And temple of his mighty Father throned
On high; who in glory him received,

Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.

Thus measuring things in Heaven by things on earth, At thy request, and that thou may'st beware

By what is past, to thee I have revealed

What might have else to human race been hid:
The discord which befell, and war in Heaven
Among the angelic powers, and the deep fall
Of those, too high aspiring, who rebelled
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 mayest partake
His punishment, eternal misery;

Which would be all his solace and revenge,
As a despite done against the Most 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 example, the reward

Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,
Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.

BOOK VII.

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 re-ascension into Heaven.

ESCEND from Heaven, Urania-by that name

If rightly thou art called-whose voice divine
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegasean wing.

The meaning, not the name, I call; for thou
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwellest, but, heavenly-born,
Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed.
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 unreined
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:

as once

Standing on earth, not wrapt 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 compassed round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou

Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when Morn

my song,

Purples the east. Still govern thou
Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
But drive off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revelers, the race

Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rodopé, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamor drowned
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 Raphael,
The affable Archangel, had forewarned
Adam, by dire example, to beware
Apostasy, by what befell in Heaven

To those apostates, lest the like befall

In Paradise to Adam or his race,

Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,

If they transgress, and slight that sole command,
So easily obeyed amid the choice

Of all tastes else to please their appetite

Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve,

The story heard attentive, and was filled

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 sprung, impossible to mix
With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed
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;