Thee I revisit now with bolder Wing,
Escap'd the Stygian Pool, though long detain'd
In that obscure Sojourn, while in my Flight
Through utter and through middle Darkness born
With other Notes than to th' Orphean Lyre
I fung of Chaos and Eternal Night,
Taught by the Heavenly Muse to venture down
'The dark Descent, and up to re-afcend,
Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safe,
And feel thy Sov'reign Vital Lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these Eyes, that rowl in vain
To find thy piercing Ray, and find no Dawn;
So thick a Drop ferene hath quench'd their Orbs,
Or dim Suffufion veil'd. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt
Clear Spring, or shady Grove, or funny Hill,
Smit with the love of facred Song; but chief
Thee Sion and the flowry Brooks beneath
That wash thy hallow'd Feet, and warb'ling flow,
Nightly I visit: Nor sometimes forget
Those other two equal'd with me in Fate,
So were I equal'd with them in Renown,
Blind Thamyris and Blind Meonides,
And Tiresias and Phinens Prophets old.
Then feed on Thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious Numbers; as the wakeful Bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest Covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal Note. Thus with the Year
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day or the sweet approach of Ev'n or Morn,
Or fight of vernal Bloom, or Summer's Rose,
Or Flocks, or Herds, or Human Face Divine;
But Cloud instead, and ever-during Dark
Surrounds me, from the chearful Ways of Men
Cut off, and for the Book of Knowledge fair
- Presented with a Univerfal Blank
Of Nature's Works to me expung'd and ras'd,
And Wisdom at one Entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou Celestial Light
Shine inward, and the Mind thro' all her Powers
Irradiate, there plant Eyes, all Mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may fee and tell
Of things invisible to mortal Sight.
Milton Parad. lost, 1. 3.
The Four Ages of the World.
The Golden Age.
THE Golden Age was first: when Man yet new
No Rule but uncorrupted Reason knew;
And, with a Native Bent, did Good pursue.
Unforc'd by Punishment, unaw'd by Fear,
His Words were simple, and his Soul fincere :
Needless was written Law where none opprest:
The Law of Man, was written in his Breaft :
No Suppliant Crowds, before the Judge appear'd,
No Court erected yet, nor Cause was heard,
But all was fafe, for Confcience was their Guard.
The Mountain Trees in diftant Prospect please
E're yet the Pine descended to the Seas:
E're Sails were spread, new Oceans to explore;
And happy Mortals, unconcern'd for more,
Confin'd their Wishes to their Native Shoar
NoWalls, were yet; nor Fence, nor Mote nor Mound,
Nor Drum was heard, nor Trumpet's angry found.
Nor. Swords were forg'd; but void of Care & Crime,
The foft Creation past away their Time.
The teeming Earth, yet guiltless of the Plough,
And unprovok'd, did fruitful Stores allow :
Content with Food which Nature freely bred,
On Wildings, and on Strawberries they fed.
Cornels and Bramble-Berries gave the reft,
And falling Acorns furnisht out a Feast,
The Flow'rs unsown in Fields and Meadows reign'd:
And Western Winds immortal Spring maintain'd.
In following Years, the bearded Corn ensu'd,
From Earth unask'd, nor was that Earth renew'd.
From Veins of Vallies Milk and Nestar broke;
And Honey Sweating through the Pores of Oak.
BUT when good Saturn banifh'd from above,
Was driv'n to Hell, the World was under Jove
Succeeding Times a Silver Age behold,
Excelling Brass, but more excell'd by Gold.
Then Summer, Autumn, Winter, did appear,
And Spring was but a Season of the Year.
The Sun his Annual Course obliquely made,
Good Days contracted and enlarg'd the bad.
Then Air with fultry Heats began to glow;
The Wings of Winds were clogg'd with Ice and Snow
And shivering Mortals, into Houses driv'n
Sought Shelter from th' Inclemency of Heav'n.
Those Houses, then, were Caves, or homely Sheds;
With twining Oziers fenc'd, and Moss their Beds.
Then Ploughs, for Seed, the fruitful Furrows broke,
And Oxen labour'd first beneath the Yoke.
The Brazen Age.
TO this came next in Course the Brazen Age,
A. Warlike Offspring, prompt to Bloody Rage
HARD Steel fucceeded then :
And stubborn as the Mettal, were the Men.
Truth, Modesty, and Shame, the World forsook,
Fraud, Avarice, and Force, their Places took.
Then Sails were spread to every Wind that blew.
Raw were the Sailors, and the Depths were new:
Trees rudely hollow'd did the Waves sustain;
E're Ships in Triumph plough'd the Watry Plain.
Then Land-Marks limited to each his Right,
For all before was common, as the Light.
Nor was the Ground alone requir'd to bear
Her annual Income to the crooked Share;
But greedy Mortals rummaging her Store,
Digg'd from her Entrails first the precious Oar;
Which next to Hell the prudent Gods had laid;
And that alluring Ill, to Sight displaid.
Thus curfed Steel, and more accursed Gold,
Gave mischief Birth, and made that mischief bold;
And double Death did wretched Man invade,
By Steel affaulted, and by Gold betray'd.
Now (brandish'd Weapons glittering in their Hands)
Mankind is broken loose from Moral Bands;
No Rights of Hospitality remain :
The Guest by him, who harbour'd him, is fläin.
The Son-in-Law pursues the Father's Life;
The Wife her Husband Murders, he the Wife.
The Step-Dame Poyfon for the Son prepares;
The Son inquires into his Father's years.
Faith flies, and Piety in Exile mourns;
And Justice, here oppreft, to Heav'n Returns.
MID AS the King, as in his Book appears,
By Phœbus was endow'd with Asses Ears,
Which under his long Locks, he well conceal'd,
(As Monarch's Vices must not be reveal'd)
For fear the People have 'em in the Wind,
Who long ago were neither Dumb nor Blind;
Nor apt to think from Heav'n their Title Springs,
Since Jove and Mars left off begetting Kings.
This Midas knew; and durft communicate
To none but to his Wife, his Ears of State:
One must be trusted, and he thought her fit, !
As paffing prudent, and a parlous Wit.
To this fagacious Confeffor he went,
And told her what a Gift the Gods had fent:
But told it under Matrimonial Seal,
With ftrict Injunction never to reveal.
The Secret heard the plighted him her Troth,
(And facred sure is every Woman's Oath)
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