Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics)

by Milton, John

As drops on dust conglobing292 from the dry;

  Part rise in crystal wall293, or ridge direct,

  For haste; such flight the great command impressed

  On the swift floods: as armies at the call

  Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)

  Troop to their standard, so the wat’ry throng,

  Wave rolling after wave, where way they found,

  If steep, with torrent rapture299, if through plain,

  Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill,

  But they, or under ground, or circuit wide

  With serpent error wand’ring302, found their way,

  And on the washy ooze deep channels wore;

  Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,

  All but within those banks, where rivers now

  Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.

  The dry land, earth, and the great receptacle

  Of congregated waters308 he called seas:

  And saw that it was good, and said, ‘Let th’ earth309

  Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,

  And fruit tree yielding fruit after her kind;

  Whose seed is in herself upon the earth.’

  He scarce had said, when the bare earth313, till then

  Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned,

  Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad

  Her universal face with pleasant green,

  Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flow’red

  Op’ning their various colors, and made gay

  Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown,

  Forth flourished thick the clust’ring vine, forth crept

  The swelling321 gourd, up stood the corny reed

  Embattled322 in her field: add the humble shrub,

  And bush with frizzled hair323 implicit: last

  Rose as in dance the stately trees, and spread

  Their branches hung with copious fruit; or gemmed325

  Their blossoms: with high woods the hills were crowned,

  With tufts the valleys and each fountain side,

  With borders long the rivers. That Earth now

  Seemed like to Heav’n, a seat where gods might dwell,

  Or wander with delight, and love to haunt

  Her sacred shades: though God had yet not rained

  Upon the earth, and man to till the ground332

  None was, but from the earth a dewy mist

  Went up and watered all the ground, and each

  Plant of the field, which ere it was in the earth

  God made, and every herb, before it grew

  On the green stem; God saw that it was good:

  So ev’n and morn recorded338 the third day.

  “Again th’339 Almighty spake: ‘Let there be lights

  High in th’ expanse of heaven to divide

  The day from night; and let them be for signs,

  For seasons, and for days, and circling years,

  And let them be for lights as I ordain

  Their office in the firmament of heav’n

  To give light on the Earth’; and it was so.

  And God made two great lights, great for their use

  To man, the greater to have rule by day,

  The less by night altern348: and made the stars,

  And set them in the firmament of heav’n

  To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day

  In their vicissitude351, and rule the night,

  And light from darkness to divide. God saw,

  Surveying his great work, that it was good:

  For of celestial bodies first the sun

  A mighty sphere he framed, unlightsome first,

  Though of ethereal mold356: then formed the moon

  Globose, and every magnitude of stars357,

  And sowed with stars the heav’n thick as a field:

  Of light by far the greater part he took,

  Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placed

  In the sun’s orb, made porous to receive

  And drink the liquid light, firm to retain

  Her gathered beams, great palace now of light.

  Hither as to their fountain other stars

  Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,

  And hence the morning planet366 gilds her horns;

  By tincture or reflection367 they augment

  Their small peculiar368, though from human sight

  So far remote, with diminution seen.

  First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,

  Regent of day, and all th’ horizon round

  Invested372 with bright rays, jocund to run

  His longitude373 through Heav’n’s high road: the gray

  Dawn, and the Pleiades374 before him danced

  Shedding sweet influence: less bright the moon,

  But opposite in leveled west376 was set

  His mirror377, with full face borrowing her light

  From him, for other light she needed none

  In that aspect379, and still that distance keeps

  Till night, then in the east her turn she shines,

  Revolved on Heav’n’s great axle381, and her reign

  With thousand lesser lights dividual382 holds,

  With thousand thousand stars, that then appeared

  Spangling the hemisphere: then first adorned

  With their bright luminaries that set and rose,

  Glad ev’ning and glad morn crowned the fourth day.

  “And God said,387 ‘Let the waters generate

  Reptile388 with spawn abundant, living soul:

  And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings

  Displayed390 on the op’n firmament of heav’n.’

  And God created the great whales, and each

  Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously

  The waters generated by their kinds393,

  And every bird of wing after his kind;

  And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying,

  ‘Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas

  And lakes and running streams the waters fill;

  And let the fowl be multiplied on the earth.’

  Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay

  With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals

  Of fish that with their fins and shining scales

  Glide under the green wave, in schools that oft

  Bank the mid sea403: part single or with mate

  Graze the seaweed their pasture, and through groves

  Of coral stray, or sporting with quick glance

  Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold,

  Or in their pearly shells at ease, attend

  Moist nutriment, or under rocks their food

  In jointed armor watch: on smooth409 the seal,

  And bended410 dolphins play: part huge of bulk

  Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait

  Tempest the ocean: there leviathan412

  Hugest of living creatures, on the deep

  Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims,

  And seems a moving land, and at his gills415

  Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out a sea.

  Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens and shores

  Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon

  Bursting with kindly419 rupture forth disclosed

  Their callow420 young, but feathered soon and fledge

  They summed their pens421, and soaring th’ air sublime

  With clang422 despised the ground, under a cloud

  In prospect; there the eagle and the stork

  On cliffs and cedar tops their eyries build:

  Part loosely425 wing the region, part more wise

  In common, ranged in figure wedge their way,

  Intelligent427 of seasons, and set forth

  Their airy caravan high over seas

  Flying429, and over lands with mutual wing


  Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane

  Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air

  Floats432, as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes:

  From branch to branch the smaller birds with song

  Solaced434 the woods, and spread their painted wings

  Till ev’n, nor then the solemn nightingale

  Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays:

  Others on silver lakes and rivers bathed

  Their downy breast; the swan with archèd neck

  Between her white wings mantling439 proudly, rows

  Her state440 with oary feet: yet oft they quit

  The dank441, and rising on stiff pennons, tower

  The mid-aerial sky442: others on ground

  Walked firm; the crested cock whose clarion sounds

  The silent hours, and th’ other444 whose gay train

  Adorns him, colored with the florid hue

  Of rainbows and starry eyes446. The waters thus

  With fish replenished, and the air with fowl,

  Ev’ning and morn solemnized the fifth day.

  “The sixth and of creation last arose

  With ev’ning450 harps and matin, when God said,

  ‘Let th’ earth bring forth soul451 living in her kind,

  Cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth,

  Each in their kind.’ The earth obeyed, and straight

  Op’ning her fertile womb teemed454 at a birth

  Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,

  Limbed and full-grown: out of the ground uprose

  As from his lair the wild beast where he wons457

  In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;

  Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked:

  The cattle in the fields and meadows green:

  Those rare461 and solitary, these in flocks

  Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.

  The grassy clods now calved, now half appeared

  The tawny lion464, pawing to get free

  His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,

  And rampant shakes his brinded main; the ounce,

  The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole

  Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw

  In hillocks; the swift stag from under ground

  Bore up his branching head: scarce from his mold

  Behemoth471 biggest born of earth upheaved

  His vastness: fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,

  As plants: ambiguous between sea and land

  The river horse474 and scaly crocodile.

  At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,

  Insect or worm476; those waved their limber fans

  For wings, and smallest lineaments exact

  In all the liveries decked of summer’s pride

  With spots of gold and purple, azure and green:

  These as a line their long dimension drew,

  Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all

  Minims482 of nature; some of serpent kind

  Wondrous in length and corpulence involved483

  Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept

  The parsimonious emmet485, provident

  Of future, in small room large heart486 enclosed,

  Pattern487 of just equality perhaps

  Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes465

  Of commonalty: swarming next appeared

  The female bee490 that feeds her husband drone

  Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells

  With honey stored: the rest are numberless,

  And thou their natures know’st, and gav’st them names493,

  Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown

  The serpent subtlest beast of all the field,

  Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes

  And hairy main497 terrific, though to thee

  Not noxious498, but obedient at thy call.

  Now heav’n in all her glory shone, and rolled

  Her motions, as the great First Mover’s hand

  First wheeled their course; Earth in her rich attire

  Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth,

  By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked

  Frequent504; and of the sixth day yet remained;

  There wanted yet the master work, the end505

  Of all yet done; a creature who not prone

  And brute as other creatures, but endued

  With sanctity of reason, might508 erect

  His stature, and upright with front509 serene

  Govern the rest, self-knowing510, and from thence

  Magnanimous511 to correspond with Heav’n,

  But grateful to acknowledge whence his good

  Descends, thither with heart and voice and eyes

  Directed in devotion, to adore

  And worship God supreme, who made him chief

  Of all his works: therefore th’ omnipotent

  Eternal Father (for where is not he

  Present) thus to his Son audibly spake.

  “ ‘Let us make519 now man in our image, man

  In our similitude, and let them rule

  Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,

  Beast of the field, and over all the earth,

  And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.’

  This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee O man

  Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed

  The breath of life; in his own image he

  Created thee, in the image of God

  Express528, and thou becam’st a living soul.

  Male he created thee, but thy consort

  Female for race; then blessed mankind530, and said,

  ‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth,

  Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold

  Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,

  And every living thing that moves on the Earth.’

  Wherever thus created, for no place

  Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know’st

  He brought thee into this delicious537 grove,

  This garden, planted with the trees of God,

  Delectable both to behold and taste;

  And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

  Gave thee, all sorts are here that all th’ Earth yields,

  Variety without end; but of the tree

  Which tasted works knowledge of good and evil,

  Thou may’st not; in the day thou eat’st, thou di’st;

  Death is the penalty imposed, beware,

  And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin

  Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.

  Here finished he, and all that he had made

  Viewed, and behold all was entirely good;

  So ev’n and morn accomplished the sixth day:

  Yet not till the Creator from his work

  Desisting, though unwearied552, up returned

  Up to the Heav’n of Heav’ns his high abode,

  Thence to behold this new created world

  Th’ addition of his empire, how it showed

  In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,

  Answering his great idea557. Up he rode

  Followed with acclamation and the sound

  Symphonious559 of ten thousand harps that tuned

  Angelic harmonies: the Earth, the air

  Resounded, (thou remember’st, for thou heard’st)

  The heav’ns and all the constellations rung,

  The planets in their stations list’ning stood,

  While the bright pomp564 ascended jubilant.

  ‘Open, ye everlasting gates,’ they sung,565

  ‘Open, ye Heav’ns, your living doors; let in

  The great Creator from his work returned

  Magnificent, his six days’ work, a world;

  Open, and henceforth oft; for569 God will deignr />
  To visit oft the dwellings of just men

  Delighted, and with frequent intercourse

  Thither will send his wingèd messengers

  On errands of supernal grace.’ So sung

  The glorious train ascending: he through Heav’n,

  That opened wide her blazing portals, led

  To God’s eternal house direct the way,

  A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold

  And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,

  Seen in the galaxy, that Milky Way579

  Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest

  Powdered with stars. And now on Earth the seventh

  Ev’ning arose in Eden, for the sun

  Was set, and twilight from the east came on,

  Forerunning night; when at the holy mount

  Of Heav’n’s high-seated top, th’ imperial throne

  Of Godhead, fixed forever firm and sure,

  The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down

  With his588 great Father, for he also went

  Invisible, yet stayed (such privilege

  Hath omnipresence) and the work ordained,

  Author and end of all things, and from work

  Now resting, blessed and hallowed the sev’nth day,

  As resting on that day from all his work,

  But not in silence holy kept594; the harp

  Had work and rested not, the solemn pipe,

  And dulcimer596, all organs of sweet stop,

  All sounds on fret597 by string or golden wire

  Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voice

  Choral or unison599: of incense clouds

  Fuming from golden censers hid the mount.

  Creation and the six days’ acts they sung,

  ‘Great are thy works, Jehovah, infinite

  Thy power; what thought can measure thee or tongue

  Relate thee; greater now in thy return

  Than from the giant angels605; thee that day

  Thy thunders magnified; but606 to create

  Is greater than created to destroy.

  Who can impair thee, mighty king, or bound

  Thy empire? Easily the proud attempt

  Of spirits apostate and their counsels vain

  Thou hast repelled, while impiously they thought

  Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw

  The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks

  To lessen thee, against his purpose serves

  To manifest the more thy might: his evil

  Thou usest, and from thence creat’st more good.

  Witness this new-made world, another Heav’n

  From Heaven gate not far, founded in view

  On the clear hyaline619, the glassy sea;

  Of amplitude almost immense, with stars

  Numerous, and every star perhaps a world621

  Of destined habitation621; but thou know’st622

  Their seasons622: among these the seat of men,