Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Milton
Page 51
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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;
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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
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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