Willing or no, who will but what they must
By destiny, and can no other choose?
Myself and all th’ angelic host that stand
In sight of God enthroned, our happy state
Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds;
On other surety538 none; freely we serve,
Because we freely love, as in our will
To love or not; in this we stand or fall:
And some are fall’n, to disobedience fall’n,
And so from Heav’n to deepest Hell; O fall
From what high state of bliss into what woe!”
To whom our great progenitor. “Thy words
Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
Divine instructor, I have heard, than when
Cherubic songs547 by night from neighboring hills
Aerial music send: nor knew I not
To be both will and deed created free;
Yet that we never shall forget to love
Our Maker, and obey him whose command
Single, is yet552 so just, my constant thoughts
Assured me, and still assure: though what thou tell’st
Hath passed in Heav’n, some doubt within me move,
But more desire to hear, if thou consent,
The full relation, which must needs be strange,
Worthy of sacred silence557 to be heard;
And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun
Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins
His other half in the great zone of heav’n.”
Thus Adam made request, and Raphael
After short pause assenting, thus began.
“High matter thou enjoin’st me, O prime of men,
Sad task and hard, for how shall I relate
To human sense th’ invisible exploits
Of warring spirits; how without remorse566
The ruin of so many glorious once
And perfect while they stood; how last unfold
The secrets of another world, perhaps
Not lawful to reveal? Yet for thy good
This is dispensed571, and what surmounts the reach
Of human sense, I shall delineate so,
By lik’ning spiritual to corporal forms573,
As may express them best, though what if Earth
Be but575 the shadow of Heav’n, and things therein
Each to other like, more than on Earth is thought576?
“As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild
Reigned where these heav’ns now roll, where Earth now rests
Upon her center poised, when on a day
(For time580, though in eternity, applied
To motion, measures all things durable
By present, past, and future) on such day
As Heav’n’s great year583 brings forth, th’ empyreal host
Of angels by imperial summons called,
Innumerable before th’ Almighty’s throne
Forthwith from all the ends of Heav’n appeared
Under their hierarchs in orders bright;
Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,
Standards, and gonfalons589 twixt van and rear
Stream in the air, and for distinction serve
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
Or in their glittering tissues bear emblazed
Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love
Recorded eminent. Thus when in orbs
Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
Orb within orb, the Father infinite,
By whom in bliss embosomed sat the Son,
Amidst as from a flaming mount, whose top
Brightness had made invisible, thus spake.
“ ‘Hear all ye angels, progeny of light,
Thrones, Dominations,601 Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.
This day I have begot603 whom I declare
My only Son, and on this holy hill
Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
At my right hand; your head I him appoint;
And by myself have sworn607 to him shall bow
All knees in Heav’n, and shall confess him Lord:
Under his great vicegerent609 reign abide
United as one individual610 soul
Forever happy: him who disobeys611
Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day
Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls
Into utter darkness, deep engulfed, his place
Ordained without redemption, without end.’
“So spake th’ Omnipotent, and with his words
All seemed well pleased, all seemed, but were not all.
That day, as other solemn days618, they spent
Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
Of planets and of fixed621 in all her wheels
Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,
Eccentric623, intervolved, yet regular
Then most, when most irregular they seem,
And in their motions harmony divine
So smooths her charming tones, that God’s own ear
Listens delighted. Evening now627 approached
(For we have also our evening and our morn,
We ours for change delectable, not need)
Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn
Desirous; all in circles as they stood,
Tables are set, and on a sudden piled
With angel’s food, and rubied nectar flows
In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold
Fruit of delicious vines, the growth of Heav’n.
On flow’rs636 reposed, and with fresh flow’rets crowned,
They eat, they drink, and in communion637 sweet
Quaff immortality and joy, secure
Of surfeit where full measure only bounds
Excess, before th’ all bounteous King, who show’red
With copious hand, rejoicing in their joy.
Now when ambrosial night with clouds exhaled
From that high mount of God, whence light and shade
Spring both, the face of brightest Heav’n had changed
To grateful twilight (for night comes not there
In darker veil) and roseate dews disposed
All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest,
Wide over all the plain, and wider far
Than all this globous earth in plain outspread,
(Such are the courts of God) th’ angelic throng
Dispersed in bands and files their camp extend
By living streams among the trees of life652,
Pavilions numberless, and sudden reared,
Celestial tabernacles, where they slept
Fanned with cool winds, save those who in their course
Melodious hymns about the sov’reign throne
Alternate all night long: but not so waked
Satan, so call him now, his former name658
Is heard no more in Heav’n; he of the first,
If not the first Archangel, great in power,
In favor and in pre-eminence, yet fraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honored by his great Father, and proclaimed
Messiah664 King anointed, could not bear
Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.
Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
With all his legions to dislodge669, and leave
Unworshipped, unobeyed the throne supreme
Contemptuous, and his next subordinate671
Awak’ning, thus to him in secret spake.
“ ‘Sleep’st thou673 companion dear, what sleep can close
Thy eyelids? And remember’st what decree
&nb
sp; Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips
Of Heav’n’s Almighty? Thou to me thy thoughts
Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart;
Both waking we were one; how then can now
Thy sleep dissent? New laws thou seest imposed;
New laws from him who reigns, new minds680 may raise
In us who serve, new counsels, to debate
What doubtful may ensue, more in this place
To utter is not safe. Assemble thou
Of all those myriads which we lead the chief;
Tell them that by command685, ere yet dim night
Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste,
And all who under me their banners wave,
Homeward with flying march where we possess
The quarters of the north689, there to prepare
Fit entertainment to receive our King
The great Messiah, and his new commands,
Who speedily through all the hierarchies
Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.’
“So spake the false Archangel, and infused
Bad influence695 into th’ unwary breast
Of his associate; he together calls,
Or several one by one, the regent powers,
Under him regent, tells, as he was taught,
That the most high commanding, now ere night,
Now ere dim night had disencumbered Heav’n,700
The great hierarchal standard was to move;
Tells the suggested cause, and cast between
Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound
Or taint integrity; but all obeyed
The wonted signal, and superior voice
Of their great potentate; for great indeed
His name, and high was his degree in Heav’n;
His count’nance, as the morning star that guides
The starry flock, allured them, and with lies
Drew after him the third part710 of Heav’n’s host:
Meanwhile th’ eternal eye, whose sight discerns
Abstrusest712 thoughts, from forth his holy mount
And from within the golden lamps that burn
Nightly before him, saw without their light
Rebellion rising, saw in whom, how spread
Among the sons of morn, what multitudes
Were banded to oppose his high decree;
And smiling718 to his only Son thus said.
“ ‘Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
In full resplendence, heir of all my might,
Nearly721 it now concerns us to be sure
Of our omnipotence, and with what arms
We mean to hold what anciently we claim
Of deity or empire, such a foe
Is rising, who intends to erect his throne725
Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north;
Nor so content, hath in his thought to try
In battle, what our power is, or our right.
Let us advise, and to this hazard draw
With speed what force is left, and all employ
In our defense, lest unawares we lose
This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.’
“To whom the Son with calm aspect and clear
Lightning divine, ineffable, serene,
Made answer. ‘Mighty Father, thou thy foes
Justly hast in derision736, and secure
Laugh’st at their vain designs and tumults vain,
Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
Illustrates739, when they see all regal power
Giv’n me to quell their pride, and in event740
Know whether I be dextrous741 to subdue
Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heav’n.’
“So spake the Son, but Satan with his powers
Far was advanced on wingèd speed, an host
Innumerable as the stars of night,
Or stars of morning, dewdrops746, which the sun
Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
Regions they passed, the mighty regencies748
Of Seraphim and Potentates and Thrones
In their triple degrees750, regions to which
All thy dominion, Adam, is no more
Than what this garden is to all the earth,
And all the sea, from one entire globose
Stretched into longitude; which having passed
At length into the limits of the north
They came, and Satan to his royal seat
High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount
Raised on a mount, with pyramids758 and tow’rs
From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold,
The palace of great Lucifer, (so call
That structure in the dialect of men
Interpreted) which not long after, he
Affecting763 all equality with God,
In imitation of that mount764 whereon
Messiah was declared in sight of Heav’n,
The Mountain of the Congregation766 called;
For thither he assembled all his train,
Pretending so commanded to consult
About the great reception of their King,
Thither to come, and with calumnious art
Of counterfeited truth thus held their ears.
“ ‘Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
If these magnific titles yet remain
Not merely titular, since by decree
Another now hath to himself engrossed775
All power, and us eclipsed under the name
Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
Of midnight march, and hurried meeting here,
This only to consult how we may best
With what may be devised of honors new
Receive him coming to receive from us
Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile,
Too much to one, but double how endured,
To one and to his image now proclaimed?
But what if better counsels might erect
Our minds and teach us to cast off this yoke786?
Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend
The supple knee? Ye will not, if I trust
To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves
Natives and sons of Heav’n possessed before
By none, and if not equal all, yet free,
Equally free; for orders and degrees
Jar not with liberty, but well consist.
Who can in reason then or right assume
Monarchy over such as live by right
His equals, if in power and splendor less,
In freedom equal? Or can introduce
Law and edict on us, who without law
Err not, much less for this799 to be our Lord,
And look for adoration to th’ abuse
Of those imperial titles which assert
Our being ordained to govern, not to serve?’
“Thus far his bold discourse without control
Had audience, when among the Seraphim
Abdiel805, than whom none with more zeal adored
The deity, and divine commands obeyed,
Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe
The current of his fury thus opposed.
“ ‘O argument blasphemous, false and proud!
Words which no ear ever to hear in Heav’n
Expected, least of all from thee, ingrate,
In place thyself so high above thy peers.
Canst thou with impious obloquy condemn
The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,
That to his only Son by right endued
With regal scepter, every soul in Heav’n
Shall bend the knee, and in that honor due
Confess him rightful King? Unjust thou say’st,
Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,
And equal over equals to let reign,
One over all
with unsucceeded821 power.
Shalt thou give law to God, shalt thou dispute
With him the points of liberty, who made
Thee what thou art, and formed the pow’rs of Heav’n
Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?
Yet by experience taught we know how good,
And of our good, and of our dignity
How provident he is, how far from thought
To make us less, bent rather to exalt
Our happy state under one head more near
United. But to grant it thee unjust,
That equal over equals monarch reign:
Thyself though great and glorious dost thou count,
Or all angelic nature joined in one,
Equal to him begotten Son, by whom835
As by his Word the mighty Father made
All things, ev’n thee, and all the spirits of Heav’n
By him created in their bright degrees,
Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
Essential powers, nor by his reign obscured,
But842 more illustrious made, since he the head
One of our number thus reduced becomes,
His laws our laws, all honor to him done
Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage,
And tempt not these; but hasten to appease
Th’ incensèd Father, and th’ incensèd Son,
While pardon may be found in time besought.’
“So spake the fervent Angel, but his zeal
None seconded, as out of season judged,
Or singular and rash, whereat rejoiced
Th’ Apostate, and more haughty thus replied.
‘That we were formed then say’st thou? And the work
Of secondary hands, by task transferred
From Father to his Son? Strange point and new!
Doctrine which856 we would know whence learnt: who saw
When this creation was? Remember’st thou
Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?
We know no time when we were not as now;
Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised860
By our own quick’ning power, when fatal course
Had circled his full orb, the birth mature
Of this our native Heav’n, ethereal sons.
Our puissance is our own, our own right hand864
Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try
Who is our equal: then thou shalt behold
Whether by supplication we intend
Address868, and to begirt th’ Almighty throne
Beseeching or besieging869. This report,
These tidings carry to th’ anointed King;
And fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.’
“He said, and as the sound of waters deep
Hoarse murmur echoed to his words applause