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PARADISE LOST 
BOOK I. 
 
  Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit 
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast 
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, 
With loss of EDEN, till one greater Man 
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, 
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top 
Of OREB, or of SINAI, didst inspire 
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed, 
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth 
Rose out of CHAOS: Or if SION Hill 
Delight thee more, and SILOA'S Brook that flow'd 
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence 
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song, 
That with no middle flight intends to soar 
Above th' AONIAN Mount, while it pursues 
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime. 
And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer 
Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, 
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first 
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread 
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss 
And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark 
Illumine, what is low raise and support; 
That to the highth of this great Argument 
I may assert th' Eternal Providence, 
And justifie the wayes of God to men. 
  Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view 
Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause 
Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State, 
Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off 
From their Creator, and transgress his Will 
For one restraint, Lords of the World besides? 
Who first seduc'd them to that fowl revolt? 
Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile 
Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd 
The Mother of Mankinde, what time his Pride 
Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host 
Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring 
To set himself in Glory above his Peers, 
He trusted to have equal'd the most High, 
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim 
Against the Throne and Monarchy of God 
Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud 
With vain attempt.  Him the Almighty Power 
Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie 
With hideous ruine and combustion down 
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 
In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, 
Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms. 
Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night 
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew 
Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe 
Confounded though immortal: But his doom 
Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought 
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes 
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay 
Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate: 
At once as far as Angels kenn he views 
The dismal Situation waste and wilde, 
A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round 
As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames 
No light, but rather darkness visible 
Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, 
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes 
That comes to all; but torture without end 
Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed 
With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd: 
Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd 
For those rebellious, here their Prison ordain'd 
In utter darkness, and their portion set 
As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n 
As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole. 
O how unlike the place from whence they fell! 
There the companions of his fall, o'rewhelm'd 
With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, 
He soon discerns, and weltring by his side 
One next himself in power, and next in crime, 
Long after known in PALESTINE, and nam'd 
BEELZEBUB.  To whom th' Arch-Enemy, 
And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words 
Breaking the horrid silence thus began. 
  If thou beest he; But O how fall'n! how chang'd 
From him, who in the happy Realms of Light 
Cloth'd with transcendent brightnes didst outshine 
Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league, 
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope, 
And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize, 
Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd 
In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest 
From what highth fal'n, so much the stronger provd 
He with his Thunder: and till then who knew 
The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those 
Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage 
Can else inflict do I repent or change, 
Though chang'd in outward lustre; that fixt mind 
And high disdain, from sence of injur'd merit, 
That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend, 
And to the fierce contention brought along 
Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd 
That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring, 
His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd 
In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav'n, 
And shook his throne.  What though the field be lost? 
All is not lost; the unconquerable Will, 
And study of revenge, immortal hate, 
And courage never to submit or yield: 
And what is else not to be overcome? 
That Glory never shall his wrath or might 
Extort from me.  To bow and sue for grace 
With suppliant knee, and deifie his power 
Who from the terrour of this Arm so late 
Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed, 
That were an ignominy and shame beneath 
This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods 
And this Empyreal substance cannot fail, 
Since through experience of this great event 
In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't, 
We may with more successful hope resolve 
To wage by force or guile eternal Warr 
Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe, 
Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy 
Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav'n. 
  So spake th' Apostate Angel, though in pain, 
Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare: 
And him thus answer'd soon his bold Compeer. 
  O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers, 
That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to Warr 
Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds 
Fearless, endanger'd Heav'ns perpetual King; 
And put to proof his high Supremacy, 
Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate, 
Too well I see and rue the dire event, 
That with sad overthrow and foul defeat 
Hath lost us Heav'n, and all this mighty Host 
In horrible destruction laid thus low, 
As far as Gods and Heav'nly Essences 
Can Perish: for the mind and spirit remains 
Invincible, and vigour soon returns, 
Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state 
Here swallow'd up in endless misery. 
But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now 
Of force believe Almighty, since no less 
Then such could hav orepow'rd such force as ours) 
Have left us this our spirit and strength intire 
Strongly to suffer and support our pains, 
That we may so suffice his vengeful ire, 
Or do him mightier service as his thralls 
By right of Warr, what e're his business be 
Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire, 
Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep; 
What can it then avail though yet we feel 
Strength undiminisht, or eternal being 
To undergo eternal punishment? 
Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd. 
  Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable 
Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure, 
To do ought good never will be our task, 
But ever to do ill our sole delight, 
As being the contrary to his high will 
Whom we resist.  If then his Providence 
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, 
Our labour must be to pervert that end, 
And out of good still to find means of evil; 
Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps 
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb 
His inmost counsels from their destind aim. 
But see the angry Victor hath recall'd 
His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit 
Back to the Gates of Heav'n: The Sulphurous Hail 
Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid 
The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice 
Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling, and the Thunder, 
Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage, 
Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now 
To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep. 
Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn, 
Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe. 
Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde, 
The seat of desolation, voyd of light, 
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames 
Casts pale and dreadful?  Thither let us tend 
From off the tossing of these fiery waves, 
There rest, if any rest can harbour there, 
And reassembling our afflicted Powers, 
Consult how we may henceforth most offend 
Our Enemy, our own loss how repair, 
How overcome this dire Calamity, 
What reinforcement we may gain from Hope, 
If not what resolution from despare. 
  Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate 
With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes 
That sparkling blaz'd, his other Parts besides 
Prone on the Flood, extended long and large 
Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge 
As whom the Fables name of monstrous size, 
TITANIAN, or EARTH-BORN, that warr'd on JOVE, 
BRIARIOS or TYPHON, whom the Den 
By ancient TARSUS held, or that Sea-beast 
LEVIATHAN, which God of all his works 
Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream: 
Him haply slumbring on the NORWAY foam 
The Pilot of some small night-founder'd Skiff, 
Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell, 
With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind 
Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night 
Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes: 
So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay 
Chain'd on the burning Lake, nor ever thence 
Had ris'n or heav'd his head, but that the will 
And high permission of all-ruling Heaven 
Left him at large to his own dark designs, 
That with reiterated crimes he might 
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought 
Evil to others, and enrag'd might see 
How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth 
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn 
On Man by him seduc't, but on himself 
Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. 
Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool 
His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames 
Drivn backward slope their pointing spires, & rowld 
In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid Vale. 
Then with expanded wings he stears his flight 
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air 
That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land 
He lights, if it were Land that ever burn'd 
With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire; 
And such appear'd in hue, as when the force 
Of subterranean wind transports a Hill 
Torn from PELORUS, or the shatter'd side 
Of thundring AETNA, whose combustible 
And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire, 
Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds, 
And leave a singed bottom all involv'd 
With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole 
Of unblest feet.  Him followed his next Mate, 
Both glorying to have scap't the STYGIAN flood 
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 
Not by the sufferance of supernal Power. 
  Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime, 
Said then the lost Arch Angel, this the seat 
That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom 
For that celestial light?  Be it so, since hee 
Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid 
What shall be right: fardest from him is best 
Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream 
Above his equals.  Farewel happy Fields 
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail 
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell 
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings 
A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time. 
The mind is its own place, and in it self 
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. 
What matter where, if I be still the same, 
And what I should be, all but less then hee 
Whom Thunder hath made greater?  Here at least 
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built 
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: 
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce 
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: 
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n. 
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, 
Th' associates and copartners of our loss 
Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious Pool, 
And call them not to share with us their part 
In this unhappy Mansion, or once more 
With rallied Arms to try what may be yet 
Regaind in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell? 
  So SATAN spake, and him BEELZEBUB 
Thus answer'd.  Leader of those Armies bright, 
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyld, 
If once they hear that voyce, their liveliest pledge 
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft 
In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge 
Of battel when it rag'd, in all assaults 
Their surest signal, they will soon resume 
New courage and revive, though now they lye 
Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire, 
As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd, 
No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious highth. 
  He scarce had ceas't when the superiour Fiend 
Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield 
Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, 
Behind him cast; the broad circumference 
Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb 
Through Optic Glass the TUSCAN Artist views 
At Ev'ning from the top of FESOLE, 
Or in VALDARNO, to descry new Lands, 
Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe. 
His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine 
Hewn on NORWEGIAN hills, to be the Mast 
Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand, 
He walkt with to support uneasie steps 
Over the burning Marle, not like those steps 
On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime 
Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire; 
Nathless he so endur'd, till on the Beach 
Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call'd 
His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't 
Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks 
In VALLOMBROSA, where th' ETRURIAN shades 
High overarch't imbowr; or scatterd sedge 
Afloat, when with fierce Winds ORION arm'd 
Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew 
BUSIRIS and his MEMPHIAN Chivalrie, 
VVhile with perfidious hatred they pursu'd 
The Sojourners of GOSHEN, who beheld 
From the safe shore their floating Carkases 
And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown 
Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood, 
Under amazement of their hideous change. 
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow Deep 
Of Hell resounded.  Princes, Potentates, 
Warriers, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now lost, 
If such astonishment as this can sieze 
Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place 
After the toyl of Battel to repose 
Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find 
To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n? 
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn 
To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds 
Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood 
With scatter'd Arms and Ensigns, till anon 
His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern 
Th' advantage, and descending tread us down 
Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts 
Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe. 
Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n. 
  They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung 
Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch 
On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, 
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. 
Nor did they not perceave the evil plight 
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; 
Yet to their Generals Voyce they soon obeyd 
Innumerable.  As when the potent Rod 
Of AMRAMS Son in EGYPTS evill day 
Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud 
Of LOCUSTS, warping on the Eastern Wind, 
That ore the Realm of impious PHAROAH hung 
Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of NILE: 
So numberless were those bad Angels seen 
Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell 
'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires; 
Till, as a signal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear 
Of their great Sultan waving to direct 
Thir course, in even ballance down they light 
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain; 
A multitude, like which the populous North 
Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pass 
RHENE or the DANAW, when her barbarous Sons 
Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread 
Beneath GIBRALTAR to the LYBIAN sands. 
Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band 
The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood 
Their great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms 
Excelling human, Princely Dignities, 
And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones; 
Though of their Names in heav'nly Records now 
Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd 
By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life. 
Nor had they yet among the Sons of EVE 
Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth, 
Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man, 
By falsities and lyes the greatest part 
Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake 
God their Creator, and th' invisible 
Glory of him, that made them, to transform 
Oft to the Image of a Brute, adorn'd 
With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold, 
And Devils to adore for Deities: 
Then were they known to men by various Names, 
And various Idols through the Heathen World. 
Say, Muse, their Names then known, who first, who last, 
Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery Couch, 
At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth 
Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, 
While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof? 
The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell 
Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix 
Their Seats long after next the Seat of God, 
Their Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd 
Among the Nations round, and durst abide 
JEHOVAH thundring out of SION, thron'd 
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd 
Within his Sanctuary it self their Shrines, 
Abominations; and with cursed things 
His holy Rites, and solemn Feasts profan'd, 
And with their darkness durst affront his light. 
First MOLOCH, horrid King besmear'd with blood 
Of human sacrifice, and parents tears, 
Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud 
Their childrens cries unheard, that past through fire 
To his grim Idol.  Him the AMMONITE 
Worshipt in RABBA and her watry Plain, 
In ARGOB and in BASAN, to the stream 
Of utmost ARNON.  Nor content with such 
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart 
Of SOLOMON he led by fraud to build 
His Temple right against the Temple of God 
On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove 
The pleasant Vally of HINNOM, TOPHET thence 
And black GEHENNA call'd, the Type of Hell. 
Next CHEMOS, th' obscene dread of MOABS Sons, 
From AROER to NEBO, and the wild 
Of Southmost ABARIM; in HESEBON 
And HERONAIM, SEONS Realm, beyond 
The flowry Dale of SIBMA clad with Vines, 
And ELEALE to th' ASPHALTICK Pool. 
PEOR his other Name, when he entic'd 
ISRAEL in SITTIM on their march from NILE 
To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. 
Yet thence his lustful Orgies he enlarg'd 
Even to that Hill of scandal, by the Grove 
Of MOLOCH homicide, lust hard by hate; 
Till good JOSIAH drove them thence to Hell. 
With these came they, who from the bordring flood 
Of old EUPHRATES to the Brook that parts 
EGYPT from SYRIAN ground, had general Names 
Of BAALIM and ASHTAROTH, those male, 
These Feminine.  For Spirits when they please 
Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft 
And uncompounded is their Essence pure, 
Not ti'd or manacl'd with joynt or limb, 
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, 
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose 
Dilated or condens't, bright or obscure, 
Can execute their aerie purposes, 
And works of love or enmity fulfill. 
For those the Race of ISRAEL oft forsook 
Their living strength, and unfrequented left 
His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down 
To bestial Gods; for which their heads as low 
Bow'd down in Battel, sunk before the Spear 
Of despicable foes.  With these in troop 
Came ASTORETH, whom the PHOENICIANS call'd 
ASTARTE, Queen of Heav'n, with crescent Horns; 
To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon 
SIDONIAN Virgins paid their Vows and Songs, 
In SION also not unsung, where stood 
Her Temple on th' offensive Mountain, built 
By that uxorious King, whose heart though large, 
Beguil'd by fair Idolatresses, fell 
To Idols foul.  THAMMUZ came next behind, 
Whose annual wound in LEBANON allur'd 
The SYRIAN Damsels to lament his fate 
In amorous dittyes all a Summers day, 
While smooth ADONIS from his native Rock 
Ran purple to the Sea, suppos'd with blood 
Of THAMMUZ yearly wounded: the Love-tale 
Infected SIONS daughters with like heat, 
Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch 
EZEKIEL saw, when by the Vision led 
His eye survay'd the dark Idolatries 
Of alienated JUDAH.  Next came one 
Who mourn'd in earnest, when the Captive Ark 
Maim'd his brute Image, head and hands lopt off 
In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge, 
Where he fell flat, and sham'd his Worshipers: 
DAGON his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man 
And downward Fish: yet had his Temple high 
Rear'd in AZOTUS, dreaded through the Coast 
Of PALESTINE, in GATH and ASCALON, 
And ACCARON and GAZA's frontier bounds. 
Him follow'd RIMMON, whose delightful Seat 
Was fair DAMASCUS, on the fertil Banks 
Of ABBANA and PHARPHAR, lucid streams. 
He also against the house of God was bold: 
A Leper once he lost and gain'd a King, 
AHAZ his sottish Conquerour, whom he drew 
Gods Altar to disparage and displace 
For one of SYRIAN mode, whereon to burn 
His odious offrings, and adore the Gods 
Whom he had vanquisht.  After these appear'd 
A crew who under Names of old Renown, 
OSIRIS, ISIS, ORUS and their Train 
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd 
Fanatic EGYPT and her Priests, to seek 
Thir wandring Gods disguis'd in brutish forms 
Rather then human.  Nor did ISRAEL scape 
Th' infection when their borrow'd Gold compos'd 
The Calf in OREB: and the Rebel King 
Doubl'd that sin in BETHEL and in DAN, 
Lik'ning his Maker to the Grazed Ox, 
JEHOVAH, who in one Night when he pass'd 
From EGYPT marching, equal'd with one stroke 
Both her first born and all her bleating Gods. 
BELIAL came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd 
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love 
Vice for it self: To him no Temple stood 
Or Altar smoak'd; yet who more oft then hee 
In Temples and at Altars, when the Priest 
Turns Atheist, as did ELY'S Sons, who fill'd 
With lust and violence the house of God. 
In Courts and Palaces he also Reigns 
And in luxurious Cities, where the noyse 
Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs, 
And injury and outrage: And when Night 
Darkens the Streets, then wander forth the Sons 
Of BELIAL, flown with insolence and wine. 
Witness the Streets of SODOM, and that night 
In GIBEAH, when hospitable Dores 
Yielded thir Matrons to prevent worse rape. 
These were the prime in order and in might; 
The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd, 
Th' IONIAN Gods, of JAVANS Issue held 
Gods, yet confest later then Heav'n and Earth 
Thir boasted Parents; TITAN Heav'ns first born 
With his enormous brood, and birthright seis'd 
By younger SATURN, he from mightier JOVE 
His own and RHEA'S Son like measure found; 
So JOVE usurping reign'd: these first in CREET 
And IDA known, thence on the Snowy top 
Of cold OLYMPUS rul'd the middle Air 
Thir highest Heav'n; or on the DELPHIAN Cliff, 
Or in DODONA, and through all the bounds 
Of DORIC Land; or who with SATURN old 
Fled over ADRIA to th' HESPERIAN Fields, 
And ore the CELTIC roam'd the utmost Isles. 
All these and more came flocking; but with looks 
Down cast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd 
Obscure som glimps of joy, to have found thir chief 
Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost 
In loss it self; which on his count'nance cast 
Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride 
Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore 
Semblance of worth not substance, gently rais'd 
Their fainted courage, and dispel'd their fears. 
Then strait commands that at the warlike sound 
Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard 
His mighty Standard; that proud honour claim'd 
AZAZEL as his right, a Cherube tall: 
Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld 
Th' Imperial Ensign, which full high advanc't 
Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind 
With Gemms and Golden lustre rich imblaz'd, 
Seraphic arms and Trophies: all the while 
Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds: 
At which the universal Host upsent 
A shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond 
Frighted the Reign of CHAOS and old Night. 
All in a moment through the gloom were seen 
Ten thousand Banners rise into the Air 
With Orient Colours waving: with them rose 
A Forrest huge of Spears: and thronging Helms 
Appear'd, and serried Shields in thick array 
Of depth immeasurable: Anon they move 
In perfect PHALANX to the Dorian mood 
Of Flutes and soft Recorders; such as rais'd 
To highth of noblest temper Hero's old 
Arming to Battel, and in stead of rage 
Deliberate valour breath'd, firm and unmov'd 
With dread of death to flight or foul retreat, 
Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage 
With solemn touches, troubl'd thoughts, and chase 
Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain 
From mortal or immortal minds.  Thus they 
Breathing united force with fixed thought 
Mov'd on in silence to soft Pipes that charm'd 
Thir painful steps o're the burnt soyle; and now 
Advanc't in view they stand, a horrid Front 
Of dreadful length and dazling Arms, in guise 
Of Warriers old with order'd Spear and Shield, 
Awaiting what command thir mighty Chief 
Had to impose: He through the armed Files 
Darts his experienc't eye, and soon traverse 
The whole Battalion views, thir order due, 
Thir visages and stature as of Gods, 
Thir number last he summs.  And now his heart 
Distends with pride, and hardning in his strength 
Glories: For never since created man, 
Met such imbodied force, as nam'd with these 
Could merit more then that small infantry 
Warr'd on by Cranes: though all the Giant brood 
Of PHLEGRA with th' Heroic Race were joyn'd 
That fought at THEB'S and ILIUM, on each side 
Mixt with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds 
In Fable or ROMANCE of UTHERS Son 
Begirt with BRITISH and ARMORIC Knights; 
And all who since, Baptiz'd or Infidel 
Jousted in ASPRAMONT or MONTALBAN, 
DAMASCO, or MAROCCO, or TREBISOND, 
Or whom BISERTA sent from AFRIC shore 
When CHARLEMAIN with all his Peerage fell 
By FONTARABBIA.  Thus far these beyond 
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd 
Thir dread Commander: he above the rest 
In shape and gesture proudly eminent 
Stood like a Towr; his form had yet not lost 
All her Original brightness, nor appear'd 
Less then Arch Angel ruind, and th' excess 
Of Glory obscur'd: As when the Sun new ris'n 
Looks through the Horizontal misty Air 
Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon 
In dim Eclips disastrous twilight sheds 
On half the Nations, and with fear of change 
Perplexes Monarchs.  Dark'n'd so, yet shon 
Above them all th' Arch Angel: but his face 
Deep scars of Thunder had intrencht, and care 
Sat on his faded cheek, but under Browes 
Of dauntless courage, and considerate Pride 
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast 
Signs of remorse and passion to behold 
The fellows of his crime, the followers rather 
(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd 
For ever now to have their lot in pain, 
Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc't 
Of Heav'n, and from Eternal Splendors flung 
For his revolt, yet faithfull how they stood, 
Thir Glory witherd.  As when Heavens Fire 
Hath scath'd the Forrest Oaks, or Mountain Pines, 
With singed top their stately growth though bare 
Stands on the blasted Heath.  He now prepar'd 
To speak; whereat their doubl'd Ranks they bend 
From Wing to Wing, and half enclose him round 
With all his Peers: attention held them mute. 
Thrice he assayd, and thrice in spite of scorn, 
Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last 
Words interwove with sighs found out their way. 
  O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers 
Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife 
Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire, 
As this place testifies, and this dire change 
Hateful to utter: but what power of mind 
Foreseeing or presaging, from the Depth 
Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd, 
How such united force of Gods, how such 
As stood like these, could ever know repulse? 
For who can yet beleeve, though after loss, 
That all these puissant Legions, whose exile 
Hath emptied Heav'n, shall faile to re-ascend 
Self-rais'd, and repossess their native seat. 
For me, be witness all the Host of Heav'n, 
If counsels different, or danger shun'd 
By me, have lost our hopes.  But he who reigns 
Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure 
Sat on his Throne, upheld by old repute, 
Consent or custome, and his Regal State 
Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd, 
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. 
Henceforth his might we know, and know our own 
So as not either to provoke, or dread 
New warr, provok't; our better part remains 
To work in close design, by fraud or guile 
What force effected not: that he no less 
At length from us may find, who overcomes 
By force, hath overcome but half his foe. 
Space may produce new Worlds; whereof so rife 
There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long 
Intended to create, and therein plant 
A generation, whom his choice regard 
Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven: 
Thither, if but to prie, shall be perhaps 
Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere: 
For this Infernal Pit shall never hold 
Caelestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th' Abysse 
Long under darkness cover.  But these thoughts 
Full Counsel must mature: Peace is despaird, 
For who can think Submission?  Warr then, Warr 
Open or understood must be resolv'd. 
  He spake: and to confirm his words, out-flew 
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs 
Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze 
Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd 
Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arm's 
Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war, 
Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav'n. 
  There stood a Hill not far whose griesly top 
Belch'd fire and rowling smoak; the rest entire 
Shon with a glossie scurff, undoubted sign 
That in his womb was hid metallic Ore, 
The work of Sulphur.  Thither wing'd with speed 
A numerous Brigad hasten'd.  As when bands 
Of Pioners with Spade and Pickaxe arm'd 
Forerun the Royal Camp, to trench a Field, 
Or cast a Rampart.  MAMMON led them on, 
MAMMON, the least erected Spirit that fell 
From heav'n, for ev'n in heav'n his looks & thoughts 
Were always downward bent, admiring more 
The riches of Heav'ns pavement, trod'n Gold, 
Then aught divine or holy else enjoy'd 
In vision beatific: by him first 
Men also, and by his suggestion taught, 
Ransack'd the Center, and with impious hands 
Rifl'd the bowels of thir mother Earth 
For Treasures better hid.  Soon had his crew 
Op'nd into the Hill a spacious wound 
And dig'd out ribs of Gold.  Let none admire 
That riches grow in Hell; that soyle may best 
Deserve the pretious bane.  And here let those 
Who boast in mortal things, and wondring tell 
Of BABEL, and the works of MEMPHIAN Kings, 
Learn how thir greatest Monuments of Fame, 
And Strength and Art are easily outdone 
By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour 
What in an age they with incessant toyle 
And hands innumerable scarce perform 
Nigh on the Plain in many cells prepar'd, 
That underneath had veins of liquid fire 
Sluc'd from the Lake, a second multitude 
With wondrous Art founded the massie Ore, 
Severing each kinde, and scum'd the Bullion dross: 
A third as soon had form'd within the ground 
A various mould, and from the boyling cells 
By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook, 
As in an Organ from one blast of wind 
To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths. 
Anon out of the earth a Fabrick huge 
Rose like an Exhalation, with the sound 
Of Dulcet Symphonies and voices sweet, 
Built like a Temple, where PILASTERS round 
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid 
With Golden Architrave; nor did there want 
Cornice or Freeze, with bossy Sculptures grav'n, 
The Roof was fretted Gold.  Not BABILON, 
Nor great ALCAIRO such magnificence 
Equal'd in all thir glories, to inshrine 
BELUS or SERAPIS thir Gods, or seat 
Thir Kings, when AEGYPT with ASSYRIA strove 
In wealth and luxurie.  Th' ascending pile 
Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores 
Op'ning thir brazen foulds discover wide 
Within, her ample spaces, o're the smooth 
And level pavement: from the arched roof 
Pendant by suttle Magic many a row 
Of Starry Lamps and blazing Cressets fed 
With Naphtha and ASPHALTUS yeilded light 
As from a sky.  The hasty multitude 
Admiring enter'd, and the work some praise 
And some the Architect: his hand was known 
In Heav'n by many a Towred structure high, 
Where Scepter'd Angels held thir residence, 
And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King 
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, 
Each in his Herarchie, the Orders bright. 
Nor was his name unheard or unador'd 
In ancient Greece; and in AUSONIAN land 
Men call'd him MULCIBER; and how he fell 
From Heav'n, they fabl'd, thrown by angry JOVE 
Sheer o're the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn 
To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve, 
A Summers day; and with the setting Sun 
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star, 
On LEMNOS th' AEGAEAN Ile: thus they relate, 
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout 
Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now 
To have built in Heav'n high Towrs; nor did he scape 
By all his Engins, but was headlong sent 
With his industrious crew to build in hell. 
Mean while the winged Haralds by command 
Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony 
And Trumpets sound throughout the Host proclaim 
A solemn Councel forthwith to be held 
At PANDAEMONIUM, the high Capital 
Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons call'd 
From every and Band squared Regiment 
By place or choice the worthiest; they anon 
With hundreds and with thousands trooping came 
Attended: all access was throng'd, the Gates 
And Porches wide, but chief the spacious Hall 
(Though like a cover'd field, where Champions bold 
Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldans chair 
Defi'd the best of Panim chivalry 
To mortal combat or carreer with Lance) 
Thick swarm'd, both on the ground and in the air, 
Brusht with the hiss of russling wings.  As Bees 
In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides, 
Poure forth thir populous youth about the Hive 
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers 
Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank, 
The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel, 
New rub'd with Baume, expatiate and confer 
Thir State affairs.  So thick the aerie crowd 
Swarm'd and were straitn'd; till the Signal giv'n, 
Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd 
In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons 
Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room 
Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race 
Beyond the INDIAN Mount, or Faerie Elves, 
Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side 
Or Fountain fome belated Peasant sees, 
Or dreams he sees, while over head the Moon 
Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth 
Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth & dance 
Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear; 
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. 
Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms 
Reduc'd thir shapes immense, and were at large, 
Though without number still amidst the Hall 
Of that infernal Court.  But far within 
And in thir own dimensions like themselves 
The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim 
In close recess and secret conclave sat 
A thousand Demy-Gods on golden seat's, 
Frequent and full.  After short silence then 
And summons read, the great consult began. 
    THE END OF THE FIRST BOOK.

 
PARADISE LOST 
BOOK II. 
 
High on a Throne of Royal State, which far 
Outshon the wealth of ORMUS and of IND, 
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand 
Showrs on her Kings BARBARIC Pearl & Gold, 
Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd 
To that bad eminence; and from despair 
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires 
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue 
Vain Warr with Heav'n, and by success untaught 
His proud imaginations thus displaid. 
  Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav'n, 
For since no deep within her gulf can hold 
Immortal vigor, though opprest and fall'n, 
I give not Heav'n for lost.  From this descent 
Celestial vertues rising, will appear 
More glorious and more dread then from no fall, 
And trust themselves to fear no second fate: 
Mee though just right, and the fixt Laws of Heav'n 
Did first create your Leader, next, free choice, 
With what besides, in Counsel or in Fight, 
Hath bin achievd of merit, yet this loss 
Thus farr at least recover'd, hath much more 
Establisht in a safe unenvied Throne 
Yeilded with full consent.  The happier state 
In Heav'n, which follows dignity, might draw 
Envy from each inferior; but who here 
Will envy whom the highest place exposes 
Formost to stand against the Thunderers aime 
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share 
Of endless pain? where there is then no good 
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there 
From Faction; for none sure will claim in hell 
Precedence, none, whose portion is so small 
Of present pain, that with ambitious mind 
Will covet more.  With this advantage then 
To union, and firm Faith, and firm accord, 
More then can be in Heav'n, we now return 
To claim our just inheritance of old, 
Surer to prosper then prosperity 
Could have assur'd us; and by what best way, 
Whether of open Warr or covert guile, 
We now debate; who can advise, may speak. 
  He ceas'd, and next him MOLOC, Scepter'd King 
Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest Spirit 
That fought in Heav'n; now fiercer by despair: 
His trust was with th' Eternal to be deem'd 
Equal in strength, and rather then be less 
Car'd not to be at all; with that care lost 
Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse 
He reckd not, and these words thereafter spake. 
  My sentence is for open Warr: Of Wiles, 
More unexpert, I boast not: them let those 
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now. 
For while they sit contriving, shall the rest, 
Millions that stand in Arms, and longing wait 
The Signal to ascend, sit lingring here 
Heav'ns fugitives, and for thir dwelling place 
Accept this dark opprobrious Den of shame, 
The Prison of his Tyranny who Reigns 
By our delay? no, let us rather choose 
Arm'd with Hell flames and fury all at once 
O're Heav'ns high Towrs to force resistless way, 
Turning our Tortures into horrid Arms 
Against the Torturer; when to meet the noise 
Of his Almighty Engin he shall hear 
Infernal Thunder, and for Lightning see 
Black fire and horror shot with equal rage 
Among his Angels; and his Throne it self 
Mixt with TARTAREAN Sulphur, and strange fire, 
His own invented Torments.  But perhaps 
The way seems difficult and steep to scale 
With upright wing against a higher foe. 
Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench 
Of that forgetful Lake benumme not still, 
That in our proper motion we ascend 
Up to our native seat: descent and fall 
To us is adverse.  Who but felt of late 
When the fierce Foe hung on our brok'n Rear 
Insulting, and pursu'd us through the Deep, 
With what compulsion and laborious flight 
We sunk thus low?  Th' ascent is easie then; 
Th' event is fear'd; should we again provoke 
Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find 
To our destruction: if there be in Hell 
Fear to be worse destroy'd: what can be worse 
Then to dwell here, driv'n out from bliss, condemn'd 
In this abhorred deep to utter woe; 
Where pain of unextinguishable fire 
Must exercise us without hope of end 
The Vassals of his anger, when the Scourge 
Inexorably, and the torturing houre 
Calls us to Penance?  More destroy'd then thus 
We should be quite abolisht and expire. 
What fear we then? what doubt we to incense 
His utmost ire? which to the highth enrag'd, 
Will either quite consume us, and reduce 
To nothing this essential, happier farr 
Then miserable to have eternal being: 
Or if our substance be indeed Divine, 
And cannot cease to be, we are at worst 
On this side nothing; and by proof we feel 
Our power sufficient to disturb his Heav'n, 
And with perpetual inrodes to Allarme, 
Though inaccessible, his fatal Throne: 
Which if not Victory is yet Revenge. 
  He ended frowning, and his look denounc'd 
Desperate revenge, and Battel dangerous 
To less then Gods.  On th' other side up rose 
BELIAL, in act more graceful and humane; 
A fairer person lost not Heav'n; he seemd 
For dignity compos'd and high exploit: 
But all was false and hollow; though his Tongue 
Dropt Manna, and could make the worse appear 
The better reason, to perplex and dash 
Maturest Counsels: for his thoughts were low; 
To vice industrious, but to Nobler deeds 
Timorous and slothful: yet he pleas'd the eare, 
And with perswasive accent thus began. 
  I should be much for open Warr, O Peers, 
As not behind in hate; if what was urg'd 
Main reason to perswade immediate Warr, 
Did not disswade me most, and seem to cast 
Ominous conjecture on the whole success: 
When he who most excels in fact of Arms, 
In what he counsels and in what excels 
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair 
And utter dissolution, as the scope 
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge. 
First, what Revenge? the Towrs of Heav'n are fill'd 
With Armed watch, that render all access 
Impregnable; oft on the bordering Deep 
Encamp thir Legions, or with obscure wing 
Scout farr and wide into the Realm of night, 
Scorning surprize.  Or could we break our way 
By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise 
With blackest Insurrection, to confound 
Heav'ns purest Light, yet our great Enemie 
All incorruptible would on his Throne 
Sit unpolluted, and th' Ethereal mould 
Incapable of stain would soon expel 
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire 
Victorious.  Thus repuls'd, our final hope 
Is flat despair: we must exasperate 
Th' Almighty Victor to spend all his rage, 
And that must end us, that must be our cure, 
To be no more; sad cure; for who would loose, 
Though full of pain, this intellectual being, 
Those thoughts that wander through Eternity, 
To perish rather, swallowd up and lost 
In the wide womb of uncreated night, 
Devoid of sense and motion? and who knows, 
Let this be good, whether our angry Foe 
Can give it, or will ever? how he can 
Is doubtful; that he never will is sure. 
Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire, 
Belike through impotence, or unaware, 
To give his Enemies thir wish, and end 
Them in his anger, whom his anger saves 
To punish endless? wherefore cease we then? 
Say they who counsel Warr, we are decreed, 
Reserv'd and destin'd to Eternal woe; 
Whatever doing, what can we suffer more, 
What can we suffer worse? is this then worst, 
Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in Arms? 
What when we fled amain, pursu'd and strook 
With Heav'ns afflicting Thunder, and besought 
The Deep to shelter us? this Hell then seem'd 
A refuge from those wounds: or when we lay 
Chain'd on the burning Lake? that sure was worse. 
What if the breath that kindl'd those grim fires 
Awak'd should blow them into sevenfold rage 
And plunge us in the Flames? or from above 
Should intermitted vengeance Arme again 
His red right hand to plague us? what if all 
Her stores were op'n'd, and this Firmament 
Of Hell should spout her Cataracts of Fire, 
Impendent horrors, threatning hideous fall 
One day upon our heads; while we perhaps 
Designing or exhorting glorious Warr, 
Caught in a fierie Tempest shall be hurl'd 
Each on his rock transfixt, the sport and prey 
Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk 
Under yon boyling Ocean, wrapt in Chains; 
There to converse with everlasting groans, 
Unrespited, unpitied, unrepreevd, 
Ages of hopeless end; this would be worse. 
Warr therefore, open or conceal'd, alike 
My voice disswades; for what can force or guile 
With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye 
Views all things at one view? he from heav'ns highth 
All these our motions vain, sees and derides; 
Not more Almighty to resist our might 
Then wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. 
Shall we then live thus vile, the race of Heav'n 
Thus trampl'd, thus expell'd to suffer here 
Chains & these Torments? better these then worse 
By my advice; since fate inevitable 
Subdues us, and Omnipotent Decree, 
The Victors will.  To suffer, as to doe, 
Our strength is equal, nor the Law unjust 
That so ordains: this was at first resolv'd, 
If we were wise, against so great a foe 
Contending, and so doubtful what might fall. 
I laugh, when those who at the Spear are bold 
And vent'rous, if that fail them, shrink and fear 
What yet they know must follow, to endure 
Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain, 
The sentence of thir Conquerour: This is now 
Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear, 
Our Supream Foe in time may much remit 
His anger, and perhaps thus farr remov'd 
Not mind us not offending, satisfi'd 
With what is punish't; whence these raging fires 
Will slack'n, if his breath stir not thir flames. 
Our purer essence then will overcome 
Thir noxious vapour, or enur'd not feel, 
Or chang'd at length, and to the place conformd 
In temper and in nature, will receive 
Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain; 
This horror will grow milde, this darkness light, 
Besides what hope the never-ending flight 
Of future days may bring, what chance, what change 
Worth waiting, since our present lot appeers 
For happy though but ill, for ill not worst, 
If we procure not to our selves more woe. 
  Thus BELIAL with words cloath'd in reasons garb 
Counsel'd ignoble ease, and peaceful sloath, 
Not peace: and after him thus MAMMON spake. 
  Either to disinthrone the King of Heav'n 
We warr, if warr be best, or to regain 
Our own right lost: him to unthrone we then 
May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yeild 
To fickle Chance, and CHAOS judge the strife: 
The former vain to hope argues as vain 
The latter: for what place can be for us 
Within Heav'ns bound, unless Heav'ns Lord supream 
We overpower?  Suppose he should relent 
And publish Grace to all, on promise made 
Of new Subjection; with what eyes could we 
Stand in his presence humble, and receive 
Strict Laws impos'd, to celebrate his Throne 
With warbl'd Hymns, and to his Godhead sing 
Forc't Halleluiah's; while he Lordly sits 
Our envied Sovran, and his Altar breathes 
Ambrosial Odours and Ambrosial Flowers, 
Our servile offerings.  This must be our task 
In Heav'n, this our delight; how wearisom 
Eternity so spent in worship paid 
To whom we hate.  Let us not then pursue 
By force impossible, by leave obtain'd 
Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state 
Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek 
Our own good from our selves, and from our own 
Live to our selves, though in this vast recess, 
Free, and to none accountable, preferring 
Hard liberty before the easie yoke 
Of servile Pomp.  Our greatness will appear 
Then most conspicuous, when great things of small, 
Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse 
We can create, and in what place so e're 
Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain 
Through labour and endurance.  This deep world 
Of darkness do we dread?  How oft amidst 
Thick clouds and dark doth Heav'ns all-ruling Sire 
Choose to reside, his Glory unobscur'd, 
And with the Majesty of darkness round 
Covers his Throne; from whence deep thunders roar 
Must'ring thir rage, and Heav'n resembles Hell? 
As he our Darkness, cannot we his Light 
Imitate when we please?  This Desart soile 
Wants not her hidden lustre, Gemms and Gold; 
Nor want we skill or art, from whence to raise 
Magnificence; and what can Heav'n shew more? 
Our torments also may in length of time 
Become our Elements, these piercing Fires 
As soft as now severe, our temper chang'd 
Into their temper; which must needs remove 
The sensible of pain.  All things invite 
To peaceful Counsels, and the settl'd State 
Of order, how in safety best we may 
Compose our present evils, with regard 
Of what we are and where, dismissing quite 
All thoughts of Warr: ye have what I advise. 
  He scarce had finisht, when such murmur filld 
Th' Assembly, as when hollow Rocks retain 
The sound of blustring winds, which all night long 
Had rous'd the Sea, now with hoarse cadence lull 
Sea-faring men orewatcht, whose Bark by chance 
Or Pinnace anchors in a craggy Bay 
After the Tempest: Such applause was heard 
As MAMMON ended, and his Sentence pleas'd, 
Advising peace: for such another Field 
They dreaded worse then Hell: so much the fear 
Of Thunder and the Sword of MICHAEL 
Wrought still within them; and no less desire 
To found this nether Empire, which might rise 
By pollicy, and long process of time, 
In emulation opposite to Heav'n. 
Which when BEELZEBUB perceiv'd, then whom, 
SATAN except, none higher sat, with grave 
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd 
A Pillar of State; deep on his Front engraven 
Deliberation sat and publick care; 
And Princely counsel in his face yet shon, 
Majestick though in ruin: sage he stood 
With ATLANTEAN shoulders fit to bear 
The weight of mightiest Monarchies; his look 
Drew audience and attention still as Night 
Or Summers Noon-tide air, while thus he spake. 
  Thrones and imperial Powers, off-spring of heav'n, 
Ethereal Vertues; or these Titles now 
Must we renounce, and changing stile be call'd 
Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote 
Inclines, here to continue, and build up here 
A growing Empire; doubtless; while we dream, 
And know not that the King of Heav'n hath doom'd 
This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat 
Beyond his Potent arm, to live exempt 
From Heav'ns high jurisdiction, in new League 
Banded against his Throne, but to remaine 
In strictest bondage, though thus far remov'd, 
Under th' inevitable curb, reserv'd 
His captive multitude: For he, be sure, 
In highth or depth, still first and last will Reign 
Sole King, and of his Kingdom loose no part 
By our revolt, but over Hell extend 
His Empire, and with Iron Scepter rule 
Us here, as with his Golden those in Heav'n. 
What sit we then projecting Peace and Warr? 
Warr hath determin'd us, and foild with loss 
Irreparable; tearms of peace yet none 
Voutsaf't or sought; for what peace will be giv'n 
To us enslav'd, but custody severe, 
And stripes, and arbitrary punishment 
Inflicted? and what peace can we return, 
But to our power hostility and hate, 
Untam'd reluctance, and revenge though slow, 
Yet ever plotting how the Conquerour least 
May reap his conquest, and may least rejoyce 
In doing what we most in suffering feel? 
Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need 
With dangerous expedition to invade 
Heav'n, whose high walls fear no assault or Siege, 
Or ambush from the Deep.  What if we find 
Some easier enterprize?  There is a place 
(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heav'n 
Err not) another World, the happy seat 
Of som new Race call'd MAN, about this time 
To be created like to us, though less 
In power and excellence, but favour'd more 
Of him who rules above; so was his will 
Pronounc'd among the Gods, and by an Oath, 
That shook Heav'ns whol circumference, confirm'd. 
Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn 
What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, 
Or substance, how endu'd, and what thir Power, 
And where thir weakness, how attempted best, 
By force or suttlety: Though Heav'n be shut, 
And Heav'ns high Arbitrator sit secure 
In his own strength, this place may lye expos'd 
The utmost border of his Kingdom, left 
To their defence who hold it: here perhaps 
Som advantagious act may be achiev'd 
By sudden onset, either with Hell fire 
To waste his whole Creation, or possess 
All as our own, and drive as we were driven, 
The punie habitants, or if not drive, 
Seduce them to our Party, that thir God 
May prove thir foe, and with repenting hand 
Abolish his own works.  This would surpass 
Common revenge, and interrupt his joy 
In our Confusion, and our Joy upraise 
In his disturbance; when his darling Sons 
Hurl'd headlong to partake with us, shall curse 
Thir frail Originals, and faded bliss, 
Faded so soon.  Advise if this be worth 
Attempting, or to sit in darkness here 
Hatching vain Empires.  Thus BEELZEBUB 
Pleaded his devilish Counsel, first devis'd 
By SATAN, and in part propos'd: for whence, 
But from the Author of all ill could Spring 
So deep a malice, to confound the race 
Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell 
To mingle and involve, done all to spite 
The great Creatour?  But thir spite still serves 
His glory to augment.  The bold design 
Pleas'd highly those infernal States, and joy 
Sparkl'd in all thir eyes; with full assent 
They vote: whereat his speech he thus renews. 
  Well have ye judg'd, well ended long debate, 
Synod of Gods, and like to what ye are, 
Great things resolv'd; which from the lowest deep 
Will once more lift us up, in spight of Fate, 
Neerer our ancient Seat; perhaps in view 
Of those bright confines, whence with neighbouring Arms 
And opportune excursion we may chance 
Re-enter Heav'n; or else in some milde Zone 
Dwell not unvisited of Heav'ns fair Light 
Secure, and at the brightning Orient beam 
Purge off this gloom; the soft delicious Air, 
To heal the scarr of these corrosive Fires 
Shall breath her balme.  But first whom shall we send 
In search of this new world, whom shall we find 
Sufficient? who shall tempt with wandring feet 
The dark unbottom'd infinite Abyss 
And through the palpable obscure find out 
His uncouth way, or spread his aerie flight 
Upborn with indefatigable wings 
Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive 
The happy Ile; what strength, what art can then 
Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe 
Through the strict Senteries and Stations thick 
Of Angels watching round?  Here he had need 
All circumspection, and we now no less 
Choice in our suffrage; for on whom we send, 
The weight of all and our last hope relies. 
  This said, he sat; and expectation held 
His look suspence, awaiting who appeer'd 
To second, or oppose, or undertake 
The perilous attempt: but all sat mute, 
Pondering the danger with deep thoughts; & each 
In others count'nance red his own dismay 
Astonisht: none among the choice and prime 
Of those Heav'n-warring Champions could be found 
So hardie as to proffer or accept 
Alone the dreadful voyage; till at last 
SATAN, whom now transcendent glory rais'd 
Above his fellows, with Monarchal pride 
Conscious of highest worth, unmov'd thus spake. 
  O Progeny of Heav'n, Empyreal Thrones, 
With reason hath deep silence and demurr 
Seis'd us, though undismaid: long is the way 
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light; 
Our prison strong, this huge convex of Fire, 
Outrageous to devour, immures us round 
Ninefold, and gates of burning Adamant 
Barr'd over us prohibit all egress. 
These past, if any pass, the void profound 
Of unessential Night receives him next 
Wide gaping, and with utter loss of being 
Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf. 
If thence he scape into what ever world, 
Or unknown Region, what remains him less 
Then unknown dangers and as hard escape. 
But I should ill become this Throne, O Peers, 
And this Imperial Sov'ranty, adorn'd 
With splendor, arm'd with power, if aught propos'd 
And judg'd of public moment, in the shape 
Of difficulty or danger could deterre 
Me from attempting.  Wherefore do I assume 
These Royalties, and not refuse to Reign, 
Refusing to accept as great a share 
Of hazard as of honour, due alike 
To him who Reigns, and so much to him due 
Of hazard more, as he above the rest 
High honourd sits?  Go therfore mighty powers, 
Terror of Heav'n, though fall'n; intend at home, 
While here shall be our home, what best may ease 
The present misery, and render Hell 
More tollerable; if there be cure or charm 
To respite or deceive, or slack the pain 
Of this ill Mansion: intermit no watch 
Against a wakeful Foe, while I abroad 
Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek 
Deliverance for us all: this enterprize 
None shall partake with me.  Thus saying rose 
The Monarch, and prevented all reply, 
Prudent, least from his resolution rais'd 
Others among the chief might offer now 
(Certain to be refus'd) what erst they feard; 
And so refus'd might in opinion stand 
His rivals, winning cheap the high repute 
Which he through hazard huge must earn.  But they 
Dreaded not more th' adventure then his voice 
Forbidding; and at once with him they rose; 
Thir rising all at once was as the sound 
Of Thunder heard remote.  Towards him they bend 
With awful reverence prone; and as a God 
Extoll him equal to the highest in Heav'n: 
Nor fail'd they to express how much they prais'd, 
That for the general safety he despis'd 
His own: for neither do the Spirits damn'd 
Loose all thir vertue; least bad men should boast 
Thir specious deeds on earth, which glory excites, 
Or close ambition varnisht o're with zeal. 
Thus they thir doubtful consultations dark 
Ended rejoycing in thir matchless Chief: 
As when from mountain tops the dusky clouds 
Ascending, while the North wind sleeps, o'respread 
Heav'ns chearful face, the lowring Element 
Scowls ore the dark'nd lantskip Snow, or showre; 
If chance the radiant Sun with farewell sweet 
Extend his ev'ning beam, the fields revive, 
The birds thir notes renew, and bleating herds 
Attest thir joy, that hill and valley rings. 
O shame to men!  Devil with Devil damn'd 
Firm concord holds, men onely disagree 
Of Creatures rational, though under hope 
Of heavenly Grace: and God proclaiming peace, 
Yet live in hatred, enmitie, and strife 
Among themselves, and levie cruel warres, 
Wasting the Earth, each other to destroy: 
As if (which might induce us to accord) 
Man had not hellish foes anow besides, 
That day and night for his destruction waite. 
  The STYGIAN Councel thus dissolv'd; and forth 
In order came the grand infernal Peers, 
Midst came thir mighty Paramount, and seemd 
Alone th' Antagonist of Heav'n, nor less 
Then Hells dread Emperour with pomp Supream, 
And God-like imitated State; him round 
A Globe of fierie Seraphim inclos'd 
With bright imblazonrie, and horrent Arms. 
Then of thir Session ended they bid cry 
With Trumpets regal sound the great result: 
Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim 
Put to thir mouths the sounding Alchymie 
By Haralds voice explain'd: the hollow Abyss 
Heard farr and wide, and all the host of Hell 
With deafning shout, return'd them loud acclaim. 
Thence more at ease thir minds and somwhat rais'd 
By false presumptuous hope, the ranged powers 
Disband, and wandring, each his several way 
Pursues, as inclination or sad choice 
Leads him perplext, where he may likeliest find 
Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain 
The irksome hours, till his great Chief return. 
Part on the Plain, or in the Air sublime 
Upon the wing, or in swift race contend, 
As at th' Olympian Games or PYTHIAN fields; 
Part curb thir fierie Steeds, or shun the Goal 
With rapid wheels, or fronted Brigads form. 
As when to warn proud Cities warr appears 
Wag'd in the troubl'd Skie, and Armies rush 
To Battel in the Clouds, before each Van 
Pric forth the Aerie Knights, and couch thir spears 
Till thickest Legions close; with feats of Arms 
From either end of Heav'n the welkin burns. 
Others with vast TYPHOEAN rage more fell 
Rend up both Rocks and Hills, and ride the Air 
In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wilde uproar. 
As when ALCIDES from OEALIA Crown'd 
With conquest, felt th' envenom'd robe, and tore 
Through pain up by the roots THESSALIAN Pines, 
And LICHAS from the top of OETA threw 
Into th' EUBOIC Sea.  Others more milde, 
Retreated in a silent valley, sing 
With notes Angelical to many a Harp 
Thir own Heroic deeds and hapless fall 
By doom of Battel; and complain that Fate 
Free Vertue should enthrall to Force or Chance. 
Thir song was partial, but the harmony 
(What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?) 
Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment 
The thronging audience.  In discourse more sweet 
(For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the Sense,) 
Others apart sat on a Hill retir'd, 
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high 
Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate, 
Fixt Fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, 
And found no end, in wandring mazes lost. 
Of good and evil much they argu'd then, 
Of happiness and final misery, 
Passion and Apathie, and glory and shame, 
Vain wisdom all, and false Philosophie: 
Yet with a pleasing sorcerie could charm 
Pain for a while or anguish, and excite 
Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured brest 
With stubborn patience as with triple steel. 
Another part in Squadrons and gross Bands, 
On bold adventure to discover wide 
That dismal world, if any Clime perhaps 
Might yeild them easier habitation, bend 
Four ways thir flying March, along the Banks 
Of four infernal Rivers that disgorge 
Into the burning Lake thir baleful streams; 
Abhorred STYX the flood of deadly hate, 
Sad ACHERON of sorrow, black and deep; 
COCYTUS, nam'd of lamentation loud 
Heard on the ruful stream; fierce PHLEGETON 
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. 
Farr off from these a slow and silent stream, 
LETHE the River of Oblivion roules 
Her watrie Labyrinth, whereof who drinks, 
Forthwith his former state and being forgets, 
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. 
Beyond this flood a frozen Continent 
Lies dark and wilde, beat with perpetual storms 
Of Whirlwind and dire Hail, which on firm land 
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems 
Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice, 
A gulf profound as that SERBONIAN Bog 
Betwixt DAMIATA and mount CASIUS old, 
Where Armies whole have sunk: the parching Air 
Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of Fire. 
Thither by harpy-footed Furies hail'd, 
At certain revolutions all the damn'd 
Are brought: and feel by turns the bitter change 
Of fierce extreams, extreams by change more fierce, 
From Beds of raging Fire to starve in Ice 
Thir soft Ethereal warmth, and there to pine 
Immovable, infixt, and frozen round, 
Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire. 
They ferry over this LETHEAN Sound 
Both to and fro, thir sorrow to augment, 
And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach 
The tempting stream, with one small drop to loose 
In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe, 
All in one moment, and so neer the brink; 
But fate withstands, and to oppose th' attempt 
MEDUSA with GORGONIAN terror guards 
The Ford, and of it self the water flies 
All taste of living wight, as once it fled 
The lip of TANTALUS.  Thus roving on 
In confus'd march forlorn, th' adventrous Bands 
With shuddring horror pale, and eyes agast 
View'd first thir lamentable lot, and found 
No rest: through many a dark and drearie Vaile 
They pass'd, and many a Region dolorous, 
O're many a Frozen, many a Fierie Alpe, 
Rocks, Caves, Lakes, Fens, Bogs, Dens, and shades of death, 
A Universe of death, which God by curse 
Created evil, for evil only good, 
Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds, 
Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, 
Abominable, inutterable, and worse 
Then Fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd, 
GORGONS and HYDRA'S, and CHIMERA'S dire. 
  Mean while the Adversary of God and Man, 
SATAN with thoughts inflam'd of highest design, 
Puts on swift wings, and toward the Gates of Hell 
Explores his solitary flight; som times 
He scours the right hand coast, som times the left, 
Now shaves with level wing the Deep, then soares 
Up to the fiery concave touring high. 
As when farr off at Sea a Fleet descri'd 
Hangs in the Clouds, by AEQUINOCTIAL Winds 
Close sailing from BENGALA, or the Iles 
Of TERNATE and TIDORE, whence Merchants bring 
Thir spicie Drugs: they on the trading Flood 
Through the wide ETHIOPIAN to the Cape 
Ply stemming nightly toward the Pole.  So seem'd 
Farr off the flying Fiend: at last appeer 
Hell bounds high reaching to the horrid Roof, 
And thrice threefold the Gates; three folds were Brass 
Three Iron, three of Adamantine Rock, 
Impenitrable, impal'd with circling fire, 
Yet unconsum'd.  Before the Gates there sat 
On either side a formidable shape; 
The one seem'd Woman to the waste, and fair, 
But ended foul in many a scaly fould 
Voluminous and vast, a Serpent arm'd 
With mortal sting: about her middle round 
A cry of Hell Hounds never ceasing bark'd 
With wide CERBEREAN mouths full loud, and rung 
A hideous Peal: yet, when they list, would creep, 
If aught disturb'd thir noyse, into her woomb, 
And kennel there, yet there still bark'd and howl'd 
Within unseen.  Farr less abhorrd then these 
Vex'd SCYLLA bathing in the Sea that parts 
CALABRIA from the hoarce TRINACRIAN shore: 
Nor uglier follow the Night-Hag, when call'd 
In secret, riding through the Air she comes 
Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance 
With LAPLAND Witches, while the labouring Moon 
Eclipses at thir charms.  The other shape, 
If shape it might be call'd that shape had none 
Distinguishable in member, joynt, or limb, 
Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, 
For each seem'd either; black it stood as Night, 
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, 
And shook a dreadful Dart; what seem'd his head 
The likeness of a Kingly Crown had on. 
SATAN was now at hand, and from his seat 
The Monster moving onward came as fast, 
With horrid strides, Hell trembled as he strode. 
Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd, 
Admir'd, not fear'd; God and his Son except, 
Created thing naught vallu'd he nor shun'd; 
And with disdainful look thus first began. 
  Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, 
That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance 
Thy miscreated Front athwart my way 
To yonder Gates? through them I mean to pass, 
That be assur'd, without leave askt of thee: 
Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, 
Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heav'n. 
  To whom the Goblin full of wrauth reply'd, 
Art thou that Traitor Angel, art thou hee, 
Who first broke peace in Heav'n and Faith, till then 
Unbrok'n, and in proud rebellious Arms 
Drew after him the third part of Heav'ns Sons 
Conjur'd against the highest, for which both Thou 
And they outcast from God, are here condemn'd 
To waste Eternal daies in woe and pain? 
And reck'n'st thou thy self with Spirits of Heav'n, 
Hell-doomd, and breath'st defiance here and scorn, 
Where I reign King, and to enrage thee more, 
Thy King and Lord?  Back to thy punishment, 
False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings, 
Least with a whip of Scorpions I pursue 
Thy lingring, or with one stroke of this Dart 
Strange horror seise thee, and pangs unfelt before. 
  So spake the grieslie terrour, and in shape, 
So speaking and so threatning, grew ten fold 
More dreadful and deform: on th' other side 
Incenc't with indignation SATAN stood 
Unterrifi'd, and like a Comet burn'd, 
That fires the length of OPHIUCUS huge 
In th' Artick Sky, and from his horrid hair 
Shakes Pestilence and Warr.  Each at the Head 
Level'd his deadly aime; thir fatall hands 
No second stroke intend, and such a frown 
Each cast at th' other, as when two black Clouds 
With Heav'ns Artillery fraught, come rattling on 
Over the CASPIAN, then stand front to front 
Hov'ring a space, till Winds the signal blow 
To joyn thir dark Encounter in mid air: 
So frownd the mighty Combatants, that Hell 
Grew darker at thir frown, so matcht they stood; 
For never but once more was either like 
To meet so great a foe: and now great deeds 
Had been achiev'd, whereof all Hell had rung, 
Had not the Snakie Sorceress that sat 
Fast by Hell Gate, and kept the fatal Key, 
Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between. 
  O Father, what intends thy hand, she cry'd, 
Against thy only Son?  What fury O Son, 
Possesses thee to bend that mortal Dart 
Against thy Fathers head? and know'st for whom; 
For him who sits above and laughs the while 
At thee ordain'd his drudge, to execute 
What e're his wrath, which he calls Justice, bids, 
His wrath which one day will destroy ye both. 
  She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest 
Forbore, then these to her SATAN return'd: 
  So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange 
Thou interposest, that my sudden hand 
Prevented spares to tell thee yet by deeds 
What it intends; till first I know of thee, 
What thing thou art, thus double-form'd, and why 
In this infernal Vaile first met thou call'st 
Me Father, and that Fantasm call'st my Son? 
I know thee not, nor ever saw till now 
Sight more detestable then him and thee. 
  T' whom thus the Portress of Hell Gate reply'd; 
Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem 
Now in thine eye so foul, once deemd so fair 
In Heav'n, when at th' Assembly, and in sight 
Of all the Seraphim with thee combin'd 
In bold conspiracy against Heav'ns King, 
All on a sudden miserable pain 
Surpris'd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzie swumm 
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast 
Threw forth, till on the left side op'ning wide, 
Likest to thee in shape and count'nance bright, 
Then shining heav'nly fair, a Goddess arm'd 
Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seis'd 
All th' Host of Heav'n; back they recoild affraid 
At first, and call'd me SIN, and for a Sign 
Portentous held me; but familiar grown, 
I pleas'd, and with attractive graces won 
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft 
Thy self in me thy perfect image viewing 
Becam'st enamour'd, and such joy thou took'st 
With me in secret, that my womb conceiv'd 
A growing burden.  Mean while Warr arose, 
And fields were fought in Heav'n; wherein remaind 
(For what could else) to our Almighty Foe 
Cleer Victory, to our part loss and rout 
Through all the Empyrean: down they fell 
Driv'n headlong from the Pitch of Heaven, down 
Into this Deep, and in the general fall 
I also; at which time this powerful Key 
Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep 
These Gates for ever shut, which none can pass 
Without my op'ning.  Pensive here I sat 
Alone, but long I sat not, till my womb 
Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown 
Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes. 
At last this odious offspring whom thou seest 
Thine own begotten, breaking violent way 
Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain 
Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew 
Transform'd: but he my inbred enemie 
Forth issu'd, brandishing his fatal Dart 
Made to destroy: I fled, and cry'd out DEATH; 
Hell trembl'd at the hideous Name, and sigh'd 
From all her Caves, and back resounded DEATH. 
I fled, but he pursu'd (though more, it seems, 
Inflam'd with lust then rage) and swifter far, 
Me overtook his mother all dismaid, 
And in embraces forcible and foule 
Ingendring with me, of that rape begot 
These yelling Monsters that with ceasless cry 
Surround me, as thou sawst, hourly conceiv'd 
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite 
To me, for when they list into the womb 
That bred them they return, and howle and gnaw 
My Bowels, their repast; then bursting forth 
Afresh with conscious terrours vex me round, 
That rest or intermission none I find. 
Before mine eyes in opposition sits 
Grim DEATH my Son and foe, who sets them on, 
And me his Parent would full soon devour 
For want of other prey, but that he knows 
His end with mine involvd; and knows that I 
Should prove a bitter Morsel, and his bane, 
When ever that shall be; so Fate pronounc'd. 
But thou O Father, I forewarn thee, shun 
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope 
To be invulnerable in those bright Arms, 
Though temper'd heav'nly, for that mortal dint, 
Save he who reigns above, none can resist. 
  She finish'd, and the suttle Fiend his lore 
Soon learnd, now milder, and thus answerd smooth. 
Dear Daughter, since thou claim'st me for thy Sire, 
And my fair Son here showst me, the dear pledge 
Of dalliance had with thee in Heav'n, and joys 
Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change 
Befalln us unforeseen, unthought of, know 
I come no enemie, but to set free 
From out this dark and dismal house of pain, 
Both him and thee, and all the heav'nly Host 
Of Spirits that in our just pretenses arm'd 
Fell with us from on high: from them I go 
This uncouth errand sole, and one for all 
My self expose, with lonely steps to tread 
Th' unfounded deep, & through the void immense 
To search with wandring quest a place foretold 
Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now 
Created vast and round, a place of bliss 
In the Pourlieues of Heav'n, and therein plac't 
A race of upstart Creatures, to supply 
Perhaps our vacant room, though more remov'd, 
Least Heav'n surcharg'd with potent multitude 
Might hap to move new broiles: Be this or aught 
Then this more secret now design'd, I haste 
To know, and this once known, shall soon return, 
And bring ye to the place where Thou and Death 
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen 
Wing silently the buxom Air, imbalm'd 
With odours; there ye shall be fed and fill'd 
Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey. 
He ceas'd, for both seemd highly pleasd, and Death 
Grinnd horrible a gastly smile, to hear 
His famine should be fill'd, and blest his mawe 
Destin'd to that good hour: no less rejoyc'd 
His mother bad, and thus bespake her Sire. 
  The key of this infernal Pit by due, 
And by command of Heav'ns all-powerful King 
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock 
These Adamantine Gates; against all force 
Death ready stands to interpose his dart, 
Fearless to be o'rematcht by living might. 
But what ow I to his commands above 
Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down 
Into this gloom of TARTARUS profound, 
To sit in hateful Office here confin'd, 
Inhabitant of Heav'n, and heav'nlie-born, 
Here in perpetual agonie and pain, 
With terrors and with clamors compasst round 
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed: 
Thou art my Father, thou my Author, thou 
My being gav'st me; whom should I obey 
But thee, whom follow? thou wilt bring me soon 
To that new world of light and bliss, among 
The Gods who live at ease, where I shall Reign 
At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems 
Thy daughter and thy darling, without end. 
  Thus saying, from her side the fatal Key, 
Sad instrument of all our woe, she took; 
And towards the Gate rouling her bestial train, 
Forthwith the huge Porcullis high up drew, 
Which but her self not all the STYGIAN powers 
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns 
Th' intricate wards, and every Bolt and Bar 
Of massie Iron or sollid Rock with ease 
Unfast'ns: on a sudden op'n flie 
With impetuous recoile and jarring sound 
Th' infernal dores, and on thir hinges great 
Harsh Thunder, that the lowest bottom shook 
Of EREBUS.  She op'nd, but to shut 
Excel'd her power; the Gates wide op'n stood, 
That with extended wings a Bannerd Host 
Under spread Ensigns marching might pass through 
With Horse and Chariots rankt in loose array; 
So wide they stood, and like a Furnace mouth 
Cast forth redounding smoak and ruddy flame. 
Before thir eyes in sudden view appear 
The secrets of the hoarie deep, a dark 
Illimitable Ocean without bound, 
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and highth, 
And time and place are lost; where eldest Night 
And CHAOS, Ancestors of Nature, hold 
Eternal ANARCHIE, amidst the noise 
Of endless warrs and by confusion stand. 
For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four Champions fierce 
Strive here for Maistrie, and to Battel bring 
Thir embryon Atoms; they around the flag 
Of each his faction, in thir several Clanns, 
Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow, 
Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the Sands 
Of BARCA or CYRENE'S torrid soil, 
Levied to side with warring Winds, and poise 
Thir lighter wings.  To whom these most adhere, 
Hee rules a moment; CHAOS Umpire sits, 
And by decision more imbroiles the fray 
By which he Reigns: next him high Arbiter 
CHANCE governs all.  Into this wilde Abyss, 
The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave, 
Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire, 
But all these in thir pregnant causes mixt 
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, 
Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain 
His dark materials to create more Worlds, 
Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend 
Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while, 
Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith 
He had to cross.  Nor was his eare less peal'd 
With noises loud and ruinous (to compare 
Great things with small) then when BELLONA storms, 
With all her battering Engines bent to rase 
Som Capital City, or less then if this frame 
Of Heav'n were falling, and these Elements 
In mutinie had from her Axle torn 
The stedfast Earth.  At last his Sail-broad Vannes 
He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoak 
Uplifted spurns the ground, thence many a League 
As in a cloudy Chair ascending rides 
Audacious, but that seat soon failing, meets 
A vast vacuitie: all unawares 
Fluttring his pennons vain plumb down he drops 
Ten thousand fadom deep, and to this hour 
Down had been falling, had not by ill chance 
The strong rebuff of som tumultuous cloud 
Instinct with Fire and Nitre hurried him 
As many miles aloft: that furie stay'd, 
Quencht in a Boggie SYRTIS, neither Sea, 
Nor good dry Land: nigh founderd on he fares, 
Treading the crude consistence, half on foot, 
Half flying; behoves him now both Oare and Saile. 
As when a Gryfon through the Wilderness 
With winged course ore Hill or moarie Dale, 
Pursues the ARIMASPIAN, who by stelth 
Had from his wakeful custody purloind 
The guarded Gold: So eagerly the fiend 
Ore bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, 
With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way, 
And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flyes: 
At length a universal hubbub wilde 
Of stunning sounds and voices all confus'd 
Born through the hollow dark assaults his eare 
With loudest vehemence: thither he plyes, 
Undaunted to meet there what ever power 
Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss 
Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask 
Which way the neerest coast of darkness lyes 
Bordering on light; when strait behold the Throne 
Of CHAOS, and his dark Pavilion spread 
Wide on the wasteful Deep; with him Enthron'd 
Sat Sable-vested Night, eldest of things, 
The consort of his Reign; and by them stood 
ORCUS and ADES, and the dreaded name 
Of DEMOGORGON; Rumor next and Chance, 
And Tumult and Confusion all imbroild, 
And Discord with a thousand various mouths. 
  T' whom SATAN turning boldly, thus.  Ye Powers 
And Spirits of this nethermost Abyss, 
CHAOS and ANCIENT NIGHT, I come no Spie, 
With purpose to explore or to disturb 
The secrets of your Realm, but by constraint 
Wandring this darksome desart, as my way 
Lies through your spacious Empire up to light, 
Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek 
What readiest path leads where your gloomie bounds 
Confine with Heav'n; or if som other place 
From your Dominion won, th' Ethereal King 
Possesses lately, thither to arrive 
I travel this profound, direct my course; 
Directed, no mean recompence it brings 
To your behoof, if I that Region lost, 
All usurpation thence expell'd, reduce 
To her original darkness and your sway 
(Which is my present journey) and once more 
Erect the Standerd there of ANCIENT NIGHT; 
Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge. 
  Thus SATAN; and him thus the Anarch old 
With faultring speech and visage incompos'd 
Answer'd.  I know thee, stranger, who thou art, 
That mighty leading Angel, who of late 
Made head against Heav'ns King, though overthrown. 
I saw and heard, for such a numerous host 
Fled not in silence through the frighted deep 
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, 
Confusion worse confounded; and Heav'n Gates 
Pourd out by millions her victorious Bands 
Pursuing.  I upon my Frontieres here 
Keep residence; if all I can will serve, 
That little which is left so to defend 
Encroacht on still through our intestine broiles 
Weakning the Scepter of old Night: first Hell 
Your dungeon stretching far and wide beneath; 
Now lately Heaven and Earth, another World 
Hung ore my Realm, link'd in a golden Chain 
To that side Heav'n from whence your Legions fell: 
If that way be your walk, you have not farr; 
So much the neerer danger; goe and speed; 
Havock and spoil and ruin are my gain. 
  He ceas'd; and SATAN staid not to reply, 
But glad that now his Sea should find a shore, 
With fresh alacritie and force renew'd 
Springs upward like a Pyramid of fire 
Into the wilde expanse, and through the shock 
Of fighting Elements, on all sides round 
Environ'd wins his way; harder beset 
And more endanger'd, then when ARGO pass'd 
Through BOSPORUS betwixt the justling Rocks: 
Or when ULYSSES on the Larbord shunnd 
CHARYBDIS, and by th' other whirlpool steard. 
So he with difficulty and labour hard 
Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour hee; 
But hee once past, soon after when man fell, 
Strange alteration!  Sin and Death amain 
Following his track, such was the will of Heav'n, 
Pav'd after him a broad and beat'n way 
Over the dark Abyss, whose boiling Gulf 
Tamely endur'd a Bridge of wondrous length 
From Hell continu'd reaching th' utmost Orbe 
Of this frail World; by which the Spirits perverse 
With easie intercourse pass to and fro 
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom 
God and good Angels guard by special grace. 
But now at last the sacred influence 
Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav'n 
Shoots farr into the bosom of dim Night 
A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins 
Her fardest verge, and CHAOS to retire 
As from her outmost works a brok'n foe 
With tumult less and with less hostile din, 
That SATAN with less toil, and now with ease 
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light 
And like a weather-beaten Vessel holds 
Gladly the Port, though Shrouds and Tackle torn; 
Or in the emptier waste, resembling Air, 
Weighs his spread wings, at leasure to behold 
Farr off th' Empyreal Heav'n, extended wide 
In circuit, undetermind square or round, 
With Opal Towrs and Battlements adorn'd 
Of living Saphire, once his native Seat; 
And fast by hanging in a golden Chain 
This pendant world, in bigness as a Starr 
Of smallest Magnitude close by the Moon. 
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge, 
Accurst, and in a cursed hour he hies. 
    THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK. 

 
PARADISE LOST 
BOOK III 
 
  HAil holy light, ofspring of Heav'n first-born, 
Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beam 
May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light, 
And never but in unapproached light 
Dwelt from Eternitie, dwelt then in thee, 
Bright effluence of bright essence increate. 
Or hear'st thou rather pure Ethereal stream, 
Whose Fountain who shall tell? before the Sun, 
Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice 
Of God, as with a Mantle didst invest 
The rising world of waters dark and deep, 
Won from the void and formless infinite. 
Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing, 
Escap't the STYGIAN Pool, though long detain'd 
In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight 
Through utter and through middle darkness borne 
With other notes then to th' ORPHEAN Lyre 
I sung of CHAOS and ETERNAL NIGHT, 
Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down 
The dark descent, and up to reascend, 
Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe, 
And feel thy sovran vital Lamp; but thou 
Revisit'st not these eyes, that rowle in vain 
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; 
So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs, 
Or dim suffusion veild.  Yet not the more 
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt 
Cleer Spring, or shadie Grove, or Sunnie Hill, 
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief 
Thee SION and the flowrie Brooks beneath 
That wash thy hallowd feet, and warbling flow, 
Nightly I visit: nor somtimes forget 
Those other two equal'd with me in Fate, 
So were I equal'd with them in renown, 
Blind THAMYRIS and blind MAEONIDES, 
And TIRESIAS and PHINEUS Prophets old. 
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move 
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful Bird 
Sings darkling, and in shadiest Covert hid 
Tunes her nocturnal Note.  Thus with the Year 
Seasons return, but not to me returns 
Day, or the sweet approach of Ev'n or Morn, 
Or sight of vernal bloom, or Summers Rose, 
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; 
But cloud in stead, and ever-during dark 
Surrounds me, from the chearful waies of men 
Cut off, and for the book of knowledg fair 
Presented with a Universal blanc 
Of Natures works to mee expung'd and ras'd, 
And wisdome at one entrance quite shut out. 
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 Thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye, 
His own works and their works at once to view: 
About him all the Sanctities of Heaven 
Stood thick as Starrs, and from his sight receiv'd 
Beatitude past utterance; on his right 
The radiant image of his Glory sat, 
His onely Son; On Earth he first beheld 
Our two first Parents, yet the onely two 
Of mankind, in the happie Garden plac't, 
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, 
Uninterrupted joy, unrivald love 
In blissful solitude; he then survey'd 
Hell and the Gulf between, and SATAN there 
Coasting the wall of Heav'n 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 seem'd 
Firm land imbosom'd 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 onely Son foreseeing spake. 
  Onely begotten Son, seest thou what rage 
Transports our adversarie, whom no bounds 
Prescrib'd, no barrs of Hell, nor all the chains 
Heapt on him there, nor yet the main Abyss 
Wide interrupt can hold; so bent he seems 
On desperat revenge, that shall redound 
Upon his own rebellious head.  And now 
Through all restraint broke loose he wings his way 
Not farr off Heav'n, in the Precincts of light, 
Directly towards the new created World, 
And Man there plac't, with purpose to assay 
If him by force he can destroy, or worse, 
By som false guile pervert; and shall pervert; 
For man will heark'n to his glozing lyes, 
And easily transgress the sole Command, 
Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall 
Hee and his faithless Progenie: whose fault? 
Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of mee 
All he could have; I made him just and right, 
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. 
Such I created all th' Ethereal Powers 
And Spirits, both them who stood & them who faild; 
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. 
Not free, what proof could they have givn sincere 
Of true allegiance, constant Faith or Love, 
Where onely what they needs must do, appeard, 
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 despoild, 
Made passive both, had servd necessitie, 
Not mee.  They therefore as to right belongd, 
So were created, nor can justly accuse 
Thir maker, or thir making, or thir Fate; 
As if Predestination over-rul'd 
Thir will, dispos'd by absolute Decree 
Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed 
Thir own revolt, not I: if I foreknew, 
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, 
Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown. 
So without least impulse or shadow of Fate, 
Or aught by me immutablie foreseen, 
They trespass, Authors to themselves in all 
Both what they judge and what they choose; for so 
I formd them free, and free they must remain, 
Till they enthrall themselves: I else must change 
Thir nature, and revoke the high Decree 
Unchangeable, Eternal, which ordain'd 
Thir freedom, they themselves ordain'd thir fall. 
The first sort by thir own suggestion fell, 
Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls deceiv'd 
By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace, 
The other none: in Mercy and Justice both, 
Through Heav'n and Earth, so shall my glorie excel, 
But Mercy first and last shall brightest shine. 
  Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd 
All Heav'n, and in the blessed Spirits elect 
Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd: 
Beyond compare the Son of God was seen 
Most glorious, in him all his Father shon 
Substantially express'd, and in his face 
Divine compassion visibly appeerd, 
Love without end, and without measure Grace, 
Which uttering thus he to his Father spake. 
  O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd 
Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace; 
For which both Heav'n and Earth shall high extoll 
Thy praises, with th' innumerable sound 
Of Hymns and sacred Songs, wherewith thy Throne 
Encompass'd shall resound thee ever blest. 
For should Man finally be lost, should Man 
Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest Son 
Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joynd 
With his own folly? that be from thee farr, 
That farr be from thee, Father, who art Judge 
Of all things made, and judgest onely right. 
Or shall the Adversarie thus obtain 
His end, and frustrate thine, shall he fulfill 
His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught, 
Or proud return though to his heavier doom, 
Yet with revenge accomplish't and to Hell 
Draw after him the whole Race of mankind, 
By him corrupted? or wilt thou thy self 
Abolish thy Creation, and unmake, 
For him, what for thy glorie thou hast made? 
So should thy goodness and thy greatness both 
Be questiond and blaspheam'd without defence. 
  To whom the great Creatour thus reply'd. 
O Son, in whom my Soul hath chief delight, 
Son of my bosom, Son who art alone 
My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, 
All hast thou spok'n as my thoughts are, all 
As my Eternal purpose hath decreed: 
Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will, 
Yet not of will in him, but grace in me 
Freely voutsaft; once more I will renew 
His lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall'd 
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 frail 
His fall'n condition is, and to me ow 
All his deliv'rance, 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 warnd 
Thir sinful state, and to appease betimes 
Th' incensed Deitie, while offerd grace 
Invites; for I will cleer thir senses dark, 
What may suffice, and soft'n stonie hearts 
To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. 
To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, 
Though but endevord with sincere intent, 
Mine eare 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 us'd 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 hard'nd, blind be blinded more, 
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall; 
And none but such from mercy I exclude. 
But yet all is not don; Man disobeying, 
Disloyal breaks his fealtie, and sinns 
Against the high Supremacie of Heav'n, 
Affecting God-head, and so loosing all, 
To expiate his Treason hath naught left, 
But to destruction sacred and devote, 
He with his whole posteritie must die, 
Die hee or Justice must; unless for him 
Som other able, and as willing, pay 
The rigid satisfaction, death for death. 
Say Heav'nly Powers, where shall we find such love, 
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem 
Mans mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save, 
Dwels in all Heaven charitie so deare? 
  He ask'd, but all the Heav'nly Quire stood mute, 
And silence was in Heav'n: on mans behalf 
Patron or Intercessor none appeerd, 
Much less that durst upon his own head draw 
The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. 
And now without redemption all mankind 
Must have bin lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hell 
By doom severe, had not the Son of God, 
In whom the fulness dwels of love divine, 
His dearest mediation thus renewd. 
  Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace; 
And shall grace not find means, that finds her way, 
The speediest of thy winged messengers, 
To visit all thy creatures, and to all 
Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought, 
Happie for man, so coming; he her aide 
Can never seek, once dead in sins and lost; 
Attonement for himself or offering meet, 
Indebted and undon, hath none to bring: 
Behold mee then, mee for him, life for life 
I offer, on mee let thine anger fall; 
Account mee man; I for his sake will leave 
Thy bosom, and this glorie next to thee 
Freely put off, and for him lastly die 
Well pleas'd, on me let Death wreck all his rage; 
Under his gloomie power I shall not long 
Lie vanquisht; thou hast givn me to possess 
Life in my self for ever, by thee I live, 
Though now to Death I yeild, and am his due 
All that of me can die, yet that debt paid, 
Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsom grave 
His prey, nor suffer my unspotted Soule 
For ever with corruption there to dwell; 
But I shall rise Victorious, and subdue 
My Vanquisher, spoild of his vanted spoile; 
Death his deaths wound shall then receive, & stoop 
Inglorious, of his mortall sting disarm'd. 
I through the ample Air in Triumph high 
Shall lead Hell Captive maugre Hell, and show 
The powers of darkness bound.  Thou at the sight 
Pleas'd, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, 
While by thee rais'd I ruin all my Foes, 
Death last, and with his Carcass glut the Grave: 
Then with the multitude of my redeemd 
Shall enter Heaven long absent, and returne, 
Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud 
Of anger shall remain, but peace assur'd, 
And reconcilement; wrauth shall be no more 
Thenceforth, but in thy presence Joy entire. 
  His words here ended, but his meek aspect 
Silent yet spake, and breath'd immortal love 
To mortal men, above which only shon 
Filial obedience: as a sacrifice 
Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will 
Of his great Father.  Admiration seis'd 
All Heav'n, what this might mean, & whither tend 
Wondring; but soon th' Almighty thus reply'd: 
  O thou in Heav'n and Earth the only peace 
Found out for mankind under wrauth, O thou 
My sole complacence! well thou know'st 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 loosing thee a while, the whole Race lost. 
Thou therefore whom thou only canst redeeme, 
Thir Nature also to thy Nature joyne; 
And be thy self Man among men on Earth, 
Made flesh, when time shall be, of Virgin seed, 
By wondrous birth: Be thou in ADAMS room 
The Head of all mankind, though ADAMS Son. 
As in him perish all men, so in thee 
As from a second root shall be restor'd, 
As many as are restor'd, without thee none. 
His crime makes guiltie all his Sons, thy merit 
Imputed shall absolve them who renounce 
Thir own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, 
And live in thee transplanted, and from thee 
Receive new life.  So Man, as is most just, 
Shall satisfie for Man, be judg'd and die, 
And dying rise, and rising with him raise 
His Brethren, ransomd with his own dear life. 
So Heav'nly love shal outdoo Hellish hate, 
Giving to death, and dying to redeeme, 
So dearly to redeem what Hellish hate 
So easily destroy'd, and still destroyes 
In those who, when they may, accept not grace. 
Nor shalt thou by descending to assume 
Mans Nature, less'n or degrade thine owne. 
Because thou hast, though Thron'd in highest bliss 
Equal to God, and equally enjoying 
God-like fruition, quitted all to save 
A World from utter loss, and hast been found 
By Merit more then Birthright Son of God, 
Found worthiest to be so by being Good, 
Farr more then Great or High; because in thee 
Love hath abounded more then Glory abounds, 
Therefore thy Humiliation shall exalt 
With thee thy Manhood also to this Throne; 
Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt Reigne 
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 Supream 
Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions I reduce: 
All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide 
In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell; 
When thou attended gloriously from Heav'n 
Shalt in the Skie appeer, and from thee send 
The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaime 
Thy dread Tribunal: forthwith from all Windes 
The living, and forthwith the cited dead 
Of all past Ages to the general Doom 
Shall hast'n, such a peal shall rouse thir sleep. 
Then all thy Saints assembl'd, thou shalt judge 
Bad men and Angels, they arraignd shall sink 
Beneath thy Sentence; Hell, her numbers full, 
Thenceforth shall be for ever shut.  Mean while 
The World shall burn, and from her ashes spring 
New Heav'n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell 
And after all thir tribulations long 
See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, 
With Joy and Love triumphing, and fair Truth. 
Then thou thy regal Scepter shalt lay by, 
For regal Scepter then no more shall need, 
God shall be All in All.  But all ye Gods, 
Adore him, who to compass all this dies, 
Adore the Son, and honour him as mee. 
  No sooner had th' Almighty ceas't, but all 
The multitude of Angels with a shout 
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet 
As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung 
With Jubilee, and loud Hosanna's fill'd 
Th' eternal Regions: lowly reverent 
Towards either Throne they bow, & to the ground 
With solemn adoration down they cast 
Thir Crowns inwove with Amarant and Gold, 
Immortal Amarant, a Flour which once 
In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life 
Began to bloom, but soon for mans offence 
To Heav'n remov'd where first it grew, there grows, 
And flours aloft shading the Fount of Life, 
And where the river of Bliss through midst of Heavn 
Rowls o're ELISIAN Flours her Amber stream; 
With these that never fade the Spirits Elect 
Bind thir resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams, 
Now in loose Garlands thick thrown off, the bright 
Pavement that like a Sea of Jasper shon 
Impurpl'd with Celestial Roses smil'd. 
Then Crown'd again thir gold'n Harps they took, 
Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their side 
Like Quivers hung, and with Praeamble sweet 
Of charming symphonie they introduce 
Thir sacred Song, and waken raptures high; 
No voice exempt, no voice but well could joine 
Melodious part, such concord is in Heav'n. 
  Thee Father first they sung Omnipotent, 
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite, 
Eternal King; thee Author of all being, 
Fountain of Light, thy self invisible 
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st 
Thron'd inaccessible, but when thou shad'st 
The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud 
Drawn round about thee like a radiant Shrine, 
Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appeer, 
Yet dazle Heav'n, that brightest Seraphim 
Approach not, but with both wings veil thir eyes. 
Thee next they sang of all Creation first, 
Begotten Son, Divine Similitude, 
In whose conspicuous count'nance, without cloud 
Made visible, th' Almighty Father shines, 
Whom else no Creature can behold; on thee 
Impresst the effulgence of his Glorie abides, 
Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests. 
Hee Heav'n of Heavens and all the Powers therein 
By thee created, and by thee threw down 
Th' aspiring Dominations: thou that day 
Thy Fathers dreadful Thunder didst not spare, 
Nor stop thy flaming Chariot wheels, that shook 
Heav'ns everlasting Frame, while o're the necks 
Thou drov'st of warring Angels disarraid. 
Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaime 
Thee only extold, Son of thy Fathers might, 
To execute fierce vengeance on his foes, 
Not so on Man; him through their malice fall'n, 
Father of Mercie and Grace, thou didst not doome 
So strictly, but much more to pitie encline: 
No sooner did thy dear and onely Son 
Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail Man 
So strictly, but much more to pitie enclin'd, 
He to appease thy wrauth, and end the strife 
Of Mercy and Justice in thy face discern'd, 
Regardless of the Bliss wherein hee sat 
Second to thee, offerd himself to die 
For mans offence.  O unexampl'd love, 
Love no where to be found less then 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 thy Fathers praise disjoine. 
  Thus they in Heav'n, above the starry Sphear, 
Thir happie hours in joy and hymning spent. 
Mean while upon the firm opacous Globe 
Of this round World, whose first convex divides 
The luminous inferior Orbs, enclos'd 
From CHAOS and th' inroad of Darkness old, 
SATAN alighted walks: a Globe farr off 
It seem'd, now seems a boundless Continent 
Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night 
Starless expos'd, and ever-threatning storms 
Of CHAOS blustring round, inclement skie; 
Save on that side which from the wall of Heav'n 
Though distant farr som small reflection gaines 
Of glimmering air less vext with tempest loud: 
Here walk'd the Fiend at large in spacious field. 
As when a Vultur on IMAUS bred, 
Whose snowie 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 plaines 
Of SERICANA, where CHINESES drive 
With Sails and Wind thir canie Waggons light: 
So on this windie Sea of Land, the Fiend 
Walk'd up and down alone bent on his prey, 
Alone, for other Creature in this place 
Living or liveless to be found was none, 
None yet, but store hereafter from the earth 
Up hither like Aereal vapours flew 
Of all things transitorie and vain, when Sin 
With vanity had filld the works of men: 
Both all things vain, and all who in vain things 
Built thir fond hopes of Glorie or lasting fame, 
Or happiness in this or th' other life; 
All who have thir reward on Earth, the fruits 
Of painful Superstition and blind Zeal, 
Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find 
Fit retribution, emptie as thir deeds; 
All th' unaccomplisht works of Natures hand, 
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixt, 
Dissolvd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain, 
Till final dissolution, wander here, 
Not in the neighbouring Moon, as some have dreamd; 
Those argent Fields more likely habitants, 
Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold 
Betwixt th' Angelical and Human kinde: 
Hither of ill-joynd Sons and Daughters born 
First from the ancient World those Giants came 
With many a vain exploit, though then renownd: 
The builders next of BABEL on the Plain 
Of SENNAAR, and still with vain designe 
New BABELS, had they wherewithall, would build: 
Others came single; hee who to be deemd 
A God, leap'd fondly into AETNA flames, 
EMPEDOCLES, and hee who to enjoy 
PLATO'S ELYSIUM, leap'd into the Sea, 
CLEOMBROTUS, and many more too long, 
Embryo's and Idiots, Eremits and Friers 
White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie. 
Here Pilgrims roam, that stray'd so farr to seek 
In GOLGOTHA him dead, who lives in Heav'n; 
And they who to be sure of Paradise 
Dying put on the weeds of DOMINIC, 
Or in FRANCISCAN think to pass disguis'd; 
They pass the Planets seven, and pass the fixt, 
And that Crystalline Sphear whose ballance weighs 
The Trepidation talkt, and that first mov'd; 
And now Saint PETER at Heav'ns Wicket seems 
To wait them with his Keys, and now at foot 
Of Heav'ns ascent they lift thir Feet, when loe 
A violent cross wind from either Coast 
Blows them transverse ten thousand Leagues awry 
Into the devious Air; then might ye see 
Cowles, Hoods and Habits with thir wearers tost 
And flutterd into Raggs, then Reliques, Beads, 
Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls, 
The sport of Winds: all these upwhirld aloft 
Fly o're the backside of the World farr off 
Into a LIMBO large and broad, since calld 
The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown 
Long after, now unpeopl'd, and untrod; 
All this dark Globe the Fiend found as he pass'd, 
And long he wanderd, till at last a gleame 
Of dawning light turnd thither-ward in haste 
His travell'd steps; farr distant hee descries 
Ascending by degrees magnificent 
Up to the wall of Heaven a Structure high, 
At top whereof, but farr more rich appeerd 
The work as of a Kingly Palace Gate 
With Frontispice of Diamond and Gold 
Imbellisht, thick with sparkling orient Gemmes 
The Portal shon, inimitable on Earth 
By Model, or by shading Pencil drawn. 
The Stairs were such as whereon JACOB saw 
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 Skie, 
And waking cri'd, This is the Gate of Heav'n. 
Each Stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood 
There alwaies, but drawn up to Heav'n somtimes 
Viewless, and underneath a bright Sea flow'd 
Of Jasper, or of liquid Pearle, whereon 
Who after came from Earth, sayling arriv'd, 
Wafted by Angels, or flew o're the Lake 
Rapt in a Chariot drawn by fiery Steeds. 
The Stairs were then let down, whether to dare 
The Fiend by easie ascent, or aggravate 
His sad exclusion from the dores of Bliss. 
Direct against which op'nd from beneath, 
Just o're the blissful seat of Paradise, 
A passage down to th' Earth, a passage wide, 
Wider by farr then that of after-times 
Over Mount SION, and, though that were large, 
Over the PROMIS'D LAND to God so dear, 
By which, to visit oft those happy Tribes, 
On high behests his Angels to and fro 
Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard 
From PANEAS the fount of JORDANS flood 
To BEERSABA, where the HOLY LAND 
Borders on AEGYPT and the ARABIAN shoare; 
So wide the op'ning seemd, where bounds were set 
To darkness, such as bound the Ocean wave. 
SATAN from hence now on the lower stair 
That scal'd by steps of Gold to Heav'n Gate 
Looks down with wonder at the sudden view 
Of all this World at once.  As when a Scout 
Through dark and desart wayes with peril gone 
All night; at last by break of chearful dawne 
Obtains the brow of some high-climbing Hill, 
Which to his eye discovers unaware 
The goodly prospect of some forein land 
First-seen, or some renownd Metropolis 
With glistering Spires and Pinnacles adornd, 
Which now the Rising Sun guilds with his beams. 
Such wonder seis'd, though after Heaven seen, 
The Spirit maligne, but much more envy seis'd 
At sight of all this World beheld so faire. 
Round he surveys, and well might, where he stood 
So high above the circling Canopie 
Of Nights extended shade; from Eastern Point 
Of LIBRA to the fleecie Starr that bears 
ANDROMEDA farr off ATLANTICK Seas 
Beyond th' HORIZON; then from Pole to Pole 
He views in bredth, and without longer pause 
Down right into the Worlds first Region throws 
His flight precipitant, and windes with ease 
Through the pure marble Air his oblique way 
Amongst innumerable Starrs, that shon 
Stars distant, but nigh hand seemd other Worlds, 
Or other Worlds they seemd, or happy Iles, 
Like those HESPERIAN Gardens fam'd of old, 
Fortunate Fields, and Groves and flourie Vales, 
Thrice happy Iles, but who dwelt happy there 
He stayd not to enquire: above them all 
The golden Sun in splendor likest Heaven 
Allur'd his eye: Thither his course he bends 
Through the calm Firmament; but up or downe 
By center, or eccentric, hard to tell, 
Or Longitude, where the great Luminarie 
Alooff the vulgar Constellations thick, 
That from his Lordly eye keep distance due, 
Dispenses Light from farr; they as they move 
Thir Sarry dance in numbers that compute 
Days, months, and years, towards his all-chearing Lamp 
Turn swift their various motions, or are turnd 
By his Magnetic beam, that gently warms 
The Univers, and to each inward part 
With gentle penetration, though unseen, 
Shoots invisible vertue even to the deep: 
So wondrously was set his Station bright. 
There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps 
Astronomer in the Sun's lucent Orbe 
Through his glaz'd Optic Tube yet never saw. 
The place he found beyond expression bright, 
Compar'd with aught on Earth, Medal or Stone; 
Not all parts like, but all alike informd 
Which radiant light, as glowing Iron with fire; 
If mettal, part seemd Gold, part Silver cleer; 
If stone, Carbuncle most or Chrysolite, 
Rubie or Topaz, to the Twelve that shon 
In AARONS Brest-plate, and a stone besides 
Imagind rather oft then elsewhere seen, 
That stone, or like to that which here below 
Philosophers in vain so long have sought, 
In vain, though by thir powerful Art they binde 
Volatil HERMES, and call up unbound 
In various shapes old PROTEUS from the Sea, 
Draind through a Limbec to his Native forme. 
What wonder then if fields and regions here 
Breathe forth ELIXIR pure, and Rivers run 
Potable Gold, when with one vertuous touch 
Th' Arch-chimic Sun so farr from us remote 
Produces with Terrestrial Humor mixt 
Here in the dark so many precious things 
Of colour glorious and effect so rare? 
Here matter new to gaze the Devil met 
Undazl'd, farr and wide his eye commands, 
For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade, 
But all Sun-shine, as when his Beams at Noon 
Culminate from th' AEQUATOR, as they now 
Shot upward still direct, whence no way round 
Shadow from body opaque can fall, and the Aire, 
No where so cleer, sharp'nd his visual ray 
To objects distant farr, whereby he soon 
Saw within kenn a glorious Angel stand, 
The same whom JOHN saw also in the Sun: 
His back was turnd, but not his brightness hid; 
Of beaming sunnie Raies, a golden tiar 
Circl'd his Head, nor less his Locks behind 
Illustrious on his Shoulders fledge with wings 
Lay waving round; on som great charge imploy'd 
Hee seemd, or fixt in cogitation deep. 
Glad was the Spirit impure as now in hope 
To find who might direct his wandring flight 
To Paradise the happie seat of Man, 
His journies 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 Cherube he appeers, 
Not of the prime, yet such as in his face 
Youth smil'd Celestial, and to every Limb 
Sutable grace diffus'd, so well he feignd; 
Under a Coronet his flowing haire 
In curles on either cheek plaid, wings he wore 
Of many a colourd plume sprinkl'd 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 turnd, 
Admonisht by his eare, and strait was known 
Th' Arch-Angel URIEL, one of the seav'n 
Who in Gods presence, neerest to his Throne 
Stand ready at command, and are his Eyes 
That run through all the Heav'ns, or down to th' Earth 
Bear his swift errands over moist and dry, 
O're Sea and Land: him SATAN thus accostes; 
  URIEL, for thou of those seav'n Spirits that stand 
In sight of God's high Throne, gloriously bright, 
The first art wont his great authentic will 
Interpreter through highest Heav'n to bring, 
Where all his Sons thy Embassie attend; 
And here art likeliest by supream decree 
Like honour to obtain, and as his Eye 
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 favour, him for whom 
All these his works so wondrous he ordaind, 
Hath brought me from the Quires of Cherubim 
Alone thus wandring.  Brightest Seraph tell 
In which of all these shining Orbes hath Man 
His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none, 
But all these shining Orbes his choice to dwell; 
That I may find him, and with secret gaze, 
Or open admiration him behold 
On whom the great Creator hath bestowd 
Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces powrd; 
That both in him and all things, as is meet, 
The Universal Maker we may praise; 
Who justly hath drivn out his Rebell Foes 
To deepest Hell, and to repair that loss 
Created this new happie Race of Men 
To serve him better: wise are all his wayes. 
  So spake the false dissembler unperceivd; 
For neither Man nor Angel can discern 
Hypocrisie, the only evil that walks 
Invisible, except to God alone, 
By his permissive will, through Heav'n and Earth: 
And oft though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps 
At wisdoms Gate, and to simplicitie 
Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill 
Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguil'd 
URIEL, though Regent of the Sun, and held 
The sharpest sighted Spirit of all in Heav'n; 
Who to the fraudulent Impostor foule 
In his uprightness answer thus returnd. 
Faire Angel, thy desire which tends to know 
The works of God, thereby to glorifie 
The great Work-Maister, 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 
Contented with report heare onely in heav'n: 
For wonderful indeed are all his works, 
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all 
Had in remembrance alwayes with delight; 
But what created mind can comprehend 
Thir number, or the wisdom infinite 
That brought them forth, but hid thir causes deep. 
I saw when at his Word the formless Mass, 
This worlds material mould, came to a heap: 
Confusion heard his voice, and wilde uproar 
Stood rul'd, stood vast infinitude confin'd; 
Till at his second bidding darkness fled, 
Light shon, and order from disorder sprung: 
Swift to thir several Quarters hasted then 
The cumbrous Elements, Earth, Flood, Aire, Fire, 
And this Ethereal quintessence of Heav'n 
Flew upward, spirited with various forms, 
That rowld orbicular, and turnd to Starrs 
Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; 
Each had his place appointed, each his course, 
The rest in circuit walles 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 th' other Hemisphere 
Night would invade, but there the neighbouring Moon 
(So call that opposite fair Starr) her aide 
Timely interposes, and her monthly round 
Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heav'n; 
With borrowd light her countenance triform 
Hence fills and empties to enlighten th' Earth, 
And in her pale dominion checks the night. 
That spot to which I point is PARADISE, 
ADAMS abode, those loftie shades his Bowre. 
Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires. 
  Thus said, he turnd, and SATAN bowing lo