1Introduction (one page)

2
3This etext was originally created in 1964-1965 according to Dr.
4Joseph Raben of Queens College, NY, to whom it is attributed by
5Project Gutenberg. We had heard of this etext for years but it
6was not until 1991 that we actually managed to track it down to
7a specific location, and then it took months to convince people
8to let us have a copy, then more months for them actually to do
9the copying and get it to us. Then another month to convert to
10something we could massage with our favorite 486 in DOS. After
11that is was only a matter of days to get it into this shape you
12will see below. The original was, of course, in CAPS only, and
13so were all the other etexts of the 60's and early 70's. Don't
14let anyone fool you into thinking any etext with both upper and
15lower case is an original; all those original Project Gutenberg
16etexts were also in upper case and were translated or rewritten
17many times to get them into their current condition. They have
18been worked on by many people throughout the world.
19
20In the course of our searches for Professor Raben and his etext
21we were never able to determine where copies were or which of a
22variety of editions he may have used as a source. We did get a
23little information here and there, but even after we received a
24copy of the etext we were unwilling to release it without first
25determining that it was in fact Public Domain and finding Raben
26to verify this and get his permission. Interested enough, in a
27totally unrelated action to our searches for him, the professor
28subscribed to the Project Gutenberg listserver and we happened,
29by accident, to notice his name. (We don't really look at every
30subscription request as the computers usually handle them.) The
31etext was then properly identified, copyright analyzed, and the
32current edition prepared.
33
34To give you an estimation of the difference in the original and
35what we have today: the original was probably entered on cards
36commonly known at the time as "IBM cards" (Do Not Fold, Spindle
37or Mutilate) and probably took in excess of 100,000 of them. A
38single card could hold 80 characters (hence 80 characters is an
39accepted standard for so many computer margins), and the entire
40original edition we received in all caps was over 800,000 chars
41in length, including line enumeration, symbols for caps and the
42punctuation marks, etc., since they were not available keyboard
43characters at the time (probably the keyboards operated at baud
44rates of around 113, meaning the typists had to type slowly for
45the keyboard to keep up).
46
47This is the second version of Paradise Lost released by Project
48Gutenberg. The first was released as our October, 1991 etext.
49
50
51
52
53
54Paradise Lost
55
56
57
58
59Book I
60
61
 62Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
63Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
64Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
65With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
66Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
67Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
68Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
69That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
70In the beginning how the heavens and earth
71Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
72Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
73Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
74Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
75That with no middle flight intends to soar
76Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
77Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
78And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
79Before all temples th' upright heart and pure,
80Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first
81Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,
82Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss,
83And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark
84Illumine, what is low raise and support;
85That, to the height of this great argument,
86I may assert Eternal Providence,
87And justify the ways of God to men.
88 Say first--for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
89Nor the deep tract of Hell--say first what cause
90Moved our grand parents, in that happy state,
91Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
92From their Creator, and transgress his will
93For one restraint, lords of the World besides.
94Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
95 Th' infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile,
96Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
97The mother of mankind, what time his pride
98Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
99Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring
100To set himself in glory above his peers,
101He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
102If he opposed, and with ambitious aim
103Against the throne and monarchy of God,
104Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,
105With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
106Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
107With hideous ruin and combustion, down
108To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
109In adamantine chains and penal fire,
110Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.
111 Nine times the space that measures day and night
112To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,
113Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,
114Confounded, though immortal. But his doom
115Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
116Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
117Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,
118That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,
119Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.
120At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
121The dismal situation waste and wild.
122A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
123As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames
124No light; but rather darkness visible
125Served only to discover sights of woe,
126Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
127And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
128That comes to all, but torture without end
129Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
130With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
131Such place Eternal Justice has prepared
132For those rebellious; here their prison ordained
133In utter darkness, and their portion set,
134As far removed from God and light of Heaven
135As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.
136Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!
137There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed
138With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
139He soon discerns; and, weltering by his side,
140One next himself in power, and next in crime,
141Long after known in Palestine, and named
142Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,
143And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words
144Breaking the horrid silence, thus began:--
145 "If thou beest he--but O how fallen! how changed
146From him who, in the happy realms of light
147Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine
148Myriads, though bright!--if he whom mutual league,
149United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
150And hazard in the glorious enterprise
151Joined with me once, now misery hath joined
152In equal ruin; into what pit thou seest
153From what height fallen: so much the stronger proved
154He with his thunder; and till then who knew
155The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,
156Nor what the potent Victor in his rage
157Can else inflict, do I repent, or change,
158Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind,
159And high disdain from sense of injured merit,
160That with the Mightiest raised me to contend,
161And to the fierce contentions brought along
162Innumerable force of Spirits armed,
163That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,
164His utmost power with adverse power opposed
165In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven,
166And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
167All is not lost--the unconquerable will,
168And study of revenge, immortal hate,
169And courage never to submit or yield:
170And what is else not to be overcome?
171That glory never shall his wrath or might
172Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
173With suppliant knee, and deify his power
174Who, from the terror of this arm, so late
175Doubted his empire--that were low indeed;
176That were an ignominy and shame beneath
177This downfall; since, by fate, the strength of Gods,
178And this empyreal sybstance, cannot fail;
179Since, through experience of this great event,
180In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,
181We may with more successful hope resolve
182To wage by force or guile eternal war,
183Irreconcilable to our grand Foe,
184Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy
185Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven."
186 So spake th' apostate Angel, though in pain,
187Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair;
188And him thus answered soon his bold compeer:--
189 "O Prince, O Chief of many throned Powers
190That led th' embattled Seraphim to war
191Under thy conduct, and, in dreadful deeds
192Fearless, endangered Heaven's perpetual King,
193And put to proof his high supremacy,
194Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate,
195Too well I see and rue the dire event
196That, with sad overthrow and foul defeat,
197Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host
198In horrible destruction laid thus low,
199As far as Gods and heavenly Essences
200Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains
201Invincible, and vigour soon returns,
202Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
203Here swallowed up in endless misery.
204But what if he our Conqueror (whom I now
205Of force believe almighty, since no less
206Than such could have o'erpowered such force as ours)
207Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,
208Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
209That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,
210Or do him mightier service as his thralls
211By right of war, whate'er his business be,
212Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,
213Or do his errands in the gloomy Deep?
214What can it the avail though yet we feel
215Strength undiminished, or eternal being
216To undergo eternal punishment?"
217 Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-Fiend replied:--
218"Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable,
219Doing or suffering: but of this be sure--
220To do aught good never will be our task,
221But ever to do ill our sole delight,
222As being the contrary to his high will
223Whom we resist. If then his providence
224Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
225Our labour must be to pervert that end,
226And out of good still to find means of evil;
227Which ofttimes may succeed so as perhaps
228Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
229His inmost counsels from their destined aim.
230But see! the angry Victor hath recalled
231His ministers of vengeance and pursuit
232Back to the gates of Heaven: the sulphurous hail,
233Shot after us in storm, o'erblown hath laid
234The fiery surge that from the precipice
235Of Heaven received us falling; and the thunder,
236Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,
237Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now
238To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.
239Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn
240Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.
241Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
242The seat of desolation, void of light,
243Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
244Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend
245From off the tossing of these fiery waves;
246There rest, if any rest can harbour there;
247And, re-assembling our afflicted powers,
248Consult how we may henceforth most offend
249Our enemy, our own loss how repair,
250How overcome this dire calamity,
251What reinforcement we may gain from hope,
252If not, what resolution from despair."
253 Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate,
254With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
255That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides
256Prone on the flood, extended long and large,
257Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
258As whom the fables name of monstrous size,
259Titanian or Earth-born, that warred on Jove,
260Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
261By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast
262Leviathan, which God of all his works
263Created hugest that swim th' ocean-stream.
264Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam,
265The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
266Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,
267With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,
268Moors by his side under the lee, while night
269Invests the sea, and wished morn delays.
270So stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay,
271Chained on the burning lake; nor ever thence
272Had risen, or heaved his head, but that the will
273And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
274Left him at large to his own dark designs,
275That with reiterated crimes he might
276Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
277Evil to others, and enraged might see
278How all his malice served but to bring forth
279Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shewn
280On Man by him seduced, but on himself
281Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured.
282 Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
283His mighty stature; on each hand the flames
284Driven backward slope their pointing spires, and rolled
285In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid vale.
286Then with expanded wings he steers his flight
287Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air,
288That felt unusual weight; till on dry land
289He lights--if it were land that ever burned
290With solid, as the lake with liquid fire,
291And such appeared in hue as when the force
292Of subterranean wind transports a hill
293Torn from Pelorus, or the shattered side
294Of thundering Etna, whose combustible
295And fuelled entrails, thence conceiving fire,
296Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,
297And leave a singed bottom all involved
298With stench and smoke. Such resting found the sole
299Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate;
300Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian flood
301As gods, and by their own recovered strength,
302Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.
303 "Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,"
304Said then the lost Archangel, "this the seat
305That we must change for Heaven?--this mournful gloom
306For that celestial light? Be it so, since he
307Who now is sovereign can dispose and bid
308What shall be right: farthest from him is best
309Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme
310Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields,
311Where joy for ever dwells! Hail, horrors! hail,
312Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell,
313Receive thy new possessor--one who brings
314A mind not to be changed by place or time.
315The mind is its own place, and in itself
316Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
317What matter where, if I be still the same,
318And what I should be, all but less than he
319Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
320We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
321Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
322Here we may reign secure; and, in my choice,
323To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
324Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
325But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
326Th' associates and co-partners of our loss,
327Lie thus astonished on th' oblivious pool,
328And call them not to share with us their part
329In this unhappy mansion, or once more
330With rallied arms to try what may be yet
331Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?"
332 So Satan spake; and him Beelzebub
333Thus answered:--"Leader of those armies bright
334Which, but th' Omnipotent, none could have foiled!
335If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge
336Of hope in fears and dangers--heard so oft
337In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
338Of battle, when it raged, in all assaults
339Their surest signal--they will soon resume
340New courage and revive, though now they lie
341Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire,
342As we erewhile, astounded and amazed;
343No wonder, fallen such a pernicious height!"
344 He scare had ceased when the superior Fiend
345Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield,
346Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round,
347Behind him cast. The broad circumference
348Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb
349Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
350At evening, from the top of Fesole,
351Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
352Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe.
353His spear--to equal which the tallest pine
354Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
355Of some great ammiral, were but a wand--
356He walked with, to support uneasy steps
357Over the burning marl, not like those steps
358On Heaven's azure; and the torrid clime
359Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire.
360Nathless he so endured, till on the beach
361Of that inflamed sea he stood, and called
362His legions--Angel Forms, who lay entranced
363Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
364In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades
365High over-arched embower; or scattered sedge
366Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed
367Hath vexed the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew
368Busiris and his Memphian chivalry,
369While with perfidious hatred they pursued
370The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
371From the safe shore their floating carcases
372And broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrown,
373Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood,
374Under amazement of their hideous change.
375He called so loud that all the hollow deep
376Of Hell resounded:--"Princes, Potentates,
377Warriors, the Flower of Heaven--once yours; now lost,
378If such astonishment as this can seize
379Eternal Spirits! Or have ye chosen this place
380After the toil of battle to repose
381Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
382To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?
383Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
384To adore the Conqueror, who now beholds
385Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood
386With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon
387His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern
388Th' advantage, and, descending, tread us down
389Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
390Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf?
391Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!"
392 They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung
393Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
394On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,
395Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.
396Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
397In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
398Yet to their General's voice they soon obeyed
399Innumerable. As when the potent rod
400Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day,
401Waved round the coast, up-called a pitchy cloud
402Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,
403That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
404Like Night, and darkened all the land of Nile;
405So numberless were those bad Angels seen
406Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell,
407'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires;
408Till, as a signal given, th' uplifted spear
409Of their great Sultan waving to direct
410Their course, in even balance down they light
411On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain:
412A multitude like which the populous North
413Poured never from her frozen loins to pass
414Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons
415Came like a deluge on the South, and spread
416Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands.
417Forthwith, form every squadron and each band,
418The heads and leaders thither haste where stood
419Their great Commander--godlike Shapes, and Forms
420Excelling human; princely Dignities;
421And Powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones,
422Though on their names in Heavenly records now
423Be no memorial, blotted out and rased
424By their rebellion from the Books of Life.
425Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve
426Got them new names, till, wandering o'er the earth,
427Through God's high sufferance for the trial of man,
428By falsities and lies the greatest part
429Of mankind they corrupted to forsake
430God their Creator, and th' invisible
431Glory of him that made them to transform
432Oft to the image of a brute, adorned
433With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
434And devils to adore for deities:
435Then were they known to men by various names,
436And various idols through the heathen world.
437 Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who last,
438Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch,
439At their great Emperor's call, as next in worth
440Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,
441While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof?
442 The chief were those who, from the pit of Hell
443Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix
444Their seats, long after, next the seat of God,
445Their altars by his altar, gods adored
446Among the nations round, and durst abide
447Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned
448Between the Cherubim; yea, often placed
449Within his sanctuary itself their shrines,
450Abominations; and with cursed things
451His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned,
452And with their darkness durst affront his light.
453First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
454Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears;
455Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
456Their children's cries unheard that passed through fire
457To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
458Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain,
459In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
460Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
461Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
462Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
463His temple right against the temple of God
464On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove
465The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
466And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell.
467Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moab's sons,
468From Aroar to Nebo and the wild
469Of southmost Abarim; in Hesebon
470And Horonaim, Seon's real, beyond
471The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines,
472And Eleale to th' Asphaltic Pool:
473Peor his other name, when he enticed
474Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,
475To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
476Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged
477Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove
478Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate,
479Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.
480With these came they who, from the bordering flood
481Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
482Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
483Of Baalim and Ashtaroth--those male,
484These feminine. For Spirits, when they please,
485Can either sex assume, or both; so soft
486And uncompounded is their essence pure,
487Not tried or manacled with joint or limb,
488Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
489Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose,
490Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,
491Can execute their airy purposes,
492And works of love or enmity fulfil.
493For those the race of Israel oft forsook
494Their Living Strength, and unfrequented left
495His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
496To bestial gods; for which their heads as low
497Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear
498Of despicable foes. With these in troop
499Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called
500Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns;
501To whose bright image nightly by the moon
502Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs;
503In Sion also not unsung, where stood
504Her temple on th' offensive mountain, built
505By that uxorious king whose heart, though large,
506Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell
507To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,
508Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
509The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
510In amorous ditties all a summer's day,
511While smooth Adonis from his native rock
512Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
513Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale
514Infected Sion's daughters with like heat,
515Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch
516Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led,
517His eye surveyed the dark idolatries
518Of alienated Judah. Next came one
519Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark
520Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopt off,
521In his own temple, on the grunsel-edge,
522Where he fell flat and shamed his worshippers:
523Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man
524And downward fish; yet had his temple high
525Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
526Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,
527And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.
528Him followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat
529Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks
530Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.
531He also against the house of God was bold:
532A leper once he lost, and gained a king--
533Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew
534God's altar to disparage and displace
535For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn
536His odious offerings, and adore the gods
537Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared
538A crew who, under names of old renown--
539Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train--
540With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused
541Fanatic Egypt and her priests to seek
542Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms
543Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape
544Th' infection, when their borrowed gold composed
545The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king
546Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,
547Likening his Maker to the grazed ox--
548Jehovah, who, in one night, when he passed
549From Egypt marching, equalled with one stroke
550Both her first-born and all her bleating gods.
551Belial came last; than whom a Spirit more lewd
552Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
553Vice for itself. To him no temple stood
554Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he
555In temples and at altars, when the priest
556Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled
557With lust and violence the house of God?
558In courts and palaces he also reigns,
559And in luxurious cities, where the noise
560Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers,
561And injury and outrage; and, when night
562Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
563Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
564Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night
565In Gibeah, when the hospitable door
566Exposed a matron, to avoid worse rape.
567 These were the prime in order and in might:
568The rest were long to tell; though far renowned
569Th' Ionian gods--of Javan's issue held
570Gods, yet confessed later than Heaven and Earth,
571Their boasted parents;--Titan, Heaven's first-born,
572With his enormous brood, and birthright seized
573By younger Saturn: he from mightier Jove,
574His own and Rhea's son, like measure found;
575So Jove usurping reigned. These, first in Crete
576And Ida known, thence on the snowy top
577Of cold Olympus ruled the middle air,
578Their highest heaven; or on the Delphian cliff,
579Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds
580Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old
581Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian fields,
582And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost Isles.
583 All these and more came flocking; but with looks
584Downcast and damp; yet such wherein appeared
585Obscure some glimpse of joy to have found their Chief
586Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost
587In loss itself; which on his countenance cast
588Like doubtful hue. But he, his wonted pride
589Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore
590Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised
591Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears.
592Then straight commands that, at the warlike sound
593Of trumpets loud and clarions, be upreared
594His mighty standard. That proud honour claimed
595Azazel as his right, a Cherub tall:
596Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled
597Th' imperial ensign; which, full high advanced,
598Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind,
599With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed,
600Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while
601Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds:
602At which the universal host up-sent
603A shout that tore Hell's concave, and beyond
604Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
605All in a moment through the gloom were seen
606Ten thousand banners rise into the air,
607With orient colours waving: with them rose
608A forest huge of spears; and thronging helms
609Appeared, and serried shields in thick array
610Of depth immeasurable. Anon they move
611In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood
612Of flutes and soft recorders--such as raised
613To height of noblest temper heroes old
614Arming to battle, and instead of rage
615Deliberate valour breathed, firm, and unmoved
616With dread of death to flight or foul retreat;
617Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage
618With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase
619Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain
620From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they,
621Breathing united force with fixed thought,
622Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed
623Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil. And now
624Advanced in view they stand--a horrid front
625Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise
626Of warriors old, with ordered spear and shield,
627Awaiting what command their mighty Chief
628Had to impose. He through the armed files
629Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse
630The whole battalion views--their order due,
631Their visages and stature as of gods;
632Their number last he sums. And now his heart
633Distends with pride, and, hardening in his strength,
634Glories: for never, since created Man,
635Met such embodied force as, named with these,
636Could merit more than that small infantry
637Warred on by cranes--though all the giant brood
638Of Phlegra with th' heroic race were joined
639That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side
640Mixed with auxiliar gods; and what resounds
641In fable or romance of Uther's son,
642Begirt with British and Armoric knights;
643And all who since, baptized or infidel,
644Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban,
645Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,
646Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore
647When Charlemain with all his peerage fell
648By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
649Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed
650Their dread Commander. He, above the rest
651In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
652Stood like a tower. His form had yet not lost
653All her original brightness, nor appeared
654Less than Archangel ruined, and th' excess
655Of glory obscured: as when the sun new-risen
656Looks through the horizontal misty air
657Shorn of his beams, or, from behind the moon,
658In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
659On half the nations, and with fear of change
660Perplexes monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone
661Above them all th' Archangel: but his face
662Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care
663Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
664Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride
665Waiting revenge. Cruel his eye, but cast
666Signs of remorse and passion, to behold
667The fellows of his crime, the followers rather
668(Far other once beheld in bliss), condemned
669For ever now to have their lot in pain--
670Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced
671Of Heaven, and from eternal splendours flung
672For his revolt--yet faithful how they stood,
673Their glory withered; as, when heaven's fire
674Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines,
675With singed top their stately growth, though bare,
676Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared
677To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend
678From wing to wing, and half enclose him round
679With all his peers: attention held them mute.
680Thrice he assayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn,
681Tears, such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last
682Words interwove with sighs found out their way:--
683 "O myriads of immortal Spirits! O Powers
684Matchless, but with th' Almighty!--and that strife
685Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire,
686As this place testifies, and this dire change,
687Hateful to utter. But what power of mind,
688Forseeing or presaging, from the depth
689Of knowledge past or present, could have feared
690How such united force of gods, how such
691As stood like these, could ever know repulse?
692For who can yet believe, though after loss,
693That all these puissant legions, whose exile
694Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend,
695Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?
696For me, be witness all the host of Heaven,
697If counsels different, or danger shunned
698By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns
699Monarch in Heaven till then as one secure
700Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
701Consent or custom, and his regal state
702Put forth at full, but still his strength concealed--
703Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
704Henceforth his might we know, and know our own,
705So as not either to provoke, or dread
706New war provoked: our better part remains
707To work in close design, by fraud or guile,
708What force effected not; that he no less
709At length from us may find, who overcomes
710By force hath overcome but half his foe.
711Space may produce new Worlds; whereof so rife
712There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long
713Intended to create, and therein plant
714A generation whom his choice regard
715Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven.
716Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
717Our first eruption--thither, or elsewhere;
718For this infernal pit shall never hold
719Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th' Abyss
720Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
721Full counsel must mature. Peace is despaired;
722For who can think submission? War, then, war
723Open or understood, must be resolved."
724 He spake; and, to confirm his words, outflew
725Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
726Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
727Far round illumined Hell. Highly they raged
728Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms
729Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war,
730Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven.
731 There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top
732Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire
733Shone with a glossy scurf--undoubted sign
734That in his womb was hid metallic ore,
735The work of sulphur. Thither, winged with speed,
736A numerous brigade hastened: as when bands
737Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe armed,
738Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
739Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on--
740Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell
741From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts
742Were always downward bent, admiring more
743The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
744Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed
745In vision beatific. By him first
746Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
747Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands
748Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth
749For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
750Opened into the hill a spacious wound,
751And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire
752That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best
753Deserve the precious bane. And here let those
754Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell
755Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings,
756Learn how their greatest monuments of fame
757And strength, and art, are easily outdone
758By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour
759What in an age they, with incessant toil
760And hands innumerable, scarce perform.
761Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,
762That underneath had veins of liquid fire
763Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude
764With wondrous art founded the massy ore,
765Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion-dross.
766A third as soon had formed within the ground
767A various mould, and from the boiling cells
768By strange conveyance filled each hollow nook;
769As in an organ, from one blast of wind,
770To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes.
771Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
772Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
773Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet--
774Built like a temple, where pilasters round
775Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid
776With golden architrave; nor did there want
777Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven;
778The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon
779Nor great Alcairo such magnificence
780Equalled in all their glories, to enshrine
781Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat
782Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
783In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile
784Stood fixed her stately height, and straight the doors,
785Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide
786Within, her ample spaces o'er the smooth
787And level pavement: from the arched roof,
788Pendent by subtle magic, many a row
789Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
790With naptha and asphaltus, yielded light
791As from a sky. The hasty multitude
792Admiring entered; and the work some praise,
793And some the architect. His hand was known
794In Heaven by many a towered structure high,
795Where sceptred Angels held their residence,
796And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King
797Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
798Each in his Hierarchy, the Orders bright.
799Nor was his name unheard or unadored
800In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
801Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell
802From Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
803Sheer o'er the crystal battlements: from morn
804To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
805A summer's day, and with the setting sun
806Dropt from the zenith, like a falling star,
807On Lemnos, th' Aegaean isle. Thus they relate,
808Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
809Fell long before; nor aught availed him now
810To have built in Heaven high towers; nor did he scape
811By all his engines, but was headlong sent,
812With his industrious crew, to build in Hell.
813 Meanwhile the winged Heralds, by command
814Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony
815And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim
816A solemn council forthwith to be held
817At Pandemonium, the high capital
818Of Satan and his peers. Their summons called
819From every band and squared regiment
820By place or choice the worthiest: they anon
821With hundreds and with thousands trooping came
822Attended. All access was thronged; the gates
823And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall
824(Though like a covered field, where champions bold
825Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan's chair
826Defied the best of Paynim chivalry
827To mortal combat, or career with lance),
828Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air,
829Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees
830In spring-time, when the Sun with Taurus rides.
831Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
832In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
833Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
834The suburb of their straw-built citadel,
835New rubbed with balm, expatiate, and confer
836Their state-affairs: so thick the airy crowd
837Swarmed and were straitened; till, the signal given,
838Behold a wonder! They but now who seemed
839In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons,
840Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room
841Throng numberless--like that pygmean race
842Beyond the Indian mount; or faery elves,
843Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side
844Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
845Or dreams he sees, while overhead the Moon
846Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth
847Wheels her pale course: they, on their mirth and dance
848Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;
849At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
850Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms
851Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large,
852Though without number still, amidst the hall
853Of that infernal court. But far within,
854And in their own dimensions like themselves,
855The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim
856In close recess and secret conclave sat,
857A thousand demi-gods on golden seats,
858Frequent and full. After short silence then,
859And summons read, the great consult began.
860
861
862
863Book II
864
865
866High on a throne of royal state, which far
867Outshone the wealth or Ormus and of Ind,
868Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
869Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
870Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
871To that bad eminence; and, from despair
872Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
873Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
874Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught,
875His proud imaginations thus displayed:--
876 "Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven!--
877For, since no deep within her gulf can hold
878Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen,
879I give not Heaven for lost: from this descent
880Celestial Virtues rising will appear
881More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
882And trust themselves to fear no second fate!--
883Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven,
884Did first create your leader--next, free choice
885With what besides in council or in fight
886Hath been achieved of merit--yet this loss,
887Thus far at least recovered, hath much more
888Established in a safe, unenvied throne,
889Yielded with full consent. The happier state
890In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw
891Envy from each inferior; but who here
892Will envy whom the highest place exposes
893Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim
894Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
895Of endless pain? Where there is, then, no good
896For which to strive, no strife can grow up there
897From faction: for none sure will claim in Hell
898Precedence; none whose portion is so small
899Of present pain that with ambitious mind
900Will covet more! With this advantage, then,
901To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,
902More than can be in Heaven, we now return
903To claim our just inheritance of old,
904Surer to prosper than prosperity
905Could have assured us; and by what best way,
906Whether of open war or covert guile,
907We now debate. Who can advise may speak."
908 He ceased; and next him Moloch, sceptred king,
909Stood up--the strongest and the fiercest Spirit
910That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair.
911His trust was with th' Eternal to be deemed
912Equal in strength, and rather than be less
913Cared not to be at all; with that care lost
914Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse,
915He recked not, and these words thereafter spake:--
916 "My sentence is for open war. Of wiles,
917More unexpert, I boast not: them let those
918Contrive who need, or when they need; not now.
919For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest--
920Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait
921The signal to ascend--sit lingering here,
922Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place
923Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame,
924The prison of his tyranny who reigns
925By our delay? No! let us rather choose,
926Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once
927O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way,
928Turning our tortures into horrid arms
929Against the Torturer; when, to meet the noise
930Of his almighty engine, he shall hear
931Infernal thunder, and, for lightning, see
932Black fire and horror shot with equal rage
933Among his Angels, and his throne itself
934Mixed with Tartarean sulphur and strange fire,
935His own invented torments. But perhaps
936The way seems difficult, and steep to scale
937With upright wing against a higher foe!
938Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench
939Of that forgetful lake benumb not still,
940That in our proper motion we ascend
941Up to our native seat; descent and fall
942To us is adverse. Who but felt of late,
943When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear
944Insulting, and pursued us through the Deep,
945With what compulsion and laborious flight
946We sunk thus low? Th' ascent is easy, then;
947Th' event is feared! Should we again provoke
948Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find
949To our destruction, if there be in Hell
950Fear to be worse destroyed! What can be worse
951Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemned
952In this abhorred deep to utter woe!
953Where pain of unextinguishable fire
954Must exercise us without hope of end
955The vassals of his anger, when the scourge
956Inexorably, and the torturing hour,
957Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus,
 958We should be quite abolished, and expire.
959What fear we then? what doubt we to incense
960His utmost ire? which, to the height enraged,
961Will either quite consume us, and reduce
962To nothing this essential--happier far
963Than miserable to have eternal being!--
964Or, if our substance be indeed divine,
965And cannot cease to be, we are at worst
966On this side nothing; and by proof we feel
967Our power sufficient to disturb his Heaven,
968And with perpetual inroads to alarm,
969Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:
970Which, if not victory, is yet revenge."
971 He ended frowning, and his look denounced
972Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous
973To less than gods. On th' other side up rose
974Belial, in act more graceful and humane.
975A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed
976For dignity composed, and high exploit.
977But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
978Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear
979The better reason, to perplex and dash
980Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low--
981To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
982Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear,
983And with persuasive accent thus began:--
984 "I should be much for open war, O Peers,
985As not behind in hate, if what was urged
986Main reason to persuade immediate war
987Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast
988Ominous conjecture on the whole success;
989When he who most excels in fact of arms,
990In what he counsels and in what excels
991Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair
992And utter dissolution, as the scope
993Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
994First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are filled
995With armed watch, that render all access
996Impregnable: oft on the bordering Deep
997Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing
998Scout far and wide into the realm of Night,
999Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way
1000By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise
1001With blackest insurrection to confound
1002Heaven's purest light, yet our great Enemy,
1003All incorruptible, would on his throne
1004Sit unpolluted, and th' ethereal mould,
1005Incapable of stain, would soon expel
1006Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire,
1007Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope
1008Is flat despair: we must exasperate
1009Th' Almighty Victor to spend all his rage;
1010And that must end us; that must be our cure--
1011To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose,
1012Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
1013Those thoughts that wander through eternity,
1014To perish rather, swallowed up and lost
1015In the wide womb of uncreated Night,
1016Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows,
1017Let this be good, whether our angry Foe
1018Can give it, or will ever? How he can
1019Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.
1020Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire,
1021Belike through impotence or unaware,
1022To give his enemies their wish, and end
1023Them in his anger whom his anger saves
1024To punish endless? "Wherefore cease we, then?"
1025Say they who counsel war; "we are decreed,
1026Reserved, and destined to eternal woe;
1027Whatever doing, what can we suffer more,
1028What can we suffer worse?" Is this, then, worst--
1029Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms?
1030What when we fled amain, pursued and struck
1031With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought
1032The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed
1033A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay
1034Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse.
1035What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
1036Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
1037And plunge us in the flames; or from above
1038Should intermitted vengeance arm again
1039His red right hand to plague us? What if all
1040Her stores were opened, and this firmament
1041Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire,
1042Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall
1043One day upon our heads; while we perhaps,
1044Designing or exhorting glorious war,
1045Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,
1046Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey
1047Or racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk
1048Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains,
1049There to converse with everlasting groans,
1050Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,
1051Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse.
1052War, therefore, open or concealed, alike
1053My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile
1054With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye
1055Views all things at one view? He from Heaven's height
1056All these our motions vain sees and derides,
1057Not more almighty to resist our might
1058Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.
1059Shall we, then, live thus vile--the race of Heaven
1060Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here
1061Chains and these torments? Better these than worse,
1062By my advice; since fate inevitable
1063Subdues us, and omnipotent decree,
1064The Victor's will. To suffer, as to do,
1065Our strength is equal; nor the law unjust
1066That so ordains. This was at first resolved,
1067If we were wise, against so great a foe
1068Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.
1069I laugh when those who at the spear are bold
1070And venturous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear
1071What yet they know must follow--to endure
1072Exile, or igominy, or bonds, or pain,
1073The sentence of their Conqueror. This is now
1074Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,
1075Our Supreme Foe in time may much remit
1076His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed,
1077Not mind us not offending, satisfied
1078With what is punished; whence these raging fires
1079Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.
1080Our purer essence then will overcome
1081Their noxious vapour; or, inured, not feel;
1082Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed
1083In temper and in nature, will receive
1084Familiar the fierce heat; and, void of pain,
1085This horror will grow mild, this darkness light;
1086Besides what hope the never-ending flight
1087Of future days may bring, what chance, what change
1088Worth waiting--since our present lot appears
1089For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
1090If we procure not to ourselves more woe."
1091 Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,
1092Counselled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth,
1093Not peace; and after him thus Mammon spake:--
1094 "Either to disenthrone the King of Heaven
1095We war, if war be best, or to regain
1096Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then
1097May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield
1098To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife.
1099The former, vain to hope, argues as vain
1100The latter; for what place can be for us
1101Within Heaven's bound, unless Heaven's Lord supreme
1102We overpower? Suppose he should relent
1103And publish grace to all, on promise made
1104Of new subjection; with what eyes could we
1105Stand in his presence humble, and receive
1106Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne
1107With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing
1108Forced hallelujahs, while he lordly sits
1109Our envied sovereign, and his altar breathes
1110Ambrosial odours and ambrosial flowers,
1111Our servile offerings? This must be our task
1112In Heaven, this our delight. How wearisome
1113Eternity so spent in worship paid
1114To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue,
1115By force impossible, by leave obtained
1116Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state
1117Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek
1118Our own good from ourselves, and from our own
1119Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess,
1120Free and to none accountable, preferring
1121Hard liberty before the easy yoke
1122Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear
1123Then most conspicuous when great things of small,
1124Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse,
1125We can create, and in what place soe'er
1126Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain
1127Through labour and endurance. This deep world
1128Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst
1129Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven's all-ruling Sire
1130Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,
1131And with the majesty of darkness round
1132Covers his throne, from whence deep thunders roar.
1133Mustering their rage, and Heaven resembles Hell!
1134As he our darkness, cannot we his light
1135Imitate when we please? This desert soil
1136Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold;
1137Nor want we skill or art from whence to raise
1138Magnificence; and what can Heaven show more?
1139Our torments also may, in length of time,
1140Become our elements, these piercing fires
1141As soft as now severe, our temper changed
1142Into their temper; which must needs remove
1143The sensible of pain. All things invite
1144To peaceful counsels, and the settled state
1145Of order, how in safety best we may
1146Compose our present evils, with regard
1147Of what we are and where, dismissing quite
1148All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise."
1149 He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled
1150Th' assembly as when hollow rocks retain
1151The sound of blustering winds, which all night long
1152Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull
1153Seafaring men o'erwatched, whose bark by chance
1154Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay
1155After the tempest. Such applause was heard
1156As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased,
1157Advising peace: for such another field
1158They dreaded worse than Hell; so much the fear
1159Of thunder and the sword of Michael
1160Wrought still within them; and no less desire
1161To found this nether empire, which might rise,
1162By policy and long process of time,
1163In emulation opposite to Heaven.
1164Which when Beelzebub perceived--than whom,
1165Satan except, none higher sat--with grave
1166Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed
1167A pillar of state. Deep on his front engraven
1168Deliberation sat, and public care;
1169And princely counsel in his face yet shone,
1170Majestic, though in ruin. Sage he stood
1171With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear
1172The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look
1173Drew audience and attention still as night
1174Or summer's noontide air, while thus he spake:--
1175 "Thrones and Imperial Powers, Offspring of Heaven,
1176Ethereal Virtues! or these titles now
1177Must we renounce, and, changing style, be called
1178Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote
1179Inclines--here to continue, and build up here
1180A growing empire; doubtless! while we dream,
1181And know not that the King of Heaven hath doomed
1182This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat
1183Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt
1184From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league
1185Banded against his throne, but to remain
1186In strictest bondage, though thus far removed,
1187Under th' inevitable curb, reserved
1188His captive multitude. For he, to be sure,
1189In height or depth, still first and last will reign
1190Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part
1191By our revolt, but over Hell extend
1192His empire, and with iron sceptre rule
1193Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven.
1194What sit we then projecting peace and war?
1195War hath determined us and foiled with loss
1196Irreparable; terms of peace yet none
1197Vouchsafed or sought; for what peace will be given
1198To us enslaved, but custody severe,
1199And stripes and arbitrary punishment
1200Inflicted? and what peace can we return,
1201But, to our power, hostility and hate,
1202Untamed reluctance, and revenge, though slow,
1203Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least
1204May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice
1205In doing what we most in suffering feel?
1206Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need
1207With dangerous expedition to invade
1208Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege,
1209Or ambush from the Deep. What if we find
1210Some easier enterprise? There is a place
1211(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven
1212Err not)--another World, the happy seat
1213Of some new race, called Man, about this time
1214To be created like to us, though less
1215In power and excellence, but favoured more
1216Of him who rules above; so was his will
1217Pronounced among the Gods, and by an oath
1218That shook Heaven's whole circumference confirmed.
1219Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn
1220What creatures there inhabit, of what mould
1221Or substance, how endued, and what their power
1222And where their weakness: how attempted best,
1223By force of subtlety. Though Heaven be shut,
1224And Heaven's high Arbitrator sit secure
1225In his own strength, this place may lie exposed,
1226The utmost border of his kingdom, left
1227To their defence who hold it: here, perhaps,
1228Some advantageous act may be achieved
1229By sudden onset--either with Hell-fire
1230To waste his whole creation, or possess
1231All as our own, and drive, as we were driven,
1232The puny habitants; or, if not drive,
1233Seduce them to our party, that their God
1234May prove their foe, and with repenting hand
1235Abolish his own works. This would surpass
1236Common revenge, and interrupt his joy
1237In our confusion, and our joy upraise
1238In his disturbance; when his darling sons,
1239Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse
1240Their frail original, and faded bliss--
1241Faded so soon! Advise if this be worth
1242Attempting, or to sit in darkness here
1243Hatching vain empires." Thus beelzebub
1244Pleaded his devilish counsel--first devised
1245By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence,
1246But from the author of all ill, could spring
1247So deep a malice, to confound the race
1248Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell
1249To mingle and involve, done all to spite
1250The great Creator? But their spite still serves
1251His glory to augment. The bold design
1252Pleased highly those infernal States, and joy
1253Sparkled in all their eyes: with full assent
1254They vote: whereat his speech he thus renews:--
1255"Well have ye judged, well ended long debate,
1256Synod of Gods, and, like to what ye are,
1257Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep
1258Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate,
1259Nearer our ancient seat--perhaps in view
1260Of those bright confines, whence, with neighbouring arms,
1261And opportune excursion, we may chance
1262Re-enter Heaven; or else in some mild zone
1263Dwell, not unvisited of Heaven's fair light,
1264Secure, and at the brightening orient beam
1265Purge off this gloom: the soft delicious air,
1266To heal the scar of these corrosive fires,
1267Shall breathe her balm. But, first, whom shall we send
1268In search of this new World? whom shall we find
1269Sufficient? who shall tempt with wandering feet
1270The dark, unbottomed, infinite Abyss,
1271And through the palpable obscure find out
1272His uncouth way, or spread his airy flight,
1273Upborne with indefatigable wings
1274Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive
1275The happy Isle? What strength, what art, can then
1276Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe,
1277Through the strict senteries and stations thick
1278Of Angels watching round? Here he had need
1279All circumspection: and we now no less
1280Choice in our suffrage; for on whom we send
1281The weight of all, and our last hope, relies."
1282 This said, he sat; and expectation held
1283His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
1284To second, or oppose, or undertake
1285The perilous attempt. But all sat mute,
1286Pondering the danger with deep thoughts; and each
1287In other's countenance read his own dismay,
1288Astonished. None among the choice and prime
1289Of those Heaven-warring champions could be found
1290So hardy as to proffer or accept,
1291Alone, the dreadful voyage; till, at last,
1292Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised
1293Above his fellows, with monarchal pride
1294Conscious of highest worth, unmoved thus spake:--
1295 "O Progeny of Heaven! Empyreal Thrones!
1296With reason hath deep silence and demur
1297Seized us, though undismayed. Long is the way
1298And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.
1299Our prison strong, this huge convex of fire,
1300Outrageous to devour, immures us round
1301Ninefold; and gates of burning adamant,
1302Barred over us, prohibit all egress.
1303These passed, if any pass, the void profound
1304Of unessential Night receives him next,
1305Wide-gaping, and with utter loss of being
1306Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf.
1307If thence he scape, into whatever world,
1308Or unknown region, what remains him less
1309Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape?
1310But I should ill become this throne, O Peers,
1311And this imperial sovereignty, adorned
1312With splendour, armed with power, if aught proposed
1313And judged of public moment in the shape
1314Of difficulty or danger, could deter
1315Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume
1316These royalties, and not refuse to reign,
1317Refusing to accept as great a share
1318Of hazard as of honour, due alike
1319To him who reigns, and so much to him due
1320Of hazard more as he above the rest
1321High honoured sits? Go, therefore, mighty Powers,
1322Terror of Heaven, though fallen; intend at home,
1323While here shall be our home, what best may ease
1324The present misery, and render Hell
1325More tolerable; if there be cure or charm
1326To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain
1327Of this ill mansion: intermit no watch
1328Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad
1329Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek
1330Deliverance for us all. This enterprise
1331None shall partake with me." Thus saying, rose
1332The Monarch, and prevented all reply;
1333Prudent lest, from his resolution raised,
1334Others among the chief might offer now,
1335Certain to be refused, what erst they feared,
1336And, so refused, might in opinion stand
1337His rivals, winning cheap the high repute
1338Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they
1339Dreaded not more th' adventure than his voice
1340Forbidding; and at once with him they rose.
1341Their rising all at once was as the sound
1342Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend
1343With awful reverence prone, and as a God
1344Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven.
1345Nor failed they to express how much they praised
1346That for the general safety he despised
1347His own: for neither do the Spirits damned
1348Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast
1349Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites,
1350Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal.
1351 Thus they their doubtful consultations dark
1352Ended, rejoicing in their matchless Chief:
1353As, when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds
1354Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o'erspread
1355Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element
1356Scowls o'er the darkened landscape snow or shower,
1357If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet,
1358Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,
1359The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
1360Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.
1361O shame to men! Devil with devil damned
1362Firm concord holds; men only disagree
1363Of creatures rational, though under hope
1364Of heavenly grace, and, God proclaiming peace,
1365Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife
1366Among themselves, and levy cruel wars
1367Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:
1368As if (which might induce us to accord)
1369Man had not hellish foes enow besides,
1370That day and night for his destruction wait!
1371 The Stygian council thus dissolved; and forth
1372In order came the grand infernal Peers:
1373Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed
1374Alone th' antagonist of Heaven, nor less
1375Than Hell's dread Emperor, with pomp supreme,
1376And god-like imitated state: him round
1377A globe of fiery Seraphim enclosed
1378With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms.
1379Then of their session ended they bid cry
1380With trumpet's regal sound the great result:
1381Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim
1382Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy,
1383By herald's voice explained; the hollow Abyss
1384Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell
1385With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim.
1386Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised
1387By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers
1388Disband; and, wandering, each his several way
1389Pursues, as inclination or sad choice
1390Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find
1391Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain
1392The irksome hours, till his great Chief return.
1393Part on the plain, or in the air sublime,
1394Upon the wing or in swift race contend,
1395As at th' Olympian games or Pythian fields;
1396Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal
1397With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form:
1398As when, to warn proud cities, war appears
1399Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush
1400To battle in the clouds; before each van
1401Prick forth the airy knights, and couch their spears,
1402Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms
1403From either end of heaven the welkin burns.
1404Others, with vast Typhoean rage, more fell,
1405Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
1406In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar:--
1407As when Alcides, from Oechalia crowned
1408With conquest, felt th' envenomed robe, and tore
1409Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines,
1410And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw
1411Into th' Euboic sea. Others, more mild,
1412Retreated in a silent valley, sing
1413With notes angelical to many a harp
1414Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall
1415By doom of battle, and complain that Fate
1416Free Virtue should enthrall to Force or Chance.
1417Their song was partial; but the harmony
1418(What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?)
1419Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment
1420The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet
1421(For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the Sense)
1422Others apart sat on a hill retired,
1423In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high
1424Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate--
1425Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
1426And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.
1427Of good and evil much they argued then,
1428Of happiness and final misery,
1429Passion and apathy, and glory and shame:
1430Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy!--
1431Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm
1432Pain for a while or anguish, and excite
1433Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast
1434With stubborn patience as with triple steel.
1435Another part, in squadrons and gross bands,
1436On bold adventure to discover wide
1437That dismal world, if any clime perhaps
1438Might yield them easier habitation, bend
1439Four ways their flying march, along the banks
1440Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge
1441Into the burning lake their baleful streams--
1442Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
1443Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep;
1444Cocytus, named of lamentation loud
1445Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton,
1446Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
1447Far off from these, a slow and silent stream,
1448Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls
1449Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks
1450Forthwith his former state and being forgets--
1451Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.
1452Beyond this flood a frozen continent
1453Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms
1454Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land
1455Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems
1456Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice,
1457A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog
1458Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,
1459Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air
1460Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire.
1461Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled,
1462At certain revolutions all the damned
1463Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
1464Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
1465From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
1466Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine
1467Immovable, infixed, and frozen round
1468Periods of time,--thence hurried back to fire.
1469They ferry over this Lethean sound
1470Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment,
1471And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach
1472The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose
1473In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
1474All in one moment, and so near the brink;
1475But Fate withstands, and, to oppose th' attempt,
1476Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards
1477The ford, and of itself the water flies
1478All taste of living wight, as once it fled
1479The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on
1480In confused march forlorn, th' adventurous bands,
1481With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast,
1482Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found
1483No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale
1484They passed, and many a region dolorous,
1485O'er many a frozen, many a fiery alp,
1486Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death--
1487A universe of death, which God by curse
1488Created evil, for evil only good;
1489Where all life dies, death lives, and Nature breeds,
1490Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,
1491Obominable, inutterable, and worse
1492Than fables yet have feigned or fear conceived,
1493Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.
1494 Meanwhile the Adversary of God and Man,
1495Satan, with thoughts inflamed of highest design,
1496Puts on swift wings, and toward the gates of Hell
1497Explores his solitary flight: sometimes
1498He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left;
1499Now shaves with level wing the deep, then soars
1500Up to the fiery concave towering high.
1501As when far off at sea a fleet descried
1502Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds
1503Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles
1504Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring
1505Their spicy drugs; they on the trading flood,
1506Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape,
1507Ply stemming nightly toward the pole: so seemed
1508Far off the flying Fiend. At last appear
1509Hell-bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof,
1510And thrice threefold the gates; three folds were brass,
1511Three iron, three of adamantine rock,
1512Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire,
1513Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat
1514On either side a formidable Shape.
1515The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair,
1516But ended foul in many a scaly fold,
1517Voluminous and vast--a serpent armed
1518With mortal sting. About her middle round
1519A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked
1520With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung
1521A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would creep,
1522If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb,
1523And kennel there; yet there still barked and howled
1524Within unseen. Far less abhorred than these
1525Vexed Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts
1526Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore;
1527Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, called
1528In secret, riding through the air she comes,
1529Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance
1530With Lapland witches, while the labouring moon
1531Eclipses at their charms. The other Shape--
1532If shape it might be called that shape had none
1533Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb;
1534Or substance might be called that shadow seemed,
1535For each seemed either--black it stood as Night,
1536Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,
1537And shook a dreadful dart: what seemed his head
1538The likeness of a kingly crown had on.
1539Satan was now at hand, and from his seat
1540The monster moving onward came as fast
1541With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode.
1542Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admired--
1543Admired, not feared (God and his Son except,
1544Created thing naught valued he nor shunned),
1545And with disdainful look thus first began:--
1546 "Whence and what art thou, execrable Shape,
1547That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance
1548Thy miscreated front athwart my way
1549To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass,
1550That be assured, without leave asked of thee.
1551Retire; or taste thy folly, and learn by proof,
1552Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven."
1553 To whom the Goblin, full of wrath, replied:--
1554"Art thou that traitor Angel? art thou he,
1555Who first broke peace in Heaven and faith, till then
1556Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms
1557Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons,
1558Conjured against the Highest--for which both thou
1559And they, outcast from God, are here condemned
1560To waste eternal days in woe and pain?
1561And reckon'st thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven
1562Hell-doomed, and breath'st defiance here and scorn,
1563Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more,
1564Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,
1565False fugitive; and to thy speed add wings,
1566Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue
1567Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart
1568Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before."
1569 So spake the grisly Terror, and in shape,
1570So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold,
1571More dreadful and deform. On th' other side,
1572Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
1573Unterrified, and like a comet burned,
1574That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
1575In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
1576Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head
1577Levelled his deadly aim; their fatal hands
1578No second stroke intend; and such a frown
1579Each cast at th' other as when two black clouds,
1580With heaven's artillery fraught, came rattling on
1581Over the Caspian,--then stand front to front
1582Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow
1583To join their dark encounter in mid-air.
1584So frowned the mighty combatants that Hell
1585Grew darker at their frown; so matched they stood;
1586For never but once more was wither like
1587To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds
1588Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,
1589Had not the snaky Sorceress, that sat
1590Fast by Hell-gate and kept the fatal key,
1591Risen, and with hideous outcry rushed between.
1592 "O father, what intends thy hand," she cried,
1593"Against thy only son? What fury, O son,
1594Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart
1595Against thy father's head? And know'st for whom?
1596For him who sits above, and laughs the while
1597At thee, ordained his drudge to execute
1598Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids--
1599His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both!"
1600 She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest
1601Forbore: then these to her Satan returned:--
1602 "So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange
1603Thou interposest, that my sudden hand,
1604Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds
1605What it intends, till first I know of thee
1606What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why,
1607In this infernal vale first met, thou call'st
1608Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son.
1609I know thee not, nor ever saw till now
1610Sight more detestable than him and thee."
1611 T' whom thus the Portress of Hell-gate replied:--
1612"Hast thou forgot me, then; and do I seem
1613Now in thine eye so foul?--once deemed so fair
1614In Heaven, when at th' assembly, and in sight
1615Of all the Seraphim with thee combined
1616In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King,
1617All on a sudden miserable pain
1618Surprised thee, dim thine eyes and dizzy swum
1619In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
1620Threw forth, till on the left side opening wide,
1621Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright,
1622Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess armed,
1623Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized
1624All th' host of Heaven; back they recoiled afraid
1625At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign
1626Portentous held me; but, familiar grown,
1627I pleased, and with attractive graces won
1628The most averse--thee chiefly, who, full oft
1629Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing,
1630Becam'st enamoured; and such joy thou took'st
1631With me in secret that my womb conceived
1632A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose,
1633And fields were fought in Heaven: wherein remained
1634(For what could else?) to our Almighty Foe
1635Clear victory; to our part loss and rout
1636Through all the Empyrean. Down they fell,
1637Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down
1638Into this Deep; and in the general fall
1639I also: at which time this powerful key
1640Into my hands was given, with charge to keep
1641These gates for ever shut, which none can pass
1642Without my opening. Pensive here I sat
1643Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb,
1644Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown,
1645Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.
1646At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,
1647Thine own begotten, breaking violent way,
1648Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain
1649Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew
1650Transformed: but he my inbred enemy
1651Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,
1652Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out Death!
1653Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed
1654From all her caves, and back resounded Death!
1655I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems,
1656Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far,
1657Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed,
1658And, in embraces forcible and foul
1659Engendering with me, of that rape begot
1660These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry
1661Surround me, as thou saw'st--hourly conceived
1662And hourly born, with sorrow infinite
1663To me; for, when they list, into the womb
1664That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw
1665My bowels, their repast; then, bursting forth
1666Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round,
1667That rest or intermission none I find.
1668Before mine eyes in opposition sits
1669Grim Death, my son and foe, who set them on,
1670And me, his parent, would full soon devour
1671For want of other prey, but that he knows
1672His end with mine involved, and knows that I
1673Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
1674Whenever that shall be: so Fate pronounced.
1675But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, shun
1676His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
1677To be invulnerable in those bright arms,
1678Through tempered heavenly; for that mortal dint,
1679Save he who reigns above, none can resist."
1680 She finished; and the subtle Fiend his lore
1681Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered smooth:--
1682 "Dear daughter--since thou claim'st me for thy sire,
1683And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge
1684Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys
1685Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change
1686Befallen us unforeseen, unthought-of--know,
1687I come no enemy, but to set free
1688From out this dark and dismal house of pain
1689Both him and thee, and all the heavenly host
1690Of Spirits that, in our just pretences armed,
1691Fell with us from on high. From them I go
1692This uncouth errand sole, and one for all
1693Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread
1694Th' unfounded Deep, and through the void immense
1695To search, with wandering quest, a place foretold
1696Should be--and, by concurring signs, ere now
1697Created vast and round--a place of bliss
1698In the purlieus of Heaven; and therein placed
1699A race of upstart creatures, to supply
1700Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed,
1701Lest Heaven, surcharged with potent multitude,
1702Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught
1703Than this more secret, now designed, I haste
1704To know; and, this once known, shall soon return,
1705And bring ye to the place where thou and Death
1706Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen
1707Wing silently the buxom air, embalmed
1708With odours. There ye shall be fed and filled
1709Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey."
1710 He ceased; for both seemed highly pleased, and Death
1711Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
1712His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw
1713Destined to that good hour. No less rejoiced
1714His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire:--
1715 "The key of this infernal Pit, by due
1716And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King,
1717I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
1718These adamantine gates; against all force
1719Death ready stands to interpose his dart,
1720Fearless to be o'ermatched by living might.
1721But what owe I to his commands above,
1722Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down
1723Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
1724To sit in hateful office here confined,
1725Inhabitant of Heaven and heavenly born--
1726Here in perpetual agony and pain,
1727With terrors and with clamours compassed round
1728Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
1729Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
1730My being gav'st me; whom should I obey
1731But thee? whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon
1732To that new world of light and bliss, among
1733The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign
1734At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems
1735Thy daughter and thy darling, without end."
1736 Thus saying, from her side the fatal key,
1737Sad instrument of all our woe, she took;
1738And, towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
1739Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew,
1740Which, but herself, not all the Stygian Powers
1741Could once have moved; then in the key-hole turns
1742Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
1743Of massy iron or solid rock with ease
1744Unfastens. On a sudden open fly,
1745With impetuous recoil and jarring sound,
1746Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
1747Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
1748Of Erebus. She opened; but to shut
1749Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood,
1750That with extended wings a bannered host,
1751Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through
1752With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;
1753So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth
1754Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.
1755Before their eyes in sudden view appear
1756The secrets of the hoary Deep--a dark
1757Illimitable ocean, without bound,
1758Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height,
1759And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night
1760And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
1761Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
1762Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
1763For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce,
1764Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring
1765Their embryon atoms: they around the flag
1766Of each his faction, in their several clans,
1767Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow,
1768Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands
1769Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,
1770Levied to side with warring winds, and poise
1771Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere
1772He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits,
1773And by decision more embroils the fray
1774By which he reigns: next him, high arbiter,
1775Chance governs all. Into this wild Abyss,
1776The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave,
1777Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
1778But all these in their pregnant causes mixed
1779Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,
1780Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain
1781His dark materials to create more worlds--
1782Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend
1783Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,
1784Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith
1785He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed
1786With noises loud and ruinous (to compare
1787Great things with small) than when Bellona storms
1788With all her battering engines, bent to rase
1789Some capital city; or less than if this frame
1790Of Heaven were falling, and these elements
1791In mutiny had from her axle torn
1792The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans
1793He spread for flight, and, in the surging smoke
1794Uplifted, spurns the ground; thence many a league,
1795As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides
1796Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets
1797A vast vacuity. All unawares,
1798Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb-down he drops
1799Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour
1800Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance,
1801The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud,
1802Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him
1803As many miles aloft. That fury stayed--
1804Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea,
1805Nor good dry land--nigh foundered, on he fares,
1806Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,
1807Half flying; behoves him now both oar and sail.
1808As when a gryphon through the wilderness
1809With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale,
1810Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
1811Had from his wakeful custody purloined
1812The guarded gold; so eagerly the Fiend
1813O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
1814With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
1815And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
1816At length a universal hubbub wild
1817Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused,
1818Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear
1819With loudest vehemence. Thither he plies
1820Undaunted, to meet there whatever Power
1821Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss
1822Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask
1823Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies
1824Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne
1825Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
1826Wide on the wasteful Deep! With him enthroned
1827Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things,
1828The consort of his reign; and by them stood
1829Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
1830Of Demogorgon; Rumour next, and Chance,
1831And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled,
1832And Discord with a thousand various mouths.
1833 T' whom Satan, turning boldly, thus:--"Ye Powers
1834And Spirits of this nethermost Abyss,
1835Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy
1836With purpose to explore or to disturb
1837The secrets of your realm; but, by constraint
1838Wandering this darksome desert, as my way
1839Lies through your spacious empire up to light,
1840Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek,
1841What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds
1842Confine with Heaven; or, if some other place,
1843From your dominion won, th' Ethereal King
1844Possesses lately, thither to arrive
1845I travel this profound. Direct my course:
1846Directed, no mean recompense it brings
1847To your behoof, if I that region lost,
1848All usurpation thence expelled, reduce
1849To her original darkness and your sway
1850(Which is my present journey), and once more
1851Erect the standard there of ancient Night.
1852Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge!"
1853 Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old,
1854With faltering speech and visage incomposed,
1855Answered: "I know thee, stranger, who thou art--
1856That mighty leading Angel, who of late
1857Made head against Heaven's King, though overthrown.
1858I saw and heard; for such a numerous host
1859Fled not in silence through the frighted Deep,
1860With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
1861Confusion worse confounded; and Heaven-gates
1862Poured out by millions her victorious bands,
1863Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here
1864Keep residence; if all I can will serve
1865That little which is left so to defend,
1866Encroached on still through our intestine broils
1867Weakening the sceptre of old Night: first, Hell,
1868Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath;
1869Now lately Heaven and Earth, another world
1870Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain
1871To that side Heaven from whence your legions fell!
1872If that way be your walk, you have not far;
1873So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed;
1874Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain."
1875 He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply,
1876But, glad that now his sea should find a shore,
1877With fresh alacrity and force renewed
1878Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire,
1879Into the wild expanse, and through the shock
1880Of fighting elements, on all sides round
1881Environed, wins his way; harder beset
1882And more endangered than when Argo passed
1883Through Bosporus betwixt the justling rocks,
1884Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned
1885Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steered.
1886So he with difficulty and labour hard
1887Moved on, with difficulty and labour he;
1888But, he once passed, soon after, when Man fell,
1889Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain,
1890Following his track (such was the will of Heaven)
1891Paved after him a broad and beaten way
1892Over the dark Abyss, whose boiling gulf
1893Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length,
1894From Hell continued, reaching th' utmost orb
1895Of this frail World; by which the Spirits perverse
1896With easy intercourse pass to and fro
1897To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
1898God and good Angels guard by special grace.
1899 But now at last the sacred influence
1900Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven
1901Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night
1902A glimmering dawn. Here Nature first begins
1903Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire,
1904As from her outmost works, a broken foe,
1905With tumult less and with less hostile din;
1906That Satan with less toil, and now with ease,
1907Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light,
1908And, like a weather-beaten vessel, holds
1909Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn;
1910Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,
1911Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold
1912Far off th' empyreal Heaven, extended wide
1913In circuit, undetermined square or round,
1914With opal towers and battlements adorned
1915Of living sapphire, once his native seat;
1916And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain,
1917This pendent World, in bigness as a star
1918Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
1919Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,
1920Accursed, and in a cursed hour, he hies.
1921
1922
1923
1924Book III
1925
1926
1927Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn,
1928Or of the Eternal coeternal beam
1929May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light,
1930And never but in unapproached light
1931Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee
1932Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
1933Or hear'st thou rather pure ethereal stream,
1934Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun,
1935Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice
1936Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
1937The rising world of waters dark and deep,
1938Won from the void and formless infinite.
1939Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,
1940Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd
1941In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight
1942Through utter and through middle darkness borne,
1943With other notes than to the Orphean lyre
1944I sung of Chaos and eternal Night;
1945Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down
1946The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,
1947Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safe,
1948And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou
1949Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain
1950To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
1951So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,
1952Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more
1953Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt,
1954Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
1955Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
1956Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,
1957That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
1958Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget
1959So were I equall'd with them in renown,
1960Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace;
1961Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides,
1962And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old:
1963Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
1964Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
1965Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
1966Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
1967Seasons return; but not to me returns
1968Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
1969Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
1970Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
1971But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
1972Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
1973Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
1974Presented with a universal blank
1975Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd,
1976And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
1977So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
1978Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
1979Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence
1980Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
1981Of things invisible to mortal sight.
1982Now had the Almighty Father from above,
1983From the pure empyrean where he sits
1984High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye
1985His own works and their works at once to view:
1986About him all the Sanctities of Heaven
1987Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd
1988Beatitude past utterance; on his right
1989The radiant image of his glory sat,
1990His only son; on earth he first beheld
1991Our two first parents, yet the only two
1992Of mankind in the happy garden plac'd
1993Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,
1994Uninterrupted joy, unrivall'd love,
1995In blissful solitude; he then survey'd
1996Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there
1997Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night
1998In the dun air sublime, and ready now
1999To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,
2000On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd
2001Firm land imbosom'd, without firmament,
2002Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
2003Him God beholding from his prospect high,
2004Wherein past, present, future, he beholds,
2005Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.
2006Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage
2007Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds
2008Prescrib'd no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
2009Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss
2010Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems
2011On desperate revenge, that shall redound
2012Upon his own rebellious head. And now,
2013Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way
2014Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light,
2015Directly towards the new created world,
2016And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay
2017If him by force he can destroy, or, worse,
2018By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert;
2019For man will hearken to his glozing lies,
2020And easily transgress the sole command,
2021Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall
2022He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?
2023Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me
2024All he could have; I made him just and right,
2025Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
2026Such I created all the ethereal Powers
2027And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd;
2028Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
2029Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
2030Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,
2031Where only what they needs must do appear'd,
2032Not what they would? what praise could they receive?
2033What pleasure I from such obedience paid,
2034When will and reason (reason also is choice)
2035Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd,
2036Made passive both, had serv'd necessity,
2037Not me. They therefore, as to right belong'd,
2038So were created, nor can justly accuse
2039Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,
2040As if predestination over-rul'd
2041Their will dispos'd by absolute decree
2042Or high foreknowledge they themselves decreed
2043Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,
2044Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
2045Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.
2046So without least impulse or shadow of fate,
2047Or aught by me immutably foreseen,
2048They trespass, authors to themselves in all
2049Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so
2050I form'd them free: and free they must remain,
2051Till they enthrall themselves; I else must change
2052Their nature, and revoke the high decree
2053Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd
2054Their freedom: they themselves ordain'd their fall.
2055The first sort by their own suggestion fell,
2056Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'd
2057By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,
2058The other none: In mercy and justice both,
2059Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel;
2060But Mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.
2061Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd
2062All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect
2063Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd.
2064Beyond compare the Son of God was seen
2065Most glorious; in him all his Father shone
2066Substantially express'd; and in his face
2067Divine compassion visibly appear'd,
2068Love without end, and without measure grace,
2069Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake.
2070O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd
2071Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace;
2072For which both Heaven and earth shall high extol
2073Thy praises, with the innumerable sound
2074Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne
2075Encompass'd shall resound thee ever blest.
2076For should Man finally be lost, should Man,
2077Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son,
2078Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd
2079With his own folly? that be from thee far,
2080That far be from thee, Father, who art judge
2081Of all things made, and judgest only right.
2082Or shall the Adversary thus obtain
2083His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfill
2084His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought,
2085Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,
2086Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell
2087Draw after him the whole race of mankind,
2088By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself
2089Abolish thy creation, and unmake
2090For him, what for thy glory thou hast made?
2091So should thy goodness and thy greatness both
2092Be question'd and blasphem'd without defence.
2093To whom the great Creator thus replied.
2094O son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,
2095Son of my bosom, Son who art alone.
2096My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,
2097All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all
2098As my eternal purpose hath decreed;
2099Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will;
2100Yet not of will in him, but grace in me
2101Freely vouchsaf'd; once more I will renew
2102His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthrall'd
2103By sin to foul exorbitant desires;
2104Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand
2105On even ground against his mortal foe;
2106By me upheld, that he may know how frail
2107His fallen condition is, and to me owe
2108All his deliverance, and to none but me.
2109Some I have chosen of peculiar grace,
2110Elect above the rest; so is my will:
2111The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd
2112Their sinful state, and to appease betimes
2113The incensed Deity, while offer'd grace
2114Invites; for I will clear their senses dark,
2115What may suffice, and soften stony hearts
2116To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.
2117To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,
2118Though but endeavour'd with sincere intent,
2119Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.
2120And I will place within them as a guide,
2121My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear,
2122Light after light, well us'd, they shall attain,
2123And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.
2124This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,
2125They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;
2126But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more,
2127That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;
2128And none but such from mercy I exclude.
2129But yet all is not done; Man disobeying,
2130Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins
2131Against the high supremacy of Heaven,
2132Affecting God-head, and, so losing all,
2133To expiate his treason hath nought left,
2134But to destruction sacred and devote,
2135He, with his whole posterity, must die,
2136Die he or justice must; unless for him
2137Some other able, and as willing, pay
2138The rigid satisfaction, death for death.
2139Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?
2140Which of you will be mortal, to redeem
2141Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save?
2142Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?
2143He ask'd, but all the heavenly quire stood mute,
2144And silence was in Heaven: on Man's behalf
2145Patron or intercessour none appear'd,
2146Much less that durst upon his own head draw
2147The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.
2148And now without redemption all mankind
2149Must have been lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hell
2150By doom severe, had not the Son of God,
2151In whom the fulness dwells of love divine,
2152His dearest mediation thus renew'd.
2153Father, thy word is past, Man shall find grace;
2154And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,
2155The speediest of thy winged messengers,
2156To visit all thy creatures, and to all
2157Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought?
2158Happy for Man, so coming; he her aid
2159Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost;
2160Atonement for himself, or offering meet,
2161Indebted and undone, hath none to bring;
2162Behold me then: me for him, life for life
2163I offer: on me let thine anger fall;
2164Account me Man; I for his sake will leave
2165Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee
2166Freely put off, and for him lastly die
2167Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage.
2168Under his gloomy power I shall not long
2169Lie vanquished. Thou hast given me to possess
2170Life in myself for ever; by thee I live;
2171Though now to Death I yield, and am his due,
2172All that of me can die, yet, that debt paid,
2173Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave
2174His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul
2175For ever with corruption there to dwell;
2176But I shall rise victorious, and subdue
2177My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil.
2178Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop
2179Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed;
2180I through the ample air in triumph high
2181Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show
2182The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight
2183Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,
2184While, by thee raised, I ruin all my foes;
2185Death last, and with his carcase glut the grave;
2186Then, with the multitude of my redeemed,
2187Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return,
2188Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud
2189Of anger shall remain, but peace assured
2190And reconcilement: wrath shall be no more
2191Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.
2192 His words here ended; but his meek aspect
2193Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love
2194To mortal men, above which only shone
2195Filial obedience: as a sacrifice
2196Glad to be offered, he attends the will
2197Of his great Father. Admiration seized
2198All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend,
2199Wondering; but soon th' Almighty thus replied:
2200 O thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace
2201Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou
2202My sole complacence! Well thou know'st how dear
2203To me are all my works; nor Man the least,
2204Though last created, that for him I spare
2205Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,
2206By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.
2207Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem,
2208Their nature also to thy nature join;
2209And be thyself Man among men on Earth,
2210Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,
2211By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam's room
2212The head of all mankind, though Adam's son.
2213As in him perish all men, so in thee,
2214As from a second root, shall be restored
2215As many as are restored, without thee none.
2216His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit,
2217Imputed, shall absolve them who renounce
2218Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,
2219And live in thee transplanted, and from thee
2220Receive new life. So Man, as is most just,
2221Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die,
2222And dying rise, and rising with him raise
2223His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.
2224So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate,
2225Giving to death, and dying to redeem,
2226So dearly to redeem what hellish hate
2227So easily destroyed, and still destroys
2228In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
2229Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume
2230Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own.
2231Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss
2232Equal to God, and equally enjoying
2233God-like fruition, quitted all, to save
2234A world from utter loss, and hast been found
2235By merit more than birthright Son of God,
2236Found worthiest to be so by being good,
2237Far more than great or high; because in thee
2238Love hath abounded more than glory abounds;
2239Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt
2240With thee thy manhood also to this throne:
2241Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign
2242Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,
2243Anointed universal King; all power
2244I give thee; reign for ever, and assume
2245Thy merits; under thee, as head supreme,
2246Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce:
2247All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide
2248In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell.
2249When thou, attended gloriously from Heaven,
2250Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send
2251The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaim
2252Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds,
2253The living, and forthwith the cited dead
2254Of all past ages, to the general doom
2255Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep.
2256Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge
2257Bad Men and Angels; they, arraigned, shall sink
2258Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full,
2259Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while
2260The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring
2261New Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell,
2262And, after all their tribulations long,
2263See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,
2264With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth.
2265Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,
2266For regal scepter then no more shall need,
2267God shall be all in all. But, all ye Gods,
2268Adore him, who to compass all this dies;
2269Adore the Son, and honour him as me.
2270No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all
2271The multitude of Angels, with a shout
2272Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
2273As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heaven rung
2274With jubilee, and loud Hosannas filled
2275The eternal regions: Lowly reverent
2276Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground
2277With solemn adoration down they cast
2278Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold;
2279Immortal amarant, a flower which once
2280In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,
2281Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence
2282To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,
2283And flowers aloft shading the fount of life,
2284And where the river of bliss through midst of Heaven
2285Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream;
2286With these that never fade the Spirits elect
2287Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams;
2288Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
2289Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,
2290Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.
2291Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took,
2292Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side
2293Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
2294Of charming symphony they introduce
2295Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;
2296No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
2297Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven.
2298Thee, Father, first they sung Omnipotent,
2299Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,
2300Eternal King; the Author of all being,
2301Fountain of light, thyself invisible
2302Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st
2303Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest
2304The full blaze of thy beams, and, through a cloud
2305Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,
2306Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,
2307Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim
2308Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
2309Thee next they sang of all creation first,
2310Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,
2311In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud
2312Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,
2313Whom else no creature can behold; on thee
2314Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides,
2315Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.
2316He Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein
2317By thee created; and by thee threw down
2318The aspiring Dominations: Thou that day
2319Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,
2320Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook
2321Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks
2322Thou drovest of warring Angels disarrayed.
2323Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim
2324Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father's might,
2325To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,
2326Not so on Man: Him through their malice fallen,
2327Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom
2328So strictly, but much more to pity incline:
2329No sooner did thy dear and only Son
2330Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail Man
2331So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,
2332He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife
2333Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned,
2334Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat
2335Second to thee, offered himself to die
2336For Man's offence. O unexampled love,
2337Love no where to be found less than Divine!
2338Hail, Son of God, Saviour of Men! Thy name
2339Shall be the copious matter of my song
2340Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise
2341Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin.
2342Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere,
2343Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.
2344Mean while upon the firm opacous globe
2345Of this round world, whose first convex divides
2346The luminous inferiour orbs, enclosed
2347From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old,
2348Satan alighted walks: A globe far off
2349It seemed, now seems a boundless continent
2350Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night
2351Starless exposed, and ever-threatening storms
2352Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;
2353Save on that side which from the wall of Heaven,
2354Though distant far, some small reflection gains
2355Of glimmering air less vexed with tempest loud:
2356Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field.
2357As when a vultur on Imaus bred,
2358Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
2359Dislodging from a region scarce of prey
2360To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids,
2361On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs
2362Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;
2363But in his way lights on the barren plains
2364Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
2365With sails and wind their cany waggons light:
2366So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend
2367Walked up and down alone, bent on his prey;
2368Alone, for other creature in this place,
2369Living or lifeless, to be found was none;
2370None yet, but store hereafter from the earth
2371Up hither like aereal vapours flew
2372Of all things transitory and vain, when sin
2373With vanity had filled the works of men:
2374Both all things vain, and all who in vain things
2375Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame,
2376Or happiness in this or the other life;
2377All who have their reward on earth, the fruits
2378Of painful superstition and blind zeal,
2379Nought seeking but the praise of men, here find
2380Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;
2381All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand,
2382Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed,
2383Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
2384Till final dissolution, wander here;
2385Not in the neighbouring moon as some have dreamed;
2386Those argent fields more likely habitants,
2387Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold
2388Betwixt the angelical and human kind.
2389Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born
2390First from the ancient world those giants came
2391With many a vain exploit, though then renowned:
2392The builders next of Babel on the plain
2393Of Sennaar, and still with vain design,
2394New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build:
2395Others came single; he, who, to be deemed
2396A God, leaped fondly into Aetna flames,
2397Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy
2398Plato's Elysium, leaped into the sea,
2399Cleombrotus; and many more too long,
2400Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars
2401White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery.
2402Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek
2403In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven;
2404And they, who to be sure of Paradise,
2405Dying, put on the weeds of Dominick,
2406Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised;
2407They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed,
2408And that crystalling sphere whose balance weighs
2409The trepidation talked, and that first moved;
2410And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems
2411To wait them with his keys, and now at foot
2412Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo
2413A violent cross wind from either coast
2414Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry
2415Into the devious air: Then might ye see
2416Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tost
2417And fluttered into rags; then reliques, beads,
2418Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,
2419The sport of winds: All these, upwhirled aloft,
2420Fly o'er the backside of the world far off
2421Into a Limbo large and broad, since called
2422The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown
2423Long after; now unpeopled, and untrod.
2424All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed,
2425And long he wandered, till at last a gleam
2426Of dawning light turned thither-ward in haste
2427His travelled steps: far distant he descries
2428Ascending by degrees magnificent
2429Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high;
2430At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared
2431The work as of a kingly palace-gate,
2432With frontispiece of diamond and gold
2433Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems
2434The portal shone, inimitable on earth
2435By model, or by shading pencil, drawn.
2436These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw
2437Angels ascending and descending, bands
2438Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled
2439To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz
2440Dreaming by night under the open sky
2441And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven.
2442Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
2443There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes
2444Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed
2445Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
2446Who after came from earth, failing arrived
2447Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
2448Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
2449The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
2450The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate
2451His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss:
2452Direct against which opened from beneath,
2453Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
2454A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide,
2455Wider by far than that of after-times
2456Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
2457Over the Promised Land to God so dear;
2458By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,
2459On high behests his angels to and fro
2460Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard
2461From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,
2462To Beersaba, where the Holy Land
2463Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;
2464So wide the opening seemed, where bounds were set
2465To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.
2466Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,
2467That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate,
2468Looks down with wonder at the sudden view
2469Of all this world at once. As when a scout,
2470Through dark and desert ways with peril gone
2471All night; at last by break of cheerful dawn
2472Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,
2473Which to his eye discovers unaware
2474The goodly prospect of some foreign land
2475First seen, or some renowned metropolis
2476With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,
2477Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams:
2478Such wonder seised, though after Heaven seen,
2479The Spirit malign, but much more envy seised,
2480At sight of all this world beheld so fair.
2481Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood
2482So high above the circling canopy
2483Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point
2484Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears
2485Andromeda far off Atlantick seas
2486Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole
2487He views in breadth, and without longer pause
2488Down right into the world's first region throws
2489His flight precipitant, and winds with ease
2490Through the pure marble air his oblique way
2491Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
2492Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds;
2493Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles,
2494Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,
2495Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales,
2496Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there
2497He staid not to inquire: Above them all
2498The golden sun, in splendour likest Heaven,
2499Allured his eye; thither his course he bends
2500Through the calm firmament, (but up or down,
2501By center, or eccentrick, hard to tell,
2502Or longitude,) where the great luminary
2503Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,
2504That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
2505Dispenses light from far; they, as they move
2506Their starry dance in numbers that compute
2507Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp
2508Turn swift their various motions, or are turned
2509By his magnetick beam, that gently warms
2510The universe, and to each inward part
2511With gentle penetration, though unseen,
2512Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;
2513So wonderously was set his station bright.
2514There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps
2515Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb
2516Through his glazed optick tube yet never saw.
2517The place he found beyond expression bright,
2518Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone;
2519Not all parts like, but all alike informed
2520With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;
2521If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear;
2522If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,
2523Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone
2524In Aaron's breast-plate, and a stone besides
2525Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen,
2526That stone, or like to that which here below
2527Philosophers in vain so long have sought,
2528In vain, though by their powerful art they bind
2529Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound
2530In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,
2531Drained through a limbeck to his native form.
2532What wonder then if fields and regions here
2533Breathe forth Elixir pure, and rivers run
2534Potable gold, when with one virtuous touch
2535The arch-chemick sun, so far from us remote,
2536Produces, with terrestrial humour mixed,
2537Here in the dark so many precious things
2538Of colour glorious, and effect so rare?
2539Here matter new to gaze the Devil met
2540Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands;
2541For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,
2542But all sun-shine, as when his beams at noon
2543Culminate from the equator, as they now
2544Shot upward still direct, whence no way round
2545Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air,
2546No where so clear, sharpened his visual ray
2547To objects distant far, whereby he soon
2548Saw within ken a glorious Angel stand,
2549The same whom John saw also in the sun:
2550His back was turned, but not his brightness hid;
2551Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar
2552Circled his head, nor less his locks behind
2553Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings
2554Lay waving round; on some great charge employed
2555He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep.
2556Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope
2557To find who might direct his wandering flight
2558To Paradise, the happy seat of Man,
2559His journey's end and our beginning woe.
2560But first he casts to change his proper shape,
2561Which else might work him danger or delay:
2562And now a stripling Cherub he appears,
2563Not of the prime, yet such as in his face
2564Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb
2565Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned:
2566Under a coronet his flowing hair
2567In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore
2568Of many a coloured plume, sprinkled with gold;
2569His habit fit for speed succinct, and held
2570Before his decent steps a silver wand.
2571He drew not nigh unheard; the Angel bright,
2572Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turned,
2573Admonished by his ear, and straight was known
2574The Arch-Angel Uriel, one of the seven
2575Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne,
2576Stand ready at command, and are his eyes
2577That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth
2578Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,
2579O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts.
2580Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand
2581In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright,
2582The first art wont his great authentick will
2583Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring,
2584Where all his sons thy embassy attend;
2585And here art likeliest by supreme decree
2586Like honour to obtain, and as his eye
2587To visit oft this new creation round;
2588Unspeakable desire to see, and know
2589All these his wonderous works, but chiefly Man,
2590His chief delight and favour, him for whom
2591All these his works so wonderous he ordained,
2592Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim
2593Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell
2594In which of all these shining orbs hath Man
2595His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none,
2596But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell;
2597That I may find him, and with secret gaze
2598Or open admiration him behold,
2599On whom the great Creator hath bestowed
2600Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured;
2601That both in him and all things, as is meet,
2602The universal Maker we may praise;
2603Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes
2604To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss,
2605Created this new happy race of Men
2606To serve him better: Wise are all his ways.
2607So spake the false dissembler unperceived;
2608For neither Man nor Angel can discern
2609Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks
2610Invisible, except to God alone,
2611By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth:
2612And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps
2613At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity
2614Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill
2615Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguiled
2616Uriel, though regent of the sun, and held
2617The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven;
2618Who to the fraudulent impostor foul,
2619In his uprightness, answer thus returned.
2620Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know
2621The works of God, thereby to glorify
2622The great Work-master, leads to no excess
2623That reaches blame, but rather merits praise
2624The more it seems excess, that led thee hither
2625From thy empyreal mansion thus alone,
2626To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps,
2627Contented with report, hear only in Heaven:
2628For wonderful indeed are all his works,
2629Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
2630Had in remembrance always with delight;
2631But what created mind can comprehend
2632Their number, or the wisdom infinite
2633That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?
2634I saw when at his word the formless mass,
2635This world's material mould, came to a heap:
2636Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar
2637Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined;
2638Till at his second bidding Darkness fled,
2639Light shone, and order from disorder sprung:
2640Swift to their several quarters hasted then
2641The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;
2642And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven
2643Flew upward, spirited with various forms,
2644That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars
2645Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;
2646Each had his place appointed, each his course;
2647The rest in circuit walls this universe.
2648Look downward on that globe, whose hither side
2649With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;
2650That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light
2651His day, which else, as the other hemisphere,
2652Night would invade; but there the neighbouring moon
2653(So call that opposite fair star) her aid
2654Timely interposes, and her monthly round
2655Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heaven,
2656With borrowed light her countenance triform
2657Hence fills and empties to enlighten the Earth,
2658And in her pale dominion checks the night.
2659That spot, to which I point, is Paradise,
2660Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower.
2661Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.
2662Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low,
2663As to superiour Spirits is wont in Heaven,
2664Where honour due and reverence none neglects,
2665Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath,
2666Down from the ecliptick, sped with hoped success,
2667Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel;
2668Nor staid, till on Niphates' top he lights.
2669
2670
2671
2672Book IV
2673
2674
2675O, for that warning voice, which he, who saw
2676The Apocalypse, heard cry in Heaven aloud,
2677Then when the Dragon, put to second rout,
2678Came furious down to be revenged on men,
2679Woe to the inhabitants on earth! that now,
2680While time was, our first parents had been warned
2681The coming of their secret foe, and 'scaped,
2682Haply so 'scaped his mortal snare: For now
2683Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down,
2684The tempter ere the accuser of mankind,
2685To wreak on innocent frail Man his loss
2686Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell:
2687Yet, not rejoicing in his speed, though bold
2688Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast,
2689Begins his dire attempt; which nigh the birth
2690Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast,
2691And like a devilish engine back recoils
2692Upon himself; horrour and doubt distract
2693His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir
2694The Hell within him; for within him Hell
2695He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
2696One step, no more than from himself, can fly
2697By change of place: Now conscience wakes despair,
2698That slumbered; wakes the bitter memory
2699Of what he was, what is, and what must be
2700Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.
2701Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view
2702Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad;
2703Sometimes towards Heaven, and the full-blazing sun,
2704Which now sat high in his meridian tower:
2705Then, much revolving, thus in sighs began.
2706O thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned,
2707Lookest from thy sole dominion like the God
2708Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars
2709Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call,
2710But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,
2711Of Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
2712That bring to my remembrance from what state
2713I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;
2714Till pride and worse ambition threw me down
2715Warring in Heaven against Heaven's matchless King:
2716Ah, wherefore! he deserved no such return
2717From me, whom he created what I was
2718In that bright eminence, and with his good
2719Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.
2720What could be less than to afford him praise,
2721The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,
2722How due! yet all his good proved ill in me,
2723And wrought but malice; lifted up so high
2724I 'sdeined subjection, and thought one step higher
2725Would set me highest, and in a moment quit
2726The debt immense of endless gratitude,
2727So burdensome still paying, still to owe,
2728Forgetful what from him I still received,
2729And understood not that a grateful mind
2730By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
2731Indebted and discharged; what burden then
2732O, had his powerful destiny ordained
2733Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood
2734Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised
2735Ambition! Yet why not some other Power
2736As great might have aspired, and me, though mean,
2737Drawn to his part; but other Powers as great
2738Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within
2739Or from without, to all temptations armed.
2740Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand?
2741Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,
2742But Heaven's free love dealt equally to all?
2743Be then his love accursed, since love or hate,
2744To me alike, it deals eternal woe.
2745Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy will
2746Chose freely what it now so justly rues.
2747Me miserable! which way shall I fly
2748Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
2749Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;
2750And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
2751Still threatening to devour me opens wide,
2752To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.
2753O, then, at last relent: Is there no place
2754Left for repentance, none for pardon left?
2755None left but by submission; and that word
2756Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
2757Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced
2758With other promises and other vaunts
2759Than to submit, boasting I could subdue
2760The Omnipotent. Ay me! they little know
2761How dearly I abide that boast so vain,
2762Under what torments inwardly I groan,
2763While they adore me on the throne of Hell.
2764With diadem and scepter high advanced,
2765The lower still I fall, only supreme
2766In misery: Such joy ambition finds.
2767But say I could repent, and could obtain,
2768By act of grace, my former state; how soon
2769Would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay
2770What feigned submission swore? Ease would recant
2771Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
2772For never can true reconcilement grow,
2773Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep:
2774Which would but lead me to a worse relapse
2775And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear
2776Short intermission bought with double smart.
2777This knows my Punisher; therefore as far
2778From granting he, as I from begging, peace;
2779All hope excluded thus, behold, instead
2780Of us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight,
2781Mankind created, and for him this world.
2782So farewell, hope; and with hope farewell, fear;
2783Farewell, remorse! all good to me is lost;
2784Evil, be thou my good; by thee at least
2785Divided empire with Heaven's King I hold,
2786By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;
2787As Man ere long, and this new world, shall know.
2788Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face
2789Thrice changed with pale, ire, envy, and despair;
2790Which marred his borrowed visage, and betrayed
2791Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.
2792For heavenly minds from such distempers foul
2793Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware,
2794Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm,
2795Artificer of fraud; and was the first
2796That practised falsehood under saintly show,
2797Deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge:
2798Yet not enough had practised to deceive
2799Uriel once warned; whose eye pursued him down
2800The way he went, and on the Assyrian mount
2801Saw him disfigured, more than could befall
2802Spirit of happy sort; his gestures fierce
2803He marked and mad demeanour, then alone,
2804As he supposed, all unobserved, unseen.
2805So on he fares, and to the border comes
2806Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
2807Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,
2808As with a rural mound, the champaign head
2809Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
2810With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
2811Access denied; and overhead upgrew
2812Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
2813Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
2814A sylvan scene, and, as the ranks ascend,
2815Shade above shade, a woody theatre
2816Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
2817The verdurous wall of Paradise upsprung;
2818Which to our general sire gave prospect large
2819Into his nether empire neighbouring round.
2820And higher than that wall a circling row
2821Of goodliest trees, loaden with fairest fruit,
2822Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
2823Appeared, with gay enamelled colours mixed:
2824On which the sun more glad impressed his beams
2825Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
2826When God hath showered the earth; so lovely seemed
2827That landskip: And of pure now purer air
2828Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
2829Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
2830All sadness but despair: Now gentle gales,
2831Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
2832Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
2833Those balmy spoils. As when to them who fail
2834Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
2835Mozambick, off at sea north-east winds blow
2836Sabean odours from the spicy shore
2837Of Araby the blest; with such delay
2838Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league
2839Cheered with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles:
2840So entertained those odorous sweets the Fiend,
2841Who came their bane; though with them better pleased
2842Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume
2843That drove him, though enamoured, from the spouse
2844Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
2845From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound.
2846Now to the ascent of that steep savage hill
2847Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow;
2848But further way found none, so thick entwined,
2849As one continued brake, the undergrowth
2850Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplexed
2851All path of man or beast that passed that way.
2852One gate there only was, and that looked east
2853On the other side: which when the arch-felon saw,
2854Due entrance he disdained; and, in contempt,
2855At one flight bound high over-leaped all bound
2856Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within
2857Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
2858Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
2859Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve
2860In hurdled cotes amid the field secure,
2861Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold:
2862Or as a thief, bent to unhoard the cash
2863Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,
2864Cross-barred and bolted fast, fear no assault,
2865In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles:
2866So clomb this first grand thief into God's fold;
2867So since into his church lewd hirelings climb.
2868Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life,
2869The middle tree and highest there that grew,
2870Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life
2871Thereby regained, but sat devising death
2872To them who lived; nor on the virtue thought
2873Of that life-giving plant, but only used
2874For prospect, what well used had been the pledge
2875Of immortality. So little knows
2876Any, but God alone, to value right
2877The good before him, but perverts best things
2878To worst abuse, or to their meanest use.
2879Beneath him with new wonder now he views,
2880To all delight of human sense exposed,
2881In narrow room, Nature's whole wealth, yea more,
2882A Heaven on Earth: For blissful Paradise
2883Of God the garden was, by him in the east
2884Of Eden planted; Eden stretched her line
2885From Auran eastward to the royal towers
2886Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings,
2887Or where the sons of Eden long before
2888Dwelt in Telassar: In this pleasant soil
2889His far more pleasant garden God ordained;
2890Out of the fertile ground he caused to grow
2891All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;
2892And all amid them stood the tree of life,
2893High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit
2894Of vegetable gold; and next to life,
2895Our death, the tree of knowledge, grew fast by,
2896Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill.
2897Southward through Eden went a river large,
2898Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill
2899Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had thrown
2900That mountain as his garden-mould high raised
2901Upon the rapid current, which, through veins
2902Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn,
2903Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill
2904Watered the garden; thence united fell
2905Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
2906Which from his darksome passage now appears,
2907And now, divided into four main streams,
2908Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm
2909And country, whereof here needs no account;
2910But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
2911How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
2912Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,
2913With mazy errour under pendant shades
2914Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
2915Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice Art
2916In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon
2917Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
2918Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
2919The open field, and where the unpierced shade
2920Imbrowned the noontide bowers: Thus was this place
2921A happy rural seat of various view;
2922Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
2923Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
2924Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
2925If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
2926Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
2927Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
2928Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap
2929Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
2930Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
2931Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
2932Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
2933Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
2934Luxuriant; mean while murmuring waters fall
2935Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,
2936That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned
2937Her crystal mirrour holds, unite their streams.
2938The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
2939Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
2940The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
2941Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
2942Led on the eternal Spring. Not that fair field
2943Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers,
2944Herself a fairer flower by gloomy Dis
2945Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain
2946To seek her through the world; nor that sweet grove
2947Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspired
2948Castalian spring, might with this Paradise
2949Of Eden strive; nor that Nyseian isle
2950Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham,
2951Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove,
2952Hid Amalthea, and her florid son
2953Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye;
2954Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard,
2955Mount Amara, though this by some supposed
2956True Paradise under the Ethiop line
2957By Nilus' head, enclosed with shining rock,
2958A whole day's journey high, but wide remote
2959From this Assyrian garden, where the Fiend
2960Saw, undelighted, all delight, all kind
2961Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange
2962Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
2963Godlike erect, with native honour clad
2964In naked majesty seemed lords of all:
2965And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine
2966The image of their glorious Maker shone,
2967Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
2968(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,)
2969Whence true authority in men; though both
2970Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;
2971For contemplation he and valour formed;
2972For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
2973He for God only, she for God in him:
2974His fair large front and eye sublime declared
2975Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
2976Round from his parted forelock manly hung
2977Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
2978She, as a veil, down to the slender waist
2979Her unadorned golden tresses wore
2980Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved
2981As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied
2982Subjection, but required with gentle sway,
2983And by her yielded, by him best received,
2984Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
2985And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
2986Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed;
2987Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shame
2988Of nature's works, honour dishonourable,
2989Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind
2990With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure,
2991And banished from man's life his happiest life,
2992Simplicity and spotless innocence!
2993So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sight
2994Of God or Angel; for they thought no ill:
2995So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair,
2996That ever since in love's embraces met;
2997Adam the goodliest man of men since born
2998His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.
2999Under a tuft of shade that on a green
3000Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain side
3001They sat them down; and, after no more toil
3002Of their sweet gardening labour than sufficed
3003To recommend cool Zephyr, and made ease
3004More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite
3005More grateful, to their supper-fruits they fell,
3006Nectarine fruits which the compliant boughs
3007Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline
3008On the soft downy bank damasked with flowers:
3009The savoury pulp they chew, and in the rind,
3010Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream;
3011Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smiles
3012Wanted, nor youthful dalliance, as beseems
3013Fair couple, linked in happy nuptial league,
3014Alone as they. About them frisking played
3015All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase
3016In wood or wilderness, forest or den;
3017Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw
3018Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,
3019Gambolled before them; the unwieldy elephant,
3020To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed
3021His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly,
3022Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine
3023His braided train, and of his fatal guile
3024Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass
3025Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat,
3026Or bedward ruminating; for the sun,
3027Declined, was hasting now with prone career
3028To the ocean isles, and in the ascending scale
3029Of Heaven the stars that usher evening rose:
3030When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood,
3031Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered sad.
3032O Hell! what do mine eyes with grief behold!
3033Into our room of bliss thus high advanced
3034Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps,
3035Not Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright
3036Little inferiour; whom my thoughts pursue
3037With wonder, and could love, so lively shines
3038In them divine resemblance, and such grace
3039The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.
3040Ah! gentle pair, ye little think how nigh
3041Your change approaches, when all these delights
3042Will vanish, and deliver ye to woe;
3043More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;
3044Happy, but for so happy ill secured
3045Long to continue, and this high seat your Heaven
3046Ill fenced for Heaven to keep out such a foe
3047As now is entered; yet no purposed foe
3048To you, whom I could pity thus forlorn,
3049Though I unpitied: League with you I seek,
3050And mutual amity, so strait, so close,
3051That I with you must dwell, or you with me
3052Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please,
3053Like this fair Paradise, your sense; yet such
3054Accept your Maker's work; he gave it me,
3055Which I as freely give: Hell shall unfold,
3056To entertain you two, her widest gates,
3057And send forth all her kings; there will be room,
3058Not like these narrow limits, to receive
3059Your numerous offspring; if no better place,
3060Thank him who puts me loth to this revenge
3061On you who wrong me not for him who wronged.
3062And should I at your harmless innocence
3063Melt, as I do, yet publick reason just,
3064Honour and empire with revenge enlarged,
3065By conquering this new world, compels me now
3066To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.
3067So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
3068The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
3069Then from his lofty stand on that high tree
3070Down he alights among the sportful herd
3071Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one,
3072Now other, as their shape served best his end
3073Nearer to view his prey, and, unespied,
3074To mark what of their state he more might learn,
3075By word or action marked. About them round
3076A lion now he stalks with fiery glare;
3077Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
3078In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play,
3079Straight couches close, then, rising, changes oft
3080His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
3081Whence rushing, he might surest seize them both,
3082Griped in each paw: when, Adam first of men
3083To first of women Eve thus moving speech,
3084Turned him, all ear to hear new utterance flow.
3085Sole partner, and sole part, of all these joys,
3086Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power
3087That made us, and for us this ample world,
3088Be infinitely good, and of his good
3089As liberal and free as infinite;
3090That raised us from the dust, and placed us here
3091In all this happiness, who at his hand
3092Have nothing merited, nor can perform
3093Aught whereof he hath need; he who requires
3094From us no other service than to keep
3095This one, this easy charge, of all the trees
3096In Paradise that bear delicious fruit
3097So various, not to taste that only tree
3098Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life;
3099So near grows death to life, whate'er death is,
3100Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou knowest
3101God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree,
3102The only sign of our obedience left,
3103Among so many signs of power and rule
3104Conferred upon us, and dominion given
3105Over all other creatures that possess
3106Earth, air, and sea. Then let us not think hard
3107One easy prohibition, who enjoy
3108Free leave so large to all things else, and choice
3109Unlimited of manifold delights:
3110But let us ever praise him, and extol
3111His bounty, following our delightful task,
3112To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers,
3113Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.
3114To whom thus Eve replied. O thou for whom
3115And from whom I was formed, flesh of thy flesh,
3116And without whom am to no end, my guide
3117And head! what thou hast said is just and right.
3118For we to him indeed all praises owe,
3119And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy
3120So far the happier lot, enjoying thee
3121Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou
3122Like consort to thyself canst no where find.
3123That day I oft remember, when from sleep
3124I first awaked, and found myself reposed
3125Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
3126And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
3127Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
3128Of waters issued from a cave, and spread
3129Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved
3130Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I thither went
3131With unexperienced thought, and laid me down
3132On the green bank, to look into the clear
3133Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
3134As I bent down to look, just opposite
3135A shape within the watery gleam appeared,
3136Bending to look on me: I started back,
3137It started back; but pleased I soon returned,
3138Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
3139Of sympathy and love: There I had fixed
3140Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
3141Had not a voice thus warned me; "What thou seest,
3142What there thou seest, fair Creature, is thyself;
3143With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
3144And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
3145Thy coming, and thy soft embraces, he
3146Whose image thou art; him thou shalt enjoy
3147Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear
3148Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called
3149Mother of human race." What could I do,
3150But follow straight, invisibly thus led?
3151Till I espied thee, fair indeed and tall,
3152Under a platane; yet methought less fair,
3153Less winning soft, less amiably mild,
3154Than that smooth watery image: Back I turned;
3155Thou following cryedst aloud, "Return, fair Eve;
3156Whom flyest thou? whom thou flyest, of him thou art,
3157His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent
3158Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,
3159Substantial life, to have thee by my side
3160Henceforth an individual solace dear;
3161Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim
3162My other half:" With that thy gentle hand
3163Seised mine: I yielded; and from that time see
3164How beauty is excelled by manly grace,
3165And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.
3166So spake our general mother, and with eyes
3167Of conjugal attraction unreproved,
3168And meek surrender, half-embracing leaned
3169On our first father; half her swelling breast
3170Naked met his, under the flowing gold
3171Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight
3172Both of her beauty, and submissive charms,
3173Smiled with superiour love, as Jupiter
3174On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds
3175That shed Mayflowers; and pressed her matron lip
3176With kisses pure: Aside the Devil turned
3177For envy; yet with jealous leer malign
3178Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained.
3179Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two,
3180Imparadised in one another's arms,
3181The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
3182Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am thrust,
3183Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
3184Among our other torments not the least,
3185Still unfulfilled with pain of longing pines.
3186Yet let me not forget what I have gained
3187From their own mouths: All is not theirs, it seems;
3188One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,
3189Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden
3190Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
3191Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?
3192Can it be death? And do they only stand
3193By ignorance? Is that their happy state,
3194The proof of their obedience and their faith?
3195O fair foundation laid whereon to build
3196Their ruin! hence I will excite their minds
3197With more desire to know, and to reject
3198Envious commands, invented with design
3199To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt
3200Equal with Gods: aspiring to be such,
3201They taste and die: What likelier can ensue
3202But first with narrow search I must walk round
3203This garden, and no corner leave unspied;
3204A chance but chance may lead where I may meet
3205Some wandering Spirit of Heaven by fountain side,
3206Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw
3207What further would be learned. Live while ye may,
3208Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,
3209Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed!
3210So saying, his proud step he scornful turned,
3211But with sly circumspection, and began
3212Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam
3213Mean while in utmost longitude, where Heaven
3214With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun
3215Slowly descended, and with right aspect
3216Against the eastern gate of Paradise
3217Levelled his evening rays: It was a rock
3218Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,
3219Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent
3220Accessible from earth, one entrance high;
3221The rest was craggy cliff, that overhung
3222Still as it rose, impossible to climb.
3223Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,
3224Chief of the angelick guards, awaiting night;
3225About him exercised heroick games
3226The unarmed youth of Heaven, but nigh at hand
3227Celestial armoury, shields, helms, and spears,
3228Hung high with diamond flaming, and with gold.
3229Thither came Uriel, gliding through the even
3230On a sun-beam, swift as a shooting star
3231In autumn thwarts the night, when vapours fired
3232Impress the air, and shows the mariner
3233From what point of his compass to beware
3234Impetuous winds: He thus began in haste.
3235Gabriel, to thee thy course by lot hath given
3236Charge and strict watch, that to this happy place
3237No evil thing approach or enter in.
3238This day at highth of noon came to my sphere
3239A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed, to know
3240More of the Almighty's works, and chiefly Man,
3241God's latest image: I described his way
3242Bent all on speed, and marked his aery gait;
3243But in the mount that lies from Eden north,
3244Where he first lighted, soon discerned his looks
3245Alien from Heaven, with passions foul obscured:
3246Mine eye pursued him still, but under shade
3247Lost sight of him: One of the banished crew,
3248I fear, hath ventured from the deep, to raise
3249New troubles; him thy care must be to find.
3250To whom the winged warriour thus returned.
3251Uriel, no wonder if thy perfect sight,
3252Amid the sun's bright circle where thou sitst,
3253See far and wide: In at this gate none pass
3254The vigilance here placed, but such as come
3255Well known from Heaven; and since meridian hour
3256No creature thence: If Spirit of other sort,
3257So minded, have o'er-leaped these earthly bounds
3258On purpose, hard thou knowest it to exclude
3259Spiritual substance with corporeal bar.
3260But if within the circuit of these walks,
3261In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom
3262Thou tellest, by morrow dawning I shall know.
3263So promised he; and Uriel to his charge
3264Returned on that bright beam, whose point now raised
3265Bore him slope downward to the sun now fallen
3266Beneath the Azores; whether the prime orb,
3267Incredible how swift, had thither rolled
3268Diurnal, or this less volubil earth,
3269By shorter flight to the east, had left him there
3270Arraying with reflected purple and gold
3271The clouds that on his western throne attend.
3272Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray
3273Had in her sober livery all things clad;
3274Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,
3275They to their grassy couch, these to their nests
3276Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;
3277She all night long her amorous descant sung;
3278Silence was pleased: Now glowed the firmament
3279With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led
3280The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
3281Rising in clouded majesty, at length
3282Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light,
3283And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
3284When Adam thus to Eve. Fair Consort, the hour
3285Of night, and all things now retired to rest,
3286Mind us of like repose; since God hath set
3287Labour and rest, as day and night, to men
3288Successive; and the timely dew of sleep,
3289Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, inclines
3290Our eye-lids: Other creatures all day long
3291Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest;
3292Man hath his daily work of body or mind
3293Appointed, which declares his dignity,
3294And the regard of Heaven on all his ways;
3295While other animals unactive range,
3296And of their doings God takes no account.
3297To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
3298With first approach of light, we must be risen,
3299And at our pleasant labour, to reform
3300Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green,
3301Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
3302That mock our scant manuring, and require
3303More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
3304Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,
3305That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth,
3306Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
3307Mean while, as Nature wills, night bids us rest.
3308To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned
3309My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst
3310Unargued I obey: So God ordains;
3311God is thy law, thou mine: To know no more
3312Is woman's happiest knowledge, and her praise.
3313With thee conversing I forget all time;
3314All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
3315Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet,
3316With charm of earliest birds: pleasant the sun,
3317When first on this delightful land he spreads
3318His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
3319Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
3320After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
3321Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night,
3322With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon,
3323And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train:
3324But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends
3325With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
3326On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
3327Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
3328Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night,
3329With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
3330Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.
3331But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom
3332This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?
3333To whom our general ancestor replied.
3334Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve,
3335These have their course to finish round the earth,
3336By morrow evening, and from land to land
3337In order, though to nations yet unborn,
3338Ministring light prepared, they set and rise;
3339Lest total Darkness should by night regain
3340Her old possession, and extinguish life
3341In Nature and all things; which these soft fires
3342Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
3343Of various influence foment and warm,
3344Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
3345Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow
3346On earth, made hereby apter to receive
3347Perfection from the sun's more potent ray.
3348These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
3349Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were none,
3350That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise:
3351Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
3352Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
3353All these with ceaseless praise his works behold
3354Both day and night: How often from the steep
3355Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
3356Celestial voices to the midnight air,
3357Sole, or responsive each to others note,
3358Singing their great Creator? oft in bands
3359While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,
3360With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds
3361In full harmonick number joined, their songs
3362Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.
3363Thus talking, hand in hand alone they passed
3364On to their blissful bower: it was a place
3365Chosen by the sovran Planter, when he framed
3366All things to Man's delightful use; the roof
3367Of thickest covert was inwoven shade
3368Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
3369Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side
3370Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub,
3371Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower,
3372Iris all hues, roses, and jessamin,
3373Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought
3374Mosaick; underfoot the violet,
3375Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay
3376Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone
3377Of costliest emblem: Other creature here,
3378Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none,
3379Such was their awe of Man. In shadier bower
3380More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,
3381Pan or Sylvanus never slept, nor Nymph
3382Nor Faunus haunted. Here, in close recess,
3383With flowers, garlands, and sweet-smelling herbs,
3384Espoused Eve decked first her nuptial bed;
3385And heavenly quires the hymenaean sung,
3386What day the genial Angel to our sire
3387Brought her in naked beauty more adorned,
3388More lovely, than Pandora, whom the Gods
3389Endowed with all their gifts, and O! too like
3390In sad event, when to the unwiser son
3391Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnared
3392Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged
3393On him who had stole Jove's authentick fire.
3394Thus, at their shady lodge arrived, both stood,
3395Both turned, and under open sky adored
3396The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,
3397Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,
3398And starry pole: Thou also madest the night,
3399Maker Omnipotent, and thou the day,
3400Which we, in our appointed work employed,
3401Have finished, happy in our mutual help
3402And mutual love, the crown of all our bliss
3403Ordained by thee; and this delicious place
3404For us too large, where thy abundance wants
3405Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground.
3406But thou hast promised from us two a race
3407To fill the earth, who shall with us extol
3408Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,
3409And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep.
3410This said unanimous, and other rites
3411Observing none, but adoration pure
3412Which God likes best, into their inmost bower
3413Handed they went; and, eased the putting off
3414These troublesome disguises which we wear,
3415Straight side by side were laid; nor turned, I ween,
3416Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites
3417Mysterious of connubial love refused:
3418Whatever hypocrites austerely talk
3419Of purity, and place, and innocence,
3420Defaming as impure what God declares
3421Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.
3422Our Maker bids encrease; who bids abstain
3423But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?
3424Hail, wedded Love, mysterious law, true source
3425Of human offspring, sole propriety
3426In Paradise of all things common else!
3427By thee adulterous Lust was driven from men
3428Among the bestial herds to range; by thee
3429Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure,
3430Relations dear, and all the charities
3431Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
3432Far be it, that I should write thee sin or blame,
3433Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,
3434Perpetual fountain of domestick sweets,
3435Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced,
3436Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used.
3437Here Love his golden shafts employs, here lights
3438His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings,
3439Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile
3440Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared,
3441Casual fruition; nor in court-amours,
3442Mixed dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball,
3443Or serenate, which the starved lover sings
3444To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.
3445These, lulled by nightingales, embracing slept,
3446And on their naked limbs the flowery roof
3447Showered roses, which the morn repaired. Sleep on,
3448Blest pair; and O! yet happiest, if ye seek
3449No happier state, and know to know no more.
3450Now had night measured with her shadowy cone
3451Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault,
3452And from their ivory port the Cherubim,
3453Forth issuing at the accustomed hour, stood armed
3454To their night watches in warlike parade;
3455When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake.
3456Uzziel, half these draw off, and coast the south
3457With strictest watch; these other wheel the north;
3458Our circuit meets full west. As flame they part,
3459Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.
3460From these, two strong and subtle Spirits he called
3461That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge.
3462Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed
3463Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook;
3464But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
3465Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
3466This evening from the sun's decline arrived,
3467Who tells of some infernal Spirit seen
3468Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escaped
3469The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:
3470Such, where ye find, seise fast, and hither bring.
3471So saying, on he led his radiant files,
3472Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct
3473In search of whom they sought: Him there they found
3474Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
3475Assaying by his devilish art to reach
3476The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
3477Illusions, as he list, phantasms and dreams;
3478Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint
3479The animal spirits, that from pure blood arise
3480Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise
3481At least distempered, discontented thoughts,
3482Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,
3483Blown up with high conceits ingendering pride.
3484Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
3485Touched lightly; for no falshood can endure
3486Touch of celestial temper, but returns
3487Of force to its own likeness: Up he starts
3488Discovered and surprised. As when a spark
3489Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, laid
3490Fit for the tun some magazine to store
3491Against a rumoured war, the smutty grain,
3492With sudden blaze diffused, inflames the air;
3493So started up in his own shape the Fiend.
3494Back stept those two fair Angels, half amazed
3495So sudden to behold the grisly king;
3496Yet thus, unmoved with fear, accost him soon.
3497Which of those rebel Spirits adjudged to Hell
3498Comest thou, escaped thy prison? and, transformed,
3499Why sat'st thou like an enemy in wait,
3500Here watching at the head of these that sleep?
3501Know ye not then said Satan, filled with scorn,
3502Know ye not me? ye knew me once no mate
3503For you, there sitting where ye durst not soar:
3504Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
3505The lowest of your throng; or, if ye know,
3506Why ask ye, and superfluous begin
3507Your message, like to end as much in vain?
3508To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn.
3509Think not, revolted Spirit, thy shape the same,
3510Or undiminished brightness to be known,
3511As when thou stoodest in Heaven upright and pure;
3512That glory then, when thou no more wast good,
3513Departed from thee; and thou resemblest now
3514Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foul.
3515But come, for thou, be sure, shalt give account
3516To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep
3517This place inviolable, and these from harm.
3518So spake the Cherub; and his grave rebuke,
3519Severe in youthful beauty, added grace
3520Invincible: Abashed the Devil stood,
3521And felt how awful goodness is, and saw
3522Virtue in her shape how lovely; saw, and pined
3523His loss; but chiefly to find here observed
3524His lustre visibly impaired; yet seemed
3525Undaunted. If I must contend, said he,
3526Best with the best, the sender, not the sent,
3527Or all at once; more glory will be won,
3528Or less be lost. Thy fear, said Zephon bold,
3529Will save us trial what the least can do
3530Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.
3531The Fiend replied not, overcome with rage;
3532But, like a proud steed reined, went haughty on,
3533Champing his iron curb: To strive or fly
3534He held it vain; awe from above had quelled
3535His heart, not else dismayed. Now drew they nigh
3536The western point, where those half-rounding guards
3537Just met, and closing stood in squadron joined,
3538A waiting next command. To whom their Chief,
3539Gabriel, from the front thus called aloud.
3540O friends! I hear the tread of nimble feet
3541Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern
3542Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade;
3543And with them comes a third of regal port,
3544But faded splendour wan; who by his gait
3545And fierce demeanour seems the Prince of Hell,
3546Not likely to part hence without contest;
3547Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.
3548He scarce had ended, when those two approached,
3549And brief related whom they brought, where found,
3550How busied, in what form and posture couched.
3551To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake.
3552Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescribed
3553To thy transgressions, and disturbed the charge
3554Of others, who approve not to transgress
3555By thy example, but have power and right
3556To question thy bold entrance on this place;
3557Employed, it seems, to violate sleep, and those
3558Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss!
3559To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow.
3560Gabriel? thou hadst in Heaven the esteem of wise,
3561And such I held thee; but this question asked
3562Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain!
3563Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,
3564Though thither doomed! Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt
3565And boldly venture to whatever place
3566Farthest from pain, where thou mightst hope to change
3567Torment with ease, and soonest recompense
3568Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
3569To thee no reason, who knowest only good,
3570But evil hast not tried: and wilt object
3571His will who bounds us! Let him surer bar
3572His iron gates, if he intends our stay
3573In that dark durance: Thus much what was asked.
3574The rest is true, they found me where they say;
3575But that implies not violence or harm.
3576Thus he in scorn. The warlike Angel moved,
3577Disdainfully half smiling, thus replied.
3578O loss of one in Heaven to judge of wise
3579Since Satan fell, whom folly overthrew,
3580And now returns him from his prison 'scaped,
3581Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise
3582Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither
3583Unlicensed from his bounds in Hell prescribed;
3584So wise he judges it to fly from pain
3585However, and to 'scape his punishment!
3586So judge thou still, presumptuous! till the wrath,
3587Which thou incurrest by flying, meet thy flight
3588Sevenfold, and scourge that wisdom back to Hell,
3589Which taught thee yet no better, that no pain
3590Can equal anger infinite provoked.
3591But wherefore thou alone? wherefore with thee
3592Came not all hell broke loose? or thou than they
3593Less hardy to endure? Courageous Chief!
3594The first in flight from pain! hadst thou alleged
3595To thy deserted host this cause of flight,
3596Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.
3597To which the Fiend thus answered, frowning stern.
3598Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain,
3599Insulting Angel! well thou knowest I stood
3600Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid
3601The blasting vollied thunder made all speed,
3602And seconded thy else not dreaded spear.
3603But still thy words at random, as before,
3604Argue thy inexperience what behoves
3605From hard assays and ill successes past
3606A faithful leader, not to hazard all
3607Through ways of danger by himself untried:
3608I, therefore, I alone first undertook
3609To wing the desolate abyss, and spy
3610This new created world, whereof in Hell
3611Fame is not silent, here in hope to find
3612Better abode, and my afflicted Powers
3613To settle here on earth, or in mid air;
3614Though for possession put to try once more
3615What thou and thy gay legions dare against;
3616Whose easier business were to serve their Lord
3617High up in Heaven, with songs to hymn his throne,
3618And practised distances to cringe, not fight,
3619To whom the warriour Angel soon replied.
3620To say and straight unsay, pretending first
3621Wise to fly pain, professing next the spy,
3622Argues no leader but a liar traced,
3623Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? O name,
3624O sacred name of faithfulness profaned!
3625Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew?
3626Army of Fiends, fit body to fit head.
3627Was this your discipline and faith engaged,
3628Your military obedience, to dissolve
3629Allegiance to the acknowledged Power supreme?
3630And thou, sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem
3631Patron of liberty, who more than thou
3632Once fawned, and cringed, and servilely adored
3633Heaven's awful Monarch? wherefore, but in hope
3634To dispossess him, and thyself to reign?
3635But mark what I arreed thee now, Avant;
3636Fly neither whence thou fledst! If from this hour
3637Within these hallowed limits thou appear,
3638Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained,
3639And seal thee so, as henceforth not to scorn
3640The facile gates of Hell too slightly barred.
3641So threatened he; but Satan to no threats
3642Gave heed, but waxing more in rage replied.
3643Then when I am thy captive talk of chains,
3644Proud limitary Cherub! but ere then
3645Far heavier load thyself expect to feel
3646From my prevailing arm, though Heaven's King
3647Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy compeers,
3648Us'd to the yoke, drawest his triumphant wheels
3649In progress through the road of Heaven star-paved.
3650While thus he spake, the angelick squadron bright
3651Turned fiery red, sharpening in mooned horns
3652Their phalanx, and began to hem him round
3653With ported spears, as thick as when a field
3654Of Ceres ripe for harvest waving bends
3655Her bearded grove of ears, which way the wind
3656Sways them; the careful plowman doubting stands,
3657Left on the threshing floor his hopeless sheaves
3658Prove chaff. On the other side, Satan, alarmed,
3659Collecting all his might, dilated stood,
3660Like Teneriff or Atlas, unremoved:
3661His stature reached the sky, and on his crest
3662Sat Horrour plumed; nor wanted in his grasp
3663What seemed both spear and shield: Now dreadful deeds
3664Might have ensued, nor only Paradise
3665In this commotion, but the starry cope
3666Of Heaven perhaps, or all the elements
3667At least had gone to wrack, disturbed and torn
3668With violence of this conflict, had not soon
3669The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray,
3670Hung forth in Heaven his golden scales, yet seen
3671Betwixt Astrea and the Scorpion sign,
3672Wherein all things created first he weighed,
3673The pendulous round earth with balanced air
3674In counterpoise, now ponders all events,
3675Battles and realms: In these he put two weights,
3676The sequel each of parting and of fight:
3677The latter quick up flew, and kicked the beam,
3678Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the Fiend.
3679Satan, I know thy strength, and thou knowest mine;
3680Neither our own, but given: What folly then
3681To boast what arms can do? since thine no more
3682Than Heaven permits, nor mine, though doubled now
3683To trample thee as mire: For proof look up,
3684And read thy lot in yon celestial sign;
3685Where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak,
3686If thou resist. The Fiend looked up, and knew
3687His mounted scale aloft: Nor more; but fled
3688Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.
3689
3690
3691
3692Book V
3693
3694
3695Now Morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime
3696Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl,
3697When Adam waked, so customed; for his sleep
3698Was aery-light, from pure digestion bred,
3699And temperate vapours bland, which the only sound
3700Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora's fan,
3701Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song
3702Of birds on every bough; so much the more
3703His wonder was to find unwakened Eve
3704With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,
3705As through unquiet rest: He, on his side
3706Leaning half raised, with looks of cordial love
3707Hung over her enamoured, and beheld
3708Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep,
3709Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice
3710Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
3711Her hand soft touching, whispered thus. Awake,
3712My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,
3713Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight!
3714Awake: The morning shines, and the fresh field
3715Calls us; we lose the prime, to mark how spring
3716Our tender plants, how blows the citron grove,
3717What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed,
3718How nature paints her colours, how the bee
3719Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.
3720Such whispering waked her, but with startled eye
3721On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spake.
3722O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,
3723My glory, my perfection! glad I see
3724Thy face, and morn returned; for I this night
3725(Such night till this I never passed) have dreamed,
3726If dreamed, not, as I oft am wont, of thee,
3727Works of day past, or morrow's next design,
3728But of offence and trouble, which my mind
3729Knew never till this irksome night: Methought,
3730Close at mine ear one called me forth to walk
3731With gentle voice; I thought it thine: It said,
3732"Why sleepest thou, Eve? now is the pleasant time,
3733The cool, the silent, save where silence yields
3734To the night-warbling bird, that now awake
3735Tunes sweetest his love-laboured song; now reigns
3736Full-orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light
3737Shadowy sets off the face of things; in vain,
3738If none regard; Heaven wakes with all his eyes,
3739Whom to behold but thee, Nature's desire?
3740In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment
3741Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze."
3742I rose as at thy call, but found thee not;
3743To find thee I directed then my walk;
3744And on, methought, alone I passed through ways
3745That brought me on a sudden to the tree
3746Of interdicted knowledge: fair it seemed,
3747Much fairer to my fancy than by day:
3748And, as I wondering looked, beside it stood
3749One shaped and winged like one of those from Heaven
3750By us oft seen; his dewy locks distilled
3751Ambrosia; on that tree he also gazed;
3752And "O fair plant," said he, "with fruit surcharged,
3753Deigns none to ease thy load, and taste thy sweet,
3754Nor God, nor Man? Is knowledge so despised?
3755Or envy, or what reserve forbids to taste?
3756Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold
3757Longer thy offered good; why else set here?"
3758This said, he paused not, but with venturous arm
3759He plucked, he tasted; me damp horrour chilled
3760At such bold words vouched with a deed so bold:
3761But he thus, overjoyed; "O fruit divine,
3762Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropt,
3763Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit
3764For Gods, yet able to make Gods of Men:
3765And why not Gods of Men; since good, the more
3766Communicated, more abundant grows,
3767The author not impaired, but honoured more?
3768Here, happy creature, fair angelick Eve!
3769Partake thou also; happy though thou art,
3770Happier thou mayest be, worthier canst not be:
3771Taste this, and be henceforth among the Gods
3772Thyself a Goddess, not to earth confined,
3773But sometimes in the air, as we, sometimes
3774Ascend to Heaven, by merit thine, and see
3775What life the Gods live there, and such live thou!"
3776So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,
3777Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part
3778Which he had plucked; the pleasant savoury smell
3779So quickened appetite, that I, methought,
3780Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds
3781With him I flew, and underneath beheld
3782The earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide
3783And various: Wondering at my flight and change
3784To this high exaltation; suddenly
3785My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,
3786And fell asleep; but O, how glad I waked
3787To find this but a dream! Thus Eve her night
3788Related, and thus Adam answered sad.
3789Best image of myself, and dearer half,
3790The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
3791Affects me equally; nor can I like
3792This uncouth dream, of evil sprung, I fear;
3793Yet evil whence? in thee can harbour none,
3794Created pure. But know that in the soul
3795Are many lesser faculties, that serve
3796Reason as chief; among these Fancy next
3797Her office holds; of all external things
3798Which the five watchful senses represent,
3799She forms imaginations, aery shapes,
3800Which Reason, joining or disjoining, frames
3801All what we affirm or what deny, and call
3802Our knowledge or opinion; then retires
3803Into her private cell, when nature rests.
3804Oft in her absence mimick Fancy wakes
3805To imitate her; but, misjoining shapes,
3806Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams;
3807Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.
3808Some such resemblances, methinks, I find
3809Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream,
3810But with addition strange; yet be not sad.
3811Evil into the mind of God or Man
3812May come and go, so unreproved, and leave
3813No spot or blame behind: Which gives me hope
3814That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
3815Waking thou never will consent to do.
3816Be not disheartened then, nor cloud those looks,
3817That wont to be more cheerful and serene,
3818Than when fair morning first smiles on the world;
3819And let us to our fresh employments rise
3820Among the groves, the fountains, and the flowers
3821That open now their choisest bosomed smells,
3822Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store.
3823So cheered he his fair spouse, and she was cheered;
3824But silently a gentle tear let fall
3825From either eye, and wiped them with her hair;
3826Two other precious drops that ready stood,
3827Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell
3828Kissed, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
3829And pious awe, that feared to have offended.
3830So all was cleared, and to the field they haste.
3831But first, from under shady arborous roof
3832Soon as they forth were come to open sight
3833Of day-spring, and the sun, who, scarce up-risen,
3834With wheels yet hovering o'er the ocean-brim,
3835Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray,
3836Discovering in wide landskip all the east
3837Of Paradise and Eden's happy plains,
3838Lowly they bowed adoring, and began
3839Their orisons, each morning duly paid
3840In various style; for neither various style
3841Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise
3842Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced, or sung
3843Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence
3844Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse,
3845More tuneable than needed lute or harp
3846To add more sweetness; and they thus began.
3847These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
3848Almighty! Thine this universal frame,
3849Thus wonderous fair; Thyself how wonderous then!
3850Unspeakable, who sitst above these heavens
3851To us invisible, or dimly seen
3852In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
3853Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
3854Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
3855Angels; for ye behold him, and with songs
3856And choral symphonies, day without night,
3857Circle his throne rejoicing; ye in Heaven
3858On Earth join all ye Creatures to extol
3859Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.
3860Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
3861If better thou belong not to the dawn,
3862Sure pledge of day, that crownest the smiling morn
3863With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
3864While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
3865Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
3866Acknowledge him thy greater; sound his praise
3867In thy eternal course, both when thou climbest,
3868And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fallest.
3869Moon, that now meetest the orient sun, now flyest,
3870With the fixed Stars, fixed in their orb that flies;
3871And ye five other wandering Fires, that move
3872In mystick dance not without song, resound
3873His praise, who out of darkness called up light.
3874Air, and ye Elements, the eldest birth
3875Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run
3876Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix
3877And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
3878Vary to our great Maker still new praise.
3879Ye Mists and Exhalations, that now rise
3880From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
3881Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
3882In honour to the world's great Author rise;
3883Whether to deck with clouds the uncoloured sky,
3884Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,
3885Rising or falling still advance his praise.
3886His praise, ye Winds, that from four quarters blow,
3887Breathe soft or loud; and, wave your tops, ye Pines,
3888With every plant, in sign of worship wave.
3889Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow,
3890Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
3891Join voices, all ye living Souls: Ye Birds,
3892That singing up to Heaven-gate ascend,
3893Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise.
3894Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
3895The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep;
3896Witness if I be silent, morn or even,
3897To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
3898Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
3899Hail, universal Lord, be bounteous still
3900To give us only good; and if the night
3901Have gathered aught of evil, or concealed,
3902Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark!
3903So prayed they innocent, and to their thoughts
3904Firm peace recovered soon, and wonted calm.
3905On to their morning's rural work they haste,
3906Among sweet dews and flowers; where any row
3907Of fruit-trees over-woody reached too far
3908Their pampered boughs, and needed hands to check
3909Fruitless embraces: or they led the vine
3910To wed her elm; she, spoused, about him twines
3911Her marriageable arms, and with him brings
3912Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn
3913His barren leaves. Them thus employed beheld
3914With pity Heaven's high King, and to him called
3915Raphael, the sociable Spirit, that deigned
3916To travel with Tobias, and secured
3917His marriage with the seventimes-wedded maid.
3918Raphael, said he, thou hearest what stir on Earth
3919Satan, from Hell 'scaped through the darksome gulf,
3920Hath raised in Paradise; and how disturbed
3921This night the human pair; how he designs
3922In them at once to ruin all mankind.
3923Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend
3924Converse with Adam, in what bower or shade
3925Thou findest him from the heat of noon retired,
3926To respite his day-labour with repast,
3927Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
3928As may advise him of his happy state,
3929Happiness in his power left free to will,
3930Left to his own free will, his will though free,
3931Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
3932He swerve not, too secure: Tell him withal
3933His danger, and from whom; what enemy,
3934Late fallen himself from Heaven, is plotting now
3935The fall of others from like state of bliss;
3936By violence? no, for that shall be withstood;
3937But by deceit and lies: This let him know,
3938Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend
3939Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned.
3940So spake the Eternal Father, and fulfilled
3941All justice: Nor delayed the winged Saint
3942After his charge received; but from among
3943Thousand celestial Ardours, where he stood
3944Veiled with his gorgeous wings, up springing light,
3945Flew through the midst of Heaven; the angelick quires,
3946On each hand parting, to his speed gave way
3947Through all the empyreal road; till, at the gate
3948Of Heaven arrived, the gate self-opened wide
3949On golden hinges turning, as by work
3950Divine the sovran Architect had framed.
3951From hence no cloud, or, to obstruct his sight,
3952Star interposed, however small he sees,
3953Not unconformed to other shining globes,
3954Earth, and the garden of God, with cedars crowned
3955Above all hills. As when by night the glass
3956Of Galileo, less assured, observes
3957Imagined lands and regions in the moon:
3958Or pilot, from amidst the Cyclades
3959Delos or Samos first appearing, kens
3960A cloudy spot. Down thither prone in flight
3961He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
3962Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing
3963Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan
3964Winnows the buxom air; till, within soar
3965Of towering eagles, to all the fowls he seems
3966A phoenix, gazed by all as that sole bird,
3967When, to enshrine his reliques in the Sun's
3968Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
3969At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise
3970He lights, and to his proper shape returns
3971A Seraph winged: Six wings he wore, to shade
3972His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
3973Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast
3974With regal ornament; the middle pair
3975Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
3976Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
3977And colours dipt in Heaven; the third his feet
3978Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
3979Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he stood,
3980And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance filled
3981The circuit wide. Straight knew him all the bands
3982Of Angels under watch; and to his state,
3983And to his message high, in honour rise;
3984For on some message high they guessed him bound.
3985Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come
3986Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh,
3987And flowering odours, cassia, nard, and balm;
3988A wilderness of sweets; for Nature here
3989Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will
3990Her virgin fancies pouring forth more sweet,
3991Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss.
3992Him through the spicy forest onward come
3993Adam discerned, as in the door he sat
3994Of his cool bower, while now the mounted sun
3995Shot down direct his fervid rays to warm
3996Earth's inmost womb, more warmth than Adam needs:
3997And Eve within, due at her hour prepared
3998For dinner savoury fruits, of taste to please
3999True appetite, and not disrelish thirst
4000Of nectarous draughts between, from milky stream,
4001Berry or grape: To whom thus Adam called.
4002Haste hither, Eve, and worth thy sight behold
4003Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape
4004Comes this way moving; seems another morn
4005Risen on mid-noon; some great behest from Heaven
4006To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe
4007This day to be our guest. But go with speed,
4008And, what thy stores contain, bring forth, and pour
4009Abundance, fit to honour and receive
4010Our heavenly stranger: Well we may afford
4011Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow
4012From large bestowed, where Nature multiplies
4013Her fertile growth, and by disburthening grows
4014More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.
4015To whom thus Eve. Adam, earth's hallowed mould,
4016Of God inspired! small store will serve, where store,
4017All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk;
4018Save what by frugal storing firmness gains
4019To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes:
4020But I will haste, and from each bough and brake,
4021Each plant and juciest gourd, will pluck such choice
4022To entertain our Angel-guest, as he
4023Beholding shall confess, that here on Earth
4024God hath dispensed his bounties as in Heaven.
4025So saying, with dispatchful looks in haste
4026She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent
4027What choice to choose for delicacy best,
4028What order, so contrived as not to mix
4029Tastes, not well joined, inelegant, but bring
4030Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change;
4031Bestirs her then, and from each tender stalk
4032Whatever Earth, all-bearing mother, yields
4033In India East or West, or middle shore
4034In Pontus or the Punick coast, or where
4035Alcinous reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat
4036Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,
4037She gathers, tribute large, and on the board
4038Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape
4039She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths
4040From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed
4041She tempers dulcet creams; nor these to hold
4042Wants her fit vessels pure; then strows the ground
4043With rose and odours from the shrub unfumed.
4044Mean while our primitive great sire, to meet
4045His God-like guest, walks forth, without more train
4046Accompanied than with his own complete
4047Perfections; in himself was all his state,
4048More solemn than the tedious pomp that waits
4049On princes, when their rich retinue long
4050Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold,
4051Dazzles the croud, and sets them all agape.
4052Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed,
4053Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek,
4054As to a superiour nature bowing low,
4055Thus said. Native of Heaven, for other place
4056None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain;
4057Since, by descending from the thrones above,
4058Those happy places thou hast deigned a while
4059To want, and honour these, vouchsafe with us
4060Two only, who yet by sovran gift possess
4061This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower
4062To rest; and what the garden choicest bears
4063To sit and taste, till this meridian heat
4064Be over, and the sun more cool decline.
4065Whom thus the angelick Virtue answered mild.
4066Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such
4067Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
4068As may not oft invite, though Spirits of Heaven,
4069To visit thee; lead on then where thy bower
4070O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
4071I have at will. So to the sylvan lodge
4072They came, that like Pomona's arbour smiled,
4073With flowerets decked, and fragrant smells; but Eve,
4074Undecked save with herself, more lovely fair
4075Than Wood-Nymph, or the fairest Goddess feigned
4076Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,
4077Stood to entertain her guest from Heaven; no veil
4078She needed, virtue-proof; no thought infirm
4079Altered her cheek. On whom the Angel Hail
4080Bestowed, the holy salutation used
4081Long after to blest Mary, second Eve.
4082Hail, Mother of Mankind, whose fruitful womb
4083Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,
4084Than with these various fruits the trees of God
4085Have heaped this table!--Raised of grassy turf
4086Their table was, and mossy seats had round,
4087And on her ample square from side to side
4088All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here
4089Danced hand in hand. A while discourse they hold;
4090No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began
4091Our author. Heavenly stranger, please to taste
4092These bounties, which our Nourisher, from whom
4093All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends,
4094To us for food and for delight hath caused
4095The earth to yield; unsavoury food perhaps
4096To spiritual natures; only this I know,
4097That one celestial Father gives to all.
4098To whom the Angel. Therefore what he gives
4099(Whose praise be ever sung) to Man in part
4100Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found
4101No ingrateful food: And food alike those pure
4102Intelligential substances require,
4103As doth your rational; and both contain
4104Within them every lower faculty
4105Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,
4106Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,
4107And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
4108For know, whatever was created, needs
4109To be sustained and fed: Of elements
4110The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,
4111Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
4112Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;
4113Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurged
4114Vapours not yet into her substance turned.
4115Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale
4116From her moist continent to higher orbs.
4117The sun that light imparts to all, receives
4118From all his alimental recompence
4119In humid exhalations, and at even
4120Sups with the ocean. Though in Heaven the trees
4121Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
4122Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn
4123We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground
4124Covered with pearly grain: Yet God hath here
4125Varied his bounty so with new delights,
4126As may compare with Heaven; and to taste
4127Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat,
4128And to their viands fell; nor seemingly
4129The Angel, nor in mist, the common gloss
4130Of Theologians; but with keen dispatch
4131Of real hunger, and concoctive heat
4132To transubstantiate: What redounds, transpires
4133Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire
4134Of sooty coal the empirick alchemist
4135Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,
4136Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold,
4137As from the mine. Mean while at table Eve
4138Ministered naked, and their flowing cups
4139With pleasant liquours crowned: O innocence
4140Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,
4141Then had the sons of God excuse to have been
4142Enamoured at that sight; but in those hearts
4143Love unlibidinous reigned, nor jealousy
4144Was understood, the injured lover's hell.
4145Thus when with meats and drinks they had sufficed,
4146Not burdened nature, sudden mind arose
4147In Adam, not to let the occasion pass
4148Given him by this great conference to know
4149Of things above his world, and of their being
4150Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he saw
4151Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms,
4152Divine effulgence, whose high power, so far
4153Exceeded human; and his wary speech
4154Thus to the empyreal minister he framed.
4155Inhabitant with God, now know I well
4156Thy favour, in this honour done to Man;
4157Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed
4158To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,
4159Food not of Angels, yet accepted so,
4160As that more willingly thou couldst not seem
4161At Heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what compare
4162To whom the winged Hierarch replied.
4163O Adam, One Almighty is, from whom
4164All things proceed, and up to him return,
4165If not depraved from good, created all
4166Such to perfection, one first matter all,
4167Endued with various forms, various degrees
4168Of substance, and, in things that live, of life;
4169But more refined, more spiritous, and pure,
4170As nearer to him placed, or nearer tending
4171Each in their several active spheres assigned,
4172Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
4173Proportioned to each kind. So from the root
4174Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves
4175More aery, last the bright consummate flower
4176Spirits odorous breathes: flowers and their fruit,
4177Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,
4178To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
4179To intellectual; give both life and sense,
4180Fancy and understanding; whence the soul
4181Reason receives, and reason is her being,
4182Discursive, or intuitive; discourse
4183Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,
4184Differing but in degree, of kind the same.
4185Wonder not then, what God for you saw good
4186If I refuse not, but convert, as you
4187To proper substance. Time may come, when Men
4188With Angels may participate, and find
4189No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare;
4190And from these corporal nutriments perhaps
4191Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit,
4192Improved by tract of time, and, winged, ascend
4193Ethereal, as we; or may, at choice,
4194Here or in heavenly Paradises dwell;
4195If ye be found obedient, and retain
4196Unalterably firm his love entire,
4197Whose progeny you are. Mean while enjoy
4198Your fill what happiness this happy state
4199Can comprehend, incapable of more.
4200To whom the patriarch of mankind replied.
4201O favourable Spirit, propitious guest,
4202Well hast thou taught the way that might direct
4203Our knowledge, and the scale of nature set
4204From center to circumference; whereon,
4205In contemplation of created things,
4206By steps we may ascend to God. But say,
4207What meant that caution joined, If ye be found
4208Obedient? Can we want obedience then
4209To him, or possibly his love desert,
4210Who formed us from the dust and placed us here
4211Full to the utmost measure of what bliss
4212Human desires can seek or apprehend?
4213To whom the Angel. Son of Heaven and Earth,
4214Attend! That thou art happy, owe to God;
4215That thou continuest such, owe to thyself,
4216That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.
4217This was that caution given thee; be advised.
4218God made thee perfect, not immutable;
4219And good he made thee, but to persevere
4220He left it in thy power; ordained thy will
4221By nature free, not over-ruled by fate
4222Inextricable, or strict necessity:
4223Our voluntary service he requires,
4224Not our necessitated; such with him
4225Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how
4226Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve
4227Willing or no, who will but what they must
4228By destiny, and can no other choose?
4229Myself, and all the angelick host, that stand
4230In sight of God, enthroned, our happy state
4231Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds;
4232On other surety none: Freely we serve,
4233Because we freely love, as in our will
4234To love or not; in this we stand or fall:
4235And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen,
4236And so from Heaven to deepest Hell; O fall
4237From what high state of bliss, into what woe!
4238To whom our great progenitor. Thy words
4239Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
4240Divine instructer, I have heard, than when
4241Cherubick songs by night from neighbouring hills
4242Aereal musick send: Nor knew I not
4243To be both will and deed created free;
4244Yet that we never shall forget to love
4245Our Maker, and obey him whose command
4246Single is yet so just, my constant thoughts
4247Assured me, and still assure: Though what thou tellest
4248Hath passed in Heaven, some doubt within me move,
4249But more desire to hear, if thou consent,
4250The full relation, which must needs be strange,
4251Worthy of sacred silence to be heard;
4252And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun
4253Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins
4254His other half in the great zone of Heaven.
4255Thus Adam made request; and Raphael,
4256After short pause assenting, thus began.
4257High matter thou enjoinest me, O prime of men,
4258Sad task and hard: For how shall I relate
4259To human sense the invisible exploits
4260Of warring Spirits? how, without remorse,
4261The ruin of so many glorious once
4262And perfect while they stood? how last unfold
4263The secrets of another world, perhaps
4264Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good
4265This is dispensed; and what surmounts the reach
4266Of human sense, I shall delineate so,
4267By likening spiritual to corporal forms,
4268As may express them best; though what if Earth
4269Be but a shadow of Heaven, and things therein
4270Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?
4271As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild
4272Reigned where these Heavens now roll, where Earth now rests
4273Upon her center poised; when on a day
4274(For time, though in eternity, applied
4275To motion, measures all things durable
4276By present, past, and future,) on such day
4277As Heaven's great year brings forth, the empyreal host
4278Of Angels by imperial summons called,
4279Innumerable before the Almighty's throne
4280Forthwith, from all the ends of Heaven, appeared
4281Under their Hierarchs in orders bright:
4282Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,
4283Standards and gonfalons 'twixt van and rear
4284Stream in the air, and for distinction serve
4285Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
4286Or in their glittering tissues bear imblazed
4287Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love
4288Recorded eminent. Thus when in orbs
4289Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
4290Orb within orb, the Father Infinite,
4291By whom in bliss imbosomed sat the Son,
4292Amidst as from a flaming mount, whose top
4293Brightness had made invisible, thus spake.
4294Hear, all ye Angels, progeny of light,
4295Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
4296Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.
4297This day I have begot whom I declare
4298My only Son, and on this holy hill
4299Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
4300At my right hand; your head I him appoint;
4301And by myself have sworn, to him shall bow
4302All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord:
4303Under his great vice-gerent reign abide
4304United, as one individual soul,
4305For ever happy: Him who disobeys,
4306Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
4307Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls
4308Into utter darkness, deep ingulfed, his place
4309Ordained without redemption, without end.
4310So spake the Omnipotent, and with his words
4311All seemed well pleased; all seemed, but were not all.
4312That day, as other solemn days, they spent
4313In song and dance about the sacred hill;
4314Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
4315Of planets, and of fixed, in all her wheels
4316Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,
4317Eccentrick, intervolved, yet regular
4318Then most, when most irregular they seem;
4319And in their motions harmony divine
4320So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear
4321Listens delighted. Evening now approached,
4322(For we have also our evening and our morn,
4323We ours for change delectable, not need;)
4324Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn
4325Desirous; all in circles as they stood,
4326Tables are set, and on a sudden piled
4327With Angels food, and rubied nectar flows
4328In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold,
4329Fruit of delicious vines, the growth of Heaven.
4330On flowers reposed, and with fresh flowerets crowned,
4331They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
4332Quaff immortality and joy, secure
4333Of surfeit, where full measure only bounds
4334Excess, before the all-bounteous King, who showered
4335With copious hand, rejoicing in their joy.
4336Now when ambrosial night with clouds exhaled
4337From that high mount of God, whence light and shade
4338Spring both, the face of brightest Heaven had changed
4339To grateful twilight, (for night comes not there
4340In darker veil) and roseate dews disposed
4341All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest;
4342Wide over all the plain, and wider far
4343Than all this globous earth in plain outspread,
4344(Such are the courts of God) the angelick throng,
4345Dispersed in bands and files, their camp extend
4346By living streams among the trees of life,
4347Pavilions numberless, and sudden reared,
4348Celestial tabernacles, where they slept
4349Fanned with cool winds; save those, who, in their course,
4350Melodious hymns about the sovran throne
4351Alternate all night long: but not so waked
4352Satan; so call him now, his former name
4353Is heard no more in Heaven; he of the first,
4354If not the first Arch-Angel, great in power,
4355In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught
4356With envy against the Son of God, that day
4357Honoured by his great Father, and proclaimed
4358Messiah King anointed, could not bear
4359Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.
4360Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
4361Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
4362Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
4363With all his legions to dislodge, and leave
4364Unworshipt, unobeyed, the throne supreme,
4365Contemptuous; and his next subordinate
4366Awakening, thus to him in secret spake.
4367Sleepest thou, Companion dear? What sleep can close
4368Thy eye-lids? and rememberest what decree
4369Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips
4370Of Heaven's Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts
4371Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart;
4372Both waking we were one; how then can now
4373Thy sleep dissent? New laws thou seest imposed;
4374New laws from him who reigns, new minds may raise
4375In us who serve, new counsels to debate
4376What doubtful may ensue: More in this place
4377To utter is not safe. Assemble thou
4378Of all those myriads which we lead the chief;
4379Tell them, that by command, ere yet dim night
4380Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste,
4381And all who under me their banners wave,
4382Homeward, with flying march, where we possess
4383The quarters of the north; there to prepare
4384Fit entertainment to receive our King,
4385The great Messiah, and his new commands,
4386Who speedily through all the hierarchies
4387Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.
4388So spake the false Arch-Angel, and infused
4389Bad influence into the unwary breast
4390Of his associate: He together calls,
4391Or several one by one, the regent Powers,
4392Under him Regent; tells, as he was taught,
4393That the Most High commanding, now ere night,
4394Now ere dim night had disincumbered Heaven,
4395The great hierarchal standard was to move;
4396Tells the suggested cause, and casts between
4397Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound
4398Or taint integrity: But all obeyed
4399The wonted signal, and superiour voice
4400Of their great Potentate; for great indeed
4401His name, and high was his degree in Heaven;
4402His countenance, as the morning-star that guides
4403The starry flock, allured them, and with lies
4404Drew after him the third part of Heaven's host.
4405Mean while the Eternal eye, whose sight discerns
4406Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount,
4407And from within the golden lamps that burn
4408Nightly before him, saw without their light
4409Rebellion rising; saw in whom, how spread
4410Among the sons of morn, what multitudes
4411Were banded to oppose his high decree;
4412And, smiling, to his only Son thus said.
4413Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
4414In full resplendence, Heir of all my might,
4415Nearly it now concerns us to be sure
4416Of our Omnipotence, and with what arms
4417We mean to hold what anciently we claim
4418Of deity or empire: Such a foe
4419Is rising, who intends to erect his throne
4420Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north;
4421Nor so content, hath in his thought to try
4422In battle, what our power is, or our right.
4423Let us advise, and to this hazard draw
4424With speed what force is left, and all employ
4425In our defence; lest unawares we lose
4426This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.
4427To whom the Son with calm aspect and clear,
4428Lightning divine, ineffable, serene,
4429Made answer. Mighty Father, thou thy foes
4430Justly hast in derision, and, secure,
4431Laughest at their vain designs and tumults vain,
4432Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
4433Illustrates, when they see all regal power
4434Given me to quell their pride, and in event
4435Know whether I be dextrous to subdue
4436Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heaven.
4437So spake the Son; but Satan, with his Powers,
4438Far was advanced on winged speed; an host
4439Innumerable as the stars of night,
4440Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the sun
4441Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
4442Regions they passed, the mighty regencies
4443Of Seraphim, and Potentates, and Thrones,
4444In their triple degrees; regions to which
4445All thy dominion, Adam, is no more
4446Than what this garden is to all the earth,
4447And all the sea, from one entire globose
4448Stretched into longitude; which having passed,
4449At length into the limits of the north
4450They came; and Satan to his royal seat
4451High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount
4452Raised on a mount, with pyramids and towers
4453From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold;
4454The palace of great Lucifer, (so call
4455That structure in the dialect of men
4456Interpreted,) which not long after, he
4457Affecting all equality with God,
4458In imitation of that mount whereon
4459Messiah was declared in sight of Heaven,
4460The Mountain of the Congregation called;
4461For thither he assembled all his train,
4462Pretending so commanded to consult
4463About the great reception of their King,
4464Thither to come, and with calumnious art
4465Of counterfeited truth thus held their ears.
4466Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
4467If these magnifick titles yet remain
4468Not merely titular, since by decree
4469Another now hath to himself engrossed
4470All power, and us eclipsed under the name
4471Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
4472Of midnight-march, and hurried meeting here,
4473This only to consult how we may best,
4474With what may be devised of honours new,
4475Receive him coming to receive from us
4476Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile!
4477Too much to one! but double how endured,
4478To one, and to his image now proclaimed?
4479But what if better counsels might erect
4480Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?
4481Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend
4482The supple knee? Ye will not, if I trust
4483To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves
4484Natives and sons of Heaven possessed before
4485By none; and if not equal all, yet free,
4486Equally free; for orders and degrees
4487Jar not with liberty, but well consist.
4488Who can in reason then, or right, assume
4489Monarchy over such as live by right
4490His equals, if in power and splendour less,
4491In freedom equal? or can introduce
4492Law and edict on us, who without law
4493Err not? much less for this to be our Lord,
4494And look for adoration, to the abuse
4495Of those imperial titles, which assert
4496Our being ordained to govern, not to serve.
4497Thus far his bold discourse without controul
4498Had audience; when among the Seraphim
4499Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored
4500The Deity, and divine commands obeyed,
4501Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe
4502The current of his fury thus opposed.
4503O argument blasphemous, false, and proud!
4504Words which no ear ever to hear in Heaven
4505Expected, least of all from thee, Ingrate,
4506In place thyself so high above thy peers.
4507Canst thou with impious obloquy condemn
4508The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,
4509That to his only Son, by right endued
4510With regal scepter, every soul in Heaven
4511Shall bend the knee, and in that honour due
4512Confess him rightful King? unjust, thou sayest,
4513Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,
4514And equal over equals to let reign,
4515One over all with unsucceeded power.
4516Shalt thou give law to God? shalt thou dispute
4517With him the points of liberty, who made
4518Thee what thou art, and formed the Powers of Heaven
4519Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?
4520Yet, by experience taught, we know how good,
4521And of our good and of our dignity
4522How provident he is; how far from thought
4523To make us less, bent rather to exalt
4524Our happy state, under one head more near
4525United. But to grant it thee unjust,
4526That equal over equals monarch reign:
4527Thyself, though great and glorious, dost thou count,
4528Or all angelick nature joined in one,
4529Equal to him begotten Son? by whom,
4530As by his Word, the Mighty Father made
4531All things, even thee; and all the Spirits of Heaven
4532By him created in their bright degrees,
4533Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named
4534Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
4535Essential Powers; nor by his reign obscured,
4536But more illustrious made; since he the head
4537One of our number thus reduced becomes;
4538His laws our laws; all honour to him done
4539Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage,
4540And tempt not these; but hasten to appease
4541The incensed Father, and the incensed Son,
4542While pardon may be found in time besought.
4543So spake the fervent Angel; but his zeal
4544None seconded, as out of season judged,
4545Or singular and rash: Whereat rejoiced
4546The Apostate, and, more haughty, thus replied.
4547That we were formed then sayest thou? and the work
4548Of secondary hands, by task transferred
4549From Father to his Son? strange point and new!
4550Doctrine which we would know whence learned: who saw
4551When this creation was? rememberest thou
4552Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?
4553We know no time when we were not as now;
4554Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised
4555By our own quickening power, when fatal course
4556Had circled his full orb, the birth mature
4557Of this our native Heaven, ethereal sons.
4558Our puissance is our own; our own right hand
4559Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try
4560Who is our equal: Then thou shalt behold
4561Whether by supplication we intend
4562Address, and to begirt the almighty throne
4563Beseeching or besieging. This report,
4564These tidings carry to the anointed King;
4565And fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.
4566He said; and, as the sound of waters deep,
4567Hoarse murmur echoed to his words applause
4568Through the infinite host; nor less for that
4569The flaming Seraph fearless, though alone
4570Encompassed round with foes, thus answered bold.
4571O alienate from God, O Spirit accursed,
4572Forsaken of all good! I see thy fall
4573Determined, and thy hapless crew involved
4574In this perfidious fraud, contagion spread
4575Both of thy crime and punishment: Henceforth
4576No more be troubled how to quit the yoke
4577Of God's Messiah; those indulgent laws
4578Will not be now vouchsafed; other decrees
4579Against thee are gone forth without recall;
4580That golden scepter, which thou didst reject,
4581Is now an iron rod to bruise and break
4582Thy disobedience. Well thou didst advise;
4583Yet not for thy advice or threats I fly
4584These wicked tents devoted, lest the wrath
4585Impendent, raging into sudden flame,
4586Distinguish not: For soon expect to feel
4587His thunder on thy head, devouring fire.
4588Then who created thee lamenting learn,
4589When who can uncreate thee thou shalt know.
4590So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found
4591Among the faithless, faithful only he;
4592Among innumerable false, unmoved,
4593Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
4594His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;
4595Nor number, nor example, with him wrought
4596To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,
4597Though single. From amidst them forth he passed,
4598Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustained
4599Superiour, nor of violence feared aught;
4600And, with retorted scorn, his back he turned
4601On those proud towers to swift destruction doomed.
4602
4603
4604
4605Book VI
4606
4607
4608All night the dreadless Angel, unpursued,
4609Through Heaven's wide champain held his way; till Morn,
4610Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand
4611Unbarred the gates of light. There is a cave
4612Within the mount of God, fast by his throne,
4613Where light and darkness in perpetual round
4614Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through Heaven
4615Grateful vicissitude, like day and night;
4616Light issues forth, and at the other door
4617Obsequious darkness enters, till her hour
4618To veil the Heaven, though darkness there might well
4619Seem twilight here: And now went forth the Morn
4620Such as in highest Heaven arrayed in gold
4621Empyreal; from before her vanished Night,
4622Shot through with orient beams; when all the plain
4623Covered with thick embattled squadrons bright,
4624Chariots, and flaming arms, and fiery steeds,
4625Reflecting blaze on blaze, first met his view:
4626War he perceived, war in procinct; and found
4627Already known what he for news had thought
4628To have reported: Gladly then he mixed
4629Among those friendly Powers, who him received
4630With joy and acclamations loud, that one,
4631That of so many myriads fallen, yet one
4632Returned not lost. On to the sacred hill
4633They led him high applauded, and present
4634Before the seat supreme; from whence a voice,
4635From midst a golden cloud, thus mild was heard.
4636Servant of God. Well done; well hast thou fought
4637The better fight, who single hast maintained
4638Against revolted multitudes the cause
4639Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms;
4640And for the testimony of truth hast borne
4641Universal reproach, far worse to bear
4642Than violence; for this was all thy care
4643To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds
4644Judged thee perverse: The easier conquest now
4645Remains thee, aided by this host of friends,
4646Back on thy foes more glorious to return,
4647Than scorned thou didst depart; and to subdue
4648By force, who reason for their law refuse,
4649Right reason for their law, and for their King
4650Messiah, who by right of merit reigns.
4651Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince,
4652And thou, in military prowess next,
4653Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons
4654Invincible; lead forth my armed Saints,
4655By thousands and by millions, ranged for fight,
4656Equal in number to that Godless crew
4657Rebellious: Them with fire and hostile arms
4658Fearless assault; and, to the brow of Heaven
4659Pursuing, drive them out from God and bliss,
4660Into their place of punishment, the gulf
4661Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide
4662His fiery Chaos to receive their fall.
4663So spake the Sovran Voice, and clouds began
4664To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll
4665In dusky wreaths, reluctant flames, the sign
4666Of wrath awaked; nor with less dread the loud
4667Ethereal trumpet from on high 'gan blow:
4668At which command the Powers militant,
4669That stood for Heaven, in mighty quadrate joined
4670Of union irresistible, moved on
4671In silence their bright legions, to the sound
4672Of instrumental harmony, that breathed
4673Heroick ardour to adventurous deeds
4674Under their God-like leaders, in the cause
4675Of God and his Messiah. On they move
4676Indissolubly firm; nor obvious hill,
4677Nor straitening vale, nor wood, nor stream, divides
4678Their perfect ranks; for high above the ground
4679Their march was, and the passive air upbore
4680Their nimble tread; as when the total kind
4681Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
4682Came summoned over Eden to receive
4683Their names of thee; so over many a tract
4684Of Heaven they marched, and many a province wide,
4685Tenfold the length of this terrene: At last,
4686Far in the horizon to the north appeared
4687From skirt to skirt a fiery region, stretched
4688In battailous aspect, and nearer view
4689Bristled with upright beams innumerable
4690Of rigid spears, and helmets thronged, and shields
4691Various, with boastful argument portrayed,
4692The banded Powers of Satan hasting on
4693With furious expedition; for they weened
4694That self-same day, by fight or by surprise,
4695To win the mount of God, and on his throne
4696To set the Envier of his state, the proud
4697Aspirer; but their thoughts proved fond and vain
4698In the mid way: Though strange to us it seemed
4699At first, that Angel should with Angel war,
4700And in fierce hosting meet, who wont to meet
4701So oft in festivals of joy and love
4702Unanimous, as sons of one great Sire,
4703Hymning the Eternal Father: But the shout
4704Of battle now began, and rushing sound
4705Of onset ended soon each milder thought.
4706High in the midst, exalted as a God,
4707The Apostate in his sun-bright chariot sat,
4708Idol of majesty divine, enclosed
4709With flaming Cherubim, and golden shields;
4710Then lighted from his gorgeous throne, for now
4711'Twixt host and host but narrow space was left,
4712A dreadful interval, and front to front
4713Presented stood in terrible array
4714Of hideous length: Before the cloudy van,
4715On the rough edge of battle ere it joined,
4716Satan, with vast and haughty strides advanced,
4717Came towering, armed in adamant and gold;
4718Abdiel that sight endured not, where he stood
4719Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds,
4720And thus his own undaunted heart explores.
4721O Heaven! that such resemblance of the Highest
4722Should yet remain, where faith and realty
4723Remain not: Wherefore should not strength and might
4724There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove
4725Where boldest, though to fight unconquerable?
4726His puissance, trusting in the Almighty's aid,
4727I mean to try, whose reason I have tried
4728Unsound and false; nor is it aught but just,
4729That he, who in debate of truth hath won,
4730Should win in arms, in both disputes alike
4731Victor; though brutish that contest and foul,
4732When reason hath to deal with force, yet so
4733Most reason is that reason overcome.
4734So pondering, and from his armed peers
4735Forth stepping opposite, half-way he met
4736His daring foe, at this prevention more
4737Incensed, and thus securely him defied.
4738Proud, art thou met? thy hope was to have reached
4739The highth of thy aspiring unopposed,
4740The throne of God unguarded, and his side
4741Abandoned, at the terrour of thy power
4742Or potent tongue: Fool! not to think how vain
4743Against the Omnipotent to rise in arms;
4744Who out of smallest things could, without end,
4745Have raised incessant armies to defeat
4746Thy folly; or with solitary hand
4747Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow,
4748Unaided, could have finished thee, and whelmed
4749Thy legions under darkness: But thou seest
4750All are not of thy train; there be, who faith
4751Prefer, and piety to God, though then
4752To thee not visible, when I alone
4753Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent
4754From all: My sect thou seest; now learn too late
4755How few sometimes may know, when thousands err.
4756Whom the grand foe, with scornful eye askance,
4757Thus answered. Ill for thee, but in wished hour
4758Of my revenge, first sought for, thou returnest
4759From flight, seditious Angel! to receive
4760Thy merited reward, the first assay
4761Of this right hand provoked, since first that tongue,
4762Inspired with contradiction, durst oppose
4763A third part of the Gods, in synod met
4764Their deities to assert; who, while they feel
4765Vigour divine within them, can allow
4766Omnipotence to none. But well thou comest
4767Before thy fellows, ambitious to win
4768From me some plume, that thy success may show
4769Destruction to the rest: This pause between,
4770(Unanswered lest thou boast) to let thee know,
4771At first I thought that Liberty and Heaven
4772To heavenly souls had been all one; but now
4773I see that most through sloth had rather serve,
4774Ministring Spirits, trained up in feast and song!
4775Such hast thou armed, the minstrelsy of Heaven,
4776Servility with freedom to contend,
4777As both their deeds compared this day shall prove.
4778To whom in brief thus Abdiel stern replied.
4779Apostate! still thou errest, nor end wilt find
4780Of erring, from the path of truth remote:
4781Unjustly thou depravest it with the name
4782Of servitude, to serve whom God ordains,
4783Or Nature: God and Nature bid the same,
4784When he who rules is worthiest, and excels
4785Them whom he governs. This is servitude,
4786To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelled
4787Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee,
4788Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled;
4789Yet lewdly darest our ministring upbraid.
4790Reign thou in Hell, thy kingdom; let me serve
4791In Heaven God ever blest, and his divine
4792Behests obey, worthiest to be obeyed;
4793Yet chains in Hell, not realms, expect: Mean while
4794From me returned, as erst thou saidst, from flight,
4795This greeting on thy impious crest receive.
4796So saying, a noble stroke he lifted high,
4797Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell
4798On the proud crest of Satan, that no sight,
4799Nor motion of swift thought, less could his shield,
4800Such ruin intercept: Ten paces huge
4801He back recoiled; the tenth on bended knee
4802His massy spear upstaid; as if on earth
4803Winds under ground, or waters forcing way,
4804Sidelong had pushed a mountain from his seat,
4805Half sunk with all his pines. Amazement seised
4806The rebel Thrones, but greater rage, to see
4807Thus foiled their mightiest; ours joy filled, and shout,
4808Presage of victory, and fierce desire
4809Of battle: Whereat Michael bid sound
4810The Arch-Angel trumpet; through the vast of Heaven
4811It sounded, and the faithful armies rung
4812Hosanna to the Highest: Nor stood at gaze
4813The adverse legions, nor less hideous joined
4814The horrid shock. Now storming fury rose,
4815And clamour such as heard in Heaven till now
4816Was never; arms on armour clashing brayed
4817Horrible discord, and the madding wheels
4818Of brazen chariots raged; dire was the noise
4819Of conflict; over head the dismal hiss
4820Of fiery darts in flaming vollies flew,
4821And flying vaulted either host with fire.
4822So under fiery cope together rushed
4823Both battles main, with ruinous assault
4824And inextinguishable rage. All Heaven
4825Resounded; and had Earth been then, all Earth
4826Had to her center shook. What wonder? when
4827Millions of fierce encountering Angels fought
4828On either side, the least of whom could wield
4829These elements, and arm him with the force
4830Of all their regions: How much more of power
4831Army against army numberless to raise
4832Dreadful combustion warring, and disturb,
4833Though not destroy, their happy native seat;
4834Had not the Eternal King Omnipotent,
4835From his strong hold of Heaven, high over-ruled
4836And limited their might; though numbered such
4837As each divided legion might have seemed
4838A numerous host; in strength each armed hand
4839A legion; led in fight, yet leader seemed
4840Each warriour single as in chief, expert
4841When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway
4842Of battle, open when, and when to close
4843The ridges of grim war: No thought of flight,
4844None of retreat, no unbecoming deed
4845That argued fear; each on himself relied,
4846As only in his arm the moment lay
4847Of victory: Deeds of eternal fame
4848Were done, but infinite; for wide was spread
4849That war and various; sometimes on firm ground
4850A standing fight, then, soaring on main wing,
4851Tormented all the air; all air seemed then
4852Conflicting fire. Long time in even scale
4853The battle hung; till Satan, who that day
4854Prodigious power had shown, and met in arms
4855No equal, ranging through the dire attack
4856Of fighting Seraphim confused, at length
4857Saw where the sword of Michael smote, and felled
4858Squadrons at once; with huge two-handed sway
4859Brandished aloft, the horrid edge came down
4860Wide-wasting; such destruction to withstand
4861He hasted, and opposed the rocky orb
4862Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield,
4863A vast circumference. At his approach
4864The great Arch-Angel from his warlike toil
4865Surceased, and glad, as hoping here to end
4866Intestine war in Heaven, the arch-foe subdued
4867Or captive dragged in chains, with hostile frown
4868And visage all inflamed first thus began.
4869Author of evil, unknown till thy revolt,
4870Unnamed in Heaven, now plenteous as thou seest
4871These acts of hateful strife, hateful to all,
4872Though heaviest by just measure on thyself,
4873And thy adherents: How hast thou disturbed
4874Heaven's blessed peace, and into nature brought
4875Misery, uncreated till the crime
4876Of thy rebellion! how hast thou instilled
4877Thy malice into thousands, once upright
4878And faithful, now proved false! But think not here
4879To trouble holy rest; Heaven casts thee out
4880From all her confines. Heaven, the seat of bliss,
4881Brooks not the works of violence and war.
4882Hence then, and evil go with thee along,
4883Thy offspring, to the place of evil, Hell;
4884Thou and thy wicked crew! there mingle broils,
4885Ere this avenging sword begin thy doom,
4886Or some more sudden vengeance, winged from God,
4887Precipitate thee with augmented pain.
4888So spake the Prince of Angels; to whom thus
4889The Adversary. Nor think thou with wind
4890Of aery threats to awe whom yet with deeds
4891Thou canst not. Hast thou turned the least of these
4892To flight, or if to fall, but that they rise
4893Unvanquished, easier to transact with me
4894That thou shouldst hope, imperious, and with threats
4895To chase me hence? err not, that so shall end
4896The strife which thou callest evil, but we style
4897The strife of glory; which we mean to win,
4898Or turn this Heaven itself into the Hell
4899Thou fablest; here however to dwell free,
4900If not to reign: Mean while thy utmost force,
4901And join him named Almighty to thy aid,
4902I fly not, but have sought thee far and nigh.
4903They ended parle, and both addressed for fight
4904Unspeakable; for who, though with the tongue
4905Of Angels, can relate, or to what things
4906Liken on earth conspicuous, that may lift
4907Human imagination to such highth
4908Of Godlike power? for likest Gods they seemed,
4909Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms,
4910Fit to decide the empire of great Heaven.
4911Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air
4912Made horrid circles; two broad suns their shields
4913Blazed opposite, while Expectation stood
4914In horrour: From each hand with speed retired,
4915Where erst was thickest fight, the angelick throng,
4916And left large field, unsafe within the wind
4917Of such commotion; such as, to set forth
4918Great things by small, if, nature's concord broke,
4919Among the constellations war were sprung,
4920Two planets, rushing from aspect malign
4921Of fiercest opposition, in mid sky
4922Should combat, and their jarring spheres confound.
4923Together both with next to almighty arm
4924Up-lifted imminent, one stroke they aimed
4925That might determine, and not need repeat,
4926As not of power at once; nor odds appeared
4927In might or swift prevention: But the sword
4928Of Michael from the armoury of God
4929Was given him tempered so, that neither keen
4930Nor solid might resist that edge: it met
4931The sword of Satan, with steep force to smite
4932Descending, and in half cut sheer; nor staid,
4933But with swift wheel reverse, deep entering, shared
4934All his right side: Then Satan first knew pain,
4935And writhed him to and fro convolved; so sore
4936The griding sword with discontinuous wound
4937Passed through him: But the ethereal substance closed,
4938Not long divisible; and from the gash
4939A stream of necturous humour issuing flowed
4940Sanguine, such as celestial Spirits may bleed,
4941And all his armour stained, ere while so bright.
4942Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run
4943By Angels many and strong, who interposed
4944Defence, while others bore him on their shields
4945Back to his chariot, where it stood retired
4946From off the files of war: There they him laid
4947Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame,
4948To find himself not matchless, and his pride
4949Humbled by such rebuke, so far beneath
4950His confidence to equal God in power.
4951Yet soon he healed; for Spirits that live throughout
4952Vital in every part, not as frail man
4953In entrails, heart of head, liver or reins,
4954Cannot but by annihilating die;
4955Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound
4956Receive, no more than can the fluid air:
4957All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear,
4958All intellect, all sense; and, as they please,
4959They limb themselves, and colour, shape, or size
4960Assume, as likes them best, condense or rare.
4961Mean while in other parts like deeds deserved
4962Memorial, where the might of Gabriel fought,
4963And with fierce ensigns pierced the deep array
4964Of Moloch, furious king; who him defied,
4965And at his chariot-wheels to drag him bound
4966Threatened, nor from the Holy One of Heaven
4967Refrained his tongue blasphemous; but anon
4968Down cloven to the waist, with shattered arms
4969And uncouth pain fled bellowing. On each wing
4970Uriel, and Raphael, his vaunting foe,
4971Though huge, and in a rock of diamond armed,
4972Vanquished Adramelech, and Asmadai,
4973Two potent Thrones, that to be less than Gods
4974Disdained, but meaner thoughts learned in their flight,
4975Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.
4976Nor stood unmindful Abdiel to annoy
4977The atheist crew, but with redoubled blow
4978Ariel, and Arioch, and the violence
4979Of Ramiel scorched and blasted, overthrew.
4980I might relate of thousands, and their names
4981Eternize here on earth; but those elect
4982Angels, contented with their fame in Heaven,
4983Seek not the praise of men: The other sort,
4984In might though wonderous and in acts of war,
4985Nor of renown less eager, yet by doom
4986Cancelled from Heaven and sacred memory,
4987Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell.
4988For strength from truth divided, and from just,
4989Illaudable, nought merits but dispraise
4990And ignominy; yet to glory aspires
4991Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame:
4992Therefore eternal silence be their doom.
4993And now, their mightiest quelled, the battle swerved,
4994With many an inroad gored; deformed rout
4995Entered, and foul disorder; all the ground
4996With shivered armour strown, and on a heap
4997Chariot and charioteer lay overturned,
4998And fiery-foaming steeds; what stood, recoiled
4999O'er-wearied, through the faint Satanick host
5000Defensive scarce, or with pale fear surprised,
5001Then first with fear surprised, and sense of pain,
5002Fled ignominious, to such evil brought
5003By sin of disobedience; till that hour
5004Not liable to fear, or flight, or pain.
5005Far otherwise the inviolable Saints,
5006In cubick phalanx firm, advanced entire,
5007Invulnerable, impenetrably armed;
5008Such high advantages their innocence
5009Gave them above their foes; not to have sinned,
5010Not to have disobeyed; in fight they stood
5011Unwearied, unobnoxious to be pained
5012By wound, though from their place by violence moved,
5013Now Night her course began, and, over Heaven
5014Inducing darkness, grateful truce imposed,
5015And silence on the odious din of war:
5016Under her cloudy covert both retired,
5017Victor and vanquished: On the foughten field
5018Michael and his Angels prevalent
5019Encamping, placed in guard their watches round,
5020Cherubick waving fires: On the other part,
5021Satan with his rebellious disappeared,
5022Far in the dark dislodged; and, void of rest,
5023His potentates to council called by night;
5024And in the midst thus undismayed began.
5025O now in danger tried, now known in arms
5026Not to be overpowered, Companions dear,
5027Found worthy not of liberty alone,
5028Too mean pretence! but what we more affect,
5029Honour, dominion, glory, and renown;
5030Who have sustained one day in doubtful fight,
5031(And if one day, why not eternal days?)
5032What Heaven's Lord had powerfullest to send
5033Against us from about his throne, and judged
5034Sufficient to subdue us to his will,
5035But proves not so: Then fallible, it seems,
5036Of future we may deem him, though till now
5037Omniscient thought. True is, less firmly armed,
5038Some disadvantage we endured and pain,
5039Till now not known, but, known, as soon contemned;
5040Since now we find this our empyreal form
5041Incapable of mortal injury,
5042Imperishable, and, though pierced with wound,
5043Soon closing, and by native vigour healed.
5044Of evil then so small as easy think
5045The remedy; perhaps more valid arms,
5046Weapons more violent, when next we meet,
5047May serve to better us, and worse our foes,
5048Or equal what between us made the odds,
5049In nature none: If other hidden cause
5050Left them superiour, while we can preserve
5051Unhurt our minds, and understanding sound,
5052Due search and consultation will disclose.
5053He sat; and in the assembly next upstood
5054Nisroch, of Principalities the prime;
5055As one he stood escaped from cruel fight,
5056Sore toiled, his riven arms to havock hewn,
5057And cloudy in aspect thus answering spake.
5058Deliverer from new Lords, leader to free
5059Enjoyment of our right as Gods; yet hard
5060For Gods, and too unequal work we find,
5061Against unequal arms to fight in pain,
5062Against unpained, impassive; from which evil
5063Ruin must needs ensue; for what avails
5064Valour or strength, though matchless, quelled with pain
5065Which all subdues, and makes remiss the hands
5066Of mightiest? Sense of pleasure we may well
5067Spare out of life perhaps, and not repine,
5068But live content, which is the calmest life:
5069But pain is perfect misery, the worst
5070Of evils, and, excessive, overturns
5071All patience. He, who therefore can invent
5072With what more forcible we may offend
5073Our yet unwounded enemies, or arm
5074Ourselves with like defence, to me deserves
5075No less than for deliverance what we owe.
5076Whereto with look composed Satan replied.
5077Not uninvented that, which thou aright
5078Believest so main to our success, I bring.
5079Which of us who beholds the bright surface
5080Of this ethereous mould whereon we stand,
5081This continent of spacious Heaven, adorned
5082With plant, fruit, flower ambrosial, gems, and gold;
5083Whose eye so superficially surveys
5084These things, as not to mind from whence they grow
5085Deep under ground, materials dark and crude,
5086Of spiritous and fiery spume, till touched
5087With Heaven's ray, and tempered, they shoot forth
5088So beauteous, opening to the ambient light?
5089These in their dark nativity the deep
5090Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame;
5091Which, into hollow engines, long and round,
5092Thick rammed, at the other bore with touch of fire
5093Dilated and infuriate, shall send forth
5094From far, with thundering noise, among our foes
5095Such implements of mischief, as shall dash
5096To pieces, and o'erwhelm whatever stands
5097Adverse, that they shall fear we have disarmed
5098The Thunderer of his only dreaded bolt.
5099Nor long shall be our labour; yet ere dawn,
5100Effect shall end our wish. Mean while revive;
5101Abandon fear; to strength and counsel joined
5102Think nothing hard, much less to be despaired.
5103He ended, and his words their drooping cheer
5104Enlightened, and their languished hope revived.
5105The invention all admired, and each, how he
5106To be the inventer missed; so easy it seemed
5107Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought
5108Impossible: Yet, haply, of thy race
5109In future days, if malice should abound,
5110Some one intent on mischief, or inspired
5111With devilish machination, might devise
5112Like instrument to plague the sons of men
5113For sin, on war and mutual slaughter bent.
5114Forthwith from council to the work they flew;
5115None arguing stood; innumerable hands
5116Were ready; in a moment up they turned
5117Wide the celestial soil, and saw beneath
5118The originals of nature in their crude
5119Conception; sulphurous and nitrous foam
5120They found, they mingled, and, with subtle art,
5121Concocted and adusted they reduced
5122To blackest grain, and into store conveyed:
5123Part hidden veins digged up (nor hath this earth
5124Entrails unlike) of mineral and stone,
5125Whereof to found their engines and their balls
5126Of missive ruin; part incentive reed
5127Provide, pernicious with one touch to fire.
5128So all ere day-spring, under conscious night,
5129Secret they finished, and in order set,
5130With silent circumspection, unespied.
5131Now when fair morn orient in Heaven appeared,
5132Up rose the victor-Angels, and to arms
5133The matin trumpet sung: In arms they stood
5134Of golden panoply, refulgent host,
5135Soon banded; others from the dawning hills
5136Look round, and scouts each coast light-armed scour,
5137Each quarter to descry the distant foe,
5138Where lodged, or whither fled, or if for fight,
5139In motion or in halt: Him soon they met
5140Under spread ensigns moving nigh, in slow
5141But firm battalion; back with speediest sail
5142Zophiel, of Cherubim the swiftest wing,
5143Came flying, and in mid air aloud thus cried.
5144Arm, Warriours, arm for fight; the foe at hand,
5145Whom fled we thought, will save us long pursuit
5146This day; fear not his flight; so thick a cloud
5147He comes, and settled in his face I see
5148Sad resolution, and secure: Let each
5149His adamantine coat gird well, and each
5150Fit well his helm, gripe fast his orbed shield,
5151Borne even or high; for this day will pour down,
5152If I conjecture aught, no drizzling shower,
5153But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.
5154So warned he them, aware themselves, and soon
5155In order, quit of all impediment;
5156Instant without disturb they took alarm,
5157And onward moved embattled: When behold!
5158Not distant far with heavy pace the foe
5159Approaching gross and huge, in hollow cube
5160Training his devilish enginery, impaled
5161On every side with shadowing squadrons deep,
5162To hide the fraud. At interview both stood
5163A while; but suddenly at head appeared
5164Satan, and thus was heard commanding loud.
5165Vanguard, to right and left the front unfold;
5166That all may see who hate us, how we seek
5167Peace and composure, and with open breast
5168Stand ready to receive them, if they like
5169Our overture; and turn not back perverse:
5170But that I doubt; however witness, Heaven!
5171Heaven, witness thou anon! while we discharge
5172Freely our part: ye, who appointed stand
5173Do as you have in charge, and briefly touch
5174What we propound, and loud that all may hear!
5175So scoffing in ambiguous words, he scarce
5176Had ended; when to right and left the front
5177Divided, and to either flank retired:
5178Which to our eyes discovered, new and strange,
5179A triple mounted row of pillars laid
5180On wheels (for like to pillars most they seemed,
5181Or hollowed bodies made of oak or fir,
5182With branches lopt, in wood or mountain felled,)
5183Brass, iron, stony mould, had not their mouths
5184With hideous orifice gaped on us wide,
5185Portending hollow truce: At each behind
5186A Seraph stood, and in his hand a reed
5187Stood waving tipt with fire; while we, suspense,
5188Collected stood within our thoughts amused,
5189Not long; for sudden all at once their reeds
5190Put forth, and to a narrow vent applied
5191With nicest touch. Immediate in a flame,
5192But soon obscured with smoke, all Heaven appeared,
5193From those deep-throated engines belched, whose roar
5194Embowelled with outrageous noise the air,
5195And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul
5196Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts and hail
5197Of iron globes; which, on the victor host
5198Levelled, with such impetuous fury smote,
5199That, whom they hit, none on their feet might stand,
5200Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell
5201By thousands, Angel on Arch-Angel rolled;
5202The sooner for their arms; unarmed, they might
5203Have easily, as Spirits, evaded swift
5204By quick contraction or remove; but now
5205Foul dissipation followed, and forced rout;
5206Nor served it to relax their serried files.
5207What should they do? if on they rushed, repulse
5208Repeated, and indecent overthrow
5209Doubled, would render them yet more despised,
5210And to their foes a laughter; for in view
5211Stood ranked of Seraphim another row,
5212In posture to displode their second tire
5213Of thunder: Back defeated to return
5214They worse abhorred. Satan beheld their plight,
5215And to his mates thus in derision called.
5216O Friends! why come not on these victors proud
5217Ere while they fierce were coming; and when we,
5218To entertain them fair with open front
5219And breast, (what could we more?) propounded terms
5220Of composition, straight they changed their minds,
5221Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell,
5222As they would dance; yet for a dance they seemed
5223Somewhat extravagant and wild; perhaps
5224For joy of offered peace: But I suppose,
5225If our proposals once again were heard,
5226We should compel them to a quick result.
5227To whom thus Belial, in like gamesome mood.
5228Leader! the terms we sent were terms of weight,
5229Of hard contents, and full of force urged home;
5230Such as we might perceive amused them all,
5231And stumbled many: Who receives them right,
5232Had need from head to foot well understand;
5233Not understood, this gift they have besides,
5234They show us when our foes walk not upright.
5235So they among themselves in pleasant vein
5236Stood scoffing, hightened in their thoughts beyond
5237All doubt of victory: Eternal Might
5238To match with their inventions they presumed
5239So easy, and of his thunder made a scorn,
5240And all his host derided, while they stood
5241A while in trouble: But they stood not long;
5242Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms
5243Against such hellish mischief fit to oppose.
5244Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power,
5245Which God hath in his mighty Angels placed!)
5246Their arms away they threw, and to the hills
5247(For Earth hath this variety from Heaven
5248Of pleasure situate in hill and dale,)
5249Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew;
5250From their foundations loosening to and fro,
5251They plucked the seated hills, with all their load,
5252Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops
5253Up-lifting bore them in their hands: Amaze,
5254Be sure, and terrour, seized the rebel host,
5255When coming towards them so dread they saw
5256The bottom of the mountains upward turned;
5257Till on those cursed engines' triple-row
5258They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence
5259Under the weight of mountains buried deep;
5260Themselves invaded next, and on their heads
5261Main promontories flung, which in the air
5262Came shadowing, and oppressed whole legions armed;
5263Their armour helped their harm, crushed in and bruised
5264Into their substance pent, which wrought them pain
5265Implacable, and many a dolorous groan;
5266Long struggling underneath, ere they could wind
5267Out of such prison, though Spirits of purest light,
5268Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown.
5269The rest, in imitation, to like arms
5270Betook them, and the neighbouring hills uptore:
5271So hills amid the air encountered hills,
5272Hurled to and fro with jaculation dire;
5273That under ground they fought in dismal shade;
5274Infernal noise! war seemed a civil game
5275To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped
5276Upon confusion rose: And now all Heaven
5277Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread;
5278Had not the Almighty Father, where he sits
5279Shrined in his sanctuary of Heaven secure,
5280Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen
5281This tumult, and permitted all, advised:
5282That his great purpose he might so fulfil,
5283To honour his anointed Son avenged
5284Upon his enemies, and to declare
5285All power on him transferred: Whence to his Son,
5286The Assessour of his throne, he thus began.
5287Effulgence of my glory, Son beloved,
5288Son, in whose face invisible is beheld
5289Visibly, what by Deity I am;
5290And in whose hand what by decree I do,
5291Second Omnipotence! two days are past,
5292Two days, as we compute the days of Heaven,
5293Since Michael and his Powers went forth to tame
5294These disobedient: Sore hath been their fight,
5295As likeliest was, when two such foes met armed;
5296For to themselves I left them; and thou knowest,
5297Equal in their creation they were formed,
5298Save what sin hath impaired; which yet hath wrought
5299Insensibly, for I suspend their doom;
5300Whence in perpetual fight they needs must last
5301Endless, and no solution will be found:
5302War wearied hath performed what war can do,
5303And to disordered rage let loose the reins
5304With mountains, as with weapons, armed; which makes
5305Wild work in Heaven, and dangerous to the main.
5306Two days are therefore past, the third is thine;
5307For thee I have ordained it; and thus far
5308Have suffered, that the glory may be thine
5309Of ending this great war, since none but Thou
5310Can end it. Into thee such virtue and grace
5311Immense I have transfused, that all may know
5312In Heaven and Hell thy power above compare;
5313And, this perverse commotion governed thus,
5314To manifest thee worthiest to be Heir
5315Of all things; to be Heir, and to be King
5316By sacred unction, thy deserved right.
5317Go then, Thou Mightiest, in thy Father's might;
5318Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels
5319That shake Heaven's basis, bring forth all my war,
5320My bow and thunder, my almighty arms
5321Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh;
5322Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out
5323From all Heaven's bounds into the utter deep:
5324There let them learn, as likes them, to despise
5325God, and Messiah his anointed King.
5326He said, and on his Son with rays direct
5327Shone full; he all his Father full expressed
5328Ineffably into his face received;
5329And thus the Filial Godhead answering spake.
5330O Father, O Supreme of heavenly Thrones,
5331First, Highest, Holiest, Best; thou always seek'st
5332To glorify thy Son, I always thee,
5333As is most just: This I my glory account,
5334My exaltation, and my whole delight,
5335That thou, in me well pleased, declarest thy will
5336Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss.
5337Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume,
5338And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
5339Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee
5340For ever; and in me all whom thou lovest:
5341But whom thou hatest, I hate, and can put on
5342Thy terrours, as I put thy mildness on,
5343Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,
5344Armed with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebelled;
5345To their prepared ill mansion driven down,
5346To chains of darkness, and the undying worm;
5347That from thy just obedience could revolt,
5348Whom to obey is happiness entire.
5349Then shall thy Saints unmixed, and from the impure
5350Far separate, circling thy holy mount,
5351Unfeigned Halleluiahs to thee sing,
5352Hymns of high praise, and I among them Chief.
5353So said, he, o'er his scepter bowing, rose
5354From the right hand of Glory where he sat;
5355And the third sacred morn began to shine,
5356Dawning through Heaven. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound
5357The chariot of Paternal Deity,
5358Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,
5359Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoyed
5360By four Cherubick shapes; four faces each
5361Had wonderous; as with stars, their bodies all
5362And wings were set with eyes; with eyes the wheels
5363Of beryl, and careering fires between;
5364Over their heads a crystal firmament,
5365Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure
5366Amber, and colours of the showery arch.
5367He, in celestial panoply all armed
5368Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought,
5369Ascended; at his right hand Victory
5370Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
5371And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored;
5372And from about him fierce effusion rolled
5373Of smoke, and bickering flame, and sparkles dire:
5374Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,
5375He onward came; far off his coming shone;
5376And twenty thousand (I their number heard)
5377Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen;
5378He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime
5379On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,
5380Illustrious far and wide; but by his own
5381First seen: Them unexpected joy surprised,
5382When the great ensign of Messiah blazed
5383Aloft by Angels borne, his sign in Heaven;
5384Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
5385His army, circumfused on either wing,
5386Under their Head imbodied all in one.
5387Before him Power Divine his way prepared;
5388At his command the uprooted hills retired
5389Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went
5390Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed,
5391And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.
5392This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured,
5393And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,
5394Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.
5395In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?
5396But to convince the proud what signs avail,
5397Or wonders move the obdurate to relent?
5398They, hardened more by what might most reclaim,
5399Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
5400Took envy; and, aspiring to his highth,
5401Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud
5402Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
5403Against God and Messiah, or to fall
5404In universal ruin last; and now
5405To final battle drew, disdaining flight,
5406Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God
5407To all his host on either hand thus spake.
5408Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand,
5409Ye Angels armed; this day from battle rest:
5410Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God
5411Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause;
5412And as ye have received, so have ye done,
5413Invincibly: But of this cursed crew
5414The punishment to other hand belongs;
5415Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints:
5416Number to this day's work is not ordained,
5417Nor multitude; stand only, and behold
5418God's indignation on these godless poured
5419By me; not you, but me, they have despised,
5420Yet envied; against me is all their rage,
5421Because the Father, to whom in Heaven s'preme
5422Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains,
5423Hath honoured me, according to his will.
5424Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned;
5425That they may have their wish, to try with me
5426In battle which the stronger proves; they all,
5427Or I alone against them; since by strength
5428They measure all, of other excellence
5429Not emulous, nor care who them excels;
5430Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.
5431So spake the Son, and into terrour changed
5432His countenance too severe to be beheld,
5433And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
5434At once the Four spread out their starry wings
5435With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs
5436Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
5437Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.
5438He on his impious foes right onward drove,
5439Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels
5440The stedfast empyrean shook throughout,
5441All but the throne itself of God. Full soon
5442Among them he arrived; in his right hand
5443Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
5444Before him, such as in their souls infixed
5445Plagues: They, astonished, all resistance lost,
5446All courage; down their idle weapons dropt:
5447O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode
5448Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,
5449That wished the mountains now might be again
5450Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
5451Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
5452His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four
5453Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels
5454Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
5455One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye
5456Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
5457Among the accursed, that withered all their strength,
5458And of their wonted vigour left them drained,
5459Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.
5460Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
5461His thunder in mid volley; for he meant
5462Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:
5463The overthrown he raised, and as a herd
5464Of goats or timorous flock together thronged
5465Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued
5466With terrours, and with furies, to the bounds
5467And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide,
5468Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
5469Into the wasteful deep: The monstrous sight
5470Struck them with horrour backward, but far worse
5471Urged them behind: Headlong themselves they threw
5472Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath
5473Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.
5474Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw
5475Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled
5476Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep
5477Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
5478Nine days they fell: Confounded Chaos roared,
5479And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
5480Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout
5481Incumbered him with ruin: Hell at last
5482Yawning received them whole, and on them closed;
5483Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
5484Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.
5485Disburdened Heaven rejoiced, and soon repaired
5486Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled.
5487Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes,
5488Messiah his triumphal chariot turned:
5489To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood
5490Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,
5491With jubilee advanced; and, as they went,
5492Shaded with branching palm, each Order bright,
5493Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,
5494Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion given,
5495Worthiest to reign: He, celebrated, rode
5496Triumphant through mid Heaven, into the courts
5497And temple of his Mighty Father throned
5498On high; who into glory him received,
5499Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.
5500Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on Earth,
5501At thy request, and that thou mayest beware
5502By what is past, to thee I have revealed
5503What might have else to human race been hid;
5504The discord which befel, and war in Heaven
5505Among the angelick Powers, and the deep fall
5506Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled
5507With Satan; he who envies now thy state,
5508Who now is plotting how he may seduce
5509Thee also from obedience, that, with him
5510Bereaved of happiness, thou mayest partake
5511His punishment, eternal misery;
5512Which would be all his solace and revenge,
5513As a despite done against the Most High,
5514Thee once to gain companion of his woe.
5515But listen not to his temptations, warn
5516Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard,
5517By terrible example, the reward
5518Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,
5519Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
5520
5521
5522
5523Book VII
5524
5525
5526Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that name
5527If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
5528Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
5529Above the flight of Pegasean wing!
5530The meaning, not the name, I call: for thou
5531Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
5532Of old Olympus dwellest; but, heavenly-born,
5533Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed,
5534Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse,
5535Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
5536In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
5537With thy celestial song. Up led by thee
5538Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,
5539An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
5540Thy tempering: with like safety guided down
5541Return me to my native element:
5542Lest from this flying steed unreined, (as once
5543Bellerophon, though from a lower clime,)
5544Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,
5545Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn.
5546Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
5547Within the visible diurnal sphere;
5548Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole,
5549More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
5550To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,
5551On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues;
5552In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
5553And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
5554Visitest my slumbers nightly, or when morn
5555Purples the east: still govern thou my song,
5556Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
5557But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
5558Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race
5559Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
5560In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
5561To rapture, till the savage clamour drowned
5562Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend
5563Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:
5564For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.
5565Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphael,
5566The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarned
5567Adam, by dire example, to beware
5568Apostasy, by what befel in Heaven
5569To those apostates; lest the like befall
5570In Paradise to Adam or his race,
5571Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,
5572If they transgress, and slight that sole command,
5573So easily obeyed amid the choice
5574Of all tastes else to please their appetite,
5575Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve,
5576The story heard attentive, and was filled
5577With admiration and deep muse, to hear
5578Of things so high and strange; things, to their thought
5579So unimaginable, as hate in Heaven,
5580And war so near the peace of God in bliss,
5581With such confusion: but the evil, soon
5582Driven back, redounded as a flood on those
5583From whom it sprung; impossible to mix
5584With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed
5585The doubts that in his heart arose: and now
5586Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know
5587What nearer might concern him, how this world
5588Of Heaven and Earth conspicuous first began;
5589When, and whereof created; for what cause;
5590What within Eden, or without, was done
5591Before his memory; as one whose drouth
5592Yet scarce allayed still eyes the current stream,
5593Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,
5594Proceeded thus to ask his heavenly guest.
5595Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,
5596Far differing from this world, thou hast revealed,
5597Divine interpreter! by favour sent
5598Down from the empyrean, to forewarn
5599Us timely of what might else have been our loss,
5600Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach;
5601For which to the infinitely Good we owe
5602Immortal thanks, and his admonishment
5603Receive, with solemn purpose to observe
5604Immutably his sovran will, the end
5605Of what we are. But since thou hast vouchsafed
5606Gently, for our instruction, to impart
5607Things above earthly thought, which yet concerned
5608Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemed,
5609Deign to descend now lower, and relate
5610What may no less perhaps avail us known,
5611How first began this Heaven which we behold
5612Distant so high, with moving fires adorned
5613Innumerable; and this which yields or fills
5614All space, the ambient air wide interfused
5615Embracing round this floried Earth; what cause
5616Moved the Creator, in his holy rest
5617Through all eternity, so late to build
5618In Chaos; and the work begun, how soon
5619Absolved; if unforbid thou mayest unfold
5620What we, not to explore the secrets ask
5621Of his eternal empire, but the more
5622To magnify his works, the more we know.
5623And the great light of day yet wants to run
5624Much of his race though steep; suspense in Heaven,
5625Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears,
5626And longer will delay to hear thee tell
5627His generation, and the rising birth
5628Of Nature from the unapparent Deep:
5629Or if the star of evening and the moon
5630Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring,
5631Silence; and Sleep, listening to thee, will watch;
5632Or we can bid his absence, till thy song
5633End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine.
5634Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought:
5635And thus the Godlike Angel answered mild.
5636This also thy request, with caution asked,
5637Obtain; though to recount almighty works
5638What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,
5639Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
5640Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
5641To glorify the Maker, and infer
5642Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
5643Thy hearing; such commission from above
5644I have received, to answer thy desire
5645Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain
5646To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope
5647Things not revealed, which the invisible King,
5648Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night;
5649To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:
5650Enough is left besides to search and know.
5651But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
5652Her temperance over appetite, to know
5653In measure what the mind may well contain;
5654Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
5655Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.
5656Know then, that, after Lucifer from Heaven
5657(So call him, brighter once amidst the host
5658Of Angels, than that star the stars among,)
5659Fell with his flaming legions through the deep
5660Into his place, and the great Son returned
5661Victorious with his Saints, the Omnipotent
5662Eternal Father from his throne beheld
5663Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake.
5664At least our envious Foe hath failed, who thought
5665All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
5666This inaccessible high strength, the seat
5667Of Deity supreme, us dispossessed,
5668He trusted to have seised, and into fraud
5669Drew many, whom their place knows here no more:
5670Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
5671Their station; Heaven, yet populous, retains
5672Number sufficient to possess her realms
5673Though wide, and this high temple to frequent
5674With ministeries due, and solemn rites:
5675But, lest his heart exalt him in the harm
5676Already done, to have dispeopled Heaven,
5677My damage fondly deemed, I can repair
5678That detriment, if such it be to lose
5679Self-lost; and in a moment will create
5680Another world, out of one man a race
5681Of men innumerable, there to dwell,
5682Not here; till, by degrees of merit raised,
5683They open to themselves at length the way
5684Up hither, under long obedience tried;
5685And Earth be changed to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth,
5686One kingdom, joy and union without end.
5687Mean while inhabit lax, ye Powers of Heaven;
5688And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee
5689This I perform; speak thou, and be it done!
5690My overshadowing Spirit and Might with thee
5691I send along; ride forth, and bid the Deep
5692Within appointed bounds be Heaven and Earth;
5693Boundless the Deep, because I Am who fill
5694Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
5695Though I, uncircumscribed myself, retire,
5696And put not forth my goodness, which is free
5697To act or not, Necessity and Chance
5698Approach not me, and what I will is Fate.
5699So spake the Almighty, and to what he spake
5700His Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect.
5701Immediate are the acts of God, more swift
5702Than time or motion, but to human ears
5703Cannot without process of speech be told,
5704So told as earthly notion can receive.
5705Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven,
5706When such was heard declared the Almighty's will;
5707Glory they sung to the Most High, good will
5708To future men, and in their dwellings peace;
5709Glory to Him, whose just avenging ire
5710Had driven out the ungodly from his sight
5711And the habitations of the just; to Him
5712Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordained
5713Good out of evil to create; instead
5714Of Spirits malign, a better race to bring
5715Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse
5716His good to worlds and ages infinite.
5717So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son
5718On his great expedition now appeared,
5719Girt with Omnipotence, with radiance crowned
5720Of Majesty Divine; sapience and love
5721Immense, and all his Father in him shone.
5722About his chariot numberless were poured
5723Cherub, and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones,
5724And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots winged
5725From the armoury of God; where stand of old
5726Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodged
5727Against a solemn day, harnessed at hand,
5728Celestial equipage; and now came forth
5729Spontaneous, for within them Spirit lived,
5730Attendant on their Lord: Heaven opened wide
5731Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound
5732On golden hinges moving, to let forth
5733The King of Glory, in his powerful Word
5734And Spirit, coming to create new worlds.
5735On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore
5736They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss
5737Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
5738Up from the bottom turned by furious winds
5739And surging waves, as mountains, to assault
5740Heaven's highth, and with the center mix the pole.
5741Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, peace,
5742Said then the Omnifick Word; your discord end!
5743Nor staid; but, on the wings of Cherubim
5744Uplifted, in paternal glory rode
5745Far into Chaos, and the world unborn;
5746For Chaos heard his voice: Him all his train
5747Followed in bright procession, to behold
5748Creation, and the wonders of his might.
5749Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
5750He took the golden compasses, prepared
5751In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
5752This universe, and all created things:
5753One foot he centered, and the other turned
5754Round through the vast profundity obscure;
5755And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
5756This be thy just circumference, O World!
5757Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth,
5758Matter unformed and void: Darkness profound
5759Covered the abyss: but on the watery calm
5760His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,
5761And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth
5762Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purged
5763The black tartareous cold infernal dregs,
5764Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobed
5765Like things to like; the rest to several place
5766Disparted, and between spun out the air;
5767And Earth self-balanced on her center hung.
5768Let there be light, said God; and forthwith Light
5769Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,
5770Sprung from the deep; and from her native east
5771To journey through the aery gloom began,
5772Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun
5773Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle
5774Sojourned the while. God saw the light was good;
5775And light from darkness by the hemisphere
5776Divided: light the Day, and darkness Night,
5777He named. Thus was the first day even and morn:
5778Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung
5779By the celestial quires, when orient light
5780Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;
5781Birth-day of Heaven and Earth; with joy and shout
5782The hollow universal orb they filled,
5783And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised
5784God and his works; Creator him they sung,
5785Both when first evening was, and when first morn.
5786Again, God said, Let there be firmament
5787Amid the waters, and let it divide
5788The waters from the waters; and God made
5789The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
5790Transparent, elemental air, diffused
5791In circuit to the uttermost convex
5792Of this great round; partition firm and sure,
5793The waters underneath from those above
5794Dividing: for as earth, so he the world
5795Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
5796Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
5797Of Chaos far removed; lest fierce extremes
5798Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:
5799And Heaven he named the Firmament: So even
5800And morning chorus sung the second day.
5801The Earth was formed, but in the womb as yet
5802Of waters, embryon immature involved,
5803Appeared not: over all the face of Earth
5804Main ocean flowed, not idle; but, with warm
5805Prolifick humour softening all her globe,
5806Fermented the great mother to conceive,
5807Satiate with genial moisture; when God said,
5808Be gathered now ye waters under Heaven
5809Into one place, and let dry land appear.
5810Immediately the mountains huge appear
5811Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
5812Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky:
5813So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low
5814Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
5815Capacious bed of waters: Thither they
5816Hasted with glad precipitance, uprolled,
5817As drops on dust conglobing from the dry:
5818Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,
5819For haste; such flight the great command impressed
5820On the swift floods: As armies at the call
5821Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)
5822Troop to their standard; so the watery throng,
5823Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
5824If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,
5825Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill;
5826But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
5827With serpent errour wandering, found their way,
5828And on the washy oose deep channels wore;
5829Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,
5830All but within those banks, where rivers now
5831Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.
5832The dry land, Earth; and the great receptacle
5833Of congregated waters, he called Seas:
5834And saw that it was good; and said, Let the Earth
5835Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,
5836And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,
5837Whose seed is in herself upon the Earth.
5838He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, till then
5839Desart and bare, unsightly, unadorned,
5840Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad
5841Her universal face with pleasant green;
5842Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered
5843Opening their various colours, and made gay
5844Her bosom, smelling sweet: and, these scarce blown,
5845Forth flourished thick the clustering vine, forth crept
5846The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
5847Embattled in her field, and the humble shrub,
5848And bush with frizzled hair implicit: Last
5849Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread
5850Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmed
5851Their blossoms: With high woods the hills were crowned;
5852With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side;
5853With borders long the rivers: that Earth now
5854Seemed like to Heaven, a seat where Gods might dwell,
5855Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
5856Her sacred shades: though God had yet not rained
5857Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground
5858None was; but from the Earth a dewy mist
5859Went up, and watered all the ground, and each
5860Plant of the field; which, ere it was in the Earth,
5861God made, and every herb, before it grew
5862On the green stem: God saw that it was good:
5863So even and morn recorded the third day.
5864Again the Almighty spake, Let there be lights
5865High in the expanse of Heaven, to divide
5866The day from night; and let them be for signs,
5867For seasons, and for days, and circling years;
5868And let them be for lights, as I ordain
5869Their office in the firmament of Heaven,
5870To give light on the Earth; and it was so.
5871And God made two great lights, great for their use
5872To Man, the greater to have rule by day,
5873The less by night, altern; and made the stars,
5874And set them in the firmament of Heaven
5875To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day
5876In their vicissitude, and rule the night,
5877And light from darkness to divide. God saw,
5878Surveying his great work, that it was good:
5879For of celestial bodies first the sun
5880A mighty sphere he framed, unlightsome first,
5881Though of ethereal mould: then formed the moon
5882Globose, and every magnitude of stars,
5883And sowed with stars the Heaven, thick as a field:
5884Of light by far the greater part he took,
5885Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placed
5886In the sun's orb, made porous to receive
5887And drink the liquid light; firm to retain
5888Her gathered beams, great palace now of light.
5889Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
5890Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,
5891And hence the morning-planet gilds her horns;
5892By tincture or reflection they augment
5893Their small peculiar, though from human sight
5894So far remote, with diminution seen,
5895First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,
5896Regent of day, and all the horizon round
5897Invested with bright rays, jocund to run
5898His longitude through Heaven's high road; the gray
5899Dawn, and the Pleiades, before him danced,
5900Shedding sweet influence: Less bright the moon,
5901But opposite in levelled west was set,
5902His mirrour, with full face borrowing her light
5903From him; for other light she needed none
5904In that aspect, and still that distance keeps
5905Till night; then in the east her turn she shines,
5906Revolved on Heaven's great axle, and her reign
5907With thousand lesser lights dividual holds,
5908With thousand thousand stars, that then appeared
5909Spangling the hemisphere: Then first adorned
5910With their bright luminaries that set and rose,
5911Glad evening and glad morn crowned the fourth day.
5912And God said, Let the waters generate
5913Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul:
5914And let fowl fly above the Earth, with wings
5915Displayed on the open firmament of Heaven.
5916And God created the great whales, and each
5917Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously
5918The waters generated by their kinds;
5919And every bird of wing after his kind;
5920And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying.
5921Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas,
5922And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill;
5923And let the fowl be multiplied, on the Earth.
5924Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay,
5925With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals
5926Of fish that with their fins, and shining scales,
5927Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft
5928Bank the mid sea: part single, or with mate,
5929Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves
5930Of coral stray; or, sporting with quick glance,
5931Show to the sun their waved coats dropt with gold;
5932Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend
5933Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food
5934In jointed armour watch: on smooth the seal
5935And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk
5936Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,
5937Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,
5938Hugest of living creatures, on the deep
5939Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,
5940And seems a moving land; and at his gills
5941Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.
5942Mean while the tepid caves, and fens, and shores,
5943Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon
5944Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclosed
5945Their callow young; but feathered soon and fledge
5946They summed their pens; and, soaring the air sublime,
5947With clang despised the ground, under a cloud
5948In prospect; there the eagle and the stork
5949On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build:
5950Part loosely wing the region, part more wise
5951In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way,
5952Intelligent of seasons, and set forth
5953Their aery caravan, high over seas
5954Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing
5955Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane
5956Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air
5957Floats as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes:
5958From branch to branch the smaller birds with song
5959Solaced the woods, and spread their painted wings
5960Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale
5961Ceased warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays:
5962Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bathed
5963Their downy breast; the swan with arched neck,
5964Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows
5965Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit
5966The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower
5967The mid aereal sky: Others on ground
5968Walked firm; the crested cock whose clarion sounds
5969The silent hours, and the other whose gay train
5970Adorns him, coloured with the florid hue
5971Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus
5972With fish replenished, and the air with fowl,
5973Evening and morn solemnized the fifth day.
5974The sixth, and of creation last, arose
5975With evening harps and matin; when God said,
5976Let the Earth bring forth soul living in her kind,
5977Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the Earth,
5978Each in their kind. The Earth obeyed, and straight
5979Opening her fertile womb teemed at a birth
5980Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,
5981Limbed and full grown: Out of the ground up rose,
5982As from his lair, the wild beast where he wons
5983In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;
5984Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked:
5985The cattle in the fields and meadows green:
5986Those rare and solitary, these in flocks
5987Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.
5988The grassy clods now calved; now half appeared
5989The tawny lion, pawing to get free
5990His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,
5991And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,
5992The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
5993Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
5994In hillocks: The swift stag from under ground
5995Bore up his branching head: Scarce from his mould
5996Behemoth biggest born of earth upheaved
5997His vastness: Fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,
5998As plants: Ambiguous between sea and land
5999The river-horse, and scaly crocodile.
6000At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,
6001Insect or worm: those waved their limber fans
6002For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
6003In all the liveries decked of summer's pride
6004With spots of gold and purple, azure and green:
6005These, as a line, their long dimension drew,
6006Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all
6007Minims of nature; some of serpent-kind,
6008Wonderous in length and corpulence, involved
6009Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept
6010The parsimonious emmet, provident
6011Of future; in small room large heart enclosed;
6012Pattern of just equality perhaps
6013Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes
6014Of commonalty: Swarming next appeared
6015The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
6016Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
6017With honey stored: The rest are numberless,
6018And thou their natures knowest, and gavest them names,
6019Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown
6020The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
6021Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
6022And hairy mane terrifick, though to thee
6023Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
6024Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and rolled
6025Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand
6026First wheeled their course: Earth in her rich attire
6027Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth,
6028By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked,
6029Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remained:
6030There wanted yet the master-work, the end
6031Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone
6032And brute as other creatures, but endued
6033With sanctity of reason, might erect
6034His stature, and upright with front serene
6035Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence
6036Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,
6037But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
6038Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes
6039Directed in devotion, to adore
6040And worship God Supreme, who made him chief
6041Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent
6042Eternal Father (for where is not he
6043Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake.
6044Let us make now Man in our image, Man
6045In our similitude, and let them rule
6046Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
6047Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,
6048And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
6049This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee, O Man,
6050Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed
6051The breath of life; in his own image he
6052Created thee, in the image of God
6053Express; and thou becamest a living soul.
6054Male he created thee; but thy consort
6055Female, for race; then blessed mankind, and said,
6056Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth;
6057Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
6058Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
6059And every living thing that moves on the Earth.
6060Wherever thus created, for no place
6061Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou knowest,
6062He brought thee into this delicious grove,
6063This garden, planted with the trees of God,
6064Delectable both to behold and taste;
6065And freely all their pleasant fruit for food
6066Gave thee; all sorts are here that all the Earth yields,
6067Variety without end; but of the tree,
6068Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil,
6069Thou mayest not; in the day thou eatest, thou diest;
6070Death is the penalty imposed; beware,
6071And govern well thy appetite; lest Sin
6072Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.
6073Here finished he, and all that he had made
6074Viewed, and behold all was entirely good;
6075So even and morn accomplished the sixth day:
6076Yet not till the Creator from his work
6077Desisting, though unwearied, up returned,
6078Up to the Heaven of Heavens, his high abode;
6079Thence to behold this new created world,
6080The addition of his empire, how it showed
6081In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,
6082Answering his great idea. Up he rode
6083Followed with acclamation, and the sound
6084Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned
6085Angelick harmonies: The earth, the air
6086Resounded, (thou rememberest, for thou heardst,)
6087The heavens and all the constellations rung,
6088The planets in their station listening stood,
6089While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.
6090Open, ye everlasting gates! they sung,
6091Open, ye Heavens! your living doors; let in
6092The great Creator from his work returned
6093Magnificent, his six days work, a World;
6094Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign
6095To visit oft the dwellings of just men,
6096Delighted; and with frequent intercourse
6097Thither will send his winged messengers
6098On errands of supernal grace. So sung
6099The glorious train ascending: He through Heaven,
6100That opened wide her blazing portals, led
6101To God's eternal house direct the way;
6102A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold
6103And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,
6104Seen in the galaxy, that milky way,
6105Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest
6106Powdered with stars. And now on Earth the seventh
6107Evening arose in Eden, for the sun
6108Was set, and twilight from the east came on,
6109Forerunning night; when at the holy mount
6110Of Heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne
6111Of Godhead, fixed for ever firm and sure,
6112The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down
6113With his great Father; for he also went
6114Invisible, yet staid, (such privilege
6115Hath Omnipresence) and the work ordained,
6116Author and End of all things; and, from work
6117Now resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh day,
6118As resting on that day from all his work,
6119But not in silence holy kept: the harp
6120Had work and rested not; the solemn pipe,
6121And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,
6122All sounds on fret by string or golden wire,
6123Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voice
6124Choral or unison: of incense clouds,
6125Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount.
6126Creation and the six days acts they sung:
6127Great are thy works, Jehovah! infinite
6128Thy power! what thought can measure thee, or tongue
6129Relate thee! Greater now in thy return
6130Than from the giant Angels: Thee that day
6131Thy thunders magnified; but to create
6132Is greater than created to destroy.
6133Who can impair thee, Mighty King, or bound
6134Thy empire! Easily the proud attempt
6135Of Spirits apostate, and their counsels vain,
6136Thou hast repelled; while impiously they thought
6137Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw
6138The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks
6139To lessen thee, against his purpose serves
6140To manifest the more thy might: his evil
6141Thou usest, and from thence createst more good.
6142Witness this new-made world, another Heaven
6143From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view
6144On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;
6145Of amplitude almost immense, with stars
6146Numerous, and every star perhaps a world
6147Of destined habitation; but thou knowest
6148Their seasons: among these the seat of Men,
6149Earth, with her nether ocean circumfused,
6150Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy Men,
6151And sons of Men, whom God hath thus advanced!
6152Created in his image, there to dwell
6153And worship him; and in reward to rule
6154Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,
6155And multiply a race of worshippers
6156Holy and just: Thrice happy, if they know
6157Their happiness, and persevere upright!
6158So sung they, and the empyrean rung
6159With halleluiahs: Thus was sabbath kept.
6160And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked
6161How first this world and face of things began,
6162And what before thy memory was done
6163From the beginning; that posterity,
6164Informed by thee, might know: If else thou seekest
6165Aught, not surpassing human measure, say.
6166
6167
6168
6169Book VIII
6170
6171
6172The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear
6173So charming left his voice, that he a while
6174Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear;
6175Then, as new waked, thus gratefully replied.
6176What thanks sufficient, or what recompence
6177Equal, have I to render thee, divine
6178Historian, who thus largely hast allayed
6179The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed
6180This friendly condescension to relate
6181Things, else by me unsearchable; now heard
6182With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,
6183With glory attributed to the high
6184Creator! Something yet of doubt remains,
6185Which only thy solution can resolve.
6186When I behold this goodly frame, this world,
6187Of Heaven and Earth consisting; and compute
6188Their magnitudes; this Earth, a spot, a grain,
6189An atom, with the firmament compared
6190And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll
6191Spaces incomprehensible, (for such
6192Their distance argues, and their swift return
6193Diurnal,) merely to officiate light
6194Round this opacous Earth, this punctual spot,
6195One day and night; in all her vast survey
6196Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire,
6197How Nature wise and frugal could commit
6198Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
6199So many nobler bodies to create,
6200Greater so manifold, to this one use,
6201For aught appears, and on their orbs impose
6202Such restless revolution day by day
6203Repeated; while the sedentary Earth,
6204That better might with far less compass move,
6205Served by more noble than herself, attains
6206Her end without least motion, and receives,
6207As tribute, such a sumless journey brought
6208Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light;
6209Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails.
6210So spake our sire, and by his countenance seemed
6211Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve
6212Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight,
6213With lowliness majestick from her seat,
6214And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
6215Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
6216To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom,
6217Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
6218And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
6219Yet went she not, as not with such discourse
6220Delighted, or not capable her ear
6221Of what was high: such pleasure she reserved,
6222Adam relating, she sole auditress;
6223Her husband the relater she preferred
6224Before the Angel, and of him to ask
6225Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix
6226Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute
6227With conjugal caresses: from his lip
6228Not words alone pleased her. O! when meet now
6229Such pairs, in love and mutual honour joined?
6230With Goddess-like demeanour forth she went,
6231Not unattended; for on her, as Queen,
6232A pomp of winning Graces waited still,
6233And from about her shot darts of desire
6234Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.
6235And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt proposed,
6236Benevolent and facile thus replied.
6237To ask or search, I blame thee not; for Heaven
6238Is as the book of God before thee set,
6239Wherein to read his wonderous works, and learn
6240His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years:
6241This to attain, whether Heaven move or Earth,
6242Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest
6243From Man or Angel the great Architect
6244Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
6245His secrets to be scanned by them who ought
6246Rather admire; or, if they list to try
6247Conjecture, he his fabrick of the Heavens
6248Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move
6249His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
6250Hereafter; when they come to model Heaven
6251And calculate the stars, how they will wield
6252The mighty frame; how build, unbuild, contrive
6253To save appearances; how gird the sphere
6254With centrick and eccentrick scribbled o'er,
6255Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb:
6256Already by thy reasoning this I guess,
6257Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest
6258That bodies bright and greater should not serve
6259The less not bright, nor Heaven such journeys run,
6260Earth sitting still, when she alone receives
6261The benefit: Consider first, that great
6262Or bright infers not excellence: the Earth
6263Though, in comparison of Heaven, so small,
6264Nor glistering, may of solid good contain
6265More plenty than the sun that barren shines;
6266Whose virtue on itself works no effect,
6267But in the fruitful Earth; there first received,
6268His beams, unactive else, their vigour find.
6269Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries
6270Officious; but to thee, Earth's habitant.
6271And for the Heaven's wide circuit, let it speak
6272The Maker's high magnificence, who built
6273So spacious, and his line stretched out so far;
6274That Man may know he dwells not in his own;
6275An edifice too large for him to fill,
6276Lodged in a small partition; and the rest
6277Ordained for uses to his Lord best known.
6278The swiftness of those circles attribute,
6279Though numberless, to his Omnipotence,
6280That to corporeal substances could add
6281Speed almost spiritual: Me thou thinkest not slow,
6282Who since the morning-hour set out from Heaven
6283Where God resides, and ere mid-day arrived
6284In Eden; distance inexpressible
6285By numbers that have name. But this I urge,
6286Admitting motion in the Heavens, to show
6287Invalid that which thee to doubt it moved;
6288Not that I so affirm, though so it seem
6289To thee who hast thy dwelling here on Earth.
6290God, to remove his ways from human sense,
6291Placed Heaven from Earth so far, that earthly sight,
6292If it presume, might err in things too high,
6293And no advantage gain. What if the sun
6294Be center to the world; and other stars,
6295By his attractive virtue and their own
6296Incited, dance about him various rounds?
6297Their wandering course now high, now low, then hid,
6298Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,
6299In six thou seest; and what if seventh to these
6300The planet earth, so stedfast though she seem,
6301Insensibly three different motions move?
6302Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe,
6303Moved contrary with thwart obliquities;
6304Or save the sun his labour, and that swift
6305Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb supposed,
6306Invisible else above all stars, the wheel
6307Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,
6308If earth, industrious of herself, fetch day
6309Travelling east, and with her part averse
6310From the sun's beam meet night, her other part
6311Still luminous by his ray. What if that light,
6312Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air,
6313To the terrestrial moon be as a star,
6314Enlightening her by day, as she by night
6315This earth? reciprocal, if land be there,
6316Fields and inhabitants: Her spots thou seest
6317As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce
6318Fruits in her softened soil for some to eat
6319Allotted there; and other suns perhaps,
6320With their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,
6321Communicating male and female light;
6322Which two great sexes animate the world,
6323Stored in each orb perhaps with some that live.
6324For such vast room in Nature unpossessed
6325By living soul, desart and desolate,
6326Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute
6327Each orb a glimpse of light, conveyed so far
6328Down to this habitable, which returns
6329Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.
6330But whether thus these things, or whether not;
6331But whether the sun, predominant in Heaven,
6332Rise on the earth; or earth rise on the sun;
6333He from the east his flaming road begin;
6334Or she from west her silent course advance,
6335With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps
6336On her soft axle, while she paces even,
6337And bears thee soft with the smooth hair along;
6338Sollicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
6339Leave them to God above; him serve, and fear!
6340Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
6341Wherever placed, let him dispose; joy thou
6342In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
6343And thy fair Eve; Heaven is for thee too high
6344To know what passes there; be lowly wise:
6345Think only what concerns thee, and thy being;
6346Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
6347Live, in what state, condition, or degree;
6348Contented that thus far hath been revealed
6349Not of Earth only, but of highest Heaven.
6350To whom thus Adam, cleared of doubt, replied.
6351How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure
6352Intelligence of Heaven, Angel serene!
6353And, freed from intricacies, taught to live
6354The easiest way; nor with perplexing thoughts
6355To interrupt the sweet of life, from which
6356God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,
6357And not molest us; unless we ourselves
6358Seek them with wandering thoughts, and notions vain.
6359But apt the mind or fancy is to rove
6360Unchecked, and of her roving is no end;
6361Till warned, or by experience taught, she learn,
6362That, not to know at large of things remote
6363From use, obscure and subtle; but, to know
6364That which before us lies in daily life,
6365Is the prime wisdom: What is more, is fume,
6366Or emptiness, or fond impertinence:
6367And renders us, in things that most concern,
6368Unpractised, unprepared, and still to seek.
6369Therefore from this high pitch let us descend
6370A lower flight, and speak of things at hand
6371Useful; whence, haply, mention may arise
6372Of something not unseasonable to ask,
6373By sufferance, and thy wonted favour, deigned.
6374Thee I have heard relating what was done
6375Ere my remembrance: now, hear me relate
6376My story, which perhaps thou hast not heard;
6377And day is not yet spent; till then thou seest
6378How subtly to detain thee I devise;
6379Inviting thee to hear while I relate;
6380Fond! were it not in hope of thy reply:
6381For, while I sit with thee, I seem in Heaven;
6382And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear
6383Than fruits of palm-tree pleasantest to thirst
6384And hunger both, from labour, at the hour
6385Of sweet repast; they satiate, and soon fill,
6386Though pleasant; but thy words, with grace divine
6387Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety.
6388To whom thus Raphael answered heavenly meek.
6389Nor are thy lips ungraceful, Sire of men,
6390Nor tongue ineloquent; for God on thee
6391Abundantly his gifts hath also poured
6392Inward and outward both, his image fair:
6393Speaking, or mute, all comeliness and grace
6394Attends thee; and each word, each motion, forms;
6395Nor less think we in Heaven of thee on Earth
6396Than of our fellow-servant, and inquire
6397Gladly into the ways of God with Man:
6398For God, we see, hath honoured thee, and set
6399On Man his equal love: Say therefore on;
6400For I that day was absent, as befel,
6401Bound on a voyage uncouth and obscure,
6402Far on excursion toward the gates of Hell;
6403Squared in full legion (such command we had)
6404To see that none thence issued forth a spy,
6405Or enemy, while God was in his work;
6406Lest he, incensed at such eruption bold,
6407Destruction with creation might have mixed.
6408Not that they durst without his leave attempt;
6409But us he sends upon his high behests
6410For state, as Sovran King; and to inure
6411Our prompt obedience. Fast we found, fast shut,
6412The dismal gates, and barricadoed strong;
6413But long ere our approaching heard within
6414Noise, other than the sound of dance or song,
6415Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.
6416Glad we returned up to the coasts of light
6417Ere sabbath-evening: so we had in charge.
6418But thy relation now; for I attend,
6419Pleased with thy words no less than thou with mine.
6420So spake the Godlike Power, and thus our Sire.
6421For Man to tell how human life began
6422Is hard; for who himself beginning knew
6423Desire with thee still longer to converse
6424Induced me. As new waked from soundest sleep,
6425Soft on the flowery herb I found me laid,
6426In balmy sweat; which with his beams the sun
6427Soon dried, and on the reeking moisture fed.
6428Straight toward Heaven my wondering eyes I turned,
6429And gazed a while the ample sky; till, raised
6430By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung,
6431As thitherward endeavouring, and upright
6432Stood on my feet: about me round I saw
6433Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,
6434And liquid lapse of murmuring streams; by these,
6435Creatures that lived and moved, and walked, or flew;
6436Birds on the branches warbling; all things smiled;
6437With fragrance and with joy my heart o'erflowed.
6438Myself I then perused, and limb by limb
6439Surveyed, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran
6440With supple joints, as lively vigour led:
6441But who I was, or where, or from what cause,
6442Knew not; to speak I tried, and forthwith spake;
6443My tongue obeyed, and readily could name
6444Whate'er I saw. Thou Sun, said I, fair light,
6445And thou enlightened Earth, so fresh and gay,
6446Ye Hills, and Dales, ye Rivers, Woods, and Plains,
6447And ye that live and move, fair Creatures, tell,
6448Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here?--
6449Not of myself;--by some great Maker then,
6450In goodness and in power pre-eminent:
6451Tell me, how may I know him, how adore,
6452From whom I have that thus I move and live,
6453And feel that I am happier than I know.--
6454While thus I called, and strayed I knew not whither,
6455From where I first drew air, and first beheld
6456This happy light; when, answer none returned,
6457On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers,
6458Pensive I sat me down: There gentle sleep
6459First found me, and with soft oppression seised
6460My droused sense, untroubled, though I thought
6461I then was passing to my former state
6462Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve:
6463When suddenly stood at my head a dream,
6464Whose inward apparition gently moved
6465My fancy to believe I yet had being,
6466And lived: One came, methought, of shape divine,
6467And said, "Thy mansion wants thee, Adam; rise,
6468First Man, of men innumerable ordained
6469First Father! called by thee, I come thy guide
6470To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepared."
6471So saying, by the hand he took me raised,
6472And over fields and waters, as in air
6473Smooth-sliding without step, last led me up
6474A woody mountain; whose high top was plain,
6475A circuit wide, enclosed, with goodliest trees
6476Planted, with walks, and bowers; that what I saw
6477Of Earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree,
6478Loaden with fairest fruit that hung to the eye
6479Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite
6480To pluck and eat; whereat I waked, and found
6481Before mine eyes all real, as the dream
6482Had lively shadowed: Here had new begun
6483My wandering, had not he, who was my guide
6484Up hither, from among the trees appeared,
6485Presence Divine. Rejoicing, but with awe,
6486In adoration at his feet I fell
6487Submiss: He reared me, and "Whom thou soughtest I am,"
6488Said mildly, "Author of all this thou seest
6489Above, or round about thee, or beneath.
6490This Paradise I give thee, count it thine
6491To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat:
6492Of every tree that in the garden grows
6493Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:
6494But of the tree whose operation brings
6495Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set
6496The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith,
6497Amid the garden by the tree of life,
6498Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste,
6499And shun the bitter consequence: for know,
6500The day thou eatest thereof, my sole command
6501Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die,
6502From that day mortal; and this happy state
6503Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world
6504Of woe and sorrow." Sternly he pronounced
6505The rigid interdiction, which resounds
6506Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice
6507Not to incur; but soon his clear aspect
6508Returned, and gracious purpose thus renewed.
6509"Not only these fair bounds, but all the Earth
6510To thee and to thy race I give; as lords
6511Possess it, and all things that therein live,
6512Or live in sea, or air; beast, fish, and fowl.
6513In sign whereof, each bird and beast behold
6514After their kinds; I bring them to receive
6515From thee their names, and pay thee fealty
6516With low subjection; understand the same
6517Of fish within their watery residence,
6518Not hither summoned, since they cannot change
6519Their element, to draw the thinner air."
6520As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold
6521Approaching two and two; these cowering low
6522With blandishment; each bird stooped on his wing.
6523I named them, as they passed, and understood
6524Their nature, with such knowledge God endued
6525My sudden apprehension: But in these
6526I found not what methought I wanted still;
6527And to the heavenly Vision thus presumed.
6528O, by what name, for thou above all these,
6529Above mankind, or aught than mankind higher,
6530Surpassest far my naming; how may I
6531Adore thee, Author of this universe,
6532And all this good to man? for whose well being
6533So amply, and with hands so liberal,
6534Thou hast provided all things: But with me
6535I see not who partakes. In solitude
6536What happiness, who can enjoy alone,
6537Or, all enjoying, what contentment find?
6538Thus I presumptuous; and the Vision bright,
6539As with a smile more brightened, thus replied.
6540What callest thou solitude? Is not the Earth
6541With various living creatures, and the air
6542Replenished, and all these at thy command
6543To come and play before thee? Knowest thou not
6544Their language and their ways? They also know,
6545And reason not contemptibly: With these
6546Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large.
6547So spake the Universal Lord, and seemed
6548So ordering: I, with leave of speech implored,
6549And humble deprecation, thus replied.
6550Let not my words offend thee, Heavenly Power;
6551My Maker, be propitious while I speak.
6552Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,
6553And these inferiour far beneath me set?
6554Among unequals what society
6555Can sort, what harmony, or true delight?
6556Which must be mutual, in proportion due
6557Given and received; but, in disparity
6558The one intense, the other still remiss,
6559Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
6560Tedious alike: Of fellowship I speak
6561Such as I seek, fit to participate
6562All rational delight: wherein the brute
6563Cannot be human consort: They rejoice
6564Each with their kind, lion with lioness;
6565So fitly them in pairs thou hast combined:
6566Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl
6567So well converse, nor with the ox the ape;
6568Worse then can man with beast, and least of all.
6569Whereto the Almighty answered, not displeased.
6570A nice and subtle happiness, I see,
6571Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice
6572Of thy associates, Adam! and wilt taste
6573No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.
6574What thinkest thou then of me, and this my state?
6575Seem I to thee sufficiently possessed
6576Of happiness, or not? who am alone
6577From all eternity; for none I know
6578Second to me or like, equal much less.
6579How have I then with whom to hold converse,
6580Save with the creatures which I made, and those
6581To me inferiour, infinite descents
6582Beneath what other creatures are to thee?
6583He ceased; I lowly answered. To attain
6584The highth and depth of thy eternal ways
6585All human thoughts come short, Supreme of things!
6586Thou in thyself art perfect, and in thee
6587Is no deficience found: Not so is Man,
6588But in degree; the cause of his desire
6589By conversation with his like to help
6590Or solace his defects. No need that thou
6591Shouldst propagate, already Infinite;
6592And through all numbers absolute, though One:
6593But Man by number is to manifest
6594His single imperfection, and beget
6595Like of his like, his image multiplied,
6596In unity defective; which requires
6597Collateral love, and dearest amity.
6598Thou in thy secresy although alone,
6599Best with thyself accompanied, seekest not
6600Social communication; yet, so pleased,
6601Canst raise thy creature to what highth thou wilt
6602Of union or communion, deified:
6603I, by conversing, cannot these erect
6604From prone; nor in their ways complacence find.
6605Thus I emboldened spake, and freedom used
6606Permissive, and acceptance found; which gained
6607This answer from the gracious Voice Divine.
6608Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleased;
6609And find thee knowing, not of beasts alone,
6610Which thou hast rightly named, but of thyself;
6611Expressing well the spirit within thee free,
6612My image, not imparted to the brute;
6613Whose fellowship therefore unmeet for thee
6614Good reason was thou freely shouldst dislike;
6615And be so minded still: I, ere thou spakest,
6616Knew it not good for Man to be alone;
6617And no such company as then thou sawest
6618Intended thee; for trial only brought,
6619To see how thou couldest judge of fit and meet:
6620What next I bring shall please thee, be assured,
6621Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,
6622Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.
6623He ended, or I heard no more; for now
6624My earthly by his heavenly overpowered,
6625Which it had long stood under, strained to the highth
6626In that celestial colloquy sublime,
6627As with an object that excels the sense
6628Dazzled and spent, sunk down; and sought repair
6629Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called
6630By Nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes.
6631Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell
6632Of fancy, my internal sight; by which,
6633Abstract as in a trance, methought I saw,
6634Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape
6635Still glorious before whom awake I stood:
6636Who stooping opened my left side, and took
6637From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,
6638And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,
6639But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed:
6640The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands;
6641Under his forming hands a creature grew,
6642Man-like, but different sex; so lovely fair,
6643That what seemed fair in all the world, seemed now
6644Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained
6645And in her looks; which from that time infused
6646Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,
6647And into all things from her air inspired
6648The spirit of love and amorous delight.
6649She disappeared, and left me dark; I waked
6650To find her, or for ever to deplore
6651Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure:
6652When out of hope, behold her, not far off,
6653Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned
6654With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow
6655To make her amiable: On she came,
6656Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen,
6657And guided by his voice; nor uninformed
6658Of nuptial sanctity, and marriage rites:
6659Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye,
6660In every gesture dignity and love.
6661I, overjoyed, could not forbear aloud.
6662This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled
6663Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,
6664Giver of all things fair! but fairest this
6665Of all thy gifts! nor enviest. I now see
6666Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself
6667Before me: Woman is her name; of Man
6668Extracted: for this cause he shall forego
6669Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;
6670And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul.
6671She heard me thus; and though divinely brought,
6672Yet innocence, and virgin modesty,
6673Her virtue, and the conscience of her worth,
6674That would be wooed, and not unsought be won,
6675Not obvious, not obtrusive, but, retired,
6676The more desirable; or, to say all,
6677Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought,
6678Wrought in her so, that, seeing me, she turned:
6679I followed her; she what was honour knew,
6680And with obsequious majesty approved
6681My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower
6682I led her blushing like the morn: All Heaven,
6683And happy constellations, on that hour
6684Shed their selectest influence; the Earth
6685Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;
6686Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs
6687Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings
6688Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub,
6689Disporting, till the amorous bird of night
6690Sung spousal, and bid haste the evening-star
6691On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp.
6692Thus have I told thee all my state, and brought
6693My story to the sum of earthly bliss,
6694Which I enjoy; and must confess to find
6695In all things else delight indeed, but such
6696As, used or not, works in the mind no change,
6697Nor vehement desire; these delicacies
6698I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers,
6699Walks, and the melody of birds: but here
6700Far otherwise, transported I behold,
6701Transported touch; here passion first I felt,
6702Commotion strange! in all enjoyments else
6703Superiour and unmoved; here only weak
6704Against the charm of Beauty's powerful glance.
6705Or Nature failed in me, and left some part
6706Not proof enough such object to sustain;
6707Or, from my side subducting, took perhaps
6708More than enough; at least on her bestowed
6709Too much of ornament, in outward show
6710Elaborate, of inward less exact.
6711For well I understand in the prime end
6712Of Nature her the inferiour, in the mind
6713And inward faculties, which most excel;
6714In outward also her resembling less
6715His image who made both, and less expressing
6716The character of that dominion given
6717O'er other creatures: Yet when I approach
6718Her loveliness, so absolute she seems
6719And in herself complete, so well to know
6720Her own, that what she wills to do or say,
6721Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best:
6722All higher knowledge in her presence falls
6723Degraded; Wisdom in discourse with her
6724Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shows;
6725Authority and Reason on her wait,
6726As one intended first, not after made
6727Occasionally; and, to consummate all,
6728Greatness of mind and Nobleness their seat
6729Build in her loveliest, and create an awe
6730About her, as a guard angelick placed.
6731To whom the Angel with contracted brow.
6732Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part;
6733Do thou but thine; and be not diffident
6734Of Wisdom; she deserts thee not, if thou
6735Dismiss not her, when most thou needest her nigh,
6736By attributing overmuch to things
6737Less excellent, as thou thyself perceivest.
6738For, what admirest thou, what transports thee so,
6739An outside? fair, no doubt, and worthy well
6740Thy cherishing, thy honouring, and thy love;
6741Not thy subjection: Weigh with her thyself;
6742Then value: Oft-times nothing profits more
6743Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right
6744Well managed; of that skill the more thou knowest,
6745The more she will acknowledge thee her head,
6746And to realities yield all her shows:
6747Made so adorn for thy delight the more,
6748So awful, that with honour thou mayest love
6749Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least wise.
6750But if the sense of touch, whereby mankind
6751Is propagated, seem such dear delight
6752Beyond all other; think the same vouchsafed
6753To cattle and each beast; which would not be
6754To them made common and divulged, if aught
6755Therein enjoyed were worthy to subdue
6756The soul of man, or passion in him move.
6757What higher in her society thou findest
6758Attractive, human, rational, love still;
6759In loving thou dost well, in passion not,
6760Wherein true love consists not: Love refines
6761The thoughts, and heart enlarges; hath his seat
6762In reason, and is judicious; is the scale
6763By which to heavenly love thou mayest ascend,
6764Not sunk in carnal pleasure; for which cause,
6765Among the beasts no mate for thee was found.
6766To whom thus, half abashed, Adam replied.
6767Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught
6768In procreation common to all kinds,
6769(Though higher of the genial bed by far,
6770And with mysterious reverence I deem,)
6771So much delights me, as those graceful acts,
6772Those thousand decencies, that daily flow
6773From all her words and actions mixed with love
6774And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned
6775Union of mind, or in us both one soul;
6776Harmony to behold in wedded pair
6777More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.
6778Yet these subject not; I to thee disclose
6779What inward thence I feel, not therefore foiled,
6780Who meet with various objects, from the sense
6781Variously representing; yet, still free,
6782Approve the best, and follow what I approve.
6783To love, thou blamest me not; for Love, thou sayest,
6784Leads up to Heaven, is both the way and guide;
6785Bear with me then, if lawful what I ask:
6786Love not the heavenly Spirits, and how their love
6787Express they? by looks only? or do they mix
6788Irradiance, virtual or immediate touch?
6789To whom the Angel, with a smile that glowed
6790Celestial rosy red, Love's proper hue,
6791Answered. Let it suffice thee that thou knowest
6792Us happy, and without love no happiness.
6793Whatever pure thou in the body enjoyest,
6794(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy
6795In eminence; and obstacle find none
6796Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive bars;
6797Easier than air with air, if Spirits embrace,
6798Total they mix, union of pure with pure
6799Desiring, nor restrained conveyance need,
6800As flesh to mix with flesh, or soul with soul.
6801But I can now no more; the parting sun
6802Beyond the Earth's green Cape and verdant Isles
6803Hesperian sets, my signal to depart.
6804Be strong, live happy, and love! But, first of all,
6805Him, whom to love is to obey, and keep
6806His great command; take heed lest passion sway
6807Thy judgement to do aught, which else free will
6808Would not admit: thine, and of all thy sons,
6809The weal or woe in thee is placed; beware!
6810I in thy persevering shall rejoice,
6811And all the Blest: Stand fast; to stand or fall
6812Free in thine own arbitrement it lies.
6813Perfect within, no outward aid require;
6814And all temptation to transgress repel.
6815So saying, he arose; whom Adam thus
6816Followed with benediction. Since to part,
6817Go, heavenly guest, ethereal Messenger,
6818Sent from whose sovran goodness I adore!
6819Gentle to me and affable hath been
6820Thy condescension, and shall be honoured ever
6821With grateful memory: Thou to mankind
6822Be good and friendly still, and oft return!
6823So parted they; the Angel up to Heaven
6824From the thick shade, and Adam to his bower.
6825
6826
6827
6828Book IX
6829
6830
6831No more of talk where God or Angel guest
6832With Man, as with his friend, familiar us'd,
6833To sit indulgent, and with him partake
6834Rural repast; permitting him the while
6835Venial discourse unblam'd. I now must change
6836Those notes to tragick; foul distrust, and breach
6837Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt,
6838And disobedience: on the part of Heaven
6839Now alienated, distance and distaste,
6840Anger and just rebuke, and judgement given,
6841That brought into this world a world of woe,
6842Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery
6843Death's harbinger: Sad task! yet argument
6844Not less but more heroick than the wrath
6845Of stern Achilles on his foe pursued
6846Thrice fugitive about Troy wall; or rage
6847Of Turnus for Lavinia disespous'd;
6848Or Neptune's ire, or Juno's, that so long
6849Perplexed the Greek, and Cytherea's son:
6850If answerable style I can obtain
6851Of my celestial patroness, who deigns
6852Her nightly visitation unimplor'd,
6853And dictates to me slumbering; or inspires
6854Easy my unpremeditated verse:
6855Since first this subject for heroick song
6856Pleas'd me long choosing, and beginning late;
6857Not sedulous by nature to indite
6858Wars, hitherto the only argument
6859Heroick deem'd chief mastery to dissect
6860With long and tedious havock fabled knights
6861In battles feign'd; the better fortitude
6862Of patience and heroick martyrdom
6863Unsung; or to describe races and games,
6864Or tilting furniture, imblazon'd shields,
6865Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds,
6866Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights
6867At joust and tournament; then marshall'd feast
6868Serv'd up in hall with sewers and seneshals;
6869The skill of artifice or office mean,
6870Not that which justly gives heroick name
6871To person, or to poem. Me, of these
6872Nor skill'd nor studious, higher argument
6873Remains; sufficient of itself to raise
6874That name, unless an age too late, or cold
6875Climate, or years, damp my intended wing
6876Depress'd; and much they may, if all be mine,
6877Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear.
6878The sun was sunk, and after him the star
6879Of Hesperus, whose office is to bring
6880Twilight upon the earth, short arbiter
6881'Twixt day and night, and now from end to end
6882Night's hemisphere had veil'd the horizon round:
6883When satan, who late fled before the threats
6884Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improv'd
6885In meditated fraud and malice, bent
6886On Man's destruction, maugre what might hap
6887Of heavier on himself, fearless returned
6888By night he fled, and at midnight returned
6889From compassing the earth; cautious of day,
6890Since Uriel, regent of the sun, descried
6891His entrance, and foreworned the Cherubim
6892That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driven,
6893The space of seven continued nights he rode
6894With darkness; thrice the equinoctial line
6895He circled; four times crossed the car of night
6896From pole to pole, traversing each colure;
6897On the eighth returned; and, on the coast averse
6898From entrance or Cherubick watch, by stealth
6899Found unsuspected way. There was a place,
6900Now not, though sin, not time, first wrought the change,
6901Where Tigris, at the foot of Paradise,
6902Into a gulf shot under ground, till part
6903Rose up a fountain by the tree of life:
6904In with the river sunk, and with it rose
6905Satan, involved in rising mist; then sought
6906Where to lie hid; sea he had searched, and land,
6907From Eden over Pontus and the pool
6908Maeotis, up beyond the river Ob;
6909Downward as far antarctick; and in length,
6910West from Orontes to the ocean barred
6911At Darien; thence to the land where flows
6912Ganges and Indus: Thus the orb he roamed
6913With narrow search; and with inspection deep
6914Considered every creature, which of all
6915Most opportune might serve his wiles; and found
6916The Serpent subtlest beast of all the field.
6917Him after long debate, irresolute
6918Of thoughts revolved, his final sentence chose
6919Fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom
6920To enter, and his dark suggestions hide
6921From sharpest sight: for, in the wily snake
6922Whatever sleights, none would suspicious mark,
6923As from his wit and native subtlety
6924Proceeding; which, in other beasts observed,
6925Doubt might beget of diabolick power
6926Active within, beyond the sense of brute.
6927Thus he resolved, but first from inward grief
6928His bursting passion into plaints thus poured.
6929More justly, seat worthier of Gods, as built
6930With second thoughts, reforming what was old!
6931O Earth, how like to Heaven, if not preferred
6932For what God, after better, worse would build?
6933Terrestrial Heaven, danced round by other Heavens
6934That shine, yet bear their bright officious lamps,
6935Light above light, for thee alone, as seems,
6936In thee concentring all their precious beams
6937Of sacred influence! As God in Heaven
6938Is center, yet extends to all; so thou,
6939Centring, receivest from all those orbs: in thee,
6940Not in themselves, all their known virtue appears
6941Productive in herb, plant, and nobler birth
6942Of creatures animate with gradual life
6943Of growth, sense, reason, all summed up in Man.
6944With what delight could I have walked thee round,
6945If I could joy in aught, sweet interchange
6946Of hill, and valley, rivers, woods, and plains,
6947Now land, now sea and shores with forest crowned,
6948Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these
6949Find place or refuge; and the more I see
6950Pleasures about me, so much more I feel
6951Torment within me, as from the hateful siege
6952Of contraries: all good to me becomes
6953Bane, and in Heaven much worse would be my state.
6954But neither here seek I, no nor in Heaven
6955To dwell, unless by mastering Heaven's Supreme;
6956Nor hope to be myself less miserable
6957By what I seek, but others to make such
6958As I, though thereby worse to me redound:
6959For only in destroying I find ease
6960To my relentless thoughts; and, him destroyed,
6961Or won to what may work his utter loss,
6962For whom all this was made, all this will soon
6963Follow, as to him linked in weal or woe;
6964In woe then; that destruction wide may range:
6965To me shall be the glory sole among
6966The infernal Powers, in one day to have marred
6967What he, Almighty styled, six nights and days
6968Continued making; and who knows how long
6969Before had been contriving? though perhaps
6970Not longer than since I, in one night, freed
6971From servitude inglorious well nigh half
6972The angelick name, and thinner left the throng
6973Of his adorers: He, to be avenged,
6974And to repair his numbers thus impaired,
6975Whether such virtue spent of old now failed
6976More Angels to create, if they at least
6977Are his created, or, to spite us more,
6978Determined to advance into our room
6979A creature formed of earth, and him endow,
6980Exalted from so base original,
6981With heavenly spoils, our spoils: What he decreed,
6982He effected; Man he made, and for him built
6983Magnificent this world, and earth his seat,
6984Him lord pronounced; and, O indignity!
6985Subjected to his service angel-wings,
6986And flaming ministers to watch and tend
6987Their earthly charge: Of these the vigilance
6988I dread; and, to elude, thus wrapt in mist
6989Of midnight vapour glide obscure, and pry
6990In every bush and brake, where hap may find
6991The serpent sleeping; in whose mazy folds
6992To hide me, and the dark intent I bring.
6993O foul descent! that I, who erst contended
6994With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained
6995Into a beast; and, mixed with bestial slime,
6996This essence to incarnate and imbrute,
6997That to the highth of Deity aspired!
6998But what will not ambition and revenge
6999Descend to? Who aspires, must down as low
7000As high he soared; obnoxious, first or last,
7001To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet,
7002Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils:
7003Let it; I reck not, so it light well aimed,
7004Since higher I fall short, on him who next
7005Provokes my envy, this new favourite
7006Of Heaven, this man of clay, son of despite,
7007Whom, us the more to spite, his Maker raised
7008From dust: Spite then with spite is best repaid.
7009So saying, through each thicket dank or dry,
7010Like a black mist low-creeping, he held on
7011His midnight-search, where soonest he might find
7012The serpent; him fast-sleeping soon he found
7013In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled,
7014His head the midst, well stored with subtile wiles:
7015Not yet in horrid shade or dismal den,
7016Nor nocent yet; but, on the grassy herb,
7017Fearless unfeared he slept: in at his mouth
7018The Devil entered; and his brutal sense,
7019In heart or head, possessing, soon inspired
7020With act intelligential; but his sleep
7021Disturbed not, waiting close the approach of morn.
7022Now, when as sacred light began to dawn
7023In Eden on the humid flowers, that breathed
7024Their morning incense, when all things, that breathe,
7025From the Earth's great altar send up silent praise
7026To the Creator, and his nostrils fill
7027With grateful smell, forth came the human pair,
7028And joined their vocal worship to the quire
7029Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake
7030The season prime for sweetest scents and airs:
7031Then commune, how that day they best may ply
7032Their growing work: for much their work out-grew
7033The hands' dispatch of two gardening so wide,
7034And Eve first to her husband thus began.
7035Adam, well may we labour still to dress
7036This garden, still to tend plant, herb, and flower,
7037Our pleasant task enjoined; but, till more hands
7038Aid us, the work under our labour grows,
7039Luxurious by restraint; what we by day
7040Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind,
7041One night or two with wanton growth derides
7042Tending to wild. Thou therefore now advise,
7043Or bear what to my mind first thoughts present:
7044Let us divide our labours; thou, where choice
7045Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind
7046The woodbine round this arbour, or direct
7047The clasping ivy where to climb; while I,
7048In yonder spring of roses intermixed
7049With myrtle, find what to redress till noon:
7050For, while so near each other thus all day
7051Our task we choose, what wonder if so near
7052Looks intervene and smiles, or object new
7053Casual discourse draw on; which intermits
7054Our day's work, brought to little, though begun
7055Early, and the hour of supper comes unearned?
7056To whom mild answer Adam thus returned.
7057Sole Eve, associate sole, to me beyond
7058Compare above all living creatures dear!
7059Well hast thou motioned, well thy thoughts employed,
7060How we might best fulfil the work which here
7061God hath assigned us; nor of me shalt pass
7062Unpraised: for nothing lovelier can be found
7063In woman, than to study houshold good,
7064And good works in her husband to promote.
7065Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed
7066Labour, as to debar us when we need
7067Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,
7068Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse
7069Of looks and smiles; for smiles from reason flow,
7070To brute denied, and are of love the food;
7071Love, not the lowest end of human life.
7072For not to irksome toil, but to delight,
7073He made us, and delight to reason joined.
7074These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands
7075Will keep from wilderness with ease, as wide
7076As we need walk, till younger hands ere long
7077Assist us; But, if much converse perhaps
7078Thee satiate, to short absence I could yield:
7079For solitude sometimes is best society,
7080And short retirement urges sweet return.
7081But other doubt possesses me, lest harm
7082Befall thee severed from me; for thou knowest
7083What hath been warned us, what malicious foe
7084Envying our happiness, and of his own
7085Despairing, seeks to work us woe and shame
7086By sly assault; and somewhere nigh at hand
7087Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find
7088His wish and best advantage, us asunder;
7089Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each
7090To other speedy aid might lend at need:
7091Whether his first design be to withdraw
7092Our fealty from God, or to disturb
7093Conjugal love, than which perhaps no bliss
7094Enjoyed by us excites his envy more;
7095Or this, or worse, leave not the faithful side
7096That gave thee being, still shades thee, and protects.
7097The wife, where danger or dishonour lurks,
7098Safest and seemliest by her husband stays,
7099Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.
7100To whom the virgin majesty of Eve,
7101As one who loves, and some unkindness meets,
7102With sweet austere composure thus replied.
7103Offspring of Heaven and Earth, and all Earth's Lord!
7104That such an enemy we have, who seeks
7105Our ruin, both by thee informed I learn,
7106And from the parting Angel over-heard,
7107As in a shady nook I stood behind,
7108Just then returned at shut of evening flowers.
7109But, that thou shouldst my firmness therefore doubt
7110To God or thee, because we have a foe
7111May tempt it, I expected not to hear.
7112His violence thou fearest not, being such
7113As we, not capable of death or pain,
7114Can either not receive, or can repel.
7115His fraud is then thy fear; which plain infers
7116Thy equal fear, that my firm faith and love
7117Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced;
7118Thoughts, which how found they harbour in thy breast,
7119Adam, mis-thought of her to thee so dear?
7120To whom with healing words Adam replied.
7121Daughter of God and Man, immortal Eve!
7122For such thou art; from sin and blame entire:
7123Not diffident of thee do I dissuade
7124Thy absence from my sight, but to avoid
7125The attempt itself, intended by our foe.
7126For he who tempts, though in vain, at least asperses
7127The tempted with dishonour foul; supposed
7128Not incorruptible of faith, not proof
7129Against temptation: Thou thyself with scorn
7130And anger wouldst resent the offered wrong,
7131Though ineffectual found: misdeem not then,
7132If such affront I labour to avert
7133From thee alone, which on us both at once
7134The enemy, though bold, will hardly dare;
7135Or daring, first on me the assault shall light.
7136Nor thou his malice and false guile contemn;
7137Subtle he needs must be, who could seduce
7138Angels; nor think superfluous other's aid.
7139I, from the influence of thy looks, receive
7140Access in every virtue; in thy sight
7141More wise, more watchful, stronger, if need were
7142Of outward strength; while shame, thou looking on,
7143Shame to be overcome or over-reached,
7144Would utmost vigour raise, and raised unite.
7145Why shouldst not thou like sense within thee feel
7146When I am present, and thy trial choose
7147With me, best witness of thy virtue tried?
7148So spake domestick Adam in his care
7149And matrimonial love; but Eve, who thought
7150Less attributed to her faith sincere,
7151Thus her reply with accent sweet renewed.
7152If this be our condition, thus to dwell
7153In narrow circuit straitened by a foe,
7154Subtle or violent, we not endued
7155Single with like defence, wherever met;
7156How are we happy, still in fear of harm?
7157But harm precedes not sin: only our foe,
7158Tempting, affronts us with his foul esteem
7159Of our integrity: his foul esteem
7160Sticks no dishonour on our front, but turns
7161Foul on himself; then wherefore shunned or feared
7162By us? who rather double honour gain
7163From his surmise proved false; find peace within,
7164Favour from Heaven, our witness, from the event.
7165And what is faith, love, virtue, unassayed
7166Alone, without exteriour help sustained?
7167Let us not then suspect our happy state
7168Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,
7169As not secure to single or combined.
7170Frail is our happiness, if this be so,
7171And Eden were no Eden, thus exposed.
7172To whom thus Adam fervently replied.
7173O Woman, best are all things as the will
7174Of God ordained them: His creating hand
7175Nothing imperfect or deficient left
7176Of all that he created, much less Man,
7177Or aught that might his happy state secure,
7178Secure from outward force; within himself
7179The danger lies, yet lies within his power:
7180Against his will he can receive no harm.
7181But God left free the will; for what obeys
7182Reason, is free; and Reason he made right,
7183But bid her well be ware, and still erect;
7184Lest, by some fair-appearing good surprised,
7185She dictate false; and mis-inform the will
7186To do what God expressly hath forbid.
7187Not then mistrust, but tender love, enjoins,
7188That I should mind thee oft; and mind thou me.
7189Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve;
7190Since Reason not impossibly may meet
7191Some specious object by the foe suborned,
7192And fall into deception unaware,
7193Not keeping strictest watch, as she was warned.
7194Seek not temptation then, which to avoid
7195Were better, and most likely if from me
7196Thou sever not: Trial will come unsought.
7197Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, approve
7198First thy obedience; the other who can know,
7199Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?
7200But, if thou think, trial unsought may find
7201Us both securer than thus warned thou seemest,
7202Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;
7203Go in thy native innocence, rely
7204On what thou hast of virtue; summon all!
7205For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.
7206So spake the patriarch of mankind; but Eve
7207Persisted; yet submiss, though last, replied.
7208With thy permission then, and thus forewarned
7209Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words
7210Touched only; that our trial, when least sought,
7211May find us both perhaps far less prepared,
7212The willinger I go, nor much expect
7213A foe so proud will first the weaker seek;
7214So bent, the more shall shame him his repulse.
7215Thus saying, from her husband's hand her hand
7216Soft she withdrew; and, like a Wood-Nymph light,
7217Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,
7218Betook her to the groves; but Delia's self
7219In gait surpassed, and Goddess-like deport,
7220Though not as she with bow and quiver armed,
7221But with such gardening tools as Art yet rude,
7222Guiltless of fire, had formed, or Angels brought.
7223To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorned,
7224Likest she seemed, Pomona when she fled
7225Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
7226Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove.
7227Her long with ardent look his eye pursued
7228Delighted, but desiring more her stay.
7229Oft he to her his charge of quick return
7230Repeated; she to him as oft engaged
7231To be returned by noon amid the bower,
7232And all things in best order to invite
7233Noontide repast, or afternoon's repose.
7234O much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve,
7235Of thy presumed return! event perverse!
7236Thou never from that hour in Paradise
7237Foundst either sweet repast, or sound repose;
7238Such ambush, hid among sweet flowers and shades,
7239Waited with hellish rancour imminent
7240To intercept thy way, or send thee back
7241Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss!
7242For now, and since first break of dawn, the Fiend,
7243Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come;
7244And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
7245The only two of mankind, but in them
7246The whole included race, his purposed prey.
7247In bower and field he sought, where any tuft
7248Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,
7249Their tendance, or plantation for delight;
7250By fountain or by shady rivulet
7251He sought them both, but wished his hap might find
7252Eve separate; he wished, but not with hope
7253Of what so seldom chanced; when to his wish,
7254Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,
7255Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,
7256Half spied, so thick the roses blushing round
7257About her glowed, oft stooping to support
7258Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay
7259Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold,
7260Hung drooping unsustained; them she upstays
7261Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while
7262Herself, though fairest unsupported flower,
7263From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
7264Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed
7265Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm;
7266Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen,
7267Among thick-woven arborets, and flowers
7268Imbordered on each bank, the hand of Eve:
7269Spot more delicious than those gardens feigned
7270Or of revived Adonis, or renowned
7271Alcinous, host of old Laertes' son;
7272Or that, not mystick, where the sapient king
7273Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse.
7274Much he the place admired, the person more.
7275As one who long in populous city pent,
7276Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air,
7277Forth issuing on a summer's morn, to breathe
7278Among the pleasant villages and farms
7279Adjoined, from each thing met conceives delight;
7280The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine,
7281Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound;
7282If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pass,
7283What pleasing seemed, for her now pleases more;
7284She most, and in her look sums all delight:
7285Such pleasure took the Serpent to behold
7286This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve
7287Thus early, thus alone: Her heavenly form
7288Angelick, but more soft, and feminine,
7289Her graceful innocence, her every air
7290Of gesture, or least action, overawed
7291His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved
7292His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought:
7293That space the Evil-one abstracted stood
7294From his own evil, and for the time remained
7295Stupidly good; of enmity disarmed,
7296Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge:
7297But the hot Hell that always in him burns,
7298Though in mid Heaven, soon ended his delight,
7299And tortures him now more, the more he sees
7300Of pleasure, not for him ordained: then soon
7301Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts
7302Of mischief, gratulating, thus excites.
7303Thoughts, whither have ye led me! with what sweet
7304Compulsion thus transported, to forget
7305What hither brought us! hate, not love; nor hope
7306Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to taste
7307Of pleasure; but all pleasure to destroy,
7308Save what is in destroying; other joy
7309To me is lost. Then, let me not let pass
7310Occasion which now smiles; behold alone
7311The woman, opportune to all attempts,
7312Her husband, for I view far round, not nigh,
7313Whose higher intellectual more I shun,
7314And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb
7315Heroick built, though of terrestrial mould;
7316Foe not informidable! exempt from wound,
7317I not; so much hath Hell debased, and pain
7318Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heaven.
7319She fair, divinely fair, fit love for Gods!
7320Not terrible, though terrour be in love
7321And beauty, not approached by stronger hate,
7322Hate stronger, under show of love well feigned;
7323The way which to her ruin now I tend.
7324So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed
7325In serpent, inmate bad! and toward Eve
7326Addressed his way: not with indented wave,
7327Prone on the ground, as since; but on his rear,
7328Circular base of rising folds, that towered
7329Fold above fold, a surging maze! his head
7330Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes;
7331With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect
7332Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass
7333Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape
7334And lovely; never since of serpent-kind
7335Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed,
7336Hermione and Cadmus, or the god
7337In Epidaurus; nor to which transformed
7338Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline, was seen;
7339He with Olympias; this with her who bore
7340Scipio, the highth of Rome. With tract oblique
7341At first, as one who sought access, but feared
7342To interrupt, side-long he works his way.
7343As when a ship, by skilful steersmen wrought
7344Nigh river's mouth or foreland, where the wind
7345Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail:
7346So varied he, and of his tortuous train
7347Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve,
7348To lure her eye; she, busied, heard the sound
7349Of rusling leaves, but minded not, as used
7350To such disport before her through the field,
7351From every beast; more duteous at her call,
7352Than at Circean call the herd disguised.
7353He, bolder now, uncalled before her stood,
7354But as in gaze admiring: oft he bowed
7355His turret crest, and sleek enamelled neck,
7356Fawning; and licked the ground whereon she trod.
7357His gentle dumb expression turned at length
7358The eye of Eve to mark his play; he, glad
7359Of her attention gained, with serpent-tongue
7360Organick, or impulse of vocal air,
7361His fraudulent temptation thus began.
7362Wonder not, sovran Mistress, if perhaps
7363Thou canst, who art sole wonder! much less arm
7364Thy looks, the Heaven of mildness, with disdain,
7365Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze
7366Insatiate; I thus single; nor have feared
7367Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.
7368Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair,
7369Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
7370By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore
7371With ravishment beheld! there best beheld,
7372Where universally admired; but here
7373In this enclosure wild, these beasts among,
7374Beholders rude, and shallow to discern
7375Half what in thee is fair, one man except,
7376Who sees thee? and what is one? who should be seen
7377A Goddess among Gods, adored and served
7378By Angels numberless, thy daily train.
7379So glozed the Tempter, and his proem tuned:
7380Into the heart of Eve his words made way,
7381Though at the voice much marvelling; at length,
7382Not unamazed, she thus in answer spake.
7383What may this mean? language of man pronounced
7384By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed?
7385The first, at least, of these I thought denied
7386To beasts; whom God, on their creation-day,
7387Created mute to all articulate sound:
7388The latter I demur; for in their looks
7389Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears.
7390Thee, Serpent, subtlest beast of all the field
7391I knew, but not with human voice endued;
7392Redouble then this miracle, and say,
7393How camest thou speakable of mute, and how
7394To me so friendly grown above the rest
7395Of brutal kind, that daily are in sight?
7396Say, for such wonder claims attention due.
7397To whom the guileful Tempter thus replied.
7398Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve!
7399Easy to me it is to tell thee all
7400What thou commandest; and right thou shouldst be obeyed:
7401I was at first as other beasts that graze
7402The trodden herb, of abject thoughts and low,
7403As was my food; nor aught but food discerned
7404Or sex, and apprehended nothing high:
7405Till, on a day roving the field, I chanced
7406A goodly tree far distant to behold
7407Loaden with fruit of fairest colours mixed,
7408Ruddy and gold: I nearer drew to gaze;
7409When from the boughs a savoury odour blown,
7410Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense
7411Than smell of sweetest fennel, or the teats
7412Of ewe or goat dropping with milk at even,
7413Unsucked of lamb or kid, that tend their play.
7414To satisfy the sharp desire I had
7415Of tasting those fair apples, I resolved
7416Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,
7417Powerful persuaders, quickened at the scent
7418Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen.
7419About the mossy trunk I wound me soon;
7420For, high from ground, the branches would require
7421Thy utmost reach or Adam's: Round the tree
7422All other beasts that saw, with like desire
7423Longing and envying stood, but could not reach.
7424Amid the tree now got, where plenty hung
7425Tempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill
7426I spared not; for, such pleasure till that hour,
7427At feed or fountain, never had I found.
7428Sated at length, ere long I might perceive
7429Strange alteration in me, to degree
7430Of reason in my inward powers; and speech
7431Wanted not long; though to this shape retained.
7432Thenceforth to speculations high or deep
7433I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind
7434Considered all things visible in Heaven,
7435Or Earth, or Middle; all things fair and good:
7436But all that fair and good in thy divine
7437Semblance, and in thy beauty's heavenly ray,
7438United I beheld; no fair to thine
7439Equivalent or second! which compelled
7440Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come
7441And gaze, and worship thee of right declared
7442Sovran of creatures, universal Dame!
7443So talked the spirited sly Snake; and Eve,
7444Yet more amazed, unwary thus replied.
7445Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt
7446The virtue of that fruit, in thee first proved:
7447But say, where grows the tree? from hence how far?
7448For many are the trees of God that grow
7449In Paradise, and various, yet unknown
7450To us; in such abundance lies our choice,
7451As leaves a greater store of fruit untouched,
7452Still hanging incorruptible, till men
7453Grow up to their provision, and more hands
7454Help to disburden Nature of her birth.
7455To whom the wily Adder, blithe and glad.
7456Empress, the way is ready, and not long;
7457Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat,
7458Fast by a fountain, one small thicket past
7459Of blowing myrrh and balm: if thou accept
7460My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon
7461Lead then, said Eve. He, leading, swiftly rolled
7462In tangles, and made intricate seem straight,
7463To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy
7464Brightens his crest; as when a wandering fire,
7465Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night
7466Condenses, and the cold environs round,
7467Kindled through agitation to a flame,
7468Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attends,
7469Hovering and blazing with delusive light,
7470Misleads the amazed night-wanderer from his way
7471To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool;
7472There swallowed up and lost, from succour far.
7473So glistered the dire Snake, and into fraud
7474Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the tree
7475Of prohibition, root of all our woe;
7476Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
7477Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither,
7478Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,
7479The credit of whose virtue rest with thee;
7480Wonderous indeed, if cause of such effects.
7481But of this tree we may not taste nor touch;
7482God so commanded, and left that command
7483Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live
7484Law to ourselves; our reason is our law.
7485To whom the Tempter guilefully replied.
7486Indeed! hath God then said that of the fruit
7487Of all these garden-trees ye shall not eat,
7488Yet Lords declared of all in earth or air?
7489To whom thus Eve, yet sinless. Of the fruit
7490Of each tree in the garden we may eat;
7491But of the fruit of this fair tree amidst
7492The garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
7493Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
7494She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold
7495The Tempter, but with show of zeal and love
7496To Man, and indignation at his wrong,
7497New part puts on; and, as to passion moved,
7498Fluctuates disturbed, yet comely and in act
7499Raised, as of some great matter to begin.
7500As when of old some orator renowned,
7501In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence
7502Flourished, since mute! to some great cause addressed,
7503Stood in himself collected; while each part,
7504Motion, each act, won audience ere the tongue;
7505Sometimes in highth began, as no delay
7506Of preface brooking, through his zeal of right:
7507So standing, moving, or to highth up grown,
7508The Tempter, all impassioned, thus began.
7509O sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving Plant,
7510Mother of science! now I feel thy power
7511Within me clear; not only to discern
7512Things in their causes, but to trace the ways
7513Of highest agents, deemed however wise.
7514Queen of this universe! do not believe
7515Those rigid threats of death: ye shall not die:
7516How should you? by the fruit? it gives you life
7517To knowledge; by the threatener? look on me,
7518Me, who have touched and tasted; yet both live,
7519And life more perfect have attained than Fate
7520Meant me, by venturing higher than my lot.
7521Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast
7522Is open? or will God incense his ire
7523For such a petty trespass? and not praise
7524Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain
7525Of death denounced, whatever thing death be,
7526Deterred not from achieving what might lead
7527To happier life, knowledge of good and evil;
7528Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evil
7529Be real, why not known, since easier shunned?
7530God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
7531Not just, not God; not feared then, nor obeyed:
7532Your fear itself of death removes the fear.
7533Why then was this forbid? Why, but to awe;
7534Why, but to keep ye low and ignorant,
7535His worshippers? He knows that in the day
7536Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,
7537Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
7538Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as Gods,
7539Knowing both good and evil, as they know.
7540That ye shall be as Gods, since I as Man,
7541Internal Man, is but proportion meet;
7542I, of brute, human; ye, of human, Gods.
7543So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
7544Human, to put on Gods; death to be wished,
7545Though threatened, which no worse than this can bring.
7546And what are Gods, that Man may not become
7547As they, participating God-like food?
7548The Gods are first, and that advantage use
7549On our belief, that all from them proceeds:
7550I question it; for this fair earth I see,
7551Warmed by the sun, producing every kind;
7552Them, nothing: if they all things, who enclosed
7553Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
7554That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains
7555Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
7556The offence, that Man should thus attain to know?
7557What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
7558Impart against his will, if all be his?
7559Or is it envy? and can envy dwell
7560In heavenly breasts? These, these, and many more
7561Causes import your need of this fair fruit.
7562Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste!
7563He ended; and his words, replete with guile,
7564Into her heart too easy entrance won:
7565Fixed on the fruit she gazed, which to behold
7566Might tempt alone; and in her ears the sound
7567Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregned
7568With reason, to her seeming, and with truth:
7569Mean while the hour of noon drew on, and waked
7570An eager appetite, raised by the smell
7571So savoury of that fruit, which with desire,
7572Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,
7573Solicited her longing eye; yet first
7574Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused.
7575Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits,
7576Though kept from man, and worthy to be admired;
7577Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assay
7578Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
7579The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise:
7580Thy praise he also, who forbids thy use,
7581Conceals not from us, naming thee the tree
7582Of knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;
7583Forbids us then to taste! but his forbidding
7584Commends thee more, while it infers the good
7585By thee communicated, and our want:
7586For good unknown sure is not had; or, had
7587And yet unknown, is as not had at all.
7588In plain then, what forbids he but to know,
7589Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?
7590Such prohibitions bind not. But, if death
7591Bind us with after-bands, what profits then
7592Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
7593Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die!
7594How dies the Serpent? he hath eaten and lives,
7595And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,
7596Irrational till then. For us alone
7597Was death invented? or to us denied
7598This intellectual food, for beasts reserved?
7599For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first
7600Hath tasted envies not, but brings with joy
7601The good befallen him, author unsuspect,
7602Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
7603What fear I then? rather, what know to fear
7604Under this ignorance of good and evil,
7605Of God or death, of law or penalty?
7606Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,
7607Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
7608Of virtue to make wise: What hinders then
7609To reach, and feed at once both body and mind?
7610So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
7611Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat!
7612Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,
7613Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
7614That all was lost. Back to the thicket slunk
7615The guilty Serpent; and well might; for Eve,
7616Intent now wholly on her taste, nought else
7617Regarded; such delight till then, as seemed,
7618In fruit she never tasted, whether true
7619Or fancied so, through expectation high
7620Of knowledge; not was Godhead from her thought.
7621Greedily she ingorged without restraint,
7622And knew not eating death: Satiate at length,
7623And hightened as with wine, jocund and boon,
7624Thus to herself she pleasingly began.
7625O sovran, virtuous, precious of all trees
7626In Paradise! of operation blest
7627To sapience, hitherto obscured, infamed.
7628And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end
7629Created; but henceforth my early care,
7630Not without song, each morning, and due praise,
7631Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease
7632Of thy full branches offered free to all;
7633Till, dieted by thee, I grow mature
7634In knowledge, as the Gods, who all things know;
7635Though others envy what they cannot give:
7636For, had the gift been theirs, it had not here
7637Thus grown. Experience, next, to thee I owe,
7638Best guide; not following thee, I had remained
7639In ignorance; thou openest wisdom's way,
7640And givest access, though secret she retire.
7641And I perhaps am secret: Heaven is high,
7642High, and remote to see from thence distinct
7643Each thing on Earth; and other care perhaps
7644May have diverted from continual watch
7645Our great Forbidder, safe with all his spies
7646About him. But to Adam in what sort
7647Shall I appear? shall I to him make known
7648As yet my change, and give him to partake
7649Full happiness with me, or rather not,
7650But keeps the odds of knowledge in my power
7651Without copartner? so to add what wants
7652In female sex, the more to draw his love,
7653And render me more equal; and perhaps,
7654A thing not undesirable, sometime
7655Superiour; for, inferiour, who is free
7656This may be well: But what if God have seen,
7657And death ensue? then I shall be no more!
7658And Adam, wedded to another Eve,
7659Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
7660A death to think! Confirmed then I resolve,
7661Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
7662So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
7663I could endure, without him live no life.
7664So saying, from the tree her step she turned;
7665But first low reverence done, as to the Power
7666That dwelt within, whose presence had infused
7667Into the plant sciential sap, derived
7668From nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while,
7669Waiting desirous her return, had wove
7670Of choicest flowers a garland, to adorn
7671Her tresses, and her rural labours crown;
7672As reapers oft are wont their harvest-queen.
7673Great joy he promised to his thoughts, and new
7674Solace in her return, so long delayed:
7675Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill,
7676Misgave him; he the faltering measure felt;
7677And forth to meet her went, the way she took
7678That morn when first they parted: by the tree
7679Of knowledge he must pass; there he her met,
7680Scarce from the tree returning; in her hand
7681A bough of fairest fruit, that downy smiled,
7682New gathered, and ambrosial smell diffused.
7683To him she hasted; in her face excuse
7684Came prologue, and apology too prompt;
7685Which, with bland words at will, she thus addressed.
7686Hast thou not wondered, Adam, at my stay?
7687Thee I have missed, and thought it long, deprived
7688Thy presence; agony of love till now
7689Not felt, nor shall be twice; for never more
7690Mean I to try, what rash untried I sought,
7691The pain of absence from thy sight. But strange
7692Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear:
7693This tree is not, as we are told, a tree
7694Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown
7695Opening the way, but of divine effect
7696To open eyes, and make them Gods who taste;
7697And hath been tasted such: The serpent wise,
7698Or not restrained as we, or not obeying,
7699Hath eaten of the fruit; and is become,
7700Not dead, as we are threatened, but thenceforth
7701Endued with human voice and human sense,
7702Reasoning to admiration; and with me
7703Persuasively hath so prevailed, that I
7704Have also tasted, and have also found
7705The effects to correspond; opener mine eyes,
7706Dim erst, dilated spirits, ampler heart,
7707And growing up to Godhead; which for thee
7708Chiefly I sought, without thee can despise.
7709For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss;
7710Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon.
7711Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot
7712May join us, equal joy, as equal love;
7713Lest, thou not tasting, different degree
7714Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce
7715Deity for thee, when Fate will not permit.
7716Thus Eve with countenance blithe her story told;
7717But in her cheek distemper flushing glowed.
7718On the other side Adam, soon as he heard
7719The fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed,
7720Astonied stood and blank, while horrour chill
7721Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;
7722From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve
7723Down dropt, and all the faded roses shed:
7724Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at length
7725First to himself he inward silence broke.
7726O fairest of Creation, last and best
7727Of all God's works, Creature in whom excelled
7728Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
7729Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
7730How art thou lost! how on a sudden lost,
7731Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote!
7732Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress
7733The strict forbiddance, how to violate
7734The sacred fruit forbidden! Some cursed fraud
7735Of enemy hath beguiled thee, yet unknown,
7736And me with thee hath ruined; for with thee
7737Certain my resolution is to die:
7738How can I live without thee! how forego
7739Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,
7740To live again in these wild woods forlorn!
7741Should God create another Eve, and I
7742Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
7743Would never from my heart: no, no! I feel
7744The link of Nature draw me: flesh of flesh,
7745Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
7746Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
7747So having said, as one from sad dismay
7748Recomforted, and after thoughts disturbed
7749Submitting to what seemed remediless,
7750Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turned.
7751Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve,
7752And peril great provoked, who thus hast dared,
7753Had it been only coveting to eye
7754That sacred fruit, sacred to abstinence,
7755Much more to taste it under ban to touch.
7756But past who can recall, or done undo?
7757Not God Omnipotent, nor Fate; yet so
7758Perhaps thou shalt not die, perhaps the fact
7759Is not so heinous now, foretasted fruit,
7760Profaned first by the serpent, by him first
7761Made common, and unhallowed, ere our taste;
7762Nor yet on him found deadly; yet he lives;
7763Lives, as thou saidst, and gains to live, as Man,
7764Higher degree of life; inducement strong
7765To us, as likely tasting to attain
7766Proportional ascent; which cannot be
7767But to be Gods, or Angels, demi-Gods.
7768Nor can I think that God, Creator wise,
7769Though threatening, will in earnest so destroy
7770Us his prime creatures, dignified so high,
7771Set over all his works; which in our fall,
7772For us created, needs with us must fail,
7773Dependant made; so God shall uncreate,
7774Be frustrate, do, undo, and labour lose;
7775Not well conceived of God, who, though his power
7776Creation could repeat, yet would be loth
7777Us to abolish, lest the Adversary
7778Triumph, and say; "Fickle their state whom God
7779Most favours; who can please him long? Me first
7780He ruined, now Mankind; whom will he next?"
7781Matter of scorn, not to be given the Foe.
7782However I with thee have fixed my lot,
7783Certain to undergo like doom: If death
7784Consort with thee, death is to me as life;
7785So forcible within my heart I feel
7786The bond of Nature draw me to my own;
7787My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
7788Our state cannot be severed; we are one,
7789One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.
7790So Adam; and thus Eve to him replied.
7791O glorious trial of exceeding love,
7792Illustrious evidence, example high!
7793Engaging me to emulate; but, short
7794Of thy perfection, how shall I attain,
7795Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung,
7796And gladly of our union hear thee speak,
7797One heart, one soul in both; whereof good proof
7798This day affords, declaring thee resolved,
7799Rather than death, or aught than death more dread,
7800Shall separate us, linked in love so dear,
7801To undergo with me one guilt, one crime,
7802If any be, of tasting this fair fruit;
7803Whose virtue for of good still good proceeds,
7804Direct, or by occasion, hath presented
7805This happy trial of thy love, which else
7806So eminently never had been known?
7807Were it I thought death menaced would ensue
7808This my attempt, I would sustain alone
7809The worst, and not persuade thee, rather die
7810Deserted, than oblige thee with a fact
7811Pernicious to thy peace; chiefly assured
7812Remarkably so late of thy so true,
7813So faithful, love unequalled: but I feel
7814Far otherwise the event; not death, but life
7815Augmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new joys,
7816Taste so divine, that what of sweet before
7817Hath touched my sense, flat seems to this, and harsh.
7818On my experience, Adam, freely taste,
7819And fear of death deliver to the winds.
7820So saying, she embraced him, and for joy
7821Tenderly wept; much won, that he his love
7822Had so ennobled, as of choice to incur
7823Divine displeasure for her sake, or death.
7824In recompence (for such compliance bad
7825Such recompence best merits) from the bough
7826She gave him of that fair enticing fruit
7827With liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat,
7828Against his better knowledge; not deceived,
7829But fondly overcome with female charm.
7830Earth trembled from her entrails, as again
7831In pangs; and Nature gave a second groan;
7832Sky loured; and, muttering thunder, some sad drops
7833Wept at completing of the mortal sin
7834Original: while Adam took no thought,
7835Eating his fill; nor Eve to iterate
7836Her former trespass feared, the more to sooth
7837Him with her loved society; that now,
7838As with new wine intoxicated both,
7839They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel
7840Divinity within them breeding wings,
7841Wherewith to scorn the earth: But that false fruit
7842Far other operation first displayed,
7843Carnal desire inflaming; he on Eve
7844Began to cast lascivious eyes; she him
7845As wantonly repaid; in lust they burn:
7846Till Adam thus 'gan Eve to dalliance move.
7847Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste,
7848And elegant, of sapience no small part;
7849Since to each meaning savour we apply,
7850And palate call judicious; I the praise
7851Yield thee, so well this day thou hast purveyed.
7852Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstained
7853From this delightful fruit, nor known till now
7854True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be
7855In things to us forbidden, it might be wished,
7856For this one tree had been forbidden ten.
7857But come, so well refreshed, now let us play,
7858As meet is, after such delicious fare;
7859For never did thy beauty, since the day
7860I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorned
7861With all perfections, so inflame my sense
7862With ardour to enjoy thee, fairer now
7863Than ever; bounty of this virtuous tree!
7864So said he, and forbore not glance or toy
7865Of amorous intent; well understood
7866Of Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire.
7867Her hand he seised; and to a shady bank,
7868Thick over-head with verdant roof imbowered,
7869He led her nothing loth; flowers were the couch,
7870Pansies, and violets, and asphodel,
7871And hyacinth; Earth's freshest softest lap.
7872There they their fill of love and love's disport
7873Took largely, of their mutual guilt the seal,
7874The solace of their sin; till dewy sleep
7875Oppressed them, wearied with their amorous play,
7876Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit,
7877That with exhilarating vapour bland
7878About their spirits had played, and inmost powers
7879Made err, was now exhaled; and grosser sleep,
7880Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams
7881Incumbered, now had left them; up they rose
7882As from unrest; and, each the other viewing,
7883Soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds
7884How darkened; innocence, that as a veil
7885Had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone;
7886Just confidence, and native righteousness,
7887And honour, from about them, naked left
7888To guilty Shame; he covered, but his robe
7889Uncovered more. So rose the Danite strong,
7890Herculean Samson, from the harlot-lap
7891Of Philistean Dalilah, and waked
7892Shorn of his strength. They destitute and bare
7893Of all their virtue: Silent, and in face
7894Confounded, long they sat, as strucken mute:
7895Till Adam, though not less than Eve abashed,
7896At length gave utterance to these words constrained.
7897O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear
7898To that false worm, of whomsoever taught
7899To counterfeit Man's voice; true in our fall,
7900False in our promised rising; since our eyes
7901Opened we find indeed, and find we know
7902Both good and evil; good lost, and evil got;
7903Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know;
7904Which leaves us naked thus, of honour void,
7905Of innocence, of faith, of purity,
7906Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained,
7907And in our faces evident the signs
7908Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store;
7909Even shame, the last of evils; of the first
7910Be sure then.--How shall I behold the face
7911Henceforth of God or Angel, erst with joy
7912And rapture so oft beheld? Those heavenly shapes
7913Will dazzle now this earthly with their blaze
7914Insufferably bright. O! might I here
7915In solitude live savage; in some glade
7916Obscured, where highest woods, impenetrable
7917To star or sun-light, spread their umbrage broad
7918And brown as evening: Cover me, ye Pines!
7919Ye Cedars, with innumerable boughs
7920Hide me, where I may never see them more!--
7921But let us now, as in bad plight, devise
7922What best may for the present serve to hide
7923The parts of each from other, that seem most
7924To shame obnoxious, and unseemliest seen;
7925Some tree, whose broad smooth leaves together sewed,
7926And girded on our loins, may cover round
7927Those middle parts; that this new comer, Shame,
7928There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.
7929So counselled he, and both together went
7930Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose
7931The fig-tree; not that kind for fruit renowned,
7932But such as at this day, to Indians known,
7933In Malabar or Decan spreads her arms
7934Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
7935The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
7936About the mother tree, a pillared shade
7937High over-arched, and echoing walks between:
7938There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,
7939Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds
7940At loop-holes cut through thickest shade: Those leaves
7941They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe;
7942And, with what skill they had, together sewed,
7943To gird their waist; vain covering, if to hide
7944Their guilt and dreaded shame! O, how unlike
7945To that first naked glory! Such of late
7946Columbus found the American, so girt
7947With feathered cincture; naked else, and wild
7948Among the trees on isles and woody shores.
7949Thus fenced, and, as they thought, their shame in part
7950Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind,
7951They sat them down to weep; nor only tears
7952Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within
7953Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,
7954Mistrust, suspicion, discord; and shook sore
7955Their inward state of mind, calm region once
7956And full of peace, now tost and turbulent:
7957For Understanding ruled not, and the Will
7958Heard not her lore; both in subjection now
7959To sensual Appetite, who from beneath
7960Usurping over sovran Reason claimed
7961Superiour sway: From thus distempered breast,
7962Adam, estranged in look and altered style,
7963Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewed.
7964Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and staid
7965With me, as I besought thee, when that strange
7966Desire of wandering, this unhappy morn,
7967I know not whence possessed thee; we had then
7968Remained still happy; not, as now, despoiled
7969Of all our good; shamed, naked, miserable!
7970Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve
7971The faith they owe; when earnestly they seek
7972Such proof, conclude, they then begin to fail.
7973To whom, soon moved with touch of blame, thus Eve.
7974What words have passed thy lips, Adam severe!
7975Imputest thou that to my default, or will
7976Of wandering, as thou callest it, which who knows
7977But might as ill have happened thou being by,
7978Or to thyself perhaps? Hadst thou been there,
7979Or here the attempt, thou couldst not have discerned
7980Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake;
7981No ground of enmity between us known,
7982Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm.
7983Was I to have never parted from thy side?
7984As good have grown there still a lifeless rib.
7985Being as I am, why didst not thou, the head,
7986Command me absolutely not to go,
7987Going into such danger, as thou saidst?
7988Too facile then, thou didst not much gainsay;
7989Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dismiss.
7990Hadst thou been firm and fixed in thy dissent,
7991Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with me.
7992To whom, then first incensed, Adam replied.
7993Is this the love, is this the recompence
7994Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve! expressed
7995Immutable, when thou wert lost, not I;
7996Who might have lived, and joyed immortal bliss,
7997Yet willingly chose rather death with thee?
7998And am I now upbraided as the cause
7999Of thy transgressing? Not enough severe,
8000It seems, in thy restraint: What could I more
8001I warned thee, I admonished thee, foretold
8002The danger, and the lurking enemy
8003That lay in wait; beyond this, had been force;
8004And force upon free will hath here no place.
8005But confidence then bore thee on; secure
8006Either to meet no danger, or to find
8007Matter of glorious trial; and perhaps
8008I also erred, in overmuch admiring
8009What seemed in thee so perfect, that I thought
8010No evil durst attempt thee; but I rue
8011The errour now, which is become my crime,
8012And thou the accuser. Thus it shall befall
8013Him, who, to worth in women overtrusting,
8014Lets her will rule: restraint she will not brook;
8015And, left to herself, if evil thence ensue,
8016She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
8017Thus they in mutual accusation spent
8018The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning;
8019And of their vain contest appeared no end.
8020
8021
8022
8023Book X
8024
8025
8026Mean while the heinous and despiteful act
8027Of Satan, done in Paradise; and how
8028He, in the serpent, had perverted Eve,
8029Her husband she, to taste the fatal fruit,
8030Was known in Heaven; for what can 'scape the eye
8031Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart
8032Omniscient? who, in all things wise and just,
8033Hindered not Satan to attempt the mind
8034Of Man, with strength entire and free will armed,
8035Complete to have discovered and repulsed
8036Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.
8037For still they knew, and ought to have still remembered,
8038The high injunction, not to taste that fruit,
8039Whoever tempted; which they not obeying,
8040(Incurred what could they less?) the penalty;
8041And, manifold in sin, deserved to fall.
8042Up into Heaven from Paradise in haste
8043The angelick guards ascended, mute, and sad,
8044For Man; for of his state by this they knew,
8045Much wondering how the subtle Fiend had stolen
8046Entrance unseen. Soon as the unwelcome news
8047From Earth arrived at Heaven-gate, displeased
8048All were who heard; dim sadness did not spare
8049That time celestial visages, yet, mixed
8050With pity, violated not their bliss.
8051About the new-arrived, in multitudes
8052The ethereal people ran, to hear and know
8053How all befel: They towards the throne supreme,
8054Accountable, made haste, to make appear,
8055With righteous plea, their utmost vigilance
8056And easily approved; when the Most High
8057Eternal Father, from his secret cloud,
8058Amidst in thunder uttered thus his voice.
8059Assembled Angels, and ye Powers returned
8060From unsuccessful charge; be not dismayed,
8061Nor troubled at these tidings from the earth,
8062Which your sincerest care could not prevent;
8063Foretold so lately what would come to pass,
8064When first this tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.
8065I told ye then he should prevail, and speed
8066On his bad errand; Man should be seduced,
8067And flattered out of all, believing lies
8068Against his Maker; no decree of mine
8069Concurring to necessitate his fall,
8070Or touch with lightest moment of impulse
8071His free will, to her own inclining left
8072In even scale. But fallen he is; and now
8073What rests, but that the mortal sentence pass
8074On his transgression,--death denounced that day?
8075Which he presumes already vain and void,
8076Because not yet inflicted, as he feared,
8077By some immediate stroke; but soon shall find
8078Forbearance no acquittance, ere day end.
8079Justice shall not return as bounty scorned.
8080But whom send I to judge them? whom but thee,
8081Vicegerent Son? To thee I have transferred
8082All judgement, whether in Heaven, or Earth, or Hell.
8083Easy it may be seen that I intend
8084Mercy colleague with justice, sending thee
8085Man's friend, his Mediator, his designed
8086Both ransom and Redeemer voluntary,
8087And destined Man himself to judge Man fallen.
8088So spake the Father; and, unfolding bright
8089Toward the right hand his glory, on the Son
8090Blazed forth unclouded Deity: He full
8091Resplendent all his Father manifest
8092Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild.
8093Father Eternal, thine is to decree;
8094Mine, both in Heaven and Earth, to do thy will
8095Supreme; that thou in me, thy Son beloved,
8096Mayest ever rest well pleased. I go to judge
8097On earth these thy transgressours; but thou knowest,
8098Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,
8099When time shall be; for so I undertook
8100Before thee; and, not repenting, this obtain
8101Of right, that I may mitigate their doom
8102On me derived; yet I shall temper so
8103Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most
8104Them fully satisfied, and thee appease.
8105Attendance none shall need, nor train, where none
8106Are to behold the judgement, but the judged,
8107Those two; the third best absent is condemned,
8108Convict by flight, and rebel to all law:
8109Conviction to the serpent none belongs.
8110Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose
8111Of high collateral glory: Him Thrones, and Powers,
8112Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant,
8113Accompanied to Heaven-gate; from whence
8114Eden, and all the coast, in prospect lay.
8115Down he descended straight; the speed of Gods
8116Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.
8117Now was the sun in western cadence low
8118From noon, and gentle airs, due at their hour,
8119To fan the earth now waked, and usher in
8120The evening cool; when he, from wrath more cool,
8121Came the mild Judge, and Intercessour both,
8122To sentence Man: The voice of God they heard
8123Now walking in the garden, by soft winds
8124Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard,
8125And from his presence hid themselves among
8126The thickest trees, both man and wife; till God,
8127Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud.
8128Where art thou, Adam, wont with joy to meet
8129My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,
8130Not pleased, thus entertained with solitude,
8131Where obvious duty ere while appeared unsought:
8132Or come I less conspicuous, or what change
8133Absents thee, or what chance detains?--Come forth!
8134He came; and with him Eve, more loth, though first
8135To offend; discountenanced both, and discomposed;
8136Love was not in their looks, either to God,
8137Or to each other; but apparent guilt,
8138And shame, and perturbation, and despair,
8139Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.
8140Whence Adam, faltering long, thus answered brief.
8141I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice
8142Afraid, being naked, hid myself. To whom
8143The gracious Judge without revile replied.
8144My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared,
8145But still rejoiced; how is it now become
8146So dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who
8147Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree,
8148Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?
8149To whom thus Adam sore beset replied.
8150O Heaven! in evil strait this day I stand
8151Before my Judge; either to undergo
8152Myself the total crime, or to accuse
8153My other self, the partner of my life;
8154Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,
8155I should conceal, and not expose to blame
8156By my complaint: but strict necessity
8157Subdues me, and calamitous constraint;
8158Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
8159However insupportable, be all
8160Devolved; though should I hold my peace, yet thou
8161Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.--
8162This Woman, whom thou madest to be my help,
8163And gavest me as thy perfect gift, so good,
8164So fit, so acceptable, so divine,
8165That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
8166And what she did, whatever in itself,
8167Her doing seemed to justify the deed;
8168She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
8169To whom the Sovran Presence thus replied.
8170Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey
8171Before his voice? or was she made thy guide,
8172Superiour, or but equal, that to her
8173Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place
8174Wherein God set thee above her made of thee,
8175And for thee, whose perfection far excelled
8176Hers in all real dignity? Adorned
8177She was indeed, and lovely, to attract
8178Thy love, not thy subjection; and her gifts
8179Were such, as under government well seemed;
8180Unseemly to bear rule; which was thy part
8181And person, hadst thou known thyself aright.
8182So having said, he thus to Eve in few.
8183Say, Woman, what is this which thou hast done?
8184To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelmed,
8185Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge
8186Bold or loquacious, thus abashed replied.
8187The Serpent me beguiled, and I did eat.
8188Which when the Lord God heard, without delay
8189To judgement he proceeded on the accused
8190Serpent, though brute; unable to transfer
8191The guilt on him, who made him instrument
8192Of mischief, and polluted from the end
8193Of his creation; justly then accursed,
8194As vitiated in nature: More to know
8195Concerned not Man, (since he no further knew)
8196Nor altered his offence; yet God at last
8197To Satan first in sin his doom applied,
8198Though in mysterious terms, judged as then best:
8199And on the Serpent thus his curse let fall.
8200Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed
8201Above all cattle, each beast of the field;
8202Upon thy belly groveling thou shalt go,
8203And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.
8204Between thee and the woman I will put
8205Enmity, and between thine and her seed;
8206Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.
8207So spake this oracle, then verified
8208When Jesus, Son of Mary, second Eve,
8209Saw Satan fall, like lightning, down from Heaven,
8210Prince of the air; then, rising from his grave
8211Spoiled Principalities and Powers, triumphed
8212In open show; and, with ascension bright,
8213Captivity led captive through the air,
8214The realm itself of Satan, long usurped;
8215Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;
8216Even he, who now foretold his fatal bruise;
8217And to the Woman thus his sentence turned.
8218Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply
8219By thy conception; children thou shalt bring
8220In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will
8221Thine shall submit; he over thee shall rule.
8222On Adam last thus judgement he pronounced.
8223Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife,
8224And eaten of the tree, concerning which
8225I charged thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof:
8226Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow
8227Shalt eat thereof, all the days of thy life;
8228Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth
8229Unbid; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
8230In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
8231Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
8232Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,
8233For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.
8234So judged he Man, both Judge and Saviour sent;
8235And the instant stroke of death, denounced that day,
8236Removed far off; then, pitying how they stood
8237Before him naked to the air, that now
8238Must suffer change, disdained not to begin
8239Thenceforth the form of servant to assume;
8240As when he washed his servants feet; so now,
8241As father of his family, he clad
8242Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain,
8243Or as the snake with youthful coat repaid;
8244And thought not much to clothe his enemies;
8245Nor he their outward only with the skins
8246Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more.
8247Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness,
8248Arraying, covered from his Father's sight.
8249To him with swift ascent he up returned,
8250Into his blissful bosom reassumed
8251In glory, as of old; to him appeased
8252All, though all-knowing, what had passed with Man
8253Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
8254Mean while, ere thus was sinned and judged on Earth,
8255Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death,
8256In counterview within the gates, that now
8257Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame
8258Far into Chaos, since the Fiend passed through,
8259Sin opening; who thus now to Death began.
8260O Son, why sit we here each other viewing
8261Idly, while Satan, our great author, thrives
8262In other worlds, and happier seat provides
8263For us, his offspring dear? It cannot be
8264But that success attends him; if mishap,
8265Ere this he had returned, with fury driven
8266By his avengers; since no place like this
8267Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.
8268Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,
8269Wings growing, and dominion given me large
8270Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on,
8271Or sympathy, or some connatural force,
8272Powerful at greatest distance to unite,
8273With secret amity, things of like kind,
8274By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade
8275Inseparable, must with me along;
8276For Death from Sin no power can separate.
8277But, lest the difficulty of passing back
8278Stay his return perhaps over this gulf
8279Impassable, impervious; let us try
8280Adventurous work, yet to thy power and mine
8281Not unagreeable, to found a path
8282Over this main from Hell to that new world,
8283Where Satan now prevails; a monument
8284Of merit high to all the infernal host,
8285Easing their passage hence, for intercourse,
8286Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead.
8287Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn
8288By this new-felt attraction and instinct.
8289Whom thus the meager Shadow answered soon.
8290Go, whither Fate, and inclination strong,
8291Leads thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err
8292The way, thou leading; such a scent I draw
8293Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste
8294The savour of death from all things there that live:
8295Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest
8296Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.
8297So saying, with delight he snuffed the smell
8298Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock
8299Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,
8300Against the day of battle, to a field,
8301Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured
8302With scent of living carcasses designed
8303For death, the following day, in bloody fight:
8304So scented the grim Feature, and upturned
8305His nostril wide into the murky air;
8306Sagacious of his quarry from so far.
8307Then both from out Hell-gates, into the waste
8308Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark,
8309Flew diverse; and with power (their power was great)
8310Hovering upon the waters, what they met
8311Solid or slimy, as in raging sea
8312Tost up and down, together crouded drove,
8313From each side shoaling towards the mouth of Hell;
8314As when two polar winds, blowing adverse
8315Upon the Cronian sea, together drive
8316Mountains of ice, that stop the imagined way
8317Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich
8318Cathaian coast. The aggregated soil
8319Death with his mace petrifick, cold and dry,
8320As with a trident, smote; and fixed as firm
8321As Delos, floating once; the rest his look
8322Bound with Gorgonian rigour not to move;
8323And with Asphaltick slime, broad as the gate,
8324Deep to the roots of Hell the gathered beach
8325They fastened, and the mole immense wrought on
8326Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge
8327Of length prodigious, joining to the wall
8328Immoveable of this now fenceless world,
8329Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,
8330Smooth, easy, inoffensive, down to Hell.
8331So, if great things to small may be compared,
8332Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke,
8333From Susa, his Memnonian palace high,
8334Came to the sea: and, over Hellespont
8335Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,
8336And scourged with many a stroke the indignant waves.
8337Now had they brought the work by wonderous art
8338Pontifical, a ridge of pendant rock,
8339Over the vexed abyss, following the track
8340Of Satan to the self-same place where he
8341First lighted from his wing, and landed safe
8342From out of Chaos, to the outside bare
8343Of this round world: With pins of adamant
8344And chains they made all fast, too fast they made
8345And durable! And now in little space
8346The confines met of empyrean Heaven,
8347And of this World; and, on the left hand, Hell
8348With long reach interposed; three several ways
8349In sight, to each of these three places led.
8350And now their way to Earth they had descried,
8351To Paradise first tending; when, behold!
8352Satan, in likeness of an Angel bright,
8353Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering
8354His zenith, while the sun in Aries rose:
8355Disguised he came; but those his children dear
8356Their parent soon discerned, though in disguise.
8357He, after Eve seduced, unminded slunk
8358Into the wood fast by; and, changing shape,
8359To observe the sequel, saw his guileful act
8360By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded
8361Upon her husband; saw their shame that sought
8362Vain covertures; but when he saw descend
8363The Son of God to judge them, terrified
8364He fled; not hoping to escape, but shun
8365The present; fearing, guilty, what his wrath
8366Might suddenly inflict; that past, returned
8367By night, and listening where the hapless pair
8368Sat in their sad discourse, and various plaint,
8369Thence gathered his own doom; which understood
8370Not instant, but of future time, with joy
8371And tidings fraught, to Hell he now returned;
8372And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot
8373Of this new wonderous pontifice, unhoped
8374Met, who to meet him came, his offspring dear.
8375Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight
8376Of that stupendous bridge his joy encreased.
8377Long he admiring stood, till Sin, his fair
8378Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke.
8379O Parent, these are thy magnifick deeds,
8380Thy trophies! which thou viewest as not thine own;
8381Thou art their author, and prime architect:
8382For I no sooner in my heart divined,
8383My heart, which by a secret harmony
8384Still moves with thine, joined in connexion sweet,
8385That thou on earth hadst prospered, which thy looks
8386Now also evidence, but straight I felt,
8387Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt,
8388That I must after thee, with this thy son;
8389Such fatal consequence unites us three!
8390Hell could no longer hold us in our bounds,
8391Nor this unvoyageable gulf obscure
8392Detain from following thy illustrious track.
8393Thou hast achieved our liberty, confined
8394Within Hell-gates till now; thou us impowered
8395To fortify thus far, and overlay,
8396With this portentous bridge, the dark abyss.
8397Thine now is all this world; thy virtue hath won
8398What thy hands builded not; thy wisdom gained
8399With odds what war hath lost, and fully avenged
8400Our foil in Heaven; here thou shalt monarch reign,
8401There didst not; there let him still victor sway,
8402As battle hath adjudged; from this new world
8403Retiring, by his own doom alienated;
8404And henceforth monarchy with thee divide
8405Of all things, parted by the empyreal bounds,
8406His quadrature, from thy orbicular world;
8407Or try thee now more dangerous to his throne.
8408Whom thus the Prince of darkness answered glad.
8409Fair Daughter, and thou Son and Grandchild both;
8410High proof ye now have given to be the race
8411Of Satan (for I glory in the name,
8412Antagonist of Heaven's Almighty King,)
8413Amply have merited of me, of all
8414The infernal empire, that so near Heaven's door
8415Triumphal with triumphal act have met,
8416Mine, with this glorious work; and made one realm,
8417Hell and this world, one realm, one continent
8418Of easy thorough-fare. Therefore, while I
8419Descend through darkness, on your road with ease,
8420To my associate Powers, them to acquaint
8421With these successes, and with them rejoice;
8422You two this way, among these numerous orbs,
8423All yours, right down to Paradise descend;
8424There dwell, and reign in bliss; thence on the earth
8425Dominion exercise and in the air,
8426Chiefly on Man, sole lord of all declared;
8427Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill.
8428My substitutes I send ye, and create
8429Plenipotent on earth, of matchless might
8430Issuing from me: on your joint vigour now
8431My hold of this new kingdom all depends,
8432Through Sin to Death exposed by my exploit.
8433If your joint power prevail, the affairs of Hell
8434No detriment need fear; go, and be strong!
8435So saying he dismissed them; they with speed
8436Their course through thickest constellations held,
8437Spreading their bane; the blasted stars looked wan,
8438And planets, planet-struck, real eclipse
8439Then suffered. The other way Satan went down
8440The causey to Hell-gate: On either side
8441Disparted Chaos overbuilt exclaimed,
8442And with rebounding surge the bars assailed,
8443That scorned his indignation: Through the gate,
8444Wide open and unguarded, Satan passed,
8445And all about found desolate; for those,
8446Appointed to sit there, had left their charge,
8447Flown to the upper world; the rest were all
8448Far to the inland retired, about the walls
8449Of Pandemonium; city and proud seat
8450Of Lucifer, so by allusion called
8451Of that bright star to Satan paragoned;
8452There kept their watch the legions, while the Grand
8453In council sat, solicitous what chance
8454Might intercept their emperour sent; so he
8455Departing gave command, and they observed.
8456As when the Tartar from his Russian foe,
8457By Astracan, over the snowy plains,
8458Retires; or Bactrin Sophi, from the horns
8459Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond
8460The realm of Aladule, in his retreat
8461To Tauris or Casbeen: So these, the late
8462Heaven-banished host, left desart utmost Hell
8463Many a dark league, reduced in careful watch
8464Round their metropolis; and now expecting
8465Each hour their great adventurer, from the search
8466Of foreign worlds: He through the midst unmarked,
8467In show plebeian Angel militant
8468Of lowest order, passed; and from the door
8469Of that Plutonian hall, invisible
8470Ascended his high throne; which, under state
8471Of richest texture spread, at the upper end
8472Was placed in regal lustre. Down a while
8473He sat, and round about him saw unseen:
8474At last, as from a cloud, his fulgent head
8475And shape star-bright appeared, or brighter; clad
8476With what permissive glory since his fall
8477Was left him, or false glitter: All amazed
8478At that so sudden blaze the Stygian throng
8479Bent their aspect, and whom they wished beheld,
8480Their mighty Chief returned: loud was the acclaim:
8481Forth rushed in haste the great consulting peers,
8482Raised from their dark Divan, and with like joy
8483Congratulant approached him; who with hand
8484Silence, and with these words attention, won.
8485Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
8486For in possession such, not only of right,
8487I call ye, and declare ye now; returned
8488Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth
8489Triumphant out of this infernal pit
8490Abominable, accursed, the house of woe,
8491And dungeon of our tyrant: Now possess,
8492As Lords, a spacious world, to our native Heaven
8493Little inferiour, by my adventure hard
8494With peril great achieved. Long were to tell
8495What I have done; what suffered; with what pain
8496Voyaged th' unreal, vast, unbounded deep
8497Of horrible confusion; over which
8498By Sin and Death a broad way now is paved,
8499To expedite your glorious march; but I
8500Toiled out my uncouth passage, forced to ride
8501The untractable abyss, plunged in the womb
8502Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wild;
8503That, jealous of their secrets, fiercely opposed
8504My journey strange, with clamorous uproar
8505Protesting Fate supreme; thence how I found
8506The new created world, which fame in Heaven
8507Long had foretold, a fabrick wonderful
8508Of absolute perfection! therein Man
8509Placed in a Paradise, by our exile
8510Made happy: Him by fraud I have seduced
8511From his Creator; and, the more to encrease
8512Your wonder, with an apple; he, thereat
8513Offended, worth your laughter! hath given up
8514Both his beloved Man, and all his world,
8515To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us,
8516Without our hazard, labour, or alarm;
8517To range in, and to dwell, and over Man
8518To rule, as over all he should have ruled.
8519True is, me also he hath judged, or rather
8520Me not, but the brute serpent in whose shape
8521Man I deceived: that which to me belongs,
8522Is enmity which he will put between
8523Me and mankind; I am to bruise his heel;
8524His seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head:
8525A world who would not purchase with a bruise,
8526Or much more grievous pain?--Ye have the account
8527Of my performance: What remains, ye Gods,
8528But up, and enter now into full bliss?
8529So having said, a while he stood, expecting
8530Their universal shout, and high applause,
8531To fill his ear; when, contrary, he hears
8532On all sides, from innumerable tongues,
8533A dismal universal hiss, the sound
8534Of publick scorn; he wondered, but not long
8535Had leisure, wondering at himself now more,
8536His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare;
8537His arms clung to his ribs; his legs entwining
8538Each other, till supplanted down he fell
8539A monstrous serpent on his belly prone,
8540Reluctant, but in vain; a greater power
8541Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned,
8542According to his doom: he would have spoke,
8543But hiss for hiss returned with forked tongue
8544To forked tongue; for now were all transformed
8545Alike, to serpents all, as accessories
8546To his bold riot: Dreadful was the din
8547Of hissing through the hall, thick swarming now
8548With complicated monsters head and tail,
8549Scorpion, and Asp, and Amphisbaena dire,
8550Cerastes horned, Hydrus, and Elops drear,
8551And Dipsas; (not so thick swarmed once the soil
8552Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the isle
8553Ophiusa,) but still greatest he the midst,
8554Now Dragon grown, larger than whom the sun
8555Ingendered in the Pythian vale or slime,
8556Huge Python, and his power no less he seemed
8557Above the rest still to retain; they all
8558Him followed, issuing forth to the open field,
8559Where all yet left of that revolted rout,
8560Heaven-fallen, in station stood or just array;
8561Sublime with expectation when to see
8562In triumph issuing forth their glorious Chief;
8563They saw, but other sight instead! a croud
8564Of ugly serpents; horrour on them fell,
8565And horrid sympathy; for, what they saw,
8566They felt themselves, now changing; down their arms,
8567Down fell both spear and shield; down they as fast;
8568And the dire hiss renewed, and the dire form
8569Catched, by contagion; like in punishment,
8570As in their crime. Thus was the applause they meant,
8571Turned to exploding hiss, triumph to shame
8572Cast on themselves from their own mouths. There stood
8573A grove hard by, sprung up with this their change,
8574His will who reigns above, to aggravate
8575Their penance, laden with fair fruit, like that
8576Which grew in Paradise, the bait of Eve
8577Used by the Tempter: on that prospect strange
8578Their earnest eyes they fixed, imagining
8579For one forbidden tree a multitude
8580Now risen, to work them further woe or shame;
8581Yet, parched with scalding thirst and hunger fierce,
8582Though to delude them sent, could not abstain;
8583But on they rolled in heaps, and, up the trees
8584Climbing, sat thicker than the snaky locks
8585That curled Megaera: greedily they plucked
8586The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew
8587Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed;
8588This more delusive, not the touch, but taste
8589Deceived; they, fondly thinking to allay
8590Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit
8591Chewed bitter ashes, which the offended taste
8592With spattering noise rejected: oft they assayed,
8593Hunger and thirst constraining; drugged as oft,
8594With hatefullest disrelish writhed their jaws,
8595With soot and cinders filled; so oft they fell
8596Into the same illusion, not as Man
8597Whom they triumphed once lapsed. Thus were they plagued
8598And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hiss,
8599Till their lost shape, permitted, they resumed;
8600Yearly enjoined, some say, to undergo,
8601This annual humbling certain numbered days,
8602To dash their pride, and joy, for Man seduced.
8603However, some tradition they dispersed
8604Among the Heathen, of their purchase got,
8605And fabled how the Serpent, whom they called
8606Ophion, with Eurynome, the wide--
8607Encroaching Eve perhaps, had first the rule
8608Of high Olympus; thence by Saturn driven
8609And Ops, ere yet Dictaean Jove was born.
8610Mean while in Paradise the hellish pair
8611Too soon arrived; Sin, there in power before,
8612Once actual; now in body, and to dwell
8613Habitual habitant; behind her Death,
8614Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet
8615On his pale horse: to whom Sin thus began.
8616Second of Satan sprung, all-conquering Death!
8617What thinkest thou of our empire now, though earned
8618With travel difficult, not better far
8619Than still at Hell's dark threshold to have sat watch,
8620Unnamed, undreaded, and thyself half starved?
8621Whom thus the Sin-born monster answered soon.
8622To me, who with eternal famine pine,
8623Alike is Hell, or Paradise, or Heaven;
8624There best, where most with ravine I may meet;
8625Which here, though plenteous, all too little seems
8626To stuff this maw, this vast unhide-bound corps.
8627To whom the incestuous mother thus replied.
8628Thou therefore on these herbs, and fruits, and flowers,
8629Feed first; on each beast next, and fish, and fowl;
8630No homely morsels! and, whatever thing
8631The sithe of Time mows down, devour unspared;
8632Till I, in Man residing, through the race,
8633His thoughts, his looks, words, actions, all infect;
8634And season him thy last and sweetest prey.
8635This said, they both betook them several ways,
8636Both to destroy, or unimmortal make
8637All kinds, and for destruction to mature
8638Sooner or later; which the Almighty seeing,
8639From his transcendent seat the Saints among,
8640To those bright Orders uttered thus his voice.
8641See, with what heat these dogs of Hell advance
8642To waste and havock yonder world, which I
8643So fair and good created; and had still
8644Kept in that state, had not the folly of Man
8645Let in these wasteful furies, who impute
8646Folly to me; so doth the Prince of Hell
8647And his adherents, that with so much ease
8648I suffer them to enter and possess
8649A place so heavenly; and, conniving, seem
8650To gratify my scornful enemies,
8651That laugh, as if, transported with some fit
8652Of passion, I to them had quitted all,
8653At random yielded up to their misrule;
8654And know not that I called, and drew them thither,
8655My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and filth
8656Which Man's polluting sin with taint hath shed
8657On what was pure; til, crammed and gorged, nigh burst
8658With sucked and glutted offal, at one sling
8659Of thy victorious arm, well-pleasing Son,
8660Both Sin, and Death, and yawning Grave, at last,
8661Through Chaos hurled, obstruct the mouth of Hell
8662For ever, and seal up his ravenous jaws.
8663Then Heaven and Earth renewed shall be made pure
8664To sanctity, that shall receive no stain:
8665Till then, the curse pronounced on both precedes.
8666He ended, and the heavenly audience loud
8667Sung Halleluiah, as the sound of seas,
8668Through multitude that sung: Just are thy ways,
8669Righteous are thy decrees on all thy works;
8670Who can extenuate thee? Next, to the Son,
8671Destined Restorer of mankind, by whom
8672New Heaven and Earth shall to the ages rise,
8673Or down from Heaven descend.--Such was their song;
8674While the Creator, calling forth by name
8675His mighty Angels, gave them several charge,
8676As sorted best with present things. The sun
8677Had first his precept so to move, so shine,
8678As might affect the earth with cold and heat
8679Scarce tolerable; and from the north to call
8680Decrepit winter; from the south to bring
8681Solstitial summer's heat. To the blanc moon
8682Her office they prescribed; to the other five
8683Their planetary motions, and aspects,
8684In sextile, square, and trine, and opposite,
8685Of noxious efficacy, and when to join
8686In synod unbenign; and taught the fixed
8687Their influence malignant when to shower,
8688Which of them rising with the sun, or falling,
8689Should prove tempestuous: To the winds they set
8690Their corners, when with bluster to confound
8691Sea, air, and shore; the thunder when to roll
8692With terrour through the dark aereal hall.
8693Some say, he bid his Angels turn ascanse
8694The poles of earth, twice ten degrees and more,
8695From the sun's axle; they with labour pushed
8696Oblique the centrick globe: Some say, the sun
8697Was bid turn reins from the equinoctial road
8698Like distant breadth to Taurus with the seven
8699Atlantick Sisters, and the Spartan Twins,
8700Up to the Tropick Crab: thence down amain
8701By Leo, and the Virgin, and the Scales,
8702As deep as Capricorn; to bring in change
8703Of seasons to each clime; else had the spring
8704Perpetual smiled on earth with vernant flowers,
8705Equal in days and nights, except to those
8706Beyond the polar circles; to them day
8707Had unbenighted shone, while the low sun,
8708To recompense his distance, in their sight
8709Had rounded still the horizon, and not known
8710Or east or west; which had forbid the snow
8711From cold Estotiland, and south as far
8712Beneath Magellan. At that tasted fruit
8713The sun, as from Thyestean banquet, turned
8714His course intended; else, how had the world
8715Inhabited, though sinless, more than now,
8716Avoided pinching cold and scorching heat?
8717These changes in the Heavens, though slow, produced
8718Like change on sea and land; sideral blast,
8719Vapour, and mist, and exhalation hot,
8720Corrupt and pestilent: Now from the north
8721Of Norumbega, and the Samoed shore,
8722Bursting their brazen dungeon, armed with ice,
8723And snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw,
8724Boreas, and Caecias, and Argestes loud,
8725And Thrascias, rend the woods, and seas upturn;
8726With adverse blast upturns them from the south
8727Notus, and Afer black with thunderous clouds
8728From Serraliona; thwart of these, as fierce,
8729Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds,
8730Eurus and Zephyr, with their lateral noise,
8731Sirocco and Libecchio. Thus began
8732Outrage from lifeless things; but Discord first,
8733Daughter of Sin, among the irrational
8734Death introduced, through fierce antipathy:
8735Beast now with beast 'gan war, and fowl with fowl,
8736And fish with fish; to graze the herb all leaving,
8737Devoured each other; nor stood much in awe
8738Of Man, but fled him; or, with countenance grim,
8739Glared on him passing. These were from without
8740The growing miseries, which Adam saw
8741Already in part, though hid in gloomiest shade,
8742To sorrow abandoned, but worse felt within;
8743And, in a troubled sea of passion tost,
8744Thus to disburden sought with sad complaint.
8745O miserable of happy! Is this the end
8746Of this new glorious world, and me so late
8747The glory of that glory, who now become
8748Accursed, of blessed? hide me from the face
8749Of God, whom to behold was then my highth
8750Of happiness!--Yet well, if here would end
8751The misery; I deserved it, and would bear
8752My own deservings; but this will not serve:
8753All that I eat or drink, or shall beget,
8754Is propagated curse. O voice, once heard
8755Delightfully, Encrease and multiply;
8756Now death to hear! for what can I encrease,
8757Or multiply, but curses on my head?
8758Who of all ages to succeed, but, feeling
8759The evil on him brought by me, will curse
8760My head? Ill fare our ancestor impure,
8761For this we may thank Adam! but his thanks
8762Shall be the execration: so, besides
8763Mine own that bide upon me, all from me
8764Shall with a fierce reflux on me rebound;
8765On me, as on their natural center, light
8766Heavy, though in their place. O fleeting joys
8767Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes!
8768Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
8769To mould me Man? did I solicit thee
8770From darkness to promote me, or here place
8771In this delicious garden? As my will
8772Concurred not to my being, it were but right
8773And equal to reduce me to my dust;
8774Desirous to resign and render back
8775All I received; unable to perform
8776Thy terms too hard, by which I was to hold
8777The good I sought not. To the loss of that,
8778Sufficient penalty, why hast thou added
8779The sense of endless woes? Inexplicable
8780Thy justice seems; yet to say truth, too late
8781I thus contest; then should have been refused
8782Those terms whatever, when they were proposed:
8783Thou didst accept them; wilt thou enjoy the good,
8784Then cavil the conditions? And, though God
8785Made thee without thy leave, what if thy son
8786Prove disobedient, and reproved, retort,
8787"Wherefore didst thou beget me? I sought it not!"
8788Wouldst thou admit for his contempt of thee
8789That proud excuse? yet him not thy election,
8790But natural necessity begot.
8791God made thee of choice his own, and of his own
8792To serve him; thy reward was of his grace;
8793Thy punishment then, justly is at his will.
8794Be it so, for I submit; his doom is fair,
8795That dust I am, and shall to dust return.
8796O welcome hour whenever! Why delays
8797His hand to execute what his decree
8798Fixed on this day? Why do I overlive,
8799Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out
8800To deathless pain? How gladly would I meet
8801Mortality my sentence, and be earth
8802Insensible! How glad would lay me down
8803As in my mother's lap! There I should rest,
8804And sleep secure; his dreadful voice no more
8805Would thunder in my ears; no fear of worse
8806To me, and to my offspring, would torment me
8807With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt
8808Pursues me still, lest all I cannot die;
8809Lest that pure breath of life, the spirit of Man
8810Which God inspired, cannot together perish
8811With this corporeal clod; then, in the grave,
8812Or in some other dismal place, who knows
8813But I shall die a living death? O thought
8814Horrid, if true! Yet why? It was but breath
8815Of life that sinned; what dies but what had life
8816And sin? The body properly had neither,
8817All of me then shall die: let this appease
8818The doubt, since human reach no further knows.
8819For though the Lord of all be infinite,
8820Is his wrath also? Be it, Man is not so,
8821But mortal doomed. How can he exercise
8822Wrath without end on Man, whom death must end?
8823Can he make deathless death? That were to make
8824Strange contradiction, which to God himself
8825Impossible is held; as argument
8826Of weakness, not of power. Will he draw out,
8827For anger's sake, finite to infinite,
8828In punished Man, to satisfy his rigour,
8829Satisfied never? That were to extend
8830His sentence beyond dust and Nature's law;
8831By which all causes else, according still
8832To the reception of their matter, act;
8833Not to the extent of their own sphere. But say
8834That death be not one stroke, as I supposed,
8835Bereaving sense, but endless misery
8836From this day onward; which I feel begun
8837Both in me, and without me; and so last
8838To perpetuity;--Ay me! that fear
8839Comes thundering back with dreadful revolution
8840On my defenceless head; both Death and I
8841Am found eternal, and incorporate both;
8842Nor I on my part single; in me all
8843Posterity stands cursed: Fair patrimony
8844That I must leave ye, Sons! O, were I able
8845To waste it all myself, and leave ye none!
8846So disinherited, how would you bless
8847Me, now your curse! Ah, why should all mankind,
8848For one man's fault, thus guiltless be condemned,
8849It guiltless? But from me what can proceed,
8850But all corrupt; both mind and will depraved
8851Not to do only, but to will the same
8852With me? How can they then acquitted stand
8853In sight of God? Him, after all disputes,
8854Forced I absolve: all my evasions vain,
8855And reasonings, though through mazes, lead me still
8856But to my own conviction: first and last
8857On me, me only, as the source and spring
8858Of all corruption, all the blame lights due;
8859So might the wrath! Fond wish! couldst thou support
8860That burden, heavier than the earth to bear;
8861Than all the world much heavier, though divided
8862With that bad Woman? Thus, what thou desirest,
8863And what thou fearest, alike destroys all hope
8864Of refuge, and concludes thee miserable
8865Beyond all past example and future;
8866To Satan only like both crime and doom.
8867O Conscience! into what abyss of fears
8868And horrours hast thou driven me; out of which
8869I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!
8870Thus Adam to himself lamented loud,
8871Through the still night; not now, as ere Man fell,
8872Wholesome, and cool, and mild, but with black air
8873Accompanied; with damps, and dreadful gloom;
8874Which to his evil conscience represented
8875All things with double terrour: On the ground
8876Outstretched he lay, on the cold ground; and oft
8877Cursed his creation; Death as oft accused
8878Of tardy execution, since denounced
8879The day of his offence. Why comes not Death,
8880Said he, with one thrice-acceptable stroke
8881To end me? Shall Truth fail to keep her word,
8882Justice Divine not hasten to be just?
8883But Death comes not at call; Justice Divine
8884Mends not her slowest pace for prayers or cries,
8885O woods, O fountains, hillocks, dales, and bowers!
8886With other echo late I taught your shades
8887To answer, and resound far other song.--
8888Whom thus afflicted when sad Eve beheld,
8889Desolate where she sat, approaching nigh,
8890Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed:
8891But her with stern regard he thus repelled.
8892Out of my sight, thou Serpent! That name best
8893Befits thee with him leagued, thyself as false
8894And hateful; nothing wants, but that thy shape,
8895Like his, and colour serpentine, may show
8896Thy inward fraud; to warn all creatures from thee
8897Henceforth; lest that too heavenly form, pretended
8898To hellish falshood, snare them! But for thee
8899I had persisted happy; had not thy pride
8900And wandering vanity, when least was safe,
8901Rejected my forewarning, and disdained
8902Not to be trusted; longing to be seen,
8903Though by the Devil himself; him overweening
8904To over-reach; but, with the serpent meeting,
8905Fooled and beguiled; by him thou, I by thee
8906To trust thee from my side; imagined wise,
8907Constant, mature, proof against all assaults;
8908And understood not all was but a show,
8909Rather than solid virtue; all but a rib
8910Crooked by nature, bent, as now appears,
8911More to the part sinister, from me drawn;
8912Well if thrown out, as supernumerary
8913To my just number found. O! why did God,
8914Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven
8915With Spirits masculine, create at last
8916This novelty on earth, this fair defect
8917Of nature, and not fill the world at once
8918With Men, as Angels, without feminine;
8919Or find some other way to generate
8920Mankind? This mischief had not been befallen,
8921And more that shall befall; innumerable
8922Disturbances on earth through female snares,
8923And strait conjunction with this sex: for either
8924He never shall find out fit mate, but such
8925As some misfortune brings him, or mistake;
8926Or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain
8927Through her perverseness, but shall see her gained
8928By a far worse; or, if she love, withheld
8929By parents; or his happiest choice too late
8930Shall meet, already linked and wedlock-bound
8931To a fell adversary, his hate or shame:
8932Which infinite calamity shall cause
8933To human life, and houshold peace confound.
8934He added not, and from her turned; but Eve,
8935Not so repulsed, with tears that ceased not flowing
8936And tresses all disordered, at his feet
8937Fell humble; and, embracing them, besought
8938His peace, and thus proceeded in her plaint.
8939Forsake me not thus, Adam! witness Heaven
8940What love sincere, and reverence in my heart
8941I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,
8942Unhappily deceived! Thy suppliant
8943I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not,
8944Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid,
8945Thy counsel, in this uttermost distress,
8946My only strength and stay: Forlorn of thee,
8947Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?
8948While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,
8949Between us two let there be peace; both joining,
8950As joined in injuries, one enmity
8951Against a foe by doom express assigned us,
8952That cruel Serpent: On me exercise not
8953Thy hatred for this misery befallen;
8954On me already lost, me than thyself
8955More miserable! Both have sinned; but thou
8956Against God only; I against God and thee;
8957And to the place of judgement will return,
8958There with my cries importune Heaven; that all
8959The sentence, from thy head removed, may light
8960On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe;
8961Me, me only, just object of his ire!
8962She ended weeping; and her lowly plight,
8963Immoveable, till peace obtained from fault
8964Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam wrought
8965Commiseration: Soon his heart relented
8966Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight,
8967Now at his feet submissive in distress;
8968Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking,
8969His counsel, whom she had displeased, his aid:
8970As one disarmed, his anger all he lost,
8971And thus with peaceful words upraised her soon.
8972Unwary, and too desirous, as before,
8973So now of what thou knowest not, who desirest
8974The punishment all on thyself; alas!
8975Bear thine own first, ill able to sustain
8976His full wrath, whose thou feelest as yet least part,
8977And my displeasure bearest so ill. If prayers
8978Could alter high decrees, I to that place
8979Would speed before thee, and be louder heard,
8980That on my head all might be visited;
8981Thy frailty and infirmer sex forgiven,
8982To me committed, and by me exposed.
8983But rise;--let us no more contend, nor blame
8984Each other, blamed enough elsewhere; but strive
8985In offices of love, how we may lighten
8986Each other's burden, in our share of woe;
8987Since this day's death denounced, if aught I see,
8988Will prove no sudden, but a slow-paced evil;
8989A long day's dying, to augment our pain;
8990And to our seed (O hapless seed!) derived.
8991To whom thus Eve, recovering heart, replied.
8992Adam, by sad experiment I know
8993How little weight my words with thee can find,
8994Found so erroneous; thence by just event
8995Found so unfortunate: Nevertheless,
8996Restored by thee, vile as I am, to place
8997Of new acceptance, hopeful to regain
8998Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart
8999Living or dying, from thee I will not hide
9000What thoughts in my unquiet breast are risen,
9001Tending to some relief of our extremes,
9002Or end; though sharp and sad, yet tolerable,
9003As in our evils, and of easier choice.
9004If care of our descent perplex us most,
9005Which must be born to certain woe, devoured
9006By Death at last; and miserable it is
9007To be to others cause of misery,
9008Our own begotten, and of our loins to bring
9009Into this cursed world a woeful race,
9010That after wretched life must be at last
9011Food for so foul a monster; in thy power
9012It lies, yet ere conception to prevent
9013The race unblest, to being yet unbegot.
9014Childless thou art, childless remain: so Death
9015Shall be deceived his glut, and with us two
9016Be forced to satisfy his ravenous maw.
9017But if thou judge it hard and difficult,
9018Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain
9019From love's due rights, nuptial embraces sweet;
9020And with desire to languish without hope,
9021Before the present object languishing
9022With like desire; which would be misery
9023And torment less than none of what we dread;
9024Then, both ourselves and seed at once to free
9025From what we fear for both, let us make short,--
9026Let us seek Death;--or, he not found, supply
9027With our own hands his office on ourselves:
9028Why stand we longer shivering under fears,
9029That show no end but death, and have the power,
9030Of many ways to die the shortest choosing,
9031Destruction with destruction to destroy?--
9032She ended here, or vehement despair
9033Broke off the rest: so much of death her thoughts
9034Had entertained, as dyed her cheeks with pale.
9035But Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed,
9036To better hopes his more attentive mind
9037Labouring had raised; and thus to Eve replied.
9038Eve, thy contempt of life and pleasure seems
9039To argue in thee something more sublime
9040And excellent, than what thy mind contemns;
9041But self-destruction therefore sought, refutes
9042That excellence thought in thee; and implies,
9043Not thy contempt, but anguish and regret
9044For loss of life and pleasure overloved.
9045Or if thou covet death, as utmost end
9046Of misery, so thinking to evade
9047The penalty pronounced; doubt not but God
9048Hath wiselier armed his vengeful ire, than so
9049To be forestalled; much more I fear lest death,
9050So snatched, will not exempt us from the pain
9051We are by doom to pay; rather, such acts
9052Of contumacy will provoke the Highest
9053To make death in us live: Then let us seek
9054Some safer resolution, which methinks
9055I have in view, calling to mind with heed
9056Part of our sentence, that thy seed shall bruise
9057The Serpent's head; piteous amends! unless
9058Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand foe,
9059Satan; who, in the serpent, hath contrived
9060Against us this deceit: To crush his head
9061Would be revenge indeed! which will be lost
9062By death brought on ourselves, or childless days
9063Resolved, as thou proposest; so our foe
9064Shal 'scape his punishment ordained, and we
9065Instead shall double ours upon our heads.
9066No more be mentioned then of violence
9067Against ourselves; and wilful barrenness,
9068That cuts us off from hope; and savours only
9069Rancour and pride, impatience and despite,
9070Reluctance against God and his just yoke
9071Laid on our necks. Remember with what mild
9072And gracious temper he both heard, and judged,
9073Without wrath or reviling; we expected
9074Immediate dissolution, which we thought
9075Was meant by death that day; when lo! to thee
9076Pains only in child-bearing were foretold,
9077And bringing forth; soon recompensed with joy,
9078Fruit of thy womb: On me the curse aslope
9079Glanced on the ground; with labour I must earn
9080My bread; what harm? Idleness had been worse;
9081My labour will sustain me; and, lest cold
9082Or heat should injure us, his timely care
9083Hath, unbesought, provided; and his hands
9084Clothed us unworthy, pitying while he judged;
9085How much more, if we pray him, will his ear
9086Be open, and his heart to pity incline,
9087And teach us further by what means to shun
9088The inclement seasons, rain, ice, hail, and snow!
9089Which now the sky, with various face, begins
9090To show us in this mountain; while the winds
9091Blow moist and keen, shattering the graceful locks
9092Of these fair spreading trees; which bids us seek
9093Some better shroud, some better warmth to cherish
9094Our limbs benummed, ere this diurnal star
9095Leave cold the night, how we his gathered beams
9096Reflected may with matter sere foment;
9097Or, by collision of two bodies, grind
9098The air attrite to fire; as late the clouds
9099Justling, or pushed with winds, rude in their shock,
9100Tine the slant lightning; whose thwart flame, driven down
9101Kindles the gummy bark of fir or pine;
9102And sends a comfortable heat from far,
9103Which might supply the sun: Such fire to use,
9104And what may else be remedy or cure
9105To evils which our own misdeeds have wrought,
9106He will instruct us praying, and of grace
9107Beseeching him; so as we need not fear
9108To pass commodiously this life, sustained
9109By him with many comforts, till we end
9110In dust, our final rest and native home.
9111What better can we do, than, to the place
9112Repairing where he judged us, prostrate fall
9113Before him reverent; and there confess
9114Humbly our faults, and pardon beg; with tears
9115Watering the ground, and with our sighs the air
9116Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign
9117Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.
9118Undoubtedly he will relent, and turn
9119From his displeasure; in whose look serene,
9120When angry most he seemed and most severe,
9121What else but favour, grace, and mercy, shone?
9122So spake our father penitent; nor Eve
9123Felt less remorse: they, forthwith to the place
9124Repairing where he judged them, prostrate fell
9125Before him reverent; and both confessed
9126Humbly their faults, and pardon begged; with tears
9127Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air
9128Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign
9129Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.
9130
9131
9132
9133Book XI
9134
9135
9136Thus they, in lowliest plight, repentant stood
9137Praying; for from the mercy-seat above
9138Prevenient grace descending had removed
9139The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh
9140Regenerate grow instead; that sighs now breathed
9141Unutterable; which the Spirit of prayer
9142Inspired, and winged for Heaven with speedier flight
9143Than loudest oratory: Yet their port
9144Not of mean suitors; nor important less
9145Seemed their petition, than when the ancient pair
9146In fables old, less ancient yet than these,
9147Deucalion and chaste Pyrrha, to restore
9148The race of mankind drowned, before the shrine
9149Of Themis stood devout. To Heaven their prayers
9150Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds
9151Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they passed
9152Dimensionless through heavenly doors; then clad
9153With incense, where the golden altar fumed,
9154By their great intercessour, came in sight
9155Before the Father's throne: them the glad Son
9156Presenting, thus to intercede began.
9157See Father, what first-fruits on earth are sprung
9158From thy implanted grace in Man; these sighs
9159And prayers, which in this golden censer mixed
9160With incense, I thy priest before thee bring;
9161Fruits of more pleasing savour, from thy seed
9162Sown with contrition in his heart, than those
9163Which, his own hand manuring, all the trees
9164Of Paradise could have produced, ere fallen
9165From innocence. Now therefore, bend thine ear
9166To supplication; hear his sighs, though mute;
9167Unskilful with what words to pray, let me
9168Interpret for him; me, his advocate
9169And propitiation; all his works on me,
9170Good, or not good, ingraft; my merit those
9171Shall perfect, and for these my death shall pay.
9172Accept me; and, in me, from these receive
9173The smell of peace toward mankind: let him live
9174Before thee reconciled, at least his days
9175Numbered, though sad; till death, his doom, (which I
9176To mitigate thus plead, not to reverse,)
9177To better life shall yield him: where with me
9178All my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss;
9179Made one with me, as I with thee am one.
9180To whom the Father, without cloud, serene.
9181All thy request for Man, accepted Son,
9182Obtain; all thy request was my decree:
9183But, longer in that Paradise to dwell,
9184The law I gave to Nature him forbids:
9185Those pure immortal elements, that know,
9186No gross, no unharmonious mixture foul,
9187Eject him, tainted now; and purge him off,
9188As a distemper, gross, to air as gross,
9189And mortal food; as may dispose him best
9190For dissolution wrought by sin, that first
9191Distempered all things, and of incorrupt
9192Corrupted. I, at first, with two fair gifts
9193Created him endowed; with happiness,
9194And immortality: that fondly lost,
9195This other served but to eternize woe;
9196Till I provided death: so death becomes
9197His final remedy; and, after life,
9198Tried in sharp tribulation, and refined
9199By faith and faithful works, to second life,
9200Waked in the renovation of the just,
9201Resigns him up with Heaven and Earth renewed.
9202But let us call to synod all the Blest,
9203Through Heaven's wide bounds: from them I will not hide
9204My judgements; how with mankind I proceed,
9205As how with peccant Angels late they saw,
9206And in their state, though firm, stood more confirmed.
9207He ended, and the Son gave signal high
9208To the bright minister that watched; he blew
9209His trumpet, heard in Oreb since perhaps
9210When God descended, and perhaps once more
9211To sound at general doom. The angelick blast
9212Filled all the regions: from their blisful bowers
9213Of amarantine shade, fountain or spring,
9214By the waters of life, where'er they sat
9215In fellowships of joy, the sons of light
9216Hasted, resorting to the summons high;
9217And took their seats; till from his throne supreme
9218The Almighty thus pronounced his sovran will.
9219O Sons, like one of us Man is become
9220To know both good and evil, since his taste
9221Of that defended fruit; but let him boast
9222His knowledge of good lost, and evil got;
9223Happier! had it sufficed him to have known
9224Good by itself, and evil not at all.
9225He sorrows now, repents, and prays contrite,
9226My motions in him; longer than they move,
9227His heart I know, how variable and vain,
9228Self-left. Lest therefore his now bolder hand
9229Reach also of the tree of life, and eat,
9230And live for ever, dream at least to live
9231For ever, to remove him I decree,
9232And send him from the garden forth to till
9233The ground whence he was taken, fitter soil.
9234Michael, this my behest have thou in charge;
9235Take to thee from among the Cherubim
9236Thy choice of flaming warriours, lest the Fiend,
9237Or in behalf of Man, or to invade
9238Vacant possession, some new trouble raise:
9239Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God
9240Without remorse drive out the sinful pair;
9241From hallowed ground the unholy; and denounce
9242To them, and to their progeny, from thence
9243Perpetual banishment. Yet, lest they faint
9244At the sad sentence rigorously urged,
9245(For I behold them softened, and with tears
9246Bewailing their excess,) all terrour hide.
9247If patiently thy bidding they obey,
9248Dismiss them not disconsolate; reveal
9249To Adam what shall come in future days,
9250As I shall thee enlighten; intermix
9251My covenant in the Woman's seed renewed;
9252So send them forth, though sorrowing, yet in peace:
9253And on the east side of the garden place,
9254Where entrance up from Eden easiest climbs,
9255Cherubick watch; and of a sword the flame
9256Wide-waving; all approach far off to fright,
9257And guard all passage to the tree of life:
9258Lest Paradise a receptacle prove
9259To Spirits foul, and all my trees their prey;
9260With whose stolen fruit Man once more to delude.
9261He ceased; and the arch-angelick Power prepared
9262For swift descent; with him the cohort bright
9263Of watchful Cherubim: four faces each
9264Had, like a double Janus; all their shape
9265Spangled with eyes more numerous than those
9266Of Argus, and more wakeful than to drouse,
9267Charmed with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed
9268Of Hermes, or his opiate rod. Mean while,
9269To re-salute the world with sacred light,
9270Leucothea waked; and with fresh dews imbalmed
9271The earth; when Adam and first matron Eve
9272Had ended now their orisons, and found
9273Strength added from above; new hope to spring
9274Out of despair; joy, but with fear yet linked;
9275Which thus to Eve his welcome words renewed.
9276Eve, easily my faith admit, that all
9277The good which we enjoy from Heaven descends;
9278But, that from us aught should ascend to Heaven
9279So prevalent as to concern the mind
9280Of God high-blest, or to incline his will,
9281Hard to belief may seem; yet this will prayer
9282Or one short sigh of human breath, upborne
9283Even to the seat of God. For since I sought
9284By prayer the offended Deity to appease;
9285Kneeled, and before him humbled all my heart;
9286Methought I saw him placable and mild,
9287Bending his ear; persuasion in me grew
9288That I was heard with favour; peace returned
9289Home to my breast, and to my memory
9290His promise, that thy seed shall bruise our foe;
9291Which, then not minded in dismay, yet now
9292Assures me that the bitterness of death
9293Is past, and we shall live. Whence hail to thee,
9294Eve rightly called, mother of all mankind,
9295Mother of all things living, since by thee
9296Man is to live; and all things live for Man.
9297To whom thus Eve with sad demeanour meek.
9298Ill-worthy I such title should belong
9299To me transgressour; who, for thee ordained
9300A help, became thy snare; to me reproach
9301Rather belongs, distrust, and all dispraise:
9302But infinite in pardon was my Judge,
9303That I, who first brought death on all, am graced
9304The source of life; next favourable thou,
9305Who highly thus to entitle me vouchsaf'st,
9306Far other name deserving. But the field
9307To labour calls us, now with sweat imposed,
9308Though after sleepless night; for see! the morn,
9309All unconcerned with our unrest, begins
9310Her rosy progress smiling: let us forth;
9311I never from thy side henceforth to stray,
9312Where'er our day's work lies, though now enjoined
9313Laborious, till day droop; while here we dwell,
9314What can be toilsome in these pleasant walks?
9315Here let us live, though in fallen state, content.
9316So spake, so wished much humbled Eve; but Fate
9317Subscribed not: Nature first gave signs, impressed
9318On bird, beast, air; air suddenly eclipsed,
9319After short blush of morn; nigh in her sight
9320The bird of Jove, stooped from his aery tour,
9321Two birds of gayest plume before him drove;
9322Down from a hill the beast that reigns in woods,
9323First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace,
9324Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind;
9325Direct to the eastern gate was bent their flight.
9326Adam observed, and with his eye the chase
9327Pursuing, not unmoved, to Eve thus spake.
9328O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh,
9329Which Heaven, by these mute signs in Nature, shows
9330Forerunners of his purpose; or to warn
9331Us, haply too secure, of our discharge
9332From penalty, because from death released
9333Some days: how long, and what till then our life,
9334Who knows? or more than this, that we are dust,
9335And thither must return, and be no more?
9336Why else this double object in our sight
9337Of flight pursued in the air, and o'er the ground,
9338One way the self-same hour? why in the east
9339Darkness ere day's mid-course, and morning-light
9340More orient in yon western cloud, that draws
9341O'er the blue firmament a radiant white,
9342And slow descends with something heavenly fraught?
9343He erred not; for by this the heavenly bands
9344Down from a sky of jasper lighted now
9345In Paradise, and on a hill made halt;
9346A glorious apparition, had not doubt
9347And carnal fear that day dimmed Adam's eye.
9348Not that more glorious, when the Angels met
9349Jacob in Mahanaim, where he saw
9350The field pavilioned with his guardians bright;
9351Nor that, which on the flaming mount appeared
9352In Dothan, covered with a camp of fire,
9353Against the Syrian king, who to surprise
9354One man, assassin-like, had levied war,
9355War unproclaimed. The princely Hierarch
9356In their bright stand there left his Powers, to seise
9357Possession of the garden; he alone,
9358To find where Adam sheltered, took his way,
9359Not unperceived of Adam; who to Eve,
9360While the great visitant approached, thus spake.
9361Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps
9362Of us will soon determine, or impose
9363New laws to be observed; for I descry,
9364From yonder blazing cloud that veils the hill,
9365One of the heavenly host; and, by his gait,
9366None of the meanest; some great Potentate
9367Or of the Thrones above; such majesty
9368Invests him coming! yet not terrible,
9369That I should fear; nor sociably mild,
9370As Raphael, that I should much confide;
9371But solemn and sublime; whom not to offend,
9372With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.
9373He ended: and the Arch-Angel soon drew nigh,
9374Not in his shape celestial, but as man
9375Clad to meet man; over his lucid arms
9376A military vest of purple flowed,
9377Livelier than Meliboean, or the grain
9378Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
9379In time of truce; Iris had dipt the woof;
9380His starry helm unbuckled showed him prime
9381In manhood where youth ended; by his side,
9382As in a glistering zodiack, hung the sword,
9383Satan's dire dread; and in his hand the spear.
9384Adam bowed low; he, kingly, from his state
9385Inclined not, but his coming thus declared.
9386Adam, Heaven's high behest no preface needs:
9387Sufficient that thy prayers are heard; and Death,
9388Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress,
9389Defeated of his seisure many days
9390Given thee of grace; wherein thou mayest repent,
9391And one bad act with many deeds well done
9392Mayest cover: Well may then thy Lord, appeased,
9393Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim;
9394But longer in this Paradise to dwell
9395Permits not: to remove thee I am come,
9396And send thee from the garden forth to till
9397The ground whence thou wast taken, fitter soil.
9398He added not; for Adam at the news
9399Heart-struck with chilling gripe of sorrow stood,
9400That all his senses bound; Eve, who unseen
9401Yet all had heard, with audible lament
9402Discovered soon the place of her retire.
9403O unexpected stroke, worse than of Death!
9404Must I thus leave thee Paradise? thus leave
9405Thee, native soil! these happy walks and shades,
9406Fit haunt of Gods? where I had hope to spend,
9407Quiet though sad, the respite of that day
9408That must be mortal to us both. O flowers,
9409That never will in other climate grow,
9410My early visitation, and my last
9411At even, which I bred up with tender hand
9412From the first opening bud, and gave ye names,
9413Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank
9414Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount?
9415Thee lastly, nuptial bower! by me adorned
9416With what to sight or smell was sweet! from thee
9417How shall I part, and whither wander down
9418Into a lower world; to this obscure
9419And wild, how shall we breathe in other air
9420Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits?
9421Whom thus the Angel interrupted mild.
9422Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign
9423What justly thou hast lost, nor set thy heart,
9424Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine:
9425Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
9426Thy husband; whom to follow thou art bound;
9427Where he abides, think there thy native soil.
9428Adam, by this from the cold sudden damp
9429Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned,
9430To Michael thus his humble words addressed.
9431Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or named
9432Of them the highest; for such of shape may seem
9433Prince above princes! gently hast thou told
9434Thy message, which might else in telling wound,
9435And in performing end us; what besides
9436Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair,
9437Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring,
9438Departure from this happy place, our sweet
9439Recess, and only consolation left
9440Familiar to our eyes! all places else
9441Inhospitable appear, and desolate;
9442Nor knowing us, nor known: And, if by prayer
9443Incessant I could hope to change the will
9444Of Him who all things can, I would not cease
9445To weary him with my assiduous cries:
9446But prayer against his absolute decree
9447No more avails than breath against the wind,
9448Blown stifling back on him that breathes it forth:
9449Therefore to his great bidding I submit.
9450This most afflicts me, that, departing hence,
9451As from his face I shall be hid, deprived
9452His blessed countenance: Here I could frequent
9453With worship place by place where he vouchsafed
9454Presence Divine; and to my sons relate,
9455On this mount he appeared; under this tree
9456Stood visible; among these pines his voice
9457I heard; here with him at this fountain talked:
9458So many grateful altars I would rear
9459Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone
9460Of lustre from the brook, in memory,
9461Or monument to ages; and theron
9462Offer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers:
9463In yonder nether world where shall I seek
9464His bright appearances, or foot-step trace?
9465For though I fled him angry, yet recalled
9466To life prolonged and promised race, I now
9467Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts
9468Of glory; and far off his steps adore.
9469To whom thus Michael with regard benign.
9470Adam, thou knowest Heaven his, and all the Earth;
9471Not this rock only; his Omnipresence fills
9472Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives,
9473Fomented by his virtual power and warmed:
9474All the earth he gave thee to possess and rule,
9475No despicable gift; surmise not then
9476His presence to these narrow bounds confined
9477Of Paradise, or Eden: this had been
9478Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread
9479All generations; and had hither come
9480From all the ends of the earth, to celebrate
9481And reverence thee, their great progenitor.
9482But this pre-eminence thou hast lost, brought down
9483To dwell on even ground now with thy sons:
9484Yet doubt not but in valley, and in plain,
9485God is, as here; and will be found alike
9486Present; and of his presence many a sign
9487Still following thee, still compassing thee round
9488With goodness and paternal love, his face
9489Express, and of his steps the track divine.
9490Which that thou mayest believe, and be confirmed
9491Ere thou from hence depart; know, I am sent
9492To show thee what shall come in future days
9493To thee, and to thy offspring: good with bad
9494Expect to hear; supernal grace contending
9495With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn
9496True patience, and to temper joy with fear
9497And pious sorrow; equally inured
9498By moderation either state to bear,
9499Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead
9500Safest thy life, and best prepared endure
9501Thy mortal passage when it comes.--Ascend
9502This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched her eyes)
9503Here sleep below; while thou to foresight wakest;
9504As once thou sleptst, while she to life was formed.
9505To whom thus Adam gratefully replied.
9506Ascend, I follow thee, safe Guide, the path
9507Thou leadest me; and to the hand of Heaven submit,
9508However chastening; to the evil turn
9509My obvious breast; arming to overcome
9510By suffering, and earn rest from labour won,
9511If so I may attain.--So both ascend
9512In the visions of God. It was a hill,
9513Of Paradise the highest; from whose top
9514The hemisphere of earth, in clearest ken,
9515Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect lay.
9516Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round,
9517Whereon, for different cause, the Tempter set
9518Our second Adam, in the wilderness;
9519To show him all Earth's kingdoms, and their glory.
9520His eye might there command wherever stood
9521City of old or modern fame, the seat
9522Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
9523Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,
9524And Samarchand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
9525To Paquin of Sinaean kings; and thence
9526To Agra and Lahor of great Mogul,
9527Down to the golden Chersonese; or where
9528The Persian in Ecbatan sat, or since
9529In Hispahan; or where the Russian Ksar
9530In Mosco; or the Sultan in Bizance,
9531Turchestan-born; nor could his eye not ken
9532The empire of Negus to his utmost port
9533Ercoco, and the less maritim kings
9534Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
9535And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm
9536Of Congo, and Angola farthest south;
9537Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount
9538The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez and Sus,
9539Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen;
9540On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway
9541The world: in spirit perhaps he also saw
9542Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,
9543And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat
9544Of Atabalipa; and yet unspoiled
9545Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons
9546Call El Dorado. But to nobler sights
9547Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed,
9548Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight
9549Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue
9550The visual nerve, for he had much to see;
9551And from the well of life three drops instilled.
9552So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,
9553Even to the inmost seat of mental sight,
9554That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes,
9555Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced;
9556But him the gentle Angel by the hand
9557Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled.
9558Adam, now ope thine eyes; and first behold
9559The effects, which thy original crime hath wrought
9560In some to spring from thee; who never touched
9561The excepted tree; nor with the snake conspired;
9562Nor sinned thy sin; yet from that sin derive
9563Corruption, to bring forth more violent deeds.
9564His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,
9565Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves
9566New reaped; the other part sheep-walks and folds;
9567I' the midst an altar as the land-mark stood,
9568Rustick, of grassy sord; thither anon
9569A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
9570First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf,
9571Unculled, as came to hand; a shepherd next,
9572More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock,
9573Choicest and best; then, sacrificing, laid
9574The inwards and their fat, with incense strowed,
9575On the cleft wood, and all due rights performed:
9576His offering soon propitious fire from Heaven
9577Consumed with nimble glance, and grateful steam;
9578The other's not, for his was not sincere;
9579Whereat he inly raged, and, as they talked,
9580Smote him into the midriff with a stone
9581That beat out life; he fell; and, deadly pale,
9582Groaned out his soul with gushing blood effused.
9583Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
9584Dismayed, and thus in haste to the Angel cried.
9585O Teacher, some great mischief hath befallen
9586To that meek man, who well had sacrificed;
9587Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?
9588To whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied.
9589These two are brethren, Adam, and to come
9590Out of thy loins; the unjust the just hath slain,
9591For envy that his brother's offering found
9592From Heaven acceptance; but the bloody fact
9593Will be avenged; and the other's faith, approved,
9594Lose no reward; though here thou see him die,
9595Rolling in dust and gore. To which our sire.
9596Alas! both for the deed, and for the cause!
9597But have I now seen Death? Is this the way
9598I must return to native dust? O sight
9599Of terrour, foul and ugly to behold,
9600Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!
9601To whom thus Michael. Death thou hast seen
9602In his first shape on Man; but many shapes
9603Of Death, and many are the ways that lead
9604To his grim cave, all dismal; yet to sense
9605More terrible at the entrance, than within.
9606Some, as thou sawest, by violent stroke shall die;
9607By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more
9608In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
9609Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew
9610Before thee shall appear; that thou mayest know
9611What misery the inabstinence of Eve
9612Shall bring on Men. Immediately a place
9613Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark;
9614A lazar-house it seemed; wherein were laid
9615Numbers of all diseased; all maladies
9616Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms
9617Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
9618Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,
9619Intestine stone and ulcer, colick-pangs,
9620Demoniack phrenzy, moaping melancholy,
9621And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
9622Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
9623Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.
9624Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair
9625Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch;
9626And over them triumphant Death his dart
9627Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked
9628With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.
9629Sight so deform what heart of rock could long
9630Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,
9631Though not of woman born; compassion quelled
9632His best of man, and gave him up to tears
9633A space, till firmer thoughts restrained excess;
9634And, scarce recovering words, his plaint renewed.
9635O miserable mankind, to what fall
9636Degraded, to what wretched state reserved!
9637Better end here unborn. Why is life given
9638To be thus wrested from us? rather, why
9639Obtruded on us thus? who, if we knew
9640What we receive, would either no accept
9641Life offered, or soon beg to lay it down;
9642Glad to be so dismissed in peace. Can thus
9643The image of God in Man, created once
9644So goodly and erect, though faulty since,
9645To such unsightly sufferings be debased
9646Under inhuman pains? Why should not Man,
9647Retaining still divine similitude
9648In part, from such deformities be free,
9649And, for his Maker's image sake, exempt?
9650Their Maker's image, answered Michael, then
9651Forsook them, when themselves they vilified
9652To serve ungoverned Appetite; and took
9653His image whom they served, a brutish vice,
9654Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve.
9655Therefore so abject is their punishment,
9656Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own;
9657Or if his likeness, by themselves defaced;
9658While they pervert pure Nature's healthful rules
9659To loathsome sickness; worthily, since they
9660God's image did not reverence in themselves.
9661I yield it just, said Adam, and submit.
9662But is there yet no other way, besides
9663These painful passages, how we may come
9664To death, and mix with our connatural dust?
9665There is, said Michael, if thou well observe
9666The rule of Not too much; by temperance taught,
9667In what thou eatest and drinkest; seeking from thence
9668Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,
9669Till many years over thy head return:
9670So mayest thou live; till, like ripe fruit, thou drop
9671Into thy mother's lap; or be with ease
9672Gathered, nor harshly plucked; for death mature:
9673This is Old Age; but then, thou must outlive
9674Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty; which will change
9675To withered, weak, and gray; thy senses then,
9676Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forego,
9677To what thou hast; and, for the air of youth,
9678Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign
9679A melancholy damp of cold and dry
9680To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume
9681The balm of life. To whom our ancestor.
9682Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong
9683Life much; bent rather, how I may be quit,
9684Fairest and easiest, of this cumbrous charge;
9685Which I must keep till my appointed day
9686Of rendering up, and patiently attend
9687My dissolution. Michael replied.
9688Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest
9689Live well; how long, or short, permit to Heaven:
9690And now prepare thee for another sight.
9691He looked, and saw a spacious plain, whereon
9692Were tents of various hue; by some, were herds
9693Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound
9694Of instruments, that made melodious chime,
9695Was heard, of harp and organ; and, who moved
9696Their stops and chords, was seen; his volant touch,
9697Instinct through all proportions, low and high,
9698Fled and pursued transverse the resonant fugue.
9699In other part stood one who, at the forge
9700Labouring, two massy clods of iron and brass
9701Had melted, (whether found where casual fire
9702Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale,
9703Down to the veins of earth; thence gliding hot
9704To some cave's mouth; or whether washed by stream
9705From underground;) the liquid ore he drained
9706Into fit moulds prepared; from which he formed
9707First his own tools; then, what might else be wrought
9708Fusil or graven in metal. After these,
9709But on the hither side, a different sort
9710From the high neighbouring hills, which was their seat,
9711Down to the plain descended; by their guise
9712Just men they seemed, and all their study bent
9713To worship God aright, and know his works
9714Not hid; nor those things last, which might preserve
9715Freedom and peace to Men; they on the plain
9716Long had not walked, when from the tents, behold!
9717A bevy of fair women, richly gay
9718In gems and wanton dress; to the harp they sung
9719Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on:
9720The men, though grave, eyed them; and let their eyes
9721Rove without rein; till, in the amorous net
9722Fast caught, they liked; and each his liking chose;
9723And now of love they treat, till the evening-star,
9724Love's harbinger, appeared; then, all in heat
9725They light the nuptial torch, and bid invoke
9726Hymen, then first to marriage rites invoked:
9727With feast and musick all the tents resound.
9728Such happy interview, and fair event
9729Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flowers,
9730And charming symphonies, attached the heart
9731Of Adam, soon inclined to admit delight,
9732The bent of nature; which he thus expressed.
9733True opener of mine eyes, prime Angel blest;
9734Much better seems this vision, and more hope
9735Of peaceful days portends, than those two past;
9736Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse;
9737Here Nature seems fulfilled in all her ends.
9738To whom thus Michael. Judge not what is best
9739By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet;
9740Created, as thou art, to nobler end
9741Holy and pure, conformity divine.
9742Those tents thou sawest so pleasant, were the tents
9743Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race
9744Who slew his brother; studious they appear
9745Of arts that polish life, inventers rare;
9746Unmindful of their Maker, though his Spirit
9747Taught them; but they his gifts acknowledged none.
9748Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget;
9749For that fair female troop thou sawest, that seemed
9750Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay,
9751Yet empty of all good wherein consists
9752Woman's domestick honour and chief praise;
9753Bred only and completed to the taste
9754Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance,
9755To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye:
9756To these that sober race of men, whose lives
9757Religious titled them the sons of God,
9758Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame
9759Ignobly, to the trains and to the smiles
9760Of these fair atheists; and now swim in joy,
9761Erelong to swim at large; and laugh, for which
9762The world erelong a world of tears must weep.
9763To whom thus Adam, of short joy bereft.
9764O pity and shame, that they, who to live well
9765Entered so fair, should turn aside to tread
9766Paths indirect, or in the mid way faint!
9767But still I see the tenour of Man's woe
9768Holds on the same, from Woman to begin.
9769From Man's effeminate slackness it begins,
9770Said the Angel, who should better hold his place
9771By wisdom, and superiour gifts received.
9772But now prepare thee for another scene.
9773He looked, and saw wide territory spread
9774Before him, towns, and rural works between;
9775Cities of men with lofty gates and towers,
9776Concourse in arms, fierce faces threatening war,
9777Giants of mighty bone and bold emprise;
9778Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed,
9779Single or in array of battle ranged
9780Both horse and foot, nor idly mustering stood;
9781One way a band select from forage drives
9782A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine,
9783From a fat meadow ground; or fleecy flock,
9784Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain,
9785Their booty; scarce with life the shepherds fly,
9786But call in aid, which makes a bloody fray;
9787With cruel tournament the squadrons join;
9788Where cattle pastured late, now scattered lies
9789With carcasses and arms the ensanguined field,
9790Deserted: Others to a city strong
9791Lay siege, encamped; by battery, scale, and mine,
9792Assaulting; others from the wall defend
9793With dart and javelin, stones, and sulphurous fire;
9794On each hand slaughter, and gigantick deeds.
9795In other part the sceptered heralds call
9796To council, in the city-gates; anon
9797Gray-headed men and grave, with warriours mixed,
9798Assemble, and harangues are heard; but soon,
9799In factious opposition; till at last,
9800Of middle age one rising, eminent
9801In wise deport, spake much of right and wrong,
9802Of justice, or religion, truth, and peace,
9803And judgement from above: him old and young
9804Exploded, and had seized with violent hands,
9805Had not a cloud descending snatched him thence
9806Unseen amid the throng: so violence
9807Proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law,
9808Through all the plain, and refuge none was found.
9809Adam was all in tears, and to his guide
9810Lamenting turned full sad; O! what are these,
9811Death's ministers, not men? who thus deal death
9812Inhumanly to men, and multiply
9813Ten thousandfold the sin of him who slew
9814His brother: for of whom such massacre
9815Make they, but of their brethren; men of men
9816But who was that just man, whom had not Heaven
9817Rescued, had in his righteousness been lost?
9818To whom thus Michael. These are the product
9819Of those ill-mated marriages thou sawest;
9820Where good with bad were matched, who of themselves
9821Abhor to join; and, by imprudence mixed,
9822Produce prodigious births of body or mind.
9823Such were these giants, men of high renown;
9824For in those days might only shall be admired,
9825And valour and heroick virtue called;
9826To overcome in battle, and subdue
9827Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite
9828Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch
9829Of human glory; and for glory done
9830Of triumph, to be styled great conquerours
9831Patrons of mankind, Gods, and sons of Gods;
9832Destroyers rightlier called, and plagues of men.
9833Thus fame shall be achieved, renown on earth;
9834And what most merits fame, in silence hid.
9835But he, the seventh from thee, whom thou beheldst
9836The only righteous in a world preverse,
9837And therefore hated, therefore so beset
9838With foes, for daring single to be just,
9839And utter odious truth, that God would come
9840To judge them with his Saints; him the Most High
9841Rapt in a balmy cloud with winged steeds
9842Did, as thou sawest, receive, to walk with God
9843High in salvation and the climes of bliss,
9844Exempt from death; to show thee what reward
9845Awaits the good; the rest what punishment;
9846Which now direct thine eyes and soon behold.
9847He looked, and saw the face of things quite changed;
9848The brazen throat of war had ceased to roar;
9849All now was turned to jollity and game,
9850To luxury and riot, feast and dance;
9851Marrying or prostituting, as befel,
9852Rape or adultery, where passing fair
9853Allured them; thence from cups to civil broils.
9854At length a reverend sire among them came,
9855And of their doings great dislike declared,
9856And testified against their ways; he oft
9857Frequented their assemblies, whereso met,
9858Triumphs or festivals; and to them preached
9859Conversion and repentance, as to souls
9860In prison, under judgements imminent:
9861But all in vain: which when he saw, he ceased
9862Contending, and removed his tents far off;
9863Then, from the mountain hewing timber tall,
9864Began to build a vessel of huge bulk;
9865Measured by cubit, length, and breadth, and highth;
9866Smeared round with pitch; and in the side a door
9867Contrived; and of provisions laid in large,
9868For man and beast: when lo, a wonder strange!
9869Of every beast, and bird, and insect small,
9870Came sevens, and pairs; and entered in as taught
9871Their order: last the sire and his three sons,
9872With their four wives; and God made fast the door.
9873Mean while the south-wind rose, and, with black wings
9874Wide-hovering, all the clouds together drove
9875From under Heaven; the hills to their supply
9876Vapour, and exhalation dusk and moist,
9877Sent up amain; and now the thickened sky
9878Like a dark ceiling stood; down rushed the rain
9879Impetuous; and continued, till the earth
9880No more was seen: the floating vessel swum
9881Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow
9882Rode tilting o'er the waves; all dwellings else
9883Flood overwhelmed, and them with all their pomp
9884Deep under water rolled; sea covered sea,
9885Sea without shore; and in their palaces,
9886Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped
9887And stabled; of mankind, so numerous late,
9888All left, in one small bottom swum imbarked.
9889How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold
9890The end of all thy offspring, end so sad,
9891Depopulation! Thee another flood,
9892Of tears and sorrow a flood, thee also drowned,
9893And sunk thee as thy sons; till, gently reared
9894By the Angel, on thy feet thou stoodest at last,
9895Though comfortless; as when a father mourns
9896His children, all in view destroyed at once;
9897And scarce to the Angel utter'dst thus thy plaint.
9898O visions ill foreseen! Better had I
9899Lived ignorant of future! so had borne
9900My part of evil only, each day's lot
9901Enough to bear; those now, that were dispensed
9902The burden of many ages, on me light
9903At once, by my foreknowledge gaining birth
9904Abortive, to torment me ere their being,
9905With thought that they must be. Let no man seek
9906Henceforth to be foretold, what shall befall
9907Him or his children; evil he may be sure,
9908Which neither his foreknowing can prevent;
9909And he the future evil shall no less
9910In apprehension than in substance feel,
9911Grievous to bear: but that care now is past,
9912Man is not whom to warn: those few escaped
9913Famine and anguish will at last consume,
9914Wandering that watery desart: I had hope,
9915When violence was ceased, and war on earth,
9916All would have then gone well; peace would have crowned
9917With length of happy days the race of Man;
9918But I was far deceived; for now I see
9919Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.
9920How comes it thus? unfold, celestial Guide,
9921And whether here the race of Man will end.
9922To whom thus Michael. Those, whom last thou sawest
9923In triumph and luxurious wealth, are they
9924First seen in acts of prowess eminent
9925And great exploits, but of true virtue void;
9926Who, having spilt much blood, and done much wast
9927Subduing nations, and achieved thereby
9928Fame in the world, high titles, and rich prey;
9929Shall change their course to pleasure, ease, and sloth,
9930Surfeit, and lust; till wantonness and pride
9931Raise out of friendship hostile deeds in peace.
9932The conquered also, and enslaved by war,
9933Shall, with their freedom lost, all virtue lose
9934And fear of God; from whom their piety feigned
9935In sharp contest of battle found no aid
9936Against invaders; therefore, cooled in zeal,
9937Thenceforth shall practice how to live secure,
9938Worldly or dissolute, on what their lords
9939Shall leave them to enjoy; for the earth shall bear
9940More than enough, that temperance may be tried:
9941So all shall turn degenerate, all depraved;
9942Justice and temperance, truth and faith, forgot;
9943One man except, the only son of light
9944In a dark age, against example good,
9945Against allurement, custom, and a world
9946Offended: fearless of reproach and scorn,
9947Or violence, he of their wicked ways
9948Shall them admonish; and before them set
9949The paths of righteousness, how much more safe
9950And full of peace; denouncing wrath to come
9951On their impenitence; and shall return
9952Of them derided, but of God observed
9953The one just man alive; by his command
9954Shall build a wonderous ark, as thou beheldst,
9955To save himself, and houshold, from amidst
9956A world devote to universal wrack.
9957No sooner he, with them of man and beast
9958Select for life, shall in the ark be lodged,
9959And sheltered round; but all the cataracts
9960Of Heaven set open on the Earth shall pour
9961Rain, day and night; all fountains of the deep,
9962Broke up, shall heave the ocean to usurp
9963Beyond all bounds; till inundation rise
9964Above the highest hills: Then shall this mount
9965Of Paradise by might of waves be moved
9966Out of his place, pushed by the horned flood,
9967With all his verdure spoiled, and trees adrift,
9968Down the great river to the opening gulf,
9969And there take root an island salt and bare,
9970The haunt of seals, and orcs, and sea-mews' clang:
9971To teach thee that God attributes to place
9972No sanctity, if none be thither brought
9973By men who there frequent, or therein dwell.
9974And now, what further shall ensue, behold.
9975He looked, and saw the ark hull on the flood,
9976Which now abated; for the clouds were fled,
9977Driven by a keen north-wind, that, blowing dry,
9978Wrinkled the face of deluge, as decayed;
9979And the clear sun on his wide watery glass
9980Gazed hot, and of the fresh wave largely drew,
9981As after thirst; which made their flowing shrink
9982From standing lake to tripping ebb, that stole
9983With soft foot towards the deep; who now had stopt
9984His sluces, as the Heaven his windows shut.
9985The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground,
9986Fast on the top of some high mountain fixed.
9987And now the tops of hills, as rocks, appear;
9988With clamour thence the rapid currents drive,
9989Towards the retreating sea, their furious tide.
9990Forthwith from out the ark a raven flies,
9991And after him, the surer messenger,
9992A dove sent forth once and again to spy
9993Green tree or ground, whereon his foot may light:
9994The second time returning, in his bill
9995An olive-leaf he brings, pacifick sign:
9996Anon dry ground appears, and from his ark
9997The ancient sire descends, with all his train;
9998Then with uplifted hands, and eyes devout,
 9999Grateful to Heaven, over his head beholds
10000A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow
10001Conspicuous with three lifted colours gay,
10002Betokening peace from God, and covenant new.
10003Whereat the heart of Adam, erst so sad,
10004Greatly rejoiced; and thus his joy broke forth.
10005O thou, who future things canst represent
10006As present, heavenly Instructer! I revive
10007At this last sight; assured that Man shall live,
10008With all the creatures, and their seed preserve.
10009Far less I now lament for one whole world
10010Of wicked sons destroyed, than I rejoice
10011For one man found so perfect, and so just,
10012That God vouchsafes to raise another world
10013From him, and all his anger to forget.
10014But say, what mean those coloured streaks in Heaven
10015Distended, as the brow of God appeased?
10016Or serve they, as a flowery verge, to bind
10017The fluid skirts of that same watery cloud,
10018Lest it again dissolve, and shower the earth?
10019To whom the Arch-Angel. Dextrously thou aimest;
10020So willingly doth God remit his ire,
10021Though late repenting him of Man depraved;
10022Grieved at his heart, when looking down he saw
10023The whole earth filled with violence, and all flesh
10024Corrupting each their way; yet, those removed,
10025Such grace shall one just man find in his sight,
10026That he relents, not to blot out mankind;
10027And makes a covenant never to destroy
10028The earth again by flood; nor let the sea
10029Surpass his bounds; nor rain to drown the world,
10030With man therein or beast; but, when he brings
10031Over the earth a cloud, will therein set
10032His triple-coloured bow, whereon to look,
10033And call to mind his covenant: Day and night,
10034Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary frost,
10035Shall hold their course; till fire purge all things new,
10036Both Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell.
10037
10038
10039
10040Book XII
10041
10042
10043As one who in his journey bates at noon,
10044Though bent on speed; so here the Arch-Angel paused
10045Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored,
10046If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;
10047Then, with transition sweet, new speech resumes.
10048Thus thou hast seen one world begin, and end;
10049And Man, as from a second stock, proceed.
10050Much thou hast yet to see; but I perceive
10051Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine
10052Must needs impair and weary human sense:
10053Henceforth what is to come I will relate;
10054Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.
10055This second source of Men, while yet but few,
10056And while the dread of judgement past remains
10057Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,
10058With some regard to what is just and right
10059Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace;
10060Labouring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,
10061Corn, wine, and oil; and, from the herd or flock,
10062Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,
10063With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred feast,
10064Shall spend their days in joy unblamed; and dwell
10065Long time in peace, by families and tribes,
10066Under paternal rule: till one shall rise
10067Of proud ambitious heart; who, not content
10068With fair equality, fraternal state,
10069Will arrogate dominion undeserved
10070Over his brethren, and quite dispossess
10071Concord and law of nature from the earth;
10072Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)
10073With war, and hostile snare, such as refuse
10074Subjection to his empire tyrannous:
10075A mighty hunter thence he shall be styled
10076Before the Lord; as in despite of Heaven,
10077Or from Heaven, claiming second sovranty;
10078And from rebellion shall derive his name,
10079Though of rebellion others he accuse.
10080He with a crew, whom like ambition joins
10081With him or under him to tyrannize,
10082Marching from Eden towards the west, shall find
10083The plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge
10084Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell:
10085Of brick, and of that stuff, they cast to build
10086A city and tower, whose top may reach to Heaven;
10087And get themselves a name; lest, far dispersed
10088In foreign lands, their memory be lost;
10089Regardless whether good or evil fame.
10090But God, who oft descends to visit men
10091Unseen, and through their habitations walks
10092To mark their doings, them beholding soon,
10093Comes down to see their city, ere the tower
10094Obstruct Heaven-towers, and in derision sets
10095Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase
10096Quite out their native language; and, instead,
10097To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:
10098Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud,
10099Among the builders; each to other calls
10100Not understood; till hoarse, and all in rage,
10101As mocked they storm: great laughter was in Heaven,
10102And looking down, to see the hubbub strange,
10103And hear the din: Thus was the building left
10104Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named.
10105Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased.
10106O execrable son! so to aspire
10107Above his brethren; to himself assuming
10108Authority usurped, from God not given:
10109He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
10110Dominion absolute; that right we hold
10111By his donation; but man over men
10112He made not lord; such title to himself
10113Reserving, human left from human free.
10114But this usurper his encroachment proud
10115Stays not on Man; to God his tower intends
10116Siege and defiance: Wretched man!@what food
10117Will he convey up thither, to sustain
10118Himself and his rash army; where thin air
10119Above the clouds will pine his entrails gross,
10120And famish him of breath, if not of bread?
10121To whom thus Michael. Justly thou abhorrest
10122That son, who on the quiet state of men
10123Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue
10124Rational liberty; yet know withal,
10125Since thy original lapse, true liberty
10126Is lost, which always with right reason dwells
10127Twinned, and from her hath no dividual being:
10128Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,
10129Immediately inordinate desires,
10130And upstart passions, catch the government
10131From reason; and to servitude reduce
10132Man, till then free. Therefore, since he permits
10133Within himself unworthy powers to reign
10134Over free reason, God, in judgement just,
10135Subjects him from without to violent lords;
10136Who oft as undeservedly enthrall
10137His outward freedom: Tyranny must be;
10138Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.
10139Yet sometimes nations will decline so low
10140From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,
10141But justice, and some fatal curse annexed,
10142Deprives them of their outward liberty;
10143Their inward lost: Witness the irreverent son
10144Of him who built the ark; who, for the shame
10145Done to his father, heard this heavy curse,
10146Servant of servants, on his vicious race.
10147Thus will this latter, as the former world,
10148Still tend from bad to worse; till God at last,
10149Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
10150His presence from among them, and avert
10151His holy eyes; resolving from thenceforth
10152To leave them to their own polluted ways;
10153And one peculiar nation to select
10154From all the rest, of whom to be invoked,
10155A nation from one faithful man to spring:
10156Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,
10157Bred up in idol-worship: O, that men
10158(Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,
10159While yet the patriarch lived, who 'scaped the flood,
10160As to forsake the living God, and fall
10161To worship their own work in wood and stone
10162For Gods! Yet him God the Most High vouchsafes
10163To call by vision, from his father's house,
10164His kindred, and false Gods, into a land
10165Which he will show him; and from him will raise
10166A mighty nation; and upon him shower
10167His benediction so, that in his seed
10168All nations shall be blest: he straight obeys;
10169Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes:
10170I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith
10171He leaves his Gods, his friends, and native soil,
10172Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the ford
10173To Haran; after him a cumbrous train
10174Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude;
10175Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth
10176With God, who called him, in a land unknown.
10177Canaan he now attains; I see his tents
10178Pitched about Sechem, and the neighbouring plain
10179Of Moreh; there by promise he receives
10180Gift to his progeny of all that land,
10181From Hameth northward to the Desart south;
10182(Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed;)
10183From Hermon east to the great western Sea;
10184Mount Hermon, yonder sea; each place behold
10185In prospect, as I point them; on the shore
10186Mount Carmel; here, the double-founted stream,
10187Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons
10188Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.
10189This ponder, that all nations of the earth
10190Shall in his seed be blessed: By that seed
10191Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise
10192The Serpent's head; whereof to thee anon
10193Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch blest,
10194Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call,
10195A son, and of his son a grand-child, leaves;
10196Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown:
10197The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs
10198From Canaan to a land hereafter called
10199Egypt, divided by the river Nile
10200See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths
10201Into the sea. To sojourn in that land
10202He comes, invited by a younger son
10203In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds
10204Raise him to be the second in that realm
10205Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his race
10206Growing into a nation, and now grown
10207Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
10208To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
10209Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves
10210Inhospitably, and kills their infant males:
10211Till by two brethren (these two brethren call
10212Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim
10213His people from enthralment, they return,
10214With glory and spoil, back to their promised land.
10215But first, the lawless tyrant, who denies
10216To know their God, or message to regard,
10217Must be compelled by signs and judgements dire;
10218To blood unshed the rivers must be turned;
10219Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill
10220With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land;
10221His cattle must of rot and murren die;
10222Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss,
10223And all his people; thunder mixed with hail,
10224Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptians sky,
10225And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls;
10226What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,
10227A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down
10228Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green;
10229Darkness must overshadow all his bounds,
10230Palpable darkness, and blot out three days;
10231Last, with one midnight stroke, all the first-born
10232Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds
10233The river-dragon tamed at length submits
10234To let his sojourners depart, and oft
10235Humbles his stubborn heart; but still, as ice
10236More hardened after thaw; till, in his rage
10237Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea
10238Swallows him with his host; but them lets pass,
10239As on dry land, between two crystal walls;
10240Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand
10241Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:
10242Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend,
10243Though present in his Angel; who shall go
10244Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire;
10245By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire;
10246To guide them in their journey, and remove
10247Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues:
10248All night he will pursue; but his approach
10249Darkness defends between till morning watch;
10250Then through the fiery pillar, and the cloud,
10251God looking forth will trouble all his host,
10252And craze their chariot-wheels: when by command
10253Moses once more his potent rod extends
10254Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys;
10255On their embattled ranks the waves return,
10256And overwhelm their war: The race elect
10257Safe toward Canaan from the shore advance
10258Through the wild Desart, not the readiest way;
10259Lest, entering on the Canaanite alarmed,
10260War terrify them inexpert, and fear
10261Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather
10262Inglorious life with servitude; for life
10263To noble and ignoble is more sweet
10264Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.
10265This also shall they gain by their delay
10266In the wide wilderness; there they shall found
10267Their government, and their great senate choose
10268Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordained:
10269God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top
10270Shall tremble, he descending, will himself
10271In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets' sound,
10272Ordain them laws; part, such as appertain
10273To civil justice; part, religious rites
10274Of sacrifice; informing them, by types
10275And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise
10276The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve
10277Mankind's deliverance. But the voice of God
10278To mortal ear is dreadful: They beseech
10279That Moses might report to them his will,
10280And terrour cease; he grants what they besought,
10281Instructed that to God is no access
10282Without Mediator, whose high office now
10283Moses in figure bears; to introduce
10284One greater, of whose day he shall foretel,
10285And all the Prophets in their age the times
10286Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus, laws and rites
10287Established, such delight hath God in Men
10288Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes
10289Among them to set up his tabernacle;
10290The Holy One with mortal Men to dwell:
10291By his prescript a sanctuary is framed
10292Of cedar, overlaid with gold; therein
10293An ark, and in the ark his testimony,
10294The records of his covenant; over these
10295A mercy-seat of gold, between the wings
10296Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn
10297Seven lamps as in a zodiack representing
10298The heavenly fires; over the tent a cloud
10299Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night;
10300Save when they journey, and at length they come,
10301Conducted by his Angel, to the land
10302Promised to Abraham and his seed:--The rest
10303Were long to tell; how many battles fought
10304How many kings destroyed; and kingdoms won;
10305Or how the sun shall in mid Heaven stand still
10306A day entire, and night's due course adjourn,
10307Man's voice commanding, "Sun, in Gibeon stand,
10308And thou moon in the vale of Aialon,
10309Till Israel overcome!" so call the third
10310From Abraham, son of Isaac; and from him
10311His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.
10312Here Adam interposed. O sent from Heaven,
10313Enlightener of my darkness, gracious things
10314Thou hast revealed; those chiefly, which concern
10315Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find
10316Mine eyes true-opening, and my heart much eased;
10317Erewhile perplexed with thoughts, what would become
10318Of me and all mankind: But now I see
10319His day, in whom all nations shall be blest;
10320Favour unmerited by me, who sought
10321Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
10322This yet I apprehend not, why to those
10323Among whom God will deign to dwell on earth
10324So many and so various laws are given;
10325So many laws argue so many sins
10326Among them; how can God with such reside?
10327To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but that sin
10328Will reign among them, as of thee begot;
10329And therefore was law given them, to evince
10330Their natural pravity, by stirring up
10331Sin against law to fight: that when they see
10332Law can discover sin, but not remove,
10333Save by those shadowy expiations weak,
10334The blood of bulls and goats, they may conclude
10335Some blood more precious must be paid for Man;
10336Just for unjust; that, in such righteousness
10337To them by faith imputed, they may find
10338Justification towards God, and peace
10339Of conscience; which the law by ceremonies
10340Cannot appease; nor Man the mortal part
10341Perform; and, not performing, cannot live.
10342So law appears imperfect; and but given
10343With purpose to resign them, in full time,
10344Up to a better covenant; disciplined
10345From shadowy types to truth; from flesh to spirit;
10346From imposition of strict laws to free
10347Acceptance of large grace; from servile fear
10348To filial; works of law to works of faith.
10349And therefore shall not Moses, though of God
10350Highly beloved, being but the minister
10351Of law, his people into Canaan lead;
10352But Joshua, whom the Gentiles Jesus call,
10353His name and office bearing, who shall quell
10354The adversary-Serpent, and bring back
10355Through the world's wilderness long-wandered Man
10356Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.
10357Mean while they, in their earthly Canaan placed,
10358Long time shall dwell and prosper, but when sins
10359National interrupt their publick peace,
10360Provoking God to raise them enemies;
10361From whom as oft he saves them penitent
10362By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom
10363The second, both for piety renowned
10364And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive
10365Irrevocable, that his regal throne
10366For ever shall endure; the like shall sing
10367All Prophecy, that of the royal stock
10368Of David (so I name this king) shall rise
10369A Son, the Woman's seed to thee foretold,
10370Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust
10371All nations; and to kings foretold, of kings
10372The last; for of his reign shall be no end.
10373But first, a long succession must ensue;
10374And his next son, for wealth and wisdom famed,
10375The clouded ark of God, till then in tents
10376Wandering, shall in a glorious temple enshrine.
10377Such follow him, as shall be registered
10378Part good, part bad; of bad the longer scroll;
10379Whose foul idolatries, and other faults
10380Heaped to the popular sum, will so incense
10381God, as to leave them, and expose their land,
10382Their city, his temple, and his holy ark,
10383With all his sacred things, a scorn and prey
10384To that proud city, whose high walls thou sawest
10385Left in confusion; Babylon thence called.
10386There in captivity he lets them dwell
10387The space of seventy years; then brings them back,
10388Remembering mercy, and his covenant sworn
10389To David, stablished as the days of Heaven.
10390Returned from Babylon by leave of kings
10391Their lords, whom God disposed, the house of God
10392They first re-edify; and for a while
10393In mean estate live moderate; till, grown
10394In wealth and multitude, factious they grow;
10395But first among the priests dissention springs,
10396Men who attend the altar, and should most
10397Endeavour peace: their strife pollution brings
10398Upon the temple itself: at last they seise
10399The scepter, and regard not David's sons;
10400Then lose it to a stranger, that the true
10401Anointed King Messiah might be born
10402Barred of his right; yet at his birth a star,
10403Unseen before in Heaven, proclaims him come;
10404And guides the eastern sages, who inquire
10405His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold:
10406His place of birth a solemn Angel tells
10407To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;
10408They gladly thither haste, and by a quire
10409Of squadroned Angels hear his carol sung.
10410A virgin is his mother, but his sire
10411The power of the Most High: He shall ascend
10412The throne hereditary, and bound his reign
10413With Earth's wide bounds, his glory with the Heavens.
10414He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy
10415Surcharged, as had like grief been dewed in tears,
10416Without the vent of words; which these he breathed.
10417O prophet of glad tidings, finisher
10418Of utmost hope! now clear I understand
10419What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain;
10420Why our great Expectation should be called
10421The seed of Woman: Virgin Mother, hail,
10422High in the love of Heaven; yet from my loins
10423Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the Son
10424Of God Most High: so God with Man unites!
10425Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise
10426Expect with mortal pain: Say where and when
10427Their fight, what stroke shall bruise the victor's heel.
10428To whom thus Michael. Dream not of their fight,
10429As of a duel, or the local wounds
10430Of head or heel: Not therefore joins the Son
10431Manhood to Godhead, with more strength to foil
10432Thy enemy; nor so is overcome
10433Satan, whose fall from Heaven, a deadlier bruise,
10434Disabled, not to give thee thy death's wound:
10435Which he, who comes thy Saviour, shall recure,
10436Not by destroying Satan, but his works
10437In thee, and in thy seed: Nor can this be,
10438But by fulfilling that which thou didst want,
10439Obedience to the law of God, imposed
10440On penalty of death, and suffering death;
10441The penalty to thy transgression due,
10442And due to theirs which out of thine will grow:
10443So only can high Justice rest appaid.
10444The law of God exact he shall fulfil
10445Both by obedience and by love, though love
10446Alone fulfil the law; thy punishment
10447He shall endure, by coming in the flesh
10448To a reproachful life, and cursed death;
10449Proclaiming life to all who shall believe
10450In his redemption; and that his obedience,
10451Imputed, becomes theirs by faith; his merits
10452To save them, not their own, though legal, works.
10453For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,
10454Seised on by force, judged, and to death condemned
10455A shameful and accursed, nailed to the cross
10456By his own nation; slain for bringing life:
10457But to the cross he nails thy enemies,
10458The law that is against thee, and the sins
10459Of all mankind, with him there crucified,
10460Never to hurt them more who rightly trust
10461In this his satisfaction; so he dies,
10462But soon revives; Death over him no power
10463Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light
10464Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise
10465Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light,
10466Thy ransom paid, which Man from death redeems,
10467His death for Man, as many as offered life
10468Neglect not, and the benefit embrace
10469By faith not void of works: This God-like act
10470Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldest have died,
10471In sin for ever lost from life; this act
10472Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength,
10473Defeating Sin and Death, his two main arms;
10474And fix far deeper in his head their stings
10475Than temporal death shall bruise the victor's heel,
10476Or theirs whom he redeems; a death, like sleep,
10477A gentle wafting to immortal life.
10478Nor after resurrection shall he stay
10479Longer on earth, than certain times to appear
10480To his disciples, men who in his life
10481Still followed him; to them shall leave in charge
10482To teach all nations what of him they learned
10483And his salvation; them who shall believe
10484Baptizing in the profluent stream, the sign
10485Of washing them from guilt of sin to life
10486Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall,
10487For death, like that which the Redeemer died.
10488All nations they shall teach; for, from that day,
10489Not only to the sons of Abraham's loins
10490Salvation shall be preached, but to the sons
10491Of Abraham's faith wherever through the world;
10492So in his seed all nations shall be blest.
10493Then to the Heaven of Heavens he shall ascend
10494With victory, triumphing through the air
10495Over his foes and thine; there shall surprise
10496The Serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains
10497Through all his realm, and there confounded leave;
10498Then enter into glory, and resume
10499His seat at God's right hand, exalted high
10500Above all names in Heaven; and thence shall come,
10501When this world's dissolution shall be ripe,
10502With glory and power to judge both quick and dead;
10503To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward
10504His faithful, and receive them into bliss,
10505Whether in Heaven or Earth; for then the Earth
10506Shall all be Paradise, far happier place
10507Than this of Eden, and far happier days.
10508So spake the Arch-Angel Michael; then paused,
10509As at the world's great period; and our sire,
10510Replete with joy and wonder, thus replied.
10511O Goodness infinite, Goodness immense!
10512That all this good of evil shall produce,
10513And evil turn to good; more wonderful
10514Than that which by creation first brought forth
10515Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,
10516Whether I should repent me now of sin
10517By me done, and occasioned; or rejoice
10518Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring;
10519To God more glory, more good-will to Men
10520From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.
10521But say, if our Deliverer up to Heaven
10522Must re-ascend, what will betide the few
10523His faithful, left among the unfaithful herd,
10524The enemies of truth? Who then shall guide
10525His people, who defend? Will they not deal
10526Worse with his followers than with him they dealt?
10527Be sure they will, said the Angel; but from Heaven
10528He to his own a Comforter will send,
10529The promise of the Father, who shall dwell
10530His Spirit within them; and the law of faith,
10531Working through love, upon their hearts shall write,
10532To guide them in all truth; and also arm
10533With spiritual armour, able to resist
10534Satan's assaults, and quench his fiery darts;
10535What man can do against them, not afraid,
10536Though to the death; against such cruelties
10537With inward consolations recompensed,
10538And oft supported so as shall amaze
10539Their proudest persecutors: For the Spirit,
10540Poured first on his Apostles, whom he sends
10541To evangelize the nations, then on all
10542Baptized, shall them with wonderous gifts endue
10543To speak all tongues, and do all miracles,
10544As did their Lord before them. Thus they win
10545Great numbers of each nation to receive
10546With joy the tidings brought from Heaven: At length
10547Their ministry performed, and race well run,
10548Their doctrine and their story written left,
10549They die; but in their room, as they forewarn,
10550Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves,
10551Who all the sacred mysteries of Heaven
10552To their own vile advantages shall turn
10553Of lucre and ambition; and the truth
10554With superstitions and traditions taint,
10555Left only in those written records pure,
10556Though not but by the Spirit understood.
10557Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names,
10558Places, and titles, and with these to join
10559Secular power; though feigning still to act
10560By spiritual, to themselves appropriating
10561The Spirit of God, promised alike and given
10562To all believers; and, from that pretence,
10563Spiritual laws by carnal power shall force
10564On every conscience; laws which none shall find
10565Left them inrolled, or what the Spirit within
10566Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then
10567But force the Spirit of Grace itself, and bind
10568His consort Liberty? what, but unbuild
10569His living temples, built by faith to stand,
10570Their own faith, not another's? for, on earth,
10571Who against faith and conscience can be heard
10572Infallible? yet many will presume:
10573Whence heavy persecution shall arise
10574On all, who in the worship persevere
10575Of spirit and truth; the rest, far greater part,
10576Will deem in outward rites and specious forms
10577Religion satisfied; Truth shall retire
10578Bestuck with slanderous darts, and works of faith
10579Rarely be found: So shall the world go on,
10580To good malignant, to bad men benign;
10581Under her own weight groaning; till the day
10582Appear of respiration to the just,
10583And vengeance to the wicked, at return
10584Of him so lately promised to thy aid,
10585The Woman's Seed; obscurely then foretold,
10586Now ampler known thy Saviour and thy Lord;
10587Last, in the clouds, from Heaven to be revealed
10588In glory of the Father, to dissolve
10589Satan with his perverted world; then raise
10590From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined,
10591New Heavens, new Earth, ages of endless date,
10592Founded in righteousness, and peace, and love;
10593To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss.
10594He ended; and thus Adam last replied.
10595How soon hath thy prediction, Seer blest,
10596Measured this transient world, the race of time,
10597Till time stand fixed! Beyond is all abyss,
10598Eternity, whose end no eye can reach.
10599Greatly-instructed I shall hence depart;
10600Greatly in peace of thought; and have my fill
10601Of knowledge, what this vessel can contain;
10602Beyond which was my folly to aspire.
10603Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best,
10604And love with fear the only God; to walk
10605As in his presence; ever to observe
10606His providence; and on him sole depend,
10607Merciful over all his works, with good
10608Still overcoming evil, and by small
10609Accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak
10610Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise
10611By simply meek: that suffering for truth's sake
10612Is fortitude to highest victory,
10613And, to the faithful, death the gate of life;
10614Taught this by his example, whom I now
10615Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.
10616To whom thus also the Angel last replied.
10617This having learned, thou hast attained the sum
10618Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars
10619Thou knewest by name, and all the ethereal powers,
10620All secrets of the deep, all Nature's works,
10621Or works of God in Heaven, air, earth, or sea,
10622And all the riches of this world enjoyedst,
10623And all the rule, one empire; only add
10624Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith,
10625Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love,
10626By name to come called charity, the soul
10627Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loth
10628To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess
10629A Paradise within thee, happier far.--
10630Let us descend now therefore from this top
10631Of speculation; for the hour precise
10632Exacts our parting hence; and see the guards,
10633By me encamped on yonder hill, expect
10634Their motion; at whose front a flaming sword,
10635In signal of remove, waves fiercely round:
10636We may no longer stay: go, waken Eve;
10637Her also I with gentle dreams have calmed
10638Portending good, and all her spirits composed
10639To meek submission: thou, at season fit,
10640Let her with thee partake what thou hast heard;
10641Chiefly what may concern her faith to know,
10642The great deliverance by her seed to come
10643(For by the Woman's seed) on all mankind:
10644That ye may live, which will be many days,
10645Both in one faith unanimous, though sad,
10646With cause, for evils past; yet much more cheered
10647With meditation on the happy end.
10648He ended, and they both descend the hill;
10649Descended, Adam to the bower, where Eve
10650Lay sleeping, ran before; but found her waked;
10651And thus with words not sad she him received.
10652Whence thou returnest, and whither wentest, I know;
10653For God is also in sleep; and dreams advise,
10654Which he hath sent propitious, some great good
10655Presaging, since with sorrow and heart's distress
10656Wearied I fell asleep: But now lead on;
10657In me is no delay; with thee to go,
10658Is to stay here; without thee here to stay,
10659Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me
10660Art all things under Heaven, all places thou,
10661Who for my wilful crime art banished hence.
10662This further consolation yet secure
10663I carry hence; though all by me is lost,
10664Such favour I unworthy am vouchsafed,
10665By me the Promised Seed shall all restore.
10666So spake our mother Eve; and Adam heard
10667Well pleased, but answered not: For now, too nigh
10668The Arch-Angel stood; and, from the other hill
10669To their fixed station, all in bright array
10670The Cherubim descended; on the ground
10671Gliding meteorous, as evening-mist
10672Risen from a river o'er the marish glides,
10673And gathers ground fast at the labourer's heel
10674Homeward returning. High in front advanced,
10675The brandished sword of God before them blazed,
10676Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,
10677And vapour as the Libyan air adust,
10678Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat
10679In either hand the hastening Angel caught
10680Our lingering parents, and to the eastern gate
10681Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
10682To the subjected plain; then disappeared.
10683They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld
10684Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,
10685Waved over by that flaming brand; the gate
10686With dreadful faces thronged, and fiery arms:
10687Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon;
10688The world was all before them, where to choose
10689Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
10690They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
10691Through Eden took their solitary way.
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