And temple of his mighty Father throw'd On high; who into glory him receiv'd, Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss. Thus measuring things ou Hea'vn by things on Earth,
At thy request, and that thou may'st beware By what is past, to thee I have reveal'd What might have else to human race been hid; The discord which befel, and war in Heav'u Among th'angelic Pow'rs, and the deep fall Of those toe high aspiring, who rebell'd With Satan; he who envies now thy state,
Who now is plotting how he may seduce Thee from all obedience, that with him Bereav'd of happiness thou may'st partake His punishment, eternal misery; Which would be all his solace and revenge, As despite done against the most High, Thee once to gain companion of his woe. || But listen not to his temptations, warn Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard By terrible example the reward Of disobedience; firm they might have stood, Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this world was first created, that God, after the expelling of Satau and his Angels out of Heaven, declared his pleasure to create an ther world and other creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son with glory and attendance of Angels to perform the work of creation in six days: the Angels celebrate with bymus the performance thereof, and his re-ascension into Heaven.
DESCEND from Heav'n, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine Following, above th' Olympian hill I soar, Above the flight of Pegaséan wing.
The meaning, not the name I call for thou Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st, but heavu'iy born, Before the hills appear'd, or fountain flow'd, Thou with eternal wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play In presence of th' almighty Father, pleas'd With thy celestial song. Up led by thee Into the Heav'n of Heav'ns I have presum'd, An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air, Thy temp'ring; with like safety guided down
Return me to my native element :
Lest from this flying steed uurein'd, (as once Bellerophon, though from lower clime) Dismounted, on th' Aleian field I fall Erroneous there to wander and forlorn. Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound Within the visible diurnal sphere;
Standing on earth, nor rapt above the pole, More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days, On evii days though fall'n, and evil tongues; In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou Visits my slumbers uightly, or when morn Purples the cast: still govern thon my song, Urauia, and fit audience find, though few. But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revelers, the race
Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had
To rapture, till the savage clamour drowu'd Both harp and voice; nor would the Muse de
Her sou. So fail not thou, who thee implores; For thou art heav'nly, she an empty dream.
Say Goddess, what ensu'd when Raphaël, The affable Arch-angel, had forewarn'd Adam by dire example to beware Apostasy, by what befel in Heav'u
To those apostates, lest the like befall In Paradise to Adam or his race, Charg'd not to touch the interdicted tree, If they transgress, and slight that sole com- mand,
So easily obey'd amid the choice Of all tastes else to please the appetite. Though wandring. He with his consorted
The story heard attentive, and was fill'd With admiration and deep muse, to hear Of things so high and strange, things to their thought
So unimaginable as hate in Heav'n, And war so near the peace of God in bliss With such confusion: but the evil soon Driv'n back redounded as a flood on those From whom it sprung, impossible to mix With blessedness. Whence Adam soon re-
The doubts that in his heart arose: and now
Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know What nearer might concern him, how this world
Of Heav'n and Earth conspicuous first began, When, and whereof created, for what cause, What within Eden or without was done Before his memory, as one whose drought Yet scarce allay'd still eyes the current stream, Whose liquid murmur heard new thrist ex- cites,
Proceeded thus to ask his heav'nly guest:
Great things, and full of wonder in our cars, Far differing from this world, thou hast reveal'd,
Divine interpreter, by favour sent
Down from the empyréan to forewarn
U's timely of what might else have been our loss, [reach: Unknown, which human knowledge could not For which to th' infinitely Good we owe Immortal thanks, and his admonishment Receive with solemn purpose to observe Immutably his sov'reign will, the end
Of what we are. But since thou hast vouch- saf'd
Gently for our instruction to impart
Obtain: though to recount almighty works What words or tongue of Seraph cau suffice, Or heart of man suffice to comprehend Yet what thou can'st attain, which best may
To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheld Thy hearing, such commission from above I have receiv'd, to answer thy desire
Of knowledge within bounds; beyond ab. staia
To ask, nor let thine own inventions hope Things not reveal'd, which th' invisible King, Only omniscient, hath suppress'd in night, To none communicable in Earth and Heav'n: Enough is left beside to search and know. But knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her temp'rance over appetite, to know Or measure what the mind may well contain; Oppresses clse with surfeit, and soon turns Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind. Know then, that after Lucifer from Heaven (So call him, brighter once among the host Of Angels, than that star the stars among) Fell with his flaming legions through the deep
Things above earthly thought, which yet con- Into his place, and the great Son return'd
Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seem'd, Deign to descend now lower, and relate What may no less perhaps avail us known, How first began this Heav'n which we behold Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd Ianumerable, and this which yields or fills All space; the ambient air wide interfus'd Embracing round this florid earth, what cause Mov'd the Creator in his holy rest Through all eternity so late to build In Chaos, and the work begun, how soon Absolv'd, if unforbid thou may'st unfold What we, not to explore the secrets ask Of his eternal empire, but the more To magnify his works, the more we know. And the great light of day yet wants to run Much of his race though steep; suspense in Heaven,
Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, And longer will delay to hear thee tell His generation, and the rising birth Of nature from the unapparent deep:
Or if the star of evening, and the moon
Victorious with bis Saints, th' omnipotent Eternal Father from his throne beheld Their multitude, and to his Sou thus spake. At least our envious foe hath fair'd, who
With ministeries due and solemn rites: But lest his heart exalt him in the harm Already done, to have dispeopled Heaven, My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair That detriment, if such it be to lose Self-lost, and in a moment will create Another world, out of one man a race Of men innumerable, there to dwell,
Haste to the audience, night with her will Not here, till by degrees of merit rais'd
Silence, and sleep list'ning to thee will watch, Or can we bid his absence, till thy song End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine. Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought: And thus the Godlike Angel answer'd mild. This also thy request with caution ask'd
They open to themselves at length the way Up hither, under long obedience try'd, And Earth be chang'd to Heav'n, and Heav'n
One kingdom, joy and union without end.
Mean while inhabit lax, ye Pow'rs of Heav'n, And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee
This I perform, speak thou, and be it done; My overshadowing spirit and might with thee I send along: ride forth, and bid the Deep Within appointed bounds be Heav'n and Earth,|| Boundless the Deep, because I Am : ho fill Infinitude, nor vacuous the space. Though I uncircumscrib'd myself retire, And put not forth my goodness which is free To act or not, Necessity and Chance Approach not me, and what I will is fate. So spake th' Almighty, and to what he spake His Word, the filial Godhead gave effect. Immediate are the acts of God, more swift Than time or motion, but to human ears Cannot without process of speech be told, So told as earthly notion could receive. Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heav'n, When such was heard declar'd th' Almighty's will;
Glory they sung to the Most High, good will To future men, and in their dwellings peace: Glory to him, whose just avenging ire Had driv'n out th' ungodly from his sight And th' habitatious of the just; to him Glory and praise, whose wisdom hath ordain'd Good out of evil to create, instead Of spirits maliga a better race to bring Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse His good to worlds and ages infinite.
So sang the hierarchies: mean while the Son On his grand expedition now appear'd, Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd Of majesty divine; sapience and love Immense, and all his Father in him shone. About his chariot numberless were pour'd Cherub and seraph, potentates and thrones, And virtues, winged spirits, and chariots wing'd
From th' armoury of God, where stand of old Myriads between two brazen mountains lodg'd Against a solemn day, harness'd at haud, Celestial equipage; and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them spirit liv'd, Attendant on their Lord: Heav'n open'd wide Her ever during gates, harmonious sound Ou golden binges moving, to let forth The King of Glory in his powerful Word And Spirit coming to create new worlds. On heavenly ground they stood, and from the
They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds And surging waves, as mountains, to assault Heav'n's height, and with the centre mix the pole. [peace,
Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, Said then th' omuific Word, your discord end: Nor stay'd, but on the wings of cherubim
Uplifted, in paternal glory rode Far into Chaos, and the world unborn; ́ For Chaos heard his voice: him all his train Follow'd in bright procession to be bold Creation, and the wonders of his might. Then stay'd the fervid wheels, and in his hand He took the golden compasses, prepar'd In God's eternal store, to circumscribe This universe, and all created things: One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd Round through the vast profundity obscure, And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds, This be thy just circumference, O World, Thus God the Heav'n created, thus the Earth, Matter unform'd and void: darkness profound Cover'd th' abyss: but on the watry calm His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread, And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth Throughout the fluid mass, but downward purg'd
The black tartareous cold infernal dregs Adverse to life: then founded, then conglob'd Like things to like, the rest to several place Disparted, and between spun out the air, And Earth, self-balanc'd, on her center hung. Let there be light, said God, and forthwith
Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure Sprung from the deep, and from her native
To journey through the aery gloom began, Spher'd in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle Sojourn'd the while. God saw the light was good;
And light from darkness by the hemisphere Divided: light the Day, and darkness Night He nam'd. Thus was the first day ev'u and
Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung
By the celestial quires, when orient light Exhaling first from darkness they beheld; Birth day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and sbout
The hollow universal orb they fill'd And touch'd their golden harps, and bymning prais'd
God and his works, Creator him they sung, Both when first evening was, and when first
Again, God said, Let there be Firmament Amid the waters, and let it divide The waters from the waters: and God made The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, Transparent, elemental air diffus'd In circuit to the uttermost convex Of this great round: partition firm and sure, The waters underneath from those above Dividing for as Earth, so he the world
Built on circumfluous waters, calm and wide Chrystallin ocean, and the loud misrule Of Chaos far remov'd, lest fierce extremes Contiguous might distemper the whole frame: And Heav'n he nam'd the Firmament: so even And morning chorus sung the second day. The Earth was form'd, but in the womb as yet
Of waters, embryon immature involv'd, Appear'd not over all the face of Earth Main ocean flow'd, not idle, bat with warm Prolific humor softening all her globe, Fermented the great mother to conceive, Satiate with genial moisture, when God said, Be gather'd now ye waters under Heav'n Into one place, and let dry land appear. Immediately the mountains huge appear Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky: So high as heav'd the tumid hills, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep, Capacious bed of waters: thither they Hasted with glad precipitance, uproll'd As drops on dust conglobing from the dry; Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct, For haste; such haste the great command im- press'd
On the swift floods: as armies at the call Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard) Troop to their standard, so the watry throng, Wave rolling after wave, where way they found, If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain, Soft ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill, But they, or under ground, or circuit wide With serpent error wand'ring, found their way, And on the washy oose deep channels wore; Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry, All but within those banks, where rivers now Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train. The dry land Earth, and the great receptacle Of congregated waters he call'd Seas:
Rose as in dance the stately trees, and spread Their branches hang with copious fruit, or gemm'd [crown'd,
Their blossoms: with high woods the hills were With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side, With borders long the rivers: that Earth now Secur'd like to Heav'n, a seat where gods might dwell,
Or wander with delight, and love to haunt fler sacred shades: though God had not yet rain'd
Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground Noue was, but from the Earth a dewy mist Went up and water'd all the ground, and each Plant of the field, which ere it was in th' Earth God made, and every herb, before it grew On the green stem; God saw that it was good: So ev'n and morn recorded the third day.
Again th' Almighty spake, Let there be lights High in th' expanse of Heaven, to divide The day from night; and let them be for sigus, For seasons, and for days, and circling years, And let them be for lights as I ordain Their office in the firmament of Heav'n To give light on the Earth; and it was so. And God made two great lights, great for their
To man, the greater to have rule by day, The less by night altern; and made the stars, And set them in the firmament of Heav'n To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day In their vicissitude, and rule the night, And light from darkness to divide. God saw, Surveying his great work, that it was good: For of celestial bodies first the sun
A mighty sphere he fram'd, unlightsome first, Though of ethereal mold: then form'd the
Globose, and every magnitude of stars, And sow'd with stars the Heav'n thick as a field: Of light by far the greater part he took,
And saw that this was good, and said, Let th' || Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and Earth
Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed, || In the sun's orb, made porous to receive
And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind, Whose seed is in herself upon the Earth.
He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, til! then
Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn'd, [clad Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure Her universal face with pleasant green, Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd Opening their various colours, and made gay Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown, [crept Forth florish'd thick the clustering vine, forth The smelling gourd, up stood the corny reed Imbattel'd in her field, and th' humble shrub, And bush with frizled hair implicit last
And drink the liquid light, firm to retain Her gather'd beams, great palace now of light Hither as to their fountain other stars Repairing, in their golden urns draw light, And hence the morning planet gilds her horns; By tincture or reflection they augment Their small peculiar, though from human sight So far remote, with diminution seen. First in his east the glorious lamp was seen, Regent of day, and all th' horizon round Invested with bright rays, jocund to run [gray His longitude through Heav'n's high road; the Dawn, and the Pleides before him danc'd Shedding sweet influence: less bright the moon But opposite in level'd West was set
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light From him, for other light she needed none In that aspect, and still that distance keeps Till night, then in the east her turn she shines, Revolv'd on Heav'n's great axle, and her reign With thousand lesser lights dividual holds, With thousand thousand stars, that then ap- pear'd
Spangling the hemisphere: then first adorn'd With their bright luminaries that set and rose, Glad ev'ning and glad morn crown'd the fourth day.
And God said, Let the waters generate Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul: And let fowl fly above the Earth, with wings Display'd on th' open firmament of Heav'n. And God created the great whales, and each Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously The waters generated by their kinds, And every bird of wing after his kind;
And saw that it was good, and bless'd them, saying,
Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas, And lakes, and running streams the waters fill; And let the fowl be multiply'd on th' Earth. Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay
With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals
Of fish that with their fins and shining scales Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft Bank the mid sca: part single or with mate Graze, the sea weed their pasture, and through groves
Of coral stray, or sporting with quick glance Show to the sun their wav'd coats dropt with gold,
Or in their pearly shells, at ease attend Moist nutriment, or under rocks their food In jointed armour watch: on smooth the seal, And bended dolphins play : part buge of bulk Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait Tempest the ocean: there leviathan, Hugest of living creatures, on the deep Stre-ch'd like a promontory, sleeps or swims, And seems a moving land, and at his gills Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out a sea. Mean while the tepid caves, and feus, and shores, [that soon Their brood as numerous hatch, from th' egg Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos'd
. Their callow young, but feather'd soon and fledge [sublime They summ'd their pens, and soaring th' air With clang despis'd the ground, under a cloud In prospect; there the eagle and the stork
Ou cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build : Partly loose wing the region, part more wise In common, rang'd in figure wedge their way, Intelligent of seasons, and set for th
The silent hour, and th' other whose gay train Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl, Even and morn solemniz'd the fifth day.
The sixth, of creation last arose With evening harps and matin, when God said Let th' Earth bring forth soul living in her kind, [Earth, Cattle and creeping things, and beasts of th' Each in their kind. The Earth obey'd, and strait
Opening her fertile womb, teem'd at a birth Innumerable living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown out of the ground up
As from his lair the wild beast, where he wons In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den; Among the trees in pairs they rose, they
The cattle in the fields and meadows green : Those rare and solitary, these in flocks Pasturing at once, and in broad herds up.
The grassy clods now calv'd, now half appear'd The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, Connce, And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the The libbard and the tiger, as the mole Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw In hillocks: the swift stag from under ground Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mold.
Behemoth, biggest born of Earth, upheav`d His vastness: fleec'd the flucks and bleating
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