Then, crown'd 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, Fountain 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 Impress'd 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 disarray'd. Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim Thee only extoll'd, 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 discern'd, Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat Second to thee, offer'd 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. Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe
Of this round world, whose first convex divides The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old, Satan alighted walks: a globe far off
It seem'd, 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 vex'd with tempest loud: Here walk'd the Fiend at large in spacious field. As when a vulture 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 the 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 Walk'd 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 aëreal vapours flew
Of all things transitory and vain, when sin With vanity had fill'd 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 unaccomplish'd works of Nature's hand, Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mix'd, Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final dissolution, wander here;
Not in the neighbouring moon as some have dream'd; Those argent fields more likely habitants, Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold Betwixt the angelical and humankind. Hither of ill-join'd sons and daughters born First from the ancient world those giants came With many a vain exploit, though then renown'd: 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 deem'd A God, leap'd fondly into Ætna flames, Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy Plato's Elysium, leap'd 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 stray'd 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 Dominic,
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised; They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd, And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talk'd, 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, toss'd And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,
The sport of winds: All these, upwhirl'd aloft, Fly o'er the backside of the world far off Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod. All this dark globe the Fiend found as he pass'd, And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam Of dawning light turn'd thitherward in haste His travel'd 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, appear'd The work as of a kingly palace-gate, With frontispiece of diamond and gold Embellish'd; thick with sparkling orient gems The portal shone, inimitable on earth By model, or by shading pencil, drawn. The 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,
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