The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems
Author: Burton Raffel
Date: 2000-01-01 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Poetry; Literary Collections; Fiction; General; Welsh; Classics; english; Irish; English poetry; Scottish; Literary; Short Stories (Single Author); English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh
Description: Affordable, compact, and authoritative, this one-volume edition of The Annotated Milton encompasses the monumental sweep of John Milton’s poetry. Here are Milton’ s early works, including his first great poem, “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” the light and lyrical “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” the masque Comus, and the lushly beautiful pastoral elegy “Lycidas.” Here, too, included in their entirety, are the three epic poems considered to be among the finest works in the English language: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and *Samson Agonistes. - Fully annotated by Burton Raffel, this d
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

CONTENTS

Title Page

Chronology

Preface

Introduction

A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM 114

PSALM 136

ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT

AT A VACATION EXERCISE

ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST’S NATIVITY

THE PASSION

SONG: ON MAY MORNING

ENGLISH SONNETS

No. 1 O nightingale

No. 7 How soon hath time

No. 8 Captain or colonel

No. 9 Lady, that in the prime

No. 10 Daughter to that good earl

No. 11 I did but prompt the age

No. 12 A book was writ, of late

No. 13 Harry, whose tuneful

No. 14 When faith and love

No. 15 Fairfax, whose name in arms

No. 16 Cromwell, our chief of men

No. 17 Vane, young in years

No. 18 Avenge, O Lord

No. 19 When I consider

No. 20 Lawrence, of virtuous father

No. 21 Cyriack! Whose grandsire

No. 22 Cyriack, this three years day

No. 23 Methought I saw

ON SHAKESPEARE

ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER

ANOTHER ON THE SAME

AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER

L’ALLEGRO

IL PENSEROSO

ARCADES

COMUS: A MASQUE

ON TIME

UPON THE CIRCUMCISION

AT A SOLEMN MUSIC

LYCIDAS

THE FIFTH ODE OF HORACE, BOOK ONE

ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE

PSALMS 1–8:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

PARADISE LOST

Book I

Book II

Book III

Book IV

Book V

Book VI

Book VII

Book VIII

Book IX

Book X

Book XI

Book XII

PARADISE REGAINED

Book I

Book II

Book III

Book IV

SAMSON AGONISTES

Suggestions for Further Reading

Ask your Bookseller for these Bantam Classics

About the Author

Copyright

CHRONOLOGY

1608

Milton born, 9 December, in London

1618?–20?

tutored by Thomas Young

1615?

1620?–25

St. Paul’s School

1625

begins at Cambridge University, enrolled in Christ’s College

1629

March, B.A. degree

1632

March, M.A. degree

1632–38

residence at his father’s house

1634

September, Comus performed at Ludlow

1637

3 April, death of Milton’s mother

1638–39

European tour: France, Italy, Switzerland

1640

schoolteacher, in London

1641

Of Reformation in England

Of Prelatical Episcopacy

Animadversions upon the Remonstrant’s Defense

1642

May/June, married Mary Powell

The Reason of Church Government

An Apology for Smectymnuus

October, Civil War begins

1643

The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce

April, Milton’s father comes to live with him

1644

Of Education

The Judgment of Martin Bucer Concerning Divorce

Areopagitica

Milton’s sight begins to fail

1645

Tetrachordon

Colasterion

1646

Poems

29 July, daughter Anne born

1647

March, death of Milton’s father

1648

25 October, daughter Mary born

1649

30 January, Charles I executed

The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates

March, appointed Secretary for Foreign Tongues, Council of State

1650

left eye fails

1651

Defensio pro Populo Anglicano

16 March, son John born

1652

February/March, complete blindness

2 May, daughter Deborah born

May, Mary Powell Milton’s death

16 June, death of son, John

1654

Defensio Secunda

1655

Pro Se Defensio

1656

November, married Katherine Woodcock

1657

19 October, daughter Katherine born

1658

February, death of Katherine Woodcock Milton

17 March, death of daughter Katherine

3 September, Oliver Cromwell’s death

1659

A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes

Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church

1660

The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth

May, Charles II restored to the throne

Milton arrested, released

1663

February, married Elizabeth Minshull

1665

resided at Chalfont St. Giles during plague

1667

February, ten-book edition of Paradise Lost

1669

Accidence Commenced Grammar

1670

History of Britain

1671

Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes

1672

Joannis Miltoni Angli, Artis Logicae Plenior Institutio

1673

Minor Poems (enlarged edition)
Of True Religion, Heresy, Schism, Toleration

1674

Paradise Lost, twelve-book edition

8 November, Milton’s death, in London

PREFACE

THE FIRST version of what would become this book was written into the pages of another editor’s deservedly famous edition of Milton. Principally lexical and syntactic commentary, these early annotations stemmed directly from an extremely common quandary, namely, a teacher fundamentally (though by no means completely) dissatisfied with the textbook from which, for lack of anything better suited to his classroom, he goes on teaching. That sort of dissatisfaction can be lived with; it can finally be put to the side; or it can lead, as mine has, to a completely new book.

I teach Milton as an English poet, one of the very greatest, most influential, important, and deeply challenging the language has ever known. Although I firmly believe, like most scholars, that the more we know about any writer the more we can understand and also appreciate the resonating excellences and profundities of his or her work, I also believe that some of the things we can know are more useful than are others. Milton’s English poetry seems to me so overwhelmingly primary to both appreciation and understanding of his place in English literature that his Latin poetry shrinks to tertiary significance, and his profusely vigorous prose to secondary significance. Accordingly, this edition of Milton contains none of the Latin (or the Italian) poems, either in the original language(s) or in translation. It contains none of Milton’s prose.

The text of the English poems, however, is not only complete, but has been conservatively modernized and edited for maximum accessibility. Nothing has been done to interfere in any way whatever with the prosody of these poems. The vexing problem of syllabified versus unsyllabified vowels has been preempted by (1) the use of spelling to indicate each prosodically suppressed vowel (usually by means of an apostrophe, sometimes by such spellings as “shouldst” or “didst”), and (2) the addition of an accent mark each time a vowel is syllabified (“wingèd,” “blessèd”). My prosodic markings are consistent throughout this book. When, therefore, a word such as “winged” is mono-rather than bisyllabic, I have added neither an apostrophe nor an accent mark; the reader can assume that any word without one of those marks does not in my judgment require one.

Rather too much has been made of Milton’s spelling, much of which is conventional and, though appropriate to his time, without significance in ours. His punctuation is in general (though not universally) a reliable guide to verse movement. I have punctuated, and capitalized, as conservatively as possible. But I have not hesitated to interpret Milton’s use of semicolons and colons as requiring, in our time, a sentence-ending period. Nor have I hesitated to add reader-friendly paragraphing.

I would have been happier had my annotations been able to be placed alongside the line they refer to. The economics of publishing makes this impossible. But since I do not believe that lexical annotations consisting only of a single word are truly satisfactory, I have often given three or four or even more words in each gloss. Placing all annotations at the bottom of the page does, therefore, have at least the advantage of clearly separating annotations one from the other.

Most of my lexical annotations are to words rather than to phrases, clauses, or sentences. As a teacher, I have found that students need to know what the components mean, just as much as they need to know the meaning of the finished product. Indeed, understanding syntax becomes a good deal easier when the components are clearly understood—and many of my annotations are syntactic as well as lexical. All syntactic material is placed in square brackets: [verb]. If, as is usually the case, annotations are both lexical and syntactic, the lexical portion always precedes the syntactic.

I have tried to annotate everything a student—any student, all students—might need to know. Not being able to predict on which page a student might first come upon material opaque to him or her, I have annotated repeatedly, tirelessly, and for some readers surely excessively. But I would much rather be safe than sorry.

Translations of the original (and it is striking how often Milton, though writing in a form of English, requires something very like translation) are always set in quotation marks. Renderings of anything more than a single word, however, are signaled first by a repetition of the words being annotated, and second by an equal sign placed immediately after that repetition:

evil store = an abundance of evil

those in servitude: servants

When the annotation is more commentary than rendering, the colon is replaced by an equal sign:

due time = in the time that, properly, it should take

When there are multiple meanings (and Milton is enormously fond of layered meaning, as also he is far fonder of wordplay, including puns, than his reputation would suggest) that are sufficiently distinct from one another, I have grouped them under numbered headings:

(1) perilous, rash, risky, (2) enterprising

Lexical glosses involving more than one word, but not involving semantic layering, simply employ commas: common, ordinary, uneducated

The slash is used to indicate that one of the words or phrases in a multiword annotative definition has distinct alternative possibilities:

having no material being/body

care for/prediction of the future

Note that the slash places in the alternative only the word immediately before it. Thus the first example above should be understood as “having no material being or body,” and the second as “care for or prediction of the future.” One additional example may make this clearer:

not maternal/the mother of

This should be understood, accordingly, as “not maternal, not the mother of.”

Referential (informational) annotations use both the colon and, somewhat differently, the equal sign:

a Titan, daughter of Gaia (earth) by Zeus: goddess of justice

Horeb = Sinai, in Exodus and Deuteronomy

Nimrod (“hunter”) : see Genesis 10:8–10

When I do not know with reasonable certainty what Milton is referring to or saying, I have said so, using a simple question mark:

not specified: the basic nature of the Godhead?

face (defiantly) ? await?

Although commentary, in the usual scholarly meaning, has been almost completely avoided in these annotations, it has sometimes been unavoidable. I have kept it as brief as possible, and have usually introduced it by the signal “i.e.”:

i.e., the act of building, not the structure being built

The pronunciation of Greek names and, on occasion, of certain other words, often requires elucidation, which I have kept as minimal as possible:

Calliope [4 syllables, 2nd and 4th accented]

Hecate [trisyllabic], ghost-world goddess

One early reader commented that users of this book might sometimes find themselves dizzy, forced constantly to look up and down the page, from text to footnotes and back, on and on and on. Depending on the opacity of Milton’s vocabulary, the turgidity of his syntax, and the frequency and insistence of his allusions, these pages necessarily vary enormously in their density of annotation. Lexically confident readers are advised to ignore as many of my annotations as they can. But it would be much appreciated if lexically well informed readers, and indeed anyone who finds any of the errors, omissions, and unclarities I have struggled to eliminate, would send me corrections.

INTRODUCTION

UNDERSTANDING AND appreciating John Milton—Milton, that is, as an English poet—depends less on a knowledge of Christian doctrine or the rise and then the decline and fall of Puritanism as a governing force in British life, less on a wide-ranging familiarity with classical poetry and medieval and Renaissance European scholarship (including but certainly not limited to alchemy, astronomy, and astrology), and less on an awareness of the intellectual currents of seventeenth-century Europe than on the ability to understand why poetry such as the following—not by Milton, but written nearly a hundred years before the publication of Paradise Lost—maintained a continuing and sometimes worshipful readership well into the twentieth century:

Lo I the man, whose Muse whilom did mask,

As time her taught, in lowly Shepherd’s weeds,

Am now enforced a far unfitter task,

For trumpets stern to change mine oaten reeds,

And sing of Knights’ and Ladies’ gentle deeds;

Whose praises having slept in silence long,

Me, all too mean, the sacred Muse areeds

[advises, teaches]

To blazon broad amongst her learnèd throng:

Fierce wars and faithful loves shall moralize my song.

Help then, O holy Virgin, chief of nine,

Thy weaker Novice to perform thy will,

Lay forth out of thine everlasting scryne [chest for books/documents]

The antique rolls which there lie hidden still,

Of Faery knights and fairest Tanaquil [wife of Tarquinius; here Queen Elizabeth]

Whom that most noble Briton Prince so long

Sought through the world, and suffered so much ill,

That I must rue his undeservèd wrong:

O help thou my weak wit, and sharpen my dull tongue.

The scholarly (but not necessarily merely literate) reader will immediately recognize these lines, and their author, and will know the massive and so long beloved English epic from which they come, Edmund Spenser’s The Fairie Queene. And any reader at all, after a quarter of an hour’s exposure to Paradise Lost in particular, will have at least some sense of the similarities of Milton’s work to that of Spenser. These include:

• insistently lofty, elevated diction, expressive of the urgent conviction that poet and reader are engaged not in some casual, friendly dialogue or in mere entertainment, but in an activity at once both serious and highly moral; note that in line 7 the Muse is called “sacred”

• constant, even fundamental reference to past persons and events, including regular allusions to past intellectual belief structures (and note, please, the use of the plural; we here meet classical Muses and shepherds along with medieval knights, Roman along with British history, pagan along with Christian religion, and so on)

• frequent reliance on archaically tinted vocabulary (I have here modernized spelling, but the attentive reader will not be fooled)

• markedly convoluted syntax, with sentences being stretched (and bent) over many lines

• what modern poets and readers might call a long breath line—rhythms that elongate and tend to roll like the waves of the sea, rather than (as in much modern poetry) poke and dart even as they loll

• reliance on more or less objectified conventions, which are the very farthest thing from “personal” to either the poet or his poem: e.g., the confession in line 3 not only of the poet’s incapacity for this task but of his general poetic ineptitude (he is here called to “a far unfitter task”—and see also “Me, all too mean,” in line 7, and the reference to his “weak wit” and “dull tongue” in the final line of the second stanza)

• a set of assumptions, apparently fixed and settled for all time, about trumpets being “stern” (line 4), knights and ladies “gentle” (line 5) and their prior praises plainly insufficient (line 6), poets and their readers being “learnèd” (line 8), what is old being always good (the “antique rolls” of line 13), royalty invariably “noble” if male and “fair” or even “fairest” if female (lines 14 and 15), and princely suffering being both romantic and unfair (lines 16 and 17)

And there is more. But this is the introduction to a book about John Milton, not Edmund Spenser, vastly influential on Milton as Spenser clearly was. All the same, to nail the point home, let me quickly carry the story of Spenser’s fame and influence into the nineteenth and, just barely, the twentieth century. William Wordsworth, at age thirty-one, was reported on Monday, the sixteenth of November, 1801, to be feeling “some what weakish,” but in compensation (and perhaps as a curative) “now at 7 o’clock reading Spenser” (Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, 59). Eight days later, “after tea William read Spenser[,] now and then a little aloud to us,” his wife and sister (62). And on Thursday, the first of July, 1802, said to be “a very rainy day,” we learn that “we had a nice walk, and afterwards sate by a nice snug fire and William read Spenser and I read ‘As you like it’”(144). Plainly, Spenser traveled and was seen to belong in some pretty special company. Indeed, the very first poem in The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats, identified therein as “the earliest known composition of Keats,” is an “Imitation of Spenser” (1). Spenser’s tracks are all over the Keats volume, from a “Spenserian Stanza, written at the close of book v. of THE FAERIE QUEENE” (8–9), a sonnet “To Spenser” (42), and three more “Spenserian Stanzas” aimed in 1819 at Charles Armitrage Brown, in response (in Keats’ own words) to “Brown this morning…writing some Spenserian stanzas against Mrs., Miss [Fanny] Brawne and me.”

And Spenser’s reach extends, as I have indicated, a good century further. In an 1858 letter to his sister, sent from Oxford, John Addington Symonds requests that he be sent his copy of Spenser (the request placed, in sequence, between Chaucer and “the large Milton” [The Letters of John Addington Symonds, I, 167]). In another letter home the next year, he asks, “Has a small Spenser in 6 diamond volumes, come for me from Jeffries in Redcliffe Street? I ordered it when I was last in Clifton” (I, 200). Nor did Symonds’ interest flag in later years. Almost thirty years along, he writes to Edmund Gosse, 16 May 1886, from Germany, expressing genuine concern about the possible misattribution of a sixteenth-century poem the style of which “seems to me suspiciously like that of Spenser” (III, 139). Writing in 1896 from his prison cell in Reading, Oscar Wilde requested “Spenser’s Poems,” among other books (The Letters of Oscar Wilde, 405 n). And, finally, in August 1912 Edward Dowden writes that “most of my reading hours were given to Spenser, and once again I went through the ‘Faerie Queene’ (though I can’t say, as Southey did, that I have read it once a year” [Letters of Edward Dowden, 381]).

Yet Milton not only participates in a long and strong tradition, connecting to it in more ways than I can here comment upon, but he has always been, and still remains, an immensely significant, powerful contributor to that tradition. He draws upon Shakespeare (he was born eight years before Shakespeare’s death), as has everyone else. But he also adds to Shakespeare, as most others neither have done nor could do.

He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend

Was moving toward the shore, his ponderous shield,

Ethereal[1]
temper,[2]
massy, large, and round,

Behind him cast. The broad circumference

Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan[3]
artist
[4]
views

At evening, from the top of Fesolé,

Or in Valdarno, to descry
[5]
new lands,

Rivers, or mountains in her spotty
[6]
globe.

His spear—to equal which the tallest pine

Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast

Of some great ammiral,[7]
were but a wand
[8]
—

He walked with, to support uneasy[9]
steps

Over the burning marl,[10]
not like those steps

On Heaven’s azure. And the torrid clime

Smote[11]
on him sore besides, vaulted
[12]
with fire.

PARADISE LOST, 1:284–98

The sweep and grandeur of this portrait of Satan, struggling to preserve his dignity (not to mention his power) even though newly fallen from the glories of heaven to the sulfurous and smoking fields of hell, is unmatchable in English verse. Virgil and even Homer, had they seen (or heard) Milton’s description of the “ponderous shield, / Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, / Behind him cast,” the “broad circumference” of which “Hung on his shoulders like the moon,” would have recognized and perhaps envied a colleague in and competitor for poetic glory. Milton’s uniquely majestic rhetoric, his commanding poetic “voice,” seem almost the effect of some marvelously benign Midas touch, turning even tawdriness into magnificent resonance.

It is not difficult, of course, to find this side of Milton, especially in Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes but also, in different and younger ways, in Lycidas and, fittingly, in his quite early “On Shakespeare,” probably written when he was only twenty-two. This is the Milton of whom Douglas Bush could declare, “Whoever the third of English poets may be [Shakespeare and Chaucer being overwhelming consensus choices for numbers I and 2], Milton’s place has been next to the throne” (English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century, 359). But whether writing about angels or demons, Milton’s touch can also be delicate and lyrically shimmering:

…how he fell

From Heaven they fabled,[13]
thrown by angry Jove

Sheer[14]
o’er the crystal battlements.[15]From morn

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,

A summer’s day, and with the setting sun

Dropt from the zenith,[16]
like a falling star….

PARADISE LOST, 1:740–45

His psychological insights, as well as his sense of inner drama, exceed those of every English poet or dramatist but Shakespeare. Here is Satan, newly arrived in view of the Garden of Eden:

…Horror and doubt distract

His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir

The Hell within him, for within him Hell

He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell

One step, no more than from himself, can fly

By change of place.

PARADISE LOST, 4:18–23

This patient, careful, almost tender delineation of devilish torment is a good deal more impressive even than that offered in Marlowe’s fine play Doctor Faustus: “How comes it, then,” asks Faustus of the devil, “that thou art out of hell?” And the devil replies, “Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it” (The Works of Christopher Marlowe, ed. Brooke, 155). Marlowe gives us high drama, as does Milton. But Milton gives us more.

And who can forget, once read, the achingly stupendous close to Lycidas, composed when Milton was twenty-nine:

Thus sang the uncouth[17]
swain to th’ oaks and rills,[18]

While the still morn went out with sandals gray.

He touched the tender stops of various quills,[19]

With eager thought warbling his Doric
[20]
lay.

And now the sun had stretched out
[21]
all the hills,

And now was dropped into the western bay.

At last he rose and twitched
[22]
his mantle blue:

Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.

LYCIDAS, 186–93

The very moment he heard (by e-mail) that this edition was in preparation, a friend of mine, many years away from any connection with schools or colleges, promptly wrote out from memory a remarkably accurate transcript of almost fifty lines of Lycidas. That is exactly the sort of response, and the sort of tribute, that this edition of Milton’s English poems is intended to elicit.

The principal function of the introduction to a book like this is to inform prospective readers of the editor’s goals and intentions and of the nature of the material offered in support of those goals and intentions in the pages that follow. Introductions to editions of Milton customarily explain the editor’s view of Milton’s theological concerns, usually discussing the poetry’s relationship to those concerns. Biographical information is often set out as well. (Biographical material is here offered, in capsule form, in the Chronology, which immediately follows the Contents listing above.) In this volume, however, much of the necessary theological and other informational material is spread throughout the book, being contained in the annotations (affixed to the poems for which such information is necessary), these comprising whatever value the book may possess. Those who employ this edition as a university textbook, which in all likelihood will be its chief use, will have an informed and communicative instructor to frame additionally needed contexts. And the brief list of suggested reading at the end of this volume offers, I trust, whatever further guidance may be required, at least in the initial stages of coming to know John Milton’s English poetry. Most of the items there cited, of course, contain references to still further critical and historical materials.

A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM 114

1624

When the blest seed of Terah’s faithful son[23]

After long toil their liberty had won,

And passed from Pharian
[24]

fields to Canaan land,

Led by the strength of the Almighty’s hand,

Jehovah’s wonders were in Israel shown,

His praise and glory was in Israel known.

That saw the troubled sea,[25]

and shivering fled,

And sought to hide his froth-becurlèd head

Low in the earth. Jordan’s clear streams recoil,

As a faint
[26]
host
[27]
that hath received the foil.[28]

The high, huge-bellied mountains skip like rams

Amongst their ewes, the little hills like lambs.

Why fled the oceans and why skipped the mountains?

Why turned Jordan toward his crystal fountains?

Shake earth, and at the presence be aghast

Of Him that ever was, and aye[29]
shall last,

That
[30]
glassy floods from ruggèd rocks can crush,

And make soft rills[31]
from fiery flint-stones gush.

PSALM 136

1624

Let us with a gladsome mind

Praise the Lord, for He is kind,

For His mercies aye endure,

Ever faithful, ever sure.

Let us blaze
[32]
His name abroad,
[33]

For of gods He is the God,

For His, etc.

O let us His praises tell,

Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell,
[34]

For His, etc.

That with His miracles doth make

Amazèd Heav’n and earth to shake,

For His, etc.

Who by His wisdom did create

The painted
[35]Heav’ns so full of state,
[36]

For His, etc.

Who did the solid earth ordain

To rise above the wat’ry plain,

For His, etc.

Who by His all-commanding might

Did fill the new-made world with light,

For His, etc.

And caused the golden-tressèd sun

All the day long his course to run,

For His, etc.

The hornèd moon to shine by night,

Amongst her spangled sisters bright,

For His, etc.

He with His thunder-clasping hand

Smote the first-born of Egypt land,

For His, etc.

And in despite of Pharaoh fell,[37]

He brought from thence His Israel,[38]

For His, etc.

The ruddy waves He cleft in twain,

Of the Erythraean main,[39]

For His, etc.

The floods stood still like walls of glass

While the Hebrew bands did pass,

For His, etc.

But full soon they did devour

The tawny
[40]
king with all his power,

For His, etc.

His chosen people He did bless

In the wasteful
[41]wilderness,

For His, etc.

In bloody battle He brought down

Kings of prowess and renown,

For His, etc.

He foiled bold Seon and his host,

That ruled the Amorrean
[42]coast,

For His, etc.

And large-limbed Og
[43]He did subdue,

With all his over-hardy
[44]crew,

For His, etc.

And to His servant Israel
[45]

He gave their land, therein to dwell,

For His, etc.

He hath with a piteous eye

Beheld us in our misery,

For His, etc.

And freed us from the slavery

Of the invading enemy,

For His, etc.

All living creatures He doth feed,

And with full hand supplies their need,

For His, etc.

Let us therefore warble
[46]
forth

His mighty majesty and worth,

For His, etc.

That His mansion hath on high,

Above the reach of mortal eye,

For His mercies aye endure,

Ever faithful, ever sure.

ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT DYING OF A COUGH

1625–26? 1628?

I

O fairest flower no sooner blown
[47]
but blasted,[48]

Soft silken primrose fading timelessly,

Summer’s chief honor if thou hadst outlasted

Bleak winter’s force, that made thy blossom dry,

For he being amorous on that lovely dye

That did thy cheek envermeil,[49]thought to kiss,

But killed, alas, and then bewailed his fatal bliss.

II

For since grim Aquilo,[50]his
[51]charioteer,

By boisterous
[52]rape th’ Athenian damsel[53]got,

He thought it touched
[54]his deity full near

If likewise he some fair one wedded not,[55]

Thereby to wipe away the infamous[56]blot

Of long-uncoupled bed and childless eld,[57]

Which ’mongst the wanton[58]gods a foul reproach was held.

III

So mounting up in icy-pearlèd car
[59]

Through middle empire of the freezing air

He wandered long, till thee he spied from far.

There ended was his quest, there ceased his care:

Down he descended from his snow-soft chair,

But all unwares with his cold-kind embrace

Unhoused thy virgin soul from her fair biding
[60]place.

IV

Yet art thou not inglorious
[61]in thy fate,

For so Apollo, with unweeting[62]hand,

Whilom[63]did slay his dearly lovèd mate,[64]

Young Hyacinth, born on Eurotas’ strand,[65]

Young Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land,

But then transformed him to a purple flower:

Alack, that so to change thee winter had no power.

V

Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead

Or that thy corpse corrupts in earth’s dark womb,

Or that thy beauties lie in wormy bed,

Hid from the world in a low-delved[66]tomb.

Could Heav’n, for pity, thee so strictly doom?

Oh no! for something in thy face did shine

Above mortality that showed thou wast divine.

VI

Resolve[67]me, then, O soul most surely blest

(If so it be that thou these plaints[68]dost hear)!

Tell me, bright spirit, where’er thou hoverest,

Whether above that high, first-moving sphere

Or in the Elysian fields (if such there were),

Oh say me true if thou were mortal wight
[69]

And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight.

VII

Were thou some star which from the ruined roof

Of shaked Olympus by mischance didst fall?

Which careful Jove in Nature’s true behoof
[70]

Took up, and in fit[71]place did reinstall?

Or did, of late, earth’s sons besiege the wall

Of shiny Heav’n, and thou some goddess fled

Amongst us here below to hide thy nectared head?

VIII

Or were thou that just maid who once before

Forsook the hated earth,[72]O tell me sooth,

And cam’st again to visit us once more?

Or wert thou Mercy, that sweet smiling youth?

Or that crowned matron, sage white-robèd Truth?

Or any other of that heav’nly brood

Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some good?

IX

Or wert thou of the golden-wingèd host,

Who having clad thyself in human weed
[73]

To earth from thy prefixèd seat didst post,[74]

And after short abode fly back with speed,

As if to show what creatures Heav’n doth breed,

Thereby to set the hearts of men on fire

To scorn the sordid
[75]world, and unto Heav’n aspire?

X

But oh, why didst thou not stay here below

To bless us with thy Heav’n-loved innocence?

To slake his wrath, whom sin hath made our foe?

To turn swift-rushing black perdition hence,

Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence?

To stand ’twixt us and our deservèd smart?
[76]

But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.

XI

Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child,

Her false-imagin’d loss cease to lament,

And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild.

Think what a present thou to God has sent,

And render Him with patience what he lent.

This if thou do, He will an offspring give

That till the world’s last end shall make thy name to live.

AT A VACATION EXERCISE IN THE COLLEGE, PART LATIN, PART ENGLISH

1628

The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began:

Hail, native language, that by sinews weak

Didst move my first endeavoring tongue to speak

And mad’st imperfect words with childish trips,

Half unpronounced, slide through my infant lips,

Driving dumb silence from the portal door,

Where he had mutely sat two years before!

Here I salute thee, and thy pardon ask,

That now I use thee in my later task.

Small loss it is that hence can come unto thee:

I know my tongue but little grace can do thee.

Thou needst not be ambitious to be first:

Believe me, I have thither
[77]packed the worst—

And, if it happen, as I did forecast,

The daintiest dishes shall be served up last.

I pray thee, then, deny me not thy aid

For this same small neglect that I have made,

But haste thee straight to do me once a pleasure,

And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,

Not those new-fangled toys and trimming slight

Which takes our late fantastics with delight,

But cull those richest robes and gay’st attire

Which deepest spirits and choicest wits desire.

I have some naked
[78]thoughts that rove about

And loudly knock to have their passage out,

And, weary of their place, do only stay

Till thou has decked them in thy best array,

That so they may without suspect
[79]or fears

Fly swiftly to this fair assembly’s ears.

Yet I had rather, if I were to choose,

Thy service in some graver subject use,

Such as may make thee search thy coffers[80]round
[81]

Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound—

Such where the deep transported mind may soar

Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav’n’s door

Look in, and see each blissful deity

How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,

Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings

To the touch of golden wires, while Hebe
[82]brings

Immortal nectar to her kingly sire.

Then passing through the spheres of watchful fire,

And misty regions of wide air next under,

And hills of snow and lofts
[83]of pilèd thunder,

May tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves,

In Heav’n’s defiance mustering all his waves.

Then sing of secret things that came to pass

When beldam
[84]Nature in her cradle was.

And last, of kings and queens and heroes old,

Such as the wise Demodocus[85]once told,

In solemn songs at king Alcinous’ feast,

While sad Ulysses’ soul and all the rest

Are held with his melodious harmony

In willing chains and sweet captivity.

But fie, my wand’ring muse! How thou dost stray!

Expectance calls thee now another way:

Thou know’st it must be now thy only bent

To keep in compass
[86]of thy predicament.[87]

Then quick, about thy purposed business come,

That to the next I may resign my room.[88]

Then Ens is represented as father of the [ten Aristotelian] predicaments, his ten sons, whereof the eldest stood for substance, with his canons, which Ens, thus speaking, explains:

Good luck befriend thee, son, for at thy birth

The fairy ladies danced upon the hearth.

Thy drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them spy

Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie,

And sweetly singing round about thy bed

Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head.

She heard them give thee this: that thou should’st still

From eyes of mortals walk invisible.

Yet there is something that doth force my fear,

For once it was my dismal
[89]hap
[90]to hear

A sibyl[91]old, bow-bent with crooked age,

That far events full wisely could presage,

And in time’s long and dark prospective glass

Foresaw what future days should bring to pass:

“Your son,” said she, “(nor can you it prevent)

Shall be subject to many an accident.

O’er all his brethren he shall reign as king,

Yet every one shall make him underling,

And those that cannot live from him asunder[92]

Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under.

In worth and excellence he shall out-go[93]them,

Yet being above them, he shall be below them.

From others he shall stand in need of nothing,

Yet on his brothers shall depend for clothing.

To find a foe it shall not be his hap,

And peace shall lull him in her flow’ry lap.

Yet shall he live in strife, and at his door

Devouring war shall never cease to roar.

Yea, it shall be his natural property[94]

To harbor those that are at enmity.”

What power, what force, what mighty spell, if not

Your learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot?

The next, Quantity and Quality, spoke in prose. Then Relation was called by his name:

Rivers
[95]arise, whether thou be the son

Of utmost
[96]Tweed,[97]or Ouse, or gulfy Dun,[98]

Or Trent, who like some earth-born giant spreads

His thirty[99]arms along the indented meads,

Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath,

Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden’s death,[100]

Or rocky Avon, or of sedgy Lea,

Or coaly Tyne,[101]or ancient hallowed Dee,

Or Humber loud, that keeps
[102]the Scythian’s name,

Or Medway smooth, or royal-towered Thame.[103]

ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST’S NATIVITY

1629

I

This is the month, and this the happy morn

Wherein the son of Heav’n’s eternal king,

Of wedded maid and virgin mother born,

Our great redemption from above did bring.

For so the holy sages once did sing,

That he our deadly forfeit[104]should release,

And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

II

That glorious form, that light unsufferable,[105]

And that far-beaming blaze of majesty

Wherewith he wont,[106]
at Heav’n’s high council-table

To sit, the midst of Trinal Unity,

He laid aside, and here with us to be

Forsook the courts[107]of everlasting day,

And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.

III

Say Heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein[108]

Afford
[109]a present to the infant God?

Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,[110]

To welcome him to this his new abode,

Now while the Heav’n by the sun’s team[111]untrod,

Hath took no print[112]of the approaching light

And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?

IV

See how, from far, upon the eastern road

The star-led wizards
[113]haste, with odors sweet!

O run, prevent
[114]them with thy humble ode,

And lay it lowly at his blessèd feet!

Have thou the honor, first thy Lord to greet,

And join thy voice unto the Angel choir

From out his secret altar, touched with hallowed fire.

THE HYMN

I

It was the winter wild,

While the Heav’n-born child

All meanly[115]wrapped in the rude
[116]manger[117]lies.

Nature in awe[118]to him

Had doffed
[119]her gaudy
[120]trim,[121]

With her great master so to sympathize.

It was no season then for her

To wanton with the sun, her lusty
[122]paramour.

II

Only with speeches fair

She woos the gentle air

To hide her guilty front[123]with innocent snow,

And on her naked shame,

Pollute
[124]with sinful blame,

The saintly veil of maiden white to throw,

Confounded[125]that her Maker’s eyes

Should look so near upon her foul deformities.

III

But he, her fears to cease,

Sent down the meek-eyed Peace.

She, crowned with olive green, came softly sliding

Down through the turning sphere,

His ready harbinger,[126]

With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing,

And waving wide her myrtle wand

She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.

IV

No war or battle’s sound

Was heard the world around.

The idle spear and shield were high up hung,

The hookèd
[127]chariot stood

Unstained with hostile blood,

The trumpet spoke not to the armèd throng,

And kings sat still, with awful[128]eye,

As if they surely knew their sov’reign Lord was by.

V

But peaceful was the night

Wherein the Prince of Light

His reign of peace upon the earth began.

The winds, with wonder whist,[129]

Smoothly the waters kissed,

Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,

Who now hath quite forgot to rave,[130]

While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmèd wave.

VI

The stars with deep amaze

Stand fixed in steadfast gaze,

Bending one way their precious influence,

And will not take their flight,

For all the morning light,

Or Lucifer
[131]that often warned them thence,

But in their glimmering orbs did glow,

Until their Lord himself bespoke, and bid them go.

VII

And though the shady gloom

Had given day her room,[132]

The sun himself withheld his wonted speed,

And hid his head for shame,

As
[133]his inferior flame

The new-enlightened world no more should need;

He saw a greater sun appear

Than his bright throne or burning axletree could bear.

VIII

The shepherds on the lawn,

Or ere the point
[134]of dawn,

Sat simply chatting in a rustic row.

Full little thought they then

That the mighty Pan

Was kindly come to live with them below.

Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,

Was all that did their silly
[135]thoughts so busy keep.

IX

When such music sweet

Their hearts and ears did greet,

As never was by mortal finger struck,

Divinely-warbled voice

Answering the stringèd noise

As all their souls in blissful rapture took.[136]

The air such pleasure loath to lose

With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly close.[137]

X

Nature that heard such sound

Beneath the hollow round

Of Cynthia’s
[138]seat, the airy region thrilling,

Now was almost won

To think her part was done,

And that her reign had here its last fulfilling.

She knew such harmony alone

Could hold all Heav’n and earth in happier union.

XI

At last surrounds their sight

A globe of circular light,

That with long beams the shame-faced night arrayed.[139]

The helmèd Cherubim

And swordèd Seraphim

Are seen in glittering ranks, with wings displayed,

Harping in loud and solemn choir,

With unexpressive
[140]notes to Heav’n’s new-born heir.

XII

Such music (as ’tis said)

Before was never made

But when of old the sons of morning sung,

While the Creator great

His constellations set,

And the well-balanced world on hinges hung,

And cast the dark foundations deep,

And bid the weltering[141]waves their oozy channel keep.

XIII

Ring out, ye crystal spheres,

Once bless our human ears

(If ye have power to touch our senses so),

And let your silver chime

Move in melodious time,

And let the bass of Heav’n’s deep organ blow,

And with your ninefold harmony

Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.

XIV

For if such holy song

Enwrap our fancy long,

Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold,

And speckled
[142]vanity

Will sicken soon, and die,

And leprous sin will melt from earthly mould,

And Hell itself will pass away,

And leave her dolorous[143]mansions[144]to the peering day.

XV

Yea, Truth and Justice then

Will down return to men,

Orbed in a rainbow; and like[145]glories wearing

Mercy will sit between,

Throned in celestial sheen,

With radiant feet the tissued
[146]clouds down steering,

And Heav’n, as at some festival,

Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.

XVI

But wisest Fate says no,

This must not yet be so,

The Babe lies yet in smiling infancy

That on the bitter cross

Must redeem our loss,

So both himself and us to glorify.

Yet first to those ychained in sleep

The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep

XVII

With such a horrid clang

As on Mount Sinai rang

While the red fire and smoldering clouds out-break.

The aged earth aghast

With terror of that blast

Shall from the surface to the center shake;

When at the world’s last session[147]

The dreadful
[148]Judge in middle air shall spread His throne,

XVIII

And then at last our bliss

Full and perfect is—

But now begins, for from this happy day

Th’ old dragon under ground

In straiter[149]limits bound

Not half so far casts his usurpèd sway,

And wroth
[150]to see his kingdom fail

Swinges[151]the scaly horror of his folded tail.

XIX

The oracles are dumb;

No voice or hideous hum

Runs through the archèd roof in words deceiving.

Apollo from his shrine

Can no more divine,[152]

With hollow shriek the steep[153]of Delphos leaving.

No nightly trance or breathèd spell

Inspires
[154]the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.

XX

The lonely mountains o’er,

And the resounding shore,

A voice of weeping heard, and loud lament.

From haunted spring and dale

Edged with poplar pale
[155]

The parting genius
[156]
is with sighing sent.

With flower-inwoven tresses torn

The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.

XXI

In consecrated earth,

And on the holy hearth,

The lars and lemures
[157]
moan with midnight plaint.

In urns and altars round,

A drear and dying sound

Affrights the flamens
[158]
at their service quaint,[159]

And the chill marble seems to sweat,

While each peculiar
[160]
power[161]
forgoes his wonted seat.

XXII

Peor[162]
and Baalim[163]

Forsake their temples dim,

With that twice-battered god of Palestine

And moonèd Ashtaroth,[164]

Heav’n’s queen and mother both,

Now sits not girt
[165]
with tapers’ holy shine.

The Libyc Hammon
[166]
shrinks[167]
his horn.

In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz[168]
mourn,

XXIII

And sullen Moloch,[169]
fled,

Hath left in shadows dread

His burning idol all of blackest hue.

In vain with cymbals’ ring

They call the grisly king,

In dismal dance about the furnace[170]
blue.

The brutish
[171]
gods of Nile as fast,

Isis
[172]
and Orus,[173]
and the dog Anubis,[174]
haste.

XXIV

Nor is Osiris[175]
seen

In Memphian grove or green,

Trampling th’ unshowered grass with lowings loud,

Nor can he be at rest

Within his sacred chest:[176]

Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud.

In vain with timbreled
[177]
anthems
[178]
dark

The sable-stolèd[179]
sorcerers bear his worshipped ark.

XXV

He feels from Judah’s land

The dreaded infant’s hand,

The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn.[180]

Nor all the gods beside

Longer dare abide,

Not Typhon[181]
huge, ending in snaky twine.[182]

Our Babe, to show his Godhead true,

Can in his swaddling bands control the damnèd crew.

XXVI

So when the sun in bed,

Curtained with cloudy red,

Pillows his chin upon an orient[183]
wave,

The flocking shadows pale

Troop to the infernal jail.

Each fettered ghost slips to his several[184]
grave

And the yellow-skirted fays[185]

Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved maze.[186]

XXVII

But see, the Virgin blest

Hath laid her Babe to rest.

Time is our tedious
[187]
song should here have ending.

Heav’n’s youngest-teemèd
[188]
star

Hath fixed her polished car,

Her sleeping Lord with handmaid lamp attending,

And all about the courtly stable

Bright-harnessed[189]
angels sit in order serviceable.[190]

THE PASSION

1630: “This subject the author finding to be above the years he had when he wrote it, and nothing satisfied with what was begun, left it unfinished.”

I

Erewhile
[191]
of music and ethereal mirth,

Wherewith the stage of air and earth did ring,

And joyous news of Heav’nly infant’s birth,

My muse with Angels did divide to sing.[192]

But headlong joy is ever on the wing,

In wintry solstice like the shortened light

Soon swallowed up in dark and long outliving night.

II

For now to sorrow must I tune my song,

And set my harp to notes of saddest woe,

Which on our dearest Lord did seize[193]
ere long

Dangers, and snares, and wrongs, and worse than so,

Which he for us did freely undergo,

Most perfect hero, tried in heaviest
[194]
plight[195]

Of labors huge and hard, too hard for human wight.[196]

III

He sov’reign priest, stooping his regal head

That dropped with odorous oil down his fair eyes,

Poor fleshly tabernacle
[197]
entered,

His starry front low-roofed beneath the skies.

Oh what a mask was there, what a disguise!

Yet more: the stroke of death he must abide,[198]

Then lies him meekly down fast by his brethren’s side.

IV

These latter scenes confine my roving verse;

To this horizon is my Phoebus
[199]
bound:

His Godlike acts, and his temptations fierce,

And former sufferings otherwhere are found.

Loud o’er the rest Cremona’s trump doth sound.[200]

Me softer airs befit,[201]
and softer strings

Of lute, or viol still,[202]
more apt for mournful things.

V

Befriend me, night, best patroness of grief,

Over the pole thy thickest mantle throw,

And work my flattered fancy to belief

That Heav’n and earth are colored with my woe,

My sorrows are too dark for day to know.

The leaves should all be black wheron I write,

And letters, where my tears have washed, a wannish white.

VI

See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels

That whirled the prophet
[203]
up, at Chebar flood!

My spirit some transporting Cherub feels,

To bear me where the towers of Salem[204]
stood,

Once glorious towers, now sunk in guiltless blood.

There doth my soul in holy vision sit,

In pensive[205]
trance,[206]
and anguish, and ecstatic fit.[207]

VII

Mine eye hath found that sad sepulchral rock

That was the casket of Heav’n’s richest store,[208]

And here though grief my feeble hands uplock[209]

Yet on the softened quarry
[210]
would I score[211]

My plaining[212]
verse, as lively[213]
as before,

For sure so well instructed are my tears

That they would fitly fall in ordered characters.[214]

VIII

Or should I, thence hurried on viewless wing,

Take up a weeping on the mountains wild,

The gentle neighborhood of grove and spring

Would soon unbosom all their echoes mild,

And I (for grief is easily beguiled)

Might think th’ infection[215]
of my sorrows loud

Had got a race of mourners on some pregnant cloud.

SONG: ON MAY MORNING

1630–31

Now the bright morning star, day’s harbinger,[216]

Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her

The flow’ry May, who from her green lap throws

The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose.

Hail bounteous May, that dost inspire

Mirth and youth and warm desire,

Woods and groves are of thy dressing,[217]

Hill and dale[218]
doth boast thy blessing.

Thus we salute thee with our early song,

And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

ENGLISH[219]
SONNETS[220]

SONNET 1

1628? 1630?

O nightingale, that on yon bloomy spray
[221]

Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still,

Thou with fresh hope the lover’s heart dost fill,

While the jolly hours lead on propitious[222]
May.

Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day,

First heard before the shallow cuckoo’s bill,

Portend success in love. O if Jove’s will

Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay
[223]

Now timely[224]
sing, ere the rude[225]
bird of hate[226]

Foretell my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh,

As thou from year to year hast sung too late

For my relief, yet hadst no reason why.

Whether the muse or love call thee his mate,

Both them I serve, and of their train[227]
am I.

SONNET 7

1632

How soon hath time, the subtle [228] thief of youth,

Stol’n on his wing my three and twentieth year!

My hasting days fly on, with full career,[229]

But my late spring no bud or blossom show’th.

Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth

That I to manhood am arrived so near,

And inward ripeness doth much less appear,

That some more timely-happy spirits indu’th.[230]

Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,

It shall be still
[231]
in strictest measure ev’n
[232]

To that same lot,[233]
however mean
[234]
or high,

Towards which time leads me, and the will of Heav’n.

All is, if I have grace to use it so,

As ever in my great task-master’s eye.

SONNET 8

1642

Captain or colonel,[235]
or knight in arms,

Whose chance
[236]
on these defenseless doors may seize,[237]

If ever deed of honor did thee please

Guard them, and him within
[238]
protect from harms.

He can requite
[239]
thee, for he knows the charms

That call fame on such gentle[240]
acts as these,

And he can spread thy name o’er lands and seas,

Whatever clime the sun’s bright circle warms.

Lift not thy spear against the muses’ bow’r!
[241]

The great Emathian conqueror
[242]
bid spare

The house of Pindarus,[243]
when temple and tow’r

Went to the ground, and the repeated air
[244]

Of sad Electra’s poet
[245]
had the power

To save th’ Athenian walls from ruin bare.

SONNET 9

1643–45

Lady,[246]
that in the prime of earliest youth

Wisely hath shunned the broad way,[247]
and the green,

And with those few art eminently[248]
seen

That labor up the hill of Heav’nly truth,

The better part with Mary, and with Ruth,[249]

Chosen thou hast, and they that overween
[250]

And at thy growing virtues fret[251]
their spleen

No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth.[252]

Thy care[253]
is fixed, and zealously attends
[254]

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light,

And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure,

Thou, when the bridegroom with his feastful friends

Passes to bliss, at the mid hour of night,

Hast gained thy entrance, virgin wise and pure.

SONNET 10

1643–45

Daughter to that good earl,[255]
once president

Of England’s Council and her Treasury,

Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee,

And left them both, more in himself content,

Till the sad breaking of that Parliament

Broke him,[256]
as that dishonest victory

At Chaeronéa,[257]
fatal to liberty

Killed with report that old man, eloquent.[258]

Though later born than to have known the days

Wherein your father flourished, yet by you,

Madam, methinks I see him living yet,

So well your words his noble virtues praise

That all both judge you to relate
[259]
them true

And to possess them, honored Margaret.

SONNET 11

1645?

I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs
[260]

By the known rules of ancient liberty
[261]

When straight a barbarous noise environs
[262]
me

Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs.

As when those hinds
[263]
that were transformed to frogs

Railed at Latona’s twin-born progeny,[264]

Which after held the sun and moon in fee.

But this is got by casting pearl to hogs,

That bawl for freedom, in their senseless mood,

And still[265]
revolt when truth would set them free.

Licence, they mean, when they cry “liberty,”

For who loves that must first be wise and good.

But from that mark how far they rove we see

For all this waste of wealth and loss of blood.

SONNET 12

1647?

A book was writ, of late, called Tetrachordon,[266]

And woven close both matter, form, and style.

The subject new, it walked the town a while,

Numb’ring good intellects—now seldom pored on.[267]

Cries the stall-reader, “Bless us! What a word on

A title page is this!” And some in file
[268]

Stand spelling false, while
[269]
one might walk to Mile-

End Green. Why is it harder, sirs, than Gordon,[270]

Colkitto,[271]
or MacDonnell,[272]
or Galasp?
[273]

Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek,

That would have made Quintilian
[274]
stare and gasp!

Thy age, like ours—O soul of Sir John Cheek!—[275]

Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,

When thou taught’st Cambridge, and King Edward, Greek.

SONNET 13

1646

Harry,[276]
whose tuneful and well-measured
[277]
song

First taught our English music how to span
[278]

Words with just
[279]
note and accent, not to scan

With Midas ears,[280]
committing[281]
short and long.

Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng,

With praise enough for envy to look wan.

To after age thou shalt be writ the man

That with smooth air[282]
couldst humor best our tongue.

Thou honor’st verse, and verse must lend her wing

To honor thee, the priest of Phoebus choir,

That tun’st their happiest lines, in hymn or story.

Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher

Than his Casella,[283]
whom he wooed to sing,

Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.

SONNET 14

1646

When faith and love, which parted from thee[284]
never,

Had ripened thy just soul to dwell with God,

Meekly thou didst resign this earthly load

Of death, called life, which us from life doth sever.

Thy works and alms, and all thy good endeavor,

Stayed not behind nor in the grave were trod,

But as faith pointed with her golden rod

Followed thee up to joy and bliss forever.

Love led them on, and faith, who knew them best—

Thy handmaids—clad them o’er with purple beams

And azure wings, that up they flew, so dressed,

And spoke the truth of thee in glorious themes[285]

Before the judge, who thenceforth bid thee rest

And drink thy fill of pure immortal streams.

SONNET 15

1648

Fairfax,[286]
whose name in arms through Europe rings,

Filling each mouth with envy, or with praise,

And all her jealous monarchs with amaze

And rumors loud, that daunt remotest kings,

Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings

Victory home, though new rebellions raise

Their hydra heads, and the false North[287]
displays

Her broken league,[288]
to imp
[289]
her serpent wings:[290]

O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand,

For what can wars but endless wars still breed,

Till truth and right from violence be freed,

And public faith cleared from the shameful brand

Of public fraud. In vain doth valor bleed

While avarice and rapine[291]
share the land.

SONNET 16

1652

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud

Not of war only, but detractions[292]
rude,[293]

Guided by faith and matchless fortitude

To peace and truth thy glorious way hath ploughed,

And on the neck of crownèd Fortune proud

Hast reared God’s trophies, and His work pursued,

While Darwen[294]
stream with blood of Scots embru’d,[295]

And Dunbar[296]
field resounds thy praises loud,

And Worcester’s[297]
laureat wreath, yet much remains

To conquer still. Peace hath her victories

No less renowned than war, new foes arise,

Threat’ning to bind our souls with secular chains!

Help us to save free conscience from the paw

Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.[298]

SONNET 17

1652

Vane,[299]
young in years but in sage counsel old,

Than whom a better senator ne’er held

The helm of Rome, when gowns,[300]

The fierce Epeirut [301] and th’ African [302] bold:

Whether to settle peace, or to unfold

The drift [303] of hollow[304] states, hard to be spelled;[305]

Then to advise how war may best, upheld,

Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold,

In all her equipage;[306] besides, to know

Both spiritual power and civil, what each means,

What severs each—thou hast learned, which few have done.

The bounds of either sword to thee we owe.

Therefore, on thy firm hand religion leans

In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.

SONNET 18

1655

Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered Saints,[307] whose bones

Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold—

Ev’n them who kept Thy truth so pure of old,

When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones!

Forget not! In Thy book record [308] their groans,

Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold [309]

Slain by the bloody Piemontese, who rolled

Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To Heav’n. Their martyred blood and ashes sow

O’er all th’ Italian fields where still doth sway

The triple tyrant,[310] that from these may grow

A hundred-fold, who having learned Thy way

Early, may fly[311] the Babylonian woe.[312]

SONNET 19

1655

When I consider how my life is spent,[313]

Ere [314] half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent[315] which is death to hide

Lodged with me, useless, though my soul more bent [316]

To serve therewith my Maker, and present [317]

My true account, lest He, returning,[318] chide—[319]

“Doth God exact day labor, light denied?”

I fondly ask, but patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

Either man’s work or His own gifts. Who best

Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state

Is kingly. Thousands at His bidding speed

And post [320] o’er land and ocean, without rest.

They also serve who only stand and wait.”

SONNET 20

1655

Lawrence,[321] of virtuous father, virtuous son,

Now that the fields are dank, and ways [322] are mire,[323]

Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire

Help waste a sullen [324] day, what [325] may be won

From the hard season[326] gaining? [327] Time will run

On smoother, till Favonius [328] re-inspire

The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire

The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun.[329]

What neat [330] repast shall feast us, light and choice,

Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise

To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice

Warble immortal notes and Tuscan [331] air?

He who of those delights can judge, and spare [332]

To interpose [333] them oft, is not unwise.

SONNET 21

1655

Cyriack! [334] Whose grandsire on the Royal Bench [335]

Of British Themis,[336] with no mean [337] applause

Pronounced [338] and in his volumes [339] taught our laws,

Which others at their Bar [340] so often wrench [341] —

Today deep thoughts resolve with me to drench [342]

In mirth, that after no repenting draws.[343]

Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause,

And what the Swede[344] intends, and what the French!

To measure life, learn thou betimes[345] and know

Toward solid [346] good what leads the nearest way.

For other things, mild Heav’n a time ordains,

And disapproves that care, though wise in show,

That with superfluous burden loads the day

And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains!

SONNET 22

1655

Cyriack, this three years day these eyes, though clear

To outward view of blemish or of spot,

Bereft [347] of light their seeing have forgot,

Nor to their idle [348] orbs doth sight appear

Of sun, or moon, or star throughout the year,

Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not

Against Heav’n’s hand or will, nor bate [349] a jot [350]

Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer

Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask?

The conscience, friend, t’ have lost them overplied [351]

In liberty’s defense, my noble task,

Of which all Europe talks from side to side.

This thought might lead me through the world’s vain mask,

Content, though blind, had I no better guide.

SONNET 23

1656–58?

Methought I saw my late espousèd saint [352]

Brought to me, like Alcestis,[353] from the grave,

Who Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave,

Rescued from death by force, though pale and faint.

Mine as whom, washed from spot of child-bed taint,[354]

Purification in th’ old law [355] did save,

And such as yet once more I trust to have

Full sight of her in Heav’n, without restraint,[356]

Came vested [357] all in white, pure as her mind.

Her face was veiled, yet to my fancied sight

Love, sweetness, goodness in her person shined

So clear, as in no face with more delight.

But O, as to embrace me she inclined,[358]

I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.

ON SHAKESPEARE

1630

What needs my Shakespeare, for his honored bones,

The labor of an age in pilèd stones,

Or that his hallowed relics should be hid

Under a star-ypointing pyramid?

Dear son of memory,[359] great heir of fame,

What need’st thou such weak witness of thy name?

Thou in our wonder and astonishment

Hast built thyself a livelong monument!

For whilst to th’ shame of slow-endeavoring [360] art

Thy easy numbers [361] flow, and that each heart

Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued [362] book

Those Delphic[363] lines with deep [364] impression [365] took,

Then thou our fancy, of itself bereaving,[366]

Dost make us marble [367] with too much conceiving,[368]

And so sepulchred [369] in such pomp [370] dost lie

That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.

ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER[371]

1631

who sickened in the time of his vacancy,[372] being forbid to
go to London by reason of the Plague.

Here lies old Hobson.[373] Death has broke his girt [374]

And here, alas, hath laid him in the dirt,

Or else the ways [375] being foul, twenty to one

He’s here stuck in a slough,[376] and overthrown.

’Twas such a shifter,[377] that if truth were known,

Death was half glad when he had got him down,

For he had any time this ten years full [378]

Dodged[379] with him, betwixt Cambridge and The Bull.[380]

And surely, Death could never have prevailed

Had not his weekly course of carriage [381] failed,

But lately finding him so long at home,

And thinking now his journey’s end was come,

And that he had ta’en up his latest inn,

In the kind office of a chamberlain [382]

Showed him his room where he must lodge that night,

Pulled off his boots, and took away the light.[383]

If any ask for him, it shall be said,

“Hobson has supped, and’s newly gone to bed.”

ANOTHER ON THE SAME

1631

Here lieth one who did most truly prove

That he could never die while he could move,

So hung [384] his destiny never to rot [385]

While he might still jog on and keep his trot,

Made of sphere-metal,[386] never to decay

Until his revolution[387] was at stay.[388]

Time numbers[389] motion, yet (without a crime

’Gainst old truth) motion numbered out his time,

And like an engine[390] moved with wheel and weight,

His principles[391] being ceased, he ended straight.[392]

Rest that gives all men life, gave him his death,

And too much breathing[393] put him out of breath.

Nor were it contradiction to affirm

Too long vacation hastened on his term.[394]

Merely to drive the time away [395] he sickened,

Fainted, and died, nor would with ale be quickened.[396]

“Nay,” quoth he, on his swooning bed outstretched,

“If I may not carry, sure I’ll ne’er be fetched,[397]

But vow, though the cross doctors all stood hearers,

For one carrier put down[398] to make six bearers.” [399]

Ease was his chief disease, and to judge right

He died for heaviness[400] that his cart went light.

His leisure [401] told him that his time was come,

And lack of load [402] made his life burdensome,

That [403] even to his last breath (there be that say’t)

As [404] he were pressed to death,[405] he cried, “More weight!”

But had his doings lasted as they were

He had been an immortal carrier.[406]

Obedient to the moon, he spent his date [407]

In course reciprocal,[408] and had his fate

Linked to the mutual flowing of the seas,

Yet (strange to think) his wain[409] was his increase.

His letters are delivered all and gone,

Only remains this superscription.[410]

AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER

1631

This rich marble doth inter [411]

The honored wife of Winchester,[412]

A Viscount’s daughter,[413] an Earl’s heir,[414]

Besides what her virtues fair

Added to her noble birth,

More than she could own from earth.

Summers three times eight save one

She had told [415] —alas, too soon,

And so short time of breath,

To house[416] with darkness and with death.

Yet had the number of her days

Been as complete as was her praise,

Nature and Fate had had no strife

In giving limit to her life.

Her high birth and her graces sweet

Quickly found a lover meet;[417]

The virgin choir for her request

The god that sits at marriage feast.[418]

He at their invoking came

But with a scarce well-lighted flame,[419]

And in his garland as he stood

Ye might discern a cypress bud.[420]

Once had the early matrons run

To greet her of a lovely son,[421]

And now with second hope she goes,

And calls Lucina [422] to her throes.[423]

But whether by mischance or blame

Atropos [424] for Lucina came,

And with remorseless cruelty

Spoiled at once both fruit and tree:

The hapless babe before his birth

Had burial, yet not laid in earth,

And the languished mother’s womb

Was not long a living tomb.[425]

So have I seen some tender slip [426]

Saved with care from winter’s nip,

The pride of her carnation train,[427]

Plucked up by some unheedy [428] swain[429]

Who only thought to crop [430] the flower

New shot up from vernal[431] shower.

But the fair blossom hangs the head

Sideways as on a dying bed,

And those pearls of dew she wears

Prove to be presaging[432] tears

Which the sad morn had let fall

On her hastening funeral.

Gentle lady, may thy grave

Peace and quiet ever have.

After this, thy travail sore,

Sweet rest seize thee evermore,

That to give the world increase

Shortened hast thy own life’s lease.

Here besides the sorrowing

That thy noble house doth bring,

Here be tears of perfect moan

Wept for thee in Helicon,[433]

And some flowers and some bays[434]

For thy hearse to strew the ways,[435]

Sent thee from the banks of Came,[436]

Devoted to thy virtuous name,

Whilst thou, bright Saint, high sitt’st in glory,

Next her much like to thee in story,

That fair Syrian shepherdess [437]

Who after years of barrenness

The highly-favored Joseph bore

To him that served for her before,[438]

And at her next birth, much like thee,

Through pangs fled to felicity,[439]

Far within the bosom bright

Of blazing Majesty and Light.

There with thee, new-welcome Saint,

Like fortunes may her soul acquaint,

With thee there clad in radiant sheen,

No Marchioness, but now a Queen.

L’ALLEGRO[440]

1631?

Hence, loathèd melancholy,

Of Cerberus [441] and blackest midnight born,

In Stygian [442] cave forlorn

Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy!

Find out some uncouth [443] cell [444]

Where brooding darkness spreads his jealous wings,

And the night-raven sings.

There under ebon shades and low-browed [445] rocks

As ragged as thy locks,

In dark Cimmerian[446] desert ever dwell.

But come thou, goddess fair and free,

In Heaven yclept [447] Euphrosyne,[448]

And by men heart-easing mirth,

Whom lovely Venus at a birth

With two sister Graces more

To ivy-crownèd Bacchus bore—

Or whether (as some, sager, sing)

The frolic wind that breathes [449] the spring,

Zephyr with Aurora playing,

As he met her once a-Maying,

There on beds of violets blue

And fresh-blown roses washed in dew,

Filled her with thee, a daughter fair,

So buxom,[450] blithe,[451] and debonair.[452]

Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee

Jest and youthful jollity,

Quips and cranks,[453] and wanton wiles,[454]

Nods, and becks,[455] and wreathèd smiles

Such as hang on Hebe’s [456] cheek

And love to live in dimple sleek,

Sport [457] that wrinkled care derides,

And laughter, holding both its sides.

Come, and trip it as ye go

On the light-fantastic toe,

And in thy right hand lead with thee

The mountain nymph, sweet liberty.

And if I give thee honor due,

Mirth, admit me of thy crew

To live with her, and live with thee,

In unreprovèd [458] pleasures free,

To hear the lark begin his flight

And, singing, startle the dull [459] night

From his watch-tower in the skies,

Till the dappled [460] dawn doth rise,

Then to come, in spite of sorrow,

And at my window bid good-morrow

Through the sweet-briar, or the vine,

Or the twisted eglantine,

While the cock, with lively din,

Scatters the rear of darkness thin,[461]

And to the stack [462] or the barn door

Stoutly [463] fierce struts his dames before.[464]

Oft listening how the hounds and horn

Cheerly rouse the slumbering morn

From the side of some hoar [465] hill,

Through the high wood echoing shrill.

Sometime walking not unseen [466]

By hedgerow elms, on hillocks green,

Right against the eastern gate

Where the great [467] sun begins his state,[468]

Robed in flames and amber light,

The clouds in thousand liveries [469] dight,[470]

While the ploughman, near at hand,

Whistles o’er the furrowed land,

And the milkmaid singeth blithe,

And the mower whets [471] his scythe,

And every shepherd tells his tale

Under the hawthorn in the dale.

Straight, mine eye hath caught new pleasures

Whilst the landscape round it measures,[472]

Russet [473] lawns, and fallows[474] gray,

Where the nibbling flocks do stray,

Mountains on whose barren breast

The laboring clouds do often rest,

Meadows trim with daisies pied,[475]

Shallow brooks and rivers wide.

Towers and battlements [476] it sees,

Bosomed high in tufted trees,

Where perhaps some beauty [477] lies,[478]

The cynosure [479] of neighboring eyes.

Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes

From betwixt two agèd oaks,

Where Corydon and Thyrsis,[480] met,

Are at their savory dinner set

Of herbs [481] and other country messes,[482]

Which the neat-handed [483] Phyllis dresses.[484]

And then in haste her bow’r [485] she leaves,

With Thestylis to bind [486] the sheaves,[487]

Or if the earlier season[488] lead [489]

To the tanned [490] haycock [491] in the mead,[492]

Sometimes with secure [493] delight

The upland [494] hamlets [495] will invite,

When the merry bells ring round,

And the jocund [496] rebecks[497] sound

To many a youth and many a maid,

Dancing in the checkered shade,

And young and old come forth to play

On a sunshine holiday,

Till the livelong daylight fail.

Then to the spicy nut-brown ale,

With stories told of many a feat,

How fairy Mab[498] the junkets [499] eat.

She was pinched and pulled, she said,

And he, by friar’s lantern led,

Tells how the drudging goblin sweat

To earn his cream-bowl, duly set,

When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,

His shadowy flail [500] hath threshed the corn [501]

That ten day-laborers could not end,

Then lies him down (the lubber fend!)[502]

And, stretched out all the chimney’s length,

Basks at the fire his hairy strength,

And, crop-full,[503] out of doors he flings,

Ere the first cock his matin[504] rings.

Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,

By whispering winds soon lulled asleep.

Tow’red cities please us, then,

And the busy hum of men,

Where throngs of knights and barons bold

In weeds [505] of peace high triumphs[506] hold,

With store [507] of ladies, whose bright eyes

Rain influence, and judge the prize

Of wit or arms, while both contend

To win her grace, whom all commend.

There let Hymen[508] oft appear

In saffron[509] robe, with taper [510] clear,

And pomp,[511] and feast, and revelry,

With masque and antique pageantry,

Such sights as youthful poets dream

On summer eves by haunted stream.

Then to the well-trod stage anon,

If Jonson’s [512] learnèd sock be on,[513]

Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s [514] child,

Warble his native wood-notes wild.

And ever, against eating [515] cares,

Lap me in soft Lydian airs,[516]

Married to immortal verse,

Such as the meeting [517] soul may pierce

In notes, with many a winding bout [518]

Of linkèd sweetness long drawn out,

With wanton [519] heed [520] and giddy [521] cunning,[522]

The melting voice through mazes running,

Untwisting all the chains that tie

The hidden soul of harmony,

That Orpheus [523] self may heave[524] his head

From golden slumber on a bed

Of heaped Elysian [525] flowers, and hear

Such strains[526] as would have won the ear

Of Pluto,[527] to have quite set free

His half-regained Eurydice.[528]

These delights if thou canst give,

Mirth, with thee I mean to live.[529]

IL PENSEROSO[530]

1631?

Hence, vain deluding joys,

The brood of folly without father bred!

How little you bestead,[531]

Or fill the fixèd[532] mind with all your toys! [533]

Dwell in some idle brain,

And fancies fond[534] with gaudy[535] shapes possess

As thick and numberless

As the gay motes[536] that people the sun beams,

Or likest hovering dreams,

The fickle pensioners [537] of Morpheus [538] train.

But hail thou, goddess, sage and holy,

Hail divinest Melancholy,

Whose saintly visage is too bright

To hit [539] the sense of human sight

And, therefore, to our weaker view

O’er laid with black, staid wisdom’s hue—

Black, but such as in esteem

Prince Memnon’s [540] sister might beseem,[541]

Or that starr’d Ethiope [542] Queen that strove

To set her beauty’s praise above

The sea nymphs, and their powers offended.

Yet thou art higher far descended,

Thee, bright-haired Vesta,[543] long of yore

To solitary Saturn bore:

His daughter she (in Saturn’s reign

Such mixture was not held a stain),

Oft in glimmering bow’rs and glades

He met her, and in secret shades

Of woody Ida’s [544] inmost grove,

While yet there was no fear of Jove.

Come, pensive nun,[545] devout and pure,

Sober, steadfast, and demure,[546]

All in a robe of darkest grain,[547]

Flowing with majestic train,

And sable [548] stole [549] of cypress lawn [550]

Over thy decent [551] shoulders drawn!

Come, but keep thy wonted [552] state

With even step and musing gait,

And looks commercing [553] with the skies,

Thy rapt [554] soul sitting in thine eyes.

There held in holy passion still,

Forget thyself to marble, till

With a sad,[555] leaden [556] downward cast[557]

Thou fix them [558] on the earth as fast.[559]

And join with thee calm peace, and quiet,

Spare [560] fast,[561] that oft with gods doth diet,

And hears the Muses in a ring

Aye [562] round about Jove’s altar sing.

And add to these retired [563] leisure,

That in trim [564] gardens takes his pleasure.

But first, and chiefest, with thee bring

Him[565] that yon soars on golden wing,

Guiding the fiery-wheelèd throne,[566]

The cherub Contemplation,[567]

And the mute silence hist [568] along,

’Less [569] Philomel [570] will deign a song

In her sweetest, saddest plight,[571]

Smoothing the rugged brow of night,

While Cynthia [572] checks[573] her dragon yoke,[574]

Gently o’er th’ accustomed oak—

Sweet bird that shunn’st the noise of folly,

Most musical, most melancholy!

Thee, chantress,[575] oft the woods among,

I woo [576] to hear thy even song,

And missing thee, I walk unseen

On the dry, smooth-shaven[577] green,

To behold the wand’ring moon

Riding near her highest noon

Like one that had been led astray

Through the Heav’ns’ wide pathless way,

And oft, as if her head she bowed,

Stooping through a fleecy cloud.

Oft on a plat [578] of rising ground

I hear the far-off curfew sound

Over some wide-watered shore,

Swinging slow with sullen[579] roar.

Or if the air will not permit,

Some still [580] removèd[581] place will fit,

Where glowing embers through the room

Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,[582]

Far from all resort of mirth,

Save the cricket on the hearth,

Or the bellman’s [583] drowsy charm[584]

To bless the doors from nightly harm.

Or let my lamp, at midnight hour,

Be seen in some high lonely tow’r

Where I may oft out-watch the Bear,[585]

With thrice great Hermes,[586] or unsphere

The spirit of Plato[587] to unfold [588]

What worlds, or what vast regions, hold

The immortal mind that hath forsook

Her mansion[589] in this fleshly nook,[590]

And of those daemons[591] that are found

In fire, air, flood, or under ground,

Whose power hath a true consent[592]

With planet, or with element.

Sometime let gorgeous[593] tragedy

In sceptered [594] pall [595] come sweeping by,

Presenting Thebes’,[596] or Pelops’ line,[597]

Or the tale of Troy divine.

Or what (though rare) of later age

Ennobled hath the buskined [598] stage.

But, O sad virgin, that thy power

Might raise Musaeus [599] from his bower,

Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing

Such notes as, warbled to the string,

Drew iron tears down Pluto’s cheek

And made Hell grant what love did seek.

Or call up him [600] that left half told

The story of Cambuscan bold,

Of Camball, and of Algarsife,[601]

And who had Canace to wife,

That owned the virtuous ring and glass,

And who had Canace to wife, That owned the virtuous ring and glass,

And of the wondrous horse of brass

On which the Tartar king did ride.

And if ought else, great bards beside

In sage and solemn tunes have sung

Of tourneys,[602] and of trophies hung,

Of forests, and enchantments drear,

Where more is meant than meets the ear.[603]

Thus night oft see me in thy pale career,[604]

Till civil-suited [605] morn appear,

Not tricked [606] and frounced,[607] as she was wont

With the Attic boy[608] to hunt,

But kerchiefed in a comely cloud

While rocking winds are piping loud,

Or ushered with a shower still,

When the gust hath blown his fill,

Ending on the rustling leaves,

With minute drops from off the eaves.

And when the sun begins to fling

His flaring beams, me, goddess, bring

To archèd walks of twilight groves

And shadows brown that Sylvan[609] loves

Of pine, or monumental oak,

Where the rude [610] ax, with heavèd [611] stroke,

Was never heard the nymphs to daunt

Or fright them from their hallowed haunt.[612]

There in close covert,[613] by some brook,

Where no profaner[614] eye may look,

Hide me from day’s garish[615] eye,

While the bee, with honeyed thigh,

That at her flow’ry work doth sing,

And the waters murmuring

With such consort [616] as they keep,

Entice the dewy-feathered sleep.

And let some strange mysterious dream

Wave at his wings, in airy stream

Of lively portraiture displayed,

Softly on my eye-lids laid.

And as I wake, sweet music breathe

Above, about, or underneath,

Sent by some spirit to mortals good,

Or th’ unseen genius [617] of the wood.

But let my due[618] feet never fail

To walk the studious cloisters’ pale [619]

And love the high embowèd[620] roof,

With antic pillars massy [621] -proof,

And storied [622] windows richly dight,[623]

Casting a dim religious light.

There let the pealing [624] organ blow

To the full voiced choir below,

In service high, and anthems clear,

As may with sweetness, through mine ear,

Dissolve me into ecstasies

And bring all Heav’n before mine eyes.

And may at last my weary age

Find out the peaceful hermitage,

The hairy gown and mossy cell

Where I may sit and rightly spell [625]

Of every star that Heav’n doth shew,[626]

And every herb that sips the dew,

Till old experience do attain

To something like prophetic strain.

These pleasures, Melancholy, give,

And I with thee will choose to live.

ARCADES

1633–34?

Part of an entertainment presented to the Countess

Dowager of Darby, at Harefield, by some noble persons of
her family, who appear on the scene in pastoral habit,
moving toward the seat of state, with this song:

1. Song

Look, nymphs, and shepherds, look!

What sudden blaze of majesty

Is that which we from hence descry,[627]

Too divine to be mistook.

This, this is she

To whom our vows and wishes bend:

Here our solemn search hath end.

Fame, that her high worth to raise

Seemed erst so lavish and profuse,

We may justly now accuse

Of detraction from her praise.

Less than half we find expressed:

Envy bid conceal the rest.

Mark what radiant state she spreads

In circle round her shining throne,

Shooting her beams like silver threads!

This, this is she alone,

Sitting like a goddess bright

In the center of her light.

Might she the wise Latona [628] be,

Or the towered Cybele,[629]

Mother of a hundred gods?

Juno dares not give her odds.[630]

Who had thought this clime had held

A deity so unparall’ed?

As they come forward, the Genius of the Wood appears
and, turning toward them, says:

Gen. Stay, gentle [631] swains,[632] for though in this disguise

I see bright honor sparkle through your eyes.

Of famous Arcady [633] ye are, and sprung

Of that renownèd flood [634] so often sung,

Divine Alphéus, who by secret sluice

Stole under seas, to meet his Arethuse.[635]

And ye the breathing roses of the wood,

Fair silver-buskined [636] nymphs as great and good,

I know this quest of yours, and free[637] intent,

Was all in honor and devotion meant

To the great mistress of yon princely shrine,

Whom with low reverence I adore as mine,

And with all helpful service will comply

To further this night’s glad solemnity,

And lead ye where you may more near behold

What shallow-searching fame hath left untold,

Which I full oft, amidst these shades alone,

Have sat to wonder at and gaze upon.

For know, by lot [638] from Jove I am the pow’r

Of this fair wood and live in oaken bow’r

To nurse the saplings tall, and curl the grove

With ringlets quaint,[639] and wanton [640] windings wove.

And all my plants I save from nightly ill

Of noisome [641] winds or blasting [642] vapors chill,

And from the boughs brush off the evil dew

And heal the harms, of [643] thwarting [644] thunder blew,

Or what the cross, dire-looking planet [645] smites,

Or hurtful worm with cankered [646] venom bites.

When evening gray doth rise, I fetch[647] my round

Over the mount, and all this hallowed ground,

And early, ere the odorous breath of morn

Awakes the slumb’ring leaves, or tasseled horn [648]

Shakes the high thicket, haste I all about,

Number[649] my ranks,[650] and visit every sprout

With puissant [651] words, and murmurs made to bless.

But else, in deep of night, when drowsiness

Hath locked up mortal sense, then listen I

To the celestial sirens’ harmony,

That sit upon the nine enfoldèd spheres

And sing to those that hold the vital shears [652]

And turn the adamantine [653] spindle round,[654]

On which the fate of gods and men is wound.

Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie

To lull the daughters of Necessity

And keep unsteady [655] Nature to her law,

And the low[656] world in measured [657] motion draw

After the heav’nly tune, which none can hear

Of human mould, with gross [658] unpurgèd [659] ear.

And yet such music worthiest were to blaze

The peerless height of her immortal praise,

Whose luster leads us, and for her most fit,

If my inferior hand or voice could hit

Inimitable sounds. Yet as we go

Whate’er the skill of lesser gods can show

I will assay,[660] her worth to celebrate.

And so attend [661] ye toward her glittering state,

Where ye may all (that are of noble stem)[662]

Approach, and kiss her sacred vesture’s [663] hem.

2. Song

O’er the smooth enamelled [664] green

Where no print of step hath been,

Follow me as I sing

And touch the warbled string.

Under the shady roof

Of branching elm, star-proof,[665]

Follow me:

I will bring you where she sits,

Clad in splendor as befits

Her deity.

Such a rural queen

All Arcadia hath not seen.

3. Song

Nymphs and shepherds, dance no more

By sandy Ladon’s [666] lillied banks.

On old Lycaeus,[667] or Cyllene [668] hoar,[669]

Trip no more in twilight ranks.

Though Erymanth[670] your loss deplore

A better soil shall give you thanks.

From the stony Maenalus [671]

Bring your flocks and live with us.

Here ye shall have greater grace

To serve the lady of this place.

Though Syrinx [672] your Pan’s mistress were,

Yet Syrinx well might wait on her.

Such a rural queen

All Arcadia hath not seen.

COMUS: A MASQUE[673]

1634; revised 1637

THE PERSONS
the attendant spirit, afterwards in the habit of Thyrsis

Comus, with his crew
the lady
brother 1 [older]

brother 2 [younger]

Sabrina, the nymph

The first scene discovers a wild wood. The attendant spirit
descends (or enters):

Before the starry threshold of Jove’s court

My mansion is, where those immortal shapes

Of bright aerial spirits live ensphered

In regions mild, of calm and serene air,

Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot

Which men call earth and, with low-thoughtèd care,

Confined and pestered in this pinfold [674] here,

Strive to keep up a frail and fev’rish being,

Unmindful of the crown that virtue gives,

After this mortal change, to her true servants,

Amongst the enthronèd gods, on sainted seats.

Yet some there be that by due steps aspire

To lay their just hands on that golden key

That opes the palace of eternity:

To such my errand is, and but for such

I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds

With the rank vapors of this sin-worn mould.

But to my task. Neptune—besides the sway

Of every salt flood, and each ebbing stream—

Took in, by lot twixt high and nether Jove,[675]

Imperial rule of all the sea-girt isles

That, like to rich and various gems, inlay

The unadornèd bosom of the deep,

Which he, to grace his tributary gods,

By course[676] commits to several government

And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns

And wield their little tridents. But this isle,

The greatest and the best of all the main,[677]

He quarters to his blue-haired deities,

And all this tract that fronts the falling sun

A noble peer, of mickle[678] trust and power,

Has in his charge, with tempered[679] awe[680] to guide

An old and haughty nation, proud in arms,

Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore,

Are coming to attend their father’s state

And new-entrusted scepter. But their way

Lies through the perplex’d[681] paths of this drear Wood,

The nodding horror of whose shady brows

Threats the forlorn and wand’ring passenger.

And here their tender age might suffer peril,

But that by quick command from sov’reign Jove

I was dispatched for their defence and guard.

And listen why, for I will tell you now

What never yet was heard in tale or song

From old or modern bard, in hall or bow’r.

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape

Crushed the sweet poison of mis-used wine,

After the Tuscan mariners transformed,

Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed

On Circe’s island fell (who knows not Circe,

The daughter of the sun? whose charmèd cup

Whoever tasted lost his upright shape

And downward fell, into a grovelling swine).

This nymph that gazed upon his[682] clust’ring locks

With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth,

Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son

Much like his father, but his mother more,

Whom therefore she brought up and Comus named,

Who ripe and frolic[683] of [684] his full-grown age,

Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields,

At last betakes him to this ominous [685] Wood

And, in thick shelter of black shade embow’red,

Excells his mother at her mighty art,

Off ’ring to every weary traveller

His orient[686] liquor, in a crystal glass,

To quench the drought of Phoebus, which as they taste

(For most do taste, through fond,[687] intemperate thirst),

Soon as the potion works, their human count’nance—

Th’ express resemblance of the gods—is changed

Into some brutish form of wolf or bear

Or ounce,[688] or tiger, hog, or bearded goat,

All other parts remaining as they were.

And they, so perfect is their misery,

Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,

But boast themselves more comely[689] than before

And all their friends and native home forget,

To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.

Therefore, when any favored of high Jove

Chances to pass through this advent’rous glade,

Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star

I shoot from Heav’n, to give him safe convoy—

As now I do. But first I must put off

These my sky robes, spun out of Iris[690] woof,

And take the weeds[691] and likeness of a swain[692]

That to the service of this house belongs,

Who with his soft pipe[693] and smooth-dittied song

Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar,

And hush the waving woods, nor of less faith,

And in this office of his mountain watch

Likeliest and nearest to the present aid

Of this occasion.

But I hear the tread

Of hateful steps. I must be viewless, now.

Comus enters, with a charming[694] rod in one hand, his glass
in the other. With him a rout [695] of monsters headed [696] like
sundry sorts of wild beasts, but otherwise like men and
women, their apparel glistening. They come in, making a
riotous and unruly noise, with torches in their hands.

COMUS. The star that bids[697] the shepherd fold,[698]

Now the top of Heav’n doth hold,

And the gilded car of day

His glowing axle doth allay[699]

In the steep Atlantic stream,

And the slope[700] sun his upward beam

Shoots against the dusky pole,

Pacing toward the other goal

Of his chamber in the east.

Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast,

Midnight shout and revelry,

Tipsy dance and jollity!

Braid your locks with rosy twine,[701]

Dropping [702] odors, dropping wine.

Rigor now is gone to bed,

And advice, with scrupulous head.

Strict age, and sour severity

With their grave saws[703] in slumber lie.

We that are of purer fire

Imitate the starry choir

Who in their nightly watchful spheres

Lead in swift round the months and years.

The sounds[704] and seas, with all their finny drove,[705]

Now to the moon in wavering morris[706] move,

And on the tawny sands and shelves

Trip the pert[707] fairies and the dapper [708] elves.

By dimpled[709] brook and fountain brim

The wood nymphs, decked with daisies trim,

Their merry wakes[710] and pastimes keep.

What has night to do with sleep?

Night has better sweets to prove:

Venus now wakes, and wakens love.

Come, let us our rites begin!

’Tis only daylight that makes sin—

Which these dun shades will ne’er report.

Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport,

Dark-veil’d Cotytto,[711] t’whom the secret flame

Of midnight torches burns! Mysterious dame

That ne’er art called but[712] when the dragon womb

Of Stygian darkness spits her thickest gloom

And makes one blot of all the air!

Stay thy cloudy ebon[713] chair,

Wherein thou rid’st with Hecat,[714] and befriend

Us, thy vowèd priests, till utmost end

Of all thy dues be done, and none left out,

Ere the blabbing[715] eastern scout,[716]

The nice [717] morn on th’ Indian steep

From her cabined loop-hole peep,

And to the tell-tale sun descry[718]

Our conceal’d solemnity.

Come, knit hands and beat the ground

In a light fantastic round!

The measure.[719]

Break off, break off! I feel the different pace

Of some chaste footing near about this ground.

Run to your shrouds,[720] within these brakes[721] and trees:

Our number may affright. Some virgin, sure

(For so I can distinguish, by mine art),

Benighted[722] in these woods. Now to my charms,

And to my wily trains.[723] I shall ere long

Be well-stocked with as fair a herd as grazed

About my mother, Circe. Thus I hurl

My dazzling spells into the spongey[724] air,

Of power to cheat the eye with blear [725] illusion

And give it false presentments,[726] lest the place

And my quaint [727] habits breed astonishment

And put the damsel to suspicious flight,

Which must not be, for that’s against my course.

I under fair pretence of friendly ends

And well-placed words of glozing [728] courtesy,

Baited with reasons not implausible,

Wind me into the easy-hearted man,

And hug him into snares. When once her eye

Hath met the virtue of this magic dust,

I shall appear some harmless villager

Whom thrift [729] keeps up about [730] his country gear.

But here she comes. I fairly[731] step aside

And hearken, if I may, her business here.

The lady enters.

LADY. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true:

My best guide, now. Methought it was the sound

Of riot and ill-managed merriment,

Such as the jocund[732] flute or gamesome [733] pipe

Stirs up amongst the loose, unlettered hinds,[734]

When for their teeming flocks and granges full

In wanton[735] dance they praise the bounteous Pan

And thank the gods amiss.[736] I should be loath

To meet the rudeness [737] and swill’d insolence

Of such late wassailers.[738] Yet where else

Shall I inform my unacquainted feet

In the blind maze of this tangled Wood?

My brothers, when they saw me wearied out

With this long way, resolving here to lodge

Under the spreading favor of these pines,

Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket side,

To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit

As the kind, hospitable woods provide.

They left me then, when the gray-hooded ev’n

Like a sad votarist [739] in palmer’s [740] weeds [741]

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus’ wain.[742]

But where they are, and why they came not back,

Is now the labor of my thoughts. ’Tis likeliest

They had engaged their wand’ring steps too far,

And envious darkness, ere they could return,

Had stol’n them from me—else, O thievish night!

Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end,

In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars

That Nature hung in Heav’n, and filled their lamps

With everlasting oil, to give due light

To the misled and lonely traveller?

This is the place, as well as I may guess,

Whence ev’n now the tumult of loud mirth

Was rife [743] and perfect [744] in my list’ning ear.

Yet nought but single [745] darkness do I find.

What might this be? A thousand fantasies

Begin to throng into my memory,

Of calling shapes and beck’ning shadows dire,

And airy tongues that syllable men’s names

On sands and shores, and desert wildernesses.

These thoughts may startle well, but not astound

The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended

By a strong siding [746] champion, conscience—

O welcome, pure-eyed faith, white-handed hope,

Thou flittering Angel girt with golden wings!

And thou, unblemished form of chastity,
see ye visibly, and now believe

That He, the supreme good, t’ whom all things ill

Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,

Would send a glist’ring [747] guardian, if need were,

To keep my life and honor unassailed.

Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night?

I did not err: there does a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night,

And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

I cannot halloo to my brothers, but

Such noise as I can make, to be heard farthest,

I’ll venture, for my new-enlivened spirits

Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off.

SONG

Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph that liv’st unseen

Within thy airy cell

By slow Maeander’s [748] margent green,

And in the violet-embroidered vale

Where the love-lorn nightingale

Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well,

Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair

That likest thy Narcissus [749] are?

O if thou have

Hid them in some flow’ry cave,

Tell me but where,

Sweet queen of parley,[750] daughter of the sphere,

So may’st thou be translated to the skies,

And give resounding grace to all Heav’n’s harmonies.

COMUS. Can any mortal mixture of earth’s mould

Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment?

Sure, something holy lodges in that breast

And with these raptures moves the vocal [751] air

To testify his hidden residence!

How sweetly did they float upon the wings

Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night,

At every fall [752] smoothing the raven down[753]

Of darkness, till she smiled. I have oft heard

My mother, Circe, with the Sirens three,

Amidst the flow’ry-kirtled Naiades,[754]

Culling their potent [755] herbs and baleful drugs,

Who as they sung would take the prisoned soul

And lap it in Elysium. Scylla [756] wept

And chid her barking waves into attention,

And fell Charybdis [757] murmured soft applause!

Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense,

And in sweet madness robbed it of itself.

But such a sacred and home-felt [758] delight,

Such sober certainty of waking bliss,

I never heard till now. I’ll speak to her

And she shall be my queen.

Hail, foreign wonder!

Whom certain these rough shades did never breed—

Unless the goddess that in rural shrine

Dwell’st here with Pan [759] or Silvan,[760] by blest song

Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog

To touch the prosperous growth of this tall Wood!

LADY. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise

That is addressed to unattending ears.

Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift[761]

How to regain my severed company

Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo

To give me answer from her mossy couch.

COMUS. What chance, good lady, hath bereft you thus?

LADY. Dim darkness, and this leafy labyrinth.

COMUS. Could that divide you from near-ushering [762]

guides?

LADY. They left me, weary, on a grassy turf.

COMUS. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why?

LADY. To seek i’ th’ valley some cool friendly spring.

COMUS. And left your fair side all unguarded, lady?

LADY. They were but twain, and purposed quick return.

COMUS. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them?

LADY. How easy my misfortune is to hit! [763]

COMUS. Imports [764] their loss, beside the present need?

LADY. No less than if I should my brothers lose.

COMUS. Were they of manly prime, or youthful bloom?

LADY. As smooth as Hebe’s,[765] their unrazored lips.

COMUS. Two such I saw, what time the labored ox

In his loose traces[766] from the furrow came,

And the swinked [767] hedger [768] at his supper sat.

I saw ’em under a green mantling [769] vine

That crawls along the side of yon small hill,

Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots.

Their port [770] was more than human, as they stood:

I took it for a fairy vision

Of some gay [771] creatures of the element

That in the colors of the rainbow live

And play i’ th’ pleated clouds. I was awe-struck,

And as I passed I worshipped! If those you seek,

It were a journey like the path to Heav’n

To help you find them.

LADY. Gentle villager,

What readiest way would bring me to that place?

COMUS. Due west it rises, from this shrubby point.

LADY. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose,

In such a scant allowance of star-light,

Would overtask the best land-pilot’s art,

Without the sure guess of well-practiced feet.

COMUS. I know each lane, and every alley green,

Dingle[772] or bushy dell[773] of this wide wood,

And every bosky[774] bourn,[775] from side to side

My daily walks and ancient neighborhood,

And if your stray attendance[776] be yet lodged[777]

Or shroud[778] within these limits, I shall know

Ere morrow wake or the low-roosted lark

From her thatched pallet [779] rouse. If otherwise,

I can conduct you, lady, to a low[780]

But loyal[781] cottage, where you may be safe

Till further quest.

LADY. Shepherd, I take thy word

And trust thy honest offered courtesy,

Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds

With smoky rafters than in tap’stry halls

And courts of princes, where it first was named

And yet is most pretended. In a place

Less warranted[782] than this, or less secure,

I cannot be, that I should fear to change it.

Eye me, blest providence, and square[783] my trial

To my proportioned strength!

Shepherd, lead on.—

The two brothers.

BROTHER 1. Unmuffle, ye faint stars, and thou fair moon

That wont’st [784] to love the traveller’s benison,[785]

Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud

And disinherit chaos, that reigns here

In double night of darkness and of shades!

Or if your influence be quite dammed up

With black, usurping mists, some gentle taper [786]

Through a rush[787] candle from the wicker hole[788]

Of some clay habitation visit us

With thy long levelled rule of streaming light,

And thou shalt be our star of Arcady[789]

Or Tyrian[790] Cynosure.[791]

BROTHER 2. Or if our eyes

Be barred that happiness, might we but hear

The folded[792] flocks penned in their wattled[793] cotes,[794]

Or sound of pastoral reed[795] with oaten[796] stops,[797]

Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock

Count the night watches to his feathery dames,

It would be some solace yet, some little cheering

In this close[798] dungeon of innumerous boughs.

But O, that hapless virgin, our lost sister!

Where may she wander now? Whither betake her

From the chill dew, amongst rude burrs and thistles?

Perhaps some cold bank[799] is her bolster,[800] now,

Or ’gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm

Leans her unpillowed head, fraught[801] with sad fears.

What if in wild amazement and affright,

Or while we speak, within the direful grasp

Of savage hunger, or of savage heat?

BROTHER 1. Peace, brother: be not over-exquisite[802]

To cast[803] the fashion[804] of uncertain evils,

For grant they be so, while they rest unknown

What need a man forestall his date of grief

And run to meet what he would most avoid?

Or if they be but false alarms of fear,

How bitter is such self-delusion?

I do not think my sister so to seek,[805]

Or so unprincipled in virtue’s book

And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms[806] ever,

As that the single want of light and noise

(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not)

Could stir the constant[807] mood of her calm thoughts

And put them into misbecoming[808] plight.[809]

Virtue could see to do what virtue would,

By her own radiant light, though sun and moon

Were in the flat sea sunk. And wisdom’s self

Oft seeks to sweet, retired solitude,

Where with her best nurse, contemplation,[810]

She plumes[811] her feathers and lets grow her wings

That in the various bustle of resort[812]

Were all too ruffled,[813] and sometimes impaired.

He that has light within his own clear breast

May sit i’ th’ center[814] and enjoy bright day,

But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts,

Benighted[815] walks under the midday sun—

Himself is his own dungeon.

BROTHER 2. ’Tis most true

That musing meditation most affects[816]

The pensive secrecy of desert cell,[817]

Far from the cheerful haunt[818] of men and herds,

And sits as safe as in a Senate house—

For who would rob a hermit of his weeds,[819] 390

His few books, or his beads,[820] or maple dish,

Or do his gray hairs any violence?

But beauty, like the fair Hesperian tree

Laden with blooming gold, had need the guard

Of dragon watch with unenchanted eye,

To save her blossoms and defend her fruit

From the rash hand of bold incontinence.[821]

You may as well spread out the unsunned heaps

Of miser’s treasure by an outlaw’s den

And tell me it is safe, as bid me hope

Danger will wink on opportunity

And let a single helpless maiden pass

Uninjured, in this wild surrounding waste.

Of night or loneliness, it recks me not:

I fear the dread events that dog them both,

Lest some ill greeting touch attempt[822] the person[823]

Of our unownèd[824] sister.

BROTHER 1. I do not, brother,

Infer,[825] as if I thought my sister’s state

Secure without all doubt or controversy.

Yet where an equal poise[826] of hope and fear

Does arbitrate [827] th’ event, my nature is

That I incline to hope rather than fear

And banish, gladly, squint [828] suspicion.

My sister is not so defenceless left

As you imagine. She has a hidden strength

Which you remember not.

BROTHER 2. What hidden strength,

Unless the strength of Heav’n, if you mean that?

BROTHER 1. I mean that too, but yet a hidden strength

Which, if Heav’n gave it, may be termed her own.

’Tis chastity, my brother, chastity.

She that has that is clad in complete steel,

And like a quivered nymph with arrows keen

May trace [829] huge forests and unharbored [830] heaths,[831]

Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds,

Where through the sacred rays of chastity

No savage fierce, bandit or mountaineer,

Will dare to soil her virgin purity.

Yea, there where very desolation dwells,

By grots [832] and caverns shagged [833] with horrid [834] shades,

She may pass on with unblenched [835] majesty—

Be it not done in pride or in presumption.

Some say no evil thing that walks by night

In fog, or fire, by lake or moory[836] fen,[837]

Blue meager hag or stubborn unlaid [838] ghost

That breaks his chains at curfew time,

No goblin or swart [839] fairy of the mine,[840]

Has hurtful power o’er true virginity.

Do you believe me yet, or shall I call

Antiquity from the old schools of Greece

To testify the arms[841] of chastity?

Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,

Fair silver-shafted queen, forever chaste,

Wherewith she tamed the brinded [842] lioness

And spotted mountain pard,[843] but set at naught

The frivolous bolt [844] of Cupid. Gods and men

Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o’ th’ woods.

What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield

That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,

Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,

But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

And noble grace that dashed [845] brute violence

With sudden adoration and blank [846] awe!

So dear to Heav’n is saintly chastity

That when a soul is found sincerely so

A thousand liveried [847] Angels lackey[848] her,

Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt,

And in clear dream and solemn vision

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,

Till oft converse with Heav’nly habitants

Begin to cast a beam on th’ outward shape,

The unpolluted temple of the mind,

And turns it by degrees to the soul’s essence,

Till all be made immortal. But when lust

By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk,

But most by lewd and lavish [849] act of sin

Lets in [850] defilement to the inward parts,

The soul grows clotted by contagion,[851]

Embodies [852] and embrutes [853] till she quite lose

The divine property of her first being.

Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp,

Oft seen in charnel[854] vaults and sepulchers

Hovering, and sitting by a new-made grave,

As[855] loath to leave the body that it loved

And linked itself, by carnal sensual’ty,

To a degenerate and degraded state.

BROTHER 2. How charming is divine[856] philosophy!

Not harsh and crabbèd, as dull fools suppose,

But musical as is Apollo’s lute,

And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,

Where no crude surfeit reigns.

BROTHER 1. List, list! I hear

Some faroff halloo break the silent air.

BROTHER 2. Methought so too. What should it be?

BROTHER 1. For certain,

Either someone, like us night-foundered here,

Or else some neighbor woodman—or, at worst,

Some roving robber calling to his fellows.

BROTHER 2. Heav’n keep my sister! Again: again, and

near!

Best draw[857] and stand upon our guard.

BROTHER 1. I’ll halloo.

If he be friendly, he comes well. If not,

Defence is a good cause, and Heav’n be for us.

The attendant spirit [enters], habited like a shepherd.

That halloo I should know. What are you? Speak!

Come not too near: you fall on iron stakes,[858] else!

SPIRIT. What voice is that, my young lord? Speak again.

BROTHER 2. O brother, ’tis my father’s shepherd—sure!

BROTHER 1. Thyrsis? Whose artful strains[859] have oft
delayed

The huddling [860] brook, to hear his madrigal,

And sweetened every muskrose of the dale.

How cam’st thou here, good swain? Hath any ram

Slipped from his fold, or young kid lost his dam,[861]

Or straggling[862] weather the pent flock forsook?[863]

How could’st thou find this dark, sequestered nook?

SPIRIT. O my loved master’s heir, and his next [864] joy,

I came not here on such a trivial toy

As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth

Of pilfering wolf. Not all the fleecy wealth

That doth enrich these downs[865] is worth a thought

To this my errand, and the care [866] it brought!

But O, my virgin lady: where is she?

How chance she is not in your company?

BROTHER 1. To tell thee sadly, shepherd, without blame

Or our neglect we lost her as we came.

SPIRIT. Aye me, unhappy! Then my fears are true.

BROTHER I. What fears, good Thyrsis? Prithee, briefly show.

SPIRIT. I’ll tell you. ’Tis not vain or fabulous [867]

(Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance),

What the sage poets, taught by th’ Heav’nly Muse,

Storied [868] of old in high immortal verse

Of dire chimeras [869] and enchanted isles,

And rifted[870] rocks whose entrance leads to Hell,

For such there be. But unbelief is blind.

Within the navel of this hideous Wood,

Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells,

Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus,

Deep skilled in all his mother’s witcheries,

And here to every thirsty wanderer

By sly enticement gives his baneful[871] cup,

With many murmurs[872] mixed, whose pleasing poison

The visage quite transforms of him who drinks,

And the inglorious likeness of a beast

Fixes instead, unmoulding [873] reason’s mintage[874]

Charactered[875] in the face. This have I learned,

Tending my flocks hard by, i’ th’ hilly crofts[876]

That brow this bottom glade, whence night by night

He and his monstrous rout[877] are heard to howl

Like stabled[878] wolves or tigers at their prey,

Doing abhorrèd rites to Hecate[879]

In their obscurèd haunts of inmost[880] bow’rs.

Yet have they many baits and guileful spells

T’ inveigle and invite th’ unwary sense

Of them that pass, unweeting,[881] by the way.

This evening, late—by then the chewing flocks

Had ta’n their supper on the savory herb—

I sat me down to watch, upon a bank

With ivy canopied and interwove

With flaunting[882] honeysuckle, and began,

Wrapped in a pleasing fit of melancholy,

To meditate my rural minstrelsy

Till Fancy had her fill, but ere a close[883]

The wonted[884] roar was up amidst the woods

And filled the air with barbarous dissonance,

At which I ceased and listened them a while,

Till an unusual stop of sudden silence

Gave respite to the drowsy, frightened steeds

That draw the litter of close-curtained sleep.

At last a soft and solemn breathing sound

Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes

And stole upon the air, that even silence

Was took, ere she was ware, and wished she might

Deny her nature and be never more

Still to be so displaced. I was all ear,

And took in strains that might create a soul

Under the ribs of Death. But O, ere long

Too well I did perceive it was the voice

Of my most honored lady, your dear sister.

Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear,

And O, poor hapless nightingale, thought I,

How sweet thou sing’st, how near the deadly snare!

Then down the lawns I ran, with headlong haste,

Through paths and turnings often trod by day,

Till guided by mine ear I found the place

Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise

(For so by certain signs I knew), had met

Already, ere my best speed could prevent,[885]

The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey,

Who gently asked if he had seen such two,

Supposing him some neighbor villager.

Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed

Ye were the two she meant. With that I sprung

Into swift flight, till I had found you here.

But further know I not.

BROTHER 2. O night and shades,

How are ye joined with Hell in triple knot

Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin,

Alone and helpless! Is this the confidence

You gave me, brother?

BROTHER 1. Yes, and keep it still,

Lean on it safely: not a period[886]

Shall be unsaid for me! Against the threats

Of malice or of sorcery, or that power

Which erring men call chance, this I hold firm:

Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,

Surprised by unjust force—but not enthralled.[887]

Yea, even that which mischief [888] meant most harm

Shall in the happy trial prove most glory,

But evil on itself shall back recoil

And mix no more with goodness, when at last

Gathered like scum, and settled to itself,

It shall be in eternal restless change

Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail,

The pillared firmament is rottenness

And earth’s base built on stubble. But come, let’s on!

Against th’ opposing will and arm of Heav’n

May never this just sword be lifted up

But for that damned magician, let him be girt

With all the grisly legions[889] that troop

Under the sooty flag of Acheron,[890]

Harpies[891] and hydras,[892] or all the monstrous bugs[893]

’Twixt Africa and Ind! I’ll find him out

And force him to restore his purchase[894] back,

Or drag him by the curls and cleave his scalp

Down to the hips!

SPIRIT. Alas, good vent’rous youth,

I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise,[895] 610

But here thy sword can do thee little stead.[896]

Far other arms and other weapons must

Be those that quell the might of hellish charms.

He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints

And crumble all thy sinews!

BROTHER 1. Why prithee, shepherd,

How durst thou then thyself approach so near

As to make this relation?[897]

SPIRIT. Care and utmost shifts![898]

How to secure the lady from surprisal

Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad

Of small regard[899] to see to, yet well skilled

In every virtuous[900] plant and healing herb

That spreads her verdant leaf to th’ morning ray.

He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing,

Which when I did, he on the tender grass

Would sit and hearken e’en to ecstasy,

And in requital ope his leathern scrip[901]

And show me simples[902] of a thousand names,

Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.

Amongst the rest a small unsightly root,

But of divine effect, he culled[903] me out.

The leaf was darkish and had prickles on it,

But in another country, as he said,

Bore a bright golden flow’r—but not in this soil—

Unknown, and like esteemed—and the dull swain

Treads on it daily with his clouted[904] shoon.

And yet more med’cinal is it than that Moly[905]

Which Hermes[906] once to wise Ulysses gave.

He[907] called it Haemony, and gave it me,

And bade me keep it as of sov’reign[908] use

’Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast,[909] or damp,

Or ghastly Furies apparition.[910]

I pursed it up, but little reck’ning made,

Till now that this extremity compelled.

But now I find it true, for by this means

I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised—

Entered the very lime-twigs[911] of his spells

And yet came off.[912] If you have this about you

(As I will give you when we go) you may

Boldly assault the necromancer’s hall—

Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood

And brandished blade rush on him, break his glass

And shed the luscious[913] liquor on the ground.

But seize his wand. Though he and his cursed crew

Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high,

Or like the sons of Vulcan vomit smoke,

Yet will they soon retire,[914] if he but shrink.[915]

BROTHER I. Thyrsis, lead on apace.[916] I’ll follow thee.

And some good Angel bear a shield before us!

The scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all
manner of deliciousness: soft music, tables spread with all
dainties. Comus appears, with his rabble, and the lady set
in an enchanted chair, to whom he offers his glass, which
she puts by and goes about to rise.

COMUS. Nay, lady. Sit. If I but wave this wand

Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster

And you a statue—or as Daphne was,

Root-bound, that fled Apollo.

LADY. Fool, do not boast.

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind

With all thy charms, although this corporal rind

Thou has emmanacled, while Heav’n sees good.

COMUS. Why are you vexed, lady? Why do you frown?

Here dwell no frowns, nor anger. From these gates

Sorrow flies far. See here be all the pleasures

That Fancy can beget on youthful thoughts,

When the fresh blood grows lively and returns

Brisk as the April buds in primrose season.

And first behold this cordial[917] julip,[918] here,

That flames and dances in his crystal bounds,[919]

With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mixed.

Not that nepenthes[920] which the wife of Thon[921]

In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena

Is of such power to stir up joy as this—

To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.

Why should you be so cruel to yourself,

And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent

For gentle usage and soft delicacy?

But you invert the cov’nants[922] of her trust,

And harshly deal like an ill borrower

With that which you received on other terms,

Scorning the unexempt [923] condition [924]

By which all mortal frailty must subsist,

Refreshment after toil, ease after pain,

That [925] have been tired all day without repast,

And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin,

This will restore all soon.[926]

LADY. ’Twill not, false traitor!

’Twill not restore the truth and honesty

That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.

Was this the “cottage,” and the “safe abode”

Thou toldst me of? What grim aspects [927] are these,

These ugly-headed monsters? Mercy guard me!

Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver!

Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence

With visored [928] falsehood and base forgeries

And wouldst thou seek again to trap me, here,

With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute?

Were it a draught for Juno, when she banquets,

I would not taste thy treasonous offer! None

But such as are good men can give good things,

And that which is not good is not delicious

To a well-governed and wise appetite.

COMUS. O foolishness of men! that lend their ears

To those budge [929] doctors of the stoic fur,

And fetch their precepts from the cynic tub,[930]

Praising the lean and sallow abstinence.

Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth

With such a full and unwithdrawing hand,

Covering the earth with odors, fruits, and flocks,

Thronging the seas with spawn[931] innumerable,

But all to please and sate the curious taste?

And set to work millions of spinning worms

That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk

To deck her sons. And that no corner might

Be vacant of her plenty in her own loins

She hutched[932] th’ all-worshipped ore and precious gems

To store [933] her children with. If all the world

Should in a pet [934] of temperance feed on pulse,[935]

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,[936]

Th’ all-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised,

Not half His riches known, and yet despised,

And we would serve Him as a grudging master,

As a penurious niggard [937] of His wealth,

And live like Nature’s bastards, not her sons,

Who[938] would be quite surcharged [939] with her own weight

And strangled with her waste fertility,

Th’ earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with plumes.[940]

The herds would over-multitude their lords,

The sea o’er-fraught [941] would swell, and th’ unsought diamonds

Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep,

And so be-stud with stars, that they below

Would grow inured to light, and come at last

To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.

List, lady. Be not coy, and be not cozened [942]

With that same vaunted [943] name, virginity.

Beauty is Nature’s coin, must not be hoarded,

But must be current,[944] and the good thereof

Consists in mutual and partaken bliss,

Unsavory in th’ enjoyment of itself.

If you let slip time, like a neglected rose

It withers on the stalk, with languished head.

Beauty is Nature’s brag,[945] and must be shown

In courts, at feasts, on high solemnities

Where most may wonder at the workmanship.

It is for homely[946] features to keep home:

They had their name thence. Coarse complexions [947]

And cheeks of sorry[948] grain [949] will serve to ply[950]

The sampler [951] or to tease [952] the housewife’s wool.

What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that?

Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?

There was another meaning in those gifts!

Think what, and be advised.[953] You are but young yet.

LADY. I had not thought to have unlocked my lips

In this unhallowed air, but [954] that this juggler [955]

Would think to charm my judgment as[956] mine eyes,

Obtruding[957] false rules pranked[958] in reason’s garb!

I hate when vice can bolt [959] her arguments

And virtue has no tongue to check her [960] pride.

Impostor! Do not charge[961] most innocent Nature,

As if she would[962] her children should be riotous

With her abundance! She, good cateress,[963]

Means her provision only to the good

That live according to her sober laws

And holy dictate of spare temperance.

If every just man that now pines with want

Had but a moderate and beseeming[964] share

Of that which lewdly-pampered luxury

Now heaps upon some few with vast excess,

Nature’s full blessings would be well dispensed

In unsuperfluous,[965] ev’n proportion,[966]

And she no whit encumbered with her store.

And then the giver would be better thanked,

His praise due paid—for winish gluttony

N’er looks to Heav’n, amidst his gorgeous[967] feast,

But with besotted base ingratitude

Crams, and blasphemes his feeder.

Shall I go on?

Or have I said enough? To him that dares

Arm his profuse tongue with contemptuous words

Against the sun-clad power of chastity

Fain would I something say—yet to what end?

Thou hast nor ear nor soul to apprehend

The sublime notion and high mystery [968]

That must be uttered, to unfold the sage

And serious doctrine of virginity.

And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know

More happiness than this thy present lot.

Enjoy your dear wit and gay rhetoric

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence![969]

Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced.

Yet should I try, the uncontrollèd worth

Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits

To such a flame of sacred vehemence

That dumb things would be moved to sympathize,

And the brute earth would lend her nerves,[970] and shake

Till all thy magic structures reared so high

Were shattered into heaps o’er thy false head!

COMUS. She fables not. I feel that I do fear

Her words, set off by some superior power.

And, though not mortal, yet a cold shudd’ring dew

Dips me all o’er, as when the wrath of Jove

Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus[971]

To some of Saturn’s crew. I must dissemble

And try[972] her yet more strongly.

Come, no more.

This is mere moral babble and direct

Against the canon laws of our foundation.[973]

I must not suffer this, yet ’tis but the lees[974]

And settlings of a melancholy blood.

But this will cure all straight![975] One sip of this

Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight

Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste.

The brothers rush in, with swords drawn, wrest his glass
out of his hand, and break it against the ground. His rout
makes sign of resistance, but all are driven in. The
attendant spirit comes in.

SPIRIT. What? Have you let the false enchanter scape?

O ye mistook, ye should have snatched his wand

And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed,

And backward mutters of dissevering[976] power,

We cannot free the lady that sits here,

In stony fetters fixed and motionless.

Yet stay,[977] be not disturbed. Now I bethink me:

Some other means I have which may be used,

Which once of Melibaeus[978] old I learned—

The soothest[979] shepherd that e’er piped[980] on plains.

There is a gentle nymph, not far from hence,

That with moist curb[981] sways[982] the smooth Severn[983] stream.

Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure.

Whilom[984] she was the daughter of Locrine,[985]

That had the scepter from his father Brute.[986]

She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit

Of her enragèd stepdam, Gwendolen,

Commended her fair innocence to the flood[987]

That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course.

The water nymphs that in the bottom[988] played

Held up their pearlèd wrists, and took her in,

Bearing her straight to agèd Nereus[989] hall,

Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank[990] head

And gave her to his daughters to embathe

In nectared lavers,[991] strewn with asphodil,

And through the porch[992] and inlet of each sense

Dropped in ambrosial oils, till she revived

And underwent a quick immortal change,

Made goddess of the river. Still she retains

Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve

Visits the herds along the twilight meadows,

Helping all urchin[993] blasts[994] and ill luck signs

That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make,

Which she with precious vialed liquors heals.

For which the shepherds at their festivals

Carol[995] her goodness, loud in rustic lays,[996]

And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream,

Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils.

And, as the old swain said, she can unlock

The clasping[997] charm and thaw the numbing spell,

If she be right invoked in warbled song,

For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift

To aid a virgin such as was herself,

In hard besetting[998] need. This will I try

And add the power of some adjuring[999] verse.

SONG

Sabrina, fair,

Listen where thou are sitting

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,

In twisted braids of lillies knitting

The loose train of the amber-dropping hair.

Listen for dear honor’s sake,

Goddess of the silver lake,

Listen and save.

Listen and appear to us

In name of great Oceanus[1000] —

By th’ earth-shaking Neptune’s mace,

And Tethys’ grave, majestic pace—

By hoary Nereus’ wrinkled look,

And the Carpathian wizard’s hook—

By scaly Triton’s winding[1001] shell,

And old sooth-saying Glaucus’ spell—

By Leucothea’s[1002] lovely hands,

And her son that rules the strands[1003] —

By Thetis’ tinsel-slippered feet,

And the songs of Sirens’ sweet—

By dead Parthenope’s[1004] dear tomb,

And fair Ligéa’s golden comb,

Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,

Sleeking her soft, alluring locks—

By all the nymphs that nightly dance

Upon thy streams, with wily[1005] glance!

Rise, rise, and heave[1006] thy rosy head

From thy coral-paven bed,

And bridle[1007] in thy headlong wave

Till thou our summons answered have.

Listen and save.

Sabrina rises, attended by water-nymphs, and sings:

By the rushy-fringèd bank,

Where grows the willow and the osier dank,

My sliding chariot stays,

Thick set with agate and the azure sheen

Of turquoise blue, and emerald green

That in the channel strays,

Whilst from off the waters fleet [1008]

Thus I set my printless feet

O’er the cowslips’ velvet head,

That bends not as I tread.

Gentle swain, at thy request

I am here.

SPIRIT. Goddess dear,

We implore thy powerful hand

To undo the charmèd band[1009]

Of true virgin, here distressed[1010]

Through the force and through the wile

Of unblessed enchanter vile.

SABRINA. Shepherd, it is my office[1011] best

To help ensnarèd chastity.

Brightest lady, look on me!

Thus I sprinkle on thy breast

Drops that from my fountain pure

I have kept, of precious cure.[1012]

Thrice upon thy finger’s tip,

Thrice upon thy rubied lip!

Next, this marble-venomed seat

Smeared with gums[1013] of glutinous [1014] heat

I touch with chaste palms, moist and cold.

Now the spell hath lost his hold—

And I must haste, ere morning hour,

To wait [1015] in Amphitrite’s [1016] bow’r.

Sabrina descends, and the lady rises out of her seat.

SPIRIT. Virgin, daughter of Locrine,

Sprung of old Anchises’[1017] line,

May thy brimmèd waves, for this,

Their full tribute never miss

From a thousand petty[1018] rills[1019]

That tumble down the snowy hills.

Summer drought or singèd air

Never scorch thy tresses fair,

Nor wet October’s torrent flood

Thy molten crystal fill[1020] with mud.

May thy billows roll ashore

The beryl[1021] and the golden ore.

May thy lofty head be crowned

With many a tow’r and terrace round,

And here and there thy banks upon

With groves of myrrh and cinnamon.

Come lady, while Heav’n lends us grace

Let us fly this cursèd place,

Lest the sorcerer us entice

With some other new device.

Not a taste or needless sound

Till we come to holier ground.

I shall be your faithful guide

Through this gloomy covert [1022] wide,

And not many furlongs thence

Is your father’s residence,

Where this night are met in state

Many a friend to gratulate

His wishèd presence, and beside

All the swains that there abide,

With jigs and rural dance resort.[1023]

We shall catch them at their sport,

And our sudden coming there

Will double all their mirth and cheer.

Come, let us haste! The stars grow high—

But night sits monarch yet in the mid-sky.

The scene changes, presenting Ludlow Town and the [Lord] President’s castle. Then come in country dancers. After them, the attendant spirit, with the two brothers and the lady.

SONG

SPIRIT. Back, shepherds, back! Enough, your play,

Till next sunshine holiday.

Here be, without duck [1024] or nod,

Other trippings to be trod

Of lighter toes, and such court guise [1025]

As Mercury did first devise [1026]

With the mincing [1027] Dryades,[1028]

On the lawns and on the leas.[1029]

This second song presents them to their father and mother:

[SONG 2]

Noble lord, and lady bright,

I have brought ye new delight.

Here behold so goodly grown

Three fair branches of your own.

Heav’n hath timely tried their youth,

Their faith, their patience, and their truth,

And sent them here, through hard assays,[1030]

With a crown of deathless praise,

To triumph in victorious dance

O’er sensual folly and intemperance.

The dances ended, the spirit epiloguizes:

SPIRIT. To the ocean now I fly,

And those happy climes that lie

Where day never shuts his eye,

Up in the broad fields of the sky.

There I suck the liquid air

All amidst the gardens fair

Of Hesperus and his daughters three,

That sing about the golden tree.

Along the crispèd [1031] shades and bow’rs

Revels the spruce [1032] and jocund spring.

The Graces, and the rosy-bosomed Hours,

Thither all their bounties bring,

That [1033] there eternal summer dwells,

And west winds, with musky wing,

About the cedarn alleys [1034] fling

Nard,[1035] and cassia’s balmy smells.

Iris [1036] there with humid bow

Waters the odorous banks that blow[1037]

Flowers of more mingled hue

Than her purflèd [1038] scarf can shew,

And drenches with Elysian dew

(List, mortals, if your ears be true)

Beds of hyacinth and roses,

Where young Adonis [1039] oft reposes,

Waxing [1040] well of his deep wound

In slumber soft, and on the ground

Sadly sits the Assyrian queen.[1041]

But far above, in spangled sheen,

Celestial Cupid, her fair son advanced,[1042]

Holds his dear Psyche,[1043] sweet [1044] entranced

After her wand’ring labors long,

Till free consent the gods among

Make her his eternal bride

And from her fair, unspotted side

Two blissful twins are to be born,

Youth and Joy. So Jove hath sworn.

But now my task is smoothly [1045] done.

I can fly or I can run

Quickly to the green earth’s end,

Where the bowed welkin [1046] slow doth bend,

And from thence can soar as soon

To the corners [1047] of the moon.

Mortals that would follow me,

Love virtue: she alone is free.

She can teach ye how to climb

Higher than the sphery chime—[1048]

Or, if virtue feeble [1049] were,

Heav’n itself would stoop to her.

ON TIME[1050]

1633–37?

Fly, envious time, till thou run out thy race!

Call on the lazy leaden-stepping [1051] hours,

Whose speed is but the heavy plummet’s [1052] pace,

And glut thyself with what thy womb[1053] devours—

Which is no more than what is false and vain

And merely mortal dross.[1054]

So little is our loss,

So little is thy gain.

For when as each thing bad thou hast entombed,

And last of all thy greedy self consumed,

Then long eternity shall greet our bliss

With an individual kiss.[1055]

And joy shall overtake us as a flood

When everything that is sincerely good

And perfectly divine

With truth, and peace, and love shall ever shine

About the supreme throne

Of Him t’ whose happy-making sight alone,

When once our Heav’nly-guided soul shall climb,

Then all this earthy grossness quit,[1056]

Attired with stars we shall forever sit,

Triumphing over death, and chance, and thee, O time!

UPON THE CIRCUMCISION

1633–37

Ye flaming powers [1057] and wingèd warriors bright

That erst with music and triumphant song

First heard by happy watchful shepherd’s ear,

So sweetly sung your joy the clouds along,

Through the soft silence of the list’ning night,

Now mourn, and if sad share with us to bear

Your fiery essence can distill no tear,

Burn in your sighs and borrow

Seas wept from our deep sorrow.

He who with all Heav’n’s heraldry [1058] whilere[1059]

Entered the world, now bleeds to give us ease.

Alas, how soon our sin

Sore[1060] doth begin

His infancy to cease![1061]

O more exceeding love or law more just?

Just law, indeed—but more exceeding love!

For we, by rightful doom[1062] remediless,

Were lost in death till He that dwelt above,

High-throned in secret bliss, for us frail dust

Emptied His glory, ev’n to nakedness,

And that great cov’nant [1063] which we still transgress

Entirely satisfied,

And the full wrath beside

Of vengeful justice bore for our excess,

And seals obedience, first, with wounding smart

This day, but O, ere long

Huge pangs, and strong,

Will pierce more near His heart.

AT A SOLEMN MUSIC

1637

Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heav’n’s joy,

Sphere-born, harmonious sisters, voice and verse,

Wed your divine sounds, and mixed power employ,

Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce

And to our high-raised fantasy present

That undisturbèd song of pure content [1064]

Aye[1065] sung before the sapphire-colored throne

To Him that sits thereon,

With saintly shout and solemn jubilee,

Where the bright Seraphim in burning row

Their loud up-lifted Angel trumpets blow

And the Cherubic host, in thousand choirs,

Touch their golden harps of immortal wires,

With those just Spirits that wear victorious palms

Hymns devout and holy psalms

Singing everlastingly,

That we on earth with undiscording [1066] voice

May rightly answer that melodious noise,

As once we did, till disproportioned sin

Jarred against Nature’s chime and with harsh din

Broke the fair music that all creatures made

To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed

In perfect diapason,[1067] whilst they stood

In first[1068] obedience and their state of good.

O may we soon again renew that song

And keep in tune with Heav’n, till God ere-long

To His celestial consort [1069] us unite

To live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light.

LYCIDAS[1070]

1637

In this monody[1071] the author bewails a learnèd friend,[1072] unfortunately drowned in his passage from Chester [in W. England] on the Irish seas, 1637. And by occasion[1073] foretells the ruin of our corrupted clergy, then in their height.

Yet once more, O ye laurels,[1074] and once more,

Ye myrtles [1075] brown, with ivy [1076] never sear,[1077]

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude[1078]

And with forced [1079] fingers rude [1080]

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing [1081] year.

Bitter constraint,[1082] and sad occasion dear,

Compels me to disturb your season due,

For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,

Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer.

Who would not sing for Lycidas? He well knew

Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.

He must not float upon his wat’ry bier

Unwept, and welter [1083] to the parching[1084] wind,

Without the meed [1085] of some melodious tear.

Begin then, sisters of the sacred well,[1086]

That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring,

Begin, and somewhat [1087] loudly sweep the string.

Hence with denial vain, and coy[1088] excuse!

So may[1089] some gentle[1090] muse

With lucky[1091] words favor [1092] my destined [1093] urn[1094]

And, as he passes, turn

And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud.[1095]

For we were nursed upon the self-same hill,

Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill.[1096]

Together both, ere the high lawns[1097] appeared

Under the opening eye-lids of the morn,

We drove[1098] afield, and both together heard

What time[1099] the gray-fly [1100] winds[1101] her sultry[1102] horn,

Batt’ning[1103] our flocks with the fresh dews of night,

Oft till the star[1104] that rose at ev’ning bright

Toward Heav’n’s descent had sloped his westering wheel.[1105]

Meanwhile, the rural ditties were not mute,

Tempered [1106] to th’ oaten[1107] flute.

Rough satyrs[1108] danced, and fauns with clov’n heel

From the glad sound would not be absent long.

And old Damoetas[1109] loved to hear our song.

But O the heavy change, now thou art gone,

Now thou art gone and never must return!

Thee, shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves,

With wild thyme and the gadding [1110] vine o’er-grown,

And all their echoes mourn.

The willows, and the hazel copses green,

Shall now no more be seen

Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays.[1111]

As killing as the canker [1112] to the rose,

Or taint-worm[1113] to the weanling [1114] herds that graze,

Or frost to flow’rs, that their gay wardrobe wear,

When first the white thorn blows—[1115]

Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd’s ear.

Where were ye, nymphs, when the remorseless deep

Closed o’er the head of your loved Lycidas?

For neither were ye playing on the steep,[1116]

Where your old bards,[1117] the famous Druids lie,

Nor on the shaggy top of Mona[1118] high,

Nor yet where Deva [1119] spreads her wizard [1120] stream:

Aye me, I fondly dream!

Had ye been there, for what could that have done?

What could the muse [1121] herself, that [1122] Orpheus bore,[1123]

The muse herself, for her enchanting [1124] son

Whom universal [1125] nature did lament,

When by the rout [1126] that made the hideous roar

His goary visage [1127] down the stream was sent,

Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore.

Alas! What boots [1128] it, with incessant care

To tend the homely [1129] slighted shepherd’s trade,

And strictly meditate the thankless muse?

Were it not better done, as others use,

To sport [1130] with Amaryllis [1131] in the shade,

Or with the tangles of Neaera’s [1132] hair?

Fame is the spur that the clear [1133] spirit doth raise [1134]

(That last infirmity of noble mind!)

To scorn delights, and live laborious days.

But the fair guerdon,[1135] when we hope to find,[1136]

And think to burst out into sudden blaze,

Comes the blind Fury [1137] with th’ abhorrèd shears

And slits the thin-spun life. But not the praise,

Phoebus [1138] replied, and touched my trembling ears.

Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,

Nor in the glistering [1139] foil [1140]

Set off to th’ world, nor in broad rumor [1141] lies,

But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes

And perfect witness of all-judging Jove,

As he pronounces lastly [1142] on each deed.

Of so much fame in Heav’n expect thy meed.[1143]

O fountain Arethuse,[1144] and thou honored flood,[1145]

Smooth-sliding Mincius,[1146] crowned with vocal reeds,

That strain I heard was of a higher mood.

But now my oat [1147] proceeds

And listens to the herald of the sea [1148]

That came in Neptune’s plea.

He asked the waves, and asked the felon [1149] winds,

What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain?

And questioned every gust of rugged [1150] wings[1151]

That blows from off each beakèd [1152] promontory.

They knew not of his story,

And sage Hippotades [1153] their answer brings;

That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed,

The air was calm, and on the level brine

Sleek Panope [1154] with all her sisters played.

It was that fatal and perfidious bark,

Built in[1155] th’ eclipse[1156] and rigged with curses dark,[1157]

That sunk so low that sacred head of thine.

Next Camus,[1158] reverend sire, went footing slow,

His mantle hairy, and his bonnet [1159] sedge,[1160]

Inwrought[1161] with figures dim, and on the edge

Like to that sanguine flower [1162] inscribed with woe.

“Ah! Who hath reft [1163] (quoth he) my dearest pledge?”[1164]

Last came, and last did go,

The pilot of the Galilean lake.[1165]

Two massy keys he bore, of metals twain,

(The golden opes, the iron shuts amain).[1166]

He shook his mitered locks, and stern bespake:

“How well could I have spared for thee, young swain,

Anow[1167] of such as for their belly’s sake

Creep and intrude, and climb into the fold?

Of other care they little reck’ning make

Than how to scramble at the shearers’ feast

And shove away the worthy bidden[1168] guest.

Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold

A sheep-hook, or have learned ought else the least

That to the faithfull herdsman’s art belongs!

What recks it them? What need they? They are [1169] sped,[1170]

And when they list,[1171] their lean and flashy[1172] songs

Grate on their scrannel [1173] pipes of wretched straw.

The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed,

But swoll’n with wind and the rank [1174] mist [1175] they draw,[1176]

Rot inwardly, and foul contagion[1177] spread,

Besides what the grim[1178] wolf with privy [1179] paw

Daily devours apace,[1180] and nothing said!

But that two-handed engine[1181] at the door

Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.”

Return, Alpheus,[1182] the dread[1183] voice is past

That shrunk thy streams. Return, Sicilian muse,[1184]

And call the vales[1185] and bid them hither cast

Their bells[1186] and flowrets[1187] of a thousand hues.

Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use[1188]

Of shades and wanton[1189] winds, and gushing brooks,

On whose fresh[1190] lap[1191] the swart star [1192] sparely [1193] looks,

Throw hither all your quaint[1194] enamelled eyes[1195]

That on the green turf suck the honeyed show’rs

And purple all the ground with vernal [1196] flow’rs.

Bring the rath[1197] primrose that forsaken dies,

The tufted crow-toe, and pale gessamine,

The white pink, and the pansy freaked[1198] with jet,

The glowing violet,

The muskrose, and the well attired woodbine,

With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head

And every flower that sad [1199] embroidery wears:

Bid amaranthus all his beauties shed,

And daffodillies fill their cups with tears,

To strew the laureate [1200] hearse[1201] where Lycid’ lies.

For so to interpose[1202] a little ease

Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.

Aye me! Whilst thee the shores and sounding seas

Wash far away, where’er thy bones are hurled,

Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides[1203]

Where thou perhaps under the whelming[1204] tide

Visit’st the bottom of the monstrous[1205] world,

Or whether thou to our moist [1206] vows denied [1207]

Sleep’st, by the fable of Bellerus[1208] old,

Where the great vision of the guarded mount[1209]

Looks toward Namancos[1210] and Bayona’s [1211] hold—

Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth,[1212]

And O, ye dolphins, waft [1213] the hapless youth.

Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more,

For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead,

Sunk though he be beneath the wat’ry floor!

So sinks the day-star [1214] in the ocean bed

And yet anon[1215] repairs [1216] his drooping head

And tricks[1217] his beams, and with new spangled ore [1218]

Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.

So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high,

Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves!

Where other groves and other streams along

With nectar pure his oozy [1219] locks he laves[1220]

And hears the unexpressive [1221] nuptial song

In the blest kingdoms meek, of joy and love.

There entertain him all the saints above,

In solemn [1222] troops,[1223] and sweet societies [1224]

That sing, and singing in their glory move,[1225]

And wipe the tears forever from his eyes.

Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more!

Henceforth thou art the genius [1226] of the shore

In thy large [1227] recompense,[1228] and shalt be good

To all that wander in that perilous flood.

Thus sang the uncouth [1229] swain to th’ oaks and rills,[1230]

While the still morn went out with sandals gray.

He touched the tender stops of various quills,[1231]

With eager thought warbling his Doric [1232] lay.

And now the sun had stretched out [1233] all the hills,

And now was dropped into the western bay.

At last he rose and twitched [1234] his mantle blue:

Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.

THE FIFTH ODE OF HORACE, BOOK ONE

1646–48?

Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa, rendered almost word for word, without rhyme, according to the Latin measure,[1235] as near as the [English] language will permit.

What slender youth, bedewed with liquid odors,

Courts [1236] thee on roses in some pleasant cave,

Pyrrha? For whom bind’st thou

In wreaths thy golden hair,

Plain [1237] in thy neatness? [1238] O how oft shall he

On faith and changèd gods complain, and seas

Rough with black winds and storms

Unwonted [1239] shall admire,[1240]

Who now enjoys thee credulous [1241] all gold?

Who always vacant,[1242] always amiable,

Hopes thee, of flattering gales

Unmindful? Hapless [1243] they

To whom thou, untried,[1244] seem’st fair. Me in my vowed [1245]

Picture [1246] the sacred wall declares t’ have hung [1247]

My dank and drooping weeds [1248]

To the stern god of sea.

ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE, UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT

1647?

Because you have thrown off your prelate [1249] lord

And with stiff [1250] vows renounced his liturgy,[1251]

To seize the widowed whore, plurality [1252]

From them whose sin ye envied, not abhorred,

Dare ye for this adjure[1253] the civil sword

To force our consciences that Christ set free,

And ride us with a classic[1254] hierarchy

Taught ye by mere A.S.[1255] and Rutherford?[1256]

Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent

Would have been held in high esteem with Paul

Must now be named and printed heretics

By shallow Edwards[1257] and Scotch what d’ye call.[1258]

But we do hope to find out all your tricks,

Your plots and packings, worse than those of Trent,[1259]

That so the Parliament

May with their wholesome and preventive shears

Clip your phylactries[1260] (though bauk[1261] your ears),

And succor our just fears

When they shall read this clearly in your charge:

New presbyter is but old priest writ large.

PSALMS 1–8[1262]

August 1653

1

Blessed is the man who hath not walked astray

In counsel of the wicked, and i’ th’ way

Of sinners hath not stood, and in the seat

Of scorners hath not sat. But in the great

Jehovah’s Law is ever his delight,

And in His Law he studies day and night.

He shall be as a tree which, planted, grows

By wat’ry streams, and in his season knows

To yield his fruit, and his leaf shall not fall,

And what he takes in hand shall prosper all.

Not so the wicked, but as chaff [1263] which fanned [1264]

The wind drives, so the wicked shall not stand [1265]

In judgment, or abide [1266] their trial then,

Nor sinners in the assembly of just men.

For the Lord knows th’ upright way of the just,

And the way of bad men to ruin[1267] must.

2

Why do the gentiles[1268] tumult,[1269] and the nations

Muse[1270] a vain thing? The kings of the earth upstand [1271]

With power, and princes in their congregations [1272]

Lay deep their plots together, through each land,

Against the Lord and His Messiah dear.

Let us break off, say they, by strength of hand,

Their bonds, and cast from us, no more to wear,

Their twisted cords. He who in Heav’n doth dwell

Shall laugh. The Lord shall scoff [1273] them, then, severe,[1274]

Speak to them in His wrath, and in His fell [1275]

And fierce [1276] ire [1277] trouble [1278] them. But I saith He

Anointed hath my King (though ye rebel)

On Sion, my holy hill. A firm decree

I will declare. The Lord to me hath said

Thou art my Son, I have begotten thee

This day. Ask of me, and the grant is made.

As thy possession I on thee bestow

Th’ heathen, and as thy conquest (to be swayed [1279] )

Earth’s utmost bounds. Them shalt thou bring full low,

With iron scepters bruised,[1280] and them disperse

Like to a potter’s vessel, shivered so.

And now be wise at length,[1281] ye kings averse,[1282]

Be taught, ye judges of the earth—with fear

Jehovah serve, and let your joy converse[1283]

With trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he appear

In anger and ye perish in the way,[1284]

If once his wrath take fire, like fuel sere.[1285]

Happy all those who have him in their stay.[1286]

3

When he[1287] fled from Absalom.[1288]

Lord, how many are my foes,

How many those

That in arms against me rise.

Many are they

That of my life distrustfully thus say:

No help for him in God there lies.

But thou, Lord, art my shield, my glory,

Thee through my story[1289]

Th’ exalter of my head I count.

Aloud I cried

Unto Jehovah. He full soon[1290] replied

And heard me from His holy mount.

I lay and slept, I waked again,

For my sustain

Was the Lord. Of many millions

The populous rout [1291]

I fear not, though encamping round about

They pitch[1292] against me their pavilions.[1293]

Rise, Lord. Save me, my God, for Thou

Hast smote [1294] ere now

On the cheek-bone all my foes,

Of men abhorred

Hast broke the teeth. This help was from the Lord,

Thy blessing on Thy people flows.

4

Answer me when I call,

God of my righteousness.[1295]

In straits[1296] and in distress

Thou didst me disenthrall [1297]

And set at large.[1298] Now spare,

Now pity me, and hear my earnest prayer.

Great ones, how long will ye

My glory have in scorn?

How long be this forborn[1299]

Still to love vanity,

To love, to seek, to prize

Things false and nothing else but lies?

Yet know the Lord hath chose,

Chose to Himself apart

The good and meek of heart

(For whom to choose He knows).

Jehovah from on high

Will hear my voice, what time[1300] to Him I cry.

Be awed,[1301] and do not sin.

Speak to your hearts alone,

Upon your beds, each one,

And be at peace within.

Offer the offerings just[1302]

Of righteousness, and in Jehovah trust.

Many there be that say

“Who yet will show us good?”

Talking like this world’s brood! [1303]

But Lord, thus let me pray:

On us lift up the light,

Lift up the favor of Thy count’nance bright.

Into my heart more joy

And gladness Thou has put

Than when a year of glut[1304]

Their stores[1305] doth over-cloy[1306]

And from their plenteous grounds[1307]

With vast increase their corn[1308] and wine abounds.

In peace at once will I

Both lay me down and sleep,

For Thou alone dost keep

Me safe, where ere I lie.

As in a rocky cell

Thou, Lord, alone in safety mak’st me dwell.

5

Jehovah, to my words give ear,

My meditation[1309] weigh,[1310]

The voice of my complaining hear,

My King and God, for unto Thee I pray.

Jehovah, Thou my early voice

Shalt in the morning hear.

I’ th’ morning I to Thee, with choice,[1311]

Will rank [1312] my prayers and watch till Thou appear.

For Thou art not a God that takes

In wickedness delight.

Evil with Thee no biding [1313] makes.

Fools or madmen stand [1314] not within Thy sight.

All workers of iniquity [1315]

Thou hat’st, and them unblessed

Thou wilt destroy that speak a lie.

The bloodi’ and guileful [1316] man God doth detest.

But I will in Thy mercies dear,

Thy numerous mercies go

Into Thy house, I in Thy fear [1317]

Will towards Thy holy temple worship low.[1318]

Lord, lead me in Thy righteousness,

Lead me because of those

That do observe [1319] if I transgress.[1320]

Set Thy right ways before [1321] where my step goes.

For in his [1322] falt’ring mouth unstable [1323]

No word is firm or sooth:[1324]

Their inside troubles miserable,

An open grave their throat; their tongue they smooth.

God, find them guilty, let them fall

By their own counsels quelled,[1325]

Push them in their rebellions all

Still on, for against Thee they have rebelled.

Then all who trust in Thee shall bring

Their joy, while Thou from blame

Defend’st them. They shall ever sing

And shall triumph in Thee, who love Thy name.

For Thou, Jehovah, wilt be found

To bless the just man still,[1326]

As with a shield. Thou will surround

Him with Thy lasting favor and good will.

6

Lord, in Thine anger do not reprehend [1327] me,

Nor in Thy hot displeasure me correct.

Pity me, Lord, for I am much deject,

Am very weak and faint. Heal and amend me,

For all my bones that even with anguish ache

Are troubled, yea, my soul is troubled sore.

And Thou, O Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, restore [1328]

My soul, O save me for Thy goodness sake,

For in death is no remembrance of Thee.

Who in the grave can celebrate Thy praise?

Wearied I am with sighing out my days,

Nightly my couch[1329] I make a kind of sea,

My bed I water with my tears, mine eye

Through grief consumes,[1330] is waxen [1331] old and dark

I’ th’ midst of all mine enemies, that mark.[1332]

Depart all ye that work iniquity! [1333]

Depart from me, for the voice of my weeping

The Lord hath heard, the Lord hath heard my prayer,

My supplication [1334] with acceptance fair

The Lord will own,[1335] and have me in His keeping.

Mine enemies shall be all blank [1336] and dashed [1337]

With much confusion, then grown red with shame

They shall return in haste the way they came,

And in a moment shall be quite abashed.[1338]

7

Upon the words of Chush, the Benjamite,[1339] against him.[1340]

Lord, my God, to Thee I fly,

Save me and secure me under

Thy protection, while I cry,

Lest as a lion (and no wonder)

He haste to tear my soul asunder—

Tearing, and no rescue nigh.

Lord, my God, if I have thought

Or done this, if wickedness

Be in my hands, if I have wrought [1341]

Ill to him that meant me peace,

Or to him have rendered [1342] less

And not freed my foe for naught,[1343]

Let th’ enemy pursue my soul

And overtake it, let me tread [1344]

My life down to the earth and roll

In the dust my glory dead—

In the dust, and there outspread

Lodge [1345] it with dishonor foul.

Rise, Jehovah, in Thine ire,[1346]

Rouse Thyself amidst the rage

Of my foes, that urge [1347] like fire,

And wake [1348] for me, their furi’[1349] assuage.[1350]

Judgment here[1351] thou didst engage[1352]

And command, which I desire.

So th’ assemblies of each nation

Will surround Thee, seeking right.

Thence to Thy glorious habitation

Return on high, and in their sight.

Jehovah judgeth most upright

All people, from this world’s foundation.[1353]

Judge me, Lord, be judge in this

According to my righteousness

And the innocence which is

Upon me. Cause at length to cease

Of evil men the wickedness,

And their power, that do amiss.[1354]

But the just establish[1355] fast,[1356]

Since Thou art the just God that tries[1357]

Hearts and reins.[1358] On God is cast

My defence, and in Him lies,

In Him who both just and wise

Saves th’ upright of heart at last.[1359]

God is a just judge, and severe,[1360]

And God is every day offended.

If th’ unjust will not forbear [1361]

His sword He whets,[1362] His bow hath bended

Already, and for him intended

The tools of death, that waits[1363] Him near.

(His arrows purposely made He

For them that persecute.)[1364] Behold,

He[1365] travels big [1366] with vanity,

Trouble he hath conceived of old

As in a womb, and from that mould

Hath at length brought forth a lie.

He digged a pit, and delved [1367] it deep,

And fell into the pit he made.

His mischief that due[1368] course[1369] doth keep,

Turns on his head, and his ill trade [1370]

Of violence will undelayed

Fall on his crown[1371] with ruin steep.[1372]

Then will I Jehovah’s praise

According to His justice raise,[1373]

And sing the name and deity

Of Jehovah, the most high.

8

O Jehovah, our Lord, how wondrous great

And glorious is Thy name through all the earth!

So as above the Heav’ns Thy praise to set

Out of the tender mouths of latest birth.

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou

Hast founded [1374] strength, because of all Thy foes,

To stint [1375] th’ enemy and slack [1376] th’ avenger’s brow

That bends his rage Thy providence t’ oppose.

When I behold Thy Heav’ns, Thy fingers’ art,

The moon and stars which Thou so bright hast set

In the pure firmament, then saith my heart:

O what is man, that Thou remembrest yet

And think’st upon him, or of man begot [1377]

That him Thou visit’st and of [1378] him art found.

Scarce to be less than gods Thou mad’st his lot,

With honor and with state[1379] Thou hast him crowned.

O’er the works of Thy hand Thou mad’st him lord.

Thou hast put all under his lordly feet

All flocks, and herds, by Thy commanding word,

All beasts that in the field or forest meet,[1380]

Fowl of the Heav’ns, and fish that through the wet

Sea-paths in shoals do slide. And know no dearth.[1381]

O Jehovah, our Lord, how wondrous great

And glorious is Thy name through all the earth.

PARADISE LOST

1642?–1655?

THE VERSE

The measure[1382] is English heroic verse[1383] without rhyme, as that of Homer in Greek and of Virgil in Latin, rhyme being no necessary adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verse (in longer works especially) but the invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter[1384] and lame meter—graced indeed, since, by the use of some famous modern poets, carried away by custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and constraint to express many things otherwise[1385] and for the most part worse than they would have expressed them. Not without cause, therefore, some both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note have rejected rhyme both in longer and shorter works, as have also long since our best English tragedies, as a thing of itself to all judicious ears trivial and of no musical delight, which [delight] consists only in apt numbers,[1386] fit [1387] quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another, not in the jingling sound of like endings, a fault avoided by the ancients both in poetry and all good oratory. This neglect, then, of rhyme so little is to be taken for a defect—though it may seem so, perhaps, to vulgar[1388] readers—that it rather is to be esteemed[1389] an example set, the first in English, of ancient liberty recovered to heroic poem from the troublesome and modern bondage of rhyming.

BOOK I

THE ARGUMENT

This first Book proposes first in brief the whole subject, man’s disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was placed; then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent, who, revolting from God, and drawing to his side many legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his crew into the great deep. Which action past over, the poem hastes into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell, described here not in the center (for Heaven and Earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest[1390] called Chaos. Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning lake, thunder-struck and astonished, after a certain space[1391] recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in order and dignity lay by him.

They confer of[1392] their miserable fall. Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded. They rise, their numbers, array of battle, their chief leaders named, according to the idols known afterwards in Canaan[1393] and the countries adjoining. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new world and new kind of creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy or report in Heaven—for that Angels were, long before this visible Creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council.

What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium, the palace of Satan, rises, suddenly built out of the deep. The infernal peers there sit in council.

1

Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

2

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal [1394] taste

3

Brought Death into the world, and all our woe

4

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man[1395]

5

Restore us and regain the blissful seat

6

Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top

7

Of Oreb,[1396] or of Sinai, didst inspire

8

That shepherd [1397] who first taught the chosen seed [1398]

9

In the beginning how the heavens and earth

10

Rose out of Chaos. Or if Sion hill[1399]

11

Delight thee more, and Siloa’s[1400] brook that flowed

12

Fast by [1401] the oracle of God,[1402] I thence

13

Invoke thy aid to my adventurous[1403] song

14

That with no middle flight intends to soar

15

Above th’Aonian mount,[1404] while it pursues

16

Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme

17

And chiefly thou, O Spirit,[1405] that dost prefer

18

Before [1406] all temples th’ upright heart and pure

19

Instruct me, for Thou know’st, Thou from the first

20

Wast present and, with mighty wings outspread

2

Dove-like sat’st brooding [1407] on the vast abyss

22

And mad’st it pregnant. What in me is dark [1408]

23

Illumine, what is low raise and support

24

That, to the height of this great argument

25

I may assert Eternal Providence

26

And justify the ways of God to men

27

Say first—for Heav’n hides nothing from thy view

28

Nor the deep tract of Hell—say first what cause

29

Moved our grand [1409] parents, in that happy state

30

Favored of Heav’n so highly, to fall off [1410]

31

From their Creator and transgress His will

32

For[1411] one restraint, lords of the world besides

33

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt

34

Th’ infernal Serpent, he it was whose guile

35

Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived

36

The mother of mankind, what time his pride

37

Had cast him out from Heav’n, with all his host

38

Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring

39

To set himself in glory above his peers

40

He trusted to have equalled the Most High

41

If he opposed and with ambitious aim

42

Against the throne and monarchy of God

43

Raised impious war in Heav’n and battle proud

44

With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power

45

Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal [1412] sky

46

With hideous[1413] ruin and combustion,[1414] down

47

To bottomless perdition,[1415] there to dwell

48

In adamantine [1416] chains and penal [1417] fire

49

Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms

50

Nine times the space that measures day and night

51

To mortal men, he, with his horrid [1418] crew, [1419]

52

Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, [1420]

53

Confounded,[1421] though immortal. But his doom[1422]

54

Reserved [1423] him to more wrath, for now the thought

55

Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

56

Torments him. Round he throws his baleful[1424] eyes

57

That witnessed [1425] huge affliction and dismay

58

Mixed with obdurate [1426] pride and steadfast hate

59

At once, as far as Angels ken,[1427] he views

60

The dismal [1428] situation waste [1429] and wild.[1430]

61

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round

62

As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames

63

No light but rather darkness visible

64

Served only to discover [1431] sights of woe

65

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

66

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

67

That comes to all, but torture without end

68

Still urges,[1432] and a fiery deluge, fed

69

With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.[1433]

70

Such place Eternal Justice had prepared

71

For those rebellious, here their prison ordained

72

In utter darkness, and their portion[1434] set

73

As far removed from God and light of Heav’n

74

As from the center thrice to th’ utmost pole

75

Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell

76

There the companions of his fall, o’erwhelmed

77

With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire

78

He soon discerns and, weltering[1435] by his side

79

One next himself in power, and next in crime

80

Long after known in Palestine, and named

81

Beelzebub. [1436] To whom th’ arch-enemy

82

And thence in Heav’n called Satan, with bold words

83

Breaking the horrid silence, thus began

84

“If thou beest he—but O how fallen! how changed

85

From him who, in the happy[1437] realms of light

86

Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine

87

Myriads,[1438] though bright!—if he whom mutual league, [1439]

88

United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

89

And hazard in the glorious enterprise

90

Joined with me once, now misery hath joined

91

In equal ruin—into what pit thou seest

92

From what height fall’n, so much the stronger proved

93

He with His thunder. And till then who knew

94

The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those

95

Nor what the potent victor in His rage

96

Can else inflict, do I repent, or change

97

(Though changed in outward luster) that fixed mind

98

And high disdain from sense of injured merit

99

That with the Mightiest raised me to contend

100

And to the fierce contentions[1440] brought along

101

Innumerable [1441] force of Spirits armed

102

That durst dislike His reign and, me preferring

103

His utmost power with adverse[1442] power opposed

104

In dubious[1443] battle on the plains of Heav’n,

105

And shook His throne. What though the field be lost

106

All is not lost—the unconquerable will

107

And study [1444] of revenge, immortal hate

108

And courage never to submit or yield

109

And what is else not to be overcome

110

That glory never shall His wrath or might

111

Extort from me. To bow and sue[1445] for grace [1446]

112

With suppliant [1447] knee, and deify His power

113

Who, from[1448] the terror[1449] of this arm, so late[1450]

114

Doubted [1451] His empire: that were low indeed

115

That were an ignominy and shame beneath

116

This downfall, since, by fate, the strength of gods

117

And this empyreal [1452] substance, cannot fail

118

Since, through experience of this great event

119

In arms not worse, in foresight [1453] much advanced,[1454]

120

We may with more successful hope resolve

121

To wage by force or guile eternal war

122

Irreconcilable to our grand foe

123

Who now triumphs, and in th’ excess of joy

124

Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heav’n.”

125

So spoke th’ apostate Angel, though in pain

126

Vaunting [1455] aloud, but racked with deep despair

127

And him thus answered, soon, his bold compeer:[1456]

128

“O Prince, O chief of many thronèd Powers[1457]

129

That led th’ embattled Seraphim[1458] to war

130

Under thy conduct [1459] and, in dreadful deeds

131

Fearless, endangered Heav’n’s perpetual [1460] King

132

And put to proof [1461] His high supremacy

133

Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate

134

Too well I see and rue [1462] the dire event

135

That, with sad overthrow and foul defeat

136

Hath lost us Heav’n, and all this mighty host

137

In horrible destruction laid thus low

138

As far as gods and Heav’nly Essences [1463]

139

Can perish—for the mind and spirit remains

140

Invincible, [1464] and vigor soon returns

141

Though all our glory extinct, and happy state

142

Here swallowed up in endless misery

143

But what if He our conqueror (whom I now

144

Of force[1465] believe almighty, since no less

145

Than such could have o’erpowered such force as ours

146

Have left us this our spirit and strength entire, [1466]

147

Strongly to suffer [1467] and support [1468] our pains

148

That we may so suffice[1469] His vengeful ire

149

Or do Him mightier service as His thralls[1470]

150

By right of war, whate’er His business be,

151

Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire

152

Or do His errands in the gloomy deep

153

What can it then avail, though yet we feel

154

Strength undiminished, or eternal being

155

To undergo eternal punishment

156

Whereto with speedy words th’ arch-fiend replied

157

“Fall’n Cherub, to be weak is miserable

158

Doing or suffering. But of this be sure

159

To do aught [1471] good never will be our task

160

But ever to do ill our sole delight

161

As being the contrary to His high will

162

Whom we resist. If then His providence

163

Out of our evil seek to bring forth good

164

Our labor must be to pervert that end

165

And out of good still [1472] to find means of evil

166

Which oft-times may succeed so as, perhaps

167

Shall grieve Him, if I fail not, and disturb[1473]

168

His inmost counsels[1474] from their destined [1475] aim

169

“But see! the angry victor hath recalled

170

His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

171

Back to the gates of Heav’n. The sulphurous hail

172

Shot after us in storm[1476] o’erblown, hath laid [1477]

173

The fiery surge[1478] that from the precipice

174

Of Heav’n received us falling, and the thunder

175

Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage

176

Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now

177

To bellow through the vast and boundless deep

178

Let us not slip [1479] th’ occasion, whether scorn

179

Or satiate[1480] fury yield it from our foe

180

“Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild

181

The seat of desolation, void of light

182

Save what the glimmering of these livid [1481] flames

183

Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend [1482]

184

From off the tossing of these fiery waves

185

There rest, if any rest can harbor [1483] there

186

And, re-assembling our afflicted [1484] Powers

187

Consult how we may henceforth most offend [1485]

188

Our enemy, our own loss how repair

189

How overcome this dire calamity

190

What reinforcement we may gain from hope

191

If not, what resolution from despair

192

Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, [1486]

193

With head uplift above the wave, and eyes

194

That sparkling blazed, his other parts besides

195

Prone on the flood,[1487] extended long and large

196

Lay floating many a rood,[1488] in bulk as huge

197

As whom the fables name of monstrous size

198

Titanian[1489] or earth-born,[1490] that warred on Jove

199

Briareos or Typhon, whom the den

200

By ancient Tarsus[1491] held,[1492] or that sea-beast

201

Leviathan,[1493] which God of all His works

202

Created hugest that swim th’ ocean-stream

203

Him, haply[1494] slumbering on the Norway foam,[1495]

204

The pilot of some small night-foundered [1496] skiff

205

Deeming[1497] some island, oft, as seamen tell

206

With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,[1498]

207

Moors by his side under the lee, [1499] while night

208

Invests[1500] the sea, and wishèd morn delays

209

So stretched out huge in length the arch-fiend lay

210

Chained on the burning lake, nor ever thence

211

Had risen or heaved [1501] his head, but that the will

212

And high permission of all-ruling Heav’n

213

Left him at large to his own dark designs

214

That with reiterated crimes he might

215

Heap on himself damnation, while he sought

216

Evil to others, and enraged might see

217

How all his malice served but to bring forth

218

Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shown

219

On man by him seduced, but on himself

220

Treble confusion,[1502] wrath, and vengeance poured

221

Forthwith[1503] upright he rears from off the pool

222

His mighty stature. On each hand the flames

223

Driv’n backward slope their pointing spires and, rolled

224

In billows, leave in th’ midst a horrid vale

225

Then with expanded [1504] wings he steers his flight

226

Aloft, incumbent[1505] on the dusky air

227

That felt unusual weight, till on dry land

228

He lights[1506] —if it were land that ever burned

229

With solid, as the lake with liquid fire

230

And such[1507] appeared in hue[1508] as when the force

231

Of subterranean wind transports a hill

232

Torn from Pelorus,[1509] or the shattered side

233

Of thundering Etna, whose combustible

234

And fuellèd entrails thence conceiving fire

235

Sublimed [1510] with mineral fury, aid the winds

236

And leave a singèd bottom[1511] all involved [1512]

237

With stench and smoke. Such resting found the sole

238

Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate

239

Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian[1513] flood [1514]

240

As[1515] gods, and by their own recovered strength

241

Not by the sufferance[1516] of supernal[1517] power

242

“Is this the region, this the soil, the clime

243

Said then the lost Archangel, “this the seat[1518]

244

That we must change for Heav’n?—this mournful gloom

245

For that celestial light? Be it so, since He

246

Who now is sov’reign can dispose[1519] and bid[1520]

247

What shall be right. Farthest from Him is best

248

Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme

249

Above His equals. Farewell, happy fields

250

Where joy forever dwells! Hail, horrors! hail

251

Infernal world! and thou, profoundest[1521] Hell

252

Receive thy new possessor—one who brings

253

A mind not to be changed by place or time

254

The mind is its own place, and in itself

255

Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.

256

What matter where, if I be still the same

257

And what I should be, all but [1522] less than He

258

Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least

259

We shall be free. Th’Almighty hath not built

260

Here for His envy, will not drive us hence

261

Here we may reign secure and, in my choice

262

To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell

263

Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav’n!

264

“But wherefore let we then our faithful friends

265

Th’ associates and co-partners of our loss

266

Lie thus astonished [1523] on th’ oblivious[1524] pool

267

And call them not to share with us their part

268

In this unhappy mansion,[1525] or once more

269

With rallied arms to try what may be yet

270

Regained in Heav’n, or what more lost in Hell

271

So Satan spoke; and him Beelzebub

272

Thus answered: “Leader of those armies bright

273

Which, but th’ Omnipotent, none could have foiled![1526]

274

If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge[1527]

275

Of hope in fears and dangers—heard so oft

276

In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge

277

Of battle, when it raged, in all assaults

278

Their surest signal—they will soon resume

279

New courage and revive, though now they lie

280

Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire

281

As we erewhile, astounded [1528] and amazed.[1529]

282

No wonder, fall’n such a pernicious[1530] height

283

He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend

284

Was moving toward the shore, his ponderous shield

285

Ethereal [1531] temper, [1532] massy, large, and round

286

Behind him cast. The broad circumference

287

Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

288

Through optic glass the Tuscan[1533] artist[1534] views

289

At evening, from the top of Fesolé

290

Or in Valdarno, to descry[1535] new lands

291

Rivers, or mountains in her spotty[1536] globe

292

His spear—to equal which the tallest pine

293

Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast

294

Of some great ammiral,[1537] were but a wand—[1538]

295

He walked with, to support uneasy[1539] steps

296

Over the burning marl,[1540] not like those steps

297

On Heaven’s azure. And the torrid clime

298

Smote[1541] on him sore besides, vaulted [1542] with fire

299

Nathless[1543] he so endured, till on the beach

300

Of that inflamèd [1544] sea he stood, and called

301

His legions, Angel forms, who lay entranced [1545]

302

Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks

303

In Vallombrosa,[1546] where th’ Etrurian[1547] shades

304

High over-arched, embow’r[1548] —or scattered sedge[1549]

305

Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed [1550]

306

Hath vexed [1551] the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o’erthrew

307

Busiris[1552] and his Memphian[1553] chivalry, [1554]

308

While with perfidious[1555] hatred they pursued

309

The sojourners[1556] of Goshen,[1557] who beheld

310

From the safe shore their floating carcases

311

And broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrewn

312

Abject [1558] and lost, lay these, covering the flood

313

Under amazement [1559] of their hideous[1560] change

314

He called so loud that all the hollow deep

315

Of Hell resounded: “Princes, Potentates,[1561]

316

Warriors, the Flow’r of Heav’n—once yours, now lost

317

If such astonishment[1562] as this can seize

318

Eternal Spirits! Or have ye chosen this place

319

After the toil of battle to repose

320

Your wearied virtue, [1563] for the ease you find

321

To slumber here, as in the vales of Heav’n?

322

Or in this abject posture have ye sworn

323

To adore the conqueror, who now beholds

324

Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood

325

With scattered arms and ensigns,[1564] till anon[1565]

326

His swift pursuers from Heav’n-gates discern

327

Th’ advantage, and descending, tread us down

328

Thus drooping, or with linkèd thunderbolts

329

Transfix[1566] us to the bottom of this gulf? [1567]

330

Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n!”

331

They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung

332

Upon the wing, [1568] as when men wont [1569] to watch

333

On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread

334

Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake

335

Nor did they not perceive the evil plight

336

In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel

337

Yet to their general’s voice they soon obeyed

338

Innumerable. As when the potent rod

339

Of Amram’s son,[1570] in Egypt’s evil day

340

Waved round the coast, up-called a pitchy[1571] cloud

341

Of locusts, warping[1572] on the eastern wind

342

That o’er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung

343

Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile

344

So numberless were those bad Angels seen

345

Hovering on wing under the cope[1573] of Hell

346

’Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires

347

Till, as a signal giv’n, th’ uplifted spear

348

Of their great sultan waving to direct

349

Their course, in even balance down they light[1574]

350

On the firm[1575] brimstone, [1576] and fill all the plain

351

A multitude like which the populous North[1577]

352

Poured never from her frozen loins to pass

353

Rhine or the Danau,[1578] when her barbarous sons

354

Came like a deluge on the South and spread

355

Beneath[1579] Gibraltar to the Libyan sands

356

Forthwith,[1580] from every squadron and each band

357

The heads and leaders thither haste, where stood

358

Their great commander—godlike shapes, and forms

359

Excelling [1581] human; princely Dignities

360

And Powers that erst [1582] in Heav’n sat on thrones

361

Though of their names in Heav’nly records now

362

Be no memorial, blotted out and razed

363

By their rebellion, from the Books of Life. [1583]

364

Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve

365

Got them new names, till wand’ring o’er the earth

366

(Through God’s high sufferance)[1584] for the trial [1585] of man

367

By falsities and lies the greatest part

368

Of mankind they corrupted to forsake

369

God their Creator, and th’ invisible

370

Glory of Him that made them to transform

371

Oft to the image of a brute, adorned

372

With gay [1586] religions full of pomp and gold

373

And devils to adore for deities

374

Then were they known to men by various names

375

And various idols through the heathen world

376

Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who last

377

Roused from their slumber on that fiery couch,[1587]

378

At their great emperor’s call, as next in worth

379

Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,[1588]

380

While the promiscuous[1589] crowd stood yet aloof?[1590]

381

The chief [1591] were those who, from the pit of Hell

382

Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix[1592]

383

Their seats, long after, next the seat of God

384

Their altars by His altar, gods adored

385

Among the nations round, and durst abide[1593]

386

Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned

387

Between the Cherubim, yea, often placed

388

Within His sanctuary itself their shrines

389

Abominations!—and with cursèd things

390

His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned,[1594]

391

And with their darkness durst affront [1595] His light

392

First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood

393

Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears

394

Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels[1596] loud

395

Their children’s cries unheard that passed through fire

396

To his grim[1597] idol. Him the Ammonite[1598]

397

Worshipped in Rabba[1599] and her wat’ry plain

398

In Argob[1600] and in Basan,[1601] to the stream

399

Of utmost Arnon.[1602] Nor content with such

400

Audacious [1603] neighborhood, the wisest heart

401

Of Solomon he led by fraud to build

402

His[1604] temple right against the temple of God

403

On that opprobrious [1605] hill, and made his grove

404

The pleasant valley of Hinnom,[1606] Tophet [1607] thence

405

And black Gehenna [1608] called, the type [1609] of Hell

406

Next Chemos,[1610] th’ obscene[1611] dread [1612] of Moab’s[1613] sons

407

From Aroar[1614] to Nebo[1615] and the wild

408

Of southmost Abarim,[1616] in Hesebon[1617]

409

And Horonaim,[1618] Seon’s [1619] realm, beyond

410

The flow’ry dale of Sibma[1620] clad with vines

411

And Eléalé [1621] to th’ asphaltic pool.[1622]

412

Peor [1623] his other name, when he enticed

413

Israel in Sittim,[1624] on their march from Nile, [1625]

414

To do him wanton[1626] rites, which cost them woe

415

Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged

416

Ev’n to that hill of scandal,[1627] by the grove

417

Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by [1628] hate

418

Till good Josiah[1629] drove them thence to Hell

419

With these came they who, from the bord’ring flood

420

Of old Euphrates[1630] to the brook[1631] that parts

421

Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names

422

Of Baalim[1632] and Ashtaroth[1633] —those male

423

These feminine. For Spirits, when they please

424

Can either sex assume, or both, so soft

425

And uncompounded [1634] is their essence pure

426

Not tied or manacled with joint or limb

427

Nor founded [1635] on the brittle strength of bones

428

Like cumbrous[1636] flesh, but in what shape they choose

429

Dilated [1637] or condensed, bright or obscure

430

Can execute their airy purposes

431

And works of love or enmity [1638] fulfil

432

For those the race of Israel oft forsook

433

Their Living Strength, and unfrequented [1639] left

434

His righteous altar, bowing lowly down

435

To bestial gods, for which their heads as low

436

Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear

437

Of despicable [1640] foes.

With these in troop

438

Came Astoreth,[1641] w

439

Astarté, queen of heaven, with crescent horns

440

To whose bright image nightly by the moon

441

Sidonian[1642] virgins paid their vows and songs

442

In Sion[1643] also not unsung, where stood

443

Her temple on th’ offensive[1644] mountain, built

444

By that uxorious[1645] king [1646] whose heart, though large

445

Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell

446

To idols foul.

Thammuz [1647] came next behind

447

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured

448

The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

449

In amorous ditties all a summer’s day

450

While smooth Adonis[1648] from his native rock

451

Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood

452

Of Thammuz yearly wounded. The love-tale

453

Infected Sion’s daughters with like heat

454

Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch[1649]

455

Ezekiel [1650] saw, when by the vision led

456

His eye surveyed the dark idolatries

457

Of alienated Judah.[1651]

Next came one

458

Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark [1652]

459

Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopped off

460

In his own temple, [1653] on the grunsel-edge, [1654]

461

Where he fell flat and shamed his worshippers

462

Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man

463

And downward fish, yet [1655] had his temple high

464

Reared in Azotus,[1656] dreaded through the coast

465

Of Palestine, in Gath [1657] and Ascalon,[1658]

466

And Accaron[1659] and Gaza’s[1660] frontier bounds

467

Him followed Rimmon,[1661] whose delightful seat

468

Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks

469

Of Abbana[1662] , [1663] lucid [1664] streams.[1665]

470

He also against the house of God was bold

471

A leper [1666] once he lost, and gained a king

472

Ahaz,[1667] his[1668] sottish[1669] conqueror, whom he drew[1670]

473

God’s altar to disparage and displace

474

For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn

475

His odious offerings, and adore the gods

476

Whom he[1671] had vanquished.

After these appeared

477

A crew who, under names of old renown

478

Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train—[1672]

479

With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused [1673]

480

Fanatic Egypt and her priests to seek

481

Their wand’ring gods disguised in brutish forms

482

Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape

483

Th’ infection, when their borrowed gold composed [1674]

484

The calf [1675] in Oreb,[1676] and the rebel king[1677]

485

Doubled that sin in Bethel [1678] and in Dan,[1679]

486

Lik’ning his Maker to the grazèd ox—[1680]

487

Jehovah, who in one night, when he[1681] passed

488

From Egypt marching, equalled [1682] with one stroke[1683]

489

Both her first-born and all her bleating gods

490

Belial [1684] came last, than whom a Spirit more lewd

491

Fell not from Heaven, or more gross[1685] to love

492

Vice for itself. To him no temple stood

493

Or altar smoked, yet who more oft than he

494

In temples and at altars, when the priest

495

Turns atheist, as did Eli’s sons, who filled

496

With lust and violence the house of God?[1686]

497

In courts and palaces he also reigns

498

And in luxurious[1687] cities, where the noise

499

Of riot [1688] ascends above their loftiest tow’rs,

500

And injury [1689] and outrage. [1690] And when night

501

Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons

502

Of Belial,[1691] flown[1692] with insolence and wine

503

Witness the streets of Sodom,[1693]
and that night

504

In Gibeah,[1694]
when the hospitable door

505

Exposed
[1695]
a matron,[1696]
to avoid worse rape.[1697]

506

These were the prime
[1698]
in order and in might.

507

The rest were long to tell, though far[1699]
renowned,[1700]

508

Th’ Ionian gods—of Javan’s issue[1701]
held

509

Gods, yet confessed
[1702]
later than Heav’n and Earth,

510

Their boasted parents; Titan,[1703]
Heav’n’s first-born,

511

With his enormous brood, and birthright seized

512

By younger Saturn. He[1704]
from mightier Jove,

513

His own and Rhea’s[1705]
son, like measure[1706]
found:

514

So Jove usurping reigned. These first in Crete

515

And Ida[1707]
known, thence on the snowy top

516

Of cold Olympus[1708]
ruled the middle air,[1709]

517

Their highest heav’n, or [1710] on the Delphian cliff,[1711]

518

Or in Dodona,[1712] and through all the bounds[1713]

519

Of Doric land,[1714] or who with Saturn old

520

Fled over Adria[1715] to th’ Hesperian[1716] fields

521

And o’er the Celtic roamed the utmost isles.[1717]

522

All these and more came flocking, but with looks

523

Downcast and damp,[1718] yet such wherein appeared

524

Obscure [1719] some glimpse of joy to have found their chief [1720]

525

Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost

526

In loss itself, which on his countenance cast

527

Like[1721] doubtful[1722] hue. [1723] But he, his wonted [1724] pride

528

Soon recollecting, with high words that bore

529

Semblance[1725] of worth, not substance, gently raised

530

Their fainting courage and dispelled their fears

531

Then straight [1726] commands that, at the warlike sound

532

Of trumpets loud, and clarions,[1727] be upreared [1728]

533

His mighty standard.[1729] That proud honor claimed

534

Azazel [1730] as his right, a Cherub tall

535

Who forthwith from the glittering staff [1731] unfurled

536

Th’ imperial ensign, which, full high advanced,[1732]

537

Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind

538

With gems and golden luster rich emblazed

539

Seraphic arms and trophies, all the while

540

Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds

541

At which the universal host up-sent

542

A shout that tore Hell’s concave, [1733] and beyond

543

Frighted the reign[1734] of Chaos and old Night

544

All in a moment through the gloom were seen

545

Ten thousand banners rise into the air

546

With orient[1735] colors waving. With them rose

547

A forest huge of spears, and thronging helms[1736]

548

Appeared, and serried[1737] shields in thick array

549

Of depth immeasurable. Anon[1738] they move

550

In perfect phalanx[1739] to the Dorian mood [1740]

551

Of flutes and soft recorders[1741] —such as raised

552

To height of noblest temper[1742] heroes old

553

Arming to battle, and instead of rage

554

Deliberate valour breathed, firm, and unmoved

555

With dread of death to flight or foul retreat

556

Nor wanting [1743] power to mitigate [1744] and suage[1745]

557

With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase

558

Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain

559

From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they

560

Breathing united force with fixèd thought

561

Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed

562

Their painful steps o’er the burnt soil.

And now

563

Advanced in view they stand—a horrid [1746] front [1747]

564

Of dreadful length[1748] and dazzling arms,[1749] in guise [1750]

565

Of warriors old, with ordered [1751] spear and shield

566

Awaiting what command their mighty chief

567

Had to impose. [1752] He through the armèd files[1753]

568

Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse[1754]

569

The whole battalion views—their order due, [1755]

570

Their visages and stature as of gods

571

Their number last he sums.[1756] And now his heart

572

Distends[1757] with pride and hard’ning in his strength

573

Glories, for never since created man

574

Met such embodied [1758] force as, named [1759] with these

575

Could merit [1760] more than[1761] that small infantry

576

Warred on by cranes[1762] —though all the giant brood

577

Of Phlegra[1763] with th’ heroic race were joined

578

That fought at Thebes[1764] and Ilium,[1765] on each side

579

Mixed with auxiliar[1766] gods, and what resounds[1767]

580

In fable or romance of Uther’s son,[1768]

581

Begirt with[1769] British and Armoric[1770] knights

582

And all who since, baptized or infidel

583

Jousted [1771] in Aspramont,[1772] or Montalban,[1773]

584

Damasco, [1774] or Marocco, [1775] or Trebisond,[1776]

585

Or whom Biserta[1777] sent from Afric shore

586

When Charlemain with all his peerage fell

587

By Fontarabbia.[1778] Thus far these, beyond

588

Compare of [1779] mortal prowess, yet observed

589

Their dread [1780] commander. He, above the rest

590

In shape and gesture proudly eminent

591

Stood like a tow’r. His form had yet not lost

592

All her original brightness, nor appeared

593

Less than Archangel ruined, and th’ excess

594

Of glory obscured, as when the sun new-ris’n

595

Looks through the horizontal misty air

596

Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon

597

In dim eclipse, disastrous[1781] twilight sheds[1782]

598

On half the nations, and with fear of change

599

Perplexes[1783] monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone

600

Above them all th’Archangel, but his face

601

Deep scars of thunder had intrenched,[1784] and care

602

Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows

603

Of dauntless courage, and considerate[1785] pride

604

Waiting revenge. Cruel his eye, but cast[1786]

605

Signs of remorse and passion, to behold

606

The fellows[1787] of his crime, the followers rather

607

(Far other once beheld in bliss), condemned

608

For ever now to have their lot [1788] in pain

609

Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced[1789]

610

Of heav’n, and from eternal splendors flung

611

For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood

612

Their glory withered—as when Heaven’s fire

613

Hath scathed [1790] the forest oaks or mountain pines

614

With singèd top their stately [1791] growth, though bare

615

Stands on the blasted[1792] heath. He now prepared

616

To speak, whereat their doubled ranks they bend

617

From wing to wing, and half enclose him round

618

With all his peers. Attention held them mute

619

Thrice he assayed,[1793] and thrice, in spite of [1794] scorn

620

Tears, such as Angels weep, burst forth. At last

621

Words interwove with sighs found out their way

622

“O myriads of immortal Spirits! O Powers

623

Matchless, but [1795] with th’Almighty! And that strife

624

Was not inglorious, though th’ event[1796] was dire, [1797]

625

As this place testifies, and this dire change

626

Hateful to utter. But what power of mind

627

Foreseeing or presaging, [1798] from the depth

628

Of knowledge past or present, could have feared

629

How such united force of gods, how such

630

As stood like these, could ever know repulse?[1799]

631

For who can yet believe, though after loss

632

That all these puissant [1800] legions,[1801] whose exile

633

Hath emptied Heav’n, shall fail to re-ascend

634

Self-raised, and repossess their native seat

635

For me, be witness all the host of Heav’n,

636

If counsels[1802] different, or danger shunned

637

By me, have lost our hopes. But He who reigns

638

Monarch in Heav’n till then as one secure

639

Sat on His throne, upheld by old repute

640

Consent or custom, and His regal state

641

Put forth at full,[1803] but still His strength concealed

642

Which tempted our attempt, and wrought[1804] our fall

643

Henceforth His might [1805] we know, and know our own

644

So as not either to provoke, or dread

645

New war provoked. Our better part [1806] remains

646

To work in close[1807] design,[1808] by fraud or guile

647

What force effected[1809] not, that He no less

648

At length from us may find:[1810] who overcomes

649

By force hath overcome but half his foe

650

Space may produce new worlds—whereof so rife[1811]

651

There went a fame [1812] in Heav’n that He ere long

652

Intended to create, and therein plant

653

A generation whom His choice[1813] regard [1814]

654

Should favor equal to the sons of Heav’n.

655

Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps

656

Our first eruption[1815] —thither, or elsewhere

657

For this infernal pit shall never hold

658

Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th’ abyss

659

Long under darkness cover. [1816]

“But these thoughts

660

Full counsel must mature. Peace is despaired

661

For who can think submission? War, then, war

662

Open or understood, must be resolved

663

He spoke and, to confirm his words, outflew

664

Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs[1817]

665

Of mighty Cherubim: the sudden blaze

666

Far round illumined Hell. Highly [1818] they raged

667

Against the Highest, and fierce with graspèd [1819] arms

668

Clashed on their sounding[1820] shields the din of war

669

Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav’n.

670

There stood a hill not far, whose grisly [1821] top

671

Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire[1822]

672

Shone with a glossy scurf [1823] —undoubted sign

673

That in his womb was hid metallic ore

674

The work of sulphur. [1824] Thither, winged with speed

675

A numerous brigade hastened: as when bands

676

Of pioneers,[1825] with spade and pickaxe armed

677

Forerun[1826] the royal camp, to trench[1827] a field

678

Or cast[1828] a rampart.[1829] Mammon led them on—

679

Mammon, the least erected [1830] Spirit that fell

680

From Heav’n, for even in Heav’n his looks and thoughts

681

Were always downward bent, admiring more

682

The riches of Heav’n’s pavement, trodden gold

683

Than aught divine or holy else[1831] enjoyed

684

In vision beatific.[1832] By him first

685

Men also, and by his suggestion taught

686

Ransacked the center, [1833] and with impious hands

687

Rifled[1834] the bowels of their mother earth

688

For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew

689

Opened into the hill a spacious wound

690

And digged out ribs[1835] of gold. Let none admire[1836]

691

That riches grow in Hell: that soil may best

692

Deserve the precious bane. [1837] And here let those

693

Who boast in[1838] mortal things, and wond’ring tell

694

Of Babel, and the works of Memphian[1839] kings

695

Learn how their greatest monuments of fame

696

And strength, and art, are easily outdone

697

By Spirits reprobate, [1840] and in an hour

698

What in an age they, [1841] with incessant toil

699

And hands innumerable, scarce perform

700

Nigh[1842] on the plain, in many cells[1843] prepared

701

That underneath had veins of liquid fire

702

Sluiced[1844] from the lake, a second multitude

703

With wondrous art [1845] founded[1846] the massy[1847] ore

704

Severing[1848] each kind, and scummed[1849] the bullion dross.[1850]

705

A third as soon[1851] had formed within the ground

706

A various[1852] mould, and from the boiling cells

707

By strange[1853] conveyance filled each hollow nook

708

As in an organ, from one blast of wind

709

To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes

710

Anon[1854] out of the earth a fabric[1855] huge

711

Rose like an exhalation with the sound

712

Of dulcet [1856] symphonies[1857] and voices sweet

713

Built like a temple, where pilasters[1858] round

714

Were set, and Doric[1859] pillars overlaid

715

With golden architrave, [1860] nor did there want[1861]

716

Cornice[1862] or frieze, [1863] with bossy sculptures[1864] grav’n.

717

The roof was fretted [1865] gold. Not Babylon

718

Nor great Alcairo[1866] such magnificence

719

Equaled in all their glories, to enshrine

720

Belus or Serapis [1867] their gods, or seat [1868]

721

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

722

In wealth and luxury. Th’ ascending pile[1869]

723

Stood fixed [1870] her stately height, and straight the doors

724

Opening their brazen[1871] folds, discover, [1872] wide

725

Within, her ample spaces o’er the smooth

726

And level pavement. From the archèd roof

727

Pendant [1873] by subtle[1874] magic, many a row

728

Of starry lamps and blazing cressets,[1875] fed

729

With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light

730

As from a sky. The hasty [1876] multitude

731

Admiring entered, and the work some praise

732

And some the architect. His hand was known

733

In Heav’n by many a tow’red structure high

734

Where sceptered Angels held their residence

735

And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King

736

Exalted to such power, and gave to rule

737

Each in his hierarchy, the Orders bright

738

Nor was his name unheard or unadored

739

In ancient Greece. And in Ausonian[1877] land

740

Men called him Mulciber, [1878] and how he fell

741

From Heav’n they fabled,[1879] thrown by angry Jove

742

Sheer[1880] o’er the crystal battlements.[1881] From morn

743

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve

744

A summer’s day, and with the setting sun

745

Dropt from the zenith[1882] like a falling star

746

On Lemnos, th’Aegean isle. Thus they relate, [1883]

747

Erring, for he with this rebellious rout [1884]

748

Fell long before, nor aught availed him now

749

To have built in Heav’n high tow’rs, nor did he scape

750

By all his engines,[1885] but was headlong sent

751

With his industrious[1886] crew, to build in Hell

752

Meanwhile the wingèd heralds, by command

753

Of sov’reign power, with awful [1887] ceremony

754

And trumpet’s sound throughout the host [1888] proclaim

755

A solemn council forthwith to be held

756

At Pandemonium, the high capital

757

Of Satan and his peers.[1889] Their summons called

758

From every band and squarèd [1890] regiment

759

By place[1891] or choice the worthiest. They anon[1892]

760

With hundreds and with thousands trooping came

761

Attended.[1893] All access[1894] was thronged, the gates

762

And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall

763

(Though like a covered field, where champions bold

764

Wont[1895] ride in armed, and at the Soldan’s[1896] chair

765

Defied the best of Paynim[1897] chivalry

766

To mortal combat, or career[1898] with lance

767

Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air

768

Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees

769

In spring-time, when the sun with Taurus rides

770

Pour forth their populous youth about the hive

771

In clusters, they among fresh dews and flowers

772

Fly to and fro, or on the smoothèd plank

773

The suburb[1899] of their straw-built citadel

774

New rubbed with balm, expatiate[1900] and confer

775

Their state-affairs. So thick the airy crowd

776

Swarmed and were straitened,[1901] till, the signal given

777

Behold a wonder! They but now who seemed

778

In bigness to surpass earth’s giant sons

779

Now less than smallest dwarfs in narrow room

780

Throng numberless—like that pygmean race

781

Beyond the Indian mount,[1902] or faery elves

782

Whose midnight revels [1903] by a forest-side

783

Or fountain some belated [1904] peasant sees

784

Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon

785

Sits arbitress,[1905] and nearer to the earth

786

Wheels[1906] her pale course. [1907] They, on their mirth and dance

787

Intent, with jocund[1908] music charm his[1909] ear

788

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds

789

Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms

790

Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large, [1910]

791

Though without number still, amidst the hall

792

Of that infernal court.[1911] But far within

793

And in their own dimensions like themselves

794

The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim

795

In close recess and secret conclave[1912] sat

796

A thousand demi-gods on golden seats

797

Frequent [1913] and full. After short silence, then

798

And summons read, the great consult began

The End of the First Book

BOOK II

THE ARGUMENT

The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle be[1914] to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven. Some advise it, others dissuade. A third proposal is preferred,[1915] mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophesy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature equal or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created.

Their doubt who shall be sent on this difficult search. Satan, their chief, undertakes alone the voyage, is honored and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways and to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain[1916] the time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell Gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the great gulf[1917] between Hell and Heaven.

With what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the Power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought.

1

High on a throne of royal state, which far

2

Outshone the wealth of Ormus[1918] and of Ind,[1919]

3

Or where the gorgeous[1920] East with richest hand

4

Show’rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold

5

Satan exalted sat, by merit raised

6

To that bad eminence and, from despair

7

Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires

8

Beyond thus high, insatiate[1921] to pursue

9

Vain war with Heav’n and, by success[1922] untaught

10

His proud imaginations thus displayed

11

“Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav’n!—

12

For since no deep within her gulf [1923] can hold

13

Immortal vigor, [1924] though oppressed and fall’n,

14

I give not Heav’n for lost. From this descent

15

Celestial Virtues[1925] rising will appear

16

More glorious and more dread than from no fall

17

And trust themselves to fear no second fate

18

Me, though, just right [1926] and the fixed laws of Heav’n

19

Did first create your leader, next free choice

20

With what besides in council or in fight

21

Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss

22

Thus far at least recovered,[1927] hath much more

23

Established in a safe, unenvied throne

24

Yielded with full consent. The happier[1928] state

25

In Heav’n, which follows[1929] dignity, [1930] might draw

26

Envy from each inferior. But who here

27

Will envy whom the highest place exposes

28

Foremost to stand against the Thunderer’s aim

29

Your bulwark,[1931] and condemns to greatest share

30

Of endless pain? Where there is then no good

31

For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

32

From faction,[1932] for none sure will claim in Hell

33

Precedence, none whose portion is so small

34

Of present pain that with ambitious mind

35

Will covet more! With this advantage, then

36

To union, and firm faith, and firm accord

37

More than can be in Heav’n, we now return

38

To claim our just inheritance of old

39

Surer to prosper than prosperity

40

Could have assured us. And by what best way

41

Whether of open war or covert guile

42

We now debate. Who can advise may speak

43

He ceased. And next [1933] him Moloch, sceptered king,

44

Stood up—the strongest and the fiercest Spirit

45

That fought in Heav’n, now fiercer by despair

46

His trust[1934] was with th’ Eternal to be deemed

47

Equal in strength, and rather than be less

48

Cared not to be at all. With that care lost

49

Went all his fear—of God, or Hell, or worse

50

He recked[1935] not—and these words thereafter spoke:

51

My sentence[1936] is for open war. Of wiles

52

More unexpert, I boast not. Then let those

53

Contrive who need, or when they need; not now

54

For while they sit contriving, shall the rest

55

Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait

56

The signal to ascend—sit ling’ring here

57

Heav’n’s fugitives? and for their dwelling-place

58

Accept this dark opprobrious[1937] den of shame

59

The prison of His tyranny who reigns

60

By our delay? No! Let us rather choose

61

Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once

62

O’er Heav’n’s high tow’rs to force resistless way

63

Turning our tortures into horrid arms

64

Against the Torturer! When to meet the noise

65

Of His almighty engine, [1938] He shall hear

66

Infernal thunder and, for lightning, see

67

Black fire and horror shot with equal rage

68

Among His Angels, and His throne itself

69

Mixed with Tartarean[1939] sulphur and strange[1940] fire

70

His own invented torments. But perhaps

71

The way seems difficult, and steep to scale

72

With upright wing against a higher foe

73

Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench[1941]

74

Of that forgetful [1942] lake benumb not still

75

That in our proper[1943] motion we ascend

76

Up to our native seat; descent and fall

77

To us is adverse. [1944] Who but felt of late

78

When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear [1945]

79

Insulting, [1946] and pursued us through the deep

80

With what compulsion and laborious flight

81

We sunk thus low? Th’ ascent is easy, then

82

Th’ event[1947] is feared! Should we again provoke

83

Our stronger, some worse way His wrath may find

84

To our destruction, if there be in Hell

85

Fear to be worse destroyed! What can be worse

86

Than to dwell here, driv’n out from bliss condemned

87

In this abhorrèd[1948] deep to utter[1949] woe

88

Where pain of unextinguishable fire

89

Must exercise[1950] us without hope of end

90

The vassals[1951] of His anger, when the scourge

91

Inexorably, and the torturing hour

92

Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus

93

We should be quite abolished, and expire

94

What fear we then? What doubt we to incense[1952]

95

His utmost ire? which, to the height enraged

96

Will either quite consume us, and reduce

97

To nothing this essential[1953] —happier far

98

Than miserable to have eternal being

99

Or if our substance be indeed divine

100

And cannot cease to be, we are at worst

101

On this side nothing. And by proof we feel

102

Our power sufficient to disturb His Heav’n,

103

And with perpetual inroads to alarm

104

Though inaccessible, His fatal throne

105

Which if not victory, is yet revenge

106

He ended frowning, and his look denounced[1954]

107

Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous

108

To less than gods. On th’ other side up rose

109

Belial, in act more graceful and humane

110

A fairer person lost not Heav’n. He seemed

111

For dignity composed, and high exploit

112

But all was false and hollow, though his tongue

113

Dropped manna[1955] and could make the worse appear

114

The better reason, to perplex[1956] and dash[1957]

115

Maturest counsels, for his thoughts were low

116

To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds

117

Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear

118

And with persuasive accent thus began

119

“I should be much for open war, O peers,[1958]

120

As not behind in hate, if what was urged

121

Main reason to persuade immediate war

122

Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast

123

Ominous conjecture[1959] on the whole success,[1960]

124

When he who most excels in fact[1961] of arms

125

In what he counsels and in what excels

126

Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair

127

And utter dissolution[1962] as the scope[1963]

128

Of all his aim,[1964] after some dire revenge

129

First, what revenge? The tow’rs of Heav’n are filled

130

With armèd watch that render all access

131

Impregnable. Oft on the bordering deep

132

Encamp their legions, or with obscure[1965] wing

133

Scout far and wide into the realm of Night

134

Scorning surprise. Or could [1966] we break our way

135

By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise

136

With blackest insurrection to confound[1967]

137

Heav’n’s purest light, yet our great enemy

138

All incorruptible, would on His throne

139

Sit unpolluted, and th’ ethereal [1968] mould,[1969]

140

Incapable of stain, would soon expel

141

Her mischief, [1970] and purge off the baser[1971] fire

142

Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope

143

Is flat[1972] despair: we must exasperate

144

Th’Almighty victor to spend[1973] all His rage

145

And that must end us, that must be our cure

146

To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose, [1974]

147

Though full of pain, this intellectual being, [1975]

148

Those thoughts that wander through eternity

149

To perish rather, swallowed up and lost

150

In the wide womb of uncreated Night

151

Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows

152

Let this be good, whether our angry foe

153

Can give it, or will ever? How He can

154

Is doubtful; that He never will is sure

155

Will He, so wise, let loose at once His ire

156

Belike[1976] through impotence or unaware

157

To give His enemies their wish, and end

158

Them in His anger, whom His anger saves

159

To punish endless? ‘Wherefore cease we, then

160

Say they who counsel war: ‘we are decreed,[1977]

161

Reserved,[1978] and destined to eternal woe

162

Whatever doing, what can we suffer more

163

What can we suffer worse?’ Is this, then, worst

164

Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms

165

What when we fled amain,[1979] pursued and struck

166

With Heav’n’s afflicting thunder, and besought

167

The deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed

168

A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay

169

Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse.

170

What if the breath that kindled those grim fires

171

Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage

172

And plunge us in the flames? Or from above

173

Should intermitted [1980] vengeance arm again

174

His red right hand to plague us? What if all

175

Her stores were opened, and this firmament

176

Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire

177

Impendent[1981] horrors, threat’ning hideous fall

178

One day upon our heads, while we, perhaps

179

Designing or exhorting glorious war

180

Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled

181

Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey

182

Of racking[1982] whirlwinds, or for ever sunk

183

Under yon boiling ocean, wrapped in chains

184

There to converse with everlasting groans

185

Unrespited,[1983] unpitied, unreprieved

186

Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse

187

War, therefore, open or concealed, alike

188

My voice dissuades. For what can force or guile

189

With Him, or who deceive His mind, whose eye

190

Views all things at one view? He from Heav’n’s height

191

All these our motions vain sees and derides

192

Not more Almighty to resist our might

193

Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles

194

Shall we, then, live thus vile—the race of Heav’n

195

Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here

196

Chains and these torments? Better these than worse,

197

By my advice, since fate inevitable

198

Subdues us, and omnipotent decree

199

The victor’s will. To suffer, as to do,

200

Our strength is equal, nor the law unjust

201

That so ordains. This was at first resolved

202

If we were wise, against so great a foe

203

Contending, [1984] and so[1985] doubtful what might fall.[1986]

204

I laugh when those who at the spear are bold

205

And vent’rous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear

206

What yet they know must follow—to endure

207

Exile, or ignominy, [1987] or bonds, or pain

208

The sentence of their conqueror. This is now

209

Our doom,[1988] which if we can sustain and bear

210

Our Supreme foe in time may much remit[1989]

211

His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed,[1990]

212

Not mind[1991] us, not offending, satisfied

213

With what is punished, whence these raging fires

214

Will slacken, if His breath stir not their flames

215

Our purer essence then will overcome

216

Their noxious[1992] vapor or, inured,[1993] not feel

217

Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed [1994]

218

In temper and in nature, will receive

219

Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain

220

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light

221

Besides what hope the never-ending flight

222

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change

223

Worth waiting—since our present lot appears

224

For happy though but ill, for ill not worst

225

If we procure not to ourselves more woe

226

Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason’s garb

227

Counselled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth

228

Not peace. And after him thus Mammon spoke

229

“Either to disenthrone the King of Heav’n

230

We war, if war be best, or to regain

231

Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then

232

May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield

233

To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife

234

The former, vain to hope, argues as vain

235

The latter—for what place can be for us

236

Within Heav’n’s bound, unless Heav’n’s Lord supreme

237

We overpower? Suppose He should relent

238

And publish[1995] grace to all, on promise made

239

Of new subjection?[1996] With what eyes could we

240

Stand in His presence humble, and receive

241

Strict laws imposed, to celebrate His throne

242

With warbled hymns, and to His Godhead sing

243

Forced hallelujahs, while He lordly sits

244

Our envied sov’reign, and His altar breathes

245

Ambrosial odors and ambrosial flowers

246

Our servile offerings? This must be our task

247

In Heav’n, this our delight. How wearisome

248

Eternity so spent in worship paid

249

To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue

250

By force impossible, by leave obtained

251

Unacceptable, though in Heav’n, our state

252

Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek

253

Our own good from ourselves, and from our own

254

Live to[1997] ourselves, though in this vast recess

255

Free and to none accountable, preferring

256

Hard liberty before the easy yoke

257

Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear

258

Then most conspicuous when great things of [1998] small,

259

Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse, [1999]

260

We can create, and in what place soe’er

261

Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain

262

Through labor and endurance. This deep world

263

Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst

264

Thick clouds and dark doth Heav’n’s all-ruling Sire

265

Choose to reside, His glory unobscured

266

And with the majesty of darkness round

267

Covers His throne, from whence deep thunders roar,

268

Must’ring[2000] their rage, and Heav’n resembles Hell!

269

As He our darkness, cannot we His light

270

Imitate when we please? This desert soil

271

Wants[2001] not her hidden luster, gems and gold,

272

Nor want [2002] we skill or art from whence to raise

273

Magnificence. And what can Heav’n show more?

274

Our torments also may, in length of time,

275

Become our elements,[2003] these piercing fires

276

As soft as now severe, our temper changed

277

Into their temper, which must needs remove

278

The sensible[2004] of pain. All things invite

279

To peaceful counsels, and the settled state

280

Of order, how in safety best we may

281

Compose[2005] our present evils, with regard

282

Of what we are and where, dismissing quite

283

All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise.

284

He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled

285

Th’ assembly as when hollow rocks retain

286

The sound of blust’ring winds, which all night long

287

Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull

288

Seafaring men o’erwatched,[2006] whose barque[2007] by chance,

289

Or pinnace, [2008] anchors in a craggy bay

290

After the tempest. Such applause was heard

291

As Mammon ended, and his sentence[2009] pleased,

292

Advising peace, for such another field [2010]

293

They dreaded worse than Hell, so much the fear

294

Of thunder and the sword of Michael

295

Wrought[2011] still within them, and no less desire

296

To found[2012] this nether [2013] empire, which might rise,

297

By policy[2014] and long process[2015] of time,

298

In emulation[2016] opposite[2017] to Heav’n.

299

Which when Beelzebub perceived—than whom,

300

Satan except, none higher sat—with grave

301

Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed

302

A pillar of state. Deep on his front[2018] engrav’n

303

Deliberation sat, and public care,

304

And princely counsel in his face yet shone,

305

Majestic, though in ruin. Sage he stood

306

With Atlantean[2019] shoulders, fit to bear

307

The weight of mightiest monarchies. His look

308

Drew audience[2020] and attention still as night

309

Or summer’s noontide air, while thus he spoke:

310

“Thrones and Imperial Powers, offspring of Heav’n,

311

Ethereal Virtues! Or these titles now

312

Must we renounce and, changing style, be called

313

Princes of Hell? For so the popular vote

314

Inclines—here to continue, and build up here

315

A growing empire. Doubtless! While we dream,

316

And know not that the King of Heav’n hath doomed[2021]

317

This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat

318

Beyond His potent arm, to live exempt

319

From Heav’n’s high jurisdiction, in new league

320

Banded against His throne, but to remain

321

In strictest bondage, though thus far removed,

322

Under th’ inevitable[2022] curb,[2023] reserved[2024]

323

His captive multitude. For He, to be sure,

324

In height or depth, still first and last will reign

325

Sole king, and of His Kingdom lose no part

326

By our revolt, but over Hell extend

327

His empire, and with iron scepter rule

328

Us here, as with His golden[2025] those in Heav’n.

329

What sit we then projecting peace and war?

330

War hath determined [2026] us and foiled[2027] with loss

331

Irreparable; terms of peace yet none

332

Vouchsafed [2028] or sought. For what peace will be giv’n

333

To us enslaved, but custody severe,

334

And stripes[2029] and arbitrary punishment

335

Inflicted? And what peace can we return,[2030]

336

But, to our power, hostility and hate,

337

Untamed reluctance, [2031] and revenge, though slow,

338

Yet ever plotting how the conqueror least

339

May reap[2032] His conquest, and may least rejoice

340

In doing what we most in suffering feel?

341

Nor will occasion[2033] want,[2034] nor shall we need

342

With dangerous expedition[2035] to invade

343

Heav’n, whose high walls fear no assault or siege,

344

Or ambush from the deep. What if we find

345

Some easier enterprise?[2036] There is a place

346

(If ancient and prophetic fame[2037] in Heav’n

347

Err not)—another world, the happy seat

348

Of some new race, called man, about this time

349

To be created like to us, though less

350

In power and excellence, but favored more

351

Of Him who rules above. So was His will

352

Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath

353

That shook Heav’n’s whole circumference[2038] confirmed.

354

Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn

355

What creatures there inhabit, of what mould [2039]

356

Or substance, how endued,[2040] and what their power

357

And where their weakness: how attempted best,

358

By force or subtlety. Though Heav’n be shut,

359

And Heav’n’s high arbitrator[2041] sit secure

360

In His own strength, this place[2042] may lie exposed,

361

The utmost border of His Kingdom, left

362

To their defence who hold it. Here, perhaps,

363

Some advantageous act may be achieved

364

By sudden onset[2043] —either with Hell-fire

365

To waste[2044] His whole creation, or possess

366

All as our own, and drive, [2045] as we were driven,

367

The puny[2046] habitants, or if not drive,

368

Seduce them to our party, that their God

369

May prove their foe, and with repenting hand

370

Abolish His own works. This would surpass

371

Common revenge, and interrupt His joy

372

In our confusion, and our joy upraise

373

In His disturbance, when His darling sons,

374

Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse

375

Their frail original,[2047] and faded bliss—

376

Faded so soon! Advise if this be worth

377

Attempting, or to sit in darkness here

378

Hatching vain empires.” Thus Beelzebub

379

Pleaded his devilish counsel—first devised

380

By Satan, and in part proposed, for whence

381

But from the author of all ill could spring

382

So deep a malice, to confound[2048] the race

383

Of mankind in one root,[2049] and earth with Hell

384

To mingle and involve, done all to spite

385

The great Creator? But their spite still serves

386

His glory to augment. The bold design

387

Pleased highly those infernal States,[2050] and joy

388

Sparkled in all their eyes. With full assent

389

They vote, whereat his speech he thus renews:

390

“Well have ye judged, well ended long debate,

391

Synod[2051] of gods, and, like to what ye are,

392

Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep

393

Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate,

394

Nearer our ancient seat—perhaps in view

395

Of those bright confines, whence, with neighboring arms,

396

And opportune[2052] excursion, we may chance

397

Re-enter Heav’n, or else in some mild zone

398

Dwell not unvisited of Heav’n’s fair light

399

Secure, [2053] and at the bright’ning orient[2054] beam

400

Purge off this gloom. The soft delicious air,

401

To heal the scar of these corrosive fires,

402

Shall breathe her balm. But first, whom shall we send

403

In search of this new world? whom shall we find

404

Sufficient? who shall tempt [2055] with wand’ring feet

405

The dark, unbottomed, infinite abyss,

406

And through the palpable[2056] obscure[2057] find out

407

His uncouth[2058] way, or spread his airy flight,

408

Upborne with indefatigable wings

409

Over the vast abrupt,[2059] ere he arrive

410

The happy isle?[2060] What strength, what art, can then

411

Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe,

412

Through the strict senteries[2061] and stations thick

413

Of Angels watching round? Here he had need

414

All circumspection, and we now no less

415

Choice in our suffrage, [2062] for on whom we send

416

The weight of all, and our last hope, relies.

417

This said, he sat, and expectation held

418

His look suspense, [2063] awaiting who appeared

419

To second, or oppose, or undertake

420

The perilous attempt. But all sat mute,

421

Pondering the danger with deep thoughts, and each

422

In other’s count’nance read his own dismay,

423

Astonished.[2064] None among the choice[2065] and prime[2066]

424

Of those Heav’n-warring champions could be found

425

So hardy[2067] as to proffer or accept,

426

Alone, the dreadful voyage, till at last

427

Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised

428

Above his fellows, with monarchal pride

429

Conscious of highest worth, unmoved[2068] thus spoke:

430

“O progeny[2069] of Heaven! Empyreal[2070] Thrones!

431

With reason hath deep silence and demur[2071]

432

Seized us, though undismayed. Long is the way

433

And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.

434

Our prison strong, this huge convex[2072] of fire,

435

Outrageous[2073] to devour, immures[2074] us round

436

Ninefold, and gates of burning adamant,[2075]

437

Barred[2076] over us, prohibit all egress.[2077]

438

These passed, if any pass, the void[2078] profound[2079]

439

Of unessential[2080] Night receives him next,

440

Wide-gaping, and with utter loss of being

441

Threatens him, plunged in that abortive[2081] gulf. [2082]

442

If thence he scape, into whatever world

443

Or unknown region, what remains him less

444

Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape?

445

But I should ill become this throne, O peers,

446

And this imperial sov’reignty, adorned

447

With splendor, armed with power, if aught proposed

448

And judged of public moment[2083] in the shape

449

Of difficulty or danger, could deter

450

Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume

451

These royalties,[2084] and not refuse to reign,

452

Refusing to accept as great a share

453

Of hazard as of honor, due alike

454

To him who reigns, and so much to him due

455

Of hazard more as he above the rest

456

High honored sits? Go therefore, mighty Powers,

457

Terror of Heav’n, though fall’n. Intend[2085] at home,

458

While here shall be our home, what best may ease

459

The present misery, and render Hell

460

More tolerable, [2086] if there be cure[2087] or charm[2088]

461

To respite, [2089] or deceive, or slack[2090] the pain

462

Of this ill[2091] mansion.[2092] Intermit[2093] no watch

463

Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad

464

Through all the coasts[2094] of dark destruction seek

465

Deliverance for us all. This enterprise

466

None shall partake[2095] with me.” Thus saying, rose

467

The monarch, and prevented all reply,

468

Prudent, lest from[2096] his resolution raised,[2097]

469

Others among the chief might offer now,

470

Certain to be refused, what erst they feared,

471

And so refused, might in opinion[2098] stand

472

His rivals, winning cheap the high repute

473

Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they

474

Dreaded not more th’ adventure than his voice

475

Forbidding, and at once with him they rose.

476

Their rising all at once was as the sound

477

Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend

478

With awful[2099] reverence prone, and as a god

479

Extol him equal to the Highest in Heav’n.

480

Nor failed they to express how much they praised

481

That for the general safety he despised

482

His own, for neither do the Spirits damned

483

Lose all their virtue, lest bad men should boast

484

Their specious[2100] deeds on earth, which glory excites,[2101]

485

Or close[2102] ambition varnished o’er with zeal.

486

Thus they their doubtful consultations dark[2103]

487

Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief—

488

As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds

489

Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o’erspread

490

Heav’n’s cheerful face, the louring[2104] element[2105]

491

Scowls o’er the darkened landscape, snow or shower.

492

If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet,

493

Extend [2106] his evening beam, the fields revive,

494

The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds

495

Attest[2107] their joy, that hill and valley rings.

496

O shame to men! Devil with devil damned

497

Firm[2108] concord [2109] holds. Men only[2110] disagree

498

Of creatures rational, though under[2111] hope

499

Of Heav’nly grace. And God proclaiming peace,

500

Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife

501

Among themselves, and levy[2112] cruel wars,

502

Wasting the earth, each other to destroy,

503

As if (which might induce us to accord[2113] )

504

Man had not hellish foes enow[2114] besides,

505

That day and night for his destruction wait!

506

The Stygian[2115] council thus dissolved, and forth

507

In order came the grand infernal peers.

508

Midst came their mighty Paramount,[2116] and seemed

509

Alone th’ antagonist of Heav’n, nor less

510

Than Hell’s dread emperor, with pomp supreme,

511

And godlike imitated state. Him round

512

A globe[2117] of fiery Seraphim enclosed

513

With bright emblazonry, [2118] and horrent [2119] arms.

514

Then of their session ended they bid cry, [2120]

515

With trumpet’s regal [2121] sound, the great result.

516

Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim

517

Put to their mouths the sounding [2122] alchemy,[2123]

518

By herald’s voice explained. The hollow abyss

519

Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell

520

With deaf ’ning shout returned [2124] them loud acclaim.

521

Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised

522

By false presumptuous hope, the rangèd [2125] Powers

523

Disband and, wand’ring, each his several way

524

Pursues, as inclination or sad choice

525

Leads him, perplexed,[2126] where he may likeliest find

526

Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain

527

The irksome hours till his great chief return.

528

Part on the plain, or in the air sublime, [2127]

529

Upon the wing or in swift race contend,[2128]

530

As at th’ Olympian[2129] games or Pythian[2130] fields.

531

Part curb[2131] their fiery steeds, or shun[2132] the goal[2133]

532

With rapid wheels, or fronted [2134] brigades form—

533

As when, to warn proud cities, war appears,

534

Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush

535

To battle in the clouds. Before each van[2135]

536

Prick [2136] forth the airy knights, and couch[2137] their spears,

537

Till thickest[2138] legions close. [2139] With feats of arms

538

From either end of Heav’n the welkin[2140] burns.

539

Others, with vast Typhoean[2141] rage, more fell,[2142]

540

Rend[2143] up both rocks and hills, and ride the air

541

In whirlwind. Hell scarce holds the wild uproar,

542

As when Alcides,[2144] from Oechalia[2145] crowned

543

With conquest, felt th’ envenomed robe, [2146] and tore

544

Through pain up by the roots Thessalian[2147] pines,

545

And Lichas[2148] from the top of Oeta[2149] threw

546

Into th’ Euboic sea.[2150] Others, more mild,

547

Retreated [2151] in a silent valley, sing

548

With notes angelical to many a harp

549

Their own heroic deeds and hapless[2152] fall

550

By doom[2153] of battle, and complain that Fate

551

Free virtue should enthrall [2154] to force or chance. [2155]

552

Their song was partial,[2156] but the harmony

553

(What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?

554

Suspended [2157] Hell, and took [2158] with ravishment

555

The thronging audience. In discourse[2159] more sweet

556

(For eloquence the soul,[2160] song charms the sense)

557

Others apart sat on a hill retired,[2161]

558

In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high

559

Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate

560

Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,

561

And found no end, in wand’ring mazes lost.

562

Of good and evil much they argued then,

563

Of happiness and final misery,

564

Passion and apathy, and glory and shame:

565

Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy

566

Yet with a pleasing sorcery could charm

567

Pain for a while, or anguish, and excite

568

Fallacious hope, or arm th’ obdurèd [2162] breast

569

With stubborn patience, as with triple steel.

570

Another part, in squadrons and gross[2163] bands,

571

On bold [2164] adventure to discover [2165] wide[2166]

572

That dismal world, if any clime perhaps

573

Might yield them easier habitation, bend

574

Four ways their flying [2167] march, along the banks

575

Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge

576

Into the burning lake their baleful [2168] streams—

577

Abhorrèd Styx, the flood [2169] of deadly hate;

578

Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep;

579

Cocytus,[2170] named of [2171] lamentation loud

580

Heard on the rueful [2172] stream; fierce Phlegeton,[2173]

581

Whose waves of torrent[2174] fire inflame[2175] with rage. [2176]

582

Far off from these, a slow and silent stream,

583

Lethe, [2177] the river of oblivion, rolls

584

Her wat’ry labyrinth,[2178] whereof who drinks

585

Forthwith[2179] his former state and being forgets—

586

Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.

587

Beyond this flood [2180] a frozen continent

588

Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms

589

Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land

590

Thaws not, but gathers heap,[2181] and ruin seems

591

Of ancient pile, [2182] all else deep snow and ice,

592

A gulf [2183] profound [2184] as that Serbonian bog[2185]

593

Betwixt Damiata[2186] and Mount Casius[2187] old,

594

Where armies whole have sunk. The parching[2188] air

595

Burns frore, [2189] and cold performs[2190] th’ effect of fire.

596

Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled,[2191]

597

At certain revolutions[2192] all the damned

598

Are brought and feel by turns the bitter change

599

Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,

600

From[2193] beds of raging fire to starve[2194] in ice

601

Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine[2195]

602

Immovable, infixed, and frozen round,

603

Periods[2196] of time, thence hurried back to fire.

604

They ferry over this Lethean sound

605

Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment,

606

And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach

607

The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose

608

In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,

609

All in one moment, and so near the brink.

610

But Fate withstands[2197] and, to oppose th’ attempt,

611

Medusa,[2198] with Gorgonian terror, guards

612

The ford, and of itself the water flies[2199]

613

All taste of living wight,[2200] as once it fled

614

The lip of Tantalus.[2201] Thus roving on

615

In confused [2202] march forlorn, th’ adventurous bands,

616

With shuddering horror pale and eyes aghast,

617

Viewed first their lamentable[2203] lot, and found

618

No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale

619

They passed, and many a region dolorous,

620

O’er many a frozen, many a fiery alp,

621

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death—

622

A universe of death, which God by curse

623

Created evil, for evil only good,[2204]

624

Where all life dies, death lives, and Nature breeds,

625

Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious[2205] things,

626

Abominable, inutterable, and worse

627

Than fables yet have feigned [2206] or fear conceived,

628

Gorgons,[2207] and Hydras,[2208] and Chimeras[2209] dire.

629

Meanwhile the adversary of God and man,

630

Satan, with thoughts inflamed of highest design,[2210]

631

Puts on[2211] swift wings, and toward the gates of Hell

632

Explores[2212] his solitary flight. Sometimes

633

He scours[2213] the right-hand coast, sometimes the left,

634

Now shaves[2214] with le

635

Up to the fiery concave[2215] towering high.

636

As when far off at sea a fleet descried [2216]

637

Hangs in the clouds, by[2217] equinoctial [2218] winds

638

Close sailing[2219] from Bengala,[2220] or the isles

639

Of Ternate and Tidore, [2221] whence merchants bring

640

Their spicy drugs—they on the trading[2222] flood,[2223]

641

Through the wide Ethiopian[2224] to the Cape[2225]

642

Ply [2226] stemming[2227] nightly toward the pole:[2228] so seemed

643

Far off the flying fiend. At last appear

644

Hell-bounds,[2229] high reaching to the horrid roof,

645

And thrice threefold the gates. Three folds[2230] were brass,

646

Three iron, three of adamantine rock,

647

Impenetrable, impaled [2231] with circling fire,

648

Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat

649

On either side a formidable[2232] shape.

650

The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair,

651

But ended foul in many a scaly fold,

652

Voluminous and vast—a serpent armed

653

With mortal sting. About her middle round

654

A cry [2233] of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked

655

With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung

656

A hideous peal,[2234] yet when they list,[2235] would creep,

657

If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb,

658

And kennel [2236] there, yet there still barked and howled

659

Within unseen. Far less abhorred than these

660

Vexed [2237] Scylla,[2238] bathing in the sea that parts

661

Calabria[2239] from the hoarse[2240] Trinacrian[2241] shore.

662

Nor uglier follow [2242] the night-hag, [2243] when called

663

In secret, riding through the air she comes,

664

Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance

665

With Lapland [2244] witches, while the laboring moon[2245]

666

Eclipses at [2246] their charms. The other shape

667

If shape it might be called, that shape had none

668

Distinguishable in member, [2247] joint, or limb,

669

Or substance might be called that shadow seemed,[2248]

670

For each seemed either—black it stood as Night,

671

Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,

672

And shook a dreadful dart.[2249] What seemed his head

673

The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

674

Satan was now at hand, and from his seat

675

The monster moving onward came as fast[2250]

676

With horrid strides. Hell trembled as he strode.

677

Th’ undaunted fiend what this might be admired—[2251]

678

Admired, not feared (God and His Son except,

679

Created thing naught valued[2252] he nor shunned),[2253]

680

And with disdainful look thus first began:

681

“Whence and what art thou, execrable[2254] shape,

682

That dar’st, though grim[2255] and terrible, advance

683

Thy miscreated [2256] front[2257] athwart [2258] my way

684

To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass,

685

That be assured, without leave asked of thee.

686

Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof,

687

Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heav’n.

688

To whom the goblin,[2259] full of wrath, replied:

689

“Art thou that traitor Angel? Art thou he

690

Who first broke peace in Heav’n, and faith, till then

691

Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms

692

Drew after him the third part of Heav’n’s sons,

693

Conjured[2260] against the Highest—for which both thou

694

And they, outcast from God, are here condemned

695

To waste[2261] eternal days in woe and pain?

696

And reckon’st[2262] thou thyself with Spirits of Heav’n,

697

Hell-doomed, and breath’st defiance here and scorn,

698

Where I reign king and, to enrage thee more,

699

Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,

700

False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings,

701

Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue

702

Thy ling’ring, or with one stroke of this dart

703

Strange[2263] horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before.

704

So spoke the grisly terror, and in shape,

705

So speaking and so threat’ning, grew tenfold

706

More dreadful and deform. On th’ other side,

707

Incensed with indignation, Satan stood

708

Unterrified, and like a comet burned,

709

That fires the length of Ophiuchus[2264] huge

710

In th’ arctic sky, and from his horrid hair

711

Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head

712

Levelled his deadly aim. Their fatal [2265] hands

713

No second stroke intend. And such a frown

714

Each cast at th’ other as when two black clouds,

715

With Heav’n’s artillery fraught,[2266] come rattling on

716

Over the Caspian,[2267] then stand front to front,

717

Hov’ring a space, [2268] till winds the signal blow

718

To join[2269] their dark encounter in mid-air.

719

So frowned the mighty combatants, that Hell

720

Grew darker at their frown. So matched they stood,

721

For never but once more was either like

722

To meet so great a foe. [2270] And now great deeds

723

Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,

724

Had not the snaky sorceress, that sat

725

Fast by [2271] Hell-gate and kept the fatal key,

726

Ris’n, and with hideous outcry rushed between.

727

“O father, what intends thy hand,” she cried,

728

“Against thy only son? What fury, O son,

729

Possesses thee to bend [2272] that mortal [2273] dart

730

Against thy father’s head? And know’st for whom?

731

For Him who sits above, and laughs the while

732

At thee, ordained His drudge to execute

733

Whate’er His wrath, which He calls justice, bids—

734

His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both!

735

She spoke, and at her words the hellish pest [2274]

736

Forbore. [2275] Then these[2276] to her Satan returned:

737

“So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange

738

Thou interposest,[2277] that my sudden[2278] hand,

739

Prevented, spares[2279] to tell thee yet by deeds

740

What it intends, till first I know of thee

741

What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why,

742

In this infernal vale first met, thou call’st

743

Me father, and that phantasm call’st my son?

744

I know thee not, nor ever saw till now

745

Sight more detestable than him and thee.

746

T’ whom thus the portress[2280] of Hell-gate replied:

747

“Hast thou forgot me, then? and do I seem

748

Now in thine eye so foul?—once deemed so fair

749

In Heav’n when at th’ assembly, and in sight

750

Of all the Seraphim with thee combined

751

In bold conspiracy against Heav’n’s King,

752

All on a sudden miserable pain

753

Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum

754

In darkness, while thy head flames[2281] thick and fast

755

Threw forth, till on the left side op’ning wide,

756

Likest to thee in shape and count’nance bright,

757

Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess armed,

758

Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized

759

All th’ host of Heav’n. Back they recoiled, afraid

760

At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign

761

Portentous[2282] held me. But, familiar grown,

762

I pleased, and with attractive graces won

763

The most averse—thee chiefly, who full oft

764

Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing,

765

Becam’st enamored, and such joy thou took’st

766

With me in secret that my womb conceived

767

A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose,

768

And fields were fought in Heav’n, wherein remained

769

(For what could else?) to our Almighty foe

770

Clear victory, to our part loss and rout[2283]

771

Through all the Empyrean.[2284] Down they fell,

772

Driv’n headlong from the pitch[2285] of Heaven, do

773

Into this deep, and in the general fall

774

I also, at which time this powerful key

775

Into my hands was giv’n, with charge to keep

776

These gates forever shut, which none can pass

777

Without my op’ning. Pensive[2286] here I sat

778

Alone, but long I sat not, till my womb,

779

Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown,

780

Prodigious[2287] motion felt and rueful [2288] throes.[2289]

781

At last this odious[2290] offspring whom thou seest,

782

Thine own begotten, breaking violent way, [2291]

783

Tore through my entrails that,[2292] with fear and pain

784

Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew

785

Transformed. But he my inbred enemy

786

Forth issued, brandishing[2293] his fatal dart,

787

Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out ‘Death!

788

Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed

789

From all her caves, and back resounded ‘Death!

790

I fled, but he pursued (though more, it seems,

791

Inflamed with lust than rage), and swifter far,

792

Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed,[2294]

793

And in embraces forcible and foul

794

Engend’ring[2295] with me, of that rape begot

795

These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry

796

Surround me, as thou saw’st—hourly conceived

797

And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

798

To me, for when they list [2296] into the womb

799

That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw

800

My bowels, their repast.[2297] Then bursting forth

801

Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round,

802

That rest or intermission none I find.

803

Before mine eyes in opposition[2298] sits

804

Grim Death, my son and foe, who set them on,

805

And me, his parent, would full soon devour

806

For want of other prey, but that he knows

807

His end with mine involved, and knows that I

808

Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane, [2299]

809

Whenever that shall be. So Fate pronounced.

810

But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, shun

811

His deadly arrow. Neither [2300] vainly hope

812

To be invulnerable in those bright arms,[2301]

813

Though tempered[2302] Heav’nly, for that mortal dint,[2303]

814

Save He who reigns above, none can resist.

815

She finished, and the subtle fiend, his lore[2304]

816

Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered smooth:

817

“Dear daughter—since thou claim’st me for thy sire,

818

And my fair son here show’st me, the dear pledge[2305]

819

Of dalliance[2306] had with thee in Heav’n, and joys

820

Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change

821

Befall’n us unforeseen, unthought-of—know

822

I come no enemy, but to set free

823

From out this dark and dismal house of pain

824

Both him and thee, and all the Heav’nly host

825

Of Spirits that, in our just pretences[2307] armed,

826

Fell with us from on high. From them I go

827

This uncouth[2308] errand sole, [2309] and one for all

828

Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

829

Th’ unfounded [2310] deep, and through the void immense

830

To search, with wand’ring quest, a place foretold

831

Should be—and by concurring signs, ere now

832

Created vast and round—a place of bliss

833

In the purlieus[2311] of Heav’n, and therein placed

834

A race of upstart creatures, to supply

835

Perhaps our vacant room,[2312] though more removed,[2313]

836

Lest Heav’n, surcharged[2314] with potent[2315] multitude,

837

Might hap to move[2316] new broils.[2317] Be this, or aught

838

Than this more secret, now designed,[2318] I haste

839

To know, and this once known shall soon return

840

And bring ye to the place where thou and Death

841

Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen

842

Wing silently the buxom[2319] air, embalmed

843

With odors. There ye shall be fed and filled

844

Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey.

845

He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased, and Death

846

Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

847

His famine[2320] should be filled, and blessed his maw[2321]

848

Destined to that good hour. No less rejoiced

849

His mother bad, and thus bespoke[2322] her sire:

850

“The key of this infernal pit, by due[2323]

851

And by command of Heav’n’s all-powerful King,

852

I keep, by Him forbidden to unlock

853

These adamantine gates. Against all force

854

Death ready stands to interpose[2324] his dart,[2325]

855

Fearless to be o’ermatched by living might.

856

But what owe I to His commands above,

857

Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down

858

Into this gloom of Tartarus[2326] profound,[2327]

859

To sit in hateful office here confined,

860

Inhabitant of Heav’n and Heav’nly born—

861

Here in perpetual agony and pain,

862

With terrors and with clamors compassed round [2328]

863

Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?

864

Thou art my father, thou my author, thou

865

My being gav’st me. Whom should I obey

866

But thee? whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon

867

To that new world of light and bliss, among

868

The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign

869

At thy right hand voluptuous,[2329] as beseems[2330]

870

Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.

871

Thus saying, from her side the fatal key,

872

Sad instrument of all our woe, she took,

873

And towards the gate rolling her bestial train,[2331]

874

Forthwith the huge portcullis[2332] high up-drew,

875

Which, but herself, not all the Stygian[2333] Powers

876

Could once have moved, then in the key-hole turns

877

Th’ intricate wards,[2334] and every bolt and bar

878

Of massy iron or solid rock with ease

879

Unfastens. On a sudden, open fly

880

(With impetuous[2335] recoil and jarring sound)

881

Th’ infernal doors, and on their hinges grate

882

Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook

883

Of Erebus.[2336] She opened—but to shut

884

Excelled [2337] her power. The gates wide open stood,

885

That with extended wings a bannered host,

886

Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through

887

With horse and chariots ranked in loose array.

888

So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth

889

Cast forth redounding [2338] smoke and ruddy flame.

890

Before their eyes in sudden view appear

891

The secrets of the hoary deep—a dark

892

Illimitable ocean, without bound,

893

Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height,

894

And time, and place, are lost, where eldest Night

895

And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

896

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

897

Of endless wars, and by confusion[2339] stand.

898

For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce,

899

Strive here for mast’ry, and to battle bring

900

Their embryon[2340] atoms. They around the flag

901

Of each his faction, in their several clans,

902

Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow,

903

Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands

904

Of Barca[2341] or Cyrene’s[2342] torrid soil,

905

Levied[2343] to side with warring winds, and poise[2344]

906

Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere, [2345]

907

He rules a moment. Chaos umpire sits,

908

And by decision more embroils[2346] the fray

909

By which he reigns. Next him, high arbiter,

910

Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,

911

The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave,

912

Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,

913

But all these in their pregnant causes mixed

914

Confus’dly, and which thus must ever fight,

915

Unless th’Almighty Maker them ordain[2347]

916

His dark materials to create more worlds—

917

Into this wild abyss the wary[2348] fiend

918

Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,

919

Pondering his voyage, for no narrow frith[2349]

920

He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed [2350]

921

With noises loud and ruinous[2351] (to compare

922

Great things with small) than when Bellona[2352] storms

923

With all her battering engines,[2353] bent[2354] to raze[2355]

924

Some capital city; or less than if this frame

925

Of Heav’n were falling, and these elements

926

In mutiny had from her axle torn

927

The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad vans [2356]

928

He spread for flight and, in the surging smoke

929

Uplifted, spurns[2357] the ground, thence many a league,

930

As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides

931

Audacious,[2358] but that seat soon failing, meets

932

A vast vacuity. All unawares,

933

Flutt’ring his pennons [2359] vain,[2360] plumb-down he drops

934

Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour

935

Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance,

936

The strong rebuff [2361] of some tumultuous cloud,

937

Instinct[2362] with fire and niter, [2363] hurried him

938

As many miles aloft. That fury[2364] stayed—[2365]

939

Quenched in a boggy Syrtis,[2366] neither sea,

940

Nor good dry land—nigh[2367] foundered,[2368] on he fares,

941

Treading the crude[2369] consistence, [2370] half on foot,

942

Half flying. Behoves him now[2371] both oar and sail.

943

As when a gryphon[2372] through the wilderness

944

With wingèd course, o’er hill or moory dale,

945

Pursues the Arimaspian,[2373] who by stealth

946

Had from his[2374] wakeful[2375] custody purloined[2376]

947

The guarded gold, so eagerly the fiend

948

O’er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,

949

With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,

950

And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.

951

At length a universal hubbub wild

952

Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused,

953

Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear

954

With loudest vehemence. [2377] Thither he plies [2378]

955

Undaunted, to meet there whatever Power

956

Or Spirit of the nethermost abyss

957

Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask

958

Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies,

959

Bord’ring on light. When straight behold the throne

960

Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread

961

Wide on the wasteful deep! With him enthroned

962

Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things,

963

The consort [2379] of his reign; and by them stood

964

Orcus and Adès,[2380] and the dreaded name

965

Of Demogorgon,[2381] Rumor next, and Chance,

966

And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled,[2382]

967

And Discord with a thousand various [2383] mouths.

968

T’ whom Satan, turning boldly, thus: “Ye Powers

969

And Spirits of this nethermost abyss,

970

Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy

971

With purpose to explore or to disturb

972

The secrets of your realm, but by constraint

973

Wand’ring this darksome desert, as my way

974

Lies through your spacious empire up to light,

975

Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek

976

What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds

977

Confine [2384] with Heav’n, or if some other place

978

From your dominion won,[2385] th’ Ethereal King

979

Possesses lately, thither to arrive

980

I travel this profound,[2386] direct[2387] my course:

981

Directed, no mean[2388] recompense it brings

982

To your behoof, [2389] if I that region lost,[2390]

983

All usurpation[2391] thence expelled, reduce

984

To her original darkness, and your sway

985

(Which is my present journey), and once more

986

Erect the standard[2392] there of ancient Night.

987

Yours be th’ advantage all, mine the revenge!

988

Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch[2393] old,

989

With falt’ring speech and visage incomposed,[2394]

990

Answered: “I know thee, stranger, who thou art—

991

That mighty leading Angel, who of late

992

Made head [2395] against Heav’n’s King, though overthrown.

993

I saw and heard, for such a numerous host

994

Fled not in silence through the frighted deep,

995

With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,[2396]

996

Confusion worse confounded.[2397] And Heav’n-gates

997

Poured out by millions her victorious bands,

998

Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here

999

Keep residence; if all I can[2398] will serve

1000

That little which is left so[2399] to def

1001

Encroached on still through our intestine[2400] broils,[2401]

1002

Weakening the scepter of old Night. First Hell,

1003

Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath;

1004

Now lately Heav’n and earth, another world

1005

Hung o’er my realm, linked in a golden chain

1006

To that side Heav’n from whence your legions fell!

1007

If that way be your walk, you have not far;

1008

So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed;[2402]

1009

Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain.

1010

He ceased, and Satan stayed not to reply,

1011

But glad that now his sea should find a shore,

1012

With fresh alacrity and force renewed

1013

Springs upward like a pyramid of fire,

1014

Into the wild expanse, and through the shock[2403]

1015

Of fighting elements, on all sides round

1016

Environed,[2404] wins his way, harder beset [2405]

1017

And more endangered than when Argo[2406] passed

1018

Through Bosphorus betwixt the jostling rocks,

1019

Or when Ulysses on the larboard [2407] shunned

1020

Charybdis, and by th’ other whirlpool steered.

1021

So he[2408] with difficulty and labor hard

1022

Moved on, with difficulty and labor he. [2409]

1023

But he once passed,[2410] soon after, when man fell,

1024

Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain[2411]

1025

Following his track (such was the will of Heav’n)

1026

Paved after him a broad and beaten way

1027

Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf

1028

Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length,

1029

From Hell continued, reaching th’ utmost orb[2412]

1030

Of this frail world, by which the Spirits perverse[2413]

1031

With easy intercourse pass to and fro

1032

To tempt or punish mortals, except whom

1033

God and good Angels guard by special grace.

1034

But now at last the sacred influence[2414]

1035

Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav’n

1036

Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night

1037

A glimmering dawn. Here Nature first begins

1038

Her farthest verge, [2415] and Chaos to retire[2416]

1039

As from her outmost works, a broken foe,

1040

With tumult less and with less hostile din,

1041

That Satan with less toil, and now with ease,

1042

Wafts[2417] on the calmer wave by dubious[2418] light,

1043

And like a weather-beaten vessel holds

1044

Gladly the port, though shrouds[2419] and tackle[2420] torn,

1045

Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,

1046

Weighs[2421] his spread wings, at leisure to behold

1047

Far off th’ empyreal Heav’n, extended wide

1048

In circuit, undetermined [2422] square or round,

1049

With opal towers and battlements adorned

1050

Of living sapphire, once his native seat,

1051

And fast by, [2423] hanging in a golden chain,

1052

This pendant world, in bigness as a star

1053

Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.

1054

Thither, full fraught [2424] with mischievous revenge,

1055

Accursed, and in a cursèd hour, he hies.[2425]

The End of the Second Book

BOOK III

THE ARGUMENT

God sitting on His throne sees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; shews him to the Son who sat at His right hand; foretells the success of Satan in perverting mankind; clears His own justice and wisdom from all imputation, having created man free and able enough to have withstood his tempter; yet declares His purpose of grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but by him seduced.

The Son of God renders praises to His Father for the manifestation of His gracious purpose towards man, but God again declares that grace cannot be extended towards man without the satisfaction of divine justice. Man hath offended the majesty of God by aspiring to Godhead, and therefore with all his progeny devoted to Death must die, unless some one can be found sufficient to answer for his offence, and undergo his punishment.

The Son of God freely offers himself a ransom for man. The Father accepts him, ordains his incarnation, pronounces his exaltation above all names in Heaven and earth; commands all the Angels to adore him. They obey, and hymning to their harps in full choir, celebrate the Father and the Son.

Meanwhile Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world’s outermost orb, where wandring he first finds a place since called the Limbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither. Thence [Satan] comes to the Gate of Heaven, described ascending by stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it. His passage thence to the orb of the sun; he finds there Uriel the Regent of that orb, but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner Angel and, pretending a zealous desire to behold the new creation, and man whom God had placed here, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed; alights first on Mount Niphates.

1

Hail holy light, offspring of Heav’n first-born,

2

Or of the Eternal Coeternal beam

3

May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,

4

And never but in unapproachèd light

5

Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee

6

Bright effluence[2426] of bright essence increate. [2427]

7

Or hear’st [2428] thou rather pure ethereal stream,

8

Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,

9

Before the Heav’ns thou wert, and at the voice

10

Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest[2429]

11

The rising world of waters dark and deep,

12

Won from the void and formless infinite.

13

Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,

14

Escaped the Stygian[2430] pool, though long detained

15

In that obscure sojourn,[2431] while in my flight

16

Through utter and through middle darkness borne,

17

With other notes than to the Orphean[2432] lyre[2433]

18

I sung of Chaos and eternal Night,

19

Taught by the Heav’nly Muse to venture down

20

The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,

21

Though hard and rare. [2434] Thee I re-visit safe,

22

And feel thy sov’reign vital lamp,[2435] but thou

23

Re-visit’st not these eyes, that roll in vain

24

To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn,

25

So thick a drop serene[2436] hath quenched[2437] their orbs,

26

Or dim suffusion[2438] veiled.[2439] Yet not the more

27

Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt,

28

Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,

29

Smit[2440] with the love of sacred song. But chief

30

Thee, Sion,[2441] and the flow’ry brooks beneath

31

That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow,

32

Nightly I visit, nor sometimes forget

33

Those other two, equaled with[2442] me in fate

34

(So were I equaled with them in renown)

35

Blind Thamyris,[2443] and blind Maeonides,[2444]

36

And Tiresias,[2445] and Phineus,[2446] prophets old.

37

Then feed [2447] on thoughts, that voluntary move

38

Harmonious numbers,[2448] as the wakeful bird [2449]

39

Sings darkling, [2450] and in shadiest covert [2451] hid

40

Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year

41

Seasons return, but not to me returns

42

Day, or the sweet approach of ev’n or morn,

43

Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose,

44

Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine,

45

But cloud instead, and ever-during [2452] dark

46

Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men

47

Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair

48

Presented with a universal blank

49

Of Nature’s works to me expunged[2453] and razed,[2454]

50

And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.

51

So much the rather thou, celestial light,

52

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers

53

Irradiate. [2455] There plant [2456] eyes, all mist from thence

54

Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell

55

Of things invisible to mortal sight.

56

Now had the Almighty Father from above,

57

From the pure empyrean where He sits

58

High throned above all height, bent down His eye,

59

His own works and their works at once to view.

60

About Him all the Sanctities of Heav’n

61

Stood thick as stars, and from His sight received

62

Beatitude[2457] past utterance. [2458] On His right

63

The radiant image of His glory sat,

64

His only Son. On earth He first beheld

65

Our two first parents, yet [2459] the only two

66

Of mankind in the happy garden placed,

67

Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,

68

Uninterrupted joy, unrivaled love,

69

In blissful solitude. He then surveyed

70

Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there

71

Coasting the wall of Heav’n on this side Night

72

In the dun[2460] air sublime, [2461] and ready now

73

To stoop with wearied wings and willing feet

74

On the bare outside of this world, that seemed

75

Firm land embosomed,[2462] without firmament,[2463]

76

Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.

77

Him God beholding, from His prospect[2464] high,

78

Wherein past, present, future, He beholds,

79

Thus to His only Son foreseeing spoke:

8

“Only-begotten Son, seest thou what rage

81

Transports[2465] our adversary? whom no bounds

82

Prescribed, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains

83

Heaped on him there, nor yet the main abyss

84

Wide interrupt,[2466] can hold, so bent he seems

85

On desperate revenge, that shall redound

86

Upon his own rebellious head. And now,

87

Through all restraint broke[2467] loose, he wings his way

88

Not far off Heav’n, in the precincts[2468] of light,

89

Directly towards the new created world,

90

And man there placed, with purpose to assay[2469]

91

If him by force he can destroy or, worse,

92

By some false guile pervert. And shall pervert,

93

For man will hearken to his glozing[2470] lies,

94

And easily transgress[2471] the sole command,

95

Sole pledge[2472] of his obedience: So will fall

96

He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault?

97

Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me

98

All he could have. I made him just and right,

99

Sufficient to have stood,[2473] though free to fall.

100

Such I created all the ethereal Powers

101

And Spirits, both them who stood and them who failed.

102

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

103

Not free, what proof could they have given sincere

104

Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love,

105

Where only what they needs must do appeared,

106

Not what they would? What praise could they receive?

107

What pleasure I, from such obedience paid,

108

When will and reason (reason also is choice)

109

Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled,[2474]

110

Made passive both, had served necessity,

111

Not me? They therefore, as to right belonged,

112

So were created, nor can justly accuse

113

Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,

114

As if predestination over-ruled

115

Their will, disposed [2475] by absolute decree

116

Or high foreknowledge. They themselves decreed

117

Their own revolt, not I: if I foreknew,

118

Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,

119

Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.

120

So without least impulse or shadow of Fate,

121

Or aught by me immutably [2476] foreseen,

122

They trespass, authors[2477] to themselves in all

123

Both what they judge and what they choose. For so

124

I formed them free, and free they must remain,

125

Till they enthrall[2478] themselves. I else must change

126

Their nature, and revoke the high decree

127

Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained

128

Their freedom. They themselves ordained their fall.

129

The first sort [2479] by their own suggestion fell,

130

Self-tempted, self-depraved. Man falls deceived

131

By the other first. Man therefore shall find grace,

132

The other none. In mercy and justice both,

133

Through Heav’n and earth, so shall my glory excel,

134

But mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.

135

Thus while God spoke, [2480] ambrosial fragrance filled

136

All Heav’n, and in the blessèd Spirits elect

137

Sense of new joy ineffable diffused.

138

Beyond compare, the Son of God was seen

139

Most glorious. In him all His Father shone,

140

Substantially[2481] expressed, and in his face

141

Divine compassion visibly appeared,

142

Love without end, and without measure grace,

143

Which uttering thus he to his Father spoke:

144

“O Father, gracious was that word which closed

145

Thy sov’reign[2482] sentence, [2483] that man should find grace.

146

For which both Heav’n and earth shall high extol

147

Thy praises, with th’ innumerable sound

148

Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith Thy throne

149

Encompassed [2484] shall resound [2485] Thee ever blessed.

150

For should man finally be lost? Should man,

151

Thy creature late so loved, Thy youngest son,

152

Fall circumvented [2486] thus by fraud, though joined

153

With his own folly? That be from Thee far,

154

That far be from Thee, Father, who art judge

155

Of all things made, and judgest only right.

156

Or shall the adversary [2487] thus obtain

157

His end, and frustrate Thine? Shall he fulfill

158

His malice, and Thy goodness bring to nought?

159

Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,[2488]

160

Yet with revenge accomplished, and to Hell

161

Draw after him the whole race of mankind,

162

By him corrupted? Or wilt Thou Thyself

163

Abolish Thy creation, and unmake

164

For him, what for Thy glory Thou hast made?

165

So should Thy goodness and Thy greatness both

166

Be questioned and blasphemed without defence.

167

To whom the great Creator thus replied:

168

“O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,

169

Son of my bosom, Son who art alone

170

My word, my wisdom, and effectual [2489] might,

171

All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all

172

As my eternal purpose hath decreed.

173

Man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will,

174

Yet not of will in him, but grace in me

175

Freely vouchsafed.[2490] Once more I will renew

176

His lapsèd [2491] powers, though forfeit [2492] and enthralled

177

By Sin to foul exorbitant desires.

178

Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand

179

On even ground against his mortal foe,

180

By me upheld, that he may know how frail

181

His fall’n condition is, and to me owe

182

All his deliverance, and to none but me.

183

Some I have chosen of peculiar[2493] grace,

184

Elect[2494] above the rest; so is my will.

185

The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warned

186

Their sinful state, and to appease betimes[2495]

187

The incensed [2496] Deity, while offered [2497] grace

188

Invites, for I will clear their senses dark,

189

What may suffice, and soften stony hearts

190

To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. [2498]

191

To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,

192

Though but endeavored with sincere intent,

193

Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.

194

And I will place within them as a guide

195

My umpire[2499] Conscience, whom if they will hear,

196

Light [2500] after light, well used, they shall attain,

197

And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.

198

This my long sufferance, [2501] and my day of grace,

199

They who neglect and scorn shall never taste,

200

But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,

201

That they may stumble on, and deeper fall.

202

And none but such from mercy I exclude.

203

“But yet all is not done. Man disobeying,

204

Disloyal, breaks his fealty[2502] and sins

205

Against the high supremacy of Heav’n,

206

Affecting[2503] God-head and, so losing all,

207

To expiate his treason hath nought left,

208

But to destruction sacred[2504] and devote,

209

He, with his whole posterity, must die.

210

Die he or justice must; unless for him

211

Some other able, and as willing, pay

212

The rigid[2505] satisfaction,[2506] death for death.

213

Say, Heav’nly Powers, where shall we find such love?

214

Which of you will be mortal, to redeem

215

Man’s mortal crime and, just, the unjust to save?

216

Dwells in all Heav’n charity [2507] so dear?

217

He asked, but all the Heav’nly choir[2508] stood mute,

218

And silence was in Heav’n: on man’s behalf

219

Patron[2509] or intercessor [2510] none appeared,

220

Much less that durst upon his own head draw

221

The deadly forfeiture and ransom set.

222

And now without redemption all mankind

223

Must have been lost, adjudged to Death and Hell

224

By doom[2511] severe, had not the Son of God,

225

In whom the fullness dwells of love divine,

226

His dearest mediation thus renewed:

227

“Father, Thy word is past, man shall find grace;

228

And shall grace not find means? that finds her way,

229

The speediest of Thy wingèd messengers,

230

To visit all Thy creatures, and to all

231

Comes unprevented,[2512] unimplored, unsought?

232

Happy for man, so coming. He her aid

233

Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost:

234

Atonement for himself, or offering meet,[2513]

235

Indebted and undone, hath none to bring.

236

Behold me, then: me for him, life for life

237

I offer. On me let Thine anger fall;

238

Account[2514] me man. I for his sake will leave

239

Thy bosom, and this glory next to Thee

240

Freely put off, and for him lastly[2515] die

241

Well pleased. On me let Death wreak[2516] all his rage.

242

Under his gloomy power I shall not long

243

Lie vanquished. Thou hast giv’n me to possess

244

Life in myself forever. By Thee I live,

245

Though now to Death I yield, and am his due[2517]

246

(All that of me can die), yet that debt paid,

247

Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave

248

His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul

249

Forever with corruption there to dwell,

250

But I shall rise victorious, and subdue

251

My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted [2518] spoil.

252

Death his Death’s wound shall then receive, and stoop[2519]

253

Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed.

254

I through the ample[2520] air in triumph high

255

Shall lead Hell captive maugre[2521] Hell, and show[2522]

256

The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight

257

Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,

258

While, by Thee raised, I ruin[2523] all my foes,

259

Death last, and with his carcass glut[2524] the grave.

260

Then with the multitude of my redeemed

261

Shall enter Heav’n, long absent, and return,

262

Father, to see Thy face, wherein no cloud

263

Of anger shall remain, but peace assured

264

And reconcilement. Wrath shall be no more,

265

Thenceforth, but in Thy presence joy entire.”[2525]

266

His words here ended, but his meek aspect,

267

Silent, yet spoke, and breathed immortal love

268

To mortal men, above which only shone

269

Filial obedience. As a sacrifice

270

Glad to be offered, he attends the will

271

Of his great Father. Admiration[2526] seized

272

All Heav’n, what this might mean, and whither tend,[2527]

273

Wond’ring. But soon[2528] th’Almighty thus replied:

274

“O thou, in Heav’n and earth the only peace

275

Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou

276

My sole complacence![2529] Well thou know’st how dear

277

To me are all my works, nor man the least,

278

Though last created, that for him I spare

279

Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,

280

By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.

281

Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem,[2530]

282

Their nature also to thy nature join,

283

And be thyself man among men on earth,

284

Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,

285

By wondrous birth. Be thou in Adam’s room[2531]

286

The head of all mankind, though Adam’s son.

287

As in him perish all men, so in thee,

288

As from a second root, shall be restored

289

As many as are restored, without thee none.

290

His crime makes guilty all his sons: thy merit,

291

Imputed,[2532] shall absolve them[2533] who renounce

292

Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,

293

And live in thee transplanted, and from thee

294

Receive new life. So man, as is most just,

295

Shall satisfy for man, be judged and die,

296

And dying rise, and rising with him raise

297

His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.

298

So Heav’nly love shall outdo hellish hate,

299

Giving to death, and dying to redeem,

300

So dearly[2534] to redeem what hellish hate

301

So easily destroyed, and still destroys

302

In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

303

Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume

304

Man’s nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

305

Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss

306

Equal to God, and equally enjoying

307

Godlike fruition,[2535] quitted[2536] all, to save

308

A world from utter loss, and hast been found

309

By merit more than birthright Son of God,

310

Found worthiest to be so by being good,

311

Far more than great or high—because in thee

312

Love hath abounded more than glory abounds.

313

Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt

314

With thee thy manhood also to this throne.

315

Here shalt thou sit incarnate, [2537] here shalt reign

316

Both God and man, Son both of God and man,

317

Anointed universal King. All power

318

I give thee: reign forever, and assume

319

Thy merits.[2538] Under thee, as head supreme,

320

Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce. [2539]

321

All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide[2540]

322

In Heav’n, or earth, or under earth in Hell.

323

When thou, attended gloriously from Heav’n

324

Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send

325

The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaim

326

Thy dread tribunal, forthwith from all winds

327

The living, and forthwith the cited [2541] dead

328

Of all past ages, to the general doom[2542]

329

Shall hasten. Such a peal[2543] shall rouse their sleep.

330

Then all thy Saints assembled, thou shalt judge

331

Bad men and Angels. They, arraigned,[2544] shall sink

332

Beneath thy sentence. Hell, her numbers full,

333

Thenceforth shall be forever shut. Meanwhile

334

The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring

335

New Heav’n and earth, wherein the just shall dwell

336

And after all their tribulations long

337

See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,

338

With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth.

339

Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,

340

For regal scepter then no more shall need:

341

God shall be all in all. But all ye gods,

342

Adore him, who to compass[2545] all this dies,

343

Adore the Son, and honor him as me.

344

No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all

345

The multitude of Angels, with a shout

346

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet

347

As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav’n rung

348

With jubilee, [2546] and loud hosannas[2547] filled

349

The eternal regions. Lowly reverent

350

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

351

With solemn adoration down they cast

352

Their crowns inwove with amarant[2548] and gold,

353

Immortal amarant, a flower which once

354

In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life,

355

Began to bloom, but soon for man’s offence

356

To Heav’n removed, where first it grew, there grows,

357

And flow’rs aloft, shading the Fount of Life,

358

And where the river of bliss through midst of Heav’n

359

Rolls o’er Elysian flow’rs her amber stream.

360

With these that never fade the Spirits elect [2549]

361

Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams,

362

Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright

363

Pavement,[2550] that like a sea of jasper shone,

364

Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

365

Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took,

366

Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side

367

Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet

368

Of charming symphony [2551] they introduce

369

Their sacred song, and waken raptures high.

370

No voice exempt, no voice but well could join

371

Melodious part, such concord[2552] is in Heav’n.

372

Thee, Father, first they sung Omnipotent,

373

Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

374

Eternal King, Thee Author of all being,

375

Fountain of light, Thyself invisible

376

Amidst the glorious brightness where Thou sit’st

377

Throned inaccessible, but [2553] when Thou shad’st

378

The full blaze of thy beams and, through a cloud

379

Drawn round about Thee like a radiant shrine,

380

Dark with excessive bright Thy skirts[2554] appear,

381

Yet[2555] dazzle Heav’n, that brightest Seraphim

382

Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.

383

Thee[2556] next they sang of all creation first,

384

Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,

385

In whose conspicuous[2557] count’nance, without cloud

386

Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,

387

Whom else no creature can behold. On thee

388

Impressed[2558] the effulgence[2559] of His glory abides,

389

Transfused on thee His ample[2560] Spirit rests.

390

He Heav’n of Heav’ns and all the Powers therein

391

By thee created; and by thee threw down

392

Th’ aspiring Dominations.[2561] Thou that day

393

Thy Father’s dreadful thunder didst not spare,

394

Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook

395

Heav’n’s everlasting frame, while o’er the necks

396

Thou drov’st of warring Angels disarrayed.

397

Back from pursuit, thy Powers[2562] with loud acclaim

398

Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father’s might,

399

To execute fierce vengeance on His foes,

400

Not so on man. Him through their[2563] malice fallen,

401

Father of mercy and grace, Thou didst not doom[2564]

402

So strictly, but much more to pity inclined.

403

No sooner did Thy dear and only Son

404

Perceive Thee purposed not to doom frail man

405

So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,

406

He to appease Thy wrath, and end the strife

407

Of mercy and justice in Thy face discerned,

408

Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat

409

Second to Thee, offered himself to die

410

For man’s offence. O unexampled love,

411

Love nowhere to be found less than Divine!

412

Hail, Son of God, Savior of men! Thy name

413

Shall be the copious matter of my song

414

Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise

415

Forget, nor from thy Father’s praise disjoin.[2565]

416

Thus they in Heav’n, above the starry sphere,

417

Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.

418

Meanwhile, upon the firm opacious[2566] globe

419

Of this round world, whose first convex[2567] divides

420

The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed [2568]

421

From Chaos and th’ inroad [2569] of Darkness old,

422

Satan alighted walks. A globe far off

423

It seemed, now seems a boundless continent

424

Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night

425

Starless exposed, and ever-threat’ning storms

426

Of Chaos blust’ring round, inclement [2570] sky,

427

Save on that side which from the wall of Heav’n,

428

Though distant far, some small reflection gains

429

Of glimmering air less vexed with tempest loud.

430

Here walked the fiend at large[2571] in spacious field.

431

As when a vulture on Imaus[2572] bred,

432

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,[2573]

433

Dislodging[2574] from a region scarce of prey

434

To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling[2575] kids,

435

On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs[2576]

436

Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams,

437

But in[2577] his way lights[2578] on the barren plains

438

Of Sericana,[2579] where Chineses drive

439

With sails and wind their cany[2580] waggons light.[2581]

440

So on this windy sea of land, the fiend

441

Walked up and down alone, bent on his prey—

442

Alone, for other creature in this place,

443

Living or lifeless, to be found was none,

444

None yet, but store[2582] hereafter from the earth

445

Up hither like aereal vapors flew

446

Of all things transitory and vain, when Sin

447

With vanity had filled the works of men:

448

Both all things vain, and all who in vain things

449

Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame,

450

Or[2583] happiness in this or th’ other life,

451

All who have their reward on earth, the fruits

452

Of painful superstition and blind zeal,

453

Nought seeking but the praise of men, here find

454

Fit retribution, empty as their deeds.

455

All th’ unaccomplished [2584] works of Nature’s hand,

456

Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly[2585] mixed,

457

Dissolved on earth, fleet[2586] hither, and in vain,

458

Till final dissolution, wander here,

459

Not in the neighboring moon, as some have dreamed.

460

Those argent[2587] fields’ more likely habitants,

461

Translated[2588] Saints,[2589] or middle Spirits hold

462

Betwixt th’ angelical and human kind.

463

Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born

464

First from the ancient world those giants came,

465

With many a vain exploit, though then renowned.

466

The builders next of Babel on the plain

467

Of Sennaär, [2590] and still with vain design,

468

New Babels, had [2591] they wherewithal,[2592] would build.

469

Others came single:[2593] he, [2594] who to be deemed[2595]

470

A god, leaped fondly[2596] into Aetna’s flames,

471

Empedocles; and he, [2597] who to enjoy

472

Plato’s Elysium,[2598] leaped into the sea,

473

Cleombrotus; and many more too long, [2599]

474

Embryos and idiots, eremites,[2600] and friars

475

White, [2601] black, [2602] and gray, [2603] with all their trumpery. [2604]

476

Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek

477

In Golgotha[2605] him dead who lives in Heav’n,

478

And they who to be sure of Paradise,

479

Dying, put on the weeds[2606] of Dominick,[2607]

480

Or in Franciscan[2608] think to pass disguised.

481

They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed,

482

And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs

483

The trepidation talked,[2609] and that first moved.[2610]

484

And now Saint Peter at Heav’n’s wicket[2611] seems

485

To wait [2612] them with his keys, and now at foot

486

Of Heav’n’s ascent they lift their feet, when lo!

487

A violent[2613] cross wind from either coast

488

Blows them transverse, [2614] ten thousand leagues[2615] awry[2616]

489

Into the devious[2617] air. Then might ye see

490

Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed

491

And fluttered into rags, then relics, beads,

492

Indulgences, dispenses,[2618] pardons, bulls,

493

The sport of winds. All these, upwhirled aloft,

494

Fly o’er the backside[2619] of the world far off

495

Into a limbo large and broad, since called

496

The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown

497

Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod.

498

All this dark globe the fiend found as he passed,

499

And long he wandered, till at last a gleam

500

Of dawning light[2620] turned thitherward in haste

501

His travelled steps. Far distant he descries,[2621]

502

Ascending by degrees[2622] magnificent

503

Up to the wall of Heav’n, a structure high

504

At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared

505

The work as of a kingly palace-gate,

506

With frontispiece[2623] of diamond and gold

507

Embellished. Thick with sparkling orient[2624] gems

508

The portal [2625] shone, inimitable on earth

509

By model or by shading[2626] pencil drawn.

510

These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw

511

Angels ascending and descending, bands

512

Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled

513

To Padan-Aram,[2627] in the field of Luz,[2628]

514

Dreaming by night under the open sky

515

And waking cried, “This is the gate of Heav’n!

516

Each stair mysteriously [2629] was meant, nor stood

517

There always, but drawn up[2630] to Heav’n sometimes,

518

Viewless.[2631] And underneath a bright sea flowed

519

Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon

520

Who after came from earth, sailing arrived,

521

Wafted by Angels, or flew o’er the lake

522

Rapt[2632] in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.

523

The stairs were then let down, whether to dare

524

The fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate[2633]

525

His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss,

526

Direct against which opened from beneath,

527

Just o’er the blissful seat of Paradise,

528

A passage down to th’ earth, a passage wide,

529

Wider by far than that of after-times

530

Over Mount Sion and, though that were large,

531

Over the Promised Land, to God so dear,

532

By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,

533

On high behests[2634] His Angels to and fro

534

Passed frequent, and His eye with choice regard[2635]

535

From Paneas,[2636] the fount [2637] of Jordan’s flood,[2638]

536

To Beersaba,[2639] where the Holy Land

537

Borders on Egypt and th’Arabian shore.

538

So wide the op’ning seemed, where bounds were set

539

To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.

540

Satan from hence, now on the lower stair

541

That scaled by steps of gold to Heav’n-gate,

542

Looks down with wonder at the sudden view

543

Of all this world at once. As when a scout,[2640]

544

Through dark and desert ways with peril gone

545

All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn

546

Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,

547

Which to his eye discovers[2641] unaware

548

The goodly [2642] prospect [2643] of some foreign land

549

First seen, or some renowned metropolis

550

With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,

551

Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams,

552

Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen,

553

The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized,

554

At sight of all this world beheld so fair.

555

Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood

556

So high above the circling canopy

557

Of Night’s extended shade), from eastern point

558

Of Libra[2644] to the fleecy star [2645] that bears

559

Andromeda [2646] far off Atlantic seas

560

Beyond th’ horizon. Then from pole to pole

561

He views in breadth, and without longer pause

562

Down right into the world’s first region throws

563

His flight precipitant,[2647] and winds[2648] with ease

564

Through the pure marble[2649] air his oblique way

565

Amongst innumerable stars, that shone

566

Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds—

567

Or [2650] other worlds they seemed, or happy isles,

568

Like those Hesperian gardens[2651] famed of old,

569

Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales,

570

Thrice happy isles. But who dwelt happy there

571

He stayed[2652] not to inquire. Above them all

572

The golden sun, in splendor likest Heav’n,

573

Allured his eye. Thither his course he bends

574

Through the calm firmament, but up or down,

575

By center, or eccentric,[2653] hard to tell,[2654]

576

Or longitude, where the great luminary[2655]

577

Aloof[2656] the vulgar [2657] constellations thick,[2658]

578

That from his[2659] lordly eye keep distance due, [2660]

579

Dispenses light from far. They as they move

580

Their starry dance in numbers that compute

581

Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp

582

Turn swift their various[2661] motions, or are turned

583

By his magnetic beam, that gently warms

584

The universe, and to each inward part

585

With gentle penetration, though unseen,

586

Shoots invisible virtue[2662] ev’n to the deep,

587

So wondrously was set his station bright.

588

There lands the fiend, a spot like which perhaps

589

Astronomer in the sun’s lucent[2663] orb

590

Through his glazed[2664] optic tube[2665] yet never saw.

591

The place he found beyond expression[2666] bright,

592

Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone,

593

Not all parts like, but all alike informed[2667]

594

With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire.

595

If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear;

596

If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,

597

Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone

598

In Aaron’s breast-plate, [2668] and a stone besides

599

Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen,[2669]

600

That stone, or like to that which here below

601

Philosophers in vain so long have sought—

602

In vain, though by their powerful art they bind

603

Volatile Hermes,[2670] and call up unbound

604

In various shapes old Proteus[2671] from the sea,

605

Drained through a limbic [2672] to his native form.

606

What wonder then if fields and regions here

607

Breathe forth elixir [2673] pure, and rivers run

608

Potable[2674] gold? when with one virtuous [2675] touch

609

The arch-chemic[2676] sun, so far from us remote, [2677]

610

Produces, with terrestrial humor[2678] mixed,

611

Here in the dark so many precious things

612

Of color glorious, and effect so rare?

613

Here matter new to gaze the Devil met,

614

Undazzled. Far and wide his eye commands,

615

For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,

616

But all sun-shine, as when his beams at noon

617

Culminate[2679] from th’equator, as they now

618

Shot upward still direct, whence no way round

619

Shadow from body opaque can fall, and the air,

620

Nowhere so clear, sharpened his[2680] visual ray [2681]

621

To objects distant far, whereby he soon

622

Saw within ken[2682] a glorious Angel stand,

623

The same whom John saw also in the sun.[2683]

624

His back was turned, but not his brightness hid.

625

Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar[2684]

626

Circled his head, nor less his locks behind

627

Illustrious [2685] on his shoulders fledge [2686] with wings

628

Lay waving round. On some great charge[2687] employed

629

He seemed, or fixed in cogitation[2688] deep.

630

Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope

631

To find who might direct his wandering flight

632

To Paradise, the happy seat of man,

633

His journey’s end and our beginning woe.

634

But first he casts[2689] to change his proper shape,

635

Which else might work him danger or delay.

636

And now a stripling[2690] Cherub he appears,

637

Not of the prime, [2691] yet such as in his face

638

Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb

639

Suitable grace diffused,[2692] so well he feigned.

640

Under a coronet [2693] his flowing hair

641

In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore

642

Of many a colored plume, [2694] sprinkled with gold;

643

His habit fit for speed succinct,[2695] and held

644

Before his decent [2696] steps a silver wand.

645

He drew not nigh unheard. The Angel bright,

646

Ere he[2697] drew nigh, his radiant visage turned,

647

Admonished by his ear, and straight was known

648

The Arch-Angel Uriel, one of the seven

649

Who in God’s presence, nearest to His throne,

650

Stand ready at command, and are His eyes

651

That run through all the Heav’ns, or down to th’ earth

652

Bear His swift errands over moist and dry,

653

O’er sea and land. Him Satan thus accosts:[2698]

654

“Uriel, for thou of those sev’n Spirits that stand

655

In sight of God’s high throne, gloriously bright,

656

The first art wont[2699] His great authentic[2700] will

657

Interpreter [2701] through highest Heav’n to bring,

658

Where all His sons thy embassy[2702] attend,

659

And here art likeliest by supreme decree

660

Like honor to obtain, and as His eye

661

To visit oft this new creation round.

662

Unspeakable desire to see, [2703] and know

663

All these His wondrous works, but chiefly man,

664

His chief delight and favor, him for whom

665

All these His works so wondrous He ordained,

666

Hath brought me from the choirs[2704] of Cherubim

667

Alone thus wand’ring. Brightest Seraph, tell

668

In which of all these shining orbs hath man

669

His fixèd seat, or fixèd seat hath none,

670

But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell,

671

That I may find him, and with secret gaze

672

Or open admiration[2705] him behold,

673

On whom the great Creator hath bestowed

674

Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured,

675

That both in him and all things, as is meet,[2706]

676

The universal Maker we may praise,

677

Who justly hath driven out His rebel foes

678

To deepest Hell and, to repair that loss,

679

Created this new happy race of men

680

To serve Him better. Wise are all His ways.

681

So spoke the false dissembler unperceived,

682

For neither man nor Angel can discern

683

Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

684

Invisible, except to God alone,

685

By His permissive will, through Heav’n and earth,

686

And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps

687

At wisdom’s gate, and to simplicity[2707]

688

Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill

689

Where no ill seems. Which now for once beguiled

690

Uriel, though regent [2708] of the sun, and held[2709]

691

The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heav’n,

692

Who to the fraudulent impostor foul,

693

In his[2710] uprightness,[2711] answer thus returned:

694

“Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know

695

The works of God, thereby to glorify

696

The great work-master, leads to no excess

697

That reaches[2712] blame, but rather merits praise

698

The more it seems excess, that led thee hither

699

From thy empyreal [2713] mansion[2714] thus alone,

700

To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps,

701

Contented with report, hear only in Heav’n.

702

For wonderful indeed are all His works,

703

Pleasant [2715] to know, and worthiest to be all

704

Had in remembrance always with delight.

705

But what created mind can comprehend

706

Their number, or the wisdom infinite

707

That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?

708

I saw when at His word the formless mass,

709

This world’s material mould, came to a heap.[2716]

710

Confusion heard His voice, and wild uproar

711

Stood[2717] ruled,[2718] stood vast infinitude confined,

712

Till at His second bidding darkness fled,

713

Light shone, and order from disorder sprung.

714

Swift to their several quarters hasted then

715

The cumbrous[2719] elements, earth, flood, air, fire,

716

And this ethereal [2720] quintessence[2721] of Heav’n

717

Flew upward, spirited [2722] with various forms,

718

That rolled orbicular, [2723] and turned to stars

719

Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move.

720

Each had his place appointed, each his course.

721

The rest, in circuit, walls[2724] this universe.

722

Look downward on that globe, whose hither side

723

With light from hence, though but reflected, shines.

724

That place is earth, the seat of man, that light

725

His day, which else, as th’ other hemisphere,

726

Night would invade, but there the neighboring moon

727

(So call that opposite fair star) her aid

728

Timely interposes,[2725] and her monthly round

729

Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heav’n,

730

With borrowed light her countenance triform[2726]

731

Hence fills and empties to enlighten[2727] th’ earth,

732

And in her pale dominion[2728] checks[2729] the night.

733

That spot, to which I point, is Paradise,

734

Adam’s abode; those lofty shades, his bow’r.

735

Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.

736

Thus said, he turned, and Satan, bowing low,

737

As to superior Spirits is wont [2730] in Heav’n,

738

Where honor due[2731] and reverence none neglects,

739

Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath,

740

Down from th’ ecliptic,[2732] sped with hoped success,

741

Throws[2733] his steep flight in many an airy wheel,[2734]

742

Nor stayed,[2735] till on Niphates’[2736] top he lights.

The End of the Third Book

BOOK IV

THE ARGUMENT

Satan now in prospect[2737] of Eden, and nigh the place where he must now attempt the bold enterprize which he undertook alone against God and man, falls into many doubts with himself, and many passions, fear, envy, and despair, but at length confirms himself in evil. Journey[ing] on to Paradise, whose outward prospect and situation is described, [he] overleaps the bounds[2738] [and] sits in the shape of a cormorant on the Tree of Life, as highest in the Garden, [in order] to look about him. The Garden described; Satan’s first sight of Adam and Eve; his wonder at their excellent form and happy state, but with resolution to work their fall; [he] overhears their discourse, thence gathers that the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden them to eat of, under penalty of death; and thereon intends to found his temptation, by seducing them to transgress. Then [he] leaves them a while, to know further of their state by some other means.

Meanwhile Uriel descending on a Sun-beam warns Gabriel, who had in charge the Gate of Paradise, that some evil spirit had escaped the deep, and passed at Noon, by his sphere, in the shape of a good Angel, down to Paradise, [as] discovered[2739] after[wards] by his[2740] furious gestures in the Mount. Gabriel promises to find him out ere morning.

Night coming on, Adam and Eve discourse of going to their rest; their bower describ’d; their evening worship. Gabriel drawing forth his bands of night-watch to walk the round of Paradise, appoints[2741] two strong Angels to Adam’s bower, lest the evil spirit should be there doing some harm to Adam or Eve sleeping. There they find him at the ear of Eve, tempting her in a dream, and bring him, though unwilling, to Gabriel, by whom questioned, he scornfully answers, prepares resistance, but hindered by a sign from Heaven, flies out of Paradise.

1

O, for that warning voice, which he, who saw

2

The Apocalypse, heard cry in Heaven aloud,

3

Then when the dragon, put to second rout,

4

Came furious down to be revenged on men,

5

“Woe to the inhabitants on earth!” [2742] that[2743] now,

6

While time was,[2744] our first parents had been warned

7

The coming of their secret foe, and ’scaped,

8

Haply[2745] so ’scaped, his mortal snare. For now

9

Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down,

10

The tempter ere[2746] the accuser of mankind,

11

To wreak[2747] on innocent frail man his[2748] loss

12

Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell.

13

Yet, not rejoicing in his speed, though bold,

14

Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast,

15

Begins his dire attempt, which night the birth

16

Now rolling, [2749] boils in his tumultuous breast,

17

And like a devilish engine[2750] back recoils

18

Upon himself. Horror and doubt distract

19

His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir

20

The Hell within him, for within him Hell

21

He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell

22

One step, no more than from himself, can fly

23

By change of place. Now conscience wakes despair

24

That slumbered, wakes the bitter memory

25

Of what he what must be

26

Worse: of [2751] worse deeds, worse sufferings must ensue. [2752]

27

Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view

28

Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad,

29

Sometimes towards Heav’n and the full-blazing sun,

30

Which now sat high in his[2753] meridian[2754] tower.

31

Then much[2755] revolving, [2756] thus in sighs began:

32

“O thou,[2757] that with surpassing glory crowned,

33

Look’st from thy sole dominion like the god

34

Of this new world, at whose sight all the stars

35

Hide their diminished heads, to thee I call,

36

But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,

37

O Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams,

38

That bring to my remembrance from what state

39

I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere, [2758]

40

Till pride and worse ambition threw me down,

41

Warring in Heav’n against Heav’n’s matchless King.

42

Ah, wherefore! He deserved no such return

43

From me, whom He created what I was

44

In that bright eminence, [2759] and with His good

45

Upbraided [2760] none. Nor was His service hard.

46

What could be less than to afford [2761] Him praise,

47

The easiest recompence, [2762] and pay Him thanks—

48

How due! [2763] Yet all His good proved ill in me,

49

And wrought [2764] but malice. Lifted up so high

50

I ’sdained [2765] subjection,[2766] and thought one step higher

51

Would set me highest, and in a moment quit[2767]

52

The debt immense of endless gratitude,

53

So burdensome still [2768] paying, still to owe,

54

Forgetful what from Him I still received,

55

And understood not that a grateful mind

56

By owing owes not, but still pays, at once

57

Indebted and discharged. What burden then?

58

O, had His powerful destiny ordained

59

Me some inferior Angel, I had stood [2769]

60

Then happy: no unbounded [2770] hope had raised

61

Ambition! Yet why not? Some other Power [2771]

62

As great might have aspired, and me, though mean,[2772]

63

Drawn[2773] to his part.[2774] But other Powers as great

64

Fell not, but stand unshaken from within

65

Or from without, to all temptations armed.[2775]

66

Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand?[2776]

67

Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what t’ accuse,

68

But Heav’n’s free[2777] love dealt equally to all?

69

Be then His love accursed, since love or hate,

70

To me alike, it deals[2778] eternal woe.

71

Nay, cursed be thou,[2779] since against His thy will

72

Chose freely what it now so justly[2780] rues![2781]

73

“Me miserable! [2782] Which way shall I fly[2783]

74

Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?

75

Which[2784] way I fly is Hell. Myself am Hell,

76

And in the lowest deep a lower deep

77

Still threat’ning to devour me opens wide,

78

To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav’n.

79

O then, at last relent! [2785] Is there no place

80

Left for repentance, none for pardon left?

81

None left but by submission, and that word

82

Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame

83

Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced

84

With other promises and other vaunts[2786]

85

Than to submit, boasting I could subdue

86

The Omnipotent. Ay me! they little know

87

How dearly[2787] I abide [2788] that boast so vain,

88

Under what torments inwardly I groan,

89

While they adore me on the throne of Hell!

90

With diadem and scepter high advanced[2789]

91

The lower still I fall, only supreme

92

In misery. Such joy ambition finds![2790]

93

But say I could repent, and could obtain,

94

By act of grace, my former state, how soon

95

Would height recall high thoughts, how soon unsay

96

What feigned [2791] submission swore? Ease would recant[2792]

97

Vows made in pain, as violent[2793] and void.

98

For never can true reconcilement grow

99

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep,

100

Which would but lead me to a worse relapse

101

And heavier fall. So should I purchase dear[2794]

102

Short intermission, bought with double smart.[2795]

103

This knows my punisher, therefore as far

104

From granting He, as I from begging, peace.

105

All hope excluded thus, behold, instead

106

Of us [2796] out-cast, exiled, his new delight,

107

Mankind created, and for him [2797] this world.

108

So farewell hope and, with hope, farewell fear,

109

Farewell remorse! All good to me is lost.

110

Evil, be thou my good: by thee at least

111

Divided empire with Heav’n’s King I hold—

112

By thee, and more than half [2798] perhaps will reign,

113

As man ere long, and this new world, shall know.

114

Thus while he spoke, each passion dimmed his face

115

Thrice changed with pale, [2799] ire, [2800] envy, and despair,

116

Which marred[2801] his borrowed visage, and betrayed

117

Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.

118

For Heav’nly minds from such distempers[2802] foul

119

Are ever clear. [2803] Whereof he soon aware,

120

Each perturbation[2804] smoothed with outward calm,

121

Artificer[2805] of fraud, and[2806] was the first

122

That practised falsehood under saintly show,

123

Deep malice to conceal, couched[2807] with revenge.

124

Yet not enough had practised [2808] to deceive

125

Uriel, once warned, whose eye pursued him down

126

The way he went, and on the Assyrian mount

127

Saw him disfigured, more than could befall [2809]

128

Spirit of happy sort. His gestures fierce

129

He marked, and mad demeanor, [2810] then alone,

130

As he supposed, all unobserved, unseen.

131

So on he fares,[2811] and to the border comes

132

Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

133

Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,

134

As with a rural mound, the champaign[2812] head [2813]

135

Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides

136

With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,

137

Access denied.[2814] And overhead up grew

138

Insuperable[2815] height of loftiest shade,

139

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,

140

A sylvan[2816] scene, and as the ranks [2817] ascend,

141

Shade above shade, a woody theater [2818]

142

Of stateliest [2819] view. Yet higher than their tops

143

The verdurous wall of Paradise upsprung,

144

Which to our general[2820] sire gave prospect large [2821]

145

Into his [2822] nether [2823] empire neighboring round.

146

And higher than that wall a circling row

147

Of goodliest[2824] trees, loaden with fairest fruit,

148

Blossoms and fruits at once[2825] of golden hue

149

Appeared, with gay enamelled [2826] colors mixed,

150

On which the sun more glad impressed [2827] his beams

151

Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow, [2828]

152

When God hath show’red the earth. So lovely seemed

153

That landscape. And of pure now purer [2829] air

154

Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires

155

Vernal[2830] delight and joy, able to drive[2831]

156

All sadness but despair. Now gentle gales,[2832]

157

Fanning their odoriferous[2833] wings, dispense[2834]

158

Native[2835] perfumes, and whisper whence they stole

159

Those balmy spoils.[2836] As when to them who sail

160

Beyond the Cape of Hope, [2837] and now are past

161

Mozambique, [2838] off at sea north-east winds blow

162

Sabean[2839] odors from the spicy shore

163

Of Araby the blest,[2840] with such delay

164

Well pleased they slack[2841] their course, [2842] and many a league[2843]

165

Cheered with the grateful [2844] smell old ocean smiles.

166

So entertained [2845] those odorous sweets the fiend,

167

Who came their bane, [2846] though with them better pleased

168

Than Asmodeus[2847] with the fishy fume[2848]

169

That drove him, though enamored, from the spouse

170

Of Tobit’s son, and with a vengeance sent [2849]

171

From Media post[2850] to Egypt, there fast bound.[2851]

172

Now to the ascent of that steep savage[2852] hill

173

Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow,

174

But further way found none, so thick entwined,

175

As one continued brake, [2853] the undergrowth

176

Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplexed [2854]

177

All path of man or beast that passed that way.

178

One gate there only was, and that looked east

179

On th’ other side. Which when the arch-felon saw,

180

Due entrance he disdained and, in contempt,

181

At one slight[2855] bound high over-leaped all bound

182

Of hill or highest wall, and sheer[2856] within

183

Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,

184

Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,

185

Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve

186

In hurdled [2857] cotes[2858] amid the field secure,

187

Leaps o’er the fence with ease into the fold—

188

Or as a thief, bent to unhoard [2859] the cash

189

Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,

190

Cross-barred and bolted fast, fear no assault,

191

In at the window climbs, or o’er the tiles,[2860]

192

So clomb[2861] this first grand thief into God’s fold.

193

So since into His church lewd hirelings climb.

194

Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,

195

The middle tree and highest there that grew,

196

Sat like a cormorant, yet not true life

197

Thereby regained, but sat devising death

198

To them who lived, nor on the virtue thought

199

Of that life-giving plant, but only used

200

For prospect,[2862] what well-used had been[2863] the pledge[2864]

201

Of immortality. So little knows

202

Any, but God alone, to value right

203

The good before him, but perverts best things

204

To worst abuse, or to their meanest [2865] use.

205

Beneath him with new wonder now he views,

206

To all delight of human sense exposed

207

In narrow room,[2866] Nature’s whole wealth, yea more,

208

A Heav’n on earth. For blissful Paradise

209

Of God the garden was, by Him in th’ east

210

Of Eden planted. Eden stretched her line[2867]

211

From Auran[2868] eastward to the royal tow’rs

212

Of great Seleucia,[2869] built by Grecian kings,

213

Or where the sons of Eden long before

214

Dwelt in Telassar. [2870] In this pleasant soil

215

His far more pleasant garden God ordained.

216

Out of the fertile ground He caused to grow

217

All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste,

218

And all amid them stood the Tree of Life,

219

High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit

220

Of vegetable[2871] gold. And next to life

221

Our death, the Tree of Knowledge, grew fast by,

222

Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill.

223

Southward through Eden went a river large,

224

Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy[2872] hill

225

Passed underneath engulfed,[2873] for God had thrown[2874]

226

That mountain as His garden-mold [2875] high raised

227

Upon the rapid current, which through veins

228

Of porous earth with kindly [2876] thirst up-drawn,

229

Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill[2877]

230

Watered the garden, thence united fell

231

Down the steep glade, and met the nether[2878] flood,[2879]

232

Which from his darksome passage now appears,

233

And now, divided into four main streams,

234

Runs diverse, [2880] wand’ring many a famous realm

235

And country, whereof here needs no account,

236

But rather to tell how, if art [2881] could tell,

237

How from that sapphire fount the crispèd[2882] brooks,

238

Rolling on orient[2883] pearl and sands of gold,

239

With mazy[2884] error [2885] under pendant shades

240

Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed

241

Flow’rs worthy of Paradise, which not nice[2886] art

242

In beds and curious[2887] knots, but Nature boon[2888]

243

Poured forth profuse on hill and dale and plain,

244

Both where the morning sun first warmly smote

245

The open field, and where the unpierced shade

246

Imbrowned [2889] the noontide bow’rs. Thus was this place

247

A happy rural seat of various view,

248

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,

249

Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,

250

Hung amiable, [2890] Hesperian[2891] fables true,

251

If true, here onl, and of delicious taste.

252

Betwixt them lawns, or level downs,[2892] and flocks

253

Grazing the tender herb,[2893] were interposed,

254

Or palmy[2894] hillock, or the flowery lap[2895]

255

Of some irriguous[2896] valley spread her store,

256

Flow’rs of all hue, and without thorn the rose.

257

Another side, umbrageous[2897] grots and caves

258

Of cool recess, o’er which the mantling[2898] vine

259

Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps

260

Luxuriant. Meanwhile murmuring waters fall

261

Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,

262

That to the fringèd bank with myrtle crowned

263

Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.

264

The birds their choir[2899] apply, [2900] airs, vernal airs,

265

Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune[2901]

266

The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,

267

Knit[2902] with the Graces[2903] and the Hours[2904] in dance,

268

Led on th’ eternal Spring. Not that fair field

269

Of Enna,[2905] where Proserpine, gath’ring flow’rs,

270

Herself a fairer flow’r by gloomy Dis[2906]

271

Was gathered, which cost Ceres[2907] all that pain

272

To seek her through the world. Nor that sweet grove

273

Of Daphne[2908] by Orontes,[2909] and the inspired [2910]

274

Castalian spring, [2911] might with this Paradise

275

Of Eden strive, [2912] nor that Nyseian[2913] isle

276

Girt[2914] with the river Triton, where old Cham,[2915]

277

Whom gentiles Ammon call, and Libyan Jove,

278

Hid Amalthea[2916] and her florid[2917] son

279

Young Bacchus from his stepdame Rhea’s eye,

280

Nor where Abassin[2918] kings their issue[2919] guard,

281

Mount Amara,[2920] though this by some supposed

282

True Paradise under the Ethiop line[2921]

283

By Nilus[2922] head,[2923] enclosed with shining rock,

284

A whole day’s journey high, but wide remote

285

From this Assyrian garden, where the fiend

286

Saw, undelighted, all delight, all kind

287

Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange.

288

Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,

289

Godlike erect, with native honor clad

290

In naked majesty, seemed lords of all.

291

And worthy seemed, for in their looks divine

292

The image of their glorious Maker shone,

293

Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure

294

(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed)

295

Whence true authority in men. Though both

296

Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed:

297

For contemplation he, and valor, formed;

298

For softness she and sweet attractive grace;

299

He for God only, she for God in him.

300

His fair large front[2924] and eye sublime[2925] declared[2926]

301

Absolute rule, and hyacinthine[2927] locks

302

Round from his parted forelock [2928] manly hung

303

Clust’ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad.

304

She as a veil down to the slender waist

305

Her unadornèd golden tresses wore

306

Dishevelled,[2929] but in wanton[2930] ringlets waved

307

As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied

308

Subjection, but required [2931] with gentle sway, [2932]

309

And by her yielded, by him best received,

310

Yielded with coy [2933] submission, modest pride,

311

And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.

312

Nor those mysterious parts[2934] were then concealed.

313

Then was not guilty shame, dishonest[2935] shame

314

Of Nature’s works. Honor dishonorable,

315

Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind

316

With shows[2936] instead, mere shows of seeming pure,

317

And banished from man’s life his happiest life,

318

Simplicity and spotless innocence!

319

So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sight

320

Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill:

321

So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair

322

That ever since in love’s embraces met,

323

Adam the goodliest man of men, since born

324

His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.

325

Under a tuft [2937] of shade that on a green[2938]

326

Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain side

327

They sat them down and, after no more toil

328

Of their sweet gardening labor than sufficed

329

To recommend [2939] cool Zephyr, [2940] and made ease

330

More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite

331

More grateful, to their supper-fruits they fell,

332

Nectarine [2941] fruits which the compliant [2942] boughs

333

Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline

334

On the soft downy bank, damasked [2943] with flow’rs.

335

The savory pulp they chew, and in the rind,

336

Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream,

337

Nor gentle purpose, [2944] nor endearing smiles

338

Wanted,[2945] nor youthful dalliance, as beseems

339

Fair couple, linked in happy nuptial league,

340

Alone as they. About them frisking played

341

All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase[2946]

342

In wood or wilderness, forest or den.

343

Sporting, [2947] the lion ramped,[2948] and in his paw

344

Dandled [2949] the kid; bears, tigers, ounces,[2950] pards,[2951]

345

Gambolled[2952] before them; the unwieldy elephant,

346

To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed [2953]

347

His lithe[2954] proboscis;[2955] close, [2956] the serpent sly

348

Insinuating [2957] wove with Gordian [2958] twine [2959]

349

His braided [2960] train,[2961] and of his fatal [2962] guile

350

Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass

351

Couched,[2963] and now filled with pasture [2964] gazing sat,

352

Or bedward ruminating, [2965] for the sun,

353

Declined,[2966] was hasting now with prone [2967] career [2968]

354

To th’ ocean isles,[2969] and in the ascending scale[2970]

355

Of Heav’n the stars that usher evening rose.

356

When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood,

357

Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered, sad:

358

“O Hell! What do mine eyes with grief behold!

359

Into our room[2971] of bliss thus high advanced

360

Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps,

361

Not Spirits, yet to Heav’nly Spirits bright

362

Little inferior, whom my thoughts pursue

363

With wonder, and could love, so lively shines

364

In them divine resemblance, and such grace

365

The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.[2972]

366

Ah! gentle [2973] pair, ye little think how nigh [2974]

367

Your change approaches, when all these delights

368

Will vanish, and deliver ye to woe,

369

More woe, the more your taste is now of joy,

370

Happy, but for so happy ill secured [2975]

371

Long to continue, and this high seat your Heav’n

372

Ill fenced for Heav’n to keep out such a foe

373

As now is entered. Yet no purposed [2976] foe

374

To you, whom I could pity thus forlorn,[2977]

375

Though I [2978] unpitied. League[2979] with you I seek,

376

And mutual amity, so straight,[2980] so close,

377

That I with you must dwell, or you with me

378

Henceforth. My dwelling haply [2981] may not please

379

(Like this fair Paradise) your sense, yet such

380

Accept your Maker’s work. He gave it me,

381

Which I as freely give: Hell shall unfold,

382

To entertain[2982] you two, her widest-gates,

383

And send forth all her kings. There will be room,

384

Not like these narrow limits, to receive

385

Your numerous offspring. If no better place,

386

Thank Him who puts me, loath, to this revenge

387

On you (who wrong me not), for Him who wronged.[2983]

388

And should I at your harmless innocence

389

Melt,[2984] as I do, yet public[2985] reason just,

390

Honor and empire with revenge enlarged,

391

By conquering this new world, compels me now

392

To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.

393

So spoke the fiend, and with necessity

394

(The tyrant’s plea) excused his devilish deeds.

395

Then from his lofty stand on that high tree

396

Down he alights among the sportful [2986] herd

397

Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one,

398

Now other, as their shape served best his end

399

Nearer to view his prey, and unespied

400

To mark what of their state[2987] he more might learn,

401

By word or action marked.[2988] About them round

402

A lion [2989] now he stalks with fiery glare,

403

Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied

404

In some purlieu[2990] two gentle fawns at play,

405

Straight couches[2991] close, then rising, changes oft

406

His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,

407

Whence rushing, he might surest seize them both,

408

Gripped in each paw: When Adam, first of men,

409

To first of women Eve, thus moving [2992] speech,

410

Turned him[2993] all ear [2994] to hear new utterance flow:

411

“Sole partner, and sole part,[2995] of all these joys,

412

Dearer thyself than all! Needs must the Power

413

That made us, and for us this ample world,

414

Be infinitely good, and of His good

415

As liberal and free as infinite,

416

That raised us from the dust, and placed us here

417

In all this happiness, who at His hand

418

Have nothing merited,[2996] nor can perform

419

Aught whereof He hath need, He who requires

420

From us no other service than to keep

421

This one, this easy charge:[2997] of all the trees

422

In Paradise that bear delicious fruit

423

So various, not to taste that only Tree

424

Of Knowledge, planted by [2998] the Tree of Life.

425

So near grows death to life, whate’er death is,

426

Some dreadful thing no doubt, for well thou know’st

427

God hath pronounced it death to taste that tree,

428

The only sign of our obedience left

429

Among so many signs of power and rule

430

Conferred upon us, and dominion[2999] giv’n

431

Over all other creatures that possess

432

Earth, air, and sea. Then let us not think hard

433

One easy prohibition, who enjoy

434

Free leave so large to all things else, and choice

435

Unlimited of manifold delights,

436

But let us ever praise Him, and extol

437

His bounty, following our delightful task,

438

To prune these growing plants, and tend these flow’rs,

439

Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.

440

To whom thus Eve replied: “O thou for whom

441

And from whom I was formed, flesh of thy flesh,

442

And without whom am to no end,[3000] my guide

443

And head! What thou hast said is just and right.

444

For we to Him indeed all praises owe,

445

And daily thanks—I chiefly, who enjoy

446

So far the happier lot, enjoying thee

447

Pre-eminent by so much odds,[3001] while thou

448

Like[3002] consort [3003] to thyself canst nowhere find.

449

That day I oft remember, when from sleep

450

I first awaked, and found myself reposed

451

Under a shade [3004] on flow’rs, much wond’ring where

452

And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.

453

Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound

454

Of waters issued from a cave, and spread

455

Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved,[3005]

456

Pure as th’ expanse of Heav’n. I thither [3006] went

457

With unexperienced [3007] thought, and laid me down

458

On the green bank, to look into the clear

459

Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.

460

As I bent down to look, just opposite

461

A shape within the wat’ry gleam appeared,

462

Bending to look on me. I started back—

463

It started back—but pleased I soon returned,

464

Pleased it returned as soon, with answering looks

465

Of sympathy and love. There I had fixed

466

Mine eyes till now, and pined [3008] with vain desire,

467

Had not a voice thus warned me: ‘What thou see’st,

468

What there thou see’st, fair creature, is thyself.

469

With thee it came and goes. But follow me

470

And I will bring thee where no shadow stays[3009]

471

Thy coming, and thy soft embraces, he

472

Whose image thou art, him thou shalt enjoy

473

Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear

474

Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called

475

Mother of human race. ’What could I do,

476

But follow straight,[3010] invisibly thus led?

477

Till I espied thee, fair indeed and tall,

478

Under a platane, [3011] yet methought less fair,

479

Less winning soft, less amiably mild,

480

Than that smooth wat’ry image. Back I turned.

481

Thou following cried’st aloud, ‘Return, fair Eve.

482

Whom fly’st [3012] thou? Whom thou fly’st, of him thou art,

483

His flesh, his bone. To give thee being I lent

484

Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,

485

Substantial [3013] life, to[3014] have thee by my side

486

Henceforth an individual[3015] solace [3016] dear.

487

Part of my soul, I seek thee! and thee claim[3017]

488

My other half. ’With that thy gentle hand

489

Seized mine, I yielded, and from that time see

490

How beauty is excelled by manly grace,

491

And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.

492

So spoke our general [3018] mother, and with eyes

493

Of conjugal attraction unreproved,

494

And meek surrender, half-embracing leaned

495

On our first father. Half her swelling breast

496

Naked met his, under the flowing gold

497

Of her loose tresses hid. He in delight

498

Both of her beauty and submissive charms,

499

Smiled with superior love, as Jupiter

500

On Juno smiles, when he impregns [3019] the clouds

501

That shed May flowers, and pressed her matron lip

502

With kisses pure. Aside the Devil turned

503

For envy, yet with jealous leer malign

504

Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained:[3020]

505

“Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two,

506

Imparadised in one another’s arms,

507

The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill

508

Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust,

509

Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,

510

Among our other torments not the least,

511

Still unfulfilled with pain of longing pines.[3021]

512

Yet let me not forget what I have gained

513

From their own mouths. All is not theirs, it seems.

514

One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,

515

Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge forbidden?

516

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord

517

Envy them that? Can it be sin to know?

518

Can it be death? And do they only stand [3022]

519

By ignorance? Is that their happy state,

520

The proof of their obedience and their faith?

521

O fair foundation laid whereon to build

522

Their ruin! Hence I will excite[3023] their minds

523

With more desire to know, and to reject

524

Envious commands, invented with design

525

To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt

526

Equal with gods. Aspiring to be such,

527

They taste and die. What likelier can ensue?

528

But first with narrow [3024] search I must walk round

529

This garden, and no corner leave unspied.

530

A chance (but chance)[3025] may lead where I may meet

531

Some wand’ring Spirit of Heav’n by fountain side,

532

Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw

533

What further would be learned. Live while ye may,

534

Yet happy pair—enjoy, till I return,

535

Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed!”[3026]

536

So saying, his proud step he scornful turned,

537

But with sly circumspection,[3027] and began

538

Through wood, through waste, [3028] o’er hill, o’er dale, his roam.[3029]

539

Meanwhile in utmost longitude, [3030] where Heav’n

540

With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun

541

Slowly descended, and with right aspect [3031]

542

Against the eastern gate of Paradise

543

Leveled his evening rays. It was a rock

544

Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,

545

Conspicuous[3032] far, winding with one ascent

546

Accessible from earth, one entrance high.

547

The rest was craggy cliff, that overhung

548

Still as it rose, impossible to climb.

549

Betwixt these rocky pillars, Gabriel sat,

550

Chief of the Angelic guards, awaiting night.

551

About him exercised [3033] heroic games

552

Th’ unarmed youth of Heav’n, but nigh[3034] at hand

553

Celestial armory—shields, helms, and spears,

554

Hung high with diamond flaming, and with gold.

555

Thither came Uriel, gliding through the ev’n[3035]

556

On a sun-beam, swift as a shooting star

557

In autumn thwarts[3036] s fired [3037]

558

Impress[3038] the air) and shows the mariner

559

From what point of his compass to beware

560

Impetuous[3039] winds. He thus began in haste:

561

“Gabriel, to thee thy course by lot [3040] hath given

562

Charge[3041] and strict watch, that to this happy place

563

No evil thing approach or enter in.

564

This day at height of noon came to my sphere

565

A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed, to know

566

More of the Almighty’s works, and chiefly man,

567

God’s latest image. I described [3042] his way

568

Bent all on speed, and marked [3043] his airy gait,[3044]

569

But in the mount that lies from Eden north,

570

Where he first lighted, soon discerned his looks

571

Alien[3045] from Heav’n, with passions foul obscured.[3046]

572

Mine eye pursued him still, but under shade

573

Lost sight of him. One of the banished crew,

574

I fear, hath ventured from the deep, to raise [3047]

575

New troubles. Him thy care must be to find.

576

To whom the wingèd warrior thus returned:

577

“Uriel, no wonder if thy perfect sight,

578

Amid the sun’s bright circle where thou sit’st,

579

See far and wide. In at this gate none pass

580

The vigilance[3048] here placed, but such as come

581

Well known from Heav’n. And since meridian hour [3049]

582

No creature thence. If Spirit of other sort,

583

So minded,[3050] have o’er-leaped these earthly bounds

584

On purpose, hard thou know’st it to exclude

585

Spiritual substance with corporeal bar.

586

But if within the circuit of these walks,

587

In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom

588

Thou tell’st, by morrow dawning I shall know.

589

So promised he, and Uriel to his charge[3051]

590

Returned on that bright beam, whose point now raised

591

Bore him slope downward to the sun now fall’n

592

Beneath the Azores, whither the prime orb,

593

Incredible how swift, had thither rolled

594

Diurnal,[3052] or [3053] this less voluble[3054] earth,

595

By shorter flight to the east, had left him there,

596

Arraying with reflected purple and gold

597

The clouds that on his western throne attend.

598

Now came still [3055] ev’ning on, and twilight gray

599

Had in her sober livery[3056] all things clad.[3057]

600

Silence accompanied, for beast and bird,

601

They to their grassy couch, these to their nests

602

Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale:

603

She all night long her amorous descant [3058] sung.

604

Silence was pleased. Now glowed the firmament

605

With living sapphires. Hesperus,[3059] that led

606

The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,

607

Rising in clouded majesty, at length

608

(Apparent [3060] queen) unveiled her peerless light,

609

And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.

610

When Adam thus to Eve: “Fair consort, th’ hour

611

Of night, and all things now retired to rest,

612

Mind [3061] us of like[3062] repose, since God hath set

613

Labor and rest, as day and night, to men

614

Successive, [3063] and the timely dew of sleep,

615

Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, inclines[3064]

616

Our eye-lids. Other creatures all day long

617

Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest;

618

Man hath his daily work of body or mind

619

Appointed, which declares[3065] his dignity,

620

And the regard [3066] of Heav’n on all his ways,

621

While other animals unactive range, [3067]

622

And of their doings God takes no account.

623

To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east

624

With first approach of light, we must be ris’n,

625

And at our pleasant labor, to reform[3068]

626

Yon flow’ry arbors, yonder alleys[3069] green,

627

Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,

628

That mock our scant manuring, [3070] and require

629

More hands than ours to lop their wanton[3071] growth.

630

Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,

631

That lie bestrewn, unsightly and unsmooth,

632

Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease.

633

Meanwhile, as Nature wills, night bids us rest.

634

To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned:

635

“My author and disposer, what thou bid’st

636

Unargued I obey. So God ordains:

637

God is thy law, thou mine. To know no more

638

Is woman’s happiest knowledge, and her praise.

639

With thee conversing I forget all time;

640

All seasons, and their change, all please alike.

641

Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,

642

With charm [3072] of earliest birds. Pleasant the sun,

643

When first on this delightful land he spreads

644

His orient [3073] beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flow’r,

645

Glistering with dew. Fragrant the fertile earth

646

After soft showers, and sweet the coming on

647

Of grateful[3074] evening mild, then silent night,

648

With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon,

649

And these the gems of Heav’n, her starry train.

650

But neither breath of morn, when she ascends

651

With charm[3075] of earliest birds, nor rising sun

652

On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flow’r,

653

Glistering with dew, nor fragrance after showers,

654

Nor grateful ev’ning mild, nor silent night,

655

With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,

656

Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.

657

“But wherefore all night long shine these? For whom

658

This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?

659

To whom our general [3076] ancestor replied:

660

“Daughter of God and man, accomplished [3077] Eve,

661

These have their course to finish round the earth,

662

By morrow ev’ning, and from land to land

663

In order, though to nations yet unborn.

664

Minist’ring[3078] light prepared,[3079] they set and rise,

665

Lest total darkness should by night regain

666

Her old possession, and extinguish life

667

In Nature and all things, which these soft fires

668

Not only enlighten,[3080] but with kindly[3081] heat

669

Of various[3082] influence[3083] foment[3084] and warm,

670

Temper or nourish, or in part shed down

671

Their stellar virtue[3085] on all kinds[3086] that grow

672

On earth, made hereby apter [3087] to receive

673

Perfection from the sun’s more potent [3088] ray.

674

These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,

675

Shine not in vain, nor think,[3089] though men were

676

That Heav’n would want[3090] spectators, God want praise.

677

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth

678

Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:

679

All these with ceaseless praise His works behold

680

Both day and night. How often from the steep[3091]

681

Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard

682

Celestial voices to the midnight air,

683

Sole, or responsive each to others’ note,

684

Singing their great Creator? Oft in bands

685

While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk,[3092]

686

With Heav’nly touch of instrumental sounds

687

In full harmonic number [3093] joined, their songs

688

Divide[3094] the night, and lift our thoughts to Heav’n.

689

Thus talking, hand in hand alone they passed

690

On to their blissful bower. It was a place

691

Chosen by the sov’reign Planter, [3095] when He framed

692

All things to man’s delightful use. The roof

693

Of thickest covert [3096] was inwoven shade,

694

Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew

695

Of firm and fragrant leaf, on either side

696

Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub,

697

Fenced up the verdant wall. Each beauteous flow’r,

698

Iris all hues, roses, and jessamin,

699

Reared high their flourished [3097] heads between, and wrought [3098]

700

Mosaic. Underfoot the violet,

701

Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay

702

Broidered[3099] the ground, more colored than with stone

703

Of costliest emblem.[3100] Other creature here,

704

Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none,

705

Such was their awe of man. In shadier bower

706

More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,[3101]

707

Pan or Sylvanus never slept, nor nymph

708

Nor Faunus[3102] haunted. Here, in close[3103] recess,[3104]

709

With flowers, garlands, and sweet-smelling herbs,

710

Espousèd [3105] Eve decked first her nuptial bed,

711

And Heav’nly choirs the hymenaean[3106] sung,

712

What day [3107] the genial [3108] Angel to our sire

713

Brought her in naked beauty more adorned,

714

More lovely, than Pandora,[3109] whom the gods

715

Endowed with all their gifts, and O! too like

716

In sad event, when to the unwiser son[3110]

717

Of Japhet [3111] brought by Hermes,[3112] she ensnared

718

Mankind with her fair looks, to be[3113] avenged

719

On him[3114] who had stole Jove’s authentic[3115] fire.

720

Thus at their shady lodge [3116] arrived, both stood,

721

Both turned, and under open sky adored[3117]

722

The God that made both sky, air, earth, and Heav’n,

723

Which they beheld, the moon’s resplendent globe

724

And starry pole: “Thou also mad’st the night,

725

Maker Omnipotent, and Thou the day,

726

Which we, in our appointed work employed,

727

Have finished, happy in our mutual help

728

And mutual love, the crown of all our bliss

729

Ordained by Thee. And this delicious[3118] place

730

For us too large, where thy abundance wants[3119]

731

Partakers, and uncropped [3120] falls to the ground.

732

But thou hast promised from us two a race

733

To fill the earth, who shall with us extol

734

Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,

735

And when we seek, as now, Thy gift of sleep.

736

This said unanimous, and other rites

737

Observing none, but adoration pure

738

(Which God likes best), into their inmost bow’r

739

Handed [3121] they went and, eased [3122] the putting off

740

These troublesome disguises which we wear,

741

Straight side by side were laid, nor turned, I ween,[3123]

742

Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites

743

Mysterious of connubial love refused,

744

Whatever hypocrites austerely talk

745

Of purity, and place, and innocence,

746

Defaming as impure what God declares

747

Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.

748

Our Maker bids increase: who bids abstain

749

But our destroyer, foe to God and man?

750

Hail, wedded love, mysterious law, true source

751

Of human offspring, sole propriety[3124]

752

In Paradise of all things common[3125] else!

753

By thee adulterous lust was driv’n from men

754

Among the bestial herds to range. [3126] By thee

755

Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure,

756

Relations[3127] dear, and all the charities[3128]

757

Of father, son, and brother, first were known.

758

Far be it, that I should write[3129] thee sin or blame,

759

Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,

760

Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets,

761

Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced,

762

Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used.

763

Here love his golden shafts[3130] employs, here lights

764

His constant [3131] lamp, and waves his purple wings,

765

Reigns here and revels, not in the bought smile

766

Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared,

767

Casual fruition,[3132] nor in court-amours,

768

Mixed dance, or wanton[3133] masque, or midnight ball,

769

Or serenade, which the starved lover sings

770

To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.

771

These, lulled by nightingales, embracing slept,

772

And on their naked limbs the flow’ry roof

773

Show’red roses, which the morn repaired.[3134] Sleep on,

774

Blest pair! and O! yet happiest, if ye seek

775

No happier state, and know to know no more!

776

Now had night measured with her shadowy cone[3135]

777

Halfway up hill this vast sublunar vault,[3136]

778

And from their ivory port[3137] the Cherubim,

779

Forth issuing at the accustomed hour, stood armed

780

To their night watches in warlike parade,

781

When Gabriel to his next in power thus spoke:

782

“Uzziel,[3138] half these draw off, and coast the south

783

With strictest watch. These other wheel [3139] the north;

784

Our circuit meets full west.” As[3140] flame they part,

785

Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear. [3141]

786

From these, two strong and subtle Spirits he called

787

That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge:

788

“Ithuriel [3142] and Zephon,[3143] with wingèd speed

789

Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook,

790

But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,

791

Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of [3144] harm.

792

This ev’ning from[3145] the sun’s decline arrived

793

Who tells[3146] of some infernal Spirit seen

794

Hitherward bent[3147] (who could have thought?), escaped

795

The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt.

796

Such, where ye find, seize fast, and hither bring.

797

So saying, on he led his radiant files,[3148]

798

Dazzling the moon. These to the bower direct

799

In search of whom they sought, him[3149] there they found

800

Squat [3150] like a toad, close at[3151] the ear of Eve,

801

Assaying[3152] by his devilish art to reach

802

The organs of her fancy, and with them forge

803

Illusions, as he list,[3153] phantasms and dreams,

804

Or if, [3154] inspiring [3155] venom, he might taint[3156]

805

The animal spirits that from pure blood arise

806

Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise

807

At least distempered,[3157] discontented thoughts,

808

Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,

809

Blown up with high conceits engend’ring pride.

810

Him thus intent, Ithuriel with his spear

811

Touched lightly, for no falsehood can endure

812

Touch of celestial temper, [3158] but returns

813

Of force[3159] to its own likeness. Up he starts,[3160]

814

Discovered and surprised.[3161] As when a spark

815

Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, [3162] laid [3163]

816

Fit for the tun[3164] some magazine[3165] to store

817

Against a rumored war, the smutty[3166] grain,[3167]

818

With sudden blaze diffused,[3168] inflames the air,

819

So started up in his own shape the fiend.

820

Back stepped those two fair Angels, half amazed [3169]

821

So sudden to behold the grisly [3170] king,

822

Yet thus, unmoved with fear, accost[3171] him soon:[3172]

823

“Which of those rebel Spirits adjudged [3173] to Hell

824

Com’st thou, escaped thy prison? And, transformed,

825

Why sat’st thou like an enemy in wait,

826

Here watching at the head of these that sleep?

827

“Know ye not then,” said Satan, filled with scorn,

828

“Know ye not me? Ye knew me once no mate[3174]

829

For you, there[3175] sitting where ye durst not soar.

830

Not to know me argues[3176] yourselves unknown,

831

The lowest of your throng. Or if ye know,

832

Why ask ye, and superfluous begin

833

Your message, like to end as much in vain?

834

To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn:

835

“Think not, revolted [3177] Spirit, thy shape the same,

836

Or undiminished brightness, to be known

837

As when thou stood’st in Heav’n upright and pure.

838

That glory then, when thou no more wast good,

839

Departed from thee, and thou resembl’st now

840

Thy sin and place of doom,[3178] obscure and foul.

841

But come, for thou, be sure, shalt give account

842

To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep

843

This place inviolable, and these from harm.

844

So spoke the Cherub, and his grave rebuke,

845

Severe in youthful beauty, added grace

846

Invincible. Abashed the Devil stood,

847

And felt how awful [3179] goodness is, and saw

848

Virtue in her shape how lovely, saw and pined [3180]

849

His loss, but chiefly to find here observed

850

His luster visibly impaired, yet seemed

851

Undaunted. “If I must contend,”[3181] said he,

852

“Best with the best, the sender, not the sent,

853

Or all at once. More glory will be won,

854

Or less be lost.” “Thy fear,” said Zephon bold,

855

“Will save us trial what the least can do

856

Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.

857

The fiend replied not, overcome with rage,

858

But like a proud steed reined, went haughty on,

859

Champing[3182] his iron curb. [3183] To strive or fly[3184]

860

He held it vain; awe[3185] from above had quelled[3186]

861

His heart, not else dismayed. Now drew they nigh

862

The western point, where those half-rounding guards

863

Just met, and closing stood in squadron joined,

864

Awaiting next command. To whom their chief,

865

Gabriel, from the front[3187] thus called aloud:

866

“O friends! I hear the tread of nimble[3188] feet

867

Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern

868

Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade,

869

And with them comes a third of regal [3189] port,[3190]

870

But faded splendor wan,[3191] who by his gait

871

And fierce demeanor seems the Prince of Hell,

872

Not likely to part [3192] hence without contest.

873

Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.”[3193]

874

He scarce had ended, when those two approached

875

And brief related whom they brought, where found,

876

How busied, in what form and posture couched.[3194]

877

To whom with stern regard[3195] thus Gabriel spoke:

878

“Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescribed

879

To thy transgressions, and disturbed the charge[3196]

880

Of others, who approve [3197] not to transgress

881

By thy example, but have power and right

882

To question thy bold entrance on this place,

883

Employed, it seems, to violate sleep, and those

884

Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss!

885

To whom thus Satan, with contemptuous brow:

886

“Gabriel, thou had’st in Heav’n th’ esteem[3198] of wise,

887

And such I held thee. But this question asked

888

Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain?

889

Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,

890

Though thither doomed?[3199] Thou would’st thyself, no doubt,

891

And boldly venture to whatever place

892

Farthest from pain, where thou might’st hope to change[3200]

893

Torment with ease, and soonest recompense[3201]

894

Dole[3202] with delight, which in this place I sought.

895

To thee no reason, who know’st only good,

896

But evil hast not tried. And wilt object

897

His will who bound us? Let him surer[3203] bar

898

His iron gates, if he intends our stay

899

In that dark durance. [3204] Thus much what was asked.

900

The rest is true, they found me where they say,

901

But that implies not violence or harm.

902

Thus he in scorn. The warlike Angel, moved,[3205]

903

Disdainfully half smiling, thus replied:

904

“O loss of one in Heav’n to judge of wise,[3206]

905

Since Satan fell, whom folly overthrew,

906

And now returns him from his prison ’scaped,

907

Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise

908

Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither

909

Unlicensed [3207] from his bounds[3208] in Hell prescribed.

910

So wise he judges it to fly[3209] from pain,

911

However, [3210] and to ’scape his punishment!

912

So judge thou still, presumptuous! till the wrath,

913

Which thou incurr’st by flying, meet [3211] thy flight

914

Sevenfold, and scourge [3212] that wisdom back to Hell,

915

Which taught thee yet no better, than no pain

916

Can equal anger infinite provoked.

917

But wherefore thou alone? Wherefore with thee

918

Came not all Hell broke loose? Is pain to them

919

Less pain, less to be fled, or thou than they

920

Less hardy [3213] to endure? Courageous chief,

921

The first in flight from pain! Had’st thou alleged [3214]

922

To thy deserted host this cause of flight,

923

Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.

924

To which the fiend thus answered, frowning stern:

925

“Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain,

926

Insulting Angel! Well thou know’st I stood

927

Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid

928

The blasting vollied thunder made all speed [3215]

929

And seconded [3216] thy else[3217] not dreaded spear.

930

But still thy words at random,[3218] as before,

931

Argue thy inexperience what [3219] behooves[3220]

932

From hard assays[3221] and ill successes[3222] past

933

A faithful leader, not to hazard all

934

Through ways[3223] of danger by himself untried.

935

I, therefore, I alone first undertook

936

To wing[3224] the desolate abyss, and spy

937

This new created world, whereof in Hell

938

Fame[3225] is not silent, here in hope to find

939

Better abode, and my afflicted Powers

940

To settle here on earth, or in mid air,

941

Though[3226] for possession put [3227] to try once more

942

What thou and thy gay legions dare against,

943

Whose easier business were to serve their Lord

944

High up in Heav’n, with songs to hymn His throne,

945

And practised distances to cringe, not fight.

946

To whom the warrior Angel soon[3228] replied:

947

“To say and straight unsay, pretending first

948

Wise to fly [3229] pain, professing[3230] next the spy,

949

Argues[3231] no leader but a liar traced,[3232]

950

Satan—and couldst thou faithful add? O name,

951

O sacred name of faithfulness profaned!

952

Faithful to whom? To thy rebellious crew?

953

Army of fiends, fit body to fit head!

954

Was this your discipline and faith engaged,

955

Your military obedience, to dissolve

956

Allegiance to th’ acknowledged Power supreme?

957

And thou, sly hypocrite, who now would’st seem

958

Patron of liberty, who more than thou

959

Once fawned, and cringed, and servilely [3233] adored

960

Heav’n’s awful [3234] Monarch? Wherefore, [3235] but in hope

961

To dispossess Him, and thyself to reign?

962

But mark what I agreed[3236] thee now. Avaunt![3237]

963

Fly thither whence thou fled’st! If from this hour

964

Within these hallowed limits[3238] thou appear,

965

Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained,

966

And seal [3239] thee so as henceforth not to scorn

967

The facile[3240] gates of Hell too slightly barred.

968

So threatened he, but Satan to no threats

969

Gave heed, but waxing[3241] more in rage[3242] replied:

970

“Then when I am thy captive, talk of chains,

971

Proud limitary[3243] Cherub! But ere then

972

Far heavier load [3244] thyself expect to feel

973

From my prevailing[3245] arm, though Heaven’s King

974

Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy compeers,[3246]

975

Used to the yoke, draw’st His triumphant wheels

976

In progress through the road of Heav’n star-

pav

977

While thus he spoke, the angelic squadron bright

978

Turned fiery red, sharp’ning in moonèd horns[3247]

979

Their phalanx,[3248] and began to hem him round

980

With ported [3249] spears, as thick as when a field

981

Of Ceres,[3250] ripe for harvest, waving[3251] bends

982

Her bearded grove of ears which way the wind

983

Sways[3252] them. The careful ploughman doubting stands,

984

Lest on the threshing floor his hopeful sheaves[3253]

985

Prove chaff. On th’ other side, Satan, alarmed,[3254]

986

Collecting all his might, dilated [3255] stood,

987

Like Teneriffe [3256] or Atlas,[3257] unremoved.[3258]

988

His stature reached the sky, and on his crest

989

Sat horror plumed,[3259] nor wanted[3260] in his grasp

990

What seemed both spear and shield. Now dreadful deeds

991

Might have ensued, nor only Paradise

992

In[3261] this commotion, but the starry cope [3262]

993

Of Heav’n, perhaps, or all the elements

994

At least had gone to wrack,[3263] disturbed and torn

995

With violence of this conflict, had not soon[3264]

996

Th’ Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray,

997

Hung forth in Heav’n His golden scales,[3265] yet [3266] seen

998

Betwixt Astrea[3267] and the Scorpion sign,

999

Wherein all things created first He weighed,

1000

The pendulous round earth with balanced air

1001

In counterpoise, now ponders [3268] all events,

1002

Battles and realms. In these [3269] he put two weights,

1003

The sequel[3270] each of parting [3271] and of fight.

1004

The latter quick up flew, and kicked the beam,[3272]

1005

Which Gabriel spying, thus bespoke[3273] the fiend:

1006

“Satan, I know thy strength, and thou know’st mine

1007

Neither our own, but giv’n. What folly then

1008

To boast what arms can do? since thine no more

1009

Than Heav’n permits, nor mine, though doubled now

1010

To trample thee as mire. [3274] For proof look up,

1011

And read thy lot [3275] in yon celestial sign,

1012

Where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak,

1013

If thou resist.” The fiend looked up, and knew[3276]

1014

His mounted scale aloft: nor more, but fled

1015

Murmuring, [3277] and with him fled the shades of

The End of the Fourth Book

BOOK V

THE ARGUMENT

Morning approached, Eve relates to Adam her troublesome dream; he likes it not, yet comforts her. They come forth to their day labors; their morning hymn at the door of their bower.

God to render man inexcusable[3278] sends Raphael to admonish him of his obedience, of his free estate, of his enemy near at hand; who he is, and why his enemy, and whatever else may avail Adam to know. Raphael comes down to Paradise, his appearance described, his coming discerned by Adam afar off, sitting at the door of his bower; he goes out to meet him, brings him to his lodge, entertains him with the choicest fruits of Paradise got together by Eve; their discourse at table.

Raphael performs his message, minds Adam of his state and of his enemy; relates at Adam’s request who that enemy is, and how he came to be so, beginning from his first revolt in Heaven, and the occasion thereof; how he drew his legions after him to the parts of the North, and there incited them to rebel with him, persuading all but only Abdiel, a Seraph, who in argument dissuades and opposes him, then forsakes him.

1

Now morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime[3279]

2

Advancing, sowed the earth with orient[3280] pearl,

3

When Adam waked, so customed,[3281] for his sleep

4

Was airy-light, from pure digestion bred,[3282]

5

And temperate[3283] vapors[3284] bland,[3285] which th’ only sound

6

Of leaves and fuming[3286] rills, Aurora’s[3287] fan,

7

Lightly dispersed,[3288] and the shrill matin[3289] song

8

Of birds on every bough, so much the more

9

His wonder was to find unwakened Eve

10

With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,

11

As through unquiet rest. He, on his side

12

Leaning half raised, with looks of cordial [3290] love

13

Hung over her enamored, and beheld

14

Beauty which, whether waking or asleep,

15

Shot forth peculiar[3291] graces. Then with voice

16

Mild, as when Zephyrus[3292] on Flora[3293] breathes,

17

Her hand soft touching, whispered thus: “Awake,

18

My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,

19

Heav’n’s last best gift, my ever new delight!

20

Awake. The morning shines, and the fresh field

21

Calls us. We lose the prime, [3294] to mark[3295] how spring[3296]

22

Our tender plants, how blows the citron grove,

23

What drops the myrrh,[3297] and what the balmy reed,[3298]

24

How Nature paints her colors, how the bee

25

Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.

26

Such whispering waked her, but with startled eye

27

On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spoke:

28

“O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,

29

My glory, my perfection! Glad I see

30

Thy face, and morn returned, for I this night

31

(Such night till this I never passed) have dreamed

32

(If dreamed) not, as I oft am wont,[3299] of thee,

33

Works of day past, or morrow’s next design,[3300]

34

But of offence and trouble, which my mind

35

Knew never till this irksome[3301] night. Methought

36

Close at mine ear one called me forth to walk,

37

With gentle voice; I thought it thine. It said,

38

‘Why sleep’st thou, Eve? Now is the pleasant time,

39

The cool, the silent, save [3302] where silence yields

40

To the night-warbling bird, that now awake

41

Tunes sweetest his love-labored song. Now reigns

42

Full-orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light

43

Shadowy sets off the face of things. In vain,

44

If none regard.[3303] Heav’n wakes with all his eyes,

45

Whom to behold but thee, Nature’s desire?

46

In whose sight all things joy, [3304] with ravishment [3305]

47

Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.

48

I rose as at thy call, but found thee not;

49

To find thee I directed then my walk,

50

And on, methought, alone I passed through ways

51

That brought me on a sudden to the tree

52

Of interdicted[3306] knowledge. Fair it seemed,

53

Much fairer to my fancy than by day,

54

And as I wond’ring looked, beside it stood

55

One shaped and winged like one of those from Heav’n

56

By us oft seen. His dewy locks distilled[3307]

57

Ambrosia. On that tree he also gazed,

58

And ‘O fair plant,’ said he, ‘with fruit surcharged,[3308]

59

Deigns none to ease thy load, and taste thy sweet,

60

Nor god, nor man? Is knowledge so despised?

61

Or envy, or what reserve[3309] forbids to taste?

62

Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold

63

Longer thy offered good: why else set [3310] here?

64

This said, he paused not, but with venturous[3311] arm

65

He plucked, he tasted; me damp[3312] horror chilled

66

At such bold words vouched [3313] with a deed so bold,

67

But he thus, overjoyed: ‘O fruit divine,

68

Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropped,[3314]

69

Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit

70

For gods, yet able to make gods of men.

71

And why not gods of men? Since good, the more

72

Communicated, more abundant grows,

73

The author[3315] not impaired, but honored more?

74

Here, happy creature, fair angelic Eve!

75

Partake thou also. Happy though thou art,

76

Happier thou may’st be, worthier canst not be.

77

Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods

78

Thyself a goddess, not to earth confined,

79

But sometimes in the air, as we, sometimes

80

Ascend to Heav’n, by merit thine, and see

81

What life the gods live there, and such live thou!

82

“So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,

83

Ev’n to my mouth of that same fruit held part[3316]

84

Which he had plucked. The pleasant savory smell

85

So quickened appetite that I, methought,

86

Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds

87

With him I flew, and underneath beheld

88

The earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide

89

And various, wond’ring at my flight and change

90

To this high exaltation. Suddenly

91

My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,

92

And fell asleep. But O, how glad I waked

93

To find this but a dream!” Thus Eve her night

94

Related, and thus Adam answered, sad:[3317]

95

“Best image of myself, and dearer half,

96

The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep

97

Affects me equally, nor can I like

98

This uncouth[3318] dream, of evil sprung, I fear.

99

Yet evil whence? In thee can harbor none,

100

Created pure. But know that in the soul

101

Are many lesser faculties, that serve

102

Reason as chief; among these Fancy [3319] next [3320]

103

Her office [3321] holds. Of all external things

104

Which the five watchful[3322] senses represent,[3323]

105

She forms imaginations, airy shapes,

106

Which reason, joining or disjoining, frames

107

All what we affirm or what deny, and call [3324]

108

Our knowledge or opinion, then retires

109

Into her private cell, when Nature rests.

110

Oft, in her absence, mimic Fancy wakes

111

To imitate her but, misjoining shapes,

112

Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams,

113

Ill matching words and deeds long past or late. [3325]

114

Some such resemblances, methinks, I find

115

Of our last evening’s talk, in this thy dream,

116

But with addition strange. Yet be not sad.[3326]

117

Evil into the mind of god or man

118

May come and go, so unapproved, and leave

119

No spot or blame behind. Which gives me hope

120

That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,

121

Waking thou never will consent to do.

122

Be not disheartened, then, nor cloud those looks

123

That wont to be more cheerful and serene

124

Than when fair morning first smiles on the world.

125

And let us to our fresh employments rise

126

Among the groves, the fountains, and the flowers

127

That open now their choicest bosomed[3327] smells,

128

Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store.

129

So cheered he his fair spouse, and she was cheered.

130

But silently a gentle tear let fall

131

From either eye, and wiped them with her hair.

132

Two other precious drops that ready stood,

133

Each in their crystal sluice, [3328] he ere they fell

134

Kissed, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse

135

And pious awe, that feared to have offended.

136

So all was cleared, and to the field they haste.

137

But first, from under shady arborous roof

138

Soon as they forth were come to open sight

139

Of day-spring, and the sun, who scarce up-risen,

140

With wheels yet hov’ring o’er the ocean-brim,

141

Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray,

142

Discovering [3329] in wide landscape all the east

143

Of Paradise and Eden’s happy plains,

144

Lowly they bowed adoring, and began

145

Their orisons,[3330] each morning duly paid

146

In various[3331] style, for neither various style

147

Nor holy rapture wanted [3332] they to praise

148

Their Maker, in fit [3333] strains[3334] pronounced, or sung

149

Unmeditated, such prompt[3335] eloquence

150

Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous[3336] verse,

151

More tuneable [3337] than needed lute or harp

152

To add more sweetness. And they thus began:

153

“These are Thy glorious works, Parent of good,

154

Almighty! Thine this universal frame, [3338]

155

Thus wondrous fair. Thyself how wondrous then!

156

Unspeakable, who sit’st above these. Heav’ns

157

To us invisible, or dimly seen

158

In these Thy lowest works. Yet these declare

159

Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.

160

Speak ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,

161

Angels, for ye behold Him, and with songs

162

And choral symphonies,[3339] day without night,

163

Circle His throne rejoicing, ye in Heav’n!

164

On earth join all ye creatures to extol

165

Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without end!

166

Fairest of stars,[3340] last in the train of night

167

(If better thou belong not to the dawn)

168

Sure pledge[3341] of day that crown’st the smiling morn

169

With thy bright circlet,[3342] praise Him in thy sphere,

170

While day arises, that sweet hour of prime. [3343]

171

Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul,

172

Acknowledge Him thy greater, sound His praise

173

In thse, both when thou climb’st

174

And when high noon hast gained,[3344] and when thou fall’st.

175

Moon, that now meet’st the orient[3345] sun, now fly’st [3346]

176

With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies,[3347]

177

And ye five other wand’ring[3348] fires[3349] that move

178

In mystic dance not without song, resound

179

His praise, who out of darkness called up light.

180

Air, and ye Elements, the eldest birth

181

Of Nature’s womb, that in quaternion[3350] run

182

Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix

183

And nourish all things: let your ceaseless change

184

Vary, [3351] to our great Maker still new praise.

185

Ye mists and exhalations that now rise

186

From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,

187

Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,

188

In honor to the world’s great Author rise,

189

Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored [3352] sky,

190

Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,

191

Rising or falling still advance His praise.

192

His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow,

193

Breathe soft or loud. And wave your tops, ye pines,

194

With every plant, in sign of worship wave!

195

Fountains,[3353] and ye that warble as ye flow,

196

Melodious murmurs, warbling tune[3354] His praise.

197

Join voices, all ye living souls! Ye birds,

198

That singing up to Heaven-gate ascend,

199

Bear on your wings, and in your notes, His praise.

200

Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk

201

The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep,

202

Witness[3355] if I be silent, morn or ev’n,

203

To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,

204

Made vocal[3356] by my song, and taught His praise.

205

Hail, universal Lord, be bounteous still[3357]

206

To give us only good. And if the night

207

Have gathered aught of evil, or concealed,

208

Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark!

209

So prayed they innocent, and to their thoughts

210

Firm peace recovered soon, and wonted[3358] calm.

211

On to their morning’s rural [3359] work they haste,

212

Among sweet dews and flow’rs, where any row

213

Of fruit-trees over-woody reached too far

214

Their pampered boughs,[3360] and needed hands to check

215

Fruitless [3361] embraces.[3362] Or they led the vine

216

To wed her elm; she, spoused, about him twines

217

Her marriageable arms, and with him brings

218

Her dow’r, th’ adopted [3363] clusters,[3364] to adorn

219

His barren[3365] leaves. Them thus employed beheld

220

With pity Heav’n’s high King, [3366] and to him called

221

Raphael, the sociable Spirit that deigned

222

To travel with Tobias, and secured

223

His marriage with the seven-times-wedded maid.[3367]

224

“Raphael,” said He, “thou hear’st what stir on earth

225

Satan, from Hell ’scaped through the darksome gulf,

226

Hath raised in Paradise, and how disturbed

227

This night the human pair, how he designs[3368]

228

In them at once to ruin all mankind.

229

Go, therefore: half this day as friend with friend

230

Converse with Adam, in what bow’r or shade

231

Thou find’st him from the heat of noon retired,

232

To respite[3369] his day-labor with repast[3370]

233

Or with repose, and such discourse bring on

234

As may advise him of his happy state,

235

Happiness in his power left free to will,

236

Left to his own free will, his will though free,

237

Yet mutable. [3371] Whence warn him to beware

238

He swerve not, too secure. [3372] Tell him withal [3373]

239

His danger, and from whom—what enemy,

240

Late fall’n himself from Heav’n, is plotting now

241

The fall of others from like state of bliss.

242

By violence? No, for that shall be withstood,[3374]

243

But by deceit and lies. This let him know

244

Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend [3375]

245

Surprisal, unadmonished,[3376] unforewarned.

246

So spoke the Eternal Father, and fulfilled[3377]

247

All justice. Nor delayed the wingèd Saint

248

After his charge[3378] received, but from among

249

Thousand celestial Ardors,[3379] where he stood

250

Veiled [3380] with his gorgeous[3381] wings, up springing light,

251

Flew through the midst of Heav’n. Th’ angelic choirs,

252

On each hand parting, to his speed gave way

253

Through all th’ empyreal road, till at the gate

254

Of Heav’n arrived, the gate self-opened wide

255

On golden hinges turning, as by work

256

Divine the sov’reign Architect had framed.[3382]

257

From hence no cloud, or to obstruct his sight,

258

Star interposed,[3383] however small, he sees,

259

Not unconform[3384] to other shining globes,

260

Earth, and the garden of God, with cedars crowned

261

Above all hills. As when by night the glass

262

Of Galileo, less assured,[3385] observes

263

Imagined lands and regions in the moon,

264

Or pilot from amidst the Cyclades[3386]

265

Delos[3387] or Samos[3388] first appearing, kens[3389]

266

A cloudy spot. Down thither prone[3390] in flight

267

He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky

268

Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing

269

Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan[3391]

270

Winnows[3392] the buxom[3393] air, till within soar[3394]

271

Of tow’ring eagles, to all the fowls he seems

272

A phoenix,[3395] gazed [3396] by all as that sole[3397] bird,

273

When, to enshrine his[3398] relics in the sun’s

274

Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.

275

At once on th’ eastern cliff of Paradise

276

He[3399] lights, and to his proper shape returns,

277

A Seraph winged. Six wings he wore, to shade

278

His lineaments[3400] divine. The pair that clad

279

Each shoulder broad, came mantling[3401] o’er his breast

280

With regal ornament; the middle pair

281

Girt like a starry zone[3402] his waist, and round

282

Skirted[3403] his loins and thighs with downy[3404] gold

283

And colors dipped [3405] in Heav’n; the third his feet

284

Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,

285

Sky-tinctured [3406] grain.[3407] Like Maia’s son[3408] he stood

286

And shook his plumes,[3409] that [3410] Heav’nly fragrance filled

287

The circuit wide. [3411] Straight knew him all the bands

288

Of Angels under[3412] watch, and to his state,

289

And to his message high, in honor rise,

290

For on some message high they guessed him bound.

291

Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come

292

Into the blissful [3413] field, through groves of myrrh,

293

And flowering odors, cassia, nard,[3414] and balm—

294

A wilderness of sweets. For Nature here

295

Wantoned [3415] as in her prime, and played at will

296

Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet,

297

Wild above[3416] rule or art, enormous bliss.

298

Him through the spicy[3417] forest onward come

299

Adam discerned, as in the door he sat

300

Of his cool bow’r, while now the mounted sun

301

Shot down direct his fervid [3418] rays to warm

302

Earth’s inmost womb, more warmth than Adam needs.

303

And Eve within, due[3419] at her hour prepared

304

For dinner savory fruits, of taste to please

305

True appetite, and not disrelish[3420] thirst

306

Of nectarous draughts between, from milky stream,

307

Berry or grape. To whom thus Adam called:

308

“Haste hither, Eve, and worth thy sight behold

309

Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape

310

Comes this way moving, seems another morn

311

Ris’n on mid-noon! Some great behest[3421] from Heav’n

312

To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe[3422]

313

This day to be our guest. But go with speed,

314

And what thy stores contain bring forth, and pour

315

Abundance, fit to honor and receive

316

Our Heav’nly stranger. Well we may afford

317

Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow[3423]

318

From large[3424] bestowed, where Nature multiplies

319

Her fertile growth, and by disburthening[3425] grows

320

More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.”[3426]

321

To whom thus Eve:

“Adam, earth’s hallowed
[3427]

mold,[3428]

322

Of God inspired, small store[3429] will serve, [3430] where store,

323

All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk,

324

Save what by frugal[3431] storing[3432] firmness gains

325

To nourish, and superfluous[3433] moist[3434] consumes.

326

But I will haste, and from each bough and brake, [3435]

327

Each plant and juiciest gourd, will pluck such choice

328

To entertain our Angel-guest, as he

329

Beholding shall confess, that here on earth

330

God hath dispensed His bounties as in Heav’n.

331

So saying, with dispatchful [3436] looks in haste

332

She turns, on hospitable[3437] thoughts intent

333

What choice to choose for delicacy best,

334

What order, so contrived as not to mix

335

Tastes not well joined, inelegant, but bring

336

Taste after taste upheld [3438] with kindliest [3439] change.

337

Bestirs[3440] her then, and from each tender stalk

338

Whatever earth, all-bearing mother, yields

339

In India east or west, or middle shore[3441]

340

In Pontus[3442] or the Punic[3443] coast, or where

341

Alcinous[3444] reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat

342

Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,

343

She gathers tribute[3445] large, and on the board [3446]

344

Heaps with unsparing hand. For drink the grape

345

She crushes, inoffensive must,[3447] and mead

346

From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed

347

She tempers[3448] dulcet[3449] creams.[3450] Nor these to hold

348

Wants[3451] her fit[3452] vessels pure. Then strews the ground

349

With rose and odors from the shrub unfumed.[3453]

350

Meanwhile our primitive[3454] great sire, to meet

351

His godlike guest, walks forth, without more train

352

Accompanied than with his own complete

353

Perfections. In himself was all his state,

354

More solemn[3455] than the tedious pomp that waits

355

On princes, when their rich retinue long

356

Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold,

357

Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.

358

Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed,

359

Yet with submiss[3456] approach and reverence meek,

360

As to a superior nature bowing low,

361

Thus said:

“Native of Heav’n, for other pla

362

None can than Heav’n such glorious shape contain,

363

Since by descending from the thrones above

364

Those happy places thou hast deigned a while

365

To want,[3457] and honor these, vouchsafe[3458] with us

366

Two only, who yet by sov’reign gift possess

367

This spacious ground, in yonder shady bow’r

368

To rest, and what the garden choicest bears

369

To sit and taste, till this meridian[3459] heat

370

Be over, and the sun more cool decline.”[3460]

371

Whom thus the angelic Virtue[3461] answered mild:

372

“Adam, I therefore came, nor art thou such

373

Created, or such place hast here to dwell,

374

As may not oft invite, though Spirits of Heav’n,

375

To visit thee. Lead on, then, where thy bow’r

376

O’ershades, for these mid-hours, till evening rise,

377

I have at will.”[3462] So to the sylvan[3463] lodge

378

They came, that like Pomona’s[3464] arbor[3465] smiled,

379

With flow’rets decked, and fragrant smells. But Eve,

380

Undecked save with herself, more lovely fair

381

Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess feigned [3466]

382

Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,[3467]

383

Stood to entertain her guest from Heav’n. No veil[3468]

384

She needed, virtue-proof: no thought infirm[3469]

385

Altered her cheek. On whom the Angel “Hail”

386

Bestowed, the holy salutation used

387

Long after to blest Mary, second Eve:

388

“Hail, mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb

389

Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,

390

Than with these various fruits the trees of God

391

Have heaped this table!

—Raised of grassy tur

392

Their table was, and mossy seats had round,

393

And on her ample square[3470] from side to side

394

All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here

395

Danced hand in hand. A while discourse they hold—

396

No fear lest dinner cool—when thus began

397

Our author:[3471]

“Heav’nly stranger, please to taste

398

These bounties,[3472] which our Nourisher, from whom

399

All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends,

400

To us for food and for delight hath caused

401

The earth to yield—unsavory food perhaps

402

To spiritual natures. Only this I know,

403

That one celestial Father gives to all.

404

To whom the Angel:

“Therefore what He gives

405

(Whose praise be ever sung) to man in part [3473]

406

Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found

407

No ungrateful[3474] food. And food alike those pure

408

Intelligential substances require,

409

As doth your rational,[3475] and both[3476] contain

410

Within them every lower faculty

411

Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,

412

Tasting concoct,[3477] digest, assimilate,

413

And corporeal to incorporeal turn.

414

For know, whatever was created, needs

415

To be sustained and fed. Of elements

416

The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,

417

Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires

418

Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon,

419

Whence in her visage round [3478] those spots, unpurged [3479]

420

Vapors not yet into her substance turned.

421

Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale

422

From her moist continent[3480] to higher orbs.

423

The sun, that light imparts to all, receives

424

From all[3481] his alimental [3482] recompence

425

In humid exhalations, and at ev’n[3483]

426

[3484] with the ocean. Though in Heav’n the trees

427

Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines

428

Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn

429

We brush mellifluous[3485] dews, and find the ground

430

Covered with pearly grain; yet God hath here[3486]

431

Varied His bounty so with new delights

432

As may compare with Heaven, and to taste

433

Think not I shall be nice.”[3487] So down they sat,

434

And to their viands[3488] fell, nor seemingly[3489]

435

The Angel, nor in mist,[3490] the common gloss[3491]

436

Of theologians, but with keen dispatch

437

Of real [3492] hunger, and concoctive[3493] heat

438

To transubstantiate. [3494] What redounds,[3495] transpires[3496]

439

Through Spirits with ease—nor wonder, if by fire

440

Of sooty coal the empiric[3497] alchemist

441

Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,

442

Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold,

443

As from[3498] the mine. Meanwhile at table Eve

444

Ministered [3499] naked, and their flowing cups

445

With pleasant liquors crowned.[3500] O innocence

446

Deserving Paradise! If ever, then,

447

Then had the sons of God excuse to have been

448

Enamored at that sight. But in those hearts

449

Love unlibidinous[3501] reigned, nor jealousy

450

Was understood, the injured lover’s hell.

451

Thus when with meats[3502] and drinks they had sufficed,

452

Not burdened Nature, [3503] sudden mind arose

453

In Adam, not to let th’ occasion pass

454

Giv’n him by this great conference[3504] to know

455

Of things above his world, and of their being

456

Who dwell in Heav’n, whose excellence he saw

457

Transcend his own so far, whose radiant forms,

458

Divine effulgence, [3505] whose high power, so far

459

Exceeded human. And his wary [3506] speech

460

Thus to the empyreal minister he framed:[3507]

461

“Inhabitant with God, now know I well

462

Thy favor, in this honor done to man,

463

Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed [3508]

464

To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,

465

Food not of Angels, yet accepted so

466

As that more willingly thou could’st not seem

467

At Heav’n’s high feasts t’ have fed. Yet what compare?

468

To whom the wingèd Hierarch[3509] replied:

469

“O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom

470

All things proceed, and up to Him return,

471

If not depraved [3510] from good, created all

472

Such to perfection, one first[3511] matter all,

473

Endued [3512] with various forms, various degrees

474

Of substance and, in things that live, of life,

475

But more refined, more spiritous, and pure,

476

As nearer to Him placed, or nearer tending

477

Each in their several active spheres assigned,

478

Till body up to spirit work, in bounds[3513]

479

Proportioned to each kind. So from the root

480

Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves

481

More airy, last the bright consummate [3514] flower

482

Spirits odorous breathes. Flow’rs and their fruit,

483

Man’s nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,[3515]

484

To vital spirits aspire, to animal,

485

To intellectual, give both life and sense,

486

Fancy and understanding, whence the soul

487

Reason receives, and reason is her being,

488

Discursive, or intuitive. [3516] Discourse

489

Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,

490

Differing but in degree, of kind the same.

491

Wonder not then, what God for you saw good

492

If I refuse not, but convert, as you,

493

To proper substance. Time may come when men

494

With Angels may participate, and find

495

No inconvenient [3517] diet, nor too light fare.

496

And from these corporal nutriments perhaps

497

Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit,

498

Improved by tract[3518] of time and, winged, ascend

499

Ethereal, as we. Or may, at choice,

500

Here or in Heav’nly Paradises dwell,

501

If ye be found obedient, and retain

502

Unalterably firm His love entire,

503

Whose [3519] progeny [3520] you are. Meanwhile enjoy

504

Your fill what [3521] happiness this happy state

505

Can comprehend, incapable of more.

506

To whom the patriarch of mankind replied:

507

“O favorable Spirit, propitious[3522] guest,

508

Well hast thou taught the way that might direct

509

Our knowledge, and the scale of Nature set

510

From center to circumference, whereon,

511

In contemplation of created things,

512

By steps we may ascend to God. But say,

513

What meant that caution joined,[3523] ‘If ye be found

514

Obedient?’ Can we want [3524] obedience then

515

To Him, or possibly His love desert,

516

Who formed us from the dust and placed us here

517

Full to the utmost measure of what bliss

518

Human desires can seek or apprehend?

519

To whom the Angel:

“Son of Heav’n and ear

520

Attend:[3525] that thou art happy, owe to God;

521

That thou continuest such, owe to thyself—

522

That is, to thy obedience: therein stand.[3526]

523

This was that caution given thee: be advised.[3527]

524

God made thee perfect,[3528] not immutable, [3529]

525

And good He made thee, but to persevere

526

He left it in thy power, ordained thy will

527

By nature free, not overruled by fate

528

Inextricable, [3530] or strict necessity.

529

Our voluntary service He requires,

530

Not our necessitated. Such with Him

531

Finds no acceptance, nor can find, for how

532

Can hearts, not free, be tried [3531] whether they serve

533

Willing or no, who will but what they must [3532]

534

By destiny, and can no other choose?

535

Myself, and all th’Angelic host that stand

536

In sight of God enthroned, our happy state

537

Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds,

538

On other surety [3533] none. Freely we serve,

539

Because we freely love, as in our will

540

To love or not. In this we stand or fall,

541

And some are fall’n, to disobedience fall’n,

542

And so from Heav’n to deepest Hell. O fall [3534]

543

From what high state of bliss, into what woe!

544

To whom our great progenitor:[3535]

“Thy words

545

Attentive, and with more delighted ear,

546

Divine instructor, I have heard, than when

547

Cherubic songs by night from neighboring hills

548

Aerial music send. Nor knew I not

549

To be both will and deed created free.

550

Yet that we never shall forget to love

551

Our Maker, and obey Him whose command,

552

Single, [3536] is yet so just, my constant thoughts

553

Assured me, and still assure. Though what thou tellest

554

Hath passed in Heav’n, some doubt within me move,[3537]

555

But more desire to hear, if thou consent,

556

The full relation,[3538] which must needs be strange,

557

Worthy of sacred [3539] silence to be heard.

558

And we have yet large [3540] day, [3541] for scarce the sun

559

Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins

560

His other half in the great zone [3542] of Heav’n.

561

Thus Adam made request, and Raphael,

562

After short pause assenting, thus began:

563

“High matter thou enjoin’st [3543] me, O prime[3544] of men,

564

Sad [3545] task and hard. For how shall I relate

565

To human sense the invisible exploits

566

Of warring Spirits? How, without remorse, [3546]

567

The ruin of so many, glorious once,

568

And perfect while they stood? How last [3547] unfold

569

The secrets of another world, perhaps

570

Not lawful to reveal? Yet for thy good

571

This is dispensed,[3548] and what surmounts the reach

572

Of human sense I shall delineate [3549] so,

573

By lik’ning spiritual to corporal forms,

574

As may express them best. Though what if earth

575

Be but a shadow [3550] of Heav’n, and things therein

576

Each t’ other like, more than on earth is thought?

577

“As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild

578

Reigned where these Heav’ns now roll, where earth now rests

579

Upon her center poised, when on a day

580

(For time, though in eternity, applied

581

To motion, measures all things durable

582

By present, past, and future), on such day

583

As Heav’n’s great year [3551] brings forth, the empyreal [3552] host

584

Of Angels by imperial summons called,

585

Innumerable before the Almighty’s throne

586

Forthwith, from all the ends of Heav’n, appeared

587

Under their Hierarchs [3553] in orders bright.

588

Ten thousand thousand ensigns [3554] high advanced,

589

Standards [3555] and gonfalons[3556] ’twixt van[3557] and rear

590

Stream in the air, and for distinction serve[3558]

591

Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees,

592

Or in their glittering tissues [3559] bear emblazed [3560]

593

Holy memorials,[3561] acts of zeal and love

594

Recorded eminent.[3562] Thus when in orbs

595

Of circuit inexpressible they stood,

596

Orb within orb, the Father Infinite,

597

By whom in bliss embosomed[3563] sat the Son,

598

Amidst as [3564] from a flaming mount whose top

599

Brightness had made invisible, thus spoke:

600

“‘Hear, all ye Angels, progeny [3565] of light,

601

Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers!

602

Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.[3566]

603

This day I have begot [3567] whom[3568] I declare

604

My only Son, and on this holy hill

605

Him have anointed, whom ye now behold

606

At my right hand. Your head I him appoint,

607

And by myself have sworn, to him shall bow

608

All knees in Heav’n, and shall confess[3569] him Lord.

609

Under his great vice-gerent[3570] reign abide

610

United, as one individual soul,

611

Forever happy. Him who disobeys,

612

Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,

613

Cast out from God and blessèd vision, falls

614

Into utter darkness, deep engulfed,[3571] his place

615

Ordained without redemption, without end.

616

“So spoke the Omnipotent, and with His words

617

All seemed well pleased—all seemed, but were not all.

618

That day, as other solemn days, they spent

619

In song and dance about the sacred hill,

620

Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere

621

Of planets, and of fixed,[3572] in all her wheels

622

Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,

623

Eccentric,[3573] intervolved,[3574] yet regular

624

Then most when most irregular they seem.

625

And in their motions harmony divine

626

So smooths[3575] her [3576] charming tones,[3577] that God’s own ear

627

Listens delighted. Ev’ning now approached

628

(For we have also our ev’ning and our morn,

629

We ours for change delectable, [3578] not need)

630

Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn

631

Desirous, all in circles as they stood.

632

Tables are set, and on a sudden piled

633

With Angels’ food, and rubied nectar flows

634

In pearl, in diamond,[3579] and massy gold,

635

Fruit of delicious vines, the growth[3580] of Heav’n.

636

On flow’rs reposed,[3581] and with fresh flow’rets crowned,

637

They eat, they drink, and in communion[3582] sweet

638

Quaff [3583] immortality and joy, secure

639

Of [3584] surfeit where full measure only bounds[3585]

640

Excess, before the all-bounteous King, who show’red

641

With copious[3586] hand, rejoicing in their joy.

642

Now when ambrosial[3587] night with clouds exhaled

643

From that high mount of God, whence light and shade

644

Spring both, the face of brightest Heav’n had changed

645

To grateful [3588] twilight ( for night comes not there

646

In darker veil), and roseate[3589] dews disposed [3590]

647

All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest.

648

Wide over all the plain, and wider far

649

Than all this globous[3591] earth in plain outspread

650

(Such are the courts of God), th’Angelic throng,

651

Dispersed in bands and files, their camp extend

652

By living[3592] streams among the trees of life,

653

Pavilions[3593] numberless, and sudden reared,

654

Celestial tabernacles[3594] where they slept,

655

Fanned with cool winds, save those who, in their course, [3595]

656

Melodious hymns about the sov’reign throne

657

Alternate all night long. But not so waked

658

Satan—so call him now, his former name

659

Is heard no more in Heav’n. He of [3596] the first,

660

If not the first Arch-Angel, great in power,

661

In favor and pre-eminence, yet fraught[3597]

662

With envy against the Son of God, that day

663

Honored by his great Father, and proclaimed

664

Messiah, King anointed, could not bear

665

Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.[3598]

666

Deep malice thence conceiving, and disdain,

667

Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour

668

Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved

669

With all his legions to dislodge, [3599] and leave

670

Unworshipped, unobeyed, the throne supreme,

671

Contemptuous. And his next subordinate[3600]

672

Awak’ning, thus to him in secret spoke:

673

“‘Sleep’st thou, companion dear? What sleep can close

674

Thy eye-lids, and [3601] rememb’rest what decree

675

Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips

676

Of Heav’n’s Almighty? Thou to me thy thoughts

677

Wast wont,[3602] I mine to thee was wont t’ impart.[3603]

678

Both waking, [3604] we were one. How then can now

679

Thy sleep dissent?[3605] New laws thou see’st imposed:

680

New laws from Him who reigns, new minds may raise

681

In us who serve, new counsels to debate

682

What doubtful may ensue. More in this place

683

To utter is not safe. Assemble thou

684

Of all those myriads[3606] which we lead the chief.[3607]

685

Tell them that by command, ere yet dim night

686

Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste, [3608]

687

And all who under me their banners wave,

688

Homeward, with flying[3609] march, where we possess[3610]

689

The quarters[3611] of the North, there to prepare

690

Fit entertainment to receive our King,

691

The great Messiah, and his new commands,

692

Who speedily through all the hierarchies[3612]

693

Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.

694

“So spoke the false Arch-Angel, and infused [3613]

695

Bad influence[3614] into th’ unwary breast

696

Of his associate. He[3615] together calls,

697

Or several [3616] one by one, [3617] the regent [3618] Powers

698

Under him Regent;[3619] tells, as he was taught,

699

That the Most High commanding, now ere night,

700

Now ere dim night had disincumbered [3620] Heav’n,

701

The great hierarchal standard[3621] was to move;

702

Tells the suggested cause, and casts between

703

Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound [3622]

704

Or taint [3623] integrity. But all obeyed

705

The wonted [3624] signal and superior voice[3625]

706

Of their great Potentate, [3626] for great indeed

707

His name, and high was his degree[3627] in Heav’n.

708

His count’nance, as the morning-star that guides

709

The starry flock, allured [3628] them, and with lies

710

Drew after him the third part of Heav’n’s host.

711

Meanwhile th’ Eternal eye, whose sight discerns

712

Abstrusest [3629] thoughts, from forth His holy mount

713

And from within the golden lamps that burn

714

Nightly before Him, saw without their light

715

Rebellion rising, saw in whom, how spread

716

Among the sons of morn, what multitudes

717

Were banded to oppose His high decree

718

And, smiling, to His only Son thus said:

719

“‘Son, thou in whom my glory I behold

720

In full resplendence, heir of all my might,

721

Nearly [3630] it now concerns us to be sure

722

Of our omnipotence, and with what arms

723

We mean to hold what anciently [3631] we claim

724

Of deity or empire. Such a foe

725

Is rising who intends t’ erect his throne

726

Equal to ours, throughout the spacious North,

727

Nor so content, hath in his thought to try

728

In battle what our power is, or our right.

729

Let us advise, [3632] and to this hazard [3633] draw

730

With speed what force is left, and all employ

731

In our defence, lest unawares we lose

732

This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.

733

To whom the Son with calm aspect and clear,

734

Ligh’tning divine, ineffable, [3634] serene,

735

Made answer:

‘Mighty Father, Thou Thy foe

736

Justly hast in derision and, secure, [3635]

737

Laugh’st at their vain designs and tumults[3636] vain,

738

Matter to me of glory, whom their hate

739

Illustrates,[3637] when they see all regal power

740

Giv’n me, to quell [3638] their pride, [3639] and in event[3640]

741

Know whether I be dextrous[3641] to subdue

742

Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heav’n.

743

“So spoke the Son. But Satan, with his Powers,

744

Far was advanced on[3642] wingèd speed, an host

745

Innumerable[3643] as the stars of night,

746

Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the sun

747

Impearls on every leaf and every flower.

748

Regions they passed, the mighty regencies

749

Of Seraphim, and Potentates, and Thrones

750

In their triple degrees[3644] —regions to which

751

All thy dominion, Adam, is no more

752

Than what this garden is to all the earth

753

And all the sea, from one entire globose[3645]

754

Stretched into longitude[3646] —which, having passed,

755

At length into the limits[3647] of the North

756

They came. And Satan to his royal seat

757

High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount

758

Raised on a mount, with pyramids and tow’rs

759

From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold,

760

The palace of great Lucifer (so call

761

That structure, in the dialect of men

762

Interpreted)[3648] which, not long after, he

763

(Affecting all equality with God)

764

In imitation of that mount whereon

765

Messiah was declared, in sight of Heav’n,

766

The Mountain of the Congregation called,

767

For thither he assembled all his train,

768

Pretending[3649] so commanded to consult

769

About the great reception of their King,

770

Thither to come, and with calumnious[3650] art

771

Of counterfeited truth thus held their ears:

772

“‘Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers—

773

If these magnific titles yet remain

774

Not merely titular, [3651] since by decree

775

Another now hath to himself engrossed [3652]

776

All power, and us eclipsed under the name

777

Of King anointed, for whom all this haste

778

Of midnight-march and hurried meeting here,

779

This only to consult how we may best,

780

With what may be devised of honors new,

781

Receive him coming to receive from us

782

Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile!

783

Too much to one! But double how endured,

784

To one and to His image[3653] now proclaimed?

785

But what if better counsels might erect [3654]

786

Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?

787

Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend

788

The supple knee? Ye will not, if I trust

789

To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves

790

Natives and sons of Heav’n, possessed before

791

By none, and if not equal all, yet free,

792

Equally free, for orders and degrees

793

Jar not with liberty, but well consist.[3655]

794

Who can in reason, then, or right, assume

795

Monarchy over such as live by right

796

His equals, if in power and splendor less,

797

In freedom equal? Or can introduce

798

Law and edict on us, who without law

799

Err not? Much less for this to be our Lord

800

And look for adoration, to th’ abuse[3656]

801

Of those imperial titles which assert

802

Our being ordained to govern, not to serve.

803

“Thus far his bold discourse without control[3657]

804

Had audience, when among the Seraphim

805

Abdiel,[3658] than whom none with more zeal adored

806

The Deity, and divine commands obeyed,

807

Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe[3659]

808

The current [3660] of his fury thus opposed:

809

“‘O argument blasphemous, false, and proud!

810

Words which no ear ever to hear in Heav’n

811

Expected, least of all from thee, ingrate,

812

In place thyself so high above thy peers.

813

Canst thou with impious obloquy[3661] condemn

814

The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,

815

That to His only Son, by right endued[3662]

816

With regal scepter, every soul in Heav’n

817

Shall bend the knee, and in that honor due[3663]

818

Confess[3664] him rightful King? Unjust, thou say’st,

819

Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,

820

And equal over equals to let reign,

821

One over all with unsucceeded [3665] power.

822

Shalt thou give law to God? Shalt thou dispute

823

With Him the points of liberty, who made

824

Thee what thou art, and formed the Powers of Heav’n

825

Such as He pleased, and circumscribed[3666] their being?

826

Yet, by experience taught, we know how good,

827

And of our good and of our dignity

828

How provident [3667] He is, how far from thought

829

To make us less, bent[3668] rather to exalt

830

Our happy state, under one head more near[3669]

831

United. But to grant it thee unjust[3670]

832

That equal over equals monarch reign:

833

Thyself, though great and glorious, dost thou count—

834

Or all Angelic nature joined in one

835

Equal to him, begotten Son? By whom,

836

As by His Word, the Mighty Father made

837

All things, ev’n thee, and all the Spirits of Heav’n

838

By Him created in their bright degrees,

839

Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named

840

Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,

841

Essential Powers, nor by His reign obscured [3671]

842

But more illustrious made, since He the head

843

One of our number thus reduced becomes,

844

His laws our laws, all honor to Him done

845

Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage,

846

And tempt not these, [3672] but hasten to appease[3673]

847

Th’ incensèd Father and th’ incensèd Son,

848

While pardon may be found, in time[3674] besought.

849

“So spoke the fervent [3675] Angel, but his zeal

850

None seconded, as out of season[3676] judged,

851

Or singular [3677] and rash.[3678] Whereat rejoiced

852

Th’ apostate and, more haughty, thus replied:

853

“‘That we were formed then, say’st thou? And the work

854

Of secondary [3679] hands, by task transferred

855

From Father to His Son? Strange[3680] point and new!

856

Doctrine which we would know whence learned. Who saw

857

When this creation was? Remember’st thou

858

Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?

859

We know no time when we were not as now,

860

Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised

861

By our own quick’ning [3681] power, when fatal[3682] course

862

Had circled his full orb, the birth mature[3683]

863

Of this our native Heav’n, ethereal[3684] sons.

864

Our puissance[3685] is our own: our own right hand

865

Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try

866

Who is our equal. Then thou shalt behold

867

Whether by supplication we intend

868

Address,[3686] and to begirt [3687] th’ Almighty throne

869

Beseeching or besieging. This report,

870

These tidings carry to th’ anointed King,

871

And fly, [3688] ere evil intercept thy flight.

872

“He said, and as the sound of waters deep

873

Hoarse murmur echoed to his words applause, [3689]

874

Through the infinite host. Nor less for that

875

The flaming Seraph fearless, though alone,

876

Encompassed round with foes, thus answered bold:

877

“‘O alienate[3690] from God, O Spirit accursed,

878

Forsaken of all good! I see thy fall

879

Determined,[3691] and thy hapless[3692] crew involved

880

In this perfidious fraud, contagion spread

881

Both of thy crime and punishment. Henceforth

882

No more be troubled how to quit the yoke

883

Of God’s Messiah. Those indulgent [3693] laws

884

Will not be now vouchsafed;[3694] other decrees

885

Against thee are gone forth without recall.

886

That golden scepter, which thou did’st reject,

887

Is now an iron rod to bruise[3695] and break

888

Thy disobedience. Well thou didst advise. [3696]

889

Yet not for thy advice or threats I fly

890

These wicked tents devoted,[3697] lest the wrath

891

Impendent,[3698] raging into sudden flame,

892

Distinguish not.[3699] For soon expect to feel

893

His thunder on thy head, devouring fire.

894

Then who created thee lamenting learn,

895

When who can uncreate thee thou shalt know.

896

“So spoke the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found

897

Among the faithless, faithful only he,

898

Among innumerable false. Unmoved,

899

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,

900

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal,

901

Nor number, nor example, with him wrought [3700]

902

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,

903

Though single. [3701] From amidst them forth he passed,

904

Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustained

905

Superior, nor of violence[3702] feared aught,

906

And with retorted [3703] scorn, his back he turned

907

On those proud tow’rs to swift destruction doomed.

The End of the Fifth Book

BOOK VI

THE ARGUMENT

Raphael continues to relate how Michael and Gabriel were sent forth to battle against Satan and his Angels. The first fight described: Satan and his Powers retire under night; he calls a council, invents devilish engines,[3704] which in the second day’s fight put Michael and his Angels to some disorder, but they at length, pulling up mountains, overwhelmed both the force and machines of Satan.

Yet the tumult not so ending, God on the third day sends Messiah his Son, for whom he had reserved the glory of that victory. He in the power of his Father coming to the place, and causing all his legions to stand still on either side, with his chariot and thunder driving into the midst of his enemies, pursues them unable to resist towards the wall of Heaven; which opening, they leap down with horror and confusion into the place of punishment prepared for them in the deep. Messiah returns with triumph to his Father.

1

“All night the dreadless[3705] Angel,[3706] unpursued,

2

Through Heav’n’s wide champaign[3707] held his way, till morn,

3

Waked by the circling hours, with rosy hand

4

Unbarred the gates of light. There is a cave

5

Within the mount of God, fast by[3708] His throne,

6

Where light and darkness in perpetual round

7

Lodge[3709] and dislodge[3710] by turns, which makes through Heav’n

8

Grateful [3711] vicissitude, [3712] like day and night.

9

Light issues forth, and at the other door

10

Obsequious[3713] darkness enters, till her hour

11

To veil the Heav’n, though darkness there might well

12

Seem twilight here. And now went forth the morn

13

Such as[3714] in highest Heav’n, arrayed in gold

14

Empyreal.[3715] From before her vanished night,

15

Shot through with orient [3716] beams. When all the plain[3717]

16

Covered with thick embattled squadrons bright,

17

Chariots, and flaming arms, and fiery steeds,

18

Reflecting blaze on blaze, first met his[3718] view,

19

War he perceived, war in procinct,[3719] and found

20

Already known what he for news had thought

21

To have reported. Gladly then he mixed

22

Among those friendly Powers, who him received

23

With joy and acclamations loud—that one

24

That of so many myriads[3720] fall’n—yet one

25

Returned not lost. On to the sacred hill

26

They led him, high applauded, and present[3721]

27

Before the seat supreme, from whence a voice,

28

From midst a golden cloud, thus mild was heard:

29

“‘Servant of God, well done, well hast thou fought

30

The better fight, who single hast maintained

31

Against revolted multitudes the cause

32

Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms,

33

And for the testimony of truth hast borne

34

Universal reproach, far worse to bear

35

Than violence. For this was all thy care,

36

To stand approved [3722] in sight of God, though worlds

37

Judged thee perverse. [3723] The easier conquest now

38

Remains[3724] thee, aided by this host of friends,

39

Back on thy foes more glorious to return

40

Than, scorned, thou didst depart, and to subdue

41

By force, who reason for their law refuse,

42

Right reason for their law, and for their King

43

Messiah, who by right of merit reigns.

44

“‘Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince,

45

And thou, in military prowess next,

46

Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons

47

Invincible, lead forth my armèd Saints,

48

By thousands and by millions, ranged for fight,

49

Equal in number to that Godless crew

50

Rebellious. Them with fire and hostile arms

51

Fearless assault,[3725] and to the brow [3726] of Heav’n

52

Pursuing, drive them out from God and bliss,

53

Into their place of punishment, the gulf

54

Of Tartarus,[3727] which ready opens wide

55

His fiery chaos to receive their fall.

56

“So spoke the Sov’reign Voice, and clouds began

57

To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll

58

In dusky wreaths, reluctant [3728] flames, the sign

59

Of wrath awaked, nor with less dread [3729] the loud

60

Ethereal trumpet from on high ’gan blow.

61

At which command the Powers militant

62

That stood [3730] for Heav’n, in mighty quadrate[3731] joined

63

Of union irresistible, moved on

64

In silence their bright legions, to the sound

65

Of instrumental harmony that breathed

66

Heroic ardor to advent’rous deeds

67

Under their godlike leaders, in the cause

68

Of God and His Messiah. On they move

69

Indissolubly firm, nor [3732] obvious[3733] hill,

70

Nor straitening[3734] vale, nor wood, nor stream, divides

71

Their perfect ranks, for high above the ground

72

Their march was, and the passive [3735] air upbore

73

Their nimble[3736] tread. As when the total kind[3737]

74

Of birds, in orderly array on wing,

75

Came summoned over Eden to receive

76

Their names of thee, [3738] so over many a tract [3739]

77

Of Heav’n they marched, and many a province wide,

78

Tenfold the length of this terrene. [3740] At last,

79

Far in the horizon to the north appeared

80

From skirt [3741] to skirt a fiery region, stretched

81

In battailous[3742] aspect, and nearer view[3743]

82

Bristled with upright beams[3744] innumerable

83

Of rigid spears, and helmets thronged,[3745] and shields

84

Various, with boastful argument [3746] portrayed,[3747]

85

The banded Powers of Satan hasting on

86

With furious[3748] expedition,[3749] for they weened [3750]

87

That self-same day, by fight or by surprise,

88

To win the mount of God, and on His throne

89

To set the envier of His state, the proud

90

Aspirer. But their thoughts proved fond [3751] and vain

91

In the mid way, [3752] though strange to us it seemed

92

At first, that Angel should with Angel war,

93

And in fierce hosting[3753] meet, who wont to[3754] meet

94

So oft in festivals of joy and love

95

Unanimous,[3755] as sons of one great Sire,

96

Hymning th’ Eternal Father. But the shout

97

Of battle now began, and rushing sound

98

Of onset ended soon each milder thought.

99

High in the midst, exalted as a god,

100

Th’ apostate in his sun-bright chariot sat,

101

Idol of majesty divine, enclosed

102

With flaming Cherubim, and golden shields.

103

Then lighted [3756] from his gorgeous throne, for now

104

’Twixt host and host but narrow space was left,

105

A dreadful [3757] interval,[3758] and front to front

106

Presented stood in terrible array

107

Of hideous length. Before the cloudy [3759] van,[3760]

108

On the rough[3761] edge of battle ere it joined,

109

Satan, with vast and haughty strides advanced,

110

Came tow’ring, armed in adamant and gold.

111

Abdiel that sight endured not, where he stood

112

Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds,

113

And thus his own undaunted heart explores:

114

“‘O Heav’n! that such resemblance of the Highest

115

Should yet remain, where faith and realty[3762]

116

Remain not. Wherefore should not strength and might

117

There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove

118

Where boldest, though to fight unconquerable?

119

His puissance, trusting[3763] in th’Almighty’s aid,

120

I mean to try, [3764] whose reason I have tried

121

Unsound and false, nor is it aught but just

122

That he, who in debate of truth hath won,

123

Should win in arms, in both disputes alike

124

Victor, though brutish[3765] that contest [3766] and foul,[3767]

125

When reason hath to deal with force, yet so

126

Most reason is that reason overcome.

127

So pondering, and from his armèd peers

128

Forth stepping opposite, half-way he met

129

His daring foe, at this prevention[3768] more

130

Incensed,[3769] and thus securely him[3770] defied:

131

“‘Proud, art thou met? Thy hope was to have reached

132

The height of thy aspiring unopposed,

133

The throne of God unguarded, and His side

134

Abandoned, at the terror of thy power

135

Or potent tongue. Fool! Not to think how vain

136

Against the Omnipotent to rise in arms,

137

Who out of smallest things could, without end,

138

Have raised incessant armies to defeat

139

Thy folly, or with solitary hand,

140

Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow

141

Unaided could have finished thee, and whelmed [3771]

142

Thy legions under darkness. But thou see’st

143

All are not of thy train.[3772] There be who[3773] faith

144

Prefer, and piety to God, though then

145

To thee not visible when I alone

146

Seemed in thy world erroneous[3774] to dissent

147

From all. My sect [3775] thou see’st. Now learn too late

148

How few[3776] sometimes may know, when thousands err.

149

Whom the grand [3777] foe, with scornful eye askance, [3778]

150

Thus answered: “‘Ill for thee, but in wished hour

151

Of my revenge, first sought for. Thou return’st

152

From flight, seditious[3779] Angel! to receive

153

Thy merited reward, the first assay[3780]

154

Of this right hand provoked, since first that tongue,

155

Inspired with contradiction, durst oppose

156

A third part of the gods, in synod met

157

Their deities to assert,[3781] who while they feel

158

Vigor divine within them, can allow

159

Omnipotence to none. But well thou com’st

160

Before thy fellows, ambitious to win

161

From me some plume, [3782] that thy success[3783] may show

162

Destruction[3784] to the rest. This pause between

163

(Unanswered lest thou boast) to let thee know:

164

At first I thought that liberty and Heav’n

165

To Heav’nly souls had been all one, but now

166

I see that most through sloth had rather serve,

167

Minist’ring Spirits, trained up in feast and song!

168

Such hast thou armed, the minstrelsy of Heav’n,

169

Servility with freedom to contend,

170

As both their deeds compared this day shall prove.

171

To whom in brief thus Abdiel stern replied:

172

“‘Apostate! Still thou err’st, nor end wilt find

173

Of erring, from the path of truth remote.

174

Unjustly thou deprav’st [3785] it with the name

175

Of servitude, to serve whom God ordains,

176

Or Nature: God and Nature bid [3786] the same,

177

When he who rules is worthiest, and excels

178

Them whom he governs. This is servitude,

179

To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelled

180

Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee,

181

Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled.[3787]

182

Yet lewdly [3788] dar’st our minist’ring [3789] upbraid.[3790]

183

Reign thou in Hell, thy kingdom! Let me serve

184

In Heav’n God ever blest, and His divine

185

Behests[3791] obey, worthiest to be obeyed.

186

Yet chains in Hell, not realms, expect. Meanwhile,

187

From me returned, as erst thou saidst, from flight,

188

This greeting on thy impious crest [3792] receive.

189

“So saying, a noble stroke he lifted high,

190

Which hung not, but so swift with tempest [3793] fell

191

On the proud crest of Satan, that no sight

192

Nor motion of swift thought, less could his shield,

193

Such ruin[3794] intercept. Ten paces huge[3795]

194

He back recoiled; the tenth on bended knee,

195

His massy spear upstaid,[3796] as if on earth

196

Winds under ground, or waters forcing way,

197

Sidelong had pushed a mountain from his seat,

198

Half sunk with all his pines. Amazement seized

199

The rebel Thrones, but greater rage, to see

200

Thus foiled [3797] their mightiest; ours joy filled, and shout,

201

Presage of victory, [3798] and fierce desire

202

Of battle. Whereat Michael [3799] bid sound

203

The Arch-Angel trumpet. Through the vast [3800] of Heav’n

204

It sounded, and the faithful armies rung

205

Hosanna to the Highest.

“Nor stood at gaze[3801]

206

The adverse legions, nor less hideous, joined,[3802]

207

The horrid shock. Now storming fury rose,

208

And clamor such as heard in Heav’n till now

209

Was never. Arms on armor clashing brayed[3803]

210

Horrible discord, and the madding[3804] wheels

211

Of brazen[3805] chariots raged. Dire[3806] was the noise

212

Of conflict. Overhead the dismal hiss

213

Of fiery darts[3807] in flaming vollies flew,

214

And flying vaulted [3808] either host with fire.

215

So under fiery cope[3809] together rushed

216

Both battles[3810] main,[3811] with ruinous assault

217

And inextinguishable rage. All Heav’n

218

Resounded, and had earth been then, all earth

219

Had to her center shook.

“What wonder, when

220

Millions of fierce encount’ring Angels fought

221

On either side, the least of whom could wield

222

These elements, and arm him with the force

223

Of all their regions? How much more of power

224

Army against army numberless to raise

225

Dreadful combustion[3812] warring, and disturb,

226

Though not destory, their happy native seat,

227

Had not the Eternal King Omnipotent,

228

From His stronghold of Heav’n high, over-ruled[3813]

229

And limited their might, though numbered [3814] such

230

As each divided[3815] legion might have seemed

231

A numerous host, in strength each armèd band

232

A legion. Led in fight, yet leader seemed

233

Each warrior single as in chief, expert

234

When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway

235

Of battle, open when, and when to close

236

The ridges[3816] of grim[3817] war. No thought of flight,

237

None of retreat, no unbecoming deed

238

That argued fear. Each on himself relied,

239

As[3818] only in his arm the moment [3819] lay

240

Of victory. Deeds of eternal fame

241

Were done, but infinite, for wide was spread

242

That war and various. Sometimes on firm ground

243

A standing fight; then soaring on main[3820] wing

244

Tormented [3821] all the air. All air seemed then

245

Conflicting[3822] fire.

“Long time in even scale

246

The battle hung, till Satan, who that day

247

Prodigious[3823] power had shown, and met in arms

248

No equal, ranging through the dire attack

249

Of fighting Seraphim confused,[3824] at length

250

Saw where the sword of Michael smote, and felled

251

Squadrons at once: with huge two-handed sway [3825]

252

Brandished aloft, the horrid [3826] edge came down

253

Wide-wasting. Such destruction to withstand

254

He hasted, and opposed [3827] the rocky orb

255

Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield,

256

A vast circumference. At his approach

257

The great Arch-Angel from his warlike toil

258

Surceased,[3828] and glad, as hoping here to end

259

Intestine[3829] war in Heav’n, th’ arch-foe subdued

260

Or captive dragged in chains, with hostile frown

261

And visage all inflamed first thus began:

262

“‘Author of evil, unknown till thy revolt,

263

Unnamed in Heav’n, now plenteous, as thou see’st—

264

These acts of hateful strife, hateful to all,

265

Though heaviest by just measure[3830] on thyself

266

And thy adherents! How hast thou disturbed

267

Heav’n’s blessèd peace, and into Nature brought

268

Misery, uncreated till the crime

269

Of thy rebellion! How hast thou instilled

270

Thy malice into thousands, once upright

271

And faithful, now proved false! But think not here

272

To trouble holy rest.[3831] Heav’n casts thee out

273

From all her confines.[3832] Heav’n, the seat of bliss,

274

Brooks[3833] not the works of violence and war.

275

Hence then, and evil go with thee along,

276

Thy offspring, to the place of evil, Hell,

277

Thou and thy wicked crew! There mingle[3834] broils,[3835]

278

Ere this avenging sword begin thy doom,

279

Or some more sudden vengeance, winged from God,

280

Precipitate thee with augmented pain.

281

“So spoke the Prince of Angels, to whom thus

282

The adversary:

“‘Nor think thou with wind

283

Of airy threats to awe whom yet with deeds

284

Thou canst not. Hast thou turned the least of these

285

To flight, or if to fall, but that they rise

286

Unvanquished? Easier to transact [3836] with me

287

That thou shouldst hope, imperious, and with threats

288

To chase me hence? Err not, that so shall end

289

The strife which thou call’st evil, but we style

290

The strife of glory, which we mean to win,

291

Or turn this Heav’n itself into the Hell

292

Thou fablest, here however to dwell free,

293

If not to reign. Meanwhile, thy utmost force

294

(And join Him named Almighty to thy aid)

295

I fly not, but have sought thee far and nigh.

296

“They ended parle, [3837] and both addressed [3838] for fight

297

Unspeakable, for who, though with the tongue

298

Of Angels, can relate, or to what things

299

Liken on earth conspicuous,[3839] that may lift

300

Human imagination to such height

301

Of godlike power? For likest gods they seemed,

302

Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms,

303

Fit to decide the empire of great Heav’n.

304

Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air

305

Made horrid circles: two broad suns their shields

306

Blazed opposite, while expectation stood

307

In horror. From each hand [3840] with speed retired,

308

Where erst was thickest[3841] fight, th’Angelic throng,

309

And left large field,[3842] unsafe within the wind[3843]

310

Of such commotion—such as, to set forth

311

Great things by small, if Nature’s concord broke,

312

Among the constellations war were sprung,

313

Two planets, rushing from aspect[3844] malign

314

Of fiercest opposition, in mid sky

315

Should combat, and their jarring spheres confound.[3845]

316

Together both with next to almighty arm

317

Up-lifted imminent, one stroke they aimed

318

That might determine, [3846] and not need repeat,

319

As not of power at once, nor odds[3847] appeared

320

In might or swift prevention.[3848] But the sword

321

Of Michael from the armory of God

322

Was giv’n him tempered so that neither keen

323

Nor solid might resist that edge. It met

324

The sword of Satan, with steep force to smite

325

Descending, and in half cut sheer, [3849] nor stayed,

326

But with swift wheel reverse, deep ent’ring, shared [3850]

327

All his right side. Then Satan first knew pain,

328

And writhed him to and fro convolved,[3851] so sore

329

The griding[3852] sword with discontinuous[3853] wound

330

Passed through him. But the ethereal substance closed,

331

Not long divisible, and from the gash

332

A stream of nectarous humor [3854] issuing flowed

333

Sanguine, [3855] such as celestial Spirits may bleed,

334

And all his armor stained, erewhile so bright.

335

Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run

336

By Angels many and strong, who interposed

337

Defence, while others bore him on their shields

338

Back to his chariot, where it stood retired [3856]

339

From off the files of war. [3857] There they him laid

340

Gnashing for anguish and despite[3858] and shame

341

To find himself not matchless, and his pride

342

Humbled by such rebuke, [3859] so far beneath

343

His confidence to equal God in power.

344

Yet soon he healed, for Spirits that live throughout

345

Vital in every part, not as frail man

346

In entrails, heart or head, liver or reins,[3860]

347

Cannot but[3861] by annihilating die,

348

Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound

349

Receive, no more than can the fluid air.

350

All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear,

351

All intellect, all sense, and as they please

352

They limb themselves, and color, shape, or size

353

Assume, as likes them best, condense or rare.

354

“Meanwhile in other parts like[3862] deeds deserved

355

Memorial, where the might of Gabriel fought,

356

And with fierce ensigns[3863] pierced the deep array[3864]

357

Of Moloch, furious king, who him defied,

358

And at his chariot-wheels to drag him bound

359

Threat’ned, nor from the Holy One of Heav’n

360

Refrained his tongue blasphemous. But anon[3865]

361

Down cloven to the waist, with shattered arms

362

And uncouth[3866] pain, fled bellowing. On each wing[3867]

363

Uriel and Raphael his[3868] vaunting[3869] foe,

364

Though huge and in a rock of diamond armed,

365

Vanquished Adramelech[3870] and Asmadai,[3871]

366

Two potent Thrones,[3872] that to be less than gods

367

Disdained, but meaner [3873] thoughts learned in their flight,

368

Mangled [3874] with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.

369

Nor stood unmindful Abdiel to annoy

370

The atheist crew, but with redoubled blow

371

Ariel,[3875] and Arioch,[3876] and the violence

372

Of Ramiel [3877] scorched and blasted, overthrew.

373

“I might relate of thousands, and their names

374

Eternize here on earth, but those elect

375

Angels, contented with their fame in Heav’n,

376

Seek not the praise of men. The other sort,

377

In might though wondrous and in acts of war,

378

Nor of renown less eager, yet by doom[3878]

379

Cancelled from Heav’n and sacred memory,

380

Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell.

381

For strength from truth divided, and from just,[3879]

382

Illaudable, [3880] nought merits but dispraise

383

And ignominy, [3881] yet to glory aspires,

384

Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame.

385

Therefore eternal silence be their doom.[3882]

386

“And now, their mightiest quelled,[3883] the battle swerved,[3884]

387

With many an inroad [3885] gored. [3886] Deformèd [3887] rout

388

Entered, and foul disorder, all the ground

389

With shivered armor strewn, and on a heap

390

Chariot and charioteer lay overturned,

391

And fiery-foaming steeds. What stood, recoiled

392

O’er-wearied, through the faint[3888] Satanic host

393

Defensive scarce, or with pale[3889] fear surprised [3890]

394

(Then first with fear surprised, and sense of pain)

395

Fled ignominious, to such evil brought

396

By sin of disobedience, till that hour

397

Not liable to fear, or flight, or pain.

398

Far otherwise th’ inviolable[3891] Saints,

399

In cubic phalanx[3892] firm, advanced entire,[3893]

400

Invulnerable, impenetrably armed,

401

Such high advantages their innocence

402

Gave them above their foes, not to have sinned,

403

Not to have disobeyed. In fight they stood

404

Unwearied, unobnoxious[3894] to be pained

405

By wound, though from their place by violence moved.

406

“Now Night her course began and, over Heav’n

407

Inducing darkness, grateful truce imposed,

408

And silence on the odious[3895] din of war.

409

Under her cloudy covert both retired,

410

Victor and vanquished. On the foughten field

411

Michael and his Angels prevalent[3896]

412

Encamping, placed in guard their watches round,[3897]

413

Cherubic[3898] waving fires. On th’ other part,[3899]

414

Satan with his rebellious disappeared,

415

Far in the dark dislodged [3900] and, void [3901] of rest,

416

His potentates to council called by night,

417

And in the midst thus, undismayed, began:

418

“‘O now in danger tried, now known in arms

419

Not to be overpowered, companions dear,

420

Found worthy not of liberty alone,

421

Too mean pretence! [3902] but what we more affect,[3903]

422

Honor, dominion, glory, and renown,

423

Who have sustained one day in doubtful [3904] fight

424

(And if one day, why not eternal days?

425

What Heaven’s Lord had powerfullest to send

426

Against us from about His throne, and judged

427

Sufficient to subdue us to His will,

428

But proves not so. Then fallible, it seems,

429

Of future we may deem Him, though till now

430

Omniscient thought. True is, less firmly armed,

431

Some disadvantage we endured and pain,

432

Till now not known, but known, as soon contemned,[3905]

433

Since now we find this our empyreal [3906] form

434

Incapable of mortal injury,

435

Imperishable, and though pierced with wound,

436

Soon closing, and by native vigor healed.

437

Of evil then so small, as easy think [3907]

438

The remedy. Perhaps more valid [3908] arms,

439

Weapons more violent, when next we meet,

440

May serve to better us, and worse our foes,

441

Or equal what between us made the odds,

442

In Nature none. If other hidden cause

443

Left them superior, while we can preserve

444

Unhurt our minds, and understanding sound,

445

Due search and consultation will disclose.

446

“He sat; and in the assembly next upstood

447

Nisroch,[3909] of Principalities[3910] the prime. [3911]

448

As one he stood escaped from cruel fight,

449

Sore toiled,[3912] his riven[3913] arms[3914] to havoc[3915] hewn,

450

And cloudy [3916] in aspect [3917] thus answering spoke:

451

“‘Deliverer from new Lords, leader to free

452

Enjoyment of our right as gods! Yet hard

453

For gods, and too unequal work we find,

454

Against unequal arms to fight in pain,

455

Against unpained, impassive, [3918] from which evil

456

Ruin must needs ensue. For what avails

457

Valor or strength, though matchless, quelled [3919] with pain

458

Which all subdues, and makes remiss[3920] the hands

459

Of mightiest? Sense of pleasure we may well

460

Spare [3921] out of life, perhaps, and not repine, [3922]

461

But live content, which is the calmest life.

462

But pain is perfect misery, the worst

463

Of evils and, excessive, overturns

464

All patience. He who therefore can invent[3923]

465

With what more forcible we may offend [3924]

466

Our yet unwounded enemies, or arm

467

Ourselves with like defence, to me deserves

468

No less than for deliverance what we owe.

469

Whereto with look composed Satan replied:

470

“‘Not uninvented that, which thou aright [3925]

471

Believ’st so main[3926] to our success, I bring.

472

Which of us who beholds the bright surface

473

Of this ethereous [3927] mould [3928] whereon we stand,

474

This continent of spacious Heav’n, adorned

475

With plant, fruit, flow’r ambrosial, gems, and gold—

476

Whose eye so superficially [3929] surveys

477

These things, as not to mind [3930] from whence they grow

478

Deep under ground, materials dark and crude,

479

Of spiritous and fiery spume, [3931] till touched

480

With Heav’n’s ray, and tempered,[3932] they shoot forth

481

So beauteous, opening to the ambient [3933] light?

482

These in their dark nativity[3934] the deep

483

Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame,

484

Which into hollow engines, long and round,

485

Thick rammed,[3935] at th’ other bore [3936] with touch of fire

486

Dilated [3937] and infuriate, shall send forth

487

From far, with thund’ring noise, among our foes

488

Such implements of mischief as shall dash

489

To pieces and o’erwhelm whatever stands

490

Adverse, [3938] that they shall fear we have disarmed

491

The Thunderer of His only dreaded bolt.

492

Nor long shall be our labor: yet ere dawn,

493

Effect [3939] shall end our wish. Meanwhile revive,

494

Abandon fear, to strength and counsel joined

495

Think nothing hard, much less to be despaired.

496

“He ended, and his words their drooping cheer [3940]

497

Enlightened,[3941] and their languished [3942] hope revived.

498

Th’ invention all admired, and each, how he

499

To be the inventer missed, so easy it seemed

500

Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought

501

Impossible. Yet, haply, [3943] of thy race

502

In future days, if malice should abound,

503

Someone intent on mischief, or inspired

504

With devilish machination,[3944] might devise

505

Like [3945] instrument to plague the sons of men

506

For sin, on war and mutual slaughter bent.

507

Forthwith from council to the work they flew.

508

None arguing stood; innumerable hands

509

Were ready. In a moment up they turned

510

Wide the celestial soil, and saw beneath

511

The originals[3946] of Nature in their crude

512

Conception. Sulphurous and nitrous foam

513

They found, they mingled and, with subtle art,

514

Concocted [3947] and adjusted,[3948] they reduced

515

To blackest grain,[3949] and into store conveyed.

516

Part [3950] hidden veins digged up (nor hath this earth

517

Entrails unlike) of mineral and stone,

518

Whereof to found[3951] their engines and their balls

519

Of missive ruin;[3952] part incentive [3953] reed

520

Provide, pernicious[3954] with one touch to fire.

521

So all ere day-spring, under conscious Night,[3955]

522

Secret they finished, and in order set,

523

With silent circumspection,[3956] unespied.

524

“Now when fair morn orient [3957] in Heav’n appeared,

525

Up rose the victor-Angels, and to arms

526

The matin trumpet sung. In arms they stood

527

Of golden panoply, [3958] refulgent[3959] host,[3960]

528

Soon banded.[3961] Others from the dawning hills

529

Look round, and scouts each coast light-armèd scour,

530

Each quarter to descry [3962] the distant foe,

531

Where lodged, or whither fled, or if for fight,

532

In motion or in halt. Him soon they met

533

Under spread ensigns moving nigh, in slow

534

But firm battalion. Back with speediest sail

535

Zophiel,[3963] of Cherubim the swiftest wing,

536

Came flying, and in mid air aloud thus cried:

537

“‘Arm, warriors, arm for fight! The foe at hand,

538

Whom fled we thought, will save us long pursuit

539

This day. Fear not his flight: so thick a cloud

540

He comes, and settled in his face I see

541

Sad [3964] resolution, and secure. [3965] Let each

542

His adamantine coat gird [3966] well, and each

543

Fit well his helm, grip fast his orbèd shield,

544

Borne ev’n[3967] or high, for this day will pour down,

545

If I conjecture [3968] aught, no drizzling shower,

546

But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.

547

“So warned he them, aware themselves, and soon

548

In order, quit of all impediment,

549

Instant without disturb they took alarm,[3969]

550

And onward moved embattled.[3970] When behold!

551

Not distant far with heavy [3971] pace the foe

552

Approaching, gross[3972] and huge, [3973] in hollow cube

553

Training [3974] his devilish enginery, impaled [3975]

554

On every side with shadowing squadrons deep,

555

To hide the fraud. At interview [3976] both stood

556

A while, but suddenly at head appeared

557

Satan, and thus was heard commanding loud:

558

“‘Vanguard, to right and left the front unfold,[3977]

559

That all may see, who hate us, how we seek

560

Peace and composure, [3978] and with open breast

561

Stand ready to receive them, if they like

562

Our overture, [3979] and turn not back perverse. [3980]

563

But that I doubt. However, witness, Heav’n!

564

Heav’n, witness thou anon! [3981] while we discharge

565

Freely our part. Ye who appointed stand

566

Do as you have in charge, and briefly touch

567

What we propound,[3982] and loud that all may hear!

568

“So scoffing in ambiguous words, he scarce

569

Had ended, when to right and left the front

570

Divided, and to either flank retired,

571

Which to our eyes discovered, new and strange,

572

A triple mounted row of pillars laid

573

On wheels ( for like to pillars most they seemed,

574

Or hollowed bodies made of oak or fir,

575

With branches lopped, in wood or mountain felled)

576

Brass, iron, stony mould,[3983] had not their mouths

577

With hideous orifice[3984] gaped on us wide,

578

Portending hollow truce. At each, behind,

579

A Seraph stood, and in his hand a reed

580

Stood waving, tipped with fire, while we, suspense, [3985]

581

Collected stood, within our thoughts amused.[3986]

582

Not long, for sudden all at once their reeds

583

Put forth, and to a narrow vent [3987] applied

584

With nicest [3988] touch. Immediate in a flame,

585

But soon obscured with smoke all Heav’n appeared,

586

From those deep-throated engines belched,[3989] whose roar

587

Emboweled[3990] with outrageous[3991] noise the air

588

And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul

589

Their devilish glut,[3992] chained thunderbolts and hail

590

Of iron globes which, on the victor host

591

Levelled, with such impetuous[3993] fury smote

592

That, whom they hit, none on their feet might stand,

593

Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell

c

595

The sooner for [3994] their arms.[3995] Unarmed, they might

596

Have easily, as Spirits, evaded swift

597

By quick contraction or remove, but now

598

Foul dissipation[3996] followed, and forced rout,

599

Nor served it to relax[3997] their serried [3998] files.[3999]

600

What should they do? If on they rushed, repulse

601

Repeated, and indecent [4000] overthrow

602

Doubled, would render them yet more despised,

603

And to their foes a laughter, for in view

604

Stood ranked of Seraphim another row,

605

In posture to displode[4001] their second tire[4002]

606

Of thunder. Back defeated to return

607

They worse abhorred. Satan beheld their plight,

608

And to his mates thus in derision called:

609

“‘O friends! Why come not on, these victors proud?

610

Erewhile they fierce were coming, and when we,

611

To entertain them fair, with open front

612

And breast (what could we more?), propounded terms

613

Of composition, straight they changed their minds,

614

Flew off, and into strange vagaries[4003] fell,

615

As they would dance. Yet for a dance they seemed

616

Somewhat extravagant and wild—perhaps

617

For joy of offered peace. But I suppose,

618

If our proposals once again were heard,

619

We should compel them to a quick result.

620

To whom thus Belial, in like gamesome mood:

621

“‘Leader! the terms we sent were terms of weight,

622

Of hard contents, and full of force urged home,

623

Such as we might perceive amused [4004] them all,

624

And stumbled [4005] many. Who receives them right

625

Had need from head to foot well understand.[4006]

626

Not understood, this gift they have besides,

627

They show us when our foes walk not upright.

628

“So they among themselves in pleasant vein

629

Stood scoffing, heightened [4007] in their thoughts beyond

630

All doubt of victory. Eternal Might

631

To match with their inventions they presumed

632

So easy, and of His thunder made a scorn,

633

And all His host derided, while they stood

634

A while in trouble. But they [4008] stood not long.

635

Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms

636

Against such hellish mischief fit t’ oppose.

637

Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power,

638

Which God hath in His mighty Angels placed!

639

Their arms away they threw, and to the hills

640

(For earth hath this variety from Heav’n,

641

Of pleasure situate[4009] in hill and dale)

642

Light [4010] as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew.

643

From their foundations loos’ning to and fro,

644

They plucked the seated hills, with all their load,

645

Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops

646

Up-lifting bore them in their hands. Amaze,

647

Be sure, and terror, seized the rebel host,

648

When coming towards them so dread they saw[4011]

649

The bottom of the mountains upward turned,

650

Till on those cursed engines’ triple-row

651

They saw them whelmed,[4012] and all their confidence

652

Under the weight of mountains buried deep,

653

Themselves invaded [4013] next, and on their heads

654

Main[4014] promontories[4015] flung, which in the air

655

Came shadowing, and oppressed [4016] whole legions armed.

656

Their armor helped their harm, crushed in and bruised

657

Into their substance pent,[4017] which wrought them pain

658

Implacable, [4018] and many a dolorous groan,

659

Long struggling underneath, ere they could wind

660

Out of such prison, though Spirits of purest light,

661

Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown.

662

The rest, in imitation, to like arms

663

Betook them, and the neighboring hills uptore.

664

So hills amid the air encountered hills,

665

Hurled to and fro with jaculation[4019] dire, [4020]

666

That under ground they fought in dismal shade.

667

Infernal noise! War seemed a civil game

668

To this uproar. Horrid confusion heaped

669

Upon confusion rose.

“And now all Heav’n

670

Had gone to wrack,[4021] with ruin overspread,

671

Had not th’Almighty Father, where He sits

672

Shrined in His sanctuary of Heav’n secure,

673

Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen

674

This tumult, and permitted all, advised,[4022]

675

That His great purpose He might so fulfil,

676

To honor His anointed Son avenged

677

Upon his enemies, and to declare

678

All power on him transferred. Whence to His Son,

679

The assessor [4023] of His throne, He thus began:

680

“‘Effulgence[4024] of my glory, Son belov’d,

681

Son, in whose face invisible is beheld

682

Visibly, what by Deity I am,

683

And in whose hand what by decree I do,

684

Second Omnipotence! Two days are past,

685

Two days, as we compute the days of Heav’n,

686

Since Michael and his Powers went forth to tame

687

These disobedient. Sore hath been their fight,

688

As likeliest was, when two such foes met armed,

689

For to themselves I left them, and thou know’st

690

Equal in their creation they were formed,

691

Save what sin hath impaired, which yet hath wrought

692

Insensibly, for I suspend their doom.[4025]

693

Whence in perpetual fight they needs must last [4026]

694

Endless, and no solution will be found.

695

War wearied hath performed what war can do,

696

And to disordered rage let loose the reins

697

With mountains, as with weapons, armed, which makes

698

Wild work in Heav’n, and dangerous to the main.[4027]

699

Two days are therefore past, the third is thine,

700

For thee I have ordained it, and thus far

701

Have suffered [4028] that the glory may be thine

702

Of ending this great war, since none but thou

703

Can end it. Into thee such virtue and grace

704

Immense I have transfused,[4029] that all may know

705

In Heav’n and Hell thy power above compare

706

And, this perverse[4030] commotion[4031] governed [4032] thus,

707

To manifest thee worthiest to be heir

708

Of all things, to be heir, and to be King

709

By sacred unction,[4033] thy deservèd right.

710

Go then, thou mightiest, in thy Father’s might.

711

Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels

712

That shake Heav’n’s basis, bring forth all my war,

713

My bow and thunder. My almighty arms

714

Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh.

715

Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out

716

From all Heav’n’s bounds into the utter deep.

717

There let them learn, as likes them,[4034] to despise

718

God, and Messiah his anointed King.

719

“He said, and on His Son with rays direct

720

Shone full. He all his Father full expressed

721

Ineffably [4035] into his face received,

722

And thus the Filial Godhead, answering, spoke:

723

“‘O Father, O Supreme of Heav’nly Thrones,

724

First, Highest, Holiest, Best! Thou always seek’st

725

To glorify Thy Son, I always Thee,

726

As is most just. This I my glory account,[4036]

727

My exaltation, and my whole delight,

728

That Thou, in me well pleased, declar’st Thy will

729

Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss.

730

Scepter and power, Thy giving, I assume,

731

And gladlier shall resign, when in the end

732

Thou shalt be all in all, and I in Thee

733

Forever, and in me all whom Thou lov’st.

734

But whom Thou hat’st, I hate, and can put on

735

Thy terrors, as I put Thy mildness on,

736

Image of Thee in all things, and shall soon,

737

Armed with Thy might, rid Heav’n of these rebelled,

738

To their prepared ill mansion driven down,

739

To chains of darkness, and th’ undying worm,[4037]

740

That from Thy just obedience could revolt,

741

Whom to obey is happiness entire.

742

Then shall Thy Saints unmixed,[4038] and from th’ impure

743

Far separate, circling Thy holy mount,

744

Unfeignèd Halleluiahs to Thee sing,

745

Hymns of high praise, and I among them chief.

746

“So said, he o’er his scepter bowing, rose

747

From the right hand of Glory where he sat.

748

And the third sacred morn began to shine,

749

Dawning through Heav’n. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound

750

The chariot of paternal Deity,

751

Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,[4039]

752

Itself instinct [4040] with Spirit, but convoyed[4041]

753

By four Cherubic shapes. Four faces each

754

Had wondrous. As with stars, their bodies all

755

And wings were set with eyes, with eyes the wheels

756

Of beryl, and careering [4042] fires between.

757

Over their heads a crystal firmament,

758

Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure

759

Amber, and colors of the showery[4043] arch.[4044]

760

He in celestial panoply all armed

761

Of radiant Urim,[4045] work divinely wrought,

762

Ascended. At his right hand victory

763

Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow

764

And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored,

765

And from about him fierce effusion[4046] rolled

766

Of smoke, and bickering [4047] flame, and sparkles dire.

767

Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,

768

He onward came. Far off his coming shone,

769

And twenty thousand (I their number heard)

770

Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen.

771

He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime[4048]

772

On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,

773

Illustrious[4049] far and wide, but by his own

774

First seen. Them unexpected joy surprised,

775

When the great ensign of Messiah blazed

776

Aloft, by Angels borne, his sign in Heav’n,

777

Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced [4050]

778

His army, circumfused [4051] on either wing,

779

Under their head [4052] embodied [4053] all in one.

780

Before him Power Divine his way prepared;

781

At his command the uprooted hills retired [4054]

782

Each to his place. They heard his voice, and went

783

Obsequious.[4055] Heav’n his wonted [4056] face renewed,

784

And with fresh flow’rets hill and valley smiled.

785

This saw his hapless[4057] foes, but stood obdured,[4058]

786

And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,

787

Insensate, [4059] hope conceiving[4060] from despair.

788

“In Heav’nly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?

789

But to convince the proud what signs avail,

790

Or wonders move th’ obdurate to relent?

791

They, hardened more by what might most reclaim, [4061]

792

Grieving to see his glory, at the sight

793

Took envy and, aspiring to his height,

794

Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud

795

Weening[4062] to prosper, and at length prevail

796

Against God and Messiah, or to fall

797

In universal ruin last.[4063] And now

798

To final battle drew, disdaining flight,

799

Or faint retreat. When the great Son of God

800

To all his host on either hand thus spoke:

801

“‘Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand,

802

Ye Angels armed; this day from battle rest.

803

Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God

804

Accepted, fearless in His righteous cause,

805

And as ye have received, so have ye done,

806

Invincibly. But of this cursèd crew

807

The punishment to other hand belongs.

808

Vengeance is His, or whose He sole appoints.

809

Number to this day’s work is not ordained,

810

Nor multitude. Stand only, and behold

811

God’s indignation on these godless poured

812

By me. Not you, but me, they have despised,

813

Yet envied. Against me is all their rage,

814

Because the Father, to whom in Heav’n supreme

815

Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains,

816

Hath honored me, according to His will.

817

Therefore to me their doom[4064] He hath assigned,

818

That they may have their wish, to try [4065] with me

819

In battle which the stronger proves, they all,

82

Or I alone against them, since by strength

821

They measure all, of other excellence

822

Not emulous,[4066] nor care who them excels.

823

Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe. ’[4067]

824

“So spoke the Son, and into terror changed

825

His count’nance, too severe to be beheld,

826

And full of wrath bent on his enemies.

827

At once the Four spread out their starry wings

828

With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs

829

Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound

830

Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.[4068]

831

He on his impious foes right onward drove,

832

Gloomy [4069] as night. Under his burning wheels

833

The steadfast empyrean[4070] shook throughout,

834

All but the throne itself of God. Full soon

835

Among them he arrived, in his right hand

836

Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent

837

Before him, such as in their souls infixed

838

Plagues.[4071] They astonished [4072] all resistance lost,

839

All courage. Down their idle [4073] weapons dropped.

840

O’er shields, and helms, and helmèd heads he rode

841

Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,

842

That wished the mountains now might be again

843

Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire. [4074]

844

Nor less on either side tempestuous fell

845

His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four

846

Distinct [4075] with eyes, and from the living wheels

847

Distinct alike with multitude of eyes.

848

One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye

849

Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious[4076] fire

850

Among the accursed, that withered all their strength,

851

And of their wonted [4077] vigor left them drained,

852

Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fall’n.

853

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked

854

His thunder in mid volley, for he meant

855

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n.

856

The overthrown he raised, and as a herd

857

Of goats or timorous flock together thronged

858

Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued

859

With terrors, and with furies, to the bounds

860

And crystal wall of Heav’n, which op’ning wide,

861

Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed

862

Into the wasteful [4078] deep. The monstrous sight

863

Struck them with horror backward, but far worse

864

Urged them behind. Headlong themselves they threw

865

Down from the verge[4079] of Heav’n. Eternal wrath

866

Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

867

“Hell heard th’ unsufferable[4080] noise, Hell saw

868

Heav’n ruining[4081] from Heav’n, and would have fled

869

Affrighted, but strict [4082] Fate had cast too deep

870

Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.

871

Nine days they fell. Confounded [4083] Chaos roared,

872

And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

873

Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout[4084]

874

Encumbered him with ruin. Hell at last

875

Yawning [4085] received them whole, and on them closed,

876

Hell their fit habitation, fraught [4086] with fire

877

Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.

878

Disburdened Heav’n rejoiced, and soon repaired

879

Her mural [4087] breach, returning whence it rolled.

880

“Sole victor, from th’ expulsion of his foes,

881

Messiah his triumphal chariot turned.

882

To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood

883

Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,

884

With jubilee[4088] advanced and, as they went,

885

Shaded with branching palm, each Order bright

886

Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,

887

Son, heir, and Lord, to him dominion giv’n,

888

Worthiest to reign. He celebrated rode

889

Triumphant through mid Heav’n, into the courts

890

And temple of his Mighty Father throned

891

On high, who into glory him received,

892

Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.

893

“Thus, measuring things in Heav’n by things on earth,

894

At thy[4089] request, and that thou may’st beware[4090]

895

By what is past, to thee I have revealed

896

What might have else to human race been hid,

897

The discord which befell,[4091] and war in Heav’n

898

Among th’ angelic Powers, and the deep fall

899

Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled

900

With Satan—he who envies now thy state,

901

Who now is plotting how he may seduce

902

Thee also from obedience, that[4092] with[4093] him

903

Bereaved [4094] of happiness, thou may’st partake

904

His punishment, eternal misery,

905

Which would be all his solace and revenge,

906

As a despite [4095] done against the Most High,

907

Thee once[4096] to gain companion[4097] of his woe.

908

But listen not to his temptations, warn

909

Thy weaker. [4098] Let it profit thee t’ have heard,

910

By terrible example, the reward

911

Of disobedience. Firm they might have stood,

912

Yet fell. Remember, and fear to transgress.

The End of the Sixth Book

BOOK VII

THE ARGUMENT

Raphael at the request of Adam relates how and wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declared His pleasure to create another world and other creatures to dwell therein; sends His Son with glory and attendance of Angels to perform the work of Creation in six days.

The Angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his[4099] re-ascention into Heaven.

1

Descend from Heav’n, Urania,[4100] by that name

2

If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine

3

Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,

4

Above the flight of Pegasean[4101] wing![4102]

5

The meaning, not the name, I call, for thou

6

Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top

7

Of old Olympus, dwell’st, but Heav’nly-born,

8

Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed,

9

Thou with eternal wisdom didst converse, [4103]

10

Wisdom thy sister, and with her did’st play

11

In presence of th’Almighty Father, pleased

12

With thy celestial song. Up led by thee

13

Into the Heav’n of Heav’ns I have presumed,

14

An earthly guest, and drawn[4104] empyreal air,

15

Thy temp’ring. [4105] With like safety guided down,

16

Return me to my native element,[4106]

17

Lest from this flying steed unreined (as once

18

Bellerophon, though from a lower clime)

19

Dismounted,[4107] on the Aleian field[4108] I fall,

20

Erroneous[4109] there to wander, and forlorn.[4110]

21

Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound [4111]

22

Within the visible diurnal sphere:[4112]

23

Standing on earth, not rapt[4113] above the pole, [4114]

24

More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged

25

To hoarse or mute, though fall’n on evil days,

26

On evil days though fall’n, and evil tongues,

27

In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,[4115]

28

And solitude. Yet not alone while thou

29

Visit’st my slumbers nightly, or when morn

30

Purples the east. Still govern thou my song,

31

Urania, and fit audience find, though few.

32

But drive far off the barbarous dissonance

33

Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race[4116]

34

Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard[4117]

35

In Rhodopé,[4118] where woods and rocks had ears

36

To rapture, [4119] till the savage clamor drowned

37

Both harp and voice. Nor could the Muse defend

38

Her son.[4120] So fail not thou, who thee implores,

39

For thou art Heav’nly, she an empty dream.

40

Say, goddess, what ensued when Raphael,

41

The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarned

42

Adam, by dire example, to beware

43

Apostasy, by what befell [4121] in Heav’n

44

To those apostates, lest the like befall

45

In Paradise to Adam or his race,

46

Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,

47

If they transgress, and slight [4122] that sole command,

48

So easily obeyed amid the choice

49

Of all tastes else to please their appetite,

50

Though wand’ring. [4123] He with his consorted [4124] Eve

51

The story heard, attentive, and was filled

52

With admiration [4125] and deep muse[4126] to hear

53

Of things so high[4127] and strange[4128] —things to their thought

54

So unimaginable, as hate in Heav’n,

55

And war so near the peace of God in bliss,

56

With such confusion,[4129] but the evil, soon

57

Driv’n back, redounded [4130] as a flood on those

58

From whom it sprung, impossible to mix

59

With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed[4131]

60

The doubts that in his heart arose, and now

61

Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know

62

What nearer might concern him, how this world

63

Of Heav’n and earth conspicuous [4132] first began,

64

When, and whereof created, for what cause,

65

What within Eden, or without, was done

66

Before his memory—as one whose drought

67

Yet scarce allayed, still eyes the current [4133] stream,

68

Whose liquid murmur heard, new thirst excites,

69

Proceeded thus to ask his Heav’nly guest:

70

“Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,

71

Far differing from this world, thou hast revealed,

72

Divine interpreter![4134] by favor sent

73

Down from the empyrean, to forewarn

74

Us timely of what might else have been our loss,

75

Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach.

76

For which to the infinitely Good we owe

77

Immortal thanks, and His admonishment

78

Receive, with solemn purpose to observe

79

Immutably His sov’reign will, the end[4135]

80

Of what we are. But since thou hast vouchsafed [4136]

81

Gently, [4137] for our instruction, to impart

82

Things above earthly thought, which yet concerned

83

Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemed,

84

Deign to descend now lower, and relate

85

What may no less perhaps avail us, known,

86

How first began this Heav’n which we behold

87

Distant so high, with moving fires adorned

88

Innumerable, and this which yields or fills

89

All space, the ambient [4138] air wide interfused [4139]

90

Embracing round this florid[4140] earth. What cause

91

Moved the Creator, in His holy rest [4141]

92

Through all eternity, so late [4142] to build

93

In Chaos, and the work begun, how soon

94

Absolved.[4143] If unforbid thou may’st unfold

95

What we, not to explore the secrets, ask

96

Of His eternal empire, but the more

97

To magnify His works, the more we know.

98

And the great light of day yet wants[4144] to run

99

Much of his race, though steep. Suspense in Heav’n,

100

Held by thy voice, thy potent voice he hears,

101

And longer will delay to hear thee tell

102

His generation,[4145] and the rising birth

103

Of Nature from the unapparent[4146] deep.[4147]

104

Or if the star of ev’ning and the moon

105

Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring

106

Silence—and sleep, list’ning to thee, will watch,[4148]

107

Or we can bid [4149] his absence till thy song

108

End, and dismiss[4150] thee ere the morning shine.

109

Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought,[4151]

110

And thus the godlike Angel answered mild:

111

“This also thy request, with caution asked,

112

Obtain, though to recount Almighty works

113

What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,

114

Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?

115

Yet what thou canst attain,[4152] which best may serve

116

To glorify the Maker, and infer [4153]

117

Thee also happier, shall not be withheld

118

Thy hearing. Such commission from above

119

I have received, to answer thy desire

120

Of knowledge within bounds. Beyond,[4154] abstain

121

To ask, nor let thine own inventions[4155] hope

122

Things not revealed, which the invisible King,

123

Only [4156] Omniscient, hath suppressed [4157] in night,

124

To none communicable in earth or Heaven:

125

Enough is left besides to search and know.

126

But knowledge is as food, and needs no less

127

Her temp’rance over appetite, to know

128

In measure what the mind may well contain,

129

Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns

130

Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.

131

“Know then, that after Lucifer from Heav’n

132

(So call him, brighter once amidst the host

133

Of Angels than that star [4158] the stars among)

134

Fell with his flaming legions through the deep

135

Into his place, and the great Son returned

136

Victorious with his Saints, the Omnipotent

137

Eternal Father from His throne beheld

138

Their multitude, and to His Son thus spoke:

139

“‘At last our envious foe hath failed, who thought

140

All[4159] like himself rebellious, by whose aid

141

This inaccessible high strength, the seat

142

Of Deity supreme, us dispossessed,

143

He trusted to have seized, and into fraud

144

Drew many, whom their place knows here no more.

145

Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,

146

Their station.[4160] Heaven, yet populous, retains

147

Number sufficient to possess[4161] her realms

148

Though wide, and this high temple to frequent[4162]

149

With ministeries[4163] due, and solemn rites.

150

But lest his heart exalt him in the harm

151

Already done, to have dispeopled Heav’n,

152

My damage fondly [4164] deemed,[4165] I can repair

153

That detriment,[4166] if such it be to lose

154

Self-lost, and in a moment will create

155

Another world, out of one man a race

156

Of men innumerable, there to dwell,

157

Not here, till by degrees of merit raised

158

They open to themselves at length the way

159

Up hither, under long obedience tried,[4167]

160

And earth be changed to Heav’n, and Heav’n to earth,

161

One kingdom, joy and union without end.

162

Meanwhile inhabit lax,[4168] ye Powers of Heav’n,

163

And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee

164

This I perform. Speak thou, and be it done!

165

My overshadowing[4169] Spirit and Might with thee

166

I send along. Ride forth, and bid the deep

167

Within appointed bounds be Heav’n and earth—

168

Boundless the deep, because I Am who fill

169

Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.

170

Though I, uncircumscribed myself, retire,

171

And put not forth my goodness, which is free

172

To act or not, necessity and chance

173

Approach not me, and what I will is fate.

174

“So spoke th’Almighty and, to what He spoke,

175

His Word, the Filial Godhead gave effect.

176

Immediate are the acts of God, more swift

177

Than time or motion, but to human ears

178

Cannot without process of speech be told,

179

So told as earthly notion can receive.

180

Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heav’n,

181

When such was heard declared th’Almighty’s will.

182

Glory they sung to the Most High, good will

183

To future men, and in their dwellings peace

184

Glory to Him, whose just avenging ire

185

Had driven out the ungodly from His sight

186

And th’ habitations of the just; to Him

187

Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordained

188

Good out of evil to create, instead

189

Of Spirits malign a better race to bring

190

Into their vacant room,[4170] and thence diffuse

191

His good to worlds and ages infinite.

192

So sang the Hierarchies.[4171]

“Meanwhile the Son

193

On his great expedition now appeared,

194

Girt with Omnipotence, with radiance crowned

195

Of Majesty Divine. Sapience[4172] and love

196

Immense, and all his Father in him shone.

197

About his chariot numberless were poured

198

Cherub, and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones,

199

And Virtues, wingèd Spirits, and chariots winged

200

From th’ armory[4173] of God, where stand of old

201

Myriads, between two brazen[4174] mountains lodged [4175]

202

Against a solemn day, harnessed at hand,

203

Celestial equipage, [4176] and now came forth

204

Spontaneous,[4177] for within them Spirit lived,

205

Attendant on their Lord. Heav’n op’ned wide

206

Her ever-during[4178] gates, harmonious sound

207

On golden hinges moving, to let forth

208

The King of Glory, in his powerful Word

209

And Spirit, coming to create new worlds.

210

On Heav’nly ground they stood, and from the shore

211

They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss

212

Outrageous[4179] as a sea, dark, wasteful,[4180] wild,

213

Up from the bottom turned by furious winds

214

And surging waves, as mountains, to assault

215

Heav’n’s height, and with the center mix the pole.

216

“‘Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou, deep: peace!

217

Said then the Omnific [4181] Word. ‘Your discord end!

218

Nor stayed but on the wings of Cherubim

219

Uplifted, in paternal glory rode

220

Far into Chaos and the world unborn,

221

For Chaos heard His voice. Him all his train

222

Followed in bright procession, to behold

223

Creation, and the wonders of His might.

224

Then stayed the fervid [4182] wheels, and in His hand

225

He took the golden compasses, prepared

226

In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe[4183]

227

This universe, and all created things.

228

One foot He centered, and the other turned

229

Round through the vast profundity[4184] obscure.

230

And said: ‘Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,

231

This be thy just circumference, O world!

232

Thus God the Heav’n created, thus the earth,

233

Matter unformed and void. Darkness profound[4185]

234

Covered the abyss, but on the wat’ry calm

235

His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,

236

And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth

237

Throughout the fluid mass, but downward purged [4186]

238

The black tartareous[4187] cold infernal dregs,

239

Adverse to life. Then founded,[4188] then conglobed[4189]

240

Like things to like; the rest to several place

241

Disparted,[4190] and between[4191] spun out the air,

242

And earth self-balanced on her center hung.

243

‘Let there be light,’ said God, and forthwith light

244

Ethereal,[4192] first of things, quintessence[4193] pure,

245

Sprung from the deep, and from her native east

246

To journey through the airy gloom began,

247

Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun

248

Was not; she[4194] in a cloudy tabernacle[4195]

249

Sojourned [4196] the while. God saw the light was good,

250

And light from darkness by the hemisphere

251

Divided; light the Day, and darkness Night

252

He named. Thus was the first day, ev’n and morn,

253

Nor passed uncelebrated, nor unsung

254

By the celestial choirs, when orient[4197] light

255

Exhaling[4198] first from darkness they beheld,

256

Birth-day of Heav’n and earth. With joy and shout

257

The hollow universal orb they filled,

258

And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised

259

God and His works. Creator Him they sung,

260

Both when first ev’ning was, and when first morn.

261

Again, God said: ‘Let there be firmament[4199]

262

Amid the waters, and let it divide

263

The waters from the waters. ’And God made

264

The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,

265

Transparent, elemental air, diffused

266

In circuit to the uttermost convex

267

Of this great round, partition[4200] firm and sure,

268

The waters underneath from those above

269

Dividing, for as earth, so He the world

270

Built on circumfluous[4201] waters calm, in wide

271

Crystalline ocean, and the loud [4202] misrule[4203]

272

Of Chaos far removed,[4204] lest fierce extremes

273

Contiguous[4205] might distemper[4206] the whole frame.

274

And Heav’n He named the firmament. So ev’n

275

And morning chorus sung the second day.

276

“The earth was formed, but in the womb as yet

277

Of waters, embryon[4207] immature involved,[4208]

278

Appeared not. Over all the face of earth

279

Main ocean flowed, not idle[4209] but with warm

280

Prolific[4210] humor[4211] soft’ning all her globe,

281

Fermented [4212] the great mother to conceive,

282

Satiate with genial[4213] moisture, when God said:

283

‘Be gathered now ye waters under Heav’n

284

Into one place, and let dry land appear.

285

Immediately the mountains huge appear

286

Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave

287

Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky,

288

So high as heaved the tumid [4214] hills, so low

289

Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,

290

Capacious bed of waters. Thither they[4215]

291

Hasted with glad precipitance, [4216] uprolled [4217]

292

As drops on dust conglobing[4218] from the dry.

293

Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge[4219] direct,

294

For haste: such flight the great command impressed

295

On the swift floods. As armies at the call

296

Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)

297

Troop[4220] to their standard, so the wat’ry throng,

298

Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,

299

If steep, with torrent [4221] rapture, [4222] if through plain,

300

Soft-ebbing, [4223] nor withstood them rock or hill,

301

But they, or [4224] under ground, or circuit wide

302

With serpent error[4225] wand’ring, found their way,

303

And on the washy[4226] ooze deep channels wore

304

Easy, [4227] ere God had bid the ground be dry,

305

All but within those banks, where rivers now

306

Stream and perpetual draw their humid train.[4228]

307

The dry land, earth,[4229] and the great receptacle

308

Of congregated waters, He called seas,

309

And saw that it was good. And said: ‘Let th’ earth

310

Put forth the verdant[4230] grass, herb yielding seed,

311

And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,

312

Whose seed is in herself upon the earth.

313

He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then

314

Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned,

315

Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad

316

Her universal face with pleasant green.

317

Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered

318

Op’ning their various colors, and made gay

319

Her bosom, smelling sweet, and these scarce blown,[4231]

320

Forth flourished thick the clust’ring vine, forth crept

321

The swelling gourd, up stood the corny[4232] reed

322

Embattled [4233] in her field, and the humble shrub,

323

And bush with frizzled hair implicit.[4234] Last

324

Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread

325

Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmed [4235]

326

Their blossoms. With high woods the hills were crowned,

327

With tufts[4236] the valleys, and each fountain-side,

328

With borders long[4237] the rivers, that earth now

329

Seemed like to Heav’n, a seat where gods might dwell,

330

Or wander with delight, and love to haunt[4238]

331

Her sacred shades, though God had yet not rained

332

Upon the earth, and man to till the ground

333

None was. But from the earth a dewy mist

334

Went up, and watered all the ground, and each

335

Plant of the field, which ere it was in th’ earth

336

God made, and every herb, before it grew

337

On the green stem. God saw that it was good.

338

So ev’n and morn recorded the third day.

339

“Again th’Almighty spoke: ‘Let there be lights

340

High in th’ expanse of Heaven, to divide

341

The day from night, and let them be for signs,

342

For seasons, and for days, and circling years,

343

And let them be for lights, as I ordain

344

Their office in the firmament of Heav’n,

345

To give light on the earth. ’And it was so.

346

And God made two great lights, great for their use

347

To man, the greater to have rule by day,

348

The less by night, altern.[4239] And made the stars,

349

And set them in the firmament of Heav’n

350

T’ illuminate the earth, and rule the day

351

In their vicissitude, [4240] and rule the night,

352

And light from darkness to divide. God saw,

353

Surveying His great work, that it was good,

354

For of celestial bodies first the sun

355

A mighty sphere He framed, unlightsome[4241] first,[4242]

356

Though of ethereal mould, then formed the moon

357

Globose, [4243] and every magnitude of stars,

358

And sowed with stars the Heav’n, thick as a field.

35

Of light by far the greater part He took,

360

Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placed

361

In the sun’s orb, made porous to receive

362

And drink the liquid light, firm to retain

363

Her gathered beams, great palace[4244] now of light.

364

Hither, as to their fountain, other stars

365

Repairing, [4245] in their golden urns draw light,

366

And hence the morning-planet[4246] gilds her horns.[4247]

367

By tincture[4248] or reflection they augment

368

Their small peculiar, [4249] though from human sight

369

So far remote, with diminution seen.[4250]

370

First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,

371

Regent[4251] of day, and all th’ horizon round

372

Invested [4252] with bright rays, jocund[4253] to run

373

His longitude[4254] through Heav’n’s high road. The gray

374

Dawn and the Pleiades before him danced,

375

Shedding sweet influence. [4255] Less bright the moon,

376

But opposite in levelled [4256] west was set,

377

His[4257] mirror, with full face borrowing her light

378

From him, for other light she needed none

379

In that aspect,[4258] and still that distance keeps

380

Till night, then in the east her turn she shines,

381

Revolved on Heav’n’s great axle, and her reign

382

With thousand lesser lights dividual [4259] holds,

383

With thousand thousand stars, that then appeared

384

Spangling[4260] the hemisphere. Then first adorned

385

With their bright luminaries that set and rose,

386

Glad ev’ning and glad morn crowned the fourth day.

387

“And God said: ‘Let the waters generate

388

Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul,

389

And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings

390

Displayed on the open firmament of Heav’n.

391

And God created the great whales, and each

392

Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously

393

The waters generated by their kinds,

394

And every bird of wing after his kind,

395

And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying:

396

‘Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas,

397

And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill,

398

And let the fowl be multiplied on th’ earth.

399

Forthwith the sounds[4261] and seas, each creek and bay,

400

With fry[4262] innumerable swarm, and shoals

401

Of fish that with their fins, and shining scales,

402

Glide under the green wave, in sculls[4263] that oft

403

Bank[4264] the mid sea, part single, or with mate,

404

Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves

405

Of coral stray, or sporting[4265] with quick glance,

406

Show to the sun their waved coats dropped [4266] with gold,

407

Or in their pearly shells at ease, attend [4267]

408

Moist nutriment, or under rocks their food

409

In jointed armour watch.[4268] On smooth[4269] the seal

410

And bended [4270] dolphins play, part huge of bulk,

411

Wallowing[4271] unwieldy, [4272] enormous in their gait

412

Tempest[4273] the ocean. There Leviathan,

413

Hugest of living creatures, on the deep

414

Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,

415

And seems a moving land, and at his gills

416

Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.

417

Meanwhile the tepid [4274] caves, and fens,[4275] and shores

418

Their brood as numerous hatch, from th’ egg that soon

419

Bursting with kindly [4276] rupture forth disclosed

420

Their callow[4277] young, but feathered soon and fledge[4278]

421

They summed [4279] their pens[4280] and, soaring the air sublime, [4281]

422

With clang[4282] despised[4283] the ground, under a cloud

423

In prospect.[4284] There the eagle and the stork

424

On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build.

425

Part loosely wing the region,[4285] part more wise

426

In common, ranged [4286] in figure, [4287] wedge[4288] their way,

427

Intelligent[4289] of seasons, and set forth

428

Their airy caravan, high over seas

429

Flying, and over lands, with mutual [4290] wing

430

Easing their flight. So steers the prudent crane

431

Her annual voyage, borne on winds. The air

432

Floats[4291] as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes.

433

From branch to branch the smaller birds with song

434

Solaced [4292] the woods, and spread their painted wings

435

Till ev’n,[4293] nor then the solemn[4294] nightingale

436

Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays.[4295]

437

Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bathed

438

Their downy breast; the swan with archèd neck,

439

Between her white wings mantling[4296] proudly, rows

440

Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit

441

The dank [4297] and, rising on stiff pennons, tow’r[4298]

442

The mid aereal sky. Others on ground

443

Walked firm, the crested cock whose clarion[4299] sounds

444

The silent hours, and th’ other [4300] whose gay train

445

Adorns him, colored with the florid hue

446

Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus

447

With fish replenished,[4301] and the air with fowl,

448

Ev’ning and morn solemnized [4302] the fifth day.

449

“The sixth, and of Creation last, arose

450

With ev’ning harps, and matin,[4303] when God said:

451

‘Let th’ earth bring forth soul living, in her kind,[4304]

452

Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of th’ earth,

453

Each in their kind. ’The earth obeyed, and straight

454

Op’ning her fertile womb teemed [4305] at a birth

455

Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,

456

Limbed and full grown. Out of the ground up rose,

457

As from his lair, the wild beast where he wons[4306]

458

In forest wild, in thicket, brake, [4307] or den.

459

Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked,

460

The cattle in the fields and meadows green,

461

Those[4308] rare and solitary, these[4309] in flocks

462

Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung. [4310]

463

The grassy clods [4311] now calved: now half appeared

464

The tawny lion, pawing to get free

465

His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,

466

And rampant [4312] shakes his brinded [4313] mane. The ounce, [4314]

467

The libbard,[4315] and the tiger, as the mole

468

Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw

469

In hillocks. The swift stag from under ground

470

Bore up his branching head. Scarce from his mould

471

Behemoth,[4316] biggest born of earth, upheaved

472

His vastness. Fleeced the flocks, and bleating rose

473

As[4317] plants. Ambiguous[4318] between[4319] sea and land

474

The river-horse,[4320] and scaly crocodile.

475

At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,

476

Insect or worm. Those waved their limber[4321] fans[4322]

477

For wings, and smallest lineaments[4323] exact[4324]

478

In all the liveries decked of summer’s pride

479

With spots of gold and purple, azure and green.

480

These as a line their long dimension drew,

481

Streaking[4325] the ground with sinuous trace.[4326] Not all

482

Minims[4327] of Nature: some of serpent-kind,

483

Wondrous in length and corpulence, [4328] involved [4329]

484

Their snaky folds, and added [4330] wings. First crept

485

The parsimonious emmet,[4331] provident

486

Of future, in small room large heart enclosed,

487

Pattern of just equality perhaps

488

Hereafter, joined in her popular[4332] tribes

489

Of commonalty. Swarming, next appeared

490

The female bee, that feeds her husband drone

491

Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells

492

With honey stored. The rest are numberless,

493

And thou their natures know’st, and gav’st them names,

494

Needless to thee repeated. Nor unknown

495

The serpent, subtlest[4333] beast of all the field,

496

Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes

497

And hairy mane terrific,[4334] though to thee

498

Not noxious,[4335] but obedient at thy call.

499

“Now Heav’n in all her glory shone, and rolled

500

Her motions, as the great first Mover’s hand

501

First wheeled their course. Earth in her rich attire

502

Consummate[4336] lovely smiled. Air, water, earth,

503

By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked,

504

Frequent, and of the sixth day yet remained.

505

There wanted yet the master-work, the end [4337]

506

Of all yet done, a creature who not prone[4338]

507

And brute [4339] as other creatures, but endued

508

With sanctity [4340] of reason, might erect

509

His stature, and upright with front [4341] serene

510

Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence

511

Magnanimous [4342] to correspond[4343] with Heav’n,

512

But grateful to acknowledge whence his good

513

Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes

514

Directed in devotion, to adore

515

And worship God Supreme, who made him chief

516

Of all His works. Therefore th’ Omnipotent

517

Eternal Father (for where is not He

518

Present?) thus to His Son audibly spoke:

519

“‘Let us make now man in our image, man

520

In our similitude, [4344] and let them[4345] rule

521

Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,

522

Beast of the field, and over all the earth,

523

And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.

524

This said, He formed thee, Adam, thee, O man,

525

Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed

526

The breath of life. In His own image He

527

Created thee, in the image of God

528

Express,[4346] and thou becam’st a living soul.

529

Male He created thee, but thy consort

530

Female, for race, [4347] then blessed mankind, and said:

531

‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth;

532

Subdue [4348] it, and throughout dominion hold

533

Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,

534

And every living thing that moves on th’ earth.

535

Wherever thus created, for no place

536

Is yet distinct[4349] by name, thence, as thou know’st,

537

He brought thee into this delicious grove,

538

This garden, planted with the trees of God,

539

Delectable both to behold and taste,

540

And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

541

Gave thee. All sorts are here that all th’ earth yields,

542

Variety without end. But of the tree

543

Which tasted, works knowledge of good and evil,

544

Thou may’st not. In the day thou eat’st, thou di’st.[4350]

545

Death is the penalty imposed. Beware,

546

And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin

547

Surprise thee, and her black attendant, Death.

548

“Here finished He, and all that He had made

549

Viewed, and behold all was entirely good.

550

So ev’n and morn accomplished the sixth day.

551

“Yet not till the Creator from His work

552

Desisting, though unwearied, up returned,

553

Up to the Heav’n of Heav’ns, His high abode,

554

Thence to behold this new created world,

555

Th’ addition of His empire, how it showed

556

In prospect from His throne, how good, how fair,

557

Answering [4351] His great idea.[4352] Up He rode

558

Followed with acclamation, and the sound

559

Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned

560

Angelic harmonies. The earth, the air

561

Resounded (thou rememb’rest, for thou heard’st)

562

The Heav’ns and all the constellations rung,

563

The planets in their station listening stood,

564

While the bright pomp[4353] ascended jubilant.

565

‘Open, ye everlasting gates!’ they sung,

566

‘Open, ye Heav’ns! your living doors! Let in

567

The great Creator from His work returned

568

Magnificent, His six days work, a world!

569

Open, and henceforth oft, for God will deign

570

To visit oft the dwellings of just men,

571

Delighted, and with frequent intercourse

572

Thither will send His wingèd messengers

573

On errands of supernal [4354] grace. ’ So sung

574

The glorious train[4355] ascending. He through Heav’n,

575

That opened wide her blazing portals, led

576

To God’s eternal house direct the way,

577

A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold

578

And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,

579

Seen in the galaxy, that milky way

580

Which nightly, as a circling zone, [4356] thou see’st

581

Powdered with stars. And now on earth the seventh

582

Ev’ning arose in Eden, for the sun

583

Was set, and twilight from the east came on,

584

Forerunning night, when at the holy mount

585

Of Heav’n’s high-seated top, the imperial throne

586

Of Godhead, fixed for ever firm and sure,

587

The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down

588

With his great Father, for he also went

589

Invisible, yet stayed [4357] (such privilege

590

Hath Omnipresence), and the work ordained,

591

Author and End of all things, and from work

592

Now resting, blessed and hallowed the sev’nth day,

593

As resting on that day from all His work,

594

But not in silence holy kept. The harp

595

Had work and rested not, the solemn pipe,

596

And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,

597

All sounds on fret [4358] by string or golden wire,

598

Tempered [4359] soft tunings, intermixed with voice

599

Choral or unison. Of incense clouds,

600

Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount.

601

Creation and the six days acts they sung:

602

“‘Great are thy works, Jehovah! Infinite

603

Thy power! What thought can measure Thee, or tongue

604

Relate thee? Greater now in Thy return

605

Than from the giant Angels. Thee that day

606

Thy thunders magnified, but to create

607

Is greater than created [4360] to destroy.

608

Who can impair [4361] Thee, Mighty King, or bound [4362]

609

Thy empire? Easily the proud attempt

610

Of Spirits apostate, and their counsels vain,

611

Thou hast repelled, while impiously they thought

612

Thee to diminish, and from Thee withdraw

613

The number of Thy worshippers. Who seeks

614

To lessen Thee, against his purpose serves

615

To manifest the more Thy might. His evil

616

Thou usest, and from thence creat’st more good.

617

Witness this new-made world, another Heav’n

618

From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view

619

On the clear hyaline, [4363] the glassy sea,

620

Of amplitude almost immense, [4364] with stars

621

Numerous, and every star perhaps a world

622

Of destined habitation. But thou know’st

623

Their seasons. Among [4365] these the seat of men,

624

Earth, with her nether [4366] ocean circumfused,[4367]

625

Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy men,

626

And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanced![4368]

627

Created in His image, there to dwell

628

And worship Him, and in reward to rule

629

Over His works, on earth, in sea, or air,

630

And multiply a race of worshippers

631

Holy and just. Thrice happy, if they know

632

Their happiness, and persevere upright!

633

“So sung they, and the empyrean rung

634

With hallelujahs. Thus was sabbath kept.

635

And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked

636

How first this world and face [4369] of things began,

637

And what before thy memory was done

638

From the beginning, that[4370] posterity,

639

Informed by thee, might know. If else thou seek’st

640

Aught, not surpassing human measure, [4371] say.

The End of the Seventh Book

BOOK VIII

THE ARGUMENT

Adam inquires concerning celestial motions, is doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge. Adam assents, and still desirous to detain Raphael, relates to him what he remembered since his own creation, his placing in Paradise, his talk with God concerning solitude and fit society, his first meeting and nuptials with Eve, his discourse with the Angel thereupon, who after admonitions repeated departs.

1

The Angel ended, and in Adam’s ear

2

So charming[4372] left his voice, that he a while

3

Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed [4373] to hear,

4

Then, as new waked, thus gratefully replied:

5

“What thanks sufficient, or what recompence

6

Equal, have I to render thee, divine

7

Historian,[4374] who thus largely [4375] hast allayed

8

The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed

9

This friendly condescension to relate

10

Things else by me unsearchable?[4376] now heard

11

With wonder, but delight, and as is due

12

With glory attributed to the high

13

Creator! Something yet of doubt remains,

14

Which only thy solution[4377] can resolve.

15

When I behold this goodly frame, [4378] this world,

16

Of Heav’n and earth consisting, and compute

17

Their magnitudes, this earth, a spot, a grain,

18

An atom, with the firmament compared

19

And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll

20

Spaces incomprehensible ( for such

21

Their distance argues,[4379] and their swift return

22

Diurnal)[4380] merely to officiate[4381] light

23

Round this opaceous[4382] earth, this punctual [4383] spot,

24

One day and night, in all her vast survey [4384]

25

Useless besides, reasoning I oft admire[4385]

26

How Nature wise and frugal could commit

27

Such disproportions, with superfluous hand

28

So many nobler bodies to create,

29

Greater so manifold, to this one use

30

(For aught appears), and on their orbs impose

31

Such restless[4386] revolution[4387] day by day

32

Repeated, while the sedentary[4388] earth,

33

That better might with far less compass[4389] move,

34

Served by more[4390] noble than herself, attains

35

Her end without least motion, and receives,

36

As tribute, such a sumless[4391] journey brought [4392]

37

Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light—

38

Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails.

39

So spoke our sire, and by his count’nance seemed

40

Entering on studious thoughts abstruse, [4393] which Eve

41

Perceiving, where she sat retired in[4394] sight,

42

With lowliness[4395] majestic from her seat,

43

And grace that won[4396] who[4397] saw to wish her stay,

44

Rose and went forth among her fruits and flow’rs,

45

To visit [4398] how they prospered, bud and bloom,

46

Her nursery. They at her coming sprung

47

And, touched by her fair tendance, [4399] gladlier grew.

48

Yet went she not, as not with such discourse

49

Delighted, or not capable her ear

50

Of what was high: such pleasure she reserved,[4400]

51

Adam relating, [4401] she sole auditress.[4402]

52

Her husband the relater she preferred

53

Before the Angel, and of him to ask

54

Chose[4403] rather. He, she knew, would intermix

55

Grateful[4404] digressions, and solve high dispute

56

With conjugal caresses: from his lip

57

Not words alone pleased her. (O! when meet [4405] now

58

Such pairs, in love and mutual honor joined?

59

With goddess-like demeanor forth she went,

60

Not unattended, for on her, as queen,

61

A pomp[4406] of winning graces waited still,

62

And from about her shot darts of desire

63

Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.

64

And Raphael now, to Adam’s doubt proposed,

65

Benevolent and facile, [4407] thus replied:

66

“To ask or search, I blame thee not, for Heav’n

67

Is as the book of God before thee set,

68

Wherein to read His wondrous works, and learn

69

His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years.

70

This to attain,[4408] whether Heav’n move or earth,

71

Imports[4409] not if [4410] thou reckon[4411] right. The rest

72

From man or Angel the great Architect

73

Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge

74

His secrets to be scanned[4412] by them who ought

75

Rather admire, [4413] or if they list [4414] to try

76

Conjecture, He His fabric of the Heav’ns

77

Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move

78

His laughter at their quaint[4415] opinions wide[4416]

79

Hereafter. When they come to model [4417] Heav’n

80

And calculate the stars, how they will wield [4418]

81

The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive

82

To save[4419] appearances,[4420] how gird [4421] the sphere

83

With centric[4422] and eccentric[4423] scribbled o’er,

84

Cycle[4424] and epicycle, [4425] orb[4426] in orb.

85

Already by thy reasoning this I guess,

86

Who[4427] art to lead thy offspring, and supposest

87

That bodies bright and greater should not serve

88

The less not bright, nor Heav’n such journeys run,

89

Earth sitting still, when she alone receives

90

The benefit.

“Consider, first, that great

91

Or bright infers[4428] not excellence. The earth,

92

Though in comparison of Heav’n so small,

93

Nor glistering, [4429] may of solid good contain

94

More plenty than the sun that barren shines,

95

Whose virtue[4430] on itself works no effect,

96

But in the fruitful earth, there first received,

97

His beams, unactive[4431] else, [4432] their vigor[4433] find.

98

Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries

99

Officious,[4434] but to thee, earth’s habitant.

100

And for the Heav’n’s wide circuit, let it speak

101

The Maker’s high magnificence, who built

102

So spacious, and His line stretched out so far

103

That man may know he dwells not in his own,

104

An edifice too large for him to fill,

105

Lodged in a small partition,[4435] and the rest

106

Ordained for uses to his Lord best known.

107

The swiftness of those circles attribute, [4436]

108

Though numberless, to His Omnipotence,

109

That to corporeal substances could add

110

Speed almost spiritual. Me thou think’st not slow,

111

Who since the morning-hour set out from Heav’n

112

Where God resides, and ere mid-day arrived

113

In Eden—distance inexpressible

114

By numbers that have name. But this I urge, [4437]

115

Admitting[4438] motion in the Heav’ns, to show

116

Invalid that which thee to doubt it moved.[4439]

117

Not that I so affirm,[4440] though so it seem

118

To thee who hast thy dwelling here on earth.

119

God, to remove His ways from human sense,

120

Placed Heav’n from earth so far, that earthly sight,

121

If it presume, might err in things too high,

122

And no advantage gain. What if the sun

123

Be center to the world? and other stars,

124

By his[4441] attractive[4442] virtue[4443] and their own

125

Incited, dance about him various rounds?

126

Their wand’ring course now high, now low, then hid,

127

Progressive, [4444] retrograde, [4445] or standing still,

128

In six[4446] thou see’st? And what if sev’nth to these

129

The planet earth, so steadfast though she seem,

130

Insensibly three different motions move,

131

Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe,

132

Moved contrary with thwart[4447] obliquities,[4448]

133

Or save the sun his labor, and that swift

134

Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb[4449] supposed,

135

Invisible[4450] else above all stars, the wheel

136

Of day and night, which needs not thy belief

137

If earth, industrious[4451] of herself, fetch[4452] day

138

Travelling east, and with her part averse

139

From the sun’s beam meet night, her other part

140

Still luminous by his[4453] ray? What if that light,

141

Sent from her [4454] through the wide transpicuous[4455] air,

142

To the terrestrial moon be as a star,

143

Enlight’ning her[4456] by day, as she [4457] by night

144

This earth, reciprocal, if land be there,

145

Fields and inhabitants? Her spots thou see’st

146

As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce

147

Fruits in her softened soil for some to eat

148

Allotted [4458] there. And other suns perhaps,

149

With their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,

150

Communicating male and female light,[4459]

151

Which two great sexes animate the world,

152

Stored in each orb perhaps with some that live.

153

For such vast room[4460] in Nature unpossessed

154

By living soul, desert [4461] and desolate,

155

Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute[4462]

156

Each orb a glimpse of light, conveyed so far

157

Down to this habitable, [4463] which returns

158

Light back to them, is obvious to dispute. [4464]

159

But whether thus these things, or whether not—

160

But whether the sun, predominant in Heav’n,

161

Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun—

162

He from the east his flaming road begin,

163

Or she from west her silent course advance,

164

With inoffensive[4465] pace that spinning sleeps

165

On her soft axle, while she paces ev’n,[4466]

166

And bears thee soft with the smooth air along—

167

Solicit[4467] not thy thoughts with matters hid.

168

Leave them to God above. Him serve, and fear!

169

Of other creatures, as Him pleases best,

170

Wherever placed, let Him dispose. Joy thou

171

In what He gives to thee, this Paradise

172

And thy fair Eve. Heav’n is for thee too high

173

To know what passes there. Be lowly [4468] wise,

174

Think only what concerns thee, and thy being.

175

Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there

176

Live, in what state, [4469] condition,[4470] or degree,[4471]

177

Contented that thus far hath been revealed

178

Not of earth only, but of highest Heav’n.

179

To whom thus Adam, cleared of doubt, replied:

180

“How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure

181

Intelligence of Heav’n, Angel serene!

182

And, freed from intricacies,[4472] taught to live

183

The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts

184

To interrupt the sweet of life, from which

185

God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,

186

And not molest[4473] us, unless we ourselves

187

Seek them with wand’ring thoughts, and notions vain.

188

But apt the mind or fancy is to rove

189

Unchecked, and of her roving is no end,

190

Till warned, or by experience taught, she learn

191

That not to know at large[4474] of things remote

192

From use, obscure and subtle, [4475] but to know

193

That which before us lies in daily life,

194

Is the prime wisdom. What is more, is fume[4476]

195

Or emptiness, or fond [4477] impertinence, [4478]

196

And renders us, in things that most concern

197

Unpractised, unprepared, and still to seek.

198

Therefore from this high pitch[4479] let us descend [4480]

199

A lower flight, and speak of things at hand

200

Useful, whence haply, [4481] mention may arise

201

Of something not unseasonable to ask,

202

By sufferance, [4482] and thy wonted [4483] favor, deigned.

203

“Thee I have heard relating what was done

204

Ere my remembrance. Now, hear me relate

205

My story, which perhaps thou hast not heard.

206

And day is not yet spent—till then thou see’st

207

How subtly to detain thee I devise,

208

Inviting thee to hear while I relate.

209

Fond! [4484] were it not in hope of thy reply,

210

For while I sit with thee, I seem in Heav’n,

211

And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear

212

Than fruits of palm-tree pleasantest to thirst

213

And hunger both, from[4485] labor, at the hour

214

Of sweet repast.[4486] They satiate, [4487] and soon fill,

215

Though pleasant, but thy words, with grace divine

216

Imbued,[4488] bring to their sweetness no satiety.”[4489]

217

To whom thus Raphael answered, Heav’nly meek:[4490]

218

“Nor are thy lips ungraceful, sire of men,

219

Nor tongue ineloquent. For God on thee

220

Abundantly His gifts hath also poured

221

Inward and outward both, His image fair.

222

Speaking or mute, [4491] all comeliness and grace

223

Attends thee, and each word, each motion[4492] forms.[4493]

224

Nor less think we in Heav’n of thee on earth

225

Than of our fellow-servant, and inquire

226

Gladly into the ways of God with man,

227

For God, we see, hath honored thee, and set

228

On man His equal love. Say therefore on,

229

For I that day was absent, as befell,[4494]

230

Bound on a voyage uncouth[4495] and obscure, [4496]

231

Far on excursion[4497] toward the gates of Hell,

232

Squared [4498] in full legion[4499] (such command we had)

233

To see that none thence issued forth a spy

234

Or enemy, while God was in His work,

235

Lest He, incensed at such eruption[4500] bold,

236

Destruction with creation might have mixed.

237

Not that they durst without His leave attempt—

238

But us He sends upon His high behests

239

For state, as Sov’reign King, and to inure[4501]

240

Our prompt obedience. [4502] Fast we found, fast shut,

241

The dismal gates, and barricado’d [4503] strong,

242

But long ere our approaching heard within

243

Noise, other than the sound of dance or song,

244

Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.

245

Glad we returned up to the coasts of light

246

Ere sabbath-ev’ning: so we had in charge. [4504]

247

But thy relation[4505] now, for I attend,[4506]

248

Pleased with thy words no less than thou with mine.

249

So spoke the godlike Power, and thus our sire:

250

“For man to tell how human life began

251

Is hard, for who himself beginning knew?

252

Desire with thee still longer to converse

253

Induced [4507] me. As new waked from soundest sleep,

254

Soft on the flow’ry herb[4508] I found me laid,

255

In balmy[4509] sweat, which with his beams the sun

256

Soon dried, and on the reeking[4510] moisture fed.

257

Straight toward Heav’n my wond’ring eyes I turned,

258

And gazed a while the ample sky, till raised

259

By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung,

260

As thitherward endeavoring, and upright

261

Stood on my feet. About me round I saw

262

Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,

263

And liquid lapse[4511] of murmuring streams. By[4512] these,

264

Creatures that lived and moved, and walked, or flew,

265

Birds on the branches warbling—all things smiled.

266

With fragrance and with joy my heart o’erflowed.

267

Myself I then perused, and limb by limb

268

Surveyed, and sometimes went,[4513] and sometimes ran

269

With supple joints, as lively vigor led.

270

But who I was, or where, or from what cause,

271

Knew not. To speak I tried, and forthwith spoke.

272

My tongue obeyed, and readily could name

273

Whate’er I saw. ‘Thou Sun,’ said I, ‘fair light,

274

And thou enlight’ned [4514] earth, so fresh and gay,

275

Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains,

276

And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell,

277

Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here?

278

Not of myself—by some great Maker, then,

279

In goodness and in power preëminent.

280

Tell me, how may I know Him, how adore,

281

From whom I have that thus I move and live,

282

And feel that I am happier than I know.

283

While thus I called, and strayed I knew not whither

284

From where I first drew air, and first beheld

285

This happy light—when, answer none returned,

286

On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers,

287

Pensive I sat me down. There gentle sleep

288

First found me, and with soft oppression[4515] seized

289

My drowsèd [4516] sense, untroubled, though I thought

290

I then was passing to my former state

291

Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve.

292

When suddenly stood at my head a dream,

293

Whose inward apparition[4517] gently moved

294

My fancy to believe I yet had being,

295

And lived. One came, methought, of shape divine,

296

And said, ‘Thy mansion[4518] wants[4519] thee, Adam. Rise,

297

First man, of men innumerable ordained

298

First father! Called by thee, I come thy guide

299

To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepared.

300

So saying, by the hand He took me raised,

301

And over fields and waters, as in air

302

Smooth-sliding without step, last led me up

303

A woody mountain, whose high top was plain,

304

A circuit wide, enclosed with goodliest trees

305

Planted, with walks, and bowers, that what I saw

306

Of earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree,

307

Loaden with fairest fruit that hung to the eye

308

Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite

309

To pluck and eat, whereat I waked, and found

310

Before mine eyes all real,[4520] as the dream

311

Had lively[4521] shadowed.[4522] Here had new begun

312

My wand’ring, had not He, who was my guide

313

Up hither, from among the trees appeared,

314

Presence Divine. Rejoicing, but with awe,

315

In adoration at His feet I fell

316

Submiss. He reared me, and ‘Whom thou sought’st I am,

317

Said mildly, ‘Author of all this thou see’st

318

Above, or round about thee, or beneath.

319

This Paradise I give thee, count it thine

320

To till [4523] and keep, and of the fruit to eat.

321

Of every tree that in the garden grows

322

Eat freely with glad heart, fear here no dearth.[4524]

323

But of the tree whose operation[4525] brings

324

Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set

325

The pledge[4526] of thy obedience and thy faith,

326

Amid the garden by[4527] the Tree of Life,

327

Remember what I warn thee: shun to taste,

328

And shun the bitter consequence. For know,

329

The day thou eat’st thereof, my sole command

330

Transgressed, inevitably[4528] thou shalt die,

331

From that day mortal, and this happy state

332

Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world

333

Of woe and sorrow. ’ Sternly He pronounced

334

The rigid interdiction, which resounds

335

Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice

336

Not to incur. But soon His clear aspect[4529]

337

Returned, and gracious purpose[4530] thus renewed:

338

‘Not only these fair bounds,[4531] but all the earth

339

To thee and to thy race I give. As lords

340

Possess it, and all things that therein live,

341

Or live in sea, or air, beast, fish, and fowl.

342

In sign whereof each bird and beast behold

343

After their kinds; I bring them to receive

344

From thee their names, and pay thee fealty[4532]

345

With low subjection. Understand the same

346

Of fish within their wat’ry residence,

347

Not hither summoned, since they cannot change

348

Their element, to draw[4533] the thinner air.

349

As thus he spoke, each bird and beast behold

350

Approaching two and two, these[4534] cowering low

351

With blandishment,[4535] each bird stooped on his wing.

352

I named them, as they passed, and understood

353

Their nature, with such knowledge God endued [4536]

354

My sudden apprehension.[4537] But in these

355

I found not what methought I wanted still,

356

And to the Heav’nly vision thus presumed:[4538]

357

“‘O by what name, for Thou above all these,

358

Above mankind, or aught than mankind higher,

359

Surpassest far my naming? How may I

360

Adore Thee, Author of this universe,

361

And all this good to man? for whose well being

362

So amply, and with hands so liberal,

363

Thou hast provided all things. But with me

364

I see not who partakes. In solitude

365

What happiness? Who can enjoy alone,

366

Or all enjoying, what contentment find?

367

Thus I presumptuous, and the Vision bright,

368

As with a smile more bright’ned, thus replied:

369

“‘What call’st thou solitude? Is not the earth

370

With various living creatures, and the air

371

Replenished,[4539] and all these at thy command

372

To come and play[4540] before thee? Know’st thou not

373

Their language and their ways? They also know,

374

And reason not contemptibly. With these

375

Find pastime, [4541] and bear [4542] rule. Thy realm is large.

376

So spoke the Universal Lord, and seemed

377

So ordering. I, with leave of speech implored,

378

And humble deprecation,[4543] thus replied:

379

“‘Let not my words offend Thee, Heav’nly Power.

380

My Maker, be propitious[4544] while I speak.

381

Hast Thou not made me here Thy substitute,

382

And these inferior far beneath me set?

383

Among inequals what society

384

Can sort,[4545] what harmony or true delight?

385

Which must be mutual, in proportion due

386

Giv’n and received. But in disparity

387

The one intense, [4546] the other still remiss,[4547]

388

Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove

389

Tedious[4548] alike. [4549] Of fellowship I speak

390

Such as I seek, fit to participate[4550]

391

All rational delight, wherein the brute

392

Cannot be human consort.[4551] They rejoice

393

Each with their kind, lion with lioness,

394

So fitly[4552] them in pairs Thou hast combined.

395

Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl

396

So well converse, [4553] nor with the ox the ape.

397

Worse then can man with beast, and least of

398

Whereto the Almighty answer

399

“‘A nice[4554] and subtle happiness, I see,

400

Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice

401

Of thy associates, Adam! And wilt taste

402

No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.

403

What think’st thou then of me, and this m

404

Seem I to thee sufficiently possessed

405

Of happiness, or not? who am alone

406

From all eternity? For none I know

407

Second to me or like, equal much less.

408

How have I then with whom to hold converse, [4555]

409

Save with the creatures which I made

410

To me inferior, infinite descents

411

Beneath what other creatures are to thee?

412

He ceased; I lowly answered:

“‘To attain

413

The height and depth of Thy eternal ways

414

All human thoughts come short, Supreme of things!

415

Thou in Thyself art perfect, and in Thee

416

Is no deficience found. Not so is man,

417

But in degree, the cause of his desire

418

By conversation[4556] with his like to help

419

Or solace[4557] his defects. No need that Thou

420

Should’st propagate, already Infinite,

421

And through all numbers Absolute, [4558] though One.

422

But man by number is to manifest[4559]

423

His single imperfection,[4560] and beget

424

Like of his like, his image multiplied,

425

In unity defective, which requires

426

Collateral[4561] love, and dearest amity. [4562]

427

Thou in Thy secrecy[4563] although alone,

428

Best with Thyself accompanied, seek’st not

429

Social communication, yet, so pleased,

430

Canst raise Thy creature to what height Thou wilt

431

Of union or communion, deified.

432

I by conversing cannot these[4564] erect

433

From prone, nor in their ways complacence[4565] find.

434

Thus I embold’ned spoke, and freedom used

435

Permissive, and acceptance found, which gained

436

This answer from the gracious voice Divine:

437

“‘Thus far to try[4566] thee, Adam, I was pleased,

438

And find thee knowing, not of beasts alone,

439

Which thou hast rightly named, but of thyself,

440

Expressing well the spirit within thee free,

441

My image, not imparted to the brute,

442

Whose fellowship therefore unmeet [4567] for thee

443

Good reason was thou freely should’st dislike,

444

And be so minded still.[4568] I ere thou spok’st

445

Knew it not good for man to be alone,

446

And no such company as then thou saw’st

447

Intended thee—for trial only brought,[4569]

448

To see how thou could’st judge of fit and meet.

449

What next I bring shall please thee, be assured,

550

Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,

451

Thy wish exactly to thy heart’s desire.

452

He ended, or I heard no more, for now

453

My earthly by His Heav’nly overpowered,

454

Which it had long stood [4570] under, strained to the height

455

In that celestial colloquy [4571] sublime, [4572]

456

As with an object that excels[4573] the sense,

457

Dazzled and spent, sunk down, and sought repair [4574]

458

Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called

459

By Nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes.

460

“Mine eyes He closed, but open left the cell

461

Of fancy, my internal sight, by which,

462

Abstract [4575] as in a trance, methought I saw, [4576]

463

Though sleeping where I lay, and saw the shape

464

Still glorious before whom awake I stood,

465

Who stooping op’ned my left side, and took

466

From thence a rib, with cordial [4577] spirits warm,

467

And life-blood streaming fresh. Wide was the wound,

468

But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed.

469

The rib He formed and fashioned with His hands.

470

Under His forming hands a creature grew,

471

Man-like, but different sex, so lovely fair

472

That what seemed fair in all the world seemed now

473

Mean[4578] or in her summed up, in her contained

474

And in her looks, which from that time infused [4579]

475

Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,

476

And into all things from her air [4580] inspired

477

The spirit of love and amorous delight.

478

She disappeared, and left me dark; I waked

479

To[4581] find her, or for ever to deplore

480

Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure—[4582]

481

When, out of hope, behold her, not far off,

482

Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned

483

With what all earth or Heav’n could bestow

484

To make her amiable. [4583] On she came,

485

Led by her Heav’nly Maker, though unseen,

486

And guided by His voice, nor uninformed

487

Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rites.

488

Grace was in all her steps, Heav’n in her eye,

489

In every gesture dignity and love.

490

I overjoyed could not forbear [4584] aloud:

491

“‘This turn[4585] hath made amends! Thou hast fulfilled

492

Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,

493

Giver of all things fair! But fairest this

494

Of all Thy gifts, nor enviest.[4586] I now see

495

Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself

496

Before me. Woman is her name, of man

497

Extracted.[4587] For this cause he shall forego

498

Father and mother, and to his wife adhere,

499

And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul.

500

“She heard me thus, and though divinely brought[4588]

501

Yet innocence, and virgin modesty,

502

Her virtue, and the conscience [4589] of her worth,

503

That would be wooed, and not unsought be won,

504

Not obvious,[4590] not obtrusive, [4591] but retired,[4592]

505

The more desirable—or, to say all,

506

Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought,

507

Wrought [4593] in her so that, seeing me, she turned.

508

I followed her. She what was honor knew,

509

And with obsequious[4594] majesty approved [4595]

510

My pleaded [4596] reason.[4597] To the nuptial bow’r

511

I led her blushing like the morn. All Heav’n,

512

And happy constellations, on that hour

513

Shed their selected [4598] influence, the earth

514

Gave sign of gratulation,[4599] and each hill;

515

Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs

516

Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings

517

Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy [4600] shrub,

518

Disporting, [4601] till the amorous bird of night[4602]

519

Sung spousal,[4603] and bid haste the ev’ning-star [4604]

520

On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp.

521

“Thus have I told thee all my state, and brought

522

My story to the sum of earthly bliss

523

Which I enjoy, and must confess to find

524

In all things else delight indeed, but such

525

As, used or not, works in the mind no change,

526

Nor vehement [4605] desire—these delicacies

527

I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flow’rs,

528

Walks, and the melody of birds. But here

529

Far otherwise, transported [4606] I behold,

530

Transported touch;[4607] here passion first I felt,

531

Commotion [4608] strange! in all enjoyments else

532

Superior and unmoved, here only weak

533

Against the charm of beauty’s powerful glance.

534

Or [4609] Nature failed in me, and left some part

535

Not proof enough such object to sustain,[4610]

536

Or, from my side subducting, [4611] took perhaps

537

More than enough, at least on her bestowed

538

Too much of ornament, in outward show

539

Elaborate, [4612] of inward less exact.

540

For well I understand in the prime end[4613]

541

Of Nature her th’ inferior, in the mind

542

And inward faculties, which most excel.[4614]

543

In outward also her resembling less

544

His image who made both, and less expressing

545

The character of that dominion giv’n

546

O’er other creatures. Yet when I approach

547

Her loveliness, so absolute[4615] she seems

548

And in herself complete, so well to know

549

Her own, that what she wills to do or say

550

Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best.

551

All higher knowledge in her presence falls

552

Degraded,[4616] wisdom in discourse with her

553

Looses [4617] discount’nanced,[4618] and like folly shows.[4619]

554

Authority and reason on her wait,

555

As [4620] one intended first, not after made[4621]

556

Occasionally. [4622] And, to consummate[4623] all,

557

Greatness of mind and nobleness their seat

558

Build in her loveliest, and create an awe

559

About her, as [4624] a guard Angelic placed.

560

To whom the Angel with contracted brow:

561

“Accuse not Nature. She hath done her part;

562

Do thou but thine, and be not diffident[4625]

563

Of wisdom. She deserts thee not, if thou

564

Dismiss [4626] not her, when most thou need’st her nigh,

565

By attributing [4627] overmuch to things

566

Less excellent, as thou thyself perceiv’st.

567

For what admir’st thou, what transports thee so?

568

An outside? Fair, no doubt, and worthy well

569

Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and thy love.

570

Not thy subjection. Weigh with her thyself,

571

Then value. Oft-times nothing profits more

572

Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right

573

Well managed. Of that skill [4628] the more thou know’st

574

The more she will acknowledge thee her head,[4629]

575

And to realities yield all her shows,[4630]

576

Made so adorn for thy delight the more,

577

So awful [4631] that with honor thou may’st love

578

Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least wise.

579

But if the sense of touch, whereby mankind

580

Is propagated, seem such dear delight

581

Beyond all other, think the same vouchsafed

582

To cattle and each beast, which would not be

583

To them made common and divulged, if aught

584

Therein enjoyed were worthy to subdue

585

The soul of man, or passion in him move.

586

What higher in her society thou find’st

587

Attractive, human, rational, love still.[4632]

588

In loving thou dost well, in passion not,

589

Wherein true love consists not. Love refines

590

The thoughts, and heart enlarges, hath his seat

591

In reason, and is judicious, is the scale

592

By which to Heav’nly love thou may’st ascend,

593

Not sunk in carnal pleasure. For which cause

594

Among the beasts no mate for thee was found.

595

To whom thus, half abashed, Adam replied:

596

“Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught

597

In procreation common to all kinds

598

( Though higher of the genial [4633] bed by far,

599

And with mysterious reverence, I deem)[4634]

600

So much delights me as those graceful[4635] acts,

601

Those thousand decencies,[4636] that daily flow

602

From all her words and actions, mixed with love

603

And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned

604

Union of mind, or in us both one soul.

605

Harmony to behold in wedded pair

606

More grateful [4637] than harmonious sound to th’ ear.

607

Yet these subject[4638] not. I to thee disclose

608

What inward thence I feel, not therefore foiled,[4639]

609

Who meet with various objects[4640] from the sense

610

Variously representing, [4641] yet still free

611

Approve the best, and follow what I approve.

612

To love, thou blam’st me not, for love, thou say’st,

613

Leads up to Heav’n, is both the way and guide.

614

Bear with me, then, if lawful what I ask:

615

Love not the Heav’nly Spirits, and how their love

616

Express they? by looks only? or do they mix

617

Irradiance, [4642] virtual [4643] or immediate touch?

618

To whom the Angel, with a smile that glowed

619

Celestial rosy red, love’s proper hue,

620

Answered:

“Let it suffice thee that thou know’st

621

Us happy, and without love no happiness.

622

Whatever pure thou in the body enjoy’st

623

(And pure thou wert created), we enjoy

624

In eminence, [4644] and obstacle find none

625

Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive[4645] bars.

626

Easier than air with air, if Spirits embrace:

627

Total they mix, union of pure with pure

628

Desiring, nor restrained [4646] conveyance [4647] need,

629

As flesh to mix with flesh, or soul with soul.

630

But I can now no more. The parting sun

631

Beyond the earth’s green cape and verdant isles[4648]

632

Hesperian[4649] sets: my signal to depart.

633

Be strong, live happy, and love! But first of all [4650]

634

Him whom to love is to obey, and keep

635

His great command. Take heed lest passion sway

636

Thy judgment to do aught which else free will

637

Would not admit.[4651] Thine, and of all thy sons,

638

The weal [4652] or woe in thee is placed. Beware!

639

I in thy persevering shall rejoice,

640

And all the Blest. Stand fast! To stand or fall

641

Free in thine own arbitrement [4653] it lies.

642

Perfect [4654] within, no outward aid require,

643

And all temptation to transgress repel.

644

So saying, he arose, whom Adam thus

645

Followed with benediction. “Since to part,

646

Go, Heav’nly guest, ethereal messenger,

647

Sent from whose sov’reign goodness I adore!

648

Gentle[4655] to me and affable hath been

649

Thy condescension, and shall be honored ever

650

With grateful memory. Thou to mankind

651

Be good and friendly still,[4656] and oft return!

652

So parted they, the Angel up to Heav’n

653

From the thick shade, and Adam to his bow’r.

The End of the Eighth Book

BOOK IX

THE ARGUMENT

Satan having compassed[4657] the earth, with meditated guile returns as a mist by night into Paradise, enters into the serpent sleeping.[4658] Adam and Eve in the morning go forth to their labors, which Eve proposes to divide in[4659] several places, each laboring apart. Adam consents not, alleging the danger, lest that enemy, of whom they were forewarned, should attempt[4660] her, found alone. Eve, loath to be thought not circumspect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather desirous to make trial of her strength. Adam at last yields.

The serpent finds her alone; his subtle approach, first gazing, then speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other creatures. Eve wondering to hear the serpent speak, asks how he attained to human speech and such understanding not till now. The serpent answers that by tasting of a certain tree in the garden he attained both to speech and reason, till then void of both. Eve requires him to bring her to that tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge, forbidden.

The serpent, now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length[4661] to eat. She, pleased with the taste, deliberates awhile whether to impart thereof to Adam or not, at last brings him of the fruit, relates what persuaded her to eat thereof. Adam at first amaz’d, but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence[4662] of love to perish with her and, extenuating the trespass, eats also of the fruit.

The effects thereof in them both; they seek to cover their nakedness, then fall to variance[4663] and accusation of one another.

1

No more of talk where God or Angel guest

2

With man, as with his [4664] friend, familiar used,[4665]

3

To sit indulgent,[4666] and with him[4667] partake

4

Rural[4668] repast, permitting him[4669] the while

5

Venial[4670] discourse unblamed.[4671] I now must change

6

Those notes[4672] to tragic, foul distrust, and breach[4673]

7

Disloyal on the part of man, revolt,

8

And disobedience; on the part of Heav’n,

9

Now alienated,[4674] distance and distaste,

10

Anger and just rebuke, and judgment giv’n,

11

That brought into this world a world of woe,

12

Sin and her shadow Death, and misery,

13

Death’s harbinger[4675] —sad task, yet argument[4676]

14

Not less but more heroic than the wrath

15

Of stern[4677] Achilles on his foe[4678] pursued

16

Thrice fugitive [4679] about Troy wall, or rage

17

Of Turnus [4680] for Lavinia[4681] disespoused,[4682]

18

Or Neptune’s ire, [4683] or Juno’s,[4684] that so long

19

Perplexed[4685] the Greek,[4686] and Cytherea’s son.[4687]

20

If answerable[4688] style I can obtain

21

Of [4689] my celestial patroness,[4690] who deigns[4691]

22

Her nightly visitation unimplored,

23

And dictates to me slumb’ring, or inspires

24

Easy[4692] my unpremeditated [4693] verse,

25

Since first this subject for heroic song

26

Pleased me, long choosing, and beginning late, [4694]

27

Not sedulous[4695] by nature to indite[4696]

28

Wars, hitherto the only argument[4697]

29

Heroic deemed,[4698] chief mastery [4699] to dissect [4700]

30

With long and tedious havoc[4701] fabled knights

31

In battles feigned [4702] —the better fortitude

32

Of patience and heroic martyrdom

33

Unsung—or to describe races and games,

34

Or tilting[4703] furniture, [4704] emblazoned [4705] shields,

35

Impresses[4706] quaint,[4707] caparisons[4708] and steeds,

36

Bases[4709] and tinsel [4710] trappings, gorgeous[4711] knights

37

At joust and tournament, then marshalled [4712] feast

38

Served up in hall with sewers[4713] and senechals,[4714]

39

The skill of artifice[4715] or office[4716] mean,[4717]

40

Not that which justly gives heroic name

41

To person or to poem. Me, of these

42

Nor skilled nor studious, higher argument

43

Remains, sufficient of itself to raise[4718]

44

That name, [4719] unless an age too late, or cold

45

Climate, or years, damp my intended wing[4720]

46

Depressed.[4721] And much they may, if all be mine,

47

Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear.

48

The sun was sunk, and after him the star

49

Of Hesperus,[4722] whose office[4723] is to bring

50

Twilight upon the earth, short arbiter [4724]

51

’Twixt day and night. And now from end to end

52

Night’s hemisphere had veiled th’ horizon round,

53

When Satan, who late[4725] fled before the threats

54

Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improved[4726]

55

In meditated fraud and malice, bent

56

On man’s destruction, maugre[4727] what might hap[4728]

57

Of heavier on himself, fearless returned.

58

By night he fled, and at midnight returned

59

From compassing[4729] the earth, cautious of day,

60

Since Uriel, regent of the sun, descried [4730]

61

His entrance, and forewarned the Cherubim

62

That kept their watch. Thence full of anguish driv’n,

63

The space of seven continued nights he rode[4731]

64

With darkness. Thrice the equinoctial[4732] line

65

He circled, four times crossed the car[4733] of night

66

From pole to pole, traversing each colure. [4734]

67

On the eighth returned and, on the coast averse[4735]

68

From entrance or Cherubic watch, by stealth

69

Found unsuspected [4736] way. [4737]

There was a place,

70

Now not, though Sin, not time, first wrought the change,

71

Where Tigris,[4738] at the foot of Paradise,

72

Into a gulf [4739] shot [4740] under ground, till part

73

Rose up a fountain by the Tree of Life.

74

In with the river sunk, and with it rose

75

Satan, involved[4741] in rising mist, then sought

76

Where to lie hid. Sea he had searched, and land,

77

From Eden over Pontus[4742] and the pool

78

Maeotis,[4743] up beyond the river Ob,[4744]

79

Downward as far Antarctic, and in length

80

West from Orontes[4745] to the ocean barred

81

At Darien,[4746] thence to the land where flows

82

Ganges and Indus. Thus the orb[4747] he roamed

83

With narrow[4748] search, and with inspection deep

84

Considered every creature, which of all

85

Most opportune might serve his wiles, and found

86

The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field.

87

Him after long debate, irresolute

88

Of thoughts revolved, his final sentence[4749] chose

89

Fit vessel, fittest imp[4750] of fraud, in whom

90

To enter, and his dark suggestions hide

91

From sharpest sight, for in the wily snake,

92

Whatever sleights,[4751] none would suspicious mark,[4752]

93

As from his wit and native subtlety

94

Proceeding, which in other beasts observed

95

Doubt might beget [4753] of diabolic power

96

Active within, beyond the sense[4754] of brute.

97

Thus he resolved, but first from inward grief

98

His bursting passion into plaints[4755] thus poured:

99

“O earth, how like to Heav’n, if not preferred

100

More justly, seat worthier of gods, as built

101

With second thoughts, reforming[4756] what was old!

102

For what god, after better, worse would build?

103

Terrestrial Heav’n, danced round by other Heav’ns

104

That shine, yet bear their bright officious[4757] lamps,

105

Light above light, for thee[4758] alone, as seems,

106

In thee concent’ring all their precious beams

107

Of sacred influence! As God in Heav’n

108

Is center, yet extends to all, so thou,

109

Cent’ring, receiv’st from all those orbs. In thee,

110

Not in themselves, all their known virtue[4759] appears

111

Productive in herb, plant, and nobler birth

112

Of creatures animate with gradual [4760] life

113

Of growth, sense, reason, all summed up in man.

114

With what delight could I have walked thee round

115

( If I could joy in aught), sweet interchange[4761]

116

Of hill, and valley, rivers, woods, and plains,

117

Now land, now sea and shores with forest crowned,

118

Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these

119

Find place or refuge, and the more I see

120

Pleasures about me, so much more I feel

121

Torment within me, as from the hateful siege

122

Of contraries.[4762] All good to me becomes

123

Bane[4763] —and in Heav’n much worse would be my state,

124

“But neither here seek I, no, nor in Heav’n

125

To dwell, unless by mast’ring Heav’n’s Supreme, [4764]

126

Nor hope to be myself less miserable

127

By what I seek, but others to make such

128

As I, though thereby worse to me redound.[4765]

129

For only in destroying I find ease

130

To my relentless thoughts and, him[4766] destroyed,

131

Or won to what may work his utter loss,

132

For whom all this was made, all this will soon

133

Follow, as to him linked in weal [4767] or woe.

134

In woe then. That destruction wide may range:[4768]

135

To me shall be the glory sole among

136

Th’ infernal Powers, in one day to have marred [4769]

137

What He, Almighty styled, six nights and days

138

Continued making—and who knows how long

139

Before had been contriving? Though perhaps

140

Not longer than since I, in one night, freed

141

From servitude inglorious well nigh half

142

Th’Angelic name, and thinner left the throng

143

Of His adorers. He, to be avenged,

144

And to repair His numbers thus impaired,

145

Whether such virtue spent of old now failed

146

More Angels to create (if they at least

147

Are His created) or, to spite us more,

148

Determined to advance into our room[4770]

149

A creature formed of earth, and him endow,

150

Exalted from so base original,[4771]

151

With Heav’nly spoils—our spoils. What He decreed,

152

He effected. Man He made, and for him built

153

Magnificent this world, and earth his seat,

154

Him lord pronounced and, O indignity!

155

Subjected to his service angel-wings,

156

And flaming ministers[4772] to watch and tend

157

Their earthly charge. Of these the vigilance

158

I dread and, to elude, thus wrapped in mist

159

Of midnight vapor glide obscure, [4773] and pry[4774]

160

In every bush and brake, [4775] where hap[4776] may find

161

The serpent sleeping, in whose mazy folds[4777]

162

To hide me, and the dark intent I bring.

163

“O foul descent! that I, who erst contended

164

With gods to sit the highest, am now constrained [4778]

165

Into a beast and, mixed with bestial slime,

166

This essence to incarnate[4779] and imbrute[4780]

167

That[4781] to the height of Deity aspired!

168

But what will not ambition and revenge

169

Descend to? Who[4782] aspires, must down[4783] as low

170

As high he soared, obnoxious,[4784] first or last,

171

To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet,

172

Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils.

173

Let it. I reck[4785] not, so it light[4786] well aimed,

174

Since higher I fall short, on him who next

175

Provokes my envy, this new favorite

176

Of Heav’n, this man of clay, son of despite[4787]

177

Whom us the more to spite his Maker raised

178

From dust. Spite then with spite is best repaid.

179

So saying, through each thicket dank or dry,

180

Like a black mist low-creeping, he held [4788] on

181

His midnight-search, where soonest he might find

182

The serpent. Him fast-sleeping soon he found

183

In labyrinth of many a round [4789] self-rolled,

184

His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles,

185

Not yet in horrid [4790] shade or dismal den,[4791]

186

Nor nocent[4792] yet, but on the grassy herb,

187

Fearless unfeared he slept. In at his mouth

188

The Devil entered and his[4793] brutal sense,

189

In heart or head, possessing, soon inspired

190

With act intelligential, but his sleep

191

Disturbed not, waiting close[4794] the approach of morn.

192

Now when as sacred light began to dawn

193

In Eden on the humid flow’rs, that breathed

194

Their morning incense, [4795] when all things that breathe

195

From th’ earth’s great altar send up silent praise

196

To the Creator, and His nostrils fill

197

With grateful [4796] smell, forth came the human pair

198

And joined their vocal worship to the choir

199

Of creatures wanting[4797] voice. That done, partake[4798]

200

The season prime for sweetest scents and airs,

201

Then commune[4799] how that day they best may ply[4800]

202

Their growing work, for much their work out-grew

203

The hands’ dispatch[4801] of two gard’ning so wide. [4802]

204

And Eve first to her husband thus began:

205

“Adam, well may we labor still[4803] to dress[4804]

206

This garden, still to tend plant, herb, and flow’r,

207

Our pleasant task enjoined,[4805] but till more hands

208

Aid us the work under our labor grows

209

Luxurious[4806] by restraint. What we by day

210

Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind,

211

One night or two with wanton[4807] growth derides,[4808]

212

Tending[4809] to wild. Thou therefore now advise, [4810]

213

Or hear what to my mind first thoughts present.

214

Let us divide our labors—thou where choice

215

Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind

216

The woodbine round this arbor, or direct

217

The clasping ivy where to climb, while I,

218

In yonder spring[4811] of roses intermixed

219

With myrtle, find what to redress[4812] till noon.

220

For while so near each other thus all day

221

Our task we choose, what wonder if so near

222

Looks intervene and smiles, or object new

223

Casual discourse draw on, which intermits[4813]

224

Our day’s work, brought to little, though begun

225

Early, and th’ hour of supper comes unearned?

226

To whom mild answer Adam thus returned:

227

“Sole Eve, associate sole, to me beyond

228

Compare above all living creatures dear!

229

Well hast thou motioned,[4814] well thy thoughts employed,

230

How we might best fulfil the work which here

231

God hath assigned us, nor of me shalt pass

232

Unpraised, for nothing lovelier can be found

233

In woman, than to study houshold good,

234

And good works in her husband to promote.

235

Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed

236

Labor, as to debar us when we need

237

Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,

238

Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse

239

Of looks and smiles, for smiles from reason flow,

240

To brute denied, and are of love the food—

241

Love, not the lowest end [4815] of human life.

242

For not to irksome[4816] toil, but to delight

243

He made us, and delight to reason joined.

244

These paths and bowers[4817] doubt not but our joint hands

245

Will keep from wilderness with ease, as wide

246

As we need walk, till younger hands ere long

247

Assist us. But if much converse perhaps

248

Thee satiate, to short absence I could yield,[4818]

249

For solitude sometimes is best society,

250

And short retirement [4819] urges sweet return.

251

“But other doubt possesses me, lest harm

252

Befall thee, severed from me, for thou know’st

253

What hath been warned us, what malicious foe

254

Envying our happiness, and of his own

255

Despairing, seeks to work us woe and shame

256

By sly assault. And somewhere nigh at hand

257

Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find

258

His wish and best advantage, us asunder.

259

Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each

260

To other speedy aid might lend at need,

261

Whether his first design be to withdraw

262

Our fealty from God, or to disturb

263

Conjugal love, than which perhaps no bliss

264

Enjoyed by us excites his envy more.

265

Or[4820] this, or worse, leave not the faithful side

266

That gave thee being, still shades thee, and protects.

267

The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks,

268

Safest and seemliest[4821] by her husband stays,

269

Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.

270

To whom the virgin[4822] majesty of Eve,

271

As one who loves, and some unkindness meets,

272

With sweet austere[4823] composure thus replied:

273

“Offspring of Heav’n and earth, and all earth’s lord!

274

That such an enemy we have, who seeks

275

Our ruin, both by thee informed I learn,

276

And from the parting Angel over-heard,

277

As in a shady nook I stood behind,

278

Just then returned at shut of evening flow’rs.

279

But that thou should’st my firmness[4824] therefore doubt

280

To God or thee, because we have a foe

281

May tempt it, I expected not to hear.

282

His violence thou fear’st not, being such

283

As we, not capable of death or pain,

284

Can either not receive, or can repel.

285

His fraud is then thy fear, which plain infers

286

Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love

287

Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced,

288

Thoughts which how found they harbor in thy breast,

289

Adam, mis-thought of her to thee so dear?

290

To whom with healing words Adam replied:

291

“Daughter of God and man, immortal Eve!

292

For such thou art, from sin and blame entire. [4825]

293

Not diffident [4826] of thee do I dissuade

294

Thy absence from my sight, but to avoid

295

Th’ attempt itself, intended by our foe.

296

For he who tempts, though in vain, at least asperses[4827]

297

The tempted with dishonor foul, supposed

298

Not incorruptible of faith, not proof

299

Against temptation. Thou thyself with scorn

300

And anger would’st resent the offered wrong,

301

Though ineffectual found. Misdeem not, then,

302

If such affront I labor to avert

303

From thee alone, which on us both at once

304

The enemy, though bold, will hardly dare,

305

Or daring, first on me th’ assault shall light.

306

Nor thou his malice and false guile contemn.[4828]

307

Subtle he needs must be, who could seduce

308

Angels, nor think superfluous others’ aid.

309

I, from the influence of thy looks, receive

310

Access[4829] in every virtue, in thy sight

311

More wise, more watchful, stronger, if need were

312

Of outward strength, while shame, thou looking on,

313

Shame to be overcome or over-reached,[4830]

314

Would utmost vigor raise, and raised unite. [4831]

315

Why should’st not thou like[4832] sense within thee feel

316

When I am present, and thy trial[4833] choose

317

With me, best witness of thy virtue tried?

318

So spoke domestic[4834] Adam in his care

319

And matrimonial love. But Eve, who thought

320

Less attributed [4835] to her faith sincere,

321

Thus her reply with accent sweet renewed:

322

“If this be our condition, thus to dwell

323

In narrow circuit, straitened [4836] by a foe,

324

Subtle or violent, we not endued

325

Single[4837] with like[4838] defence, wherever met,

326

How are we happy, still in fear of harm?

327

But harm precedes not sin. Only our foe

328

Tempting affronts[4839] us with his foul esteem[4840]

329

Of our integrity. His foul esteem

330

Sticks no dishonor on our front,[4841] but turns

331

Foul on himself. Then wherefore shunned or feared

332

By us? who rather double honor gain

333

From his surmise[4842] proved false, find peace within,

334

Favor from Heav’n, our witness, from th’ event.

335

And what is faith, love, virtue, unassayed

336

Alone, without exterior help sustained?

337

Let us not then suspect[4843] our happy state

338

Left so imperfect by the Maker wise

339

As not secure[4844] to[4845] single or combined.

340

Frail is our happiness, if this be so,

341

And Eden were no Eden, thus exposed.

342

To whom thus Adam fervently[4846] replied:

343

“O woman, best are all things as the will

344

Of God ordained them! His creating hand

345

Nothing imperfect or deficient left

346

Of all that He created, much less man,

347

Or aught that might his[4847] happy state secure,

348

Secure from outward force. Within himself

349

The danger lies, yet lies within his power.

350

Against his will he can receive no harm.

351

But God left free the will, for what obeys

352

Reason, is free; and reason He made right,

353

But bid her well beware, and still erect,[4848]

354

Lest, by some fair-appearing good surprised,

355

She dictate[4849] false, and mis-inform the will

356

To do what God expressly hath forbid.

357

Not then mistrust, but tender love, enjoins[4850]

358

That I should mind[4851] thee oft, and mind thou me.

359

Firm we subsist,[4852] yet possible to swerve,

360

Since reason not impossibly may meet

361

Some specious[4853] object by the foe suborned,[4854]

362

And fall into deception unaware,

363

Not keeping strictest watch, as she[4855] was warned.

364

Seek not temptation, then, which to avoid

365

Were better, and most likely if from me

366

Thou sever not. Trial will come unsought.

367

Would’st[4856] thou approve[4857] thy constancy, approve

368

First thy obedience. Th’ other who can know,

369

Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?

370

But if thou think trial unsought may find

371

Us both securer[4858] than thus warned thou seem’st,

372

Go, for thy stay not free absents thee more.

373

Go in thy native innocence, rely

374

On what thou hast of virtue, summon all!

375

For God towards thee hath done His part. Do thine.

376

So spoke the patriarch of mankind. But Eve

377

Persisted, yet [4859] submiss, though last [4860] replied:

378

“With thy permission, then, and thus forewarned

379

Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words

380

Touched [4861] only, that our trial, when least sought,

381

May find us both perhaps far less prepared,

382

The willinger I go, nor much expect

383

A foe so proud will first the weaker seek.

384

So bent,[4862] the more shall shame him his repulse.

385

Thus saying, from her husband’s hand her hand

386

Soft she withdrew and, like a wood-nymph light,

387

Oread [4863] or dryad,[4864] or of Delia’s[4865] train,

388

Betook her to the groves, but Delia’s self

389

In gait surpassed, and goddess-like deport,[4866]

390

Though not as she with bow and quiver armed,

391

But with such gard’ning tools as art [4867] yet rude, [4868]

392

Guiltless[4869] of fire, had formed, or Angels brought.

393

To Pales,[4870] or Pomona,[4871] thus adorned,

394

Likest she seemed, Pomona when she fled

395

Vertumnus,[4872] or to Ceres[4873] in her prime,

396

Yet virgin[4874] of Proserpina from Jove.

397

Her long with ardent look his eye pursued,

398

Delighted, but desiring more her stay.

399

Oft he to her his charge[4875] of quick return

400

Repeated; she to him as oft engaged[4876]

401

To be returned by noon amid the bow’r,

402

And all things in best order to invite[4877]

403

Noontide repast, or afternoon’s repose.

404

O much deceived, much failing, hapless[4878] Eve,

405

Of thy presumed [4879] return! Event perverse! [4880]

406

Thou never from that hour in Paradise

407

Found’st either sweet repast, or sound repose.

408

Such ambush, hid among sweet flow’rs and shades,

409

Waited with hellish rancor [4881] imminent

410

To intercept thy way, or send thee back

411

Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss!

412

For now, and since first break of dawn the fiend,

413

Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come,

414

And on his quest, where likeliest he might find

415

The only two of mankind, but in them

416

The whole included race, his purposed prey.

417

In bow’r and field he sought, where any tuft

418

Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,

419

Their tendance or plantation[4882] for delight.

420

By fountain or by shady rivulet

421

He sought them both, but wished his hap[4883] might find

422

Eve separate. He wished, but not with hope

423

Of what so seldom chanced, when to his wish,

424

Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,

425

Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,

426

Half spied, so thick the roses bushing round

427

About her glowed, oft stooping to support

428

Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay

429

Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold,

430

Hung drooping unsustained. Them she upstays

431

Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while

432

Herself, though fairest unsupported flower,

433

From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.

434

Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed

435

Of stateliest covert,[4884] cedar, pine, or palm,

436

Then voluble [4885] and bold, now hid, now seen

437

Among thick-woven arborets,[4886] and flow’rs

438

Imbordered on each bank, the hand [4887] of Eve

439

Spot more delicious than those gardens feigned [4888]

440

Or [4889] of revived Adonis,[4890] or renowned

441

Alcinous,[4891] host of old Laertes’ son,[4892]

442

Or that, not mystic,[4893] where the sapient [4894] king [4895]

443

Held dalliance[4896] with his fair Egyptian spouse. [4897]

444

Much he the place admired,[4898] the person more.

445

As one who long in populous city pent,[4899]

446

Where houses thick and sewers annoy[4900] the air,

447

Forth issuing on a summer’s morn to breathe

448

Among the pleasant villages and farms

449

Adjoined, from each thing met conceives delight,

450

The smell of grain, or tedded grass,[4901] or kine, [4902]

451

Or dairy, [4903] each rural sight, each rural sound.

452

If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pass,

453

What pleasing seemed, for her[4904] now pleases more,

454

She most, and in her look sums all delight.

455

Such pleasure took the serpent to behold

456

This flowery plat,[4905] the sweet recess[4906] of Eve

457

Thus early, thus alone. Her Heav’nly form

458

Angelic, but more soft, and feminine,

459

Her graceful innocence, her every air

460

Of gesture, or least action, overawed[4907]

461

His malice, and with rapine[4908] sweet bereaved[4909]

462

His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought.

463

That space[4910] the Evil One abstracted [4911] stood

464

From his own evil, and for the time remained

465

Stupidly [4912] good, of enmity disarmed,

466

Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge.

467

But the hot Hell that always in him burns,

468

Though in mid Heav’n, soon ended his delight,

469

And tortures him now more, the more he sees

470

Of pleasure, not for him ordained. Then soon

471

Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts

472

Of mischief, gratulating, [4913] thus excites:[4914]

473

“Thoughts, whither have ye led me! with what sweet

474

Compulsion thus transported, to forget

475

What hither brought us! Hate, not love, nor hope

476

Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to taste

477

Of pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy,

478

Save what is in destroying. Other joy

479

To me is lost. Then let me not let pass[4915]

480

Occasion[4916] which now smiles. Behold alone

481

The woman, opportune [4917] to all attempts,

482

Her husband, for I view far round, not nigh,

483

Whose higher intellectual [4918] more I shun,

484

And strength, of courage haughty, [4919] and of limb

485

Heroic built, though of terrestrial mould,

486

Foe not informidable! [4920] exempt from wound,

487

I not, so much hath Hell debased, and pain

488

Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heav’n.

489

She fair, divinely fair, fit love for Gods!

490

Not terrible, though terror be in love

491

And beauty, not[4921] approached [4922] by stronger hate,

492

Hate stronger, under show of love well feigned,

493

The way which to her ruin now I tend.”[4923]

494

So spoke the enemy of mankind, enclosed

495

In serpent, inmate[4924] bad! and toward Eve

496

Addressed [4925] his way, not with indented [4926] wave,

497

Prone on the ground, as since, but on his rear,

498

Circular base of rising folds, that tow’red

499

Fold above fold, a surging maze! His head

500

Crested aloft, and carbuncle [4927] his eyes,

501

With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect

502

Amidst his circling spires,[4928] that on the grass

503

Floated [4929] redundant.[4930] Pleasing was his shape

504

And lovely, never since of serpent-kind

505

Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed [4931]

506

Hermione [4932] and Cadmus,[4933] or the god

507

In Epidaurus,[4934] nor to which transformed

508

Ammonian Jove, [4935] or Capitoline, [4936] was seen,

509

He with Olympias, this with her who bore

510

Scipio, the height [4937] of Rome. With tract[4938] oblique [4939]

511

At first, as one who sought access [4940] but feared

512

To interrupt, sidelong he works his way.

513

As when a ship, by skilful steersman wrought

514

Nigh river’s mouth or foreland,[4941] where the wind

515

Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail,

516

So varied he, and of his tortuous [4942] train

517

Curled many a wanton[4943] wreath[4944] in sight of Eve,

518

To lure her eye. She, busied, heard the sound

519

Of rustling leaves, but minded not, as used

520

To such disport before [4945] her through the field,

521

From every beast, more duteous[4946] at her call

522

Than at Circean call the herd disguised.[4947]

523

He, bolder now, uncalled before her stood,

524

But as in gaze admiring. Oft he bowed

525

His turret crest, and sleek enamelled neck,

526

Fawning, and licked the ground whereon she trod.

527

His gentle dumb expression turned at length

528

The eye of Eve to mark his play. He, glad

529

Of her attention gained, with serpent-tongue

530

Organic,[4948] or impulse[4949] of vocal air,

531

His fraudulent temptation thus began:

532

“Wonder not, sov’reign mistress, if perhaps

533

Thou canst, who art sole [4950] wonder! Much less arm

534

Thy looks, the Heav’n of mildness, with disdain,

535

Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze

536

Insatiate, [4951] I thus single, nor have feared

537

Thy awful [4952] brow, more awful thus retired.[4953]

538

Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair,

539

Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine

540

By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore

541

With ravishment [4954] beheld! There best beheld,

542

Where universally admired, but here

543

In this enclosure wild, these beasts among,

544

Beholders rude, and shallow [4955] to discern

545

Half what in thee is fair, one man except,

546

Who sees thee? And what is one? Who should be seen

547

A goddess among gods, adored and served

548

By Angels numberless, thy daily train.

549

So glozed [4956] the Tempter, and his proem[4957] tuned.[4958]

550

Into the heart of Eve his words made way,

551

Though at the voice much marvelling. At length,

552

Not unamazed, she thus in answer spoke:

553

“What may this mean? Language of man pronounced

554

By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed?

555

The first, at least, of these I thought denied

556

To beasts, whom God, on their creation-day,

557

Created mute to all articulate sound.

558

The latter I demur, [4959] for in their looks

559

Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears.

560

Thee, serpent, subtlest beast of all the field

561

I knew, but not with human voice endued.

562

Redouble then this miracle, and say

563

How cam’st thou speakable [4960] of [4961] mute, and how

564

To me so friendly grown above the rest

565

Of brutal kind, that daily are in sight?

566

Say, for such wonder [4962] claims attention due.

567

To whom the guileful Tempter thus replied:

568

“Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve!

569

Easy to me it is to tell thee all

570

What thou command’st, and right thou should’st be obeyed.

571

I was at first as other beasts that graze

572

The trodden herb, of abject [4963] thoughts and low,

573

As was my food, nor aught but food discerned,

574

Or sex, and apprehended nothing high.

575

Till on a day, roving the field, I chanced

576

A goodly tree far distant to behold,

577

Loaden with fruit of fairest colors mixed,

578

Ruddy and gold. I nearer drew to gaze,

579

When from the boughs a savory odor blown,

580

Grateful [4964] to appetite, more pleased my sense

581

Than smell of sweetest fennel,[4965] or the teats

582

Of ewe or goat dropping with milk at ev’n,[4966]

583

Unsucked of lamb or kid, that tend [4967] their play.

584

To satisfy the sharp desire I had

585

Of tasting those fair apples, I resolved

586

Not to defer. Hunger and thirst at once,

587

Powerful persuaders, quick’ned at the scent

588

Of that alluring[4968] fruit, urged me so keen.

589

About the mossy trunk I wound me soon,[4969]

590

For high from ground the branches would require

591

Thy utmost reach, or Adam’s. Round the tree

592

All other beasts that saw, with like desire

593

Longing and envying stood, but could not reach.

594

Amid the tree now got, where plenty hung

595

Tempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill

596

I spared not, for such pleasure till that hour,

597

At feed [4970] or fountain never had I found.

598

Sated at length, ere long I might [4971] perceive

599

Strange alteration in me, to degree

600

Of reason in my inward powers, and speech

601

Wanted [4972] not long, though to this shape retained.[4973]

602

Thenceforth to speculations high or deep

603

I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind

604

Considered all things visible in Heav’n,

605

Or earth, or middle, [4974] all things fair and good.

606

But all that fair and good in thy divine

607

Semblance, and in thy beauty’s Heav’nly ray,

608

United I beheld: no fair to thine

609

Equivalent or second! Which compelled

610

Me thus, though importune[4975] perhaps, to come

611

And gaze, and worship thee of right declared

612

Sov’reign of creatures, universal Dame!”[4976]

613

So talked the spirited [4977] sly snake, and Eve,

614

Yet more amazed, unwary thus replied:

615

“Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt

616

The virtue[4978] of that fruit, in thee first proved.[4979]

617

But say, where grows the tree? from hence how far?

618

For many are the trees of God that grow

619

In Paradise, and various, yet unknown

620

To us. In such abundance lies our choice,

621

As leaves a greater store of fruit untouched,

622

Still hanging incorruptible, till men

623

Grow up to their provision,[4980] and more hands

624

Help to disburden Nature of her birth.” [4981]

625

To whom the wily adder, blithe and glad:

626

“Empress, the way is ready, and not long.

627

Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat,[4982]

628

Fast [4983] by a fountain, one small thicket past

629

Of blowing myrrh and balm. If thou accept

630

My conduct,[4984] I can bring thee thither soon.

631

“Lead then,” said Eve. He, leading, swiftly rolled

632

In tangles, and made intricate seem straight,

633

To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy

634

Bright’ns his crest, as when a wand’ring fire,

635

Compact [4985] of unctuous[4986] vapor, which the night

636

Condenses, and the cold environs[4987] round,

637

Kindled through agitation[4988] to a flame,

638

Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attends,[4989]

639

Hovering and blazing with delusive light,

640

Misleads th’ amazed night-wanderer from his way

641

To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool,

642

There swallowed up and lost, from succor far.

643

So glistered the dire snake, and into fraud

644

Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the tree

645

Of prohibition,[4990] root of all our woe,

646

Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spoke:

647

“Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither,

648

Fruitless[4991] to me, though fruit be here to excess,

649

The credit [4992] of whose virtue rest with thee,

650

Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects.

651

But of this tree we may not taste nor touch.

652

God so commanded, and left that command

653

Sole daughter [4993] of His voice. The rest, we live

654

Law to ourselves. Our reason is our law.

655

To whom the Tempter guilefully replied:

656

“Indeed! Hath God then said that of the fruit

657

Of all these garden-trees ye shall not eat,

658

Yet lords declared of all in earth or air?

659

To whom thus Eve, yet sinless:

“Of the fruit

660

Of each tree in the garden we may eat,

661

But of the fruit of this fair tree amidst

662

The garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat

663

Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

664

She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold

665

The Tempter, but with show of zeal and love

666

To man, and indignation at his wrong,

667

New part [4994] puts on and, as [4995] to passion moved,

668

Fluctuates[4996] disturbed, yet comely[4997] and in act [4998]

669

Raised as of some great matter to begin.[4999]

670

As when of old some orator renowned,

671

In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence

672

Flourished, since mute! to some great cause addressed,[5000]

673

Stood in himself collected, while each part,

674

Motion, each act, won audience ere the tongue,

675

Sometimes in height began, as no delay

676

Of preface brooking, through his zeal of right.[5001]

677

So standing, moving, or to height up grown,

678

The Tempter, all impassioned, thus began:

679

“O sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving plant,

680

Mother of science! [5002] Now I feel thy power

681

Within me clear, not only to discern

682

Things in their causes, but to trace the ways

683

Of highest agents,[5003] deemed however[5004] wise.

684

Queen of this universe! Do not believe

685

Those rigid threats of death. Ye shall not die.

686

How should you? By the fruit? It gives you life

687

To knowledge. By the threat’ner?[5005] Look on me,

688

Me, who have touched and tasted, yet both live,

689

And life more perfect have attained than Fate

690

Meant me, by vent’ring[5006] higher than my lot.

691

Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast

692

Is open? Or will God incense[5007] His ire

693

For such a petty trespass? and not praise

694

Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain

695

Of death denounced,[5008] whatever thing death be,

696

Deterred not from achieving what might lead

697

To happier life, knowledge of good and evil?

698

Of good, how just? Of evil, if what is evil

699

Be real, why not known, since easier shunned?

700

God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just—

701

Not just, not God. Not feared then, nor obeyed:

702

Your fear itself of death removes the fear.

703

Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe?

704

Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,

705

His worshippers? He knows that in the day

706

Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,

707

Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then

708

Op’ned and cleared, and ye shall be as gods,

709

Knowing both good and evil, as they know.

710

That ye should be as gods, since I as man,

711

Internal man, is but proportion meet—[5009]

712

I of brute, human; ye of human, gods.

713

So ye shall die, perhaps, by putting off

714

Human, to put on gods—death to be wished,

715

Though threat’ned, which no worse than this can bring.

716

And what are gods, that man may not become

717

As they, participating [5010] godlike food?

718

The gods are first, and that advantage use[5011]

719

On our belief that all from them proceeds.

720

I question it, for this fair earth I see,

721

Warmed by the sun, producing every kind,

722

Them[5012] nothing. If they all things, who enclosed

723

Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,

724

That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains

725

Wisdom without their leave? And wherein lies

726

Th’ offence, that man should thus attain to know?

727

What can your knowledge hurt Him, or this tree

728

Impart against His will, if all be His?

729

Or is it envy? and can envy dwell

730

In Heav’nly breasts? These, these, and many more

731

Causes[5013] import[5014] your need of this fair fruit.

732

Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste!

733

He ended, and his words replete[5015] with guile

734

Into her heart too easy entrance won.

735

Fixed on the fruit she gazed, which to behold

736

Might tempt alone, [5016] and in her ears the sound

737

Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregned[5017]

738

With reason (to her seeming) and with truth.

739

Meanwhile the hour of noon drew on, and waked

740

An eager appetite, raised by the smell

741

So savory of that fruit, which with desire,

742

Inclinable[5018] now grown to touch or taste,

743

Solicited [5019] her longing eye. Yet first

744

Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused:

745

“Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits,

746

Though kept from man, and worthy to be admired,

747

Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assay[5020]

748

Gave elocution[5021] to the mute, and taught

749

The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise.

750

Thy praise He also, who forbids thy use,

751

Conceals not from us, naming thee the Tree

752

Of Knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil,

753

Forbids us then to taste! But His forbidding

754

Commends thee more, while it infers the good

755

By thee communicated, and our want.[5022]

756

For good unknown sure is not had or, had

757

And yet unknown, is as not had at all.

758

In plain[5023] then, what forbids He but to know,

759

Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?

760

Such prohibitions bind not. But if death

761

Bind us with after-bands, what profits then

762

Our inward freedom? In the day we eat

763

Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die!

764

How dies the serpent? He hath eaten and lives,

765

And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,

766

Irrational[5024] till then. For us alone

767

Was death invented? Or to us denied

768

This intellectual food, for beasts reserved?

769

For beasts it seems. Yet that one beast which first

770

Hath tasted envies not, but brings with joy

771

The good befall’n him, author unsuspect,[5025]

772

Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.

773

What fear I then? Rather, what know to fear

774

Under this ignorance of good and evil,

775

Of God or death, of law or penalty?

776

Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,

777

Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,

778

Of virtue to make wise. What hinders then

779

To reach, and feed at once both body and mind?”

780

So saying, her rash hand in evil hour

781

Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate![5026]

782

Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat,

783

Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,

784

That all was lost. Back to the thicket slunk

785

The guilty [5027] serpent, and well might, for Eve,

786

Intent now wholly on her taste, nought else

787

Regarded.[5028] Such delight till then, as seemed,

788

In fruit she never tasted, whether true

789

Or fancied so, through expectation high

790

Of knowledge, nor was godhead from her thought.

791

Greedily she ingorged without restraint,

792

And knew not eating death. Satiate at length,

793

And heightened as with wine, jocund and boon,[5029]

794

Thus to herself she pleasingly began:

795

“O sov’reign, virtuous, precious of all trees

796

In Paradise! Of operation[5030] blest

797

To sapience,[5031] hitherto obscured,[5032] infamed,[5033]

798

And thy fair fruit let[5034] hang, as to no end [5035]

799

Created. But henceforth my early care,

800

Not without song, each morning, and due praise,

801

Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease

802

Of thy full branches offered free to all,

803

Till dieted [5036] by thee I grow mature

804

In knowledge, as the gods, who all things know,

805

Though others envy what they cannot give—

806

For had the gift been theirs, it had not here

807

Thus grown. Experience, next, to thee I owe,

808

Best guide. Not following thee, I had remained

809

In ignorance. Thou op’nest wisdom’s way,

810

And giv’st access, though secret she retire.

811

And I perhaps am secret.[5037] Heav’n is high,

812

High and remote to see from thence distinct

813

Each thing on earth. And other care perhaps

814

May have diverted from continual watch

815

Our great Forbidder, safe with all His spies

816

About him. But to Adam in what sort[5038]

817

Shall I appear? Shall I to him make known

818

As yet my change, and give him to partake[5039]

819

Full happiness with me, or rather not,

820

But keep the odds of knowledge in my power

821

Without co-partner? So to add what wants[5040]

822

In female sex, the more to draw his love,

823

And render me more equal, and perhaps,

824

A thing not undesirable, sometime

825

Superior—for inferior, who is free?

826

This may be well. But what if God have seen,

827

And death ensue?[5041] Then I shall be no more!

828

And Adam, wedded to another Eve,

829

Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct:

830

A death to think! [5042] Confirmed then I resolve,

831

Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe!

832

So dear I love him, that with him all deaths

833

I could endure, without him live no life.”

834

So saying, from the tree her step she turned,

835

But first low reverence done, as to the power

836

That dwelt within, whose presence had infused

837

Into the plant sciential [5043] sap, derived

838

From nectar, drink of gods. Adam the while,

839

Waiting desirous her return, had wove

840

Of choicest flow’rs a garland, to adorn

841

Her tresses, and her rural labors crown,

842

As reapers oft are wont their harvest-queen.

843

Great joy he promised to his thoughts, and new

844

Solace in her return, so long delayed,

845

Yet oft his heart, divine[5044] of something ill,

846

Misgave him. He the fault’ring[5045] measure[5046] felt,[5047]

847

And forth to meet her went, the way she took

848

That morn when first they parted. By the Tree

849

Of Knowledge he must pass. There he her met,

850

Scarce from the tree returning, in her hand

851

A bough of fairest fruit, that downy smiled,

852

New gathered, and ambrosial smell diffused.

853

To him she hasted. In her face excuse

854

Came prologue,[5048] and apology too prompt,

855

Which, with bland[5049] words at will,[5050] she thus addressed:

856

“Hast thou not wondered, Adam, at my stay?

857

Thee I have missed, and thought it long, deprived[5051]

858

Thy presence. Agony of love till now

859

Not felt, nor shall be twice, for never more

860

Mean I to try, what rash untried I sought,

861

The pain of absence from thy sight. But strange

862

Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear.

863

This tree is not, as we are told, a tree

864

Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown

865

Op’ning the way, but of divine effect

866

To open eyes, and make them gods who taste,

867

And hath been tasted such. The serpent wise,

868

Or not restrained as we, or not obeying,

869

Hath eaten of the fruit, and is become—

870

Not dead, as we are threat’ned, but thenceforth

871

Endued[5052] with human voice and human sense,

872

Reasoning to admiration,[5053] and with me

873

Persuasively hath so prevailed, that I

874

Have also tasted, and have also found

875

Th’ effects to correspond.[5054] Opener mine eyes,

876

Dim erst, dilated [5055] spirits, ampler heart,

877

And growing up to godhead—which for thee

878

Chiefly I sought—without thee can despise.

879

For bliss, as[5056] thou hast part,[5057] to me is bliss.

880

Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon.

881

Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot[5058]

882

May join us, equal joy, as equal love,

883

Lest thou not tasting, different degree

884

Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce

88

Deity for thee, when Fate will not permit.”

886

Thus Eve with count’nance blithe[5059] her story told,

887

But in her cheek distemper[5060] flushing glowed.

888

On th’ other side Adam, soon as he heard

889

The fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed,

890

Astonied[5061] stood and blank,[5062] while horror chill

891

Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed.[5063]

892

From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve

893

Down dropped, and all the faded roses shed.[5064]

894

Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at length

895

First to himself he inward silence broke:

896

“O fairest of Creation, last and best

897

Of all God’s works, creature in whom excelled

898

Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,

899

Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!

900

How art thou lost! How on a sudden lost,

901

Defaced, deflow’red, and now to death devote! [5065]

902

Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress

903

The strict forbiddance, how to violate

904

The sacred fruit forbidden! Some cursèd fraud

905

Of enemy hath beguiled thee, yet unknown,

906

And me with thee hath ruined, for with thee

907

Certain my resolution is to die!

908

How can I live without thee? How forego

909

Thy sweet converse,[5066] and love so dearly joined,

910

To live again in these wild woods forlorn?[5067]

911

Should God create another Eve, and I

912

Another rib afford, yet loss of thee

913

Would never [5068] from my heart. No, no, I feel

914

The link of Nature draw me. Flesh of flesh,

915

Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state[5069]

916

Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.”

917

So having said, as one from sad dismay

918

Recomforted,[5070] and after thoughts disturbed

919

Submitting to what seemed remediless,

920

Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turned:

921

“Bold deed thou hast presumed, advent’rous Eve,

922

And peril great provoked, who thus hast dared,

923

Had it been only coveting to eye

924

That sacred fruit, sacred to abstinence,

925

Much more to taste it under ban to touch.

926

But past who can recall, or done undo?

927

Not God Omnipotent, nor Fate. Yet so

928

Perhaps thou shalt not die, perhaps the fact

929

Is not so heinous,[5071] now, foretasted [5072] fruit,

930

Profaned[5073] first by the serpent, by him first

931

Made common[5074] and unhallowed,[5075] ere our taste,

932

Nor yet on him found deadly. Yet he lives,

933

Lives, as thou said’st, and gains to live, as man,

934

Higher degree of life—inducement strong

935

To us, as likely tasting to attain

936

Proportional ascent, which cannot be

937

But to be gods, or Angels, demi-gods.

938

Nor can I think that God, Creator wise,

939

Though threat’ning, will in earnest so destroy

940

Us His prime creatures, dignified so high,

941

Set over all His works, which in our fall,

942

For us created, needs with us must fail,

943

Dependent made. So God shall uncreate,

944

Be frustrate, do, undo, and labor lose—

945

Not well conceived of God, who though His power

946

Creation could repeat, yet would be loath

947

Us to abolish, lest the adversary

948

Triumph, and say: ‘Fickle their state whom God

949

Most favors. Who can please Him long? Me first

950

He ruined, now mankind. Whom will He next?’

951

Matter of scorn, not to be giv’n the foe.

952

However, I with thee have fixed my lot,

953

Certain[5076] to undergo like[5077] doom. If death

954

Consort[5078] with thee, death is to me as life,

955

So forcible [5079] within my heart I feel

956

The bond of Nature draw me to my own,

957

My own in thee, for what thou art is mine,

958

Our state cannot be severed. We are one,

959

One flesh. To lose thee were to lose myself.”

960

So Adam, and thus Eve to him replied:

961

“O glorious trial of exceeding[5080] love,

962

Illustrious evidence,[5081] example high!

963

Engaging me to emulate. But short [5082]

964

Of thy perfection, how shall I attain,[5083]

965

Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung,

966

And gladly of our union hear thee speak,

967

One heart, one soul in both—whereof good proof

968

This day affords, declaring thee resolved,

969

Rather than death, or aught than death more dread,

970

Shall separate us, linked in love so dear,

971

To undergo with me one guilt, one crime,

972

If any be, of tasting this fair fruit,

973

Whose virtue, for of good still good proceeds,

974

Direct, or by occasion,[5084] hath presented

975

This happy trial of thy love, which else

976

So eminently [5085] never had been known?

977

Were it [5086] I thought death menaced [5087] would ensue[5088]

978

This my attempt, I would sustain[5089] alone

979

The worst, and not persuade thee, rather die

980

Deserted, than oblige thee with a fact [5090]

981

Pernicious[5091] to thy peace, chiefly assured

982

Remarkably so late[5092] of thy so true,

983

So faithful, love unequalled. But I feel

984

Far otherwise th’ event. Not death, but life

985

Augmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new joys,

986

Taste so divine, that what of sweet before

987

Hath touched my sense, flat seems to this, and harsh.

988

On my experience, Adam, freely taste,

989

And fear of death deliver to the winds.

990

So saying, she embraced him, and for joy

991

Tenderly wept, much won[5093] that he his love

992

Had so ennobled, as of choice to incur

993

Divine displeasure for her sake, or death.

994

In recompence ( for such compliance bad,

995

Such recompence best merits) from the bough

996

She gave him of that fair enticing fruit

997

With liberal hand. He scrupled not to eat,

998

Against his better knowledge, not deceived,

999

But fondly[5094] overcome with female charm.

1000

Earth trembled from her entrails, as again

1001

In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,

1002

Sky loured [5095] and, muttering thunder, some sad drops

1003

Wept at completing[5096] of the mortal sin

1004

Original [5097] —while Adam took no thought,

1005

Eating his fill, nor Eve to iterate[5098]

1006

Her former trespass feared, the more to soothe

1007

Him with her loved society, that now,

1008

As with new wine intoxicated both,

1009

They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel

1010

Divinity within them breeding wings

1011

Wherewith to scorn the earth. But that false fruit

1012

Far other operation[5099] first displayed,

1013

Carnal desire inflaming. He on Eve

1014

Began to cast lascivious eyes, she him

1015

As wantonly repaid. In lust they burn,

1016

Till Adam thus ’gan Eve to dalliance[5100] move:

1017

“Eve, now I see thou art exact [5101] of taste,

1018

And elegant,[5102] of [5103] sapience[5104] no small part.

1019

Since to each meaning savor [5105] we apply,

1020

And palate [5106] call judicious,[5107] I the praise

1021

Yield thee, so well this day thou hast purveyed.[5108]

1022

Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstained

1023

From this delightful fruit, nor known till now

1024

True relish,[5109] tasting. If such pleasure be

1025

In things to us forbidden, it might be wished

1026

For this one tree had been forbidden ten.

1027

But come, so well refreshed, now let us play,

1028

As meet is, after such delicious fare,

1029

For never did thy beauty, since the day

1030

I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorned

1031

With all perfections, so inflame my sense

1032

With ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now

1033

Than ever—bounty[5110] of this virtuous[5111] tree!

1034

So said he, and forbore not glance or toy [5112]

1035

Of amorous intent, well understood

1036

Of Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire.

1037

Her hand he seized, and to a shady bank,

1038

Thick overhead with verdant roof embow’red,

1039

He led her, nothing loath. Flow’rs were the couch,

1040

Pansies, and violets, and asphodel,

1041

And hyacinth, earth’s freshest softest lap.[5113]

1042

There they their fill of love and love’s disport [5114]

1043

Took largely, [5115] of their mutual guilt the seal,

1044

The solace of their sin, till dewy[5116] sleep

1045

Oppressed [5117] them, wearied with their amorous play.

1046

Soon as the force of that fallacious[5118] fruit,

1047

That with exhilarating vapor bland [5119]

1048

About their spirits had played, and inmost powers

1049

Made err, was now exhaled, and grosser sleep,

1050

Bred of unkindly[5120] fumes, with conscious dreams

1051

Encumbered,[5121] now had left them, up they rose

1052

As from unrest [5122] and, each the other viewing,

1053

Soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds

1054

How darkened. Innocence, that as a veil

1055

Had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone,

1056

Just [5123] confidence, and native righteousness,[5124]

1057

And honor, from[5125] about them, naked left

1058

To guilty shame. He covered,[5126] but his robe

1059

Uncovered more. So rose the Danite[5127] strong,

1060

Herculean Samson, from the harlot-lap

1061

Of Philistean[5128] Dalilah,[5129] and waked

1062

Shorn of his strength. They destitute and bare

1063

Of all their virtue, silent, and in face

1064

Confounded,[5130] long they sat, as stricken mute,

1065

Till Adam, though not less than Eve abashed,

1066

At length gave utterance to these words constrained:[5131]

1067

“O Eve, in evil hour thou did’st give ear

1068

To that false worm, of whomsoever taught

1069

To counterfeit man’s voice, true in our fall,

1070

False in our promised rising, since our eyes

1071

Op’ned we find, indeed, and find we know

1072

Both good and evil—good lost, and evil got!

1073

Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know,

1074

Which leaves us naked thus, of honor void,

1075

Of innocence, of faith, of purity,

1076

Our wonted [5132] ornaments now soiled and stained,

1077

And in our faces evident the signs

1078

Of foul concupiscence, [5133] whence evil store, [5134]

1079

Ev’n shame, the last [5135] of evils. Of the first

1080

Be sure then. How shall I behold the face

1081

Henceforth of God or Angel, erst with joy

1082

And rapture so oft beheld? Those Heav’nly shapes

1083

Will dazzle now this earthly with their blaze

1084

Insufferably bright. O! might I here

1085

In solitude live savage, in some glade

1086

Obscured,[5136] where highest woods, impenetrable

1087

To star or sun-light, spread their umbrage[5137] broad

1088

And brown as evening. Cover me, ye pines!

1089

Ye cedars, with innumerable boughs

1090

Hide me, where I may never see them[5138] more!

1091

“But let us now, as in bad plight,[5139] devise

1092

What best may for the present serve to hide

1093

The parts of each from other, that seem most

1094

To shame obnoxious,[5140] and unseemliest [5141] seen.

1095

Some tree, whose broad smooth leaves together sewed,

1096

And girded on our loins, may cover round

1097

Those middle parts, that this newcomer, shame,

1098

There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.

1099

So counselled he, and both together went

1100

Into the thickest wood. There soon they chose

1101

The fig-tree—not that kind for fruit renowned,

1102

But such[5142] as at this day, to Indians known,

1103

In Malabar[5143] or Deccan[5144] spreads her arms

1104

Branching so broad and long, that in the ground

1105

The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow

1106

About the mother tree, a pillared shade

1107

High over-arched, and echoing walks between.

1108

There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,

1109

Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds

1110

At loop-holes cut through thickest shade. Those leaves

1111

They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe[5145]

1112

And, with what skill they had, together sewed,

1113

To gird their waist—vain covering, if to hide

1114

Their guilt and dreaded shame! O how unlike

1115

To that first naked glory! Such of late

1116

Columbus found th’American, so girt[5146]

1117

With feathered cincture, [5147] naked else, and wild

1118

Among the trees on isles and woody shores.

1119

Thus fenced [5148] and, as they thought, their shame in part

1120

Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind,

1121

They sat them down to weep, nor only tears

1122

Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within

1123

Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,

1124

Mistrust, suspicion, discord, and shook sore

1125

Their inward state of mind, calm region once

1126

And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent,

1127

For understanding ruled not, and the will

1128

Heard not her [5149] lore, [5150] both[5151] in subjection now

1129

To sensual appetite, who from beneath

1130

Usurping over sov’reign reason claimed

1131

Superior sway. [5152] From thus distempered [5153] breast,

1132

Adam, estranged [5154] in look and altered style, [5155]

1133

Speech intermitted [5156] thus to Eve renewed:

1134

“Would thou had’st hearkened to my words, and stayed

1135

With me, as I besought [5157] thee, when that strange

1136

Desire of wand’ring, this unhappy morn,

1137

I know not whence possessed thee. We had then

1138

Remained still happy—not, as now, despoiled[5158]

1139

Of all our good, shamed, naked, miserable!

1140

Let none henceforth seek needless causet’ approve

1141

The faith they owe![5159] When earnestly they seek

1142

Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.”

1143

To whom, soon[5160] moved with touch of blame, thus Eve:

1144

“What words have passed thy lips, Adam severe!

1145

Imput’st thou that to my default, or will

1146

Of wand’ring, as thou call’st it, which who knows

1147

But might as ill have happened thou being by—

1148

Or to thyself perhaps? Had’st thou been there,

1149

Or here th’ attempt, thou could’st not have discerned

1150

Fraud in the serpent, speaking as he spoke.

1151

No ground of enmity between us known,

1152

Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm?

1153

Was I t’ have never parted from thy side?

1154

As good have grown there still, a lifeless rib.

1155

Being as I am, why did’st not thou, the head,

1156

Command me absolutely not to go,

1157

Going into such danger as thou said’st?

1158

Too facile[5161] then, thou did’st not much gainsay—[5162]

1159

Nay, did’st permit, approve, and fair [5163] dismiss.[5164]

1160

Had’st thou been firm and fixed in thy dissent,

1161

Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with me.

1162

To whom, then first incensed, Adam replied:

1163

“Is this the love, is this the recompence

1164

Of mine to thee, ungrateful Eve! expressed

1165

Immutable, [5165] when thou wert lost, not I,

1166

Who might have lived, and joyed [5166] immortal bliss,

1167

Yet willingly chose rather death with thee?

1168

And am I now upbraided as the cause

1169

Of thy transgressing? Not enough severe,

1170

It seems, in thy restraint. What could I more?

1171

I warned thee, I admonished thee, foretold

1172

The danger, and the lurking enemy

1173

That lay in wait. Beyond this had been force,

1174

And force upon free will hath here no place.

1175

But confidence then bore thee on, secure[5167]

1176

Either to meet no danger, or to find

1177

Matter [5168] of glorious trial.[5169] And perhaps

1178

I also erred, in overmuch admiring

1179

What seemed in thee so perfect that I thought

1180

No evil durst attempt thee. But I rue[5170]

1181

The error now, which is become my crime,

1182

And thou th’ accuser. Thus it shall befall[5171]

1183

Him who, to worth in women overtrusting,

1184

Lets her will [5172] rule. Restraint she will not brook

1185

And left t’ herself, if evil thence ensue, [5173]

1186

She first his weak indulgence will accuse.

1187

Thus they in mutual accusation spent

1188

The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning,

1189

And of their vain contest [5174] appeared no end.

The End of the Ninth Book

BOOK X

THE ARGUMENT

Man’s transgression known, the Guardian Angels forsake Paradise, and return up to Heaven to approve[5175] their vigilance, and are approved, God declaring that the entrance of Satan could not be by them prevented. He sends his Son to judge the transgressors, who descends and gives sentence accordingly, then in pity clothes them both, and reascends.

Sin and Death sitting till then at the gates of Hell, by wondrous sympathy feeling the success of Satan in this new world, and the sin by man there committed, resolve to sit no longer confined in Hell, but to follow Satan their sire up to the place of man. To make the way easier from Hell to this world, to and fro, they pave a broad highway or bridge over Chaos, according to the track that Satan first made. Then preparing for earth, they meet him, proud of his success, returning to Hell; their mutual gratulation.

Satan arrives at Pandemonium, in full assembly relates with boasting his success against man. Instead of applause is entertained with a general hiss by all his audience, transformed—with himself also—suddenly into serpents, according to his doom, given in Paradise. Then deluded with show of the forbidden tree springing up before them, they greedily reaching to take of the fruit, chew dust and bitter ashes.

The proceedings of Sin and Death; God foretells the final victory of his Son over them, and the renewing of all things, but for the present commands his Angels to make several alterations in the heavens and elements. Adam more and more perceiving his fallen condition heavily bewails, rejects the condolement of Eve. She persists and at length appeases him, then to evade the curse likely to fall on their offspring, proposes to Adam violent ways, which he approves not, but conceiving better hope, puts her in mind of the late promise made them, that her seed should be revenged on the serpent, and exhorts her with him to seek peace of the offended Deity, by repentance and supplication.

1

Meanwhile the heinous [5176] and despiteful[5177] act

2

Of Satan, done in Paradise, and how

3

He, in the serpent, had perverted [5178] Eve,

4

Her husband she, to taste the fatal fruit,

5

Was known in Heav’n, for what can ’scape the eye

6

Of God all-seeing, or deceive His heart

7

Omniscient? Who, in all things wise and just,

8

Hindered not Satan to attempt the mind

9

Of man, with strength entire[5179] and free will armed,

10

Complete to have discovered and repulsed

11

Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.

12

For still they [5180] knew and ought t’ have still[5181] remembered

13

The high injunction not to taste that fruit,

14

Whoever tempted, which they not obeying,

15

Incurred (what could they less?) the penalty

16

And, manifold [5182] in sin, deserved to fall.

17

Up into Heav’n from Paradise in haste

18

The Angelic guards ascended, mute, and sad

19

For man, for of his state by this they knew,

20

Much wond’ring how the subtle fiend had stol’n

21

Entrance unseen. Soon as th’ unwelcome news

22

From earth arrived at Heaven-gate, displeased

23

All were who heard. Dim sadness did not spare,

24

That time, celestial visages, yet mixed

25

With pity violated [5183] not their bliss.

26

About the new-arrived in multitudes

27

The ethereal people ran, to hear and know

28

How all befell.[5184] They towards the Throne Supreme

29

Accountable, [5185] made haste to make appear[5186]

30

With righteous[5187] plea their utmost vigilance,

31

And easily approved,[5188] when the Most High

32

Eternal Father, from His secret cloud,

33

Amidst in thunder, uttered thus His voice:

34

“Assembled Angels, and ye Powers returned

35

From unsuccessful charge, [5189] be not dismayed,

36

Nor troubled at these tidings from the earth,

37

Which your sincerest[5190] care could not prevent,

38

Foretold [5191] so lately [5192] what would come to pass,

39

When first this Tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.

40

I told ye then he should prevail, and speed [5193]

41

On his bad errand. Man should [5194] be seduced

42

And flattered out of all, believing lies

43

Against his Maker, no decree of mine

44

Concurring to necessitate his fall

45

Or touch with lightest moment [5195] of impulse [5196]

46

His free will, to her [5197] own inclining left

47

In ev’n scale. But fall’n he is. And now

48

What rests[5198] but [5199] that the mortal[5200] sentence pass[5201]

49

On his transgression, death denounced [5202] that day,

50

Which he presumes already vain and void

51

Because not yet inflicted, as he feared,

52

By some immediate stroke, but soon shall find

53

Forbearance [5203] no acquittance, [5204] ere day end.

54

Justice shall not return as bounty scorned.[5205]

55

But whom send I to judge them? Whom but thee,

56

Vice-gerent[5206] Son? To thee I have transferred

57

All judgment, whether in Heav’n, or earth, or Hell.

58

Easy it may be seen that I intend

59

Mercy colleague[5207] with justice, sending thee

60

Man’s friend, his mediator, his designed [5208]

61

Both ransom and redeemer voluntary,

62

And destined, man himself, to judge man fallen.

63

So spoke the Father and, unfolding bright

64

Toward the right hand His glory, on the Son

65

Blazed forth unclouded Deity. He full

66

Resplendent all his Father manifest

67

Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild:

68

“Father Eternal, Thine is to decree,

69

Mine, both in Heav’n and earth, to do Thy will

70

Supreme, that Thou in me, Thy Son beloved,

71

May’st ever rest well pleased. I go to judge

72

On earth these Thy transgressors, but Thou know’st,

73

Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,[5209]

74

When time shall be, for so I undertook

75

Before Thee, and not repenting, this obtain[5210]

76

Of right, that I may mitigate[5211] their doom[5212]

77

On me derived.[5213] Yet I shall temper so

78

Justice with mercy, as may illustrate[5214] most

79

Them fully satisfied,[5215] and Thee appease. [5216]

80

Attendance[5217] none shall need,[5218] nor train, where none

81

Are to behold the judgment but the judged,

82

Those two. The third,[5219] best absent,[5220] is condemned,

83

Convict [5221] by flight, and rebel to all law.

84

Conviction[5222] to the serpent[5223] none belongs.

85

Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose

86

Of high collateral [5224] glory. Him Thrones, and Powers,

87

Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant [5225]

88

Accompanied to Heaven-gate, from whence

89

Eden, and all the coast, in prospect lay.

90

Down he descended straight: the speed of gods

91

Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.

92

Now was the sun in western cadence[5226] low

93

From noon, and gentle airs, due at their hour,

94

To fan the earth now waked, and usher in

95

The ev’ning cool, when He, from wrath more cool,

96

Came the mild Judge and Intercessor[5227] both,

97

To sentence man. The voice of God they heard

98

Now walking in the garden, by soft winds

99

Brought to their ears, while day decline. They heard,

100

And from His presence hid themselves among

101

The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God,

102

Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud:

103

“Where art thou, Adam, wont with joy to meet

104

My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,

105

Not pleased, thus entertained [5228] with solitude,

106

Where obvious duty erewhile appeared unsought.

107

Or [5229] come I less conspicuous,[5230] or what change

108

Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth.

109

He came, and with him Eve, more loath, though first

110

T’ offend. Discount’nanced [5231] both, and discomposed.[5232]

111

Love was not in their looks, either to God

112

Or to each other, but apparent[5233] guilt,

113

And shame, and perturbation, and despair,

114

Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.

115

Whence Adam, falt’ring long, thus answered brief:

116

“I heard Thee in the garden, and of Thy voice

117

Afraid, being naked hid myself.” To whom

118

The gracious Judge, without revile, [5234] replied:

119

“My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared,

120

But still rejoiced, How is it now become

121

So dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who

122

Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree

123

Whereof I gave thee charge[5235] thou should’st not eat?

124

To whom thus Adam sore beset [5236] replied:

125

“O Heav’n! In evil strait [5237] this day I stand

126

Before my Judge, either to undergo[5238]

127

Myself the total crime, or to accuse

128

My other self, the partner of my life,

129

Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,

130

I should conceal, and not expose to blame

131

By my complaint. But strict necessity

132

Subdues me, and calamitous[5239] constraint,

133

Lest on my head both sin and punishment,

134

However insupportable, [5240] be all

135

Devolved.[5241] Though should I hold my peace, yet Thou

136

Would’st easily detect what I conceal.

137

“This woman, whom Thou mad’st to be my help,

138

And gav’st me as Thy perfect gift, so good,

139

So fit, so acceptable, [5242] so divine,

140

That from her hand I could suspect no ill,

141

And what she did, whatever in itself,

142

Her doing seemed to justify the deed.

143

She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

144

To whom the sov’reign Presence thus replied:

145

“Was she thy God, that her thou did’st obey

146

Before His voice? Or was she made thy guide,

147

Superior, [5243] or but[5244] equal, that to her

148

Thou did’st resign thy manhood, and the place

149

Wherein God set thee above her, made of thee

150

And for thee, whose perfection far excelled

151

Hers in all real [5245] dignity?[5246] Adorned

152

She was indeed, and lovely, to attract

153

Thy love, not thy subjection, and her gifts

154

Were such, as under government[5247] well seemed,

155

Unseemly [5248] to bear rule, which was thy part

156

And person,[5249] had’st thou known thyself aright.

157

So having said, He thus to Eve in few:

158

“Say, woman, what is this which thou hast done?

159

To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelmed,

160

Confessing soon,[5250] yet not before her Judge

161

Bold or loquacious,[5251] thus abashed replied:

162

“The serpent me beguiled, and I did eat.

163

Which when the Lord God heard, without delay

164

To judgment He proceeded on th’ accused

165

Serpent (though brute, unable to transfer

166

The guilt on him who made him instrument

167

Of mischief, and polluted from the end[5252]

168

Of his creation), justly then accursed,

169

As vitiated[5253] in Nature. More to know

170

Concerned not man (since he no further knew)

171

Nor altered his offense. Yet God at last[5254]

172

To Satan ( first in sin) his doom[5255] applied,

173

Though in mysterious[5256] terms, judged

174

And on the serpent thus His curse let fall:

175

“Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed

176

Above all cattle, [5257] each beast of the field.

177

Upon thy belly groveling thou shalt go,

178

And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.

179

Between thee and the woman I will put

180

Enmity, and between thine and her seed.

181

Her seed shall bruise[5258] thy head, thou bruise his heel.

182

So spoke this oracle, then verified

183

When Jesus, Son of Mary, second Eve,

184

Saw Satan fall, like lightning, down from Heav’n,

185

Prince of the air. Then rising from his[5259] grave

186

Spoiled [5260] Principalities and Powers, triumphed

187

In open show[5261] and, with ascension bright,

188

Captivity led captive through the air,

189

The realm itself of Satan, long usurped,[5262]

190

Whom he [5263] shall tread at last under our feet,

191

Ev’n he, [5264] who now foretold his[5265] fatal bruise, [5266]

192

And to the woman thus His sentence turned:

193

“Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply

194

By thy conception.[5267] Children thou shalt bring

195

In sorrow forth, and to thy husband’s will

196

Thine shall submit. He over thee shall rule.

197

On Adam last thus judgment He pronounced:

198

“Because thou hast heark’ned to the voice of thy wife,

199

And eaten of the tree, concerning which

200

I charged thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat thereof,

201

Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thou in sorrow

202

Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life.

203

Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth

204

Unbid,[5268] and thou shalt eat th’ herb of the field.

205

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,

206

Till thou return unto the ground, for thou

207

Out of the ground wast taken: know thy birth,

208

For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.

209

So judged He man, both Judge and Savior sent,

210

And th’ instant stroke of death denounced [5269] that day,

211

Removed far off. Then pitying how they stood

212

Before Him, naked to the air, that now

213

Must suffer change, disdained not to begin

214

Thenceforth the form of servant to assume,

215

As when He washed His servant’s feet. So now,

216

As Father of His family, He clad

217

Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain,

218

Or as the snake with youthful coat[5270] repaid,[5271]

219

And thought not much[5272] to clothe His enemies.

220

Nor He their outward only with the skins

221

Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more

222

Opprobrious,[5273] with His robe of righteousness

223

Arraying, covered from His Father’s sight.

224

To Him with swift ascent he up returned,

225

Into His blissful bosom reassumed

226

In glory, as of old. To Him appeased,[5274]

227

All (though all-knowing) what had passed with man

228

Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

229

Meanwhile, ere thus was sinned and judged on earth,

230

Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death,

231

In counterview[5275] within the gates, that now

232

Stood open wide, belching outrageous[5276] flame

233

Far into Chaos, since the fiend passed through,

234

Sin opening, [5277] who thus now to Death began:

235

“O son, why sit we here, each other viewing

236

Idly, while Satan, our great author, thrives

237

In other worlds, and happier seat[5278] provides

238

For us, his offspring dear? It cannot be

239

But that success attends him. If mishap,

240

Ere this he had returned, with fury driv’n

241

By his avengers, since no place like this

242

Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.

243

Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,

244

Wings growing, and dominion[5279] giv’n me large[5280]

245

Beyond this deep. Whatever draws me on,[5281]

246

Or[5282] sympathy, [5283] or some connatural [5284] force,

247

Powerful [5285] at greatest distance to unite,

248

With secret amity, things of like kind,

249

By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade

250

Inseparable, must with me along,

251

For Death from Sin no power can separate.

252

But lest the difficulty of passing back

253

Stay his return, perhaps, over this gulf [5286]

254

Impassable, impervious,[5287] let us try

255

Advent’rous[5288] work, yet to thy power and mine

256

Not unagreeable, to found [5289] a path

257

Over this main[5290] from Hell to that new world

258

Where Satan now prevails, a monument

259

Of merit high to all th’ infernal host,

260

Easing their passage hence, for intercourse[5291]

261

Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead.

262

Nor can I miss[5292] the way, so strongly drawn

263

By this new-felt attraction and instinct.

264

Whom thus the meager shadow answered soon:

265

“Go whither Fate and inclination strong

266

Leads thee. I shall not lag behind, nor err[5293]

267

The way, thou leading—such a scent I draw[5294]

268

Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste[5295]

269

The savor of death from all things there that live.

270

Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest[5296]

271

Be wanting, [5297] but afford thee equal aid.

272

So saying, with delight he snuffed the smell

273

Of mortal [5298] change on earth. As when a flock

274

Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,

275

Against the day of battle, to a field

276

Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured

277

With scent of living carcasses designed

278

For death the following day, in bloody fight,

279

So scented the grim feature, [5299] and upturned

280

His nostril wide into the murky air,

281

Sagacious[5300] of his quarry from so far.

282

Then both from out Hell-gates, into the waste,

283

Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark,

284

Flew diverse, [5301] and with power (their power was great)

285

Hovering[5302] upon the waters, what[5303] they met

286

Solid or slimy, as in raging sea

287

Tossed up and down, together crowded drove,

288

From each side shoaling[5304] towards the mouth of Hell,

289

As when two polar winds, blowing adverse

290

Upon the Cronian[5305] sea, together drive

291

Mountains of ice, that stop[5306] th’ imagined[5307] way

292

Beyond Petsora[5308] eastward, to the rich

293

Cathaian[5309] coast. The aggregated soil[5310]

294

Death with his mace petrific,[5311] cold and dry,

295

As with a trident,[5312] smote, and fixed as firm

296

As Delos,[5313] floating once. The rest his look

297

Bound with Gorgonian[5314] rigor[5315] not to move,

298

And with asphaltic[5316] slime, broad as the gate,

299

Deep to the roots of Hell the gathered beach[5317]

300

They fastened, and the mole[5318] immense wrought[5319] on

301

Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge

302

Of length prodigious, joining to the wall

303

Immoveable[5320] of this now fenceless[5321] world,

304

Forfeit[5322] to Death. From hence a passage broad,

305

Smooth, easy, inoffensive, [5323] down to Hell.

306

So (if great things to small may be compared)

307

Xerxes,[5324] the liberty of Greece to yoke,

308

From Susa,[5325] his Memnonian palace high,

309

Came to the sea, and over Hellespont [5326]

310

Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,

311

And scourged [5327] with many a stroke th’ indignant waves.

312

Now had they brought the work by wondrous art

313

Pontifical,[5328] a ridge of pendant [5329] rock

314

Over the vexed [5330] abyss, following the track

315

Of Satan to the self-same place where he

316

First lighted[5331] from his wing, [5332] and landed safe

317

From out of Chaos, to the outside bare

318

Of this round world. With pins of adamant

319

And chains they made all fast—too fast they made

320

And durable! And now in little space

321

The confines[5333] met of empyrean Heav’n

322

And of this world, and on the left hand Hell

323

With long reach interposed.[5334] Three sev’ral[5335] ways[5336]

324

In sight, to each of these three places led.

325

And now their way to earth they had descried,[5337]

326

To Paradise first tending [5338] —when, behold!

327

Satan, in likeness of an Angel bright,

328

Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering

329

His zenith,[5339] while the sun in Aries rose. [5340]

330

Disguised he came, but those his children dear

331

Their parent soon discerned,[5341] though in disguise.

332

He, after Eve seduced, unminded[5342] slunk

333

Into the wood fast by and, changing shape

334

T’ observe the sequel, saw his guileful act

335

By Eve, though all unweeting, [5343] seconded

336

Upon her husband, saw their shame that sought

337

Vain covertures,[5344] but when he saw descend

338

The Son of God to judge them, terrified

339

He fled, not hoping to escape, but shun

340

The present, fearing, guilty, what His[5345] wrath

341

Might suddenly inflict. That past, returned [5346]

342

By night, and list’ning where the hapless[5347] pair

343

Sat in their sad discourse and various plaint,

344

Thence gathered his own doom, which understood

345

Not instant, but of future time. With joy

346

And tidings fraught,[5348] to Hell he now returned,

347

And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot

348

Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhoped

349

Met who to meet him came, his offspring dear.

350

Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight

351

Of that stupendious bridge his joy increased.

352

Long he admiring stood, till Sin, his fair

353

Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke:

354

“O parent, these are thy magnific deeds,

355

Thy trophies! which thou view’st as not thine own.

356

Thou art their author and prime architect,

357

For I no sooner in my heart divined

358

(My heart, which by a secret harmony

359

Still moves with thine, joined in connection sweet)

360

That thou on earth had’st prospered, which thy looks

361

Now also evidence, but straight I felt

362

(Though distant from thee worlds between), yet felt

363

That I must after[5349] thee, with this thy son,

364

Such fatal [5350] consequence[5351] unites us three!

365

Hell could no longer hold us in our bounds,

366

Nor this unvoyageable gulf obscure

367

Detain from following thy illustrious track.

368

Thou hast achieved our liberty, confined

369

Within Hell-gates till now. Thou us empowered

370

To fortify[5352] thus far, and overlay,

371

With this portentous[5353] bridge, the dark abyss.

372

Thine now is all this world. Thy virtue hath won

373

What thy hands builded not, thy wisdom gained

374

With odds[5354] what war hath lost, and fully avenged

375

Our foil [5355] in Heav’n. Here thou shalt monarch reign,

376

There did’st not. There let Him still victor sway, [5356]

377

As battle hath adjudged, from this new world

378

Retiring, by His own doom[5357] alienated,[5358]

379

And henceforth monarchy with thee divide

380

Of all things, parted by the empyreal bounds,

381

His quadrature, [5359] from thy orbicular[5360] world—

382

Or try[5361] thee, now more dang’rous to His throne.

383

Whom thus the Prince of darkness answered glad:

384

“Fair daughter, and thou son and grandchild both:

385

High proof ye now have giv’n to be the race

386

Of Satan (for I glory in the name,

387

Antagonist of Heaven’s Almighty King)

388

Amply have merited of me, of all

389

Th’ infernal empire, that so near Heav’n’s door

390

Triumphal with triumphal act have met,

391

Mine[5362] with this glorious work, and made one realm,

392

Hell and this world, one realm, one continent

393

Of easy thoroughfare. Therefore, while I

394

Descend through darkness, on your road with ease,

395

To my associate Powers, them to acquaint

396

With these successes, and with them rejoice,

397

You two this way, among these numerous orbs,

398

All yours, right down to Paradise descend.

399

There dwell, and reign in bliss, thence on the earth

400

Dominion exercise and in the air,

401

Chiefly on man, sole lord of all declared.

402

Him first make sure your thrall,[5363] and lastly kill.

403

My substitutes I send ye, and create

404

Plenipotent[5364] on earth, of matchless might

405

Issuing from me. On your joint vigor now

406

My hold of this new kingdom all depends,

407

Through Sin to Death exposed [5365] by my exploit.[5366]

408

If your joint power prevail, th’ affairs of Hell

409

No detriment[5367] need fear. Go, and be strong!

410

So saying he dismissed them. They with speed

411

Their course through thickest constellations held,

412

Spreading their bane. [5368] The blasted [5369] stars looked wan,

413

And planets, planet-struck,[5370] real [5371] eclipse[5372]

414

Then suffered. Th’ other way Satan went down

415

The causey[5373] to Hell-gate. On either side

416

Disparted [5374] Chaos overbuilt exclaimed [5375]

417

And with rebounding surge the bars[5376] assailed,

418

That scorned his indignation. Through the gate,

419

Wide open and unguarded, Satan passed,

420

And all about found desolate, for those

421

Appointed to sit there had left their charge,

422

Flown to the upper world. The rest were all

423

Far to the inland retired,[5377] about the walls

424

Of Pandemonium, city and proud seat

425

Of Lucifer, so by allusion called

426

Of that bright star to Satan paragoned.[5378]

427

There kept their watch the legions, while the grand

428

In council sat, solicitous[5379] what chance

429

Might intercept[5380] their emperor sent.[5381] So he

430

Departing gave[5382] command, and they observed.

431

As when the Tartar from his Russian foe

432

By Astrakhan[5383] over the snowy plains

433

Retires, or Bactrin Sophi,[5384] from the horns

434

Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond

435

The realm of Aladule, [5385] in his retreat

436

To Tauris[5386] or Casbeen,[5387] so these, the late[5388]

437

Heav’n-banished host left desert[5389] utmost[5390] Hell

438

Many a dark league, reduced [5391] in careful watch

439

Round their metropolis, and now expecting

440

Each hour their great adventurer, from the search

441

Of foreign worlds. He through the midst unmarked,[5392]

442

In show [5393] plebeian[5394] Angel militant [5395]

443

Of lowest order, passed, and from the door

444

Of that Plutonian hall, invisible

445

Ascended his high throne, which under state[5396]

446

Of richest texture spread, at th’ upper end

447

Was placed in regal luster. Down a while

448

He sat, and round about him saw unseen.

449

At last, as from a cloud, his fulgent[5397] head

450

And shape star-bright appeared, or brighter, clad

451

With what permissive glory since his fall

452

Was left him, or false glitter. All amazed

453

At that so sudden blaze, the Stygian[5398] throng

454

Bent [5399] their aspect,[5400] and whom they wished beheld,

455

Their mighty chief returned. Loud was th’ acclaim!

456

Forth rushed in haste the great consulting peers,

457

Raised from their dark divan,[5401] and with like joy

458

Congratulant approached him, who with hand

459

Silence, and with these words attention won:

460

“Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers!

461

For in possession such, not only of right,

462

I call ye and declare ye now, returned

463

Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth

464

Triumphant out of this infernal pit

465

Abominable, accursed, the house of woe

466

And dungeon of our tyrant. Now possess,

467

As lords, a spacious world, t’ our native Heav’n

468

Little inferior, by my adventure hard

469

With peril great achieved. Long were to tell

470

What I have done, what suffered, with what pain

471

Voyaged th’ unreal,[5402] vast, unbounded deep

472

Of horrible confusion, over which

473

By Sin and Death a broad way now is paved,

474

To expedite your glorious march. But I

475

Toiled out my uncouth[5403] passage, forced to ride[5404]

476

The untractable[5405] abyss, plunged in the womb

477

Of unoriginal [5406] Night and Chaos wild

478

That, jealous of their secrets, fiercely opposed

479

My journey strange, [5407] with clamorous uproar

480

Protesting Fate supreme. Thence how I found

481

The new created world, which fame[5408] in Heav’n

482

Long had foretold, a fabric [5409] wonderful

483

Of absolute[5410] perfection, therein man

484

Placed in a Paradise, by our exile

485

Made happy. Him by fraud I have seduced [5411]

486

From his Creator and, the more to increase

487

Your wonder, with an apple. [5412] He, [5413] thereat

488

Offended (worth your laughter!) hath given up

489

Both His belovèd man and all his world

490

To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us,

491

Without our hazard, labor, or alarm,[5414]

492

To range[5415] in, and to dwell, and over man

493

To rule, as over all He should have ruled.

494

“True is, me also He hath judged, or rather

495

Me not, but the brute serpent in whose shape

496

Man I deceived. That which to me belongs

497

Is enmity, which He will put between

498

Me and mankind. I am to bruise[5416] his heel.

499

His seed (when is not set[5417] ) shall bruise my head.

500

A world who would not purchase with a bruise,

501

Or much more grievous pain?

“Ye have th’ acc

502

Of my performance. What remains, ye Gods,

503

But up, and enter now into full bliss?

504

So having said, a while he stood, expecting

505

Their universal shout and high applause

506

To fill his ear—when, contrary, he hears

507

On all sides, from innumerable tongues,

508

A dismal universal hiss, the sound

509

Of public scorn. He wondered, but not long

510

Had leisure, wond’ring at himself now more.

511

His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare;

512

His arms clung to his ribs, his legs entwining

513

Each other, till supplanted [5418] down he fell,

514

A monstrous serpent on his belly prone,

515

Reluctant,[5419] but in vain. A greater power

516

Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned,

517

According to his doom.[5420] He would have spoke,

518

But hiss for hiss returned with forkèd tongue

519

To forkèd tongue, for now were all transformed

520

Alike, to serpents all, as accessories

521

To his bold [5421] riot.[5422] Dreadful was the din

522

Of hissing through the hall, thick swarming now

523

With complicated [5423] monsters head and tail,

524

Scorpion, and asp, and amphisbaena[5424] dire,

525

Cerastes hornèd, hydrus,[5425] and elops[5426] drear, [5427]

526

And dipsas[5428] (not so thick swarmed once the soil

527

Bedropped with blood of Gorgon,[5429] or the isle

528

Ophiusa),[5430] but still greatest he the midst,

529

Now dragon grown, larger than whom[5431] the sun

530

Engendered in the Pythian[5432] vale on slime, [5433]

531

Huge python, and his [5434] power no less he seemed

532

Above the rest still to retain. They all

533

Him followed, issuing forth to th’ open field,

534

Where all yet left of that revolted rout,[5435]

535

Heav’n-fall’n, in station[5436] stood or just[5437] array,

536

Sublime[5438] with expectation when to see

537

In triumph issuing forth their glorious chief.

538

They saw, but other sight instead! a crowd

539

Of ugly serpents. Horror on them fell,

540

And horrid sympathy, for what they saw

541

They felt themselves now changing. Down their arms,

542

Down fell both spear and shield, down they as fast,

543

And the dire hiss renewed, and the dire form

544

Catched by contagion,[5439] like[5440] in punishment

545

As in their crime. Thus was th’ applause they meant

546

Turned to exploding hiss, triumph to shame

547

Cast on themselves from their own mouths.

There stood

548

A grove hard by, sprung up with[5441] this their change

549

(His will who reigns above, to aggravate[5442]

550

Their penance), laden with fair fruit, like that

551

Which grew in Paradise, the bait of Eve

552

Used by the Tempter. On that prospect [5443] strange[5444]

553

Their earnest eyes they fixed, imagining

554

For one forbidden tree a multitude

555

Now ris’n, to work them further woe or shame.

556

Yet parched with scalding thirst and hunger fierce,

557

Though to delude them sent, could not abstain,

558

But on they rolled in heaps, and up the trees

559

Climbing, sat thicker than the snaky locks

560

That curled Megaera.[5445] Greedily they plucked

561

The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew

562

Near that bituminous [5446] lake [5447] where Sodom flamed—

563

This more delusive, not the touch, but taste

564

Deceived. They fondly[5448] thinking to allay

565

Their appetite with gust,[5449] instead of fruit

566

Chewed bitter ashes, which th’ offended taste

567

With spattering noise rejected. Oft they assayed,

568

Hunger and thirst constraining, drugged [5450] as oft,

569

With hatefullest disrelish[5451] writhed their jaws,

570

With soot and cinders filled. So oft they fell

571

Into the same illusion, not as man

572

Whom they triumphed [5452] once[5453] lapsed. Thus were they plagued

573

And worn with famine, [5454] long and ceaseless hiss,

574

Till their lost shape, permitted, they resumed,

575

Yearly enjoined, some say, to undergo

576

This annual humbling certain[5455] numbered days,

577

To dash[5456] their pride and joy for man seduced.

578

However, some tradition[5457] they dispersed [5458]

579

Among the heathen, of their purchase[5459] got,

580

And fabled how the serpent, whom they called

581

Ophion,[5460] with Eurynome[5461] (the wide-

582

Encroaching Eve, [5462] perhaps), had first the rule

583

Of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driv’n

584

And Ops,[5463] ere yet Dictaean Jove[5464] was born.

585

Meanwhile in Paradise the hellish pair

586

Too soon arrived, Sin there in power before,

587

Once[5465] actual,[5466] now in body, and to dwell

588

Habitual habitant; behind her Death,

589

Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet

590

On his pale horse. [5467] To whom Sin thus began:

591

“Second of Satan sprung, all-conquering Death!

592

What think’st thou of our empire now, though earned

593

With travel difficult, not better far

594

Than still at Hell’s dark threshold to have sat watch,

595

Unnamed, undreaded, and thyself half starved?

596

Whom thus the Sin-born monster answered soon:[5468]

597

“To me, who with eternal famine pine, [5469]

598

Alike is Hell, or Paradise, or Heaven—

599

There best, where most with ravine[5470] I may meet,

600

Which here, though plenteous, all too little seems

601

To stuff this maw, this vast unhide-bound [5471] corpse.” [5472]

602

To whom th’ incestuous mother thus replied:

603

“Thou therefore on these herbs, and fruits, and flow’rs

604

Feed first. On each beast next, and fish, and fowl—

605

No homely [5473] morsels! And whatever thing

606

The scythe of Time mows down, devour unspared,[5474]

607

Till I, in man residing through the race,

608

His thoughts, his looks, words, actions, all infect,

609

And season him thy last and sweetest prey.

610

This said, they both betook them several [5475] ways,

611

Both to destroy, or unimmortal make

612

All kinds, and for destruction to mature[5476]

613

Sooner or later. Which th’Almighty seeing,

614

From His transcendent seat the Saints among,

615

To those bright orders uttered thus His voice:

616

“See with what heat these dogs of Hell advance

617

To waste[5477] and havoc[5478] yonder world, which I

618

So fair and good created, and had still

619

Kept in that state, had not the folly of man

620

Let in these wasteful Furies, who impute[5479]

621

Folly to me! So doth the Prince of Hell

622

And his adherents, that with so much ease

623

I suffer [5480] them to enter and possess

624

A place so Heav’nly, and conniving[5481] seem

625

To gratify [5482] my scornful enemies,

626

That laugh, as if transported [5483] with some fit

627

Of passion, I to them had quitted[5484] all,

628

At random[5485] yielded up to their misrule,

629

And know not that I called, and drew them thither,

630

My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff [5486] and filth

631

Which man’s polluting sin with taint hath shed

632

On what was pure, till [5487] crammed [5488] and gorged,[5489] night[5490] burst

633

With sucked [5491] and glutted [5492] offal,[5493] at one sling[5494]

634

Of thy victorious arm, well-pleasing Son,

635

Both Sin and Death, and yawning[5495] grave at last

636

Through Chaos hurled, obstruct [5496] the mouth of Hell

637

Forever, and seal up his ravenous jaws.

638

Then Heav’n and earth renewed shall be made pure

639

To sanctity[5497] that shall receive no stain:

640

Till then, the curse pronounced on both precedes.”[5498]

641

He ended, and the Heav’nly audience loud

642

Sung Hallelujah, as[5499] the sound of seas,

643

Through multitude that sung:

“Just are Thy way

644

Righteous are Thy decrees on all Thy works.

645

Who can extenuate[5500] Thee?” Next,[5501] to the Son,

646

Destined Restorer of mankind, by whom

647

New Heav’n and earth shall to the ages rise,

648

Or down from Heav’n descend.

Such was their song,

649

While the Creator, calling forth by name

650

His mighty Angels, gave them several charge[5502]

651

As sorted [5503] best with present things. The sun

652

Had first his precept [5504] so to move, so shine,

653

As might affect the earth with cold and heat

654

Scarce tolerable, and from the north to call

655

Decrepit [5505] winter, from the south to bring

656

Solstitial [5506] summer’s heat. To the blanc[5507] moon

657

Her office they prescribed; to th’ other five[5508]

658

Their planetary motions, and aspects,[5509]

659

In sextile, [5510] square, [5511] and trine, [5512] and opposite, [5513]

660

Of noxious[5514] efficacy, and when to join

661

In synod[5515] unbenign, and taught the fixed [5516]

662

Their influence malignant when to shower,

663

Which of them rising with the sun, or falling,

664

Should prove tempestuous.[5517] To the winds they set

665

Their corners,[5518] when with bluster[5519] to confound [5520]

666

Sea, air, and shore; the thunder when to roll

667

With terror through the dark aereal hall.

668

Some say He bid his Angels turn askance[5521]

669

The poles of earth, twice ten degrees and more

670

From the sun’s axle. They with labor pushed

671

Oblique[5522] the centric globe. [5523] Some say the sun[5524]

672

Was bid turn reins from th’ equinoctial [5525] road

673

Like[5526] distant breadth to Taurus[5527] with the Sev’n

674

Atlantic Sisters,[5528] and the Spartan Twins,[5529]

675

Up to the Tropic Crab,[5530] thence down amain[5531]

676

By Leo, [5532] and the Virgin,[5533] and the Scales,[5534]

677

As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change

678

Of seasons to each clime. Else [5535] had the Spring

679

Perpetual smiled on earth with vernant [5536] flowers,

680

Equal in days and nights, except to those

681

Beyond the polar circles: to them day

682

Had unbenighted [5537] shone, while the low sun,

683

To recompense[5538] his distance, in their sight

684

Had rounded still the horizon, and not known

685

Or east or west, which had forbid the snow

686

From cold Estotiland,[5539] and south as far

687

Beneath Magellan.[5540] At that tasted fruit[5541]

688

The sun, as from Thyestean banquet,[5542] turned

689

His course intended: else how had the world

690

Inhabited,[5543] though sinless more than now,

691

Avoided pinching[5544] cold and scorching heat?

692

These changes in the heav’ns, though slow, produced

693

Like[5545] change on sea and land, sideral [5546] blast,

694

Vapor, and mist, and exhalation hot,

695

Corrupt and pestilent. Now from the north

696

Of Norumbega,[5547] and the Samoed shore, [5548]

697

Bursting their brazen dungeon,[5549] armed with ice,

698

And snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw, [5550]

699

Boreas,[5551] and Caecias,[5552] and Argestes[5553] loud,

700

And Thrascias,[5554] rend the woods, and seas upturn.

701

With adverse [5555] blast upturns them from the south

702

Notus,[5556] and Afer, [5557] black with thund’rous clouds

703

From Serraliona.[5558] Thwart of [5559] these, as [5560] fierce,

704

Forth rush the Levant [5561] and the Ponent [5562] winds,

705

Eurus and Zephyr, with their lateral [5563] noise,[5564]

706

Sirocco[5565] and Libecchio. [5566]

Thus began

707

Outrage[5567] from lifeless things, but Discord first,

708

Daughter of Sin, among th’ irrational [5568]

709

Death introduced, through fierce antipathy. [5569]

710

Beast now with beast ’gan war, and fowl with fowl,

711

And fish with fish. To graze the herb all leaving, [5570]

712

Devoured each other, nor stood much in awe

713

Of man, but fled him or, with count’nance grim,[5571]

714

Glared on him passing.

These were from without[5572]

715

The growing miseries, which Adam saw

716

Already in part, though hid in gloomiest shade,

717

To sorrow abandoned, but worse felt within,

718

And in a troubled sea of passion tossed,

719

Thus to disburden sought[5573] with sad complaint:

720

“O miserable of [5574] happy! Is this the end

721

Of this new glorious world, and me so late[5575]

722

The glory of that glory, who now become

723

Accursed, of [5576] blessèd? Hide me from the face

724

Of God, whom to behold was then my height

725

Of happiness! Yet well,[5577] if here would end

726

The misery. I deserved it, and would [5578] bear

727

My own deservings. But this will not serve:[5579]

728

All that I eat or drink, or shall beget,

729

Is propagated [5580] curse. O voice, once heard

730

Delightfully, ‘Increase and multiply,

731

Now death to hear! For what can I increase

732

Or multiply, but curses on my head?

733

Who of all ages to succeed,[5581] but feeling

734

The evil on him brought by me, will curse

735

My head? ‘Ill fare our ancestor impure,

736

For this we may thank Adam!’ But his thanks

737

Shall be the execration.[5582] So, besides

738

Mine own[5583] that bide[5584] upon me, all from me

739

Shall with a fierce reflux[5585] on me redound—[5586]

740

On me, as on their natural center, light [5587]

741

Heavy, though in their place. [5588] O fleeting joys

742

Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes!

743

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay

744

To mould me man? Did I solicit Thee

745

From darkness to promote[5589] me, or here place

746

In this delicious[5590] garden? As my will

747

Concurred [5591] not to my being, it were but right

748

And equal to reduce me to my dust,

749

Desirous to resign[5592] and render back

750

All I received, unable to perform

751

Thy terms too hard, by which I was to hold

752

The good I sought not. To the loss of that,

753

Sufficient penalty: why hast Thou added

754

The sense of endless woes? Inexplicable

755

Thy Justice seems. Yet to say truth, too late

756

I thus contest. Then should have been refused

757

Those terms whatever, when they were proposed.

758

Thou[5593] didst accept them. Wilt thou[5594] enjoy the good,

759

Then cavil [5595] the conditions? And though God

760

Made thee without thy leave, [5596] what if thy [5597] son

761

Prove disobedient, and reproved, retort,

762

‘Wherefore did’st thou beget me? I sought it not.

763

Would’st thou admit [5598] for his contempt of thee

764

That proud excuse? Yet him not thy election[5599]

765

But natural necessity begot.[5600]

766

God made thee of choice His own, and of His own

767

To serve Him: thy reward was of His grace,

768

Thy punishment then justly is at His will.

769

“Be it so, for I submit: His doom[5601] is fair,

770

That dust I am, and shall to dust return.

771

O welcome hour whenever! Why delays

772

His hand to execute what His decree

773

Fixed [5602] on this day? [5603] Why do I overlive,[5604]

774

Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out

775

To deathless pain? How gladly would I meet

776

Mortality, my sentence, and be earth

777

Insensible![5605] How glad would lay me down

778

As in my mother’s lap! There I should rest,

779

And sleep secure. [5606] His dreadful voice no more

780

Would thunder in my ears. No fear of worse

781

To me, and to my offspring, would torment me

782

With cruel expectation.

“Yet one doubt

783

Pursues me still, lest all [5607] I cannot die,

784

Lest that pure breath of life, the spirit of man

785

Which God inspired, cannot together perish

786

With this corporeal clod.[5608] Then in the grave,

787

Or in some other dismal place, who knows

788

But I shall die a living death? O thought

789

Horrid, if true! Yet why? It was but breath

790

Of life that sinned. What dies but what had life

791

And sin? The body properly had neither.

792

All of me then shall die: let this appease[5609]

793

The doubt, since human reach no further knows.

794

For though the Lord of all be infinite,

795

Is His wrath also? Be it, man is not so,

796

But mortal doomed.[5610] How can He exercise

797

Wrath without end on man, whom death must end?

798

Can He make deathless death? That were to make

799

Strange contradiction, which to God Himself

800

Impossible is held,[5611] as argument [5612]

801

Of weakness, not of power. Will He draw out,

802

For anger’s sake, finite to infinite,

803

In punished man, to satisfy His rigor, [5613]

804

Satisfied never? That were to extend

805

His sentence beyond dust and Nature’s law,

806

By which all causes else, [5614] according still

807

To the reception[5615] of their matter, act,[5616]

808

Not to th’ extent of their own sphere.

“But say

809

That death be not one stroke, as I supposed,

810

Bereaving[5617] sense, but endless misery

811

From this day onward, which I feel begun

812

From in[5618] me, and without [5619] me—and so last

813

To perpetuity. Aye me, that fear

814

Comes thundering back with dreadful revolution[5620]

815

On my defenceless head. Both Death and I

816

Am found eternal, and incorporate [5621] both,

817

Nor I on my part single. [5622] In me all

818

Posterity stands cursed: fair patrimony

819

That I must leave ye, sons. O were I able

820

To waste[5623] it all myself, and leave ye none!

821

So disinherited, how would you bless

822

Me, now your curse! Ah, why should all mankind,

823

For one man’s fault, thus guiltless be condemned—

824

If guiltless? But from me what can proceed,

825

But all corrupt, both mind and will depraved[5624]

826

Not to do only, but to will the same

827

With[5625] me? How can they then acquitted stand

828

In sight of God? Him after all disputes,

829

Forced [5626] I absolve. All my evasions vain,

830

And reasonings, though through mazes, lead me still

831

But to my own conviction: first and last

832

On me, me only, as the source and spring

833

Of all corruption, all the blame lights[5627] due.

834

So might the wrath. Fond [5628] wish! Could’st thou[5629] support

835

That burden, heavier than the earth to bear,

836

Than all the world much heavier, though divided [5630]

837

With that bad woman?[5631] Thus what thou desir’st,

838

And what thou fear’st, alike destroys all hope

839

Of refuge, and concludes thee miserable

840

Beyond all past example and future.

841

To Satan only like[5632] both crime and doom.[5633]

842

O Conscience! Into what abyss of fears

843

And horrors hast thou[5634] driv’n me, out of which

844

I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!

845

Thus Adam to himself lamented loud

846

Through the still night—not now, as ere[5635] man fell,

847

Wholesome, and cool, and mild, but with black air

848

Accompanied, with damps,[5636] and dreadful gloom,

849

Which to his[5637] evil conscience represented[5638]

850

All things with double terror. On the ground

851

Outstretched he lay, on the cold ground, and oft

852

Cursed his creation, Death as oft accused

853

Of tardy execution, since denounced[5639]

854

The day of his offence. “Why comes not Death,

855

Said he, “with one thrice-acceptable[5640] stroke

856

To end me? Shall truth fail to keep her word,

857

Justice Divine not hasten to be just?

858

But Death comes not at call, Justice Divine

859

Mends[5641] not her slowest pace for prayers or cries.

860

O woods, O fountains, hillocks, dales, and bow’rs!

861

With other echo late [5642] I taught your shades

862

To answer, and resound [5643] far other song!

863

Whom thus afflicted when sad Eve beheld,

864

Desolate where she sat, approaching nigh

865

Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed,[5644]

866

But her with stern regard he thus repelled:

867

“Out of my sight, thou serpent! That name best

868

Befits[5645] thee, with him leagued,[5646] thyself as false

869

And hateful.[5647] Nothing wants,[5648] but that thy shape,

870

Like his, and color serpentine, may show

871

Thy inward fraud, to warn all creatures from thee

872

Henceforth, lest that too Heav’nly form, pretended[5649]

873

To hellish falsehood, snare them! But [5650] for thee

874

I had [5651] persisted [5652] happy, had not thy pride

875

And wand’ring [5653] vanity, when least was safe,

876

Rejected my forewarning and disdained

877

Not to be trusted—longing to be seen,

878

Though by the Devil himself, him overweening[5654]

879

To over-reach,[5655] but with the serpent meeting

880

Fooled and beguiled. By him, thou, I by thee.

881

To trust thee from my side, imagined [5656] wise,

882

Constant, mature, proof against all assaults,

883

And understood not [5657] all was but a show

884

Rather than solid virtue, all but a rib

885

Crookèd by nature, bent, as now appears,

886

More to the part sinister, [5658] from me drawn,[5659]

887

Well if thrown out, as supernumerary[5660]

888

To my just number found.[5661] O why did God,

889

Creator wise, that peopled highest Heav’n

890

With Spirits masculine, create at last

891

This novelty on earth, this fair defect

892

Of Nature, and not fill the world at once

893

With men, as[5662] Angels without feminine,

894

Or find some other way to generate[5663]

895

Mankind? This mischief had not been befallen,[5664]

896

And more that shall befall, innumerable

897

Disturbances on earth through female snares,

898

And strait conjunction[5665] with this sex. For either

899

He never shall find out fit [5666] mate, but such

900

As some misfortune brings him, or mistake,

901

Or whom[5667] he wishes most shall seldom gain,

902

Through her perverseness,[5668] but shall see her gained

903

By a far worse, [5669] or if she love, [5670] withheld

904

By parents, or his happiest choice too late

905

Shall meet, already linked and wedlock-bound

906

To a fell [5671] adversary, [5672] his hate or shame.

907

Which infinite calamity shall cause

908

To human life, and household peace confound.”[5673]

909

He added not, and from her turned, but Eve,

910

Not so[5674] repulsed, with tears that ceased not flowing

911

And tresses all disordered, at his feet

912

Fell humble and, embracing them, besought[5675]

913

His peace, [5676] and thus proceeded in her plaint:

914

“Forsake[5677] me not thus, Adam! Witness Heav’n

915

What love sincere, and reverence in my heart

916

I bear thee, and unweeting[5678] have offended,

917

Unhappily deceived! Thy suppliant

918

I beg, and clasp thy knees. Bereave[5679] me not

919

Whereon I live, [5680] thy gentle [5681] looks, thy aid,

920

Thy counsel, in this uttermost [5682] distress,

921

My only strength and stay. [5683] Forlorn[5684] of thee,

922

Whither shall I betake [5685] me, where subsist?[5686]

923

While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,

924

Between us two let there be peace, both joining,

925

As joined in injuries, one enmity

926

Against a foe by doom express[5687] assigned us,

927

That cruel serpent. On me exercise not

928

Thy hatred for this misery befall’n,

929

On me already lost, me than thyself

930

More miserable! Both have sinned, but thou

931

Against God only, I against God and thee,

932

And to the place of judgment will return,

933

There with my cries importune Heav’n that all

934

The sentence, from thy head removed, may light[5688]

935

On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe

936

Me, me only, just object of His ire!

937

She ended weeping, and her lowly [5689] plight,[5690]

938

Immoveable, [5691] till peace obtained from fault

939

Acknowledged and deplored,[5692] in Adam wrought [5693]

940

Commiseration.[5694] Soon his heart relented

941

Towards her, his life so late, [5695] and sole delight,

942

Now at his feet submissive in distress,

943

Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking,

944

His counsel, whom she had displeased, his aid.

945

As one disarmed, his anger all he lost,

946

And thus with peaceful words upraised her soon:[5696]

947

“Unwary, and too desirous, as before,

948

So now of what thou know’st not, who desir’st

949

The punishment all on thyself! Alas!

950

Bear thine own first, ill able to sustain

951

His full wrath, whose thou feel’st as yet least part,

952

And my displeasure bear’st so ill. If prayers

953

Could alter high decrees, I to that place

954

Would speed before thee, and be louder heard,

955

That on my head all might be visited,

956

Thy frailty [5697] and infirmer [5698] sex forgiv’n,

957

To me committed [5699] and by me exposed.[5700]

958

But rise, let us no more contend,[5701] nor blame

959

Each other, blamed enough elsewhere, but strive

960

In offices[5702] of love, how we may lighten

961

Each other’s burden in our share of woe,

962

Since this day’s death denounced,[5703] if aught I see,[5704]

963

Will prove no sudden but a slow-paced evil,

964

A long day’s dying, to augment our pain,

965

And to our seed (O hapless Seed!) derived.”[5705]

966

To whom thus Eve, recovering heart, replied:

967

“Adam, by sad experiment I know

968

How little weight my words with thee can find,

969

Found so erroneous, thence by just event [5706]

970

Found so unfortunate. Nevertheless,

971

Restored by thee, vile as I am, to place

972

Of new acceptance, hopeful to regain

973

Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart

974

Living or dying, from thee I will not hide

975

What thoughts in my unquiet breast are ris’n,

976

Tending to some relief of our extremes,

977

Or end, though sharp and sad, yet tolerable,

978

As in our evils, and of easier choice.

979

If care of our descent perplex us most,

980

Which must be born to certain woe, devoured

981

By Death at last (and miserable it is

982

To be to others cause of misery,

983

Our own begotten, and of our loins to bring

984

Into this cursèd world a woeful race,

985

That after wretched life must be at last

986

Food for so foul a monster), in thy power

987

It lies, yet ere conception, to prevent

988

The race unblest, to being yet unbegot.

989

Childless thou art: childless remain. So Death

990

Shall be deceived [5707] his glut, and with us two

991

Be forced to satisfy his ravenous maw.

992

But if thou judge it hard and difficult,

993

Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain

994

From love’s due[5708] rites, nuptial embraces sweet,

995

And with desire to languish[5709] without hope,

996

Before the present object [5710] languishing

997

With like desire, which would be misery

998

And torment less than none of what we dread,

999

Then both ourselves and seed at once to free

1000

From what we fear for both, let us make short [5711] —

1001

Let us seek Death, or he not found, supply

1002

With our own hands his office[5712] on ourselves.

1003

Why stand we longer shivering under fears

1004

That show no end but death, and have the power

1005

Of many ways to die the shortest choosing,

1006

Destruction with destruction to destroy?

1007

She ended here, or vehement [5713] despair

1008

Broke off the rest: so much of death her thoughts

1009

Had entertained [5714] as dyed her cheeks with pale.

1010

But Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed,[5715]

1011

To better hopes his more attentive[5716] mind

1012

Laboring had raised, and thus to Eve replied:

1013

“Eve, thy contempt of life and pleasure seems

1014

To argue in thee something more sublime

1015

And excellent than what thy mind contemns.[5717]

1016

But self-destruction therefore sought refutes

1017

That excellence thought in thee, and implies,

1018

Not thy contempt, but anguish and regret

1019

For loss of life and pleasure overloved.

1020

Or if thou covet death, as utmost end

1021

Of misery, so thinking to evade

1022

The penalty pronounced, doubt not but God

1023

Hath wiselier armed His vengeful ire, than so

1024

To be forestalled. Much more I fear lest death,

1025

So snatched, will not exempt us from the pain

1026

We are by doom[5718] to pay. Rather, such acts

1027

Of contumacy[5719] will provoke the Highest

1028

To make death in us live. Then let us seek

1029

Some safer resolution, which methinks

1030

I have in view, calling to mind with heed

1031

Part of our sentence, that thy seed shall bruise[5720]

1032

The serpent’s head. Piteous amends! unless

1033

Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand foe,

1034

Satan, who in the serpent hath contrived

1035

Against us this deceit. To crush his head

1036

Would be revenge indeed! Which will be lost

1037

By death brought on ourselves, or childless days

1038

Resolved,[5721] as thou proposest. So[5722] our foe

1039

Shall ’scape his punishment ordained, and we

1040

Instead shall double ours upon our heads.

1041

No more be mentioned then of violence

1042

Against ourselves, and wilful barrenness,

1043

That cuts us off from hope, and savors[5723] only

1044

Rancor[5724] and pride, impatience and despite,[5725]

1045

Reluctance[5726] against God and His just yoke

1046

Laid on our necks. Remember with what mild

1047

And gracious temper He both heard and judged,

1048

Without wrath or reviling. We expected

1049

Immediate dissolution,[5727] which we thought

1050

Was meant by death that day, when lo, to thee

1051

Pains only in child-bearing were foretold,

1052

And bringing forth, soon recompensed with joy,

1053

Fruit of thy womb. On me the curse aslope[5728]

1054

Glanced[5729] on the ground: with labor I must earn

1055

My bread. What harm? Idleness had been worse.

1056

My labor will sustain me and, lest cold

1057

Or heat should injure us, His timely[5730] care

1058

Hath, unbesought, provided, and His hands

1059

Clothed us unworthy, pitying while He judged.

1060

How much more, if we pray Him, will His ear

1061

Be open, and His heart to pity incline,

1062

And teach us further by what means to shun

1063

Th’ inclement[5731] seasons, rain, ice, hail, and snow,

1064

Which now the sky, with various[5732] face, begins

1065

To show us in this mountain, while the winds

1066

Blow moist and keen, shattering the graceful locks

1067

Of these fair spreading trees—which bids us seek

1068

Some better shroud,[5733] some better warmth to cherish

1069

Our limbs benumbed, ere this diurnal [5734] star[5735]

1070

Leave cold the night, how we his gathered beams

1071

Reflected may with matter sere[5736] foment[5737]

1072

Or, by collision of two bodies, grind [5738]

1073

The air attrite[5739] to fire; as late[5740] the clouds

1074

Jostling,[5741] or pushed with winds, rude[5742] in their shock,

1075

Tine[5743] the slant lightning, whose thwart [5744] flame, driv’n down,

1076

Kindles the gummy bark of fir or pine

1077

And sends a comfortable heat from far,

1078

Which might supply the sun. Such fire to use,

1079

And what may else be remedy or cure

1080

To evils which our own misdeeds have wrought,

1081

He will instruct us, praying,[5745] and of grace

1082

Beseeching Him, so as we need not fear

1083

To pass commodiously[5746] this life, sustained

1084

By Him with many comforts, till we end

1085

In dust, our final rest and native home.

1086

What better can we do than, to the place

1087

Repairing[5747] where He judged us, prostrate fall

1088

Before Him reverent, and there confess

1089

Humbly our faults, and pardon beg, with tears

1090

Watering the ground, and with our sighs the air

1091

Frequenting,[5748] sent from hearts contrite, in sign

1092

Of sorrow unfeigned and humiliation[5749] meek?

1093

Undoubtedly He will relent and turn

1094

From His displeasure, in whose look serene,

1095

When angry most He seemed, and most severe,

1096

What else but favor, grace, and mercy shone?”

1097

So spoke our father penitent, nor Eve

1098

Felt less remorse. They forthwith to the place

1099

Repairing where He judged them, prostrate fell

1100

Before Him reverent, and both confessed

1101

Humbly their faults, and pardon begged, with tears

1102

Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air

1103

Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign

1104

Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.

The End of the Tenth Book

BOOK XI

THE ARGUMENT

The son of God presents to his Father the prayers of our first parents, now repenting, and intercedes for them. God accepts them,[5750] but declares they[5751] must no longer abide in Paradise; sends Michael with a band of Cherubim to dispossess them, but first to reveal to Adam future things.

Michael’s coming down.

Adam shews to Eve certain ominous signs; he discerns Michael’s approach, goes out to meet him. The Angel denounces their departure.

Eve’s lamentation. Adam pleads, but submits. The Angel leads him up to a high Hill, sets before him in vision what shall happen till the Flood.

1

Thus they, in lowliest plight, repentant stood

2

Praying, for from the mercy-seat [5752] above

3

Prevenient[5753] grace descending had removed

4

The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh

5

Regenerate[5754] grow instead, that sighs now breathed

6

Unutterable,[5755] which the spirit of prayer

7

Inspired, and winged for Heav’n with speedier flight

8

Than loudest oratory. Yet their port[5756]

9

Not of mean[5757] suitors, nor important less

10

Seemed their petition than when the ancient pair

11

In fables old, less ancient yet than these,

12

Deucalion[5758] and chaste Pyrrha,[5759] to restore

13

The race of mankind drowned,[5760] before the shrine

14

Of Themis[5761] stood devout. To Heav’n their prayers

15

Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds

16

Blown vagabond[5762] or frustrate. In they[5763] passed

17

Dimensionless[5764] through Heav’nly doors, then clad

18

With incense, where the golden altar fumed[5765]

19

By[5766] their great Intercessor,[5767] came in sight

20

Before the Father’s throne. Them the glad Son

21

Presenting, thus to intercede began:

22

“See, Father, what first-fruits on earth are sprung

23

From Thy implanted grace in man! These sighs

24

And prayers, which in this golden censer[5768] mixed

25

With incense, I Thy priest, before Thee bring,

26

Fruits of more pleasing savor ( from Thy seed,

27

Sown with contrition in his heart) than those

28

Which, his own hand manuring,[5769] all the trees

29

Of Paradise could have produced, ere fall’n

30

From innocence. Now therefore bend Thine ear

31

To supplication. Hear his sighs, though mute.

32

Unskilful with what words to pray, let me

33

Interpret for him—me, his advocate

34

And propitiation.[5770] All his works on me,

35

Good, or not good, engraft.[5771] My merit those[5772]

36

Shall perfect, and for these [5773] my death shall pay.

37

Accept me[5774] and, in me, from these receive

38

The smell of peace toward mankind. Let him live

39

Before Thee reconciled, at least his days

40

Numbered, though sad, till death, his doom (which I

41

To mitigate thus plead, not to reverse),

42

To better life shall yield him, where with me

43

All my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss,

44

Made one with me, as I with Thee am one.”

45

To whom the Father, without cloud,[5775] serene:

46

“All thy request for man, accepted, Son,

47

Obtain. All thy request was my decree.

48

But longer in that Paradise to dwell

49

The law I gave to Nature him[5776] forbids.

50

Those pure immortal elements that know

51

No gross, no unharmonious mixture foul,

52

Eject him, tainted now, and purge him off[5777]

53

As a distemper,[5778] gross—to air as gross,

54

And mortal food—as may dispose him[5779] best

55

For dissolution, wrought by sin, that first

56

Distempered all things, and of incorrupt

57

Corrupted. I, at first, with two fair gifts

58

Created him endowed: with happiness

59

And immortality. That[5780] fondly[5781] lost,

60

This other[5782] served but to eternize[5783] woe,

61

Till I provided death. So death becomes

62

His final remedy and, after life

63

Tried[5784] in sharp tribulation,[5785] and refined

64

By faith and faithful works, to second life,

65

Waked in the renovation[5786] of the just,

66

Resigns[5787] him up with Heav’n and earth renewed.

67

“But let us call to synod all the Blest

68

Through Heav’n’s wide bounds. From them I will not hide

69

My judgments, how with mankind I proceed,

70

As how with peccant [5788] Angels late[5789] they saw,

71

And in their state,[5790] though firm, stood more confirmed.”

72

He ended, and the Son gave signal high

73

To the bright minister that watched. He blew

74

His trumpet, heard in Oreb[5791] since perhaps

75

When God descended, and perhaps once more

76

To sound at general doom.[5792] The Angelic blast

77

Filled all the regions. From their blissful bow’rs

78

Of amarantine[5793] shade, fountain or spring,

79

By the waters of life, where’er they sat

80

In fellowships of joy, the sons of light

81

Hasted, resorting [5794] to the summons high,

82

And took their seats, till from His throne supreme

83

Th’ Almighty thus pronounced His sov’reign will:

84

“O Sons, like one of us man is become

85

To know both good and evil, since his taste

86

Of that defended[5795] fruit. But let him boast

87

His knowledge of good lost, and evil got,

88

Happier, had it sufficed him to have known

89

Good by itself, and evil not at all.

90

He sorrows now, repents, and prays contrite,

91

My motions[5796] in him. Longer [5797] than they move,

92

His heart I know,[5798] how variable and vain,

93

Self-left.[5799] Lest therefore his now bolder hand

94

Reach also of the Tree of Life, and eat,

95

And live forever—dream at least to live

96

Forever—to remove him I decree,

97

And send him from the Garden forth to till

98

The ground whence he was taken: fitter soil.

99

“Michael, this my behest[5800] have thou in charge.

100

Take to thee from among the Cherubim

101

Thy choice of flaming warriors, lest the fiend,

102

Or in[5801] behalf of man, or to invade

103

Vacant possession,[5802] some new trouble raise.

104

Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God

105

Without remorse[5803] drive out the sinful pair,

106

From hallowed ground th’ unholy, and denounce[5804]

107

To them, and to their progeny, from thence

108

Perpetual banishiment. Yet, lest they faint[5805]

109

At the sad
[5806]
sentence rigorously urged[5807]

110

(For I behold them softened, and with tears

111

Bewailing their excess), all terror hide.

112

If patiently thy bidding they obey,

113

Dismiss them not disconsolate.[5808] Reveal

114

To Adam what shall come in future days,

115

As I shall thee enlighten; intermix[5809]

116

My cov’nant in the Woman’s seed renewed.

117

So send them forth, though sorrowing, yet in peace,

118

And on the east side of the garden place,

119

Where entrance up from Eden easiest climbs,

120

Cherubic watch, and of a sword the flame

121

Wide-waving, all approach far off to fright,

122

And guard all passage to the Tree of Life,

123

Lest Paradise a receptacle[5810] prove

124

To Spirits foul, and all my trees their prey,

125

With those stolen fruit man once more to delude.”

126

He ceased, and th’ Arch-Angelic Power prepared

127

For swift descent, with him the cohort [5811] bright

128

Of watchful Cherubim. Four faces each

129

Had, like a double Janus,[5812] all their shape

130

Spangled with eyes more numerous than those

131

Of Argus,[5813] and more wakeful than to drowse,

132

Charmed with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed

133

Of Hermes,[5814] or his opiate rod.[5815] Meanwhile,

134

To re-salute the world with sacred light,

135

Leucothea[5816]
waked, and with fresh dews embalmed[5817]

136

The earth, when Adam and first matron Eve

137

Had ended now their orisons,[5818] and found

138

Strength added from above, new hope to spring

139

Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked,

140

Which thus to Eve his[5819] welcome words renewed:

141

“Eve, easily may faith admit that all

142

The good which we enjoy from Heav’n descends;

143

But that from us aught should ascend to Heav’n

144

So prevalent[5820] as to concern the mind

145

Of God high-blest, or to incline His will,

146

Hard to belief may seem, yet this will[5821] prayer

147

Or one short sigh of human breath, upborne

148

Ev’n to the seat of God. For since I sought

149

By prayer th’ offended[5822] Deity to appease,

150

Kneeled and before Him humbled all my heart,

151

Methought I saw him placable[5823] and mild,

152

Bending his ear. Persuasion in me grew

153

That I was heard with favor, peace returned

154

Home to my breast, and to my memory

155

His promise, that thy seed shall bruise[5824] our foe—

156

Which, then not minded[5825] in dismay, yet now

157

Assures me that the bitterness of death

158

Is past, and we shall live. Whence hail to thee,

159

Eve rightly called, mother of all mankind,

160

Mother of all things living, since by thee

161

Man is to live, and all things live for man.”

162

To whom thus Eve, with sad [5826] demeanor meek:

163

“Ill-worthy I such title should belong,

164

To me transgressor, who for thee ordained

165

A help, became thy snare. To me reproach

166

Rather belongs, distrust, all dispraise.

167

But infinite in pardon was my Judge,

168

That I, who first brought death on all, am graced

169

The source of life, next favorable[5827] thou,[5828]

170

Who highly[5829] thus to entitle [5830] me vouchsaf’st,[5831]

171

Far other name deserving. But the field

172

To labor calls us, now[5832] with sweat imposed,

173

Though after sleepless night, for see! the morn,

174

All unconcerned with our unrest, begins

175

Her rosy progress smiling. Let us forth,

176

I never from thy side henceforth to stray,

177

Where’er our day’s work lies, though now enjoined[5833]

178

Laborious, till day droop. While here we dwell,

179

What can be toilsome[5834] in these pleasant walks?

180

Here let us live, though in fall’n state, content.”

181

So spoke, so wished much humbled Eve, but Fate

182

Subscribed[5835] not. Nature first gave signs, impressed[5836]

183

On bird, beast, air—air suddenly eclipsed,[5837]

184

After short blush[5838] of morn. Nigh in her sight

185

The bird of Jove,[5839] stooped[5840] from his airy tour,[5841]

186

Two birds of gayest plume before him drove.

187

Down from a hill the beast that reigns in woods,[5842]

188

First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace,[5843]

189

Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind.[5844]

190

Direct to the eastern gate was bent their flight.

191

Adam observed, and with his eye the chase

192

Pursuing, not unmoved, to Eve thus spoke:

193

“O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh,

194

Which Heav’n, by these mute signs in Nature, shows

195

Forerunners of His purpose, or to warn

196

Us, haply[5845] too secure[5846] of [5847] our discharge[5848]

197

From penalty, because from death released

198

Some days. How long, and what till then our life,

199

Who knows? Or more than this, that we are dust,

200

And thither must return, and be no more?

201

Why else this double object in our sight

202

Of flight pursued in th’ air, and o’er the ground,

203

One way the self-same hour? Why in the east

204

Darkness ere day’s mid-course, and morning-light

205

More orient[5849] in yon western cloud, that draws

206

O’er the blue firmament a radiant white,

207

And slow descends with something Heavenly fraught?”[5850]

208

He erred not, for by this[5851] the Heav’nly bands

209

Down from a sky of jasper[5852] lighted now

210

In Paradise, and on a hill made halt—

211

A glorious apparition,[5853] had not doubt

212

And carnal[5854] fear that day dimmed Adam’s eye.

213

Not that more glorious[5855] when the Angels met

214

Jacob in Mahanaim,[5856] where he saw

215

The field pavilioned[5857] with His[5858] guardians bright,

216

Nor that, which on the flaming mount appeared

217

In Dothan,[5859] covered with a camp of fire,

218

Against the Syrian king, who to surprise

219

One man,[5860] assassin-like,[5861] had levied [5862] war,

220

War unproclaimed. The princely Hierarch[5863]

221

In their bright stand [5864] there left his Powers, to seize

222

Possession of the Garden. He alone,

223

To find where Adam sheltered, took his way,

224

Not unperceived of Adam, who to Eve,

225

While the great visitant approached, thus spoke:

226

“Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps

227

Of us will soon determine,[5865] or impose

228

New laws to be observed, for I descry,

229

From yonder blazing cloud that veils the hill,

230

One of the Heav’nly host and, by his gait,

231

None of the meanest,[5866] some great Potentate

232

Or of the Thrones above, such majesty

233

Invests[5867] him coming, yet not terrible

234

(That I should fear) nor sociably[5868]
mild

235

As Raphael (that I should much confide)[5869]

236

But solemn and sublime,[5870] whom not t’ offend

237

With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.”

238

He ended, and the Arch-Angel soon drew nigh,

239

Not in his shape celestial, but as man

240

Clad to meet man. Over his lucid[5871] arms[5872]

241

A military vest [5873] of purple flowed,

242

Livelier[5874] than Meliboean[5875] or the grain[5876]

243

Of Sarra,[5877] worn by kings and heroes old

244

In time of truce. Iris[5878] had dipped the woof.[5879]

245

His starry helm,[5880] unbuckled, showed him prime

246

In manhood where youth ended; by his side,

247

As in a glistering zodiac,[5881] hung the sword,

248

Satan’s dire dread,[5882] and in his hand the spear.

249

Adam bowed low; he,[5883] kingly, from his state[5884]

250

Inclined not, but his coming thus declared:

251

“Adam, Heav’n’s high beh’est [5885] no preface needs.

252

Sufficient that thy prayers are heard, and Death,

253

Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress,

254

Defeated of his seizure many days

255

Giv’n thee of grace, wherein thou may’st repent,

256

And one bad act with many deeds well done

257

May’st cover.[5886] Well may then thy Lord, appeased,

258

Redeem thee quite[5887] from Death’s rapacious[5888] claim.

259

But longer in this Paradise to dwell

260

Permits not: to remove thee I am come,

261

And send thee from the garden forth to till
[5889]

262

The ground whence thou wast taken, fitter soil.”

263

He added not, for Adam at the news

264

Heart-struck with chilling grip of sorrow stood,

265

That all his senses bound.[5890] Eve, who unseen

266

Yet all had heard, with audible lament

267

Discovered[5891] soon[5892] the place of her retire:[5893]

268

“O unexpected stroke, worse than of Death!

269

Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? Thus leave

270

Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades,

271

Fit haunt of Gods? Where I had hope to spend,

272

Quiet though sad, the respite[5894] of that day

273

That must be mortal [5895] to us both. O flow’rs

274

That never will in other climate grow,

275

My early visitation,[5896] and my last

276

At ev’n, which I bred up with tender[5897] hand

277

From the first op’ning bud, and gave ye names,

278

Who now shall rear ye to the sun? or rank[5898]

279

Your tribes, and water [5899] from th’ ambrosial fount?

280

Thee lastly, nuptial bow’r, by me adorned

281

With what to sight or smell was sweet: from thee

282

How shall I part? and whither wander down

283

Into a lower world, to[5900] this obscure[5901]

284

And wild? How shall we breathe in other air

285

Less pure, accustomed[5902] to immortal fruits?”

286

Whom thus the Angel interrupted mild:

287

“Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign

288

What justly thou hast lost, nor set thy heart,

289

Thus over-fond,[5903] on that which is not thine.

290

Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes

291

Thy husband, whom to follow thou art bound.

292

Where he abides, think there thy native soil.”

293

Adam, by this from the cold sudden damp[5904]

294

Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned,

295

To Michael thus his humble words addressed:

296

“Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or named

297

Of them the highest, for such of shape may seem

298

Prince above Princes, gently hast thou told

299

Thy message, which might else in telling wound,

300

And in performing[5905] end us. What besides

301

Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair,

302

Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring,

303

Departure from this happy place, our sweet

304

Recess,[5906] and only consolation left

305

Familiar to our eyes. All places else

306

Inhospitable appear, and desolate,

307

Nor knowing us, nor known. And if by prayer

308

Incessant I could hope to change the will

309

Of Him who all things can, I would not cease

310

To weary Him with my assiduous[5907] cries.

311

But prayer against His absolute decree

312

No more avails than breath against the wind,

313

Blown stifling[5908] back on him that breathes it forth.

314

Therefore to His great bidding I submit.

315

“This most afflicts me that, departing hence,

316

As from His face I shall be hid, deprived

317

His blessèd count’nance. Here I could frequent[5909]

318

With worship place by place where He vouchsafed

319

Presence Divine, and to my sons relate

320

On this mount He appeared, under this tree

321

Stood visible, among these pines His voice

322

I heard, here with Him at this fountain talked.

323

So many grateful [5910] altars I would rear

324

Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone

325

Of luster from the brook, in memory,

326

Or monument to ages, and theron

327

Offer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flow’rs.

328

In yonder nether[5911] world where shall I seek

329

His bright appearances, or foot-step trace?

330

For though I fled Him angry, yet recalled

331

To life, prolonged and promised race,[5912] I now

332

Gladly behold though but His utmost[5913] skirts[5914]

333

Of glory, and far off His steps adore.”

334

To whom thus Michael, with regard benign:

335

“Adam, thou know’st Heav’n His, and all the earth,

336

Not this rock only. His omnipresence fills

337

Land, sea, and air, and every kind[5915] that lives,

338

Fomented[5916] by His virtual [5917] power and warmed.

339

All th’ earth He gave thee to possess and rule:

340

No despicable[5918] gift. Surmise not then

341

His presence to these narrow bounds confined

342

Of Paradise, or Eden. This had been

343

Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread

344

All generations, and had hither come

345

From all the ends of th’ earth, to celebrate

346

And reverence thee, their great progenitor.

347

But this pre-eminence thou hast lost, brought down

348

To dwell on even[5919] ground now with thy sons.

349

Yet doubt not but in valley, and in plain,

350

God is as here, and will be found alike

351

Present, and of His presence many a sign

352

Still following thee, still compassing thee round

353

With goodness and paternal love, His face

354

Express,[5920] and of His steps the track divine.

355

Which that thou may’st believe, and be confirmed

356

Ere thou from hence depart, know I am sent

357

To show thee what shall come in future days

358

To thee, and to thy offspring. Good with bad

359

Expect to hear, supernal [5921] grace contending[5922]

360

With sinfulness of men, thereby to learn

361

True patience, and to temper [5923] joy with fear

362

And pious sorrow, equally inured

363

By moderation either state to bear,

364

Prosperous or adverse. So shalt thou lead

365

Safest thy life, and best prepared endure

366

Thy mortal[5924] passage when it comes.

“Ascend

367

This hill. Let Eve ( for I have drenched[5925] her eyes)

368

Here sleep below, while thou to foresight [5926] wak’st,

369

As once thou slept’st, while she to life was formed.”

370

To whom thus Adam gratefully replied:

371

“Ascend, I follow thee, safe guide, the path

372

Thou lead’st me, and to th’ hand of Heav’n submit,

373

However chast’ning. To the evil turn[5927]

374

My obvious[5928] breast, arming to overcome

375

By suffering, and earn rest from labor won,

376

If so I may attain.”

So both ascend

377

In the visions of God.[5929] It was a hill,

378

Of Paradise the highest, from whose top

379

The hemisphere of earth, in clearest ken,[5930]

380

Stretched out[5931] to amplest reach of prospect[5932] lay.

381

Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round,

382

Whereon, for different cause, the Tempter set

383

Our second Adam,[5933] in the wilderness,

384

To show him all earth’s kingdoms, and their glory.

385

His[5934] eye might there command wherever stood

386

City of old or modern fame, the seat

387

Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls

388

Of Cambalu,[5935] seat of Cathaian Can,[5936]

389

And Samarchand[5937] by Oxus,[5938] Temir’s throne,

390

To Paquin[5939] of Sinaean[5940] kings, and thence

391

To Agra[5941] and Lahor[5942] of great Mogul,

392

Down to the golden Chersonese,[5943] or where

393

The Persian in Ecbatan[5944] sat, or since

394

In Hispahan,[5945] or where the Russian Tsar

395

In Moscow, or the Sultan in Bizance,[5946]

396

Turkestan-born,[5947] nor could his eye not ken[5948]

397

The empire of Negus[5949] to his utmost port

398

Ercoco,[5950] and the less maritime kings

399

Mombaza,[5951] and Quiloa,[5952] and Melind,[5953]

400

And Sofala,[5954] thought[5955] Ophir,[5956] to the realm

401

Of Congo, and Angola farthest south,

402

Or thence, from Niger flood[5957] to Atlas[5958] mount,

403

The kingdoms of Almansor,[5959] Fez and Sus,[5960]

404

Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen,[5961]

405

On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway

406

The world. In spirit perhaps he also saw

407

Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,[5962]

408

And Cusco[5963] in Peru, the richer seat

409

Of Atabalipa,[5964] and yet unspoiled

410

Guiana, whose great city Geryon’s[5965] sons

411

Call El Dorado. But to nobler sights

412

Michael from Adam’s eyes the film removed,

413

Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight

414

Had bred, then purged with euphrasy[5966] and rue[5967]

415

The visual nerve, for he had much to see,

416

And from the well of life three drops instilled.

417

So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,

418

Ev’n to the inmost seat of mental sight,

419

That Adam, now enforced[5968] to close his eyes,

420

Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced.

421

But him the gentle Angel by the hand

422

Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled:

423

“Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold

424

Th’ effects, which thy original crime hath wrought

425

In some to spring from thee, who never touched

426

Th’ excepted [5969] tree, nor with the snake conspired,

427

Nor sinned thy sin, yet from that sin derive[5970]

428

Corruption to bring forth more violent deeds.”

429

His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,

430

Part arable [5971] and tilth,[5972] whereon were sheaves

431

New reaped, the other part sheep-walks and folds.

432

In th’ midst an altar as the landmark stood,

433

Rustic, of grassy sord.[5973] Thither [5974] anon[5975]

434

A sweaty reaper[5976] from his tillage brought

435

First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf,

436

Unculled,[5977] as[5978] came to hand. A shepherd next,

437

More meek,[5979] came with the firstlings of his flock,

438

Choicest and best, then sacrificing, laid

439

The inwards[5980] and their fat, with incense strewn,

440

On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed.

441

His offering soon propitious[5981] fire from Heav’n

442

Consumed with nimble [5982] glance[5983] and grateful steam;

443

The other’s[5984] not, for his was not sincere,

444

Whereat he inly raged and, as they talked,

445

Smote him[5985] into the midriff with a stone

446

That beat out life. He fell, and deadly pale

447

Groaned out his soul with gushing blood effused.[5986]

448

Much at that sight was Adam in his heart

449

Dismayed, and thus in haste to th’ Angel cried:

450

“O Teacher, some great mischief [5987] hath befall’n

451

To that meek man, who well had sacrificed.

452

Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?”

453

T’ whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied:

454

“These two are brethren, Adam, and to come

455

Out of thy loins. Th’ unjust the just hath slain,

456

For envy that his brother’s offering found

457

From Heav’n acceptance. But the bloody fact[5988]

458

Will be avenged, and th’ other’s faith, approved,[5989]

459

Lose no reward, though here thou see him die,

460

Rolling in dust and gore.”[5990] To which our sire:

461

“Alas! both for the deed, and for the cause!

462

But have I now seen Death? Is this the way

463

I must return to native [5991] dust? O sight

464

Of terror, foul and ugly to behold,

465

Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!”

466

To whom thus Michael:[5992]

“Death thou hast seen

467

In his first shape on man, but many shapes[5993]

468

Of Death, and many are the ways that lead

469

To his grim cave, all dismal, yet to sense

470

More terrible at th’ entrance, than within.

471

Some, as thou saw’st, by violent stroke shall die,

472

By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more

473

In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring

474

Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew

475

Before thee shall appear, that thou may’st know

476

What misery th’ inabstinence[5994] of Eve

477

Shall bring on men.”

Immediately a place

478

Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome,[5995] dark,

479

A lazar [5996] -house it seemed, wherein were laid

480

Numbers of all diseased, all maladies

481

Of ghastly spasm, or racking [5997] torture, qualms[5998]

482

Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,

483

Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,[5999]

484

Intestine stone and ulcer, colic [6000] pangs,

485

Daemoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,

486

And moon-struck[6001] madness, pining[6002] atrophy,[6003]

487

Marasmus,[6004] and wide-wasting pestilence,[6005]

488

Dropsies,[6006] and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.

489

Dire was the tossing, deep the groans. Despair

490

Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch,

491

And over them triumphant Death his dart

492

Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked

493

With vows, as their chief good and final hope.

494

Sight so deform[6007] what heart of rock could long

495

Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,

496

Though not of woman born. Compassion quelled[6008]

497

His best of man, and gave him up to tears

498

A space, till firmer thoughts restrained excess

499

And, scarce recovering words, his plaint renewed:

500

“O miserable mankind, to what fall

501

Degraded, to what wretched state reserved!

502

Better end here unborn. Why is life giv’n

503

To be thus wrested [6009] from us? Rather, why

504

Obtruded[6010] on us thus? Who, if we knew

505

What we receive, would either not accept

506

Life offered, or soon beg to lay it down,

507

Glad to be so dismissed in peace. Can thus

508

The image of God in man, created once

509

So goodly[6011] and erect, though faulty since,

510

To such unsightly sufferings be debased

511

Under inhuman pains? Why should not man,

512

Retaining still divine similitude[6012]

513

In part, from such deformities be free

514

And, for his Maker’s image sake, exempt?”

515

“Their Maker’s image,” answered Michael, “then

516

Forsook them, when themselves they vilified [6013]

517

To serve ungoverned appetite, and took

518

His image whom they served, a brutish[6014] vice,

519

Inductive[6015] mainly to the sin of Eve.

520

Therefore so abject is their punishment,

521

Disfiguring not God’s likeness, but their own,

522

Or if His likeness, by themselves defaced,

523

While they pervert pure Nature’s healthful rules

524

To loathsome sickness—worthily, since they

525

God’s image did not reverence in themselves.”

526

“I yield it just,” said Adam, “and submit.

527

But is there yet no other way, besides

528

These painful passages,[6016] how we may come

529

To Death, and mix with our connatural [6017] dust?”

530

“There is,” said Michael, “if thou well observe

531

The rule of not too much, by temperance taught,

532

In what thou eat’st and drink’st, seeking from thence

533

Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,

534

Till many years over thy head return.[6018]

535

So may’st thou live till, like ripe fruit, thou drop

536

Into thy mother’s lap, or be with ease

537

Gathered, nor harshly plucked, for Death mature:

538

This is old age. But then thou must outlive

539

Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change

540

To withered, weak, and gray. Thy senses, then

541

Obtuse,[6019] all taste of pleasure must forego,[6020]

542

To what thou hast [6021] and, for the air of youth,

543

Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign

544

A melancholy damp[6022] of cold and dry

545

To weigh thy spirits down, and last[6023] consume

546

The balm of life.” To whom our ancestor:

547

“Henceforth I fly not Death, nor would prolong

548

Life much, bent [6024] rather how I may be quit,[6025]

549

Fairest and easiest, of this cumbrous[6026] charge,[6027]

550

Which I must keep till my appointed day

551

Of rend’ring up,[6028] and patiently attend[6029]

552

My dissolution.” Michael[6030] replied:

553

“Nor[6031] love thy life, nor hate, but what thouliv’st

554

Live well. How long, or short, permit [6032] to Heav’n.

555

And now prepare thee for another sight.”

556

He looked, and saw a spacious plain whereon

557

Were tents of various hue. By some,[6033] were herds

558

Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound

559

Of instruments, that made melodious chime,[6034]

560

Was heard, of harp and organ, and who[6035] moved

561

Their stops and chords was seen, his volant [6036] touch,

562

Instinct [6037] through all proportions, low and high,

563

Fled and pursued transverse the resonant fugue.

564

In other part stood one who, at the forge

565

Laboring, two massy clods of iron and brass

566

Had melted (whether found where casual[6038] fire

567

Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale,

568

Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot

569

To some cave’s mouth, or whether washed by stream

570

From underground). The liquid ore he drained

571

Into fit moulds prepared, from which he formed

572

First his own tools, then what might else be wrought,[6039]

573

Fusil[6040] or graven[6041] in metal. After these,

574

But on the hither [6042] side, a different sort

575

From the high neighboring hills, which was their seat,

576

Down to the plain descended. By their guise[6043]

577

Just [6044] men they seemed, and all their study bent

578

To worship God aright, and know His works

579

Not hid, nor those things last [6045] which might preserve

580

Freedom and peace to men. They on the plain

581

Long had not walked when, from the tents, behold!

582

A bevy[6046] of fair women, richly gay

583

In gems and wanton[6047] dress! To th’ harp they sung

584

Soft amorous ditties,[6048] and in dance came on.[6049]

585

The men, though grave,[6050] eyed them, and let their eyes

586

Rove without rein till, in the amorous net

587

Fast caught, they liked, and each his liking chose,

588

And now of love they treat,[6051] till the ev’ningstar, [6052]

589

Love’s harbinger,[6053] appeared. Then all in heat

590

They light the nuptial torch, and bid[6054] invoke[6055]

591

Hymen,[6056] then first [6057] to marriage rites invoked:

592

With feast and music all the tents resound.

593

Such happy[6058] interview[6059] and fair event [6060]

594

Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flow’rs,

595

And charming symphonies,[6061] attached[6062] the heart

596

Of Adam, soon inclined t’ admit [6063] delight,

597

The bent[6064] of Nature, which he thus expressed:

598

“True opener of mine eyes, prime Angel blest,

599

Much better seems this vision, and more hope

600

Of peaceful days portends,[6065] than those two past.

601

Those were of hate and Death, or pain much worse.

602

Here Nature seems fulfilled in all her ends.”[6066]

603

To whom thus Michael:

“Judge not what is best

604

By pleasure, though to Nature seeming meet,[6067]

605

Created, as thou art, to nobler end

606

Holy and pure, conformity[6068] divine.

607

Those tents thou saw’st so pleasant were the tents

608

Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race

609

Who slew his brother. Studious they appear

610

Of arts that polish[6069] life, inventors rare,[6070]

611

Unmindful of their Maker, though His Spirit

612

Taught them, but they His gifts acknowledged none.

613

Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget,

614

For that fair female troop thou saw’st, that seemed

615

Of goddesses, so blithe,[6071] so smooth, so gay,

616

Yet empty of all good wherein consists

617

Woman’s domestic honor and chief praise,

618

Bred only and completed[6072] to the taste

619

Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance,

620

To dress, and troll [6073] the tongue, and roll the eye.

621

To these that sober race of men, whose lives

622

Religious titled them the sons of God,

623

Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame

624

Ignobly, to the trains,[6074] and to the smiles

625

Of these fair atheists, and now swim in joy

626

(Erelong to swim at large),[6075] and laugh, for which

627

The world erelong a world of tears must weep.”

628

To whom thus Adam, of short joy bereft:[6076]

629

“O pity and shame, that they who to live well

630

Entered[6077] so fair, should turn aside to tread

631

Paths indirect,[6078] or in the mid way faint![6079]

632

But still I see the tenor [6080] of man’s woe

633

Holds on the same, from woman[6081] to begin.”

634

“From man’s effeminate slackness it begins,”

635

Said th’ Angel, “who should better hold his place

636

By wisdom, and superior gifts received.

637

But now prepare thee for another scene.”

638

He looked, and saw wide territory spread

639

Before him, towns, and rural[6082] works between,

640

Cities of men with lofty gates and tow’rs,

641

Concourse[6083] in arms, fierce faces threat’ning war,

642

Giants of mighty bone and bold emprise.[6084]

643

Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed,

644

Single or in array of battle ranged

645

Both horse and foot, nor idly must’ring[6085] stood.

646

One way a band select [6086] from forage drives

647

A herd of beeves,[6087] fair oxen and fair kine,[6088]

648

From a fat meadow ground, or fleecy flock,

649

Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain,

650

Their booty. Scarce with life[6089] the shepherds fly,

651

But call in aid, which makes a bloody fray;

652

With cruel[6090] tournament[6091] the squadrons join.

653

Where cattle pastured late,[6092] now scattered lies

654

With carcasses and arms th’ ensanguined[6093] field,

655

Deserted. Others to a city strong

656

Lay siege, encamped, by battery,[6094] scale,[6095] and mine,[6096]

657

Assaulting; others from the wall defend

658

With dart[6097] and javelin,[6098] stones, and sulphurous fire;

659

On each hand slaughter, and gigantic deeds.

660

In other part the sceptered heralds call

661

To council, in the city-gates. Anon[6099]

662

Gray-headed men and grave, with warriors mixed,

663

Assemble, and harangues[6100] are heard, but soon

664

In factious [6101] opposition, till at last

665

Of middle age one[6102] rising, eminent

666

In wise deport,[6103] spoke much of right and wrong,

667

Of justice, or religion, truth, and peace,

668

And judgment from above. Him old and young

669

Exploded,[6104] and had seized with violent hands,

670

Had not a cloud descending snatched him thence

671

Unseen amid the throng. So violence

672

Proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law,

673

Through all the plain, and refuge none was found.

674

Adam was all in tears, and to his guide

675

Lamenting turned full sad:

“O what are these,

676

Death’s ministers, not men, who thus deal death

677

Inhumanly to men, and multiply

678

Ten thousandfold the sin of him who slew

679

His brother, for of whom such massacre

680

Make they, but of their brethren, men of men?

681

But who was that just man, whom had not Heav’n

682

Rescued, had in his righteousness been lost?”[6105]

683

To whom thus Michael:[6106]

“These are the product

684

Of those ill-mated marriages thou saw’st,

685

Where good with bad were matched, who of themselves

686

Abhor[6107] to join[6108] and, by imprudence mixed,[6109]

687

Produce prodigious births of body or mind.

688

Such were these giants, men of high renown,

689

For in those days might[6110] only shall be admired,

690

And valor and heroic virtue called.[6111]

691

To overcome in battle, and subdue

692

Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite

693

Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch

694

Of human glory, and for glory done

695

Of triumph, to be styled great conquerors,

696

Patrons of mankind, gods, and sons of gods—

697

Destroyers rightlier called, and plagues of men.

698

Thus fame shall be achieved, renown on earth,

699

And what most merits fame, in silence hid.

700

But he[6112] the seventh from thee, whom thou beheld’st

701

The only righteous in a world perverse,

702

And therefore hated,[6113] therefore so beset[6114]

703

With foes, for daring single[6115] to be just

704

And utter odious truth: that God would come

705

To judge them with His Saints. Him the Most High,

706

Rapt[6116] in a balmy[6117] cloud with wingèd steeds

707

Did, as thou saw’st, receive[6118] to walk with God,

708

High in salvation[6119] and the climes of bliss,

709

Exempt from death. To show thee what reward

710

Awaits the good, the rest what punishment,

711

Which now direct thine eyes and soon behold.”

712

He looked, and saw the face of things quite changed.

713

The brazen throat of war had ceased to roar,

714

All now was turned to jollity and game,

715

To luxury and riot, feast and dance,

716

Marrying or prostituting, as befel,[6120]

717

Rape or adultery, where passing[6121] fair

718

Allured them, thence from cups to civil broils.[6122]

719

At length a reverend sire[6123] among them came,

720

And of their doings great dislike declared,

721

And testified against their ways. He oft

722

Frequented their assemblies, whereso[6124] met,

723

Triumphs or festivals, and to them preached

724

Conversion and repentance, as to souls

725

In prison, under judgments imminent.

726

But all in vain. Which when he saw, he ceased

727

Contending,[6125] and removed his tents far off.

728

Then from the mountain hewing timber tall,

729

Began to build a vessel of huge bulk,

730

Measured by cubit, length, and breadth, and height,

731

Smeared round with pitch, and in the side a door

732

Contrived, and of provisions laid in large[6126]

733

For man and beast, when lo, a wonder strange!

734

Of every beast, and bird, and insect small,

735

Came sevens, and pairs, and entered in as[6127] taught

736

Their order. Last the sire and his three sons,

737

With their four wives. And God made fast the door.

738

Meanwhile the south-wind rose, and with black wings

739

Wide-hovering all the clouds together drove

740

From under Heav’n. The hills, to their [6128] supply,

741

Vapor and exhalation, dusk and moist,

742

Sent up amain,[6129] and now the thickened sky

743

Like a dark ceiling stood, down rushed the rain

744

Impetuous,[6130] and continued till the earth

745

No more was seen. The floating vessel swum

746

Uplifted, and secure with beakèd prow

747

Rode tilting o’er the waves. All dwellings else

748

Flood overwhelmed, and them with all their pomp

749

Deep under water rolled. Sea covered sea,

750

Sea without shore, and in their palaces,

751

Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped[6131]

752

And stabled.[6132] Of mankind, so numerous late,[6133]

753

All left, in one small bottom[6134] swum embarked.

754

How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold

755

The end of all thy offspring, end so sad,

756

Depopulation? Thee another flood,

757

Of tears and sorrow a flood, thee also drowned,

758

And sunk thee as thy sons, till gently reared

759

By th’ Angel, on thy feet thou stood’st at last,

760

Though comfortless, as when a father mourns

761

His children, all in view destroyed at once,

762

And scarce[6135] to th’ Angel utter’dst thus thy plaint:

763

“O visions ill foreseen! Better had I

764

Lived ignorant of future, so had borne

765

My part of evil only, each day’s lot

766

Enough to bear. Those now, that were dispensed[6136]

767

The burden of many ages, on me light [6137]

768

At once, by my foreknowledge gaining birth

769

Abortive, to torment me ere their being,

770

With thought that they must be. Let no man seek

771

Henceforth to be foretold what shall befall

772

Him or his children—evil, he may be sure,

773

Which neither his foreknowing can prevent,

774

And he the future evil shall no less

775

In apprehension than in substance feel,

776

Grievous to bear. But that care now is past:

777

Man is not whom to warn.[6138] Those few escaped

778

Famine and anguish will at last consume,[6139]

779

Wand’ring that wat’ry desert. I had hope,

780

When violence was ceased, and war on earth,

781

All would have then gone well, peace would have crowned

782

With length of happy days the race of man.

783

But I was far deceived, for now I see

784

Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.

785

How comes it thus? Unfold, celestial guide,

786

And whether here the race of man will end.”

787

To whom thus Michael:

“Those, whom last thou saw’st

788

In triumph and luxurious wealth, are they

789

First seen in acts of prowess eminent

790

And great exploits, but of true virtue void,

791

Who having spilled much blood, and done much waste,

792

Subduing nations, and achieved thereby

793

Fame in the world, high titles, and rich prey,[6140]

794

Shall change their course to pleasure, ease, and sloth,

795

Surfeit,[6141] and lust, till wantonness[6142] and pride

796

Raise out of friendship hostile deeds in peace.

797

The conquered also, and enslaved by war,

798

Shall with their freedom lost all virtue lose

799

And fear of God, from whom their piety feigned

800

In sharp contest[6143] of battle found no aid

801

Against invaders. Therefore cooled in zeal,

802

Thenceforth shall practice how to live secure,[6144]

803

Worldly or dissolute, on what their lords

804

Shall leave them to enjoy, for th’ earth shall bear

805

More than enough that temperance[6145] may be tried.[6146]

806

So all shall turn degenerate,[6147] all depraved,[6148]

807

Justice and temperance, truth and faith, forgot—

808

One man[6149] except, the only son of light

809

In a dark age, against example good,[6150]

810

Against allurement,[6151] custom,[6152] and a world

811

Offended.[6153] Fearless of reproach and scorn,

812

Or violence, he of their wicked ways

813

Shall them admonish, and before them set

814

The paths of righteousness, how much more safe

815

And full of peace, denouncing[6154] wrath to come

816

Of their impenitence,[6155] and shall return

817

Of them derided, but of God observed

818

The one just man alive. By His command

819

Shall build a wondrous ark, as thou beheld’st,

820

To save himself, and household, from amidst

821

A world devote to universal wrack.[6156]

822

No sooner he, with them of man and beast

823

Select [6157] for life shall in the ark be lodged,

824

And sheltered round, but all the cataracts[6158]

825

Of Heav’n set open on the earth shall pour

826

Rain, day and night. All fountains of the deep,

827

Broke up, shall heave the ocean to usurp

828

Beyond all bounds, till inundation rise

829

Above the highest hills. Then shall this mount

830

Of Paradise by might of waves be moved

831

Out of his place, pushed by the hornèd[6159] flood,

832

With all his verdure spoiled,[6160] and trees adrift,

833

Down the great river [6161] to the op’ning gulf,[6162]

834

And there take root an island salt and bare,

835

The haunt of seals, and orcs,[6163] and sea-mew’s[6164] clang,[6165]

836

To teach thee that God attributes [6166] to place

837

No sanctity, if none[6167] be thither brought

838

By men who there frequent, or therein dwell.

839

And now, what further shall ensue, behold.”

840

He looked, and saw the ark hull [6168] on the flood,

841

Which now abated, for the clouds were fled,

842

Driven by a keen north-wind that, blowing dry,

843

Wrinkled the face of deluge, as[6169] decayed,[6170]

844

And the clear sun on his wide wat’ry glass

845

Gazed hot, and of [6171] the fresh wave largely[6172] drew,

846

As after thirst, which made their flowing shrink

847

From standing lake to tripping[6173] ebb, that stole

848

With soft foot towards the deep, who now had stopped[6174]

849

His sluices,[6175] as the Heav’n his windows shut.

850

The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground,

851

Fast on the top of some high mountain fixed.

852

And now the tops of hills as rocks appear.

853

With clamor[6176] thence the rapid currents drive

854

Towards the retreating sea their furious [6177] tide.[6178]

855

Forthwith[6179] from out the ark a raven flies,

856

And after him the surer [6180] messenger,

857

A dove sent forth once and again[6181] to spy

858

Green tree or ground, whereon his foot may light.[6182]

859

The second time returning, in his bill

860

An olive leaf he brings, pacific[6183] sign.

861

Anon[6184] dry ground appears, and from his ark

862

The ancient sire descends, with all his train,

863

Then with uplifted hands and eyes devout,

864

Grateful to Heav’n, over his head beholds

865

A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow[6185]

866

Conspicuous[6186] with three lifted [6187] colors gay,

867

Betok’ning[6188] peace from God, and cov’nant new.

868

Whereat the heart of Adam, erst [6189] so sad,

869

Greatly rejoiced, and thus his joy broke forth:

870

“O thou, who future things canst represent

871

As present, Heav’nly instructor, I revive

872

At this last sight, assured that man shall live,

873

With all the creatures and their seed preserve.[6190]

874

Far less I now lament for one whole world

875

Of wicked sons destroyed, than I rejoice

876

For one man found so perfect, and so just,

877

That God vouchsafes to raise another world

878

From him, and all His anger to forget.

879

But say, what mean those colored streaks in Heav’n

880

Distended,[6191] as[6192] the brow of God appeased?

881

Or serve they, as a flow’ry verge,[6193] to bind

882

The fluid skirts of that same wat’ry cloud,

883

Lest it again dissolve and show’r the earth?”

884

To whom the Arch-Angel:

“Dextrously[6194] thou aim’st.

885

So willingly doth God remit[6195] His ire,

886

Though late[6196] repenting[6197] Him of man[6198] depraved,[6199]

887

Grieved at His heart, when looking down He saw

888

The whole earth filled with violence, and all flesh

889

Corrupting each their way. Yet, those removed,

890

Such grace shall one just man find in His sight,

891

That He relents,[6200] not to blot [6201] out mankind,

892

And makes a covenant never to destroy

893

The earth again by flood, nor let the sea

894

Surpass his bounds, nor rain to drown the world,

895

With man therein or beast. But when He brings

896

Over the earth a cloud, will therein set

897

His triple-colored bow, whereon to look,

898

And call to mind His cov’nant. Day and night,

899

Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary[6202] frost,

900

Shall hold their course, till fire purge all things new,

901

Both Heav’n and earth, wherein the just shall dwell.”

The End of the Eleventh Book

BOOK XII

THE ARGUMENT

The Angel Michael continues from the Flood, to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of Abraham, comes by degrees to explain who that seed of the woman shall be, which was promised Adam and Eve in the Fall; his Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension; the state of the Church till his Second Coming.

Adam, greatly satisfied and recomforted by these relations and promises, descends the hill with Michael; wakens Eve, who all this while had slept, but with gentle dreams composed to quietness of mind and submission. Michael in either hand leads them out of Paradise, the fiery sword waving behind them, and the Cherubim taking their stations to guard the place.

1

As one who in his journey bates[6203] at noon,

2

Though bent[6204] on speed, so here the Arch-Angel paused

3

Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored,

4

If Adam aught perhaps might interpose.[6205]

5

Then with transition sweet,[6206] new speech resumes:

6

“Thus thou hast seen one world begin, and end,

7

And man, as from a second stock, proceed.

8

Much thou hast yet to see, but I perceive

9

Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine

10

Must needs impair[6207] and weary human sense.

11

Henceforth what is to come I will relate.

12

Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.

13

“This second source[6208] of men, while yet but few,

14

And while the dread of judgment past remains

15

Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,

16

With some[6209] regard to what is just and right

17

Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace,[6210]

18

Laboring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,

19

Corn, wine, and oil, and from the herd or flock

20

Oft sacrificing bullock,[6211] lamb, or kid,

21

With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred feast,

22

Shall spend their days in joy unblamed,[6212] and dwell

23

Long time in peace, by families and tribes,

24

Under paternal rule. Till one[6213] shall rise

25

Of proud ambitious heart, who not content

26

With fair equality, fraternal state,

27

Will arrogate dominion undeserved

28

Over his brethren, and quite dispossess[6214]

29

Concord[6215] and law of nature from the earth,

30

Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)

31

With war, and hostile snare, such as refuse

32

Subjection to his empire tyrannous.

33

A mighty hunter thence he shall be styled

34

Before the Lord, as in despite[6216] of Heav’n,

35

Or from Heav’n claiming second sov’reignty,

36

And from rebellion shall derive his name,

37

Though of rebellion others he accuse.

38

“He with a crew, whom like ambition joins

39

With him or under him to tyrannize,

40

Marching from Eden towards the west, shall find

41

The plain,[6217] wherein a black bituminous[6218] gurge[6219]

42

Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell.

43

Of brick, and of that stuff, they cast [6220] to build

44

A city and tow’r,[6221] whose top may reach to Heav’n,

45

And get themselves a name, lest far dispersed

46

In foreign lands, their memory be lost,

47

Regardless whether good or evil fame.

48

But God, who oft descends to visit men

49

Unseen, and through their habitations walks

50

To mark their doings, them beholding soon,

51

Comes down to see their city, ere the tower

52

Obstruct Heav’n-tow’rs, and in derision sets

53

Upon their tongues a various[6222] spirit, to raze[6223]

54

Quite out their native language and, instead,

55

To sow[6224] a jangling[6225] noise of words unknown.

56

Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud

57

Among the builders; each to other calls

58

Not understood; till hoarse, and all in rage,

59

As mocked they storm.[6226] Great laughter was in Heav’n

60

And looking down, to see the hubbub strange

61

And hear the din. Thus was the building[6227] left

62

Ridiculous, and the work Confusion[6228] named.”

63

Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased:

64

“O execrable son! so to aspire

65

Above his brethren, to himself assuming

66

Authority usurped, from God not giv’n.

67

He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,

68

Dominion absolute; that right we hold

69

By His donation.[6229] But man over men

70

He made not lord, such title to Himself

71

Reserving, human left from human free.

72

But this usurper his encroachment[6230] proud

73

Stays[6231] not on man! To God his tower intends

74

Siege[6232] and defiance. Wretched man! What food

75

Will he convey up thither, to sustain

76

Himself and his rash army, where thin air

77

Above the clouds will pine[6233] his entrails gross,

78

And famish[6234] him of breath, if not of bread?”

79

To whom thus Michael:

“Justly thou abhorr’st

80

That son, who on the quiet state of men

81

Such trouble brought, affecting [6235] to subdue

82

Rational liberty. Yet know withal,[6236]

83

Since thy original lapse true liberty

84

Is lost, which always with right reason dwells

85

Twinned, and from her hath no dividual being.

86

Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,

87

Immediately inordinate desires,

88

And upstart passions, catch[6237] the government[6238]

89

From reason, and to servitude reduce

90

Man, till then free. Therefore, since he permits

91

Within himself unworthy powers to reign

92

Over free reason, God, in judgment just,

93

Subjects him from without to violent lords,

94

Who oft as undeservedly enthrall [6239]

95

His outward freedom. Tyranny must be—

96

Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.

97

Yet sometimes nations will decline so low

98

From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,

99

But justice, and some fatal curse annexed,

100

Deprives them of their outward liberty,

101

Their inward lost. Witness th’ irreverent son[6240]

102

Of him who built the ark, who for the shame

103

Done to his father,[6241] heard this heavy curse,

104

‘Servant of servants,’ on his vicious[6242] race.

105

Thus will this latter, as the former world,

106

Still tend from bad to worse, till God at last,

107

Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw

108

His presence from among them, and avert

109

His holy eyes, resolving from thenceforth

110

To leave them to their own polluted ways,

111

And one peculiar[6243] nation[6244] to select

112

From all the rest, of whom to be invoked,

113

A nation from one faithful man[6245] to spring,

114

Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,

115

Bred up in idol-worship. O that men

116

(Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,

117

While yet the patriarch lived who ’scaped the Flood,

118

As to forsake the living God, and fall

119

To worship their own work in wood and stone

120

For gods! Yet him God the Most High vouchsafes[6246]

121

To call by vision from his father’s house,

122

His kindred and false gods, into a land

123

Which He will show him, and from him will raise

124

A mighty nation, and upon him show’r

125

His benediction so that in his seed

126

All nations shall be blest. He straight[6247] obeys,

127

Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes.

128

“I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith

129

He leaves his gods, his friends, and native soil,

130

Ur[6248] of Chaldaea, passing now the ford

131

To Haran,[6249] after him a cumbrous train

132

Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude,[6250]

133

Not wand’ring poor, but trusting all his wealth

134

With God, who called him, in a land unknown.

135

Canaan he now attains; I see his tents

136

Pitched about Sechem,[6251] and the neighboring plain

137

Of Moreh. There by promise he receives

138

Gift to his progeny of all that land,

139

From Hamath[6252] northward to the desert south

140

( Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed),

141

From Hermon[6253] east to the great western sea.[6254]

142

Mount Hermon—yonder sea—each place behold

143

In prospect, as I point them. On the shore,

144

Mount Carmel.[6255] Here, the double-founted[6256] stream,

145

Jordan, true limit [6257] eastward, but his[6258] sons

146

Shall dwell to Senir,[6259] that long ridge of hills.

147

“This ponder, that all nations of the earth

148

Shall in his seed be blessèd. By that seed

149

Is meant thy great Deliverer,[6260] who shall bruise[6261]

150

The serpent’s head, whereof to thee anon[6262]

151

Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch blest,

152

Whom ‘faithful Abraham’ due time[6263] shall call,

153

A son[6264] and of his son a grand-child [6265] leaves,

154

Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown.

155

The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs

156

From Canaan to a land hereafter called

157

Egypt, divided by the river Nile.

158

See where it flows, disgorging[6266] at seven mouths

159

Into the sea. To sojourn [6267] in that land

160

He comes, invited by a younger son[6268]

161

In time of dearth,[6269] a son whose worthy deeds

162

Raise him to be the second in that realm

163

Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his race

164

Growing into a nation, and now grown

165

Suspected to a sequent[6270] king, who seeks

166

To stop their overgrowth, as inmate [6271] guests

167

Too numerous,[6272] whence of [6273] guests he makes them slaves,

168

Inhospitably, and kills their infant males.

169

Till by two brethren (these two brethren call

170

Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim

171

His people from enthralment,[6274] they return,

172

With glory and spoil, back to their promised land.

173

“But first, the lawless tyrant, who denies[6275]

174

To know their God, or message to regard,

175

Must be compelled by signs and judgments dire.

176

To blood unshed[6276] the rivers must be turned.

177

Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill

178

With loath’d intrusion,[6277] and fill all the land.

179

His cattle must of rot and murren[6278] die,

180

Botches[6279] and blains[6280] must all his flesh emboss,[6281]

181

And all [6282] his people. Thunder mixed with hail,

182

Hail mixed with fire, must rend th’ Egyptian sky,

183

And wheel [6283] on th’ earth, devouring where it rolls.

184

What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,

185

A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down

186

Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green.

187

Darkness must overshadow all his[6284] bounds,

188

Palpable [6285] darkness, and blot out three days.

189

Last, with one midnight stroke all the first-born

190

Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds

191

The river-dragon[6286] tamed at length submits

192

To let his sojourners depart, and oft

193

Humbles his stubborn heart, but still as ice

194

More hardened after thaw, till in his rage

195

Pursuing whom he late[6287] dismissed,[6288] the sea

196

Swallows him with his host,[6289] but them[6290] lets pass

197

As[6291] on dry land, between two crystal walls,

198

Awed[6292] by the rod of Moses so to stand

199

Divided, till his rescued gain their shore.

200

“Such wondrous power God to His saint will lend,

201

Though present in His Angel, who shall go

202

Before them in a cloud and pillar [6293] of fire,

203

By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire,

204

To guide them in their journey, and remove[6294]

205

Behind them, while the obdurate[6295] king pursues.

206

All night he will pursue, but his approach

207

Darkness defends[6296] between[6297] till morning watch.

208

Then through the fiery pillar, and the cloud,

209

God looking forth will trouble[6298] all his[6299] host,

210

And craze[6300] their chariot-wheels, when by command

211

Moses once more his potent rod extends

212

Over the sea. The sea his rod obeys;

213

On their embattled [6301] ranks the waves return,

214

And overwhelm their war.[6302] The race elect[6303]

215

Safe toward Canaan from the shore[6304] advance

216

Through the wild desert, not the readiest[6305] way,

217

Lest ent’ring[6306] on the Canaanite alarmed[6307]

218

War terrify them[6308] inexpert,[6309] and fear

219

Return them[6310] back to Egypt, choosing rather

220

Inglorious life with servitude, for life

221

To noble (and ignoble) is more sweet

222

Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.[6311]

223

“This also shall they gain by their delay

224

In the wide wilderness. There they shall found[6312]

225

Their government, and their great senate[6313] choose

226

Through the twelve tribes,[6314] to rule by laws ordained.

227

God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top

228

Shall tremble, He descending, will Himself

229

In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets’ sound

230

Ordain them laws, part such as appertain[6315]

231

To civil justice, part religious rites

232

Of sacrifice, informing them, by types[6316]

233

And shadows,[6317] of that destined seed [6318] to bruise[6319]

234

The serpent, by what means he shall achieve

235

Mankind’s deliverance. But the voice of God

236

To mortal ear is dreadful. They beseech

237

That Moses might report[6320] to them His will,

238

And terror cease. He grants what they besought,

239

Instructed that to God is no access

240

Without mediator, whose high office now

241

Moses in figure[6321] bears, to introduce

242

One greater, of whose day he shall foretell,

243

And all the prophets in their age the times

244

Of great Messiah shall sing.

“Thus, laws and rites

245

Established, such delight hath God in men

246

Obedient to His will, that he vouchsafes

247

Among them to set up His tabernacle,

248

The Holy One with mortal men to dwell.

249

By His prescript [6322] a sanctuary is framed

250

Of cedar, overlaid with gold, therein

251

An ark,[6323] and in the ark His testimony,[6324]

252

The records of His cov’nant. Over these

253

A mercy-seat of gold,[6325] between the wings

254

Of two bright Cherubim. Before him[6326] burn

255

Seven lamps as in a zodiac[6327] representing

256

The Heav’nly fires. Over the tent a cloud

257

Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night,

258

Save when they journey. And at length they come,

259

Conducted by His Angel, to the land

260

Promised to Abraham and his seed.

“The rest

261

Were long to tell, how many battles fought,

262

How many kings destroyed, and kingdoms won,

263

Or how the sun shall in mid Heav’n stand still

264

A day entire, and night’s due course adjourn,

265

Man’s voice commanding, ‘Sun, in Gibeon stand,

266

And thou moon in the vale of Aialon,

267

Till Israel overcome!’[6328] So call [6329] the third

268

From Abraham, son of Isaac, and from him

269

His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.”

270

Here Adam interposed:

“O sent from Heav’n,

271

Enlight’ner of my darkness, gracious things

272

Thou hast revealed, those chiefly which concern

273

Just Abraham and his seed. Now first I find

274

Mine eyes true-op’ning, and my heart much eased,

275

Erewhile perplexed with thoughts what would become

276

Of me and all mankind. But now I see

277

His day, in whom all nations shall be blest—

278

Favor unmerited by me, who sought

279

Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.

280

This yet I apprehend not: why to those

281

Among whom God will deign to dwell on earth

282

So many and so various laws are giv’n?

283

So many laws argue so many sins

284

Among them. How can God with such reside?”

285

To whom thus Michael:

“Doubt not but that sin

286

Will reign among them, as of thee begot,

287

And therefore was law giv’n them, to evince[6330]

288

Their natural pravity,[6331] by stirring up

289

Sin against law to fight, that when they see

290

Law can discover [6332] sin, but not remove

291

(Save by those shadowy[6333] expiations[6334] weak,

292

The blood of bulls and goats), they may conclude

293

Some blood more precious must be paid for man,

294

Just for unjust, that [6335] in such righteousness

295

To them by faith imputed they may find

296

Justification[6336] towards God, and peace

297

Of conscience, which the law by ceremonies[6337]

298

Cannot appease, nor man the moral part

299

Perform[6338] and, not performing, cannot live.

300

So law appears[6339] imperfect, and but [6340] giv’n

301

With purpose to resign[6341] them, in full time,

302

Up to a better cov’nant, disciplined [6342]

303

From shadowy types[6343] to truth, from flesh to spirit,

304

From imposition of strict laws to free

305

Acceptance of large grace, from servile fear

306

To filial, works of law to works of faith.

307

And therefore shall not Moses, though of God

308

Highly belov’d, being but the minister

309

Of law, his people into Canaan lead,

310

But Joshua, whom the gentiles Jesus call,

311

His name and office bearing, who[6344] shall quell

312

The adversary-serpent, and bring back

313

Through the world’s wilderness long-wand’red man

314

Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.

315

Meanwhile, they in their earthly Canaan placed,

316

Long time shall dwell and prosper, but[6345] when sins

317

National interrupt their public peace,

318

Provoking God to raise them enemies,

319

From whom as oft He saves them penitent

320

By Judges first, then under Kings. Of whom

321

The second,[6346] both for piety renowned

322

And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive

323

Irrevocable, that his regal throne

324

Forever shall endure. The like[6347] shall sing[6348]

325

All prophecy, that of the royal stock

326

Of David (so I name this king) shall rise

327

A son, the woman’s seed to thee foretold,

328

Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust

329

All nations, and to kings foretold, of kings

330

The last, for of his reign shall be no end.

331

But first a long succession must ensue,

332

And his[6349] next son,[6350] for wealth and wisdom famed,

333

The clouded ark of God, till then in tents

334

Wand’ring, shall in a glorious temple enshrine.

335

Such follow him as shall be registered[6351]

336

Part good, part bad—of bad the longer scroll,

337

Whose foul idolatries and other faults

338

Heaped to the popular sum,[6352] will so incense

339

God, as to[6353] leave them, and expose their land,

340

Their city, His temple, and His holy ark,

341

With all His sacred things, a[6354] scorn and prey.

342

To that proud city, whose high walls thou saw’st

343

Left in confusion, Babylon thence called.

344

There in captivity He lets them dwell

345

The space of seventy years,[6355] then brings them back,

346

Rememb’ring[6356] mercy and His cov’nant sworn

347

To David, stablished [6357] as the days of Heav’n.

348

Returned from Babylon by leave of kings[6358]

349

Their lords, whom God disposed,[6359] the house of God

350

They first re-edify,[6360] and for a while

351

In mean[6361] estate[6362] live moderate. Till grown

352

In wealth and multitude, factious they grow.

353

But first among the priests dissention springs,

354

Men who attend [6363] the altar, and should most

355

Endeavor[6364] peace. Their strife pollution brings

356

Upon the temple itself. At last they[6365] seize

357

The scepter, and regard not David’s sons,

358

Then lose it to a stranger,[6366] that the true

359

Anointed King Messiah might be born

360

Barred[6367] of his right. Yet at his birth a star,

361

Unseen before in Heav’n, proclaims him come,

362

And guides the eastern sages, who inquire

363

His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold.

364

His place of birth a solemn[6368] Angel tells

365

To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night.

366

They gladly thither [6369] haste, and by a choir

367

Of squadroned[6370] Angels hear his carol sung.

368

A virgin is his mother, but his sire

369

The power of the Most High. He shall ascend

370

The throne hereditary, and bound his reign

371

With earth’s wide bounds, his glory with the Heav’ns.”

372

He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy

373

Surcharged[6371] as had, like grief, been dewed in tears,

374

Without the vent [6372] of words, which these he breathed:

375

“O prophet of glad tidings, finisher[6373]

376

Of utmost hope! Now clear I understand

377

What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain,

378

Why our great expectation should be called

379

The seed of woman. Virgin Mother, hail,

380

High in the love of Heav’n! Yet from my loins

381

Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the son

382

Of God Most High: so God with man unites!

383

Needs must the serpent now his capital bruise[6374]

384

Expect with mortal[6375] pain. Say where and when

385

Their fight, what stroke shall bruise the victor’s heel.”

386

To whom thus Michael:

“Dream not of their fight

387

As of a duel,[6376] or the local [6377] wounds

388

Of head or heel. Not therefore joins the Son

389

Manhood to Godhead, with more strength to foil [6378]

390

Thy enemy, nor so is overcome

391

Satan, whose fall from Heav’n, a deadlier bruise,

392

Disabled not to give thee thy death’s wound,

393

Which he,[6379] who comes thy Savior, shall recure,[6380]

394

Not by destroying Satan but his[6381] works

395

In thee, and in thy seed. Nor can this be

396

But by fulfilling that which thou did’st want,[6382]

397

Obedience to the law of God, imposed

398

On penalty of death, and suffering death,

399

The penalty to thy transgression due,

400

And due to theirs which out of thine will grow.

401

So only can high Justice rest appaid.[6383]

402

The law of God exact he[6384] shall fulfill

403

Both by obedience and by love, though love

404

Alone fulfill the law. Thy punishment

405

He shall endure, by coming in the flesh

406

To a reproachful [6385] life and cursèd death,

407

Proclaiming life to all who shall believe

408

In his redemption, and that his obedience,

409

Imputed,[6386] becomes theirs by faith, his merits

410

To save them, not their own, though[6387] legal [6388] works.[6389]

411

For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,[6390]

412

Seized on by force, judged and to death condemned,

413

A shameful and accursed, nailed to the cross

414

By his own nation, slain for bringing life.

415

But to the cross he nails thy enemies,

416

The law that is against thee, and the sins

417

Of all mankind, with him there crucified,

418

Never to hurt them more who rightly trust

419

In this his satisfaction.[6391] So he dies,

420

But soon revives: Death over him no power

421

Shall long usurp.[6392] Ere the third dawning light

422

Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise

423

Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light,

424

Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems,

425

His death for man, as many as offered[6393] life

426

Neglect not, and the benefit[6394] embrace[6395]

427

By faith not void of works. This God-like act

428

Annuls thy doom, the death thou should’st have died,

429

In sin forever lost from life. This act

430

Shall bruise[6396] the head of Satan, crush his strength,

431

Defeating Sin and Death, his two main arms,

432

And fix far deeper in his head their stings

433

Than temporal [6397] death shall bruise the victor’s heel,

434

Or theirs[6398] whom he redeems—a death like sleep,

435

A gentle wafting [6399] to immortal life.

436

Nor after resurrection shall he stay

437

Longer on earth than certain[6400] times to appear

438

To his disciples, men who in his life

439

Still [6401] followed him. To them shall leave in charge

440

To teach all nations what of him they learned

441

And his salvation,[6402] them who shall believe

442

Baptizing in the profluent[6403] stream, the sign

443

Of washing them from guilt of sin to life

444

Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall,

445

For death, like that which the Redeemer died.

446

All nations they shall teach. For from that day,

447

Not only to the sons of Abraham’s loins

448

Salvation shall be preached, but to the sons

449

Of Abraham’s faith wherever through the world.

450

So in his seed all nations shall be blest.

451

Then to the Heav’n of Heav’ns he[6404] shall ascend

452

With victory, triumphing [6405] through the air

453

Over his foes and thine. There shall surprise

454

The serpent, prince of air, and drag in chains

455

Through all his[6406] realm, and there[6407] confounded[6408] leave,

456

Then enter into glory, and resume

457

His seat at God’s right hand, exalted high

458

Above all names[6409] in Heav’n, and thence shall come,

459

When this world’s dissolution shall be ripe,

460

With glory and power to judge both quick[6410] and dead—

461

To judge the unfaithful dead, but to reward

462

His faithful, and receive them into bliss,

463

Whether in Heav’n or earth, for then the earth

464

Shall all be Paradise, far happier place

465

Than this of Eden, and far happier days.”

466

So spoke the Arch-Angel Michael, then paused,

467

As at the world’s great period;[6411] and our sire,

468

Replete[6412] with joy and wonder, thus replied:

469

“O goodness infinite, goodness immense!

470

That all this good of [6413] evil shall produce,[6414]

471

And evil turn to good, more wonderful

472

Than that which by creation first brought forth

473

Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,

474

Whether I should repent me now of sin

475

By me done and occasioned,[6415] or rejoice

476

Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring,

477

To God more glory, more good-will to men

478

From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.[6416]

479

But say, if our Deliverer up to Heav’n

480

Must re-ascend, what will betide[6417] the few

481

His faithful, left among the unfaithful herd,

482

The enemies of truth? Who then shall guide

483

His people, who defend? Will they not deal

484

Worse with his followers than with him they dealt?”

485

“Be sure they will,” said the Angel, “but from Heav’n

486

He to his own a comforter [6418] will send,

487

The promise of the Father, who shall dwell

488

His Spirit within them, and the law of faith,

489

Working through love, upon their hearts shall write,

490

To guide them in all truth, and also arm

491

With spiritual armor, able to resist

492

Satan’s assaults, and quench[6419] his fiery darts—

493

What man can do against them, not afraid,

494

Though to the death, against such cruelties

495

With inward consolations recompensed,

496

And oft supported [6420] so as shall amaze

497

Their proudest persecutors. For the Spirit,

498

Poured first on his Apostles, whom he sends

499

T’ evangelize the nations, then on all

500

Baptized, shall them with wond’rous gifts endue[6421]

501

To speak all tongues,[6422] and do all miracles,

502

As did their Lord before them. Thus they win

503

Great numbers of each nation to receive

504

With joy the tidings brought from Heav’n.

“At length

505

Their ministry performed, and race well run,

506

Their doctrine and their story written left,

507

They die, but in their room,[6423] as they forewarn,

508

Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves,

509

Who all the sacred mysteries of Heav’n

510

To their own vile advantages shall turn

511

Of lucre[6424] and ambition, and the truth

512

With superstitions and traditions taint,

513

Left only in those written records pure,

514

Though not but [6425] by the Spirit understood.

515

Then shall they[6426] seek to avail themselves of names,

516

Places, and titles, and with these to join

517

Secular power, though feigning still to act

518

By spiritual, to themselves appropriating

519

The Spirit of God, promised alike and giv’n

520

To all believers; and from that pretence,

521

Spiritual laws by carnal [6427] power shall force

522

On every conscience, laws which none shall find

523

Left them enrolled[6428] or what the Spirit within

524

Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then

525

But force the spirit of grace itself, and bind

526

His consort liberty? What but unbuild

527

His living temples, built by faith to stand,

528

Their own faith, not another’s—for on earth

529

Who against faith and conscience can be heard

530

Infallible?

“Yet many will presume.[6429]

531

Whence heavy persecution shall arise

532

On all who in the worship persevere

533

Of spirit and truth. The rest, far greater part,

534

Will deem[6430] in outward rites and specious[6431] forms[6432]

535

Religion satisfied.[6433] Truth shall retire,[6434]

536

Bestuck with sland’rous darts, and works of faith

537

Rarely be found.

“So shall the world go on,

538

To good malignant, to bad men benign,

539

Under her own weight groaning, till the day

540

Appear of respiration[6435] to the just

541

And vengeance to the wicked, at return

542

Of him so lately promised to thy aid,

543

The woman’s seed, obscurely then foretold,

544

Now ampler known thy Savior and thy Lord,

545

Last[6436] in the clouds from Heav’n to be revealed

546

In glory of the Father, to dissolve

547

Satan with his perverted world, then raise

548

From the conflagrant[6437] mass, purged and refined,

549

New Heav’ns, new earth, ages of endless date,[6438]

550

Founded in righteousness, and peace, and love—

551

To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss.”

552

He ended, and thus Adam last[6439] replied:

553

“How soon hath thy prediction, seer [6440] blest,

554

Measured[6441] this transient world, the race[6442] of time,

555

Till time stand fixed! Beyond is all abyss,

556

Eternity, whose end no eye can reach.

557

Greatly-instructed I shall hence depart,

558

Greatly in peace of thought, and have my fill

559

Of knowledge, what this vessel can contain,

560

Beyond which was my folly to aspire.

561

Henceforth I learn that to obey is best,

562

And love with fear the only God; to walk

563

As in His presence, ever to observe

564

His providence, and on Him sole depend,

565

Merciful over [6443] all His works, with good

566

Still [6444] overcoming evil, and by small

567

Accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak

568

Subverting[6445] worldly strong, and worldly wise

569

By simply meek; that suffering for truth’s sake

570

Is fortitude to highest victory

571

And, to the faithful, death the gate of life,

572

Taught this by his example, whom I now

573

Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.”

574

To whom thus also th’ Angel last[6446] replied:

575

“This having learned, thou hast attained the sum

576

Of wisdom. Hope no higher, though all the stars

577

Thou knew’st by name, and all the ethereal powers,

578

All secrets of the deep, all Nature’s works,

579

Or works of God in Heav’n, air, earth, or sea,

580

And all the riches of this world enjoyd’st,

581

And all the rule, one empire. Only add

582

Deeds to thy knowledge answerable,[6447] add faith,

583

Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love,

584

By name to come called charity, the soul

585

Of all the rest. Then wilt thou not be loath

586

To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess

587

A Paradise within thee, happier far.

588

“Let us descend now therefore from this top[6448]

589

Of speculation,[6449] for the hour precise[6450]

590

Exacts[6451] our parting hence. And see the guards,

591

By me encamped on yonder hill! Expect[6452]

592

Their motion, at whose front [6453] a flaming sword,

593

In signal of remove,[6454] waves fiercely[6455] round.

594

We may no longer stay. Go, waken Eve.

595

Her also I with gentle dreams have calmed,

596

Portending[6456] good, and all her spirits composed[6457]

597

To meek[6458] submission. Thou, at season fit,[6459]

598

Let her with thee partake[6460] what thou hast heard,

599

Chiefly what may concern her faith to know,

600

The great deliverance by her seed to come

601

(For by the woman’s seed) on all mankind,

602

That ye may live, which will be many days,

603

Both in one faith unanimous,[6461] though sad,

604

With cause, for evils past, yet much more cheered

605

With meditation[6462] on the happy end.”

606

He ended, and they both descend the hill.

607

Descended Adam to the bow’r where Eve

608

Lay sleeping, ran before, but found her waked,

609

And thus with words not sad she him received:

610

“Whence thou return’st, and whither went’st, I know,

611

For God is also in sleep, and dreams advise,[6463]

612

Which He hath sent propitious,[6464] some great good

613

Presaging, since with sorrow and heart’s distress

614

Wearied I fell asleep. But now lead on:

615

In me is no delay. With thee to go

616

Is to stay here. Without thee here to stay

617

Is to go hence unwilling. Thou to me

618

Art all things under Heav’n, all places thou,

619

Who for my wilful crime art banished hence.

620

This further consolation yet secure

621

I carry hence, though all by me is lost,

622

Such favor I unworthy am vouchsafed,[6465]

623

By me the promised seed shall all restore.”

624

So spoke our mother Eve, and Adam heard

625

Well pleased, but answered not. For now, too nigh

626

The Arch-Angel stood and, from the other hill

627

To their fixed station, all in bright array

628

The Cherubim descended, on the ground

629

Gliding meteorous,[6466] as ev’ning-mist

630

Ris’n from a river o’er the marish[6467] glides,

631

And gathers ground fast at the laborer’s heel

632

Homeward returning. High in front advanced,[6468]

633

The brandished sword of God before them blazed,

634

Fierce[6469] as a comet, which with torrid heat,

635

And vapor[6470] as[6471] the Libyan air adust,[6472]

636

Began to parch[6473] that [6474] temperate [6475] clime. Whereat

637

In either hand the hast’ning Angel caught

638

Our ling’ring[6476] parents, and to the eastern gate

639

Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast

640

To the subjected [6477] plain, then disappeared.[6478]

641

They looking back, all th’ eastern side beheld

642

Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

643

Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate

644

With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms.

645

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon.

646

The world was all before them, where to choose

647

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.

648

They hand in hand, with wand’ring steps and slow,

649

Through Eden took their solitary way.

The End

PARADISE REGAINED

1671

BOOK I

I, who erewhile[6479] the happy Garden sung

By one man’s disobedience lost, now sing

Recovered Paradise to all mankind,

By one man’s firm obedience fully tried[6480]

Through all temptation, and the Tempter foiled

In all his wiles, defeated and repulsed,

And Eden raised in the waste wilderness.

Thou Spirit, who led’st this glorious Eremite[6481]

Into the desert, his victorious field

Against the spiritual foe, and brought’st him thence

By proof th’ undoubted Son of God, inspire,

As thou art wont,[6482] my prompted[6483] song, else mute,

And bear through height or depth of Nature’s bounds,

With prosperous[6484] wing full summed,[6485] to tell of deeds

Above[6486] heroic, though in secret done,

And unrecorded left through many an age—

Worthy t’ have not remained so long unsung.

Now had the great Proclaimer,[6487] with a voice

More awful [6488] than the sound of trumpet, cried

“Repentance, and Heav’n’s kingdom nigh at hand

To all baptized!” To his great baptism flocked

With awe[6489] the regions round, and with them came

From Nazareth, the son of Joseph deemed,[6490]

To the flood Jordan—came as then obscure,

Unmarked,[6491] unknown. But him the Baptist soon

Descried,[6492] divinely warned, and witness bore

As to his worthier,[6493] and would have resigned

To him his Heav’nly office. Nor was long

His witness unconfirmed: on him[6494] baptized

Heav’n opened, and in likeness of a dove

The Spirit descended, while the Father’s voice

From Heav’n pronounced him His belovèd Son.

That heard the Adversary,[6495] who roving still

About the world, at that assembly famed[6496]

Would not be last, and with the voice divine

Nigh thunder-struck,[6497] th’ exalted man to whom

Such high attest was giv’n a while surveyed[6498]

With wonder. Then with envy fraught,[6499] and rage,

Flies to his place,[6500] nor rests, but in mid air

To council summons all his mighty Peers,[6501]

Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved,[6502]

A gloomy consistory,[6503] and them amidst,

With looks aghast[6504] and sad,[6505] he thus bespoke:

“O ancient Powers of air and this wide world

(For much more willingly I mention air,

This our old conquest, than remember Hell,

Our hated habitation), well ye know

How many ages, as[6506] the years of men,

This universe[6507] we have possessed, and ruled

In manner at our will th’ affairs of earth,

Since Adam and his facile[6508] consort Eve

Lost Paradise, deceived by me, though since

With dread attending [6509] when that fatal wound

Shall[6510] be inflicted by the seed of Eve

Upon my head. Long the decrees of Heav’n

Delay, for longest time to Him is short.

And now, too soon for us, the circling hours

This dreaded time have compassed,[6511] wherein we

Must bide[6512] the stroke of that long-threat’ned wound

(At least, if so we can, and by the head

Broken[6513] be not intended all our power

To be infringed,[6514] our freedom and our being

In this fair empire won of earth and air),

For this ill news I bring: the woman’s seed,

Destined to this, is late of woman born.

His birth to our just fear gave no small cause,

But his growth now to youth’s full flow’r, displaying

All virtue, grace and wisdom to achieve

Things highest, greatest, multiplies my fear.

Before him a great prophet, to proclaim

His coming, is sent harbinger,[6515] who all

Invites, and in the consecrated stream

Pretends[6516] to wash off sin, and fit them so

Purified to receive him pure, or rather

To do him honor as their King. All come,

And he[6517] himself among them was baptized—

Not thence to be more pure, but to receive

The testimony of Heav’n, that who he is

Thenceforth the nations may not doubt. I saw

The prophet do him reverence. On him, rising

Out of the water, Heav’n above the clouds

Unfold her crystal doors, thence on his head

A perfect dove descend (whate’er it meant),

And out of Heav’n the sov’reign voice I heard,

‘This is my Son beloved—in him am pleased. ’

His mother, then, is mortal, but his sire

He[6518] who obtains[6519] the monarchy of Heav’n,

And what will He not do t’ advance His Son?

His first-begot we know,[6520] and sore have felt,

When his fierce thunder drove us to the deep.

Who this is we must learn, for man he seems

In all his lineaments,[6521] though in his face

The glimpses of his Father’s glory shine.

Ye see our danger on the utmost edge

Of hazard,[6522] which admits[6523] no long debate,

But must with something sudden be opposed

(Not force, but well-couched[6524] fraud, well-woven snares),

Ere in the head [6525] of nations he appear,

Their king, their leader, and supreme on earth.

I, when no other durst, sole undertook

The dismal[6526] expedition[6527] to find out

And ruin Adam, and the exploit performed

Successfully. A calmer voyage now

Will waft [6528] me, and the way found prosperous once

Induces best to hope of like success.”

He ended, and his words impression left

Of much amazement to th’ infernal crew,

Distracted and surprised with deep dismay

At these sad tidings. But no time was then[6529]

For long indulgence to their fears or grief:

Unanimous they all commit the care

And management of this main enterprise

To him, their great dictator,[6530] whose attempt

At first against mankind so well had thrived [6531]

In Adam’s overthrow, and led their march

From Hell’s deep-vaulted den to dwell in light,

Regents, and potentates, and kings, yea gods,

Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.

So to the coast of Jordan he directs

His easy[6532] steps, girded[6533] with snaky wiles,

Where he might likeliest find this new-declared,

This man of men, attested Son of God,

Temptation and all guile on him to try—

So to subvert [6534] whom[6535] he suspected raised

To end his[6536] reign on earth so long enjoyed.

But contrary unweeting,[6537] he fulfilled

The purposed counsel, pre-ordained and fixed,

Of the Most High, who in full frequence[6538] bright

Of Angels, thus to Gabriel smiling spoke:

“Gabriel, this day, by proof, thou shalt behold,

Thou and all Angels conversant[6539] on earth

With man or men’s affairs, how I begin

To verify that solemn message late,

On which I sent thee to the virgin pure

In Galilee, that she should bear a son,

Great in renown, and called the Son of God.

Then told’st her (doubting[6540] how these things could be

To her a virgin) that on her should come

The Holy Ghost, and the power of the Highest

O’ershadow[6541] her. This man, born and now upgrown,

To show him worthy of his birth divine

And high prediction, henceforth I expose [6542]

To Satan. Let him tempt, and now assay[6543]

His utmost subtlety, because he boasts

And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng

Of his apostasy. He might have learned

Less overweening,[6544] since he failed in Job,

Whose constant perseverance overcame

Whate’er his[6545] cruel malice could invent.

He now shall know I can produce a man

Of female seed, far abler [6546] to resist

All his solicitations, and at length

All his vast force, and drive him back to Hell,

Winning by conquest what the first man lost

By fallacy [6547] surprised.

“But first I mean

To exercise[6548] him[6549] in the wilderness.

There he shall first lay down the rudiments[6550]

Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth

To conquer Sin and Death, the two grand foes.

By humiliation[6551] and strong sufferance[6552]

His weakness shall o’ercome Satanic strength,

And all the world, and mass[6553] of sinful flesh,

That[6554] all the Angels and aethereal Powers—

They now, and men hereafter—may discern

From what consummate virtue I have chose

This perfect man, by merit called my Son,

To earn salvation for the sons of men.”

So spoke th’ Eternal Father, and all Heav’n

Admiring[6555] stood a space, then into hymns

Burst forth, and in celestial measures[6556] moved,

Circling the throne and singing while the hand

Sung with the voice, and this the argument:[6557]

“Victory and triumph to the Son of God,

Now ent’ring his great duel,[6558] not of arms,

But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles!

The Father knows the Son, therefore secure

Ventures his filial virtue, though untried,

Against whate’er may tempt, whate’er seduce,[6559]

Allure, or terrify, or undermine.

Be frustrate, all ye stratagems of Hell,

And devilish machinations come to nought!”

So they in Heav’n their odes[6560] and vigils [6561] tuned.[6562]

Meanwhile the Son of God, who yet some days

Lodged in Bethabara,[6563] where John baptized,

Musing and much revolving in his breast

How best the mighty work he might begin

Of Savior to mankind, and which way first

Publish[6564] his godlike office now mature,[6565]

One day forth walked alone, the Spirit leading,

And his deep thoughts, the better to converse

With[6566] solitude, till far from track[6567] of men,

Thought following thought, and step by step led on,

He entered now the bord’ring desert wild,

And with dark shades and rocks environed round

His holy meditations thus pursued:

“O what a multitude of thoughts at once

Awakened in me swarm, while I consider

What from within I feel myself, and hear

What from without comes often to my ears,

Ill sorting[6568] with my present state compared!

When I was yet a child, no childish play

To me was pleasing. All my mind was set

Serious to learn and know, and thence to do,

What might be public good. Myself I thought[6569]

Born to that end, born to promote all truth,

All righteous things. Therefore, above my years,

The Law of God I read, and found it sweet,

Made it my whole delight, and in it grew

To such perfection that, ere yet my age

Had measured twice six years, at our[6570] great feast

I went into the Temple, there to hear

The teachers of our Law, and to propose

What might improve my knowledge or their own,

And was admired[6571] by all.

“Yet this not all

To which my spirit aspired. Victorious deeds

Flamed in my heart, heroic acts—one while[6572]

To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke,

Then to subdue and quell,[6573] o’er all the earth,

Brute violence and proud tyrannic power,

Till truth were freed, and equity[6574] restored—

Yet held it more humane, more Heav’nly,[6575] first

By winning words to conquer willing hearts,

And make persuasion do the work of fear,

At least to try, and teach the erring soul,

Not wilfully misdoing, but unaware

Misled. The stubborn only to subdue.

“These growing thoughts my mother soon perceiving,

By words at times cast forth, inly rejoiced,

And said to me apart,[6576] ‘High are thy thoughts,

O Son! But nourish them, and let them soar

To what height sacred virtue and true worth

Can raise them, though above example[6577] high.

By matchless deeds express thy matchless sire.

For know, thou art no son of mortal man,

Though men esteem thee low of parentage.

Thy Father is th’ Eternal King who rules

All Heav’n and earth, Angels and sons of men.

A messenger from God foretold thy birth

Conceived in me a virgin. He foretold

Thou should’st be great, and sit on David’s throne,

And of thy kingdom there should be no end.

At thy nativity a glorious choir

Of Angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung

To shepherds, watching at their folds[6578] by night,

And told them the Messiah now was born,

Where they might see him, and to thee they came,

Directed to the manger [6579] where thou lay’st,

For in the inn was left no better room.[6580]

A star, not seen before, in Heav’n appearing,

Guided the Wise Men thither from the East,

To honor thee with incense, myrrh, and gold,

By whose[6581] bright course led on they found the place,

Affirming it thy star, new-graven[6582] in Heav’n,

By which they knew thee King of Israel born.

Just Simeon[6583] and prophetic Anna,[6584] warned

By vision, found thee in the Temple, and spoke

Before the altar and the vested priest

Like[6585] things of thee to all that present stood. ’

“This having heard, straight I again revolved[6586]

The Law and prophets, searching what was writ

Concerning the Messiah, to our scribes

Known partly, and soon found of whom they spoke

I am—this chiefly, that my way must lie

Through many a hard assay,[6587] ev’n to the death,

Ere I the promised kingdom can attain

Or work redemption for mankind, whose sins’

Full weight must be transferred upon my head.

Yet neither thus disheart’ned or dismayed,

The time prefixed[6588] I waited, when behold

The Baptist (of whose birth I oft had heard,

Not knew by sight) now come, who was to come

Before Messiah, and his way prepare.

I, as all others, to his baptism came,

Which I believed was from above, but he

Straight knew me, and with loudest voice proclaimed

Me him (for it was shewn him so from Heav’n)—

Me him whose harbinger [6589] he was, and first

Refused on me his baptism to confer,

As much his greater, and was hardly[6590] won.[6591]

But as I rose out of the laving[6592] stream

Heav’n op’ned her eternal doors, from whence

The Spirit descended on me like a dove,

And last—the sum[6593] of all—my Father’s voice,

Audibly heard from Heav’n, pronounced me His,

Me His belovèd Son, in whom alone

He was well pleased. By which I knew the time

Now full,[6594] that I no more should live obscure,[6595]

But openly begin, as best becomes

Th’ authority which I derived from Heav’n.

“And now by some strong motion I am led

Into this wilderness, to what intent

I learn not yet. Perhaps I need not know,

For what concerns my knowledge God reveals.”

So spoke our morning star, then in his rise,

And looking round on every side beheld

A pathless desert, dusk[6596] with horrid shades.[6597]

The way he came, not having marked return,

Was difficult, by human steps untrod,

And he still on was led, but with such thoughts

Accompanied of things past and to come

Lodged in his breast as well might recommend[6598]

Such solitude before choicest[6599] society.

Full forty days he passed—whether on hill

Sometimes, anon[6600] in shady vale, each night

Under the covert[6601] of some ancient oak

Or cedar to defend[6602] him from the dew,

Or harbored[6603] in one cave, is not revealed.

Nor[6604] tasted human food, nor hunger felt,

Till those days ended. Hungered then at last

Among wild beasts. They at his sight grew mild,[6605]

Nor sleeping him nor waking harmed. His walk

The fiery serpent fled and noxious[6606] worm,

The lion and fierce tiger glared[6607] aloof.[6608]

But now an agèd man in rural weeds,

Following, as seemed, the quest of some stray ewe,

Or withered sticks to gather, which might serve

Against a winter’s day when winds blow keen

To warm him, wet returned from field at eve,

He[6609] saw approach, who first with curious eye

Perused him, then with words thus uttered spoke:

“Sir, what ill chance hath brought thee to this place,

So far from path or road of men, who pass

In troop or caravan? For single[6610] none

Durst ever, who returned, and dropped not here

His carcass, pined [6611] with hunger and with drought?

I ask the rather, and the more admire,

For that[6612] to me thou seem’st the man whom late

Our new baptizing prophet at the ford

Of Jordan honored so, and called thee Son

Of God. I saw and heard, for we sometimes

Who dwell this wild,[6613] constrained[6614] by want, come forth

To town or village nigh (nighest is far),

Where aught we hear, and curious are to hear,

What happens new. Fame[6615] also finds us out.”

To whom the Son of God:

“Who brought me hither

Will bring me hence. No other guide I seek.”

“By miracle he may,” replied the swain.[6616]

“What other way I see not, for we here

Live on tough roots and stubs,[6617] to thirst inured

More than the camel, and to drink go far—

Men to much misery and hardship born.

But if thou be the Son of God, command

That out of these hard stones be made thee bread,

So shalt thou save thyself, and us relieve

With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste.”

He ended, and the Son of God replied:

“Think’st thou such force in bread? Is it not written

(For I discern thee other than thou seem’st),

Man lives not by bread only, but each word

Proceeding from the mouth of God, who fed

Our fathers here with manna? In the mount

Moses was forty days, nor ate nor drank,

And forty days Elijah without food

Wandered this barren waste. The same I now.

Why dost thou, then, suggest to me distrust,[6618]

Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?”

Whom thus answered th’ arch-fiend, now undisguised:

“’Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate

Who, leagued with millions more in rash revolt,

Kept not my happy station, but was driv’n

With them from bliss to the bottomless deep.

Yet to that hideous place not so confined

By rigor[6619] unconniving[6620] but that oft,

Leaving my dolorous[6621] prison, I enjoy

Large liberty to round[6622] this globe of earth,

Or range[6623] in the air, nor from the Heav’n of Heav’ns

Hath He excluded my resort[6624] sometimes.

I came among the Sons of God when He

Gave up into my hands Uzzean[6625] Job,

To prove[6626] him, and illustrate[6627] his high worth.

And when to all His Angels He proposed

To draw the proud King Ahab[6628] into fraud,

That he might fall in Ramoth,[6629] they demurring,[6630]

I undertook that office, and the tongues

Of all his[6631] flattering prophets glibbed [6632] with lies

To his destruction, as I had in charge.[6633]

For what He bids I do. Though I have lost

Much luster of my native brightness, lost

To be beloved of God, I have not lost

To love, at least contemplate[6634] and admire,

What I see excellent in good, or fair,

Or virtuous.[6635] I should so have lost all sense.

“What can be then less in me than desire[6636]

To see thee and approach thee, whom I know

Declared the Son of God, to hear attent[6637]

Thy wisdom, and behold thy godlike deeds?

Men generally think me much a foe

To all mankind. Why should I? They to me

Never did wrong or violence. By them

I lost not what I lost. Rather by them

I gained what I have gained, and with them dwell

Copartner in these regions of the world,

If not disposer[6638] —lend them oft my aid,

Oft my advice by presages[6639] and signs,

And answers, oracles, portents, and dreams,

Whereby they may direct their future life.

“Envy, they say, excites me, thus to gain

Companions of my misery and woe!

At first it may be but, long since with woe

Nearer acquainted, now I feel by proof

That fellowship in pain divides[6640] not smart,[6641]

Nor lightens aught each man’s peculiar[6642] load.

Small consolation, then, were man adjoined.[6643]

This wounds me most (what can it less?) that man,

Man fall’n, shall be restored, I never more.”

To whom our Savior sternly thus replied:

“Deservedly thou griev’st, composed[6644] of lies

From the beginning, and in lies wilt end,

Who boast’st release from Hell, and leave to come

Into the Heav’n of Heav’ns! Thou com’st indeed,

As a poor miserable[6645] captive thrall[6646]

Comes to the place where he before had sat

Among the prime in splendor, now deposed,

Ejected, emptied, gazed,[6647] unpitied, shunned,

A spectacle of ruin, or of scorn,

To all the host of Heav’n. The happy place

Imparts to thee no happiness, no joy,

Rather inflames thy torment, representing

Lost bliss, to thee no more communicable—

So never more in Hell than when in Heav’n.

“But thou art serviceable to Heav’n’s King!

Wilt thou impute t’ obedience what thy fear

Extorts, or pleasure to do ill excites?

What but thy malice moved thee to misdeem[6648]

Of righteous Job, then cruelly to afflict him

With all inflictions? But his patience won.

The other service was thy chosen task,

To be a liar in four hundred mouths,

For lying is thy sustenance, thy food.

Yet thou pretend’st to truth! All oracles

By thee are giv’n, and what confessed more true

Among the nations? That hath been thy craft,

By mixing somewhat true to vent more lies.

But what have been thy answers? What but dark,

Ambiguous, and with double sense deluding,

Which they who asked have seldom understood,

And not well understood, as good not known?[6649]

Who ever, by consulting at thy shrine,

Returned the wiser, or the more instruct

To fly[6650] or follow what concerned him most,

And run not sooner to his fatal snare?

For God hath justly giv’n the nations up

To thy delusions—justly, since they fell

Idolatrous.

“But when His purpose is

Among them to declare His providence,

To thee not known, whence hast thou then thy truth,

But from Him, or his Angels president[6651]

In every province, who themselves disdaining

T’ approach thy temples, give thee in command

What, to the smallest tittle,[6652] thou shalt say

To thy adorers? Thou, with trembling fear,

Or like a fawning[6653] parasite, obey’st,

Then to thyself ascrib’st the truth foretold.

But this thy glory shall be soon retrenched.[6654]

No more shalt thou by oracling abuse[6655]

The gentiles:[6656] henceforth oracles are ceased,

And thou no more with pomp and sacrifice

Shalt be inquired at Delphos or elsewhere—

At least [6657] in vain, for they shall find thee mute.

God hath now sent His living oracle

Into the world to teach His final will,

And sends His Spirit of truth henceforth to dwell

In pious hearts, an inward oracle

To all truth requisite for men to know.”

So spoke our Savior. But the subtle fiend,

Though inly stung with anger and disdain,[6658]

Dissembled, and this answer smooth returned:

“Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke,

And urged me hard with doings which not will [6659]

But misery hath wrested [6660] from me. Where

Easily canst thou find one[6661] miserable,

And not enforced oft-times to part from truth,

If it may stand him more in stead [6662] to lie,

Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure?[6663]

But thou art placed above me, thou art Lord.

From thee I can, and must, submiss, endure

Check[6664] or reproof, and glad to scape so quit.[6665]

Hard are the ways of truth, and rough to walk,

Smooth on the tongue discoursed,[6666] pleasing to th’ ear,

And tunable[6667] as sylvan[6668] pipe[6669] or song.

What wonder, then, if I delight to hear

Her dictates[6670] from thy mouth? Most men admire[6671]

Virtue who follow not her lore. Permit me

To hear thee when I come (since no man comes),

And talk at least, though I despair t’ attain.

Thy Father, who is holy, wise, and pure,

Suffers the hypocrite or atheous priest

To tread His sacred courts,[6672] and minister[6673]

About His altar, handling holy things,

Praying or vowing, and vouchsafed His voice

To Balaam,[6674] reprobate,[6675] a prophet yet[6676]

Inspired. Disdain[6677] not such access to me.”

To whom our Savior, with unaltered brow:

“Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope,[6678]

I bid not, or forbid. Do as thou find’st

Permission from above. Thou canst not more.”

He added not, and Satan, bowing low

His gray dissimulation,[6679] disappeared,

Into thin air diffused. For now began

Night with her sullen wing to double-shade

The desert. Fowls in their clay [6680] nests were couched,[6681]

And now wild beasts came forth, the woods to roam.

BOOK II

Meanwhile the new-baptized, who yet remained

At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen

Him whom they heard so late[6682] expressly[6683] called

Jesus Messiah, Son of God declared,

And on that high authority had believed,

And with him talked, and with him lodged[6684] —I mean

Andrew[6685] and Simon,[6686] famous after [6687] known,

With others, though in Holy Writ not named—

Now missing him, their joy so lately found,

So lately found and so abruptly gone,

Began to doubt, and doubted many days,

And as the days increased, increased their doubt.

Sometimes they thought he might be only shown[6688]

And for a time caught up[6689] to God, as once

Moses was in the mount and missing long,

And the great Thisbite,[6690] who on fiery wheels

Rode up to Heav’n, yet once again to come.

Therefore, as those young prophets then with care

Sought lost Elijah, so in each place these

Nigh to Bethabara[6691] —in Jericho[6692]

The city of palms, Aenon,[6693] and Salem[6694] old,

Machaerus,[6695] and each town or city walled

On this side the broad lake Genezaret,[6696]

Or in Peraea[6697] —but returned in vain.

Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek,

Where winds with reeds and osiers[6698] whispering play,

Plain fishermen (no greater, men them call),

Close in a cottage low together got,

Their unexpected loss and plaints[6699] outbreathed:

“Alas, from what high hope to what relapse

Unlooked for are we fall’n! Our eyes beheld

Messiah certainly now come, so long

Expected of our fathers. We have heard

His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth.

‘Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand!

The kingdom shall to Israel be restored!’

Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turned

Into perplexity and new amaze.

For whither is he gone? What accident

Hath rapt[6700] him from us? Will he now retire[6701]

After appearance, and again prolong

Our expectation? God of Israel,

Send Thy Messiah forth. The time is come.

Behold the kings of the earth, how they oppress

Thy chosen, to what height their pow’r unjust

They have exalted, and behind them cast

All fear of Thee. Arise, and vindicate[6702]

Thy glory, free Thy people from their yoke!

“But let us wait. Thus far He hath performed,[6703]

Sent His anointed,[6704] and to us revealed him

By His great prophet pointed at and shown

In public, and with him we have conversed.

Let us be glad of this, and all our fears

Lay on His providence.[6705] He will not fail,

Nor will withdraw him[6706] now, nor will recall—

Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence.

Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return.”

Thus they out of their plaints new hope resume

To find whom at the first they found unsought.

But to his mother Mary, when she saw

Others returned from baptism, not her son,

Nor left at Jordan tidings of him none,

Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,

Motherly cares and fears got head,[6707] and raised

Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad:

“Oh what avails me now, that honor high,

To have conceived of God, or that salute,[6708]

‘Hail, highly favored, among women blest’?

While I to sorrows am no less advanced,[6709]

And fears as eminent[6710] above the lot

Of other women, by the birth I bore—

In such a season born, when scarce a shed

Could be obtained to shelter him or me

From the bleak[6711] air. A stable was our warmth,

A manger his, yet soon enforced to fly

Thence into Egypt, till the murd’rous king [6712]

Were dead, who sought his life and, missing,[6713] filled

With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem.

From Egypt home returned, in Nazareth

Hath been our dwelling many years, his life

Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,

Little suspicious to any king. But now,

Full grown to man, acknowledged, as I hear,

By John the Baptist, and in public shown,

Son owned[6714] from Heav’n by his Father’s voice,

I looked for some great change. To honor? No,

But trouble, as old Simeon[6715] plain foretold,

That to the fall and rising he should be

Of many in Israel, and to a sign

Spoken against—that through my very soul

A sword shall pierce, this my favored lot,

My exaltation to afflictions high!

Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest!

I will not argue that, nor will repine.[6716]

“But where delays he now? Some great intent

Conceals him. When twelve years he scarce had seen,

I lost him, but so found as well I saw

He could not lose himself, but went about

His Father’s business. What he meant I mused,[6717]

Since understand: much more his absence now

Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.[6718]

But I to wait with patience am inured,

My heart hath been a storehouse long of things

And sayings laid up, portending strange events.”

Thus Mary, pondering oft, and oft to mind

Recalling what remarkably[6719] had passed

Since first her salutation[6720] heard, with thoughts

Meekly composed awaited the fulfilling,[6721]

The while her son, tracing[6722] the desert wild,

Sole,[6723] but with holiest meditations fed,

Into himself descended, and at once

All his great work to come before him set—

How to begin, how to accomplish best

His end[6724] of being on earth, and mission high.

For Satan, with sly preface [6725] to return,

Had left him vacant,[6726] and with speed was gone

Up to the middle region of thick air,

Where all his Potentates in council sat.

There, without sign of boast, or sign of joy,

Solicitous and blank,[6727] he thus began:

“Princes, Heav’n’s ancient Sons, Ethereal Thrones—

Daemonian Spirits now, from the element

Each of his reign allotted, rightlier called,

Powers of fire, air, water, and earth beneath

(So may we hold our place and these mild seats

Without new trouble!)—such an enemy

Is ris’n to invade us, who no less

Threat’ns than our expulsion down to Hell.

I, as I undertook, and with the vote

Consenting in full frequence[6728] was empowered,

Have found him, viewed him, tasted[6729] him, but find

Far other labor to be undergone

Than when I dealt with Adam, first of men,

Though Adam by his wife’s allurement[6730] fell,

However to this man inferior far—

If he be man by mother’s side, at least,

With more than human gifts from Heav’n adorned,

Perfections absolute, graces divine,

And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.

Therefore I am returned, lest confidence

Of my success with Eve in Paradise

Deceive ye to persuasion over-sure

Of like[6731] succeeding here. I summon all

Rather to be in readiness with hand

Or counsel to assist, lest I, who erst

Thought none my equal, now be overmatched.”

So spoke the old serpent, doubting, and from all

With clamor was assured their utmost aid

At his command, when from amidst them rose

Belial, the dissolutest Spirit that fell,

The sensualest, and after Asmodai[6732]

The fleshliest incubus,[6733] and thus advised:

“Set women in his eye and in his walk,

Among daughters of men the fairest found.

Many are in each region passing [6734] fair

As the noon sky, more like to goddesses

Than mortal creatures, graceful and discreet,[6735]

Expert in amorous arts, enchanting tongues

Persuasive, virgin majesty with mild

And sweet allayed,[6736] yet terrible[6737] to approach,

Skilled to retire, and in retiring draw

Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets.

Such object hath the power to soft’n and tame

Severest temper,[6738] smooth the rugged’st brow,

Enerve[6739] and with voluptuous hope dissolve,[6740]

Draw out with credulous desire, and lead

At will the manliest, resolutest breast,

As the magnetic[6741] hardest iron draws.

Women, when nothing else, beguiled the heart

Of wisest Solomon, and made him build

And made him bow to the gods of his wives.”

To whom quick answer Satan thus returned:

“Belial, in much uneven[6742] scale thou weigh’st

All others by thyself. Because of old

Thou thyself doat’st on[6743] womankind, admiring

Their shape, their color,[6744] and attractive grace,

None are, thou think’st, but taken with such toys.[6745]

Before the Flood, thou with thy lusty crew,

False titled sons of God, roaming the earth,

Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men,

And coupled with them, and begot a race.

Have we not seen, or by relation[6746] heard,

In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk’st,

In wood or grove, by mossy fountain-side,

In valley or green meadow, to waylay

Some beauty rare? Callisto,[6747] Clymene,[6748]

Daphne,[6749] or Semele,[6750] Antiopa,[6751]

Or Amymone,[6752] Syrinx[6753] —many more

Too long. Then lay’st thy scapes[6754] on names adored,

Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan,

Satyr, or Faun, or Silvan![6755] But these haunts[6756]

Delight not all. Among the sons of men

How many have with a smile made small account

Of beauty and her lures, easily scorned

All her assaults, on worthier things intent?

“Remember that Pellean[6757] conqueror,

A youth, how all the beauties of the East

He slightly[6758] viewed, and slightly overpassed.

“How he surnamed of Africa[6759] dismissed,[6760]

In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid.[6761]

“For Solomon he lived at ease, and full

Of honor, wealth, high fare,[6762] aimed not beyond

Higher design[6763] than to enjoy his state,[6764]

Thence to the bait of women lay exposed.

“But he whom we attempt is wiser far

Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,

Made and set wholly on the accomplishment

Of greatest things. What woman will you find,

Though of this age the wonder and the fame,

On whom his leisure[6765] will vouchsafe an eye

Of fond[6766] desire? Or should she, confident

As sitting queen adored on beauty’s throne,

Descend with all her winning charms begirt [6767]

To enamor, as the zone[6768] of Venus once

Wrought that effect on Jove (so fables tell),[6769]

How would one look from his majestic brow[6770]

Discount’nance[6771] her despised, and put to rout

All her array, her female pride deject,[6772]

Or turn to reverent awe? For beauty stands

In th’ admiration only of weak minds

Led captive. Cease to admire, and all her plumes[6773]

Fall flat and shrink into a trivial toy,[6774]

At every sudden slighting[6775] quite abashed.[6776]

“Therefore with manlier objects we must try

His constancy—with such as have more show

Of worth, of honor, glory, and popular praise

(Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wrecked),

Or that which only seems to satisfy

Lawful desires of nature, not beyond.

And now I know he hungers,[6777] where no food

Is to be found, in the wide wilderness.

The rest commit to me. I shall let pass

No advantage, and his strength as oft assay.”

He ceased, and heard their grant[6778] in loud acclaim,

Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band

Of Spirits likest to himself in guile,

To be at hand and at his beck[6779] appear

If cause were[6780] to unfold some active[6781] scene

Of various persons, each to know his part,

Then to the desert takes with these his flight,

Where still, from shade to shade, the Son of God,

After forty days’ fasting, had remained,

Now hung’ring first,[6782] and to himself thus said:

“Where will this end? Four times ten days I have passed,

Wand’ring this woody maze, and human food

Nor tasted, nor had appetite. That fast

To virtue I impute[6783] not, or count part

Of what I suffer here. If Nature need not,

Or God support Nature without repast,

Though needing, what praise is it to endure?

But now I feel I hunger, which declares

Nature hath need of what she asks. Yet God

Can satisfy that need some other way,

Though hunger still remain. So[6784] it remain

Without this body’s wasting, I content me,

And from the sting of famine[6785] fear no harm,

Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts, that feed

Me hung’ring more to do my Father’s will.”

It was the hour of night, when thus the Son

Communed[6786] in silent walk, then laid him down

Under the hospitable covert nigh

Of trees thick interwoven. There he slept,

And dreamed, as appetite is wont to dream,

Of meats and drinks, Nature’s refreshment sweet.

Him thought he by the brook of Cherith[6787] stood,

And saw the ravens with their horny beaks

Food to Elijah bringing, even and morn,

Though ravenous, taught t’ abstain from what they brought.

He saw the prophet also, how he fled

Into the desert, and how there he slept

Under a juniper, then how, awaked,

He found his supper on the coals prepared,

And by the Angel was bid rise and eat,

And ate the second time after repose,

The strength whereof sufficed him forty days.

Sometimes that with Elijah he partook,[6788]

Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.[6789]

Thus wore out night; and now the herald lark

Left his ground-nest, high tow’ring to descry

The morn’s approach, and greet her with his song.

As lightly from his grassy couch up rose

Our Savior, and found all was but a dream:

Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.

Up to a hill anon[6790] his steps he reared,[6791]

From whose high top to ken[6792] the prospect[6793] round,

If cottage were in view, sheep-cote,[6794] or herd.

But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote none he saw,

Only in a bottom[6795] saw a pleasant grove,

With chant[6796] of tuneful birds resounding loud.

Thither he bent his way, determined there

To rest at noon, and entered soon the shade

High-roofed, and walks beneath, and alleys[6797] brown,

That opened[6798] in the midst a[6799] woody scene.

Nature’s own work it seemed (Nature taught[6800] art),

And, to a superstitious eye, the haunt

Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs. He viewed it round—

When suddenly a man before him stood,

Not rustic as before, but seemlier [6801] clad,

As one in city or court or palace bred,

And with fair speech these words to him addressed:

“With granted leave officious[6802] I return,

But much more wonder that the Son of God

In this wild solitude so long should bide,[6803]

Of all things destitute and, well I know,

Not without hunger. Others of some note,

As story tells, have trod this wilderness:

The fugitive bond-woman,[6804] with her son,

Outcast Nebaioth,[6805] yet found here relief

By a providing Angel. All the race

Of Israel here had[6806] famished, had not God

Rained from Heav’n manna. And that prophet bold,

Native of Thebez,[6807] wand’ring here, was fed

Twice by a voice inviting him to eat.

Of thee those forty days none hath regard,

Forty and more deserted here indeed.”

To whom thus Jesus:

“What conclud’st thou hence?

They all had need. I, as thou see’st, have none.”

“How hast thou hunger then?” Satan replied.

“Tell me, if food were now before thee set,

Would’st thou not eat?”

“Thereafter as[6808] I like[6809]

The giver,” answered Jesus.

“Why should that

Cause thy refusal?” said the subtle fiend.

“Hast thou not right to all created things?

Owe not all creatures, by just right, to thee

Duty and service, nor to stay till bid,

But tender [6810] all their power?[6811] Nor mention I

Meats by the law unclean, or offered first

To idols—those young Daniel[6812] could refuse.

Nor proffered by an enemy—though who

Would scruple[6813] that, with want [6814] oppressed? Behold!

Nature ashamed (or, better to express,

Troubled) that thou shouldst hunger, hath purveyed[6815]

From all the elements her choicest store,

To treat thee as beseems, and as her Lord

With honor. Only deign to sit and eat.”

He spoke no dream, for as his words had end

Our Savior, lifting up his eyes, beheld

In ample space under the broadest shade

A table richly spread in regal mode,

With dishes piled and meats of noblest sort

And savor,[6816] beasts of chase, or fowl of game,

In pastry built,[6817] or from the spit, or boiled,

Grisamber[6818] steamed—all fish, from sea or shore,

Freshet[6819] or purling[6820] brook, of shell or fin,

And exquisitest name,[6821] for which was drained

Pontus,[6822] and Lucrine Bay,[6823] and Afric coast.

Alas! how simple,[6824] to these cates[6825] compared,

Was that crude apple that diverted[6826] Eve!

And at a stately[6827] sideboard,[6828] by the wine

That fragrant smell diffused,[6829] in order stood

Tall stripling[6830] youths rich-clad, of fairer hue

Than Ganymede[6831] or Hylas.[6832] Distant more,

Under the trees now[6833] tripped,[6834] now solemn stood[6835]

Nymphs of Diana’s train, and Naiades

With fruits and flowers from Amalthea’s horn,[6836]

And ladies of the Hesperides,[6837] that seemed

Fairer than feigned[6838] of old, or fabled since

Of fairy damsels met in forest wide

By knights of Logres,[6839] or of Lyonesse,[6840]

Lancelot, or Pelléas, or Pellenore.[6841]

And all the while harmonious airs were heard

Of chiming[6842] strings or charming pipes, and winds

Of gentlest gale[6843] Arabian odors fanned

From their soft wings, and Flora’s[6844] earliest smells.

Such was the splendor. And the Tempter now

His invitation earnestly renewed:

“What doubts[6845] the Son of God to sit and eat?

These are not fruits forbidd’n. No interdict[6846]

Defends[6847] the touching of these viands[6848] pure.

Their taste no knowledge works (at least of evil)

But life preserves, destroys life’s enemy,

Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.

All these are Spirits of air, and woods, and springs,

Thy gentle[6849] ministers,[6850] who come to pay

Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord.

What doubt’st thou, Son of God? Sit down and eat.”

To whom thus Jesus temperately[6851] replied:

“Said’st thou not that to all things I had right?

And who withholds my pow’r that right to use?

Shall I receive by gift what of my own,

When and where likes me best, I can command?

I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,

Command a table in this wilderness,

And call swift flights of Angels ministrant,

Arrayed in glory, on my cup t’ attend.

Why should’st thou, then, obtrude[6852] this diligence[6853]

In vain, where no acceptance it can find?

And with my hunger what hast thou to do?

Thy pompous[6854] delicacies[6855] I contemn,[6856]

And count thy specious[6857] gifts no gifts, but guiles.”

To whom thus answered Satan, malcontent:[6858]

“That I have also power to give thou see’st.

If of that pow’r I bring thee voluntary

What I might have bestowed on whom I pleased,

And, rather,[6859] opportunely[6860] in this place

Chose to impart to thy apparent[6861] need,

Why should’st thou not accept it? But I see

What I can do or offer is suspect.

Of these things others quickly will dispose,

Whose pains have earned the far-fet [6862] spoil.”

With that

Both table and provision vanished quite,[6863]

With sound of harpies’ wings and talons heard.

Only the importune[6864] Tempter still remained,

And with these words his temptation pursued:

“By hunger, that each other creature tames,

Thou art not to be harmed, therefore not moved.

Thy temperance,[6865] invincible besides,

For no allurement yields to appetite,

And all thy heart is set on high designs,

High actions. But wherewith to be achieved?

Great acts require great means of enterprise.[6866]

Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,

A carpenter thy father known, thyself

Bred up in poverty and straits[6867] at home,

Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit.

Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire

To greatness? Whence authority deriv’st?[6868]

What followers, what retinue[6869] canst thou gain,

Or[6870] at thy heels the dizzy [6871] multitude,

Longer than thou canst feed them on[6872] thy cost?

Money brings honor, friends, conquest, and realms.

What raised Antipater
[6873]
the Edomite, [6874]

And his son Herod, placed on Judah’s throne

(Thy throne), but gold, that got him puissant friends?

Therefore, if at great things thou would’st arrive,

Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap[6875] —

Not difficult, if thou hearken to me.

Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand.

They whom I favor thrive in wealth amain,[6876]

While virtue, valor, wisdom, sit in want.”

To whom thus Jesus patiently replied:

“Yet wealth without these three[6877] is impotent

To gain dominion, or to keep it, gained.[6878]

Witness those ancient empires of the earth,

In height of all their flowing wealth dissolved,

But men endued with these[6879] have oft attained,

In lowest poverty, to highest deeds:

Gideon,[6880] and Jephtha,[6881] and the shepherd lad[6882]

Whose offspring on the throne of Judah sat

So many ages, and shall yet regain

That seat, and reign in Israel without end.

Among the heathen (for throughout the world

To me is not unknown what hath been done,

Worthy of memorial) canst thou not remember

Quintius,[6883] Fabricius,[6884] Curius,[6885] Regulus?[6886]

For I esteem those names of men so poor

Who could do mighty things, and could contemn

Riches, though offered from the hand of kings.

And what in me seems wanting[6887] but that I

May also, in this poverty, as soon

Accomplish what they did, perhaps, and more?

Extol not riches, then, the toil [6888] of fools,

The wise man’s cumbrance, if not snare, more apt

To slacken virtue and abate[6889] her edge[6890]

Than prompt her to do aught[6891] may merit praise.

What if with like [6892] aversion I reject

Riches and realms! Yet not for that[6893] a crown,

Golden in show, is but a wreath of thorns—

Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights

To him who wears the regal diadem,[6894]

When on his shoulders each[6895] man’s burden lies.

For therein stands[6896] the office of a king,

His honor, virtue, merit, and chief praise

That for the public all this weight he bears.

“Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules[6897]

Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king—

Which every wise and virtuous man attains.

And who attains not, ill aspires to rule

Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes,

Subject [6898] himself to anarchy within,

Or lawless passions in him, which he serves.

But to guide nations in the way of truth

By saving[6899] doctrine, and from error lead

To know and, knowing, worship God aright,

Is yet more kingly. This attracts the soul,

Governs the inner man, the nobler part;

That other o’er the body only reigns,

And oft by force, which to a generous[6900] mind

So reigning can be no sincere delight.

“Besides, to give a kingdom hath been thought

Greater and nobler done, and to lay down[6901]

Far more magnanimous,[6902] than to assume.[6903]

Riches are needless, then, both for themselves

And for thy reason why they should be sought,

To gain a scepter, oftest better missed.”[6904]

BOOK III

So spoke the Son of God, and Satan stood

A while as mute, confounded[6905] what to say,

What to reply, confuted [6906] and convinced[6907]

Of his weak arguing and fallacious[6908] drift.[6909]

At length, collecting [6910] all his serpent wiles,

With soothing words renewed, him[6911] thus accosts:

“I see thou know’st what is of use to know,

What best to say canst say, to do canst do.

Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words

To thy large heart give utterance due: thy heart

Contains of good, wise, just, the perfect shape.

Should kings and nations from thy mouth consult [6912]

Thy counsel would be as the oracle

Urim and Thummim,[6913] those oraculous gems

On Aaron’s breast, or tongue of seers[6914] old

Infallible. Or wert thou sought to deeds

That might require the array[6915] of war, thy skill

Of conduct would be such that all the world

Could not sustain thy prowess, or subsist [6916]

In battle, though against thy few in arms.[6917]

“These godlike virtues wherefore dost thou hide?

Affecting[6918] private life, or more obscure

In savage wilderness, wherefore deprive

All earth her wonder at thy acts, thyself

The fame and glory—glory, the reward

That sole excites to high attempts the flame

Of most erected[6919] spirits, most tempered[6920] pure

Ethereal, who all pleasures else despise,

All treasures and all gain esteem as dross,

And dignities and powers, all but the highest?

Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe. The son

Of Macedonian Philip[6921] had ere these

Won Asia, and the throne of Cyrus[6922] held

At his dispose. Young Scipio had brought down

The Carthaginian pride;[6923] young Pompey quelled

The Pontic king,[6924] and in triumph had rode.

Yet years, and to ripe years judgment mature,

Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.

Great Julius,[6925] whom now all the world admires,

The more he grew in years, the more inflamed

With glory, wept that he had lived so long

Inglorious. But thou yet art not too late.”

To whom our Savior calmly thus replied:

“Thou neither dost persuade me to seek wealth

For empire’s sake, nor empire to affect [6926]

For glory’s sake, by all thy argument.

For what is glory but the blaze[6927] of fame,

The people’s praise—if always praise unmixed?

And what [6928] the people but a herd confused,

A miscellaneous rabble,[6929] who extol

Things vulgar and, well weighed,[6930] scarce worth the praise?

They praise and they admire they know not what,

And know not whom, but as one leads the other.

And what delight to be by such extolled,

To live upon their tongues, and be their talk?

Of whom to be dispraised were no small praise—

His lot who dares be singularly[6931] good.

Th’ intelligent among them and the wise

Are few, and glory scarce of few is raised.[6932]

This is true glory and renown—when God,

Looking on the earth, with approbation marks

The just man, and divulges[6933] him through Heav’n

To all His Angels, who with true applause

Recount his praises. Thus He did to Job,

When to extend his fame through Heav’n and earth

(As thou to thy reproach may’st well remember)

He asked thee, ‘Hast thou seen my servant Job?’

Famous he was in Heav’n; on earth less known,

Where glory is false glory, attributed

To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame.

“They err who count it glorious to subdue

By conquest far and wide, to overrun

Large countries, and in field great battles win,

Great cities by assault. What do these worthies

But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter, and enslave

Peaceable nations, neighboring or remote?

Made captive, yet deserving freedom more

Than those their conquerors, who leave behind

Nothing but ruin wheresoe’er they rove,

And all the flourishing works of peace destroy,

Then swell with pride, and must be titled gods,

Great benefactors of mankind, deliverers,

Worshipped with temple, priest, and sacrifice!

One is the son of Jove,[6934] of Mars[6935] the other,

Till conqueror Death discover [6936] them scarce men,

Rolling in brutish vices, and deformed,[6937]

Violent or shameful Death their due reward.

“But if there be in glory aught of good,

It may by means far different be attained,

Without ambition, war, or violence—

By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent,

By patience, temperance. I mention still

Him whom thy wrongs with saintly patience borne,

Made famous in a land and times obscure:

Who names not now with honor patient Job?

Poor Socrates (who next more memorable?)

By what he taught and suffered for so doing,

For truth’s sake suffering death unjust, lives now

Equal in fame to proudest conquerors.

Yet if for fame and glory aught be done,

Aught suffered—if young African[6938] for fame

His wasted country freed from Punic[6939] rage—

The deed becomes unpraised, the man at least,

And loses, though but verbal, his reward.

Shall I seek glory, then, as vain men seek,

Oft not deserved? I seek not mine, but His

Who sent me, and thereby witness[6940] whence I am.”[6941]

To whom the Tempter, murmuring, thus replied:

“Think not so slight of glory, therein least

Resembling thy great Father. He seeks glory,

And for His glory all things made, all things

Orders and governs, nor content in Heav’n,

By all His Angels glorified, requires

Glory from men, from all men, good or bad,

Wise or unwise, no difference, no exemption.

Above all sacrifice, or hallowed gift,

Glory He requires, and glory He receives,

Promiscuous[6942] from all nations, Jew, or Greek,

Or barbarous, nor exception hath declared.

From us, His foes pronounced, glory He exacts.”

To whom our Savior fervently replied:

“And reason,[6943] since His Word all things produced,

Though chiefly not for glory as prime end,

But to show forth His goodness, and impart

His good communicable to every soul

Freely. Of whom what could He less expect

Than glory and benediction[6944] —that is, thanks—

The slightest, easiest, readiest recompense

From them who could return Him nothing else?

And not returning that, would likeliest render

Contempt instead, dishonor, obloquy?

Hard recompense, unsuitable return

For so much good, so much beneficence!

“But why should man seek glory, who of his own

Hath nothing, and to whom nothing belongs

But condemnation, ignominy, and shame?

Who for so many benefits received

Turned recreant[6945] to God, ingrate and false,

And so of all true good himself despoiled,[6946]

Yet sacrilegious, to himself would take

That which to God alone of right belongs?

Yet so much bounty[6947] is in God, such grace,

That who advances His glory, not their own,

Them He Himself to glory will advance.”

So spoke the Son of God, and here again.

Satan had not to answer, but stood struck

With guilt of his own sin—for he himself,

Insatiable of glory, had lost all.

Yet of another plea bethought him soon:

“Of glory, as thou wilt,” said he, “so deem,

Worth or not worth the seeking. Let it pass.

But to a kingdom thou art born—ordained

To sit upon thy father David’s throne,

By mother’s side thy father, though thy right

Be now in powerful hands that will not part

Easily from possession won with arms.

Judaea now, and all the promised land

Reduced a province under Roman yoke,

Obeys Tiberius,[6948] nor is always ruled

With temperate sway. Oft have they violated

The Temple, oft the Law, with foul affronts,

Abominations rather, as did once

Antiochus.[6949] And think’st thou to regain

Thy right by sitting still, or thus retiring?

So did not Machabeus.[6950] He indeed

Retired unto the desert, but with arms,

And o’er a mighty king so oft prevailed

That by strong hand his family obtained,

Though priests, the crown, and David’s throne usurped,

With Modin and her suburbs once content.

“If kingdom move thee not, let move thee zeal

And duty. Zeal and duty are not slow,

But on occasion’s [6951] forelock watchful wait.

They themselves, rather, are occasion best,

Zeal of thy Father’s house, duty to free

Thy country from her heathen servitude.

So shalt thou best fulfill, best verify,

The prophets old, who sung thy endless reign—

The happier reign the sooner it begins.

Reign then. What canst thou better do the while?”

To whom our Savior answer thus returned:

“All things are best fulfilled in their due time,

And time there is for all things, truth hath said.

If of my reign prophetic writ hath told

That it shall never end, so when begin

The Father in His purpose hath decreed,

He in whose hand all times and seasons roll.

What if He hath decreed that I shall first

Be tried in humble state, and things adverse,

By tribulations, injuries, insults,

Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence,

Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting

Without distrust or doubt, that He may know

What I can suffer, how obey? Who best

Can suffer, best can do, best reign who first

Well hath obeyed—just trial ere I merit

My exaltation without change or end.

“But what concerns it thee when I begin

My everlasting kingdom? Why art thou

Solicitous? What moves thy inquisition?

Know’st thou not that my rising is thy fall,

And my promotion will be thy destruction?”

To whom the Tempter, inly racked,[6952] replied:

“Let that come when it comes. All hope is lost

Of my reception into grace. What worse?

For where no hope is left, is left no fear.

If there be worse, the expectation more

Of worse torments me than the feeling can.

I would be at the worst. Worst is my port,

My harbor, and my ultimate repose,

The end I would attain, my final good.

My error was my error, and my crime

My crime, whatever for itself condemned,

And will alike be punished whether thou

Reign or reign not—though to that gentle brow

Willingly I could fly, and hope thy reign,

From that placid[6953] aspect and meek regard,

Rather than aggravate my evil state

Would stand between me and thy Father’s ire

(Whose ire I dread more than the fire of Hell),

A shelter and a kind of shading cool

Interposition,[6954] as a summer’s cloud.

“If I, then, to the worst that can be haste,

Why move thy feet so slow to what is best?

Happiest, both to thyself and all the world

That thou, who worthiest art, should’st be their king!

Perhaps thou linger’st in deep thoughts detained

Of the enterprise so hazardous and high!

No wonder, for though in thee be united

What of perfection can in man be found,

Or human nature can receive, consider

Thy life hath yet been private, most part spent

At home, scarce viewed the Galilean towns,

And once a year Jerusalem, few days’

Short sojourn—and what thence could’st thou observe?

The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory,

Empires, and monarchs, and their radiant courts,

Best school of best experience, quickest in sight

In all things that to greatest actions lead.

The wisest, unexperienced, will be ever

Timorous, and loath, with novice modesty

(As he who, seeking asses, found a kingdom),[6955]

Irresolute, unhardy, unadvent’rous.

But I will bring thee where thou soon shalt quit[6956]

Those rudiments,[6957] and see before thine eyes

The monarchies of th’ earth, their pomp and state,

Sufficient introduction to inform

Thee, of thyself so apt, in regal arts

And regal mysteries, that thou may’st know

How best their opposition to withstand.”

With that (such power was giv’n him then), he took

The Son of God up to a mountain high.

It was a mountain at whose verdant feet

A spacious plain, outstretched in circuit wide,

Lay pleasant. From his[6958] side two rivers[6959] flowed,

The one winding, th’ other straight, and left between

Fair champaign,[6960] with less[6961] rivers interveined,

Then meeting joined their tribute to the sea.

Fertile of corn[6962] the glebe,[6963] of oil, and wine;

With herds the pasture thronged, with flocks the hills;

Huge cities and high-tower’d, that well might seem

The seats of mightiest monarchs; and so large

The prospect [6964] was that here and there was room

For barren desert, fountainless[6965] and dry.

To this high mountain-top the Tempter brought

Our Savior, and new train of words began:

“Well have we speeded,[6966] and o’er hill and dale,

Forest, and field and flood, temples and towers,

Cut shorter many a league. Here thou behold’st

Assyria, and her empire’s ancient bounds,

Araxes[6967] and the Caspian lake. Thence on

As far as Indus east, Euphrates west,

And oft beyond. To south the Persian Bay,

And, inaccessible,[6968] th’ Arabian drought.[6969]

Here Nineveh,[6970] of length within her walls

Several days’ journey, built by Ninus [6971] old,

Of that first golden monarchy the seat,

And seat of Salmanassar,[6972] whose success[6973]

Israel in long captivity still mourns.

There Babylon,[6974] the wonder of all tongues,

As[6975] ancient, but rebuilt by him[6976] who twice

Judah and all thy father David’s house

Led captive, and Jerusalem laid waste,

Till Cyrus[6977] set them free. Persepolis,[6978]

His city, there thou see’st, and Bactra[6979] there.

Ecbatana[6980] her structure vast there shows,

And Hecatompylos[6981] her hundred gates.

There Susa[6982] by Choaspes,[6983] amber stream,

The drink of none but kings. Of later fame,

Built by Emathian[6984] or by Parthian[6985] hands,

The great Seleucia,[6986] Nisibis,[6987] and there

Artaxata,[6988] Teredon,[6989] Ctesiphon,[6990]

Turning with easy eye, thou may’st behold.

“All these the Parthian (now some ages past

By great Arsaces[6991] led, who founded first

That empire) under his dominion holds,

From the luxurious[6992] kings of Antioch[6993] won.

And just in time thou com’st to have a view

Of his great power, for now the Parthian king

In Ctesiphon hath gathered all his host

Against the Scythian,[6994] whose incursions wild

Have wasted Sogdiana.[6995] To her aid

He marches now in haste. See, though from far,

His thousands, in what martial equipage

They issue forth, steel bows and shafts their arms,

Of equal dread [6996] in flight or in pursuit—

All horsemen, in which fight they most excel.

See how in warlike muster they appear,

In rhombs,[6997] and wedges,[6998] and half-moons[6999] and wings.”

He[7000] looked, and saw what numbers numberless

The city gates outpoured, light-armèd troops

In coats of mail and military pride.[7001]

In mail their horses clad, yet fleet[7002] and strong,

Prancing their riders bore, the flower and choice

Of many provinces from bound[7003] to bound,

From Arachosia,[7004] from Candaor[7005] east,

And Margiana,[7006] to the Hyrcanian[7007] cliffs

Of Caucasus, and dark Iberian[7008] dales—

From Atropatia,[7009] and the neighboring plains

Of Adiabeen,[7010] Media,[7011] and the south

Of Susiana[7012] to Balsara’s[7013] hav’n.[7014]

He saw them in their forms of battle ranged,

How quick they wheeled, and flying behind them shot

Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the face

Of their pursuers, and overcame by flight.

The field all iron cast a gleaming brown,

Nor wanted[7015] clouds of foot,[7016] nor on each horn[7017]

Cuirassiers[7018] all in steel for standing fight,

Chariots, or elephants endorsed[7019] with towers

Of archers, nor of laboring pioneers[7020]

A multitude, with spades and axes armed,

To lay hills plain,[7021] fell woods, or valleys fill,

Or where plain was, raise hill, or overlay

With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke.

Mules after these, camels and dromedaries,[7022]

And wagons fraught[7023] with utensils of war.

Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp,

When Agrican[7024] with all his northern powers

Besieged Albracca,[7025] as romances tell,

The city of Gallaphrone, from thence to win

The fairest of her sex, Angelica,

His daughter, sought by many prowest [7026] knights,

Both paynim[7027] and the peers[7028] of Charlemagne.

Such and so numerous was their chivalry,

At sight whereof the fiend yet more presumed,[7029]

And to our Savior thus his words renewed:

“That thou may’st know I seek not to engage[7030]

Thy virtue, and not every way secure[7031]

On no slight [7032] grounds thy safety, hear and mark[7033]

To what end I have brought thee hither, and show

All this fair sight. Thy kingdom, though foretold

By prophet or by Angel, unless thou

Endeavor, as thy father[7034] David did,

Thou never shalt obtain. Prediction still

In all things, and all men, supposes means;

Without means used, what it predicts revokes.

But say thou wert possessed of David’s throne

By free consent of all, none opposite,

Samaritan[7035] or Jew, how could’st thou hope

Long to enjoy it quiet and secure

Between two such enclosing enemies,

Roman and Parthian? Therefore one of these

Thou must make sure thy own. The Parthian first,

By my advice, as nearer, and of late

Found able by invasion to annoy[7036]

Thy country, and captive lead away her kings,

Antigonus,[7037] and old Hyracanus—bound,

Maugre[7038] the Roman. It shall be my task

To render thee the Parthian at dispose,

Choose which thou wilt, by conquest or by league.[7039]

By him thou shalt regain, without him not,

That which alone can truly reinstall thee

In David’s royal seat, his true successor—

Deliverance of thy brethren, those Ten Tribes

Whose offspring in his territory yet serve

In Habor,[7040] and among the Medes[7041] dispersed:

Ten sons of Jacob, two of Joseph,[7042] lost

Thus long from Israel, serving as of old

Their fathers in the land of Egypt served,

This offer sets before thee to deliver.

These if from servitude thou shalt restore

To their inheritance, then, nor till then,

Thou on the throne of David in full glory,

From Egypt to Euphrates and beyond,

Shalt reign, and Rome or Caesar not need fear.”

To whom our Savior answered thus, unmoved:

“Much ostentation vain of fleshly arm

And fragile arms, much instrument of war,

Long in preparing, soon to nothing brought,

Before mine eyes thou hast set, and in my ear

Vented much policy,[7043] and projects deep

Of enemies, of aids, battles, and leagues,

Plausible[7044] to the world, to me worth naught.

Means I must use, thou say’st. Prediction else

Will unpredict, and fail me of the throne!

My time, I told thee (and that time for thee

Were better farthest off ), is not yet come.

When that comes, think not thou to find me slack[7045]

On my part aught endeavoring, or to need

Thy politic[7046] maxims, or that cumbersome

Luggage of war there shown me, argument[7047]

Of human weakness rather than of strength.

My brethren, as thou call’st them, those Ten Tribes,

I must deliver, if I mean to reign

David’s true heir, and his full scepter sway[7048]

To just extent over all Israel’s sons!

But whence to thee this zeal? Where was it then

For Israel, or for David, or his throne,

When thou stood’st up[7049] his tempter [7050] to the pride

Of numbering[7051] Israel, which cost the lives

Of threescore and ten thousand Israelites

By three days’ pestilence? Such was thy zeal

To Israel then, the same that now to me.

“As for those captive tribes, themselves were they

Who wrought their own captivity, fell off

From God to worship calves, the deities

Of Egypt, Baal next and Ashtaroth,

And all th’ idolatries of heathen round,

Besides their other worse than heathenish crimes.

Nor in the land of their captivity

Humbled themselves, or penitent besought

The God of their forefathers, but so died

Impenitent, and left a race behind

Like to themselves, distinguishable scarce

From gentiles but [7052] by circumcision vain,[7053]

And God with idols in their worship joined.

Should I of these the liberty regard[7054]

Who, freed, as to their ancient patrimony

Unhumbled, unrepentant, unreformed,

Headlong[7055] would follow,[7056] and to their gods perhaps

Of Bethel and of Dan? No, let them serve

Their enemies who serve idols with God.

Yet He at length, time to Himself best known,

Remembering Abraham, by some wondrous call

May bring them back, repentant and sincere,

And at their passing cleave th’ Assyrian flood,

While to their native land with joy they haste,

As the Red Sea and Jordan once He cleft

When to the promised land their fathers passed.

To His due time and providence I leave them.”

So spoke Israel’s true king, and to the fiend

Made answer meet,[7057] that made void all his wiles.

So fares it when with truth falsehood contends.

BOOK IV

Perplexed and troubled at his bad success

The Tempter stood, nor had what to reply,

Discovered in his fraud, thrown from his hope

So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric

That sleeked [7058] his tongue, and won so much on Eve,

So little [7059] here—nay lost! But Eve was Eve.

This far his over-match, who self-deceived

And rash, beforehand had no better weighed

The strength he was to cope with, or his own.

But as a man who had been matchless held

In cunning, over-reached where least he thought,

To salve[7060] his credit, and for very spite,

Still will be tempting him who foils [7061] him still,

And never cease, though to his shame the more—

Or as a swarm of flies in vintage-time,

About the wine-press where sweet must [7062] is poured,

Beat off, returns as oft with humming sound—

Or surging waves against a solid rock,

Though all to shivers [7063] dashed, th’ assault renew

(Vain battery! [7064] ) and in froth or bubbles end—

So Satan, whom repulse upon repulse

Met ever, and to shameful silence brought,

Yet gives not o’er, though desperate [7065] of success,

And his vain importunity pursues.

He brought our Savior to the western side

Of that high mountain, whence he might behold

Another plain,[7066] long, but in breadth not wide,

Washed by the southern sea, and on the north

To equal length backed with a ridge of hills

That screened the fruits of th’ earth and seats of men

From cold Septentrion[7067] blasts, thence in the midst

Divided by a river, off whose banks

On each side an imperial city[7068] stood,

With towers and temples proudly elevate

On seven small hills, with palaces adorned,

Porches[7069] and theaters,[7070] baths, aqueducts,

Statues and trophies,[7071] and triumphal arcs,[7072]

Gardens and groves, presented to his eyes

Above the height of mountains interposed

(By what strange parallax, or optic skill

Of vision, multiplied through air, or glass

Of telescope, were curious[7073] to enquire).

And now the Tempter thus his silence broke:

“The city which thou see’st no other deem

Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth

So far renowned, and with the spoils enriched

Of nations. There the capitol [7074] thou see’st,

Above the rest lifting his stately[7075] head

On the Tarpeian rock,[7076] her citadel

Impregnable, and there Mount Palatine,

Th’ imperial palace, compass[7077] huge, and high

The structure, skill of noblest architects,

With gilded battlements, conspicuous[7078] far,

Turrets and terraces, and glittering spires.

Many a fair edifice besides, more like

Houses of gods (so well I have disposed [7079]

My airy microscope[7080] ) thou may’st behold,

Outside and inside both, pillars and roofs

Carved work, the hand of famed artificers[7081]

In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold.

“Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see

What conflux[7082] issuing forth, or entering in:

Praetors,[7083] proconsuls[7084] to their provinces

Hasting, or on return, in robes of state,

Lictors[7085] and rods, the ensigns[7086] of their power;

Legions and cohorts,[7087] turms[7088] of horse and wings,

Or embassies from regions far remote,

In various habits,[7089] on the Appian road,[7090]

Or on the Emilian,[7091] some from farthest south,

Syene,[7092] and where the shadow both way falls,

Meroë,[7093] Nilotic isle, and more to west

The realm of Bocchus[7094] to the Blackmoor sea.[7095]

From th’ Asian kings (and Parthian among these),

From India and the golden Chersoness,[7096]

And utmost Indian isle, Taprobane,[7097]

Dusk faces with white silken turbants[7098] wreathed.

From Gallia,[7099] Gades,[7100] and the British west,

Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians[7101] north

Beyond Danubius to the Tauric pool.[7102]

All nations now to Rome obedience pay,

To Rome’s great Emperor, whose wide domain,

In ample territory, wealth and power,

Civility[7103] of manners, arts and arms,

And long renown, thou justly may’st prefer

Before the Parthian. These two thrones except,

The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight,

Shared among petty kings too far removed.[7104]

These having shown thee, I have shown thee all

The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.

“This Emperor[7105] hath no son, and now is old,

Old and lascivious, and from Rome retired

To Capri,[7106] an island small but strong

On the Campanian[7107] shore, with purpose there

His horrid lusts in private to enjoy,

Committing to a wicked favorite [7108]

All public cares, and yet of him suspicious—

Hated of all, and hating. With what ease,

Endued with regal virtues as thou art,

Appearing, and beginning noble deeds,

Might’st thou expel this monster from his throne,

Now made a sty, and in his place ascending,

A victor-people free[7109] from servile yoke!

“And with my help thou may’st. To me the power

Is giv’n, and by that right I give it thee.

Aim, therefore, at no less than all the world.

Aim at the highest: without the highest attained

Will be for thee no sitting, or not long,

On David’s throne, be prophesied what will.”

To whom the Son of God, unmoved, replied:

“Nor doth this grandeur and majestic show

Of luxury, though called magnificence,

More than of arms, before, allure mine eye,

Much less my mind, though thou should’st add to tell

Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous[7110] feasts

On citron[7111] tables or Atlantic stone[7112]

(For I have also heard, perhaps have read),

Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne,[7113]

Chios and Crete,[7114] and how they quaff in gold,

Crystal, and myrrhine cups embossed with gems

And studs[7115] of pearl—to me should’st tell, who thirst

And hunger still. Then embassies thou show’st

From nations far and nigh! What honor that?

But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear

So many hollow compliments and lies,

Outlandish[7116] flatteries. Then proceed’st to talk

Of the Emperor, how easily subdued,

How gloriously. I shall, thou say’st, expel

A brutish monster. What if I withal

Expel a Devil who first made him such?

Let his tormentor, conscience, find him out.

For him I was not sent, nor yet to free

That people, victor once, now vile and base,

Deservedly made vassal—who, once just,

Frugal, and mild, and temperate, conquered well,

But govern ill the nations under yoke,

Peeling[7117] their provinces, exhausted all

By lust and rapine—first ambitious grown

Of triumph, that insulting[7118] vanity,

Then cruel, by their sports to blood inured

Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts exposed,

Luxurious[7119] by[7120] their wealth, and greedier still,

And from[7121] the daily scene [7122] effeminate.[7123]

What wise and valiant man would seek to free

These, thus degenerate, by themselves enslaved,

Or could of inward slaves make outward free?

“Know, therefore, when my season comes to sit

On David’s throne, it shall be like a tree

Spreading and overshadowing all the earth,

Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash

All monarchies besides [7124] throughout the world,

And of my kingdom there shall be no end.

Means there shall be to this, but what the means

Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell.”

To whom the Tempter, impudent,[7125] replied:

“I see all offers made by me how slight

Thou valu’st, because offered and reject’st.

Nothing will please the difficult and nice,[7126]

Or nothing more than still [7127] to contradict.

On th’ other side, know also thou that I

On what I offer set as high esteem,

Nor what I part with mean to give for naught.

All these, which in a moment thou behold’st,

The kingdoms of the world, to thee I give

(For, giv’n to me, I give to whom I please),

No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else—

On this condition, if thou wilt fall down

And worship me as thy superior Lord

(Easily done), and hold them all of me.

For what can less so great a gift deserve?”

Whom thus our Savior answered with disdain:

“I never liked thy talk, thy offers less,

Now both abhor, since thou hast dared to utter

Th’ abominable terms, impious condition.

But I endure[7128] the time, till which expired

Thou hast permission[7129] on me. It is written,

The first of all commandments, ‘Thou shalt worship

The Lord thy God, and only Him shalt serve. ’ [7130]

And dar’st thou to the Son of God propound[7131]

To worship thee, accursed? Now more accursed

For this attempt, bolder than that on Eve,

And more blasphemous, which expect to rue.

The kingdoms of the world to thee were giv’n!

Permitted, rather, and by thee usurped.

Other donation[7132] none thou canst produce.

If given, by whom but by the King of kings,

God over all supreme? If giv’n to thee,

By thee how fairly is the giver now

Repaid? But gratitude in thee is lost

Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame

As offer them to me, the Son of God—

To me my own, on such abhorrèd pact,

That I fall down and worship thee as God?

Get thee behind me! Plain thou now appear’st

That Evil One, Satan, forever damned.”

To whom the fiend, with fear abashed, replied:

“Be not so sore offended, Son of God—

Though Sons of God both Angels are and men—

If I, to try[7133] whether in higher sort [7134]

Than these thou bear’st that title, have proposed

What both from men and Angels I receive,

Tetrachs[7135] of fire, air, flood, and on the earth

Nations besides, from all the quartered winds—[7136]

God of this world invoked,[7137] and world beneath.

Who then thou art, whose coming is foretold

To me so fatal, me it most concerns.

The trial [7138] hath endamaged thee no way—

Rather more honor left, and more esteem—

Me naught advantaged, missing what I aimed.

Therefore let pass, as they are transitory,

The kingdoms of this world. I shall no more

Advise thee. Gain them as thou canst, or not.

“And thou thyself seem’st otherwise inclined

Than to a worldly crown, addicted [7139] more

To contemplation and profound dispute,

As by that early action may be judged,

When slipping from thy mother’s eye, thou went’st

Alone into the Temple. There wast found

Among the gravest[7140] rabbis disputant

On points and questions fitting Moses’ chair,[7141]

Teaching, not taught.[7142] The childhood shows the man,

As morning shows the day. Be famous, then,

By wisdom. As thy empire must extend,

So let extend thy mind o’er all the world

In knowledge, all things in it comprehend.

All knowledge is not couched[7143] in Moses’ law,

The Pentateuch,[7144] or what the prophets wrote.

The gentiles[7145] also know, and write, and teach

To admiration,[7146] led by Nature’s light,

And with the gentiles much thou must converse,

Ruling them by persuasion, as thou mean’st.

Without their learning, how wilt thou with them,

Or they with thee, hold conversation meet?[7147]

How wilt thou reason with them, how refute

Their idolisms, traditions, paradoxes?

Error by his own arms[7148] is best evinced.[7149]

“Look once more, ere we leave this specular [7150] mount,

Westward, much nearer by south-west. Behold

Where on th’ Aegean shore a city stands,

Built nobly, pure the air and light the soil—

Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts

And eloquence, native to famous wits

Or hospitable,[7151] in her sweet recess,[7152]

City or suburban, studious walks and shades.

See there the olive-grove of Academe,[7153]

Plato’s retirement,[7154] where the Attic bird[7155]

Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long.

There flow’ry hill, Hymettus,[7156] with the sound

Of bees’ industrious murmur, oft invites

To studious musing; there Ilissus[7157] rolls

His whispering stream. Within the walls then view

The schools of ancient sages—his[7158] who bred[7159]

Great Alexander to subdue the world,

Lyceum[7160] there, and painted Stoa[7161] next.

There thou shalt hear and learn the secret power

Of harmony, in tones and numbers[7162] hit[7163]

By voice or hand, and various-measured verse,

Aeolian[7164] charms[7165] and Dorian[7166] lyric odes,

And his who gave them breath, but higher sung,

Blind Melesigenes,[7167] thence Homer called,

Whose poem Phoebus[7168] challenged[7169] for his own.

Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught

In chorus or iambic,[7170] teachers best

Of moral prudence,[7171] with delight received

In brief sententious[7172] precepts, while they treat

Of fate, and chance, and change in human life,

High actions and high passions best describing.

Thence to the famous orators repair,[7173]

Those ancient whose resistless eloquence

Wielded[7174] at will that fierce democraty,

Shook the Arsenal,[7175] and fulmined[7176] over Greece

To Macedon[7177] and Artaxerxes’[7178] throne.

To sage philosophy next lend thine ear,

From Heav’n descended to the low-roofed house

Of Socrates—see there his tenement,[7179]

Whom well inspired the oracle pronounced

Wisest of men, from whose mouth issued forth

Mellifluous[7180] streams, that watered all the schools

Of Academics old and new, with those

Surnamed[7181] Peripatetics,[7182] and the sect

Epicurean,[7183] and the Stoic severe.

“These here revolve[7184] or, as thou lik’st, at home,

Till time mature thee to a kingdom’s weight.

These rules will render thee a king complete

Within thyself, much more with empire joined.”

To whom our Savior sagely thus replied:

“Think not but that I know these things, or think

I know them not. Not therefore am I short[7185]

Of knowing what I ought. He who receives

Light from above, from the Fountain of Light,

No other doctrine needs, though[7186] granted[7187] true.

But these are false, or little else but dreams,

Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.

The first and wisest[7188] of them all professed

To know this only, that he nothing knew.

The next[7189] to fabling fell and smooth conceits.

A third sort [7190] doubted all things, though plain sense.

Others in virtue placed felicity,

But virtue joined with riches and long life.

In corporal pleasure he,[7191] and careless ease.

The Stoic last, in philosophic pride

(By him called virtue) and his virtuous man,

Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing

Equal to God, oft shames not to prefer,

As fearing God nor man, contemning[7192] all

Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life—

Which, when he lists,[7193] he leaves, or boasts he can,

For all his tedious talk is but vain boast,

Or subtle shifts,[7194] conviction to evade.

“Alas! what can they teach, and not mislead,

Ignorant of themselves, of God much more,

And how the world began, and how man fell,

Degraded by himself, on grace depending?

Much of the soul they talk, but all awry,

And in themselves seek virtue, and to themselves

All glory arrogate,[7195] to God give none,

Rather accuse Him under usual names,

Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite

Of mortal things. Who, therefore, seeks in these

True wisdom finds her not, or by delusion

Far worse, her false resemblance only meets,

An empty cloud. However many books,

Wise men have said, are wearisome. Who[7196] reads

Incessantly, and to his reading brings not

A spirit and judgment equal or superior

(And what he brings what needs he elsewhere seek?),

Uncertain and unsettled still remains,

Deep-versed in books and shallow in himself,

Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys

And trifles for[7197] choice[7198] matters, worth a sponge,[7199]

As[7200] children gathering pebbles on the shore.

Or if I would delight my private hours

With music or with poem, where so soon

As in our native language[7201] can I find

That solace? All our Law and story strewn[7202]

With hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscribed,

Our Hebrew songs and harps, in Babylon

That pleased so well our victor’s ear, declare

That rather Greece from us these arts derived—

Ill imitated while they loudest sing

The vices of their deities, and their own,

In fable, hymn, or song, so personating[7203]

Their gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame.

Remove their swelling epithets, thick-laid

As varnish[7204] on a harlot’s cheek, the rest,

Thin-sown with aught of profit or delight,

Will far be found unworthy to compare

With Sion’s songs, to all true tastes excelling,

Where God is praised aright and godlike men,

The Holiest of Holies and His Saints.

Such are from God inspired, not such from thee,[7205]

Unless where[7206] moral virtue is expressed

By light of Nature, not in all quite lost.

Their orators thou then extoll’st as those

The top of eloquence—statists[7207] indeed,

And lovers of their country, as may seem.

But herein to our prophets far beneath,

As men divinely taught, and better teaching

The solid rules of civil government,

In their majestic, unaffected style,

Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome.

In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt,

What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so,

What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat.

These only, with our Law, best form a king.”

So spoke the Son of God. But Satan, now

Quite at a loss ( for all his darts were spent),[7208]

Thus to our Savior, with stern brow, replied:

“Since neither wealth nor honor, arms nor arts,

Kingdom nor empire, pleases thee, nor aught

By me proposed in life contemplative

Or active, tended on by glory or fame,

What dost thou in this world? The wilderness

For thee is fittest place! I found thee there,

And thither will return thee. Yet remember

What I foretell thee. Soon thou shalt have cause

To wish thou never had’st rejected, thus

Nicely[7209] or cautiously, my offered aid,

Which would have set thee in short time with ease

On David’s throne, or throne of all the world,

Now at full age, fulness of time, thy season,

When prophecies of thee are best fulfilled.

Now, contrary, if I read aught in Heav’n,

Or Heav’n write aught of Fate, by what the stars

Voluminous,[7210] or single characters

In their conjunction met, give me to spell,[7211]

Sorrows and labors, opposition, hate,

Attends thee, scorns, reproaches, injuries,

Violence and stripes[7212] and, lastly, cruel death.

A kingdom they portend[7213] thee, but what kingdom,

Real or allegoric, I discern[7214] not,

Nor when. Eternal sure—as without end,

Without beginning, for no date prefixed

Directs[7215] me in the starry rubric[7216] set.”

So saying, he took ( for still he knew his power

Not yet expired), and to the wilderness

Brought back the Son of God, and left him there,

Feigning to disappear. Darkness now rose,

As daylight sunk, and brought in louring[7217] night,

Her shadowy offspring, unsubstantial both,

Privation mere[7218] of light and absent day.

Our Savior, meek,[7219] and with untroubled mind

After his airy jaunt,[7220] though hurried sore,[7221]

Hungry and cold betook him to his rest,

Wherever, under some concourse[7222] of shades

Whose branching arms thick intertwined might shield

From dews and damps of night his sheltered head,

But sheltered, slept in vain, for at his head

The Tempter watched, and soon with ugly dreams

Disturbed his sleep. And either Tropic[7223] now

’Gan thunder, and both ends of Heav’n. The clouds

From many a horrid rift abortive[7224] poured

Fierce rain with lightning mixed, water with fire,

In ruin[7225] reconciled,[7226] nor slept the winds

Within their stony caves, but rushed abroad

From the four hinges of the world and fell

On the vexed[7227] wilderness, whose tallest pines,

Though rooted deep as high,[7228] and sturdiest oaks,

Bowed their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts,

Or torn up sheer.[7229] Ill wast thou shrouded[7230] then,

O patient Son of God, yet only stood’st

Unshaken! Nor yet stayed[7231] the terror there.

Infernal ghosts and hellish furies round

Environed thee: some howled, some yelled, some shrieked,

Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou

Sat’st unappalled [7232] in calm and sinless peace.

Thus passed the night so foul, till morning fair

Came forth with pilgrim steps, in amice[7233] gray,

Who with her radiant finger stilled the roar

Of thunder, chased the clouds, and laid [7234] the winds

And grisly[7235] specters, which the fiend had raised

To tempt[7236] the Son of God with terrors dire.

And now the sun with more effectual[7237] beams

Had cheered the face of earth, and dried the wet

From drooping plant, or dropping tree. The birds,

Who all things now behold more fresh and green,

After a night of storm so ruinous,

Cleared up[7238] their choicest notes in bush and spray,[7239]

To gratulate[7240] the sweet return of morn.

Nor yet, amidst this joy and brightest morn,

Was absent, after all his mischief done,

The Prince of darkness—glad would also seem

Of this fair change, and to our Savior came,

Yet with no new device[7241] (they all were spent),

Rather by this his last affront [7242] resolved,[7243]

Desperate of better course, to vent his rage

And mad despite[7244] to be so oft repelled.

Him walking on a sunny hill he found,

Backed on the north and west by a thick wood.

Out of the wood he starts in wonted[7245] shape,

And in a careless[7246] mood thus to him said:

“Fair morning yet betides[7247] thee, Son of God,

After a dismal night. I heard the wrack,[7248]

As earth and sky would mingle, but myself

Was distant, and these flaws,[7249] though mortals fear them

As dangerous to the pillared frame of Heav’n,

Or to the earth’s dark basis underneath,

Are to the main[7250] as inconsiderable

And harmless, if not wholesome, as a sneeze

To man’s lesser universe,[7251] and soon are gone.

Yet, as being oft-times noxious[7252] where they light

On man, beast, plant, wasteful and turbulent,

Like turbulencies in the affairs of men

(Over whose heads they roar, and seem to point),[7253]

They oft fore-signify and threaten ill.

“This tempest at this desert most was bent,[7254]

Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell’st.

Did I not tell thee, if thou didst reject

The perfect season[7255] offered with my aid

To win thy destined seat, but wilt prolong

All to the push[7256] of Fate, pursue thy way

Of gaining David’s throne no man knows when

(For both the when and how is nowhere told):

Thou shalt be what thou art ordained, no doubt,

For Angels have proclaimed it, but concealing

The time and means. Each act is rightliest done

Not when it must, but when it may be best.

If thou observe not this, be sure to find

What I foretold thee, many a hard assay[7257]

Of dangers, and adversities, and pains,

Ere thou of Israel’s scepter get fast hold,

Whereof this ominous[7258] night that closed thee round,

So many terrors, voices, prodigies,[7259]

May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign.”

So talked he, while the Son of God went on,

And stayed not, but in brief him answered thus:

“Me worse than wet thou find’st not. Other harm

Those terrors which thou speak’st of did me none.

I never feared they could, though noising loud

And threat’ning nigh. What they can do as signs

Betokening or ill-boding I contemn

As false portents, not sent from God, but thee,

Who knowing I shall reign past thy preventing,

Obtrud’st thy offered aid, that I, accepting,

At least might seem to hold all power of thee,

Ambitious Spirit, and would’st be thought my God,

And storm’st,[7260] refused, thinking to terrify

Me to thy will! Desist (thou art discerned,

And toil’st in vain), nor me in vain molest.”

To whom the fiend, now swoll’n with rage, replied:

“Then hear, O Son of David, virgin-born!

For Son of God to me is yet in doubt.

Of the Messiah I have heard foretold

By all the prophets; of thy birth, at length

Announced by Gabriel, with the first I knew,

And of th’ Angelic song in Bethlehem field

On thy birth-night, that sung thee Savior born.

“From that time seldom have I ceased to eye

Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth,

Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred,

Till at the ford of Jordan, whither all

Flocked to the Baptist, I among the rest

(Though not to be baptized), by voice from Heav’n

Heard thee pronounced the Son of God beloved.

Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view

And narrower scrutiny, that I might learn

In what degree[7261] or meaning thou art called

The Son of God, which bears no single sense.

The Son of God I also am, or was,

And if I was, I am. Relation stands:

All men are Sons of God. Yet thee I thought

In some respect far higher so declared.

“Therefore I watched thy footsteps from that hour,

And followed thee still on to this waste wild,

Where by all best conjectures I collect

Thou art to be my fatal enemy.

Good reason, then, if I beforehand seek

To understand my adversary, who

And what he is, his wisdom, power, intent,

By parle [7262] or composition,[7263] truce or league,

To win him, or win from him what I can.

“And opportunity I here have had

To try thee, sift [7264] thee, and confess have found thee

Proof against all temptation, as a rock

Of adamant and as a center, firm

To th’ utmost of mere man both wise and good,

Not more, for honors, riches, kingdoms, glory,

Have been before contemned,[7265] and may again.

Therefore, to know what more thou art than man,

Worth naming the Son of God by voice from Heav’n,

Another method I must now begin.”

So saying, he caught him up and, without wing

Of hippogrif,[7266] bore through the air sublime,[7267]

Over the wilderness and o’er the plain,

Till underneath them fair Jerusalem,

The Holy City, lifted high her towers,

And higher yet the glorious Temple reared

Her pile,[7268] far off appearing like a mount

Of alabaster, topped with golden spires.

There on the highest pinnacle, he set

The Son of God, and added thus in scorn:

“There stand, if thou wilt stand. To stand upright

Will ask [7269] thee skill. I to thy Father’s house

Have brought thee, and highest placed: highest is best.

Now show thy progeny! [7270] If not to stand,

Cast thyself down—safely, if Son of God,

For it is written, ‘He will give command

Concerning thee to His Angels; in their hands

They shall uplift thee, lest at any time

Thou chance to dash[7271] thy foot against a stone. ’”[7272]

To whom thus Jesus: “Also it is written,

‘Tempt not the Lord thy God. ’” He said, and stood,

But Satan, smitten with amazement, fell.

As when Earth’s son, Antaeus[7273] (to compare

Small things with greatest), in Irassa[7274] strove

With Jove’s Alcides[7275] and, oft foiled,[7276] still rose,

Receiving from his mother Earth new strength,

Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple joined,

Throttled at length in th’ air, expired and fell,

So after many a foil, the Tempter proud,

Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride

Fell whence he stood to see [7277] his victor fall.

And as that Theban monster[7278] that proposed

Her riddle and, him who solved it not, devoured,

That[7279] once found out and solved, for grief and spite

Cast herself headlong from the Ismenian[7280] steep,

So strook[7281] with dread and anguish fell the fiend,

And to his crew, that sat consulting, brought

Joyless triumphals[7282] of his hoped success,

Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,

Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of God.

So Satan fell, and straight a fiery globe[7283]

Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,

Who on their plumey vans[7284] received him[7285] soft

From his uneasy[7286] station,[7287] and upbore,

As on a floating couch, through the blithe[7288] air,

Then, in a flow’ry valley, set him down

On a green bank, and set before him spread

A table of celestial food, divine

Ambrosial fruits fetched from the Tree of Life,

And from the fount of life ambrosial drink,

That soon refreshed him, wearied, and repaired[7289]

What hunger, if aught hunger, had impaired,[7290]

Or thirst. And, as he fed, Angelic choirs

Sung Heavenly anthems[7291] of his victory

Over temptation and the Tempter proud:

“True Image of the Father, whether throned

In the bosom of bliss, and light of light

Conceiving, or remote from Heav’n, enshrined

In fleshly tabernacle [7292] and human form,

Wand’ring the wilderness—whatever place,

Habit, or state, or motion, still expressing

The Son of God, with Godlike force endued[7293]

Against th’ attempter of thy Father’s throne

And thief of Paradise! Him long of old

Thou didst debel,[7294] and down from Heav’n cast

With all his army. Now thou hast avenged

Supplanted[7295] Adam and, by vanquishing

Temptation, hast regained lost Paradise,

And frustrated the conquest fraudulent.

He never more henceforth will dare set foot

In Paradise to tempt. His snares are broke.

For though that seat of earthly bliss be failed,

A fairer Paradise is founded now

For Adam and his chosen sons, whom thou,

A Savior, art come down to reinstall,

Where they shall dwell secure, when time shall be,

Of Tempter and temptation without fear.

“But thou, Infernal Serpent! shalt not long

Rule in the clouds. Like an autumnal star,

Or lightning, thou shalt fall from Heav’n, trod down

Under his feet. For proof, ere this thou feel’st

Thy wound (yet not thy last and deadliest wound)

By this repulse received, and hold’st in Hell

No triumph. In all her gates[7296] Abaddon[7297] rues

Thy bold attempt. Hereafter learn with awe

To dread the Son of God. He, all unarmed,

Shall chase thee, with the terror of his voice,

From thy demoniac holds, possession foul—

Thee and thy legions. Yelling they shall fly,

And beg to hide them in a herd of swine,

Lest he command them down into the deep,

Bound, and to torment[7298] sent before their time.

“Hail, Son of the Most High, heir of both worlds,

Queller[7299] of Satan! On thy glorious work

Now enter, and begin to save mankind.”

Thus they the Son of God, our Savior meek,

Sung victor and, from Heav’nly feast refreshed,

Brought on his way with joy. He, unobserved,

Home to his mother’s house private[7300] returned.

SAMSON AGONISTES[7301]

date uncertain: everything from 1646 to 1670 has been proposed

OF THAT SORT OF DRAMATIC POEM
WHICH IS CALLED TRAGEDY

Tragedy, as it was anciently composed, hath been ever held the gravest,[7302] moralest, and most profitable of all other poems—therefore said by Aristotle to be of power by raising pity and fear, or terror, to purge the mind of those and such like passions. That is, to temper[7303] and reduce[7304] them to just,[7305] with a kind of delight, stirred up by reading or seeing those passions well imitated.

Nor is Nature wanting[7306] in her own effects[7307] to make good his assertion, for so, in physic,[7308] things of melancholic hue and quality are used against melancholy, sour against sour, salt to remove salt humors.[7309] Hence philosophers and other gravest writers, as Cicero, Plutarch and others, frequently cite out of [7310] tragic poets, both to adorn and illustrate their discourse. The Apostle Paul himself thought it not unworthy to insert a verse of Euripides[7311] into the text of Holy Scripture (I Cor. 15:33 ), and Paraeus,[7312] commenting on the Revelation, divides the whole book as a tragedy, into acts distinguished each by a chorus of Heavenly harpings and song between.[7313]

Heretofore men in highest dignity have labored not a little to be thought able to compose a tragedy. Of that honour Dionysius the elder was no less ambitious, then[7314] before of his attaining to the Tyranny.[7315] Augustus Caesar also had begun his Ajax, but unable to please his own judgment with what he had begun, left it unfinished. Seneca the philosopher is by some thought the author of those tragedies (at least the best of them) that go under that name. Gregory Nazianzen,[7316] a Father of the Church, thought it not unbe-seeming the sanctity of his person to write a tragedy, which he entitled, Christ Suffering.

This is mentioned to vindicate tragedy from the small esteem, or rather infamy, which in the account of many it undergoes at this day, with other common interludes[7317] —happening through the poets’ error of intermixing comic stuff with tragic sadness[7318] and gravity, or introducing trivial and vulgar persons, which by all judicious[7319] hath been counted absurd, and brought in without discretion, corruptly to gratify the people. And though ancient tragedy use no prologue (yet using sometimes, in case of self defense or explanation, that which Martial calls an “epistle”), in behalf of this tragedy coming forth after the ancient manner, much different from what among us passes for best, thus much beforehand may be “epistled.”

The chorus is here introduced after the Greek manner, not ancient only but modern, and still in use among the Italians. In the modelling therefore of this poem, with good reason, the ancients and Italians are rather followed, as of much more authority and fame. The measure[7320] of verse used in the chorus is of all sorts, called by the Greeks monostrophic, or rather apolelymenon,[7321] without regard had to strophe, antistrophe or epode (which were a kind of stanza framed only for the music, then[7322] used with the chorus that sung; not essential to the poem, and therefore not material)[7323] or being divided into stanzas or pauses, they may be call’d allaeostropha.[7324] Division into act and scene, referring chiefly to the stage (to which this work never was intended), is here omitted.

It suffices if the whole drama be found[7325] not produced[7326] beyond the fifth act, of the style and uniformity, and that[7327] commonly called the plot, whether intricate or explicit, which is nothing indeed but such economy[7328] or disposition[7329] of the fable[7330] as may stand best with verisimilitude and decorum. They only will best judge who are not unacquainted with Aeschulus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the three tragic poets unequalled yet by any, and the best rule to all who endeavor to write tragedy. The circumscription[7331] of time wherein the whole drama begins and ends is, according to ancient rule and best example, within the space of 24 hours.

THE ARGUMENT

Samson (made captive, blind, and now in the prison at Gaza, there to labor as in a common work-house), on a festival day, in the general cessation from labor, comes forth into the open air, to a place nigh,[7332] somewhat retired,[7333] there to sit a while and bemoan his condition. Where he happens at length to be visited by certain friends and equals of his tribe, which make[7334] the chorus, who seek to comfort him what[7335] they can, then[7336] by his old father, Manoa, who endeavors the like, and withal[7337] tells him his purpose to procure his liberty by ransom, [and] lastly, that this feast was proclaimed by the Philistines as a day of thanksgiving for their deliverance from the hands of Samson, which yet more troubles him.

Manoa then departs to prosecute[7338] his endeavor [7339] with the Philistian lords for Samson’s redemption, who in the meanwhile is visited by other persons, and lastly by a public officer to require his coming to the feast, before[7340] the lords and people, to play[7341] or show his strength in their presence. He at first refuses, dismissing the public officer with absolute denial to come. At length, persuaded inwardly that this was from God, he yields to go along with him, who came now, the second time, with great threatenings, to fetch him.

The chorus yet remaining on the place, Manoa returns full of joyful hope to procure, ere long, his son’s deliverance, in the midst of which discourse an Hebrew comes in haste, confusedly at first, and afterward more distinctly, relating the catastrophe: what Samson had done to the Philistines, and by accident to himself, wherewith the tragedy ends.

THE PERSONS

Samson.

Harapha of Gath.

Manoa, the father of Samson.

Public officer.

Messenger.

Dalila, his wife.

Chorus of Danites.[7342]

The scene: before the prison in Gaza.

SAM. A little onward lend thy guiding hand

To these dark steps, a little further on,

For yonder bank[7343] hath choice of sun or shade.

There I am wont [7344] to sit, when any chance

Relieves me from my task of servile[7345] toil,

Daily in the common prison else enjoined[7346] me,

Where I, a prisoner chained, scarce freely draw[7347]

The air—imprisoned also, close and damp,

Unwholesome[7348] draught.[7349] But here I feel amends,[7350]

The breath of Heav’n fresh-blowing, pure and sweet,

With day-spring born. Here leave me to respire.[7351]

This day a solemn feast the people hold

To Dagon[7352] their sea-Idol, and forbid

Laborious[7353] works. Unwillingly this rest

Their superstition[7354] yields me. Hence with leave[7355]

Retiring from the popular[7356] noise, I seek

This unfrequented[7357] place to find some ease,

Ease to the body some, none to the mind

From restless thoughts, that like a deadly swarm

Of hornets armed, no sooner found alone

But rush upon me thronging,[7358] and present[7359]

Times past, what once I was, and what am now.

O wherefore was my birth from Heav’n foretold

Twice, by an Angel, who at last in sight

Of both my parents all in flames ascended

From off the altar, where an off ’ring burned,

As in a fiery column charioting

His godlike presence, and from some great act

Or benefit revealed to Abraham’s race?

Why was my breeding[7360] ordered and prescribed

As of a person separate[7361] to God,

Designed for great exploits, if I must die

Betrayed, captived, and both my eyes put out,

Made of my enemies the scorn and gaze?

To grind[7362] in brazen[7363] fetters[7364] under task[7365]

With this Heav’n-gifted strength? O glorious strength

Put to the labor of a beast, debased

Lower than bondslave! Promise was that I

Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver.

Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him

Eyeless in Gaza at the mill[7366] with slaves,

Himself in bonds under Philistian yoke.

Yet stay, let me not rashly call in doubt

Divine prediction. What if all foretold

Had been fulfilled but[7367] through mine own default,[7368]

Whom have I to complain of but myself?

Who this high gift of strength, committed to me,

In what part lodged, how easily bereft [7369] me,

Under the seal of silence could not keep

But weakly to a woman must reveal it,

O’ercome with importunity and tears.

O impotence of mind, in body strong!

But what is strength without a double share

Of wisdom, vast, unwieldy,[7370] burdensome,

Proudly secure,[7371] yet liable to fall

By weakest subtleties, not made to rule

But to subserve[7372] where wisdom bears[7373] command.

God, when He gave me strength, to show withal

How slight the gift was, hung it in my hair.

But peace! I must not quarrel with the will

Of highest dispensation,[7374] which herein

Happ’ly[7375] had ends[7376] above my reach to know.

Suffices that to me strength is my bane,[7377]

And proves the source of all my miseries,

So many, and so huge, that each apart

Would ask[7378] a life to wail—but of all,

O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!

Blind among enemies, O worse than chains,

Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age!

Light, the prime work of God, to me is extinct,

And all her various objects of delight

Annulled,[7379] which might in part my grief have eased,

Inferior to the vilest now become

Of man or worm. The vilest here excel me,

They creep, yet see, I dark in light exposed

To daily fraud, contempt, abuse and wrong,

Within doors, or without, still[7380] as a fool,

In power of others, never in my own.

Scarce half I seem to live, dead more than half.

O dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,

Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse

Without all [7381] hope of day!

O first created beam, and thou great Word,

“Let there be light, and light was over all,”[7382]

Why am I thus bereaved thy prime[7383] decree?

The sun to me is dark

And silent as the moon

When she deserts the night,

Hid in her vacant[7384] interlunar cave.[7385]

Since light so necessary is to life,

And almost life itself, if it be true

That light is in the soul,

She all in every part, why was the sight

To such a tender ball as th’ eye confined?[7386]

So obvious[7387] and so easy to be quenched,[7388]

And not, as feeling, through all parts diffused

That she might look at will[7389] through every pore?

Then had I not been thus exiled from light,

As in the land of darkness, yet in light,

To live a life half dead, a living death,

And buried, but O yet more miserable!

Myself my sepulcher,[7390] a moving grave,

Buried, yet not exempt

By privilege of death and burial

From worst of other evils, pains and wrongs,

But made hereby obnoxious[7391] more

To all the miseries of life,

Life in captivity

Among inhuman foes.

But who are these? For with joint [7392] pace[7393] I hear

The tread of many feet steering this way—

Perhaps my enemies who come to stare

At my affliction, and perhaps to insult,

Their daily practice to afflict me more.

CHOR. This, this is he. Softly a while,

Let us not break in upon him.

O change beyond report, thought, or belief!

See how he lies at random, carelessly diffused,[7394]

With languished[7395] head unpropped,

As one past hope, abandoned

And by himself given over,

In slavish habit,[7396] ill-fitted weeds[7397]

O’er worn and soiled.

Or do my eyes misrepresent? Can this be he,

That heroic, that renowned,

Irresistible Samson? Whom unarmed

No strength of man or fiercest wild beast could withstand?

Who tore the lion, as the lion tears the kid?

Ran on embattled[7398] armies clad in iron,

And weaponless himself

Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery[7399]

Of brazen[7400] shield and spear, the hammered cuirass,[7401]

Chalybean[7402] tempered steel, and frock[7403] of mail

Adamantean proof?

But safest he who stood aloof,

When insupportably[7404] his foot advanced

In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools,

Spurned[7405] them to death—by troops! The bold Ascalonite[7406]

Fled from his lion ramp,[7407] old warriors turned[7408]

Their plated[7409] backs under his heel

Or, grov’ling, soiled [7410] their crested helmets in the dust.

Then with what[7411] trivial [7412] weapon came to hand—

The jaw of a dead ass, his sword of bone—

A thousand fore-skins[7413] fell, the flower of Palestine,

In Ramath-lechi,[7414] famous to this day.

Then by main[7415] force pulled up, and on his shoulders bore

The Gates of Azza[7416] —post[7417] and massy bar—[7418]

Up to the hill by Hebron,[7419] seat of giants old,[7420]

No journey of a sabbath day,[7421] and[7422] loaded so:

Like[7423] whom[7424] the gentiles feign[7425] to bear up Heav’n.[7426]

Which shall I first bewail,

Thy bondage or lost sight,

Prison within prison

Inseparably dark?

Thou art become (O worst imprisonment!)

The dungeon of thyself! Thy soul

(Which men enjoying sight oft without cause complain)

Imprisoned now indeed,

In real darkness of the body dwells,

Shut up from outward light

T’ incorporate[7427] with gloomy night,

For inward light alas

Puts forth no visual beam.

O mirror of our fickle[7428] state,

Since man[7429] on earth unparalleled!

The rarer[7430] thy example stands

By how much from the top of wondrous glory,

Strongest of mortal men,

To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall’n.

For him I reckon not in high estate

Whom long descent of birth

Or the sphere of fortune raises,

But thee whose strength, while virtue was her mate,

Might have subdued the earth,

Universally crowned with highest praises.

SAM. I hear the sound of words; their sense the air

Dissolves unjointed[7431] ere it reach my ear.

CHOR. He speaks: let us draw nigh.

Matchless in might,

The glory late of Israel, now the grief!

We come thy friends and neighbours not unknown

From Eshtaol and Zora’s fruitful vale[7432]

To visit or bewail thee or, if better,

Counsel or consolation we may bring,

Salve to thy sores. Apt words have power to suage

The tumors[7433] of a troubled mind,

And are as balm to festered wounds.

SAM. Your coming, friends, revives me, for I learn

Now of my own experience, not by talk,

How counterfeit a coin they are who friends

Bear in their superscription[7434] (of the most,[7435]

I would be understood): in prosperous days

They swarm, but in adverse withdraw their head,

Not to be found, though sought. Ye see, O friends,

How many evils have enclosed me round.

Yet that which was the worst now least afflicts me,

Blindness, for had I sight, confused with shame,

How could I once look up, or heave[7436] the head,

Who like a foolish pilot have shipwracked

My vessel, trusted to me from above,

Gloriously rigged, and for a word, a tear

—Fool!—have divulged the secret gift of God

To a deceitful woman? Tell me, friends,

Am I not sung and proverbed for a fool

In every street? Do they not say how well

Are come upon him his deserts? Yet why?

Immeasurable strength they might behold

In me, of wisdom nothing more than mean.[7437]

This with the other should, at least, have paired;[7438]

These two, proportioned ill, drove me transverse.[7439]

CHOR. Tax[7440] not divine disposal.[7441] Wisest men

Have erred, and by bad women been deceived,

And shall again, pretend they ne’re so wise.

Deject not then so overmuch thyself,

Who hast of sorrow thy full load besides.

Yet truth to say, I oft have heard men wonder

Why thou should’st wed Philistian women rather

Than of thine own tribe—fairer, or as fair,

At least of thy own nation, and as noble.

SAM. The first I saw at Timna,[7442] and she pleased

Me (not my parents), that[7443] I sought to wed,

The daughter of an infidel. They[7444] knew not

That what I motioned[7445] was of God; I knew

From intimate[7446] impulse,[7447] and therefore urged[7448]

The marriage on, that by occasion[7449] hence[7450]

I might begin Israel’s deliverance,

The work to which I was divinely called.

She proving false, the next I took to wife

(O that I never had! fond[7451] wish, too late)

Was in the Vale of Sorec, Dalila,[7452]

That specious[7453] monster, my accomplished[7454] snare.

I thought it lawful, from[7455] my former act

And the same end, still watching to oppress

Israel’s oppressors. Of what now I suffer

She was not the prime cause, but I myself

Who, vanquished with a peal[7456] of words (O weakness!),

Gave up[7457] my fort of silence to a woman.

CHOR. In seeking just occasion to provoke[7458]

The Philistine, thy country’s enemy,

Thou never wast remiss:[7459] I bear thee witness.

Yet Israel still serves,[7460] with all his sons.

SAM. That fault I take not on me, but transfer

On Israel’s governors and heads of tribes,

Who seeing those great acts which God had done

Singly[7461] by me against their conquerors

Acknowledged not, or not at all considered

Deliverance offered. I on th’ other side

Used[7462] no ambition[7463] to commend[7464] my deeds:

The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the doer.

But they[7465] persisted deaf, and would not seem

To count them things worth notice, till at length

Their lords the Philistines with gathered[7466] powers

Entered Judea, seeking me, who then

Safe to the rock of Etham[7467] was retired,

Not flying,[7468] but fore-casting[7469] in what place

To set upon them, what advantaged[7470] best.

Meanwhile the men of Judah, to prevent

The harass of their land, beset [7471] me round.

I willingly (on some[7472] conditions) came

Into their hands, and they as gladly yield me

To the uncircumcised, a welcome prey,[7473]

Bound with two cords[7474] —but cords to me were threads

Touched with the flame. On their whole host I flew,

Unarmed, and with a trivial[7475] weapon felled

Their choicest youth; they only lived who fled.

Had Judah that day joined, or one whole tribe,

They had by this possessed the towers of Gath,[7476]

And lorded over them whom now they serve.

But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt

And by their vices brought to servitude,

Than to love bondage more than liberty,

Bondage with ease than[7477] strenuous liberty,

And to despise, or envy, or suspect

Whom God hath of his special favor raised

As their deliverer? If he aught begin,

How frequent to desert him, and at last

To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?

CHOR. Thy words to my remembrance bring

How Succoth and the fort of Penuel[7478]

Their great deliverer contemned,

The matchless Gideon, in pursuit

Of Madian and her vanquished kings.

And how ungrateful Ephraim[7479]

Had dealt with Jephtha,[7480] who by argument

Not worse than by his shield and spear,

Defended Israel from the Ammonite,[7481]

Had not his prowess quelled their pride

In that sore battle when so many died,

Without reprieve adjudged to death

For want of well-pronouncing “shibboleth.”[7482]

SAM. Of such examples add me to the roll.

Me easily indeed mine may neglect,[7483]

But God’s proposed deliverance not so.

CHOR. Just are the ways of God,

And justifiable to men,

Unless there be who think not God at all.[7484]

If any be, they walk obscure,[7485]

For of such doctrine never was there school,

But the heart of the fool,

And no man therein doctor[7486] but himself.

Yet more there be who doubt[7487] His ways not just,

As to His own edicts found contradicting,

Then give the reins to wand’ring[7488] thought,

Regardless of His glory’s diminution,

Till by their own perplexities involved[7489]

They ravel[7490] more, still less resolved,

But never find self-satisfying solution.

As if they would confine th’ interminable,[7491]

And tie Him to His own prescript,[7492]

Who made our Laws to bind us, not Himself,

And hath full right t’ exempt

Whom so it pleases Him by choice

From national obstriction,[7493] without taint

Of sin, or legal debt,

For with His own Laws He can best dispense.

He would not else (who never wanted[7494] means,

Nor in respect of th’ enemy just cause

To set His people free)

Have prompted this heroic Nazarite,[7495]

Against his vow of strictest purity,

To seek in marriage that fallacious[7496] bride,

Unclean, unchaste.

Down[7497] reason, then—at least, vain reasonings down,

Though reason here aver[7498]

That moral verdict quits[7499] her[7500] of unclean:

Unchaste was subsequent, her stain not his.

But see, here comes thy reverend sire

With careful[7501] step, locks white as down,

Old Manoa. Advise[7502]

Forthwith how thou ought’st to receive him.

SAM. Aye me, another inward grief awaked:

With mention of that name, renews th’ assault.

MAN. Brethren and men of Dan, for such ye seem,

Though in this uncouth[7503] place: if old respect,

As I suppose, towards your once gloried friend,

My son now captive, hither hath informed[7504]

Your younger feet, while mine, cast[7505] back with age,

Came lagging after, say if he be here.

CHOR. As signal[7506] now, in low dejected state,

As erst in highest, behold him where he lies.

MAN. O miserable change! Is this the man,

That invincible Samson, far renowned,

The dread of Israel’s foes, who with a strength

Equivalent to Angels walked their streets,

None offering fight? who single combatant

Duelled their armies, ranked in proud array,

Himself an army, now unequal match

To save himself against a coward, armed,

At one spear’s length? O ever failing trust

In mortal strength! and oh what not in man

Deceivable and vain! Nay, what thing good

Prayed for, but often proves our woe, our bane?[7507]

I prayed for children, and thought barrenness

In wedlock a reproach. I gained a son,

And such a son as all men hailed me happy.

Who would be now a father in my stead?

O wherefore did God grant me my request,

And as a blessing with such pomp[7508] adorned?

Why are His gifts desirable,[7509] to tempt

Our earnest prayers, then giv’n with solemn hand

As graces, draw a scorpion’s tail behind?

For this did th’ Angel twice descend? For this

Ordained thy nurture holy, as of a plant

Select and sacred, glorious for a while,

The miracle of men, then in an hour

Ensnared, assaulted, overcome, led bound,

Thy foes’ derision, captive, poor, and blind,

Into a dungeon thrust, to work with slaves?

Alas, methinks whom God hath chosen once

To worthiest deeds, if he through frailty err

He[7510] should not so oerwhelm, and as a thrall[7511]

Subject him to so foul indignities,

Be it but for honor’s sake, of former deeds.

SAM. Appoint[7512] not Heav’nly disposition, father.

Nothing of all these evils hath befall’n me

But justly. I myself have brought them on,

Sole author I, sole cause. If aught seem vile,

As[7513] vile hath been my folly, who have profaned

The mystery of God giv’n me under pledge

Of vow, and have betrayed it to a woman,

A Canaanite, my faithless enemy.

This well I knew, nor was at all surprised,

But warned by oft experience. Did not she

Of Timna[7514] first betray me, and reveal

The secret wrested from me in her height

Of nuptial love professed, carrying it straight

To them who had corrupted her, my spies

And rivals? In this other was there found

More faith? who also in her prime of love,

Spousal embraces, vitiated[7515] with gold,

Though offered only, by the scent[7516] conceived

Her spurious[7517] first-born, treason against me?

Thrice she assayed, with flattering prayers and sighs,

And amorous reproaches, to win from me

My capital[7518] secret, in what part my strength

Lay stored, in what part summed, that she might know.

Thrice I deluded[7519] her, and turned to sport[7520]

Her importunity, each time perceiving

How openly and with what impudence

She purposed to betray me, and (which was worse

Than undissembled hate) with what contempt

She sought to make me traitor to myself.

Yet the fourth time, when must’ring all her wiles,

With blandished[7521] parleys,[7522] feminine assaults,

Tongue-batteries,[7523] she surceased not day nor night

To storm[7524] me, over-watched[7525] and wearied out.

At times when men seek most repose and rest

I yielded, and unlocked her all my heart,

Who with a grain of manhood well resolved[7526]

Might easily have shook off all her snares.

But foul effeminacy[7527] held me yoked

Her bondslave. O indignity, O blot

To honor and religion! Servile mind

Rewarded well with servile punishment!

The base degree to which I now am fall’n,

These rags, this grinding,[7528] is not yet so base

As was my former servitude, ignoble,

Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,

True slavery, and that blindness worse than this,

That saw not how degenerately I served.

MAN. I cannot praise thy marriage choices, son—

Rather approved them not. But thou didst plead

Divine impulsion[7529] prompting how thou might’st

Find some occasion to infest[7530] our foes.

I state not that. This I am sure: our foes

Found soon occasion thereby to make thee

Their captive, and their triumph. Thou the sooner

Temptation found’st, or over-potent charms

To violate the sacred trust of silence

Deposited within thee, which t’ have kept

Tacit [7531] was in thy power. True: and thou bear’st

Enough, and more, the burden of that fault.

Bitterly hast thou paid, and still art paying

That rigid[7532] score.[7533] A worse thing yet remains.

This day the Philistines a popular feast

Here celebrate in Gaza, and proclaim

Great pomp, and sacrifice, and praises loud

To Dagon, as their god who hath delivered

Thee, Samson, bound and blind into their hands,

Them out of thine, who slew’st them many a slain.

So Dagon shall be magnified, and God,

Besides whom is no God, compared with idols,

Disglorified, blasphemed, and had in scorn

By th’ idolatrous rout[7534] amidst their wine,

Which to have come to pass by means of thee,

Samson, of all thy sufferings think the heaviest,

Of all reproach the most with shame that ever

Could have befall’n thee and thy father’s house.[7535]

SAM. Father, I do acknowledge and confess

That I this honor, I this pomp have brought

To Dagon, and advanced his praises high

Among the heathen round[7536] —to God have brought

Dishonor, obloquy,[7537] and op’t[7538] the mouths

Of idolists, and atheists, have brought scandal

To Israel, diffidence[7539] of God, and doubt

In feeble hearts, propense[7540] enough before

To waver, or fall off and join with idols.

Which is my chief affliction, shame and sorrow,

The anguish of my soul, that suffers not

Mine eye to harbor[7541] sleep, or thoughts to rest.

This only hope relieves me, that the strife

With me hath end: all the contest is now

’Twixt God and Dagon. Dagon hath presumed

(Me overthrown) to enter lists[7542] with God,

His deity comparing and preferring

Before the God of Abraham. He,[7543] be sure,

Will not connive,[7544] or linger, thus provoked,

But will arise and His great name assert.

Dagon must stoop,[7545] and shall ere long receive

Such a discomfit[7546] as shall quite despoil[7547] him

Of all these boasted trophies won on me,

And with confusion blank[7548] his worshippers.

MAN. With cause[7549] this hope relieves thee, and these words

I as a prophecy receive, for God—

Nothing more certain—will not long defer

To vindicate the glory of His name

Against all competition, nor will long

Endure it, doubtful[7550] whether God be Lord

Or Dagon. But for thee what shall be done?

Thou must not in the meanwhile here forgot

Lie, in this miserable, loathsome plight

Neglected. I already have made way[7551]

To some Philistian lords, with whom to treat[7552]

About thy ransom. Well they may by this[7553]

Have satisfied their utmost of revenge

By pains and slaveries worse than death inflicted

On thee, who now no more canst do them harm.

SAM. Spare[7554] that proposal, father, spare the trouble

Of that solicitation. Let me here,

As I deserve, pay on my punishment,

And expiate, if possible, my crime,

Shameful garrulity. To have revealed

Secrets of men, the secrets of a friend,

How heinous had the fact been, how deserving

Contempt, and scorn of all, to be excluded

All friendship, and avoided as a blab,

The mark of fool set on his front?[7555] But I

God’s counsel have not kept, His holy secret

Presumptuously have published,[7556] impiously,

Weakly at least, and shamefully, a sin

That gentiles in their parables[7557] condemn[7558]

To their abyss and horrid pains confined.[7559]

MAN. Be penitent and for thy fault contrite,

But act not in thy own affliction, son.

Repent the sin, but if the punishment

Thou canst avoid, self-preservation bids,

Or th’ execution leave to high disposal,[7560]

And let another hand, not thine, exact

Thy penal forfeit[7561] from thyself. Perhaps

God will relent, and quit[7562] thee all His debt,

Who evermore approves and more accepts

(Best pleased with humble and filial submission)

Him who imploring mercy sues[7563] for life,

Than who, self-rigorous, chooses death as due,

Which argues over-just, and self-displeased

For self-offence, more than for God offended.

Reject not then what offered means[7564] (who knows

But God hath set before us) to return thee

Home to thy country and His sacred house,

Where thou may’st bring thy off ’rings, to avert

His further ire with prayers and vows renewed.

SAM. His pardon I implore. But as for life,

To what end should I seek it? When in strength

All mortals I excelled, and great in hopes

With youthful courage and magnanimous[7565] thoughts

Of birth from Heav’n foretold and high exploits,

Full of divine instinct,[7566] after some proof

Of acts indeed heroic, far beyond

The sons of Anac,[7567] famous now and blazed,[7568]

Fearless of danger, like a petty god

I walked about, admired of all and dreaded

On hostile ground, none daring my affront.[7569]

Then swoll’n with pride into the snare I fell

Of fair fallacious[7570] looks, venereal trains,[7571]

Softn’d with pleasure and voluptuous life,

At length to lay my head and hallowed pledge[7572]

Of all my strength in the lascivious lap

Of a deceitful concubine, who shore me

Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece,

Then turned me out ridiculous, despoiled,

Shav’n, and disarmed among my enemies.

CHOR. Desire of wine and all delicious drinks,

Which many a famous warrior overturns,

Thou could’st repress, nor did the dancing ruby[7573]

Sparkling, out-poured, the flavor, or the smell,

Or taste that cheers the heart of gods and men,

Allure thee from[7574] the cool crystalline stream.

SAM. Wherever fountain or fresh current flowed

Against the eastern ray, translucent, pure

With touch aetherial of Heav’ns fiery rod,[7575]

I drank, from the clear milky[7576] juice[7577] allaying

Thirst, and refreshed, nor envied them the grape

Whose heads that turbulent liquor fills with fumes.

CHOR. O madness, to think use of strongest wines

And strongest drinks our chief support of health,

When God with these forbidd’n made choice to rear

His mighty champion, strong above compare,

Whose drink was only from the liquid brook.

SAM. But what availed this temperance, not complete

Against another object more enticing?

What boots it at one gate to make defence

And at another to let in the foe,

Effeminately vanquished? By which means,

Now blind, disheart’ned, shamed, dishonored, quelled,[7578]

To what can I be useful? wherein serve

My nation, and the work from Heav’n imposed,

But to sit idle on the household hearth,

A burdenous drone? to visitants a gaze,[7579]

Or pitied object, these redundant[7580] locks

Robustious[7581] to no purpose clust’ring down,

Vain monument of strength, till length of years

And sedentary numbness craze[7582] my limbs

To a contemptible old age obscure.

Here rather let me drudge and earn my bread,

Till vermin or the draff [7583] of servile food

Consume me, and oft-invocated death

Hast’n the welcome end of all my pains.

MAN. Wilt thou then serve the Philistines with that gift

Which was expressly giv’n thee to annoy[7584] them?

Better at home lie bed-rid, not only idle—

Inglorious, unemployed,[7585] with age out-worn.

But God who caused a fountain at thy prayer

From the dry ground to spring, thy thirst to allay

After the brunt[7586] of battle,[7587] can as easy

Cause light again within thy eyes to spring,

Wherewith to serve Him better than thou hast.

And I persuade me so. Why else this strength

Miraculous yet remaining in those locks?

His might continues in thee, not for naught,

Nor shall His wondrous gifts be frustrate thus.

SAM. All otherwise to me my thoughts portend,[7588]

That these dark orbs no more shall treat[7589] with light,

Nor th’ other light of life continue long,

But yield to double darkness nigh at hand.

So much I feel my genial[7590] spirits droop,

My hopes all flat. Nature within me seems

In all her functions weary of herself,

My race of glory run, and race of shame,

And I shall shortly be with them that rest.

MAN. Believe not these suggestions, which proceed

From anguish of the mind and humors[7591] black,

That mingle with thy fancy.[7592] I however

Must not omit a father’s timely care

To prosecute[7593] the means of thy deliverance,

By ransom or how else. Meanwhile be calm,

And healing words from these thy friends admit.[7594]

SAM. O that torment[7595] should not be confined [7596]

To the body’s wounds and sores,

With maladies innumerable

In heart, head, breast, and reins,[7597]

But must secret passage find

To th’ inmost mind,

There exercise[7598] all his fierce accidents,[7599]

And on her purest spirits prey,

As on entrails, joints, and limbs,

With answerable[7600] pains, but more intense,

Though void of corporal sense.[7601]

My griefs not only pain me

As a ling’ring disease,

But finding no redress, ferment[7602] and rage,

Nor less than wounds immedicable[7603]

Rankle,[7604] and fester, and gangrene[7605]

To black mortification.[7606]

Thoughts (my tormentors) armed with deadly stings

Mangle my apprehensive[7607] tenderest parts,

Exasperate,[7608] exulcerate, and raise

Dire inflammation which no cooling herb

Or med’cinal liquor can assuage,[7609]

Nor breath of vernal air from snowy Alp.

Sleep hath forsook and giv’n me o’er

To death’s benumbing opium as my only cure.

Thence faintings, swoonings of despair,

And sense of Heav’n’s desertion.

I was His nursling once, and choice delight,

His destined[7610] from the womb,

Promised by Heav’nly message twice descending.

Under His special[7611] eye

Abstemious[7612] I grew up and thrived amain.[7613]

He led me on to mightiest deeds

(Above the nerve[7614] of mortal arm)

Against th’ uncircumcised, our enemies,

But now hath cast me off as[7615] never known,

And to those cruel enemies,

Whom I by His appointment[7616] had provoked,[7617]

Left me all helpless with th’ irreparable loss

Of sight, reserved alive to be repeated[7618]

The subject of their cruelty, or scorn.

Nor am I in the list[7619] of them that hope.

Hopeless are all my evils, all remediless.

This one prayer yet remains, might I be heard:

No long petition, speedy death,

The close of all my miseries, and the balm.

CHOR. Many are the sayings of the wise,

In ancient and in modern books enrolled,[7620]

Extolling patience as the truest fortitude,[7621]

And to the bearing well of all calamities,

All chances incident to man’s frail life,

Consolatories writ

With studied [7622] argument, and much persuasion[7623] sought,[7624]

Lenient[7625] of grief and anxious thought.

But with th’ afflicted in his pangs their sound

Little prevails, or rather seems a tune

Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint,

Unless he feel within

Some source of consolation from above,

Secret refreshings, that repair[7626] his strength,

And fainting spirits uphold.

God of our fathers, what is man!

That Thou towards him with hand so various,[7627]

Or might I say contrarious,

Temper’st Thy providence through his short course[7628]

Not evenly, as thou rul’st

The Angelic orders and inferior creatures mute,

Irrational and brute.

Nor do I name of men the common rout,[7629]

That wand’ring loose[7630] about

Grow up and perish, as[7631] the summer fly,

Heads without name no more remembered!

But such as Thou hast solemnly[7632] elected,[7633]

With gifts and graces eminently adorned

To some great work, Thy glory

And people’s safety,[7634] which in part they effect.

Yet toward these thus dignified,[7635] Thou oft

Amidst their height of noon

Changest Thy countenance and Thy hand, with no regard

Of highest favors past

From Thee on them, or them to Thee of service.

Nor only dost degrade them, or remit[7636]

To life obscured, which were a fair dismission,

But throw’st them lower than Thou did’st exalt them high,

Unseemly falls,[7637] in human eye,

Too grievous for the trespass or omission—

Oft leav’st them to the hostile sword

Of heathen and profane,[7638] their carcasses

To dogs and fowls a prey, or else captived,

Or to the unjust tribunals, under change of times,

And condemnation of the ungrateful multitude.

If these they scape, perhaps in poverty

With sickness and disease Thou bow’st them down,

Painful diseases and deformed,

In crude[7639] old age,

Though not disordinate,[7640] yet causeless suff ’ring

The punishment of dissolute days. In fine,[7641]

Just or unjust alike seem miserable,

For oft alike both come to evil end.

So[7642] deal not, with this once Thy glorious champion,

The image of Thy strength, and mighty minister.[7643]

What do I beg? How hast Thou dealt[7644] already?

Behold him in this state calamitous, and turn

His labors—for Thou canst—to peaceful end.

But who is this, what thing of sea or land?

Female of sex it seems,

That so bedecked, ornate, and gay,

Comes this way sailing

Like a stately ship

Of Tarsus,[7645] bound for th’ Isles

Of Javan[7646] or Gadier,[7647]

With all her bravery[7648] on, and tackle[7649] trim,[7650]

Sails filled, and streamers[7651] waving

(Courted by all the winds that hold them play),[7652]

An amber scent of odorous perfume

Her harbinger,[7653] a damsel train[7654] behind.

Some rich Philistian matron she may seem,

And now at nearer view, no other, certain,

Than Dalila, thy wife.

SAM. My wife, my traitress, let her not come near me.

CHOR. Yet on she moves, now stands and eyes thee fixed,[7655]

About t’ have spoke, but now, with head declined

Like a fair flower surcharged[7656] with dew, she weeps

And words addressed[7657] seem into tears dissolved,

Wetting the borders of her silken veil.

But now again she makes address[7658] to speak.

DAL. With doubtful feet and wavering resolution

I came, still dreading thy displeasure, Samson,

Which to have merited, without excuse,

I cannot but acknowledge. Yet if tears

May expiate (though the fact more evil drew[7659]

In the perverse[7660] event than I foresaw)

My penance hath not slack’ned, though my pardon

No way assured. But conjugal affection

Prevailing over fear and timorous doubt,

Hath led me on, desirous to behold

Once more thy face, and know of thy estate.[7661]

If aught in my ability may serve

To lighten what thou suffer’st, and appease

Thy mind with what amends is in my power,

Though late, yet in some part to recompense

My rash but more unfortunate misdeed.

SAM. Out, out hyena! These are thy wonted[7662] arts,

And arts of every woman false like thee,

To break all faith, all vows, deceive, betray,

Then as[7663] repentant to submit, beseech

And reconcilement move[7664] with feigned remorse,

Confess, and promise wonders in her change,

Not truly penitent, but chief [7665] to try[7666]

Her husband, how far urged[7667] his patience bears,

His virtue or weakness which way t’ assail,

Then with more cautious and instructed[7668] skill

Again transgresses, and again submits,

That[7669] wisest and best men full oft beguiled

With goodness, principled[7670] not to reject

The penitent, but ever to forgive,

Are drawn to wear out miserable days,

Entangled with a pois’nous bosom[7671] snake,

If not by quick destruction soon cut off,

As I by thee, to ages an example.

DAL. Yet hear me Samson. Not that I endeavor

To lessen or extenuate my offence,

But that on th’ other side if it be weighed

By itself, with aggravations[7672] not surcharged,[7673]

Or else with just allowance counterpoised,[7674]

I may, if possible, thy pardon find

The easier towards me, or thy hatred less.

First granting, as I do, it was a weakness

In me, but incident[7675] to all our sex,

Curiosity, inquisitive, importune[7676]

Of secrets, then with like infirmity

To publish[7677] them, both common female faults.

Was it not weakness also to make known,

For[7678] importunity (that is, for naught),

Wherein consisted all thy strength and safety?

To what I did thou showd’st me first the way.

But I to enemies revealed, and should not.

Nor should’st thou have trusted that to woman’s frailty:

Ere I to thee, thou to thyself wast cruel.

Let weakness then with weakness come to parle,[7679]

So near related, or the same of kind,

Thine forgive mine, that men may censure thine

The gentler, if severely thou exact not

More strength from me than in thyself was found.

And what if love, which thou interpret’st[7680] hate,

The jealousy of love, powerful of sway

In human hearts, nor less in mine towards thee,

Caused what I did? I saw thee mutable[7681]

Of fancy,[7682] feared lest one day thou would’st leave me

As her at Timna,[7683] sought by all means therefore

How to endear, and hold thee to me firmest.

No better way I saw than by importuning

To learn thy secrets, get into my power

Thy key of strength and safety. Thou wilt say,

Why then revealed? I was assured by those

Who tempted me that nothing was designed[7684]

Against thee but safe custody, and hold.[7685]

That made for me.[7686] I knew that liberty

Would draw thee forth to perilous enterprises,

While I at home sat full of cares and fears,

Wailing thy absence in my widowed bed.

Here[7687] I should still enjoy thee day and night,

Mine and love’s prisoner, not the Philistines’,

Whole[7688] to myself, unhazarded[7689] abroad,

Fearless[7690] at home of partners[7691] in my love.

These reasons in love’s law have passed for good,

Though fond[7692] and reasonless to some, perhaps.

And love hath oft, well meaning, wrought much woe,

Yet always pity or pardon hath obtained.

Be not unlike all others, not austere[7693]

As thou art strong, inflexible as steel.

If thou in strength all mortals dost exceed,

In uncompassionate anger do not so.

SAM. How cunningly the sorceress displays

Her own transgressions, to upbraid me mine!

That malice, not repentance, brought thee hither,

By this appears. I gave, thou say’st, th’ example,

I led the way. Bitter reproach, but true.

I to myself was false ere thou to me.

Such pardon therefore as I give my folly,

Take to thy wicked deed, which when thou see’st

Impartial, self-severe, inexorable,

Thou wilt renounce thy seeking, and much rather

Confess it feigned. Weakness is thy excuse,

And I believe it—weakness to resist

Philistian gold! If weakness may excuse,

What murderer, what traitor, parricide,

Incestuous, sacrilegious, but may plead it?

All wickedness is weakness: that plea therefore

With God or man will gain thee no remission.

But love constrain’d[7694] thee! Call it furious[7695] rage[7696]

To satisfy thy lust. Love seeks to have love.

My love how could’st thou hope, who took’st the way

To raise in me inexpiable[7697] hate,

Knowing,[7698] as needs I must, by thee betrayed?

In vain thou striv’st to cover shame with shame,

Or by evasions thy crime uncover’st more.

DAL. Since thou determin’st[7699] weakness for no plea

In man or woman, though to thy own condemning,

Hear what assaults I had, what snares besides,

What sieges girt me round, ere I consented,

Which might have awed the best resolved of men,

The constantest t’ have yielded without blame.

It was not gold, as to my charge thou lay’st,

That wrought[7700] with me. Thou know’st the magistrates[7701]

And princes of my country came in person,

Solicited, commanded, threatened, urged,

Adjured[7702] by all the bonds of civil duty

And of religion, pressed[7703] how just it was,

How honorable, how glorious to entrap

A common[7704] enemy, who had destroyed

Such numbers of our nation. And the priest

Was not behind,[7705] but ever at my ear,

Preaching how meritorious with the gods

It would be to ensnare an irreligious

Dishonorer of Dagon. What had I

T’ oppose against such powerful arguments?

Only my love of thee held long debate,

And combated in silence all these reasons

With hard contest.[7706] At length that grounded[7707] maxim,

So rife[7708] and celebrated in the mouths

Of wisest men, that to the public good

Private respects[7709] must yield, with grave authority

Took full possession of me, and prevailed,

Virtue, as I thought—truth—duty so enjoining.[7710]

SAM. I thought where all thy circling wiles would end!

In feigned religion, smooth hypocrisy.

But had thy love, still odiously[7711] pretended,

Been, as it ought, sincere, it would have taught thee

Far other reasonings, brought forth other deeds.

I before[7712] all the daughters of my tribe

And of my nation chose thee from among

My enemies, loved thee, as too well thou knew’st—

Too well—unbosomed all my secrets to thee,

Not out of levity,[7713] but over-pow’red

By thy request, who[7714] could deny thee nothing,

Yet now am judged an enemy. Why then

Didst thou at first receive me for thy husband,

Then, as since then, thy country’s foe professed?[7715]

Being once a wife, for me thou wast to leave

Parents and country, nor was I their[7716] subject,[7717]

Nor under their protection, but my own,

Thou mine,[7718] not theirs. If aught against my life

Thy country sought of thee, it sought unjustly,

Against the law of Nature, law of nations,

No more thy country, but an impious crew

Of men conspiring to uphold their state

By worse than hostile deeds, violating the ends

For which our country is a name so dear,

Not therefore to be obeyed. But zeal moved thee!

To please thy gods thou didst it—gods unable

To acquit[7719] themselves and prosecute their foes.

But by ungodly deeds, the contradiction

Of their own deity, gods cannot be—

Less therefore to be pleased, obeyed, or feared.

These false pretexts and varnished colors failing,

Bare in thy guilt how foul must thou appear!

DAL. In argument with men a woman ever

Goes by the worse,[7720] whatever be her cause.

SAM. For want of words no doubt, or lack of breath!

Witness when I was worried with[7721] thy peals.[7722]

DAL. I was a fool, too rash, and quite mistaken

In what I thought would have succeeded best.

Let me obtain forgiveness of thee, Samson!

Afford[7723] me place[7724] to show what recompense

Towards thee I intend for what I have misdone,

Misguided. Only what remains past cure

Bear not too sensibly,[7725] nor still insist

T’ afflict thyself in vain. Though sight be lost,

Life yet hath many solaces, enjoyed

Where other senses want[7726] not their delights,

At home in leisure and domestic ease,

Exempt from many a care and chance[7727] to which

Eye-sight exposes, daily, men abroad.[7728]

I to the lords will intercede, not doubting

Their favorable ear,[7729] that I may fetch thee

From forth this loathsome prison-house, t’ abide

With me, where my redoubled love and care,

With nursing diligence (to me glad office),[7730]

May ever tend about thee to[7731] old age

With all things grateful[7732] cheered, and so supplied

That what by me thou hast lost thou least shalt miss.

SAM. No, no, of my condition take no care!

It fits not.[7733] Thou and I long since are twain,[7734]

Nor think me so unwary or accurst

To bring my feet again into the snare

Where once I have been caught. I know thy trains,[7735]

Though dearly to my cost! Thy ginns,[7736] and toils.[7737]

Thy fair enchanted cup, and warbling charms

No more on me have power, their force is nulled.[7738]

So much of adders’ wisdom[7739] I have learned

To fence my ear against thy sorceries.

If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men

Loved, honored, feared me, thou alone could hate me,

Thy husband, slight[7740] me, sell[7741] me, and forego[7742] me,

How would’st thou use me now, blind, and thereby

Deceiveable, in most things as a child

Helpless, thence easily contemned,[7743] and scorned,

And last[7744] neglected? How would’st thou insult[7745]

When I must live uxorious[7746] to thy will

In perfect[7747] thraldom?[7748] How again betray me,

Bearing my words and doings to the lords

To gloss[7749] upon, and censuring,[7750] frown or smile?

This jail I count[7751] the house of liberty

To thine, whose doors my feet shall never enter!

DAL. Let me approach, at least, and touch thy hand.

SAM. Not for thy life, lest fierce remembrance wake

My sudden rage to tear thee joint by joint.

At distance I forgive thee, go with that.

Bewail thy falsehood, and the pious works

It hath brought forth to make thee memorable

Among illustrious women, faithful wives.

Cherish thy hast’ned widowhood with the gold

Of matrimonial treason. So farewell.

DAL. I see thou art implacable,[7752] more deaf

To prayers than winds and seas. Yet winds to seas

Are reconciled at length, and sea to shore.

Thy anger, unappeasable, still rages,

Eternal tempest never to be calmed.

Why do I humble thus myself, and suing[7753]

For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate—

Bid go,[7754] with evil omen and the brand

Of infamy upon my name denounced?

To mix with thy concernments[7755] I desist

Henceforth, nor too much disapprove my own.

Fame if not double-faced is double-mouthed,

And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds.

On both his wings, one black, th’ other white,

Bears greatest names in his wild airy flight.

My name perhaps among the circumcised[7756]

In Dan, in Judah, and the bordering tribes,

To all posterity may stand defamed,

With malediction mentioned, and the blot

Of falsehood most unconjugal traduced.[7757]

But in my country, where I most desire,

In Ecron, Gaza, Asdod, and in Gath

I shall be named among the famousest

Of women, sung at solemn festivals,

Living and dead recorded,[7758] who to save

Her country from a fierce destroyer chose

Above[7759] the faith of wedlock-bands[7760] —my tomb

With odors[7761] visited and annual flowers.

Not less renowned than in Mount Ephraim

Jael, who with inhospitable guile

Smote Sisera sleeping through the temples nailed.[7762]

Nor shall I count it heinous[7763] to enjoy

The public marks of honor and reward

Conferred upon me, for the piety

Which to my country I was judged t’ have shown.

At this whoever envies or repines[7764]

I leave him to his lot, and like my own.

CHOR. She’s gone, a manifest[7765] serpent by her sting

Discovered in the end, till now concealed.

SAM. So let her go. God sent her to debase me

And aggravate my folly, who committed 1000

To such a viper his most sacred trust

Of secrecy, my safety, and my life.

CHOR. Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,

After offence returning, to regain

Love once possessed, nor can be easily

Repulsed, without much inward passion felt

And secret sting of amorous remorse.

SAM. Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end.

Not wedlock-treachery, endangering life.

CHOR. It is not virtue, wisdom, valor, wit, 1010

Strength, comeliness of shape, or amplest merit

That woman’s love can win or long inherit,[7766]

But what it is, hard is to say,

Harder to hit[7767]

(Which way soever men refer[7768] it),

Much like thy riddle, Samson,[7769] in one day

Or seven, though one should musing sit.

If any of these or all, the Timnian bride

Had not so soon preferred

Thy paranymph,[7770] worthless to thee compared, 1020

Successor in thy bed,

Nor both[7771] so loosely disallied

Their nuptials, nor this last so treacherously

Had shorn the fatal[7772] harvest of thy head.

Is it for that[7773] such outward ornament

Was lavished on their sex, that inward gifts

Were left for haste unfinished, judgment scant,[7774]

Capacity not raised[7775] to apprehend

Or value what is best

In choice, but oftest to affect[7776] the wrong? 1030

Or was too much of self-love mixed,

Of constancy no root[7777] infixed,[7778]

That either they love nothing, or not long?

What e’er it be, to wisest men and best

Seeming at first all Heav’nly under virgin veil,

Soft, modest, meek, demure,[7779]

Once joined the contrary she proves, a thorn

Intestine, far within defensive[7780] arms

A cleaving[7781] mischief, in[7782] his way to virtue

Adverse and turbulent,[7783] or by her charms 1040

Draws him awry,[7784] enslaved

With dotage,[7785] and his sense depraved[7786]

To folly and shameful deeds which ruin ends.

What pilot so expert but needs must wreck,

Embarked with such a steer-mate at the helm?

Favored of Heav’n who finds

One[7787] virtuous (rarely found),

That in domestic good combines.[7788]

Happy that house! His way to peace is smooth.

But virtue which breaks through all opposition, 1050

And all temptation can remove

Most shines and most is acceptable above.

Therefore God’s universal Law

Gave to the man despotic[7789] power

Over his female in due[7790] awe,[7791]

Nor from that right to part[7792] an hour,

Smile she[7793] or lour.[7794]

So shall he least confusion draw

On his whole life, not swayed

By female usurpation, nor dismayed. 1060

But had we best retire, I see a storm?

SAM. Fair days have oft contracted[7795] wind and rain.

CHOR. But this another kind of tempest brings.

SAM. Be less abstruse,[7796] my riddling days are past.

CHOR. Look now for no enchanting voice, nor fear

The bait of honeyed words. A rougher tongue

Draws hitherward. I know him by his stride,

The giant Harapha[7797] of Gath, his look

Haughty as is his pile[7798] high-built and proud.

Comes he in peace? What wind hath blown him hither 1070

I less conjecture[7799] than when first I saw

The sumptuous[7800] Dalila floating this way.

His habit[7801] carries peace, his brow defiance.

SAM. Or[7802] peace or not, alike to me he comes.

CHOR. His fraught[7803] we soon shall know. He now arrives.

HAR. I come not, Samson, to condole thy chance,[7804]

As these perhaps, yet wish it had not been,

Though for no friendly intent. I am of Gath.

Men call me Harapha, of stock renowned

As Og[7805] or Anak[7806] and the Emims[7807] old 1080

That Kiriathaim[7808] held: thou knowst me now,

If thou at all art known. Much I have heard

Of thy prodigious[7809] might and feats performed,

Incredible to me, in this displeased,

That I was never present on the place

Of those encounters, where we might have tried[7810]

Each other’s force in camp[7811] or listed field:[7812]

And now am come to see of whom such noise

Hath walked about, and each limb to survey,

If thy appearance answer loud report.[7813] 1090

SAM. The way to know were not to see but taste.

HAR. Dost thou already single[7814] me? I thought

Gyves[7815] and the mill had tamed thee. O that fortune

Had brought me to the field where thou art famed

T’ have wrought such wonders with an ass’s jaw!

I should have forced thee soon wish other arms,

Or left thy carcass where the ass lay thrown.

So had the glory of prowess been recovered

To Palestine, won by a Philistine

From[7816] the unforeskinned race,[7817] of whom thou bear’st 1100

The highest name for valiant acts. That honor

Certain t’ have won by mortal[7818] duel from thee,

I lose, prevented by thy eyes put out.

SAM. Boast not of what thou would’st have done, but do

What then thou would’st. Thou see’st it in thy hand.

HAR. To combat with a blind man I disdain.

And thou hast need much washing to be[7819] touched.

SAM. Such usage as your honorable lords

Afford me, assassinated[7820] and betrayed,

Who durst not with their whole united powers 1110

In fight withstand me single and unarmed,

Nor in the house with chamber[7821] ambushes

Close-banded[7822] durst attack me—no, not sleeping—

Till they had hired a woman with their gold,

Breaking her marriage faith to circumvent[7823] me.

Therefore without feigned shifts[7824] let be assigned

Some narrow place enclosed, where sight may give thee

(Or rather flight) no great advantage on me.

Then put on all thy gorgeous[7825] arms,[7826] thy helmet

And brigandine[7827] of brass, thy broad habergeon,[7828] 1120

Vant-brass[7829] and greves,[7830] and gauntlet,[7831] add thy spear,

A weaver’s beam,[7832] and seven-times-folded[7833] shield.

I only with an oaken staff will meet thee,

And raise such out-cries on thy clattered[7834] iron

Which long shall not with-hold me from thy head,

That in a little time, while breath remains thee,

Thou oft shalt wish thyself at Gath to boast

Again in safety what thou would’st have done

To Samson, but shalt never see Gath more.

HAR. Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms, 1130

Which greatest heroes have in battle worn,

Their ornament and safety, had not spells

And black enchantments, some magician’s art

Armed thee or charmed thee strong, which thou from Heav’n

Feignd’st at thy birth was giv’n thee in thy hair,

Where strength can least abide, though all thy hairs

Were bristles ranged like those that ridge the back

Of chafed[7835] wild boars or ruffled[7836] porcupines.

SAM. I know no spells, use no forbidden arts.

My trust is in the living God who gave me 1140

At my nativity this strength, diffused

No less through all my sinews, joints and bones,

Than thine, while[7837] I preserved these locks unshorn,

The pledge of my unviolated vow.

For proof hereof, if Dagon be thy god,

Go to his temple, invocate[7838] his aid

With solemnest devotion, spread before him

How highly it concerns his glory now

To frustrate and dissolve these magic spells,

Which I to be the power of Israel’s God 1150

Avow, and challenge Dagon to the test,

Offering to combat thee, his champion bold,

With th’ utmost of his godhead seconded:[7839]

Then thou shalt see, or rather to thy sorrow

Soon feel, whose God is strongest, thine or mine.

HAR. Presume not on thy God, what e’er He be.

Thee He regards[7840] not, owns[7841] not, hath cut off

Quite from his[7842] people and delivered up

Into thy enemies’ hand, permitted them

To put out both thine eyes, and fettered send thee 1160

Into the common prison, there to grind[7843]

Among the slaves and asses, thy comrades,

As good for nothing else, no better service

With those thy boist’rous[7844] locks. No worthy match

For valor to assail, nor by the sword

Of noble warrior, so to stain his honor,

But by the barber’s razor best subdued.[7845]

SAM. All these indignities, for such they are

From thine,[7846] these evils I deserve and more,

Acknowledge them from God inflicted on me 1170

Justly, yet despair not of His final pardon

Whose ear is ever open, and His eye

Gracious[7847] to re-admit the suppliant.

In confidence whereof I once again

Defy[7848] thee to the trial of mortal fight,

By combat to decide whose god is God,

Thine or whom I with Israel’s sons adore.

HAR. Fair honor that thou dost thy God, in trusting

He will accept thee to defend his cause—

A murderer, a revolter,[7849] and a robber. 1180

SAM. Tongue-doughty[7850] giant, how dost thou prove me these?

HAR. Is not thy nation subject to our lords?

Their magistrates confessed it, when they took thee

As a league[7851] breaker and delivered, bound,

Into our hands—for hadst thou not committed

Notorious[7852] murder on those thirty men

At Askalon, who never did thee harm,

Then like a robber strip’dst them of their robes?[7853]

The Philistines, when thou hadst broke the league,

Went up with armèd powers, thee only seeking, 1190

To others did no violence nor spoil.[7854]

SAM. Among the daughters of the Philistines

I chose a wife, which argued[7855] me no foe,

And in your city held my nuptial feast.

But your ill-meaning politician[7856] lords,

Under pretence of bridal friends and guests,

Appointed to await me thirty spies,

Who threat’ning cruel death constrained[7857] the bride

To wring from me and tell to them my secret

That solved the riddle which I had proposed. 1200

When I perceived all set on enmity,

As[7858] on my enemies, wherever chanced,

I used[7859] hostility, and took their spoil

To pay my underminers[7860] in their coin.

My nation was subjected to your lords.

It was the force of conquest; force with force

Is well ejected when the conquered can.

But I a private[7861] person, whom my country

As a league[7862] -breaker gave up,[7863] bound, presumed[7864]

Single[7865] rebellion and did hostile acts? 1210

I was no private but a person raised

With strength sufficient, and command from Heav’n,

To free my country. If their servile minds

Me their deliverer sent would not receive,

But to their masters gave me up for nought,

Th’ unworthier they. Whence to this day they serve.

I was to do my part from Heav’n assigned,

And had performed it if my known[7866] offense

Had not disabled me[7867] —not all your force.

These shifts[7868] refuted, answer thy appellant[7869] 1220

(Though by his blindness maimed for high attempts)

Who now defies[7870] thee thrice[7871] to single fight,

As a petty[7872] enterprise[7873] of small[7874] enforce.[7875]

HAR. With thee, a man condemned, a slave enrolled,

Due by the law to capital punishment?

To fight with thee no man of arms will deign.

SAM. Cam’st thou for this, vain boaster, to survey[7876] me,

To descant[7877] on my strength, and give thy verdict?

Come nearer, part not hence so slight informed—

But take good heed my hand survey not thee. 1230

HAR. O Baal-zebub![7878] Can my ears, unused,[7879]

Hear these dishonors and not render[7880] death?

SAM. No man withholds thee, nothing from thy hand

Fear I incurable: bring up thy van![7881]

My heels are fettered, but my fist is free.

HAR. This insolence[7882] other kind of answer fits.[7883]

SAM. Go, baffled[7884] coward, lest I run upon thee,

Though in these chains—bulk[7885] without spirit vast!—[7886]

And with one buffet[7887] lay thy structure[7888] low,

Or swing thee in the air, then dash thee down 1240

To th’ hazard[7889] of thy brains and shattered sides.

HAR. By Astaroth, ere long thou shalt lament

These braveries,[7890] in irons loaden on thee.

CHOR. His giantship is gone, somewhat crestfall’n,

Stalking[7891] with less unconscionable[7892] strides

And lower looks, but in a sultry[7893] chafe.[7894]

SAM. I dread him not, nor all his giant-brood,

Though fame[7895] divulge[7896] him father of five sons,

All of gigantic size, Goliath chief.[7897]

CHOR. He will directly to the lords, I fear,

And with malicious counsel stir them up

Some way or other yet further to afflict thee.

SAM. He must allege some cause, and offered fight

Will not dare mention, lest a question rise

Whether he durst accept the offer or not,

And that he durst not plain enough appeared.

Much more affliction than already felt

They cannot well impose, nor I sustain,

If they intend advantage[7898] of my labors,

The work of many hands, which earns my keeping 1260

With no small profit daily to my owners.

But come what will, my deadliest foe will prove

My speediest friend, by death to rid me hence:

The worst that he can give, to me the best.

Yet so it may fall out, because their end

Is hate, not help to me, it may—with mine—[7899]

Draw their own ruin who attempt the deed.

CHOR. Oh how comely[7900] it is, and how reviving

To the spirits of just men long oppressed,

When God into the hands of their deliverer 1270

Puts invincible might

To quell[7901] the mighty of the earth, th’ oppressor,

The brute and boist’rous[7902] force of violent men,

Hardy[7903] and industrious[7904] to support

Tyrannic power, but raging[7905] to pursue

The righteous and all such as honor truth!

He[7906] all their ammunition[7907]

And feats of war defeats

With plain heroic magnitude of mind

And celestial vigor armed,

Their armories and magazines contemns,[7908]

Renders them useless, while

With wingèd expedition,[7909]

Swift as the lightning glance,[7910] he executes[7911]

His errand on the wicked, who surprised

Lose their defence, distracted[7912] and amazed.[7913]

But patience is more oft the exercise[7914]

Of Saints, the trial of their fortitude,[7915]

Making them each his own deliverer,

And victor over all[7916]

That tyranny or fortune can inflict.

Either of these is in thy lot,

Samson, with might endued[7917]

Above the sons of men. But sight bereaved[7918]

May chance to number thee with those

Whom patience finally must crown.

This idol’s day hath been to thee no day of rest, Laboring thy mind

More than the working day thy hands.

And yet perhaps more trouble is behind.[7919]

For I descry this way

Some other tending.[7920] In his hand

A scepter or quaint[7921] staff he bears,

Comes on amain,[7922] speed in his look.

By his habit I discern him now

A public officer, and now at hand.

His message will be short and voluble.[7923]

OFF. Hebrews, the pris’ner Samson here I seek.

CHOR. His manacles remark[7924] him. There he sits.

OFF. Samson, to thee our lords thus bid me say:

This day to Dagon is a solemn feast,

With sacrifices, triumph, pomp,[7925] and games.

Thy strength they know surpassing human rate,[7926]

And now some public proof[7927] thereof require

To honor this great feast and great assembly.

Rise therefore with all speed and come along,

Where I will see thee heartn’d[7928] and fresh clad

To appear as fits before th’ illustrious lords.

SAM. Thou know’st I am an Hebrew. Therefore tell them

Our Law forbids at their religious rites 1320

My presence. For that cause I cannot come.

OFF. This answer, be assured, will not content them.

SAM. Have they not sword-players, and every sort

Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners,

Jugglers and dancers, antics,[7929] mummers,[7930] mimics,[7931]

But they must pick me out, with shackles tired

And over-labored at their public mill,

To make[7932] them sport[7933] with blind activity?

Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels

On my refusal to distress[7934] me more, 1330

Or make a game of my calamities?

Return the way thou cam’st. I will not come.

OFF. Regard[7935] thyself: this will offend them highly.

SAM. Myself? My conscience and internal peace!

Can they think me so broken, so debased

With corporal servitude, that my mind ever

Will condescend to such absurd commands?

Although their drudge,[7936] to be their fool or jester,

And in my midst of sorrow and heart-grief

To show them feats, and play[7937] before their god, 1340

The worst of all indignities, yet on me

Joined[7938] with extreme contempt? I will not come.

OFF. My message was imposed on me with speed,

Brooks no delay: is this thy resolution?[7939]

SAM. So take it, with what speed thy message needs.

OFF. I am sorry[7940] what this stoutness[7941] will produce.

SAM. Perhaps thou shalt have cause to sorrow indeed.

CHOR. Consider, Samson. Matters now are strained

Up to the height, whether to hold or break.

He’s gone, and who knows how he may report 1350

Thy words by adding fuel to the flame?

Expect another message more imperious,

More lordly thund’ring than thou well wilt bear.

SAM. Shall I abuse this consecrated gift

Of strength, again returning with my hair

After my great transgression? So requite[7942]

Favor[7943] renewed, and add a greater sin

By prostituting holy things to idols?

A Nazarite[7944] in place abominable

Vaunting[7945] my strength in honor to their Dagon? 1360

Besides, how vile, contemptible, ridiculous,

What act more execrably unclean, profane?

CHOR. Yet with this strength thou serv’st the Philistines,

Idolatrous, uncircumcised, unclean.

SAM. Not in their idol-worship, but by labor

Honest and lawful to deserve my food

Of those who have me in their civil[7946] power.

CHOR. Where the heart joins not, outward acts defile not.

SAM. Where outward force constrains,[7947] the sentence[7948] holds.

But who constrains me to the temple of Dagon,

Not dragging? The Philistian lords command!

Commands are no constraints. If I obey them,

I do it freely, venturing to displease

God for the fear of man, and man prefer,

Set God behind—which in His jealousy[7949]

Shall never, unrepented, find forgiveness.

Yet that He may dispense[7950] with me or thee,

Present in temples at idolatrous rites

For some important cause, thou need’st not doubt.

CHOR. How thou wilt here come off surmounts my reach. 1380

SAM. Be of good courage. I begin to feel

Some rousing[7951] motions in me which dispose[7952]

To something extraordinary my thoughts.

I with this messenger will go along—

Nothing to do, be sure, that may dishonor

Our Law, or stain my vow of Nazarite.

If there be aught of presage[7953] in the mind,

This day will be remarkable in my life

By some great act, or of my days the last.

CHOR. In time thou hast resolved: the man returns. 1390

OFF. Samson, this second message from our lords

To thee I am bid say. Art thou our slave,

Our captive, at the public mill our drudge,

And dar’st thou at our sending and command

Dispute thy coming? Come without delay,

Or we shall find[7954] such engines[7955] to assail[7956]

And hamper[7957] thee, as thou shalt come of force,

Though thou wert firmlier fast’ned than a rock.

SAM. I could be well content to try[7958] their art,[7959]

Which to no few of them would prove pernicious.[7960] 1400

Yet knowing their advantages too many,

Because they shall[7961] not trail[7962] me through their streets

Like a wild beast, I am content to go.

Masters’ commands come with a power resistless

To such as owe them absolute subjection,

And for a life who will not change his purpose?

(So mutable are all the ways of men)

Yet this be sure, in nothing to comply

Scandalous or forbidden in our Law.

OFF. I praise thy resolution. Doff [7963] these links:[7964] 1410

By this compliance thou wilt win the lords

To favor, and perhaps to set thee free.

SAM. Brethren, farewell. Your company along

I will not wish, lest it perhaps offend them

To see me girt[7965] with friends. And how the sight

Of me as of a common enemy,

So dreaded once, may now exasperate[7966] them

I know not. Lords are lordliest in their wine,

And the well-feasted priest then soonest fired

With zeal, if aught religion seem concerned. 1420

No less the people on their holy-days

Impetuous,[7967] insolent,[7968] unquenchable.

Happ’n what may, of me expect to hear

Nothing dishonorable, impure, unworthy

Our God, our Law, my nation, or myself.

The last of me or no, I cannot warrant.[7969]

CHOR. Go, and the Holy One

Of Israel be thy guide

To what may serve

His glory best, and spread His name

Great among the heathen round—[7970] 1430

Send thee the Angel of thy birth, to stand

Fast by thy side, who from thy father’s field

Rode up in flames after his message told

Of thy conception, and be now a shield

Of fire—that Spirit that first rushed on thee

In the camp of Dan

Be efficacious in thee, now at need.

For never was from Heav’n imparted

Measure[7971] of strength so great to mortal seed,

As in thy wond’rous actions hath been seen. 1440

But wherefore comes old Manoa in such haste,

With youthful steps? Much livelier than erewhile

He seems: supposing here to find his son,

Or of him bringing to us some glad news?

MAN. Peace with you, brethren. My inducement[7972] hither

Was not at present here to find my son,

By order of the lords new parted hence

To come and play[7973] before them at their feast.

I heard all as I came, the city rings

And numbers thither flock. I had no will,[7974] 1450

Lest I should see him forced to things unseemly.

But that which moved my coming, now, was chiefly

To give ye part[7975] with me what hope I have

With good success to work his liberty.

CHOR. That hope would much rejoice us to partake[7976]

With thee. Say reverend Sire, we thirst to hear.

MAN. I have attempted[7977] one by one the lords,

Either at home, or through the high street passing,

With supplication prone and father’s tears,

T’ accept of ransom for my son, their pris’ner. 1460

Some much averse[7978] I found, and wondrous harsh,

Contemptuous, proud, set on revenge and spite;

That part most reverenc’d Dagon and his priests.

Others more moderate seeming, but their aim

Private reward, for which both god and state

They easily would set to sale. A third

More generous[7979] far and civil,[7980] who confessed

They had enough revenged, having reduced

Their foe to misery beneath their fears.

The rest[7981] was[7982] magnanimity[7983] to remit,[7984] 1470

If some convenient[7985] ransom were proposed.

What noise or shout was that? It tore the sky.

CHOR. Doubtless the people shouting, to behold

Their once great dread, captive and blind before them,

Or at some proof of strength before them shown.

MAN. His ransom, if my whole inheritance[7986]

May compass[7987] it, shall willingly be paid

And numbered down.[7988] Much rather I shall choose

To live the poorest in my tribe, than richest,

And he in that calamitous[7989] prison left. 1480

No, I am fixed[7990] not to part hence without him.

For his redemption all my patrimony,

If need be, I am ready to forego

And quit: not wanting[7991] him, I shall want nothing.

CHOR. Fathers are wont[7992] to lay up[7993] for their sons:

Thou for thy son art bent to lay out all.

Sons wont to nurse their parents in old age:

Thou in old age car’st how to nurse thy son,

Made older than thy age, through eye-sight lost.

MAN. It shall be my delight to tend his eyes, 1490

And view him sitting in the house, enobled[7994]

With all those high exploits by him achieved,

And on his shoulders waving down those locks,

That of a nation armed[7995] the strength contained.

And I persuade me God had not permitted

His strength again to grow up, with his hair

Garrisoned[7996] round about him like a camp[7997]

Of faithful soldiery, were not His purpose

To use him further yet in some great service,

Not to sit idle with so great a gift 1500

Useless, and thence ridiculous[7998] about him.

And since his strength with eye-sight was not lost,

God will restore him eye-sight to his strength.

CHOR. Thy hopes are not ill founded nor seem vain[7999]

Of His delivery,[8000] and thy joy thereon

Conceived,[8001] agreeable[8002] to a father’s love,

In both which we, as next,[8003] participate.

MAN. I know your friendly minds and—O what noise!

Mercy of Heav’n, what hideous noise was that!

Horribly loud, unlike the former shout. 1510

CHOR. Noise call you it? or universal groan,

As if the whole inhabitation[8004] perished.

Blood, death, and deathful deeds are in that noise,

Ruin, destruction at the utmost point.

MAN. Of ruin indeed methought I heard the noise.

Oh it continues, they have slain my son!

CHOR. Thy son is rather slaying them: that outcry

From slaughter of one foe could not ascend.

MAN. Some dismal[8005] accident[8006] it needs must be.

What shall we do, stay here or run and see? 1520

CHOR. Best keep together here, lest running thither

We unawares run into danger’s mouth.

This evil on the Philistines is fall’n:

From whom could else a general cry be heard?

The sufferers then will scarce molest us here;

From other hands we need not much to fear.

What if his eye-sight (for to Israel’s God

Nothing is hard) by miracle restored,

He now be dealing dole[8007] among his foes,

And over heaps of slaughtered walk his way?

MAN. That were a joy presumptuous to be thought.

CHOR. Yet God hath wrought things as incredible

For His people of old. What hinders now?

MAN. He can, I know, but doubt to think He will,

Yet hope would fain subscribe,[8008] and tempts belief.

A little stay[8009] will bring some notice hither.

CHOR. Of good or bad so great, of bad the sooner,

For evil news rides post,[8010] while good news baits.[8011]

And to our wish I see one hither speeding,

An Hebrew, as I guess, and of our tribe.

MESS. O whither shall I run, or which way fly[8012]

The sight of this so horrid spectacle

Which erst my eyes beheld and yet behold,

For dire[8013] imagination still pursues me?

But providence or instinct of nature seems,

Or reason (though disturbed, and scarce consulted)

To have guided me aright, I know not how,

To thee first, reverend Manoa, and to these

My countrymen, whom here I knew remaining,

As at some distance from the place of horror,

So in the sad event too much concerned.

MAN. The accident[8014] was loud, and here before thee,

With rueful cry, yet what it was we hear not.

No preface needs: thou see’st we long to know.

MESS. It would burst forth, but I recover breath

And sense distract,[8015] to know well what I utter.

MAN. Tell us the sum,[8016] the circumstance[8017] defer.

MESS. Gaza yet stands, but all her sons are fall’n,

All in a moment overwhelmed and fall’n.

MAN. Sad, but thou know’st to Israelites not saddest, 1560

The desolation of a hostile city.

MESS. Feed on that first, there may in grief be surfeit.[8018]

MAN. Relate by whom.

MESS.         By Samson.

MAN.                 That still lessens

The sorrow, and converts it nigh to joy.

MESS. Ah Manoa, I refrain too suddenly[8019]

To utter what will come at last too soon,[8020]

Lest evil tidings with too rude eruption[8021]

Hitting thy agèd ear should pierce too deep.

MAN. Suspense in news is torture: speak them out.

MESS. Then take the worst in brief: Samson is dead. 1570

MAN. The worst indeed. O all my hope’s defeated

To free him hence! But death who sets all free

Hath paid his ransom now and full discharge.

What windy[8022] joy this day had I conceived,

Hopeful of his delivery, which now proves

Abortive as the first-born bloom of spring

Nipped with the lagging rear of winter’s frost.

Yet ere I give the reins to grief, say first,

How died he? Death to life is crown or shame.

All by him fell, thou say’st. By whom fell he? 1580

What glorious hand gave Samson his death’s wound?

MESS. Unwounded of his enemies he fell.

MAN. Wearied with slaughter, then, or how? Explain.

MESS. By his own hands.

MAN.                 Self-violence? What cause

Brought him so soon at variance[8023] with himself,

Among his foes?

MESS. Inevitable cause

At once both to destroy and be destroyed.

The edifice where all were met to see him

Upon their heads and on his own he pulled.

MAN. O lastly[8024] over-strong against thyself! 1590

A dreadful way thou took’st to thy revenge.

More than enough we know, but while things yet

Are in confusion, give us, if thou canst,

Eye-witness of what first or last was done,

Relation[8025] more particular and distinct.

MESS. Occasions[8026] drew me early to this city,

And as the gates I entered with sun-rise,

The morning trumpets festival proclaimed

Through each high street.[8027] Little I had dispatched[8028]

When all abroad[8029] was rumored that this day 1600

Samson should be brought forth to show the people

Proof of his mighty strength in feats and games.

I sorrowed at his captive state, but minded[8030]

Not to be absent at that spectacle.

The building was a spacious theater[8031]

Half round on two main pillars vaulted high,

With seats where all the lords and each degree

Of sort[8032] might sit in order to behold.

The other side was open, where the throng

On banks[8033] and scaffolds under sky might stand.

I among these aloof [8034] obscurely[8035] stood.

The feast and noon grew high, and sacrifice

Had filled their hearts with mirth, high cheer, and wine,

When to their sports[8036] they turned. Immediately

Was Samson as a public servant brought,

In their state livery[8037] clad. Before him pipes[8038]

And timbrels,[8039] on each side went armèd guards,

Both horse and foot before him, and behind

Archers, and slingers, cataphracts[8040] and spears.

At sight of him the people with a shout

Rifted[8041] the air, clamoring[8042] their god with praise,

Who had made their dreadful[8043] enemy their thrall.[8044]

He patient but undaunted where they led him

Came to the place, and what was set before him

Which without help of eye, might be assayed,

To heave, pull, draw, or break, he still performed

All with incredible, stupendous force,

None daring to appear antagonist.[8045]

At length for intermission sake they led him

Between the pillars. He his guide requested

(For so from such as nearer stood we heard)

As over-tired to let him lean a while

With both his arms on those two massy pillars

That to the archèd roof gave main support.

He[8046] unsuspicious led him, which when Samson

Felt in his arms, with head a while inclined[8047]

And eyes fast fixed he stood, as one who prayed,

Or some great matter in his mind revolved.

At last with head erect thus cried aloud,

“Hitherto, lords, what your commands imposed

I have performed, as reason was, obeying,

Not without wonder or delight beheld.

Now of my own accord such other trial[8048]

I mean to show you of my strength, yet greater,

As with amaze shall strike all who behold.”

This uttered, straining all his nerves[8049] he bowed.

As with the force of winds and waters pent[8050]

When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars

With horrible convulsion[8051] to and fro

He tugged, he shook, till down they came and drew

The whole roof after them, with burst of thunder

Upon the heads of all who sat beneath,

Lords, ladies, captains, councillors, or priests,

Their choice nobility and flower, not only

Of this but each Philistian city round,

Met from all parts to solemnize this feast.

Samson with these immixed,[8052] inevitably

Pulled down the same destruction on himself.

The vulgar[8053] only scaped, who stood without.[8054]

CHOR. O dearly-bought revenge, yet glorious! 1660

Living or dying thou hast fulfilled

The work for which thou wast foretold

To Israel, and now ly’st victorious

Among thy slain, self-killed

Not willingly, but tangled in the fold[8055]

Of dire necessity, whose law in death conjoined

Thee with thy slaughtered foes, in number more

Than all thy life had slain before.

SEMICHOR. While their hearts were jocund[8056] and sublime,[8057]

Drunk with idolatry, drunk with wine 1670

And fat regorged[8058] of bulls and goats,

Chanting their idol, and preferring[8059]

Before our living Dread who dwells

In Silo[8060] His bright sanctuary:

Among them He a Spirit of frenzy[8061] sent,

Who[8062] hurt[8063] their minds,

And urged them on with mad desire

To call in haste for their destroyer.

They only set on sport[8064] and play

Unweetingly[8065] importuned

Their own destruction to come speedy upon them.

So fond[8066] are mortal men

Fallen into[8067] wrath divine,

As their own ruin on themselves t’ invite,

Insensate left, or to sense reprobate,[8068]

And with blindness internal struck.

SEMICHOR. But he though blind of sight,

Despised and thought extinguished quite,

With inward eyes illuminated,

His fiery virtue[8069] roused 1690

From under ashes into sudden flame,

And as an ev’ning dragon[8070] came,

Assailant on the perchèd roosts

And nests, in order ranged

Of tame villatic[8071] fowl, but as an eagle

His cloudless thunder bolted[8072] on their heads.

So virtue giv’n for lost,

Depressed,[8073] and overthrown (as seemed),

Like that self-begotten bird[8074]

In th’ Arabian woods embossed,[8075] 1700

That no second knows nor third,

And lay erewhile a holocaust,[8076]

From out her ashy womb now teemed—[8077]

Revives, reflourishes, then[8078] vigorous most

When most unactive deemed.

And though her body die, her fame survives

(A secular[8079] bird) ages of lives.

MAN. Come, come, no time for lamentation now,

Nor much more cause. Samson hath quit[8080] himself

Like Samson, and heroically hath finished

A life heroic, on his enemies

Fully revenged, hath left them years of mourning,

And lamentation to the sons of Caphtor[8081]

Through all Philistian bounds.[8082] To Israel

Honor hath left, and freedom. Let but them

Find courage to lay hold[8083] on this occasion—

To himself and father’s house[8084] eternal fame.

And which is best and happiest yet, all this

With God not parted from him, as was feared,

But favoring and assisting to the end. 1720

Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail

Or knock the breast, no weakness, no contempt,

Dispraise, or blame, nothing but well and fair,

And what may quiet us in a death so noble.

Let us go find the body where it lies

Soaked in his enemies’ blood, and from the stream

With lavers[8085] pure, and cleansing herbs, wash off

The clotted gore.[8086] I with what speed the while

(Gaza is not in plight[8087] to say us nay)

Will send for all my kindred, all my friends 1730

To fetch him hence and solemnly attend

With silent obsequy[8088] and funeral train[8089]

Home to his father’s house. There will I build him

A monument, and plant it round with shade

Of laurel ever green, and branching palm,

With all his trophies hung, and acts enrolled[8090]

In copious legend[8091] or sweet lyric song.

Thither shall all the valiant youth resort,[8092]

And from his memory inflame their breasts

To matchless valor, and adventures high. 1740

The virgins also shall on feastful days

Visit his tomb with flowers, only bewailing

His lot unfortunate in nuptial choice,

From whence captivity and loss of eyes.

CHOR. All is best, though we oft doubt,

What th’ unsearchable[8093] dispose[8094]

Of highest wisdom brings about,

And ever best found in the close.

Oft He seems to hide His face,

But unexpectedly returns—1750

And to His faithful champion hath in place

Bore witness gloriously. Whence Gaza mourns

And all that band[8095] them to resist

His uncontrollable[8096] intent,[8097]

His servants He with new acquist[8098]

Of true experience from this great event

With peace and consolation hath dismissed,[8099]

And calm of mind, all passion spent.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

This cannot be more than a brief, more or less representative glimpse of what Carrithers and Hardy (below, at p. 15) call “the prodigious landscape of relevant scholarship.” All of the listed books contain useful citations to a much wider portion of the landscape.

EDITIONS OF MILTON

Bush, Douglas, ed. The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965 [poetically the most sensitive edition].

Flannagan, Roy, ed. The Riverside Milton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998 [the most capacious edition—1,213 pages, many double-columned—bristling with information: early biographies; poems English and Latin; much prose].

Shawcross, John T., ed. The Complete English Poetry of John Milton. New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1963 [handy, inexpensive, far-ranging].

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Fallon, Robert Thomas. Milton in Government. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993.

Hill, Christopher. The Century of Revolution, 1603–1714. London: Nelson, 1961. 2nd ed., Sphere paperback, 1972.

——. Milton and the English Revolution. New York: Viking, 1977.

——. The Experience of Defeat: Milton and Some Contemporaries. New York: Viking, 1984.

——. The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution. London: Allan Lane, 1993. Penguin, 1994.

LANGUAGE

The Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles. 10 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933.

LITERARY CRITICISM

COLLECTIONS

Barker, Arthur E., ed. Milton: Modern Essays in Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965.

Danielson, Dennis, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Milton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Patrides, C. A., and Joseph Wittreich. The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.

INDIVIDUAL STUDIES

Carrithers, Gale H., and James D. Hardy Jr. Milton and the Hermeneutic Journey. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994.

Ferry, Anne D. Milton’s Epic Voice: The Narrator in Paradise Lost. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963.

Lewis, C. S. “A Note on Comus.” In C. S. Lewis, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.

——. A Preface to Paradise Lost. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1942. Rev. ed., 1960.

Marotti, Arthur F. Manuscript, Print, and the English Renaissance Lyric. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.

Martz, Louis I. Poet of Exile: A Study of Milton’s Poetry. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980.

Nicolson, Marjorie Hope. John Milton: A Reader’s Guide to His Poetry. New York: Farrar, 1963.

Rumrich, John Peter. Matter of Glory: A New Preface to Paradise Lost. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987.

Steadman, John M. The Wall of Paradise: Essays on Milton’s Poetics. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985.

Stein, Arnold. The Art of Presence: The Poet and Paradise Lost. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.

ASK YOUR BOOKSELLER FOR THESE BANTAM CLASSICS

BEOWULF AND OTHER ENGLISH POEMS, 978-0-553-21347-8

THE BHAGAVAD-GITA: KRISHNA’S COUNSEL IN TIME OF WAR, 978-0-553-21365-2

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE and THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, 978-0-553-21482-6

THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, 978-0-553-21340-9

FOUR GREAT AMERICAN CLASSICS (THE SCARLET LETTER; THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN; THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE; BILLY BUDD, SAILOR), 978-0-553-21362-1

GREEK DRAMA, 978-0-553-21221-1

JO’S BOYS, Louisa May Alcott, 978-0-553-21449-9

LITTLE WOMEN, Louisa May Alcott, 978-0-553-21275-4

WINESBURG, OHIO, Sherwood Anderson, 978-0-553-21439-0

THE COMPLETE PLAYS, Aristophanes, 978-0-553-21343-0

EMMA, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21273-0

MANSFIELD PARK, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21276-1

NORTHANGER ABBEY, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21197-9

PERSUASION, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21137-5

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21310-2

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, Jane Austen, 978-0-553-21334-8

PETER PAN, J. M. Barrie, 978-0-553-21178-8

BRADBURY CLASSIC STORIES, Ray Bradbury, 978-0-553-28637-3

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, Ray Bradbury, 978-0-553-27822-4

JANE EYRE, Charlotte Brontë, 978-0-553-21140-5

VILLETTE, Charlotte Brontë, 978-0-553-21243-3

WUTHERING HEIGHTS, Emily Brontë, 978-0-553-21258-7

THE SECRET GARDEN, Frances Hodgson Burnett, 978-0-553-21201-3

ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, Lewis Carroll, 978-0-553-21345-4

MY ÁNTONIA, Willa Cather, 978-0-553-21418-5

O PIONEERS!, Willa Cather, 978-0-553-21358-4

THE CANTERBURY TALES, Geoffrey Chaucer, 978-0-553-21082-8

STORIES, Anton Chekhov, 978-0-553-38100-9

THE AWAKENING, Kate Chopin, 978-0-553-21330-0

THE WOMAN IN WHITE, Wilkie Collins, 978-0-553-21263-1

HEART OF DARKNESS and THE SECRET SHARER, Joseph Conrad, 978-0-553-21214-3

LORD JIM, Joseph Conrad, 978-0-553-21361-4

THE DEERSLAYER, James Fenimore Cooper, 978-0-553-21085-9

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, James Fenimore Cooper, 978-0-553-21329-4

MAGGIE: A GIRL OF THE STREETS AND OTHER SHORT FICTION, Stephen Crane, 978-0-553-21355-3

THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, Stephen Crane, 978-0-553-21011-8

THE INFERNO, Dante, 978-0-553-21339-3

PARADISO, Dante, 978-0-553-21204-4

PURGATORIO, Dante, 978-0-553-21344-7

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Charles Darwin, 978-0-553-21463-5

MOLL FLANDERS, Daniel Defoe, 978-0-553-21328-7

ROBINSON CRUSOE, Daniel Defoe, 978-0-553-21373-7

BLEAK HOUSE, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21223-5

A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21244-0

DAVID COPPERFIELD, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21189-4

GREAT EXPECTATIONS, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21342-3

HARD TIMES, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21016-3

OLIVER TWIST, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21102-3

THE PICKWICK PAPERS, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21123-8

A TALE OF TWO CITIES, Charles Dickens, 978-0-553-21176-4

THREE SOLDIERS, John Dos Passos, 978-0-553-21456-7

THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21216-7

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21175-7

THE ETERNAL HUSBAND AND OTHER STORIES, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21444-4

THE IDIOT, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21352-2

NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND, Fyodor Dostoevsky, 978-0-553-21144-3

SHERLOCK HOLMES VOL I, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 978-0-553-21241-9

SHERLOCK HOLMES VOL II, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 978-0-553-21242-6

SISTER CARRIE, Theodore Dreiser, 978-0-553-21374-4

THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK, W. E. B. Du Bois, 978-0-553-21336-2

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, Alexandre Dumas, 978-0-553-21350-8

THE THREE MUSKETEERS, Alexandre Dumas, 978-0-553-21337-9

MIDDLEMARCH, George Eliot, 978-0-553-21180-1

SILAS MARNER, George Eliot, 978-0-553-21229-7

SELECTED ESSAYS, LECTURES, AND POEMS, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 978-0-553-21388-1

TEN PLAYS BY EURIPIDES, Euripides, 978-0-553-21363-8

APRIL MORNING, Howard Fast, 978-0-553-27322-9

MADAME BOVARY, Gustave Flaubert, 978-0-553-21341-6

HOWARDS END, E. M. Forster, 978-0-553-21208-2

A ROOM WITH A VIEW, E. M. Forster, 978-0-553-21323-2

THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL, Anne Frank, 978-0-553-57712-9

ANNE FRANK’S TALES FROM THE SECRET ANNEX, Anne Frank, 978-0-553-58638-1

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND OTHER WRITINGS, Benjamin Franklin, 978-0-553-21075-0

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER AND OTHER WRITINGS, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 978-0-553-21375-1

FAUST: FIRST PART, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 978-0-553-21348-5

THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, Kenneth Grahame, 978-0-553-21368-3

THE COMPLETE FAIRY TALES OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM, translated by Jack Zipes, 978-0-553-38216-7

ROOTS, Alex Haley, 978-0-440-17464-6

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21331-7

JUDE THE OBSCURE, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21191-7

THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21024-8

THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21269-3

TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES, Thomas Hardy, 978-0-553-21168-9

THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 978-0-553-21270-9

THE SCARLET LETTER, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 978-0-553-21009-5

THE FAIRY TALES OF HERMANN HESSE, Hermann Hesse, 978-0-553-37776-7

SIDDHARTHA, Hermann Hesse, 978-0-553-20884-9

THE ODYSSEY OF HOMER, Homer, 978-0-553-21399-7

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, Victor Hugo, 978-0-553-21370-6

FOUR GREAT PLAYS: A DOLL’S HOUSE, GHOSTS, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, and THE WILD DUCK, Henrik Ibsen, 978-0-553-21280-8

THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Henry James, 978-0-553-21127-6

THE TURN OF THE SCREW AND OTHER SHORT FICTION, Henry James, 978-0-553-21059-0

A COUNTRY DOCTOR, Sarah Orne Jewett, 978-0-553-21498-7

DUBLINERS, James Joyce, 978-0-553-21380-5

A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN, James Joyce, 978-0-553-21404-8

THE METAMORPHOSIS, Franz Kafka, 978-0-553-21369-0

THE STORY OF MY LIFE, Helen Keller, 978-0-553-21387-4

CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, Rudyard Kipling, 978-0-553-21190-0

THE JUNGLE BOOK, Rudyard Kipling, 978-0-553-21199-3

KIM, Rudyard Kipling, 978-0-553-21332-4

LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER, D. H. Lawrence, 978-0-553-21262-4

SONS AND LOVERS, D. H. Lawrence, 978-0-553-21192-4

WOMEN IN LOVE, D. H. Lawrence, 978-0-553-21454-3

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Gaston Leroux, 978-0-553-21376-8

BABBITT, Sinclair Lewis, 978-0-553-21486-4

MAIN STREET, Sinclair Lewis, 978-0-553-21451-2

THE CALL OF THE WILD and WHITE FANG, Jack London, 978-0-553-21233-4

THE SEA WOLF, Jack London, 978-0-553-21225-9

TO BUILD A FIRE AND OTHER STORIES, Jack London, 978-0-553-21335-5

THE PRINCE, Niccolò Machiavelli, 978-0-553-21278-5

DEATH IN VENICE AND OTHER STORIES, Thomas Mann, 978-0-553-21333-1

THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, 978-0-553-21406-2

OF HUMAN BONDAGE, W. Somerset Maugham, 978-0-553-21392-8

THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ AND OTHER STORIES, Carson McCullers, 978-0-553-27254-3

THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, Carson McCullers, 978-0-553-26963-5

THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING, Carson McCullers, 978-0-553-25051-0

BILLY BUDD, SAILOR AND OTHER STORIES, Herman Melville, 978-0-553-21274-7

MOBY-DICK, Herman Melville, 978-0-553-21311-9

ON LIBERTY and UTILITARIANISM, John Stuart Mill, 978-0-553-21414-7

THE ANNOTATED MILTON, John Milton, 978-0-553-58110-2

THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, 978-0-553-21402-4

COMMON SENSE, Thomas Paine, 978-0-553-21465-9

THE DIALOGUES OF PLATO, Plato, 978-0-553-21371-3

THE TELL-TALE HEART AND OTHER WRITINGS, Edgar Allan Poe, 978-0-553-21228-0

CYRANO DE BERGERAC, Edmond Rostand, 978-0-553-21360-7

IVANHOE, Sir Walter Scott, 978-0-553-21326-3

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE (29 vols.), William Shakespeare

PYGMALION and MAJOR BARBARA, George Bernard Shaw, 978-0-553-21408-6

FRANKENSTEIN, Mary Shelley, 978-0-553-21247-1

THE JUNGLE, Upton Sinclair, 978-0-553-21245-7

THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, Adam Smith, 978-0-553-58597-1

ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 978-0-553-24777-0

THE COMPLETE PLAYS OF SOPHOCLES, Sophocles, 978-0-553-21354-6

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, Robert Louis Stevenson, 978-0-553-21277-8

KIDNAPPED, Robert Louis Stevenson, 978-0-553-21260-0

TREASURE ISLAND, Robert Louis Stevenson, 978-0-553-21249-5

DRACULA, Bram Stoker, 978-0-553-21271-6

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 978-0-553-21218-1

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS AND OTHER WRITINGS, Jonathan Swift, 978-0-553-21232-7

VANITY FAIR, William Makepeace Thackeray, 978-0-553-21462-8

WALDEN AND OTHER WRITINGS, Henry David Thoreau, 978-0-553-21246-4

DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, Alexis de Tocqueville, 978-0-553-21464-2

ANNA KARENINA, Leo Tolstoy, 978-0-553-21346-1

THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH, Leo Tolstoy, 978-0-553-21035-4

THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21079-8

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21128-3

THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF MARK TWAIN, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21195-5

A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21143-6

LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21349-2

THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21256-3

PUDD’NHEAD WILSON, Mark Twain, 978-0-553-21158-0

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, Jules Verne, 978-0-553-21252-5

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, Jules Verne, 978-0-553-21356-0

FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, Jules Verne, 978-0-553-21420-8

THE AENEID OF VIRGIL, Virgil, 978-0-553-21041-5

CANDIDE, Voltaire, 978-0-553-21166-5

THE INVISIBLE MAN, H. G. Wells, 978-0-553-21353-9

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, H. G. Wells, 978-0-553-21432-1

THE TIME MACHINE, H. G. Wells, 978-0-553-21351-5

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, H. G. Wells, 978-0-553-21338-6

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21450-5

THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21393-5

ETHAN FROME AND OTHER SHORT FICTION, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21255-6

THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21320-1

SUMMER, Edith Wharton, 978-0-553-21422-2

LEAVES OF GRASS, Walt Whitman, 978-0-553-21116-0

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY AND OTHER WRITINGS, Oscar Wilde, 978-0-553-21254-9

THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, Johann David Wyss, 978-0-553-21403-1

EARLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN CLASSICS, edited by Anthony Appiah, 978-0-553-21379-9

FIFTY GREAT SHORT STORIES, edited by Milton Crane, 978-0-553-27745-6

FIFTY GREAT AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, edited by Milton Crane, 978-0-553-27294-9

SHORT SHORTS, edited by Irving Howe, 978-0-553-27440-0

GREAT AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, edited by Wallace & Mary Stegner, 978-0-440-33060-8

AMERICAN SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES, edited by Raymond Carver & Tom Jenks, 978-0-440-20423-7

SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES, edited by Robert Penn Warren, 978-0-440-37864-8

THE VOICE THAT IS GREAT WITHIN US, edited by Hayden Carruth, 978-0-553-26263-6

THE BLACK POETS, edited by Dudley Randal, 978-0-553-27563-6

THREE CENTURIES OF AMERICAN POETRY, edited by Allen Mandelbaum, (Trade) 978-0-553-37518-3, (Hardcover) 978-0-553-10250-5

JOHN MILTON was born on December 9, 1608. A brilliant scholar, he received his B.A. and M.A. from Christ’s College, Cambridge, and began writing poetry. Instead of entering the ministry, he retired to his father’s country house and for the next five years read day and night, devouring most of the existing written works in English, Greek, Latin, and Italian. During this period he wrote the masque Comus (1634) and “Lycidas” (1637), an elegy memorializing a college classmate. In 1638 he went on a tour of Europe, spending most of his time in Italy. He returned home prematurely because of the religious unrest in England and began writing tracts that branded him a radical. In 1642 he married Mary Powell, a seventeen-year-old girl. Within six weeks, she returned to her parents’ home, and Milton wrote a series of angry pamphlets advocating divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. Eventually, she returned and bore him four children, three of whom survived. By 1651 Milton’s poor eyesight failed completely, leaving him blind. After his wife’s death, he remarried, only to have his second wife die some months after childbirth. His third marriage, to Elizabeth Minshull, was a longer and happier one. At the Restoration, Milton narrowly escaped execution because of his politics, but was left impoverished. Now he returned to writing poetry and created the masterpieces for which he will be forever remembered, beginning with Paradise Lost (1667). He followed this epic with Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes (jointly published in 1671). Milton died in 1674. Along with Chaucer and Shakespeare, Milton is one of the true giants of our language.

THE ANNOTATED MILTON

A Bantam Book

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Bantam Classic edition published September 1999

Bantam Classic reissue / December 2008

Published by

Bantam Dell

A Division of Random House, Inc.

New York, New York

All rights reserved

Translation copyright © 1999 by Burton Raffel

Bantam Books and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

eISBN: 978-0-553-90582-3

www.bantamdell.com

v1.0

FOOTNOTES

1 celestial
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2 hardness
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3 Italian: Galileo
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4 practical scientist, learned man
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5 discover, make known
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6 spotted, patchy
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7 admiral’s ship, flagship
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8 straight slender stick
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9 difficult, troublesome
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10 soil
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11^11 beat/shone strongly
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12 covered, roofed
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13 talked idly, lied about
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14 steeply, perpendicularly
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15 fortifications placed on top of walls
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16 directly overhead
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17 unpolished, rough
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18 streams
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19 reeds, pipes, flutes
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20 pastoral
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21 extended across
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22 pulled around him
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23 Terah = Abraham’s father
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24 Egyptian
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25 i.e., the sea saw the strength of the Almighty’s hand
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26 cowardly
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27 army
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28 defeat
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29 always, forever
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30 who
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31 streams, brooks
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32 proclaim
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33 widely, at large
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34 destroy, kill, overcome
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35 brightly colored
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36 greatness, power, dignity
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37 cruel, terrible, savage [adjective]
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38 the Hebrew people
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39 the Red Sea
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40 brown-skinned
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41 desolate
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42 the Amorites, pre-Israelite dwellers in Canaan
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43 Amorite king, and an exceedingly large man
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44 excessively bold, daring
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45 Jacob
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46 to sing, celebrate in song
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47 blossomed
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48 withered
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49 color vermilion
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50 the north wind (Aquilo = “eagle”)
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51 winter’s
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52 rough, coarse, violent
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53 Orythia, daughter of the king of Athens
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54 affected injuriously
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55 i.e., unless he too wedded some fair one
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56 notorious
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57 maturity, old age
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58 frisky, sportive
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59 carriage, chariot
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60 dwelling
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61 shamed, disgraced
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62 unknowing, unwitting
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63 once
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64 Zephyr, the west wind, also loved Hyacinth, and in revenge caused a quoit (iron ring thrown at a peg in the ground) thrown by Apollo to swerve, hit, and kill Hyacinth
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65 Eurotas = Laconian river; strand = bank, shore
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66 shallowly dug? or an in-ground grave rather than a properly elevated tomb structure?
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67 explain, clarify
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68 verses, poem
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69 creature, being
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70 benefit, behalf
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71 appropriate, proper
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72 Astraea (“starry maiden”), goddess of justice and the last god to leave the earth
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73 clothing
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74 travel quickly
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75 dirty, repulsive
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76 pain, grief
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77 i.e., in the preceding part, which is a pun-filled “Prolusion”
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78 obvious, bare, plain
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79 suspicion
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80 boxes, chests
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81 thoroughly, all over
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82 Zeus and Hera’s daughter; cupbearer to the gods
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83 layers
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84 old woman, grandmother
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85 see Homer’s Odyssey 8:499ff.
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86 within the boundary
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87 an academic pun: predicament = (1) term used in Aristotelian rhetoric, (2) Milton’s difficulty with his “wand’ring muse”
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88 place
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89 unlucky, disastrous, dreadful
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90 chance, luck
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91 prophetess, fortune-teller, witch
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92 apart
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93 outdistance, surpass
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94 attribute, quality, nature
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95 one George Rivers (or his brother, Nizell) played the part of Relation
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96 outermost
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97 on the border of England and Scotland
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98 the Don, in Yorkshire
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99trente= “thirty,” in French, and the Trent takes its name therefrom
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100 see the story of the river nymph Sabrina in Comus, lines 824ff.
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101 the river runs past Newcastle, proverbial for its coal
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102 i.e., is supposedly named for a Scythian chief who drowned in that river
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103 the Thames, which runs past various royal castles
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104 crime, fault, penalty
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105 unbearable, intolerable
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106 was accustomed
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107 residence/offices of a sovereign
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108 style, talent
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109 effect, accomplish
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110 style, tone
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111 the horses pulling the sun god’s chariot
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112 impression, stamp
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113 the three Magi/wise men
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114 come before [pre= before, venir= come]
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115 poorly, shabbily
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116 rough, coarse, inelegant
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117 feeding trough in stable/barn
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118 reverential wonder
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119 laid aside, taken away, taken off
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120 brilliant, fine
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121 adornment
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122 joyful, lively, lustful
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123 forehead, face
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124 corrupted, foul, filthy, stained [adjective]
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125 abashed, ashamed
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126 forerunner (advance person)
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127 with hook/scythelike protrusions? a hook-shaped chariot?
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128 respectful, reverential
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129 hushed, silent
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130 rage, roar
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131 the morning star, not (in this usage) Satan
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132 place
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133 as if
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134 moment, instant
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135 simple, humble
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136 gripped, seized, charmed (the “stringèd noise” took “all their souls in blissful rapture”)
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137 cadence
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138 the moon
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139 prepared, dressed
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140 inexpressible
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141 rolling, tossing, tumbling
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142 full of moral blemishes/defects
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143 suffering, mourning
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144 houses, tents
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145 similar
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146 delicate, gauzy texture
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147 meeting of a deliberative council [trisyllabic]
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148 fearful, awe-inspiring
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149 narrower, tighter
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150 wrathful, indignant
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151 lashes, brandishes, whips
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152 prognosticate
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153 slope
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154 prompts, animates
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155 silver-leafed?
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156 local spirit (pagan)
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157 Roman household and hearth gods
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158 Roman priests
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159 odd, strange
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160 separate
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161 spiritual/divine being
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162 mountain/Phoenician sun god
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163 followers of Baal
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164 Phoenician moon goddess
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165 encircled
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166 Ammon, Egyptian god with the head of a ram
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167 withers
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168 Phoenician Adonis
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169 deity associated with Baal
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170 into which babies were thrown, as sacrifices to Moloch
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171 animal-like/shaped
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172 Egyptian earth goddess, horned like a cow
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173 Egyptian sun god, Isis’ son
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174 son of Orus, dog/ jackal-headed
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175 chief of the Egyptian gods, portrayed as a black bull
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176 see line 220, below
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177 percussion instrument, tambourinelike
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178 songs of praise/gladness
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179 robed
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180 eyes
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181 hundred-headed fire-breathing giant, a serpent below the waist
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182 coils
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183 eastern
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184 separate, individual
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185 fairies
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186 labyrinth (as in a fairy ring?)
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187 long and wearisome (used in a jocund rather than literal sense)
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188 youngest-born/produced
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189 i.e., wearing gleaming body armor
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190 ready to be useful [four syllables, first and third accented]
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191 once, formerly, some time ago
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192 to sing in counterpoint
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193 fasten upon, clutch, take hold of
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194 gravest, most severe
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195 peril, danger, risk
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196 creature, being
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197 temporary dwelling, place, abode
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198 put up with, endure
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199 Phoebus Apollo, god of (among other things) poetry
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200 Marco Girolamo Vida’s Christiad; he was a native of Cremona
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201 proper to
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202 subdued
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203 Ezekiel
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204 Jerusalem (Shalem = ancient Semitic god)
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205 anxiously thoughtful
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206 absorption
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207 mood? seizure?
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208 treasures
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209 i.e., as in prayer
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210 mass of stone
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211 mark, engrave
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212 lamenting
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213 vivid, fresh, brightly gay
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214 letters of the alphabet
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215 i.e., infections being carried by some germlike agent, the poet’s tears of sorrow, like a sort of sickly semen, spawn “a race of mourners” on that which carries water down on men, namely, a cloud
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216 forerunner (literally)
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217 attiring, arraying
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218 valley, hollow
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219 Sonnets 2–6, written in Italian, are not here included
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220 arranged by compositional order rather than chronologically; dates of composition are, as usual, indicated with the title of each poem
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221 twig, shoot
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222 gracious, favorably inclined
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223 song
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224 soon/soon enough (opportunely)
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225 barbarous, ignorant
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226 the cuckoo, linked to sexual jealousy/betrayal
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227 retinue, attendants
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228 ingenious, cunning, tricky
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229 speed, impetus
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230 are invested with
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231 yet? always?
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232 equal, proportionate
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233 destiny
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234 low
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235 [trisyllabic]
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236 luck, fortuitous circumstance
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237 In October 1642, during the early days of England’s civil war, the royalist army almost reached London; Milton’s house lay just outside the city walls
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238 Milton himself
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239 repay
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240 noble, honorable, gentlemanly
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241 dwelling
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242 Alexander the Great: Emathia was a Macedonian province
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243 Pindar, Greek poet
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244 music: in Athenian Greece, the chorus referred to in the next footnote would have been sung
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245 Euripides: a chorus from the play is said to have persuaded the Spartans not to sack Athens, in 404B.C.
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246 the lady is unknown
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247 “I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him” (Song of Solomon 3:2)
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248 conspicuously
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249 “And Jesus…said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one good thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42); see also Ruth 1:8–18
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250 are arrogant, presumptuous
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251 gnaw, wear away at
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252 compassion, pity
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253 concern
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254 follows, waits upon
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255 Lady Margaret, daughter of the Earl of Marlborough
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256 Marlborough died four days after King Charles dissolved his third Parliament, in 1629
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257 Philip of Macedon’s defeat of Thebes and Athens in 338 B.C.
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258 Chaeronéa marked the end of Greek independence; Isocrates committed suicide four days after hearing the news
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259 recount, tell
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260 block of wood attached to the feet of men or horses, to impede movement
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261 by the writing of two tracts on divorce, one of which was entitled Tetrachordon: see Sonnet 12, below
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262 surrounds, besieges, besets
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263 rustics, boors
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264 Apollo and Diana, twin children of Latona and Jupiter; peasants who refused water to Latona were turned into frogs by Jupiter
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265 yet
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266 Milton’s 1645 book on divorce was shaped by the “foure chief places in Scripture which treat of Marriage”
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267 read, studied
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268 line
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269 in the time that
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270 James Gordon, Lord Aboyne, Scots royalist
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271 Alexander MacDonnell, known also as MacColkitto and MacGillespie, general in the royalist army of James Graham, Earl Montrose
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272 see footnote 50, above
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273 see footnote 50, above
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274 Roman rhetorician
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275 first professor of Greek at Cambridge, and tutor to Prince (later King) Edward
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276 Henry Lawes, 1596–1662, master musician, who composed the music for Comus
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277 rhythmical
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278 measure out, extend
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279 proper, right, correct
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280 Midas having judged Pan a better flutist than Apollo, Apollo gave him donkey ears
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281 perpetrating
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282 melody, tune
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283 musician of Florence, Dante’s friend, who appears, and sings, in Purgatorio 2:76ff.
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284 Catherine, wife of George Thomason, London bookseller and publisher; died in 1646
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285 melodies
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286 Sir Thomas Fairfax, commander in chief of the Parliamentarian army
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287 Scotland
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288 a covenant of friendship made in 1643 between Parliament and the Scots was broken a month later by a Scottish invasion
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289 to engraft new feathers onto damaged wings
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290 the covenant with Parliament, being unserpentlike, broke Scotland’s “serpent wings,” but invading England and breaking that covenant restored her native serpentlike qualities
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291 plunder, pillage, robbery
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292 slander, defamations, calumnies
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293 coarse
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294 battle of 1648
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295 soaked
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296 battle of 1650
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297 battle of 1651 [bisyllabic, as if written “WOOS ter”]
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298 mouth, appetite
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299 Sir Henry Vane (the Younger), statesman and councilor
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300 i.e., the togas worn by the senators of Rome
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301 Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, invaded Rome in the third century B.C.
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302 Hannibal of Carthage, in Africa, also invaded Rome in the third century B.C.
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303 purpose, intent
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304 pun on “Holland”
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305 gibe at the spelling and pronunciation of Dutch
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306 equipment
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307 the Vaudois, Swiss Protestants, attacked and killed by Catholic partisans in 1655
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308 [verb]
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309 sheep pen: here, of course, metaphorical
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310 the Pope
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311 flee
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312 the papacy
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313 used up, exhausted
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314 before
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315 in biblical times, “talent” also meant a monetary unit: see Matthew 25:14ff, the parable of the talents
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316 devoted, bound
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317 bring/show to God [verb]
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318 as per the parable of the talents
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319 scold, rebuke
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320 hurry
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321 Edward Lawrence, member of Parliament; his father, Henry Lawrence, was president of Cromwell’s Council of State
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322 roads, lanes, paths
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323 boggy, slushy, muddy
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324 gloomy, dark, dismal, dull
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325 a day that
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326 winter, with its ice
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327 which is gaining on us/coming closer and closer
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328 the west wind
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329 “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin”: Matthew 6:28
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330 dainty, elegant
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331 Italian
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332 afford? spare time for? leave off, forbear?
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333 introduce, or delay
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334 Cyriack Skinner, 1627–1700, Milton’s student, friend, helper, and more than likely his amanuensis
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335 Sir Edward Coke, 1552–1634, chief justice of the King’s Bench and a legendary figure in the law to this day
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336 goddess of justice
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337 petty, insignificant
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338 as a judge handing down (“pronouncing”) decisions
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339 notably The Institutes of the Law of England
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340 i.e., other lawyers, members of the bar
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341 twist, stretch, alter
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342 soak, drown
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343 moves
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344 Sweden
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345 speedily, in good time
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346 sober, sound, practical
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347 deprived
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348 useless, inactive; unemployed
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349 lessen, reduce
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350 the smallest of small amounts
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351 overworked/employed/worked/used
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352 probably, but not certainly, Milton’s second wife, Katherine Woodcock, to whom he was married in 1656, and who died in 1658, not long after giving birth to a daughter
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353 Admetus, her husband, had his life extended in return for her voluntarily dying in his stead; Hercules, Jove’s son, successfully wrestled with Death, and then brought her back to life
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354 stain, blemish
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355 see Leviticus 12:5
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356 limitation, reserve
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357 clothed, dressed
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358 bent, leaned
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359 the Muses were the daughters of Memory
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360 slow-striving
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361 prosody
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362 invaluable, priceless
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363 inspired by Apollo, god of poetry, who lived in the city of Delphi
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364 (1) heavy, (2) profound: see footnote 46, below
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365 (1) mold, cast, copy (as in printing), (2) effect, influence
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366 depriving, stripping
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367 (1) stone, such as is used in tombs and gravestones, or rigid/cold/white like marble, (2) the marbled pattern or paper used in ornamenting/binding books
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368 imagining
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369 buried (metaphorical: “absorbed”)
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370 splendor, magnificence
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371 deliveryman
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372 temporary idleness
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373 also a renter of horses: the proverbial phrase “Hobson’s choice” stems from his insisting that a would-be customer either accepted whatever horse was nearest to the door or else got no horse at all
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374 belt or band (leather or cloth) around a horse’s body, securing saddle/pack/etc.; possibly also a pun on Hobson’s own girt(h) and Death having broken him
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375 roads
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376 muddy ditch
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377 trickster, con man
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378 entire
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379 to dodge = to give (someone) the slip, to avoid, to baffle
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380 inn in London, located on a main thoroughfare
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381 habitual path, route
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382 Death = the “kind…chamberlain,” or inn servant
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383 a candle—but Death extinguishes a person’s light
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384 remained?
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385 decompose, die
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386 the indestructible stuff of which stars and other heavenly bodies are formed
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387 just as the stars revolve, so too did Hobson, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth….
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388 stopped
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389 measures, assigns values to
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390 any mechanical contrivance/machine
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391 primary cause, which was movement
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392 at once—but also “straight” in the sense of no longer revolving
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393 one sense of the word “breathe,” as in “to take breath,” is “to rest”
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394 “term” = when college is in session, “vacation” = when college is not in session
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395 “drive the time away” as in “killing time”—but he was literally a “driver” (coachman)
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396 (1) brought to life, (2) made to go faster
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397 “fetch and carry” = common phraseology
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398 abolished, done away with—but also “put down” in the ground, buried
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399 i.e., six men will be required/used to carry him to his grave
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400 boredom, sorrow
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401 involving unconcern with time
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402 load = burden
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403 so that
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404 as if
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405 a form of torture
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406 transformed, like so many classical figures, into a star/constellation?
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407 the “date” of a document is the “time” assigned to it (by the calendar)
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408 i.e., as regular as the moon
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409 “wain” = wagon; “wane” = decrease
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410 written on his tomb, or as his funereal inscription generally, just as letters too have their “superscriptions,” or inside addresses
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411 hold/enclose the corpse of
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412 dead in childbirth, together with her child, in 1631, at age twenty-three
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413 Thomas, Viscount of Rock-Savage
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414 on her mother’s side, heir of Lord Darcy, Earl of Rivers
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415 counted, reckoned up
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416 dwell
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417 proper, fit
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418 Hymen
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419 she had been married at sixteen; at twenty-three she died
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420 cypress = a funereal wood, its branches and twigs a symbol of mourning
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421 born in 1629
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422 goddess of childbirth
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423 childbirth labor
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424 one of the three Fates, who cut the thread of life
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425 the child was dead before delivery
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426 a cutting from a plant/flower
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427 retinue?
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428 careless
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429 youth, rustic, lover
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430 pluck, cut
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431 springtime, like springtime
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432 predictive, warning
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433 the mountain where the Muses dwelled
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434 twigs/sprays used as wreaths
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435 roads
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436 the River Cam, for which Cambridge is named
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437 Rachel
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438 the child she bore was Benjamin
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439 happiness (in heaven)
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440 (in Italian) lively, cheerful, gay, merry
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441 monstrous dog, guardian of the entrance to Hades
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442 Styx = underground river across which Charon ferried the souls of the dead into Hades
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443 unknown
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444 small, solitary chamber
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445 projecting cliff edges
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446 according to Homer, a people who live at the outer edge of the world and thus are in perpetual darkness
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447 named, called
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448 the three Graces are Agalia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne [four syllables, the second and fourth accented]
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449 exhales
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450 jolly, lively, unresisting
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451 merry, gay
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452 affable, graceful
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453 fanciful turns of speech, conceits
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454 sportive/cunning/amorous tricks
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455 nod of the head, signaling either assent or command
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456 goddess of youth [bisyllabic]
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457 frolic, diversion
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458 uncensured
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459 slow, listless
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460 speckled
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461 “rear” as in “rear guard”: the image is military
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462 as in “haystack”
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463 brave, fierce, vigorous
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464 “struts his dames before” = struts in front of his lady folk
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465 light gray
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466 in plain view, openly
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467 elevated, distinguished, of high rank
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468 display of high dignity/rank/wealth
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469 elaborate costumes/uniforms
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470 equipped, ordered
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471 sharpens
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472 appraises
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473 reddish brown
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474 farmland ploughed and harrowed but left uncultivated for a period (usually a year)
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475 spotted, variegated
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476 indented parapets at the tops of walls
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477 i.e., some beautiful woman
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478 dwells
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479 center of attraction
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480 Corydon and Thyrsis = prototypical names for characters in Greek pastorals
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481 leafy edible plants
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482 food
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483 deft, dexterous
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484 prepares
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485 abode, cottage
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486 tie up
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487 bundles made after reaping (usually of grains)
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488 i.e., before harvest time (autumn)
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489 conduct, guide, show the way
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490 browned by exposure
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491 conical heaps of hay, in the fields/pastures
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492 meadow
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493 free from care/doubt/worry
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494 highland
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495 small villages or groups of houses, having no church
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496 merry, joyful, light-hearted
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497 primitive three-stringed fiddle
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498 a principal fairy
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499 cakes, sweetmeats, dainties
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500 threshing tool: a wooden handle to which is tied a free-swinging clublike swingle (or “swipple”)
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501 grain
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502 beneficent goblin
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503 stuffed with food
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504 morning call
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505 garments
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506 public spectacle/festivity
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507 sufficient/abundant supply
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508 god of marriage
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509 orange-red/yellow
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510 wax candle
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511 splendor, magnificence
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512 Ben Jonson, 1572–1637, poet, dramatist, critic; friend/colleague of Shakespeare
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513 comedy (in which the actors wore low-heeled slippers, or “socks”)
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514 imagination
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515 corrosive
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516 the Lydian (ancient Greek) mode (musical scale) was soft, often melancholy; air = melodies
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517 gentle
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518 round
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519 see footnote 36 to line 27, above
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520 attention, care
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521 whirling, intoxicated
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522 skill, craft
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523 legendary poet/musician
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524 raise, lift
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525 Elysian Fields/Elysium = legendary island of the blessed
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526 melodies
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527 lord of the underworld
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528 Orpheus had won her right to live again, provided he not look back at her as she followed him up into the world of the living. He finally did look back, at her urgent request, and she disappeared forever [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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529 The reference is to Marlowe’s “Passionate Shepherd” see also lines 37–40, above
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530 (in Italian) thoughtful, serious, grave
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531 help, assist
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532 resolved, determined
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533 whims
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534 foolish, credulous, idiotic
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535 showy
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536 minute particle (of dust)
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537 hirelings, mercenaries, tools, creatures
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538 son of Hypnos (Sleep), and god of dreams
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539 reach, light upon
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540 a handsome Ethiopian prince; his sister’s name is Himera—but the allusion remains obscure
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541 suit
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542 Cassiopeia, queen of Ethiopia, boasted that Andromeda, her daughter, was more beautiful than the Nereids, who responded by turning Andromeda into a constellation [“Ethiope” = bisyllable—i.e., first syllable stressed, second syllable elided]
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543 virgin daughter of Saturn (Chronos) and goddess of the hearth
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544 in Crete? where Jove (Zeus) lived—and plotted against Saturn (Chronos)
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545 priestess of a pagan deity
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546 sober, grave, serious, reserved
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547 color
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548 sable-colored: black
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549 mantlelike vestment, worn over the shoulders
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550 fine linen fabric; unlike most linens, cypress lawn is black
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551 comely
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552 usual, habitual, customary
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553 to communicate/hold intercourse with
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554 transported, carried away, enraptured
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555 steadfast, firm, grave, serious
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556 heavy
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557 glance, look
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558 i.e., her eyes
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559 with equal firmness
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560 lean
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561 fasting (abstinence from food)
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562 always
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563 withdrawn
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564 well-ordered
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565 “the Cherub Contemplation” (line 54, below)
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566 Ezekiel’s vision of a heavenly chariot: see Ezekiel 10:1–2 and 9–22
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567 [five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
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568 summon (with a whisper)
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569 unless
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570 the nightingale
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571 mood, manner
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572 moon goddess
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573 curbs, restrains
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574 yoke = wooden device for coupling more than one horse or other dray animal to one vehicle
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575 singer (the nightingale)
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576 solicit, entreat
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577 not by lawn cutting but by sheep nibbling
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578 a piece/patch of ground, usually small
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579 deep mournful tone
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580 quiet
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581 remote, secluded
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582 darkness
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583 the night watchman/town crier
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584 incantation
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585 the constellation Ursa Major (“Great Bear”), which never sets
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586 Hermes Trismegistus (“thrice great Hermes”), third-century Neoplatonist
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587 Plato’s spirit is assumed, here, to now reside in a planetary sphere: Plato argued that great men’s souls do in fact so ascend after their bodies die
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588 explain
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589 dwelling
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590 corner, outlying/remote region
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591 a being intermediate between god and man: an inferior deity
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592 accord, agreement
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593 brilliant, showy
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594 scepter = ornamental rod/wand
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595 rich purple cloth
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596 of which Oedipus was king
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597 i.e., Agamemnon, Orestes, Electra, Iphigenia
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598 high thick-soled boots worn in tragedies, as opposed to the “sock” (low slipper) worn in comedies
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599 mythical Greek poet, said to have been taught by Orpheus
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600 Geoffrey Chaucer, “Squire’s Tale” (in Canterbury Tales): the first two parts were finished, but we have only the first two lines of part three
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601 [three syllables, first and third accented]
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602 tournaments
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603 not ironic, but a reference to Spenser, one of Milton’s favorite poets, who (in Book IV, canto 2, of The Fairie Queene) added allegory to the tale Chaucer left unfinished
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604 path
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605 sober
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606 decked, adorned
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607 pleated, curled
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608 Cephalus, husband of Procris, trapped in an ultimately fatal human-deity triangle when Eos (“dawn”) fell in love with him
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609 god of forests
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610 harsh, violent, rugged
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611 lifted, raised
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612 frequently visited place
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613 shelter, covering
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614 unhallowed, polluted, alien
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615 glaringly bright
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616 company? harmony?
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617 tutelary god/spirit
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618 proper
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619 bounds [noun]
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620 arched, vaulted
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621 “massily” [adverb]
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622 ornamented with scenes (“stories”) from history, legend, etc.
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623 made, ordered, arrayed
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624 resounding, sounding forth
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625 ponder
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626 show
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627 catch sight of
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628 Leto, a Titan, mother of twins, Apollo and Artemis, whose father is Zeus
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629 the Great Mother [trisyllabic, first and third syllables accented]
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630 i.e., give her any further competitive advantage
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631 gentlemanly, noble, high-born, aristocratic
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632 shepherds, rustics
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633 Arcadia: region of Greece which Virgil’s Eclogues made the traditional locale of the pastoral ideal
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634 river, stream
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635 river that fell in love with the nymph Arethusa and, after Diana transformed her into a fountain, flowed under the sea to reach her
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636 buskin halfboot
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637 generous, noble, honorable
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638 choice of
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639 skillful, dainty, pretty, elegant
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640 profuse, extravagant, sportive, fanciful
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641 noxious, harmful
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642 blighting, infectious
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643 from
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644 crossing, traversing (the sky)
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645 Saturn
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646 ulcerative, decaying
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647 go
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648 hunting horn
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649 count
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650 rows
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651 potent, powerful
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652 vital shears = shears of life
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653 unbreakable
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654 the Fates, daughters of Necessity
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655 fickle, changeable
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656 (1) below, (2) of humble rank
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657 rhythmical, regular
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658 coarse
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659 unpurified
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660 try, attempt
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661 direct one’s attention
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662 stock
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663 clothing
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664 glossy, variegated
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665 i.e., providing shelter against the malign influence of evil stars
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666 the River Ladon runs through Arcadia and joins the Alpheus
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667 Arcadian mountain, birthplace of Pan, associated with the worship of Zeus
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668 Arcadian mountain
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669 gray/grayish white
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670 Arcadian mountain range, where Hercules hunted and killed a fierce wild boar
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671 Arcadian mountain, associated with Pan
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672 nymph beloved by Pan
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673 written to celebrate the Earl of Bridgewater’s election as Lord President of Wales. As performed at Lord Bridgewater’s Ludlow castle, 29 September 1634, the lady was played by Bridgewater’s daughter and the brothers by her brothers. Thyrsis/attendant spirit was played by the composer of the masque’s music (and music tutor to the family), Henry Lawes.
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674 cattle pen
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675 Pluto, lord of the underworld, as Jove was lord of that above ground
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676 custom, practice
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677 i.e., the mainsea, the ocean
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678 much, great
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679 temperate
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680 power
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681 intricate, entangled
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682 Bacchus
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683 free
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684 with
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685 menacing, inauspicious
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686 brilliant, precious
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687 foolish
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688 lynx
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689 fair, pleasing, proper
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690 goddess of the rainbow
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691 garments
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692 male servant, attendant, rustic, shepherd
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693 reed flute
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694 magical, enchanting
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695 band, crowd, herd
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696 having the heads of
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697 commands
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698 to shut up sheep in a fold (pen, enclosure)
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699 (1) temper, abate, mitigate, (2) lay down
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700 sloping, slanting
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701 threads, cords
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702 sprinkling down
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703 proverbs, maxims
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704 channels, inlets
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705 herd, flock, multitude
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706 morris dance: traditional English country dance, especially associated with May Day celebrations
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707 lively, skilled
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708 lively, spruce
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709 rippling
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710 festivals, holidays
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711 Thracian goddess of orgies
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712 except
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713 black
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714 Hecate [trisyllabic], ghost-world goddess
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715 blabbering
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716 spy
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717 fussy, overly refined
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718 announce
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719 i.e., they dance
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720 shelter, hiding place
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721 thickets
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722 overtaken by darkness
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723 tricks, traps, snares
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724 elastic, impressionable
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725 dim
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726 appearances, form
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727 crafty, clever, skillful
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728 flattering, coaxing, specious
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729 prosperity
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730 maintains in connection with
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731 (1) completely, (2) becomingly
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732 merry
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733 sportive
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734 rustics, farmhands
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735 frisky, unregulated
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736 in error
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737 uncivilized/coarse behavior
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738 drinkers
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739 devotee
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740 pilgrim
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741 clothing, garments, dress
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742 wagon
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743 abundant
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744 complete
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745 unbroken, absolute
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746 supporting
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747 glittering, gleaming
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748 river in western Asia Minor, flowing into the Aegean
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749 beloved by Echo, and punished for rejecting her
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750 speech
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751 resounding
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752 drop in pitch
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753 [noun]
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754 water nymphs [trisyllabic, first and third syllables accented]
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755 powerful, mighty
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756 multiheaded, voracious monster
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757 deadly whirlpool, located opposite Scylla
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758 felt intimately/in the heart
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759 god of shepherds, flocks, and their fertility; half human, half goat
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760 god of wildernesses
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761 expedient device
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762 ushering = escorting
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763 hit/come upon, guess
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764 to be important, to signify/matter
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765 daughter of Zeus and Hera, cupbearer of the gods [bisyllabic, first accented]
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766 straps, ropes, harness
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767 wearied, overworked
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768 tender/cutter of hedges
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769 covering, as by a mantle/cloak
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770 bearing, carriage
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771 airy, joyful, bright, etc.
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772 dell, hollow, cleft between hills
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773 shallow hollow or pit
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774 bushy
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775 brook
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776 escort
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777 residing
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778 sheltered
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779 straw bed
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780 poor, humble, inferior
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781 dutiful, faithful
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782 guaranteed, attested
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783 adapt, regulate
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784 are in the habit/practice of
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785 blessing
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786 (1) wax wick/candle, (2) a light
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787 reed
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788 small door
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789 Arcadia (site of proverbial pastoral simplicity)
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790 Tyre = ancient Phoenician city
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791 Callisto, raped and impregnated by Jupiter, is turned by Juno into Ursa Minor: the Pole Star is in its tail
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792 shut into their folds/enclosures/pens
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793 interlaced twigs, sprigs, and the like
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794 sheds, stalls
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795 flute
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796 made of oat stems/straw
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797 that which forms/encloses a fingerhole
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798 narrow, enclosed, confined
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799 ridge
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800 large pillow
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801 filled
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802 overexcited/intense
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803 reckon, resolve
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804 form, shape
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805 i.e., I do not plan to look for her in that spirit
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806 embraces, hides
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807 fixed, steadfast
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808 unsuitable
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809 peril, danger, risk
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810 [five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
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811 preens
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812 quotidian activities
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813 confused
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814 of the earth
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815 blinded, clouded
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816 likes, seeks
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817 single-person solitary dwelling
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818 place of frequent resort
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819 garments
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820 prayer beads
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821 unchastity
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822 assault
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823 body
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824 unacknowledged? unaccompanied?
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825 conclude
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826 balance
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827 govern
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828 indirect, oblique
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829 travel, tread
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830 having no shelter
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831 open uncultivated ground
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832 grotto = cave, excavation
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833 covered
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834 bristling, frightful
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835 not disconcerted/deceived
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836 marshy, moorlike
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837 swampland, marsh
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838 unexorcised
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839 dark, swarthy
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840 from underground
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841 weapons
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842 tawny-spotted/streaked
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843 leopard, panther
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844 arrow
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845 to frustrate, destroy
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846 absolute, sheer
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847 dressed in livery (distinctive uniform of servants)
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848 serve, wait upon
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849 unrestrained, profuse
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850 admits
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851 [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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852 incorporates
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853 degrade, make bestial
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854 cemetery
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855 as if
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856 sacred, holy, religious
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857 unsheathe a sword
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858 i.e., swords
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859 melodies, tunes
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860 pushing, hurrying
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861 mother
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862 irregular
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863 caused to be abandoned
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864 nearest, closest
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865 open expanse of upland
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866 concern, fear
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867 fanciful, incredible
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868 [verb]
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869 monsters with lion heads, goat bodies, and serpent tails
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870 split
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871 poisonous, life-destroying
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872 whispered charms/spells
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873 undoing
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874 coinage, stamp
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875 engraved, written
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876 pastures, fields
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877 crowd
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878 domesticated
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879 [trisyllabic]
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880 most remote (farthest in)
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881 unwitting
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882 waving
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883 conclusion, end
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884 familiar
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885 forestall
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886 a sentence [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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887 enslaved
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888 evil
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889 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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890 the underworld, Hades
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891 monsters, part woman, part bird
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892 many-headed snakes
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893 hobgoblins
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894 booty
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895 prowess
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896 profit, advantage
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897 “as to tell us this story/narrative”
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898 tricks, stratagems
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899 value, merit
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900 strong, powerful, magically endowed
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901 pouch
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902 herbs, medicinal plants
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903 picked, chose
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904 studded
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905 a fabled and fabulous plant
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906 fabulous plant given to Odysseus by the god Hermes [bisyllabic]
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907 the shepherd lad
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908 supreme
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909 blasting influence, curse
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910 [five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
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911 entanglements
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912 retired, came away
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913 sweet, pleasing
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914 withdraw, vanish
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915 retreat, recoil, slip away
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916 quickly, at once
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917 stimulating, envigorating
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918 sweet drink
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919 boundaries, limits
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920 grief-banishing drug
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921 wife of Thon = Polydamna
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922 terms, promises
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923 not privileged, not freed from
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924 [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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925 those who
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926 quickly
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927 looks, faces
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928 masked, disguised
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929 pompous, formal, solemn
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930 Diogenes, Cynic philosopher who lived in a tub
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931 offspring
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932 stored
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933 furnish
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934 sulk
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935 peas, beans, lentils, etc.
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936 coarse wool
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937 miser
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938 Nature
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939 overburdened
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940 feathers [the line, having ten syllables, can be scanned as iambic pentameter—but not easily]
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941 overfreighted, overloaded
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942 duped
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943 boasted of, praised
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944 in general use, passing/flowing from hand to hand
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945 show
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946 plain, simple, unpolished
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947 [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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948 vile, wretched, worthless
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949 color
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950 work busily at
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951 embroidery
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952 to separate, to card
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953 judicious
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954 except
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955 magician, trickster, buffoon
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956 as he has
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957 thrusting forward, intruding
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958 decked, dressed
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959 sift, examine
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960 vice’s
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961 blame, burden
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962 wished
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963 provider
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964 suitable, seemly
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965 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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966 [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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967 showy, dazzling
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968 holy secret
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969 the practice of swordplay
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970 sinews
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971 i.e., Jove consigns the rebels against him to “the chains” of Hell
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972 test, afflict
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973 i.e., creation
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974 sediments, dregs
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975 at once
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976 disjoining, parting, separating
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977 stop
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978 character in Spenser’s Fairie Queene
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979 truest, most genuine
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980 played his pipe/flute
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981 check, restraint
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982 governs
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983 river flowing out of Wales, ending in Bristol Channel
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984 once upon a time
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985 son of Brutus, legendary founder of Britain
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986 Brutus
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987 river
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988 depths
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989 sea god, father of the Nereids
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990 limp, loose
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991 spiritual cleansers
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992 vestibule
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993 elf, goblin
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994 breaths of malignant air, curses, infections
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995 sing joyously
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996 songs
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997 encircling
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998 surrounding, hemming in
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999 exorcising
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1000 [four syllables, second and fourth accented] Oceanus’ wife, mother of rivers, is Tethys; Neptune = Poseidon, god of the sea and of earthquakes; Nereus is father of the Nereids, one of whom is Thetis; the “Carpathian wizard” is Proteus, a shape-shifter; Triton is son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, human from the waist up, fish below; Glaucus is a fisherman who became immortal and a sea god; Leucothea is a Greek sea goddess; Parthenope is a Siren, as is Ligéa.
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1001 blown, sounded
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1002 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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1003 beaches, shores
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1004 [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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1005 sly, artful
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1006 raise, lift
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1007 toss one’s head
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1008 [adjective]
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1009 shackle, chain, fetter, etc.
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1010 constrained, pressed tightly
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1011 duty
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1012 healing effect
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1013 viscous resinlike secretions
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1014 sticky
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1015 serve
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1016 Neptune’s wife [four syllables, first and third accented]
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1017 Trojan prince, father of Aeneas
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1018 small, minor
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1019 small streams, brooks
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1020 headwaters
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1021 transparent pale green precious stone
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1022 thicket
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1023 come, congregate
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1024 quick, abrupt lowering of head or body
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1025 customs, behavior
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1026 prepare, invent
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1027 affectedly elegant or dainty
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1028 tree nymphs [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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1029 open ground, grassy pasture
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1030 tests, trials
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1031 rippling
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1032 trim, dapper, neat
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1033 so that
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1034 walkways, passages
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1035 aromatic balsam
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1036 goddess of the rainbow
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1037 cause to blossom/bloom
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1038 embroidered, trimmed
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1039 wonderfully handsome youth: one day while he was hunting, he was seen by Aphrodite/Venus, who fell in love with him—and when he was killed by a wild boar, from his blood grew the rose, and from her tears, the anemone
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1040 growing
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1041 Aphrodite/Venus
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1042 raised
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1043 Cupid falls in love with Psyche, a mortal; she disobeys him and is deserted by him; thereafter she goes through trial after trial and, eventually, reclaims and is married to him [bisyllabic; the first letter is silent]
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1044 [adverb]
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1045 pleasantly
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1046 sky
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1047 ends
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1048 the music of the spheres
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1049 weak, infirm
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1050 the poem was intended to be “set on a clock case”
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1051 see footnote 40 immediately below
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1052 the leaden weight that animates the clock’s works
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1053 (1) womb, (2) stomach, belly
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1054 scum, rubbish, dregs
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1055 indivisible?
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1056 left behind [adjective]
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1057 sixth order in the nine ranks of the celestial hierarchy
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1058 heraldic pomp (“herald” = officer who makes state pronouncements and delivers state messages)
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1059 erewhile, once
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1060 [adjective, modifying “sin”]
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1061 spelled in Milton’s manuscript “sease,” this word could be either “seize” or “cease”
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1062 judgment, sentence
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1063 “And I [God] will establish my covenant between me and thee [Abraham] and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:7)
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1064 [adjective]
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1065 always
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1066 not discordant
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1067 concord, harmony [four syllables, first and third accented]
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1068 primal, original
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1069 (1) fellowship, (2) company of musicians
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1070 a generic shepherd’s name—announcing, as it were, that the genre of the poem is the classic pastoral
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1071 lyric ode sung by a single voice; in the pastoral tradition, an interior monologue or soliloquy
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1072 Edward King, a fellow student at Cambridge
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1073 by occasion = the poem, written because of this fatal occasion….
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1074 (1) symbolic of poetry, (2) symbolic of fame: the laurel, an evergreen, is sacred to Apollo, god of poetry
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1075 sacred to Venus
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1076 sacred to Bacchus, the god of wine
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1077 dry, withered
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1078 unripe
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1079 constrained
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1080 inexperienced, unskilled
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1081 ripening
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1082 obligation, necessity
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1083 roll to and fro
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1084 withering, shriveling
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1085 recompense, reward, honor
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1086 the Muses
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1087 a bit
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1088 disdainful
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1089 so may = in the future, when Milton dies, he too may be thus mourned by “some gentle muse”
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1090 noble, excellent, honorable
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1091 fortunate, successful
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1092 approve of, regard with kindness
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1093 ordained, predetermined, fated
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1094 holding funereal ashes
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1095 black burial sheet
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1096 brook, stream
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1097 meadows, glades
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1098 their flocks
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1099 what time = when, at the time when
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1100 a brownish beetle known as a cockchafer or dorfly/dorhawk
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1101 blows (strictly, “hums” or “buzzes”)
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1102 summertime/ hot-weather heat
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1103 fattening? feeding? watering?
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1104 Hesperus (Venus)
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1105 “wheel” because heavenly objects were thought to be located in “spheres”
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1106 tuned, in harmony with
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1107 oat stems/straws
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1108 woodland gods/demons, part human, part beast
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1109 a tutor at Cambridge?
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1110 straggling
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1111 poems, songs
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1112 plant-disease of an ulcerous sort
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1113 worm or crawling larva, an intestinal parasite thought to infect sheep, cattle, etc.
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1114 recently weaned
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1115 blossoms
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1116 slopes, hills, mountains, cliffs, etc.
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1117 Celtic minstrel-poets
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1118 the island of Anglesey, in the Irish Sea
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1119 the River Dee
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1120 magic
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1121 Calliope [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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1122 i.e., she who bore Orpheus
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1123 was mother to
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1124 (1) performing magic, (2) entrancing, charming
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1125 all of
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1126 mob, throng, crowd, rabble, etc., all female, though it is unclear whether they were (1) Thracian women jealous of Eurydice or (2) Maenads angry that Orpheus did not properly honor their god, Dionysus
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1127 his head had been cut off; in some versions of the story, the severed head continued to sing
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1128 profits, avails
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1129 simple, plain
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1130 frolic
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1131 generic shepherdess name
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1132 see footnote 20, immediately above
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1133 positive, determined, unobstructed, pure
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1134 stimulate, incite
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1135 reward
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1136 find it
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1137 Atropus (“irresistible”)
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1138 Phoebus Apollo, god of poetry
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1139 glittering
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1140 metal hammered into very thin sheets and used to set off some gem or glittering stone
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1141 talk
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1142 ultimately
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1143 recompense, reward
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1144 the nymph Arethusa fled from a sea god, Alpheus; Diana turned her into a fountain, but he—a river—flowed under the sea and was thus united with her
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1145 river, stream
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1146 river running through Mantua, home of Virgil
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1147 pastoral song
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1148 Triton, a merman, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, a Nereid
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1149 cruel, terrible, wicked
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1150 rough, stormy, strong
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1151 winds represented as great birds
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1152 pointed, hooked
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1153 god of the winds [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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1154 water nymph [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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1155 during, subject to
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1156 “Eclipses are misfortunes…. Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, ed. Maria Leach (New York: Harper, 1972), p. 337
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1157 secret, foul, evil
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1158 River Cam, which flows through Cambridge (and from which, of course, the town takes its name)
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1159 cap
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1160 made of reedlike plants
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1161 worked
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1162 the hyacinth
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1163 robbed
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1164 child
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1165 St. Peter, wearing a bishop’s miter (headdress) and carrying the keys to Heaven’s gates
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1166 violently
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1167 enough
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1168 invited
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1169 the prosody is helped if “they are” is contracted: did Milton perhaps intend it to be sounded as spoken?
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1170 successful, prosperous
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1171 like
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1172 trifling, showy
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1173 feeble
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1174 corrupt, foul, festering, virulent
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1175 vapor
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1176 breathe
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1177 plague, pestilence, moral corruption
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1178 savage, cruel
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1179 secret
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1180 at a rapid pace, swiftly, right away
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1181 as Roy Flannagan has said, “perhaps the most famous crux in English literature”
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1182 see note 33 to line 85, above
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1183 revered, authoritative
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1184 uncertain: perhaps Theocritus, pastoral poet, who may have been born in Sicily
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1185 valleys
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1186 as in “bluebells,”“harebells,” etc.
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1187 small flowers
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1188 are customary
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1189 playful, sportive
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1190 new, green
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1191 a hollow among hills
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1192 the Dog Star, Sirius
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1193 frugally, abstemiously
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1194 clever, lovely, dainty
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1195 the colored center of flowers
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1196 spring, springlike
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1197 early
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1198 flecked
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1199 sober, steadfast, constant, mournful
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1200 crowned with laurel
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1201 wood frame to hold flowers; funeral carriage
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1202 introduce, put forward
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1203 islands off the Scottish coast
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1204 engulfing, submerging
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1205 the sea was thought to be full of monsters
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1206 tear-strewn
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1207 i.e., we pray for you to be returned, but our prayers (“vows”) are denied
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1208 the Roman name for Land’s End, in Cornwall; perhaps a reference to some Cornish giant—or perhaps (since Milton first wrote and then crossed out “Corineus”) inserted strictly for prosodic reasons
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1209 Mount St. Michael’s, near Land’s End in Cornwall, and across the English Channel from Mont-St.-Michel, in France
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1210 in Spain
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1211 a fortress (“hold”) near Cape Finisterre, in Spain
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1212 pity, compassion
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1213 carry, transport
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1214 i.e., the sun
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1215 soon, in a little while
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1216 to restore, renew, mend
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1217 dresses
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1218 precious metal, here clearly “gold”
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1219 muddy, damp
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1220 bathes, washes
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1221 inexpressible
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1222 grand, sacred, formal
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1223 companies, groups, bands
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1224 fellowships
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1225 go
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1226 guardian spirit
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1227 ample
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1228 reparation, compensation
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1229 unpolished, rough
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1230 streams
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1231 reeds, pipes, flutes
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1232 pastoral
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1233 extended across
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1234 pulled around him
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1235 prosody
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1236 the Latin urget, which Horace uses here, means “presses down on”
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1237 simple
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1238 elegance, style
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1239 unaccustomed
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1240 to be surprised, astonished, to marvel at
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1241 too readily believed
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1242 at leisure, unoccupied
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1243 luckless
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1244 untested
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1245 votive offering
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1246 [noun: the Latin is tabula sacer votiva]: David Ferry’s 1997 translation renders these lines “The votive tablet on the temple wall / Is witness that in tribute to the god / I have hung up my sea-soaked garment there.”
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1247 i.e., dedicated/given them to the god
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1248 clothing
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1249 (1) episcopacy had been formally abolished in 1643 (bishops having been members of the House of Lords); (2) in addition, the chief prelate had been the much-hated Archbishop William Laud—whose name, in British English, is virtually a homonym of “lord”
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1250 resolute, inflexible
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1251 in 1645 the House of Commons banned either public or private use of the Book of Common Prayer
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1252 i.e., holding more than one clerical post at a time, as Anglicans had, was a practice being indulged in by Presbyterian clergymen as well
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1253 swear an oath (to)
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1254 presbyterian synod (unit of administration)
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1255 Adam Stewart, member of Parliament and propagandist for orthodox Pres byterianism; he affixed only his initials to the pamphlets he published
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1256 Samuel Rutherford, a Scot, author of Plea for Presbytery (1642)
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1257 Thomas Edwards, author of Gangraena: a catalogue and discovery of many of the errors, heresies, blasphemies, and pernicious practices of the sectaries of this time (1646)
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1258 Robert Baillie, a Scot who attacked the Independents
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1259 the Council of Trent, 1545–63, attempted but failed to effect Church reforms
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1260 leather accouterments worn, at prayer, by Jews: here, a symbol of open hypocrisy
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1261 already cropped: William Prynne (a barrister), the onetime Puritan pamphleteer and then member of the House of Commons, had been thus punished in 1634 (and punished again, for the same offense, in 1637, at which time his cheeks were branded) for criticizing the bishops
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1262 Psalms 80–88, rather dully translated in 1648—that is, five years earlier than Psalms 1–8—are here omitted; they make no significant contribution either to Milton’s English poetry or to the study thereof
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1263 grain husks, separated out by threshing or winnowing
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1264 winnowed, threshed
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1265 endure, withstand
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1266 put up with, endure
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1267 [noun]
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1268 heathen, pagans
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1269 [verb]
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1270 ponder
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1271 stand erect
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1272 meetings, assemblies
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1273 deride, mock
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1274 rigorous, unsparing
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1275 fierce, terrible, dire
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1276 merciless
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1277 anger, wrath
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1278 afflict
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1279 ruled, governed
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1280 crushed
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1281 (1) fully, (2) finally, at last
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1282 disinclined
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1283 be conversant with
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1284 in the way = thereby
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1285 dry
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1286 support, reliance
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1287 King David
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1288 his rebellious son
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1289 life
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1290 quickly
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1291 mob, rabble, herd
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1292 set, arrange
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1293 tents
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1294 struck
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1295 righteous deeds, conformity to the requirements of divine law
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1296 sore need, difficulties
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1297 liberate, deliver from bondage
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1298 free
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1299 tolerated, endured
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1300 what time = when
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1301 terrified, filled with reverential fear
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1302 faithful, rightful, correct, appropriate [adjective]
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1303 kind, crowd
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1304 excessive quantity
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1305 supplies, stocks
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1306 clog
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1307 lands
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1308 grains
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1309 devotional/contemplative exercise
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1310 i.e., “give weight to my meditations”
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1311 deliberate judgment
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1312 arrange
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1313 tarrying, expectation
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1314 endure
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1315 wickedness
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1316 deceitful, treacherous
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1317 in Thy fear = in fear of You
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1318 humbly
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1319 watch, notice, inspect
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1320 sin
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1321 in front of (the place)
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1322 i.e., he who has a….
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1323 unreliable, vacillating
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1324 true
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1325 destroyed, crushed
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1326 continually, always
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1327 rebuke, find fault with
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1328 set right, repair
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1329 bed
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1330 wastes, burns away
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1331 grown
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1332 watch, notice
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1333 wickedness
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1334 petition, entreaty
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1335 acknowledge
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1336 nonplussed, prostrated
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1337 struck, destroyed, confounded, frustrated
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1338 disconcerted
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1339 belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, one of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel
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1340 King David, the Psalmist
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1341 worked, done
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1342 given in return
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1343 nothing—i.e., without any fee or ransom
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1344 crush
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1345 deposit, place
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1346 anger, wrath
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1347 press forward, drive, pursue
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1348 keep watch
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1349 fury
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1350 appease, soften, mitigate
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1351 i.e., on earth
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1352 pledge, promise
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1353 creation
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1354 wrongly (“do” = “act”)
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1355 set up, place
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1356 securely
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1357 separates, distinguishes
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1358 kidneys
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1359 ultimately, in the end
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1360 strict, rigorous, unsparing
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1361 desist, abstain
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1362 sharpens
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1363 remains
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1364 pursue (maliciously), hunt, harass, oppress
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1365 he who ( not God)
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1366 pompous
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1367 dug
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1368 appropriate, fitting
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1369 path
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1370 track, way of life
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1371 head
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1372 precipitous, headlong
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1373 stir up, incite, stimulate
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1374 molded
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1375 cut short, check
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1376 weaken
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1377 called into being
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1378 by
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1379 (1) high rank, power, (2) pomp, dignity
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1380 i.e., are met
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1381 scarcity
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1382 metric
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1383 iambic pentameter
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1384 substance, content
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1385 differently
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1386 prosody
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1387 proper, appropriate
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1388 common, ordinary, uneducated
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1389 considered
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1390 most appropriately
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1391 time
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1392 about
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1393 ancient Israel
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1394 deadly, fatal
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1395 Christ
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1396 Horeb = Sinai, in Exodus and Deuteronomy
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1397 Moses, who was thought to have been the author of Genesis
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1398 the Jews
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1399 site of the Temple, in Jerusalem
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1400 Siloam, near Jerusalem
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1401 fast by = close, very near
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1402 the temple
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1403 (1) perilous, rash, risky, (2) enterprising
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1404 Mount Parnassus, sacred to Apollo and to the Muses
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1405 not specified: the basic nature of the Godhead?
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1406 in preference to, rather than
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1407 (1) hatching eggs by sitting on them, (2) meditating
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1408 ignorant, obscure, blind
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1409 great, original
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1410 move away
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1411 on account of
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1412 celestial
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1413 horrible, frightful, terrific
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1414 conflagration, burning
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1415 final damnation
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1416 unbreakable
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1417 (1) punishing, (2) severe
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1418 detestable, abominable
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1419 army, band, gang, mob
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1420 abyss
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1421 brought to nought, shamed
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1422 sentence, judgment (punishment)
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1423 kept, retained, preserved
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1424 (1) full of active evil, (2) full of pain and suffering
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1425 attested to, were evidence of
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1426 hardened to evil, unyielding
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1427 power of vision
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1428 disastrous, dreadful, calamitous
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1429 barren
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1430 (1) desolate, (2) fantastic
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1431 reveal, show
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1432 presses forward
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1433 never used up
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1434 lot, destiny, fate
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1435 rolling, tumbling
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1436 Beèlzebub
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1437 blessèd, fortunate
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1438 countless numbers
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1439 covenant
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1440 strife
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1441 [five syllables, second and fourth accented]
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1442 hostile
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1443 uncertain, undetermined
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1444 cultivation
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1445 to petition, beg
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1446 favor, pardon, mercy
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1447 humbly petitioning, bent
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1448 because of
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1449 fear
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1450 recently
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1451 feared for
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1452 heavenly, pure fire
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1453 care for/prediction of the future
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1454 raised, moved forward
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1455 boasting, bragging
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1456 comrade, of equal rank
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1457 sixth of the nine angelic orders
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1458 first of the nine angelic orders
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1459 guidance, leadership
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1460 eternal, everlasting
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1461 test, trial
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1462 regret
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1463 entities, beings
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1464 unconquerable
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1465 perforce, of necessity
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1466 whole
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1467 permit, allow
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1468 strengthen
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1469 satisfy
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1470 slaves, bondsmen
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1471 anything
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1472 always
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1473 interfere with, interrupt
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1474 purposes, directions
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1475 intended, designed
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1476 discharge
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1477 caused to subside, laid to rest
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1478 billows, waves
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1479 waste
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1480 satiated, glutted
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1481 bluish leaden-colored
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1482 direct our course, move toward
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1483 lodge, take shelter, be contained
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1484 mortified, troubled
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1485 attack, hurt, damage
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1486 companion, associate
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1487 water
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1488 rod = 5 / yards
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1489 Titans: Briareos, in the next line, is one
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1490 giants: Typhon, in the next line, is one
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1491 biblical city in Cilicia (Asia Minor), north of Cyprus
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1492 had
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1493 (1) sea monster often analogized and linked to Satan, (2) whale
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1494 perhaps, by chance
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1495 foaming water, the sea
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1496 “foundered” can mean “sunk” here, it may mean “stuck, mired”
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1497 concluding, considering, thinking that it (i.e., Leviathan)
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1498 skin, outer surface
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1499 on the sheltered side, the side away from the wind
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1500 covers, clothes
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1501 lifted, raised
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1502 discomfiture, ruin, perplexity
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1503 immediately, at once
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1504 spread out
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1505 lying his weight upon
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1506 descends, settles
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1507 so, the like
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1508 form, appearance
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1509 Sicilian promontory, near Mount Etna (an active volcano, then and now)
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1510 (1) vaporized, (2) transmuted
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1511 lowland
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1512 wrapped, enfolded
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1513 infernal, hellish
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1514 (1) literally, the River Styx, but metaphorically death, (2) by analogy, this particular burning lake
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1515 still being
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1516 consent, toleration
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1517 heavenly
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1518 residence
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1519 regulate, control
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1520 command
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1521 deepest
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1522 just barely
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1523 stunned, bewildered
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1524 unmindful: this is not Lethe, which induces forgetting (oblivion), as Milton makes clear, later, in Book 2, lines 606–10
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1525 abode
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1526 defeated, overthrown, balked, frustrated
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1527 a guarantee, security
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1528 stunned
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1529 overwhelmed
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1530 wicked, fatal
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1531 celestial
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1532 hardness
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1533 Italian: Galileo
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1534 practical scientist, learned man
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1535 discover, make known
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1536 spotted, patchy
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1537 admiral’s ship, flagship
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1538 straight slender stick
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1539 difficult, troublesome
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1540 soil
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1541 beat/shone strongly
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1542 covered, roofed
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1543 nevertheless
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1544 burning, glowing
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1545 in a trance, overpowered
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1546 monastery south of Florence
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1547 Etruscan
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1548 give shelter
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1549 rushlike/reedlike plants
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1550 the constellation of Orion is associated with winter storms
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1551 troubled, agitated
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1552 Egyptian pharaoh who oppressed the captive Israelites
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1553 Egyptian (Memphis = city in ancient Egypt)
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1554 knights, horsemen
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1555 treacherous
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1556 temporary residents
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1557 where the captive Israelites lived, in Egypt
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1558 brought low, cast down
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1559 stupefaction
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1560 revolting, immense
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1561 rulers
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1562 insensibility, mental prostration
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1563 power, force, strength
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1564 banners, flags
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1565 soon
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1566 impale, pierce through
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1567 abyss
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1568 briskly, quickly
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1569 accustomed
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1570 Moses
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1571 black
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1572 floating/whirling through the air
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1573 vault
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1574 descend, settle
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1575 solid
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1576 burning stone, sulfur
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1577 Goths and Vikings
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1578 Danube
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1579 down from
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1580 at once
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1581 surpassing
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1582 at first, originally
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1583 God’s record of the righteous
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1584 toleration, consent
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1585 testing
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1586 showy
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1587 bed
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1588 shore
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1589 of mixed and disorderly composition
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1590 at a distance
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1591 most, the bulk
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1592 place
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1593 to face (defiantly)? await?
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1594 desecrated, violated
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1595 to insult, defy
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1596 percussion instrument, tambourinelike
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1597 savage, cruel, fierce, harsh
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1598 a Semitic people who lived in Jordan; they were related to the Israelites but often at war with them
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1599 now Amman
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1600 in Bashan region; included in the sixth province of Solomon’s kingdom
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1601 modern Bashan
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1602 river flowing into the Dead Sea
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1603 shameless, daring
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1604 Moloch’s
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1605 scandalous, disgraceful
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1606 Gehinnom, valley SW of Jerusalem
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1607 high place in the valley of Hinnom, where children were sacrificed to Moloch
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1608 place of future torment, hell
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1609 symbol, model
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1610 the Moabites’ god
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1611 filthy
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1612 object of fear/reverence
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1613 like the Ammonites, the Moabites were located in Jordan and related to the Israelites, with whom they often warred
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1614 see Deuteronomy 3:12
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1615 a mountain in the Moabite region: see Isaiah 15:2
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1616 linked to Nebo (see footnote 219, above)
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1617 Hesebon = Moabite city
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1618 see Isaiah 15:5
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1619 Sehon = king of the Amorites, the pre-Israelite people of Canaan
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1620 Moabite town
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1621 Moabite city
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1622 the Dead Sea
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1623 Peor = Baal-Peor, Canaanite god associated with sexual orgies on Mt. Peor, in the Moabite region
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1624 Israelite campsite near Jericho
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1625 i.e., Egypt
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1626 lewd, lascivious
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1627 the Mount of Olives: see also line 403, above, and the footnote thereto
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1628 hard by = close to
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1629 king of Judea, 637–608 B.C., a religious reformer
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1630 a major Mesopotamian river
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1631 the River Esor
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1632 plural of “Baal,” in Hebrew
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1633 plural of “Ashtoreth,” in Hebrew
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1634 uncombined, unmixed
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1635 based
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1636 cumbersome: clumsy, unwieldy
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1637 expanded
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1638 ill will, hatred
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1639 unfilled, uncrowded
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1640 vile, wretched [four syllables, first and third accented]
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1641 see line 422, above
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1642 Sidon, Syrian city of the Phoenicians; now in Lebanon
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1643 hill in Jerusalem, site of the Temple
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1644 displeasing
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1645 excessively fond of one’s wife
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1646 Solomon
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1647 or Tammuz, Babylonian-Sumerian god (known elsewhere as Adonis, Osiris, etc.), carried off to the underworld but redeemed by Ishtar, chief Babylonian-Sumerian goddess, because life on earth had withered in his absence
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1648 the river, which originates in Lebanon
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1649 antechamber/entranceway to the temple
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1650 prophet of the Babylonian exile of the Israelites, sixth century B.C.
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1651 the southern of the two kingdoms into which Israel was divided, after Sol omon’s death; the northern kingdom retained the name Israel
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1652 captured by the Philistines
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1653 placed in Dagon’s temple, overnight the ark toppled Dagon’s statue, knocking off the head and both hands
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1654 threshold-edge
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1655 (1) still, at that time, (2) nevertheless
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1656 Ashdod, major Philistine city
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1657 a major Philistine city
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1658 a major Philistine city
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1659 Ekron: a major Philistine city
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1660 a major Philistine city
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1661 Syrian god
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1662 river in Damascus [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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1663 river near Damascus
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1664 clear, pellucid, translucent, shining
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1665 rivers
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1666 Naaman, cured by Elisha, ninth century B.C. prophet of Israel, disciple of and successor to Elijah
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1667 Ahaz, king of Judah, eighth century B.C.
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1668 i.e., Rimmon’s
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1669 stupid, foolish
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1670 induced
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1671 i.e., Ahaz
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1672 Osiris was husband to Isis; Horus (Orus) was their son
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1673 tricked, deceived, imposed upon
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1674 produced, made up
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1675 linked to Apis, the sacred bull of Egypt
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1676 Horeb: the mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments; the Israelites waiting below demanded an idol to worship and Aaron, taking their gold jewelry, melted it and made them a golden calf
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1677 Jeroboam, king of Judah, 930–910 B.C., made not one but two golden calves for his people to worship
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1678 holy site, north of Jerusalem
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1679 holy site in far northern Palestine
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1680 “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten [golden] image,/Thus they changed their glory [i.e., God] into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” Psalm 106:19–20
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1681 by extension, the Israelites
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1682 made equal
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1683 “For I [the Lord] will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.” Exodus 12:12
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1684 “wickedness”
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1685 monstrous, flagrant
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1686 see I Samuel 2:12–17
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1687 (1) lecherous, unchaste, outrageous, (2) given to luxury
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1688 debauchery, dissipation, extravagance, loose living, etc.
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1689 wrongful treatment, violation of another’s rights
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1690 intemperance, excess, violent/disorderly behavior
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1691 a common Puritan insult, borrowed from the Hebrew bene Belial,“sons of Belial”
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1692 inflated
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1693 a city in the Jordan plain, destroyed by God because of its wickedness
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1694 see Judges 19:22–30
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1695 cast out
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1696 married woman (though in fact the woman was a concubine)
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1697 i.e., homosexual rape of a man
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1698 primary
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1699 widely
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1700 celebrated, famous
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1701 Javan = Ion: his issue were the Ionian (western Asia Minor) Greeks
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1702 admitted, acknowledged
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1703 Uranus’ oldest son, Saturn’s older brother
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1704 Saturn, overthrown by Jove
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1705 Uranus’ daughter, Cronus’ wife
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1706 like measure = equal treatment
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1707 Mount Ida (in Crete)
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1708 mountain in Thessaly: the gods’ home
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1709 true heaven is the highest; the middle air is for demons—and for the Greek gods, according to Milton; in the lower air is the earth (and Hades underneath it)
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1710 or = whether
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1711 the oracle of Apollo at Delphi
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1712 the oracle of Zeus at Dodona
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1713 boundaries, limits
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1714 Doric land = southern Greece
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1715 the Adriatic Sea
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1716 western, Italian
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1717 i.e., Britain and Ireland
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1718 dejected
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1719 hidden
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1720 Satan
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1721 a similar
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1722 uncertain, unsettled
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1723 appearance
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1724 accustomed
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1725 appearance
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1726 immediately
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1727 a form of trumpet, shrill-sounding
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1728 raised
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1729 banner, flag
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1730 in Judaism, the very personification of impurity, an archdemon
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1731 flagpole
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1732 presented, put forward
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1733 vault, hollow
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1734 realm
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1735 brilliant, sparkling, radiant, lustrous
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1736 helmets
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1737 pressed close together
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1738 quickly
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1739 close-packed battle array, sixteen-man-deep square, perfected by the Romans
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1740 mode, scale
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1741 wooden flutes, not held transversely, as is the flute properly so called
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1742 composure, state of mind
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1743 lacking
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1744 mollify, appease
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1745 assuage: soften, pacify
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1746 bristling, frightful
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1747 battle line
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1748 fearfully/exceedingly long
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1749 weapons
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1750 semblance, external appearance
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1751 arranged
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1752 lay on, give
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1753 rows
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1754 passing across, side to side (in ranks) rather than front to back (in files)
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1755 proper
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1756 counts up
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1757 swells, expands
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1758 (1) actual, concrete, (2) joined in one group/body
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1759 mentioned (for purposes of comparison)
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1760 be entitled to, be deserving of
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1761 i.e., any more than
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1762 pygmies: the battle is in Homer’s Iliad, III:1–5; Milton returns to it in lines 780–81, below
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1763 in Chalcidice, where the giants warred with the gods
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1764 part of the Oedipus story: see Aeschylus, The Seven Against Thebes
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1765 Troy
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1766 auxiliary
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1767 echoes, rings
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1768 King Arthur
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1769 surrounded by
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1770 of Brittany
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1771 knightly combat (pronounced “justed”)
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1772 castle near Nice, where Charlemagne fought
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1773 Rinaldo’s castle: see Ariosto, Orlando Furioso
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1774 Damascus, where Moslem and Christian knights jousted, in Orlando Furioso
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1775 Morocco (city): see footnote 396, below
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1776 on the southern coast of the Black Sea
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1777 Bizerta, in Tunisia, like Morocco a famous site of knightly tournaments
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1778 in La Chanson de Roland, it is Roland rather than Charlemagne who dies at Roncevaux, not far from Fontarabbia
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1779 with (merely)
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1780 revered, feared
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1781 ominous, ill-boding
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1782 sprinkles, lets fall on, pours out, drops
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1783 confuses, makes uncertain
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1784 furrowed
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1785 deliberate, prudent
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1786 dropped
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1787 partners, colleagues
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1788 fate, destiny
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1789 punished
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1790 blast/scorch/sear with fire/heat
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1791 noble, majestic, imposing
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1792 blighted, withered
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1793 tried, attempted
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1794 in spite of = with contempt for
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1795 except
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1796 outcome
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1797 dreadful, terrible
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1798 predicting
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1799 rebuff, being forced/driven back
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1800 powerful
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1801 armies
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1802 judgment, opinion, direction
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1803 at full = completely
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1804 worked
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1805 “His strength”
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1806 act, business
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1807 secret, confidential
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1808 plan, scheme
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1809 brought about, accomplished
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1810 discover
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1811 common, prevalent
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1812 rumor
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1813 special, select [adjective]
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1814 attention, consideration
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1815 breaking/bursting forth
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1816 hide, wrap
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1817 i.e., from scabbards strapped to their thighs
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1818 (1) very much, (2) proudly, arrogantly
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1819 clutched and held firmly
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1820 reverberating, sonorous
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1821 ugly, horrible
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1822 “the whole rest”
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1823 a scale/crust (of hardened sulfur, combined with volcanic flow)
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1824 current science taught that metals formed by mercury combining with sulfur
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1825 soldiers with shovels and axes
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1826 run in front of, precede
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1827 dig trenches in
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1828 to throw up, with shovels or spades
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1829 defensive mound, usually of earth
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1830 upright, elevated
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1831 aught…else = anyone else
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1832 blessed
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1833 (of the earth)
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1834 plundered, robbed
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1835 veins (of ore)
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1836 be surprised/amazed/astonished
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1837 curse
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1838 (1) brag of, (2) glory in
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1839 Egyptian
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1840 condemned, depraved, rejected by God
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1841 i.e., Memphian kings et al.
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1842 near
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1843 pits
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1844 drawn
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1845 skill
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1846 melted
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1847 dense
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1848 separating
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1849 skimmed
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1850 golden dregs
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1851 as soon = quickly
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1852 versatile
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1853 unknown
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1854 soon
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1855 structure, building
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1856 sweet, pleasing
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1857 harmonious music
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1858 pillars, columns
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1859 a form of Greek architecture
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1860 support beams of various types
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1861 lack
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1862 ornamental molding
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1863 decoration applied between the architrave and the cornice
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1864 bossy sculptures = bas-relief sculptures
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1865 adorned, carved
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1866 ancient Memphis, near modern Cairo
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1867 Belus or Serapis = Baal or Osiris
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1868 enthrone, establish
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1869 lofty/large building/structure
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1870 (1) located, established, (2) firm, stable
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1871 (1) brass, (2) hardened in their effrontery
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1872 reveal
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1873 suspended, hung
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1874 intricate, delicate, skillful, expert, ingenious
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1875 firepots
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1876 swift, hurrying
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1877 Italian
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1878 Mulciber = Hephaestus/Vulcan
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1879 talked idly, lied about
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1880 steeply, perpendicularly
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1881 fortifications placed on top of walls
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1882 directly overhead
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1883 tell, recount
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1884 mob, rabble
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1885 machines, devices
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1886 hardworking, skillful, ingenious
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1887 solemnly impressive/majestic
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1888 multitude
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1889 i.e., all the spirits/demons
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1890 precisely formed
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1891 position, post, rank
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1892 soon, quickly
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1893 escorted
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1894 approaches
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1895 were in the habit, accustomed to
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1896 Sultan’s
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1897 pagan
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1898 encounter, charge
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1899 outskirts
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1900 walk and speak
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1901 closed in, compacted
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1902 the Himalayas
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1903 merrymaking
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1904 tardy, late-coming
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1905 person in charge
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1906 revolves, turns, rolls, moves
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1907 way, onward movement
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1908 joyful
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1909 i.e., the watching peasant
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1910 at large = at liberty, free
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1911 sovereign establishment
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1912 assembly
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1913 crowded
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1914 is
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1915 put forward
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1916 occupy
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1917 abyss
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1918 Persian Gulf city of great wealth
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1919 India
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1920 showy, magnificent
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1921 unsatisfiable
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1922 (1) failure, misfortune, (2) result, sequel (to the first attempt)
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1923 abyss
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1924 (1) strength, energy, (2) mental acuity
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1925 the seventh of the nine angelic orders
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1926 “Although just right [fair law] at first created me….
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1927 regained
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1928 luckier, more fortunate
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1929 goes along with, depends on
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1930 rank, worth, honor, excellence
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1931 defensive structure, rampart
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1932 political parties, intrigue, strife
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1933 after
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1934 (1) hope, (2) confidence, confident expectation
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1935 cared
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1936 opinion, judgment
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1937 injurious, abusive, disgraceful
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1938 engine = mechanical device: God’s chariot?
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1939 the deepest region of Hades
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1940 unknown, unfamiliar
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1941 drug, potion
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1942 in book 1, line 266, an “oblivious pool”
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1943 intrinsic—i.e., that which inheres in Spirits/Angels, etc.
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1944 actively opposed (i.e., unnatural)
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1945 the hindmost portion of their army
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1946 attacking, assaulting
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1947 result, outcome
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1948 horrible, disgusting
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1949 [adjective]
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1950 harass, oppress
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1951 slaves, serfs
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1952 kindle, inflame
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1953 essence, being
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1954 proclaimed, threatened
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1955 as God had dropped manna to the Israelites, in the desert, when they fled from Egypt
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1956 complicate, confuse
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1957 frustrate, destroy
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1958 (1) companions, (2) high lords
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1959 prognostication
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1960 result
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1961 feats, deeds, actions
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1962 being brought to an end, death
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1963 goal, purpose
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1964 object
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1965 dark, secret
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1966 “if we could”
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1967 overthrow, defeat
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1968 celestial
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1969 distinctive nature/shape
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1970 evil, harm
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1971 low, inferior, degraded
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1972 absolute, lifeless, spiritless
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1973 employ, exercise
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1974 undo, release
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1975 (1) intelligent existence, (2) superior intelligent existence
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1976 possibly, probably
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1977 ordained
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1978 set apart
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1979 in full force of numbers
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1980 interrupted
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1981 overhanging, near
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1982 afflicting, shaking
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1983 without reprieve/delay
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1984 struggling, fighting
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1985 therefore
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1986 occur, come to pass, result
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1987 dishonor, disgrace
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1988 sentence, judgment, destiny
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1989 discharge, withdraw, cancel
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1990 distant
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1991 remember, notice
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1992 unwholesome
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1993 habituated, accustomed
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1994 adapted
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1995 announce, proclaim
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1996 submission, obedience, homage
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1997 for/by
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1998 from
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1999 unfavorable
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2000 showing, displaying, exhibiting
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2001 lacks
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2002 lack
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2003 component parts
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2004 perception, awareness, feeling [noun]
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2005 arrange, adjust
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2006 exhausted after watching all night
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2007 sailing vessel (usually small)
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2008 small boat, schooner-rigged, often with two masts
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2009 opinion, judgment
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2010 battlefield
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2011 worked
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2012 create, begin the building of
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2013 lower
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2014 statecraft, stratagem
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2015 course, lapse
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2016 ambitious rivalry
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2017 opposed, hostile
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2018 face
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2019 the Titan Atlas, on whose shoulders the entire world rested
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2020 (1) the state of hearing, (2) reception
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2021 pronounced, judged
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2022 [five syllables, second and fourth accented]
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2023 chain or strap fastened to the bit of a horse, in order to restrain it
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2024 kept, stored
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2025 golden scepter
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2026 settled, fixed, resolved
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2027 overthrown, defeated, repulsed
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2028 conferred, granted, allowed, permitted
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2029 whip-strokes/lashes
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2030 exchange, give back
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2031 resistance, opposition
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2032 harvest, gain from
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2033 opportunity
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2034 be lacking
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2035 speed, promptness
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2036 bold/daring task
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2037 report, talk
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2038 [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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2039 form
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2040 endowed
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2041 (1) judge, (2) sole and absolute ruler
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2042 the world of man
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2043 attack, assault
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2044 ruin, destroy
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2045 direct (like cattle)
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2046 (1) inexperienced, (2) undersized
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2047 i.e., the first man, Adam
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2048 overthrow, defeat
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2049 Adam and Eve combined, metaphorically the root of all mankind
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2050 high-ranking powers, beings of rank/status/importance
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2051 assembly
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2052 suitable, timely
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2053 safe
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2054 precious, lustrous
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2055 test
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2056 touchable, tangible, perceptible
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2057 darkness
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2058 unknown
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2059 abyss
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2060 (metaphorical)
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2061 sentries [Milton’s spelling = prosodically necessary]
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2062 vote, collective decision
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2063 cautious, doubtful, uncertain
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2064 stunned, paralyzed
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2065 worthy, select
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2066 first in rank/degree
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2067 bold
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2068 calm, collected
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2069 descendants
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2070 celestial
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2071 hesitancy
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2072 the high vault of hell
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2073 excessive, cruel
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2074 walls in, surrounds, imprisons
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2075 material of impregnable hardness
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2076 shut
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2077 exit
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2078 emptiness, vacuum
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2079 vast, deep
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2080 immaterial
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2081 miscarrying, bringing to nothing
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2082 great depth, abyss
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2083 weight, importance
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2084 sovereignty, pomp
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2085 consider assiduously, apply oneself to thinking about
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2086 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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2087 remedy
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2088 incantation, spell
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2089 relieve, delay, suspend
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2090 reduce/diminish
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2091 wretched, difficult, troublesome
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2092 abode
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2093 omit
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2094 border (-lands)
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2095 participate in, share
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2096 by
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2097 restored, roused, stirred up, animated, stimulated
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2098 esteem, reputation
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2099 profoundly respectful
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2100 plausible but false [by A.D. 1651 the modern meaning]
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2101 incites, sets in motion
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2102 secret, hidden
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2103 somber, wicked
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2104 frowning, sullen
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2105 atmospheric agency (the weather)
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2106 spreads out, stretches forth
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2107 bear witness to
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2108 settled, secure, steadfast, unwavering
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2109 harmony, agreement, peace
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2110 alone
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2111 possessed of, protected by
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2112 undertake, impose
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2113 reconciliation, agreement
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2114 enough
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2115 infernal, hellish
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2116 overlord
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2117 having a spherical form (or, in this case, a spherical arrangement/order)
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2118 heraldic devices
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2119 bristling
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2120 pronounce, announce
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2121 kingly, magnificent
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2122 resonant, sonorous
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2123 trumpet made of a composite brass-based metal, shining like gold
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2124 sent back, reflected
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2125 drawn up in ranks
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2126 anxious, in doubt, troubled
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2127 high up
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2128 compete, strive earnestly
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2129 i.e., the games held at Olympia, in Elis
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2130 second most important site of Greek games, held at Pythia, in Delphi, and in honor of Apollo
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2131 practice checking/managing/controlling
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2132 avoid
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2133 column making a turn, in a chariot race
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2134 facing
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2135 vanguard
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2136 spur/urge forward their horses
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2137 lower (into fighting position)
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2138 densest
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2139 come together, grapple
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2140 sky
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2141 Typhon/Typhoeus, a hundred-serpent-headed giant with a great voice, who fought against and was killed by Jove as soon as he was born
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2142 fierce, savage, cruel, terrible
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2143 tear
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2144 Hercules
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2145 a kingdom on the large Greek island of Euboea, ruled by Eurytus, whose daughter, Iolé, was beloved by Hercules; Hercules was married and neither the girl’s father nor Hercules’ wife was pleased
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2146 sent to him by his wife, Deianeira, who believed (erroneously) it would win her back his love
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2147 Thessaly, in NE Greece
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2148 the innocent messenger who had brought him the poisoned robe
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2149 mountain in south Thessaly
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2150 the southern Aegean
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2151 withdrawn, retired [adjective]
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2152 unlucky
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2153 judgment
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2154 enslave
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2155 they complained that, at Fate’s hands, free virtue was put in bondage to force or chance
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2156 prejudiced, biased
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2157 riveted the attention of
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2158 seized
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2159 communication of thought by speech
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2160 “eloquence charms the soul, but….
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2161 secluded
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2162 unyielding, hardened in evil, insensible to moral influence
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2163 dense, compact
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2164 confident, daring
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2165 reconnoiter
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2166 extensively [adverb]
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2167 swift, rapid
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2168 full of active evil
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2169 river
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2170 [trisyllabic, second accented]
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2171 for
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2172 sorrowful
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2173 [trisyllabic, first—with “ph” pronounced as “f”—and third accented]
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2174 swift-flowing [adjective]
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2175 blaze up
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2176 with rage = violently
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2177 [bisyllabic, first accented]
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2178 like error, the river follows “a devious or wandering course” labyrinth = a maze
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2179 at once
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2180 river
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2181 mass, form
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2182 large structure, building
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2183 abyss
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2184 deep
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2185 Egyptian lake, bordered by quicksand
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2186 Damietta/Tamiathis: city at the mouth of the Nile
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2187 mountain range bordering on Egypt
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2188 to dry/shrivel/wither with cold
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2189 intensely cold, frostlike
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2190 brings about, works, achieves
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2191 dragged
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2192 turnings of celestial bodies, times
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2193 i.e., going from
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2194 wither, perish
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2195 suffer, languish
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2196 for periods
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2197 resists, stands in the way, opposes
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2198 one of three Gorgons; there are writhing serpents all over her head; those who look at her are turned to stone
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2199 flees
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2200 creature, living being
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2201 condemned to remain in a pool filled with water that moves away whenever he attempts to drink
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2202 [first syllable accented]
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2203 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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2204 for evil only good = good only for evil
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2205 abnormal, unnatural
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2206 pretended, invented
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2207 see line 611, above
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2208 many-headed serpent; the heads immediately grow back if cut off
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2209 fire-breathing monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail
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2210 purpose, intention
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2211 brings to bear (as one “puts on” speed)
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2212 conducts
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2213 moves rapidly along
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2214 comes exceedingly close
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2215 vault of hell
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2216 caught sight of
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2217 by means of
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2218 equatorial
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2219 i.e., close to the wind, with sail tacks hauled close
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2220 Bengal
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2221 Ternate and Tidore = Moluccan (spice) islands
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2222 winds that blow steadily in one direction are “trade winds”—i.e., useful for trading vessels
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2223 moving water, “tide” (metaphorical)
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2224 Indian Ocean, near northeastern Africa
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2225 Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa
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2226 steer, direct their course
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2227 making headway
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2228 the South Pole
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2229 hell’s boundaries
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2230 leaves of a folding door, gates
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2231 enclosed
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2232 alarming
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2233 pack
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2234 outburst of sound
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2235 wanted to
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2236 [verb]
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2237 grieved, distressed, agitated
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2238 six-headed monster, each head having triple rows of teeth
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2239 the extreme south of Italy
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2240 rough
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2241 Sicilian
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2242 is (“comes after”)
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2243 Hecate [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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2244 extreme north of Scandinavia, associated with storm-causing witches and wizards
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2245labores lunæ (Latin) = the moon in eclipse
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2246 because of
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2247 part (of the body)
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2248 “or might be called a substance: it seemed a shadow”
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2249 spear
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2250 i.e., as fast as Satan
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2251 wondered
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2252 took account of, heeded, was worried about
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2253 fled from, avoided
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2254 detestable
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2255 fierce, cruel, savage
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2256 misshapen
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2257 (1) impudence, effrontery, (2) face
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2258 across
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2259 ugly demon
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2260 sworn, conspiring
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2261 spend, use up, consume
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2262 count, consider
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2263 unknown, unfamiliar, never experienced
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2264 Ophiuchus = “serpent-bearer,” a vast northern constellation
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2265 deadly
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2266 filled
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2267 the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Turkestan
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2268 a space = a time, a while
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2269 engage in
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2270 i.e., Christ
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2271 fast by = close, very near
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2272 aim, direct
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2273 fatal
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2274 scourge, plague (“pestilence”)
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2275 desisted
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2276 these = these words
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2277 puts forth, interrupts with
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2278 quick, speedy
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2279 refrains, abstains
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2280 female porter, gatekeeper
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2281 [noun]
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2282 ominous, warning
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2283 complete overthrow, disorderly retreat
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2284 heaven
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2285 highest point
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2286 (1) melancholy, sorrowful, (2) reflective
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2287 vast, enormous, powerful
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2288 dismal, pitiable
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2289 labor pangs
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2290 repulsive, hateful
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2291 path
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2292 so that
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2293 waving, flourishing
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2294 paralyzed with fear
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2295 copulating
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2296 wish
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2297 food, meal
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2298 in opposition = placed opposite
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2299 destruction, ruin, death
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2300 nor
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2301 those bright arms = that bright armor
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2302 constituted, endowed
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2303 violence, force
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2304 lesson
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2305 (1) love token, (2) hostage given to fortune
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2306 amorous play
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2307 claims
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2308 unknown, strange
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2309 alone
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2310 bottomless
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2311 outskirts
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2312 place
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2313 distant
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2314 overstocked, overpopulated
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2315 mighty, powerful
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2316 actuate
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2317 quarrels, tumults
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2318 intended
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2319 unresisting
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2320 extreme scarcity of food, hunger
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2321 throat, stomach
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2322 said to
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2323 right
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2324 put forward
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2325 spear
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2326 underworld place of punishment for the sinful
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2327 deep
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2328 compassed round = surrounded
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2329 luxuriously sensuous
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2330 suits, becomes, fits
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2331 as per lines 651–53, above, she has a serpentine tail
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2332 lattice gate
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2333 infernal, hellish
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2334 notches cut in the key
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2335 rapid, violent
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2336 Hell
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2337 surpassed
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2338 surging, overflowing
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2339 tumult, civil commotion
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2340 embryonic, not yet created
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2341 Egyptian/Tunisian desert
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2342 city located near modern Tripoli [trisyllabic, second accented]
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2343 enlisted, enrolled
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2344 to add weight to (“avoir du pois” = to have weight)
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2345 follow, side with, cleave/cling to
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2346 heats up, adds discord/hostility/dissension to
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2347 decree, order [verb]
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2348 cautious
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2349 estuary, arm of the sea
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2350 assailed
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2351 crashing
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2352 Roman goddess of war
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2353 contrivances, machines
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2354 leveled, wound up
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2355 destroy
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2356 wings
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2357 kicks off from
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2358 daring, confident
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2359 wings
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2360 [adjective]
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2361 blow
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2362 imbued, charged
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2363 saltpeter, potassium nitrate
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2364 infernal spirit (Satan)
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2365 checked
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2366 stretch of sandbanks off North Africa
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2367 almost
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2368 sent to the bottom, sunk
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2369 not fully developed
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2370 material coherence
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2371 behoves him now = now he needed
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2372 half lion, half eagle
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2373 Scythian
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2374 the gryphon’s
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2375 vigilant
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2376 stolen
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2377 intensity, strength
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2378 steers
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2379 partner
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2380 Orcus = Pluto/Hades, Adès = Pluto/Hades
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2381 ancestor of all the gods
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2382 entangled in disorder
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2383 changing, unstable
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2384 have a border with
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2385 reached
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2386 depth [noun]
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2387 “guide (if you would/please)”
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2388 small, petty
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2389 benefit
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2390 loosed, freed [adjective]
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2391 unlawful seizure
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2392 flag
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2393 author of anarchy
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2394 agitated
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2395 insurrection
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2396 fleeing bands
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2397 mixed up
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2398 can do
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2399 thus
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2400 internal, inner
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2401 quarrels
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2402 be successful
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2403 clashing
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2404 surrounded
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2405 closed round, hemmed in
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2406 ship of Jason and the Argonauts
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2407 the left side of a ship, when looking forward
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2408 Ulysses
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2409 Satan
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2410 having passed
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2411 rapidly
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2412 sphere, circle
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2413 wicked
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2414 emanation
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2415 rim, edge, border
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2416 to retire = begins to retire
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2417 sails, floats
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2418 vague, uncertain
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2419 mainmast ropes
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2420 rigging
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2421 balances
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2422 not fixed, not settled
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2423 fast by = close by
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2424 filled
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2425 hastens
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2426 a flowing out, emanation
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2427 uncreated
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2428 “would you rather hear”
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2429 cover
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2430 infernal, hellish
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2431 visit
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2432 Orphean = belonging to Orpheus
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2433 harplike musical instrument used to accompany poetry
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2434 unusual, uncommon
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2435 the sun
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2436 pure, clear
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2437 extinguished, killed
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2438 a fluid that spreads over some part of the body
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2439 i.e., veiled them (his eyes)
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2440 struck, impressed, inspired
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2441 site of the Temple, in Jerusalem
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2442 equaled with = the same as
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2443 legendary Thracian poet
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2444 Homer
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2445 blind seer of Thebes
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2446 Thracian king and prophet
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2447 “I feed”
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2448 poetry
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2449 the nightingale, which does not sleep at night
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2450 in the dark [adverb]
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2451 cover
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2452 during = lasting, continuing
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2453 blotted out, erased
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2454 destroyed
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2455 illuminate, shine light upon [three syllables, second accented]
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2456 [verb]
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2457 supreme blessing/happiness
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2458 [bisyllabic, first accented]
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2459 as yet, still
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2460 dark, dusky, murky
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2461 high up
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2462 enclosed
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2463 substratum, support
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2464 a place affording an open view
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2465 carries away
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2466 broken open
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2467 having broken
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2468 environs, neighborhoods, districts
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2469 try, attempt
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2470 specious, flattering
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2471 violate, break
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2472 (1) vow, promise, (2) surety
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2473 stayed erect, endured
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2474 plundered, robbed
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2475 controlled
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2476 unalterably
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2477 founder, instigator, father, ancestor
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2478 enslave
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2479 Satan and his followers
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2480 “while God spoke thus”
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2481 (1) not imaginary, (2) real, (3) amply
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2482 paramount, supreme
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2483 authoritative decision
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2484 encircled
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2485 proclaim, celebrate
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2486 surrounded
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2487 Satan
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2488 sentence, final fate
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2489 conclusive
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2490 conferred, bestowed
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2491 fallen
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2492 lost by misconduct
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2493 particular, special
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2494 chosen
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2495 (1) in good time, (2) at an early time, speedily
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2496 inflamed, angered
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2497 [adjective]
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2498 proper, fitting, right
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2499 arbitrator
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2500 enlightenment, the brightness of Heaven
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2501 patient endurance/toleration
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2502 sworn fidelity
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2503 loving
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2504 consecrated
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2505 unyielding, strict, firm
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2506 payment of a debt [legal/theological]
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2507 love, spontaneous goodness, benevolence
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2508 company
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2509 protector, advocate
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2510 mediator
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2511 sentence, judgment
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2512 not anticipated, not won by prayer
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2513 fit, suitable, appropriate [adjective]
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2514 hold, reckon
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2515 ultimately
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2516 give vent to
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2517 tribute, right
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2518 boasted of
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2519 bow, submit
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2520 broad, spacious
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2521 in spite of
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2522 exhibit, display
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2523 destroy
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2524 overfill, surfeit
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2525 complete
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2526 wonder mixed with reverence
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2527 to lead, result
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2528 quickly, at once
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2529 pleasure, delight
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2530 ransom
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2531 place
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2532 transferred
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2533 those among them
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2534 expensively, at such a high price
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2535 pleasurable possession
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2536 renounced, given up
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2537 embodied
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2538 reward
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2539 make subject, subdue, constrain, lower
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2540 dwell
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2541 summoned
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2542 judgment
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2543 outburst/volley of sound
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2544 called to account
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2545 accomplish
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2546 wild cries, shouts
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2547 cries of praise to God
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2548 mythical flower that never fades
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2549 [adjective]
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2550 floor [noun, and grammatical subject; the verb is “smiled,” at the end of the next line]
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2551 harmony, music in parts
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2552 harmoniousness
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2553 except
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2554 lower part of a robe
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2555 still
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2556 Christ
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2557 eminent
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2558 stamped
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2559 splendid radiance
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2560 full whole
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2561 fourth of the nine orders of angels
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2562 sixth of the nine orders of angels
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2563 the fallen angels
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2564 sentence, judge
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2565 separate
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2566 opaque
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2567 curved surface
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2568 fenced in
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2569 (1) sudden incursion, raid, (2) a road in, entranceway
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2570 harsh, severe, pitiless
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2571 at large = unconfined, at liberty
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2572 Himalayan mountain
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2573 leaps, often on horseback [verb]
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2574 leaving his usual surroundings, shifting
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2575 springtime
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2576 origins, sources
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2577 on, along
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2578 descends
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2579 partly in China, partly in Tibet
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2580 cane, bamboo
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2581 [adjective]
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2582 plenty, abundance
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2583 whether
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2584 incomplete
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2585 unnaturally
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2586 hurry [verb]
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2587 silvery
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2588 transported
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2589 Enoch and Elijah: see Genesis 5:24 and 2 Kings 2:11
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2590 Shinar, in Babylonia
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2591 if they had
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2592 means, resources
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2593 singly, one by one
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2594 he = as per line 471, below: Empedocles
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2595 considered, judged, thought
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2596 foolishly credulous/sanguine
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2597 he = as per line 473, below: Cleombrotus
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2598 as described in Plato’s Phaedo, which he had just read
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2599 too long to tell of
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2600 hermits
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2601 Carmelite
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2602 Dominican
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2603 Franciscan
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2604 frauds, trash
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2605 where Christ was crucified
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2606 clothes, habits
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2607 Dominicans
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2608 i.e., in Franciscan garments
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2609 i.e., “or so they said,” proposed, prated
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2610 all as in Ptolemaic astronomy: the “trepidation” was the shaking of the spheres
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2611 small door/gate
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2612 await
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2613 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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2614 sideways, across
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2615 one league = ca. three miles
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2616 askew, out of the right course
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2617 remote
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2618 dispensations
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2619 [the pun is surely deliberate]
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2620 [noun, and subject of the verb “turned,” immediately following]
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2621 sees
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2622 steps
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2623 the decorated entrance of a building
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2624 lustrous
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2625 gateway
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2626 i.e., making the distinctions of dark and light that indicate depth, color, etc.
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2627 [both bisyllabic, first accented]
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2628 see Genesis 28
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2629 mystically, allegorically
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2630 i.e., this is Jacob’s “ladder”
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2631 invisible
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2632 carried
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2633 worsen
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2634 commands, injunctions
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2635 (1) choice regard = well-chosen/careful attention or (less likely) (2) choice regard = deliberately observed
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2636 Paneas = “spring of Dan” a city near Mt. Hermon, in northern Palestine, at a spring of the River Jordan; now Banias
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2637 source
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2638 river
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2639 Beersheba, in southern Palestine
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2640 spy
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2641 reveals
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2642 (1) of good appearance, (2) large
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2643 view
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2644 constellation, the Scales
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2645 Aries, the Ram
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2646 nebula
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2647 headlong
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2648 [verb; rhymes with “finds, minds, binds,” etc.]
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2649 smooth as marble
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2650 either
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2651 in which the Hesperides, daughters of Night and Darkness, guarded a tree that bore golden apples
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2652 stopped
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2653 “away from the center,” which in this astronomy = the earth
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2654 i.e., whether Ptolemaic or Copernican
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2655 the sun
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2656 at a distance from
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2657 common
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2658 dense
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2659 the sun’s
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2660 proper, fitting
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2661 changing
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2662 powers, qualities
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2663 luminous
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2664 made of glass
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2665 telescope: Milton had visited Galileo and looked through his telescope
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2666 utterance
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2667 stamped, impressed
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2668 see Exodus 28:17–20
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2669 i.e., the so-called philosopher’s stone
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2670 the god also known as Mercury, “volatile” because fond of trickery and furtiveness
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2671 sea god, a shape-shifter
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2672 glass vessel with a beak, used by alchemists for distilling operations
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2673 mythical essence
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2674 liquid, drinkable
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2675 powerful
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2676 master chemist (or alchemist)
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2677 distant
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2678 fluid
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2679 reach
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2680 Satan’s
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2681 line (of sight)
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2682 identifiable distance
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2683 see Revelation 19:17
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2684 tiara, headdress
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2685 luminous, shining brightly
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2686 furnished
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2687 commission, mandate, responsibility
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2688 thought, reflection
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2689 contrives
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2690 youthful
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2691 fully grown, mature
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2692 spread, shed [verb]
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2693 a small, inferior crown
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2694 feather
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2695 not cut full, close-fitting
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2696 respectable
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2697 Satan
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2698 addresses
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2699 usually
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2700 authoritative
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2701 one who makes another’s will known, a messenger
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2702 message, business
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2703 “unspeakable desire to see” = subject; the verb is “hath brought me,” in line 666, below
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2704 companies
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2705 wonder, marveling
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2706 proper
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2707 sincerity, innocence, ignorance
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2708 controller
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2709 considered
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2710 Uriel’s
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2711 integrity
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2712 attains to, brings
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2713 celestial
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2714 home, residence
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2715 pleasing
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2716 collected into a form
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2717 stopped in its tracks
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2718 controlled
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2719 cumbersome
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2720 airy, impalpable
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2721 the fifth essence, of which substance the heavenly bodies were thought to be composed
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2722 infused, animated
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2723 in a circle
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2724 furnishes walls for [verb]
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2725 puts forth, introduces
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2726 the goddess of the moon, Diana, had three distinct shapes (“triform”), representing the moon’s three phases: Luna, Diana, and Hecate/Proserpine
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2727 to give light to
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2728 control, rule
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2729 holds back, retards
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2730 customary
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2731 (1) appropriate, (2) owed
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2732 the orbit of the sun around the earth; earth’s great circle
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2733 twists
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2734 circular movement
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2735 stopped
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2736 Armenian mountain, near the Assyrian/Mesopotamian border; it is the source of the River Tigris
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2737 expectation, looking forward to
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2738 boundary markers
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2739 shown, disclosed
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2740 i.e., Satan’s
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2741 orders
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2742 see Revelation 12:10–12
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2743 so that
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2744 while there was still time
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2745 perhaps
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2746 before he became
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2747 (1) give vent to, (2) take revenge on
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2748 Satan’s
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2749 moving, forming, advancing, sweeping upward
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2750 a cannon
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2751 from
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2752 result, follow
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2753 the sun’s
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2754 noontime
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2755 many things/thoughts
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2756 turning over in his mind
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2757 the sun
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2758 above thy sphere = (1) above your position/status, (2) literally, in Heaven above the sphere which you are in
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2759 (1) height, (2) distinction
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2760 He (God) reproached/scolded/censured
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2761 to give/yield
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2762 repayment
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2763 (1) owed, (2) right, proper
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2764 worked
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2765 disdained [probably from the Italian sdegnare,“to disdain/despise/scorn”]
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2766 submission, obedience
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2767 get rid of, release
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2768 (1) yet, (2) always
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2769 remained
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2770 unlimited, uncontrolled
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2771 sixth of the nine angelic orders
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2772 lowly
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2773 might have been drawn
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2774 side, cause
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2775 (1) having weapons, (2) having protective qualities/characteristics
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2776 to remain steadfast/firm
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2777 honorable, generous
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2778 gives, brings
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2779 himself
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2780 rightfully, properly
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2781 regrets
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2782 i.e., “O how miserable I am!” [four syllables, first and third accented]
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2783 flee
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2784 whichever
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2785 yield
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2786 boasts
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2787 at a high price
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2788 face, put up with
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2789 raised
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2790 obtains, gains
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2791 pretended
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2792 withdraw, disavow, retract
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2793 forced
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2794 at high cost, great expense
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2795 pain, suffering
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2796 instead of us = replacing us
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2797 man
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2798 more than half of the empire
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2799 pallor
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2800 anger
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2801 spoiled, disfigured
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2802 ill tempers, ill humors, disorders, derangements
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2803 innocent
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2804 agitation
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2805 mechanic-inventor
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2806 i.e., “who”
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2807 hidden, joined in concealment
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2808 put into practice
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2809 happen to
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2810 conduct, behavior
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2811 travels
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2812 expanse of open land
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2813 top
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2814 access denied to him (Satan)
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2815 impossible to overcome/surmount
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2816 rustic
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2817 rows
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2818 place where action occurs
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2819 noble, majestic
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2820 common
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2821 prospect large = extensive view
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2822 Adam’s
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2823 lower
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2824 handsome, large
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2825 at the same time, simultaneously
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2826 any smooth, lustrous surface
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2827 imprinted, stamped
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2828 rainbow
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2829 of pure now purer = purer still
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2830 springlike
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2831 chase, expel
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2832 a wind not much stronger than a breeze
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2833 fragrant
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2834 bestow, distribute
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2835 natural
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2836 loot, plunder, booty
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2837 Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa
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2838 [trisyllabic, second accented]
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2839 Saba, in modern Yemen
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2840 Arabia, called at the time, in Latin, Arabia felix,“happy/blessed Arabia”
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2841 abate, let slacken
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2842 onward movement
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2843 one league = ca. three miles
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2844 pleasing, agreeable
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2845 experienced with pleasure
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2846 slayer
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2847 evil demon in Apocryphal book of the Bible, Tobit, who has seven times killed the husbands of Sarah, daughter of Tobit’s relative, with whom the demon is in love; he is finally driven off by fish smells
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2848 vapor
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2849 sent him, the demon, away from Media, where Tobit, his son, and his wife lived
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2850 hurriedly
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2851 by the Angel Raphael, sent by God
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2852 wild, uncultivated
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2853 thicket
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2854 troubled, entangled
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2855 easy
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2856 completely
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2857 made of interwoven branches
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2858 stalls, pens
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2859 reduce the store of money
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2860 of the roof
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2861 climbed
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2862 the view it afforded him
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2863 had been = would have been
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2864 guarantee, promise
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2865 lowest
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2866 space
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2867 contours
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2868 Haran, city on the River Euphrates, in Mesopotamia
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2869 city near Babylon, on the River Tigris
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2870 city in Eden
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2871 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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2872 tangled, heavily wooded
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2873 swallowed up
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2874 formed, fashioned (as a potter “throws” a pot)
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2875 garden topsoil
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2876 natural
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2877 brook
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2878 underground
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2879 river
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2880 in different directions [bisyllabic, first accented]
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2881 skill
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2882 rippling
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2883 gleaming
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2884 winding, labyrinthine
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2885 wandering
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2886 fussy, fastidious
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2887 skillful, choice, exquisite
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2888 gracious, bountiful, jolly
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2889 i.e., darkened
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2890 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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2891 legendary garden in which the Hesperides, daughters of Night and Darkness, guarded a tree that bore golden apples
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2892 open expanse of treeless pastureland
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2893 grass
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2894 bearing palm trees
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2895 a hollow among hills
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2896 irrigated [probably trisyllabic, second accented]
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2897 shady
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2898 covering
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2899 chorus
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2900 bring into operation
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2901 make tuneful/harmonious
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2902 joined
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2903 Aglaia (brilliance), Euphrosyne (joy), Thalia (blossoming)
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2904 female divinities presiding over seasonal changes
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2905 in Sicily
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2906 Dis = Pluto = Hades
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2907 Nature/earth goddess, later Demeter; mother of Proserpine/Persephone
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2908 like Proserpine, pursued by lustful gods
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2909 river in Syria
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2910 the grove of Daphne contained an oracle dedicated to Apollo
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2911 named after the spring at the oracle in Delphi, also dedicated to Apollo
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2912 compete
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2913 the island of Nysa, in the River Triton in Tunisia
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2914 encircled, surrounded
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2915 Ammon
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2916 Zeus’ nurse, mother of Bacchus by Ammon
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2917 red-faced (from wine)
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2918 Abyssinian/Ethiopian
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2919 offspring, children
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2920 in Abyssinia
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2921 contours
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2922 River Nile
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2923 source
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2924 forehead
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2925 exalted, lofty
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2926 manifested, made plain/clear
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2927 (1) curled, or (2) scented, or (3) dark-colored
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2928 lock of hair in front
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2929 loosened
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2930 frisky, sportive
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2931 requested, demanded
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2932 authority, rule
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2933 shy, modest
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2934 mysterious parts = genitalia
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2935 i.e., unchaste
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2936 externals, displays
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2937 patch
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2938 grassy spot
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2939 commend
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2940 the west wind
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2941 sweet as nectar [adjective]
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2942 obliging, yielding
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2943 variegated
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2944 discourse, speech
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2945 lacked
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2946 animals that are hunted [noun]
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2947 playing
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2948 bounded
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2949 moving lightly up and down
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2950 (1) lynx, (2) panther
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2951 leopards
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2952 capered, danced
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2953 coiled, twisted
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2954 flexible, pliant, supple
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2955 trunk, nose
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2956 close by
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2957 sinuously
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2958 intricate
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2959 rope, twine, knots
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2960 intertwined, braided
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2961 tail, long dragging body
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2962 destined, fated
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2963 lay
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2964 i.e., with eating the grass that grows on pastureland
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2965 (1) digesting, as ruminants do, (2) reflecting
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2966 slanting down
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2967 steeply downward
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2968 racelike, galloping speed
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2969 the Azores, to the west
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2970 with a scale having two weighing pans, when one (lighter) goes up the other (heavier) necessarily goes down made device
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2971 place, position
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2972 “hath poured on their shape”
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2973 noble, excellent
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2974 close
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2975 firmly fixed, safe
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2976 deliberate
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2977 abandoned, lost, doomed
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2978 I am myself
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2979 alliance
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2980 direct, honest
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2981 perhaps
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2982 hold, keep
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2983 did wrong me
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2984 soften
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2985 common, community, patriotic
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2986 frolicking
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2987 condition, circumstances
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2988 noted, observed
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2989 as a lion
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2990 rangeland
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2991 lies
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2992 uttering
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2993 Satan
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2994 all ear = eagerly attentive
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2995 participant
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2996 deserved
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2997 mandate, order, instruction, admonition
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2998 near, alongside
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2999 rule, control, government
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3000 purpose
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3001 preeminent by so much odds = superior by such a high percentage/amount
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3002 similar
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3003 companion
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3004 shady cover (from the sun)
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3005 unmoving, fixed
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3006 i.e., to the pool
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3007 inexperienced
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3008 languished
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3009 awaits
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3010 at once
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3011 plane tree (e.g., the sycamore)
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3012 flee
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3013 solid, true, real
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3014 in order to
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3015 inseparable, indivisible, special
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3016 (1) comfort, pleasure, delight, (2) entertainment, recreation, amusement
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3017 claim as
Return to text.

3018 universal, common
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3019 impregnates
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3020 complained
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3021 wastes away
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3022 endure
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3023 rouse/stir up
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3024 close, careful
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3025 but only a chance
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3026 follow
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3027 vigilant/cautious observation
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3028 wild, uncultivated land
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3029 [noun]
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3030 extreme/outermost west
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3031 astronomical orientation: directly opposite
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3032 visible
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3033 practiced
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3034 close
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3035 evening, twilight
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3036 crosses, traverses
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3037 burning
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3038 stamp, imprint on
Return to text.

3039 violently forceful
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3040 destiny
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3041 responsibility
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3042 traced
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3043 noted
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3044 (1) course, (2) carriage: i.e., through the air, as spirits move
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3045 foreign, inconsistent, repugnant
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3046 darkened
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3047 stir up, cause
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3048 watch, guard
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3049 meridian hour = noon
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3050 disposed, thinking, intending
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3051 responsibility: i.e., to his post
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3052 daily: i.e., as it does every day
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3053 or else
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3054 rolling, revolving
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3055 silent, quiet [adjective]
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3056 sober livery = grave/solemn/sedate uniform/style of dress
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3057 “had clad all things in her sober livery”
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3058 melodious song
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3059 brightest of the early evening stars
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3060 manifest, obvious
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3061 think, remind
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3062 similar
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3063 one after another
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3064 bends downward
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3065 makes known
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3066 observant attention
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3067 move hither and thither
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3068 prune
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3069 passages, walks
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3070 tilling, cultivating
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3071 luxuriant
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3072 blended song, of multiple origin
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3073 bright
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3074 pleasing
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3075 see footnote 336, above
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3076 universal, common
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3077 perfect, fulfilled
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3078 furnishing, supplying
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3079 ready [adjective]
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3080 illuminate
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3081 (1) natural, (2) benevolent
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3082 variable, varying
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3083 disposition, temperament (i.e., astrologically)
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3084 rouse/stir up with heat
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3085 qualities, powers
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3086 the species
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3087 better fit/suited
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3088 powerful, mighty
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3089 should you think
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3090 lack
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3091 height, slope
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3092 rounding walk = walking round
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3093 musical periods/groups of notes
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3094 into watches
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3095 proprietor
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3096 covering
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3097 adorned
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3098 made, shaped
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3099 embroidered
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3100 i.e., inlaid with precious gems
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3101 though but feigned = even if only in fables
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3102 pastoral god of vegetation and agriculture, who had goat horns and legs
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3103 intimate
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3104 seclusion, withdrawal, retirement
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3105 married
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3106 wedding hymn
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3107 what day = on the day
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3108 (1) festive, kindly, (2) nuptial
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3109 Pandora (“all gifts”), whose box of gifts, when opened, let loose all ills upon the world
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3110 she was brought to Epimetheus (“afterthought”), brother of Prometheus (“fore-thought”)
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3111 Iapetus, a Titan
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3112 Jove’s messenger
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3113 to be = in order to be
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3114 Prometheus
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3115 truly created by Jove
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3116 hut, cottage, house
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3117 venerated
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3118 wonderfully pleasant
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3119 lacks
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3120 unreaped
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3121 joined hand in hand
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3122 relieved/set free of
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3123 believe, suppose
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3124 property
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3125 held in common
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3126 wander
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3127 kinship
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3128 natural affections
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3129 describe, call
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3130 arrows
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3131 steadfast, faithful, true
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3132 enjoyment
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3133 unchaste, lascivious
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3134 renewed, replaced
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3135 the earth’s shadow
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3136 arch (the sky)
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3137 Paradise’s eastern gate
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3138 “Strength of God”
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3139 move, turn to
Return to text.

3140 like
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3141 the shield was worn on the left arm; the spear was held in the right
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3142 “Discovery of God”
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3143 “Searcher of Secrets”
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3144 secure of = protected/safe from
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3145 from the time of
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3146 who tells = one (Uriel) who tells
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3147 headed, bound
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3148 ranks/rows of armed angels
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3149 Satan
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3150 crouching
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3151 close at = near
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3152 trying
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3153 desired, wished
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3154 whether
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3155 blowing, breathing
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3156 infect, corrupt
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3157 disordered, ill-humored, deranged
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3158 hardening
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3159 necessity
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3160 leaps, bounds, jumps
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3161 caught unawares
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3162 nitrous powder = gunpowder
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3163 piled up, heaped
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3164 barrel, cask
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3165 military warehouse
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3166 blackened
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3167 powder of a granular texture: i.e., gunpowder
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3168 sent forth
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3169 overwhelmed
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3170 horrible, ghastly
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3171 address
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3172 quickly, without delay
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3173 sentenced, condemned
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3174 suitable companion
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3175 i.e., in Heaven
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3176 indicates
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3177 rebel
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3178 judgment
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3179 sublime, majestic, impressive
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3180 mourned
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3181 fight
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3182 gnashing, rattling
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3183 the strap/chain of a horse’s bit
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3184 strive or fly = fight or flee
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3185 dread combined with wonder
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3186 overcome
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3187 front line
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3188 quick
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3189 royal, stately
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3190 carriage, bearing
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3191 pallid, gloomy
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3192 depart
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3193 scowls
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3194 crouching, lurking
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3195 look
Return to text.

3196 responsibility
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3197 commend
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3198 reputation
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3199 sentenced
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3200 exchange
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3201 compensate, repay
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3202 grief, sorrow
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3203 more firmly/securely
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3204 forced confinement, imprisonment
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3205 provoked
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3206 “What a loss in Heaven is one who can judge what wisdom is!”
Return to text.

3207 unauthorized, without permission
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3208 boundaries, limits
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3209 flee
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3210 however he can
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3211 oppose
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3212 whip, lash
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3213 courageous
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3214 declared
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3215 hurry
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3216 reinforced
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3217 otherwise
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3218 thy words at random = thy careless/heedless words
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3219 as to what
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3220 is needful/required of…. faithful leader
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3221 attempts, experiments
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3222 results
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3223 courses, directions, roads, paths
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3224 fly
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3225 rumor, report
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3226 even if
Return to text.

3227 forced, pushed
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3228 quickly
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3229 flee
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3230 declare oneself
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3231 indicates
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3232 found, searched out
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3233 slavelike, meanly
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3234 dread
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3235 why
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3236 counsel
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3237 leave!
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3238 boundaries
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3239 fasten
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3240 (1) easy, (2) courteous
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3241 growing
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3242 in rage = enraged
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3243 guardian of boundaries
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3244 material force
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3245 superior, stronger
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3246 comrades
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3247 moonèd horns = crescent formation
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3248 close-packed battle array, sixteen-man-deep square, perfected by the Romans
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3249 raised/lifted and at the ready
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3250 grain (metaphorical use of the goddess’ name)
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3251 [adverb]
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3252 swings
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3253 bundles
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3254 alert
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3255 (1) wings extended, (2) expanded in size
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3256 high peak in the Canary Islands
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3257 Mt. Atlas in Mauritania, Africa
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3258 (1) holding his ground, (2) unremovable
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3259 helmeted
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3260 was lacking
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3261 involved in
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3262 vault
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3263 crash, collision, destruction
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3264 quickly
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3265 the constellation Libra (“the Scales”) is between Scorpio and Virgo/Astrea
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3266 still
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3267 Virgo
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3268 reflects upon, weighs
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3269 i.e., the two pans of the scale
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3270 result
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3271 separating, breaking off
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3272 the balance beam
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3273 addressed
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3274 mud
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3275 destiny
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3276 recognized
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3277 grumbling, complaining, muttering
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3278 i.e., responsible, without any excuse
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3279 region, realm
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3280 bright, gleaming
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3281 accustomed, in the habit
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3282 produced, developed
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3283 moderate
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3284 exhalations of a digestive kind
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3285 soft, mild
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3286 giving off vapors—mist and evaporation
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3287 goddess of morning
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3288 Adam’s exhalations were easily “dispersed” (dissipated, scattered) by the “fanning” motion of leaves and the “fuming” of running water
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3289 morning
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3290 heartfelt
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3291 singular, special
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3292 west wind/spring breeze
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3293 goddess of flowers
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3294 early morning (either dawn or about 6 A.M.)
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3295 note, observe
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3296 [verb]
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3297 “what the myrrh tree (a gum resin) drops”
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3298 here, a balsam (pine) tree
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3299 accustomed
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3300 plan, aim
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3301 wearisome, irritating, tiring, annoying
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3302 except
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3303 look
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3304 [verb]
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3305 ecstasy
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3306 forbidden
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3307 exuded, let fall
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3308 overloaded
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3309 imposition of a limitation
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3310 is it set
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3311 venturesome
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3312 dazed, depressing
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3313 declared
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3314 plucked
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3315 instigator, the Creator
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3316 a portion of
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3317 firmly, soberly
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3318 unusual, unfamiliar, strange
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3319 imagination
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3320 closest, nearest
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3321 function
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3322 vigilant
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3323 bring before the mind
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3324 what we call
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3325 recent
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3326 dismal
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3327 hidden, confined
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3328 a dam or any device holding back water
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3329 disclosing (i.e., making visible, after the darkness of night)
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3330 prayers
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3331 different, variable, changing
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3332 lacked
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3333 suitable, appropriate
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3334 (1) flow of impassioned language, (2) style
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3335 ready and willing
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3336 metrical
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3337 tuneful, musical
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3338 structure, fabric
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3339 harmonious music
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3340 Venus (as morning star, called Lucifer; as evening star, called Hesperus)
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3341 promise
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3342 gemlike headband
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3343 early morning (either dawn or about 6 A.M.)
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3344 attained, achieved, reached
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3345 gleaming, bright
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3346 flees (it)
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3347 moves quickly (rotating once every twenty-four hours)
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3348 i.e., not having fixed orbits
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3349 the known planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter
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3350 in fourfold combination
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3351 exhibit divergence
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3352 not of different colors, but only of one
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3353 more usually used for “streams, brooks,” than in the modern meaning of a man-
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3354 sing
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3355 testify, give evidence
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3356 made vocal = sounded, turned into/endowed with music
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3357 always
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3358 accustomed, usual, habitual
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3359 agricultural, pastoral
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3360 pampered boughs = crammed with boughs
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3361 without offspring
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3362 entangled branches?
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3363 the elm becomes the stepparent of the vine’s “children,” her bunches of grapes
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3364 bunches (of grapes)
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3365 unproductive
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3366 “With pity, Heaven’s High King (God) beheld Adam and Eve thus employed”
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3367 see Book IV, above, at lines 168–71
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3368 plans, schemes
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3369 relieve
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3370 food, a meal
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3371 unsettled, fickle, variable, subject to change or alteration
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3372 confident
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3373 moreover, in addition
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3374 resisted
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3375 claim, put forward as an excuse
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3376 unexhorted, uninformed
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3377 satisfied, did, performed
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3378 order, responsibility
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3379 radiant spirits
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3380 shrouded, covered
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3381 brilliant, magnificent
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3382 contrived, built, intended
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3383 placed between
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3384 corresponding
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3385 competent
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3386 islands in the south Aegean Sea
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3387 Greek island
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3388 island off the coast of Asia Minor
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3389 sees, identifies
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3390 headlong
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3391 wing
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3392 beats
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3393 flexible, unresisting
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3394 the altitude attained in soaring
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3395 mythical bird that perpetually renews its life, first burning its old body, then being reborn from the ashes
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3396 stared at
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3397 solitary
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3398 the phoenix’s
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3399 Raphael
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3400 features
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3401 draped
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3402 belt
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3403 covered, bordered, edged
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3404 soft
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3405 dyed (by immersion)
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3406 colored
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3407 dye
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3408 Hermes
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3409 plumage, feathers
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3410 so that
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3411 circuit wide = wide surrounding space
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3412 participating in, performing
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3413 blessed, beatified
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3414 an aromatic balsam
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3415 sported, played
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3416 beyond
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3417 aromatic
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3418 burning, glowing
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3419 properly
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3420 render distasteful
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3421 command
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3422 condescend
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3423 confer as a gift
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3424 liberality, bounty
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3425 discharging its load
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3426 hoard
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3427 holy, sanctified
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3428 soil
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3429 supply
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3430 suffice
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3431 careful
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3432 laying by
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3433 (1) unneeded, (2) excessive
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3434 moisture
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3435 thicket
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3436 hurried, quick
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3437 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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3438 sustained, supported, confirmed
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3439 most natural
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3440 busies
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3441 Mediterranean
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3442 the Black Sea
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3443 Carthaginian/Phoenician (North African)
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3444 king of the Phaeacian island, now Corfu
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3445 homage, tax
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3446 table
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3447 unfermented juice
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3448 mixes
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3449 sweet
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3450 smooth (creamy) and frothing liquids
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3451 lacks
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3452 suitable, appropriate
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3453 not burned, as incense would be, since there was as yet no fire available to burn them
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3454 original
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3455 grand, imposing
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3456 submissive, subdued
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3457 lack
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3458 condescend
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3459 noontime, midday
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3460 sink down
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3461 seventh of the nine angelic orders
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3462 at will = as I please
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3463 pastoral
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3464 Roman goddess of fruits
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3465 orchard, bower
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3466 (1) from fables rather than real, (2) sham, because pagan
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3467 a beauty competition among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite; Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, gave the prize to Aphrodite
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3468 “veil” could then mean “cloak” or “mantle”
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3469 weak, shaky
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3470 table
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3471 Adam
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3472 generous gifts
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3473 in part = who is in part
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3474 distasteful, unwelcome
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3475 as “rational” creatures, human beings are required to (and can) think in order to know; their knowledge is therefore of necessity partial. “Intelligential” creatures, however, are endowed with complete knowledge that is of their very essence
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3476 both angels and men
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3477 heat for digestive purposes
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3478 [adjective]
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3479 unpurified
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3480 land
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3481 everything else
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3482 nutritional
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3483 evening
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3484 dines
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3485 flowing as sweet as honey
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3486 on earth, in the Garden of Eden
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3487 fussy
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3488 food
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3489 so far as one can judge
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3490 in mist = blurred (as an immaterial object)
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3491 interpretation, explanation
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3492 [bisyllabic]
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3493 see footnote 200, above
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3494 to turn corporeal to incorporeal, i.e., to make spiritual that which was material
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3495 is excessive, superfluous
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3496 is emitted/breathed/vaporized (i.e., passes through their “bodies,” is excreted)
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3497 lower-ranking, merely experimentally oriented (rather than the higher, theoretically oriented)
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3498 as from = just as if it had come from
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3499 served
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3500 filled to overflowing
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3501 unlustful, unlecherous
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3502 food
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3503 i.e., their natures
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3504 conversation, meeting [trisyllabic, second accented]
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3505 splendid radiance
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3506 careful
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3507 shaped, articulated
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3508 condescended
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3509 member of the hierarch (order) of angels [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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3510 perverted, corrupted
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3511 earliest (primeval)
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3512 invested, supplied
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3513 upward jumps
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3514 completed, perfected, supreme
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3515 elevated, refined, purified
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3516 complete instantaneous knowledge requiring no prior thought
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3517 unsuitable, inappropriate
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3518 duration
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3519 He whose
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3520 offspring
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3521 of what
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3522 gracious, helpful
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3523 added, annexed
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3524 lack
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3525 listen, follow me closely/carefully
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3526 remain firm/steady
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3527 hereby notified, warned
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3528 complete
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3529 unalterable
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3530 from which one cannot extricate oneself
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3531 tested
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3532 must will
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3533 guarantee
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3534 [noun]
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3535 ancestor, forefather
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3536 command, single = single command
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3537 raise, stir up
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3538 narrative
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3539 dedicated
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3540 ample, abundant
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3541 daylight hours (since the angel has said, in line 376, that he will stay on earth “till evening rise”)
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3542 region, encircling band
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3543 impose on
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3544 first, original
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3545 sober, serious
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3546 regretful remembrance
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3547 finally, last of all
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3548 permitted
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3549 sketch, draw, portray
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3550 for men, a foreshadowing
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3551 calculated by Plato, in his Republic, as approximately thirty-six thousand years (i.e., when all the heavenly bodies have returned to their created starting points)
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3552 celestial
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3553 archangels
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3554 banners, flags
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3555 military banner or flag
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3556 banners with tails/streamers, suspended from a crossbar rather than a pole
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3557 front, foremost
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3558 for distinction serve = used in order to distinguish
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3559 fabric, cloth
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3560 inscribed
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3561 [trisyllabic, second accented]
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3562 prominently
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3563 enclosed
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3564 as if
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3565 offspring
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3566 unrevoked shall stand = shall stand unrevoked (not rescinded/annulled/withdrawn, etc.)
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3567 called into being
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3568 he whom
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3569 acknowledge, avow
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3570 gerent = ruler, manager
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3571 swallowed, buried
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3572 fixed stars
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3573 elliptical, irregular
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3574 interwound
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3575 frees from difficulties, invests with calm/placidity
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3576 harmony divine’s
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3577 musical intervals
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3578 delightful
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3579 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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3580 produce, product
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3581 inclining, resting
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3582 fellowship, sharing
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3583 drink deeply of
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3584 secure of = safe from
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3585 limits
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3586 abundant
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3587 (1) celestial, (2) divinely fragrant
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3588 pleasing, agreeable
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3589 (1) rose-colored, (2) rose-scented
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3590 inclined, prepared
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3591 spherical, globular
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3592 (1) constantly flowing, (2) refreshing
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3593 a kind of large tent
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3594 tents
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3595 turn, customary practice
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3596 among
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3597 filled
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3598 lessened
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3599 leave one’s place of lodging (break camp)
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3600 Beelzebub
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3601 if you
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3602 in the habit of
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3603 make known, communicate
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3604 both waking = both of us awake
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3605 disagree, be at variance
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3606 countless numbers
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3607 the chief = the best part
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3608 I am to haste…homeward = I will hurry…home
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3609 (1) swift, (2) literally flying (through the air)
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3610 hold, occupy
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3611 (1) headquarters, (2) regions
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3612 angelic orders
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3613 insinuated
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3614 [trisyllabic, second accented]
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3615 Beelzebub
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3616 separately
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3617 “He calls together, or else speaks to them separately, or one by one”
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3618 controlling, governing
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3619 under him Regent = which were Regents under him
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3620 freed
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3621 ensign of the hierarchy
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3622 test
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3623 corrupt
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3624 familiar
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3625 command, will, right
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3626 person with great and independent power, a ruler
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3627 rank
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3628 charmed, tempted
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3629 the most hidden
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3630 particularly
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3631 of long standing
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3632 consider, reflect
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3633 peril
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3634 inexpressible
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3635 safe
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3636 commotions, agitations
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3637 makes illustrious
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3638 put an end to, suppress, destroy
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3639 matter to me of glory…to quell their pride
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3640 in event = in the occurrence
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3641 adroit, skillful
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3642 with
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3643 [five syllables, second and fourth accented]
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3644 the nine angelic orders were at one time said to be divided into three sub-groupings
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3645 having the form of a globe
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3646 stretched into longitude = stretched lengthwise
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3647 territories, bounds
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3648 explained, translated
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3649 claiming, feigning
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3650 false, slanderous
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3651 having the name, but not the reality
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3652 collected
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3653 artificial representation, copy, counterpart, portrait
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3654 raise
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3655 well consist = are consistent
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3656 perversion, corruption, misuse
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3657 check
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3658 “to boil”
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3659 stringent, rigorous
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3660 flowing
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3661 speaking evil
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3662 invested
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3663 fit, proper, owed
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3664 acknowledge, avow
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3665 uninherited
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3666 marked out the limits of
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3667 careful
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3668 inclined
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3669 nearly
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3670 to be unjust
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3671 dimmed, darkened
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3672 these others
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3673 pacify, mollify
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3674 in time = if in time
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3675 ardent, intensely earnest
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3676 out of season = inopportune, unseasonable, not at the right time
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3677 just him
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3678 hasty, impetuous
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3679 second-best, second-class, subsidiary, auxiliary
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3680 unfamiliar
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3681 life-giving, animating
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3682 destined, fated
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3683 complete
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3684 celestial
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3685 power
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3686 the act of addressing someone
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3687 surround
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3688 (1) flee, (2) fly on wings
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3689 “hoarse murmur echoed applause to his words”
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3690 estranged
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3691 settled, decided
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3692 luckless
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3693 lenient
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3694 bestowed, conferred
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3695 crush, smash
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3696 advise me (to leave)
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3697 (1) dedicated (to evil), (2) doomed
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3698 overhanging, imminent
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3699 distinguish not = not distinguish between you and me
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3700 worked
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3701 alone
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3702 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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3703 returned, cast back
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3704 machines, mechanical devices
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3705 fearless
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3706 Abdiel
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3707 open country
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3708 fast by = very near
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3709 reside
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3710 go away
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3711 pleasing
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3712 mutation
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3713 obedient, dutiful
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3714 as it is
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3715 celestial
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3716 brightly shining
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3717 [when all the plain (lines 15 ff.) = subject; met his view (line 18) = verb]
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3718 Abdiel’s
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3719 readiness, preparation
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3720 countless numbers
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3721 pre sent him [verb, in the present tense]
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3722 valued, good
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3723 incorrect, wicked
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3724 remains to
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3725 [verb]
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3726 cliff edge
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3727 lowest region of Hades/Hell
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3728 writhing
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3729 fear, awe, reverence
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3730 were drawn up for battle
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3731 square formation
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3732 and neither
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3733 obstructing
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3734 constricting
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3735 quiescent, unresisting
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3736 quick
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3737 race, species
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3738 Adam
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3739 stretch/extent of land, region
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3740 earth
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3741 border
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3742 ready/eager for battle [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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3743 on nearer view
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3744 upright beams = the upright poles
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3745 crowded
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3746 statements, slogans, arguments
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3747 painted, adorned
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3748 wild, mad
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3749 speed
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3750 thought, expected
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3751 foolish
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3752 “when they were halfway there”
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3753 hostile encounter
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3754 wont to = usually
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3755 like-minded
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3756 descended
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3757 fearful, terrible
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3758 open space
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3759 darkened by ignorance, anger, etc.
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3760 foremost part
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3761 bristling
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3762 loyalty, devotion, honesty [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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3763 (Abdiel, not Satan, is trusting in God)
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3764 test, probe
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3765 savage
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3766 [second syllable accented]
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3767 wicked, dirty, offensive
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3768 (1) obstruction, obstacle, (2) confrontation
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3769 is Abdiel incensed at Satan? or Satan at Abdiel?
Return to text.

3770 Satan
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3771 submerged, buried, completely covered
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3772 (1) course, (2) following
Return to text.

3773 those who
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3774 misguided, mistaken
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3775 party
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3776 a few
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3777 principal, great
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3778 (1) sideways, (2) askew, asquint
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3779 rebelling
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3780 (1) assault, (2) test
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3781 (1) free, (2) claim
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3782 reward
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3783 result, outcome
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3784 slaughter
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3785 corrupt
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3786 command
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3787 enslaved
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3788 wickedly, basely
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3789 serving
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3790 censure, reproach
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3791 commands
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3792 heraldic device on the top of his helmet
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3793 violent speed
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3794 injury, damage
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3795 “ten large paces”
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3796 held up
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3797 discomfited, overthrown
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3798 [trisyllabic]
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3799 [trisyllabic?]
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3800 vastness
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3801 in wonder/amazement
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3802 met, now engaged in combat
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3803 made a harsh, clashing sound
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3804 frenzied, turning furiously
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3805 brasslike, brass-hard
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3806 horrible, dreadful
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3807 spears, javelins, arrows
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3808 covered
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3809 canopy
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3810 armies
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3811 mighty
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3812 tumultuous conflagration
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3813 controlled, ruled against
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3814 of such numbers
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3815 split into factions, discordant
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3816 battle lines
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3817 fierce, cruel
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3818 as if
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3819 cause, influence, turning point
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3820 mighty, vigorous
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3821 shaking, stirring
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3822 battling
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3823 marvelous, amazing
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3824 disorderly
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3825 motion, force
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3826 frightful
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3827 set in opposition, put in the way
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3828 left off
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3829 internal
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3830 quantity, degree, proportion
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3831 spiritual/mental peace
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3832 borders
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3833 puts up with
Return to text.

3834 join together
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3835 quarrels
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3836 negotiate
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3837 parley
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3838 readied
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3839 visible
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3840 side, direction
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3841 most dense
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3842 space, room
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3843 (1) wind, (2) violence
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3844 bearing, relative position
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3845 destroy one another?
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3846 settle/put an end to/decide/resolve
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3847 advantage
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3848 blocking, parrying
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3849 completely
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3850 divided
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3851 coiling, twisting
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3852 piercing
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3853 breaking the organic continuity of Satan’s bodily substance
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3854 fluid, essence
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3855 bloody
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3856 withdrawn
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3857 files of war = rows/ranks of fighters
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3858 outrage, anger
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3859 disgrace
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3860 kidneys
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3861 except
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3862 similar [adjective]
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3863 troops serving under a single ensign/banner/flag
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3864 ranks
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3865 soon, at once
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3866 unfamiliar, never experienced
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3867 of the army: military formation
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3868 their: i.e., each of them vanquished “his” boasting opponent
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3869 boasting
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3870 Assyrian sun god
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3871 Asmodeus, the demon in the Apocryphal Book of Tobit: see Book 4, line 168, above
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3872 third of the nine angelic orders
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3873 inferior, lower
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3874 cut, hacked
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3875 “lion of God”
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3876 a Spirit of revenge; Arioch is mentioned in Genesis 14:1 as a “king of Ellasar”
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3877 “exaltation of God”—although in the Apocryphal Book of Enoch, Ramiel’s lustfulness with mortal women causes him to fall from Heaven
Return to text.

3878 judgment, sentence
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3879 that which is just
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3880 unworthy
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3881 dishonor, disgrace
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3882 fate, destiny
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3883 crushed
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3884 changed
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3885 raid
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3886 stuck, stabbed, pierced: i.e., into the rebel ranks
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3887 hideous
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3888 spiritless, feeble
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3889 ashen
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3890 attacked, captured
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3891 unable to be violated/broken/injured [five syllables, second and fourth accented]
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3892 close-packed battle array, sixteen-man-deep square, perfected by the Romans
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3893 as a whole
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3894 not exposed/liable
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3895 hateful
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3896 victorious, dominant
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3897 around
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3898 red
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3899 side
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3900 gone away
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3901 devoid
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3902 claim
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3903 seek, aim at
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3904 uncertain
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3905 disdained
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3906 celestial
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3907 ponder
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3908 effective, technically perfect
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3909 an Assyrian deity
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3910 fifth of the nine angelic orders
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3911 principal, first
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3912 fatigued
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3913 split, cracked open
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3914 weapons, armor
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3915 destruction
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3916 darkened
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3917 countenance, face
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3918 invulnerable
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3919 vanquished, crushed
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3920 weak
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3921 dispense with
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3922 complain
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3923 find, discover, produce
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3924 attack
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3925 correctly
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3926 important
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3927 composed of ether or similar celestial material [trisyllabic, second accented, “-eous” elided]
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3928 ground
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3929 only seeing the surface (an erudite pun)
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3930 think
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3931 foam
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3932 modified, worked
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3933 surrounding
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3934 birthplace
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3935 stuffed
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3936 aperture, hole
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3937 (1) distended, amplified, enlarged, (2) spread abroad
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3938 (1) opposite, (2) hostile
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3939 accomplishment
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3940 countenances
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3941 lit up, illuminated
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3942 drooping
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3943 perhaps
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3944 contrivance
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3945 similar
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3946 original elements
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3947 mixed
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3948 arranged, systematized
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3949 granules
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3950 some of them
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3951 melt and mold, build
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3952 missive ruin = missilelike destruction
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3953 kindling
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3954 swift
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3955 conscious Night = Night, aware of what they were doing
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3956 caution
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3957 bright
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3958 armor
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3959 gleaming, radiant, resplendent
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3960 army
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3961 joined/formed into a company
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3962 discover
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3963 “spy of God”
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3964 sober, serious, firm
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3965 confident [adjective, modifying “resolution”]
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3966 buckle
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3967 level, horizontal
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3968 can predict
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3969 the call to arms
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3970 in battle order
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3971 slow
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3972 massive
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3973 of great size
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3974 pulling
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3975 surrounded, enclosed
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3976 their face-to-face meeting
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3977 open
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3978 agreement, settlement
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3979 opening, revelation
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3980 obstinate
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3981 at once
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3982 bring forward
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3983 forms
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3984 opening, aperture
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3985 uncertain, doubtful
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3986 staring, puzzled
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3987 vent = hole, here the “touch-hole”
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3988 most precise, delicate
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3989 vomited
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3990 filled
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3991 enormous
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3992 overflowing amount
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3993 violent, forceful, rapid
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3994 because of
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3995 armor
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3996 scattering
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3997 loosen, open
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3998 pressed close together
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3999 ranks
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4000 unseemly
Return to text.

4001 discharge, explode
Return to text.

4002 volley
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4003 frolicking
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4004 amazed
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4005 overthrew
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4006 (1) comprehend, (2) be supported (“stand under”)
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4007 excited
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4008 the angels
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4009 located
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4010 swiftly/easily
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4011 [prosodically, “When coming towards them so dread they saw”]
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4012 thrown, so as to cover
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4013 attacked, intruded upon
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4014 great, solid
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4015 headlands
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4016 weighed down, crushed
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4017 distended
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4018 inexorable
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4019 hurling, throwing
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4020 horrible
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4021 disaster, wreck, ruin
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4022 judicious, deliberate
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4023 associate, sharer
Return to text.

4024 radiance
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4025 sentence, judgment
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4026 hold out
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4027 the whole, the rest of Heaven
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4028 tolerated, allowed
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4029 poured, instilled
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4030 wicked, stubborn
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4031 disturbance, sedition
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4032 curbed, checked
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4033 anointing
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4034 as likes them = as they please
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4035 beyond the power of words
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4036 consider, value
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4037 serpent, snake
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4038 purified
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4039 undreamed
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4040 innate
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4041 carried, conveyed
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4042 racing
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4043 i.e., resembling a shower
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4044 the heavens
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4045 the jewels on the high priest Aaron’s breastplate: see Exodus 28:30
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4046 pouring-out
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4047 flashing, glistening, quivering
Return to text.

4048 exalted
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4049 luminous, gleaming
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4050 drew/led back
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4051 diffused around
Return to text.

4052 leader
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4053 united
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4054 withdrew
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4055 dutiful, obedient
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4056 usual, habitual, familiar
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4057 unlucky
Return to text.

4058 unyielding
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4059 foolish
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4060 forming, taking
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4061 reform, win back
Return to text.

4062 thinking
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4063 finally, in the end
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4064 fate
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4065 test
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4066 desirous
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4067 grant
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4068 army
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4069 dark, dismal
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4070 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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4071 scourges, wounds, afflictions
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4072 stunned
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4073 useless
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4074 wrath
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4075 adorned
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4076 rapid
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4077 customary
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4078 empty
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4079 edge
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4080 unbearable, intolerable
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4081 falling headlong, falling into ruins [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
Return to text.

4082 rigorous
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4083 disordered, confused
Return to text.

4084 defeated army
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4085 opening wide
Return to text.

4086 filled
Return to text.

4087 walled
Return to text.

4088 joyful shouts
Return to text.

4089 Adam’s
Return to text.

4090 be cautious, take warning
Return to text.

4091 occurred
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4092 so that
Return to text.

4093 like him, together with him
Return to text.

4094 deprived
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4095 spiteful injury
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4096 once and for all, forever
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4097 as companion
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4098 weaker partner, Eve
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4099 i.e., Christ
Return to text.

4100 “heavenly”: muse of astronomy
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4101 Bellerophon’s flying horse
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4102 i.e., “above” (beyond) pagan inspiration
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4103 live, keep company
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4104 breathed in
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4105 of thy blending/alloying/preparation
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4106 surroundings
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4107 Bellerophon was unhorsed by Zeus, when attempting to fly up to the gods’ home
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4108 to which Bellerophon fell when unhorsed
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4109 wandering aimless, straying (as Bellerophon had done)
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4110 lost, abandoned
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4111 enclosed, contained, confined
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4112 diurnal sphere: the sphere that revolves daily around the earth
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4113 swept away, carried
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4114 above the pole = into Heaven
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4115 compassed round = surrounded
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4116 group or class of persons, here Bacchantes or worshipers of Bacchus
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4117 Orpheus
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4118 mountain range in Thrace, sacred to Bacchus
Return to text.

4119 ecstasy
Return to text.

4120 Calliope, muse of epic poetry
Return to text.

4121 happened
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4122 ignore, disdain
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4123 unsteady, not fixed
Return to text.

4124 partner in marriage
Return to text.

4125 wonder
Return to text.

4126 pensiveness
Return to text.

4127 exalted
Return to text.

4128 astonishing, unknown
Return to text.

4129 disorder, commotion
Return to text.

4130 turned back
Return to text.

4131 dismissed, abandoned
Return to text.

4132 visible
Return to text.

4133 flowing
Return to text.

4134 messenger
Return to text.

4135 purpose
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4136 deigned, condescended
Return to text.

4137 courteously, generously
Return to text.

4138 encompassing
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4139 interspersed, poured in
Return to text.

4140 flowering, blooming, bright
Return to text.

4141 repose
Return to text.

4142 recently
Return to text.

4143 completed
Return to text.

4144 lacks
Return to text.

4145 creating, begetting
Return to text.

4146 invisible
Return to text.

4147 Chaos
Return to text.

4148 stay awake
Return to text.

4149 ask
Return to text.

4150 send away, allow to depart
Return to text.

4151 supplicated
Return to text.

4152 gain, reach
Return to text.

4153 make, show, prove
Return to text.

4154 further
Return to text.

4155 imagining
Return to text.

4156 the only
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4157 hidden, kept secret
Return to text.

4158 Lucifer, the morning star
Return to text.

4159 all were
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4160 position, place
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4161 occupy, hold
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4162 [fre quent]
Return to text.

4163 services (in the religious sense)
Return to text.

4164 foolishly
Return to text.

4165 surmised
Return to text.

4166 loss
Return to text.

4167 tested
Return to text.

4168 loosely, at ease
Return to text.

4169 protecting
Return to text.

4170 place
Return to text.

4171 of angels
Return to text.

4172 wisdom
Return to text.

4173 arsenal
Return to text.

4174 like brass
Return to text.

4175 deposited
Return to text.

4176 apparatus
Return to text.

4177 naturally [trisyllabic, second accented, “-eous” elided]
Return to text.

4178 enduring
Return to text.

4179 enormous
Return to text.

4180 desolate
Return to text.

4181 all-creating
Return to text.

4182 glowing
Return to text.

4183 inscribe/draw a circular line/boundary
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4184 depth
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4185 deep
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4186 removed
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4187 (1) earthy, gritty, sedimentary, (2) hellish
Return to text.

4188 created
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4189 collected and compacted
Return to text.

4190 separated
Return to text.

4191 in between
Return to text.

4192 spiritlike
Return to text.

4193 the fifth essence, of which substance the heavenly bodies were thought to be composed
Return to text.

4194 the sun
Return to text.

4195 tent
Return to text.

4196 stayed for a while, tarried
Return to text.

4197 gleaming
Return to text.

4198 blowing, sent out
Return to text.

4199 firm or solid structure
Return to text.

4200 division, distribution
Return to text.

4201 ambient, flowing around
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4202 offensive
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4203 disorder
Return to text.

4204 took away
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4205 [trisyllabic, second accented, “-uous” elided]
Return to text.

4206 disturb, disorder, derange
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4207 embryo [trisyllabic, second accented]
Return to text.

4208 reserved
Return to text.

4209 uselessly, pointless
Return to text.

4210 fertilizing
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4211 fluids, essences
Return to text.

4212 stirred
Return to text.

4213 generative
Return to text.

4214 swelling, bulging
Return to text.

4215 the waters
Return to text.

4216 great speed
Return to text.

4217 rolled up
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4218 collecting
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4219 beds, lines
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4220 [verb]
Return to text.

4221 rushing [adjective]
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4222 force of movement
Return to text.

4223 flowing back
Return to text.

4224 whether, either
Return to text.

4225 winding
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4226 waterlogged
Return to text.

4227 comfortable
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4228 current
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4229 “He called the dry land ‘earth’”
Return to text.

4230 green
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4231 formed
Return to text.

4232 grainlike
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4233 crenellated, having battlements
Return to text.

4234 entangled, entwined
Return to text.

4235 budded
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4236 groups of trees/shrubs
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4237 along
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4238 visit, habituate
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4239 alternately
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4240 mutation, sequence
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4241 not luminous
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4242 at first
Return to text.

4243 of globular shape
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4244 residence
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4245 going, resorting
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4246 Venus
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4247 Galileo discovered that Venus, like the moon, had phases (then commonly spoken of as “horns”)
Return to text.

4248 extraction, infusion, absorption
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4249 private property
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4250 with diminution seen = seen with lessened light
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4251 ruler, governor, controller
Return to text.

4252 clothed, vested
Return to text.

4253 glad
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4254 east-west course
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4255 flowing forces
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4256 horizontal
Return to text.

4257 the sun’s
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4258 position
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4259 divided, separate
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4260 decorating
Return to text.

4261 channels, inlets
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4262 smaller fish
Return to text.

4263 schools
Return to text.

4264 form a mass/mound in
Return to text.

4265 frolicking
Return to text.

4266 sprinkled, flecked
Return to text.

4267 look for
Return to text.

4268 watch for
Return to text.

4269 smooth water
Return to text.

4270 striped
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4271 rolling, surging
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4272 ungraceful
Return to text.

4273 disturb violently [verb]
Return to text.

4274 lukewarm
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4275 marshes
Return to text.

4276 natural
Return to text.

4277 downy, unfledged
Return to text.

4278 maturely feathered
Return to text.

4279 collect
Return to text.

4280 full-grown feathers
Return to text.

4281 high
Return to text.

4282 harsh birdcalls
Return to text.

4283 looked down on
Return to text.

4284 in visual survey from the ground, the mass of birds resembles a cloud
Return to text.

4285 i.e., of the sky
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4286 arranged
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4287 a pattern
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4288 cleave, drive (as per their wedgelike, triangular formation)
Return to text.

4289 understanding
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4290 reciprocal: those behind, it was said, rested their heads on those in front
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4291 moves gently, undulates
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4292 made a cheerful place of
Return to text.

4293 evening
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4294 grave, impressive
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4295 songs
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4296 spread out, one after the other
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4297 wet spot, wetness
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4298 [verb]
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4299 trumpetlike call [noun]
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4300 the peacock
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4301 filled
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4302 proclaimed, honored
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4303 (1) birdsong [if a noun], or (2) morning [if an adjective modifying “harps”]
Return to text.

4304 of her sort/kind/species
Return to text.

4305 brought forth
Return to text.

4306 dwells
Return to text.

4307 brushwood
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4308 the wild beasts of the wood
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4309 cattle
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4310 come into being
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4311 earth
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4312 rearing
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4313 brindled, streaked
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4314 lynx
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4315 leopard
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4316 see Job 40:15–24
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4317 like
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4318 hesitating
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4319 [ between]
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4320 hippo = horse, potamus = of the river: Milton here translates the Greek
Return to text.

4321 flexible
Return to text.

4322 tails
Return to text.

4323 parts of the body
Return to text.

4324 finished, perfect
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4325 marking with stripes
Return to text.

4326 tracks
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4327 very small creatures
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4328 size
Return to text.

4329 enwrapped
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4330 [adjective]
Return to text.

4331 ant
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4332 crowded [popular?]
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4333 most artful, trickiest
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4334 frightful, terrorizing
Return to text.

4335 hurtful
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4336 supremely, perfected
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4337 goal, purpose
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4338 face down
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4339 savage
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4340 holy feelings
Return to text.

4341 face
Return to text.

4342 noble
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4343 be harmonious with, answer to
Return to text.

4344 likeness
Return to text.

4345 men
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4346 exact [adjective]
Return to text.

4347 breeding, generation
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4348 control, cultivate
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4349 differentiated, distinguishable
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4350 die-est
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4351 fulfilling
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4352 [the syntax here is uncertain, though the intended meaning is not]
Return to text.

4353 procession
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4354 heavenly, exalted
Return to text.

4355 procession
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4356 belt, girdle
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4357 abided
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4358 the stop on a stringed instrument
Return to text.

4359 produced
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4360 that which is created
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4361 injure
Return to text.

4362 limit
Return to text.

4363 the waters above the firmament
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4364 boundless, immeasurable: the reference is to the new world, not to the hyaline
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4365 [first syllable accented]
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4366 lower
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4367 surrounded
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4368 raised
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4369 visible state, external appearance
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4370 so that
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4371 need
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4372 under a spell: i.e., “charm,” as in magic spells
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4373 immobile
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4374 (1) teller of history, (2) teller of stories
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4375 amply, fully
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4376 inscrutable
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4377 solving
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4378 structure, fabric
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4379 indicates
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4380 daily
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4381 provide, supply
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4382 dark (“opaque”)
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4383 like a point, a dot
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4384 viewing
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4385 wonder
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4386 constant, unceasing
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4387 revolving, turning
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4388 inactive
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4389 ingenuity, craft, artifice
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4390 those more
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4391 immeasurable
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4392 caused
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4393 remote from understanding, recondite
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4394 from (“out of”)
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4395 humility
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4396 won over
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4397 whoever
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4398 examine, inspect
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4399 care
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4400 held back, kept apart
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4401 telling
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4402 hearer, listener
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4403 [verb]
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4404 pleasing
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4405 [verb]
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4406 procession
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4407 mild of manner
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4408 find out
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4409 matters, signifies
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4410 whether or not
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4411 calculate, estimate
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4412 analyze, scrutinize, examine carefully
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4413 wonder, marvel at
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4414 desire, wish
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4415 clever, ingenious
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4416 mistaken
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4417 portray
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4418 express
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4419 preserve, keep
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4420 likelihood
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4421 encircle
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4422 at the center
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4423 not centrally placed
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4424 recurrent sequence
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4425 small circle, with its center on the circumference of another circle
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4426 circle
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4427 you who
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4428 implies
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4429 gleaming, bright
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4430 power
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4431 ineffective
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4432 otherwise
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4433 active force
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4434 in service/office
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4435 part
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4436 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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4437 allege, say
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4438 conceding (arguendo: for the purposes of argument)
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4439 said
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4440 confirm, ratify
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4441 the sun’s
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4442 magnetic
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4443 power
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4444 continually moving forward/larger
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4445 continually moving backward/smaller
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4446 six planets
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4447 transverse, crossways
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4448 angles
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4449 the tenth and outermost sphere, the primum mobile, which kept the other spheres in motion
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4450 [trisyllabic, second accented, “-ible” elided]
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4451 zealous
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4452 reaches, meets
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4453 the sun’s
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4454 the earth
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4455 clear, transparent
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4456 the moon
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4457 the moon
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4458 assigned, destined
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4459 male light = original, female light = reflected
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4460 space
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4461 deserted [de sert]
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4462 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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4463 habitable earth [four syllables, first and third accented]
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4464 obvious to dispute = obviously disputable
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4465 harmless
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4466 evenly
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4467 disturb, make anxious
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4468 humbly
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4469 manner
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4470 circumstances (i.e., rich or poor)
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4471 a point on some scale of measurement
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4472 complications
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4473 afflict, trouble
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4474 at large = fully, amply
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4475 abstruse
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4476 smoke, vapor
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4477 foolish
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4478 irrelevance, presumption
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4479 point, elevation
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4480 descend to
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4481 perhaps
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4482 permission [bisyllabic: suffrance]
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4483 usual, customary, habitual
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4484 foolish
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4485 after
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4486 meal, food
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4487 [bisyllabic: satiate]
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4488 permeated, inspired
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4489 [trisyllabic, second accented: satiety]
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4490 courteous, indulgent
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4491 silent
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4492 proposition
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4493 is in order/form/a structure
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4494 it happened
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4495 unfamiliar, strange [ uncouth]
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4496 dark, hidden
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4497 a journey
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4498 arranged, formed
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4499 military formation
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4500 breaking out
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4501 accustom
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4502 [trisyllabic, second accented, “-ience” elided]
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4503 barricaded
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4504 ordered, commanded
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4505 narration
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4506 listen
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4507 led, prevailed upon
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4508 herbage, grass
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4509 mild, soft
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4510 steaming
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4511 gliding flow
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4512 near, alongside
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4513 moved, walked
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4514 illuminated (literally: by sunlight)
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4515 weight
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4516 soporific, sleepy
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4517 manifestation
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4518 dwelling, habitation
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4519 needs, requires
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4520 [bisyllabic, first accented]
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4521 vividly, lifelike
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4522 depicted
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4523 cultivate
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4524 famine, shortage
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4525 effect, power
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4526 guarantee
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4527 close by, near
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4528 [five syllables, second and fourth accented]
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4529 look, countenance
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4530 discourse
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4531 lands, territory
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4532 oath/acknowledgment of loyalty
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4533 breathe
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4534 some (the land-bound animals)
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4535 whatever please
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4536 invested, endowed
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4537 understanding
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4538 pressed forward, presumptuously
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4539 filled, fully stocked
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4540 exercise, frolic
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4541 diversion, entertainment
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4542 wield, sustain
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4543 intercessory prayer
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4544 favorably inclined
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4545 be suitable
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4546 eager, ardent
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4547 lacking force/energy
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4548 wearisome, annoying, disagreeable
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4549 mutually, to each
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4550 share
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4551 companion, partner
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4552 suitably
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4553 live
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4554 closely reasoned, discriminating
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4555 communion
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4556 discourse, interchange of thoughts and words
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4557 comfort, alleviate, soothe
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4558 complete, perfect
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4559 display, prove
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4560 imperfection in being single/solitary
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4561 parallel
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4562 friendship
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4563 seclusion, mysteriousness
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4564 birds, beasts, fish, etc.
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4565 pleasure
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4566 test
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4567 unsuitable
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4568 always
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4569 adduced, proposed
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4570 remained, endured
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4571 dialogue
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4572 lofty
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4573 surpasses, is superior to
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4574 restoration
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4575 held apart, separated
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4576 was able to see
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4577 restorative
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4578 inferior, poor
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4579 instilled, insinuated
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4580 manner, appearance
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4581 in order to
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4582 renounce
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4583 lovable
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4584 desist
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4585 change
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4586 “given (by You) grudgingly/with reluctance”
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4587 drawn forth, obtained
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4588 brought forth, produced, created
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4589 knowledge
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4590 open, bold
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4591 forward
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4592 reserved
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4593 worked
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4594 dutiful, compliant
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4595 confirmed
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4596 urged
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4597 statement/speech/discourse
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4598 most choice
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4599 joyous feeling
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4600 aromatic
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4601 frolicking, gamboling
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4602 nightingale
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4603 a marriage poem
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4604 Venus
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4605 strong, passionate
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4606 enraptured
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4607 I touch
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4608 agitation
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4609 either
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4610 support
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4611 removing
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4612 highly finished
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4613 principal goal
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4614 which most excel = which are by and large those that are superior
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4615 perfect
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4616 reduced, lowered
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4617 loosens, goes slack
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4618 shamed
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4619 appears
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4620 as if she were
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4621 created
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4622 incidentally
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4623 finish, complete
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4624 like
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4625 distrusting, lacking confidence in
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4626 discard, reject, send away
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4627 ascribing, assigning
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4628 i.e., self-esteem
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4629 master
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4630 appearances
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4631 worthy of/commanding profound respect
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4632 always
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4633 procreative
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4634 judge, consider
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4635 full of divine grace
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4636 acts of decorum, proprieties
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4637 pleasing
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4638 [verb, second syllable accented]
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4639 frustrated, defeated
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4640 statements, arguments
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4641 lines 609–10: “I who deal with all sorts of arguments, presented to me (my mind) by my bodily senses….
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4642 emitted radiance
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4643 having virtues/powers
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4644 in eminence = in eminent measure (i.e., even more)
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4645 exclusionary, excluding
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4646 restricting, limited
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4647 (1) conducting way, passage, (2) management, skill, artifice
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4648 Cape Verde Islands, in the Atlantic off northwestern Africa
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4649 in the west
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4650 first of all = primarily
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4651 allow, permit, consent to
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4652 happiness, welfare
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4653 free choice
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4654 [verb]
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4655 courteous, noble
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4656 always
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4657 circled around
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4658 i.e., while the serpent is sleeping
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4659 among
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4660 attack, assault, try to seduce
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4661 finally
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4662 intensity, strength, ardor
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4663 i.e., quarrel, disagree
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4664 i.e., God or an Angel guest “sitting indulgent” with Adam, as with a friend
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4665 familiar used = treated affably, intimately, courteously
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4666 good-humored
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4667 Adam
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4668 country-style
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4669 Adam
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4670 pardonable
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4671 unreproved
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4672 (of poetry/music)
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4673 breaking of relations
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4674 estranged
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4675 forerunner
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4676 theme, subject
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4677 fierce, hard, merciless
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4678 Hector, prince of Troy
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4679 Hector, in great fear, tried to escape Achilles by running away, and was caught after a chase that went three times around Troy’s walls
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4680 Italian king
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4681 Turnus’ promised bride, given to Aeneas instead
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4682 betrothal (engagement) broken off
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4683 Neptune’s ire = Neptune’s anger at Odysseus for killing Neptune’s son, Polyphemus
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4684 Juno’s anger stems from (1) the beauty contest, which she did not win, and which Venus did, the judge being Aeneas’ brother, Paris, and (2) the peril Aeneas poses to Carthage, a city sacred to Juno
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4685 puzzled, entangled
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4686 Odysseus
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4687 Cytherea = Venus; Aeneas was her son
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4688 appropriate [four syllables, first and third accented]
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4689 from
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4690 Urania, muse of epic poetry
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4691 condescends, vouchsafes
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4692 quietly, comfortably
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4693 not planned out in advance
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4694 i.e., taking a long time to choose his course, his subject matter, and starting late in life
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4695 diligent, assiduous
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4696 write about, in a literary composition
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4697 theme, subject
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4698 judged, considered
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4699 skill, knowledge
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4700 analyze, anatomize
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4701 destruction
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4702 imaginary, not real
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4703 knightly combat, jousting
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4704 equipment, furnishings
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4705 adorned (painted)
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4706 devices/insignia painted on shields
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4707 ingenious, skillful
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4708 harnesses
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4709 the lower part of a shield
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4710 showy, glittering
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4711 magnificent, rich
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4712 properly ordered
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4713 attendants
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4714 stewards
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4715 clever trickery/devices
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4716 duty, service
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4717 low
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4718 inspire
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4719 i.e., “heroic poem”
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4720 flight
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4721 held/forced down
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4722 evening star
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4723 duty, function
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4724 mediator
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4725 not long before
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4726 enhanced, advanced, made better
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4727 despite
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4728 come about, happen
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4729 circling
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4730 had observed
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4731 traveled
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4732 equatorial
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4733 chariot
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4734 great circle
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4735 coast averse = side opposite
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4736 that which does not arouse suspicion
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4737 path
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4738 Mesopotamian river, which watered Eden
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4739 profound depth in a body of water
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4740 passing swiftly/suddenly
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4741 enwrapped
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4742 the Black Sea
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4743 the Sea of Azov (a lake, in fact)
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4744 flowing into the Arctic Sea
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4745 Syrian river
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4746 Isthmus of Panama, northeastern (Atlantic) side
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4747 sphere, globe
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4748 close, careful
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4749 judgment, opinion
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4750 urchin, little devil/demon
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4751 tricks
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4752 note, notice
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4753 create
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4754 mental capacity
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4755 complaints
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4756 correcting
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4757 dutiful
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4758 earth
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4759 power
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4760 graded, degrees of
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4761 succession
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4762 enemies
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4763 destruction, ruin, woe
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4764 God
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4765 come back
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4766 i.e., man
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4767 happiness, welfare
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4768 extend
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4769 harmed, spoiled
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4770 place
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4771 an origin
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4772 attendants
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4773 hidden, secret
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4774 peer
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4775 thicket
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4776 chance, fortune
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4777 mazy folds = mazelike object, bent/folded
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4778 forcibly compressed
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4779 convert into flesh
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4780 degrade to the level of an animal
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4781 he whom
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4782 whoever
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4783 go down
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4784 liable, subject
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4785 care
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4786 descend, fall
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4787 insult, contempt
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4788 continued
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4789 circle
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4790 frightful, detestable
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4791 wild beast’s lair
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4792 harmful
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4793 the serpent’s
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4794 secretly
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4795 perfume
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4796 (1) pleasing, (2) thankful
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4797 lacking
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4798 they partake, share in
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4799 discuss
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4800 work at, continue
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4801 getting, doing
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4802 widely, extensively
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4803 continually
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4804 make straight/right
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4805 prescribed authoritatively
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4806 luxuriant
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4807 rebellious, unmanageable
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4808 mocks us
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4809 inclining
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4810 consider
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4811 bursting forth
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4812 set right
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4813 interrupts, stops
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4814 proposed
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4815 purpose
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4816 tedious
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4817 shady paths
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4818 assent
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4819 withdrawal
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4820 whether
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4821 most appropriately
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4822 pure, innocent, unstained
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4823 grave, sober
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4824 steadiness, constancy
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4825 intact, free, untouched
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4826 wanting confidence
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4827 bespatters
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4828 despise
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4829 increase
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4830 overpowered
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4831 bring to bear
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4832 similar, equivalent
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4833 test, endeavor, effort
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4834 attached to his home
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4835 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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4836 made narrower
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4837 alone
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4838 equivalent, equal
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4839 insults, confronts
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4840 judgment, estimate
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4841 forehead, face
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4842 allegation, suspicion
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4843 imagine, fancy
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4844 certain, safe
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4845 to either
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4846 intensely earnest
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4847 man’s
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4848 alert
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4849 prescribe, direct
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4850 prescribes
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4851 (1) attend to, take care of, (2) remind
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4852 remain, exist
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4853 outwardly respectable but in fact not
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4854 bribed
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4855 reason
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4856 if you would
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4857 attest, demonstrate
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4858 more certain/confident
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4859 though still
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4860 i.e., Eve has the last word
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4861 mentioned, noticed in passing
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4862 inclined, determined
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4863 a mountain nymph
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4864 a tree nymph
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4865 Diana’s
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4866 deportment, manner
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4867 skill [noun]
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4868 coarse, inelegant
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4869 innocent
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4870 goddess of flocks and herds
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4871 goddess of fruit
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4872 god of the orchards and fruit, husband of Pomona
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4873 Ceres/Demeter, goddess of Nature’s generative power
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4874 not maternal/the mother of
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4875 injunction
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4876 promised, pledged
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4877 ask him to come to
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4878 luckless, unfortunate
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4879 anticipated
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4880 wicked, wrong, stubborn
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4881 bitter grudge
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4882 planting
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4883 chance, luck, fortune
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4884 cover, overhang, shelter
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4885 gliding
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4886 shrubbery
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4887 work
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4888 imaginary, fabled
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4889 whether
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4890 for whom, and in whose honor, “gardens of Adonis” were planted
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4891 king of the Phaeacians, in Scheria
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4892 Odysseus
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4893 mythical, fabled
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4894 wise
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4895 Solomon
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4896 amorous play
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4897 see 1 Kings 3:1; Solomon’s wife is not named
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4898 marveled at
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4899 confined, shut up
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4900 injure, trouble
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4901 tedded grass = grass spread out for drying
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4902 cattle
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4903 place where milk and cream are stored, butter and cheese are made
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4904 for her = on her account
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4905 plot
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4906 hidden place
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4907 restrained/suppressed/controlled by awe
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4908 pillage, robbery [noun]
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4909 deprived, robbed
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4910 interval
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4911 withdrawn, absent in mind
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4912 dully, stupefiedly
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4913 (1) in compensation, (2) joyously, welcoming
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4914 stirs, rouses
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4915 diverge/depart from
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4916 opportunity
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4917 convenient
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4918 mind
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4919 exalted, eminent
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4920 unformidable, to be dreaded
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4921 if not
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4922 equaled
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4923 turn
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4924 lodger
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4925 directed
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4926 zigzag, wavy
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4927 fiery red
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4928 spirals? (spires = stems, stalks)
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4929 moved gently
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4930 copious
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4931 transformed into serpents
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4932 Hermione/Harmonia = daughter of Ares/Mars and Aphrodite/Venus; Cadmus’ wife [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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4933 founder and king of Thebes; he and his wife were both turned into snakes by Zeus
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4934 Aesculapius, god of healing, portrayed as a serpent at his temple in Epidaurus, in Argos, Greece
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4935 Ammonian Jove = Egyptian/African Jove, supposed to be the biological father of Alexander the Great, having slept with Olympias, wife of Philip of Macedonia, in the form of a serpent
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4936 Capitoline (Jove) = Roman Jove, supposed to have fathered Scipio Africanus
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4937 eminence
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4938 track
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4939 at an angle, indirect
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4940 a way to approach [second syllable accented]
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4941 cape, promontory
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4942 crooked, twisting
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4943 extravagant
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4944 ring, band, circle
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4945 around
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4946 obedient [bisyllabic, first accented, “-eous” elided]
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4947 herd disguised = Odysseus/Ulysses’ men, turned by Circe into swine
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4948 like an organ or other similar instrument
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4949 thrust, force
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4950 unrivaled
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4951 insatiable
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4952 majestic, commanding
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4953 secluded
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4954 ecstasy
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4955 deficient
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4956 veiled with specious comments
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4957 prelude, preface, introduction
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4958 uttered, gave forth
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4959 (1) hesitate, (2) disagree about
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4960 capable of speech
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4961 from being
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4962 a marvel, extraordinary event
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4963 despicable
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4964 pleasing
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4965 snakes were thought to improve their eyesight by rubbing their eyes on fennel
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4966 snakes were reputed to suck milk from sheep and goats
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4967 are engaged in
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4968 tempting, charming
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4969 quickly
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4970 feeding ground
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4971 was able to
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4972 lacked
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4973 kept, confined
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4974 in between
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4975 vexatious
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4976 mistress, woman of rank and power
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4977 having a Spirit in his body
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4978 power, quality
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4979 demonstrated, tested, learned about
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4980 due number
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4981 that which is born of Nature, Nature’s offspring
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4982 a flat = level ground
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4983 close, near
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4984 guidance [second syllable accented]
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4985 composed, made [second syllable accented]
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4986 oily
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4987 envelops
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4988 a shaking movement
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4989 accompanies
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4990 i.e., the order forbidding that its fruit be eaten
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4991 useless, wasted
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4992 credibility
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4993 offspring
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4994 role
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4995 as if
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4996 rises and falls [bisyllabic?]
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4997 proper, decorous
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4998 actions
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4999 [raised as of some great matter to begin]
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5000 standing up, rising (to speak)
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5001 of right = rightful
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5002 knowledge
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5003 natural forces/substances that are productive of active phenomena
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5004 no matter how
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5005 God
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5006 venturing
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5007 kindle
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5008 uttered denunciations against
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5009 fitting, suitable, proper
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5010 sharing
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5011 they employ/make use of
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5012 the gods
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5013 reasons [noun]
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5014 signify
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5015 filled
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5016 all by itself
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5017 impregnated
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5018 favorably disposed, inclining
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5019 incited
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5020 test, taste
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5021 oral utterance
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5022 lack, need
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5023 plain language/terms
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5024 not rational
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5025 not to be suspected
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5026 [pronounced, in British English both then and now, /et/]
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5027 criminal
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5028 noticed, paid attention to
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5029 convivial
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5030 influence, power, effect
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5031 wisdom, understanding
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5032 hidden
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5033 defamed
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5034 left, allowed to
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5035 purpose
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5036 fed
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5037 concealed
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5038 way
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5039 share
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5040 is lacking
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5041 follow
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5042 consider
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5043 knowledge-containing
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5044 divining, prefiguring
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5045 wrongdoing
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5046 action
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5047 perceived, was conscious of
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5048 preface
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5049 soft, coaxing
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5050 at will = ready
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5051 deprived of
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5052 endowed, supplied, invested
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5053 to admiration = marvelously
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5054 to be as he has said they would be
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5055 amplified, expanded
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5056 to the extent that, if
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5057 a share
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5058 fortune, destiny
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5059 cheerful, gay
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5060 intoxication, derangement
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5061 stunned, astonished
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5062 prostrate
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5063 went slack
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5064 fell off, scattered
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5065 doomed
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5066 company
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5067 abandoned, forsaken, desolate, lost
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5068 never be
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5069 condition, manner of existing
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5070 strengthened, soothed
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5071 criminal, infamous
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5072 already tasted
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5073 polluted
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5074 accessible, general, free
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5075 unsanctified
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5076 resolved, determined
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5077 equivalent, equal
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5078 accompany, attend
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5079 powerful, convincing, unavoidable
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5080 extremely great, surpassing excellence
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5081 manifestation
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5082 but short = but since I am short (have less of)
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5083 achieve (such emulation)
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5084 circumstance
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5085 conspicuously [four syllables, first and third accented]
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5086 were it = were it that
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5087 as threatened
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5088 follow
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5089 undergo, endure, bear, experience
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5090 deed, action
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5091 destructive, fatal
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5092 recently
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5093 influenced, won over
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5094 foolishly
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5095 darkened, threatened
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5096 finishing
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5097 primary, first
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5098 repeat
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5099 effect
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5100 amorous play
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5101 strict
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5102 correct, delicate, graceful, polite
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5103 which is of
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5104 wisdom
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5105 quality, character
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5106 sense of taste
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5107 sensible, wise, having sound judgment
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5108 furnished, provided
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5109 enjoyment of taste
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5110 gift, kindness
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5111 potent, powerful
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5112 caress
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5113 a hollow among hills
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5114 diversion, sport, games
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5115 amply, at length
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5116 moist
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5117 pressed down on
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5118 deceitful
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5119 genial
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5120 unnatural
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5121 burdened, hampered, embarrassed, clogged
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5122 turmoil, disturbance
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5123 rightful, proper
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5124 quality of conforming to moral or divine law
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5125 had gone from
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5126 covered himself
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5127 of the tribe of Dan
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5128 Philistine [four syllables, first and third accented]
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5129 Samson’s traitorous wife [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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5130 defeated, overthrown, brought to nought
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5131 afflicted
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5132 customary
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5133 lust
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5134 evil store = an abundance of evil
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5135 worst, final
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5136 hidden
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5137 (1) shade, (2) the foliage that produces shade
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5138 God or Angels
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5139 peril, danger
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5140 offensive
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5141 most improperly
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5142 the banyan
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5143 western India
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5144 southern India
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5145 shield
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5146 belted
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5147 belt
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5148 screened, shielded, protected
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5149 understanding’s
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5150 counsel, advice
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5151 both of them (Adam and Eve)
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5152 power, authority, rule
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5153 disordered
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5154 alienated
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5155 tone
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5156 interrupted
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5157 begged earnestly, supplicated
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5158 robbed, stripped
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5159 own
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5160 quickly
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5161 easily persuaded
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5162 oppose, contradict
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5163 clearly, distinctly, openly
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5164 send away
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5165 as unchangeable
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5166 enjoyed
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5167 confident
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5168 thing, affair, events, circumstances
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5169 test, endeavor, experiment
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5170 regret, repent
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5171 happen, occur
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5172 [noun]
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5173 follow
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5174 [con test]
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5175 confirm, pronounce
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5176 infamous
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5177 spiteful
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5178 corrupted
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5179 complete
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5180 Adam and Eve
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5181 always
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5182 complexly, in multiple fashion
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5183 corrupted, injured, broke, destroyed
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5184 had happened/occurred
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5185 responsible
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5186 clear
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5187 guiltless
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5188 demonstrated
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5189 responsibility, trust
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5190 truest, purest
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5191 predicted
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5192 recently
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5193 succeed
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5194 had to be
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5195 weight
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5196 force
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5197 his will’s
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5198 remains
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5199 except
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5200 deadly
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5201 be passed
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5202 proclaimed
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5203 lenity, mercy, indulgence
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5204 release (from a debt)
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5205 “Justice must not be scorned (treated with contempt) as the free gift of kindness (bounty) has been”
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5206 one who rules by deputed power, appointed by a ruler to exercise certain powers
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5207 joined
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5208 planned, intended
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5209 descend, fall
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5210 I possess/hold
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5211 alleviate, abate
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5212 judgment, sentence
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5213 conveyed, transferred
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5214 explain, make clear, elucidate
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5215 set free from doubt, convinced
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5216 pacify
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5217 escort, attending company
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5218 be needed
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5219 Satan
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5220 i.e., from the process of judgment, as applied to Adam and Eve
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5221 proved guilty
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5222 proof, demonstration
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5223 i.e., the animal whose body was appropriated, wrongly and without consent, by Satan
Return to text.

5224 parallel, side by side
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5225 attendant
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5226 descent
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5227 mediator
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5228 received
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5229 either
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5230 visible
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5231 disconcerted, abashed
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5232 disturbed, unsettled, agitated
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5233 visible
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5234 abusive language
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5235 instruction, order, mandate
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5236 assailed
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5237 narrow pathway
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5238 suffer, bear
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5239 miserable
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5240 (1) unbearable, unendurable, (2) unjustifiable
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5241 come upon
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5242 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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5243 [trisyllabic, second accented]
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5244 merely, simply
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5245 true
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5246 worth, excellence, honor
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5247 rule, direction
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5248 unfit, improper
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5249 office, role
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5250 quickly
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5251 babbling, talkative
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5252 polluted from the end = corrupted away from the purpose
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5253 faulty, corrupt
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5254 finally
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5255 judgment, sentence
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5256 occult, obscure
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5257 creatures
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5258 crush, smash, break
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5259 Christ’s
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5260 captured
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5261 display (of force)
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5262 wrongfully appropriated
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5263 Christ
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5264 Christ
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5265 the serpent’s
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5266 his fatal bruise = the Crucifixion
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5267 action of conceiving (becoming pregnant)
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5268 unasked, uninvited, uncommanded
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5269 proclaimed
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5270 youthful coat = sloughed-off skin
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5271 exchanged
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5272 not much = not at all
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5273 shameful, injurious
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5274 satisfied [adjective]
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5275 view from opposite sides
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5276 extraordinary, enormous, excessive, hyperviolent/gross/wrong
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5277 i.e., opening the way (and the gates) for Satan
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5278 place, abode
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5279 rule, control
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5280 [adjective, modifying “dominion”]
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5281 draws me on = leads me on
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5282 whether, either
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5283 affinity, harmony
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5284 congenial
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5285 is powerful
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5286 profound depth
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5287 not affording passage
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5288 enterprising
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5289 create
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5290 mainland
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5291 communication, passage
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5292 mistake
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5293 miss, mistake
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5294 breathe
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5295 I taste
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5296 take in hand, attempt
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5297 absent
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5298 fatal
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5299 shape
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5300 perceiving by smell
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5301 separately
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5302 fluttering, flapping
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5303 whatever
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5304 swimming together
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5305 Arctic, Satanian: frozen, northern
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5306 block, close up
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5307 fancied
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5308 the River Pechora, in Siberia, flowing down from the Urals into the Arctic Ocean
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5309 Cathay = China
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5310 muddy/wet places
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5311 causing things to be petrified/turned to stone
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5312 three-pronged fish spear or scepter: wielded by Neptune in creating the Cyclades (islands in the Aegean)
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5313 one of the Cyclades: it floated until Zeus fixed it in place, for the birth of Apollo and Diana/Artemis
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5314 the most famous (and the only mortal) Gorgon, Medusa, turned to stone anyone who looked at her
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5315 harshness, strictness
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5316 blackish mineral, containing among other things pitch
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5317 seashore
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5318 mass, massive structure
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5319 worked
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5320 the primum mobile or other shell of the universe
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5321 (1) without a safeguarding fence, (2) defenseless
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5322 given up
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5323 easy
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5324 Persian king who invaded Greece in 480 B.C.
Return to text.

5325 biblical Shushan, founded by Tithonus, Memnon’s father
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5326 the Dardenelles, the strait between Turkey and southeastern Europe
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5327 beat, whip
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5328 bridge-making
Return to text.

5329 suspended, hanging
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5330 disturbed
Return to text.

5331 descended
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5332 flying, flight
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5333 regions, borders
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5334 pushed itself in
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5335 different
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5336 roads, paths
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5337 discovered
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5338 turning, moving
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5339 i.e., steering a central course, through the high point of the sky
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5340 the sun (Uriel) rises under the sign of Aries; it is opposite to Scorpio, which is near Centaurus
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5341 recognized
Return to text.

5342 unnoticed
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5343 unknowing
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5344 covering
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5345 Christ’s/God’s
Return to text.

5346 he (Satan) returned
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5347 luckless
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5348 filled
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5349 follow after
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5350 inevitable, deadly
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5351 relationship, connection
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5352 (1) to build/establish a position/structure of defense, (2) to become powerful
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5353 (1) marvelous, prodigious, (2) bearing portents, omens, signs
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5354 with odds = and more (“and then some!”)
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5355 defeat, repulse
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5356 rule
Return to text.

5357 decision, judgment
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5358 turned away
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5359 Heaven is square
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5360 the earth and all our world/universe is round/globular
Return to text.

5361 test
Return to text.

5362 i.e., on earth
Return to text.

5363 slave
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5364 invested with full power/authority
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5365 i.e., the “new kingdom” has, by his action, been exposed to sin and death
Return to text.

5366 action
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5367 loss, damage
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5368 poison, destruction
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5369 suddenly infected
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5370 (though planets usually influence the earth, they are now struck, in their turn, by the activities of Sin and Death)
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5371 [bisyllabic, second accented]
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5372 darkening, loss of splendor
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5373 causeway
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5374 divided-into-parts
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5375 cried out
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5376 walls, gates
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5377 withdrawn
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5378 compared
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5379 anxious, apprehensive
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5380 cut off, stop, hinder
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5381 [adjective, modifying “emperor”]
Return to text.

5382 i.e., had earlier commanded
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5383 near the mouth of the Volga
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5384 Persian ruler
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5385 greater Armenia
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5386 Tabriz, in northwestern Persia
Return to text.

5387 Kazvin, in northern Persia
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5388 recently
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5389 deserted
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5390 outermost
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5391 drawing together
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5392 unnoticed
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5393 appearance
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5394 of low rank
Return to text.

5395 soldier
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5396 canopy
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5397 gleaming
Return to text.

5398 hellish
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5399 directed, turned
Return to text.

5400 gaze
Return to text.

5401 (1) hall of state, (2) raised floor area, used (with pillows) as a kind of couch or sofa
Return to text.

5402 unformed
Return to text.

5403 unknown
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5404 travel
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5405 stubborn, difficult, unmanageable
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5406 possessing no creator, since existing from the very beginning
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5407 unfamiliar
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5408 rumor, report
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5409 product
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5410 complete
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5411 beguiled, led astray
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5412 (although there are no stage directions, this being an epic poem and not a drama, Milton clearly intends at this point a burst of laughter from Satan’s devilish audience)
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5413 God
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5414 sudden attack
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5415 move hither and thither
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5416 break, smash, crush
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5417 ordained, established, fixed
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5418 brought low, stumbling
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5419 struggling
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5420 sentence
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5421 presumptuous, audacious
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5422 tumult, disorder, violence
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5423 twisted/twined together
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5424 mythical serpent with a head at each end
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5425 mythical water snake
Return to text.

5426 swordfish?
Return to text.

5427 dismal, melancholy
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5428 the bite of which caused intense thirst
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5429 serpents grew from Gorgon blood
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5430 “full of snakes”: one of the Balearic Islands
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5431 the dragon whom
Return to text.

5432 the Pythia = the prophetess of Apollo
Return to text.

5433 i.e., the sun’s heat engenders the monster in the mud (“slime”) of the Nile River
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5434 Satan
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5435 mob, crowd
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5436 in station = at their proper post
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5437 proper
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5438 proud, erect
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5439 corruption
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5440 alike
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5441 along with
Return to text.

5442 make worse, weigh down, exasperate
Return to text.

5443 view
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5444 unfamiliar
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5445 a Fury, all three of whom had snakes in their hair
Return to text.

5446 pitchy
Return to text.

5447 the Dead Sea
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5448 foolishly
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5449 gusto
Return to text.

5450 nauseated
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5451 aversion, disgust
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5452 triumphed over
Return to text.

5453 i.e., only once
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5454 extreme hunger
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5455 on certain
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5456 depress, frustrate
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5457 relate/transmit as a tradition [verb]
Return to text.

5458 spread about
Return to text.

5459 booty
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5460 “snake”: a Titan, first ruler of Olympus
Return to text.

5461 “wide-ruling”: Ophion’s wife
Return to text.

5462 i.e., more or less the pagan equivalent of Eve?
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5463 Ops/Rhea/Cybele: wife of Cronos
Return to text.

5464 Dictaean Jove = Dicte, mountain in Crete, where Jove/Jupiter/Zeus grew up
Return to text.

5465 at one time
Return to text.

5466 actuated/made actual by Adam and Eve
Return to text.

5467 see Revelation 6:8
Return to text.

5468 quickly
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5469 suffer, am tormented/troubled
Return to text.

5470 prey
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5471 not limited/bound by his body
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5472 a body, living or dead
Return to text.

5473 plain, rude
Return to text.

5474 mercilessly
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5475 in different
Return to text.

5476 ripen
Return to text.

5477 consume, diminish, destroy
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5478 devastate, destroy
Return to text.

5479 attribute, ascribe
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5480 permit, allow
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5481 winking, tactly permitting
Return to text.

5482 reward, oblige
Return to text.

5483 carried away
Return to text.

5484 renounced, abandoned
Return to text.

5485 at random = without consideration/care/control, purposelessly, heedlessly
Return to text.

5486 dregs, refuse
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5487 till the time when
Return to text.

5488 filled/stuffed to excess
Return to text.

5489 glutted, satiated
Return to text.

5490 almost
Return to text.

5491 sucked-dry?
Return to text.

5492 chokingly/sickeningly overfilled
Return to text.

5493 garbage, rubbish, putrid flesh
Return to text.

5494 throw, fling
Return to text.

5495 gaping
Return to text.

5496 will obstruct
Return to text.

5497 saintliness, holiness
Return to text.

5498 takes precedence
Return to text.

5499 like
Return to text.

5500 weaken, lessen
Return to text.

5501 i.e., next they sang
Return to text.

5502 different tasks/responsibilities/mandates
Return to text.

5503 fitted
Return to text.

5504 order, authoritative command
Return to text.

5505 feeble, worn out
Return to text.

5506 connected with the solstice, i.e., when the sun is halfway between the two equinoxes and, in the summer, at its farthest point from the equator
Return to text.

5507 pale, white
Return to text.

5508 planets
Return to text.

5509 relative positions of the planets, as seen from the earth
Return to text.

5510 two heavenly bodies at 60-degree angles from one another (60 degrees = one-sixth of the whole zodiac)
Return to text.

5511 two heavenly bodies at 90-degree angles from one another
Return to text.

5512 two heavenly bodies at 120-degree angles from one another
Return to text.

5513 two heavenly bodies at 180-degree angles from one another
Return to text.

5514 harmful, unwholesome
Return to text.

5515 conjunction
Return to text.

5516 the fixed = the fixed stars, in the eighth of the heavenly spheres
Return to text.

5517 stormy, passionate [trisyllabic, second accented, “-uous” elided]
Return to text.

5518 north, east, south, west
Return to text.

5519 storming, raging
Return to text.

5520 throw into confusion/disorder
Return to text.

5521 sideways
Return to text.

5522 at a slanting angle
Return to text.

5523 centric globe = the earth, which was at the center
Return to text.

5524 Apollo’s chariot
Return to text.

5525 celestial equator
Return to text.

5526 equally
Return to text.

5527 the Bull
Return to text.

5528 the Pleiades
Return to text.

5529 Gemini
Return to text.

5530 Cancer
Return to text.

5531 (1) without delay, rapidly, (2) exceedingly
Return to text.

5532 the Lion
Return to text.

5533 Virgo
Return to text.

5534 Libra
Return to text.

5535 otherwise
Return to text.

5536 blossoming
Return to text.

5537 undarkened
Return to text.

5538 make up for
Return to text.

5539 Labrador
Return to text.

5540 strait at the extreme southern tip of South America
Return to text.

5541 i.e., when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit
Return to text.

5542 Atreus, Thyestes’ brother, killed Thyestes’ sons and served them to their father at a banquet
Return to text.

5543 world inhabited = inhabited world
Return to text.

5544 nipping, painful
Return to text.

5545 equivalent
Return to text.

5546 from the malign stars
Return to text.

5547 New England
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5548 Samoed shore = Siberia
Return to text.

5549 i.e., the cave of the winds, in which Aeolus, god of the winds, kept the winds in confinement, when they were not blowing
Return to text.

5550 burst of wind
Return to text.

5551 a north wind
Return to text.

5552 a north wind
Return to text.

5553 a north wind
Return to text.

5554 a north wind
Return to text.

5555 the opposite
Return to text.

5556 a south wind
Return to text.

5557 a south wind
Return to text.

5558 Sierra Leone, in Africa
Return to text.

5559 thwart of = across
Return to text.

5560 equally
Return to text.

5561 Euras/Levant is an east wind
Return to text.

5562 Ponent/Zephyr is a west wind
Return to text.

5563 coming from the horizon: east/west rather than north/south
Return to text.

5564 clamor, loud/harsh sound
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5565 a southeast wind
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5566 a southwest wind
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5567 riot, violence
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5568 irrational creatures [probably, from Latin influence, four syllables, first and third accented]
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5569 settled aversion, contrariety of feeling/disposition
Return to text.

5570 leaving off
Return to text.

5571 fierce, savage
Return to text.

5572 from without = in addition to
Return to text.

5573 “he, Adam, sought”
Return to text.

5574 from, instead of
Return to text.

5575 recently
Return to text.

5576 from, instead of
Return to text.

5577 it would be well/all right
Return to text.

5578 want to
Return to text.

5579 satisfy, be useful, answer the requirements, meet the needs of the case, suit, fit
Return to text.

5580 multiplied, spread
Return to text.

5581 follow
Return to text.

5582 curse
Return to text.

5583 mine own = mine own curses
Return to text.

5584 remain, continue
Return to text.

5585 flowing back
Return to text.

5586 surge, turn back
Return to text.

5587 fall, descend
Return to text.

5588 proper order
Return to text.

5589 advance
Return to text.

5590 luxurious, highly pleasing
Return to text.

5591 agreed
Return to text.

5592 surrender
Return to text.

5593 himself, Adam
Return to text.

5594 himself, Adam
Return to text.

5595 captiously object to/find fault with
Return to text.

5596 permission
Return to text.

5597 himself, Adam
Return to text.

5598 receive, permit
Return to text.

5599 choice
Return to text.

5600 procreated, generated
Return to text.

5601 judgment
Return to text.

5602 settled, determined
Return to text.

5603 this day = today
Return to text.

5604 live too long
Return to text.

5605 deprived of sensation, unconscious
Return to text.

5606 confident, safe, free from fear/anxiety
Return to text.

5607 completely, entirely
Return to text.

5608 corporeal clod = earthen body
Return to text.

5609 relieve, calm
Return to text.

5610 fated, destined
Return to text.

5611 considered, thought
Return to text.

5612 fact, proof
Return to text.

5613 severity
Return to text.

5614 all causes else = all other causes
Return to text.

5615 absorption, taking in
Return to text.

5616 i.e., causes act according to the capacity of what they work upon; what the cause of something may be capable of is, in this sense, irrelevant
Return to text.

5617 depriving, taking away
Return to text.

5618 inside
Return to text.

5619 outside
Return to text.

5620 turning/spinning motion
Return to text.

5621 immaterial (spiritual) rather than material (bodily)
Return to text.

5622 alone
Return to text.

5623 use up, consume
Return to text.

5624 corrupted
Return to text.

5625 along with me, just as I do/have
Return to text.

5626 of necessity
Return to text.

5627 falls
Return to text.

5628 foolish
Return to text.

5629 himself, Adam
Return to text.

5630 shared
Return to text.

5631 Eve
Return to text.

5632 similar
Return to text.

5633 sentence, judgment
Return to text.

5634 conscience
Return to text.

5635 before
Return to text.

5636 noxious exhalations/vapors
Return to text.

5637 Adam’s
Return to text.

5638 exhibited, showed
Return to text.

5639 already announced/proclaimed
Return to text.

5640 [four syllables, first and third accented: ACCepTABle]
Return to text.

5641 sets right
Return to text.

5642 not long ago
Return to text.

5643 ring out, reëcho
Return to text.

5644 attempted
Return to text.

5645 suits
Return to text.

5646 allied
Return to text.

5647 as Satan is
Return to text.

5648 is missing
Return to text.

5649 held, as if a mask or screen, in front of her, to conceal the “hellish falsehood” behind it
Return to text.

5650 except
Return to text.

5651 would have
Return to text.

5652 remained
Return to text.

5653 vagrant, wanton, uncertain
Return to text.

5654 thinking arrogantly/presumptuously
Return to text.

5655 overpower, outdo, get the better of
Return to text.

5656 imagined by me
Return to text.

5657 not understood by me
Return to text.

5658 (1) the left side, (2) darkly suspicious/dishonest/corrupt
Return to text.

5659 withdrawn, taken
Return to text.

5660 unnecessary, superfluous [five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
Return to text.

5661 i.e., his correct/right/true number is one (only himself), not two (with her—superfluously—added)
Return to text.

5662 like
Return to text.

5663 procreate
Return to text.

5664 been befallen = happened, occurred
Return to text.

5665 strait conjunction = narrow connection (“conjunction” carrying heavy sexual overtones)
Return to text.

5666 proper, suitable
Return to text.

5667 the woman
Return to text.

5668 obstinacy, contrariness, wickedness
Return to text.

5669 a far worse = a far worse man than himself
Return to text.

5670 him
Return to text.

5671 (1) fierce, cruel, (2) clever
Return to text.

5672 antagonist, enemy
Return to text.

5673 destroy
Return to text.

5674 thus, thereby
Return to text.

5675 begged earnestly for
Return to text.

5676 amity, end of hostilities
Return to text.

5677 renounce, abandon
Return to text.

5678 unknowingly
Return to text.

5679 deprive
Return to text.

5680 whereon I live = of that upon which I live
Return to text.

5681 mild, generous, courteous
Return to text.

5682 extreme, greatest
Return to text.

5683 support
Return to text.

5684 forsaken, abandoned
Return to text.

5685 go, turn
Return to text.

5686 exist, live
Return to text.

5687 definite, fixed, exact
Return to text.

5688 fall, descend
Return to text.

5689 abject, humble
Return to text.

5690 (1) condition, state, (2) pledge, undertaking
Return to text.

5691 (1) stationary, fixed, (2) unalterable, not subject to change
Return to text.

5692 lamented, deeply regretted
Return to text.

5693 worked
Return to text.

5694 compassion, pity, sorrow
Return to text.

5695 recently
Return to text.

5696 quickly
Return to text.

5697 moral weakness, instability of mind
Return to text.

5698 weaker
Return to text.

5699 entrusted
Return to text.

5700 imperiled, made subject/open to danger (since he allowed her to go to her labor alone that day)
Return to text.

5701 fight
Return to text.

5702 services, duties, attentions
Return to text.

5703 proclaimed
Return to text.

5704 apprehend, understand
Return to text.

5705 transmitted
Return to text.

5706 just event = equitable/impartial/rightful result/outcome
Return to text.

5707 defrauded, beguiled of
Return to text.

5708 (1) proper, (2) necessary, (3) owed
Return to text.

5709 to be depressed/sick/weak
Return to text.

5710 person, body: Eve herself
Return to text.

5711 short work (of it)
Return to text.

5712 function, service
Return to text.

5713 intense, passionate, excited
Return to text.

5714 maintained, experienced
Return to text.

5715 moved, ruled, diverted (turned)
Return to text.

5716 more attentive = steadier
Return to text.

5717 despises
Return to text.

5718 sentence, judgment
Return to text.

5719 willful disobedience, perversity
Return to text.

5720 smash, destroy, break
Return to text.

5721 resolved/decided on
Return to text.

5722 thus
Return to text.

5723 (1) concerns [verb], (2) pleases [verb]
Return to text.

5724 bitterness, spitefulness
Return to text.

5725 spite
Return to text.

5726 resistance
Return to text.

5727 disintegration, decomposition
Return to text.

5728 slantwise
Return to text.

5729 struck and glided, passed quickly
Return to text.

5730 (1) well-timed, (2) early
Return to text.

5731 harsh, pitiless
Return to text.

5732 unstable, changeable
Return to text.

5733 dwelling, cover
Return to text.

5734 of/belonging to the day
Return to text.

5735 the sun
Return to text.

5736 dry
Return to text.

5737 rouse, excite
Return to text.

5738 rub, harass
Return to text.

5739 by friction
Return to text.

5740 recently
Return to text.

5741 pushing, shoving, knocking against
Return to text.

5742 violent, harsh
Return to text.

5743 kindle
Return to text.

5744 transverse
Return to text.

5745 if we pray to Him
Return to text.

5746 conveniently
Return to text.

5747 going
Return to text.

5748 often, habitually
Return to text.

5749 [four syllables, first and third accented]
Return to text.

5750 i.e., the prayers
Return to text.

5751 i.e., Adam and Eve
Return to text.

5752 golden covering placed over the Ark of the Covenant; regarded as God’s resting place and thus the seat of mercy
Return to text.

5753 anticipatory
Return to text.

5754 reborn, reformed, restored
Return to text.

5755 [five syllables, second and fourth accented]
Return to text.

5756 demeanor
Return to text.

5757 inferior, poor
Return to text.

5758 Prometheus’ son, and the “Noah” of classical myth
Return to text.

5759 Deucalion’s wife
Return to text.

5760 [adjective]
Return to text.

5761 a Titan, daughter of Gaia (earth) by Zeus: goddess of justice
Return to text.

5762 straying, wandering
Return to text.

5763 the prayers
Return to text.

5764 having no material being/body
Return to text.

5765 smoked
Return to text.

5766 near
Return to text.

5767 Christ
Return to text.

5768 container in which incense is burned
Return to text.

5769 tilling, cultivating
Return to text.

5770 atonement, expiation, sacrifice
Return to text.

5771 implant, transfer
Return to text.

5772 i.e., the good works of man
Return to text.

5773 i.e., the not good works of man
Return to text.

5774 accept me = receive me with favor
Return to text.

5775 darkening of His countenance
Return to text.

5776 Adam
Return to text.

5777 purge him off = purify him away
Return to text.

5778 disorder, derangement
Return to text.

5779 dispose him = make him fit
Return to text.

5780 happiness
Return to text.

5781 foolishly
Return to text.

5782 immortality
Return to text.

5783 make eternal/everlasting
Return to text.

5784 tested
Return to text.

5785 misery, distress, vexation
Return to text.

5786 renewal of the body at the Resurrection
Return to text.

5787 restores (yields up), repays, rewards, produces
Return to text.

5788 sinning
Return to text.

5789 not long ago
Return to text.

5790 rank, position
Return to text.

5791 Horeb/Mt. Sinai
Return to text.

5792 general doom = Judgment Day
Return to text.

5793 mythical flower that never fades
Return to text.

5794 going, proceeding
Return to text.

5795 forbidden
Return to text.

5796 inward promptings, workings
Return to text.

5797 but for a longer period
Return to text.

5798 have known
Return to text.

5799 left to itself
Return to text.

5800 command
Return to text.

5801 or in = whether on
Return to text.

5802 i.e., the Garden of Eden, about to become vacant
Return to text.

5803 pity
Return to text.

5804 proclaim, announce
Return to text.

5805 lose heart/courage, droop
Return to text.

5806 mournful
Return to text.

5807 stated, pressed
Return to text.

5808 miserable
Return to text.

5809 intermingle, blend in
Return to text.

5810 welcoming place [four syllables, first and third accented]
Return to text.

5811 band
Return to text.

5812 double-faced god of gates
Return to text.

5813 hundred-eyed spy for Jove/Jupiter/Zeus
Return to text.

5814 messenger of Jove
Return to text.

5815 opiate rod = sleep-inducing staff
Return to text.

5816 goddess of dawn [trisyllabic, second accented, “-thea” elided]
Return to text.

5817 anointed
Return to text.

5818 prayers
Return to text.

5819 Adam’s
Return to text.

5820 efficaciously, powerfully
Return to text.

5821 will do
Return to text.

5822 sinned against
Return to text.

5823 gentle, forgiving
Return to text.

5824 smash, crush, destroy
Return to text.

5825 thought of, remembered
Return to text.

5826 (1) sad, (2) sober
Return to text.

5827 pleasing, gracious
Return to text.

5828 to thou
Return to text.

5829 so high, thus high
Return to text.

5830 title
Return to text.

5831 granted, deigned, condescended
Return to text.

5832 “now the labor is….
Return to text.

5833 imposed
Return to text.

5834 tired, laborious
Return to text.

5835 assented, agreed
Return to text.

5836 produced on, communicated through
Return to text.

5837 darkened, obscured
Return to text.

5838 rosy gleam
Return to text.

5839 the eagle
Return to text.

5840 swiftly descended
Return to text.

5841 circuit
Return to text.

5842 the lion
Return to text.

5843 pair
Return to text.

5844 hart and hind = stag and doe (male and female deer)
Return to text.

5845 perhaps
Return to text.

5846 confident
Return to text.

5847 because of
Return to text.

5848 liberation
Return to text.

5849 more bright = brighter
Return to text.

5850 filled
Return to text.

5851 this time
Return to text.

5852 jasper is a highly variegated colored form of quartz
Return to text.

5853 manifestation, appearance
Return to text.

5854 bodily
Return to text.

5855 “that ‘apparition’ was not more glorious when….
Return to text.

5856 “tents of angels”
Return to text.

5857 pavilioned = covered with the tents of
Return to text.

5858 “And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host”—Genesis 32:1–2
Return to text.

5859 see 2 Kings 6
Return to text.

5860 the prophet Elisha
Return to text.

5861 treacherously
Return to text.

5862 made, commenced
Return to text.

5863 Michael
Return to text.

5864 the formation in which the Cherubim had halted
Return to text.

5865 decide, resolve, end
Return to text.

5866 lowest rank
Return to text.

5867 clothes
Return to text.

5868 [four syllables, first and third accented]
Return to text.

5869 trust, have confidence in
Return to text.

5870 lofty, exalted
Return to text.

5871 luminous, bright
Return to text.

5872 armor
Return to text.

5873 loose robe
Return to text.

5874 more brilliant/vivid
Return to text.

5875 Thessalian town famous for its bright purple dye
Return to text.

5876 dyed cloth
Return to text.

5877 Tyre, Phoenician seaport, now in Lebanon
Return to text.

5878 goddess of the rainbow
Return to text.

5879 thread
Return to text.

5880 helmet
Return to text.

5881 belt of stars
Return to text.

5882 see Book 6, lines 320–27, above
Return to text.

5883 i.e., the archangel Michael
Return to text.

5884 high rank, dignity
Return to text.

5885 command
Return to text.

5886 compensate for
Return to text.

5887 completely
Return to text.

5888 greedy, grasping
Return to text.

5889 cultivate
Return to text.

5890 held fast, tied up
Return to text.

5891 disclosed, revealed
Return to text.

5892 quickly
Return to text.

5893 withdrawal
Return to text.

5894 delay, temporary extension of time
Return to text.

5895 fatal
Return to text.

5896 stop, visit
Return to text.

5897 gentle
Return to text.

5898 arrange
Return to text.

5899 water you
Return to text.

5900 compared to
Return to text.

5901 dark
Return to text.

5902 accustomed as we are
Return to text.

5903 over-fond = over-affectionate
Return to text.

5904 daze, stupor, depression
Return to text.

5905 carrying out, executing
Return to text.

5906 secluded place
Return to text.

5907 persistent
Return to text.

5908 smothering
Return to text.

5909 visit often [verb, second syllable accented]
Return to text.

5910 (1) pleasing, (2) feeling gratitude
Return to text.

5911 lower
Return to text.

5912 offspring, descendants
Return to text.

5913 outermost
Return to text.

5914 (1) bottom part of God’s robe, (2) outlying boundaries of His kingdom
Return to text.

5915 species
Return to text.

5916 bathed with warm lotions, cherished/roused/stirred up
Return to text.

5917 nourishing
Return to text.

5918 [four syllables, first and third accented]
Return to text.

5919 flat, level
Return to text.

5920 exact, unmistakable
Return to text.

5921 lofty, exalted
Return to text.

5922 disputing, struggling, fighting
Return to text.

5923 alloy
Return to text.

5924 fatal
Return to text.

5925 steeped (drugged)
Return to text.

5926 sight of the future
Return to text.

5927 [verb]
Return to text.

5928 open, visible
Return to text.

5929 “…the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither. In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain….—Ezekiel 40:1–2
Return to text.

5930 range of vision
Return to text.

5931 [the full verb is “lay stretched out”]
Return to text.

5932 view
Return to text.

5933 Christ
Return to text.

5934 Adam’s
Return to text.

5935 Peiping (Beijing), capital of Cathay/China
Return to text.

5936 khan, emperor
Return to text.

5937 capital of Temir/Tamerlane’s Tatar empire
Return to text.

5938 Asian river, flowing from Turkey/Afghanistan to the Aral Sea in Siberia
Return to text.

5939 Peiping (Beijing)
Return to text.

5940 Chinese
Return to text.

5941 a Mogul capital in southern India
Return to text.

5942 a Mogul capital in northern India
Return to text.

5943 Malacca
Return to text.

5944 Hamadan, ancient summer capital of Persian kings
Return to text.

5945 Isfahan, city in what is now Malaysia
Return to text.

5946 Byzantium/Istanbul
Return to text.

5947 Turkestan is a country in central Asia
Return to text.

5948 see
Return to text.

5949 name of Abyssinian king
Return to text.

5950 now Archico, port city on the Red Sea
Return to text.

5951 Mombasa, in modern Kenya
Return to text.

5952 Kilwa, in modern Tanzania
Return to text.

5953 Malindi, in modern Kenya
Return to text.

5954 port city in what is now Mozambique
Return to text.

5955 thought to be
Return to text.

5956 biblical land from which King Solomon obtained gold for the building of the Temple
Return to text.

5957 river
Return to text.

5958 in modern Mauritania
Return to text.

5959 d. 1002, Muslim ruler in Spain and northern Africa
Return to text.

5960 Fez and Sus are both in Morocco
Return to text.

5961 modern Tlemcen, in Algeria
Return to text.

5962 Montezuma, Aztec emperor of Mexico
Return to text.

5963 capital of the Inca empire; now Cuzco, in modern Peru
Return to text.

5964 Atahuallpa, Inca ruler [five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
Return to text.

5965 the Spanish: Geryon = monster, native to Cadiz, in Spain, who was killed by Hercules
Return to text.

5966 herb used for treatment of eye diseases
Return to text.

5967 medicinal herb
Return to text.

5968 obliged, forced
Return to text.

5969 forbidden
Return to text.

5970 obtain by descent
Return to text.

5971 ploughland
Return to text.

5972 under cultivation
Return to text.

5973 sward, turf
Return to text.

5974 to the altar
Return to text.

5975 at once
Return to text.

5976 Cain
Return to text.

5977 unselected, a random choice
Return to text.

5978 such as first “came to hand”
Return to text.

5979 courteous
Return to text.

5980 internal organs, entrails
Return to text.

5981 favorable, gracious
Return to text.

5982 quick, sudden
Return to text.

5983 flash/movement
Return to text.

5984 other’s (Cain’s) = other’s offering
Return to text.

5985 Abel
Return to text.

5986 poured out freely
Return to text.

5987 harm, evil, misfortune
Return to text.

5988 (1) action, deed, (2) crime
Return to text.

5989 attested, confirmed
Return to text.

5990 thickened blood
Return to text.

5991 (1) natural, (2) of his birthplace
Return to text.

5992 [here, though usually bisyllabic, trisyllabic, first and third accented]
Return to text.

5993 “but there are many shapes”
Return to text.

5994 failure to abstain
Return to text.

5995 noxious, ill-smelling, offensive
Return to text.

5996 leper
Return to text.

5997 violent stretching/straining
Return to text.

5998 fits
Return to text.

5999 nasal discharge
Return to text.

6000 belly
Return to text.

6001 deranged, lunatic
Return to text.

6002 languishing, wasting
Return to text.

6003 wasting, emaciation
Return to text.

6004 a wasting disease
Return to text.

6005 bubonic plague
Return to text.

6006 swelling up of body parts
Return to text.

6007 hideous
Return to text.

6008 overcame
Return to text.

6009 dragged, wrenched
Return to text.

6010 thrust
Return to text.

6011 beautiful, graceful
Return to text.

6012 likeness
Return to text.

6013 degraded
Return to text.

6014 animal-like
Return to text.

6015 due
Return to text.

6016 transitions, journeys
Return to text.

6017 natural, congenital
Return to text.

6018 come, go
Return to text.

6019 blunted
Return to text.

6020 go/leave first
Return to text.

6021 now has (in old age)
Return to text.

6022 depression, stupor
Return to text.

6023 finally
Return to text.

6024 concerned, intending
Return to text.

6025 released, freed
Return to text.

6026 oppressive
Return to text.

6027 duty, responsibility
Return to text.

6028 rendering up = giving back
Return to text.

6029 wait for
Return to text.

6030 [trisyllabic]
Return to text.

6031 neither
Return to text.

6032 submit, allow
Return to text.

6033 “near some of the tents”
Return to text.

6034 harmony, accord
Return to text.

6035 he who
Return to text.

6036 rapid, flying
Return to text.

6037 imbued
Return to text.

6038 accidental
Return to text.

6039 worked
Return to text.

6040 fused, cast
Return to text.

6041 carved
Return to text.

6042 other
Return to text.

6043 appearance
Return to text.

6044 upright, righteous
Return to text.

6045 final
Return to text.

6046 company
Return to text.

6047 frivolous, lewd, unchaste
Return to text.

6048 songs
Return to text.

6049 came on = advanced, came forward
Return to text.

6050 serious, weighty, somber
Return to text.

6051 negotiate, deal
Return to text.

6052 Venus
Return to text.

6053 forerunner
Return to text.

6054 offered to
Return to text.

6055 summon
Return to text.

6056 god of marriage
Return to text.

6057 before anything else?
Return to text.

6058 fortunate
Return to text.

6059 meeting
Return to text.

6060 outcome
Return to text.

6061 pieces of music
Return to text.

6062 seized sympathetically
Return to text.

6063 confess, acknowledge
Return to text.

6064 propensity
Return to text.

6065 foreshadows
Return to text.

6066 goals, purposes
Return to text.

6067 proper, fitting
Return to text.

6068 compliance
Return to text.

6069 smoothen
Return to text.

6070 unusual, uncommon
Return to text.

6071 merry
Return to text.

6072 perfected
Return to text.

6073 wag
Return to text.

6074 snares, tricks
Return to text.

6075 at large = fully, when God sends down the Flood
Return to text.

6076 robbed, deprived
Return to text.

6077 began
Return to text.

6078 crooked, devious
Return to text.

6079 spiritless, oppressive
Return to text.

6080 course
Return to text.

6081 man’s woe = wo-man
Return to text.

6082 country, rustic
Return to text.

6083 assembled
Return to text.

6084 prowess, fame
Return to text.

6085 assembling
Return to text.

6086 choice [adjective]
Return to text.

6087 oxen
Return to text.

6088 cattle
Return to text.

6089 with life = alive
Return to text.

6090 [bisyllabic]
Return to text.

6091 fighting
Return to text.

6092 recently
Return to text.

6093 bloody
Return to text.

6094 battering rams
Return to text.

6095 ladders
Return to text.

6096 underground passages filled with gunpowder, which is then set off
Return to text.

6097 spear
Return to text.

6098 [bisyllabic]
Return to text.

6099 at once
Return to text.

6100 speeches
Return to text.

6101 i.e., split into parties
Return to text.

6102 Enoch: see Genesis 5:21–24
Return to text.

6103 behavior, deportment
Return to text.

6104 hooted at
Return to text.

6105 perished, been destroyed
Return to text.

6106 [trisyllabic]
Return to text.

6107 shrink
Return to text.

6108 join in marriage
Return to text.

6109 muddled
Return to text.

6110 strength, power
Return to text.

6111 proclaimed
Return to text.

6112 Enoch
Return to text.

6113 therefore hated = who was therefore hated
Return to text.

6114 assailed, invested, surrounded
Return to text.

6115 alone
Return to text.

6116 enveloped
Return to text.

6117 fragrant
Return to text.

6118 was given
Return to text.

6119 eternal bliss
Return to text.

6120 it came about, happened, occurred
Return to text.

6121 surpassing
Return to text.

6122 quarrels
Return to text.

6123 Noah
Return to text.

6124 wherever they
Return to text.

6125 struggling
Return to text.

6126 in large = a great deal
Return to text.

6127 as if
Return to text.

6128 i.e., the clouds’
Return to text.

6129 violently, with full force
Return to text.

6130 with great force [trisyllabic, second accented, “-uous” elided]
Return to text.

6131 brought forth young
Return to text.

6132 dwelled
Return to text.

6133 not long before
Return to text.

6134 boat
Return to text.

6135 barely, with difficulty
Return to text.

6136 dealt out, given
Return to text.

6137 descend, fall
Return to text.

6138 whom to warn = able to be warned
Return to text.

6139 be destroyed
Return to text.

6140 booty, spoil, plunder
Return to text.

6141 gluttony
Return to text.

6142 self-indulgence, capriciousness
Return to text.

6143 [contest]
Return to text.

6144 safely
Return to text.

6145 moderation
Return to text.

6146 tested
Return to text.

6147 debased, degraded
Return to text.

6148 corrupt
Return to text.

6149 Noah
Return to text.

6150 “good against that which is being done”
Return to text.

6151 enticement
Return to text.

6152 fashion
Return to text.

6153 sinful
Return to text.

6154 proclaiming
Return to text.

6155 stubbornness
Return to text.

6156 wreck, ruin
Return to text.

6157 chosen
Return to text.

6158 waterfalls
Return to text.

6159 producing hornlike branches, as it divides and each branch flows on
Return to text.

6160 destroyed
Return to text.

6161 the Euphrates?
Return to text.

6162 (1) the Perisan Gulf, in particular, or (2) the deep, in general
Return to text.

6163 whales
Return to text.

6164 seagulls
Return to text.

6165 harsh screams [noun]
Return to text.

6166 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
Return to text.

6167 no sanctity
Return to text.

6168 floating
Return to text.

6169 as if
Return to text.

6170 declined, dwindled
Return to text.

6171 from
Return to text.

6172 copiously
Return to text.

6173 quick-moving
Return to text.

6174 closed
Return to text.

6175 channels
Return to text.

6176 loud noise
Return to text.

6177 aging
Return to text.

6178 flowing water, here ebbing
Return to text.

6179 at once
Return to text.

6180 more trustworthy/steadfast/reliable
Return to text.

6181 then again
Return to text.

6182 fall, descend
Return to text.

6183 calm, tranquil
Return to text.

6184 quickly
Return to text.

6185 rainbow
Return to text.

6186 visible
Return to text.

6187 banded, striped
Return to text.

6188 signaling
Return to text.

6189 at first
Return to text.

6190 kept alive
Return to text.

6191 extended, spread out
Return to text.

6192 like
Return to text.

6193 border, edge
Return to text.

6194 cleverly
Return to text.

6195 give up, resign, surrender
Return to text.

6196 not long before
Return to text.

6197 regretting
Return to text.

6198 i.e., of having created man in the first place
Return to text.

6199 corrupted
Return to text.

6200 softens
Return to text.

6201 obliterate
Return to text.

6202 gray
Return to text.

6203 leaves off, breaks away
Return to text.

6204 determined, set
Return to text.

6205 put forward
Return to text.

6206 pleasing
Return to text.

6207 weaken
Return to text.

6208 origin, fountainhead
Return to text.

6209 a certain (substantial)
Return to text.

6210 swiftly
Return to text.

6211 young bull, bull calf
Return to text.

6212 unreproved
Return to text.

6213 Nimrod (“hunter”): see Genesis 10:8–10
Return to text.

6214 cast out, get rid of
Return to text.

6215 peace, harmony
Return to text.

6216 contempt, scorn
Return to text.

6217 Shinar
Return to text.

6218 pitchy
Return to text.

6219 whirlpool
Return to text.

6220 determine, decide
Return to text.

6221 the Tower of Babel: see Genesis 10:10 and 11:1–9
Return to text.

6222 differing, unstable
Return to text.

6223 erase, obliterate, sweep away, destroy
Return to text.

6224 scatter
Return to text.

6225 discordant, babbling
Return to text.

6226 rage, complain
Return to text.

6227 i.e., the act of building, not the structure being built
Return to text.

6228 “babble” (Babel)
Return to text.

6229 gift
Return to text.

6230 intrusion
Return to text.

6231 stops, remains
Return to text.

6232 assault
Return to text.

6233 waste, pain
Return to text.

6234 starve to death
Return to text.

6235 seeking
Return to text.

6236 notwithstanding
Return to text.

6237 capture, seize, snatch
Return to text.

6238 authority, direction
Return to text.

6239 enslave
Return to text.

6240 Ham, father of Canaan
Return to text.

6241 see Genesis 9:22–27
Return to text.

6242 depraved, corrupt, malignant
Return to text.

6243 special, singular
Return to text.

6244 the Jews
Return to text.

6245 Abraham
Return to text.

6246 deigns, condescends
Return to text.

6247 immediately
Return to text.

6248 west of the Euphrates and south of Babylon; the Chaldeans, a Semitic tribe, had migrated to southern Babylonia
Return to text.

6249 east of the Euphrates, in northwestern Mesopotamia
Return to text.

6250 those in servitude: servants
Return to text.

6251 Shechem, a city in central Palestine, north of Jerusalem
Return to text.

6252 in Syria, on the River Orontes
Return to text.

6253 Mt. Hermon, to the north: the highest peak in Palestine
Return to text.

6254 the Mediterranean
Return to text.

6255 in Haifa, now in Israel
Return to text.

6256 double-sourced
Return to text.

6257 landmark, boundary, border
Return to text.

6258 Abraham’s
Return to text.

6259 see I Chronicles 5:23
Return to text.

6260 Christ
Return to text.

6261 crush, smash, break
Return to text.

6262 soon
Return to text.

6263 due time = in the time that, properly, it should take
Return to text.

6264 Isaac
Return to text.

6265 Jacob
Return to text.

6266 emptying
Return to text.

6267 to lodge, to dwell temporarily
Return to text.

6268 Joseph
Return to text.

6269 scarcity, famine
Return to text.

6270 subsequent, following
Return to text.

6271 (1) occupant, (2) stranger, foreign
Return to text.

6272 [bisyllabic]
Return to text.

6273 from
Return to text.

6274 enslavement
Return to text.

6275 refuses
Return to text.

6276 not poured out from bodies
Return to text.

6277 thrusting/forcing in
Return to text.

6278 plague
Return to text.

6279 boils
Return to text.

6280 blisters
Return to text.

6281 cover, bulge with
Return to text.

6282 also all
Return to text.

6283 turn, sweep
Return to text.

6284 darkness
Return to text.

6285 potent, obvious
Return to text.

6286 Pharaoh
Return to text.

6287 not long before
Return to text.

6288 sent away
Return to text.

6289 army
Return to text.

6290 his former guests, the Jews
Return to text.

6291 as if
Return to text.

6292 controlled
Return to text.

6293 column
Return to text.

6294 take away, clear off, disappear (make disappear)
Return to text.

6295 unyielding, hardened in evil, insensible to moral influence
Return to text.

6296 prevents, wards off, prohibits
Return to text.

6297 in the space between the two groups, Egyptians and Jews
Return to text.

6298 derange
Return to text.

6299 Pharaoh’s
Return to text.

6300 shatter, smash, break
Return to text.

6301 in battle formation
Return to text.

6302 troops, soldiers
Return to text.

6303 [adjective]
Return to text.

6304 of the Red Sea
Return to text.

6305 quickest, shortest, most direct
Return to text.

6306 penetrating
Return to text.

6307 thus called to arms
Return to text.

6308 the Jews
Return to text.

6309 not experienced (as the Canaanites definitely were) in war
Return to text.

6310 lead/send them
Return to text.

6311 “not trained (or, by implication, not having anything to do with) weapons and armor (warfare), unless people are drawn on (led on) by reckless impetuosity”
Return to text.

6312 create, initiate, begin building
Return to text.

6313 council of seventy elders, chosen by Moses: see Exodus 24:1–9
Return to text.

6314 derived from the twelve sons of Jacob
Return to text.

6315 belong
Return to text.

6316 symbols
Return to text.

6317 images
Return to text.

6318 Christ
Return to text.

6319 smash, crush
Return to text.

6320 narrate, tell, speak
Return to text.

6321 image, emblem
Return to text.

6322 command
Return to text.

6323 coffer, chest
Return to text.

6324 divine law
Return to text.

6325 mercy-seat of gold = golden covering
Return to text.

6326 the ark? God Himself?
Return to text.

6327 i.e., one lamp for each of the seven known planets
Return to text.

6328 see Joshua 10:12
Return to text.

6329 Israel
Return to text.

6330 subdue, overcome
Return to text.

6331 depravity
Return to text.

6332 expose, reveal, show
Return to text.

6333 (1) insubstantial, (2) foreshadowing (Christ)
Return to text.

6334 atonements
Return to text.

6335 so that
Return to text.

6336 verification, i.e., freeing (justifying) man from the penalty of (original) sin, man being thus made righteous
Return to text.

6337 outward rites
Return to text.

6338 carry out, execute, accomplish
Return to text.

6339 (1) can be plainly seen, shown, (2) is declared
Return to text.

6340 only
Return to text.

6341 confidently yield themselves up to
Return to text.

6342 trained, educated
Return to text.

6343 images
Return to text.

6344 Christ
Return to text.

6345 except
Return to text.

6346 David
Return to text.

6347 same
Return to text.

6348 tell, declare, relate
Return to text.

6349 David’s
Return to text.

6350 Solomon
Return to text.

6351 recorded
Return to text.

6352 “added (heaped) to the sum (total: large) of the people’s (the popular) faults”
Return to text.

6353 as to = so as to make Him
Return to text.

6354 to be a
Return to text.

6355 the Babylonian Captivity, 606–536 B. C.
Return to text.

6356 bearing in mind
Return to text.

6357 established: as fixed as
Return to text.

6358 Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes
Return to text.

6359 made ready, so inclined
Return to text.

6360 rebuild
Return to text.

6361 poor/low
Return to text.

6362 condition, degree of prosperity
Return to text.

6363 watch over, look after
Return to text.

6364 strive for
Return to text.

6365 priests
Return to text.

6366 Antipater (a Roman appointee), father of Herod
Return to text.

6367 obstructed, hindered, excluded
Return to text.

6368 majestic
Return to text.

6369 Bethlehem
Return to text.

6370 in military formation
Return to text.

6371 overburdened
Return to text.

6372 outlet
Return to text.

6373 perfector
Return to text.

6374 capital bruise = injury to his head
Return to text.

6375 fatal (“capital” also = “fatal, mortal”)
Return to text.

6376 [bisyllabic]
Return to text.

6377 having spatial position
Return to text.

6378 defeat, trample
Return to text.

6379 Christ
Return to text.

6380 remedy
Return to text.

6381 Satan’s
Return to text.

6382 lack
Return to text.

6383 satisfied, repaid
Return to text.

6384 Christ
Return to text.

6385 shameful
Return to text.

6386 credited (to them)
Return to text.

6387 though their merits are based on
Return to text.

6388 lawful
Return to text.

6389 actions, deeds
Return to text.

6390 reviled
Return to text.

6391 full payment of a debt
Return to text.

6392 seize wrongfully
Return to text.

6393 [adjective]
Return to text.

6394 profit, good thing, favor, kind deed
Return to text.

6395 (1) accept, (2) submit to
Return to text.

6396 crush, smash, break, destroy
Return to text.

6397 temporary, in merely human time
Return to text.

6398 their death
Return to text.

6399 lifting/floating/carrying through the air
Return to text.

6400 definite, fixed
Return to text.

6401 always
Return to text.

6402 his salvation = the saving of the soul which Christ brings to men
Return to text.

6403 fully flowing
Return to text.

6404 Christ
Return to text.

6405 (1) celebrating, (2) being victorious
Return to text.

6406 Satan’s
Return to text.

6407 in Hell
Return to text.

6408 defeated, overthrown, brought to nought
Return to text.

6409 those with distinguished reputations
Return to text.

6410 the living
Return to text.

6411 finish, final stage
Return to text.

6412 filled with, full of
Return to text.

6413 from
Return to text.

6414 be brought forth/produced
Return to text.

6415 induced (in others)
Return to text.

6416 be plentiful, overflow
Return to text.

6417 become of, happen to
Return to text.

6418 the Holy Spirit
Return to text.

6419 destroy
Return to text.

6420 endured, sustained, maintained
Return to text.

6421 endow, invest, supply
Return to text.

6422 languages
Return to text.

6423 place
Return to text.

6424 profit, gain
Return to text.

6425 except
Return to text.

6426 the “wolves” of the Roman Catholic Church
Return to text.

6427 bodily, fleshly, corporeal
Return to text.

6428 left them enrolled = were (had been) left them in written form (recorded)
Return to text.

6429 venture, dare
Return to text.

6430 consider, judge
Return to text.

6431 fallacious, outwardly respectable
Return to text.

6432 formalities, ceremonies
Return to text.

6433 fulfilled
Return to text.

6434 withdraw
Return to text.

6435 respite
Return to text.

6436 at last, finally
Return to text.

6437 flaming, burning
Return to text.

6438 duration
Return to text.

6439 in conclusion
Return to text.

6440 [bisyllabic? (the etymology being “see” + “er,” and Michael being, by God’s specific direction, here a seer into the future)]
Return to text.

6441 traversed
Return to text.

6442 course, movement
Return to text.

6443 (1) through all, (2) even more than
Return to text.

6444 always
Return to text.

6445 overthrowing
Return to text.

6446 in conclusion
Return to text.

6447 suitable, corresponding [adjective]
Return to text.

6448 highest place, peak
Return to text.

6449 vision
Return to text.

6450 strictly defined/expressed
Return to text.

6451 demands, requires, insists on
Return to text.

6452 look at
Return to text.

6453 at whose front = in front of whom
Return to text.

6454 the act of departure
Return to text.

6455 actively
Return to text.

6456 foretelling
Return to text.

6457 arranged, adjusted, ordered
Return to text.

6458 humble, submissive
Return to text.

6459 season fit = appropriate time
Return to text.

6460 share
Return to text.

6461 agreed, of one mind
Return to text.

6462 serious and sustained reflection
Return to text.

6463 inform, give counsel
Return to text.

6464 favorable, gracious
Return to text.

6465 granted
Return to text.

6466 brilliant, flashing, swift [four syllables, first and third accented]
Return to text.

6467 marsh
Return to text.

6468 raised [adjective]
Return to text.

6469 vehement, intense, merciless
Return to text.

6470 waves (of heat)
Return to text.

6471 like
Return to text.

6472 scorched
Return to text.

6473 scorch
Return to text.

6474 (of Eden)
Return to text.

6475 moderate
Return to text.

6476 reluctant, tardy, dawdling
Return to text.

6477 lying below
Return to text.

6478 i.e., then the angel (and his troop) disappeared
Return to text.

6479 some time ago
Return to text.

6480 tested
Return to text.

6481 hermit
Return to text.

6482 accustomed to, in the habit of
Return to text.

6483 ready
Return to text.

6484 favored, fortunate
Return to text.

6485 full summed = feathers fully formed/grown, i.e., poetic capacity fully matured
Return to text.

6486 beyond
Return to text.

6487 John the Baptist
Return to text.

6488 sublimely majestic, commanding reverence
Return to text.

6489 reverent wonder
Return to text.

6490 considered
Return to text.

6491 unnoticed
Return to text.

6492 discovered
Return to text.

6493 his worthier = (1) Christ being worthier than John, or (2) one who is his (John’s) worthier; the meaning is unchanged either way
Return to text.

6494 Christ
Return to text.

6495 Satan
Return to text.

6496 celebrated [adjective]—but does it mean that the assembly is “famed” or that Satan did not want to be (“would not be”) less famed?
Return to text.

6497 Satan is “nigh thunder-struck” by God’s voice
Return to text.

6498 Satan “surveys” (looks carefully at, examines) Christ, who is “the exalted man”
Return to text.

6499 filled
Return to text.

6500 residence, dwelling, citadel
Return to text.

6501 of the highest rank (not“equals”)
Return to text.

6502 wreathed
Return to text.

6503 council
Return to text.

6504 frightened
Return to text.

6505 serious, morose
Return to text.

6506 as are counted
Return to text.

6507 world, earth
Return to text.

6508 easily led
Return to text.

6509 awaiting
Return to text.

6510 in Milton’s time, “shall” still carried the sense of “will have to, must”
Return to text.

6511 attained, accomplished
Return to text.

6512 endure, undergo
Return to text.

6513 “bruised”
Return to text.

6514 shattered, broken
Return to text.

6515 as a forerunner
Return to text.

6516 claims, aspires
Return to text.

6517 Christ
Return to text.

6518 is He
Return to text.

6519 holds
Return to text.

6520 Satan does not yet identify this Son of God with Christ
Return to text.

6521 features, characteristics
Return to text.

6522 peril
Return to text.

6523 allows, permits
Return to text.

6524 well put together/hidden
Return to text.

6525 position of leadership/chief importance
Return to text.

6526 somber, malign
Return to text.

6527 warlike enterprise
Return to text.

6528 convey, carry
Return to text.

6529 no time was then = at that moment there was no time
Return to text.

6530 absolute ruler
Return to text.

6531 prospered, been successful
Return to text.

6532 smooth
Return to text.

6533 equipped
Return to text.

6534 corrupt, undermine
Return to text.

6535 he whom
Return to text.

6536 Satan’s
Return to text.

6537 contrary unweeting = not knowing to the contrary
Return to text.

6538 assembly
Return to text.

6539 occupied, familiar with [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
Return to text.

6540 she doubting
Return to text.

6541 cover
Return to text.

6542 exhibit, set forth
Return to text.

6543 try, attempt
Return to text.

6544 to be less arrogant/prideful
Return to text.

6545 Satan’s
Return to text.

6546 than Job
Return to text.

6547 trickery, deceit
Return to text.

6548 employ
Return to text.

6549 Christ
Return to text.

6550 beginnings
Return to text.

6551 [four syllables, first and third accented, third elided]
Return to text.

6552 patient/long-suffering endurance
Return to text.

6553 body, bulk
Return to text.

6554 so that
Return to text.

6555 marveling
Return to text.

6556 rhythms
Return to text.

6557 theme, subject
Return to text.

6558 combat
Return to text.

6559 lead astray
Return to text.

6560 hymns
Return to text.

6561 prayers
Return to text.

6562 sang
Return to text.

6563 Bet ha-Arabah, biblical site near the north shore of the Dead Sea [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
Return to text.

6564 proclaim, make public
Return to text.

6565 ripe, full-grown
Return to text.

6566 keep company/live with
Return to text.

6567 the paths
Return to text.

6568 consorting, fitting, harmonizing
Return to text.

6569 Christ too seems unsure of his prior existence
Return to text.

6570 the Jews’
Return to text.

6571 wondered at
Return to text.

6572 time, period
Return to text.

6573 extinguish, destroy
Return to text.

6574 justice
Return to text.

6575 divine, celestial
Return to text.

6576 privately
Return to text.

6577 above example = unprecedented
Return to text.

6578 sheep pens
Return to text.

6579 feeding trough in a stable
Return to text.

6580 place
Return to text.

6581 the star’s
Return to text.

6582 formed, carved, set
Return to text.

6583 see Luke 2:25–35
Return to text.

6584 see Luke 2:36–38
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6585 similar
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6586 considered, studied, meditated upon
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6587 learning experience, endeavor, affliction, temptation
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6588 established previously
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6589 forerunner
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6590 not easily, with difficulty, barely
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6591 prevailed upon
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6592 pouring, washing
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6593 highest point
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6594 complete
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6595 hidden, retired, unknown
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6596 dark, gloomy
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6597 (1) shadows, (2) dark figures, ghosts, specters
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6598 commend, advise
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6599 the best
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6600 soon, in a little while
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6601 covering, shelter
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6602 keep, protect
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6603 lodged, sheltered
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6604 he neither
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6605 tame, gentle
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6606 hurtful, harmful
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6607 looked fixedly/fiercely
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6608 at a distance
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6609 Christ
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6610 alone
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6611 consumed, exhausted
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6612 for that = because
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6613 desert, wilderness
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6614 forced, compelled
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6615 public report, rumor
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6616 rustic
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6617 stubble, stumps
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6618 doubt
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6619 strict discipline, harshness
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6620 not permissive
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6621 dismal
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6622 travel around
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6623 roam
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6624 recourse
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6625 of Uz, in eastern Palestine
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6626 test
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6627 make clear [trisyllabic, second accented]
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6628 king of Israel, who meets his death after a weltering confusion of prophecies: see I Kings 22
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6629 Ramoth-Gilead, fortified position east of Jordan
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6630 hesitating, balking
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6631 Ahab’s
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6632 caused to chatter
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6633 had in charge = was supposed to do
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6634 [trisyllabic, accent on second]
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6635 [bisyllabic, second elided]
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6636 “What can I feel less than desire….? (reading “less” as an adverb) or “How could anything make me do less than desire….? (reading “less” not as an adverb but as a verb, said by the O.E.D. to have become obsolete when Milton was twenty-five years old)
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6637 attentively
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6638 i.e., copartner if not “disposer” (one who controls)
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6639 predictions, omens
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6640 shares
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6641 grief
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6642 private, individual
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6643 united with me
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6644 constituted
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6645 [four syllables, first and third accented?]
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6646 slave
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6647 stared at
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6648 think evil of
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6649 as good = they might/just as well not have known at all
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6650 flee
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6651 superintending
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6652 tiny point
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6653 whining
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6654 cut short
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6655 [verb]
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6656 heathen
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6657 “at least, if you are inquired for, it shall be”
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6658 indignation
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6659 volition [noun]
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6660 wrung, extorted
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6661 someone who is
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6662 profit, advantage
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6663 renounce, recant, disclaim
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6664 (1) restraint, (2) rebuff
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6665 free
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6666 spoken, uttered
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6667 sweet-sounding
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6668 characteristic of/belonging to forests or woods
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6669 flute
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6670 authoritative direction/admonition
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6671 marvel at
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6672 courtyards, grounds
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6673 help, serve
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6674 see Numbers 22:5 through 24:25
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6675 corrupt
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6676 still
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6677 scorn
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6678 purpose
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6679 feigned semblance
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6680 earthy
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6681 lying down, resting
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6682 recently
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6683 clearly, distinctly
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6684 lived in lodgings
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6685 see John 1:40
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6686 see John 1:41
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6687 afterward
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6688 displayed, exhibited
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6689 caught up = taken
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6690 Elijah: see 2 Kings 2:1–12
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6691 Bet ha-Arabah, north of the Dead Sea: see John 1:28
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6692 north of the Dead Sea: see Deuteronomy 34:3
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6693 in Samaria: see John 3:23
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6694 Salim, in Samaria: see John 3:23
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6695 stronghold east of the Dead Sea, earlier destroyed but rebuilt by Herod
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6696 the Sea of Galilee
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6697 region east of the Jordan River, between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea
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6698 willows
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6699 laments, complaints
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6700 carried/swept away
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6701 withdraw, disappear
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6702 uphold, maintain, justify
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6703 completed, brought about, done
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6704 consecrated
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6705 (1) foreknowledge, beneficent care, (2) divine intervention
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6706 Christ
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6707 strength
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6708 greeting
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6709 raised
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6710 remarkable
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6711 cold
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6712 Herod
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6713 not found
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6714 acknowledged
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6715 see Luke 2:34
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6716 murmur, complain
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6717 pondered
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6718 hides, keeps dark
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6719 extraordinarily
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6720 heavenly greeting
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6721 completion
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6722 traversing, traveling, treading
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6723 alone
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6724 purpose, aim
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6725 statement made in a preliminary way, hint
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6726 undisturbed
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6727 resourceless
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6728 assembly
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6729 examined, tested
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6730 enticement
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6731 similar
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6732 a “womanizing” demon: Asmodeus in Paradise Lost, Book 4, line 146, and Asmodai, in Paradise Lost, Book 6, line 365
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6733 demonic womanizer/seducer, who usually descended upon sleeping women
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6734 surpassing
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6735 well-spoken
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6736 mixed
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6737 dreadful, frightful
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6738 temperament
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6739 enervate, weaken
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6740 bring to nought, destroy
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6741 magnet
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6742 irregular
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6743 dote on = be infatuated with
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6744 complexion
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6745 dalliance
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6746 narration
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6747 nymph, attendant on Artemis, twin sister of Apollo [trisyllabic, second accented]
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6748 daughter of Oceanus, mother of Atlas [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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6749 nymph-huntress who fled from all would-be lovers [bisyllabic, first accented]
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6750 mother of Dionysus, by Zeus [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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6751 Antiopé, seduced and impregnated by Zeus [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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6752 rescued from a satyr by Poseidon, who then seduced her [four syllables, first and third accented]
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6753 nymph pursued by Pan and transformed into a reed to escape him [bisyllabic, first accented]
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6754 transgressions, escapades
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6755 god of the wild woods
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6756 habits, practices
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6757 Alexander the Great [trisyllabic, second accented]
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6758 carelessly
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6759 Scipio Africanus, 236–183 B. C., who triumphed in Spain and in the Second Punic War
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6760 sent away
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6761 a young Spanish captive to whom, it was said, he had been attracted; she loved someone else
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6762 food
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6763 intention, plan
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6764 (1) condition, (2) greatness, power
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6765 deliberation
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6766 foolish, insipid
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6767 encompassed
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6768 girdle/belt
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6769 see Homer’s Iliad, 14:214–18
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6770 i.e., “how one look from his majestic brow (seated as on the top of virtue’s hill) would….
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6771 shame, disapprove
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6772 dejected
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6773 ostentatious ornament not necessarily composed of, but resembling, feathers
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6774 whim, caprice
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6775 display of disregard
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6776 confused, destroyed
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6777 is starving
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6778 consent
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6779 signal
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6780 “if there were reason (cause)”
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6781 energetic
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6782 for the first time
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6783 ascribe/attribute to
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6784 as long as
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6785 extreme hunger, starvation
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6786 held intimate mental intercourse
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6787 where God directed Elijah to hide from King Ahab: see 1 Kings 17:2–3
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6788 i.e., in his dream
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6789 lentils, peas, beans (“plain/simple food”)
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6790 at once
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6791 lifted (went up)
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6792 have knowledge of
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6793 view, landscape
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6794 shed, stall
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6795 hollow, valley
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6796 singing
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6797 walks, passageways
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6798 spread out
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6799 of a
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6800 having been taught
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6801 more decorously
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6802 dutifully
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6803 remain, wait, continue
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6804 Hagar: see Genesis 21:14–19
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6805 her son was Ishmael, whose son was Nebaioth: see Genesis 25:12–13
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6806 would have
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6807 Elijah
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6808 thereafter as = according to how
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6809 approve of
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6810 offer, present
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6811 vigor, energy, capacity
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6812 see Daniel 1:8–16
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6813 hesitate, be reluctant
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6814 need
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6815 supplied, furnished
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6816 taste, quality
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6817 framed (contained)
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6818 ambergris, at one time used in cooking
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6819 small freshwater stream
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6820 flowing
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6821 reputation
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6822 the Black Sea
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6823 near Naples
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6824 plain, low
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6825 dainties
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6826 deflected, turned aside
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6827 splendid, magnificent
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6828 tablelike board
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6829 spread abroad, poured out
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6830 slender
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6831 Trojan youth taken by Zeus as his cupbearer
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6832 handsome prince carried off by Hercules
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6833 now…now = first this, then that
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6834 danced
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6835 stood as if they were
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6836 horn of plenty (corum copiae): Amalthea was the all-bountiful goat that suckled infant Zeus
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6837 daughters of Night and guardians of the tree that bore golden apples
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6838 told, related
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6839 middle region of Britain: see Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot
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6840 mythical region west of Cornwall, in Britain
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6841 knights of King Arthur’s court
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6842 concordant, harmonizing
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6843 a gentle wind, but not so soft as a breeze
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6844 goddess of flowers
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6845 hesitates, fears [verb]
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6846 act of prohibition
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6847 prohibits (under Jewish law)
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6848 food, sustenance, victuals
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6849 courteous, excellent, noble
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6850 attendants, servants
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6851 moderately, restrainedly
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6852 push forward
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6853 careful attention
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6854 splendid, pretentious
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6855 [four syllables, first and third accented]
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6856 scorn, disdain
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6857 showy
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6858 dissatisfied
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6859 instead
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6860 appropriately
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6861 obvious
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6862 fetched-from-afar
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6863 completely, entirely
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6864 troublesome, persistent
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6865 (1) temperament, (2) moderation
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6866 management
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6867 poor circumstances
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6868 draw, obtain
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6869 suite, train, company of servants
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6870 or keep
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6871 foolish, stupid, giddy
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6872 at
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6873 ruler of Judea, 63–43 B.C., and Herod’s father [four syllables, second and fourth accented?]
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6874 Semitic tribe located south of the Dead Sea; traditionally, descendants of Esau, son of Isaac and elder twin of Jacob
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6875 heap up [verb]
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6876 exceedingly
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6877 virtue, valor, wisdom
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6878 once gained
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6879 virtue, valor, wisdom
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6880 see Judges 6–8
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6881 see Judges 11–12
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6882 David
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6883 Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, legendary hero, called from farming in 458 B.C. and, for urgent military reasons, made dictator; sixteen days later, having won the war, he resigned as dictator and went back to his farm
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6884 Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, consul in the early third century B.C., who refused all bribes, gifts, and favors; after his death, since he left nothing for his daughter’s dowry, it was provided by the Senate
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6885 Manius Curius Dentatus, also early third centuryB.C., was a successful general who gave all booty to the Roman republic and then, like Cincinnatus, retired to his farm
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6886 Marcus Atilius Regulus, captured in the First Punic War (with Carthage) was paroled on condition he present Carthage’s demands to Rome and then return; he advised rejection of Carthage’s terms, then returned as he had agreed, and was tortured to death: see Horace, Odes3:5
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6887 lacking, missing
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6888 snare, trap
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6889 diminish
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6890 sharpness
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6891 anything that
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6892 similar
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6893 “yet not for that reason is”
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6894 crown
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6895 every
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6896 shows, remains
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6897 governs, controls
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6898 [adjective, accent on first syllable]
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6899 protecting, guarding
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6900 noble
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6901 i.e., to give up a kingdom
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6902 high-souled, nobly valiant
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6903 receive, lay claim to: i.e., nobler to give or refuse than to take a kingdom
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6904 to be without, omitted
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6905 confused, perplexed
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6906 (1) proven wrong, (2) futile
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6907 (1) convicted, (2) vanquished, overcome
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6908 flawed, unsound
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6909 direction
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6910 summoning up, regaining control of
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6911 Christ
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6912 ask advice/counsel of
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6913 see Leviticus 8:8: sacred means of divination attached to (not necessarily set into) the high priest’s breastplate, though exactly what the Urim and Thummim were (both words = grammatically plural) is not known
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6914 [bisyllabic]
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6915 special preparation/readiness
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6916 stand firm, hold out
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6917 i.e., though there are many fighting “against thy few in arms”
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6918 professing
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6919 upright, uplifted, exalted
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6920 having been brought to the temperament/state of mind
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6921 Alexander the Great
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6922 kingdom of Persia, founded by Cyrus and overthrown by Alexander at Arbela in 331 B.C.
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6923 in Spain, when Scipio was probably less than thirty years old
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6924 Mithradates—though by then (66 B.C.) Pompey had reached the age of forty
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6925 Julius Caesar
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6926 seek
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6927 splendid display
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6928 what are
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6929 swarm
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6930 valued
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6931 separately, individually
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6932 produced
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6933 declares
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6934 Alexander the Great was so identified
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6935 Romulus was so identified
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6936 reveal, show
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6937 morally ugly/perverted
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6938 Scipio Africanus
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6939 Carthaginian
Return to text.

6940 prove
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6941 am from, came
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6942 en masse, without distinction
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6943 i.e., and with reason
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6944 thankful blessing
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6945 false
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6946 stripped
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6947 goodness, kindness
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6948 Roman emperor, A.D. 14–37
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6949 He caused the Hasmonean uprising by plundering Temple treasures, desecrating the altar, and more
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6950 Judah Maccabeus, who led the Hasmonean uprising; he was born in Modin
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6951 opportunity’s
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6952 tortured
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6953 peaceful
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6954 intervention, mediation
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6955 Saul: see I Samuel 9ff.
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6956 leave, give up
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6957 beginnings
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6958 i.e., the mountain’s
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6959 the Tigris and the Euphrates
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6960 open, level country
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6961 lesser, smaller
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6962 grain
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6963 soil
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6964 view
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6965 without springs or headsprings (sources of rivers)
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6966 (1) hastened, (2) gotten where we wanted to go
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6967 Armenian river, flowing into the Caspian Sea
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6968 unapproachable
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6969 desert
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6970 capital city of Assyrian empire after about 1100B.C.
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6971 king of Assyria, husband of Semiramis
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6972 king of Assyria, d. 722 B.C.
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6973 in 726B.C.
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6974 immense city on the Euphrates
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6975 just as
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6976 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, 605–562B.C.
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6977 king of Persia: Cyrus captured Babylon in 538B.C. and released the captive Jews
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6978 in southern Persia: residence and burial place of Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, etc.
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6979 northeast of Persepolis, ancient capital of Bactria, now in Afghanistan
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6980 summer residence of Darius
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6981 Parthian capital, southeast of the Caspian Sea [five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
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6982 Shushan, city at northwestern tip of Persian Gulf, capital of Susiana/Elam and later of Persia
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6983 river east of Tigris, flowing through Susa/Shushan
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6984 Macedonian
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6985 seminomadic culture in western Asia, famous for bow-wielding cavalry
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6986 capital of Selucid empire, founded by Seleucus I Nicator; located on the Tigris
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6987 city in northwestern Mesopotamia, south of the Tigris
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6988 city in Armenia, southeast of the Black Sea; located on the Araxes River
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6989 town at northeastern end of Persian Gulf, near the juncture of the Tigris and the Euphrates
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6990 city on the Tigris, near Seleucia [trisyllabic, first and third accented; first letter silent]
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6991 founder of Parthian empire, ca. 248 B.C.
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6992 (1) extravagant, (2) unchaste, lewd
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6993 city on the Orontes River, capital of Syria
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6994 fierce “barbarian” people living north and east of the Black and Caspian Seas
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6995 region northeast of Parthia
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6996 fearsomeness
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6997 lozenge/diamond-shaped military formation
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6998 half-rhomb military formation
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6999 i.e., with most of the army concentrated in the center
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7000 Christ
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7001 splendor, pomp, display
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7002 swift
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7003 border
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7004 eastern Parthia, a region west of the Indus River
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7005 Kandahar, in modern Afghanistan
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7006 northern Parthia, between Bactria and Parthia
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7007 Hyrcania: province of ancient Persian empire, southeast of the Caspian Sea
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7008 region in the Caucasus, not Spain
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7009 Media-Atropatenia, west of Parthia, between the Caspian Sea and Armenia
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7010 near Nineveh, south of Armenia, on the Tigris: part of Assyria
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7011 see footnote 104, above
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7012 southeastern Persia: Susa was its capital
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7013 Basra, north of Persian Gulf, south of Susa
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7014 port, harbor
Return to text.

7015 lacked
Return to text.

7016 foot soldiers
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7017 an army had two horns/wings
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7018 soldiers in armor
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7019 loaded
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7020 soldier-diggers
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7021 flat, level, smooth, even
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7022 one-humped swift camels
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7023 filled
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7024 Tatar king in Boiardo’s romance Orlando Innamorato (“Roland in Love”)
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7025 fortress of King Gallophrone, Angelica’s father
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7026 bravest, most chivalric
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7027 pagan
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7028 high nobles
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7029 pressed forward
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7030 win over
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7031 make secure/safe [verb]
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7032 contemptible, small
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7033 note
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7034 progenitor, ancestor
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7035 descendants of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, religiously and politically at odds with the Jews
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7036 molest, injure
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7037 Hyrcanus II, made king of Judah by Rome; he was attacked by Antigonus; both were abducted by Parthians
Return to text.

7038 in spite of
Return to text.

7039 alliance, treaty
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7040 modern Khabar, near the Euphrates: see 2 Kings 17:6, 18:11
Return to text.

7041 inhabitants of Media, in Parthia
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7042 i.e., those of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh: see note 130, above
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7043 political cunning
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7044 praiseworthy, fair-seeming
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7045 remiss, neglectful
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7046 scheming, crafty
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7047 evidence
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7048 wield
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7049 confronted (him) as
Return to text.

7050 see 1 Chronicles 21:1ff.
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7051 counting, making a census of
Return to text.

7052 except
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7053 idle, useless, of no significance/value
Return to text.

7054 look to, have a care for
Return to text.

7055 with blind speed
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7056 go after, pursue
Return to text.

7057 fit, suitable
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7058 polished
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7059 little won
Return to text.

7060 heal, make good
Return to text.

7061 defeats, frustrates
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7062 new wine in process
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7063 splinters, chips
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7064 battering
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7065 despairing
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7066 central Italy: Tyrrhenian Sea to the south, Apennine Range to the northwest, the plain split by the River Tiber
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7067 northern
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7068 Rome
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7069 galleries, colonnades
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7070 [trisyllabic, first and third accented]
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7071 memorial structures, commemorating military success
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7072 arches
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7073 noteworthy (interesting)
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7074 citadel (fortress) built on top of a hill
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7075 majestic, dignified
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7076 part of the Capitoline Hill
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7077 of limits/bounds
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7078 visible
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7079 adjusted, placed
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7080 optical instrument
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7081 craftsmen [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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7082 stream, flowing
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7083 magistrates
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7084 governors of provinces
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7085 attendants carrying bundles of rods with an ax wrapped inside, the blade projecting
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7086 symbols
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7087 one-tenth of a legion
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7088 cavalry: one-tenth of a wing (flank)
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7089 garments, dress, clothing
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7090 from Rome to Brindisi, seaport in southern Italy
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7091 from Rome north to the Adriatic Sea
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7092 Aswan, in southern Egypt on the Upper Nile
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7093 region in the Upper Nile, considered (but in fact not) an island
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7094 North African king, ca. 105B.C.
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7095 i.e., the Mediterranean Sea off the northwest African coast
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7096 Chersonese: the Malay Peninsula
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7097 Ceylon or Sumatra
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7098 turbans
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7099 Gaul (now France)
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7100 Cadiz
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7101 people east of Germany, between the Vistula and the Volga
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7102 the Sea of Azov, northeast of and connected to the Black Sea
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7103 politeness
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7104 distant, remote, secluded
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7105 Tiberius
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7106 island south of Naples
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7107 Roman province (Naples, Pompeii, etc.)
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7108 Sejanus, finally executed in A.D. 29
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7109 [verb]
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7110 showy
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7111 of citrus wood
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7112 marble from the Atlas mountains in North Africa
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7113 three then-famous Italian wines, from Sezza, near Rome, and Cales and Falernia, near Mt. Vesuvius
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7114 two then-famous Greek wines: see Horace, Odes 3:19
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7115 ornaments
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7116 foreign, bizarre, uncouth
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7117 pillaging
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7118 (1) arrogant, (2) outrageous
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7119 unchaste
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7120 because of
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7121 because of
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7122 (1) theatrical performances, (2) their daily existence
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7123 overly refined, soft
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7124 “besides my own”
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7125 shameless
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7126 fussy, fastidious
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7127 always
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7128 submit to
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7129 liberty, licence
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7130 see Exodus 20:2–3, Deuteronomy 6:12–15, and Matthew 4:8–10
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7131 propose
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7132 grant, gift
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7133 test
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7134 state
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7135 the lesser rulers
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7136 i.e., blowing from the four quarters of the earth
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7137 called: that is, Satan is currently called god both of earth and of Hell
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7138 test
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7139 devoted
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7140 most authoritative
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7141 “Then spake Jesus…. saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat…. Matthew 23:1–2
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7142 see Luke 2:42–49
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7143 contained
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7144 the first five books of the Old Testament
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7145 heathen, pagans
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7146 to admiration: wonderfully
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7147 appropriate [adjective]
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7148 weapons
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7149 convinced
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7150 affording a wide view
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7151 i.e., either “native” or “hospitable” to those not native
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7152 (1) niche, coastal indentation, (2) privacy
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7153 public park northwest of Athens
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7154 secluded place
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7155 nightingale
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7156 mountain near Athens
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7157 river running from Mt. Hymettus south into the sea
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7158 Aristotle
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7159 developed, produced (as Alexander’s tutor)
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7160 park east of Athens
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7161 Athenian colonnade, with painted frescoes, where Zeno the Stoic taught
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7162 measures, rhythms: the term was used both in music and in poetry
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7163 attained
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7164 Aeolic: Greek dialect used by Sappho, Alcaeus, and others
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7165 songs
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7166 (1) the Doric dialect of Greek, (2) the choral lyric poetry written in that dialect (as, e.g., by Pindar, who was himself a speaker of the Boeotian dialect)
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7167 “born in/of Meles”: the River Meles, in Asia Minor, was one of Homer’s supposed birthplaces [five syllables, first, third, and fifth accented]
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7168 Apollo
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7169 claimed
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7170 iambic trimeter, used in dramatic scenes
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7171 wisdom
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7172 full of wisdom
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7173 make one’s way, go, resort
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7174 ruled, commanded, controlled, directed
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7175 Athenian harbor building, construction of which was suspended in 339 B.C. because of Demosthenes, 384–322, famous Athenian orator
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7176 thundered
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7177 region between Balkans and Greece: famous for Philip II and his son, Alexander the Great
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7178 Persian king; on Sparta’s side in the war against Athens
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7179 dwelling
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7180 sweetly flowing
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7181 given an additional name, title, or epithetic description
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7182 Aristotle and his pupils were peripatetic (“walking about”)
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7183 Epicurus and his followers
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7184 consider, meditate upon
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7185 inadequate
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7186 even if
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7187 acknowledged, admitted
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7188 Socrates
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7189 Plato
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7190 Pyrrho, Sceptic founder
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7191 Epicurus
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7192 disdaining
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7193 wishes, desires
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7194 stratagems, contrivances
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7195 claim, assume
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7196 whoever
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7197 as if they were
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7198 select, of special excellence
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7199 eraser
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7200 like
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7201 Hebrew
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7202 sprinkled, spread
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7203 impersonating, playing the part of
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7204 means of adornment/embellishment, veneer, paint
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7205 Satan
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7206 in those cases where
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7207 politicians
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7208 used up, exhausted
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7209 fussily
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7210 massive, copious
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7211 utter, discourse
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7212 whip lashes
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7213 foretell
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7214 perceive distinctly
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7215 guides, gives directions
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7216 instructive red-lettered text printed in prayer book margins
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7217 sullen, dark
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7218 absolute, entire
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7219 calm, patient
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7220 excursion, journey
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7221 severely, very much
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7222 flowing together, meeting
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7223 either Tropic: both circles of the celestial sphere
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7224 premature
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7225 falling
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7226 equivalent
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7227 agitated
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7228 roots extending as far into the earth as the tree extends into the air
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7229 completely
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7230 covered
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7231 stopped
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7232 undismayed
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7233 hood with gray fur, worn by clerics
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7234 caused to subside
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7235 horrible, ugly
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7236 make trial of
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7237 effective
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7238 i.e., clearly sounded/uttered/brought forth
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7239 twig, shoot, slender branches
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7240 welcome, greet, give thanks for
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7241 plan, trick, stratagem
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7242 encounter, meeting
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7243 (1) relaxed, calmed, (2) determined
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7244 outrage [noun]
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7245 his usual
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7246 unconcerned, artless
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7247 befalls
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7248 storming
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7249 gusts, blasts
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7250 the larger universe
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7251 i.e., the human body
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7252 harmful, injurious
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7253 point to, mark
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7254 directed
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7255 time, period, occasion
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7256 exerted influence
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7257 assault
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7258 ill-omened
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7259 portents, omens
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7260 rage
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7261 in what degree = at what level/rank
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7262 parley
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7263 agreement, treaty
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7264 examine
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7265 disdained
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7266 winged beast, half horse, half griffin (head and wings of an eagle)
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7267 lofty
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7268 a large building
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7269 need, demand, call upon
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7270 lineage
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7271 knock, strike
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7272 see Psalms 91:11–12 and Matthew 4:5–7
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7273 son of Poseidon and Gaia (earth)
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7274 in North Africa
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7275 Hercules
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7276 defeated
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7277 stood to see = stood intending/hoping to see
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7278 sphinx
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7279 i.e., the riddle
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7280 a river
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7281 struck
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7282 celebrations
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7283 a compact body of persons
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7284 wings
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7285 Jesus
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7286 difficult, uncomfortable
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7287 standing place, position
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7288 joyous, well-pleased
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7289 restored, renewed, mended
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7290 weakened, injured
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7291 hymns
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7292 temporary dwelling
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7293 endowed, supplied
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7294 expel, vanquish
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7295 dispossessed
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7296 streets, roads
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7297 hell
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7298 [noun]
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7299 destroyer, slayer, conqueror
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7300 alone, unseen
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7301 contestant, actor, champion (of God)
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7302 authoritative, important
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7303 modify, moderate [verb]
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7304 bring to, change, restore
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7305 right, proper, correct
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7306 lacking
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7307 operative influences, accomplishments
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7308 medical science/art/practice
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7309 physical/mental states
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7310 from
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7311 now considered to be by Menander rather than Euripides
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7312 David Pareus, 1548–1622, German Protestant theologian
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7313 i.e., (1) act, (2) chorus, (3) act, (4) chorus, etc.
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7314 in the time
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7315 a state governed by an absolute ruler/dictator
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7316 d. ca. A.D. 389; he probably was not the author of Christ Suffering
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7317 stage plays, usually comic
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7318 seriousness
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7319 [noun]
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7320 meter
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7321 having no stanzaic patterning
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7322 at that time
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7323 important
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7324 having stanzas (strophes) of varying form
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7325 created?
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7326 extended
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7327 i.e., that which is
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7328 organization, management
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7329 arrangement, ordering
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7330 narrative, story
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7331 boundary, limit
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7332 nearby
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7333 withdrawn
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7334 form, compose
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7335 as much as
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7336 i.e., then visited
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7337 in addition
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7338 follow up on, pursue
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7339 attempt
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7340 in front of
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7341 exercise
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7342 tribe of Dan (Manoa and Samson’s tribe), northwest of Judah
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7343 ridge, elevation
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7344 accustomed, in the habit of
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7345 enslaved
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7346 imposed on
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7347 breathe
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7348 unhealthy
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7349 flow, current of air
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7350 improvement
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7351 (1) draw breath, (2) recover
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7352 Philistine national god
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7353 hard-work-requiring
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7354 ignorant/irrational/false belief
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7355 permission
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7356 plebeian, common, general
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7357 unvisited, uncrowded
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7358 crowding, pressing
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7359 [verb]
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7360 development, training, education
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7361 special
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7362 work laboriously
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7363 brass, brasslike, as strong as brass
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7364 chains, shackles
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7365 assigned compulsion
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7366 building containing machinery (here water-driven) for processing, manufacturing, etc.
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7367 except
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7368 defect, failure, guilt
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7369 robbed, stripped
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7370 clumsy, awkward
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7371 confident
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7372 be subordinated
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7373 wields
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7374 ordering, management
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7375 (1) probably, (2) appropriately
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7376 goals, purposes
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7377 curse, poison, slayer, ruin
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7378 demand, call for
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7379 ended, destroyed
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7380 (1) silent, (2) always
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7381 every, any, all
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7382 see Genesis 1:3
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7383 (1) first, beginning, (2) primary
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7384 empty, destitute of life/activity
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7385 in which the moon was thought to hide between its old and new phases
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7386 relegated, fastened
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7387 visible
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7388 extinguished, destroyed
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7389 at will = at pleasure/choice
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7390 tomb, burial place
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7391 susceptible, amenable, exposed
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7392 two or more
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7393 steps
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7394 sprawled, spread out
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7395 slack, feeble
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7396 clothes
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7397 garments
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7398 in battle formation
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7399 (1) forging, (2) invention
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7400 brass
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7401 upper-body armor
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7402 from the Black Sea region, famous for their metalworking [four syllables, second and fourth accented]
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7403 tunic, upper garment
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7404 too strongly to be resisted/endured (“supported”)
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7405 thrust, struck, trampled
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7406 Ascalon: ancient Philistine port city
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7407 rearing and raging
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7408 twisted, writhed, bent, reversed
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7409 covered with layer(s) of metal
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7410 dirtied, fouled, polluted
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7411 whatever
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7412 common
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7413 unlike the Jews, the Philistines were not circumcised
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7414 the suffix “lechi” = lifting up/casting away of the jawbone: see Judges 15:14–17
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7415 mighty
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7416 Gaza
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7417 gatepost/stake
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7418 used to lock the gates
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7419 south of Jerusalem, more than thirty miles from Gaza
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7420 see Numbers 13:22 (“anak” = “giant,” in Hebrew)
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7421 on which day only very short journeys were permitted
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7422 and in addition
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7423 i.e., loaded like
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7424 he whom
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7425 tell in myths/fables
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7426 the giant Atlas
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7427 unite, combine
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7428 uncertain, changeable
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7429 man has been
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7430 more unusual
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7431 incoherent
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7432 Eshtaol and Zora: west of Jerusalem, in the valley of Sorec (Sorek) (see line 229, below)
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7433 swellings
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7434 name, inscription on coins
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7435 i.e., most of them
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7436 raise, uplift
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7437 poor, inferior
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7438 have paired = been equal
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7439 crosswise, sideways
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7440 blame, accuse, challenge
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7441 ordering, arranging
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7442 Timnath, Philistine city
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7443 so that
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7444 Samson’s parents
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7445 proposed, planned
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7446 inmost
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7447 influence, incitement
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7448 pressed, pushed
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7449 opportunity, the course of events
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7450 stemming from (the marriage)
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7451 foolish
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7452 [three syllables, second stressed]
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7453 showily beautiful
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7454 accomplished: completed, perfected
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7455 because of
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7456 outburst
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7457 gave up = surrendered
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7458 challenge, fight
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7459 negligent
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7460 is in servitude
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7461 all alone
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7462 engaged in
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7463 canvassing: soliciting (as for votes, in an election)
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7464 praise, adorn
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7465 “Israel’s governors and heads of tribes”
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7466 assembled
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7467 see Judges 15:8
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7468 fleeing
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7469 planning, considering, estimating
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7470 benefited, profited
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7471 besieged
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7472 certain
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7473 victim, quarry
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7474 small ropes, braided for strength
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7475 common
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7476 a principal Philistine city
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7477 rather than
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7478 Succoth and Penuel: Israelite cities (see Judges 8:4–9)
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7479 the tribe of Ephraim, in the hill region north of Bethel
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7480 see Judges 12:1–4
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7481 Semitic tribe frequently hostile to Israel
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7482 the Ephraimites were identified by their inability to pronounce the “sh” in “shibboleth”: see Judges 12:5–6
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7483 “my nation/people (“mine”) may easily neglect me”
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7484 “unless there be those who think God does not exist”
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7485 hidden, unknown
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7486 teacher, learned man
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7487 suspect
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7488 disordered
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7489 enwrapped
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7490 are confused/perplexed/entangled
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7491 endless, everlasting
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7492 commands, laws
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7493 obligation (see Deuteronomy 7:2–5)
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7494 lacked
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7495 a person who had vowed to abstain from sex: see Numbers 6:2ff.
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7496 deceitful
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7497 put/go down
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7498 plead, claim
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7499 frees, releases, acquits
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7500 Dalila
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7501 heavy, full of care
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7502 consider
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7503 strange, unfamiliar
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7504 guided, led
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7505 bent
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7506 notable
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7507 destroyer, poison
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7508 splendor
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7509 wished for
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7510 God
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7511 slave
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7512 decide, declare
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7513 equally
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7514 biblical Timnath: see Judges 14:1–20
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7515 corrupted
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7516 i.e., of gold
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7517 false
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7518 major
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7519 eluded
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7520 a jest/joke
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7521 flattering
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7522 speech
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7523 batteries = (1) battering rams, (2) artillery
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7524 to make a military assault
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7525 exhausted (from “watching” too long/much)
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7526 firm, steadfast
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7527 addiction to women
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7528 working laboriously
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7529 instigation, incitement
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7530 attack
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7531 unspoken
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7532 harsh, unyielding
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7533 account
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7534 mob, crowd
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7535 lineage
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7536 assemblage [noun]
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7537 reproach
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7538 opened
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7539 mistrust, distrust
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7540 ready, willing
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7541 find room for, hold, shelter
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7542 literally, the enclosed space where jousting took place; metaphorically, “enter lists” = to fight/challenge
Return to text.

7543 God
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7544 shut His eyes
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7545 bow
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7546 defeat
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7547 deprive, strip
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7548 frustrate, confound
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7549 reason
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7550 that it be unsettled/uncertain
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7551 connection, opportunity
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7552 deal, negotiate
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7553 this time
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7554 leave, abstain, refrain
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7555 forehead
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7556 made public
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7557 fictitious narratives
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7558 Tantalus, Zeus’ son, was thus punished for telling the gods’ secrets to his friends
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7559 [adjective]
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7560 ordering, arranging
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7561 a fine/penalty
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7562 free, release
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7563 pleads, petitions
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7564 instrumentality [noun]
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7565 lofty, high-souled
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7566 impulse
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7567 sons of Anak: the race of giants
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7568 celebrated, proclaimed
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7569 confrontation
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7570 false
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7571 venereal trains = love’s tricks/snares
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7572 sign of favor
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7573 i.e., red wine
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7574 away from
Return to text.

7575 the sun’s beams?
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7576 soft?
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7577 fluid
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7578 ruined, destroyed
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7579 something to stare at
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7580 plentiful, flowing, excessive
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7581 healthy-looking, strong
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7582 break down, destroy
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7583 garbage, refuse, offal
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7584 to trouble, molest, injure
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7585 unoccupied
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7586 violence, shock
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7587 see Judges 15:18–19
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7588 point to, indicate, foretell
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7589 entertain, deal with
Return to text.

7590 natural
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7591 state of mind, disposition
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7592 fantasy, whim, inclination
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7593 pursue, perform
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7594 receive
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7595 that which produces pain/suffering
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7596 limited
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7597 kidneys
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7598 employ, perform
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7599 appearances, symptoms
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7600 corresponding
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7601 sensation, feeling
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7602 excite, stir up
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7603 incurable
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7604 continue to cause pain, fester
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7605 [verb]
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7606 necrosis, destruction
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7607 conscious
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7608 irritate
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7609 abate
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7610 [adjective]
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7611 particular, intimate
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7612 temperate, abstinent
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7613 exceedingly
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7614 strength
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7615 as if
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7616 assignment
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7617 defied, incited
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7618 repeatedly [adverb]
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7619 roll, catalogue
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7620 written, placed, entered
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7621 strength
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7622 learned, carefully thought out, practiced
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7623 belief, conviction
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7624 searched for, obtained
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7625 mild, soothing
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7626 restore
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7627 (1) changing, (2) unstable, fickle
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7628 path
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7629 crowd, mob
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7630 lax, stray, random
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7631 like
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7632 formally, seriously
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7633 chosen, picked
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7634 protection, safeguard
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7635 honored
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7636 abandon
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7637 [noun]
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7638 unclean, polluted
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7639 rough
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7640 excessive
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7641 conclusion
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7642 in that way
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7643 servant, officer
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7644 acted
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7645 biblical Tarshish: see 2 Chronicles 9:21 (“the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks”)
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7646 Javan, son of Japhet, was the founder of Ionia: the islands of Greece
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7647 Cadiz
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7648 show, display, finery
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7649 apparatus, rigging, implements of war
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7650 beautiful, smartly made
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7651 flags, banners
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7652 strut, flutter
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7653 forerunner
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7654 retinue, suite: i.e., maids, female attendants
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7655 unchanging, firmly resolved
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7656 overloaded
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7657 prepared
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7658 preparation
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7659 pulled after it, led to
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7660 wicked, evil
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7661 condition
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7662 accustomed
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7663 as if
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7664 propose, urge
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7665 chiefly, principally
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7666 test
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7667 pushed, driven
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7668 skillful
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7669 so that
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7670 trained, habituated
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7671 interior, inward
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7672 exaggerations
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7673 overloaded
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7674 counterbalanced
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7675 likely, natural
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7676 pressing, persistent
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7677 make public, proclaim
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7678 because of
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7679 discussion
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7680 interpret as
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7681 unsettled, variable, fickle
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7682 (1) mind, (2) affection, love
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7683 his first wife: see lines 219–27, above
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7684 intended, planned
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7685 confinement
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7686 “that was sufficient/did it for me”
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7687 this way
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7688 wholly, entirely
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7689 not risked
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7690 not afraid
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7691 sharers
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7692 foolish
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7693 harsh, grim, bitter
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7694 forced, compelled
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7695 frantic
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7696 passion, appetite
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7697 irreconcilable
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7698 knowing that I had been
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7699 decides, ordains
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7700 worked, prevailed
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7701 officers of the executive government
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7702 swore, solemnly entreated
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7703 insisted, urged
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7704 communal, general
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7705 backward
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7706 struggle
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7707 well-founded
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7708 common, widespread
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7709 considerations
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7710 prescribing, imposing
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7711 offensively
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7712 over, in preference to
Return to text.

7713 frivolity, lack of serious thought
Return to text.

7714 I who
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7715 acknowledged, openly declared
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7716 the Philistines’
Return to text.

7717 subject of a realm, citizen
Return to text.

7718 thou mine = thou under my protection
Return to text.

7719 free
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7720 goes by the worse = gets the worst of it
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7721 by
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7722 outbursts/volleys of sound (words)
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7723 spare, give, yield
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7724 occasion, opportunity
Return to text.

7725 acutely
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7726 lack
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7727 accident
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7728 out of their houses
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7729 attention
Return to text.

7730 duty, function
Return to text.

7731 up to, until
Return to text.

7732 pleasant
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7733 fits not = is not suitable
Return to text.

7734 separated, disunited, estranged
Return to text.

7735 tricks
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7736 devices, contrivances
Return to text.

7737 nets and snares
Return to text.

7738 annulled
Return to text.

7739 “they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers” (Psalm 58:4–5)
Return to text.

7740 disdain
Return to text.

7741 betray
Return to text.

7742 leave
Return to text.

7743 despised
Return to text.

7744 finally, at last
Return to text.

7745 affront, exult
Return to text.

7746 displaying excessive affection/regard for one’s wife
Return to text.

7747 complete, unqualified
Return to text.

7748 slavery
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7749 explain, interpret
Return to text.

7750 judging, criticizing
Return to text.

7751 hold, reckon
Return to text.

7752 inexorable, irreconcilable
Return to text.

7753 pursuing, petitioning
Return to text.

7754 bid (directed) to go (to leave)
Return to text.

7755 affairs
Return to text.

7756 the Jews
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7757 slandered
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7758 recited, sung, narrated
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7759 higher than
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7760 ties, agreements
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7761 incense, perfume
Return to text.

7762 Sisera, a Canaanite hostile to the Jews, fled their pursuit; Jael, wife of Sisera’s host, drove a nail through his head as he lay sleeping: see Judges 4, 5
Return to text.

7763 criminal
Return to text.

7764 is discontented
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7765 evident, obvious
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7766 receive, hold
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7767 find, light upon
Return to text.

7768 consult upon
Return to text.

7769 the “secret” referred to in line 384, above
Return to text.

7770 best man at a wedding: Samson’s first wife was subsequently married to his former best man
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7771 neither would both wives have
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7772 destined, ruinous, deadly
Return to text.

7773 for that = because
Return to text.

7774 limited, very little
Return to text.

7775 formed, created, produced
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7776 prefer
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7777 basis, inner/essential part
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7778 implanted
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7779 serious, calm
Return to text.

7780 defending
Return to text.

7781 (1) sundering, separating, (2) clinging, adhering
Return to text.

7782 on, along
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7783 disorderly, troubling
Return to text.

7784 out of the right path
Return to text.

7785 excessive fondness
Return to text.

7786 corrupted
Return to text.

7787 a woman
Return to text.

7788 joins/unites (with her virtue)
Return to text.

7789 arbitrarily/absolutely authoritative
Return to text.

7790 proper
Return to text.

7791 dread mixed with veneration
Return to text.

7792 sever, quit
Return to text.

7793 smile she = whether she smiles
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7794 frown, scowl
Return to text.

7795 been involved in
Return to text.

7796 hidden, secret, recondite
Return to text.

7797 “the giant”
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7798 home
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7799 can guess/predict
Return to text.

7800 magnificent, splendid
Return to text.

7801 dress
Return to text.

7802 whether
Return to text.

7803 freight
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7804 mischance, luck
Return to text.

7805 see Deuteronomy 3:1–11
Return to text.

7806 see Numbers 13:33
Return to text.

7807 a race of giants dwelling east of the River Jordan: see Deuteronomy 2:10–11
Return to text.

7808 see Genesis 14:5
Return to text.

7809 unnatural, amazing, vast, monstrous
Return to text.

7810 tested
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7811 in camp: on a campaign
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7812 listed field: battlefield divided into lists (areas for jousting tournaments)
Return to text.

7813 rumor, common talk
Return to text.

7814 challenge to single combat
Return to text.

7815 shackles, fetters
Return to text.

7816 away from
Return to text.

7817 the circumcised, the Jews
Return to text.

7818 deadly
Return to text.

7819 in order to be
Return to text.

7820 destroyed by treachery
Return to text.

7821 room (in a house)
Return to text.

7822 close-banded = closely joined
Return to text.

7823 get the better of
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7824 expedients, stratagems
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7825 showy
Return to text.

7826 armor
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7827 body armor: rings (or plates) of metal covered with canvas, linen, or leather
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7828 upper-body armor
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7829 vant-brace: armor for forearms
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7830 leg armor
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7831 glove of leather, covered with metal plates
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7832 weaver’s beam: wooden cylinder in a loom, on which, before weaving, the warp is wound (see 1 Samuel 7:7)
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7833 i.e., seven laminations (layers) of leather
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7834 rattling, noisy
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7835 raging
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7836 stiff-spined
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7837 as long as
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7838 invoke
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7839 supported
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7840 notices, cares about
Return to text.

7841 acknowledges
Return to text.

7842 Samson’s
Return to text.

7843 labor
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7844 coarse-growing, rank, rough
Return to text.

7845 conquered, overcome
Return to text.

7846 thine (your) people
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7847 indulgent, beneficent
Return to text.

7848 challenge
Return to text.

7849 rebel
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7850 tongue-valiant
Return to text.

7851 treaty
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7852 well-known (and bad)
Return to text.

7853 see Judges 14:10–19
Return to text.

7854 booty, loot
Return to text.

7855 indicated, proved
Return to text.

7856 crafty intriguers
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7857 forced, compelled
Return to text.

7858 so
Return to text.

7859 engaged in, employed
Return to text.

7860 secret enemies
Return to text.

7861 holding no official position
Return to text.

7862 treaty
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7863 gave up = surrendered
Return to text.

7864 undertook, ventured, dared
Return to text.

7865 solitary
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7866 familiar, well-known
Return to text.

7867 i.e., revealing the secret of his strength to Dalila, who then cut off his hair
Return to text.

7868 tricks, sophistries, evasions
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7869 challenger
Return to text.

7870 challenges
Return to text.

7871 for the third time, three times in succession
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7872 trivial, minor, unimportant
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7873 undertaking, business
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7874 little, slight, no great
Return to text.

7875 exercise
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7876 examine, inspect, evaluate
Return to text.

7877 comment on, carp about
Return to text.

7878 Philistine god
Return to text.

7879 unaccustomed
Return to text.

7880 give in return, cause
Return to text.

7881 front line of battle formations
Return to text.

7882 offensive arrogance
Return to text.

7883 is appropriate for
Return to text.

7884 bewildered
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7885 huge/massy frame
Return to text.

7886 large
Return to text.

7887 blow (of the hand)
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7888 frame, body
Return to text.

7889 peril
Return to text.

7890 acts of bravado/defiance
Return to text.

7891 marching
Return to text.

7892 unconcerned, indifferent, uncaring
Return to text.

7893 passionate
Return to text.

7894 temper
Return to text.

7895 common talk
Return to text.

7896 publicly declare
Return to text.

7897 the greatest
Return to text.

7898 benefit, profit
Return to text.

7899 my death
Return to text.

7900 pleasing, proper
Return to text.

7901 overcome, vanquish
Return to text.

7902 violent, truculent
Return to text.

7903 bold
Return to text.

7904 zealous, assiduous
Return to text.

7905 frenzied, furious
Return to text.

7906 their deliverer
Return to text.

7907 military stores/equipment
Return to text.

7908 disdains
Return to text.

7909 speed
Return to text.

7910 flash
Return to text.

7911 performs, fulfills, discharges
Return to text.

7912 perplexed, confused, disordered
Return to text.

7913 panicked, overwhelmed, astonished
Return to text.

7914 act of worship, religious observance
Return to text.

7915 moral strength/courage
Return to text.

7916 everything
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7917 endowed
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7918 deprived, stripped
Return to text.

7919 in reserve, still to come
Return to text.

7920 making his way
Return to text.

7921 skillfully worked
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7922 at full speed
Return to text.

7923 fluent
Return to text.

7924 distinguish, mark out
Return to text.

7925 pageants, parades, displays
Return to text.

7926 standard, degree
Return to text.

7927 evidence
Return to text.

7928 strengthened, cheered (often by alcohol)
Return to text.

7929 clowns
Return to text.

7930 actors
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7931 mimes, burlesque actors
Return to text.

7932 furnish
Return to text.

7933 diversion
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7934 afflict, strain, make miserable
Return to text.

7935 look to
Return to text.

7936 worker at low/servile/hard/distasteful tasks
Return to text.

7937 frolic, exercise
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7938 enjoined, commanded
Return to text.

7939 formal decision
Return to text.

7940 pained
Return to text.

7941 defiance
Return to text.

7942 pay back
Return to text.

7943 God’s favor
Return to text.

7944 one pledged to abstinence
Return to text.

7945 glorifying
Return to text.

7946 legal
Return to text.

7947 compels
Return to text.

7948 saying, maxim
Return to text.

7949 anger
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7950 relax rules, grant dispensations/permission
Return to text.

7951 waking, stirring
Return to text.

7952 incline toward, prepare
Return to text.

7953 prognostication, prediction
Return to text.

7954 obtain, invent, provide for
Return to text.

7955 devices, usually but not necessarily mechanical
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7956 assault, attack
Return to text.

7957 confine
Return to text.

7958 test
Return to text.

7959 technical skill
Return to text.

7960 fatal
Return to text.

7961 must
Return to text.

7962 drag
Return to text.

7963 take off, lay aside
Return to text.

7964 chains
Return to text.

7965 surrounded
Return to text.

7966 irritate
Return to text.

7967 violent
Return to text.

7968 arrogant, immoderate
Return to text.

7969 guarantee, promise
Return to text.

7970 round about, all around
Return to text.

7971 quantity, degree
Return to text.

7972 my inducement = what has led/brought me
Return to text.

7973 frolic, exercise
Return to text.

7974 desire
Return to text.

7975 share
Return to text.

7976 share, participate in
Return to text.

7977 tried to make use of
Return to text.

7978 disinclined, opposed
Return to text.

7979 liberal, magnanimous
Return to text.

7980 courteous
Return to text.

7981 of his sentence/punishment
Return to text.

7982 would be
Return to text.

7983 high-souled kindness
Return to text.

7984 pardon, forgive, release
Return to text.

7985 agreeable
Return to text.

7986 property, estate
Return to text.

7987 accomplish
Return to text.

7988 numbered down = counted out, paid down
Return to text.

7989 miserable
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7990 firm, settled, determined
Return to text.

7991 lacking, missing
Return to text.

7992 accustomed
Return to text.

7993 lay up = save
Return to text.

7994 elevated, dignified
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7995 [adjective]
Return to text.

7996 on garrison (protection, defense) duty
Return to text.

7997 body of troops
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7998 laughable, absurd
Return to text.

7999 empty, unavailing
Return to text.

8000 action, accomplishing
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8001 formed
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8002 consistent/harmonious with
Return to text.

8003 of the same tribe, they are in a sense next of kin
Return to text.

8004 place, population
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8005 disastrous, evil
Return to text.

8006 happening
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8007 sorrow, grief
Return to text.

8008 assent
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8009 wait, delay
Return to text.

8010 express (fast)
Return to text.

8011 abates, stops for a while
Return to text.

8012 flee
Return to text.

8013 dreadful, terrible
Return to text.

8014 event
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8015 confused, disordered, deranged
Return to text.

8016 upshot, conclusion
Return to text.

8017 details, particulars
Return to text.

8018 excess, more than enough
Return to text.

8019 promptly, hastily
Return to text.

8020 quickly
Return to text.

8021 bursting out
Return to text.

8022 worthless, vain
Return to text.

8023 discord, quarrel
Return to text.

8024 finally, in the end
Return to text.

8025 narration
Return to text.

8026 business
Return to text.

8027 high street = main road
Return to text.

8028 gotten done
Return to text.

8029 all abroad = widely
Return to text.

8030 thought, decided
Return to text.

8031 hall, amphitheater
Return to text.

8032 quality, rank
Return to text.

8033 benches
Return to text.

8034 at a distance
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8035 inconspicuous, unnoticed
Return to text.

8036 diversions
Return to text.

8037 distinctive clothing, uniform
Return to text.

8038 flutes
Return to text.

8039 tambourines
Return to text.

8040 soldiers in full armor
Return to text.

8041 split
Return to text.

8042 raising an outcry for
Return to text.

8043 fearful, terrible
Return to text.

8044 slave
Return to text.

8045 as opponent/adversary
Return to text.

8046 the guard
Return to text.

8047 bowed
Return to text.

8048 test
Return to text.

8049 sinews
Return to text.

8050 confined, shut in
Return to text.

8051 wrenching
Return to text.

8052 commingled
Return to text.

8053 common/ordinary people
Return to text.

8054 outside
Return to text.

8055 (1) coils, wrappings, (2) pen, enclosure
Return to text.

8056 happy
Return to text.

8057 proud, lofty
Return to text.

8058 swallowed
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8059 preferring him (their idol)
Return to text.

8060 Shiloh
Return to text.

8061 derangement, madness
Return to text.

8062 i.e., the spirit of frenzy
Return to text.

8063 injured
Return to text.

8064 diversion
Return to text.

8065 unknowingly
Return to text.

8066 foolish, stupid
Return to text.

8067 onto
Return to text.

8068 corrupt
Return to text.

8069 powers
Return to text.

8070 serpent
Return to text.

8071 rural, farmhouse
Return to text.

8072 discharged
Return to text.

8073 rendered weak
Return to text.

8074 the phoenix
Return to text.

8075 wrapped
Return to text.

8076 sacrificial fire, complete destruction
Return to text.

8077 brought forth, generated
Return to text.

8078 at the time
Return to text.

8079 long-lived (for centuries)
Return to text.

8080 (1) redeemed, acquitted, (2) ended
Return to text.

8081 original location of the Philistines
Return to text.

8082 (1) boundaries, (2) lands
Return to text.

8083 lay hold = grasp
Return to text.

8084 lineage
Return to text.

8085 vessels of water
Return to text.

8086 dried blood
Return to text.

8087 condition, state
Return to text.

8088 rites (funereal)
Return to text.

8089 procession
Return to text.

8090 recorded, written
Return to text.

8091 story
Return to text.

8092 come, proceed
Return to text.

8093 inscrutable
Return to text.

8094 disposition
Return to text.

8095 organize [verb]
Return to text.

8096 absolute
Return to text.

8097 will, purpose, pleasure
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8098 acquisition
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8099 sent away
Return to text.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Chronology

Preface

Introduction

A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM 114

PSALM 136

ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT

AT A VACATION EXERCISE

ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST’S NATIVITY

THE PASSION

SONG: ON MAY MORNING

ENGLISH SONNETS

No. 1 O nightingale

No. 7 How soon hath time

No. 8 Captain or colonel

No. 9 Lady, that in the prime

No. 10 Daughter to that good earl

No. 11 I did but prompt the age

No. 12 A book was writ, of late

No. 13 Harry, whose tuneful

No. 14 When faith and love

No. 15 Fairfax, whose name in arms

No. 16 Cromwell, our chief of men

No. 17 Vane, young in years

No. 18 Avenge, O Lord

No. 19 When I consider

No. 20 Lawrence, of virtuous father

No. 21 Cyriack! Whose grandsire

No. 22 Cyriack, this three years day

No. 23 Methought I saw

ON SHAKESPEARE

ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER

ANOTHER ON THE SAME

AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF WINCHESTER

L’ALLEGRO

IL PENSEROSO

ARCADES

COMUS: A MASQUE

ON TIME

UPON THE CIRCUMCISION

AT A SOLEMN MUSIC

LYCIDAS

THE FIFTH ODE OF HORACE, BOOK ONE

ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE

PSALMS 1–8:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

PARADISE LOST

Book I

Book II

Book III

Book IV

Book V

Book VI

Book VII

Book VIII

Book IX

Book X

Book XI

Book XII

PARADISE REGAINED

Book I

Book II

Book III

Book IV

SAMSON AGONISTES

Suggestions for Further Reading

Ask your Bookseller for these Bantam Classics

About the Author

Copyright