By what is pass'd, to thee I have reveal'd What might have else to human race been hid; The discord which befel, and war in Heaven Among the angelic Powers, and the deep fall Of those too high aspiring, who rebell'd With Satan; he who envies now thy state, Who now is plotting how he may seduce Thee also from obedience, that, with him Bereaved of happiness, thou mayst partake His punishment, eternal misery; Which would be all his solace and revenge, As a despite done against the Host High, Thee once to gain companion of his woe. But listen not to his temptations, warn Thy weaker: let it profit thee to have heard, By terrible cample, the reward
Of disobedience; firm they might have stood, Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declared his pleasure to create another world, and other creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son with glory, and attendance of Angels, to perform the work of Creation in six days: the Angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his reascension into Heaven.
DESCEND from Heaven, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine Following, above the Olympian hill I soar, Above the flight of Pegaséan wing! The meaning, not the name, I call: for thou Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st; but heavenly born, Before the hills appear'd or fountain flow'd, Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased With thy celestial song. Up led by thee Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed, An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air, Thy tempering: with like safety guided down Return me to my native element: Lest from this flying steed unrein'd (as once Bellerophon, though from a lower clime,) Dismounted, on the 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 wrapp'd above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days, On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues; In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round, And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when morn Purples the east: still govern thou my song, Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
But drive far off the barbarous 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 heavenly, she an empty dream.
Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphaël, The affable Archangel, had forewarn'd Adam, by dire example, to beware Apostacy, by what befel in Heaven To those apostates: lest the like befal In Paradise to Adam or his race,
Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,
If they transgress, and slight that sole command,
So easily obey'd amid the choice
Of all tastes else to please their appetite,
Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve, 50
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 Heaven,
And war so near the peace of God in bliss,
With such confusion: but the evil, soon Driven back, redounded as a flood on those From whom it sprang; 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 Heaven 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 heavenly guest.
Great things, and full of wonder in our ears, Far differing 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 the 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 Heaven which we behold Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd
Innumerable; and this which yields or fills All space, the ambient are wide interfused Embracing round this florid Earth; what cause
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 mayst unfold What we, not to explore the secrets ask 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; suspense in Heaven, Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, 100 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 evening and the moon
Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring 105 Silence; and Sleep, listening 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 Godlike 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 115
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 the invisible King, Only Omniscient, hath suppress'd in night; To none communicable in Earth or Heaven: Enough is left besides to search and know. But knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her temperance 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 Heaven (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
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