Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Milton

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Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Milton Page 51

by John Milton

Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,

  He onward came, farr off his coming shon,

  And twentie thousand (I thir number heard)

  770

  Chariots of God, half on each hand were seen:

  Hee on the wings of Cherub rode sublime

  On the Chrystallin Skie, in Saphir Thron’d.

  Illustrious farr and wide, but by his own

  First seen, them unexpected joy surpriz’d,

  775

  When the great Ensign of Messiah blaz’d

  Aloft by Angels born, his Sign in Heav’n:54

  Under whose conduct Michael soon reduc’d55

  His Armie, circumfus’d56 on either Wing,

  Under thir Head imbodied all in one.

  780

  Before him Power Divine his way prepar’d;

  At his command th’ uprooted Hills retir’d

  Each to his place, they heard his voice and went

  Obsequious, Heav’n his wonted face renewd,

  And with fresh Flowrets Hill and Valley smil’d.

  785

  This saw his hapless Foes but stood obdur’d,57

  And to rebellious fight rallied thir 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’ obdurate to relent?

  They hard’n’d more by what might most reclame,

  Grieving to see his Glorie, at the sight

  Took envie, and aspiring to his highth,

  Stood reimbattell’d 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 Battel 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 arm’d, this day from Battel rest;

  Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God

  Accepted, fearless in his righteous Cause,

  805

  And as ye have receiv’d, so have ye don

  Invincibly; but of this cursed crew

  The punishment to other hand belongs,

  Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints;

  Number to this dayes work is not ordain’d

  810

  Nor multitude, stand onely and behold

  Gods indignation on these Godless pourd

  By mee; not you but mee they have despis’d,

  Yet envied; against mee is all thir rage,

  Because the Father, t’ whom in Heav’n supream

  815

  Kingdom and Power and Glorie appertains,

  Hath honourd me according to his will.

  Therefore to mee thir doom he hath assign’d;

  That they may have thir wish, to trie with mee

  In Battel 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 excells;

  Nor other strife with them do I voutsafe.

  So spake the Son, and into terrour chang’d

  825

  His count’nance too severe to be beheld

  And full of wrauth bent on his Enemies.

  At once the Four spred out thir Starrie wings

  With dreadful shade contiguous, and the Orbs

  Of his fierce Chariot rowl’d, as with the sound

  830

  Of torrent Floods, or of a numerous Host.

  Hee on his impious Foes right onward drove,

  Gloomie as Night; under his burning Wheels

  The stedfast Empyrean shook throughout,

  All but the Throne it self of God. Full soon

  835

  Among them he arriv’d; in his right hand

  Grasping ten thousand Thunders, which he sent

  Before him, such as in thir Souls infix’d

  Plagues;58 they astonisht all resistance lost,

  All courage; down thir idle weapons drop’d;

  840

  O’re Shields and Helmes, and helmed heads he rode

  Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,

  That wisht the Mountains now might be again59

  Thrown on them as a shelter from his ire.

  Nor less on either side tempestuous fell

  845

  His arrows, from the fourfold-visag’d Four,

  Distinct with eyes, and from the living Wheels,

  Distinct alike with multitude of eyes,

  One Spirit in them rul’d, and every eye

  Glar’d lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire

  850

  Among th’ accurst, that witherd all thir strength,

  And of thir wonted vigour left them draind,

  Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fall’n.

  Yet half his strength he put not forth, but check’d

  His Thunder in mid Volie, for he meant

  855

  Not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n:

  The overthrown he rais’d, and as a Heard

  Of Goats or timerous flock60 together throng’d

  Drove them before him Thunder-struck, pursu’d

  With terrors and with furies to the bounds

  860

  And Chrystal wall of Heav’n, which op’ning wide,

  Rowl’d inward, and a spacious Gap disclos’d

  Into the wastful Deep; the monstrous sight

  Strook them with horror backward, but far worse

  Urg’d them behind; headlong themselvs they threw

  865

  Down from the verge of Heav’n, Eternal wrauth

  Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

  Hell heard th’ unsufferable noise, Hell saw

  Heav’n ruining61 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 dayes they fell; confounded Chaos roard,

  And felt tenfold confusion in thir fall

  Through his wild Anarchie, so huge a rout

  Incumberd him with ruin; Hell at last

  875

  Yawning receav’d them whole, and on them clos’d,

  Hell thir fit habitation fraught with fire

  Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.

  Disburd’n’d Heav’n rejoic’d, and soon repaird

  Her mural breach, returning whence it rowl’d.

  880

  Sole Victor from th’ expulsion of his Foes

  Messiah his triumphal Chariot turnd:

  To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood

  Eye witnesses of his Almightie Acts,

  With Jubilie advanc’d; 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 mightie Father Thron’d

  On high: who into Glorie him receav’d,

  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 maist beware

  895

  By what is past, to thee I have reveal’d

  What might have else to human Race bin hid;

  The discord which befell, and Warr in Heav’n

  Among th’ Angelic Powers, and the deep fall

  Of those too high aspiring, who re
bell’d

  900

  With Satan, hee who envies now thy state,

  Who now is plotting how he may seduce

  Thee also from obedience, that with him

  Bereav’d of happiness thou maist partake

  His punishment, Eternal miserie;

  905

  Which would be all his solace and revenge,

  As a despite don against the most High,

  Thee once to gain Companion of his woe.

  But list’n not to his Temptations, warn

  Thy weaker;62 let it profit thee t’ have heard

  910

  By terrible Example the reward

  Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,

  Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.

  * * *

  1 “change, variety, movement, the mark of vitality and joy characteristic of both the divine and the human master artist’s work” (Joseph H. Summers, The Muse’s Method, p. 71).

  2 compliantly following.

  3 readiness.

  4 the literal meaning of Abdiel.

  5 (a maneuver in the shape of a) square.

  6 lying in the way.

  7 narrowing.

  8 inscription.

  9 fighting of hosts (of angels).

  10 loyalty.

  11 tested and found.

  12 trial.

  13 the angels who sing God’s hymns and whom Satan calls servile.

  14 canopy of the sky.

  15 lines of warriors.

  16 the mechanical tendency to move.

  17 prepared.

  18 (the outcome).

  19 advantage; “prevention” (l. 320) means “anticipation.”

  20 cutting, thus “discontinuing” or separating the flesh.

  21 not subject to injury.

  22 dominant, victorious.

  23 an Assyrian deity; see 2 Kings xix. 37.

  24 incapable of feeling.

  25 foam of air and fire (acting below the earth); see l. 512.

  26 countenance.

  27 cooked together and burned.

  28 destruction from propelled matter; the “reed” is the match which will light the fuse.

  29 halt (NED cites only in phrase “to make alt”); most editors emend to “halt.”

  30 literally, “spy of God.”

  31 firmly established.

  32 without anxiety.

  33 hemmed in.

  34 agreement.

  35 material (of the earth).

  36 hanging in wonder and curiosity.

  37 wondering.

  38 most fastidious.

  39 filled.

  40 discharge.

  41 unification, mutual agreement.

  42 Compare the piling of Mt. Pelion on Mt. Ossa by the Giants of earth.

  43 both nonmilitary and civilized.

  44 after having thought it out.

  45 sharer.

  46 anointing; see PL III, 317.

  47 See PL III, n. 18.

  48 inward torment. Mark ix. 44: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

  49 See Ezek. i, a foreshadowing of the Last Day.

  50 imbued.

  51 running at full speed.

  52 the jewels of Aaron’s breastplate (Exod. xxviii. 30); see n. to III, 598. Undoubtedly significant is the first word of the next line, “Ascended”: it was the central word of the 1667 edition since 5275 lines precede it and follow it.

  53 quivering.

  54 Compare Matt. xxiv. 30: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

  55 led back.

  56 diffused around.

  57 intractable.

  58 blows.

  59 Compare Hosea x. 8 (“The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed … and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us”) and Rev. vi. 16 (“And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb”), alluding to the Last Day.

  60 a reference to the swine that perished with the devils expelled by Jesus (Matt. viii. 28-34); see Mother M. Christopher Pecheux’s discussion in SEL, III (1963), 109-17.

  61 falling.

  62 Eve.

  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 Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declar’d his pleasure to create another World and other Creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son with Glory and attendance of Angels to perform the work of Creation in six dayes: the Angels celebrate with Hymns the performance thereof, and his reascention into Heaven.

  Descend from Heav’n Urania,1 by that name

  If rightly thou art call’d, whose Voice divine

  Following, above th’ Olympian Hill I soar,

  Above the flight of Pegasean2 wing.

  5

  The meaning, not the Name I call: for thou

  Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top

  Of old Olympus dwell’st, but Heav’nlie born,

  Before the Hills appeerd, or Fountain flow’d,

  Thou with Eternal wisdom didst converse,3

  10

  Wisdom thy Sister, and with her didst play

  In presence of th’ Almightie Father, pleas’d

  With thy Celestial Song. Up led by thee

  Into the Heav’n of Heav’ns I have presum’d,

  An Earthlie Guest, and drawn Empyreal Air,

  15

  Thy tempring; with like safetie guided down

  Return me to my Native Element:

  Least from this flying Steed unrein’d (as once

  Bellerophon, though from a lower Clime),

  Dismounted, on th’ Aleian Field4 I fall

  20

  Erroneous5 there to wander and forlorn.

  Half yet remains unsung but narrower bound

  Within the visible Diurnal Sphear;6

  Standing on Earth, not rapt above the Pole,7

  More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang’d

  25

  To hoarce or mute, though fall’n on evil dayes,

  On evil dayes though fall’n, and evil tongues;8

  In darkness, and with dangers compast round,

  And solitude; yet not alone, while thou

  Visit’st my slumbers Nightly, or when Morn

  30

  Purples the East: still govern thou my Song,

  Urania, and fit audience find, though few.

  But drive farr off the barbarous dissonance

  Of Bacchus and his revellers, the Race

  Of that wild Rout that tore the Thracian Bard9

  35

  In Rhodope, where Woods and Rocks had Eares

  To rapture, till the savage clamor dround

  Both Harp and Voice; nor could the Muse defend

  Her Son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:

  For thou art Heav’nlie, shee an empty dream.

  40

  Say Goddess, what ensu’d when Raphael,

  The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarn’d

  Adam by dire example to beware

  Apostasie, by what befell in Heav’n

  To those Apostates, least the like befall

  45

  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 obeyd amid the choice

  Of all tasts else to please thir appetite,

  50

  Though wandring. He with his consorted10 Eve

  The storie heard attentive, and was fill’d

  With admiration, and deep Muse to hear

  Of things so high and strange, things to thir thought

  So
unimaginable as hate in Heav’n,

  55

  And Warr so neer the Peace of God in bliss

  With such confusion: but the evil soon

  Driv’n back redounded11 as a flood on those

  From whom it sprung, impossible to mix

  With Blessedness. Whence Adam soon repeal’d12

  60

  The doubts that in his heart arose: and now

  Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know

  What neerer might concern him, how this World

  Of Heav’n and Earth conspicuous first began,

  When, and whereof created, for what cause,

  65

  What within Eden or without was done

  Before his memorie, as one whose drouth

  Yet scarce allay’d still eyes the current stream,

  Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,

  Proceeded thus to ask his Heav’nly Guest.

  70

  Great things, and full of wonder in our eares,

  Farr differing from this World, thou hast reveal’d

  Divine interpreter, by favour sent

  Down from the Empyrean to forewarn

  Us timely of what might else have bin our loss,

  75

  Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach:

  For which to th’ infinitly Good we owe

  Immortal thanks, and his admonishment

  Receave with solemn purpose to observe

  Immutably his sovran will, the end

  80

  Of what we are. But since thou hast voutsaf’t

  Gently for our instruction to impart

  Things above Earthly thought, which yet concernd

  Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemd,

  Deign to descend now lower, and relate

  85

  What may no less perhaps avail us known,

  How first began this Heav’n which we behold

  Distant so high, with moving Fires adornd

  Innumerable, and this which yeelds or fills

  All space, the ambient Air wide interfus’d

  90

  Imbracing round this florid13 Earth, what cause

  Mov’d the Creator in his holy Rest

  Through all Eternitie so late to build

 

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