So he with difficulty and labor hard
Mov❜d on, with difficulty and labour he;
But he once past, soon after when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain
Following his track, fuch was the will of Heaven,
Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way 1026
Over the dark abyfs, whose boiling gulf
Tamely endur'd a bridge of wondrous length
From Hell continued reaching th' utmost orb
Of this frail world; by which the Spi'rits perverse
With easy intercourse pass to and fro
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
God and good Angels guard by special grace.
But now at last the sacred influence

1031'

Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven 1035
Shoots far into the bofom of dim Night

A glimmering dawn; here nature firft begins
Her fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire
As from her outmost works a broken foe
With tumult lefs and with lefs hoftile din,
That Satan with lefs toil, and now with eafe
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light,
And like a weather-beaten veffel holds
Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn;
Or in the emptier wafle, refembling air,
Weighs his fpread wings at leifure to behold
Far off th' empyreal Heav'n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermin'd fquare or round,
With opal tow'rs and battlements adorn'd
Of living saphir, once his native feat;
And faft by hanging in a golden chain
This pendent world, in bignefs 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.

The End of the Second Book.

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PARADISE LOST.

THE

BOOK III.

ARGUMENT.

God fitting on his throne fees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; fhows him to the Sot who fat at bis right band; foretels the success of Satan in perverting mankind; clears his own jufticé and wisdom from all imputation, having created Man free and able enough to have with flood bis tempter; yet declares his purpose of grace towards bim, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but by him feduc'd. The Son of God renders praises to bis Father for the manifeftation of his gracious purpose towards Man; but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards Man without the fatisfaction of divine juflivé; Mah bath offended the majesty of God by afpiring to Godhead, and therefore with all bis progeny devoted to death muft die, unless fome one can be found fufficient to anfer for bis offenfe, and undergo bis punifhment: The Son of God freely offers bimfelf å ranfome for Man: the Father accepts him, ordainį bis incarnation, pronounces his exaltation above all names in Heaven and in Earth; commands all the Angels to adore him; they obey, and hymning to their barps in full quire, celebrate the Father and the Son. Mean while Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world's outermost orb; where wand'ring be first finds a place, fincé call'd the Limbo of Vanitý ; what

perfons and things fly up thither; thence comes to the gate of Heaven, defcrib'd afcending by flairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: His paffage thence to the orb of the fun; be finds there Uriel the regent of that orb, but first changes bimfelf into the fbape of a meaner Angel; and pretending a zealous defire to behold the new creation, and man whom God bad placed bere, inquires of bim the place of bis habitation, and is directed; alights firft on mount Niphates.

AIL holy Light, offspring of Heaven first-born,
Or of th' Eternal coeternal beam

May I exprefs thee unblam'd? fince God is light,
And never but in unapproached light
Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright effence increate.
Or hear'ft thou rather puté ethereal stream,
Whofe fountain who fhall tell? before the fun,
Before the Heav'ns thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle didft inveft

The rifing world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite.
Thee I re-vifit now with bolder wing,

Efcap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd
In that obfcure fojourn, while in my flight

Through utter and through middle darknefs borne
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 descent, and up to re-ascend,
Though hard and rare: thee I revifit fafe,
And feel thy fovran vital lamp; but thou
Revisit'ft not these eyes, that roll in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn,

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So thick a drop ferene hath quench'd their orbs, 25
Or dim fuffufion veil'd. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt
Clear fpring, or fhady grove, or funny hill,
Smit with the love of facred fong; but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flowry brooks beneath,
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 the fhadiest covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year 40
Seafons return, but not to me returns

Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn,
Or fight of vernal bloom, or fummer's rofe,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, 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

Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou, celeftial Light,

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Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mift from thence Purge and difperfe, that I may fee and tell

Of things invifible to mortal fight.

Now had the almighty Father from above,

From the pure empyrean where he fits

High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye, His own works, and their works at once to view:

55

About him all the San&tities of Heaven
Stood thick as ftars, and from his fight receiv'd
Beatitude paft utterance; on his right
The radiant image of his glory fat,
His only Son; on earth he firft beheld
Our two first parents, yet the only two
Of mankind, in the happy garden plac'd,
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love
Uninterrupted joy, unrival'd love,
In blissful folitude; he then furvey'₫
Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there
Coafting the wall of Heav'n on this fide Night
In the dun air fublime, and ready now
To stoop with wearied wings and willing feet
On the bare outfide of this world, that feem'd
Firm land imbofom'd, without firmament,
Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
Him God beholding from his profpe&t high,
Wherein past, prefent, future he beholds,
Thus to his only Son foreseeing (pake.

бо

65

Only begotten Son, feeft thou what rage
Tranfports our adversary? whom no bounds
Prefcrib'd, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss
Wide interrupt can hold; fo bent he feems
On defperate revenge, that fhall redound
Upon his own rebellious head. And now
Through all reftraint broke loofe he wings his way
Not far off Heav'n, in the precincts of light,
Directly towards the new created world,
And Man there plac'd, with purpose to affay
If him by force he can deftroy, or worse,
By fome falfe guile pervert and fhall pervert,
For Man will hearken to his glozing lies,
And easily tranfgrefs the fole command,
F

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