Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) (28 page)

Under his gloomy power I shall not long

Lie vanquished; thou hast giv’n me to possess

244 Life in
²⁴⁴
myself forever, by thee I live,

Though now to Death I yield, and am his due

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

Thou
²⁴⁷
wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave

His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul

Forever with corruption there to dwell;

But I shall rise victorious, and subdue

My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil;

Death his death’s wound shall then receive, and stoop

Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed
²⁵³
.

I through the ample air in triumph high

Shall lead Hell captive maugre
²⁵⁵
Hell, and show

The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the sight

Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,

While by thee raised I ruin
²⁵⁸
all my foes,

Death last
²⁵⁹
, and with his carcass glut the grave:

Then with the multitude of my redeemed

Shall enter Heaven long absent, and return,

Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud

Of anger shall remain, but peace assured,

And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more

Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.”

   His words here ended, but his meek aspect

Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love

To mortal men, above which only shone

Filial obedience: as a sacrifice

Glad to be offered, he attends
²⁷⁰
the will

Of his great Father. Admiration
²⁷¹
seized

All Heav’n, what this might mean, and whither tend

Wond’ring; but soon th’ Almighty thus replied:

   “O thou in Heav’n and Earth the only peace

Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou

My sole complacence
²⁷⁶
! Well thou know’st how dear

To me are all my works, nor man the least

Though last created, that for him I spare

Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,

By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.

Thou therefore
²⁸¹
whom thou only canst redeem,

Their nature also to thy nature join;

And be thyself man among men on earth,

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

By wondrous birth: be thou in Adam’s room
²⁸⁵

The head of all mankind, though Adam’s son.

As in
²⁸⁷
him perish all men, so in thee

As from a second root shall be restored,

As many as are restored, without thee none.

His crime makes guilty all his sons, thy merit
²⁹⁰

Imputed shall absolve them who renounce

Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,

And live in thee transplanted, and from thee

Receive new life. So man, as is most just,

Shall satisfy for man, be judged and die,

And dying rise, and rising with him raise

His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.

So Heav’nly love shall outdo Hellish hate,

Giving
²⁹⁹
to death, and dying to redeem,

So dearly
³⁰⁰
to redeem what Hellish hate

So easily destroyed, and still
³⁰¹
destroys

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

Nor shalt thou by descending to assume

Man’s nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss

Equal to God
³⁰⁶
, and equally enjoying

God-like fruition
³⁰⁷
, quitted all to save

A world from utter loss, and hast been found

By merit more than birthright Son of God,

Found worthiest to be so by being good,

Far more than great or high; because in thee

Love hath abounded more than glory abounds,

Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt

With thee thy manhood also to this throne;

Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign

Both God and man, Son both of God and man,

Anointed universal King; all power
³¹⁷

I give thee, reign forever, and assume
³¹⁸

Thy merits; under thee as Head Supreme

Thrones, Princedoms,
³²⁰
Powers, Dominions I reduce:

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

In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell;

When thou attended gloriously from Heav’n

Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send

The summoning Archangels to proclaim

Thy dread tribunal: forthwith from all winds
³²⁶

The living, and forthwith the cited
³²⁷
dead

Of all past ages to the general doom
³²⁸

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

Then all thy saints
³³⁰
assembled, thou shalt judge

Bad men and angels, they arraigned
³³¹
shall sink

Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full,

Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Meanwhile

The world shall burn
³³⁴
, and from her ashes spring

New Heav’n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell,

And after all their tribulations long

See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,

With joy and love triumphing, and fair truth.

Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,

For regal scepter then no more shall need
³⁴⁰
,

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

Adore him, who to compass
³⁴²
all this dies,

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

   No sooner had th’ Almighty ceased, but all

The multitude of angels with a shout

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet

As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav’n rung

With jubilee
³⁴⁸
, and loud hosannas filled

Th’ eternal regions: lowly reverent

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

With solemn adoration down they cast

Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold,

Immortal amarant
³⁵³
, a flow’r which once

In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life

Began to bloom, but soon for man’s offense

To Heav’n removed where first it grew, there grows,

And flow’rs aloft shading the fount of life
³⁵⁷
,

And where the river of bliss through midst of Heav’n

Rolls o’er Elysian flow’rs her amber
³⁵⁹
stream;

With these that never fade the spirits elect

Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams,

Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright

Pavement that like a sea of jasper
³⁶³
shone

Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

Then crowned again their golden harps they took,

Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side

Like quivers hung, and with preamble
³⁶⁷
sweet

Of charming symphony they introduce

Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;

No voice exempt
³⁷⁰
, no voice but well could join

Melodious part, such concord is in Heav’n.

   Thee Father first they sung omnipotent,

Immutable, immortal, infinite,

Eternal King; thee Author of all being,

Fountain of light, thyself invisible

Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt’st

Throned inaccessible, but
³⁷⁷
when thou shad’st

The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud

Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,

Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,

Yet dazzle Heav’n, that
³⁸¹
brightest Seraphim

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

Thee next they sang of all creation first
³⁸³
,

Begotten Son, divine similitude,

In whose conspicuous count’nance, without cloud

Made visible, th’ Almighty Father shines,

Whom else no creature can behold
³⁸⁷
; on thee

Impressed the effulgence
³⁸⁸
of his glory abides,

Transfused on thee his ample spirit rests.

He Heav’n of Heav’ns and all the Powers therein

By thee created, and by thee threw down

Th’ aspiring Dominations
³⁹²
: thou that day

Thy Father’s dreadful thunder didst not spare,

Nor stop thy flaming chariot wheels, that shook

Heav’n’s everlasting frame, while o’er the necks

Thou drov’st of warring angels disarrayed.

Back from pursuit thy Powers
³⁹⁷
with loud acclaim

Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father’s might,

To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,

Not so on man; him through their malice fall’n,

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

So strictly, but much more to pity inclined,

He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife

Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned,

Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat

Second to thee, offered himself to die

For man’s offense. O unexampled love,

Love nowhere to be found less than divine!

Hail Son
⁴¹²
of God, Savior of men, thy name

Shall be the copious matter of my song

Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise

Forget, nor from thy Father’s praise disjoin.

   Thus they in Heav’n, above the starry sphere,

Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.

Meanwhile upon the firm opacous
⁴¹⁸
globe

Of this round world, whose first convex
⁴¹⁹
divides

The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed

From Chaos and th’ inroad of darkness old,

Satan alighted walks: a globe far off

It seemed, now seems a boundless continent

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

Starless exposed, and ever-threat’ning storms

Of Chaos blust’ring round, inclement sky;

Save on that side which from the wall of Heav’n

Though distant far some small reflection gains

Of glimmering air less vexed
⁴²⁹
with tempest loud:

Here walked the fiend at large
⁴³⁰
in spacious field.

As when a vulture on Imaüs
⁴³¹
bred,

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar
⁴³²
bounds,

Dislodging from a region scarce of prey

To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling
⁴³⁴
kids

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

Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

But in his way lights on the barren plains

Of Sericana
⁴³⁸
, where Chineses drive

With sails and wind
⁴³⁹
their cany wagons light:

So on this windy sea of land, the Fiend

Walked 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
⁴⁴⁴
hereafter from the earth

Up hither like aërial vapors flew

Of all things transitory and vain, when Sin

With vanity had filled the works of men:

Both all things vain, and all who in vain things

Built their fond
⁴⁴⁹
hopes of glory or lasting fame,

Or happiness in this or th’ other life;

All who have their reward on Earth, the fruits

Of painful
⁴⁵²
superstition and blind zeal,

Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find

Fit retribution, empty
⁴⁵⁴
as their deeds;

All th’ unaccomplished
⁴⁵⁵
works of Nature’s hand,

Abortive
⁴⁵⁶
, monstrous, or unkindly mixed,

Dissolved on Earth, fleet
⁴⁵⁷
hither, and in vain,

Till final dissolution, wander here,

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

Those argent fields more likely habitants,

Translated saints
⁴⁶¹
or middle spirits hold

Betwixt th’ angelical and human kind:

Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born

First from the ancient world those giants
⁴⁶⁴
came

With many a vain exploit, though then renowned:

The builders next of Babel on the plain

Of Sennaär
⁴⁶⁷
, and still with vain design

New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build:

Others came single; he who to be deemed

A god, leaped fondly
⁴⁷⁰
into Etna flames,

Empedocles
⁴⁷¹
, and he who to enjoy

Plato’s Elysium, leaped into the sea,

Cleombrotus
⁴⁷³
, and many more too long,

Embryos
⁴⁷⁴
and idiots, eremites and friars

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

Here pilgrims
⁴⁷⁶
roam, that strayed so far to seek