Paradise Regained

Troubled that he cannot overcome Jesus’s resistance to temptation, Satan gives Jesus another mountaintop view, this time presenting the Son of God with the architectural and military glories of Rome. The current political situation in Rome present a remarkable opportunity: though Rome receives tribute from throughout the world, the Roman Empire is now under the rule of Emperor Augustus, who is aged and childless. Satan urges Jesus to take advantage of this weakness and assume control of the Roman Empire.

Jesus, however, replies that the Romans are responsible for their own undoing—since they have forsaken true virtue to pursue fleshly pleasures. Even a virtuous ruler could not correct their mentality. Satan proceeds to make Jesus an even more dramatic offer: if Jesus will worship Satan, Satan will grant Jesus dominion over all of civilization. Jesus reacts to this offer with aversion, pointing out that only God deserves worship, here emphasizing Satan’s evil and aberrant nature.

Satan then acknowledges that on a personal level, Jesus’s coming will be fatal for him and his demons, but he proposes a new form of power for Jesus to seize. Showing Jesus the glories of Athens, Satan exhorts the Son of God to become famous through wisdom, to absorb the knowledge of famed philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.