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Book IV
O, for that warning voice, which he, who saw
The
Apocalypse, heard cry in Heaven aloud,
Then when the
Dragon, put to second rout,
Came furious down to be
revenged on men,
Woe to the inhabitants on earth!
that now,
While time was, our first parents had been
warned
The coming of their secret foe, and 'scaped,
Haply so 'scaped his mortal snare: For now
Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down,
The
tempter ere the accuser of mankind,
To wreak on
innocent frail Man his loss
Of that first battle,
and his flight to Hell:
Yet, not rejoicing in his
speed, though bold
Far off and fearless, nor with
cause to boast,
Begins his dire attempt; which nigh
the birth
Now rolling boils in his tumultuous
breast,
And like a devilish engine back recoils
Upon himself; horrour and doubt distract
His
troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir
The Hell
within him; for within him Hell
He brings, and round
about him, nor from Hell
One step, no more than from
himself, can fly
By change of place: Now conscience
wakes despair,
That slumbered; wakes the bitter
memory
Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.
Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view
Lay
pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad;
Sometimes
towards Heaven, and the full-blazing sun,
Which now
sat high in his meridian tower:
Then, much
revolving, thus in sighs began.
O thou, that, with
surpassing glory crowned,
Lookest from thy sole
dominion like the God
Of this new world; at whose
sight all the stars
Hide their diminished heads; to
thee I call,
But with no friendly voice, and add thy
name,
Of Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell,
how glorious once above thy sphere;
Till pride and
worse ambition threw me down
Warring in Heaven
against Heaven's matchless King:
Ah, wherefore! he
deserved no such return
From me, whom he created
what I was
In that bright eminence, and with his
good
Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.
What could be less than to afford him praise,
The
easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,
How due! yet
all his good proved ill in me,
And wrought but
malice; lifted up so high
I sdeined subjection, and
thought one step higher
Would set me highest, and in
a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude,
So burdensome still paying, still to owe,
Forgetful what from him I still received,
And
understood not that a grateful mind
By owing owes
not, but still pays, at once
Indebted and
discharged; what burden then
O, had his powerful
destiny ordained
Me some inferiour Angel, I had
stood
Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised
Ambition! Yet why not some other Power
As great
might have aspired, and me, though mean,
Drawn to
his part; but other Powers as great
Fell not, but
stand unshaken, from within
Or from without, to all
temptations armed.
Hadst thou the same free will and
power to stand?
Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or
what to accuse,
But Heaven's free love dealt equally
to all?
Be then his love accursed, since love or
hate,
To me alike, it deals eternal woe.
Nay,
cursed be thou; since against his thy will
Chose
freely what it now so justly rues.
Me miserable!
which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite
despair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still
threatening to devour me opens wide,
To which the
Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.
O, then, at last
relent: Is there no place
Left for repentance, none
for pardon left?
None left but by submission; and
that word
Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced
With
other promises and other vaunts
Than to submit,
boasting I could subdue
The Omnipotent. Ay me! they
little know
How dearly I abide that boast so vain,
Under what torments inwardly I groan,
While they
adore me on the throne of Hell.
With diadem and
scepter high advanced,
The lower still I fall, only
supreme
In misery: Such joy ambition finds.
But
say I could repent, and could obtain,
By act of
grace, my former state; how soon
Would highth recall
high thoughts, how soon unsay
What feigned
submission swore? Ease would recant
Vows made in
pain, as violent and void.
For never can true
reconcilement grow,
Where wounds of deadly hate have
pierced so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse
relapse
And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear
Short intermission bought with double smart.
This knows my Punisher; therefore as far
From
granting he, as I from begging, peace;
All hope
excluded thus, behold, in stead
Mankind created, and
for him this world.
So farewell, hope; and with hope
farewell, fear;
Farewell, remorse! all good to me is
lost;
Evil, be thou my good; by thee at least
Divided empire with Heaven's King I hold,
By thee,
and more than half perhaps will reign;
As Man ere
long, and this new world, shall know.
Thus while he
spake, each passion dimmed his face
Thrice changed
with pale, ire, envy, and despair;
Which marred his
borrowed visage, and betrayed
Him counterfeit, if
any eye beheld.
For heavenly minds from such
distempers foul
Are ever clear. Whereof he soon
aware,
Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm,
Artificer of fraud; and was the first
That
practised falsehood under saintly show,
Deep malice
to conceal, couched with revenge:
Yet not enough had
practised to deceive
Uriel once warned; whose eye
pursued him down
The way he went, and on the
Assyrian mount
Saw him disfigured, more than could
befall
Spirit of happy sort; his gestures fierce
He marked and mad demeanour, then alone,
As he
supposed, all unobserved, unseen.
So on he fares,
and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious
Paradise,
Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure
green,
As with a rural mound, the champaign head
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
Access
denied; and overhead upgrew
Insuperable height of
loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and
branching palm,
A sylvan scene, and, as the ranks
ascend,
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of
stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops
The
verdurous wall of Paradise upsprung;
Which to our
general sire gave prospect large
Into his nether
empire neighbouring round.
And higher than that wall
a circling row
Of goodliest trees, loaden with
fairest fruit,
Blossoms and fruits at once of golden
hue,
Appeared, with gay enamelled colours mixed:
On which the sun more glad impressed his beams
Than
in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath
showered the earth; so lovely seemed
That landskip:
And of pure now purer air
Meets his approach, and to
the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to
drive
All sadness but despair: Now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native
perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy
spoils. As when to them who fail
Beyond the Cape of
Hope, and now are past
Mozambick, off at sea
north-east winds blow
Sabean odours from the spicy
shore
Of Araby the blest; with such delay
Well
pleased they slack their course, and many a league
Cheered with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles:
So
entertained those odorous sweets the Fiend,
Who came
their bane; though with them better pleased
Than
Asmodeus with the fishy fume
That drove him, though
enamoured, from the spouse
Of Tobit's son, and with
a vengeance sent
From Media post to Egypt, there
fast bound.
Now to the ascent of that steep savage
hill
Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow;
But further way found none, so thick entwined,
As
one continued brake, the undergrowth
Of shrubs and
tangling bushes had perplexed
All path of man or
beast that passed that way.
One gate there only was,
and that looked east
On the other side: which when
the arch-felon saw,
Due entrance he disdained; and,
in contempt,
At one flight bound high over-leaped
all bound
Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve
In
hurdled cotes amid the field secure,
Leaps o'er the
fence with ease into the fold:
Or as a thief, bent
to unhoard the cash
Of some rich burgher, whose
substantial doors,
Cross-barred and bolted fast,
fear no assault,
In at the window climbs, or o'er
the tiles:
So clomb this first grand thief into
God's fold;
So since into his church lewd hirelings
climb.
Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life,
The middle tree and highest there that grew,
Sat
like a cormorant; yet not true life
Thereby
regained, but sat devising death
To them who lived;
nor on the virtue thought
Of that life-giving plant,
but only used
For prospect, what well used had been
the pledge
Of immortality. So little knows
Any,
but God alone, to value right
The good before him,
but perverts best things
To worst abuse, or to their
meanest use.
Beneath him with new wonder now he
views,
To all delight of human sense exposed,
In
narrow room, Nature's whole wealth, yea more,
A
Heaven on Earth: For blissful Paradise
Of God the
garden was, by him in the east
Of Eden planted; Eden
stretched her line
From Auran eastward to the royal
towers
Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings,
Of where the sons of Eden long before
Dwelt in
Telassar: In this pleasant soil
His far more
pleasant garden God ordained;
Out of the fertile
ground he caused to grow
All trees of noblest kind
for sight, smell, taste;
And all amid them stood the
tree of life,
High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit
Of vegetable gold; and next to life,
Our death,
the tree of knowledge, grew fast by,
Knowledge of
good bought dear by knowing ill.
Southward through
Eden went a river large,
Nor changed his course, but
through the shaggy hill
Passed underneath ingulfed;
for God had thrown
That mountain as his garden-mould
high raised
Upon the rapid current, which, through
veins
Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn,
Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill
Watered the garden; thence united fell
Down the
steep glade, and met the nether flood,
Which from
his darksome passage now appears,
And now, divided
into four main streams,
Runs diverse, wandering many
a famous realm
And country, whereof here needs no
account;
But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,
With mazy
errour under pendant shades
Ran nectar, visiting
each plant, and fed
Flowers worthy of Paradise,
which not nice Art
In beds and curious knots, but
Nature boon
Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale,
and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly
smote
The open field, and where the unpierced shade
Imbrowned the noontide bowers: Thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view;
Groves whose
rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others whose
fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable,
Hesperian fables true,
If true, here only, and of
delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs,
and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap
Of some
irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all
hue, and without thorn the rose:
Another side,
umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er
which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape,
and gently creeps
Luxuriant; mean while murmuring
waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a
lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned
Her crystal mirrour holds, unite their streams.
The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The
trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the
Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal
Spring. Not that fair field
Of Enna, where
Proserpine gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer
flower by gloomy Dis
Was gathered, which cost Ceres
all that pain
To seek her through the world; nor
that sweet grove
Of Daphne by Orontes, and the
inspired
Castalian spring, might with this Paradise
Of Eden strive; nor that Nyseian isle
Girt with
the river Triton, where old Cham,
Whom Gentiles
Ammon call and Libyan Jove,
Hid Amalthea, and her
florid son
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's
eye;
Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard,
Mount Amara, though this by some supposed
True
Paradise under the Ethiop line
By Nilus' head,
enclosed with shining rock,
A whole day's journey
high, but wide remote
From this Assyrian garden,
where the Fiend
Saw, undelighted, all delight, all
kind
Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange
Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
Godlike
erect, with native honour clad
In naked majesty
seemed lords of all:
And worthy seemed; for in their
looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker
shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,)
Whence true authority in men; though both
Not equal,
as their sex not equal seemed;
For contemplation he
and valour formed;
For softness she and sweet
attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in
him:
His fair large front and eye sublime declared
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from
his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering, but not
beneath his shoulders broad:
She, as a veil, down to
the slender waist
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved
As the
vine curls her tendrils, which implied
Subjection,
but required with gentle sway,
And by her yielded,
by him best received,
Yielded with coy submission,
modest pride,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed;
Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shame
Of
nature's works, honour dishonourable,
Sin-bred, how
have ye troubled all mankind
With shows instead,
mere shows of seeming pure,
And banished from man's
life his happiest life,
Simplicity and spotless
innocence!
So passed they naked on, nor shunned the
sight
Of God or Angel; for they thought no ill:
So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair,
That ever since in love's embraces met;
Adam the
goodliest man of men since born
His sons, the
fairest of her daughters Eve.
Under a tuft of shade
that on a green
Stood whispering soft, by a fresh
fountain side
They sat them down; and, after no more
toil
Of their sweet gardening labour than sufficed
To recommend cool Zephyr, and made ease
More
easy, wholesome thirst and appetite
More grateful,
to their supper-fruits they fell,
Nectarine fruits
which the compliant boughs
Yielded them, side-long
as they sat recline
On the soft downy bank damasked
with flowers:
The savoury pulp they chew, and in the
rind,
Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming
stream;
Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smiles
Wanted, nor youthful dalliance, as beseems
Fair
couple, linked in happy nuptial league,
Alone as
they. About them frisking played
All beasts of the
earth, since wild, and of all chase
In wood or
wilderness, forest or den;
Sporting the lion ramped,
and in his paw
Dandled the kid; bears, tigers,
ounces, pards,
Gambolled before them; the unwieldy
elephant,
To make them mirth, used all his might,
and wreathed
His?kithetmroboscis; close the serpent
sly,
Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine
His
braided train, and of his fatal guile
Gave proof
unheeded; others on the grass
Couched, and now
filled with pasture gazing sat,
Or bedward
ruminating; for the sun,
Declined, was hasting now
with prone career
To the ocean isles, and in the
ascending scale
Of Heaven the stars that usher
evening rose:
When Satan still in gaze, as first he
stood,
Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered
sad.
O Hell! what do mine eyes with grief behold!
Into our room of bliss thus high advanced
Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps,
Not
Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright
Little
inferiour; whom my thoughts pursue
With wonder, and
could love, so lively shines
In them divine
resemblance, and such grace
The hand that formed
them on their shape hath poured.
Ah! gentle pair, ye
little think how nigh
Your change approaches, when
all these delights
Will vanish, and deliver ye to
woe;
More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;
Happy, but for so happy ill secured
Long to
continue, and this high seat your Heaven
Ill fenced
for Heaven to keep out such a foe
As now is entered;
yet no purposed foe
To you, whom I could pity thus
forlorn,
Though I unpitied: League with you I seek,
And mutual amity, so strait, so close,
That I
with you must dwell, or you with me
Henceforth; my
dwelling haply may not please,
Like this fair
Paradise, your sense; yet such
Accept your Maker's
work; he gave it me,
Which I as freely give: Hell
shall unfold,
To entertain you two, her widest
gates,
And send forth all her kings; there will be
room,
Not like these narrow limits, to receive
Your numerous offspring; if no better place,
Thank
him who puts me loth to this revenge
On you who
wrong me not for him who wronged.
And should I at
your harmless innocence
Melt, as I do, yet publick
reason just,
Honour and empire with revenge
enlarged,
By conquering this new world, compels me
now
To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.
So spake the Fiend, and with necessity,
The
tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds.
Then from
his lofty stand on that high tree
Down he alights
among the sportful herd
Of those four-footed kinds,
himself now one,
Now other, as their shape served
best his end
Nearer to view his prey, and, unespied,
To mark what of their state he more might learn,
By word or action marked. About them round
A lion
now he stalks with fiery glare;
Then as a tiger, who
by chance hath spied
In some purlieu two gentle
fawns at play,
Straight couches close, then, rising,
changes oft
His couchant watch, as one who chose his
ground,
Whence rushing, he might surest seize them
both,
Griped in each paw: when, Adam first of men
To first of women Eve thus moving speech,
Turned
him, all ear to hear new utterance flow.
Sole
partner, and sole part, of all these joys,
Dearer
thyself than all; needs must the Power
That made us,
and for us this ample world,
Be infinitely good, and
of his good
As liberal and free as infinite;
That raised us from the dust, and placed us here
In
all this happiness, who at his hand
Have nothing
merited, nor can perform
Aught whereof he hath need;
he who requires
From us no other service than to
keep
This one, this easy charge, of all the trees
In Paradise that bear delicious fruit
So
various, not to taste that only tree
Of knowledge,
planted by the tree of life;
So near grows death to
life, whate'er death is,
Some dreadful thing no
doubt; for well thou knowest
God hath pronounced it
death to taste that tree,
The only sign of our
obedience left,
Among so many signs of power and
rule
Conferred upon us, and dominion given
Over
all other creatures that possess
Earth, air, and
sea. Then let us not think hard
One easy
prohibition, who enjoy
Free leave so large to all
things else, and choice
Unlimited of manifold
delights:
But let us ever praise him, and extol
His bounty, following our delightful task,
To prune
these growing plants, and tend these flowers,
Which
were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.
To whom
thus Eve replied. O thou for whom
And from whom I
was formed, flesh of thy flesh,
And without whom am
to no end, my guide
And head! what thou hast said is
just and right.
For we to him indeed all praises
owe,
And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy
So
far the happier lot, enjoying thee
Pre-eminent by so
much odds, while thou
Like consort to thyself canst
no where find.
That day I oft remember, when from
sleep
I first awaked, and found myself reposed
Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
And
what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
Not
distant far from thence a murmuring sound
Of waters
issued from a cave, and spread
Into a liquid plain,
then stood unmoved
Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I
thither went
With unexperienced thought, and laid me
down
On the green bank, to look into the clear
Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
As I
bent down to look, just opposite
A shape within the
watery gleam appeared,
Bending to look on me: I
started back,
It started back; but pleased I soon
returned,
Pleased it returned as soon with answering
looks
Of sympathy and love: There I had fixed
Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
Had
not a voice thus warned me; 'What thou seest,
'What
there thou seest, fair Creature, is thyself;
'With
thee it came and goes: but follow me,
'And I will
bring thee where no shadow stays
'Thy coming, and
thy soft embraces, he
'Whose image thou art; him
thou shalt enjoy
'Inseparably thine, to him shalt
bear
'Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called
'Mother of human race.' What could I do,
But
follow straight, invisibly thus led?
Till I espied
thee, fair indeed and tall,
Under a platane; yet
methought less fair,
Less winning soft, less amiably
mild,
Than that smooth watery image: Back I turned;
Thou following cryedst aloud, 'Return, fair Eve;
'Whom flyest thou? whom thou flyest, of him thou art,
'His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent
'Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,
'Substantial life, to have thee by my side
'Henceforth an individual solace dear;
'Part of my
soul I seek thee, and thee claim
'My other half:'
With that thy gentle hand
Seised mine: I yielded;and
from that time see
How beauty is excelled by manly
grace,
And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.
So
spake our general mother, and with eyes
Of conjugal
attraction unreproved,
And meek surrender,
half-embracing leaned
On our first father; half her
swelling breast
Naked met his, under the flowing
gold
Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight
Both of her beauty, and submissive charms,
Smiled
with superiour love, as Jupiter
On Juno smiles, when
he impregns the clouds
That shed Mayflowers; and
pressed her matron lip
With kisses pure: Aside the
Devil turned
For envy; yet with jealous leer malign
Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained.
Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two,
Imparadised in one another's arms,
The happier Eden,
shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss; while I to
Hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but
fierce desire,
Among our other torments not the
least,
Still unfulfilled with pain of longing pines.
Yet let me not forget what I have gained
From
their own mouths: All is not theirs, it seems;
One
fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,
Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy
them that? Can it be sin to know?
Can it be death?
And do they only stand
By ignorance? Is that their
happy state,
The proof of their obedience and their
faith?
O fair foundation laid whereon to build
Their ruin! hence I will excite their minds
With
more desire to know, and to reject
Envious commands,
invented with design
To keep them low, whom
knowledge might exalt
Equal with Gods: aspiring to
be such,
They taste and die: What likelier can ensue
But first with narrow search I must walk round
This garden, and no corner leave unspied;
A chance
but chance may lead where I may meet
Some wandering
Spirit of Heaven by fountain side,
Or in thick shade
retired, from him to draw
What further would be
learned. Live while ye may,
Yet happy pair; enjoy,
till I return,
Short pleasures, for long woes are to
succeed!
So saying, his proud step he scornful
turned,
But with sly circumspection, and began
Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his
roam
Mean while in utmost longitude, where Heaven
With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun
Slowly descended, and with right aspect
Against the
eastern gate of Paradise
Levelled his evening rays:
It was a rock
Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,
Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent
Accessible from earth, one entrance high;
The rest
was craggy cliff, that overhung
Still as it rose,
impossible to climb.
Betwixt these rocky pillars
Gabriel sat,
Chief of the angelick guards, awaiting
night;
About him exercised heroick games
The
unarmed youth of Heaven, but nigh at hand
Celestial
armoury, shields, helms, and spears,
Hung high with
diamond flaming, and with gold.
Thither came Uriel,
gliding through the even
On a sun-beam, swift as a
shooting star
In autumn thwarts the night, when
vapours fired
Impress the air, and shows the mariner
From what point of his compass to beware
Impetuous winds: He thus began in haste.
Gabriel, to
thee thy course by lot hath given
Charge and strict
watch, that to this happy place
No evil thing
approach or enter in.
This day at highth of noon
came to my sphere
A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed,
to know
More of the Almighty's works, and chiefly
Man,
God's latest image: I described his way
Bent all on speed, and marked his aery gait;
But in
the mount that lies from Eden north,
Where he first
lighted, soon discerned his looks
Alien from Heaven,
with passions foul obscured:
Mine eye pursued him
still, but under shade
Lost sight of him: One of the
banished crew,
I fear, hath ventured from the deep,
to raise
New troubles; him thy care must be to find.
To whom the winged warriour thus returned.
Uriel,
no wonder if thy perfect sight,
Amid the sun's
bright circle where thou sitst,
See far and wide: In
at this gate none pass
The vigilance here placed,
but such as come
Well known from Heaven; and since
meridian hour
No creature thence: If Spirit of other
sort,
So minded, have o'er-leaped these earthly
bounds
On purpose, hard thou knowest it to exclude
Spiritual substance with corporeal bar.
But if
within the circuit of these walks,
In whatsoever
shape he lurk, of whom
Thou tellest, by morrow
dawning I shall know.
So promised he; and Uriel to
his charge
Returned on that bright beam, whose point
now raised
Bore him slope downward to the sun now
fallen
Beneath the Azores; whether the prime orb,
Incredible how swift, had thither rolled
Diurnal, or this less volubil earth,
By shorter
flight to the east, had left him there
Arraying with
reflected purple and gold
The clouds that on his
western throne attend.
Now came still Evening on,
and Twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things
clad;
Silence accompanied; for beast and bird,
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;
She all
night long her amorous descant sung;
Silence was
pleased: Now glowed the firmament
With living
sapphires: Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode
brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty,
at length
Apparent queen unveiled her peerless
light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
When Adam thus to Eve. Fair Consort, the hour
Of
night, and all things now retired to rest,
Mind us
of like repose; since God hath set
Labour and rest,
as day and night, to men
Successive; and the timely
dew of sleep,
Now falling with soft slumbrous
weight, inclines
Our eye-lids: Other creatures all
day long
Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest;
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the
regard of Heaven on all his ways;
While other
animals unactive range,
And of their doings God
takes no account.
To-morrow, ere fresh morning
streak the east
With first approach of light, we
must be risen,
And at our pleasant labour, to reform
Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green,
Our
walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our
scant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to
lop their wanton growth:
Those blossoms also, and
those dropping gums,
That lie bestrown, unsightly
and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with
ease;
Mean while, as Nature wills, night bids us
rest.
To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorned
My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst
Unargued
I obey: So God ordains;
God is thy law, thou mine:
To know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge, and
her praise.
With thee conversing I forget all time;
All seasons, and their change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet,
With
charm of earliest birds: pleasant the sun,
When
first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient
beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering
with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft
showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Evening
mild; then silent Night,
With this her solemn bird,
and this fair moon,
And these the gems of Heaven,
her starry train:
But neither breath of Morn, when
she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising
sun
On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit,
flower,
Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after
showers;
Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent
Night,
With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
Or glittering star-light, without thee is sweet.
But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?
To whom our general ancestor replied.
Daughter of
God and Man, accomplished Eve,
These have their
course to finish round the earth,
By morrow evening,
and from land to land
In order, though to nations
yet unborn,
Ministring light prepared, they set and
rise;
Lest total Darkness should by night regain
Her old possession, and extinguish life
In Nature
and all things; which these soft fires
Not only
enlighten, but with kindly heat
Of various influence
foment and warm,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed
down
Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow
On earth, made hereby apter to receive
Perfection
from the sun's more potent ray.
These then, though
unbeheld in deep of night,
Shine not in vain; nor
think, though men were none,
That Heaven would want
spectators, God want praise:
Millions of spiritual
creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake,
and when we sleep:
All these with ceaseless praise
his works behold
Both day and night: How often from
the steep
Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or
responsive each to others note,
Singing their great
Creator? oft in bands
While they keep watch, or
nightly rounding walk,
With heavenly touch of
instrumental sounds
In full harmonick number joined,
their songs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts
to Heaven.
Thus talking, hand in hand alone they
passed
On to their blissful bower: it was a place
Chosen by the sovran Planter, when he framed
All
things to Man's delightful use; the roof
Of thickest
covert was inwoven shade
Laurel and myrtle, and what
higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either
side
Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub,
Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower,
Iris all hues, roses, and jessamin,
Reared high
their flourished heads between, and wrought
Mosaick;
underfoot the violet,
Crocus, and hyacinth, with
rich inlay
Broidered the ground, more coloured than
with stone
Of costliest emblem: Other creature here,
Bird, beast, insect, or worm, durst enter none,
Such was their awe of Man. In shadier bower
More
sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,
Pan or
Sylvanus never slept, nor Nymph
Nor Faunus haunted.
Here, in close recess,
With flowers, garlands, and
sweet-smelling herbs,
Espoused Eve decked first her
nuptial bed;
And heavenly quires the hymenaean sung,
What day the genial Angel to our sire
Brought
her in naked beauty more adorned,
More lovely, than
Pandora, whom the Gods
Endowed with all their gifts,
and O! too like
In sad event, when to the unwiser
son
Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnared
Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged
On him
who had stole Jove's authentick fire.
Thus, at their
shady lodge arrived, both stood,
Both turned, and
under open sky adored
The God that made both sky,
air, earth, and heaven,
Which they beheld, the
moon's resplendent globe,
And starry pole: Thou also
madest the night,
Maker Omnipotent, and thou the
day,
Which we, in our appointed work employed,
Have finished, happy in our mutual help
And mutual
love, the crown of all our bliss
Ordained by thee;
and this delicious place
For us too large, where thy
abundance wants
Partakers, and uncropt falls to the
ground.
But thou hast promised from us two a race
To fill the earth, who shall with us extol
Thy
goodness infinite, both when we wake,
And when we
seek, as now, thy gift of sleep.
This said
unanimous, and other rites
Observing none, but
adoration pure
Which God likes best, into their
inmost bower
Handed they went; and, eased the
putting off
These troublesome disguises which we
wear,
Straight side by side were laid; nor turned, I
ween,
Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites
Mysterious of connubial love refused:
Whatever
hypocrites austerely talk
Of purity, and place, and
innocence,
Defaming as impure what God declares
Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.
Our
Maker bids encrease; who bids abstain
But our
Destroyer, foe to God and Man?
Hail, wedded Love,
mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring, sole
propriety
In Paradise of all things common else!
By thee adulterous Lust was driven from men
Among
the bestial herds to range; by thee
Founded in
reason, loyal, just, and pure,
Relations dear, and
all the charities
Of father, son, and brother, first
were known.
Far be it, that I should write thee sin
or blame,
Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,
Perpetual fountain of domestick sweets,
Whose
bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced,
Present, or
past, as saints and patriarchs used.
Here Love his
golden shafts employs, here lights
His constant
lamp, and waves his purple wings,
Reigns here and
revels; not in the bought smile
Of harlots,
loveless, joyless, unendeared,
Casual fruition; nor
in court-amours,
Mixed dance, or wanton mask, or
midnight ball,
Or serenate, which the starved lover
sings
To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.
These, lulled by nightingales, embracing slept,
And on their naked limbs the flowery roof
Showered
roses, which the morn repaired. Sleep on,
Blest
pair; and O!yet happiest, if ye seek
No happier
state, and know to know no more.
Now had night
measured with her shadowy cone
Half way up hill this
vast sublunar vault,
And from their ivory port the
Cherubim,
Forth issuing at the accustomed hour,
stood armed
To their night watches in warlike
parade;
When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake.
Uzziel, half these draw off, and coast the south
With strictest watch; these other wheel the north;
Our circuit meets full west. As flame they part,
Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.
From
these, two strong and subtle Spirits he called
That
near him stood, and gave them thus in charge.
Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed
Search
through this garden, leave unsearched no nook;
But
chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
Now
laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
This evening
from the sun's decline arrived,
Who tells of some
infernal Spirit seen
Hitherward bent (who could have
thought?) escaped
The bars of Hell, on errand bad no
doubt:
Such, where ye find, seise fast, and hither
bring.
So saying, on he led his radiant files,
Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct
In
search of whom they sought: Him there they found
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
Assaying
by his devilish art to reach
The organs of her
fancy, and with them forge
Illusions, as he list,
phantasms and dreams;
Or if, inspiring venom, he
might taint
The animal spirits, that from pure blood
arise
Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence
raise
At least distempered, discontented thoughts,
Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,
Blown
up with high conceits ingendering pride.
Him thus
intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touched lightly; for
no falshood can endure
Touch of celestial temper,
but returns
Of force to its own likeness: Up he
starts
Discovered and surprised. As when a spark
Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, laid
Fit for the
tun some magazine to store
Against a rumoured war,
the smutty grain,
With sudden blaze diffused,
inflames the air;
So started up in his own shape the
Fiend.
Back stept those two fair Angels, half amazed
So sudden to behold the grisly king;
Yet thus,
unmoved with fear, accost him soon.
Which of those
rebel Spirits adjudged to Hell
Comest thou, escaped
thy prison? and, transformed,
Why sat'st thou like
an enemy in wait,
Here watching at the head of these
that sleep?
Know ye not then said Satan, filled with
scorn,
Know ye not me? ye knew me once no mate
For you, there sitting where ye durst not soar:
Not
to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of
your throng; or, if ye know,
Why ask ye, and
superfluous begin
Your message, like to end as much
in vain?
To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with
scorn.
Think not, revolted Spirit, thy shape the
same,
Or undiminished brightness to be known,
As
when thou stoodest in Heaven upright and pure;
That
glory then, when thou no more wast good,
Departed
from thee; and thou resemblest now
Thy sin and place
of doom obscure and foul.
But come, for thou, be
sure, shalt give account
To him who sent us, whose
charge is to keep
This place inviolable, and these
from harm.
So spake the Cherub; and his grave
rebuke,
Severe in youthful beauty, added grace
Invincible: Abashed the Devil stood,
And felt how
awful goodness is, and saw
Virtue in her shape how
lovely; saw, and pined
His loss; but chiefly to find
here observed
His lustre visibly impaired; yet
seemed
Undaunted. If I must contend, said he,
Best with the best, the sender, not the sent,
Or all
at once; more glory will be won,
Or less be lost.
Thy fear, said Zephon bold,
Will save us trial what
the least can do
Single against thee wicked, and
thence weak.
The Fiend replied not, overcome with
rage;
But, like a proud steed reined, went haughty
on,
Champing his iron curb: To strive or fly
He
held it vain; awe from above had quelled
His heart,
not else dismayed. Now drew they nigh
The western
point, where those half-rounding guards
Just met,
and closing stood in squadron joined,
A waiting next
command. To whom their Chief,
Gabriel, from the
front thus called aloud.
O friends! I hear the tread
of nimble feet
Hasting this way, and now by glimpse
discern
Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade;
And with them comes a third of regal port,
But faded
splendour wan; who by his gait
And fierce demeanour
seems the Prince of Hell,
Not likely to part hence
without contest;
Stand firm, for in his look
defiance lours.
He scarce had ended, when those two
approached,
And brief related whom they brought,
where found,
How busied, in what form and posture
couched.
To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel
spake.
Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds
prescribed
To thy transgressions, and disturbed the
charge
Of others, who approve not to transgress
By thy example, but have power and right
To question
thy bold entrance on this place;
Employed, it seems,
to violate sleep, and those
Whose dwelling God hath
planted here in bliss!
To whom thus Satan with
contemptuous brow.
Gabriel? thou hadst in Heaven the
esteem of wise,
And such I held thee; but this
question asked
Puts me in doubt. Lives there who
loves his pain!
Who would not, finding way, break
loose from Hell,
Though thither doomed! Thou wouldst
thyself, no doubt
And boldly venture to whatever
place
Farthest from pain, where thou mightst hope to
change
Torment with ease, and soonest recompense
Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
To
thee no reason, who knowest only good,
But evil hast
not tried: and wilt object
His will who bounds us!
Let him surer bar
His iron gates, if he intends our
stay
In that dark durance: Thus much what was asked.
The rest is true, they found me where they say;
But that implies not violence or harm.
Thus he in
scorn. The warlike Angel moved,
Disdainfully half
smiling, thus replied.
O loss of one in Heaven to
judge of wise
Since Satan fell, whom folly
overthrew,
And now returns him from his prison 'scaped,
Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise
Or
not, who ask what boldness brought him hither
Unlicensed from his bounds in Hell prescribed;
So
wise he judges it to fly from pain
However, and to
'scape his punishment!
So judge thou still,
presumptuous! till the wrath,
Which thou incurrest
by flying, meet thy flight
Sevenfold, and scourge
that wisdom back to Hell,
Which taught thee yet no
better, that no pain
Can equal anger infinite
provoked.
But wherefore thou alone? wherefore with
thee
Came not all hell broke loose? or thou than
they
Less hardy to endure? Courageous Chief!
The
first in flight from pain! hadst thou alleged
To thy
deserted host this cause of flight,
Thou surely
hadst not come sole fugitive.
To which the Fiend
thus answered, frowning stern.
Not that I less
endure, or shrink from pain,
Insulting Angel! well
thou knowest I stood
Thy fiercest, when in battle to
thy aid
The blasting vollied thunder made all speed,
And seconded thy else not dreaded spear.
But
still thy words at random, as before,
Argue thy
inexperience what behoves
From hard assays and ill
successes past
A faithful leader, not to hazard all
Through ways of danger by himself untried:
I,
therefore, I alone first undertook
To wing the
desolate abyss, and spy
This new created world,
whereof in Hell
Fame is not silent, here in hope to
find
Better abode, and my afflicted Powers
To
settle here on earth, or in mid air;
Though for
possession put to try once more
What thou and thy
gay legions dare against;
Whose easier business were
to serve their Lord
High up in Heaven, with songs to
hymn his throne,
And practised distances to cringe,
not fight,
To whom the warriour Angel soon replied.
To say and straight unsay, pretending first
Wise
to fly pain, professing next the spy,
Argues no
leader but a liear traced,
Satan, and couldst thou
faithful add? O name,
O sacred name of faithfulness
profaned!
Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew?
Army of Fiends, fit body to fit head.
Was this
your discipline and faith engaged,
Your military
obedience, to dissolve
Allegiance to the
acknowledged Power supreme?
And thou, sly hypocrite,
who now wouldst seem
Patron of liberty, who more
than thou
Once fawned, and cringed, and servily
adored
Heaven's awful Monarch? wherefore, but in
hope
To dispossess him, and thyself to reign?
But mark what I arreed thee now, Avant;
Fly neither
whence thou fledst! If from this hour
Within these
hallowed limits thou appear,
Back to the infernal
pit I drag thee chained,
And seal thee so, as
henceforth not to scorn
The facile gates of Hell too
slightly barred.
So threatened he; but Satan to no
threats
Gave heed, but waxing more in rage replied.
Then when I am thy captive talk of chains,
Proud
limitary Cherub! but ere then
Far heavier load
thyself expect to feel
From my prevailing arm,
though Heaven's King
Ride on thy wings, and thou
with thy compeers,
Us'd to the yoke, drawest his
triumphant wheels
In progress through the road of
Heaven star-paved.
While thus he spake, the angelick
squadron bright
Turned fiery red, sharpening in
mooned horns
Their phalanx, and began to hem him
round
With ported spears, as thick as when a field
Of Ceres ripe for harvest waving bends
Her
bearded grove of ears, which way the wind
Sways
them; the careful plowman doubting stands,
Left on
the threshing floor his hopeless sheaves
Prove
chaff. On the other side, Satan, alarmed,
Collecting
all his might, dilated stood,
Like Teneriff or
Atlas, unremoved:
His stature reached the sky, and
on his crest
Sat Horrour plumed; nor wanted in his
grasp
What seemed both spear and shield: Now
dreadful deeds
Might have ensued, nor only Paradise
In this commotion, but the starry cope
Of Heaven
perhaps, or all the elements
At least had gone to
wrack, disturbed and torn
With violence of this
conflict, had not soon
The Eternal, to prevent such
horrid fray,
Hung forth in Heaven his golden scales,
yet seen
Betwixt Astrea and the Scorpion sign,
Wherein all things created first he weighed,
The
pendulous round earth with balanced air
In
counterpoise, now ponders all events,
Battles and
realms: In these he put two weights,
The sequel each
of parting and of fight:
The latter quick up flew,
and kicked the beam,
Which Gabriel spying, thus
bespake the Fiend.
Satan, I know thy strength, and
thou knowest mine;
Neither our own, but given: What
folly then
To boast what arms can do? since thine no
more
Than Heaven permits, nor mine, though doubled
now
To trample thee as mire: For proof look up,
And read thy lot in yon celestial sign;
Where thou
art weighed, and shown how light, how weak,
If thou
resist. The Fiend looked up, and knew
His mounted
scale aloft: Nor more;but fled
Murmuring, and with
him fled the shades of night.
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