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BOOK IV. PARADISE REGAINED. 77
So talk'd he, while the Son of God went on
And ftay'd not, but in brief him anfwer'd thus.
" Me worfe than wet thou find' ft not; other harm
Thofe terrours which thou fpeak'fl of, did me none;
I never fear'd they could, though noifing loud
And threat'ning nigh; what they can do as figns
Betokening, or ill boding, I contemn
As falle portents, not fent from God, but thee;
Who knowing I ftiall reign pall thy preventing,
Obtrud'ft thy offer'd aid, that I accepting
At leaft might feem to hold all pow'r of thee,
Ambitious fpi'rit, and would'ft be thought my God,
And ftorm'ft refus'd, thinking to terrify
Me to thy will ; defift, thou art difcern'd
And toil'ft in vain, nor me in vain moleft."
To whom the Fiend, now fwoln with rage, reply 'd.
" Then hear, O Son of David, virgin-born;
For Son of God to me is yet in doubt :
Of the Mefliah I have heard foretold
By all the prophets; of thy birth at length
Announc'd by Gabriel with the firft I knew,
And Of th' angelic fong in Bethlehem field,
On thy birth- night, that fung thee Saviour born.
From that time feldom have I ceas'd to eye
Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth,
Thy manhood laft, though yet in private bred;
Till at the ford of Jordan whither all
Flock'd to the Baptift, I among the reft,
Though not to be baptiz'd, by voice from Heaven
Heard thee pronounc'd the Son of God belov'd.