780
Before him Power Divine his way prepared;
781
At his command the uprooted hills retired 4054
782
Each to his place. They heard his voice, and went
783
Obsequious.4055 Heav’n his wonted 4056 face renewed,
784
And with fresh flow’rets hill and valley smiled.
785
This saw his hapless4057 foes, but stood obdured,4058
786
And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,
787
Insensate, 4059 hope conceiving4060 from despair.
788
“In Heav’nly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?
789
But to convince the proud what signs avail,
790
Or wonders move th’ obdurate to relent?
791
They, hardened more by what might most reclaim, 4061
792
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
793
Took envy and, aspiring to his height,
794
Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud
795
Weening4062 to prosper, and at length prevail
796
Against God and Messiah, or to fall
797
In universal ruin last.4063 And now
798
To final battle drew, disdaining flight,
799
Or faint retreat. When the great Son of God
800
To all his host on either hand thus spoke:
801
“‘Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand,
802
Ye Angels armed; this day from battle rest.
803
Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God
804
Accepted, fearless in His righteous cause,
805
And as ye have received, so have ye done,
806
Invincibly. But of this cursèd crew
807
The punishment to other hand belongs.
808
Vengeance is His, or whose He sole appoints.
809
Number to this day’s work is not ordained,
810
Nor multitude. Stand only, and behold
811
God’s indignation on these godless poured
812
By me. Not you, but me, they have despised,
813
Yet envied. Against me is all their rage,
814
Because the Father, to whom in Heav’n supreme
815
Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains,
816
Hath honored me, according to His will.
817
Therefore to me their doom4064 He hath assigned,
818
That they may have their wish, to try 4065 with me
819
In battle which the stronger proves, they all,
82
Or I alone against them, since by strength
821
They measure all, of other excellence
822
Not emulous,4066 nor care who them excels.
823
Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe. ’4067
824
“So spoke the Son, and into terror changed
825
His count’nance, too severe to be beheld,
826
And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
827
At once the Four spread out their starry wings
828
With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs
829
Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
830
Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.4068
831
He on his impious foes right onward drove,
Gloomy 4069 as night. Under his burning wheels
833
The steadfast empyrean4070 shook throughout,
834
All but the throne itself of God. Full soon
835
Among them he arrived, in his right hand
836
Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
837
Before him, such as in their souls infixed
838
Plagues.4071 They astonished 4072 all resistance lost,
839
All courage. Down their idle 4073 weapons dropped.
840
O’er shields, and helms, and helmèd heads he rode
841
Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,
842
That wished the mountains now might be again
843
Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire. 4074
844
Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
845
His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four
846
Distinct 4075 with eyes, and from the living wheels
847
Distinct alike with multitude of eyes.
848
One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye
849
Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious4076 fire
850
Among the accursed, that withered all their strength,
851
And of their wonted 4077 vigor left them drained,
852
Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fall’n.
853
Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
854
His thunder in mid volley, for he meant
855
Not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n.
856
The overthrown he raised, and as a herd
857
Of goats or timorous flock together thronged
858
Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued
859
With terrors, and with furies, to the bounds
860
And crystal wall of Heav’n, which op’ning wide,
861
Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
862
Into the wasteful 4078 deep. The monstrous sight
863
Struck them with horror backward, but far worse
864
Urged them behind. Headlong themselves they threw
865
Down from the verge4079 of Heav’n. Eternal wrath
866
Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.
867
“Hell heard th’ unsufferable4080 noise, Hell saw
868
Heav’n ruining4081 from Heav’n, and would have fled
869
Affrighted, but strict 4082 Fate had cast too deep
870
Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
871
Nine days they fell. Confounded 4083 Chaos roared,
872
And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
873
Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout4084
874
Encumbered him with ruin. Hell at last
875
Yawning 4085 received them whole, and on them closed,
876
Hell their fit habitation, fraught 4086 with fire
877
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.
878
Disburdened Heav’n rejoiced, and soon repaired
879
Her mural 4087 breach, returning whence it rolled.
880
“Sole victor, from th’ expulsion of his foes,
881
Messiah his triumphal chariot turned.
882
T
o meet him all his Saints, who silent stood
883
Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,
884
With jubilee4088 advanced and, as they went,
885
Shaded with branching palm, each Order bright
886
Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,
887
Son, heir, and Lord, to him dominion giv’n,
888
Worthiest to reign. He celebrated rode
889
Triumphant through mid Heav’n, into the courts
890
And temple of his Mighty Father throned
891
On high, who into glory him received,
892
Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.
893
“Thus, measuring things in Heav’n by things on earth,
894
At thy4089 request, and that thou may’st beware4090
895
By what is past, to thee I have revealed
896
What might have else to human race been hid,
897
The discord which befell,4091 and war in Heav’n
898
Among th’ angelic Powers, and the deep fall
899
Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled
900
With Satan—he who envies now thy state,
901
Who now is plotting how he may seduce
902
Thee also from obedience, that4092 with4093 him
903
Bereaved 4094 of happiness, thou may’st partake
904
His punishment, eternal misery,
905
Which would be all his solace and revenge,
906
As a despite 4095 done against the Most High,
907
Thee once4096 to gain companion4097 of his woe.
908
But listen not to his temptations, warn
909
Thy weaker. 4098 Let it profit thee t’ have heard,
910
By terrible example, the reward
911
Of disobedience. Firm they might have stood,
912
Yet fell. Remember, and fear to transgress.
The End of the Sixth Book
BOOK VII
THE ARGUMENT
Raphael at the request of Adam relates how and wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declared His pleasure to create another world and other creatures to dwell therein; sends His Son with glory and attendance of Angels to perform the work of Creation in six days.
The Angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his4099 re-ascention into Heaven.
1
Descend from Heav’n, Urania,4100 by that name
2
If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
3
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
4
Above the flight of Pegasean4101 wing!4102
5
The meaning, not the name, I call, for thou
6
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
7
Of old Olympus, dwell’st, but Heav’nly-born,
8
Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed,
9
Thou with eternal wisdom didst converse, 4103
10
Wisdom thy sister, and with her did’st play
11
In presence of th’Almighty Father, pleased
12
With thy celestial song. Up led by thee
13
Into the Heav’n of Heav’ns I have presumed,
14
An earthly guest, and drawn4104 empyreal air,
15
Thy temp’ring. 4105 With like safety guided down,
16
Return me to my native element,4106
17
Lest from this flying steed unreined (as once
18
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime)
19
Dismounted,4107 on the Aleian field4108 I fall,
20
Erroneous4109 there to wander, and forlorn.4110
21
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound 4111
22
Within the visible diurnal sphere:4112
23
Standing on earth, not rapt4113 above the pole, 4114
24
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
25
To hoarse or mute, though fall’n on evil days,
26
On evil days though fall’n, and evil tongues,
27
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,4115
28
And solitude. Yet not alone while thou
29
Visit’st my slumbers nightly, or when morn
30
Purples the east. Still govern thou my song,
31
Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
32
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
33
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race4116
34
Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard4117
35
In Rhodopé,4118 where woods and rocks had ears
36
To rapture, 4119 till the savage clamor drowned
37
Both harp and voice. Nor could the Muse defend
38
Her son.4120 So fail not thou, who thee implores,
39
For thou art Heav’nly, she an empty dream.
40
Say, goddess, what ensued when Raphael,
41
The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarned
42
Adam, by dire example, to beware
43
Apostasy, by what befell 4121 in Heav’n
44
To those apostates, lest the like befall
45
In Paradise to Adam or his race,
46
Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,
47
If they transgress, and slight 4122 that sole command,
48
So easily obeyed amid the choice
49
Of all tastes else to please their appetite,
50
Though wand’ring. 4123 He with his consorted 4124 Eve
51
The story heard, attentive, and was filled
52
With admiration 4125 and deep muse4126 to hear
53
Of things so high4127 and strange4128 —things to their thought
54
So unimaginable, as hate in Heav’n,
55
And war so near the peace of God in bliss,
56
With such confusion,4129 but the evil, soon
57
Driv’n back, redounded 4130 as a flood on those
58
From whom it sprung, impossible to mix
59
With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed4131
60
The doubts that in his heart arose, and now
61
Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know
62
What nearer might concern him, how this world
63
Of Heav’n and earth conspicuous 4132 first began,
64
When, and whereof created, for what cause,
65
What within Eden, or without, was done
66
Before his memory—as one whose drought
67
Yet scarce allayed, still eyes the current 4133 stream,
68
Whose liquid murmur heard, new thirst excites,
69
Proceeded thus to ask his Heav’nly guest:
70
“Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,
71
Far differing from this world, thou hast revealed,