1

THE VERSE.

THE measure is Englife heroic verfe without rhyme, as that of Homer in Greek, and Virgil in Latin 2 rybme being no necessary adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verfe, in longer works efpecially, but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame metre; grac'd indeed fince by the use of Some famous modern poets, carried away by cuftom, but much to their own vexation, bindrance, and confiraint, to express many things otherwife, and for the most part, worse than elfe they would have expressed them. Not without caufe, therefore, fome both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note, bave rejected rhyme both in longer and foorter works, as have also long fince our beft Englifo tragedies, as a thing of itself, to all judigious ears, trivial, and of no true musical delight; which confifts only in apt numbers, fit quantity of fyllables, and the fenfe variously drawn out from one verfe into another, not in the jingling found of like endings, a fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and all good oratory. This negle&t, then, of rhyme, fa little is to be taken for a defect, though it may seem so perhaps to vulgar readers, that it rather is to be eficem→ ed an example fet, the firft in Englife, of ancient liberty recovered to beroic poem, from the troublesome and modern bondage of rhyming.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK I.

The Argument.

This First Book proposes, first in brief, the whole fubject, Man's disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was placed: then touches the prime caufe of his fall, the ferpent or rather Satan in the serpent; who, revolting from God, and drawing to his fide many legions of angels, was, by the command of God, driven out of heaven, with all his crew, into the great deep. Which action pas'd over, the Poem haftes into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his angels now falling into hell, defcrib'd here, not in the centre (for heaven and earth may be fuppofed as yet not made, certainly not yet accurs'd), but in a place of utter darkness, fitlieft call'd Chaos: here Satan, with his angels lying on the burning lake, thunder-ftruck and astonish'd, after a certain space, recover as from confufion, calls up him who next in order and dignity lay by him; they confer of their miferable fall. Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the fame manner confounded: they rife; their numbers, array of battle, their chief leaders nam'd, according to the idols known afterwards in Canaan and the countries adjoining. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining heaven, but teils them, laftly, of a new world, and new kind of creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy or report in heaven; for that angels were long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council. What his affociates thence attempt. Pandemonium the palace of Satan rises, suddenly built, out of the deep : the infernal peers. there fit in council.

Or man's firft difobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whofe mortal tafte
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With lofs of Eden, till one greater Man
Reftore us, and regain the blifsful feat,
Sing heav'nly Mufe, that on the fecret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That thepherd, who firft taught the chofen feed,
In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth
Rofe out of chaos: or if Sion hill

Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
Fait by the oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous fong,
That with no middle flight intends to foar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in profe or rhyme.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that doft prefer
Before all teniples the upright heart and pure,
Inftruct me, for thou know'ft; thou from the firft
Waft prefent, and, with mighty wings outspread,

Dove-like fatft brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad'ft it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raife and fupport;
That to the height of this great argument
I may affert eternal providence,
And juftify the ways of God to men.

Say firft, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell, fay firft what caufe
Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state,
Favour'd of Heav'n fo highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and tranfgrefs his will,
For one reftraint, lords of the world befides?
Who first feduc'd them to that foul revolt?
Th' infernal ferpent; he it was, whofe guile,
Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd
The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had caft him out from heav'n, with all his hoft
Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring
To fet himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to have equall'd the Moft High,

If he oppos'd; and, with ambitious aim,
Against the throne and monarchy of God
Raif'd impious war in heav'n and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combuftion, down
To bottomlefs perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durft defy th' Omnipotent to arms.
Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf
Confounded, though immortal; but his doom
Referv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of loft happinets and lafting pain
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witness'd huge affliction and difmay,
Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate :
At once, as far as angels' ken, he views
The difmal fituation wafte and wild;

A dungeon horrible on all fides round

All is not loft; th' unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to fubmit or yield,
And what is elfe, not to be overcome?
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and fue for grace
With fuppliant knee, and deify his power,
Who from the terror of this arm fo late
Doubted his empire; that were low indeed;
That were an ignominy, and fhame beneath
This downfal; fince by fate the ftrength of gods
And this empyreal substance cannot fail,
Since through experience of this great event,
In arms not worse, in forefight much advanc'd,
We may with more fuccefsful hope refolve
To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Irreconcilable to our grand Foe,

Who now triumphs, and in th' excefs of joy
Sole reigning holds the tyrany of heav'n.

So fpake the apoftate angel, though in pain,
Vaunting aloud, but rack'd with deep defpair;

As one great furnace flam'd, yet from thofe flames And him thus anfwer'd foon his bold compeer:
No light, but rather darkness visible,
Serv'd only to difcover fights of woe,
Regions of forrow, doleful fhades, where peace
And reft can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning fulphur unconfum'd:
Such place eternal Juftice had prepar'd
For thofe rebellious, here their prilon ordain'd
In utter darkness, and their portion fet

As far remov'd from God and light of heav'n
As from the centre thrice to th' utmoft pole.
O how unlike the place from whence they fell!
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelm'd
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He foon difcerns, and welt'ring by his fide
One next himself in pow'r, and next in crime,
Long after known in Paleftine, and nam'd
Beelzebub. To whom th' arch-enemy,
And thence in heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words
Breaking the horrid filence, thus began:

ff thou beef he; but O how fall'n! how chang'd
From him, who, in the happy realms of light,
Cloth'd with tranfcendent brightnefs didit outshine
Myriads though bright! If he whom mutual league,
United thoughts and counfels, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprife,
Jein'd with me once, now mifery hath join'd
In equal ruin into what pit thou feeft
From what height fall'n, so much theftronger prov'd
He with his thunder: and till then who knew
The force of thofe dire arms? yet not for those,
Nor what the potent Victor in his rage
Can elfe inflict, do I repent or change,
Though chang'd in outward luftre, that fix'd mind,
And high difdain from fenfe of injur'd merit,
That with the Mightieft raif'd me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of fpirits arm'd,

That durft dislike his reign, and me preferring,
His utmolt pow'r with adverfe pow'r oppof'd
In dubious battle on the plains of Heav'n,
And shook his throne. What though the field be loft?

O Prince! O Chief of many throned powers,
That led th' imbattl'd feraphim to war
Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds
Fearlefs, endanger'd heav'n's perpetual King,
And put to proof his high fupremacy,
Whether upheld by ftrength, or chance, or fate,
Too well I fee and rue the dire event,
That with fad overthrow and foul defeat
Hath loft us heaven, and all this mighty hoft
In horrible deftruction laid thus low,
As far as gods and heav'nly offences
Can perifh: for the mind and spirit remains
Invincible, and vigour foon returns,
Though all our glory's extinct, and happy state
Here fwallow'd up in enalefs mifery.
But what if he our Conqu'ror (whom I now
Of force believe Almighty, fince no lefs
Than fuch could have o'erpow'r'd fuch force as ours)
Have left us thus our spirit and ftrength entire
Strongly to fuffer and support our pains,
That we may lo fuffice his vengeful ire,
Or do him mightier fervice as his thralls
By right of war, whate'er his bufinefs 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 undiminith'd, or eternal being
To undergo eternal punishment?
Whereto with speedy words th' arch-fiend reply'd:

Fall'n Cherub, to be weak is miferable,
Doing or fuffering: but of this be furc,
To do ought good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our fole delight,
As being the contrary to his high will
Whom we refift. If then his providence
Out of our evil feek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good fall to find means of evil;
Which oft-times may fucceed, fo as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
His inmoft counfels from their deftin'd aim.
But fee the angry Victor hath recall'd
His minifters of vengeance and purfuit

[threw

His legions, angel forms, who lay entranc'd
Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks
In Valambrofa, where th' Etrurian fhades
High over-arch'd embow'r; or fcatter'd fedge
Aflote, when with fierce winds Orien arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-fea coaft, whofe waves o'er-
Bufiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The fojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the fafe fhore their floating carcafes
And broken chariot wheels: fo thick beftrown
Abject and loft lay thefe, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow deep
Of hell refounded. Princes, Potentates, [loft,
Warriors, th' flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now
If fuch astonishment as this can feize
Eternal fpirits; or have you chofen this place,
After the toil of battle, to repofe

Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
'To flumber here, as in the vales of Heav'n?
Or in this abject pofture have you fworn
To adore the Conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and feraph rolling in the flood
With fcatter'd arms and enfigns, till anon
His fwift purfuers from heav'n gates difcern
Th' advantage, and defcending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fallen!

[fprung
They heard, and were abafh'd, and up they
Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
On duty, fieeping found by whom they dread,
Rouse and beftir themselves e'er well awake.
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
Yet to their General's voice they foon obey'd,
Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amram's fon, in Egypt's evil day,
Wav'd round the coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud
Of locufts, warping on the eastern wind,
That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile:
So numberless were those bad angels feen,
Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell,
"Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding fires;
Till, at a fignal giv'n, th' uplifted spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Their courfe, in even balance down they light
On the firm brimitone, and fill all the plain;
A multitude, like which the populous North
Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pafs
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barb'rous fons
Came like a deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian fands.
Forthwith from every fquadron and each band
The heads and leaders thither hafte, where ftood
Their great Commander; godlike fhapes and forms
Excelling human, princely dignities,

And powers that erft in Heaven fat on thrones;
Though of their names in heav'nly records now
Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By their rebellion from the books of Life.
Nor had they yet among the fons of Eve

Through God's high fuff'rance for the trial of man,
By fallities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forfake
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, Mufe, their names then known, who firft, who
laft,

Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery couch,
At their great Emp'ror's call, as next in worth
Came fingly where he ftood on the bare ftrand,
While the promifcuous crowd flood yet aloof.
The chief were thofe who from the pit of Hell
Roaming to feek their prey on earth, durit fix
Their feats long after next the feat of God,
Their altars by his altar, gods ador'd
Among the nations round, and durft abide
Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the cherubim ; yea often plac'd
Within his fanctuary itself their fhrines,
Abominations; and with cursed things
His holy rites and folemn feafts profan'd,
And with their darkness durft affront his light.
First Moloch, horrid king, befmear'd with blood
Of human facrifice, and parent's tears,
Though for the noife of drums and timbrels loud
Their children's cries unheard, that pafs'd through
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worship'd in Rabba and her watry plain,
In Argob and in Bafan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with fuch
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build

(fire

His temple right against the temple of God
On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove
The pleafant valley of Himmon, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna call'd, the type of Hell.
Next Chemos, th' obfcene dread of Moab's fons,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of fouthmoft Abarim; in Hefebon
And Horonaini, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Sibma, clad with vines,
And leale to th' Afphaltic pool.

Peor his other name, when he entic'd
Ifrael in Sittim on their march from Nile

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woc.
Yet thence his luftful orgies he enlarg'd
Ev'n to that hill of fcandal, by the grove
Of Moloch homicide; luft hard by hate;
Till good Jofiah drove them thence to Hell.
With thefe came they, who from the bord'ring
Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts [flood
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
Of Baalim and Afhtaroth, thofe male,
These feminine. For fpirits, when they please,
Can either fex affume, or both; fo foft
And uncompounded is their effence pure,
Not ty'd or manacl'd with joint or limb,
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumb'rous flesh; but in what shape they choose

Got them new names, till wandring o'er the earth, Dilated or condens'd, bright or obscure,