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 ordained, Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell In which of all these shining orbs hath Man His fixed seat-or fixèd seat hath none, But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell—- 670 That I may find him, and with secret gaze open admiration him behold
On whom the great Creator hath bestowed Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured;
That both in him and all things, as is meet, The Universal Maker we may praise; Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss, Created this new happy race of Men
To serve him better: Wise are all his ways!' 680 So spake the false dissembler unperceived; For neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy-the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone,
By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth;
And oft, though Wisdom wake, Suspicion sleeps At Wisdom's gate, and to Simplicity
Resigns her charge, while Goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems: which now for once beguiled Uriel, though Regent of the Sun, and held 690 The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven; Who to the fraudulent impostor foul,
asking where the seat of Man
Uriel In his uprightness, answer thus returned :— tells how 'Fair angel, thy desire, which tends to know order The works of God, thereby to glorify disorder The great Work-master, leads to no excess sprung That reaches blame, but rather merits praise
The more it seems excess, that led thee hither From thy empyreal mansion thus alone, To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps, 700 Contented with report, hear only in Heaven: For wonderful indeed are all his works, Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all Had in remembrance always with delight! But what created mind can comprehend Their number, or the wisdom infinite
That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?
I saw when, at his word, the formless mass, This World's material mould, came to a heap : Confusion heard his voice, and wild Uproar 710 Stood ruled, stood vast Infinitude confined; Till, at his second bidding, Darkness fled, Light shone, and order from disorder sprung. Swift to their several quarters hasted then The cumbrous elements-Earth, Flood, Air, Fire;
And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven Flew upward, spirited with various forms, That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move: Each had his place appointed, each his course ; 720 The rest in circuit walls this Universe.
Look downward on that globe, whose hither side With light from hence, though but reflected, shines:
That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light Satan His day, which else, as the other hemisphere, alights on Night would invade; but there the neighbouring Niphates'
(So call that opposite fair star) her aid Timely interposes, and, her monthly round Still ending, still renewing, through mid-heaven, With borrowed light her countenance triform 730 Hence fills and empties, to enlighten the Earth, And in her pale dominion checks the night. That spot to which I point is Paradise, Adam's abode; those lofty shades his bower. Thy way thou canst not miss; me mine requires.'
Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low, As to Superior Spirits is wont in Heaven, Where honour due and reverence none neglects, Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath, 739 Down from the ecliptic, sped with hoped success, Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel, Nor staid till on Niphates' top he lights.
THE END OF THE THIRD BOOK
SATAN, now in prospect of Eden, and nigh the place where he must now attempt the bold enterprise which he undertook alone against God and Man, falls into many doubts with himself, and many passions-fear, envy, and despair; but at length confirms himself in evil; journeys on to Paradise, whose outward prospect and situation is described; overleaps the bounds; sits, in the shape of a cormorant, on the Tree of Life, as highest in the Garden, to look about him. The Garden described; Satan's first sight of Adam and Eve; his wonder at their excellent form and happy state, but with resolution to work their fall; overhears their discourse; thence gathers that the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden them to eat of under penalty of death, and thereon intends to found his temptation by seducing them to transgress; then leaves them a while, to know further of their state by some other means. Meanwhile Uriel, descending on a sunbeam, warns Gabriel, who had in charge the gate of Paradise, that some evil Spirit has escaped the Deep, and passed at noon by his Sphere, in the shape of a good Angel, down to Paradise, discovered after by his furious gestures in the mount. Gabriel promises to find him ere morning. Night coming on, Adam and Eve discourse of going to their rest: their bower described; their evening worship. Gabriel, drawing forth his bands of night-watch to walk the rounds of Paradise, appoints two strong Angels to Adam's bower, lest the evil Spirit should be there doing some harm to Adam or Eve sleeping: there they find him at the ear of Eve, tempting her in a dream, and bring
him, though unwilling, to Gabriel; by whom questioned, The he scornfully answers; prepares resistance; but, hindered stings by a sign from Heaven, flies out of Paradise.
O FOR that warning voice, which he who saw The Apocalypse heard cry in Heaven aloud, Then when the Dragon, put to second rout, Came furious down to be revenged on men, Woe to the inhabitants on Earth! that now, While time was, our first parents had been warned The coming of their secret foe, and scaped, Haply so scaped, his mortal snare! For now Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down, The tempter, ere the accuser, of mankind, To wreak on innocent frail Man his loss Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell. Yet not rejoicing in his speed, though bold Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast, Begins his dire attempt; which, nigh the birth Now rolling, boils in his tumultuous breast, And like a devilish engine back recoils Upon himself. Horror and doubt distract His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir The hell within him; for within him Hell 20 He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell One step, no more than from himself, can fly By change of place. Now conscience wakes despair
That slumbered; wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must
Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad;
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