Yet scarce allay'd still eyes the current stream,
Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,
Proceeded thus to ask his heav'nly guest.

Great things, and full of wonder in our ears, Far differing from this world, thou hast reveal'd, Divine interpreter, by favour sent

70

Down from the empyrean to forewarn

76

Us timely of what might else have been our loss,
Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach :
For which to the infinitely Good we owe
Immortal thanks, and his admonishment
Receive with solemn purpose to observe
Immutably his sovereign will, the end
Of what we are.
But since thou hast vouchsaf'd 80
Gently for our instruction to impart
Things above earthly thought, which yet concern'd
Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seem'd,
Deign to descend now lower, and relate
What may no less perhaps avail us known;
How first began this heav'n which we behold
Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd
Innumerable, and this which yields or fills
All space, the ambient air wide interfus'd

'Age, si vacabit, (scire nam perfectius

Quæ facta fuerint, ante me factum, potes)

Narra petenti, quomodo, quoque ordine

Tam magna numeris machina impleta est suis.'

85

72 interpreter] So Mercury is called in Virgil. 'Interpres Divûm.' Æn. iv. 378. Newton.

84 relate] So in the Adamus Exul of Grotius, p. 16. Adam says to the angel:

Embracing round this florid earth; what cause
Mov'd the Creator in his holy rest
Through all eternity so late to build

In chaos, and the work begun, how soon
Absolv'd, if unforbid thou may'st unfold
What we not to explore the secrets ask
Of his eternal empire, but the more
To magnify his works, the more we know.
And the great light of day yet wants to run
Much of his race though steep, suspense in heav'n
Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears,
And longer will delay to hear thee tell
His generation, and the rising birth
Of nature from the unapparent deep:
Or if the star of ev'ning and the moon

90

95

100

Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring 105
Silence, and sleep list'ning to thee will watch;
Or we can bid his absence, till thy song
End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine.

Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought;
And thus the Godlike Angel answer'd mild.

This also thy request with caution ask'd Obtain though to recount almighty works What words or tongue of seraph can suffice, Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?

110

90 florid] Globous. Bentl. MS.

99 heav'n] In the first edition there was no comma after 'heaven;' Pearce altered the punctuation.

103 unapparent] dogaros. Bentl. MS.

108 End] for ending dismiss thee; so ii. 917, Stood, and look'd' for 'standing look'd.' Todd.

Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve 115
To glorify the Maker, and infer

Thee also happier, shall not be withheld
Thy hearing, such commission from above
I have receiv'd, to answer thy desire

Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain
To ask, nor let thine own inventions hope
Things not reveal'd, which th' invisible King,
Only omniscient, hath supprest in night,
To none communicable in earth or heaven:
Enough is left besides to search and know.
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
Her temperance over appetite, to know
In measure what the mind may well contain;
Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns
Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.

Know then, that after Lucifer from heav'n,
(So call him, brighter once amidst the host
Of angels, than that star the stars among,)
Fell with his flaming legions through the deep
Into his place, and the great Son return'd
Victorious with his saints, th' omnipotent

123 night] Hor. Od. iii. 29. 29.

'Prudens futuri temporis exitum

Caliginosa nocte premit Deus.' Thyer. 129 surfeit] See Davenant's Gondibert, c. viii. st. 22. 'For though books serve as diet of the mind, If knowledge early got, self-value breeds, By false digestion it is turn'd to wind, And what should nourish on the eater feeds.'

120

125

130

135

Eternal Father from his throne beheld

Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake.

At least our envious foe hath fail'd, who thought All like himself rebellious, by whose aid This inaccessible high strength, the seat Of deity supreme, us dispossest,

He trusted to have seiz'd, and into fraud

140

145

Drew many, whom their place knows here no more:
Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,
Their station; heav'n yet populous retains
Number sufficient to possess her realms
Though wide, and this high temple to frequent
With ministeries due and solemn rites.
But lest his heart exalt him in the harm
Already done, to have dispeopled heav'n,
My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair
That detriment, if such it be to lose
Self-lost, and in a moment will create
Another world, out of one man a race
Of men innumerable, there to dwell,
Not here, till by degrees of merit rais'd,
They open to themselves at length the way
Up hither, under long obedience try'd,

161

And earth be chang'd to heav'n, and heav'n to earth,
One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye powers of heav'n,
And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee

150

155

139 least] Mr. Thyer saith, 'That I do not like taking liberties with the text, or I should read "at last."'

This I perform, speak thou, and be it done.
My overshadowing spirit and might with thee
I send along; ride forth, and bid the deep
Within appointed bounds be heav'n and earth,
Boundless the deep, because I am who fill
Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.
Though I uncircumscrib'd myself retire,
And put not forth my goodness, which is free
To act, or not, necessity and chance
Approach not me, and what I will is fate.

165

170

180

So spake th' Almighty, and to what he spake His Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect. Immediate are the acts of God, more swift Than time or motion, but to human ears Cannot without process of speech be told, So told as earthly notion can receive. Great triumph and rejoicing was in heav'n, When such was heard declar'd the Almighty's will; Glory they sung to the Most High, good will To future men, and in their dwellings peace; Glory to him, whose just avenging ire Had driven out th' ungodly from his sight And th' habitations of the just; to him Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd Good out of evil to create, in stead

175

185

173 fate] Todd has quoted Plato's Timæus, ed. Serrani, vol. iii. p. 41. Bentley cites Lucan, v. ver. 91. Jortin, Statii Theb. i. 212. Thyer, Claud. de R. Pros. ii. 306. and Tasso Gier. Lib. iv. 17.

'Sia destin cio, ch' io voglio.'

182 the] Bentley reads 'to God most high,' which Newton approves.