# Paradise Lost (1890)/Book 3

PARADISE LOST.
BOOK III.
THE ARGUMENT.
    God, sitting on his throne, sees Satan flying toward 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 toward 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 toward man; but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended toward 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 quire, celebrate the Father and the Son. Meanwhile Satan alights upon the bare convex of this World's uttermost orb; where wandering he first finds a place, since called the Limbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither; thence 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.
Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born! Or of the Eternal coeternal beam May I express thee unblamed? since God is light, And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, Bright effluence of bright essence, increate! Or hearest thou rather pure ethereal stream, Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun, Before the heaven thou wert, and at the voice Of God, as with a mantle didst invest10 The rising World of waters dark and deep, Won from the void and formless Infinite.— Thee I revisit now with bolder wing, Escaped the Stygian pool, though long detained In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight, Through utter and through middle darkness borne, With other notes than to the Orphean lyre, I sung of Chaos and eternal Night; Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,20
Though hard and rare;—thee I revisit safe, And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou Revisitest not these eyes, that roll in vain To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs, Or dim suffusion veiled. Yet not the more Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill, Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,30 That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow, Nightly I visit; nor sometimes forget Those other two equalled with me in fate, So were I equalled with them in renown, Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides, And Tiresiäs and Phineus, prophets old: Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year40 Seasons return, but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and, for the book of knowledge fair,
Presented with a universal blank Of Nature's works, to me expunged and raised, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.50 So much the rather thou, celestial Light, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight. Now had the Almighty Father from above, From the pure Empyrean where he sits, High throned above all highth, bent down his eye, His own works and their works at once to view. About him all the Sanctities of Heaven60 Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received Beatitude past utterance; on his right The radiant image of his glory sat, His only Son. On earth he first beheld Our two first parents, yet the only two Of mankind, in the Happy Garden placed, Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, Uninterrupted joy, unrivalled love, In blissful solitude. He then surveyed Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there70 Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night, In the dun air sublime, and ready now To stoop, with wearied wings and willing feet,
On the bare outside of this World, that seemed Firm land embosomed, without firmament, Uncertain which, in ocean or in air. Him God beholding from his prospect high, Wherein past, present, future, he beholds, Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake: "Only-begotten Son, seest thou what rage80 Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds Prescribed, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains Heaped on him there, nor yet the main Abyss Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head. And now, Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light, Directly toward the new-created World, And Man there placed, with purpose to assay90 If him by force he can destroy, or worse, By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; For man will hearken to his glozing lies, And easily transgress the soul command, Sole pledge of his obedience; so will fall He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault? Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me All he could have. I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.
Such I created all the ethereal Powers100 And Spirits, both them who stood and them who failed; Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love, Where only what they needs must do appeared, Not what they would? what praise could they receive? What pleasure I from such obedience paid? When will and reason—reason also is choice— Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled, Made passive both, had served necessity,110 Not me. They therefore, as to right belonged, So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, As if Predestination overruled Their will, disposed by absolute decree, Or high foreknowledge. They themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I. If I foreknew, Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less proved certain unforeknown. So, without least impulse or shadow of fate,120 Or aught by me immutably foreseen, They trespass, authors to themselves in all,
Both what they judge and what they choose; for so I formed them free, and free they must remain, Till they enthral themselves; I else must change Their nature, and revoke the high decree Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained Their freedom; they themselves ordained their fall. The first sort by their own suggestion fell, Self-tempted, self-depraved; Man falls, deceived130 By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace, The other none. In mercy and justice both, Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel; But mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine." Thus while God spake ambrosial fragrance filled All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffused. Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Most glorious: in him all his father shone Substantially expressed; and in his face140 Divine compassion visibly appeared, Love without end, and without measure grace, Which uttering thus he to his Father spake: "O Father, gracious was that word which closed
Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace; For which both Heaven and Earth shall high extol Thy praises, with the innumerable sound Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne Encompassed shall resound thee ever blest. For should Man finally be lost, should Man,150 Thy creature late so loved, thy youngest son, Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joined With his own folly . . . that be from thee far, That far be from thee, Father, who art judge Of all things made, and judgest only right. Or shall the Adversary thus obtain His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfil His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought; Or proud return, though to his heavier doom, Yet with revenge accomplished, and to Hell160 Draw after him the whole race of mankind, By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself Abolish thy creation, and unmake For him what for thy glory thou hast made? . . . So should thy goodness and thy greatness both Be questioned and blasphemed without defence." To whom the great Creator thus replied: "O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, Son of my bosom, Son, who art alone
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,170 All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all As my eternal purpose hath decreed. Man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will; Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vouchsafed; once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthralled By sin to foul exorbitant desires; Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand On even ground against his mortal foe; By me upheld, that he may know how frail180 His fallen condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace, Elect above the rest—so is my will; The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warned Their sinful state, and to appease betimes The incensed Deity, while offered grace Invites; for I will clear their senses dark, What may suffice, and soften stony hearts To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.190 To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, Though but endeavored with sincere intent, Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut. And I will place within them as a guide My umpire Conscience, whom if they will hear, Light after light, well used, they shall attain, And to the end persisting safe arrive.
This my long sufferance and my day of grace They who neglect and scorn shall never taste; But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,200 That they may stumble on and deeper fall; And none but such from mercy I exclude.— But yet all is not done; Man disobeying, Disloyal, breaks his feälty, and sins Against the high supremacy of Heaven, Affecting Godhead, and, so losing all, To expiate his treason hath nought left, But, to destruction sacred and devote, He with his whole posterity must die, Die he or justice must; unless for him210 Some other able, and as willing, pay The rigid satisfaction, death for death. Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love? Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save? Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?" He asked, but all the heavenly quire stood mute, And silence was in Heaven; on Man's behalf Patron or intercessor none appeared, Much less than durst upon his own head draw220 The deadly forfeiture and ransom set. And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been lost, adjudged to Death and Hell By doom severe, had not the Son of God, In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, His dearest mediation thus renewed: "Father, thy word is passed, Man shall find grace; And shall Grace not find means, that find her way, The speediest of thy winged messengers, To visit all thy creatures, and to all230 Comes unprevented, unimplored, unsought? Happy for man so coming! he her aid Can never seek, once dead in sins and lost; Atonement for himself or offering meet, Indebted and undone, hath none to bring.— Behold me then: me for him, life for life I offer; on me let thine anger fall; Account me Man: I for his sake will leave Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee Freely put off, and for him lastly die,240 Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage. Under his gloomy power I shall not long Lie vanquished; thou hast given me to possess Life in myself forever; by thee I live, Though now to Death I yield, and am his due, All that of me can die. Yet, that debt paid, Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave,
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul For ever with corruption there to dwell; But I shall rise victorious, and subdue250 My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil. Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed; I through the ample air, in triumph high, Shall lead Hell captive, maugre Hell, and shew The powers of darkness bound: thou, at the sight Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, While, by the raised, I ruin all my foes, Death last, and with his carcase glut the grave; Then, with the multitude of my redeemed,260 Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return, Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud Of anger shall remain, but peace assured And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire." His words here ended, but his meek aspect Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love To mortal men, above which only shone Filial obedience; as a sacrifice Glad to be offered, he attends the will270 Of his great Father. Admiration seized All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend, Wondering; but soon the Almighty thus replied:
"O thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath! O thou My sole complacence! well thou knowest how dear To me are all my works, nor Man the least, Though last created; that for him I spare Thee from my bosom and right-hand, to save, By losing thee awhile, the whole race lost.280 Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem, Their nature also to thy nature join; And be thyself Man among men on earth, Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed, By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam's room The head of all mankind, though Adam's son. As in him perish all men, so in thee, As from a second root, shall be restored As many as are restored, without thee none. His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit,290 Imputed; shall absolve them who renounce Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, And live in thee transplanted, and from thee Receive new life. So Man, as is most just, Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die, And dying rise, and rising with him raise His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life. So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, Giving to death, and dying to redeem, So dearly to redeem what hellish hate300
So easily destroyed, and still destroys In those who, when they may, accept not grace. Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own. Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss, Equal to God, and equally enjoying Godlike fruition, quitted all, to save A world from utter loss, and hast been found By merit more than birthright Son of God, Found worthiest to be so by being good,310 Far more than great or high: because in thee Love hath abounded more than glory abound; Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt With thee thy manhood also to this throne: Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign Both God and man, Son both of God and Man, Anointed universal King. All power I give thee; reign for ever, and assume Thy merits; under thee, as head supreme, Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce: All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide321 In Heaven, on Earth, or under Earth in Hell. When thou, attended gloriously from Heaven, Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send The summoning Archangels, to proclaim Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds
The living, and forthwith the cited dead, Of all past ages, to the general doom Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep. Then, all thy Saints assembled, thou shalt judge330 Bad men and Angels. They arraigned shall sink Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full, Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Meanwhile The World shall burn, and from her ashes spring New heaven and earth, wherein the just shall dwell; And, after all their tribulations long, See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, With Joy and Love triumphing, and fair Truth. Then thou thy regal sceptre shalt lay by, For regal sceptre then no more shall need;340 God shall be all in all. But, all ye Gods, Adore him, who to compass all this dies: Adore the Son, and honor him as me." No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but, all The multitude of Angels—with a shout Loud as from numbers without number, sweet As from blest voices—uttering joy, Heaven rung With jubilee, and loud Hosannas filled The eternal regions. Lowly reverent Toward either throne they bow, and to the ground With solemn adoration down they cast351
Their crowns, inwove with amarant and gold; Immortal amarant, a flower which once In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life, Began to bloom; but soon, for Man's offence, To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows And flowers aloft shading the Fount of Life, And where the River of Bliss through midst of Heaven Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream. With these that never fade the Spirits elect360 Bind their resplendent locks, inwreathed with beams. Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone, Impurpled with celestial roses smiled. Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took— Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side Like quivers hung—and with preamble sweet Of charming symphony they introduce Their sacred song, and waken raptures high; No voice exempt, no voice but well could join370 Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven. Thee, Father, first they sung, omnipotent, Immutable, immortal, infinite, Eternal King; thee, Author of all being, Fountain of light, thyself invisible
Amidst the glorious brightness, where thou sittest Throned inaccessible; but when thou shadest The full blaze of thy beams, and, through a cloud, Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine. . . Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,380 Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes. The next they sang of all creation first, Begotten Son, divine similitude, In whose conspicuous contenance, without cloud Made visible, the almighty Father shines, Whom else no creature can behold; on thee Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides; Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests. "He Heaven of Heavens and all the powers therein By thee created; and by thee threw down391 The aspiring Dominations. Thou that day Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare, Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks Thou drovest of warring Angels disarrayed. Back from pursuit thy powers with loud acclaim Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father's might, To execute fierce vengeance on his foot.
Not so on man; him, through their malice fallen,400 Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom So strictly, but much more to pity incline. No sooner did thy dear and only Son Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail Man So strictly, but much more to pity inclined, He, to appease thy wrath and end the strife Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned, Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat Second to thee, offered himself to die For Man's offence. Oh, unexampled love,410 Love nowhere to be found less than Divine! Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men! thy name Shall be the copious matter of my song Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise Forget, nor from the Father's praise disjoin." Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere, Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent. Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe Of this round World, whose first convex divides The luminous inferior orbs enclosed420 From Chaos and the inroad of Darkness old, Satan alighted walks. A globe far off It seemed, now seems a boundless continent, Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night Starless exposed, and ever-threatening storms Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;
Save on that side which from the wall of Heaven, Though distant far, some small reflection gains Of glimmering air, less vexed with tempest loud: Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field.430 As when a vulture on Imaüs bred, Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, Dislodging from a region scarce of prey, To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids, On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams; But in his way lights on the barren plains Of Sericana, where Chineses drive With sails and wind their cany waggons light; So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend440 Walks up and down alone, bent on his prey; Alone, for other creature, in this place Living or lifeless, to be found was none; None yet, but store hereafter from the Earth Up hither like aërial vapors flew Of all things transitory and vain, when sin With vanity had filled the works of men: Both all things vain, and all who in vain things Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame, Or happiness in this or the other life.450 All who have their reward on earth, the fruits Of painful superstition and blind zeal,
Nought seeking but the praise of men here find Fit retribution, empty as their deeds. All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed, Dissolved on Earth, fleet hither, and in vain, Till final dissolution, wander here; Not in the neighboring moon, as some have dreamed; Those argent fields more likely habitants,460 Translated Saints or middle Spirits hold Betwixt the angelical and human kind. Hither, of ill-joined sons and daughters born, First from the ancient world those Giants came, With many a vain exploit, though then renowned; The builders next of Babel, on the plain Of Sennaar, and still with vain design New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build: Others came single; he, to be deemed A god, leaped fondly into Ætna flames470 Empedocles; and he who, to enjoy Plato's Elysium, leaped into the sea, Cleombrotus; and many more too long, Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars, White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery. Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek In Golgotha him dead who lives in Heaven; And they who, to be sure of Paradise,
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic, Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised.480 They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed, And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talked, and that first moved; And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems To wait them with his keys, and now at foot Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo! A violent cross-wind from either coast Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry, Into the divious air. Then might ye see Cowls, hoods, and habits with their wearers, toss490 And fluttered into rags; then reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls, The sport of winds; all these, upwhirled aloft, Fly o'er the backside of the World far off Into a Limbo large and broad, since called The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown Long after, now unpeopled and untrod. All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed, And long he wandered, till at last a gleam Of dawning light turned thitherward in haste500 His traveled steps. Far distant he descries,
Ascending by degrees magnificent Up to the wall of Heaven, a structure high; At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared The work as of a kingly palace-gate, With frontispiece of diamond and gold Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems The portal shone, inimitable on Earth By model, or by shading pencil drawn. The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw510 Angels ascending and descending, bands Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz Dreaming by night under the open sky, And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood There always, but, drawn up to Heaven, sometimes Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon Who after came from Earth sailing arrived520 Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds. The stairs were then let down, whether to dare The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss; Direct against which opened from beneath, Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise, A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide;
Wider by far than that of after-times Over Mount Sion, and, though that were large,530 Over the Promised Land to God so dear; By which, to visit oft those happy tribes, On high behests his Angels to and fro Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood, To Beërsaba, where the Holy Land Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore; So wide the opening seemed, where bounds were set To darkness, such as bound the ocean-wave. Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,540 That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate, Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this World at once. As when a scout, Through dark and desert ways with peril gone All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, Which to his eye discovers unaware The goodly prospect of some foreign land, First seen, or some ronowned metropolis, With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,550 Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams. . . Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen, The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized, At sight of all this World beheld so fair.
Round he surveys—and well might, where he stood, So high above the circling canopy Of Night's extended shade—from eastern point Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantic seas, Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole560 He views in breadth, and, without longer pause, Down right into the World's first region throws His flight precipitant, and winds with ease Through the pure marble air his oblique way Amongst innumerable stars, that shone Stars distant, but nigh-hand seemed other worlds, Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles, Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old, Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales, Thrice-happy isles; but who dwelt happy there570 He stayed not to inquire. Above them all The golden sun, in splendor likest Heaven, Allured his eye. Thither his course he bends, Through the calm firmament—but up or down. By center or eccentric, hard to tell, Or longitude—where the great luminary, Aloof the vulgar constellations thick, That from his lordly eye keep distance due, Dispenses light from far. They, as they move Their starry dance in numbers that compute580
Days, months, and years, toward his all-cheering lamp Turn swift their various motions, or are turned By his magnetic beam, that gently warns The Universe, and to each inward part With gentle penetration, though unseen, Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep: So wonderously was set his station bright. There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb, Through his glazed optic tube, yet never saw.590 The place he found beyond expression bright, Compared with aught on Earth, metal or stone; Not all parts like, but all alike informed With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire: If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear; If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite, Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone In Aaron's breastplate, and a stone besides Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen, That stone, or like to that, which here below600 Philosophers in vain so long have sought; In vain, though by their powerful art they bind Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound In various shapes old Proteus from the sea, Drained through a limbec to his native form.
What wonder then if fields and regions here Breathe forth elixir pure, and rivers run Potable gold, when, with one virtuous touch, The arch-chemic sun, so far from us remote, Produces, with terrestrial humor mixed,610 Here in the dark so many precious things, Of colour glorious, and effect so rare! Here matter new to gaze the Devil met Undazzled. Far and wide his eye commands; For sight no obstacle found here nor shade, But all sunshine, as when his beams at noon Culminate from the equator, as they now Shot upward still direct, whence no way round Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air, Nowhere so clear, sharpened his visual ray620 To objects distant far, whereby he soon Saw within ken a glorious Angel stand, The same whom John saw also in the sun. His back was turned, but not his brightness hid; Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar Circled his head, nor less his locks behind Illustrious, on his shoulders fledge with wings, Lay waving round; on some great charge employed He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep. Glad was the spirit impure, as now in hope630 To find who might direct his wandering flight To Paradise, the happy seat of Man,
His journey's end and our beginning woe: But first he casts to change his proper shape, Which else might work him danger or delay. And now a stripling Cherub he appears, Not of the prime, yet such as in his face Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned. Under a coronet his flowing hair640 In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore Of many a colored plume, sprinkled with gold; His habit fit for speed succinct, and held Before his decent steps a silver wand. He drew not nigh unheard; the Angel bright, Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turned, Admonished by his ear, and straight was known The Archangel Uriel, one of the seven Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne, Stand ready at command, and are his eyes650 That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth Bear his swift errands over moist and dry, O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts: "Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright, The first art wont his great authentic will Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring. Where all his sons the embassy attend;
And here are likeliest by supreme decree Like honor to obtain, and as his eye660 To visit oft this new creation round . . . Unspeakable desire to see and know All these his wondrous works, but chiefly Man, His chief delight and favor, him for whom All these his works so wondrous he ordained, Had brought me from the quires of Cherubim, Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell, In which of all these shining orbs hath Man His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none, But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell;670 That I may find him, and with secret gaze Or open admiration him behold, On whom the great Creator hath bestowed Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured; That both in him and all things, as in meet, The universal Maker we may praise; Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss, Created this new happy race of Men To serve him better: wise are all his ways."680 So spake the false dissembler unperceived; For neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone,
By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth. And oft, though Wisdom wake, Suspicion sleeps At Wisdom's gate, and to Simplicity Resigns her charge, while Goodness thinks no ill, Where no ill seems: which now for once beguiled Uriel, though regent of the sun, and held690 The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven; Who in the fraudulent imposter foul, In his uprightness, answer thus returned: "Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know The works of God, thereby to glorify The great Work-master, leads to no excess That reaches blame, but rather merits praise The more it seems excess, that led thee hither From thy empyreal mansion thus alone, To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps,700 Contented with report, hear only in Heaven: For wonderful indeed are all his works, Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all Had in remembrance always with delight! But what created mind can comprehend Their number, or the wisdom infinite That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep? I saw when at his word the formless mass, This World's material mould, came to a heap;
Confusion heard his voice, and wild Uproar710 Stood ruled, stood vast Infinitude confined; Till at his second bidding Darkness fled, Light shone, and order from disorder sprung. Swift to their several quarters hasted then The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire; And this ethereal quintessence of heaven Flew upward, spirited with various forms, That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars, Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; Each had his place appointed, each his course:720 The rest in circuit walls this Universe. Look downward on that globe, whose hither side With light from hence, though but reflected, shines. That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light His day, which else, as the other hemisphere, Night would invade; but there the neighbouring moon —So call that opposite fair star—her aid Timely interposes, and, her monthly round Still ending, still renewing, through mid-heaven, With borrowed light her countenance triform730 Hence fills and empties, to enlighten the Earth, And in her pale dominion checks the night. That spot to which I point is Paradise, Adam's abode, those lofty shades his bower. Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires."
Thus said, he turned; and Satan bowing low, As to superior Spirits is wont in Heaven, Where honor due and reverence none neglects, Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath, Down from the ecliptic, sped with hoped success,740 Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel, Nor stayed, till on Niphates' top he lights.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse