Paradise Lost Book III

Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn,

Or of the Eternal coeternal beam May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light,

And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee Bright effluence of bright essence increate.

Or hear"
st thou rather pure ethereal stream,

Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun,

Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice Of God, as with a mantle, didst

The rising world of waters dark and deep,

Won from the void and formless infinite.

Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,

Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight Through utter and through middle darkness borne,

With other notes than to the Orphean lyre I sung of Chaos and eternal Night;

Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,

Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safe,

And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;

So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,

Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt,

Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,

Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief Thee,

Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,

That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,

Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget So were I equall'd with them in renown,

Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace;

Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides,

And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old:

Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year Seasons return; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,

Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,

Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;

But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd,

And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.

So much the rather thou, celestial Light,

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.

Now had the Almighty Father from above,

From the pure empyrean where he sits High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye His own works and their works at once to view:

About him all the Sanctities of Heaven Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd Beatitude past utterance; on his right The radiant image of his glory sat,

His only son; on earth he first beheld Our two first parents, yet the only two Of mankind in the happy garden plac'd Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,

Uninterrupted joy, unrivall'd love,

In blissful solitude; he then survey'd Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night In the dun air sublime, and ready now To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,

On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd Firm land imbosom'd, without firmament,

Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.

Him God beholding from his prospect high,

Wherein past, present, future, he beholds,

Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.

Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds Prescrib'd no bars of Hell, nor all the chains Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head. And now,

Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light,

Directly towards the new created world,

And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay If him by force he can destroy, or, worse,

By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert;

For man will hearken to his glozing lies,

And easily transgress the sole command,

Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?

Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me All he could have;

I made him just and right,

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

Such I created all the ethereal Powers And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd;

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,

Where only what they needs must do appear'd,

Not what they would? what praise could they receive?

What pleasure I from such obedience paid,

When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd,

Made passive both, had serv'd necessity,

Not me? they therefore, as to right belong$ 'd,

So were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,

As if predestination over-rul'd Their will dispos'd by absolute decree Or high foreknowledge they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,

Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,

Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.

So without least impulse or shadow of fate,

Or aught by me immutably foreseen,

They trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so I form'd them free: and free they must remain,

Till they enthrall themselves;

I else must change Their nature, and revoke the high decree Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd Their freedom: they themselves ordain'd their fall.

The first sort by their own suggestion fell,

Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'd By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,

The other none: In mercy and justice both,

Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel;

But Mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.

Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd.

Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Most glorious; in him all his Father shone Substantially express'd; and in his face Divine compassion visibly appear'd,

Love without end, and without measure grace,

Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake.

O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace; For which both Heav'n and Earth shall high extol Thy praises, with th' innumerable sound Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne Encompass'd shall resound thee ever blest.

For should Man finally be lost, should Man,

Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son,

Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd With his own folly? that be from thee far,

That far be from thee,

Father, who art judge Of all things made, and judgest only right.

Or shall the Adversary thus obtain His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfill His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought,

Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,

Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell Draw after him the whole race of mankind,

By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself Abolish thy creation, and unmake For him, what for thy glory thou hast made?

So should thy goodness and thy greatness both Be question'd and blasphem'd without defence.

To whom the great Creator thus replied.

O son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,

Son of my bosom,

Son who art alone.

My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all As my eternal purpose hath decreed;

Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will;

Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vouchsaf'd; once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthrall'd By sin to foul exorbitant desires;

Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand On even ground against his mortal foe;

By me upheld, that he may know how frail His fallen condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me.

Some I have chosen of peculiar grace,

Elect above the rest; so is my will:

The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd Their sinful state, and to appease betimes The incensed Deity, while offer'd grace Invites; for I will clear their senses dark,

What may suffice, and soften stony hearts To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.

To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,

Though but endeavour'd with sincere intent,

Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.

And I will place within them as a guide,

My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear,

Light after light, well us'd, they shall attain,

And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.

This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,

They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;

But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more,

That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;

And none but such from mercy I exclude.

But yet all is not done;

Man disobeying,

Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins Against the high supremacy of Heaven,

Affecting God-head, and, so losing all,

To expiate his treason hath nought left,

But to destruction sacred and devote,

He, with his whole posterity, must die,

Die he or justice must; unless for him Some other able, and as willing, pay The rigid satisfaction, death for death.

Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?

Which of you will be mortal, to redeem Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save?

Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?

And silence was in Heaven: $ on Man's behalf He ask'd, but all the heavenly quire stood mute,

Patron or intercessour none appear'd,

Much less that durst upon his own head draw The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.

And now without redemption all mankind Must have been lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hell By doom severe, had not the Son of God,

In whom the fulness dwells of love divine,

His dearest mediation thus renew'd.

Father, thy word is past,

Man shall find grace;

And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,

The speediest of thy winged messengers,

To visit all thy creatures, and to all Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought?

Happy for Man, so coming; he her aid Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost;

Atonement for himself, or offering meet,

Indebted and undone, hath none to bring;

Behold me then: me for him, life for life I offer: on me let thine anger fall;

Account me Man;

I for his sake will leave Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee Freely put off, and for him lastly die Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage. Under his gloomy power I shall not long Lie vanquished.

Thou hast given me to possess Life in myself for ever; by thee I live; Though now to Death I yield, and am his due, All that of me can die, yet, that debt paid, $ thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul For ever with corruption there to dwell; But I shall rise victorious, and subdue My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil. Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed; I through the ample air in triumph high Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show The powers of darkness bound.

Thou, at the sight Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, While, by thee raised,

I ruin all my foes; Death last, and with his carcase glut the grave; Then, with the multitude of my redeemed, Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return, Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud Of anger shall remain, but peace assured And reconcilement: wrath shall be no more Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire. His words here ended; but his meek aspect Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love To mortal men, above which only shone Filial obedience: as a sacrifice Glad to be offered, he attends the will Of his great Father.

Admiration seized All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend, Wondering; but soon th' Almighty thus replied. O thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace Found out for mankind under wrath,

O thou My sole complacence!

Well thou know'st how dear To me are all my works; nor Man the least, Though last created, that for him I spare Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save, By losing thee a while, the whole race lost. Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem, Their nature also to thy nature join; And be thyself Man among men on Earth, Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed, By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam's room The head of all mankind, though Adam's son.

As in him perish all men, so in thee,

As from a second root, shall be restored As many as are restored, without thee none.

His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit,

Imputed, shall absolve them who renounce Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,

And live in thee transplanted, and from thee Receive new life. So Man, as is most just,

Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die,

And dying rise, and rising with him raise His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.

So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate,

Giving to death, and dying to redeem,

So dearly to redeem what hellish hate So easily destroyed, and still destroys In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss Equal to God, and equally enjoying God-like fruition, quitted all, to save A world from utter loss, and hast been found By merit more than birthright Son of God,

Found worthiest to be so by being good,

Far more than great or high; because in thee Love hath abounded more than glory abounds;

Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt With thee thy manhood also to this throne:

Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign Both God and Man,

Son both of God and Man,

Anointed universal King; all power I give thee; reign for ever, and assume Thy merits; under thee, as head supreme,

Thrones,

Princedoms,

Powers,

Dominions,

I reduce:

All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell.

When thou, attended gloriously from Heaven,

Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaim Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds,

The living, and forthwith the cited dead Of all past ages, to the general doom Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep.

Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge Bad Men and Angels; they, arraigned, shall sink Beneath thy sentence;

Hell, her numbers full,

Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring New Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell,

And, after all their tribulations long,

See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,

With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth.

Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,

For regal scepter then no more shall need,

God shall be all in all. But, all ye Gods,

Adore him, who to compass all this dies;

Adore the Son, and honour him as me.

No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all The multitude of Angels, with a shout Loud as from numbers without number, sweet As from blest voices, uttering joy,

Heaven rung With jubilee, and loud Hosannas filled The eternal regions: Lowly reverent Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground With solemn adoration down they cast Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold;

Immortal amarant, a flower which once In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,

Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,

And flowers aloft shading the fount of life,

And where the river of bliss through midst of Heaven Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream;

With these that never fade the Spirits elect Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams;

Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,

Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took,

Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet Of charming symphony they introduce Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;

No voice exempt, no voice but well could join Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven.

Thee,

Father, first they sung Omnipotent,

Immutable,

Immortal,

Infinite,

Eternal King; the Author of all being,

Fonntain of light, thyself invisible Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest The full blaze of thy beams, and, through a cloud Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,

Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,

Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.

Thee next they sang of all creation first,

Begotten Son,

Divine Similitude,

In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,

Whom else no creature can behold; on thee Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides,

Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.

He Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein By thee created; and by thee threw down The aspiring Dominations: Thou that day Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,

Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks Thou drovest of warring Angels disarrayed.

Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim Thee only extolled,

Son of thy Father's might,

To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,

Not so on Man: Him through their malice fallen,

Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom So strictly, but much more to pity incline:

No sooner did thy dear and only Son Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail Man So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,

He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned,

Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat Second to thee, offered himself to die For Man's offence. O unexampled love,

Love no where to be found less than Divine!

Hail,

Son of God,

Saviour of Men! Thy name Shall be the copious matter of my song Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin.

Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere,

Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.

Mean while upon the firm opacous globe Of this round world, whose first convex divides The luminous inferiour orbs, enclosed From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old,

Satan alighted walks: A globe far off It seemed, now seems a boundless continent Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night Starless exposed, and ever-threatening storms Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;

Save on that side which from the wall of Heaven,

Though distant far, some small reflection gains Of glimmering air less vexed with tempest loud:

Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field.

As when a vultur on Imaus bred,

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,

Dislodging from a region scarce of prey To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids,

On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs Of Ganges or Hydaspes,

Indian streams;

But in his way lights on the barren plains Of Sericana, where Chineses drive With sails and wind their cany waggons light:

So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend Walked up and down alone, bent on his prey;

Alone, for other creature in this place,

Living or lifeless, to be found was none;

None yet, but store hereafter from the earth Up hither like aereal vapours flew Of all things transitory and vain, when sin With vanity had filled the works of men:

Both all things vain, and all who in vain things Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame,

Or happiness in this or the other life;

All who have their reward on earth, the fruits Of painful superstition and blind zeal,

Nought seeking but the praise of men, here find Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;

All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand,

Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed,

Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,

Till final dissolution, wander here;

Not in the neighbouring moon as some have dreamed;

Those argent fields more likely habitants,

Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold Betwixt the angelical and human kind.

Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born First from the ancient world those giants came With many a vain exploit, though then renowned:

The builders next of Babel on the plain Of Sennaar, and still with vain design,

New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build:

Others came single; he, who, to be deemed A God, leaped fondly into Aetna flames,

Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy Plato's Elysium, leaped into the sea,

Cleombrotus; and many more too long,

Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery.

Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven;

And they, who to be sure of Paradise,

Dying, put on the weeds of Dominick,

Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised;

They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed,

And that crystalling sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talked, and that first moved;

And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems To wait them with his keys, and now at foot Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo A violent cross wind from either coast Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry Into the devious air: Then might ye see Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tost And fluttered into rags; then reliques, beads,

Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,

The sport of winds: All these, upwhirled aloft,

Fly o'er the backside of the world far off Into a Limbo large and broad, since called The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown Long after; now unpeopled, and untrod.

All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed,

And long he wandered, till at last a gleam Of dawning light turned thither-ward in haste His travelled steps: far distant he descries Ascending by degrees magnificent Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high;

At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared The work as of a kingly palace-gate,

With frontispiece of diamond and gold Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems The portal shone, inimitable on earth By model, or by shading pencil, drawn.

These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw Angels ascending and descending, bands Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz Dreaming by night under the open sky And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven.

Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon Who after came from earth, failing arrived Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.

The stairs were then let down, whether to dare The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss:

Direct against which opened from beneath,

Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,

A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide,

Wider by far than that of after-times Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,

Over the Promised Land to God so dear;

By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,

On high behests his angels to and fro Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,

To Beersaba, where the Holy Land Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;

So wide the opening seemed, where bounds were set To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.

Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,

That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate,

Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this world at once. As when a scout,

Through dark?;
nd desart ways with?
oeril gone All?
might,?;
t?
kast by break of cheerful dawn Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,

Which to his eye discovers unaware The goodly prospect of some foreign land First seen, or some renowned metropolis With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,

Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams:

Such wonder seised, though after Heaven seen,

The Spirit malign, but much more envy seised,

At sight of all this world beheld so fair.

Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood So high above the circling canopy Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantick seas Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole He views in breadth, and without longer pause Down right into the world's first region throws His flight precipitant, and winds with ease Through the pure marble air his oblique way Amongst innumerable stars, that shone Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds;

Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles,

Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,

Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales,

Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there He staid not to inquire: Above them all The golden sun, in splendour likest Heaven,

Allured his eye; thither his course he bends Through the calm firmament, (but up or down,

By center, or eccentrick, hard to tell,

Or longitude,) where the great luminary Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,

That from his lordly eye keep distance due,

Dispenses light from far; they, as they move Their starry dance in numbers that compute Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp Turn swift their various motions, or are turned By his magnetick beam, that gently warms The universe, and to each inward part With gentle penetration, though unseen,

Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;

So wonderously was set his station bright.

There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb Through his glazed optick tube yet never saw.

The place he found beyond expression bright,

Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone;

Not all parts like, but all alike informed With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;

If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear;

If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,

Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone In Aaron's breast-plate, and a stone besides Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen,

That stone, or like to that which here below Philosophers in vain so long have sought,

In vain, though by their powerful art they bind Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,

Drained through a limbeck to his native form.

What wonder then if fields and regions here Breathe forth Elixir pure, and rivers run Potable gold, when with one virtuous touch The arch-chemick sun, so far from us remote,

Produces, with terrestrial humour mixed,

Here in the dark so many precious things Of colour glorious, and effect so rare?

Here matter new to gaze the Devil met Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands;

For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,

But all sun-shine, as when his beams at noon Culminate from the equator, as they now Shot upward still direct, whence no way round Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air,

No where so clear, sharpened his visual ray To objects distant far, whereby he soon Saw within ken a glorious Angel stand,

The same whom John saw also in the sun:

His back was turned, but not his brightness hid;

Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar Circled his head, nor less his locks behind Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings Lay waving round; on some great charge employed He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep.

Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope To find who might direct his wandering flight To Paradise, the happy seat of Man,

His journey's end and our beginning woe.

But first he casts to change his proper shape,

Which else might work him danger or delay:

And now a stripling Cherub he appears,

Not of the prime, yet such as in his face Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned:

Under a coronet his flowing hair In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore Of many a coloured plume, sprinkled with gold;

His habit fit for speed succinct, and held Before his decent steps a silver wand.

He drew not nigh unheard; the Angel bright,

Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turned,

Admonished by his ear, and straight was known The Arch-Angel Uriel, one of the seven Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne,

Stand ready at command, and are his eyes That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,

O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts.

Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright,

The first art wont his great authentick will Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring,

Where all his sons thy embassy attend;

And here art likeliest by supreme decree Like honour to obtain, and as his eye To visit oft this new creation round;

Unspeakable desire to see, and know All these his wonderous works, but chiefly Man,

His chief delight and favour, him for whom All these his works so wonderous he ordained,

Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell In which of all these shining orbs hath Man His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none,

But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell;

That I may find him, and with secret gaze Or open admiration him behold,

On whom the great Creator hath bestowed Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured;

That both in him and all things, as is meet,

The universal Maker we may praise;

Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss,

Created this new happy race of Men To serve him better: Wise are all his ways.

So spake the false dissembler unperceived;

For neither Man nor Angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone,

By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth:

And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguiled Uriel, though regent of the sun, and held The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven;

Who to the fraudulent impostor foul,

In his uprightness, answer thus returned.

Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know The works of God, thereby to glorify The great Work-master, leads to no excess That reaches blame, but rather merits praise The more it seems excess, that led thee hither From thy empyreal mansion thus alone,

To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps,

Contented with report, hear only in Heaven:

For wonderful indeed are all his works,

Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all Had in remembrance always with delight;

But what created mind can comprehend Their number, or the wisdom infinite That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?

I saw when at his word the formless mass,

This world's material mould, came to a heap:

Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined;

Till at his second bidding Darkness fled,

Light shone, and order from disorder sprung:

Swift to their several quarters hasted then The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;

And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven Flew upward, spirited with various forms,

That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;

Each had his place appointed, each his course;

The rest in circuit walls this universe.

Look downward on that globe, whose hither side With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;

That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light His day, which else, as the other hemisphere,

Night would invade; but there the neighbouring moon So call that opposite fair star) her aid Timely interposes, and her monthly round Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heaven,

With borrowed light her countenance triform Hence fills and empties to enlighten the Earth,

And in her pale dominion checks the night.

That spot, to which I point, is Paradise,

Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower.

Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.

Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low,

As to superiour Spirits is wont in Heaven,

Where honour due and reverence none neglects,

Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath,

Down from the ecliptick, sped with hoped success,

Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel;

Nor staid, till on Niphates' top he lights.'(line 11:

The rising world of waters dark and deep,....):

For the world was only in a state of fluidity, when the light was created; as Moses says, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; and God said Let there be light, and there was light," Genesis I. 2, 3.

And this verse of Milton, "The rising world of waters dark and deep," is plainly formed upon this of Spenser,

Fairy Queen.

B.1.

C.1.

St. 39. "And through the world of waters wide and deep."(line 12:

Won from the void and formless infinite...):

Void must not here be understood as 'emptiness', for Chaos is described full of matter; but 'void', as destitute of any form'd being, void as the earth was when first created.

What Moses says of that is here applied to Chaos, "
without form and void." A short but noble description of Chaos, which is said to be infinite, as it extended underneath, as Heaven above, infinitely. --Richardson.(line 16:

Through utter and through middle darkness...):

Through Hell which is often call'd "
utter darkness", and through the great gulf between Hell and Heaven, the "
middle darkness."(line 17:

With other notes than to th' Orphean lyre... &
c.):

Orpheus made a hymn to Night, which is still extant; he also wrote of the creation out of Chaos.

See Apoll.

Rhodius I. 493. Orpheus was inspir'd by his mother Calliope only,

Milton by the "
heav'nly Muse;" therefore he boasts he sung with other notes than Orpheus, tho' the subjects were the same. --Richardson.(line 25:

So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs,

Or dim suffusion veil'd.....................):

Drop serene or 'Gutta serena.' It was formerly thought that that sort of blindness was an incurable extinction or quenching of sight by a transparent, watry, cold humor distilling upon the optic nerve, tho' making very little change in the eye to appearance, if any; 'tis now known to be most commonly an obstruction in the capillary vessels of that nerve, and curable in some cases.

A 'cataract' for many ages, and till about thirty years ago, was thought to be a film externally growing over the eye, intercepting or veiling the sight, beginning with dimness, and so increasing till vision was totally obstructed: but the disease is in the crystallin humor lying between the outmost coat of the eye and the pupilla. The dimness which is at the beginning is called a 'suffusion'; and when the sight is lost, 'tis a 'cataract'; and cur'd by couching, which is with a needle passing through the external coat and driving down the diseas'd crystallin, the loss of which is somewhat supply'd by the use of a large convex glass.

When Milton was first blind, he wrote to his friend Leonard Philara, an Athenian then at Paris, for him to consult Dr.

Thevenot; he sent his case ('tis in the 15th of his familiar letters): what answer he had is not known; but it seems by this passage that he was not certain what his disease was: or perhaps he had a mind to describe both the great causes of blindness according to what was known at that time, as his whole poem is interspers'd with great variety of learning. --Richardson.(line 30: ---------- the flowry brooks beneath,...):

Kedron and Siloah.

He still was pleas'd to study the beauties of the ancient poets, but his highest delight was in the songs of Sion, in the holy Scriptures, and in these he meditated day and night.

This is the sense of the passage stript of its poetical ornaments.(line 35:

Blind Thamyrsis and blind Maeonides,...):

Maeonides is Homer, so call'd from the name of his father Maeon: and no wonder out poet desires to equal him in renown, whose writings he so much studied, admir'd and imitated.

The character of Thamyrsis is not so well known and establish'd: but Homer mentions him in the Iliad.

II. 595; and Eustathius ranks him with Orpheus and Musaeus, the most celebrated poets and musicians. (line 61: ------ and from his sight

Beatitude past utterance; ................):

Our author here alludes to the 'beatific vision,' in which divines suppose the happiness of the Saints to consist. --Thyer.(line 62: -------------on his right / The radiant image of his glory sat,

His only Son; ...........................):

According to St.

Paul,

Hebrews I.3. "His Son -- who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person -- sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high." Let the discerning linguist compare the preceding description of God with that by Tasso,

Cant.9.

Stan.55-57. --Hume.(line 72:

In the dun air......):

This is the "
aer bruno" of the Italians, who almost constantly express a gloomy dusky air in these terms. --Thyer.(line 75:

Firm land imbosom'd, without firmament, ... &
c):

The universe appear'd to Satan to be a solid globe, incompass'd on all sides but uncertain whether with water or air, but "
without firmament", without any sphere or fixed stars over it, as over the earth.

The sphere of fixed stars was itself comprehended in it, and made a part of it.(line 287:

As in him perish all men, so in thee...): "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," 1 Corinthians XV. 22.(line 299:

Giving to death, and dying to redeem,...):

The love of the Father in giving the Son to death, and the love of the Son in submitting to it and dying to redeem mankind.(line 321:

All knees to thee shall bow,....): "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in Earth, and things under the Earth," Philippians,

II. 10.(line 334:

The world shall burn, and from her ashes....): "The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," 2 Peter

II. 12, 13.(line 341:

God shall be all in all. ...):

According to "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be all in all," I Corinthians XV. 28.(line 343:

Adore the Son, and honor him as me,...): "That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." John V. 23.(line 351: --------- down they cast / Their crowns...): "The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne." Revelation IV. 10.(line 387:

Whom else no creature can behold;...):

No creature can otherwise behold the Father but in and through the Son. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him," John I. 18.

But, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father," John

IV. 9.(line 459:

Not in the neighb'ring moon, as some have dream'd;...):

Ariosto particularly, who in his Orlando Furioso,

Cant.34.

St. 70, &
c. gives a much larger description of things lost upon earth and treasur'd up in the moon, than our poet here makes of the Limbo of Vanity. (line 460:

Those argent fields.....&
c.):

There is no question I believe now among philosophers, that the moon is inhabited; but it is greatly to be question'd whether this notion of our author be true, that the inhabitants there are 'translated Saints' or Spirits of a middle nature between Angels and Men; for as the moon is certainly less considerable in itself than our earth, it is not likely that its inhabitants should be so much more considerable. (line 463:

Hither of ill-join'd sons and daughters born....&
c.):

He means "
the sons of God" ill-join'd with "
the daughters of men," alluding to that text of Scripture,

Genesis VI. 4. "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown:" where by 'the sons of God' some Fathers and Commentators have understood 'Angels', as if the Angels had been enamour'd and married to women; but the true meaning is that the posterity of Seth and other patriarchs, who were worshippers of the true God, and therefore call'd "
the sons of God", intermarried with the idolatrous posterity of wicked Cain. [see Milton's the 'Paradise Regain'd,' Book II. notes, {line 178:

Before the flood thou} ; and 'The Loves of the Angels' by Thomas Moore, notes.](line 467:

Of Sennaar,.....):

Or Shinar, for they are both the same name of this province of Babylonia.

But Milton follows the Vulgate as he frequently does in the names of places.(line 471:

Empedocles;.....):

The scholar of Pythagoras, a philosopher and poet, born at Agrigentum in Sicily: he wrote of the nature of things in Greek, as Lucretius did in Latin verse.

He stealing one night from his followers threw himself into the flaming

Etna, that being no where to be found, he might be esteemed to be a God, and to be taken up into Heaven; but his iron pattens, being thrown out by the fury of the burning mountain, discover'd his defeated ambition, and ridiculed his folly.

Horace de Art.

Poet. 464. --Hume.(line 473:

Cleombrotus; ......):

The name is rightly placed the last word in the sentence, as Empedocles was before.

He was called Ambraciota of Ambracia, a city of Epirus in Greece.

Having read over Plato's book of the Soul's immortality and happiness in another life, he was so ravish'd with the account of it, that he leap'd from a high wall into the sea, that he might immediately enjoy it.

His death is celebrated by Callimachus in one of his epigrams,

Ep. 29. ...

And from hence other authors seem to have taken his story, as Cicero Tusc.

Disp.

I. 34.(line 475:

White, black, and gray,......):

So named according to their habits, white fiers or Carmelites, black friers or Dominicans, gray friers or Franciscans, of their founders St.

Francis,

St.

Dominic, and mount Carmel where that order pretend they were first instituted.

Our author here, as elsewhere, shows his dislike and abhorrence of the church of Rome, by placing the religious orders "
with all their trumpery," cowls, hoods, reliques, beads, &
c. in the Paradise of Fools, and not only placing them there, but making them the principal figures.(line 477:

In Golgotha.....):

The same as Calvary, a hill near Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was crucified. "Golgotha", from the Greek from Aramaic gulgulta, lit. "Place of the Skull," from Heb. gulgoleth "
skull." So called in reference to its shape.

According to Hebraic tradition this is also where Adam was buried.(line 482:

And that crystallin sphere....&
c):

He speaks here according to the ancient astronomy, adopted and improv'd by Ptolomy. "They pass the planets sev'n," our planetary or solar system, and beyond this "
pass the fix'd," the firmament or sphere of the fix'd stars, and beyond this "
that crystallin sphere," the crystallin Heaven, clear as crystal, to which the Ptolemaics attributed a sort of liberation or shaking (the 'trepidation' so much talk'd of) to account for certain irregularities in the motion of the stars, and beyond this "
that first mov'd," the primum mobile, the sphere which was both the first mov'd and the first mover, communicating its motions to all the lower spheres; and beyond this was the empyrean Heaven, the seat of God and the Angels.

This passage may receive some farther light and illustration from another of the same nature in Tasso, where he describes the descent of the Arch-Angel Michael from Heaven, and mentions this crystallin and all the other spheres but only inverting the order, as there the motion is downwards, and here it is upwards,

Cant. 9.

St. 60,61.

And when our poet mentions "St.

Peter at Heav'n's wicket with his keys," he certainly intends (as Mr.

Thyer observes) to ridicule the fond conceit of the Romanists, that St.

Peter and his successors are in a particular manner intrusted with the keys of Heaven.

And he makes use of the low phrase of "Heaven's wicket," the better to expose the notions of those whom he places here in the Paradise of Fools.(line 495:

Into a Limbo large and broad,.....):

The Limbus patrum as it is call'd, is a place that the Schoolmen supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Hell, where the souls of the patriarchs were detain'd, and those good men who died before our Saviour's resurrection.

Our author gives the same name to his Paradise of Fools, and more rationally places it beyond "
the backside of the world."(line 501:

His travel'd steps: ....): 'Tired' steps, from "
travagliato" (Italian). --Richardson.(line 510:

The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw...):

A comparison fetch'd from Genesis

II. 12, 13. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven, and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending on it; and behold the Lord stood above it." &
c. (line 518: ---------- and underneath a bright sea flow'd...):

The author himself explains this, in the argument of this book, to be meant of "
the water above the firmament." He mentions it again

II. 619. --Heylin. From The Argument: ... "
thence comes to the gate of Heaven, describ'd ascending by stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it:"(line 521:

Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake...):

As Lazarus was "
carried by Angels," Luke

VI. 22; and Elijah was rapt up "
in a chariot of fire and horses of fire," 2 Kings 11. 2.(line 565: ------------- that shone / Stars distant,...):

They appeared by their shining to be stars. 'Tis a Greek expression, as Plato in an epigram on his friend Stella preserved by Diogenes Laertius. "You shone whilst living a morning star, but dead you now shine Hesperus among the shades." --Richardson.(line 568:

Like those Hesperian gardens...):

So call'd of Hesperus,

Vesper, because placed in the west under the evening star.

Those famous gardens were the iles about Cape Verd in Africa, whose most western point is still call'd Hesperium cornu.

Others will have 'em the Canaries. --Hume.(line 590:

Through his glaz'd optic tube.......):

The spots in the sun are visible with a telescope: but astronomer perhaps never yet saw "
through his glaz'd optic tube," that is his telescope, such a spot as Satan now he was in the sun's orb.

The poet mentions his glass the oftner in honor of Galileo, whom he means here by the "
astronomer."(line 598:

In Aaron's breast-plate,....):

Aaron's breast-plate was a piece of cloth doubled, of a span square, in which were set in sockets of gold twelve precious stones bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel ingraven on them, which being fixed to the ephod, or upper vestment of the high-priest's robes, was worn by him on his breast on all solemn occasions.

See the Notes for Milton's "Paradise Regain'd," Book

II., line 13.(line 602: ----- though by their pow'rful art they bind... &
c.):

Tho' by their pow'rful art they bind and fix quicksilver, and change their matter, unbound, unfix'd, into as many various shapes as Proteus, till it be reduced at last to its first original form. "Hermes," another word for Mercury or quicksilver, which is very fluid, and volatil, and hard to be fixed. "Proteus", a Sea-God, who could transform himself into various shapes, till being closely press'd he return'd to his own proper form.

By this the Ancients understood the first principle of things and the subject matter of nature; and our poet therefore very fitly employs this metaphor or similitude to express the matter, which the chemists make experiments upon thro' all its mutations, and which they drain thro' their limbecs or stills, till it resume its native and original form.(line 606:

What wonder then if fields....):

And if chemists can do so much, what wonder then if in the sun itself is the true philosopher's stone, the grand Elixir, and rivers of liquid gold: when the sun, the chief of chemists, tho' at so great a distance, can perform such wonders upon earth, and produce so many precious things?

The thought of making the sun the chief chemist or alchemist seems to be taken from Shakespear,

King John,

Act

II. "To solemnize this day, the glorious sun / Stays in his course, and plays the alchemist, / Turning with splendor of his precious eye / The meager cloddy earth to glittering gold."(line 623:

The same whom John saw also in the sun:....): "And I saw an Angel standing in the sun." Revelation

IX. 17.(line 625: ------- a golden tiar...):

A golden coronet of shining rays circled his head, yet nevertheless did not hinder his lovely locks, that hung behind over his shoulders adorn'd with wings, from waving themselves into curls and rings. "Tiar" of 'Tiara', the Persian word for a round cap, high and ending in a point, the usual covering and ornament of eastern princes wore on their heads. --Hume. (line 636: ------- a stripling Cherub...):

The evil Spirit, the better to disguise his purpose, assumes the appearance of a stripling Cherub, not of one of those of the prime order and dignity, for such could not so well be supposed to be ignorant of what Satan wanted now to be inform'd. (line 654: -- Uriel, ....):

Uriel,

His name is derived from two Hebrew words which signify "God is my light." He is mention'd as a good Angel in the second book of Esdras, chapters 4 and 5; and the Jews and some Christians conceive him to be an Angel of light according to his name, and therefore he has properly his station in the sun.(line 742: --- on Niphates top he lights.):

A mountain in the borders of Armenia, not far from the spring of Tigris, as Xenophon affirms upon his own knowledge.

The poet lands Satan on this mountain, because it borders on Mesopotamia, in which the most judicious describers of Paradise place it. --Hume.'~ Th.

Newton,

Paradise Lost, 2nd edition, 1750.