Flam'd in my heart, heroic acts."
(P. R. i. 214-16.)


But he denies that the glory of mob-applause is worth anything.


"What is glory but the blaze of fame,
The people's praise, if always praise unmixt?
And what the people but a herd confus'd,
A miscellaneous rabble, who extol
Things vulgar, and, well weigh'd, scarce worth the praise?"
(P. R. iii. 47-51.)


To the Jesus of the New Testament this answer is, in a measure,
inappropriate. He would not have called the people "a herd confus'd, a
miscellaneous rabble." But although inappropriate it is Miltonic. The
devil then tries the Saviour with a more subtle lure, an appeal to duty.


"If kingdom move thee not, let move thee zeal
And duty; zeal and duty are not slow;
But on occasion's forelock watchful wait.
They themselves rather are occasion best,
Zeal of thy father's house, duty to free
Thy country from her heathen servitude."
(P. R. iii. 171-6.)