Half flying; behoves him now both oar and sail. The guarded gold: so eagerly the Fiend O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies: Of stunning sounds and voices all confused, Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear 945 950 955 Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies Bord'ring on light; when strait behold the throne 960 Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthroned The consort of his reign; and by them stood 965 And Discord, with a thousand various mouths. T'whom Satan turning boldly, thus: Ye Pow'rs And Spirits of this nethermost abyss, Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy, 970 With purpose to explore or to disturb The secrets of your realm, but by constraint Wand'ring this darksome desert, as my way 975 Possesses lately, thither to arrive I travel this profound; direct my course; 980 985 With fault'ring speech and visage incomposed, Answer'd: I know thee, stranger, who thou art; 990 Made head against Heav'n's King, though overthrown. I saw and heard; for such a num'rous host Encroach'd on still through your intestine broils, 1005 He ceased, and Satan stay'd not to reply; 1010 1015 Environ'd, wins his way; harder beset 1020 But he once past, soon after when man fell, Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain Following his track, such was the will of Heav'n, 1025 Paved after him a broad and beaten way Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length From Hell continued reaching th' utmost orb Of this frail world; by which the Spirits perverse 1030 With easy intercourse pass to and fro, To tempt or punish mortals, except whom Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav'n 1035 1040 That Satan with less toil, and now with ease, Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn; 1045 1050 Of smallest magnitude close by the moon. Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge, 1055 BOOK III. THE ARGUMENT. God, sitting on his throne, sees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; shews 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 all 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 pretending a zealous desire to behold the new creation, and Man whom God had placed here, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed: alights first.on Mount Niphates. HAIL, holy Light, offspring of Heav'n first-born, May I express thee unblamed? since God is Light, Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee, 5 Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest Escaped the Stygian pool, though long detain'd That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow, Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget Those other two equall'd with me in fate, 35 40 45 |