III-1. Hail holy light, ofspring of Heav'n first-born, / Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beam / May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light, / And never but in unapproached light / Dwelt from Eternitie, dwelt then in thee, / Bright effluence of bright essence increate. / Or hear'st thou rather pure Ethereal stream,

III-8. Whose Fountain who shall tell? before the Sun,

III-9. Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice / Of God, as with a Mantle didst invest / The rising world of waters dark and deep, / Won from the void and formless infinite.

III-13. Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing, / Escap't the Stygian Pool, though long detain'd / In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight / Through utter and through middle darkness borne / With other notes then to th' Orphean Lyre / I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night, / Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down / The dark descent, and up to reascend,

III-21. Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe, / And feel thy sovran vital Lamp; but thou

III-23. Revisit'st not these eyes, that rowle in vain / To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; / So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs, / Or dim suffusion veild. Yet not the more / Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt / Cleer Spring, or shadie Grove, or Sunnie Hill,

III-29. Smit with the love of sacred Song; but chief / Thee Sion and the flowrie Brooks beneath / That wash thy hallowd feet, and warbling flow,

III-32. Nightly I visit: nor somtimes forget / Those other two equal'd with me in Fate, / So were I equal'd with them in renown, / Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides, / And Tiresias and Phineus Prophets old. / Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move

III-38. Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful Bird / Sings darkling, and in shadiest Covert hid

III-40. Tunes her nocturnal Note. Thus with the Year / Seasons return, but not to me returns / Day, or the sweet approach of Ev'n or Morn, / Or sight of vernal bloom, or Summers Rose, / Or flocks, or heards, or human face divine;

III-45. But cloud in stead, and ever-during dark / Surrounds me, from the chearful wayes of men / Cut off, and for the Book of knowledg fair / Presented with a Universal blanc / Of Nature's works to mee expung'd and ras'd, / And wisdome at one entrance quite shut out.

III-51. So much the rather thou Celestial light / Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers / Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence / Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell / Of things invisible to mortal sight.

III-56. Now had the Almighty Father from above, / From the pure Empyrean where he sits / High Thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye, / His own works and their works at once to view:

III-60. About him all the Sanctities of Heaven / Stood thick as Starrs, and from his sight receiv'd

III-62. Beatitude past utterance; on his right / The radiant image of his Glory sat,

III-64. His onely Son; On Earth he first beheld / Our two first Parents, yet the onely two / Of mankind, in the happie Garden plac't, / Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, / Uninterrupted joy, unrivald love

III-69. In blissful solitude; he then survey'd / Hell and the Gulf between, and Satan there / Coasting the wall of Heav'n on this side Night / In the dun Air sublime, and ready now / To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet / On the bare outside of this World, that seem'd

III-75. Firm land imbosom'd without Firmament, / Uncertain which, in Ocean or in Air.

III-77. Him God beholding from his prospect high, / Wherein past, present, future he beholds, / Thus to his onely Son foreseeing spake.

III-80. Onely begotten Son, seest thou what rage / Transports our adversarie, whom no bounds / Prescrib'd, no barrs of Hell, nor all the chains / Heapt on him there, nor yet the main Abyss

III-84. Wide interrupt can hold; so bent he seems / On desparate reveng, that shall redound

III-86. Upon his own rebellious head. And now / Through all restraint broke loose he wings his way / Not farr off Heav'n, in the Precincts of light, / Directly towards the new created World, / And Man there plac't, with purpose to assay / If him by force he can destroy, or worse,

III-92. By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert / For man will heark'n to his glozing lyes, / And easily transgress the sole Command,

III-95. Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall, / Hee and his faithless Progenie: whose fault?

III-97. Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of mee / All he could have; I made him just and right, / Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

III-100. Such I created all th' Ethereal Powers / And Spirits, both them who stood and them who faild; / Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

III-103. Not free, what proof could they have givn sincere / Of true allegiance, constant Faith or Love, / Where onely what they needs must do, appeard, / Not what they would? what praise could they receive?

III-107. What pleasure I from such obedience paid, / When Will and Reason (Reason also is choice) / Useless and vain, of freedom both despoild, / Made passive both, had servd necessitie, / Not mee. They therefore as to right belongd,

III-112. So were created, nor can justly accuse / Thir maker, or thir making, or thir Fate, / As if predestination over-rul'd / Thir will, dispos'd by absolute Decree / Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed

III-117. Thir own revolt, not I: if I foreknew, / Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, / Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown. / So without least impulse or shadow of Fate, / Or aught by me immutablie foreseen,

III-122. They trespass, Authors to themselves in all / Both what they judge and what they choose; for so

III-124. I formd them free, and free they must remain,

III-125. Till they enthrall themselves: I else must change / Thir nature, and revoke the high Decree / Unchangeable, Eternal, which ordain'd

III-128. Thir freedom, they themselves ordain'd thir fall. / The first sort by thir own suggestion fell, / Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls deceiv'd

III-131. By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,

III-132. The other none: in Mercy and Justice both, / Through Heav'n and Earth, so shall my glorie excel, / But Mercy first and last shall brightest shine.

III-135. Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd / All Heav'n, and in the blessed Spirits elect / Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd:

III-138. Beyond compare the Son of God was seen / Most glorious, in him all his Father shon / Substantially express'd, and in his face / Divine compassion visibly appeerd, / Love without end, and without measure Grace, / Which uttering thus he to his Father spake.

III-144. O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd / Thy sovran sentence, that Man should find grace; / For which both Heav'n and Earth shall high extoll / Thy praises, with th' innumerable sound / Of Hymns and sacred Songs, wherewith thy Throne / Encompass'd shall resound thee ever blest.

III-150. For should Man finally be lost, should Man / Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest Son / Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joynd / With his own folly? that be from thee farr, / That farr be from thee, Father, who art Judg / Of all things made, and judgest onely right.

III-156. Or shall the Adversarie thus obtain / His end, and frustrate thine, shall he fulfill / His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught, / Or proud return though to his heavier doom, / Yet with revenge accomplish't and to Hell / Draw after him the whole Race of mankind,

III-162. By him corrupted? or wilt thou thy self / Abolish thy Creation, and unmake, / For him, what for thy glorie thou hast made?

III-165. So should thy goodness and thy greatness both / Be questiond and blaspheam'd without defence.

III-167. To whom the great Creatour thus reply'd. / O Son, in whom my Soul hath chief delight, / Son of my bosom, Son who art alone / My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,

III-171. All hast thou spok'n as my thoughts are, all / As my Eternal purpose hath decreed:

III-173. Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will, / Yet not of will in him, but grace in me / Freely voutsaft; once more I will renew / His lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall'd / By sin to foul exorbitant desires; / Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand / On even ground against his mortal foe,

III-180. By me upheld, that he may know how frail / His fall'n condition is, and to me ow / All his deliv'rance, and to none but me.

III-183. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace / Elect above the rest; so is my will:

III-185. The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warnd / Thir sinful state, and to appease betimes / Th' incensed Deitie while offerd grace / Invites; for I will cleer thir senses dark, / What may suffice, and soft'n stonie hearts / To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. / To Prayer, repentance, and obedience due, / Though but endevord with sincere intent,

III-193. Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.

III-194. And I will place within them as a guide / My Umpire Conscience, whom if they will hear, / Light after light well us'd they shall attain, / And to the end persisting, safe arrive.

III-198. This my long sufferance and my day of grace / They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste; / But hard be hard'nd, blind be blinded more, / That they may stumble on, and deeper fall; / And none but such from mercy I exclude.

III-203. But yet all is not don; Man disobeying, / Disloyal breaks his fealtie, and sinns / Against the high Supremacie of Heav'n, / Affecting God-head, and so loosing all, / To expiate his Treason hath naught left, / But to destruction sacred and devote, / He with his whole posteritie must dye,

III-210. Dye hee or Justice must; unless for him / Som other able, and as willing, pay / The rigid satisfaction, death for death.

III-213. Say Heav'nly Powers, where shall we find such love,

III-214. Which of ye will be mortal to redeem / Mans mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save, / Dwels in all Heaven charitie so deare? / He ask'd, but all the Heav'nly Quire stood mute,

III-218. And silence was in Heav'n: on mans behalf / Patron or Intercessor none appeerd, / Much less that durst upon his own head draw / The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.

III-222. And now without redemption all mankind / Must have bin lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hell / By doom severe, had not the Son of God, / In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, / His dearest mediation thus renewd.

III-227. Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace; / And shall grace not find means, that finds her way, / The speediest of thy winged messengers,

III-230. To visit all thy creatures, and to all / Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought,

III-232. Happie for man, so coming; he her aide / Can never seek, once dead in sins and lost; / Attonement for himself or offering meet, / Indebted and undon, hath none to bring:

III-236. Behold mee then, mee for him, life for life / I offer, on mee let thine anger fall;

III-238. Account mee man; I for his sake will leave / Thy bosom, and this glorie next to thee / Freely put off, and for him lastly dye / Well pleas'd, on me let Death wreck all his rage;

III-242. Under his gloomie power I shall not long / Lie vanquisht; thou hast givn me to possess / Life in my self for ever, by thee I live, / Though now to Death I yield, and am his due / All that of me can die, yet that debt paid, / Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsom grave / His prey, nor suffer my unspotted Soule / For ever with corruption there to dwell;

III-250. But I shall rise Victorious, and subdue / My Vanquisher, spoild of his vanted spoile; / Death his deaths wound shall then receive, and stoop / Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarm'd.

III-254. I through the ample Air in Triumph high / Shall lead Hell Captive maugre Hell, and show

III-256. The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the sight / Pleas'd, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,

III-258. While by thee rais'd I ruin all my Foes, / Death last, and with his Carcass glut the Grave:

III-260. Then with the multitude of my redeemd / Shall enter Heaven long absent, and returne,

III-262. Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud / Of anger shall remain, but peace assur'd, / And reconcilement; wrauth shall be no more / Thenceforth, but in thy presence Joy entire.

III-266. His words here ended, but his meek aspect / Silent yet spake, and breath'd immortal love / To mortal men, above which only shon / Filial obedience: as a sacrifice / Glad to be offer'd, he attends the will

III-271. Of his great Father. Admiration seis'd / All Heav'n, what this might mean, and whither tend / Wondring; but soon th' Almighty thus reply'd:

III-274. O thou in Heav'n and Earth the only peace / Found out for mankind under wrauth, O thou / My sole complacence! well thou know'st how dear, / To me are all my works, nor Man the least

III-278. Though last created, that for him I spare / Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save, / By loosing thee a while, the whole Race lost.

III-281. Thou therefore whom thou only canst redeem, / Thir Nature also to thy Nature joyn; / And be thy self Man among men on Earth,

III-284. Made flesh, when time shall be, of Virgin seed,

III-285. By wondrous birth: Be thou in Adams room / The Head of all mankind, though Adams Son. / As in him perish all men, so in thee / As from a second root shall be restor'd, / As many as are restor'd, without thee none.

III-290. His crime makes guiltie all his Sons, thy merit / Imputed shall absolve them who renounce / Thir own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, / And live in thee transplanted, and from thee

III-294. Receive new life. So Man, as is most just, / Shall satisfie for Man, be judg'd and die, / And dying rise, and rising with him raise / His Brethren, ransomd with his own dear life. / So Heav'nly love shall outdoo Hellish hate, / Giving to death, and dying to redeeme,

III-300. So dearly to redeem what Hellish hate / So easily destroy'd, and still destroyes / In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

III-303. Nor shalt thou by descending to assume / Mans Nature, less'n or degrade thine owne.

III-305. Because thou hast, though Thron'd in highest bliss / Equal to God, and equally enjoying / God-like fruition, quitted all to save / A World from utter loss, and hast been found / By Merit more then Birthright Son of God, / Found worthiest to be so by being Good, / Farr more then Great or High; because in thee / Love hath abounded more then Glory abounds,

III-313. Therefore thy Humiliation shall exalt / With thee thy Manhood also to this Throne; / Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt Reign / Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,

III-317. Anointed universal King, all Power / I give thee, reign for ever, and assume / Thy Merits; under thee as Head Supream / Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions I reduce: / All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide / In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell;

III-323. When thou attended gloriously from Heav'n / Shalt in the Sky appeer, and from thee send / The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaime / Thy dread Tribunal: forthwith from all Windes / The living, and forthwith the cited dead / Of all past Ages to the general Doom / Shall hast'n, such a peal shall rouse thir sleep.

III-330. Then all thy Saints assembl'd, thou shalt judge / Bad men and Angels, they arraignd shall sink / Beneath thy Sentence; Hell her numbers full, / Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while

III-334. The World shall burn, and from her ashes spring / New Heav'n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell

III-336. And after all thir tribulations long / See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, / With Joy and Love triumphing, and fair Truth.

III-339. Then thou thy regal Scepter shalt lay by, / For regal Scepter then no more shall need,

III-341. God shall be All in All. But all ye Gods, / Adore him, who to compass all this dies, / Adore the Son, and honour him as mee.

III-344. No sooner had th' Almighty ceas't, but all / The multitude of Angels with a shout / Loud as from numbers without number, sweet / As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav'n rung / With Jubilee, and loud Hosanna's filld / Th' eternal Regions: lowly reverent

III-350. Towards either Throne they bow, and to the ground / With solemn adoration down they cast / Thir Crowns inwove with Amarant and Gold,

III-353. Immortal Amarant, a Flour which once / In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life / Began to bloom, but soon for mans offence / To Heav'n remov'd where first it grew, there grows, / And flours aloft shading the Fount of Life, / And where the river of Bliss through midst of Heavn / Rowls o're Elisian Flours her Amber stream;

III-360. With these that never fade the Spirits elect / Bind thir resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams,

III-362. Now in loose Garlands thick thrown off, the bright / Pavement that like a Sea of Jasper shon / Impurpl'd with Celestial Roses smil'd.

III-365. Then Crown'd again thir gold'n Harps they took, / Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by thir side / Like Quivers hung, and with Præamble sweet / Of charming symphonie they introduce / Thir sacred Song, and waken raptures high;

III-370. No voice exempt, no voice but well could joine / Melodious part, such concord is in Heav'n.

III-372. Thee Father first they sung Omnipotent, / Immutable, Immortal, Infinite, / Eternal King; thee Author of all being, / Fountain of Light, thy self invisible / Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st / Thron'd 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 appeer, / Yet dazle Heav'n, that brightest Seraphim / Approach not, but with both wings veil thir eyes,

III-383. Thee next they sang of all Creation first, / Begotten Son, Divine Similitude, / In whose conspicuous count'nance, without cloud / Made visible, th' Almighty Father shines, / Whom else no Creature can behold; on thee / Impresst the effulgence of his Glorie abides, / Transfus'd on thee his ample Spirit rests.

III-390. Hee Heav'n of Heavens and all the Powers therein / By thee created, and by thee threw down / Th' Aspiring Dominations: thou that day / Thy Fathers dreadful Thunder didst not spare, / Nor stop thy flaming Chariot wheels, that shook / Heav'ns everlasting Frame, while o're the necks / Thou drov'st of warring Angels disarraid. / Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaime / Thee only extoll'd, Son of thy Fathers might, / To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,

III-400. Not so on Man; him through their malice fall'n, / Father of Mercie and Grace, thou didst not doome / So strictly, but much more to pitie encline:

III-403. No sooner did thy dear and onely Son / Perceive thee purpos'd not to doom frail Man / So strictly, but much more to pitie enclin'd, / He to appease thy wrauth, and end the strife / Of Mercy and Justice in thy face discern'd, / Regardless of the Bliss wherein hee sat / Second to thee, offerd himself to die

III-410. For mans offence. O unexampl'd love, / Love no where to be found less then Divine! / Hail Son of God, Saviour of Men, thy Name / Shall be the copious matter of my Song / Henceforth, and never shall my Harp thy praise / Forget, nor from thy Fathers praise disjoine.

III-416. Thus they in Heav'n, above the starry Sphear, / Thir happie hours in joy and hymning spent. / Mean while upon the firm opacous Globe / Of this round World, whose first convex divides / The luminous inferior Orbs, enclos'd / From Chaos and th' inroad of Darkness old,

III-422. Satan alighted walks: a Globe farr off / It seem'd, now seems a boundless Continent / Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night / Starless expos'd, and ever-threatning storms / Of Chaos blustring round, inclement skie;

III-427. Save on that side which from the wall of Heav'n / Though distant farr some small reflection gaines / Of glimmering air less vext with tempest loud:

III-430. Here walk'd the Fiend at large in spacious field. / As when a Vultur on Imaus bred, / Whose snowie 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 Plaines / Of Sericana, where Chineses drive / With Sails and Wind thir canie Waggons light:

III-440. So on this windie Sea of Land, the Fiend / Walk'd up and down alone bent on his prey,

III-442. Alone, for other Creature in this place / Living or liveless to be found was none,

III-444. None yet, but store hereafter from the earth / Up hither like Aereal vapours flew / Of all things transitorie and vain, when Sin / With vanity had filld the works of men: / Both all things vain, and all who in vain things / Built thir fond hopes of Glorie or lasting fame, / Or happiness in this or th' other life; / All who have thir reward on Earth, the fruits / Of painful Superstition and blind Zeal, / Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find / Fit retribution, emptie as thir deeds;

III-455. All th' unaccomplisht works of Natures hand, / Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixt, / Dissolvd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,

III-458. Till final dissolution, wander here, / Not in the neighbouring Moon, as some have dreamd;

III-460. Those argent Fields more likely habitants, / Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold / Betwixt th' Angelical and Human kinde:

III-463. Hither of ill-joynd Sons and Daughters born / First from the ancient World those Giants came / With many a vain exploit, though then renownd: / The builders next of Babel on the Plain / Of Sennaar, and still with vain designe / New Babels, had they wherewithall, would build:

III-469. Others came single; he who to be deem'd / A God, leap'd fondly into Ætna flames / Empedocles, and hee who to enjoy / Plato's Elysium, leap'd into the Sea, / Cleombrotus, and many more too long, / Embryo's and Idiots, Eremits and Friers / White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie. / Here Pilgrims roam, that stray'd so farr to seek / In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heav'n;

III-478. And they who to be sure of Paradise / Dying put on the weeds of Dominic, / Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd;

III-481. They pass the Planets seven, and pass the fixt, / And that Crystalline Sphear whose ballance weighs / The Trepidation talkt, and that first mov'd; / And now Saint Peter at Heav'ns Wicket seems / To wait them with his Keys, and now at foot

III-486. Of Heav'ns ascent they lift thir Feet, when loe / A violent cross wind from either Coast / Blows them transverse ten thousand Leagues awry / Into the devious Air; then might ye see

III-490. Cowles, Hoods and Habits with thir wearers tost / And flutterd into Raggs, then Reliques, Beads, / Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls,

III-493. The sport of Winds: all these upwhirld aloft / Fly o're the backside of the World farr off / Into a Limbo large and broad, since calld / The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown / Long after, now unpeopl'd, and untrod;

III-498. All this dark Globe the Fiend found as he pass'd,

III-499. And long he wanderd, till at last a gleame / Of dawning light turnd thither-ward in haste

III-501. His travell'd steps; farr distant he descries / Ascending by degrees magnificent / Up to the wall of Heaven a Structure high, / At top whereof, but farr more rich appeer'd / The work as of a Kingly Palace Gate / With Frontispice of Diamond and Gold / Imbellisht, thick with sparkling orient Gemmes / The Portal shon, inimitable on Earth

III-509. By Model, or by shading Pencil drawn.

III-510. 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 Skie, / And waking cri'd, This is the Gate of Heav'n

III-516. Each Stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood

III-517. There alwayes, but drawn up to Heav'n somtimes

III-518. Viewless, and underneath a bright Sea flow'd / Of Jasper, or of liquid Pearle, whereon

III-520. Who after came from Earth, sayling arriv'd, / Wafted by Angels, or flew o're the Lake / Rapt in a Chariot drawn by fiery Steeds.

III-523. The Stairs were then let down, whether to dare / The Fiend by easie ascent, or aggravate / His sad exclusion from the dores of Bliss.

III-526. Direct against which opn'd from beneath, / Just o're the blissful seat of Paradise, / A passage down to th' Earth, a passage wide,

III-529. Wider by farr then that of after-times / Over Mount Sion, and, though that were large, / Over the Promis'd 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 Jordans flood / To Beersaba, where the Holy Land / Borders on Ægypt and th' Arabian shoare;

III-538. So wide the op'ning seemd, where bounds were set / To darkness, such as bound the Ocean wave.

III-540. Satan from hence now on the lower stair / That scal'd by steps of Gold to Heav'n Gate / Looks down with wonder at the sudden view

III-543. Of all this World at once. As when a Scout / Through dark and desart wayes with peril gone / All night; at last by break of chearful dawne / Obtains the brow of some high-climbing Hill, / Which to his eye discovers unaware / The goodly prospect of some forein land / First-seen, or some renown'd Metropolis / With glistering Spires and Pinnacles adorn'd, / Which now the Rising Sun guilds with his beams.

III-552. Such wonder seis'd, though after Heaven seen, / The Spirit maligne, but much more envy seis'd / At sight of all this World beheld so faire.

III-555. Round he surveys, and well might, where he stood / So high above the circling Canopie / Of Nights extended shade; from Eastern Point / Of Libra to the fleecie Starr that bears / Andromeda farr off Atlantic Seas / Beyond th' Horizon; then from Pole to Pole

III-561. He views in bredth, and without longer pause / Down right into the Worlds first Region throws

III-563. His flight precipitant, and windes with ease / Through the pure marble Air his oblique way

III-565. Amongst innumerable Starrs, that shon / Stars distant, but nigh hand seemd other Worlds, / Or other Worlds they seemd, or happy Iles, / Like those Hesperian Gardens fam'd of old, / Fortunate Fields, and Groves and flourie Vales,

III-570. Thrice happy Iles, but who dwelt happy there

III-571. He stayd not to enquire: above them all / The golden Sun in splendor likest Heaven

III-573. Allur'd his eye: Thither his course he bends / Through the calm Firmament; but up or downe / By center, or eccentric, hard to tell, / Or Longitude, where the great Luminarie / Alooff the vulgar Constellations thick, / That from his Lordly eye keep distance due,

III-579. Dispenses Light from farr; they as they move / Thir Starry dance in numbers that compute / Days, months, and years, towards his all-chearing Lamp / Turn swift thir various motions, or are turnd

III-583. By his Magnetic beam, that gently warms / The Univers, and to each inward part / With gentle penetration, though unseen, / Shoots invisible vertue even to the deep: / So wondrously was set his Station bright.

III-588. There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps / Astronomer in the Sun's lucent Orbe / Through his glaz'd Optic Tube yet never saw.

III-591. The place he found beyond expression bright,

III-592. Compar'd with aught on Earth, Medal or Stone; / Not all parts like, but all alike informd / With radiant light, as glowing Iron with fire; / If mettal, part seemd Gold, part Silver cleer; / If stone, Carbuncle most or Chrysolite, / Rubie or Topaz, to the Twelve that shon

III-598. In Aarons Brest-plate, and a stone besides / Imagind rather oft then elsewhere seen, / That stone, or like to that which here below / Philosophers in vain so long have sought, / In vain, though by thir powerful Art they binde / Volatil Hermes, and call up unbound / In various shapes old Proteus from the Sea, / Draind through a Limbec to his Native forme.

III-606. What wonder then if fields and region here / Breathe forth Elixir pure, and Rivers run / Potable Gold, when with one vertuous touch / Th' Arch-chimic Sun so farr from us remote / Produces with Terrestrial Humor mixt / Here in the dark so many precious things / Of colour glorious and effect so rare?

III-613. Here matter new to gaze the Devil met / Undazl'd, farr and wide his eye commands,

III-615. For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,

III-616. But all Sun-shine, as when his Beams at Noon / Culminate from th' Æquator, as they now

III-618. Shot upward still direct, whence no way round / Shadow from body opaque can fall, and the Aire,

III-620. No where so cleer, sharp'nd his visual ray

III-621. To objects distant farr, whereby he soon / Saw within kenn a glorious Angel stand, / The same whom John saw also in the Sun: / His back was turnd, but not his brightness hid; / Of beaming sunnie Raies, a golden tiar / Circl'd his Head, nor less his Locks behind / Illustrious on his Shoulders fledge with wings / Lay waving round; on som great charge imploy'd

III-629. He seemd, or fixt in cogitation deep.

III-630. Glad was the Spirit impure as now in hope / To find who might direct his wandring flight / To Paradise the happie seat of Man, / His journies end and our beginning woe. / But first he casts to change his proper shape, / Which else might work him danger or delay:

III-636. And now a stripling Cherube he appeers, / Not of the prime, yet such as in his face / Youth smil'd Celestial, and to every Limb / Sutable grace diffus'd, so well he feign'd; / Under a Coronet his flowing haire

III-641. In curles on either cheek plaid, wings he wore / Of many a colourd plume sprinkl'd with Gold, / His habit fit for speed succinct, and held / Before his decent steps a Silver wand.

III-645. He drew not nigh unheard, the Angel bright, / Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turnd, / Admonisht by his ear, and strait was known

III-648. Th' Arch-Angel Uriel, one of the seav'n / Who in God's presence, neerest to his Throne / Stand ready at command, and are his Eyes / That run through all the Heav'ns, or down to th' Earth / Bear his swift errands over moist and dry, / O're Sea and Land; him Satan thus accostes;

III-654. Uriel, for thou of those seav'n Spirits that stand / In sight of God's high Throne, gloriously bright, / The first art wont his great authentic will / Interpreter through highest Heav'n to bring, / Where all his Sons thy Embassie attend; / And here art likeliest by supream decree / Like honor to obtain, and as his Eye / To visit oft this new Creation round;

III-662. Unspeakable desire to see, and know / All these his wondrous works, but chiefly Man, / His chief delight and favour, him for whom / All these his works so wondrous he ordaind, / Hath brought me from the Quires of Cherubim

III-667. Alone thus wandring. Brightest Seraph tell / In which of all these shining Orbes hath Man / His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none, / But all these shining Orbes his choice to dwell;

III-671. That I may find him, and with secret gaze, / Or open admiration him behold / On whom the great Creator hath bestowd / Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces powrd; / That both in him and all things, as is meet, / The Universal Maker we may praise; / Who justly hath driv'n out his Rebell Foes / To deepest Hell, and to repair that loss / Created this new happie Race of Men / To serve him better: wise are all his wayes.

III-681. So spake the false dissembler unperceivd; / For neither Man nor Angel can discern / Hypocrisie, the onely evil that walks / Invisible, except to God alone, / By his permissive will, through Heav'n and Earth: / And oft though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps / At wisdoms Gate, and to simplicitie / Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill / Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguil'd / Uriel, though Regent of the Sun, and held / The sharpest sighted Spirit of all in Heav'n; / Who to the fraudulent Impostor foule / In his uprightness answer thus returnd.

III-694. Faire Angel, thy desire which tends to know / The works of God, thereby to glorifie / The great Work-Maister, leads to no excess / That reaches blame, but rather merits praise / The more it seems excess, that led thee hither / From thy Empyreal Mansion thus alone, / To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps / Contented with report hear onely in heav'n:

III-702. For wonderful indeed are all his works, / Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all / Had in remembrance alwayes with delight;

III-705. But what created mind can comprehend / Thir number, or the wisdom infinite / That brought them forth, but hid thir causes deep.

III-708. I saw when at his Word the formless Mass, / This worlds material mould, came to a heap:

III-710. Confusion heard his voice, and wilde uproar / Stood rul'd, stood vast infinitude confin'd; / Till at his second bidding darkness fled, / Light shon, and order from disorder sprung:

III-714. Swift to thir several Quarters hasted then / The cumbrous Elements, Earth, Flood, Aire, Fire, / And this Ethereal quintessence of Heav'n / Flew upward, spirited with various forms, / That rowld orbicular, and turnd to Starrs / Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; / Each had his place appointed, each his course, / The rest in circuit walles this Universe.

III-722. Look downward on that Globe whose hither side / With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;

III-724. That place is Earth the seat of Man, that light

III-725. His day, which else as th' other Hemisphere

III-726. Night would invade, but there the neighbouring Moon / (So call that opposite fair Starr) her aide / Timely interposes, and her monthly round / Still ending, still renewing through mid Heav'n, / With borrowd light her countenance triform / Hence fills and empties to enlighten th' Earth, / And in her pale dominion checks the night.

III-733. That spot to which I point is Paradise, / Adams abode, those loftie shades his Bowre. / Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.

III-736. Thus said, he turnd, and Satan bowing low, / As to superior Spirits is wont in Heaven, / Where honour due and reverence none neglects,

III-739. Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath, / Down from th' Ecliptic, sped with hop'd success, / Throws his steep flight in many an Aerie wheele, / Nor staid, till on Niphates top he lights.