1020
Charybdis, and by th’ other whirlpool steered.
1021
So he2408 with difficulty and labor hard
1022
Moved on, with difficulty and labor he. 2409
1023
But he once passed,2410 soon after, when man fell,
1024
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain2411
1025
Following his track (such was the will of Heav’n)
1026
Paved after him a broad and beaten way
1027
Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf
1028
Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length,
1029
From Hell continued, reaching th’ utmost orb2412
1030
Of this frail world, by which the Spirits perverse2413
1031
With easy intercourse pass to and fro
1032
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
1033
God and good Angels guard by special grace.
1034
But now at last the sacred influence2414
1035
Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav’n
1036
Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night
1037
A glimmering dawn. Here Nature first begins
1038
Her farthest verge, 2415 and Chaos to retire2416
1039
As from her outmost works, a broken foe,
1040
With tumult less and with less hostile din,
1041
That Satan with less toil, and now with ease,
1042
Wafts2417 on the calmer wave by dubious2418 light,
1043
And like a weather-beaten vessel holds
1044
Gladly the port, though shrouds2419 and tackle2420 torn,
1045
Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,
1046
Weighs2421 his spread wings, at leisure to behold
1047
Far off th’ empyreal Heav’n, extended wide
1048
In circuit, undetermined 2422 square or round,
1049
With opal towers and battlements adorned
1050
Of living sapphire, once his native seat,
1051
And fast by, 2423 hanging in a golden chain,
1052
This pendant world, in bigness as a star
1053
Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
1054
Thither, full fraught 2424 with mischievous revenge,
1055
Accursed, and in a cursèd hour, he hies.2425
The End of the Second Book
BOOK III
THE ARGUMENT
God sitting on His throne sees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; shews him to the Son who sat at His right hand; foretells the success of Satan in perverting mankind; clears His own justice and wisdom from all imputation, having created man free and able enough to have withstood his tempter; yet declares His purpose of grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but by him seduced.
The Son of God renders praises to His Father for the manifestation of His gracious purpose towards man, but God again declares that grace cannot be extended towards man without the satisfaction of divine justice. Man hath offended the majesty of God by aspiring to Godhead, and therefore with all his progeny devoted to Death must die, unless some one can be found sufficient to answer for his offence, and undergo his punishment.
The Son of God freely offers himself a ransom for man. The Father accepts him, ordains his incarnation, pronounces his exaltation above all names in Heaven and earth; commands all the Angels to adore him. They obey, and hymning to their harps in full choir, celebrate the Father and the Son.
Meanwhile Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world’s outermost orb, where wandring he first finds a place since called the Limbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither. Thence [Satan] comes to the Gate of Heaven, described ascending by stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it. His passage thence to the orb of the sun; he finds there Uriel the Regent of that orb, but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner Angel and, pretending a zealous desire to behold the new creation, and man whom God had placed here, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed; alights first on Mount Niphates.
1
Hail holy light, offspring of Heav’n first-born,
2
Or of the Eternal Coeternal beam
3
May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,
4
And never but in unapproachèd light
5
Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee
6
Bright effluence2426 of bright essence increate. 2427
7
Or hear’st 2428 thou rather pure ethereal stream,
8
Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
9
Before the Heav’ns thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest2429
11
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
12
Won from the void and formless infinite.
13
Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,
14
Escaped the Stygian2430 pool, though long detained
15
In that obscure sojourn,2431 while in my flight
16
Through utter and through middle darkness borne,
17
With other notes than to the Orphean2432 lyre2433
18
I sung of Chaos and eternal Night,
19
Taught by the Heav’nly Muse to venture down
20
The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,
21
Though hard and rare. 2434 Thee I re-visit safe,
22
And feel thy sov’reign vital lamp,2435 but thou
23
Re-visit’st not these eyes, that roll in vain
24
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn,
25
So thick a drop serene2436 hath quenched2437 their orbs,
26
Or dim suffusion2438 veiled.2439 Yet not the more
27
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt,
28
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
29
Smit2440 with the love of sacred song. But chief
30
Thee, Sion,2441 and the flow’ry brooks beneath
31
That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow,
32
Nightly I visit, nor sometimes forget
33
Those other two, equaled with2442 me in fate
34
(So were I equaled with them in renown)
35
Blind Thamyris,2443 and blind Maeonides,2444
36
And Tiresias,2445 and Phineus,2446 prophets old.
37
Then feed 2447 on thoughts, that voluntary move
38
Harmonious numbers,2448 as the wakeful bird 2449
39
Sings darkling, 2450 and in shadiest covert 2451 hid
40
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year
41
Seasons return, but not to me returns
42
Day, or the sweet approach of ev’n or morn,
43
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose,
44
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine,
45
But cloud instead, and ever-during 2452 dark
46
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
47
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
48
Presented with a universal blank
49
Of Nature’s works to me expunged2453 and razed,2454
50
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
51
So much the rather thou, celestial light,
52
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
53
Irradiate. 2455 There plant 2456 eyes, all mist from thence
54
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
55
Of things invisible to mortal sight.
56
Now had the Almighty Father from above,
57
From the pure empyrean where He sits
58
High throned above all height, bent down His eye,
59
His own works and their works at once to view.
60
About Him all the Sanctities of Heav’n
61
Stood thick as stars, and from His sight received
62
Beatitude2457 past utterance. 2458 On His right
63
The radiant image of His glory sat,
64
His only Son. On earth He first beheld
65
Our two first parents, yet 2459 the only two
66
Of mankind in the happy garden placed,
67
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,
68
Uninterrupted joy, unrivaled love,
69
In blissful solitude. He then surveyed
70
Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there
71
Coasting the wall of Heav’n on this side Night
72
In the dun2460 air sublime, 2461 and ready now
73
To stoop with wearied wings and willing feet
74
On the bare outside of this world, that seemed
75
Firm land embosomed,2462 without firmament,2463
76
Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.
77
Him God beholding, from His prospect2464 high,
78
Wherein past, present, future, He beholds,
79
Thus to His only Son foreseeing spoke:
8
“Only-begotten Son, seest thou what rage
81
Transports2465 our adversary? whom no bounds
82
Prescribed, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains
83
Heaped on him there, nor yet the main abyss
84
Wide interrupt,2466 can hold, so bent he seems
85
On desperate revenge, that shall redound
86
Upon his own rebellious head. And now,
87
Through all restraint broke2467 loose, he wings his way
88
Not far off Heav’n, in the precincts2468 of light,
89
Directly towards the new created world,
90
And man there placed, with purpose to assay2469
91
If him by force he can destroy or, worse,
92
By some false guile pervert. And shall pervert,
93
For man will hearken to his glozing2470 lies,
94
And easily transgress2471 the sole command,
95
Sole pledge2472 of his obedience: So will fall
96
He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault?
97
Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me
98
All he could have. I made him just and right,
99
Sufficient to have stood,2473 though free to fall.
100
Such I created all the ethereal Powers
101
And Spirits, both them who stood and them who failed.
102
Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.
103
Not free, what proof could they have given sincere
104
Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love,
105
Where only what they needs must do appeared,
106
Not what they would? What praise could they receive?
107
What pleasure I, from such obedience paid,
108
When will and reason (reason also is choice)
109
Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled,2474
110
Made passive both, had served necessity,
111
Not me? They therefore, as to right belonged,
112
So were created, nor can justly accuse
113
Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,
114
As if predestination over-ruled
115
Their will, disposed 2475 by absolute decree
116
Or high foreknowledge. They themselves decreed
117
Their own revolt, not I: if I foreknew,
118
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
119
Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.
120
So without least impulse or shadow of Fate,
121
Or aught by me immutably 2476 foreseen,
122
They trespass, authors2477 to themselves in all
123
Both what they judge and what they choose. For so
124
I formed them free, and free they must remain,
125
Till they enthrall2478 themselves. I else must change
126
Their nature, and revoke the high decree
127
Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained
128
Their freedom. They themselves ordained their fall.
129
The first sort 2479 by their own suggestion fell,
130
Self-tempted, self-depraved. Man falls deceived
131
By the other first. Man therefore shall find grace,
132
The other none. In mercy and justice both,
133
Through Heav’n and earth, so shall my glory excel,
134
But mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.
135
Thus while God spoke, 2480 ambrosial fragrance filled
136
All Heav’n, and in the blessèd Spirits elect
137
Sense of new joy ineffable diffused.
138
Beyond compare, the Son of God was seen
139
Most glorious. In him all His Father shone,
140
Substantially2481 expressed, and in his face
141
Divine compassion visibly appeared,
142
Love without end, and without measure grace,
143
Which uttering thus he to his Father spoke:
144
“O Father, gracious was that word which closed
145
Thy sov’reign2482 sentence, 2483 that man should find grace.
146
For which both Heav’n and earth shall high extol
147
Thy praises, with th’ innumerable sound
148
Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith Thy throne
; 149
Encompassed 2484 shall resound 2485 Thee ever blessed.
150
For should man finally be lost? Should man,
151
Thy creature late so loved, Thy youngest son,
152
Fall circumvented 2486 thus by fraud, though joined
153
With his own folly? That be from Thee far,