"Had in remembrance always with delight! 705"But what created mind can comprehend

"Their number; or the wisdom infinite

"That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep? "I saw when, at his word, the formless mass, "The world's material mould, came to a heap: 710"Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar "Stood rul'd; stood vast infinitude confin'd: "Till at his second bidding darkness fled,

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Light shone, and order from disorder sprang! "Swift to their several quarters hasted then 715 The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire; "And this ethereal quintessence of heaven "Flew upward, spirited with various forms, "That roll'd orbicular, and turn'd to stars "Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; 720"Each had his place appointed, each his course: "The rest in circuit walls this universe.

"Look downward on that globe, whose hither side "With light from hence, though but reflected, shines: "That place is earth, the seat of man; that light 725" His day, which else, as the other hemisphere, "Night would invade; but there the neighbouring moon "(So call that opposite fair star) her aid

"Timely interposes; and her monthly round. "Still ending, still renewing, through mid heaven 730 "With borrow'd light her countenance triform "Hence fills, and empties, to enlighten the earth; "And in her pale dominion checks the night. "That spot to which I point is Paradise, "Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower.

735

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'Thy way thou canst not miss-me mine requires."
Thus said, he turn'd; and Satan, bowing low,
(As to superior spirits is wont in heaven,

Where honour due, and reverence, none neglects,)
Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath,
740 Down from the ecliptic, sped with hop'd success,
Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel,
Nor staid, till on Niphates' top he lights.

BOOK IV.

Father of mercy and grace! thou didst not doom
So strictly, but much more to pity incline.
No sooner did thy dear and only Son
Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail man
405 So strictly, but much more to pity inclin'd,
He, to appease thy wrath, and end the strife
Of mercy and justice in thy face discern'd,
Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat
Second to thee, offer'd himself to die

410 For man's offence. O unexampled love,

Love nowhere to be found less than 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
415 Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin.
Thus they in heaven, above the starry sphere,
Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.

Meanwhile upon the firm opacous globe Of this round world, whose first convex divides 420 The luminous inferior orbs, enclos'd

From Chaos, and the inroad of darkness old,
Satan alighted walks. A globe far off

It seem'd; now seems a boundless continent,
Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of night
425 Starless expos'd, and ever-threatening storms
Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;
Save on that side which, from the wall of heaven,
Though distant far, some small reflection gains
Of glimmering air, less vex'd with tempest loud:
430 Here walked the fiend at large in spacious field.
As when a vulture on Imaüs bred,

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
Dislodging from a region scarce of prey,

To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids 435 On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs Of Ganges, or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

But in his way lights on the barren plains

Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

With sails and wind their cany waggons light: 440 So, on this windy sea of land, the fiend

Walk'd up and down alone, bent on his prey;
Alone, for other creature in this place,
Living, or lifeless, to be found was none-
None yet, but store hereafter from the earth
445 Up hither, like aërial vapours, flew

Of all things transitory and vain, when sin
With vanity had fill'd the works of men;
Both all things vain, and all who in vain things
Built their fond hopes of glory, or lasting fame,
450 Or happiness in this, or the other life:

All who have their reward on earth, the fruits
Of painful superstition, and blind zeal,

Nought seeking but the praise of men, here find
Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;

455 All the unaccomplish'd works of Nature's hand,
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mix'd,
Dissolv'd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,

Till final dissolution, wander here:

(Not in the neighbouring moon, as some have dream'd; 460 Those argent fields more likely habitants,

Translated saints, or middle spirits, hold,
Betwixt the angelical and human kind :)

Hither, of ill-join'd sons and daughters born,
First from the ancient world those giants came
465 With many a vain exploit, though then renown'd:
The builders next of Babel on the plain

Of Sennaär, and still with vain design

New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build :
Others came single; he, who, to be deem'd
470 A god, leap'd fondly into Etna flames,
Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy
Plato's Elysium, leap'd into the sea,
Cleombrotus; and many more too long,
Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars

475 White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery.

Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seek
In Golgotha him dead, who lives in heaven;
And they, who, to be sure of Paradise,
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,
480 Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd;

They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd,
And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
The trepidation talk'd, and that first mov'd;
And now Saint Peter at heaven's wicket seems
485 To wait them with his keys, and now at foot
Of heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when, lo!
A violent cross wind from either coast

Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry
Into the devious air: then might ye see

490 Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tost And flutter'd into rags; then relics, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,

The sport of winds. All these, upwhirl'd aloft, Fly o'er the backside of the world far off, 495 Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown

Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod.

All this dark globe the fiend found as he pass'd;
And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam
500 Of dawning light turn'd thitherward in haste.
His travell'd steps: far distant he descries,
Ascending by degrees magnificent

Up to the wall of heaven, a structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared

505 The work as of a kingly palace-gate,

With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Embellish'd; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone, inimitable on earth,
By model, or by shading pencil, drawn.

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,