Dismounted, on th' Aleian field I fall
Erroneous, there to wander and forlorn.
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound Within the visible diurnal sphere;
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole, More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues; In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round And solitude; yet not alone, while thou Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or whed morn Purples the east: still govern thou my song, Urania, and fit audience find, though few; But drive far off the barb'rous dissonance Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears To rapture, till the savage clamour drown'd Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores ; For thou art heav'nly, she an empty dream. Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphaël, The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarn'd Adam, by dire example, to beware Apostasy, by what befel in Heav'n
To those apostates, lest the like befal In Paradise to Adam or his race,
Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,
So easily obey'd amid the choice
If they transgress. and slight that sole command,
Of all tastes else to please their appetite,
Though wand'ring. He with his consorted Eve
The story heard attentive, and was fill'd With admiration and deep muse, to hear
Of things so high and strange, things to their thought So unimaginable as hate in Heav'n,
And war so near the peace of God in bliss
21. Half of the Episode, or Raphael's account.
25. An allusion to the condition of himself in the profligate and irreligious times of Charles the Second, during which blind and neglected, he lived in an obscure retreat, but probably in danger of persecution for his principles.
33. Orpheus, the Thracian bard was torn to pieces by the votaries of Bacchus, in Rhodope, a mountain of Thrace.
With such confusion: but the evil soon
Driv'n back, redounded as a flood on those From whom it sprung, impossible to mix
With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repeal'd The doubts that in his heart arose and now Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know What nearer might concern him; how this world Of Heav'n and Earth conspicuous, first began; When, and whereof created; for what cause What within Eden or without was done Before his memory, as one whose drouth
Yet scarce allay'd, still eyes the current stream, Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites, Proceeded thus to ask his heav'nly guest:
Great things, and full of wonder in our ears, Far diff'ring from this world, thou hast reveal'd, Divine interpreter, by favour sent Down from the empyréan, to forewarn
Us timely' of what might else have been our loss, Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach: For which to th' infinitely Good we owe Immortal thanks, and his admonishment Receive with solemn purpose, to observe Immutably his sov'reign will, the end Of what we are.
But since thou hast vouchsafed 80 Gently for our instruction to impart
Things above earthly thought, which yet concern'd Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seem'd, Deign to descend now lower, and relate What may no less perhaps avail us known:
How first began this Heav'n which we behold Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd Innumerable, and this which yields or fills All space, the ambient air wide interfused Embracing round this florid Earth; what cause 90 Moved the Creator in his holy rest Through all eternity so late to build In Chaos, and the work begun, how soon Absolved, if unforbid thou may'st unfold What we, not to explore the secrets, ask
92. A question often since asked, but well answered by the consideration, that whenever the world had been created there would have been an eternity before its existence.
Of his eternal empire, but the more
To magnify his works, the more we know. And the great light of day yet wants to run
Much of his race, though steep; susperse in Heav'n, Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, And longer will delay to hear thee tell His generation, and the rising birth Of nature from the unapparent deep;
Or if the star of ev'ning and the moon
Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring 105 Silence, and sleep list'ning to thee will watch; Or we can bid his absence, till thy song End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine. Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought; And thus the God-like Angel answer'd mild: This also thy request with caution ask'd Obtain; though to recount almighty works, What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice, Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?
Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve
To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
Thy hearing; such commission from above I have received, to answer thy desire
Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain To ask, nor let thine own inventions hope Things not reveal'd, which th' invisible King, Only omniscient, hath suppress'd in night; To none communicable in Earth or Heav'n : Enough is left besides to search and know: But knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her temp'rance over appetite, to know In measure what the mind may well contain; Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns Wisdom to folly', as nourishment to wind.
Know then, that after Lucifer from Heav'n (So call him, brighter once amidst the host Of Angels than that star the stars among) Fell with his flaming legions through the deep Into his place, and the great Son return'd Victorious with his saints, th' Omnipotent Eternal Father from his throne beheld
122. Invisible, so in Scripture.
Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake :
At least our envious foe hath fail'd, who thought All like himself rebellious: by whose aid
This inaccessible high strength, the seat
Of Deity supreme, us dispossess'd,
He trusted to have seized, and into fraud
Drew many, whom their place knows here no more; Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
Their station; Heav'n yet populous retains Number sufficient to possess her realms
Though wide, and this high temple to frequent With ministeries due and solemn rites: But lest his heart exalt him in the harm Already done, to have dispeopled Heav'n, My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair That detriment, if such it be to lose Self-lost, and in a moment will create Another world; out of one man a race Of men innumerable, there to dwell, Not here, till by degrees of merit raised, They open to themselves at length the way
Up hither, under long obedience try'd,
And Earth be changed to Heav'n, and Heav'n to Earth, One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Mean while inhabit lax, ye Pow'rs of Heav'n;
And thou, my Word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform; speak thou and be it done.
My overshadowing Spirit and might with thee I send along; ride forth, and bid the deep Within appointed bounds be Heav'n and Earth, Boundless the deep, because I am who fill Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
Though I uncircumscribed myself retire
And put not forth my goodness which is free To act or not, necessity and chance Approach not me; and what I will is fate.
139. At last. instead of at least, is proposed. 144. Job vii. 10.
160. In allusion probably to the new heaven and new earth before mentioned, and not, as is supposed, to any mere improvement in man.
162. Lax, free to follow their former angelic pleasures and Occupations. It has no relation, as Newton supposes, to space
So spake th' Almighty, and to what he spake, His Word, the filial Godhead, gave effect. Immediate are the acts of God, more swift Than time or motion; but to human ears Cannot without process of speech be told; So told as earthly notion can receive. Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heav'n,
When such was heard declared th' Almighty's will. Glory they sung to the Most High, good-will
To future men, and in their dwellings peace: Glory to him, whose just avenging ire Had driven out th' ungodly from his sight And th' habitations of the just to him
Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd Good out of evil to create, instead
Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd Of majesty divine; sapience and love Immense, and all his Father in him shone. About his chariot numberless were pour'd Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,
And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots wing'd From th' armoury of God, where stand of old Myriads between two brazen mountains lodged Against a solemn day, harness'd at hand, Celestial equipage: and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them Spirit lived, Attendant on their Lord: Heav'n open'd wide Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound! On golden hinges moving, to let forth The King of Glory in his pow'rful Word And Spirit coming to create new worlds.
On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds And surging waves, as mountains, to assault 182. God instead of the is proposed by Bentley. 192. Zech. vi, 1.
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