Milton Lines/Sample 3

Milton Lines

The "Lost" books of Paradise Lost: Book 15. Generated with Olipy using Queneau generation.

Book XV

Not in his shape celestial, but as man
Occasion which now smiles; behold alone
They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence
And what is faith, love, virtue, unassayed
For only in destroying I find ease
And fierce demeanour seems the Prince of Hell,
On a sun-beam, swift as a shooting star
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds
And what is else not to be overcome?
Of Heaven received us falling; and the thunder,
Might suddenly inflict; that past, returned
His name, and high was his degree in Heaven;
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears;
O shame to men! Devil with devil damned
In synod unbenign; and taught the fixed
To guide them in all truth; and also arm
Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called
Heard not her lore; both in subjection now
To serve ungoverned Appetite; and took
Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the isle
Of coral stray; or, sporting with quick glance,
And brute as other creatures, but endued
Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;
Voyaged th' unreal, vast, unbounded deep
Do thou but thine; and be not diffident
Imitate when we please? This desert soil
And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled,
Is propagated curse.  O voice, once heard
Two other precious drops that ready stood,
And hazard in the glorious enterprise
From unsuccessful charge; be not dismayed,
Of mightiest?  Sense of pleasure we may well
Ingendered in the Pythian vale or slime,
And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
And justify the ways of God to men.
Of their great Potentate; for great indeed
These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw
And temperate vapours bland, which the only sound
  Say first--for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Among the pleasant villages and farms
In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright,
My part of evil only, each day's lot
So oft in festivals of joy and love
Hell-doomed, and breath'st defiance here and scorn,
The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise:
So disinherited, how would you bless
Yet not till the Creator from his work
In order, though to nations yet unborn,
With act intelligential; but his sleep
Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the ford
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
I offer: on me let thine anger fall;
However insupportable, be all
One foot he centered, and the other turned
That practised falsehood under saintly show,
I fear, hath ventured from the deep, to raise
Of God's Messiah; those indulgent laws
That scorned his indignation:  Through the gate,
Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast
And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost Isles.
Fearless unfeared he slept: in at his mouth
Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm;
What man can do against them, not afraid,
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime,)
In temples and at altars, when the priest
Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard
O'er-wearied, through the faint Satanick host
Of all our good; shamed, naked, miserable!
Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,
Presented with a universal blank
My coming seen far off?  I miss thee here,
Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold
Exposed a matron, to avoid worse rape.
Will dazzle now this earthly with their blaze
Taught them; but they his gifts acknowledged none.
I was at first as other beasts that graze
Of various influence foment and warm,
I not; so much hath Hell debased, and pain
Ere thou from hence depart; know, I am sent
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
Reserved, and destined to eternal woe;
Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?
Of Erebus.  She opened; but to shut
Seasons return; but not to me returns
Love not the heavenly Spirits, and how their love
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
But soon obscured with smoke, all Heaven appeared,
An eager appetite, raised by the smell
When first this tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.
Th' associates and co-partners of our loss,
Long had not walked, when from the tents, behold!
Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,
But first, a long succession must ensue;
And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying.
Quaff immortality and joy, secure
Therefore so abject is their punishment,
Since, through experience of this great event,
Inglorious life with servitude; for life
Not of the prime, yet such as in his face
No happier state, and know to know no more.
Or how the sun shall in mid Heaven stand still
With suppliant knee, and deify his power
Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped
With cruel expectation.  Yet one doubt
Let her with thee partake what thou hast heard;
Distempered all things, and of incorrupt
In Paradise to Adam or his race,
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?
Food not of Angels, yet accepted so,
Rose up a fountain by the tree of life:
Livelier than Meliboean, or the grain
From prone; nor in their ways complacence find.
About him all the Sanctities of Heaven
And pious awe, that feared to have offended.
Of smoke, and bickering flame, and sparkles dire:
His place of birth a solemn Angel tells
We can create, and in what place soe'er
That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
The pain of absence from thy sight.  But strange
Pitched about Sechem, and the neighbouring plain
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun
Laughest at their vain designs and tumults vain,
The Arch-Angel Uriel, one of the seven
Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemed,
And hence the morning-planet gilds her horns;
His blessed countenance:  Here I could frequent
Heaven's blessed peace, and into nature brought
Hymning the Eternal Father:  But the shout
Be over, and the sun more cool decline.
Know then, that, after Lucifer from Heaven
In might or swift prevention:  But the sword
Thou and thy wicked crew! there mingle broils,
Who of all ages to succeed, but, feeling
The rebel Thrones, but greater rage, to see
But of the fruit of this fair tree amidst
Of all things, parted by the empyreal bounds,
Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim
And shun the bitter consequence: for know,
Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,
Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap
And, manifold in sin, deserved to fall.
But listen not to his temptations, warn
Though after sleepless night; for see! the morn,
Or several one by one, the regent Powers,
To trouble holy rest; Heaven casts thee out
First wheeled their course:  Earth in her rich attire
Shall in his seed be blessed:  By that seed
Aid us, the work under our labour grows,
In even scale.  But fallen he is; and now
And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth
His zenith, while the sun in Aries rose:
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
Awaiting what command their mighty Chief
Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss
So easily destroyed, and still destroys
Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,
In mystick dance not without song, resound
Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell,
Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere,
Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell
Who oft as undeservedly enthrall
Whence Adam, faltering long, thus answered brief.
So spake the false Arch-Angel, and infused
Till many years over thy head return:
And drink the liquid light; firm to retain
To me shall be the glory sole among
Within unseen.  Far less abhorred than these
Thus he in scorn.  The warlike Angel moved,
Successive; and the timely dew of sleep,
Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm;
Or sex, and apprehended nothing high:
Now had night measured with her shadowy cone
Here sleep below; while thou to foresight wakest;
Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.
And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign
His single imperfection, and beget
Live well; how long, or short, permit to Heaven:
Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised
The guilt on him, who made him instrument
The woman, opportune to all attempts,
So spake the Son, and into terrour changed
Army of Fiends, fit body to fit head.
By attributing overmuch to things
And death ensue? then I shall be no more!
In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds
And the regard of Heaven on all his ways;
Now Morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime
The irksome hours, till his great Chief return.
That be assured, without leave asked of thee.
Among the Heathen, of their purchase got,
And therefore was law given them, to evince
Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round,
So many grateful altars I would rear
Spangled with eyes more numerous than those
Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Equal to him begotten Son? by whom,
In thy eternal course, both when thou climbest,
Or, by collision of two bodies, grind
Conspicuous with three lifted colours gay,
Till, as a signal given, th' uplifted spear
Unseen before in Heaven, proclaims him come;
Hateful to utter.  But what power of mind,
Impress the air, and shows the mariner
Messiah was declared in sight of Heaven,
This Woman, whom thou madest to be my help,
When he who most excels in fact of arms,
Envy them that?  Can it be sin to know?
For seasons, and for days, and circling years;
Endeavour peace: their strife pollution brings
To waste and havock yonder world, which I
Comes thundering back with dreadful revolution
The vigilance here placed, but such as come
And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,
Of these fair spreading trees; which bids us seek
And be so minded still:  I, ere thou spakest,
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold
His praise, ye Winds, that from four quarters blow,
And guard all passage to the tree of life:
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return,
Fomented by his virtual power and warmed:
That we must change for Heaven?--this mournful gloom
Build in her loveliest, and create an awe
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss,
Between the Cherubim; yea, often placed
Of all these garden-trees ye shall not eat,
The end of all thy offspring, end so sad,
To intellectual; give both life and sense,
To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
Of Satan (for I glory in the name,
Take to thee from among the Cherubim
Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
Conception; sulphurous and nitrous foam
If dreamed, not, as I oft am wont, of thee,
Out of such prison, though Spirits of purest light,
In the sun's orb, made porous to receive
Whereon, for different cause, the Tempter set
Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve,
Thou leadest me; and to the hand of Heaven submit,
With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
As I bent down to look, just opposite
This garden, and no corner leave unspied;
And silence on the odious din of war:
Of alienated Judah.  Next came one
Such as we might perceive amused them all,
God and his works; Creator him they sung,
Defaming as impure what God declares
Long after to blest Mary, second Eve.
Or sex, and apprehended nothing high:
In thy eternal course, both when thou climbest,
Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand,
Depress'd; and much they may, if all be mine,
Like his, and colour serpentine, may show
Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
By force impossible, by leave obtained
That landskip:  And of pure now purer air
They came, that like Pomona's arbour smiled,
Under what torments inwardly I groan,
Whose fellowship therefore unmeet for thee
By policy and long process of time,
Vouchsafed or sought; for what peace will be given
At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems
Beholding shall confess, that here on Earth
Know ye not me? ye knew me once no mate
Others among the chief might offer now,
More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,
And in whose hand what by decree I do,
Were banded to oppose his high decree;
To such unsightly sufferings be debased
With Men, as Angels, without feminine;
All secrets of the deep, all Nature's works,
Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,
Adam, by dire example, to beware
Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar
Better end here unborn.  Why is life given
From what height fallen: so much the stronger proved
God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top
Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
Of all mankind, with him there crucified,
And live in thee transplanted, and from thee
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Through all the empyreal road; till, at the gate
Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips
Or in some other dismal place, who knows
Or do him mightier service as his thralls
Over free reason, God, in judgement just,
Adam, estranged in look and altered style,
And with them comes a third of regal port,
Canaan he now attains; I see his tents
Light out of darkness!  Full of doubt I stand,
Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand
Deserve the precious bane.  And here let those
Of utmost hope! now clear I understand
Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent
Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm
While other animals unactive range,
Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Who oft as undeservedly enthrall
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll
Thou canst, who art sole wonder! much less arm
And therefore was law given them, to evince
So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.
The irksome hours, till his great Chief return.
Accept your Maker's work; he gave it me,
Why then was this forbid?  Why, but to awe;
Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Created hugest that swim th' ocean-stream.
Not unperceived of Adam; who to Eve,
Tell me, how may I know him, how adore,
Their influence malignant when to shower,
His wish and best advantage, us asunder;
Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain
To heavenly souls had been all one; but now
Cherubick songs by night from neighbouring hills
And Heaven he named the Firmament:  So even
No equal, ranging through the dire attack
More tuneable than needed lute or harp
High matter thou enjoinest me, O prime of men,
Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best
Armed with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebelled;
Of Satan to the self-same place where he
Or ambush from the Deep.  What if we find
That gave thee being, still shades thee, and protects.
Recorded eminent.  Thus when in orbs
So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,
The overthrown he raised, and as a herd
From your dominion won, th' Ethereal King
Out of my sight, thou Serpent!  That name best
Of midnight vapour glide obscure, and pry
My early visitation, and my last
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.
Dismiss them not disconsolate; reveal
Replete with joy and wonder, thus replied.
What rests, but that the mortal sentence pass
To argue in thee something more sublime
To whom the winged Hierarch replied.
And at his chariot-wheels to drag him bound
Mayest cover:  Well may then thy Lord, appeased,
Were banded to oppose his high decree;
Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they passed
Not without song, each morning, and due praise,
Thou knewest by name, and all the ethereal powers,
Would never from my heart: no, no! I feel
His countenance, as the morning-star that guides
Raphael, said he, thou hearest what stir on Earth
Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?
Either to meet no danger, or to find
To me committed, and by me exposed.
Fruitless embraces: or they led the vine
The coming of their secret foe, and 'scaped,
  But now at last the sacred influence
For state, as Sovran King; and to inure
Compulsion thus transported, to forget
Follow, as to him linked in weal or woe;
No evil thing approach or enter in.
Thy offspring, to the place of evil, Hell;
That wont to be more cheerful and serene,
Here sleep below; while thou to foresight wakest;
Far off th' empyreal Heaven, extended wide
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,
And none but such from mercy I exclude.
Scarce tolerable; and from the north to call
Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct
These have their course to finish round the earth,
Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign
Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape
Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned,
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,
And what are Gods, that Man may not become
Against thee are gone forth without recall;
And I perhaps am secret: Heaven is high,
The infernal Powers, in one day to have marred
Her crystal mirrour holds, unite their streams.
Retreated in a silent valley, sing
To travel with Tobias, and secured
And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm
Through her perverseness, but shall see her gained
Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voice
Not longer than since I, in one night, freed

Perpetual fountain of domestick sweets,
After the tempest.  Such applause was heard
Be frustrate, do, undo, and labour lose;
The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
He ended; and his words, replete with guile,
Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit,
Or cast a rampart.  Mammon led them on--
Wide over all the plain, and wider far
Mistrust, suspicion, discord; and shook sore
The skill of artifice or office mean,
Amid the garden by the tree of life,
Unargued I obey:  So God ordains;
Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round,
Of Philistean Dalilah, and waked
The eye of Eve to mark his play; he, glad
Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn
With blessedness.  Whence Adam soon repealed
By me done, and occasioned; or rejoice
Matter of scorn, not to be given the Foe.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Forced I absolve: all my evasions vain,
Rather belongs, distrust, and all dispraise:
Leviathan, which God of all his works
What better can we do, than, to the place
From Susa, his Memnonian palace high,
Me, now your curse!  Ah, why should all mankind,
Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote
First found me, and with soft oppression seised
Presenting, thus to intercede began.
Bad Men and Angels; they, arraigned, shall sink
Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught,
Easy to me it is to tell thee all
When violence was ceased, and war on earth,
And, to the faithful, death the gate of life;
Tine the slant lightning; whose thwart flame, driven down
This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain:
As when Alcides, from Oechalia crowned
For, while I sit with thee, I seem in Heaven;
Now had night measured with her shadowy cone
Men who attend the altar, and should most
By Sin and Death a broad way now is paved,
  His words here ended; but his meek aspect
Queen of this universe! do not believe
And seems a moving land; and at his gills
Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed;
No where so clear, sharpened his visual ray
They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:
Stand ready to receive them, if they like
And practised distances to cringe, not fight,
Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God
By night he fled, and at midnight returned
And terrour cease; he grants what they besought,
To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.
Henceforth; lest that too heavenly form, pretended
Not sunk in carnal pleasure; for which cause,
Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend
Conjugal love, than which perhaps no bliss
By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise
Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek
The breath of life; in his own image he
Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.
Irrevocable, that his regal throne
Justly hast in derision, and, secure,
Since first this subject for heroick song
Discovered and surprised.  As when a spark
Why our great Expectation should be called
The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate
Forsaken of all good!  I see thy fall
Obtain; though to recount almighty works
(For we have also our evening and our morn,
Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
Me, now your curse!  Ah, why should all mankind,
Than ever; bounty of this virtuous tree!
Issuing from me: on your joint vigour now
A military vest of purple flowed,
By sin of disobedience; till that hour
To thee who hast thy dwelling here on Earth.
Disabled, not to give thee thy death's wound:
Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons,
Mean while upon the firm opacous globe
Tending to some relief of our extremes,
Of future we may deem him, though till now
At certain revolutions all the damned
Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspired
So near grows death to life, whate'er death is,
Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
And govern well thy appetite; lest Sin
Through the strict senteries and stations thick
But her with stern regard he thus repelled.
In future days, if malice should abound,
Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused.
From love's due rights, nuptial embraces sweet;
At least our envious Foe hath failed, who thought
Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:
Into this cursed world a woeful race,
To dwell, unless by mastering Heaven's Supreme;
So under fiery cope together rushed
He comes, invited by a younger son
Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,
First from the ancient world those giants came
Of battle now began, and rushing sound
His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold:
Army against army numberless to raise
Some tree, whose broad smooth leaves together sewed,
His sluces, as the Heaven his windows shut.
The circuit wide.  Straight knew him all the bands
Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come
Was this your discipline and faith engaged,
The law of God exact he shall fulfil
Sole pledge of his obedience:  So will fall
Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air
  "So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange
Help to disburden Nature of her birth.
Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
Pattern of just equality perhaps
Pleased with thy words no less than thou with mine.
It guiltless?  But from me what can proceed,
For what God, after better, worse would build?
All higher knowledge in her presence falls
The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;
Among whom God will deign to dwell on earth
Long had not walked, when from the tents, behold!
Of his associate:  He together calls,
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith,
Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled,
Of my celestial patroness, who deigns
Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
On all sides, from innumerable tongues,
Eternal Father from his throne beheld
Ministring Spirits, trained up in feast and song!
Divided, and to either flank retired:
Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
So all shall turn degenerate, all depraved;
A numerous host; in strength each armed hand
As I bent down to look, just opposite
As in a shady nook I stood behind,
And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
Or some more sudden vengeance, winged from God,
Like things to like; the rest to several place
Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,
A grove hard by, sprung up with this their change,
Harmony to behold in wedded pair
Now alienated, distance and distaste,
To these that sober race of men, whose lives
Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
Surround me, as thou saw'st--hourly conceived
A world devote to universal wrack.
That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
This other served but to eternize woe;
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock
Immense I have transfused, that all may know
Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon.
Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.
  Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,
Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
The waters underneath from those above
Main ocean flowed, not idle; but, with warm
And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear
Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
Nor straitening vale, nor wood, nor stream, divides
Or one short sigh of human breath, upborne
Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
Envying our happiness, and of his own
To proper substance.  Time may come, when Men
Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced;
Lightning divine, ineffable, serene,
To good malignant, to bad men benign;
Not uninvented that, which thou aright
One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,
Between the Cherubim; yea, often placed
Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named
Behold me then:  me for him, life for life
But knowledge is as food, and needs no less
And, this perverse commotion governed thus,
Who is our equal:  Then thou shalt behold
They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence
Fanned with cool winds; save those, who, in their course,
A shout that tore Hell's concave, and beyond
Demoniack phrenzy, moaping melancholy,
In gems and wanton dress; to the harp they sung
Tending to wild.  Thou therefore now advise,
For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
Accountable, made haste, to make appear,
And now of love they treat, till the evening-star,
As from a sky.  The hasty multitude
Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound
Soon as they forth were come to open sight
Not to the extent of their own sphere.  But say
Yield thee, so well this day thou hast purveyed.
To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?
O sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving Plant,
Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint
Into the wood fast by; and, changing shape,
Kissed, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
As Man ere long, and this new world, shall know.
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
First lighted from his wing, and landed safe
Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
Scipio, the highth of Rome.  With tract oblique
Hence then, and evil go with thee along,
O Goodness infinite, Goodness immense!
I have in view, calling to mind with heed
Two potent Thrones, that to be less than Gods
And now the tops of hills, as rocks, appear;
Founded in righteousness, and peace, and love;
More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.
These painful passages, how we may come
In manhood where youth ended; by his side,
Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
But whether the sun, predominant in Heaven,
By likening spiritual to corporal forms,
No evil durst attempt thee; but I rue
By younger Saturn: he from mightier Jove,
Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,
To show us in this mountain; while the winds
When first this tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.
His violence thou fearest not, being such
Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen;
And reason not contemptibly:  With these
That on my head all might be visited;
Hasted with glad precipitance, uprolled,
Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born
And am I now upbraided as the cause
So counselled he, and both together went
With speed what force is left, and all employ
This new created world, whereof in Hell
Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams;
Which to our eyes discovered, new and strange,
Upborne with indefatigable wings
Of hope in fears and dangers--heard so oft
Consort with thee, death is to me as life;
At Heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what compare
As one he stood escaped from cruel fight,
That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth
With diadem and scepter high advanced,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine:
Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.
Fancy and understanding; whence the soul
This Woman, whom thou madest to be my help,
Some other able, and as willing, pay
Huge Python, and his power no less he seemed
Here Adam interposed.  O sent from Heaven,
And now, what further shall ensue, behold.
Began to cast lascivious eyes; she him
Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,
New courage and revive, though now they lie
From whom it sprung; impossible to mix
That must be mortal to us both.  O flowers,
Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names,
The addition of his empire, how it showed
The planets in their station listening stood,
It lies, yet ere conception to prevent
Of wicked sons destroyed, than I rejoice
So clomb this first grand thief into God's fold;
As how with peccant Angels late they saw,
Immortal thanks, and his admonishment
His fraudulent temptation thus began.
New war provoked: our better part remains
By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom
And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night
And what most merits fame, in silence hid.
And ye five other wandering Fires, that move
Illusions, as he list, phantasms and dreams;
Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek
And from about him fierce effusion rolled
With what permissive glory since his fall
Solace in her return, so long delayed:
To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Against allurement, custom, and a world
Is heard no more in Heaven; he of the first,
Here in the dark so many precious things
Than with these various fruits the trees of God
Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,
Cannot but by annihilating die;
Of right, that I may mitigate their doom
To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
Must suffer change, disdained not to begin
Or longitude,) where the great luminary
From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,
Of Heaven's high-seated top, the imperial throne
Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
Fit entertainment to receive our King,
Affects me equally; nor can I like
Far to the inland retired, about the walls
The Spirit malign, but much more envy seised,
Even shame, the last of evils; of the first
He to his own a Comforter will send,
Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobed
Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored
Though hard and rare:  Thee I revisit safe,
We ours for change delectable, not need;)
To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Of absolute perfection! therein Man
Entrance unseen.  Soon as the unwelcome news
Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Stood up--the strongest and the fiercest Spirit
Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast,
Greatness of mind and Nobleness their seat
Much more to taste it under ban to touch.
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain,
Thou art their author, and prime architect:
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,
On me already lost, me than thyself
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
Or envy, or what reserve forbids to taste?
The doubt, since human reach no further knows.
(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy
In height or depth, still first and last will reign
The vassals of his anger, when the scourge
They ferry over this Lethean sound
Impossible:  Yet, haply, of thy race
Part good, part bad; of bad the longer scroll;
Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night
Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each
Sometimes in highth began, as no delay
Confine with Heaven; or, if some other place,
Both battles main, with ruinous assault
Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmed
For ever with corruption there to dwell;
Right reason for their law, and for their King
The weal or woe in thee is placed; beware!
The attempt itself, intended by our foe.
Within these hallowed limits thou appear,
Thou Sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
From every band and squared regiment
As from his wit and native subtlety
Permits not: to remove thee I am come,
Us timely of what might else have been our loss,
The strife which thou callest evil, but we style
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb supposed,
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems
His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare;
Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit
Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
Silence, and with these words attention, won.
He called so loud that all the hollow deep
That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driven,
Before the seat supreme; from whence a voice,
To question thy bold entrance on this place;
O'er the blue firmament a radiant white,
To whom with healing words Adam replied.
Created hugest that swim th' ocean-stream.
Against his will he can receive no harm.
In order came the grand infernal Peers:
This greeting on thy impious crest receive.
Implacable, and many a dolorous groan;
Yet not for thy advice or threats I fly
Though late repenting him of Man depraved;
Exalted from so base original,
On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe;
Tending to wild.  Thou therefore now advise,
Of birds on every bough; so much the more
Or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain
Of amarantine shade, fountain or spring,
Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part
From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts
And beauty, not approached by stronger hate,
Among his Angels, and his throne itself
Th' assembly as when hollow rocks retain
Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,
Or if the star of evening and the moon
My covenant in the Woman's seed renewed;
One night or two with wanton growth derides
To evangelize the nations, then on all
Were tents of various hue; by some, were herds
The atheist crew, but with redoubled blow
As stood like these, could ever know repulse?
By policy and long process of time,
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
Becam'st enamoured; and such joy thou took'st
To peaceful counsels, and the settled state
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
"Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable,
Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge
So wise he judges it to fly from pain
Not tried or manacled with joint or limb,
Which, then not minded in dismay, yet now
Whence heavy persecution shall arise
In search of whom they sought:  Him there they found
To act or not, Necessity and Chance
If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Him with her loved society; that now,
Chiefly on Man, sole lord of all declared;
Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
Nor Faunus haunted.  Here, in close recess,
With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun
See, with what heat these dogs of Hell advance
From Earth arrived at Heaven-gate, displeased
In sight of God?  Him, after all disputes,
Imparadised in one another's arms,
Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
Less winning soft, less amiably mild,
Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
Before thy fellows, ambitious to win
First his own tools; then, what might else be wrought
As each divided legion might have seemed
In Paradise to Adam or his race,
Rescued, had in his righteousness been lost?
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone.