Only Begotten Son Seest Thou What Rage Close Reading
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Paradise Lost
By John Milton
Book Iii
God, sitting on his throne, sees Satan, flying towards this world, so newly created; shows him to the Son, who sat at his right mitt; foretels the success of Satan in perverting mankind; clears his own justice and wisdom from all imputation, having created Man free, and able enough to accept withstood his tempter; yet declares his purpose of grace towards him, in regard he cruel not of his own malice, equally did Satan, but by him seduced. The Son of God renders praises to his Father for the manifestation of his gracious purpose towards Man: But God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards Man without the satisfaction of divine justice; Human hath offended the majesty of God by aspiring to Godhead, and, therefore, with all his progeny, devoted to decease, must die, unless some one can exist found sufficient to answer for his offence, and undergo his penalization. The Son of God freely offers himself a bribe for Homo: The Begetter accepts him, ordains his ordination, pronounces his exaltation above all names in Heaven and Earth; commands all the Angels to adore him; They obey, and, hymning to their harps in full quire, celebrate the Father and the Son. Hateful while Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world'due south outermost orb; where wandering he first finds a identify, since called the Limbo of Vanity: What persons and things fly upwards thither: Thence comes to the gate of Heaven, described ascending past stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: His passage thence to the orb of the sunday; he finds in that location Uriel, the regent of that orb, but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner Angel; and, pretending a zealous desire to behold the new cosmos, and Man whom God had placed here, inquires of him the place of his domicile, and is directed: Alights kickoff on mount Niphates.Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven kickoff-born, Or of the Eternal coeternal axle May I limited thee unblam'd? since God is lite, And never but in unapproached low-cal Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee Bright effluence of bright essence increate. Or hear'st thou rather pure ethereal stream, Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun, Before the Heavens g wert, and at the voice Of God, every bit with a mantle, didst invest 10 The ascension world of waters dark and deep, Won from the void and formless space. Thee I re-visit now with bolder fly, Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight Through utter and through middle darkness borne, With other notes than to the Orphean lyre I sung of Anarchy and eternal Night; Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down The dark descent, and up to re-ascend, 20 Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safety, And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou Revisit'st not these optics, that roll in vain To find thy piercing ray, and notice no dawn; So thick a drib serene hath quench'd their orbs, Or dim suffusion veil'd. Still not the more Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt, Articulate spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill, Smit with the love of sacred song; but master Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath, thirty That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow, Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget So were I equall'd with them in renown, Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace; Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides, And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets quondam: Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the yr 40 Seasons return; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer'southward rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; Just cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. fifty So much the rather 1000, angelic Light, Polish inwards, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate; in that location plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight. Now had the Almighty Begetter from higher up, From the pure firmament where he sits High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye His own works and their works at once to view: About him all the Sanctities of Heaven lx Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd Beatitude by utterance; on his correct The radiant image of his glory saturday, His only son; on globe he first beheld Our 2 starting time parents, yet the only ii Of mankind in the happy garden plac'd Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, Uninterrupted joy, unrivall'd love, In beatific solitude; he then survey'd Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there lxx Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Dark In the dun air sublime, and fix at present To stoop with exhausted wings, and willing anxiety, On the bare exterior of this world, that seem'd Firm state imbosom'd, without firmament, Uncertain which, in ocean or in air. Him God beholding from his prospect high, Wherein past, present, future, he beholds, Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake. Merely begotten Son, seest thou what rage 80 Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds Prescrib'd no bars of Hell, nor all the chains Heap'd on him at that place, nor however the main abyss Wide interrupt, can hold; so aptitude he seems On drastic revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head. And now, Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light, Directly towards the new created earth, And human being in that location plac'd, with purpose to analysis ninety If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; For human being will hearken to his glozing lies, And hands transgress the sole command, Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault? Whose just his ain? ingrate, he had of me All he could have; I made him just and correct, Sufficient to have stood, though free to autumn. Such I created all the ethereal Powers 100 And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd; Freely they stood who stood, and cruel who roughshod. Non gratuitous, what proof could they have given sincere Of truthful allegiance, constant faith or honey, Where only what they needs must do announced'd, Not what they would? what praise could they receive? What pleasure I from such obedience paid, When will and reason (reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd, Made passive both, had serv'd necessity, 110 Not me? they therefore, equally to right belong'd, Then were created, nor can justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, Every bit if predestination over-rul'd Their will dispos'd past absolute prescript Or loftier foreknowledge they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew, Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less proved certain unforeknown. So without least impulse or shadow of fate, 120 Or nix past me immutably foreseen, They trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they guess, and what they choose; for and then I class'd them gratuitous: and free they must remain, Till they enthrall themselves; I else must change Their nature, and revoke the high decree Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd Their liberty: they themselves ordain'd their fall. The outset sort by their ain suggestion fell, Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'd 130 By the other commencement: Man therefore shall detect grace, The other none: In mercy and justice both, Through Heaven and World, and then shall my glory excel; But Mercy, outset and final, shall brightest shine. Thus while God spake, adorable fragrance make full'd All Sky, and in the blest Spirits elect Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd. Beyond compare the Son of God was seen Virtually glorious; in him all his Male parent shone Substantially express'd; and in his face 140 Divine pity visibly appear'd, Beloved without stop, and without measure grace, Which uttering, thus he to his Male parent spake. O Male parent, gracious was that word which clos'd Thy sovran sentence, that Homo should discover grace; For which both Heaven and Earth shall high extol Thy praises, with the innumerable sound Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne Comprehend'd shall resound thee ever blest. For should Man finally be lost, should Human, 150 Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son, Autumn circumvented thus by fraud, though bring together'd With his own folly? that exist from thee far, That far be from thee, Male parent, who art approximate Of all things made, and judgest merely right. Or shall the Antagonist thus obtain His cease, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfill His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought, Or proud render, though to his heavier doom, Still with revenge attain'd, and to Hell 160 Draw after him the whole race of mankind, By him corrupted? or wilt one thousand thyself Abolish thy creation, and unmake For him, what for thy glory thou hast fabricated? And so should thy goodness and thy greatness both Be question'd and blasphem'd without defense. To whom the great Creator thus replied. O son, in whom my soul hath chief please, Son of my bosom, Son who fine art alone. My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, 170 All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all As my eternal purpose hath decreed; Man shall not quite be lost, simply sav'd who will; Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vouchsaf'd; once again I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthrall'd By sin to foul exorbitant desires; Upheld by me, still once more than he shall stand On even ground against his mortal foe; By me upheld, that he may know how frail 180 His fallen condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace, Elect to a higher place the remainder; so is my will: The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd Their sinful state, and to appease betimes The incensed Deity, while offer'd grace Invites; for I will articulate their senses night, What may suffice, and soften stony hearts To pray, apologize, and bring obedience due. 190 To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, Though just endeavor'd with sincere intent, Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut. And I volition place within them as a guide, My umpire Conscience; whom if they volition hear, Calorie-free afterward light, well us'd, they shall attain, And to the cease, persisting, prophylactic arrive. This my long sufferance, and my day of grace, They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste; But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more, 200 That they may stumble on, and deeper fall; And none only such from mercy I exclude. Merely yet all is not washed; Man disobeying, Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins Against the loftier supremacy of Heaven, Affecting God-head, and, so losing all, To expiate his treason hath nought left, But to destruction sacred and devote, He, with his whole posterity, must die, Die he or justice must; unless for him 210 Some other able, and as willing, pay The rigid satisfaction, expiry for expiry. Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such dearest? Which of you will be mortal, to redeem Homo's mortal crime, and but the unjust to save? Dwells in all Heaven clemency and then dear? And silence was in Heaven: on Homo's behalf He ask'd, just all the heavenly quire stood mute, Patron or intercessour none appear'd, Much less that durst upon his own head draw 220 The deadly forfeiture, and ransom prepare. And at present without redemption all flesh Must have been lost, adjudg'd to Expiry and Hell By doom severe, had non the Son of God, In whom the fulness dwells of honey divine, His beloved arbitration thus renew'd. Father, thy word is past, Man shall observe grace; And shall grace not find means, that finds her way, The speediest of thy winged messengers, To visit all thy creatures, and to all 230 Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought? Happy for Man, so coming; he her assistance Can never seek, in one case dead in sins, and lost; Atonement for himself, or offering encounter, Indebted and undone, hath none to bring; Behold me so: me for him, life for life I offer: on me allow thine anger fall; Business relationship me Man; I for his sake will leave Thy bosom, and this celebrity next to thee Freely put off, and for him lastly die 240 Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage. Under his gloomy power I shall not long Lie vanquished. G hast given me to possess Life in myself for always; by thee I live; Though now to Death I yield, and am his due, All that of me can die, all the same, that debt paid, K wilt not get out me in the loathsome grave His prey, nor endure my unspotted soul For ever with corruption there to dwell; Just I shall rising victorious, and subdue 250 My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil. Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed; I through the aplenty air in triumph loftier Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and bear witness The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smiling, While, by thee raised, I ruin all my foes; Death terminal, and with his carcass glut the grave; Then, with the multitude of my redeemed, 260 Shall enter Heaven, long absent-minded, and return, Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud Of anger shall remain, but peace assured And reconcilement: wrath shall exist no more than Thenceforth, merely in thy presence joy entire. His words here ended; but his meek aspect Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love To mortal men, higher up which only shone Filial obedience: as a sacrifice Glad to exist offered, he attends the volition 270 Of his swell Father. Admiration seized All Heaven, what this might hateful, and whither tend, Wondering; but shortly th' Almighty thus replied. O thou in Heaven and World the only peace Plant out for mankind under wrath, O thousand My sole complacence! Well thou know'st how dear To me are all my works; nor Man the to the lowest degree, Though concluding created, that for him I spare Thee from my bosom and correct hand, to save, By losing thee a while, the whole race lost. 280 Thousand, therefore, whom thou but canst redeem, Their nature likewise to thy nature join; And be thyself Man among men on Earth, Fabricated flesh, when time shall exist, of virgin seed, By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam'southward room The caput of all mankind, though Adam'due south son. As in him perish all men, and then in thee, Equally from a second root, shall be restored Every bit many every bit are restored, without thee none. His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit, 290 Imputed, shall atone them who renounce Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, And live in thee transplanted, and from thee Receive new life. And so Human being, equally is most just, Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and dice, And dying rising, and ascension with him raise His brethren, ransomed with his own dearest life. So heavenly dearest shall outdo hellish hate, Giving to death, and dying to redeem, Then dearly to redeem what hellish hate 300 So easily destroyed, and withal destroys In those who, when they may, accept non grace. Nor shalt chiliad, by descending to presume Human's nature, lessen or degrade thine own. Because thou hast, though throned in highest elation Equal to God, and as enjoying God-similar fruition, quitted all, to save A world from utter loss, and hast been institute By merit more than birthright Son of God, Institute worthiest to exist so by beingness adept, 310 Far more than great or high; because in thee Dearest hath abounded more than than celebrity abounds; Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt With thee thy manhood also to this throne: Here shalt thou sit incarnate, hither shalt reign Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, Anointed universal Male monarch; all power I give thee; reign for ever, and assume Thy merits; nether thee, equally head supreme, Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce: 320 All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell. When yard, attended gloriously from Heaven, Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaim Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds, The living, and forthwith the cited dead Of all past ages, to the general doom Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep. So, all thy saints assembled, grand shalt judge 330 Bad Men and Angels; they, arraigned, shall sink Below thy judgement; Hell, her numbers full, Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring New Sky and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell, And, later all their tribulations long, See gold days, fruitful of gold deeds, With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth. Then grand thy majestic scepter shalt lay by, For regal scepter then no more shall need, 340 God shall be all in all. But, all ye Gods, Admire him, who to compass all this dies; Admire the Son, and honour him as me. No sooner had the Almighty ceased, only all The multitude of Angels, with a shout Loud as from numbers without number, sugariness As from blessed voices, uttering joy, Heaven rung With jubilee, and loud Hosannas filled The eternal regions: Lowly reverent Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground 350 With solemn adoration downwardly they cast Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold; Immortal amarant, a blossom which one time In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, Began to bloom; but soon for human's offence To Sky removed, where first it grew, there grows, And flowers aloft shading the fount of life, And where the river of elation through midst of Heaven Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream; With these that never fade the Spirits elect 360 Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams; Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the vivid Pavement, that similar a sea of jasper shone, Impurpled with celestial roses smiled. And so, crowned again, their golden harps they took, Harps always tuned, that glittering by their side Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet Of mannerly symphony they introduce Their sacred vocal, and waken raptures high; No voice exempt, no vox but well could join 370 Melodious office, such concord is in Heaven. Thee, Father, first they sung Almighty, Immutable, Immortal, Space, Eternal King; the Author of all existence, Fountain of lite, thyself invisible Amidst the glorious effulgence where thou sit'st Throned inaccessible, but when g shadest The full blaze of thy beams, and, through a cloud Drawn round about thee similar a radiant shrine, Night with excessive bright thy skirts appear, 380 Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim Approach not, just with both wings veil their eyes. Thee next they sang of all cosmos first, Begotten Son, Divine Similitude, In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud Fabricated visible, the Omnipotent Father shines, Whom else no creature tin behold; on thee Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides, Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests. He Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein 390 By thee created; and by thee threw down The aspiring Dominations: Thou that day Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare, Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook Sky's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks G drovest of warring Angels disarrayed. Dorsum from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father's might, To execute trigger-happy vengeance on his foes, Non so on Man: Him through their malice fallen, 400 Begetter of mercy and grace, 1000 didst non doom Then strictly, but much more than to compassion incline: No sooner did thy love and only Son Perceive thee purposed non to doom frail Human So strictly, but much more to pity inclined, He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned, Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat Second to thee, offered himself to die For Man'southward offence. O unexampled love, 410 Beloved no where to be found less than Divine! Hail, Son of God, Saviour of Men! Thy name Shall exist the copious matter of my song Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise Forget, nor from thy Male parent's praise disjoin. Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere, Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent. Mean while upon the house opacous globe Of this circular world, whose first convex divides The luminous inferiour orbs, enclosed 420 From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old, Satan alighted walks: A globe far off It seemed, now seems a boundless continent Dark, waste product, and wild, nether the frown of Night Starless exposed, and always-threatening storms Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky; Relieve on that side which from the wall of Heaven, Though distant far, some modest reflection gains Of glimmering air less vexed with tempest loud: Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field. 430 As when a vultur on Imaus bred, Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, Dislodging from a region scarce of casualty To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids, On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams; But in his style lights on the barren plains Of Sericana, where Chineses bulldoze With sails and air current their cany waggons light: So, on this windy ocean of land, the Fiend 440 Walked upward and down alone, bent on his prey; Alone, for other animate being in this place, Living or lifeless, to be establish was none; None all the same, simply store hereafter from the globe Up hither like aereal vapours flew Of all things transitory and vain, when sin With vanity had filled the works of men: Both all things vain, and all who in vain things Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame, Or happiness in this or the other life; 450 All who have their reward on earth, the fruits Of painful superstition and bullheaded zeal, Nought seeking but the praise of men, here observe Fit retribution, empty as their deeds; All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed, Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain, Till final dissolution, wander hither; Not in the neighbouring moon as some take dreamed; Those silvery fields more likely habitants, 460 Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold Betwixt the angelical and human kind. Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters built-in Commencement from the ancient earth those giants came With many a vain exploit, though and then renowned: The builders side by side of Babel on the obviously Of Sennaar, and still with vain blueprint, New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build: Others came unmarried; he, who, to be deemed A God, leaped fondly into Aetna flames, 470 Empedocles; and he, who, to savour Plato's Elysium, leaped into the sea, Cleombrotus; and many more too long, Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery. Hither pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven; And they, who to be sure of Paradise, Dying, put on the weeds of Dominick, Or in Franciscan remember to pass disguised; 480 They laissez passer the planets seven, and pass the stock-still, And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talked, and that kickoff moved; And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems To wait them with his keys, and now at foot Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo A violent cross air current from either coast Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues amiss Into the devious air: And then might ye encounter Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tost 490 And fluttered into rags; then reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls, The sport of winds: All these, upwhirled aloft, Fly o'er the behind of the earth far off Into a Limbo big and broad, since called The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown Long after; now unpeopled, and untrod. All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed, And long he wandered, till at last a gleam Of dawning calorie-free turned thither-ward in haste 500 His travelled steps: far distant he descries Ascending by degrees magnificent Up to the wall of Heaven a structure loftier; At tiptop whereof, but far more rich, appeared The work equally of a kingly palace-gate, With frontispiece of diamond and gold Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems The portal shone, inimitable on globe Past model, or by shading pencil, drawn. These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw 510 Angels ascending and descending, bands Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz Dreaming by night under the open up sky And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood There always, but drawn upwards to Heaven sometimes Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon Who afterwards came from globe, declining arrived 520 Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake Rapt in a chariot fatigued by fiery steeds. The stairs were then let down, whether to dare The Fiend past piece of cake ascension, or aggravate His distressing exclusion from the doors of bliss: Straight against which opened from beneath, Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise, A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide, Wider past far than that of after-times Over mountain Sion, and, though that were large, 530 Over the Promised Country to God then dear; By which, to visit often those happy tribes, On high behests his angels to and fro Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's overflowing, To Beersaba, where the Holy State Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore; So wide the opening seemed, where bounds were set To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave. Satan from hence, now on the lower stair, 540 That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate, Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this earth at once. As when a scout, Through dark and desart ways with peril gone All night; at last past break of cheerful dawn Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, Which to his eye discovers unaware The goodly prospect of some foreign land First seen, or some renowned metropolis With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned, 550 Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams: Such wonder seised, though subsequently Sky seen, The Spirit malign, simply much more green-eyed seised, At sight of all this earth beheld so fair. Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood Then high above the circling canopy Of night's extended shade,) from eastern bespeak Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantick seas Across the horizon; then from pole to pole 560 He views in breadth, and without longer interruption Downwards right into the world'south commencement region throws His flying precipitant, and winds with ease Through the pure marble air his oblique way Amongst innumerable stars, that shone Stars distant, only most manus seemed other worlds; Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles, Like those Hesperian gardens famed of erstwhile, Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales, Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy in that location 570 He staid not to enquire: Above them all The golden sunday, in splendour likest Heaven, Allured his center; thither his class he bends Through the calm firmament, (but up or down, By center, or eccentrick, hard to tell, Or longitude,) where the great luminary Aloof the vulgar constellations thick, That from his lordly middle go on altitude due, Dispenses light from far; they, as they move Their starry dance in numbers that compute 580 Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp Turn swift their various motions, or are turned By his magnetick beam, that gently warms The universe, and to each in part With gentle penetration, though unseen, Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep; So wonderously was set up his station bright. In that location lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps Astronomer in the lord's day's lucent orb Through his glazed optick tube yet never saw. 590 The identify he institute beyond expression brilliant, Compared with aught on globe, metal or stone; Not all parts like, but all alike informed With radiant light, as glowing atomic number 26 with fire; If metal, role seemed gold, part silver clear; If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite, Reddish or topaz, to the twelve that shone In Aaron's breast-plate, and a rock as well Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen, That rock, or like to that which here below 600 Philosophers in vain and then long accept sought, In vain, though by their powerful art they demark Volatile Hermes, and telephone call up unbound In various shapes old Proteus from the sea, Drained through a limbeck to his native grade. What wonder then if fields and regions here Exhale forth Elixir pure, and rivers run Potable aureate, when with i virtuous touch The arch-chemick sun, so far from the states remote, Produces, with terrestrial humour mixed, 610 Here in the night so many precious things Of colour glorious, and issue then rare? Hither thing new to gaze the Devil met Undazzled; far and wide his centre commands; For sight no obstacle found hither, nor shade, But all sun-polish, as when his beams at apex Culminate from the equator, equally they now Shot upwards still direct, whence no way round Shadow from body opaque tin fall; and the air, No where so clear, sharpened his visual ray 620 To objects distant far, whereby he soon Saw within ken a glorious Angel stand, The same whom John saw also in the sun: His back was turned, but not his brightness hid; Of beaming sunny rays a aureate tiar Circled his head, nor less his locks behind Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings Lay waving circular; on some smashing charge employed He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep. Glad was the Spirit impure, as at present in hope 630 To detect who might direct his wandering flight To Paradise, the happy seat of Homo, His journey's terminate and our get-go woe. But beginning he casts to modify his proper shape, Which else might work him danger or delay: And now a stripling Cherub he appears, Not of the prime number, yet such as in his face Youth smiled angelic, and to every limb Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned: Nether a coronet his flowing pilus 640 In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore Of many a coloured plume, sprinkled with gilt; His habit fit for speed succinct, and held Earlier his decent steps a silver wand. He drew not well-nigh unheard; the Angel bright, Ere he drew about, his radiant visage turned, Admonished past his ear, and straight was known The Arch-Affections Uriel, i of the vii Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne, Stand up ready at command, and are his eyes 650 That run through all the Heavens, or downward to the Earth Bear his swift errands over moist and dry out, O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts. Uriel, for thou of those 7 Spirits that stand In sight of God's loftier throne, gloriously brilliant, The starting time fine art wont his great authentick will Interpreter through highest Sky to bring, Where all his sons thy embassy attend; And here art likeliest by supreme decree Like award to obtain, and as his eye 660 To visit oft this new cosmos circular; Unspeakable desire to see, and know All these his wonderous works, merely importantly Human being, His chief please and favour, him for whom All these his works so wonderous he ordained, Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell In which of all these shining orbs hath Human being His stock-still seat, or stock-still seat hath none, But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell; 670 That I may find him, and with secret gaze Or open admiration him behold, On whom the corking Creator hath bestowed Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured; That both in him and all things, as is run into, The universal Maker we may praise; Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss, Created this new happy race of Men To serve him improve: Wise are all his ways. 680 And so spake the false dissembler unperceived; For neither Man nor Angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God solitary, By his permissive will, through Heaven and World: And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no sick Where no ill seems: Which now for one time beguiled Uriel, though regent of the sunday, and held 690 The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Sky; Who to the fraudulent impostor foul, In his uprightness, answer thus returned. Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know The works of God, thereby to glorify The great Work-master, leads to no backlog That reaches arraign, but rather claim praise The more it seems excess, that led thee hither From thy empyreal mansion thus alone, To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps, 700 Contented with report, hear just in Heaven: For wonderful indeed are all his works, Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all Had in remembrance always with delight; But what created mind tin can embrace Their number, or the wisdom infinite That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep? I saw when at his word the formless mass, This world'due south material mould, came to a heap: Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar 710 Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined; Till at his second bidding Darkness fled, Light shone, and gild from disorder sprung: Swift to their several quarters hasted then The cumbrous elements, world, flood, air, fire; And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven Flew up, spirited with various forms, That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars Numberless, equally thousand seest, and how they move; Each had his identify appointed, each his course; 720 The remainder in excursion walls this universe. Look downward on that earth, whose hither side With light from hence, though but reflected, shines; That place is Globe, the seat of Man; that lite His day, which else, equally the other hemisphere, Dark would invade; only there the neighbouring moon So call that reverse off-white star) her help Timely interposes, and her monthly round Still catastrophe, nonetheless renewing, through mid Heaven, With borrowed calorie-free her countenance triform 730 Hence fills and empties to enlighten the World, And in her pale dominion checks the night. That spot, to which I point, is Paradise, Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower. Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires. Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low, As to superiour Spirits is wont in Heaven, Where honour due and reverence none neglects, Took go out, and toward the coast of earth beneath, Down from the ecliptick, sped with hoped success, 740 Throws his steep flying in many an aery wheel; Nor staid, till on Niphates' elevation he lights.
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Source: http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Milton/pl3.html
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