And crystal wall of heaven, which op'ning wide Roll'd inward, and a spacious gap disclos'd Into the wasteful deep; the monstrous sight Struck them with horror backward; but far worse Urg'd them behind; headlong themselves they
Down from the verge of heaven, eternal wrath 365 Burn'd after them to the bottomless pit. Hell heard th' unsufferable noise, hell saw Heaven ruining from heaven, and would have fled Affrighted; but strict fate had cast too deep Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound. 870 Nine days they fell; confounded Chaos roar'd, And felt tenfold confusion in their fall Through his wild anarchy; so huge a rout Incumber'd him with ruin: hell at last
Yawning receiv'd them whole, and on them clos'd, Hell their fit habitation, fraught with fire Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain. Disburden'd heaven rejoic'd, and soon repair'd Her mural breach, returning whence it roll'd. Sole victor from th' expulsion of his foes Messiah his triumphal chariot turn'd: To meet him all his saints, who silent stood Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,
With jubilee advanc'd; and as they went, Shaded with branching palm, each order bright 885 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 heaven, into the courts And temple of his mighty Father thron'd On high; who into glory him receiv'd, Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss. Thus measuring things in heaven by things on At thy request, and that thou may'st beware [earth, By what is past, to thee I have reveal'd What might have else to human race been hid; The discord which befell, and war in heaven Among th' angelic powers, and the deep fall Of those too high aspiring, who rebell'd With Satan, he 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 may'st partake His punishment, eternal misery, 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 By terrible example the reward Of disobedience; firm they might have stood, Yet fell: remember, and fear to transgress.
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, declared 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 days: the angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his reascension into heaven.
DESCEND from heaven, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine Following, above th' Olympian hill I soar, Above the flight of Pegasean wing. The meaning, not the name, I call: for thou Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st, but heavenly born, Before the hills appear'd, or fountain flow'd, Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of th' almighty Father, pleas'd With thy celestial song. Up led by thee Into the heaven of heav'ns I have presum'd, An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air, Thy temp'ring; with like safety guided down 15
Return me to my native element: Lest from this flying steed unrein'd, as once Bellerophon, though from a lower clime,
Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall
Erroneous, there to wander and forlorn. Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound, Within the visible diurnal sphere;
Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole, More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchang'd To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days, On evil days though fall'n and evil tongues, In darkness, and with dangers compast round, And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when morn Purples the east. Still govern thou my song, Urania, and fit audience find, though few. But drive far off the barbarous dissonance Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears 35 To rapture, till the savage clamour drown'd Both harp and voice; nor could the muse defend
Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores: For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream. Say, goddess, what ensu'd when Raphael,
The affable arch-angel, had forewarn'd
Adam by dire example to beware
Apostasy, by what befell in heaven
To those apostates, lest the like befall 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 obey'd, amid the choice
Of all tastes else to please their appetite,
Though wand'ring. He with his consorted Eve 50
The story heard attentive, and was fill'd
With admiration and deep muse, to hear
Of things so high and strange, things to their
So unimaginable as hate in heaven, And war so near the peace of GOD in bliss With such confusion: but the evil soon
Driv'n back redounded as a flood on those From whom it sprung, impossible to mix With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repeal'd The doubts that in his heart arose: and now 60
Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know What nearer might concern him, how this world Of heaven and earth conspicuous first began, When, and whereof created, for what cause, What within Eden or without was done Before his memory, as one whose drouth
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