PARADISE LOST BOOK III

7/30/2019 PARADISE LOST BOOK III

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/paradise-lost-book-iii 1/22

PARADISE LOST J. MILTON

BOOK III

BOOK III. Back to

~ BOOK III ~

1. Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn,

2. Or of the Eternal coeternal beam

3. May I express thee unblamed? since God is light,

4. And never but in unapproached light

5. Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee

6. Bright effluence of bright essence increate.

7. Or hear’st thou rather pure ethereal stream,

8. Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun,

9. Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice

10.Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest

11.The rising world of waters dark and deep,

12.Won from the void and formless infinite.

13.Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,

14.Escaped the Stygian pool, though long detained

15.In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight

16.Through utter and through middle darkness borne,

17.With other notes than to the Orphean lyre

18.I sung of Chaos and eternal Night;

19.Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down

20.The dark descent, and up to re-ascend,

21.Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safe,

22.And feel thy sovereign vital lamp; but thou

23.Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain

24.To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;

25.So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs,

26.Or dim suffusion veiled. Yet not the more

27.Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt,

http://www.paradiselost.org/8-search.html#top

http://www.paradiselost.org/8-search.html#top



28.Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,

29.Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief

30.Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,

31.That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow,

32.Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget

33.So were I equaled with them in renown,

34.Thy sovereign command, that man should find grace;

35.Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides,

36.And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old:

37.Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move

38.Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird

39.Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid

40.Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year

41.Seasons return; but not to me returns

42.Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,

43.Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,

44.Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;

45.But cloud instead, and ever-during dark

46.Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men

47.Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair

48.Presented with a universal blank

49.Of nature's works to me expunged and rased,

50.And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.

51.So much the rather thou, celestial Light,

52.Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers

53.Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence

54.Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell

55.Of things invisible to mortal sight.

56. Now had the Almighty Father from above,

57.From the pure empyrean where he sits

58.High throned above all heighth, bent down his eye

59.His own works and their works at once to view:

60.About him all the Sanctities of Heaven

61.Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received

62.Beatitude past utterance; on his right



63.The radiant image of his glory sat,

64.His only son; on earth he first beheld

65.Our two first parents, yet the only two

66.Of mankind in the happy garden placed

67.Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,

68.Uninterrupted joy, unrivalled love,

69.In blissful solitude; he then surveyed

70.Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there

71.Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night

72.In the dun air sublime, and ready now

73.To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,

74.On the bare outside of this world, that seemed

75.Firm land imbosomed, without firmament,

76.Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.

77.Him God beholding from his prospect high,

78.Wherein past, present, future, he beholds,

79.Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.

80. Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage

81.Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds

82.Prescribed no bars of Hell, nor all the chains

83.Heaped on him there, nor yet the main abyss

84.Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems

85.On desperate revenge, that shall redound

86.Upon his own rebellious head. And now,

87.Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way

88.Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light,

89.Directly towards the new created world,

90.And man there placed, with purpose to assay

91.If him by force he can destroy, or, worse,

92.By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert;

93.For man will hearken to his glozing lies,

94.And easily transgress the sole command,

95.Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall

96.He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?

97.Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me



98.All he could have; I made him just and right,

99.Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

100. Such I created all the ethereal Powers

101. And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who failed;

102. Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

103. Not free, what proof could they have given sincere

104. Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,

105. Where only what they needs must do appeared,

106. Not what they would? what praise could they receive?

107. What pleasure I from such obedience paid,

108. When will and reason (reason also is choice)

109. Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled,

110. Made passive both, had served necessity,

111. Not me? they therefore, as to right belonged,

112. So were created, nor can justly accuse

113. Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,

114. As if predestination over-ruled

115. Their will disposed by absolute decree

116. Or high foreknowledge they themselves decreed

117. Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,

118. Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,

119. Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.

120. So without least impulse or shadow of fate,

121. Or aught by me immutably foreseen,

122. They trespass, authors to themselves in all

123. Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so

124. I formed them free: and free they must remain,

125. Till they enthrall themselves; I else must change

126. Their nature, and revoke the high decree

127. Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained

128. Their freedom: they themselves ordained their fall.

129. The first sort by their own suggestion fell,

130. Self-tempted, self-depraved: man falls, deceived

131. By the other first: man therefore shall find grace,

132. The other none: In mercy and justice both,



133. Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel;

134. But Mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.

135. Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance filled

136. All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect

137. Sense of new joy ineffable diffused.

138. Beyond compare the Son of God was seen

139. Most glorious; in him all his Father shone

140. Substantially expressed; and in his face

141. Divine compassion visibly appeared,

142. Love without end, and without measure grace,

143. Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake.

144. Oh Father, gracious was that word which closed

145. Thy sovereign command, that man should find grace;

146. For which both Heaven and earth shall high extol

147. Thy praises, with the innumerable sound

148. Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne

149. Encompassed shall resound thee ever blest.

150. For should man finally be lost, should man,

151. Thy creature late so loved, thy youngest son,

152. Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though joined

153. With his own folly? that be from thee far,

154. That far be from thee, Father, who art judge

155. Of all things made, and judgest only right.

156. Or shall the Adversary thus obtain

157. His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfill

158. His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught,

159. Or proud return, though to his heavier doom,

160. Yet with revenge accomplished, and to Hell

161. Draw after him the whole race of mankind,

162. By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself

163. Abolish thy creation, and unmake

164. For him, what for thy glory thou hast made?

165. So should thy goodness and thy greatness both

166. Be questioned and blasphemed without defense.

167. To whom the great Creator thus replied.



168. Oh son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,

169. Son of my bosom, Son who art alone.

170. My word, my wisdom, and effectual might,

171. All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all

172. As my eternal purpose hath decreed;

173. man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will;

174. Yet not of will in him, but grace in me

175. Freely vouchsafed; once more I will renew

176. His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthralled

177. By sin to foul exorbitant desires;

178. Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand

179. On even ground against his mortal foe;

180. By me upheld, that he may know how frail

181. His fallen condition is, and to me owe

182. All his deliverance, and to none but me.

183. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace,

184. Elect above the rest; so is my will:

185. The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warned

186. Their sinful state, and to appease betimes

187. The incensed Deity, while offered grace

188. Invites; for I will clear their senses dark,

189. What may suffice, and soften stony hearts

190. To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.

191. To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,

192. Though but endeavored with sincere intent,

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

194. And I will place within them as a guide,

195. My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear,

196. Light after light, well used, they shall attain,

197. And to the end, persisting, safe arrive.

198. This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,

199. They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;

200. But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,

201. That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;

202. And none but such from mercy I exclude.



203. But yet all is not done; man disobeying,

204. Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins

205. Against the high supremacy of Heaven,

206. Affecting God-head, and, so losing all,

207. To expiate his treason hath naught left,

208. But to destruction sacred and devote,

209. He, with his whole posterity, must die,

210. Die he or justice must; unless for him

211. Some other able, and as willing, pay

212. The rigid satisfaction, death for death.

213. Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?

214. Which of you will be mortal, to redeem

215. Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save?

216. Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?

217. And silence was in Heaven: on man's behalf

218. He asked, but all the heavenly quire stood mute,

219. Patron or intercessor none appeared,

220. Much less that durst upon his own head draw

221. The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set.

222. And now without redemption all mankind

223. Must have been lost, adjudged to Death and Hell

224. By doom severe, had not the Son of God,

225. In whom the fullness dwells of love divine,

226. His dearest mediation thus renewed.

227. Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace;

228. And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,

229. The speediest of thy winged messengers,

230. To visit all thy creatures, and to all

231. Comes unprevented, unimplored, unsought?

232. Happy for man, so coming; he her aid

233. Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost;

234. Atonement for himself, or offering meet,

235. Indebted and undone, hath none to bring;

236. Behold me then: me for him, life for life

237. I offer: on me let thine anger fall;



238. Account me Man; I for his sake will leave

239. Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee

240. Freely put off, and for him lastly die

241. Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage.

242. Under his gloomy power I shall not long

243. Lie vanquished. Thou hast given me to possess

244. Life in myself for ever; by thee I live;

245. Though now to Death I yield, and am his due,

246. All that of me can die, yet, that debt paid,

247. Thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave

248. His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul

249. For ever with corruption there to dwell;

250. But I shall rise victorious, and subdue

251. My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil.

252. Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop

253. Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed;

254. I through the ample air in triumph high

255. Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show

256. The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight

257. Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,

258. While, by thee raised, I ruin all my foes;

259. Death last, and with his carcass glut the grave;

260. Then, with the multitude of my redeemed,

261. Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return,

262. Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud

263. Of anger shall remain, but peace assured

264. And reconcilement: wrath shall be no more

265. Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.

266. His words here ended; but his meek aspect

267. Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love

268. To mortal men, above which only shone

269. Filial obedience: as a sacrifice

270. Glad to be offered, he attends the will

271. Of his great Father. Admiration seized

272. All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend,



273. Wondering; but soon the Almighty thus replied.

274. Oh thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace

275. Found out for mankind under wrath, Oh thou

276. My sole complacence. Well thou know'st how dear

277. To me are all my works; nor man the least,

278. Though last created, that for him I spare

279. Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,

280. By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.

281. Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem,

282. Their nature also to thy nature join;

283. And be thyself man among men on Earth,

284. Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,

285. By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam's room

286. The head of all mankind, though Adam's son.

287. As in him perish all men, so in thee,

288. As from a second root, shall be restored

289. As many as are restored, without thee none.

290. His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit,

291. Imputed, shall absolve them who renounce

292. Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,

293. And live in thee transplanted, and from thee

294. Receive new life. So Man, as is most just,

295. Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die,

296. And dying rise, and rising with him raise

297. His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.

298. So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate,

299. Giving to death, and dying to redeem,

300. So dearly to redeem what hellish hate

301. So easily destroyed, and still destroys

302. In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

303. Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume

304. Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

305. Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss

306. Equal to God, and equally enjoying

307. God-like fruition, quitted all, to save



308. A world from utter loss, and hast been found

309. By merit more than birthright Son of God,

310. Found worthiest to be so by being good,

311. Far more than great or high; because in thee

312. Love hath abounded more than glory abounds;

313. Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt

314. With thee thy manhood also to this throne:

315. Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign

316. Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,

317. Anointed universal King; all power

318. I give thee; reign for ever, and assume

319. Thy merits; under thee, as head supreme,

320. Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce:

321. All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide

322. In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell.

323. When thou, attended gloriously from Heaven,

324. Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send

325. The summoning archangels to proclaim

326. Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds,

327. The living, and forthwith the cited dead

328. Of all past ages, to the general doom

329. Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep.

330. Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge

331. Bad men and angels; they, arraigned, shall sink

332. Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full,

333. Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while

334. The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring

335. New Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell,

336. And, after all their tribulations long,

337. See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,

338. With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth.

339. Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,

340. For regal scepter then no more shall need,

341. God shall be all in all. But, all ye Gods,

342. Adore him, who to compass all this dies;



343. Adore the Son, and honor him as me.

344. No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all

345. The multitude of angels, with a shout

346. Loud as from numbers without number, sweet

347. As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heaven rung

348. With jubilee, and loud Hosannas filled

349. The eternal regions: Lowly reverent

350. Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

351. With solemn adoration down they cast

352. Their crowns inwove with amaranth and gold;

353. Immortal amaranth, a flower which once

354. In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,

355. Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence

356. To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,

357. And flowers aloft shading the fount of life,

358. And where the river of bliss through midst of Heaven

359. Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream;

360. With these that never fade the Spirits elect

361. Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams;

362. Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright

363. Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone,

364. Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

365. Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took,

366. Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side

367. Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet

368. Of charming symphony they introduce

369. Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;

370. No voice exempt, no voice but well could join

371. Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven.

372. Thee, Father, first they sung Omnipotent,

373. Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

374. Eternal King; the Author of all being,

375. Fountain of light, thyself invisible

376. Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st

377. Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest



378. The full blaze of thy beams, and, through a cloud

379. Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,

380. Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,

381. Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim

382. Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.

383. Thee next they sang of all creation first,

384. Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,

385. In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud

386. Made visible, the Almighty Father shines,

387. Whom else no creature can behold; on thee

388. Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides,

389. Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.

390. He Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein

391. By thee created; and by thee threw down

392. The aspiring Dominations: Thou that day

393. Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare,

394. Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook

395. Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks

396. Thou drovest of warring angels disarrayed.

397. Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim

398. Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father's might,

399. To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,

400. Not so on Man: Him through their malice fallen,

401. Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom

402. So strictly, but much more to pity incline:

403. No sooner did thy dear and only Son

404. Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail man

405. So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,

406. He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife

407. Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned,

408. Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat

409. Second to thee, offered himself to die

410. For Man's offence. Oh unexampled love,

411. Love no where to be found less than Divine!

412. Hail, Son of God, Savior of Men! Thy name



413. Shall be the copious matter of my song

414. Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise

415. Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin.

416. Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere,

417. Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.

418. Mean while upon the firm opacous globe

419. Of this round world, whose first convex divides

420. The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed

421. From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old,

422. Satan alighted walks: A globe far off

423. It seemed, now seems a boundless continent

424. Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night

425. Starless exposed, and ever-threatening storms

426. Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky;

427. Save on that side which from the wall of Heaven,

428. Though distant far, some small reflection gains

429. Of glimmering air less vexed with tempest loud:

430. Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field.

431. As when a vulture on Imaus bred,

432. Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,

433. Dislodging from a region scarce of prey

434. To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids,

435. On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs

436. Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

437. But in his way lights on the barren plains

438. Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

439. With sails and wind their cany wagons light:

440. So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend

441. Walked up and down alone, bent on his prey;

442. Alone, for other creature in this place,

443. Living or lifeless, to be found was none;

444. None yet, but store hereafter from the earth

445. Up hither like aerial vapors flew

446. Of all things transitory and vain, when sin

447. With vanity had filled the works of men:



448. Both all things vain, and all who in vain things

449. Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame,

450. Or happiness in this or the other life;

451. All who have their reward on earth, the fruits

452. Of painful superstition and blind zeal,

453. Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find

454. Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;

455. All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand,

456. Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed,

457. Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,

458. Till final dissolution, wander here;

459. Not in the neighboring moon as some have dreamed;

460. Those argent fields more likely habitants,

461. Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold

462. Betwixt the angelical and human kind.

463. Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born

464. First from the ancient world those giants came

465. With many a vain exploit, though then renowned:

466. The builders next of Babel on the plain

467. Of Sennaar, and still with vain design,

468. New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build:

469. Others came single; he, who, to be deemed

470. A God, leaped fondly into Aetna flames,

471. Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy

472. Plato's Elysium, leaped into the sea,

473. Cleombrotus; and many more too long,

474. Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars

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

476. Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek

477. In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven;

478. And they, who to be sure of Paradise,

479. Dying, put on the weeds of Dominick,

480. Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised;

481. They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed,

482. And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs



483. The trepidation talked, and that first moved;

484. And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems

485. To wait them with his keys, and now at foot

486. Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo

487. A violent cross wind from either coast

488. Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry

489. Into the devious air: Then might ye see

490. Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed

491. And fluttered into rags; then relics, beads,

492. Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,

493. The sport of winds: All these, upwhirled aloft,

494. Fly o'er the backside of the world far off

495. Into a Limbo large and broad, since called

496. The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown

497. Long after; now unpeopled, and untrod.

498. All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed,

499. And long he wandered, till at last a gleam

500. Of dawning light turned thither-ward in haste

501. His traveled steps: far distant he descries

502. Ascending by degrees magnificent

503. Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high;

504. At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared

505. The work as of a kingly palace-gate,

506. With frontispiece of diamond and gold

507. Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems

508. The portal shone, inimitable on earth

509. By model, or by shading pencil, drawn.

510. These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw

511. Angels ascending and descending, bands

512. Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled

513. To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz

514. Dreaming by night under the open sky

515. And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven.

516. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood

517. There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes



518. Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed

519. Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon

520. Who after came from earth, failing arrived

521. Wafted by angels, or flew o'er the lake

522. Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.

523. The stairs were then let down, whether to dare

524. The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate

525. His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss:

526. Direct against which opened from beneath,

527. Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,

528. A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide,

529. Wider by far than that of after-times

530. Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,

531. Over the Promised Land to God so dear;

532. By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,

533. On high behests his angels to and fro

534. Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard

535. From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,

536. To Beersaba, where the Holy Land

537. Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;

538. So wide the opening seemed, where bounds were set

539. To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.

540. Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,

541. That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate,

542. Looks down with wonder at the sudden view

543. Of all this world at once. As when a scout,

544. Through dark and desert ways with peril gone

545. All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn

546. Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,

547. Which to his eye discovers unaware

548. The goodly prospect of some foreign land

549. First seen, or some renowned metropolis

550. With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,

551. Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams:

552. Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen,



553. The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized,

554. At sight of all this world beheld so fair.

555. Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood

556. So high above the circling canopy

557. Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point

558. Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears

559. Andromeda far off Atlantic seas

560. Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole

561. He views in breadth, and without longer pause

562. Down right into the world's first region throws

563. His flight precipitant, and winds with ease

564. Through the pure marble air his oblique way

565. Amongst innumerable stars, that shone

566. Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds;

567. Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles,

568. Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,

569. Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales,

570. Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there

571. He staid not to inquire: Above them all

572. The golden sun, in splendor likest Heaven,

573. Allured his eye; thither his course he bends

574. Through the calm firmament, (but up or down,

575. By center, or eccentric, hard to tell,

576. Or longitude,) where the great luminary

577. Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,

578. That from his lordly eye keep distance due,

579. Dispenses light from far; they, as they move

580. Their starry dance in numbers that compute

581. Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp

582. Turn swift their various motions, or are turned

583. By his magnetic beam, that gently warms

584. The universe, and to each inward part

585. With gentle penetration, though unseen,

586. Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;

587. So wondrously was set his station bright.



588. There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps

589. Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb

590. Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw.

591. The place he found beyond expression bright,

592. Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone;

593. Not all parts like, but all alike informed

594. With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;

595. If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear;

596. If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,

597. Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone

598. In Aaron's breast-plate, and a stone besides

599. Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen,

600. That stone, or like to that which here below

601. Philosophers in vain so long have sought,

602. In vain, though by their powerful art they bind

603. Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound

604. In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,

605. Drained through a limbec to his native form.

606. What wonder then if fields and regions here

607. Breathe forth Elixir pure, and rivers run

608. Potable gold, when with one virtuous touch

609. The arch-chemic sun, so far from us remote,

610. Produces, with terrestrial humor mixed,

611. Here in the dark so many precious things

612. Of color glorious, and effect so rare?

613. Here matter new to gaze the Devil met

614. Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands;

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

616. But all sun-shine, as when his beams at noon

617. Culminate from the equator, as they now

618. Shot upward still direct, whence no way round

619. Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air,

620. No where so clear, sharpened his visual ray

621. To objects distant far, whereby he soon

622. Saw within ken a glorious angel stand,



623. The same whom John saw also in the sun:

624. His back was turned, but not his brightness hid;

625. Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar

626. Circled his head, nor less his locks behind

627. Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings

628. Lay waving round; on some great charge employed

629. He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep.

630. Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope

631. To find who might direct his wandering flight

632. To Paradise, the happy seat of Man,

633. His journey's end and our beginning woe.

634. But first he casts to change his proper shape,

635. Which else might work him danger or delay:

636. And now a stripling Cherub he appears,

637. Not of the prime, yet such as in his face

638. Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb

639. Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned:

640. Under a coronet his flowing hair

641. In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore

642. Of many a colored plume, sprinkled with gold;

643. His habit fit for speed succinct, and held

644. Before his decent steps a silver wand.

645. He drew not nigh unheard; the angel bright,

646. Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turned,

647. Admonished by his ear, and straight was known

648. The archangel Uriel, one of the seven

649. Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne,

650. Stand ready at command, and are his eyes

651. That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth

652. Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,

653. O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts.

654. Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand

655. In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright,

656. The first art wont his great authentic will

657. Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring,



658. Where all his sons thy embassy attend;

659. And here art likeliest by supreme decree

660. Like honor to obtain, and as his eye

661. To visit oft this new creation round;

662. Unspeakable desire to see, and know

663. All these his wondrous works, but chiefly Man,

664. His chief delight and favor, him for whom

665. All these his works so wondrous he ordained,

666. Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim

667. Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell

668. In which of all these shining orbs hath man

669. His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none,

670. But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell;

671. That I may find him, and with secret gaze

672. Or open admiration him behold,

673. On whom the great Creator hath bestowed

674. Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured;

675. That both in him and all things, as is meet,

676. The universal Maker we may praise;

677. Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes

678. To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss,

679. Created this new happy race of Men

680. To serve him better: Wise are all his ways.

681. So spake the false dissembler unperceived;

682. For neither man nor angel can discern

683. Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

684. Invisible, except to God alone,

685. By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth:

686. And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps

687. At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity

688. Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill

689. Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguiled

690. Uriel, though regent of the sun, and held

691. The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven;

692. Who to the fraudulent impostor foul,



693. In his uprightness, answer thus returned.

694. Fair angel, thy desire, which tends to know

695. The works of God, thereby to glorify

696. The great Work-master, leads to no excess

697. That reaches blame, but rather merits praise

698. The more it seems excess, that led thee hither

699. From thy empyreal mansion thus alone,

700. To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps,

701. Contented with report, hear only in Heaven:

702. For wonderful indeed are all his works,

703. Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all

704. Had in remembrance always with delight;

705. But what created mind can comprehend

706. Their number, or the wisdom infinite

707. That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?

708. I saw when at his word the formless mass,

709. This world's material mould, came to a heap:

710. Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar

711. Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined;

712. Till at his second bidding Darkness fled,

713. Light shone, and order from disorder sprung:

714. Swift to their several quarters hasted then

715. The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;

716. And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven

717. Flew upward, spirited with various forms,

718. That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars

719. Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;

720. Each had his place appointed, each his course;

721. The rest in circuit walls this universe.

722. Look downward on that globe, whose hither side

723. With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;

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

725. His day, which else, as the other hemisphere,

726. Night would invade; but there the neighboring moon

727. So call that opposite fair star) her aid



728. Timely interposes, and her monthly round

729. Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heaven,

730. With borrowed light her countenance triform

731. Hence fills and empties to enlighten the Earth,

732. And in her pale dominion checks the night.

733. That spot, to which I point, is Paradise,

734. Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower.

735. Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.

736. Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low,

737. As to superior Spirits is wont in Heaven,

738. Where honor due and reverence none neglects,

739. Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath,

740. Down from the ecliptic, sped with hoped success,

741. Throws his steep flight in many an aerie wheel;

742. Nor staid, till on Niphates' top he lights.

PARADISE LOST BOOK III

Documents

Transcript of PARADISE LOST BOOK III