Relations dear, and all the charities
Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
Far be 't, that I should write thee sin or blame,
Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,
Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets,
Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced,
Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used.
Here Love his golden shafts employs, here lights
His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings,
Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile 765
Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendear'd,
Casual fruition; nor in court-amours,
Mix'd dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball,
Or serenate, which the starved lover sings
To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.
These, lull'd by nightingales, embracing, slept,
And on their naked limbs the flow'ry roof
Shower'd roses, which the morn repair'd. Sleep on,
Blest pair! and O yet happiest, if ye seek
No happier state, and know to know no more.
Now had Night measured with her shadowy cone
Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault,
And from their ivory port the Cherubim
Forth issuing at th' accustom'd hour, stood arm'd
To their night-watches in warlike parade,
When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake :
Uzziel, half these draw off, and coast the south
With strictest watch; these other wheel the north;
Our circuit meets full west. As flame they part;
Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.
From these, two strong and subtle Spirits he call'd
That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge:
Ithuriel and Zephon, with wing'd speed
Search thro' this garden; leave unsearch'd no nook;
But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,
Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.
This evening from the Sun's decline arrived
756. The charities; the affections called forth by the different relations of life.
769. Serenate: Milton follows the Italian in his spelling.
Starved; cold, unaccepted.
782. Uzziel, the strength of God.
784. See Heb. chap. i.
788. Ithuriel, the discovery of God. Zephon, a secret,
Who tells of some infernal Spirit seen
Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escaped The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:
Such where ye find, seize fast, and hither bring.
So saying, on he led his radiant files, Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct,
In search of whom they sought him there they found,
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
Assaying by his devilish art to reach
The organs of her fancy', and with them forge
Illusions as he list, phantasms and dreams;
Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint
Th' animal spirits that from pure blood arise,
Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise
At least distemper'd, discontented thoughts,
Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,
Blown up with high conceits, ingendering pride.
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touch'd lightly; for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness. Up he starts,
Discover'd and surprised. As when a spark
Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, laid
Fit for the tun some magazine to store
Against a rumour'd war, the smutty grain
With sudden blaze diffused, inflames the air;
So started up in his own shape the Fiend.
Back stept those two fair Angels, half amazed
So зudden to behold the grisly king;
Yet thus, unmoved with fear, accost him soon:
Which of those rebel Spirits, adjudged to Hell,
Com'st thou, escaped thy prison? and transform'd,
Why sat'st thou like an enemy in wait,
Here watching at the head of these that sleep?
Know ye not then, said Satan, fill'd with scorn,
Know ye not me? Ye knew me once no mate
For you; there sitting where ye dust not soar.
Not to know me, argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your throng; cr if ye dow,
Why ask ye, and superfluona bogia
796. Hither, that is, wherever the speaker lg afterwards be.
804. Virgil, ne.... 1.
814. Ariosto employs the saae me.
Your message, like to end as much in vain ?
To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn,
Think not, revolted Spirit, thy shape the same,
Or undiminish'd brightness, to be known
As when thou stood'st in Heav'n upright and pure;
That glory then, when thou no more wast good,
Departed from thee'; and thou resemblest now
Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foul.
But come; for thou, be sure, shalt give account
To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep
This place inviolable, and these from harm.
So spake the Cherub; and his grave rebuke,
Severe in youthful beauty, added grace
Invincible. Abash'd the Devil stood,
And felt how awful goodness is, and saw
Virtue' in her shape how lovely; saw and pined
His loss; but chiefly to find here observed
His lustre visibly impair'd; yet seem'd
Undaunted. If I must contend, said he,
Best with the best, the sender not the sent,
Or all at once; more glory will be won,
Or less be lost. Thy fear, said Zephon bold,
Will save us trial what the least can do
Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.
The Fiend reply'd not, overcome with rage;
But like a proud steed rein'd, went haughty on,
Champing his iron curb. To strive or fly
He held it vain; awe from above had quell'd
His heart, not else dismay'd. Now drew they nigh
The western point, where those half-rounding guards
Just met, and closing stood in squadron join'd,
Awaiting next command. To whom their chief,
Gabriel from the front, thus call'd aloud:
O friends, I hear the tread of nimble feet
Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern
Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade,
And with them comes a third of regal port,
But faded splendour wan; who, by his gait
And fierce demeanour, seems the prince of Hell,
885. Bentley proposes a new reading, Or brightness undimi nish'd' in the next line: Newton to change thy into by in the present.
866. It is observed, that Milton has followed Homer in this episode. See II. x. 533.
Not likely to part hence without contest:
Stand firm, for in his look lefiance ours.
He scarce had ended, when those two approach'd, And brief related whom they brought, where found, How busy', in what form and posture couch'd. 876 To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake : Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescribed To thy transgressions, and disturb'd the charge Of others, who approve not to transgress By thy example, but have pow'r and right To question thy bold entrance on this place; Employ'd it seems to violate sleep, and those Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss? To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow: 885 Gabriel, thou hadst in Heav'n th' esteem of wise, And such I held thee; but this question ask'd Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain? Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell, Though thither doom'd? Thou would'st thyself, no doubt,
And boldly venture to whatever place
Farthest from pain,where thou might'st hope to change
Torment with ease, and soonest recompense
Dole with delight, which in this place I sought;
To thee no reason, who knowest only good,
His will who bound us? Let him surer bar
But evil hast not try'd: and wilt object
His iron gates, if he intends our stay
In that dark durance: thus much what was ask'd. The rest is true, they found me where they say; 900
But that implies not violence or harm.
Thus he in scorn. The warlike Angel moved
Disdainfully, half smiling, thus reply d:
O loss of one in Heav'n to judge of wise, Since Satan fell, whom folly overthrew, And now returns him from his prison 'scaped, Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither, Unlicensed from his bounds in Hell prescribed;
So wise he judges it to fly from pain
878. Bentley thinks transgressions should be taken in the sense of transcursions, that is, to pass over bounds.
893. Torment with ease, a Latin idiom.
However, and to 'scape his punishment.
So judge thou still, presumptuous, till the wrath,
Which thou incurr st by flying, meet thy flight
Sev'nfold, and scourge that wisdom back to Hell
Which taught thee yet no better, that no pain
Can equal anger infinite provoked.
But wherefore thou alone? Wherefore with thee
Came not all Hell Lroke loose? Is pain to them
Less pain, less to be fled? or thou than they
Less hardy to endure? Courageous Chief,
The first in flight from pain, hadst thou alleged
To thy deserted host this cause of flight,
Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.
To which the Fiend thus answer d, frowning stern:
Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain,
Insulting Angel: well thou know'st I stood
Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid
The blasting volley'd thunder made all speed,
And seconded thy else not dreaded spear.
But still thy words at random, as before,
Argue thy inexperience what behoves
From hard assays and ill successes past,
A faithful leader, not to hazard all
Through ways of danger by himself untry'd:
I therefore, I alone first undertook
To wing the desolate abyss, and spy
This new-created world, whereof in Hell
Fame is not silent, here in hope to find
Better abode, and my afflicted Pow'rs
To settle here on earth, or in mid-air;
Though for possession put to try once more
What thou and thy gay legis dare against;
Whose easier bus'ness were to serve their Lord
High up in Heav n, with songs to hymn his throne,
And practised distances to cringe, not fight.
To whom the warrior Angel soon reply'd:
To say and straight unsay, pretending first
Wise to fly pain, professing next the spy,
Argues no leader, but a liar traced,
Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? O name, 950
927. Thy fiercest; the adjective as a substantive, as in instances
928. Thy is read in the second edition.
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