Et ferrugineas mortis jam in limine pallas
Quot capiunt, certo merituri pignore cœlum,
Quique latere dolos niveo fub fyrmate credunt.
Hi denfis adeò agminibus stellasque vagantes
Prætereunt fixafque, & qui chrystallinus Orbis
Dicitur, alterno contorquens fidera motu:
Deinde Rotam fuperant, quæ commovet omnia, Primam.
Jamque in veftibulo cœli expectare videtur
Claviger ante fores Petrus; jam limine in ipso
Siftere fe properant, fubito cum turbine fervet
Ingeminans utroque fimul de littore ventus,
Tranfverfofque rapit, fparfofque per aera paffim
Præcipitat: fratrum falientum membra, cucullos,
Reliquias funefque, errorum Infignia multa
Convolvi afpiceres, rapido ludibria vento.
Inde procul mundi trans mœnia magna rotantur
Altiùs in tractus, qui poftmodo Regna cluebant
Aurea Stultorum, populo celebrata frequenti;
And they who to be fure of Paradife
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd.
They pass the Planets fev'n, and pass the Fix'd,
And that chryftalline Sphere whofe ballance weighs
The Trepidation talk'd, and that First Mov'd:
And now Saint Peter at Heav'n's wicket feems
To wait them with his Keys, and now at foot
Of Heav'n's afcent they lift their Feet: when lo
A violent cross wind from either coast
Blows them tranfverfe ten thousand leagues awry
Into the devious Air. Then might ye fee
Cowles, Hoods, and Habits, with their wearers,
toft,
And flutter'd into Rags: then Reliques, Beads,
Indulgences, Difpenfes, Pardons, Bulls,
The fport of Winds: All these up-whirl'd aloft
Fly 'o'er the backfide of the World far off,
Into a Limbo large and broad, fince call'd
The Paradife of Fools; to few unknown
Nunc inculta jacet regio & fine nomine Tellus.
Hæc Satanas longum palans loca nigra pererrat
Paffibus incertis : cum tandem lucis amicum
Exoriens defeffa jubar vestigia ducit.
Illac proripitur; molemque ibi profpicit altam
Eductam gradibus cœli radiantis ad arces
Magnificis; fummo fublimis vertice molis
Exftabant auro Portæ atque adamante fuperbæ :
Tum late ardebant præcelfâ in fronte Pyropi,
Materiemque æquabat Opus, clariffima terris
Regum opera exfuperans, nullique imitabile dextræ.
Haud alia ingentum Scalarum forma videtur,
Quàm quibus ire redire DEI fancta Agmina vidit
Ifacides, gentem humanam quæ blanda tuentur,
Cum fratrem iratum fugiens properaret Arani
Monia, dein cœlo post somnia lapsa sereno,
En fancta ætherei, clamaret, Janua regni !
Scilicet his Scalis divina Arcana latebant;
Long after; now unpeopled, and untrod.
All this dark Globe the Fiend found as he pass'd;
And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam
Of dawning light turn'd thither-ward in hafte
His travel'd fteps. Far diftant he descries
Afcending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heav'n a Structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich, appear'd
The work as of a Kingly Palace Gate,
With Frontispiece of Diamond and Gold
Imbellish'd; thick with sparkling orient Gems
The Portal fhone, inimitable on Earth,
By Model or by fhading Pencil drawn.
The Stairs were fuch, as whereon Jacob faw
Angels afcending and defcending, bands
Of Guardians bright; when he from Efau fled
To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night under the open Sky,
And waking cry'd, This is the Gate of Heav'n.
Each Stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
Machina
Machina nec femper patuit, fed fæpe receffit
In cœlum: volvuntur Jafpidis æquora fubter
Cærula, gemmarumque liquentum; hos vela dederunt
Per fluctus, terris qui poft emergere adorfi,
Cæligenis ducibus; vada feu vicere volucri
Clara fugâ, ignivomis rapti fuper æthera bigis.
Jam verò è cœli domibus demiffa pependit
Machina; ut alliceret Satanam via apertior, aut quo
Acrius amiffam fedem exiliumque doleret.
Hanc contra, fuper Edeni felicia regna
Ingens ad terras ducebat Semita, hiatu
Latior immenfo, quàm quæ per poftera fæcla
Sionis juga divifit, feu Littoris oras
Promiffi, caras cœlo magis omnibus unas:
Sæpius hâc venere, tribus vifura beatos,
Quos DEUS ipfe oculo lætus propiore fovebat,
Nuntia gens Superûm, Domini veneranda ferentes
Mandata, ex fancto Jordanis fonte remotam
There always, but drawn up to Heav'n fome- Direct against which open'd from beneath,
Viewlefs and underneath a bright Sea flow'd
Of Jasper, or of liquid Pearl; whereon
Who after came from Earth failing arriv'd,
Wafted by Angels; or flew o'er the Lake
Rapt in a Chariot drawn by fiery Steeds.
The Stairs were then let down: whether to dare
The Fiend by eafie afcent, or aggravate
His fad exclufion from the doors of Blifs.
Juft o'er the blissful feat of Paradise,
A paffage down to th' Earth, a paffage wide;
Wider by far than That of after-times
Over Mount Sion, and, (though that were large)
Over the Promis'd Land to GOD fo dear,
By which, to vifit oft thofe happy Tribes,
On high behefts his Angels to and fro
Pafs'd frequent, and his Eye with choice regard,
(From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,
Ufque ad Berfabam & Phariis contermina campis
Littora. Se tanto patefecit Semita tractu,
Quà procurrentes compefcit Meta tenebras,
Qualis fpumantem Oceani premit objice fluctum.
Scalarum extremâ Satanas in parte moratus
Paulifper, quæ ardente auro nituntur in astra,
Inde uno spatia hæc magni complectitur orbis
Intuitu attonitus. Veluti per cæca viarum
Devia cum longam noctem Speculator iniquum
Solus iter tendit, poft mille pericula, læto
Mane fupercilium ferientis fidera Montis
Confcendit tandem; ignotos unde arduus agros
Prospectat visu subito faltusque beatos;
Aut urbem procul antiquam convalle virenti
Miratur fplendere, & culmina fumma domorum
Auratasque arces orienti effulgere Sole.
Improbus haud aliter Satanas, quanquam ignea cœli
Vidiffet delubra priùs, miratus inhæfit;
To Beerfaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and th' Arabian Shore)
So wide the opening feem'd, where bounds were fet
To Darkness, fuch as bound the Ocean wave.
Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,
That fcal'd by fteps of Gold to Heaven Gate,
Looks down with wonder at the fudden view
Of all this World at once. As when a Scout,
Thro' dark and defert ways with peril gone
All night, at last by break of chearful dawn
Obtains the brow of fome high-climbing Hill,
Which to his eye discovers unaware
The goodly prospect of some foreign land,
Firft feen; or fome renown'd Metropolis,
With gliftering Spires and Pinnacles adorn'd,
Which now the rifing Sun gilds with his beams.
Such wonder feiz'd, though after Heaven feen,
The Spirit malign; but much more Envy feiz'd
Cui tamen invidiæ ftimuli cor acrius imum
Sollicitant, pulchri formam dum profpicit orbis.
Altus ibi Noctis fuper ardua Conopea,
Omnia circuitu fpeculans expanfa patenti,
Eoâ Libræ ex metâ perlustrat ad Astrum
Auricomum, claram quod vectat Atlantica longè
Trans maria Andromeden; tum lumine confpicit acri
Auftrinum quodcunque axem jacet inter & Arctos.
Nec mora, quin prono mundi in propiora volatu
Se dat præcipitem, multoque volumine raptus,
Marmoreum flexis hinc inde per aera pennis,
Innumera obliquos agit inter Sidera curfus:
Sidera visa procul; propius spectantibus Orbes
Emicuere novi, aut radiati luminis arva
Prodiga, floriferæ valles, loca dulcia, quales
Hefperias perhibent filvas, lætiffima regna :
Sed quos Indigenas lætos hæc regna tenerent,
Olli haud quærendi fpatium. Super omnia traxit
At fight of all this World beheld fo fair.
His flight precipitant; and winds with ease Round he furveys (and well might, where he ftood, Through the pure marble Air his oblique way So high above the circling Canopy
Of Night's extended fhade) from Eastern Point
Of Libra, to the fleecy Star that bears
Andromeda far off Atlantic Seas
Beyond th' Horizon: then from Pole to Pole
He views in breadth; and without longer paufe
Down right into the World's first Region throws
Amongst innumerable Stars, that fhone
Stars diftant, but nigh hand feem'd other Worlds:
Or other Worlds they feem'd, or happy Ifles,
Like thofe Hefperian Gardens fam'd of old,
Fortunate Fields, and Groves, and flow'ry Vales;
Thrice happy Ifles: but who dwelt happy there
He ftaid not to enquire. Above them all
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