Designed & Engraved by J. Martin Esq Book 3. line 365.

Bind their resplendent locks in wreathed with beams;
Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,
Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took,
Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming symphony they introduce

Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven.
"Thee, Father, first they sung Omnipotent,
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

Eternal King, thee, Author of all being,
Fountain of light, thyself invisible

Amidst the glorious brightness when thou sit'st
Throned inaccessible, but when thou shad'st
The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud
Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,
Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,
Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
Thee next they sang of all creation first,
Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,

In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud
Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,
Whom else no creature can behold; on thee
Impress'd the effulgence of his glory abides,
Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.

The Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein
By thee created; and by thee threw down
The aspiring Dominations: Thou that day
Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,
Not stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook
Heavens everlasting frame, while o'er the necks
Thou drovest of warring Angels disarray'd,
Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim

Thec only extoll'd, Son of thy Father's might,
To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,

Not so on Man, Him, through their malice fallen,
Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom
So strictly, but much more to pity incline:
No sooner did thy dear and only Son
Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail Man
So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,
He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife
Of mercy and justice in thy face discern'd,
Regardless of the bliss wherein be sat
Se ond to thee, offer'd himself to die
For Man's offence. O unexampled love,
Love no where to be found less than divine!
Hail, Son of God, Saviour of Men! Thy name
Shall be the copious matter of my song
Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise,
Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin."

Thus they in Heaven above the starry sphere Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent. Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe

Of this round World, whose first convex divides
The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed
From Chaos and the inroad of darkness old,
Satan alighted walks: a globe far off

It seem'd, now seems a boundless continent
Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night
Starless exposed, and ever threatening storms
Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;
Save on that side which from the wall of Heaven,
Though distant far, some small reflection gains
Of glimmering air, less vex'd with tempest loud:
Here walk'd the Fiend at large in spacious field.
As when a vulture on Imaus bred,

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
Dislodging from a region scarce of prey,
To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids,

On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs
Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

But in his way lights on the barren plains
Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

With sails and wind there cany wagons light:
So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend
Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his prey,
Alone, for other creatures in this place,
Living or lifeless, to be found was none;
None yet, but store hereafter from the Earth
Up hither like aerial vapors flew

Of all things transitory and vain, when sin
With vanity had filled the works of Men;
Both all things vain, and all who on vain things
Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame,
Or happiness in this or the other life;

All who have their reward on Earth, the fruits
Of painful superstition and blind zeal,
Nought seeking but the praise of Man, here find
Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;

All the accomplish'd works of nature's hand,
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mix'd,
Dissolved on Earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final dissolution, wander here;

Not in the neighboring Moon as some have dream'd;
Those argent fields, more likely habitants,
Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold
Betwixt the angelical and human kind.
Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born
First from the ancient world those giants came

With many a vain exploit, though then renown'd:
The builders next of Babel on the plain
Of Sennaar, and still with vain design,

New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build ;
Others came single; he, who to be deem'd
A God, leap'd fondly into Etna flames,
Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy

Plato's Elysium, leap'd into the sea,
Cleombrotus; and many more too long,
Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars

White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery.
Here Pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seek
In Golgotha him dead who lives in Heaven;
And they, who, to be sure of Paradise,

Dying, put on the weeds of Dominic,
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised;
They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd,
And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
The trepidation talk'd, and that first moved;
And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems
To wait them with his keys, and now at foot
Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when, lo,
A violent cross-wind from either coast

Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues away
Into the devious air: then might ye see

Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toss'd
And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads,
Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,
The sport of winds: all these, up-whirl'd aloft,
Fly o'er the back side of the World far off
Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd
The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown
Long after, now unpeopled and untrod.

All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed,
And long he wandered, till at last a gleam
Of dawning light turned thitherward in haste
His travell'd steps: far distant he descries,
Ascending by degrees magnificent

Up to the wall of Heaven, a structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich, appear'd
The work as of a kingly palace-gate,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Embellish'd; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone, inimitable on Earth