IV-1. O for that warning voice, which he who saw / Th' Apocalyps, heard cry in Heaven aloud, / Then when the Dragon, put to second rout, / Came furious down to be reveng'd on men, / Wo to the inhabitants on Earth! that now,

IV-6. While time was, our first-Parents had bin warnd / The coming of thir secret foe, and scap'd / Haply so scap'd his mortal snare; for now

IV-9. Satan, now first inflam'd with rage, came down, / The Tempter ere th' Accuser of man-kind, / To wreck on innocent frail man his loss / Of that first Battel, and his flight to Hell:

IV-13. Yet not rejoycing in his speed, though bold, / Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast, / Begins his dire attempt, which nigh the birth

IV-16. Now rowling, boiles in his tumultuous brest, / And like a devillish Engine back recoiles / Upon himself; horror and doubt distract

IV-19. His troubl'd thoughts, and from the bottom stirr / The Hell within him, for within him Hell / He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell / One step no more then from himself can fly

IV-23. By change of place: Now conscience wakes despair / That slumberd, wakes the bitter memorie / Of what he was, what is, and what must be / Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue. / Sometimes towards Eden which now in his view / Lay pleasant, his grievd look he fixes sad,

IV-29. Sometimes towards Heav'n and the full-blazing Sun, / Which now sat high in his Meridian Towre:

IV-31. Then much revolving, thus in sighs began. / O thou that with surpassing Glory crownd, / Look'st from thy sole Dominion like the God / Of this new World; at whose sight all the Starrs

IV-35. Hide thir diminisht heads; to thee I call, / But with no friendly voice, and add thy name / O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams / That bring to my remembrance from what state / I fell, how glorious once above thy Spheare;

IV-40. Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down / Warring in Heav'n against Heav'ns matchless King: / Ah wherefore! he deservd no such return / From me, whom he created what I was / In that bright eminence, and with his good / Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.

IV-46. What could be less then to afford him praise, / The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,

IV-48. How due! yet all his good prov'd ill in me,

IV-49. And wrought but malice; lifted up so high / I ’sdeind subjection, and thought one step higher / Would set me highest, and in a moment quit

IV-52. The debt immense of endless gratitude, / So burthensome, still paying, still to ow;

IV-54. Forgetful what from him I still receivd,

IV-55. And understood not that a grateful mind / By owing owes not, but still pays, at once / Indebted and dischargd; what burden then?

IV-58. O had his powerful Destiny ordaind / Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood / Then happie; no unbounded hope had rais'd

IV-61. Ambition. Yet why not? som other Power / As great might have aspir'd, and me though mean

IV-63. Drawn to his part; but other Powers as great / Fell not, but stand unshak'n, from within / Or from without, to all temptations arm'd.

IV-66. Hadst thou the same free Will and Power to stand? / Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,

IV-68. But Heav'ns free Love dealt equally to all? / Be then his Love accurst, since love or hate, / To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

IV-71. Nay curs'd be thou; since against his thy will / Chose freely what it now so justly rues.

IV-73. Me miserable! which way shall I flie / Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire? / Which way I flie is Hell; my self am Hell;

IV-76. And in the lowest deep a lower deep / Still threatning to devour me opens wide, / To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav'n.

IV-79. O then at last relent: is there no place / Left for Repentance, none for Pardon left? / None left but by submission; and that word

IV-82. Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame

IV-83. Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduc'd / With other promises and other vaunts / Then to submit, boasting I could subdue

IV-86. Th' Omnipotent. Ay me, they little know / How dearly I abide that boast so vaine, / Under what torments inwardly I groane: / While they adore me on the Throne of Hell, / With Diadem and Sceptre high advanc'd

IV-91. The lower still I fall, onely Supream / In miserie; such joy Ambition findes.

IV-93. But say I could repent and could obtaine / By Act of Grace my former state; how soon / Would higth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay / What feign'd submission swore: ease would recant / Vows made in pain, as violent and void.

IV-98. For never can true reconcilement grow / Where wounds of deadly hate have peirc'd so deep:

IV-100. Which would but lead me to a worse relapse / And heavier fall: so should I purchase deare / Short intermission bought with double smart.

IV-103. This knows my punisher; therefore as farr / From granting hee, as I from begging peace:

IV-105. All hope excluded thus, behold in stead / Of us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight, / Mankind created, and for him this World.

IV-108. So farewel Hope, and with Hope farewel Fear,

IV-109. Farewel Remorse: all Good to me is lost; / Evil be thou my Good; by thee at least / Divided Empire with Heav'ns King I hold / By thee, and more then half perhaps will reigne; / As Man ere long, and this new World shall know.

IV-114. Thus while he spake, each passion dimm'd his face / Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envie and despair, / Which marrd his borrow'd visage, and betraid / Him counterfet, if any eye beheld. / For heav'nly mindes from such distempers foule

IV-119. Are ever cleer. Whereof hee soon aware, / Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calme, / Artificer of fraud; and was the first / That practisd falshood under saintly shew, / Deep malice to conceale, couch't with revenge:

IV-124. Yet not anough had practisd to deceive / Uriel once warnd; whose eye pursu'd him down / The way he went, and on th' Assyrian mount / Saw him disfigur'd, more then could befall / Spirit of happie sort: his gestures fierce / He markd and mad demeanour, then alone, / As he suppos'd all unobserv'd, unseen.

IV-131. So on he fares, and to the border comes

IV-132. Of Eden, where delicious Paradise, / Now nearer, Crowns with her enclosure green, / As with a rural mound the champain head

IV-135. Of a steep wilderness, whose hairie sides / With thicket overgrown, grottesque and wilde,

IV-137. Access deni'd; and over head up grew / Insuperable highth of loftiest shade, / Cedar, and Pine, and Firr, and branching Palm / A Silvan Scene, and as the ranks ascend / Shade above shade, a woodie Theatre

IV-142. Of stateliest view. Yet higher then thir tops / The verdurous wall of paradise up sprung:

IV-144. Which to our general Sire gave prospect large / Into his neather Empire neighbouring round.

IV-146. And higher then that Wall a circling row / Of goodliest Trees loaden with fairest Fruit, / Blossoms and Fruits at once of golden hue / Appeerd, with gay enameld colours mixt:

IV-150. On which the Sun more glad impress'd his beams / Then in fair Evening Cloud, or humid Bow, / When God hath showrd the earth; so lovely seemd

IV-153. That Lantskip: And of pure now purer aire / Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires / Vernal delight and joy, able to drive / All sadness but despair: now gentle gales / Fanning thir odoriferous wings dispense

IV-158. Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole

IV-159. Those balmie spoiles. As when to them who saile / Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past / Mozambic, off at Sea North-East windes blow / Sabean Odours from the spicie shoare / Of Arabie the blest, with such delay / Well pleas'd they slack thir course, and many a League / Chear'd with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles.

IV-166. So entertaind those odorous sweets the Fiend

IV-167. Who came thir bane, though with them better pleas'd / Then Asmodeus with the fishie fume, / That drove him, though enamourd, from the Spouse / Of Tobits Son, and with a vengeance sent / From Media post to Ægypt, there fast bound.

IV-172. Now to th' ascent of that steep savage Hill / Satan had journied on, pensive and slow; / But further way found none, so thick entwin'd, / As one continu'd brake, the undergrowth / Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplext / All path of Man or Beast that past that way:

IV-178. One Gate there only was, and that look'd East / On th' other side: which when th' arch-fellon saw

IV-180. Due entrance he disdaind, and in contempt, / At one slight bound high over leap'd all bound / Of Hill or highest Wall, and sheer within

IV-183. Lights on his feet. As when a prowling Wolfe, / Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey, / Watching where Shepherds pen thir Flocks at eeve / In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field secure, / Leaps o're the fence with ease into the Fould: / Or as a Thief bent to unhoord the cash / Of some rich Burgher, whose substantial dores, / Cross-barrd and bolted fast, fear no assault, / In at the window climbs, or o're the tiles;

IV-192. So clomb this first grand Thief into Gods Fould: / So since into his Church lewd Hirelings climbe.

IV-194. Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life, / The middle Tree and highest there that grew,

IV-196. Sat like a Cormorant; yet not true Life / Thereby regaind, but sat devising Death

IV-198. To them who liv'd; nor on the vertue thought / Of that life-giving Plant, but only us'd / For prospect, what well us'd had bin the pledge

IV-201. Of immortality. So little knows / Any, but God alone, to value right / The good before him, but perverts best things / To worst abuse, or to thir meanest use.

IV-205. Beneath him with new wonder now he views / To all delight of human sense expos'd / In narrow room Natures whole wealth, yea more, / A Heaven on Earth, for blissful Paradise

IV-209. Of God the Garden was, by him in the East / Of Eden planted; Eden stretchd her Line / From Auran Eastward to the Royal Towrs / Of Great Seleucia, built by Grecian Kings, / Or where the Sons of Eden long before / Dwelt in Telassar: in this pleasant soile / His farr more pleasant Garden God ordaind;

IV-216. Out of the fertil ground he caus'd to grow / All Trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;

IV-218. And all amid them stood the Tree of Life, / High eminent, blooming Ambrosial Fruit

IV-220. Of vegetable Gold; and next to Life / Our Death the Tree of Knowledge grew fast by, / Knowledge of Good bought dear by knowing ill.

IV-223. Southward through Eden went a River large,

IV-224. Nor chang'd his course, but through the shaggie hill

IV-225. Pass'd underneath ingulft, for God had thrown / That Mountain as his Garden mould high rais'd / Upon the rapid current, which through veins / Of porous Earth with kindly thirst up drawn, / Rose a fresh Fountain, and with many a rill

IV-230. Waterd the Garden; thence united fell / Down the steep glade, and met the neather Flood, / Which from his darksom passage now appeers, / And now divided into four main Streams, / Runs divers, wandring many a famous Realme / And Country whereof here needs no account,

IV-236. But rather to tell how, if Art could tell, / How from that Saphire Fount the crisped Brooks, / Rowling on Orient Pearl and sands of Gold, / With mazie error under pendant shades / Ran Nectar, visiting each plant, and fed

IV-241. Flours worthy of Paradise which not nice Art / In Beds and curious Knots, but Nature boon / Powrd forth profuse on Hill and Dale and Plaine, / Both where the morning Sun first warmly smote / The open field, and where the unpierc't shade / Imbround the noontide Bowrs: Thus was this place, / A happy rural seat of various view; / Groves whose rich Trees wept odorous Gumms and Balme, / Others whose fruit burnisht with Golden Rinde

IV-250. Hung amiable, Hesperian Fables true, / If true, here only, and of delicious taste:

IV-252. Betwixt them Lawns, or level Downs, and Flocks / Grasing the tender herb, were interpos'd,

IV-254. Or palmie hilloc, or the flourie lap / Of som irriguous Valley spred her store,

IV-256. Flours of all hue, and without Thorn the Rose:

IV-257. Another side, umbrageous Grots and Caves / Of coole recess, o're which the mantling vine / Layes forth her purple Grape, and gently creeps

IV-260. Luxuriant; mean while murmuring waters fall / Down the slope hills, disperst, or in a Lake, / That to the fringed Bank with Myrtle crownd, / Her chrystal mirror holds, unite thir streams.

IV-264. The Birds thir quire apply; aires, vernal aires, / Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune

IV-266. The trembling leaves, while Universal Pan / Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance

IV-268. Led on th' Eternal Spring. Not that faire field / Of Enna, where Proserpin gathering flours / Her self a fairer Floure by gloomie Dis / Was gatherd, which cost Ceres all that pain / To seek her through the world; nor that sweet Grove / Of Daphne by Orontes, and th' inspir'd / Castalian Spring, might with this Paradise / Of Eden strive; nor that Nyseian Ile / Girt with the River Triton, where old Cham, / Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Lybian Jove, / Hid Amalthea and her Florid Son / Young Bacchus from his Stepdame Rhea's eye;

IV-280. Nor where Abassin Kings thir issue Guard, / Mount Amara, though this by som suppos'd / True Paradise under the Ethiop Line / By Nilus head, enclosd with shining Rock, / A whole days journy high, but wide remote

IV-285. From this Assyrian Garden, where the Fiend / Saw undelighted all delight, all kind / Of living Creatures new to sight and strange:

IV-288. Two of far nobler shape erect and tall, / Godlike erect, with native Honour clad / In naked Majestie seemd Lords of all, / And worthie seemd, for in thir looks Divine / The image of thir glorious Maker shon, / Truth, wisdome, Sanctitude severe and pure, / Severe but in true filial freedom plac't; / Whence true autority in men; though both

IV-296. Not equal, as thir sex not equal seemd;

IV-297. For contemplation hee and valour formd,

IV-298. For softness shee and sweet attractive Grace,

IV-299. Hee for God only, shee for God in him:

IV-300. His fair large Front and Eye sublime declar'd

IV-301. Absolute rule; and Hyacinthin Locks / Round from his parted forelock manly hung / Clustring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:

IV-304. Shee as a vail down to the slender waste / Her unadorned golden tresses wore / Disheveld, but in wanton ringlets wav'd / As the Vine curles her tendrils, which impli'd

IV-308. Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway,

IV-309. And by her yielded, by him best receivd, / Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, / And sweet reluctant amorous delay.

IV-312. Nor those mysterious parts were then conceald,

IV-313. Then was not guiltie shame, dishonest shame / Of natures works, honor dishonorable, / Sin-bred, how have ye troubl'd all mankind / With shews instead, meer shews of seeming pure,

IV-317. And banisht from mans life his happiest life, / Simplicitie and spotless innocence.

IV-319. So passd they naked on, nor shund the sight / Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill:

IV-321. So hand in hand they passd, the lovliest pair / That ever since in loves imbraces met, / Adam the goodliest man of men since borne / His Sons, the fairest of her Daughters Eve.

IV-325. Under a tuft of shade that on a green / Stood whispering soft, by a fresh Fountain side

IV-327. They sat them down, and after no more toil / Of thir sweet Gardning labour then suffic'd / To recommend coole Zephyr, and made ease / More easie, wholsom thirst and appetite / More grateful, to thir Supper Fruits they fell, / Nectarine Fruits which the compliant boughes

IV-333. Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline / On the soft downie Bank damaskt with flours: / The savourie pulp they chew, and in the rinde

IV-336. Still as they thirsted scoop the brimming stream; / Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smiles

IV-338. Wanted, nor youthful dalliance as beseems / Fair couple, linkt in happie nuptial League, / Alone as they. About them frisking playd

IV-341. All Beasts of th' Earth, since wilde, and of all chase / In Wood or Wilderness, Forrest or Den;

IV-343. Sporting the Lion rampd, and in his paw

IV-344. Dandl'd the Kid; Bears, Tygers, Ounces, Pards

IV-345. Gambold before them, th' unwieldy Elephant / To make them mirth us'd all his might, and wreathd

IV-347. His Lithe Proboscis; close the Serpent sly / Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine / His breaded train, and of his fatal guile

IV-350. Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass / Coucht, and now fild with pasture gazing sat,

IV-352. Or Bedward ruminating: for the Sun / Declin'd was hasting now with prone carreer / To th' Ocean Iles, and in th' ascending Scale / Of Heav'n the Starrs that usher Evening rose:

IV-356. When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood, / Scarce thus at length faild speech recoverd sad.

IV-358. O Hell! what doe mine eyes with grief behold,

IV-359. Into our room of bliss thus high advanc't / Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps,

IV-361. Not Spirits, yet to heav'nly Spirits bright / Little inferior; whom my thoughts pursue / With wonder, and could love, so lively shines / In them Divine resemblance, and such grace / The hand that formd them on thir shape hath pourd.

IV-366. Ah gentle pair, yee little think how nigh / Your change approaches, when all these delights / Will vanish and deliver ye to woe,

IV-369. More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;

IV-370. Happie, but for so happie ill secur'd / Long to continue, and this high seat your Heav'n / Ill fenc't for Heav'n to keep out such a foe

IV-373. As now is enterd; yet no purpos'd foe / To you whom I could pittie thus forlorne

IV-375. Though I unpittied: League with you I seek, / And mutual amitie so streight, so close, / That I with you must dwell, or you with me

IV-378. Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please / Like this fair Paradise, your sense, yet such / Accept your Makers work; he gave it me,

IV-381. Which I as freely give; Hell shall unfold, / To entertain you two, her widest Gates, / And send forth all her Kings; there will be room, / Not like these narrow limits, to receive

IV-385. Your numerous ofspring; if no better place, / Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge / On you who wrong me not for him who wrongd.

IV-388. And should I at your harmless innocence / Melt, as I doe, yet public reason just, / Honour and Empire with revenge enlarg'd, / By conquering this new World, compels me now / To do what else though damnd I should abhorre.

IV-393. So spake the Fiend, and with necessitie, / The Tyrants plea, excus'd his devilish deeds.

IV-395. Then from his loftie stand on that high Tree / Down he alights among the sportful Herd

IV-397. Of those fourfooted kindes, himself now one, / Now other, as thir shape servd best his end / Neerer to view his prey, and unespi'd / To mark what of thir state he more might learn / By word or action markt: about them round

IV-402. A Lion now he stalkes with fierie glare, / Then as a Tyger, who by chance hath spi'd / In some Purlieu two gentle Fawnes at play, / Strait couches close, then rising changes oft / His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground / Whence rushing he might surest seize them both

IV-408. Gript in each paw: when Adam first of men / To first of women Eve thus moving speech, / Turnd him all eare to hear new utterance flow.

IV-411. Sole partner and sole part of all these joyes, / Dearer thy self then all; needs must the Power / That made us, and for us this ample World / Be infinitly good, and of his good / As liberal and free as infinite,

IV-416. That rais'd us from the dust and plac't us here / In all this happiness, who at his hand / Have nothing merited, nor can performe

IV-419. Aught whereof hee hath need, hee who requires / From us no other service then to keep

IV-421. This one, this easie charge, of all the Trees / In Paradise that bear delicious fruit / So various, not to taste that onely Tree / Of knowledge, planted by the Tree of Life,

IV-425. So neer grows Death to Life, what ere Death is, / Som dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou knowst / God hath pronounc't it death to taste that Tree,

IV-428. The only sign of our obedience left

IV-429. Among so many signes of power and rule / Conferrd upon us, and Dominion giv'n / Over all other Creatures that possess / Earth, Aire, and Sea. Then let us not think hard / One easie prohibition, who enjoy / Free leave so large to all things else, and choice / Unlimited of manifold delights:

IV-436. But let us ever praise him, and extoll / His bountie, following our delightful task / To prune these growing Plants, and tend these Flours, / Which were it toilsom, yet with thee were sweet.

IV-440. To whom thus Eve repli'd. O thou for whom / And from whom I was formd flesh of thy flesh, / And without whom am to no end, my Guide

IV-443. And Head, what thou hast said is just and right. / For wee to him indeed all praises owe, / And daily thanks, I chiefly who enjoy

IV-446. So farr the happier Lot, enjoying thee / Præeminent by so much odds, while thou / Like consort to thy self canst no where find.

IV-449. That day I oft remember, when from sleep / I first awak't, and found my self repos'd

IV-451. Under a shade of flours, much wondring where / And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.

IV-453. Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound / Of waters issu'd from a Cave and spread / Into a liquid Plain, then stood unmov'd / Pure as th' expanse of Heav'n; I thither went

IV-457. With unexperienc't thought, and laid me downe / On the green bank, to look into the cleer / Smooth Lake, that to me seemd another Skie.

IV-460. As I bent down to look, just opposite, / A Shape within the watry gleam appeard / Bending to look on me, I started back,

IV-463. It started back, but pleas'd I soon returnd, / Pleas'd it returnd as soon with answering looks

IV-465. Of sympathie and love; there I had fixt / Mine eyes till now, and pin'd with vain desire,

IV-467. Had not a voice thus warnd me, What thou seest, / What there thou seest fair Creature is thy self,

IV-469. With thee it came and goes: but follow me, / And I will bring thee where no shadow staies / Thy coming, and thy soft imbraces, hee

IV-472. Whose image thou art, him thou shalt enjoy / Inseparablie thine, to him shalt beare / Multitudes like thy self, and thence be call'd / Mother of human Race: what could I doe,

IV-476. But follow strait, invisibly thus led?

IV-477. Till I espi'd thee, fair indeed and tall,

IV-478. Under a Platan, yet methought less faire, / Less winning soft, less amiablie milde,

IV-480. Then that smooth watry image; back I turnd,

IV-481. Thou following cryd'st aloud, Return faire Eve,

IV-482. Whom fli'st thou? whom thou fli'st, of him thou art,

IV-483. His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent / Out of my side to thee, neerest my heart / Substantial Life, to have thee by my side / Henceforth an individual solace dear; / Part of my Soul I seek thee, and thee claim

IV-488. My other half: with that thy gentle hand

IV-489. Seisd mine, I yielded, and from that time see / How beauty is excelld by manly grace / And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.

IV-492. So spake our general Mother, and with eyes / Of conjugal attraction unreprov'd,

IV-494. And meek surrender, half imbracing leand / On our first Father, half her swelling Breast / Naked met his under the flowing Gold

IV-497. Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight / Both of her Beauty and submissive Charms

IV-499. Smil'd with superior Love, as Jupiter / On Juno smiles, when he impregns the Clouds

IV-501. That shed May Flowers; and press'd her Matron lip

IV-502. With kisses pure: aside the Devil turnd / For envie, yet with jealous leer maligne / Ey'd them askance, and to himself thus plaind.

IV-505. Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two

IV-506. Imparadis't in one anothers arms / The happier Eden, shall enjoy thir fill / Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust, / Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire, / Among our other torments not the least, / Still unfulfill'd with pain of longing pines;

IV-512. Yet let me not forget what I have gain'd

IV-513. From thir own mouths; all is not theirs it seems: / One fatal Tree there stands of Knowledge call'd, / Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidd'n?

IV-516. Suspicious, reasonless. Why should thir Lord

IV-517. Envie them that? can it be sin to know, / Can it be death? and do they onely stand / By Ignorance, is that thir happie state, / The proof of thir obedience and thir faith?

IV-521. O fair foundation laid whereon to build / Thir ruine! Hence I will excite thir minds / With more desire to know, and to reject / Envious commands, invented with designe / To keep them low whom knowledge might exalt / Equal with Gods; aspiring to be such,

IV-527. They taste and die: what likelier can ensue?

IV-528. But first with narrow search I must walk round / This Garden, and no corner leave unspi'd; / A chance but chance may lead where I may meet / Some wandring Spirit of Heav'n, by Fountain side, / Or in thick shade retir'd, from him to draw

IV-533. What further would be learnt. Live while ye may, / Yet happie pair; enjoy, till I return, / Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed.

IV-536. So saying, his proud step he scornful turn'd, / But with sly circumspection, and began / Through wood, through waste, o're hill, o're dale his roam.

IV-539. Mean while in utmost Longitude, where Heav'n / With Earth and Ocean meets, the setting Sun

IV-541. Slowly descended, and with right aspect / Against the eastern Gate of Paradise

IV-543. Leveld his eevning Rayes: it was a Rock / Of Alablaster, pil'd up to the Clouds,

IV-545. Conspicuous farr, winding with one ascent / Accessible from Earth, one entrance high;

IV-547. The rest was craggie cliff, that overhung / Still as it rose, impossible to climbe.

IV-549. Betwixt these rockie Pillars Gabriel sat / Chief of th' Angelic Guards, awaiting night;

IV-551. About him exercis'd Heroic Games / Th' unarmed Youth of Heav'n, but nigh at hand

IV-553. Celestial Armourie, Shields, Helmes, and Speares / Hung high with Diamond flaming, and with Gold.

IV-555. Thither came Uriel, gliding through the Eeven / On a Sun beam, swift as a shooting Starr / In Autumn thwarts the night, when vapors fir'd / Impress the Air, and shews the Mariner / From what point of his Compass to beware / Impetuous winds: he thus began in haste.

IV-561. Gabriel, to thee thy course by Lot hath giv'n / Charge and strict watch that to this happie place / No evil thing approach or enter in;

IV-564. This day at highth of Noon came to my Spheare / A Spirit, zealous, as he seem'd, to know / More of th' Almighties works, and chiefly Man

IV-567. Gods latest Image: I describ'd his way / Bent all on speed, and markt his Aerie Gate;

IV-569. But in the Mount that lies from Eden North, / Where he first lighted, soon discernd his looks / Alien from Heav'n, with passions foul obscur'd: / Mine eye pursu'd him still, but under shade

IV-573. Lost sight of him; one of the banisht crew / I fear, hath ventur'd from the Deep, to raise / New troubles; him thy care must be to find.

IV-576. To whom the winged Warriour thus returnd: / Uriel, no wonder if thy perfet sight, / Amid the Suns bright circle where thou sitst,

IV-579. See farr and wide: in at this Gate none pass / The vigilance here plac't, but such as come / Well known from Heav'n; and since Meridian hour

IV-582. No Creature thence: if Spirit of other sort, / So minded, have oreleapt these earthie bounds / On purpose, hard thou knowst it to exclude / Spiritual substance with corporeal barr.

IV-586. But if within the circuit of these walks, / In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom / Thou tellst, by morrow dawning I shall know.

IV-589. So promis'd hee, and Uriel to his charge / Returnd on that bright beam, whose point now rais'd / Bore him slope downward to the Sun now fall'n / Beneath th' Azores; whither the prime Orb, / Incredible how swift, had thither rowl'd

IV-594. Diurnal, or this less volubil Earth / By shorter flight to th' East, had left him there / Arraying with reflected Purple and Gold

IV-597. The Clouds that on his Western Throne attend: / Now came still Eevning on, and Twilight gray

IV-599. Had in her sober Liverie all things clad;

IV-600. Silence accompanied, for Beast and Bird, / They to thir grassie Couch, these to thir Nests

IV-602. Were slunk, all but the wakeful Nightingale; / She all night long her amorous descant sung;

IV-604. Silence was pleas'd: now glow'd the Firmament / With living Saphirs: Hesperus that led / The starrie Host, rode brightest, till the Moon / Rising in clouded Majestie, at length / Apparent Queen unvaild her peerless light, / And o're the dark her Silver Mantle threw.

IV-610. When Adam thus to Eve: Fair Consort, th' hour / Of night, and all things now retir'd to rest

IV-612. Mind us of like repose, since God hath set / Labour and rest, as day and night to men / Successive, and the timely dew of sleep / Now falling with soft slumbrous weight inclines / Our eye-lids; other Creatures all day long / Rove idle unimploid, and less need rest; / Man hath his daily work of body or mind / Appointed, which declares his Dignitie, / And the regard of Heav'n on all his waies; / While other Animals unactive range, / And of thir doings God takes no account.

IV-623. To morrow ere fresh Morning streak the East / With first approach of light, we must be ris'n, / And at our pleasant labour, to reform / Yon flourie Arbors, yonder Allies green,

IV-627. Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown, / That mock our scant manuring, and require / More hands then ours to lop thir wanton growth: / Those Blossoms also, and those dropping Gumms, / That lie bestrowne unsightly and unsmooth, / Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;

IV-633. Mean while, as Nature wills, Night bids us rest.

IV-634. To whom thus Eve with perfet beauty adornd. / My Author and Disposer, what thou bidst / Unargu'd I obey; so God ordains, / God is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more / Is womans happiest knowledge and her praise.

IV-639. With thee conversing I forget all time,

IV-640. All seasons and thir change, all please alike. / Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, / With charm of earliest Birds; pleasant the Sun / When first on this delightful Land he spreads / His orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flour, / Glistring with dew; fragrant the fertil earth

IV-646. After soft showers; and sweet the coming on / Of grateful Eevning milde, then silent Night / With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon, / And these the Gemms of Heav'n, her starrie train:

IV-650. But neither breath of Morn when she ascends / With charm of earliest Birds, nor rising Sun / On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, floure, / Glistring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,

IV-654. Nor grateful Eevning mild, nor silent Night / With this her solemn Bird, nor walk by Moon, / Or glittering Starr-light without thee is sweet.

IV-657. But wherfore all night long shine these, for whom / This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes? / To whom our general Ancestor repli'd.

IV-660. Daughter of God and Man, accomplisht Eve, / Those have thir course to finish, round the Earth, / By morrow Eevning, and from Land to Land / In order, though to Nations yet unborn,

IV-664. Ministring light prepar'd, they set and rise; / Least total darkness should by Night regaine / Her old possession, and extinguish life / In Nature and all things, which these soft fires / Not only enlighten, but with kindly heate / Of various influence foment and warme, / Temper or nourish, or in part shed down / Thir stellar vertue on all kinds that grow / On Earth, made hereby apter to receive / Perfection from the Suns more potent Ray. / These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,

IV-675. Shine not in vain, nor think, though men were none, / That heav'n would want spectators, God want praise; / Millions of spiritual Creatures walk the Earth / Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep: / All these with ceasless praise his works behold

IV-680. Both day and night: how often from the steep / Of echoing Hill or Thicket have we heard / Celestial voices to the midnight air, / Sole, or responsive each to others note / Singing thir great Creator: oft in bands / While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk, / With Heav'nly touch of instrumental sounds / In full harmonic number joind, thir songs / Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.

IV-689. Thus talking hand in hand alone they pass'd

IV-690. On to thir blissful Bower; it was a place / Chos'n by the sovran Planter, when he fram'd

IV-692. All things to mans delightful use; the roofe / Of thickest covert was inwoven shade / Laurel and Mirtle, and what higher grew / Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side / Acanthus, and each odorous bushie shrub / Fenc'd up the verdant wall; each beauteous flour, / Iris all hues, Roses, and Gessamin / Rear'd high thir flourisht heads between, and wrought

IV-700. Mosaic; underfoot the Violet, / Crocus, and Hyacinth with rich inlay / Broiderd the ground, more colour'd then with stone

IV-703. Of costliest Emblem: other Creature here / Beast, Bird, Insect, or Worm durst enter none; / Such was thir awe of Man. In shadie Bower

IV-706. More sacred and sequesterd, though but feignd, / Pan or Silvanus never slept, nor Nymph,

IV-708. Nor Faunus haunted. Here in close recess / With Flowers, Garlands, and sweet-smelling Herbs / Espoused Eve deckt first her Nuptial Bed, / And heav'nlyly Quires the Hymenæan sung, / What day the genial Angel to our Sire

IV-713. Brought her in naked beauty more adorn'd / More lovely then Pandora, whom the Gods

IV-715. Endowd with all thir gifts, and O too like / In sad event, when to the unwiser Son / Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnar'd / Mankind with her faire looks, to be aveng'd / On him who had stole Joves authentic fire.

IV-720. Thus at thir shadie Lodge arriv'd, both stood / Both turnd, and under op'n Skie ador'd / The God that made both Skie, Air, Earth and Heav'n / Which they beheld, the Moons resplendent Globe

IV-724. And starrie Pole: Thou also mad'st the Night, / Maker Omnipotent, and thou the Day,

IV-726. Which we in our appointed work imployd

IV-727. Have finisht happie in our mutual help / And mutual love, the Crown of all our bliss

IV-729. Ordaind by thee, and this delicious place / For us too large, where thy abundance wants / Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground.

IV-732. But thou hast promis'd from us two a Race

IV-733. To fill the Earth, who shall with us extoll / Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake, / And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep.

IV-736. This said unanimous, and other Rites / Observing none, but adoration pure

IV-738. Which God likes best, into thir inmost bowre / Handed they went; and eas'd the putting off / These troublesom disguises which wee wear,

IV-741. Strait side by side were laid, nor turnd I weene / Adam from his fair Spouse, nor Eve the Rites / Mysterious of connubial Love refus'd:

IV-744. Whatever Hypocrites austerely talk / Of puritie and place and innocence,

IV-746. Defaming as impure what God declares / Pure, and commands to som, leaves free to all.

IV-748. Our Maker bids increase, who bids abstain / But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?

IV-750. Haile wedded Love, mysterious Law, true source / Of human ofspring, sole propriety,

IV-752. In Paradise of all things common else.

IV-753. By thee adulterous lust was driv'n from men / Among the bestial herds to raunge, by thee

IV-755. Founded in Reason, Loyal, Just, and Pure, / Relations dear, and all the Charities / Of Father, Son, and Brother first were known.

IV-758. Farr be it, that I should write thee sin or blame, / Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,

IV-760. Perpetual Fountain of Domestic sweets, / Whose bed is undefil'd and chaste pronounc't, / Present, or past, as Saints and Patriarchs us'd.

IV-763. Here Love his golden shafts imploies, here lights / His constant Lamp, and waves his purple wings,

IV-765. Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile / Of Harlots, loveless, joyless, unindeard, / Casual fruition, nor in Court Amours / Mixt Dance, or wanton Mask, or Midnight Bal, / Or Serenate, which the starv'd Lover sings / To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.

IV-771. These lulld by Nightingales imbraceing slept, / And on thir naked limbs the flourie roof / Showrd Roses, which the Morn repair'd. Sleep on

IV-774. Blest pair; and O yet happiest if ye seek / No happier state, and know to know no more.

IV-776. Now had night measur'd with her shaddowie Cone / Half way up Hill this vast Sublunar Vault, / And from thir Ivorie Port the Cherubim / Forth issuing at th' accustomd hour stood armd / To thir night watches in warlike Parade,

IV-781. 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.

IV-786. From these, two strong and suttle Spirits he calld / That neer him stood, and gave them thus in charge. / Ithuriel and Zephon, with wingd speed / Search through this Garden, leave unsearcht no nook, / But chiefly where those two fair Creatures Lodge, / Now laid perhaps asleep secure of harme.

IV-792. This Eevning from the Sun's decline arriv'd / Who tells of som infernal Spirit seen / Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escap'd / The barrs of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:

IV-796. Such where ye find, seise fast, and hither bring.

IV-797. So saying, on he led his radiant Files, / Daz'ling the Moon; these to the Bower direct

IV-799. In search of whom they sought: him there they found / Squat like a Toad, close at the eare of Eve;

IV-801. Assaying by his Devilish art to reach / The Organs of her Fancie, 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 distemperd, discontented thoughts, / Vaine hopes, vaine aimes, inordinate desires / Blown up with high conceits ingendring pride.

IV-810. Him thus intent Ithuriel with his Spear / Touch'd lightly; for no falshood can endure

IV-812. Touch of Celestial temper, but returns / Of force to its own likeness: up he starts / Discoverd and surpriz'd. As when a spark / Lights on a heap of nitrous Powder, laid / Fit for the Tun som Magazin to store / Against a rumord Warr, the Smuttie graine / With sudden blaze diffus'd, inflames the Aire: / So started up in his own shape the Fiend.

IV-820. Back stept those two fair Angels half amaz'd / So sudden to behold the grieslie King; / Yet thus, unmovd with fear, accost him soon.

IV-823. Which of those rebell Spirits adjudg'd to Hell / Com'st thou, escap'd thy prison, and transform'd, / Why satst thou like an enemie in waite / Here watching at the head of these that sleep?

IV-827. Know ye not then said Satan, fill'd with scorn / Know ye not mee? ye knew me once no mate / For you, there sitting where ye durst not soare;

IV-830. Not to know mee argues your selves unknown,

IV-831. The lowest of your throng; or if ye know, / Why ask ye, and superfluous begin / Your message, like to end as much in vain?

IV-834. To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn. / Think not, revolted Spirit, thy shape the same, / Or undiminisht brightness, to be known / As when thou stoodst in Heav'n upright and pure; / That Glorie then, when thou no more wast good, / Departed from thee, and thou resembl'st now / Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foule.

IV-841. 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 Cherube, and his grave rebuke / Severe in youthful beautie, added grace

IV-846. Invincible: abasht the Devil stood, / And felt how awful goodness is, and saw / Vertue in her shape how lovly, saw, and pin'd / His loss; but chiefly to find here observd / His lustre visibly impair'd; yet seemd

IV-851. Undaunted. If I must contend, said he, / Best with the best, the Sender not the sent, / Or all at once; more glorie will be wonn,

IV-854. Or less be lost. Thy fear, said Zephon bold, / Will save us trial what the least can doe / Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.

IV-857. The Fiend repli'd not, overcome with rage;

IV-858. But like a proud Steed reind, went hautie on, / Chaumping his iron curb: to strive or flie / He held it vain; awe from above had quelld

IV-861. His heart, not else dismai'd. Now drew they nigh / The western Point, where those half-rounding guards / Just met, and closing stood in squadron joind / Awaiting next command. To whom thir Chief

IV-865. Gabriel from the Front thus calld aloud. / O friends, I hear the tread of nimble feet / Hasting this way, and now by glimps discerne / Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade,

IV-869. And with them comes a third of Regal port, / But faded splendor wan; who by his gate / And fierce demeanour seems the Prince of Hell, / Not likely to part hence without contest; / Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.

IV-874. He scarce had ended, when those two approachd / And brief related whom they brought, where found, / How busied, in what form and posture coucht.

IV-877. To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake. / Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescrib'd / To thy transgressions, and disturbd the charge / Of others, who approve not to transgress / By thy example, but have power and right / To question thy bold entrance on this place; / Imploi'd it seems to violate sleep, and those / Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss?

IV-885. To whom thus Satan with contemptuous brow. / Gabriel, thou hadst in Heav'n th' esteem of wise, / And such I held thee; but this question askt

IV-888. Puts me in doubt. Lives ther who loves his pain? / Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell, / Though thither doomd? Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt,

IV-891. And boldly venture to whatever place / Farthest from pain, where thou mightst hope to change / Torment with ease, and; soonest recompence / Dole with delight, which in this place I sought; / To thee no reason; who knowst only good, / But evil hast not tri'd: and wilt object

IV-897. His will who bound us? let him surer barr / His Iron Gates, if he intends our stay / In that dark durance: thus much what was askt.

IV-900. The rest is true, they found me where they say;

IV-901. But that implies not violence or harme.

IV-902. Thus he in scorn. The warlike Angel mov'd, / Disdainfully half smiling thus repli'd. / O loss of one in Heav'n to judge of wise, / Since Satan fell, whom follie overthrew, / And now returns him from his prison scap't, / Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise / Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither / Unlicenc't from his bounds in Hell prescrib'd;

IV-910. So wise he judges it to fly from pain / However, and to scape his punishment. / So judge thou still, presumptuous, till the wrauth, / Which thou incurr'st by flying, meet thy flight / Seavenfold, and scourge that wisdom back to Hell,

IV-915. Which taught thee yet no better, that no pain / Can equal anger infinite provok't.

IV-917. But wherefore thou alone? wherefore with thee / Came not all Hell broke loose? is pain to them / Less pain, less to be fled, or thou then they / Less hardie to endure? courageous Chief, / The first in flight from pain, hadst thou alleg'd / To thy deserted host this cause of flight, / Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.

IV-924. To which the Fiend thus answerd frowning stern. / Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain, / Insulting Angel, well thou knowst I stood / Thy fiercest, when in Battel to thy aide / The blasting volied Thunder made all speed / And seconded thy else not dreaded Spear.

IV-930. But still thy words at random, as before, / Argue thy inexperience what behooves / From hard assaies and ill successes past / A faithful Leader, not to hazard all / Through wayes of danger by himself untri'd,

IV-935. I therefore, I alone first undertook / To wing the desolate Abyss, and spie / This new created World, whereof in Hell / Fame is not silent, here in hope to find / Better abode, and my afflicted Powers / To settle here on Earth, or in mid Aire;

IV-941. Though for possession put to try once more / What thou and thy gay Legions dare against; / Whose easier business were to serve thir Lord / High up in Heav'n, with songs to hymne his Throne, / And practis'd distances to cringe, not fight.

IV-946. To whom the warriour Angel, soon repli'd. / To say and strait unsay, pretending first / Wise to flie pain, professing next the Spie, / Argues no Leader, but a lyar trac't, / Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? O name, / O sacred name of faithfulness profan'd! / Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew? / Armie of Fiends, fit body to fit head; / Was this your discipline and faith ingag'd, / Your military obedience, to dissolve / Allegeance to th' acknowledg'd Power supream? / And thou sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem

IV-958. Patron of liberty, who more then thou / Once fawn'd, and cring'd, and servilly ador'd / Heav'ns awful Monarch? wherefore but in hope / To dispossess him, and thy self to reigne?

IV-962. But mark what I arreede thee now, avant;

IV-963. Flie thither whence thou fledst: if from this houre / Within these hallowd limits thou appeer, / Back to th' infernal pit I drag thee chaind, / And Seale thee so, as henceforth not to scorne / The facil gates of hell too slightly barrd.

IV-968. So threatn'd hee, but Satan to no threats / Gave heed, but waxing more in rage repli'd.

IV-970. Then when I am thy captive talk of chaines, / Proud limitarie Cherube, but ere then / Farr heavier load thy self expect to feel

IV-973. From my prevailing arme, though Heavens King / Ride on thy wings, and thou with thy Compeers, / Us'd to the yoak, draw'st his triumphant wheels / In progress through the rode of Heav'n Star-pav'd.

IV-977. While thus he spake, th' Angelic Squadron bright / Turnd fierie red, sharpning in mooned hornes / Thir Phalanx, and began to hemm him round

IV-980. With ported Spears, as thick as when a field / Of Ceres ripe for harvest waving bends / Her bearded Grove of ears, which way the wind / Swayes them; the careful Plowman doubting stands / Least on the threshing floore his hopeful sheaves

IV-985. Prove chaff. On th' other side Satan allarm'd / Collecting all his might dilated stood,

IV-987. Like Teneriff or Atlas unremov'd: / His stature reacht the Skie, and on his Crest / Sat horror Plum'd; nor wanted in his graspe

IV-990. What seemd both Spear and Shield: now dreadful deeds / Might have ensu'd, nor onely Paradise / In this commotion, but the Starrie Cope / Of Heav'n perhaps, or all the Elements / At least had gon to rack, disturbd and torne / With violence of this conflict, had not soon

IV-996. Th' Eternal to prevent such horrid fray / Hung forth in Heav'n his golden Scales, yet seen / Betwixt Astrea and the Scorpion signe, / Wherein all things created first he weighd, / The pendulous round Earth with balanc't Aire / In counterpoise, now ponders all events,

IV-1002. Battels and Realms: in these he put two weights / The sequel each of parting and of fight;

IV-1004. The latter quick up flew, and kickt the beam; / Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the Fiend.

IV-1006. Satan, I know thy strength, and thou know'st mine,

IV-1007. Neither our own but giv'n; what follie then / To boast what Arms can doe, since thine no more

IV-1009. Then Heav'n permits, nor mine, though doubld now

IV-1010. To trample thee as mire: for proof look up, / And read thy Lot in yon celestial Sign / Where thou art weigh'd, and shown how light, how weak,

IV-1013. If thou resist. The Fiend lookt up and knew

IV-1014. His mounted scale aloft: nor more; but fled

IV-1015. Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night.