Attend: that thou art happy, owe to God;
That thou continuest such, owe to thyself,
That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.
This was that caution given thee; be advised.
God made thee perfect, not immutable;
And good he made thee, but to persevere
He left it in thy power; ordained thy will
By nature free, not overruled by fate
Inextricable, or strict necessity;
Our voluntary service he requires,
Not our necessitated; such with him
Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how
Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve
Willing or no, who will but what they must
By destiny, and can no other choose?
Myself and all the angelic host, that stand
In sight of God enthroned, our happy state
Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds;
On other surety none, freely we serve,
Because we freely love, as in our will
To love or not; in this we stand or fall:
And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen,
And so from Heaven to deepest hell; O fall
From what high state of bliss into what wo!"
To whom our great progenitor. "Thy words
Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
Divine instructor, I have heard, than when
Cherubic songs by night from neighbouring aills
Avrial music send: nor knew I not
To be both will and deed created free;
Yet that we never shall forget to love
Our Maker, and obey him, whose commaad
Single is yet so just, my constant though.ts
Assured me, and still assure: tho' what thou tellest
Hath passed in Heaven, some doubt within me
move,

But more desire to hear, if thou consent,

The full relation, which must needs be strange,
Worthy of sacred silence to be heard;

And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun
Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins
this other half in the great zone of Heaven."
Thus Adam made request; and Raphael,

After short pause assenting, thus began.

Reigned where these Heavens now roll, where
earth now resta

Upon her conte posed: when on a day
(For time, tough in eternity, applied
To motion, measures all things durable
By present, past, and future,) on such a day
As Heaven's great year brings forth, the empyreal
Lost

Of angels, by imperial summons called,
Innumerable before the Almighty's throne
Forthwith, from all the ends of Heaven appeared
Under their hierarchs in orders bright:
Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,
Standards and gonfalons 'twixt van and rear
Stream in the air, and for disunction serve
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
Or in their glittering tissues ocar emblazed
Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love
Recorded eminent. Thus, when, in orbs
Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
Orb within orb, the Father infinite,
By whom in bliss imbosomed sat the Son,
Amidst, as from a flaming mount, whose top
Brightness had made invisible, thus spake.

Hear, all ye angels, progeny of light,
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers,
Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.
This day I have begot whom I declare
My only Son, and on this holy hill
Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
At my right hand; your Head I him appoint;
And by myself have sworn to him shall bow
All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord
Under his great vicegerent reign abide
United as one individual soul,

For ever happy: him who disobeys,
Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls
Into utter darkness, deep ingulphed, his place
Ordained without redemption, without end."

"So spake the Omnipotent, and with his words All seemed well pleased; all seemned, but were not all.

That day, as other solemn days, they spent

High matter thou enjoinest me, O prime of men, In song and dance about the sacred hill;

Sad task and hard; for how shall I relate

To human sense the invisible exploits

Of warring spirits? how, without remorse,
The ruin of so many glorious once,

And perfect while they stood? how, last, unfold
T'e secrets of another world, perhaps
Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good

Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
Of planets and of fixed in all her wheels
Résembles nearest, mazes intricate,
Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular
Then most, when most irregular they seem,
And in their motions harmony divine

So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear

This is dispensed; and what surmounts the reach Listens delighted. Evening now approached

Ouman sense, I shall delineate so,
By litening spiritual to corporeal forms,
Ay express them best; though what if earth
Be Fat the shadow of Heaver, and things therein
Far to other like, more than on earth is thought?
*As set this world was not, and Chaos wild With angels' food, and rubied nectar flows

(For we have also our evening and our morn,
We ours for change delectable, not need;)
Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn
Desirous; all in circles as they stood,
Tables are set, and on a sudde; piled

So spake the false archangel, and infused
Bad influence into the unwary breast
Of his associate; he together calls,
Or several one by one, the regent powers,

Spring both, the face of brightest Heav'n had Under him regent; tells, as he was taught,

chang'd

To grateful twilight (for night comes not there
In darker veil,) and roseate dews disposed
All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest;
Wide over all the plain, and wider far
Than all this globous earth in plain outspread
(Such are the courts of God,) the angelic throng,
Dispersed in bands and files, their camp extend
By living streams among the trees of life,
Pavilions numberless, and sudden reared,

Celestial tabernacles, where they slept

That, the most high commanding, now ere night,
Now ere dim night had disencumbered Heaven,
The great hierarchal standard was to move:
Tells the suggested cause, and casts between
Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound
Or taint integrity: but all obeyed
The wonted signal, and superior voice
Of their great potentate: for great indeed
His name, and high was his degree in heaven:
His countenance as the morning star that guides
The starry flock, allured them, and with lies

Fanned with cool winds; save those who in their Drew after him the third part of Heaven's host.

course

Melodious hymns about the sovereign throne
Alternate all night long: but not so waked
Satan; so call him now, his former name
Is heard no more in Heaven; he of the first,
If not the first archangel, great in power,
In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honoured by his great Father, and proclaimed
Messiah King anointed, could not bear,
Through pride, that sight, and thought himself
impaired.

Deep malice thence conceiving, and disdain
Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
With all his legions to dislodge, and leave
Unworshipped, unobeyed, the throne supreme,
Contemptuous, and his next subordinate
Awakening, thus to him in secret spake.
"Sleepest thou, companion dear, what sleep can

close

Thy eyelids? and rememberest what decree
Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips
Of Heaven's Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts
Was wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart;
Both waking we were one; how then can now
Thy steep dissent? New laws thou seest imposed;
New laws from him who reigns, new minds may

raise

In us who serve, new councils, to debate
What doubtful may ensue: more in this place
To utter is not safe Assemble thou
34 all those myriads whack we lead the chief;

Meanwhile th' Eternal eye, whose sight discerns
Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount,
And from within the golden lamps that burn
Nightly before him, saw without their light
Rebellion rising; saw in whom, how spread
Among the sons of morn, what multitudes
Were banded to oppose his high decree;
And, smiling, to his only Son thus said.

"Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
In full resplendence, heir of all my might,
Nearly it now concerns us to be sure
Of our omnipotence, and with what arms
We mean to hold what anciently we claim
Of deity or empire; such a foe

Is rising, who intends to erect his throne
Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north;
Nor so content, hath in his thought to try,
In battle, what our power is, or our right.
Let us advise, and to this hazard draw
With speed what force is left, and all employ
In our defence, lest unawares we lose
This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill."
To whom the Son, with calm aspect and clean
Lightning divine, ineffable, serene,
Made answer.
Mighty Father, thou thy foes
Justly hast in derision, and, secure,
Laughest at their vain designs and tumults vaiz
Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
Illustrates; when they see all regal power
Given to quell their pride, and in event
Know whether I be dexterous to subdue
Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heaven."
So spake the Son; but Satan with pervers

Fur was advanced on winged speed; an host
Innumerable as the stars of night,

Or stars of morning, dew drops, which the sun
Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
Regions they passed, the mighty regencies
Of seraphim, and potentates, and thrones,
In their triple degrees; regions to which
All thy dominion, Adam, is no more
Than what this garden is to all the earth,
And all the sea, from one entire globose
Stretched into longitude; which having passed,
At length into the limits of the north
They came, and Satan to his royal seat
High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount
Raised on a mount, with pyramids and towers
From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold,
The palace of great Lucifer (so call
That structure in the dialect of men
Interpreted,) which not long after he,
Affecting all equality with God,
In imitation of that mount whereon
Messiah was declared in sight of heaven
The Mountain of the Congregation called:
For thither he assembled all his train,
Pretending so commanded, to consult
About the great reception of their King,
Thither to come, and with calumnious art
Of counterfeited truth thus held their cars.

Of those imperial titles, which assert
Our being ordained to govern, not to serve.'
"Thus far his bold discourse without control
Had audience; when among the seraphim
Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored
The Deity, and divine commands obeyed,
Stood up, and, in a flame of zeal severe,
The current of his fury thus opposed.

"O argument blasphemous, false, and proud!
Words which no ear ever to hear in Heaven
Expected, least of all from thee, ingrate,
In place thyself so high above thy peers.
Canst thou with impious obloquy condemn
The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,
That to his only Son, by right endued
With regal sceptre, every soul in Heaven
Shall bend the knee, and in that honour due
Confess him rightful King? unjust, thou sayʼst,
Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free
And equal over equals to let reign,
One over all with unsucceeded power.
Shalt thou give law to God? shalt thou dispute
With him the points of liberty, who made
Thee what thou art, and formed the powers of
Heaven

Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?
Yet, by experience taught, we know how good,
And of our good and of our dignity

How provident he is; how far from thought

Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, To make us less, bent rather to exalt

powers,

If these magnific titles yet remain
Not merely titular, since by decree
Another now hath to himself engrossed
All power, and us eclipsed, under the name
Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
Of midnight march, and hurried meeting here;
This only to consult how we may best,
With what may be devised of honours new,
Receive him coming, to receive from us
Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile,
Too much to one, but double how endured,
To one and to his image now proclaimed?
But what if better counsels might erect
Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?
Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend
The supple knee? ye will not, if I trust
To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves
Natives and sons of Heaven possessed before
By none, and if not equal all, yet free,
Equally free; for orders and degrees
Jar not with liberty, but well consist.
Who can in reason, then, or right, assume
Monarchy over such as live by right
His equals, if in power and splendour less,
In freedom equal? or can introduce
Las and edict on us, who without law
Er not much less for this to be our Lord,
And louk for adoration to the abuse

G

Our happy state, under one head more near
United. But to grant it thee unjust,

That equal over equals monarch reign:
Thyself, though great and glorious, dost thou count,
Or all angelic nature joined in one,
Equal to him, begotton Son? by whom,
As by his word, the mighty Father made
All things, even thee: and all the spirits of Heaven
By him created in their bright degrees,
Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers,
Essential powers; nor by his reign obscured,
But more illustrious made: since he, the head
One of our number thus reduced becomes;
His laws our laws; all honour to him done
Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage,
And tempt not these: but hasten to appease
The incensed Father, and the incensed Son,
While pardon may be found, in time besought.'
"So spake the fervent angel; but his zeal
None seconded, as out of season judged,
Or singular and rash; whereat rejoiced
The apostate, and more haughty thus replied
That we were formed then, sayest thou? and the
work

Of secondary hands, by task transferred
From Father to his Son? strange point and new!
Doctrine which we would know whence learned

who saw

Right reason for their law, and for their king
Messiah, who by right of merit reigns.
Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince,
And thou, in military prowess next,
Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons
Invincible; lead forth my armed saints,
By thousands and by millions, ranged for fight,
Equal in number to that godless crew
Rebellious; them with fire and hostile arms
Fearless assault; and, to the brow of Heaven
Pursuing, drive them out from God and bliss
Into their place of punishment, the gulf
Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide
His fiery Chaos to receive their fall.'

"So spake the sovereign voice, and clouds began
To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll
In dusky wreaths, reluctant flames, the sign
Of wrath awaked; nor with less dread the loud
Ethereal trumpet from on high 'gan blow:
At which command the powers militant,
That stood for Heaven, in mighty quadrate joined
Of union irresistible, moved on

In silence their bright legions, to the sound
Of instrumental harmony, that breathed
Heroic ardour to adventurous deeds
Under their godlike leaders, in the cause
Of God and his Messiah. On they move,
Indissolubly firm, nor obvious hill,

Nor straitening vale, nor wood, nor stream divides
Their perfect ranks; for high above the ground
Their march was, and the passive air upbore
Their nimble tread; as when the total kind
Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came, summoned over Eden, to receive
Their names of thee; so over many a tract
Of Heaven they marched, and many a province

wide

Tenfold the length of this terrene: at last,
Far in th' horizon to the north appeared
From skirt to skirt a fiery region, stretch
In battailous aspect, and nearer view
Bristled with upright beams innumerable
Of rigid spears, and helmets thronged, and shields
Various, with boastful argument portrayed,
The landed powers of Satan, hasting on
With furious exhibition; for they weened
That self-same day, by fight or by surprise
To win the mount of God, and on his throne
To set the envier of his state, the proud
Aspirer; but their thoughts proved fond and vain
In the midway: though strange to us it seemed
At first, that angel should with angel war,
And in fierce hosting meet, who wont to meet
So oft in festivals of joy and love
Cnanimous, as sons of one great Sire,
Hymning the eternal Father: but the shout
Of battle now began, and rushing sound
Of onset ended soon each milder thought.
Higo in the midst, exalted as a God,

The apostate in his sunbright chariot sat,
Idol of majesty divine, enclosed

With flaming cherubim and golden shields;
Then lighted from his gorgeous throne, for now
'Twixt host and host but narrow space was left,
A dreadful interval, and front to front
Presented stood in terrible array

Of hideous length: before the cloudy van,
On the rough edge of battle ere it joined,
Satan, with vast and haughty strides advanced
Came towering, armed in adamant and gold;
Abdiel that sight endured not, where he stood
Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds,
And thus his own undaunted heart explores.
"O Heaven, that such resemblance of the
Highest

Should yet remain, where faith and fealty
Remain not: wherefore should not strength and
might

There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove
Where boldest, though to sight unconquerable?
His puissance, trusting in th' Almighty's aid,
I mean to try, whose reason I have tried
Unsound and false; nor is it aught but just,
That he, who in debate of truth hath won,
Should win in arms, in both disputes alike
Victor; though brutish that contest and foul,
When reason hath to deal with force, yet so
Most reason is that reason overcome.'

"So pondering, and from his armed peers
Forth stepping opposite, half-way he met
His daring foe, at this prevention more
Incensed, and thus securely him defied.
"Proud, art thou met? thy hope was to have
reached

The height of thy aspiring unopposed,
The throne of God unguarded, and his side
Abandoned, at the terror of thy power
Or potent tongue: fool! not to think how vain
Against the Omnipotent to rise in arms;
Who out of smallest things could, without end,
Have raised incessant armies to defeat
Thy folly; or with solitary hand
Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow,
Unaided, could have finished thee, and whelmed
Thy legions under darkness: but thon seest
All are not of thy train; there be who faith
Prefer, and piety to God, though then
To thee not visible, when I alone
Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent
From all: my sect thou seest; now learn too late,
How few sometimes may know, when thousands
err.'

"Whom the grand foe, with scornful eye askance,
Thus answered. I'll for thee, but in wished hour,
Of my revenge, first sought for, thou returnest
From flight, seditious angel! to receive
Thy merited reward, the first assay

Of this right hand provoked, since first that tongue