Bat thou, O father! I forewarn thee, shun 810 Illimitable ocean, without bound, Without dimension; where length, breadth, and To be invulnerable in those bright arms, height, Though temper'd heavenly'; for that mortal dint, And time, and place are lost; where eldest Night Save he who reigns above, none can resist!" And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold 895 Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise She finish'd, and the subtile fiend his lore 815 Of endless wars, and by confusion stand: Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions sinooth: fierce, Strive here for mast'ry, and to battle bring "Dear danghter! since thou claim'st me for thy Their embryon atoms; they around the flag 900 sire, Of each his faction, in their several clans, And my fair son here show'st me (the dear pledge Light arm'd, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow, Of dalliance had with thee in heaven, and joys Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the sands Then sweet, now sad to mention, thro' dire change of Barca, or Cyrene's torrid soil, Befallen us, unforeseen, unthought of!) know 821 Levy'd to side with warring winds, and poise 905 come no enemy, but to set free Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere, From out this dark and dismal house of pain, He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits, Both him and thee, and all the heavenly host And by decision more embroils the fray, Of spirits that in our just pretences arm'd,) 825 By which he reigns: next hiin high arbiter Fell with us from on high: from them I go Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss, 910 This uncouth errand sule; and one for all (The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave) Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire, Tá' unsounded deep, and through the void im. But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd inense Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, To search with wand'ring quest a place foretold 830 (Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain 915 Should be, and, by concurring signs, e'er-now His dark materials to create more worlds) Created, vast and round; a place of bliss Into this wild abyss the wary fiend In the purlieus of heaven, and therein plac'd Stood on the brink of hell, and look'd awhile. A race of upstart creatures, to supply Pond'ring his voyage; (for no narrow frith Perhaps our vacant room: though more removid, He had to cross :) nor was his ear less peal'd 920 Lest heaven surcharg'd with potent multitude ja With noises loud, and ruinous, (to compare Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or ouglat Great things with small) than when Bellona storms, Than this more secret, now design'd, I haste With all her batt'ring engines bent to raze To know; and this once known, shall soon re Some capital city; or less than if this frame turn, Of heaven were falling, and these elements 925 And bring ye to the place where thou, and Death, In mutiny had from her axle torn Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen S11 The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad vans Wing silently the buxom air, embalm'd He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke With odours: there ye shall be fed, and fillid Uplifted spurns the ground: thence many a league, Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey." As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides 930 Audacious; but that seat soon failing, meets Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud, His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire: Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him As many miles aloft: that fury stay'd, « The key of this infernal pit by due, 850 Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea, And by command of heaven's all-powerful King, Nor good dry land, nigh founder'd on he fares, 940 I teep; by him forbidden to unlock Treading the crude consistence, half on foot; These adamantine gates; against all force Half flying; behooves him now both oar and sail. Death ready stands to interpose his dart, As when a griffon, through the wilderness Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might. 855 With winged course o'er hill, or moory dale, But what owe I to his commands above Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth 945 Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd Into this gloom of Tartarus profound, The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend (rare, To sit in hateful office here confin'd, O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense or Inhabitant of heaven, and heavenly born, S60 With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his Here in perpetual agony, and pain, way; With terrors, and with clamours compass'd round, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed? At length a universal hubbub wild 951 Thou art my father, thou my author, thou Of stunning sounds, and voices all confus'd, My being gav'st me; whom should I obey 865 Borne through the hollow dark assaults his ear But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me soon With loudest vehemence: thither he plies, To that new world of light and bliss, among Undaunted to meet there whatever power, 956 The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign Or spirit, of the nethermost abyss, At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask Thy daughter, and thy darling, without end." 870 Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies, Bordering on light: when strait behold the throne Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Of Chaos, 960 Sad instrument of all our woe! she took; Wide on the wasteful deep: with him enthron'd And towards the gate rolling her bestial train, Sat sable-vested Niht, eldest of things, Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew; The consort of his reign: and by them stood Which but herself, not all the Stygian powers 875 Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns Of Demogorgon: Rumour next, and Chance, 965 Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar And Tumult, and Confusion all embroil'd, Of massy iron, or solid rock, with ease And Discord with a thousand various mouths. Unfastens : a sudden open fly, T' whom Satan turning boldly, th 5:“Ye powers, With impetuous recoil, ana jarring sound, SSO And spirits of this nethermost abyss, Th'infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Chaos, and ancient Night, I come no spy 970 Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook With purpose to explore, or to disturb, Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut The secrets of your realm ; but by constraint Excell'd her power; the gates wide open stood, Wand'ring this darksome desert, as my way That with extended wings a banner'd host, 885 Lies through your spacious empire up to liglit, Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek 975 With horse, and chariots, rank'd in loose array, What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds So wide they stood! and like a furnace mouth, Confine with heaven: or if some other place Cast forth redounding sinoke, and ruddy flame. From your dominion won, th' ethereal king Before their eyes in sudden view appear S90 Possesses lately, thither to arrive The secrets of the noary deep; a dark I travel this profound; direct my course; 980 Directed, no mean recompense it brings Through Bosphorus, betwixt the justling rocks: To your behoof: if I that region lost, Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunna All usurpation thence expeli'd, reduce Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steer'd. 1020 To her original darkness, and your sway, So he with difficulty, and labour hard (Which is my present journey) and once more 985 Mov'd on; with difficulty and labour he: Erect the standard there of ancient Night; But he once pass'd, soon after, when man fell, Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge!" Strange alteration! Sin, and Death, amain Following his tract (such was the will of Heaven Thus Satan; and him thus the anarch old, Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way 1026 With fault'ring speech, and visage incompos'd, Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf Answer'd: “I know thee stranger, who thou art, Tamely endur'd a bridge of wond'rous length, That mighty leading angel, who of late 991 From hell continued, reaching th' utmost orb Made head against heaven's King, tho' overthrown. Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverse I saw, and heard; for such a num'rous host With easy intercourse pass to and fro, 1031 Fled not in silence through the frighted deep, To tempt or punish mortals, except whom With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, 995 God and good angels guard by special grace. Confusion worse confounded; and heaven-gates Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands But now at last the sacred influence Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here Of light appears, and from the walls of heaven Keep residence; if all I can will serve, Shoots far into the bosom of dim night 1036 That little which is left so to defend, 1000 A glimmering dawn: here Nature first begins Encroach'd on still through our intestine broils, Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire, Weak'ning the sceptre of old Night: first hell, As from her outmost works a broken foe, Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath: With tumult less, and with less hostile din; 1040 Now lately heaven and earth, another world That Satan with less toil, and now with ease, Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain, 1005 Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light; To that side heaven from whence your legions fell: And like a weather-beaten vessel holds If that way be your walk, you have not far; Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn: So much the nearer danger; go, and speed! Or in the emptier waste, resembling air, 1045 Havoc, and spoil, and ruin are my gain." Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold Far off th' empyreal heaven, extended wide He ceas'd, and Satan staid not to reply, 1010 In circuit, undetermin'd square or round: But glad that now his sea should find a shore, With opal towers and battlements adorn'd With fresh alacrity, and force renew'd, Of living sapphire, (once his native seat!) 1050 Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire, And fast by, hanging in a golden chain, Into the wild expanse; and through the shock This pendant world, in bigness as a star Of fighting elements, on all sides round 1015 Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon. Environ'd, wins his way: harder beset, Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge, And more endanger'd, than when Argo pass'd Accurs'd, and in a cursed hour, he hies. 1055 END OF BOOK SECOND. PARADISE LOST. BOOK III. THE ARGUMENT. God sitting on his throne sees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; shows him to the Son who sat at his right hand : foretells the success of Satan in perverting mankind: clears his own justice and wisdom from all imputation, having created man free, and able enough to have withstood his tempter; yet declares his purpose of grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but by him seduced. The Son of God renders praises to his Father for the manifestation of his gracious purpose towards Man; but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards Man without the satisfaction of divine justice ; Man hath, offended the majesty of God by aspiring to Godhead, and therefore, with aŭ his progeny, devoted to death must die, unless some one can be found sufficient to answer for his offence, and undergo his punishment. The Son of God freely offers himself a ransom for Man: the Father accepts him, ordains his incarnation, pronounces his exaltation above all names in heaven and earth; commands all the angels to adore him; they obey, and hymning to their harps in full choir, celebrate the Father and the Son. Meanwhile Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world's outermost orb; where wandering he first finds a place, since called the Limbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither; thence comes to the gate of heaven, described ascending by stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: his passage thence to the orb of the sun : he finds there Uriel the regent of that orb; but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner angel; and pretendinga zealous desire to behold the new creation and Man whom God had placed there, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed ; alights first on mount Niphates. HAIL holy Light, offspring of heaven first-born! Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine: But cloud instead, and ever-during dark 45 May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light, Surrounds me! from the cheerful ways of men And never but in unapproached light Cut off; and for the book of knowledge fair, Dwelt from eternity; dwelt then in thee, 5 Presented with a universal blank Bright effluence of bright essence increate! Of nature's works, to me expung'd and raz'd, Or hearest thou rather pure ethereal stream, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out! 50 Whose fountain who shall tell ? Before the sun, So much the rather thou, celestial Light! Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice Shine inward, and the mind through all her powe7s Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest 10 Irradiate; there plant eyes; all mist from thence The rising world of waters dark and deep, Purge and disperse; that I may see and tell Won from the void and formless infinite. Of things invisible to mortal sight. 55 Thee I revisit now with bolder wing, Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd Now had th' Almighty Father from above, In that obscure sojourn; while in my flight 15 (From the pure enpyrean where he sits Through utter and through middle darkness borne, High thron'd above all height) bent down his eye, With other notes than to th' Orphean lyre, His own works and their works at once to view : I sung of Chaos, and eternal Night; About him all the sanctities of heaven 60 Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd The dark descent, and up to reascend, 20 Beatitude past utterance: on his right Our two first parents (yet the only two 65 To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; Of mankind) in the happy garden plac'd, So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs, 25 Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love; Or dim suffusion veil'd! Yet not the more Uninterrupted joy, unrivalla love, Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt In blissful solitude. He then survey'd Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill, Hell, and the gulf hetween, and Satan there 70 Smit with the love of sacred song: but chief Coasting the wall of heaven on this side night, Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath, 30 In the dun air sublime; and ready now That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow, To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet, Nightly I visit: nor sometimes get On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd Those other two equall'd with me in fate, Firm land imbosom'd without firmament; 75 (So were I equall'd with them in renown!) Uncertain which, in ocean, or in air. Blind Thamyris, and blind Mæonides: 35 Him God beholding from his prospect high, And Tiresias and Phineus, prophets old. Wherein past, present, future he beholds, “ Only begotten Son! seest thou what rage 80 Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year 40 Transports our adversary, whom no bounds Seasons return; but not to me returns Prescrib'd, no bars of hell, nor all the chains Wide-interrupt, can hold So bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound 85 1 As my eternal purpose hath decreed. Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will ; His lapsed powers, though forfeit, and inthrall'd And man there plac'd; with purpose to assay 90 By sin to foulexorbitant desires : If him by force he can destroy, or worse, Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand By me upheld, that he may know how frail 180 And easily transgress the sole command, His fallen condition is, and to me owe Sole pledge of his obedience: so will fall, 95 All nis deliverance, and to none but me. He, and his faithless progeny. Whose fault? Some I have chosen of peculiar grace Whose but his own ? Ingrate! he had of me Elect above the rest : so is my will: All he could have: I made him just and nght; The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd 185 Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Their sinful state, and to appease betimes Such I created all th' ethereal powers, 100 Th' incensed Deity, while offer'd grace And spirits, both them who stood, and them who Invites: for I will clear their senses dark, fail'd: What may suffice, and soften stony hearts Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. 190 Not free, what proof could they have given sincere To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love, 104 Though but endeavour'd with sincere intent, Where only what they needs must do, appeard; Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut; Not, what they would? What praise could they And I will place within them as a guide 194 receive ? My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear, What pleasure I from such obedience paid, Light after light well us'd they shall attain, When will and reason (reason also is choice): And to the end persisting, safe arrive. Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd, This my long sufferance, and my day of grace, Made passive both, had serv'd necessity, 110 They who neglect and scom shall never taste; Not me? They therefore, as to right belong'd, But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more, 200 So were created, nor can justly' accuse That they may stumble on, and deeper fall; Their Maker, or their making, or their fate; And none but such from mercy I exclude. As if predestination overruld But yet all is not done: Man disobeying, Their will, dispos'a by absolute decree, 115 Disloyal breaks his fealty, and sins Or high foreknowledge. They themselves decreed Against the high supremacy of heaven, 206 Their own revolt, not I: if I foreknew, Affecting Godliead, and so losing all, Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, To expiate his treason hath nought left, Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown. But to destruction, sacred and devote, So without least impulse, or shadow of fate, 120 He with his whole posterity must die; Or ought by me immutably foreseen, Die he or justice must; unless for him 210 They trespass; authors to themselves in all, Some other able, and as willing, pay, Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so The rigid satisfaction, death for death. I form'd them free, and free they must remain, Say, heavenly powers, where shall we find such Till they inthral themselves; I else must change Which of ye will be mortal to redeem (love? Their nature, and revoke the high decree 126 Man's mortal crime, and just, th' unjust to save ? Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd Dwells in all heaven charity so dear?" 216 Their freedom; they themselves ordain'd their fall. The first sort by their own suggestion fell, He ask'd, but all the heavenly choir stood mute, Self-tempted, self-depravd: man falls, deceiv'd, 130 And silence was in heaven: on man's behalf By th' other first: man therefore shall find grace, Patron or intercessor none appear'd; The other none. In mercy' and justice both, Much less that durst upon his own head draw 220 Through heaven and earth, so shall my glory'excel: The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. But mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine." And now, without redemption, all mankind Must have been lost, adjudg'd to death and hell His dearest mediation thus renew'd : “Father, thy word is pass'd ; man shall find grace: Substantially express'd; and in his face 140 And shall grace not find means, that finds her way, Divine compassion visibly appear'd, The speediest of thy winged messengers, Love without end, and without measure grace; To visit all thy creatures, and to all 230 Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake : Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought? Happy for man, so coming! he her aid “O Father! gracious was that word which clos'd Can never seek, once dead in sins and lost; Thy sovereign sentence, that man should find grace; Atonement for himself, or offering meet, For which both heaven and earth shall high extol (Indebted, and undone!) hath none to bring. 235 Thy praises, with th' innumerable sound 147 Behold me then! me for him, life for life Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne I offer; on me let thine anger fall; Encompass'd shall resound thee ever bless'd. Account me man: I for his sake will leave For should man finally be lost, should man 150 Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son, Freely put off, and for him lastly die 240 Fali circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd Well pleas'd : on me let death wreak all his rage : With his own folly? That be from thee far, Under his gloomy power I shall not long That far be from thee, Father, who art judge Lie vanquish'd; thou hast given me to possess Of all things made, and judgest only right. 155 Life in myself for ever; by thee I live, Or shall the adversary thus obtain Though now to death 1 yield, and am his due 245 His end, and frustrate thine ? shall he fulfil All that of me can die; yet that debt paid, His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought; Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave Or proud return, though to his heavier doom, His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul Yet, with revenge accomplish'd, and to hell 160 For ever with corruption there to dwell; Draw after him the whole race of mankind, But I shall rise victorious, and subdue 250 By him corrupted? Or wilt thou thyself My vanquisher, spoil'd his vaunted spoil; Abolish thy creation, and unmake, Death his death's wound shall then receive, and For him, what for thy glory thou hast made ? Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm'd. (stoop So should thy goodness and thy greatness, both '165 I through the ample air in triumph high Be question'd, and blasphem'd without defence." Shall lead hell captive, maugre hell! and show 255 The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the sight To whom the great Creator thus replied: Pleas'd, out of heaven shalt look down and smile; “O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, While by thee rais'd I ruin all my foes, Son of my bosom, Son who art alone Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave: My word, my wisdom, and effectual might! 170 Then, with the multitude of my redeema, 260 Al hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all Shall enter heaven, long absent, and return, 355 Father! to see thy face, wherein no cloud With solemn adoration down they cast 35 Of anger shall remain; but peace assurd Their crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold; And reconcilement: wrath shall be no more Immortal amaranth! a flower which onoe Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire." 265 In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence His words here ended, but his meek aspect To heaven remov'd, where first it grew, there Silent yet spake, and breath'd immortal love And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life; (grows, To mortal men, above which only shone And where the river of bliss thro' midst of heaven Filial obedience: as a sacrifice, Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream: Glad to be offer'd, he atten.is the will 270 With these, that never fade, the spirits elect 360 Of his great Father. Admiration seiz'd [tend, Bind their resplendent locks, inwreath'd with All heaven, what this might mean, and whither beams; Wond'ring; but soon th' Almighty thus replied: Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone, “O thou, in heaven and earth the only peace Impurpled with celestial roses smil'd. Found out for mankind under wrath! O thou, 275 Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took, My sole complacence! well thou know'st how dear Harps ever tun'd, that, glittering by their side, 366 To me are all my works, nor man the least, Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet Though last created; that for him I spare of charming symphony they introduce Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save, Their sacred song, and waken raptures high; By losing thee a while, the whole racé lost. 280 No voice exempt; no voice but well could join 370 Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem, Melodious part, such concord is in heaven. Their nature also to thy nature join, And be thyself man among men on earth, “ Thee, Father," first they sung, "omnipotent, Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed, Immutable, inmortal, infinite, By wondrous birth: be thou, in Adam's room, 285 Eternal King; thee, Author of all being, The head of all mankind, though Adam's son. Fountain of light, thyself invisible 375 As in him perish all men, so in thee, Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt'st As from a second root, shall be restor'd Thron'd inaccessible, but when thou shad'st As many as are restor'd, without thee none. The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud, His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit 290 Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine, Imputed shall absolve them who renounce Dark with excessive bright, thy skirts appear, 380 Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, Yet dazzle heaven, that brightest seraphim And live in thee transplanted, and from the Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes." Receive new life. So man, as is most just, “ Thee," next they sang, “ of all creation first, Shall satisfy for man, be judg'd, and die, 1295 | Begotten Son, divine similitude ! And dying rise, and rising with him raise In whose conspicuous count'nance, without cloud His brethren, ransom'd with his own dear life. Made visible, th' almighty Father shines, 386 So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, Whom else no creature can behold : on thee Impress'd, th' effulgence of his glory' abides, He heaven of heavens, and all the powers therein, In those who, when they may, accept not grace. By thee created, and by thee threw down 391 Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume Th' aspiring dominations: thou that day Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own. Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare, Because thou hast, though thron'd in highest bliss Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook Equal to God, and equally enjoying 306 Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks Godlike fruition, quitted all to save Thou drov'st of warring angels disarray'd. 396 A world from utter loss, and hast been found Back from pursuit thy powers with loud acclaim By merit more than birthright Son of God, Thee only' extollid, Son of thy Father's might, Found worthiest to be so by being good, 310 To execute fierce vengeance on his foes. Far more than great or high; because in thee Not so on man: him thro' their malice fallen, 400 Love hath abounded more than glory' abounds; Father of mercy' and grace! thou didst not doom Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt So strictly, but much more to pity' incline : With thee thy manhood also to this throne: No sooner did thy dear and only Son Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign 315 Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail man Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, So strictly, but much more to pity' incline, 405 Anointed Universal King; all power He, to appease thy wrath, and end the strife I give thee; reign for ever, and assume Of mercy and justice in thy face discern'd, Thy merits: under thee, as head supreme, 319 Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat Thrones, princedoms, powers, dominions, Í reduce; Second to thee, offer'd himself to die All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide For man's offence. O unexampled love! 410 In heaven, or earth, or under earth in hell. Love no where to be found less than divine ! When thou, attended gloriously from heaven, Hail, Son of God, Saviour of men ! Thy name Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send Shall be the copious inatter my song The summoning archangels to proclaim 325 Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise Thy dread tribunal: forth with from all winds Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin." 415 The living, and forth with the cited dead Of all past ages, to the general doom Thus they in heaven, above the starry sphere, Shall hasten, such a peal shall rouse their sleep: Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent. Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge 330 Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe Bad men and angels; they arraign'd shali sink Of this round world, whose first convex divides Beneath thy sentence; hell (her numbers full). The luminous inferior orbs, enclos'd 420 Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Meanwhile From Chaos, and th' inroad of darkness old, The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring Satan alighted walks. A globe far off New heaven and earth, wherein the just shall dwell; It seem'd, now seems a boundless continent, And, after all their tribulations long, 336 Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of night See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, Starless expos'd, and ever-threat'ning storms 425 With joy and love triumphing, and fair truth: Of Chaos blust'ring round, inclement sky: Then thou thy regal sceptre shalt lay by, Save on that side which from the wall of heaven, For regal sceptre then no more shall need; 340 Though distant far, some small reflection gains God shall be all in all, But all ye gods, Of glimmering air, less vex'd with tempest loud : Adore him, who to compass all this dies; Here walk'd the fiend at large in spacious field. Adore the Son, and honour him as me!" As when a vulture, on Imaus bred, 431 Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, No sooner had th' Almighty ceas'd, but all Dislodging from a region scarce of prey, The multitude of angels, with a shout 345 To gorge the flesh of lambs, or yeanling kids, Loud as from numbers without number, sweet, On hills where flocks are fed, flies tow'rds the springs As from bless'd voices uttering joy, heaven rung Of Ganges, or Hydaspes, Indian streams; 456 With jubilee, and loud hosannas fillid But in his way lights on the barren plains Th' eternal regions. Lowly reverent Of Sericana, where Chineses drive Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground With sails and wind their cany waggons light: |