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That majesty which through thy work doth reign, Draws the devout, deterring the profane: And things divine thou treat'st of in such state, As them preserves, and thee, inviolate. At once delight and horror on us seize, Thou sing'st with so much gravity and ease; And above human flight dost soar aloft, With plume so strong, so equal and so soft; The bird nam'd from that Paradise you sing So never flags, but always keeps on wing.

Where couldst thou words of such a compass find' Whence furnish such a vast expanse of mind? Just heaven thee, like Tiresias, to requite, Rewards with prophecy thy loss of sight.

Well might'st thou scorn thy readers to allure With tinkling rhyme, of thy own sense secure; While the Town-bays writes all the while and spells, And, like a pack-horse, tires without his bells: Their fancies like our bushy points appear, The poets tag them, we for fashion wear. I, too, transported by the mode, commend, And while I mean to praise thee must offend. Thy verse created like thy theme sublime,

In number, weight, and measure, needs not rhyme

ANDREW MARVELL

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

This first book proposes first, in brief, the whole subject, man's disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise, wherein he was placed. Then touches the

prime cause of his fall, the serpent, or rather Satan in the serpent; who revolting from God, and draw ing to his side many legions of angels, was, by the command of God, ariven out of heaven with all his crew into the great deep. Which action passed over, the poem hastes into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his angels now fallen into hell, described here, not in the centre (for heaven and earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly nol yet accursed) but in a place of utter darkness fitliest called Chaos: Here Satan, with his angels, lying on the burning lake, thunder-struck and astonished, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in order and dignity lay by him; they confer of their miserable fall. Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded; they rise; their numbers, array of battle, their chief leaders named according to the idols knnon afterwards in Canaan, and the countries adjoining. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining heaven; but tells them lastly of a new world, and new kind of creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy or report in heaven; (for that angels were long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many ancient fathers.) To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council. What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium, the palace of Satan, rises, suddenly built out of the deep: the infernal peers there sil in council.

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our wo,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing heavenly Muse! that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos. Or if Sion hill

Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
Fast by the oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

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And chiefly thou, O spirit that dost prefer
Before all temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou know'st: thou from the first
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, 20
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark,
Illumine! what is low, raise and support!
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,

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And justify the ways of God to mens

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Say first, (for heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of hell,) say first what cause
Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state
Favour'd of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and transgress his will,
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?
Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt?
Th' infernal serpent, he it was, whose guile,
Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd
The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had cast him out from heaven, with all his host
Of rebel angels; by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in glory 'bove his peers,
He trusted to have equall'd the Most High,
If he opposed: and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God
Rais'd impious war in heaven, and battle proud

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With vain attempt. Him the Almighty power
Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky, 45
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquish'd rolling in the fiery gulf,

Confounded though immorta!! But his drom
Reserv'd him to more wrath: for now the thought
Both of lost happiness, and lasting pain,

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Torments him. Round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay,
Mix'd with obdurate pride, and steadfast hate,
At once, as far as angels' ken, he views
The dismal situation waste and wild :
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,

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As one great furnace, flam'd: yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible,
Serv'd only to discover sights of wo,

Regions of sorrow! doleful shades! where peace 65
And rest can never dwell! nope never comes,

That comes to all: but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

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With ever-burning sulphur unconsum'd!
Such place eternal justice had prepar'd
For those rebellious; here their prison ordain'd,
In utter darkness; and their portion set
As far removed from God, and light of heaven,
As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.
O how unlike the place from which they fell!
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelm'd
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He soon discerns and welt'ring by his side
One next himself in power, and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd
Beelzebub: To whom the arch-enemy,
(And thence in heaven called Satan,) with bold words,
Breaking the horrid silence thus began:

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"If thou beest he-But O how fall'n! how chang'd From him, who in the happy realms of light Cloth'd with transcendant brightness, didst outshine Myriads though bright! If he, whom mutual league,

United thoughts and counsels, equal hope,
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,
Join'd with me once, now misery hath join'd
In equal ruin! Into what pit thou seest,

From what height fallen; so much the stronger prov❜d'
He with his thunder! and till then who knew
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,
Nor what the potent Victor in his rage
Can else inflict, do I repent or change

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(Though chang'd in outward lustre) that fix'd mind,
And high disdain from sense of injur'd merit,
That with the Mightiest rais'd me to contend:
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of spirits arm'd,

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That durst dislike his reign: and me preferring
His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd,

In dubious battle on the plains of heaven,

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And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield;
(And what is else not to be overcome?)
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me, to bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deify his power,
Who from the terror of his arm so late

Doubted his empire. That were low indeed!
That were an ignominy and shame beneath

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This downfall! since (by fate) the strength of gods,

And this empyreal substance cannot fail;

Since through experience of this great event,

(In arms not worse, in foresight much advanc'd,)
We may, with more successful hope, resolve
To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Irreconcileable to our grand foe,

Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy
Sole reigning, holds the tyranny of heaven."

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So spake the apostate angel, though in pain; 125
Vaunting aloud, but rack'd with deep despair:
And him thus answer'd soon his bold compeer:

"O Prince! O chief of many throned powers,
That led th' embattled seraphim to was
Under thy conduct! and in dreadful deeds

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