Cleombrotus; and many more too long,
Embryo's and idiots, eremites and friers
White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery. ·
Here pilgrims roam, that ftray'd fo far to seek
In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven;
And they who, to be fure of Paradise,
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd;
They pafs the planets fev'n, and pafs the fix'd,
And that crystallin sphere whose balance weighs
The trepidation talk'd, and that first mov'd;
And now Saint Peter at Heav'n's wicket seems
To wait them with his keys, and now at foot
Of Heav'n's afcent they lift their feet, when lo
A violent cross wind from either coaft
Blows them tranfverfe ten thoufand leagues awry
Into the devious air; then might ye fee
Cowls, hoods, and habits with their wearers toft 490
And flutter'd into rags, then reliques, beads,
Indulgences, difpenfes, pardons, bulls,
The fport of winds: all these upwhirl'd aloft
Fly o'er the backfide of the world far off
Into a Limbo large and broad, fince call'd
The Paradife 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
Of dawning light turn'd thither-ward in haste
His travel'd fteps: far diftant he descries
Afcending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heav'n a structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich appear'd
The work as of a kingly palace gate,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Embellish'd; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal fhone, inimitable on earth
By model, or by fhading pencil drawn.
The stairs were fuch as whereon Jacob faw
Angels afcending and defcending, bands
Of guardians bright, when he from Efau fled
To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz
Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cry'd, This is the gate of Heaven
Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor ftood
There always, but drawn up to Heav'n fometin
Viewlefs; and underneath a bright sea flow'd
Of jafper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
Who after came from earth, failing arriv'd
Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by eafy' afcent, or aggravate
His fad exclufion from the doors of blifs :
Direct against which open'd from beneath,
Juft o'er the blissful feat of Paradife,
A paffage down to th' Earth, a passage wide,
Wider by far than that of after-times
Over mount Sion, and, though that were larg
Over the Promis'd Land to God fo dear,
By which, to vifit oft thofe happy tribes,
On high behefts his Angels to and fro
Pafs'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard
From Paneas the fount of Jordan's flood
To Beërsaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and th' Arabian shore;
So wide the opening feem'd, where bounds were set
To darkness, fuch as bound the ocean wave.
Satan from hence, now on the lower stair
That fcal'd by steps of gold to Heaven gate,
Looks down with wonder at the fudden view
Of all this world at once. As when a scout
Through dark and defert ways with peril gone
All night, at last by break of chearful dawn
Obtains the brow of fome high-climbing hill,
Which to his eye discovers unaware
The goodly profpect of fome foreign land
First seen, or fome renown'd metropolis
With glift'ring fpires and pinnacles adorn'd
Which now the rifing fun gilds with his beams:
Such wonder feis'd, though after Heaven seen,
The Spi'rit malign, but much more envy feis❜d,
At fight of all this world beheld fo fair.
Round he furveys (and well might, where he ftood
So high above the circling canopy
Of night's extended fhade) from caftern point
Of Libra to the fleecy ftar that bears
Andromeda far off Atlantic feas
Beyond th'. horizon; then from pole to pole
He views in breadth, and without longer paufe
Down right into the world's firft region throws
His flight precipitant, and winds with ease
Through the pure marble air his oblique way?
Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
Stars diftant, but nigh hand feem'd other worlds;
Or other worlds they feem'd, or happy iles, :.
Like those Hefperian gardens fam'd of old,
Fortunate fields, and groves, and flow'ry vales,
Thrice happy iles, but who dwelt happy there
He stay'd not to inquire above them all
The golden fun in fplendor likeft Heaven
Allur'd his eye thither his course he bends
Through the calm firmament, (but up or down,
By center, or eccentric, hard to tell,:
Or longitude,) where the great luminary
Aloof the vulgar conftellations thick,
That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
Difpenfes light from far; they as they move
Their ftarry dance in numbers that compute
Days months and years, tow'ards his all-chearing lamp
There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps
Aftronomer in the fun's lucent orb
Through his glaz'd optic tube yet never faw.
The place he found beyond expreffion bright,
Compar'd with ought on earth, metal or stone;
Not all parts like, but all alike inform'd
With radiant light, as glowing ir'on with fire;
If metal, part seem'd gold, part filver clear;
If ftone, carbuncle most or chryfolite,
Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone
In Aaron's breaft-plate, and a stone besides
Imagin'd rather oft than elsewhere seen,
That stone, or like to that, which here below
Philofophers in vain fo long have fought,
In vain, though by their pow'rful art they bind
Volatil Hermes, and call up unbound
In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,
Drain'd through a limbec to his native form.
What wonder then if fields and regions here
Breathe forth Elixir pure, and rivers run
Potable gold, when with one virtuous touch
Th' arch-chemic fun, fo far from us remote,
Produces, with terreftrial humor mix'd,
Here in the dark fo many precious things
Of color glorious, and effect so rare ?
Here matter new to gaze the Devil met
Undazled; far and wide his eye commands;
For fight no obftacle found here, nor fhade,
But all fun-fhine, as when his beams at noon
Culminate from th' equator, as they now
Shot upward ftill direct, whence no way round
Shadow from body opaque can fall; and th' air
No where fo clear, sharpen'd his visual ray
To objects diftant far, whereby he foon.
Saw within keh a glorious Angel stand,
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