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 their cany waggons light. So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his prey; Alone, for other creature in this place, Living or lifeless, to be found was none; None yet, but store hereafter from the earth Up hither like aerial vapours flew
Of all things transitory and vain, when sin With vanity had fill'd 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 men, here find
Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;
All the unaccomplish'd works of Nature's hand, 455
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mix'd,
Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final dissolution, wander here;
Not in the neighbouring 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 join'd sons and daughters born
First from the ancient world those giants came
With many a vain exploit, though then renown'd: 465
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 475 Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seck 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 awry 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 backside of the world far off
Long after, now unpeopled and untrod.
Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown
All this dark globe the Fiend found as he pass'd, And long he wander'd, Of dawning light turn'd thither ward in haste His travel'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
By medel, or by shading pencil drawn. The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw Angels ascending and descending, bands Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz Dreaming by night under the open sky, And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flow'd Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon Who after came from earth, sailing arrived Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
Wrapp'd in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by easy ascent, cr aggravate
His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss:
Direct against which open'd from beneath, Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide, Wider by far than that of aftertimes
Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
Over the Promised Land to God so dear;
By which to visit oft those happy tribes,
On high behests his Angels to and fro
Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,
To Beërsaba where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;
So wide the opening seem'd, where bounds were set To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave Satan from hence, now on the lower stair, That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate, Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this world at once. As when a scout, Through dark and desert ways with peril gone
All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, Which to his eye discovers unaware
The goodly prospect of some foreign land First seen, or some renown'd metropolis With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd, Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen, The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized, At sight of all this world beheld so fair.
Found he surveys (and well might, where he stood So high above the circling canopy
Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantic seas
Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole
He views in breadth, and without longer pause Down right into the world's first region throws His flight precipitant, and winds with ease Through the pure marble air his oblique way Amongst innumerable stars, that shone Stars distant, but nigh hand seem'd other worlds; Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy isles, Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old, Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales, Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there He staid not to inquire: Above them all The golden sun, in splendour likest Heaven, Allured his eye; thither his course he bends Through the calm firmament (but up or down, By centre, or eccentric, hard to tell, Or longitude,) where the great luminary
Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,
That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
Dispenses light from far; they, as they move Their starry dance in numbers that compute Days, months, and years, towards his all cheering lamp Turn swift their various motions, or are turn'd
By his magnetic beam, that gently warms The universe, and to each inward part With gentle penetration, though unseen, Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;
So wondrously was set his station bright.
Their lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb
Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw. The place he found beyond expression bright, Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone; Not all parts like, but all alike inform'd
With radient light, as glowing iron with fire; If metal, part seem'd gold, part silver clear; If stone, carbuncle most or crysolite, Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone In Aaron's breastplate, and a stone besides Imagined rather oft, than elsewhere seen, That stone, or like to that which here below Philosophers in vain so long have sought,
In vain, though by their powerful art they bind Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound In various shapes old Proteus from the sea, Drain'd through a limbeck to his native form. What wonder then if fields and regions here Breathe forth elixir pure, and rivers run Portable gold, when with one virtuous touch The archchemic sun, so far from us remote, Produces, with terrestrial humour mix'd, Here in the dark so many precious things Of colour glorious and effect so rare? Here matter new to gaze the Devil met Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands, For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade, But all sunshine, as when his beams at noon Culminate from the equator, as they now Shot upward still direct, whence no way round Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air, No where so clear, sharpe.'d his visual ray
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