With jubilee advanc'd; and, as they went,

Shaded with branching palm, each order bright,
Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,
Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion given,
Worthiest to reign: he celebrated, rode
Triumphant through mid Heav'n, into the courts
And temple of his mighty Father thron'd
On high; who into glory him receiv'd,
Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.

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"Thus measuring things in Heav'n by things on Earth, At thy request, and that thou may'st beware

By what is past, to thee I have reveal'd

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What might have else to human race been hid;

The discord which befel, and war in Heaven

Among th' angelic pow'rs, and the deep fall
Of those too high aspiring, who rebell'd
With Satan;
he who envies now thy state,
Who now is plotting how he may seduce
Thee also from obedience, that, with him
Bereav'd of happiness, thou may'st partake'
His punishment, eternal misery;

Which would be all his solace and revenge,
As a despite done against the inost 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."

:

END OF BOOK VI

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ARGUMENT.

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 reascension into Heaven.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK VII.

DESCEND from Heav'n, Urania, by that name
If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine
Following, above th' Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegaséan wing.

The meaning, not the name, I call for thou
Nor of the muses nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwell'st; but, heav'nly born
Before the hills appear'd, or fountain flow'd,
Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse,
Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of th' almighty Father, pleas'd
With thy celestial song. Up led by thee
Into the Heav'n of Heav'ns I have presum❜d,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
Thy temp'ring; with like safety guided down
Return me to my native element:

Lest from this flying steed unrein'd (as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime),
Dismounted, on th' Aleian field I fall,
Erroneous there to wander and forlorn.

Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
Within the visible diurnal sphere;
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd
To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days,
On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues;
In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou

Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when morn
Purples the east: still govern thou my song,
Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race

Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamour drown'd
Both harp and voice: nor could the Muse defend
Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores :
For thou art heav'nly, she an empty dream.

Say goddess, what ensued when Raphaël,
The affable arch-angel, had forewarn'd
Adam, by dire example, to beware
Apostacy, by what befel in Ileav'n

To those apostates; lest the like befal
In Paradise to Adam or his race,

Charg'd not to touch the interdicted tree,

If they transgress, and slight that sole command,

So easily obey'd amid the choice

Of all tastes else to please their appetite,

Though wand'ring. He, with his consorted Eve,

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The story heard attentive, and was fill'd

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,

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