290

295

As when two polar winds, blowing adverfe Upon the Cronian fea, together drive Mountains of ice, that stop th' imagin'd way Beyond Petfora eastward, to the rich Cathaian coaft. The aggregated foil Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry, As with a trident Imote, and fix'd as firm As Delos floting once; the reft his look Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move; And with Afphaltic flime, broad as the gate, Deep to the roots of Hell the gather'd beach They faften'd, and the mole immenfe wrought on Over the foaming deep high arch'd, a bridge 301 Of length prodigious, joining to the wall Immoveable of this now fencelefs world Forfeit to Death; from hence a paffage broad, Smooth, eafy, inoffenfive down to Hell. So, if great things to fmall may be compar'd Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke, From Sufa his Memnonian palace high Came to the fea, and over Hellefpont Bridging his way, Europe with Afia join'd, And fourg'd with many a ftroke th' indignant

waves.

305

310

340

Difguis'd he came, but thofe his children dear 350
Their parent foon difcern'd, though in disguise.
He after Eve feduc'd, unminded flunk
Into the wood faft by, and changing shape
To' obferve the fequel, faw his guileful act
By Eve, though all unweeting, feconded 335
Upon her husband, faw their fhame that fought
Vain covertures; but when he faw defcend
The Son of God to judge them, terrify'd
He fled, not hoping to efcape, but shun
The prefent, fearing guilty what his wrath
Might fuddenly inflict; that paft, return'd
By night, and lift'ning where the hapless pair
Sat in their fad difcourfe, and various plaint,
Thence gather'd his own doom, which understood
Not inftant, but of future time, with joy
And tidings fraught, to Hell he now return'd,
And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot
Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhop'd
Met who to meet him came, his offspring dear.
Great joy was at their meeting, and at fight 350
Of that itupendous bridge his joy increas'd.
Long he admiring ftood, till Sin, his fair
Inchanting daughter, thus the filence broke.
O Parent, these are thy magnific deeds,
Thy trophies, which thou view't as not thine
355

own;

Thou art their author and prime architect:

For I no fooner in my heart divin'd,

My heart, which by a fecret harmony

345

That I muft after thee with this thy fon,

Such fatal confequence unites us three:

Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds, 365
Nor this unvoyageable gulf obfcure

Detain from following thy illustrious track.
Thou haft atchiev'd our liberty, confin'd

370

Within Hell gates till now, thou us impower'd
To fortify thus far, and overlay
With this portentous bridge the dark abyfs.
Thine now is all this world; thy virtue' hath won
What thy hands builded not, thy wisdom gain'd
With odds what war hath loft, and fully' aveng'd
Our foil in Heav'n; here thou shalt monarch
reign,
375

There didft not; there let him fill victor fway,
As battel hath adjudg'd, from this new world
Retiring, by his own doom alienated,
And henceforth monarchy with thee divide

Of all things parted by th' empyreal bounds, 380
His quadrature, from thy orbicular world,
Or try thee now more dangerous to his throne.
Whom thus the Prince of darknefs anfwer'd

glad.

Fair Daughter, and thou Son and Grandchild both,

High proof ye now have giv'n to be the race 385
Of Satan, (for I glory in the name,
Antagonist of Heav'n's almighty king)
Amply have merited of me, of all
2 [L] 2

415

So faying he dismiss'd them; they with speed Their courfe through thickeft conftellations held Spreading their bane; the blafted ftars look'd wan, And planets, planet-ftruck, real eclipfe Then fuffer'd. Th' other way Satan went down The caufey to Hell gate; on either fide Difparted Chaos over built exclaim'd, And with rebounding furge the bars affail'd, That fcorn'd his indignation: through the gate, Wide open and unguarded, Satan pafs'd, And all about found defolate: for thofe Appointed to fit there, had left their charge, Flown to the upper world; the rest were all Far to th' inland retir'd, about the walls Of Pandemonium, city and proud feat Of Lucifer, fo by allufion call'd Of that bright ftar to Satan paragon'd. There kept their watch the legions, while the

Grand

420

425

In council fat, folicitous what chance
Might intercept their empe'ror fent; fo he
Departing gave command, and they obferv'd. 430
As when the Tartar from his Ruffian foe
By Aftracan over the fnowy plains
Retires, or Bactrian Sophi from the horns
Of Turkish crefcent, leaves all wafte beyond
The realm of Aladule, in his retreat
To Tauris or Cafbeen: So thefe the late
Heav'n-banish'd hoft, left defert utmoft Hell
Many a dark league, reduc'd in careful watch
Round their metropolis, and now expecting
Each hour their great adventurer from the search
Of foreign worlds; he through the midst un-
mark'd,

In fhow plebeian Angel militant

Of loweft order, pafs'd; and from the door
Of that Plutonian hall, invifible

435

441

Forth rufn'd in hafte the great confulting peers,
Rais'd from their dark Divan, and with like y
Congratulant approach'd him, who with band
Silence, and with thefe werds attention won.
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virta,
Powers,

For in poffeffion fuch, not only' of right,
I call you and declare you now, return'd
Successful beyond hope, to lead you forth
Triumphant out of this inferna! pit
Abominable, accurs'd, the houfe of woe,
And dungeon of our tyrant: now poffefs,
As Lords, a fpacious world, to' our native Hea

ven

455

Little inferior, by my adventure hard
With peril great achiev'd. Long were to tell
What I have done, what fuffer'd, with what pai
Voyag'd th' unreal, vaft, unbounded deep
Of horrible confufion, over which
By Sin and Death a broad way now is pav'd
To expedite your glorious march; butl
Foil'd out my uncouth paffage, forc'd to ride 4
Th' untractable abyfs, plung'd in the womb
Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wild,
That jealous of their fecrets fiercely' oppos'd
My journey ftrange, with clamorous uproar
Protefting fate fupreme; thence how I found 48
The new-created world, which fame in Heave
Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful
Of abfolute perfection, therein Man
Plac'd in a Paradife, by our exile
Made happy: Him by fraud I have feduc'd
From his Creator, and the more to increase
Your wonder, with an apple; he thereat
Offended, worth your laughter, hath giv'n up
Both his beloved Man and all his world,
To Sin and Death a prey, and fo to us,
Without our hazard, labor, or alarm,
To range in, and to dwell, and over Man
To rule, as over ali he fhould have rul'd.
True is, me alfo he hath judg'd, or rather
Me not, but the brute ferpent in whofe fhape 43
Man I deceiv'd that which to me belongs,
Is enmity, which he will put between
Me and mankind; I am to bruise his heel;
His feed, when is not fet, fhall bruise head:
A world who would not purchase with a bruit,
Or much more grievous pain? Ye have tha

count

my

Of my performance: What remains, ye Gods, But up and enter now into full blifs?

So having faid, a while he stood, expecting Their univerfal fhout and high applause To fill his ear, when contrary he hears On all fides, from innumerable tongues A difmal univerfal hifs, the found Of public fcorn; he wonder'd, but not long

505

515

His arms clung to his ribs, his legs intwining
Each other, till fupplanted down he fell
A monftrous ferpent on his belly prone,
Reluctant, but in vain, a greater power
Now rul'd him, punish'd in the shape he finn'd
According to his doom: he would have spoke,
But hifs for hifs return'd with forked tongue
To forked tongue, for now were all transform'd
Alike, to ferpents all as acceffories

To his bold riot: dreadful was the din

520

525

Of hiffing through the hall, thick fwarming now
With complicated monfters head and tail,
Scorpion, and Afp, and Amphisbæna dire,
Cerates horn'd, Hydrus, and Elops drear,
And Dipfas (not fo thick fwarm'd once the foil
Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the ile
Ophiufa) but still greatest he the midst,
Now Dragon grown, larger than whom the fun
Ingender'd in the Pythian vale on flime, 530
Huge Python, and his pow'r no tefs he feem'd
Above the reft ftill to retain; they all
Him follow'd iffuing forth to th' open field,
Where all yet left of that revolted rout
Heav'n-fall'n, in ftation ftood or just array, 535
Sublime with expectation when to fee

In triumph iffuing forth their glorious chief:
They faw, but other fight instead, a crowd
Of ugly ferpents; horror on them fell,
And horrid fympathy; for what they faw,
They felt themselves now changing; down their

armis,

540

Down fell both fpear and fhield, down they as fast, And the dire hifs renew'd, and the dire form Catch'd by contagion, like in punishment,

meant

As in their crime. Thus was th' applause they
545
Turn'd to exploding hifs, triumph to fhame
Caft on themselves from their own mouths. There
flood

A grove hard by, fprung up with this their change,
His will who reigns above, to aggravate
Their penance, laden with fair fruit, like that 550
Which grew in Paradife, the bait of Eve
Us'd by the Tempter: on that prospect strange
Their carneft eyes they fix'd, imagining
For one forbidden tree a multitude

554

Now ris'n, to work them further woe or fhame;
Yet parch'd with fcalding thirft and hunger fierce,
Though to delude them fent, could not abstain,
Fut on they roll'd in heaps, and up the trees
Climbing, fat thicker than the fnaky locks
That curl'd Megara: greedily they pluck'd 560
The fruitage fair to fight, like that which grew
Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flam'd;
This more delufive, not the touch, but tafte
Deceiv'd; they fondly thinking to allay
Their appetite with guft, instead of fruit
Chew'd bitter afhes, which th' offended tafte
With fpattering noife rejected: oft they' affay'd,
Hunger and thirst conftraining, drug'd as oft,
With hatefulleft difrelish writh'd their jaws
With foot and cinders fill'd: so oft they fell 570
Into the fame illufion, not as Man

565

they plagu'd

581

And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hifs,
Till their loft fhape, permitted, they refum'd,
Yearly injoin'd, fome fay, to undergo 575
This annual humbling certain number'd days,
To dafh their pride, and joy for man feduc'd.
However fome tradition they difpers'd
Among the Heathen of their purchase got,
And fabled how the Serpent, whom they call'd
Ophion with Eurynome, the wide
Encroaching Eve perhaps, had first the rule
Of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driven
And Ops, ere yet Dictæan Jove was born.
Mean while in Paradife the hellish pair
Too foon arriv'd, Sin there in pow'r before,
Once actual, now in body, and to dwell
Habitual habitant; behind her Death
Clofe following pace for pace, not mounted yet
On his pale horse: to whom Sin thus began. 590
Second of Satan fprung, all-conqu'ring Death,
What think'st thou of our empire now, though
earn'd

With travel difficult, not better far

585

Feed first, on each beaft next, and fish, and fowl,
No homely morfels; and whatever thing
The fithe of Time nowes down, devour unfpar'd;
Till I in Man refiding through the race,
His thoughts, his looks, words, actions all infect,
And feafon him thy last and sweetest prey.

611

This faid, they both betook them several ways,
Both to deftroy, or unimmortal make
All kinds, and for deftruction to mature
Sooner or later; which th' Almighty seeing,
From his tranfcendent feat the Saints among,
To those bright Orders utter'd thus his voice. 615
See with what heat thefe dogs of Hell advance
To waste and havoc yonder world, which I
So fair and good created, and had still
Kept in that ftate, had not the folly' of Man
Let in these wafteful furies, who impute
Folly to me, fo doth the prince of Hell
And his adherents, that with so much ease
I fuffer them to enter and poffefs

A place fo heav'nly, and conniving feem
To gratify my fcornful enemies,

That laugh, as if, tranfported with fome fit
Of paffion, I to them had quitted all,

At random yielded up to their mifrule;

620

625

And know not that I call'd and drew them thither
My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and filth
Which Man's polluting fin with taint hath shed
On what was pure, till cramm'd and gorg'd, nigh

burst

With fuck'd and glutted ofal, at one fling 633 |
Of thy victorious arm, well-pleating Son,
Both Sin, and Death, and yawning Grave at laft
Through Chaos hurl'd, obftruct the mouth of Hell
For ever, and feal up his ravenous jaws. 637

Then Heav'n and Earth renew'd fhall be made pure

To fanctity that fhall receive no ftain:
Till then the curfe pronounc'd on both precedes.
He ended, and the heav'nly audience loud 641
Sung Halleluiah, as the found of feas,
Through multitude that fung: Juft are thy ways,
Righteous are thy decrees on all thy works;
Who can extenuate thee? Next, to the Son, 645
Deftin'd restorer of mankind, by whom
New Heav'n and Earth fhall to the ages rife,
Or down from Heav'n defcend. Such was their
fong,

While the Creator calling forth by name

655

660

His mighty Angels gave them feveral charge 650
As forted beft with prefent things. The fun
Had first his precept fo to move, fo fhine,
As might affect the earth with cold and heat
Scarce tolerable, and from the north to cali
Decrepit winter, from the fouth to bring
Solftitial fummer's heat. To the blanc moon
Her office they prefcrib'd, to th' other five
Their planetary motions and afpécts
In fextile, fquare, and trine, and oppofit
Of noxious efficacy, and when to join
In fynod unbenign; and taught the fix'd
Their influence malignant when to shower,
Which of them rifing with the fun, or falling,
Should prove tempeftuous: To the winds they fet
Their corners, when with blufter to confound
Sea, air, and fhore, the thunder when to roll 666
With terror through the dark acreal hall.
Some fay he bid his angels turn afcanfe
The poles of earth twice ten degrees and more
From the fun's axle, they with labor pufh'd 670
Oblique the centric globe: Some fay the fun
Was bid turn reins from th' equinoctial road
Like diftant breadth to Taurus with the feven
Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan Twins
Up to the Tropic Crab: thence down amain 675
By Leo and the Virgin and the Scales,
As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change
Of feafons to each clime; elfe had the spring
Perpetua! fmil'd on earth with vernant flowers,
Equal in days and nights, except to thefe
Beyond the polar circles; to them day
Had unbenighted fhone, while the low fun
To recompenfe his distance, in their fight
Had rounded still th' horizon, and not known

680

Or east or weft, which had forbid the fnow 685
From cold Eftotiland, and fouth as far
Beneath Magellan. At that tafted fruit
The fun, as from Thyéftean banquet, turn'd
His courfe intended; elfe how had the world
Inhabited, though finlefs, more than now,
Avoided pinching cold and fcorching heat?
Thefe changes in the Heav'ns, though flow,
produc'd

Jike change on fea and land, fideral blatt,
V. por, and mift, and exhalation hot,

690

Corrupt and peftilent: Now from the north 695
Of Norumbega, and the Samoed fhore,
Bursting their brazen dungeon, arm'd with ice
And fnow and hail and ftormy guft and flaw,
Boreas and Cacias and Argeftes loud

And Thrafcias rend the woods and feas upturn; 700
With adverfe blaft upturns them from the fouth
Notus and Afer black with thundrous clouds
From Serraliona; thwart of thefe as fierce
Forth rufh the Levant and the Ponent winds
Eurus and Zephyr with their lateral nuife, 705
Sirocco, and Libecchio. Thus began
Outrage from lifeless things; but Difcord first
Daughter of Sin, among th' irrational,
Death introduc'd through fierce antipathy:
Beaft now with beaft 'gan war, and fowl with
fowl,

710

And fish with fish; to graze the herb all leaving,
Devour'd each other; nor ftood much in awe
Of Man, but fled him, or with count'nance grim
Glar'd on him paffing. Thefe were from without
The growing miferies which Adam faw 715
Already' in part, though hid in gloomieft shade,
To forrow' abandon'd, but worfe felt within,
And in a troubled fea of paffion toft,
Thus to difburden fought with fad complaint.

720

O miferable of happy! is this the end Of this new glorious world, and me fo late The glory of that glory, who now become Accurs'd of ble ffed, hide me from the face Of God, whom to behold was then my highth Of happiness! Yet well, if here would end 75 The mifery; I deferv'd it, and would bear My own defervings; but this will not ferve; All that I eat or drink, or fhall beget, Is propagated curfe. O voice once heard Delightfully, Increase and multiply,

730

735

Now death to hear! for what can I increase
Or multiply, but curfes on my head?
Who of all ages to fucceed, but feeling
The evil on him brought by me, will curfe
My head? Ill fare our anceftor impure,
For this we may thank Adam; but his thanks
Shall be the execration! So befides
Mine own that bide upon me, all from me
Shall with a fierce reflux on me redound,
On me as on their natural center light
Heavy, though in their place. O flecting joys
Of Paradife, dear bought with lafting woes!
Did I requeft thee, Maker, from my clay
To mold me Man, did I folicit thee
From darkness to promote me, or here place 745
In this delicious garden? as my will
Concur'd not to my be'ing, it were but right
And equal to reduce me to my duft,
Defirous to refign and render back
All I receiv'd, unable to perform

Thy terms too hard, by which I was to holl
The good I fought not. To the lofs of that,
Sufficient penalty, why haft thou added
The fenfe of endlefs woes? inexplicable
Thy juftice feems. Yet, to fay truth, too late 733
I thus conteft; then fhould have been refus'd
Thofe terms whatever, when they were propos'd:
Thou didst accept them: wilt thou enjoy the good,

Then cavil the conditions? and though God
Made thee without thy leave, what if thy fon 760
Prove difobedient, and reprov'd, retort,
Wherefore didft thou beget me? fought it not:
Wouldst thou admit for his contempt of thee
That proud excufe? yet him not thy election
But natural neceffity begot.

770

765
God made thee' of choice his own, and of his own
To ferve him; thy reward was of his grace,
Thy punishment then justly' is at his will.
Be' it fo, for I fubmit; his doom is fair,
That duft I am, and fhall to dust return:
O welcome hour whenever! why delays
His hand to execute what his decree
Fix'd on this day? why do I overlive,
Why am I mock'd with death, and lengthen'd out
To deathlefs pain? how gladly would I meet 775
Mortality my fentence, and be earth
Infenfible! how glad would lay me down
As in my mother's lap? there I should reft
And fleep fecure; his dreadful voice no more
Would thunder in my ears, no fear of worse 780
To me and to my offspring would torment me
With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt
Purfues me ftill, left all I cannot die,

Left that pure breath of life, the fpi'rit of Man
Which God infpir'd, cannot together perish 785
With this corporeal clod; then in the grave,
Or in fome other dismal place, who knows
But I fhall die a living death? O thought
Horrid, if true! yet why? it was but breath
Of life that finn'd; what dies but what had life
And fin? the body properly hath neither.
All of me then fhall die: let this appeafe
The doubt, fince human reach no further knows.
For though the Lord of all be infinite,
Is his wrath alfo? be it, Man is not fo,
But mortal doom'd. How can he exercise
Wrath without end on Man whom death muft
end?

791

826

For one man's fault thus guiltlefs be condemn'd,
If guiltless? But from me what can proceed,
But all corrupt, both mind and will deprav'd
Not to do only, but to will the same
With me? how can they then acquitted ftand
In fight of God? Him after all difputes
Forc'd I abfolve: all my evafions vain,
And reafonings, though through mazes, lead me
ftill
830

But to my own conviction: first and last
On me, me only, as the fource and spring
Of all corruption, all the blante lights due;
So might the wrath. Fond with! couldst thou

Support

840

That burden heavier than the earth to bear, 835
Than all the world much heavier, though divided
With that bad Woman? Thus what thou defir'st
And what thou fear'ft, alike destroys all hope
Of refuge, and concludes thee miferable
Beyond all paft example and futúre,
To Satan only like both crime and doom.
O Confcience, into what abyfs of fears
And horrors haft thou driv'n me; out of which
I find no way, from deep to deeper plung'd.
Thus Adam to himself lamented loud
Through the ftill night, not now, as cre Man fell,
Wholefome and cool, and mild, but with black air
Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom,
Which to his evil confcience reprefented

845

861

But death comes not at call, justice divine
Mends not her floweft pace for prayers or cries.
O woods, O fountains, hillocs, dales and bowers,
With other echo late I taught your fhades
To answer, and refound far other fong.
Whom thus afflicted when fad Eve beheld,
Defolate where the fat, approaching nigh,
Soft words to his fierce paflion the aflay'd:
But her with stern regard he thus repell'd.

865

Out of my fight, thou Serpent; that name beft Befits thee with him leagu'd, thyfelf as falfe And hateful; nothing wants, but that thy fhape, Like his, and color ferpentine, may show 870 Thy inward fraud, to warn all creatures from thee Henceforth; left that too heav'nly form, pro

tended

To hellish falfhood, fnare them. But for thee
I had perfifted happy', had not thy pride
And wand'ring vanity, when leaft was fafe, 875
Rejected my forewarning, and difdain`d
Not to be trufted, longing to be feen
Though by the Dev'il himself, him overweening
To over-reach, but with the ferpent meeting
Fool'd and beguil'd, by him thou, I by thee, 88>
To trust thee from my fide, imagin'd wife
Conftant, mature, proof againft all affaults,
And understood not all was but a fhow
Rather than folid virtue', all but a rib