The Complete Poems

by John Milton

  295 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 to death, and dying to redeem,

  300 So dearly to redeem what Hellish hate

  So easily destroyed, and still 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.

  305 Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss

  Equal to God, and equally enjoying

  God-like fruition, quitted all to save

  A world from utter loss, and hast been found

  By merit more than birthright Son of God,

  310 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;

  315 Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign

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

  Anointed universal King; all power

  I give thee, reign for ever, and assume

  Thy merits; under thee as Head Supreme

  320 Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions I reduce:

  All knees 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

  325 The summoning Archangels to proclaim

  Thy dread tribunal: forthwith from all winds

  The living, and forthwith the cited dead

  Of all past ages to the general doom

  Shall hasten, such a peal shall rouse their sleep.

  330 Then all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge

  Bad men and angels, they arraigned shall sink

  Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full,

  Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Meanwhile

  The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring

  335 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 triúmphing, and fair truth.

  Then thou thy regal sceptre shalt lay by,

  340 For regal sceptre then no more shall need,

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

  Adore him, who to compass all this dies,

  Adore the Son, and honour him as me.

  No sooner had th’ Almighty ceased, but all

  345 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, and loud hosannas filled

  Th’ eternal regions: lowly reverent

  350 Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

  With solemn adoration down they cast

  Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold,

  Immortal amarant, a flow’r which once

  In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life

  355 Began to bloom, but soon for man’s offence

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

  And flow’rs aloft shading the Fount of Life,

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

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

  360 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 shone

  Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

  365 Then crowned again their golden harps they took,

  Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side

  Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet

  Of charming symphony they introduce

  Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;

  370 No voice exempt, 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,

  375 Fountain of light, thyself invisible

  Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt’st

  Throned inaccessible, but when thou shad’st

  The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud

  Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,

  380 Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,

  Yet dazzle Heav’n, that brightest Seraphim

  Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.

  Thee next they sang of all Creation first,

  Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,

  385 In whose conspicuous count’nance, without cloud

  Made visible, th’ Almighty Father shines,

  Whom else no creature can behold; on thee

  Impressed th’ effulgence of his glory abides,

  Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests.

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

  By thee created, and by thee threw down

  Th’ aspiring Dominations: thou that day

  Thy Father’s dreadful thunder didst not spare,

  Nor stop thy flaming chariot wheels, that shook

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

  Thou drov’st of warring angels disarrayed.

  Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim

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

  To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,

  400 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

  405 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

  410 For man’s offence. O unexampled love,

  Love nowhere to be found less than divine!

  Hail Son of God, Saviour of men, thy name

  Shall be the copious matter of my song

  Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise

  415 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 globe

  Of this round world, whose first convéx divides

  420 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

  425 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 with tempest loud:

  430 Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field.

  As when a vulture on Imaus bred,

  Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,

  Dislodging from a region scarce of prey

  To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids

  435 On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs
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  Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

  But in his way lights on the barren plains

  Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

  With sails and wind their cany wagons light:

  440 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 hereafter from the earth

  445 Up hither like aërial vapours 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 hopes of glory or lasting fame,

  450 Or happiness in this or th’ other life;

  All who have their reward on earth, the fruits

  Of painful superstition and blind zeal,

  Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find

  Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;

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

  Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed,

  Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,

  Till final dissolution, wander here,

  Not in the neighbouring moon, as some have dreamed;

  460 Those argent fields more likely habitants,

  Translated saints, 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 came

  465 With many a vain explóit, though then renowned:

  The builders next of Babel on the plain

  Of Sennaär, and still with vain design

  New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build:

  Others came single; he who to be deemed

  470 A god, leaped fondly into Etna flames,

  Empedocles, and he who to enjoy

  Plato’s Elysium, leaped into the sea,

  Cleombrotus, and many more too long,

  Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars

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

  Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek

  In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heav’n;

  And they who to be sure of Paradise

  Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,

  480 Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised;

  They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed,

  And that crystálline sphere whose balance weighs

  The trepidation talked, and that first moved;

  And now Saint Peter at Heav’n’s wicket seems

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

  Of Heav’n’s ascent they lift their feet, when lo

  A violent crosswind from either coast

  Blows them transverse ten thousand leagues awry

  Into the devious air; then might ye see

  490 Cowls, hoods and habits with their wearers tossed

  And fluttered into rags; then relics, beads,

  Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,

  The sport of winds: all these upwhirled aloft

  Fly o’er the backside of the world far off

  495 Into a Limbo large and broad, since called

  The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown

  Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod;

  All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed,

  And long he wandered, till at last a gleam

  500 Of dawning light turned thitherward in haste

  His travelled steps; far distant he descries

  Ascending by degrees magnificent

  Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high,

  At top whereof, but far more rich appeared

  505 The work as of a kingly palace gate

  With frontispiece of diamond and gold

  Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems

  The portal shone, inimitable on earth

  By model, or by shading pencil drawn.

  510 The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw

  Angels ascending and descending, bands

  Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled

  To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz

  Dreaming by night under the open sky,

  515 And waking cried, This is the gate of Heav’n.

  Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood

  There always, but drawn up to Heav’n sometimes

  Viewless, and underneath a bright sea flowed

  Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon

  520 Who after came from earth, sailing arrived,

  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 easy ascent, or aggravate

  525 His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss.

  Direct against which opened from beneath,

  Just o’er the blissful seat of Paradise,

  A passage down to th’ earth, a passage wide,

  Wider by far than that of aftertimes

  530 Over Mount Sion, and, though that were large,

  Over the Promised Land to God so dear,

  By which to visit oft those happy tribes,

  On high behests his angels to and fro

  Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard

  535 From Paneas the fount of Jordan’s flood

  To Beërsaba, where the Holy Land

  Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;

  So wide the op’ning seemed, where bounds were set

  To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.

  540 Satan from hence now on the lower stair

  That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven gate

  Looks down with wonder at the sudden view

  Of all this world at once. As when a scout

  Through dark and desert ways with peril gone

  545 All night; at last by break of cheerful dawn

  Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,

  Which to his eye discovers unaware

  The goodly prospect of some foreign land

  First seen, or some renowned metropolis

  550 With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,

  Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams.

  Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen,

  The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized

  At sight of all this world beheld so fair.

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

  So high above the circling canopy

  Of night’s extended shade; from eastern point

  Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears

  Andromeda far off Atlantic seas

  560 Beyond th’ horizon; then from pole to pole

  He views in breadth, and without longer pause

  Down right into the world’s first region throws

  His flight precipitant, and winds with ease

  Through the pure marble air his óblique way

  565 Amongst innumerable stars, that shone

  Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds;

  Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles,

  Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,

  Fortunate fields, and groves and flow’ry vales,

  570 Thrice happy isles, but who dwelt happy there

  He stayed not to inquire: above them all

  The golden sun in splendour likest Heaven

  Allured his eye: thither his course he bends

  Through the calm firmament; but up or down

  575 By centre or eccentric, hard to tell,

  Or longitude, where the great luminary

  Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,

  That from his lordly eye keep distance due,

  Dispenses light from far; they a
s they move

  580 Their starry dance in numbers that compute

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

  Turn swift their various motions, or are turned

  By his magnetic beam, that gently warms

  The universe, and to each inward part

  585 With gentle penetration, though unseen,

  Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep:

  So wondrously was set his station bright.

  There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps

  Astronomer in the sun’s lucent orb

  590 Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw.

  The place he found beyond expression bright,

  Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone;

  Not all parts like, but all alike informed

  With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;

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

  If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,

  Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone

  In Aaron’s breastplate, and a stone besides

  Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen,

  600 That stone, or like to that which here below

  Philosophers in vain so long have sought,

  In vain, though by their powerful art they bind

  Volátile Hermes, and call up unbound

  In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,

  605 Drained through a limbeck 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 sun so far from us remote

  610 Produces with terrestrial humour mixed

  Here in the dark so many precious things

  Of colour glorious and effect so rare?

  Here matter new to gaze the Devil met

  Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands,

  615 For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,

  But all sunshine, as when his beams at noon

  Culminate from th’ equator, as they now

  Shot upward still direct, whence no way round

  Shadow from body opaque can fall, and the air,

  620 Nowhere so clear, sharpened his visual ray

  To objects distant far, whereby he soon

  Saw within ken a glorious angel stand,

  The same whom John saw also in the sun:

  His back was turned, but not his brightness hid;

  625 Of beaming sunny rays, a golden tiar

  Circled his head, nor less his locks behind

  Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings

  Lay waving round; on some great charge employed

  He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep.

  630 Glad was the Spirit impure; as now in hope

  To find who might direct his wand’ring flight

  To Paradise the happy seat of man,