al actors in his story. But
the actor is even more changed than the story. The Satan of the later
poem is no longer the splendid rebel of _Paradise Lost_. _Paradise
Regained_ has in it no heavenly battles and its council of devils is a
mere shadow of the great parliament of hell. It has, therefore, no
place either for the general of the infernal armies or for the Prime
Minister of the infernal Senate. The magnificent figure who imposes
himself on the imagination--

"Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremoved"--

becomes in it something far less impressive, a political theorist
instead of a statesman, a student of the balance of power instead of a
soldier, a casuistical disputant about culture and morals in place of a
devil venturing all for empire and revenge. It is as if Alexander were
exchanged for Aristotle: almost as if St. George were replaced by Mr.
Worldly Wiseman. The imagination is affected by the inevitable loss of
colour, and _Paradise Regained_ is the sufferer in fame and popularity.
It also suffers from the old difficulty {201} inherent in supernatural
personages which affects it even more than _Paradise Lost_. The whole
action is a succession of Temptations. The question how far such
attempts by a devil upon a Divine Being can afford any hope to the one
or any fear or danger to the other is a mystery of which the Church
itself scarcely claims to offer a full explanation. Into the
theological difficulty this is not the place to enter. It is only with
the corresponding poetic difficulty which we are concerned. Just as in
_Paradise Lost_ it is impossible not to feel the unreality of the war
in heaven, so in _Paradise Regained_ it is impossible not to feel, in
spite of some inconsistency of language on the subject, that Satan
commonly knows who it is whom he is assailing and is known by Him in
return, and that consequently the whole action has for poetic purposes
a certain unreality. He knows that Jesus is the Son of God; with a
right to the homage of all nature and the power to take all as His own.
He asks--

"Hast thou not right to all created things?
Owe not all creatures, by just right, to thee service?"

Yet he discusses with Him various very human methods of arriving at
power, just as {202} if He were subject to the same conditions as other
men who desire to rule or influence the world. The consequence is
that, although the speeches contain much interesting thought and much
fine poetry, t