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1 ~ BOOK I ~
2
3 Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
4Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
5Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
6With loss of Eden, till one greater man
7Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
8Sing heavenly muse, that on the secret top
9Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
10That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
11In the beginning how the heavens and earth
12Rose out of chaos: Or if Sion hill
13Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
14Fast by the oracle of God; I thence
15Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
16That with no middle flight intends to soar
17Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
18Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
19And chiefly thou Oh spirit, that dost prefer
20Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
21Instruct me, for thou knowest; thou from the first
22Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
23Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss
24And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
25Illumine, what is low raise and support;
26That to the heighth of this great argument
27I may assert eternal providence,
28And justify the ways of God to men.
29Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from thy view
30Nor the deep tract of Hell, say first what cause
31Moved our grand parents in that happy state,
32Favored of Heaven so highly, to fall off
33From their Creator, and transgress his will
34For one restraint, lords of the world besides?
35Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
36The infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile
37Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
38The mother of mankind, what time his pride
39Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
40Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring
41To set himself in glory above his peers,
42He trusted to have equaled the most high,
43If he opposed; and with ambitious aim
44Against the throne and monarchy of God
45Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud
46With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
47Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky
48With hideous ruin and combustion down
49To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
50In adamantine chains and penal fire,
51Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.
52Nine times the space that measures day and night
53To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
54Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf
55Confounded though immortal: But his doom
56Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
57Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
58Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes
59That witnessed huge affliction and dismay
60Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate:
61At once as far as angels ken he views
62The dismal situation waste and wild,
63A dungeon horrible, on all sides round
64As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames
65No light, but rather darkness visible
66Served only to discover sights of woe,
67Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
68And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
69That comes to all; but torture without end
70Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
71With ever-burning sulfur unconsumed:
72Such place eternal justice had prepared
73For those rebellious, here their prison ordained
74In utter darkness, and their portion set
75As far removed from God and light of Heaven
76As from the center thrice to the utmost pole.
77Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!
78There the companions of his fall, overwhelmed
79With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
80He soon discerns, and weltering by his side
81One next himself in power, and next in crime,
82Long after known in Palestine, and named
83Beelzebub. To whom the arch-enemy,
84And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words
85Breaking the horrid silence thus began.
86If thou beest he; But oh how fallen! how changed
87From him, who in the happy realms of light
88Clothed with transcendent brightness didst outshine
89Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league,
90United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
91And hazard in the glorious enterprise,
92Joined with me once, now misery hath joined
93In equal ruin: into what pit thou seest
94From what heighth fallen, so much the stronger proved
95He with his thunder: and till then who knew
96The force of those dire arms? yet not for those,
97Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage
98Can else inflict, do I repent or change,
99Though changed in outward luster; that fixed mind
100And high disdain, from sense of injured merit,
101That with the mightiest raised me to contend,
102And to the fierce contention brought along
103Innumerable force of spirits armed
104That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,
105His utmost power with adverse power opposed
106In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven,
107And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
108All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
109And study of revenge, immortal hate,
110And courage never to submit or yield:
111And what is else not to be overcome?
112That glory never shall his wrath or might
113Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
114With suppliant knee, and deify his power,
115Who from the terror of this arm so late
116Doubted his empire, that were low indeed,
117That were an ignominy and shame beneath
118This downfall; since by fate the strength of gods
119And this empyreal substance cannot fail,
120Since through experience of this great event
121In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,
122We may with more successful hope resolve
123To wage by force or guile eternal war
124Irreconcilable, to our grand Foe,
125Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy
126Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven.
127So spake the apostate angel, though in pain,
128Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair:
129And him thus answered soon his bold Compeer.
130Oh Prince, Oh chief of many throned powers,
131That led the embattled seraphim to war
132Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds
133Fearless, endangered Heaven’s perpetual King;
134And put to proof his high supremacy,
135Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate,
136Too well I see and rue the dire event,
137That with sad overthrow and foul defeat
138Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host
139In horrible destruction laid thus low,
140As far as gods and heavenly essences
141Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains
142Invincible, and vigor soon returns,
143Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
144Here swallowed up in endless misery.
145But what if he our Conqueror, (whom I now
146Of force believe Almighty, since no less
147Then such could have overpowered such force as ours)
148Have left us this our spirit and strength entire
149Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
150That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,
151Or do him mightier service as his thralls
152By right of war, what e're his business be
153Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,
154Or do his errands in the gloomy deep;
155What can it then avail though yet we feel
156Strength undiminished, or eternal being
157To undergo eternal punishment?
158Whereto with speedy words the arch-fiend replied.
159Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable
160Doing or suffering: but of this be sure,
161To do ought good never will be our task,
162But ever to do ill our sole delight,
163As being the contrary to his high will
164Whom we resist. If then his providence
165Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
166Our labor must be to pervert that end,
167And out of good still to find means of evil;
168Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps
169Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
170His inmost counsels from their destined aim.
171But see the angry Victor hath recalled
172His ministers of vengeance and pursuit
173Back to the gates of Heaven: The sulfurous hail
174Shot after us in storm, overblown hath laid
175The fiery Surge, that from the precipice
176Of Heaven received us falling, and the thunder,
177Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,
178Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now
179To bellow through the vast and boundless deep.
180Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn,
181Or satiate fury yield it from our foe.
182Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
183The seat of desolation, void of light,
184Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
185Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend
186From off the tossing of these fiery waves,
187There rest, if any rest can harbor there,
188And reassembling our afflicted powers,
189Consult how we may henceforth most offend
190Our enemy, our own loss how repair,
191How overcome this dire calamity,
192What reinforcement we may gain from hope,
193If not what resolution from despair.
194Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
195With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes
196That sparkling blazed, his other parts besides
197Prone on the flood, extended long and large
198Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
199As whom the fables name of monstrous size,
200Titanian, or Earth-born, that war’s on Jove,
201Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den
202By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast
203Leviathan, which God of all his works
204Created hugest that swim the Ocean stream:
205Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam
206The Pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,
207Deeming some island, oft, as sea-men tell,
208With fixed anchor in his scaly rind
209Moors by his side under the lee, while night
210Invests the sea, and wished morn delays:
211So stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay
212Chained on the burning lake, nor ever thence
213Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will
214And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
215Left him at large to his own dark designs,
216That with reiterated crimes he might
217Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
218Evil to others, and enraged might see
219How all his malice served but to bring forth
220Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown
221On man by him seduced, but on himself
222Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance poured.
223Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
224His mighty stature; on each hand the flames
225Driven backward slope their pointing spires, and rolled
226In billows, leave in the midst a horrid vale.
227Then with expanded wings he steers his flight
228Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air
229That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land
230He lights, if it were land that ever burned
231With solid, as the lake with liquid fire;
232And such appeared in hue, as when the force
233Of subterranean wind transports a hill
234Torn from Pelorus, or the shattered side
235Of thundering Aetna, whose combustible
236And fueled entrails thence conceiving fire,
237Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,
238And leave a singed bottom all involved
239With stench and smoke: Such resting found the sole
240Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate,
241Both glorying to have escaped the Stygian flood
242As gods, and by their own recovered strength,
243Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.
244Is this the Region, this the soil, the clime,
245Said then the lost archangel, this the seat
246That we must change for Heaven, this mournful gloom
247For that celestial light? Be it so, since he
248Who now is sovran can dispose and bid
249What shall be right: farthest from him is best
250Whom reason hath equaled, force hath made supreme
251Above his equals. Farewell happy fields
252Where joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail
253Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
254Receive thy new possessor: One who brings
255A mind not to be changed by place or time.
256The mind is its own place, and in itself
257Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
258What matter where, if I be still the same,
259And what I should be, all but less then he
260Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
261We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
262Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
263Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
264To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
265Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven.
266But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
267The associates and copartners of our loss
268Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool,
269And call them not to share with us their part
270In this unhappy mansion, or once more
271With rallied arms to try what may be yet
272Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?
273So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub
274Thus answered. Leader of those armies bright,
275Which but the Omnipotent none could have foiled,
276If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge
277Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft
278In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
279Of battle when it raged, in all assaults
280Their surest signal, they will soon resume
281New courage and revive, though now they lye
282Groveling and prostrate on yon lake of fire,
283As we erewhile, astounded and amazed,
284No wonder, fallen such a pernicious heighth.
285He scarce had ceased when the superior Fiend
286Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield
287Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,
288Behind him cast; the broad circumference
289Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb
290Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
291At evening from the top of Fesole,
292Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
293Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.
294His Spear, to equal which the tallest pine
295Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
296Of some great admiral, were but a wand,
297He walked with to support uneasy steps
298Over the burning marle, not like those steps
299On Heaven’s azure, and the torrid clime
300Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire;
301Nathless he so endured, till on the beach
302Of that inflamed sea, he stood and called
303His Legions, angel forms, who lay entranced
304Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks
305In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades
306High overarched embower; or scattered sedge
307Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed
308Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves overthrew
309Busiris and his Memphian chivalry,
310While with perfidious hatred they pursued
311The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
312From the safe shore their floating carcasses
313And broken chariot wheels, so thick bestrown
314Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood,
315Under amazement of their hideous change.
316He called so loud, that all the hollow deep
317Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates,
318Warriors, the flower of Heaven, once yours, now lost,
319If such astonishment as this can seize
320Eternal spirits; or have ye chosen this place
321After the toil of battle to repose
322Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
323To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?
324Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
325To adore the Conqueror? who now beholds
326Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood
327With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon
328His swift pursuers from Heaven gates discern
329The advantage, and descending tread us down
330Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
331Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf.
332Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen.
333They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung
334Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
335On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,
336Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.
337Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
338In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
339Yet to their general’s voice they soon obeyed
340Innumerable. As when the potent rod
341Of Amrams son in Egypt’s evil day
342Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy cloud
343Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,
344That ore the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
345Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile:
346So numberless were those bad angels seen
347Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell
348edwixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires;
349Till, as a signal given, the uplifted spear
350Of their great sultan waving to direct
351Their course, in even balance down they light
352On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain;
353A multitude, like which the populous north
354Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass
355Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons
356Came like a deluge on the south, and spread
357Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands.
358Forthwith from every squadron and each band
359The heads and leaders thither hast where stood
360Their great commander; godlike shapes and forms
361Excelling human, princely dignities,
362And powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones;
363Though of their names in heavenly records now
364Be no memorial blotted out and rased
365By their rebellion, from the Books of Life.
366Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve
367Got them new names, till wandering ore the Earth,
368Through God’s high sufferance for the trial of man,
369By falsities and lies the greatest part
370Of mankind they corrupted to forsake
371God their Creator, and the invisible
372Glory of him that made them, to transform
373Oft to the image of a brute, adorned
374With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
375And devils to adore for deities:
376Then were they known to men by various names,
377And various idols through the heathen world.
378Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who last,
379Roused from the slumber, on that fiery couch,
380At their great emperor’s call, as next in worth
381Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,
382While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof?
383The chief were those who from the pit of Hell
384Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix
385Their seats long after next the seat of God,
386Their altars by his altar, gods adored
387Among the nations round, and durst abide
388Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned
389Between the cherubim; yea, often placed
390Within his sanctuary it self their shrines,
391Abominations; and with cursed things
392His holy rites, and solemn feasts profaned,]
393And with their darkness durst affront his light.
394First Moloch, horrid king besmeared with blood
395Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,
396Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud
397Their children’s cries unheard, that past through fire
398To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
399Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain,
400In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
401Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
402Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart
403Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
404His temple right against the temple of God
405On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove
406The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
407And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell.
408Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab’s sons,
409From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
410Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon
411And Horonaim, Seon’s realm, beyond
412The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines,
413And Eleale to the Asphaltic pool.
414Peor his other name, when he enticed
415Israel in Sittim on their march from Nile
416To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
417Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged
418Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove
419Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;
420Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.
421With these came they, who from the bordering flood
422Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts
423Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
424Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male,
425These feminine. For spirits when they please
426Can either sex assume, or both; so soft
427And uncompounded is their essence pure,
428Not tied or manacled with joint or limb,
429Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
430Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose
431Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,
432Can execute their aerie purposes,
433And works of love or enmity fulfill.
434For those the race of Israel oft forsook
435Their living strength, and unfrequented left
436His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
437To bestial gods; for which their heads as low
438Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear
439Of despicable foes. With these in troop
440Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called
441Astarte, queen of Heaven, with crescent horns;
442To whose bright image nightly by the moon
443Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs,
444In Sion also not unsung, where stood
445Her temple on the offensive mountain, built
446By that uxorious king, whose heart though large,
447Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell
448To Idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,
449Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
450The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
451In amorous ditties all a summer’s day,
452While smooth Adonis from his native rock
453Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
454Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale
455Infected Sion’s daughters with like heat,
456Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch
457Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led
458His eye surveyed the dark idolatries
459Of alienated Judah. Next came one
460Who mourned in earnest, when the captive Ark
461Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopped off
462In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,
463Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshipers:
464Dagon his name, sea monster, upward man
465And downward fish: yet had his temple high
466Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
467Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon
468And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.
469Him followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat
470Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks
471Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.
472He also against the house of God was bold:
473A leper once he lost and gained a king,
474Ahaz his sottish conqueror, whom he drew
475Gods altar to disparage and displace
476For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn
477His odious offerings, and adore the gods
478Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared
479A crew who under names of old renown,
480Osiris, Isis, Orus and their train
481With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused
482Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek
483Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms
484Rather then human. Nor did Israel escape
485The infection when their borrowed gold composed
486The calf in Oreb: and the rebel king
487Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,
488Likening his Maker to the grazed ox,
489Jehovah, who in one night when he passed
490From Egypt marching, equaled with one stroke
491Both her first born and all her bleating gods.
492Belial came last, then whom a spirit more lewd
493Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
494Vice for itself: To him no temple stood
495Or altar smoked; yet who more oft then he
496In temples and at altars, when the priest
497Turns atheist, as did Ely's sons, who filled
498With lust and violence the house of God.
499In courts and palaces he also reigns
500And in luxurious cities, where the noise
501Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers,
502And injury and outrage: And when night
503Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
504Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
505Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night
506In Gibeah, when the hospitable door
507Exposed a matron to avoid worse rape.
508These were the prime in order and in might;
509The rest were long to tell, though far renowned,
510The Ionian gods, of Javan’s issue held
511Gods, yet confessed later then Heaven and Earth
512Their boasted parents; Titan, Heaven’s first born,
513With his enormous brood, and birthright seized
514By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove
515His own and Rhea's son like measure found;
516So Jove usurping reigned: these first in Crete
517And Ida known, thence on the snowy top
518Of cold Olympus ruled the middle air
519Their highest Heaven; or on the Delphian cliff,
520Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds
521Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old
522Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields,
523And ore the Celtic roamed the utmost isles.
524All these and more came flocking; but with looks
525Down cast and damp, yet such wherein appeared
526Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief
527Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost
528In loss it self; which on his countenance cast
529Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride
530Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore
531Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised
532Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears.
533Then strait commands that at the warlike sound
534Of trumpets loud and clarions be upreared
535His mighty standard; that proud honor claimed
536Azazel as his right, a cherub tall:
537Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled
538The imperial ensign, which full high advanced
539Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind
540With gems and golden luster rich emblazed,
541Seraphic arms and trophies: all the while
542Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds:
543At which the universal host upsent
544A shout that tore Hell’s concave, and beyond
545Frighted the reign of chaos and old night.
546All in a moment through the gloom were seen
547Ten thousand banners rise into the air
548With orient colors waving: with them rose
549A forest huge of spears: and thronging helms
550Appeared, and serried shields in thick array
551Of depth immeasurable: Anon they move
552In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood
553Of flutes and soft recorders; such as raised
554To height of noblest temper hero's old
555Arming to battle, and in stead of rage
556Deliberate valor breathed, firm and unmoved
557With dread of death to flight or foul retreat,
558Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage
559With solemn touches, troubled thoughts, and chase
560Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain
561From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they
562Breathing united force with fixed thought
563Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed
564Their painful steps over the burnt soil; and now
565Advanced in view, they stand, a horrid front
566Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise
567Of warriors old with ordered spear and shield,
568Awaiting what command their mighty chief
569Had to impose: He through the armed files
570Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse
571The whole battalion views, their order due,
572Their visages and stature as of gods,
573Their number last he sums. And now his heart
574Distends with pride, and hardening in his strength
575Glories: For never since created man,
576Met such embodied force, as named with these
577Could merit more then that small infantry
578Warred on by cranes: though all the giant brood
579Of Phlegra with the heroic race were joined
580That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side
581Mixed with auxiliar gods; and what resounds
582In fable or romance of Uther’s son
583Begirt with British and Armoric knights;
584And all who since, baptized or infidel
585Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,
586Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,
587Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore
588When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell
589By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
590Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed
591Their dread commander: he above the rest
592In shape and gesture proudly eminent
593Stood like a tower; his form had yet not lost
594All her original brightness, nor appeared
595Less then archangel ruined, and the excess
596Of glory obscured: As when the sun new risen
597Looks through the horizontal misty air
598Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon
599In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds
600On half the nations, and with fear of change
601Perplexes monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone
602Above them all the archangel: but his face
603Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care
604Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
605Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride
606Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
607Signs of remorse and passion to behold
608The fellows of his crime, the followers rather
609(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned
610For ever now to have their lot in pain,
611Millions of spirits for his fault amerced
612Of Heaven, and from eternal splendors flung
613For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,
614Their glory withered. As when Heaven’s fire
615Hath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pines,
616With singed top their stately growth though bare
617Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared
618To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend
619From wing to wing, and half enclose him round
620With all his peers: attention held them mute.
621Thrice he assayed, and thrice in spite of scorn,
622Tears such as angels weep, burst forth: at last
623Words interwove with sighs found out their way.
624Oh Myriads of immortal spirits, Oh powers
625Matchless, but with the Almighty, and that strife
626Was not inglorious, though the event was dire,
627As this place testifies, and this dire change
628Hateful to utter: but what power of mind
629Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth
630Of knowledge past or present, could have feared,
631How such united force of gods, how such
632As stood like these, could ever know repulse?
633For who can yet believe, though after loss,
634That all these puissant Legions, whose exile
635Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend
636Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?
637For me be witness all the host of Heaven,
638If counsels different, or danger shunned
639By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns
640Monarch in Heaven, till then as one secure
641Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
642Consent or custom, and his regal state
643Put forth at full, but still his strength concealed,
644Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
645Henceforth his might we know, and know our own
646So as not either to provoke, or dread
647New war, provoked; our better part remains
648To work in close design, by fraud or guile
649What force effected not: that he no less
650At length from us may find, who overcomes
651By force, hath overcome but half his foe.
652Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife
653There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long
654Intended to create, and therein plant
655A generation, whom his choice regard
656Should favor equal to the sons of Heaven:
657Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
658Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere:
659For this infernal pit shall never hold
660Celestial spirits in bondage, nor the abyss
661Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
662Full counsel must mature: Peace is despaired,
663For who can think submission? War then, war
664Open or understood must be resolved.
665He spake: and to confirm his words, out-flew
666Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
667Of mighty cherubim; the sudden blaze
668Far round illumined hell: highly they raged
669Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms
670Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war,
671Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven.
672There stood a Hill not far whose grisly top
673Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire
674Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign
675That in his womb was hid metallic ore,
676The work of sulfur. Thither winged with speed
677A numerous brigade hastened. As when bands
678Of pioneers with spade and pickax armed
679Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
680Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on,
681Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
682From Heaven, for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts
683Were always downward bent, admiring more
684The riches of Heavens pavement, trodden gold,
685Then aught divine or holy else enjoyed
686In vision beatific: by him first
687Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
688Ransacked the center, and with impious hands
689Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth
690For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
691Opened into the hill a spacious wound
692And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire
693That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best
694Deserve the precious bane. And here let those
695Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell
696Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings
697Learn how their greatest monuments of fame,
698And strength and art are easily out-done
699By spirits reprobate, and in an hour
700What in an age they with incessant toil
701And hands innumerable scarce perform.
702Nigh on the plain in many cells prepared,
703That underneath had veins of liquid fire
704Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude
705With wondrous art found out the massy ore,
706Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion dross:
707A third as soon had formed within the ground
708A various mould, and from the boiling cells
709By strange conveyance filled each hollow nook,
710As in an organ from one blast of wind
711To many a row of pipes the sound-board breaths.
712Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
713Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
714Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet,
715Built like a temple, where pilasters round
716Were set, and doric pillars overlaid
717With golden architrave; nor did there want
718Cornice or freeze, with bossy sculptures graven,
719The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
720Nor great Alcairo such magnificence
721Equaled in all their glories, to inshrine
722Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat
723Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
724In wealth and luxury. the ascending pile
725Stood fixed her stately heighth, and strait the doors
726Opening their brazen folds discover wide
727Within, her ample spaces, over the smooth
728And level pavement: from the arched roof
729Pendant by subtle magic many a row
730Of starry lamps and blazing cressets fed
731With naphtha and asphaltus yielded light
732As from a sky. The hasty multitude
733Admiring entered, and the work some praise
734And some the architect: his hand was known
735In Heaven by many a towered structure high,
736Where sceptered angels held their residence,
737And sat as princes, whom the supreme King
738Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
739Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright.
740Nor was his name unheard or unadored
741In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
742Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell
743From Heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
744Sheer over the crystal battlements: from morn
745To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
746A summer’s day; and with the setting sun
747Dropt from the zenith like a falling star,
748On Lemnos the Aegean isle: thus they relate,
749Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
750Fell long before; nor aught availed him now
751To have built in Heaven high towers; nor did he escape
752By all his engines, but was headlong sent
753With his industrious crew to build in hell.
754Mean while the winged heralds by command
755Of sovran power, with awful ceremony
756And trumpets sound throughout the host proclaim
757A solemn council forthwith to be held
758At Pandemonium, the high capital
759Of Satan and his peers: their summons called
760From every band and squared regiment
761By place or choice the worthiest; they anon
762With hundreds and with thousands trooping came
763Attended: all access was thronged, the gates
764And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall
765(Though like a covered field, where champions bold
766Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan’s chair
767Defied the best of Paynim chivalry
768To mortal combat or career with Lance)
769Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air,
770Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees
771In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides,
772Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
773In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
774Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
775The suburb of their straw-built citadel,
776New rubbed with baum, expatiate and confer
777Their state affairs. So thick the aerie crowd
778Swarmed and were straitened; till the signal given.
779Behold a wonder! they but now who seemed
780In bigness to surpass Earth’s giant sons
781Now less then smallest dwarfs, in narrow room
782Throng numberless, like that Pigmean race
783Beyond the Indian mount, or fairy elves,
784Whose midnight revels, by a forest side
785Or fountain some belated peasant sees,
786Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon
787Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth
788Wheels her pale course, they on their mirth and dance
789Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;
790At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
791Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms
792Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large,
793Though without number still amidst the hall
794Of that infernal court. But far within
795And in their own dimensions like themselves
796The great seraphic lords and cherubim
797In close recess and secret conclave sat,
798A thousand demigods on golden seats,
799Frequent and full. After short silence then
800And summons read, the great consult began.
801
802~ BOOK II ~
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1848.  Back to Top
1849
1850
1851 ~ BOOK II ~
1852
1853High on a throne of royal state, which far
1854Outshone the wealth or Ormus and of Ind,
1855Or where the gorgeous east with richest hand
1856Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
1857Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
1858To that bad eminence; and, from despair
1859Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
1860Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
1861Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught,
1862His proud imaginations thus displayed:
1863Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven,
1864For, since no deep within her gulf can hold
1865Immortal vigor, though oppressed and fallen,
1866I give not Heaven for lost: from this descent
1867Celestial virtues rising will appear
1868More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
1869And trust themselves to fear no second fate.
1870Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven,
1871Did first create your leader, next, free choice
1872With what besides in council or in fight
1873Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss,
1874Thus far at least recovered, hath much more
1875Established in a safe, unenvied throne,
1876Yielded with full consent. The happier state
1877In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw
1878Envy from each inferior; but who here
1879Will envy whom the highest place exposes
1880Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim
1881Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
1882Of endless pain? Where there is, then, no good
1883For which to strive, no strife can grow up there
1884From faction: for none sure will claim in Hell
1885Precedence; none whose portion is so small
1886Of present pain that with ambitious mind
1887Will covet more! With this advantage, then,
1888To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,
1889More than can be in Heaven, we now return
1890To claim our just inheritance of old,
1891Surer to prosper than prosperity
1892Could have assured us; and by what best way,
1893Whether of open war or covert guile,
1894We now debate. Who can advise may speak.
1895He ceased; and next him Moloch, sceptered king,
1896Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit
1897That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair.
1898His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed
1899Equal in strength, and rather than be less
1900Cared not to be at all; with that care lost
1901Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse,
1902He recked not, and these words thereafter spake:
1903My sentence is for open war. Of wiles,
1904More unexpert, I boast not: them let those
1905Contrive who need, or when they need; not now.
1906For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest,
1907Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait
1908The signal to ascend, sit lingering here,
1909Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place
1910Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame,
1911The prison of his tyranny who reigns
1912By our delay? No! let us rather choose,
1913Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once
1914O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way,
1915Turning our tortures into horrid arms
1916Against the Torturer; when, to meet the noise
1917Of his almighty engine, he shall hear
1918Infernal thunder, and, for lightning, see
1919Black fire and horror shot with equal rage
1920Among his Angels, and his throne itself
1921Mixed with Tartarean sulfur and strange fire,
1922His own invented torments. But perhaps
1923The way seems difficult, and steep to scale
1924With upright wing against a higher foe!
1925Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench
1926Of that forgetful lake benumb not still,
1927That in our proper motion we ascend
1928Up to our native seat; descent and fall
1929To us is adverse. Who but felt of late,
1930When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear
1931Insulting, and pursued us through the deep,
1932With what compulsion and laborious flight
1933We sunk thus low? The ascent is easy, then;
1934The event is feared! Should we again provoke
1935Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find
1936To our destruction, if there be in Hell
1937Fear to be worse destroyed! What can be worse
1938Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemned
1939In this abhorred deep to utter woe!
1940Where pain of unextinguishable fire
1941Must exercise us without hope of end
1942The vassals of his anger, when the scourge
1943Inexorably, and the torturing hour,
1944Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus,
1945We should be quite abolished, and expire.
1946What fear we then? what doubt we to incense
1947His utmost ire? which, to the height enraged,
1948Will either quite consume us, and reduce
1949To nothing this essential, happier far
1950Than miserable to have eternal being.
1951Or, if our substance be indeed divine,
1952And cannot cease to be, we are at worst
1953On this side nothing; and by proof we feel
1954Our power sufficient to disturb his Heaven,
1955And with perpetual inroads to alarm,
1956Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:
1957Which, if not victory, is yet revenge.
1958He ended frowning, and his look denounced
1959Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous
1960To less than gods. On the other side up rose
1961Belial, in act more graceful and humane.
1962A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed
1963For dignity composed, and high exploit.
1964But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
1965Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear
1966The better reason, to perplex and dash
1967Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low,
1968To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
1969Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear,
1970And with persuasive accent thus began:
1971I should be much for open war, Oh peers,
1972As not behind in hate, if what was urged
1973Main reason to persuade immediate war
1974Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast
1975Ominous conjecture on the whole success;
1976When he who most excels in fact of arms,
1977In what he counsels and in what excels
1978Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair
1979And utter dissolution, as the scope
1980Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
1981First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are filled
1982With armed watch, that render all access
1983Impregnable: oft on the bordering Deep
1984Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing
1985Scout far and wide into the realm of night,
1986Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way
1987By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise
1988With blackest insurrection to confound
1989Heaven's purest light, yet our great Enemy,
1990All incorruptible, would on his throne
1991Sit unpolluted, and the ethereal mould,
1992Incapable of stain, would soon expel
1993Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire,
1994Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope
1995Is flat despair: we must exasperate
1996The Almighty Victor to spend all his rage;
1997And that must end us; that must be our cure,
1998To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose,
1999Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
2000Those thoughts that wander through eternity,
2001To perish rather, swallowed up and lost
2002In the wide womb of uncreated night,
2003Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows,
2004Let this be good, whether our angry Foe
2005Can give it, or will ever? How he can
2006Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.
2007Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire,
2008Belike through impotence or unaware,
2009To give his enemies their wish, and end
2010Them in his anger whom his anger saves
2011To punish endless? Wherefore cease we, then?
2012Say they who counsel war; we are decreed,
2013Reserved, and destined to eternal woe;
2014Whatever doing, what can we suffer more,
2015What can we suffer worse? Is this, then, worst,
2016Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms?
2017What when we fled amain, pursued and struck
2018With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought
2019The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed
2020A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay
2021Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse.
2022What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
2023Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
2024And plunge us in the flames; or from above
2025Should intermitted vengeance arm again
2026His red right hand to plague us? What if all
2027Her stores were opened, and this firmament
2028Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire,
2029Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall
2030One day upon our heads; while we perhaps,
2031Designing or exhorting glorious war,
2032Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,
2033Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey
2034Or racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk
2035Under yon boiling ocean, wrapped in chains,
2036There to converse with everlasting groans,
2037Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,
2038Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse.
2039War, therefore, open or concealed, alike
2040My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile
2041With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye
2042Views all things at one view? He from Heaven's height
2043All these our motions vain sees and derides,
2044Not more almighty to resist our might
2045Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.
2046Shall we, then, live thus vile, the race of Heaven
2047Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here
2048Chains and these torments? Better these than worse,
2049By my advice; since fate inevitable
2050Subdues us, and omnipotent decree,
2051The Victor's will. To suffer, as to do,
2052Our strength is equal; nor the law unjust
2053That so ordains. This was at first resolved,
2054If we were wise, against so great a foe
2055Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.
2056I laugh when those who at the spear are bold
2057And venturous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear
2058What yet they know must follow, to endure
2059Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain,
2060The sentence of their conqueror. This is now
2061Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,
2062Our Supreme Foe in time may much remit
2063His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed,
2064Not mind us not offending, satisfied
2065With what is punished; whence these raging fires
2066Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.
2067Our purer essence then will overcome
2068Their noxious vapor; or, inured, not feel;
2069Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed
2070In temper and in nature, will receive
2071Familiar the fierce heat; and, void of pain,
2072This horror will grow mild, this darkness light;
2073Besides what hope the never-ending flight
2074Of future days may bring, what chance, what change
2075Worth waiting, since our present lot appears
2076For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
2077If we procure not to ourselves more woe.
2078Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,
2079Counseled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth,
2080Not peace; and after him thus Mammon spake:
2081Either to disenthrone the King of Heaven
2082We war, if war be best, or to regain
2083Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then
2084May hope, when everlasting fate shall yield
2085To fickle chance, and chaos judge the strife.
2086The former, vain to hope, argues as vain
2087The latter; for what place can be for us
2088Within Heaven's bound, unless Heaven's Lord supreme
2089We overpower? Suppose he should relent
2090And publish grace to all, on promise made
2091Of new subjection; with what eyes could we
2092Stand in his presence humble, and receive
2093Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne
2094With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing
2095Forced hallelujahs, while he lordly sits
2096Our envied sovereign, and his altar breathes
2097Ambrosial odors and ambrosial flowers,
2098Our servile offerings? This must be our task
2099In Heaven, this our delight. How wearisome
2100Eternity so spent in worship paid
2101To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue,
2102By force impossible, by leave obtained
2103Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state
2104Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek
2105Our own good from ourselves, and from our own
2106Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess,
2107Free and to none accountable, preferring
2108Hard liberty before the easy yoke
2109Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear
2110Then most conspicuous when great things of small,
2111Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse,
2112We can create, and in what place soe'er
2113Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain
2114Through labor and endurance. This deep world
2115Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst
2116Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven's all-ruling Sire
2117Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,
2118And with the majesty of darkness round
2119Covers his throne, from whence deep thunders roar.
2120Mustering their rage, and Heaven resembles Hell!
2121As he our darkness, cannot we his light
2122Imitate when we please? This desert soil
2123Wants not her hidden luster, gems and gold;
2124Nor want we skill or art from whence to raise
2125Magnificence; and what can Heaven show more?
2126Our torments also may, in length of time,
2127Become our elements, these piercing fires
2128As soft as now severe, our temper changed
2129Into their temper; which must needs remove
2130The sensible of pain. All things invite
2131To peaceful counsels, and the settled state
2132Of order, how in safety best we may
2133Compose our present evils, with regard
2134Of what we are and where, dismissing quite
2135All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise.
2136He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled
2137The assembly as when hollow rocks retain
2138The sound of blustering winds, which all night long
2139Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull
2140Seafaring men o'erwatched, whose bark by chance
2141Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay
2142After the tempest. Such applause was heard
2143As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased,
2144Advising peace: for such another field
2145They dreaded worse than Hell; so much the fear
2146Of thunder and the sword of Michael
2147Wrought still within them; and no less desire
2148To found this nether empire, which might rise,
2149By policy and long process of time,
2150In emulation opposite to Heaven.
2151Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom,
2152Satan except, none higher sat, with grave
2153Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed
2154A pillar of state. Deep on his front engraven
2155Deliberation sat, and public care;
2156And princely counsel in his face yet shone,
2157Majestic, though in ruin. Sage he stood
2158With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear
2159The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look
2160Drew audience and attention still as night
2161Or summer's noontide air, while thus he spake:
2162Thrones and Imperial Powers, offspring of Heaven,
2163Ethereal Virtues! or these titles now
2164Must we renounce, and, changing style, be called
2165Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote
2166Inclines, here to continue, and build up here
2167A growing empire; doubtless! while we dream,
2168And know not that the King of Heaven hath doomed
2169This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat
2170Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt
2171From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league
2172Banded against his throne, but to remain
2173In strictest bondage, though thus far removed,
2174Under the inevitable curb, reserved
2175His captive multitude. For he, to be sure,
2176In height or depth, still first and last will reign
2177Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part
2178By our revolt, but over Hell extend
2179His empire, and with iron scepter rule
2180Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven.
2181What sit we then projecting peace and war?
2182War hath determined us and foiled with loss
2183Irreparable; terms of peace yet none
2184Vouchsafed or sought; for what peace will be given
2185To us enslaved, but custody severe,
2186And stripes and arbitrary punishment
2187Inflicted? and what peace can we return,
2188But, to our power, hostility and hate,
2189Untamed reluctance, and revenge, though slow,
2190Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least
2191May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice
2192In doing what we most in suffering feel?
2193Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need
2194With dangerous expedition to invade
2195Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege,
2196Or ambush from the Deep. What if we find
2197Some easier enterprise? There is a place
2198(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven
2199Err not), another world, the happy seat
2200Of some new race, called Man, about this time
2201To be created like to us, though less
2202In power and excellence, but favored more
2203Of him who rules above; so was his will
2204Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath
2205That shook Heaven's whole circumference confirmed.
2206Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn
2207What creatures there inhabit, of what mould
2208Or substance, how endued, and what their power
2209And where their weakness: how attempted best,
2210By force of subtlety. Though Heaven be shut,
2211And Heaven's high Arbitrator sit secure
2212In his own strength, this place may lie exposed,
2213The utmost border of his kingdom, left
2214To their defense who hold it: here, perhaps,
2215Some advantageous act may be achieved
2216By sudden onset, either with Hell-fire
2217To waste his whole creation, or possess
2218All as our own, and drive, as we were driven,
2219The puny habitants; or, if not drive,
2220Seduce them to our party, that their God
2221May prove their foe, and with repenting hand
2222Abolish his own works. This would surpass
2223Common revenge, and interrupt his joy
2224In our confusion, and our joy upraise
2225In his disturbance; when his darling sons,
2226Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse
2227Their frail original, and faded bliss,
2228Faded so soon! Advise if this be worth
2229Attempting, or to sit in darkness here
2230Hatching vain empires. Thus Beelzebub
2231Pleaded his devilish counsel, first devised
2232By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence,
2233But from the author of all ill, could spring
2234So deep a malice, to confound the race
2235Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell
2236To mingle and involve, done all to spite
2237The great Creator? But their spite still serves
2238His glory to augment. The bold design
2239Pleased highly those infernal states, and joy
2240Sparkled in all their eyes: with full assent
2241They vote: whereat his speech he thus renews:
2242Well have ye judged, well ended long debate,
2243Synod of gods, and, like to what ye are,
2244Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep
2245Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate,
2246Nearer our ancient seat, perhaps in view
2247Of those bright confines, whence, with neighboring arms,
2248And opportune excursion, we may chance
2249Re-enter Heaven; or else in some mild zone
2250Dwell, not unvisited of Heaven's fair light,
2251Secure, and at the brightening orient beam
2252Purge off this gloom: the soft delicious air,
2253To heal the scar of these corrosive fires,
2254Shall breathe her balm. But, first, whom shall we send
2255In search of this new World? whom shall we find
2256Sufficient? who shall tempt with wandering feet
2257The dark, unbottomed, infinite abyss,
2258And through the palpable obscure find out
2259His uncouth way, or spread his airy flight,
2260Upborne with indefatigable wings
2261Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive
2262The happy Isle? What strength, what art, can then
2263Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe,
2264Through the strict sentries and stations thick
2265Of angels watching round? Here he had need
2266All circumspection: and we now no less
2267Choice in our suffrage; for on whom we send
2268The weight of all, and our last hope, relies.
2269This said, he sat; and expectation held
2270His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
2271To second, or oppose, or undertake
2272The perilous attempt. But all sat mute,
2273Pondering the danger with deep thoughts; and each
2274In other's countenance read his own dismay,
2275Astonished. None among the choice and prime
2276Of those Heaven-warring champions could be found
2277So hardy as to proffer or accept,
2278Alone, the dreadful voyage; till, at last,
2279Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised
2280Above his fellows, with monarchal pride
2281Conscious of highest worth, unmoved thus spake:
2282Oh Progeny of Heaven! Empyreal Thrones!
2283With reason hath deep silence and demur
2284Seized us, though undismayed. Long is the way
2285And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.
2286Our prison strong, this huge convex of fire,
2287Outrageous to devour, immures us round
2288Ninefold; and gates of burning adamant,
2289Barred over us, prohibit all egress.
2290These passed, if any pass, the void profound
2291Of unessential night receives him next,
2292Wide-gaping, and with utter loss of being
2293Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf.
2294If thence he scape, into whatever world,
2295Or unknown region, what remains him less
2296Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape?
2297But I should ill become this throne, Oh Peers,
2298And this imperial sovereignty, adorned
2299With splendor, armed with power, if aught proposed
2300And judged of public moment in the shape
2301Of difficulty or danger, could deter
2302Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume
2303These royalties, and not refuse to reign,
2304Refusing to accept as great a share
2305Of hazard as of honor, due alike
2306To him who reigns, and so much to him due
2307Of hazard more as he above the rest
2308High honored sits? Go, therefore, mighty powers,
2309Terror of Heaven, though fallen; intend at home,
2310While here shall be our home, what best may ease
2311The present misery, and render Hell
2312More tolerable; if there be cure or charm
2313To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain
2314Of this ill mansion: intermit no watch
2315Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad
2316Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek
2317Deliverance for us all. This enterprise
2318None shall partake with me. Thus saying, rose
2319The monarch, and prevented all reply;
2320Prudent lest, from his resolution raised,
2321Others among the chief might offer now,
2322Certain to be refused, what erst they feared,
2323And, so refused, might in opinion stand
2324His rivals, winning cheap the high repute
2325Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they
2326Dreaded not more the adventure than his voice
2327Forbidding; and at once with him they rose.
2328Their rising all at once was as the sound
2329Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend
2330With awful reverence prone, and as a god
2331Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven.
2332Nor failed they to express how much they praised
2333That for the general safety he despised
2334His own: for neither do the spirits damned
2335Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast
2336Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites,
2337Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal.
2338Thus they their doubtful consultations dark
2339Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief:
2340As, when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds
2341Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o'erspread
2342Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element
2343Scowls o'er the darkened landscape snow or shower,
2344If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet,
2345Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,
2346The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
2347Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.
2348Oh shame to men! Devil with devil damned
2349Firm concord holds; men only disagree
2350Of creatures rational, though under hope
2351Of heavenly grace, and, God proclaiming peace,
2352Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife
2353Among themselves, and levy cruel wars
2354Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:
2355As if (which might induce us to accord)
2356Man had not hellish foes enough besides,
2357That day and night for his destruction wait!
2358The Stygian council thus dissolved; and forth
2359In order came the grand infernal peers:
2360Midst came their mighty paramount, and seemed
2361Alone the antagonist of Heaven, nor less
2362Than Hell's dread emperor, with pomp supreme,
2363And god-like imitated state: him round
2364A globe of fiery seraphim enclosed
2365With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms.
2366Then of their session ended they bid cry
2367With trumpet's regal sound the great result:
2368Toward the four winds four speedy cherubim
2369Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy,
2370By herald's voice explained; the hollow abyss
2371Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell
2372With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim.
2373Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised
2374By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers
2375Disband; and, wandering, each his several way
2376Pursues, as inclination or sad choice
2377Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find
2378Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain
2379The irksome hours, till his great chief return.
2380Part on the plain, or in the air sublime,
2381Upon the wing or in swift race contend,
2382As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields;
2383Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal
2384With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form:
2385As when, to warn proud cities, war appears
2386Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush
2387To battle in the clouds; before each van
2388Prick forth the airy knights, and couch their spears,
2389Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms
2390From either end of heaven the welkin burns.
2391Others, with vast Typhoean rage, more fell,
2392Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
2393In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar:
2394As when Alcides, from Oechalia crowned
2395With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and tore
2396Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines,
2397And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw
2398Into the Euboic sea. Others, more mild,
2399Retreated in a silent valley, sing
2400With notes angelical to many a harp
2401Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall
2402By doom of battle, and complain that Fate
2403Free Virtue should enthrall to Force or Chance.
2404Their song was partial; but the harmony
2405(What could it less when spirits immortal sing?)
2406Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment
2407The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet
2408(For Eloquence the soul, song charms the sense)
2409Others apart sat on a hill retired,
2410In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high
2411Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,
2412Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
2413And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.
2414Of good and evil much they argued then,
2415Of happiness and final misery,
2416Passion and apathy, and glory and shame:
2417Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.
2418Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm
2419Pain for a while or anguish, and excite
2420Fallacious hope, or arm the obdured breast
2421With stubborn patience as with triple steel.
2422Another part, in squadrons and gross bands,
2423On bold adventure to discover wide
2424That dismal world, if any clime perhaps
2425Might yield them easier habitation, bend
2426Four ways their flying march, along the banks
2427Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge
2428Into the burning lake their baleful streams,
2429Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
2430Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep;
2431Cocytus, named of lamentation loud
2432Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton,
2433Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
2434Far off from these, a slow and silent stream,
2435Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls
2436Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks
2437Forthwith his former state and being forgets,
2438Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.
2439Beyond this flood a frozen continent
2440Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms
2441Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land
2442Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems
2443Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice,
2444A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog
2445Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,
2446Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air
2447Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire.
2448Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled,
2449At certain revolutions all the damned
2450Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
2451Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
2452From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
2453Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine
2454Immovable, infixed, and frozen round
2455Periods of time,, thence hurried back to fire.
2456They ferry over this Lethean sound
2457Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment,
2458And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach
2459The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose
2460In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
2461All in one moment, and so near the brink;
2462But fate withstands, and, to oppose the attempt,
2463Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards
2464The ford, and of itself the water flies
2465All taste of living wight, as once it fled
2466The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on
2467In confused march forlorn, the adventurous bands,
2468With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast,
2469Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found
2470No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale
2471They passed, and many a region dolorous,
2472O'er many a frozen, many a fiery alp,
2473Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death,
2474A universe of death, which God by curse
2475Created evil, for evil only good;
2476Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds,
2477Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,
2478Abominable, inutterable, and worse
2479Than fables yet have feigned or fear conceived,
2480Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.
2481Meanwhile the adversary of God and man,
2482Satan, with thoughts inflamed of highest design,
2483Puts on swift wings, and toward the gates of Hell
2484Explores his solitary flight: sometimes
2485He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left;
2486Now shaves with level wing the deep, then soars
2487Up to the fiery concave towering high.
2488As when far off at sea a fleet descried
2489Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds
2490Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles
2491Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring
2492Their spicy drugs; they on the trading flood,
2493Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape,
2494Ply stemming nightly toward the pole: so seemed
2495Far off the flying Fiend. At last appear
2496Hell-bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof,
2497And thrice threefold the gates; three folds were brass,
2498Three iron, three of adamantine rock,
2499Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire,
2500Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat
2501On either side a formidable shape.
2502The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair,
2503But ended foul in many a scaly fold,
2504Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed
2505With mortal sting. About her middle round
2506A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked
2507With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung
2508A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would creep,
2509If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb,
2510And kennel there; yet there still barked and howled
2511Within unseen. Far less abhorred than these
2512Vexed Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts
2513Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore;
2514Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, called
2515In secret, riding through the air she comes,
2516Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance
2517With Lapland witches, while the laboring moon
2518Eclipses at their charms. The other shape,
2519If shape it might be called that shape had none
2520Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb;
2521Or substance might be called that shadow seemed,
2522For each seemed either, black it stood as night,
2523Fierce as ten furies, terrible as Hell,
2524And shook a dreadful dart: what seemed his head
2525The likeness of a kingly crown had on.
2526Satan was now at hand, and from his seat
2527The monster moving onward came as fast
2528With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode.
2529The undaunted fiend what this might be admired,
2530Admired, not feared (God and his Son except,
2531Created thing naught valued he nor shunned),
2532And with disdainful look thus first began:
2533Whence and what art thou, execrable shape,
2534That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance
2535Thy miscreated front athwart my way
2536To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass,
2537That be assured, without leave asked of thee.
2538Retire; or taste thy folly, and learn by proof,
2539Hell-born, not to contend with spirits of Heaven.
2540To whom the goblin, full of wrath, replied:
2541Art thou that traitor Angel? art thou he,
2542Who first broke peace in Heaven and faith, till then
2543Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms
2544Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons,
2545Conjured against the Highest, for which both thou
2546And they, outcast from God, are here condemned
2547To waste eternal days in woe and pain?
2548And reckon'st thou thyself with spirits of Heaven
2549Hell-doomed, and breath'st defiance here and scorn,
2550Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more,
2551Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,
2552False fugitive; and to thy speed add wings,
2553Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue
2554Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart
2555Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before.
2556So spake the grisly terror, and in shape,
2557So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold,
2558More dreadful and deform. On the other side,
2559Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
2560Unterrified, and like a comet burned,
2561That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
2562In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
2563Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head
2564Leveled his deadly aim; their fatal hands
2565No second stroke intend; and such a frown
2566Each cast at the other as when two black clouds,
2567With heaven's artillery fraught, came rattling on
2568Over the Caspian,, then stand front to front
2569Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow
2570To join their dark encounter in mid-air.
2571So frowned the mighty combatants that Hell
2572Grew darker at their frown; so matched they stood;
2573For never but once more was wither like
2574To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds
2575Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,
2576Had not the snaky Sorceress, that sat
2577Fast by Hell-gate and kept the fatal key,
2578Risen, and with hideous outcry rushed between.
2579Oh father, what intends thy hand, she cried,
2580Against thy only son? What fury, Oh son,
2581Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart
2582Against thy father's head? And know'st for whom?
2583For him who sits above, and laughs the while
2584At thee, ordained his drudge to execute
2585Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids,
2586His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both!
2587She spake, and at her words the hellish pest
2588Forbore: then these to her Satan returned:
2589So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange
2590Thou interposest, that my sudden hand,
2591Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds
2592What it intends, till first I know of thee
2593What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why,
2594In this infernal vale first met, thou call'st
2595Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son.
2596I know thee not, nor ever saw till now
2597Sight more detestable than him and thee.
2598T' whom thus the portress of Hell-gate replied:
2599Hast thou forgot me, then; and do I seem
2600Now in thine eye so foul?, once deemed so fair
2601In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight
2602Of all the seraphim with thee combined
2603In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King,
2604All on a sudden miserable pain
2605Surprised thee, dim thine eyes and dizzy swum
2606In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
2607Threw forth, till on the left side opening wide,
2608Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright,
2609Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess armed,
2610Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized
2611All the host of Heaven; back they recoiled afraid
2612At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign
2613Portentous held me; but, familiar grown,
2614I pleased, and with attractive graces won
2615The most averse, thee chiefly, who, full oft
2616Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing,
2617Becam'st enamored; and such joy thou took'st
2618With me in secret that my womb conceived
2619A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose,
2620And fields were fought in Heaven: wherein remained
2621(For what could else?) to our Almighty Foe
2622Clear victory; to our part loss and rout
2623Through all the Empyrean. Down they fell,
2624Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down
2625Into this deep; and in the general fall
2626I also: at which time this powerful key
2627Into my hands was given, with charge to keep
2628These gates for ever shut, which none can pass
2629Without my opening. Pensive here I sat
2630Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb,
2631Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown,
2632Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.
2633At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,
2634Thine own begotten, breaking violent way,
2635Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain
2636Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew
2637Transformed: but he my inbred enemy
2638Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,
2639Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out Death!
2640Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed
2641From all her caves, and back resounded Death!
2642I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems,
2643Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far,
2644Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed,
2645And, in embraces forcible and foul
2646Engendering with me, of that rape begot
2647These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry
2648Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceived
2649And hourly born, with sorrow infinite
2650To me; for, when they list, into the womb
2651That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw
2652My bowels, their repast; then, bursting forth
2653Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round,
2654That rest or intermission none I find.
2655Before mine eyes in opposition sits
2656Grim Death, my son and foe, who set them on,
2657And me, his parent, would full soon devour
2658For want of other prey, but that he knows
2659His end with mine involved, and knows that I
2660Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
2661Whenever that shall be: so Fate pronounced.
2662But thou, Oh father, I forewarn thee, shun
2663His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
2664To be invulnerable in those bright arms,
2665Through tempered heavenly; for that mortal dint,
2666Save he who reigns above, none can resist.
2667She finished, and the subtle fiend his lore
2668Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered smooth:
2669Dear daughter, since thou claim'st me for thy sire,
2670And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge
2671Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys
2672Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change
2673Befallen us unforeseen, unthought-of, know,
2674I come no enemy, but to set free
2675From out this dark and dismal house of pain
2676Both him and thee, and all the heavenly host
2677Of Spirits that, in our just pretences armed,
2678Fell with us from on high. From them I go
2679This uncouth errand sole, and one for all
2680Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread
2681The unfounded Deep, and through the void immense
2682To search, with wandering quest, a place foretold
2683Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now
2684Created vast and round, a place of bliss
2685In the purlieus of Heaven; and therein placed
2686A race of upstart creatures, to supply
2687Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed,
2688Lest Heaven, surcharged with potent multitude,
2689Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught
2690Than this more secret, now designed, I haste
2691To know; and, this once known, shall soon return,
2692And bring ye to the place where thou and Death
2693Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen
2694Wing silently the buxom air, embalmed
2695With odors. There ye shall be fed and filled
2696Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.
2697He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased, and Death
2698Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
2699His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw
2700Destined to that good hour. No less rejoiced
2701His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire:
2702The key of this infernal pit, by due
2703And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King,
2704I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
2705These adamantine gates; against all force
2706Death ready stands to interpose his dart,
2707Fearless to be o'ermatched by living might.
2708But what owe I to his commands above,
2709Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down
2710Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
2711To sit in hateful office here confined,
2712Inhabitant of Heaven and heavenly born,
2713Here in perpetual agony and pain,
2714With terrors and with clamors compassed round
2715Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
2716Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
2717My being gav'st me; whom should I obey
2718But thee? whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon
2719To that new world of light and bliss, among
2720The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign
2721At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems
2722Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.
2723Thus saying, from her side the fatal key,
2724Sad instrument of all our woe, she took;
2725And, towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
2726Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew,
2727Which, but herself, not all the stygian powers
2728Could once have moved; then in the key-hole turns
2729The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
2730Of massy iron or solid rock with ease
2731Unfastens. On a sudden open fly,
2732With impetuous recoil and jarring sound,
2733The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
2734Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
2735Of Erebus. She opened; but to shut
2736Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood,
2737That with extended wings a bannered host,
2738Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through
2739With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;
2740So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth
2741Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.
2742Before their eyes in sudden view appear
2743The secrets of the hoary deep, a dark
2744Illimitable ocean, without bound,
2745Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height,
2746And time, and place, are lost; where eldest night
2747And chaos, ancestors of nature, hold
2748Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
2749Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
2750For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce,
2751Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring
2752Their embryon atoms: they around the flag
2753Of each his faction, in their several clans,
2754Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow,
2755Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands
2756Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,
2757Levied to side with warring winds, and poise
2758Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere
2759He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits,
2760And by decision more embroils the fray
2761By which he reigns: next him, high arbiter,
2762Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,
2763The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave,
2764Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
2765But all these in their pregnant causes mixed
2766Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,
2767Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain
2768His dark materials to create more worlds,
2769Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend
2770Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,
2771Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith
2772He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed
2773With noises loud and ruinous (to compare
2774Great things with small) than when Bellona storms
2775With all her battering engines, bent to rase
2776Some capital city; or less than if this frame
2777Of Heaven were falling, and these elements
2778In mutiny had from her axle torn
2779The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans
2780He spread for flight, and, in the surging smoke
2781Uplifted, spurns the ground; thence many a league,
2782As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides
2783Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets
2784A vast vacuity. All unawares,
2785Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb-down he drops
2786Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour
2787Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance,
2788The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud,
2789Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him
2790As many miles aloft. That fury stayed,
2791Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea,
2792Nor good dry land, nigh foundered, on he fares,
2793Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,
2794Half flying; behooves him now both oar and sail.
2795As when a gryphon through the wilderness
2796With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale,
2797Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
2798Had from his wakeful custody purloined
2799The guarded gold; so eagerly the fiend
2800O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
2801With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
2802And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
2803At length a universal hubbub wild
2804Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused,
2805Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear
2806With loudest vehemence. Thither he plies
2807Undaunted, to meet there whatever power
2808Or spirit of the nethermost Abyss
2809Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask
2810Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies
2811Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne
2812Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
2813Wide on the wasteful deep! With him enthroned
2814Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things,
2815The consort of his reign; and by them stood
2816Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
2817Of Demogorgon; Rumour next, and Chance,
2818And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled,
2819And Discord with a thousand various mouths.
2820To whom Satan, turning boldly, thus:, Ye powers
2821And spirtis of this nethermost Abyss,
2822Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy
2823With purpose to explore or to disturb
2824The secrets of your realm; but, by constraint
2825Wandering this darksome desert, as my way
2826Lies through your spacious empire up to light,
2827Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek,
2828What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds
2829Confine with Heaven; or, if some other place,
2830From your dominion won, the Ethereal King
2831Possesses lately, thither to arrive
2832I travel this profound. Direct my course:
2833Directed, no mean recompense it brings
2834To your behoove, if I that region lost,
2835All usurpation thence expelled, reduce
2836To her original darkness and your sway
2837(Which is my present journey), and once more
2838Erect the standard there of ancient night.
2839Yours be the advantage all, mine the revenge!
2840Thus Satan; and him thus the anarch old,
2841With faltering speech and visage incomposed,
2842Answered: I know thee, stranger, who thou art,
2843That mighty leading angel, who of late
2844Made head against Heaven's King, though overthrown.
2845I saw and heard; for such a numerous host
2846Fled not in silence through the frighted deep,
2847With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
2848Confusion worse confounded; and Heaven-gates
2849Poured out by millions her victorious bands,
2850Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here
2851Keep residence; if all I can will serve
2852That little which is left so to defend,
2853Encroached on still through our intestine broils
2854Weakening the scepter of old Night: first, Hell,
2855Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath;
2856Now lately Heaven and Earth, another world
2857Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain
2858To that side Heaven from whence your legions fell!
2859If that way be your walk, you have not far;
2860So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed;
2861Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain.
2862He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply,
2863But, glad that now his sea should find a shore,
2864With fresh alacrity and force renewed
2865Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire,
2866Into the wild expanse, and through the shock
2867Of fighting elements, on all sides round
2868Environed, wins his way; harder beset
2869And more endangered than when Argo passed
2870Through Bosporus betwixt the jostling rocks,
2871Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned
2872Charybdis, and by the other whirlpool steered.
2873So he with difficulty and labor hard
2874Moved on, with difficulty and labor he;
2875But, he once passed, soon after, when man fell,
2876Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain,
2877Following his track (such was the will of Heaven)
2878Paved after him a broad and beaten way
2879Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf
2880Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length,
2881From Hell continued, reaching the utmost orb
2882Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverse
2883With easy intercourse pass to and fro
2884To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
2885God and good angels guard by special grace.
2886But now at last the sacred influence
2887Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven
2888Shoots far into the bosom of dim night
2889A glimmering dawn. Here nature first begins
2890Her farthest verge, and chaos to retire,
2891As from her outmost works, a broken foe,
2892With tumult less and with less hostile din;
2893That Satan with less toil, and now with ease,
2894Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light,
2895And, like a weather-beaten vessel, holds
2896Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn;
2897Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,
2898Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold
2899Far off the empyreal Heaven, extended wide
2900In circuit, undetermined square or round,
2901With opal towers and battlements adorned
2902Of living sapphire, once his native seat;
2903And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain,
2904This pendent world, in bigness as a star
2905Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
2906Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,
2907Accursed, and in a cursed hour, he hies.
2908
2909~ BOOK III ~
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3655.  Back to Top
3656
3657
3658 ~ BOOK III ~
3659
3660Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn,
3661Or of the Eternal coeternal beam
3662May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,
3663And never but in unapproached light
3664Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee
3665Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
3666Or hear’st thou rather pure ethereal stream,
3667Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun,
3668Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice
3669Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
3670The rising world of waters dark and deep,
3671Won from the void and formless infinite.
3672Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,
3673Escaped the Stygian pool, though long detained
3674In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight
3675Through utter and through middle darkness borne,
3676With other notes than to the Orphean lyre
3677I sung of Chaos and eternal Night;
3678Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down
3679The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,
3680Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safe,
3681And feel thy sovereign vital lamp; but thou
3682Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain
3683To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
3684So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs,
3685Or dim suffusion veiled. Yet not the more
3686Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt,
3687Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
3688Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
3689Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,
3690That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow,
3691Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget
3692So were I equaled with them in renown,
3693Thy sovereign command, that man should find grace;
3694Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides,
3695And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old:
3696Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move
3697Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
3698Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
3699Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
3700Seasons return; but not to me returns
3701Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
3702Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
3703Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
3704But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
3705Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
3706Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
3707Presented with a universal blank
3708Of nature's works to me expunged and rased,
3709And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
3710So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
3711Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
3712Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence
3713Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
3714Of things invisible to mortal sight.
3715Now had the Almighty Father from above,
3716From the pure empyrean where he sits
3717High throned above all heighth, bent down his eye
3718His own works and their works at once to view:
3719About him all the Sanctities of Heaven
3720Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received
3721Beatitude past utterance; on his right
3722The radiant image of his glory sat,
3723His only son; on earth he first beheld
3724Our two first parents, yet the only two
3725Of mankind in the happy garden placed
3726Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,
3727Uninterrupted joy, unrivalled love,
3728In blissful solitude; he then surveyed
3729Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there
3730Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night
3731In the dun air sublime, and ready now
3732To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,
3733On the bare outside of this world, that seemed
3734Firm land imbosomed, without firmament,
3735Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
3736Him God beholding from his prospect high,
3737Wherein past, present, future, he beholds,
3738Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.
3739Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage
3740Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds
3741Prescribed no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
3742Heaped on him there, nor yet the main abyss
3743Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems
3744On desperate revenge, that shall redound
3745Upon his own rebellious head. And now,
3746Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way
3747Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light,
3748Directly towards the new created world,
3749And man there placed, with purpose to assay
3750If him by force he can destroy, or, worse,
3751By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert;
3752For man will hearken to his glozing lies,
3753And easily transgress the sole command,
3754Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall
3755He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?
3756Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me
3757All he could have; I made him just and right,
3758Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
3759Such I created all the ethereal Powers
3760And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who failed;
3761Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
3762Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
3763Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,
3764Where only what they needs must do appeared,
3765Not what they would? what praise could they receive?
3766What pleasure I from such obedience paid,
3767When will and reason (reason also is choice)
3768Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled,
3769Made passive both, had served necessity,
3770Not me? they therefore, as to right belonged,
3771So were created, nor can justly accuse
3772Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,
3773As if predestination over-ruled
3774Their will disposed by absolute decree
3775Or high foreknowledge they themselves decreed
3776Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,
3777Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
3778Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.
3779So without least impulse or shadow of fate,
3780Or aught by me immutably foreseen,
3781They trespass, authors to themselves in all
3782Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so
3783I formed them free: and free they must remain,
3784Till they enthrall themselves; I else must change
3785Their nature, and revoke the high decree
3786Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained
3787Their freedom: they themselves ordained their fall.
3788The first sort by their own suggestion fell,
3789Self-tempted, self-depraved: man falls, deceived
3790By the other first: man therefore shall find grace,
3791The other none: In mercy and justice both,
3792Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel;
3793But Mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.
3794Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance filled
3795All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect
3796Sense of new joy ineffable diffused.
3797Beyond compare the Son of God was seen
3798Most glorious; in him all his Father shone
3799Substantially expressed; and in his face
3800Divine compassion visibly appeared,
3801Love without end, and without measure grace,
3802Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake.
3803Oh Father, gracious was that word which closed
3804Thy sovereign command, that man should find grace;
3805For which both Heaven and earth shall high extol
3806Thy praises, with the innumerable sound
3807Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne
3808Encompassed shall resound thee ever blest.
3809For should man finally be lost, should man,
3810Thy creature late so loved, thy youngest son,
3811Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joined
3812With his own folly? that be from thee far,
3813That far be from thee, Father, who art judge
3814Of all things made, and judgest only right.
3815Or shall the Adversary thus obtain
3816His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfill
3817His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught,
3818Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,
3819Yet with revenge accomplished, and to Hell
3820Draw after him the whole race of mankind,
3821By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself
3822Abolish thy creation, and unmake
3823For him, what for thy glory thou hast made?
3824So should thy goodness and thy greatness both
3825Be questioned and blasphemed without defense.
3826To whom the great Creator thus replied.
3827Oh son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,
3828Son of my bosom, Son who art alone.
3829My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,
3830All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all
3831As my eternal purpose hath decreed;
3832man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will;
3833Yet not of will in him, but grace in me
3834Freely vouchsafed; once more I will renew
3835His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthralled
3836By sin to foul exorbitant desires;
3837Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand
3838On even ground against his mortal foe;
3839By me upheld, that he may know how frail
3840His fallen condition is, and to me owe
3841All his deliverance, and to none but me.
3842Some I have chosen of peculiar grace,
3843Elect above the rest; so is my will:
3844The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warned
3845Their sinful state, and to appease betimes
3846The incensed Deity, while offered grace
3847Invites; for I will clear their senses dark,
3848What may suffice, and soften stony hearts
3849To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.
3850To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,
3851Though but endeavored with sincere intent,
3852Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.
3853And I will place within them as a guide,
3854My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear,
3855Light after light, well used, they shall attain,
3856And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.
3857This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,
3858They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;
3859But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,
3860That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;
3861And none but such from mercy I exclude.
3862But yet all is not done; man disobeying,
3863Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins
3864Against the high supremacy of Heaven,
3865Affecting God-head, and, so losing all,
3866To expiate his treason hath naught left,
3867But to destruction sacred and devote,
3868He, with his whole posterity, must die,
3869Die he or justice must; unless for him
3870Some other able, and as willing, pay
3871The rigid satisfaction, death for death.
3872Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?
3873Which of you will be mortal, to redeem
3874Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save?
3875Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?
3876And silence was in Heaven: on man's behalf
3877He asked, but all the heavenly quire stood mute,
3878Patron or intercessor none appeared,
3879Much less that durst upon his own head draw
3880The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.
3881And now without redemption all mankind
3882Must have been lost, adjudged to Death and Hell
3883By doom severe, had not the Son of God,
3884In whom the fullness dwells of love divine,
3885His dearest mediation thus renewed.
3886Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace;
3887And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,
3888The speediest of thy winged messengers,
3889To visit all thy creatures, and to all
3890Comes unprevented, unimplored, unsought?
3891Happy for man, so coming; he her aid
3892Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost;
3893Atonement for himself, or offering meet,
3894Indebted and undone, hath none to bring;
3895Behold me then: me for him, life for life
3896I offer: on me let thine anger fall;
3897Account me Man; I for his sake will leave
3898Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee
3899Freely put off, and for him lastly die
3900Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage.
3901Under his gloomy power I shall not long
3902Lie vanquished. Thou hast given me to possess
3903Life in myself for ever; by thee I live;
3904Though now to Death I yield, and am his due,
3905All that of me can die, yet, that debt paid,
3906Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave
3907His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul
3908For ever with corruption there to dwell;
3909But I shall rise victorious, and subdue
3910My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil.
3911Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop
3912Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed;
3913I through the ample air in triumph high
3914Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show
3915The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight
3916Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,
3917While, by thee raised, I ruin all my foes;
3918Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave;
3919Then, with the multitude of my redeemed,
3920Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return,
3921Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud
3922Of anger shall remain, but peace assured
3923And reconcilement: wrath shall be no more
3924Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.
3925His words here ended; but his meek aspect
3926Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love
3927To mortal men, above which only shone
3928Filial obedience: as a sacrifice
3929Glad to be offered, he attends the will
3930Of his great Father. Admiration seized
3931All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend,
3932Wondering; but soon the Almighty thus replied.
3933Oh thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace
3934Found out for mankind under wrath, Oh thou
3935My sole complacence. Well thou know'st how dear
3936To me are all my works; nor man the least,
3937Though last created, that for him I spare
3938Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,
3939By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.
3940Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem,
3941Their nature also to thy nature join;
3942And be thyself man among men on Earth,
3943Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,
3944By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam's room
3945The head of all mankind, though Adam's son.
3946As in him perish all men, so in thee,
3947As from a second root, shall be restored
3948As many as are restored, without thee none.
3949His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit,
3950Imputed, shall absolve them who renounce
3951Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,
3952And live in thee transplanted, and from thee
3953Receive new life. So Man, as is most just,
3954Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die,
3955And dying rise, and rising with him raise
3956His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.
3957So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate,
3958Giving to death, and dying to redeem,
3959So dearly to redeem what hellish hate
3960So easily destroyed, and still destroys
3961In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
3962Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume
3963Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own.
3964Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss
3965Equal to God, and equally enjoying
3966God-like fruition, quitted all, to save
3967A world from utter loss, and hast been found
3968By merit more than birthright Son of God,
3969Found worthiest to be so by being good,
3970Far more than great or high; because in thee
3971Love hath abounded more than glory abounds;
3972Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt
3973With thee thy manhood also to this throne:
3974Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign
3975Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,
3976Anointed universal King; all power
3977I give thee; reign for ever, and assume
3978Thy merits; under thee, as head supreme,
3979Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce:
3980All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide
3981In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell.
3982When thou, attended gloriously from Heaven,
3983Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send
3984The summoning archangels to proclaim
3985Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds,
3986The living, and forthwith the cited dead
3987Of all past ages, to the general doom
3988Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep.
3989Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge
3990Bad men and angels; they, arraigned, shall sink
3991Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full,
3992Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while
3993The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring
3994New Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell,
3995And, after all their tribulations long,
3996See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,
3997With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth.
3998Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,
3999For regal scepter then no more shall need,
4000God shall be all in all. But, all ye Gods,
4001Adore him, who to compass all this dies;
4002Adore the Son, and honor him as me.
4003No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all
4004The multitude of angels, with a shout
4005Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
4006As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heaven rung
4007With jubilee, and loud Hosannas filled
4008The eternal regions: Lowly reverent
4009Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground
4010With solemn adoration down they cast
4011Their crowns inwove with amaranth and gold;
4012Immortal amaranth, a flower which once
4013In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,
4014Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence
4015To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,
4016And flowers aloft shading the fount of life,
4017And where the river of bliss through midst of Heaven
4018Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream;
4019With these that never fade the Spirits elect
4020Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams;
4021Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
4022Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,
4023Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.
4024Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took,
4025Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side
4026Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
4027Of charming symphony they introduce
4028Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;
4029No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
4030Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven.
4031Thee, Father, first they sung Omnipotent,
4032Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,
4033Eternal King; the Author of all being,
4034Fountain of light, thyself invisible
4035Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st
4036Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest
4037The full blaze of thy beams, and, through a cloud
4038Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,
4039Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,
4040Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim
4041Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
4042Thee next they sang of all creation first,
4043Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,
4044In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud
4045Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,
4046Whom else no creature can behold; on thee
4047Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides,
4048Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.
4049He Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein
4050By thee created; and by thee threw down
4051The aspiring Dominations: Thou that day
4052Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,
4053Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook
4054Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks
4055Thou drovest of warring angels disarrayed.
4056Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim
4057Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father's might,
4058To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,
4059Not so on Man: Him through their malice fallen,
4060Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom
4061So strictly, but much more to pity incline:
4062No sooner did thy dear and only Son
4063Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail man
4064So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,
4065He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife
4066Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned,
4067Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat
4068Second to thee, offered himself to die
4069For Man's offence. Oh unexampled love,
4070Love no where to be found less than Divine!
4071Hail, Son of God, Savior of Men! Thy name
4072Shall be the copious matter of my song
4073Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise
4074Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin.
4075Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere,
4076Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.
4077Mean while upon the firm opacous globe
4078Of this round world, whose first convex divides
4079The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed
4080From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old,
4081Satan alighted walks: A globe far off
4082It seemed, now seems a boundless continent
4083Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night
4084Starless exposed, and ever-threatening storms
4085Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;
4086Save on that side which from the wall of Heaven,
4087Though distant far, some small reflection gains
4088Of glimmering air less vexed with tempest loud:
4089Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field.
4090As when a vulture on Imaus bred,
4091Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
4092Dislodging from a region scarce of prey
4093To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids,
4094On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs
4095Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;
4096But in his way lights on the barren plains
4097Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
4098With sails and wind their cany wagons light:
4099So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend
4100Walked up and down alone, bent on his prey;
4101Alone, for other creature in this place,
4102Living or lifeless, to be found was none;
4103None yet, but store hereafter from the earth
4104Up hither like aerial vapors flew
4105Of all things transitory and vain, when sin
4106With vanity had filled the works of men:
4107Both all things vain, and all who in vain things
4108Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame,
4109Or happiness in this or the other life;
4110All who have their reward on earth, the fruits
4111Of painful superstition and blind zeal,
4112Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find
4113Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;
4114All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand,
4115Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed,
4116Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
4117Till final dissolution, wander here;
4118Not in the neighboring moon as some have dreamed;
4119Those argent fields more likely habitants,
4120Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold
4121Betwixt the angelical and human kind.
4122Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born
4123First from the ancient world those giants came
4124With many a vain exploit, though then renowned:
4125The builders next of Babel on the plain
4126Of Sennaar, and still with vain design,
4127New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build:
4128Others came single; he, who, to be deemed
4129A God, leaped fondly into Aetna flames,
4130Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy
4131Plato's Elysium, leaped into the sea,
4132Cleombrotus; and many more too long,
4133Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars
4134White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery.
4135Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek
4136In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven;
4137And they, who to be sure of Paradise,
4138Dying, put on the weeds of Dominick,
4139Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised;
4140They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed,
4141And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
4142The trepidation talked, and that first moved;
4143And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems
4144To wait them with his keys, and now at foot
4145Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo
4146A violent cross wind from either coast
4147Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry
4148Into the devious air: Then might ye see
4149Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed
4150And fluttered into rags; then relics, beads,
4151Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,
4152The sport of winds: All these, upwhirled aloft,
4153Fly o'er the backside of the world far off
4154Into a Limbo large and broad, since called
4155The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown
4156Long after; now unpeopled, and untrod.
4157All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed,
4158And long he wandered, till at last a gleam
4159Of dawning light turned thither-ward in haste
4160His traveled steps: far distant he descries
4161Ascending by degrees magnificent
4162Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high;
4163At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared
4164The work as of a kingly palace-gate,
4165With frontispiece of diamond and gold
4166Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems
4167The portal shone, inimitable on earth
4168By model, or by shading pencil, drawn.
4169These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw
4170Angels ascending and descending, bands
4171Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled
4172To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz
4173Dreaming by night under the open sky
4174And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven.
4175Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
4176There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes
4177Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed
4178Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
4179Who after came from earth, failing arrived
4180Wafted by angels, or flew o'er the lake
4181Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
4182The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
4183The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate
4184His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss:
4185Direct against which opened from beneath,
4186Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
4187A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide,
4188Wider by far than that of after-times
4189Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
4190Over the Promised Land to God so dear;
4191By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,
4192On high behests his angels to and fro
4193Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard
4194From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,
4195To Beersaba, where the Holy Land
4196Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;
4197So wide the opening seemed, where bounds were set
4198To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.
4199Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,
4200That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate,
4201Looks down with wonder at the sudden view
4202Of all this world at once. As when a scout,
4203Through dark and desert ways with peril gone
4204All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn
4205Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,
4206Which to his eye discovers unaware
4207The goodly prospect of some foreign land
4208First seen, or some renowned metropolis
4209With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,
4210Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams:
4211Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen,
4212The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized,
4213At sight of all this world beheld so fair.
4214Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood
4215So high above the circling canopy
4216Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point
4217Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears
4218Andromeda far off Atlantic seas
4219Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole
4220He views in breadth, and without longer pause
4221Down right into the world's first region throws
4222His flight precipitant, and winds with ease
4223Through the pure marble air his oblique way
4224Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
4225Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds;
4226Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles,
4227Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,
4228Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales,
4229Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there
4230He staid not to inquire: Above them all
4231The golden sun, in splendor likest Heaven,
4232Allured his eye; thither his course he bends
4233Through the calm firmament, (but up or down,
4234By center, or eccentric, hard to tell,
4235Or longitude,) where the great luminary
4236Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,
4237That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
4238Dispenses light from far; they, as they move
4239Their starry dance in numbers that compute
4240Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp
4241Turn swift their various motions, or are turned
4242By his magnetic beam, that gently warms
4243The universe, and to each inward part
4244With gentle penetration, though unseen,
4245Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;
4246So wondrously was set his station bright.
4247There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps
4248Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb
4249Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw.
4250The place he found beyond expression bright,
4251Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone;
4252Not all parts like, but all alike informed
4253With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;
4254If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear;
4255If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,
4256Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone
4257In Aaron's breast-plate, and a stone besides
4258Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen,
4259That stone, or like to that which here below
4260Philosophers in vain so long have sought,
4261In vain, though by their powerful art they bind
4262Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound
4263In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,
4264Drained through a limbec to his native form.
4265What wonder then if fields and regions here
4266Breathe forth Elixir pure, and rivers run
4267Potable gold, when with one virtuous touch
4268The arch-chemic sun, so far from us remote,
4269Produces, with terrestrial humor mixed,
4270Here in the dark so many precious things
4271Of color glorious, and effect so rare?
4272Here matter new to gaze the Devil met
4273Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands;
4274For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,
4275But all sun-shine, as when his beams at noon
4276Culminate from the equator, as they now
4277Shot upward still direct, whence no way round
4278Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air,
4279No where so clear, sharpened his visual ray
4280To objects distant far, whereby he soon
4281Saw within ken a glorious angel stand,
4282The same whom John saw also in the sun:
4283His back was turned, but not his brightness hid;
4284Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar
4285Circled his head, nor less his locks behind
4286Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings
4287Lay waving round; on some great charge employed
4288He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep.
4289Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope
4290To find who might direct his wandering flight
4291To Paradise, the happy seat of Man,
4292His journey's end and our beginning woe.
4293But first he casts to change his proper shape,
4294Which else might work him danger or delay:
4295And now a stripling Cherub he appears,
4296Not of the prime, yet such as in his face
4297Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb
4298Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned:
4299Under a coronet his flowing hair
4300In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore
4301Of many a colored plume, sprinkled with gold;
4302His habit fit for speed succinct, and held
4303Before his decent steps a silver wand.
4304He drew not nigh unheard; the angel bright,
4305Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turned,
4306Admonished by his ear, and straight was known
4307The archangel Uriel, one of the seven
4308Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne,
4309Stand ready at command, and are his eyes
4310That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth
4311Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,
4312O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts.
4313Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand
4314In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright,
4315The first art wont his great authentic will
4316Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring,
4317Where all his sons thy embassy attend;
4318And here art likeliest by supreme decree
4319Like honor to obtain, and as his eye
4320To visit oft this new creation round;
4321Unspeakable desire to see, and know
4322All these his wondrous works, but chiefly Man,
4323His chief delight and favor, him for whom
4324All these his works so wondrous he ordained,
4325Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim
4326Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell
4327In which of all these shining orbs hath man
4328His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none,
4329But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell;
4330That I may find him, and with secret gaze
4331Or open admiration him behold,
4332On whom the great Creator hath bestowed
4333Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured;
4334That both in him and all things, as is meet,
4335The universal Maker we may praise;
4336Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes
4337To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss,
4338Created this new happy race of Men
4339To serve him better: Wise are all his ways.
4340So spake the false dissembler unperceived;
4341For neither man nor angel can discern
4342Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks
4343Invisible, except to God alone,
4344By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth:
4345And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps
4346At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity
4347Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill
4348Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguiled
4349Uriel, though regent of the sun, and held
4350The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven;
4351Who to the fraudulent impostor foul,
4352In his uprightness, answer thus returned.
4353Fair angel, thy desire, which tends to know
4354The works of God, thereby to glorify
4355The great Work-master, leads to no excess
4356That reaches blame, but rather merits praise
4357The more it seems excess, that led thee hither
4358From thy empyreal mansion thus alone,
4359To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps,
4360Contented with report, hear only in Heaven:
4361For wonderful indeed are all his works,
4362Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
4363Had in remembrance always with delight;
4364But what created mind can comprehend
4365Their number, or the wisdom infinite
4366That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?
4367I saw when at his word the formless mass,
4368This world's material mould, came to a heap:
4369Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar
4370Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined;
4371Till at his second bidding Darkness fled,
4372Light shone, and order from disorder sprung:
4373Swift to their several quarters hasted then
4374The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;
4375And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven
4376Flew upward, spirited with various forms,
4377That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars
4378Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;
4379Each had his place appointed, each his course;
4380The rest in circuit walls this universe.
4381Look downward on that globe, whose hither side
4382With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;
4383That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light
4384His day, which else, as the other hemisphere,
4385Night would invade; but there the neighboring moon
4386So call that opposite fair star) her aid
4387Timely interposes, and her monthly round
4388Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heaven,
4389With borrowed light her countenance triform
4390Hence fills and empties to enlighten the Earth,
4391And in her pale dominion checks the night.
4392That spot, to which I point, is Paradise,
4393Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower.
4394Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.
4395Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low,
4396As to superior Spirits is wont in Heaven,
4397Where honor due and reverence none neglects,
4398Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath,
4399Down from the ecliptic, sped with hoped success,
4400Throws his steep flight in many an aerie wheel;
4401Nor staid, till on Niphates' top he lights.
4402
4403~ BOOK IV ~
4404
4405
4406
4407
4408
4409
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4411
4412
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4416
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4423
4424
4425
4426BOOK IV
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4428
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4445
4446BOOK IV
4447
4448
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4466BOOK IV
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4486BOOK IV
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4506BOOK IV
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4526BOOK IV
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4546BOOK IV
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4566BOOK IV
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4586BOOK IV
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4606BOOK IV
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4626BOOK IV
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4646BOOK IV
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4666BOOK IV
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4685
4686BOOK IV
4687
4688
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4706BOOK IV
4707
4708
4709
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4726BOOK IV
4727
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4746BOOK IV
4747
4748
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4755
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4766BOOK IV
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4786BOOK IV
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4806BOOK IV
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4826BOOK IV
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4846BOOK IV
4847
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4866BOOK IV
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4886BOOK IV
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4906BOOK IV
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4926BOOK IV
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4946BOOK IV
4947
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4966BOOK IV
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4986BOOK IV
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5000
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5006BOOK IV
5007
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5026BOOK IV
5027
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5046BOOK IV
5047
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5066BOOK IV
5067
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5086BOOK IV
5087
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5105
5106BOOK IV
5107
5108
5109
5110
5111
5112
5113
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5119
5120
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5124
5125
5126BOOK IV
5127
5128
5129
5130
5131
5132
5133
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5142
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5145
5146BOOK IV
5147
5148
5149
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5165
5166BOOK IV
5167
5168
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5185
5186BOOK IV
5187
5188
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5204
5205
5206BOOK IV
5207
5208
5209
5210
5211
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5221
5222
5223
5224
5225
5226BOOK IV
5227
5228
5229
5230
5231
5232
5233
5234
5235
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5241
5242
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5244
5245
5246BOOK IV
5247
5248
5249
5250
5251
5252
5253
5254
5255
5256
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5260
5261
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5264
5265
5266BOOK IV
5267
5268
5269
5270
5271
5272
5273
5274
5275
5276
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5278
5279
5280
5281
5282
5283
5284
5285
5286BOOK IV
5287
5288
5289
5290
5291
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5293
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5295
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5298
5299
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5306BOOK IV
5307
5308
5309
5310
5311
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5316
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5321
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5325
5326BOOK IV
5327
5328
5329
5330
5331
5332
5333
5334
5335
5336
5337
5338
5339
5340
5341
5342
5343
5344
5345
5346BOOK IV
5347
5348
5349
5350
5351
5352
5353
5354
5355
5356
5357
5358
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5360
5361
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5363
5364
5365
5366BOOK IV
5367
5368
5369
5370
5371
5372
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5374
5375
5376
5377
5378
5379
5380
5381
5382
5383
5384
5385
5386BOOK IV
5387
5388
5389
5390
5391
5392
5393
5394
5395
5396
5397
5398
5399
5400
5401
5402
5403
5404
5405
5406BOOK IV
5407
5408
5409.  Back to Top
5410
5411
5412 ~ BOOK IV ~
5413
5414Oh, for that warning voice, which he, who saw
5415The Apocalypse, heard cry in Heaven aloud,
5416Then when the Dragon, put to second rout,
5417Came furious down to be revenged on men,
5418Woe to the inhabitants on earth, that now,
5419While time was, our first parents had been warned
5420The coming of their secret foe, and 'scaped,
5421Haply so 'scaped his mortal snare: For now
5422Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down,
5423The tempter ere the accuser of mankind,
5424To wreak on innocent frail man his loss
5425Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell:
5426Yet, not rejoicing in his speed, though bold
5427Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast,
5428Begins his dire attempt; which nigh the birth
5429Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast,
5430And like a devilish engine back recoils
5431Upon himself; horror and doubt distract
5432His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir
5433The Hell within him; for within him Hell
5434He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
5435One step, no more than from himself, can fly
5436By change of place: Now conscience wakes despair,
5437That slumbered; wakes the bitter memory
5438Of what he was, what is, and what must be
5439Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.
5440Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view
5441Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad;
5442Sometimes towards Heaven, and the full-blazing sun,
5443Which now sat high in his meridian tower:
5444Then, much revolving, thus in sighs began.
5445Oh thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned,
5446Lookest from thy sole dominion like the God
5447Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars
5448Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call,
5449But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,
5450Of Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
5451That bring to my remembrance from what state
5452I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;
5453Till pride and worse ambition threw me down
5454Warring in Heaven against Heaven's matchless King:
5455Ah, wherefore he deserved no such return
5456From me, whom he created what I was
5457In that bright eminence, and with his good
5458Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.
5459What could be less than to afford him praise,
5460The easiest recompense, and pay him thanks,
5461How due, yet all his good proved ill in me,
5462And wrought but malice; lifted up so high
5463I ‘sdained subjection, and thought one step higher
5464Would set me highest, and in a moment quit
5465The debt immense of endless gratitude,
5466So burdensome still paying, still to owe,
5467Forgetful what from him I still received,
5468And understood not that a grateful mind
5469By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
5470Indebted and discharged; what burden then
5471Oh, had his powerful destiny ordained
5472Me some inferior angel, I had stood
5473Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised
5474Ambition. Yet why not some other Power
5475As great might have aspired, and me, though mean,
5476Drawn to his part; but other Powers as great
5477Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within
5478Or from without, to all temptations armed.
5479Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand?
5480Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,
5481But Heaven's free love dealt equally to all?
5482Be then his love accursed, since love or hate,
5483To me alike, it deals eternal woe.
5484Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy will
5485Chose freely what it now so justly rues.
5486Me miserable, which way shall I fly
5487Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
5488Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;
5489And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
5490Still threatening to devour me opens wide,
5491To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.
5492Oh, then, at last relent: Is there no place
5493Left for repentance, none for pardon left?
5494None left but by submission; and that word
5495Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
5496Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced
5497With other promises and other vaunts
5498Than to submit, boasting I could subdue
5499The Omnipotent. Ay me! they little know
5500How dearly I abide that boast so vain,
5501Under what torments inwardly I groan,
5502While they adore me on the throne of Hell.
5503With diadem and scepter high advanced,
5504The lower still I fall, only supreme
5505In misery: Such joy ambition finds.
5506But say I could repent, and could obtain,
5507By act of grace, my former state; how soon
5508Would heighth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay
5509What feigned submission swore? Ease would recant
5510Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
5511For never can true reconcilement grow,
5512Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep:
5513Which would but lead me to a worse relapse
5514And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear
5515Short intermission bought with double smart.
5516This knows my Punisher; therefore as far
5517From granting he, as I from begging, peace;
5518All hope excluded thus, behold, in stead
5519Mankind created, and for him this world.
5520So farewell, hope; and with hope farewell, fear;
5521Farewell, remorse, all good to me is lost;
5522Evil, be thou my good; by thee at least
5523Divided empire with Heaven's King I hold,
5524By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;
5525As man ere long, and this new world, shall know.
5526Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face
5527Thrice changed with pale, ire, envy, and despair;
5528Which marred his borrowed visage, and betrayed
5529Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.
5530For heavenly minds from such distempers foul
5531Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware,
5532Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm,
5533Artificer of fraud; and was the first
5534That practiced falsehood under saintly show,
5535Deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge:
5536Yet not enough had practiced to deceive
5537Uriel once warned; whose eye pursued him down
5538The way he went, and on the Assyrian mount
5539Saw him disfigured, more than could befall
5540Spirit of happy sort; his gestures fierce
5541He marked and mad demeanor, then alone,
5542As he supposed, all unobserved, unseen.
5543So on he fares, and to the border comes
5544Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
5545Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,
5546As with a rural mound, the champaign head
5547Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
5548Access denied; and overhead upgrew
5549Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
5550Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
5551A sylvan scene, and, as the ranks ascend,
5552Shade above shade, a woody theatre
5553Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
5554The verdurous wall of Paradise upsprung;
5555Which to our general sire gave prospect large
5556Into his nether empire neighboring round.
5557And higher than that wall a circling row
5558Of goodliest trees, loaden with fairest fruit,
5559Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
5560Appeared, with gay enameled colors mixed:
5561On which the sun more glad impressed his beams
5562Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
5563When God hath showered the earth; so lovely seemed
5564That landscape: And of pure now purer air
5565Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
5566Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
5567All sadness but despair: Now gentle gales,
5568Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
5569Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
5570Those balmy spoils. As when to them who fail
5571Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
5572Mozambique, off at sea north-east winds blow
5573Sabean odors from the spicy shore
5574Of Araby the blest; with such delay
5575Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league
5576Cheered with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles:
5577So entertained those odorous sweets the Fiend,
5578Who came their bane; though with them better pleased
5579Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume
5580That drove him, though enamored, from the spouse
5581Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
5582From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound.
5583Now to the ascent of that steep savage hill
5584Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow;
5585But further way found none, so thick entwined,
5586As one continued brake, the undergrowth
5587Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplexed
5588All path of man or beast that passed that way.
5589One gate there only was, and that looked east
5590On the other side: which when the arch-felon saw,
5591Due entrance he disdained; and, in contempt,
5592At one flight bound high over-leaped all bound
5593Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within
5594Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
5595Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
5596Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve
5597In hurdled cotes amid the field secure,
5598Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold:
5599Or as a thief, bent to unhoard the cash
5600Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,
5601Cross-barred and bolted fast, fear no assault,
5602In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles:
5603So clomb this first grand thief into God's fold;
5604So since into his church lewd hirelings climb.
5605Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life,
5606The middle tree and highest there that grew,
5607Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life
5608Thereby regained, but sat devising death
5609To them who lived; nor on the virtue thought
5610Of that life-giving plant, but only used
5611For prospect, what well used had been the pledge
5612Of immortality. So little knows
5613Any, but God alone, to value right
5614The good before him, but perverts best things
5615To worst abuse, or to their meanest use.
5616Beneath him with new wonder now he views,
5617To all delight of human sense exposed,
5618In narrow room, Nature's whole wealth, yea more,
5619A Heaven on Earth: For blissful Paradise
5620Of God the garden was, by him in the east
5621Of Eden planted; Eden stretched her line
5622From Auran eastward to the royal towers
5623Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings,
5624Of where the sons of Eden long before
5625Dwelt in Telassar: In this pleasant soil
5626His far more pleasant garden God ordained;
5627Out of the fertile ground he caused to grow
5628All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;
5629And all amid them stood the tree of life,
5630High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit
5631Of vegetable gold; and next to life,
5632Our death, the tree of knowledge, grew fast by,
5633Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill.
5634Southward through Eden went a river large,
5635Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill
5636Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had thrown
5637That mountain as his garden-mould high raised
5638Upon the rapid current, which, through veins
5639Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn,
5640Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill
5641Watered the garden; thence united fell
5642Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
5643Which from his darksome passage now appears,
5644And now, divided into four main streams,
5645Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm
5646And country, whereof here needs no account;
5647But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
5648How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
5649Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,
5650With mazy error under pendant shades
5651Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
5652Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice Art
5653In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon
5654Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
5655Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
5656The open field, and where the unpierced shade
5657Imbrowned the noontide bowers: Thus was this place
5658A happy rural seat of various view;
5659Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
5660Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
5661Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
5662If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
5663Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
5664Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
5665Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap
5666Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
5667Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
5668Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
5669Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
5670Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
5671Luxuriant; mean while murmuring waters fall
5672Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,
5673That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned
5674Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.
5675The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
5676Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
5677The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
5678Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
5679Led on the eternal Spring. Not that fair field
5680Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers,
5681Herself a fairer flower by gloomy Dis
5682Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain
5683To seek her through the world; nor that sweet grove
5684Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspired
5685Castalian spring, might with this Paradise
5686Of Eden strive; nor that Nyseian isle
5687Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham,
5688Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove,
5689Hid Amalthea, and her florid son
5690Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye;
5691Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard,
5692Mount Amara, though this by some supposed
5693True Paradise under the Ethiop line
5694By Nilus' head, enclosed with shining rock,
5695A whole day's journey high, but wide remote
5696From this Assyrian garden, where the Fiend
5697Saw, undelighted, all delight, all kind
5698Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange
5699Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
5700Godlike erect, with native honor clad
5701In naked majesty seemed lords of all:
5702And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine
5703The image of their glorious Maker shone,
5704Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
5705(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,)
5706Whence true authority in men; though both
5707Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;
5708For contemplation he and velour formed;
5709For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
5710He for God only, she for God in him:
5711His fair large front and eye sublime declared
5712Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
5713Round from his parted forelock manly hung
5714Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
5715She, as a veil, down to the slender waist
5716Her unadorned golden tresses wore
5717Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved
5718As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied
5719Subjection, but required with gentle sway,
5720And by her yielded, by him best received,
5721Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
5722And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
5723Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed;
5724Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shame
5725Of nature's works, honor dishonorable,
5726Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind
5727With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure,
5728And banished from man's life his happiest life,
5729Simplicity and spotless innocence.
5730So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sight
5731Of God or angel; for they thought no ill:
5732So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair,
5733That ever since in love's embraces met;
5734Adam the goodliest man of men since born
5735His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.
5736Under a tuft of shade that on a green
5737Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain side
5738They sat them down; and, after no more toil
5739Of their sweet gardening labor than sufficed
5740To recommend cool Zephyr, and made ease
5741More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite
5742More grateful, to their supper-fruits they fell,
5743Nectarine fruits which the compliant boughs
5744Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline
5745On the soft downy bank damasked with flowers:
5746The savory pulp they chew, and in the rind,
5747Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream;
5748Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smiles
5749Wanted, nor youthful dalliance, as beseems
5750Fair couple, linked in happy nuptial league,
5751Alone as they. About them frisking played
5752All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase
5753In wood or wilderness, forest or den;
5754Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw
5755Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,
5756Gamboled before them; the unwieldy elephant,
5757To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed
5758His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly,
5759Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine
5760His braided train, and of his fatal guile
5761Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass
5762Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat,
5763Or bedward ruminating; for the sun,
5764Declined, was hasting now with prone career
5765To the ocean isles, and in the ascending scale
5766Of Heaven the stars that usher evening rose:
5767When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood,
5768Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered sad.
5769Oh Hell! what do mine eyes with grief behold?
5770Into our room of bliss thus high advanced
5771Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps,
5772Not Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright
5773Little inferior; whom my thoughts pursue
5774With wonder, and could love, so lively shines
5775In them divine resemblance, and such grace
5776The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.
5777Ah, gentle pair, ye little think how nigh
5778Your change approaches, when all these delights
5779Will vanish, and deliver ye to woe;
5780More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;
5781Happy, but for so happy ill secured
5782Long to continue, and this high seat your Heaven
5783Ill fenced for Heaven to keep out such a foe
5784As now is entered; yet no purposed foe
5785To you, whom I could pity thus forlorn,
5786Though I unpitied: League with you I seek,
5787And mutual amity, so strait, so close,
5788That I with you must dwell, or you with me
5789Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please,
5790Like this fair Paradise, your sense; yet such
5791Accept your Maker's work; he gave it me,
5792Which I as freely give: Hell shall unfold,
5793To entertain you two, her widest gates,
5794And send forth all her kings; there will be room,
5795Not like these narrow limits, to receive
5796Your numerous offspring; if no better place,
5797Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge
5798On you who wrong me not for him who wronged.
5799And should I at your harmless innocence
5800Melt, as I do, yet public reason just,
5801Honor and empire with revenge enlarged,
5802By conquering this new world, compels me now
5803To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.
5804So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
5805The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
5806Then from his lofty stand on that high tree
5807Down he alights among the sportful herd
5808Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one,
5809Now other, as their shape served best his end
5810Nearer to view his prey, and, unespied,
5811To mark what of their state he more might learn,
5812By word or action marked. About them round
5813A lion now he stalks with fiery glare;
5814Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
5815In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play,
5816Straight couches close, then, rising, changes oft
5817His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
5818Whence rushing, he might surest seize them both,
5819Griped in each paw: when, Adam first of men
5820To first of women Eve thus moving speech,
5821Turned him, all ear to hear new utterance flow.
5822Sole partner, and sole part, of all these joys,
5823Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power
5824That made us, and for us this ample world,
5825Be infinitely good, and of his good
5826As liberal and free as infinite;
5827That raised us from the dust, and placed us here
5828In all this happiness, who at his hand
5829Have nothing merited, nor can perform
5830Aught whereof he hath need; he who requires
5831From us no other service than to keep
5832This one, this easy charge, of all the trees
5833In Paradise that bear delicious fruit
5834So various, not to taste that only tree
5835Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life;
5836So near grows death to life, whate'er death is,
5837Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou knowest
5838God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree,
5839The only sign of our obedience left,
5840Among so many signs of power and rule
5841Conferred upon us, and dominion given
5842Over all other creatures that possess
5843Earth, air, and sea. Then let us not think hard
5844One easy prohibition, who enjoy
5845Free leave so large to all things else, and choice
5846Unlimited of manifold delights:
5847But let us ever praise him, and extol
5848His bounty, following our delightful task,
5849To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers,
5850Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.
5851To whom thus Eve replied. Oh thou for whom
5852And from whom I was formed, flesh of thy flesh,
5853And without whom am to no end, my guide
5854And head, what thou hast said is just and right.
5855For we to him indeed all praises owe,
5856And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy
5857So far the happier lot, enjoying thee
5858Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou
5859Like consort to thyself canst no where find.
5860That day I oft remember, when from sleep
5861I first awaked, and found myself reposed
5862Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
5863And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
5864Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
5865Of waters issued from a cave, and spread
5866Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved
5867Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I thither went
5868With unexperienced thought, and laid me down
5869On the green bank, to look into the clear
5870Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
5871As I bent down to look, just opposite
5872A shape within the watery gleam appeared,
5873Bending to look on me: I started back,
5874It started back; but pleased I soon returned,
5875Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
5876Of sympathy and love: There I had fixed
5877Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
5878Had not a voice thus warned me; 'What thou seest,
5879'What there thou seest, fair Creature, is thyself;
5880'With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
5881'And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
5882'Thy coming, and thy soft embraces, he
5883'Whose image thou art; him thou shalt enjoy
5884'Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear
5885'Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called
5886'Mother of human race.' What could I do,
5887But follow straight, invisibly thus led?
5888Till I espied thee, fair indeed and tall,
5889Under a platane; yet methought less fair,
5890Less winning soft, less amiably mild,
5891Than that smooth watery image: Back I turned;
5892Thou following cried’st aloud, 'Return, fair Eve;
5893'Whom flyest thou? whom thou flyest, of him thou art,
5894'His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent
5895'Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,
5896'Substantial life, to have thee by my side
5897'Henceforth an individual solace dear;
5898'Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim
5899'My other half:' With that thy gentle hand
5900Seized mine: I yielded; and from that time see
5901How beauty is excelled by manly grace,
5902And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.
5903So spake our general mother, and with eyes
5904Of conjugal attraction unreproved,
5905And meek surrender, half-embracing leaned
5906On our first father; half her swelling breast
5907Naked met his, under the flowing gold
5908Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight
5909Both of her beauty, and submissive charms,
5910Smiled with superior love, as Jupiter
5911On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds
5912That shed Mayflowers; and pressed her matron lip
5913With kisses pure: Aside the Devil turned
5914For envy; yet with jealous leer malign
5915Eyed them askance, and to himself thus ‘plained.
5916Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two,
5917Imparadised in one another's arms,
5918The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
5919Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am thrust,
5920Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
5921Among our other torments not the least,
5922Still unfulfilled with pain of longing pines.
5923Yet let me not forget what I have gained
5924From their own mouths: All is not theirs, it seems;
5925One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,
5926Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden
5927Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
5928Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?
5929Can it be death? And do they only stand
5930By ignorance? Is that their happy state,
5931The proof of their obedience and their faith?
5932Oh fair foundation laid whereon to build
5933Their ruin; hence I will excite their minds
5934With more desire to know, and to reject
5935Envious commands, invented with design
5936To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt
5937Equal with Gods: aspiring to be such,
5938They taste and die: What likelier can ensue
5939But first with narrow search I must walk round
5940This garden, and no corner leave unspied;
5941A chance but chance may lead where I may meet
5942Some wandering Spirit of Heaven by fountain side,
5943Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw
5944What further would be learned. Live while ye may,
5945Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,
5946Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed!
5947So saying, his proud step he scornful turned,
5948But with sly circumspection, and began
5949Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam
5950Mean while in utmost longitude, where Heaven
5951With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun
5952Slowly descended, and with right aspect
5953Against the eastern gate of Paradise
5954Leveled his evening rays: It was a rock
5955Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,
5956Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent
5957Accessible from earth, one entrance high;
5958The rest was craggy cliff, that overhung
5959Still as it rose, impossible to climb.
5960Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,
5961Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night;
5962About him exercised heroic games
5963The unarmed youth of Heaven, but nigh at hand
5964Celestial armory, shields, helms, and spears,
5965Hung high with diamond flaming, and with gold.
5966Thither came Uriel, gliding through the even
5967On a sun-beam, swift as a shooting star
5968In autumn thwarts the night, when vapors fired
5969Impress the air, and shows the mariner
5970From what point of his compass to beware
5971Impetuous winds: He thus began in haste.
5972Gabriel, to thee thy course by lot hath given
5973Charge and strict watch, that to this happy place
5974No evil thing approach or enter in.
5975This day at heighth of noon came to my sphere
5976A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed, to know
5977More of the Almighty's works, and chiefly Man,
5978God's latest image: I described his way
5979Bent all on speed, and marked his aerie gait;
5980But in the mount that lies from Eden north,
5981Where he first lighted, soon discerned his looks
5982Alien from Heaven, with passions foul obscured:
5983Mine eye pursued him still, but under shade
5984Lost sight of him: One of the banished crew,
5985I fear, hath ventured from the deep, to raise
5986New troubles; him thy care must be to find.
5987To whom the winged warrior thus returned.
5988Uriel, no wonder if thy perfect sight,
5989Amid the sun's bright circle where thou sits,
5990See far and wide: In at this gate none pass
5991The vigilance here placed, but such as come
5992Well known from Heaven; and since meridian hour
5993No creature thence: If spirit of other sort,
5994So minded, have o'er-leaped these earthly bounds
5995On purpose, hard thou knowest it to exclude
5996Spiritual substance with corporeal bar.
5997But if within the circuit of these walks,
5998In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom
5999Thou tellest, by morrow dawning I shall know.
6000So promised he; and Uriel to his charge
6001Returned on that bright beam, whose point now raised
6002Bore him slope downward to the sun now fallen
6003Beneath the Azores; whether the prime orb,
6004Incredible how swift, had thither rolled
6005Diurnal, or this less voluble earth,
6006By shorter flight to the east, had left him there
6007Arraying with reflected purple and gold
6008The clouds that on his western throne attend.
6009Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray
6010Had in her sober livery all things clad;
6011Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,
6012They to their grassy couch, these to their nests
6013Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;
6014She all night long her amorous descant sung;
6015Silence was pleased: Now glowed the firmament
6016With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led
6017The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
6018Rising in clouded majesty, at length
6019Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light,
6020And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
6021When Adam thus to Eve. Fair Consort, the hour
6022Of night, and all things now retired to rest,
6023Mind us of like repose; since God hath set
6024Labor and rest, as day and night, to men
6025Successive; and the timely dew of sleep,
6026Now falling with soft slumberous weight, inclines
6027Our eye-lids: Other creatures all day long
6028Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest;
6029Man hath his daily work of body or mind
6030Appointed, which declares his dignity,
6031And the regard of Heaven on all his ways;
6032While other animals unactive range,
6033And of their doings God takes no account.
6034To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
6035With first approach of light, we must be risen,
6036And at our pleasant labor, to reform
6037Yon flowery arbors, yonder alleys green,
6038Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
6039That mock our scant manuring, and require
6040More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
6041Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,
6042That lie bestrewn, unsightly and unsmooth,
6043Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
6044Mean while, as Nature wills, night bids us rest.
6045To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned
6046My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst
6047Unargued I obey: So God ordains;
6048God is thy law, thou mine: To know no more
6049Is woman's happiest knowledge, and her praise.
6050With thee conversing I forget all time;
6051All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
6052Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet,
6053With charm of earliest birds: pleasant the sun,
6054When first on this delightful land he spreads
6055His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
6056Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
6057After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
6058Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night,
6059With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon,
6060And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train:
6061But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends
6062With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
6063On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
6064Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
6065Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night,
6066With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
6067Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.
6068But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom
6069This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?
6070To whom our general ancestor replied.
6071Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve,
6072These have their course to finish round the earth,
6073By morrow evening, and from land to land
6074In order, though to nations yet unborn,
6075Ministering light prepared, they set and rise;
6076Lest total Darkness should by night regain
6077Her old possession, and extinguish life
6078In Nature and all things; which these soft fires
6079Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
6080Of various influence foment and warm,
6081Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
6082Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow
6083On earth, made hereby apter to receive
6084Perfection from the sun's more potent ray.
6085These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
6086Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were none,
6087That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise:
6088Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
6089Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
6090All these with ceaseless praise his works behold
6091Both day and night: How often from the steep
6092Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
6093Celestial voices to the midnight air,
6094Sole, or responsive each to others note,
6095Singing their great Creator? oft in bands
6096While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,
6097With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds
6098In full harmonic number joined, their songs
6099Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.
6100Thus talking, hand in hand alone they passed
6101On to their blissful bower: it was a place
6102Chosen by the sovereign Planter, when he framed
6103All things to Man's delightful use; the roof
6104Of thickest covert was inwoven shade
6105Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
6106Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side
6107Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub,
6108Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower,
6109Iris all hues, roses, and jessamine,
6110Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought
6111Mosaic; underfoot the violet,
6112Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay
6113Broidered the ground, more colored than with stone
6114Of costliest emblem: Other creature here,
6115Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none,
6116Such was their awe of Man. In shadier bower
6117More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,
6118Pan or Sylvanus never slept, nor Nymph
6119Nor Faunus haunted. Here, in close recess,
6120With flowers, garlands, and sweet-smelling herbs,
6121Espoused Eve decked first her nuptial bed;
6122And heavenly quires the hymenaean sung,
6123What day the genial angel to our sire
6124Brought her in naked beauty more adorned,
6125More lovely, than Pandora, whom the Gods
6126Endowed with all their gifts, and O! too like
6127In sad event, when to the unwiser son
6128Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnared
6129Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged
6130On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire.
6131Thus, at their shady lodge arrived, both stood,
6132Both turned, and under open sky adored
6133The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,
6134Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,
6135And starry pole: Thou also madest the night,
6136Maker Omnipotent, and thou the day,
6137Which we, in our appointed work employed,
6138Have finished, happy in our mutual help
6139And mutual love, the crown of all our bliss
6140Ordained by thee; and this delicious place
6141For us too large, where thy abundance wants
6142Partakers, and uncropped falls to the ground.
6143But thou hast promised from us two a race
6144To fill the earth, who shall with us extol
6145Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,
6146And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep.
6147This said unanimous, and other rites
6148Observing none, but adoration pure
6149Which God likes best, into their inmost bower
6150Handed they went; and, eased the putting off
6151These troublesome disguises which we wear,
6152Straight side by side were laid; nor turned, I ween,
6153Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites
6154Mysterious of connubial love refused:
6155Whatever hypocrites austerely talk
6156Of purity, and place, and innocence,
6157Defaming as impure what God declares
6158Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.
6159Our Maker bids increase; who bids abstain
6160But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?
6161Hail, wedded Love, mysterious law, true source
6162Of human offspring, sole propriety
6163In Paradise of all things common else.
6164By thee adulterous Lust was driven from men
6165Among the bestial herds to range; by thee
6166Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure,
6167Relations dear, and all the charities
6168Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
6169Far be it, that I should write thee sin or blame,
6170Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,
6171Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets,
6172Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced,
6173Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used.
6174Here Love his golden shafts employs, here lights
6175His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings,
6176Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile
6177Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared,
6178Casual fruition; nor in court-amours,
6179Mixed dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball,
6180Or serenade, which the starved lover sings
6181To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.
6182These, lulled by nightingales, embracing slept,
6183And on their naked limbs the flowery roof
6184Showered roses, which the morn repaired. Sleep on,
6185Blest pair; and Oh yet happiest, if ye seek
6186No happier state, and know to know no more.
6187Now had night measured with her shadowy cone
6188Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault,
6189And from their ivory port the Cherubim,
6190Forth issuing at the accustomed hour, stood armed
6191To their night watches in warlike parade;
6192When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake.
6193Uzziel, half these draw off, and coast the south
6194With strictest watch; these other wheel the north;
6195Our circuit meets full west. As flame they part,
6196Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.
6197From these, two strong and subtle Spirits he called
6198That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge.
6199Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed
6200Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook;
6201But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
6202Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
6203This evening from the sun's decline arrived,
6204Who tells of some infernal Spirit seen
6205Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escaped
6206The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:
6207Such, where ye find, seize fast, and hither bring.
6208So saying, on he led his radiant files,
6209Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct
6210In search of whom they sought: Him there they found
6211Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
6212Assaying by his devilish art to reach
6213The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
6214Illusions, as he list, phantasms and dreams;
6215Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint
6216The animal spirits, that from pure blood arise
6217Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise
6218At least distempered, discontented thoughts,
6219Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,
6220Blown up with high conceits ingendering pride.
6221Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
6222Touched lightly; for no falsehood can endure
6223Touch of celestial temper, but returns
6224Of force to its own likeness: Up he starts
6225Discovered and surprised. As when a spark
6226Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, laid
6227Fit for the tun some magazine to store
6228Against a rumored war, the smutty grain,
6229With sudden blaze diffused, inflames the air;
6230So started up in his own shape the Fiend.
6231Back stepped those two fair angels, half amazed
6232So sudden to behold the grisly king;
6233Yet thus, unmoved with fear, accost him soon.
6234Which of those rebel Spirits adjudged to Hell
6235Comest thou, escaped thy prison? and, transformed,
6236Why sat'st thou like an enemy in wait,
6237Here watching at the head of these that sleep?
6238Know ye not then said Satan, filled with scorn,
6239Know ye not me? ye knew me once no mate
6240For you, there sitting where ye durst not soar:
6241Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
6242The lowest of your throng; or, if ye know,
6243Why ask ye, and superfluous begin
6244Your message, like to end as much in vain?
6245To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn.
6246Think not, revolted spirit, thy shape the same,
6247Or undiminished brightness to be known,
6248As when thou stoodest in Heaven upright and pure;
6249That glory then, when thou no more wast good,
6250Departed from thee; and thou resemblest now
6251Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foul.
6252But come, for thou, be sure, shalt give account
6253To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep
6254This place inviolable, and these from harm.
6255So spake the Cherub; and his grave rebuke,
6256Severe in youthful beauty, added grace
6257Invincible: Abashed the devil stood,
6258And felt how awful goodness is, and saw
6259Virtue in her shape how lovely; saw, and pined
6260His loss; but chiefly to find here observed
6261His luster visibly impaired; yet seemed
6262Undaunted. If I must contend, said he,
6263Best with the best, the sender, not the sent,
6264Or all at once; more glory will be won,
6265Or less be lost. Thy fear, said Zephon bold,
6266Will save us trial what the least can do
6267Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.
6268The Fiend replied not, overcome with rage;
6269But, like a proud steed reined, went haughty on,
6270Champing his iron curb: To strive or fly
6271He held it vain; awe from above had quelled
6272His heart, not else dismayed. Now drew they nigh
6273The western point, where those half-rounding guards
6274Just met, and closing stood in squadron joined,
6275A waiting next command. To whom their Chief,
6276Gabriel, from the front thus called aloud.
6277Oh friends, I hear the tread of nimble feet
6278Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern
6279Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade;
6280And with them comes a third of regal port,
6281But faded splendor wan; who by his gait
6282And fierce demeanor seems the Prince of Hell,
6283Not likely to part hence without contest;
6284Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.
6285He scarce had ended, when those two approached,
6286And brief related whom they brought, where found,
6287How busied, in what form and posture couched.
6288To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake.
6289Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescribed
6290To thy transgressions, and disturbed the charge
6291Of others, who approve not to transgress
6292By thy example, but have power and right
6293To question thy bold entrance on this place;
6294Employed, it seems, to violate sleep, and those
6295Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss.
6296To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow.
6297Gabriel? thou hadst in Heaven the esteem of wise,
6298And such I held thee; but this question asked
6299Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain,
6300Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,
6301Though thither doomed? Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt
6302And boldly venture to whatever place
6303Farthest from pain, where thou mightst hope to change
6304Torment with ease, and soonest recompense
6305Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
6306To thee no reason, who knowest only good,
6307But evil hast not tried: and wilt object
6308His will who bounds us. Let him surer bar
6309His iron gates, if he intends our stay
6310In that dark durance: Thus much what was asked.
6311The rest is true, they found me where they say;
6312But that implies not violence or harm.
6313Thus he in scorn. The warlike angel moved,
6314Disdainfully half smiling, thus replied.
6315Oh loss of one in Heaven to judge of wise
6316Since Satan fell, whom folly overthrew,
6317And now returns him from his prison 'scaped,
6318Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise
6319Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither
6320Unlicensed from his bounds in Hell prescribed;
6321So wise he judges it to fly from pain
6322However, and to 'scape his punishment.
6323So judge thou still, presumptuous, till the wrath,
6324Which thou incurrest by flying, meet thy flight
6325Sevenfold, and scourge that wisdom back to Hell,
6326Which taught thee yet no better, that no pain
6327Can equal anger infinite provoked!
6328But wherefore thou alone? wherefore with thee
6329Came not all hell broke loose? or thou than they
6330Less hardy to endure? Courageous Chief,
6331The first in flight from pain, hadst thou alleged
6332To thy deserted host this cause of flight,
6333Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.
6334To which the fiend thus answered, frowning stern.
6335Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain,
6336Insulting angel! well thou knowest I stood
6337Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid
6338The blasting volleyed thunder made all speed,
6339And seconded thy else not dreaded spear.
6340But still thy words at random, as before,
6341Argue thy inexperience what behooves
6342From hard assays and ill successes past
6343A faithful leader, not to hazard all
6344Through ways of danger by himself untried:
6345I, therefore, I alone first undertook
6346To wing the desolate abyss, and spy
6347This new created world, whereof in Hell
6348Fame is not silent, here in hope to find
6349Better abode, and my afflicted Powers
6350To settle here on earth, or in mid air;
6351Though for possession put to try once more
6352What thou and thy gay legions dare against;
6353Whose easier business were to serve their Lord
6354High up in Heaven, with songs to hymn his throne,
6355And practiced distances to cringe, not fight,
6356To whom the warrior angel soon replied.
6357To say and straight unsay, pretending first
6358Wise to fly pain, professing next the spy,
6359Argues no leader but a liar traced,
6360Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? Oh name,
6361Oh sacred name of faithfulness profaned!
6362Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew?
6363Army of Fiends, fit body to fit head.
6364Was this your discipline and faith engaged,
6365Your military obedience, to dissolve
6366Allegiance to the acknowledged Power supreme?
6367And thou, sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem
6368Patron of liberty, who more than thou
6369Once fawned, and cringed, and servilely adored
6370Heaven's awful Monarch? wherefore, but in hope
6371To dispossess him, and thyself to reign?
6372But mark what I areed thee now, Avaunt;
6373Fly neither whence thou fledst. If from this hour
6374Within these hallowed limits thou appear,
6375Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained,
6376And seal thee so, as henceforth not to scorn
6377The facile gates of Hell too slightly barred.
6378So threatened he; but Satan to no threats
6379Gave heed, but waxing more in rage replied.
6380Then when I am thy captive talk of chains,
6381Proud limitary Cherub, but ere then
6382Far heavier load thyself expect to feel
6383From my prevailing arm, though Heaven's King
6384Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy compeers,
6385Used to the yoke, drawest his triumphant wheels
6386In progress through the road of Heaven star-paved.
6387While thus he spake, the angelic squadron bright
6388Turned fiery red, sharpening in mooned horns
6389Their phalanx, and began to hem him round
6390With ported spears, as thick as when a field
6391Of Ceres ripe for harvest waving bends
6392Her bearded grove of ears, which way the wind
6393Sways them; the careful plowman doubting stands,
6394Left on the threshing floor his hopeless sheaves
6395Prove chaff. On the other side, Satan, alarmed,
6396Collecting all his might, dilated stood,
6397Like Tenerife or Atlas, unremoved:
6398His stature reached the sky, and on his crest
6399Sat Horror plumed; nor wanted in his grasp
6400What seemed both spear and shield: Now dreadful deeds
6401Might have ensued, nor only Paradise
6402In this commotion, but the starry cope
6403Of Heaven perhaps, or all the elements
6404At least had gone to wrack, disturbed and torn
6405With violence of this conflict, had not soon
6406The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray,
6407Hung forth in Heaven his golden scales, yet seen
6408Betwixt Astraea and the Scorpion sign,
6409Wherein all things created first he weighed,
6410The pendulous round earth with balanced air
6411In counterpoise, now ponders all events,
6412Battles and realms: In these he put two weights,
6413The sequel each of parting and of fight:
6414The latter quick up flew, and kicked the beam,
6415Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the Fiend.
6416Satan, I know thy strength, and thou knowest mine;
6417Neither our own, but given: What folly then
6418To boast what arms can do? since thine no more
6419Than Heaven permits, nor mine, though doubled now
6420To trample thee as mire: For proof look up,
6421And read thy lot in yon celestial sign;
6422Where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak,
6423If thou resist. The Fiend looked up, and knew
6424His mounted scale aloft: Nor more; but fled
6425Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.
6426
6427~ BOOK V ~
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6450BOOK V
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6470BOOK V
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6490BOOK V
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6510BOOK V
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6530BOOK V
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6550BOOK V
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6570BOOK V
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6590BOOK V
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6610BOOK V
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6630BOOK V
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6650BOOK V
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6670BOOK V
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6690BOOK V
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6710BOOK V
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6730BOOK V
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6750BOOK V
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6770BOOK V
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6790BOOK V
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6810BOOK V
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6830BOOK V
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6850BOOK V
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6870BOOK V
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6890BOOK V
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6910BOOK V
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6930BOOK V
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6950BOOK V
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6970BOOK V
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6990BOOK V
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7010BOOK V
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7330BOOK V
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7333.  Back to Top
7334
7335
7336 ~ BOOK V ~
7337
7338Now Morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime
7339Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl,
7340When Adam waked, so customed; for his sleep
7341Was aerie-light, from pure digestion bred,
7342And temperate vapors bland, which the only sound
7343Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora's fan,
7344Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song
7345Of birds on every bough; so much the more
7346His wonder was to find unwakened Eve
7347With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,
7348As through unquiet rest: He, on his side
7349Leaning half raised, with looks of cordial love
7350Hung over her enamored, and beheld
7351Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep,
7352Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice
7353Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
7354Her hand soft touching, whispered thus. Awake,
7355My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,
7356Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight!
7357Awake: The morning shines, and the fresh field
7358Calls us; we lose the prime, to mark how spring
7359Our tender plants, how blows the citron grove,
7360What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed,
7361How nature paints her colors, how the bee
7362Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.
7363Such whispering waked her, but with startled eye
7364On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spake.
7365Oh sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,
7366My glory, my perfection, glad I see
7367Thy face, and morn returned; for I this night
7368(Such night till this I never passed) have dreamed,
7369If dreamed, not, as I oft am wont, of thee,
7370Works of day past, or morrow's next design,
7371But of offence and trouble, which my mind
7372Knew never till this irksome night: Methought,
7373Close at mine ear one called me forth to walk
7374With gentle voice; I thought it thine: It said,
7375'Why sleepest thou, Eve? now is the pleasant time,
7376'The cool, the silent, save where silence yields
7377'To the night-warbling bird, that now awake
7378'Tunes sweetest his love-labored song; now reigns
7379'Full-orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light
7380'Shadowy sets off the face of things; in vain,
7381'If none regard; Heaven wakes with all his eyes,
7382'Whom to behold but thee, Nature's desire?
7383'In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment
7384'Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.'
7385I rose as at thy call, but found thee not;
7386To find thee I directed then my walk;
7387And on, methought, alone I passed through ways
7388That brought me on a sudden to the tree
7389Of interdicted knowledge: fair it seemed,
7390Much fairer to my fancy than by day:
7391And, as I wondering looked, beside it stood
7392One shaped and winged like one of those from Heaven
7393By us oft seen; his dewy locks distilled
7394Ambrosia; on that tree he also gazed;
7395And 'O fair plant,' said he, 'with fruit surcharged,
7396edeigns none to ease thy load, and taste thy sweet,
7397'Nor God, nor Man? Is knowledge so despised?
7398'Or envy, or what reserve forbids to taste?
7399'Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold
7400'Longer thy offered good; why else set here?
7401This said, he paused not, but with venturous arm
7402He plucked, he tasted; me damp horror chilled
7403At such bold words vouched with a deed so bold:
7404But he thus, overjoyed; 'O fruit divine,
7405'Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropped,
7406'Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit
7407'For Gods, yet able to make Gods of Men:
7408'And why not Gods of Men; since good, the more
7409'Communicated, more abundant grows,
7410'The author not impaired, but honored more?
7411'Here, happy creature, fair angelic Eve,
7412'Partake thou also; happy though thou art,
7413'Happier thou mayest be, worthier canst not be:
7414'Taste this, and be henceforth among the Gods
7415'Thyself a Goddess, not to earth confined,
7416'But sometimes in the air, as we, sometimes
7417'Ascend to Heaven, by merit thine, and see
7418'What life the Gods live there, and such live thou!'
7419So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,
7420Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part
7421Which he had plucked; the pleasant savory smell
7422So quickened appetite, that I, methought,
7423Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds
7424With him I flew, and underneath beheld
7425The earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide
7426And various: Wondering at my flight and change
7427To this high exaltation; suddenly
7428My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,
7429And fell asleep; but Oh, how glad I waked
7430To find this but a dream! Thus Eve her night
7431Related, and thus Adam answered sad.
7432Best image of myself, and dearer half,
7433The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
7434Affects me equally; nor can I like
7435This uncouth dream, of evil sprung, I fear;
7436Yet evil whence? in thee can harbor none,
7437Created pure. But know that in the soul
7438Are many lesser faculties, that serve
7439Reason as chief; among these Fancy next
7440Her office holds; of all external things
7441Which the five watchful senses represent,
7442She forms imaginations, aerie shapes,
7443Which Reason, joining or disjoining, frames
7444All what we affirm or what deny, and call
7445Our knowledge or opinion; then retires
7446Into her private cell, when nature rests.
7447Oft in her absence mimic Fancy wakes
7448To imitate her; but, misjoining shapes,
7449Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams;
7450Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.
7451Some such resemblances, methinks, I find
7452Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream,
7453But with addition strange; yet be not sad.
7454Evil into the mind of God or man
7455May come and go, so unreproved, and leave
7456No spot or blame behind: Which gives me hope
7457That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
7458Waking thou never will consent to do.
7459Be not disheartened then, nor cloud those looks,
7460That wont to be more cheerful and serene,
7461Than when fair morning first smiles on the world;
7462And let us to our fresh employments rise
7463Among the groves, the fountains, and the flowers
7464That open now their choicest bosomed smells,
7465Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store.
7466So cheered he his fair spouse, and she was cheered;
7467But silently a gentle tear let fall
7468From either eye, and wiped them with her hair;
7469Two other precious drops that ready stood,
7470Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell
7471Kissed, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
7472And pious awe, that feared to have offended.
7473So all was cleared, and to the field they haste.
7474But first, from under shady arborous roof
7475Soon as they forth were come to open sight
7476Of day-spring, and the sun, who, scarce up-risen,
7477With wheels yet hovering o'er the ocean-brim,
7478Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray,
7479Discovering in wide landscape all the east
7480Of Paradise and Eden's happy plains,
7481Lowly they bowed adoring, and began
7482Their orisons, each morning duly paid
7483In various style; for neither various style
7484Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise
7485Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced, or sung
7486Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence
7487Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse,
7488More tunable than needed lute or harp
7489To add more sweetness; and they thus began.
7490These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
7491Almighty. Thine this universal frame,
7492Thus wondrous fair; Thyself how wondrous then.
7493Unspeakable, who sits above these heavens
7494To us invisible, or dimly seen
7495In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
7496Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
7497Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
7498Angels; for ye behold him, and with songs
7499And choral symphonies, day without night,
7500Circle his throne rejoicing; ye in Heaven
7501On Earth join all ye Creatures to extol
7502Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.
7503Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
7504If better thou belong not to the dawn,
7505Sure pledge of day, that crownest the smiling morn
7506With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
7507While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
7508Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
7509Acknowledge him thy greater; sound his praise
7510In thy eternal course, both when thou climbest,
7511And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fallest.
7512Moon, that now meetest the orient sun, now flyest,
7513With the fixed Stars, fixed in their orb that flies;
7514And ye five other wandering Fires, that move
7515In mystic dance not without song, resound
7516His praise, who out of darkness called up light.
7517Air, and ye Elements, the eldest birth
7518Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run
7519Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix
7520And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
7521Vary to our great Maker still new praise.
7522Ye Mists and Exhalations, that now rise
7523From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
7524Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
7525In honor to the world's great Author rise;
7526Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored sky,
7527Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,
7528Rising or falling still advance his praise.
7529His praise, ye Winds, that from four quarters blow,
7530Breathe soft or loud; and, wave your tops, ye Pines,
7531With every plant, in sign of worship wave.
7532Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow,
7533Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
7534Join voices, all ye living Souls: Ye Birds,
7535That singing up to Heaven-gate ascend,
7536Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise.
7537Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
7538The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep;
7539Witness if I be silent, morn or even,
7540To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
7541Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
7542Hail, universal Lord, be bounteous still
7543To give us only good; and if the night
7544Have gathered aught of evil, or concealed,
7545Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark.
7546So prayed they innocent, and to their thoughts
7547Firm peace recovered soon, and wonted calm.
7548On to their morning's rural work they haste,
7549Among sweet dews and flowers; where any row
7550Of fruit-trees over-woody reached too far
7551Their pampered boughs, and needed hands to check
7552Fruitless embraces: or they led the vine
7553To wed her elm; she, spoused, about him twines
7554Her marriageable arms, and with him brings
7555Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn
7556His barren leaves. Them thus employed beheld
7557With pity Heaven's high King, and to him called
7558Raphael, the sociable Spirit, that deigned
7559To travel with Tobias, and secured
7560His marriage with the seventimes-wedded maid.
7561Raphael, said he, thou hearest what stir on Earth
7562Satan, from Hell 'scaped through the darksome gulf,
7563Hath raised in Paradise; and how disturbed
7564This night the human pair; how he designs
7565In them at once to ruin all mankind.
7566Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend
7567Converse with Adam, in what bower or shade
7568Thou findest him from the heat of noon retired,
7569To respite his day-labor with repast,
7570Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
7571As may advise him of his happy state,
7572Happiness in his power left free to will,
7573Left to his own free will, his will though free,
7574Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
7575He swerve not, too secure: Tell him withal
7576His danger, and from whom; what enemy,
7577Late fallen himself from Heaven, is plotting now
7578The fall of others from like state of bliss;
7579By violence? no, for that shall be withstood;
7580But by deceit and lies: This let him know,
7581Lest, willfully transgressing, he pretend
7582Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned.
7583So spake the Eternal Father, and fulfilled
7584All justice: Nor delayed the winged Saint
7585After his charge received; but from among
7586Thousand celestial ardors, where he stood
7587Veiled with his gorgeous wings, up springing light,
7588Flew through the midst of Heaven; the angelic quires,
7589On each hand parting, to his speed gave way
7590Through all the empyreal road; till, at the gate
7591Of Heaven arrived, the gate self-opened wide
7592On golden hinges turning, as by work
7593Divine the sovereign Architect had framed.
7594From hence no cloud, or, to obstruct his sight,
7595Star interposed, however small he sees,
7596Not unconformed to other shining globes,
7597Earth, and the garden of God, with cedars crowned
7598Above all hills. As when by night the glass
7599Of Galileo, less assured, observes
7600Imagined lands and regions in the moon:
7601Or pilot, from amidst the Cyclades
7602Delos or Samos first appearing, kens
7603A cloudy spot. Down thither prone in flight
7604He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
7605Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing
7606Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan
7607Winnows the buxom air; till, within soar
7608Of towering eagles, to all the fowls he seems
7609A phoenix, gazed by all as that sole bird,
7610When, to enshrine his relics in the sun's
7611Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
7612At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise
7613He lights, and to his proper shape returns
7614A Seraph winged: Six wings he wore, to shade
7615His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
7616Each shoulder broad, came mantling o'er his breast
7617With regal ornament; the middle pair
7618Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
7619Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
7620And colors dipped in Heaven; the third his feet
7621Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
7622Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he stood,
7623And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance filled
7624The circuit wide. Straight knew him all the bands
7625Of angels under watch; and to his state,
7626And to his message high, in honor rise;
7627For on some message high they guessed him bound.
7628Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come
7629Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh,
7630And flowering odors, cassia, nard, and balm;
7631A wilderness of sweets; for nature here
7632Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will
7633Her virgin fancies pouring forth more sweet,
7634Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss.
7635Him through the spicy forest onward come
7636Adam discerned, as in the door he sat
7637Of his cool bower, while now the mounted sun
7638Shot down direct his fervid rays to warm
7639Earth's inmost womb, more warmth than Adam needs:
7640And Eve within, due at her hour prepared
7641For dinner savory fruits, of taste to please
7642True appetite, and not disrelish thirst
7643Of nectarous draughts between, from milky stream,
7644Berry or grape: To whom thus Adam called.
7645Haste hither, Eve, and worth thy sight behold
7646Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape
7647Comes this way moving; seems another morn
7648Risen on mid-noon; some great behest from Heaven
7649To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe
7650This day to be our guest. But go with speed,
7651And, what thy stores contain, bring forth, and pour
7652Abundance, fit to honor and receive
7653Our heavenly stranger: Well we may afford
7654Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow
7655From large bestowed, where Nature multiplies
7656Her fertile growth, and by disburdening grows
7657More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.
7658To whom thus Eve. Adam, earth's hallowed mould,
7659Of God inspired, small store will serve, where store,
7660All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk;
7661Save what by frugal storing firmness gains
7662To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes:
7663But I will haste, and from each bough and brake,
7664Each plant and juiciest gourd, will pluck such choice
7665To entertain our angel-guest, as he
7666Beholding shall confess, that here on Earth
7667God hath dispensed his bounties as in Heaven.
7668So saying, with dispatchful looks in haste
7669She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent
7670What choice to choose for delicacy best,
7671What order, so contrived as not to mix
7672Tastes, not well joined, inelegant, but bring
7673Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change;
7674Bestirs her then, and from each tender stalk
7675Whatever Earth, all-bearing mother, yields
7676In India East or West, or middle shore
7677In Pontus or the Punick coast, or where
7678Alcinous reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat
7679Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,
7680She gathers, tribute large, and on the board
7681Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape
7682She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths
7683From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed
7684She tempers dulcet creams; nor these to hold
7685Wants her fit vessels pure; then strews the ground
7686With rose and odors from the shrub unfumed.
7687Mean while our primitive great sire, to meet
7688His God-like guest, walks forth, without more train
7689Accompanied than with his own complete
7690Perfections; in himself was all his state,
7691More solemn than the tedious pomp that waits
7692On princes, when their rich retinue long
7693Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold,
7694Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.
7695Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed,
7696Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek,
7697As to a superior nature bowing low,
7698Thus said. Native of Heaven, for other place
7699None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain;
7700Since, by descending from the thrones above,
7701Those happy places thou hast deigned a while
7702To want, and honor these, vouchsafe with us
7703Two only, who yet by sovereign gift possess
7704This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower
7705To rest; and what the garden choicest bears
7706To sit and taste, till this meridian heat
7707Be over, and the sun more cool decline.
7708Whom thus the angelic virtue answered mild.
7709Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such
7710Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
7711As may not oft invite, though spirits of Heaven,
7712To visit thee; lead on then where thy bower
7713O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
7714I have at will. So to the sylvan lodge
7715They came, that like Pomona's arbor smiled,
7716With flowerets decked, and fragrant smells; but Eve,
7717Undecked save with herself, more lovely fair
7718Than Wood-Nymph, or the fairest Goddess feigned
7719Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,
7720Stood to entertain her guest from Heaven; no veil
7721She needed, virtue-proof; no thought infirm
7722Altered her cheek. On whom the angel hail
7723Bestowed, the holy salutation used
7724Long after to blest Mary, second Eve.
7725Hail, Mother of Mankind, whose fruitful womb
7726Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,
7727Than with these various fruits the trees of God
7728Have heaped this table! Raised of grassy turf
7729Their table was, and mossy seats had round,
7730And on her ample square from side to side
7731All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here
7732Danced hand in hand. A while discourse they hold;
7733No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began
7734Our author. Heavenly stranger, please to taste
7735These bounties, which our Nourisher, from whom
7736All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends,
7737To us for food and for delight hath caused
7738The earth to yield; unsavory food perhaps
7739To spiritual natures; only this I know,
7740That one celestial Father gives to all.
7741To whom the angel. Therefore what he gives
7742(Whose praise be ever sung) to man in part
7743Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found
7744No ingrateful food: And food alike those pure
7745Intelligential substances require,
7746As doth your rational; and both contain
7747Within them every lower faculty
7748Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,
7749Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,
7750And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
7751For know, whatever was created, needs
7752To be sustained and fed: Of elements
7753The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,
7754Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
7755Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;
7756Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurged
7757Vapors not yet into her substance turned.
7758Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale
7759From her moist continent to higher orbs.
7760The sun that light imparts to all, receives
7761From all his alimental recompense
7762In humid exhalations, and at even
7763Sups with the ocean. Though in Heaven the trees
7764Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
7765Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn
7766We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground
7767Covered with pearly grain: Yet God hath here
7768Varied his bounty so with new delights,
7769As may compare with Heaven; and to taste
7770Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat,
7771And to their viands fell; nor seemingly
7772The angel, nor in mist, the common gloss
7773Of Theologians; but with keen dispatch
7774Of real hunger, and concoctive heat
7775To transubstantiate: What redounds, transpires
7776Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder; if by fire
7777Of sooty coal the empiric alchemist
7778Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,
7779Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold,
7780As from the mine. Mean while at table Eve
7781Ministered naked, and their flowing cups
7782With pleasant liquors crowned: Oh innocence
7783Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,
7784Then had the sons of God excuse to have been
7785Enamored at that sight; but in those hearts
7786Love unlibidinous reigned, nor jealousy
7787Was understood, the injured lover's hell.
7788Thus when with meats and drinks they had sufficed,
7789Not burdened nature, sudden mind arose
7790In Adam, not to let the occasion pass
7791Given him by this great conference to know
7792Of things above his world, and of their being
7793Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he saw
7794Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms,
7795Divine effulgence, whose high power, so far
7796Exceeded human; and his wary speech
7797Thus to the empyreal minister he framed.
7798Inhabitant with God, now know I well
7799Thy favor, in this honor done to Man;
7800Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed
7801To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,
7802Food not of angels, yet accepted so,
7803As that more willingly thou couldst not seem
7804At Heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what compare
7805To whom the winged Hierarch replied.
7806Oh Adam, One Almighty is, from whom
7807All things proceed, and up to him return,
7808If not depraved from good, created all
7809Such to perfection, one first matter all,
7810Endued with various forms, various degrees
7811Of substance, and, in things that live, of life;
7812But more refined, more spiritous, and pure,
7813As nearer to him placed, or nearer tending
7814Each in their several active spheres assigned,
7815Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
7816Proportioned to each kind. So from the root
7817Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves
7818More aerie, last the bright consummate flower
7819Spirits odorous breathes: flowers and their fruit,
7820Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,
7821To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
7822To intellectual; give both life and sense,
7823Fancy and understanding; whence the soul
7824Reason receives, and reason is her being,
7825Discursive, or intuitive; discourse
7826Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,
7827Differing but in degree, of kind the same.
7828Wonder not then, what God for you saw good
7829If I refuse not, but convert, as you
7830To proper substance. Time may come, when Men
7831With angels may participate, and find
7832No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare;
7833And from these corporal nutriments perhaps
7834Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit,
7835Improved by tract of time, and, winged, ascend
7836Ethereal, as we; or may, at choice,
7837Here or in heavenly Paradises dwell;
7838If ye be found obedient, and retain
7839Unalterably firm his love entire,
7840Whose progeny you are. Mean while enjoy
7841Your fill what happiness this happy state
7842Can comprehend, incapable of more.
7843To whom the patriarch of mankind replied.
7844Oh favorable Spirit, propitious guest,
7845Well hast thou taught the way that might direct
7846Our knowledge, and the scale of nature set
7847From center to circumference; whereon,
7848In contemplation of created things,
7849By steps we may ascend to God. But say,
7850What meant that caution joined, If ye be found
7851Obedient? Can we want obedience then
7852To him, or possibly his love desert,
7853Who formed us from the dust and placed us here
7854Full to the utmost measure of what bliss
7855Human desires can seek or apprehend?
7856To whom the angel. Son of Heaven and Earth,
7857Attend. That thou art happy, owe to God;
7858That thou continuest such, owe to thyself,
7859That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.
7860This was that caution given thee; be advised.
7861God made thee perfect, not immutable;
7862And good he made thee, but to persevere
7863He left it in thy power; ordained thy will
7864By nature free, not over-ruled by fate
7865Inextricable, or strict necessity:
7866Our voluntary service he requires,
7867Not our necessitated; such with him
7868Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how
7869Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve
7870Willing or no, who will but what they must
7871By destiny, and can no other choose?
7872Myself, and all the angelic host, that stand
7873In sight of God, enthroned, our happy state
7874Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds;
7875On other surety none: Freely we serve,
7876Because we freely love, as in our will
7877To love or not; in this we stand or fall:
7878And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen,
7879And so from Heaven to deepest Hell; Oh fall
7880From what high state of bliss, into what woe!
7881To whom our great progenitor. Thy words
7882Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
7883Divine instructor, I have heard, than when
7884Cherubic songs by night from neighboring hills
7885Aerial music send: Nor knew I not
7886To be both will and deed created free;
7887Yet that we never shall forget to love
7888Our Maker, and obey him whose command
7889Single is yet so just, my constant thoughts
7890Assured me, and still assure: Though what thou tellest
7891Hath passed in Heaven, some doubt within me move,
7892But more desire to hear, if thou consent,
7893The full relation, which must needs be strange,
7894Worthy of sacred silence to be heard;
7895And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun
7896Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins
7897His other half in the great zone of Heaven.
7898Thus Adam made request; and Raphael,
7899After short pause assenting, thus began.
7900High matter thou enjoinest me, Oh prime of men,
7901Sad task and hard: For how shall I relate
7902To human sense the invisible exploits
7903Of warring Spirits? how, without remorse,
7904The ruin of so many glorious once
7905And perfect while they stood? how last unfold
7906The secrets of another world, perhaps
7907Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good
7908This is dispensed; and what surmounts the reach
7909Of human sense, I shall delineate so,
7910By likening spiritual to corporal forms,
7911As may express them best; though what if Earth
7912Be but a shadow of Heaven, and things therein
7913Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?
7914As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild
7915Reigned where these Heavens now roll, where Earth now rests
7916Upon her center poised; when on a day
7917(For time, though in eternity, applied
7918To motion, measures all things durable
7919By present, past, and future,) on such day
7920As Heaven's great year brings forth, the empyreal host
7921Of angels by imperial summons called,
7922Innumerable before the Almighty's throne
7923Forthwith, from all the ends of Heaven, appeared
7924Under their Hierarchs in orders bright:
7925Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,
7926Standards and gonfalons 'twixt van and rear
7927Stream in the air, and for distinction serve
7928Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
7929Or in their glittering tissues bear imblazed
7930Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love
7931Recorded eminent. Thus when in orbs
7932Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
7933Orb within orb, the Father Infinite,
7934By whom in bliss imbosomed sat the Son,
7935Amidst as from a flaming mount, whose top
7936Brightness had made invisible, thus spake.
7937Hear, all ye angels, progeny of light,
7938Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
7939Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.
7940This day I have begot whom I declare
7941My only Son, and on this holy hill
7942Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
7943At my right hand; your head I him appoint;
7944And by myself have sworn, to him shall bow
7945All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord:
7946Under his great vice-gerent reign abide
7947United, as one individual soul,
7948For ever happy: Him who disobeys,
7949Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
7950Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls
7951Into utter darkness, deep ingulfed, his place
7952Ordained without redemption, without end.
7953So spake the Omnipotent, and with his words
7954All seemed well pleased; all seemed, but were not all.
7955That day, as other solemn days, they spent
7956In song and dance about the sacred hill;
7957Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
7958Of planets, and of fixed, in all her wheels
7959Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,
7960Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular
7961Then most, when most irregular they seem;
7962And in their motions harmony divine
7963So smoothes her charming tones, that God's own ear
7964Listens delighted. Evening now approached,
7965(For we have also our evening and our morn,
7966We ours for change delectable, not need;)
7967Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn
7968Desirous; all in circles as they stood,
7969Tables are set, and on a sudden piled
7970With angels food, and rubied nectar flows
7971In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold,
7972Fruit of delicious vines, the growth of Heaven.
7973On flowers reposed, and with fresh flowerets crowned,
7974They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
7975Quaff immortality and joy, secure
7976Of surfeit, where full measure only bounds
7977Excess, before the all-bounteous King, who showered
7978With copious hand, rejoicing in their joy.
7979Now when ambrosial night with clouds exhaled
7980From that high mount of God, whence light and shade
7981Spring both, the face of brightest Heaven had changed
7982To grateful twilight, (for night comes not there
7983In darker veil,) and roseate dews disposed
7984All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest;
7985Wide over all the plain, and wider far
7986Than all this globous earth in plain outspread,
7987(Such are the courts of God) the angelic throng,
7988Dispersed in bands and files, their camp extend
7989By living streams among the trees of life,
7990Pavilions numberless, and sudden reared,
7991Celestial tabernacles, where they slept
7992Fanned with cool winds; save those, who, in their course,
7993Melodious hymns about the sovereign throne
7994Alternate all night long: but not so waked
7995Satan; so call him now, his former name
7996Is heard no more in Heaven; he of the first,
7997If not the first archangel, great in power,
7998In favor and pre-eminence, yet fraught
7999With envy against the Son of God, that day
8000Honored by his great Father, and proclaimed
8001Messiah King anointed, could not bear
8002Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.
8003Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
8004Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
8005Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
8006With all his legions to dislodge, and leave
8007Unworshiped, unobeyed, the throne supreme,
8008Contemptuous; and his next subordinate
8009Awakening, thus to him in secret spake.
8010Sleepest thou, Companion dear? What sleep can close
8011Thy eye-lids? and rememberest what decree
8012Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips
8013Of Heaven's Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts
8014Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart;
8015Both waking we were one; how then can now
8016Thy sleep dissent? New laws thou seest imposed;
8017New laws from him who reigns, new minds may raise
8018In us who serve, new counsels to debate
8019What doubtful may ensue: More in this place
8020To utter is not safe. Assemble thou
8021Of all those myriads which we lead the chief;
8022Tell them, that by command, ere yet dim night
8023Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste,
8024And all who under me their banners wave,
8025Homeward, with flying march, where we possess
8026The quarters of the north; there to prepare
8027Fit entertainment to receive our King,
8028The great Messiah, and his new commands,
8029Who speedily through all the hierarchies
8030Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.
8031So spake the false archangel, and infused
8032Bad influence into the unwary breast
8033Of his associate: He together calls,
8034Or several one by one, the regent Powers,
8035Under him Regent; tells, as he was taught,
8036That the Most High commanding, now ere night,
8037Now ere dim night had disencumbered Heaven,
8038The great hierarchal standard was to move;
8039Tells the suggested cause, and casts between
8040Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound
8041Or taint integrity: But all obeyed
8042The wonted signal, and superior voice
8043Of their great Potentate; for great indeed
8044His name, and high was his degree in Heaven;
8045His countenance, as the morning-star that guides
8046The starry flock, allured them, and with lies
8047Drew after him the third part of Heaven's host.
8048Mean while the Eternal eye, whose sight discerns
8049Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount,
8050And from within the golden lamps that burn
8051Nightly before him, saw without their light
8052Rebellion rising; saw in whom, how spread
8053Among the sons of morn, what multitudes
8054Were banded to oppose his high decree;
8055And, smiling, to his only Son thus said.
8056Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
8057In full resplendence, Heir of all my might,
8058Nearly it now concerns us to be sure
8059Of our Omnipotence, and with what arms
8060We mean to hold what anciently we claim
8061Of deity or empire: Such a foe
8062Is rising, who intends to erect his throne
8063Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north;
8064Nor so content, hath in his thought to try
8065In battle, what our power is, or our right.
8066Let us advise, and to this hazard draw
8067With speed what force is left, and all employ
8068In our defense; lest unawares we lose
8069This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.
8070To whom the Son with calm aspect and clear,
8071Lightning divine, ineffable, serene,
8072Made answer. Mighty Father, thou thy foes
8073Justly hast in derision, and, secure,
8074Laughest at their vain designs and tumults vain,
8075Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
8076Illustrates, when they see all regal power
8077Given me to quell their pride, and in event
8078Know whether I be dexterous to subdue
8079Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heaven.
8080So spake the Son; but Satan, with his powers,
8081Far was advanced on winged speed; an host
8082Innumerable as the stars of night,
8083Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the sun
8084Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
8085Regions they passed, the mighty regencies
8086Of Seraphim, and Potentates, and Thrones,
8087In their triple degrees; regions to which
8088All thy dominion, Adam, is no more
8089Than what this garden is to all the earth,
8090And all the sea, from one entire globose
8091Stretched into longitude; which having passed,
8092At length into the limits of the north
8093They came; and Satan to his royal seat
8094High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount
8095Raised on a mount, with pyramids and towers
8096From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold;
8097The palace of great Lucifer, (so call
8098That structure in the dialect of men
8099Interpreted,) which not long after, he
8100Affecting all equality with God,
8101In imitation of that mount whereon
8102Messiah was declared in sight of Heaven,
8103The Mountain of the Congregation called;
8104For thither he assembled all his train,
8105Pretending so commanded to consult
8106About the great reception of their King,
8107Thither to come, and with calumnious art
8108Of counterfeited truth thus held their ears.
8109Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
8110If these magnific titles yet remain
8111Not merely titular, since by decree
8112Another now hath to himself engrossed
8113All power, and us eclipsed under the name
8114Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
8115Of midnight-march, and hurried meeting here,
8116This only to consult how we may best,
8117With what may be devised of honors new,
8118Receive him coming to receive from us
8119Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile!
8120Too much to one, but double how endured,
8121To one, and to his image now proclaimed?
8122But what if better counsels might erect
8123Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?
8124Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend
8125The supple knee? Ye will not, if I trust
8126To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves
8127Natives and sons of Heaven possessed before
8128By none; and if not equal all, yet free,
8129Equally free; for orders and degrees
8130Jar not with liberty, but well consist.
8131Who can in reason then, or right, assume
8132Monarchy over such as live by right
8133His equals, if in power and splendor less,
8134In freedom equal? or can introduce
8135Law and edict on us, who without law
8136Err not? much less for this to be our Lord,
8137And look for adoration, to the abuse
8138Of those imperial titles, which assert
8139Our being ordained to govern, not to serve.
8140Thus far his bold discourse without control
8141Had audience; when among the Seraphim
8142Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored
8143The Deity, and divine commands obeyed,
8144Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe
8145The current of his fury thus opposed.
8146Oh argument blasphemous, false, and proud!
8147Words which no ear ever to hear in Heaven
8148Expected, least of all from thee, Ingrate,
8149In place thyself so high above thy peers.
8150Canst thou with impious obloquy condemn
8151The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,
8152That to his only Son, by right endued
8153With regal scepter, every soul in Heaven
8154Shall bend the knee, and in that honor due
8155Confess him rightful King? unjust, thou sayest,
8156Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,
8157And equal over equals to let reign,
8158One over all with unsucceeded power.
8159Shalt thou give law to God? shalt thou dispute
8160With him the points of liberty, who made
8161Thee what thou art, and formed the Powers of Heaven
8162Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?
8163Yet, by experience taught, we know how good,
8164And of our good and of our dignity
8165How provident he is; how far from thought
8166To make us less, bent rather to exalt
8167Our happy state, under one head more near
8168United. But to grant it thee unjust,
8169That equal over equals monarch reign:
8170Thyself, though great and glorious, dost thou count,
8171Or all angelic nature joined in one,
8172Equal to him begotten Son? by whom,
8173As by his Word, the Mighty Father made
8174All things, even thee; and all the Spirits of Heaven
8175By him created in their bright degrees,
8176Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named
8177Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
8178Essential Powers; nor by his reign obscured,
8179But more illustrious made; since he the head
8180One of our number thus reduced becomes;
8181His laws our laws; all honor to him done
8182Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage,
8183And tempt not these; but hasten to appease
8184The incensed Father, and the incensed Son,
8185While pardon may be found in time besought.
8186So spake the fervent angel; but his zeal
8187None seconded, as out of season judged,
8188Or singular and rash: Whereat rejoiced
8189The Apostate, and, more haughty, thus replied.
8190That we were formed then sayest thou? and the work
8191Of secondary hands, by task transferred
8192From Father to his Son? strange point and new,
8193Doctrine which we would know whence learned: who saw
8194When this creation was? rememberest thou
8195Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?
8196We know no time when we were not as now;
8197Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised
8198By our own quickening power, when fatal course
8199Had circled his full orb, the birth mature
8200Of this our native Heaven, ethereal sons.
8201Our puissance is our own; our own right hand
8202Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try
8203Who is our equal: Then thou shalt behold
8204Whether by supplication we intend
8205Address, and to begirt the almighty throne
8206Beseeching or besieging. This report,
8207These tidings carry to the anointed King;
8208And fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.
8209He said; and, as the sound of waters deep,
8210Hoarse murmur echoed to his words applause
8211Through the infinite host; nor less for that
8212The flaming Seraph fearless, though alone
8213Encompassed round with foes, thus answered bold.
8214Oh alienate from God, Oh Spirit accursed,
8215Forsaken of all good! I see thy fall
8216Determined, and thy hapless crew involved
8217In this perfidious fraud, contagion spread
8218Both of thy crime and punishment: Henceforth
8219No more be troubled how to quit the yoke
8220Of God's Messiah; those indulgent laws
8221Will not be now vouchsafed; other decrees
8222Against thee are gone forth without recall;
8223That golden scepter, which thou didst reject,
8224Is now an iron rod to bruise and break
8225Thy disobedience. Well thou didst advise;
8226Yet not for thy advice or threats I fly
8227These wicked tents devoted, lest the wrath
8228Impendent, raging into sudden flame,
8229Distinguish not: For soon expect to feel
8230His thunder on thy head, devouring fire.
8231Then who created thee lamenting learn,
8232When who can uncreate thee thou shalt know.
8233So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found
8234Among the faithless, faithful only he;
8235Among innumerable false, unmoved,
8236Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
8237His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;
8238Nor number, nor example, with him wrought
8239To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,
8240Though single. From amidst them forth he passed,
8241Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustained
8242Superior, nor of violence feared aught;
8243And, with retorted scorn, his back he turned
8244On those proud towers to swift destruction doomed.
8245
8246~ BOOK VI ~
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8269BOOK VI
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8289BOOK VI
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8309BOOK VI
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8329BOOK VI
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8349BOOK VI
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8369BOOK VI
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8389BOOK VI
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8409BOOK VI
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8449BOOK VI
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8469BOOK VI
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8489BOOK VI
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8509BOOK VI
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8529BOOK VI
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8549BOOK VI
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8569BOOK VI
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8589BOOK VI
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8609BOOK VI
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8649BOOK VI
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8689BOOK VI
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9149BOOK VI
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9151
9152.  Back to Top
9153
9154
9155 ~ BOOK VI ~
9156
9157All night the dreadless angel, unpursued,
9158Through Heaven's wide champaign held his way; till Morn,
9159Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand
9160Unbarred the gates of light. There is a cave
9161Within the mount of God, fast by his throne,
9162Where light and darkness in perpetual round
9163Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through Heaven
9164Grateful vicissitude, like day and night;
9165Light issues forth, and at the other door
9166Obsequious darkness enters, till her hour
9167To veil the Heaven, though darkness there might well
9168Seem twilight here: And now went forth the Morn
9169Such as in highest Heaven arrayed in gold
9170Empyreal; from before her vanished Night,
9171Shot through with orient beams; when all the plain
9172Covered with thick embattled squadrons bright,
9173Chariots, and flaming arms, and fiery steeds,
9174Reflecting blaze on blaze, first met his view:
9175War he perceived, war in procinct; and found
9176Already known what he for news had thought
9177To have reported: Gladly then he mixed
9178Among those friendly Powers, who him received
9179With joy and acclamations loud, that one,
9180That of so many myriads fallen, yet one
9181Returned not lost. On to the sacred hill
9182They led him high applauded, and present
9183Before the seat supreme; from whence a voice,
9184From midst a golden cloud, thus mild was heard.
9185Servant of God, well done; well hast thou fought
9186The better fight, who single hast maintained
9187Against revolted multitudes the cause
9188Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms;
9189And for the testimony of truth hast borne
9190Universal reproach, far worse to bear
9191Than violence; for this was all thy care
9192To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds
9193Judged thee perverse: The easier conquest now
9194Remains thee, aided by this host of friends,
9195Back on thy foes more glorious to return,
9196Than scorned thou didst depart; and to subdue
9197By force, who reason for their law refuse,
9198Right reason for their law, and for their King
9199Messiah, who by right of merit reigns.
9200Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince,
9201And thou, in military prowess next,
9202Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons
9203Invincible; lead forth my armed saints,
9204By thousands and by millions, ranged for fight,
9205Equal in number to that Godless crew
9206Rebellious: Them with fire and hostile arms
9207Fearless assault; and, to the brow of Heaven
9208Pursuing, drive them out from God and bliss,
9209Into their place of punishment, the gulf
9210Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide
9211His fiery chaos to receive their fall.
9212So spake the Sovereign Voice, and clouds began
9213To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll
9214In dusky wreaths, reluctant flames, the sign
9215Of wrath awaked; nor with less dread the loud
9216Ethereal trumpet from on high 'gan blow:
9217At which command the Powers militant,
9218That stood for Heaven, in mighty quadrate joined
9219Of union irresistible, moved on
9220In silence their bright legions, to the sound
9221Of instrumental harmony, that breathed
9222Heroic ardor to adventurous deeds
9223Under their God-like leaders, in the cause
9224Of God and his Messiah. On they move
9225Indissolubly firm; nor obvious hill,
9226Nor straitening vale, nor wood, nor stream, divides
9227Their perfect ranks; for high above the ground
9228Their march was, and the passive air upbore
9229Their nimble tread; as when the total kind
9230Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
9231Came summoned over Eden to receive
9232Their names of thee; so over many a tract
9233Of Heaven they marched, and many a province wide,
9234Tenfold the length of this terrene: At last,
9235Far in the horizon to the north appeared
9236From skirt to skirt a fiery region, stretched
9237In battailous aspect, and nearer view
9238Bristled with upright beams innumerable
9239Of rigid spears, and helmets thronged, and shields
9240Various, with boastful argument portrayed,
9241The banded Powers of Satan hasting on
9242With furious expedition; for they weened
9243That self-same day, by fight or by surprise,
9244To win the mount of God, and on his throne
9245To set the Envier of his state, the proud
9246Aspirer; but their thoughts proved fond and vain
9247In the mid way: Though strange to us it seemed
9248At first, that angel should with angel war,
9249And in fierce hosting meet, who wont to meet
9250So oft in festivals of joy and love
9251Unanimous, as sons of one great Sire,
9252Hymning the Eternal Father: But the shout
9253Of battle now began, and rushing sound
9254Of onset ended soon each milder thought.
9255High in the midst, exalted as a God,
9256The Apostate in his sun-bright chariot sat,
9257Idol of majesty divine, enclosed
9258With flaming Cherubim, and golden shields;
9259Then lighted from his gorgeous throne, for now
9260"twixt host and host but narrow space was left,
9261A dreadful interval, and front to front
9262Presented stood in terrible array
9263Of hideous length: Before the cloudy van,
9264On the rough edge of battle ere it joined,
9265Satan, with vast and haughty strides advanced,
9266Came towering, armed in adamant and gold;
9267Abdiel that sight endured not, where he stood
9268Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds,
9269And thus his own undaunted heart explores.
9270Oh Heaven! that such resemblance of the Highest
9271Should yet remain, where faith and realty
9272Remain not: Wherefore should not strength and might
9273There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove
9274Where boldest, though to fight unconquerable?
9275His puissance, trusting in the Almighty's aid,
9276I mean to try, whose reason I have tried
9277Unsound and false; nor is it aught but just,
9278That he, who in debate of truth hath won,
9279Should win in arms, in both disputes alike
9280Victor; though brutish that contest and foul,
9281When reason hath to deal with force, yet so
9282Most reason is that reason overcome.
9283So pondering, and from his armed peers
9284Forth stepping opposite, half-way he met
9285His daring foe, at this prevention more
9286Incensed, and thus securely him defied.
9287Proud, art thou met? thy hope was to have reached
9288The heighth of thy aspiring unopposed,
9289The throne of God unguarded, and his side
9290Abandoned, at the terror of thy power
9291Or potent tongue: Fool! not to think how vain
9292Against the Omnipotent to rise in arms;
9293Who out of smallest things could, without end,
9294Have raised incessant armies to defeat
9295Thy folly; or with solitary hand
9296Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow,
9297Unaided, could have finished thee, and whelmed
9298Thy legions under darkness: But thou seest
9299All are not of thy train; there be, who faith
9300Prefer, and piety to God, though then
9301To thee not visible, when I alone
9302Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent
9303From all: My sect thou seest; now learn too late
9304How few sometimes may know, when thousands err.
9305Whom the grand foe, with scornful eye askance,
9306Thus answered. Ill for thee, but in wished hour
9307Of my revenge, first sought for, thou returnest
9308From flight, seditious angel, to receive
9309Thy merited reward, the first assay
9310Of this right hand provoked, since first that tongue,
9311Inspired with contradiction, durst oppose
9312A third part of the Gods, in synod met
9313Their deities to assert; who, while they feel
9314Vigor divine within them, can allow
9315Omnipotence to none. But well thou comest
9316Before thy fellows, ambitious to win
9317From me some plume, that thy success may show
9318Destruction to the rest: This pause between,
9319(Unanswered lest thou boast) to let thee know,
9320At first I thought that Liberty and Heaven
9321To heavenly souls had been all one; but now
9322I see that most through sloth had rather serve,
9323Ministering Spirits, trained up in feast and song.
9324Such hast thou armed, the minstrelsy of Heaven,
9325Servility with freedom to contend,
9326As both their deeds compared this day shall prove.
9327To whom in brief thus Abdiel stern replied.
9328Apostate, still thou errest, nor end wilt find
9329Of erring, from the path of truth remote:
9330Unjustly thou depravest it with the name
9331Of servitude, to serve whom God ordains,
9332Or Nature: God and Nature bid the same,
9333When he who rules is worthiest, and excels
9334Them whom he governs. This is servitude,
9335To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelled
9336Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee,
9337Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled;
9338Yet lewdly darest our ministering upbraid.
9339Reign thou in Hell, thy kingdom; let me serve
9340In Heaven God ever blest, and his divine
9341Behests obey, worthiest to be obeyed;
9342Yet chains in Hell, not realms, expect: Mean while
9343From me returned, as erst thou saidst, from flight,
9344This greeting on thy impious crest receive.
9345So saying, a noble stroke he lifted high,
9346Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell
9347On the proud crest of Satan, that no sight,
9348Nor motion of swift thought, less could his shield,
9349Such ruin intercept: Ten paces huge
9350He back recoiled; the tenth on bended knee
9351His massy spear upstayed; as if on earth
9352Winds under ground, or waters forcing way,
9353Sidelong had pushed a mountain from his seat,
9354Half sunk with all his pines. Amazement seized
9355The rebel Thrones, but greater rage, to see
9356Thus foiled their mightiest; ours joy filled, and shout,
9357Presage of victory, and fierce desire
9358Of battle: Whereat Michael bid sound
9359The archangel trumpet; through the vast of Heaven
9360It sounded, and the faithful armies rung
9361Hosanna to the Highest: Nor stood at gaze
9362The adverse legions, nor less hideous joined
9363The horrid shock. Now storming fury rose,
9364And clamor such as heard in Heaven till now
9365Was never; arms on armor clashing brayed
9366Horrible discord, and the madding wheels
9367Of brazen chariots raged; dire was the noise
9368Of conflict; over head the dismal hiss
9369Of fiery darts in flaming vollies flew,
9370And flying vaulted either host with fire.
9371So under fiery cope together rushed
9372Both battles main, with ruinous assault
9373And inextinguishable rage. All Heaven
9374Resounded; and had Earth been then, all Earth
9375Had to her center shook. What wonder? when
9376Millions of fierce encountering angels fought
9377On either side, the least of whom could wield
9378These elements, and arm him with the force
9379Of all their regions: How much more of power
9380Army against army numberless to raise
9381Dreadful combustion warring, and disturb,
9382Though not destroy, their happy native seat;
9383Had not the Eternal King Omnipotent,
9384From his strong hold of Heaven, high over-ruled
9385And limited their might; though numbered such
9386As each divided legion might have seemed
9387A numerous host; in strength each armed hand
9388A legion; led in fight, yet leader seemed
9389Each warrior single as in chief, expert
9390When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway
9391Of battle, open when, and when to close
9392The ridges of grim war: No thought of flight,
9393None of retreat, no unbecoming deed
9394That argued fear; each on himself relied,
9395As only in his arm the moment lay
9396Of victory: Deeds of eternal fame
9397Were done, but infinite; for wide was spread
9398That war and various; sometimes on firm ground
9399A standing fight, then, soaring on main wing,
9400Tormented all the air; all air seemed then
9401Conflicting fire. Long time in even scale
9402The battle hung; till Satan, who that day
9403Prodigious power had shown, and met in arms
9404No equal, ranging through the dire attack
9405Of fighting Seraphim confused, at length
9406Saw where the sword of Michael smote, and felled
9407Squadrons at once; with huge two-handed sway
9408Brandished aloft, the horrid edge came down
9409Wide-wasting; such destruction to withstand
9410He hasted, and opposed the rocky orb
9411Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield,
9412A vast circumference. At his approach
9413The great Archangel from his warlike toil
9414Surceased, and glad, as hoping here to end
9415Intestine war in Heaven, the arch-foe subdued
9416Or captive dragged in chains, with hostile frown
9417And visage all inflamed first thus began.
9418Author of evil, unknown till thy revolt,
9419Unnamed in Heaven, now plenteous as thou seest
9420These acts of hateful strife, hateful to all,
9421Though heaviest by just measure on thyself,
9422And thy adherents: How hast thou disturbed
9423Heaven's blessed peace, and into nature brought
9424Misery, uncreated till the crime
9425Of thy rebellion! how hast thou instilled
9426Thy malice into thousands, once upright
9427And faithful, now proved false! But think not here
9428To trouble holy rest; Heaven casts thee out
9429From all her confines. Heaven, the seat of bliss,
9430Brooks not the works of violence and war.
9431Hence then, and evil go with thee along,
9432Thy offspring, to the place of evil, Hell;
9433Thou and thy wicked crew there mingle broils,
9434Ere this avenging sword begin thy doom,
9435Or some more sudden vengeance, winged from God,
9436Precipitate thee with augmented pain.
9437So spake the Prince of angels; to whom thus
9438The Adversary. Nor think thou with wind
9439Of aerie threats to awe whom yet with deeds
9440Thou canst not. Hast thou turned the least of these
9441To flight, or if to fall, but that they rise
9442Unvanquished, easier to transact with me
9443That thou shouldst hope, imperious, and with threats
9444To chase me hence? err not, that so shall end
9445The strife which thou callest evil, but we style
9446The strife of glory; which we mean to win,
9447Or turn this Heaven itself into the Hell
9448Thou fablest; here however to dwell free,
9449If not to reign: Mean while thy utmost force,
9450And join him named Almighty to thy aid,
9451I fly not, but have sought thee far and nigh.
9452They ended parley, and both addressed for fight
9453Unspeakable; for who, though with the tongue
9454Of angels, can relate, or to what things
9455Liken on earth conspicuous, that may lift
9456Human imagination to such heighth
9457Of Godlike power? for likest Gods they seemed,
9458Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms,
9459Fit to decide the empire of great Heaven.
9460Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air
9461Made horrid circles; two broad suns their shields
9462Blazed opposite, while Expectation stood
9463In horror: From each hand with speed retired,
9464Where erst was thickest fight, the angelic throng,
9465And left large field, unsafe within the wind
9466Of such commotion; such as, to set forth
9467Great things by small, if, nature's concord broke,
9468Among the constellations war were sprung,
9469Two planets, rushing from aspect malign
9470Of fiercest opposition, in mid sky
9471Should combat, and their jarring spheres confound.
9472Together both with next to almighty arm
9473Up-lifted imminent, one stroke they aimed
9474That might determine, and not need repeat,
9475As not of power at once; nor odds appeared
9476In might or swift prevention: But the sword
9477Of Michael from the armory of God
9478Was given him tempered so, that neither keen
9479Nor solid might resist that edge: it met
9480The sword of Satan, with steep force to smite
9481Descending, and in half cut sheer; nor staid,
9482But with swift wheel reverse, deep entering, shared
9483All his right side: Then Satan first knew pain,
9484And writhed him to and fro convolved; so sore
9485The griding sword with discontinuous wound
9486Passed through him: But the ethereal substance closed,
9487Not long divisible; and from the gash
9488A stream of nectarous humor issuing flowed
9489Sanguine, such as celestial Spirits may bleed,
9490And all his armor stained, ere while so bright.
9491Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run
9492By angels many and strong, who interposed
9493Defense, while others bore him on their shields
9494Back to his chariot, where it stood retired
9495From off the files of war: There they him laid
9496Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame,
9497To find himself not matchless, and his pride
9498Humbled by such rebuke, so far beneath
9499His confidence to equal God in power.
9500Yet soon he healed; for Spirits that live throughout
9501Vital in every part, not as frail man
9502In entrails, heart of head, liver or reins,
9503Cannot but by annihilating die;
9504Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound
9505Receive, no more than can the fluid air:
9506All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear,
9507All intellect, all sense; and, as they please,
9508They limb themselves, and color, shape, or size
9509Assume, as likes them best, condense or rare.
9510Meanwhile in other parts like deeds deserved
9511Memorial, where the might of Gabriel fought,
9512And with fierce ensigns pierced the deep array
9513Of Moloch, furious king; who him defied,
9514And at his chariot-wheels to drag him bound
9515Threatened, nor from the Holy One of Heaven
9516Refrained his tongue blasphemous; but anon
9517Down cloven to the waist, with shattered arms
9518And uncouth pain fled bellowing. On each wing
9519Uriel, and Raphael, his vaunting foe,
9520Though huge, and in a rock of diamond armed,
9521Vanquished Adramelec, and Asmadai,
9522Two potent Thrones, that to be less than Gods
9523Disdained, but meaner thoughts learned in their flight,
9524Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.
9525Nor stood unmindful Abdiel to annoy
9526The atheist crew, but with redoubled blow
9527Ariel, and Arioch, and the violence
9528Of Ramiel scorched and blasted, overthrew.
9529I might relate of thousands, and their names
9530Eternize here on earth; but those elect
9531Angels, contented with their fame in Heaven,
9532Seek not the praise of men: The other sort,
9533In might though wondrous and in acts of war,
9534Nor of renown less eager, yet by doom
9535Cancelled from Heaven and sacred memory,
9536Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell.
9537For strength from truth divided, and from just,
9538Illaudable, naught merits but dispraise
9539And ignominy; yet to glory aspires
9540Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame:
9541Therefore eternal silence be their doom.
9542And now, their mightiest quelled, the battle swerved,
9543With many an inroad gored; deformed rout
9544Entered, and foul disorder; all the ground
9545With shivered armor strown, and on a heap
9546Chariot and charioteer lay overturned,
9547And fiery-foaming steeds; what stood, recoiled
9548O'er-wearied, through the faint Satanic host
9549Defensive scarce, or with pale fear surprised,
9550Then first with fear surprised, and sense of pain,
9551Fled ignominious, to such evil brought
9552By sin of disobedience; till that hour
9553Not liable to fear, or flight, or pain.
9554Far otherwise the inviolable Saints,
9555In cubic phalanx firm, advanced entire,
9556Invulnerable, impenetrably armed;
9557Such high advantages their innocence
9558Gave them above their foes; not to have sinned,
9559Not to have disobeyed; in fight they stood
9560Unwearied, unobnoxious to be pained
9561By wound, though from their place by violence moved,
9562Now Night her course began, and, over Heaven
9563Inducing darkness, grateful truce imposed,
9564And silence on the odious din of war:
9565Under her cloudy covert both retired,
9566Victor and vanquished: On the foughten field
9567Michael and his angels prevalent
9568Encamping, placed in guard their watches round,
9569Cherubic waving fires: On the other part,
9570Satan with his rebellious disappeared,
9571Far in the dark dislodged; and, void of rest,
9572His potentates to council called by night;
9573And in the midst thus undismayed began.
9574Oh now in danger tried, now known in arms
9575Not to be overpowered, Companions dear,
9576Found worthy not of liberty alone,
9577Too mean pretence, but what we more affect,
9578Honor, dominion, glory, and renown;
9579Who have sustained one day in doubtful fight,
9580(And if one day, why not eternal days?)
9581What Heaven's Lord had powerfullest to send
9582Against us from about his throne, and judged
9583Sufficient to subdue us to his will,
9584But proves not so: Then fallible, it seems,
9585Of future we may deem him, though till now
9586Omniscient thought. True is, less firmly armed,
9587Some disadvantage we endured and pain,
9588Till now not known, but, known, as soon contemned;
9589Since now we find this our empyreal form
9590Incapable of mortal injury,
9591Imperishable, and, though pierced with wound,
9592Soon closing, and by native vigor healed.
9593Of evil then so small as easy think
9594The remedy; perhaps more valid arms,
9595Weapons more violent, when next we meet,
9596May serve to better us, and worse our foes,
9597Or equal what between us made the odds,
9598In nature none: If other hidden cause
9599Left them superior, while we can preserve
9600Unhurt our minds, and understanding sound,
9601Due search and consultation will disclose.
9602He sat; and in the assembly next upstood
9603Nisroch, of Principalities the prime;
9604As one he stood escaped from cruel fight,
9605Sore toiled, his riven arms to havoc hewn,
9606And cloudy in aspect thus answering spake.
9607Deliverer from new Lords, leader to free
9608Enjoyment of our right as Gods; yet hard
9609For Gods, and too unequal work we find,
9610Against unequal arms to fight in pain,
9611Against unpained, impassive; from which evil
9612Ruin must needs ensue; for what avails
9613Velour or strength, though matchless, quelled with pain
9614Which all subdues, and makes remiss the hands
9615Of mightiest? Sense of pleasure we may well
9616Spare out of life perhaps, and not repine,
9617But live content, which is the calmest life:
9618But pain is perfect misery, the worst
9619Of evils, and, excessive, overturns
9620All patience. He, who therefore can invent
9621With what more forcible we may offend
9622Our yet unwounded enemies, or arm
9623Ourselves with like defense, to me deserves
9624No less than for deliverance what we owe.
9625Whereto with look composed Satan replied.
9626Not uninvented that, which thou aright
9627Believest so main to our success, I bring.
9628Which of us who beholds the bright surface
9629Of this ethereous mould whereon we stand,
9630This continent of spacious Heaven, adorned
9631With plant, fruit, flower ambrosial, gems, and gold;
9632Whose eye so superficially surveys
9633These things, as not to mind from whence they grow
9634Deep under ground, materials dark and crude,
9635Of spiritous and fiery spume, till touched
9636With Heaven's ray, and tempered, they shoot forth
9637So beauteous, opening to the ambient light?
9638These in their dark nativity the deep
9639Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame;
9640Which, into hollow engines, long and round,
9641Thick rammed, at the other bore with touch of fire
9642Dilated and infuriate, shall send forth
9643From far, with thundering noise, among our foes
9644Such implements of mischief, as shall dash
9645To pieces, and o'erwhelm whatever stands
9646Adverse, that they shall fear we have disarmed
9647The Thunderer of his only dreaded bolt.
9648Nor long shall be our labor; yet ere dawn,
9649Effect shall end our wish. Mean while revive;
9650Abandon fear; to strength and counsel joined
9651Think nothing hard, much less to be despaired.
9652He ended, and his words their drooping cheer
9653Enlightened, and their languished hope revived.
9654The invention all admired, and each, how he
9655To be the inventor missed; so easy it seemed
9656Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought
9657Impossible: Yet, haply, of thy race
9658In future days, if malice should abound,
9659Some one intent on mischief, or inspired
9660With devilish machination, might devise
9661Like instrument to plague the sons of men
9662For sin, on war and mutual slaughter bent.
9663Forthwith from council to the work they flew;
9664None arguing stood; innumerable hands
9665Were ready; in a moment up they turned
9666Wide the celestial soil, and saw beneath
9667The originals of nature in their crude
9668Conception; sulfurous and nitrous foam
9669They found, they mingled, and, with subtle art,
9670Concocted and adjusted they reduced
9671To blackest grain, and into store conveyed:
9672Part hidden veins digged up (nor hath this earth
9673Entrails unlike) of mineral and stone,
9674Whereof to found their engines and their balls
9675Of missive ruin; part incentive reed
9676Provide, pernicious with one touch to fire.
9677So all ere day-spring, under conscious night,
9678Secret they finished, and in order set,
9679With silent circumspection, unespied.
9680Now when fair morn orient in Heaven appeared,
9681Up rose the victor-angels, and to arms
9682The matin trumpet sung: In arms they stood
9683Of golden panoply, refulgent host,
9684Soon banded; others from the dawning hills
9685Look round, and scouts each coast light-armed scour,
9686Each quarter to descry the distant foe,
9687Where lodged, or whither fled, or if for fight,
9688In motion or in halt: Him soon they met
9689Under spread ensigns moving nigh, in slow
9690But firm battalion; back with speediest sail
9691Zophiel, of Cherubim the swiftest wing,
9692Came flying, and in mid air aloud thus cried.
9693Arm, Warriors, arm for fight; the foe at hand,
9694Whom fled we thought, will save us long pursuit
9695This day; fear not his flight; so thick a cloud
9696He comes, and settled in his face I see
9697Sad resolution, and secure: Let each
9698His adamantine coat gird well, and each
9699Fit well his helm, gripe fast his orbed shield,
9700Borne even or high; for this day will pour down,
9701If I conjecture aught, no drizzling shower,
9702But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.
9703So warned he them, aware themselves, and soon
9704In order, quit of all impediment;
9705Instant without disturb they took alarm,
9706And onward moved embattled: When behold,
9707Not distant far with heavy pace the foe
9708Approaching gross and huge, in hollow cube
9709Training his devilish enginery, impaled
9710On every side with shadowing squadrons deep,
9711To hide the fraud. At interview both stood
9712A while; but suddenly at head appeared
9713Satan, and thus was heard commanding loud.
9714Vanguard, to right and left the front unfold;
9715That all may see who hate us, how we seek
9716Peace and composure, and with open breast
9717Stand ready to receive them, if they like
9718Our overture; and turn not back perverse:
9719But that I doubt; however witness, Heaven!
9720Heaven, witness thou anon! while we discharge
9721Freely our part: ye, who appointed stand
9722Do as you have in charge, and briefly touch
9723What we propound, and loud that all may hear!
9724So scoffing in ambiguous words, he scarce
9725Had ended; when to right and left the front
9726Divided, and to either flank retired:
9727Which to our eyes discovered, new and strange,
9728A triple mounted row of pillars laid
9729On wheels (for like to pillars most they seemed,
9730Or hollowed bodies made of oak or fir,
9731With branches lopped, in wood or mountain felled,)
9732Brass, iron, stony mould, had not their mouths
9733With hideous orifice gaped on us wide,
9734Portending hollow truce: At each behind
9735A Seraph stood, and in his hand a reed
9736Stood waving tipped with fire; while we, suspense,
9737Collected stood within our thoughts amused,
9738Not long; for sudden all at once their reeds
9739Put forth, and to a narrow vent applied
9740With nicest touch. Immediate in a flame,
9741But soon obscured with smoke, all Heaven appeared,
9742From those deep-throated engines belched, whose roar
9743Emboweled with outrageous noise the air,
9744And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul
9745Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts and hail
9746Of iron globes; which, on the victor host
9747Leveled, with such impetuous fury smote,
9748That, whom they hit, none on their feet might stand,
9749Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell
9750By thousands, angel on archangel rolled;
9751The sooner for their arms; unarmed, they might
9752Have easily, as Spirits, evaded swift
9753By quick contraction or remove; but now
9754Foul dissipation followed, and forced rout;
9755Nor served it to relax their serried files.
9756What should they do? if on they rushed, repulse
9757Repeated, and indecent overthrow
9758Doubled, would render them yet more despised,
9759And to their foes a laughter; for in view
9760Stood ranked of Seraphim another row,
9761In posture to displode their second tire
9762Of thunder: Back defeated to return
9763They worse abhorred. Satan beheld their plight,
9764And to his mates thus in derision called.
9765Oh Friends, why come not on these victors proud
9766Ere while they fierce were coming; and when we,
9767To entertain them fair with open front
9768And breast, (what could we more?) propounded terms
9769Of composition, straight they changed their minds,
9770Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell,
9771As they would dance; yet for a dance they seemed
9772Somewhat extravagant and wild; perhaps
9773For joy of offered peace: But I suppose,
9774If our proposals once again were heard,
9775We should compel them to a quick result.
9776To whom thus Belial, in like gamesome mood.
9777Leader, the terms we sent were terms of weight,
9778Of hard contents, and full of force urged home;
9779Such as we might perceive amused them all,
9780And stumbled many: Who receives them right,
9781Had need from head to foot well understand;
9782Not understood, this gift they have besides,
9783They show us when our foes walk not upright.
9784So they among themselves in pleasant vein
9785Stood scoffing, heightened in their thoughts beyond
9786All doubt of victory: Eternal Might
9787To match with their inventions they presumed
9788So easy, and of his thunder made a scorn,
9789And all his host derided, while they stood
9790A while in trouble: But they stood not long;
9791Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms
9792Against such hellish mischief fit to oppose.
9793Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power,
9794Which God hath in his mighty angels placed!)
9795Their arms away they threw, and to the hills
9796(For Earth hath this variety from Heaven
9797Of pleasure situate in hill and dale,)
9798Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew;
9799From their foundations loosening to and fro,
9800They plucked the seated hills, with all their load,
9801Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops
9802Up-lifting bore them in their hands: Amaze,
9803Be sure, and terror, seized the rebel host,
9804When coming towards them so dread they saw
9805The bottom of the mountains upward turned;
9806Till on those cursed engines' triple-row
9807They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence
9808Under the weight of mountains buried deep;
9809Themselves invaded next, and on their heads
9810Main promontories flung, which in the air
9811Came shadowing, and oppressed whole legions armed;
9812Their armor helped their harm, crushed in and bruised
9813Into their substance pent, which wrought them pain
9814Implacable, and many a dolorous groan;
9815Long struggling underneath, ere they could wind
9816Out of such prison, though Spirits of purest light,
9817Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown.
9818The rest, in imitation, to like arms
9819Betook them, and the neighboring hills uptore:
9820So hills amid the air encountered hills,
9821Hurled to and fro with jaculation dire;
9822That under ground they fought in dismal shade;
9823Infernal noise! war seemed a civil game
9824To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped
9825Upon confusion rose: And now all Heaven
9826Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread;
9827Had not the Almighty Father, where he sits
9828Shrined in his sanctuary of Heaven secure,
9829Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen
9830This tumult, and permitted all, advised:
9831That his great purpose he might so fulfill,
9832To honor his anointed Son avenged
9833Upon his enemies, and to declare
9834All power on him transferred: Whence to his Son,
9835The Assessor of his throne, he thus began.
9836Effulgence of my glory, Son beloved,
9837Son, in whose face invisible is beheld
9838Visibly, what by Deity I am;
9839And in whose hand what by decree I do,
9840Second Omnipotence, two days are past,
9841Two days, as we compute the days of Heaven,
9842Since Michael and his Powers went forth to tame
9843These disobedient: Sore hath been their fight,
9844As likeliest was, when two such foes met armed;
9845For to themselves I left them; and thou knowest,
9846Equal in their creation they were formed,
9847Save what sin hath impaired; which yet hath wrought
9848Insensibly, for I suspend their doom;
9849Whence in perpetual fight they needs must last
9850Endless, and no solution will be found:
9851War wearied hath performed what war can do,
9852And to disordered rage let loose the reins
9853With mountains, as with weapons, armed; which makes
9854Wild work in Heaven, and dangerous to the main.
9855Two days are therefore past, the third is thine;
9856For thee I have ordained it; and thus far
9857Have suffered, that the glory may be thine
9858Of ending this great war, since none but Thou
9859Can end it. Into thee such virtue and grace
9860Immense I have transfused, that all may know
9861In Heaven and Hell thy power above compare;
9862And, this perverse commotion governed thus,
9863To manifest thee worthiest to be Heir
9864Of all things; to be Heir, and to be King
9865By sacred unction, thy deserved right.
9866Go then, Thou Mightiest, in thy Father's might;
9867Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels
9868That shake Heaven's basis, bring forth all my war,
9869My bow and thunder, my almighty arms
9870Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh;
9871Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out
9872From all Heaven's bounds into the utter deep:
9873There let them learn, as likes them, to despise
9874God, and Messiah his anointed King.
9875He said, and on his Son with rays direct
9876Shone full; he all his Father full expressed
9877Ineffably into his face received;
9878And thus the Filial Godhead answering spake.
9879Oh Father, Oh Supreme of heavenly Thrones,
9880First, Highest, Holiest, Best; thou always seek'st
9881To glorify thy Son, I always thee,
9882As is most just: This I my glory account,
9883My exaltation, and my whole delight,
9884That thou, in me well pleased, declarest thy will
9885Fulfilled, which to fulfill is all my bliss.
9886Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume,
9887And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
9888Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee
9889For ever; and in me all whom thou lovest:
9890But whom thou hatest, I hate, and can put on
9891Thy terrors, as I put thy mildness on,
9892Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,
9893Armed with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebelled;
9894To their prepared ill mansion driven down,
9895To chains of darkness, and the undying worm;
9896That from thy just obedience could revolt,
9897Whom to obey is happiness entire.
9898Then shall thy Saints unmixed, and from the impure
9899Far separate, circling thy holy mount,
9900Unfeigned Halleluiahs to thee sing,
9901Hymns of high praise, and I among them Chief.
9902So said, he, o'er his scepter bowing, rose
9903From the right hand of Glory where he sat;
9904And the third sacred morn began to shine,
9905Dawning through Heaven. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound
9906The chariot of Paternal Deity,
9907Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,
9908Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoyed
9909By four Cherubic shapes; four faces each
9910Had wondrous; as with stars, their bodies all
9911And wings were set with eyes; with eyes the wheels
9912Of beryl, and careering fires between;
9913Over their heads a crystal firmament,
9914Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure
9915Amber, and colors of the showery arch.
9916He, in celestial panoply all armed
9917Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought,
9918Ascended; at his right hand Victory
9919Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
9920And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored;
9921And from about him fierce effusion rolled
9922Of smoke, and bickering flame, and sparkles dire:
9923Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,
9924He onward came; far off his coming shone;
9925And twenty thousand (I their number heard)
9926Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen;
9927He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime
9928On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,
9929Illustrious far and wide; but by his own
9930First seen: Them unexpected joy surprised,
9931When the great ensign of Messiah blazed
9932Aloft by angels borne, his sign in Heaven;
9933Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
9934His army, circumfused on either wing,
9935Under their Head imbodied all in one.
9936Before him Power Divine his way prepared;
9937At his command the uprooted hills retired
9938Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went
9939Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed,
9940And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.
9941This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured,
9942And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,
9943Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.
9944In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?
9945But to convince the proud what signs avail,
9946Or wonders move the obdurate to relent?
9947They, hardened more by what might most reclaim,
9948Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
9949Took envy; and, aspiring to his heighth,
9950Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud
9951Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
9952Against God and Messiah, or to fall
9953In universal ruin last; and now
9954To final battle drew, disdaining flight,
9955Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God
9956To all his host on either hand thus spake.
9957Stand still in bright array, ye saints; here stand,
9958Ye angels armed; this day from battle rest:
9959Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God
9960Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause;
9961And as ye have received, so have ye done,
9962Invincibly: But of this cursed crew
9963The punishment to other hand belongs;
9964Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints:
9965Number to this day's work is not ordained,
9966Nor multitude; stand only, and behold
9967God's indignation on these godless poured
9968By me; not you, but me, they have despised,
9969Yet envied; against me is all their rage,
9970Because the Father, to whom in Heaven s'preme
9971Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains,
9972Hath honored me, according to his will.
9973Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned;
9974That they may have their wish, to try with me
9975In battle which the stronger proves; they all,
9976Or I alone against them; since by strength
9977They measure all, of other excellence
9978Not emulous, nor care who them excels;
9979Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.
9980So spake the Son, and into terror changed
9981His countenance too severe to be beheld,
9982And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
9983At once the four spread out their starry wings
9984With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs
9985Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
9986Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.
9987He on his impious foes right onward drove,
9988Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels
9989The steadfast empyrean shook throughout,
9990All but the throne itself of God. Full soon
9991Among them he arrived; in his right hand
9992Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
9993Before him, such as in their souls infixed
9994Plagues: They, astonished, all resistance lost,
9995All courage; down their idle weapons dropt:
9996O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode
9997Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,
9998That wished the mountains now might be again
9999Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
10000Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
10001His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four
10002Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels
10003Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
10004One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye
10005Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
10006Among the accursed, that withered all their strength,
10007And of their wonted vigor left them drained,
10008Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.
10009Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
10010His thunder in mid volley; for he meant
10011Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:
10012The overthrown he raised, and as a herd
10013Of goats or timorous flock together thronged
10014Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued
10015With terrors, and with furies, to the bounds
10016And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide,
10017Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
10018Into the wasteful deep: The monstrous sight
10019Struck them with horror backward, but far worse
10020Urged them behind: Headlong themselves they threw
10021Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath
10022Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.
10023Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw
10024Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled
10025Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep
10026Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
10027Nine days they fell: Confounded Chaos roared,
10028And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
10029Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout
10030Incumbered him with ruin: Hell at last
10031Yawning received them whole, and on them closed;
10032Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
10033Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.
10034Disburdened Heaven rejoiced, and soon repaired
10035Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled.
10036Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes,
10037Messiah his triumphal chariot turned:
10038To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood
10039Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,
10040With jubilee advanced; and, as they went,
10041Shaded with branching palm, each Order bright,
10042Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,
10043Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion given,
10044Worthiest to reign: He, celebrated, rode
10045Triumphant through mid Heaven, into the courts
10046And temple of his Mighty Father throned
10047On high; who into glory him received,
10048Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.
10049Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on Earth,
10050At thy request, and that thou mayest beware
10051By what is past, to thee I have revealed
10052What might have else to human race been hid;
10053The discord which befell, and war in Heaven
10054Among the angelic Powers, and the deep fall
10055Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled
10056With Satan; he who envies now thy state,
10057Who now is plotting how he may seduce
10058Thee also from obedience, that, with him
10059Bereaved of happiness, thou mayest partake
10060His punishment, eternal misery;
10061Which would be all his solace and revenge,
10062As a despite done against the Most High,
10063Thee once to gain companion of his woe.
10064But listen not to his temptations, warn
10065Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard,
10066By terrible example, the reward
10067Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,
10068Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
10069
10070~ BOOK VII ~
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10699 ~ BOOK VII ~
10700
10701Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that name
10702If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
10703Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
10704Above the flight of Pegasean wing.
10705The meaning, not the name, I call: for thou
10706Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
10707Of old Olympus dwellest; but, heavenly-born,
10708Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed,
10709Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse,
10710Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
10711In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
10712With thy celestial song. Up led by thee
10713Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,
10714An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
10715Thy tempering: with like safety guided down
10716Return me to my native element:
10717Lest from this flying steed unreined, (as once
10718Bellerophon, though from a lower clime,)
10719Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,
10720Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn.
10721Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
10722Within the visible diurnal sphere;
10723Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole,
10724More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
10725To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,
10726On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues;
10727In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
10728And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
10729Visitest my slumbers nightly, or when morn
10730Purples the east: still govern thou my song,
10731Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
10732But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
10733Of Bacchus and his revelers, the race
10734Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
10735In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
10736To rapture, till the savage clamor drowned
10737Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend
10738Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:
10739For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.
10740Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphael,
10741The affable archangel, had forewarned
10742Adam, by dire example, to beware
10743Apostasy, by what befell in Heaven
10744To those apostates; lest the like befall
10745In Paradise to Adam or his race,
10746Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,
10747If they transgress, and slight that sole command,
10748So easily obeyed amid the choice
10749Of all tastes else to please their appetite,
10750Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve,
10751The story heard attentive, and was filled
10752With admiration and deep muse, to hear
10753Of things so high and strange; things, to their thought
10754So unimaginable, as hate in Heaven,
10755And war so near the peace of God in bliss,
10756With such confusion: but the evil, soon
10757Driven back, redounded as a flood on those
10758From whom it sprung; impossible to mix
10759With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed
10760The doubts that in his heart arose: and now
10761Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know
10762What nearer might concern him, how this world
10763Of Heaven and Earth conspicuous first began;
10764When, and whereof created; for what cause;
10765What within Eden, or without, was done
10766Before his memory; as one whose drought
10767Yet scarce allayed still eyes the current stream,
10768Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,
10769Proceeded thus to ask his heavenly guest.
10770Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,
10771Far differing from this world, thou hast revealed,
10772Divine interpreter, by favor sent
10773Down from the empyrean, to forewarn
10774Us timely of what might else have been our loss,
10775Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach;
10776For which to the infinitely Good we owe
10777Immortal thanks, and his admonishment
10778Receive, with solemn purpose to observe
10779Immutably his sovereign will, the end
10780Of what we are. But since thou hast vouchsafed
10781Gently, for our instruction, to impart
10782Things above earthly thought, which yet concerned
10783Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemed,
10784Deign to descend now lower, and relate
10785What may no less perhaps avail us known,
10786How first began this Heaven which we behold
10787Distant so high, with moving fires adorned
10788Innumerable; and this which yields or fills
10789All space, the ambient air wide interfused
10790Embracing round this florid Earth; what cause
10791Moved the Creator, in his holy rest
10792Through all eternity, so late to build
10793In Chaos; and the work begun, how soon
10794Absolved; if unforbid thou mayest unfold
10795What we, not to explore the secrets ask
10796Of his eternal empire, but the more
10797To magnify his works, the more we know.
10798And the great light of day yet wants to run
10799Much of his race though steep; suspense in Heaven,
10800Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears,
10801And longer will delay to hear thee tell
10802His generation, and the rising birth
10803Of Nature from the unapparent Deep:
10804Or if the star of evening and the moon
10805Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring,
10806Silence; and Sleep, listening to thee, will watch;
10807Or we can bid his absence, till thy song
10808End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine.
10809Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought:
10810And thus the Godlike angel answered mild.
10811This also thy request, with caution asked,
10812Obtain; though to recount almighty works
10813What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,
10814Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
10815Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
10816To glorify the Maker, and infer
10817Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
10818Thy hearing; such commission from above
10819I have received, to answer thy desire
10820Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain
10821To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope
10822Things not revealed, which the invisible King,
10823Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night;
10824To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:
10825Enough is left besides to search and know.
10826But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
10827Her temperance over appetite, to know
10828In measure what the mind may well contain;
10829Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
10830Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.
10831Know then, that, after Lucifer from Heaven
10832(So call him, brighter once amidst the host
10833Of angels, than that star the stars among,)
10834Fell with his flaming legions through the deep
10835Into his place, and the great Son returned
10836Victorious with his saints, the Omnipotent
10837Eternal Father from his throne beheld
10838Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake.
10839At least our envious Foe hath failed, who thought
10840All like himself rebellious, by whose aid
10841This inaccessible high strength, the seat
10842Of Deity supreme, us dispossessed,
10843He trusted to have seized, and into fraud
10844Drew many, whom their place knows here no more:
10845Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
10846Their station; Heaven, yet populous, retains
10847Number sufficient to possess her realms
10848Though wide, and this high temple to frequent
10849With ministries due, and solemn rites:
10850But, lest his heart exalt him in the harm
10851Already done, to have dispeopled Heaven,
10852My damage fondly deemed, I can repair
10853That detriment, if such it be to lose
10854Self-lost; and in a moment will create
10855Another world, out of one man a race
10856Of men innumerable, there to dwell,
10857Not here; till, by degrees of merit raised,
10858They open to themselves at length the way
10859Up hither, under long obedience tried;
10860And Earth be changed to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth,
10861One kingdom, joy and union without end.
10862Mean while inhabit lax, ye Powers of Heaven;
10863And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee
10864This I perform; speak thou, and be it done.
10865My overshadowing Spirit and Might with thee
10866I send along; ride forth, and bid the Deep
10867Within appointed bounds be Heaven and Earth;
10868Boundless the Deep, because I Am who fill
10869Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
10870Though I, uncircumscribed myself, retire,
10871And put not forth my goodness, which is free
10872To act or not, Necessity and Chance
10873Approach not me, and what I will is Fate.
10874So spake the Almighty, and to what he spake
10875His Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect.
10876Immediate are the acts of God, more swift
10877Than time or motion, but to human ears
10878Cannot without process of speech be told,
10879So told as earthly notion can receive.
10880Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven,
10881When such was heard declared the Almighty's will;
10882Glory they sung to the Most High, good will
10883To future men, and in their dwellings peace;
10884Glory to Him, whose just avenging ire
10885Had driven out the ungodly from his sight
10886And the habitations of the just; to Him
10887Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordained
10888Good out of evil to create; instead
10889Of Spirits malign, a better race to bring
10890Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse
10891His good to worlds and ages infinite.
10892So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son
10893On his great expedition now appeared,
10894Girt with Omnipotence, with radiance crowned
10895Of Majesty Divine; sapience and love
10896Immense, and all his Father in him shone.
10897About his chariot numberless were poured
10898Cherub, and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones,
10899And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots winged
10900From the armory of God; where stand of old
10901Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodged
10902Against a solemn day, harnessed at hand,
10903Celestial equipage; and now came forth
10904Spontaneous, for within them Spirit lived,
10905Attendant on their Lord: Heaven opened wide
10906Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound
10907On golden hinges moving, to let forth
10908The King of Glory, in his powerful Word
10909And Spirit, coming to create new worlds.
10910On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore
10911They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss
10912Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,
10913Up from the bottom turned by furious winds
10914And surging waves, as mountains, to assault
10915Heaven's heighth, and with the center mix the pole.
10916Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, peace,
10917Said then the Omnific Word; your discord end!
10918Nor stayed; but, on the wings of Cherubim
10919Uplifted, in paternal glory rode
10920Far into Chaos, and the world unborn;
10921For Chaos heard his voice: Him all his train
10922Followed in bright procession, to behold
10923Creation, and the wonders of his might.
10924Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
10925He took the golden compasses, prepared
10926In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
10927This universe, and all created things:
10928One foot he centered, and the other turned
10929Round through the vast profundity obscure;
10930And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,
10931This be thy just circumference, Oh World,
10932Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth,
10933Matter unformed and void: Darkness profound
10934Covered the abyss: but on the watery calm
10935His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,
10936And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth
10937Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purged
10938The black tartareous cold infernal dregs,
10939Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobed
10940Like things to like; the rest to several place
10941Disparted, and between spun out the air;
10942And Earth self-balanced on her center hung.
10943Let there be light, said God; and forthwith Light
10944Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,
10945Sprung from the deep; and from her native east
10946To journey through the aerie gloom began,
10947Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun
10948Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle
10949Sojourned the while. God saw the light was good;
10950And light from darkness by the hemisphere
10951Divided: light the Day, and darkness Night,
10952He named. Thus was the first day even and morn:
10953Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung
10954By the celestial quires, when orient light
10955Exhaling first from darkness they beheld;
10956Birth-day of Heaven and Earth; with joy and shout
10957The hollow universal orb they filled,
10958And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised
10959God and his works; Creator him they sung,
10960Both when first evening was, and when first morn.
10961Again, God said, Let there be firmament
10962Amid the waters, and let it divide
10963The waters from the waters; and God made
10964The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,
10965Transparent, elemental air, diffused
10966In circuit to the uttermost convex
10967Of this great round; partition firm and sure,
10968The waters underneath from those above
10969Dividing: for as earth, so he the world
10970Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
10971Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule
10972Of Chaos far removed; lest fierce extremes
10973Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:
10974And Heaven he named the Firmament: So even
10975And morning chorus sung the second day.
10976The Earth was formed, but in the womb as yet
10977Of waters, embryon immature involved,
10978Appeared not: over all the face of Earth
10979Main ocean flowed, not idle; but, with warm
10980Prolific humor softening all her globe,
10981Fermented the great mother to conceive,
10982Satiate with genial moisture; when God said,
10983Be gathered now ye waters under Heaven
10984Into one place, and let dry land appear.
10985Immediately the mountains huge appear
10986Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
10987Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky:
10988So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low
10989Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,
10990Capacious bed of waters: Thither they
10991Hasted with glad precipitance, uprolled,
10992As drops on dust conglobing from the dry:
10993Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,
10994For haste; such flight the great command impressed
10995On the swift floods: As armies at the call
10996Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)
10997Troop to their standard; so the watery throng,
10998Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
10999If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,
11000Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill;
11001But they, or under ground, or circuit wide
11002With serpent error wandering, found their way,
11003And on the washy ooze deep channels wore;
11004Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,
11005All but within those banks, where rivers now
11006Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.
11007The dry land, Earth; and the great receptacle
11008Of congregated waters, he called Seas:
11009And saw that it was good; and said, Let the Earth
11010Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,
11011And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,
11012Whose seed is in herself upon the Earth.
11013He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, till then
11014Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned,
11015Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad
11016Her universal face with pleasant green;
11017Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered
11018Opening their various colors, and made gay
11019Her bosom, smelling sweet: and, these scarce blown,
11020Forth flourished thick the clustering vine, forth crept
11021The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
11022Embattled in her field, and the humble shrub,
11023And bush with frizzled hair implicit: Last
11024Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread
11025Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmed
11026Their blossoms: With high woods the hills were crowned;
11027With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side;
11028With borders long the rivers: that Earth now
11029Seemed like to Heaven, a seat where Gods might dwell,
11030Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
11031Her sacred shades: though God had yet not rained
11032Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground
11033None was; but from the Earth a dewy mist
11034Went up, and watered all the ground, and each
11035Plant of the field; which, ere it was in the Earth,
11036God made, and every herb, before it grew
11037On the green stem: God saw that it was good:
11038So even and morn recorded the third day.
11039Again the Almighty spake, Let there be lights
11040High in the expanse of Heaven, to divide
11041The day from night; and let them be for signs,
11042For seasons, and for days, and circling years;
11043And let them be for lights, as I ordain
11044Their office in the firmament of Heaven,
11045To give light on the Earth; and it was so.
11046And God made two great lights, great for their use
11047To Man, the greater to have rule by day,
11048The less by night, altern; and made the stars,
11049And set them in the firmament of Heaven
11050To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day
11051In their vicissitude, and rule the night,
11052And light from darkness to divide. God saw,
11053Surveying his great work, that it was good:
11054For of celestial bodies first the sun
11055A mighty sphere he framed, unlightsome first,
11056Though of ethereal mould: then formed the moon
11057Globose, and every magnitude of stars,
11058And sowed with stars the Heaven, thick as a field:
11059Of light by far the greater part he took,
11060Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placed
11061In the sun's orb, made porous to receive
11062And drink the liquid light; firm to retain
11063Her gathered beams, great palace now of light.
11064Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
11065Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,
11066And hence the morning-planet gilds her horns;
11067By tincture or reflection they augment
11068Their small peculiar, though from human sight
11069So far remote, with diminution seen,
11070First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,
11071Regent of day, and all the horizon round
11072Invested with bright rays, jocund to run
11073His longitude through Heaven's high road; the gray
11074Dawn, and the Pleiades, before him danced,
11075Shedding sweet influence: Less bright the moon,
11076But opposite in leveled west was set,
11077His mirror, with full face borrowing her light
11078From him; for other light she needed none
11079In that aspect, and still that distance keeps
11080Till night; then in the east her turn she shines,
11081Revolved on Heaven's great axle, and her reign
11082With thousand lesser lights dividual holds,
11083With thousand thousand stars, that then appeared
11084Spangling the hemisphere: Then first adorned
11085With their bright luminaries that set and rose,
11086Glad evening and glad morn crowned the fourth day.
11087And God said, Let the waters generate
11088Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul:
11089And let fowl fly above the Earth, with wings
11090Displayed on the open firmament of Heaven.
11091And God created the great whales, and each
11092Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously
11093The waters generated by their kinds;
11094And every bird of wing after his kind;
11095And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying.
11096Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas,
11097And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill;
11098And let the fowl be multiplied, on the Earth.
11099Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay,
11100With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals
11101Of fish that with their fins, and shining scales,
11102Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft
11103Bank the mid sea: part single, or with mate,
11104Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves
11105Of coral stray; or, sporting with quick glance,
11106Show to the sun their waved coats dropt with gold;
11107Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend
11108Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food
11109In jointed armor watch: on smooth the seal
11110And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk
11111Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,
11112Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,
11113Hugest of living creatures, on the deep
11114Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,
11115And seems a moving land; and at his gills
11116Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.
11117Mean while the tepid caves, and fens, and shores,
11118Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon
11119Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclosed
11120Their callow young; but feathered soon and fledge
11121They summed their pens; and, soaring the air sublime,
11122With clang despised the ground, under a cloud
11123In prospect; there the eagle and the stork
11124On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build:
11125Part loosely wing the region, part more wise
11126In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way,
11127Intelligent of seasons, and set forth
11128Their aerie caravan, high over seas
11129Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing
11130Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane
11131Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air
11132Floats as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes:
11133From branch to branch the smaller birds with song
11134Solaced the woods, and spread their painted wings
11135Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale
11136Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays:
11137Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bathed
11138Their downy breast; the swan with arched neck,
11139Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows
11140Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit
11141The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower
11142The mid aerial sky: Others on ground
11143Walked firm; the crested cock whose clarion sounds
11144The silent hours, and the other whose gay train
11145Adorns him, colored with the florid hue
11146Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus
11147With fish replenished, and the air with fowl,
11148Evening and morn solemnized the fifth day.
11149The sixth, and of creation last, arose
11150With evening harps and matin; when God said,
11151Let the Earth bring forth soul living in her kind,
11152Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the Earth,
11153Each in their kind. The Earth obeyed, and straight
11154Opening her fertile womb teemed at a birth
11155Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,
11156Limbed and full grown: Out of the ground up rose,
11157As from his lair, the wild beast where he wons
11158In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;
11159Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked:
11160The cattle in the fields and meadows green:
11161Those rare and solitary, these in flocks
11162Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.
11163The grassy clods now calved; now half appeared
11164The tawny lion, pawing to get free
11165His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,
11166And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,
11167The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
11168Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
11169In hillocks: The swift stag from under ground
11170Bore up his branching head: Scarce from his mould
11171Behemoth biggest born of earth upheaved
11172His vastness: Fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,
11173As plants: Ambiguous between sea and land
11174The river-horse, and scaly crocodile.
11175At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,
11176Insect or worm: those waved their limber fans
11177For wings, and smallest lineaments exact
11178In all the liveries decked of summer's pride
11179With spots of gold and purple, azure and green:
11180These, as a line, their long dimension drew,
11181Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all
11182Minims of nature; some of serpent-kind,
11183Wondrous in length and corpulence, involved
11184Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept
11185The parsimonious emmet, provident
11186Of future; in small room large heart enclosed;
11187Pattern of just equality perhaps
11188Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes
11189Of commonalty: Swarming next appeared
11190The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
11191Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
11192With honey stored: The rest are numberless,
11193And thou their natures knowest, and gavest them names,
11194Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown
11195The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,
11196Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
11197And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
11198Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
11199Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and rolled
11200Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand
11201First wheeled their course: Earth in her rich attire
11202Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth,
11203By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked,
11204Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remained:
11205There wanted yet the master-work, the end
11206Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone
11207And brute as other creatures, but endued
11208With sanctity of reason, might erect
11209His stature, and upright with front serene
11210Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence
11211Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,
11212But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
11213Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes
11214Directed in devotion, to adore
11215And worship God Supreme, who made him chief
11216Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent
11217Eternal Father (for where is not he
11218Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake.
11219Let us make now man in our image, man
11220In our similitude, and let them rule
11221Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
11222Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,
11223And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
11224This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee, Oh Man,
11225Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed
11226The breath of life; in his own image he
11227Created thee, in the image of God
11228Express; and thou becamest a living soul.
11229Male he created thee; but thy consort
11230Female, for race; then blessed mankind, and said,
11231Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth;
11232Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
11233Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
11234And every living thing that moves on the Earth.
11235Wherever thus created, for no place
11236Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou knowest,
11237He brought thee into this delicious grove,
11238This garden, planted with the trees of God,
11239Delectable both to behold and taste;
11240And freely all their pleasant fruit for food
11241Gave thee; all sorts are here that all the Earth yields,
11242Variety without end; but of the tree,
11243Which, tasted, works knowledge of good and evil,
11244Thou mayest not; in the day thou eatest, thou diest;
11245Death is the penalty imposed; beware,
11246And govern well thy appetite; lest Sin
11247Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.
11248Here finished he, and all that he had made
11249Viewed, and behold all was entirely good;
11250So even and morn accomplished the sixth day:
11251Yet not till the Creator from his work
11252Desisting, though unwearied, up returned,
11253Up to the Heaven of Heavens, his high abode;
11254Thence to behold this new created world,
11255The addition of his empire, how it showed
11256In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,
11257Answering his great idea. Up he rode
11258Followed with acclamation, and the sound
11259Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned
11260Angelic harmonies: The earth, the air
11261Resounded, (thou rememberest, for thou heardst,)
11262The heavens and all the constellations rung,
11263The planets in their station listening stood,
11264While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.
11265Open, ye everlasting gates, they sung,
11266Open, ye Heavens, your living doors; let in
11267The great Creator from his work returned
11268Magnificent, his six days work, a World;
11269Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign
11270To visit oft the dwellings of just men,
11271Delighted; and with frequent intercourse
11272Thither will send his winged messengers
11273On errands of supernal grace. So sung
11274The glorious train ascending: He through Heaven,
11275That opened wide her blazing portals, led
11276To God's eternal house direct the way;
11277A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold
11278And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,
11279Seen in the galaxy, that milky way,
11280Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest
11281Powdered with stars. And now on Earth the seventh
11282Evening arose in Eden, for the sun
11283Was set, and twilight from the east came on,
11284Forerunning night; when at the holy mount
11285Of Heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne
11286Of Godhead, fixed for ever firm and sure,
11287The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down
11288With his great Father; for he also went
11289Invisible, yet staid, (such privilege
11290Hath Omnipresence) and the work ordained,
11291Author and End of all things; and, from work
11292Now resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh day,
11293As resting on that day from all his work,
11294But not in silence holy kept: the harp
11295Had work and rested not; the solemn pipe,
11296And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,
11297All sounds on fret by string or golden wire,
11298Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voice
11299Choral or unison: of incense clouds,
11300Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount.
11301Creation and the six days acts they sung:
11302Great are thy works, Jehovah, infinite
11303Thy power. What thought can measure thee, or tongue
11304Relate thee. Greater now in thy return
11305Than from the giant angels: Thee that day
11306Thy thunders magnified; but to create
11307Is greater than created to destroy.
11308Who can impair thee, Mighty King, or bound
11309Thy empire? Easily the proud attempt
11310Of Spirits apostate, and their counsels vain,
11311Thou hast repelled; while impiously they thought
11312Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw
11313The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks
11314To lessen thee, against his purpose serves
11315To manifest the more thy might: his evil
11316Thou usest, and from thence createst more good.
11317Witness this new-made world, another Heaven
11318From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view
11319On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;
11320Of amplitude almost immense, with stars
11321Numerous, and every star perhaps a world
11322Of destined habitation; but thou knowest
11323Their seasons: among these the seat of Men,
11324Earth, with her nether ocean circumfused,
11325Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy Men,
11326And sons of Men, whom God hath thus advanced,
11327Created in his image, there to dwell
11328And worship him; and in reward to rule
11329Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,
11330And multiply a race of worshippers
11331Holy and just: Thrice happy, if they know
11332Their happiness, and persevere upright.
11333So sung they, and the empyrean rung
11334With halleluiahs: Thus was Sabbath kept.
11335And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked
11336How first this world and face of things began,
11337And what before thy memory was done
11338From the beginning; that posterity,
11339Informed by thee, might know: If else thou seekest
11340Aught, not surpassing human measure, say.
11341
11342~ BOOK VIII ~
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11985BOOK VIII
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11988.  Back to Top
11989
11990
11991 ~ BOOK VIII ~
11992
11993The angel ended, and in Adam's ear
11994So charming left his voice, that he a while
11995Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear;
11996Then, as new waked, thus gratefully replied.
11997What thanks sufficient, or what recompense
11998Equal, have I to render thee, divine
11999Historian, who thus largely hast allayed
12000The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed
12001This friendly condescension to relate
12002Things, else by me unsearchable; now heard
12003With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,
12004With glory attributed to the high
12005Creator. Something yet of doubt remains,
12006Which only thy solution can resolve.
12007When I behold this goodly frame, this world,
12008Of Heaven and Earth consisting; and compute
12009Their magnitudes; this Earth, a spot, a grain,
12010An atom, with the firmament compared
12011And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll
12012Spaces incomprehensible, (for such
12013Their distance argues, and their swift return
12014Diurnal,) merely to officiate light
12015Round this opacous Earth, this punctual spot,
12016One day and night; in all her vast survey
12017Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire,
12018How Nature wise and frugal could commit
12019Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
12020So many nobler bodies to create,
12021Greater so manifold, to this one use,
12022For aught appears, and on their orbs impose
12023Such restless revolution day by day
12024Repeated; while the sedentary Earth,
12025That better might with far less compass move,
12026Served by more noble than herself, attains
12027Her end without least motion, and receives,
12028As tribute, such a sumless journey brought
12029Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light;
12030Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails.
12031So spake our sire, and by his countenance seemed
12032Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve
12033Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight,
12034With lowliness majestic from her seat,
12035And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
12036Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
12037To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom,
12038Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
12039And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
12040Yet went she not, as not with such discourse
12041Delighted, or not capable her ear
12042Of what was high: such pleasure she reserved,
12043Adam relating, she sole auditress;
12044Her husband the relater she preferred
12045Before the angel, and of him to ask
12046Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix
12047Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute
12048With conjugal caresses: from his lip
12049Not words alone pleased her. Oh when meet now
12050Such pairs, in love and mutual honor joined?
12051With goddess-like demeanor forth she went,
12052Not unattended; for on her, as queen,
12053A pomp of winning graces waited still,
12054And from about her shot darts of desire
12055Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.
12056And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt proposed,
12057Benevolent and facile thus replied.
12058To ask or search, I blame thee not; for Heaven
12059Is as the book of God before thee set,
12060Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn
12061His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years:
12062This to attain, whether Heaven move or Earth,
12063Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest
12064From man or angel the great Architect
12065Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
12066His secrets to be scanned by them who ought
12067Rather admire; or, if they list to try
12068Conjecture, he his fabric of the Heavens
12069Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move
12070His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
12071Hereafter; when they come to model Heaven
12072And calculate the stars, how they will wield
12073The mighty frame; how build, unbuild, contrive
12074To save appearances; how gird the sphere
12075With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er,
12076Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb:
12077Already by thy reasoning this I guess,
12078Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest
12079That bodies bright and greater should not serve
12080The less not bright, nor Heaven such journeys run,
12081Earth sitting still, when she alone receives
12082The benefit: Consider first, that great
12083Or bright infers not excellence: the Earth
12084Though, in comparison of Heaven, so small,
12085Nor glistering, may of solid good contain
12086More plenty than the sun that barren shines;
12087Whose virtue on itself works no effect,
12088But in the fruitful Earth; there first received,
12089His beams, unactive else, their vigor find.
12090Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries
12091Officious; but to thee, Earth's habitant.
12092And for the Heaven's wide circuit, let it speak
12093The Maker's high magnificence, who built
12094So spacious, and his line stretched out so far;
12095That man may know he dwells not in his own;
12096An edifice too large for him to fill,
12097Lodged in a small partition; and the rest
12098Ordained for uses to his Lord best known.
12099The swiftness of those circles attribute,
12100Though numberless, to his Omnipotence,
12101That to corporeal substances could add
12102Speed almost spiritual: Me thou thinkest not slow,
12103Who since the morning-hour set out from Heaven
12104Where God resides, and ere mid-day arrived
12105In Eden; distance inexpressible
12106By numbers that have name. But this I urge,
12107Admitting motion in the Heavens, to show
12108Invalid that which thee to doubt it moved;
12109Not that I so affirm, though so it seem
12110To thee who hast thy dwelling here on Earth.
12111God, to remove his ways from human sense,
12112Placed Heaven from Earth so far, that earthly sight,
12113If it presume, might err in things too high,
12114And no advantage gain. What if the sun
12115Be center to the world; and other stars,
12116By his attractive virtue and their own
12117Incited, dance about him various rounds?
12118Their wandering course now high, now low, then hid,
12119Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,
12120In six thou seest; and what if seventh to these
12121The planet earth, so steadfast though she seem,
12122Insensibly three different motions move?
12123Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe,
12124Moved contrary with thwart obliquities;
12125Or save the sun his labor, and that swift
12126Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb supposed,
12127Invisible else above all stars, the wheel
12128Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,
12129If earth, industrious of herself, fetch day
12130Traveling east, and with her part averse
12131From the sun's beam meet night, her other part
12132Still luminous by his ray. What if that light,
12133Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air,
12134To the terrestrial moon be as a star,
12135Enlightening her by day, as she by night
12136This earth? reciprocal, if land be there,
12137Fields and inhabitants: Her spots thou seest
12138As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce
12139Fruits in her softened soil for some to eat
12140Allotted there; and other suns perhaps,
12141With their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,
12142Communicating male and female light;
12143Which two great sexes animate the world,
12144Stored in each orb perhaps with some that live.
12145For such vast room in Nature unpossessed
12146By living soul, desert and desolate,
12147Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute
12148Each orb a glimpse of light, conveyed so far
12149Down to this habitable, which returns
12150Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.
12151But whether thus these things, or whether not;
12152But whether the sun, predominant in Heaven,
12153Rise on the earth; or earth rise on the sun;
12154He from the east his flaming road begin;
12155Or she from west her silent course advance,
12156With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps
12157On her soft axle, while she paces even,
12158And bears thee soft with the smooth hair along;
12159Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
12160Leave them to God above; him serve, and fear.
12161Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
12162Wherever placed, let him dispose; joy thou
12163In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
12164And thy fair Eve; Heaven is for thee too high
12165To know what passes there; be lowly wise:
12166Think only what concerns thee, and thy being;
12167Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
12168Live, in what state, condition, or degree;
12169Contented that thus far hath been revealed
12170Not of Earth only, but of highest Heaven.
12171To whom thus Adam, cleared of doubt, replied.
12172How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure
12173Intelligence of Heaven, angel serene,
12174And, freed from intricacies, taught to live
12175The easiest way; nor with perplexing thoughts
12176To interrupt the sweet of life, from which
12177God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,
12178And not molest us; unless we ourselves
12179Seek them with wandering thoughts, and notions vain.
12180But apt the mind or fancy is to rove
12181Unchecked, and of her roving is no end;
12182Till warned, or by experience taught, she learn,
12183That, not to know at large of things remote
12184From use, obscure and subtle; but, to know
12185That which before us lies in daily life,
12186Is the prime wisdom: What is more, is fume,
12187Or emptiness, or fond impertinence:
12188And renders us, in things that most concern,
12189Unpracticed, unprepared, and still to seek.
12190Therefore from this high pitch let us descend
12191A lower flight, and speak of things at hand
12192Useful; whence, haply, mention may arise
12193Of something not unseasonable to ask,
12194By sufferance, and thy wonted favor, deigned.
12195Thee I have heard relating what was done
12196Ere my remembrance: now, hear me relate
12197My story, which perhaps thou hast not heard;
12198And day is not yet spent; till then thou seest
12199How subtly to detain thee I devise;
12200Inviting thee to hear while I relate;
12201Fond were it not in hope of thy reply:
12202For, while I sit with thee, I seem in Heaven;
12203And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear
12204Than fruits of palm-tree pleasantest to thirst
12205And hunger both, from labor, at the hour
12206Of sweet repast; they satiate, and soon fill,
12207Though pleasant; but thy words, with grace divine
12208Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety.
12209To whom thus Raphael answered heavenly meek.
12210Nor are thy lips ungraceful, Sire of men,
12211Nor tongue ineloquent; for God on thee
12212Abundantly his gifts hath also poured
12213Inward and outward both, his image fair:
12214Speaking, or mute, all comeliness and grace
12215Attends thee; and each word, each motion, forms;
12216Nor less think we in Heaven of thee on Earth
12217Than of our fellow-servant, and inquire
12218Gladly into the ways of God with Man:
12219For God, we see, hath honored thee, and set
12220On man his equal love: Say therefore on;
12221For I that day was absent, as befell,
12222Bound on a voyage uncouth and obscure,
12223Far on excursion toward the gates of Hell;
12224Squared in full legion (such command we had)
12225To see that none thence issued forth a spy,
12226Or enemy, while God was in his work;
12227Lest he, incensed at such eruption bold,
12228Destruction with creation might have mixed.
12229Not that they durst without his leave attempt;
12230But us he sends upon his high behests
12231For state, as Sovereign King; and to inure
12232Our prompt obedience. Fast we found, fast shut,
12233The dismal gates, and barricaded strong;
12234But long ere our approaching heard within
12235Noise, other than the sound of dance or song,
12236Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.
12237Glad we returned up to the coasts of light
12238Ere Sabbath-evening: so we had in charge.
12239But thy relation now; for I attend,
12240Pleased with thy words no less than thou with mine.
12241So spake the Godlike Power, and thus our Sire.
12242For man to tell how human life began
12243Is hard; for who himself beginning knew
12244Desire with thee still longer to converse
12245Induced me. As new waked from soundest sleep,
12246Soft on the flowery herb I found me laid,
12247In balmy sweat; which with his beams the sun
12248Soon dried, and on the reeking moisture fed.
12249Straight toward Heaven my wondering eyes I turned,
12250And gazed a while the ample sky; till, raised
12251By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung,
12252As thitherward endeavoring, and upright
12253Stood on my feet: about me round I saw
12254Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,
12255And liquid lapse of murmuring streams; by these,
12256Creatures that lived and moved, and walked, or flew;
12257Birds on the branches warbling; all things smiled;
12258With fragrance and with joy my heart o'erflowed.
12259Myself I then perused, and limb by limb
12260Surveyed, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran
12261With supple joints, as lively vigor led:
12262But who I was, or where, or from what cause,
12263Knew not; to speak I tried, and forthwith spake;
12264My tongue obeyed, and readily could name
12265Whate'er I saw. Thou Sun, said I, fair light,
12266And thou enlightened Earth, so fresh and gay,
12267Ye Hills, and Dales, ye Rivers, Woods, and Plains,
12268And ye that live and move, fair Creatures, tell,
12269Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here?
12270Not of myself; by some great Maker then,
12271In goodness and in power pre-eminent:
12272Tell me, how may I know him, how adore,
12273From whom I have that thus I move and live,
12274And feel that I am happier than I know.
12275While thus I called, and strayed I knew not whither,
12276From where I first drew air, and first beheld
12277This happy light; when, answer none returned,
12278On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers,
12279Pensive I sat me down: There gentle sleep
12280First found me, and with soft oppression seized
12281My droused sense, untroubled, though I thought
12282I then was passing to my former state
12283Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve:
12284When suddenly stood at my head a dream,
12285Whose inward apparition gently moved
12286My fancy to believe I yet had being,
12287And lived: One came, methought, of shape divine,
12288And said, 'Thy mansion wants thee, Adam; rise,
12289'First Man, of men innumerable ordained
12290'First Father, called by thee, I come thy guide
12291'To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepared.'
12292So saying, by the hand he took me raised,
12293And over fields and waters, as in air
12294Smooth-sliding without step, last led me up
12295A woody mountain; whose high top was plain,
12296A circuit wide, enclosed, with goodliest trees
12297Planted, with walks, and bowers; that what I saw
12298Of Earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree,
12299Loaden with fairest fruit that hung to the eye
12300Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite
12301To pluck and eat; whereat I waked, and found
12302Before mine eyes all real, as the dream
12303Had lively shadowed: Here had new begun
12304My wandering, had not he, who was my guide
12305Up hither, from among the trees appeared,
12306Presence Divine. Rejoicing, but with awe,
12307In adoration at his feet I fell
12308Submiss: He reared me, and 'Whom thou soughtest I am,'
12309Said mildly, 'Author of all this thou seest
12310'Above, or round about thee, or beneath.
12311'This Paradise I give thee, count it thine
12312'To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat:
12313'Of every tree that in the garden grows
12314'Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:
12315'But of the tree whose operation brings
12316'Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set
12317'The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith,
12318'Amid the garden by the tree of life,
12319'Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste,
12320'And shun the bitter consequence: for know,
12321'The day thou eatest thereof, my sole command
12322'Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die,
12323'From that day mortal; and this happy state
12324'Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world
12325'Of woe and sorrow.' Sternly he pronounced
12326The rigid interdiction, which resounds
12327Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice
12328Not to incur; but soon his clear aspect
12329Returned, and gracious purpose thus renewed.
12330'Not only these fair bounds, but all the Earth
12331'To thee and to thy race I give; as lords
12332'Possess it, and all things that therein live,
12333'Or live in sea, or air; beast, fish, and fowl.
12334'In sign whereof, each bird and beast behold
12335'After their kinds; I bring them to receive
12336'From thee their names, and pay thee fealty
12337'With low subjection; understand the same
12338'Of fish within their watery residence,
12339'Not hither summoned, since they cannot change
12340'Their element, to draw the thinner air.'
12341As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold
12342Approaching two and two; these cowering low
12343With blandishment; each bird stooped on his wing.
12344I named them, as they passed, and understood
12345Their nature, with such knowledge God endued
12346My sudden apprehension: But in these
12347I found not what methought I wanted still;
12348And to the heavenly Vision thus presumed.
12349Oh, by what name, for thou above all these,
12350Above mankind, or aught than mankind higher,
12351Surpassest far my naming; how may I
12352Adore thee, Author of this universe,
12353And all this good to man? for whose well being
12354So amply, and with hands so liberal,
12355Thou hast provided all things: But with me
12356I see not who partakes. In solitude
12357What happiness, who can enjoy alone,
12358Or, all enjoying, what contentment find?
12359Thus I presumptuous; and the Vision bright,
12360As with a smile more brightened, thus replied.
12361What callest thou solitude? Is not the Earth
12362With various living creatures, and the air
12363Replenished, and all these at thy command
12364To come and play before thee? Knowest thou not
12365Their language and their ways? They also know,
12366And reason not contemptibly: With these
12367Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large.
12368So spake the Universal Lord, and seemed
12369So ordering: I, with leave of speech implored,
12370And humble deprecation, thus replied.
12371Let not my words offend thee, Heavenly Power;
12372My Maker, be propitious while I speak.
12373Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,
12374And these inferior far beneath me set?
12375Among unequals what society
12376Can sort, what harmony, or true delight?
12377Which must be mutual, in proportion due
12378Given and received; but, in disparity
12379The one intense, the other still remiss,
12380Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
12381Tedious alike: Of fellowship I speak
12382Such as I seek, fit to participate
12383All rational delight: wherein the brute
12384Cannot be human consort: They rejoice
12385Each with their kind, lion with lioness;
12386So fitly them in pairs thou hast combined:
12387Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl
12388So well converse, nor with the ox the ape;
12389Worse then can man with beast, and least of all.
12390Whereto the Almighty answered, not displeased.
12391A nice and subtle happiness, I see,
12392Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice
12393Of thy associates, Adam, and wilt taste
12394No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.
12395What thinkest thou then of me, and this my state?
12396Seem I to thee sufficiently possessed
12397Of happiness, or not? who am alone
12398From all eternity; for none I know
12399Second to me or like, equal much less.
12400How have I then with whom to hold converse,
12401Save with the creatures which I made, and those
12402To me inferior, infinite descents
12403Beneath what other creatures are to thee?
12404He ceased; I lowly answered. To attain
12405The heighth and depth of thy eternal ways
12406All human thoughts come short, Supreme of things.
12407Thou in thyself art perfect, and in thee
12408Is no deficience found: Not so is Man,
12409But in degree; the cause of his desire
12410By conversation with his like to help
12411Or solace his defects. No need that thou
12412Shouldst propagate, already Infinite;
12413And through all numbers absolute, though One:
12414But man by number is to manifest
12415His single imperfection, and beget
12416Like of his like, his image multiplied,
12417In unity defective; which requires
12418Collateral love, and dearest amity.
12419Thou in thy secrecy although alone,
12420Best with thyself accompanied, seekest not
12421Social communication; yet, so pleased,
12422Canst raise thy creature to what heighth thou wilt
12423Of union or communion, deified:
12424I, by conversing, cannot these erect
12425From prone; nor in their ways complacence find.
12426Thus I emboldened spake, and freedom used
12427Permissive, and acceptance found; which gained
12428This answer from the gracious Voice Divine.
12429Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleased;
12430And find thee knowing, not of beasts alone,
12431Which thou hast rightly named, but of thyself;
12432Expressing well the spirit within thee free,
12433My image, not imparted to the brute;
12434Whose fellowship therefore unmeet for thee
12435Good reason was thou freely shouldst dislike;
12436And be so minded still: I, ere thou spakest,
12437Knew it not good for man to be alone;
12438And no such company as then thou sawest
12439Intended thee; for trial only brought,
12440To see how thou couldest judge of fit and meet:
12441What next I bring shall please thee, be assured,
12442Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,
12443Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.
12444He ended, or I heard no more; for now
12445My earthly by his heavenly overpowered,
12446Which it had long stood under, strained to the heighth
12447In that celestial colloquy sublime,
12448As with an object that excels the sense
12449Dazzled and spent, sunk down; and sought repair
12450Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called
12451By Nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes.
12452Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell
12453Of fancy, my internal sight; by which,
12454Abstract as in a trance, methought I saw,
12455Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape
12456Still glorious before whom awake I stood:
12457Who stooping opened my left side, and took
12458From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,
12459And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,
12460But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed:
12461The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands;
12462Under his forming hands a creature grew,
12463Man-like, but different sex; so lovely fair,
12464That what seemed fair in all the world, seemed now
12465Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained
12466And in her looks; which from that time infused
12467Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,
12468And into all things from her air inspired
12469The spirit of love and amorous delight.
12470She disappeared, and left me dark; I waked
12471To find her, or for ever to deplore
12472Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure:
12473When out of hope, behold her, not far off,
12474Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned
12475With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow
12476To make her amiable: On she came,
12477Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen,
12478And guided by his voice; nor uninformed
12479Of nuptial sanctity, and marriage rites:
12480Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye,
12481In every gesture dignity and love.
12482I, overjoyed, could not forbear aloud.
12483This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled
12484Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,
12485Giver of all things fair. but fairest this
12486Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see
12487Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself
12488Before me: Woman is her name; of man
12489Extracted: for this cause he shall forego
12490Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;
12491And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul.
12492She heard me thus; and though divinely brought,
12493Yet innocence, and virgin modesty,
12494Her virtue, and the conscience of her worth,
12495That would be wooed, and not unsought be won,
12496Not obvious, not obtrusive, but, retired,
12497The more desirable; or, to say all,
12498Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought,
12499Wrought in her so, that, seeing me, she turned:
12500I followed her; she what was honor knew,
12501And with obsequious majesty approved
12502My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower
12503I led her blushing like the morn: All Heaven,
12504And happy constellations, on that hour
12505Shed their selectest influence; the Earth
12506Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;
12507Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs
12508Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings
12509Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy shrub,
12510Disporting, till the amorous bird of night
12511Sung spousal, and bid haste the evening-star
12512On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp.
12513Thus have I told thee all my state, and brought
12514My story to the sum of earthly bliss,
12515Which I enjoy; and must confess to find
12516In all things else delight indeed, but such
12517As, used or not, works in the mind no change,
12518Nor vehement desire; these delicacies
12519I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers,
12520Walks, and the melody of birds: but here
12521Far otherwise, transported I behold,
12522Transported touch; here passion first I felt,
12523Commotion strange, in all enjoyments else
12524Superior and unmoved; here only weak
12525Against the charm of Beauty's powerful glance.
12526Or Nature failed in me, and left some part
12527Not proof enough such object to sustain;
12528Or, from my side subducting, took perhaps
12529More than enough; at least on her bestowed
12530Too much of ornament, in outward show
12531Elaborate, of inward less exact.
12532For well I understand in the prime end
12533Of Nature her the inferior, in the mind
12534And inward faculties, which most excel;
12535In outward also her resembling less
12536His image who made both, and less expressing
12537The character of that dominion given
12538O'er other creatures: Yet when I approach
12539Her loveliness, so absolute she seems
12540And in herself complete, so well to know
12541Her own, that what she wills to do or say,
12542Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best:
12543All higher knowledge in her presence falls
12544Degraded; Wisdom in discourse with her
12545Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shows;
12546Authority and Reason on her wait,
12547As one intended first, not after made
12548Occasionally; and, to consummate all,
12549Greatness of mind and Nobleness their seat
12550Build in her loveliest, and create an awe
12551About her, as a guard angelic placed.
12552To whom the angel with contracted brow.
12553Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part;
12554Do thou but thine; and be not diffident
12555Of Wisdom; she deserts thee not, if thou
12556Dismiss not her, when most thou needest her nigh,
12557By attributing overmuch to things
12558Less excellent, as thou thyself perceivest.
12559For, what admirest thou, what transports thee so,
12560An outside? fair, no doubt, and worthy well
12561Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and thy love;
12562Not thy subjection: Weigh with her thyself;
12563Then value: Oft-times nothing profits more
12564Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right
12565Well managed; of that skill the more thou knowest,
12566The more she will acknowledge thee her head,
12567And to realities yield all her shows:
12568Made so adorn for thy delight the more,
12569So awful, that with honor thou mayest love
12570Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least wise.
12571But if the sense of touch, whereby mankind
12572Is propagated, seem such dear delight
12573Beyond all other; think the same vouchsafed
12574To cattle and each beast; which would not be
12575To them made common and divulged, if aught
12576Therein enjoyed were worthy to subdue
12577The soul of man, or passion in him move.
12578What higher in her society thou findest
12579Attractive, human, rational, love still;
12580In loving thou dost well, in passion not,
12581Wherein true love consists not: Love refines
12582The thoughts, and heart enlarges; hath his seat
12583In reason, and is judicious; is the scale
12584By which to heavenly love thou mayest ascend,
12585Not sunk in carnal pleasure; for which cause,
12586Among the beasts no mate for thee was found.
12587To whom thus, half abashed, Adam replied.
12588Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught
12589In procreation common to all kinds,
12590(Though higher of the genial bed by far,
12591And with mysterious reverence I deem,)
12592So much delights me, as those graceful acts,
12593Those thousand decencies, that daily flow
12594From all her words and actions mixed with love
12595And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned
12596Union of mind, or in us both one soul;
12597Harmony to behold in wedded pair
12598More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.
12599Yet these subject not; I to thee disclose
12600What inward thence I feel, not therefore foiled,
12601Who meet with various objects, from the sense
12602Variously representing; yet, still free,
12603Approve the best, and follow what I approve.
12604To love, thou blamest me not; for Love, thou sayest,
12605Leads up to Heaven, is both the way and guide;
12606Bear with me then, if lawful what I ask:
12607Love not the heavenly Spirits, and how their love
12608Express they? by looks only? or do they mix
12609Irradiance, virtual or immediate touch?
12610To whom the angel, with a smile that glowed
12611Celestial rosy red, Love's proper hue,
12612Answered. Let it suffice thee that thou knowest
12613Us happy, and without love no happiness.
12614Whatever pure thou in the body enjoyest,
12615(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy
12616In eminence; and obstacle find none
12617Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive bars;
12618Easier than air with air, if Spirits embrace,
12619Total they mix, union of pure with pure
12620Desiring, nor restrained conveyance need,
12621As flesh to mix with flesh, or soul with soul.
12622But I can now no more; the parting sun
12623Beyond the Earth's green Cape and verdant Isles
12624Hesperian sets, my signal to depart.
12625Be strong, live happy, and love, but first of all
12626Him, whom to love is to obey, and keep
12627His great command; take heed lest passion sway
12628Thy judgment to do aught, which else free will
12629Would not admit: thine, and of all thy sons,
12630The weal or woe in thee is placed; beware!
12631I in thy persevering shall rejoice,
12632And all the Blest: Stand fast; to stand or fall
12633Free in thine own arbitrament it lies.
12634Perfect within, no outward aid require;
12635And all temptation to transgress repel.
12636So saying, he arose; whom Adam thus
12637Followed with benediction. Since to part,
12638Go, heavenly guest, ethereal Messenger,
12639Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore.
12640Gentle to me and affable hath been
12641Thy condescension, and shall be honored ever
12642With grateful memory: Thou to mankind
12643Be good and friendly still, and oft return.
12644So parted they; the angel up to Heaven
12645From the thick shade, and Adam to his bower.
12646
12647~ BOOK IX ~
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12690BOOK IX
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12710BOOK IX
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12750BOOK IX
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12770BOOK IX
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12790BOOK IX
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12810BOOK IX
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12830BOOK IX
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12850BOOK IX
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12870BOOK IX
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12890BOOK IX
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12910BOOK IX
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12930BOOK IX
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12950BOOK IX
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12970BOOK IX
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12990BOOK IX
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13010BOOK IX
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13030BOOK IX
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13050BOOK IX
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13110BOOK IX
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13130BOOK IX
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13150BOOK IX
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13170BOOK IX
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13190BOOK IX
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13210BOOK IX
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13230BOOK IX
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13250BOOK IX
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13270BOOK IX
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13370BOOK IX
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13390BOOK IX
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13410BOOK IX
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13430BOOK IX
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13450BOOK IX
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13470BOOK IX
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13490BOOK IX
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13510BOOK IX
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13530BOOK IX
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13550BOOK IX
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13570BOOK IX
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13590BOOK IX
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13610BOOK IX
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13630BOOK IX
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13650BOOK IX
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13670BOOK IX
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13690BOOK IX
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13710BOOK IX
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13730BOOK IX
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13790BOOK IX
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13810BOOK IX
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13830BOOK IX
13831
13832
13833.  Back to Top
13834
13835
13836 ~ BOOK IX ~
13837
13838No more of talk where God or angel guest
13839With Man, as with his friend, familiar used,
13840To sit indulgent, and with him partake
13841Rural repast; permitting him the while
13842Venial discourse unblamed. I now must change
13843Those notes to tragic; foul distrust, and breach
13844Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt,
13845And disobedience: on the part of Heaven
13846Now alienated, distance and distaste,
13847Anger and just rebuke, and judgment given,
13848That brought into this world a world of woe,
13849Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery
13850Death's harbinger: Sad talk, yet argument
13851Not less but more heroic than the wrath
13852Of stern Achilles on his foe pursued
13853Thrice fugitive about Troy wall; or rage
13854Of Turnus for Lavinia disespoused;
13855Or Neptune's ire, or Juno's, that so long
13856Perplexed the Greek, and Cytherea's son:
13857If answerable style I can obtain
13858Of my celestial patroness, who deigns
13859Her nightly visitation unimplored,
13860And dictates to me slumbering; or inspires
13861Easy my unpremeditated verse:
13862Since first this subject for heroic song
13863Pleased me long choosing, and beginning late;
13864Not sedulous by nature to indite
13865Wars, hitherto the only argument
13866Heroic deemed chief mastery to dissect
13867With long and tedious havoc fabled knights
13868In battles feigned; the better fortitude
13869Of patience and heroic martyrdom
13870Unsung; or to describe races and games,
13871Or tilting furniture, imblazoned shields,
13872Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds,
13873Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights
13874At joust and tournament; then marshaled feast
13875Served up in hall with sewers and seneschals;
13876The skill of artifice or office mean,
13877Not that which justly gives heroic name
13878To person, or to poem. Me, of these
13879Nor skilled nor studious, higher argument
13880Remains; sufficient of itself to raise
13881That name, unless an age too late, or cold
13882Climate, or years, damp my intended wing
13883Depressed; and much they may, if all be mine,
13884Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear.
13885The sun was sunk, and after him the star
13886Of Hesperus, whose office is to bring
13887Twilight upon the earth, short arbiter
13888Twixt day and night, and now from end to end
13889Night's hemisphere had veiled the horizon round:
13890When Satan, who late fled before the threats
13891Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improved
13892In meditated fraud and malice, bent
13893On Man's destruction, maugre what might hap
13894Of heavier on himself, fearless returned.
13895By night he fled, and at midnight returned
13896From compassing the earth; cautious of day,
13897Since Uriel, regent of the sun, descried
13898His entrance, and forewarned the Cherubim
13899That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driven,
13900The space of seven continued nights he rode
13901With darkness; thrice the equinoctial line
13902He circled; four times crossed the car of night
13903From pole to pole, traversing each colure;
13904On the eighth returned; and, on the coast averse
13905From entrance or Cherubic watch, by stealth
13906Found unsuspected way. There was a place,
13907Now not, though sin, not time, first wrought the change,
13908Where Tigris, at the foot of Paradise,
13909Into a gulf shot under ground, till part
13910Rose up a fountain by the tree of life:
13911In with the river sunk, and with it rose
13912Satan, involved in rising mist; then sought
13913Where to lie hid; sea he had searched, and land,
13914From Eden over Pontus and the pool
13915Maeotis, up beyond the river Ob;
13916Downward as far Antarctic; and in length,
13917West from Orontes to the ocean barred
13918At Darien ; thence to the land where flows
13919Ganges and Indus: Thus the orb he roamed
13920With narrow search; and with inspection deep
13921Considered every creature, which of all
13922Most opportune might serve his wiles; and found
13923The Serpent subtlest beast of all the field.
13924Him after long debate, irresolute
13925Of thoughts revolved, his final sentence chose
13926Fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom
13927To enter, and his dark suggestions hide
13928From sharpest sight: for, in the wily snake
13929Whatever sleights, none would suspicious mark,
13930As from his wit and native subtlety
13931Proceeding; which, in other beasts observed,
13932Doubt might beget of diabolic power
13933Active within, beyond the sense of brute.
13934Thus he resolved, but first from inward grief
13935His bursting passion into plaints thus poured.
13936More justly, seat worthier of Gods, as built
13937With second thoughts, reforming what was old.
13938Oh Earth, how like to Heaven, if not preferred
13939For what God, after better, worse would build?
13940Terrestrial Heaven, danced round by other Heavens
13941That shine, yet bear their bright officious lamps,
13942Light above light, for thee alone, as seems,
13943In thee concentering all their precious beams
13944Of sacred influence. As God in Heaven
13945Is center, yet extends to all; so thou,
13946Centering, receivest from all those orbs: in thee,
13947Not in themselves, all their known virtue appears
13948Productive in herb, plant, and nobler birth
13949Of creatures animate with gradual life
13950Of growth, sense, reason, all summed up in Man.
13951With what delight could I have walked thee round,
13952If I could joy in aught, sweet interchange
13953Of hill, and valley, rivers, woods, and plains,
13954Now land, now sea and shores with forest crowned,
13955Rocks, dens, and caves. But I in none of these
13956Find place or refuge; and the more I see
13957Pleasures about me, so much more I feel
13958Torment within me, as from the hateful siege
13959Of contraries: all good to me becomes
13960Bane, and in Heaven much worse would be my state.
13961But neither here seek I, no nor in Heaven
13962To dwell, unless by mastering Heaven's Supreme;
13963Nor hope to be myself less miserable
13964By what I seek, but others to make such
13965As I, though thereby worse to me redound:
13966For only in destroying I find ease
13967To my relentless thoughts; and, him destroyed,
13968Or won to what may work his utter loss,
13969For whom all this was made, all this will soon
13970Follow, as to him linked in weal or woe;
13971In woe then; that destruction wide may range:
13972To me shall be the glory sole among
13973The infernal Powers, in one day to have marred
13974What he, Almighty styled, six nights and days
13975Continued making; and who knows how long
13976Before had been contriving? though perhaps
13977Not longer than since I, in one night, freed
13978From servitude inglorious well nigh half
13979The angelic name, and thinner left the throng
13980Of his adorers: He, to be avenged,
13981And to repair his numbers thus impaired,
13982Whether such virtue spent of old now failed
13983More angels to create, if they at least
13984Are his created, or, to spite us more,
13985Determined to advance into our room
13986A creature formed of earth, and him endow,
13987Exalted from so base original,
13988With heavenly spoils, our spoils: What he decreed,
13989He effected; man he made, and for him built
13990Magnificent this world, and earth his seat,
13991Him lord pronounced; and, Oh indignity!
13992Subjected to his service angel-wings,
13993And flaming ministers to watch and tend
13994Their earthly charge: Of these the vigilance
13995I dread; and, to elude, thus wrapped in mist
13996Of midnight vapor glide obscure, and pry
13997In every bush and brake, where hap may find
13998The serpent sleeping; in whose mazy folds
13999To hide me, and the dark intent I bring.
14000Oh foul descent! that I, who erst contended
14001With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained
14002Into a beast; and, mixed with bestial slime,
14003This essence to incarnate and imbrute,
14004That to the heighth of Deity aspired.
14005But what will not ambition and revenge
14006Descend to? Who aspires, must down as low
14007As high he soared; obnoxious, first or last,
14008To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet,
14009Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils:
14010Let it; I reck not, so it light well aimed,
14011Since higher I fall short, on him who next
14012Provokes my envy, this new favorite
14013Of Heaven, this man of clay, son of despite,
14014Whom, us the more to spite, his Maker raised
14015From dust: Spite then with spite is best repaid.
14016So saying, through each thicket dank or dry,
14017Like a black mist low-creeping, he held on
14018His midnight-search, where soonest he might find
14019The serpent; him fast-sleeping soon he found
14020In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled,
14021His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles:
14022Not yet in horrid shade or dismal den,
14023Nor nocent yet; but, on the grassy herb,
14024Fearless unfeared he slept: in at his mouth
14025The devil entered; and his brutal sense,
14026In heart or head, possessing, soon inspired
14027With act intelligential; but his sleep
14028Disturbed not, waiting close the approach of morn.
14029Now, when as sacred light began to dawn
14030In Eden on the humid flowers, that breathed
14031Their morning incense, when all things, that breathe,
14032From the Earth's great altar send up silent praise
14033To the Creator, and his nostrils fill
14034With grateful smell, forth came the human pair,
14035And joined their vocal worship to the quire
14036Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake
14037The season prime for sweetest scents and airs:
14038Then commune, how that day they best may ply
14039Their growing work: for much their work out-grew
14040The hands' dispatch of two gardening so wide,
14041And Eve first to her husband thus began.
14042Adam, well may we labor still to dress
14043This garden, still to tend plant, herb, and flower,
14044Our pleasant task enjoined; but, till more hands
14045Aid us, the work under our labor grows,
14046Luxurious by restraint; what we by day
14047Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind,
14048One night or two with wanton growth derides
14049Tending to wild. Thou therefore now advise,
14050Or bear what to my mind first thoughts present:
14051Let us divide our labors; thou, where choice
14052Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind
14053The woodbine round this arbor, or direct
14054The clasping ivy where to climb; while I,
14055In yonder spring of roses intermixed
14056With myrtle, find what to redress till noon:
14057For, while so near each other thus all day
14058Our task we choose, what wonder if so near
14059Looks intervene and smiles, or object new
14060Casual discourse draw on; which intermits
14061Our day's work, brought to little, though begun
14062Early, and the hour of supper comes unearned?
14063To whom mild answer Adam thus returned.
14064Sole Eve, associate sole, to me beyond
14065Compare above all living creatures dear,
14066Well hast thou motioned, well thy thoughts employed,
14067How we might best fulfill the work which here
14068God hath assigned us; nor of me shalt pass
14069Unpraised: for nothing lovelier can be found
14070In woman, than to study household good,
14071And good works in her husband to promote.
14072Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed
14073Labor, as to debar us when we need
14074Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,
14075Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse
14076Of looks and smiles; for smiles from reason flow,
14077To brute denied, and are of love the food;
14078Love, not the lowest end of human life.
14079For not to irksome toil, but to delight,
14080He made us, and delight to reason joined.
14081These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands
14082Will keep from wilderness with ease, as wide
14083As we need walk, till younger hands ere long
14084Assist us; But, if much converse perhaps
14085Thee satiate, to short absence I could yield:
14086For solitude sometimes is best society,
14087And short retirement urges sweet return.
14088But other doubt possesses me, lest harm
14089Befall thee severed from me; for thou knowest
14090What hath been warned us, what malicious foe
14091Envying our happiness, and of his own
14092Despairing, seeks to work us woe and shame
14093By sly assault; and somewhere nigh at hand
14094Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find
14095His wish and best advantage, us asunder;
14096Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each
14097To other speedy aid might lend at need:
14098Whether his first design be to withdraw
14099Our fealty from God, or to disturb
14100Conjugal love, than which perhaps no bliss
14101Enjoyed by us excites his envy more;
14102Or this, or worse, leave not the faithful side
14103That gave thee being, still shades thee, and protects.
14104The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks,
14105Safest and seemliest by her husband stays,
14106Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.
14107To whom the virgin majesty of Eve,
14108As one who loves, and some unkindness meets,
14109With sweet austere composure thus replied.
14110Offspring of Heaven and Earth, and all Earth's Lord,
14111That such an enemy we have, who seeks
14112Our ruin, both by thee informed I learn,
14113And from the parting angel over-heard,
14114As in a shady nook I stood behind,
14115Just then returned at shut of evening flowers.
14116But, that thou shouldst my firmness therefore doubt
14117To God or thee, because we have a foe
14118May tempt it, I expected not to hear.
14119His violence thou fearest not, being such
14120As we, not capable of death or pain,
14121Can either not receive, or can repel.
14122His fraud is then thy fear; which plain infers
14123Thy equal fear, that my firm faith and love
14124Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced;
14125Thoughts, which how found they harbor in thy breast,
14126Adam, misthought of her to thee so dear?
14127To whom with healing words Adam replied.
14128Daughter of God and Man, immortal Eve,
14129For such thou art; from sin and blame entire:
14130Not diffident of thee do I dissuade
14131Thy absence from my sight, but to avoid
14132The attempt itself, intended by our foe.
14133For he who tempts, though in vain, at least asperses
14134The tempted with dishonor foul; supposed
14135Not incorruptible of faith, not proof
14136Against temptation: Thou thyself with scorn
14137And anger wouldst resent the offered wrong,
14138Though ineffectual found: misdeem not then,
14139If such affront I labor to avert
14140From thee alone, which on us both at once
14141The enemy, though bold, will hardly dare;
14142Or daring, first on me the assault shall light.
14143Nor thou his malice and false guile contemn;
14144Subtle he needs must be, who could seduce
14145Angels; nor think superfluous other's aid.
14146I, from the influence of thy looks, receive
14147Access in every virtue; in thy sight
14148More wise, more watchful, stronger, if need were
14149Of outward strength; while shame, thou looking on,
14150Shame to be overcome or over-reached,
14151Would utmost vigor raise, and raised unite.
14152Why shouldst not thou like sense within thee feel
14153When I am present, and thy trial choose
14154With me, best witness of thy virtue tried?
14155So spake domestic Adam in his care
14156And matrimonial love; but Eve, who thought
14157Less attributed to her faith sincere,
14158Thus her reply with accent sweet renewed.
14159If this be our condition, thus to dwell
14160In narrow circuit straitened by a foe,
14161Subtle or violent, we not endued
14162Single with like defense, wherever met;
14163How are we happy, still in fear of harm?
14164But harm precedes not sin: only our foe,
14165Tempting, affronts us with his foul esteem
14166Of our integrity: his foul esteem
14167Sticks no dishonor on our front, but turns
14168Foul on himself; then wherefore shunned or feared
14169By us? who rather double honor gain
14170From his surmise proved false; find peace within,
14171Favor from Heaven, our witness, from the event.
14172And what is faith, love, virtue, unassayed
14173Alone, without exterior help sustained?
14174Let us not then suspect our happy state
14175Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,
14176As not secure to single or combined.
14177Frail is our happiness, if this be so,
14178And Eden were no Eden, thus exposed.
14179To whom thus Adam fervently replied.
14180Oh Woman, best are all things as the will
14181Of God ordained them: His creating hand
14182Nothing imperfect or deficient left
14183Of all that he created, much less Man,
14184Or aught that might his happy state secure,
14185Secure from outward force; within himself
14186The danger lies, yet lies within his power:
14187Against his will he can receive no harm.
14188But God left free the will; for what obeys
14189Reason, is free; and Reason he made right,
14190But bid her well be ware, and still erect;
14191Lest, by some fair-appearing good surprised,
14192She dictate false; and misinform the will
14193To do what God expressly hath forbid.
14194Not then mistrust, but tender love, enjoins,
14195That I should mind thee oft; and mind thou me.
14196Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve;
14197Since Reason not impossibly may meet
14198Some specious object by the foe suborned,
14199And fall into deception unaware,
14200Not keeping strictest watch, as she was warned.
14201Seek not temptation then, which to avoid
14202Were better, and most likely if from me
14203Thou sever not: Trial will come unsought.
14204Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, approve
14205First thy obedience; the other who can know,
14206Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?
14207But, if thou think, trial unsought may find
14208Us both securer than thus warned thou seemest,
14209Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;
14210Go in thy native innocence, rely
14211On what thou hast of virtue; summon all
14212For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.
14213So spake the patriarch of mankind; but Eve
14214Persisted; yet submiss, though last, replied.
14215With thy permission then, and thus forewarned
14216Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words
14217Touched only; that our trial, when least sought,
14218May find us both perhaps far less prepared,
14219The willinger I go, nor much expect
14220A foe so proud will first the weaker seek;
14221So bent, the more shall shame him his repulse.
14222Thus saying, from her husband's hand her hand
14223Soft she withdrew; and, like a Wood-Nymph light,
14224Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,
14225Betook her to the groves; but Delia's self
14226In gait surpassed, and Goddess-like deport,
14227Though not as she with bow and quiver armed,
14228But with such gardening tools as Art yet rude,
14229Guiltless of fire, had formed, or angels brought.
14230To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorned,
14231Likest she seemed, Pomona when she fled
14232Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
14233Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove.
14234Her long with ardent look his eye pursued
14235Delighted, but desiring more her stay.
14236Oft he to her his charge of quick return
14237Repeated; she to him as oft engaged
14238To be returned by noon amid the bower,
14239And all things in best order to invite
14240Noontide repast, or afternoon's repose.
14241Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve,
14242Of thy presumed return event perverse!
14243Thou never from that hour in Paradise
14244Foundst either sweet repast, or sound repose;
14245Such ambush, hid among sweet flowers and shades,
14246Waited with hellish rancor imminent
14247To intercept thy way, or send thee back
14248Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
14249For now, and since first break of dawn, the Fiend,
14250Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come;
14251And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
14252The only two of mankind, but in them
14253The whole included race, his purposed prey.
14254In bower and field he sought, where any tuft
14255Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,
14256Their tendance, or plantation for delight;
14257By fountain or by shady rivulet
14258He sought them both, but wished his hap might find
14259Eve separate; he wished, but not with hope
14260Of what so seldom chanced; when to his wish,
14261Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,
14262Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,
14263Half spied, so thick the roses blushing round
14264About her glowed, oft stooping to support
14265Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay
14266Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold,
14267Hung drooping unsustained; them she upstays
14268Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while
14269Herself, though fairest unsupported flower,
14270From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
14271Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed
14272Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm;
14273Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen,
14274Among thick-woven arborets, and flowers
14275Imbordered on each bank, the hand of Eve:
14276Spot more delicious than those gardens feigned
14277Or of revived Adonis, or renowned
14278Alcinous, host of old Laertes' son;
14279Or that, not mystic, where the sapient king
14280Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse.
14281Much he the place admired, the person more.
14282As one who long in populous city pent,
14283Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air,
14284Forth issuing on a summer's morn, to breathe
14285Among the pleasant villages and farms
14286Adjoined, from each thing met conceives delight;
14287The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine,
14288Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound;
14289If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pass,
14290What pleasing seemed, for her now pleases more;
14291She most, and in her look sums all delight:
14292Such pleasure took the Serpent to behold
14293This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve
14294Thus early, thus alone: Her heavenly form
14295Angelic, but more soft, and feminine,
14296Her graceful innocence, her every air
14297Of gesture, or least action, overawed
14298His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved
14299His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought:
14300That space the Evil-one abstracted stood
14301From his own evil, and for the time remained
14302Stupidly good; of enmity disarmed,
14303Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge:
14304But the hot Hell that always in him burns,
14305Though in mid Heaven, soon ended his delight,
14306And tortures him now more, the more he sees
14307Of pleasure, not for him ordained: then soon
14308Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts
14309Of mischief, gratulating, thus excites.
14310Thoughts, whither have ye led me, with what sweet
14311Compulsion thus transported, to forget
14312What hither brought us, hate, not love; nor hope
14313Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to taste
14314Of pleasure; but all pleasure to destroy,
14315Save what is in destroying; other joy
14316To me is lost. Then, let me not let pass
14317Occasion which now smiles; behold alone
14318The woman, opportune to all attempts,
14319Her husband, for I view far round, not nigh,
14320Whose higher intellectual more I shun,
14321And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb
14322Heroic built, though of terrestrial mould;
14323Foe not informidable, exempt from wound,
14324I not; so much hath Hell debased, and pain
14325Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heaven.
14326She fair, divinely fair, fit love for Gods,
14327Not terrible, though terror be in love
14328And beauty, not approached by stronger hate,
14329Hate stronger, under show of love well feigned;
14330The way which to her ruin now I tend.
14331So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed
14332In serpent, inmate bad, and toward Eve
14333Addressed his way: not with indented wave,
14334Prone on the ground, as since; but on his rear,
14335Circular base of rising folds, that towered
14336Fold above fold, a surging maze, his head
14337Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes;
14338With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect
14339Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass
14340Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape
14341And lovely; never since of serpent-kind
14342Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed,
14343Hermione and Cadmus, or the god
14344In Epidaurus; nor to which transformed
14345Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline, was seen;
14346He with Olympias; this with her who bore
14347Scipio, the heighth of Rome. With tract oblique
14348At first, as one who sought access, but feared
14349To interrupt, side-long he works his way.
14350As when a ship, by skilful steersmen wrought
14351Nigh river's mouth or foreland, where the wind
14352Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail:
14353So varied he, and of his tortuous train
14354Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve,
14355To lure her eye; she, busied, heard the sound
14356Of rustling leaves, but minded not, as used
14357To such disport before her through the field,
14358From every beast; more duteous at her call,
14359Than at Circean call the herd disguised.
14360He, bolder now, uncalled before her stood,
14361But as in gaze admiring: oft he bowed
14362His turret crest, and sleek enameled neck,
14363Fawning; and licked the ground whereon she trod.
14364His gentle dumb expression turned at length
14365The eye of Eve to mark his play; he, glad
14366Of her attention gained, with serpent-tongue
14367Organic, or impulse of vocal air,
14368His fraudulent temptation thus began.
14369Wonder not, sovereign Mistress, if perhaps
14370Thou canst, who art sole wonder, much less arm
14371Thy looks, the Heaven of mildness, with disdain,
14372Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze
14373Insatiate; I thus single; nor have feared
14374Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.
14375Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair,
14376Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
14377By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore
14378With ravishment beheld, there best beheld,
14379Where universally admired; but here
14380In this enclosure wild, these beasts among,
14381Beholders rude, and shallow to discern
14382Half what in thee is fair, one man except,
14383Who sees thee? and what is one? who should be seen
14384A Goddess among Gods, adored and served
14385By angels numberless, thy daily train.
14386So glozed the Tempter, and his proem tuned:
14387Into the heart of Eve his words made way,
14388Though at the voice much marveling; at length,
14389Not unamazed, she thus in answer spake.
14390What may this mean? language of man pronounced
14391By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed?
14392The first, at least, of these I thought denied
14393To beasts; whom God, on their creation-day,
14394Created mute to all articulate sound:
14395The latter I demur; for in their looks
14396Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears.
14397Thee, Serpent, subtlest beast of all the field
14398I knew, but not with human voice endued;
14399Redouble then this miracle, and say,
14400How camest thou speakable of mute, and how
14401To me so friendly grown above the rest
14402Of brutal kind, that daily are in sight?
14403Say, for such wonder claims attention due.
14404To whom the guileful Tempter thus replied.
14405Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve,
14406Easy to me it is to tell thee all
14407What thou commandest; and right thou shouldst be obeyed:
14408I was at first as other beasts that graze
14409The trodden herb, of abject thoughts and low,
14410As was my food; nor aught but food discerned
14411Or sex, and apprehended nothing high:
14412Till, on a day roving the field, I chanced
14413A goodly tree far distant to behold
14414Loaden with fruit of fairest colors mixed,
14415Ruddy and gold: I nearer drew to gaze;
14416When from the boughs a savory odor blown,
14417Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense
14418Than smell of sweetest fennel, or the teats
14419Of ewe or goat dropping with milk at even,
14420Unsucked of lamb or kid, that tend their play.
14421To satisfy the sharp desire I had
14422Of tasting those fair apples, I resolved
14423Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,
14424Powerful persuaders, quickened at the scent
14425Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen.
14426About the mossy trunk I wound me soon;
14427For, high from ground, the branches would require
14428Thy utmost reach or Adam's: Round the tree
14429All other beasts that saw, with like desire
14430Longing and envying stood, but could not reach.
14431Amid the tree now got, where plenty hung
14432Tempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill
14433I spared not; for, such pleasure till that hour,
14434At feed or fountain, never had I found.
14435Sated at length, ere long I might perceive
14436Strange alteration in me, to degree
14437Of reason in my inward powers; and speech
14438Wanted not long; though to this shape retained.
14439Thenceforth to speculations high or deep
14440I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind
14441Considered all things visible in Heaven,
14442Or Earth, or Middle; all things fair and good:
14443But all that fair and good in thy divine
14444Semblance, and in thy beauty's heavenly ray,
14445United I beheld; no fair to thine
14446Equivalent or second, which compelled
14447Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come
14448And gaze, and worship thee of right declared
14449Sovereign of creatures, universal dame!
14450So talked the spirited sly snake; and Eve,
14451Yet more amazed, unwary thus replied.
14452Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt
14453The virtue of that fruit, in thee first proved:
14454But say, where grows the tree? from hence how far?
14455For many are the trees of God that grow
14456In Paradise, and various, yet unknown
14457To us; in such abundance lies our choice,
14458As leaves a greater store of fruit untouched,
14459Still hanging incorruptible, till men
14460Grow up to their provision, and more hands
14461Help to disburden Nature of her birth.
14462To whom the wily adder, blithe and glad.
14463Empress, the way is ready, and not long;
14464Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat,
14465Fast by a fountain, one small thicket past
14466Of blowing myrrh and balm: if thou accept
14467My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon
14468Lead then, said Eve. He, leading, swiftly rolled
14469In tangles, and made intricate seem straight,
14470To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy
14471Brightens his crest; as when a wandering fire,
14472Compact of unctuous vapor, which the night
14473Condenses, and the cold environs round,
14474Kindled through agitation to a flame,
14475Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attends,
14476Hovering and blazing with delusive light,
14477Misleads the amazed night-wanderer from his way
14478To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool;
14479There swallowed up and lost, from succor far.
14480So glistered the dire Snake, and into fraud
14481Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the tree
14482Of prohibition, root of all our woe;
14483Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
14484Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither,
14485Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,
14486The credit of whose virtue rest with thee;
14487Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects.
14488But of this tree we may not taste nor touch;
14489God so commanded, and left that command
14490Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live
14491Law to ourselves; our reason is our law.
14492To whom the Tempter guilefully replied.
14493Indeed! Hath God then said that of the fruit
14494Of all these garden trees ye shall not eat,
14495Yet Lords declared of all in earth or air?
14496To whom thus Eve, yet sinless. Of the fruit
14497Of each tree in the garden we may eat;
14498But of the fruit of this fair tree amidst
14499The garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
14500Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
14501She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold
14502The Tempter, but with show of zeal and love
14503To Man, and indignation at his wrong,
14504New part puts on; and, as to passion moved,
14505Fluctuates disturbed, yet comely and in act
14506Raised, as of some great matter to begin.
14507As when of old some orator renowned,
14508In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence
14509Flourished, since mute, to some great cause addressed,
14510Stood in himself collected; while each part,
14511Motion, each act, won audience ere the tongue;
14512Sometimes in heighth began, as no delay
14513Of preface brooking, through his zeal of right:
14514So standing, moving, or to heighth up grown,
14515The Tempter, all impassioned, thus began.
14516Oh sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving Plant,
14517Mother of science, now I feel thy power
14518Within me clear; not only to discern
14519Things in their causes, but to trace the ways
14520Of highest agents, deemed however wise.
14521Queen of this universe, do not believe
14522Those rigid threats of death: ye shall not die:
14523How should you? by the fruit? it gives you life
14524To knowledge; by the threatener? look on me,
14525Me, who have touched and tasted; yet both live,
14526And life more perfect have attained than Fate
14527Meant me, by venturing higher than my lot.
14528Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast
14529Is open? or will God incense his ire
14530For such a petty trespass? and not praise
14531Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain
14532Of death denounced, whatever thing death be,
14533Deterred not from achieving what might lead
14534To happier life, knowledge of good and evil;
14535Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evil
14536Be real, why not known, since easier shunned?
14537God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
14538Not just, not God; not feared then, nor obeyed:
14539Your fear itself of death removes the fear.
14540Why then was this forbid? Why, but to awe;
14541Why, but to keep ye low and ignorant,
14542His worshippers? He knows that in the day
14543Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,
14544Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
14545Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as Gods,
14546Knowing both good and evil, as they know.
14547That ye shall be as Gods, since I as Man,
14548Internal Man, is but proportion meet;
14549I, of brute, human; ye, of human, Gods.
14550So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
14551Human, to put on Gods; death to be wished,
14552Though threatened, which no worse than this can bring.
14553And what are Gods, that man may not become
14554As they, participating God-like food?
14555The Gods are first, and that advantage use
14556On our belief, that all from them proceeds:
14557I question it; for this fair earth I see,
14558Warmed by the sun, producing every kind;
14559Them, nothing: if they all things, who enclosed
14560Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
14561That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains
14562Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
14563The offence, that man should thus attain to know?
14564What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
14565Impart against his will, if all be his?
14566Or is it envy? and can envy dwell
14567In heavenly breasts? These, these, and many more
14568Causes import your need of this fair fruit.
14569Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste.
14570He ended; and his words, replete with guile,
14571Into her heart too easy entrance won:
14572Fixed on the fruit she gazed, which to behold
14573Might tempt alone; and in her ears the sound
14574Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregned
14575With reason, to her seeming, and with truth:
14576Mean while the hour of noon drew on, and waked
14577An eager appetite, raised by the smell
14578So savory of that fruit, which with desire,
14579Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,
14580Solicited her longing eye; yet first
14581Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused.
14582Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits,
14583Though kept from man, and worthy to be admired;
14584Whose taste, too long forborne, at first assay
14585Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
14586The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise:
14587Thy praise he also, who forbids thy use,
14588Conceals not from us, naming thee the tree
14589Of knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;
14590Forbids us then to taste, but his forbidding
14591Commends thee more, while it infers the good
14592By thee communicated, and our want:
14593For good unknown sure is not had; or, had
14594And yet unknown, is as not had at all.
14595In plain then, what forbids he but to know,
14596Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?
14597Such prohibitions bind not. But, if death
14598Bind us with after-bands, what profits then
14599Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
14600Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die.
14601How dies the serpent? he hath eaten and lives,
14602And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,
14603Irrational till then. For us alone
14604Was death invented? or to us denied
14605This intellectual food, for beasts reserved?
14606For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first
14607Hath tasted envies not, but brings with joy
14608The good befallen him, author unsuspect,
14609Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
14610What fear I then? rather, what know to fear
14611Under this ignorance of good and evil,
14612Of God or death, of law or penalty?
14613Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,
14614Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
14615Of virtue to make wise: What hinders then
14616To reach, and feed at once both body and mind?
14617So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
14618Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate.
14619Earth felt the wound; and nature from her seat,
14620Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
14621That all was lost. Back to the thicket slunk
14622The guilty serpent; and well might; for Eve,
14623Intent now wholly on her taste, naught else
14624Regarded; such delight till then, as seemed,
14625In fruit she never tasted, whether true
14626Or fancied so, through expectation high
14627Of knowledge; not was Godhead from her thought.
14628Greedily she ingorged without restraint,
14629And knew not eating death: Satiate at length,
14630And heightened as with wine, jocund and boon,
14631Thus to herself she pleasingly began.
14632Oh sovereign, virtuous, precious of all trees
14633In Paradise! of operation blest
14634To sapience, hitherto obscured, infamed.
14635And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end
14636Created; but henceforth my early care,
14637Not without song, each morning, and due praise,
14638Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease
14639Of thy full branches offered free to all;
14640Till, dieted by thee, I grow mature
14641In knowledge, as the Gods, who all things know;
14642Though others envy what they cannot give:
14643For, had the gift been theirs, it had not here
14644Thus grown. Experience, next, to thee I owe,
14645Best guide; not following thee, I had remained
14646In ignorance; thou openest wisdom's way,
14647And givest access, though secret she retire.
14648And I perhaps am secret: Heaven is high,
14649High, and remote to see from thence distinct
14650Each thing on Earth; and other care perhaps
14651May have diverted from continual watch
14652Our great Forbidder, safe with all his spies
14653About him. But to Adam in what sort
14654Shall I appear? shall I to him make known
14655As yet my change, and give him to partake
14656Full happiness with me, or rather not,
14657But keeps the odds of knowledge in my power
14658Without copartner? so to add what wants
14659In female sex, the more to draw his love,
14660And render me more equal; and perhaps,
14661A thing not undesirable, sometime
14662Superior; for, inferior, who is free
14663This may be well: But what if God have seen,
14664And death ensue? then I shall be no more,
14665And Adam, wedded to another Eve,
14666Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
14667A death to think! Confirmed then I resolve,
14668Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
14669So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
14670I could endure, without him live no life.
14671So saying, from the tree her step she turned;
14672But first low reverence done, as to the Power
14673That dwelt within, whose presence had infused
14674Into the plant sciential sap, derived
14675From nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while,
14676Waiting desirous her return, had wove
14677Of choicest flowers a garland, to adorn
14678Her tresses, and her rural labors crown;
14679As reapers oft are wont their harvest-queen.
14680Great joy he promised to his thoughts, and new
14681Solace in her return, so long delayed:
14682Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill,
14683Misgave him; he the faltering measure felt;
14684And forth to meet her went, the way she took
14685That morn when first they parted: by the tree
14686Of knowledge he must pass; there he her met,
14687Scarce from the tree returning; in her hand
14688A bough of fairest fruit, that downy smiled,
14689New gathered, and ambrosial smell diffused.
14690To him she hasted; in her face excuse
14691Came prologue, and apology too prompt;
14692Which, with bland words at will, she thus addressed.
14693Hast thou not wondered, Adam, at my stay?
14694Thee I have missed, and thought it long, deprived
14695Thy presence; agony of love till now
14696Not felt, nor shall be twice; for never more
14697Mean I to try, what rash untried I sought,
14698The pain of absence from thy sight. But strange
14699Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear:
14700This tree is not, as we are told, a tree
14701Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown
14702Opening the way, but of divine effect
14703To open eyes, and make them Gods who taste;
14704And hath been tasted such: The serpent wise,
14705Or not restrained as we, or not obeying,
14706Hath eaten of the fruit; and is become,
14707Not dead, as we are threatened, but thenceforth
14708Endued with human voice and human sense,
14709Reasoning to admiration; and with me
14710Persuasively hath so prevailed, that I
14711Have also tasted, and have also found
14712The effects to correspond; opener mine eyes,
14713Dim erst, dilated spirits, ampler heart,
14714And growing up to Godhead; which for thee
14715Chiefly I sought, without thee can despise.
14716For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss;
14717Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon.
14718Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot
14719May join us, equal joy, as equal love;
14720Lest, thou not tasting, different degree
14721Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce
14722Deity for thee, when Fate will not permit.
14723Thus Eve with countenance blithe her story told;
14724But in her cheek distemper flushing glowed.
14725On the other side Adam, soon as he heard
14726The fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed,
14727Astonied stood and blank, while horror chill
14728Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;
14729From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve
14730Down dropt, and all the faded roses shed:
14731Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at length
14732First to himself he inward silence broke.
14733Oh fairest of creation, last and best
14734Of all God's works, Creature in whom excelled
14735Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
14736Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet,
14737How art thou lost! how on a sudden lost,
14738Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote!
14739Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress
14740The strict forbiddance, how to violate
14741The sacred fruit forbidden? Some cursed fraud
14742Of enemy hath beguiled thee, yet unknown,
14743And me with thee hath ruined; for with thee
14744Certain my resolution is to die:
14745How can I live without thee? how forego
14746Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,
14747To live again in these wild woods forlorn?
14748Should God create another Eve, and I
14749Another rib afford, yet loss of thee
14750Would never from my heart. No, no! I feel
14751The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh,
14752Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state
14753Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
14754So having said, as one from sad dismay
14755Recomforted, and after thoughts disturbed
14756Submitting to what seemed remediless,
14757Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turned.
14758Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve,
14759And peril great provoked, who thus hast dared,
14760Had it been only coveting to eye
14761That sacred fruit, sacred to abstinence,
14762Much more to taste it under ban to touch.
14763But past who can recall, or done undo?
14764Not God Omnipotent, nor Fate; yet so
14765Perhaps thou shalt not die, perhaps the fact
14766Is not so heinous now, foretasted fruit,
14767Profaned first by the serpent, by him first
14768Made common, and unhallowed, ere our taste;
14769Nor yet on him found deadly; yet he lives;
14770Lives, as thou saidst, and gains to live, as Man,
14771Higher degree of life; inducement strong
14772To us, as likely tasting to attain
14773Proportional ascent; which cannot be
14774But to be gods, or angels, demigods.
14775Nor can I think that God, Creator wise,
14776Though threatening, will in earnest so destroy
14777Us his prime creatures, dignified so high,
14778Set over all his works; which in our fall,
14779For us created, needs with us must fail,
14780Dependant made; so God shall uncreate,
14781Be frustrate, do, undo, and labor lose;
14782Not well conceived of God, who, though his power
14783Creation could repeat, yet would be loath
14784Us to abolish, lest the Adversary
14785Triumph, and say; Fickle their state whom God
14786Most favors; who can please him long? Me first
14787He ruined, now Mankind; whom will he next?
14788Matter of scorn, not to be given the Foe.
14789However I with thee have fixed my lot,
14790Certain to undergo like doom: If death
14791Consort with thee, death is to me as life;
14792So forcible within my heart I feel
14793The bond of Nature draw me to my own;
14794My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
14795Our state cannot be severed; we are one,
14796One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.
14797So Adam; and thus Eve to him replied.
14798Oh glorious trial of exceeding love,
14799Illustrious evidence, example high!
14800Engaging me to emulate; but, short
14801Of thy perfection, how shall I attain,
14802Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung,
14803And gladly of our union hear thee speak,
14804One heart, one soul in both; whereof good proof
14805This day affords, declaring thee resolved,
14806Rather than death, or aught than death more dread,
14807Shall separate us, linked in love so dear,
14808To undergo with me one guilt, one crime,
14809If any be, of tasting this fair fruit;
14810Whose virtue for of good still good proceeds,
14811Direct, or by occasion, hath presented
14812This happy trial of thy love, which else
14813So eminently never had been known?
14814Were it I thought death menaced would ensue
14815This my attempt, I would sustain alone
14816The worst, and not persuade thee, rather die
14817Deserted, than oblige thee with a fact
14818Pernicious to thy peace; chiefly assured
14819Remarkably so late of thy so true,
14820So faithful, love unequalled: but I feel
14821Far otherwise the event; not death, but life
14822Augmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new joys,
14823Taste so divine, that what of sweet before
14824Hath touched my sense, flat seems to this, and harsh.
14825On my experience, Adam, freely taste,
14826And fear of death deliver to the winds.
14827So saying, she embraced him, and for joy
14828Tenderly wept; much won, that he his love
14829Had so ennobled, as of choice to incur
14830Divine displeasure for her sake, or death.
14831In recompense for such compliance bad
14832Such recompense best merits from the bough
14833She gave him of that fair enticing fruit
14834With liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat,
14835Against his better knowledge; not deceived,
14836But fondly overcome with female charm.
14837Earth trembled from her entrails, as again
14838In pangs; and Nature gave a second groan;
14839Sky lowered; and, muttering thunder, some sad drops
14840Wept at completing of the mortal sin
14841Original: while Adam took no thought,
14842Eating his fill; nor Eve to iterate
14843Her former trespass feared, the more to sooth
14844Him with her loved society; that now,
14845As with new wine intoxicated both,
14846They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel
14847Divinity within them breeding wings,
14848Wherewith to scorn the earth: But that false fruit
14849Far other operation first displayed,
14850Carnal desire inflaming; he on Eve
14851Began to cast lascivious eyes; she him
14852As wantonly repaid; in lust they burn:
14853Till Adam thus 'gan Eve to dalliance move.
14854Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste,
14855And elegant, of sapience no small part;
14856Since to each meaning savor we apply,
14857And palate call judicious; I the praise
14858Yield thee, so well this day thou hast purveyed.
14859Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstained
14860From this delightful fruit, nor known till now
14861True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be
14862In things to us forbidden, it might be wished,
14863For this one tree had been forbidden ten.
14864But come, so well refreshed, now let us play,
14865As meet is, after such delicious fare;
14866For never did thy beauty, since the day
14867I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorned
14868With all perfections, so inflame my sense
14869With ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now
14870Than ever; bounty of this virtuous tree.
14871So said he, and forbore not glance or toy
14872Of amorous intent; well understood
14873Of Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire.
14874Her hand he seized; and to a shady bank,
14875Thick over-head with verdant roof imbowered,
14876He led her nothing loath; flowers were the couch,
14877Pansies, and violets, and asphodel,
14878And hyacinth; Earth's freshest softest lap.
14879There they their fill of love and love's disport
14880Took largely, of their mutual guilt the seal,
14881The solace of their sin; till dewy sleep
14882Oppressed them, wearied with their amorous play,
14883Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit,
14884That with exhilarating vapor bland
14885About their spirits had played, and inmost powers
14886Made err, was now exhaled; and grosser sleep,
14887Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams
14888Incumbered, now had left them; up they rose
14889As from unrest; and, each the other viewing,
14890Soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds
14891How darkened; innocence, that as a veil
14892Had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone;
14893Just confidence, and native righteousness,
14894And honor, from about them, naked left
14895To guilty Shame; he covered, but his robe
14896Uncovered more. So rose the Danite strong,
14897Herculean Samson, from the harlot-lap
14898Of Philistine Delilah, and waked
14899Shorn of his strength. They destitute and bare
14900Of all their virtue: Silent, and in face
14901Confounded, long they sat, as strucken mute:
14902Till Adam, though not less than Eve abashed,
14903At length gave utterance to these words constrained.
14904Oh Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear
14905To that false worm, of whomsoever taught
14906To counterfeit Man's voice; true in our fall,
14907False in our promised rising; since our eyes
14908Opened we find indeed, and find we know
14909Both good and evil; good lost, and evil got;
14910Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know;
14911Which leaves us naked thus, of honor void,
14912Of innocence, of faith, of purity,
14913Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained,
14914And in our faces evident the signs
14915Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store;
14916Even shame, the last of evils; of the first
14917Be sure then. How shall I behold the face
14918Henceforth of God or angel, erst with joy
14919And rapture so oft beheld? Those heavenly shapes
14920Will dazzle now this earthly with their blaze
14921Insufferably bright. Oh might I here
14922In solitude live savage; in some glade
14923Obscured, where highest woods, impenetrable
14924To star or sun-light, spread their umbrage broad
14925And brown as evening: Cover me, ye Pines,
14926Ye Cedars, with innumerable boughs
14927Hide me, where I may never see them more.
14928But let us now, as in bad plight, devise
14929What best may for the present serve to hide
14930The parts of each from other, that seem most
14931To shame obnoxious, and unseemliest seen;
14932Some tree, whose broad smooth leaves together sewed,
14933And girded on our loins, may cover round
14934Those middle parts; that this new comer, Shame,
14935There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.
14936So counseled he, and both together went
14937Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose
14938The fig-tree; not that kind for fruit renowned,
14939But such as at this day, to Indians known,
14940In Malabar or Decan spreads her arms
14941Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
14942The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
14943About the mother tree, a pillared shade
14944High over-arched, and echoing walks between:
14945There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,
14946Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds
14947At loop-holes cut through thickest shade: Those leaves
14948They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe;
14949And, with what skill they had, together sewed,
14950To gird their waist; vain covering, if to hide
14951Their guilt and dreaded shame. Oh, how unlike
14952To that first naked glory! Such of late
14953Columbus found the American, so girt
14954With feathered cincture; naked else, and wild
14955Among the trees on isles and woody shores.
14956Thus fenced, and, as they thought, their shame in part
14957Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind,
14958They sat them down to weep; nor only tears
14959Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within
14960Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,
14961Mistrust, suspicion, discord; and shook sore
14962Their inward state of mind, calm region once
14963And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent:
14964For Understanding ruled not, and the Will
14965Heard not her lore; both in subjection now
14966To sensual Appetite, who from beneath
14967Usurping over sovereign Reason claimed
14968Superior sway: From thus distempered breast,
14969Adam, estranged in look and altered style,
14970Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewed.
14971Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and staid
14972With me, as I besought thee, when that strange
14973Desire of wandering, this unhappy morn,
14974I know not whence possessed thee; we had then
14975Remained still happy; not, as now, despoiled
14976Of all our good; shamed, naked, miserable.
14977Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve
14978The faith they owe; when earnestly they seek
14979Such proof, conclude, they then begin to fail.
14980To whom, soon moved with touch of blame, thus Eve.
14981What words have passed thy lips, Adam severe!
14982Imputest thou that to my default, or will
14983Of wandering, as thou callest it, which who knows
14984But might as ill have happened thou being by,
14985Or to thyself perhaps? Hadst thou been there,
14986Or here the attempt, thou couldst not have discerned
14987Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake;
14988No ground of enmity between us known,
14989Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm.
14990Was I to have never parted from thy side?
14991As good have grown there still a lifeless rib.
14992Being as I am, why didst not thou, the head,
14993Command me absolutely not to go,
14994Going into such danger, as thou saidst?
14995Too facile then, thou didst not much gainsay;
14996Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dismiss.
14997Hadst thou been firm and fixed in thy dissent,
14998Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with me.
14999To whom, then first incensed, Adam replied.
15000Is this the love, is this the recompense
15001Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve! expressed
15002Immutable, when thou wert lost, not I;
15003Who might have lived, and joyed immortal bliss,
15004Yet willingly chose rather death with thee?
15005And am I now upbraided as the cause
15006Of thy transgressing? Not enough severe,
15007It seems, in thy restraint: What could I more
15008I warned thee, I admonished thee, foretold
15009The danger, and the lurking enemy
15010That lay in wait; beyond this, had been force;
15011And force upon free will hath here no place.
15012But confidence then bore thee on; secure
15013Either to meet no danger, or to find
15014Matter of glorious trial; and perhaps
15015I also erred, in overmuch admiring
15016What seemed in thee so perfect, that I thought
15017No evil durst attempt thee; but I rue
15018The error now, which is become my crime,
15019And thou the accuser. Thus it shall befall
15020Him, who, to worth in women overtrusting,
15021Lets her will rule: restraint she will not brook;
15022And, left to herself, if evil thence ensue,
15023She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
15024Thus they in mutual accusation spent
15025The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning;
15026And of their vain contest appeared no end.
15027
15028~ BOOK X ~
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16091BOOK X
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16111BOOK X
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16131BOOK X
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16133
16134.  Back to Top
16135
16136
16137 ~ BOOK X ~
16138
16139Meanwhile the heinous and despiteful act
16140Of Satan, done in Paradise; and how
16141He, in the serpent, had perverted Eve,
16142Her husband she, to taste the fatal fruit,
16143Was known in Heaven; for what can 'scape the eye
16144Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart
16145Omniscient? who, in all things wise and just,
16146Hindered not Satan to attempt the mind
16147Of Man, with strength entire and free will armed,
16148Complete to have discovered and repulsed
16149Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.
16150For still they knew, and ought to have still remembered,
16151The high injunction, not to taste that fruit,
16152Whoever tempted; which they not obeying,
16153(Incurred what could they less?) the penalty;
16154And, manifold in sin, deserved to fall.
16155Up into Heaven from Paradise in haste
16156The angelic guards ascended, mute, and sad,
16157For Man; for of his state by this they knew,
16158Much wondering how the subtle Fiend had stolen
16159Entrance unseen. Soon as the unwelcome news
16160From Earth arrived at Heaven-gate, displeased
16161All were who heard; dim sadness did not spare
16162That time celestial visages, yet, mixed
16163With pity, violated not their bliss.
16164About the new-arrived, in multitudes
16165The ethereal people ran, to hear and know
16166How all befell: They towards the throne supreme,
16167Accountable, made haste, to make appear,
16168With righteous plea, their utmost vigilance
16169And easily approved; when the Most High
16170Eternal Father, from his secret cloud,
16171Amidst in thunder uttered thus his voice.
16172Assembled angels, and ye Powers returned
16173From unsuccessful charge; be not dismayed,
16174Nor troubled at these tidings from the earth,
16175Which your sincerest care could not prevent;
16176Foretold so lately what would come to pass,
16177When first this tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.
16178I told ye then he should prevail, and speed
16179On his bad errand; man should be seduced,
16180And flattered out of all, believing lies
16181Against his Maker; no decree of mine
16182Concurring to necessitate his fall,
16183Or touch with lightest moment of impulse
16184His free will, to her own inclining left
16185In even scale. But fallen he is; and now
16186What rests, but that the mortal sentence pass
16187On his transgression, death denounced that day?
16188Which he presumes already vain and void,
16189Because not yet inflicted, as he feared,
16190By some immediate stroke; but soon shall find
16191Forbearance no acquittance, ere day end.
16192Justice shall not return as bounty scorned.
16193But whom send I to judge them? whom but thee,
16194Vicegerent Son? To thee I have transferred
16195All judgment, whether in Heaven, or Earth, or Hell.
16196Easy it may be seen that I intend
16197Mercy colleague with justice, sending thee
16198Man's friend, his Mediator, his designed
16199Both ransom and Redeemer voluntary,
16200And destined man himself to judge man fallen.
16201So spake the Father; and, unfolding bright
16202Toward the right hand his glory, on the Son
16203Blazed forth unclouded Deity: He full
16204Resplendent all his Father manifest
16205Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild.
16206Father Eternal, thine is to decree;
16207Mine, both in Heaven and Earth, to do thy will
16208Supreme; that thou in me, thy Son beloved,
16209Mayest ever rest well pleased. I go to judge
16210On earth these thy transgressors; but thou knowest,
16211Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,
16212When time shall be; for so I undertook
16213Before thee; and, not repenting, this obtain
16214Of right, that I may mitigate their doom
16215On me derived; yet I shall temper so
16216Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most
16217Them fully satisfied, and thee appease.
16218Attendance none shall need, nor train, where none
16219Are to behold the judgment, but the judged,
16220Those two; the third best absent is condemned,
16221Convict by flight, and rebel to all law:
16222Conviction to the serpent none belongs.
16223Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose
16224Of high collateral glory: Him Thrones, and Powers,
16225Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant,
16226Accompanied to Heaven-gate; from whence
16227Eden, and all the coast, in prospect lay.
16228Down he descended straight; the speed of Gods
16229Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.
16230Now was the sun in western cadence low
16231From noon, and gentle airs, due at their hour,
16232To fan the earth now waked, and usher in
16233The evening cool; when he, from wrath more cool,
16234Came the mild Judge, and Intercessor both,
16235To sentence Man: The voice of God they heard
16236Now walking in the garden, by soft winds
16237Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard,
16238And from his presence hid themselves among
16239The thickest trees, both man and wife; till God,
16240Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud.
16241Where art thou, Adam, wont with joy to meet
16242My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,
16243Not pleased, thus entertained with solitude,
16244Where obvious duty ere while appeared unsought:
16245Or come I less conspicuous, or what change
16246Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth.
16247He came; and with him Eve, more loath, though first
16248To offend; discountenanced both, and discomposed;
16249Love was not in their looks, either to God,
16250Or to each other; but apparent guilt,
16251And shame, and perturbation, and despair,
16252Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.
16253Whence Adam, faltering long, thus answered brief.
16254I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice
16255Afraid, being naked, hid myself. To whom
16256The gracious Judge without revile replied.
16257My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared,
16258But still rejoiced; how is it now become
16259So dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who
16260Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree,
16261Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?
16262To whom thus Adam sore beset replied.
16263Oh Heaven! in evil strait this day I stand
16264Before my Judge; either to undergo
16265Myself the total crime, or to accuse
16266My other self, the partner of my life;
16267Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,
16268I should conceal, and not expose to blame
16269By my complaint: but strict necessity
16270Subdues me, and calamitous constraint;
16271Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
16272However insupportable, be all
16273Devolved; though should I hold my peace, yet thou
16274Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.
16275This Woman, whom thou madest to be my help,
16276And gavest me as thy perfect gift, so good,
16277So fit, so acceptable, so divine,
16278That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
16279And what she did, whatever in itself,
16280Her doing seemed to justify the deed;
16281She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
16282To whom the Sovereign Presence thus replied.
16283Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey
16284Before his voice? or was she made thy guide,
16285Superior, or but equal, that to her
16286Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place
16287Wherein God set thee above her made of thee,
16288And for thee, whose perfection far excelled
16289Hers in all real dignity? Adorned
16290She was indeed, and lovely, to attract
16291Thy love, not thy subjection; and her gifts
16292Were such, as under government well seemed;
16293Unseemly to bear rule; which was thy part
16294And person, hadst thou known thyself aright.
16295So having said, he thus to Eve in few.
16296Say, Woman, what is this which thou hast done?
16297To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelmed,
16298Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge
16299Bold or loquacious, thus abashed replied.
16300The serpent me beguiled, and I did eat.
16301Which when the Lord God heard, without delay
16302To judgment he proceeded on the accused
16303Serpent, though brute; unable to transfer
16304The guilt on him, who made him instrument
16305Of mischief, and polluted from the end
16306Of his creation; justly then accursed,
16307As vitiated in nature: More to know
16308Concerned not Man, (since he no further knew)
16309Nor altered his offence; yet God at last
16310To Satan first in sin his doom applied,
16311Though in mysterious terms, judged as then best:
16312And on the serpent thus his curse let fall.
16313Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed
16314Above all cattle, each beast of the field;
16315Upon thy belly groveling thou shalt go,
16316And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.
16317Between thee and the woman I will put
16318Enmity, and between thine and her seed;
16319Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.
16320So spake this oracle, then verified
16321When Jesus, Son of Mary, second Eve,
16322Saw Satan fall, like lightning, down from Heaven,
16323Prince of the air; then, rising from his grave
16324Spoiled Principalities and Powers, triumphed
16325In open show; and, with ascension bright,
16326Captivity led captive through the air,
16327The realm itself of Satan, long usurped;
16328Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;
16329Even he, who now foretold his fatal bruise;
16330And to the Woman thus his sentence turned.
16331Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply
16332By thy conception; children thou shalt bring
16333In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will
16334Thine shall submit; he over thee shall rule.
16335On Adam last thus judgment he pronounced.
16336Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife,
16337And eaten of the tree, concerning which
16338I charged thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof:
16339Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow
16340Shalt eat thereof, all the days of thy life;
16341Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth
16342Unbid; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
16343In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
16344Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
16345Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,
16346For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.
16347So judged he man, both Judge and Savior sent;
16348And the instant stroke of death, denounced that day,
16349Removed far off; then, pitying how they stood
16350Before him naked to the air, that now
16351Must suffer change, disdained not to begin
16352Thenceforth the form of servant to assume;
16353As when he washed his servants feet; so now,
16354As father of his family, he clad
16355Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain,
16356Or as the snake with youthful coat repaid;
16357And thought not much to clothe his enemies;
16358Nor he their outward only with the skins
16359Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more.
16360Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness,
16361Arraying, covered from his Father's sight.
16362To him with swift ascent he up returned,
16363Into his blissful bosom reassumed
16364In glory, as of old; to him appeased
16365All, though all-knowing, what had passed with man
16366Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
16367Mean while, ere thus was sinned and judged on Earth,
16368Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death,
16369In counterview within the gates, that now
16370Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame
16371Far into chaos, since the fiend passed through,
16372Sin opening; who thus now to Death began.
16373Oh Son, why sit we here each other viewing
16374Idly, while Satan, our great author, thrives
16375In other worlds, and happier seat provides
16376For us, his offspring dear? It cannot be
16377But that success attends him; if mishap,
16378Ere this he had returned, with fury driven
16379By his avengers; since no place like this
16380Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.
16381Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,
16382Wings growing, and dominion given me large
16383Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on,
16384Or sympathy, or some connatural force,
16385Powerful at greatest distance to unite,
16386With secret amity, things of like kind,
16387By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade
16388Inseparable, must with me along;
16389For Death from Sin no power can separate.
16390But, lest the difficulty of passing back
16391Stay his return perhaps over this gulf
16392Impassable, impervious; let us try
16393Adventurous work, yet to thy power and mine
16394Not unagreeable, to found a path
16395Over this main from Hell to that new world,
16396Where Satan now prevails; a monument
16397Of merit high to all the infernal host,
16398Easing their passage hence, for intercourse,
16399Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead.
16400Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn
16401By this new-felt attraction and instinct.
16402Whom thus the meager shadow answered soon.
16403Go, whither fate, and inclination strong,
16404Leads thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err
16405The way, thou leading; such a scent I draw
16406Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste
16407The savor of death from all things there that live:
16408Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest
16409Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.
16410So saying, with delight he snuffed the smell
16411Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock
16412Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,
16413Against the day of battle, to a field,
16414Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured
16415With scent of living carcasses designed
16416For death, the following day, in bloody fight:
16417So scented the grim Feature, and upturned
16418His nostril wide into the murky air;
16419Sagacious of his quarry from so far.
16420Then both from out Hell-gates, into the waste
16421Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark,
16422Flew diverse; and with power (their power was great)
16423Hovering upon the waters, what they met
16424Solid or slimy, as in raging sea
16425Tossed up and down, together crowded drove,
16426From each side shoaling towards the mouth of Hell;
16427As when two polar winds, blowing adverse
16428Upon the Cronian sea, together drive
16429Mountains of ice, that stop the imagined way
16430Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich
16431Cathaian coast. The aggregated soil
16432Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry,
16433As with a trident, smote; and fixed as firm
16434As Delos, floating once; the rest his look
16435Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move;
16436And with asphaltic slime, broad as the gate,
16437Deep to the roots of Hell the gathered beach
16438They fastened, and the mole immense wrought on
16439Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge
16440Of length prodigious, joining to the wall
16441Immoveable of this now fenceless world,
16442Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,
16443Smooth, easy, inoffensive, down to Hell.
16444So, if great things to small may be compared,
16445Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke,
16446From Susa, his Memnonian palace high,
16447Came to the sea: and, over Hellespont
16448Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,
16449And scourged with many a stroke the indignant waves.
16450Now had they brought the work by wondrous art
16451Pontifical, a ridge of pendant rock,
16452Over the vexed abyss, following the track
16453Of Satan to the self-same place where he
16454First lighted from his wing, and landed safe
16455From out of Chaos, to the outside bare
16456Of this round world: With pins of adamant
16457And chains they made all fast, too fast they made
16458And durable. And now in little space
16459The confines met of empyrean Heaven,
16460And of this World; and, on the left hand, Hell
16461With long reach interposed; three several ways
16462In sight, to each of these three places led.
16463And now their way to Earth they had descried,
16464To Paradise first tending; when, behold,
16465Satan, in likeness of an angel bright,
16466Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering
16467His zenith, while the sun in Aries rose:
16468Disguised he came; but those his children dear
16469Their parent soon discerned, though in disguise.
16470He, after Eve seduced, unminded slunk
16471Into the wood fast by; and, changing shape,
16472To observe the sequel, saw his guileful act
16473By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded
16474Upon her husband; saw their shame that sought
16475Vain covertures; but when he saw descend
16476The Son of God to judge them, terrified
16477He fled; not hoping to escape, but shun
16478The present; fearing, guilty, what his wrath
16479Might suddenly inflict; that past, returned
16480By night, and listening where the hapless pair
16481Sat in their sad discourse, and various plaint,
16482Thence gathered his own doom; which understood
16483Not instant, but of future time, with joy
16484And tidings fraught, to Hell he now returned;
16485And at the brink of chaos, near the foot
16486Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhoped
16487Met, who to meet him came, his offspring dear.
16488Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight
16489Of that stupendous bridge his joy increased.
16490Long he admiring stood, till Sin, his fair
16491Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke.
16492Oh parent, these are thy magnific deeds,
16493Thy trophies, which thou viewest as not thine own;
16494Thou art their author, and prime architect:
16495For I no sooner in my heart divined,
16496My heart, which by a secret harmony
16497Still moves with thine, joined in connection sweet,
16498That thou on earth hadst prospered, which thy looks
16499Now also evidence, but straight I felt,
16500Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt,
16501That I must after thee, with this thy son;
16502Such fatal consequence unites us three.
16503Hell could no longer hold us in our bounds,
16504Nor this unvoyagable gulf obscure
16505Detain from following thy illustrious track.
16506Thou hast achieved our liberty, confined
16507Within Hell-gates till now; thou us impowered
16508To fortify thus far, and overlay,
16509With this portentous bridge, the dark abyss.
16510Thine now is all this world; thy virtue hath won
16511What thy hands builded not; thy wisdom gained
16512With odds what war hath lost, and fully avenged
16513Our foil in Heaven; here thou shalt monarch reign,
16514There didst not; there let him still victor sway,
16515As battle hath adjudged; from this new world
16516Retiring, by his own doom alienated;
16517And henceforth monarchy with thee divide
16518Of all things, parted by the empyreal bounds,
16519His quadrature, from thy orbicular world;
16520Or try thee now more dangerous to his throne.
16521Whom thus the prince of darkness answered glad.
16522Fair daughter, and thou son and grandchild both;
16523High proof ye now have given to be the race
16524Of Satan (for I glory in the name,
16525Antagonist of Heaven's Almighty King,)
16526Amply have merited of me, of all
16527The infernal empire, that so near Heaven's door
16528Triumphal with triumphal act have met,
16529Mine, with this glorious work; and made one realm,
16530Hell and this world, one realm, one continent
16531Of easy thorough-fare. Therefore, while I
16532Descend through darkness, on your road with ease,
16533To my associate powers, them to acquaint
16534With these successes, and with them rejoice;
16535You two this way, among these numerous orbs,
16536All yours, right down to Paradise descend;
16537There dwell, and reign in bliss; thence on the earth
16538Dominion exercise and in the air,
16539Chiefly on man, sole lord of all declared;
16540Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill.
16541My substitutes I send ye, and create
16542Plenipotent on earth, of matchless might
16543Issuing from me: on your joint vigor now
16544My hold of this new kingdom all depends,
16545Through Sin to Death exposed by my exploit.
16546If your joint power prevail, the affairs of Hell
16547No detriment need fear; go, and be strong.
16548So saying he dismissed them; they with speed
16549Their course through thickest constellations held,
16550Spreading their bane; the blasted stars looked wan,
16551And planets, planet-struck, real eclipse
16552Then suffered. The other way Satan went down
16553The causey to Hell-gate: On either side
16554Disparted Chaos overbuilt exclaimed,
16555And with rebounding surge the bars assailed,
16556That scorned his indignation: Through the gate,
16557Wide open and unguarded, Satan passed,
16558And all about found desolate; for those,
16559Appointed to sit there, had left their charge,
16560Flown to the upper world; the rest were all
16561Far to the inland retired, about the walls
16562Of Pandemonium; city and proud seat
16563Of Lucifer, so by allusion called
16564Of that bright star to Satan paragoned;
16565There kept their watch the legions, while the Grand
16566In council sat, solicitous what chance
16567Might intercept their emperor sent; so he
16568Departing gave command, and they observed.
16569As when the Tartar from his Russian foe,
16570By Astracan, over the snowy plains,
16571Retires; or Bactrin Sophi, from the horns
16572Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond
16573The realm of Aladule, in his retreat
16574To Taurus or Casbeen: So these, the late
16575Heaven-banished host, left desert utmost Hell
16576Many a dark league, reduced in careful watch
16577Round their metropolis; and now expecting
16578Each hour their great adventurer, from the search
16579Of foreign worlds: He through the midst unmarked,
16580In show plebeian angel militant
16581Of lowest order, passed; and from the door
16582Of that Plutonian hall, invisible
16583Ascended his high throne; which, under state
16584Of richest texture spread, at the upper end
16585Was placed in regal luster. Down a while
16586He sat, and round about him saw unseen:
16587At last, as from a cloud, his fulgent head
16588And shape star-bright appeared, or brighter; clad
16589With what permissive glory since his fall
16590Was left him, or false glitter: All amazed
16591At that so sudden blaze the stygian throng
16592Bent their aspect, and whom they wished beheld,
16593Their mighty chief returned: loud was the acclaim:
16594Forth rushed in haste the great consulting peers,
16595Raised from their dark divan, and with like joy
16596Congratulant approached him; who with hand
16597Silence, and with these words attention, won.
16598Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
16599For in possession such, not only of right,
16600I call ye, and declare ye now; returned
16601Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth
16602Triumphant out of this infernal pit
16603Abominable, accursed, the house of woe,
16604And dungeon of our tyrant: Now possess,
16605As Lords, a spacious world, to our native Heaven
16606Little inferior, by my adventure hard
16607With peril great achieved. Long were to tell
16608What I have done; what suffered; with what pain
16609Voyaged the unreal, vast, unbounded deep
16610Of horrible confusion; over which
16611By Sin and Death a broad way now is paved,
16612To expedite your glorious march; but I
16613Toiled out my uncouth passage, forced to ride
16614The untractable abyss, plunged in the womb
16615Of unoriginal night and chaos wild;
16616That, jealous of their secrets, fiercely opposed
16617My journey strange, with clamorous uproar
16618Protesting fate supreme; thence how I found
16619The new created world, which fame in Heaven
16620Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful
16621Of absolute perfection. Therein man
16622Placed in a Paradise, by our exile
16623Made happy: Him by fraud I have seduced
16624From his Creator; and, the more to increase
16625Your wonder, with an apple; he, thereat
16626Offended, worth your laughter, hath given up
16627Both his beloved Man, and all his world,
16628To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us,
16629Without our hazard, labor, or alarm;
16630To range in, and to dwell, and over man
16631To rule, as over all he should have ruled.
16632True is, me also he hath judged, or rather
16633Me not, but the brute serpent in whose shape
16634Man I deceived: that which to me belongs,
16635Is enmity which he will put between
16636Me and mankind; I am to bruise his heel;
16637His seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head:
16638A world who would not purchase with a bruise,
16639Or much more grievous pain? Ye have the account
16640Of my performance: What remains, ye gods,
16641But up, and enter now into full bliss?
16642So having said, a while he stood, expecting
16643Their universal shout, and high applause,
16644To fill his ear; when, contrary, he hears
16645On all sides, from innumerable tongues,
16646A dismal universal hiss, the sound
16647Of public scorn; he wondered, but not long
16648Had leisure, wondering at himself now more,
16649His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare;
16650His arms clung to his ribs; his legs entwining
16651Each other, till supplanted down he fell
16652A monstrous serpent on his belly prone,
16653Reluctant, but in vain; a greater power
16654Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned,
16655According to his doom: he would have spoke,
16656But hiss for hiss returned with forked tongue
16657To forked tongue; for now were all transformed
16658Alike, to serpents all, as accessories
16659To his bold riot: Dreadful was the din
16660Of hissing through the hall, thick swarming now
16661With complicated monsters head and tail,
16662Scorpion, and Asp, and Amphisbaena dire,
16663Cerastes horned, Hydrus, and Elops drear,
16664And Dipsas; (not so thick swarmed once the soil
16665Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the isle
16666Ophiusa,) but still greatest he the midst,
16667Now Dragon grown, larger than whom the sun
16668Ingendered in the Pythian vale or slime,
16669Huge Python, and his power no less he seemed
16670Above the rest still to retain; they all
16671Him followed, issuing forth to the open field,
16672Where all yet left of that revolted rout,
16673Heaven-fallen, in station stood or just array;
16674Sublime with expectation when to see
16675In triumph issuing forth their glorious Chief;
16676They saw, but other sight instead, a crowd
16677Of ugly serpents; horror on them fell,
16678And horrid sympathy; for, what they saw,
16679They felt themselves, now changing; down their arms,
16680Down fell both spear and shield; down they as fast;
16681And the dire hiss renewed, and the dire form
16682Catched, by contagion; like in punishment,
16683As in their crime. Thus was the applause they meant,
16684Turned to exploding hiss, triumph to shame
16685Cast on themselves from their own mouths. There stood
16686A grove hard by, sprung up with this their change,
16687His will who reigns above, to aggravate
16688Their penance, laden with fair fruit, like that
16689Which grew in Paradise, the bait of Eve
16690Used by the tempter: on that prospect strange
16691Their earnest eyes they fixed, imagining
16692For one forbidden tree a multitude
16693Now risen, to work them further woe or shame;
16694Yet, parched with scalding thirst and hunger fierce,
16695Though to delude them sent, could not abstain;
16696But on they rolled in heaps, and, up the trees
16697Climbing, sat thicker than the snaky locks
16698That curled Megaera: greedily they plucked
16699The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew
16700Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed;
16701This more delusive, not the touch, but taste
16702Deceived; they, fondly thinking to allay
16703Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit
16704Chewed bitter ashes, which the offended taste
16705With spattering noise rejected: oft they assayed,
16706Hunger and thirst constraining; drugged as oft,
16707With hatefullest disrelish writhed their jaws,
16708With soot and cinders filled; so oft they fell
16709Into the same illusion, not as man
16710Whom they triumphed once lapsed. Thus were they plagued
16711And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hiss,
16712Till their lost shape, permitted, they resumed;
16713Yearly enjoined, some say, to undergo,
16714This annual humbling certain numbered days,
16715To dash their pride, and joy, for man seduced.
16716However, some tradition they dispersed
16717Among the Heathen, of their purchase got,
16718And fabled how the Serpent, whom they called
16719Ophion, with Eurynome, the wide
16720Encroaching Eve perhaps, had first the rule
16721Of high Olympus; thence by Saturn driven
16722And Ops, ere yet Dictaean Jove was born.
16723Meanwhile in Paradise the hellish pair
16724Too soon arrived; Sin, there in power before,
16725Once actual; now in body, and to dwell
16726Habitual habitant; behind her Death,
16727Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet
16728On his pale horse: to whom Sin thus began.
16729Second of Satan sprung, all-conquering Death,
16730What thinkest thou of our empire now, though earned
16731With travel difficult, not better far
16732Than still at Hell's dark threshold to have sat watch,
16733Unnamed, undreaded, and thyself half starved?
16734Whom thus the Sin-born monster answered soon.
16735To me, who with eternal famine pine,
16736Alike is Hell, or Paradise, or Heaven;
16737There best, where most with ravine I may meet;
16738Which here, though plenteous, all too little seems
16739To stuff this maw, this vast unhide-bound corps.
16740To whom the incestuous mother thus replied.
16741Thou therefore on these herbs, and fruits, and flowers,
16742Feed first; on each beast next, and fish, and fowl;
16743No homely morsels, and, whatever thing
16744The scythe of Time mows down, devour unspared;
16745Till I, in man residing, through the race,
16746His thoughts, his looks, words, actions, all infect;
16747And season him thy last and sweetest prey.
16748This said, they both betook them several ways,
16749Both to destroy, or unimmortal make
16750All kinds, and for destruction to mature
16751Sooner or later; which the Almighty seeing,
16752From his transcendent seat the saints among,
16753To those bright orders uttered thus his voice.
16754See, with what heat these dogs of Hell advance
16755To waste and havoc yonder world, which I
16756So fair and good created; and had still
16757Kept in that state, had not the folly of man
16758Let in these wasteful furies, who impute
16759Folly to me; so doth the prince of Hell
16760And his adherents, that with so much ease
16761I suffer them to enter and possess
16762A place so heavenly; and, conniving, seem
16763To gratify my scornful enemies,
16764That laugh, as if, transported with some fit
16765Of passion, I to them had quitted all,
16766At random yielded up to their misrule;
16767And know not that I called, and drew them thither,
16768My hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and filth
16769Which man's polluting sin with taint hath shed
16770On what was pure; till, crammed and gorged, nigh burst
16771With sucked and glutted offal, at one sling
16772Of thy victorious arm, well-pleasing Son,
16773Both Sin, and Death, and yawning grave, at last,
16774Through chaos hurled, obstruct the mouth of Hell
16775For ever, and seal up his ravenous jaws.
16776Then Heaven and Earth renewed shall be made pure
16777To sanctity, that shall receive no stain:
16778Till then, the curse pronounced on both precedes.
16779He ended, and the heavenly audience loud
16780Sung halleluiah, as the sound of seas,
16781Through multitude that sung: Just are thy ways,
16782Righteous are thy decrees on all thy works;
16783Who can extenuate thee? Next, to the Son,
16784Destined Restorer of mankind, by whom
16785New Heaven and Earth shall to the ages rise,
16786Or down from Heaven descend. Such was their song;
16787While the Creator, calling forth by name
16788His mighty angels, gave them several charge,
16789As sorted best with present things. The sun
16790Had first his precept so to move, so shine,
16791As might affect the earth with cold and heat
16792Scarce tolerable; and from the north to call
16793Decrepit winter; from the south to bring
16794Solstitial summer's heat. To the blanc moon
16795Her office they prescribed; to the other five
16796Their planetary motions, and aspects,
16797In sextile, square, and trine, and opposite,
16798Of noxious efficacy, and when to join
16799In synod unbenign; and taught the fixed
16800Their influence malignant when to shower,
16801Which of them rising with the sun, or falling,
16802Should prove tempestuous: To the winds they set
16803Their corners, when with bluster to confound
16804Sea, air, and shore; the thunder when to roll
16805With terror through the dark aerial hall.
16806Some say, he bid his angels turn askance
16807The poles of earth, twice ten degrees and more,
16808From the sun's axle; they with labor pushed
16809Oblique the centric globe: Some say, the sun
16810Was bid turn reins from the equinoctial road
16811Like distant breadth to Taurus with the seven
16812Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan Twins,
16813Up to the Tropic Crab: thence down amain
16814By Leo, and the Virgin, and the Scales,
16815As deep as Capricorn; to bring in change
16816Of seasons to each clime; else had the spring
16817Perpetual smiled on earth with vernant flowers,
16818Equal in days and nights, except to those
16819Beyond the polar circles; to them day
16820Had unbenighted shone, while the low sun,
16821To recompense his distance, in their sight
16822Had rounded still the horizon, and not known
16823Or east or west; which had forbid the snow
16824From cold Estotiland, and south as far
16825Beneath Magellan. At that tasted fruit
16826The sun, as from Thyestean banquet, turned
16827His course intended; else, how had the world
16828Inhabited, though sinless, more than now,
16829Avoided pinching cold and scorching heat?
16830These changes in the Heavens, though slow, produced
16831Like change on sea and land; sidereal blast,
16832Vapor, and mist, and exhalation hot,
16833Corrupt and pestilent: Now from the north
16834Of Norumbega, and the Samoed shore,
16835Bursting their brazen dungeon, armed with ice,
16836And snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw,
16837Boreas, and Caecias, and Argestes loud,
16838And Thrascias, rend the woods, and seas upturn;
16839With adverse blast upturns them from the south
16840Notus, and Afer black with thunderous clouds
16841From Serraliona; thwart of these, as fierce,
16842Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds,
16843Eurus and Zephyr, with their lateral noise,
16844Sirocco and Libecchio. Thus began
16845Outrage from lifeless things; but Discord first,
16846Daughter of Sin, among the irrational
16847Death introduced, through fierce antipathy:
16848Beast now with beast 'gan war, and fowl with fowl,
16849And fish with fish; to graze the herb all leaving,
16850Devoured each other; nor stood much in awe
16851Of man, but fled him; or, with countenance grim,
16852Glared on him passing. These were from without
16853The growing miseries, which Adam saw
16854Already in part, though hid in gloomiest shade,
16855To sorrow abandoned, but worse felt within;
16856And, in a troubled sea of passion tossed,
16857Thus to disburden sought with sad complaint.
16858Oh miserable of happy, Is this the end
16859Of this new glorious world, and me so late
16860The glory of that glory, who now become
16861Accursed, of blessed? hide me from the face
16862Of God, whom to behold was then my heighth
16863Of happiness! Yet well, if here would end
16864The misery; I deserved it, and would bear
16865My own deservings; but this will not serve:
16866All that I eat or drink, or shall beget,
16867Is propagated curse. Oh voice, once heard
16868Delightfully, Increase and multiply;
16869Now death to hear, for what can I increase,
16870Or multiply, but curses on my head?
16871Who of all ages to succeed, but, feeling
16872The evil on him brought by me, will curse
16873My head? Ill fare our ancestor impure,
16874For this we may thank Adam, but his thanks
16875Shall be the execration: so, besides
16876Mine own that bide upon me, all from me
16877Shall with a fierce reflux on me rebound;
16878On me, as on their natural center, light
16879Heavy, though in their place. Oh fleeting joys
16880Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes.
16881Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
16882To mould me Man? did I solicit thee
16883From darkness to promote me, or here place
16884In this delicious garden? As my will
16885Concurred not to my being, it were but right
16886And equal to reduce me to my dust;
16887Desirous to resign and render back
16888All I received; unable to perform
16889Thy terms too hard, by which I was to hold
16890The good I sought not. To the loss of that,
16891Sufficient penalty, why hast thou added
16892The sense of endless woes? Inexplicable
16893Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out
16894To deathless pain? How gladly would I meet
16895Mortality my sentence, and be earth
16896Insensible. How glad would lay me down
16897As in my mother's lap. There I should rest,
16898And sleep secure; his dreadful voice no more
16899Would thunder in my ears; no fear of worse
16900To me, and to my offspring, would torment me
16901With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt
16902Pursues me still, lest all I cannot die;
16903Lest that pure breath of life, the spirit of man
16904Which God inspired, cannot together perish
16905With this corporeal clod; then, in the grave,
16906Or in some other dismal place, who knows
16907But I shall die a living death? Oh thought
16908Horrid, if true! Yet why? It was but breath
16909Of life that sinned; what dies but what had life
16910And sin? The body properly had neither,
16911All of me then shall die: let this appease
16912The doubt, since human reach no further knows.
16913For though the Lord of all be infinite,
16914Is his wrath also? Be it, man is not so,
16915But mortal doomed. How can he exercise
16916Wrath without end on Man, whom death must end?
16917Can he make deathless death? That were to make
16918Strange contradiction, which to God himself
16919Impossible is held; as argument
16920Of weakness, not of power. Will he draw out,
16921For anger's sake, finite to infinite,
16922In punished Man, to satisfy his rigor,
16923Satisfied never? That were to extend
16924His sentence beyond dust and Nature's law;
16925By which all causes else, according still
16926To the reception of their matter, act;
16927Not to the extent of their own sphere. But say
16928That death be not one stroke, as I supposed,
16929Bereaving sense, but endless misery
16930From this day onward; which I feel begun
16931Both in me, and without me; and so last
16932To perpetuity; Ay me! that fear
16933Comes thundering back with dreadful revolution
16934On my defenseless head; both Death and I
16935Am found eternal, and incorporate both;
16936Nor I on my part single; in me all
16937Posterity stands cursed: Fair patrimony
16938That I must leave ye, Sons! Oh, were I able
16939To waste it all myself, and leave ye none!
16940So disinherited, how would you bless
16941Me, now your curse. Ah, why should all mankind,
16942For one man's fault, thus guiltless be condemned,
16943It guiltless? But from me what can proceed,
16944But all corrupt; both mind and will depraved
16945Not to do only, but to will the same
16946With me? How can they then acquitted stand
16947In sight of God? Him, after all disputes,
16948Forced I absolve: all my evasions vain,
16949And reasonings, though through mazes, lead me still
16950But to my own conviction: first and last
16951On me, me only, as the source and spring
16952Of all corruption, all the blame lights due;
16953So might the wrath. Fond wish! Couldst thou support
16954That burden, heavier than the earth to bear;
16955Than all the world much heavier, though divided
16956With that bad woman? Thus, what thou desirest,
16957And what thou fearest, alike destroys all hope
16958Of refuge, and concludes thee miserable
16959Beyond all past example and future;
16960To Satan only like both crime and doom.
16961Oh Conscience, into what abyss of fears
16962And horrors hast thou driven me; out of which
16963I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!
16964Thus Adam to himself lamented loud,
16965Through the still night; not now, as ere man fell,
16966Wholesome, and cool, and mild, but with black air
16967Accompanied; with damps, and dreadful gloom;
16968Which to his evil conscience represented
16969All things with double terror: On the ground
16970Outstretched he lay, on the cold ground; and oft
16971Cursed his creation; Death as oft accused
16972Of tardy execution, since denounced
16973The day of his offence. Why comes not Death,
16974Said he, with one thrice-acceptable stroke
16975To end me? Shall Truth fail to keep her word,
16976Justice divine not hasten to be just?
16977But Death comes not at call; justice divine
16978Mends not her slowest pace for prayers or cries,
16979Oh woods, Oh fountains, hillocks, dales, and bowers,
16980With other echo late I taught your shades
16981To answer, and resound far other song.
16982Whom thus afflicted when sad Eve beheld,
16983Desolate where she sat, approaching nigh,
16984Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed:
16985But her with stern regard he thus repelled.
16986Out of my sight, thou serpent! That name best
16987Befits thee with him leagued, thyself as false
16988And hateful; nothing wants, but that thy shape,
16989Like his, and color serpentine, may show
16990Thy inward fraud; to warn all creatures from thee
16991Henceforth; lest that too heavenly form, pretended
16992To hellish falsehood, snare them! But for thee
16993I had persisted happy; had not thy pride
16994And wandering vanity, when least was safe,
16995Rejected my forewarning, and disdained
16996Not to be trusted; longing to be seen,
16997Though by the Devil himself; him overweening
16998To over-reach; but, with the serpent meeting,
16999Fooled and beguiled; by him thou, I by thee
17000To trust thee from my side; imagined wise,
17001Constant, mature, proof against all assaults;
17002And understood not all was but a show,
17003Rather than solid virtue; all but a rib
17004Crooked by nature, bent, as now appears,
17005More to the part sinister, from me drawn;
17006Well if thrown out, as supernumerary
17007To my just number found. Oh, why did God,
17008Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven
17009With Spirits masculine, create at last
17010This novelty on earth, this fair defect
17011Of nature, and not fill the world at once
17012With men, as angels, without feminine;
17013Or find some other way to generate
17014Mankind? This mischief had not been befallen,
17015And more that shall befall; innumerable
17016Disturbances on earth through female snares,
17017And strait conjunction with this sex: for either
17018He never shall find out fit mate, but such
17019As some misfortune brings him, or mistake;
17020Or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain
17021Through her perverseness, but shall see her gained
17022By a far worse; or, if she love, withheld
17023By parents; or his happiest choice too late
17024Shall meet, already linked and wedlock-bound
17025To a fell adversary, his hate or shame:
17026Which infinite calamity shall cause
17027To human life, and household peace confound.
17028He added not, and from her turned; but Eve,
17029Not so repulsed, with tears that ceased not flowing
17030And tresses all disordered, at his feet
17031Fell humble; and, embracing them, besought
17032His peace, and thus proceeded in her plaint.
17033Forsake me not thus, Adam, witness Heaven
17034What love sincere, and reverence in my heart
17035I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,
17036Unhappily deceived. Thy suppliant
17037I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not,
17038Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid,
17039Thy counsel, in this uttermost distress,
17040My only strength and stay: Forlorn of thee,
17041Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?
17042While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,
17043Between us two let there be peace; both joining,
17044As joined in injuries, one enmity
17045Against a foe by doom express assigned us,
17046That cruel Serpent: On me exercise not
17047Thy hatred for this misery befallen;
17048On me already lost, me than thyself
17049More miserable. Both have sinned; but thou
17050Against God only; I against God and thee;
17051And to the place of judgment will return,
17052There with my cries importune Heaven; that all
17053The sentence, from thy head removed, may light
17054On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe;
17055Me, me only, just object of his ire.
17056She ended weeping; and her lowly plight,
17057Immoveable, till peace obtained from fault
17058Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam wrought
17059Commiseration: Soon his heart relented
17060Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight,
17061Now at his feet submissive in distress;
17062Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking,
17063His counsel, whom she had displeased, his aid:
17064As one disarmed, his anger all he lost,
17065And thus with peaceful words upraised her soon.
17066Unwary, and too desirous, as before,
17067So now of what thou knowest not, who desirest
17068The punishment all on thyself; alas!
17069Bear thine own first, ill able to sustain
17070His full wrath, whose thou feelest as yet least part,
17071And my displeasure bearest so ill. If prayers
17072Could alter high decrees, I to that place
17073Would speed before thee, and be louder heard,
17074That on my head all might be visited;
17075Thy frailty and infirmer sex forgiven,
17076To me committed, and by me exposed.
17077But rise; let us no more contend, nor blame
17078Each other, blamed enough elsewhere; but strive
17079In offices of love, how we may lighten
17080Each other's burden, in our share of woe;
17081Since this day's death denounced, if aught I see,
17082Will prove no sudden, but a slow-paced evil;
17083A long day's dying, to augment our pain;
17084And to our seed (O hapless seed!) derived.
17085To whom thus Eve, recovering heart, replied.
17086Adam, by sad experiment I know
17087How little weight my words with thee can find,
17088Found so erroneous; thence by just event
17089Found so unfortunate: Nevertheless,
17090Restored by thee, vile as I am, to place
17091Of new acceptance, hopeful to regain
17092Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart
17093Living or dying, from thee I will not hide
17094What thoughts in my unquiet breast are risen,
17095Tending to some relief of our extremes,
17096Or end; though sharp and sad, yet tolerable,
17097As in our evils, and of easier choice.
17098If care of our descent perplex us most,
17099Which must be born to certain woe, devoured
17100By Death at last; and miserable it is
17101To be to others cause of misery,
17102Our own begotten, and of our loins to bring
17103Into this cursed world a woeful race,
17104That after wretched life must be at last
17105Food for so foul a monster; in thy power
17106It lies, yet ere conception to prevent
17107The race unblest, to being yet unbegot.
17108Childless thou art, childless remain: so Death
17109Shall be deceived his glut, and with us two
17110Be forced to satisfy his ravenous maw.
17111But if thou judge it hard and difficult,
17112Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain
17113From love's due rights, nuptial embraces sweet;
17114And with desire to languish without hope,
17115Before the present object languishing
17116With like desire; which would be misery
17117And torment less than none of what we dread;
17118Then, both ourselves and seed at once to free
17119From what we fear for both, let us make short,
17120Let us seek Death; or, he not found, supply
17121With our own hands his office on ourselves:
17122Why stand we longer shivering under fears,
17123That show no end but death, and have the power,
17124Of many ways to die the shortest choosing,
17125Destruction with destruction to destroy?
17126She ended here, or vehement despair
17127Broke off the rest: so much of death her thoughts
17128Had entertained, as dyed her cheeks with pale.
17129But Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed,
17130To better hopes his more attentive mind
17131Laboring had raised; and thus to Eve replied.
17132Eve, thy contempt of life and pleasure seems
17133To argue in thee something more sublime
17134And excellent, than what thy mind contemns;
17135But self-destruction therefore sought, refutes
17136That excellence thought in thee; and implies,
17137Not thy contempt, but anguish and regret
17138For loss of life and pleasure overloved.
17139Or if thou covet death, as utmost end
17140Of misery, so thinking to evade
17141The penalty pronounced; doubt not but God
17142Hath wiselier armed his vengeful ire, than so
17143To be forestalled; much more I fear lest death,
17144So snatched, will not exempt us from the pain
17145We are by doom to pay; rather, such acts
17146Of contumacy will provoke the Highest
17147To make death in us live: Then let us seek
17148Some safer resolution, which methinks
17149I have in view, calling to mind with heed
17150Part of our sentence, that thy seed shall bruise
17151The Serpent's head; piteous amends, unless
17152Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand foe,
17153Satan; who, in the serpent, hath contrived
17154Against us this deceit: To crush his head
17155Would be revenge indeed, which will be lost
17156By death brought on ourselves, or childless days
17157Resolved, as thou proposest; so our foe
17158Shall 'scape his punishment ordained, and we
17159Instead shall double ours upon our heads.
17160No more be mentioned then of violence
17161Against ourselves; and willful barrenness,
17162That cuts us off from hope; and savors only
17163Rancor and pride, impatience and despite,
17164Reluctance against God and his just yoke
17165Laid on our necks. Remember with what mild
17166And gracious temper he both heard, and judged,
17167Without wrath or reviling; we expected
17168Immediate dissolution, which we thought
17169Was meant by death that day; when lo, to thee
17170Pains only in child-bearing were foretold,
17171And bringing forth; soon recompensed with joy,
17172Fruit of thy womb: On me the curse aslope
17173Glanced on the ground; with labor I must earn
17174My bread; what harm? Idleness had been worse;
17175My labor will sustain me; and, lest cold
17176Or heat should injure us, his timely care
17177Hath, unbesought, provided; and his hands
17178Clothed us unworthy, pitying while he judged;
17179How much more, if we pray him, will his ear
17180Be open, and his heart to pity incline,
17181And teach us further by what means to shun
17182The inclement seasons, rain, ice, hail, and snow,
17183Which now the sky, with various face, begins
17184To show us in this mountain; while the winds
17185Blow moist and keen, shattering the graceful locks
17186Of these fair spreading trees; which bids us seek
17187Some better shroud, some better warmth to cherish
17188Our limbs benumbed, ere this diurnal star
17189Leave cold the night, how we his gathered beams
17190Reflected may with matter sere foment;
17191Or, by collision of two bodies, grind
17192The air attrite to fire; as late the clouds
17193Jostling, or pushed with winds, rude in their shock,
17194Tine the slant lightning; whose thwart flame, driven down
17195Kindles the gummy bark of fir or pine;
17196And sends a comfortable heat from far,
17197Which might supply the sun: Such fire to use,
17198And what may else be remedy or cure
17199To evils which our own misdeeds have wrought,
17200He will instruct us praying, and of grace
17201Beseeching him; so as we need not fear
17202To pass commodiously this life, sustained
17203By him with many comforts, till we end
17204In dust, our final rest and native home.
17205What better can we do, than, to the place
17206Repairing where he judged us, prostrate fall
17207Before him reverent; and there confess
17208Humbly our faults, and pardon beg; with tears
17209Watering the ground, and with our sighs the air
17210Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign
17211Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.
17212Undoubtedly he will relent and turn
17213From his displeasure; in whose look serene,
17214When angry most he seemed and most severe,
17215What else but favor, grace, and mercy shone?
17216So spake our father penitent, nor Eve
17217Felt less remorse: they forthwith to the place
17218Repairing where he judged them, prostrate fell
17219Before him reverent; and there confessed
17220Humbly their faults, and pardon begged; with tears
17221Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air
17222Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign
17223Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.
17224
17225~ BOOK XI ~
17226
17227
17228
17229
17230
17231
17232
17233
17234
17235
17236
17237
17238
17239
17240
17241
17242
17243
17244
17245
17246
17247
17248BOOK XI
17249
17250
17251
17252
17253
17254
17255
17256
17257
17258
17259
17260
17261
17262
17263
17264
17265
17266
17267
17268BOOK XI
17269
17270
17271
17272
17273
17274
17275
17276
17277
17278
17279
17280
17281
17282
17283
17284
17285
17286
17287
17288BOOK XI
17289
17290
17291
17292
17293
17294
17295
17296
17297
17298
17299
17300
17301
17302
17303
17304
17305
17306
17307
17308BOOK XI
17309
17310
17311
17312
17313
17314
17315
17316
17317
17318
17319
17320
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17448BOOK XI
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17508BOOK XI
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18008BOOK XI
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18108BOOK XI
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18128BOOK XI
18129
18130
18131.  Back to Top
18132
18133
18134 ~ BOOK XI ~
18135
18136Thus they, in lowliest plight, repentant stood
18137Praying; for from the mercy-seat above
18138Prevenient grace descending had removed
18139The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh
18140Regenerate grow instead; that sighs now breathed
18141Unutterable; which the Spirit of prayer
18142Inspired, and winged for Heaven with speedier flight
18143Than loudest oratory: Yet their port
18144Not of mean suitors; nor important less
18145Seemed their petition, than when the ancient pair
18146In fables old, less ancient yet than these,
18147Deucalion and chaste Pyrrha, to restore
18148The race of mankind drowned, before the shrine
18149Of Themis stood devout. To Heaven their prayers
18150Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds
18151Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they passed
18152Dimensionless through heavenly doors; then clad
18153With incense, where the golden altar fumed,
18154By their great intercessor, came in sight
18155Before the Father's throne: them the glad Son
18156Presenting, thus to intercede began.
18157See, Father, what first-fruits on earth are sprung
18158From thy implanted grace in Man; these sighs
18159And prayers, which in this golden censer mixed
18160With incense, I thy priest before thee bring;
18161Fruits of more pleasing savor, from thy seed
18162Sown with contrition in his heart, than those
18163Which, his own hand manuring, all the trees
18164Of Paradise could have produced, ere fallen
18165From innocence. Now therefore, bend thine ear
18166To supplication; hear his sighs, though mute;
18167Unskillful with what words to pray, let me
18168Interpret for him; me, his advocate
18169And propitiation; all his works on me,
18170Good, or not good, ingraft; my merit those
18171Shall perfect, and for these my death shall pay.
18172Accept me; and, in me, from these receive
18173The smell of peace toward mankind: let him live
18174Before thee reconciled, at least his days
18175Numbered, though sad; till death, his doom, (which I
18176To mitigate thus plead, not to reverse,)
18177To better life shall yield him: where with me
18178All my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss;
18179Made one with me, as I with thee am one.
18180To whom the Father, without cloud, serene.
18181All thy request for Man, accepted Son,
18182Obtain; all thy request was my decree:
18183But, longer in that Paradise to dwell,
18184The law I gave to Nature him forbids:
18185Those pure immortal elements, that know,
18186No gross, no unharmonious mixture foul,
18187Eject him, tainted now; and purge him off,
18188As a distemper, gross, to air as gross,
18189And mortal food; as may dispose him best
18190For dissolution wrought by sin, that first
18191Distempered all things, and of incorrupt
18192Corrupted. I, at first, with two fair gifts
18193Created him endowed; with happiness,
18194And immortality: that fondly lost,
18195This other served but to eternize woe;
18196Till I provided death: so death becomes
18197His final remedy; and, after life,
18198Tried in sharp tribulation, and refined
18199By faith and faithful works, to second life,
18200Waked in the renovation of the just,
18201Resigns him up with Heaven and Earth renewed.
18202But let us call to synod all the blest,
18203Through Heaven's wide bounds: from them I will not hide
18204My judgments; how with mankind I proceed,
18205As how with peccant angels late they saw,
18206And in their state, though firm, stood more confirmed.
18207He ended, and the Son gave signal high
18208To the bright minister that watched; he blew
18209His trumpet, heard in Oreb since perhaps
18210When God descended, and perhaps once more
18211To sound at general doom. The angelic blast
18212Filled all the regions: from their blissful bowers
18213Of amaranthine shade, fountain or spring,
18214By the waters of life, where'er they sat
18215In fellowships of joy, the sons of light
18216Hasted, resorting to the summons high;
18217And took their seats; till from his throne supreme
18218The Almighty thus pronounced his sovereign will.
18219Oh sons, like one of us man is become
18220To know both good and evil, since his taste
18221Of that defended fruit; but let him boast
18222His knowledge of good lost, and evil got;
18223Happier had it sufficed him to have known
18224Good by itself, and evil not at all.
18225He sorrows now, repents, and prays contrite,
18226My motions in him; longer than they move,
18227His heart I know, how variable and vain,
18228Self-left. Lest therefore his now bolder hand
18229Reach also of the tree of life, and eat,
18230And live for ever, dream at least to live
18231For ever, to remove him I decree,
18232And send him from the garden forth to till
18233The ground whence he was taken, fitter soil.
18234Michael, this my behest have thou in charge;
18235Take to thee from among the Cherubim
18236Thy choice of flaming warriors, lest the Fiend,
18237Or in behalf of Man, or to invade
18238Vacant possession, some new trouble raise:
18239Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God
18240Without remorse drive out the sinful pair;
18241From hallowed ground the unholy; and denounce
18242To them, and to their progeny, from thence
18243Perpetual banishment. Yet, lest they faint
18244At the sad sentence rigorously urged,
18245(For I behold them softened, and with tears
18246Bewailing their excess,) all terror hide.
18247If patiently thy bidding they obey,
18248Dismiss them not disconsolate; reveal
18249To Adam what shall come in future days,
18250As I shall thee enlighten; intermix
18251My covenant in the Woman's seed renewed;
18252So send them forth, though sorrowing, yet in peace:
18253And on the east side of the garden place,
18254Where entrance up from Eden easiest climbs,
18255Cherubic watch; and of a sword the flame
18256Wide-waving; all approach far off to fright,
18257And guard all passage to the tree of life:
18258Lest Paradise a receptacle prove
18259To Spirits foul, and all my trees their prey;
18260With whose stolen fruit man once more to delude.
18261He ceased; and the archangelic power prepared
18262For swift descent; with him the cohort bright
18263Of watchful Cherubim: four faces each
18264Had, like a double Janus; all their shape
18265Spangled with eyes more numerous than those
18266Of Argus, and more wakeful than to drowse,
18267Charmed with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed
18268Of Hermes, or his opiate rod. Mean while,
18269To re-salute the world with sacred light,
18270Leucothea waked; and with fresh dews imbalmed
18271The earth; when Adam and first matron Eve
18272Had ended now their orisons, and found
18273Strength added from above; new hope to spring
18274Out of despair; joy, but with fear yet linked;
18275Which thus to Eve his welcome words renewed.
18276Eve, easily may faith admit, that all
18277The good which we enjoy from Heaven descends;
18278But, that from us aught should ascend to Heaven
18279So prevalent as to concern the mind
18280Of God high-blest, or to incline his will,
18281Hard to belief may seem; yet this will prayer
18282Or one short sigh of human breath, upborne
18283Even to the seat of God. For since I sought
18284By prayer the offended Deity to appease;
18285Kneeled, and before him humbled all my heart;
18286Methought I saw him placable and mild,
18287Bending his ear; persuasion in me grew
18288That I was heard with favor; peace returned
18289Home to my breast, and to my memory
18290His promise, that thy seed shall bruise our foe;
18291Which, then not minded in dismay, yet now
18292Assures me that the bitterness of death
18293Is past, and we shall live. Whence hail to thee,
18294Eve rightly called, mother of all mankind,
18295Mother of all things living, since by thee
18296Man is to live; and all things live for Man.
18297To whom thus Eve with sad demeanor meek.
18298Ill-worthy I such title should belong
18299To me transgressor; who, for thee ordained
18300A help, became thy snare; to me reproach
18301Rather belongs, distrust, and all dispraise:
18302But infinite in pardon was my Judge,
18303That I, who first brought death on all, am graced
18304The source of life; next favorable thou,
18305Who highly thus to entitle me vouchsaf'st,
18306Far other name deserving. But the field
18307To labor calls us, now with sweat imposed,
18308Though after sleepless night; for see, the morn,
18309All unconcerned with our unrest, begins
18310Her rosy progress smiling: let us forth;
18311I never from thy side henceforth to stray,
18312Where'er our day's work lies, though now enjoined
18313Laborious, till day droop; while here we dwell,
18314What can be toilsome in these pleasant walks?
18315Here let us live, though in fallen state, content.
18316So spake, so wished much humbled Eve; but fate
18317Subscribed not: nature first gave signs, impressed
18318On bird, beast, air; air suddenly eclipsed,
18319After short blush of morn; nigh in her sight
18320The bird of Jove, stooped from his aerie tour,
18321Two birds of gayest plume before him drove;
18322Down from a hill the beast that reigns in woods,
18323First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace,
18324Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind;
18325Direct to the eastern gate was bent their flight.
18326Adam observed, and with his eye the chase
18327Pursuing, not unmoved, to Eve thus spake.
18328Oh Eve, some further change awaits us nigh,
18329Which Heaven, by these mute signs in Nature, shows
18330Forerunners of his purpose; or to warn
18331Us, haply too secure, of our discharge
18332From penalty, because from death released
18333Some days: how long, and what till then our life,
18334Who knows? or more than this, that we are dust,
18335And thither must return, and be no more?
18336Why else this double object in our sight
18337Of flight pursued in the air, and o'er the ground,
18338One way the self-same hour? why in the east
18339Darkness ere day's mid-course, and morning-light
18340More orient in yon western cloud, that draws
18341O'er the blue firmament a radiant white,
18342And slow descends with something heavenly fraught?
18343He erred not; for by this the heavenly bands
18344Down from a sky of jasper lighted now
18345In Paradise, and on a hill made halt;
18346A glorious apparition, had not doubt
18347And carnal fear that day dimmed Adam's eye.
18348Not that more glorious, when the angels met
18349Jacob in Mahanaim, where he saw
18350The field pavilioned with his guardians bright;
18351Nor that, which on the flaming mount appeared
18352In Dothan, covered with a camp of fire,
18353Against the Syrian king, who to surprise
18354One man, assassin-like, had levied war,
18355War unproclaimed. The princely hierarch
18356In their bright stand there left his powers, to seize
18357Possession of the garden; he alone,
18358To find where Adam sheltered, took his way,
18359Not unperceived of Adam; who to Eve,
18360While the great visitant approached, thus spake.
18361Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps
18362Of us will soon determine, or impose
18363New laws to be observed; for I descry,
18364From yonder blazing cloud that veils the hill,
18365One of the heavenly host; and, by his gait,
18366None of the meanest; some great potentate
18367Or of the Thrones above; such majesty
18368Invests him coming, yet not terrible,
18369That I should fear; nor sociably mild,
18370As Raphael, that I should much confide;
18371But solemn and sublime; whom not to offend,
18372With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.
18373He ended: and the archangel soon drew nigh,
18374Not in his shape celestial, but as man
18375Clad to meet man; over his lucid arms
18376A military vest of purple flowed,
18377Livelier than Meliboean, or the grain
18378Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
18379In time of truce; Iris had dipped the woof;
18380His starry helm unbuckled showed him prime
18381In manhood where youth ended; by his side,
18382As in a glistering zodiac, hung the sword,
18383Satan's dire dread; and in his hand the spear.
18384Adam bowed low; he, kingly, from his state
18385Inclined not, but his coming thus declared.
18386Adam, Heaven's high behest no preface needs:
18387Sufficient that thy prayers are heard; and Death,
18388Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress,
18389Defeated of his seizure many days
18390Given thee of grace; wherein thou mayest repent,
18391And one bad act with many deeds well done
18392Mayest cover: Well may then thy Lord, appeased,
18393Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim;
18394But longer in this Paradise to dwell
18395Permits not: to remove thee I am come,
18396And send thee from the garden forth to till
18397The ground whence thou wast taken, fitter soil.
18398He added not; for Adam at the news
18399Heart-struck with chilling gripe of sorrow stood,
18400That all his senses bound; Eve, who unseen
18401Yet all had heard, with audible lament
18402Discovered soon the place of her retire.
18403Oh unexpected stroke, worse than of death!
18404Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
18405Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades,
18406Fit haunt of Gods? where I had hope to spend,
18407Quiet though sad, the respite of that day
18408That must be mortal to us both. Oh flowers,
18409That never will in other climate grow,
18410My early visitation, and my last
18411At even, which I bred up with tender hand
18412From the first opening bud, and gave ye names.
18413Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank
18414Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount?
18415Thee lastly, nuptial bower, by me adorned
18416With what to sight or smell was sweet, from thee
18417How shall I part, and whither wander down
18418Into a lower world; to this obscure
18419And wild? how shall we breathe in other air
18420Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits?
18421Whom thus the angel interrupted mild.
18422Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign
18423What justly thou hast lost, nor set thy heart,
18424Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine:
18425Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
18426Thy husband; whom to follow thou art bound;
18427Where he abides, think there thy native soil.
18428Adam, by this from the cold sudden damp
18429Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned,
18430To Michael thus his humble words addressed.
18431Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or named
18432Of them the highest; for such of shape may seem
18433Prince above princes, gently hast thou told
18434Thy message, which might else in telling wound,
18435And in performing end us; what besides
18436Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair,
18437Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring,
18438Departure from this happy place, our sweet
18439Recess, and only consolation left
18440Familiar to our eyes, all places else
18441Inhospitable appear, and desolate;
18442Nor knowing us, nor known: And, if by prayer
18443Incessant I could hope to change the will
18444Of Him who all things can, I would not cease
18445To weary him with my assiduous cries:
18446But prayer against his absolute decree
18447No more avails than breath against the wind,
18448Blown stifling back on him that breathes it forth:
18449Therefore to his great bidding I submit.
18450This most afflicts me, that, departing hence,
18451As from his face I shall be hid, deprived
18452His blessed countenance: Here I could frequent
18453With worship place by place where he vouchsafed
18454Presence Divine; and to my sons relate,
18455'On this mount he appeared; under this tree
18456'Stood visible; among these pines his voice
18457'I heard; here with him at this fountain talked:
18458So many grateful altars I would rear
18459Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone
18460Of luster from the brook, in memory,
18461Or monument to ages; and thereon
18462Offer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers:
18463In yonder nether world where shall I seek
18464His bright appearances, or foot-step trace?
18465For though I fled him angry, yet recalled
18466To life prolonged and promised race, I now
18467Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts
18468Of glory; and far off his steps adore.
18469To whom thus Michael with regard benign.
18470Adam, thou knowest Heaven his, and all the Earth;
18471Not this rock only; his Omnipresence fills
18472Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives,
18473Fomented by his virtual power and warmed:
18474All the earth he gave thee to possess and rule,
18475No despicable gift; surmise not then
18476His presence to these narrow bounds confined
18477Of Paradise, or Eden: this had been
18478Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread
18479All generations; and had hither come
18480From all the ends of the earth, to celebrate
18481And reverence thee, their great progenitor.
18482But this pre-eminence thou hast lost, brought down
18483To dwell on even ground now with thy sons:
18484Yet doubt not but in valley, and in plain,
18485God is, as here; and will be found alike
18486Present; and of his presence many a sign
18487Still following thee, still compassing thee round
18488With goodness and paternal love, his face
18489Express, and of his steps the track divine.
18490Which that thou mayest believe, and be confirmed
18491Ere thou from hence depart; know, I am sent
18492To show thee what shall come in future days
18493To thee, and to thy offspring: good with bad
18494Expect to hear; supernal grace contending
18495With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn
18496True patience, and to temper joy with fear
18497And pious sorrow; equally inured
18498By moderation either state to bear,
18499Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead
18500Safest thy life, and best prepared endure
18501Thy mortal passage when it comes. Ascend
18502This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched her eyes)
18503Here sleep below; while thou to foresight wakest;
18504As once thou sleptst, while she to life was formed.
18505To whom thus Adam gratefully replied.
18506Ascend, I follow thee, safe Guide, the path
18507Thou leadest me; and to the hand of Heaven submit,
18508However chastening; to the evil turn
18509My obvious breast; arming to overcome
18510By suffering, and earn rest from labor won,
18511If so I may attain. So both ascend
18512In the visions of God. It was a hill,
18513Of Paradise the highest; from whose top
18514The hemisphere of earth, in clearest ken,
18515Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect lay.
18516Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round,
18517Whereon, for different cause, the Tempter set
18518Our second Adam, in the wilderness;
18519To show him all Earth's kingdoms, and their glory.
18520His eye might there command wherever stood
18521City of old or modern fame, the seat
18522Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
18523Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,
18524And Samarchand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
18525To Paquin of Sinaean kings; and thence
18526To Agra and Lahor of great Mogul,
18527Down to the golden Chersonese; or where
18528The Persian in Ecbatan sat, or since
18529In Hispahan; or where the Russian Czar
18530In Moscow; or the Sultan in Bizance,
18531Turkestan-born; nor could his eye not ken
18532The empire of Negus to his utmost port
18533Ercoco, and the less maritime kings
18534Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
18535And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm
18536Of Congo, and Angola farthest south;
18537Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount
18538The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez and Sus,
18539Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen;
18540On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway
18541The world: in spirit perhaps he also saw
18542Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezuma,
18543And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat
18544Of Atabalipa; and yet unspoiled
18545Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons
18546Call El Dorado. But to nobler sights
18547Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed,
18548Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight
18549Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue
18550The visual nerve, for he had much to see;
18551And from the well of life three drops instilled.
18552So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,
18553Even to the inmost seat of mental sight,
18554That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes,
18555Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced;
18556But him the gentle angel by the hand
18557Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled.
18558Adam, now open thine eyes; and first behold
18559The effects, which thy original crime hath wrought
18560In some to spring from thee; who never touched
18561The excepted tree; nor with the snake conspired;
18562Nor sinned thy sin; yet from that sin derive
18563Corruption, to bring forth more violent deeds.
18564His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,
18565Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves
18566New reaped; the other part sheep-walks and folds;
18567I' the midst an altar as the land-mark stood,
18568Rustic, of grassy sord; thither anon
18569A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
18570First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf,
18571Unculled, as came to hand; a shepherd next,
18572More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock,
18573Choicest and best; then, sacrificing, laid
18574The inwards and their fat, with incense strowed,
18575On the cleft wood, and all due rights performed:
18576His offering soon propitious fire from Heaven
18577Consumed with nimble glance, and grateful steam;
18578The other's not, for his was not sincere;
18579Whereat he inly raged, and, as they talked,
18580Smote him into the midriff with a stone
18581That beat out life; he fell; and, deadly pale,
18582Groaned out his soul with gushing blood effused.
18583Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
18584Dismayed, and thus in haste to the angel cried.
18585Oh teacher, some great mischief hath befallen
18586To that meek man, who well had sacrificed;
18587Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?
18588To whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied.
18589These two are brethren, Adam, and to come
18590Out of thy loins; the unjust the just hath slain,
18591For envy that his brother's offering found
18592From Heaven acceptance; but the bloody fact
18593Will be avenged; and the other's faith, approved,
18594Lose no reward; though here thou see him die,
18595Rolling in dust and gore. To which our sire.
18596Alas, both for the deed, and for the cause!
18597But have I now seen Death? Is this the way
18598I must return to native dust? Oh sight
18599Of terror, foul and ugly to behold,
18600Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!
18601To whom thus Michael. Death thou hast seen
18602In his first shape on Man; but many shapes
18603Of Death, and many are the ways that lead
18604To his grim cave, all dismal; yet to sense
18605More terrible at the entrance, than within.
18606Some, as thou sawest, by violent stroke shall die;
18607By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more
18608In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
18609Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew
18610Before thee shall appear; that thou mayest know
18611What misery the inabstinence of Eve
18612Shall bring on Men. Immediately a place
18613Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark;
18614A lazar-house it seemed; wherein were laid
18615Numbers of all diseased; all maladies
18616Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms
18617Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
18618Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,
18619Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs,
18620Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
18621And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
18622Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
18623Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.
18624Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair
18625Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch;
18626And over them triumphant Death his dart
18627Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked
18628With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.
18629Sight so deform what heart of rock could long
18630Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,
18631Though not of woman born; compassion quelled
18632His best of man, and gave him up to tears
18633A space, till firmer thoughts restrained excess;
18634And, scarce recovering words, his plaint renewed.
18635Oh miserable mankind, to what fall
18636Degraded, to what wretched state reserved!
18637Better end here unborn. Why is life given
18638To be thus wrested from us? rather, why
18639Obtruded on us thus? who, if we knew
18640What we receive, would either no accept
18641Life offered, or soon beg to lay it down;
18642Glad to be so dismissed in peace. Can thus
18643The image of God in Man, created once
18644So goodly and erect, though faulty since,
18645To such unsightly sufferings be debased
18646Under inhuman pains? Why should not Man,
18647Retaining still divine similitude
18648In part, from such deformities be free,
18649And, for his Maker's image sake, exempt?
18650Their Maker's image, answered Michael, then
18651Forsook them, when themselves they vilified
18652To serve ungoverned Appetite; and took
18653His image whom they served, a brutish vice,
18654Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve.
18655Therefore so abject is their punishment,
18656Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own;
18657Or if his likeness, by themselves defaced;
18658While they pervert pure Nature's healthful rules
18659To loathsome sickness; worthily, since they
18660God's image did not reverence in themselves.
18661I yield it just, said Adam, and submit.
18662But is there yet no other way, besides
18663These painful passages, how we may come
18664To death, and mix with our connatural dust?
18665There is, said Michael, if thou well observe
18666The rule of Not too much; by temperance taught,
18667In what thou eatest and drinkest; seeking from thence
18668Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,
18669Till many years over thy head return:
18670So mayest thou live; till, like ripe fruit, thou drop
18671Into thy mother's lap; or be with ease
18672Gathered, nor harshly plucked; for death mature:
18673This is Old Age; but then, thou must outlive
18674Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty; which will change
18675To withered, weak, and gray; thy senses then,
18676Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forego,
18677To what thou hast; and, for the air of youth,
18678Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign
18679A melancholy damp of cold and dry
18680To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume
18681The balm of life. To whom our ancestor.
18682Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong
18683Life much; bent rather, how I may be quit,
18684Fairest and easiest, of this cumbrous charge;
18685Which I must keep till my appointed day
18686Of rendering up, and patiently attend
18687My dissolution. Michael replied.
18688Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest
18689Live well; how long, or short, permit to Heaven:
18690And now prepare thee for another sight.
18691He looked, and saw a spacious plain, whereon
18692Were tents of various hue; by some, were herds
18693Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound
18694Of instruments, that made melodious chime,
18695Was heard, of harp and organ; and, who moved
18696Their stops and chords, was seen; his volant touch,
18697Instinct through all proportions, low and high,
18698Fled and pursued transverse the resonant fugue.
18699In other part stood one who, at the forge
18700Laboring, two massy clods of iron and brass
18701Had melted, (whether found where casual fire
18702Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale,
18703Down to the veins of earth; thence gliding hot
18704To some cave's mouth; or whether washed by stream
18705From underground;) the liquid ore he drained
18706Into fit moulds prepared; from which he formed
18707First his own tools; then, what might else be wrought
18708Fusil or graven in metal. After these,
18709But on the hither side, a different sort
18710From the high neighboring hills, which was their seat,
18711Down to the plain descended; by their guise
18712Just men they seemed, and all their study bent
18713To worship God aright, and know his works
18714Not hid; nor those things last, which might preserve
18715Freedom and peace to Men; they on the plain
18716Long had not walked, when from the tents, behold,
18717A bevy of fair women, richly gay
18718In gems and wanton dress; to the harp they sung
18719Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on:
18720The men, though grave, eyed them; and let their eyes
18721Rove without rein; till, in the amorous net
18722Fast caught, they liked; and each his liking chose;
18723And now of love they treat, till the evening-star,
18724Love's harbinger, appeared; then, all in heat
18725They light the nuptial torch, and bid invoke
18726Hymen, then first to marriage rites invoked:
18727With feast and music all the tents resound.
18728Such happy interview, and fair event
18729Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flowers,
18730And charming symphonies, attached the heart
18731Of Adam, soon inclined to admit delight,
18732The bent of nature; which he thus expressed.
18733True opener of mine eyes, prime angel blest;
18734Much better seems this vision, and more hope
18735Of peaceful days portends, than those two past;
18736Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse;
18737Here Nature seems fulfilled in all her ends.
18738To whom thus Michael. Judge not what is best
18739By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet;
18740Created, as thou art, to nobler end
18741Holy and pure, conformity divine.
18742Those tents thou sawest so pleasant, were the tents
18743Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race
18744Who slew his brother; studious they appear
18745Of arts that polish life, inventers rare;
18746Unmindful of their Maker, though his Spirit
18747Taught them; but they his gifts acknowledged none.
18748Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget;
18749For that fair female troop thou sawest, that seemed
18750Of Goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay,
18751Yet empty of all good wherein consists
18752Woman's domestic honor and chief praise;
18753Bred only and completed to the taste
18754Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance,
18755To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye:
18756To these that sober race of men, whose lives
18757Religious titled them the sons of God,
18758Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame
18759Ignobly, to the trains and to the smiles
18760Of these fair atheists; and now swim in joy,
18761Erelong to swim at large; and laugh, for which
18762The world erelong a world of tears must weep.
18763To whom thus Adam, of short joy bereft.
18764Oh pity and shame, that they, who to live well
18765Entered so fair, should turn aside to tread
18766Paths indirect, or in the mid way faint.
18767But still I see the tenor of Man's woe
18768Holds on the same, from Woman to begin.
18769From Man's effeminate slackness it begins,
18770Said the angel, who should better hold his place
18771By wisdom, and superior gifts received.
18772But now prepare thee for another scene.
18773He looked, and saw wide territory spread
18774Before him, towns, and rural works between;
18775Cities of men with lofty gates and towers,
18776Concourse in arms, fierce faces threatening war,
18777Giants of mighty bone and bold emprise;
18778Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed,
18779Single or in array of battle ranged
18780Both horse and foot, nor idly mustering stood;
18781One way a band select from forage drives
18782A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine,
18783From a fat meadow ground; or fleecy flock,
18784Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain,
18785Their booty; scarce with life the shepherds fly,
18786But call in aid, which makes a bloody fray;
18787With cruel tournament the squadrons join;
18788Where cattle pastured late, now scattered lies
18789With carcasses and arms the ensanguined field,
18790Deserted: Others to a city strong
18791Lay siege, encamped; by battery, scale, and mine,
18792Assaulting; others from the wall defend
18793With dart and javelin, stones, and sulfurous fire;
18794On each hand slaughter, and gigantic deeds.
18795In other part the sceptered heralds call
18796To council, in the city-gates; anon
18797Gray-headed men and grave, with warriors mixed,
18798Assemble, and harangues are heard; but soon,
18799In factious opposition; till at last,
18800Of middle age one rising, eminent
18801In wise deport, spake much of right and wrong,
18802Of justice, or religion, truth, and peace,
18803And judgment from above: him old and young
18804Exploded, and had seized with violent hands,
18805Had not a cloud descending snatched him thence
18806Unseen amid the throng: so violence
18807Proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law,
18808Through all the plain, and refuge none was found.
18809Adam was all in tears, and to his guide
18810Lamenting turned full sad; Oh what are these,
18811Death's ministers, not men? who thus deal death
18812Inhumanly to men, and multiply
18813Ten thousandfold the sin of him who slew
18814His brother: for of whom such massacre
18815Make they, but of their brethren; men of men
18816But who was that just man, whom had not Heaven
18817Rescued, had in his righteousness been lost?
18818To whom thus Michael. These are the product
18819Of those ill-mated marriages thou sawest;
18820Where good with bad were matched, who of themselves
18821Abhor to join; and, by imprudence mixed,
18822Produce prodigious births of body or mind.
18823Such were these giants, men of high renown;
18824For in those days might only shall be admired,
18825And velour and heroic virtue called;
18826To overcome in battle, and subdue
18827Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite
18828Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch
18829Of human glory; and for glory done
18830Of triumph, to be styled great conquerors
18831Patrons of mankind, Gods, and sons of Gods;
18832Destroyers rightlier called, and plagues of men.
18833Thus fame shall be achieved, renown on earth;
18834And what most merits fame, in silence hid.
18835But he, the seventh from thee, whom thou beheldst
18836The only righteous in a world perverse,
18837And therefore hated, therefore so beset
18838With foes, for daring single to be just,
18839And utter odious truth, that God would come
18840To judge them with his Saints; him the Most High
18841Rapt in a balmy cloud with winged steeds
18842Did, as thou sawest, receive, to walk with God
18843High in salvation and the climes of bliss,
18844Exempt from death; to show thee what reward
18845Awaits the good; the rest what punishment;
18846Which now direct thine eyes and soon behold.
18847He looked, and saw the face of things quite changed;
18848The brazen throat of war had ceased to roar;
18849All now was turned to jollity and game,
18850To luxury and riot, feast and dance;
18851Marrying or prostituting, as befell,
18852Rape or adultery, where passing fair
18853Allured them; thence from cups to civil broils.
18854At length a reverend sire among them came,
18855And of their doings great dislike declared,
18856And testified against their ways; he oft
18857Frequented their assemblies, whereso met,
18858Triumphs or festivals; and to them preached
18859Conversion and repentance, as to souls
18860In prison, under judgments imminent:
18861But all in vain: which when he saw, he ceased
18862Contending, and removed his tents far off;
18863Then, from the mountain hewing timber tall,
18864Began to build a vessel of huge bulk;
18865Measured by cubit, length, and breadth, and heighth;
18866Smeared round with pitch; and in the side a door
18867Contrived; and of provisions laid in large,
18868For man and beast: when lo, a wonder strange!
18869Of every beast, and bird, and insect small,
18870Came sevens, and pairs; and entered in as taught
18871Their order: last the sire and his three sons,
18872With their four wives; and God made fast the door.
18873Mean while the south-wind rose, and, with black wings
18874Wide-hovering, all the clouds together drove
18875From under Heaven; the hills to their supply
18876Vapor, and exhalation dusk and moist,
18877Sent up amain; and now the thickened sky
18878Like a dark ceiling stood; down rushed the rain
18879Impetuous; and continued, till the earth
18880No more was seen: the floating vessel swum
18881Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow
18882Rode tilting o'er the waves; all dwellings else
18883Flood overwhelmed, and them with all their pomp
18884Deep under water rolled; sea covered sea,
18885Sea without shore; and in their palaces,
18886Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped
18887And stabled; of mankind, so numerous late,
18888All left, in one small bottom swum imbarked.
18889How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold
18890The end of all thy offspring, end so sad,
18891Depopulation! Thee another flood,
18892Of tears and sorrow a flood, thee also drowned,
18893And sunk thee as thy sons; till, gently reared
18894By the angel, on thy feet thou stoodest at last,
18895Though comfortless; as when a father mourns
18896His children, all in view destroyed at once;
18897And scarce to the angel utteredst thus thy plaint.
18898Oh visions ill foreseen! Better had I
18899Lived ignorant of future, so had borne
18900My part of evil only, each day's lot
18901Enough to bear; those now, that were dispensed
18902The burden of many ages, on me light
18903At once, by my foreknowledge gaining birth
18904Abortive, to torment me ere their being,
18905With thought that they must be. Let no man seek
18906Henceforth to be foretold, what shall befall
18907Him or his children; evil he may be sure,
18908Which neither his foreknowing can prevent;
18909And he the future evil shall no less
18910In apprehension than in substance feel,
18911Grievous to bear: but that care now is past,
18912man is not whom to warn: those few escaped
18913Famine and anguish will at last consume,
18914Wandering that watery desert: I had hope,
18915When violence was ceased, and war on earth,
18916All would have then gone well; peace would have crowned
18917With length of happy days the race of Man;
18918But I was far deceived; for now I see
18919Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.
18920How comes it thus? unfold, celestial Guide,
18921And whether here the race of man will end.
18922To whom thus Michael. Those, whom last thou sawest
18923In triumph and luxurious wealth, are they
18924First seen in acts of prowess eminent
18925And great exploits, but of true virtue void;
18926Who, having spilt much blood, and done much wast
18927Subduing nations, and achieved thereby
18928Fame in the world, high titles, and rich prey;
18929Shall change their course to pleasure, ease, and sloth,
18930Surfeit, and lust; till wantonness and pride
18931Raise out of friendship hostile deeds in peace.
18932The conquered also, and enslaved by war,
18933Shall, with their freedom lost, all virtue lose
18934And fear of God; from whom their piety feigned
18935In sharp contest of battle found no aid
18936Against invaders; therefore, cooled in zeal,
18937Thenceforth shall practice how to live secure,
18938Worldly or dissolute, on what their lords
18939Shall leave them to enjoy; for the earth shall bear
18940More than enough, that temperance may be tried:
18941So all shall turn degenerate, all depraved;
18942Justice and temperance, truth and faith, forgot;
18943One man except, the only son of light
18944In a dark age, against example good,
18945Against allurement, custom, and a world
18946Offended: fearless of reproach and scorn,
18947The grand-child, with twelve sons increased, departs
18948From Canaan, to a land hereafter called
18949Egypt, divided by the river Nile;
18950See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths
18951Into the sea: To sojourn in that land
18952He comes, invited by a younger son
18953In time of dearth; a son, whose worthy deeds
18954Raise him to be the second in that realm
18955Of Pharaoh: There he dies, and leaves his race
18956Growing into a nation, and now grown
18957Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
18958To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
18959Or violence, he of their wicked ways
18960Shall them admonish; and before them set
18961The paths of righteousness, how much more safe
18962And full of peace; denouncing wrath to come
18963On their impenitence; and shall return
18964Of them derided, but of God observed
18965The one just man alive; by his command
18966Shall build a wondrous ark, as thou beheldst,
18967To save himself, and household, from amidst
18968A world devote to universal wrack.
18969No sooner he, with them of man and beast
18970Select for life, shall in the ark be lodged,
18971And sheltered round; but all the cataracts
18972Of Heaven set open on the Earth shall pour
18973Rain, day and night; all fountains of the deep,
18974Broke up, shall heave the ocean to usurp
18975Beyond all bounds; till inundation rise
18976Above the highest hills: Then shall this mount
18977Of Paradise by might of waves be moved
18978Out of his place, pushed by the horned flood,
18979With all his verdure spoiled, and trees adrift,
18980Down the great river to the opening gulf,
18981And there take root an island salt and bare,
18982The haunt of seals, and orcs, and sea-mews' clang:
18983To teach thee that God attributes to place
18984No sanctity, if none be thither brought
18985By men who there frequent, or therein dwell.
18986And now, what further shall ensue, behold.
18987He looked, and saw the ark hull on the flood,
18988Which now abated; for the clouds were fled,
18989Driven by a keen north-wind, that, blowing dry,
18990Wrinkled the face of deluge, as decayed;
18991And the clear sun on his wide watery glass
18992Gazed hot, and of the fresh wave largely drew,
18993As after thirst; which made their flowing shrink
18994From standing lake to tripping ebb, that stole
18995With soft foot towards the deep; who now had stopped
18996His sluices, as the Heaven his windows shut.
18997The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground,
18998Fast on the top of some high mountain fixed.
18999And now the tops of hills, as rocks, appear;
19000With clamor thence the rapid currents drive,
19001Towards the retreating sea, their furious tide.
19002Forthwith from out the ark a raven flies,
19003And after him, the surer messenger,
19004A dove sent forth once and again to spy
19005Green tree or ground, whereon his foot may light:
19006The second time returning, in his bill
19007An olive-leaf he brings, pacific sign:
19008Anon dry ground appears, and from his ark
19009The ancient sire descends, with all his train;
19010Then with uplifted hands, and eyes devout,
19011Grateful to Heaven, over his head beholds
19012A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow
19013Conspicuous with three lifted colors gay,
19014Betokening peace from God, and covenant new.
19015Whereat the heart of Adam, erst so sad,
19016Greatly rejoiced; and thus his joy broke forth.
19017Oh thou, who future things canst represent
19018As present, heavenly Instructor, I revive
19019At this last sight; assured that man shall live,
19020With all the creatures, and their seed preserve.
19021Far less I now lament for one whole world
19022Of wicked sons destroyed, than I rejoice
19023For one man found so perfect, and so just,
19024That God vouchsafes to raise another world
19025From him, and all his anger to forget.
19026But say, what mean those colored streaks in Heaven
19027Distended, as the brow of God appeased?
19028Or serve they, as a flowery verge, to bind
19029The fluid skirts of that same watery cloud,
19030Lest it again dissolve, and shower the earth?
19031To whom the archangel. Dexterously thou aimest;
19032So willingly doth God remit his ire,
19033Though late repenting him of man depraved;
19034Grieved at his heart, when looking down he saw
19035The whole earth filled with violence, and all flesh
19036Corrupting each their way; yet, those removed,
19037Such grace shall one just man find in his sight,
19038That he relents, not to blot out mankind;
19039And makes a covenant never to destroy
19040The earth again by flood; nor let the sea
19041Surpass his bounds; nor rain to drown the world,
19042With man therein or beast; but, when he brings
19043Over the earth a cloud, will therein set
19044His triple-colored bow, whereon to look,
19045And call to mind his covenant: Day and night,
19046Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary frost,
19047Shall hold their course; till fire purge all things new,
19048Both Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell.
19049
19050~ BOOK XII ~
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19093BOOK XII
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19193BOOK XII
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19373BOOK XII
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19473BOOK XII
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19693BOOK XII
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19696.  Back to Top
19697
19698
19699 ~ BOOK XII ~
19700
19701As one who in his journey bates at noon,
19702Though bent on speed; so here the archangel paused
19703Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored,
19704If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;
19705Then, with transition sweet, new speech resumes.
19706Thus thou hast seen one world begin, and end;
19707And Man, as from a second stock, proceed.
19708Much thou hast yet to see; but I perceive
19709Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine
19710Must needs impair and weary human sense:
19711Henceforth what is to come I will relate;
19712Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.
19713This second source of Men, while yet but few,
19714And while the dread of judgment past remains
19715Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,
19716With some regard to what is just and right
19717Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace;
19718Laboring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,
19719Corn, wine, and oil; and, from the herd or flock,
19720Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,
19721With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred feast,
19722Shall spend their days in joy unblamed; and dwell
19723Long time in peace, by families and tribes,
19724Under paternal rule: till one shall rise
19725Of proud ambitious heart; who, not content
19726With fair equality, fraternal state,
19727Will arrogate dominion undeserved
19728Over his brethren, and quite dispossess
19729Concord and law of nature from the earth;
19730Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)
19731With war, and hostile snare, such as refuse
19732Subjection to his empire tyrannous:
19733A mighty hunter thence he shall be styled
19734Before the Lord; as in despite of Heaven,
19735Or from Heaven, claiming second sovereignty;
19736And from rebellion shall derive his name,
19737Though of rebellion others he accuse.
19738He with a crew, whom like ambition joins
19739With him or under him to tyrannize,
19740Marching from Eden towards the west, shall find
19741The plain, wherein a black bituminous gorge
19742Boils out from underground, the mouth of Hell:
19743Of brick, and of that stuff, they cast to build
19744A city and tower, whose top may reach to Heaven;
19745And get themselves a name; lest, far dispersed
19746In foreign lands, their memory be lost;
19747Regardless whether good or evil fame.
19748But God, who oft descends to visit men
19749Unseen, and through their habitations walks
19750To mark their doings, them beholding soon,
19751Comes down to see their city, ere the tower
19752Obstruct Heaven-towers, and in derision sets
19753Upon their tongues a various spirit, to ‘rase
19754Quite out their native language; and, instead,
19755To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:
19756Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud,
19757Among the builders; each to other calls
19758Not understood; till hoarse, and all in rage,
19759As mocked they storm: great laughter was in Heaven,
19760And looking down, to see the hubbub strange,
19761And hear the din: Thus was the building left
19762Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named.
19763Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased.
19764Oh execrable son, so to aspire
19765Above his brethren; to himself assuming
19766Authority usurped, from God not given:
19767He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
19768Dominion absolute; that right we hold
19769By his donation; but man over men
19770He made not lord; such title to himself
19771Reserving, human left from human free.
19772But this usurper his encroachment proud
19773Stays not on Man; to God his tower intends
19774Siege and defiance: Wretched man! what food
19775Will he convey up thither, to sustain
19776Himself and his rash army; where thin air
19777Above the clouds will pine his entrails gross,
19778And famish him of breath, if not of bread?
19779To whom thus Michael. Justly thou abhorest
19780That son, who on the quiet state of men
19781Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue
19782Rational liberty; yet know withal,
19783Since thy original lapse, true liberty
19784Is lost, which always with right reason dwells
19785Twinned, and from her hath no dividual being:
19786Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,
19787Immediately inordinate desires,
19788And upstart passions, catch the government
19789From reason; and to servitude reduce
19790Man, till then free. Therefore, since he permits
19791Within himself unworthy powers to reign
19792Over free reason, God, in judgment just,
19793Subjects him from without to violent lords;
19794Who oft as undeservedly enthrall
19795His outward freedom: Tyranny must be;
19796Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.
19797Yet sometimes nations will decline so low
19798From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,
19799But justice, and some fatal curse annexed,
19800Deprives them of their outward liberty;
19801Their inward lost: Witness the irreverent son
19802Of him who built the ark; who, for the shame
19803Done to his father, heard this heavy curse,
19804Servant of servants, on his vicious race.
19805Thus will this latter, as the former world,
19806Still tend from bad to worse; till God at last,
19807Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
19808His presence from among them, and avert
19809His holy eyes; resolving from thenceforth
19810To leave them to their own polluted ways;
19811And one peculiar nation to select
19812From all the rest, of whom to be invoked,
19813A nation from one faithful man to spring:
19814Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,
19815Bred up in idol-worship: Oh, that men
19816(Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,
19817While yet the patriarch lived, who 'scaped the flood,
19818As to forsake the living God, and fall
19819To worship their own work in wood and stone
19820For Gods! Yet him God the Most High vouchsafes
19821To call by vision, from his father's house,
19822His kindred, and false Gods, into a land
19823Which he will show him; and from him will raise
19824A mighty nation; and upon him shower
19825His benediction so, that in his seed
19826All nations shall be blest: he straight obeys;
19827Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes:
19828I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith
19829He leaves his Gods, his friends, and native soil,
19830Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the ford
19831To Haran; after him a cumbrous train
19832Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude;
19833Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth
19834With God, who called him, in a land unknown.
19835Canaan he now attains; I see his tents
19836Pitched about Sechem, and the neighboring plain
19837Of Moreh; there by promise he receives
19838Gift to his progeny of all that land,
19839From Hameth northward to the Desert south;
19840(Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed;)
19841From Hermon east to the great western Sea;
19842Mount Hermon, yonder sea; each place behold
19843In prospect, as I point them; on the shore
19844Mount Carmel; here, the double-founted stream,
19845Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons
19846Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.
19847This ponder, that all nations of the earth
19848Shall in his seed be blessed: By that seed
19849Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise
19850The Serpent's head; whereof to thee anon
19851Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch blest,
19852Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call,
19853A son, and of his son a grand-child, leaves;
19854Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown:
19855The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs
19856From Canaan to a land hereafter called
19857Egypt, divided by the river Nile
19858See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths
19859Into the sea. To sojourn in that land
19860He comes, invited by a younger son
19861In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds
19862Raise him to be the second in that realm
19863Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his race
19864Growing into a nation, and now grown
19865Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
19866To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
19867Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves
19868Inhospitably, and kills their infant males:
19869Till by two brethren (these two brethren call
19870Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim
19871His people from enthrallment, they return,
19872With glory and spoil, back to their promised land.
19873But first, the lawless tyrant, who denies
19874To know their God, or message to regard,
19875Must be compelled by signs and judgments dire;
19876To blood unshed the rivers must be turned;
19877Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill
19878With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land;
19879His cattle must of rot and murren die;
19880Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss,
19881And all his people; thunder mixed with hail,
19882Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptians sky,
19883And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls;
19884What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,
19885A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down
19886Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green;
19887Darkness must overshadow all his bounds,
19888Palpable darkness, and blot out three days;
19889Last, with one midnight stroke, all the first-born
19890Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds
19891The river-dragon tamed at length submits
19892To let his sojourners depart, and oft
19893Humbles his stubborn heart; but still, as ice
19894More hardened after thaw; till, in his rage
19895Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea
19896Swallows him with his host; but them lets pass,
19897As on dry land, between two crystal walls;
19898Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand
19899Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:
19900Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend,
19901Though present in his angel; who shall go
19902Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire;
19903By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire;
19904To guide them in their journey, and remove
19905Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues:
19906All night he will pursue; but his approach
19907Darkness defends between till morning watch;
19908Then through the fiery pillar, and the cloud,
19909God looking forth will trouble all his host,
19910And craze their chariot-wheels: when by command
19911Moses once more his potent rod extends
19912Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys;
19913On their embattled ranks the waves return,
19914And overwhelm their war: The race elect
19915Safe toward Canaan from the shore advance
19916Through the wild Desert, not the readiest way;
19917Lest, entering on the Canaanite alarmed,
19918War terrify them inexpert, and fear
19919Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather
19920Inglorious life with servitude; for life
19921To noble and ignoble is more sweet
19922Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.
19923This also shall they gain by their delay
19924In the wide wilderness; there they shall found
19925Their government, and their great senate choose
19926Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordained:
19927God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top
19928Shall tremble, he descending, will himself
19929In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets' sound,
19930Ordain them laws; part, such as appertain
19931To civil justice; part, religious rites
19932Of sacrifice; informing them, by types
19933And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise
19934The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve
19935Mankind's deliverance. But the voice of God
19936To mortal ear is dreadful: They beseech
19937That Moses might report to them his will,
19938And terror cease; he grants what they besought,
19939Instructed that to God is no access
19940Without Mediator, whose high office now
19941Moses in figure bears; to introduce
19942One greater, of whose day he shall foretell,
19943And all the Prophets in their age the times
19944Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus, laws and rites
19945Established, such delight hath God in Men
19946Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes
19947Among them to set up his tabernacle;
19948The Holy One with mortal Men to dwell:
19949By his prescript a sanctuary is framed
19950Of cedar, overlaid with gold; therein
19951An ark, and in the ark his testimony,
19952The records of his covenant; over these
19953A mercy-seat of gold, between the wings
19954Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn
19955Seven lamps as in a zodiac representing
19956The heavenly fires; over the tent a cloud
19957Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night;
19958Save when they journey, and at length they come,
19959Conducted by his angel, to the land
19960Promised to Abraham and his seed: The rest
19961Were long to tell; how many battles fought
19962How many kings destroyed; and kingdoms won;
19963Or how the sun shall in mid Heaven stand still
19964A day entire, and night's due course adjourn,
19965Man's voice commanding, 'Sun, in Gibeon stand,
19966'And thou moon in the vale of Aialon,
19967'Till Israel overcome, so call the third
19968From Abraham, son of Isaac; and from him
19969His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.
19970Here Adam interposed. Oh sent from Heaven,
19971Enlightener of my darkness, gracious things
19972Thou hast revealed; those chiefly, which concern
19973Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find
19974Mine eyes true-opening, and my heart much eased;
19975Erewhile perplexed with thoughts, what would become
19976Of me and all mankind: But now I see
19977His day, in whom all nations shall be blest;
19978Favor unmerited by me, who sought
19979Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
19980This yet I apprehend not, why to those
19981Among whom God will deign to dwell on earth
19982So many and so various laws are given;
19983So many laws argue so many sins
19984Among them; how can God with such reside?
19985To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but that sin
19986Will reign among them, as of thee begot;
19987And therefore was law given them, to evince
19988Their natural pravity, by stirring up
19989Sin against law to fight: that when they see
19990Law can discover sin, but not remove,
19991Save by those shadowy expiations weak,
19992The blood of bulls and goats, they may conclude
19993Some blood more precious must be paid for Man;
19994Just for unjust; that, in such righteousness
19995To them by faith imputed, they may find
19996Justification towards God, and peace
19997Of conscience; which the law by ceremonies
19998Cannot appease; nor man the mortal part
19999Perform; and, not performing, cannot live.
20000So law appears imperfect; and but given
20001With purpose to resign them, in full time,
20002Up to a better covenant; disciplined
20003From shadowy types to truth; from flesh to spirit;
20004From imposition of strict laws to free
20005Acceptance of large grace; from servile fear
20006To filial; works of law to works of faith.
20007And therefore shall not Moses, though of God
20008Highly beloved, being but the minister
20009Of law, his people into Canaan lead;
20010But Joshua, whom the Gentiles Jesus call,
20011His name and office bearing, who shall quell
20012The adversary-Serpent, and bring back
20013Through the world's wilderness long-wandered man
20014Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.
20015Mean while they, in their earthly Canaan placed,
20016Long time shall dwell and prosper, but when sins
20017National interrupt their public peace,
20018Provoking God to raise them enemies;
20019From whom as oft he saves them penitent
20020By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom
20021The second, both for piety renowned
20022And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive
20023Irrevocable, that his regal throne
20024For ever shall endure; the like shall sing
20025All Prophecy, that of the royal stock
20026Of David (so I name this king) shall rise
20027A Son, the Woman's seed to thee foretold,
20028Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust
20029All nations; and to kings foretold, of kings
20030The last; for of his reign shall be no end.
20031But first, a long succession must ensue;
20032And his next son, for wealth and wisdom famed,
20033The clouded ark of God, till then in tents
20034Wandering, shall in a glorious temple enshrine.
20035Such follow him, as shall be registered
20036Part good, part bad; of bad the longer scroll;
20037Whose foul idolatries, and other faults
20038Heaped to the popular sum, will so incense
20039God, as to leave them, and expose their land,
20040Their city, his temple, and his holy ark,
20041With all his sacred things, a scorn and prey
20042To that proud city, whose high walls thou sawest
20043Left in confusion; Babylon thence called.
20044There in captivity he lets them dwell
20045The space of seventy years; then brings them back,
20046Remembering mercy, and his covenant sworn
20047To David, stablished as the days of Heaven.
20048Returned from Babylon by leave of kings
20049Their lords, whom God disposed, the house of God
20050They first re-edify; and for a while
20051In mean estate live moderate; till, grown
20052In wealth and multitude, factious they grow;
20053But first among the priests dissention springs,
20054Men who attend the altar, and should most
20055Endeavor peace: their strife pollution brings
20056Upon the temple itself: at last they seize
20057The scepter, and regard not David's sons;
20058Then lose it to a stranger, that the true
20059Anointed King Messiah might be born
20060Barred of his right; yet at his birth a star,
20061Unseen before in Heaven, proclaims him come;
20062And guides the eastern sages, who inquire
20063His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold:
20064His place of birth a solemn angel tells
20065To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;
20066They gladly thither haste, and by a quire
20067Of squadroned angels hear his carol sung.
20068A virgin is his mother, but his sire
20069The power of the Most High: He shall ascend
20070The throne hereditary, and bound his reign
20071With Earth's wide bounds, his glory with the Heavens.
20072He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy
20073Surcharged, as had like grief been dewed in tears,
20074Without the vent of words; which these he breathed.
20075Oh prophet of glad tidings, finisher
20076Of utmost hope, now clear I understand
20077What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain;
20078Why our great Expectation should be called
20079The seed of Woman: Virgin Mother, hail,
20080High in the love of Heaven; yet from my loins
20081Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the Son
20082Of God Most High: so God with man unites!
20083Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise
20084Expect with mortal pain: Say where and when
20085Their fight, what stroke shall bruise the victor's heel.
20086To whom thus Michael. Dream not of their fight,
20087As of a duel, or the local wounds
20088Of head or heel: Not therefore joins the Son
20089Manhood to Godhead, with more strength to foil
20090Thy enemy; nor so is overcome
20091Satan, whose fall from Heaven, a deadlier bruise,
20092Disabled, not to give thee thy death's wound:
20093Which he, who comes thy Savior, shall recur,
20094Not by destroying Satan, but his works
20095In thee, and in thy seed: Nor can this be,
20096But by fulfilling that which thou didst want,
20097Obedience to the law of God, imposed
20098On penalty of death, and suffering death;
20099The penalty to thy transgression due,
20100And due to theirs which out of thine will grow:
20101So only can high Justice rest appaid.
20102The law of God exact he shall fulfill
20103Both by obedience and by love, though love
20104Alone fulfill the law; thy punishment
20105He shall endure, by coming in the flesh
20106To a reproachful life, and cursed death;
20107Proclaiming life to all who shall believe
20108In his redemption; and that his obedience,
20109Imputed, becomes theirs by faith; his merits
20110To save them, not their own, though legal, works.
20111For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,
20112Seized on by force, judged, and to death condemned
20113A shameful and accursed, nailed to the cross
20114By his own nation; slain for bringing life:
20115But to the cross he nails thy enemies,
20116The law that is against thee, and the sins
20117Of all mankind, with him there crucified,
20118Never to hurt them more who rightly trust
20119In this his satisfaction; so he dies,
20120But soon revives; Death over him no power
20121Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light
20122Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise
20123Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light,
20124Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems,
20125His death for Man, as many as offered life
20126Neglect not, and the benefit embrace
20127By faith not void of works: This God-like act
20128Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldest have died,
20129In sin for ever lost from life; this act
20130Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength,
20131Defeating Sin and Death, his two main arms;
20132And fix far deeper in his head their stings
20133Than temporal death shall bruise the victor's heel,
20134Or theirs whom he redeems; a death, like sleep,
20135A gentle wafting to immortal life.
20136Nor after resurrection shall he stay
20137Longer on earth, than certain times to appear
20138To his disciples, men who in his life
20139Still followed him; to them shall leave in charge
20140To teach all nations what of him they learned
20141And his salvation; them who shall believe
20142Baptizing in the profluent stream, the sign
20143Of washing them from guilt of sin to life
20144Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall,
20145For death, like that which the Redeemer died.
20146All nations they shall teach; for, from that day,
20147Not only to the sons of Abraham's loins
20148Salvation shall be preached, but to the sons
20149Of Abraham's faith wherever through the world;
20150So in his seed all nations shall be blest.
20151Then to the Heaven of Heavens he shall ascend
20152With victory, triumphing through the air
20153Over his foes and thine; there shall surprise
20154The Serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains
20155Through all his realm, and there confounded leave;
20156Then enter into glory, and resume
20157His seat at God's right hand, exalted high
20158Above all names in Heaven; and thence shall come,
20159When this world's dissolution shall be ripe,
20160With glory and power to judge both quick and dead;
20161To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward
20162His faithful, and receive them into bliss,
20163Whether in Heaven or Earth; for then the Earth
20164Shall all be Paradise, far happier place
20165Than this of Eden, and far happier days.
20166So spake the archangel Michael; then paused,
20167As at the world's great period; and our sire,
20168Replete with joy and wonder, thus replied.
20169Oh goodness infinite, goodness immense!
20170That all this good of evil shall produce,
20171And evil turn to good; more wonderful
20172Than that which by creation first brought forth
20173Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,
20174Whether I should repent me now of sin
20175By me done, and occasioned; or rejoice
20176Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring;
20177To God more glory, more good-will to men
20178From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.
20179But say, if our Deliverer up to Heaven
20180Must re-ascend, what will betide the few
20181His faithful, left among the unfaithful herd,
20182The enemies of truth? Who then shall guide
20183His people, who defend? Will they not deal
20184Worse with his followers than with him they dealt?
20185Be sure they will, said the angel; but from Heaven
20186He to his own a comforter will send,
20187The promise of the Father, who shall dwell
20188His Spirit within them; and the law of faith,
20189Working through love, upon their hearts shall write,
20190To guide them in all truth; and also arm
20191With