Journal Writing 9:

Write a journal response in which you identify some of the discrepancies between what Satan says to his followers in Book I and what he reveals to us in his soliloquy in Book IV. There are numerous discrepancies, so choose those that stand out for you. Be sure to focus on the two specific scenes assigned for your readings in these books. As always, your response should be 350 – 400 words.
Book I
BOOK 1

 THE ARGUMENT

 This first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole Subject, Mans disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was plac’t: Then touches the prime cause of his fall of him, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent;  who revolting from God, and drawing to his side of him many Legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his Crew of him into the great Deep.  Which action past over, the Poem hasts into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell, describ’d here, not in the Center (for Heaven and Earth may be suppos’d as yet not made, certainly not  yet accurst) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest call’d Chaos: Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning Lake, thunder-struck and astonisht, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in  Order and Dignity lay by him;  they confer of thir miserable fall.  Satan awakens all his Legions from him, who lay till then in the same manner confounded;  They rise, thir Numbers, array of Battel, thir chief Leaders nam’d, according to the Idols known afterwards in Canaan and the Countries adjoyning.  To these Satan directs his Speech from him, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new World and new kind of Creature to be created, according to an ancient Prophesie or report in Heaven;  for that Angels were long before this visible Creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers.  To find out the truth of this Prophesie, and what to determine thereon he refers to a full Councel.  What his Associates of him thence attempt.  Pandemonium the Palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the Deep: The infernal Peers there sit in Councel.

 OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
 Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
 Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
 With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
 Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, [5]
 Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top
 Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
 That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
 In the Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth
 Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill [10]
 Delight thee more, and Siloa’s Brook that flow’d
 Fast by the Oracle of God;  I thence
 Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
 That with no middle flight intends to soar
 Above th ‘Aonian Mount, while it pursues [15]
 Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
 And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
 Before all Temples th ‘upright heart and pure,
 Instruct me, for Thou know’st;  Thou from the first
 Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread [20]
 Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
 And mad’st it pregnant: What in me is dark
 Illumin, what is low raise and support;
 That to the highth of this great Argument
 I may assert Eternal Providence, [25]
 And justifie the ways of God to men.

 Say first, for Heav’n hides nothing from thy view
 Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause
 Mov’d our Grand Parents in that happy State,
 Favor’d of Heav’n so highly, to fall off [30]
 From thir Creator, and transgress his Will
 For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?
 Who first seduc’d them to that foul revolt?
 Th ‘infernal Serpent;  he it was, whose guile
 Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv’d [35]
 The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride
 Had cast him out from Heav’n, with all his Host
 Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
 To set himself in Glory above his Peers de el,
 I have trusted to have equal’d the most High, [40]
 If I have oppos’d;  and with ambitious aim
 Against the Throne and Monarchy of God
 Rais’d impious War in Heav’n and Battel proud
 With vain attempt.  Him the Almighty Power
 Hurld headlong flaming from th ‘Ethereal Skie [45]
 With hideous ruine and combustion down
 To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
 In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
 Who durst defie th ‘Omnipotent to Arms.
 Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night [50]
 To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
 Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe
 Confounded though immortal: But his doom
 Reserv’d him to more wrath;  for now the thought
 Both of lost happiness and lasting pain [55]
 Torments him;  round he throws his baleful eyes
 That witness’d huge affliction and dismay
 Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:
 At once as far as Angels kenn he views
 The dismal Situation waste and wilde, [60]
 A horrible dungeon, on all sides round
 As one great Furnace flam’d, yet from those flames
 No light, but rather darkness visible
 Serv’d onely to discover sights of woe,
 Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace [65]
 And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
 That comes to all;  but torture without end
 Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
 With ever-burning Sulfur unconsum’d:
 Such place Eternal Justice had prepar’d [70]
 For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordain’d
 In utter darkness, and thir portion set
 As far remov’d from God and light of Heav’n
 As from the Center thrice to th ‘utmost Pole.
 O how unlike the place from whence they fell!  [75]
 There the companions of his fall of him, o’rewhelm’d
 With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
 He soon discerns, and weltring by his side
 One next himself in power, and next in crime,
 Long after known in Palestine, and nam’d [80]
 Beelzebub.  To whom th ‘Arch-Enemy,
 And thence in Heav’n call’d Satan, with bold words
 Breaking the horrid silence thus began.

 If thou beest he;  But O how fall’n!  how chang’d
 From him, who in the happy Realms of Light [85]
 Cloth’d with transcendent brightness didst out-shine
 Myriads though bright: If he Whom mutual league,
 United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
 And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,
 Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd [90]
 In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest
 From what highth fall’n, so much the stronger prov’d
 He with his Thunder from him: and till then who knew
 The force of those dire Arms?  yet not for those,
 Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage de él [95]
 Can else inflict, do I repent or change,
 Though chang’d in outward luster;  that fixt mind
 And high disdain, from sence of injur’d merit,
 That with the mightiest rais’d me to contend,
 And to the fierce contention brought along [100]
 Countless force of Spirits arm’d
 That durst dislike his reign of him, and me preferring,
 His utmost power of him with adverse power oppos’d
 In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav’n,
 And he shook his throne from him.  What though the field be lost?  [105]
 All is not lost;  the unconquerable Will,
 And study of revenge, immortal hate,
 And courage never to submit or yield:
 And what is else not to be overcome?
 That Glory never shall his wrath or might of him [110]
 Extort from me.  To bow and sue for grace
 With suppliant knee, and deifie his power of him,
 Who from the terror of this Arm so late
 Doubted his Empire of him, that were low indeed,
 That were an ignominy and shame beneath [115]
 This downfall;  since by Fate the strength of Gods
 And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,
 Since through experience of this great event
 In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc’t,
 We may with more successful hope resolve [120]
 To wage by force or guile eternal Warr
 Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,
 Who now triumphs, and in th ‘excess of joy
 Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav’n.

 So spake th ‘Apostate Angel, though in pain, [125]
 Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare:
 And him thus answer’d soon his bold Compeer de el.

 O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers,
 That led th ‘imbattelld Seraphim to Warr
 Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds [130]
 Fearless, endanger’d Heav’ns perpetual King;
 And put to proof his high Supremacy of him,
 Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate,
 Too well I see and rue the dire event,
 That with sad overthrow and foul defeat [135]
 Hath lost us Heav’n, and all this mighty Host
 In horrible destruction laid thus low,
 As far as Gods and Heav’nly Essences
 Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains
 Invincible, and vigor soon returns, [140]
 Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state
 Here swallow’d up in endless misery.
 But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now
 Of force believe Almighty, since no less
 Then such could hav orepow’rd such force as ours) [145]
 Have left us this our spirit and strength intire
 Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
 That we may so suffice his vengeful ire de el,
 Or do him mightier service as his thralls
 By right of Warr, what are his business be [150]
 Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire,
 Or do his Errands de él in the gloomy Deep;
 What can it then avail though yet we feel
 Strength undiminisht, or eternal being
 To undergo eternal punishment?  [155]
 Whereto with speedy words th ‘Arch-fiend reply’d.

 Fall’n Cherube, to be weak is miserable
 Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,
 To do ought good never will be our task,
 But ever to do ill our sole delight, [160]
 As being the contrary to his high will
 Whom we resist.  If then his Providence
 Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
 Our labor must be to pervert that end,
 And out of good still to find means of evil;  [165]
 Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps
 Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
 His inmost counsels from thir destind aim.
 But see the angry Victor hath recall’d
 His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit [170]
 Back to the Gates of Heav’n: The Sulphurous Hail
 Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid
 The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice
 Of Heav’n receiv’d us falling, and the Thunder,
 Wing’d with red Lightning and impetuous rage, [175]
 Perhaps he has spent his shafts, and ceases now
 To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.
 Let us not slip th ‘occasion, whether scorn,
 Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.
 Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde, [180]
 The seat of desolation, voyd of light,
 Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
 Casts pale and dreadful?  Thither let us tend
 From off the tossing of these fiery waves,
 There rest, if any rest can harbor there, [185]
 And reassembling our afflicted Powers,
 Consult how we may henceforth most offend
 Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,
 How overcome this dire Calamity,
 What reinforcement we may gain from Hope, [190]
 If not what resolution from despare.

 Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate
 With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes
 That sparkling blaz’d, his other Parts of him besides
 Prone on the Flood, extended long and large [195]
 Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
 As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,
 Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr’d on Jove,
 Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den
 By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast [200]
 Leviathan, which God of all his works
 Created hugest that swim th ‘Ocean stream:
 Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam
 The Pilot of some small night-founder’d Skiff,
 Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell, [205]
 With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind
 Moors by his side of him under the Lee, while Night
 Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes:
 So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay
 Chain’d on the burning Lake, nor ever thence [210]
 He had ris’n or heav’d his head de el, but that the will
 And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
 Left him at large to his own dark designs of him,
 That with reiterated crimes he might
 Heap on himself damnation, while he sought [215]
 Evil to others, and enrag’d might see
 How all his malice de él serv’d but to bring forth
 Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn
 On Man by him seduc’t, but on himself
 Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour’d.  [220]
 Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool
 His mighty Stature of him;  on each hand the flames
 Drivn backward slope thir pointing spires, and rowld
 In billows, leave i’th ‘midst a horrid Vale.
 Then with expanded wings he stears his flight from him [225]
 Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air
 That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land
 He lights, if it were Land that ever burn’d
 With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire;
 And such appear’d in hue, as when the force [230]
 Of subterranean wind transports a Hill
 Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter’d side
 Of thundring Ætna, whose fuel
 And fewel’d entrals thence conceiving Fire,
 Sublim’d with Mineral fury, aid the Winds, [235]
 And leave a singed bottom all involv’d
 With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole
 Of unblest feet.  Him followed his next Mate de el,
 Both glorying to have scap’t the Stygian flood
 As Gods, and by thir own recover’d strength, [240]
 Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.

 Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,
 Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat
 That we must change for Heav’n, this mournful gloom
 For that celestial light?  Be it so, since he [245]
 Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
 What shall be right: fardest from him is best
 Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream
 Above his equals of him.  Farewel happy Fields
 Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail [250]
 Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
 Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
 A mind not to be chang’d by Place or Time.
 The mind is its own place, and in it self
 Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.  [255]
 What matter where, if I be still the same,
 And what I should be, all but less then he
 Whom Thunder hath made greater?  Here at least
 We shall be free;  th ‘Almighty hath not built
 Here for his envy of him, he will not drive us hence: [260]
 Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
 To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
 Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n.
 But wherefore let us then our faithful friends,
 Th ‘associates and copartners of our loss [265]
 Lye thus astonisht on th ‘oblivious Pool,
 And call them not to share with us their part
 In this unhappy Mansion, or once more
 With rallied Arms to try what may be yet
 Regaind in Heav’n, or what more lost in Hell?  [270]

 So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub
 Thus answer’d.  Leader of those Armies bright,
 Which but th ‘Onmipotent none could have foyld,
 If once they hear that voyce, thir liveliest pledge
 Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft [275]
 In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge
 Of battel when it rag’d, in all assaults
 Thir surest signal, they will soon resume
 New courage and revive, though now they lye
 Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire, [280]
 As we erewhile, astounded and amaz’d,
 No wonder, fall’n such a pernicious highth.

 He scarce had ceas’t when the superiour Fiend
 He was moving toward the shoar;  his ponderous shield
 Ethereal temper, massy, ​​large and round, [285]
 Behind him cast;  the broad circumference
 Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb
 Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views
 At Ev’ning from the top of Fesole,
 Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands, [290]
 Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.
 His Spear de ella, to equal which the tallest Pine
 Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast
 Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand,
 He walkt with to support uneasie steps [295]
 Over the burning Marle, not like those steps
 On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime
 Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire;
 Nathless he so endur’d, till on the Beach
 Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call’d [300]
 His Legions of him, Angel Forms, who lay intrans’t
 Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks
 In Vallombrosa, where th ‘Etrurian shades
 High overarch’t imbowr;  or scatterd sedge
 Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm’d [305]
 Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew
 Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry,
 While with perfidious hatred they pursu’d
 The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
 From the safe shore thir floating Carkases [310]
 And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown
 Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood,
 Under amazement of thir hideous change.
 He call’d so loud, that all the hollow Deep
 Of Hell resounded.  Princes, Potentates, [315]
 Warriers, the Flowr of Heav’n, once yours, now lost,
 If such astonishment as this can sieze
 Eternal spirits;  or have ye chos’n this place
 After the toyl of Battel to repose
 Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find [320]
 To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav’n?
 Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
 To adore the Conquerour?  who now beholds
 Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood
 With scatter’d Arms and Ensigns, till anon [325]
 His swift pursuers from Heav’n Gates discern
 Th ‘advantage, and descending tread us down
 Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts
 Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe.
 Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n.  [330]

 They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung
 Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
 On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,
 Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.
 Nor did they not perceive the evil plight [335]
 In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
 Yet to thir Generals Voyce they soon obeyd
 Innumerable.  As when the potent Rod
 Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day
 Wav’d round the Coast, up call’d a pitchy cloud [340]
 Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind,
 That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung
 Like Night, and darken’d all the Land of Nile:
 So numberless were those bad Angels seen
 Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell [345]
 ‘Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires;
 Till, as a signal giv’n, th ‘uplifted Spear
 Of thir great Sultan waving to direct
 Thir course, in even ballance down they light
 On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain;  [350]
 A multitude, like which the populous North
 Pour’d never from her frozen loyns, to pass
 Rhene or the Danaw, when her de ella barbarous Sons
 Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread
 Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian sands.  [355]
 Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band
 The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood
 Thir great Commander;  Godlike shapes and forms
 Excelling human, Princely Dignities,
 And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones;  [360]
 Though of thir Names in heav’nly Records now
 Be no memorial blotted out and ras’d
 By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.
 Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve
 Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth, [365]
 Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man,
 By falsities and lyes the greatest part
 Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake
 God thir Creator, and th ‘invisible
 Glory of him that made them, to transform [370]
 Off to the Image of a Brute, adorn’d
 With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,
 And Devils to adore for Deities:
 Then were they known to men by various Names,
 And various Idols through the Heathen World.  [375]
 Say, Muse, thir Names then known, who first, who last,
 Rous’d from the slumber, on that fiery Couch,
 At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth
 He came singly where he stood on the bare strand,
 While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof?  [380]
 The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell
 Roaming to seek thir prey on earth, durst fix
 Thir Seats long after next the Seat of God,
 Thir Altars by his Altar de el, Gods ador’d
 Among the Nations round, and durst abide [385]
 Jehovah thundring out of Zion, thron’d
 Between the Cherubim;  yea, often plac’d
 Within his Sanctuary of he it self thir Shrines,
 Abominations;  and with cursed things
 His holy Rites de el, and solemn Feasts profan’d, [390]
 And with thir darkness durst affront his light from him.
 First Moloch, horrid King besmear’d with blood
 Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,
 Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud
 Thir childrens cries unheard, that past through fire [395]
 To his grim Idol of him.  Him the Ammonite
 Worship in Rabba and her de ella watry Plain de ella,
 In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
 Of utmost Arnon.  Nor content with such
 Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart [400]
 Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
 His Temple de el right against the Temple of God
 On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove
 The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence
 And black Gehenna call’d, the Type of Hell.  [405]
 Next Chemos, th ‘obscene dread of Moabs Sons,
 From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
 Of Southmost Abarim;  in Hesebon
 And Horonaim, Seons Realm, beyond
 The flowry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines, [410]
 And Eleale to th ‘Asphaltick Pool.
 Worse his other Name of him, when he entic’d
 Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile
 To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
 Yet thence his lustful Orgies of him I have enlarg’d [415]
 Even to that Hill of scandal, by the Grove
 Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;
 Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.
 With these came they, who from the bordring flood
 Of old Euphrates to the Brook that parts [420]
 Egypt from Syrian ground, had general Names
 Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male,
 These Feminine.  For Spirits when they please
 Can either Sex assume, or both;  so soft
 And uncompounded is thir Essence pure, [425]
 Not ti’d or manacl’d with joynt or limb,
 Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
 Like cumbrous flesh;  but in what shape they choose
 Dilated or condens’t, bright or obscure,
 Can execute thir aerie purposes, [430]
 And works of love or enmity fulfill.
 For those the Race of Israel oft forsook
 Thir living strength, and unfrequented left
 His righteous Altar of him, bowing lowly down
 To bestial Gods;  for which thir heads as low [435]
 Bow’d down in Battel, sunk before the Spear
 Of despicable foes.  With these in troop
 Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call’d
 Astarte, Queen of Heav’n, with crescent Horns;
 To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon [440]
 Sidonian Virgins paid thir Vows and Songs,
 In Sion also not unsung, where stood
 Her Temple of her on th ‘offensive Mountain, built
 By that uxorious King, whose heart though large,
 Beguil’d by fair Idolatresses, fell [445]
 To Idols foul.  Thammuz came next behind,
 Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur’d
 The Syrian Damsels to lament his fate
 In amorous dittyes all a Summers day,
 While smooth Adonis from his native Rock by him [450]
 Ran purple to the Sea, suppos’d with blood
 Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale
 Infected Sions daughters with like heat,
 Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch
 Ezekiel saw, when by the Vision led [455]
 His eye of him survay’d the dark Idolatries
 Of alienated Judah.  Next came one
 Who mourn’d in earnest, when the Captive Ark
 Maim’d his brute Image of him, head and hands lopt off
 In his own Temple of him, on the grunsel edge, [460]
 Where he fell flat, and sham’d his Worshipers de el:
 Dagon his Name de el, Sea Monster, upward Man
 And downward Fish: yet had his Temple de él high
 He rear’d in Azotus, dreaded through the Coast
 Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon [465]
 And Accaron and Gaza’s frontier bounds.
 Him follow’d Rimmon, whose delightful Seat
 He was fair Damascus, on the fertile Banks
 Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.
 He also against the house of God was bold: [470]
 A Leper once I have lost and gain’d a King,
 Ahaz his sottish Conquerour de él, whom he drew
 Gods Altar to disparage and displace
 For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn
 His odious off’rings, and adore the Gods [475]
 Whom he had vanquisht.  After these appear’d
 A crew who under Names of old Renown,
 Osiris, Isis, Orus and their Train
 With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus’d
 Fanatic Egypt and her de ella Priests de ella, to seek [480]
 Thir wandring Gods disguis’d in brutish forms
 Rather then human.  Nor did Israel scape
 Th ‘infection when thir borrow’d Gold compos’d
 The Calf in Oreb: and the Rebel King
 Doubl’d that sin in Bethel and in Dan, [485]
 Lik’ning his Maker to the Grazed Ox,
 Jehovah, who in one Night when he pass’d
 From Egypt marching, equal’d with one stroke
 Both her de ella first born de ella and all her de ella bleating Gods.
 Belial came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd [490]
 She fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
 Vice for it self: To him no Temple stood
 Or Altar smoak’d;  yet who more oft then hee
 In Temples and at Altars, when the Priest
 Turns Atheist, as did Ely’s Sons, who fill’d [495]
 With lust and violence the house of God.
 In Courts and Palaces he also Reigns
 And in luxurious Cities, where the noyse
 Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs,
 And injury and outrage: And when Night [500]
 Darkens the Streets, then wander forth the Sons
 Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
 Witness the Streets of Sodom, and that night
 In Gibeah, when the hospitable door
 Expos’d a Matron to avoid worse monkfish.  [505]
 These were the prime in order and in might;
 The rest were long to tell, though far renown’d,
 Th ‘Ionian Gods, of Javans Issue held
 Gods, yet confest later then Heav’n and Earth
 Thir boasted Parents;  Titan Heav’ns first born [510]
 With his enormous brood of him, and birthright six’d
 By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove
 His own of him and Rhea’s Son like measure found;
 So Jove usurping reign’d: these first in Creet
 And Ida known, thence on the Snowy top [515]
 Of cold Olympus rul’d the middle Air
 Thir highest Heav’n;  or on the Delphian Cliff,
 Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds
 Of Doric Land;  or who with Saturn old
 Fled over Adria to th ‘Hesperian Fields, [520]
 And pray the Celtic roam’d the utmost Isles.
 All these and more came flocking;  but with looks
 Down cast and damp, yet such wherein appear’d
 Obscure some glimps of joy, to have found thir chief
 Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost [525]
 In loss it self;  which on his count’nance cast
 Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride
 Soon recollecting, with high words, that he bore
 Semblance of worth, not substance, gently rais’d
 Thir fainting courage, and dispel’d thir fears.  [530]
 Then strait commands that at the warlike sound
 Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard
 His mighty Standard of him;  that proud honor claim’d
 Azazel as his right of him, a Cherube tall:
 Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld [535]
 Th ‘Imperial Ensign, which full high advanc’t
 Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind
 With Gemms and Golden luster rich imblaz’d,
 Seraphic arms and Trophies: all the while
 Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds: [540]
 At which the universal Host upsent
 A shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond
 He frighted the Reign of Chaos and old Night.
 All in a moment through the gloom were seen
 Ten thousand Banners rise into the Air [545]
 With Orient Colors waving: with them rose
 A Forest huge of Spears: and thronging Helms
 Appear’d, and serried shields in thick array
 Of depth immeasurable: Anon they move
 In perfect Phalanx to the Dorian mood [550]
 Of Flutes and soft Recorders;  such as rais’d
 To hight of noblest temper Hero’s old
 Arming to Battel, and in stead of rage
 Deliberate courage breath’d, firm and unmov’d
 With dread of death to flight or foul retreat, [555]
 Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage
 With solemn touches, troubl’d thoughts, and chase
 Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain
 From mortal or immortal minds.  Thus they
 Breathing united force with fixed thought [560]
 Mov’d on in silence to soft Pipes that charm’d
 Thir painful steps o’re the burnt soyle;  and now
 Advanc’t in view, they stand, a horrid Front
 Of dreadful length and dazling Arms, in guise
 Of Warriers old with order’d Spear and Shield, [565]
 Awaiting what command thir mighty Chief
 Had to impose: He through the armed Files
 Darts his experienc’t eye, and soon traverse
 The whole Battalion views, thir order due,
 Thir visages and stature as of Gods, [570]
 Thir number last he summs.  And now his heart
 From him Distends with pride, and hardning in his strength
 Glories: For never since created man,
 Met such imbodied force, as he nam’d with these
 He could merit more then that small infantry [575]
 Warr’d on by Cranes: though all the Giant brood
 Of Phlegra with th ‘Heroic Race were joyn’d
 That fought at Theb’s and Ilium, on each side
 Mixt with auxiliary Gods;  and what resounds
 In Fable or Romance of Uthers Son [580]
 Begirt with British and Armoric Knights;
 And all who since, Baptiz’d or Infidel
 Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,
 Damascus, or Marocco, or Trebisond,
 Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore [585]
 When Charlemain with all his Peerage de he fell
 By Fontarabbia.  Thus far these beyond
 Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed’d
 Thir dread commander: he above the rest
 In shape and gesture proudly eminent [590]
 He stood like a Towr;  his form of he had yet not lost
 All her Original brightness of him, nor appear’d
 Less then Arch Angel ruind, and th ‘excess
 Of Glory obscur’d: As when the Sun new ris’n
 Looks through the Horizontal misty Air [595]
 Shorn of his Beams from him, or from behind the Moon
 In dim Eclips disastrous twilight sheds
 On half the Nations, and with fear of change
 Perplexes Monarchs.  Dark’n’d so, yet shon
 Above them all th ‘Arch Angel: but his face de él [600]
 Deep scars of Thunder had intrencht, and care
 Sat on his faded cheek of him, but under Browes
 Of dauntless courage, and considerate Pride
 Waiting revenge: cruel his eye of him, but cast
 Signs of remorse and passion to behold [605]
 The fellows of his crime by him, the followers rather
 (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn’d
 For ever now to have thir lot in pain,
 Millions of Spirits for his fault by him amerc’t
 Of Heav’n, and from Eternal Splendors flung [610]
 For his revolt de él, yet faithfull how they stood,
 Thir Glory witherd.  As when Heavens Fire
 Hath scath’d the Forrest Oaks, or Mountain Pines,
 With singed top thir stately growth though bare
 Stands on the blasted Heath.  He now prepar’d [615]
 To speak;  whereat thir doubl’d Ranks they bend
 From wing to wing, and half enclose him round
 With all his Peers de el: attention held them mute.
 Thrice he assayd, and thrice in spight of scorn,
 Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last [620]
 Words interwove with sighs found out thir way.

 O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers
 Matchless, but with th ‘Almighty, and that strife
 Was not inglorious, though th ‘event was dire,
 As this place testifies, and this dire change [625]
 Hateful to utter: but what power of mind
 Foreseeing or presaging, from the Depth
 Of knowledge past or present, could have fear’d,
 How such united force of Gods, how such
 As stood like these, could ever know repulse?  [630]
 For who can yet beleeve, though after loss,
 That all these puissant Legions, whose exile
 Hath emptied Heav’n, shall fail to re-ascend
 Self-rais’d, and repossess thir native seat?
 For mee be witness all the Host of Heav’n, [635]
 If counsels different, or danger shun’d
 By me, we have lost our hopes.  But he who reigns
 Monarch in Heav’n, till then as one secure
 Sat on his Throne of him, upheld by old repute,
 Consent or custome, and his Regal State de él [640]
 Put forth at full, but still his strength of he conceal’d,
 Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
 Henceforth his might of him we know, and know our own
 So as not either to provoke, or dread
 New warr, provok’t;  our better part remains [645]
 To work in close design, by fraud or guile
 What force effected not: that he no less
 At length from us may find he, who overcomes
 By force, he has overcome but half his foe of him.
 Space may produces new Worlds;  whereof so rife [650]
 There went a fame in Heav’n that he ere long
 Intended to create, and therein plant
 A generation, whom his choice regard
 Should favor equal to the Sons of Heaven:
 Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps [655]
 Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere:
 For this Infernal Pit shall never hold
 Cælestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th ‘Abyss
 Long under darkness cover.  But these thoughts
 Full Counsel must mature: Peace is despaird, [ 660 ]
 For who can think Submission? Warr then, Warr
 Open or understood must be resolv’d.

 He spake: and to confirm his words, out-flew
 Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
 Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze [ 665 ]
 Far round illumin’d hell: highly they rag’d
 Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms
 Clash’d on thir sounding Shields the din of war,
 Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav’n.

 There stood a Hill not far whose griesly top [ 670 ]
 Belch’d fire and rowling smoak; the rest entire
 Shon with a glossie scurff, undoubted sign
 That in his womb was hid metallic Ore,
 The work of Sulphur. Thither wing’d with speed
 A numerous Brigad hasten’d. As when Bands [ 675 ]
 Of Pioners with Spade and Pickax arm’d
 Forerun the Royal Camp, to trench a Field,
 Or cast a Rampart. Mammon led them on,
 Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell
 From heav’n, for ev’n in heav’n his looks and thoughts [ 680 ]
 Were always downward bent, admiring more
 The riches of Heav’ns pavement, trod’n Gold,
 Then aught divine or holy else enjoy’d
 In vision beatific: by him first
 Men also, and by his suggestion taught, [ 685 ]
 Ransack’d the Center, and with impious hands
 Rifl’d the bowels of thir mother Earth
 For Treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
 Op’nd into the Hill a spacious wound
 And dig’d out ribs of Gold. Let none admire [ 690 ]
 That riches grow in Hell; that soyle may best
 Deserve the precious bane. And here let those
 Who boast in mortal things, and wond’ring tell
 Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings
 Learn how thir greatest Monuments of Fame, [ 695 ]
 And Strength and Art are easily out-done
 By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour
 What in an age they with incessant toyle
 And hands innumerable scarce perform.
 Nigh on the Plain in many cells prepar’d, [ 700 ]
 That underneath had veins of liquid fire
 Sluc’d from the Lake, a second multitude
 With wondrous Art found out the massie Ore,
 Severing each kind, and scum’d the Bullion dross:
 A third as soon had form’d within the ground [ 705 ]
 A various mould, and from the boyling cells
 By strange conveyance fill’d each hollow nook,
 As in an Organ from one blast of wind
 To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths.
 Anon out of the earth a Fabrick huge [ 710 ]
 Rose like an Exhalation, with the sound
 Of Dulcet Symphonies and voices sweet,
 Built like a Temple, where Pilasters round
 Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid
 With Golden Architrave; nor did there want [ 715 ]
 Cornice or Freeze, with bossy Sculptures grav’n,
 The Roof was fretted Gold. Not Babilon,
 Nor great Alcairo such magnificence
 Equal’d in all thir glories, to inshrine
 Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or seat [ 720 ]
 Thir Kings, when Ægypt with Assyria strove
 In wealth and luxurie. Th’ ascending pile
 Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores
 Op’ning thir brazen foulds discover wide
 Within, her ample spaces, o’re the smooth [ 725 ]
 And level pavement: from the arched roof
 Pendant by suttle Magic many a row
 Of Starry Lamps and blazing Cressets fed
 With Naphtha and Asphaltus yeilded light
 As from a sky. The hasty multitude [ 730 ]
 Admiring enter’d, and the work some praise
 And some the Architect: his hand was known
 In Heav’n by many a Towred structure high,
 Where Scepter’d Angels held thir residence,
 And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King [ 735 ]
 Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
 Each in his Hierarchie, the Orders bright.
 Nor was his name unheard or unador’d
 In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
 Men call’d him Mulciber; and how he fell [ 740 ]
 From Heav’n, they fabl’d, thrown by angry Jove
 Sheer o’re the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn
 To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,
 A Summers day; and with the setting Sun
 Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star, [ 745 ]
 On Lemnos th’ Ægean Ile: thus they relate,
 Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
 Fell long before; nor aught avail’d him now
 To have built in Heav’n high Towrs; nor did he scape
 By all his Engins, but was headlong sent [ 750 ]
 With his industrious crew to build in hell.
 Mean while the winged Haralds by command
 Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony
 And Trumpets sound throughout the Host proclaim
 A solemn Councel forthwith to be held [ 755 ]
 At Pandæmonium, the high Capital
 Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons call’d
 From every Band and squared Regiment
 By place or choice the worthiest; they anon
 With hunderds and with thousands trooping came [ 760 ]
 Attended: all access was throng’d, the Gates
 And Porches wide, but chief the spacious Hall
 (Though like a cover’d field, where Champions bold
 Wont ride in arm’d, and at the Soldans chair
 Defi’d the best of Paynim chivalry [ 765 ]
 To mortal combat or carreer with Lance)
 Thick swarm’d, both on the ground and in the air,
 Brusht with the hiss of russling wings. As Bees
 In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,
 Pour forth thir populous youth about the Hive [ 770 ]
 In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
 Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank,
 The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel,
 New rub’d with Baum, expatiate and confer
 Thir State affairs. So thick the aerie crowd [ 775 ]
 Swarm’d and were straitn’d; till the Signal giv’n.
 Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd
 In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons
 Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room
 Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race [ 780 ]
 Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves,
 Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side
 Or Fountain some belated Peasant sees,
 Or dreams he sees, while over-head the Moon
 Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth [ 785 ]
 Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth and dance
 Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear;
 At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
 Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms
 Reduc’d thir shapes immense, and were at large, [ 790 ]
 Though without number still amidst the Hall
 Of that infernal Court. But far within
 And in thir own dimensions like themselves
 The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim
 In close recess and secret conclave sat [ 795 ]
 A thousand Demy-Gods on golden seats,
 Frequent and full. After short silence then
 And summons read, the great consult began.
Book IV
BOOK 4

 THE ARGUMENT

 Satan now in prospect of Eden, and nigh the place where he must now attempt the bold enterprize which he undertook alone against God and Man, falls into many doubts with himself, and many passions, fear, envy, and despare;  but at length confirms himself in evil, journeys on to Paradise, whose outward prospect and scituation is discribed, overleaps the bounds, sits in the shape of a Cormorant on the Tree of life, as highest in the Garden to look about him.  The Garden describe’d;  Satans first sight of Adam and Eve;  his wonder of him at thir excellent form and happy state, but with resolution to work thir fall;  he overhears thir discourse, thence gathers that the Tree of knowledge was forbidden them to eat of, under penalty of death;  and he thereon he intends to found his Temptation of him, by seducing them to transgress: then he leaves them a while, to know further of thir state by some other means.  Mean while Uriel descending on a Sun-beam warns Gabriel, who had in charge the Gate of Paradise, that some evil spirit had escap’d the Deep, and past at Noon by his Sphere in the shape of a good Angel down to Paradise,  discovered after by his furious gestures in the Mount.  Gabriel promises to find him ere morning.  Night coming on, Adam and Eve discourse of going to thir rest: thir Bower describe’d;  thir Evening worship.  Gabriel drawing forth his Bands of Night-watch to walk the round of Paradise, appoints two strong Angels to Adams Bower, least the evill spirit should be there doing some harm to Adam or Eve sleeping;  there they find him at the ear of Eve, tempting her in a dream, and bring him, though unwilling, to Gabriel;  by whom he question’d, he scornfully answers, prepares resistance, but hinder’d by a Sign from Heaven, he flies out of Paradise.

 O For that warning voice, which he who saw
 Th ‘Apocalyps, heard cry in Heaven aloud,
 Then when the Dragon, put to second rout,
 Came furious down to be reveng’d on men,
 Wo to the inhabitants on Earth!  that now, [5]
 While time was, our first-Parents had bin warnd
 The coming of thir secret foe, and scap’d
 Haply so scap’d his mortal snare from him;  for now
 Satan, now first inflam’d with rage, came down,
 The Tempter ere th ‘Accuser of man-kind, [10]
 To wreck on innocent frail man his loss
 Of that first Battel, and his flight from him to Hell:
 Yet not rejoycing in his speed of him, though bold,
 Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast,
 Begins his dire attempt by him, which night the birth [15]
 Now rowling, boiles in his tumultuous brest of him,
 And like a devillish Engine back recoiles
 Upon himself;  horror and doubt distract
 His troubl’d thoughts of him, and from the bottom stirr
 The Hell within him, for within him Hell [20]
 He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
 One step no more then from himself can fly
 By change of place: Now conscience wakes despair
 That slumberd, wakes the bitter memorie
 Of what he was, what is he, and what must be [25]
 Worse;  of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.
 Sometimes towards Eden which now in his view
 Lay pleasant, his grievd look de él he fixes sad,
 Sometimes towards Heav’n and the full-blazing Sun,
 Which now sat high in his Meridian Towre: [30]
 Then much revolving, thus in sighs began.

 O thou that with surpassing Glory crownd,
 Look’st from thy sole Dominion like the God
 Of this new World;  at whose sight all the Starrs
 Hide thir diminisht heads;  to thee I call, [35]
 But with no friendly voice, and add thy name
 O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams
 That bring to my remembrance from what state
 I fell, how glorious once above thy Spheare;
 Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down [40]
 Warring in Heav’n against Heav’ns matchless King:
 Ah wherefore!  I have deservd no such return
 From me, whom I created what I was
 In that bright eminence, and with his good
 Upbraided none;  nor was his service from him hard.  [ Four. Five ]
 What could be less then to afford him praise,
 The easiest reward, and pay him thanks,
 How due!  yet all his good of him prov’d ill in me,
 And wrought but malice;  lifted up so high
 I sdeind subjection, and thought one step higher [50]
 He would set me highest, and in a moment quit
 The debt immense of endless gratitude,
 So burthensome, still paying, still to ow;
 Forgetful what from him I still received,
 And understood not that a grateful mind [55]
 By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
 Indebted and dischargd;  what burden then?
 O had his powerful Destiny of him ordaind
 Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood
 Then happie;  no unbounded hope had rais’d [60]
 Ambition.  Yet why not?  som other Power
 As great he might have aspir’d, and me though mean
 Drawn to his part of him;  but other Powers as great
 He fell not, but stand unshak’n, from within
 Or from without, to all temptations he arm’d.  [65]
 Hadst thou the same free Will and Power to stand?
 Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,
 But Heav’ns free Love dealt equally to all?
 Be then his Love de él accurst, since love or hate,
 To me alike, it deals eternal woe.  [70]
 Nay curs’d be thou;  since against his thy will
 Chose freely what it now so justly rues.
 I miserable!  which way shall I flie
 Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire?
 Which way I flie is Hell;  my self am Hell;  [75]
 And in the lowest deep a lower deep
 Still threatning to devour me opens wide,
 To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav’n.
 Or then at last relent: is there no place
 Left for Repentance, none for Pardon left?  [80]
 None left but by submission;  and that word
 Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
 Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduc’d
 With other promises and other vaunts
 Then to submit, boasting I could subdue [85]
 Th ‘Omnipotent.  Ay me, they little know
 How dearly I abide that boast so vaine,
 Under what torments inwardly I groane:
 While they adore me on the Throne of Hell,
 With Diadem and Scepter high advanc’d [90]
 The lower still I fall, onely Supream
 In miserie;  such joy Ambition findes.
 But say I could repent and could obtain
 By Act of Grace my former state;  how soon
 Would higth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay [95]
 What feign’d submission swore: ease would recant
 Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
 For never can true reconcilement grow
 Where wounds of deadly hate have peirc’d so deep:
 Which would but lead me to a worse relapse [100]
 And heavier fall: so should I purchase deare
 Short intermission bought with double smart.
 This knows my punisher;  therefore as farr
 From granting hee, as I from begging peace:
 All hope excluded thus, behold in stead [105]
 Of us out-cast, exil’d, his new delight de él,
 Mankind created, and for him this World.
 So farewel Hope, and with Hope farewel Fear,
 Farewel Remorse: all Good to me is lost;
 Evil be thou my Good;  by thee at least [110]
 Divided Empire with Heav’ns King I hold
 By thee, and more then half perhaps will reigne;
 As Man ere long, and this new World shall know.

 Thus while he spake, each passion dimm’d his face
 Thrice chang’d with pale, ire, envie and despair, [115]
 Which marrd his borrow’d visage de él, and betraid
 Him counterfet, if any eye beheld.
 For heav’nly mindes from such distempers foule
 Are ever cleer.  Whereof hee soon aware,
 Each perturbation smooth’d with outward calme, [120]
 Artificer of fraud;  and was the first
 That practisd falshood under saintly shew,
 Deep malice to conceale, couch’t with revenge:
 Yet not anough had practisd to deceive
 Uriel eleven warnd;  whose eye pursu’d him down [125]
 The way he went, and on th ‘Assyrian mount
 Saw him disfigur’d, more then he could befall
 Spirit of happie sort: his gestures de el fierce
 He markd and mad demeanour, then alone,
 Thus I have suppos’d him all unobserv’d, unseen.  [130]
 So on he fares, and to the border comes
 Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
 Now nearer, Crowns with her enclosure green,
 As with a rural mound the champain head
 Of a steep wilderness, whose hairie sides [135]
 With thicket overgrown, grottesque and wilde,
 Access deni’d;  and over head up grew
 Unsurpassed highth of loftiest shade,
 Cedar, and Pine, and Firr, and branching Palm
 A Silvan Scene, and as the ranks ascend [140]
 Shade above shade, a woodie Theater
 Of stateliest view.  Yet higher then thir tops
 The verdurous wall of paradise up sprung:
 Which to our general Sire gave prospect large
 Into his neather Empire neighboring round.  [145]
 And higher then that Wall a circling row
 Of goodliest Trees loaden with fairest Fruit,
 Blossoms and Fruits at once of golden hue
 Appeerd, with gay enameld colors mixt:
 On which the Sun more glad impress’d his beams de el [150]
 Then in fair Evening Cloud, or humid Bow,
 When God hath showrd the earth;  so lovely seemd
 That Lantskip: And of pure now purer air
 Meets his approach de él, and to the heart inspires
 Vernal delight and joy, able to drive [155]
 All sadness but despair: now gentle wales
 Fanning thir odoriferous wings dispense
 Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
 Those balmie spoiles.  As when to them who saile
 Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past [160]
 Mozambic, off at Sea North-East windes blow
 Sabean Odours from the Spicie Shoare
 Of Arabie the blest, with such delay
 Well pleas’d they slack thir course, and many a League
 Chear’d with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles.  [165]
 So entertaind those odorous sweets the Fiend
 Who came thir bane, though with them better pleas’d
 Then Asmodeus with the fishie smoke,
 That drove him, though enamourd, from the Spouse
 Of Tobits Son, and with a vengeance sent [170]
 From Media post to Ægypt, there fast bound.

 Now to th ‘ascent of that steep savage Hill
 Satan had journied on, pensive and slow;
 But further way he found none, so thick entwin’d,
 As one continu’d brake, the undergrowth [175]
 Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplext
 All path of Man or Beast that past that way:
 One Gate there only was, and that look’d East
 On th ‘other side: which when th’ arch-fellon saw
 Due entrance he disdaind, and in contempt, [180]
 At one slight bound high over leap’d all bound
 Of Hill or highest Wall, and sheer within
 Lights on his feet from him.  As when a prowling Wolfe,
 Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
 Watching where Shepherds pen thir Flocks at eeve [185]
 In hurdl’d Cotes amid the field secure,
 Leaps o’re the fence with ease into the Fould:
 Or as a Thief bent to unhoord the cash
 Of some rich Burgher, whose substantial dores,
 Cross-barrd and bolted fast, fear no assault, [190]
 In at the window climbs, or o’re the tiles;
 So clomb this first grand Thief into Gods Fould:
 So since into his Church lewd Hirelings climbe.
 Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life,
 The middle Tree and highest there that grew, [195]
 Sat like a Cormorant;  yet not true life
 Thereby regaind, but sat devising Death
 To them who liv’d;  nor on the vertue thought
 Of that life-giving Plant, but only us’d
 For prospect, what well us’d had bin the pledge [200]
 Of immortality.  So little knows
 Any, but God alone, to value right
 The good before him, but perverts best things
 To worst abuse, or to thir meanest use.
 Beneath him with new wonder now he views [205]
 To all delight of human sense expos’d
 In narrow room Natures whole wealth, yea more,
 A Heaven on Earth, for blissful Paradise
 Of God the Garden was, by him in the East
 Of Eden planted;  Eden stretchd her Line [210]
 From Auran Eastward to the Royal Towrs
 Of Great Seleucia, built by Grecian Kings,
 Or where the Sons of Eden long before
 Dwelt in Telassar: in this pleasant soile
 His farr more pleasant Garden God ordaind;  [215]
 Out of the fertil ground he caus’d to grow
 All Trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;
 And all amid them stood the Tree of Life,
 High eminent, blooming Ambrosial Fruit
 Of vegetable Gold;  and next to Life [220]
 Our Death the Tree of Knowledge grew fast by,
 Knowledge of Good bought dear by knowing ill.
 Southward through Eden went a River large,
 Nor chang’d his course, but through the shaggie hill
 Pass’d underneath ingulft, for God had thrown [225]
 That Mountain as his Garden by him mold high rais’d
 Upon the rapid current, which through veins
 Of porous Earth with kindly thirst up drawn,
 Rose a fresh Fountain, and with many a rill
 Waterd the Garden;  thence united fell [230]
 Down the steep glade, and met the neather Flood,
 Which from his darksom passage de él now appeers,
 And now divided into four main Streams,
 Runs divers, wandring many a famous Realme
 And Country whereof here needs no account, [235]
 But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
 How from that Saphire Fount the crisped Brooks,
 Rowling on Orient Pearl and sands of Gold,
 With mazie error under pendant shades
 Ran Nectar, visiting each plant, and fed [240]
 Flours worthy of Paradise which not nice Art
 In Beds and curious Knots, but Nature boon
 Powrd forth profuse on Hill and Dale and Plaine,
 Both where the morning Sun first warmly smote
 The open field, and where the unpierc’t shade [245]
 Imbround the noontide Bowrs: Thus was this place,
 A happy rural seat of various view;
 Groves whose rich Trees wept odorous Gumms and Balme,
 Others whose fruit burnisht with Golden Rinde
 Hung amiable, Hesperian Fables true, [250]
 If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
 Betwixt them ns, or level Downs, and Flocks
 Grasing the tender herb, were interpos’d,
 Or palmie hilloc, or the flourie lap
 Of som irriguous Valley spred her store de ella, [255]
 Flours of all hue, and without Thorn the Rose:
 Another side, umbrageous Grots and Caves
 Of coole recess, o’re which the mantling vine
 Layes forth her de ella purple Grape, and gently creeps
 Luxuriant;  mean while murmuring waters fall [260]
 Down the slope hills, disperst, or in a Lake,
 That to the fringed Bank with Myrtle crownd,
 Her chrystal mirror holds, unite thir streams.
 The Birds thir want apply;  aires, vernal aires,
 Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune [265]
 The trembling leaves, while Universal Pan
 Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance
 Led on th ‘Eternal Spring.  Not that faire field
 Of Enna, where Proserpin gathering flours
 Her de ella self de ella a fairer Floure by gloomie Dis [270]
 Was gatherd, which cost Ceres all that pain
 To seek her through the world;  nor that sweet grove
 Of Daphne by Orontes, and th ‘inspir’d
 Castalian Spring, might with this Paradise
 Of Eden strive;  nor that Nyseian Ile [275]
 Girt with the River Triton, where old Cham,
 Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Lybian Jove,
 Hid Amalthea and her de ella Florid Son
 Young Bacchus from his Stepdame Rhea’s eye;
 Nor where Abassin Kings thir issue Guard, [280]
 Mount Amara, though this by som suppos’d
 True Paradise under the Ethiop Line
 By Nilus head, enclosd with shining Rock,
 A whole days journy high, but wide remote
 From this Assyrian Garden, where the Fiend [285]
 Saw undelighted all delight, all kind
 Of living Creatures new to sight and strange:
 Two of far nobler shape erect and tall,
 Godlike erect, with native Honor clad
 In naked Majestie seemd Lords of all, [290]
 And worthie seemd, for in thir looks Divine
 The image of thir glorious Maker shon,
 Truth, wisdome, Sanctitude severe and pure,
 Severe but in true affiliate freedom plac’t;
 Whence true authority in men;  though both [295]
 Not equal, as thir sex not equal seemd;
 For contemplation hee and value formd,
 For softness shee and sweet attractive Grace,
 Hee for God only, shee for God in him:
 His fair large Front and Eye sublime declared’d [300]
 Absolute rule;  and Hyacinthin Locks
 Round from his parted forelock manly hung
 Clustring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
 Shee as a vail down to the slender waste
 Her unadorned golden tresses de ella wore [305]
 Disheveld, but in wanton ringlets wav’d
 As the Vine curles her tendrils de ella, which impli’d
 Subjection, but requir’d with gentle sway,
 And by her de ella yielded de ella, by him best received,
 Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, [310]
 And sweet reluctant amorous delay.
 Nor those mysterious parts were then conceald,
 Then was not guiltie shame, dishonest shame
 Of natures works, honor dishonorable,
 Sin-bred, how have ye troubl’d all mankind [315]
 With shews instead, meer shews of seeming pure,
 And banisht from mans life his happiest life of him,
 Simplicitie and spotless innocence.
 So passd they naked on, nor shund the sight
 Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill: [320]
 So hand in hand they passd, the lovliest pair
 That ever since in loves imbraces met,
 Adam the goodliest man of men since borne
 His Sons de ella, the fairest of her Daughters Eve.
 Under a tuft of shade that on a green [325]
 She stood whispering soft, by a fresh Fountain side
 They sat them down, and after no more toil
 Of thir sweet Gardning labor then suffic’d
 To recommend coole Zephyr, and made ease
 More easie, wholsom thirst and appetite [330]
 More grateful, to thir Supper Fruits they fell,
 Nectarine Fruits which the compliant boughes
 Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline
 On the soft downie Bank damaskt with flours:
 The savorie pulp they chew, and in the rinde [335]
 Still as they thirsted scoop the brimming stream;
 Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smiles
 Wanted, nor youthful dalliance as beseems
 Fair couple, linkt in happie nuptial League,
 Alone as they.  About them frisking playd [340]
 All Beasts of th ‘Earth, since wilde, and of all chase
 In Wood or Wilderness, Forrest or Den;
 Sporting the Lion rampd, and in his paw
 Dandl’d the Kid;  Bears, Tygers, Ounces, Pards
 Gambold before them, th ‘unwieldy Elephant [345]
 To make them mirth us’d all his might of him, and wreathd
 His Lithe Proboscis of him;  close the Serpent sly
 Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine
 His breaded train of him, and of his fatal guile
 Gave proof unheeded;  others on the grass [350]
 Coucht, and now fild with pasture gazing sat,
 Or Bedward ruminating: for the Sun
 Declin’d was hasting now with prone carreer
 To th ‘Ocean Iles, and in th’ ascending Scale
 Of Heav’n the Starrs that usher Evening rose: [355]
 When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood,
 Scarce thus at length faild speech recoverd sad.

 Or Hell!  what doe mine eyes with grief behold,
 Into our room of bliss thus high advanc’t
 Creatures of other mold, earth-born perhaps, [360]
 Not Spirits, yet to heav’nly Spirits bright
 Little bottom;  whom my thoughts pursue
 With wonder, and could love, so lively shines
 In them Divine resemblance, and such grace
 The hand that formd them on thir shape hath pourd.  [365]
 Ah gentle pair, yee little think how nigh
 Your change approaches, when all these delights
 Will vanish and deliver ye to woe,
 More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;
 Happie, but for so happie ill secur’d [370]
 Long to continue, and this high seat your Heav’n
 Ill fenc’t for Heav’n to keep out such a foe
 As now is enterd;  yet no purpos’d foe
 To you whom I could pittie thus forlorne
 Though I unpittied: League with you I seek, [375]
 And mutual amitie so streight, so close,
 That I with you must dwell, or you with me
 Henceforth;  my dwelling haply may not please
 Like this fair Paradise, your sense, yet such
 Accept your Makers work;  he gave it me, [380]
 Which I as freely give;  Hell shall unfold,
 To entertain you two, her widest Gates de ella,
 And send forth all her Kings of her;  there will be room,
 Not like these narrow limits, to receive
 Your number of spring;  if no better place, [385]
 Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge
 On you who wrong me not for him who wrongd.
 And should I at your harmless innocence
 Melt, as I doe, yet public reason just,
 Honor and Empire with revenge enlarg’d, [390]
 By conquering this new World, compels me now
 To do what else though damnd I should abhorre.

 So spake the Fiend, and with necessitie,
 The Tyrants plea, excus’d his devilish deeds from him.
 Then from his loftie stand on that high Tree [395]
 Down he alights among the sportful Herd
 Of those fourfooted kindes, himself now one,
 Now other, as thir shape servd best his end
 Neerer to view his prey of him, and unespi’d
 To mark what of thir state he more might learn [400]
 By word or action markt: about them round
 A Lion now he stalkes with fierie glare,
 Then as a Tyger, who by chance hath spi’d
 In some Purlieu two gentle Fawnes at play,
 Strait couches close, then rising changes oft [405]
 His couchant watch de el, as one who chose his ground
 Whence rushing he might surest seize them both
 Gript in each paw: when Adam first of men
 To first of women Eve thus moving speech,
 Turnd him all eare to hear new utterance flow.  [410]

 Sole partner and sole part of all these joyes,
 Dearer thy self then all;  needs must the Power
 That made us, and for us this ample World
 Be infinitly good, and of his good
 As liberal and free as infinite, [415]
 That rais’d us from the dust and plac’t us here
 In all this happiness, who at his hand
 Have nothing merited, nor can performe
 Aught whereof hee hath need, hee who requires
 From us no other service then to keep [420]
 This one, this easie charge, of all the Trees
 In Paradise that bear delicious fruit
 So various, not to taste that onely Tree
 Of knowledge, planted by the Tree of Life,
 So neer grows Death to Life, what ere Death is, [425]
 Som dreadful thing no doubt;  for well thou knowst
 God hath pronounc’t it death to taste that Tree,
 The only sign of our obedience left
 Among so many signs of power and rule
 Conferrd upon us, and Dominion giv’n [430]
 Over all other Creatures that possess
 Earth, Aire, and Sea. Then let us not think hard
 One easie prohibition, who enjoy
 Free leave so large to all things else, and choice
 Unlimited of manifold delights: [435]
 But let us ever praise him, and extoll
 His bountie de el, following our delightful task
 To prune these growing Plants, and tend these Flours,
 Which were it toilsom, yet with thee were sweet.

 To whom thus Eve repli’d.  O thou for whom [440]
 And from whom I was formd flesh of thy flesh,
 And without whom am to no end, my Guide
 And Head, what thou hast said is just and right.
 For wee to him indeed all praises owe,
 And daily thanks, I chiefly who enjoy [445]
 So farr the happier Lot, enjoying thee
 Præeminent by so much odds, while thou
 Like consort to thy self canst no where find.
 That day I oft remember, when from sleep
 I first awak’t, and found my self repos’d [450]
 Under a shade of flours, much wondring where
 And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
 Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
 Of waters issu’d from a Cave and spread
 Into a liquid Plain, then stood unmov’d [455]
 Pure as th ‘expanse of Heav’n;  I thither went
 With unexperienc’t thought, and laid me downe
 On the green bank, to look into the cleer
 Smooth Lake, that to me seemd another Skie.
 As I bent down to look, just opposite, [460]
 A Shape within the watry gleam appeard
 Bending to look on me, I started back,
 It started back, but pleas’d I soon returnd,
 Pleas’d it returnd as soon with answering looks
 Of sympathie and love;  there I had fixt [465]
 Mine eyes till now, and pin’d with vain desire,
 Had not a voice thus warnd me, What thou seest,
 What there thou seest fair Creature is thy self,
 With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
 And I will bring thee where no shadow staies [470]
 Thy coming, and thy soft imbraces, hee
 Whose image thou art, him thou shalt enjoy
 Inseparablie thine, to him shalt beare
 Crowds like thy self, and thence be call’d
 Mother of human Race: what could I doe, [475]
 But follow strait, invisibly thus led?
 Till I espi’d thee, fair indeed and tall,
 Under a Platan, yet methought less faire,
 Less winning soft, less amiablie milde,
 Then that smooth watry image;  back I turnd, [480]
 Thou following cryd’st aloud, Return faire Eve,
 Whom fli’st thou?  whom thou fli’st, of him thou art,
 His flesh of him, his bone of him;  to give thee being I lent
 Out of my side to thee, neerest my heart
 Substantial Life, to have thee by my side [485]
 Henceforth an individual solace dear;
 Part of my Soul I seek thee, and thee claim
 My other half: with that thy gentle hand
 Seisd mine, I yielded, and from that time see
 How beauty is excelld by manly grace [490]
 And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.

 So spake our general Mother, and with eyes
 Of conjugal attraction unreprov’d,
 And meek surrender, half imbracing leand
 On our first Father, half her de ella swelling Breast de ella [495]
 Naked met his de él under the flowing Gold
 Of her loose tresses de ella hid: he in delight
 Both of her de ella Beauty de ella and submissive Charms
 Smil’d with superior Love, as Jupiter
 On Juno smiles, when he impregns the Clouds [500]
 That shed May Flowers;  and press’d her de ella Matron lip
 With kisses pure: aside the Devil turnd
 For envie, yet with jealous read maligne
 Ey’d them askance, and to himself thus plaind.

 Sight hateful, sight tormenting!  thus these two [505]
 Imparadis’t in one anothers arms
 The happier Eden, shall enjoy thir fill
 Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust,
 Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
 Among our other torments not the least, [510]
 Still unfulfill’d with pain of longing pins;
 Yet let me not forget what I have gain’d
 From thir own mouths;  all is not theirs it seems:
 One fatal Tree there stands of Knowledge call’d,
 Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidd’n?  [515]
 Suspicious, reasonless.  Why should thir Lord
 Send them that?  can it be without to know,
 Can it be death?  and do they onely stand
 By Ignorance, is that thir happie state,
 The proof of thir obedience and thir faith?  [520]
 O fair foundation laid whereon to build
 Thir ruine!  Hence I will excite thir minds
 With more desire to know, and to reject
 Envious commands, invented with designe
 To keep them low whom knowledge might exalt [525]
 Equal with Gods;  aspiring to be such,
 They taste and die: what likelier can ensue?
 But first with narrow search I must walk round
 This Garden, and no corner leave unspi’d;
 A chance but chance may lead where I may meet [530]
 Some wandring Spirit of Heav’n, by Fountain side,
 Or in thick shade retir’d, from him to draw
 What further would be learned.  Live while ye may,
 Yet happie pair;  enjoy, till I return,
 Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed.  [535]

 So saying, his proud step of he scornful turn’d,
 But with sly circumspection, and he began
 Through wood, through waste, o’re hill, o’re dale his roam de él.
 Mean while in utmost Longitude, where Heav’n
 With Earth and Ocean meets, the setting Sun [540]
 Slowly descended, and with right aspect
 Against the eastern Gate of Paradise
 Leveld his eevning Rayes: it was a Rock
 Of Alablaster, he pil’d up to the Clouds,
 Conspicuous farr, winding with one ascent [545]
 Accessible from Earth, one entrance high;
 The rest was craggie cliff, that overhung
 Still as it rose, impossible to climbe.
 Betwixt these rockie Pillars Gabriel sat
 Chief of th ‘Angelic Guards, awaiting night;  [550]
 About him exercis’d Heroic Games
 Th ‘unarmed Youth of Heav’n, but nigh at hand
 Celestial Armory, Shields, Helmes, and Speares
 Hung high with Diamond flaming, and with Gold.
 Thither came Uriel, gliding through the Eeven [555]
 On a Sun beam, swift as a shooting Starr
 In Autumn thwarts the night, when vapors fir’d
 Impress the Air, and shews the Mariner
 From what point of his Compass de el to beware
 Impetuous winds: he thus began in haste.  [560]

 Gabriel, to thee thy course by Lot hath giv’n
 Charge and strict watch that to this happie place
 No evil thing approach or enter in;
 This day at highth of Noon came to my Spheare
 A Spirit, zealous, as he seem’d, to know [565]
 More of th ‘Almighties works, and chiefly Man
 Gods latest Image: I describe’d his way
 Bent all on speed, and markt his Aerie Gate;
 But in the Mount that lies from Eden North,
 Where he first lighted, soon discernd his looks of him [570]
 Alien from Heav’n, with passions foul obscur’d:
 Mine eye pursu’d him still, but under shade
 Lost sight of him;  one of the banisht crew
 I fear, hath ventur’d from the Deep, to raise
 New troubles;  him thy care must be to find.  [575]

 To whom the winged Warriour thus returnd:
 Uriel, no wonder if thy perfet sight,
 Amid the Suns bright circle where thou sitst,
 See farr and wide: in at this Gate none pass
 The vigilance here plac’t, but such as come [580]
 Well known from Heav’n;  and since Meridian hour
 No Creature thence: if Spirit of other sort,
 So minded, have oreleapt these earthie bounds
 On purpose, hard thou knowst it to exclude
 Spiritual substance with corporeal barr.  [585]
 But if within the circuit of these walks,
 In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom
 Thou tellst, by morrow dawning I shall know.

 So promis’d hee, and Uriel to his charge
 Returnd on that bright beam, whose point he now rais’d [590]
 Bore him slope downward to the Sun now fall’n
 Beneath th ‘Azores;  whither the prime Orb,
 Incredible how swift, had thither rowl’d
 Diurnal, or this less fickle Earth
 By shorter flight to th ‘East, had left him there [595]
 Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold
 The Clouds that on his Western Throne by him attend:
 Now came still Eevning on, and Twilight gray
 Had in her sober Liverie de ella all things clad;
 Silence accompanied, for Beast and Bird, [600]
 They to thir grassie Couch, these to thir Nests
 Were slunk, all but the wakeful Nightingale;
 She all night long her de ella amorous descant de ella sung;
 Silence was pleas’d: now glow’d the Firmament
 With living Saphirs: Hesperus that led [605]
 The starrie Host, rode brightest, till the Moon
 Rising in clouded Majestie, at length
 Apparent Queen unvaild her peerless light of her,
 And o’re the dark her Silver Mantle threw.

 When Adam thus to Eve: Fair Consort, th ‘hour [610]
 Of night, and all things now retir’d to rest
 Mind us of like repose, since God hath set
 Labor and rest, as day and night to men
 Successive, and the timely dew of sleep
 Now falling with soft slumbrous weight inclines [615]
 Our eye-lids;  other Creatures all day long
 Rove idle unimploid, and less need rest;
 Man hath his daily work of body or mind
 Appointed, which declares his Dignitie de el,
 And the regard of Heav’n on all his waies;  [620]
 While other Animals unactive range,
 And of thir doings God takes no account.
 To morrow ere fresh Morning streak the East
 With first approach of light, we must be ris’n,
 And at our pleasant labor, to reform [625]
 Yon flourie Arbors, yonder Allies green,
 Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
 That mock our scant manuring, and require
 More hands then ours to lop thir wanton growth:
 Those Blossoms also, and those dropping Gumms, [630]
 That lie bestrowne unsightly and unsmooth,
 Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
 Mean while, as Nature wills, Night bids us rest.

 To whom thus Eve with perfet beauty adornd.
 My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst [635]
 Unargu’d I obey;  so God ordains,
 God is thy , thou mine: to know no more
 Is womans happiest knowledge and her praise of her.
 With thee conversing I forget all time,
 All seasons and thir change, all please alike.  [640]
 Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet of her,
 With charm of earliest Birds;  pleasant the Sun
 When first on this delightful Land he spreads
 His de él orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flour,
 Glistring with dew;  fragrant the fertil earth [645]
 After soft showers;  and sweet the coming on
 Of grateful Eevning milde, then silent Night
 With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon,
 And these the Gemms of Heav’n, her starrie train de ella:
 But neither breath of Morn when she ascends [650]
 With charm of earliest Birds, nor rising Sun
 On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, floure,
 Glistring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
 Nor grateful Eevning mild, nor silent Night
 With this her solemn Bird, nor walk by Moon, [ 655 ]
 Or glittering Starr-light without thee is sweet.
 But wherfore all night long shine these, for whom
 This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?

 To whom our general Ancestor repli’d.
 Daughter of God and Man, accomplisht Eve, [ 660 ]
 Those have thir course to finish, round the Earth,
 By morrow Eevning, and from Land to Land
 In order, though to Nations yet unborn,
 Ministring light prepar’d, they set and rise;
 Least total darkness should by Night regaine [ 665 ]
 Her old possession, and extinguish life
 In Nature and all things, which these soft fires
 Not only enlighten, but with kindly heate
 Of various influence foment and warme,
 Temper or nourish, or in part shed down [ 670 ]
 Thir stellar vertue on all kinds that grow
 On Earth, made hereby apter to receive
 Perfection from the Suns more potent Ray.
 These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
 Shine not in vain, nor think, though men were none, [ 675 ]
 That heav’n would want spectators, God want praise;
 Millions of spiritual Creatures walk the Earth
 Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
 All these with ceasless praise his works behold
 Both day and night: how often from the steep [ 680 ]
 Of echoing Hill or Thicket have we heard
 Celestial voices to the midnight air,
 Sole, or responsive each to others note
 Singing thir great Creator: oft in bands
 While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk, [ 685 ]
 With Heav’nly touch of instrumental sounds
 In full harmonic number joind, thir songs
 Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.

 Thus talking hand in hand alone they pass’d
 On to thir blissful Bower; it was a place [ 690 ]
 Chos’n by the sovran Planter, when he fram’d
 All things to mans delightful use; the roofe
 Of thickest covert was inwoven shade
 Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew
 Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side [ 695 ]
 Acanthus, and each odorous bushie shrub
 Fenc’d up the verdant wall; each beauteous flour,
 Iris all hues, Roses, and Gessamin
 Rear’d high thir flourisht heads between, and wrought
 Mosaic; underfoot the Violet, [ 700 ]
 Crocus, and Hyacinth with rich inlay
 Broiderd the ground, more colour’d then with stone
 Of costliest Emblem: other Creature here
 Beast, Bird, Insect, or Worm durst enter none;
 Such was thir awe of Man. In shadie Bower [ 705 ]
 More sacred and sequesterd, though but feignd,
 Pan or Silvanus never slept, nor Nymph,
 Nor Faunus haunted. Here in close recess
 With Flowers, Garlands, and sweet-smelling Herbs
 Espoused Eve deckt first her Nuptial Bed, [ 710 ]
 And heav’nlyly Quires the Hymenæan sung,
 What day the genial Angel to our Sire
 Brought her in naked beauty more adorn’d
 More lovely then Pandora, whom the Gods
 Endowd with all thir gifts, and O too like [ 715 ]
 In sad event, when to the unwiser Son
 Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnar’d
 Mankind with her faire looks, to be aveng’d
 On him who had stole Joves authentic fire.

 Thus at thir shadie Lodge arriv’d, both stood [ 720 ]
 Both turnd, and under op’n Skie ador’d
 The God that made both Skie, Air, Earth and Heav’n
 Which they beheld, the Moons resplendent Globe
 And starrie Pole: Thou also mad’st the Night,
 Maker Omnipotent, and thou the Day, [ 725 ]
 Which we in our appointed work imployd
 Have finisht happie in our mutual help
 And mutual love, the Crown of all our bliss
 Ordaind by thee, and this delicious place
 For us too large, where thy abundance wants [ 730 ]
 Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground.
 But thou hast promis’d from us two a Race
 To fill the Earth, who shall with us extoll
 Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,
 And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep. [ 735 ]

 This said unanimous, and other Rites
 Observing none, but adoration pure
 Which God likes best, into thir inmost bowre
 Handed they went; and eas’d the putting off
 These troublesom disguises which wee wear, [ 740 ]
 Strait side by side were laid, nor turnd I weene
 Adam from his fair Spouse, nor Eve the Rites
 Mysterious of connubial Love refus’d:
 Whatever Hypocrites austerely talk
 Of puritie and place and innocence, [ 745 ]
 Defaming as impure what God declares
 Pure, and commands to som, leaves free to all.
 Our Maker bids increase, who bids abstain 
 But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?
 Haile wedded Love, mysterious , true source [ 750 ]
 Of human ofspring, sole propriety,
 In Paradise of all things common else.
 By thee adulterous lust was driv’n from men
 Among the bestial herds to raunge, by thee
 Founded in Reason, Loyal, Just, and Pure, [ 755 ]
 Relations dear, and all the Charities
 Of Father, Son, and Brother first were known.
 Farr be it, that I should write thee sin or blame,
 Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,
 Perpetual Fountain of Domestic sweets, [ 760 ]
 Whose bed is undefil’d and chaste pronounc’t,
 Present, or past, as Saints and Patriarchs us’d.
 Here Love his golden shafts imploies, here lights
 His constant Lamp, and waves his purple wings,
 Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile [ 765 ]
 Of Harlots, loveless, joyless, unindeard,
 Casual fruition, nor in Court Amours
 Mixt Dance, or wanton Mask, or Midnight Bal,
 Or Serenate, which the starv’d Lover sings
 To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain. [ 770 ]
 These lulld by Nightingales imbraceing slept,
 And on thir naked limbs the flourie roof
 Showrd Roses, which the Morn repair’d. Sleep on
 Blest pair; and O yet happiest if ye seek
 No happier state, and know to know no more. [ 775 ]

 Now had night measur’d with her shaddowie Cone
 Half way up Hill this vast Sublunar Vault,
 And from thir Ivorie Port the Cherubim
 Forth issuing at th’ accustomd hour stood armd
 To thir night watches in warlike Parade, [ 780 ]
 When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake.

 Uzziel, half these draw off, and coast the South
 With strictest watch; these other wheel the North,
 Our circuit meets full West. As flame they part
 Half wheeling to the Shield, half to the Spear. [ 785 ]
 From these, two strong and suttle Spirits he calld
 That neer him stood, and gave them thus in charge.

 Ithuriel and Zephon, with wingd speed
 Search through this Garden, leave unsearcht no nook,
 But chiefly where those two fair Creatures Lodge, [ 790 ]
 Now laid perhaps asleep secure of harme.
 This Eevning from the Sun’s decline arriv’d
 Who tells of som infernal Spirit seen
 Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escap’d
 The barrs of Hell, on errand bad no doubt: [ 795 ]
 Such where ye find, seise fast, and hither bring.

 So saying, on he led his radiant Files,
 Daz’ling the Moon; these to the Bower direct
 In search of whom they sought: him there they found
 Squat like a Toad, close at the eare of Eve; [ 800 ]
 Assaying by his Devilish art to reach
 The Organs of her Fancie, and with them forge
 Illusions as he list, Phantasms and Dreams,
 Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint
 Th’ animal spirits that from pure blood arise [ 805 ]
 Like gentle breaths from Rivers pure, thence raise
 At least distemperd, discontented thoughts,
 Vaine hopes, vaine aimes, inordinate desires
 Blown up with high conceits ingendring pride.
 Him thus intent Ithuriel with his Spear [ 810 ]
 Touch’d lightly; for no falshood can endure
 Touch of Celestial temper, but returns
 Of force to its own likeness: up he starts
 Discoverd and surpriz’d. As when a spark
 Lights on a heap of nitrous Powder, laid [ 815 ]
 Fit for the Tun som Magazin to store
 Against a rumord Warr, the Smuttie graine
 With sudden blaze diffus’d, inflames the Aire:
 So started up in his own shape the Fiend.
 Back stept those two fair Angels half amaz’d [ 820 ]
 So sudden to behold the grieslie King;
 Yet thus, unmovd with fear, accost him soon.

 Which of those rebell Spirits adjudg’d to Hell
 Com’st thou, escap’d thy prison, and transform’d,
 Why satst thou like an enemie in waite [ 825 ]
 Here watching at the head of these that sleep?

 Know ye not then said Satan, fill’d with scorn
 Know ye not mee? ye knew me once no mate
 For you, there sitting where ye durst not soare;
 Not to know mee argues your selves unknown, [ 830 ]
 The lowest of your throng; or if ye know,
 Why ask ye, and superfluous begin
 Your message, like to end as much in vain?
 To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn.
 Think not, revolted Spirit, thy shape the same, [ 835 ]
 Or undiminisht brightness, to be known
 As when thou stoodst in Heav’n upright and pure;
 That Glorie then, when thou no more wast good,
 Departed from thee, and thou resembl’st now
 Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foule. [ 840 ]
 But come, for thou, be sure, shalt give account
 To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep
 This place inviolable, and these from harm.

 So spake the Cherube, and his grave rebuke
 Severe in youthful beautie, added grace [ 845 ]
 Invincible: abasht the Devil stood,
 And felt how awful goodness is, and saw
 Vertue in her shape how lovly, saw, and pin’d
 His loss; but chiefly to find here observd
 His lustre visibly impair’d; yet seemd [ 850 ]
 Undaunted. If I must contend, said he,
 Best with the best, the Sender not the sent,
 Or all at once; more glorie will be wonn,
 Or less be lost. Thy fear, said Zephon bold,
 Will save us trial what the least can doe [ 855 ]
 Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.

 The Fiend repli’d not, overcome with rage;
 But like a proud Steed reind, went hautie on,
 Chaumping his iron curb: to strive or flie
 He held it vain; awe from above had quelld [ 860 ]
 His heart, not else dismai’d. Now drew they nigh
 The western Point, where those half-rounding guards
 Just met, and closing stood in squadron joind
 Awaiting next command. To whom thir Chief
 Gabriel from the Front thus calld aloud. [ 865 ]

 O friends, I hear the tread of nimble feet
 Hasting this way, and now by glimps discerne
 Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade,
 And with them comes a third of Regal port,
 But faded splendor wan; who by his gate [ 870 ]
 And fierce demeanour seems the Prince of Hell,
 Not likely to part hence without contest;
 Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.

 He scarce had ended, when those two approachd
 And brief related whom they brought, where found, [ 875 ]
 How busied, in what form and posture coucht.

 To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake.
 Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescrib’d
 To thy transgressions, and disturbd the charge
 Of others, who approve not to transgress [ 880 ]
 By thy example, but have power and right
 To question thy bold entrance on this place;
 Imploi’d it seems to violate sleep, and those
 Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss?

 To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow. [ 885 ]
 Gabriel, thou hadst in Heav’n th’ esteem of wise,
 And such I held thee; but this question askt
 Puts me in doubt. Lives ther who loves his pain?
 Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,
 Though thither doomd? Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt, [ 890 ]
 And boldly venture to whatever place
 Farthest from pain, where thou mightst hope to change
 Torment with ease, and; soonest recompence
 Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
 To thee no reason; who knowst only good, [ 895 ]
 But evil hast not tri’d: and wilt object
 His will who bound us? let him surer barr
 His Iron Gates, if he intends our stay
 In that dark durance: thus much what was askt.
 The rest is true, they found me where they say; [ 900 ]
 But that implies not violence or harme.

 Thus he in scorn. The warlike Angel mov’d,
 Disdainfully half smiling thus repli’d.
 O loss of one in Heav’n to judge of wise,
 Since Satan fell, whom follie overthrew, [ 905 ]
 And now returns him from his prison scap’t,
 Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise
 Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither
 Unlicenc’t from his bounds in Hell prescrib’d;
 So wise he judges it to fly from pain [ 910 ]
 However, and to scape his punishment.
 So judge thou still, presumptuous, till the wrauth,
 Which thou incurr’st by flying, meet thy flight
 Seavenfold, and scourge that wisdom back to Hell,
 Which taught thee yet no better, that no pain [ 915 ]
 Can equal anger infinite provok’t.
 But wherefore thou alone? wherefore with thee
 Came not all Hell broke loose? is pain to them
 Less pain, less to be fled, or thou then they
 Less hardie to endure? courageous Chief, [ 920 ]
 The first in flight from pain, hadst thou alleg’d
 To thy deserted host this cause of flight,
 Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.

 To which the Fiend thus answerd frowning stern.
 Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain, [ 925 ]
 Insulting Angel, well thou knowst I stood
 Thy fiercest, when in Battel to thy aide
 The blasting volied Thunder made all speed
 And seconded thy else not dreaded Spear.
 But still thy words at random, as before, [ 930 ]
 Argue thy inexperience what behooves
 From hard assaies and ill successes past
 A faithful Leader, not to hazard all
 Through wayes of danger by himself untri’d,
 I therefore, I alone first undertook [ 935 ]
 To wing the desolate Abyss, and spie
 This new created World, whereof in Hell
 Fame is not silent, here in hope to find
 Better abode, and my afflicted Powers
 To settle here on Earth, or in mid Aire; [ 940 ]
 Though for possession put to try once more
 What thou and thy gay Legions dare against;
 Whose easier business were to serve thir Lord
 High up in Heav’n, with songs to hymne his Throne,
 And practis’d distances to cringe, not fight. [ 945 ]

 To whom the warriour Angel, soon repli’d.
 To say and strait unsay, pretending first
 Wise to flie pain, professing next the Spie,
 Argues no Leader, but a lyar trac’t,
 Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? O name, [ 950 ]
 O sacred name of faithfulness profan’d!
 Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew?
 Armie of Fiends, fit body to fit head;
 Was this your discipline and faith ingag’d,
 Your military obedience, to dissolve [ 955 ]
 Allegeance to th’ acknowledg’d Power supream?
 And thou sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem
 Patron of liberty, who more then thou
 Once fawn’d, and cring’d, and servilly ador’d
 Heav’ns awful Monarch? wherefore but in hope [ 960 ]
 To dispossess him, and thy self to reigne?
 But mark what I arreede thee now, avant;
 Flie thither whence thou fledst: if from this houre
 Within these hallowd limits thou appeer,
 Back to th’ infernal pit I drag thee chaind, [ 965 ]
 And Seale thee so, as henceforth not to scorne
 The facil gates of hell too slightly barrd.

 So threatn’d hee, but Satan to no threats
 Gave heed, but waxing more in rage repli’d.

 Then when I am thy captive talk of chaines, [ 970 ]
 Proud limitarie Cherube, but ere then
 Farr heavier load thy self expect to feel
 From my prevailing arme, though Heavens King
 Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy Compeers,
 Us’d to the yoak, draw’st his triumphant wheels [ 975 ]
 In progress through the rode of Heav’n Star-pav’d.

 While thus he spake, th’ Angelic Squadron bright
 Turnd fierie red, sharpning in mooned hornes
 Thir Phalanx, and began to hemm him round
 With ported Spears, as thick as when a field [ 980 ]
 Of Ceres ripe for harvest waving bends
 Her bearded Grove of ears, which way the wind
 Swayes them; the careful Plowman doubting stands
 Least on the threshing floore his hopeful sheaves
 Prove chaff. On th’ other side Satan allarm’d [ 985 ]
 Collecting all his might dilated stood,
 Like Teneriff or Atlas unremov’d:
 His stature reacht the Skie, and on his Crest
 Sat horror Plum’d; nor wanted in his graspe
 What seemd both Spear and Shield: now dreadful deeds [ 990 ]
 Might have ensu’d, nor onely Paradise
 In this commotion, but the Starrie Cope
 Of Heav’n perhaps, or all the Elements
 At least had gon to rack, disturbd and torne
 With violence of this conflict, had not soon [ 995 ]
 Th’ Eternal to prevent such horrid fray
 Hung forth in Heav’n his golden Scales, yet seen
 Betwixt Astrea and the Scorpion signe,
 Wherein all things created first he weighd,
 The pendulous round Earth with balanc’t Aire [ 1000 ]
 In counterpoise, now ponders all events,
 Battels and Realms: in these he put two weights
 The sequel each of parting and of fight;
 The latter quick up flew, and kickt the beam;
 Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the Fiend. [ 1005 ]

 Satan, I know thy strength, and thou know’st mine,
 Neither our own but giv’n; what follie then
 To boast what Arms can doe, since thine no more
 Then Heav’n permits, nor mine, though doubld now
 To trample thee as mire: for proof look up, [ 1010 ]
 And read thy Lot in yon celestial Sign
 Where thou art weigh’d, and shown how light, how weak,
 If thou resist. The Fiend lookt up and knew
 His mounted scale aloft: nor more; but fled
 Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night. [ 1015 ]