Not emulous, nor care who them excels; Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.
So spake the Son, and into terrour chang'd His countenance too severe to be beheld, And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
At once the Four spread out their starry wings With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs Of his fierce chariot roll'd, as with the sound Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host. He on his impious foes right onward drove, Gloomy as night under his burning wheels The steadfast empyréan shook throughout, All but the throne itself of God. Full soon Among them he arriv'd; in his right hand Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent Before him, such as in their souls infix'd Plagues: They, astonish'd, all resistance lost, All courage; down their idle weapons dropt: O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostráte, That wish'd the mountains now might be again Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire. Nor less on either side tempestuous fell His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye
Glar'd lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
Among the accurs'd, that wither'd all their strength, And of their wonted vigour left them drain'd, Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.
Yet half his strength he put not forth, but check'd His thunder in mid volley; for he meant
Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:
The overthrown he raised, and as a herd Of goats or timorous flock together throng'd, Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued With terrours and with furies, to the bounds And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide, Roll'd inward, and a spacious gap disclos'd Into the wasteful deep: The monstrous sight Struck them with horrour backward, but far worse Urg'd them behind: Headlong themselves they threw Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath
Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.
Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw
Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound. Nine days they fell: Confounded Chaos roar'd, And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout Incumber'd him with ruin : Hell at last Yawning received them whole, and on them clos'd; Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain. Disburden'd Heaven rejoic'd, and soon repair'd Her mural breach, returning whence it roll'd. Sole Victor, from the expulsion of his foes, Messiah his triumphal chariot turn'd: To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts, With jubilee advanc'd; and, as they went, Shaded with branching palm, each order bright, Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King, Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion given, Worthiest to reign: He, celebrated, rode Triumphant through mid Heaven, into the courts
And temple of his Mighty Father thron'd On high; who into glory him receiv'd,
Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.
Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on Earth At thy request, and that thou may'st beware
By what is past, to thee I have reveal'd
What might have else to human race been hid; The discord which befell, and war in Heaven Among the Angelick Powers, and the deep fall Of those too high aspiring who rebell'd With Satan; he who envies now thy state, Who now is plotting how he may seduce Thee also from obedience, that, with him, Bereav'd of happiness, thou may'st partake His punishment eternal misery;
Which would be all his solace and revenge, As a despite done against the Most High, Thee once to gain companion of his woe. But listen not to his temptations: warn Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard, By terrible example, the reward
Of disobedience: firm they might have stood, Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his angels out of heaven, declared his pleasure to create another world, and other creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son with glory, and attendance of angels, to perform the work of creation in six days: the angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his re-ascension into heaven.
DESCEND from heaven, Urania,1 by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine Following, above the Olympian hill I soar, Above the flight of Pegaséan wing!
The meaning not the name, I call for thou Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st; but, heavenly-born, Before the hills appear'd, or fountain flow'd, Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play In presence of the Almighty Father, pleas'd With thy celestial song. Up led by thee Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presum'd, An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air, Thy tempering with like safety guided down, Return me to my native element:
Lest, from this flying steed unrein'd (as once Bellerophon,2 though from a lower clime), Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall, Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn.
1 Urania:' heavenly muse. - Bellerophon,' who attempted to ride to heaven on Pegasus, but fell down on the Aleian field, where he wandered till he died.
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound Within the visible diurnal sphere;
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole, More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days, On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues; In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round, And solitude; yet not alone, while thou Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when morn Purples the east: still govern thou my song, Urania, and fit audience find, though few. But drive far off the barbarous dissonance Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race
Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard1 In Rhodope,2 where woods and rocks had ears To rapture, till the savage clamour drown'd Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores : For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream. Say, goddess, what ensued when Raphaël, The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarn'd Adam, by dire example, to beware Apostasy, by what befell in Heaven To those apostates; lest the like befall In Paradise to Adam or his race, Charge not to touch the interdicted tree,
If they transgress, and slight that sole command, So easily obey'd amid the choice
Of all tastes else to please their appetite,
Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve,
The story heard attentive, and was fill'd
With admiration, and deep muse, to hear
Of things so high and strange; things to their thought
1 Thracian bard:' Orpheus.-2Rhodope:' a mountain in Thrace.
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