by John Milton
Of high collateral glorie: him Thrones and Powers,
Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant
Accompanied to Heaven Gate, from whence
Eden and all the Coast9 in prospect lay.
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Down he descended strait; the speed of Gods
Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes wing’d.
Now was the Sun in Western cadence10 low
From Noon, and gentle Aires due at thir hour
To fan the Earth now wak’d, and usher in
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The Eevning cool when he from wrauth more cool
Came the mild Judge and Intercessor both
To sentence Man: the voice of God they heard
Now walking in the Garden, by soft winds
Brought to thir Ears, while day declin’d, they heard,
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And from his presence hid themselves among
The thickest Trees, both Man and Wife, till God
Approaching, thus to Adam call’d aloud.
Where art thou Adam, wont with joy to meet
My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,
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Not pleas’d, thus entertaind with solitude,
Where obvious dutie11 erewhile appear’d unsaught:
Or come I less conspicuous, or what change
Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth.
He came, and with him Eve, more loth, though first
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T’ offend, discount’nanc’t both, and discompos’d;
Love was not in thir looks, either to God
Or to each other, but apparent12 guilt,
And shame, and perturbation, and despair,
Anger, and obstinacie, and hate, and guile.
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Whence Adam faultring long, thus answer’d brief.
I heard thee in the Garden, and of thy voice
Affraid, being naked, hid my self. To whom
The gracious Judge without revile repli’d.
My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not fear’d,
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But still rejoyc’t, how is it now become
So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked, who
Hath told thee? hast thou eaten of the Tree
Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?
To whom thus Adam sore beset repli’d.
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O Heav’n! in evil strait this day I stand
Before my Judge, either to undergoe
My self the total Crime, or to accuse
My other self, the partner of my life;
Whose failing, while her Faith to me remains,
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I should conceal, and not expose to blame
By my complaint; but strict necessitie
Subdues me, and calamitous constraint,
Least on my head both sin and punishment,
However insupportable, be all
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Devolv’d; though should I hold my peace, yet thou
Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.
This Woman whom thou mad’st to be my help,
And gav’st me as thy perfet gift, so good,
So fit, so acceptable, so Divine,
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That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
And what she did, whatever in it self,
Her doing seem’d to justifie the deed;
Shee gave me of the Tree, and I did eat.
To whom the sovran Presence thus repli’d.
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Was shee thy God, that her thou didst obey
Before his voice, or was shee made thy guide,
Superior, or but equal, that to her
Thou did’st resigne thy Manhood, and the Place
Wherein God set thee above her made of thee,
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And for thee, whose perfection farr excell’d
Hers in all real dignitie: Adornd
Shee was indeed, and lovely to attract
Thy Love, not thy Subjection, and her Gifts
Were such as under Government well seem’d,
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Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part
And person,13 had’st thou known thy self aright
So having said, he thus to Eve in few:
Say Woman, what is this which thou hast done?
To whom sad Eve with shame nigh overwhelm’d,
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Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge
Bold or loquacious, thus abasht repli’d.
The Serpent me beguil’d and I did eat.
Which when the Lord God heard, without delay
To Judgement he proceeded on th’ accus’d
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Serpent though brute, unable to transferr
The Guilt on him who made him instrument
Of mischief, and polluted from the end
Of his Creation; justly then accurst,
As vitiated in Nature: more to know
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Concern’d not Man (since he no further knew)
Nor alter’d his offence; yet God at last
To Satan first in sin his doom apply’d,
Though in mysterious terms, judg’d as then best:
And on the Serpent thus his curse let fall.
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Because thou hast done this, thou art accurst
Above all Cattel, each Beast of the Field;
Upon thy Belly groveling thou shalt goe,
And dust shalt eat all the dayes of thy Life.14
Between Thee and the Woman I will put
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Enmitie, and between thine and her Seed;
Her Seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.15
So spake this Oracle, then verifi’d
When Jesus son of Mary second Eve,
Saw Satan fall like Lightning down from Heav’n,
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Prince of the Air; then rising from his Grave
Spoild Principalities and Powers, triumpht
In open shew, and with ascention bright
Captivity led captive through the Air,
The Realm it self of Satan long usurpt,
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Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;
Eevn hee who now foretold his fatal bruise,
And to the Woman thus his Sentence turn’d.
Thy sorrow I will greatly multiplie
By thy Conception; Childern thou shalt bring
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In sorrow forth, and to thy Husbands will
Thine shall submit, hee over thee shall rule.
On Adam last thus judgement he pronounc’d.
Because thou hast heark’n’d to the voice of thy Wife,
And eaten of the Tree concerning which
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I charg’d thee, saying: Thou shalt not eat thereof,
Curs’d is the ground for thy sake,16 thou in sorrow
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy Life;
Thorns also and Thistles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid, and thou shalt eat th’ Herb of the Field,
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In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat Bread,
Till thou return unto the ground, for thou
Out of the ground wast taken, know thy Birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.
So judg’d he Man, both Judge and Saviour sent,
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And th’ instant stroke of Death denounc’t that day
Remov’d farr off; then pittying how they stood
Before him naked to the air, that now
Must suffer change, disdain’d not to begin
Thenceforth the form of servant to assume,
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As when he wash’d his servants feet, so now
As Father of his Familie he clad
Thir nakedness with Skins of Beasts, or slain,
Or as the Snake with youthful Coat repaid;17
And thought not much18 to cloath his Enemies:
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Nor hee thir outward onely with the Skins
Of Beasts, but inward nakedness, much more
Opprobrious, with his Robe of righteousness,
Arraying cover’d from his Fathers sight.
To him with swift ascent he up returnd,
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Into his blissful bosom reassum’d
In glory as of old, to him appeas’d
All, though all-knowing, what had past with Man
Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
Meanwhile ere thus was sin’d and judg’d on Earth,
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Within the Gates of Hell sate Sin and Death,
In counterview within the Gates, that now
Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame
Farr into Chaos, since the Fiend pass’d through,
Sin opening, who thus now to Death began.
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O Son, why sit we here each other viewing
Idlely, while Satan our great Author thrives
In other Worlds, and happier Seat provides
For us his ofspring dear? It cannot be
But that success attends him; if mishap,
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Ere this he had return’d, with fury driv’n
By his Avengers, since no place like this
Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.
Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,
Wings growing, and Dominion giv’n me large
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Beyond this Deep; whatever draws me on,
Or sympathie,19 or som connatural force
Powerful at greatest distance to unite
With secret amity things of like kind
By secretest conveyance. Thou my Shade
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Inseparable must with mee along:
For Death from Sin no power can separate.
But least the difficultie of passing back
Stay his return perhaps over this Gulf
Impassable, impervious, let us try
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Adventrous work, yet to thy power and mine
Not unagreeable, to found a path
Over this Main from Hell to that new World
Where Satan now prevails, a Monument
Of merit high to all th’ infernal Host,
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Easing thir passage hence, for intercourse,20
Or transmigration, as thir lot shall lead.
Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn
By this new felt attraction and instinct.
Whom thus the meager Shadow answerd soon.
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Goe whither Fate and inclination strong
Leads thee, I shall not lag behind, nor err
The way, thou leading, such a scent I draw
Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste
The savour of Death from all things there that live:
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Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest
Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.
So saying, with delight he snuff’d the smell
Of mortal change on Earth. As when a flock
Of ravenous Fowl, though many a League remote,
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Against the day of Battel, to a Field,
Where Armies lie encampt, come flying, lur’d
With scent of living Carcasses design’d
For death, the following day, in bloodie fight.
So scented the grim Feature, and upturn’d
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His Nostril wide into the murkie Air,
Sagacious of his Quarry from so farr.
Then Both from out Hell Gates into the waste
Wide Anarchie of Chaos damp and dark
Flew divers, and with Power (thir Power was great)
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Hovering upon the Waters; what they met
Solid or slimie, as in raging Sea
Tost up and down, together crowded drove
From each side shoaling21 towards the mouth of Hell.
As when two Polar Winds blowing adverse
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Upon the Cronian Sea,22 together drive
Mountains of Ice, that stop th’ imagin’d way23
Beyond Petsora Eastward, to the rich
Cathaian Coast. The aggregated Soyl
Death with his Mace petrific, cold and dry,
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As with a Trident smote, and fix’t as firm
As Delos24 floating once; the rest his look
Bound with Gorgonian25 rigor not to move,
And with Asphaltic slime; broad as the Gate,
Deep to the Roots of Hell the gather’d beach
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They fasten’d, and the Mole immense wraught on
Over the foaming deep high Archt, a Bridge
Of length prodigious joyning to the Wall26
Immovable of this now fenceless27 world
Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,
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Smooth, easie, inoffensive28 down to Hell.
So, if great things to small may be compar’d,
Xerxes, the Libertie of Greece to yoke,
From Susa29 his Memnonian Palace high
Came to the Sea, and over Hellespont
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Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joyn’d,
And scourg’d with many a stroak th’ indignant waves.
Now had they brought the work by wondrous Art
Pontifical,30 a ridge of pendent Rock
Over the vext Abyss, following the track
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Of Satan, to the self-same place where hee
First lighted from his Wing, and landed safe
From out of Chaos to the outside bare
Of this round World: with Pinns of Adamant
And Chains they made all fast, too fast they made
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And durable; and now in little space
The confines met31 of Empyrean Heav’n
And of this World, and on the left hand Hell
With long reach interpos’d; three sev’ral wayes
In sight, to each of these three places led.
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And now thir way to Earth they had descri’d,
To Paradise first tending, when behold
Satan in likeness of an Angel bright
Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion stealing
His Zenith, while the Sun in Aries rose:32
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Disguis’d he came, but those his Childern dear
Thir Parent soon discern’d, though in disguise.
Hee, after Eve seduc’t, unminded slunk
Into the Wood fast by, and changing shape
T’ observe the sequel, saw his guileful act
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By Eve, though all unweeting,33 seconded
Upon her Husband, saw thir shame that sought
Vain covertures;34 but when he saw descend
The Son of God to judge them, terrifi’d
Hee fled, not hoping to escape, but shun
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The present, fearing guiltie what his wrauth
Might suddenly inflict; that past, return’d
By Night, and listning where the hapless Pair
Sate in thir sad discourse, and various plaint,
Thence gatherd his own doom, which understood
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Not instant, but of future time. With joy
And tidings fraught, to Hell he now return’d,
And at the brink of Chaos, neer the foot
Of this new wondrous Pontifice,35 unhop’t
Met who to meet him came, his Ofspring dear.
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Great joy was at thir meeting, and at sight
Of that stupendious Bridge his joy encreas’d.
Long hee admiring stood, till Sin, his fair
Inchanting Daughter, thus the silence broke.
O Pare
nt, these are thy magnific deeds,
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Thy Trophies, which thou view’st as not thine own,
Thou art thir Author and prime Architect:
For I no sooner in my Heart divin’d,
My Heart, which by a secret harmonie
Still moves with thine, joyn’d in connexion sweet,
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That thou on Earth hadst prosper’d, which thy looks
Now also evidence, but straight I felt
Though distant from thee Worlds between, yet felt
That I must after thee with this thy Son;
Such fatal consequence36 unites us three:
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Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds,
Nor this unvoyageable Gulf obscure
Detain from following thy illustrious track.
Thou hast atchiev’d our libertie, confin’d
Within Hell Gates till now, thou us impow’rd
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To fortifie thus farr, and overlay
With this portentous Bridge the dark Abyss.
Thine now is all this World, thy vertue hath won
What thy hands builded not, thy Wisdom gain’d
With odds what Warr hath lost, and fully aveng’d
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Our foil in Heav’n; here thou shalt Monarch reign,
There didst not; there let him still Victor sway,
As Battel hath adjudg’d, from this new World
Retiring, by his own doom alienated,
And henceforth Monarchic with thee divide
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Of all things, parted by th’ Empyreal bounds,
His Quadrature, from thy Orbicular World,37
Or trie38 thee now more dang’rous to his Throne.
Whom thus the Prince of Darkness answerd glad.
Fair Daughter, and thou Son and Grandchild both,
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High proof ye now have giv’n to be the Race
Of Satan (for I glorie in the name,
Antagonist of Heav’ns Almightie King)
Amply have merited of me, of all
Th’ Infernal Empire, that so neer Heav’ns dore
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