Fulgere Sapphiris, turrefque ardere Pyropo.
Nec procul inde auri rutilâ pendere catenâ
Confpicit hanc Mundi molem, talemque videri,
Quale poli minimum Lunam prope cernitur Aftrum.
Huc flagrans odio indomito atque ultricibus iris
Efferus, infandos celerat diro omine curfus.
Of living Saphire, once his native feat:
And faft by, hanging in a Golden Chain
This pendent world, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude close by the Moon.
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a cursed hour he hies.
Andem ô fancta mihi falve Lux, maxima cœli
Primaque Progenies! feu fusum Numine ab ipso
Fas jubar æquævum Te dicere: nam DEUS eft Lux,
Altaque inacceffæ penetralia Lucis ab omni
Sæclorum ferie incoluit; Te fcilicet ipfam
Incoluit, clarâ æternâque ab origine Proles
Clara, æterna fluens, fanctoque fimillima Patri.
Æthereum an flumen liquidufque lubentiùs audis
Rivus? at arcanum cui fas recludere fontem ?
Tu cœlis & fole prior; Tu voce Supremi
Auditâ, veluti expanfo circumflua velo
Nigrantes undas mundique Elementa fovebas
Jam primùm disclusa Chao informique Profundo.
Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heav'n first-born! Or hear'ft thou rather pure Ethereal Stream,
Or of th' Eternal Co-eternal beam
Whofe Fountain who fhall tell? Before the Sun,
May I express thee unblam'd? since GOD is Light, Before the Heav'ns thou wert, and at the voice
And never but in unapproached Light
Dwelt from Eternity; dwelt then in Thee,
Bright effiuence of bright effence increate!
Of GoD, as with a Mantle didst invest
The rifing world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formlefs Infinite.
Te pennâ intrepidus jam liberiore reviso
Gurgite ab inferno remeans, immane ferumque
Tandem emenfus iter, quà per loca fenta tenebrisque
Obfita continuis cecini Noctemque Chaumque,
Haud quali Orphea fonuerunt carmine Chorda.
Musa dedit pronum tentare iter, alta Profundi
Scrutari arcana, æthereafque evadere ad auras,
Difficilique pedem raroque in tramite duxit.
Te demum illæfus repeto, Lux alma, tuumque
Agnofco vitale jubar; tamen invida noftris
Ipsa negas te offerre oculis, qui plurima inani
Sefe circumagunt motu, femperque requirunt
Nequicquam optatos radios & amabile lumen:
Reftinxit Nox tanta acies, feu nubila faltem
Vela premunt. At Pieridum non fecius erro
Avia per loca, divini perculfus amore
Carminis, aut umbras, aut colles inter apricos,
Aut fontem ad purum. Te verò ante omnia, fuavis
Thee I revifit now with bolder wing,
Escap'd the Stygian Pool, tho' long detain'd
In that obfcure fojourn; 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 heav'nly Mufe to venture down
The dark defcent, and up to re-ascend,
Tho' hard, and rare. Thee I revifit fafe,
And feel thy fov'reign vital Lamp: but Thou
Revifit'ft not these Eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a Drop Serene hath quench'd their Orbs,
Or dim Suffufion veil'd. Yet not the more
Ceafe I to wander, where the Mufes haunt
Clear Spring, or fhady Grove, or funny Hill,
Smit with the love of facred Song: but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flow'ry Brooks beneath,
Te Sion, variofque finu referentia flores
Quæ facros allapfa pedes tibi garrula lambunt
Flumina, nocturnus repeto; memorique revolvo
Mecum animo Par dulce Virûm, quos fæva premebat
Communis mihi Sors (eadem modo fama maneret!)
Mæoniden Thamyrinque; & Phinea sæpe recordor
Tirefiamque antiquum, orbatos lumine Vates.
Pectore ibi tacito totus fruor, unde canori
Sponte fluunt numeri, quales Philomela tenebris
Dat mediis, denfâ carmen modulata fub umbrâ.
Rite vices diverfæ anni, diverfa recurrunt
Tempora: Sed mihi nec Vefper, nec Mane recurrit
Alternum; non Ver placidum, aut maturior Æftas
Florea; non Pecudes, aut prona Armenta per agros,
Non facies Divina Hominis: Sed lurida mæstum
Caligo & Nox longa tegit; Jucunda virorum
Fugere alloquia & lætæ commercia vitæ.
Pro fpecie rerum pulchroque volumine mundi
That wash thy hallow'd Feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I vifit: nor fometimes forget
Those other Two equal'd with me in Fate,
(So were I equal'd with them in renown!)
Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides:
And Tirefias and Phineus, Prophets old.
Then feed on Thoughts, that voluntary move
Harmonious Numbers; as the wakeful Bird
Sings darkling, and in fhadieft Covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal Note. Thus with the Year
Seafons 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 inftead, and ever during dark
Surrounds me, from the chearful ways of men
Cut off; and for the Book of knowledge fair
Prefented with an univerfal Blank
His oculis rafam & vacuam Natura tabellam
Offert, & trifti delet mihi cuncta liturâ ;
Obftruiturque omnino aditus, quo pectoris imas
Mittitur in latebras facili Sapientia portâ.
Ergo infunde animo, cœli Lux dia, benignos
Uberius radios, penetraliaque intima mentis
Illuftra: meliora ibi confere lumina, & omnem
Inde fuga nebulam, ut videam fanctissima rerum
Arcana, humanifque oculis impervia pandam.
Jam Pater omnipotens flammantibus ætheris oris,
Quà rutilam tenet ante alias celfiffimus arcem,
Lumina detorquens, manuum monumenta fuarum,
Quidque agerent varii, nuper quos ftruxerat, Orbes,
Confpicit: agglomerant Divûm fanctiffima turba,
Quot cœli fupera aftra; DE Ique tuentibus ora
Miranda attonitos pertentant Gaudia sensus.
Unicus ad dextram, patrii fulgoris Imago,
Filius affedit folio.
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 through all her pow'rs
Irradiate; there plant eyes: all mist from thence
Purge and difperfe; that I may fee and tell
Of things invifible to mortal fight.
Now had th' Almighty FATHER from above, (From the pure Empyrean where He fits
High Thron'd above all height) bent down His
Eye,
His own works and their works at once to view.
About Him all the Sanclities of Heav'n
Stood thick as Stars, and from His fight receiv'd
Beatitude past utt'rance. On his Right
The radiant Image of His Glory fat,
His only Son. On Earth He first beheld
Our two firft Parents (yet the only two
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