Paradise Lost: Book I (1674)

Milton, John (1608 - 1674)

Original Text

John Milton, Paradise Lost, 2nd edn. (London: Samuel Simmons, 1674). A transcription by Roy Flannagan of the second (1674) edition in John Milton's Complete Poetical Works Reproduced in Photographic Facsimile. A Critical Text Edition, ed. Harris Francis Fletcher, III (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1948). PR 3551 F52 Robarts Library. As published in Ian Lancashire, in collaboration with John Bradley, Willard McCarty, Michael Stairs, and T. R. Wooldridge, Using TACT and Electronic Texts: Text-Analysis Computing Tools Vers. 2.1 for MS-DOS and PC DOS (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1996). CD-ROM.

THE

VERSE.

THE Measure is English Heroic Verse without Rime, as that of Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin; Rime being no necessary Adjunct or true Ornament of Poem or good Verse, in longer Works especially, but the Invention of a barbarous Age, to set off wretched matter and lame Meeter; grac't indeed since by the use of some famous modern Poets, carried away by Custom, but much to thir own vexation, hindrance, and constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most part worse then else they would have exprest them. Not without cause therefore some both Italian and Spanish Poets of prime note have rejected Rime both in longer and shorter Works, as have also long since our best English Tragedies, as a thing of it self, to all judicious ears, trivial and of no true musical delight; which consists onely in apt Numbers, fit quantity of Syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one Verse into another, not in the jingling sound of like endings, a fault avoyded by the learned Ancients both in Poetry and all good Oratory. This neglect then of Rime so little is to be taken for a defect, though it may seem so perhaps to vulgar Readers, that it rather is to be esteem'd an example set, the first in English, of ancient liberty recover'd to Heroic Poem from the troublesom and modern bondage of Rimeing.

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

This first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole Subject, Mans disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was plac't: Then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent; who revolting from God, and drawing to his side many Legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his Crew into the great Deep. Which action past over, the Poem hasts into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell, described here, not in the Center (for Heaven and Earth may be suppos'd as yet not made, certainly not yet accurst) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest call'd Chaos: Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning Lake, thunder-struck and astonisht, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in Order and Dignity lay by him; they confer of thir miserable fall. Satan awakens all his Legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded; They rise, thir Numbers, array of Battel, thir chief Leaders nam'd, according to the Idols known afterwards in Canaan and the Countries adjoyning. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new World and new kind of Creature to be created, according to an ancient Prophesie or report in Heaven; for that Angels were long before this visible Creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this Prophesie, and what to determin thereon he refers to a full Councel. What his Associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the Palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the Deep: The infernal Peers there sit in Councel.

1OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit

2Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast

3Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,

4With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

5Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,

6Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top

7Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

8That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,

9In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth

10Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion Hill

11Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd

12Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence

13Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,

14That with no middle flight intends to soar

15Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues

16Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.

17And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer

18Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,

19Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first

20Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread

21Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss

22And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark

23Illumin, what is low raise and support;

24That to the highth of this great Argument

25I may assert Eternal Providence,

26And justifie the wayes of God to men.

27Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view

28Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause

29Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State,

30Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off

31From thir Creator, and transgress his Will

32For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?

33Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt?

34Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile

35Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd

36The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride

37Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host

38Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring

39To set himself in Glory above his Peers,

40He trusted to have equal'd the most High,

41If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim

42Against the Throne and Monarchy of God

43Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud

44With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power

45Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie

46With hideous ruine and combustion down

47To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

48In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,

49Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

50Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night

51To mortal men, he with his horrid crew

52Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe

53Confounded though immortal: But his doom

54Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought

55Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

56Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes

57That witness'd huge affliction and dismay

58Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:

59At once as far as Angels kenn he views

60The dismal Situation waste and wilde,

61A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round

62As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames

63No light, but rather darkness visible

64Serv'd onely to discover sights of woe,

65Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

66And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

67That comes to all; but torture without end

68Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed

69With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd:

70Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd

71For those rebellious, here thir prison ordained

72In utter darkness, and thir portion set

73As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n

74As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole.

75O how unlike the place from whence they fell!

76There the companions of his fall, o'rewhelm'd

77With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,

78He soon discerns, and weltring by his side

79One next himself in power, and next in crime,

80Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd

81Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,

82And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words

83Breaking the horrid silence thus began.

84If thou beest he; But O how fall'n! how chang'd

85From him, who in the happy Realms of Light

86Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst out-shine

87Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league,

88United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

89And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,

90Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd

91In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest

92From what highth fall'n, so much the stronger prov'd

93He with his Thunder: and till then who knew

94The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those,

95Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage

96Can else inflict, do I repent or change,

97Though chang'd in outward lustre; that fixt mind

98And high disdain, from sence of injur'd merit,

99That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend,

100And to the fierce contention brought along

101Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd

102That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,

103His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd

104In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav'n,

105And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?

106All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,

107And study of revenge, immortal hate,

108And courage never to submit or yield:

109And what is else not to be overcome?

110That Glory never shall his wrath or might

111Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace

112With suppliant knee, and deifie his power,

113Who from the terrour of this Arm so late

114Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,

115That were an ignominy and shame beneath

116This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods

117And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,

118Since through experience of this great event

119In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't,

120We may with more successful hope resolve

121To wage by force or guile eternal Warr

122Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,

123Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy

124Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav'n.

125So spake th' Apostate Angel, though in pain,

126Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare:

127And him thus answer'd soon his bold Compeer.

128O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers,

129That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to Warr

130Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds

131Fearless, endanger'd Heav'ns perpetual King;

132And put to proof his sigh Supremacy,

133Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate,

134Too well I see and rue the dire event,

135That with sad overthrow and foul defeat

136Hath lost us Heav'n, and all this mighty Host

137In horrible destruction laid thus low,

138As far as Gods and Heav'nly Essences

139Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains

140Invincible, and vigour soon returns,

141Though all our Glory extinct and happy state

142Here swallow'd up in endless misery.

143But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now

144Of force believe Almighty, since no less

145Then such could hav orepow'rd such force as ours)

146Have left us this our spirit and strength intire

147Strongly to suffer and support our pains,

148That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,

149Or do him mightier service as his thralls

150By right of Warr, what e're his business be

151Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire,

152Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep;

153What can it then avail though yet we feel

154Strength undiminisht, or eternal being

155To undergo eternal punishment?

156Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.

157Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable

158Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,

159To do ought good never will be our task,

160But ever to do ill our sole delight,

161As being the contrary to his high will

162Whom we resist. If then his Providence

163Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,

164Our labour must be to pervert that end,

165And out of good still to find means of evil;

166Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps

167Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb

168His inmost counsels from thir destind aim.

169But see the angry Victor hath recall'd

170His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit

171Back to the Gates of Heav'n: the Sulphurous Hail

172Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid

173The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice

174Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling, and the Thunder,

175Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage,

176Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now

177To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.

178Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn,

179Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.

180Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde,

181The seat of desolation, voyd of light,

182Save what the glimmering of these livid flames

183Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend

184From off the tossing of these fiery waves,

185There rest, if any rest can harbour there,

186And reassembling our afflicted Powers,

187Consult how we may henceforth most offend

188Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,

189How overcome this dire Calamity,

190What reinforcement we may gain from Hope,

191If not what resolution from despare.

192Thus Satan to his neerest Mate

193With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes

194That sparkling blaz'd, his other Parts besides

195Prone on the Flood, extended long and large

196Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge

197As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,

198Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove,

199Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den

200By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast

201Leviathan, which God of all his works

202Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream:

203Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam

204The Pilot of some small night-founder'd Skiff,

205Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell,

206With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind

207Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night

208Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes:

209So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay

210Chain'd on the burning Lake, nor ever thence

211Had ris'n or heav'd his head, but that the will

212And high permission of all-ruling Heaven

213Left him at large to his own dark designs,

214That with reiterated crimes he might

215Heap on himself damnation, while he sought

216Evil to others, and enrag'd might see

217How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth

218Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn

219On Man by him seduc't, but on himself

220Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd.

221Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool

222His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames

223Drivn backward slope thir pointing spires, and rowld

224In billows, leave i'th'midst a horrid Vale.

225Then with expanded wings he stears his flight

226Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air

227That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land

228He lights, as if it were Land that ever burn'd

229With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire;

230And such appear'd in hue, as when the force

231Of subterranean wind transports a Hill

232Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd side

233Of thundring Aetna, whose combustible

234And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire,

235Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds,

236And leave a singed bottom all involv'd

237With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole

238Of unblest feet. Him followed his next Mate,

239Both glorying to have scap't the Stygian flood

240As Gods, and by thir own recover'd strength,

241Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.

242Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,

243Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat

244That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom

245For that celestial light? Be it so, since he

246Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid

247What shall be right: fardest from him his best

248Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream

249Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields

250Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail

251Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell

252Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings

253A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.

254The mind is its own place, and in it self

255Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.

256What matter where, if I be still the same,

257And what I should be, all but less then he

258Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least

259We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built

260Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

261Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce

262To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

263Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

264But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,

265Th' associates and copartners of our loss

266Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious Pool,

267And call them not to share with us their part

268In this unhappy Mansion, or once more

269With rallied Arms to try what may be yet

270Regaind in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell?

271So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub

272Thus answer'd. Leader of those Armies bright,

273Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyld,

274If once they hear that voyce, thir liveliest pledge

275Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft

276In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge

277Of battel when it rag'd, in all assaults

278Thir surest signal, they will soon resume

279New courage and revive, though now they lye

280Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire,

281As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd,

282No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious highth.

283He scarce had ceas't when the superiour Fiend

284Was moving toward the shoar; his ponderous shield

285Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,

286Behind him cast; the broad circumference

287Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb

288Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views

289At Ev'ning from the top of Fesole,

290Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands,

291Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.

292His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine

293Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast

294Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand,

295He walkt with to support uneasie steps

296Over the burning Marle, not like those steps

297On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime

298Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire;

299Nathless he so endur'd, till on the Beach

300Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call'd

301His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't

302Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks

303In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades

304High overarch't imbowr; or scatterd sedge

305Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd

306Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew

307Busirus and his Memphian Chivalry,

308While with perfidious hatred they pursu'd

309The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld

310From the safe shore thir floating Carkases

311And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown

312Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood,

313Under amazement of thir hideous change.

314He call'd so loud, that all the hollow Deep

315Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates

316Warriers, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now lost,

317If such astonishment as this can sieze

318Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place

319After the toyl of Battel to repose

320Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find

321To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?

322Or in this abject posture have ye sworn

323To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds

324Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood

325With scatter'd Arms and Ensigns, till anon

326His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern

327Th' advantage, and descending tread us down

328Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts

329Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe.

330Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.

331They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung

332Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch

333On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,

334Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.

335Nor did they not perceave the evil plight

336In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;

337Yet to thir Generals Voyce they soon obeyd

338Innumerable. As when the potent Rod

339Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day

340Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud

341Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind,

342That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung

343Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile:

344So numberless were those bad Angels seen

345Hovering on wind under the Cope of Hell

346'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires;

347Till, as a signal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear

348Of thir great Sultan waving to direct

349Thir course, in even ballance down they light

350On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain;

351A multitude, like which the populous North

352Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pass

353Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons

354Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread

355Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian sands.

356Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band

357The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood

358Thir great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms

359Excelling human, Princely Dignities,

360And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones;

361Though of thir Names in heav'nly Records now

362Be no memorial blotted out and ras'd

363By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.

364Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve

365Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth,

366Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man,

367By falsities and lyes the greatest part

368Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake

369God thir Creator, and th' invisible

370Glory of him that made them, to transform

371Oft to the Image of a Brute, adorn'd

372With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,

373And Devils to adore for Deities:

374Then were they known to men by various Names,

375And various Idols through the Heathen World.

376Say, Muse, the Names then known, who first, who last,

377Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery Couch,

378At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth

379Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,

380While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof?

381The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell

382Roaming to seek thir prey on earth, durst fix

383Thir Seats long after next the Seat of God,

384Thir Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd

385Among the Nations round, and durst abide

386Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd

387Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd

388Within his Sanctuary it self thir Shrines,

389Abominations; and with cursed things

390His holy Rites, and solemn Feasts profan'd,

391And with thir darkness durst affront his light.

392First Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood

393Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,

394Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud

395Thir childrens cries unheard, that past through fire

396To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite

397Worshipt in Rabba and her watry Plain,

398In Argob and in Basan, to the stream

399Of utmost Arnon. Not content with such

400Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart

401Of Solomon he led by fraud to build

402His Temple right against the Temple of God

403On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove

404The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence

405And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell.

406Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moabs Sons,

407From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild

408Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon

409And Heronaim, Seons Realm, beyond

410The flowry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines,

411And Eleale to th' Asphaltick Pool.

412Peor his other Name, when he entic'd

413Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile

414To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.

415Yet thence his lustful Orgies he enlarg'd

416Even to that Hill of scandal, but the Grove

417Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;

418Till good Josiah drove them hence to Hell.

419With these cam they, who from the bordring flood

420Of old Euphrates to the Brook that parts

421Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names

422Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male,

423These Feminine. For Spirits when they please

424Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft

425And uncompounded is thir Essence pure,

426Nor ti'd or manacl'd with joynt or limb,

427Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,

428Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose

429Dilated or condens't, bright or obscure,

430Can execute thir aerie purposes,

431And works of love or enmity fulfill.

432For those the Race of Israel oft forsook

433Thir living strength, and unfrequented left

434His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down

435To bestial Gods; for which thir heads as low

436Bow'd down in Battel, sunk before the Spear

437Of despicable foes. With these in troop

438Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd

439Astarte, Queen of Heav'n, with crescent Horns;

440To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon

441Sidonian Virgins paid thir Vows and Songs,

442In Sion also not unsung, where stood

443Her Temple on th' offensive Mountain, built

444By that uxorious King, whose heart though large,

445Beguil'd by fair Idolatresses, fell

446To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,

447Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd

448The Syrian Damsels to lament his fate

449In amorous dittyes all a Summers day,

450While smooth Adonis from his native Rock

451Ran purple to the Sea, suppos'd with blood

452Of Thammuz yearly wounded; the Love-tale

453Infected Sions daughters with like heat,

454Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch

455Ezekial saw, when by the Vision led

456His eye survay'd the dark Idolatries

457Of alienated Judah. Next came one

458Who mourn'd in earnest, when the Captive Ark

459Maim'd his brute Image, head and hands lopt off

460In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge,

461Where he fell flat, and sham'd his Worshipers:

462Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man

463And downward Fish: yet had his Temple high

464Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the Coast

465Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon

466And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.

467Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful Seat

468Was fair Damascus, on the fertil Banks

469Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.

470He also against the house of God was bold:

471A Leper once he lost and gain'd a King,

472Ahaz his sottish Conquerour, whom he drew

473Gods Altar to disparage and displace

474For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn

475His odious offrings, and adore the Gods

476Whom he had vanquisht. After these appear'd

477A crew who under Names of old Renown,

478Osiris, Isis, Orus and thir Train

479With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd

480Fanatic Egypt and her Priests, to seek

481Thir wandring Gods Disguis'd in brutish forms

482Rather then human. Nor did Israel scape

483Th' infection when thir borrow'd Gold compos'd

484The Calf in Oreb: and the Rebel King

485Doubl'd that sin in Bethel and in Dan,

486Lik'ning his Maker to the Grazed Ox,

487Jehovah, who in one Night when he pass'd

488From Egypt marching, equal'd with one stroke

489Both her first born and all her bleating Gods

490Belial came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd

491Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love

492Vice for it self: To him no Temple stood

493Or Altar smoak'd; yet who more oft then hee

494In Temples and at Altars, when the Priest

495Turns Atheist, as did Ely's Sons, who fill'd

496With lust and violence the house of God.

497In Courts and Palaces he also Reigns

498And in luxurious Cities, where the noyse

499Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs,

500And injury and outrage: And when Night

501Darkens the Streets, then wander forth the Sons

502Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

503Witness the Streets of Sodom, and that night

504In Gibeah, when the hospitable door

505Expos'd a Matron to avoid worse rape.

506These were the prime in order and in might;

507The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd,

508Th' Ionian Gods, of Javans issue held

509Gods, yet confest later then Heav'n and Earth

510Thir boasted Parents; Titan Heav'ns first born

511With his enormous brood, and birthright seis'd

512By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove

513His own and Rhea's Son like measure found;

514So Jove usurping reign'd: these first in Creet

515And Ida known, thence on the Snowy top

516Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle Air

517Thir highest Heav'n; or on the Delphian Cliff,

518Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds

519Of Doric Land; or who with Saturn old

520Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian Fields,

521And ore the Celtic roam'd the utmost Isles.

522All these and more came flocking; but with looks

523Down cast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd

524Obscure some glimps of joy, to have found thir chief

525Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost

526In loss itself; which on his count'nance cast

527Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride

528Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore

529Semblance of worth, not substance, gently rais'd

530Thir fanting courage, and dispel'd thir fears.

531Then strait commands that at the warlike sound

532Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard

533His mighty Standard; that proud honour claim'd

534Azazel as his right, a Cherube tall:

535Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld

536Th' Imperial Ensign, which full high advanc't

537Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind

538With Gemms and Golden lustre rich imblaz'd,

539Seraphic arms and Trophies: all the while

540Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds:

541At which the universal Host upsent

542A shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond

543Frighted the Reign of Chaos and old Night.

544All in a moment through the gloom were seen

545Ten thousand Banners rise into the Air

546With Orient Colours waving: with them rose

547A Forrest huge of Spears: and thronging Helms

548Appear'd, and serried Shields in thick array

549Of depth immeasurable: Anon they move

550In perfect Phalanx to the Dorian mood

551Of Flutes and soft Recorders; such as rais'd

552To hight of noblest temper Hero's old

553Arming to Battel, and in stead of rage

554Deliberate valour breath'd, firm and unmov'd

555With dread of death to flight or foul retreat,

556Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage

557With solemn touches, troubl'd thoughts, and chase

558Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain

559From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they

560Breathing united force with fixed thought

561Mov'd on in silence to soft Pipes that charm'd

562Thir painful steps o're the burnt soyle; and now

563Advanc't in view, they stand, a horrid Front

564Of dreadful length and dazling Arms, in guise

565Of Warriers old with order'd Spear and Shield,

566Awaiting what command thir mighty Chief

567Had to impose: He through the armed Files

568Darts his experienc't eye, and soon traverse

569The whole Battalion views, thir order due,

570Thir visages and stature as of Gods,

571Thir number last he summs. And now his heart

572Distends with pride, and hardning in his strength

573Glories: For never since created man,

574Met such imbodied force, as nam'd with these

575Could merit more then that small infantry

576Warr'd on by Cranes: though all the Giant brood

577Of Phlegra with th' Heroic Race were joyn'd

578That fought at Theb's and Ilium, on each side

579Mixt with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds

580In Fable or Romance of Uthers Sons

581Begirt with British and Armoric Knights;

582And all who since Baptiz'd or Infidel

583Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,

584Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond

585Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore

586When Charlemain with all his Peerage fell

587By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond

588Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd

589Thir dread commander: he above the rest

590In shape and gesture proudly eminent

591Stood like a Towr; his form had yet not lost

592All her Original brightness, nor appear'd

593Less then Arch Angel ruind, and th' excess

594Of Glory obscur'd; As when the Sun new ris'n

595Looks through the Horizontal misty Air

596Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon

597In dim Eclips disastrous twilight sheds

598On half the Nations, and with fear of change

599Perplexes Monarch. Dark'n'd so, yet shon

600Above them all th' Arch Angel; but his face

601Deep scars of Thunder had intrencht, and care

602Sat on his faded cheek, but under Browes

603Of dauntless courage, and considerate Pride

604Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast

605Signs of remorse and passion to behold

606The fellows of his crime, the followers rather

607(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd

608For ever now to have thir lot in pain,

609Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc't

610Of Heav'n, and from Eternal Splendors flung

611For his revolt, yet faithfull how they stood,

612Thir Glory witherd. As when Heavens Fire

613Hath scath'd the Forrest Oaks, or Mountain Pines,

614With singed top thir stately growth though bare

615Stands on the blasted Heath. He now prepar'd

616To speak; whereat thir doubl'd Ranks they bend

617From wing to wing, and half enclose him round

618With all his Peers: attention held them mute.

619Thrice he assayd, and thrice in spight of scorn,

620Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last

621Words interwove with sighs found out thir way.

622O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers

623Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife

624Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire,

625As this place testifies, and this dire change

626Hateful to utter: but what power of mind

627Foreseeing or presaging, from the Depth

628Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd,

629How such united force of Gods, how such

630As stood like these, could ever know repulse?

631For who can yet beleeve, though after loss,

632That all these puissant Legions, whose exile

633Hath emptied Heav'n, shall fail to re-ascend

634Self-rais'd, and repossess thir native seat?

635For mee be witness all the Host of Heav'n,

636If counsels different, or danger shun'd

637By mee, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns

638Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure

639Sat on his Throne, upheld by old repute,

640Consent or custome, and his Regal State

641Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd,

642Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.

643Henceforth his might we know, and know our own

644So as not either to provoke, or dread

645New warr, provok't; our better part remains

646To work in close design, by fraud or guile

647What force effected not: that he no less

648At length from us may find, who overcomes

649By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

650Space may produce new Worlds; whereof so rife

651There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long

652Intended to create, and therein plant

653A generation, whom his choice regard

654Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven:

655Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps

656Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere:

657For this Infernal Pit shall never hold

658Caelestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th' Abyss

659Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts

660Full Counsel must mature: Peace is despaird,

661For who can think Submission? Warr then, Warr

662Open or understood must be resolv'd.

663He spake: and to confirm his words, out-flew

664Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs

665Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze

666Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd

667Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped Arms

668Clash'd on thir sounding Shields the din of war,

669Hurling defiance toward the Vault of Heav'n.

670There stood a hill not far whose griesly top

671Belch'd fire and rowling smoak; the rest entire

672Shon with a glossie scurff, undoubted sign

673That in his womb was hid metallic Ore,

674The work of Sulphur. Thither wing'd with speed

675A numerous Brigad hasten'd. As when Bands

676Of Pioners with Spade and Pickax arm'd

677Forerun the Royal Camp, to trench a Field,

678Or cast a Rampart. Mammon led them on,

679Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell

680From heav'n, for ev'n in heav'n his looks and thoughts

681Were always downward bent, admiring more

682The riches of Heav'ns pavement, trod'n Gold,

683Then aught divine or holy else enjoy'd

684In vision beatific: by him first

685Men also, and by his suggestion taught

686Ransack'd the Center, and with impious hands

687Rifl'd the bowels of thir mother Earth

688For Treasures better hid. Soon had his crew

689Op'nd into the Hill a spacious wound

690And dig'd out ribs of Gold. Let none admire

691That riches grow in Hell; that soyle may best

692Deserve the precious bane. And here let those

693Who boast in mortal things, and wond'ring tell

694Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings

695Learn how thir greatest Monuments of Fame,

696And Strength and Art are easily out-done

697By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour

698What in an age they with incessant toyle

699And hands innumerable scarce perform.

700Nigh on the Plain in many cells prepar'd

701That underneath had veins of liquid fire

702Sluc'd from the Lake, a second multitude

703With wond'rous Art found out the massie Ore,

704Severing each kind, and scum'd the Bullion dross:

705A third as soon had form'd within the ground

706A various mould, and from the boyling cells

707By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook,

708As in an Organ from one blast of wind

709To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths.

710Anon out of the earth a Fabrick huge

711Rose like an Exhalation, with the sound

712Of Dulcet Symphonies and voices sweet,

713Built like a Temple, where Pilasters round

714Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid

715With Golden Architrave; nor did there want

716Cornice or Freeze, with bossy Sculptures grav'n,

717The Roof was fretted Gold. Not Babilon,

718Nor great Alcairo such magnificence

719Equal'd in all thir glories, to inshrine

720Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or seat

721Thir Kings, when Aegypt with Assyria strove

722In wealth and luxurie. Th' ascending pile

723Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores

724Op'ning thir brazen foulds discover wide

725Within, her ample spaces, o're the smooth

726And level pavement: from the arched roof

727Pendant by suttle Magic many a row

728Of Starry Lamps and blazing Cressets fed

729With Naphtha and Asphaltus yeilded light

730As from a sky. The hasty multitude

731Admiring enter'd, and the work some praise

732And some the Architect: his hand was known

733In Heav'n by many a Towred structure high,

734Where Scepter'd Angels held thir residence,

735And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King

736Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,

737Each in his Hierarchie, the Orders bright.

738Nor was his name unheard or unador'd

739In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land

740Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell

741From Heav'n, they fabl'd, thrown by angry Jove

742Sheer o're the Chrystal Battlements; from Morn

743To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,

744A Summers day; and with the setting Sun

745Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star,

746On Lemnos th' Aegaean Ile: thus they relate,

747Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

748Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now

749To have built in Heav'n high Towrs; nor did he scape

750By all his Engins, but was headlong sent

751With his industrious crew to build in hell.

752Mean while the winged Haralds by command

753Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony

754And Trumpets sound throughout the Host proclaim

755A solemn Councel forthwith to be held

756At Pandaemonium, the high Capital

757Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons call'd

758From every Band and squared Regiment

759By place or choice the worthiest; they anon

760With hunderds and with thousands trooping came

761Attended: all access was throng'd, the Gates

762And Porches wide, but chief the spacious Hall

763(Though like a cover'd field, where Champions bold

764Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldans chair

765Defi'd the best of Panim chivalry

766To mortal combat or carreer with Lance)

767Thick swarm'd, both on the ground and in the air,

768Brusht with the hiss of russling wings. As Bees

769In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,

770Pour forth thir populous youth about the Hive

771In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers

772Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank,

773The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel,

774New rub'd with Baum, expatiate and confer

775Thir State affairs. So thick the aerie crowd

776Swarm'd and were straitn'd; till the Signal giv'n

777Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd

778In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons

779Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room

780Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race

781Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves,

782Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side

783Or Fountain some belated Peasant sees,

784Or dreams he sees, while over-head the Moon

785Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth

786Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth and dance

787Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear;

788At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

789Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms

790Reduc'd thir shapes immense, and were at large,

791Though without number still amidst the Hall

792Of that infernal Court. But far within

793And in thir own dimensions like themselves

794The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim

795In close recess and secret conclave sat

796A thousand Demy-Gods on golden seat's,

797Frequent and full. After short silence then

798And summons read, the great consult began.

Notes

530] fainting: how the 1678 (3rd) edition emends fainted (1667) and fanting (1674). Back to Line

703] found: founded in 1677. Back to Line

Publication Start Year

1667

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2002

Rhyme

unrhyming

Special Copyright

Transcription courtesy of Roy Flannagan.