More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days, On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues ; In darkness, and with dangers compass'd round, And solitude; yet not alone, while thou Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when morn Purples the east: still govern thou my song, Urania, and fit audience find, though few. But drive far off the barbarous dissonance Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race Of that vile rout that tore the Thracian bard In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears To rapture, till the savage clamour drown'd Both harp and voice; nor could the muse defend Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores: For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream. Say, goddess, what ensued when Raphael, The affable archangel, had forewarn'd Adam, by dire example, to beware Apostacy, by what befel in heaven To those apostates; lest the like befal In Paradise to Adam or his race, Charg'd not to touch the interdicted tree,
If they transgress, and slight that sole command. So easily obey'd amid the choice
Of all tastes else to please their appetite, Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve, The story heard attentive, and was fill'd With admiration and deep muse, to hear Of things so high and strange; things, to their So unimaginable, as hate in heaven,
[though And war 30 near the peace of God in bliss, With such confusion: but the evil, soon Driven back, redounded as a flood on those From whom it sprung; impossible to mix With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repeal'à The doubts that in his heart arose and now Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know
What nearer might concern him, how this world
Of heaven and earth conspicuous first began When, and whereof created; for what cause ; What within Eden, or without, was done Before his memory: as one whose drought Yet scarce allay'd still eyes the current stream, Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites. Proceeded thus to ask his heavenly guest:
"Great things and full of wonder in our ears Far differing from this world, thou hast reveal Divine interpreter! by favour sent
Down from the empyrean, to forewarn
Us timely of what might else have been our loss, Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach, For which to the infinitely Good we owe Immortal thanks, and his admonishment Receive, with solemn purpose to observe Immutably his sovran will, the end
Of what we are. But since thou hast vouchsaf'd Gently, for our instruction, to impart
Things above earthly thought, which yet concern' Our knowing, as to highest Wisdom seem'd, Deign to descend now lower, and relate What may no less perhaps avail us known, How first began this heaven which we behoid Distant so high, with moving fires adorn'd Innumerable; and this which yields or fills All space, the ambient air wide interfus'd Embracing round this florid earth: what cause Mov'd the Creator, in his holy rest
Through all eternity, so late to build In Chaos; and the work begun, how soon Absolv'd; if unforbid thou mayʼst unfold What we, not to explore the secrets ask Of his eternal empire, but the more To magnify his works, the more we know And the great light of day yet wants to run Much of his race though steep; suspense in heavea Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears, And longer will delay to hear thee tell
His generation, and the rising birth Of nature from the unapparent deep : Or if the star of evening and the moon Haste to thy audience, night with her will bring Silence; and sleep, listening to thee, will watch, Or we can bid his absence, till thy song End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine." Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought; And thus the godlike angel answer'd mild: "This also thy request, with caution ask'd, Obtain; though to recount Almighty works What words or tongue of seraph can suffice, Or heart of man suffice to comprehend? Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve To glorify the Maker, and infer
Thee also happier, shall not be withheli Thy hearing; such commission from above I have receiv'd, to answer thy desire
Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope Things not reveal'd, which the invisible King, Only Omniscient, hath suppress'd in night, To none communicable in earth or heaven: Enough is left besides to search and know; But knowledge is as food, and needs no less Her temperance over appetite, to know In measure what the mind may well contain: Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.
"Know then, that, after Lucifer from heaver (So call him, brighter once amidst the host Of angels, than that star the stars among) Fell with his flaming legions through the deep Into his place, and the great Son return'd Victorious with his saints, the Omnipotent Eternal Father from his throne beheld Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake : *** At least our envious foe hath fail'd, wha thought
All like himself rebellious, by whose aid This inaccessible high strength, the seat Of Deity supreme, us dispossess'd,
He trusted to have seiz'd, and into fraud Drew many, whom their place knows here no more: Yet far the greater part have kept, I see, Their station; heaven, yet populous, retains Number sufficient to possess her realms Though wide, and this high temple to frequent With ministeries due, and solemn rites : But lest his heart exalt him in the harm Already done, to have dispeopled heaven, My damage fondly deem'd, I can repair That detriment, if such it be to lose Self-lost; and in a moment will create Another world, out of one man a race Of men innumerable, there to dwell, Not here; till by degrees of merit rais'd, They open to themselves at length the way Up hither, under long obedience tried: [earth, And earth be chang'd to heaven, and heaven to One kingdom, joy and union without end. Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye powers of heaven; And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee This I perform; speak thou, and be it done! My overshadowing Spirit and might with thee I send along ride forth, and bid the deep Within appointed bounds be heaven and earth: Boundless the deep, because I Am who fill Infinitude; nor vacuous the space, Though I, uncircumscrib'd myself, retire, And put not forth my goodness, which is free To act or not; necessity and chance Approach not me, and what I will is fate.'
"So spake the Almighty, and to what he spake His Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect. Immediate are the acts of God, more swift Than time or motion, but to human ears Cannot without process of speech be told,
So told as earthly notion can receive. Great triumph and rejoicing was in heaven, When such was heard declar'd the Almighty's win Glory they sung to the Most High, good-will To future men, and in their dwellings peace : Glory to him, whose just avenging ire Had driven out the ungodly from his sight And the habitations of the just; to him Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd Good out of evil to create; instead
Of spirits malign, a better race to bring Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse His good to worlds and ages infinite.
"So sang the hierarchies: meanwhile the Son On his great expedition now appear'd, Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crown'd Of majesty divine: sapience and love Immense, and all his Father in him shone. About his chariot numberless were pour'd Cherub and seraph, potentates and thrones, And virtues, winged spirits, and chariots wing'd From the armoury of God; where stand of old Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodg'd Against a solemn day, harness'd at hand, Celestial equipage; and now came forth Spontaneous, for within them spirit liv'd, Attendant on their Lord: heaven open'd wide Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges moving, to let forth The King of Glory, in his powerful Word And Spirit, coming to create new worlds. On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shor They view'd the vast immeasurable abyss Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turn'd by furious winds And surging waves, as mountains, to assault Heaven's highth, and with the centre mix the pole.
"Silence, ye troubled waves, and tl: u de peace,'
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