.
47
a winged animal, half horse and half griffin.
48
that built by Herod.
49
both “stand up” rather than “fall down” and “remain steadfast in resistance.” The Son is faced with the dilemma of remaining and not bringing God’s command (ll. 556–59) to pass, or casting himself down and thus succumbing to Satan by putting God to the test. Thus should he cast himself down, his fall would be both literal and figurative.
50
parentage.
51
Matt. iv. 6–7, referring to Ps. xci. 11–12, which includes the significant phrase “to keep thee in all thy ways.”
52
Hercules, who reasoned how to subdue the giant Antaeus.