With diadem and fceptre high advanc'd,
The lower ftill I fall, only fupreme
In mifery: fuch joy ambition finds.

But fay I could repent, and could obtain,

90

By act of grace, my former ftate; how foon
Would height recal high thoughts, how foon unfay 95
What feign'd fubmiffion swore? ease would recant
Vows made in pain, as violent and void.

For never can true reconcilement grow,

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd fo deep :
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse,
And heavier fall: fo fhould I purchase dear
Short intermiffion bought with double fmart.
This knows my punisher: therefore as far
From granting he, as I from begging peace:
All hope excluded thus, behold instead
Of us outcaft, exil'd, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this world.
So farewel hope! and with hope farewel fear!
Farewel remorfe! all good to me is loft:
Evil, be thou my good! By thee at least
Divided empire with heav'n's King I hold,
By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign ;
As man ere long, and this new world, fhall know.

100

105

11Q

Thus while he fpake, each paffion dimm'd his face Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and defpair; 115 Which 'marr'd his borrow'd vifage, and betray'd Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.

For heav'nly minds from fuch diftempers foul

L. 90. Diadem.] Fr. Ital. Span. Lat. from the Gr. i. e. binding about. What the Syrians call mitra, the Greeks named diadema, and the Latins vitta, fays Scaliger. A white fillet or scarf, like the Turkish turban, wherewith the ancient princes of Perfia, and the priests alfo, tied a crown about their heads: A king's crown. Alexander the Great brought the use of it first into Europe, as Justin reports. Cefar and Caligula refused it; but Aurelian was the first Roman emperor that wore a diadem.

Are ever clear. Whereof he foon aware,

Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm,
Artificer of fraud; and was the first

That practis'd falfehood under faintly show,
Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge.
Yet not enough had practis'd to deceive

120

Uriel once warn'd; whose eye purfu'd him down
The way he went, and on th' Affyrian mount
Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befal
Spirit of happy fort: his geftures fierce
He mark'd, and mad demeanour, then alone,
As he fuppos'd, all unobferv'd, unseen.

125

130

So on he fares, and to the border comes

Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

Now nearer, crowns with her inclofure green,

As with a rural mound, the champain head

Of a steep wildernefs; whofe hairy fides

135

With thicket overgrown, grotefque, and wild,
Access deny'd; and over head up grew
Infuperable height of loftieft fhade,

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A fylvan fcene; and as the ranks afcend,
Shade above fhade, a woody theatre

140

L. 132.where delicious Paradife, &c.] Satan is now come to the border of Eden, where he has a nearer prospect of Paradise, which the poet reprefents as fituated in a champain country, upon the top of a steep hill, called the Mount of Paradife.

L. 139. Cedar.] Fr. Lat. from the Gr. a very large, thick, and tall tree, with fmall and flender leaves. It is always green, never decays, and is deteftable to worms, because of its bitter fap: The ancients anointed their books with it, to keep them from being.

worm-eaten.

Ibid. Palm.] Fr. Brit. Teut. Ital. Span. Dut. Lat. from the Gr. i. e. the band expanded; because its leaves resemble the palm of a man's hand. The palm or date-tree. It was used of old as a fign of victory, and victory itself; because the more it is oppreffed, the more it rifeth and spreadeth. The palm was used in the service of God, Lev. xxiii. 40.; and is faid to be worn in Paradise itself, Rev. vii. 9. It was also the sign and reward of victory in all the Grecian games.

Of ftatelieft view. Yet higher than their tops
The verd'rous wall of Paradife up sprung:
Which to our general fire gave profpe& large
Into his nether empire neighb'ring round,
And higher than that wall a circling row
Of goodlieft trees, loaden with faireft fruit,
Bloffoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
Appear'd, with gay enamell'd colours mix'd ;

145

On which the fun more glad imprefs'd his beams, 15Q Than in fair evening-cloud, or humid bow,

When God hath fhow'r'd the earth; fo lovely feem'd That landscape: and of pure now purer

air

Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All fadnefs but defpair: now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense.
Native perfumes, and whifper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who fail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
Mozambic, off at fea north-east winds blow
Sabean odours from the fpicy fhore

Of Araby the Blefs'd; with fuch delay

155

160

Well pleas'd they flack their courfe, and many a league Chear'd with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles: 165 So entertain'd those odorous sweets the fiend,

Who came their bane; though with them better pleas'd Than Afmodeus with the fishy fume

L. 161. Mozambic,] Mezambica, and the French call it Mezambique, Ethiop. a little ifland, with a chief city built upon a river of the fame name, upon the east coast of Africa, belonging to Zanguebar, 270 miles from Madagascar to the weft. It is barten and unhealthful, but populous, because of the great trade with the Portuguese, who poffefs it now.

L. 162, Sabean,] of Saba, from Seba, or Saba, the son of Chus, the fixth fon of Ham, Gen. x. 7. Saba is the chief city of Arabia the Happy, now Zibit, where there is great store of cinnamon, caffia, frankincenfe, myrrh, and other fweet spices.

L. 168. Afmodeus.] Heb. i. e. a destroyer, or fire. A prince of

way

170

175

That drove him, though enamour'd, from the spouse
Of Tobit's fon, and with a vengeance fent
From Media poft to Egypt, there faft bound.
Now to th' afcent of that steep favage hill
Satan had journey'd on, penfive and flow;
But farther found none, fo thick entwin'd, ;
As one continu'd brake, the undergrowth
Of fhrubs and tangling bufhes had perplex'd
All path of man or beast that pafs'd that way.
One gate there only was, and that look'd east
On th' other fide: which when th' arch-felon faw,
Due entrance he difdain'd, and in contempt,
At one flight bound high overleap'd all bound
Of hill or higheft walk, and fheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to feek new haunt for prey,
Watching where fhepherds pen their flocks at eve 185.
In hurdled cotes amid the field fecure,

Leaps o'er the fence with eafe into the fold:
Or as a thief, bent to unhoard the cash
Of fome rich burgher, whose substantial doors,
Crofs-barr'd and bolted faft, fear no affault,
In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles :
So clomb this firft grand thief into God's fold
So fince into his church lewd hirelings climb.
Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,
The middle tree, and higheft there that grew,
Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life

18

190

195

devils among the Rabbies. An evil spirit who is faid to have haunted the houfe of Raguel, to be in love with his daughter Sarah, and to have destroyed seven husbands in the first night of their marriage, Tob. iii. 8, 17.

L. 171. Media.] Heb. from Madai, the fon of Japheth, Gen. x. 2. i. e. a meafure; because he was of a large ftature. A large country and ancient kindom in Afia, on the north of Perfia near Georgia, and upon the Cafpian fea, having Armenia and Affyria : on the weft,

Thereby regain'd, but fat devifing death

To them who liv'd; nor on the virtue thought

Of that life-giving plant, but only us'd

For profpe&, what well us'd had been the pledge 200

Of immortality. So little knows

Any, but God alone, to value right

The good before him, but perverts beft things.

To worst abuse, or to their meanest use.

Beneath him with new wonder now he views,

To all delight of human fenfe expos'd

In narrow room, Nature's whole wealth, yea more,
A heav'n on earth: for blissful Paradife
Of God the garden was, by him in th' east
Of Eden planted; Eden stretch'd her line
From Auran caftward to the royal tow'rs
Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings,.
Or where the fons of Eden long before
Dwelt in Telaffar. In this pleasant soil
His far more pleasant garden God ordain'd.
Out of the fertile ground he caus❜d to grow
All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;
And all amid them ftood the Tree of Life,

205

210

215

L. 211. Auran.] Haran, or Charan; Heb. i. e. wrath. The chief city of Mefopotamia, whither Abraham fled from the wrath of God, because of the idolatry of the Chaldeans, and also dwelt for a time, Gen. xj. 31. Acts vii. 4. Jacob went to it afterwards for fear of Efau's wrath, Gen. xxix. I. which giveth name to a large country upon the river Tigris.

1.. 212. Seleucia.] Lat. Gr. i. e. a glaring light. Another famous city of Mefopotamia, called alfo Calnch, in the land of Shinar, Gen. x. 10. Koche, then Alexandria, because it was rebuilt by Alexander the Great; afterwards repaired by Antiochus king of Syria, who called it Seleucia, în memory of his father Seleucus, Gr. i. e. glorious.

L. 214, Telajar,] and Elaffar; Heb. i. e. a fort, or rampart of the Affyrians. A country upon the borders of Affyria, wherein the Edenites were garrifoned to guard Babylon from the encroachments of the Affyrians, Ifa. xxxvii. 12. Ezek. xxvii. 23. Between these places the true Eden and Paradise were fituated.-Kide Huet de fitu Paradifi