by John Milton
Collected stood within our thoughts amused,
Not long, for sudden all at once their reeds
Put forth, and to a narrow vent applied
With nicest touch. Immediate in a flame,
585 But soon obscured with smoke, all Heav’n appeared,
From those deep-throated engines belched, whose roar
Embowelled with outrageous noise the air,
And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul
Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts and hail
590 Of iron globes, which on the victor host
Levelled, with such impetuous fury smote,
That whom they hit, none on their feet might stand,
Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell
By thousands, Angel on Archangel rolled,
595 The sooner for their arms; unarmed they might
Have easily as Spirits evaded swift
By quick contraction or remove; but now
Foul dissipation followed and forced rout;
Nor served it to relax their serried files.
600 What should they do? if on they rushed, repulse
Repeated, and indecent overthrow
Doubled, would render them yet more despised,
And to their foes a laughter; for in view
Stood ranked of Seraphim another row
605 In posture to displode their second tire
Of thunder: back defeated to return
They worse abhorred. Satan beheld their plight,
And to his mates thus in derision called.
O friends, why come not on these victors proud?
610 Erewhile they fierce were coming, and when we,
To entertain them fair with open front
And breast, (what could we more?) propounded terms
Of composition, straight they changed their minds,
Flew off, and into strange vagáries fell,
615 As they would dance, yet for a dance they seemed
Somewhat extravagant and wild, perhaps
For joy of offered peace: but I suppose
If our proposals once again were heard
We should compel them to a quick result.
620 To whom thus Belial in like gamesome mood
Leader, the terms we sent were terms of weight,
Of hard conténts, and full of force urged home,
Such as we might perceive amused them all,
And stumbled many; who receives them right,
625 Had need from head to foot well understand;
Not understood, this gift they have besides,
They show us when our foes walk not upright.
So they among themselves in pleasant vein
Stood scoffing, heighthened in their thoughts beyond
630 All doubt of victory; eternal might
To match with their inventions they presumed
So easy, and of his thunder made a scorn,
And all his host derided, while they stood
Awhile in trouble; but they stood not long,
635 Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms
Against such Hellish mischief fit to oppose.
Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power
Which God hath in his mighty angels placed)
Their arms away they threw, and to the hills
640 (For earth hath this variety from Heav’n
Of pleasure situate in hill and dale)
Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew,
From their foundations loos’ning to and fro
They plucked the seated hills with all their load,
645 Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops
Uplifting bore them in their hands: amaze,
Be sure, and terror seized the rebel host,
When coming towards them so dread they saw
The bottom of the mountains upward turned,
650 Till on those cursèd engines’ triple-row
They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence
Under the weight of mountains buried deep,
Themselves invaded next, and on their heads
Main promontories flung, which in the air
655 Came shadowing, and oppressed whole legions armed;
Their armour helped their harm, crushed in and bruised
Into their substance pent, which wrought them pain
Implacable, and many a dolorous groan,
Long struggling underneath, ere they could wind
660 Out of such prison, though Spirits of purest light,
Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown.
The rest in imitation to like arms
Betook them, and the neighbouring hills uptore;
So hills amid the air encountered hills
665 Hurled to and fro with jaculation dire,
That under ground they fought in dismal shade;
Infernal noise; war seemed a civil game
To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped
Upon confusion rose: and now all Heav’n
670 Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread,
Had not th’ Almighty Father where he sits
Shrined in his sanctuary of Heav’n secure,
Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen
This tumult, and permitted all, advised:
675 That his great purpose he might so fulfil,
To honour his Anointed Son avenged
Upon his enemies, and to declare
All power on him transferred: whence to his Son
Th’ Assessor of his throne he thus began.
680 Effulgence of my Glory, Son beloved,
Son in whose face invisible is beheld
Visibly, what by Deity I am,
And in whose hand what by decree I do,
Second Omnipotence, two days are passed,
685 Two days, as we compute the days of Heav’n,
Since Michael and his powers went forth to tame
These disobedient; sore hath been their fight,
As likeliest was, when two such foes met armed;
For to themselves I left them, and thou know’st,
690 Equal in their creation they were formed,
Save what sin hath impaired, which yet hath wrought
Insensibly, for I suspend their doom;
Whence in perpetual fight they needs must last
Endless, and no solution will be found:
695 War wearied hath performed what war can do,
And to disordered rage let loose the reins,
With mountains as with weapons armed, which makes
Wild work in Heav’n, and dangerous to the main.
Two days are therefore passed, the third is thine;
700 For thee I have ordained it, and thus far
Have suffered, that the glory may be thine
Of ending this great war, since none but thou
Can end it. Into thee such virtue and grace
Immense I have transfused, that all may know
705 In Heav’n and Hell thy power above compare,
And this perverse commotion governed thus,
To manifest thee worthiest to be heir
Of all things, to be heir and to be King
By sacred unction, thy deservèd right.
710 Go then thou Mightiest in thy Father’s might,
Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels
That shake Heav’n’s basis, bring forth all my war,
My bow and thunder, my almighty arms
Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh;
715 Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out
From all Heav’n’s bounds into the utter deep:
There let them learn, as likes them, to despise
God and Messiah his anointed King.
He said, and on his Son with rays direct
720 Shone full; he all his Father full expressed
Ineffably into his face received,
&nbs
p; And thus the filial Godhead answering spake.
O Father, O Supreme of Heav’nly thrones,
First, highest, holiest, best, thou always seek’st
725 To glorify thy Son, I always thee,
As is most just; this I my glory account,
My exaltation, and my whole delight,
That thou in me well pleased, declar’st thy will
Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss.
730 Sceptre and power, thy giving, I assume,
And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
Thou shalt be All in All, and I in thee
For ever, and in me all whom thou lov’st:
But whom thou hat’st, I hate, and can put on
735 Thy terrors, as I put thy mildness on,
Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,
Armed with thy might, rid Heav’n of these rebelled,
To their prepared ill mansion driven down
To chains of darkness, and th’ undying worm,
740 That from thy just obedience could revolt,
Whom to obey is happiness entire.
Then shall thy saints unmixed, and from th’ impure
Far separate, circling thy holy Mount
Unfeignèd hallelujahs to thee sing,
745 Hymns of high praise, and I among them chief.
So said, he o’er his sceptre bowing, rose
From the right hand of Glory where he sat,
And the third sacred morn began to shine
Dawning through Heav’n: forth rushed with whirlwind sound
750 The chariot of Paternal Deity,
Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,
Itself instínct with Spirit, but convóyed
By four Cherubic shapes; four faces each
Had wondrous; as with stars their bodies all
755 And wings were set with eyes, with eyes the wheels
Of beryl, and careering fires between;
Over their heads a crystal firmament,
Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure
Amber, and colours of the show’ry arch.
760 He in celestial panoply all armed
Of radiant urim, work divinely wrought,
Ascended, at his right hand Victory
Sat eagle-winged, beside him hung his bow
And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored,
765 And from about him fierce effusion rolled
Of smoke and bickering flame, and sparkles dire;
Attended with ten thousand thousand saints,
He onward came, far off his coming shone,
And twenty thousand (I their number heard)
770 Chariots of God, half on each hand were seen:
He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime
On the crystálline sky, in sapphire throned.
Illustrious far and wide, but by his own
First seen; them unexpected joy surprised,
775 When the great ensign of Messiah blazed
Aloft by angels borne, his sign in Heav’n:
Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
His army, circumfused on either wing,
Under their Head embodied all in one.
780 Before him Power Divine his way prepared;
At his command the uprooted hills retired
Each to his place, they heard his voice and went
Obsequious; Heav’n his wonted face renewed,
And with fresh flow’rets hill and valley smiled.
785 This saw his hapless foes but stood obdured,
And to rebellious fight rallied their powers
Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.
In Heav’nly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?
But to convince the proud what signs avail,
790 Or wonders move th’ obdúrate to relent?
They hardened more by what might most reclaim,
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
Took envy, and aspiring to his heighth,
Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud
795 Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
Against God and Messiah, or to fall
In universal ruin last, and now
To final battle drew, disdaining flight,
Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God
800 To all his host on either hand thus spake.
Stand still in bright array ye saints, here stand
Ye angels armed, this day from battle rest;
Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God
Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause,
805 And as ye have received, so have ye done
Invincibly; but of this cursèd crew
The punishment to other hand belongs;
Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints;
Number to this day’s work is not ordained
810 Nor multitude; stand only and behold
God’s indignation on these Godless poured
By me; not you but me they have despised,
Yet envied; against me is all their rage,
Because the Father, t’ whom in Heav’n supreme
815 Kingdom and power and glory appertains,
Hath honoured me according to his will.
Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned;
That they may have their wish, to try with me
In battle which the stronger proves, they all,
820 Or I alone against them, since by strength
They measure all, of other excellence
Not emulous, nor care who them excels;
Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.
So spake the Son, and into terror changed
825 His count’nance too severe to be beheld
And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
At once the Four spread out their starry wings
With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs
Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
830 Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.
He on his impious foes right onward drove,
Gloomy as Night; under his burning wheels
The steadfast Empyrean shook throughout,
All but the throne itself of God. Full soon
835 Among them he arrived; in his right hand
Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
Before him, such as in their souls infixed
Plagues; they astonished all resistance lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropped;
840 O’er shields and helms, and helmèd heads he rode
Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,
That wished the mountains now might be again
Thrown on them as a shelter from his ire.
Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
845 His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged four,
Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels,
Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
One spirit in them ruled, and every eye
Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
850 Among th’ accursed, that withered all their strength,
And of their wonted vigour left them drained,
Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fall’n.
Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
His thunder in mid volley, for he meant
855 Not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n:
The overthrown he raised, and as a herd
Of goats or timorous flock together thronged
Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursued
With terrors and with furies to the bounds
860 And crystal wall of Heav’n, which op’ning wide,
Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
Into the wasteful deep; the monstrous sight
Strook them with horror backward, but far worse
Urged them behind;
headlong themselves they threw
865 Down from the verge of Heav’n; eternal wrath
Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.
Hell heard th’ unsufferable noise, Hell saw
Heav’n ruining from Heav’n and would have fled
Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep
870 Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
Nine days they fell; confounded Chaos roared,
And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
Through his wide anarchy, so huge a rout
Encumbered him with ruin: Hell at last
875 Yawning received them whole, and on them closed,
Hell their fit habitation fraught with fire
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.
Disburdened Heav’n rejoiced, and soon repaired
Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled.
880 Sole Victor from th’ expulsion of his foes
Messiah his triumphal chariot turned:
To meet him all his saints, who silent stood
Eye witnesses of his almighty acts,
With jubilee advanced; and as they went,
885 Shaded with branching palm, each order bright,
Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,
Son, heir, and Lord, to him dominion giv’n,
Worthiest to reign: he celebrated rode
Triumphant through mid Heav’n, into the courts
890 And temple of his mighty Father throned
On high; who into glory him received,
Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.
Thus measuring things in Heav’n by things on earth
At thy request, and that thou may’st beware
895 By what is past, to thee I have revealed
What might have else to human race been hid;
The discord which befell, and war in Heav’n
Among th’ angelic Powers, and the deep fall
Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled
900 With Satan, he who envies now thy state,
Who now is plotting how he may seduce
Thee also from obedience, that with him
Bereaved of happiness thou may’st partake
His punishment, eternal misery;
905 Which would be all his solace and revenge,
As a despite done against the Most High,
Thee once to gain companion of his woe.
But listen not to his temptations, warn
Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard
910 By terrible example the reward
Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,
Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
BOOK VII
The Argument
Raphael at the request of Adam relates how and wherefore
this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of