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Book V
Now
Morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime
Advancing,
sowed the earth with orient pearl,
When Adam waked,
so customed; for his sleep
Was aery-light, from pure
digestion bred,
And temperate vapours bland, which
the only sound
Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora's
fan,
Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song
Of birds on every bough; so much the more
His
wonder was to find unwakened Eve
With tresses
discomposed, and glowing cheek,
As through unquiet
rest: He, on his side
Leaning half raised, with
looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamoured, and
beheld
Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep,
Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice
Mild, as
when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
Her hand soft
touching, whispered thus. Awake,
My fairest, my
espoused, my latest found,
Heaven's last best gift,
my ever new delight!
Awake: The morning shines, and
the fresh field
Calls us; we lose the prime, to mark
how spring
Our tender plants, how blows the citron
grove,
What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy
reed,
How nature paints her colours, how the bee
Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.
Such
whispering waked her, but with startled eye
On Adam,
whom embracing, thus she spake.
O sole in whom my
thoughts find all repose,
My glory, my perfection!
glad I see
Thy face, and morn returned; for I this
night
(Such night till this I never passed) have
dreamed,
If dreamed, not, as I oft am wont, of thee,
Works of day past, or morrow's next design,
But
of offence and trouble, which my mind
Knew never
till this irksome night: Methought,
Close at mine
ear one called me forth to walk
With gentle voice; I
thought it thine: It said,
'Why sleepest thou, Eve?
now is the pleasant time,
'The cool, the silent,
save where silence yields
'To the night-warbling
bird, that now awake
'Tunes sweetest his love-laboured
song; now reigns
'Full-orbed the moon, and with more
pleasing light
'Shadowy sets off the face of things;
in vain,
'If none regard; Heaven wakes with all his
eyes,
'Whom to behold but thee, Nature's desire?
'In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment
'Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.'
I rose as
at thy call, but found thee not;
To find thee I
directed then my walk;
And on, methought, alone I
passed through ways
That brought me on a sudden to
the tree
Of interdicted knowledge: fair it seemed,
Much fairer to my fancy than by day:
And, as I
wondering looked, beside it stood
One shaped and
winged like one of those from Heaven
By us oft seen;
his dewy locks distilled
Ambrosia; on that tree he
also gazed;
And 'O fair plant,' said he, 'with fruit
surcharged,
'Deigns none to ease thy load, and taste
thy sweet,
'Nor God, nor Man? Is knowledge so
despised?
'Or envy, or what reserve forbids to
taste?
'Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold
'Longer thy offered good; why else set here?
This said, he paused not, but with venturous arm
He
plucked, he tasted; me damp horrour chilled
At such
bold words vouched with a deed so bold:
But he thus,
overjoyed; 'O fruit divine,
'Sweet of thyself, but
much more sweet thus cropt,
'Forbidden here, it
seems, as only fit
'For Gods, yet able to make Gods
of Men:
'And why not Gods of Men; since good, the
more
'Communicated, more abundant grows,
'The
author not impaired, but honoured more?
'Here, happy
creature, fair angelick Eve!
'Partake thou also;
happy though thou art,
'Happier thou mayest be,
worthier canst not be:
'Taste this, and be
henceforth among the Gods
'Thyself a Goddess, not to
earth confined,
'But sometimes in the air, as we,
sometimes
'Ascend to Heaven, by merit thine, and see
'What life the Gods live there, and such live thou!'
So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,
Even to
my mouth of that same fruit held part
Which he had
plucked; the pleasant savoury smell
So quickened
appetite, that I, methought,
Could not but taste.
Forthwith up to the clouds
With him I flew, and
underneath beheld
The earth outstretched immense, a
prospect wide
And various: Wondering at my flight
and change
To this high exaltation; suddenly
My
guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,
And
fell asleep; but O, how glad I waked
To find this
but a dream! Thus Eve her night
Related, and thus
Adam answered sad.
Best image of myself, and dearer
half,
The trouble of thy thoughts this night in
sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This
uncouth dream, of evil sprung, I fear;
Yet evil
whence? in thee can harbour none,
Created pure. But
know that in the soul
Are many lesser faculties,
that serve
Reason as chief; among these Fancy next
Her office holds; of all external things
Which
the five watchful senses represent,
She forms
imaginations, aery shapes,
Which Reason, joining or
disjoining, frames
All what we affirm or what deny,
and call
Our knowledge or opinion; then retires
Into her private cell, when nature rests.
Oft in her
absence mimick Fancy wakes
To imitate her; but,
misjoining shapes,
Wild work produces oft, and most
in dreams;
Ill matching words and deeds long past or
late.
Some such resemblances, methinks, I find
Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream,
But
with addition strange; yet be not sad.
Evil into the
mind of God or Man
May come and go, so unreproved,
and leave
No spot or blame behind: Which gives me
hope
That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
Waking thou never will consent to do.
Be not
disheartened then, nor cloud those looks,
That wont
to be more cheerful and serene,
Than when fair
morning first smiles on the world;
And let us to our
fresh employments rise
Among the groves, the
fountains, and the flowers
That open now their
choisest bosomed smells,
Reserved from night, and
kept for thee in store.
So cheered he his fair
spouse, and she was cheered;
But silently a gentle
tear let fall
From either eye, and wiped them with
her hair;
Two other precious drops that ready stood,
Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell
Kissed, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
And
pious awe, that feared to have offended.
So all was
cleared, and to the field they haste.
But first,
from under shady arborous roof
Soon as they forth
were come to open sight
Of day-spring, and the sun,
who, scarce up-risen,
With wheels yet hovering o'er
the ocean-brim,
Shot parallel to the earth his dewy
ray,
Discovering in wide landskip all the east
Of Paradise and Eden's happy plains,
Lowly they
bowed adoring, and began
Their orisons, each morning
duly paid
In various style; for neither various
style
Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise
Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced, or sung
Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence
Flowed from their
lips, in prose or numerous verse,
More tuneable than
needed lute or harp
To add more sweetness; and they
thus began.
These are thy glorious works, Parent of
good,
Almighty! Thine this universal frame,
Thus
wonderous fair; Thyself how wonderous then!
Unspeakable, who sitst above these heavens
To us
invisible, or dimly seen
In these thy lowest works;
yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and
power divine.
Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons
of light,
Angels; for ye behold him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle
his throne rejoicing; ye in Heaven
On Earth join all
ye Creatures to extol
Him first, him last, him
midst, and without end.
Fairest of stars, last in
the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the
dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crownest the smiling
morn
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy
sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge him thy greater; sound his praise
In thy
eternal course, both when thou climbest,
And when
high noon hast gained, and when thou fallest.
Moon,
that now meetest the orient sun, now flyest,
With
the fixed Stars, fixed in their orb that flies;
And
ye five other wandering Fires, that move
In mystick
dance not without song, resound
His praise, who out
of darkness called up light.
Air, and ye Elements,
the eldest birth
Of Nature's womb, that in
quaternion run
Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix
And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise.
Ye
Mists and Exhalations, that now rise
From hill or
steaming lake, dusky or gray,
Till the sun paint
your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honour to the
world's great Author rise;
Whether to deck with
clouds the uncoloured sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth
with falling showers,
Rising or falling still
advance his praise.
His praise, ye Winds, that from
four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and, wave
your tops, ye Pines,
With every plant, in sign of
worship wave.
Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye
flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
Join voices, all ye living Souls: Ye Birds,
That
singing up to Heaven-gate ascend,
Bear on your wings
and in your notes his praise.
Ye that in waters
glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately
tread, or lowly creep;
Witness if I be silent, morn
or even,
To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh
shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
Hail, universal Lord, be bounteous still
To give
us only good; and if the night
Have gathered aught
of evil, or concealed,
Disperse it, as now light
dispels the dark!
So prayed they innocent, and to
their thoughts
Firm peace recovered soon, and wonted
calm.
On to their morning's rural work they haste,
Among sweet dews and flowers; where any row
Of
fruit-trees over-woody reached too far
Their
pampered boughs, and needed hands to check
Fruitless
embraces: or they led the vine
To wed her elm; she,
spoused, about him twines
Her marriageable arms, and
with him brings
Her dower, the adopted clusters, to
adorn
His barren leaves. Them thus employed beheld
With pity Heaven's high King, and to him called
Raphael, the sociable Spirit, that deigned
To travel
with Tobias, and secured
His marriage with the
seventimes-wedded maid.
Raphael, said he, thou
hearest what stir on Earth
Satan, from Hell 'scaped
through the darksome gulf,
Hath raised in Paradise;
and how disturbed
This night the human pair; how he
designs
In them at once to ruin all mankind.
Go
therefore, half this day as friend with friend
Converse with Adam, in what bower or shade
Thou
findest him from the heat of noon retired,
To
respite his day-labour with repast,
Or with repose;
and such discourse bring on,
As may advise him of
his happy state,
Happiness in his power left free to
will,
Left to his own free will, his will though
free,
Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
He
swerve not, too secure: Tell him withal
His danger,
and from whom; what enemy,
Late fallen himself from
Heaven, is plotting now
The fall of others from like
state of bliss;
By violence? no, for that shall be
withstood;
But by deceit and lies: This let him
know,
Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend
Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned.
So spake the
Eternal Father, and fulfilled
All justice: Nor
delayed the winged Saint
After his charge received;
but from among
Thousand celestial Ardours, where he
stood
Veiled with his gorgeous wings, up springing
light,
Flew through the midst of Heaven; the
angelick quires,
On each hand parting, to his speed
gave way
Through all the empyreal road; till, at the
gate
Of Heaven arrived, the gate self-opened wide
On golden hinges turning, as by work
Divine the
sovran Architect had framed.
From hence no cloud,
or, to obstruct his sight,
Star interposed, however
small he sees,
Not unconformed to other shining
globes,
Earth, and the garden of God, with cedars
crowned
Above all hills. As when by night the glass
Of Galileo, less assured, observes
Imagined
lands and regions in the moon:
Or pilot, from amidst
the Cyclades
Delos or Samos first appearing, kens
A cloudy spot. Down thither prone in flight
He
speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
Sails
between worlds and worlds, with steady wing
Now on
the polar winds, then with quick fan
Winnows the
buxom air; till, within soar
Of towering eagles, to
all the fowls he seems
A phoenix, gazed by all as
that sole bird,
When, to enshrine his reliques in
the Sun's
Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he
flies.
At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise
He lights, and to his proper shape returns
A Seraph
winged: Six wings he wore, to shade
His lineaments
divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came
mantling o'er his breast
With regal ornament; the
middle pair
Girt like a starry zone his waist, and
round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
And colours dipt in Heaven; the third his feet
Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he stood,
And
shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance filled
The
circuit wide. Straight knew him all the bands
Of
Angels under watch; and to his state,
And to his
message high, in honour rise;
For on some message
high they guessed him bound.
Their glittering tents
he passed, and now is come
Into the blissful field,
through groves of myrrh,
And flowering odours,
cassia, nard, and balm;
A wilderness of sweets; for
Nature here
Wantoned as in her prime, and played at
will
Her virgin fancies pouring forth more sweet,
Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss.
Him
through the spicy forest onward come
Adam discerned,
as in the door he sat
Of his cool bower, while now
the mounted sun
Shot down direct his fervid rays to
warm
Earth's inmost womb, more warmth than Adam
needs:
And Eve within, due at her hour prepared
For dinner savoury fruits, of taste to please
True
appetite, and not disrelish thirst
Of nectarous
draughts between, from milky stream,
Berry or grape:
To whom thus Adam called.
Haste hither, Eve, and
worth thy sight behold
Eastward among those trees,
what glorious shape
Comes this way moving; seems
another morn
Risen on mid-noon; some great behest
from Heaven
To us perhaps he brings, and will
vouchsafe
This day to be our guest. But go with
speed,
And, what thy stores contain, bring forth,
and pour
Abundance, fit to honour and receive
Our heavenly stranger: Well we may afford
Our givers
their own gifts, and large bestow
From large
bestowed, where Nature multiplies
Her fertile
growth, and by disburthening grows
More fruitful,
which instructs us not to spare.
To whom thus Eve.
Adam, earth's hallowed mould,
Of God inspired! small
store will serve, where store,
All seasons, ripe for
use hangs on the stalk;
Save what by frugal storing
firmness gains
To nourish, and superfluous moist
consumes:
But I will haste, and from each bough and
brake,
Each plant and juciest gourd, will pluck such
choice
To entertain our Angel-guest, as he
Beholding shall confess, that here on Earth
God hath
dispensed his bounties as in Heaven.
So saying, with
dispatchful looks in haste
She turns, on hospitable
thoughts intent
What choice to choose for delicacy
best,
What order, so contrived as not to mix
Tastes, not well joined, inelegant, but bring
Taste
after taste upheld with kindliest change;
Bestirs
her then, and from each tender stalk
Whatever Earth,
all-bearing mother, yields
In India East or West, or
middle shore
In Pontus or the Punick coast, or where
Alcinous reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat
Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,
She gathers, tribute large, and on the board
Heaps
with unsparing hand; for drink the grape
She
crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths
From many a
berry, and from sweet kernels pressed
She tempers
dulcet creams; nor these to hold
Wants her fit
vessels pure; then strows the ground
With rose and
odours from the shrub unfumed.
Mean while our
primitive great sire, to meet
His God-like guest,
walks forth, without more train
Accompanied than
with his own complete
Perfections; in himself was
all his state,
More solemn than the tedious pomp
that waits
On princes, when their rich retinue long
Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold,
Dazzles the croud, and sets them all agape.
Nearer
his presence Adam, though not awed,
Yet with submiss
approach and reverence meek,
As to a superiour
nature bowing low,
Thus said. Native of Heaven, for
other place
None can than Heaven such glorious shape
contain;
Since, by descending from the thrones
above,
Those happy places thou hast deigned a while
To want, and honour these, vouchsafe with us
Two
only, who yet by sovran gift possess
This spacious
ground, in yonder shady bower
To rest; and what the
garden choicest bears
To sit and taste, till this
meridian heat
Be over, and the sun more cool
decline.
Whom thus the angelick Virtue answered
mild.
Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such
Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
As may
not oft invite, though Spirits of Heaven,
To visit
thee; lead on then where thy bower
O'ershades; for
these mid-hours, till evening rise,
I have at will.
So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona's
arbour smiled,
With flowerets decked, and fragrant
smells; but Eve,
Undecked save with herself, more
lovely fair
Than Wood-Nymph, or the fairest Goddess
feigned
Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,
Stood to entertain her guest from Heaven; no veil
She needed, virtue-proof; no thought infirm
Altered
her cheek. On whom the Angel Hail
Bestowed, the holy
salutation used
Long after to blest Mary, second
Eve.
Hail, Mother of Mankind, whose fruitful womb
Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,
Than with these various fruits the trees of God
Have heaped this table!--Raised of grassy turf
Their
table was, and mossy seats had round,
And on her
ample square from side to side
All autumn piled,
though spring and autumn here
Danced hand in hand. A
while discourse they hold;
No fear lest dinner cool;
when thus began
Our author. Heavenly stranger,
please to taste
These bounties, which our Nourisher,
from whom
All perfect good, unmeasured out,
descends,
To us for food and for delight hath caused
The earth to yield; unsavoury food perhaps
To
spiritual natures; only this I know,
That one
celestial Father gives to all.
To whom the Angel.
Therefore what he gives
(Whose praise be ever sung)
to Man in part
Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be
found
No ingrateful food: And food alike those pure
Intelligential substances require,
As doth your
rational; and both contain
Within them every lower
faculty
Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell,
touch, taste,
Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,
And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
For know,
whatever was created, needs
To be sustained and fed:
Of elements
The grosser feeds the purer, earth the
sea,
Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;
Whence
in her visage round those spots, unpurged
Vapours
not yet into her substance turned.
Nor doth the moon
no nourishment exhale
From her moist continent to
higher orbs.
The sun that light imparts to all,
receives
From all his alimental recompence
In
humid exhalations, and at even
Sups with the ocean.
Though in Heaven the trees
Of life ambrosial
fruitage bear, and vines
Yield nectar; though from
off the boughs each morn
We brush mellifluous dews,
and find the ground
Covered with pearly grain: Yet
God hath here
Varied his bounty so with new
delights,
As may compare with Heaven; and to taste
Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat,
And
to their viands fell; nor seemingly
The Angel, nor
in mist, the common gloss
Of Theologians; but with
keen dispatch
Of real hunger, and concoctive heat
To transubstantiate: What redounds, transpires
Through Spirits with ease; nor wonder;if by fire
Of
sooty coal the empirick alchemist
Can turn, or holds
it possible to turn,
Metals of drossiest ore to
perfect gold,
As from the mine. Mean while at table
Eve
Ministered naked, and their flowing cups
With pleasant liquours crowned: O innocence
Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,
Then had the sons
of God excuse to have been
Enamoured at that sight;
but in those hearts
Love unlibidinous reigned, nor
jealousy
Was understood, the injured lover's hell.
Thus when with meats and drinks they had sufficed,
Not burdened nature, sudden mind arose
In Adam,
not to let the occasion pass
Given him by this great
conference to know
Of things above his world, and of
their being
Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he
saw
Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms,
Divine effulgence, whose high power, so far
Exceeded human; and his wary speech
Thus to the
empyreal minister he framed.
Inhabitant with God,
now know I well
Thy favour, in this honour done to
Man;
Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed
To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,
Food
not of Angels, yet accepted so,
As that more
willingly thou couldst not seem
At Heaven's high
feasts to have fed: yet what compare
To whom the
winged Hierarch replied.
O Adam, One Almighty is,
from whom
All things proceed, and up to him return,
If not depraved from good, created all
Such to
perfection, one first matter all,
Endued with
various forms, various degrees
Of substance, and, in
things that live, of life;
But more refined, more
spiritous, and pure,
As nearer to him placed, or
nearer tending
Each in their several active spheres
assigned,
Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
Proportioned to each kind. So from the root
Springs
lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves
More
aery, last the bright consummate flower
Spirits
odorous breathes: flowers and their fruit,
Man's
nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,
To vital
spirits aspire, to animal,
To intellectual; give
both life and sense,
Fancy and understanding; whence
the soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being,
Discursive, or intuitive; discourse
Is oftest
yours, the latter most is ours,
Differing but in
degree, of kind the same.
Wonder not then, what God
for you saw good
If I refuse not, but convert, as
you
To proper substance. Time may come, when Men
With Angels may participate, and find
No
inconvenient diet, nor too light fare;
And from
these corporal nutriments perhaps
Your bodies may at
last turn all to spirit,
Improved by tract of time,
and, winged, ascend
Ethereal, as we; or may, at
choice,
Here or in heavenly Paradises dwell;
If
ye be found obedient, and retain
Unalterably firm
his love entire,
Whose progeny you are. Mean while
enjoy
Your fill what happiness this happy state
Can comprehend, incapable of more.
To whom the
patriarch of mankind replied.
O favourable Spirit,
propitious guest,
Well hast thou taught the way that
might direct
Our knowledge, and the scale of nature
set
From center to circumference; whereon,
In
contemplation of created things,
By steps we may
ascend to God. But say,
What meant that caution
joined, If ye be found
Obedient? Can we want
obedience then
To him, or possibly his love desert,
Who formed us from the dust and placed us here
Full to the utmost measure of what bliss
Human
desires can seek or apprehend?
To whom the Angel.
Son of Heaven and Earth,
Attend! That thou art
happy, owe to God;
That thou continuest such, owe to
thyself,
That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.
This was that caution given thee; be advised.
God made thee perfect, not immutable;
And good he
made thee, but to persevere
He left it in thy power;
ordained thy will
By nature free, not over-ruled by
fate
Inextricable, or strict necessity:
Our
voluntary service he requires,
Not our necessitated;
such with him
Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for
how
Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they
serve
Willing or no, who will but what they must
By destiny, and can no other choose?
Myself, and all
the angelick host, that stand
In sight of God,
enthroned, our happy state
Hold, as you yours, while
our obedience holds;
On other surety none: Freely we
serve,
Because we freely love, as in our will
To
love or not; in this we stand or fall:
And some are
fallen, to disobedience fallen,
And so from Heaven
to deepest Hell; O fall
From what high state of
bliss, into what woe!
To whom our great progenitor.
Thy words
Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
Divine instructer, I have heard, than when
Cherubick songs by night from neighbouring hills
Aereal musick send: Nor knew I not
To be both will
and deed created free;
Yet that we never shall
forget to love
Our Maker, and obey him whose command
Single is yet so just, my constant thoughts
Assured me, and still assure: Though what thou tellest
Hath passed in Heaven, some doubt within me move,
But more desire to hear, if thou consent,
The
full relation, which must needs be strange,
Worthy
of sacred silence to be heard;
And we have yet large
day, for scarce the sun
Hath finished half his
journey, and scarce begins
His other half in the
great zone of Heaven.
Thus Adam made request; and
Raphael,
After short pause assenting, thus began.
High matter thou enjoinest me, O prime of men,
Sad task and hard: For how shall I relate
To human
sense the invisible exploits
Of warring Spirits?
how, without remorse,
The ruin of so many glorious
once
And perfect while they stood? how last unfold
The secrets of another world, perhaps
Not lawful
to reveal? yet for thy good
This is dispensed; and
what surmounts the reach
Of human sense, I shall
delineate so,
By likening spiritual to corporal
forms,
As may express them best; though what if
Earth
Be but a shadow of Heaven, and things therein
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?
As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild
Reigned where these Heavens now roll, where Earth now
rests
Upon her center poised; when on a day
(For
time, though in eternity, applied
To motion,
measures all things durable
By present, past, and
future,) on such day
As Heaven's great year brings
forth, the empyreal host
Of Angels by imperial
summons called,
Innumerable before the Almighty's
throne
Forthwith, from all the ends of Heaven,
appeared
Under their Hierarchs in orders bright:
Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,
Standards and gonfalons 'twixt van and rear
Stream
in the air, and for distinction serve
Of
hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
Or in their
glittering tissues bear imblazed
Holy memorials,
acts of zeal and love
Recorded eminent. Thus when in
orbs
Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
Orb
within orb, the Father Infinite,
By whom in bliss
imbosomed sat the Son,
Amidst as from a flaming
mount, whose top
Brightness had made invisible, thus
spake.
Hear, all ye Angels, progeny of light,
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.
This
day I have begot whom I declare
My only Son, and on
this holy hill
Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
At my right hand; your head I him appoint;
And
by myself have sworn, to him shall bow
All knees in
Heaven, and shall confess him Lord:
Under his great
vice-gerent reign abide
United, as one individual
soul,
For ever happy: Him who disobeys,
Me
disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
Cast out from
God and blessed vision, falls
Into utter darkness,
deep ingulfed, his place
Ordained without
redemption, without end.
So spake the Omnipotent,
and with his words
All seemed well pleased; all
seemed, but were not all.
That day, as other solemn
days, they spent
In song and dance about the sacred
hill;
Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
Of planets, and of fixed, in all her wheels
Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,
Eccentrick,
intervolved, yet regular
Then most, when most
irregular they seem;
And in their motions harmony
divine
So smooths her charming tones, that God's own
ear
Listens delighted. Evening now approached,
(For we have also our evening and our morn,
We ours
for change delectable, not need;)
Forthwith from
dance to sweet repast they turn
Desirous; all in
circles as they stood,
Tables are set, and on a
sudden piled
With Angels food, and rubied nectar
flows
In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold,
Fruit of delicious vines, the growth of Heaven.
On
flowers reposed, and with fresh flowerets crowned,
They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
Quaff
immortality and joy, secure
Of surfeit, where full
measure only bounds
Excess, before the all-bounteous
King, who showered
With copious hand, rejoicing in
their joy.
Now when ambrosial night with clouds
exhaled
From that high mount of God, whence light
and shade
Spring both, the face of brightest Heaven
had changed
To grateful twilight, (for night comes
not there
In darker veil,) and roseat dews disposed
All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest;
Wide
over all the plain, and wider far
Than all this
globous earth in plain outspread,
(Such are the
courts of God) the angelick throng,
Dispersed in
bands and files, their camp extend
By living streams
among the trees of life,
Pavilions numberless, and
sudden reared,
Celestial tabernacles, where they
slept
Fanned with cool winds; save those, who, in
their course,
Melodious hymns about the sovran
throne
Alternate all night long: but not so waked
Satan; so call him now, his former name
Is heard
no more in Heaven; he of the first,
If not the first
Arch-Angel, great in power,
In favour and
pre-eminence, yet fraught
With envy against the Son
of God, that day
Honoured by his great Father, and
proclaimed
Messiah King anointed, could not bear
Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.
Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
Soon
as midnight brought on the dusky hour
Friendliest to
sleep and silence, he resolved
With all his legions
to dislodge, and leave
Unworshipt, unobeyed, the
throne supreme,
Contemptuous; and his next
subordinate
Awakening, thus to him in secret spake.
Sleepest thou, Companion dear? What sleep can close
Thy eye-lids? and rememberest what decree
Of
yesterday, so late hath passed the lips
Of Heaven's
Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts
Wast wont, I mine
to thee was wont to impart;
Both waking we were one;
how then can now
Thy sleep dissent? New laws thou
seest imposed;
New laws from him who reigns, new
minds may raise
In us who serve, new counsels to
debate
What doubtful may ensue: More in this place
To utter is not safe. Assemble thou
Of all those
myriads which we lead the chief;
Tell them, that by
command, ere yet dim night
Her shadowy cloud
withdraws, I am to haste,
And all who under me their
banners wave,
Homeward, with flying march, where we
possess
The quarters of the north; there to prepare
Fit entertainment to receive our King,
The great
Messiah, and his new commands,
Who speedily through
all the hierarchies
Intends to pass triumphant, and
give laws.
So spake the false Arch-Angel, and
infused
Bad influence into the unwary breast
Of
his associate: He together calls,
Or several one by
one, the regent Powers,
Under him Regent; tells, as
he was taught,
That the Most High commanding, now
ere night,
Now ere dim night had disincumbered
Heaven,
The great hierarchal standard was to move;
Tells the suggested cause, and casts between
Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound
Or taint
integrity: But all obeyed
The wonted signal, and
superiour voice
Of their great Potentate; for great
indeed
His name, and high was his degree in Heaven;
His countenance, as the morning-star that guides
The starry flock, allured them, and with lies
Drew
after him the third part of Heaven's host.
Mean
while the Eternal eye, whose sight discerns
Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount,
And
from within the golden lamps that burn
Nightly
before him, saw without their light
Rebellion
rising; saw in whom, how spread
Among the sons of
morn, what multitudes
Were banded to oppose his high
decree;
And, smiling, to his only Son thus said.
Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
In full
resplendence, Heir of all my might,
Nearly it now
concerns us to be sure
Of our Omnipotence, and with
what arms
We mean to hold what anciently we claim
Of deity or empire: Such a foe
Is rising, who
intends to erect his throne
Equal to ours,
throughout the spacious north;
Nor so content, hath
in his thought to try
In battle, what our power is,
or our right.
Let us advise, and to this hazard draw
With speed what force is left, and all employ
In
our defence; lest unawares we lose
This our high
place, our sanctuary, our hill.
To whom the Son with
calm aspect and clear,
Lightning divine, ineffable,
serene,
Made answer. Mighty Father, thou thy foes
Justly hast in derision, and, secure,
Laughest
at their vain designs and tumults vain,
Matter to me
of glory, whom their hate
Illustrates, when they see
all regal power
Given me to quell their pride, and
in event
Know whether I be dextrous to subdue
Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heaven.
So
spake the Son; but Satan, with his Powers,
Far was
advanced on winged speed; an host
Innumerable as the
stars of night,
Or stars of morning, dew-drops,
which the sun
Impearls on every leaf and every
flower.
Regions they passed, the mighty regencies
Of Seraphim, and Potentates, and Thrones,
In
their triple degrees; regions to which
All thy
dominion, Adam, is no more
Than what this garden is
to all the earth,
And all the sea, from one entire
globose
Stretched into longitude; which having
passed,
At length into the limits of the north
They came; and Satan to his royal seat
High on a
hill, far blazing, as a mount
Raised on a mount,
with pyramids and towers
From diamond quarries hewn,
and rocks of gold;
The palace of great Lucifer, (so
call
That structure in the dialect of men
Interpreted,) which not long after, he
Affecting all
equality with God,
In imitation of that mount
whereon
Messiah was declared in sight of Heaven,
The Mountain of the Congregation called;
For thither
he assembled all his train,
Pretending so commanded
to consult
About the great reception of their King,
Thither to come, and with calumnious art
Of
counterfeited truth thus held their ears.
Thrones,
Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers;
If these
magnifick titles yet remain
Not merely titular,
since by decree
Another now hath to himself
engrossed
All power, and us eclipsed under the name
Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
Of
midnight-march, and hurried meeting here,
This only
to consult how we may best,
With what may be devised
of honours new,
Receive him coming to receive from
us
Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile!
Too much to one! but double how endured,
To one, and
to his image now proclaimed?
But what if better
counsels might erect
Our minds, and teach us to cast
off this yoke?
Will ye submit your necks, and choose
to bend
The supple knee? Ye will not, if I trust
To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves
Natives
and sons of Heaven possessed before
By none; and if
not equal all, yet free,
Equally free; for orders
and degrees
Jar not with liberty, but well consist.
Who can in reason then, or right, assume
Monarchy over such as live by right
His equals, if
in power and splendour less,
In freedom equal? or
can introduce
Law and edict on us, who without law
Err not? much less for this to be our Lord,
And
look for adoration, to the abuse
Of those imperial
titles, which assert
Our being ordained to govern,
not to serve.
Thus far his bold discourse without
controul
Had audience; when among the Seraphim
Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored
The
Deity, and divine commands obeyed,
Stood up, and in
a flame of zeal severe
The current of his fury thus
opposed.
O argument blasphemous, false, and proud!
Words which no ear ever to hear in Heaven
Expected, least of all from thee, Ingrate,
In place
thyself so high above thy peers.
Canst thou with
impious obloquy condemn
The just decree of God,
pronounced and sworn,
That to his only Son, by right
endued
With regal scepter, every soul in Heaven
Shall bend the knee, and in that honour due
Confess
him rightful King? unjust, thou sayest,
Flatly
unjust, to bind with laws the free,
And equal over
equals to let reign,
One over all with unsucceeded
power.
Shalt thou give law to God? shalt thou
dispute
With him the points of liberty, who made
Thee what thou art, and formed the Powers of Heaven
Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?
Yet, by experience taught, we know how good,
And of
our good and of our dignity
How provident he is; how
far from thought
To make us less, bent rather to
exalt
Our happy state, under one head more near
United. But to grant it thee unjust,
That equal over
equals monarch reign:
Thyself, though great and
glorious, dost thou count,
Or all angelick nature
joined in one,
Equal to him begotten Son? by whom,
As by his Word, the Mighty Father made
All
things, even thee; and all the Spirits of Heaven
By
him created in their bright degrees,
Crowned them
with glory, and to their glory named
Thrones,
Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
Essential
Powers; nor by his reign obscured,
But more
illustrious made; since he the head
One of our
number thus reduced becomes;
His laws our laws; all
honour to him done
Returns our own. Cease then this
impious rage,
And tempt not these; but hasten to
appease
The incensed Father, and the incensed Son,
While pardon may be found in time besought.
So
spake the fervent Angel; but his zeal
None seconded,
as out of season judged,
Or singular and rash:
Whereat rejoiced
The Apostate, and, more haughty,
thus replied.
That we were formed then sayest thou?
and the work
Of secondary hands, by task transferred
From Father to his Son? strange point and new!
Doctrine which we would know whence learned: who saw
When this creation was? rememberest thou
Thy making,
while the Maker gave thee being?
We know no time
when we were not as now;
Know none before us,
self-begot, self-raised
By our own quickening power,
when fatal course
Had circled his full orb, the
birth mature
Of this our native Heaven, ethereal
sons.
Our puissance is our own; our own right hand
Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try
Who is our equal: Then thou shalt behold
Whether by
supplication we intend
Address, and to begirt the
almighty throne
Beseeching or besieging. This
report,
These tidings carry to the anointed King;
And fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.
He said;
and, as the sound of waters deep,
Hoarse murmur
echoed to his words applause
Through the infinite
host; nor less for that
The flaming Seraph fearless,
though alone
Encompassed round with foes, thus
answered bold.
O alienate from God, O Spirit
accursed,
Forsaken of all good! I see thy fall
Determined, and thy hapless crew involved
In this
perfidious fraud, contagion spread
Both of thy crime
and punishment: Henceforth
No more be troubled how
to quit the yoke
Of God's Messiah; those indulgent
laws
Will not be now vouchsafed; other decrees
Against thee are gone forth without recall;
That
golden scepter, which thou didst reject,
Is now an
iron rod to bruise and break
Thy disobedience. Well
thou didst advise;
Yet not for thy advice or threats
I fly
These wicked tents devoted, lest the wrath
Impendent, raging into sudden flame,
Distinguish
not: For soon expect to feel
His thunder on thy
head, devouring fire.
Then who created thee
lamenting learn,
When who can uncreate thee thou
shalt know.
So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful
found
Among the faithless, faithful only he;
Among innumerable false, unmoved,
Unshaken,
unseduced, unterrified,
His loyalty he kept, his
love, his zeal;
Nor number, nor example, with him
wrought
To swerve from truth, or change his constant
mind,
Though single. From amidst them forth he
passed,
Long way through hostile scorn, which he
sustained
Superiour, nor of violence feared aught;
And, with retorted scorn, his back he turned
On
those proud towers to swift destruction doomed.
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