Milton at sixty-two, engraving by William Faithorne from the frontispiece to Milton’s History of Britain (1670). (illustration credit fm1.1)

2008 Modern Library Paperback Edition

Introduction copyright © 2007 by Random House, Inc.
Biographical note copyright © 2007 by Random House, Inc.

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Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2007.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Milton, John, 1608–1674.
Paradise lost/by John Milton; edited by William Kerrigan, John Rumrich, and Stephen M. Fallon.
p. cm.
Taken from The complete poetry and essential prose of John Milton. 2007.
eISBN: 978-0-307-75789-0
1. Bible. O.T. Genesis—History of Biblical events—Poetry.
2. Adam (Biblical figure)—Poetry. 3. Eve (Biblical figure)—Poetry.
4. Fall of man—Poetry. I. Kerrigan, William, II. Rumrich, John Peter III. Fallon, Stephen M. IV. Complete poetry and essential prose of John Milton. V. Title.
PR3560 2008
821′.4—dc22   2008009709

www.modernlibrary.com

v3.1

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

All illustrations are used with permission.

fm1.1 Frontispiece portrait of John Milton, by William Faithorne. The History of Britain, 1670. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

itr.1 Fall of the Angels. The Caedmon Poems … and Facsimiles of the Illustrations in the Junius Manuscript. E. P. Dutton & Co., 1916.

fm3.1 Portrait of Milton at age ten, by Cornelius Janssen. The Pierpont Morgan Library/Art Resource, N.Y.

fm4.1 Paradise Lost 4.257–90. Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books, 1674. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

fm5.1 Paradise Lost, title page. Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books, 1674. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

2.1 Satan on His Throne, by John Martin. The Paradise Lost of John Milton. C. Whittingham, 1846. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

5.1 Raphael Visits Adam and Eve, by Gustave Doré. Milton’s Paradise Lost. Illustrated by Gustave Doré. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., 1882. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

6.1 Expulsion of the Rebel Angels, by Francis Hayman. Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books. J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper, 1749. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

9.1 The Serpent Stands Before Eve, by Edward Burney. Milton’s Paradise Lost. C. Whittingham, 1800. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

INTRODUCTION

Milton became entirely blind in 1652, just a short while before the death of his first wife, Mary Powell Milton, followed six weeks later by the death of their infant son, John. He married again in 1656. In 1658 Katharine Woodcock Milton died of complications arising from childbirth, again followed about six weeks later by the death of their infant daughter, Katharine. The political cause to which Milton had devoted two decades of his life suffered a resounding defeat with Charles II’s ascent to the throne in 1660. Through this time of loss and reversal, Milton kept busy on various prose projects, including his theological treatise Christian Doctrine, a Latin thesaurus, and his History of Britain. He translated a group of Psalms in 1653. He wrote the occasional sonnet. Then, probably before the Restoration, he shook off potential depression, concentrated his powers, and began composing the greatest long poem in the English language. “His great works,” Samuel Johnson declared, “were performed under discountenance, and in blindness, but difficulties vanished at his touch; he was born for whatever is arduous” (Thorpe 88).

Though Edward Phillips did not mention these dates in his life of Milton, he told John Aubrey that the poem was begun “about 2 years before the king came in, and finished about three years after the king’s restoration” (lxvi). Although Milton associated literary creativity with the temperate Mediterranean climate that had nurtured Homer and Vergil, he himself composed Paradise Lost only during the winter, from the autumnal to the vernal equinox. Various secretaries copied it down. Milton’s habit was to rise early in the morning with “ten, twenty, or thirty verses” (Darbishire 73) ready for dictation. If his amanuensis happened to be late, he had a little joke ready, and “would complain, saying he wanted to be milked” (Darbishire 33).

A major poem had long been his chief ambition. As early as At a Vacation Exercise in 1628, the nineteen-year-old undergraduate had magically suspended the expectations of a humorous ritual occasion to evoke the highest raptures of epic, “where the deep transported mind may soar/Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav’n’s door/Look in,” and “sing of secret things that came to pass/When beldam Nature in her cradle was.” For a time, as references in Manso and Epitaph for Damon reveal, he considered a specifically British poem shaped from Arthurian materials. Such a work would be “doctrinal and exemplary to a nation” (RCG in MLM 841). We do not know precisely why Milton abandoned this plan. He might have come to feel that a patriotic epic was simply too provincial, or that the choice of an early British king for a hero would commit the work to some degree of monarchism; then, too, he might have realized as maturity settled on him that he could admire Spenser without trying to duplicate his achievement.

The first plans for a work on the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden appear in four outlines for a tragic drama in the Trinity College manuscript (CMS), probably drafted in the early 1640s. The third of these is called “Paradise Lost.” Adam and Eve do not take the stage until after the Fall, presumably because their “first naked glory” (PL 9.1115) could not be accommodated in a fallen theater. In the fourth and final version, which shifts from the outline format to narrative prose, Milton roughs in some features of Paradise Lost. Satan has a new prominence. The work will end with the expelling angel showing Adam a pageant about the fallen world he is soon to enter.

THE BOOK

Paradise Lost was published in 1667 by the bookseller Samuel Simmons, whose London shop was near Aldersgate. The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York possesses a manuscript of Book 1 of the poem in the hand of a copyist, and corrected by as many as five other hands, that was used to set the type for this edition (see Darbishire 1931 for a photographic facsimile). The contract stipulated that Milton was to be paid five pounds for the manuscript, another five pounds upon the sale of a first edition of thirteen hundred copies, and yet another five pounds upon the sale of a second edition of the same size. The earliest title page of the 1667 quarto identifies Paradise Lost as “A POEM Written in TEN BOOKS By JOHN MILTON.” Sales were apparently sluggish. Through 1668 and 1669, the edition was issued with four more title pages, as Simmons added Milton’s note on unrhyming verse and his prose arguments summarizing the action of the poem book by book. When the first printing finally sold out in April 1669, Milton was paid a second five pounds.

It was perhaps Dryden’s announcement in April 1674 that he would transform Paradise Lost into a heroic opera (this “never acted” opera was published as The State of Innocence in 1677) that led Simmons to print a second and octavo edition of the epic in July 1674. This book contained prefatory poems by Samuel Barrow (in Latin) and Andrew Marvell (in English). The epic was “amended, enlarged, and differently disposed as to the number of books, by his own hand, that is by his own appointment [by someone acting as his agent]” (Edward Phillips in Darbishire, 1932, 75). The shift from ten to twelve books meant dividing the original Book 7 into the new Books 7 and 8, with the addition of four new lines at the beginning of Book 8; the long Book 10 of the first edition was divided into Books 11 and 12, with five new lines at the beginning of Book 12. There were four other major revisions (the reworking of 1.5104–5, the expansion at 5.636–41, the addition of 11.485–87, the alteration of 11.551). The authority of the second edition cannot be doubted in these matters. An unwell Milton made an oral will on or about July 20, 1674, two weeks after the second publication of Paradise Lost, and died on November 9, 1674. The second edition of Paradise Lost was the last printing over which he exerted control.

There are thirty-seven substantive differences between the two editions. In thirteen of these, the quarto text supplies the superior reading; in only eight is the octavo text superior; editors differ over the remaining sixteen (Moyles 22–26). It would seem from this evidence that editors should not, as many have claimed to do, adopt the 1674 octavo as a copy text and automatically follow it with regard to the accidentals of spelling and punctuation (Moyles 28). There are over eight hundred variants of this kind between the two editions. We have treated each as a separate case rather than defer to the rule of the copy text.

Simmons published a third edition in 1678. A printer named Brabazon Aylmer purchased the poem from Simmons in 1680, then sold half of it to a young entrepreneur named Jacob Tonson. He was Dryden’s chief publisher and would become known for his beautiful editions of Shakespeare and Spenser. But Milton was his great love and, happily enough for a businessman, his great moneymaker too. He and Aylmer printed a folio-size fourth edition of the epic in 1688, adding illustrations, a frontispiece portrait of Milton, and an epigram by Dryden in which Milton is said to be the union of Homer and Vergil. Tonson purchased Aylmer’s half of the poem in 1691. He also obtained from Aylmer the manuscript of Book 1 now owned by the Pierpont Morgan Library. For the sixth edition, of 1695, Tonson added 321 pages of explanatory notes by Patrick Hume; no other English poem had ever been so lavishly annotated. Tonson and his family would print Paradise Lost, and other works by Milton, in various configurations again and again throughout the eighteenth century. When asked which poet had brought him the greatest financial profit, Tonson without hesitation replied “Milton” (Lynch 126). He had his portrait painted holding a copy of Paradise Lost.

In 1732 a cantankerous, seventy-year-old academic named Richard Bentley, then England’s foremost classicist and a specialist in textual emendation, published a notorious edition of Paradise Lost. Believing that he had purified textual corruption in classical authors such as Manilius, Bentley brought the same methods to Milton’s modern epic. Blind, Milton was unable to correct wayward copyists. But Bentley, suspecting a more deliberate and insidious errancy, posited the existence of a “phantom” editor. Befuddled by Milton’s learning and linguistic precision, this unknown person rewrote the text to suit his own imbecility. Today the Bentley edition seems a work of glaring subjectivity. Truths about the epic, such as the immense thoughtfulness manifest in its details, do not break into the editor’s awareness because his attention is devoted wholly to his own theory and method. It was hardly a compliment to Milton to suppose that Paradise Lost as readers knew it was a work of genius systematically effaced by the work of a moron. But modern critics such as William Empson, Christopher Ricks, and John Leonard have been inspired by Bentley’s scrutiny of the minutiae of Milton’s style. Textual emendation became the rage in Shakespeare studies in the eighteenth century and is still widely practiced today. The aberration of Bentley’s Paradise Lost aside, it never caught on among Milton’s editors.

The next notable edition was Thomas Newton’s beautiful two-volume variorum of 1749. Its copious and often unequaled annotations were mostly reprinted, with the addition of many new ones, in the 1826 variorum of Milton’s entire poetic works assembled by Reverend Henry Todd. Anyone who becomes seriously curious about the meaning of a particular word or passage in Milton will want to go back to Todd and Newton, and behind them to the first of Milton’s annotators, Patrick Hume. They will also want to explore works such as Jonathan Richardson’s Explanatory Notes and Remarks on Milton’s Paradise Lost (1734) and James Paterson’s A Complete Commentary with Etymological, Explanatory, Critical and Classical Notes on Milton’s “Paradise Lost” (1744). There are many subtleties, exactitudes, and points of information in these notes for which we, like other modern editors, have simply found no room.

Among the editions of the last century or so, we were most surprised to discover the sustained elucidation of A. W. Verity, who is largely forgotten today; besides the excellence of their commentary, his notes teem with examples of Romantic and Victorian imitation of Milton and will prove useful in future studies of that subject. In working on this edition, we came to think of Verity as the unknown god of Milton annotation. We also paid especially close attention to the thoughtful notes of Alastair Fowler and John Leonard, and consulted Merritt Hughes, Douglas Bush, Scott Elledge, and Roy Flannagan, among others.

COSMOS

Heaven sits atop Milton’s cosmos. Beneath it lies Chaos. We sense that both of these realms have, so to speak, been around forever. It would be a nice point in Milton’s theology to ask whether Chaos precedes Heaven or vice versa, since the very existence of God seems to require an abode, and therefore a Heaven of some sort, while on the other hand Chaos appears to be the precondition of all creations, including those of the Son, the angels, and Heaven. As the poem begins, these two established cosmic areas have been joined by two new spaces. At the bottom of Chaos stands Hell, the elder of the new realms. Between Heaven and Chaos, suspended on a golden chain affixed to Heaven (2.1004–6), lies the most recent of God’s creations: our Earth, including the planets and stars surrounding it.

Readers of the poem are usually familiar with dualistic visions of Heaven, in which the realm of the divine is carefully separated from such imperfect earthly things as body and alteration. But Milton’s universe is monistic. Everything stems from “one first matter” (5.472). Instead of excluding materiality, pleasure, pain, appetite, sexuality, and time from Heaven, Milton welcomes them in. As on Earth, day and night alternate in Heaven; Heaven’s night is not the darkness of Earth’s but rather comparable to earthly twilight (5.627–29, 645–46, 685–86). Beneath the very Mount of God is a cave “Where light and darkness in perpetual round/Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through Heav’n/Grateful vicissitude, like day and night” (6.6–8). Milton’s God, satisfying an appetite for vicissitude, resides on time.

Angels live large in a Heaven that is vast but not infinite. When Satan leaves the military camp near the deity, he and his followers retreat to the “palace of great Lucifer” in north Heaven (5.760). Apparently, on the model of the court and the country, angels live in estates various distances from the mountainous throne of God. Buildings designed by angelic architects, radiant with gems and precious metals, grace the realm. The orders of angels (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, Angels) were strictly hierarchical in traditional Christian thought. At times in Milton, the terms carry their old hierarchical force, but often they are used interchangeably, as a pool of synonyms for the generic angel. Milton is rather insistent on the point that while likenesses between Heaven and Earth may be necessary fictions, they could also be ontologically sound (5.571–76). “O Earth, how like to Heav’n!” Satan exclaims (9.99). Heaven has vales, streams, breezes, trees, flowers, and vines. The vegetation produces ambrosial food, “the growth of Heaven” (5.635). Heaven and Earth, like spirit and matter or men and angels, differ “but in degree, of kind the same” (5.490).

Although Chaos can be studied in terms of antecedents in classical literature and philosophy (Chambers 1963), its appearance in the epic owes its problematic character to Milton’s theology. Chaos is infinite, and filled by a ubiquitous God who has nonetheless withdrawn his creative will from chaotic matter (7.168–73). None of the categorical binaries established during the creation of Genesis inhere in Chaos. It is neither this nor that, “neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,/But all these in their pregnant causes mixed/Confus’dly” (2.912–14); therefore Satan, as he traverses this indeterminate space, confusedly mixes locomotions, “And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies” (2.950). The “embryon atoms” (2.900) of Chaos are “the womb of Nature” (2.911), the pure potential that the Son first circumscribes with golden compasses when creating our universe (7.225–31) and will doubtless use again in creating new worlds (2.915–16). Chaos cannot be good until God has infused it with creative order. It is at least morally neutral, at best thoroughly praiseworthy, as a part of the process by which God makes and sustains all things.

But alongside the language of atomism, Milton gives us a mythic Chaos, personified as the ruler of his realm, or rather its “Anarch” (2.988), since Chaos is by definition without rule. This Chaos, speaking for his consort, Night, and for a shadowy pack of Hesiodic creatures and personifications (2.963–67), expresses his resentment over recent losses (the creations of Hell and our universe) and supports Satan’s mission on the assumption that “Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain” (2.1009). We thus arrive at paradox. Theologically, Chaos is neutral or better. Mythically, in terms of the epic narrative, Chaos is the ally of Satan.

Jewish and Christian theologians have sometimes distinguished the Bible from other Mesopotamian creation myths in which the god-hero defeats a chaos monster, out of whose slain body the world is made; in Genesis, by contrast, the world is initially good, and God affirms its goodness on every day of the creation. Evil appears with the fall of man (Ricoeur 172, 175–210), though of course the enigmatic presence of the snake promises a backstory of some kind. For Ricoeur the matter at stake here is whether religious symbols are recessive, and must always point backward to the defeat of Chaos, or whether they can look toward novel futures, as is apparently the case with the messianic and eschatological strands of Judaism and Christianity. Regina Schwartz, defending Milton’s mythic Chaos, argues that the separation of evil from the Creation is not really true of the Bible, and is patently untrue of Paradise Lost, where Chaos gives Satan his nod of approval. All of God’s revelations, all of Satan’s subsequent defeats, echo the initial triumph over Chaos, and redemption itself is but a repetition of that original victory (Schwartz 8–39; see also Leonard 2000, xx–xxi).

John Rumrich, defending the theological Chaos, notes that the irony of Chaos’s expression of solidarity with Satan lies in the old Anarch’s failure to understand that Satanic evil is rigid, not anarchic, a fixed posture of defiance and disobedience (1995, 1035–44). We see this in Book 10, where Sin and Death are building a bridge through Chaos to link Earth and Hell, and a double-crossed Chaos seethes at this new incursion into his realm:

         On either side

Disparted Chaos overbuilt exclaimed,

And with rebounding surge the bars assailed,

That scorned his indignation. (10.415-18)

Chaos, Rumrich maintains, is “a part of the deity, arguably feminine, over which the eternal father does not exercise control, from which, in other words, the father is absent as an active, governing agent” (1995, 1043; see also Danielson 32–57).

Expelled from Heaven, the rebel angels fall for nine days and nights through Chaos to Hell (6.871), which “Yawning received them whole, and on them closed” (6.875). They land on a burning sulfurous lake. After spending another nine days and nights stretched out dazed or unconscious on this lake (1.50–53), they awaken to the baleful prospect of Hell. Milton famously describes it as “darkness visible” (1.63), a place where fire burns without giving off light. Its purpose is not clear to the fallen angels. Among the first topics addressed in Hell is whether the Hell is for punishment or confinement (1.146–52).

In Milton’s day the idea of Hell and its eternal torments was just entering a period of declining popularity among educated Europeans (Walker). Americans in particular, remembering such figures as Jonathan Edwards, tend to associate Puritanism with resistance to this trend. Milton exposes the simplicity of this view. His narrator introduces Hell as a “dungeon” for “torture without end” (1.61–69). But beyond the nine days in burning sulfur, we do not observe much in the way of punishment. To be sure, there are the more or less classical touches of the devils’ periodic exposure to the extremes of ice and fire (2.596–603); the frustrating waters of Lethe, which shrink from seekers of oblivion (2.604–14); the terrifying monsters bred in Hell (2.622–28); the annual metamorphosis of the demons into serpents (10.572–77). But nothing here approaches the individualized tortures inflicted over and over on the inmates of Dante’s Hell. Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that Milton’s Hell is inhabited by fallen angels only, whereas Dante’s is peopled. But there is no direct allusion in Paradise Lost to tortures awaiting the damned in the future. William Empson, a critic acutely attuned to the idea of God as torturer, found no evidence of this despicable notion in Paradise Lost: “Milton’s God is not interested in torture, and never suggests that he uses it to improve people’s characters” (273). For Milton, one has the impression, exile from God is the primal punishment, and all others merely the flash points of low imaginations.

As for confinement, the only exit from Hell is through a locked gate. But the key has been entrusted to Sin (2.774–77, 850–53, 871–89). She alone can unlock the gate, and does, and is incapable of closing it. At the end of time, Hell may indeed become a dungeon of torment (10.629–37), the universe’s vacuum-cleaner bag, but in the meantime devils will possess the fallen earth, especially its air. Milton’s Hell is more importantly a spiritual condition. “The mind is its own place,” Satan declares, “and in itself/Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n” (1.254–55). It can certainly do the second, as we see in the birth of Sin from the mind of Satan. Out of the “darkness” of a painful headache, “flames thick and fast” appear (2.754): a precise echo of Hell’s “darkness visible.” Even in Heaven, Satan has Hell within him, “nor from Hell/One step no more than from himself can fly/By change of place” (4.21–23).

The first half of Paradise Lost begins with Milton’s search for a Heavenly Muse who was present at the Creation, “and with mighty wings outspread/Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss” (1.20–21). Only with this Muse illuminating what is dark in him, raising and supporting what is low in him, can Milton create the poem. The second half of Paradise Lost begins in Book 7 with a direct and expanded account of this miracle. It is the perfect fit between inspiration and subject matter: the metaphorical creation of the poem now recounts the actual Creation. This world, the handiwork of God, was the single greatest stimulus to Milton’s imagination.

We find many examples of this literary excitement in Milton’s treatment of astronomy. He met the blind Galileo in 1638 or 1639, when the Inquisition had confined him to his villa outside of Florence. The “Tuscan artist” is the only contemporary mentioned in the epic. There are three explicit references (1.287–91, 3.588–90, 5.261–63). To these must be added passages that allude to one or another of Galileo’s discoveries, such as newly sighted stars (7.382–84), the nature of the Milky Way (7.577–81), the phases of Venus (7.366), the moons of Jupiter (8.148–52), and the freshly detailed description of the moon (7.375–78, 8.145–48). This fascination extends to other matters concerning the new astronomy of the seventeenth century. Milton returns four times to the question of whether there has been from the beginning, or may be in the future, a plurality of inhabited worlds (2.912, 7.191, 7.621–22, 8.148–52). He leaves open debated matters such as whether the earth rotates on its axis (4.591–95). When he writes of the “three different motions” of the earth (8.130), we can infer a somewhat detailed knowledge of Copernicus (Babb 81–82), the champion of the heliocentric universe, who wrote at length about the three motions (daily rotation, annual revolution about the sun, and the slow movement about the ecliptic, or “trepidation,” causing the precession of the equinoxes).

On the large question of whether to prefer the modern “Copernican” heliocentric model or the ancient “Ptolemaic” geocentric model of the universe, Milton has Raphael, Adam’s first angelic educator, insist on the undecidability of such matters (8.66–178). But it would have been impossible to represent cosmic space with any precision without making a choice, and in point of fact the design of the poem’s universe is Ptolemaic. Earth is the still point of the turning world. The spheres of the moon, sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn turn about a central Earth. Beyond them is the eighth sphere of the fixed stars, so called because they do not appear to change their positions with regard to one another. The ninth is the so-called crystalline sphere, whose vibrations cause the “trepidation” (3.483). Finally, the primum mobile, the outer circle moved directly by God, encases this entire mesh of spheres within spheres.

Did Milton see the heavens through a telescope? Might he, to broach the most exciting thought of all, have looked through Galileo’s telescope? Such speculations, common in the discipline of Milton studies, are inspired by his epic’s unprecedented aesthetics of space. If Milton ultimately sided with the ancients in universe design, his rendering of the great vistas both seen and traversed by space-traveling angels opens a whole new area in modern literary sublimity. “Milton’s canvas in Paradise Lost is the vastest used by an English artist” (Nicolson 1960, 187). Dante’s universe is finished. Milton’s is a work in progress. The novelties of Earth and Hell have reorganized space itself; more novelties can be anticipated. Novelty in the representation of space is a conscious literary feature of the epic, and stands for its modernity. When Satan throws his shield over his back, Milton interposes, between our mental sight and its object, the “optic glass” of Galileo:

         the broad circumference

Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views

At evening from the top of Fesole,

Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,

Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe. (1.286–91)

Homer had compared the brightness of Achilles’ shield to the moon. Milton switches the focus from brightness, so crucial in Greek poetics, to size, so crucial in his poetics, and relocates the old simile inside the circle of Galileo’s telescope. This invention, he implies, is the only modern device to expand the imaginative range of poetry, to provide a worldly conceptualization of what it means to describe immortals and inquire into the ways of God. Notice how, once Galileo is introduced, the passage forgets Satan and the narrative line of the poem to celebrate the wandering curiosity of Galileo’s viewing and descrying eye. For Milton, the Tuscan artist represents curiosity rewarded: despite Catholic dogmatism, Galileo wanted to see, and he did see, which is what the blind narrator of Paradise Lost seeks in his invocation to light at the opening of Book 3.

Many of the poem’s best sidereal effects derive from what Alastair Fowler calls “an entire fictive astronomy,” whose implications Milton works out “with ingenuity reminiscent of science fiction” (35). Before the Fall, Milton postulates, the path of the sun never deviates from the equator. The axis of the earth is perfectly parallel to the axis of the sun. The sun is always in Aries. There is no precession of equinoxes. Day and night are always of equal duration. There are no seasons. Within the beautiful simplicity of this system, Milton arranges the various journeys and arrivals of his poem. An extraordinary number of important things happen at the four cardinal points of the day, dawn and dusk, noon and midnight (Cirillo 1962).

Allusions to the zodiac and the constellations are often both realistic and symbolic. Milton rarely underlines, rarely sticks an elbow in our ribs. When Satan leaves our world in Book 10, “Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering/His zenith, while the Sun in Aries rose” (328–29), the author expects a very great deal of his reader. She must know that the constellation Anguis, the body of the serpent held by Ophiuchus, lies between the Centaur and the Scorpion. She must recall that, some 5,833 lines ago, Satan entered our world (3.555–61), and Milton described his view in such a way that he must have been gazing out from the head of Anguis. A reader able to put all this together realizes that Satan enters through the head and exits from the tail of the serpent. She appreciates a scatological joke. She is reminded of eating and digestion, which is rather a serious matter in Paradise Lost. She recalls with a dawning sense of complexity that Satan in Eden possesses the serpent through its mouth. And so on. As one of the finest of Milton’s eighteenth-century commentators put it, “A reader of Milton must be always upon duty; he is surrounded with sense, it rises in every line, every word is to the purpose.… All has been considered, and demands and merits observation” (Richardson in Darbishire 1932, 315).

It will not surprise close students of Milton to learn that there is a passage in the poem that apparently calls into question everything we have said about the energy, originality, and sublimity of his cosmos. For what are we to make of Raphael’s dismissive rebuke to the ambitions of astronomers (8.66–178)? God will laugh at their attempts to divulge his secrets. Adam is advised to leave the heavens to their own workings: “be lowly wise” (173). The speech is not, as it has sometimes been taken to be, an all-out attack on the new learning that elsewhere seems to intrigue and inspire the poet. God is in fact pictured laughing at the old Ptolemaic astronomers, adding orbits within orbits and strange counterpressures (“build, unbuild”) in order to make the model fit the appearances (Babb 88):

         perhaps to move

His laughter at their quaint opinions wide

Hereafter, when they come to model heav’n

And calculate the stars, how they will wield

The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive

To save appearances, how gird the sphere

With centric and eccentric scribbled o’er,

Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb. (8.77–84)

The angel also insists that man is not the only being who must discipline his curiosity; the workings of the universe have been kept secret from “man or angel” (see also 7.122–24). And no doubt Raphael has a point in maintaining that the correctness of this or that celestial picture makes no difference to life on Earth, which must be the focus of our wisdom.

Still, censuring a desire to understand the heavens seems directly contrary in spirit to the passage on Satan’s shield, with its excited shift of focus to the knowledge-hungry eyes of Galileo surveying the moon. Perhaps Nicolson was right in supposing that there were “two persistent aspects of Milton’s personality, one satisfied with proportion and limitation, the other revelling in the luxuriant and the unrestrained” (1960, 186). Then again, it is possible that the dismissal of astronomy belongs not to a conflict between contentment and aspiration but to the structure of aspiration. This divine disapproval could be viewed as a scientific expression of the general sense of trespass Milton encounters when approaching God. “May I express thee unblamed” (3.3)? He cannot reach the heights without taking liberties.

THEOLOGY

Milton’s theology is systematic, Christian, Protestant, and for the most part quite standard. That much is evident from his epic argument, which incorporates the familiar locales, actors, and events of Christian orthodoxy: Heaven, Hell, an almighty and all-knowing deity, hateful rebel angels, benevolent unfallen angels, Adam and Eve, a garden Paradise on Earth, the Fall, Original Sin, the penalty of mortality, and, in prospect, satisfaction of that penalty through sacrifice of God’s only-begotten Son. Indeed, this large conformity has permitted generations of Milton scholars to downplay or ignore his unorthodoxy. Yet, despite the substantially ordinary Christianity of Paradise Lost, Milton did endorse various theological opinions deemed heretical, some criminally so in the view of seventeenth-century civil and ecclesiastical authorities.

A few of these unorthodox beliefs figure crucially in Paradise Lost. Most do not. On the one hand, Milton’s advocacy of adult baptism by immersion, for example, and his rejection of obligatory Sabbath observation, though significant enough in the religious politics of the seventeenth century, do not bear on his epic. Vitalist monism and insistence on creation ex deo, on the other hand, are grand generative heresies foundational to the fictional world imagined by Milton—its spiritual-natural ground rules, as detailed in the preceding section. The three great religious debates of seventeenth-century England, and the heresies that correspond to them, are even more overtly pertinent, especially to the declared intention of the epic narrative to “justify the ways of God to men.” The first of these controversies concerns the means of salvation (soteriology); the second, church government (ecclesiology); and the third, the status of the Son of God (Christology).

Most Christians in a relatively tolerant age would deem Milton’s theological opinions as they relate to the first two of these controversies unremarkable and, in any case, his own business. But his opinions concerning the Son of God still register as heretical according to most Christian sects. They have also been a focus of sometimes heated scholarly controversy for nearly two centuries, since the manuscript of his theological treatise, Christian Doctrine, was discovered in 1823. The longest chapter of the treatise criticizes the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity as a logical impossibility devoid of scriptural authority and depicts the Son as a distinctly lesser God: the first of all creatures, begotten in time, and variously inferior to his father. That Milton’s arguments should therefore be classified as Arian and contrary to Nicene formulations (“true God from true God … of one essence with the Father”) was the seemingly inescapable conclusion endorsed by theologically informed Milton scholars from the time of Bishop Sumner, the original translator of the treatise, through the era of C. S. Lewis and Maurice Kelley in the mid–twentieth century. Orthodox believers who saw Milton as a bulwark of traditional Christianity were discomfited, the unorthodox heartened. Thus in 1826 the American Unitarian clergyman William Ellery Channing, a forerunner of Transcendentalism, enthusiastically grouped Milton with other celebrated seventeenth-century antitrinitarians: “our Trinitarian adversaries are perpetually ringing in our ears the names of Fathers and Reformers. We take MILTON, LOCKE, and NEWTON, and place them in our front, and want no others to oppose to the whole army of great names on the opposite side. Before these intellectual suns, the stars of self-named orthodoxy ‘hide their diminished heads’ ” (35–36).

Readers who found Paradise Lost nonetheless orthodox comforted themselves with the often repeated observation that before the discovery of the treatise readers better informed theologically than their twentieth-century counterparts failed to suspect Milton’s epic of heresy. C. S. Lewis reasoned that Milton when he composed his epic must have deliberately set aside his theological eccentricities in order to appeal to the majority of Christian readers (90–91). This surmise segued into the still current argument that because the theological treatise is inconsistent with the epic, the former should not be relied on as a guide to understanding the latter (Patrides; Campbell et al. 110).

Such claims simply do not hold water. John Toland, writing Milton’s life in 1698, declined to defend Paradise Lost “against those people who brand [it] with heresy” (128), indicating that such complaints were fairly common even before the discovery of the treatise. Unlike Toland, Jonathan Richardson, writing in 1734, says he cannot in good conscience “pass over in silence another conjecture which some have made, … that Milton was an Arian; and this is built on certain passages in Paradise Lost “(xlix). Theologically acute readers like Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) objected to Milton’s account of the Son’s exaltation (5.600–615) for laying, in Defoe’s words, a “foundation for the corrupt doctrine of Arius” (75). A century later, shortly after Christian Doctrine was published, Thomas Macaulay remarked that “we can scarcely conceive that any person could have read Paradise Lost without suspecting him of [Arianism]” (3). Suspicion falls short of conviction, however, and unsupported by the evidence of the theological treatise, the Arianism of the epic is “no other than a conjecture” (Richardson, xlix). The mutedness of the epic’s heretical account of the Son has been persuasively attributed to Milton’s discretion in an intolerant age and the narrative disposition of epic (Rajan 23–31). Milton’s main goal in Paradise Lost is to tell a story, not to argue doctrine.

The challenge to this commonsense observation mounted by W. B. Hunter, C. A. Patrides, and J. H. Adamson was complicated, recondite, and, to the embarrassment of Milton scholarship, highly successful. Hunter originally argued that Milton’s version of the godhead exemplified a not always unorthodox strain of early church opinion, called “subordinationism,” which conceived of the Christian Trinity in terms of Platonic hypostases. Ralph Cudworth does in 1678 use the key term subordination in explaining the beliefs of the “Platonic Christian” and in asserting that such beliefs were consistent with those of “the generality of Christian doctors for the first three hundred years after the apostles’ times” (2:417). This claim is not controversial, but it has no bearing on Milton’s alleged orthodoxy. Like Arius before him, Milton was not a Platonic theologian, not when it came to his insistence on the absolute singularity of infinite God or on the finite existence of the Son. And even if Milton had been one of Cudworth’s Platonic Christians, by the seventeenth century the Platonist version of the Christian Trinity did qualify as heretical. The subordinationism attributed to Milton is in short, per Michael Bauman’s definitive formulation, “not orthodox, and Milton does not teach it” (133). Despite these flaws, Hunter’s argument prevailed for an entire generation, so that in scholarship from the 1970s and ’80s one generally finds the evasive and misleading label “subordinationist” in discussions of Milton’s depiction of the Son.

Less controversial by far are Milton’s opinions on how salvation occurs, perhaps because these opinions are now predominant among orthodox Christians and because Milton’s God himself details them in a plain theological exposition difficult to misconstrue (3.173–202). During Milton’s lifetime the Calvinist theory of salvation, and predestination as its distinctive tenet, reigned in England and especially in the Puritan culture that nurtured the young poet. Opposed to Calvinist orthodoxy was Arminianism, so called after the Dutch clergyman Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609), whose deviations from determinist doctrine were condemned at the grand Calvinist council of the early seventeenth century, the Synod of Dort (1618–19). According to articles endorsed at Dort, neither the blessed nor the damned can influence their respective fates. For the sake of his glory, God extends saving grace to a few utterly depraved sinners, thereby expressing his mercy. Also for his glory’s sake, but additionally to exemplify divine justice, God consigns the rest of humanity (a large majority) to eternal torment. As for human liberty, even unfallen Adam and Eve were never free to obey, as Calvin insists: “God foreknew what end man was to have before he created him, and consequently foreknew because he so ordained by his decree” (3.23.7).

Arminians, by contrast, held that human beings are created free and, once fallen, receive sufficient grace to effect salvation, provided that they embrace the opportunity rather than reject it. The dependence of such a moral framework on human choice seems to have struck Calvin as a self-evident slight to divine omnipotence, as if “God ordained nothing except to treat man according to his own deserts” (3.23.7). The notion that the deity would leave individual human beings to determine their own fates roused Calvin’s indignation. Four main claims distinguish the Arminians’ “barren invention,” as he called it (3.23.7). First, God’s grace is universal, extended to all humanity. Second, this grace is not irresistible, which is to say, as an anti-Calvinistic Thomas Jefferson insists in his summary of Arminian beliefs, “man is always free and at liberty to receive or reject grace.” Third, as Jefferson continues, divine justice “would not permit [God] to punish men for crimes they are predestinated to commit” (1:554). And last, foreknowledge and causation are distinct, even in a time line created, governed, and immutably foreseen by an omnipotent and omniscient God.

In England before the 1640s, clergy who held Arminius’s heterodox opinions regarding salvation tended to be high-ranking and conservative, adhering to and even embellishing sacramental ritual and set liturgical forms that to Puritan sensibilities smacked of Roman Catholicism. This religiously and politically conservative English clergy presided over a top-down episcopal hierarchy whose regime complemented and reinforced the Stuart monarchy’s civil sway—hence the so-called “thorough” government of church and state during the 1630s, when king and bishop sought to rule without Parliamentary interference. Continental followers of Arminius, by contrast, remained largely Calvinist in devotional culture and practice. Their deviations from Calvinist orthodoxy, moreover, were republican and not authoritarian in their political implications, as Jefferson’s enthusiastic assessment suggests. Yet Arminian English bishops were oblivious to any such implications and, though in the minority, used their power to institute and enforce their cultural and governmental preferences, even when doing so meant outraging consciences or ruthlessly punishing dissent. Such impositions grated on the Puritans, who, regardless of their views on salvation, deplored episcopal pomp, debunked most sacraments, and endorsed plain spontaneity in worship.

During the 1640s, the defeat of the high-church, anti-Calvinist elite and the ready resort of the now predominant Presbyterian faction to its own coercive policies seem to have freed Milton to argue explicitly in behalf of rational choosing and free will. For all his support of the Presbyterian faction against the prelates, Milton had never endorsed predestination. His Arminian tendencies become unmistakable in the divorce tracts and in Areopagitica’s exaltation of rational choice, toleration, and individual accountability. Milton insists that God created man free, and if Adam had not been free, he might as well have been a puppet: “a mere artificial Adam, such an Adam as he is in the motions” (MLM 944). By the end of the 1640s, Milton’s contention that the English have every right to try and execute King Charles rests on an anti-Presbyterian first premise, all the more provocative for being presented as a self-evident truth: “No man who knows aught can be so stupid [as] to deny that all men naturally were born free, being the image and resemblance of God himself” (TKM in MLM 1028). At this distance, it seems clear that Milton’s breach with the Presbyterians rests on differing conceptions of the dignity of the human subject. By the time he comes to write his epic, choice and responsibility are for Milton the very stuff of human morality and of human desert (Danielson; S. Fallon 1998). Most Presbyterians, by contrast, deemed the ethical categories of choice and responsibility meaningless or wickedly delusional.

In Paradise Lost, it is only to the characterization of Satan and his followers that the language of predestination applies. Hell is thus described as a “prison ordained” to which they have been eternally “decreed,/Reserved and destined” (1.71, 2.160–61). Like stereotypical Calvinists, certain devils spend vast stretches of time debating “of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate/Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute”—i.e., “in wand’ring mazes lost” (2.559–61). Fate is their preferred ideological fiction as they persistently elide their responsibility for rebelling against the only divine right monarch whose legitimacy Milton ever acknowledged. When they debate policy and strategy, they do so in “synods,” a term historically associated with the determinist doctrinal pronouncements of Calvinist and Presbyterian assemblies (2.391).

Even the narrative and dramatic stress placed on Satan’s role and character, which some have deemed disproportionate, is an indicator of Milton’s distance from the determinist tenets of the Presbyterians. The serpent’s temptation is beside the point in Calvinist theology, as indeed is any agency outside God. The Fall is divinely ordained. Calvin’s deity was a volitional black hole, obviating the need for a malevolent opponent who sparks evil. For Milton, by contrast, temptation is an ethical state crucial to theodicy, permitting merit to the creature, as in the case of Abdiel, while at the same time justifying the redemption of humanity: unlike the irreversibly damned rebel angels, “man falls deceived/By the other first” (3.130–31). Most important, the freedom and accountability presumed by temptation prevent humanity’s recriminations against God “as if predestination overruled/Their will” (3.114–15). The justification of God’s ways to men turns out to be largely an Arminian response to the Calvinist insistence on the bondage of the will. Foreknowledge does not predetermine; the choices of unfallen humanity are free: “authors to themselves in all/Both what they judge and what they choose; for so/I formed them free” (3.122–24). As Perez Zagorin observes, Milton’s “loyalty to the principle of liberty as he understood it was absolute” (114). It was a matter of doing justice to man and God.

To God more than to man, however. Liberty is a state that we ordinarily associate with human beings, but from Milton’s highly theocentric and theodical perspective, freedom is primarily and definitively a quality essential to the nature of God. Only because the human race is created in the image of God is it self-evident that humanity is born free. The only necessity that applies to God is that he not involve himself in contradiction. Any action he takes must therefore conform to the good, goodness being definitive of divine identity rather than a limitation on his freedom. Though raised in the highly Calvinist culture of seventeenth-century London, Milton insists on the freedom allowed humanity in Arminian theology because his God must not be held liable for the sins of humanity, as Calvin’s was. The necessity that God’s deeds be good ones does not wed God to any particular action, however; his “goodness” remains “free/To act or not” (7.171–72). Such freedom holds true even concerning the generation of the Son. God is under no necessity to beget a second divinity; he freely chooses to do so. The Son, in his turn, freely offers himself as a sacrifice on behalf of humanity (3.236–65). Adam and Eve echo and also mediate the praiseworthy choices of the Father and Son when they decide to procreate and so begin the line that will produce their redeemer (10.867–1096). So the theodicy comes full circle, with goodness remaining free at every juncture to act or not.

GENRE

“The greatest writer who has ever existed of a limited genre”—that is how T. S. Eliot in 1926 described Milton. The initial superlative hints at a magnanimous finish, but Eliot instead concludes by demeaning genre and diminishing his praise: “Instead of poetry, you get genres of poetry” (201). Centuries earlier, Thomas Rymer had also denied the authenticity of Milton’s poetry, snidely describing Paradise Lost as a work that “some are pleased to call a poem” (1678, 143). He even omits it from a summary of English heroic poetry that culminates instead with Davenant’s Gondibert (1651) and Cowley’s Davideis (1656) (1694, preface). Rymer condemns Milton for not being sufficiently generic, whereas Eliot criticizes him for being excessively generic. Their shared disdain may owe less to Milton’s artistic fraudulence than to the not uncommon tendency of lesser artists to mitigate the achievements of greater ones. Rymer is more easily cleared from that suspicion. True to his name, he scorned unrhymed narrative verse as prose, an arbitrary genre distinction but one general at the time as the note on verse affixed to the first edition attests. By contrast, Eliot’s dedication to the proposition that genre is an ersatz proxy for true poetry remains a head-scratcher, even in its historical context.

According to the OED, the term genre did not enter English usage until the nineteenth century. The concept of literary kind had by then already been debated for millennia, however, energetically so during the European Renaissance, when genre was held in very high esteem, not least by Milton himself. His ideal curriculum includes prosody as a necessary technical study, but far above it in real dignity he places the “sublime art” that teaches “the laws” governing “true” poems, whether epic, dramatic, or lyric (Of Ed in MLM 977–78). The reverential diction is telling. Taken together with the related claim that Scripture offers the most perfect instances of the major genres (RCG in MLM 841), it suggests that for Milton, as for Sir Philip Sidney before him, literary genres were divinely authorized modes of mimesis, corresponding to the Creator’s arrangement of reality. Compared with any individual poem, genre was the more real thing, and indeed “the first thing the reader needs to know about Paradise Lost,” according to C. S. Lewis (1).

Eliot’s low regard for genre may have stemmed from discomfort with prescriptive rules for poetry. Milton does insist on “laws” for poems, after all. But his neoclassicism is distinct from the neoclassicism that prevailed in England after the Restoration, Rymer being one of its chief proponents. Through the sixteenth and well into the seventeenth century, Italy was the center of cultural authority in Europe. Its cities “swarmed with critics,” according to Rymer, but as “swarmed” suggests, the Italian critical hegemony lacked uniformity or a common national focus. During the first half of the seventeenth century, the individualism of the Italian swarm gradually gave way to the regimentation of the French. “From Italy, France took the cudgels,” the pugnacious Rymer put it, tracing French ascendancy to Cardinal Richelieu’s amalgamation of cultural with political authority at the increasingly absolutist French court (1694, A2r–v). Milton, however, never acknowledged the cultural turn away from his beloved Italy. His ambitions as an epic poet crystallized during his visit to Italy (1638–39), and his disdain for France was quite general and persistent. His masterworks of the Restoration display a sublime if studied indifference to Gallic dictates, and his conception of literary genre, epic specifically, owes a great deal to the formative influence of sixteenth-century Italians, Torquato Tasso most prominently.

Milton refers to Tasso repeatedly in poems composed during his visit to Italy (see, e.g., Manso), and when in The Reason of Church Government he discusses epic, Tasso alone is named in the company of Homer and Vergil (MLM 840–41). It was Tasso who originally argued that the “laws of poetry” are divinely established realities, “essential and fixed by the very nature and law of things” (Kates 36). A poet did not need to conform to fixed rules derived from authoritative precedent but could instead embody the objectively based laws of poetry according to the judgment of natural reason, judgment informed not only by subjective experience and the efforts of precursors but also by, most crucially for a Christian poet, scriptural revelation. Milton may have adored Homer above all other poets, but to fulfill his own poetic vocation in the genre that Homer epitomized, Milton characteristically believed himself morally obliged to manifest the epic genre on his own terms, taking full advantage of his access to Christian doctrine. In short, the heroic poem as Milton conceived it was more adaptable to the individual poet’s conception of truth than a rote critic like Rymer could stomach.

English critics nursed on Gallic canons early on censured Paradise Lost for its wantonness. John Dennis in 1704 described it as “the most lofty but most irregular poem that has been produced by the mind of man” (bv), and unlike Dennis, who ultimately judges Paradise Lost above the critical law, subsequent neoclassical critics typically laud Milton’s loftiness and rue his irregularities. Milton’s idiosyncratic version of epic defies standard definitions because it is unusually inclusive, almost all-encompassing. Northrop Frye calls it “the story of all things,” yet even that broad rubric seems inadequate (3). The reach of Paradise Lost extends far beyond creation, affording local habitation and a name even to the uncreated realm of the Anarch Chaos and comprising the infinite and eternal together with the finite and fleeting. In its “diffuse” form, epic is the only genre that Milton discusses in The Reason for Church Government for which he cites no scriptural precedent. This tantalizing omission may in part suggest that Milton did not consider any book in the Bible, not even Genesis, both unified and ample enough to qualify.

In her magisterial study of Milton and genre, Barbara Lewalski tracks Milton’s use of virtually every subgenre recognized by Renaissance rhetoricians and deems Paradise Lost “an encyclopedia of literary forms” (125). Jonathan Richardson makes much the same point in defending Milton’s masterwork as “a composition … not reducible under any known denomination,” “the quintessence of all that is excellent in writing” (cxlv, clii). If in its encompassing formal plenitude Paradise Lost violates the “limited genre” defined by neoclassical critics, its promiscuity is nonetheless profoundly classical in spirit. Aristotle himself distinguishes epic from other genres by its capacity to assimilate within a single narrative other modes, such as the dramatic or lyric, and their various subgenres (26). Book 4 illustrates Milton’s singular gift for subduing such multiplicity under a unified narrative arc. The basic story line—Satan’s intrusion into Paradise leading ultimately to his apprehension and expulsion—occasions, among other genre variations, authorial apostrophe, Satanic soliloquy, landscape poetry with features of the country house tradition, various love lyrics, metamorphic tales of origin, evening prayer, and confrontational martial dialogue. Nor was epic originally confined to what Voltaire in his Essai sur la poésie épique defined as “narratives in verse of warlike adventures” (331), which Milton scorned as “tedious havoc” (PL 9.30).

Deriving from the Greek word for “story” or “story-related,” epic seems to have been a broader category for the early Greeks, virtually indistinguishable from what is now meant by narrative in general. Aristocratic martial and amorous encounters are undeniably the stuff of Homeric epic, and of mock epic (Homer is supposed to have composed one of those, too), but Hesiod’s overtly didactic narratives also qualified, as did Orphic poems celebrating religious mysteries. In each case, the bard tells a story meant to epitomize and even justify the supernaturally shaped course of human events. Milton observes the familiar trappings and formal insignia of epic: invocations, extended similes, catalogs, epithets, and the rest. But he does so idiosyncratically, in line with his highly individual Christian faith. The invocations exemplify this characteristic willingness to interpret the “laws” of epic according to his own situation. Embracing and expanding on a liberty asserted previously by Tasso, he uses the invocations as occasions to speak not simply in his own voice but to an unprecedented extent of himself and his anxious situation, “in darkness, and with dangers compassed round” (7.27).

When Aristotle described epic as an inclusive, composite form, he was distinguishing it from drama, the genre that shows rather than tells and brooks no authorial narration. By contrast, the authorial voice in epic sometimes withdraws in favor of storytelling characters involved in dramatic dialogue or lyrical self-expression. Aristotle thought drama the nobler genre, not only purer in mode but also more disciplined in plot than sprawling epic (26). Early modern theorists, however, focused on the magnitude of solitary authorial effort rather than on the purity of the form or concentrated efficiency of the action. The actors in a drama, furthermore, “share the poet’s praise,” as Dryden says (1800, 1:436). Such critics were nearly unanimous in accounting epic, precisely because it is vast, complicated, and solitary in execution, as “the greatest work which the soul of man is capable to perform” (Dryden 1800, 1:425). Milton, of course, as if to satisfy classical as well as modern standards of preeminence, composed both a capacious epic and a stringent classical tragedy (one never designed for staging or actors’ shares). Still, the most momentous and defining artistic decision he ever made came down to a choice between these two great genres.

When he originally conceived the story of the Fall as the subject of a tragedy, Milton honored the long-standing critical consensus that unhappy events are best reserved for dramatic presentation—an affinity of form and subject acknowledged in the epic’s most genre-conscious moment, the invocation to Book 9. As if to signal this anomaly formally, the same invocation fails to do what invocations by their very name promise they will do: invoke. Acknowledging his dependence on the Muse only in the last line, Milton devotes this “invocation” instead to justifying his deviation from mainline epic into tragedy. For, despite his concessions, Milton clearly thought that in choosing to tell this sad story in the grandest narrative genre, he had made a good trade-off. The story of the Fall allows him, as he indicates in the invocation, to redefine heroism in accordance with his Christian faith (9.13–41). More important, if “an epic poem must either be national or mundane,” as Coleridge claimed, once an author has chosen the mundane, the goal must be to tell a story “common to all mankind” (1886, 240). This is a tall order, but in a Christian culture, the story of Adam and Eve, though tragic, more than fills the bill. Not simply the greatest story ever told, it is every story ever told: Milton’s “Adam and Eve are all men and women inclusively,” as Coleridge observed (240). If he could not claim to invent the epic mode, as Homer had, Milton could reinvent it in light of Christian revelation and aspire to include all other epics, all other narratives of any kind.

The other main advantage of arranging the story of man’s first disobedience as a narrative and not a tragic drama was the chance to exploit the single most definitive formal requirement of an epic narrative—that it begin in the midst of things. Milton made much of this opportunity: a titanic Satan and his followers, first rolling in hellfire and then debating revenge, followed by the farsighted judgment of a Zeus-like God and his obsequious adherents in Heaven. Indeed, the opening books are so striking that they have largely determined the poem’s reception in modern times. These books address received traditions of heroic poetry overtly and extensively, and they also contain, according to many readers, the most poetic energy and the thematic designs crucial to the work as a whole.

To revive a thesis that originated in the early eighteenth century and fell out of fashion in the twentieth, we think it likely that Milton’s inspiration for making Satan weltering in Hell his “midst of things” was the pre-Norman, English tradition of biblical poetry, especially the Old English Genesis B, long attributed to Caedmon. No one denies that Milton had opportunity to become acquainted with this and other works in the Caedmon manuscripts, discovered in 1651 by the philologist Franciscus Junius, then residing in London. If Milton was given access to the manuscripts while he was still sighted, he probably took note of the illustrations, including one of the rebel angels plunging headlong into the jaws of Leviathan (below). Scholars have argued, not without evidence, that Milton’s competency in Old English was at best slight and that any acquaintance he might have had with the Caedmon poems, whether in manuscript or in print, would therefore have been superficial and inconsequential. Yet even a superficial acquaintance would have left him aware that Genesis B begins, as Paradise Lost does, with Satan and his thanes rallying in Hell. Furthermore, as French Fogle’s introduction to Milton’s History of Britain observes, Milton’s access to freshly published Old English texts and translations was extensive (Yale 5: xxxvi–xxxvii). The conception of Christ prevalent in England until the Conquest, “which views the cross from the perspective of world history and emphasizes its victorious aspect, the conquest of Satan,” was far more amenable to him than the later emphasis on the sufferings of Christ (Huttar 242).

“Him the Almighty Power / Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky” (1.44–45). (illustration credit itr.1)

While Milton dismissed the monks who wrote the early history of Britain as “ill gifted with utterance” (Yale 5:288), it does not follow that he would have disdained the Anglo-Saxon language. His schoolmaster at St. Paul’s, Alexander Gill, was an advocate of the English vernacular and demonstrably knowledgeable about Old English (Fletcher 1:185). The common complaint that Paradise Lost is replete with Latinisms, an English estranged from its vernacular roots, is unjustified, as Fowler’s edition repeatedly observes. On the contrary, Milton’s English is generally idiomatic. When in 1807 James Ingram translated the first fifteen lines of Paradise Lost into Old English, he left the syntax virtually untouched and required substitutes for ten loan words only (47–48). We think it not only fitting but probable that the catalyst for Milton’s choice of epic subject once he had abandoned the British theme was the coincidental discovery in the 1650s of a native tradition of biblical poetry written before the Conquest.

PROSODY AND STYLE

Paradise Lost is written in unrhymed pentameter lines, or blank verse. Early in the sixteenth century, the Earl of Surrey adopted this form for his partial translation of Vergil’s Aeneid, and toward the end of that century it became the conventional medium of Elizabethan drama. Shakespeare’s plays are primarily written in blank verse. But Spenser had not used it. Milton’s choice of blank verse was a daring one, for at that time there was no long blank-verse poem of much distinction in English or any other language. It was largely because of Milton’s precedent that blank verse established itself as early as James Thomson’s Seasons (1726–30) as the preferred metrical form for long and ambitious English poems. Wordworth’s The Prelude; Keats’s Hyperion; Tennyson’s The Princess, Enoch Arden, and The Idylls of the King; Browning’s The Ring and the Book; Arnold’s Empedocles on Etna; the long narratives of Edwin Arlington Robinson; sections of Crane’s The Bridge; Stevens’s Sunday Morning and Notes toward a Supreme Fiction; Frost’s Home Burial; and Betjeman’s Summoned by Bells are all written in blank verse.

Milton organized his narrative into verse paragraphs, within which he devised syntactical patterns famous for their length and lucidity. Having freed himself from the ancient bondage of rhyme, he created musical effects with consonance, dissonance, alliteration, repetition, and even the occasional internal rhyme. He particularly excelled in the “turn of words,” as it was called in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—repeating the same words in a reversed or modified order. Dryden tells us that he once looked for these turns in Milton but failed to find them (Essays 2:108–9). In fact the effect is everywhere, as in “though fall’n on evil days,/On evil days though fall’n” (7.25–26), which reminded Emerson of “the reflection of the shore and trees in water” (R. Richardson 318). When the Father announces the forthcoming creation in Book 7, “Glory they sung to the most high” (182), then “Glory to him” (184), the Son who has just defeated the rebel angels, and finally, with a turn of words, “to him/Glory and praise” (186–87). Through creation the Son will “diffuse” the glory of the Father “to worlds and ages infinite” (190–91), and in this very passage we feel that glory has been squeezed from the word glory and diffused from clause to clause. Some of the best-known turns include Eve’s initial infatuation with her image in the pool (“Pleased I soon returned,… Pleased it returned as soon”) at 4.460–65, and Eve’s great love lyric enclosed by the brackets of “Sweet is” and “is sweet” (4.641–56); inside them she lists the same natural beauties twice, once as sweet, once again as not sweet. Addison thought this last “one of the finest turns of words that I have ever seen” (Shawcross 1:142).

Distinguished achievement in sound effects is an excellence that no one has ever seriously denied to Milton. His verse has few rivals in what Hazlitt termed “the adaptation of the sound and movement of the verse to the meaning of the passage” (Thorpe 104). Sometimes the adaptations are relatively simple, like certain film scores. As Satan struggles through Chaos, the verse also seems to have trouble making headway: “So he with difficulty and labor hard/Moved on, with difficulty and labor he” (2.1021–22). When he hears “a universal hubbub wild/Of stunning sounds” (2.951–52), it is clear that universal and wild are ways of defining what the word hubbub, all meaning aside, delivers to us purely through its sound. Stunning sounds echoes the chaotic crack of hubbub, as if sounds had indeed been stunned. Sometimes the adaptation of sound to meaning is wittier, more conceptual. When Satan departs from Pandaemonium, the philosophical devils “reasoned high/Of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate,/Fixed fate, free will, Foreknowledge absolute,/And found no end, in wand’ring mazes lost” (2.558–61). Milton makes the catalog of philosophical concepts into a little semantic labyrinth in which “foreknowledge, will and fate” enough resemble “Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute” to make us wonder how they are alike, how not alike. Have we really gone anywhere in moving from one line to the next?

When the poem introduces a distinction, the difference is likely to be taken up, explored, and often complicated by the verse. In Book 4, for example, the narrator reads gender differences from the naked bodies of Adam and Eve, and the result is the greatest politically incorrect passage in English poetry. “For contemplation he and valor formed,/For softness she and sweet attractive grace” (297–98). We can see immediately that alliteration serves Eve. The poetry is already indicating its willingness to interfere with the passage’s legalism, but for now there is no time to explore the bond between Eve and poetic beauty. The law must be pronounced. Adam is formed for God, she for God in him. His forehead and eye “declared/Absolute rule” (300–301).

At this point Milton begins to describe their differing hair treatments, Adam’s first:

         Hyacinthine locks

Round from his parted forelock manly hung

Clust’ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad. (301–3)

The two run-on lines imitate the fall of his hair (Hyacinthine implies that it is black), while the strong end-stop of line 303 puts a limit to its hanging down. But not has an almost corrective force, as if things might have been getting out of hand. They immediately do. Eve’s blond tresses introduce four straight run-on lines, followed by four more end-stopped lines:

She as a veil down to the slender waist

Her unadornèd golden tresses wore

Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved

As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied

Subjection, but required with gentle sway,

And by her yielded, by him best received,

Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,

And sweet reluctant amorous delay. (304–11)

He the cluster, she the vine. He words in their stable sense, words as law, words that set limits; she words as their sense is in transit, disheveled, drawn out variously from line to line, creeping and curling with wanton implication. Syntax flows across the unit of the line. Milton’s verse becomes femalelike in describing femaleness, then arrives at the key word Subjection in line 308, which mates with all the verbs to come. Enjambment stops. We have returned to the matter of the law, but in, so to speak, another semantic universe. Subjection is what is required, what is yielded, what is best received, and again what is yielded. It is their bond, and also their sexual spark. He requires and receives it; she yields and yields it. Lacking compulsion, it is no longer “subjection” in the usual sense but rather her free consent.

This passage begins with the law of gender difference, yet by its end we find that law realized in amorous love and artistic excitement. Eve yields her subjection with “coy submission, modest pride,” both phrases being oxymorons, and the first of them of particular richness in Renaissance love poetry (Kerrigan and Braden 204–18). An oxymoron naturally requires two words, a plus and a minus, a point and a counterpoint. The last line, with Eve-like luxuriance, doubles the oxymoron quotient with four perfect words, oxymoronic in various ways: reluctant crosses amorous, amorous crosses delay, delay crosses reluctant. But all of them and their nest of contradictory combinations are sweet, the very word that Eve will turn so memorably a few hundred lines later, enclosing the couple’s love and their lapsing days of Paradise in its embrace. They will not make love until the end of the day. Eve’s sweet … delay is an oxymoronic union of desire and control, consent and refusal, passion and rule, profusion and limit, fusing the various contraries of the passage. Adam also participates in this knot of contraries. Gentle sway is the first oxymoron of the passage, and links to delay through a delayed rhyme. Of “Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,/And sweet reluctant amorous delay,” Walter Savage Landor remarked, “I would rather have written these two lines than all the poetry that has been written since Milton’s time in all the regions of the earth” (Thorpe 368–69).

Milton’s style marries male and female, “which two great sexes animate the world” (8.151). There is male law. There are requirements, fixed meanings, ripe clusters of sense. But there is energy as well, and the energy in this poetry is female, vinelike, curling here and then back, various in its repetition, paradoxical, nurturing underbrushes of implication that modify and even revise the abstract fixities of law.

DICTION

Johnson proclaimed that Milton “wrote no language, but has formed what Butler calls a Babylonish Dialect” (Thorpe 86). Yet his strictures on Milton are almost always wrong or exaggerated. A recent study such as John Hale’s Milton’s Languages is from the outset friendlier toward the multilingual characteristics of Milton’s style than would have been possible in the confines of Johnson’s linguistic patriotism. Modern statistical studies have demonstrated that the style of Paradise Lost is neither as archaic nor as Latinate as some of its critics have imagined (Boone). Milton is a learned author, to be sure, but a student determined to appreciate at least some of the learning in his language will be not be led away from the genius of ordinary English. T. S. Eliot, writing in the Johnson tradition, emphasized “the remoteness of Milton’s verse from ordinary speech” (Thorpe 321). But in fact Milton’s poetry enriches ordinary speech in new and surprising ways.

Now and then Milton will use a word in its classical or etymological sense, waving aside its derived meaning in English. In “There went a fame in Heav’n” (1.651), fame has its Roman sense of “word spoken.” An imperial Milton banishes the English sense. Similarly, succinct in “His habit fit for speed succinct” (3.643) has the Latin meaning of “tucked under, tight-fitted.” Christopher Ricks has shown that Milton will sometimes insist on the etymological sense when naming an unfallen world in which words with definitions involving immorality are not yet appropriate (109–17). At their creation the rivers of the earth run “with serpent error wand’ring” (7.302), but error in the Latin sense of “wandering” contains no taint of crime or mistake. Words too have their original innocence. In order to grasp this last example, a reader must see that the Latin definition is in meaningful dialogue with the derived sense, and that the rejection of the ordinary English meaning, far from being arbitrary, belongs to the larger significance of the passage.

Milton “was not content,” Walter Raleigh observed, “to revive the exact classical meaning in place of the vague or weak English acceptation; he often kept both senses, and loaded the word with two meanings at once” (1900, 209). When the hair of the angel Uriel falls “Illustrious on his shoulders” (3.627), Milton refers at once to the luster or brightness of the hair and the august reputation of the angel. As it approaches Eve in Book 9, the snake is “voluble” (436). In its classical sense, the word denotes the coiling motion of the snake, but in its newer English sense, it announces the serpent’s forthcoming talkativeness (Ricks 108). Beelzebub refers to Chaos as “the vast abrupt” (2.409), where abrupt seems first of all to retain its Latin sense of “broken off, precipitous.” The rebel angels have fallen through Chaos and have some idea of what it means to traverse this abyss of indefiniteness. Whoever enters Chaos breaks off from the stabilities of Heaven and Hell. But the English meanings seem also in play when we note that Milton has transformed an adjective into a noun. Chaos itself will be a constant sequence of abrupt changes, a place where interruption is not a surprise but the norm.

There is a fund of linguistic peculiarities in Paradise Lost. Milton, for example, likes the sequence adjective + noun + adjective, as in universal hubbub wild or vast profundity obscure. He was not the first to try this sequence, but it is a good bet that, wherever we encounter it in subsequent English verse, Milton is probably on the author’s mind; Arnold’s “vast edges drear” in “Dover Beach” hopes to remind us of the seething Chaos of Paradise Lost. F. T. Prince (112–29) discussed Milton’s interest in a related sequence found in Italian verse as early as Dante: adjective + noun + and + adjective, as in “Sad task and hard” (5.564) or “Sad resolution and secure” (6.541). Does the second adjective come in as an afterthought? The task, let us say, is primarily sad, so much so that one forgets for a moment that it is hard as well. Or does the second adjective bear the main emotion? A sad task would be burden enough, but this one is, more important, hard. Milton enjoyed playing with this scheme. He experimented, for example, with distancing the adjectives: “pleasing was his shape,/And lovely” (9.503–4) or “For many are the trees of God that grow/In Paradise, and various” (9.618–19). In place of adjective + noun + and + adjective, he tried noun + verb + and + noun, as in “he seemed/For dignity composed and high exploit” (2.110–11). The poet did not invent a “Babylonish Dialect.” He wrote English with a high degree of originality, and his original poetry sublime unleashes a number of effects that had never been tried before in English verse.

THREE CONTROVERSIES

Attacks on Milton’s verse early in the twentieth century by Ezra Pound, Herbert Read, F. R. Leavis, T. S. Eliot, and A. J. A. Waldock sparked a debate that eventually came to be known as the Milton Controversy (Murray 1–12). Although the notion of Milton’s artistic greatness had never before been questioned so systematically, this was hardly an isolated incident. Historically Milton is by some measure the most controversial of the great English poets. He has given rise to an inordinate number of critical debates, altogether too many, in fact, for us to suppose that his poetry is itself innocent of contentiousness. Certainly in his prose Milton liked to mix it up. He was among the greatest controversialists of the day. The decades he spent fighting the wars of truth, Coleridge suggested, added a “controversial spirit” to his youthful character (Thorpe 91). But the early poems are also imbued with the love of argument. When Milton in the first invocation to Paradise Lost refers to “this great argument,” the word argument primarily means “plot,” as in the prose “Argument” or plot summary attached to each book of the epic. Yet the great argument of the plot is wed to an “argument” of another kind, a rational contention, since Milton vows that “to the highth of this great argument” he will, if inspired, “assert eternal providence,/And justify the ways of God to men” (1.24–26).

Emerson wrote that no man in literary history, perhaps in all history, excelled Milton in the power to inspire: “Virtue goes out of him to others” (Early Lectures 1:148). No doubt some of the controversies about Milton have not demonstrated much of the poet’s own idealism, but the generally high quality of Milton debates over the centuries is arguably the finest of the poet’s gifts to our culture, as Christopher Ricks has pointed out. It is for good reason that Milton is “the most argued-about poet in English.” He brings out the serious and passionate advocate in us:

Of the needs to which he ministers, one of the greatest is our need to commit ourselves in passionate argument about literature. Not as part of the academic industry, but because literature is a supreme controversy concerning “the best that has been thought and said in the world” (to adopt the words which Matthew Arnold applied to culture). By the energy and sincerity of his poetry, Milton stands—as no other poet quite does—in heartening and necessary opposition to all aestheticisms, old and new. (xi)

Milton’s argumentative art refuses to stay within aesthetic boundaries, however they may be drawn. Virtue goes out of him to his readers. His arguments come to life, and participating in them both pleases and elevates us.

One of the oldest of the Milton debates swirls about the character of Satan. Is he the hero of the epic? Is he so attractive as to upset the standard moral balance of Christianity? The first of these questions is the more easily answered. Early in the poem, Milton deliberately places Satan in the roles occupied by classical epic heroes. He founds a civilization in Hell. He undertakes a long and arduous journey. Compared to Odysseus, Addison observed, Satan “put in practice many more wiles and stratagems, and hides himself under a greater variety of shapes and appearances” (Shawcross 1:152). To some extent, Milton uses his Satan as a diagnostic test of the moral health of classical epic.

In the beginning of the poem especially, Satan exudes glamour. His appearance—huge, ruined, thunder-scarred, darkened, but still able to evoke the memory of his former luminescence in Heaven—makes a tremendous impression. The Satan glimpsed in Tasso’s Jerusalem Liberated has, like the cheap special-effects devils of modern supernatural thrillers, massive horns, red eyes, a huge beard, an open mouth filthy with red blood and spewing rancid fumes (4.6–7). As William Hazlitt put it, the Satan of Paradise Lost “has no bodily deformity to excite our loathing or disgust. The horns and tail are not there.… Milton was too magnanimous and open an antagonist to support his argument by the bye-tricks of a hump and cloven foot” (Thorpe 109; see also Newton in Shawcross 2:154). Satan is proud, obstinate, the rebel of rebels. He speaks thrillingly of his “unconquerable will.” For Milton, part of giving the devil his due is having the devil give God his due. Satan several times concedes the omnipotence of his foe. When he finds himself cursing the “free love” God gave to all the angels because it did not prevent him from falling, Satan fiercely, and in the name of truth, recoils on himself: “Nay cursed be thou; since against his thy will / Chose freely what it now so justly rues” (4.71–72).

William Blake took the romantic exaltation of Satan to an extreme in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is, because he was a true poet and of the Devil’s party without knowing it.” Blake was something of a Gnostic, for whom Milton’s God the Father was an evil and inferior God, and his satanic opposition the force of true deity (Nuttall 224). But readers whose imaginations remain responsive to the ordinary polarities of Christianity will probably not leave the poem with the favorable impression of Satan with which they began. As the work continues, they realize that Satan’s cannonlike recoils inevitably issue in a fatalistic resolve to go on being himself and fulfill his initial plan of corrupting mankind. His speeches remake the same decision over and over again. Readers come to understand that conceding the omnipotence of God, far from being magnanimous, is the only way Satan can reconcile his pride with his defeat. Heroic resistance begins to look like habitual stubbornness. Satan would desperately like to believe that he is self-created. But his image of his own greatness is also his enemy, the uncreated Father. Satan sits in “God-like imitated state” (2.511). Declaring that evil is his good, he dreams of sharing “divided Empire with Heav’n’s King” (4.111)—in other words, of being the equal of God in a Manichaean universe.

But Satan’s true God is his own will. Milton always maintained that tyrants were self-enslaved. An unconquerable will sacrifices the willer and everyone under his sway. Most readers, their infatuation with Satan having run its course, savor his final comeuppance in the poem, as his triumphant return to Hell becomes the first of countless annual reenactments of the wicked self-harming travesty he is doomed to think a victory. The attractions of Satan are real, and beguiling, but in the end not so profound as his degradation.

Satan’s heroism, though felt in its highest form by the Romantics, did not die with them and remains a main source of argument in modern Milton criticism. It is crucial, for example, to the middle period of Harold Bloom’s work, which begins with The Anxiety of Influence (1973). Hazlitt noted that Milton showed no signs of alarm over a vast literary indebtedness that would have stymied many a lesser poet: “Milton has borrowed more than any other writer, and exhausted every source of imitation, sacred or profane; yet he is perfectly distinct from every other writer.… The quantity of art in him shows the strength of his genius: the weight of his intellectual obligations would have oppressed any other writer. Milton’s learning has the effect of intuition” (Thorpe 101).

Bloom points to a great subtext in Paradise Lost concerning the apparent ease with which Milton masters the anxiety of being belated, preceded, and preempted. Satan is the modern poet (20). God is “cultural history, the dead poets, the embarrassments of a tradition grown too wealthy to need anything more” (21). Everything has been done. The world created, the Bible written, the classical epics finished, the romance versions of them already penned by Ariosto and Spenser. What is there to do? To rally what remains, to salvage all creative impulses that are not infected by devotion, while trying to fend off the knowledge that nothing remains, that one will wind up in one God-like imitated state or another. Wallace Stevens’s famous aphorism “The death of Satan was a tragedy/For the imagination” (“Esthétique du Mal”) seems pertinent here. Assuming that his death has occurred, or may soon occur, this reading of Paradise Lost shows the dimensions of the tragedy. For Satan is imagination. Bloom transformed the Satan controversy into a neo-Romantic fable for modern poets.

The arguments set forth in Stanley Fish’s influential Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost (1967) are also to a large extent responses to the traditional Satan controversies. The author, a born Miltonist, loves to argue. Fish maintains that it is all right for the most serious readers, for readers in search of the author’s intentional meaning, to allow heroic images of Satan to form in their minds, provided they are willing to sacrifice those images when the intentional meaning of the poem requires it (as it always will). Satan’s attractiveness is not an unconscious or unintended effect of some sort. Milton wanted his readers to entertain false ideas of Satan’s virtue. He deliberately and repeatedly trapped them into doing so, only to correct them in the next phrase or line or passage. Blake responded to attractive cues but refused to obey the corrective cues, and wound up losing touch with the poem. Milton himself is the creator of, and ultimate manager of, the Satan controversy. Fish’s most impressive examples are of course drawn from the glamorous treatments of Satan in the first two books of the epic. The spasmodic self-corrections of his model reader uncannily resemble the recoils of Satan.

While impressed with the neatness of this argument, and the energy with which Fish has defended it, other critics have wondered at the infinite gullibility of Fish’s model reader, who goes through the same experience again and again without learning his lesson, as if reading were less a process of illumination than an obsessive-compulsive ritual. They doubt Fish’s implicit view of Milton as a dogmatist unable to admit to mixed feelings about the devil. They question whether great poetry could be as Pavlovian in its didacticism as Fish implies (Kerrigan 1974, 180n, 1983, 98–99; Rumrich 1996, 2–4, 7–11, 60–64; Pritchard; Leonard 2002).

A related and comparably venerable controversy concerns Milton’s portrait of God. Pope observed that “God the Father turns a School-Divine” (“The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace Imitated”). The word school-divine appears in many subsequent discussions of this issue. It means “a medieval scholastic theologian, of the sort that was taught in European universities,” and was not usually a derogatory word, though it does appear to have pejorative charge for Pope. He seems to be referring primarily to God’s speeches during the Heavenly Council at the opening of Book 3, where the Father explains the relationship between freedom and foreknowledge, and the doctrine of the Atonement, in a language compounded of standard theological terminology and statements from Scripture. Some have answered with Addison that in Book 3 the central mysteries of Christianity and the “whole dispensation of Providence with respect to man” are defined with admirable clarity and concision (Shawcross 1:178). Some have maintained that Milton went wrong in the very decision to assign speech to deity, since this procedure will inevitably bring God down to a human level (Wilkie in Shawcross 2:240–43).

But the deeper issue here is not whether God should speak at all and if he must in what vocabulary. Milton’s God, foreseeing the development of human philosophy and theology, anticipates being held responsible for the sins of Adam and Eve. This forethought irritates him:

         so will fall

He and his faithless progeny: whose fault?

Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me

All he could have; I made him just and right,

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. (3.95–99)

The speech implies that man’s theodical attacks continue the faithlessness of the Fall itself. If someone maintains that God did not make him in such a way that he could be responsible for the Fall, he manifests ingratitude. He wants to have been given more from God than mere freedom. He deems his divine endowment not “sufficient.” With regard to the poem’s readers, God is provocative and ill-tempered. “Go on,” he seems to be saying, “blame me. Doing so can only show your fallenness, your faithlessness, your ingratitude, and your utter lack of responsibility.”

The same sort of provocation, daring his audience to disagree or disobey, marks the Father’s words when he is exalting the Son in Heaven. He demands that the angels kneel and “confess him [the Son] Lord”:

         Him who disobeys

Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day

Cast out from God and blessed union, falls

Into utter darkness, deep engulfed, his place

Ordained without redemption, without end. (5.611–15)

It is difficult not to be reminded, as we contemplate such a passage, that Milton hated the bullying ways of earthly monarchs. Why did he make the Father, at times, into a threatening king?

Milton would probably have replied that because God is a king, almighty and eternal, no one else can be. For all others sit in God-like imitated state, aspiring to godhead like Satan himself. God’s legitimacy through merit, not birthright, renders all other monarchies illegitimate, all other monarchs pretenders. This helps to explain why a republican like Milton can have a king for a God, but not why his God should be angry and threatening. God is not always that, to be sure, and at one point amuses the Son by acting the role of some chronicle-history Henry IV worried about usurping northern lords (5.721–32). His aims are merciful, and he praises the Son for seizing upon those aims and guaranteeing their future realization (3.274–343). When pretending that Adam does not need a mate, God seems playful, and appreciative of a creature whose freedom and rational self-confidence permit him to disagree with his creator (8.357–448). But as we have seen, Milton’s God has a tough side.

This much can be said. Today we are somewhat embarrassed to think about God in terms of human emotions, unless the emotion in question is love. But the idea of God having in any sense a character—with exasperation, anger, jealousy, and wrath to go along with his love, mercy, and playfulness—probably seems childish or simplistic or even (though we have grown suspicious of this word) primitive. As Milton saw things, however, the portrait of God in the Bible was full of anthropomorphism. No form of divine symbolism can represent God as he is. But in the Bible, God delivered the metaphors through which he wished us to know him. There can be no shame in taking him at his word. “Why does our imagination shy away from a notion of God which he himself does not hesitate to promulgate in unambiguous terms?” (CD 1.2 in MLM 1148). Milton had little interest in the sort of God we sometimes associate with philosophers and mystics, known to us through some esoteric and reason-humbling symbolism. By the same token, he was relatively unexcited by the thought of contemplating the visio dei. His angels seem happiest, like Milton himself, when performing a divinely assigned task.

Both the God and the Satan Controversies animate William Empson’s striking Milton’s God (1960). In the process of indicting Christianity, this book invents a new way to praise Milton, albeit one that he himself would surely have deplored. Christianity, for Empson, is intractably evil. In any telling of the story of the Fall of man, God will in some manner be revealed as the responsible party. Milton was a Christian of uncommon moral sensitivity, and he did virtually all that one could do to improve the faith. There is, as we have noted, no torture. The Crucifixion, though recounted briefly (12.411–19), is hardly the centerpiece of Milton’s religion. Temptation, the act of free moral decision, takes its place. Satan is more sympathetic than ever before. But God the Father is still provocative, still threatening. This portrait, far from being the failure it was conventionally assumed to be on one side of the God Controversy, shows Milton’s honesty. His God manifests the dark impulse to rule, to wield power purely and simply, that the many attractive aspects of Paradise Lost conceal from our view. Dennis Danielson’s aptly titled Milton’s Good God (1982) defends Milton and Christianity against some of the main arguments in Milton’s God.

The third of our controversies, about the character of Eve, first appeared in the feminist criticism of the twentieth century. “For the Romantics,” Mary Nyquist and Margaret Ferguson wrote in 1987, “it was Satan who was oppressed by the author’s consciously held beliefs. In our time it tends to be Eve” (xiv). Satan was the controversy of another day. Feminism has arrived, and it wants to argue about Eve.

Traditionally Milton had received mostly high marks for his characterizations of Adam and Eve. Coleridge thought the love of Adam and Eve was “removed from everything degrading,” the creation of two people who give each other what is most permanent in them and achieve “a completion of each in the other” (Thorpe 96). Their love unfolds without flattery or falsehood. Hazlitt told of some men’s club wit who maintained that Adam and Eve enjoyed only the least interesting of the pursuits of human life, the relations between man and wife. Hazlitt replied with a long catalog of the furniture of fallen life (wars, riches, contracts, et cetera) missing from the supreme pleasures of Eden: “Thank Heaven, all these were yet to come” (Thorpe 111). Extending Hazlitt’s idea that Milton had the power to think “of nobler forms and nobler things than those he found about him” (Thorpe 98), Emerson praised the poet for giving us a new human ideal: “Better than any other he has discharged the office of every great man, namely, to raise the idea of Man in the minds of his contemporaries and of posterity.… Human nature in these ages is indebted to him for its best portrait” (Early Lectures 149).

But there was information of diverse sorts suggesting that Milton might have had a grudge against womankind. During the time that he was deserted by his first wife, Mary Powell, Milton wrote four pamphlets arguing in favor of divorce on the grounds of spiritual incompatibility. Mary’s daughters did not get along with his subsequent wives. Now and then the daughters were asked to read to their blind father in languages they could not understand (Darbishire 177, 277). And there were also a few passages in the poetry cataloging domestic unhappinesses with a somewhat unbalanced fervor. Samuel Johnson brought all of these factors together in a memorably pithy sentence: “There appears in his books something like a Turkish contempt of females, as subordinate and inferior beings” (Lives 1:193).

But through the eighteenth, the nineteenth, and much of the twentieth centuries, Milton’s misogynistic streak was usually considered an eccentricity, not a malign preoccupation at the center of his being. At the dawn of the feminist period, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, in their groundbreaking The Madwoman in the Attic, maintained that Milton’s patriarchal version of Genesis had from the beginning intimidated and oppressed female writers. He taught that a divine Father and Son had created everything, that Sin was a cursed mother, that Eve was supposed to be obedient to Adam (“He for God only, she for God in him”) but instead was corrupted by the devil (Gilbert 368–82; later in Gilbert and Gubar 187–212). Philip Gallagher objected immediately (Gallagher and Gilbert 319–22) and later expanded his views in the fervently argued Milton, the Bible, and Misogyny (1990).

Joseph Wittreich’s Feminist Milton (1987) showed that, Gilbert and Gubar to the contrary, many women down through the years had been empowered by Milton’s portrait of Eve. Early commentators on Paradise Lost were well aware that a passage such as Adam’s enumeration of marital woes to come at 10.896–908 was forced and gratuitous, since Adam “could not very naturally be supposed at that time to foresee so very circumstantially the inconvenience attending our straight conjunction with this sex, as he expresses it” (Thyer, cited in Todd 3.321). A few passages on a pet peeve were not too high a price to pay for great literature. Most poets had bees in their bonnets. Shakespeare himself never had a good word for dogs and cats. But feminists feared that Milton, whether consciously or not, was the agent of patriarchy or logo-centrism or bourgeois individualism—whatever its name, a large conspiracy of overlapping ideological commitments hostile to women and progressive civilization alike.

The main positions in feminist Milton studies are essentially the same as those adopted in Shakespeare studies, and no doubt in other literary disciplines. Some interpreters found that Milton’s poetry, if read sympathetically, yields meanings surprisingly favorable to women (McColley 1983; Woods). Others of this persuasion explored the possibility that Milton was not primarily threatened by women but in fact identified with them in profound ways (Kerrigan 1983, 184–86, 188–89, and 1991; S. Davies; Turner 65–71, 142–48; Lieb 83–113). Some, by contrast, agreed with Gilbert and Gubar that Milton is irredeemably an obstruction and will have to be cleared away (Froula). There were also those evenhanded souls contending that Milton is pretty much all right so far as he goes, but does not go far enough. James Turner in One Flesh found Milton’s Eden erotically liberating; yet the poem has “two quite different models of the politics of love: one is drawn from the experience of being in love with an equal, … the other from the hierarchical arrangement of the universe, and the craving for male supremacy” (285). Mary Nyquist conceded that Milton seemed progressive in championing companionate marriage based on conversational partnership but warned that a woman content with such by-products of individualism would be settling for too little. The “blear illusion” (Masque 155) of these bourgeois goods prevents women from appreciating the higher truths to their left (99–100, 115–24).

This is still a young tradition. Up to now it has no doubt been too caught up in the barren chore of ideological grading. But the arguments have begun.

REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS

Most of the many editions, books, and articles cited in the introduction and notes can be found, alphabetized by author, in the Works Cited bibliography at the end of this volume. Where an author’s surname is given without a date, it means that only one of this author’s works has been cited in the edition. Where a name is coupled with a date, it means that at least two works by this author have been cited in the edition. Multiple entries in Works Cited are arranged chronologically.

We use these abbreviations for works by John Milton:

1667    | Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books (1667).
1671    | Paradise Regained. A Poem in IV Books. To which is added Samson Agonistes (1671).
1674    | Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books. The Second Edition …(1674).
CMS    | Manuscript of poems by Milton at Trinity College, Cambridge.
MLM    | The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton, ed. William Kerrigan, John Rumrich, and Stephen M. Fallon. Modern Library edition: New York, 2007.
Yale    | Complete Prose Works of John Milton, ed. Don M. Wolfe et al. (8 vols., Yale Univ. Press, 1953–80).
Anidmad    | Animadversions on the Remonstrant’s Defense
Apology    | An Apology for Smectymnuus
Areop    | Areopagitica
CD    | Christian Doctrine
Damon    | Epitaph for Damon
DDD    | The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
Eikon    | Eikonoclastes
Il Pens    | Il Penseroso
L’All    | L’Allegro
Lyc    | Lycidas
Masque    | A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle
Nat Ode    | Nativity Ode
Of Ed    | Of Education
Of Ref    | Of Reformation
PL    | Paradise Lost
PR    | Paradise Regained
RCG    | The Reason of Church Government Urged Against Prelaty
REW    | The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth
SA    | Samson Agonistes
TKM    | The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
1Def    | Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio (A Defense of the English People)
2Def    | Defensio Secunda (Second Defense of the English People)

Citations to Milton’s prose refer either to the Modern Library Milton (MLM) or, for passages not included in the Modern Library Milton, to the volume and page number of the Yale edition.

We use the following abbreviations for works by Shakespeare:

ADO    | Much Ado About Nothing
ANT    | Antony and Cleopatra
COR    | Coriolanus
HAM    | Hamlet
1H4    | The First Part of King Henry the Fourth
2H4    | The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth
H5    | King Henry the Fifth
JC    | Julius Caesar
LLL    | Love’s Labor’s Lost
LR    | King Lear
MAC    | Macbeth
MM    | Measure for Measure
MND    | A Midsummer Night’s Dream
OTH    | Othello
R2    | King Richard the Second
R3    | King Richard the Third
ROM    | Romeo and Juliet
TMP    | The Tempest
TN    | Twelfth Night
TRO    | Troilus and Cressida

Unless otherwise indicated, we quote the Bible from the AV (King James Version), and use standard abbreviations when referring to its books; we sometimes cite Geneva (The Geneva Bible, 1588). Poetry in English, except where otherwise indicated, we cite from the Oxford authors series. Classical works are cited from the Loeb Classical Library unless otherwise noted, with standard abbreviations, such as, prominently, Il. and Od. for Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Ec. and Aen. for Vergil’s Eclogues and Aeneid, and Her. and Met. for Ovid’s Heroides and Metamorphoses.

We also use these abbreviations:

   Torquato Tasso, GL   Gerusalemme Liberata

Ludovico Ariosto, OF   Orlando Furioso

Edmund Spenser, FQ   The Faerie Queene

A CHRONOLOGY OF MILTON’S LIFE

1608    | (December 9) John Milton born on Bread Street in London.
1615    | (November 24?) Brother Christopher born.
1620    | (?) Enters St. Paul’s School under the headmastership of Alexander Gill, Sr. Begins his friendship with Charles Diodati. Thomas Young tutors Milton at home.
1625    | (February 12) Admitted to Christ’s College, Cambridge.
1629    | (March 26) Receives his B.A. degree. In December writes On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.
1632    | (July 3) Receives his M.A. degree. Retires to his father’s country house at Hammersmith for continued study.
1634    | (September 29) A Masque performed at Ludlow Castle in Wales.
1635 or ’36    | Moves with his parents to Horton.
1637    | A Masque published (dated 1637 but possibly published in 1638). Mother, Sara, dies in Horton on April 3. Lycidas written in November and published the next year.
1638–9    | Milton tours the Continent from April or May 1638 to July or August 1639. Charles Diodati dies in August 1638.
1639    | Settles in London, where he makes his living as a tutor.
1641    | Earliest antiprelatical tracts—Of Reformation (May), Of Prelatical Episcopacy (June or July), Animadversions on the Remonstrant’s Defense (July)—published.
1642    | Publishes The Reason of Church Government (January or February) and An Apology for Smectymnuus (April). Marries Mary Powell in June or July. In August she leaves him and the Civil War begins.
1643    | The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce published in August.
1644    | The second edition of The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce published in February; Of Education in June; The Judgment of Martin Bucer in August; Areopagitica in November.
1645    | Two more divorce pamphlets, Tetrachordon and Colasterion, published in March. Reconciles with Mary in July or August and moves to a larger house in Barbican in September.
1646    | Poems of Mr. John Milton published in January, dated 1645. Daughter Anne born July 29.
1647    | (March 13) On or about this date his father dies, leaving Milton the Bread Street house and a moderate estate. (September–October) Moves to a smaller house in High Holborn.
1648    | (October 25) Daughter Mary born.

1649   
(January 30) Charles I executed. Eikon Basilike published a week later. (February 13) The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates published, with a second edition in September. (March 15) Appointed Secretary for Foreign Tongues and ordered to answer Eikon Basilike. (May 11) Salmasius’s Defensio Regia arrives in England. (October 6) Eikonoklastes published, answering Eikon Basilike.

1651    | (February 24) The Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio (A Defense of the English People) published, answering Salmasius. (March 16) Son John born.
1652    | (February or March) Total blindness descends. Daughter Deborah born May 2. Wife Mary dies on May 5. Son John dies in June.
1653    | Duties as Secretary for Foreign Tongues are reduced by the addition of an assistant. Cromwell installed as Protector in December.
1654    | Defensio Secunda (Second Defense of the English People) published in May.
1655    | Milton is pensioned in April and though he continues to work for the Protectorate, devotes more time to private studies. Pro Se Defensio (Defense of Himself) published in August.
1656    | (November 12) Marries Katharine Woodcock.
1657    | (October 19) Daughter Katharine born.
1658    | Probably begins work on Paradise Lost. Wife Katharine dies on February 3. Daughter Katharine dies on March 17. Cromwell dies in September, succeeded by his son Richard.
1659    | A Treatise of Civil Power published in February. Richard Cromwell resigns in May. Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church published in August.
1660    | The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth published in February, with a second edition in April. Charles II proclaimed king in May. Milton arrested and imprisoned between September and November and released in December.
1663    | (February 24) Marries Elizabeth Minshull. Moves to a house in Artillery Walk, near Bunhill Fields.
1665    | Around June, moves to Chalfont St. Giles to avoid the London plague.
1667    | (October or November) Paradise Lost published as a poem in ten books.
1670    | (Around November 1) History of Britain published.
1671    | Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes published.
1672    | Artis Logicae (The Art of Logic) published.
1673    | Of True Religion published. An enlarged edition of Poems published, also including Of Education.
1674    | Epistolae Familiarum (Familiar Letters) published, including his Prolusions. Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books published around July 1. Milton dies November 9 or 10 and is buried in St. Giles, Cripplegate.

MINUTES OF THE LIFE OF MR. JOHN MILTON

John Aubrey

There are several seventeenth-century Milton biographers, including the anonymous biographer (most likely Milton’s friend Cyriack Skinner), the Oxford historian Anthony à Wood, Milton’s nephew and former student Edward Phillips, and the deist John Toland. One can find their works in Helen Darbishire’s The Early Lives of Milton (1932), which attributes the anonymous biography to Edward Phillips’s brother, John. We choose to print the biographical notes gathered by the antiquarian John Aubrey, which are notable for their author’s extraordinary attention to personal details and efforts to verify his information by consulting those who knew Milton well, including the poet’s widow, his brother, and some of his friends.

Aubrey’s manuscript notes are loosely organized, partly chronologically and partly by the person interviewed. Our text follows the chronologically arranged version established by Andrew Clark (2:62–72). Those wanting to identify the sources of individual comments may consult Clark’s edition or Darbishire’s. We have reproduced Clark’s interpolated headings, but we have in some places made different choices in our inclusions and exclusions. We have also modernized the text, changing punctuation and spelling. Aubrey’s notes are peppered with ellipses, where he leaves blanks to be filled in should further information appear. Bracketed ellipses in our text indicate places where we omit material found in Clark’s edition; otherwise the ellipses are Aubrey’s.

[HIS PARENTAGE]

His mother was a Bradshaw.

Mr. John Milton was of an Oxfordshire family.

His grandfather, …, (a Roman Catholic), of Holton, in Oxfordshire, near Shotover.

His father was brought up in the University of Oxon, at Christ Church, and his grandfather disinherited him because he kept not to the Catholic religion (he found a Bible in English in his chamber). So thereupon he came to London, and became a scrivener (brought up by a friend of his; was not an apprentice) and got a plentiful estate by it, and left it off many years before he died. He was an ingenious man; delighted in music; composed many songs now in print, especially that of Oriana.¹

I have been told that the father composed a song of fourscore parts for the Landgrave of Hesse, for which [his] highness sent a medal of gold, or a noble present. He died about 1647; buried in Cripplegate church, from his house in the Barbican.

[HIS BIRTH]

His son John was born in Bread Street, in London, at the Spread Eagle, which was his house (he had also in that street another house, the Rose, and other houses in other places).

He was born Anno Domini … the … day of …, about … o’clock in the …

(John Milton was born the 9th of December, 1608, die Veneris,² half an hour after 6 in the morning.)

Portrait of Milton at age ten, by Cornelius Janssen. (illustration credit fm3.1)

[HIS PRECOCITY]

Anno Domini 1619, he was ten years old, as by his picture; and was then a poet.

[SCHOOL, COLLEGE, AND TRAVEL]

His schoolmaster then was a Puritan, in Essex, who cut his hair short.

He went to school to old Mr. Gill, at Paul’s School. Went at his own charge only to Christ’s College in Cambridge at fifteen, where he stayed eight years at least. Then he traveled into France and Italy (had Sir H. Wotton’s commendatory letters). At Geneva he contracted a great friendship with the learned Dr. Diodati of Geneva (vide his poems). He was acquainted with Sir Henry Wotton, ambassador at Venice, who delighted in his company. He was several years <Quaere, how many? Resp., two years> beyond sea, and returned to England just upon the breaking out of the civil wars.

From his brother, Christopher Milton: When he went to school, when he was very young, he studied very hard and sat up very late, commonly till twelve or one o’clock at night, and his father ordered the maid to sit up for him; and in those years (10) composed many copies of verses which might well become a riper age. And was a very hard student in the university, and performed all his exercises there with very good applause. His first tutor there was Mr. Chapell; from whom receiving some unkindness <whipped him>; he was afterwards (though it seemed contrary to the rules of the college) transferred to the tuition of one Mr. Tovell,³ who died parson of Lutterworth.

He went to travel about the year 1638 and was abroad about a year’s space, chiefly in Italy.

[RETURN TO ENGLAND]

Immediately after his return he took a lodging at Mr. Russell’s, a tailor, in St. Bride’s churchyard, and took into his tuition his [Milton’s] sister’s two sons, Edward and John Phillips, the first 10, the other 9 years of age; and in a year’s time made them capable of interpreting a Latin author at sight, etc., and within three years they went through the best of Latin and Greek poets: Lucretius and Manilius <and with him the use of the globes and some rudiments of arithmetic and geometry> of the Latins; Hesiod, Aratus, Dionysius Afer, Oppian, Apollonii Argonautica, and Quintus Calaber. Cato, Varro, and Columella De re rustica were the very first authors they learned. As he was severe on the one hand, so he was most familiar and free in his conversation to those to whom most sour in his way of education. N.B. he made his nephews songsters, and sing, from the time they were with him.

[FIRST WIFE AND CHILDREN]

He married his first wife, Mary Powell of Fosthill,⁴ at Shotover, in Oxonshire, Anno Domini …; by whom he had four children. [He] hath two daughters living: Deborah was his amanuensis (he taught her Latin, and to read Greeke to him when he had lost his eyesight, which was anno Domini …).

[SEPARATION FROM HIS FIRST WIFE]

She went from him to her mother’s at … in the king’s quarters, near Oxford, anno Domini …; and wrote the Triplechord about divorce.⁵

Two opinions do not well on the same bolster. She was a … Royalist, and went to her mother to the King’s quarters, near Oxford. I have perhaps so much charity to her that she might not wrong his bed: but what man, especially contemplative, would like to have a young wife environed and stormed by the sons of Mars, and those of the enemy party?

His first wife (Mrs. Powell, a Royalist) was brought up and lived where there was a great deal of company and merriment <dancing, etc.>. And when she came to live with her husband, at Mr. Russell’s in St. Bride’s churchyard, she found it very solitary; no company came to her; oftentimes heard his nephews beaten and cry. This life was irksome to her, and so she went to her parents at Fosthill. He sent for her, after some time; and I think his servant was evilly entreated: but as for manner of wronging his bed, I never heard the least suspicions; nor had he, of that, any jealousy.

[SECOND WIFE]

He had a middle wife, whose name was Katharine Woodcock. No child living by her.

[THIRD WIFE]

He married his second [sic] wife, Elizabeth Minshull, anno … (the year before the sickness): a gentle person, a peaceful and agreeable humor.

[HIS PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT]

He was Latin secretary to the Parliament.

[HIS BLINDNESS]

His sight began to fail him at first upon his writing against Salmasius, and before ’twas full completed one eye absolutely failed. Upon the writing of other books after that, his other eye decayed.

His eyesight was decaying about 20 years before his death. His father read without spectacles at 84. His mother had very weak eyes, and used spectacles presently after she was thirty years old.

[WRITINGS AFTER HIS BLINDNESS]

After he was blind he wrote these following books, viz.: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Grammar, Dictionary (imperfect).

I heard that after he was blind that he was writing a Latin dictionary (in the hands of Moses Pitt). Vidua affirmat⁶ she gave all his papers (among which this dictionary, imperfect) to his nephew, a sister’s son, that he brought up … Phillips, who lives near the Maypole in the Strand. She has a great many letters by her from learned men, his acquaintance, both of England and beyond the sea.

[HIS LATER RESIDENCES]

He lived in several places, e.g., Holborn near Kingsgate. He died in Bunhill, opposite the Artillery-garden wall.

[HIS DEATH AND BURIAL]

He died of the gout, struck in the 9th or 10th of November, 1674, as appears by his apothecary’s book.

He lies buried in St. Giles Cripplegate, upper end of the chancel at the right hand, vide his gravestone. Memorandum: his stone is now removed, for about two years since (now 1681) the two steps to the communion table were raised. I guess John Speed⁷ and he lie together.

[PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS]

His harmonical and ingenious soul did lodge in a beautiful and well-proportioned body—“In toto nusquam corpore menda fuit,” Ovid.⁸

He was a spare man. He was scarce so tall as I am, […] of middle stature.

He had auburn hair. His complexion exceeding fair—he was so fair that they called him the Lady of Christ’s College. Oval face. His eye a dark gray.

He had a delicate tuneable voice, and had good skill. His father instructed him. He had an organ in his house; he played on that most.

Of a very cheerful humor. He would be cheerful even in his gout-fits, and sing.

He was very healthy and free from all diseases: seldom took any physic (only sometimes he took manna):⁹ only towards his latter end he was visited with the gout, spring and fall.

He had a very good memory; but I believe that his excellent method of thinking and disposing did much to help his memory.

He pronounced the letter R <littera canina¹⁰> very hard (a certain sign of a satirical wit—from John Dryden.).

[PORTRAITS OF HIM]

Write his name in red letters on his pictures, with his widow, to preserve.¹¹

His widow has his picture, drawn very well and like, when a Cambridge-scholar, which ought to be engraven; for the pictures before his books are not at all like him.

[HIS HABITS]

His exercise was chiefly walking.

He was an early riser <scil. at 4 a clock manè¹²>; yea, after he lost his sight. He had a man read to him. The first thing he read was the Hebrew bible, and that was at 4 h. manè, 1/2 h. plus. Then he contemplated.

At 7 his man came to him again, and then read to him again and wrote till dinner; the writing was as much as the reading. His (2nd) daughter, Deborah, could read to him in Latin, Italian and French, and Greek. [She] married in Dublin to one Mr. Clarke <sells silk, etc.>; very like her father. The other sister is Mary, more like her mother.

After dinner he used to walk 3 or 4 hours at a time (he always had a garden where he lived); went to bed about 9.

Temperate man, rarely drank between meals.

Extreme pleasant in his conversation and at dinner, supper, etc; but satirical.

[NOTES ABOUT SOME OF HIS WORKS]

From Mr. E. Phillips:—All the time of writing his Paradise Lost, his vein began at the autumnal equinoctial, and ceased at the vernal or thereabouts (I believe about May); and this was 4 or 5 years of his doing it. He began about 2 years before the king came in, and finished about three years after the king’s restoration.¹³

In the 4th book of Paradise Lost there are about six verses of Satan’s exclamation to the sun, which Mr. E. Phillips remembers about 15 or 16 years before ever his poem was thought of, which verses were intended for the beginning of a tragedy which he had designed, but was diverted from it by other business.

Whatever he wrote against monarchy was out of no animosity to the king’s person, or out of any faction or interest, but out of a pure zeal to the liberty of mankind, which he thought would be greater under a free state than under a monarchial government. His being so conversant in Livy and the Roman authors, and the greatness he saw done by the Roman commonwealth, and the virtue of their great commanders induced him to.

From Mr. Abraham Hill:—Memorandum: his sharp writing against Alexander More, of Holland, upon a mistake, notwithstanding he had given him by the ambassador all satisfaction to the contrary: viz. that the book called Clamor was writ by Peter du Moulin. Well, that was all one; he having writ it,¹⁴ it should go into the world; one of them was as bad as the other.

Memorandum:—Mr. Theodore Haak. Regiae Societatis Socius, hath translated half his Paradise Lost into High Dutch in such blank verse, which is very well liked of by Germanus Fabricius, Professor at Heidelberg, who sent to Mr. Haak a letter upon this translation: “incredibile est quantum nos omnes affecerit gravitas styli, et copia lectissimorum verborum,”¹⁵ etc.—vide the letter.

Mr. John Milton made two admirable panegyrics, as to sublimity of wit, one on Oliver Cromwell, and the other on Thomas, Lord Fairfax, both which his nephew Mr. Phillips hath. But he hath hung back these two years, as to imparting copies to me for the collection of mine […]. Were they made in commendation of the devil, ’twere all one to me: ’tis the ¹⁶ that I look after. I have been told that ’tis beyond Waller’s or anything in that kind.¹⁷ […]

[HIS ACQUAINTANCE]

He was visited much by learned [men]; more than he did desire.

He was mightily importuned to go into France and Italy. Foreigners came much to see him, and much admired him, and offered to him great preferments to come over to them; and the only inducement of several foreigners that came over into England was chiefly to see Oliver Protector and Mr. John Milton; and would see the house and chamber where he was born. He was much more admired abroad than at home.

His familiar learned acquaintance were Mr. Andrew Marvell, Mr. Skinner, Dr. Pagett, M.D.

Mr.… [Cyriack] Skinner, who was his disciple.

John Dryden, Esq., Poet Laureate, who very much admires him, and went to him to have leave to put his Paradise Lost into a drama in rhyme. Mr. Milton received him civilly, and told him he would give him leave to tag his verses.¹⁸

His widow assures me that Mr. T. Hobbes was not one of his acquaintance, that her husband did not like him at all, but he would acknowledge him to be a man of great parts, and a learned man. Their interests and tenets did run counter to each other, vide Mr. Hobbes’ Behemoth.

1. Oriana: Milton’s father contributed a song, “Fair Orian,” to The Triumphs of Oriana (1601), a volume of songs dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I.

2. die Veneris: Venus’s Day, i.e., Friday.

3. I.e., Nathaniel Tovey.

4. I.e., Forest Hill.

5. Triplechord about divorce: most likely Tetrachordon (four strings).

6. Vidua affirmat: His widow maintains.

7. John Speed: author of The History of Great Britain, he is buried in St. Giles, as is John Foxe, author of The Book of Martyrs and Acts and Monuments.

8. 1 Amores 5.18: “There was not a blemish on her body.”

9. manna: a mild laxative.

10. littera canina: dog letter, so called because making a continuous r sound resembles a dog’s growl when threatening attack.

11. A note to himself.

12. Scil.… manè: It is well known (scilicet) … in the morning.

13. I.e., Milton composed his epic between 1658 and 1663.

14. Milton published his Second Defense of the English People (1654), with its attack on More as the author of the Cry of the King’s Blood (Regii Sanguinis Clamor), even after learning that another had written the book.

15. “It is incredible how much the dignity of his style and his most excellent diction have affected all of us.”

16. : loftiness, altitude.

17. We omit here a catalog of Milton’s works.

18. John Dryden’s The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man: An Opera Written in Heroique Verse, based on Paradise Lost, was published in 1677. A tag was an ornamental, metal-tipped lace or string that dangled from a garment.

A NOTE ON THE TEXT

This text of Paradise Lost is based on the second edition of 1674, the last edition published in Milton’s lifetime and the last over which he exerted some degree of control. The qualifier “some degree” is necessary because Renaissance publishers normally introduced their own habits of orthography and punctuation into printed texts. Milton, who is usually assumed to have resisted this practice more than other authors of the period, by no means had his own way in these matters, as we know from the fact that the Pierpont Morgan Library manuscript of Book I of Paradise Lost is more lightly punctuated than the printed version. We have assessed significant variations found in this manuscript, in the first edition of 1667, and in editions subsequent to 1674 on a case-by-case basis, and discussed them in our notes. The virtues of an eclectic approach to editing Milton have been ably set forth by John Creaser (1983, 1984).

We have sought to ease the journey of modern readers. Most of Milton’s capitalizations, italics, and contractions have been removed. Quotation marks came into vogue some years after the death of Milton, and they do not appear in the first two editions of his epic. We have added them. His spelling has been modernized and Americanized; “brigad” becomes “brigade,” and “vigour” becomes “vigor.” But there are important exceptions to these preferences. Our efforts at modernization have been checked by a desire to preserve whenever possible the sound, rhythm, and texture of the poem. We have therefore left archaic words and some original spellings intact; “enow” does not become “enough,” and “highth” does not become “height.” In cases where Milton’s contractions indicate that a syllable voiced in the modern pronunciation of a word is to be elided, as with “flow’ry” at 9.456 or “heav’nly” at 9.457, we have left them alone. Sometimes the final -ed in words such as “fixed” is not voiced, as in “Of Godhead fixed forever firm and sure” (7.586). Where -ed is a voiced syllable, as in “His fixèd seat” (3.669), we have placed an accent mark slanting down from left to right.

Book IV, lines 257 to 290, from the second edition of Paradise Lost (1674). (illustration credit fm4.1)

Punctuation offers especially complex choices for modernizers. For punctuation, or “pointing” as it was called in Milton’s day, serves two purposes at least. It displays the logic of the syntax, aiding a reader in the basic chore of construing sense. But especially in a poetic text, and more especially still in the poetic text of the seventeenth century, punctuation also indicates rhythmic pauses. It is generally assumed, perhaps without much evidence, that a semicolon points to a longer pause than a comma, a colon to a longer pause than a semicolon, and a period to the most pronounced pause of all. Milton’s punctuation is difficult to update for modern readers in both of its functions. For his syntax is not packaged in the modern unit of the sentence. The grammatical shoots of Paradise Lost twist and turn like wanton vines. His verbs can refer back to subjects introduced some ten or more lines before, and what seem at first to be subordinate clauses will often develop complex syntactical lives of their own. On the rhythmic side, many of the commas and semicolons that look superfluous by modern standards could well indicate the sound-patterns of his verse. Some readers would argue that, whenever the two functions of punctuation come into conflict, sound must be sacrificed to sense. But in poetry, as in good prose, sound-patterns are, above and beyond their inherent beauty, meaning-patterns. Countless works of criticism have demonstrated that sound effects in literary language have the power to bear meaning, and we see no reason to doubt these results. Milton, moreover, is widely judged to be a supreme master of this aspect of literary craftsmanship.

Given these concerns, we have sought within a general framework of modernization to respect the punctuation schemes developed by Milton and his publishers. We remove a number of commas. Some are changed to semicolons and periods for the sake of readability. But in places where marking the rhythm seems paramount (see 2.315), we reproduce either closely or exactly the pointing of 1674.

Title page to the second edition of Paradise Lost (1674). (illustration credit fm5.1)

INTRODUCTION TO PREFATORY POEMS

These laudatory poems first prefaced Paradise Lost in 1674. The Latin verses by Samuel Barrow concentrate on the expulsion of Satan and his followers from Heaven and its classical precedents, the defeat and punishment of the Titans and Giants. Given the literary triumph of this section of Paradise Lost, Barrow confidently welcomes Milton onto the stage of world poetry (where he has been ever since). The English verses by Andrew Marvell assert the religious propriety and superior artistry of Milton’s achievement, stressing its capaciousness and aesthetic excellence by invoking the cramped neoclassical canons that prevailed after the Restoration. Aware of Dryden’s desire to rewrite Paradise Lost as a drama in heroic couplets, Marvell detects traces of divine inspiration even in Milton’s blank verse prosody, created like the world itself “in number, weight, and measure.”

Barrow was noted for his affection for Charles I, had been much involved with the political maneuvering of the late 1650s leading to the Restoration, and yet had also been linked with Cromwell. Appointed a physician to Charles II in 1660, he was a discreet, well-connected man of science and a great admirer of Milton. Marvell had a similar history of shifting political allegiance and a well-deserved reputation for discretion. Like Barrow a Royalist sympathizer at the beginning of the English Revolution, he must have adopted the Republican cause by 1653, when Milton recommended him for a position in Cromwell’s government. (He was not appointed until 1657.) After the Restoration, he served ably as member of Parliament for Hull and was widely respected. The participation of Barrow and Marvell in the second edition seems to have been orchestrated as a broad-based appeal to judicious men of learning and affairs on behalf of a poet much maligned for his political crimes. Marvell had earlier come to the aid of the embattled Milton. Immediately after the Restoration, he helped protect the defender of regicide against his enemies and was instrumental in clearing Milton of a supposed debt to the sergeant at arms after his imprisonment in 1660. A decade later, in The Rehearsal Transpos’d, he championed Milton against the scurrilous attack of Samuel Parker.

IN PARADISUM AMISSAM SUMMI
POETAE IOHANNIS MILTONI

[On the Supreme Poet John Milton’s Paradise Lost]

Qui legis Amissam Paradisum, grandia magni

   Carmina Miltoni, quid nisi cuncta legis?

Res cunctas et cunctarum primordia rerum

   Et fata et fines continet iste liber.

Intima panduntur magni penetralia mundi,

   Scribitur et toto quicquid in orbe latet:

Terraeque tractusque maris coelumque profundum

   Sulphureumque Erebi flammivomumque specus;

Quaeque colunt terras pontumque et Tartara caeca,⁹

   Quaeque colunt summi lucida regna poli;

Et quodcunque ullis conclusum est finibus usquam,

   Et sine fine chaos et sine fine Deus,

Et sine fine magis, si quid magis est sine fine,

   In Christo erga homines conciliatus amor.

Haec qui speraret quis crederet esse futurum?

   Et tamen haec hodie terra Britanna legit.

O quantos in bella duces, quae protulit arma!

   Quae canit et quanta praelia dira tuba!

Coelestes acies, atque in certamine coelum,

   Et quae coelestes pugna deceret agros!

Quantus in aetheriis tollit se Lucifer armis,

   Atque ipso graditur vix Michaele minor!

Quantis et quam funestis concurritur iris

   Dum ferus hic stellas protegit, ille rapit!

Dum vulsos montes ceu tela reciproca torquent

   Et non mortali desuper igne pluunt,

Stat dubius cui se parti concedat Olympus

   Et metuit pugnae non superesse suae.

At simul in coelis Messiae insignia fulgent,

   Et currus animes armaque digna Deo,

Horrendumque rotae strident, et saeva rotarum

   Erumpunt torvis fulgura luminibus,

Et flammae vibrant, et vera tonitrua rauco

   Admistis flammis insonuere polo,

Excidit attonitis mens omnis et impetus omnis,

   Et cassis dextris irrita tela cadunt.

Ad poenas fugiunt, et ceu foret Orcus asylum

   Infernis certant condere se tenebris.

Cedite romani scriptores, cedite Graii

   Et quos fama recens vel celebravit anus.

Haec quicunque leget tantum cecinisse putabit

   Maeonidem ranas, Virgilium culices.

9. pontumque: “portumque” (harbor) in the 1674 Paradise Lost.

S.B. M.D.

English Translation

You who read Paradise Lost, great Milton’s grand poem, what do you read but everything? This book contains all things, and the origins of all things, and their fates and their ends. The innermost secrets of the great universe are displayed, and whatever in the whole world is hidden is written out: the lands and the expanses of the sea and deep heaven and the sulfurous and flame-vomiting cave of Erebus; and those things that inhabit the lands and the sea and blind Tartarus, and those that inhabit the bright realms of highest heaven; and whatever anywhere is enclosed within any boundaries, and boundless Chaos, and boundless God; and more boundless—if anything is more boundless—Christ’s love directed toward men. Who would have believed there would come someone who would aspire to such things?—and yet today the land of Britain reads them. How many chieftains he brought to war, and what weaponry! What battles he sings, and with what a trumpet!—battlelines in Heaven, and Heaven in conflict, and fighting that befits the fields of Heaven! What a Lucifer lifts himself to ethereal warfare, and strides scarcely lower than Michael himself! With what great and fatal rage the fight is joined while one in his fierceness protects the stars, the other assaults them! While they hurl uprooted mountains as retaliatory weapons and they rain down from above with no mortal fire, Olympus stands unsure to which side to yield, and fears it will not survive its own battle. But as soon as the Messiah’s standards shine out in Heaven and you rouse his chariot and the arms worthy of God, and the wheels shriek horrifyingly and savage lightning breaks from the wheels with grim flashes, and flames shake and true thunderclaps resound with a mixture of flames in the clangorous sky, all consciousness falls from those who have been struck, and all strength, and their useless weapons drop from their empty hands. They flee to punishment, and as if the underworld were asylum they strive to settle themselves in the infernal shades. Yield, Roman writers, yield, Greeks, and those whom recent or ancient fame has celebrated; whoever reads this will think Homer just sang of frogs, Vergil of gnats.

S[amuel] B[arrow]

ON MR. MILTON’S PARADISE LOST

When I beheld the poet blind, yet bold,

In slender book his vast design unfold,

Messiah crowned, God’s reconciled decree,

Rebelling angels, the Forbidden Tree,

Heav’n, Hell, Earth, Chaos, all; the argument⁵

Held me a while misdoubting his intent,

That he would ruin (for I saw him strong)

The sacred truths to fable and old song,

(So Samson groped the temple’s posts in spite)⁹

The world o’erwhelming to revenge his sight.

   Yet as I read, soon growing less severe,

I liked his project, the success did fear;

Through that wide field how he his way should find

O’er which lame Faith leads Understanding blind,

Lest he perplexed¹⁵ the things he would explain,

And what was easy he should render vain.

   Or if a work so infinite be spanned,

Jealous I was that some less skilful hand¹⁸

(Such as disquiet always what is well,

And by ill imitating would excel)

Might hence presume the whole Creation’s day

To change in scenes and show it in a play.

   Pardon me, mighty poet, nor despise

My causeless, yet not impious, surmise.

But I am now convinced that none will dare

Within thy labors to pretend a share.

Thou hast not missed one thought that could be fit,

And all that was improper dost omit:

So that no room is here for writers left,

But to detect³⁰ their ignorance or theft.

   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 named from that paradise³⁹ you sing

So never flags, but always keeps on wing.

   Where couldst thou words of such a compass find?

Whence furnish such a vast expense of mind?

Just heaven thee, like Tiresias⁴³, to requite,

Rewards with prophecy thy loss of sight.

   Well might’st thou scorn thy readers to allure

With tinkling rhyme⁴⁶, of thine own sense secure;

While the Town-Bays⁴⁷ writes all the while and spells,

And like a pack horse tires without his bells.

Their fancies like our bushy points⁴⁹ appear:

The poets tag them; we for fashion wear.

I too transported by the mode offend,

And while I meant to praise thee must commend.

Thy verse created like thy theme sublime,

In number, weight, and measure⁵⁴, needs not rhyme.

5. argument: the plot or subject matter.

9. Marvell appears to have read Samson Agonistes, first published in 1671. But the primary allusion is to Judges 16.28, a passage that Milton does not represent in SA.

15. perplexed: complicated unnecessarily.

18. some less skilful hand: Dryden, who asked Milton if he could make a rhymed drama of Paradise Lost. “Mr. Milton received him civilly, and told him he would give him leave to tag his verses” (Aubrey, p. lxviii).

30. detect: expose.

39. bird named from that paradise: Birds of Paradise were thought to live entirely in the air, never touching ground.

43. Tiresias: The legendary seer, mentioned in PL 3.36, was given prophetic vision in recompense for his blindness.

46. tinkling rhyme: Cp. Milton’s “jingling sound of like endings” in his remarks on “The Verse” of PL.

47. Town-Bays: In Buckingham’s play The Rehearsal, Dryden is lampooned in the character of Bayes. The name alludes to the laurel used to crown poets, which by synecdoche refers to all fame-seeking versifiers.

49. bushy points: Points attached the hose to the doublet. They were either tasseled (bushy) or gathered together, like modern shoelaces, in a metal tag. Tagging bushy laces is here a metaphor for introducing regular end-rhyme in Milton’s flowing blank verse.

54. In number, weight, and measure: See Wisdom 11:20: “thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight.”

PARADISE LOST

THE PRINTER TO THE READER¹

Courteous Reader, there was no argument at first intended to the book, but for the satisfaction of many that have desired it, I have procured it, and withal a reason of that which stumbled many others, why the poem rhymes not. S. Simmons

THE VERSE

The measure is English heroic verse without rhyme, as that of Homer in Greek, and of Vergil in Latin; rhyme being no necessary adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verse, in longer works especially, but the invention of a barbarous age, to set off wretched matter and lame meter; graced indeed since by the use of some famous modern poets, carried away by custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most part worse than else they would have expressed them. Not without cause therefore some both Italian and Spanish poets of prime note have rejected rhyme both in longer and shorter works, as have also long since our best English tragedies, as a thing of itself, to all judicious ears, trivial and of no true musical delight; which consists only in apt numbers, fit quantity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another, not in the jingling sound of like endings, a fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and all good oratory. This neglect then of rhyme so little is to be taken for a defect, though it may seem so perhaps to vulgar readers, that it rather is to be esteemed an example set, the first in English, of ancient liberty recovered to heroic poem from the troublesome and modern bondage of rhyming.

1. The defense of blank verse and the prose arguments summarizing each book “procured” by Milton’s printer, Samuel Simmons, were inserted in bound copies of the first edition beginning in 1668, with this brief note.

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 drawing to his side many legions of angels, was by the command of God driven 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 center (for heaven and earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not 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 known 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. Pandaemonium the palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the deep. The infernal peers there sit in council.

Of man’s¹ first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater man⁴

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat⁵,

Sing Heav’nly Muse⁶, that on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd⁸, who first taught the chosen seed,

In the beginning⁹ how the heavens and earth

Rose out of Chaos¹⁰: or if Sion hill

Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed

Fast by the oracle of God¹¹, I thence

Invoke thy aid to my advent’rous song,

That with no middle flight¹⁴ intends to soar

Above th’ Aonian mount¹⁵, while it pursues

Things unattempted¹⁶ yet in prose or rhyme.

And chiefly¹⁷ 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

Dove-like sat’st brooding²¹ on the vast abyss

And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark

Illumine, what is low raise and support,

That to the highth of this great argument²⁴

I may assert²⁵ eternal providence,

And justify²⁶ the ways of God to men.

    Say first,²⁷ for Heav’n hides nothing from thy view

Nor the deep tract of Hell, say first what cause

Moved our grand²⁹ parents in that happy state,

Favored of Heav’n so highly, to fall off³⁰

From their Creator, and transgress his will

For one restraint, lords of the world besides?

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?³³

Th’ infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile

Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived

The mother of mankind, what time³⁶ his pride

Had cast him out from Heav’n, with all his host

Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring

To set himself in glory above his peers,

He trusted to have equaled the Most High,

If he opposed; and with ambitious aim

Against the throne and monarchy of God

Raised impious war in Heav’n and battle proud

With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power⁴⁴

Hurled headlong⁴⁵ flaming from th’ ethereal sky

With hideous ruin⁴⁶ and combustion down

To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

In adamantine⁴⁸ chains and penal fire,

Who durst⁴⁹ defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.

Nine times⁵⁰ the space that measures day and night

To mortal men, he with his horrid crew

Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf

Confounded⁵³ though immortal: but his doom

Reserved⁵⁴ him to more wrath; for now the thought

Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

Torments him; round he throws his baleful⁵⁶ eyes

That witnessed⁵⁷ huge affliction and dismay

Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate:

At once as far as angels ken⁵⁹ he views

The dismal situation waste and wild,

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round

As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames

No light, but rather darkness visible⁶³

Served only to discover sights of woe,

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

And rest⁶⁶ can never dwell, hope never comes

That comes to all; but⁶⁷ torture without end

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

With ever-burning sulfur unconsumed:

Such place⁷⁰ eternal justice had prepared

For those rebellious, here their prison ordained

In utter darkness⁷², and their portion set

As far removed from God and light of Heav’n⁷³

As from the center⁷⁴ thrice to th’ utmost pole.

O how unlike the place from whence they fell!

There the companions of his fall, o’erwhelmed

With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,

He soon discerns, and welt’ring⁷⁸ by his side

One next himself in power, and next in crime,

Long after known in Palestine, and named

Beëlzebub⁸¹. To whom th’ Arch-Enemy,

And thence in Heav’n called Satan⁸², with bold words

Breaking the horrid silence thus began.

   “If thou beest he; but O how fall’n!⁸⁴ How changed

From him, who in the happy realms of light

Clothed with transcendent brightness didst outshine

Myriads though bright: if he whom mutual league,

United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

And hazard in the glorious enterprise,

Joined with me once, now misery hath joined

In equal ruin: into what pit thou seest

From what highth fall’n, so much the stronger proved

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,

Though changed in outward luster; that fixed mind

And high disdain⁹⁸, from sense of injured merit,

That with the mightiest raised me to contend,

And to the fierce contention brought along

Innumerable force of spirits armed

That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,

His utmost¹⁰³ power with adverse power opposed

In dubious battle on the plains of Heav’n,

And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?

All is not lost; the unconquerable will,

And study¹⁰⁷ of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield:

And what¹⁰⁹ 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 this arm so late

Doubted¹¹⁴ his empire, that were low indeed,

That were an ignominy¹¹⁵ and shame beneath

This downfall; since by fate¹¹⁶ the strength of gods

And this empyreal substance¹¹⁷ cannot fail,

Since through experience of this great event

In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,

We may with more successful hope resolve

To wage by force or guile eternal war

Irreconcilable, to our grand foe,

Who now triumphs¹²³, and in th’ excess of joy

Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heav’n.”

   So spake th’ apostate angel, though in pain,¹²⁵

Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair:

And him thus answered soon his bold compeer.

   “O Prince, O chief of many thronèd powers¹²⁸,

That led th’ embattled Seraphim to war

Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds

Fearless, endangered Heav’n’s perpetual King,

And put to proof his high supremacy,

Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate,

Too well I see and rue the dire event¹³⁴,

That with sad overthrow and foul defeat

Hath lost us Heav’n, and all this mighty host

In horrible destruction laid thus low,

As far as gods and Heav’nly essences

Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains

Invincible, and vigor soon returns,

Though all our glory¹⁴¹ extinct, and happy state

Here swallowed up in endless misery.

But what if he our conqueror (whom I now

Of force¹⁴⁴ believe almighty, since no less

Than such could have o’erpow’red such force as ours)

Have left us this our spirit and strength entire

Strongly to suffer and support¹⁴⁷ our pains,

That we may so suffice¹⁴⁸ his vengeful ire,

Or do him mightier service as his thralls¹⁴⁹

By right of war, whate’er his business be

Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,

Or do his errands in the gloomy deep¹⁵²;

What can¹⁵³ it then avail though yet we feel

Strength undiminished, or eternal being

To undergo eternal punishment?”

Whereto with speedy words th’ Arch-Fiend replied.

   “Fall’n cherub, to be weak is miserable

Doing or suffering¹⁵⁸: but of this be sure,

To do aught good never will be our task,

But ever to do ill our sole delight,

As being the contrary to his high will

Whom we resist. If then his providence

Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,

Our labor must be to pervert that end,

And out of good still to find means of evil;

Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps

Shall grieve him, if I fail¹⁶⁷ not, and disturb

His inmost counsels from their destined aim.

But see the angry victor hath recalled

His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

Back to the gates of Heav’n: the sulfurous hail

Shot after us in storm, o’erblown hath laid¹⁷²

The fiery surge, that from the precipice

Of Heav’n received us falling, and the thunder,

Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,

Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now

To bellow through the vast and boundless deep.

Let us not slip¹⁷⁸ th’ occasion, whether scorn,

Or satiate fury yield it from our foe.

Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,

The seat of desolation, void of light,

Save what the glimmering of these livid¹⁸² flames

Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend

From off the tossing of these fiery waves,

There rest, if any rest can harbor there,

And reassembling our afflicted¹⁸⁶ powers,

Consult how we may henceforth most offend

Our enemy, our own loss how repair,

How overcome this dire calamity,

What reinforcement we may gain from hope,

If not what resolution from despair.”

   Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate

With head uplift above the wave, and eyes

That sparkling blazed, his other parts besides

Prone on the flood, extended long and large

Lay floating many a rood¹⁹⁶, in bulk as huge

As whom the fables name of monstrous size,

Titanian, or Earth-born, that warred on Jove,¹⁹⁸

Briareos or Typhon¹⁹⁸, whom the den

By ancient Tarsus²⁰⁰ held, or that sea beast

Leviathan²⁰¹, which God of all his works

Created hugest that swim th’ ocean stream:

Him haply slumb’ring on the Norway foam²⁰³

The pilot of some small night-foundered²⁰⁴ skiff,

Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,

With fixèd anchor in his scaly rind

Moors by his side under the lee²⁰⁷, while night

Invests²⁰⁸ the sea, and wishèd morn delays:

So stretched out huge in length the Arch-Fiend lay

Chained²¹⁰ on the burning lake, nor ever thence

Had ris’n or heaved his head, but that the will

And high permission of all-ruling Heaven

Left him at large to his own dark designs,

That with reiterated crimes he might

Heap on himself damnation, while he sought

Evil to others, and enraged might see

How all his malice served but to bring forth

Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown

On man by him seduced, but on himself

Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance poured.

Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool

His mighty stature; on each hand the flames

Driv’n backward slope their pointing spires, and rolled

In billows, leave i’ th’ midst a horrid²²⁴ vale.

Then with expanded wings he steers his flight

Aloft, incumbent²²⁶ on the dusky air

That felt unusual weight, till on dry land

He lights, if it were land that ever burned

With solid, as the lake with liquid fire,

And such appeared in hue, as when the force²³⁰

Of subterranean wind transports a hill

Torn from Pelorus²³², or the shattered side

Of thund’ring Etna, whose combustible

And fueled entrails thence conceiving fire²³⁴,

Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,

And leave a singèd bottom all involved

With stench and smoke: such resting found the sole

Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate,

Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian flood²³⁹

As gods,²⁴⁰ and by their own recovered strength,

Not by the sufferance of supernal power.

   “Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,”

Said then the lost Archangel, “this the seat

That we must change²⁴⁴ for Heav’n, this mournful gloom

For that celestial light? Be it so, since he

Who now is sov’reign can dispose and bid

What shall be right: farthest from him is best

Whom reason hath equaled, force hath made supreme

Above his equals. Farewell happy fields

Where joy for ever dwells: hail horrors, hail

Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell

Receive thy new possessor²⁵²: one who brings

A mind²⁵³ not to be changed by place or time.

The mind is its own place, and in itself²⁵⁴

Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.

What matter where, if I be still the same,

And what I should be, all but less than²⁵⁷ he

Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least

We shall be free; th’ Almighty hath not built

Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to²⁶³ reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.

But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,

Th’ associates and copartners²⁶⁵ of our loss

Lie thus astonished²⁶⁶ on th’ oblivious pool,

And call them not to share with us their part

In this unhappy mansion²⁶⁸, or once more

With rallied arms to try what may be yet

Regained in Heav’n, or what more lost in Hell?”

   So Satan spake, and him Beëlzebub

Thus answered. “Leader of those armies bright,

Which but th’ Omnipotent none could have foiled,

If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge

Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft

In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge²⁷⁶

Of battle when it raged, in all assaults

Their surest signal, they will soon resume

New courage and revive, though now they lie

Groveling and prostrate on yon lake of fire,

As we erewhile²⁸¹, astounded and amazed,

No wonder, fallen such a pernicious highth.”

   He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend

Was moving²⁸⁴ toward the shore; his ponderous shield

Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,

Behind him cast; the broad circumference

Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views²⁸⁸

At evening from the top of Fesole,

Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,

Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.

His spear,²⁹² to equal which the tallest pine

Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast

Of some great ammiral²⁹⁴, were but a wand,

He walked with to support uneasy steps

Over the burning marl²⁹⁶, not like those steps

On Heaven’s azure, and the torrid clime

Smote on him sore besides, vaulted²⁹⁸ with fire;

Nathless²⁹⁹ he so endured, till on the beach

Of that inflamèd sea, he stood and called

His legions, angel forms, who lay entranced

Thick as autumnal leaves³⁰² that strow the brooks

In Vallombrosa³⁰³, where th’ Etrurian shades

High overarched embow’r; or scattered sedge³⁰⁴

Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed³⁰⁵

Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves o’erthrew

Busiris³⁰⁷ and his Memphian chivalry,

While with perfidious hatred they pursued

The sojourners of Goshen³⁰⁹, who beheld

From the safe shore their floating carcasses

And broken chariot wheels. So thick bestrown

Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood,

Under amazement of their hideous change.

He called so loud, that all the hollow deep

Of Hell resounded. “Princes, potentates,

Warriors, the flow’r of Heav’n, once yours, now lost,

If such astonishment as this can seize

Eternal spirits; or have ye chos’n this place

After the toil of battle to repose

Your wearied virtue³²⁰, for the ease you find

To slumber here, as in the vales of Heav’n?

Or in this abject posture have ye sworn

To adore the conqueror, who now beholds

Cherub and Seraph³²⁴ rolling in the flood

With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon³²⁵

His swift pursuers from Heav’n gates discern

Th’ advantage, and descending tread us down³²⁷

Thus drooping, or with linkèd thunderbolts

Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf?

Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n.”

   They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung

Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch

On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,

Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.

Nor did they not perceive the evil plight

In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;

Yet to³³⁷ their general’s voice they soon obeyed

Innumerable. As when the potent rod

Of Amram’s son³³⁹ in Egypt’s evil day

Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy cloud

Of locusts, warping³⁴¹ on the eastern wind,

That o’er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung

Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile:

So numberless were those bad angels seen

Hovering on wing under the cope³⁴⁵ of Hell

’Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires;

Till, as a signal giv’n, th’ uplifted spear

Of their great sultan³⁴⁸ waving to direct

Their course, in even balance down they light

On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain;

A multitude, like which the populous north³⁵¹

Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass

Rhene or the Danaw³⁵³, when her barbarous sons

Came like a deluge on the south, and spread

Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands.

Forthwith from every squadron and each band

The heads and leaders thither haste where stood

Their great commander; godlike shapes and forms

Excelling human, princely dignities,

And Powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones;

Though of their names in Heav’nly records now

Be no memorial, blotted out and razed

By their rebellion, from the Books³⁶³ of Life.

Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve

Got them new names, till wand’ring o’er the Earth,

Through God’s high sufferance for the trial of man,

By falsities and lies the greatest part

Of mankind they corrupted to forsake

God their Creator, and th’ invisible

Glory of him that made them to transform

Oft to the image of a brute, adorned

With gay³⁷² religions full of pomp and gold,

And devils³⁷³ to adore for deities:

Then were they known to men by various names,

And various idols through the heathen world.

Say, Muse,³⁷⁶ their names then known, who first, who last,

Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch,

At their great emperor’s call, as next in worth

Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,

While the promiscuous³⁸⁰ crowd stood yet aloof?

The chief were those who from the pit of Hell

Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix

Their seats long after next the seat of God,

Their altars by his altar, gods adored

Among the nations round, and durst abide

Jehovah thund’ring out of Sion, throned³⁸⁶

Between the Cherubim³⁸⁶; yea, often placed

Within his sanctuary itself their shrines,

Abominations³⁸⁹; and with cursèd things

His holy rites, and solemn feasts profaned,

And with their darkness durst affront his light.

First Moloch, horrid king besmeared with blood

Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears,

Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud

Their children’s cries unheard, that passed through fire

To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite

Worshipped in Rabba³⁹⁷ and her wat’ry plain,

In Argob and in Basan, to the stream

Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such

Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart

Of Solomon he led by fraud to build

His temple right against the temple of God

On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove

The pleasant⁴⁰⁴ valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence

And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell.

Next Chemos⁴⁰⁶, th’ obscene dread of Moab’s sons,

From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild

Of southmost Abarim; in Hesebon

And Horonaim, Seon’s realm, beyond

The flow’ry dale of Sibma clad with vines,

And Eleale to th’ Asphaltic Pool.

Peor his other name, when he enticed

Israel in Sittim on their march from Nile

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.

Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged

Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove

Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;

Till good Josiah⁴¹⁸ drove them thence to Hell.

With these came they, who from the bord’ring flood⁴¹⁹

Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts

Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names

Of Baälim and Ashtaroth⁴²², those male,

These feminine. For spirits when they please

Can either sex assume, or both; so soft

And uncompounded⁴²⁵ is their essence pure,

Nor tied or manacled with joint or limb,

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,

Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose

Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,

Can execute their airy purposes,

And works of love or enmity fulfill.

For those the race of Israel oft forsook

Their Living Strength⁴³³, and unfrequented left

His righteous altar, bowing lowly down

To bestial gods; for which their heads as low

Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear

Of despicable foes. With these in troop

Came Astoreth,⁴³⁸ whom the Phoenicians called

Astarte, Queen of Heav’n, with crescent horns;

To whose bright image nightly by the moon

Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs,

In Sion also not unsung, where stood

Her temple on th’ offensive mountain, built

By that uxorious king, whose heart though large,

Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell

To idols foul⁴⁴⁴. Thammuz came next behind,⁴⁴⁶

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured

The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

In amorous ditties all a summer’s day,

While smooth Adonis from his native rock

Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood

Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale

Infected Sion’s daughters with like heat,

Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch

Ezekiel⁴⁵⁵ saw, when by the vision led

His eye surveyed the dark idolatries

Of alienated Judah. Next came one⁴⁵⁷

Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark

Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopped off

In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,

Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshippers:

Dagon his name, sea monster, upward man

And downward fish: yet had his temple high

Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast

Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon

And Accaron and Gaza’s frontier bounds.

Him followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat

Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks

Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.

He also against the house of God was bold:

A leper once he lost and gained a king⁴⁷¹,

Ahaz his sottish⁴⁷² conqueror, whom he drew

God’s altar to disparage and displace

For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn

His odious off’rings, and adore the gods

Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared

A crew who under names of old renown,

Osiris⁴⁷⁸, Isis, Orus and their train

With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused

Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek

Their wand’ring gods disguised in brutish forms

Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape

Th’ infection when their borrowed gold composed

The calf⁴⁸⁴ in Oreb: and the rebel king

Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,

Lik’ning his Maker to the grazèd ox,

Jehovah, who in one night when he passed

From Egypt marching, equaled⁴⁸⁸ with one stroke

Both her first born and all her bleating gods.

Belial⁴⁹⁰ came last, than whom a spirit more lewd

Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love

Vice for itself: to him no temple stood

Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he

In temples and at altars, when the priest

Turns atheist, as did Eli’s sons⁴⁹⁵, who filled

With lust and violence the house of God.

In courts and palaces he also reigns

And in luxurious cities, where the noise

Of riot ascends above their loftiest tow’rs,

And injury and outrage: and when night

Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons

Of Belial, flown⁵⁰² with insolence and wine.

Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night⁵⁰³

In Gibeah, when the hospitable door

Exposed a matron⁵⁰⁵ to avoid worse rape.

These were the prime in order and in might;

The rest were long to tell, though far renowned,

Th’ Ionian gods, of Javan’s issue held

Gods, yet confessed later than Heav’n and Earth⁵⁰⁹

Their boasted parents; Titan Heav’n’s first born

With his enormous brood, and birthright seized

By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove

His own and Rhea’s son like measure found;

So Jove usurping reigned: these first in Crete

And Ida⁵¹⁵ known, thence on the snowy top

Of cold Olympus⁵¹⁶ ruled the middle air

Their highest heav’n; or on the Delphian cliff⁵¹⁷,

Or in Dodona⁵¹⁸, and through all the bounds

Of Doric land⁵¹⁹; or who with Saturn old

Fled over⁵²⁰ Adria to th’ Hesperian fields,

And o’er the Celtic roamed the utmost isles.

All these and more came flocking; but with looks

Downcast and damp⁵²³, yet such wherein appeared

Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief

Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost

In loss itself; which on his count’nance cast

Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride

Soon recollecting⁵²⁸, with high words, that bore

Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised

Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears.

Then straight commands that at the warlike sound

Of trumpets loud and clarions⁵³² be upreared

His mighty standard; that proud honor claimed

Azazel⁵³⁴ as his right, a cherub tall:

Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled

Th’ imperial ensign, which full high advanced

Shone like a meteor⁵³⁷ streaming to the wind

With gems and golden luster rich emblazed⁵³⁸,

Seraphic arms and trophies: all the while

Sonorous metal⁵⁴⁰ blowing martial sounds:

At which the universal host upsent

A shout that tore Hell’s concave⁵⁴², and beyond

Frighted the reign⁵⁴³ of Chaos and old Night.

All in a moment through the gloom were seen

Ten thousand banners rise into the air

With orient⁵⁴⁶ colors waving: with them rose

A forest huge of spears: and thronging helms

Appeared, and serried⁵⁴⁸ shields in thick array

Of depth immeasurable: anon they move

In perfect phalanx to the Dorian⁵⁵⁰ mood

Of flutes and soft recorders; such as raised

To highth of noblest temper heroes old

Arming to battle, and instead of rage

Deliberate valor breathed, firm and unmoved

With dread of death to flight or foul retreat,

Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage⁵⁵⁶

With solemn touches, troubled thoughts, and chase

Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain

From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they

Breathing united force with fixèd thought

Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed

Their painful steps o’er the burnt soil; and now

Advanced in view they stand, a horrid⁵⁶³ front

Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise

Of warriors old⁵⁶⁵ with ordered spear and shield,

Awaiting what command their mighty chief

Had to impose: he through the armèd files⁵⁶⁷

Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse

The whole battalion views, their order due,

Their visages and stature as of gods,

Their number last he sums⁵⁷¹. And now his heart

Distends with pride, and hard’ning in his strength

Glories: for never since created man⁵⁷³,

Met such embodied force, as named with these

Could merit more than that small infantry⁵⁷⁵

Warred on by cranes: though all the giant brood

Of Phlegra⁵⁷⁷ with th’ heroic race were joined

That fought⁵⁷⁸ at Thebes and Ilium, on each side

Mixed with auxiliar⁵⁷⁹ gods; and what resounds

In fable or romance of Uther’s son⁵⁸⁰

Begirt with British and Armoric knights;

And all who since, baptized or infidel,

Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban⁵⁸³,

Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,

Or whom Biserta⁵⁸⁵ sent from Afric shore

When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell⁵⁸⁶

By Fontarabia. Thus far these beyond

Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed⁵⁸⁸

Their dread commander: he above the rest

In shape and gesture proudly eminent

Stood like a tow’r; his form had yet not lost

All her original brightness, nor appeared

Less than Archangel ruined, and th’ excess

Of glory⁵⁹⁴ obscured: as when the sun new ris’n

Looks through the horizontal misty air

Shorn⁵⁹⁶ of his beams, or from behind the moon

In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds

On half the nations, and with fear of change

Perplexes⁵⁹⁹ monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone

Above them all th’ Archangel: but his face

Deep scars of thunder had intrenched⁶⁰¹, and care

Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows

Of dauntless courage, and considerate⁶⁰³ pride

Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast

Signs of remorse and passion⁶⁰⁵ to behold

The fellows of his crime, the followers rather

(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned

For ever now to have their lot in pain,

Millions of spirits for his fault amerced⁶⁰⁹

Of Heav’n, and from eternal splendors flung

For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,

Their glory withered. As when heaven’s fire

Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines,

With singèd top their stately growth though bare

Stands on the blasted heath⁶¹⁵. He now prepared

To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend

From wing to wing, and half enclose him round

With all his peers: attention held them mute.

Thrice he assayed, and thrice in spite of scorn,

Tears such as angels weep burst forth⁶²⁰: at last

Words interwove with sighs found out their way.

   O myriads of immortal spirits, O powers

Matchless, but with th’ Almighty, and that strife

Was not inglorious, though th’ event⁶²⁴ was dire,

As this place testifies, and this dire change

Hateful to utter: but what power of mind

Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth

Of knowledge past or present, could have feared,

How such united force of gods, how such

As stood like these, could ever know repulse?

For who can yet believe, though after loss,

That all these puissant⁶³² legions, whose exile

Hath emptied Heav’n, shall fail to reascend

Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?

For me be witness all the host of Heav’n,

If counsels different, or danger shunned

By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns

Monarch in Heav’n, till then as one secure

Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,

Consent or custom, and his regal state

Put forth at full, but still⁶⁴¹ his strength concealed,

Which tempted our attempt⁶⁴², and wrought our fall.

Henceforth his might we know, and know our own

So as not either to provoke, or dread

New war, provoked; our better part remains

To work in close⁶⁴⁶ design, by fraud or guile

What force effected not: that he no less

At length from us may find, who overcomes

By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

Space may produce⁶⁵⁰ new worlds; whereof so rife

There went a fame⁶⁵¹ in Heav’n that he ere long

Intended to create, and therein plant

A generation⁶⁵³, whom his choice regard

Should favor equal to the sons of Heav’n:

Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps

Our first eruption⁶⁵⁶, thither or elsewhere:

For this infernal pit shall never hold

Celestial spirits in bondage, nor th’ abyss

Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts

Full counsel must mature: peace is despaired,

For who can think submission? War then, war

Open or understood must be resolved.”

   He spake: and to confirm his words, out flew

Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs

Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze

Far round illumined Hell: highly they raged

Against the Highest, and fierce with graspèd arms

Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war,

Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav’n.

   There stood a hill not far whose grisly top

Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire

Shone with a glossy scurf⁶⁷², undoubted sign

That in his womb⁶⁷³ was hid metallic ore,

The work of sulfur⁶⁷⁴. Thither winged with speed

A numerous brigade hastened. As when bands

Of pioneers⁶⁷⁶ with spade and pickax armed

Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,

Or cast a rampart. Mammon⁶⁷⁸ led them on,

Mammon, the least erected⁶⁷⁹ spirit that fell

From Heav’n, for ev’n in Heav’n his looks and thoughts

Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of Heav’n’s pavement⁶⁸², trodden gold,

Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed

In vision beatific⁶⁸⁴: by him first

Men also, and by his suggestion taught,

Ransacked the center⁶⁸⁶, and with impious hands

Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth

For treasures better hid. Soon⁶⁸⁸ had his crew

Opened into the hill a spacious wound

And digged out ribs⁶⁹⁰ of gold. Let none admire

That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best

Deserve the precious bane. And here let those

Who boast in mortal things, and wond’ring tell

Of Babel,⁶⁹⁴ and the works of Memphian kings,

Learn how their greatest monuments of fame,

And strength and art are easily outdone

By spirits reprobate, and in an hour

What in an age they with incessant toil

And hands innumerable scarce perform.

Nigh on the⁷⁰⁰ plain in many cells prepared,

That underneath had veins of liquid fire

Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude

With wondrous art founded the massy ore,

Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion dross:

A third as⁷⁰⁵ soon had formed within the ground

A various mold, and from the boiling cells

By strange conveyance filled each hollow nook,

As in an organ from one blast of wind

To many a row of pipes the soundboard breathes.

Anon out of the earth a fabric⁷¹⁰ huge

Rose like an⁷¹¹ exhalation, with the sound

Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet,

Built⁷¹³ like a temple, where pilasters round

Were set, and Doric⁷¹⁴ pillars overlaid

With golden architrave⁷¹⁵; nor did there want

Cornice or frieze⁷¹⁶, with bossy sculptures grav’n;

The roof was fretted gold⁷¹⁷. Not Babylon,

Nor great Alcairo⁷¹⁸ such magnificence

Equaled in all their glories, to enshrine

Belus⁷²⁰ or Serapis their gods, or seat

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

In wealth and luxury. Th’ ascending pile⁷²²

Stood fixed her stately highth, and straight the doors

Op’ning their brazen folds discover wide

Within, her ample spaces, o’er the smooth

And level pavement: from the archèd roof

Pendant by subtle magic many a row

Of starry lamps and blazing cressets⁷²⁸ fed

With naphtha⁷²⁹ and asphaltus yielded light

As from a sky. The hasty multitude

Admiring entered, and the work some praise

And some the architect: his hand was known

In Heav’n by many a towered structure high,

Where sceptered angels held their residence,

And sat as princes, whom the supreme King

Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,

Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright.

Nor was his name unheard or unadored

In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land⁷³⁹

Men⁷⁴⁰ called him Mulciber; and how he fell

From Heav’n, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove

Sheer o’er the crystal battlements; from morn

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,

A summer’s day; and with the setting sun

Dropped from the zenith⁷⁴⁵ like a falling star,

On Lemnos th’ Aegean isle: thus they relate,

Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

Fell long before; nor aught availed him now

To have built in Heav’n high tow’rs; nor did he scape

By all his engines⁷⁵⁰, but was headlong sent

With his industrious crew to build in Hell.

Meanwhile the wingèd heralds by command

Of sov’reign power, with awful ceremony

And trumpets’ sound throughout the host proclaim

A solemn council forthwith to be held

At Pandaemonium⁷⁵⁶, the high capital

Of Satan and his peers: their summons called

From every band and squarèd regiment

By place or choice⁷⁵⁹ the worthiest; they anon

With hundreds and with thousands trooping came

Attended: all access was thronged, the gates

And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall

(Though like a covered field, where champions bold

Wont⁷⁶⁴ ride in armed, and at the soldan’s chair

Defied the best of paynim⁷⁶⁵ chivalry

To mortal combat or career⁷⁶⁶ with lance)

Thick swarmed⁷⁶⁷, both on the ground and in the air,

Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees

In springtime, when the sun with Taurus⁷⁶⁹ rides,

Pour forth their populous youth about the hive

In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers

Fly to and fro, or on the smoothèd plank,

The suburb of their straw-built citadel,

New rubbed with balm, expatiate⁷⁷⁴ and confer

Their state affairs. So thick the airy crowd

Swarmed and were straitened; till the signal giv’n,

Behold a wonder! They but now who seemed

In bigness to surpass Earth’s giant sons⁷⁷⁸

Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room

Throng numberless, like that pygmean race⁷⁸⁰

Beyond the Indian mount⁷⁸⁰, or faerie elves

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side

Or fountain some belated peasant sees⁷⁸³,

Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon

Sits arbitress⁷⁸⁵, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale course, they on their mirth and dance

Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms

Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large,

Though without number still amidst the hall

Of that infernal court. But far within

And in their own dimensions like themselves

The great Seraphic lords and Cherubim

In close recess⁷⁹⁵ and secret conclave sat

A thousand demigods on golden seats,

Frequent⁷⁹⁷ and full. After short silence then

And summons read, the great consult⁷⁹⁸ began.

1. The first line’s introduction of an exemplary man recalls the epics of Homer and Vergil. Milton’s theme, however, is neither martial nor imperial but spiritual: humanity’s disastrous failure to obey God counterpoised by the promise of redemption. Of man’s: The proper name Adam is also the Hebrew word for generic man or humankind. He is both an individual male and, with Eve, the entire species: “so God created man …; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1.27). Of man translates the Hebrew for “woman” (Gen. 2.23). fruit: Its dual meanings (outcome, food) are put in play by enjambment, a primary formal device by which Milton draws out sense “from one verse into another” (The Verse).

4. one greater man: Jesus, second Adam (1 Cor. 15.21–22; Rom. 5.19). Cp. PR 1.1–4.

5. blissful seat: translates Vergil’s epithet for Elysium, Aen. 6.639.

6. Sing Heav’nly Muse: the verb and subject of the magnificently inverted sixteen-line opening sentence. By invoking a Muse, Milton follows a convention that dates from Homer. Yet Milton’s Muse is not the muse of classical epic (Calliope) but the inspiration of Moses, David, and the prophets (cp. 17–18n). secret: set apart, not common. When the Lord descends to give Moses the law, thick clouds and smoke obscure the mountaintop, and the people are forbidden on pain of death to cross boundaries around the mountain (Exod. 19.16, 23).

8. shepherd: The vocation of shepherd is a key vehicle for Milton’s integration of classical and scriptural traditions. Moses encounters God while tending sheep on Mount Horeb (Oreb) and later receives the law on Sinai, a spur of Horeb (Exod. 3; 19). (Or the doubling of names may simply acknowledge the inconsistency of Exod. 19.20 and Deut. 4.10.)

9. In the beginning: opening phrase of Genesis and the Gospel of John.

10. Chaos: classical term for the primeval state of being out of which God creates, also referred to as “the deep” (as in Gen. 1.2) and “the abyss” (as in l. 21). Sion hill: Mount Zion, site of Solomon’s Temple, “the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 6.1, 13). Adding to the persistent doubleness of the invocation, Milton requests inspiration from two scriptural sites associated with God’s presence and prophetic inspiration. Both sites receive dual designations: Mount Horeb/Sinai and Mount Zion/Siloa’s brook.

11–12. Siloa’s brook … God: spring whose waters flowed through an underground aqueduct, supplied a pool near (Fast by) Solomon’s Temple, and irrigated the king’s lush garden (cp. 4.225–30). Jerome says it ran directly beneath Mount Zion (A. Gilbert 1919, 269). Scripturally, it symbolizes David’s monarchical line (Isa. 7–8, esp. 8.6). In opening the eyes of the man born blind, Jesus sends him to wash his eyes with its waters (John 9). Cp. 3.30–31. oracle of God: the holiest place in the Temple, the tabernacle of the Ark of the Covenant (1 Kings 6.19). The classical Muses haunt a spring (Aganippe) on Helicon (cp. 15n), “the sacred well, / That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring” (Lyc 15–16). In identifying the spring near the “Holy of Holies” as similarly a site of inspiration, Milton again links scriptural and classical prophetic and poetic traditions.

14. no middle flight: Milton will go beyond middle air, whose upper boundary is as high as the peaks of tall mountains, and soar to the highest Empyrean, the abode of God. His soaring ambition recalls the myth of Icarus, whose failure to follow a middle flight caused him to tumble into the sea (cp. 7.12–20).

15. Aonian mount: Helicon, Greek mountain favored by the Muses (cp. 11–12n). Hesiod says that while he tended sheep on Helicon (like Moses on Horeb), the Muses called him to sing of the gods (Theog. 22).

16. Translates the opening of Orlando Furioso (1.2) and is reminiscent of Masque 43–45; cp. similar claims by Lucretius (De Rerum Nat. 1.925–30) and Horace (Odes 3.1.2–4).

17–18. 1 Cor. 3.16–17, 6.19. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit (l. 21). In Milton’s theology, the diverse functions of the Holy Spirit derive from “the virtue and power of God the Father,” in this case “the force or voice of God, in whatever way it was breathed into the prophets” (CD 1.6, p. 1194). The site of revelation progresses from Horeb/Sinai to Sion hill/Siloa’s brook to, finally, the individual human heart.

21. brooding: Milton thus renders the Hebrew word translated as “moved” in the AV (Gen. 1.2) but as incubabat (brooded) in St. Basil and other Latin patristic authors (see also 7.235). Cp. Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici: “This is that gentle heat that brooded on the waters, and in six days hatched the world” (73).

24. argument: subject matter; cp. 9.28.

25. assert: take the part of, champion.

26. justify: vindicate; cp. Pope, Essay on Man: “Laugh where we must, be candid where we can,/But vindicate the ways of God to man” (1.15–16). Milton’s word order permits dual readings: either “justify (the ways of God to men)” or “justify (the ways of God) to men.” Cp. SA: “Just are the ways of God,/And justifiable to men” (293–94).

27–28. Milton introduces the narrative with a query, an epic convention; cp. “Tell me, O Muse, the cause” (Vergil, Aen. 1.8). Homer also depicts the Muses as all-knowing: “Tell me now, ye Muses that have dwellings on Olympus—for ye are goddesses and are at hand and know all things” (Il. 2.484–85).

29. grand: great, original, all-inclusive; cp. line 122.

30. fall off: deviate, revolt (as in l. 33).

33. Cp. Il. 1.8.

36. what time: when; cp. Masque 291, Lyc 28.

44–49. Him … arms: “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness” (2 Pet. 2.4; cp. Jude 6).

45. “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10.18); cp. Homer’s Hephaestus “hurled … from the heavenly threshold … headlong” (Il. 1.591–92).

46. ruin: a fall from a great height, from the Latin ruina; cp 6.867–68.

48. adamantine: unbreakable (Gk.); cp. Aeschylus’s Prometheus, clamped “in shackles of binding adamant that cannot be broken” (Prom. 6). The myth of adamant persists today; the indestructible claws of the Marvel Comics hero Wolverine are made of “adamantium.”

49. durst: dared.

50–52. The rebel angels regain consciousness after nine days falling from Heaven (6.871) and nine days rolling in the fiery gulf. Hesiod’s Titans fall nine days from heaven to earth and another nine from earth to Tartarus (Theog. 720–25). Milton, like many Christian mythographers, deemed the Titans’ rebellion a pagan analogue for Satan’s fall.

53. Confounded: destroyed. Combined with though immortal, it neatly defines the Christian concept of damnation.

54. Reserved: “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6; cp. 2 Pet. 2.4). In CD, Milton cites these verses and others to show that “bad angels are kept for punishment” (1.9 in MLM 1218).

56. baleful: Of Old English origin, baleful signifies evil in both its active and its passive aspects. Satan’s eyes thus brim with his own suffering and with malice toward others.

57. witnessed: Like baleful, active and passive. Satan’s eyes express spite and woe and also observe it in the surrounding scene.

59. ken: “are able to see.” Possessive apostrophes do not appear in early modern texts, so that ken here could also mean “visual range” of angels. The word is used both as a verb and as a noun elsewhere in PL (5.265, 11.379).

63. darkness visible: Judged “difficult to imagine” by T. S. Eliot, the paradox has scriptural and classical precedents. See the description in Job of the realm of the dead, “where the light is as darkness” (10.22) or, in Euripides’ Bacchae, Pentheus’s command to imprison Dionysus “so that he may see only darkness” (510). Milton previously flirted with the paradox in Il Pens (79–80). Cp. Keats’s marginalia: “It can scarcely be conceived how Milton’s blindness might here aid the magnitude of his conceptions, as a bat in a large gothic vault” (Lau 74).

66–67. And rest … all: The inscription above the gate to Dante’s Hell reads, “Abandon every hope, who enter here” (Inf. 3.9). Cp. Euripides, Trojan Women (681–82).

67–68. but … urges: “The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone … and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20.10). Still: constantly.

70. Cp. “the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25.41). Dante similarly depicts the inferno as an artifice of divine justice (Inf. 3.4).

72. utter darkness: destination of those excluded from the kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 8.12, 22.13, 25.30). The AV has “outer” instead of “utter”; cp. 3.16. The Geneva gloss on Matt. 8.12 explains, “there is nothing but mere darkness out of the kingdom of heaven.”

73–74. Homer, Hesiod, and Vergil precede Milton in expressing as a ratio distances between heaven, earth, and the pit of hell (Il. 8.16; Theog. 722–25; Aen. 6.577–79).

74. center: the earth, at the center of the Ptolemaic cosmos; pole: the point on the outside of the cosmic sphere closest to heaven.

78. welt’ring: rolling on waves; cp. Lyc 13.

81. Beëlzebub: Phoenician god at Ekron consulted by King Ahaziah (2 Kings 1.2). The name in Hebrew means “Lord of Flies.” In the Gospels, he is called “prince of the devils”; he was often identified with Satan (Matt. 12.24; cp. CD 1.9 in MLM 1219).

82. Satan: Hebrew word for adversary or enemy, first applied to Satan after his rebellion (5.658). He ultimately glories in the title (10.386–87).

84. If … fall’n: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” (Isa. 14.12; cp. Vergil, Aen. 2.274). The appearance of the rebel angels is altered for the worse. They are also bereft of names (ll. 361–65). Hence Satan persists in the conditional salutation (l. 87).

98. high disdain: noble scorn. A relatively common reaction in an aristocratic era (Kerrigan 2000), it is characteristic of Satan (cp. 4.50, 82, 180).

103–5. Satan’s account differs from Raphael’s; cp. 6.832–34, 853–55.

107. study: pursuit.

109. “And what else does it mean ‘not to be overcome’?”

114. Doubted: feared for.

115. ignominy: can be pronounced “ig-no-min-y” or “ig-no-my” (as it was often spelled). In the former case, the terminal y would coalesce with and. Cp. 2.207, 6.383.

116. fate: Satan makes fate the ultimate authority, distinct from the deity, as in Homer. God later defines fate as what he wills, 7.173; cp. CD 1.2 in MLM 1145–46. The portrayal of fate as an independent governing principle is a feature of Stoic philosophy specifically criticized by Jesus in PR (4.313–18). gods: “Anyone can observe throughout the whole of the Old Testament … that angels often take upon them as their own the name … of God” (CD 1.5 in MLM 1185). God himself refers to the angels as gods (3.341). Cp. Herrick, Of Angels: “Angels are called gods; yet of them, none / Are gods, but by participation” (1–2).

117. empyreal substance: fiery essence, like the substance of Heaven; cp. 2.771. Heaven (the empyrean) and Hell both are based on the element of fire: in Hell it possesses only its destructive properties, in Heaven only its salutary ones. See 63n.

123. triumphs: Emphasis on the second syllable stresses a plosive-frictive fusion, as in harumph. It was common to accent the word thus.

125–27. Cp. Vergil’s depiction of the seemingly optimistic Aeneas after he has rallied his distressed comrades: “So spake his tongue; while sick with weighty cares he feigns hope on his face, and deep in his heart stifles the anguish” (Aen. 1.208–9).

128–29. powers … Seraphim: Thrones and Powers, like Seraphim, are angelic orders. The phrase thronèd powers invokes no specific order of angel, however. It instead indicates the dignity and spiritual nature of those led by Satan, including the Seraphim.

134. event: outcome.

141. glory: effulgence or brilliant, radiant light (see 63n, 117n). Glory is a word with a broad range of meaning in the poem (cp. in Book 1, ll. 39, 110, 239, 370, 594, 612; see Rumrich 1987, 3–52). extinct: (be) put out, extinguished.

144. Of force: perforce; cp. 4.813.

147. support: endure.

148. suffice: satisfy.

149–50. thralls/By right of war: slaves by conquest. “The effects and consequences of this right are infinite so that there is nothing so unlawful but the lord may do it to his slaves … there are no torments but what may with impunity be imposed on them, nothing to be done but what they may be forced to do by all manner of rigor and severity.” (Grotius, Rights 481; cp. CD 1.11).

152. deep: chaos; see 10n.

153–55. The question crystallizes Satan and Beëlzebub’s developing awareness of their plight: what possible advantage is there in being a mighty entity eternally sustained only to absorb eternal punishment?

158. Doing or suffering: The Stoic counterpoise of suffering and doing was a literary commonplace, with suicide sometimes seeming the active option. So Hamlet ponders whether it is nobler “to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (3.1.56–58). The antithesis is regularly and variously invoked in the first two books (see, e.g., 2.199) and later approaches personification in the characters of the aggressively suicidal Moloch and the craven Belial.

167. fail: err.

172. o’erblown hath laid: having blown over (or, having blown down from above) has calmed.

178. slip: neglect, miss.

182. livid: black and blue, like a bruise; furious.

186. afflicted: struck down, routed.

196. rood: a measure of length that varies from 5.5 to 8.0 yards (5.0 to 7.3 meters); a measure of land equal to a quarter acre, or 40 square rods (0.1 hectare).

198–99. Titanian … Typhon: In Greek myth the Titans, children of Heaven (Uranus) and Earth (Gaia), were of the generation before the Olympian gods. The Giants, monstrous and huge, were also Earth-born. The Titans and Giants warred against the Olympian gods on separate occasions, but the two battles were often confused. See 50–52n. Briareos was a Titan with a hundred hands; Typhon, a hundred-headed Giant, “the Earth-born dweller of the Cilician caves,” in Aeschylus’s phrase (Prom. 353–54; cp. Homer, Il. 2.783, Pindar, Pyth. 1.15).

200. Tarsus: the capital of ancient Cilicia.

201. Leviathan: gigantic sea beast, symbolic of God’s creative power (Job 41), but in Isa. 27.1 a target of divine judgment, identified as Satan by commentators. Cp. 7.412–16.

203–8. Tales of enormous sea creatures and of mariners who mistook them for islands were common, as were moral applications of such stories.

204. night-foundered: sunk in night.

207. lee: the side away from the wind and thus sheltered from it.

208. Invests: cloaks.

210–15. Chained … damnation: Cp. lines 239–41. Some readers regard this providential logic with disapproval. See Tennyson’s response, as recorded by his son Hallam: “I hope most of us have a higher idea in these modern times of the Almighty than this” (881).

224. horrid: bristling, spiky (as pointing spires suggests).

226. incumbent: pressing with his weight (cp. recumbent); cp. Spenser’s description of the dragon’s flight, FQ 1.11.18.

230. hue: not simply color but also form or aspect. Cp. Shakespeare, Sonnets (20.7).

230–35. as … winds: Milton’s account of Etna erupting echoes Vergil in diction (thund’ring, entrails), but unlike Vergil, he describes a geological process rather than trace the eruption to a pent-up giant (Aen. 3.571–77). The seismic violence attributed to wind trapped underground is similarly described by Ovid (Met. 15.296–306) and Lucretius (On the Nature of Things 6.535–607). Cp. 6.195–98; SA 1647–48.

232. Pelorus: Cape Faro, promontory of northeastern Sicily, near Etna.

234. fueled … fire: combustible interior (entrails) igniting from the force of the wind and spreading.

235. Vaporized (sublimed) by the intense heat of burning rock, the fuel-laden interior becomes hot mineral gas that augments the wind expelled from the shattered side of the mountain.

239. Stygian flood: body of water like the river Styx; the fiery gulf (52).

240–41. Satan and Beëlzebub contradict the narrator’s explanation (ll. 210–15). Cp. Homer’s Aias, who, having been saved from the sea by Poseidon, “declared that it was in spite of the gods that he had escaped the great gulf” (Od. 4.504). Poseidon immediately kills him.

244. change: exchange.

252. possessor: one who occupies without ownership (a legal term).

253. Cp. Horace, “the sky not the mind changes in one who crosses the sea” (Epist. 1.11.27). Young Milton adopted this as his motto (Hanford 98).

254–56. The chiasmus concluding line 255 epitomizes Satan’s claim for the mind’s constitutive power. Cp. Hamlet: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” (2.2.249–50). That Satan’s condition is a function of his own unchanging psyche is later borne out, ironically and to his dismay; see 4.75, 9.118–23.

257. all but less than: This puzzling phrase is usually glossed as a combination of “only less than” and “all but equal to.” Satan is not conceding inequality, however, but asserting parity. He is anything but less than God, who triumphed because of superior armament—”his only dreaded bolt” (6.491).

263. Cp. Plutarch’s account of Caesar riding past a sorry barbarian village, “I would rather be first here than second at Rome” (Lives 469) or the sentiments of Euripides’ Eteocles, “When I can rule, shall I be this man’s slave?” (Phoe. 520). Satan’s specific preference has plentiful precedent, typically to the contrary: “I should choose … to serve as the hireling … of some portionless man … rather than to be lord over all the dead” (Od. 11.489–91); “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Ps. 84.10). See Abdiel’s similar declaration, 6.183–84.

265. copartners: equal participants (coheirs) in an inheritance.

266. astonished: shocked, thunderstruck; oblivious: producing oblivion; cp. 2.74.

268. mansion: abode; cp. John 14.2: “In my father’s house are many mansions.”

276. edge: critical moment; battle line (as at 6.108). Shakespeare’s Henry IV calls it “the edge of war” (1H4 1.1.17).

281. erewhile: some time ago; amazed: stunned; a stronger term in Milton’s era than in ours.

284. Was moving: began to move; a classical use of the imperfect tense.

288–91. Tuscan … globe: Galileo is the Tuscan artist, the only contemporary to whom Milton in PL overtly alludes or names (5.262). Artist here signifies one skilled in a science. In Areopagitica, Milton claims that he visited Galileo while touring Tuscany (MLM 950). Galileo was by 1638 already blind or nearly so, making it unlikely that Milton witnessed him using his telescope (optic glass) to view the moon. Yet the poet was obviously fascinated by the new technology and the vistas it opened to imagination (Nicolson). Fesole overlooks the Arno river valley (Valdarno) and the city of Florence—a landscape and a society that Milton idolized. Galileo describes the moon’s surface as mountainous in Sidereal Messenger.

292–94. Homer’s Polyphemos, the Cyclops, wields “a staff … as large as is the mast of a black ship of twenty oars” (Od. 9.322). After he is blinded, “a lopped pine guides and steadies his steps” (Vergil, Aen. 3.659). Milton extends Homer’s comparison into a ratio that renders a great ship’s mast inadequate to indicate the size of Satan’s spear.

294. ammiral: obsolete spelling of admiral; a vessel carrying an admiral, flagship.

296. marl: rich, crumbly soil.

298. vaulted: The heavens are commonly described as an arched structure, or vault, like the ceiling of a cathedral. In Hell, even the sky is on fire.

299. Nathless: nonetheless.

302. autumnal leaves: Comparison of the dead to fallen leaves is commonplace; cp. Homer, Il. 6.146; Vergil, Aen. 6.309–10; Dante, Inf. 3.112–15. Milton’s description is distinctly echoed in Dryden’s 1697 translation of Vergil: “thick as the leaves in autumn strow the woods” (Aen. 6.428).

303. Milton likely visited the heavily wooded valley of Vallombrosa in the fall of 1638. The Italian place name literally means “shady valley.” Note its somber aural combination with autumnal, strow, brooks, and embow’r. Etruria: classical name for the Tuscan region. Shades is a metonymy for trees as well as a name for spirits of the dead.

304. sedge: botanical transition from the autumnal leaves of Vallombrosa to the Red Sea of Exodus. The Hebrew name for the Red Sea means “Sea of Sedge.”

305. Orion armed: constellation of a hunter with sword and club. Orion rising was associated with stormy weather.

307. Busiris: mythical Egyptian king often identified as an oppressor of the Hebrews but here as the scriptural Pharaoh whose army is engulfed after it pursues the Hebrews into the parted Red Sea (Exod. 14). Memphian chivalry: Memphis was the ancient capital of Egypt; chivalry refers to armed forces (cp. PR 3.344).

309. sojourners of Goshen: Hebrews fleeing Egypt, the land of Goshen (Gen. 47.27).

320. virtue: strength, valor.

324. Seraph: singular of seraphim (on the model of cherub/cherubim).

325. anon: straightaway, instantly (not “in a little while”).

327. tread us down: trample us in triumph; cp. 2.79.

337. The construction obey to is unusual but not unprecedented; see Shakespeare’s Phoenix: “to whose sound chaste wings obey” (4); cp. Rom. 6.16.

339. Amram’s son: Moses, who with his rod calls a black (pitchy) cloud of locusts to afflict Egypt (Exod. 10.12–15; cp. 12.185–86).

341. warping: floating and swarming.

345. cope: covering, vault, like that of the sky; cp. l. 298, 4.992.

348. sultan: ruler, despot, or tyrant.

351–55. Alludes to barbarian hoards (Goths, Huns, Vandals) who from the third to fifth centuries poured into the southern Roman Empire. The Vandals crossed from Spain (Beneath Gibraltar) into Northern Africa (Libyan sands).

353. Rhene … Danaw: Rhine, Danube.

363. Books: On God’s condemnation as erasure (razed) from the roll of eternal life, see Exod. 32.32–33 and Rev. 22.5. The fallen angels’ previous identities no longer exist; cp. 84n.

372. gay: gaudy, wanton; cp. 4.942.

373. That pagan gods were fallen angels was a Christian commonplace rooted in classical and scriptural thought, as Verity details (672–74). Cp. Nat Ode 173–228, PR 2.121–26.

376. The catalog is conventional, as is the request of the Muse to supply it; cp. Homer, Il. 5.703; Vergil, Aen. 9.664. Invocation of the Muse, a pagan deity, may seem jarring here, though in the invocations to Books 1 and 7 Milton identifies his Muse with inspiration from God.

380. promiscuous: random, diverse.

386–87. Sion … Cherubim: Zion is the site of Solomon’s Temple, which houses the Ark of the Covenant. The throne of God’s invisible presence stands on top of the Ark between images of cherubim; see 10n.

389. Abominations: scripturally, causes of pollution, especially idols of false gods; objects that excite disgust and hatred in true believers.

397–99. Rabba: Ammonite capital, the “city of waters” (2 Sam. 12.27); Argob was Ammonite territory in Basan (on the Eastern side of the Jordan). Arnon is the name of a river erroneously supposed to flow near Rabba.

400–405. Moloch dares induce worship among the Ammonites, whose realm bordered on Israel. Even more impudently, he leads Solomon to build him a temple opposite God’s temple.

404. Hinnom, Tophet thence: valley sacred to Moloch, south of Jerusalem. The Greek for Gehenna (“valley of Hinnom”) is in the AV translated as Hell (e.g., Matt. 23.33). Hinnom was thought to derive from the Hebrew for “outcry,” referring to the screams of sacrificial babies; Tophet from the Hebrew for “timbrel,” the instrument used to drown the screams (Selden 314). Post-exile Jews made the valley a dump where corpses of animals and criminals were burned. It thence symbolized the place of eternal punishment.

406–17. Chemos: god of the Moabites (Moab’s sons); a Priapus-like idol also called Baal-Peör (412). See Selden 46–65. The scriptural place names in lines 407–11 demarcate Moabite territory on the east shore of the Dead Sea (Asphaltic Pool). During the Exodus, wandering Hebrews participated in his wanton rites and were punished with a plague (woe); see Num. 25, which Milton in CMS cites as the basis for a future work. Later, Solomon built a temple to Chemos on the mount (hill of scandal) where Moloch’s temple also stood (1 Kings 11.7; see 400–405n). The fertility cult of Chemos practiced ritual sex; Moloch’s worshipers burned babies: hence, lust hard by hate.

418. Josiah: King of Judah admired by Reformers because he destroyed idols and defiled their sites of worship; see 2 Kings 23.10–14.

419–21. from … ground: I.e., the land of Israel or Canaan, distinguished by rivers that mark its northeastern and southwestern boundaries (Gen. 2.14).

422. Baälim and Ashtaroth: collective titles for Canaanite fertility gods and goddesses (sing. Baal, Ashtoreth—as at l. 438), often worshiped by ancient Israelites.

425. uncompounded: not differentiated into anatomical parts or systems.

433. Living Strength: epithet for God (cp. 1 Sam. 15.29).

438–41. Phoenician version of the Assyrian Istar and the Greek Aphrodite, called Astarte. Her image had the body of a woman and the head of a horned bull, representing the crescent moon; cp. Nat Ode 200 and Masque 1002. Jeremiah (7.18) titles her the Queen of Heaven. Sidon was a chief Phoenician seaport. See Selden 141–71.

444–46. uxorious … foul: The king is Solomon, who to please foreign wives (fair idolatresses) erects temples on the Mount of Olives (th’ offensive mountain) to Moloch, Chemos, and Ashtoreth (2 Kings 11.1–8). Cp. lines 403, 416. Solomon’s large heart refers to his intellectual capacity (1 Kings 3.9–12). His uxorious idolatry appears in CMS among subjects for future works.

446–52. Thammuz … wounded: Thammuz is beloved of Astarte, who precedes him in the catalog. He is the Phoenician (Syrian) original of Adonis, which is also the name of a river in Lebanon that runs red after the summer solstice, purportedly with blood from Thammuz’s mortal wound. The river’s source lies in a rocky coastal mountain range; hence its native rock. Adonis is a sun god whose annual death and revival signifies the changing of the seasons. See Sandys 1637, 20; Selden 239–49. Milton alludes to the familiar myth often, e.g., Nat Ode 204, Manso 11, and Eikon, where he scorns hypocritical mourning for the beheaded Charles (Yale 3:365).

455. Ezekiel: Like other prophets, he condemned idolatrous observances in Israel, among them “women weeping for Thammuz” (Ezek. 8.14).

457–66. Next … bounds: During the era of Judges, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant (see 386–87n) and set it in the temple of their god, Dagon. His idol then fell before the Ark onto the temple threshold (grunsel) and broke (1 Sam. 5). Lines 464–66 name the chief cities of the Philistines. Dag is Hebrew for “fish.” See Selden 173–89. 467–69. Rimmon: Syrian deity worshiped in Damascus, which lies between the rivers Abbana and Pharphar.

471. A leper once he lost: Elisha told the Syrian leper Naaman to cleanse himself in the Jordan. Naaman proclaimed the superiority of the rivers of Damascus but ultimately humbled himself, washed in the Jordan, and was cured (2 Kings 5.8–19).

471–76. gained … vanquished: King Ahaz of Judah defeated the Syrians but, returning to Jerusalem, erected an altar to Rimmon and worshiped him (2 Kings 16.10–16).

472. sottish: stupid.

478–82. Osiris … human: Ovid reports that when Typhon attacked Olympus (cp. 198–200n), some gods fled and wandered Egypt disguised as beasts (Met. 5.319–31). Isis and Osiris are Egyptian gods represented as having the heads of a cow and a bull. Plutarch wrote influentially about them, and their myth had a hold on Milton’s imagination; see Areop, p. 955. Falcon-headed Orus was their son.

484–89. While Moses received the law on Mount Horeb (see 8n), the Hebrews pressured Aaron to forge a calf to worship (Exod. 12.35–36). It was made of Egyptian gold, borrowed by the Hebrews just before the Exodus (Deut. 9.8–21; Exod. 31.18, 32).

484–86. rebel … ox: Jeroboam, who rebelled against Solomon’s son Rehoboam, doubled the sin at Horeb (see previous note) by repeating the former idolatry and by making two golden calves instead of one (2 Kings 12.12–23). “Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass” (Ps. 106.20). 487–89. Refers to the Hebrews’ departure from Egypt, when Jehovah smites “all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast” and executes judgment “against all the gods of Egypt” (Exod. 12.12).

488. equaled: Jehovah with one stroke ends (and so proves equal to) many lives.

490. Belial: The Hebrew for Belial is not a proper noun, much less the name of a god, but refers to anyone opposing established authority, civil or religious. In English translations it became “worthless fellow” or “vile scoundrel.” A Rabbinical etymology derives it from a verb meaning “throws off the yoke”; the Septuagint accordingly translates Belial with terms that signify lawlessness (anomia or paranomos). Milton with characteristic bite links Belial to organized religion and the court (cp. PR 2.182–83).

495. Eli’s sons: For the lechery and sacrilege of Eli’s sons, see 1 Sam. 2.12–24.

502. flown: filled to excess (obsolete past participle of flow).

503–4. Sodom … Gibeah: biblical cities in which gangs of men clamor at hosts’ doors to rape male guests and are offered women instead—Lot’s daughters in Sodom and the visiting Levite’s concubine in Gibeah (Gen. 19, Judg. 19). 1667 reads “when hospitable doors / Yielded their matrons to prevent worse rape.” 1674 concentrates on Gibeah, where the concubine, unlike Lot’s daughters, actually is assaulted and in the morning deposited lifeless at the door where she had been exposed.

505. matron: Her Hebrew title is translated by “concubine,” but Milton’s diction is not prudish. In polygamous Hebrew culture, concubines were secondary wives, owed the same respect from other men as the primary wife. 508. Javan’s issue: Noah’s grandson Javan was deemed (held) the ancestor of the Ionian Greeks; his name in the Septuagint is a version of Ionia (Gen. 10.2). Cp. SA 715–16.

509–14. Gods … reigned: Uranus and Gaea (Heav’n and Earth) beget the Greek gods. According to the Roman republican poet Ennius Quintus (239–170 B.C.E.), Titan’s younger brother, Saturn, took Titan’s birthright (cited by Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.14). Jove, Saturn’s son by Rhea, usurped his father’s throne.

515. Ida: mountain in Crete where Jove was born (cp. Il Pens 29).

516. Olympus: snowcapped peak where the Greeks supposed the gods resided; middle air: cooler region of the atmosphere, extending to the mountaintops. Milton makes it the postlapsarian possession of Satan and his followers (PR 1.44–46).

517. Delphian cliff: on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus, the seat of the oracle of Apollo.

518. Dodona: town in Epirus, where Zeus had an oracle.

519. Doric land: Greece.

520–21. Saturn and his followers flee west from Greece, over the Adriatic Sea to Italy (Hesperian fields), to France (the Celtic), and finally to northwestern islands, including Britain (the utmost isles); cp. Masque 59–61.

523. damp: dejected; cp. 11.293.

528. recollecting: remembering, reassembling; cp. 9.471.

532. clarions: “small shrill treble trumpet” (Hume).

534. Azazel: variously construed, but the Hebrew name suggests rugged strength. Cabbalistic lore made him one of Satan’s standard-bearers, as Milton could have known from various sources (West 155ff).

537. meteor: comet.

538–39. emblazed … trophies: lit up or decorated with heraldic devices (arms) and memorials (trophies). Cp. 5.592–93.

540. Sonorous metal: synecdoche referring to the trumpets and clarions of line 532.

542. tore Hell’s concave: carried through Hell’s vaulted roof; see 8.242–44.

543. reign: realm; for Chaos and Night see 2.894–909, 959–1009. Their reaction is prophetic; Satan’s activity will encroach on their realm; cp. 10.415–18.

546. orient: lustrous like a pearl; rising like the sun in the east.

548. serried: in close order.

550. Dorian: Plato would allow “manly” Dorian music in his ideal state because it inspires, in Aristotle’s words, “a moderate and settled temper” (Rep. 3.398–99; Pol. 8.5). Cp. Areop in MLM 943; Of Ed in MLM 979. Thucydides’ account (5.70) of the Spartans in unbroken phalanx, calmly marching into battle to the sound of flutes, lies behind lines 549–62.

556. swage: assuage.

563. horrid: bristling (with spears).

565. warriors old: from the reader’s perspective only; humanity has not yet been created.

567–68. files … traverse: He looks down and across the lines of warriors.

571. Their number last he sums: David orders a census to count the warriors he might deploy, as Satan does here; God punishes Israel for David’s presumption and implicit lack of faith (2 Sam. 24).

573. since created man: since man was created.

575. small infantry: pygmies, mentioned by Homer (Il. 3.3–6). Addison was “afraid” that Milton intended the pun on infant (Spectator 297, Feb. 9, 1712).

577. Phlegra: In Greek myth, the Olympian gods defeated the giants on their breeding ground at Phlegra (Pallene), the westernmost prong of the Chalcidicean peninsula in the Aegean. The place name derives from the Greek for fire (cp. Phlegethon 2.581–82), so called because of the volcanic soil. Some later writers claimed that the battle culminated in Italy, where Jupiter blasts the giants on similar turf—the Phlegraean plains near Vesuvius—and then imprisons them beneath regional volcanoes (Diodorus 4.21.5).

578. Thebes and Troy (Ilium) are main sites of Greek epic and tragedy.

579. auxiliar: In classical epic, the gods aid their mortal kin and other favorites.

580–81. King Arthur (Uther’s son) and his knights, some from Brittany (Armoric). For Milton’s fascination with Arthur, see Damon 166–68.

583–84. Aspramont … Trebisond: Fighting against the Saracens, Roland wins honor at the castle of Aspramont, an episode often mentioned in Italian epic (see Ariosto, OF 17.14). Montalban is the site of the castle of Rinaldo, the hero to whom Tasso assigns victory in the battle for Jerusalem (GL). Damasco, Marocco, and Trebisond are also sites associated with great warriors and battles between Christian and Saracen.

585. Biserta: Tunisian seaport from which Saracens embarked to invade Spain.

586–87. Charlemagne … Fontarabia: According to the Spanish Jesuit historian and noted advocate of tyrannicide Juan de Mariana (1536–1624), Charlemagne fell—that is, suffered ruinous defeat—at Fontarabia (1699). The historical incident is the basis for the epic tale of the death of Roland and his twelve paladins at nearby Roncesvalles.

588. observed: heeded, reverenced. Though it exceeds the greatest historical and legendary human armies combined, Satan’s army acknowledges the still greater excellence of its leader.

594. glory: a coronalike brilliance; see 141n.

596. Shorn: an allusion to Samson, whose name derives from the Hebrew word for “sun.”

596–99. from … monarchs: Charles II’s censor objected to these lines, presumably because the king himself had been born on the day of an eclipse in 1630, a coincidence later construed “as a portent of the interregnum” (Leonard).

599. Perplexes: torments, a stronger term in seventeenth-century usage than now; see, e.g., OTH 5.2.346.

601. intrenched: cut into.

603. considerate: thoughtful, deliberate.

605. passion: suffering or affliction, in contrast with cruel, disposed to inflict suffering.

609. amerced: from the French for “at the mercy of”; a law term meaning “fined at the court’s discretion.” Milton’s unidiomatic construction suggests that he had in mind a similar Greek verb used by Homer to explain the blindness of the bard Demodokos: “Of his sight [the Muse] deprived [ámerse] him” (Od. 8.64).

615. blasted heath: Cp. MAC 1.3.77.

620. Tears … forth: According to Raphael, angels digest food and make love. Here it seems that they also have the capacity to shed tears after their fashion (cp. 5.407–39, 8.622–29, 10.23–25). It was commonly supposed that males weep because they are born of women. Milton rejects this theory (see 10.1101–2, 11.494–97) and had precedent for presenting angels capable of weeping; see, e.g., Shakespeare, MM 2.2.879, OTH 3.3.371. In context, Satan’s tears suggest those of the Persian tyrant Xerxes before his invasion of Greece. Reviewing his vast army, he was overcome by consciousness of his soldiers’ mortality “at the time when he was hastening them to their fate, and to the intended destruction of the greatest people in the world, to gratify his own vain glory” (Newton). Cp. 10.307–11.

624. event: outcome.

632. puissant: powerful.

641. still: invariably.

642. tempted our attempt: Milton’s propensity for paronomasia—close repetition of similar-sounding words distinct in meaning—has long been derided as “jingling”: “like marriages between persons too near of kin, to be avoided” (Hume). It is a figure distinctive of Hebrew Scripture, however, and one found in late Latin writers and Renaissance Italian poets. Milton often uses it in expressions of derision; see lines 666–67, 4.286, 5.869, 9.11, 9.648, 11.627, 12.78.

646. close: covert.

650. Space may produce: a notably active construction for a state commonly regarded as a passive locale or empty setting. By worlds Milton means what we would call “universes.” The one that Satan proceeds to mention is our own, which “may be supposed as yet not made” (Argument; cp. 8.229–36).

651. fame: rumor; cp. 2.345–53, 830–35, 10.481–82.

653. generation: race; choice regard: selective estimation or judgment. Regard may also mean “purpose” or “intention,” as in the description of Shakespeare’s Henry V: “The King is full of grace, and fair regard” (1.2.22).

656. eruption: outbreak; the diction seems suggestive of “hell’s volcanoes” (Leonard), but according to the OED the association of eruption with volcanic activity is not current in England until well into the eighteenth century.

672. scurf: any incrustation upon the surface of a body (especially diseased or scabbed skin); here a sulfurous deposit.

673. womb: belly or cavity.

674. work of sulfur: “the offspring and production of sulfur, … the subterranean fire [that] concocts and boils up the crude and undigested earth into a more profitable consistence, and by its innate heat, hardens and bakes it into metals” (Hume).

676. pioneers: soldiers who do demolition or construction for siege or defense.

678. Mammon: like Belial, a common noun. Derived from the Arabic for “riches,” it means “wealth”; cp. Matt. 6.24. By medieval times, Mammon had been personified as a Christian version of Pluto. See Spenser, FQ 2.7.

679. erected: upright in posture, lofty in character.

682. Heav’n’s pavement: see Rev. 21.21.

684. vision beatific: literally, the “happy-making sight” (On Time 18); viewing God.

686. center: the earth’s interior.

686–88. impious … hid: a commonplace that originates in Ovid’s account of a maternally abusive degeneration from the original “golden” age of justice and temperance (Met. 1.137–40). See Spenser, FQ 2.7.16, for a similar association of Mammon with such impiety. Cp. Comus’s reversal of the theme, 718–36.

688–90. Soon … gold: The diction anticipates the production of Eve at 8.463ff.

690. ribs: veins of ore; admire: wonder.

694. The Tower of Babel (see 12.43–62) and the Egyptian pyramids.

700–704. The massy ore (gold is dense) extracted by the pioneers is melted (founded) in prepared cells heated from below by a second group of fallen angels, who use liquid fire conveyed from the burning lake in sluices (Sluiced). Smelting the metals separates (severing) the heavy gold from the less dense matter (dross), which rises to the top and is skimmed off (scummed), leaving pure gold in the cells. In line 703, 1674 prints found out instead of founded (1667).

705–9. A various mold (hollow form or matrix) has been shaped by yet another crew, which fills it with molten gold transported from the cells by strange conveyance. This process is compared to an intricate musical composition taking audible form from one blast of wind into an organ.

710. fabric: fabrication.

711–12. Structural principles of music (e.g., Pythagoras’ golden section) were deemed basic to architecture and other plastic arts, including, as Milton later presents it, cuisine (see 5.333–49). Athenians played music at the dedication of temples like the Parthenon.

711. exhalation: vapor emitted by the earth.

713–17. Built … gold: The edifice looks like a pagan temple, with features that recall the Roman Pantheon (e.g., golden roof), though the satirical Milton presumably also has St. Peter’s Basilica in mind.

713. pilasters round: square columns built into the wall; round modifies set.

714. Doric: the least ornamented style of Greek column; like the laconic music of line 550.

715. architrave: the “master beam” or basis of the upper section of a classical temple; it sits on top of the columns (hence overlaid).

716. Cornice or frieze: The frieze is a band that sits on the architrave and is often, as in the case of the Parthenon, decorated with sculptures that stand out in relief, as if embossed (bossy). The cornice caps the frieze and is also often ornamented.

717. fretted gold: gold wrought with ornamental designs, as in the Pantheon.

718. Alcairo: Memphis, ancient capital of Egypt, near modern Cairo.

720. Belus: name for Baal in Babylon, where he had a celebrated temple, described by Ralegh (1621, 183); Serapis: Ptolemaic amalgamation of Hades and Osiris, with splendid temples in Memphis and Alexandria.

722–23. ascending pile / Stood fixed: After rising like a vapor out of the ground, the magnificent building achieved its finished state.

728. cressets: iron baskets suspended from the ceiling, containing flaming pitch (asphaltus).

729. naphtha: liquid pitch, supplies the lamps.

739. Ausonian land: Greek name for a district of Italy.

740–48. Men … before: Homer’s Hephaestus tells how Zeus threw him from Olympus to punish him for siding with Hera (Il. 1.591–95). Milton closely imitates that account but then corrects it.

740. Mulciber: smelter; another name for Vulcan, Roman counterpart to the Greek Hephaestus, god of fire and crafts. Homer mentions palaces he erects on Olympus (Il. 1.605–8), and Hesiod says he forged Pandora (cp. 688–90n; 4.714–19n).

745. zenith: (1) upper region of the sky, where vaporous meteorological phenomena such as falling stars were thought to ignite; (2) the highest point above the observer’s horizon attained by a celestial body (the sun in this case).

750. engines: contrivances (it shares a common Latin root with invention); cp. 4.17.

756. Pandaemonium: Greek for “place of all the demons.”

759. By place or choice: by virtue of rank or election.

764. Wont: were wont (accustomed) to; soldan’s: sultan’s (see 348n).

765. paynim: pagan.

766. career: short gallop at full speed, as in jousting.

767–75. swarmed … affairs: Bee similes occur frequently in classical literature, and the phrasing here variously echoes precursors (cp. Homer, Il. 2.87–90; Vergil, Aen. 1.430–36; 6.707–9, and especially Georg. 4.149–227). Bees are usually presented as exemplary creatures, beneficial to humanity. Milton bends the tradition so that the inaugural scene of state affairs in Satan’s palace anticipates the final one, when the fallen angels are straitened into swarms of hissing serpents (cp. 10.508ff). Note the predominance of sibilants in both passages. When Milton was in Rome, the seemingly ubiquitous insignia of Pope Urban VIII was a bee, and his followers were called bees.

769. Taurus: The sun stays in the astrological sign of Taurus from April 20 till May 20, the period immediately after Aries, the sign under which the world was created and would have persisted had the Fall not occurred.

774. expatiate: (1) walk about; (2) speak at length. Bees communicate by moving their legs in view of other bees, relaying directions to the best sites for pollen. Although such entomological discoveries are relatively recent, beekeepers have long recognized that allowing bees to “walk about” each other augments the harvest of honey; hence the “suburban” plank laid outside the hive for that purpose.

778. Earth’s giant sons: See 198–200n.

780–81. Throng … mount: The legendary Pygmies were commonly thought to live beyond the Ganges in secluded mountainous regions where the Cranes that they battle lay their eggs (cp. 575n).

783–84. belated … he sees: The phrasing is generally taken as a borrowing from Vergil, when Aeneas thinks he glimpses Dido’s shade. But vacillation between seeing and dreaming and mention of a belated peasant make reminiscence of MND equally likely (4.1.204–14).

785. arbitress: observer and judge.

795. close recess: enclosed, secluded place; conclave: literally, “lockable room”; in the Catholic Church, it denotes the meeting held to select a new pope, so called from the secure room in which the meeting occurs.

797. Frequent: numerous.

798. consult: In seventeenth-century usage, the term is associated with secret meetings for plotting insurgency.

BOOK II

THE ARGUMENT

The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it; others dissuade. A third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan: to search the truth of that prophecy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world and another kind of creature, equal or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created; their doubt who shall be sent on this difficult search. Satan their chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honored and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways and to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them: by whom at length they are opened and discover to him the great gulf between Hell and Heaven; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought.

High on a throne of royal state, which far

Outshone the wealth of Ormus² and of Ind,

Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

Show’rs on her kings barbaric⁴ pearl and gold,

“High on a throne of royal state …” (2.1). (illustration credit 2.1)

Satan exalted sat, by merit⁵ raised

To that bad eminence; and from despair

Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires

Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue

Vain war with Heav’n, and by success⁹ untaught

His proud imaginations thus displayed.

   “Powers and Dominions¹¹, deities of Heav’n,

For since no deep within her gulf can hold

Immortal vigor, though oppressed and fall’n,

I give not Heav’n for lost¹⁴. From this descent

Celestial Virtues¹⁵ rising, will appear

More glorious and more dread than from no fall,

And trust themselves to fear no second fate.

Me¹⁸ though just right, and the fixed laws of Heav’n

Did first create your leader, next, free choice,

With what besides, in counsel or in fight,

Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss

Thus far at least recovered, hath much more

Established²³ in a safe unenvied throne

Yielded with full consent. The happier state²⁴

In Heav’n, which follows dignity²⁵, might draw

Envy from each inferior; but who here

Will envy whom the highest place exposes

Foremost to stand against the Thunderer²⁸’s aim

Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share

Of endless pain? Where there is then no good

For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

From faction; for none sure will claim in Hell

Precedence, none, whose portion is so small

Of present pain, that with ambitious mind

Will covet more. With this advantage then

To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,

More than can be in Heav’n, we now return

To claim our just inheritance of old,

Surer to prosper than prosperity

Could have assured us; and by what best way,

Whether of open war or covert guile,

We now debate; who can advise, may speak.”

   He ceased, and next him Moloch⁴³, sceptered king,

Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit

That fought in Heav’n, now fiercer by despair.

His trust was with th’ Eternal to be deemed

Equal in strength, and rather than be less

Cared not to be at all; with that care lost

Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse

He reck’d⁵⁰ not, and these words thereafter spake.

   “My sentence⁵¹ is for open war. Of wiles,

More unexpert⁵², I boast not: them let those

Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.

For while they sit contriving, shall the rest,

Millions that stand in arms and longing wait

The signal to ascend, sit ling’ring here

Heav’n’s fugitives, and for their dwelling place

Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame,

The prison of his tyranny who reigns

By our delay? No, let us rather choose⁶⁰

Armed with Hell flames and fury all at once⁶¹

O’er Heav’n’s high tow’rs to force resistless way,

Turning our tortures into horrid⁶³ arms

Against the Torturer; when to meet the noise

Of his almighty engine⁶⁵ he shall hear

Infernal thunder, and for lightning see

Black fire and horror shot with equal rage

Among his angels; and his throne itself

Mixed with Tartarean⁶⁹ sulfur, and strange fire,

His own invented torments. But perhaps

The way seems difficult and steep to scale

With upright wing against a higher foe.

Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench⁷³

Of that forgetful⁷⁴ lake benumb not still,

That in our proper motion we ascend

Up to our native seat: descent and fall

To us is adverse. Who but felt of late

When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear

Insulting⁷⁹, and pursu’d us through the deep,

With what compulsion and laborious flight

We sunk⁸¹ thus low? Th’ ascent is easy then;

Th’ event⁸² is feared. Should we again provoke

Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find

To our destruction, if there be in Hell

Fear to be worse destroyed. What can be worse

Than to dwell here, driv’n out from bliss, condemned

In this abhorrèd deep to utter woe;

Where pain of unextinguishable fire

Must exercise us without hope of end

The vassals of his anger, when the scourge

Inexorably, and the torturing hour

Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus

We should be quite abolished and expire.

What fear we then? What doubt we⁹⁴ to incense

His utmost ire? Which to the highth enraged,

Will either quite consume us and reduce

To nothing this essential⁹⁷, happier far

Than miserable to have eternal being:

Or if our substance be indeed divine,

And cannot cease to be, we are at worst

On this side nothing¹⁰⁰; and by proof¹⁰¹ we feel

Our power sufficient to disturb his Heav’n,

And with perpetual inroads to alarm,

Though inaccessible, his fatal¹⁰⁴ throne:

Which if not victory is yet revenge.”

   He ended frowning, and his look denounced¹⁰⁶

Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous

To less than gods. On th’ other side up rose¹⁰⁸

Belial¹⁰⁹, in act more graceful and humane;

A fairer person lost not Heav’n; he seemed

For dignity composed and high exploit:

But all was false and hollow; though his tongue

Dropped manna¹¹³, and could make the worse appear

The better reason, to perplex and dash

Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low;

To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds

Timorous and slothful: yet he pleased the ear,

And with persuasive accent thus began.

   “I should be much for open war, O peers,

As not behind in hate, if what was urged

Main reason to persuade immediate war,

Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast

Ominous conjecture¹²³ on the whole success:

When he who most excels in fact¹²⁴ of arms,

In what he counsels and in what excels

Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair

And utter dissolution, as the scope¹²⁷

Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.

First, what revenge? The tow’rs of Heav’n are filled

With armèd watch, that render all access

Impregnable; oft on the bordering deep

Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing

Scout far and wide into the realm of Night,

Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way

By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise

With blackest insurrection, to confound

Heav’n’s purest light, yet our great enemy

All incorruptible would on his throne

Sit unpolluted, and th’ ethereal mold¹³⁹

Incapable of stain would soon expel

Her mischief¹⁴¹, and purge off the baser fire

Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope

Is flat despair: we must exasperate

Th’ almighty Victor to spend all his rage,

And that must end us, that must be our cure,

To be no more. Sad cure; for who would lose,

Though full of pain, this intellectual being,

Those thoughts that wander through eternity,

To perish rather, swallowed up and lost

In the wide womb of uncreated Night¹⁴⁹,

Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows,

Let this be good¹⁵², whether our angry foe

Can give it, or will ever? How he can

Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.

Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire,

Belike through impotence, or unaware,¹⁵⁶

To give his enemies their wish, and end

Them in his anger, whom his anger saves

To punish endless? ‘Wherefore cease we then?’

Say they who¹⁶⁰ counsel war, ‘we are decreed,

Reserved and destined to eternal woe;

Whatever doing, what can we suffer more,

What can we suffer worse?’ Is this then worst,

Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms?

What when we fled amain¹⁶⁵, pursued and strook

With Heav’n’s afflicting thunder, and besought

The deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed

A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay

Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse.

What if¹⁷⁰ the breath that kindled those grim fires

Awaked should blow them into sevenfold rage

And plunge us in the flames? Or from above

Should intermitted¹⁷³ vengeance arm again

His red right hand¹⁷⁴ to plague us? What if all

Her¹⁷⁵ stores were opened, and this firmament

Of Hell should spout her cataracts¹⁷⁶ of fire

Impendent horrors, threat’ning hideous fall

One day upon our heads; while we perhaps

Designing or exhorting glorious war,

Caught in a fiery tempest shall be hurled

Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey

Of racking whirlwinds¹⁸⁰, or for ever sunk

Under yon boiling ocean, wrapped in chains;

There to converse with everlasting groans,

Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,

Ages of hopeless end. This would be worse.

War therefore,¹⁸⁷ open or concealed, alike

My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile¹⁸⁸

With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye

Views all things at one view? He from Heav’n’s highth

All these our motions vain, sees and derides;

Not more almighty to resist our might

Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.

Shall we then live thus vile, the race of Heav’n

Thus trampled, thus expelled to suffer here

Chains and these torments? Better these than worse

By my advice; since fate inevitable¹⁹⁷

Subdues us, and omnipotent decree,

The victor’s will. To suffer, as to do¹⁹⁹,

Our strength is equal²⁰⁰, nor the law unjust

That so ordains: this was at first resolved,

If we were wise, against so great a foe

Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.

I laugh, when those who at the spear are bold

And vent’rous, if that fail them, shrink and fear

What yet they know must follow, to endure

Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain,

The sentence of their conqueror. This is now

Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,

Our supreme foe in time may much remit

His anger, and perhaps thus far removed

Not mind us not offending, satisfied

With what is punished²¹³; whence these raging fires

Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.

Our purer essence then will overcome

Their noxious vapor, or inured not feel,

changed at length, and to the place conformed

In temper and in nature, will receive

Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain;

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light²²⁰,

Besides what hope the never-ending flight

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change

Worth waiting, since our present lot appears

For happy though but ill, for ill not worst²²³,

If we procure not to ourselves more woe.”

   Thus Belial with words clothed in reason’s garb

Counseled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth,

Not peace: and after him thus Mammon²²⁸ spake.

   “Either to disenthrone the King of Heav’n

We war, if war be best, or to regain

Our own right lost: him to unthrone we then

May hope when everlasting Fate shall yield

To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife:

The former vain to hope argues as vain

The latter: for what place can be for us

Within Heav’n’s bound, unless Heav’n’s Lord supreme

We overpower? Suppose he should relent

And publish grace to all, on promise made

Of new subjection; with what eyes could we

Stand in his presence humble, and receive

Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne

With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing

Forced hallelujahs; while he lordly sits

Our envied Sov’reign, and his altar breathes

Ambrosial²⁴⁵ odors and ambrosial flowers,

Our servile offerings. This must be our task

In Heav’n, this our delight; how wearisome

Eternity so spent in worship paid

To whom we hate. Let us not then pursue

By force impossible, by leave obtained

Unacceptable, though in Heav’n, our state

Of splendid vassalage, but rather seek

Our own good from our selves, and from our own

Live to our selves, though in this vast recess,

Free, and to none accountable, preferring

Hard liberty before the easy yoke²⁵⁶

Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear

Then most conspicuous, when great things of small,

Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse

We can create, and in what place soe’er

Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain

Through labor and endurance. This deep world

Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst²⁶³

Thick clouds and dark doth Heav’n’s all-ruling Sire

Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,

And with the majesty of darkness round

Covers his throne; from whence deep thunders roar

Must’ring their rage, and Heav’n resembles Hell?

As he our darkness, cannot we his light

Imitate when we please? This desert soil

Wants not²⁷¹ her hidden luster, gems and gold;

Nor want we skill or art, from whence to raise

Magnificence; and what can Heav’n show more?

Our torments also may in length of time

Become our elements²⁷⁵, these piercing fires

As soft as now severe, our temper changed

Into their temper; which must needs remove

The sensible²⁷⁸ of pain. All things invite

To peaceful counsels, and the settled state

Of order, how in safety best we may

Compose²⁸¹ our present evils, with regard

Of what we are and where²⁸², dismissing quite

All thoughts of war: ye have what I advise.”

   He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled

Th’ assembly, as when hollow rocks retain

The sound of blust’ring winds, which all night long

Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull

Seafaring men o’erwatched²⁸⁸, whose bark by chance

Or pinnace anchors in a craggy bay

After the tempest: such applause was heard

As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased,

Advising peace: for such another field²⁹²

They dreaded worse than Hell: so much the fear

Of thunder and the sword of Michael

Wrought still within them; and no less desire

To found this nether empire, which might rise

By policy²⁹⁷, and long process of time,

In emulation opposite to Heav’n.

Which when Beëlzebub perceived, than whom,

Satan except, none higher sat, with grave

Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed

A pillar of state; deep on his front³⁰² engraven

Deliberation sat and public care;

And princely counsel in his face yet shone,

Majestic though in ruin: sage he stood

With Atlantean³⁰⁶ shoulders fit to bear

The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look

Drew audience and attention still as night

Or summer’s noontide air, while thus he spake.

   “Thrones and imperial Powers, offspring of Heav’n,

Ethereal Virtues; or these titles now

Must we renounce, and changing style³¹² be called

Princes of Hell? For so the popular vote

Inclines, here to continue, and build up here

A growing empire; doubtless³¹⁵; while we dream,

And know not that the King of Heav’n hath doomed

This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat

Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt

From Heav’n’s high jurisdiction, in new league

Banded against his throne, but to remain

In strictest³²¹ bondage, though thus far removed,

Under th’ inevitable curb, reserved

His captive multitude: for he, be sure

In highth or depth, still first and last³²⁴ will reign

Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part

By our revolt, but over Hell extend

His empire, and with iron scepter rule³²⁷

Us here, as with his golden those in Heav’n.

What³²⁹ sit we then projecting peace and war?

War hath determined us³³⁰, and foiled with loss

Irreparable; terms of peace yet none

Vouchsafed or sought; for what peace will be giv’n

To us enslaved, but custody severe,

And stripes³³⁴, and arbitrary punishment

Inflicted? And what peace can we return,

But to our power hostility and hate,

Untamed reluctance³³⁷, and revenge though slow,

Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least³³⁸

May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice

In doing what we most in suffering feel?

Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need

With dangerous expedition to invade

Heav’n, whose high walls fear no assault or siege,

Or ambush from the deep. What if we find

Some easier enterprise? There is a place

(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heav’n

Err not) another world, the happy seat

Of some new race called Man, about this time

To be created³⁴⁹ like to us, though less

In power and excellence, but favored more

Of him who rules above; so was his will

Pronounced among³⁵² the gods, and by an oath,

That shook Heav’n’s whole circumference, confirmed.

Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn

What creatures there inhabit, of what mold³⁵⁵,

Or substance, how endued, and what their power,

And where their weakness, how attempted³⁵⁷ best,

By force or subtlety: though Heav’n be shut,

And Heav’n’s high arbitrator sit secure

In his own strength, this place may lie exposed

The utmost border of his kingdom, left

To their defense who hold it: here perhaps

Some advantageous act may be achieved

By sudden onset, either with Hell fire

To waste his whole creation, or possess

All as our own, and drive as we were driven,

The puny³⁶⁷ habitants, or if not drive,

Seduce them to our party, that their God³⁶⁸

May prove their foe, and with repenting hand

Abolish his own works³⁶⁹. This would surpass

Common revenge, and interrupt his joy

In our confusion, and our joy upraise

In his disturbance, when his darling sons

Hurled headlong³⁷⁴ to partake with us, shall curse

Their frail original³⁷⁵, and faded bliss,

Faded so soon. Advise if this be worth

Attempting, or to sit in darkness here³⁷⁷

Hatching vain empires.” Thus Beëlzebub

Pleaded his devilish counsel, first devised³⁷⁹

By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence,

But from the author of all ill could spring

So deep a malice, to confound the race

Of mankind in one root³⁸³, and Earth with Hell

To mingle and involve, done all to spite

The great Creator? But their spite still serves

His glory to augment. The bold design

Pleased highly those infernal States³⁸⁷, and joy

Sparkled in all their eyes; with full assent

They vote: whereat his speech he thus renews.

   “Well have ye judged, well ended long debate,

Synod³⁹¹ of gods, and like to what ye are,

Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep

Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate,

Nearer our ancient seat; perhaps in view

Of those bright confines, whence with neighboring arms

And opportune excursion we may chance

Re-enter Heav’n; or else in some mild zone

Dwell not unvisited of Heav’n’s fair light

Secure, and at the bright’ning orient beam

Purge off this gloom; the soft delicious air,

To heal the scar of these corrosive fires

Shall breathe her balm. But first whom shall we send

In search of this new world, whom shall we find

Sufficient? Who shall tempt⁴⁰⁴ with wand’ring feet

The dark unbottomed infinite abyss⁴⁰⁵

And through the palpable obscure⁴⁰⁶ find out

His uncouth⁴⁰⁷ way, or spread his airy flight

Upborne with indefatigable wings

Over the vast abrupt⁴⁰⁹, ere he arrive

The happy isle⁴¹⁰; what strength, what art can then

Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe

Through the strict senteries and stations thick

Of angels watching round? Here he had⁴¹³ need

All circumspection, and we now no less

Choice in our suffrage⁴¹⁵; for on whom we send,

The weight of all and our last hope relies.”

   This said, he sat; and expectation held

His look suspense⁴¹⁸, awaiting who appeared

To second, or oppose, or undertake

The perilous attempt: but all sat mute,

Pondering the danger with deep thoughts; and each

In other’s count’nance read his own dismay

Astonished: none among the choice and prime

Of those Heav’n-warring champions could be found

So hardy as to proffer or accept

Alone the dreadful voyage; till at last

Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised

Above his fellows, with monarchal pride

Conscious of highest worth, unmoved thus spake.

   “O pr⁴³⁰ogeny of Heav’n, empyreal Thrones,

With reason hath deep silence and demur

Seized us, though undismayed: long is the way⁴³²

And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light;

Our prison strong, this huge convex⁴³⁴ of fire,

Outrageous to devour⁴³⁵, immures us round

Ninefold, and gates of burning adamant⁴³⁶

Barred over us prohibit all egress.

These past, if any pass, the void profound⁴³⁸

Of unessential⁴³⁹ night receives him next

Wide gaping, and with utter loss of being

Threatens him, plunged in that abortive⁴⁴¹ gulf.

If thence he scape into whatever world,

Or unknown region, what remains⁴⁴³ him less

Than unknown⁴⁴⁴ dangers and as hard escape.

But I should ill become this throne, O Peers,

And this imperial sov’reignty, adorned

With splendor, armed with power, if aught proposed

And judged of public moment⁴⁴⁸, in the shape

Of difficulty or danger could deter

Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume

These royalties, and not refuse to reign,

Refusing⁴⁵² to accept as great a share

Of hazard as of honor, due alike

To him who reigns, and so much to him due

Of hazard more, as he above the rest

High honored sits? Go therefore mighty Powers,

Terror of Heav’n, though fall’n; intend at⁴⁵⁷ home,

While here shall be our home, what best may ease

The present misery, and render Hell

More tolerable; if there be cure or charm

To respite or deceive⁴⁶¹, or slack the pain

Of this ill mansion: intermit no watch

Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad

Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek

Deliverance for us all: this enterprise

None shall partake with me.” Thus saying rose

The monarch, and prevented⁴⁶⁷ all reply,

Prudent, lest from his resolution raised⁴⁶⁸

Others among the chief might offer now

(Certain to be refused) what erst they feared;

And so refused might in opinion stand

His rivals, winning cheap the high repute

Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they

Dreaded not more th’ adventure than his voice

Forbidding; and at once with him they rose;

Their rising all at once was as the sound

Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend

With awful reverence prone⁴⁷⁸; and as a god

Extol him equal to the highest in Heav’n:

Nor failed they to express how much they praised,

That for the general safety he despised

His own: for neither do the spirits damned

Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast⁴⁸³

Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites,

Or close ambition varnished o’er with zeal.

Thus they their doubtful consultations dark

Ended rejoicing in their matchless chief:

As when from mountain tops the dusky clouds

Ascending, while the north wind sleeps⁴⁸⁹, o’erspread

Heav’n’s cheerful face, the louring element⁴⁹⁰

Scowls o’er the darkened lantskip⁴⁹¹ snow, or show’r;

If chance the radiant sun with farewell sweet

Extend his ev’ning beam, the fields revive,

The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds

Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.

O shame to⁴⁹⁶ men! Devil with devil damned

Firm concord holds, men only disagree

Of creatures rational, though under hope

Of heavenly grace: and God proclaiming peace,

Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife

Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,

Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:

As if (which might induce us to accord)

Man had not Hellish foes enow⁵⁰⁴ besides,

That day and night for his destruction wait.

   The Stygian Counsel thus dissolved; and forth

In order came the grand infernal Peers:

Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed

Alone th’ antagonist of Heav’n, nor less

Than Hell’s dread Emperor with pomp supreme,

And God-like⁵¹¹ imitated state; him round

A globe of fiery Seraphim enclosed

With bright emblazonry⁵¹³, and horrent arms.

Then of their session ended they bid cry

With trumpets’ regal sound the great result:

Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim

Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy⁵¹⁷

By herald’s voice explained: the hollow abyss

Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell

With deaf’ning shout, returned them loud acclaim.

Thence more at ease their minds and somewhat raised

By false presumptuous hope, the rangèd powers

Disband, and wand’ring, each his several way

Pursues, as inclination or sad choice

Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find

Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain⁵²⁶

The irksome hours, till this great chief return.

Part on the⁵²⁸ plain, or in the air sublime

Upon the wing, or in swift race contend,

As at th’ Olympian Games or Pythian fields⁵³⁰;

Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal⁵³¹

With rapid wheels, or fronted⁵³² brigades form.

As when to warn proud cities war appears

Waged in the troubled sky⁵³³, and armies rush

To battle in the clouds, before each van⁵³⁵

Prick forth⁵³⁶ the airy knights, and couch their spears

Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms

From either end of heav’n the welkin⁵³⁸ burns.

Others with vast Typhoean⁵³⁹ rage more fell

Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air

In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar.

As when⁵⁴² Alcides from Oechalia crowned

With conquest, felt th’ envenomed robe, and tore

Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines,

And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw

Into th’ Euboic Sea. Others more mild,

Retreated in a silent valley, sing

With notes angelical to many a harp

Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall

By doom of battle; and complain that fate

Free virtue should enthrall to force or chance.

Their song was partial⁵⁵², but the harmony

(What could it less when spirits immortal sing?)

Suspended⁵⁵⁴ Hell, and took with ravishment

The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet

(For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense)

Others apart sat on a hill retired,

In thoughts⁵⁵⁸ more elevate, and reasoned high

Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,

Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,

And found no end, in wand’ring mazes lost.

Of good and evil much they argued then,

Of happiness and final misery,

Passion and apathy⁵⁶⁴, and glory and shame,

Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy:

Yet with a pleasing sorcery could charm

Pain for a while or anguish, and excite

Fallacious hope, or arm th’ obdurèd⁵⁶⁸ breast

With stubborn patience as with triple steel.

Another part in squadrons and gross⁵⁷⁰ bands,

On bold adventure to discover wide

That dismal world, if any clime perhaps

Might yield them easier habitation, bend

Four ways their flying march, along the banks

Of four⁵⁷⁵ infernal rivers that disgorge

Into the burning lake their baleful streams;

Abhorrèd Styx the flood of deadly hate,

Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep;

Cocytus, named of lamentation loud

Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton

Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.

Far off from these a slow and silent stream,

Lethe the river of oblivion rolls

Her wat’ry labyrinth, whereof who drinks,

Forthwith his former state and being forgets,

Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.

Beyond this flood a frozen continent

Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms

Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land

Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems

Of ancient pile⁵⁹¹; all else deep snow and ice,

A gulf profound as that Serbonian Bog

Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,

Where armies whole have sunk⁵⁹²: the parching air

Burns frore⁵⁹⁵, and cold performs th’ effect of fire.

Thither by harpy-footed⁵⁹⁶ Furies haled,

At certain revolutions all the damned

Are brought: and feel by turns the bitter change

Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,

From beds of raging fire to starve⁶⁰⁰ in ice

Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine

Immovable, infixed, and frozen round,

Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire.

They ferry over this Lethean sound⁶⁰⁴

Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment,

And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach

The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose

In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,

All in one moment, and so near the brink;

But fate withstands, and to oppose th’ attempt

Medusa⁶¹¹ with Gorgonian terror guards

The ford, and of itself the water flies

All taste of living wight⁶¹³, as once it fled

The lip of Tantalus⁶¹⁴. Thus roving on

In confused march forlorn, th’ advent’rous bands

With shudd’ring horror pale, and eyes aghast

Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found

No rest: through many a dark and dreary vale

They passed, and many a region dolorous,

O’er many a frozen, many a fiery alp,

Rocks, caves,⁶²¹ lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death,

A universe of death, which God by curse

Created evil, for evil only good,

Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds,

Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,

Abominable, inutterable, and worse

Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived,

Gorgons and Hydra⁶²⁸s, and Chimeras dire.

   Meanwhile the Adversary⁶²⁹ of God and man,

Satan with thoughts inflamed of highest design,

Puts on swift wings, and towards the gates of Hell

Explores⁶³² his solitary flight; sometimes

He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left,

Now shaves⁶³³ with level wing the deep, then soars

Up to the fiery concave tow’ring high.

As when far off at sea a fleet descried

Hangs in the clouds⁶³⁶, by equinoctial⁶³⁷ winds

Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles

Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring

Their spicy drugs: they on the trading flood

Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape

Ply stemming nightly toward the pole⁶⁴². So seemed

Far off the flying Fiend: at last appear

Hell bounds high reaching to the horrid roof,

And thrice threefold the gates; three folds were brass,

Three iron, three of adamantine rock,

Impenetrable, impaled⁶⁴⁷ with circling fire,

Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat

On either side a formidable shape;

The one⁶⁵⁰ seemed woman to the waist, and fair,

But ended foul in many a scaly fold

Voluminous⁶⁵² and vast, a serpent armed

With mortal sting⁶⁵³: about her middle round

A cry⁶⁵⁴ of Hell-hounds never ceasing barked

With wide Cerberean⁶⁵⁵ mouths full loud, and rung

A hideous peal: yet, when they list, would creep,

If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb,

And kennel⁶⁵⁸ there, yet there still barked and howled,

Within unseen.⁶⁵⁹ Far less abhorred than these

Vexed Scylla bathing in the sea that parts

Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore:

Nor uglier follow the night-hag⁶⁶², when called

In secret, riding through the air she comes

Lured⁶⁶⁴ with the smell of infant blood, to dance

With Lapland⁶⁶⁵ witches, while the laboring moon

Eclipses at their charms. The other shape,

If shape it might be called that shape had none

Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb,

Or substance might be called that shadow seemed,

For each seemed either; black it stood as night,

Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,

And shook a dreadful dart; what seemed his head

The likeness of a kingly crown⁶⁷³ had on.

Satan was now at hand, and from his seat

The monster moving onward came as fast

With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode.

Th’ undaunted Fiend what this might be admired⁶⁷⁷,

Admired, not⁶⁷⁸ feared; God and his Son except,

Created thing naught valued he nor shunned;

And with disdainful look thus first began.

   “Whence and⁶⁸¹ what art thou, execrable shape,

That dar’st, though grim and terrible, advance

Thy miscreated front⁶⁸³ athwart my way

To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass,

That be assured, without leave asked of thee:

Retire, or taste⁶⁸⁶ thy folly, and learn by proof,

Hell-born, not to contend with spirits of Heav’n.”

   To whom the Goblin full of wrath replied,

“Art thou that traitor angel, art thou he,

Who first broke peace in Heav’n and faith, till then

Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms

Drew after him⁶⁹² the third part of Heav’n’s sons

Conjured⁶⁹³ against the highest, for which both thou

And they outcast from God, are here condemned

To waste eternal days in woe and pain?

And reckon’st thou thyself with spirits of Heav’n,

Hell-doomed⁶⁹⁷, and breath’st defiance here and scorn,

Where I reign king, and to enrage thee more,

Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,

False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings,

Lest with a⁷⁰¹ whip of scorpions I pursue

Thy ling’ring, or with one stroke of this dart

Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before.”

   So spake the grisly terror, and in shape,

So speaking⁷⁰⁵ and so threat’ning, grew tenfold

More dreadful and deform: on th’ other side

Incensed with indignation Satan stood

Unterrified⁷⁰⁸, and like a comet burned,

That fires the length of Ophiucus⁷⁰⁹ huge

In th’ Arctic sky, and from his horrid hair⁷¹⁰

Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head

Leveled his deadly aim; their fatal hands

No second stroke intend, and such a frown

Each cast⁷¹⁴ at th’ other, as when two black clouds

With Heav’n’s artillery fraught, come rattling on

Over the Caspian⁷¹⁶, then stand front to front

Hov’ring a space, till winds the signal blow

To join their dark encounter in mid air:

So frowned the mighty combatants, that Hell

Grew darker at their frown, so matched they stood;

For never but once more was either like

To meet so great a foe⁷²²: and now great deeds

Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,

Had not the snaky sorceress that sat

Fast by Hell gate, and kept the fatal key,

Ris’n, and with hideous outcry rushed between.

   “O father, what intends thy hand,” she cried,

“Against thy only son? What fury O son,

Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart

Against thy father’s head? And know’st for whom;

For him who sits above and laughs the while

At thee ordained his drudge, to execute

Whate’er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids,

His wrath which one day will destroy ye both.”

   She spake, and at her words the Hellish pest

Forbore, then these to her Satan returned:

   “So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange

Thou interposest, that my sudden hand

Prevented spares to tell thee yet by deeds

What it intends; till first I know of thee,

What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why

In this infernal vale first met thou call’st

Me father, and that phantasm call’st my son?

I know thee not, nor ever saw till now

Sight more detestable than him and thee.”

   T’ whom thus the portress⁷⁴⁶ of Hell gate replied:

“Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem

Now in⁷⁴⁸ thine eye so foul, once deemed so fair

In Heav’n, when at th’ assembly, and in sight

Of all the Seraphim with thee combined

In bold conspiracy against Heav’n’s King,

All⁷⁵² on a sudden miserable pain

Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum

In darkness, while⁷⁵⁴ thy head flames thick and fast

Threw forth, till on the left side op’ning wide,

Likest to thee in shape and count’nance bright,

Then shining Heav’nly fair, a goddess armed

Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seized

All th’ host of Heav’n; back they recoiled afraid

At first,⁷⁶⁰ and called me Sin, and for a sign

Portentous held me; but familiar grown,

I pleased, and with attractive graces won

The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft

Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing

Becam’st enamored, and such joy thou took’st

With me in secret, that my womb conceived

A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose,

And fields⁷⁶⁸ were fought in Heav’n; wherein remained

(For what could else) to our almighty foe

Clear victory, to our part loss and rout

Through all the empyrean⁷⁷¹: down they fell

Driv’n headlong from the pitch⁷⁷² of Heaven, down

Into this deep, and in the general fall

I also; at which time⁷⁷⁴ this powerful key

Into my hand was giv’n, with charge to keep

These gates for ever shut, which none can pass

Without my op’ning. Pensive here I sat

Alone, but long I sat not, till⁷⁷⁸ my womb

Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown

Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.

At last this odious offspring whom thou seest

Thine own begotten, breaking violent way

Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain

Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew

Transformed: but he my inbred enemy

Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart

Made to destroy: I fled, and cried out ‘Death’;

Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed

From all⁷⁸⁹ her caves, and back resounded ‘Death.’

I fled, but he pursued (though more, it seems,

Inflamed with lust than rage) and swifter far,

Me overtook his mother all dismayed,

And in embraces forcible and foul

Engend’ring with me, of that rape begot

These yelling⁷⁹⁵ monsters that with ceaseless cry

Surround me, as thou saw’st, hourly conceived

And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

To me, for when they list into the womb

That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw

My bowels, their repast; then bursting forth

Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round,

That rest or intermission none I find.

Before mine eyes in opposition sits

Grim Death my son and foe, who sets them on,

And me his parent would full soon devour

For want of other prey, but that he knows

His end with mine involved; and knows that I

Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,

Whenever that shall be; so fate pronounced⁸⁰⁹.

But thou O father, I forewarn thee, shun

His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope

To be invulnerable in those bright arms,

Though tempered Heav’nly, for that mortal dint⁸¹³,

Save he who reigns above, none can resist.”

   She finished, and the subtle Fiend his lore

Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered smooth.

   “Dear daughter, since thou claim’st me for thy sire,

And my fair son here show’st me, the dear pledge

Of dalliance had with thee in Heav’n, and joys

Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change

Befall’n us unforeseen, unthought of, know

I come no enemy, but to set free

From out this dark and dismal house of pain,

Both him and thee, and all the Heav’nly host

Of spirits that in our just pretenses⁸²⁵ armed

Fell with us from on high: from them I go

This uncouth errand sole⁸²⁷, and one for all

Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

Th’ unfounded⁸²⁹ deep, and through the void immense

To search with wand’ring quest a place foretold

Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now

Created vast and round, a place of bliss

In the purlieus⁸³³ of Heav’n, and therein placed

A race of upstart creatures, to supply

Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed,

Lest Heav’n surcharged⁸³⁶ with potent multitude

Might hap to move new broils⁸³⁷: be this or aught

Than this more secret now designed, I haste

To know, and this once known, shall soon return,

And bring ye to the place where thou and Death

Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen

Wing silently the buxom⁸⁴² air, embalmed

With odors; there ye shall be fed and filled

Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.”

   He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased, and Deat

Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw

Destined to that good hour: no less rejoiced

His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire.

   “The key of this infernal pit by due,

And by command of Heav’n’s all-powerful King

I keep, by him forbidden to unlock

These adamantine gates; against all force

Death ready stands to interpose his dart,

Fearless to be o’ermatched by living might.

But what owe I to his commands above

Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down

Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,

To sit in hateful office here confined,

Inhabitant of Heav’n, and Heav’nly-born,

Here in perpetual agony and pain,⁸⁶¹

With terrors and with clamors compassed round

Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed:

Thou art my father, thou my author, thou

My being gav’st me; whom should I obey

But thee, whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon

To that new world of light and bliss, among

The gods who live at ease⁸⁶⁸, where I shall reign

At thy⁸⁶⁹ right hand voluptuous, as beseems

Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.”

   Thus saying, from her side the fatal key,

Sad instrument of all our woe⁸⁷², she took;

And towards the gate rolling her bestial train,

Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,

Which but herself not all the Stygian powers

Could once have moved; then⁸⁷⁶ in the key-hole turns

Th’ intricate wards⁸⁷⁷, and every bolt and bar

Of massy iron or solid rock with ease

Unfastens: on a sudden open fly

With⁸⁸⁰ impetuous recoil and jarring sound

Th’ infernal doors, and on their hinges grate

Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook

Of Erebus⁸⁸³. She opened, but to shut

Excelled her power; the gates wide open stood,

That with extended wings a bannered host

Under spread ensigns marching might pass through

With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;

So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth

Cast forth redounding⁸⁸⁹ smoke and ruddy flame.

Before their eyes in sudden view appear

The secrets⁸⁹¹ of the hoary deep, a dark

Illimitable ocean without bound,

Without dimension, where length, breadth, and highth,

And time and place are lost; where⁸⁹⁴ eldest Night

And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.

For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry⁸⁹⁸, four champions fierce

Strive here for mast’ry, and to battle bring

Their embryon atoms⁹⁰⁰; they around the flag

Of each his faction, in their several clans,

Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow,

Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands

Of Barca or Cyrene’s⁹⁰⁴ torrid soil,

Levied to side with warring winds, and poise

Their lighter wings. To whom these⁹⁰⁶ most adhere,

He rules a moment; Chaos⁹⁰⁷ umpire sits,

And by decision more embroils the fray

By which he reigns: next him high arbiter

Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,

The womb of Nature and perhaps⁹¹¹ her grave,

Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,

But all these in their pregnant causes mixed

Confus’dly, and which thus must ever fight,

Unless th’⁹¹⁵ Almighty Maker them ordain

His dark materials to create more worlds,

Into this wild abyss the wary Fiend

Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,

Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith⁹¹⁹

He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed⁹²⁰

With noises loud and ruinous (to compare

Great things with small) than when Bellona⁹²² storms,

With all her battering engines bent to raze

Some capital city; or less than if this frame⁹²⁴

Of heav’n were falling, and these elements

In mutiny had from her axle torn

The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans⁹²⁷

He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke

Uplifted spurns the ground, thence many a league

As in a cloudy chair⁹³⁰ ascending rides

Audacious, but that seat soon failing, meets

A vast vacuity: all unawares

Flutt’ring his pennons⁹³³ vain plumb down he drops

Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour

Down⁹³⁵ had been falling, had not by ill chance

The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud

Instinct with fire and niter hurried him

As many miles aloft: that fury stayed,

Quenched in a boggy Syrtis⁹³⁹, neither sea,

Nor good dry land: nigh foundered on he fares,

Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,

Half flying; behooves him now both oar and sail⁹⁴².

As when a gryphon⁹⁴³ through the wilderness

With wingèd course o’er hill or moory dale,

Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth

Had from his wakeful custody purloined

The guarded gold: so eagerly the Fiend

O’er bog⁹⁴⁸ or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,

With head, hands, wings or feet pursues his way,

And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies:

At length a universal hubbub⁹⁵¹ wild

Of stunning sounds and voices all confused

Born through the hollow dark assaults his ear

With loudest vehemence⁹⁵⁴: thither he plies,

Undaunted to meet there whatever power

Or spirit of the nethermost abyss

Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask

Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies

Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne

Of Chaos⁹⁶⁰, and his dark pavilion spread

Wide on the wasteful⁹⁶¹ deep; with him enthroned

Sat sable-vested Night⁹⁶², eldest of things,

The consort of his reign; and by them stood

Orcus and Ades⁹⁶⁴, and the dreaded name

Of Demogorgon⁹⁶⁵; Rumor next and Chance,

And Tumult and Confusion all embroiled,

And Discord⁹⁶⁷ with a thousand various mouths.

   T’ whom Satan turning boldly, thus. “Ye Powers

And Spirits of this nethermost abyss,

Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy,

With purpose to explore or to disturb

The secrets of your realm, but by constraint

Wand’ring this darksome desert, as my way

Lies through your spacious empire up to light,

Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek

What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds

Confine with⁹⁷⁷ Heav’n; or if some other place

From your dominion won, th’ Ethereal King

Possesses lately, thither to arrive

I travel this profound⁹⁸⁰, direct my course;

Directed, no mean recompense it brings

To your behoof⁹⁸², if I that region lost,

All usurpation thence expelled, reduce

To her original darkness and your sway

(Which is my present journey) and once more

Erect the standard there of ancient Night;

Yours be th’ advantage all, mine the revenge.”

   Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch⁹⁸⁸ old

With falt’ring speech and visage incomposed⁹⁸⁹

Answered. “I know thee, stranger, who thou art,

That mighty leading angel, who of late

Made head against Heav’n’s King, though overthrown.

I saw⁹⁹³ and heard, for such a numerous host

Fled not in silence through the frighted deep

With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

Confusion worse confounded; and Heav’n gates

Poured out by millions her victorious bands

Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here

Keep residence; if all I can will serve,

That little which is left so to defend,

Encroached on still through our¹⁰⁰¹ intestine broils

Weak’ning the scepter of old Night: first Hell

Your dungeon stretching far and wide beneath;

Now lately heaven¹⁰⁰⁴ and Earth, another world

Hung o’er my realm, linked in a golden chain¹⁰⁰⁵

To that side Heav’n from whence your legions fell:

If that way be your walk¹⁰⁰⁷, you have not far;

So much the nearer danger¹⁰⁰⁸; go and speed;

Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.”

   He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply,

But glad that now his sea should find a shore,

With fresh alacrity and force renewed

Springs upward¹⁰¹³ like a pyramid of fire

Into the wild expanse, and through the shock

Of fighting elements, on all sides round

Environed wins his way; harder beset

And more endangered, than when Argo¹⁰¹⁷ passed

Through Bosporus betwixt the jostling rocks:

Or when Ulysses on the larboard¹⁰¹⁹ shunned

Charybdis¹⁰²⁰, and by th’ other whirlpool steered.

So he with difficulty and labor hard

Moved on, with difficulty and labor he;

But he once passed, soon after when man fell,

Strange alteration! Sin¹⁰²⁴ and Death amain

Following his track, such was the will of Heav’n,

Paved after him a broad and beaten way

Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf

Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length

From Hell continued reaching th’ utmost orb

Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverse

With easy intercourse pass to and fro

To tempt or punish mortals, except whom

God and good angels guard by special grace¹⁰³³.

But now at last the sacred influence¹⁰³⁴

Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav’n

Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night

A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins

Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire

As from her outmost works¹⁰³⁹ a broken foe

With tumult less and with less hostile din,

That Satan with less toil, and now with ease

Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light

And like a weather-beaten vessel holds¹⁰⁴³

Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle¹⁰⁴⁴ torn;

Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,

Weighs¹⁰⁴⁶ his spread wings, at leisure to behold

Far off th’ empyreal Heav’n, extended wide

In circuit, undetermined¹⁰⁴⁸ square or round,

With opal tow’rs and battlements adorned

Of living¹⁰⁵⁰ sapphire, once his native seat;

And fast by hanging in a golden chain

This pendant world¹⁰⁵², in bigness as a star

Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.

Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,

Accursed, and in a cursèd hour he hies¹⁰⁵⁵.

2. Ormus: Hormuz, famously wealthy island town ideally situated in the Persian Gulf for trade in spices and jewels. Ships of the British East India Company helped the Dutch take it from the Portuguese in 1622. For acquiescing in the unauthorized aggression, King James and the Duke of Buckingham pocketed large bribes. Ind: India, celebrated for precious stones; cp. Masque 606.

4. barbaric: Greek for “foreign,” primarily used of Asia or the gorgeous East. Classical authors depict Asian rulers as profligate despots; hence Vergil describes the doors of Priam’s palace as “proud with the spoils of barbaric gold” (Aen. 2.504).

5. merit: desert, good or bad.

9. success: outcome; like merit, ironically complicated by its more usual positive sense.

11. Powers and Dominions: two kinds of angels (Col. 1.16).

14. I … lost: “I refuse to concede the loss of Heaven.”

15. Virtues: efficacious qualities (not moral virtues); also, members of a rank of angels.

18–21. Me … merit: The tortuous syntax makes Stoic principles—just right and fixed laws—agents of Satan’s creation as leader. The direct object (Me) begins the clause. His created status, Satan says, has been confirmed by the free choice of his followers and by his own deeds.

89. exercise: a range of meanings applies, from “agitate” or “vex” to the more common “train” or “cause to undergo a physical regimen or ascetic discipline.”

90. vassals: slaves (see PR 4.133).

91. torturing hour: Shakespeare’s Theseus seeks entertainment “to ease the anguish of a torturing hour”—the time between the marriage rite and its consummation (MND 5.1.37). The fallen angels will also pursue diversions from pain (ll. 458–62, 523–27), not least that of endlessly frustrated desire (4.508–11).

24–25. happier … dignity: Satan claims that in Heaven, the higher one’s rank, the happier one’s existence, and that in Hell the reverse holds true, which should deter envy and promote unity.

28. Thunderer: classical epithet for Jove.

43. Moloch: Hebrew for “king”; see 1.392n; sceptered king: translates Homer’s formulaic epithet for kings (e.g., Il. 1.279).

50. reck’d: heeded; cared.

51. sentence: judgment. Cp. line 291.

52. More unexpert: less knowledgeable or experienced.

243. hallelujahs: songs of praise; in Hebrew, hallelujah means “praise God.”

244. breathes: exhales or emanates, as a fragrance; cp. 5.482.

63. horrid: bristling (with Hell flames).

65. engine: instrument of war (cp. 4.17); here, God’s lightning and thunder.

69. Tartarean: infernal; horrible. Tartarus confines the rebellious Titans, according to Homer and Hesiod (Il. 14.278; 8.478–91; Theog. 713–45). strange fire: “Nadab and Abihu died because they offered strange fire before the Lord” (Num. 26.61; cp. Lev. 10.1). The Geneva Bible glosses strange fire as fire “not taken of the altar”—that is, unholy or illicit fire.

73. drench: dose; douse. Cp. Animad (Yale 1:685).

74. forgetful: causing a state of oblivion; cp. “oblivious pool” (1.266).

79. Insulting: springing upon scornfully; trampling in triumph. Cp. 1.327.

81. For Fowler, Moloch’s claim is “belied by the allusion to Aen. 6.126–29”: “easy is the descent to Avernus … but to recall thy steps and pass out to the upper air, this is the task, this the toil!” Cp. PL 2.432–33, 3.20–21. Unlike Aeneas, however, the rebels are spiritual beings: “bodies compounded and elemented of Earth do naturally descend; but to spirits, those divine, airy, agile beings, as our poet well observes, … all motion downward seems forced and contrary” (Hume).

82. event: outcome.

94. doubt we: makes us hesitate.

97. essential: essence or being (adj. for noun). On the active disposition to suicide represented by Moloch, see 1.158n.

100–101. we … nothing: “we could not be in a worse state than we are now.” Cp. PR 3.204–11.

101. proof: experience, trial; also, testing artillery by firing a heavy charge (see 6.584–99).

104. fatal: allotted by fate; cp. 1.133.

106. denounced: threatened.

412. senteries: sentries. The meter requires the three-syllable form, a variation common in the seventeenth century.

109. Belial: “Belial … taketh the form of a beautiful angel; he speaketh fair” (Scot 15.2). See 1.158n and 1.490n.

113. manna: divinely provided food, sweet like honey (Exod. 16.31). So Homer describes the oratory of Nestor: “from whose tongue flowed speech sweeter than honey” (1.249). The ability to make the worse appear / The better reason defines sophistry and is a charge brought against Socrates (Apology 19b), as Milton observes: “that he ever made the worse cause seem the better” (Tetrachordon in MLM 989).

123. conjecture: doubt; success: outcome.

124. fact: deed, feat. Fact of arms translates an idiom common in French and Italian.

127. scope: object, end.

139. mold: material substance; for celestial beings, light or pure fire (see Ps. 104.4). Cp. Comus’s claim that he and his band are of “purer fire” than agents of morality (111).

141. Her mischief: the harm intended her (i.e., the ethereal mold of l. 139).

149–50. swallowed … Night: Satan will reiterate this fear (ll. 438–41, 10.476–77).

152. Let this be good: “were we to concede that nonexistence is desirable.”

156. As if through lack of self-control, or unwittingly. The astute Belial ironically registers God’s omnipotence and omniscience.

160. they who: “Belial avoids naming Moloch, who is in any case nameless” (Leonard). Naming a previous speaker is prohibited by Parliamentary rules of debate.

165. amain: at full speed.

170. “The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle [hellfire]” (Isa. 30.33). Cp. the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, who fires his furnace “seven times more than it was wont” to incinerate his prisoners (Dan. 3.19). According to the Geneva gloss, angry tyrants exercise their wits by “inventing strange and cruel punishments.”

173. intermitted: discontinued temporarily.

174. red right hand: translates Horace’s account of Jove’s rubente dextera (Odes 1.2.3–4.). Horace evokes Rome’s panic at a catastrophic flood threatened by Jove’s thunder. Belial conjures up a vision of Hell similarly inundated, but with fire.

175. Her: Hell’s.

176. cataracts: heavy downpours.

180–82. Caught … whirlwinds: Cp. Pallas’ vengeance on Ajax: “him, as with pierced breast he breathed forth flame, she caught in a whirlwind and impaled on a spiky crag” (Vergil, Aen. 1.44–45).

187–93. Belial offers impeccable theological rationale against either alternative on Satan’s agenda (l. 41; cp. 1.661–62).

188. what can force or guile: “what can force or guile accomplish.”

197–99. since … will: Belial’s theological clarity persists as he accurately links fate, omnipotent decree, and the victor’s will (cp. 5.602, 7.173).

199. To suffer, as to do: Editors since Newton cite Livy’s quotation of the legendary Mutius Scaevola (“left-handed”), who earned his name by burning off his own right hand in response to captors’ threats: “The strength of Rome is to do and also to suffer” (2.12). Cp. 1.158n and PR 3.195. Belial, by contrast—nameless on account of his crimes and already engulfed in flames—recommends passivity to reduce suffering (ll. 208–14). In the narrator’s terms, he seeks ignoble ease through peaceful sloth (l. 227).

200–208. Our strength … conqueror: The law to which Belial refers is the law of conquest or right of war, which Milton in CD cites to justify the death sentence imposed on all of Adam and Eve’s descendants (1.11 in MLM 1238). Cp. 1.149–50n.

213. what is punished: the punishment already inflicted.

213–19. whence … pain: “If God were to stop stoking the fire, the purity of our native substance might overcome it. Or, we might grow accustomed to a less intense fire and not notice it. Or perhaps our physiology and substance will adapt, so that hellfire will feel natural to us.” Belial’s first alternative fits with his rejection of Moloch’s plan; cp. lines 139–42. The last alternative anticipates Mammon’s proposal—that they adapt themselves to Hell (ll. 274–78). On God as the bellows infuriating hellfire, see 170n.

220. light: Possible meanings include the overtly paradoxical “illumination,” as well as less obviously contradictory adjectival senses, such as “luminous” and “less harsh.” “The rhyme at 220–21 offers a suitably jingling accompaniment to the cheerful fantasy” (Fowler).

223–24. since … worst: “Insofar as happiness is concerned, our current situation is certainly a bad one, but for a bad situation, it is not the worst.”

228. Mammon: See 1.678n.

245. Ambrosial: divinely fragrant; classically, ambrosia is divine nourishment.

256. easy yoke: “who best / Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best” (Sonnet 1910–11).

263–68. How oft … Hell?: “The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness” (2 Chron. 6.1; see also Ps. 1811–13).

271. Wants not: does not lack.

275. elements: components, habitats (cp. Il Pens 93–94); Belial makes a similar conjecture at lines 217–18.

278. sensible: what is felt; sensation (adj. for noun).

281. Compose: adjust to (by becoming part of); calm.

282. where: 1667; “were” in 1674.

288. o’erwatched: sleep deprived.

288–89. bark, pinnace: small sailing ships.

292. such another field: another battle such as they fought in Heaven.

297. policy: statecraft; in Milton’s era, policy often implies Machiavellian cunning. process of time: Cp. Adam and Eve’s prospects for improvement, “by tract of time” (5.498).

302. front: brow, face.

306. Atlantean: Atlas-like; Zeus doomed Atlas, a rebel Titan, to uphold the sky (cp. 4.987n). Statesmen were often compared to Atlas or to Hercules relieving Atlas of his burden. See Cowley’s praise of King Charles: “On whom (like Atlas shoulders) the propped state/(As he were the Primum Mobile of fate)/Solely, relies” (On his Majesty’s Return out of Scotland).

312. style: official name or title. The fallen angels’ original titles indicated their authority, the defense of which Satan cited as cause for their initial rebellion (see, e.g., 5.772–802). Beëlzebub invokes these titles to ask if they are indeed willing to forsake their Heavenly identities, as Mammon has suggested. Cp. 10.460–62, PR 2.121–25.

315. We retain from 1674 the semicolons bracing doubtless, which seem intended to indicate deliberate pauses for rhetorical effect.

321. In reply to Belial’s conjecture at lines 209–13.

324. first and last: Cp. the persistent account of God in Isaiah (41.4, 27; 43.10; 44.6; 48.12) and of the Son in Revelation (1.11, 17; 2.8; 21.6; 22.13).

327–28. iron, golden: The association of iron with severity and gold with mercy distinguishes between the regime of God in Hell and in Heaven. Cp. Ps. 2.9 and Esther 4.11. See also the iron and golden keys of St. Peter in Lyc 110–11.

329. What: why; projecting: scheming; devising.

330. determined us: settled our course. Cp. 11.227.

334. stripes: marks left by a whip.

337. reluctance: resistance, opposition.

338–40. how … feel?: “how to mitigate God’s victory and pleasure in tormenting us?” These challenging lines initiate the figure of God as a reaper seeking to maximize his yield (cp. 4.983) and cap the debate’s running concern with the balance of suffering and doing (see 199n).

349–51. To be … above: “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps. 8.5).

349. like to us: a comparison indicative of the fallen angels’ egocentrism, or antitheo-centrism. Resemblance between humans and angels derives from their reflection of the same creator (cp. 3.100–128, 4.567).

352–53. Fowler observes that the precedent for God’s Heaven-shaking oath is both biblical and classical. See Isa. 13.12–13 and especially Heb. 6.17 (a crucial verse for Lycidas also); Homer, Il. 1.528–30, and Vergil, Aen. 9.104–6.

355. mold: form. Cp. line 139. The sense “constitutive substance” (in humanity’s case, earth) is secondary here because substance follows. See Rumrich 1987, 53–69.

357. attempted: attacked or tempted. The options are elaborated through line 376.

367. puny: from the French puis né, later born.

368. God: “The first time in PL that any devil has spoken the name” (Leonard).

369–70. May … works: “And the Lord said, I will destroy man … for it repenteth me that I have made them” (Gen. 6.7). Following the Calvinist interpretive practice known as “accommodation,” the Geneva Bible explains that “God doeth never repent, but he speaketh after our capacity.” Milton refuses to go along: “God would [not] have said anything … about himself unless he intended that it should be a part of our conception of him.… Let us believe that he did repent” (CD 1.2 in MLM 1147).

374. Hurled headlong: repeats 1.45, the account of the rebel angels’ expulsion. Beëlzebub assumes that God will be consistent in punishing rebellion; hence partake (share) with us.

375. original: 1667 reads “originals.” The meaning includes “parentage” but also the prelapsarian state of bliss (see 10.731–42). Cp. RCG: “run questing up as high as Adam to fetch their original” (Yale 1:762).

377. to sit in darkness here: “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; Because they rebelled against the words of God and condemned the counsel of the most High” (Ps. 107.10–11).

379–80. first devised/By Satan: See 1.650–56.

383. one root: Adam and Eve, the genealogical root of humanity.

387. States: representatives, dignitaries.

391. Synod: meeting, assembly (usually of clergy or church elders); cp. 6.156, 11.67.

404. tempt: make trial of, test.

405. abyss: Greek for “bottomless”; translates “the deep” in the Septuagint.

406. palpable obscure: tangible dark. Cp. the “darkness which may be felt” inflicted by God on Egypt (Exod. 10.21) and the threat of “thick and palpable clouds of darkness” invoked in the prefatory epistle to the AV.

407. uncouth: unknown, strange, unpleasant.

409. abrupt: chasm.

410. happy isle: the universe of this world, hung in the sea of chaos (ll. 1011, 1051). The phrasing recalls the Islands of the Blessed in Greek mythology.

413. had: would have.

415. Choice in our suffrage: judgment in arriving at a consensus.

418. suspense: attentive, in suspense, as is appropriate for personified expectation.

430–66. Cp. Satan’s corresponding speech at PR 1.44–105.

432–33. long … light: Satan echoes the warning of Vergil’s Sibyl to Aeneas before his trip to the underworld (Aen. 6.126–29; cp. 81n, 3.20–21).

434. convex: hemisphere or domelike vault, seen from the outside.

435. Outrageous to devour: fierce enough to destroy rapidly and completely.

436. adamant: from the Greek for “unbreakable.”

438. void profound: translates Lucretius’ inane profundum (On the Nature of Things 1.1108).

439. unessential: lacking essence; without entity. Cp. “unoriginal” (10.477), “unsubstantial” (PR 4.399). Satan proceeds to revisit Belial’s fear (ll. 149–51), as he will again when he returns to Hell (10.476–77).

441. abortive: threatening utter loss of being (as at l. 440), as if one had never been born. The sense “preventive” may also apply because, by swallowing Satan, the preexistent womb of chaos would end his mission before it begins; see lines 932–38.

443. remains: awaits.

444. Beginning with Edition 4 (1688), editors often supply a question mark after escape. The sentence may be construed as interrogative in form, but Satan is not asking a question.

448. moment: consequence.

452. Refusing: “if I refuse.”

457. intend at: attend to.

461. respite or deceive: relieve or beguile, parallel to cure or charm (460).

467. prevented: forestalled.

468. raised: buoyed, uplifted (by Satan’s resolve); modifies Others (469).

478. With awful reverence prone: For Leonard, the phrase implies respect; for Fowler, groveling submission. The former reading suits the republican strain of Hell’s polity, the latter its affinity with Asian tyranny. Cp. CD 2.13: “We nowhere read of obeisance being made to kings in any other way than by a low bow. Yet this same mark of respect was frequently used by one private individual to another” (Yale 6:651); also PL 4.958–60, 5.357–60.

483–85. lest … zeal: “to prevent bad men from boasting about actions that appear virtuous but are really motivated by fame or hidden ambition cloaked with enthusiasm.”

489. while the north wind sleeps: “what time the might of the north wind sleepeth” (Homer, Il. 5.524).

490. louring element: threatening (thus “lowering”) sky; the element is air.

491. lantskip: landscape (old spelling).

496–502. “There is more amity among serpents than among men” (Juvenal, Satire 15.159). According to Rusca, devils maintain harmony to tempt humanity more effectively (Hughes).

504. enow: archaic plural of “enough.”

511–13. The imitation of God’s state (ceremonial pomp) is slavish in detail. As in the scriptural account of God on his throne (Isa. 6.1–7), Satan is surrounded by a host of Seraphim in a compact band (globe; cp. PR 4.581). Recent editors (Fowler, Leonard) cite the Hebrew verb “to burn” as the source of Seraphim (hence fiery Seraphim). But the Jewish Encyclopedia cites the Hebrew noun for “fiery flying serpents” (Num. 21.6–9; Deut. 8:15).

513. emblazonry: heraldic devices decorating shields; horrent: bristling, dreadful.

517. alchemy: goldlike alloy, “alchemy gold”; here, a synecdoche for trumpets.

526. entertain: occupy. See 91n.

528–69. Classical precedents abound for the diversions of the fallen angels. Cp. the Myrmidons’ exercises during Achilles’ absence from battle (Il. 2.774–79) or Horace’s list of pursuits favored by various men (Odes 1.1). Milton’s specific choice of model is ironic; see Vergil’s inventory of the activities of the blessed dead in Elysium (Aen. 6.642–78).

528. sublime: aloft, uplifted; cp. PR 4.542.

530. Pythian fields: Delphi; site of games instituted by Apollo after he slew the Python.

531. shun the goal: go tightly around the turning post, without touching it. Cp. “the turning post cleared with glowing wheel” (Horace, Odes 1.1.4–5).

532. fronted: directly opposed, front to front.

533–34. As when … sky: Cloudy apparitions preceded the fall of Jerusalem, writes Josephus (The Wars of the Jews 6.5.3), and atmospheric conditions at the time of Caesar’s assassination also warned of strife, according to many authors. Portentous weather was similarly observed “about the time of [the] Civil Wars” in England (Hume). Milton persistently likens fallen angels to ominous or deceptive meteorological phenomena, in line with his account of airy angelic substance and the rebels’ authority as “powers of air” (PR 1.44).

535. van: front line of a battle formation.

536. Prick forth: spur forward; couch: lower into position for attack.

538. welkin: sky.

539. Typhoean: Identified with Etna’s volcanic power, Typhon was deemed father of the winds and is also an English word meaning whirlwind (l. 541). See 1.197–99. fell: of cruel or vicious character.

542–46. As when … Euboic Sea: Homeward bound after sacking Oechalia, Hercules asks Lichas to fetch a ceremonial robe. Hercules’ unwitting wife supplies an envenomed garment, which fastens to his flesh and burns unrelentingly. Uprooting trees in blind fury (pines is Milton’s detail), Hercules hurls Lichas into the Euboic Sea from atop Mount Oeta in southern Thessaly. Sophocles dramatizes the story in Trachiniae, and Seneca in Hercules Oetaeus. But Milton mainly follows Ovid (Met. 9.134–272, Her. 9).

552. partial: biased; “silent as to the corrupt motive of their conduct, and dwelt only on the sad consequences of it” (Cowper). The ensuing contrast with harmony suggests that “in parts” or “polyphonic” is not the intended sense.

554. Suspended: The OED cites this line to exemplify the sense “riveted the attention of,” and recent editors agree. The more likely meaning, however, is “to bring about the temporary cessation” (of a condition). The parenthesis implies this sense by interrupting the syntax and deferring the verb, as Newton observed. Cp. the effect on Satan of the Garden’s beauty (4.356, 9.462–66). Classical antecedents include Orpheus’ suspension of Hell (Vergil, Georg. 4.481–84) and the effect of Alcaeus’s music on the tormented Titans, “beguiled of their sufferings by the soothing sound” (Horace, Odes 2.13.38). took: charmed, enchanted (cp. l. 556).

558–69. Though well versed in classical philosophy and scholastic argument, Milton in later works includes passages critical of them (cp. PR 4.286–321, SA 300–306). God later makes his way through the mazy discourse of free will versus predestination (3.96–119); so does Milton in his theological treatise (CD 1.3, 4).

564. apathy: impassivity; signature virtue of Stoicism, one that Milton did not endorse. Cp. CD 2.10: “Sensibility to pain, and complaints or lamentations, are not inconsistent with true patience” (Yale 6:740); also, PR 4.300–18. Orthodox theology makes God the paragon of this virtue, denoted by the term impassibility. But Milton insists that we should deem God to be as passionate as Scripture says (see 369–70n).

568. obdurèd: hardened, especially in sinfulness; stubborn and unyielding, sometimes by divine intercession. See 6.785. Elledge cites obdurèd as an example of prolepsis, a figure in which the adjective describes a state yet to be produced by the action of the verb. If it is God who renders the rebels obdurate, however, the figure instead expresses a coincidence common in seventeenth-century theologies: the damned creature’s philosophical appropriation of God’s sentence; cp. 1.211–12, 240–41.

570. gross: dense, closely packed.

575–81. The account of each river is a translation of its Greek name; e.g., Cocytus derives from kokutos, Greek for “wailing” or lamentation loud.

591. pile: vast building.

592–94. A gulf … sunk: Surrounded by hills of sand, Lake Serbonis lay between Mount Casius and Damiata, at the center of a notorious morass on the lower Egyptian coast. Diodorus Siculus (1.30) and Sandys (1637, 137) describe the fatally deceptive locale and report it swallowing whole armies. Apollonius makes it, not Etna, Zeus’s prison for Typhon (2.1210–15). Related similes appear at 939–40 and 9.634–42.

595. frore: frosty. “When the cold north wind bloweth, and the water is congealed into ice, it … clotheth the water as with a breastplate. It … burneth the wilderness and consumeth the grass as fire” (Ec. 43.20–21). That Hell’s torments include ice as well as fire was a commonplace; see Dante, Inf. 3.86–87, and Shakespeare, MM 3.1.121–22.

596. harpy-footed: with hooked claws, like a raptor. In Greek culture, Harpies were wind spirits thought to snatch people from this world and deliver them to the Furies (with whom they were sometimes confounded). They are particularly identified with sweeping storm winds (hence the power to carry away). 1667 and 1674 have “hailed,” not “haled.” The spellings were interchangeable in Milton’s time, and the superimposed senses of wind-driven precipitation, of being summoned, and of being dragged are likely intended.

600. starve: die a lingering death from the cold.

604. Lethean sound: the river of forgetfulness, Lethe (see l. 583).

611. Medusa: “snaky-headed Gorgon” (Masque 447), the most notorious of three terrifying sisters. All who beheld Medusa were literally petrified.

613. wight: creature.

614. Tantalus: Homer depicts him in Tartarus, where he suffers perpetual thirst and appetite while standing chin deep in a lake that flees his lips, under boughs of fugitive fruit (Od. 11.582–92; see also Horace, Satires 1.68). Cp. 4.325–36, 10.556–70.

621. The variation of iambic rhythm in the first six monosyllables is shocking, maybe unique. It describes the unrelenting variety of a uniformly deathly landscape.

628. Hydra: a venomous serpent with multiple, regenerative heads; Chimera: a fire-breathing mix of lion, goat, and serpent (Il. 6.180–82). Prolusion 1 presents these monsters as the horrors of a guilty conscience (MLM 792). On Gorgons, see 611n. Cp. 10.524: “Scorpion and asp, and amphisbaena dire.”

629. Adversary: See 1.82n.

632. Explores: makes trial of, reconnoiters.

633–34. scours … shaves: “moves quickly over … skims the surface of.” As suggested by explores, Satan both makes a test flight and inspects the bounds of his new realm. The contact and coverage implied by scours and shaves is characteristic of the way Satan marks territory; cp. 9.63–66.

636–37. As … clouds: Sailing ships seen from afar (descried) appear suspended in air; Greek authors termed them meteorous, “hanging” or “aloft” (see Thucydides 1.48.3).

637. equinoctial: usually and incorrectly glossed as “at the equator” on the authority of the OED. The rest of the simile indicates that the winds in question are not the light and shifting breezes at the equator but monsoons. They dominate the climate of the Indian Ocean (the wide Ethiopian), reversing direction at the equinoxes (hence equinoctial), thus determining the schedule for shipping spices to Europe along the established commercial course (trading flood). During the southern winter (April to October), the monsoon blows to the northeast, out of Southern Africa. A fleet bent on sailing toward the Cape (of Good Hope) against that prevailing wind would set a course southwest, as close to the eye of the wind as possible, and tack repeatedly (ply).

637–42. by … pole: The comparison is to merchant ships, sailing either from Bengal (Bengala) in northeastern India or from Ternate and Tidore, “spice islands” in the East Indies. For the association of Satan’s regime with the region, see 2n, 4n.

642. stemming … pole: Ships bound for the Cape would alter course nightly, making headway (stemming) directly to the south (toward the pole), to avoid shallow coastal waters. In the southern winter, the higher the latitude, the longer the night.

647. impaled: surrounded, enclosed.

650–59. The one … unseen: Milton’s allegory of Sin comes out of the Spenserian tradition: cp. Spenser’s Error (FQ 1.1.14–15), Phineas Fletcher’s Hamartia (Purple Island 12.27–31) and Sin (Apollyonists 1.10–12). Classical sources include Hesiod’s Echidna (half woman, half snake) (Theog. 300–25). See also Vergil’s Scylla (Aen. 3.426–32) and Ovid’s story of her origin (Met. 14.50–67), to which Milton alludes at 659–61 (see note); cp. Masque 257–58.

652. Voluminous: winding or coiling, like a serpent.

653. mortal sting: “The sting of death is sin” (1 Cor. 15.56).

654. cry: pack; group noun for hounds.

655. Cerberean: In Greek myth, Cerberus is a many-headed guard dog at the entrance to Hades.

658. Cp. the complaint of Shakespeare’s Margaret to the Duchess of York: “From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept / A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death” (R3 4.4.47–48).

659–61. Circe poisons the sheltered coastal pool in which Scylla bathes. According to Ovid, she wades in up to her waist and “sees her loins disfigured with barking monster shapes … gaping dogs’ heads, such as a Cerberus might have” (Met. 14.60–65). She then preys on sailors from a cave on the Sicilian (Trinacrian) coast near Messina, opposite the southern tip of the Italian mainland (Calabria). Milton may deem the shore along the Strait of Messina hoarse because of nearby Etna’s frequent roaring.

662. night-hag: probably Hecate, the only Titan left at large by Zeus. The Greeks associated her with, among other things, infernal powers, the moon, and witchcraft. Howling dogs signaled her approach. See Masque 535, MAC 3.5.

664–66. Lured … charms: Witches were thought to use infant blood in their rites. Hence seventeenth-century authorities suspected midwives of practicing witchcraft and serving Satan by infanticide (Baillie 63, Ehrenreich and English). Laboring evokes the process of childbirth.

665. Lapland: northernmost portion of the Scandinavian peninsula. Hume records the common reputation of the inhabitants: “their diabolical superstitions, and vindictive natures, added to their gross stupidity, and the malicious imaginations of melancholy, have made them infamous for witchcraft and conjuration.” laboring: That magic could afflict the moon, causing it to labor in its movement, was an old and widespread belief. One meaning of the Latin laborare is “to undergo eclipse.”

673. Milton’s representation of Death with a kingly crown may reflect his antimonarchical views. Cp. Shakespeare’s R2: “Within the hollow crown/That rounds the mortal temples of a king/Keeps Death his court” (3.2.160–62).

677. admired: wondered.

678–79. God … shunned: “When God was except (past participle, OED 3b: ‘excluded’), no basis for value remained” (Fowler). Although this gloss may seem strained, the more common reading—“of all creation Satan values or shuns only God and the Son”—has a nodding Milton imply that God is created.

681. In asking his opponent’s origin, Satan speaks in the manner of Achilles, though to ironically comic effect (cp. Il. 21.150).

683. miscreated front: ugly face.

686. taste: learn by experience or proof; a figurative usage crucial to the epic action.

692. “[The dragon’s] tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth” (Rev. 12.4). Satan tends to overstate his faction as “well nigh half” (9.141). The precise ratio had long been a point of scholastic controversy.

693. Conjured: sworn together (stress on the second syllable).

697. Hell-doomed: retort to Satan’s scornful Hell-born (l. 687). Raphael’s narrative of the rebellion (5.563ff) confirms Death’s summary, which is oddly well informed and free from the infernal bias prevalent for most of the first two books.

701. Cp. Solomon’s son Rehoboam to the Israelites: “My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions” (1 Kings 12.11). The allusion suggests that God (Satan’s punisher) is also Death’s father, though we are about to learn otherwise.

705–11. So speaking … war: Cp. Satan’s confrontation with Gabriel (4.985ff).

708–11. Unterrified … war: Vergil and Tasso, among others, precede Milton in comparing warriors to comets (Aen. 10.272–73; GL 7.52). They were since ancient times believed to presage pestilence, war, and change of kingdoms.

709. Ophiucus: serpent bearer; a large constellation that Milton associates with Satan, located in the Northern (hence Arctic) Hemisphere.

710. horrid hair: Another example of Milton’s etymologically instructive wordplay. Comet derives from the Greek kometes, “long-haired.” Horrid means “bristling” and derives from the same root as hirsute (“hairy”).

714–18. Boiardo’s Orlando and Agricane are similarly opposed like two black clouds (Orlando Innamorato 1.16.10). Satan, whose realm will be “mid air” (PR 1.44–46), is persistently linked to meteorological phenomena.

716. Caspian: region commonly associated with storms (see, e.g., Horace, Odes 2.9.2–3).

722. foe: the Son of God. See 1 Cor. 15.25–26 and Heb. 2.14.

746. portress: “The Porter to th’ infernal gate is Sin” (P. Fletcher, Apollyonists 1.10.1).

748. “This is a very just and instructive part of the allegory.… Sin, pleasant in contemplation and enjoyment, is foul in retrospect” (Cowper).

752–53. All … thee: Sin’s narrative and Raphael’s later narrative offer distinct explanations of Satan’s first experience of pain; cp. 6.327ff, 432ff.

754–58. while … sprung: The general amazement at the cephalic delivery of Sin full-blown, as a goddess armed, recalls the account of Athena’s birth in Homeric Hymn 28.

760. Critics preoccupied with postmodern semiotics belabor the proximity of Sin and sign, near homophones.

768. fields: battles; cp. 1.105.

771. empyrean: highest part of Heaven, where pure fire or light subsists.

772. pitch: pinnacle, height.

774–77. at which time … op’ning: Citing these lines, Fowler (746n) dismisses Empson’s concern over God’s choice of Sin and Death as guards. An allegory in which a personification of sin is expected to obey God’s command is nonetheless perplexing.

778–87. till … destroy: “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1.15). Cp. Shakespeare, Sonnet 129. As with the birth of Sin (754–58n), the delivery of Death echoes the discharge of Satan’s artillery (6.586–90).

789. Vergil similarly describes the sound produced by a spear thrown into the side of the Trojan horse: “With the womb’s reverberation the vaults rang hollow, sending forth a moan” (Aen. 2.52–53).

795–802. The description of this hourly cycle suggests a nightmarish clock mechanism. Postlapsarian time consciousness is also consciousness of death; cp. 4.266–68; On Time.

809. so fate pronounced: Leonard cites Milton’s theological treatise: “fate or fatum is only what is fatum, spoken, by some almighty power” (MLM 1146).

813. dint: blow, stroke.

825. pretenses: claims; the meaning “false claims” was equally current in Milton’s time.

827. uncouth errand sole: unknown mission alone; cp. line 407.

829. unfounded: bottomless, unestablished.

833. purlieus: outskirts. “A French word (as most of our law terms are) of pur pure and lieu a place, and denotes the ground adjoining to, and being accounted part of any forest, by Henry II and other Kings, was … separated again from the same and adjudged Purlieu, that is pure and free from the Laws of the Forest” (Hume).

836. surcharged: overburdened.

837. broils: tumults, riots. Without once mentioning God, Satan insinuates that humanity’s location outside Heaven is a security measure aimed at crowd control.

842. buxom: pliant, yielding (cp. 5.270); embalmed: balmy, aromatic; also, “preserved with balm and precious spices, as princes and great persons are at their death, a word well applied to caress the ugly phantom” (Hume).

861–62. Sin’s plight is echoed in Milton’s account of his situation at the Restoration (7.25–28).

868. gods who live at ease: translates Homer’s epithet for the Olympian gods (Il. 6.138).

869–70. Milton has Sin prophesy in phrases burlesquing the Nicene Creed (“Christ … sits on the right hand of the father … [his] kingdom shall have no end”). Milton scorned prescribed statements of faith and thought the doctrine of the Trinity articulated in the Nicene Creed especially contemptible. In his epic, the closest thing to the orthodox Trinity is the incestuous unity and variety of Satan, Sin, and Death.

872. all our woe: repeats 1.3. Sin provides the instrument that permits Satan to seduce humanity to the first disobedience (1.1).

876–79. then … Unfastens: Cp. Homer’s description of Penelope opening the door to the storeroom where Odysseus’s bow is kept: “Straightaway she quickly loosed the thong from the handle and thrust in the key, and with sure aim shot back the bolts … quickly they flew open before her” (Od. 21.46–50).

877. wards: corresponding ridges or grooves in a lock and key.

880–82. With … thunder: “Grating on harsh, jarring hinges, the infernal gates open” (Aen. 6.873–74).

883. Erebus: darkness, the underworld.

889. redounding: surging, rolling upward in superabundance.

891. secrets: places, parts, or causes unknown, perhaps intentionally concealed; cp. 3.707. The realm of Chaos and Night is described as a womb (see l. 911, 10.476–77), impregnated by the Spirit during creation (1.21–22). Satan’s trespass could thus be construed as sexual prying or a violation of the maternal (cp. 1.684–88, 2.785ff). hoary: white-haired and thus old or ancient.

894–910. where … all: Milton describes eldest Night as eternal, like the anarchy over which she and Chaos preside (e.g., l. 150, 3.18, 10.477). His presentation of Chaos is indebted to Ovid and Lucretius (Met. 1.5–20; On the Nature of Things 2). Commenting on Ovid, Sandys objects that “by not expressing the original, he seems to intimate the eternity of his Chaos” (1632, 49). Only God is eternal. The attribution of eternal being to Chaos and Night thus renders Milton’s account of primordial matter heretical in one of two ways: either Chaos represents a realm distinct from God and, like him, eternal and existentially independent, or Chaos represents an aspect of eternal God himself. The discussion of matter in Christian Doctrine indicates that Milton endorsed the latter heresy (1.7). Cp. 915–16n.

898. Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry: These had long been considered the four fundamental qualities that combine to constitute all created phenomena: humors, elements, planets, or bodies in general. Thus, earth was dry and cold, water moist and cold, air moist and hot, fire dry and hot, et cetera.

900–903. embryon atoms … unnumbered: indivisible units of primal matter, undeveloped and unformed; cp. line 913. The relative weights, shapes, motions, and textures of these countless (unnumbered) “seeds of things,” the semina rerum of Lucretian atomist philosophy, account for the phenomenal variety of the world (On the Nature of Things 2.62–833).

904. Barca or Cyrene’s: desert region of Northern Africa notorious for sandstorms.

906. To whom these: The referents of whom are the four champions fierce of line 898; these refers to the atoms.

907–10. Chaos … all: On the rule of Chaos and Chance in relation to fate and God’s will, cp. lines 232–33, 915–16, and 7.172–73.

911. Except for the insertion of perhaps, the line loosely translates Lucretius’s portrayal of the Earth (On the Nature of Things 5.259).

915–16. Milton allows that God could use the dark materials of chaos to create more worlds (universes, not simply planets), provoking the complaint that Milton heretically “supposes the Deity to have needed means with which to work … [though] the very word creation implies existence given to something which never before existed” (Cowper). As Milton recognized, however, the Hebrew verb create implies the opposite of what Cowper claimed it does (CD 1.7; see 894–910n).

919. frith: firth, channel.

920. pealed: assailed, rung. 921–22. to compare … small: Cp. 6.310–11, 10.306; PR 4.563–64, where Milton uses the same formula, borrowed from Vergil (Ec. 1.24, Georg. 4.176).

922. Bellona: Roman goddess of war, sister to Mars.

924. frame: that which supports the sky. Cp. Horace’s admiration of “the man tenacious of his purpose in a righteous cause”: “Were the vault of heaven to break and fall upon him, its ruins would smite him undismayed” (Odes 3.3.1, 7–8).

927. vans: wings. Milton persists in linking Satan to a sailing ship.

930. cloudy chair: car formed of clouds.

933. pennons: pinions, wings.

935–38. Down … aloft: Satan’s escape from oblivion owes to the rebuff (counterblast) of a cloud instinct with (moved or impelled by) fire and niter, ingredients of gunpowder, Satan’s signature invention from chaotic materials (see 6.478–83, 511–15). Phenomena like shooting stars, comets, and lightning were attributed to the atmospheric ignition of such vapors. Cp. other instances of Satan’s luck (4.530; 9.85, 421–23).

939. Syrtis: The Syrtes are two shallow gulfs (Sidra and Cabes) off the north coast of Libya, a region dreaded for its quicksands (e.g., Acts 27.17). Milton echoes Lucan’s Pharsalia (9.364ff) in describing it as neither sea nor land.

942. both oar and sail: all possible force, might and main. Galley ships when pressed used both oars and sails; cp. Aen. 3.563.

943–45. gryphon … Arimaspian: The gryphon (or griffin) is a mythical guardian of gold, with the upper half of an eagle and lower of a lion. It can thus speed over varied terrain with wingèd course (with wings and feet) in pursuit of the Arimaspian, legendary one-eyed people who steal the guarded gold. See Herodotus 3.116; 4.13, 27.

948–49. The extended series of disjointed monosyllables and breakdowns in iambic meter express the difficulty of negotiating the helter-skelter of chaos.

951–54. universal hubbub … vehemence: Cp. the curse of Babel, 12.53–62.

954. vehemence: mindlessness; plies: alters course, tacks (see 637–42n).

960–61. Of Chaos … deep: “He made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies” (2 Sam. 22.12; cp. Ps. 18.11).

961. wasteful: vast, desolate. Milton is prone to repetition of initial w sounds, and especially to alliterative compounds with wide. See 1.3, 2.1007, 6.253, 8.467, 11.121, 487; Nat Ode 51, 64; Il Pens 75, Lyc 13; Sonnet 192.

962. sable-vested Night: translates Euripides’ epithet for Night, Ion 1150 (literally, “black-robed Night”). She and Chaos preside over a court of accessory personifications.

964. Orcus and Ades: Latin and Greek for the underworld and its ruler (the Greek word is usually spelled Hades).

965. Demogorgon: Boccaccio copied the dreaded name from a medieval manuscript’s gloss of an allusion in Statius (Thebiad 4.516). The reference is to a deity whose name alone terrifies infernal powers. Boccaccio applied it to the primeval deity in his Genealogy of the Gods. Subsequent authors followed suit and often made Demogorgon master of the Fates. See, e.g., Spenser, FQ 1.1.37, 4.2.47. Cp. Milton’s Prolusion 1 in MLM 787.

967. Milton transfers to Discord a trait ordinarily found in personifications of fame or rumor, as when Shakespeare has Rumor “painted full of tongues” speak the prologue to 2H4. In PL, rumor seems to originate in God and is aligned with prophecy, though it does inspire conflict (see, e.g., ll. 345–53, 831, 1.651, 10.481–82).

977. Confine with: border on.

980. this profound: the deep (adj. for noun). The punctuation and dodgy syntax of lines 980–86 suggest that Satan is improvising as he speaks.

982. behoof: advantage.

982–87. if I … revenge: Satan is setting up a double cross. Cp. 10.399–418.

988. Anarch: anarchy’s head of state.

989. incomposed: without composure or orderly arrangement; cp. “increate” (3.6).

993–98. I saw … Pursuing: Cp. 6.871–74.

1001. our: In light of lines 908–9, some editors substitute “your,” construing our intestine broils as a reference to the War in Heaven rather than to the constitutional strife of chaos. Cp. Henry IV’s account of the “intestine shock / And furious close of civil butchery” involving opponents “all of one nature, of one substance bred” (1H4 1.1.11–13).

1004. heaven: not the abode of God and the angels, as in line 1006, but the sky. The world of which Chaos speaks is in modern usage called the “universe.”

1005. golden chain: Homer’s Zeus boasts that the combined strength of the other gods could not prevent him from pulling them and the world up to heaven by a golden chain (Il. 8.18–27). Milton endorsed the traditional interpretation of this chain as a symbol of cosmic design and order (Prolusion 2, Yale 1:236).

1007. walk: distance to be covered; course of conduct or action.

1008. danger: As with much of what Chaos says, the meaning is difficult to pin down. Is Satan approaching danger, or is danger, in the person of Satan, approaching the world?

1013. “The pyramid is the solid which is the original element and seed of fire” (Plato, Timaeus 56b). In sharp contrast to the anarchy of embryon atoms (l. 900), Satan through sheer force of will launches himself toward creation in the atomic form of his own element (Kerrigan 1983, 138–39).

1017. Argo: the ship of Jason and his crew (Argonauts). They encounter the clashing (jostling) rocks of the Bosporos (the Strait of Constantinople) (Apollonius 2.552–611).

1019. larboard: left side of a vessel, port.

1020. Charybdis: dreaded whirlpool in the Strait of Messina, just opposite man-eating Scylla (see 659–61n). Ulysses avoided the total destruction that Charybdis threatened by sailing nearer to Scylla (Homer, Od. 12.234–59).

1024–30. Sin … world: For construction of this broad and beaten way (cp. Matt. 7.13), see 10.293–305.

1024. amain: in full force, numbers.

1033. special grace: Cp. 3.183–84. See Masque 36–42, 216–20, 453–63.

1034. sacred influence: Light is inseparable from God himself (3.1–6). Its influence, whether sunlight or starlight, is the chief agent of creative growth; see 4.661–73, 6.476–81, 9.107, 192.

1039. her outmost works: Nature’s works are fortifications against the tumult of chaos.

1043. holds: maintains heading for.

1044. shrouds and tackle: rigging on a sailing ship; cp. SA 198–200, 717.

1046. Weighs: holds steady.

1048. undetermined: The expanse of Heaven is so vast that one cannot tell whether it is circular or square.

1050. living: in its native condition and site, unlike Satan, whose connection with his native seat and the source of his being lies irretrievably in the past. The walls are also, like everything in Heaven, living in the literal sense (6.860–61, 878–79).

1052. pendant world: the entire universe, hanging like a jewel on a chain.

1055. hies: hastens. “Milton begins Book 3 with the same alliteration” (Leonard).

BOOK III

THE ARGUMENT

God sitting on his throne sees Satan flying towards this world, then newly created; shows him to the Son who sat at his right hand; foretells the success of Satan in perverting mankind; clears his own justice and wisdom from all imputation, having created man free and able enough to have withstood his tempter; yet declares his purpose of grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as 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; man hath offended the majesty of God by aspiring to Godhead, and therefore with all his progeny devoted to death must die, unless someone can be found sufficient to answer for his offense, and undergo his punishment. The Son of God freely offers himself a ransom for man: the Father accepts him, ordains his incarnation, 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 choir, celebrate the Father and the Son. Meanwhile Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world’s outermost orb; where wandering he first finds a place since called the Limbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither; thence comes to the gate of Heaven, described ascending by stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: his passage thence to the orb of the sun; he finds there 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 creation and man whom God had placed here, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed; alights first on Mount Niphates.

Hail holy light¹, offspring of Heav’n first-born,

Or of th’² Eternal coeternal beam

May I express³ thee unblamed? Since God is light,

And never but in unapproachèd light⁴

Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,

Bright effluence⁶ of bright essence increate.

Or hear’st thou rather⁷ pure ethereal stream,

Whose fountain who shall tell⁸? Before the sun,

Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voice

Of God, as with a mantle didst invest¹⁰

The rising world of waters dark and deep,

Won from the void and formless infinite¹².

Thee I revisit now with bolder wing,

Escaped the Stygian pool¹⁴, though long detained

In that obscure sojourn¹⁵, while in my flight

Through utter and through middle darkness¹⁶ borne

With other notes¹⁷ than to th’ Orphean lyre

I sung of Chaos and eternal Night,

Taught by the Heav’nly Muse¹⁹ to venture down

The dark descent, and up to reascend,

Though hard and rare²⁰: thee I revisit safe,

And feel thy sov’reign vital lamp; but thou

Revisit’st not these eyes, that roll²³ in vain

To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;

So thick a drop serene²⁵ hath quenched their orbs,

Or dim suffusion²⁶ veiled. Yet not the more

Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt²⁷

Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,

Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief

Thee Sion³⁰ and the flow’ry brooks beneath

That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow,

Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget

Those other two equaled with me in fate,

So were I equaled with them in renown,³⁴

Blind Thamyris³⁵ and blind Maeonides,

And Tiresias³⁶ and Phineus prophets old.

Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move³⁷

Harmonious numbers³⁸; as the wakeful bird

Sings darkling³⁹, and in shadiest covert hid

Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year

Seasons return, but not to me returns

Day, or the sweet approach of ev’n or morn,

Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose,

Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;

But cloud instead, and ever-during dark

Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men

Cut off, and for the book of knowledge⁴⁷ fair

Presented with a universal blank⁴⁸

Of Nature’s works to me expunged and razed⁴⁹,

And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.

So much the rather thou celestial light

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers

Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence

Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell

Of things invisible to mortal sight.

   Now had th’⁵⁶ Almighty Father from above,

From the pure empyrean where he sits

High throned above all highth, bent down his eye,

His own works and their works at once to view:

About him all the sanctities⁶⁰ of Heaven

Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received

Beatitude past utterance; on his right⁶²

The radiant image of his glory sat,

His only Son; on Earth he first beheld

Our two first parents, yet the only two

Of mankind, in the happy Garden placed,

Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,

Uninterrupted joy, unrivaled love

In blissful solitude; he then surveyed

Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there

Coasting the wall of Heav’n on this side Night⁷¹

In the dun air sublime⁷², and ready now

To stoop with wearied wings and willing feet

On the bare outside of this world⁷⁴, that seemed

Firm land embosomed 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.

   “Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage

Transports⁸¹ our Adversary, whom no bounds

Prescribed, no bars of Hell, nor all the chains

Heaped on him there, nor yet the main abyss⁸³

Wide interrupt⁸⁴ can hold; so bent he seems

On desperate revenge, that shall redound

Upon his own rebellious head. And now

Through all restraint broke loose he wings his way

Not far off Heav’n, in the precincts of light,

Directly towards the new-created world,

And man there placed, with purpose to assay⁹⁰

If him by force he can destroy, or worse,

By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert;

For man will hearken to his glozing⁹³ lies,

And easily transgress the sole command,

Sole pledge of his obedience: so will fall

He and his faithless progeny: whose fault?

Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of me

All he could have; I made him just and right,

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.⁹⁹

Such I created all th’ ethereal Powers

And spirits, both them who stood and them who failed;

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

Not free, what proof could they have giv’n sincere

Of true allegiance, constant faith or love,

Where only what they needs must do, appeared,

Not what they would? What praise could they receive?

What pleasure I from such obedience paid,

When will and reason (reason also is choice¹⁰⁸)

Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled,

Made passive both, had served necessity,

Not me. They therefore as to right belonged,

So were created, nor can justly accuse

Their Maker, or their making, or their fate,

As if predestination overruled

Their will, disposed by absolute decree

Or high 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 unforeknown¹¹⁹.

So without least impulse¹²⁰ or shadow of fate,

Or aught by me immutably foreseen,

They trespass, authors to themselves in all

Both what they judge and what they choose; for so

I formed them free, and free they must remain,

Till they enthrall themselves: I else must change

Their nature, and revoke the high decree

Unchangeable, eternal, which ordained

Their freedom; they themselves ordained their fall.

The first sort¹²⁹ by their own suggestion fell,

Self-tempted, self-depraved: man falls deceived

By the other first: man therefore shall find grace,

The other none: in mercy and justice both,

Through Heav’n and Earth, so shall my glory excel,

But mercy first and last shall brightest shine.”

   Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance¹³⁵ filled

All Heav’n, and in the blessèd spirits elect

Sense of new joy ineffable diffused:

Beyond compare the Son of God was seen

Most glorious, in him all his Father shone

Substantially¹⁴⁰ expressed, and in his face

Divine compassion visibly¹⁴¹ appeared,

Love without end, and without measure grace,

Which uttering¹⁴³ thus he to his Father spake.

   “O Father, gracious was that word which closed

Thy sov’reign sentence, that man should find grace;

For which both Heav’n and Earth shall high extol

Thy praises, with th’ innumerable sound

Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne

Encompassed shall resound thee ever blest.

For should man finally be lost, should man

Thy creature late so loved, thy youngest son

Fall circumvented¹⁵² thus by fraud, though joined

With his own folly? That be from thee far,¹⁵³

That far be from thee, Father, who art judge

Of all things made, and judgest only right.

Or shall the Adversary thus obtain

His end, and frustrate thine, shall he fulfill

His malice, and thy goodness bring to naught,

Or proud return though to his heavier doom,

Yet with revenge accomplished and to Hell

Draw after him the whole race of mankind,

By him corrupted? Or wilt thou thyself

Abolish thy creation, and unmake,

For him, what for thy glory thou hast made?

So should thy goodness and thy greatness both

Be questioned and blasphemed¹⁶⁶ without defense.”

To whom the great Creator thus replied.

“O Son, in whom my soul hath chief delight,¹⁶⁸

Son of my bosom, Son who art alone

My Word¹⁷⁰, my wisdom, and effectual might,

All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all

As my eternal purpose hath decreed:

Man shall not quite be lost, but saved who will,

Yet not¹⁷⁴ of will in him, but grace in me

Freely vouchsafed; once more I will renew

His lapsèd powers, though forfeit and enthralled

By sin to foul exorbitant desires;

Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand

On even ground against his mortal foe,

By me upheld, that he may know how frail

His fall’n condition is, and to me owe

All his deliv’rance, and to none but me.

Some I have chosen of peculiar grace¹⁸³

Elect above the rest; so is my will:

The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warned

Their sinful state, and to appease betimes¹⁸⁶

Th’ incensèd¹⁸⁷ Deity, while offered grace

Invites; for I will clear their senses dark,

What may suffice, and soften stony hearts¹⁸⁹

To pray, repent, and bring obedience due.

To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,

Though but endeavored with sincere intent,

Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.

And I will place within them as a guide

My umpire conscience, whom if they will hear,

Light after light well used they shall attain,

And to the end persisting¹⁹⁷, safe arrive.

This my long sufferance and my day of grace

They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste;

But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,²⁰⁰

That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;

And none but such from mercy I exclude.

But yet all is not done; man disobeying,

Disloyal breaks his fealty²⁰⁴, and sins

Against the high supremacy of Heav’n,

Affecting Godhead, and so losing all,

To expiate his treason hath naught left,

But to destruction sacred and devote²⁰⁸,

He with his whole posterity must die,

Die he or Justice must; unless for him

Some other able, and as willing, pay

The rigid²¹² satisfaction, death for death.

Say Heav’nly powers, where shall we find such love,

Which of ye will be mortal to redeem

Man’s mortal crime, and just²¹⁵ th’ unjust to save,

Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?”

   He asked, but all the Heav’nly choir stood mute,

And silence was in Heav’n: on man’s behalf

Patron or intercessor none appeared,

Much less that durst upon his own head draw

The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set²²¹.

And now without redemption all mankind

Must have been lost, adjudged to death and Hell

By doom severe, had not the Son of God,

In whom the fullness dwells of love divine,

His dearest mediation²²⁶ thus renewed.

   “Father, thy word is past, man shall find grace;

And shall grace not find means, that finds her way,

The speediest of thy wingèd messengers,

To visit all thy creatures, and to all

Comes unprevented²³¹, unimplored, unsought,

Happy for man, so coming; he her aid

Can never seek, once dead in sins²³³ and lost;

Atonement for himself or offering meet²³⁴,

Indebted and undone, hath none to bring:

Behold me²³⁶ then, me for him, life for life

I offer, on me let thine anger fall;

Account me man; I for his sake will leave

Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee

Freely put off, and for him lastly die

Well pleased, on me²⁴¹ let Death wreck all his rage;

Under his gloomy power I shall not long

Lie vanquished; thou hast giv’n me to possess

244 Life in²⁴⁴ myself forever, by thee I live,

Though now to Death I yield, and am his due

All that of me can die, yet that debt paid,

Thou²⁴⁷ wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave

His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul

Forever with corruption there to dwell;

But I shall rise victorious, and subdue

My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil;

Death his death’s wound shall then receive, and stoop

Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed²⁵³.

I through the ample air in triumph high

Shall lead Hell captive maugre²⁵⁵ Hell, and show

The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the sight

Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,

While by thee raised I ruin²⁵⁸ all my foes,

Death last²⁵⁹, and with his carcass glut the grave:

Then with the multitude of my redeemed

Shall enter Heaven long absent, and return,

Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud

Of anger shall remain, but peace assured,

And reconcilement; wrath shall be no more

Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire.”

   His words here ended, but his meek aspect

Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love

To mortal men, above which only shone

Filial obedience: as a sacrifice

Glad to be offered, he attends²⁷⁰ the will

Of his great Father. Admiration²⁷¹ seized

All Heav’n, what this might mean, and whither tend

Wond’ring; but soon th’ Almighty thus replied:

   “O thou in Heav’n and Earth the only peace

Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou

My sole complacence²⁷⁶! Well thou know’st how dear

To me are all my works, nor man the least

Though last created, that for him I spare

Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,

By losing thee a while, the whole race lost.

Thou therefore²⁸¹ whom thou only canst redeem,

Their nature also to thy nature join;

And be thyself man among men on earth,

Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed,

By wondrous birth: be thou in Adam’s room²⁸⁵

The head of all mankind, though Adam’s son.

As in²⁸⁷ him perish all men, so in thee

As from a second root shall be restored,

As many as are restored, without thee none.

His crime makes guilty all his sons, thy merit²⁹⁰

Imputed shall absolve them who renounce

Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,

And live in thee transplanted, and from thee

Receive new life. So man, as is most just,

Shall satisfy for man, be judged and die,

And dying rise, and rising with him raise

His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.

So Heav’nly love shall outdo Hellish hate,

Giving²⁹⁹ to death, and dying to redeem,

So dearly³⁰⁰ to redeem what Hellish hate

So easily destroyed, and still³⁰¹ destroys

In those who, when they may, accept not grace.

Nor shalt thou by descending to assume

Man’s nature, lessen or degrade thine own.

Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss

Equal to God³⁰⁶, and equally enjoying

God-like fruition³⁰⁷, quitted all to save

A world from utter loss, and hast been found

By merit more than birthright Son of God,

Found worthiest to be so by being good,

Far more than great or high; because in thee

Love hath abounded more than glory abounds,

Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt

With thee thy manhood also to this throne;

Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign

Both God and man, Son both of God and man,

Anointed universal King; all power³¹⁷

I give thee, reign forever, and assume³¹⁸

Thy merits; under thee as Head Supreme

Thrones, Princedoms,³²⁰ Powers, Dominions I reduce:

All knees³²¹ to thee shall bow, of them that bide

In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell;

When thou attended gloriously from Heav’n

Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send

The summoning Archangels to proclaim

Thy dread tribunal: forthwith from all winds³²⁶

The living, and forthwith the cited³²⁷ dead

Of all past ages to the general doom³²⁸

Shall hasten, such a peal shall rouse their sleep.³²⁹

Then all thy saints³³⁰ assembled, thou shalt judge

Bad men and angels, they arraigned³³¹ shall sink

Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full,

Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Meanwhile

The world shall burn³³⁴, and from her ashes spring

New Heav’n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell,

And after all their tribulations long

See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,

With joy and love triumphing, and fair truth.

Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by,

For regal scepter then no more shall need³⁴⁰,

God shall be all in all³⁴¹. But all ye gods,

Adore him, who to compass³⁴² all this dies,

Adore the Son, and honor him as me³⁴³.”

   No sooner had th’ Almighty ceased, but all

The multitude of angels with a shout

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet

As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heav’n rung

With jubilee³⁴⁸, and loud hosannas filled

Th’ eternal regions: lowly reverent

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground

With solemn adoration down they cast

Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold,

Immortal amarant³⁵³, a flow’r which once

In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life

Began to bloom, but soon for man’s offense

To Heav’n removed where first it grew, there grows,

And flow’rs aloft shading the fount of life³⁵⁷,

And where the river of bliss through midst of Heav’n

Rolls o’er Elysian flow’rs her amber³⁵⁹ stream;

With these that never fade the spirits elect

Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams,

Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright

Pavement that like a sea of jasper³⁶³ shone

Impurpled with celestial roses smiled.

Then crowned again their golden harps they took,

Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side

Like quivers hung, and with preamble³⁶⁷ sweet

Of charming symphony they introduce

Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;

No voice exempt³⁷⁰, no voice but well could join

Melodious part, such concord is in Heav’n.

   Thee Father first they sung omnipotent,

Immutable, immortal, infinite,

Eternal King; thee Author of all being,

Fountain of light, thyself invisible

Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt’st

Throned inaccessible, but³⁷⁷ when thou shad’st

The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud

Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,

Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,

Yet dazzle Heav’n, that³⁸¹ brightest Seraphim

Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes³⁸².

Thee next they sang of all creation first³⁸³,

Begotten Son, divine similitude,

In whose conspicuous count’nance, without cloud

Made visible, th’ Almighty Father shines,

Whom else no creature can behold³⁸⁷; on thee

Impressed the effulgence³⁸⁸ of his glory abides,

Transfused on thee his ample spirit rests.

He Heav’n of Heav’ns and all the Powers therein

By thee created, and by thee threw down

Th’ aspiring Dominations³⁹²: thou that day

Thy Father’s dreadful thunder didst not spare,

Nor stop thy flaming chariot wheels, that shook

Heav’n’s everlasting frame, while o’er the necks

Thou drov’st of warring angels disarrayed.

Back from pursuit thy Powers³⁹⁷ with loud acclaim

Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father’s might,

To execute fierce vengeance on his foes,

Not so on man; him through their malice fall’n,

Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom

So strictly, but much more to pity incline:

No sooner did thy dear and only Son

Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail man

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’s offense. O unexampled love,

Love nowhere to be found less than divine!

Hail Son⁴¹² of God, Savior of men, thy name

Shall be the copious matter of my song

Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise

Forget, nor from thy Father’s praise disjoin.

   Thus they in Heav’n, above the starry sphere,

Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent.

Meanwhile upon the firm opacous⁴¹⁸ globe

Of this round world, whose first convex⁴¹⁹ divides

The luminous inferior orbs, enclosed

From Chaos and th’ inroad of darkness old,

Satan alighted walks: a globe far off

It seemed, now seems a boundless continent

Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night

Starless exposed, and ever-threat’ning storms

Of Chaos blust’ring round, inclement sky;

Save on that side which from the wall of Heav’n

Though distant far some small reflection gains

Of glimmering air less vexed⁴²⁹ with tempest loud:

Here walked the fiend at large⁴³⁰ in spacious field.

As when a vulture on Imaüs⁴³¹ bred,

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar⁴³² bounds,

Dislodging from a region scarce of prey

To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling⁴³⁴ kids

On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs⁴³⁵

Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams;

But in his way lights on the barren plains

Of Sericana⁴³⁸, where Chineses drive

With sails and wind⁴³⁹ their cany wagons light:

So on this windy sea of land, the Fiend

Walked up and down alone bent on his prey,

Alone, for other creature in this place

Living or lifeless to be found was none,

None yet, but store⁴⁴⁴ hereafter from the earth

Up hither like aërial vapors 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 fond⁴⁴⁹ hopes of glory or lasting fame,

Or happiness in this or th’ other life;

All who have their reward on Earth, the fruits

Of painful⁴⁵² superstition and blind zeal,

Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find

Fit retribution, empty⁴⁵⁴ as their deeds;

All th’ unaccomplished⁴⁵⁵ works of Nature’s hand,

Abortive⁴⁵⁶, monstrous, or unkindly mixed,

Dissolved on Earth, fleet⁴⁵⁷ hither, and in vain,

Till final dissolution, wander here,

Not in the neighboring moon, as some⁴⁵⁹ have dreamed;

Those argent fields more likely habitants,

Translated saints⁴⁶¹ or middle spirits hold

Betwixt th’ angelical and human kind:

Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born

First from the ancient world those giants⁴⁶⁴ came

With many a vain exploit, though then renowned:

The builders next of Babel on the plain

Of Sennaär⁴⁶⁷, and still with vain design

New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build:

Others came single; he who to be deemed

A god, leaped fondly⁴⁷⁰ into Etna flames,

Empedocles⁴⁷¹, and he who to enjoy

Plato’s Elysium, leaped into the sea,

Cleombrotus⁴⁷³, and many more too long,

Embryos⁴⁷⁴ and idiots, eremites and friars

White, black⁴⁷⁵ and gray, with all their trumpery.

Here pilgrims⁴⁷⁶ roam, that strayed so far to seek

In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heav’n;

And they⁴⁷⁸ who to be sure of Paradise

Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,

Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised;

They pass⁴⁸¹ the planets seven, and pass the fixed,

And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs

The trepidation talked, and that first moved;

And now Saint Peter at Heav’n’s wicket⁴⁸⁴ seems

To wait them with his keys⁴⁸⁵, and now at foot

Of Heav’n’s ascent they lift their feet, when lo

A violent crosswind from either coast

Blows them transverse ten thousand leagues awry

Into the devious⁴⁸⁹ air; then might ye see

Cowls, hoods and habits with their wearers tossed

And fluttered into rags, then relics, beads⁴⁹¹,

Indulgences⁴⁹², dispenses, pardons, bulls,

The sport of winds: all these upwhirled aloft

Fly o’er the backside of the world⁴⁹⁴ far off

Into a limbo⁴⁹⁵ large and broad, since called

The Paradise of Fools⁴⁹⁶, 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 light turned thitherward in haste

His traveled⁵⁰¹ steps; far distant he descries

Ascending by degrees⁵⁰² magnificent

Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high,

At top whereof, but far more rich appeared

The work as of a kingly palace gate

With frontispiece⁵⁰⁶ of diamond and gold

Embellished; thick with sparkling orient⁵⁰⁷ gems

The portal shone, inimitable on Earth

By model, or by shading pencil drawn.

The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw⁵¹⁰

Angels ascending and descending, bands

Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled

To Padan-Aram⁵¹³, in the field of Luz

Dreaming by night under the open sky,

And waking cried, “This is the gate of Heav’n.”

Each stair mysteriously⁵¹⁶ was meant, nor stood

There always, but drawn up to Heav’n sometimes

Viewless⁵¹⁸, and underneath a bright sea flowed

Of jasper, or of liquid pearl⁵¹⁸, whereon

Who after came from Earth, sailing arrived,

Wafted⁵²¹ by angels, or flew o’er the lake

Rapt:⁵²² in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.

The stairs were then let down, whether to dare

The fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate

His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss.

Direct against which opened from beneath,⁵²⁶

Just o’er the blissful seat of Paradise,⁵²⁶

A passage down to th’ Earth⁵²⁶, a passage wide,

Wider by far than that of aftertimes

Over Mount⁵³⁰ Sion, and, though that were large,

Over the Promised Land to God so dear,

By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,

On high behests his angels to and fro

Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard⁵³⁴

From Paneas⁵³⁵ the fount of Jordan’s flood

To Beërsaba⁵³⁶, where the Holy Land

Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;

So wide⁵³⁸ the op’ning seemed, where bounds were set

To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.

Satan from hence now on the lower stair

That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven gate

Looks down with wonder at the sudden view

Of all this world⁵⁴³ at once. As when a scout

Through dark and desert ways with peril gone

All night; at last by break of cheerful dawn

Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,

Which to his eye discovers⁵⁴⁷ unaware

The goodly prospect of some foreign land

First seen, or some renowned metropolis

With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned,

Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams.

Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen⁵⁵²,

The spirit malign, but much more envy seized

At sight of all this world beheld so fair.

Round he surveys, and well might, where he stood

So high above the circling⁵⁵⁶ canopy

Of night’s extended shade; 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 pause

Down right into the world’s first region⁵⁶² throws

His flight⁵⁶³ precipitant, and winds with ease

Through the pure marble air his oblique way

Amongst innumerable stars, that shone

Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds,

Or other worlds they seemed, or⁵⁶⁷ happy isles,

Like those Hesperian gardens⁵⁶⁸ famed of old,

Fortunate fields, and groves and flow’ry vales,

Thrice happy isles, but who dwelt happy there

He stayed not to inquire: above⁵⁷¹ them all

The golden sun in splendor likest Heaven

Allured his eye: thither his course he bends⁵⁷³

Through the calm firmament; but up or down

By center, or eccentric, hard to tell,

Or longitude, where the great luminary

Aloof⁵⁷⁷ the vulgar constellations thick,

That from his lordly eye keep distance due,

Dispenses light from far; they as they move

Their starry dance in numbers⁵⁸⁰ that compute

Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp

Turn swift their various motions, or are turned

By his magnetic beam⁵⁸³, that gently warms

The universe, and to each inward part

With gentle penetration, though unseen,

Shoots invisible virtue⁵⁸⁶ even to the deep:

So wondrously was set his station⁵⁸⁷ bright.

There lands⁵⁸⁸ the fiend, a spot like which perhaps

Astronomer in the sun’s lucent orb

Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw.

The place he found beyond expression bright,

Compared with aught on Earth, metal⁵⁹² or stone;

Not all parts like, but all alike informed

With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;

If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear;

If stone, carbuncle⁵⁹⁶ most or chrysolite,

Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone⁵⁹⁷

In Aaron’s breastplate⁵⁹⁷, and a stone⁵⁹⁸ besides

Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen,

That stone, or like to that which here below

Philosophers⁶⁰¹ in vain so long have sought,

In vain, though by their powerful art they bind⁶⁰²

Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound⁶⁰²

In various shapes old Proteus from the sea,⁶⁰²

Drained through a limbec to his native form⁶⁰².

What wonder then if fields and regions here

Breathe forth elixir pure, and rivers run⁶⁰⁷

Potable gold⁶⁰⁷, when with one virtuous⁶⁰⁸ touch

Th’ arch-chemic⁶⁰⁹ sun so far from us remote

Produces with terrestrial humor⁶¹⁰ mixed

Here in the dark so many precious things

Of color glorious and effect⁶¹² so rare?

Here matter new to gaze the Devil met

Undazzled, far and wide his eye commands,

For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade,

But all sunshine, as when his beams at noon

Culminate from th’ equator⁶¹⁷, as they now

Shot upward still direct, whence no way round⁶¹⁸

Shadow from body opaque can fall⁶¹⁸, and the air,

Nowhere so clear, sharpened his visual ray⁶²⁰

To objects distant far⁶²⁰, whereby he soon

Saw within ken⁶²² a glorious angel stand,

The same⁶²³ whom John saw also in the sun:

His back was turned, but not his brightness hid;

Of beaming sunny rays, a golden tiar⁶²⁵

Circled his head, nor less his locks behind

Illustrious⁶²⁷ on his shoulders fledge with wings

Lay waving round; on some great charge employed

He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep.

Glad was the spirit impure as now in hope

To find who might direct his wand’ring flight

To Paradise the happy seat of man,

His journey’s end and our beginning woe.

But first he casts⁶³⁴ to change his proper shape,

Which else might work him danger or delay:

And now a stripling Cherub he appears,

Not of the prime⁶³⁷, yet such as in his face

Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb

Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned;

Under a coronet his flowing hair

In curls on either cheek played, wings he wore

Of many a colored plume sprinkled with gold,

His habit fit for speed succinct⁶⁴³, and held

Before his decent⁶⁴⁴ steps a silver wand.

He drew not nigh unheard, the angel bright,

Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turned,

Admonished by his ear, and straight was known

Th’ Archangel Uriel⁶⁴⁸, one of the sev’n

Who in God’s presence, nearest to his throne

Stand ready at command, and are his eyes⁶⁵⁰

That run through all the heav’ns, or down to th’ Earth⁶⁵⁰

Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,⁶⁵⁰

O’er sea and land⁶⁵⁰: him Satan thus accosts.

   “Uriel, for thou of those sev’n spirits that stand

In sight of God’s high throne, gloriously bright,

The first art wont his great authentic⁶⁵⁶ will

Interpreter through highest Heav’n to bring,

Where all his sons thy embassy attend⁶⁵⁸;

And here art likeliest by supreme decree

Like honor to obtain, and as his eye

To visit oft this new creation round;

Unspeakable desire to see, and know

All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man,

His chief delight and favor⁶⁶⁴, him for whom

All these his works so wondrous he ordained,

Hath brought me from the choirs of Cherubim

Alone thus wand’ring. Brightest Seraph tell

In which of all these shining orbs hath man

His fixèd seat, or fixèd seat hath none,

But⁶⁷⁰ all these shining orbs his choice to dwell;

That I may find him, and with secret gaze,

Or open admiration him behold

On whom the great Creator hath bestowed

Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured;

That both in him and all things, as is meet,

The Universal Maker we may praise;

Who justly hath driv’n out his rebel foes

To deepest Hell, and to repair that loss

Created this new happy race of men

To serve him better: wise are all his ways.”

   So spake the false dissembler unperceived;

For neither man nor angel can discern

Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

Invisible, except to God alone,

By his permissive will, through Heav’n and Earth:

And oft though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps

At wisdom’s gate, and to simplicity

Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill

Where no ill seems: which now for once beguiled

Uriel, though Regent of the Sun, and held

The sharpest sighted spirit of all in Heav’n;

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 excess

That reaches blame, but rather merits praise

The more it seems excess, that led thee hither

From thy empyreal mansion thus alone,

To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps

Contented with report hear only in Heav’n:

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 can comprehend

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’s material mold⁷⁰⁹, came to a heap:

Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar

Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined;

Till at his second bidding darkness fled,

Light shone, and order from disorder sprung:

Swift to their several quarters hasted then

The⁷¹⁵ cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire,

And this ethereal quintessence of heav’n

Flew upward, spirited with⁷¹⁷ various forms,

That rolled orbicular⁷¹⁸, and turned to stars

Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move;

Each had his place appointed, each his course,

The⁷²¹ rest in circuit walls this universe.

Look downward on that globe whose hither side

With light from hence, though but reflected, shines;

That place is Earth the seat of man, that light

His day, which else as th’ other hemisphere

Night would invade, but there the neighboring moon

(So call that opposite fair star) her aid

Timely interposes, and her monthly round

Still ending, still renewing, through mid-heav’n;

With borrowed light her countenance triform⁷³⁰

Hence⁷³¹ fills and empties to enlighten th’ Earth,

And in her pale dominion checks the night.

That spot to which I point is Paradise,

Adam’s abode, those lofty shades his bow’r.

Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires.”

Thus said, he turned, and Satan bowing low,

As to superior spirits is wont in Heav’n,

Where honor due and reverence none neglects,

Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath,

Down from th’ ecliptic⁷⁴⁰, sped with hoped success,

Throws his steep flight in many an airy wheel,

Nor stayed, till on Niphates⁷⁴²’ top he lights.

1–55. This passage of transition from Hell and Chaos to Heaven, known as “the invocation to light,” is at once the most speculative and intimate of the poem’s four invocations (at the openings of Books 1, 3, 7, and 9). The meaning of the light addressed has often been debated. Some identify holy light with physical light, the first of created things (Kelley 91–94), while others think that light here symbolizes some aspect of the Godhead, usually the Son (Hunter et al., 149–56). In the second case, however, Milton in lines 1–8 would be uncertain whether the Son was created in time, whereas elsewhere in the poem (3.384, 5.603), as in his prose (CD 1.5), he is definite on the Son’s created-ness. See 6n.

2. Or the beam coeternal with the Father (and therefore not first-born).

3. express: describe, invoke; unblamed: without being judged blasphemous or improper; God is light: quoted from 1 John 1.5.

3–6. Since … increate: These lines expand on the likelihood that light, being the dwelling of God, is eternal.

4. unapproachèd light: See 1 Tim. 6.16. Even angels shade their eyes with their wings when approaching the dazzling Father (ll. 375–82).

6. effluence: flowing out; essence: deity, the divine essence of the Father; increate: uncreated, without origin.

7. hear’st thou rather: do you prefer to be called; ethereal: composed of ether, the lightest and most subtle element, ubiquitous in the heavens; see 7.244n.

8. Whose fountain who shall tell: whose beginning is unknown and unknowable; see Job 38.19.

10. invest: clothe, wrap; see Ps. 104.2.

12. void and formless infinite: Chaos is void of form, not matter; on its infinity, see 7.168–71n.

14. Stygian pool: classical synecdoche for Hell; long detained: for Book 1 and nearly all of Book 2.

15. sojourn: place of temporary stay.

16. utter … middle darkness: Utter darkness is Hell; middle darkness is Chaos.

17. other notes: Orpheus sang before Pluto in order to secure his wife’s release from death. Milton’s song is not Orphean because he has not sought to charm or bargain with the ruler of Hell. Milton might also be deflating the obscure, pseudomystical night worship found in a poem (“Hymn to Night”) often ascribed to Orpheus.

19. Heav’nly Muse: See 1.6, 7.1, 9.21.

20–21. up … rare: another echo of the Sybil’s advice to Aeneas in Aen. 6.126–29; see 2.432–33n.

23–24. roll … ray: Milton told his Athenian correspondent Leonard Philaras that “upon the eyes turning” he saw in the mist of his blindness “a minute quantity of light as if through a crack” (MLM 780).

25. drop serene: an English translation of the Latin gutta serena, a medical term for complete blindness whose cause is not visible to the physician’s eye. It was thought to result from normally airy spirits and humors congealing into obstructing tumors in the optical nerves. A main cause of the congealing was the body’s inability to rid itself of vapors produced by digestion. See Banister, sec. 9, chap. 1. quenched: put out the sight of; in Milton’s case, the spirits necessary for sight could not, because of the tumors, pass through his eyes. orbs: eyeballs.

26. dim suffusion: translates the Latin suffusio nigra or obscura, another medical term for blindness.

27. where the Muses haunt: Mount Helicon, here a symbol of classical literature itself.

30. Sion: the biblical equivalent of Helicon, and a symbol of Hebrew poetry. See PR 4.346–47 on the preference for Hebrew poetry.

34. “Would that I were their equal in fame.”

35. Thamyris: A Thracian poet mentioned in Homer, Il. 2.594–600. After he boasted that he could outsing the Muses, they blinded him and deprived him of the ability to sing. Maeonides: Homer; his father’s name was Maeon.

36. Tiresias: the blind Theban sage, best known from Oedipus Rex. Among the explanations for his blindness is the anger of Athena, whom he spied bathing. Phineus: Thracian king blinded for revealing the gods’ will in accurate prophecies.

37. voluntary move: of themselves utter (without a further act of volition). The idea is that these thoughts need not be turned into poetry because they are poetry and naturally arrange themselves in harmonious verse.

38. numbers: verse; wakeful bird: the nightingale, who appears often in Milton’s early poetry and also in PL (4.602–3, 7.435–36).

39. darkling: in the dark. The word, become poetic diction, appears in Keats’s “Ode on a Nightingale,” Arnold’s “Dover Beach,” and Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush.”

47. book of knowledge: the book of Nature. “There are two books from whence I collect my divinity; besides that written one of God [the Bible], another of his servant Nature, that universal and public manuscript that lies expansed unto the eyes of all” (Browne, 1.16)—but not to the blind eyes of Milton.

48. blank: a white or blank page.

49. expunged and razed: “The Romans expunged writing on wax tablets by covering it with little pricks, or razed it by shaving the tables clean” (Leonard).

56–417. The dialogue between Father and Son is comparable to the “Parliament in Heaven” scene found in medieval mystery and morality plays (Lewalski 1985, 118–21). The four “daughters of God” (Mercy, Truth, Righteousness, and Peace) debated the fate of sinful man, with Truth and Righteousness opposing Mercy and Peace. After a thorough search to find a substitute for man, the Son’s offer to redeem mankind resolved the debate in favor of Mercy and Peace.

60. sanctities: angels.

62. on his right: as in Heb. 1.2–3.

71. this side Night: the side of Chaos (the realm of Night) closest to Heaven.

72. dun air sublime: Satan is sublime (aloft) in the dun (dusky) air between Chaos and our world.

74. this world: not Earth but all creation.

74–76. seemed … air: Viewed from the outside, the universe appeared to be a solid sphere with no sky, surrounded by either air or water.

81. Transports: both “drives” and “bears.”

83. main abyss: Chaos.

84. Wide interrupt: widely breached. Editors usually construe interrupt as a past participle rather than as a noun made from a verb; it indicates the interval between Hell and the realms of light.

90. assay: test.

93. glozing: falsely flattering.

99. As Satan admits at 4.63–68. See also 5.525–43; CD 1.3.

108. reason also is choice: “For reason is but choosing” (Areop in MLM 944). Cp. Aristotle, Ethics 3.2.

119. had … unforeknown: because foreknowledge, “since it exists only in the mind of the foreknower, has no effect on its object” (CD 1.3 in MLM 1175). Leonard’s description of the passage as inconsistent with Christian Doctrine and symptomatic of a breakdown in Milton’s theodicy is confused.

120. impulse: instigation.

129. The first sort: the rebel angels; suggestion: temptation; see 5.702.

135. fragrance: synesthesia; God’s words smell rather than resound.

140. Substantially: In CD 1.5, Milton argues that the Father transferred “divine substance,” but not “the whole essence,” to the Son.

141. visibly: See 6.681–82.

143. uttering: making exterior, bringing out (as in the utter—exterior—darkness of line 16).

152. circumvented: entrapped.

153–54. See Abraham’s plea for the Sodomites (Gen. 18.25).

166. blasphemed: defamed.

168. Cp. Matt. 3.17.

170. My Word: In the New Testament “word” (Gk. logos, Lat. verbum) is a title of the Son (Rev. 19.13); effectual might: the means by which the Father exercises power, as at the Creation; see John 1.1–3.

174. This line might seem to state the Calvinist position that people cannot contribute to their salvation, but see lines 187–90, 302.

183. peculiar grace: grace given uniquely to some extraordinary souls. See S. Fallon 1998, 95–97.

186. betimes: in time.

187–90. The language carefully indicates that God’s offered grace is not irresistible. It only invites, and may suffice rather than “will suffice.” The Protestant belief in conditional election and resistable grace is called Arminianism, after the Dutchman Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609), who tried to introduce free will into Calvin’s deterministic theology.

189. stony hearts: See Ezek. 11.19.

197. persisting: remaining steadfast; safe arrive: attain salvation in the end.

200–202. In CD 1.8, Milton argues that when God blinds or hardens a sinner, “he is not the cause of sin” (MLM 1213).

204. fealty: allegiance.

208. sacred and devote: absolutely doomed; the words are near synonyms, with sacred meaning “dedicated to a deity for destruction” and devote meaning “given to destruction as by a vow.”

212. The idea that the Atonement satisfied justice originated with Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo 1.11–16, 19–21.

215. just: in that he is “able” and “willing” to “pay / The rigid satisfaction, death for death” (ll. 211–12). 219. Patron: advocate.

221. ransom set: put down the ransom price, which is a life. 224. doom: judgment.

226. mediation: One of the Son’s traditional titles is mediator between God and man (and in Milton’s poem, between God and angel as well).

231. unprevented: unanticipated (that is to say, not prayed for).

233. dead in sins: See Col. 2.13.

234. meet: adequate.

236–38. me … me … me … me: The self-emphasis of the repetition is perhaps balanced by the humility of me being in all four cases an unstressed syllable. Me is both repeated and stressed in the battlefield oration of 6.812–18.

241. on me: Here at last me occurs in the stressed position (see previous note); wreck: give vent to.

244. Cp. John 5.26.

247–49. “Thou will not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Ps. 16.10).

253. his mortal sting disarmed: 1 Cor. 15.55: “O death, where is thy sting?” See 12.432.

255. maugre: in spite of; show: to the Father.

258. ruin: hurl down.

259. Death last: 1 Cor. 15.26: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” glut the grave: gratify to the full the appetite of the grave. For the commonplace metaphor of the hungry grave, see Shakespeare’s ROM 5.3.45–48.

270. attends: awaits.

271. Admiration: wonder.

276. complacence: pleasure.

281–82. “Therefore join your nature to the nature of those whom only you can redeem.”

285. room: place, stead.

287–88. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15.22).

290–91. thy merit/Imputed: Christ’s merit is imputed, “attributed vicariously,” to saved human beings. Cp. 12.407–10; CD 1.22.

299. Giving: submitting.

300. dearly: both “lovingly” and “expensively.”

301. still: always.

306. Equal to God: applies to throned in highest bliss, not to the Son’s divine nature.

307. fruition: enjoyment; quitted: both “left” (in becoming incarnate) and “paid, redeemed” (man’s debt of sin).

317–18. all power/I give thee: “All power is given to me” (Matt. 28.18).

318–19. assume/Thy merits: echoes Horace’s Odes 3.30.14–15.

320. The line lists the four orders of angels found in Col. 1.16; see also 5.840.

321–22. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Phil. 2.10). See Satan’s resentment of this “knee-tribute” at 5.782.

326. all winds: all quarters of the compass.

327. cited: summoned.

328. doom: judgment.

329. Cp. Nat Ode 155–56.

330. saints: righteous worshipers.

331. arraigned: accused.

334. The world shall burn: See 2 Pet. 3.10–13.

340. need: be necessary. The regal conception of deity will in the end be abandoned.

341. God shall be all in all: See 1 Cor. 15.28.

342. compass: accomplish, but perhaps anticipating the compasses of 7.225.

343. as me: If this phrase means “as you do me,” God is simply prescribing rites of adoration, but if it means “as if me” he is sharing or even handing over his kingship. Cp. John 5.23.

348. jubilee: jubilation; hosannas: from the Hebrew “Save, we pray.”

353. amarant: a legendary immortal flower; see 11.78n, Lyc 149.

357. fount of life: See Rev. 7.17, 22.1–2.

359. amber: clear.

363. sea of jasper: See Rev. 21.11.

367. preamble: musical prelude.

370. exempt: excluded.

377. but: except.

381. that: so that.

382. veil their eyes: See Isa. 6.2.

383. of all creation first: The phrase has biblical precedent (Rev. 3.14, Col. 1.15–17), but for Milton such verses were not, as they were for believers in the orthodox Trinity, metaphorical. On Christ as the first creation, see CD 1.5, and, on Milton’s Arianism, Bauman 1987.

387. Whom … behold: See Exod. 33.18–20; John 1.18, 14.9.

388. effulgence: radiance.

392. Dominations: usually one of the nine angelic orders, but here apparently, by synecdoche, a name for all of the nine orders.

397. powers: angels.

412–15. The promise to devote future songs to the praise of a god was conventional in classical hymns. See Callimachus, Hymns 3.137.

418. opacous: opaque.

419. first convex: the outer sphere or primum mobile of our universe.

429. vexed: tossed about.

430. at large: freely.

431. Imaüs: mountains that were believed to stretch from Afghanistan to the Arctic.

432. roving Tartar: nomadic inhabitants of central Asia, “a people the most barbarous, bloody, and fierce of all mankind … the scourges of God on the civilized world” (Hume). Tartar is also a shortened form of Tartarus, or hell.

434. yeanling: newborn.

435. the springs: Both the Ganges and the Hydaspes (the modern Jhelum) have their springs, or sources, in the Himalayas.

438. Sericana: China; Chineses was the standard seventeenth-century plural form.

439. With sails and wind: Peter Heylyn, Cosmography (1620), notes that the Chinese “have carts and coaches driven with sails” (867); cany: made of cane or bamboo.

444–97. Milton’s Paradise of Fools has its seed in Ariosto’s OF 34, where the English knight Astolfo goes to the Limbo of Vanity on the moon in search of his lost wits. Milton may also have been influenced by Ovid’s House of Fame (Met. 12.52–61).

444. store: plenty.

449. fond: foolish.

452. painful: painstaking.

454. empty: The Latin for empty is vanus, the etymological root of vanity (447).

455. unaccomplished: unfinished, lacking.

456. Abortive: fruitless, useless; unkindly: unnaturally.

457. fleet: glide away.

459. some: Ariosto for one (OF 34.73ff).

461. Translated saints: righteous men such as Enoch and Elijah, who were taken from Earth without having to die (cp. 11.670–71).

464. giants: sired by the Sons of God (fallen angels in one tradition) on human women (Gen. 6.4). See 11.573–627; PR 2.178–81.

467. Sennaär: Vulgate form of Shinar (Gen. 11.2).

470. fondly: foolishly.

471. Empedocles: a philosopher who threw himself into Etna to hide his mortality. The volcano threw back one of his sandals. See Horace, De Arte Poetica 464–66.

473. Cleombrotus: A philosopher who drowned himself after reading of Elysium in Plato’s Phaedo. See Callimachus, Epigrams 25.

474. Embryos: beings in an unrealized state; eremites: hermits; friars: Franciscan friars taught that idiots and unbaptized infants went not to Heaven but to a limbo above the earth; Milton in a satirical gesture puts the friars in his Paradise of Fools along with embryos and idiots.

475. The Carmelites wore a white mantle, the Dominicans a black, and the Franciscans a gray. trumpery: religious ornaments.

476–77. The pilgrims to Golgotha repeat the error of the Apostles before learning of the Resurrection: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24.5).

478–80. It was not uncommon for dying Roman Catholics to disguise themselves as members of religious orders to ease their passage to Heaven.

481–83. This depiction of the Ptolemaic cosmos includes seven planetary spheres, the sphere of the fixed stars (the eighth), the crystálline sphere (ninth), and the primum mobile or that first moved (tenth). The crystalline sphere was a late and controversial insertion, invented to account for precession of the equinoxes and a perceived oscillation of the starry sphere, i.e., the trepidation talked. The poles of this hypothetical crystalline orb were thought to correspond to the equinoctial opposites of Aries and Libra in the eighth. The balance that measures (weighs) the trepidation may thus refer to Libra (“the balance”) (Fowler). Or it may refer to the librating axis of the crystalline sphere, which imparts (weighs) irregular motions as it moves back and forth like a beam holding scales. Cp. “trepidation of the spheres” in Donne’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning.”

484. wicket: a small door made in, or placed beside, a large one.

485. keys: the keys of the kingdom of Heaven given to Peter (Matt. 16.19). Cp. Lyc 108–11.

489. devious: off their main course.

491. beads: rosaries.

492. For Protestants, sale of indulgences granting released time from Purgatory was a main Catholic abuse. Dispenses or dispensations voided obligations. Pardons absolved from offenses. Bulls were papal edicts.

494. backside of the world: the dark side of the primum mobile, farthest from Heaven.

495. limbo: fringe region.

496. Paradise of Fools: a proverbial phrase; see Shakespeare, ROM 2.4.163.

501. traveled: punning on “travailed, wearied.”

502. degrees: steps, stairs.

506. frontispiece: ornamental pediment above an entranceway.

507. orient: lustrous as pearl.

510–15. See Gen. 28.10–17.

513. The 1667 and 1674 editions have no comma after Padan-Aram but include one after Luz. We insert the first and omit the second to avoid geographical confusion. Jacob’s vision occurs in the vicinity of Luz, or Bethel, just north of Jerusalem. He sleeps there en route to Padan-Aram in northwest Mesopotamia.

516. mysteriously: symbolically, as an allegorical figure.

518. Viewless: unseen.

518–19. bright sea … pearl: The Argument identifies this bright sea as “waters above the firmament that flow about [the gate of Heaven].” Cp. 7.619.

521. Wafted: gently floated, as Lazarus was (Luke 16.22).

522. Rapt: carried away or caught up, as Elijah was (2 Kings 2.11; cp. PR 216–17)

526–28. Direct … Earth: At the bottom of the stairway, precisely above Paradise, a wide passage opened down to Earth.

530. That refers to the passage over the Promised Land, described in lines 531–37. It is distinct from the passage traveled by Satan and from the one over Mount Sion. These occasional thoroughfares are presented as avenues of divine purpose, like the stairway.

534. eye with choice regard: “His eye also passed, with preferential attention.” Angels are later identified as God’s eyes (ll. 650–53).

535. Paneas: mountain spring at the northern border of Israel, a chief source of the Jordan River (flood); also, Greek name for Dan, the city associated with this fount. Cp. the scriptural idiom “from Dan even to Beersheba” (e.g., 1 Sam. 3.20).

536. Beërsaba: Vulgate form of Beersheba, city on Israel’s southern border.

538–39. The opening to the passageway occurs at the boundary separating light from the darkness of chaos.

543. world: cosmos, universe.

547. discovers: reveals.

552. though after Heaven seen: “Though previously he had witnessed the splendors of Heaven.”

556–61. circling … breadth: Satan views the interior of the cosmos from an opening in the primum mobile at its most eastern point (corresponding to Libra, the scales). Peering down (westward), Satan sees the dark side of the Earth and its rotating, canopy-like shadow (the shadow’s rotation would be annual in a Copernican cosmos; diurnal in a Ptolemaic). At the western extreme from Satan, behind the Earth and sun, lies Aries, the fleecy star (astrologically, the ram). Its position in the sky is below that of Andromeda (mythological princess threatened by a sea monster). From Satan’s perspective, the ram thus appears to bear the princess past the horizon of the western ocean (Atlantic seas). Finally, to observe the breadth of the cosmos before him, Satan looks north and south, from pole to pole.

562. world’s first region: uppermost portion of the universe, above the sphere of the moon.

563–64. Satan dives straight down (flight precipitant) through the sparkling (marble) air. Once among the stars, however, he follows a characteristically indirect and slanted course (winds … his oblique way). 565–66. shone/Stars distant: “From a distance appeared to be stars” (Greek idiom).

567. Or … or: “either … or.” Various seventeenth-century authors, and some ancients, speculated about other inhabited worlds. Milton is notably persistent about this possibility. Cp. line 670; 7.621–22; 8.140–58, 175–76. happy isles: Islands of the Blessed in Greek mythology, where a favored few abide in bliss rather than face death.

568. Hesperian gardens: where grew golden apples guarded by a dragon. Associated with Hesperus, the evening star, these gardens were thought to lie beyond the western ocean (where Aries bears Andromeda; see 556–61n). Cp. Masque 393–97, 981–83; PR 2.357.

571. above: more than.

573–76. thither … longitude: Milton’s noncommittal description of Satan’s route sunward accommodates competing seventeenth-century astronomical models.

577. Aloof: apart from (preposition).

580. numbers: music of the spheres regarded as the measure of a dance (cp. 8.125; Masque 112–14). The choric role of the stars in pacing the drama of creation was a classical commonplace.

583. magnetic beam: attractive power of the sun; a pre-Newtonian principle of celestial dynamics, proposed by Kepler.

586. virtue: efficacy; the deep: here means the farthest reaches and most inward parts of the created universe, including underground parts. Sunlight does not penetrate the realm of Chaos, which is also known as “the deep.”

587. station: Although it suggests a sedentary sun, as in the Copernican system, station could also refer to the fixed sphere or course of the sun in the Ptolemaic cosmos.

588–90. Galileo built the first telescope (glazed optic tube) and published his discoveries, sunspots among them, in Siderius Nuncius (1610). Cp. 1.288. Tube was a common seventeenth-century term for telescope. Cp. Marvell, “To the King”: “So his bold tube man to the sun applied/And spots unknown in the bright star descried” (1–2).

592. metal: Editions 1 and 2 have “medal.” See the repetition of metal and stone at lines 595–96.

596. carbuncle: precious stone, fiery red, like little glowing coals (the word’s etymological origin) or like serpents’ eyes (9.500). The gems referred to were all thought to be luminous, i.e., informed/With radiant light (593–94). chrysolite: yellow-green gemstone.

597–98. to … breastplate: “the forementioned radiant stones plus the others on Aaron’s breastplate, to the total of twelve.” See Exod. 28.17–20 for a description of the breastplate.

598. stone: the philosopher’s stone; the grand goal of alchemical aspiration, able to confer immortality and transmute base metal into gold.

601. Philosophers: alchemists.

602–5. bind … form: Alchemists considered mercury (Hermes) a primary basis of material being and subjected it to much experimentation. Liquid at room temperature, it was deemed volatile—difficult to bind or fix. Proteus is the shape-shifting sea god, symbolic of primary matter, who had to be restrained in his native form before he would speak true. Limbec is a corrupted form of alembic, a retort used by alchemists to distill and fix matter in its original condition. Note the repetitions of stone and vain in lines 598–602.

607–8. Breathe … gold: Like the fields and streams in Paradise (5.185–86), those on the sun breathe forth mists, but on the sun the exhaled mist is elixir—a vaporous manifestation of the philosopher’s stone with life-extending properties, also identified as potable gold.

608. virtuous: efficacious.

609. arch-chemic: of supreme chemical power.

610. terrestrial humor: earthly fluid or moisture. Sunlight was thought to penetrate the earth’s surface and produce precious gems from subterranean moisture (cp. l. 586). Cp. Masque 732–36. Similar processes occur in Heaven (6.475–81).

612. effect: appearance, efficacy.

617. Culminate from th’ equator: reach their zenith relative to the equator, i.e., at equatorial noon.

618–19. whence … fall: In the prelapsarian cosmos, the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the surface at equatorial noon so that no way round shadows fall. On the always shadowless solar surface, the sun’s beams always (still) shoot directly upward.

620–21. Nowhere … far: According to some classical theories widely accepted in the seventeenth century, vision depends on extromission, “a beam issuing out of the eye to the object” (Hume; cp. SA 163). The eye was thus deemed a sunlike organ. Satan’s eyebeam is sharpened in a literal sense, like one knife sharpened against another, and so made able to pierce to objects distant far.

622. ken: visual range.

623. “And I saw an angel standing in the sun” (Rev. 19.17).

625. tiar: crown.

627. Illustrious: brightly shining.

634. casts: contrives.

637. prime: first in order of existence or rank; primary.

643. habit … succinct: refers to the wings he wore (l. 641); literally, tucked up.

644. decent: becoming, proper.

648. Uriel: Hebrew for “light of God.” The name is apocryphal (2 Esd. 4.1, 36). the sev’n: For the seven angels nearest God’s throne, see Rev. 1.5, 8.2.

650–53. his … land: “Those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth” (Zech. 4.10). Cp. lines 533–34.

656. authentic: authoritative.

658. attend: wait upon; cp. line 270.

664. favor: object of favor.

670. “But instead can choose to dwell in any of these shining orbs.”

709. mold: substance.

715–16. The four elements are unwieldy compared with celestial ether, the agile fifth element or quíntessence, which Milton in the invocation identifies with light itself (l. 7).

717. spirited with: animated by. The endowment of form triggers the animation of matter; cp. 7.464–66.

718. orbicular: in circles. The natural motion of ether was thought to be circular; see Aristotle, On the Heavens 270b.

721. “The ether left after the stars were formed enspheres the universe.”

730. triform: waning, waxing, full. Cp. Horace, Odes 3.22.

731. Hence: from here.

740. ecliptic: the path of the sun.

742. Niphates: mountain bordering ancient Assyria (4.126).

BOOK IV

THE ARGUMENT

Satan now in prospect of Eden, and nigh the place where he must now attempt the bold enterprise which he undertook alone against God and man, falls into many doubts with himself, and many passions: fear, envy, and despair; but at length confirms himself in evil; journeys on to Paradise, whose outward prospect and situation is described; overleaps the bounds, sits in the shape of a cormorant on the Tree of Life, as highest in the Garden, to look about him. The Garden described; Satan’s first sight of Adam and Eve; his wonder at their excellent form and happy state, but with resolution to work their fall; overhears their discourse, thence gathers that the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden them to eat of, under penalty of death; and thereon intends to found his temptation, by seducing them to transgress: then leaves them a while, to know further of their state by some other means. Meanwhile Uriel descending on a sunbeam warns Gabriel, who had in charge the gate of Paradise, that some evil spirit had escaped the deep, and passed at noon by his sphere in the shape of a good angel down to Paradise, discovered after by his furious gestures in the mount. Gabriel promises to find him ere morning. Night coming on, Adam and Eve discourse of going to their rest: their bower described; their evening worship. Gabriel drawing forth his bands of night-watch to walk the round of Paradise, appoints two strong angels to Adam’s bower, lest the evil spirit should be there doing some harm to Adam or Eve sleeping; there they find him at the ear of Eve, tempting her in a dream, and bring him, though unwilling, to Gabriel; by whom questioned, he scornfully answers, prepares resistance, but hindered by a sign from Heaven, flies out of Paradise.

O for that¹ warning voice, which he who saw

Th’ Apocalypse, heard cry in Heav’n aloud,

Then when³ the Dragon, put to second rout,

Came furious down to be revenged on men,

“Woe to the inhabitants on Earth!” That now,

While time was, our first parents had been warned

The coming of their secret foe, and scaped

Haply so scaped his mortal snare; for now

Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down,

The Tempter ere th’ Accuser¹⁰ of mankind,

To wreck¹¹ on innocent frail man his loss

Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell:

Yet not rejoicing in his speed, though bold,

Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast,

Begins his dire attempt, which nigh the birth

Now rolling¹⁶, boils in his tumultuous breast,

And like a devilish engine¹⁷ back recoils

Upon himself; horror and doubt distract

His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir

The Hell²⁰ within him, for within him Hell

He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell

One step no more than from himself can fly

By change of place: now conscience wakes despair

That slumbered, wakes the bitter memory

Of what he was, what is, and what must be²⁵

Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.

Sometimes towards Eden²⁷ which now in his view

Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad,

Sometimes towards heav’n and the full-blazing sun,

Which now sat high in his meridian³⁰ tow’r:

Then much revolving³¹, thus in sighs began.

   “O thou that³² with surpassing glory crowned,

Look’st from thy sole dominion like the God

Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars

Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call,

But with no friendly voice, and add thy name

O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams

That bring to my remembrance from what state

I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;

Till pride and worse ambition threw me down

Warring in Heav’n against Heav’n’s matchless King:

Ah wherefore! He deserved no such return

From me, whom he created what I was

In that bright eminence, and with his good

Upbraided⁴⁵ none; nor was his service hard.

What could be less than to afford him praise,

The easiest recompense, and pay him thanks,

How due! Yet all his good proved ill in me,

And wrought but malice; lifted up so high

I ‘sdained⁵⁰ subjection, and thought one step higher

Would set me highest, and in a moment quit⁵¹

The debt immense of endless gratitude,

So burdensome still⁵³ paying, still to owe;

Forgetful what from him I still received,

And understood not that a grateful mind

By owing owes not⁵⁶, but still pays, at once

Indebted and discharged; what burden then?

O had his powerful destiny ordained

Me some inferior angel, I had stood

Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised

Ambition. Yet why not? Some other power⁶¹

As great might have aspired, and me though mean

Drawn to his part; but other powers as great

Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within

Or from without, to all temptations armed.

Hadst thou⁶⁶ the same free will and power to stand?

Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,

But Heav’n’s free love dealt equally to all?

Be then his love accursed, since love or hate,

To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

Nay cursed be thou; since against his thy will

Chose freely what it now so justly rues.

Me miserable! Which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell⁷⁵;

And in the lowest deep a lower deep

Still threat’ning to devour me opens wide,

To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav’n.

O then at last relent: is there no place⁷⁹

Left for repentance, none for pardon left?

None left but by submission; and that word

Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame

Among the spirits beneath, whom I seduced

With other promises and other vaunts

Than to submit, boasting I could subdue

Th’ Omnipotent. Ay me, they little know

How dearly I abide⁸⁷ that boast so vain,

Under what torments inwardly I groan;

While they adore me on the throne of Hell,

With diadem and scepter high advanced⁹⁰

The lower still I fall, only supreme

In misery; such joy ambition finds.

But say I could repent and could obtain

By act of grace⁹⁴ my former state; how soon

Would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay

What feigned submission swore: ease would recant

Vows made in pain, as violent and void⁹⁷.

For never can true reconcilement grow

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep:

Which would but lead me to a worse relapse

And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear

Short intermission bought with double smart.

This knows my punisher; therefore as far

From granting he, as I from begging peace:

All hope excluded thus, behold instead

Of us outcast, exiled, his new delight,

Mankind created, and for him this world.

So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,

Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost;

Evil be thou my good¹¹⁰; by thee at least

Divided Empire with Heav’n’s King I hold

By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;

As man ere long, and this new world shall know.”

   Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face

Thrice changed with pale¹¹⁵, ire, envy and despair,

Which marred his borrowed visage, and betrayed

Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.

For Heav’nly minds from such distempers foul

Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware,

Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm,

Artificer of fraud; and was the first

That practiced falsehood under saintly show,

Deep malice to conceal, couched¹²³ with revenge:

Yet not enough had practiced to deceive

Uriel once warned; whose eye pursued him down

The way he went, and on th’ Assyrian mount¹²⁶

Saw him disfigured, more than could befall

Spirit of happy sort: his gestures fierce

He marked and mad demeanor, then alone,

As he supposed, all unobserved, unseen.

So on he fares, and to the border comes,

Of Eden¹³², where delicious Paradise,

Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,

As with a rural mound the champaign head

Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides

With thicket overgrown, grotesque¹³⁶ and wild,

Access denied; and overhead up grew

Insuperable highth of loftiest shade,

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,

A sylvan scene¹⁴⁰, and as the ranks ascend

Shade above shade, a woody theater

Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops

The verdurous wall of Paradise up sprung:

Which to our general sire gave prospect large

Into his nether empire neighboring round.

And higher than that wall a circling row

Of goodliest trees loaden with fairest fruit,

Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue

Appeared, with gay enameled¹⁴⁹ colors mixed:

On which the sun more glad impressed his beams

Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow¹⁵¹,

When God hath show’red the earth; so lovely seemed

That lantskip¹⁵³: and of pure now purer air

Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires

Vernal delight and joy, able to drive

All sadness but despair: now gentle gales¹⁵⁶

Fanning their odoriferous wings dispense

Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole

Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail

Beyond the Cape of Hope¹⁶⁰, and now are past

Mozambique, off at sea northeast winds blow

Sabean odors from the spicy shore

Of Araby the Blest, with such delay

Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league

Cheered with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles.

So entertained those odorous sweets the fiend

Who came their bane, though with them better pleased

Than Asmodeus¹⁶⁸ with the fishy fume,

That drove him, though enamored, from the spouse

Of Tobit’s son, and with a vengeance sent

From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound.

   Now to th’ ascent of that steep savage¹⁷² hill

Satan had journeyed on, pensive and slow;

But further way found none, so thick entwined,

As one continued brake, the undergrowth

Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplexed¹⁷⁶

All path of man or beast that passed that way:

One gate there only was, and that looked east

On th’ other side: which when th’ arch-felon saw

Due entrance he disdained, and in contempt,

At one slight bound¹⁸¹ high over leaped all bound

Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within

Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf¹⁸³,

Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,

Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve

In hurdled cotes¹⁸⁶ amid the field secure,

Leaps o’er the fence with ease into the fold:

Or as a thief bent to unhoard the cash¹⁸⁸

Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,

Cross-barred and bolted fast, fear no assault,

In at the window climbs, or o’er the tiles;

So clomb¹⁹² this first grand thief into God’s fold:

So since into his Church lewd¹⁹³ hirelings climb.

Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life¹⁹⁴,

The middle tree and highest there that grew,

Sat like a cormorant¹⁹⁶; yet not true life

Thereby regained, but sat devising death

To them who lived; nor on the virtue thought

Of that life-giving plant, but only used

For prospect, what well used had been the pledge²⁰⁰

Of immortality. So little knows

Any, but God alone, to value right

The good before him, but perverts best things

To worst abuse, or to their meanest use.

Beneath him with new wonder now he views

To all delight of human sense exposed

In narrow room Nature’s whole wealth²⁰⁷, yea more,

A Heav’n on Earth, for blissful Paradise

Of God the Garden was, by him in the east

Of Eden planted; Eden stretched her line

From Auran²¹¹ Eastward to the royal tow’rs

Of great Seleucia²¹², built by Grecian kings,

Or where the sons of Eden long before

Dwelt in Telassar²¹⁴: in this pleasant soil

His far more pleasant Garden God ordained;

Out of the fertile ground he caused to grow

All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;

And all amid them stood the Tree of Life,

High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit

Of vegetable gold; and next to life

Our death the Tree of Knowledge grew fast by,

Knowledge of²²² good bought dear by knowing ill.

Southward through Eden went a river large²²³,

Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill

Passed underneath engulfed, for God had thrown

That mountain as his Garden mold high raised

Upon the rapid current, which through veins

Of porous earth with kindly²²⁸ thirst up drawn,

Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill

Watered the Garden; thence united fell

Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,

Which from his darksome passage now appears,

And now divided into four main streams,

Runs diverse, wand’ring many a famous realm

And country whereof here needs no account,

But rather to tell how, if art could tell,

How from that sapphire fount the crispèd²³⁷ brooks,

Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,

With mazy error²³⁹ under pendant shades

Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed

Flow’rs worthy of Paradise which not nice²⁴¹ art

In beds and curious knots²⁴², but Nature boon

Poured forth profuse on hill and dale and plain,

Both where the morning sun first warmly smote

The open field, and where the unpierced shade

Embrowned²⁴⁶ the noontide bow’rs: thus was this place,

A happy rural seat²⁴⁷ of various view;

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,

Others whose fruit burnished with golden rind

Hung amiable²⁵⁰, Hesperian fables true,

If true, here only, and of delicious taste:

Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks

Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,

Or palmy hillock, or the flow’ry lap²⁵⁴

Of some irriguous²⁵⁵ valley spread her store,

Flow’rs of all hue, and without thorn the rose²⁵⁶:

Another side, umbrageous²⁵⁷ grots and caves

Of cool recess, o’er which the mantling²⁵⁸ vine

Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps

Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall

Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,

That to the fringèd bank with myrtle crowned,²⁶²

Her crystal mirror²⁶² holds, unite their streams.

The birds their choir apply; airs²⁶⁴, vernal airs,

Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune

The trembling leaves, while universal Pan²⁶⁶

Knit with the Graces and the Hours²⁶⁷ in dance

Led on th’ eternal spring. Not that fair field²⁶⁸

Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flow’rs²⁶⁸

Herself a fairer flow’r by gloomy Dis²⁶⁸

Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain²⁶⁸

To seek her through the world²⁶⁸; nor that sweet grove

Of Daphne by Orontes, and th’ inspired²⁷³

Castalian spring²⁷³, might with this Paradise

Of Eden strive; nor that Nyseian isle²⁷⁵

Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham,²⁷⁵

Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Lybian Jove,²⁷⁵

Hid Amalthea and her florid son²⁷⁵

Young Bacchus from his stepdame Rhea’s eye²⁷⁵;

Nor where Abassin²⁸⁰ kings their issue guard,

Mount Amara, though this by some supposed

True Paradise under the Ethiop line

By Nilus’ head, enclosed with shining rock,

A whole day’s journey high, but wide remote

From this Assyrian garden, where the fiend

Saw undelighted all delight, all kind

Of living creatures new to sight and strange:

Two of far nobler shape erect and tall,

Godlike erect, with native honor clad

In naked majesty seemed lords of all,

And worthy seemed, for in their looks divine

The image of their glorious Maker shone,

Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,

Severe but in true filial freedom placed;

Whence true authority in men; though both

Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;

For contemplation he and valor formed,

For softness she and sweet attractive grace,

He for God only, she for God in him:

His fair large front³⁰⁰ and eye sublime declared

Absolute rule; and hyacinthine³⁰¹ locks

Round from his parted forelock manly hung

Clust’ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:

She as a³⁰⁴ veil down to the slender waist

Her unadornèd golden tresses wore

Disheveled, but in wanton³⁰⁶ ringlets waved

As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied

Subjection, but required with gentle sway,

And by her yielded, by him best received,

Yielded with coy³¹⁰ submission, modest pride,

And sweet reluctant³¹¹ amorous delay.

Nor those mysterious³¹² parts were then concealed,

Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shame

Of nature’s works, honor dishonorable,

Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind

With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure,

And banished from man’s life his happiest life,

Simplicity and spotless innocence.

So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sight

Of God or angel, for they thought no ill:

So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair

That ever since in love’s embraces met,

Adam the goodliest man of men since born

His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.

Under a tuft of shade that on a green

Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain side

They sat them down, and after no more toil

Of their sweet gard’ning labor than sufficed

To recommend cool Zephyr³²⁹, and made ease

More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite

More grateful, to their supper fruits they fell,³³¹

Nectarine³³² fruits which the compliant boughs

Yielded them, sidelong as they sat recline

On the soft downy bank damasked³³⁴ with flow’rs:

The savory pulp they chew, and in the rind

Still as they thirsted scoop the brimming stream;

Nor gentle purpose³³⁷, nor endearing smiles

Wanted³³⁸, nor youthful dalliance as beseems

Fair couple, linked in happy nuptial league,

Alone as they. About them frisking played

All beasts of th’ earth, since wild, and of all chase³⁴¹

In wood or wilderness, forest or den;

Sporting the lion ramped³⁴³, and in his paw

Dandled³⁴⁴ the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,

Gamboled before them, th’ unwieldy elephant

To make them mirth used all his might, and wreathed

His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly

Insinuating³⁴⁸, wove with Gordian twine

His braided train, and of his fatal guile

Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass

Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat,

Or bedward ruminating³⁵²: for the sun

Declined was hasting now with prone career³⁵³

To th’ ocean isles³⁵⁴, and in th’ ascending scale

Of heav’n the stars that usher evening rose:

When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood³⁵⁶,

Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered sad.

   “O Hell! What do mine eyes with grief behold,

Into our room of bliss thus high advanced

Creatures of other mold³⁶⁰, earth-born perhaps,

Not spirits, yet to Heav’nly spirits bright³⁶¹

Little inferior³⁶¹; whom my thoughts pursue

With wonder, and could love, so lively shines

In them divine resemblance, and such grace

The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.

Ah gentle pair, ye little think how nigh

Your change approaches, when all these delights

Will vanish and deliver ye to woe,

More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;

Happy, but for so happy³⁷⁰ ill secured

Long to continue, and this high seat your Heav’n

Ill fenced for Heav’n to keep out such a foe

As now is entered; yet no purposed foe

To you whom I could pity thus forlorn

Though I unpitied: league with you I seek,

And mutual amity so strait³⁷⁶, so close,

That I with you must dwell, or you with me

Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please

Like this fair Paradise, your sense, yet such

Accept your Maker’s work; he³⁸⁰ gave it me,

Which I as freely give; Hell shall unfold,

To entertain you two, her widest gates³⁸²,

And send forth all her kings; there will be room,

Not like these narrow limits, to receive

Your numerous offspring; if no better place,

Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge

On you who wrong me not for³⁸⁷ him who wronged.

And should I at your harmless innocence

Melt, as I do, yet public reason just³⁸⁹,

Honor and empire with revenge enlarged,

By conquering this new world, compels me now

To do what else though damned I should abhor.”

   So spake the fiend, and with necessity,

The tyrant’s plea, excused his devilish deeds.

Then from his lofty stand on that high tree

Down he alights among the sportful herd

Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one,

Now other, as their shape served best his end

Nearer to view his prey, and unespied

To mark what of their state he more might learn

By word or action marked: about them round

A lion⁴⁰² now he stalks with fiery glare,

Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied

In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play,

Straight couches close, then rising changes oft

His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground

Whence rushing he might surest seize them both

Gripped in each paw: when Adam first of men

To first of women Eve thus moving speech,

Turned him all ear⁴¹⁰ to hear new utterance flow.

   “Sole partner and sole⁴¹¹ part of all these joys,

Dearer thyself than all; needs must the power

That made us, and for us this ample world

Be infinitely good, and of his good

As liberal and free as infinite,

That raised us from the dust and placed us here

In all this happiness, who at his hand

Have nothing merited, nor can perform

Aught whereof he hath need, he who requires

From us no other service than to keep

This one, this easy charge, of all the trees

In Paradise that bear delicious fruit

So various, not to taste that only Tree

Of Knowledge, planted by the Tree of Life,

So near grows death to life, whate’er death is⁴²⁵,

Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou know’st

God hath pronounced it death to taste that Tree,

The only sign of our obedience left

Among so many signs of power and rule

Conferred upon us, and dominion giv’n

Over all other creatures that possess

Earth, air, and sea. Then let us not think hard

One easy prohibition, who enjoy

Free leave so large to all things else, and choice

Unlimited of manifold delights:

But let us ever praise him, and extol

His bounty, following our delightful task

To prune these growing plants, and tend these flow’rs,

Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.”

   To whom thus Eve replied. “O thou for whom

And from whom I was formed flesh of thy flesh,

And without whom am to no end, my guide

And head, what thou hast said is just and right.

For we to him indeed all praises owe,

And daily thanks, I chiefly who enjoy

So far the happier lot, enjoying thee

Preeminent by so much odds⁴⁴⁷, while thou

Like consort to thyself canst nowhere find.

That day I oft remember, when from sleep

I first awaked, and found myself reposed

Under a shade on⁴⁵¹ flow’rs, much wond’ring where

And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.

Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound

Of waters issued from a cave and spread

Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved

Pure as th’ expanse of heav’n; I thither went

With unexperienced thought, and laid me down

On the green bank, to look into the clear

Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.

As I bent down to look, just opposite,⁴⁶⁰

A shape within the wat’ry gleam appeared

Bending to look on me, I started back,

It started back, but pleased I soon returned,

Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks

Of sympathy and love; there I had fixed

Mine eyes till now, and pined⁴⁶⁶ with vain desire,

Had not a voice thus warned me, ‘What thou seest,

What there thou seest fair creature is thyself,

With thee it came and goes: but follow me,

And I will bring thee where no shadow stays⁴⁷⁰

Thy coming, and thy soft embraces, he

Whose image thou art, him thou shall enjoy

Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear

Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called

Mother of human race.’ What could I do,

But follow straight, invisibly thus led?

Till I espied thee, fair indeed and tall,

Under a platan⁴⁷⁸, yet methought less fair,

Less winning soft, less amiably mild,

Than⁴⁸⁰ that smooth wat’ry image; back I turned,

Thou following cried’st aloud, ‘Return fair Eve,

Whom fli’st thou? Whom thou fli’st, of him thou art,

His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent

Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart

Substantial life, to have thee by my side

Henceforth an individual⁴⁸⁶ solace dear;

Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim⁴⁸⁷

My other half⁴⁸⁷.’ With that thy gentle hand

Seized mine, I yielded, and from that time see

How beauty is excelled by manly grace

And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.”

   So spake our general mother, and with eyes

Of conjugal attraction unreproved⁴⁹³,

And meek surrender, half embracing leaned

On our first father, half her swelling breast

Naked met his under the flowing gold

Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight

Both of her beauty and submissive charms

Smiled⁴⁹⁹ with superior love, as Jupiter

On Juno smiles, when he impregns⁵⁰⁰ the clouds

That shed May flowers; and pressed her matron lip

With kisses pure: aside the Devil turned

For envy, yet with jealous leer malign

Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained.

   “Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two⁵⁰⁵

Imparadised in one another’s arms

The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill

Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust⁵⁰⁸,

Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,

Among our other torments not the least,

Still⁵¹¹ unfulfilled with pain of longing pines;

Yet let me not forget what I have gained

From their own mouths; all is not theirs it seems:

One fatal Tree there stands of Knowledge called,

Forbidden them to taste: knowledge⁵¹⁵ forbidden?

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord

Envy them that? Can it be sin to know,

Can it be death? And do they only stand

By ignorance, is that their happy state,

The proof of their obedience and their faith?

O fair foundation laid whereon to build

Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds

With more desire to know, and to reject

Envious commands, invented with design

To keep them low whom knowledge might exalt

Equal with gods; aspiring to be such,

They taste and die: what likelier can ensue?

But first with narrow search I must walk round

This garden, and no corner leave unspied;

A chance but chance⁵³⁰ may lead where I may meet

Some wand’ring spirit of Heav’n, by fountain side,

Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw

What further would be learned. Live while ye may,

Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,

Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed.”

   So saying, his proud step he scornful turned,

But with sly circumspection, and began

Through wood, through waste, o’er hill, o’er dale his roam.

Meanwhile in utmost longitude⁵³⁹, where heav’n

With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun

Slowly descended, and with right aspect⁵⁴¹

Against the eastern gate of Paradise

Leveled his evening rays: it was a rock

Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds,

Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent

Accessible from earth, one entrance high;

The rest was craggy cliff, that overhung

Still⁵⁴⁸ as it rose, impossible to climb.

Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel⁵⁴⁹ sat

Chief of th’ angelic guards, awaiting night;

About him exercised heroic games

Th’ unarmèd youth of Heav’n, but nigh at hand

Celestial armory, shields, helms, and spears,

Hung high with diamond flaming, and with gold.

Thither came Uriel, gliding through the even⁵⁵⁵

On a sunbeam, swift as a shooting star

In autumn thwarts⁵⁵⁷ the night, when vapors fired

Impress⁵⁵⁸ the air, and shows the mariner

From what point of his compass to beware

Impetuous winds: he thus began in haste.

   “Gabriel, to thee⁵⁶¹ thy course by lot hath giv’n

Charge and strict watch that to this happy place

No evil thing approach or enter in;

This day at highth of noon came to my sphere

A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed, to know

More of th’ Almighty’s works, and chiefly man

God’s latest Image: I described⁵⁶⁷ his way

Bent all on speed, and marked his airy gait⁵⁶⁸;

But in the mount that lies from Eden north,

Where he first lighted, soon discerned his looks

Alien from Heav’n, with passions foul obscured:

Mine eye pursued him still, but under shade

Lost sight of him; one of the banished crew

I fear, hath ventured from the deep, to raise

New troubles; him thy care must be to find.”

   To whom the wingèd warrior thus returned:

“Uriel, no wonder if thy perfect sight,

Amid the sun’s bright circle where thou sitst,

See far and wide: in at this gate none pass

The vigilance⁵⁸⁰ here placed, but such as come

Well known from Heav’n; and since meridian hour

No creature thence: if spirit of other sort,

So minded, have o’erleaped these earthy bounds

On purpose, hard thou knowst it to exclude

Spiritual substance with corporeal bar.

But if within the circuit of these walks,

In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom

Thou tell’st, by morrow dawning I shall know.”

   So promised he, and Uriel to his charge

Returned on that bright beam, whose point now raised

Bore him slope downward⁵⁹¹ to the sun now fall’n

Beneath th’ Azores; whether⁵⁹² the prime orb,

Incredible how swift, had thither rolled

Diurnal⁵⁹⁴, or this less voluble Earth

By shorter flight to th’ east, had left him there

Arraying with reflected purple and gold

The clouds that on his western throne attend:

Now came still evening on, and twilight gray

Had in her sober livery all things clad;

Silence accompanied, for beast and bird,

They to their grassy couch, these to their nests

Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale;

She all night long her amorous descant⁶⁰³ sung;

Silence was pleased: now glowed the firmament

With living sapphires: Hesperus⁶⁰⁵ that led

The starry⁶⁰⁶ host, rode brightest, till the moon

Rising in clouded majesty, at length

Apparent⁶⁰⁸ Queen unveiled her peerless light,

And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.

   When Adam thus to Eve: “Fair consort, th’ hour

Of night, and all things now retired to rest

Mind us of like repose, since God hath set

Labor and rest, as day and night to men

Successive, and the timely dew of sleep

Now falling with soft slumbrous weight inclines

Our eyelids; other creatures all day long

Rove idle unemployed, and less need rest;

Man hath his daily work of body or mind

Appointed, which declares his dignity,

And the regard of Heav’n on all his ways;

While other animals unactive range,

And of their doings God takes no account.

To morrow ere fresh morning streak the east

With first approach of light, we must be ris’n,

And at our pleasant labor, to reform

Yon flow’ry arbors, yonder allies green,

Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,

That mock our scant manuring⁶²⁸, and require

More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:

Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums,

That lie bestrown unsightly and unsmooth,

Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;

Meanwhile, as nature wills, night bids us rest.”

   To whom thus Eve with perfect beauty adorned.

“My author and disposer⁶³⁵, what thou bidd’st

Unargued I obey; so God ordains,

God is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more

Is woman’s happiest knowledge and her praise.

With thee conversing I forget all time,

All seasons⁶⁴⁰ and their change, all please alike.

Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,

With charm⁶⁴² of earliest birds; pleasant the sun

When first on this delightful land he spreads

His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flow’r,

Glist’ring with dew; fragrant the fertile earth

After soft showers; and sweet the coming on

Of grateful evening mild, then silent night

With this her solemn bird⁶⁴⁸ and this fair moon,

And these the gems of heav’n, her starry train:

But neither breath of morn when she ascends

With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun

On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flow’r,

Glist’ring with dew, nor fragrance after showers,

Nor grateful evening mild, nor silent night

With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,

Or glittering starlight without thee is sweet.

But wherefore all night long shine these, for whom

This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?”

   To whom our general ancestor replied.

“Daughter of God and man, accomplished Eve,

These⁶⁶¹ have their course to finish, round the Earth,

By morrow evening, and from land to land

In order, though to nations yet unborn,

Minist’ring light prepared, they set and rise;

Lest⁶⁶⁵ total darkness should by night regain

Her old possession, and extinguish life

In nature⁶⁶⁷ and all things, which these soft fires

Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat

Of various influence foment and warm,

Temper or nourish, or in part shed down

Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow

On earth, made hereby apter to receive

Perfection from the sun’s more potent ray.

These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,

Shine not in vain, nor think, though men were none,

That heav’n would want spectators, God want praise;

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth

Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:

All these with ceaseless praise his works behold

Both day and night: how often from the steep

Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard

Celestial voices to the midnight air,

Sole, or responsive each to other’s note

Singing their great Creator: oft in bands

While they keep watch, or nightly rounding⁶⁸⁵ walk

With Heav’nly touch of instrumental sounds

In full harmonic number joined, their songs

Divide the night⁶⁸⁸, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.”

   Thus talking hand in hand alone they passed

On to their blissful bower⁶⁹⁰; it was a place

Chos’n by the sov’reign planter, when he framed

All things to man’s delightful use; the roof

Of thickest covert was inwoven shade

Laurel and myrtle⁶⁹⁴, and what higher grew

Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side

Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub

Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flow’r,

Iris all hues, roses, and jessamine

Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought

Mosaic; underfoot the violet,

Crocus, and hyacinth⁷⁰¹ with rich inlay

Broidered the ground, more colored than with stone

Of costliest emblem⁷⁰³: other creature here

Beast, bird, insect, or worm durst enter none;

Such was their awe of man. In shady⁷⁰⁵ bower

More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,

Pan or Silvanus never slept, nor nymph,⁷⁰⁷

Nor Faunus⁷⁰⁷ haunted. Here in close⁷⁰⁸ recess

With flowers⁷⁰⁹, garlands, and sweet-smelling herbs

Espousèd Eve decked first her nuptial bed,

And Heav’nly choirs the hymenaean⁷¹¹ sung,

What day the genial⁷¹² angel to our sire

Brought her in naked beauty more adorned,

More lovely than Pandora⁷¹⁴, whom the Gods

Endowed with all their gifts, and O too like

In sad event, when to the unwiser son

Of Japhet⁷¹⁷ brought by Hermes, she ensnared

Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged

On him who had stole Jove’s authentic⁷¹⁹ fire.

   Thus at their shady lodge arrived, both stood

Both turned, and under open sky adored

The God that made both sky, air, Earth and heav’n

Which they beheld, the moon’s resplendent globe

And starry pole⁷²⁴: “Thou also mad’st the night,

Maker omnipotent, and thou the day,

Which we in our appointed work employed

Have finished happy in our mutual help

And mutual love, the crown of all our bliss

Ordained by thee, and this delicious place

For us too large, where thy abundance wants

Partakers, and uncropped falls to the ground.

But thou hast promised from us two a race

To fill the Earth⁷³³, who shall with us extol

Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,

And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep⁷³⁵.”

   This⁷³⁶ said unanimous, and other rites

Observing none, but adoration pure

Which God likes best, into their inmost bow’r

Handed⁷³⁹ they went; and eased the putting off

These troublesome disguises which we wear,

Straight side by side were laid, nor⁷⁴¹ turned I ween

Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites

Mysterious of connubial love refused:

Whatever hypocrites⁷⁴⁴ austerely talk

Of purity and place and innocence,

Defaming as impure what God declares

Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.

Our Maker bids increase, who bids abstain

But our destroyer, foe to God and man?

Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source

Of human offspring, sole propriety⁷⁵¹,

In Paradise of all things common else.

By thee adulterous lust was driv’n from men

Among the bestial herds to range, by thee

Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure,

Relations dear, and all the charities⁷⁵⁶

Of father, son, and brother first were known.

Far be it, that I should write thee sin or blame,

Or think thee unbefitting holiest place,

Perpetual fountain⁷⁶⁰ of domestic sweets,

Whose bed is undefiled⁷⁶¹ and chaste pronounced,

Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used.

Here love⁷⁶³ his golden shafts employs, here lights

His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings,

Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile

Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendeared,

Casual fruition, nor in court amours

Mixed dance⁷⁶⁸, or wanton masque, or midnight ball,

Or serenade, which the starved⁷⁶⁹ lover sings

To his proud fair, best quitted⁷⁷⁰ with disdain.

These lulled by nightingales embracing slept,

And on their naked limbs the flow’ry roof

Show’red roses, which the morn repaired⁷⁷³. Sleep on

Blest pair⁷⁷⁴; and O yet happiest if ye seek

No happier⁷⁷⁵ state, and know to know no more.

   Now had night measured with her shadowy cone⁷⁷⁶

Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault⁷⁷⁶,

And from their ivory port⁷⁷⁸ the Cherubim

Forth issuing at th’ accustomed hour stood armed

To their night watches in warlike parade,

When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake.

   “Uzziel⁷⁸², half these draw off, and coast the south

With strictest watch; these other wheel the north,

Our circuit meets full west.” As flame they part

Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.

From these, two strong and subtle spirits he called

That near him stood, and gave them thus in charge.

   “Ithuriel and Zephon⁷⁸⁸, with winged speed

Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook,

But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,

Now laid perhaps asleep secure⁷⁹¹ of harm.

This evening from the sun’s decline arrived

Who⁷⁹³ tells of some infernal spirit seen

Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escaped

The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:

Such where ye find, seize fast, and hither bring.”

   So saying, on he led his radiant files,

Dazzling the Moon; these⁷⁹⁸ to the bower direct

In search of whom they sought: him there they found

Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve;

Assaying by his devilish art to reach

The organs of her fancy⁸⁰², and with them forge

Illusions as he list, phantasms and dreams,

Or if, inspiring⁸⁰⁴ venom, he might taint

Th’ animal spirits that from pure blood arise

Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise

At least distempered, discontented thoughts,

Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires

Blown up with high conceits engend’ring pride.

Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear

Touched lightly; for no falsehood can endure

Touch of celestial temper⁸¹², but returns

Of force to its own likeness: up he starts

Discovered and surprised. As when a spark

Lights⁸¹⁵ on a heap of nitrous powder, laid

Fit for the tun some magazine to store⁸¹⁶

Against a rumored war, the smutty grain

With sudden blaze diffused, inflames the air:

So started up in his own shape the fiend.

Back stepped those two fair angels half amazed

So sudden to behold the grisly⁸²¹ king;

Yet thus, unmoved with fear, accost him soon.

   “Which of those rebel spirits adjudged to Hell

Com’st thou, escaped thy prison, and transformed,

Why sat’st thou like an enemy in wait

Here watching at the head of these that sleep?”

   “Know ye not then,” said Satan, filled with scorn,

“Know ye not me? Ye knew me once no mate

For you, there sitting where ye durst not soar;

Not to know me argues⁸³⁰ yourselves unknown,

The lowest of your throng; or if ye know,

Why ask ye, and superfluous begin

Your message, like to end as much in vain?”

To whom thus Zephon, answering scorn with scorn.

“Think not,⁸³⁵ revolted Spirit, thy shape the same,

Or undiminished brightness⁸³⁶, to be known

As when thou stood’st in Heav’n upright and pure;

That glory then, when thou no more wast good,

Departed from thee, and thou resemblest now

Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foul.

But come, for thou, be sure, shalt give account

To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep

This place inviolable, and these from harm.”

   So spake the Cherub, and his grave rebuke

Severe⁸⁴⁵ in youthful beauty, added grace

Invincible: abashed the Devil stood,

And felt how awful goodness is, and saw

Virtue in her shape how lovely⁸⁴⁸, saw, and pined

His loss; but chiefly to find here observed

His luster visibly impaired; yet seemed

Undaunted. “If I must contend,” said he,

“Best with the best, the sender not the sent,

Or all at once; more glory will be won,

Or less be lost.” “Thy fear,” said Zephon bold,

“Will save us trial what the least can do

Single against thee wicked, and thence weak.”

   The fiend replied not, overcome with rage;

But like⁸⁵⁸ a proud steed reined, went haughty on,

Champing his iron curb: to strive or fly

He held it vain; awe from above had quelled

His heart, not else dismayed. Now drew they nigh

The western point, where those half-rounding⁸⁶² guards

Just met, and closing stood in squadron joined

Awaiting next command. To whom their chief

Gabriel from the front thus called aloud.

   “O friends, I hear the tread of nimble feet

Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern

Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade⁸⁶⁸,

And with them comes a third of regal port,

But faded splendor wan; who by his gait⁸⁷⁰

And fierce demeanor seems the Prince of Hell,

Not likely to part hence without contest;

Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.”

   He scarce had ended, when those two approached

And brief related whom they brought, where found,

How busied, in what form and posture couched.

To whom with stern regard thus Gabriel spake.

   “Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescribed

To thy transgressions⁸⁷⁹, and disturbed the charge

Of others, who approve⁸⁸⁰ not to transgress

By thy example, but have power and right

To question thy bold entrance on this place;

Employed it seems to violate sleep, and those

Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss?

   To whom thus Satan, with contemptuous brow.

“Gabriel, thou hadst in Heav’n th’ esteem of wise⁸⁸⁶,

And such I held thee; but this question asked

Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain?

Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,

Though thither doomed? Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt,

And boldly venture to whatever place

Farthest from pain, where thou mightst hope to change

Torment with ease, and soonest recompense⁸⁹³

Dole with delight⁸⁹³, which in this place I sought;

To thee no reason; who know’st only good,

But evil hast not tried: and wilt object⁸⁹⁶

His will who bound us? Let him surer bar

His iron gates, if he intends our stay

In that dark durance⁸⁹⁹: thus much what was asked.

The rest is true, they found me where they say;

But that implies not violence or harm.”

   Thus he in scorn. The warlike angel moved,

Disdainfully half smiling thus replied.

“O loss of one⁹⁰⁴ in Heav’n to judge of wise,

Since Satan fell, whom folly overthrew,

And now returns⁹⁰⁶ him from his prison scaped,

Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise

Or not, who ask what boldness brought him hither

Unlicensed from his bounds in Hell prescribed;

So wise he judges it to fly from pain

However⁹¹¹, and to scape his punishment.

So judge thou still, presumptuous, till the wrath,

Which thou incurr’st by flying, meet thy flight

Sevenfold, and scourge that wisdom back to Hell,

Which taught thee yet no better, that no pain

Can equal anger infinite provoked.

But wherefore thou alone? Wherefore with thee

Came not all Hell broke loose? Is pain to them

Less pain, less to be fled, or thou than they

Less hardy to endure? Courageous chief,

The first in flight from pain, hadst thou alleged

To thy deserted host this cause of flight,

Thou surely hadst not come sole fugitive.”

   To which the fiend thus answered frowning stern.

“Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain,

Insulting angel, well thou know’st I stood⁹²⁶

Thy fiercest, when in battle to thy aid

The⁹²⁸ blasting volleyed thunder made all speed

And seconded thy else not dreaded spear.

But⁹³⁰ still thy words at random, as before,

Argue thy inexperience what behooves

From hard assays and ill successes past

A faithful Leader, not to hazard all

Through ways of danger by himself untried.

I therefore, I alone first undertook

To wing the desolate abyss, and spy

This new created world, whereof in Hell

Fame is not silent, here in hope to find

Better abode, and my afflicted⁹³⁹ powers

To settle here on Earth, or in mid-air⁹⁴⁰;

Though for possession put to try once more

What thou and thy gay⁹⁴² legions dare against;

Whose easier business were to serve their Lord

High up in Heav’n, with songs to hymn his throne,

And practiced distances⁹⁴⁵ to cringe, not fight.”

   To whom the warrior angel, soon replied.

“To say and straight unsay, pretending first

Wise to fly pain, professing next the spy,

Argues no⁹⁴⁹ leader but a liar traced,

Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? O name,

O sacred name of faithfulness profaned!

Faithful to whom? To thy rebellious crew?

Army of fiends, fit body to fit head;

Was this your discipline and faith engaged,

Your military obedience, to dissolve

Allegiance to th’ acknowledged power supreme?

And thou sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem

Patron of liberty,⁹⁵⁸ who more than thou

Once fawned, and cringed, and servilely adored

Heav’n’s awful Monarch? Wherefore but in hope

To dispossess him, and thyself to reign?

But mark what I aread⁹⁶² thee now, avaunt;

Fly thither whence thou fledd’st: if from this hour

Within these hallowed limits thou appear,

Back to th’⁹⁶⁵ infernal pit I drag thee chained,

And seal thee so, as henceforth not to scorn

The facile⁹⁶⁷ gates of Hell too slightly barred.”

   So threat’ned he, but Satan to no threats

Gave heed, but waxing more in rage replied.

   “Then when I am thy captive talk of chains,

Proud limitary⁹⁷¹ Cherub, but ere then

Far heavier load thy self expect to feel

From my prevailing arm, though Heaven’s King

Ride on thy wings⁹⁷⁴, and thou with thy compeers,

Used to the⁹⁷⁵ yoke, draw’st his triumphant wheels

In progress⁹⁷⁶ through the road of Heav’n star-paved.”

   While thus he spake, th’ angelic squadron bright

Turned fiery red, sharp’ning in moonèd horns⁹⁷⁸

Their phalanx, and began to hem him round⁹⁷⁸

With⁹⁸⁰ ported spears, as thick as when a field

Of Ceres⁹⁸¹ ripe for harvest waving bends

Her bearded grove of ears, which way the wind

Sways them; the careful plowman⁹⁸³ doubting stands

Lest on the threshing floor his hopeful sheaves

Prove chaff. On th’ other side Satan alarmed

Collecting all his might dilated⁹⁸⁶ stood,

Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremoved⁹⁸⁷:

His stature reached the sky⁹⁸⁸, and on his crest

Sat Horror plumed; nor wanted in his grasp

What seemed both spear and shield: now dreadful deeds

Might have ensued, nor only Paradise

In this commotion, but the starry cope⁹⁹²

Of Heav’n perhaps, or all the elements

At least had gone to wrack, disturbed and torn

With violence of this conflict, had not soon

Th’ Eternal to prevent such horrid fray

Hung forth in Heav’n his golden scales⁹⁹⁷, yet seen

Betwixt Astrea⁹⁹⁸ and the Scorpion sign,

Wherein⁹⁹⁹ all things created first he weighed,

The pendulous round Earth with balanced air

In counterpoise, now ponders¹⁰⁰¹ all events,

Battles and realms: in these he put two weights

The sequel each of parting and of fight;

The latter quick up flew, and kicked the beam;

Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the fiend.

   “Satan, I know thy strength, and thou know’st mine,

Neither our own but giv’n; what folly then

To boast what arms can do, since thine no more

Than Heav’n permits, nor mine, though doubled now

To trample thee as mire: for proof look up,

And read thy lot in yon celestial sign

Where thou¹⁰¹² art weigh’d, and shown how light, how weak,

If thou resist. The fiend looked up and knew

His mounted scale aloft: nor more¹⁰¹⁴; but fled

Murmuring, and¹⁰¹⁵ with him fled the shades of night.

1–12. The most dramatic book of the epic opens like Shakespeare’s Henry V, with a wistful exclamation. Milton echoes Rev. 12.3–12, which prophesies an apocalyptic war in Heaven, defeat of Satan’s forces, and a retaliatory attack on Earth. The juxtaposition of the Apocalypse (future), the War in Heaven (past), Satan’s arrival in Paradise (the narrative present), and Milton’s own present as creator of the poem generates a dizzying temporal displacement, registered in shifting verb tenses around the repeated now of lines 5–9.

3. Then when: Cp. line 970.

10. Accuser: St. John identifies Satan not as the devil (diabolos) but as the tempter of Adam and Eve and accuser (kategoros) of Christians seeking salvation (Rev. 12.10).

11. wreck: avenge (wreak); cp. 3.241.

16. rolling: heaving, surging.

17. engine: cannon (see 6.470–91). Satan is repeatedly associated with gunpowder and artillery (cp. ll. 814–18), which he invents in Book 6. Both engine and invention (or even plot) can translate the Latin ingenium.

20–23. The Hell … place: Cp. 1.253–55. The narrator’s comment recalls Doctor Faustus 1.3.76; 2.1.121–22.

25. Cp. SA 22.

27–28. Eden … pleasant: Milton appears to have thought that Eden (now deemed Sumerian in origin) derived from the Hebrew for “delight.”

30. meridian: noon or zenith. Richardson traces to Vergil the image of the midday sun as in a tower (Culex 41).

31. revolving: deliberating. Milton’s word choice continues the characterization of Satan’s mental processes as circular, often viciously so (rolling, recoil).

32–41. Edward Phillips, Milton’s nephew and biographer, claims that he was shown these lines “several years before the poem was begun” and that they were “designed for the very beginning” of a tragedy on the same subject (Darbishire 72). In the Trinity College manuscript, Milton outlines such a tragedy under the title “Adam Unparadised.” Satan’s soliloquy draws on Prometheus’ first speech in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound.

45. Upbraided: reproached; cp. James 1.5.

50. ‘sdained: disdained, in a form reminiscent of the Italian sdegnare (to disdain). An attitude of romantic as well as religious import, “disdain” in Satan’s usage at line 82 is given allegorical agency antagonistic to “submission”; cp. line 770.

51. quit: usually glossed as “repay,” but the sense here more nearly approximates “to cease to be engaged in or occupied with” (OED I.5.a).

53–56. still: always.

56. By owing owes not: Acknowledgment of an obligation (“owning up”) satisfies it. Cp. Cicero, De Officiis 2.20; Pro Plancio 28.68.

61. power: a rank in the angelic hierarchy, here and in line 63 used loosely to mean any angel.

66–72. Satan interrogates himself (thou), and his replies corroborate God’s earlier self-justification (3.100–101).

75. myself am Hell: In the early 1660s, Louis XIV of France reportedly identified himself with the state—“L’Etat c’est moi”—a sentence long regarded as the epitome of royal absolutism. Satan dwells on the ramifications of his identification with Hell. See 20–23n.

79–80. no place/Left for repentance: Hebrews 12.17 is widely cited as the source for Satan’s phrasing. The quasi-allegorical expression of a psychological condition as a physical locality is general in this poem, however. Satan is irreversibly consigned to Hell, and his former place of bliss has been irreversibly estranged from him (5.615, 7.144).

87. abide: endure or persevere in; but the sense “remain in a place” is also present. See the preceding note.

90. advanced: exalted (referring to Satan on his throne).

94. act of grace: suspension of a legal penalty. While the reference to divine mercy is clear, Satan’s legalese recalls Charles’s phrasing in Eikon Basilike: “Is this the reward and thanks I am to receive for those many Acts of Grace I have lately passed?” (9.53).

97. violent and void: forced and therefore invalid.

110. Evil be thou my good: Satan later recognizes that the reverse also holds true (9.122–23).

115. pale: darkness, gloom (cp. 10.1009). The light drains from Satan’s disguised face three times (cp. 1.594–98). (Note that the Argument identifies fear, not ire, as the first of the three passions affecting him.) His disfiguration (l. 127) reverses scriptural accounts of Christ’s transfiguration, in which the mountaintop illumination of Jesus—his “face shone like the sun”—manifests his heavenly nature (Matt. 17.2).

123. couched: lying in ambush, lurking; cp. 405–6.

126. Assyrian mount: Niphates (3.742).

132–45. Eden … round: Milton describes Paradise as a walled garden situated on the level summit (champaign head) of a hill (steep wilderness) on the eastern border of Eden. The trees on the densely wooded hillside resemble ascending rows of seats in a theater.

136. grotesque: according to the OED, which cites this as the first such usage in English, “of a landscape: Romantic, picturesquely irregular” (B 2.b). The implied Miltonic innovation is dubious. The word had only recently entered English from the Italian grotesca. It referred to the style of painting and sculpture found in excavated Roman grottoes, which featured partial human and animal forms and interwoven foliage. It was an aesthetic term applied to antic, rugged, extravagant, or fanciful productions. The suggestiveness of Milton’s description of the “hairy” hillside wildly overgrown with tangled thicket, its imaginative amalgamations of human and vegetable, qualify this usage as an instance of the original meaning (cp. 5.294–97).

140. sylvan scene: forest backdrop; translates Vergil’s sylvis scaena (Aen. 1.164).

149. enameled: glossy, brilliant, as in coloring fixed by fire (cp. 9.525).

151. humid bow: rainbow (cp. Masque 992).

153. lantskip: landscape.

156. gales: breezes.

160–65. Cape of Hope … smiles: After rounding the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Hope), European trade ships bore northeast from Mozambique. Diodorus Siculus (3.46), on whom Milton appears to draw here and at lines 275–79, notes that the prevailing winds of spring carry fragrance from Saba (Sheba), a region in Arabia Felix (Araby the Blest; modern Yemen) renowned for the grateful (pleasing) smell of myrrh and frankincense. The phenomenon of the aromatic Arabian breeze scenting the ocean was by Milton’s time a commonplace expressive of remote knowledge: “So we the Arabian coast do know, / At distance, when the spices blow” (Waller, Night-piece 39–40; cp. Herbert, Prayer 13–14). A related olfactory phenomenon occurs in Heaven (3.135–37).

168–71. Asmodeus … bound: In Media (now northwestern Iran), according to the apocryphal Book of Tobit, the demon Asmodeus (cp. Asmadai, 6.365 and PR 2.151) kills seven husbands of Sarah. Tobias, son of the blind Tobit, becomes her eighth husband. On the advice of the angel Raphael, Tobias repels the jealous demon by burning the heart and liver of a fish (whence the fishy fume). Fleeing hastily (post) to Egypt to escape the smell, Asmodeus is captured by the angel and bound (cp. 5.221–23).

172. savage: wooded, wild.

176. had perplexed: would have perplexed.

181. bound … bound: another instance of paronomasia, jingling wordplay common in late Latin and Italian writers and characteristic of Hebrew Scripture. Cp. 1.642n.

183–87. wolf … fold: Cp. John 10.1–10, where Christ identifies himself as the proper entrance to the flock and calls those who circumvent him thieves and robbers. See 193n.

186. hurdled cotes: fenced shelters made of poles and intertwined branches.

188. unhoard the cash: undo a hidden reserve of money by removing its contents, in this case cash with a play on cache.

192. clomb: archaic past tense of climb.

193. lewd: base (with an ironic glance at the original meaning, “not of the clergy, lay”). In the Geneva Bible and AV, lewd can translate poneron, Greek for evil in general (e.g., Acts 17.5; cp. 1.490, 6.182). Christ scorns the “hireling,” who when a wolf attacks, “fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep” (John 10.13). Milton’s frequent criticisms of corrupt clergy allude to this parable and tend to merge the hireling and the wolf. Cp. 12.507–11, Lyc 114–29, Sonnet 1614.

194. Tree of Life: Gen. 2.9; Rev. 2.7.

196. cormorant: large, voracious seabird; figuratively, someone insatiably greedy, rapacious.

200. pledge: “anything … put in the possession of another … as a guarantee of good faith” (OED 2.a). The tree of prohibition is a corresponding pledge—of humanity’s obedience and faith (8.325; cp. CD in Yale 6:352). Satan though immortal has lost “true life” (l. 196) and now subsists in Hell, where death lives (2.624).

207. In … wealth: Cp. Barabas’s delight at “infinite riches in a little room” in Marlowe’s Jew of Malta (1.1.37).

211. Auran: or Hauran; region south of Damascus, on Israel’s eastern border (Ezek. 47.16, 18).

212. Seleucia: city on the Tigris River near Baghdad, built by Seleucus, c. 300 B.C.E., one of Alexander’s successors and founder of a dynasty.

214. Telassar: ancient city within the boundaries set forth in lines 211–12, inhabited by “the children of Eden” but conquered by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. (2 Kings 19.12; Isa. 37.12). See line 285.

222. “That doom which Adam fell into of knowing good and evil—that is to say, of knowing good by evil” (Areop in MLM 939); “since it was tasted, not only do we know evil, but also we do not even know good except through evil” (CD 1.10 in MLM 1220).

223. a river large: the Tigris, named at 9.71.

228. kindly: natural.

237. crispèd: wavy.

239. error: used in the primary sense of the Latin noun error, “a wandering.”

241. nice: fastidious, precise.

242. curious knots: flower beds of painstakingly intricate design; boon: bounteous.

246. Embrowned: darkened, per French and Italian usage (embrunir; imbrunire).

247. seat: local habitation, residence.

250. amiable: lovely (cp. Ps. 84.1 in the AV versus Milton’s translation, MLM 117); Hesperian fables: See 3.568n.

254. lap: a hollow among hills (OED 5.b; Milton antedates by nearly a century the OED’s earliest quotation of this usage).

255. irriguous: well watered (cp. Horace, Satires 2.4.16).

256. without thorn the rose: Thorns were commonly deemed a postlapsarian phenomenon (Gen. 3.18). “Before man’s fall the Rose was born/St. Ambrose says, without the thorn” (Herrick, The Rose).

257. umbrageous: shady.

258. mantling: covering, like a cloak; cp. 5.279; mantling vine: cp. Masque 294.

262–63. myrtle … mirror: Fowler notes that myrtle and mirror are iconographical attributes of Venus, goddess of love and gardens, often associated with Eve. See lines 454–65.

264. airs: melodies; breezes.

266. Pan: nature god. In Greek, pan means “all.”

267. Graces and the Hours: Sister goddesses (Euphrosyne, Aglaia, Thalia), the Graces dance in attending Aphrodite (cp. FQ 6.10.5–17). The Hours represent the seasons and in Hesiod crown Pandora with spring flowers (Works and Days 74–75).

268–72. eternal … world: Milton presents the seasons as a postlapsarian phenomenon (10.651–91). In classical myth, seasonal change owes to the rape of Proserpine. Ovid describes the Sicilian grove from which Dis abducts her (Enna) as a place of perpetual spring (Met. 5.385–91). While sorrowful Ceres, goddess of grain, seeks her daughter, the earth turns barren. Because Proserpine eats of a pomegranate while in Hades, she must return to Dis for part of each year, during which time Ceres mourns, and nothing grows. Cp. 9.395–96 and Milton’s 1637 letter to Diodati.

273–74. Daphne … spring: The laurel grove of Daphne by the river Orontes near Antioch had a spring inspired by Apollo and named for the Castalian spring of Parnassus. See Purchas 83. For the myth of Apollo and Daphne, see Ovid, Met. 1.450–565.

275–79. Nyseian … eye: The third stage of this four-layer simile follows Diodorus’s account of Ammon, King of Libya, his affair with Amalthea, and their son (Bacchus). Mother and son take refuge from Rhea, Ammon’s wife, on the island Nysa (3:67–70). Ammon was identified with the Libyan Jupiter and with Ham (Cham), Noah’s son.

280–85. Abassin … garden: Heylyn describes Amara as being “a day’s journey high” and the site of palaces where, to prevent sedition, younger sons of the Abyssinian emperor were secluded and educated (4:64). Like Heylyn, Purchas comments on the identification of this African mount as the “place of our forefather’s paradise” (843).

300. front: forehead; sublime: lofty.

301. hyacinthine: like hyacinth petals, from Homer (Od. 6.231).

304–8. Women’s long hair was on St. Paul’s authority understood to imply subjection (1 Cor. 11.7, 14–15). Like Homer’s Aphrodite and Vergil’s Venus, Milton’s Eve is golden.

306. wanton: abundant, luxuriant; like the “mantling vine” of line 258.

310. coy: not demonstrative, shy.

311. reluctant: “struggling” (Hume). Cp. the fire of divine wrath struggling through “dusky wreaths” of smoke at 6.58. As uncomfortable as some readers may be with the suggestion of erotic struggle, the modern sense of reluctant as “unwilling” was not current in the seventeenth century, according to the OED.

312. mysterious: See 741–43n.

329. Zephyr: west wind; “the frolic wind that breathes the spring” (L’All 18).

331–36. Adam and Eve’s contented meal reverses the punishment of Tantalus.

332. Nectarine: sweet as nectar; compliant: yielding.

334. damasked: many colored.

337. gentle purpose: well-bred conversation.

338. Wanted: were lacking.

341. chase: unenclosed land, game preserve; also, animals to be hunted.

343. ramped: reared, as if climbing.

344. Dandled: played with; cp. Isa. 11.6; ounces, pards: lynxes, leopards.

348. Insinuating: artfully working into company, winding; Gordian: like the famously complicated knot.

352. ruminating: chewing the cud.

353. prone career: downward course, as of a galloping horse.

354. ocean isles: identified at line 592 as the Azores; ascending scale: ladder, stairway (OED n3, I.1.b), or more likely, the rising scale of a figurative cosmic balance “weighing night and day, the one ascending as the other sinks” (Newton). In the equinoctial Garden, day and night are counterpoised. At the vernal equinox, the sun is in Aries, opposite Libra (the Scales), the constellation in which the evening stars would rise (cp. Vergil, Georg. 1.208).

356. as first he stood: since he initially saw Adam and Eve (l. 288).

360. mold: shape, pattern; also, Earth as humanity’s native element.

361–62. to Heav’nly spirits bright/Little inferior: “Scarce to be less than gods thou mad’st his lot” (Ps. 8.5, Milton’s translation; cp. Heb. 2.7).

370. for so happy: for being as fortunate as you are; cp. “for Heav’n” (l. 372).

376. strait: intimate; also constricted.

380–83. he … kings: Cp. Matt. 10.8, Isa. 14.9.

382. her widest gates: her gates as wide as possible.

387. for: instead of.

389. public reason just: legitimate concerns of state, such as honor and empire. Cp. SA 865–70.

402. lion: Cp. 1 Pet. 5.8; Euripides, Bacchae 1015.

410. Turned him all ear: Satan turns eagerly to hear human speech. The phrasing also suggests Raphael’s account of spiritual bodily function, 6.350. Cp. Masque 560. “All ear” is a common expression in Italian (tutt’ orecchi).

411. Sole … sole: only … peerless. The repetition of sole and part invites wordplay touching the origin of Eve and paradisial marriage.

425. whate’er death is: For unfallen Adam, death has no meaning beyond pronounced penalty (l. 427). After the Fall, the concept of death will be gradually fleshed out, culminating in Michael’s gruesome visions of mortality (11.444–47, 462–65).

447. odds: amount or ratio by which one thing exceeds or falls short of another; common diction in Shakespeare, where it often concerns characters in competition.

451. on: per the first edition; the second reads “of.”

460–69. Eve’s narration formally echoes and significantly varies Ovid’s tale of Narcissus (Met. 3.415ff).

466. pined: from the Latin noun poena, meaning “penalty in satisfaction for an offense or in consequence of failure to fulfill an obligation.” As an intransitive verb, pine means “to languish with intense desire.” As a transitive verb, it means “to cause pain or anguish” or “to grieve.” Cp. Satan at lines 511 and 848.

470. stays: awaits. This line is echoed by Satan at PR 3.244.

478. platan: plane; a favorite shade tree of the Greeks and Romans, commonly described as barren (Vergil, Georg. 2.70, 4.146). Plato presents Socrates as reclining beneath a spreading plane tree (Phaedrus 230a). Horace calls it caelebs, which used of men means “unmarried” and of trees “without vines” (Odes 2.15.4). Despite the conjugal arc of Eve’s narrative, Fowler maintains that Adam’s association with the plane tree owes not to its classical association with “erotic love” but to a “well-known allegory” that made it a symbol of Christ, Adam’s “head.”

480–89. Than … yielded: Eve flees Adam as Daphne flees Apollo (Met. 1.502ff). As with preceding situational references to Tantalus (ll. 331–36) and Narcissus (ll. 460–69), another classical myth of frustration is undone.

486. individual: inseparable, distinctive.

487–88. Part … half: Cp. Horace, Odes 1.3.8, 2.17.5.

493. unreproved: not subject to rebuke. Eve’s eyes work differently at 9.1036.

499–501. Smiled … flowers: The simile recalls Vergil’s account of Aether embracing his wife and of showers quickening seed in the earth (Georg. 2.325–28).

500. impregns: impregnates.

505–35. Satan’s third soliloquy of the book. Like Shakespeare in Othello, Milton insists that his audience share the development of his villain’s strategy.

508–11. thrust … pines: Satan’s account of torment by unfulfilled … longing continues the epic’s extensive correlation of the spiritual with the erotic (cp. 10.992–98).

511. Still: always; cp. 53–56; pines: torments (transitive, with Satan as the understood object); cp. 466n.

515–22. knowledge … ruin: Critics debate the sincerity of Satan’s sentiments: whether his indignation is genuine (Empson 1965, 69) or a rehearsal of his rhetorical strategy (Broadbent 151). But Satan is capable neither of sincerity nor of being merely strategic.

530. A chance but chance: “Perhaps luck …”

539. utmost longitude: farthest west.

541. right aspect: square attitude; the setting sun is perpendicular to the vertical gate.

548. Still: continually.

549. Gabriel: “God is my strength” (Hebr.); see lines 1006–10. Widely deemed one of the four archangels (with Uriel, Raphael, and Michael), Gabriel appears in Scripture to aid Daniel and foretell the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus (Dan. 8.16, 9.21; Luke 1.19, 26). Jewish traditions identify him as one of the three angels (with Michael and Raphael) who share a peaceful meal with Abraham (Gen. 18). He is also accounted the guardian of Paradise and the angel responsible for ripening fruit.

555. even: Newton was the first to explain the play on even: “His coming upon a sunbeam was the most direct and level course that he could take; for the sun’s rays were now pointed right against the eastern gate … where Gabriel was sitting.” Homer similarly compares Athena’s descent to a shooting star, a sign portentous to mariners (Il. 4.74–79).

557. thwarts: crosses. Aristotle explains shooting stars as combustible exhalations drawn from the earth and ignited aloft either through compression and condensation or by their own quickening motion. The natural motion of fire is upward, but strong winds, thought to originate at high altitude, propel the ignited vapors downward. Their oblique (thwart) path results from the combination of their natural motion and the wind’s downward compulsion (Meteorology 1.4). Cp. Vergil, Georg. 1.365–67.

558. Impress: mark by exerting pressure.

561. The practice of establishing orders or divisions (courses) by lot is common in Scripture, especially in accounts of temple duties (1 Chron. 23.6–26; Luke 1.8).

567. described: observed, spied (per a seventeenth-century confusion of describe and descry).

568. airy gait: flight path as well as comportment in flight (cp. 3.741).

580. vigilance: guard or watch; metonymy is an apt figure for designating angels, whose entire subjectivity is perfectly aligned with function (cp. l. 410, 6.350–51).

591. slope downward: Because the sun has continued to sink, Uriel no longer follows a flat trajectory. The moment thus occurs just after the balance point of equinoctial day and night.

592. whether: First and second editions have “whither.”

592–97. whether … attend: Milton will not choose between the Copernican cosmos and the Ptolemaic, which requires the sun to revolve around the earth at unbelievable velocity.

594. Diurnal: daily; voluble: rolling (Lat. volúbilis).

603. descant: counterpointed song.

605. Hesperus: the evening star, Venus.

606–9. Milton plays on clothing as a vehicle for light, here culminating in the moon’s paradoxical disrobing (cp. L’All 60–62, Il Pens 122–25, Masque 188–89).

608. Apparent: “readily seen,” but also “heir” (to Hesperus, the brightest light in the night sky until the moon’s appearance).

628. manuring: cultivation by hand (Lat. manus: hand).

635. author and disposer: source and ruler.

640. seasons: periods of time, occasions.

642. charm: delightful harmony.

648. solemn bird: nightingale; cp. 7.435.

661. These: Early editions have “Those.” Citing lines 657 and 674, Newton substituted “These.”

665–67. Lest … things: Previously, Satan persuaded Chaos and Night of his intention to return the newly created world “to her original darkness” and the possession of Night (2.982–86; cp. 10.415–18). It is axiomatic in this epic that, without light, chaos would come again.

667–75. Neoplatonic astrology classified animals, vegetables, and minerals according to the predominant stellar virtue, or astral power, that tempers (strengthens, attunes) them. Such influence was supposedly mediated by streaming ether. After the Fall, the cosmos is adjusted so that the stars’ influence is not always kindly, or naturally favorable (cp. 10.651ff). Their postlapsarian fire can be soft (gentle) as here, or severe (cp. 2.276).

685. rounding: making the rounds (literally, since the Garden is circular).

688. Divide the night: into watches. Roman armies sounded a trumpet when changing the watch; angelic guards do it to multipart music (full harmonic number).

690. blissfull bower: Cp. Spenser’s account of the bower within the Garden of Adonis where Venus sequesters the mortally wounded Adonis from “stygian gods” (FQ 3.6.43–49).

694. Laurel and myrtle: plants sacred to Apollo and Venus, respectively. Cp. Vergil, Ec. 2.54–55.

701. Crocus, and hyacinth: Atop Mount Ida, the hoodwinked Zeus beds the scheming Hera on these freshly risen flowers (Il. 14.348).

703. emblem: in the classical sense of a surface with inlaid ornamentation, a mosaic.

705. shady: The first edition has “shadier,” preferred by some editors.

707–8. Pan or Silvanus … Faunus: pastoral hybrids, half man and half goat, associated with secret retreats and fecundity. For Pan as a nature god, see 266n.

708. close: secluded, exclusive.

709. flowers: a rare instance where the two-syllable pronunciation is intended.

711. hymenaean: wedding song (after the classical marriage god, Hymen). Cp. L’All 125–28; Elegy 5 105–8.

712. genial: of or relating to marriage; nuptial. In Adam’s version, the voice of Eve’s “Heav’nly Maker” guides her to Adam (8.484–86).

714–19. Pandora: “all gifts” (Gk.); her story was frequently deemed an analogue of the Fall. After Prometheus (“Forethinker”) steals heaven’s fire for humanity’s sake, Pandora is divinely contrived to bring misery upon the world. Bearing a sealed jar containing the world’s ills, she is conducted by Hermes to Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus (“Afterthought”)—”the unwiser son.” After Epimetheus marries her, the evils are released from her jar (Theog. 570–612; Works and Days 54–105).

717. Japhet: Christian mythographers identified Iapetus, the Titan father of Prometheus and Epimetheus, as Noah’s son Iaphet (Gen. 9.18–10.2).

719. authentic: possessing in itself the basis of its existence; genuine, original. Cp. 3.656.

724. pole: sky.

724–35. Thou … sleep: Cp. Ps. 74.16–17. Milton shifts seamlessly from describing the prayer to quoting it.

733. fill the Earth: Cp. Gen. 1.28.

735. gift of sleep: Cp. Homer, Il. 9.713; Vergil, Aen. 2.269; Ps. 127.2.

736–38. This … best: For early readers, the Puritan edge of this prescription for piety would have been keen; cp. 12.534–35.

736. unanimous: literally, one-souled.

739. Handed: hand in hand, as at line 689.

741–43. nor … refused: The use of rites to mean marital sex was a commonplace warranted by St. Paul’s account (Eph. 5.32) of the bodily union of husband and wife as a “mystery” symbolizing Christ’s union with the Church (cp. 8.487; Shakespeare, ADO 2.1.373, OTH 1.3.258; Jonson, Hymenaei 137). The reverence expressed here for conjugal coition is ordinarily reserved for sacraments. In related passages, it extends to human genitalia (“mysterious parts”) and the “genial bed” (l. 312, 8.598). Insistence that Adam and Eve participate mutually, neither turning away nor refusing, suggests another scriptural source for this passage. Rite was often spelled right (cp. CMS, Masque 125) and included a strong sense of moral obligation. St. Paul deemed refusal of spousal “due benevolence” fraudulent (1 Cor. 7.3–5). Cp. “the starved lover … best quitted with disdain” (ll. 769–70).

741. I ween: I believe; “used parenthetically rather than as governing the sentence; in verse often a mere tag” (OED 1.h). Seventeenth-century retellings of Book 4 suggest that Milton’s conviction found a sympathetic audience. Dryden’s Satan thus imagines Eve as Semele to his Jove: “Have not I, like these, a body too, / Form’d for the same delights which they pursue? / I could (so variously my passions move) / Enjoy, and blast her in the act of Love” (State of Innocence 3.1; cp. Hopkins, Primitive Loves 135–235).

744–49. hypocrites … man: These lines concentrate allusions to various scriptural passages on marriage: 1 Tim. 4.1–3 (hypocrites), 1 Cor. 7.1 (commands to some), Gen. 1.28 (Our Maker bids increase).

751. propriety: exclusive possession or right of use; ownership. Wedlock is a prelapsarian institution, unlike private property (with the exception of the nuptial bower).

756. all the charities: affections; “comprehends all the relations, all the endearments of consanguinity and affinity” (Newton).

760–65. Perpetual fountain … revels: The references and diction—fountain, golden shafts, lamp, purple wings—are erotically charged and culturally diffuse; cp. 8.511–20. Reigns here and revels translates a description of love by Marino (L’Adone 2.114), a sensuous Italian poet noteworthy to Milton on account of his patron, Manso, whose acquaintance Milton prized. See Manso, Damon 181–97.

761. bed is undefiled: Cp. Heb. 13.4.

763. love: Cupid, whose golden arrows (shafts) infuse love.

768. Mixed dance: men and women dancing together, a practice frowned upon by Puritans, including Milton; cp. Of Ref (Yale 1:589). masque: masquerade ball.

769. starved: deprived of love, but also of warmth; cp. 2.600.

770. quitted: repaid; cp. line 51.

773. repaired: restored.

774. Blest pair: translates Vergil’s celebration of Nisus and Euryalus (Fortunati ambo!), intimate friends slain by the enemy at rest in each other’s arms (Aen. 9.446).

775. Note the repetition of no and know.

776–77. shadowy … vault: The earth’s globe casts a conical shadow into the night sky, which, reaching from horizon to horizon, is portrayed as an arch (vault). At this moment, the shadowy cone, moving in diametrical opposition to the sun, has ascended halfway from the eastern horizon toward its midnight zenith. It is therefore nine o’clock, equinoctial time, the start of the second watch (ll. 779–80). Line 777 occurs halfway between line 539, where “the sun in utmost longitude begins its descent beneath the horizon, and 1015, the last line of Book 4,” which occurs at midnight (Fowler).

778. ivory port: Recent editors identify this phrase as an allusion to the ivory gate of the realm of sleep, from which false dreams proceed according to Homer and Vergil (Od. 19.562–67; Aen. 6.893–96). A significant connection with the guards’ imminent interruption of Eve’s dream is then proposed. Such a connection is strained. Guards, not personified dreams, issue from this ivory port, which is the gate not of sleep but of Paradise (made of the white stone alabaster [l. 544] and thus like ivory in color).

782–85. Uzziel: “power of God” (Hebr.). Standing at the eastern gate, Gabriel splits the guard to check the northern and southern perimeters of the Garden until they meet again full west. Shield and spear translate a Greek idiom designating left and right.

788. Ithuriel and Zephon: “Discovery of God” and “Lookout” (Hebr.). Their names denote their roles as they search the interior of the Garden.

791. secure: unsuspecting.

793. Who: one who; that is, Uriel (see l. 555).

798. these: Ithuriel and Zephon.

802. organs of her fancy: Satan delves into Eve’s psyche to manipulate her fancy or imagination, the faculty that produces mental images (phantasms). Cp. “raise up the organs of her fantasy” in WIV 5.5.55. Organs retains its Greek sense of “instruments”; it may also include the specific sense of “musical instrument.” In Milton’s time, the plural organs could mean “pipe organ.” In effect, Satan plays upon Eve’s mental apparatus as if it were a set of pipes, attempting to forge illusions in a manner reminiscent of the erection of Pandaemonium (1.708ff). Cp. PR 4.407–9.

804–9. inspiring … pride: If unable to play directly on Eve’s imagination, Satan hopes to unsettle the perfect humoral balance (temper) of her animal spirits. These spirits were thought to originate from the blood and carry sensory data to the brain. Breathing venom into (inspiring) her ear, he aims to provoke distempered impulses and grandiose designs (high conceits).

812. celestial temper: The spear, like incisive Ithuriel, was produced (tempered) in Heaven.

815. Lights: lands on and ignites; nitrous powder: gunpowder.

816–17. ready for a barrel (tun) and storage in an arsenal (magazine) as preparation for (against) war; smutty grain: cereal grain blackened by a parasitic fungus.

821. grisly: gruesomely horrible; applied to Death (2.704) and Moloch (Nat Ode 209), both of whom are also described as kingly.

830. argues: is reason to think.

835–43. Zephon’s retorted scorn makes pointed and repeated use of the second person singular (form of address used with inferiors).

836. Bentley would transpose undiminished brightness, for reasons grammatical.

845–47. Severe … is: Satan reacts similarly to the sight of Eve (9.459–62). Cp. Vergil’s description of the grave rebuke delivered by the youthful and beautiful Euryalus (Aen. 5.344) and Dryden’s distillation in Hind and Panther: “For vice, though frontless and of hardened face / Is daunted at the sight of awful grace” (3.1040–41).

848. Virtue … lovely: It is a commonplace of Platonically inspired philosophy and poetry that beauty is the aesthetic expression of virtue or goodness. pined: grieved; see 466n.

858–59. like … curb: The simile echoes Hermes’ account of Prometheus (Aeschylus, Prom. 1008).

862. half-rounding: See 782–85n.

868. shade: trees.

870–71. Verity and Fowler take Gabriel’s easy recognition of Satan as validation of his aristocratic slap at Zephon (l. 830), but Gabriel goes by gait, bearing (port), and demeanor, which Zephon had little chance to observe before Satan identified himself.

879. transgressions: both “sins” (as in l. 880) and “boundary crossings”; though sentenced to Hell for his crimes, Satan now trespasses in Paradise (see l. 909). charge: responsibility; child or member of a minister’s congregation under protection.

880. approve: agree; try or test (see Satan’s rejoinder, l. 896).

886. esteem of wise: reputation for good sense.

893–94. recompense … delight: exchange pain for pleasure.

896. object: raise as an objection.

899. durance: forced confinement; thus much what: so much (in reply to) what.

904. Gabriel ironically laments the loss of Satan as an arbiter of wisdom; see line 886.

906. returns: can take either Satan (archaic usage, reflexive) or folly as its subject.

911. However: by any means.

926. stood: withstood.

928. The: per first edition; second edition has “Thy.”

930–33. But … Leader: Gabriel’s remarks, says Satan, reveal his ignorance about how a dedicated leader ought to proceed after arduous undertakings and failures.

930. at random: without discrimination.

939. afflicted: struck down (cp. 1.186).

940. mid-air: After the Fall, Satan rules the middle region of the air, which extends as high as the mountaintops (1.516–17). See PR 1.39–47, 2.117; Eph. 2.2, 6.12.

942. gay: ebullient, showy, self-indulgent; a pointed retort to Zephon (ll. 838–40).

945. practiced distances: applies both to courtly protocol (cringe) and martial training, especially swordplay (fight).

949. Replying to Satan at lines 930–34.

958–60. Gabriel’s reply allows that Heaven is a realm of groveling toadies (Empson 1965, 111). Fowler counters that the response simply conforms to Satan’s insulting tenor (ll. 942–45). Cp. Prometheus’ scornful words to Zeus’s followers: “Worship, adore, and fawn upon … thy lord” (Aeschylus, Prom. 937).

962. aread: advise, order; avaunt: begone; diction used especially for expulsion of evil spirits.

965–67. With Gabriel’s threat to drag a chained Satan to the pit and seal him there (note the emphatic present tense), Milton returns to the apocalyptic context evoked at lines 1–12 (Rev. 20.1–3).

967. facile: easily negotiated; the diction implies negligence, as does too slightly barred, though again Gabriel may only be responding in Satan’s scornful terms (ll. 898–99).

971. limitary: stationed at a border or boundary; of limited authority (in reply to l. 964).

974. Ride on thy wings: “He rode upon a Cherub and did fly” (Ps. 18.10).

975–76. Satan refers to God’s chariot (6.750ff); cp. Ezek. 1, 10, 11.22.

976. progress: royal tour.

980–83. With … them: The comparison of a group of warriors to a windswept field of grain is common in epic, beginning with Homer (Il. 2.147–50). Leonard argues that the simile, commonly used of demoralized troops (like a field of grain flattened by wind), implies the good angels’ weakness. Milton’s simile departs from its precedents, however. Gabriel’s troops, spears ported, form a thick semicircle around Satan. Viewed together, the shafts of their spears would appear to slant in several directions, like stalks in a field of grain waving in the uncertain wind that precedes a storm.

978–80. sharp’ning … spears: Taken in their most specific military senses, phalanx and ported are inconsistent. Troops in a classical Greek phalanx interlock shields in a square formation and carry their spears projecting forward. Ported spears are held diagonally, across the body, spearhead at the left shoulder. The movement into a crescent shape (sharp’ning in moonèd horns) suggests that phalanx here is used in its more general sense of a group moving closely together.

981. Ceres: goddess of grain, mother of Proserpine (cp. 268–72n).

983–85. the careful plowman … chaff: The subject conveyed by the careful plowman is not clear. Satan seems an unlikely candidate in light of line 985. The identification of God as the plowman is more likely in light of literary precedent, the designation of God in this book as the planter of the Garden, and the scriptural imagery of sheaves and chaff, which fits the apocalyptic role of God. The choice attributed to the plowman is also consistent with subsequent imagery of God’s scales.

986. dilated: enlarged, owing to spirits’ ability to shrink or swell at will (cp. 1.428–29).

987. Teneriffe or Atlas unremoved: The summit of Mount Teneriffe (two miles high, in the Canary Islands) was in Milton’s century estimated at “fifteen miles” (Hume). Atlas: cloud-capped mountain in Libya on which the sky was imagined to rest, per the myth of Atlas. unremoved: Latinate past participle meaning immovable (cp. l. 493). The usage is likely ironic. Faith can move mountains (1 Cor. 13.2), as angels provoked by Satan amply demonstrate (6.645–49).

988. His stature reached the sky: Homer’s description of Discord and Vergil’s of Rumor are usually adduced (Il. 4.443; Aen. 4.177), but the rendition of Passover night in the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon is a more apt precedent for the configuration of the scene: “Night in her swift course was half spent, when thy almighty Word leapt from thy royal throne in heaven into the midst of that doomed land like a relentless warrior … and stood and filled it all with death, his head touching the heavens, his feet on earth” (14–16).

992. cope: vault; see 776–77n. The threat seems overstated given God’s authority over creatures: he curbs angelic muscle to preserve the landscape during the War in Heaven (6.225–29), and Gabriel will soon claim that his strength has been doubled (ll. 1006–10).

997. golden scales: translates Homer’s phrase for the balance in which Zeus weighs destinies of opposed armies or warriors (Il. 8.69, 22.209). Here it refers to the constellation Libra (the scales) between Astrea and the Scorpion sign.

998. Astrea: the constellation of Virgo (the Virgin). Astrea, goddess of justice, resided on earth during the Golden Age, but human iniquity drove her up to heaven, where she became this constellation (Ovid, Met. 1.149ff).

999–1001. Wherein … counterpoise: Weight is a crucial quality in Scripture, where God as creator and judge is repeatedly depicted as using a scale (Job 28.24ff, Isa. 40.12, 1 Sam. 2.3).

1001. ponders: weighs, deliberates.

1012. In Homer and Vergil, the loser’s balance sinks; the victor’s ascends. But Milton follows scriptural precedent: “Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting” (Dan. 5.27). Gabriel’s reading seems inconsistent with the claim that God weighs the sequel each of parting and of fight (l. 1003). The outcome is nevertheless consistent with Gabriel’s threat to apprehend Satan only if he refused to depart (ll. 965–67).

1014. nor more: nor (said) more.

1015. Cp. the final lines of Vergil’s Aen.

BOOK V

THE ARGUMENT

Morning approached, Eve relates to Adam her troublesome dream; he likes it not, yet comforts her. They come forth to their day labors. Their morning hymn at the door of their bower. God to render man inexcusable sends Raphael to admonish him of his obedience, of his free estate, of his enemy near at hand; who he is, and why his enemy, and whatever else may avail Adam to know. Raphael comes down to Paradise, his appearance described, his coming discerned by Adam afar off sitting at the door of his bower. He goes out to meet him, brings him to his lodge, entertains him with the choicest fruits of Paradise got together by Eve; their discourse at table. Raphael performs his message, minds Adam of his state and of his enemy; relates at Adam’s request who that enemy is, and how he came to be so, beginning from his first revolt in Heaven, and the occasion thereof; how he drew his legions after him to the parts of the north, and there incited them to rebel with him, persuading all but only Abdiel, a Seraph, who in argument dissuades and opposes him, then forsakes him.

Now Morn her rosy steps in th’ eastern clime

Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl,

When Adam waked, so customed, for his sleep

Was airy light, from pure digestion bred,

And temperate vapors bland⁵, which th’ only sound

Of leaves and fuming rills⁶, Aurora’s fan,

Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song

Of birds on every bough; so much the more

His wonder was to find unwakened Eve

With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,

As through unquiet rest: he on his side

Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love

Hung over her enamored, and beheld

Beauty, which whether waking or asleep,

Shot forth peculiar¹⁵ graces; then with voice

Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes¹⁶,

Her hand soft touching, whispered thus. “Awake¹⁷

My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,

Heav’n’s last best gift, my ever new delight,

Awake, the morning shines, and the fresh field

Calls us; we lose the prime²¹, to mark how spring

Our tended plants, how blows²² the citron grove,

What drops the myrrh, and what the balmy reed²³,

How nature paints her colors, how the bee

Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.”

   Such whispering waked her, but with startled eye

On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spoke.

   “O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,

My glory, my perfection, glad I see

Thy face, and morn returned, for I this night,

Such night till this I never passed, have dreamed,

If dreamed, not as I oft am wont, of thee,

Works of day past, or morrow’s next design,

But of offense and trouble, which my mind

Knew never till this irksome night; methought

Close at mine ear one called me forth to walk

With gentle voice, I thought it thine; it said,

‘Why sleep’st thou Eve?³⁸ Now is the pleasant time,

The cool, the silent, save where silence yields

To the night-warbling bird, that now awake

Tunes sweetest his love-labored song; now reigns

Full orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light

Shadowy sets off the face of things; in vain,

If none regard; heav’n wakes with all his eyes⁴⁴,

Whom to behold but thee, nature’s desire,

In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment

Attracted by thy beauty still⁴⁷ to gaze.’

I rose as at thy call, but found thee not;

To find thee I directed then my walk;

And on, methought, alone I passed through ways

That brought me on a sudden to the tree

Of interdicted knowledge: fair it seemed,

Much fairer to my fancy than by day:

And as I wond’ring looked, beside it stood

One shaped and winged like one of those from Heav’n

By us oft seen; his dewy locks distilled

Ambrosia; on that tree he also gazed;

And ‘O fair plant,’ said he, ‘with fruit surcharged,

Deigns none to ease thy load and taste thy sweet,

Nor god⁶⁰, nor man; is knowledge so despised?

Or envy, or what reserve⁶¹ forbids to taste?

Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold

Longer thy offered good, why else set here?’

This said he paused not, but with vent’rous arm

He plucked, he tasted; me damp horror chilled⁶⁵

At such bold words vouched with⁶⁶ a deed so bold:

But he thus overjoyed, ‘O fruit divine,

Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropped,

Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit

For gods, yet able to make gods of men:

And why not gods of men, since good, the more

Communicated, more abundant grows,

The author not impaired, but honored more?

Here, happy creature, fair angelic Eve,

Partake thou also; happy though thou art,

Happier thou may’st be, worthier canst not be:

Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods

Thyself a goddess, not to Earth confined,

But sometimes⁷⁹ in the air, as we, sometimes

Ascend to Heav’n, by merit thine, and see

What life the gods live there, and such live thou.’

So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,

Even to my mouth of that same fruit held part

Which he had plucked; the pleasant savory smell

So quickened appetite, that I, methought,

Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds

With him I flew, and underneath beheld

The Earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide

And various: wond’ring at my flight and change

To this high exaltation; suddenly

My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,

And fell asleep; but O how glad I waked

To find this but a dream!” Thus Eve her night

Related, and thus Adam answered sad⁹⁴.

   “Best image of myself and dearer half,

The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep

Affects me equally; nor can I like

This uncouth⁹⁸ dream, of evil sprung I fear;

Yet evil whence? In thee can harbor none,

Created pure. But¹⁰⁰ know that in the soul

Are many lesser faculties that serve

Reason as chief; among these Fancy next

Her office holds; of all external things,

Which the five watchful senses represent,

She forms imaginations, airy shapes,

Which reason joining or disjoining, frames

All what we affirm or what deny, and call

Our knowledge or opinion; then retires

Into her private cell¹⁰⁹ when nature rests,

Oft in her absence mimic Fancy wakes

To imitate her; but misjoining shapes,

Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams,

Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.

Some such resemblances methinks I find

Of our last evening’s talk¹¹⁵, in this thy dream,

But with addition strange; yet be not sad.

Evil into the mind of god or man

May come¹¹⁸ or go, so unapproved, and leave

No spot or blame behind: Which gives me hope

That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,

Waking thou never wilt consent to do.

Be not disheartened then, nor cloud those looks

That wont to be¹²³ more cheerful and serene

Than when fair morning first smiles on the world,

And let us to our fresh employments rise

Among the groves, the fountains, and the flow’rs

That open now their choicest bosomed smells

Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store.”

   So cheered he his fair spouse, and she was cheered,

But silently a gentle tear let fall

From either eye, and wiped them with her hair;

Two other precious drops that ready stood,

Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell¹³³

Kissed as the gracious signs of sweet remorse

And pious awe, that feared to have offended.

   So all was cleared, and to the field they haste.

But first from under shady arborous roof,

Soon as they forth were come to open sight

Of day-spring, and the sun, who scarce up risen

With wheels yet hov’ring o’er the ocean brim,

Shot parallel to the Earth his dewy ray,

Discovering in wide landscape all the east

Of Paradise and Eden’s happy plains,

Lowly they bowed adoring, and began

Their orisons, each morning duly paid

In various¹⁴⁶ style, for neither various style

Nor holy rapture wanted¹⁴⁷ they to praise

Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced or sung

Unmeditated, such prompt eloquence

Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous¹⁵⁰ verse,

More tuneable than needed lute or harp

To add more sweetness, and they thus began.

   “These are¹⁵³ thy glorious works, parent of good,

Almighty, thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!

Unspeakable, who sit’st above these heavens

To us invisible or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works, yet these declare

Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine:

Speak ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,

Angels, for ye behold him, and with songs

And choral symphonies, day without night,

Circle his throne rejoicing, ye in Heav’n,

On Earth join all ye creatures to extol

Him first,¹⁶⁵ him last, him midst, and without end.

Fairest of stars¹⁶⁶, last in the train of night,

If better thou belong not to the dawn,

Sure pledge of day, that crown’st the smiling morn

With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere

While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.

Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul,

Acknowledge him thy greater, sound his praise

In thy eternal course, both when thou climb’st,

And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fall’st.

Moon, that now meet’st the orient sun, now fli’st

With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies,

And ye five other wand’ring fires that move

In mystic dance not without song¹⁷⁸, resound

His praise, who out of darkness called up light.

Air, and ye elements the eldest birth

Of nature’s womb, that in quaternion¹⁸¹ run

Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix

And nourish all things, let your ceaseless change

Vary to our great Maker still new praise.

Ye mists and exhalations that now rise

From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,

Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,

In honor to the world’s great author rise;

Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored sky,

Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,

Rising or falling still advance his praise.

His praise ye winds, that from four quarters blow,

Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines,

With every plant, in sign of worship wave.

Fountains and ye that warble as ye flow

Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.

Join voices all ye living souls, ye birds,

That singing up to heaven gate ascend,

Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise;

Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk

The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep;

Witness if I be silent, morn or even,

To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade

Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.

Hail universal Lord, be bounteous still²⁰⁵

To give us only good; and if the night

Have gathered aught of evil or concealed,

Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark.”

   So prayed they innocent, and to their thoughts

Firm peace recovered soon and wonted calm.

On to their morning’s rural work they haste

Among sweet dews and flow’rs; where any row

Of fruit trees over-woody reached too far

Their pampered²¹⁴ boughs, and needed hands to check

Fruitless embraces²¹⁵: or they led the vine

To wed her elm; she spoused about him twines

Her marriageable arms, and with her brings

Her dow’r th’ adopted clusters, to adorn

His barren leaves. Them thus employed beheld

With pity Heav’n’s high King, and to him called

Raphael²²¹, the sociable spirit, that deigned

To travel with Tobias, and secured

His marriage with the seven-times-wedded maid.

   “Raphael,” said he, “thou hear’st what stir on Earth

Satan from Hell scaped through the darksome gulf

Hath raised in Paradise, and how disturbed

This night the human pair, how he designs

In them at once to ruin all mankind.

Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend

Converse with Adam, in what bow’r or shade

Thou find’st him from the heat of noon retired,

To respite his day-labor with repast,

Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,

As may advise him of his happy state,

Happiness in his power left free to will,

Left to his own free will, his will though free,

Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware

He swerve²³⁸ not too secure: tell him withal

His danger, and from whom, what enemy

Late fall’n himself from Heav’n is plotting now

The fall of others from like state of bliss;

By violence, no, for that shall be withstood,

But by deceit and lies; this let him know,

Lest willfully transgressing he pretend

Surprisal, unadmonished, unforewarned.”

   So spake th’ eternal Father, and fulfilled

All justice: nor delayed the wingèd saint

After his charge received, but from among

Thousand celestial ardors²⁴⁹, where he stood

Veiled²⁵⁰ with his gorgeous wings, up springing light

Flew through the midst of Heav’n; th’ angelic choirs

On each hand parting, to his speed gave way

Through all th’ empyreal²⁵³ road; till at the gate

Of Heav’n arrived, the gate self-opened²⁵⁴ wide

On golden hinges turning, as by work

Divine the sov’reign architect had framed.

From hence,²⁵⁷ no cloud, or, to obstruct his sight,

Star interposed, however small he sees,

Not unconform to²⁵⁹ other shining globes,

Earth and the gard’n of God, with cedars crowned

Above all hills. As when by night the glass

Of Galileo, less assured, observes

Imagined²⁶³ lands and regions in the moon:

Or pilot from amidst the Cyclades²⁶⁴

Delos or Samos first appearing kens²⁶⁵

A cloudy spot. Down thither prone²⁶⁶ in flight

He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky

Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing

Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan

Winnows the buxom air²⁷⁰; till within soar

Of tow’ring eagles²⁷¹, to all the fowls he seems

A phoenix, gazed by all, as that sole bird

When to enshrine his relics in the sun’s

Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.

At once on th’ eastern cliff of Paradise

He lights, and to his proper shape returns

A Seraph winged; six wings²⁷⁷ he wore, to shade

His lineaments divine; the pair that clad

Each shoulder broad, came mantling²⁷⁹ o’er his breast

With regal ornament; the middle pair

Girt like a starry zone²⁸¹ his waist, and round

Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold

And colors dipped in Heav’n; the third his feet

Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail²⁸⁴

Sky-tinctured²⁸⁵ grain. Like Maia’s son he stood,

And shook his plumes, that Heav’nly fragrance filled

The circuit wide. Straight knew him all the bands

Of Angels under watch; and to his state²⁸⁸,

And to his message high in honor rise;

For on some message high they guessed him bound.

Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come

Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh,

And flow’ring odors, cassia, nard, and balm²⁹³;

A wilderness of sweets; for nature here

Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will

Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet²⁹⁶,

Wild above rule or art²⁹⁷; enormous bliss.

Him through the spicy forest onward come

Adam discerned, as in the door he sat

Of his cool bow’r, while now³⁰⁰ the mounted sun

Shot down direct his fervid rays to warm

Earth’s inmost womb, more warmth than Adam needs;

And Eve within, due at her hour prepared

For dinner savory fruits, of taste to please

True appetite, and not disrelish³⁰⁵ thirst

Of nectarous³⁰⁶ draughts between, from milky stream,

Berry or grape: to whom thus Adam called.

   “Haste hither Eve, and worth thy sight behold

Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape

Comes this way moving; seems another morn

Ris’n on mid-noon; some great behest from Heav’n

To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe

This day to be our guest. But go with speed,

And what thy stores contain, bring forth and pour

Abundance, fit to honor and receive

Our Heav’nly stranger; well we may afford

Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow

From large bestowed, where nature multiplies

Her fertile growth, and by disburd’ning³¹⁹ grows

More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.”

   To whom thus Eve. “Adam, earth’s hallowed mold³²¹

Of God inspired, small store will serve, where store,

All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk;

Save what by frugal³²⁴ storing firmness gains

To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes:

But I will haste and from each bough and brake,

Each plant and juiciest gourd will pluck such choice

To entertain our angel guest, as he

Beholding shall confess that here on Earth

God hath dispensed his bounties as in Heav’n.”

   So saying, with dispatchful looks in haste

She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent

What choice³³³ to choose for delicacy best,

What order, so contrived as not to mix

Tastes, not well joined, inelegant, but bring

Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change,

“Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape / Comes this way moving” (5.309–10). (illustration credit 5.1)

Bestirs her then, and from each tender stalk

Whatever Earth all-bearing mother yields

In India³³⁹ east or west, or middle shore

In Pontus or the Punic Coast, or where

Alcinous³⁴¹ reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat,

Rough, or smooth rined, or bearded husk, or shell

She gathers, tribute large, and on the board

Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape

She crushes, inoffensive must, and meathes³⁴⁵

From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed³⁴⁶

She tempers dulcet creams, nor these to hold

Wants her fit vessels pure, then strews the ground

With rose and odors from the shrub unfumed³⁴⁹.

Meanwhile our primitive³⁵⁰ great sire, to meet

His godlike guest, walks forth, without more train

Accompanied than with his own complete

Perfections, in himself was all his state³⁵³,

More solemn than the tedious pomp that waits

On princes, when their rich retinue long

Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold³⁵⁶

Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.

Nearer his presence Adam though not awed,

Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek,

As to a superior nature, bowing low,

   Thus said. “Native of Heav’n, for other place

None can than Heav’n such glorious shape contain;

Since by descending from the thrones above,

Those happy places thou hast deigned a while

To want, and honor these, vouchsafe with us

Two only, who yet by sov’reign gift possess

This spacious ground, in yonder shady bow’r

To rest, and what the garden choicest bears

To sit and taste, till this meridian heat

Be over, and the sun more cool decline.”

   Whom thus the angelic Virtue³⁷¹ answered mild.

“Adam, I therefore came, nor art thou such

Created, or such place hast here to dwell,

As may not oft invite, though spirits of Heav’n

To visit thee; lead on then where thy bow’r

O’ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise

I have at will.” So to the sylvan lodge

They came, that like Pomona’s arbor³⁷⁸ smiled

With flow’rets decked and fragrant smells; but Eve

Undecked, save with herself more lovely fair

Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess³⁸¹ feigned

Of three that in Mount Ida naked strove,

Stood to entertain her guest from Heav’n; no veil

She needed, virtue-proof³⁸⁴, no thought infirm

Altered her cheek. On whom the angel “Hail³⁸⁵”

Bestowed, the holy salutation used

Long after to blest Mary, second Eve.

   “Hail mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb

Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons

Than with these various fruits the trees of God

Have heaped this table.” Raised of grassy turf

Their table was, and mossy seats had round,

And on her ample square from side to side

All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here

Danced hand in hand. A while discourse they hold;

No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began

Our author³⁹⁷. “Heav’nly stranger, please to taste

These bounties which our Nourisher, from whom

All perfect good unmeasured out descends,

To us for food and for delight hath caused

The earth to yield; unsavory food perhaps

To spiritual natures; only this I know,

That one celestial father gives to all.”

   To whom the angel. “Therefore what he gives

(Whose praise be ever sung) to man in part

Spiritual, may of purest spirits be found

No ingrateful food; and food alike those pure

Intelligential substances⁴⁰⁸ require

As doth your rational; and both contain

Within them every lower faculty

Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,

Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate⁴¹²,

And corporeal to incorporeal turn.

For know, whatever was created, needs

To be sustained and fed; of elements

The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,

Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires

Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;

Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurged⁴¹⁹

Vapors not yet into her substance turned.

Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale

From her moist continent to higher orbs.

The Sun that light imparts to all, receives

From all his alimental recompense

In humid exhalations, and at even

Sups with the ocean: though in Heav’n the trees

Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines

Yield nectar, though from off the boughs each morn

We brush mellifluous⁴²⁹ dews, and find the ground

Covered with pearly grain⁴³⁰: yet God hath here

Varied his bounty so with new delights,

As may compare with Heaven; and to taste

Think not I shall be nice⁴³³.” So down they sat,

And to their viands fell, nor seemingly⁴³⁴

The angel, nor in mist⁴³⁵, the common gloss

Of theologians, but with keen dispatch

Of real hunger, and concoctive heat⁴³⁷

To transubstantiate⁴³⁸; what redounds, transpires

Through spirits with ease; nor wonder⁴³⁹; if by fire

Of sooty coal the empiric⁴⁴⁰ alchemist

Can turn, or holds it possible to turn

Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold

As from the mine. Meanwhile at table Eve

Ministered naked, and their flowing cups

With pleasant liquors crowned⁴⁴⁵: O innocence

Deserving Paradise! if ever⁴⁴⁶, then,

Then had the sons of God excuse to have been

Enamored at that sight; but in those hearts

Love unlibidinous⁴⁴⁹ reigned, nor jealousy

Was understood, the injured lover’s hell.

   Thus when with meats and drinks they had sufficed,

Not burdened nature, sudden mind arose

In Adam, not to let th’ occasion pass

Given him by this great conference to know

Of things above his world, and of their being

Who dwell in Heav’n, whose excellence he saw

Transcend his own so far, whose radiant forms

Divine effulgence, whose high power so far

Exceeded human, and his wary speech

Thus to th’ empyreal minister he framed.

   “Inhabitant with God, now know I well

Thy favor, in this honor done to man,

Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed

To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,

Food not of angels, yet accepted so,

As that more willingly thou couldst not seem

As Heav’n’s high feasts to have fed: yet what compare?⁴⁶⁷”

   To whom the wingèd hierarch replied.

“O⁴⁶⁹ Adam, one Almighty is, from whom

All things proceed, and up to him return,

If not depraved from good, created all

Such to perfection, one first matter all⁴⁷²,

Endued with various forms, various degrees

Of substance, and in things that live, of life;

But more refined, more spiritous, and pure,

As nearer to him placed or nearer tending

Each in their several active spheres assigned,

Till body up to spirit work, in bounds⁴⁷⁸

Proportioned to each kind. So from the root

Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves

More airy, last the bright consummate flow’r

Spirits odorous breathes: flow’rs and their fruit

Man’s nourishment,⁴⁸³ by gradual scale sublimed

To vital spirits aspire, to animal,

To intellectual, give both life and sense,

Fancy and understanding, whence the soul

Reason receives, and reason is her being,

Discursive, or intuitive; discourse

Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,

Differing but⁴⁹⁰ in degree, of kind the same.

Wonder not then, what God for you saw good

If I refuse not, but convert, as you,

To proper substance; time may come when men

With angels may participate, and find

No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare:

And from these corporal nutriments perhaps

Your bodies⁴⁹⁷ may at last turn all to spirit,

Improved by tract⁴⁹⁸ of time, and winged ascend

Ethereal, as we, or may at choice⁴⁹⁹

Here or in Heav’nly paradises dwell;

If ye be found obedient, and retain

Unalterably firm his love entire

Whose progeny you are. Meanwhile enjoy

Your fill what happiness this happy state

Can comprehend, incapable⁵⁰⁵ of more.”

   To whom the patriarch of mankind replied.

“O favorable spirit, propitious guest,

Well hast thou taught the way that might direct

Our knowledge, and the scale of nature⁵⁰⁹ set

From center to circumference, whereon

In contemplation of created things

By steps we may ascend to God. But say,

What meant that caution joined, ‘If ye be found

Obedient’? Can we want obedience then

To him, or possibly his love desert

Who formed us from the dust, and placed us here

Full to the utmost measure of what bliss

Human desires can seek or apprehend?”

   To whom the Angel. “Son of Heav’n and Earth,

Attend: that thou are happy, owe to God;

That thou continu’st such, owe to thyself,

That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.

This was that caution giv’n thee; be advised.

God made thee perfect, not immutable;

And good he made thee, but to persevere

He left it in thy power, ordained thy will

By nature free, not overruled by fate

Inextricable, or strict necessity;

Our voluntary service he requires,

Not our necessitated, such with him

Finds no acceptance, nor can find, for how

Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve

Willing or no, who will but what they must

By destiny, and can no other choose?

Myself and all th’ angelic host that stand

In sight of God enthroned, our happy state

Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds;

On other surety⁵³⁸ none; freely we serve,

Because we freely love, as in our will

To love or not; in this we stand or fall:

And some are fall’n, to disobedience fall’n,

And so from Heav’n to deepest Hell; O fall

From what high state of bliss into what woe!”

   To whom our great progenitor. “Thy words

Attentive, and with more delighted ear,

Divine instructor, I have heard, than when

Cherubic songs⁵⁴⁷ by night from neighboring hills

Aerial music send: nor knew I not

To be both will and deed created free;

Yet that we never shall forget to love

Our Maker, and obey him whose command

Single, is yet⁵⁵² so just, my constant thoughts

Assured me, and still assure: though what thou tell’st

Hath passed in Heav’n, some doubt within me move,

But more desire to hear, if thou consent,

The full relation, which must needs be strange,

Worthy of sacred silence⁵⁵⁷ to be heard;

And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun

Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins

His other half in the great zone of heav’n.”

   Thus Adam made request, and Raphael

After short pause assenting, thus began.

   “High matter thou enjoin’st me, O prime of men,

Sad task and hard, for how shall I relate

To human sense th’ invisible exploits

Of warring spirits; how without remorse⁵⁶⁶

The ruin of so many glorious once

And perfect while they stood; how last unfold

The secrets of another world, perhaps

Not lawful to reveal? Yet for thy good

This is dispensed⁵⁷¹, and what surmounts the reach

Of human sense, I shall delineate so,

By lik’ning spiritual to corporal forms⁵⁷³,

As may express them best, though what if Earth

Be but⁵⁷⁵ the shadow of Heav’n, and things therein

Each to other like, more than on Earth is thought⁵⁷⁶?

   “As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild

Reigned where these heav’ns now roll, where Earth now rests

Upon her center poised, when on a day

(For time⁵⁸⁰, though in eternity, applied

To motion, measures all things durable

By present, past, and future) on such day

As Heav’n’s great year⁵⁸³ brings forth, th’ empyreal host

Of angels by imperial summons called,

Innumerable before th’ Almighty’s throne

Forthwith from all the ends of Heav’n appeared

Under their hierarchs in orders bright;

Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,

Standards, and gonfalons⁵⁸⁹ twixt van and rear

Stream in the air, and for distinction serve

Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees;

Or in their glittering tissues bear emblazed

Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love

Recorded eminent. Thus when in orbs

Of circuit inexpressible they stood,

Orb within orb, the Father infinite,

By whom in bliss embosomed sat the Son,

Amidst as from a flaming mount, whose top

Brightness had made invisible, thus spake.

   “ ‘Hear all ye angels, progeny of light,

Thrones, Dominations,⁶⁰¹ Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,

Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.

This day I have begot⁶⁰³ whom I declare

My only Son, and on this holy hill

Him have anointed, whom ye now behold

At my right hand; your head I him appoint;

And by myself have sworn⁶⁰⁷ to him shall bow

All knees in Heav’n, and shall confess him Lord:

Under his great vicegerent⁶⁰⁹ reign abide

United as one individual⁶¹⁰ soul

Forever happy: him who disobeys⁶¹¹

Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day

Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls

Into utter darkness, deep engulfed, his place

Ordained without redemption, without end.’

   “So spake th’ Omnipotent, and with his words

All seemed well pleased, all seemed, but were not all.

That day, as other solemn days⁶¹⁸, they spent

In song and dance about the sacred hill,

Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere

Of planets and of fixed⁶²¹ in all her wheels

Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,

Eccentric⁶²³, intervolved, yet regular

Then most, when most irregular they seem,

And in their motions harmony divine

So smooths her charming tones, that God’s own ear

Listens delighted. Evening now⁶²⁷ approached

(For we have also our evening and our morn,

We ours for change delectable, not need)

Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn

Desirous; all in circles as they stood,

Tables are set, and on a sudden piled

With angel’s food, and rubied nectar flows

In pearl, in diamond, and massy gold

Fruit of delicious vines, the growth of Heav’n.

On flow’rs⁶³⁶ reposed, and with fresh flow’rets crowned,

They eat, they drink, and in communion⁶³⁷ sweet

Quaff immortality and joy, secure

Of surfeit where full measure only bounds

Excess, before th’ all bounteous King, who show’red

With copious hand, rejoicing in their joy.

Now when ambrosial night with clouds exhaled

From that high mount of God, whence light and shade

Spring both, the face of brightest Heav’n had changed

To grateful twilight (for night comes not there

In darker veil) and roseate dews disposed

All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest,

Wide over all the plain, and wider far

Than all this globous earth in plain outspread,

(Such are the courts of God) th’ angelic throng

Dispersed in bands and files their camp extend

By living streams among the trees of life⁶⁵²,

Pavilions numberless, and sudden reared,

Celestial tabernacles, where they slept

Fanned with cool winds, save those who in their course

Melodious hymns about the sov’reign throne

Alternate all night long: but not so waked

Satan, so call him now, his former name⁶⁵⁸

Is heard no more in Heav’n; he of the first,

If not the first Archangel, great in power,

In favor and in pre-eminence, yet fraught

With envy against the Son of God, that day

Honored by his great Father, and proclaimed

Messiah⁶⁶⁴ King anointed, could not bear

Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.

Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,

Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour

Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved

With all his legions to dislodge⁶⁶⁹, and leave

Unworshipped, unobeyed the throne supreme

Contemptuous, and his next subordinate⁶⁷¹

Awak’ning, thus to him in secret spake.

   “ ‘Sleep’st thou⁶⁷³ companion dear, what sleep can close

Thy eyelids? And remember’st what decree

Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips

Of Heav’n’s Almighty? Thou to me thy thoughts

Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart;

Both waking we were one; how then can now

Thy sleep dissent? New laws thou seest imposed;

New laws from him who reigns, new minds⁶⁸⁰ may raise

In us who serve, new counsels, to debate

What doubtful may ensue, more in this place

To utter is not safe. Assemble thou

Of all those myriads which we lead the chief;

Tell them that by command⁶⁸⁵, ere yet dim night

Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste,

And all who under me their banners wave,

Homeward with flying march where we possess

The quarters of the north⁶⁸⁹, there to prepare

Fit entertainment to receive our King

The great Messiah, and his new commands,

Who speedily through all the hierarchies

Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.’

   “So spake the false Archangel, and infused

Bad influence⁶⁹⁵ into th’ unwary breast

Of his associate; he together calls,

Or several one by one, the regent powers,

Under him regent, tells, as he was taught,

That the most high commanding, now ere night,

Now ere dim night had disencumbered Heav’n,⁷⁰⁰

The great hierarchal standard was to move;

Tells the suggested cause, and cast between

Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound

Or taint integrity; but all obeyed

The wonted signal, and superior voice

Of their great potentate; for great indeed

His name, and high was his degree in Heav’n;

His count’nance, as the morning star that guides

The starry flock, allured them, and with lies

Drew after him the third part⁷¹⁰ of Heav’n’s host:

Meanwhile th’ eternal eye, whose sight discerns

Abstrusest⁷¹² thoughts, from forth his holy mount

And from within the golden lamps that burn

Nightly before him, saw without their light

Rebellion rising, saw in whom, how spread

Among the sons of morn, what multitudes

Were banded to oppose his high decree;

And smiling⁷¹⁸ to his only Son thus said.

   “ ‘Son, thou in whom my glory I behold

In full resplendence, heir of all my might,

Nearly⁷²¹ it now concerns us to be sure

Of our omnipotence, and with what arms

We mean to hold what anciently we claim

Of deity or empire, such a foe

Is rising, who intends to erect his throne⁷²⁵

Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north;

Nor so content, hath in his thought to try

In battle, what our power is, or our right.

Let us advise, and to this hazard draw

With speed what force is left, and all employ

In our defense, lest unawares we lose

This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.’

   “To whom the Son with calm aspect and clear

Lightning divine, ineffable, serene,

Made answer. ‘Mighty Father, thou thy foes

Justly hast in derision⁷³⁶, and secure

Laugh’st at their vain designs and tumults vain,

Matter to me of glory, whom their hate

Illustrates⁷³⁹, when they see all regal power

Giv’n me to quell their pride, and in event⁷⁴⁰

Know whether I be dextrous⁷⁴¹ to subdue

Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heav’n.’

   “So spake the Son, but Satan with his powers

Far was advanced on wingèd speed, an host

Innumerable as the stars of night,

Or stars of morning, dewdrops⁷⁴⁶, which the sun

Impearls on every leaf and every flower.

Regions they passed, the mighty regencies⁷⁴⁸

Of Seraphim and Potentates and Thrones

In their triple degrees⁷⁵⁰, regions to which

All thy dominion, Adam, is no more

Than what this garden is to all the earth,

And all the sea, from one entire globose

Stretched into longitude; which having passed

At length into the limits of the north

They came, and Satan to his royal seat

High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount

Raised on a mount, with pyramids⁷⁵⁸ and tow’rs

From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold,

The palace of great Lucifer, (so call

That structure in the dialect of men

Interpreted) which not long after, he

Affecting⁷⁶³ all equality with God,

In imitation of that mount⁷⁶⁴ whereon

Messiah was declared in sight of Heav’n,

The Mountain of the Congregation⁷⁶⁶ called;

For thither he assembled all his train,

Pretending so commanded to consult

About the great reception of their King,

Thither to come, and with calumnious art

Of counterfeited truth thus held their ears.

   “ ‘Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,

If these magnific titles yet remain

Not merely titular, since by decree

Another now hath to himself engrossed⁷⁷⁵

All power, and us eclipsed under the name

Of King anointed, for whom all this haste

Of midnight march, and hurried meeting here,

This only to consult how we may best

With what may be devised of honors new

Receive him coming to receive from us

Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile,

Too much to one, but double how endured,

To one and to his image now proclaimed?

But what if better counsels might erect

Our minds and teach us to cast off this yoke⁷⁸⁶?

Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend

The supple knee? Ye will not, if I trust

To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves

Natives and sons of Heav’n possessed before

By none, and if not equal all, yet free,

Equally free; for orders and degrees

Jar not with liberty, but well consist.

Who can in reason then or right assume

Monarchy over such as live by right

His equals, if in power and splendor less,

In freedom equal? Or can introduce

Law and edict on us, who without law

Err not, much less for this⁷⁹⁹ to be our Lord,

And look for adoration to th’ abuse

Of those imperial titles which assert

Our being ordained to govern, not to serve?’

   “Thus far his bold discourse without control

Had audience, when among the Seraphim

Abdiel⁸⁰⁵, than whom none with more zeal adored

The deity, and divine commands obeyed,

Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe

The current of his fury thus opposed.

   “ ‘O argument blasphemous, false and proud!

Words which no ear ever to hear in Heav’n

Expected, least of all from thee, ingrate,

In place thyself so high above thy peers.

Canst thou with impious obloquy condemn

The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,

That to his only Son by right endued

With regal scepter, every soul in Heav’n

Shall bend the knee, and in that honor due

Confess him rightful King? Unjust thou say’st,

Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,

And equal over equals to let reign,

One over all with unsucceeded⁸²¹ power.

Shalt thou give law to God, shalt thou dispute

With him the points of liberty, who made

Thee what thou art, and formed the pow’rs of Heav’n

Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?

Yet by experience taught we know how good,

And of our good, and of our dignity

How provident he is, how far from thought

To make us less, bent rather to exalt

Our happy state under one head more near

United. But to grant it thee unjust,

That equal over equals monarch reign:

Thyself though great and glorious dost thou count,

Or all angelic nature joined in one,

Equal to him begotten Son, by whom⁸³⁵

As by his Word the mighty Father made

All things, ev’n thee, and all the spirits of Heav’n

By him created in their bright degrees,

Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named

Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,

Essential powers, nor by his reign obscured,

But⁸⁴² more illustrious made, since he the head

One of our number thus reduced becomes,

His laws our laws, all honor to him done

Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage,

And tempt not these; but hasten to appease

Th’ incensèd Father, and th’ incensèd Son,

While pardon may be found in time besought.’

   “So spake the fervent Angel, but his zeal

None seconded, as out of season judged,

Or singular and rash, whereat rejoiced

Th’ Apostate, and more haughty thus replied.

‘That we were formed then say’st thou? And the work

Of secondary hands, by task transferred

From Father to his Son? Strange point and new!

Doctrine which⁸⁵⁶ we would know whence learnt: who saw

When this creation was? Remember’st thou

Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?

We know no time when we were not as now;

Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised⁸⁶⁰

By our own quick’ning power, when fatal course

Had circled his full orb, the birth mature

Of this our native Heav’n, ethereal sons.

Our puissance is our own, our own right hand⁸⁶⁴

Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try

Who is our equal: then thou shalt behold

Whether by supplication we intend

Address⁸⁶⁸, and to begirt th’ Almighty throne

Beseeching or besieging⁸⁶⁹. This report,

These tidings carry to th’ anointed King;

And fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.’

   “He said, and as the sound of waters deep

Hoarse murmur echoed to his words applause

Through the infinite host, nor less for that

The flaming seraph fearless, though alone

Encompassed round with foes, thus answered bold.

   “ ‘O alienate from God, O spirit accursed,

Forsaken of all good; I see thy fall

Determined, and thy hapless crew involved

In this perfidious fraud, contagion spread

Both of thy crime and punishment: henceforth

Not more be troubled how to quit the yoke

Of God’s Messiah; those indulgent laws⁸⁸³

Will not be now vouchsafed, other decrees

Against thee are gone forth without recall;

That golden scepter which thou didst reject

Is now an iron rod to bruise and break

Thy disobedience. Well thou didst advise,

Yet not for thy advice or threats I fly

These wicked tents devoted⁸⁹⁰, lest the wrath

Impendent, raging into sudden flame,

Distinguish not: for soon expect to feel

His thunder on thy head, devouring fire.

Then who created thee lamenting learn,

When who can uncreate thee thou shalt know.’

   “So spake the Seraph Abdiel faithful found,

Among the faithless, faithful only he;

Among innumerable false, unmoved,

Unshaken, unseduced,⁸⁹⁹ unterrified,

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;

Nor number, nor example with him wrought

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind

Though single. From amidst them forth he passed,

Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustained

Superior, nor of violence feared aught;

And with retorted scorn⁹⁰⁶ his back he turned

On those proud tow’rs to swift destruction doomed.”

5. temperate vapors bland: soothing and perfectly proportioned vapors. Sleep, it was believed, was caused by vapors arising in the stomach. Adam’s benign internal system is here perfectly blended with the external breezes and streams of Eden. th’ only sound: the sound only.

6. fuming rills: foaming brooks; some editors gloss fuming as “misting,” but the exhalations of lines 185–6 are not said to rise from streams. Aurora: goddess of the dawn.

15. peculiar: its (beauty’s) own, from the Latin peculium, “private property.”

16. Zephyrus on Flora breathes: The west wind (Zephyrus) blows gently (breathes) on the flowers (Flora, goddess of flowers).

17–25. Awake … liquid sweet: The language of Adam’s aubade is drawn from Song of Solomon 2.10–13, 7.12.

21. prime: sunrise, or the first hour of the day, which in Paradise is always six o’clock.

22. blows: blooms.

23. balmy reed: balsam.

38. Why sleep’st thou Eve?: Satan used much the same formula, as we will soon learn (l. 673), to awaken Beëlzebub, his first co-conspirator.

44. his eyes: the stars.

47. still: always.

60. god: angel. See CD 1.5.

61. reserve: referring to both God’s restriction on the fruit and man’s self-restraint.

65. horror chilled: Cp. 9.890.

66. vouched with: affirmed by.

79. “The words as we are so placed between the two sentences, as equally to relate to both” (Todd).

94. sad: grave, serious.

98. uncouth: strange, unpleasant.

100–13. But … late: The main outlines of this conventional account of the role of “Fancy” (sometimes called “Phantasy”) in dreaming can be found in Renaissance encyclopedias (Svendsen 1969, 36–38); Sir John Davies, Nosce Teipsum, 46–47; and Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 139–40.

109. cell: ventricle of the brain.

115. our last evening’s talk: Yesterday they spoke in general of the prohibition on the Tree of Knowledge (4.419–28) and, prompted by Eve’s question, about why the stars shine at night (4.657–88). Both concerns reappear in Eve’s dream. Yet only the second conversation took place at evening.

118. so: provided that it remains; unapproved: unchosen.

123. wont to be: are accustomed to being.

133–34. he ere they fell/Kissed: Adam’s tender gesture enacts the words be not sad (l. 116) and Be not disheartened then, nor cloud those looks (l. 122) from his just-concluded speech.

146–50. Their morning prayers unite the fallen alternatives of deliberate artistic elaboration (various style), favored by Anglicans in Milton’s day, and spontaneous inspiration (holy rapture, Unmeditated), favored by Puritans.

147. wanted: lacked.

150. numerous: subject to numbers, therefore measured, rhythmic, musical.

153–208. Giving voice to Creation, the orisons evoke Psalm 148 primarily, with touches drawn from the “Song of the Three Children,” prescribed for morning prayers as the canticle “Benedicite omnia opera Domini” in the Book of Common Prayer.

165. Cp. Rev. 22.13 (“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last”), and Ben Jonson, “To Heaven,” l. 10.

166–67. Fairest of stars: Venus or Lucifer; last … dawn: Venus, the last star of morning, is also, as Hesperus, the first star of evening.

178. not without song: the music of the spheres, inaudible on Earth after the Fall; see Nat Ode 125–29, Arcades 63–73.

181. in quaternion: in a group of four (earth, air, fire, and water).

205. still: always.

214. pampered: overgrown.

215–19. Fruitless embraces … leaves: The feminine vine curled about the masculine elm was a traditional emblem of marriage; cp. Eve’s vinelike hair at 4.307.

221–23. Raphael, Hebrew for “Health of God,” helps Tobias claim his bride in the apocryphal Book of Tobit. Raphael is often associated with Christian medicine; see Cotton Mather, 48–54.

238. swerve: err; secure: overconfident. 244–45. pretend/Surprisal: claim to have been the victim of a surprise attack.

249. ardors: angels, ardent (burning) with the love of God.

250. Veiled: Cp. 3.382.

253. empyreal: belonging to the empyrean realm beyond the outermost sphere of Creation.

254. self-opened: Cp. the grating gates of Hell at 2.881–82.

257–59. No cloud or star interposed itself between Raphael and the sight of Earth, which appeared as small as the other stars.

259. Not unconform to: like to.

263. Imagined: conjectured. Galileo’s conjectures about lunar topography are not rejected at 1.288–91; Raphael seems to sanction their rejection at 5.419–20, but leaves the question open at 8.144–45.

264–65. Cyclades … Samos: islands in the Aegean, including the supposedly floating island of Delos; Samos, an island off the coast of Asia Minor, did not belong to the Cyclades.

265. kens: discerns.

266. prone: bent forward and downward.

270. Winnows the buxom air: parts the yielding air. On buxom see 2.842n and L’All 24n.

271. tow’ring eagles: Descending Raphael has just reached the apex of ascending eagles.

271–74. to all … flies: To earthly birds, the bright and unique Raphael seems a phoenix. This mythical bird, of which there was only one, regenerated every five hundred or one thousand years by immolating itself, then depositing its own ashes (relics) at the temple of the sun in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis.

277. six wings: like the angels in Isa. 6.2.

279. mantling: covering him, as with a mantle.

281. starry zone: belt of stars (cp. 11.247).

284. feathered mail: The feathers lie in overlapping rows suggestive of the metal plates in mail armor.

285. Sky-tinctured: blue, a sacred color among the Israelites, as Fowler notes, citing Cowley’s Davideis, bk. 1, n. 60; grain: dye; Maia’s son: Mercury, messenger of the gods.

288. state: status.

293. cassia, nard, and balm: aromatic spices.

296. more sweet: Nature’s splurging sweetness recalls Eve at 4.439, 641–56. She translates this aspect of Eden into the spiritual Paradise of their marriage.

297. Wild above rule or art: The organic at its height is superior to artifice at its height, as we have just seen in the “clothing” of Raphael; enormous: beyond the norm, immense.

300. while now: Raphael arrives precisely at noon.

305. disrelish: destroy the relish for.

306. nectarous: as sweet as nectar; milky: sweet (not salty).

319. disburd’ning: harvesting.

321. earth’s hallowed mold: Adam is sometimes said to derive from the Hebrew for “red,” alluding to the red earth from which he was formed.

324. frugal: careful in the use of food (from Lat. frux, “fruit”). Thriftiness is not implied.

333–36. “Eve’s composing of food” is “a trope for poetry” (D. McColley 1993, 133), the culinary equivalent of Milton’s “the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another” (see his note on The Verse, p. 9).

339. India: Indies; middle shore: lands to the north (Pontus, the shore of the Black Sea) and the south (Punic, the shore of North Africa) of the Mediterranean Sea.

341. Alcinous: Homer’s King of the Phaeacians, whose garden bore fruit in every season (Od. 7.112–32).

345. meathes: sweet drinks; obsolete spelling of meads.

346. Metrically, the double anapests make for an unusual line.

349. unfumed: unburned (unlike incense in the fallen world).

350. primitive: primary, original.

353. state: ceremonial display.

356. besmeared with gold: See Horace, Odes 4.9.14f.

371. Virtue: one of the lower angelic orders. Milton uses these hierarchical titles interchangeably, since Raphael is also termed a Seraph (5.277) and an Archangel (7.41).

378. Pomona’s arbor: the lodging of the goddess of fruit trees, to whom Eve is compared at 9.393.

381. fairest goddess: Aphrodite, whom Paris chose over Athena and Juno. Since his reward was Helen, his choice was the mythical origin of the Trojan War. The episode was popular in Renaissance painting and literature.

384. virtue-proof: armored by, and therefore protected by, virtue.

385–87. “Hail” … second Eve: The passage alludes to Luke 1.28, where the angel Gabriel greets Mary: “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” On Mary as second Eve, see 10.183n.

397. author: progenitor.

408. Intelligential substances: angels. The word substance, used variously in metaphysics, here declares that the angels inhabit a degree of matter (see ll. 473–74) in which intelligence is pervasive: smart stuff, as it were.

412. concoct, digest, assimilate: Three stages in the physiology of nourishment: in concoction, food is broken down into a milky fluid called “chyle”; it is then digested, or dispersed by means of blood to the various parts of the body; finally it is assimilated, transformed into the nourished being.

419–20. See 263n.

429. mellifluous: fluid, sweet.

430. pearly grain: dew, but also evoking the manna or angel’s food of Exod. 16.14 and Ps. 78.

433. nice: fastidious, hard to please.

434. nor seemingly: not just apparently (as opposed to really).

435. nor in mist: nor in vapor, as when a visiting angel takes on an airy body; common gloss: This part of the poem, we are given to know, is not conventional. That angels are corporeal, and therefore eat, is entailed by the spiritual materialism set forth in Milton’s CD 1.7: all Creation is material, even the human soul (MLM 1205–06).

437. real hunger, and concoctive heat: Raphael’s body has the same heat that was thought to fuel the digestive process in the human body.

438. transubstantiate: to transform one substance (earthly fruit) into another (the angelic body).

438–39. what … ease: Unassimilated food (what redounds) escapes vaporously through the pores of angels, reminding fallen readers of the more trying evacuations they know so well. “This artfully avoids the indecent idea, which would else have been apt to have arisen on the Angel’s feeding, and withal gives a delicacy to these spirits, which finely distinguishes them from us in one of the most humbling circumstances relating to our bodies” (Richardson).

439–43. nor wonder … mine: The upward transformations claimed in alchemy are intended to make the idea of an angel assimilating earthly food seem plausible rather than an inexplicable wonder. At least one physician in the Paracelsan tradition, Jean-Baptiste van Helmont, developed the idea of digestion as an “inner alchemist” (see Multhauf; Pagel 1955 and 1956).

440. empiric: experimental. The word is sometimes pejorative, and means “quack.” Milton may be contrasting the empiric alchemist, concentrating on the refinement of metals, with adepts of a more philosophical and spiritual outlook.

445. crowned: filled to the top.

446–48. if ever … sight: Milton alludes to Gen. 6.2: “The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives.” Most exegetes took “sons of God” to refer to men, but some thought them to be fallen angels. Milton is saying that if angels ever were attracted to earthly women, the desire would in this instance have been excusable, since it would have arisen in response to Eve’s innocence, not her sexual wiles.

449–50. All three, in other words, loved without sexual desire, and Adam did not feel jealous.

467. yet what compare?: “Yet what comparison can there possibly be between heavenly and earthly feasts?” Adam asks for a comparison, a metaphor, joining Earth and Heaven, and in reply will be given the literal basis for all such metaphors: matter.

469. O: A speech about the circular journey of matter begins appropriately with a typographical circle.

472. one first matter all: A remarkable conjunction of major philosophical words. In CD 1.7, Milton argues that the world was created not out of nothing but rather out of preexistent matter, the realm of Chaos visited by Satan in 2.951–1022.

478. bounds: both “limits” and “leaps” (Leonard).

483–85. Raphael adopts the language of Galenic physiology, in which food is elevated or sublimed into vital spirits, which reside in the heart and are the vehicles of passion, and animal spirits, which reside in the brain and are the vehicles of rational thought. No source has ever been adduced for intellectual spirits, which Milton postulates, it would seem, in order to supply a material basis for the intuitive capacities of men and angels.

490. The epic’s definitive statement on the ontological relationship of man to angel, Earth to Heaven, matter to spirit; that the phrase was in common use can be inferred from its appearance in the verse of Katherine Philips: “The same in kind, though diff’ring in degree” (“On Controversies in Religion”). She died in 1664, three years before the publication of Milton’s epic, and was not likely to have seen it in manuscript.

497. Cp. Masque, 558–61.

498. tract: a stretch or lapse.

499–500. Utopias are often criticized for their stasis. Here Raphael introduces the possibility of dynamic improvement into Edenic life.

505. incapable: unable to contain.

509. scale of nature: The scale or ladder of Nature, by which the mind may ascend from particularity to unity or Earth to Heaven, is a commonplace image in philosophy and theology. It was often linked with Jacob’s vision in Gen. 28.12 and with the golden chain connecting heaven and earth in Homer’s Il. 8.19 (Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, 1.14.15).

538. surety: ground of certainty, guarantee of secure possession.

547. Cherubic songs: See 4.680–88.

552. yet: also.

557. sacred silence: echoing Horace, Odes 2.13.29–32.

566. remorse: pity.

571. dispensed: made lawful.

573. lik’ning spiritual to corporal forms: But as we know from the discussion that arose over Raphael’s eating, spiritual and corporal forms differ only in degree; metaphor has ontological sanction.

575–76. The idea of Earth being the shadow of Heaven is sometimes meant to stress the difference, but Milton clearly thinks of them as being alike, analogical.

576. more than on Earth is thought: The only time that an earthling thought heavenly things too little like earthly things was when Adam assumed that Raphael could not eat earthly food. The error will be multiplied in the future: not everyone is a spiritual materialist, and even Adam took some convincing.

580–82. For time … future: On the unconventional idea that time precedes the Creation, see Milton’s CD 1.7 (MLM 1204). On the idea that time is the measure of motion, see Aristotle, Physics 4.2.219, and lines 7–8 of Milton’s second epitaph on Hobson.

583. Heav’n’s great year: On Earth a great year is the time required for the fixed stars to complete a full revolution, computed by Plato at 36,000 years (Timaeus 39D); we are left to imagine what Heaven’s analogue of this cycle would be.

589. gonfalons: banners hung from cross-pieces affixed to standards, as to this day in religious ceremonies.

601. The line names five of the traditional nine orders of angels. Satan, obviously impressed by this aspect of divine rhetoric, repeats the sonorous roll call of titles throughout his career (1.315–16, 2.11, 2.430, 5.772; PR 2.121). He thinks they signify the inalienable right to rule Heaven (ll. 800–802).

603. This day I have begot: Considering Gen. 22.16, Ps. 2.6–7, and Heb. 1.5, Milton argued in CD 1.5 that the begetting of the Son was a metaphor for his exaltation above the angels. The passage dramatizes that interpretation.

607. by myself have sworn: the formula of God’s vowing found in Gen. 22.16, Isa. 45.23, Heb. 6.13–19; see Donne, “A Hymn to God the Father,” l. 15.

609. vicegerent: the representative of a ruler.

610. individual: indivisible.

611. him who disobeys: whoever disobeys him.

618. solemn days: days set aside for religious ceremonies.

621. fixed: fixed stars.

623. Eccentric: In the Ptolemaic system, an eccentric is a planetary orbit of which the Earth is not the center; these eccentric centers revolve about the earth. intervolved: interlocked, like the two centers of an eccentric orbit.

627. now: added in 1674.

636–40. These lines revise and expand Editon 1, which reads, “They eat, they drink, and with refection sweet/Are filled, before th’ all bounteous King, who show’red.”

637. communion: fellowship.

652. streams among the trees of life: See Rev. 22.2.

658. former name: his original, prerebellion name, now blotted out from the heavenly records (1.362–63). One tradition, derived from Isa. 14.12, took the former name to be Lucifer, but Raphael does not confirm this directly until 5.760.

664. Messiah: Hebrew, meaning “anointed.”

669. dislodge: break camp.

671. subordinate: His fallen name is Beëlzebub (1.81).

673. Sleep’st thou: An epic formula for awakening someone, found in Homer (Il. 2.560), Vergil (Aen. 4.560, 7.421), and Milton’s On the Fifth of November, 92.

680. minds: purposes.

685. by command: a lie, since God has not commanded their departure.

689. north: where Satan’s throne was traditionally located (Isa. 14.13).

695. Bad influence: perhaps with an astrological undertone.

700. Night’s removal of darkness and the stars is made to seem an echo of Satan moving his troops.

710. the third part: See Rev. 12.4.

712. Abstrusest: most secret.

718. smiling: alerting us to the mocking tone of the forthcoming speech, where the omnipotent Father speaks as a Shakespearean monarch alarmed by the threat of rebellion.

721. Nearly: “closely,” “intimately,” as in Shakespeare’s “something nearly that concerns yourselves” (MND 1.1.126).

725–26. Cp. Isa. 14.12–13.

736. Justly hast in derision: Ps. 2.4: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall have them in derision.”

739. Illustrates: makes illustrious (by defeating them in battle).

740. in event: by the outcome.

741. dextrous: both “skillful” and “right-handed” (the Son sits on God’s right hand [1. 606], and is, so to speak, his right-hand man).

746. Or stars of morning, dewdrops: The sudden shift of magnitude from stars to dewdrops recalls the similes of Book 1.

748. regencies: dominions.

750. triple degrees: The nine orders of angels were often arranged in three groups of three; see Spenser’s “trinal triplicities” in FQ 1.39.

750–54. regions … longitude: Again the issue is magnitude: the planet Earth, spread on a flat plane, is to the regions traversed by the rebel angels as Eden is to the entire earth.

758. pyramids: Milton’s association of pyramids with pomp and immortal longings can be discerned as early as On Shakespeare. See also RCG (Yale 1:790).

763. Affecting: aspiring to, making an ostentatious display of.

764. that mount: referring to the mount of line 598.

766. Mountain of the Congregation: See Isa. 14.13.

775. engrossed: monopolized.

786. this yoke: Christ maintains that his yoke is “easy” in Matt. 11.29–30.

799. this: this entity placed over us only by improper law and edict.

805. Abdiel: Hebrew meaning “Servant of God.” Milton’s most important addition to the traditional cast of Judeo-Christian angels; see West 154 on the origins of the name. zeal: a trait admired by Protestants and by Milton, who defined it as “an eager desire to sanctify the divine name, together with a feeling of indignation against things which tend to the violation or contempt of religion” (CD 2.6 in MLM 1146; see also Apology in Yale 1:900–901).

821. unsucceeded: without successor, unending.

835–40. Based on Col. 1.16–17: “By him were all things created, … whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.”

842–45. But … own: “The argument seems to be that Christ, by becoming the head of the angels, became in a measure one of them, and so ennobled their nature” (Verity). Such, of course, is precisely the effect of his Incarnation on humankind.

856–58. See Augustine’s Confessions 1.6 on how we do not remember our beginnings but cannot suppose that we fabricated ourselves, and therefore honor our Maker. Adam at his awakening follows this line of thought (8.270–82). Milton might have derived the idea of the rebel angels denying their creation from Dante, Par. 29.58–60.

860. self-begot, self-raised: The sudden eruption of the word self recalls Shakespeare’s R3, 5.3.183–204, and glances at the despairing hell of selfhood at 4.73–113.

864. own right hand: as opposed to God’s (see 741n). Cp. Ps. 45.4.

868. Address: dutiful approach, with also a military sense of skillful engagement.

869. Beseeching or besieging: Out of supplication comes, treacherously, a new way of approaching the throne of God; besieging only sounds like beseeching. Cp. 1.642n.

883. those indulgent laws: alluding to the laws of line 693.

890. devoted: doomed.

899. Similar effects with the prefix un-occur at 2.185, 3.231. In describing Abdiel’s solitary steadfastness, Milton may also have had in mind his own position at the Restoration.

906. retorted scorn: Abdiel’s physical gesture of scornfully turning his back on the scornful rebel angels enacts the etymology of retorted, from the Latin retortus, “turned back.”

BOOK VI

THE ARGUMENT

Raphael continues to relate how Michael and Gabriel were sent forth to battle against Satan and his angels. The first fight described: Satan and his powers retire under night: he calls a council, invents devilish engines, which in the second day’s fight put Michael and his angels to some disorder; but they at length pulling up mountains overwhelmed both the forces and machines of Satan. Yet the tumult not so ending, God on the third day sends Messiah his Son, for whom he had reserved the glory of that victory. He in the power of his Father coming to the place, and causing all his legions to stand still on either side, with his chariot and thunder driving into the midst of his enemies, pursues them unable to resist towards the wall of Heaven, which opening, they leap down with horror and confusion into the place of punishment prepared for them in the deep. Messiah returns with triumph to his Father.

“All night the dreadless angel¹ unpursued

Through Heav’n’s wide champaign² held his way, till Morn,

Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand

Unbarr’d the gates of light. There is a cave

Within the Mount of God, fast by his throne,

Where light and darkness in perpetual round

Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through Heav’n

Grateful vicissitude, like day and night;

Light issues forth, and at the other door

Obsequious¹⁰ darkness enters, till her hour

To veil the Heav’n, though darkness there might well

Seem twilight here; and now went forth the Morn

Such as in highest Heav’n, arrayed in gold

Empyreal, from before her vanished night,

Shot through with orient beams: when all the plain

Covered with thick embattled squadrons bright,

Chariots and flaming arms, and fiery steeds

Reflecting blaze on blaze, first met his view:

War he perceived, war in procinct¹⁹, and found

Already known what he for news had thought

To have reported: gladly then he mixed

Among those friendly powers who him received

With joy and acclamations loud, that one

That of so many myriads fall’n, yet one

Returned not lost: on to the sacred hill

They led him high applauded, and present

Before the seat supreme; from whence a voice

From midst a golden cloud thus mild was heard.

   “ ‘Servant of God,²⁹ well done, well hast thou fought

The better fight, who single hast maintained

Against revolted multitudes the cause

Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms;

And for the testimony³³ of truth hast borne

Universal reproach, far worse to bear

Than violence: for this was all thy care

To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds

Judged thee perverse: the easier conquest now

Remains thee, aided by this host of friends,

Back on thy foes more glorious to return

Than scorned thou didst depart, and to subdue

By force, who reason for their law refuse,

Right reason⁴² for their law, and for their King

Messiah, who by right of merit reigns.

Go Michael⁴⁴ of celestial armies prince,

And thou in military prowess next

Gabriel⁴⁶, lead forth to battle these my sons

Invincible, lead forth my armèd Saints

By thousands and by millions ranged for fight;

Equal⁴⁹ in number to that godless crew

Rebellious, them with fire and hostile arms

Fearless assault, and to the brow of Heav’n

Pursuing drive them out from God and bliss,

Into their place of punishment, the gulf

Of Tartarus⁵⁴, which ready opens wide

His fiery chaos⁵⁵ to receive their fall.’

   “So spake⁵⁶ the sov’reign voice, and clouds began

To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll

In dusky wreaths, reluctant⁵⁸ flames, the sign

Of wrath awaked: nor with less dread the loud

Ethereal trumpet from on high gan⁶⁰ blow:

At which command the powers militant,

That stood for Heav’n⁶², in mighty quadrate joined

Of union irresistible⁶³, moved on

In silence their bright legions, to the sound

Of instrumental harmony that breathed

Heroic ardor to advent’rous deeds

Under their godlike leaders, in the cause

Of God and his Messiah. On they move

Indissolubly firm; nor obvious⁶⁹ hill,

Nor strait’ning vale, nor wood, nor stream divides

Their perfect ranks; for high above the ground

Their march was, and the passive air upbore

Their nimble tread⁷³, as when the total kind

Of birds in orderly array on wing

Came summoned over Eden to receive

Their names of thee; so over many a tract

Of Heav’n they marched, and many a province wide

Tenfold the length of this terrene⁷⁸: at last

Far in th’ horizon⁷⁹ to the north appeared

From skirt to skirt a fiery region¹²⁵, stretched

In battailous aspect, and nearer view

Bristled with upright beams innumerable

Of rigid spears, and helmets thronged, and shields

Various, with boastful argument⁸⁴ portrayed,

The banded powers of Satan hasting on

With furious expedition⁸⁶; for they weened

That selfsame day by fight, or by surprise

To win the Mount of God, and on his throne

To set the envier of his state, the proud

Aspirer, but their thoughts proved fond⁹⁰ and vain

In the mid way⁹¹: though strange to us it seemed

At first, that angel should with angel war,

And in fierce hosting⁹³ meet, who wont to meet

So oft in festivals of joy and love

Unanimous, as sons of one great Sire

Hymning th’ Eternal Father: but the shout

Of battle now began, and rushing sound

Of onset ended soon each milder thought.

High in the midst exalted as a god

Th’ Apostate¹⁰⁰ in his sun-bright chariot sat

Idol of majesty divine, enclosed

With flaming Cherubim, and golden shields;

Then lighted from his gorgeous throne, for now

’Twixt host and host but narrow space was left,

A dreadful interval, and front to front

Presented stood in terrible array

Of hideous length: before the cloudy van¹⁰⁷,

On the rough edge of battle ere it joined,

Satan with vast and haughty strides advanced,

Came tow’ring, armed in adamant and gold;

Abdiel that sight endured not, where he stood

Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds,

And thus his own undaunted heart explores.

   “ ‘O Heav’n! That such resemblance of the Highest

Should yet remain, where faith and realty¹¹⁵

Remain not; wherefore should not strength and might

There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove

Where boldest¹¹⁸; though to sight unconquerable?

His puissance, trusting in th’ Almighty’s aid,

I mean to try, whose reason I have tried¹²⁰

Unsound and false; nor is it aught but just,

That he who in debate of truth hath won,

Should win in arms, in both disputes alike

Victor; though brutish that contest and foul,

When reason hath to deal with force, yet so

Most reason is that reason overcome.’

“So pondering, and from his armèd peers

Forth stepping opposite, half way he met

His daring foe, at this prevention¹²⁹ more

Incensed, and thus securely¹³⁰ him defied.

   “ ‘Proud¹³¹, art thou met? Thy hope was to have reached

The highth of thy aspiring unopposed,

The throne of God unguarded, and his side

Abandoned at the terror of thy power

Or potent tongue; fool, not to think how vain

Against th’ Omnipotent to rise in arms;

Who¹³⁷ out of smallest things could without end

Have raised incessant armies to defeat

Thy folly; or with solitary hand

Reaching beyond all limit at one blow

Unaided could have finished thee, and whelmed

Thy legions under darkness; but thou seest

All are not of thy train; there be who faith

Prefer, and piety to God, though then

To thee not visible, when I alone

Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent

From all: my sect¹⁴⁷ thou seest, now learn too late

How few sometimes may know, when thousands err.’

   “Whom the grand foe with scornful eye askance¹⁴⁹

Thus answered. ‘Ill for thee, but in wished hour

Of my revenge, first sought for thou return’st

From flight, seditious angel, to receive

Thy merited reward, the first assay¹⁵³

Of this right hand provoked, since first that tongue

Inspired with contradiction durst oppose

A third part of the gods, in synod¹⁵⁶ met

Their deities to assert, who while they feel

Vigor divine within them, can allow

Omnipotence to none. But well thou com’st

Before thy fellows, ambitious to win

From me some plume, that thy success¹⁶¹ may show

Destruction to the rest: this pause between

(Unanswered lest thou boast¹⁶³) to let thee know;

At first I thought that liberty and Heav’n

To Heav’nly souls had been all one; but now

I see that most through sloth had rather serve,¹⁶⁶

Minist’ring spirits, trained up in feast and song;

Such hast thou armed, the minstrelsy of Heav’n,

Servility with freedom¹⁶⁹ to contend,

As both their deeds compared this day shall prove.’

   “To whom in brief thus Abdiel stern replied.

‘Apostate, still thou err’st, nor end wilt find

Of erring, from the path of truth remote:

Unjustly thou deprav’st¹⁷⁴ it with the name

Of servitude to serve whom God ordains,

Or Nature; God¹⁷⁶ and Nature bid the same,

When he who rules is worthiest, and excels

Them whom he governs. This is servitude,

To serve th’ unwise, or him who hath rebelled

Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee,

Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled;

Yet lewdly¹⁸² dar’st our minist’ring upbraid.

Reign¹⁸³ thou in Hell thy kingdom, let me serve

In Heav’n God ever blest, and his divine

Behests obey, worthiest to be obeyed,

Yet chains in Hell, not realms expect: meanwhile

From me returned, as erst thou saidst, from flight,

This greeting on thy impious crest receive.’

   “So saying, a noble stroke he lifted high,

Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell

On the proud crest of Satan, that no sight,

Nor motion of swift thought, less could his shield

Such ruin intercept: ten paces huge

He back recoiled; the tenth on bended knee¹⁹⁴

His massy spear upstayed; as¹⁹⁵ if on Earth

Winds under ground or waters forcing way

Sidelong, had pushed a mountain from his seat

Half sunk with all his pines. Amazement seized

The rebel Thrones¹⁹⁹, but greater rage to see

Thus foiled their mightiest, ours joy filled, and shout,

Presage of victory and fierce desire

Of battle: whereat Michael bid sound

Th’ archangel trumpet; through the vast of Heaven

It sounded, and the faithful armies rung

Hosanna to the Highest: nor stood at gaze

The adverse legions, nor less hideous joined

The horrid shock: now storming fury rose,

And clamor such as heard in Heav’n till now

Was never, arms on armor clashing brayed

Horrible discord, and the madding²¹⁰ wheels

Of brazen chariots raged; dire was the noise

Of conflict; overhead the dismal hiss

Of fiery²¹³ darts in flaming volleys flew,

And flying vaulted either host with fire.

So under fiery cope together rushed

Both battles main²¹⁶, with ruinous assault

And inextinguishable rage; all Heav’n

Resounded, and had Earth been then, all Earth

Had to her center shook. What wonder? When

Millions of fierce encount’ring angels fought

On either side, the least of whom could wield

These elements²²², and arm him with the force

Of all their regions: how much more of power

Army against army numberless to raise

Dreadful combustion²²⁵ warring, and disturb,

Though not destroy, their happy native seat;

Had not th’ Eternal King omnipotent

From his stronghold of Heav’n high overruled

And limited their might; though numbered²²⁹ such

As each divided legion might have seemed

A numerous host, in strength each armèd hand

A legion; led in fight, yet leader seemed

Each warrior single as in chief, expert

When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway

Of battle, open when, and when to close

The ridges²³⁶ of grim war; no thought of flight,

None of retreat, no unbecoming deed

That argued fear; each on himself relied,

As only in his arm the moment²³⁹ lay

Of victory; deeds of eternal fame

Were done, but infinite: for wide was spread

That war and various; sometimes on firm ground

A standing fight, then soaring on main²⁴³ wing

Tormented²⁴⁴ all the air; all air seemed then

Conflicting fire: long time in even scale

The battle hung; till Satan, who that day

Prodigious power had shown, and met in arms

No equal²⁴⁸, ranging through the dire attack

Of fighting Seraphim confused, at length

Saw where the sword of Michael²⁵⁰ smote, and felled

Squadrons at once; with huge two-handed sway

Brandished aloft the horrid edge came down

Wide-wasting; such destruction to withstand

He hasted, and opposed the rocky orb²⁵⁴

Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield

A vast circumference: at his approach

The great archangel from his warlike toil

Surceased, and glad as hoping here to end

Intestine war²⁵⁹ in Heav’n, the arch-foe subdued

Or captive dragged in chains, with hostile frown

And visage all enflamed first thus began.

   “ ‘Author²⁶² of evil, unknown till thy revolt,

Unnamed in Heav’n, now plenteous, as thou seest

These acts of hateful strife, hateful to all,

Though heaviest by just measure on thyself

And thy adherents: how hast thou disturbed

Heav’n’s blessèd peace, and into nature brought

Misery, uncreated till the crime

Of thy rebellion? How hast thou instilled

Thy malice into thousands, once upright

And faithful, now proved false? But think not here

To trouble holy rest; Heav’n casts thee out

From all her confines. Heav’n the seat of bliss

Brooks not the works of violence and war.

Hence then, and evil go with thee along

Thy offspring²⁷⁶, to the place of evil, Hell,

Thou and thy wicked crew; there mingle broils,

Ere this avenging sword begin thy doom,

Or some more sudden vengeance winged from God

Precipitate thee with augmented pain.’

   “So spake the prince of angels; to whom thus

The Adversary²⁸². ‘Nor think thou with wind

Of airy threats to awe whom yet with deeds

Thou canst not. Hast thou²⁸⁴ turned the least of these

To flight, or if to fall, but that they rise

Unvanquished, easier to transact with me

That thou shouldst hope, imperious, and with threats

To chase me hence? Err not that²⁸⁸ so shall end

The strife which thou call’st evil, but we style

The strife of glory²⁹⁰: which we mean to win,

Or turn this Heav’n itself into the Hell

Thou fablest, here however to dwell free,

If not to reign: meanwhile thy utmost force,

And join him named Almighty to thy aid,

I fly not, but have sought thee far and nigh.’

   “They ended parle²⁹⁶, and both addressed for fight

Unspeakable; for who, though with the tongue²⁹⁷

Of angels, can relate, or to what things

Liken on Earth conspicuous²⁹⁹, that may lift

Human imagination to such highth

Of godlike power: for likest gods they seemed,

Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms

Fit to decide the empire³⁰³ of great Heav’n.

Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air

Made horrid circles; two broad suns their shields

Blazed opposite, while expectation stood³⁰⁶

In horror³⁰⁶; from each hand with speed retired

Where erst was thickest fight, th’ angelic throng,

And left large field, unsafe within the wind

Of such commotion,³¹⁰ such as to set forth

Great things by small, if nature’s concord broke,

Among the constellations war were sprung,

Two planets rushing from aspect malign

Of fiercest opposition in mid sky,

Should combat, and their jarring spheres confound.

Together both with next to almighty arm,

Uplifted imminent one stroke they aimed

That might determine, and not need repeat,³¹⁸

As not of power, at once³¹⁸; nor odds appeared

In might or swift prevention³²⁰; but the sword

Of Michael from the armory of God³²¹

Was giv’n him tempered so, that neither keen

Nor solid might³²³ resist that edge: it met

The sword of Satan with steep force to smite

Descending, and in half cut sheer, nor stayed,

But with swift wheel reverse, deep ent’ring shared

All his right side; then Satan first knew pain,

And writhed him to and fro convolved³²⁸; so sore

The griding³²⁹ sword with discontinuous wound

Passed through him, but th’ ethereal substance closed

Not long divisible, and from the gash

A stream of nectarous³³² humor issuing flowed

Sanguine, such as celestial spirits may bleed,

And all his armor stained erewhile so bright.

Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run³³⁵

By angels³³⁵ many and strong, who interposed

Defense, while others bore him on their shields

Back to his chariot, where it stood retired

From off the files of war; there they him laid

Gnashing for anguish and despite and shame

To find himself not matchless, and his pride

Humbled by such rebuke, so far beneath

His confidence to equal God in power.

Yet soon he healed; for spirits that live throughout

Vital in every³⁴⁵ part, not as frail man

In entrails, heart or head, liver or reins³⁴⁶,

Cannot but by annihilating³⁴⁷ die;

Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound

Receive, no more than can the fluid air:

All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear,

All intellect, all sense, and as they please,

They limb themselves, and color, shape or size

Assume, as likes³⁵³ them best, condense or rare.

   “Meanwhile in other parts like deeds deserved

Memorial, where the might of Gabriel fought,

And with fierce ensigns³⁵⁶ pierced the deep array

Of Moloch³⁵⁷ furious king, who him defied,

And at his chariot wheels to drag him bound

Threatened, nor from the Holy One of Heav’n

Refrained his tongue blasphemous; but anon

Down clov’n to the waste, with shattered arms

And uncouth³⁶² pain fled bellowing. On each wing

Uriel and Raphael³⁶³ his vaunting foe,

Though huge, and in a rock of diamond³⁶⁴ armed,

Vanquished Adramelec, and Asmadai³⁶⁵,

Two potent Thrones, that to be less than gods

Disdained, but meaner thoughts learned in their flight,

Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.

Nor stood unmindful Abdiel to annoy

The atheist crew, but with redoubled blow

Ariel and Arioch³⁷¹, and the violence

Of Ramiel scorched and blasted overthrew.

I might³⁷³ relate of thousands, and their names

Eternize here on Earth; but those elect

Angels contented with their fame in Heav’n

Seek not the praise of men: the other sort

In might though wondrous and in acts of war,

Nor of renown less eager, yet by doom

Cancelled from Heav’n and sacred memory,

Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell.

For strength from truth divided and from just,

Illaudable³⁸², naught merits but dispraise

And ignominy, yet to glory aspires

Vainglorious, and through infamy seeks fame:

Therefore eternal silence be their doom.

   “And now their mightiest quelled, the battle³⁸⁶ swerved,

With many an inroad gored; deformèd rout

Entered, and foul disorder; all the ground

With shivered armor strown, and on a heap

Chariot and charioteer lay overturned

And fiery foaming steeds; what³⁹¹ stood, recoiled

O’erwearied, through the faint Satanic host

Defensive scarce³⁹³, or with pale fear surprised,

Then first with fear surprised and sense of pain

Fled ignominious, to such evil brought

By sin of disobedience, till that hour

Not liable to fear or flight or pain.

Far otherwise th’ inviolable saints

In cubic phalanx³⁹⁹ firm advanced entire,

Invulnerable, impenetrably armed:

Such high advantages their innocence

Gave them above their foes, not to have sinned,

Not to have disobeyed; in fight they stood

Unwearied, unobnoxious⁴⁰⁴ to be pained

By wound, though from their place by violence moved.

   “Now night her course began, and over Heav’n

Inducing darkness, grateful truce imposed,

And silence on the odious din of war:

Under her cloudy covert both retired,

Victor and Vanquished: on the foughten field⁴¹⁰

Michael and his angels prevalent⁴¹¹

Encamping, placed in guard their watches round,

Cherubic waving fires⁴¹³: on th’ other part

Satan with his rebellious disappeared,

Far in the dark dislodged⁴¹⁵, and void of rest,

His potentates⁴¹⁶ to council called by night;

And in the midst thus undismayed began.

   “ ‘O now in danger tried, now known in arms

Not to be overpowered, companions dear,

Found worthy not of liberty alone,

Too mean pretense⁴²¹, but what we more affect,

Honor, dominion, glory, and renown,

Who have sustained one day in doubtful fight⁴²³,

(And if one day, why not eternal days?)

What Heaven’s Lord had powerfullest to send

Against us from about his throne, and judged

Sufficient to subdue us to his will,

But proves not so: then fallible, it seems,

Of future⁴²⁹ we may deem him, though till now

Omniscient thought⁴³⁰. True is, less firmly armed,

Some disadvantage we endured and pain,

Till now not known, but known as soon contemned⁴³²,

Since now we find this our empyreal form

Incapable of mortal injury

Imperishable, and though pierced with wound,

Soon closing, and by native vigor healed.

Of evil then so small as easy think

The remedy; perhaps more valid arms,

Weapons more violent, when next we meet,

May serve to better us, and worse⁴⁴⁰ our foes,

Or equal what between us made the odds,

In nature none: if other hidden cause

Left them superior, while we can preserve

Unhurt our minds, and understanding sound,

Due search and consultation will disclose.’

   “He sat; and in th’ assembly next upstood

Nisroch⁴⁴⁷, of Principalities the prime;

As one he stood escaped from cruel fight,

Sore toiled, his riven arms to havoc hewn⁴⁴⁹,

And cloudy in aspect thus answering spake.

‘Deliverer from new lords, leader to free

Enjoyment of our right as gods; yet hard

For gods, and too unequal work we find

Against unequal arms to fight in pain,

Against unpained, impassive⁴⁵⁵; from which evil

Ruin must needs ensue; for what avails

Valor or strength, though matchless, quelled with pain

Which all subdues, and makes remiss⁴⁵⁸ the hands

Of mightiest. Sense of pleasure we may well

Spare out of life perhaps, and not repine,

But live content, which is the calmest life:

But pain is perfect misery, the worst

Of evils, and excessive, overturns

All patience. He who⁴⁶⁴ therefore can invent

With what more forcible we may offend⁴⁶⁵

Our yet unwounded enemies, or arm

Ourselves with like defense, to me deserves⁴⁶⁷

No less than for deliverance what we owe⁴⁶⁷.’

   “Whereto with look composed Satan replied.

‘Not uninvented that, which thou aright

Believ’st so main⁴⁷¹ to our success, I bring;

Which of us⁴⁷² who beholds the bright surface

Of this ethereous⁴⁷³ mold whereon we stand,

This continent of spacious Heav’n, adorned

With plant, fruit, flow’r ambrosial, gems and gold,

Whose eye so superficially surveys

These things, as not to mind from whence they grow

Deep under ground, materials dark and crude⁴⁷⁸,

Of spiritous⁴⁷⁹ and fiery spume, till touched

With Heav’n’s ray, and tempered they shoot forth

So beauteous, op’ning to the ambient light.

These in their dark nativity the deep

Shall yield us pregnant with infernal⁴⁸³ flame,

Which into hollow engines⁴⁸⁴ long and round

Thick-rammed, at th’ other bore⁴⁸⁵ with touch of fire

Dilated and infuriate shall send forth

From far with thund’ring noise among our foes

Such implements of mischief as shall dash

To pieces, and o’erwhelm whatever stands

Adverse, that they shall fear we have disarmed

The thunderer of his only dreaded bolt.

Nor long shall be our labor, yet ere dawn,

Effect shall end our wish. Meanwhile revive;

Abandon fear; to strength and counsel⁴⁹⁴ joined

Think nothing hard, much less to be despaired.’

He ended, and his words their drooping cheer⁴⁹⁶

Enlightened, and their languished hope revived.

Th’ invention all admired⁴⁹⁸, and each, how he

To be th’ inventor missed, so easy it seemed

Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought

Impossible: yet haply of thy race

In future days, if malice should abound,

Some one intent on mischief, or inspired

With dev’lish machination might devise

Like instrument to plague the sons of men

For sin, on war and mutual slaughter bent.

Forthwith from council to the work they flew,⁵⁰⁷

None arguing stood, innumerable hands

Were ready, in a moment up they turned

Wide the⁵¹⁰ celestial soil, and saw beneath

Th’ originals of nature in their crude

Conception; sulfurous and nitrous foam⁵¹²

They found, they mingled, and with subtle art,

Concocted and adusted⁵¹⁴ they reduced

To blackest grain⁵¹⁵, and into store conveyed:

Part hidden veins digged up (nor hath this Earth

Entrails unlike) of mineral and stone,

Whereof to found⁵¹⁸ their engines and their balls

Of missive⁵¹⁹ ruin; part incentive reed

Provide, pernicious⁵²⁰ with one touch to fire.

So all ere day-spring, under conscious⁵²¹ night

Secret they finished, and in order set,

With silent circumspection unespied.

Now when fair morn orient in Heav’n appeared

Up rose the victor angels, and to arms

The matin trumpet sung: in arms they stood

Of golden panoply, refulgent host,

Soon banded; others from the dawning hills

Looked round, and scouts each coast light-armèd scour,

Each quarter, to descry the distant foe,

Where lodged, or whither fled, or if for fight,

In motion or in halt: him soon they met

Under spread ensigns moving nigh, in slow

But firm battalion; back with speediest sail

Zophiel⁵³⁵, of Cherubim the swiftest wing,

Came flying, and in mid-air aloud thus cried.

   “ ‘Arm, warriors, arm for fight, the foe at hand,

Whom fled we thought, will save us long pursuit

This day, fear not his flight; so thick a cloud

He comes, and settled in his face I see

Sad⁵⁴¹ resolution and secure: let each

His adamantine coat gird well, and each

Fit well his helm, grip fast his orbèd shield,

Borne ev’n or high⁵⁴⁴, for this day will pour down,

If I conjecture aught, no drizzling shower,

But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.’

So warned he them aware themselves⁵⁴⁷, and soon

In order, quit of all impediment⁵⁴⁸;

Instant⁵⁴⁹ without disturb they took alarm,

And onward move embattled⁵⁵⁰; when behold

Not distant far with heavy pace the foe

Approaching gross and huge; in hollow cube

Training⁵⁵³ his devilish enginery, impaled

On every side with shadowing squadrons deep,

To hide the fraud. At interview⁵⁵⁵ both stood

A while, but suddenly at head appeared

Satan: and thus was heard commanding loud.

   “ ‘Vanguard, to right and left the front unfold;

That all may see who hate us, how we seek

Peace and composure⁵⁶⁰, and with open breast

Stand ready to receive them, if they like

Our overture⁵⁶², and turn not back perverse;

But that I doubt, however witness Heaven,

Heav’n witness thou anon, while we discharge

Freely our part; ye who appointed stand

Do as you have in charge, and briefly touch

What we propound, and loud that all may hear.’

   “So scoffing in ambiguous words, he scarce

Had ended when to right and left the front

Divided, and to either flank retired.

Which to our eyes discovered new and strange,

A triple-mounted⁵⁷² row of pillars laid

On wheels (for like to pillars most they seemed

Or hollowed bodies made of oak or fir

With branches lopped, in wood or mountain felled)

Brass, iron, stony mold⁵⁷⁶, had not their mouths

With hideous orifice gaped on us wide,

Portending hollow truce; at each behind

A Seraph stood, and in his hand a reed

Stood waving tipped with fire; while we suspense⁵⁸⁰,

Collected stood within our thoughts amused⁵⁸¹,

Not long, for sudden all at once their reeds

Put forth, and to a narrow vent applied

With nicest touch. Immediate in a flame,

But soon⁵⁸⁵ obscured with smoke, all Heav’n appeared,

From those⁵⁸⁶ deep-throated engines belched, whose roar

Emboweled with outrageous noise the air,

And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul

Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts⁵⁸⁹ and hail

Of iron globes, which on the victor host

Leveled, with such impetuous fury smote,

That whom they hit, none on their feet might stand,

Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell

By thousands, angel on archangel rolled;

The sooner⁵⁹⁵ for their arms, unarmed they might

Have easily as spirits evaded swift

By quick contraction or remove; but now

Foul dissipation⁵⁹⁸ followed and forced rout;

Nor⁵⁹⁹ served it to relax their serried files.

What should they do? If on they rushed, repulse

Repeated, and indecent⁶⁰¹ overthrow

Doubled, would render them yet more despised,

And to their foes a laughter⁶⁰³; for in view

Stood ranked of Seraphim another row

In posture to displode⁶⁰⁵ their second tire

Of thunder: back defeated to return

They worse abhorred. Satan beheld their plight,

And to his mates thus in derision called.

   “ ‘O friends, why come not on these victors proud?

Erewhile they fierce were coming, and when we,

To entertain them fair with open front⁶¹¹

And breast, (what could we more?) propounded terms

Of composition, straight they changed their minds,

Flew off,⁶¹⁴ and into strange vagaries fell,

As they would dance, yet for a dance they seemed

Somewhat extravagant and wild, perhaps

For joy of offered peace: but I suppose

If our proposals once again were heard

We should compel them to a quick result.’

   “To whom thus Belial in like gamesome mood.

‘Leader, the terms we sent were terms of weight,

Of hard contents, and full of force urged home,

Such as we might perceive amused⁶²³ them all,

And stumbled many: who receives them right,

Had need from head to foot well understand;

Not understood, this gift they have besides,

They show us when our foes walk not upright.’

   “So they among themselves in pleasant vein

Stood scoffing, heightened in their thoughts beyond

All doubt of victory, eternal might

To match with their inventions they presumed

So easy, and of his thunder made a scorn,

And all his host derided, while they stood

A while in trouble; but they stood not long,

Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms⁶³⁵

Against such hellish mischief fit to oppose.

Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power

Which God hath in his mighty angels placed)

Their arms⁶³⁹ away they threw, and to the hills

(For Earth hath this variety from Heav’n

Of pleasure situate in hill and dale)

Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew,

From their foundations loos’ning to and fro

They plucked the seated hills with all their load,

Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops

Uplifting bore them in their hands: amaze⁶⁴⁶,

Be sure, and terror seized the rebel host,

When coming towards them so dread they saw

The bottom of the mountains upward turned,

Till on those cursèd engines’ triple-row⁶⁵⁰

They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence

Under the weight of mountains buried deep,

Themselves invaded⁶⁵³ next, and on their heads

Main⁶⁵⁴ promontories flung, which in the air

Came shadowing, and oppressed⁶⁵⁵ whole legions armed,

Their armor helped their harm, crushed in and bruised

Into their substance pent⁶⁵⁷, which wrought them pain

Implacable, and many a dolorous groan,

Long struggling underneath, ere they could wind

Out of such prison, though spirits of purest light,

Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown.

The rest in imitation to like arms

Betook them, and the neighboring hills uptore;

So hills amid the air encountered hills

Hurled to and fro with jaculation⁶⁶⁵ dire

That underground they fought in dismal shade;

Infernal noise; war seemed a civil game

To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped

Upon confusion rose: and now all Heav’n

Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread,

Had not th’ almighty Father where he sits

Shrined in his sanctuary of Heav’n secure,

Consulting on the sum of things⁶⁷³, foreseen

This tumult, and permitted all, advised:

That his great purpose he might so fulfill,

To honor his anointed Son avenged

Upon his enemies, and to declare

All power on him transferred: whence to his Son

Th’ assessor⁶⁷⁹ of his throne he thus began.

   “ ‘Effulgence of my glory, Son beloved,

Son in whose face invisible is beheld⁶⁸¹

Visibly⁶⁸¹, what by deity I am,

And in whose hand what by decree I do,

Second omnipotence⁶⁸⁴, two days are passed,

Two days, as we compute the days of Heav’n,

Since Michael and his powers went forth to tame

These disobedient; sore hath been their fight,

As likeliest was, when two such foes met armed;

For to themselves I left them, and thou know’st,

Equal in their creation they were formed,

Save what sin hath impaired, which yet hath wrought

Insensibly, for I suspend their doom;

Whence in perpetual fight they needs must last

Endless, and no solution will be found:

War wearied hath performed what war can do,

And to disordered rage let loose the reins,

With mountains as with weapons armed, which makes

Wild work in Heav’n, and dangerous to the main⁶⁹⁸.

Two days are therefore passed, the third is thine⁶⁹⁹;

For thee I have ordained it, and thus far

Have suffered⁷⁰¹, that the glory may be thine

Of ending this great war, since none but thou

Can end it. Into thee such virtue and grace

Immense I have transfused, that all may know

In Heav’n and Hell thy power above compare,

And this perverse commotion governed thus,

To manifest thee worthiest to be heir⁷⁰⁷

Of all things⁷⁰⁷, to be heir and to be King

By sacred unction, thy deservèd right.

Go then thou mightiest in thy Father’s might,

Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels

That shake Heav’n’s basis, bring forth all my war⁷¹²,

My bow and thunder, my almighty arms

Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh;

Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out

From all Heav’n’s bounds into the utter⁷¹⁶ deep:

There let them learn, as likes them, to despise

God and Messiah his anointed King.’

   “He said, and on his Son with rays direct

Shone full,⁷²⁰ he all his Father full expressed

Ineffably into his face received,

And thus the filial Godhead answering spake:

    “ ‘O Father, O supreme of Heav’nly thrones,

First, highest, holiest, best, thou always seek’st

To glorify⁷²⁵s thy Son, I always thee,

As is most just; this I my glory account,

My exaltation, and my whole delight,

That thou in me well pleased⁷²⁸, declar’st thy will

Fulfilled, which to fulfill is all my bliss.

Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume,

And gladlier shall resign, when in the end⁷³¹

Thou shalt be all in all⁷³¹, and I in thee

Forever, and in me all whom thou lov’st:

But whom thou hat’st, I hate⁷³⁴, and can put on

Thy terrors, as I put thy mildness on,

Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,

Armed with thy might, rid Heav’n of these rebelled,

To their prepared ill mansion⁷³⁸ driven down

To chains of darkness, and th’ undying worm,⁷³⁹

That from thy just obedience could revolt,

Whom to obey is happiness entire.

Then shall thy saints unmixed, and from th’ impure

Far separate, circling thy holy mount

Unfeignèd hallelujahs⁷⁴⁴ to thee sing,

Hymns of high praise, and I among them chief.’

So said, he o’er his scepter bowing, rose

From the right hand of glory where he sat,

And the third sacred morn began to shine

Dawning through Heav’n: forth⁷⁴⁹ rushed with whirlwind sound

The chariot of paternal deity,

Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,

Itself instinct with⁷⁵² spirit, but convoyed

By four cherubic shapes, four faces each

Had wondrous, as with stars their bodies all

And wings were set with eyes, with eyes the wheels

Of beryl⁷⁵⁶, and careering fires between;

Over their heads a crystal firmament,

Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure

Amber, and colors of the show’ry arch⁷⁵⁹.

He in celestial panoply all armed

Of radiant urim⁷⁶¹, work divinely wrought,

Ascended, at his right hand Victory⁷⁶²

Sat eagle-winged, beside him hung his bow

And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored,

And from about him fierce effusion rolled

Of smoke and bickering⁷⁶⁶ flame, and sparkles dire;

Attended with⁷⁶⁷ ten thousand thousand saints,

He onward came, far off his coming shone,

And twenty thousand (I their number heard)

Chariots of God, half on each hand were seen:

He on⁷⁷¹ the wings of Cherub rode sublime

On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned.

Illustrious⁷⁷³ far and wide, but by his own

First seen, them unexpected joy surprised,

When the great ensign of Messiah blazed

Aloft by angels borne, his sign⁷⁷⁶ in Heav’n:

Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced⁷⁷⁷

His army, circumfused on either wing,

Under their head⁷⁷⁹ embodied all in one.

Before him power divine his way prepared;

At his command the uprooted hills retired

Each to his place, they heard his voice and went

Obsequious, Heav’n his wonted face renewed,

And with fresh flow’rets hill and valley smiled.

This saw his hapless foes but stood obdured⁷⁸⁵,

And to rebellious fight rallied their powers

Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.

In Heav’nly spirits could such perverseness dwell?

But to convince the proud what signs avail,

Or wonders move th’ obdurate to relent?

They hardened more⁷⁹¹ by what might most reclaim,

Grieving to see his glory, at the sight

Took envy, and aspiring to his highth,

Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud

Weening to prosper, and at length prevail

Against God and Messiah, or to fall

In universal ruin last⁷⁹⁷, and now

To final battle drew, disdaining flight,

Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God

To all his host on either hand thus spake.

   “ ‘Stand still in bright array ye saints⁸⁰¹, here stand

Ye angels armed, this day from battle rest;

Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God

Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause,

And as ye have received, so have ye done

Invincibly; but of this cursèd crew

The punishment to other hand belongs,

Vengeance⁸⁰⁸ is his, or whose he sole appoints;

Number to this day’s work is not ordained

Nor multitude, stand only and behold

God’s indignation on these godless poured

By me, not you but me they have despised,

Yet envied; against me is all their rage,

Because the Father, t’ whom in Heav’n supreme

Kingdom and⁸¹⁵ power and glory appertains,

Hath honored me according to his will.

Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned;

That they may have their wish, to try with me

In battle which the stronger proves, they all,

Or I alone against them, since by strength

They measure all, of other excellence

Not emulous, nor care who them excels;

Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.’

   “So spake the Son, and into terror changed

His count’nance too severe to be beheld

And full of wrath bent on his enemies.

At once the Four⁸²⁷ spread out their starry wings

With dreadful shade contiguous⁸²⁸, and the orbs

Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound

Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.

He on his impious foes right onward⁸³¹ drove,

Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels

The steadfast empyrean shook throughout,⁸³³

All but the throne itself of God⁸³³. Full soon

Among them he arrived; in his right hand

Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent

Before him, such as in their souls infixed

Plagues⁸³⁸; they astonished all resistance lost,

All courage; down their idle weapons dropped;

O’er shields⁸⁴⁰ and helms, and helmèd heads he rode

Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,

That wished⁸⁴² the mountains now might be again

Thrown on them as a shelter from his ire.

Nor less on either side tempestuous fell

His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four,

Distinct⁸⁴⁶ with eyes, and from the living wheels

Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;

One spirit in them ruled, and every eye

Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious⁸⁴⁹ fire

Among th’ accursed, that withered all their strength,

And of their wonted vigor left them drained,

Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fall’n.

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked

His thunder in mid-volley, for he meant

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n:

The overthrown he raised, and as a herd

Of goats⁸⁵⁷ or timorous flock together thronged

Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursued

With terrors and with furies to the bounds

And crystal wall of Heav’n, which op’ning wide,

Rolled inward⁸⁶¹, and a spacious gap disclosed

Into the wasteful⁸⁶² deep; the monstrous sight

Strook them with horror backward, but far worse

Urged them behind; headlong themselves they threw

Down from the verge of Heav’n; eternal wrath

Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

   “Hell heard th’ unsufferable noise, Hell saw

Heav’n ruining⁸⁶⁸ from Heav’n and would have fled

Affrighted; but strict fate⁸⁶⁹ had cast too deep

Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.

Nine days they fell⁸⁷¹; confounded Chaos roared,

And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout⁸⁷³

“headlong themselves they threw / Down from the verge of Heav’n” (6.864–65). (illustration credit 6.1)

Encumbered him with ruin: Hell at last⁸⁷⁴

Yawning received them whole, and on them closed⁸⁷⁴,

Hell their fit habitation fraught with fire

Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.

Disburdened Heav’n rejoiced, and soon repaired

Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled.

Sole victor from th’ expulsion of his foes

Messiah his triumphal chariot turned:

To meet him all his saints, who silent stood

Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,

With jubilee⁸⁸⁴ advanced; and as they went,

Shaded with branching palm⁸⁸⁵, each order bright

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-Heav’n, into the courts

And temple of his mighty Father throned

On high: who into glory him received,

Where now he sits at the right hand⁸⁹² of bliss.

   “Thus measuring things in Heav’n by things on Earth

At thy request, and that thou may’st beware

By what is past, to thee I have revealed

What might have else to human race been hid;

The discord which befell, and war in Heav’n

Among th’ angelic powers, and the deep fall

Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled

With Satan,⁹⁰⁰ he who envies now thy state,

Who now is plotting how he may seduce

Thee also from obedience, that with him

Bereaved 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 weaker⁹⁰⁹; 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.”

1. dreadless angel: Abdiel, fearless and without a doubt (see 5.899–905).

2. champaign: (1) wide expanse of open countryside; (2) common land (“The least turf of hallowed glebe is with God himself of more value than all the champaign of common possession,” Jeremy Taylor, 2.34); (3) a plain as a battlefield (see l. 15).

2–11. Morn … Heav’n: Like Book 5, Book 6 begins with an allusion to the best-known Homeric personification, rosy-fingered Dawn. Milton’s Dawn is distinctively awakened by the Hours in the circling configuration of a clock (cp. 4.267). Unlike Hesiod, who puts the abode of alternating day and night in the abyss (Theog. 744–54), Milton elevates their perpetual round to Heaven’s most sacred site, fast by (near) God’s throne. Milton grew up in a household with its own clock, at a time when it first became possible for wealthier citizens to own one.

10. Obsequious: obedient, sequent; like one observing rites of mourning (cp. Lyc headnote; SA 1732).

19. in procinct: from the Latin in procinctu, “girded up, prepared for battle.”

29–30. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”(Matt. 25.21); “fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 6.12).

33–35. for the testimony … violence: “For thy sake I have borne reproach” (Ps. 69.7). Cp. Spenser: “Evil deeds may better than bad words be bore” (FQ 4.4.4).

42. Right reason: Scholastic theologians adapted the concept of an a priori faculty of moral judgment from the recta ratio of Stoic philosophy. Milton cites Cicero (Philippics 11.12.28): “Right reason [is] derived from divine will which commands what is right and forbids what is wrong” (1Def, Yale 4:1.383; cp. Brief Notes, Yale 7:479). See Hoopes.

44. Michael: “Who is like God?” (Hebr.). He is named as Satan’s opponent in Revelation, Milton’s main source for the War in Heaven (12.7). Milton transfers to Christ many of the distinctions traditionally accorded Michael, including credit for vanquishing Satan.

46. Gabriel: “man of God” (Hebr.). See 4.549n.

49. Equal: Equality is a slippery concept in the epic. As Satan later acknowledges, “most” (two-thirds) of the angels remain loyal to God (l. 166; cp. l. 156, 2.692, 5.710).

54. Tartarus: Hell; see 2.69n.

55. chaos: Fowler glosses this usage as indicating the uncreated realm of primordial matter, but God uses the term in its primitive sense of “yawning gulf, chasm” (OED 1; cp. ll. 871–75).

56–60. Editors note that smoke, fire, and trumpet signal God’s presence when he gives Moses the Ten Commandments (Exod. 19.18–19). The typological structure of the narrative suggests that Milton alludes primarily to Hebrews 12, however, in which St. Paul localizes the Exodus account to insist on the apocalyptic transcendence and universality of Christ’s kingdom: “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet.… But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (18–22). Cp. 833–34n.

58. reluctant: struggling (of the fire working through smoke); cp. 4.311. The OED does not cite an example of the modern sense before the eighteenth century.

60. gan: began to.

62. stood for Heav’n: maintained loyalty to God (in contrast to the Apostate; cp. l. 100).

63–65. Of union irresistible … harmony: Cp. the quiet calm of the fallen angels, marching in squared formation to the sound of flutes playing Dorian music (1.549–61). “Homer thus marches his Grecians silent and sedate” (Todd; Il. 3.8).

69. obvious: standing in the way.

73–76. Their nimble tread … thee: Cp. Gen. 2.20.

78. terrene: earthly (referring back to province).

79–83. horizon … shields: The full extent of the northern horizon is filled with Satan’s troops, whose armor shines with fiery light. For Satan’s association with the north, see 5.689.

125–26. reason … reason: playing on the distinction between the principle or faculty of reason (capitalized in early editions) and reason as the rationale or explanation for an outcome (lowercase).

84. argument: design, subject (cp. 1.24, 9.13, Damon 189).

86. expedition: speed, aggressiveness; weened: thought, expected.

90. fond: foolish, conceited.

91. In the mid way: little-used idiom, meaning “halfway through,” e.g., one’s life (11.631; cp. Mary Herbert’s translation of Ps. 102.24). In other words, Satan and his army fall well short of their intended goal. Fowler suspects numerological resonance because the Son ascends the chariot to defeat the rebels halfway through the epic (l. 762). Cp. 129n.

93. hosting: battle, from the noun host, “army” (see l. 104), but with a play on “entertain hospitably”; wont: were used.

100. Apostate: Greek apo (from, off), stat (stand).

107. cloudy van: the front line (van) of an army massed for battle and thus resembling a threatening cloud, as Milton’s simile at 2.533–38 indicates. On Satan’s proclivity for the front line or edge of battle, see 1.276–77.

115. realty: reality, sincerity.

118. boldest: most insolent, presumptuous.

120. tried: proved, judged after trial.

129. prevention: obstruction, in the literal sense of “coming before.” Abdiel stops Satan “in the mid way” (cp. l. 91).

130. securely: confidently.

131. Proud: continuing the evasion of Satan’s previous name, Abdiel names him according to his dominant trait.

137–39. Who … folly: “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are: that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Cor. 1.27–29).

147. sect: body of followers or adherents; a term applied by contemptuous episcopal loyalists to all dissenters (“sectaries”), Milton among them. Cp. Eikon: “I never knew that time in England when men of truest religion were not counted sectaries” (MLM 1066).

149. askance: a facial tic that becomes characteristic of Satan (cp. 4.504).

153. assay: endeavor, trial.

156. synod: assembly; during the seventeenth century, often used of ecclesiastical assemblies (especially Presbyterian) and astrological conjunctions (see 10.661). Shakespeare in his later plays also applies synod to meetings of gods, presumably because of the mythological identification of gods and heavenly bodies (see, e.g., ANT 3.10.4, COR 5.2.68–69). Cp. 2.391.

161. success: what follows; as elsewhere, in ironic play with its more usual positive sense (see 2.9).

163. Unanswered … boast: i.e., lest Abdiel boast that Satan had no reply. How Abdiel will boast after the destruction threatened him is not addressed.

166–68. Scripturally, angels are deemed “ministers” and carry out executive duties as God’s agents or representatives (Matt. 4.11, Heb. 1.14). Raphael on his mission to Paradise is thus called “empyreal minister” (5.640). Satan exploits the shared Latin root with minstrel to deride the obedient angels as servile entertainers, a theme he revisits at 4.941–45. Cp. Lear’s condemnation of the thundering elements as “servile ministers” (LR 3.2.21), and Nashe’s anticipation of the wordplay: “What a stir he keeps against dumb ministers, and never writes nor talks of them, but he calleth them minstrels” (8).

169. Servility with freedom: slaves with free angels (abstract for concrete).

174. deprav’st: disparage.

176–78. God … governs: “God being the author of nature, her voice is but his instrument” (Hooker 1.3). The same assumption of agreement between divine and natural law underlies Milton’s concession in Tetrachordon that a wife would properly govern her husband if superior to him in reason (see MLM 993).

182. lewdly: wickedly, basely; cp. 4.193.

183–84. Reign … blest: Satan voices his contrary preference at 1.263 (see n).

194. bended knee: Cp. the knee-tribute previously disdained (5.782, 787–88).

195–98. as if … pines: Raphael’s simile recalls the narrator’s resort to seismic pressures to convey the phenomena of Hell (see, e.g., 1.230–37). Mountains appear immovable, but Milton deems faith sufficient to move them, as 1 Cor. 13.2 implies (see ll. 649–50; cp. 4.987, SA 1647–48).

199. rebel Thrones: A single angelic order stands for all (synecdoche). Leonard remarks that the choice of Thrones is “politically suggestive” (see 12.36).

210. madding: manic. The diction is odd, but the general point is clear; the jarring sounds and sights of war produce insane frenzy.

213–14. The local conditions anticipate the environment of Hell, complete with a dome of fire produced by thick volleys of flaming arrows and the prophetic sound of their dismal hiss (cp. 1.298, 10.508).

216. battles main: central bodies of the armies.

222–23. These elements … regions: Raphael refers to the four elements that constitute Adam’s world—earth, air, fire, and water—each predominating in its region.

225. combustion: tumult, wild commotion.

229–36. though numbered … war: “Each legion was in number like an army, each single warrior was in strength like a legion, and, though led in fight, was as expert as a commander-in-chief. So that the angels are celebrated first for their number, then for their strength, and lastly for their expertness in war” (Newton).

236. ridges: ranks (per close in l. 235); the reference is probably agricultural (furrows), despite Lewis’s objection (135).

239. moment: determining influence, that which tips the balance.

243. main: powerful.

244. Tormented: disturbed, stirred.

248. No equal: The phrase has long stirred critical controversy because it seems to contradict the scene in which Satan is foiled by Abdiel (l. 200). Newton explains that Abdiel’s moment of triumph was accidental and that if the combat had continued, Satan would have “prov’d an overmatch for Abdiel.” A. H. Gilbert cites the inconsistency as evidence that the combat with Abdiel is a late insertion to a battle narrative that originally adhered more closely to a Homeric model, “in which the leaders of the hosts fight” (1947, 5). For Fish, the apparent inconsistency is a didactic trap set by the narrator to undermine Abdiel’s “sense of justice” and “military pretensions” (1967, 187). Those “pretensions” seem justified at lines 369–71, however, and the present editors take no equal to imply only that Abdiel is inferior to Satan in rank or hierarchical position. The primary sense of the noun equal signifies “one that is very similar to another in rank or position.” The significance and dramatic impact of Abdiel’s noble stroke is, if anything, underscored by his social inferiority.

250. sword of Michael: The Archangel’s grand weapon is a telling point of reference in Milton’s depiction of Satan (2.294–95, 11.247–48), though it has no basis in Scripture. Some regard it as the “two-handed engine” of Lycidas.

254–56. rocky orb … circumference: Satan’s shield, vast as the moon’s orb (1.287), is made of a mythical, impenetrable stone (adamant) ten layers thick.

259. Intestine war: civil war, but intestine also applies literally (e.g., ll. 587–88).

262–71. Author … false: Michael’s rage and wonder seem genuine, not merely rhetorical. In light of his princely status and angel’s characteristic imperturbability, this reaction is a striking measure of what Satan has wrought by his rebellion.

276. Thy offspring: perhaps an allusion to Sin (see 2.743–60).

282. Adversary: translates “Satan.”

284–88. Hast thou … hence?: i.e., “Have you turned the weakest in my army to flight, or have any fallen failed to rise again undefeated, that you should hope to deal (transact) so easily with me as to chase me away with imperious threats?” Satan’s speeches here and before his clash with Abdiel are incoherent.

288. Err not that: “don’t erroneously suppose.”

290. The strife of glory: Cp. the Son’s interpretation of the conflict (5.738–39).

296. parle: parley; addressed: prepared, but in play with parle and unspeakable.

297–98. tongue/Of angels: recalls St. Paul’s insistence on the emptiness of oratory without charity (1 Cor. 13.1), a fitting transition from talking to fighting.

299. conspicuous: “perceivable,” modifies things. In asking what could lift / Human imagination to such highth / Of godlike power, Raphael seeks an aesthetic of the sublime.

303. empire: command, control.

306–7. while expectation stood/In horror: The personification of expectation conveys the angels’ alarm; cp. Shakespeare, ANT 3.6.47, where expectation is “faint” from lack of satisfaction, and H5 2.Prol.8: “Now sits Expectation in the air.”

310–15. Fowler notes the passage’s ironic anticipation of the fallen world, when celestial order is deliberately altered so that malignant opposition between planets becomes a regular astrological occurrence (10.657–61). Here, however, cosmic concord is imagined not simply as altered for the worse but as broken, and the planets not merely in aspect malign but rushing toward each other “in mere oppugnancy,” as Shakespeare’s Ulysses says in a precedent passage (TRO 2.111). The sublimely horrifying prospect of Michael and Satan’s imminent combat dwarfs (great things by small) that of planets hurtling toward each other on a collision course.

318–19. determine … once: decide the outcome and not need to be repeated because it lacked the necessary power to finish the fight in itself (at once). The common gloss of as not of power—“because so powerful a blow could not be repeated”—is unconvincing.

320. prevention: anticipation.

321. armory of God: mentioned in Jer. 50.25. Cp. the irresistible sword given Arthegall by Astraea, goddess of justice: “Wheresoever it did light, it thoroughly sheared” (FQ 5.1.10).

323–27. Nor solid might … side: Though hardly Homeric in his dissection of battle, Raphael is careful to relate how Satan’s wound occurs. Michael’s sword descending cuts Satan’s sword sheer in two; then Michael executes a swift wheel reverse (a backhand upstroke) that cuts off (shared) Satan’s entire right side. Satan’s left (Lat. sinister) side remains.

328. convolved: rolled together; coiled up. Satan’s reaction to the pain prefigures his metamorphosis into a serpent (10.511ff).

329. griding: slashing, piercing; discontinuous: gaping; “in allusion to the old definition of a wound that it separates the continuity of the parts” (Newton).

332–33. nectarous … bleed: Celestial spirits bleed a bodily fluid, or humor, whose sanguine color owes to the “rubied nectar” they drink (5.633); cp. Homer’s similar treatment of divine bleeding, Il. 5.339–42.

335–36. was run/By angels: Latinate syntax (cursum est) indicating that his troops ran to aid him. Such scenes occur frequently in Homer (e.g., Il. 14.428–32).

345–53. On the versatile homogeneity of angels, see 1.425n. Kerrigan notes how enviable such a physiology would be for a man with defective eyes (1983, 215–16, 227–28, 257–62; cp. SA 93–97).

346. reins: kidneys.

347. annihilating: Whether or not existence is escapable for angels is an open question; see 2.92–93, 151–54. In Milton’s monist theory of creation ex deo, certainly no created being can, in the literal sense of annihilation, become “nothing.” The closest to annihiliation a creature can come is dissolution into constituent atoms, or as Belial puts it, “swallowed up and lost/In the wide womb of uncreated Night” (2.149–50).

353. likes: pleases; an instance of the ethical dative; condense or rare: thick or thin in density.

356. ensigns: standards or banners of military units, here also the units themselves.

357. Moloch: “The name is not supposed to exist until after man’s Fall (see 1.364–65). Raphael might foreknow the names of future devils (cp. 12.140), but to name them here implies the failure of his mission. He had withheld ‘Beëlzebub’ from Bk. 5 … but now allows many devils’ names to infiltrate Bk. 6” (Leonard). Like the narrator in Books 1 and 2, however, Raphael does not have many options. The original names of the fallen angels have been erased, and fallen humanity has not yet supplied them with new ones. 359–60. nor … blasphemous: “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? … the Holy One of Israel” (2 Kings 19.22).

362. uncouth: unfamiliar.

363. Raphael refers to himself in the third person, which may owe to the historian’s objectivity or indicate that Adam and Eve do not know the name of their guest.

364. in a rock of diamond: Cp. Sonnet 6, 7–8.

365. Adramelec and Asmadai: Adramelec was idolized by the Sepharvites in Samaria under Assyrian dominion (2 Kings 17.31). Worshiped as a sun god, he is defeated by Uriel, “regent of that orb” (3, Argument). Asmadai (Asmodeus) is vanquished by Raphael, his captor in the apocryphal Book of Tobit (see 4.168–71n).

371–72. Ariel and Arioch … Ramiel: The meaning of Ariel is uncertain, though it is often glossed as “lion of God.” It is the proper name of a man as well as a poetic name for Jerusalem (e.g., Isa. 29.1–2). Milton would also have remembered Shakespeare’s character (TMP). Arioch (lion-like) is the scriptural name of two kings and a captain (Gen. 14.1, 9; Judg. 1.6; Dan. 2.14). More pertinently, Rabbinical sources identify the king from Genesis with Antiochus Epiphanes (176–64 B.C.E.), King of Syria and perpetrator of “the Abomination of Desolation,” in which a statue of Zeus was erected in the temple and Jews forced to worship it (1 Macc. 1.11–6.16). Ramiel, the most obscure reference, means “thunder of God”; Milton may have known the name from an extant fragment of the apocryphal Book of Baruch, which centers on the destruction of Jerusalem. If so, the three angels defeated by Abdiel are associated with apostasy and destruction in the holy city.

373–85. Content with God’s praise, good angels seek not the praise of men (cp. Lyc 78–84). The rebels, their names cancelled from God’s book, cannot win praise in Heaven, though they as creatures desire it instinctively. That they will seek the consolation of humanity’s praise is left implicit. That they will succeed in their quest is presumed by the appearance of their earthly names in Raphael’s narrative (see 357n).

382. Illaudable: unworthy of praise.

386. the battle: the [rebel] army.

391. what: those who.

393. Defensive scarce: scarcely defending themselves.

399. cubic phalanx: Angels aloft, unlike human armies, can assume a cubic formation, both geometrically foursquare and, in the figurative sense, firm and unwavering. Cp. the hollow cube deployed by the rebels (l. 552).

404. unobnoxious: not liable (cp. l. 397).

410. foughten field: battlefield (cp. Shakespeare, H5 4.6.18).

411. prevalent: prevailing.

413. Cherubic waving fires: “flaming Cherubim” (l. 102), regularly assigned guard duty (e.g., 4.778–85).

415. dislodged: shifted position (5.669), or was forced to shift position. The active-passive ambiguity seems especially apt because the site of Satan’s relocation is far in the dark (5.614).

416. Tactical councils on the night of a battlefield setback occur in Homer (Il. 9) and Vergil (Aen. 9.224–313).

421. mean pretense: “low aim,” ironically accompanied by “base deception”; affect: “strive after,” ironically accompanied by “pretend.”

423. doubtful fight: indecisive conflict; cp. “dubious battle” (1.104).

429. Of future: Editors generally gloss “in future,” after the idiom “of old.” But Hume’s reading of the phrase as a supposed limit on divine knowledge (“of future events”) is also possible.

430. Omniscient thought: Yet Satan called a secret meeting (5.683ff).

432. known as soon contemned: no sooner felt than scorned.

440. worse: harm.

447. Nisroch: Assyrian deity; while worshiping at Nisroch’s temple after a disastrous campaign against Israel, the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib was slain by his own sons (2 Kings 19.37, Isa. 37.38).

449. to havoc hewn: cut to pieces.

455. impassive: invulnerable to pain.

458. remiss: slack.

464. He who: What follows is an implicit, conditional threat to Satan’s sole leadership.

465. offend: hit, hurt.

467–68. to me … owe: “in my view deserves no less than what we owe [Satan] for our deliverance.”

471. main: key.

472–81. For related accounts of light’s productive interaction with potent subterranean matter, see 3.608–12, 8.91–97; cp. Masque 732–36.

473. ethereous: Milton substitutes the Greco-Latin form of the adjective rather than make the tongue-twisting combination ethereal mold.

478. materials dark and crude: Chaos substantiates Heaven too (MacCaffrey 162–64); cp. ll. 482–83, 510–12, 2.941.

479–80. The action of light touching potent sulfurous material and causing it to shoot forth appears to have suggested Satan’s invention. It is the archetypal instance of Satan’s bent for violating generative processes to accomplish his ends.

479. spirituous: highly refined, pure; spume: “of the Lat. spuma, froth, foam, a word expressing well the crude consistence of sulfur and other subterranean materials, the efficients of fertility” (Hume).

483. infernal: Satan uses the word in its classical sense of “underground,” though the ironic association with Hell is unavoidable for Milton’s readers.

484. engines: war machines; cp. 4.17–18. Milton was widely anticipated in laying the invention of artillery at the Devil’s door; see, e.g., Spenser, FQ 1.7.13.

485. bore: hole bored into the cannon’s barrel and filled with powder (called touch) that fired the cannon when lit.

494. counsel: judgment, wisdom. Physical prowess and strategic intelligence are classically the two main martial virtues, exemplified by Achilles and Odysseus.

496. cheer: mood, spirits.

498. admired: wondered at.

507–9. The abrupt style conveys haste.

510–20. The rebels’ procedure here bears comparison with the construction of Pandaemonium (1.686ff).

512. nitrous foam: potassium nitrate or saltpeter; material of spiritous and fiery spume mentioned at line 479 and a basic ingredient of gunpowder.

514. concocted and adusted: combined and dried.

515. blackest grain: Satan in Book 4 is identified with the smutty grain of his invention (816–17 and n).

518. found: cast as in a foundry; cp. 1.703; engines: cannons.

519. missive: sent, delivered from a distance; incentive reed: match.

520. pernicious: deadly; sudden (meanings with distinct Latin roots).

521. conscious: privy to; translates Ovid’s nox conscia and to a similar end (Met. 13.15). The common observation that Raphael here personifies night as a guiltily aware accomplice is unjustified.

535. Zophiel: “spy of God”; one of Michael’s chieftains, according to the Zohar (Soncino Zohar, Bemidbar, sec. 3, p. 154a).

541. Sad: serious, grim; secure: confident.

544. ev’n or high: in front of the body or overhead (to ward off flaming arrows).

547. aware themselves: already wary.

548. impediment: carriage and baggage of an army.

549. “Instantaneous, without disorder, they sprang to arms.” Here as elsewhere, Milton indicates angels in action with substantive adjectives, rather than by using an adverb to describe how they act; see, e.g., “union of pure, with pure/Desiring” (8.627–28). The angels are instant in this case, with the result that they respond instantly.

550. embattled: in battle formation.

553. Training: dragging; enginery: artillery; impaled: hedged, enclosed.

555. At interview: in mutual view.

560. composure: agreement, settlement; breast: heart, front lines; initiates the series of puns that infects the following lines.

562–67. overture: opening of negotiations; opening of a cannon’s muzzle (from Lat. apertura, hole). The more obvious puns in the following lines include discharge, charge, touch, and loud as Satan orders his troops to fire under the linguistic cover of a peace initiative. Editors and critics have long groaned over these puns, but Satan and the rebels are at last enjoying themselves.

572. triple-mounted: mounted threefold in a row (see ll. 604–5, 650), perhaps in anticipation of the Son’s three-bolted thunder (l. 764).

576. mold: substance. Raphael says that the cannons look like pillars or hollowed-out tree trunks on wheels, except that they are made of metal or stone.

580. suspense: undecided, with a play on “dangling in air.” The angels are literally and figuratively “hanging fire.”

581. amused: preoccupied; deceived.

585. As the cannons fire, the angels see all Heav’n first in a flame and then obscured in smoke.

586–89. From those … glut: Note the alimental imagery, predominantly of inversion and spasm: deep-throated, belched, emboweled (filled to bursting), entrails tore, disgorging, glut. Shared imagery ties Satan’s perverse engines of destruction to his generative history with Sin and Death (cp. 2.755–802). See also God’s description of the impact of Sin and Death on the world, 10.630–37.

589–94. chained thunderbolts … rolled: S. Fallon argues that Milton associates the Devil with Hobbes, who believed that everything that exists is matter in motion. With the moving of the angels, Milton gives the Devil (and Hobbes) his due (1991, 228–29).

595–97. The sooner … remove: On spirits’ ability to reduce or expand their bodies, see, e.g., ll. 351–53, 1.789–90.

595. The sooner for their arms: Fish sees this as a mock-heroic moment because the armor of the good angels confers vulnerability (1967, 179). As many have suggested, however, their armor signifies the armor of faith, complete with shields “able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph. 6.16). Though their faith protects them from direct assault by evil, their vulnerability to deceit is considerable (see the deception of Uriel, 3.686–89).

598. dissipation: dispersion.

599. “Nor did it help any to open up their close ranks.”

601. indecent: unseemly.

603. laughter: “a sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly” (Hobbes 55).

605. displode: fire; tire: volley.

611–12. open front: both “honest face” and “divided front line”; for breast, see 560n.

614–27. Satan continues scoffing at his opponents, describing their violent dispersal by artillery as if it were a response to a peace negotiation. Hence his plays on result (outcome, jump back), stumble (perplex, trip), understand (comprehend, prop up). In wondering whether they are dancing, he again taunts them with behaving like minstrels (166–68n); cp. Aeneas’s similar scorn (Homer, Il. 16.617). It is ritual taunting revived in Westerns; tough guys don’t dance.

623. amused: held their attention, diverted them.

635. Expanding Vergil’s furor arma ministrat (Aen. 1.150). Instead of peasants throwing rocks, we witness angels heaving mountains.

639–46. Removal of hills and mountains features prominently in the epic’s geological and geographical similes as well as its mythological and scriptural allusions, almost always with apocalyptic resonance (see 195–98n, 1.230–35n, 4.987n). In this instance, which has the distinction of being an actual narrative event, Milton alludes to the tribulation before the Second Coming. Here, however, furious angels “flee into the mountains” to tear them up by the roots and fling them, nearly destroying Heaven (Matt. 24.16–22). The final instance of mountain moving in the poem occurs as part of a divine judgment, when the Flood pushes the mount of Paradise from its place (11.829–38).

646. amaze: amazement, dread, with ironic allusion to Ps. 121.1: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, whence cometh my help.”

650. triple-row: Cp. 572n.

653. invaded: attacked.

654. Main: massive, entire.

655. oppressed: crushed.

657. pent: closely confined; cp. Shakespeare: “a liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass” (Sonnet 5, l. 10).

665–66. jaculation … dismal shade: Cp. the dismal hiss of the fiery darts on the first day of the war and the hellish canopy of flame they form above the battlefield (ll. 212–13). Jaculum is Latin for “dart”; jaculation means “throw.” The verb for throwing darts seems overtly out of scale when applied to hills or mountains. The war has escalated dramatically from the first day.

673. sum of things: Milton’s literal translation of summa rerum, or the established order of existence (Lucretius 1.333, 756, 1008). Ovid uses a similar phrase to mean “the highest public interest” as he relates the myth of Phaeton, ironically pertinent here inasmuch as Apollo’s inept son is blasted from his father’s chariot to preserve universal order (Met. 5.379–391).

679. assessor: sharer; literally, “one who sits by.”

681–82. invisible is beheld/Visibly: “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1.15). The oxymoronic effect owes to the use of invisible as a noun, i.e., “one who is invisible.”

684. Second omnipotence: indicates the derivative or secondary nature of the Son’s power (ll. 703–5; cp. John 5.19).

698. main: continent of Heaven.

699. the third is thine: “Milton, by continuing the war for three days, and reserving the victory upon the third for the Messiah alone, plainly alludes to the circumstances of his death and resurrection” (Newton).

701. suffered: permitted.

707–8. heir/Of all things: quotation of Heb. 1.2.

712. war: synecdoche for instruments of war.

716. utter: outer.

720–21. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4.6). Cp. 10.63–67. expressed/Ineffably: another seeming oxymoron (see ll. 681–82, 684), here describing the full expression of the Father into his Son’s face. It is after this silent communication that the Son is called the filial Godhead (l. 722). His subsequent reply (ll. 723–41) is woven from scriptures detailing relations between Father and Son.

725. “Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John 17.1).

728. That thou in me well pleased: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3.17).

731–32. gladlier … all: “When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15.28).

734. But whom thou hat’st, I hate: “Do I not hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee?” (Ps. 139.21).

738. prepared ill mansion: Hell. The grim counterpoint to John 14.2: “In my father’s house are many mansions.… I go to prepare a place for you.”

739. “God delivered them into chains of darkness” (2 Pet. 2.4); “where their worm dieth not” (Mark 9.44). Cp. Isa. 66.24, Jude 6.

744. Unfeignèd hallelujahs: Contrast Mammon’s disdain for forced hallelujahs (2.243).

749–59. forth rushed … arch: Milton’s description of the throne-chariot of the deity and its four-faced cherubic transmission is built from details in Ezekiel 1 and 10. Noting the contrast between this animate chariot and the merely material weapons of the devils, S. Fallon argues that the War in Heaven pits Milton’s animist materialism against Satan’s (and Hobbes’s) mechanist materialism (1991, 226–31, 237–41).

752. instinct with: impelled by.

756. beryl: transparent mineral; careering: darting, flashing.

759. show’ry arch: rainbow.

761. radiant urim: Milton thought urim among twelve gemstones mounted on the “breastplate of judgment,” worn by the high priest and used as a divine oracle (Exod. 28.30): “Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems/On Aaron’s breast” (PR 3.14–15). Fowler cites hermetic writers’ identification of urim with the philosopher’s stone, but Milton more likely had Josephus’s account in mind: “God declared beforehand, by those twelve stones … when they should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from them before the army began to march, that all the people were sensible of God’s being present for their assistance” (Antiq. 3.8.9).

762–64. Victory is a winged goddess who aids Zeus in his thundering defeat of the Titans and the Giants. The eagle is his bird. Milton may have in mind Pausanias’ description of the statue of Zeus at Olympia: “in his right hand a figure of Victory” (5.11.1).

766. bickering: quivering, flashing.

767–70. The numbers are scripturally based; see Rev. 5.11, Jude 14, Ps. 68.17.

771. “And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly” (2 Sam. 22.11, Ps. 18.10). sublime: lifted up, on the chariot’s crystal firmament and sapphire throne (ll. 757–58).

773. Illustrious: shining brightly; see 5.738–39.

776. his sign: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven” (Matt. 24.30).

777. reduced: “led back,” with a secondary sense of “diminished.” See next note.

779. their head: See 5.606 and cp. Abdiel’s interpretation of the Son’s exaltation: “he the head/One of our number thus reduced becomes” (5.842–43).

785. obdured: hardened; cp. 3.200.

791. hardened more: like Pharaoh (see CD 1.4).

797. last: Bentley would change to “lost,” not unreasonably.

801. Stand still … saints: Moses similarly orders the Hebrews to stand and witness the destruction of Pharaoh’s army (Exod. 14.13).

808. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom. 12.19; cp. Deut. 32.35).

815. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory” (Matt. 6.13).

827. the Four: the chariot’s four cherubic shapes (l. 753); starry wings: The wings were previously described as set with eyes (l. 755; cp. Ezek. 10.12); the poetic equation of eyes and stars is, however, commonplace.

828. contiguous: “Their wings were joined one to another” (Ezek. 1.9).

831. right onward: Milton thought of himself as proceeding in the same way; cp. Sonnet 22 8–9.

833–34. The steadfast empyrean … God: In the first speech of the epic, Satan claims that the battle did shake God’s throne (1.105). Editors cite as Heaven-shaking precedents Hesiod’s account of Zeus’s battle with Typhoeus (Theog. 842–43) and various scriptures, including Isa. 13.12–13, and 2 Sam. 22.8. Overlooked is Heb. 12.26, the key verse for Lycidas (Tayler 1979, 234–36) and one fundamental to the typological structure and range of the War in Heaven, from Moses receiving the Law to Christ’s Second Coming (cp. 56–60n): “[His] voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.’ ”

838. Plagues: afflictions, strokes of divine retribution. Editors cite the plagues of Egypt under Pharaoh, who is contextually present. In prophecy of the apocalypse, plagues, thunder, lightning, and earthquake are grouped together (see, e.g., Rev. 17).

840–41. In Apology, Milton personifies “the invincible warrior Zeal,” riding a chariot like the one described in Ezekiel and driving “over the heads of scarlet prelates, and such as are insolent to maintain traditions, bruising their stiff necks under his flaming wheels” (Yale 1:900).

842–43. “And [they] said to the mountains and rocks, ‘fall on us, and hide us from the … wrath of the Lamb’ ” (Rev. 6.16; cp. Luke 23.30, Hosea 10.8).

846. Distinct: adorned.

849. pernicious: deadly, sudden; cp. l. 520.

857. goats: In Scripture the damned are compared to goats, whom at the Last Judgment Christ will gather in his left hand before passing sentence: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25.41).

861. Rolled inward: rolled up or together; cp. Rev. 6.14: “And the heaven departed [was removed] as a scroll when it is rolled together.” disclosed: bared, opened.

862. wasteful: full of emptiness (Elledge).

868. ruining: falling.

869. fate: God’s curse (2.622–23). “Fate or fatum is only what is fatum, spoken, by some almighty power” (CD 1.2 in MLM 1146).

871. Nine days they fell: After falling for nine days, they lie stunned for another nine on the lake in Hell (1.50–53). In Hesiod, the rebellious Titans fall for nine days from Heaven to Earth and nine more from earth to Tartarus (Theog. 720–25).

873. rout: mob, those defeated.

874–75. Hell … closed: “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure” (Isa. 5.14).

884. jubilee: joyful shouting.

885. palm: symbolic of triumph, as at SA 1735. “[The people] took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord” (John 22.12–13; cp. Rev. 7.9).

892. right hand: St. Paul describes Christ after his ascension into Heaven as sitting “on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1.3).

900–907. Raphael’s most explicit and specific warning of Satan’s plot against humanity and its motive. He does not mention the apprehension of Satan at Eve’s ear during the previous night.

909. Thy weaker: Eve, the “weaker vessel” (1 Pet. 3.7). She is present for Raphael’s narration and at this moment.

BOOK VII

THE ARGUMENT

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 Heav’n¹ Urania, by that name

If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine

Following, above th’ Olympian hill³ I soar,

Above the flight of Pegasean wing⁴.

The meaning, not the name⁵ I call: for thou

Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top

Of old Olympus dwell’st, but Heav’nly born,

Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed,

Thou with eternal Wisdom⁹ didst converse,

Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play

In presence of th’ Almighty Father, pleased

With thy celestial song. Up led by thee

Into the Heav’n of Heav’ns¹³ I have presumed,

An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,

Thy temp’ring¹⁵; with like safety guided down

Return me to my native element:

Lest from¹⁷ this flying steed unreined, (as once

Bellerophon, though from a lower clime¹⁸)

Dismounted, on th’ Aleian field I fall

Erroneous there to wander and forlorn.

Half yet²¹ remains unsung, but narrower bound

Within the visible diurnal sphere²²;

Standing on earth, not rapt²³ above the pole,

More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged

To hoarse²⁵ or mute, though fall’n on evil days,

On evil days though fall’n, and evil tongues²⁶;

In darkness²⁷, and with dangers compassed round,

And solitude; yet not alone, while thou²⁸

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 dissonance³²

Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race³³

Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard

In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears

To rapture, till the savage clamor drowned

Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend

Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:

For thou art Heav’nly she an empty dream.

   Say Goddess, what ensued when Raphael,

The affable archangel, had forewarned

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,

Charged not to touch⁴⁶ the interdicted tree,

If they transgress, and slight that sole command⁴⁷,

So easily obeyed amid the choice

Of all tastes else to please their appetite,

Though wand’ring⁵⁰. He with his consorted Eve

The story heard attentive, and was filled

With admiration⁵², and deep muse to hear

Of things so high and strange, things to their thought

So unimaginable as hate in Heav’n,

And war so near the peace of God in bliss

With such confusion: but the evil soon

Driv’n back redounded⁵⁷ as a flood on those

From whom it sprung, impossible to mix

With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed⁵⁹

The doubts that in his heart arose: and now

Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know

What nearer might concern him, how this world

Of heav’n and earth conspicuous⁶³ first began,

When, and whereof created, for what cause,

What within Eden or without was done

Before his memory, as one whose drouth

Yet scarce allayed still eyes the current stream,

Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,

Proceeded thus to ask his Heav’nly guest.

   “Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,

Far differing from this world, thou hast revealed

Divine interpreter⁷², by favor sent

Down from the Empyrean to forewarn

Us timely of what might else have been our loss,

Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach:

For which to the infinitely Good we owe

Immortal thanks, and his admonishment

Receive with solemn purpose to observe

Immutably his sov’reign will, the end⁷⁹

Of what we are. But since thou hast vouchsafed

Gently for our instruction to impart

Things above earthly thought, which yet concerned

Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemed⁸³,

Deign to descend now lower, and relate

What may no less perhaps avail us known⁸⁵,

How first began this heav’n which we behold

Distant so high, with moving fires adorned

Innumerable, and this which yields or fills⁸⁸

All space, the ambient air wide interfused

Embracing round this florid Earth; what cause

Moved the Creator in his holy rest

Through all eternity so late to build

In Chaos, and the work begun, how soon

Absolved⁹⁴, if unforbid thou may’st unfold

What we, not to explore the secrets ask

Of his eternal empire, but the more

To magnify⁹⁷ his works, the more we know.

And the great light of day yet wants⁹⁸ to run

Much of his race though steep, suspense⁹⁹ in heav’n

Held by thy voice, thy potent voice he hears¹⁰⁰,

And longer will delay to hear thee tell

His generation, and the rising birth

Of nature from the unapparent deep¹⁰³:

Or if the star of ev’ning and the moon

Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring

Silence, and Sleep list’ning to thee will watch¹⁰⁶,

Or we can bid his¹⁰⁷ absence, till thy song

End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine.”

   Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought:

And thus the godlike angel answered mild.

“This also thy request with caution asked

Obtain: though to recount almighty works

What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,

Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?

Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve

To glorify the Maker, and infer¹¹⁶

Thee also happier, shall not be withheld

Thy hearing, such commission from above

I have received, to answer thy desire

Of knowledge within bounds¹²⁰; beyond abstain

To ask, nor let thine own inventions¹²¹ hope

Things not revealed, which th’ invisible King,

Only omniscient, hath suppressed in night,

To none communicable in Earth or Heaven¹²⁴:

Enough is left besides to search and know.

But knowledge is as food, and needs no less

Her temperance over appetite, to know

In measure what the mind may well contain,

Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns

Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.

   “Know then, that after Lucifer from Heav’n

(So call him¹³², brighter once amidst the host

Of angels, than that star the stars among)

Fell with his flaming legions through the deep

Into his place, and the great Son returned

Victorious with his saints¹³⁶, th’ omnipotent

Eternal Father from his throne beheld

Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake.

   “ ‘At least our envious foe hath failed, who thought

All like himself rebellious, by whose aid

This inaccessible high strength, the seat

Of Deity supreme, us dispossessed,

He trusted to have seized, and into fraud¹⁴³

Drew many, whom their place knows here no more¹⁴⁴;

Yet far the greater part¹⁴⁵ have kept, I see,

Their station¹⁴⁶, Heav’n yet populous retains

Number sufficient to possess her realms

Though wide, and this high temple to frequent

With ministeries due and solemn rites:

But lest¹⁵⁰ his heart exalt him in the harm

Already done, to have dispeopled Heav’n,

My damage fondly¹⁵² deemed, I can repair

That detriment, if such it be to lose

Self-lost, and in a moment will create

Another world, out of one man a race

Of men innumerable¹⁵⁶, there to dwell,

Not here, till by degrees of merit raised

They open to themselves at length the way

Up hither, under long obedience tried,

And Earth be chang’d to Heav’n, and Heav’n to Earth,

One kingdom, joy and union without end.

Meanwhile inhabit lax¹⁶², ye powers of Heav’n,

And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee

This I perform, speak thou, and be it done:

My overshadowing Spirit and might with thee¹⁶⁵

I send along, ride forth, and bid the deep

Within appointed bounds be heav’n and earth;

Boundless¹⁶⁸ the deep, because I am who fill

Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.

Though I uncircumscribed myself retire,

And put not forth my goodness, which is free¹⁷¹

To act or not, necessity and chance¹⁷²

Approach not me, and what I will is fate¹⁷³.’

   “So spake th’ Almighty, and to what he spake

His Word, the filial Godhead¹⁷⁵, gave effect.

Immediate are the acts of God¹⁷⁶, more swift

Than time or motion, but to human ears

Cannot without process of speech¹⁷⁸ be told,

So told as earthly notion¹⁷⁹ can receive.

Great triumph¹⁸⁰ and rejoicing was in Heav’n

When such was heard declared th’ Almighty’s will;

Glory they sung to the most high, good will

To future men, and in their dwellings peace:

Glory to him whose just avenging ire

Had driven out th’ ungodly from his sight

And th’ habitations of the just; to him

Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordained

Good out of evil¹⁸⁸ to create, instead

Of spirits malign a better race to bring

Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse

His good to worlds and ages infinite.

So sang the hierarchies: meanwhile the Son

On his great expedition now appeared,

Girt¹⁹⁴ with omnipotence, with radiance crowned

Of majesty divine, sapience and love

Immense, and all his Father in him shone.

About his chariot numberless were poured¹⁹⁷

Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,

And Virtues, wingèd spirits, and chariots winged,

From the armory of God²⁰⁰, where stand of old

Myriads between²⁰¹ two brazen mountains lodged

Against²⁰² a solemn day, harnessed at hand,

Celestial equipage; and now²⁰³ came forth

Spontaneous, for within them spirit lived,

Attendant on their Lord: Heav’n opened wide²⁰⁵

Her ever-during²⁰⁶ gates, harmonious sound

On golden hinges moving, to let forth

The King of Glory in his powerful Word

And Spirit coming to create new worlds.

On Heav’nly ground they stood, and from the shore

They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss

Outrageous²¹² as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,

Up from the bottom turned by furious winds

And surging waves, as mountains to assault

Heav’n’s highth, and with the center mix the pole.

   “ ‘Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace,’

Said then th’ omnific²¹⁷ Word, ‘your discord end.’

   “Nor stayed, but on the wings of Cherubim

Uplifted, in paternal glory rode

Far into Chaos, and the world unborn;

For Chaos heard his voice: him all his train

Followed in bright procession to behold

Creation, and the wonders of his might.

Then stayed the fervid²²⁴ wheels, and in his hand

He took the golden compasses²²⁵, prepared

In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe²²⁶

This universe, and all created things:

One foot he centered, and the other turned

Round through the vast profundity obscure,

And said, ‘Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,

This be thy just²³¹ circumference, O world.’

Thus God the heav’n created, thus the earth,

Matter unformed and void²³³: darkness profound

Covered th’ abyss: but on the wat’ry calm

His brooding wings²³⁵ the Spirit of God outspread,

And vital virtue²³⁶ infused, and vital warmth

Throughout the fluid mass, but downward purged

The black tartareous²³⁸ cold infernal dregs

Adverse to life: then founded²³⁹, then conglobed

Like things to like, the rest to several place

Disparted²⁴¹, and between spun out the air,

And Earth self-balanced²⁴² on her center hung.

   “ ‘Let there²⁴³ be light,’ said God, and forthwith light

Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure²⁴⁴

Sprung from the deep, and from her native east

To journey through the airy gloom began,

Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun

Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle²⁴⁸

Sojourned the while. God saw the light was good;

And light from darkness by the hemisphere

Divided: light the day, and darkness night

He named. Thus was the first day ev’n and morn²⁵²:

Nor passed uncelebrated, nor unsung

By the celestial choirs, when orient²⁵⁴ light

Exhaling²⁵⁵ first from darkness they beheld;

Birthday of heav’n and Earth; with joy and shout

The hollow universal orb they filled,

And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised

God and his works; Creator him they sung,

Both when first ev’ning was, and when first morn.

   “Again, God said,²⁶¹ ‘Let there be firmament

Amid the waters, and let it divide

The waters from the waters’: and God made

The firmament, expanse²⁶⁴ of liquid, pure,

Transparent, elemental air, diffused

In circuit to the uttermost convex

Of this great round²⁶⁷: partition firm and sure,

The waters underneath from those above

Dividing: for as Earth, so he the world²⁶⁹

Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide

Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule

Of Chaos far removed, lest fierce extremes

Contiguous might distemper the whole frame²⁷³:

And heav’n he named the firmament: so ev’n

And morning chorus sung the second day.

   “The Earth was formed, but in the womb as yet

Of waters, embryon immature involved²⁷⁷,

Appeared not: over all the face of Earth

Main ocean flowed, not idle, but with warm

Prolific humor soft’ning all her globe,

Fermented the great mother²⁸¹ to conceive,

Satiate with genial²⁸² moisture, when God said,

‘Be gathered now ye waters under heav’n

Into one place, and let dry land appear.’

Immediately the mountains huge appear

Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave

Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky:

So high as heaved the tumid²⁸⁸ hills, so low

Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,

Capacious bed of waters: thither they

Hasted with glad precipitance²⁹¹, uprolled

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 deign

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,

Earth with her nether ocean⁶²⁴ circumfused,

Their pleasant dwelling place. Thrice happy men,

And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanced,

Created in his image, there to dwell

And worship him, and in reward to rule⁶²⁸

Over his works⁶²⁸, on earth, in sea, or air,

And multiply a race of worshippers

Holy and just: thrice happy if they know⁶³¹

Their happiness⁶³¹, and persevere⁶³² upright.’

   “So sung they, and the empyrean rung,

With hallelujahs: thus was Sabbath kept.

And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked

How first this world and face of things⁶³⁶ began,

And what before thy memory was done

From the beginning, that posterity

Informed by thee might know; if else thou seek’st

Aught, not surpassing human measure, say.”

1. Descend from Heav’n: evoking Horace’s descende caelo … Calliope (Odes 4.1.2); Urania: the Muse of astronomy in Roman times, but transformed into the Muse of Christian poetry by du Bartas in La Muse Chrestiene (1574).

3. above th’ Olympian hill: Cp. 1.15.

4. Pegasean wing: The winged horse Pegasus ascended to the heavens of Greek mythology, but Milton has risen incomparably higher, to the Heaven of the Christian God.

5. The meaning, not the name: Urania means “heavenly one” in Latin, but Milton calls upon a power found in the Christian Heaven.

9. Wisdom: Wisdom was born “before the hills,” before all Creation, in Prov. 8.24–31. Milton identified her as a personification of the Father’s wisdom (CD 1.7 in MLM 1199). converse: live in company with (Lat. conversari).

13. Heav’n of Heav’ns: the supreme Heaven (an English version of the Hebrew superlative).

15. Thy temp’ring: “made suitable by thee for an earthly guest.”

17–20. Milton defines his hapless condition without the Muse’s aid by reference to the fate of Bellerophon, who tried unsuccessfully to ride Pegasus (see l. 4) to heaven and fell upon the Aleian field (land of wandering), where he died erroneous (i.e., in a state of distraction). According to some, his fall blinded him (Conti, Mythologiae 9.4).

18. clime: region.

21–22. Save for episodes in Books 10 and 11, the remaining action of the poem takes place on Earth.

22. visible diurnal sphere: the visible universe, which appears to rotate around the Earth on a daily basis.

23. rapt: transported; pole: the highest spot in the universe, at which it is chained to Heaven (2.1051–52). Milton went above the pole when representing the divine council at the opening of Book 3.

25. hoarse: In RCG, Milton ruefully noted that pamphlets were “a troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes” (MLM. 843). mute: probably alludes to the silencing of many Puritan authors during the Restoration. Milton’s point is that his poem has suffered neither of the common fates (becoming hoarse or mute) of Puritan pamphleteers. evil days: After the restoration of the English monarchy in May 1660, an order was issued for Milton’s arrest. He was in fact arrested after hiding out for some weeks, and released in December. During this time some of his books were burned.

26. evil tongues: Among the many authors who reviled Milton during the Restoration were Roger L’Estrange, George Starkey, David Lloyd, Thomas Ford, Robert South, and Samuel Parker.

27. darkness: blindness, from which Milton had suffered since 1652.

28–30. while thou … east: Biographers report that Milton composed either at night or early in the morning (Darbishire 33, 291). Cp. 3.29–32; 9.21–24.

32. barbarous dissonance: The phrase also appears in Masque (l. 550).

33–37. the race … voice: The poet Orpheus was torn to pieces by the Maenads, female followers of Bacchus, after he rejected the love of women. His mother, the epic Muse Calliope, could not save him, as Milton also stresses in Lyc 58–63. But Urania, a higher Muse, can protect her inspired poet.

46. touch: “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die” (Gen. 3.3); cp. 9.651.

47. sole command: The singularity of the commandment has already been stressed (1.32; 4.421, 423–24, 428).

50. wand’ring: innocently curious wandering at this point, but the word does have the fallen sense of “going astray, losing one’s moral bearings,” as perhaps in line 20. consorted: espoused.

52. admiration: wonder; muse: meditation.

57. redounded: recoiled.

59. repealed: recalled.

63. conspicuous: visible.

72. Divine interpreter: “Mercury, who is the president of language, is called deorum hominumque interpres” (Jonson, Discoveries, in Herford et al. 8:621). Raphael is the Christian Mercury. See also 3.656–57.

79. end: purpose.

83. seemed: seemed good.

85. avail us known: prove valuable to us when known.

88. yields or fills: Air “yields space to all bodies, and … fills up the deserted space [when the bodies move]” (Richardson).

94. Absolved: finished; unforbid: unforbidden.

97. magnify: glorify. “Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold” (Job 36.24).

98. yet wants: still has to.

99. suspense: attentive, hanging.

100. he hears: The sun or great light of day in line 98 is here personified.

103. unapparent deep: no longer perceptible Chaos.

106. will watch: will stay awake. Sleep (personified) is the subject of this verb.

107. his: Sleep’s.

116. infer: render.

120. Of knowledge within bounds: On this theme, cp. 8.173–97.

121. inventions: speculations; hope: hope for.

124. in Earth or Heaven: The passage has apparently been calling attention to the bounds on human knowledge, but now we learn that the bounds in question limit angelic knowledge as well.

132. So call him: In classical Latin, Lucifer (from Gk. for “light-bringer”) refers to Venus, the morning star. The Christian Fathers called Satan by the name of Lucifer, perhaps in reference to his original brightness. In Milton’s four drafts for a tragedy on the fall of man in the CMS, the character is referred to as Lucifer, not Satan. Cp. 5.760, 10.425.

136. saints: angels.

143. fraud: The word has its usual meaning of dishonesty and deception, but also the sense of Latin fraus (crime, injury). Satan not only drew his followers into deceit; he ruined them.

144. their place knows here no more: a scriptural idiom (Ps. 101.16, Job 7.10); cp. 11.50–57.

145. the greater part: Cp. 2.692n.

146. station: post, duty.

150–55. Empson concludes that God creates us “to spite the devils.” The passage says as much; but God also stresses that the Creation was not necessitated by the defection of the rebel angels.

152. fondly: foolishly.

156. men innumerable: A finite number of angels were created; they do not reproduce. The breeding race of men, by contrast, is innumerable (unnumbered). See Augustine, City of God 22.1. Thomas Browne wrote of “the fertility of Adam, and the magic of that sperm that hath dilated into so many millions” (Religio Medici 1.48).

162. inhabit lax: “dwell at ease” (having vanquished the rebels) and “dwell at large” (having more of Heaven to yourselves).

165. The Son creates the world, but using the Spirit and might of the Father. This combination of agency and service is typical of Milton’s Arian Christology (see 3.169–72, 384–96; 6.680–83).

168–71. Boundless … goodness: The passage is highly compressed. The deep (uncreated Chaos) will not be any less boundless because of Creation. It is infinite because filled by an infinite God, who can nonetheless, and also with no loss of infinity, retire from it.

171. free: “In God a certain immutable internal necessity to do good, independent of all outside influence, can be consistent with absolute freedom of action” (CD 1.3 in MLM 1155). It is crucial to Milton that God be free to put forth his goodness in Creation, or not.

172. necessity and chance: a philosophical binary that the Christian God was often said to transcend (Augustine, City of God 5.1.8–10, on necessity; Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy 4.1–2, on chance). In Milton, Chance rules only embryonic atoms (2.907), and necessity is “the tyrant’s plea” (4.394).

173. what I will is fate: “Fate or fatum is only what is fatum, spoken, by some almighty power” (CD 1.2 in MLM 1146). Paradoxes would seem to be on the horizon: if God wills our will to be free, then freedom is fate. But Milton tried to keep divine and human freedom at a distance from such dialectical cleverness. Theologically, politically, and aesthetically, liberty was his most cherished concept.

175. the filial Godhead: the Son.

176. Immediate are the acts of God: Augustine maintained that the six days of Creation in Genesis symbolize one instantaneous act (De Genesi 1.1–3).

178. process of speech: the successive acts that constitute speech.

179. earthly notion: human understanding.

180–83. The passage is based on Job 38.7 and Luke 2.14.

188. Good out of evil: remembering 1.162–63 and anticipating 7.613–16 and 12.469–78.

194. Girt: armed.

197. poured: crowded together; not arranged in an orderly fashion.

200. armory of God: “The Lord hath opened his armory” (Jer. 50.25). See 6.321.

201. Four chariots are seen between two mountains in Zech. 6.1.

202. Against: in readiness for.

203–5. now … Lord: See the animated chariot of 6.845–50.

205. opened wide: Cp. the self-opening gate of 5.254–55, derived from Ps. 24.7.

206. ever-during: everlasting.

212. Outrageous: immense, unrestrained; wasteful: desolate.

217. omnific: all-creating. We have replaced the colon at the end of this line in 1667 with a period and sacrificed an effect: as the colon would have suggested, omnific Word is the subject of the next syntactical unit’s verbs (stayed, uplifted, rode).

224. fervid: glowing (from motion).

225. compasses: Wisdom declares in Prov. 8:27, “I was there: then he set a compass upon the face of the depth.” Cp. Dante, Par. 19.40–42.

226. circumscribe: mark out the limits of.

231. just: exact.

233. Matter unformed and void: “The earth was without form, and void” (Gen. 1.2).

235. brooding wings: See 1.20–22.

236. vital virtue: the stuff of life.

238. tartareous: hellish.

239. founded: usually glossed as “laid the foundation,” but Leonard’s “attached” fits the context perfectly. The word has biblical precedent (Ps. 89.11; Prov. 3.19). conglobed: gathered into separate spheres.

241. Disparted: separated in different directions.

242. self-balanced: Cp. Nat Ode 117–24; her center: See 4.1000–1001; 5.578–79.

243–52. Milton’s version of Gen. 1.3–5.

244. Since the sun and other heavenly bodies are not created until the fourth day, commentators had somehow to distinguish ordinary celestial light from the light of Gen. 1.3. Milton identifies the primal light with ether, a fifth element (quintessence) thought to be ubiquitous above the sphere of the moon.

248. tabernacle: dwelling. “He set a tabernacle for the sun” (Ps. 19.4).

252. ev’n and morn: The Hebrew day was measured from evening to evening, though the meaning of evening was disputed. According to Fowler, “Milton clearly followed Jerome in reckoning from sunset” (Introduction, 30). Ev’n here must therefore mean “sunset.”

254. orient: bright, eastern.

255. Exhaling: rising as a vapor. The earth was thought to emit vaporous clouds (exhalations) that rose toward the heavens and often combusted. Milton implicitly compares the separation of light from darkness to this phenomenon.

261–74. Milton’s version of Gen. 1.6–8. The waters above the firmament are identified with the space between the earth and the crystalline sphere at the rim of the universe; the lower waters are the earth’s oceans.

264. expanse: a correct translation of the Hebrew word rendered “firmament” in the AV.

267. this great round: the universe.

269. the world: the universe.

273. distemper the whole frame: disturb the order of the elements, making the universe too hot or too cold.

277. embryon immature involved: wrapped (by waters) in an immature embryonic state.

281. great mother: Earth, who is both the mother and her child.

282. genial: fertilizing.

288. tumid: swollen.

291. precipitance: flowing, falling.

292. conglobing: assembling into spheres.

293. crystal wall: See the description of the parting of the Red Sea at 12.196–97. ridge direct: move forward like waves.

299. with torrent rapture: with torrential force, with rapturous obedience.

302. serpent error wand’ring: a crucial text for critics who argue for the presence of unfallen and fallen languages in the poem, since all three words have a sinful signification, but also an “innocent” one: serpent could mean “serpentine”; error mean “winding course”; and wand’ring mean “moving now this way, now that way.” See Ricks 1963, 110; Fish 1967, 130–41.

308. congregated waters: For Gen. 1.10 the Vulgate reads congregationesque aquarum.

309–33. Milton’s version of Gen. 1.11–13.

313–19. the bare earth … sweet: Here, as throughout the account of Creation, Milton describes the shaping activity of logoi spermatikoi (seminal seeds) embedded in matter. Augustine had adapted from Stoic cosmology the notion of these seeds or rationes seminales informed with the Creator’s ideas of all things (De Trinitate 3.8.3). The Son speaks, the logoi spermatikoi obediently unfold. For more on this tradition, see Curry 1937, 29–49.

321. swelling: Both 1667 and 1674 read “smelling.”

322. Embattled: See the cornlike spears of 4.980–82; add: moreover.

323. hair: leaves and branches; implicit: entangled.

325. gemmed: budded (from Lat. gemmare).

332. man to till the ground: See Gen. 2.5.

338. recorded: bore witness to.

339–86. Milton’s version of Gen. 1.14–19.

348. altern: by turns.

351. vicissitude: alternation.

356. of ethereal mold: made from quintessential matter (see 244n).

357. every magnitude of stars: stars of every degree of brightness.

366. morning planet: Venus or Lucifer; her: So 1667; 1674 has “his.” Venus would fit her, Lucifier his, but morning planet could be either, and there is no strong reason for preferring one reading to the other.

367. tincture or reflection: absorbing or reflecting the sun’s light.

368. Their small peculiar: their own small light.

372. Invested: clothed, arrayed; jocund to run: See Ps. 19.4–5.

373. longitude: course from east to west.

374–75. Pleiades … influence: Job 38.31: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences to the Pleiades?”

376. leveled west: due west (directly opposite).

377. His mirror: in the sense that the moon reflects the sun’s light.

379. In that aspect: in that position (when the moon is full).

381. axle: axis.

382. dividual: divided.

387–448. Milton’s version of Gen. 1.20–23.

388. Reptile: creeping things, including fish.

390. Displayed: spread out.

393. by their kinds: according to their species.

403. Bank the mid sea: form living banks or shelves.

409. smooth: smooth or calm water.

410. bended: arching themselves.

412. leviathan: the whale; an animal as opposed to the satanic emblem of 1.200–208.

415–16. gills … trunk: perhaps a residue of the medieval correspondence between whales and elephants, though words like gills and trunk had a considerable range of reference (see Edwards 110–13).

419. kindly: natural.

420. callow: unfeathered; fledge: fledged.

421. summed their pens: gained their full complement of feathers.

422. clang: harsh cry; despised: looked down upon.

422–23. under a cloud/In prospect: There was such a mass of birds that the ground seemed to be under a cloud.

425. loosely: singly.

427. Intelligent: cognizant. There are no seasons until the celestial adjustments of 10.651–707. No adjustments will have to be made in the birds themselves. They are hardwired from day one with the inclination to migrate.

429–30. Flying … flight: Some migrating birds were supposed to take turns resting on one another (Svendsen 1969, 158).

432. Floats: undulates.

434. Solaced: cheered; painted: imitated from Vergil, Aen. 4.525.

439. mantling: forming a mantle (by raising their wings).

440. Her state: her stature or rank.

441. dank: pool; pennons: pinions; tower: rise into.

442. mid-aerial sky: the midair, a cold region where clouds are found.

444. th’ other: the other cock (i.e., the peacock).

446. eyes: the eye-shaped configurations on the plumage of peacocks.

450–98. Milton’s version of Gen. 1.24–25.

451. soul: Both early editions read “foul” (fowl), which have already been created.

454. teemed: brought forth.

457. wons: dwells.

461. rare: here and there.

464. lion: the first land animal to be named, which seems to defer to the old bestiaries that accounted him “king of beasts.” Milton’s lion is rampant (rearing up), as in heraldry, but calved and brinded associate the lion with humbler beasts (Edwards 126).

471. Behemoth: the elephant.

474. river horse: translates “hippopotamus”; scaly crocodile: In the tradition of European natural history, the crocodile was the epitome of strangeness; see Shakespeare, ANT 2.7.41–51. It was famous for its false tears, its cruelty, its odd relationship to a bird that supposedly gnawed its entrails. In this respect, Milton’s scaly crocodile, “stripped of lore and lessons,” provides another example of his interest in “freeing animals from their symbolic places” (Edwards 120, 127).

476. worm: a designation for serpents as well as insects (which creep the ground).

482. Minims: smallest creatures.

483. involved: coiled.

485. parsimonious emmet: thrifty ant.

486. large heart: capacious intellect.

487–89. Pattern … commonalty: Ants were often praised for their prudence and democratic commonality; Aristotle had remarked that they knew no king (Svendsen 1969, 150–52).

465–67. left side … fresh: The Bible does not specify from which side the rib came, but tradition overwhelmingly chose the left, in part because of nearness to the heart (see l. 484; A. Williams 90–91).

490. The female bee: In Milton’s day it was believed that worker bees were sterile females and drones male. Bees were traditionally monarchical (Shakespeare, H5 1.2.183–204), but Milton disputed that belief in 1Def. (Yale 4:348–50).

493. gav’st them names: See 8.342–54.

497. hairy main: Vergil described the serpents that strangled Laocoön as having bloodred manes (Aen. 2.203–7); terrific: terrifying.

498. Not noxious: not evil or harmful.

504. Frequent: in throngs.

505. the end: the completion of Creation and the being for whom all the rest had been done.

508–10. might … self-knowing: Man’s uprightness was noted by Ovid, Met. 1.76–86, and was commonly treated by Christian writers as a sign of moral and spiritual dignity.

509. front: forehead.

510. self-knowing: knowing himself as created in the image and likeness of God; Shakespeare’s Isabella memorably declares that this knowledge is sadly curtailed among fallen men (MM 2.2.120–24). from thence: as a result of these qualities.

511. Magnanimous: great-souled, high-minded; to correspond with: to be an image of, to be in contact with.

519–34. Milton’s version of Gen. 1.26–31.

528. Express: exactly depicted.

530–34. blessed … Earth: See Gen. 1.28.

537. delicious: delightful.

552. unwearied: The Son did not “rest” on the seventh day because his strength was in any sense depleted.

557. idea: the only occurrence of the word idea in Milton’s English poetry. It bears the Platonic-Augustinian sense of “ideal form, pattern.” Thus Simon Goulart: “The idea, the form and pattern of them [all things] was in the science and intelligence of God … as Saint Augustine and others have expounded” (1621, 8–9).

559. Symphonius: harmonious; tuned: played.

564. pomp: procession; jubilant: shouting with joy.

565–67. Based on Ps. 23.7.

569–73. for … grace: CD 1.9 discusses the earthly missions of angels.

579. Milky Way: The road to Heaven is like the Milky Way but not the Milky Way itself, as it is in Ovid, Met. 1.168–71.

588–90. The editions of 1667 and 1674 punctuate confusingly: “With his great Father (for he also went/Invisible, yet stayed (such privilege/Hath omnipresence).”

594. not in silence holy kept: The prominence of music at the first Sabbath indicates Milton’s disagreement with the stricter versions of Puritan Sabbatarianism (Berry 61–101).

596. dulcimer: a stringed instrument played with small hammers; stop: the register of an organ.

597. fret: a ridge on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument.

599. Choral or unison: in parts or in unison.

605. giant angels: referring to the defeat of the rebel angels but alluding to Jove’s defeat of the giants. Cp. 1.50–52, 199–200, 230–37; 6.643–66.

606–7. but … destroy: Satan seeks glory from the lesser course of destroying the work of Creation (9.129–38).

619. hyaline: the transliterated Greek word for the “sea of glass” before God’s throne in Rev. 4.6.

621–22. every … habitation: On the possibility of other worlds being inhabited, see 3.566–71, 8.152–58. On the possibility that man might colonize other worlds, see 3.667–70 and 5.500.

622–23. thou know’st/Their seasons: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power” (Acts 1.7).

624. nether ocean: the earth’s seas, the waters below the firmament.

628–29. to rule/Over his works: “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands” (Ps. 8.6).

631–32. thrice … happiness: an adaptation of Vergil’s Georg. 2.458, and one of a number of statements in the poem about the close relationship between Adam and Eve’s happiness and their knowledge of that happiness. See 4.774–75 especially.

632. persevere: continue in a state of grace.

636. face of things: the visible world surrounding us.

BOOK VIII

THE ARGUMENT

Adam inquires concerning celestial motions, is doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge. Adam assents, and still desirous to detain Raphael, relates to him what he remembered since his own creation, his placing in Paradise, his talk with God concerning solitude and fit society, his first meeting and nuptials with Eve. His discourse with the angel thereupon, who after admonitions repeated departs.

The angel¹ ended, and in Adam’s ear

So charming left his voice, that he a while

Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear;

Then as new waked thus gratefully replied.

“What thanks sufficient, or what recompense

Equal have I to render thee, divine

Historian, who thus largely hast allayed

The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed

This friendly condescension⁹ to relate

Things else by me unsearchable, now heard

With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,

With glory attributed to the high

Creator; something yet of doubt remains,

Which only thy solution can resolve.

When I¹⁵ behold this goodly frame, this world

Of heav’n and Earth consisting, and compute

Their magnitudes, this Earth a spot, a grain¹⁷,

An atom, with the firmament compared

And all her numbered¹⁹ stars, that seem to roll

Spaces incomprehensible (for such

Their distance argues and their swift return

Diurnal) merely to officiate²² light

Round this opacous²³ Earth, this punctual spot,

One day and night; in all their vast survey

Useless besides, reasoning I oft admire²⁵,

How nature wise and frugal could commit

Such disproportions, with superfluous hand

So many nobler bodies to create,

Greater so manifold to this one use,

For aught appears³⁰, and on their orbs impose

Such restless revolution day by day

Repeated, while the sedentary³² Earth,

That better might with far less compass move,

Served by more noble than herself, attains

Her end without least motion, and receives,

As tribute such a sumless³⁶ journey brought

Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light;

Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails.”

   So spake our sire, and by his count’nance seemed

Ent’ring on studious thoughts abstruse, which Eve

Perceiving where she sat retired in sight,

With lowliness majestic from her seat,

And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,

Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flow’rs,

To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom,

Her nursery; they at her coming sprung

And touched by her fair tendance gladlier grew.

Yet went she not, as not with such discourse

Delighted, or not capable her ear

Of what was high: such pleasure she reserved,

Adam relating, she sole auditress;

Her husband the relater she preferred

Before the angel, and of him to ask

Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix

Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute

With conjugal caresses; from his lip

Not words alone pleased her. O when meet now

Such pairs, in love and mutual honor joined?

With goddesslike demeanor forth she went;

Not unattended, for on her as queen

A pomp of winning Graces waited still,

And from about her shot darts of desire⁶²

Into all eyes to wish her still in sight.

And Raphael now to Adam’s doubt proposed

Benevolent and facile⁶⁵ thus replied.

   “To ask or search I blame thee not, for heav’n

Is as the book of God⁶⁷ before thee set,

Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn

His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years:

This to attain, whether heav’n move or Earth⁷⁰,

Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest

From man or angel the great Architect

Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge

His secrets to be scanned by them who ought

Rather admire⁷⁵; or if they list to try

Conjecture, he his fabric of the heav’ns

Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move

His laughter⁷⁸ at their quaint opinions wide

Hereafter, when they come to model heav’n

And calculate⁸⁰ the stars, how they will wield

The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive

To save appearances⁸², how gird the sphere

With centric and eccentric⁸³ scribbled o’er,

Cycle and⁸⁴ epicycle, orb in orb:

Already⁸⁵ by thy reasoning this I guess,

Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest

That bodies bright and greater should not serve

The less not bright, nor heav’n such journeys run,

Earth sitting still, when she alone receives

The benefit: consider first, that great

Or bright infers not excellence: the Earth

Though, in comparison of heav’n, so small,

Nor glistering, may of solid good contain

More plenty than the sun that barren shines

Whose virtue on itself works no effect,

But in the fruitful Earth; there first received

His beams, unactive else, their vigor find.

Yet not to Earth are those bright luminaries

Officious⁹⁹, but to thee Earth’s habitant.

And for the Heav’n’s wide circuit, let it speak

The Maker’s high magnificence, who built

So spacious, and his line stretched out so far;

That man may know he dwells not in his own;

An edifice too large for him to fill,

Lodged in a small partition, and the rest

Ordained for uses to his Lord best known.

The swiftness of those circles attribute,

Though numberless, to his omnipotence,

That¹⁰⁹ to corporeal substances could add

Speed almost spiritual; me thou think’st not slow,

Who since the morning hour set out from Heav’n

Where God resides, and ere mid-day arrived

In Eden, distance inexpressible

By numbers that have name. But this I urge,

Admitting motion in the heav’ns, to show

Invalid that which thee to doubt it moved;

Not that I so affirm¹¹⁷, though so it seem

To thee who hast thy dwelling here on Earth.

God to remove his ways from human sense,

Placed heav’n from Earth so far, that earthly sight,

If it presume, might err in things too high,

And no advantage gain. What if the sun

Be center to the world, and other stars

By his attractive virtue¹²⁴ and their own

Incited, dance about him various rounds?

Their wand’ring course now high, now low, then hid,

Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,

In six¹²⁸ thou seest, and what if sev’nth to these

The planet Earth¹²⁹, so steadfast though she seem,

Insensibly three different motions¹³⁰ move?

Which else¹³¹ to several spheres thou must ascribe,

Moved contrary with thwart obliquities,

Or save¹³³ the sun his labor, and that swift

Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb supposed,

Invisible else above all stars, the wheel

Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,

If Earth industrious of herself fetch day

Traveling east, and with her part averse

From the sun’s beam meet night, her other part

Still luminous by his ray. What if that light

Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air,

To the terrestrial moon be as a star

Enlight’ning her by day, as she by night

This Earth? Reciprocal, if land be there,

Fields and inhabitants¹⁴⁵: her spots thou seest

As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce

Fruits in her softened soil, for some to eat

Allotted there; and other suns¹⁴⁸ perhaps

With their attendant moons thou wilt descry

Communicating male and female light¹⁵⁰,

Which two¹⁵¹ great sexes animate the world,

Stored in each orb perhaps with some that live.

For such vast room in nature unpossessed

By living soul, desert and desolate,

Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute

Each orb a glimpse of light, conveyed so far

Down to this habitable, which returns

Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.

But whether thus these things, or whether not,

Whether the sun predominant in heav’n

Rise on the Earth, or Earth rise on the sun,

He¹⁶² from the east his flaming road begin,

Or she¹⁶³ from west her silent course advance

With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps

On her soft axle, while she paces ev’n,

And bears thee soft with the smooth air along,

Solicit not¹⁶⁷ thy thoughts with matters hid,

Leave them to God above, him serve and fear;

Of other creatures, as him pleases best,

Wherever placed, let him dispose: joy thou

In what he gives to thee, this Paradise

And thy fair Eve; heav’n is for thee too high

To know what passes there; be lowly wise:

Think only what concerns thee and thy being;

Dream not of other worlds, what creatures¹⁷⁵ there

Live, in what state, condition or degree,

Contented that thus far hath been revealed

Not of Earth only but of highest Heav’n.”

   To whom thus Adam cleared of doubt, replied.

“How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure

Intelligence of Heav’n, angel serene,

And freed from intricacies, taught to live,

The easiest way¹⁸³, nor with perplexing thoughts

To interrupt the sweet of life, from which

God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,

And not molest us, unless we ourselves

Seek them with wand’ring thoughts, and notions vain.

But apt the mind or fancy is to rove

Unchecked, and of her roving is no end;

Till warned, or by experience taught, she learn,

That not to know at large of things remote

From use, obscure and subtle, but to know

That which before us lies in daily life,

Is the prime wisdom; what is more, is fume¹⁹⁴,

Or emptiness, or fond¹⁹⁵ impertinence,

And renders us in things that most concern

Unpracticed, unprepared, and still to seek¹⁹⁷.

Therefore from this high pitch let us descend

A lower flight, and speak of things at hand

Useful, whence haply mention may arise

Of something not unseasonable to ask

By sufferance²⁰², and thy wonted favor deigned.

Thee I have heard relating what was done

Ere my remembrance: now hear me relate

My story, which perhaps thou hast not heard;

And day is yet not spent; till then thou seest

How subtly to detain thee I devise,

Inviting thee to hear while I relate,

Fond²⁰⁹, were it not in hope of thy reply:

For while I sit with thee, I seem in Heav’n,

And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear

Than fruits of palm-tree pleasantest to thirst

And hunger both, from labor, at the hour

Of sweet repast; they satiate, and soon fill,

Though pleasant, but thy words with grace divine

Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety.”

   To whom thus Raphael answered Heav’nly meek.

“Nor are thy lips ungraceful, sire of men,

Nor tongue ineloquent; for God on thee

Abundantly his gifts hath also poured

Inward and outward both, his image fair:

Speaking or mute all comeliness and grace

Attends thee, and each word, each motion forms.

Nor less think we in Heav’n of thee on Earth

Than of our fellow servant²²⁵, and inquire

Gladly into the ways of God with man²²⁶:

For God we see hath honored thee, and set

On man his equal love: say therefore on;

For I that day²²⁹ was absent, as befell,

Bound on a voyage uncouth²³⁰ and obscure,

Far on excursion toward the gates of Hell;

Squared in full legion (such command we had)

To see that none thence issued forth a spy,

Or enemy, while God was in his work,

Lest he incensed at such eruption bold,

Destruction with creation might have mixed.

Not that they durst without his leave attempt,

But us he sends upon his high behests

For state²³⁹, as sov’reign King, and to inure

Our prompt obedience. Fast we found, fast shut

The dismal gates, and barricadoed strong;

But long ere our approaching heard within

Noise, other²⁴³ than the sound of dance or song,

Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.

Glad we returned up to the coasts of light

Ere Sabbath evening²⁴⁶: so we had in charge.

But thy relation now; for I attend,

Pleased with thy words no less than thou with mine.”

   So spake the godlike power, and thus our sire.

“For man to tell how human life began

Is hard; for who himself beginning knew?

Desire with thee still longer to converse

Induced me. As new waked from soundest sleep

Soft on the flow’ry herb I found me laid

In balmy sweat²⁵⁵, which with his beams the sun

Soon dried, and on the reeking²⁵⁶ moisture fed.

Straight toward heav’n my wond’ring eyes I turned,

And gazed a while the ample sky, till raised

By quick instinctive motion up I sprung,

As thitherward endeavoring, and upright

Stood on my feet; about me round I saw

Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,

And liquid lapse²⁶³ of murmuring streams; by these,

Creatures that lived, and moved, and walked, or flew,

Birds on the branches warbling; all things smiled,

With fragrance and with joy my heart o’erflowed.

Myself I then perused, and limb by limb

Surveyed, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran

With supple joints, as lively vigor led:

But who I was, or where, or from what cause,

Knew not; to speak I tried, and forthwith spake,

My tongue obeyed and readily could name

Whate’er I saw. ‘Thou sun²⁷³,’ said I, ‘fair light,

And thou enlightened earth, so fresh and gay,

Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains,

And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell,

Tell, if ye saw, how came I thus, how here?

Not of myself; by some great Maker then,

In goodness and in power pre-eminent;

Tell me, how may I know him, how adore,

From whom I have that thus I move and live,²⁸¹

And feel that I am happier than I know²⁸².’

While thus I called, and strayed I knew not whither,

From where I first drew air, and first beheld

This happy light, when answer none returned,

On a green shady bank profuse of flow’rs

Pensive²⁸⁷ I sat me down; there gentle sleep

First found me, and with soft oppression²⁸⁸ seized

My drowsèd sense, untroubled, though I thought

I then was passing to my former state

Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve:

When suddenly stood at my head a dream,

Whose inward apparition gently moved

My fancy to believe I yet had being,

And lived: one came, methought, of shape divine,

And said, ‘Thy mansion wants thee, Adam, rise,

First man, of men innumerable ordained

First father, called by thee I come thy guide

To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepared.’

So saying, by the hand he took me raised,

And over fields and waters, as in air

Smooth sliding without step, last led³⁰² me up

A woody mountain, whose high top was plain,

A circuit wide, enclosed, with goodliest trees

Planted, with walks, and bowers, that what I saw

Of Earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree

Loaden with fairest fruit, that hung to the eye

Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite

To pluck and eat; whereat I waked, and found

Before mine eyes all real, as the dream

Had lively shadowed: here had new begun

My wand’ring, had not he who was my guide

Up hither, from among the trees appeared

Presence divine. Rejoicing, but with awe

In adoration at his feet I fell

Submiss: he reared me, and ‘Whom thou sought’st I am,’

Said mildly, ‘Author of all this thou seest

Above, or round about thee or beneath.

This Paradise I give thee, count it thine

To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat:

Of every tree that in the garden grows

Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth:

But of the tree whose operation brings

Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set

The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith,

Amid the garden by the Tree of Life,

Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste,

And shun the bitter consequence: for know,

The day thou eat’st thereof, my sole command

Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die;

From that day mortal³³¹, and this happy state

Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world

Of woe and sorrow.’ Sternly he pronounced

The rigid interdiction, which resounds

Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice

Not to incur; but soon his clear aspect

Returned and gracious purpose thus renewed.

‘Not only these fair bounds, but all the Earth

To thee and to thy race I give; as lords

Possess it, and all things that therein live,

Or live in sea, or air, beast, fish, and fowl.

In sign whereof each bird and beast behold

After their kinds; I bring them to receive

From thee their names, and pay thee fealty

With low subjection; understand the same

Of fish within their wat’ry residence,

Not hither summoned, since they cannot change

Their element to draw the thinner air.’

As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold

Approaching two and two³⁵⁰, these cow’ring low

With blandishment, each bird stooped on his wing.

I named them, as they passed, and understood

Their nature, with such knowledge God endued

My sudden apprehension: but in these

I found not what methought I wanted still;

And to the Heav’nly vision thus presumed.

   “ ‘O by what name, for thou above all these,

Above mankind, or aught than mankind higher,

Surpassest far my naming, how may I

Adore thee, Author of this universe,

And all this good to man, for whose well-being

So amply, and with hands so liberal

Thou hast provided all things: but with me

I see not who partakes. In solitude

What happiness, who can enjoy alone,

Or all enjoying, what contentment find?’

Thus I presumptuous; and the vision bright,

As with a smile more brightened, thus replied.

   “ ‘What call’st thou solitude, is not the Earth

With various living creatures, and the air

Replenished, and all these at thy command

To come and play before thee? Know’st thou not

Their language³⁷³ and their ways? They also know,

And reason not contemptibly; with these

Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large.’

So spake the Universal Lord, and seemed

So ordering. I with leave of speech implored,

And humble deprecation thus replied.

   “ ‘Let not³⁷⁹ my words offend thee, Heav’nly power,

My Maker, be propitious while I speak.

Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,

And these inferior far beneath me set?

Among unequals³⁸³ what society

Can sort³⁸⁴, what harmony or true delight?

Which must be mutual, in proportion due

Giv’n and received; but in disparity

The one intense³⁸⁷, the other still remiss

Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove

Tedious alike: of fellowship I speak

Such as I seek, fit to participate

All rational delight, wherein the brute

Cannot be human consort; they rejoice

Each with their kind, lion with lioness;

So fitly them in pairs thou hast combined;

Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl

So well converse, nor with the ox the ape;

Worse then can man with beast, and least of all.’

   “Whereto th’ Almighty answered, not displeased.

‘A nice³⁹⁹ and subtle happiness I see

Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice

Of thy associates, Adam, and wilt taste

No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.

What think’st thou then of me, and this my state,

Seem I to thee sufficiently possessed

Of happiness, or not? Who⁴⁰⁵ am alone

From all eternity, for none I know

Second to me or like, equal much less.

How have I then with whom to hold converse

Save with the creatures which I made, and those

To me inferior, infinite descents

Beneath what other creatures are to thee?’

   “He ceased, I lowly answered. ‘To attain

The highth and depth of thy eternal ways

All human thoughts come short, supreme of things;

Thou in thyself art perfect, and in thee

Is no deficience found; not so is man,

But in degree⁴¹⁷, the cause of his desire

By conversation with his like to help,

Or solace his defects. No need⁴¹⁹ that thou

Shouldst propagate, already infinite,

And through all numbers absolute, though one;

But man⁴²² by number is to manifest

His single imperfection, and beget

Like of his like, his image multiplied,

In unity defective, which requires

Collateral⁴²⁶ love, and dearest amity.

Thou in thy secrecy although alone,

Best with thyself accompanied, seek’st not

Social communication, yet so pleased,

Canst raise thy creature to what highth thou wilt

Of union or communion, deified;

I by conversing cannot these erect

From prone, nor in their ways complacence find.’

Thus I emboldened spake, and freedom used

Permissive⁴³⁵, and acceptance found, which gained

This answer from the gracious voice divine.

   “ ‘Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleased,

And find thee knowing not of beasts alone,

Which thou hast rightly named, but of thyself,

Expressing well the spirit within thee free,

My image, not imparted to the brute,

Whose fellowship therefore unmeet for thee

Good reason was thou freely shouldst dislike,

And be so minded still; I, ere thou spak’st,

Knew it not good for man to be alone,⁴⁴⁵

And no such company as then thou saw’st

Intended thee, for trial only brought,

To see how thou could’st judge of fit and meet:

What next I bring shall please thee, be assured,

Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self⁴⁵⁰,

Thy wish exactly to thy heart’s desire.’

   “He ended, or I heard no more, for now

My Earthly⁴⁵³ by his Heav’nly overpowered,

Which it had long stood under⁴⁵⁴, strained to the highth

In that celestial colloquy sublime,

As with an object that excels the sense,

Dazzled and spent, sunk down, and sought repair

Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called

By nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes.

Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell

Of fancy my internal sight, by which

Abstract as in a trance methought I saw,⁴⁶²

Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape

Still glorious before whom awake I stood,

Who stooping opened my left side, and took

From thence a rib, with cordial spirits⁴⁶⁶ warm,

And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,

But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed:

The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands;

Under his forming hands a creature grew,

Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair,

That what seemed fair in all the world, seemed now

Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained

And in her looks, which from that time infused

Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,

And into all things from her air inspired

The spirit of love and amorous delight.

She disappeared, and left me dark. I waked

To find her, or forever to deplore

Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure:

When out of hope⁴⁸¹, behold her, not far off,

Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned

With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow

To make her amiable: on she came,

Led by her Heav’nly Maker, though unseen,

And guided by his voice, nor uninformed

Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rites:

Grace was in all her steps, heav’n in her eye,

In every gesture dignity and love.

I overjoyed could not forbear aloud.

   “ ‘This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled

Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,

Giver of all things fair, but fairest this

Of all thy gifts, nor enviest⁴⁹⁴. I now see

Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, my self

Before me; woman is her name, of man

Extracted; for this cause he shall forgo

Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;

And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul⁴⁹⁹.’

   “She heard me thus, and though divinely brought,

Yet innocence and virgin modesty,

Her virtue and the conscience⁵⁰² of her worth,

That would be wooed, and not unsought be won,

Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired,

The more desirable, or to say all,

Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought,

Wrought in her so, that seeing me, she turned;

I followed her, she what was honor knew,

And with obsequious⁵⁰⁹ majesty approved

My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bow’r

I led her blushing⁵¹¹ like the morn: all heav’n,

And happy constellations on that hour

Shed their selectest influence⁵¹³; the earth

Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;

Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs

Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings

Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy shrub,

Disporting, till the amorous bird of night

Sung spousal, and bid haste the ev’ning star⁵¹⁹

On his hill top, to light the bridal lamp.

Thus I have told thee all my state, and brought

My story to the sum of earthly bliss

Which I enjoy, and must confess to find

In all things else delight indeed, but such

As used or not, works in the mind no change,

Nor vehement desire, these delicacies

I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flow’rs,

Walks, and the melody of birds; but here

Far otherwise, transported I behold,

Transported touch; here passion first I felt,

Commotion strange, in all enjoyments else

Superior and⁵³² unmoved, here only weak

Against the charm of beauty’s powerful glance.

Or nature failed in me, and left some part

Not proof enough such object to sustain,

Or from my side subducting⁵³⁶, took perhaps

More than enough; at least on her bestowed⁵³⁷

Too much of ornament, in outward show

Elaborate, of inward less exact.

For well I understand in the prime end

Of nature her th’ inferior, in the mind

And inward faculties, which most excel,

In outward also her resembling less

His image who made both, and less expressing

The character of that dominion giv’n

O’er other creatures; yet when I approach

Her loveliness, so absolute⁵⁴⁷ she seems

And in herself complete, so well to know

Her own, that what she wills to do or say,

Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best;

All higher knowledge in her presence falls

Degraded, wisdom in discourse with her

Looses⁵⁵³ discount’nanced, and like folly shows;

Authority and reason on her wait,

As one intended first⁵⁵⁵, not after made

Occasionally⁵⁵⁶; and to consummate all,

Greatness of mind and nobleness their seat

Build in her loveliest, and create an awe

About her, as a guard angelic placed⁵⁵⁹.”

To whom the Angel with contracted brow.

   “Accuse not nature, she hath done her part;

Do thou but thine, and be not diffident⁵⁶²

Of Wisdom; she deserts thee not, if thou

Dismiss not her when most thou need’st her nigh,

By attributing overmuch to things

Less excellent, as thou thyself perceiv’st.

For what admir’st thou, what transports thee so,

An outside? Fair no doubt, and worthy well

Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and thy love,

Not thy subjection: weigh with her thyself;

Then value: ofttimes nothing profits more

Than self-esteem⁵⁷², grounded on just and right

Well managed; of that skill the more thou know’st,

The more she will acknowledge thee her head⁵⁷⁴,

And to realities yield all her shows⁵⁷⁵:

Made so adorn⁵⁷⁶ for thy delight the more,

So awful⁵⁷⁷, that with honor thou may’st love

Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least wise.

But if the sense of touch whereby mankind

Is propagated seem such dear delight

Beyond all other, think the same vouchsafed

To cattle and each beast; which would not be

To them made common and divulged⁵⁸³, if aught

Therein enjoyed were worthy to subdue

The soul of man, or passion in him move.

What higher in her society thou find’st

Attractive, human, rational, love still;

In loving thou dost well, in passion not,

Wherein true love consists not; love refines

The thoughts, and heart enlarges, hath his seat

In reason, and is judicious, is the scale⁵⁹¹

By which to Heav’nly love thou may’st ascend,

Not sunk in carnal pleasure, for which cause

Among the beasts no mate for thee was found.”

   To whom thus half abashed Adam replied.

“Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught

In procreation common to all kinds

(Though higher of the genial⁵⁹⁸ bed by far,

And with mysterious reverence I deem)

So much delights me as those graceful acts,

Those thousand decencies that daily flow

From all her words and actions mixed with love

And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned

Union of mind, or in us both one soul;

Harmony to behold in wedded pair

More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.

Yet these subject not; I to thee disclose

What inward thence I feel, not therefore foiled⁶⁰⁸,

Who meet with various objects, from the sense

Variously representing; yet still free

Approve the best, and follow what I approve.

To love thou blam’st me not, for love thou say’st

Leads up to Heav’n, is both the way and guide;

Bear with me then, if lawful what I ask;

Love not the Heav’nly spirits, and how their love

Express they, by looks only, or do they mix

Irradiance, virtual⁶¹⁷ or immediate touch?”

   To whom⁶¹⁸ the angel with a smile that glowed

Celestial rosy red, love’s proper hue,

Answered. “Let it suffice thee that thou know’st

Us happy, and without love no happiness.

Whatever pure thou in the body enjoy’st

(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy

In eminence⁶²⁴, and obstacle find none

Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive⁶²⁵ bars:

Easier than air with air, if spirits embrace,

Total they mix, union of pure with pure

Desiring; nor restrained conveyance⁶²⁸ need

As flesh to mix with flesh, or soul with soul.

But I can now no more; the parting sun

Beyond the Earth’s green cape⁶³¹ and verdant isles

Hesperean sets, my signal to depart.

Be strong, live happy, and love, but first of all

Him whom to love is to obey, and keep

His great command; take heed lest passion sway

Thy judgment to do aught, which else free will

Would not admit; thine and of all thy sons

The weal or woe in thee is placed; beware.

I in thy persevering shall rejoice,

And all the blest: stand fast; to stand or fall

Free in thine own arbitrament it lies.

Perfect within, no outward aid require;

And all temptation to transgress repel.”

   So saying, he arose; whom Adam thus

Followed with benediction. “Since to part⁶⁴⁵,

Go Heav’nly guest, ethereal messenger,

Sent from whose sov’reign goodness I adore.

Gentle to me and affable hath been

Thy condescension, and shall be honored ever

With grateful memory: thou to mankind

Be good and friendly still, and oft return.”

   So parted they, the angel up to Heav’n

From the thick shade, and Adam to his bow’r.

1–4. The first three and half lines were added to the second edition of 1674. In the long Book 7 of 1667, the pause after Raphael’s narration was marked by a single line: “To whom thus Adam gratefully replied.”

9. condescension: courteous disregard of rank.

15–38. Eve was the first to wonder about the curious abundance of the nighttime sky (4.657–58). Adam tried to answer her query (4.660–88), as did Satan in the dream he created for Eve (5.41–47). Adam now broadens her question to include other celestial instances of apparent wastefulness and favoritism toward earth. Cp. Prolusion 7 (MLM 795–96).

15. this goodly frame: a phrase used by Hamlet (2.2.316).

17–18. a spot, a grain,/An atom: The tininess of the earth was apparent to ancient astronomers.

19. numbered: numerous, as in 7.621.

22. officiate: supply, minister.

23. opacous: dark; punctual spot: spot the size of a point (Lat. punctum) in relation to the spaces of the firmament, but also in the sense of “subject to exact timing.”

25. admire: wonder, but with a sense of perplexity (the something yet of doubt in l. 13).

30. For aught appears: for all that can be seen.

32. sedentary: motionless.

36. sumless: immeasurable (see l. 38).

62. darts of desire: not sexual desire, as in love poetry, but desire that she remain still in sight (l. 63).

65. facile: affable. Raphael does not deem Adam’s doubt about the wisdom of the celestial design malignant or accusatory.

67. Is as the book of God: Cp. 3.47.

70. whether heav’n move or Earth: a difference between the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems; but there were many compromise positions between the two (see G. McColley 217–44; Babb 78–94).

75. admire: behold with wonder.

78. His laughter: Psalm 2.4: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.” A. O. Lovejoy considered Milton’s God a “singularly detestable being” for devising cosmic riddles so that he could laugh at the false solutions (1962, 140). However, God will laugh not primarily at the falseness of astronomical theories but at the way astronomers play God in modeling the heavens. quaint: ingenious; wide: wide of the truth.

80. calculate: predict the motions of; wield: direct, guide.

82. save appearances: a scholastic term for fitting hypothesis to observation, a process particularly evident in the history of astronomy, where theories were modified repeatedly to account for local observations inconsistent with general assumptions.

83. centric and eccentric: spheres centered on, and not centered on, the earth. Kepler’s teacher, Tycho Brahe, proposed that the sun was the center of the planetary orbits, while the fixed stars were centered on the earth. scribbled o’er: Raphael is making fun of complex astrological diagrams; cp. Donne, “An Anatomy of the World”: “Man hath weaved out a net, and this net thrown/Upon the heavens, and now they are his own” (279–80).

84. In the Ptolemaic system planets traverse a circular orb, or orbit, but turn smaller circles (epicycles) within this larger cycle. Meant to account for observed differences of orbital velocity among the planets, the theory of epicycles is a notable example of “saving the appearances” (see 82n).

85–90. Already … benefit: Raphael maintains that he has been able to guess from Adam’s thinking some of the forthcoming perplexity in the astronomy to be developed by his offspring. In particular, Adam mistakes brightness for excellence and on that ground supposes that the opacous earth (l. 23) should not be served by more resplendent heavenly bodies, such as the sun.

99. Officious: attentive, dutiful.

109–10. That … spiritual: The corporeal planets are almost as swift as spiritual angels, which is a sign of God’s omnipotence in molding matter.

117. Not that I so affirm: Raphael makes it clear that he is not delivering true, once-and-for-all knowledge of the heavens but confounding Adam’s assumption that he had, or could in principle attain, such knowledge.

124. attractive virtue: Kepler supposed that the planets were held in their orbits by the sun’s magnetism.

128. The six are the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

129. The planet Earth: The most striking result of the Copernican theory was the idea that the earth was simply another planet (the seventh).

130. three different motions: “The three different motions, which the Copernicans attribute to the earth, are the diural round her own axis, the annual round the sun, and the motion of libration as it is called, whereby the earth so proceeds in her orbit, as that her axis is constantly parallel to the axis of the world [universe]” (Newton).

131–32. “Even if you do not posit a moving earth, you will have to posit spheres moving in contrary and awkward directions.”

133–40. Or save … ray: Copernicus was able to make the sun responsible for astronomical effects earlier attributed to the swift … rhomb, or primum mobile, the great wheel turning rapidly beyond the fixed stars and imparting orbital motions to the planets. But this earlier picture of things needs not thy belief, need not be believed by Adam, if he assumes that the earth of its own power revolves on a daily basis, thus creating the alternation of day and night.

145. inhabitants: Cp. 3.460–62.

148–49. other suns … moons: Advocates of an infinite universe, such as Giordano Bruno and Henry More, believed that the so-called fixed stars were suns with their own planetary systems; Galileo observed the attendant moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Cp. 1.650, 3.566–71, 7.621–22; also Spenser, FQ 2.1.3.

150. male and female light: original and reflected light.

151. No one has found a convincing source for this striking line, with its absolute confidence in the universality of gender and the conjunction of gender and life.

162. He: the sun.

163–66. These fine lines are sufficient to dispel the old idea that Milton found the Ptolemaic system inherently more poetic than the Copernican one.

163. she: the earth.

167. Solicit not: trouble not.

175. what creatures: That other planets might harbor life was a common speculation in Milton’s day.

183. easiest way: Milton entitled a prose work The Ready and Easy Way (1660). Way, which here means “course of action” (OED 12), is a key word in the poem. Paradise Lost intends to “justify the ways of God” (1.26) and ends with “way” (12.649). It should be borne in mind that in Acts 9.2, 19.9, 24.14, 24.22, et cetera, way signifies Christianity.

194. fume: literally “vapor” or “smoke,” figuratively “something unsubstantial, transient, imaginary”; see Apology (Yale 1:193): “the pride of a metaphysical fume.”

195. fond: foolish.

197. still to seek: without a clue.

202. sufferance: permission; wonted: customary.

209. Fond: foolish.

225. fellow servant: As the angel told a worshipful St. John, “I am thy fellow servant” (Rev. 22.9).

226. ways of God with man: See 183n, 1.26n.

229. that day: the sixth day of Creation? Presumably Raphael witnessed the other days, whose events he has just narrated.

230. uncouth: strange, desolate.

239. state: ceremony.

243–44. Cp. Aeneas hearing the groans and cries behind the gate to Tartarus (Vergil, Aen. 6.557–59), Astolfo listening at the gates of Hell (Ariosto, OF 34.4), and Dante greeted by wailings and lamentations upon entering Hell (Inf. 3.22–29).

246. Sabbath evening: the beginning of the seventh day of Creation. Milton here adopts the Hebrew custom of measuring the day from sunset to sunset.

255. balmy sweat: In one of the first postmodern essays on Paradise Lost, Hartman declares that balmy sweat mingles “the balm of fruitfulness and the sweat of the curse, the labor to come and the regeneration to come from that” (147). But Edwards suggests that this reading spoils Paradise with the consequences of the Fall: “Adam’s balmy sweat is, simply, sweet-scented sweat” (197).

256. reeking: steaming.

263. lapse: flow.

273–74. Thou sun … earth: In his very first words, Adam articulates in nascent form the ideas that lead to his puzzlement about the heavens (see 85–90n).

281. Acts 17.28: “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.”

282. happier than I know: Cp. 4.774–75.

287. Pensive: The combination of happiness and pensiveness in this passage suggests that Milton, returning imaginatively to the themes of his youthful poetry, is blending elements of L’Allegro and Il Penseroso. The pensive man also goes to sleep during the daytime, and dreams (142–50), and the happy man speaks of “Such sights as youthful poets dream/On summer eves by haunted stream” (129–30).

288. oppression: weighing down.

302. Smooth … led: The l- sounds slide smoothly through the s- sounds.

331. From that day mortal: the usual interpretation of Gen. 2.17: “For in the day you eat of it you shall die.”

350. two and two: There is no indication in Gen. 2.19–20 that the animals parade by Adam in pairs, as they will again when entering Noah’s ark “two and two” (Gen. 7.9). Milton’s Adam seems intended to think about companionship, which he does (Gallagher 1990, 36).

373. Their language: Since animals do not speak (9.557), Leonard must be right in asserting that language here means “inarticulate sounds used by the lower animals” (OED 1c).

379. See Abraham’s similar preface when negotiating with God (Gen. 18.30).

383. unequals: Adam is here referring to the gap between himself and animals.

384. sort: fit.

387. intense: taut; remiss: slack.

399. nice: refined, difficult to please (OED 7, the “good sense”).

405–7. Who … less: These lines are central to a debate over the identity of the divine presence speaking to Adam. Since Milton’s Son is not coeternal with the Father, the claim to be alone/From all eternity suggests that the Father speaks.

417. But in degree: Man is perfect only in his station (which is of a kind to require a partner).

419. solace: alleviate.

419–21. No need … one: Adam, who began his religious life with the intuition of a Maker (ll. 278–79), here takes a leap forward in sophistication. Through all numbers absolute Englishes the Latin omnibus numeris absolutus, meaning “complete in every part,” as in a well-written book (Pliny the Younger, Letters 9.38). Yet God is infinite—hence the completeness of his parts must be an innate idea, not an empirical observation. And God, despite his complete and infinite parts, is paradoxically one.

422–26. Man has a single imperfection, his unity is defective, because unlike God he requires another being to multiply his image.

426. Collateral: etymologically “side by side,” accompanying.

435. Permissive: allowed.

445. From Gen. 2.18: “God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone.’ ”

450. thy other self: an addition to Gen. 2.18 that Milton thought intended in the Hebrew (MLM 1000–1001). The Latin alter ego means “friend,” which suggests that Milton is giving biblical sanction to the seventeenth-century ideal of “companionate marriage” (see Stone 361–74).

453. Earthly: earthly nature.

454. stood under: been exposed to.

462–82. Cp. Sonnet 23.

466. cordial spirits: vital spirits residing in the heart’s blood.

481. When out of hope: when I had ceased to hope.

494. nor enviest: nor given reluctantly, begrudgingly.

499. one heart, one soul: an addition to Gen. 2.23–24, again suggesting companionate marriage (see 450n).

502. conscience: internal awareness. Cp. Eve’s account of her initial turning away at 4.477–80.

509. obsequious: acquiescent (not servile).

511. blushing: Most blushes in the fallen world indicate shame. But there are innocent blushes, too, compounded of shyness and a sense of awe at participating in a great thing. The syntax leaves open the possibility that Adam is also blushing.

513. influence: emanation from the heavens, here entirely favorable; cp. 10.661–64.

519. ev’ning star: Hesperus or Venus, whose appearance in the sky is a signal in the epithalamium tradition to light the bridal lamps and torches and bring the bride to the bride-groom. See Spenser, Epithalamion 286–95; DDD in MLM 873–74.

532–33. Cp. SA 1003–1007.

536. subducting: subtracting.

537–39. Cp. SA 1025–30.

547. absolute: complete, perfect; Adam earlier used the word of God (ll. 419–21n).

553. Looses: goes to pieces.

555. As one intended first: Adam sees Eve as himself.

556. Occasionally: on the occasion of Adam’s request.

559. guard angelic placed: “Adam has just used, by ironic anticipation, the image of Paradise after he has been excluded from it,” Frye wrote (1965, 64), thinking of 12.641–44.

562. diffident: mistrustful.

572. self-esteem: Milton may well have coined the term in Apology; see MLM 850 (Leonard).

574. head: “The head of the woman is the man” (1 Cor. 11.3).

575. shows: appearances. Turner finds the passage “particularly appalling” (280) because he takes shows to mean “pretenses, wiles,” as if Eve were deliberately nurturing her husband’s uxoriousness.

576. adorn: adorned.

577. awful: awe-inspiring.

583. divulged: done openly.

591–92. the scale … ascend: Earthly love as the scale or ladder by which we may ascend to Heav’nly love is a central feature of Neoplatonic works such as Marsilio Ficino’s Commentary on Plato’s Symposium and Spenser’s Four Hymns.

598. genial: nuptial. As before he demonstrated his freedom in disputing with God (ll. 379–97, 412–33), so here Adam rejects Raphael’s insistence that marital sexuality is no more than what animals do. He rather values it with the reverence appropriate to religious mysteries. Cp. Tetrachordon (MLM 1004).

608. foiled: overcome.

617. virtual: in effect, not actually (modifies touch). Adam imagines three ways in which angels might express love (if they do): by looks, by mingling their radiance, or by actual (immediate) touch. Cp. his earlier interest in whether angels eat what humans eat (5.401–403, 466–67).

618–19. Todd: “Does not Milton here mean that the Angel both smiled and blushed at Adam’s curiosity?” He does, and goes on to say that a red blush is love’s proper, correct or natural, hue. Cp. 511n.

624–25. The passage has in mind the criticism of sexual intercourse voiced at the opening of Book 4 of Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things. Human lovers desire full union, such as that enjoyed by Milton’s angels, but are repeatedly frustrated in having to make do with the friction of surfaces: “Again they in each other would be lost,/But still by adamantine bars are crossed” (trans. John Dryden).

624. In eminence: in an elevated manner.

625. exclusive: excluding.

628. restrained conveyance: restraining transportation (such as the human body). Angels can apparently mix at a distance, uniting what Adam considered a disjunctive choice between virtual and immediate touch (l. 617).

631. green cape: Cape Verde; verdant isles: the Cape Verde Islands off the west (Hesperean) coast of Africa.

645. Since to part: since we must part.

BOOK IX

THE ARGUMENT

Satan having compassed the Earth, with meditated guile returns as a mist by night into Paradise, enters into the serpent sleeping. Adam and Eve in the morning go forth to their labors, which Eve proposes to divide in several places, each laboring apart. Adam consents not, alleging the danger, lest that enemy, of whom they were forewarned, should attempt her found alone. Eve, loath to be thought not circumspect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather desirous to make trial of her strength. Adam at last yields: the serpent finds her alone; his subtle approach, first gazing, then speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other creatures. Eve, wondering to hear the serpent speak, asks how he attained to human speech and such understanding not till now. The serpent answers, that by tasting of a certain tree in the garden he attained both to speech and reason, till then void of both. Eve requires him to bring her to that tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge forbidden. The serpent now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length to eat. She, pleased with the taste, deliberates a while whether to impart thereof to Adam or not, at last brings him of the fruit, relates what persuaded her to eat thereof. Adam at first amazed, but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence of love to perish with her, and extenuating the trespass eats also of the fruit. The effects thereof in them both: they seek to cover their nakedness; then fall to variance and accusation of one another.

   No more¹ of talk where God or angel guest

With man, as with his friend, familiar² used

To sit indulgent, and with him partake

Rural repast, permitting him the while

Venial⁵ discourse unblamed: I now must change

Those notes to tragic; foul distrust, and breach

Disloyal on the part of man, revolt,

And disobedience; on the part of Heav’n,

Now alienated, distance and distaste,

Anger and just rebuke, and judgment giv’n,

That brought into this world a world of woe,

Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery,

Death’s harbinger: sad task, yet¹³ argument

Not less but more heroic than the wrath

Of stern Achilles on his foe pursued

Thrice fugitive about Troy wall; or rage

Of Turnus for Lavinia disespoused,

Or Neptune’s ire or Juno’s, that so long

Perplexed¹⁹ the Greek and Cytherea’s son;

If answerable²⁰ style I can obtain

Of my celestial patroness, who deigns

Her nightly visitation unimplored²²,

And dictates to me slumb’ring, or inspires

Easy my unpremeditated²⁴ verse:

Since first this subject for heroic song

Pleased me long choosing, and beginning late;

Not sedulous by nature to indite²⁷

Wars, hitherto the only argument

Heroic deemed, chief mast’ry to dissect

With long and tedious havoc fabled knights

In battles feigned; the better fortitude

Of patience and heroic martyrdom

Unsung; or to describe races and games,

Or tilting furniture³⁴, emblazoned shields,

Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds;

Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights

At joust and tournament; then marshalled feast³⁷

Served up in hall with sewers and seneschals;

The skill of artifice or office³⁹ mean,

Not that which justly gives heroic name

To person or to poem. Me of these

Nor skilled nor studious, higher argument

Remains, sufficient of itself to raise

That name⁴⁴, unless an age too late, or cold

Climate, or years⁴⁵ damp my intended wing

Depressed⁴⁶, and much they may, if all be mine,

Not hers who brings it nightly to my ear.

   The sun was sunk, and after him the star

Of Hesperus⁴⁹, whose office is to bring

Twilight upon the Earth, short arbiter

’Twixt day and night, and now from end to end

Night’s hemisphere had veiled the horizon round:

When Satan who late fled before the threats

Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improved

In meditated fraud and malice, bent

On man’s destruction, maugre⁵⁶ what might hap

Of heavier on himself, fearless returned.

By night he fled⁵⁸, and at midnight returned

From compassing the Earth, cautious of day,

Since Uriel, Regent of the Sun, descried

His entrance, and forewarned the Cherubim

That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driv’n,

The space of seven continued nights he rode

With darkness, thrice the equinoctial line

He circled, four times crossed the car of night

From pole to pole, traversing each colure;

On the eighth returned, and on the coast averse⁶⁷

From entrance or Cherubic watch, by stealth

Found unsuspected way. There was a place,

Now not, though sin, not time, first wrought the change,

Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise

Into a gulf shot underground, till part

Rose up a fountain by the Tree of Life;

In with the river sunk, and with it rose

Satan involved in rising mist, then sought

Where to lie hid; sea he had searched and land

From Eden⁷⁷ over Pontus, and the pool

Maeotis, up beyond the river Ob;

Downward as far Antarctic; and in length

West from Orontes to the ocean barred

At Darien, thence to the land where flows

Ganges and Indus: thus the orb he roamed

With narrow search; and with inspection deep

Considered every creature, which of all

Most opportune might serve his wiles, and found

The serpent subtlest beast of all the field.

Him after long debate, irresolute

Of thoughts revolved, his final sentence chose

Fit vessel, fittest imp⁸⁹ of fraud, in whom

To enter, and his dark suggestions hide

From sharpest sight: for in the wily snake,

Whatever sleights none would suspicious mark,

As from his wit and native subtlety⁹³

Proceeding, which in other beasts observed

Doubt might beget of diabolic pow’r

Active within beyond the sense of brute.

Thus he resolved, but first from inward grief

His bursting passion into plaints thus poured:

   “O Earth, how like to Heav’n, if not preferred

More justly, seat worthier of gods, as built

With second thoughts, reforming what was old!

For what god after better worse would build?

Terrestrial Heav’n,¹⁰³ danced round by other heav’ns

That shine, yet bear their bright officious lamps,

Light above light, for thee alone, as seems,

In thee concent’ring all their precious beams

Of sacred influence: as God in Heav’n

Is center, yet extends to all, so thou

Cent’ring receiv’st from all those orbs; in thee,

Not in themselves, all their known virtue appears

Productive in herb, plant, and nobler birth

Of creatures animate with gradual life

Of growth, sense, reason¹¹³, all summed up in man.

With what delight could I have walked thee round,

If I could joy in aught, sweet interchange

Of hill and valley, rivers, woods and plains,

Now land, now sea, and shores with forest crowned,

Rocks, dens, and caves; but I in none of these

Find place or refuge; and the more I see

Pleasures about me, so much more I feel

Torment within me, as from the hateful siege¹²¹

Of contraries; all good to me becomes

Bane, and in Heav’n much worse would be my state.

But neither here seek I, no nor in Heav’n

To dwell, unless by mast’ring Heav’n’s Supreme;

Nor hope to be myself less miserable

By what I seek, but others to make such

As I, though thereby worse to me redound:

For only in destroying I find ease

To my relentless thoughts; and him destroyed,

Or won to what may work his utter loss,

For whom all this was made, all this will soon

Follow, as to him linked in weal or woe;

In woe then, that destruction wide may range:

To me shall be the glory sole among

The infernal Powers, in one day to have marred

What he Almighty styled, six nights and days

Continued making, and who knows how long

Before had been contriving, though perhaps

Not longer than since I in one night freed

From servitude inglorious well nigh half

Th’ angelic name¹⁴², and thinner left the throng

Of his adorers: he to be avenged,

And to repair his numbers¹⁴⁴ thus impaired,

Whether such virtue spent of old now failed

More angels to create, if they at least

Are his created, or to spite us more,

Determined to advance into our room

A creature formed of earth, and him endow,

Exalted from so base original,

With Heav’nly spoils, our spoils: what he decreed

He effected; man he made, and for him built

Magnificent this world, and Earth his seat,

Him lord pronounced, and, O indignity!

Subjected to his service angel wings,

And flaming ministers to watch and tend

Their earthy charge: of these the vigilance

I dread, and to elude, thus wrapped in mist

Of midnight vapor glide obscure, and pry

In every bush and brake, where hap may find

The serpent sleeping, in whose mazy folds

To hide me, and the dark intent I bring.

O foul descent! That I who erst contended

With gods to sit the highest, am now constrained

Into a beast, and mixed with bestial slime,

This essence¹⁶⁶ to incarnate and imbrute,

That to the highth of deity aspired;

But what will not ambition and revenge

Descend to? Who aspires must down as low

As high he soared, obnoxious¹⁷⁰ first or last

To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet¹⁷¹,

Bitter ere long back on itself recoils¹⁷²;

Let it; I reck not, so it light well aimed,

Since higher¹⁷⁴ I fall short, on him who next

Provokes my envy, this new favorite

Of Heav’n, this man of clay, son of despite¹⁷⁶,

Whom us the more to spite his Maker raised

From dust: spite then with spite is best repaid.”

   So saying, through each thicket dank or dry,

Like a black mist low creeping, he held on

His midnight search, where soonest he might find

The serpent: him fast sleeping soon he found

In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled,

His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles:

Not yet in horrid shade or dismal den,

Nor nocent¹⁸⁶ yet, but on the grassy herb

Fearless unfeared he slept: in at his mouth

The Devil entered, and his brutal sense,

In heart or head, possessing soon inspired

With act intelligential, but his sleep

Disturbed not, waiting close¹⁹¹ th’ approach of morn.

Now whenas sacred light began to dawn

In Eden on the humid flow’rs, that breathed

Their morning incense, when all things that breathe,

From th’ Earth’s great altar send up silent praise

To the Creator, and his nostrils fill

With grateful smell, forth came the human pair

And joined their vocal worship to the choir

Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake

The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs;

Then commune how that day they best may ply

Their growing work: for much their work outgrew

The hands’ dispatch of two gard’ning so wide.

And Eve first to her husband thus began.

   “Adam, well may we labor still²⁰⁵ to dress

This garden, still to tend plant, herb and flow’r,

Our pleasant task enjoined, but till more hands

Aid us, the work under our labor grows,

Luxurious by restraint; what we by day

Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind,

One night or two with wanton growth derides

Tending to wild. Thou therefore now advise

Or hear²¹³ what to my mind first thoughts present;

Let us divide our labors, thou where choice

Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind²¹⁵

The woodbine round this arbor, or direct

The clasping ivy where to climb, while I

In yonder spring²¹⁸ of roses intermixed

With myrtle, find what to redress²¹⁹ till noon:

For while so near each other thus all day

Our task we choose, what wonder if so near

Looks intervene and smiles, or object new

Casual discourse draw on, which intermits

Our day’s work brought to little, though begun

Early, and th’ hour of supper comes unearned.”

   To whom mild answer Adam thus returned.

“Sole Eve, associate sole, to me beyond

Compare above all living creatures dear,

Well hast thou motioned, well thy thoughts employed

How we might best fulfill the work which here

God hath assigned us, nor of me shalt pass

Unpraised: for nothing lovelier can be found

In woman than to study household good,

And good works in her husband to promote.

Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed

Labor, as to debar us when we need

Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,

Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse

Of looks and smiles, for smiles from reason flow,

To brute denied, and are of love the food²⁴⁰,

Love not the lowest end of human life.

For not to irksome toil, but to delight

He made us, and delight to reason joined.

These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands

Will keep from wilderness with ease, as wide

As we need walk, till younger hands ere long

Assist us: but²⁴⁷ if much converse perhaps

Thee satiate, to short absence I could yield.

For solitude²⁴⁹ sometimes is best society,

And short retirement urges sweet return.

But other doubt possesses me, lest harm

Befall thee severed from me; for thou know’st

What hath been warned us, what malicious foe

Envying our happiness, and of his own

Despairing, seeks to work us woe and shame

By sly assault; and somewhere nigh at hand

Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find

His wish and best advantage, us asunder,

Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each

To other speedy aid might lend at need;

Whether his first design be to withdraw

Our fealty from God, or to disturb

Conjugal love, than which perhaps no bliss

Enjoyed by us excites his envy more;

Or²⁶⁵ this, or worse, leave not the faithful side

That gave thee being, still shades thee and protects.

The wife, where danger or dishonor lurks,

Safest and seemliest by her husband stays,

Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.”

   To whom the virgin majesty²⁷⁰ of Eve,

As one who loves, and some unkindness meets,

With sweet austere composure²⁷² thus replied.

   “Offspring of Heav’n and Earth, and all Earth’s lord,

That such an enemy we have, who seeks

Our ruin, both by thee informed I learn,

And from the parting angel overheard²⁷⁶

As in a shady nook I stood behind,

Just then returned at shut of evening flow’rs.

But that thou shouldst my firmness therefore doubt

To God or thee, because we have a foe

May tempt it, I expected not to hear.

His violence thou fear’st not, being such,

As we, not capable of death or pain,

Can either not receive, or can repel.

His fraud is then thy fear, which plain infers

Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love

Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced;

Thoughts, which how found they harbor in thy breast

Adam, misthought of her to thee so dear?”

   To whom with healing words Adam replied.

“Daughter of God and man, immortal Eve,

For such thou art, from sin and blame entire²⁹²:

Not diffident²⁹³ of thee do I dissuade

Thy absence from my sight, but to avoid

Th’ attempt itself, intended by our foe.

For he²⁹⁶ who tempts, though in vain, at least asperses

The tempted with dishonor foul, supposed

Not incorruptible of faith, not proof

Against temptation: thou thyself with scorn

And anger wouldst resent the offered wrong,

Though ineffectual found: misdeem not then,

If such affront I labor to avert

From thee alone, which on us both at once

The enemy, though bold, will hardly dare,

Or daring, first on me th’ assault shall light.

Nor thou his malice and false guile contemn;

Subtle he needs must be, who could seduce

Angels, nor think superfluous others’ aid.

I from the influence of thy looks receive

Access³¹⁰ in every virtue, in thy sight

More wise, more watchful, stronger, if need were

Of outward strength; while shame, thou looking on,

Shame to be overcome or overreached

Would utmost vigor raise, and raised unite³¹⁴.

Why shouldst not thou like sense within thee feel

When I am present, and thy trial choose

With me, best witness of thy virtue tried.”

   So spake domestic Adam in his care

And matrimonial love; but Eve, who thought

Less³²⁰ attributed to her faith sincere,

Thus her reply with accent sweet renewed.

   “If this be our condition, thus to dwell

In narrow circuit straitened by a foe,

Subtle or violent, we not endued

Single with like defense, wherever met,

How are we happy, still³²⁶ in fear of harm?

But harm precedes not sin: only our Foe

Tempting affronts us with his foul esteem

Of our integrity: his foul esteem

Sticks no dishonor on our front, but turns

Foul on himself; then wherefore shunned or feared

By us? Who rather double honor gain

From his surmise proved false, find peace within,

Favor from Heav’n, our witness from th’ event.

And what is faith, love, virtue unassayed³³⁵

Alone, without exterior help sustained?

Let us not then suspect our happy state

Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,

As not secure to single or combined.

Frail is our happiness, if this be so,

And Eden were no Eden³⁴¹ thus exposed.”

   To whom thus Adam fervently replied.

“O woman, best are all things as the will

Of God ordained them, his creating hand

Nothing imperfect or deficient left

Of all that he created, much less man,

Or aught that might his happy state secure,

Secure from outward force; within himself

The danger lies, yet lies within his power:

Against his will he can receive no harm.

But God left free the will, for what obeys

Reason, is free, and reason he made right,

But bid her well beware, and still³⁵³ erect,

Least by some fair appearing good surprised

She dictate false, and misinform the will

To do what God expressly hath forbid.

Not then mistrust, but tender love enjoins,

That I should mind thee oft, and mind thou me.

Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve,

Since reason not impossibly may meet

Some specious object by the foe suborned,

And fall into deception unaware,

Not keeping strictest watch, as she³⁶³ was warned.

Seek not temptation then, which to avoid

Were better, and most likely if from me

Thou sever not: trial will come unsought.

Wouldst thou approve³⁶⁷ thy constancy, approve

First thy obedience; th’ other who can know,

Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?

But if thou think, trial unsought may find

Us both securer³⁷¹ than thus warned thou seem’st,

Go; for thy stay³⁷², not free, absents thee more;

Go in thy native innocence, rely

On what thou hast of virtue, summon all,

For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.”

So spake the patriarch of mankind, but Eve

Persisted, yet submiss, though last, replied.

   “With thy permission then, and thus forewarned

Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words

Touched only, that our trial, when least sought,

May find us both perhaps far less prepared,

The willinger I go, nor much expect

A foe so proud will first the weaker seek;

So bent, the more shall shame him his repulse.”

Thus saying, from her husband’s hand her hand

Soft she withdrew, and like a wood-nymph light³⁸⁶

Oread³⁸⁷ or Dryad, or of Delia’s train,

Betook her to the groves, but Delia’s self

In gait surpassed and goddesslike deport,

Though not as she with bow and quiver armed,

But with such gard’ning tools as art yet rude,

Guiltless of fire had formed, or angels brought.

To Pales³⁹³, or Pomona thus adorned,

Likeliest she seemed, Pomona when she fled

Vertumnus³⁹⁵, or to Ceres in her prime,

Yet virgin of Proserpina³⁹⁶ from Jove.

Her long with ardent look his eye pursued

Delighted, but desiring more her stay.

Oft he to her his charge of quick return

Repeated, she to him as oft engaged

To be returned by noon amid the bow’r,

And all things in best order to invite

Noontide repast, or afternoon’s repose.

O much deceived⁴⁰⁴, much failing, hapless Eve,

Of thy presumed return! Event perverse⁴⁰⁵!

Thou never from that hour in Paradise

Found’st either sweet repast, or sound repose;

Such ambush hid among sweet flow’rs and shades

Waited with hellish rancor imminent

To intercept thy way, or send thee back

Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss.

For now, and since first break of dawn the fiend,

Mere⁴¹³ serpent in appearance, forth was come,

And on his quest, where likeliest he might find

The only two of mankind, but in them

The whole included race, his purposed prey.

In bow’r and field he sought, where any tuft

Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,

Their tendance or plantation for delight,

By fountain or by shady rivulet

He sought them both, but wished his hap might find

Eve separate; he wished, but not with hope

Of what so seldom chanced, when to his wish,

Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,

Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,

Half spied, so thick the roses bushing round

About her glowed, oft stooping to support

Each flow’r of slender stalk, whose head though gay

Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold,

Hung drooping unsustained; them she upstays

Gently with myrtle band, mindless⁴³¹ the while,

Herself, though fairest unsupported flow’r,⁴³²

From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.

Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed

Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm,

Then voluble⁴³⁶ and bold, now hid, now seen

Among thick-woven arborets and flow’rs

Imbordered⁴³⁸ on each bank, the hand of Eve:

Spot more⁴³⁹ delicious than those gardens feigned

Or of revived Adonis, or renowned

Alcinous, host of old Laertes’ son,

Or that, not mystic, where the sapient king

Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse.

Much he the place admired, the person more.

As one who long in populous city pent,

Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air⁴⁴⁶,

Forth issuing on a summer’s morn to breathe

Among the pleasant villages and farms

Adjoined, from each thing met conceives delight,

The smell of grain, or tedded⁴⁵⁰ grass, or kine,

Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound;

If chance with nymphlike step fair virgin pass,

What pleasing seemed, for⁴⁵³ her now pleases more,

She most, and in her look sums all delight.

Such pleasure took the serpent to behold

This flow’ry plat⁴⁵⁶, the sweet recess of Eve

Thus early, thus alone; her Heav’nly form

Angelic, but more soft⁴⁵⁸, and feminine,

Her graceful innocence, her every air

Of gesture or least action overawed

His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved

His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought:

That space⁴⁶³ the evil one abstracted stood

From his own evil, and for the time remained

Stupidly good, of enmity disarmed,

Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge;

But the⁴⁶⁷ hot Hell that always in him burns,

Though in mid-Heav’n, soon ended his delight,

And tortures him now more, the more he sees

Of pleasure not for him ordained: then soon

Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts

Of mischief, gratulating⁴⁷², thus excites.

   “Thoughts, whither have ye led me, with what sweet

Compulsion thus transported to forget

What hither brought us, hate, not love, nor hope

Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to taste

Of pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy,

Save what is in destroying; other joy

To me is lost. Then let me not let pass

Occasion⁴⁸⁰ which now smiles; behold alone

The woman, opportune to all attempts,

Her husband, for I view far round, not nigh,

Whose higher intellectual more I shun,

And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb

Heroic built, though of terrestrial mold⁴⁸⁵,

Foe not informidable, exempt from wound,

I not; so much hath Hell debased, and pain

Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heav’n.

She fair, divinely fair, fit love for gods,

Not terrible,⁴⁹⁰ though terror be in love

And beauty, not approached by stronger hate,

Hate stronger, under show of love well feigned,

The way which to her ruin now I tend.”

   So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed

In serpent, inmate bad, and toward Eve

Addressed his way, not with indented⁴⁹⁶ wave,

Prone on the ground, as since, but on his rear,

Circular base of rising folds, that tow’red

Fold above fold a surging maze, his head

Crested aloft, and carbuncle⁵⁰⁰ his eyes;

With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect

Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass

Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape,

And lovely, never since of serpent kind

Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed⁵⁰⁵

Hermione and Cadmus, or the god

In Epidaurus; nor to which transformed

Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline was seen,

He with Olympias, this with her who bore

Scipio the⁵¹⁰ highth of Rome. With tract oblique

At first, as one who sought access, but feared

To interrupt, sidelong he works his way.

As when a ship by skillful steersman wrought

Nigh river’s mouth or foreland, where the wind

Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail;

So varied he, and of his tortuous train

Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve,

To lure her eye; she busied heard the sound

Of rustling leaves, but minded not, as used

To such disport before her through the field,

From every beast, more duteous at her call,

Than at⁵²² Circean call the herd disguised.

He bolder now, uncalled before her stood;

But as in gaze admiring: oft he bowed

His turret⁵²⁵ crest, and sleek enamelled neck,

Fawning, and⁵²⁶ licked the ground whereon she trod.

His gentle dumb expression turned at length

The eye of Eve to mark his play; he glad

Of her attention gained, with⁵²⁹ serpent tongue

Organic, or impulse of vocal air,

His fraudulent temptation thus began.

“He bolder now, uncalled before her stood” (9.523). (illustration credit 9.1)

   “Wonder not⁵³², sovereign mistress, if perhaps

Thou canst, who art sole wonder, much less arm

Thy looks, the heav’n of mildness, with disdain,

Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze

Insatiate, I thus single, nor have feared

Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.

Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair,

Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine

By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore

With ravishment beheld, there best beheld

Where universally admired; but here

In this enclosure wild, these beasts among,

Beholders rude, and shallow to discern⁵⁴⁴

Half what in thee is fair, one man except,

Who sees thee? (and what is one?) who shouldst be seen

A goddess among gods, adored and served

By angels numberless, thy daily train.”

   So glozed⁵⁴⁹ the Tempter, and his proem tuned;

Into the heart of Eve his words made way,

Though at the voice much marveling; at length

Not unamazed she thus in answer spake.

“What may this mean? Language of man pronounced

By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed?

The first at least of these I thought denied

To beasts, whom God on their creation-day

Created mute to all articulate sound;

The latter I demur⁵⁵⁸, for in their looks

Much reason, and in their actions oft appears.

Thee, serpent, subtlest beast of all the field

I knew, but not with human voice endued;

Redouble then this miracle, and say,

How cam’st thou speakable⁵⁶³ of mute, and how

To me so friendly grown above the rest

565 Of brutal kind, that daily are in sight?

Say, for such wonder claims attention due.”

   To whom the guileful Tempter thus replied.

“Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve,

Easy to me it is to tell thee all

What thou command’st, and right thou shouldst be obeyed:

I was at⁵⁷¹ first as other beasts that graze

The trodden herb, of abject thoughts and low,

As was my food, nor aught but food discerned

Or sex, and apprehended nothing high:

Till on a day roving the field, I chanced

A goodly tree far distant to behold

Loaden with fruit of fairest colors mixed,

Ruddy and gold: I nearer drew to gaze;

When from the boughs a savory odor blown,

Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense

Than smell of sweetest fennel⁵⁸¹ or the teats

Of ewe or goat dropping with milk at ev’n,

Unsucked of lamb or kid, that tend their play.

To satisfy the sharp desire I had

Of tasting those fair apples⁵⁸⁵, I resolved

Not to defer⁵⁸⁶; hunger and thirst at once,

Powerful persuaders, quickened at the scent

Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen.

About the mossy trunk I wound me soon,

For high from ground the branches would require

Thy utmost reach or Adam’s: round the Tree

All other beasts that saw, with like desire

Longing and envying stood, but could not reach.

Amid the Tree now got, where plenty hung

595 Tempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill

I spared not,⁵⁹⁶ for such pleasure till that hour

At feed or fountain never had I found.

Sated at length,⁵⁹⁸ ere long I might perceive

Strange alteration in me, to degree

Of reason in my inward powers, and speech

Wanted not long, though to this shape retained.

Thenceforth to speculations high or deep

I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind

Considered all things visible in heav’n,

Or Earth, or middle⁶⁰⁵, all things fair and good;

But⁶⁰⁶ all that fair and good in thy divine

Semblance, and in thy beauty’s heav’nly ray

United I beheld; no fair to thine

Equivalent or second, which compelled

Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come

And gaze, and worship thee of right declared

Sov’reign of creatures, universal dame.”

   So talked the spirited sly snake⁶¹³; and Eve

Yet more amazed unwary thus replied.

   “Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt

The virtue⁶¹⁶ of that fruit, in thee first proved:

But say, where grows the tree, from hence how far?

For many are the trees of God that grow

In Paradise, and various, yet unknown

To us, in such abundance lies our choice,

As leaves a greater store of fruit untouched,

Still hanging incorruptible, till men

Grow up to their provision⁶²³, and more hands

Help to disburden nature of her birth.”

   To whom the wily adder, blithe and glad.

“Empress, the way is ready, and not long,

Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat,

Fast by a fountain, one small thicket past

Of blowing⁶²⁹ myrrh and balm; if thou accept

My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon.”

   “Lead then,” said Eve. He leading swiftly rolled

In tangles, and made intricate seem straight,

To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy

Brightens his crest, as when a wand’ring fire⁶³⁴,

Compact of⁶³⁵ unctuous vapor, which the night

Condenses, and the cold environs round,

Kindled through agitation to a flame,

Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends

Hovering and blazing with delusive light,

Misleads th’ amazed⁶⁴⁰ night-wanderer from his way

To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool⁶⁴¹,

There swallowed up and lost, from succor far.

So glistered the dire snake, and into fraud

Led Eve⁶⁴⁴ our credulous mother, to the Tree

Of prohibition, root of all our woe;

Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.

   “Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither,

Fruitless⁶⁴⁸ to me, though fruit be here to excess,

The credit of whose virtue rest with thee,

Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects.

But of this Tree we may not taste nor touch;

God so commanded, and left that command

Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live

Law to ourselves, our reason is our law.”

   To whom the Tempter guilefully replied.

“Indeed? Hath God then said that of the fruit

Of all these garden trees ye shall not eat,

Yet lords declared of all in earth or air?”

   To whom thus Eve yet sinless. “Of the fruit

Of each tree in the garden we may eat,

But of the fruit of this fair Tree amidst

The garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat

Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’ ”

   She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold

The Tempter, but with show of zeal and love

To man, and indignation at his wrong,

New part puts on, and as to passion moved,

Fluctuates⁶⁶⁸ disturbed, yet comely and in act

Raised, as of some great matter to begin.

As when of old some orator renowned

In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence

Flourished, since mute⁶⁷², to some great cause addressed,

Stood in himself collected, while each part,

Motion⁶⁷⁴, each act won audience ere the tongue,

Sometimes in highth began, as no delay

Of preface brooking through his zeal of right.

So standing, moving, or to highth upgrown

The Tempter all impassioned thus began.

   “O sacred, wise,⁶⁷⁹ and wisdom-giving plant,

Mother of science⁶⁸⁰, now I feel thy power

Within me clear, not only to discern

Things in their causes, but to trace the ways

Of highest agents, deemed however wise.

Queen of this universe, do not believe

Those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die:

How should ye? By the fruit? It gives you life

To knowledge. By the threat’ner? Look on me,

Me who have touched and tasted, yet both live,

life more perfect have attained than fate

Meant me, by vent’ring higher than my lot.

Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast

Is open? Or will God incense his ire

For such a petty trespass, and not praise

Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain

Of death denounced, whatever thing death be,

Deterred not from achieving what might lead

To happier life, knowledge of good and evil;

Of good, how just? Of evil⁶⁹⁸, if what is evil

Be real, why not known, since easier shunned?

God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;

Not just, not God; not feared then, nor obeyed:

Your fear itself of death removes the fear.

Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,

Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,

His worshipers; he knows that in the day

Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,

Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then

Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as gods,

Knowing both good and evil as they know.

That ye⁷¹⁰ should be as gods, since I as man,

Internal man, is but proportion meet,

I of brute human, ye of human gods.

So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off

Human, to put on gods, death to be wished,

Though threatened, which no worse than this can bring.

And what are gods that man may not become

As they, participating⁷¹⁷ godlike food?

The gods are first, and that advantage use

On our belief, that all from them proceeds;

I question⁷²⁰ it, for this fair Earth I see,

Warmed by the sun, producing every kind,

Them nothing: if they all things⁷²², who enclosed

Knowledge of good and evil in this Tree,

That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains

Wisdom without their leave? And wherein lies

Th’ offense, that man should thus attain to know?

What can your knowledge hurt him, or this Tree

Impart against his will if all be his?

Or is it envy, and can envy dwell

In Heav’nly breasts? These, these and many more

Causes import your need of this fair fruit.

Goddess humane⁷³², reach then, and freely taste.”

   He ended, and his words replete with guile

Into her heart too easy entrance won:

Fixed on⁷³⁵ the fruit she gazed, which to behold

Might tempt alone, and in her ears the sound

Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregned

With reason, to her seeming, and with truth;

Meanwhile the hour of noon drew on, and waked

An eager appetite, raised by the smell

So savory of that fruit, which with desire,

Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,

Solicited her longing eye; yet first

Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused⁷⁴⁴.

   “Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits,

Though kept from man, and worthy to be admired,

Whose taste, too long forborne, at first assay

Gave elocution to the mute, and taught

The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise:

Thy praise he also who forbids thy use,

Conceals not from us, naming thee the Tree

Of Knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;

Forbids us then to taste, but his forbidding

Commends thee more, while it infers the good

By thee communicated, and our want:

For good unknown⁷⁵⁶, sure is not had, or had

And yet unknown, is as not had at all.

In plain then, what forbids he but to know,

Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?

Such prohibitions bind not. But if death

Bind us with after-bands, what profits then

Our inward freedom? In the day we eat

Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die.

How dies the serpent? He hath eat’n and lives,

And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,

Irrational till then. For us alone

Was death invented? Or to us denied

This intellectual food, for beasts reserved?

For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first

Hath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy

The good befall’n him, author unsuspect⁷⁷¹,

Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.

What fear I then, rather what know to fear

Under this ignorance of good and evil,

Of God or death, of law or penalty?

Here grows the cure⁷⁷⁶ of all, this fruit divine,

Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,

Of virtue to make wise: what hinders then

To reach, and feed at once both body and mind?”

   So saying, her rash hand⁷⁸⁰ in evil hour

Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate:

Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat

Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe,

That all was lost⁷⁸⁴. Back to the thicket slunk

The guilty serpent, and well might, for Eve

Intent now wholly on her taste, naught else

Regarded, such delight till then, as seemed,

In fruit she never tasted, whether true

Or fancied so, through expectation high

Of knowledge, nor was Godhead from her thought.

Greedily she engorged without restraint,

And knew not eating death⁷⁹²: satiate at length,

And heightened as with wine, jocund and boon,

Thus to herself she pleasingly began.

   “O sov’reign, virtuous, precious of all trees

In Paradise, of operation blessed

To sapience⁷⁹⁷, hitherto obscured, infamed,

And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end

Created; but henceforth my early care,

Not without song, each morning, and due praise

Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease

Of thy full branches offered free to all;

Till dieted by thee I grow mature

In knowledge, as the gods who all things know;

Though others envy what they cannot give;

For had the gift been theirs, it had not here

Thus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe,

Best guide; not following thee, I had remained

In ignorance, thou open’st wisdom’s way,

And giv’st access, though secret she retire.

And I perhaps am secret; Heav’n is high,

High and remote to see from thence distinct

Each thing on Earth; and other care perhaps

May have diverted from continual watch

Our great forbidder, safe with all his spies

About him. But to Adam in what sort

Shall I appear? Shall I to him make known

As yet my change, and give him to partake

Full happiness with me, or rather not,

But keep the odds⁸²⁰ of knowledge in my power

Without copartner? So to add what wants

In female sex, the more to draw his love,

And render me more equal⁸²³, and perhaps,

A thing not undesirable, sometime

Superior; for inferior who is free?⁸²⁵

This may be well: but what if God have seen,

And death ensue? Then I shall be no more⁸²⁷,

And Adam wedded to another Eve,

Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;

A death to think. Confirmed then I resolve;

Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:

So dear I love him, that with him all deaths

I could endure, without him live no life.”

   So saying, from the Tree her step she turned,

But first low reverence⁸³⁵ done, as to the power

That dwelt within, whose presence had infused

Into the plant sciential⁸³⁷ sap, derived

From nectar, drink of gods. Adam the while

Waiting desirous her return, had wove

Of choicest flow’rs a garland to adorn

Her tresses, and her rural labors crown,

As reapers oft are wont their harvest queen.

Great joy he promised to his thoughts, and new

Solace in her return, so long delayed;

Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill⁸⁴⁵,

Misgave him; he the falt’ring measure⁸⁴⁶ felt;

And forth to meet her went, the way she took

That morn when first they parted; by the Tree

Of Knowledge he must pass, there he her met,

Scarce from the tree returning; in her hand

A bough of fairest fruit that downy smiled⁸⁵¹,

New gathered, and ambrosial smell diffused.

To him she hasted, in her face Excuse⁸⁵³

Came prologue, and Apology to prompt⁸⁵³,

Which with bland⁸⁵⁵ words at will she thus addressed.

   “Hast thou not wondered, Adam, at my stay?

Thee I have missed, and thought it long, deprived

Thy presence, agony of love till now

Not felt, nor shall be twice, for never more

Mean I to try, what rash untried I sought,

The pain of absence from thy sight. But strange

Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear:

This Tree is not as we are told, a tree

Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown

Op’ning the way, but of divine effect

To open eyes, and make them gods who taste;

And hath been tasted such: the serpent wise,

Or not restrained as we, or⁸⁶⁸ not obeying,

Hath eaten of the fruit, and is become,

Not dead, as we are threatened, but thenceforth

Endued with human voice and human sense,

Reasoning to admiration, and with me

Persuasively hath so prevailed, that I

Have also tasted, and have also found

Th’ effects to correspond, opener mine eyes,

Dim erst, dilated spirits, ampler heart,

And growing up to Godhead; which for thee

Chiefly I sought, without thee can despise.

For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss,

Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon.

Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot

May join us, equal joy, as equal love;

Lest thou not tasting, different degree

Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce

Deity for thee, when fate will not permit.”

   Thus Eve with count’nance blithe her story told;

But in her cheek distemper flushing glowed.

On th’ other side, Adam, soon as he heard

The fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed,

Astonied⁸⁹⁰ stood and blank, while horror chill

Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;

From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve

Down dropped, and all the faded roses⁸⁹³ shed:

Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at length

First to himself he inward silence broke⁸⁹⁵.

   “O fairest of creation, last and best⁸⁹⁶

Of all God’s works, creature in whom excelled

Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,

Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!

How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,

Defaced, deflow’red⁹⁰¹, and now to death devote?

Rather how hast thou yielded to transgress

The strict forbiddance, how to violate

The sacred fruit forbidd’n! Some cursèd fraud

Of enemy hath beguiled thee, yet unknown,

And me with thee hath ruined, for with thee

Certain my resolution is to die;

How can I live without thee, how forgo

Thy sweet converse and love so dearly joined,

To live again in these wild woods forlorn?

Should God create another Eve⁹¹¹, and I

Another rib afford, yet loss of thee

Would never from my heart; no no, I feel

The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh,

Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state

Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe⁹¹⁶.”

So having said, as one from sad dismay

Recomforted, and after thoughts disturbed

Submitting to what seemed remediless,

Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turned.

   “Bold deed thou hast presumed, advent’rous Eve,

And peril great provoked, who thus hath dared

Had it been only coveting to eye

That sacred⁹²⁴ fruit, sacred to abstinence,

Much more to taste it under ban to touch.

But past⁹²⁶ who can recall, or done undo?

Not God omnipotent, nor Fate, yet so

Perhaps thou shalt not die, perhaps the fact⁹²⁸

Is not so heinous now, foretasted fruit,

Profaned first by the serpent, by him first

Made common and unhallowed ere our taste;

Nor yet on him found deadly; he yet lives,

Lives, as thou saidst, and gains to live as man

Higher degree of life, inducement strong

To us, as likely tasting to attain

Proportional ascent⁹³⁶, which cannot be

But to be gods, or angels, demi-gods.

Nor can I think that God, creator wise,

Though threat’ning, will in earnest so destroy

Us his prime creatures, dignified so high,

Set over all his works, which in our fall,

For us created, needs with us must fail,

Dependent made; so God shall uncreate,

Be frustrate, do, undo, and labor lose,

Not well conceived of God, who though his power

Creation could repeat, yet would be loath

Us to abolish, lest⁹⁴⁷ the Adversary

Triumph and say, ‘Fickle their state whom God

Most favors; who can please him long? Me first

He ruined, now mankind; whom will he next?’

Matter of scorn, not to be given the foe.

However I with thee have fixed my lot,

Certain to undergo like doom; if death

Consort with thee, death is to me as life⁹⁵⁴;

So forcible within my heart I feel

The bond of nature draw me to my own,

My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;

Our state cannot be severed, we are one,

One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.”

   So Adam, and thus Eve to him replied.

“O glorious trial of exceeding love,

Illustrious evidence, example high!

Engaging me to emulate, but short

Of thy perfection, how shall I attain,

Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung,

And gladly of our union hear thee speak,

One heart, one soul in both; whereof good proof

This day affords, declaring thee resolved,

Rather than death or aught than death more dread

Shall separate us, linked in love so dear,

To undergo with me one guilt, one crime,

If any be, of tasting this fair fruit,

Whose virtue, for of good still good proceeds,

Direct, or by occasion hath presented

This happy trial of thy love, which else

So eminently never had been known.

Were it I thought death menaced would ensue

This my attempt, I would sustain alone

The worst, and not persuade thee, rather die

Deserted, than oblige⁹⁸⁰ thee with a fact

Pernicious to thy peace, chiefly assured

Remarkably so late of thy so true,

So faithful love unequaled; but I feel

Far otherwise th’ event, not death, but life

Augmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new joys,

Taste so divine, that what of sweet before

Hath touched my sense, flat seems to this, and harsh.

On my experience, Adam, freely taste⁹⁸⁸,

And fear of death deliver to the winds.”

   So saying, she embraced him, and for joy

Tenderly wept, much won that he his love

Had so ennobled, as of choice to incur

Divine displeasure for her sake, or death.

In recompense (for such compliance bad

Such recompense best merits) from the bough

She gave him of that fair enticing fruit

With liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat

Against his better knowledge, not deceived⁹⁹⁸,

But fondly⁹⁹⁹ overcome with female charm.

Earth trembled from her entrails, as again

In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan;

Sky loured, and muttering Thunder, some sad drops

Wept at completing of the mortal sin¹⁰⁰³

Original¹⁰⁰³; while Adam took no thought,

Eating his fill, nor Eve to iterate

Her former trespass feared, the more to soothe

Him with her loved society, that now

As with new wine intoxicated both

They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel

Divinity within them breeding wings

Wherewith to scorn the earth: but that false fruit

Far other operation first displayed,

Carnal desire inflaming; he on Eve

Began to cast lascivious eyes, she him

As wantonly repaid; in lust they burn:

Till Adam thus gan Eve to dalliance¹⁰¹⁶ move.

   “Eve¹⁰¹⁷, now I see thou art exact of taste,

And elegant¹⁰¹⁸, of sapience no small part,

Since to each meaning savor we apply,

And palate call judicious; I the praise

Yield thee, so well this day thou hast purveyed.

Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstained

From this delightful fruit, nor known till now

True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be

In things to us forbidden, it might be wished, For this one tree had been forbidden ten¹⁰²⁵.

But come, so well refreshed, now let us play,

As meet¹⁰²⁸ is, after such delicious fare;

For never did thy beauty since the day¹⁰²⁹

I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorned

With all perfections, so inflame my sense

With ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now

Than ever, bounty of this virtuous Tree.”

   So said he, and forbore not glance or toy

Of amorous intent, well understood

Of Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire.

Her hand he seized¹⁰³⁷, and to a shady bank,

Thick overhead with verdant roof embow’red

He led her nothing loath; flow’rs were the couch,

Pansies, and violets, and asphodel,

And hyacinth, earth’s freshest softest lap.

There they their fill of love and love’s disport

Took largely, of their mutual guilt the seal¹⁰⁴³,

The solace of their sin, till dewy sleep

Oppressed them, wearied with their amorous play.

Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit,

That with exhilarating vapor bland

About their spirits¹⁰⁴⁸ had played, and inmost powers

Made err, was now exhaled, and grosser sleep

Bred of unkindly¹⁰⁵⁰ fumes, with conscious dreams

Encumbered, now had left them, up they rose

As from unrest, and each the other viewing,

Soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds

How darkened; innocence, that as a veil

Had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone,

Just confidence, and native righteousness

And honor from about them, naked left

To guilty Shame: he¹⁰⁵⁸ covered, but his robe

Uncovered more. So rose the Danite¹⁰⁵⁹ strong,

Herculean¹⁰⁶⁰ Samson, from the harlot-lap

Of Philistean Dalila, and waked

Shorn of his strength, they destitute and bare

Of all their virtue: silent, and in face

Confounded long they sat, as stricken mute,

Till Adam, though not less than Eve abashed,

At length gave utterance to these words constrained.

   “O Eve, in evil¹⁰⁶⁷ hour thou didst give ear

To that false worm, of whomsoever taught

To counterfeit man’s voice, true in our fall,

False in our promised rising; since our eyes

Opened we find indeed, and find we know

Both good and evil, good lost, and evil got,

Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know,

Which leaves us naked thus, of honor void,

Of innocence, of faith, of purity,

Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained,

And in our faces evident the signs

Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store¹⁰⁷⁸;

Even shame, the last of evils¹⁰⁷⁹; of the first

Be sure then. How shall I behold the face

Henceforth of God or angel, erst with joy

And rapture so oft beheld? Those Heav’nly shapes

Will dazzle now this Earthly¹⁰⁸³, with their blaze

Insufferably bright. O might I here

In solitude live savage, in some glade

Obscured, where highest woods impenetrable

To star or sunlight, spread their umbrage¹⁰⁸⁷ broad

And brown as evening: cover me ye pines,

Ye cedars, with innumerable boughs

Hide me, where I may never see them more.

But let us now, as in bad plight, devise

What best may for the present serve to hide

The parts of each from other, that seem most

To shame obnoxious¹⁰⁹⁴, and unseemliest seen,

Some tree whose broad smooth leaves together sewed,

And girded on our loins, may cover round

Those middle parts, that this newcomer, Shame,

There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.”

   So counseled he, and both together went

Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose

The fig tree¹¹⁰¹, not that kind for fruit renowned,

But such as at this day to Indians known

In Malabar¹¹⁰³ or Deccan spreads her arms

Branching so broad and long, that in the ground

The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow

About the mother tree, a pillared shade

High overarched, and echoing walks between;

There oft the Indian herdsman shunning heat

Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds

At loopholes cut through thickest shade: those leaves

They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe¹¹¹¹,

And with what skill they had, together sewed,

To gird their waist, vain covering if to hide

Their guilt and dreaded shame; O how unlike

To that first naked glory¹¹¹⁵. Such of late

Columbus¹¹¹⁶ found th’ American so girt

With feathered cincture¹¹¹⁷, naked else and wild

Among the trees on isles and woody shores.

Thus fenced, and as they thought, their shame in part

Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind,

They sat them down to weep, nor only tears

Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within

Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,

Mistrust, suspicion, discord, and shook sore

Their inward state of mind, calm region once

And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent:

For understanding ruled not, and the will

Heard not her lore, both in subjection now

To sensual appetite, who from beneath

Usurping over sov’reign reason claimed

Superior sway: from thus distempered breast,

Adam, estranged in look and altered style,

Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewed.¹¹³³

   “Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed

With me, as I besought thee, when that strange

Desire of wand’ring this unhappy morn.

I know not whence possessed thee; we had then

Remained still happy, not as now, despoiled

Of all our good, shamed, naked, miserable.

Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve

The faith they owe; when earnestly they seek

Such proof, conclude, they then begin to fail.”

   To whom soon moved with touch of blame thus Eve.

“What words have passed thy lips, Adam severe,

Imput’st thou that to my default, or will

Of wand’ring, as thou call’st it, which who knows

But might as ill have happened thou being by,

Or to thyself perhaps: hadst thou been there,

Or here th’ attempt, thou couldst not have discerned

Fraud in the serpent, speaking as he spake;

No ground of enmity between us known,

Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm.

Was I to have never parted from thy side?

As good have grown there still a lifeless rib.

Being as I am, why didst not thou the head

Command me absolutely not to go,

Going into such danger as thou saidst?

Too facile then thou didst not much gainsay,

Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dismiss.

Hadst thou been firm and fixed in thy dissent,

Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with me.”

   To whom then first incensed Adam replied.

“Is this the love, is this the recompense

Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve, expressed

Immutable when thou wert lost, not I,

Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss,

Yet willingly chose rather death with thee:

And am I now upbraided, as the cause

Of thy transgressing? Not enough severe,

It seems, in thy restraint: what could I more?

I warned thee, I admonished thee, foretold

The danger, and the lurking enemy

That lay in wait; beyond this had been force,

And force upon free will hath here no place.

But confidence then bore thee on, secure

Either to meet no danger, or to find

Matter of glorious trial; and perhaps

I also erred in overmuch admiring

What seemed in thee so perfect, that I thought

No evil durst attempt thee, but I rue

That error now, which is become my crime,

And thou th’ accuser. Thus it shall befall

Him who to worth in women overtrusting

Lets her will rule; restraint she will not brook,

And left to herself, if evil thence ensue,

She first his weak indulgence will accuse.”

   Thus they in mutual accusation¹¹⁸⁷ spent

The fruitless hours¹¹⁸⁸, but neither self-condemning,

And of their vain contest appeared no end¹¹⁸⁹.

1. No more: No/know and more have earlier appeared in memorable formulations about the limits of knowledge that Adam and Eve must observe (4.637, 775; 8.194); now, at the beginning of the book in which those limits will be violated, Milton reconfigures these words to announce a fundamental break with unfallen existence. God or angel: Adam spoke with God (8.295–451), and Books 5–8 have chronicled the friendly visit of Raphael to Paradise.

2. familiar: in a familial manner, intimate.

5. Venial: innocent; unblamed: unblamable.

13. sad task: Raphael used the same phrase (5.564) in introducing his narrative of the fall of the rebel angels.

13–19. yet … son: Milton compares his argument or subject matter to earlier accounts of wrath in the epic tradition, Homer on Achilles’ defeat of Hector (Il. 22), Vergil on the bellicose rage of Turnus (Aen. 7), Homer on Neptune’s grudge against Odysseus, and Vergil on Juno’s grudge against Aeneas, Cytherea’s (Venus’) son. The point is that the wrath in Milton’s story, the wrath of the Christian God against human sin, is just, not capricious.

19. Perplexed: tormented.

20. answerable: commensurate (with his more heroic subject).

22. unimplored: Oddly, Milton in fact “implores” his muse at 7.38.

24. unpremeditated: Cp. the morning prayers of 5.149; in Eikonoklastes, Milton argues that prayers should not be imprisoned “in a pinfold of set words” (Yale 3:505).

27. indite: compose.

34. tilting furniture: jousting equipment, which Milton proceeds to list: shields emblazoned with impresses quaint (clever emblems), caparisons and bases (equestrian trappings).

37–38. then marshalled feast … seneschals: The feast is marshalled, full of elaborate arrangements and displays. Sewers, supervised by their chief, the seneschal, seated the guests and served the meal. Milton’s disdain for the ritual civility of the feast may in part be motivated by the primal bad feast he is soon to narrate.

39. office: position, duty. Romance is rejected as a poetry devoted to the superficial artifice of noble manners and amusements.

44. That name: the heroic name of line 40; an age too late: sometimes explained as universal decay, a theory Milton opposed in Naturam non pati senium. He might have felt that England, after the Restoration, had proved itself unworthy of a divinely inspired epic. He stated in RCG that the creation of ambitious Christian art might depend on the “fate of this age” (MLM 841).

44–45. unless … wing: Milton feared that Aristotle was right in declaring that a cold climate such as England’s (at least in comparison with the Mediterranean climates that spawned Homer and Vergil) might leave the mind unripe. See Fink.

45. or years: Milton was almost sixty when his epic was published; George Herbert’s “The Forerunners,” written in his thirties, anticipates senility. damp: discourage (OED 3).

46. Depressed: brought down. Psychological failure is here expressed in the metaphor of failed flight, lower than what Milton intends. Cp. the metaphor of winged flight at 3.13 and 7.4.

49. Hesperus: Venus, the evening star.

56. maugre: despite.

58–69. By night … way: Satan keeps to the darkness for an entire week to evade detection by Uriel. For three days he remains on the equator, flying ahead of the advance of sunlight. He spends the other four days compassing the Earth from north to south, traversing each colure—a reference to two great circles that intersect at right angles on the earth’s poles. “He crosses the world, but not in benediction” (Evans in Broadbent edition).

67. coast averse: the north side of Eden, which is averse (turned away from) the eastern entrance, where cherubim keep watch.

77–82. From Eden … Indus: Satan spans the globe in search of his fit vessel (l. 89) in the animal kingdom. He journeys north from Paradise, to the Pontus (Black Sea), the pool Maeotis (Sea of Azov), and the Ob (a river in Siberia), then down the other side of the earth to Antarctica, and west to the Orontes (a river in Syria), to Darien (Panama), to the Ganges in India, and finally to the Indus, a river near Eden.

89. fittest imp: An imp is a graft or shoot; Satan’s graft of fraud will be fittest, most likely to thrive, on the snake.

93. native subtlety: See Gen. 3.1.

103–105. Adam suffered from the same misapprehension about the heavens (8.273–74n) and was corrected by Raphael (8.85–90n).

113. growth, sense, reason: progressing from vegetable (growth) to animal (sense) to rational (reason).

121–22. hateful siege/Of contraries: Here as elsewhere, Satan recoils from the beautiful, the pleasing, and the good. Cp. the “grateful vicissitude” of 6.8.

142. name: race, stock.

144. to repair his numbers: not, according to 3.289, God’s original motive for the Creation, but a motive (7.152–53).

166. This essence: Satan’s angelic matter, earlier said to be uncompounded or undifferentiated with regard to human fixities such as body parts (1.423–31). incarnate: Satan’s parody of the Incarnation is undertaken with high-minded disdain, not love.

170. obnoxious: exposed.

171. Revenge, at first though sweet: repudiating the proverb “Revenge is sweet” (Tilley R90).

172. on itself recoils: The metaphor of cannon, Satan’s self-defining invention (cp. 4.17), continues in the gunnery language of lines 173–74.

174. higher: when aiming higher.

176. son of despite: son of scorn, with the added suggestion that man was created to spite Satan; on Satan’s spite, see 2.384–85.

186. Nor nocent: not harmful. Milton’s unusual phrase signifies “innocence” but suggests its opposite.

191. close: in hiding.

205. still: continually. For the first time, Eve initiates a conversation.

213. hear: 1667; 1674 reads “bear.”

215–17. to wind … to climb: Both ivy and woodbine are in need of a prop, as Eve soon will be (ll. 431–33).

218. spring: thicket.

219. redress: put upright.

240. of love the food: For Ovid hope is the food of love (Met. 9.749); for Shakespeare’s Orsino music is the food of love (TN 1.1.1); for Adam smiles are the food of love—and smiles, we know, lead to kisses (4.499–502).

247–48. but … yield: Having dismissed the idea that Eden cannot be sufficiently tamed through their current work habits, Adam speculates that Eve has had enough converse (conversation).

249. Cp. Masque 375–80.

265. Or: whether.

270. virgin majesty: Technically, Eve is not a virgin. But virgo in Latin and virginale in Italian can sometimes denote “beauty,” “freshness,” “sweetness,” “modesty” (Todd), or simply “woman” (Hume). In English, virgin can mean “chaste” (OED 1) and hence be applied to married women, as Puritans especially stressed.

272. sweet austere composure: The adjectives verge on oxymoron.

276. parting angel overheard: It is likely that Eve overheard 8.630–43, which begins with Raphael taking the “parting sun” to be his signal to “depart.”

292. entire: unblemished.

293. diffident: mistrustful.

296–301. For he … found: Adam seems to be falsely denying that he had entertained the thought (at ll. 265–69) that Eve, if apart from him, might fall. He temporarily projects that thought onto Satan, who does indeed have it.

310. Access: increase.

314. raised unite: unite all his strengths in a state of generally heightened vigor.

320. Less: too little.

326. still: always.

335–36. Cp. Areop (MLM 939, 944).

341. Eden were no Eden: See 4.27–28n.

353. still: always.

363. she: reason.

367. approve: prove.

371. securer: more careless.

372. Go; for thy stay: The conjunction of go and stay prepares, well over 3,000 lines in advance, for a major poetic effect at the end of the poem (12.615–20n, 648–49n).

386. light: light-footed.

387. Oread: mountain nymph; Dryad: wood nymph; Delia’s train: the attendants of Diana, goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity.

393. Pales: the Roman goddess of flocks; Pomona: the goddess of fruit trees.

395. Vertumnus: a garden god who pursued Pomona.

396. Yet virgin of Proserpina: before she bore Proserpina, whose rape by Pluto anticipates Eve’s fall. See 4.268–72n.

404–11. A rich apostrophe. The “Eve” in deceived and event, puns hitherto muted, erupts into full clarity. We first take deceived and failing in a general sense, announcing the whole process of her fall, but in the next lines must localize their reference to her failing, deceived presumption about her return. In this one mistake, however, lie all mistakes (Ricks 97). The loss of sound sleep and sweet repast recalls Shakespeare’s conscience-stricken Macbeth.

405. Event perverse: unforeseen outcome.

413. Mere: pure, unmixed.

431. mindless: heedless.

432. See 4.269–71.

436. voluble: from the Latin volubilis, rolling.

438. Imbordered: planted as borders; hand: handiwork.

439–44. The catalog of gardens less delicious than Eden begins with those of Adonis, which Spenser represented as a paradise (FQ 3.6.39–42), and Alcinous, whose garden is visited by Odysseus (Homer, Od. 7.112–35). The last, not mystic (allegorical), is the garden where sapient Solomon entertained his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter (Song of Solomon 6.2).

446. sewers annoy the air: as they certainly annoyed the air of London; see John Evelyn, Fumifugium: or, the Inconveniencie of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated (1661), who argued that smoke and odors had made the city into “the suburbs of Hell” (6).

450. tedded: mown and spread out to dry; kine: archaic plural of cow

453. for: because of.

456. plat: plot of ground.

458. more soft: Cp. 4.479.

463. That space: for that space of time.

467. Confirming lines 254–55, but ironically (the mind cannot make a Heaven of Hell).

472. gratulating: greeting; excites: stirs up (his thoughts, by addressing or greeting them).

480. Occasion: opportunity or falling together, from the Latin root cadere, “to fall.”

485. mold: material.

490–92. “Beauty and love inspire awe, unless counteracted by a stronger hatred.” The spondee in the chiasmic Hate strong makes the point metrically.

496. indented: sliding back and forth, zigzagging.

500. carbuncle: red gem.

505–10. Lovelier … Rome: Satan is compared to serpents in classical literature into which men and gods were transformed. Cadmus, founder of Thebes, was changed into a snake, as was his wife, Hermione, when she embraced his serpentine form. The god of healing, Asclepius, journeyed as a serpent from his shrine in Epidaurus to Rome in order to stop a plague. In Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, we learn that Philip of Macedonia saw his wife in bed with a snake. The oracle identified the serpent as Jupiter-Ammon. He was thus the divine father of Alexander the Great, foreshadowing Jupiter Capitolinus, who would assume a serpent body in siring Scipio Africanus.

510–14. Klemp (1977) noticed that the first letters of these lines spell Satan.

522. The sorceress Circe transformed men into obedient animals (Od. 10.212–19).

525. turret: towering; enamelled: smooth and variegated in color like enamel.

526. Here Satan, who balked at “prostration vile” in Heaven (5.782), invents proskynesis, the prostrate devotion paid to tyrants; Alexander the Great tried unsuccessfully to introduce this Persian custom into his court (Kerrigan 1998, 130).

529–30. with … air: Satan caused the serpent to speak either by using its tongue as an instrument or by impressing his words on the nearby air (A. Williams 116–117).

532. Wonder not: punningly announcing the theme of one, oneness, and singularity that winds through the speech.

544. shallow to discern: without the intelligence to discern.

549. glozed: spoke flatteringly; proem: prelude.

558. demur: hesitate over.

563. speakable: able to speak.

571–612. The fourth and final of the major autobiographies in the poem: Sin’s (2.747–809), Eve’s (4.449–91), Adam’s (8.250–520), and now the serpent’s fraudulent story.

581. fennel: Serpents were supposed to be fond of this herb (Pliny, Natural History 19.9); they were also thought to suck the teats of sheep and goats. Serpent lore aside, it is brilliant strategy to present the Tree of Knowledge as, metaphorically, an unappreciated mother.

585. apples: The double sense of the Latin malum (apple, evil) sponsored a tradition identifying the forbidden fruit as an apple.

586. defer: delay.

596–97. Adam and Eve will entertain the same high estimate of the forbidden fruit’s taste (ll. 786–87, 1022–24).

598–612. Having the serpent represent his powers of speech and reasoning as the effects of eating the forbidden fruit is a masterstroke. Evans (276–77) maintains that Milton’s only precedent was Joseph Beaumont’s Psyche (1648), a long and uninspired poem whose serpent does indeed claim to have gained language and wisdom from the fruit (canto 6, ll. 1699–1710), and tempts Eve with the idea that she may gain even loftier wisdom from such a meal, since she is starting at a higher level than the brute (1711–22). But Beaumont only vaguely anticipates the crisp argument to be advanced by Milton’s Satan (see 710–12n).

605. middle: the air.

606–608. But … beheld: Cp. 8.472–74.

613. spirited sly snake: a sibilant phrase, anticipating the prolonged hissing of 10.508–77.

616. virtue: power.

623. their provision: the fruits provided for them.

629. blowing: blooming.

634. wand’ring fire: the ignis fatuus or “will-o’-the-wisp,” as in Masque 433. See Winny 168–70 and Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy 166.

635. Compact of: composed of.

640. amazed: both perplexed and lost, as in a labyrinth.

641. pond or pool: an indication that Eve is being led not just to the Tree of Knowledge but back to her initial infatuation with her own image (4.456–65).

644–45. “ ‘Into fraud led Eve …’ overlaps magnificently with ‘… led Eve to the Tree,’ so that what begins as a moving and ancient moral metaphor (lead us not into temptation) crystallizes with terrifying literalness” (Ricks 1963, 76).

648. Fruitless: pointless, but also literally fruitless, since she cannot eat this fruit; Milton anticipates the fully fallen sense of the word at line 1188.

668. Fluctuates: undulates.

672. since mute: Eloquence itself is said to be extinct, not just in Greece and Rome; judging from PR 4.356–60, Milton may not have regarded the loss to be altogether negative.

674. Motion: gesture; audience: attention.

679–83. This speech, a brief travesty of Paradise Lost intending to prove the ways of God to man unjust, begins appropriately with an invocation to the power of the forbidden fruit inside the serpent and (so he claims) manifest in his very words. Cp. the four invocations at the beginnings of Books 1, 3, 7, and 9.

680. science: in the wide original sense of the Latin scientia, “knowledge.”

698–99. Of evil … shunned?: A potent bit of sophistry stemming from the double meaning of known: (1) known by rational apprehension; (2) known by experience. Eve knows in sense 1 that eating the fruit is evil. But if eating the fruit becomes known in sense 2, she can hardly use that knowledge to shun evil. For in that case, she will have done evil. It is the difference between innocence and experience.

710–12. The power of speech becomes Satan’s most tangible argument: as eating the fruit allowed him to change from brute to human, rising a notch in the chain of being, so eating the fruit will allow Eve to change from human to angel, a proportion meet. See 598–612n. The irony is pointed. The snake has not ascended the scale of being; Satan has in fact descended into the snake (ll. 163–71).

717. participating: partaking of.

720. question: Cp. 5.853–63, where Satan doubts whether the Son or anyone else created angels. The introduction of questioning is crucial; note the high proportion of questions in lines 686–732, 747–79.

722. if they all things: if they author all things.

732. humane: gracious, as in 2.109 and PR 1.221.

735–43. A passage built on the structure of the five senses, moving from sight to sound to smell, then to the desire to touch or taste, given imperative force in Satan’s last words (reach then, and freely taste, l. 732), and in the end circling back to her longing eye.

744. to herself she mused: the first time in the poem that Milton represents the silent inward speech of Adam or Eve.

756–57. good unknown: good unexperienced; yet unknown: good not apprehended rationally. The word-tree derived from “knowledge” has become a treacherous labyrinth. See 698–99 n.

771. author unsuspect: authority above suspicion.

776. cure: Eve means “remedy,” but editors hear an unintended pun on the Latin cura, “care.”

780. hand: Is hand the subject or object of reaching in line 781? (Evans in Broadbent); evil hour: noon.

784. all was lost: The poem has arrived at the meaning of its title.

792. knew not eating death: At least four meanings are copresent: “She did not experience death while eating”; “She did not know death, which devours”; “She did not know she was eating death”; “She did not gain knowledge when eating death.”

797. sapience: knowledge, from the Latin sapere, “to taste.”

820. odds: advantage; see 4.447n.

823. more equal: The first words that Milton uses to define gender differences are “Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed” (4.296).

825. for inferior who is free?: as Satan has maintained (6.164–70).

827. I shall be no more: Heard at the opening of this book, no more is here applied to death and oblivion (see 1n).

835. low reverence: “She … now worships a vegetable” (Lewis 122).

837. sciential: conferring knowledge on those who partake of it.

845. divine of something ill: A stricken heart often signals a bad omen or premonition, as in HAM 5.2.208: “How ill all’s here about my heart.”

846. falt’ring measure: The elision of the middle syllable in faltering keeps Adam’s measure or heartbeat in an iambic mold; the pun on falt/fault (fault’ring was the original spelling) suggests cardiac problems to come.

851. downy smiled: seemed attractive covered with down.

853–54. in her face … prompt: “Excuse, the pleading expression on her face, was the prologue to Apology [Justification], and continued to serve as this actor’s prompter.”

855. bland: smooth, containing blandishments.

868. Or … or: either … or.

890. Astonied: astonished, with pun on “as stone”; horror chill: cp. Vergil’s frigidus horror (Aen. 3.29).

893. faded roses: A first instance of decay in Eden (Fowler). Evans thinks the faded roses symbolize Eve’s mortality. But since fallen roses will acquire thorns (4.256), and since these woven flowers were intended to crown (l. 841), the decayed garland may also be meant to evoke Christ’s crown of thorns.

895. he inward silence broke: as Eve also did before her fall (744n).

896. last and best: last but not best, Raphael warned (8.565–66).

901. deflow’red: Accounts of the Fall sometimes made use of sexual metaphors such as ravishment, seduction, and infidelity (A. Williams 120, 125), and sometimes included speculations about the actual deterioration of human sexuality (Turner 124–73). devote: consecrated.

911. another Eve: Eve also rejected this idea (ll. 828–30).

916. bliss or woe: echoing Eve at line 831.

924. sacred: set apart, unlike all other fruits (in being subject to abstinence).

926. The line contains two nearly synonymous proverbs: “Things past cannot be recalled” (Tilley T203) and “Things done cannot be undone” (Tilley T200).

928. fact: deed and crime.

936. Proportional ascent: echoing Satan at lines 710–12.

947–51. lest … foe: And indeed, Satan will not be allowed to gloat—a first intuition of the protevangelium (10.175–81n) and its enactment in Hell (10.504–77).

954. death is to me as life: Editors hear an echo of Satan’s “Evil be thou my good” (4.110), but the resemblance is more verbal than moral or psychological.

980. oblige: make liable to a penalty (Lat. obligare).

988. freely taste: echoing Satan at line 732.

998. not deceived: Cp. 1 Tim. 2.14: “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

999. fondly: foolishly.

1003–1004. sin/Original: The only appearance of the famous theological phrase in the poem; for Milton’s understanding of it, see CD 1.11.

1016. dalliance: amorous play.

1017–20. Eve … judicious: The idea, somewhat tortuously expressed, is that we apply words like savor and judicious to both questions of taste and questions of wisdom—hence the word sapience, epitomizing such usages, brilliantly denotes both taste and wisdom.

1018. elegant: in the sense of the Latin elegans, “refined in taste.”

1025–26. it … ten: His fond wish will be granted when God delivers the Ten Commandments to Moses.

1028. meet: “appropriate,” the deliciousness of the meal having awakened an appetite for its delicious purveyor; also glancing at help meet, one of Eve’s titles, and by a pun on meat (meaning food in general), anticipating their new carnivorous diet.

1029–32. See Homer, Od. 14.314–16.

1037. Her hand he seized: not gently, as at 4.488–89.

1043. of their mutual guilt the seal: A seal makes a document official. So the mutual act of intercourse, as it were, brazenly authenticates their mutual crime: “We have done this, we who were given sexuality with the commandment to be fruitful and multiply.”

1048. spirits: a technical term in medical physiology, denoting vaporous substances in the blood that carry out communications between the soul and body. See Thomas Wright, The Passions of the Minde in Generall (1604), 59–68 and passim; Donne, “The Extasie,” 61–64.

1050. unkindly: unnatural; conscious: full of guilty knowledge.

1058. he: Shame.

1059. Danite: Samson’s father belonged to the tribe of Dan.

1060. Herculean: strong like Hercules; harlot-lap: The word harlot does not appear in Milton’s Samson Agonistes, where Dalila is the hero’s wife.

1067. Eve, in evil: The pun is prelude to a host of accusations.

1078. evil store: evil aplenty.

1079. Even shame, the last of evils: Shame, because it initiates repentance, is the last manifestation of the evil that caused it (the first).

1083. Earthly: earthly nature.

1087. umbrage: shadow, foliage.

1094. obnoxious: exposed.

1101. fig tree: the banyan, not the common variety. For details and sources, see Svendsen 1969, 31–32, 134–36.

1103. Malabar: southwest coast of India; Deccan: the peninsula of India (including Malabar).

1111. as Amazonian targe: as an Amazon’s shield (notable for its size).

1115. naked glory: The paradoxical force of the phrase stems from the idea of glory (Heb. kabod) as an adornment, a radiance of being (Rumrich 1987, 20–21, 131–32).

1116. Columbus: one of the two near contemporaries mentioned in the poem (see 1.288–91n).

1117. cincture: belt.

1187. mutual accusation: Mutual guilt (l. 1043) has now deteriorated into a quarreling mutual accusation.

1133. intermitted: interrupted (by the quest for covering).

1188. fruitless hours: See 648n.

1189. no end: No more at the beginning of the book, declaring unfallen favors at an end, is balanced against the concluding no end, declaring fallen ills (so it appears) interminable.

BOOK X

THE ARGUMENT

Man’s transgression known, the guardian angels forsake Paradise, and return up to Heaven to approve their vigilance, and are approved, God declaring that the entrance of Satan could not be by them prevented. He sends his Son to judge the transgressors, who descends and gives sentence accordingly; then in pity clothes them both, and reascends. Sin and Death, sitting till then at the gates of Hell, by wondrous sympathy feeling the success of Satan in this new world, and the sin by man there committed, resolve to sit no longer confined in Hell, but to follow Satan their sire up to the place of man. To make the way easier from Hell to this world to and fro, they pave a broad highway or bridge over Chaos, according to the track that Satan first made; then preparing for Earth, they meet him proud of his success returning to Hell; their mutual gratulation. Satan arrives at Pandaemonium; in full assembly relates with boasting his success against man; instead of applause is entertained with a general hiss by all his audience, transformed with himself also suddenly into serpents, according to his doom given in Paradise; then deluded with a show of the forbidden tree springing up before them, they greedily reaching to take of the fruit, chew dust and bitter ashes. The proceedings of Sin and Death; God foretells the final victory of his Son over them, and the renewing of all things, but for the present commands his angels to make several alterations in the heavens and elements. Adam more and more perceiving his fallen condition, heavily bewails, rejects the condolement of Eve. She persists and at length appeases him; then to evade the curse likely to fall on their offspring, proposes to Adam violent ways which he approves not, but conceiving better hope, puts her in mind of the late promise made them, that her seed should be revenged on the Serpent, and exhorts her with him to seek peace of the offended Deity, by repentance and supplication.

Meanwhile the heinous and despiteful act

Of Satan done in Paradise, and how

He in the serpent, had perverted Eve,

Her husband she, to taste the fatal fruit,

Was known in Heav’n; for what can scape the eye

Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart

Omniscient, who in all things wise and just,

Hindered not Satan to attempt the mind

Of man, with strength entire, and free will armed,

Complete¹⁰ to have discovered and repulsed

Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.

For still¹² they knew, and ought to have still remembered

The high injunction not to taste that fruit,

Whoever tempted; which they not obeying,

Incurred, what could they less, the penalty,

And manifold in sin¹⁶, deserved to fall.

Up into Heav’n from Paradise in haste

Th’ angelic guards ascended, mute and sad

For man, for of his state by this they knew,

Much wond’ring how the subtle fiend had stol’n

Entrance unseen. Soon as th’ unwelcome news

From Earth arriv’d at Heaven Gate, displeased

All were who heard, dim sadness did not spare

That time celestial visages, yet mixed

With pity, violated not their bliss.

About the new-arrived, in multitudes

Th’ ethereal people ran, to hear and know

How all befell: they towards the throne supreme

Accountable²⁹ made haste to make appear

With righteous plea, their utmost vigilance,

And easily approved; when the Most High

Eternal Father from his secret cloud,

Amidst in thunder uttered thus his voice.

   “Assembled angels, and ye Powers returned

From unsuccessful charge, be not dismayed,

Nor troubled at these tidings from the Earth,

Which your sincerest care could not prevent,

Foretold so lately what would come to pass,

When first this Tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.

I told ye then he should prevail and speed⁴⁰

On his bad errand, man should be seduced

And flattered out of all, believing lies

Against his Maker; no decree of mine

Concurring to necessitate his fall,

Or touch with lightest moment⁴⁵ of impulse

His free will, to her own inclining left

In even scale. But fall’n he is, and now

What rests⁴⁸ but that the mortal sentence pass

On his transgression, death denounced that day,

Which he presumes already vain and void,

Because not yet inflicted, as he feared,

By some immediate stroke; but soon shall find

Forbearance no acquittance⁵³ ere day end.

Justice shall⁵⁴ not return as bounty scorned.

But whom send I to judge them? Whom but thee

Vicegerent Son, to thee⁵⁶ I have transferred

All judgment, whether in Heav’n, or Earth, or Hell.

Easy it might be seen that I intend

Mercy colleague with justice, sending thee

Man’s friend, his Mediator, his designed

Both ransom and Redeemer voluntary,

And destined man himself to judge man fall’n.”

   So spake the Father, and unfolding bright

Toward the right hand his glory, on the Son

65 Blazed forth unclouded deity; he full

Resplendent all his Father manifest

Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild.

   “Father Eternal, thine is to decree,

Mine both in Heav’n and Earth to do thy will

Supreme, that thou in me thy Son beloved

May’st ever rest well pleased. I go to judge

On Earth these thy transgressors, but thou know’st,

Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,

When time shall be, for so I undertook

Before thee; and not repenting, this obtain

Of right, that I may mitigate their doom

On me derived, yet I shall temper so

Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most⁷⁸

Them⁷⁹ fully satisfied, and thee appease.

Attendance none shall need⁸⁰, nor train, where none

Are to behold the judgment but the judged,

Those two; the third⁸² best absent is condemned,

Convict⁸³ by flight, and rebel to all law;

Conviction⁸⁴ to the serpent none belongs.”

   Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose

Of high collateral⁸⁶ glory: him Thrones and Powers,

Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant

Accompanied to Heaven gate, from whence

Eden and all the coast in prospect lay.

Down he descended straight; the speed⁹⁰ of gods

Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.

Now was the sun in western cadence⁹² low

From noon, and gentle airs due at their hour

To fan the earth now waked, and usher in

The evening cool, when he from wrath more cool

Came the mild Judge and Intercessor both

To sentence man: the voice of God they heard

Now walking in the garden, by soft winds

Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard,

And from his presence hid themselves among

The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God

Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud.

   “Where art thou Adam, wont with joy to meet

My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,

Not pleased, thus entertained with solitude,

Where obvious¹⁰⁶ duty erewhile appeared unsought:

Or come I less conspicuous, or what change

Absents thee, or what chance detain? Come forth.”

He came, and with him Eve, more loath, though first

To offend, discount’nanced both, and discomposed;

Love was not in their looks, either to God

Or to each other, but apparent guilt,

And shame, and perturbation, and despair,

Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.

Whence Adam falt’ring long, thus answered brief.

   “I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice

Afraid, being naked, hid myself.” To whom

The gracious judge without revile¹¹⁸ replied.

   “My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared,

But still¹²⁰ rejoiced, how is it now become

So dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who

Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree

Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?”

   To whom thus Adam sore beset replied.

“O Heav’n! In evil strait this day I stand

Before my Judge, either to undergo

Myself the total crime, or to accuse

My other self¹²⁸, the partner of my life;

Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,

I should conceal, and not expose to blame

By my complaint; but strict necessity

Subdues me, and calamitous constraint

Lest on my head both sin and punishment,

However insupportable, be all

Devolved¹³⁵; though should I hold my peace, yet thou

Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.

This woman¹³⁷ whom thou mad’st to be my help,

And gav’st me as thy perfect gift, so good,

So fit, so acceptable, so divine,

That from her hand I could suspect no ill,

And what she did, whatever in itself,

Her doing seemed to justify the deed;

She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

   To whom the sov’reign Presence thus replied.

“Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey

Before his voice, or was she made thy guide,

Superior, or but equal, that to her

Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place

Wherein God set thee above her made of thee,

And for thee, whose perfection far excelled

Hers in all real dignity: adorned

She was indeed, and lovely to attract

Thy love, not thy subjection, and her gifts

Were such as under government well seemed,

Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part¹⁵⁵

And person, hadst thou known thyself aright.”

   So having said, he thus to Eve in few:

“Say woman, what is this which thou hast done?”

   To whom sad Eve with shame nigh overwhelmed,

Confessing soon, yet not before her judge

Bold or loquacious, thus abashed replied.

“The Serpent me beguiled and I did eat.”

   Which when the Lord God heard, without delay

To judgment he proceeded on th’ accused

Serpent though brute, unable¹⁶⁵ to transfer

The guilt on him who made him instrument

Of mischief, and polluted from the end

Of his creation; justly then accursed,

As vitiated in nature: more to know

Concerned not man (since he no further knew)

Nor altered his offense; yet God at last

To Satan first in sin his doom applied,

Though in mysterious¹⁷³ terms, judged as then best:

And on the serpent thus his curse let fall.

   “Because thou¹⁷⁵ hast done this, thou art accursed

Above all cattle, each beast of the field;

Upon thy belly groveling thou shalt go,

And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.

Between thee and the woman I will put

Enmity, and between thine and her seed;

Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.”

   So spake this oracle, then verified

When Jesus son of Mary, second Eve¹⁸³,

Saw Satan fall like lightning¹⁸⁴ down from heav’n,

Prince of the Air¹⁸⁵; then rising from his grave

Spoiled Principalities and Powers, triumphed

In open show, and with ascension bright

Captivity led captive through the air,

The realm itself of Satan long usurped,

Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;

Even he who now foretold his fatal bruise,

And to the woman thus his sentence turned.

   “Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply

By thy conception; children thou shalt bring

In sorrow forth, and to thy husband’s will¹⁹⁵

Thine shall submit, he over thee shall rule¹⁹⁵.”

   On Adam last thus judgment he pronounced.

“Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife,

And eaten of the tree concerning which

I charged thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat thereof,’

Cursed is the ground for thy sake, thou in sorrow

Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth

Unbid, and thou shalt eat th’ herb of th’ field,

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,

Till thou return unto the ground, for thou

Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,

For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.”

   So judged he man, both Judge and Savior sent,

And th’ instant stroke of death denounced²¹⁰ that day

Removed far off; then pitying how they stood

Before him naked to the air, that now

Must suffer change, disdained not to begin

Thenceforth the form of servant to assume,

As when²¹⁵ he washed his servants’ feet, so now

As father of his family he clad

Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain, Or²¹⁷ as the snake with youthful coat repaid;

And thought not much²¹⁹ to clothe his enemies:

Nor he their outward only with the skins

Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more

Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness²²²,

Arraying covered from his Father’s sight.

To him with swift ascent he up returned,

Into his blissful bosom reassumed

In glory as of old, to him appeased

All, though all-knowing, what had passed with man

Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

Meanwhile ere thus was sinned and judged on Earth,

Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death²³⁰,

In counterview within the gates, that now

Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame

Far into Chaos, since the fiend passed through,

Sin opening, who thus now to Death began.

   “O Son, why sit we here each other viewing

Idly, while Satan our great author²³⁶ thrives

In other worlds, and happier seat provides

For us his offspring dear? It cannot be

But that success attends him; if mishap,

Ere this he had returned, with fury driv’n

By his avengers, since no place like this²⁴¹

Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.

Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,²⁴³

Wings growing, and dominion giv’n me large²⁴³

Beyond this deep²⁴³; whatever draws me on,

Or sympathy, or some connatural force

Powerful at greatest distance to unite

With secret amity things of like kind

By secretest conveyance²⁴⁹. Thou my shade

Inseparable must with me along:

For Death from Sin no power can separate.

But lest the difficulty of passing back

Stay his return perhaps over this gulf

Impassable, impervious,²⁵⁴ let us try

Advent’rous work, yet to thy power and mine

Not unagreeable, to found a path

Over this main²⁵⁷ from Hell to that new world

Where Satan now prevails, a monument

Of merit high to all th’ infernal host,

Easing their passage hence, for intercourse,

Or transmigration²⁶¹, as their lot shall lead.

Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn

By this new felt attraction and instinct.”

   Whom thus the meager²⁶⁴ shadow answered soon.

“Go whither fate and inclination strong

Leads thee, I shall not lag behind, nor err

The way, thou leading, such a scent I draw

Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste

The savor of death from all things there that live:

Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest

Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.”

   So saying, with delight he snuffed²⁷² the smell

Of mortal change on Earth. As when a flock

Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,

Against²⁷⁵ the day of battle, to a field

Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured

With scent of living carcasses designed²⁷⁷

For death, the following day, in bloody fight.

So scented the grim feature²⁷⁹, and upturned

His nostril wide into the murky²⁸⁰ air,

Sagacious²⁸¹ of his quarry from so far.

Then both from out Hell gates into the waste

Wide anarchy of Chaos damp and dark

Flew diverse²⁸⁴, and with power (their power was great)

Hovering upon the waters; what they met

Solid or slimy, as in raging sea

Tossed up and down, together crowded drove

From each side shoaling²⁸⁸ towards the mouth of Hell.

As when two polar winds blowing adverse

Upon the Cronian Sea²⁹⁰, together drive

Mountains of ice, that stop th’ imagined way²⁹¹

Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich²⁹¹

Cathayan Coast²⁹¹. The aggregated soil²⁹³

Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry,

As with a trident smote, and fixed as firm

As Delos²⁹⁶ floating once; the rest his look

Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move,

And with asphaltic slime; broad as the gate,

Deep to the roots of Hell the gathered beach

They fastened, and the mole³⁰⁰ immense wrought on

Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge

Of length prodigious joining to the wall

Immovable of this now fenceless world

Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,

Smooth, easy, inoffensive³⁰⁵ down to Hell.

So, if great things to small may be compared,

Xerxes³⁰⁷, the liberty of Greece to yoke,

From Susa³⁰⁸ his Memnonian palace high

Came to the sea, and over Hellespont

Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,

And scourged with many a stroke th’ indignant³¹¹ waves.

Now had they brought the work by wondrous art³¹²

Pontifical³¹², a ridge of pendant rock

Over the vexed³¹⁴ abyss, following the track

Of Satan, to the selfsame place where he

First lighted from his wing, and landed safe

From out of Chaos to the outside bare

Of this round world: with pins of adamant

And chains they made all fast, too fast they made

And durable; and now in little space

The confines³²¹ met of empyrean Heav’n

And of this world, and on the left hand Hell

With long reach interposed; three sev’ral ways

In sight, to each of these three places led.

And now their way to Earth they had descried,

To Paradise first tending, when behold

Satan in likeness of an angel bright

Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering³²⁸

His zenith³²⁸, while the sun in Aries rose:

Disguised he came, but those his children dear

Their parent soon discerned, though in disguise.

He after Eve seduced, unminded slunk

Into the wood fast by, and changing shape

To observe the sequel³³⁴, saw his guileful act

By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded

Upon her husband, saw their shame that sought

Vain covertures; but when he saw descend

The Son of God to judge them, terrified

He fled, not hoping to escape, but shun

The present, fearing guilty what his wrath

Might suddenly inflict; that past, returned

By night, and list’ning³⁴² where the hapless pair

Sat in their sad discourse, and various plaint,

Thence gathered his own doom, which understood³⁴⁴

Not instant, but of future time. With joy

And tidings fraught, to Hell he now returned,

And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot

Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhoped

Met who to meet him came, his offspring dear.

Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight

Of that stupendous bridge his joy increased.

Long he admiring stood, till Sin, his fair

Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke.

   “O Parent, these are thy magnific deeds,

Thy trophies, which thou view’st as not thine own;

Thou art their author and prime architect:

For I no sooner in my heart divined,

My heart, which by a secret harmony

Still moves with thine, joined in connection sweet,

That thou on Earth hadst prospered, which thy looks

Now also evidence, but straight I felt

Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt

That I must after thee with this thy son;

Such fatal consequence³⁶⁴ unites us three:

Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds,

Nor this unvoyageable gulf obscure

Detain from following thy illustrious track.

Thou hast achieved our liberty, confined

Within Hell gates till now, thou us empow’red

To fortify thus far, and overlay

With this portentous³⁷¹ bridge the dark abyss.

Thine now is all this world, thy virtue hath won

What thy hands builded not, thy wisdom gained

With odds what war hath lost, and fully avenged

Our foil in Heav’n; here thou shalt monarch reign,

There didst not; there let him still victor sway,

As battle hath adjudged, from this new world

Retiring, by his own doom³⁷⁸ alienated,

And henceforth³⁷⁹ monarchy with thee divide

Of all things parted by th’ empyreal bounds,

His quadrature³⁸¹, from thy orbicular world,

Or try thee now more dang’rous to his throne.”

   Whom thus the Prince of Darkness answered glad.

“Fair daughter, and thou son and grandchild both,

High proof ye now have giv’n to be the race

Of Satan³⁸⁶ (for I glory in the name,

Antagonist of Heav’n’s Almighty King)

Amply have merited of me, of all

Th’ infernal empire, that so near Heav’n’s door

Triumphal³⁹⁰ with triumphal act have met,

Mine with this glorious work, and made one realm

Hell and this world, one realm, one continent

Of easy thoroughfare. Therefore while I

Descend through darkness, on your road with ease

To my associate powers, them to acquaint

With these successes, and with them rejoice,

You two this way, among these numerous orbs

All yours, right down to Paradise descend;

There dwell and reign in bliss, thence on the Earth

Dominion exercise⁴⁰⁰ and in the air,

Chiefly on man, sole lord of all declared,

Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill.

My substitutes I send ye, and create

Plenipotent⁴⁰⁴ on Earth, of matchless might

Issuing from me: on your joint vigor now

My hold of this new kingdom all depends,

Through Sin to Death exposed by my exploit.

If your joint power prevails⁴⁰⁸, th’ affairs of Hell

No detriment need fear⁴⁰⁹. Go and be strong.”

   So saying he dismissed them, they with speed

Their course through thickest constellations held

Spreading their bane; the blasted⁴¹² stars looked wan,

And planets, planet-struck⁴¹³, real eclipse

Then suffered. Th’ other way Satan went down

The causey⁴¹⁵ to Hell gate; on either side

Disparted⁴¹⁶ Chaos overbuilt exclaimed,

And with rebounding surge the bars assailed,

That scorned his indignation: through the gate,

Wide open and unguarded, Satan passed,

And all about found desolate; for those

Appointed to sit there, had left their charge,

Flown to the upper world; the rest were all

Far to the inland retired, about the walls

Of Pandaemonium, city and proud seat

Of Lucifer, so by allusion called,

Of that bright star⁴²⁶ to Satan paragoned.

There kept their watch the legions, while the grand⁴²⁷

In council sat, solicitous⁴²⁸ what chance

Might intercept their Emperor sent, so he

Departing gave command, and they observed.

As when⁴³¹ the Tartar from his Russian foe

By Astracan over the snowy plains

Retires, or Bactrian Sophy from the horns

Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond

The realm of Aladule, in his retreat

To Tauris or Casbeen. So these the late

Heav’n-banished host, left desert utmost Hell

Many a dark league, reduced⁴³⁸ in careful watch

Round their metropolis, and now expecting

Each hour their great adventurer from the search

Of foreign⁴⁴¹ worlds: he through the midst unmarked,

In show plebeian angel militant

Of lowest order, passed; and from the door

Of that Plutonian hall, invisible

Ascended his high throne, which under state⁴⁴⁵

Of richest texture spread, at th’ upper end

Was placed in regal luster. Down awhile

He sat, and round about him saw unseen:

At last as from a cloud his fulgent head

And shape star-bright appeared, or brighter, clad

With what permissive⁴⁵¹ glory since his fall

Was left him, or false glitter: all amazed

At that so sudden blaze⁴⁵³ the Stygian throng

Bent their aspect, and whom they wished beheld,

Their mighty chief returned: loud was th’ acclaim:

Forth rushed in haste the great consulting peers,

Raised from their dark divan⁴⁵⁷, and with like joy

Congratulant⁴⁵⁸ approached him, who with hand

Silence, and with these words attention won.

   “Thrones, Dominations,⁴⁶⁰ Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,

For in possession such, not only of right,

I call ye and declare ye now, returned

Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth

Triumphant out of this infernal pit

Abominable, accursed, the house of woe,

And dungeon of our tyrant: now possess,

As lords, a spacious world, to our native Heaven

Little inferior, by my adventure hard

With peril great achieved. Long were to tell

What I have done, what suffered, with what pain

Voyaged th’ unreal⁴⁷¹, vast, unbounded deep

Of horrible confusion, over which

By Sin and Death a broad way now is paved

To expedite your glorious march; but I

Toiled out my uncouth⁴⁷⁵ passage, forced to ride

Th’ untractable abyss, plunged in the womb

Of unoriginal⁴⁷⁷ Night and Chaos wild,

That jealous of their secrets fiercely opposed

My journey strange, with clamorous uproar

Protesting fate supreme⁴⁸⁰; thence how I found

The new created world, which fame in Heav’n⁴⁸¹

Long had foretold⁴⁸¹, a fabric wonderful

Of absolute perfection, therein man

Placed in a Paradise, by our exile

Made happy; him by fraud I have seduced

From his Creator, and the more to increase

Your wonder, with an apple; he thereat

Offended, worth your laughter, hath giv’n up

Both his beloved man and all his world,

To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us,

Without our hazard, labor, or alarm,

To range in, and to dwell, and over man

To rule, as over all he should have ruled.

True is,⁴⁹⁴ me also he hath judged, or rather

Me not, but the brute serpent in whose shape

Man I deceived: that which to me belongs,

Is enmity, which he will put between

Me and mankind; I am to bruise his heel;

His seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head:

A world who would not purchase with a bruise,

Or much more grievous pain? Ye have th’ account

Of my performance: what remains, ye gods,

But up and enter now into full bliss.”

   So having said, a while he stood, expecting

Their universal shout and high applause

To fill his ear, when contrary he hears

On all sides, from innumerable tongues

A dismal universal hiss, the sound

Of public scorn; he wondered⁵⁰⁹, but not long

Had leisure, wond’ring at himself now more;

His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare,⁵¹¹

His arms clung to his ribs, his legs entwining

Each other, till supplanted⁵¹³ down he fell

A monstrous serpent on his belly prone,

Reluctant⁵¹⁵, but in vain; a greater power

Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned,

According to his doom⁵¹⁷: he would have spoke,

But hiss for hiss returned with forkèd tongue

To forkèd tongue, for now were all transformed

Alike, to serpents all as accessories

To his bold riot: dreadful was the din

Of hissing through the hall, thick swarming now

With complicated monsters head and tail,

Scorpion and asp, and amphisbaena⁵²⁴ dire,

Cerastes horned⁵²⁵, hydrus, and ellops drear,

And dipsas⁵²⁶ (not so thick swarm’d once the soil

Bedropped with blood of Gorgon, or the Isle

Ophiusa⁵²⁸); but still greatest he the midst,

Now dragon⁵²⁹ grown, larger than whom the sun

Engendered in the Pythian vale⁵³⁰ on slime,

Huge Python⁵³¹, and his power no less he seemed

Above the rest still to retain; they all

Him followed issuing forth to th’ open field,

Where all yet left of that revolted rout

Heav’n-fall’n, in station stood or just array,

Sublime⁵³⁶ with expectation when to see

ln triumph issuing forth their glorious chief;

They saw, but other sight instead, a crowd

Of ugly serpents; horror on them fell,

And horrid sympathy; for what they saw,

They felt themselves now changing; down their arms,

Down fell both spear and shield, down they as fast,

And the dire hiss renewed, and the dire form

Catched by contagion, like in punishment,

As in their crime. Thus was th’ applause they meant,

Turned to exploding hiss, triumph to shame

Cast on themselves from their own mouths. There stood

A grove hard by, sprung up with this their change,

His will who reigns above, to aggravate

Their penance, laden with fair fruit like that

Which grew in Paradise, the bait of Eve

Used by the Tempter: on that prospect strange

Their earnest eyes they fixed, imagining

For one forbidden tree a multitude

Now ris’n, to work them further woe or shame;

Yet parched⁵⁵⁶ with scalding thirst and hunger fierce,

Though to delude them sent, could not abstain,

But on they rolled in heaps, and up the trees

Climbing, sat thicker than the snaky locks⁵⁵⁹

That curled Megaera: greedily they plucked

The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew

Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed;

This more delusive, not the touch, but taste

Deceived; they fondly thinking to allay

Their appetite with gust⁵⁶⁵, instead of fruit

Chewed bitter ashes, which th’ offended taste

With spattering noise rejected: oft they assayed,

Hunger and thirst constraining, drugged⁵⁶⁸ as oft,

With hatefulest disrelish writhed their jaws

With soot and cinders filled; so oft they fell

Into the same illusion, not as man

Whom they triumphed once lapsed. Thus were they plagued

And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hiss,

Till their lost shape, permitted, they resumed,

Yearly enjoined, some say⁵⁷⁵, to undergo

This annual humbling certain numbered days,

To dash their pride, and joy for man seduced.

However some⁵⁷⁸ tradition they dispersed

Among the heathen of their purchase got,

And fabled how the serpent, whom they called

Ophion with Eurynome, the wide-

Encroaching Eve perhaps, had first the rule

Of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driv’n

And Ops, ere yet Dictaean⁵⁸⁴ Jove was born.

Meanwhile in Paradise the Hellish pair

Too soon arrived, Sin there in power before,⁵⁸⁶

Once actual, now in body⁵⁸⁶, and to dwell

Habitual habitant; behind her Death

Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet

On his pale horse⁵⁹⁰: to whom Sin thus began.

   “Second of Satan sprung, all conquering Death,

What think’st thou of our empire now, though earned

With travail difficult, not better far

Than still at Hell’s dark threshold to have sat watch,

Unnamed, undreaded, and thyself half starved?”

   Whom thus the Sin-born monster answered soon.

“To me, who with eternal famine pine,

Alike is Hell, or Paradise, or Heaven,

There best, where most with ravin I may meet;

Which here, though plenteous, all too little seems

To stuff this maw, this vast unhidebound⁶⁰¹ corpse.”

   To whom th’ incestuous mother thus replied.

“Thou therefore on these herbs, and fruits, and flow’rs

Feed first, on each beast next, and fish, and fowl,

No homely morsels, and whatever thing

The scythe of Time mows down, devour unspared,

Till I in man residing through the race,

His thoughts, his looks, words, actions all infect,

And season him thy last and sweetest prey.”

This said, they both betook them several ways,

Both to destroy, or unimmortal⁶¹¹ make

All kinds, and for destruction to mature

Sooner or later; which th’ Almighty seeing,

From his transcendent seat the saints among,

To those bright orders uttered thus his voice.

   “See with what heat these dogs of Hell advance

To waste and havoc⁶¹⁷ yonder world, which I

So fair and good created, and had still

Kept in that state, had not the folly of man

Let in these wasteful Furies, who impute

Folly to me, so doth the Prince of Hell

And his adherents, that with so much ease

I suffer them to enter and possess

A place so Heav’nly, and conniving seem

To gratify my scornful enemies,

That laugh, as if transported with some fit

Of passion, I to them had quitted⁶²⁷ all,

At random yielded up to their misrule;

And know not that I called and drew them thither

My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff⁶³⁰ and filth

Which man’s polluting sin with taint hath shed

On what was pure, till crammed and gorged, nigh burst

With sucked and glutted offal, at one sling⁶³³

Of thy victorious arm⁶³³, well-pleasing Son,

Both Sin, and Death, and yawning grave at last

Through Chaos hurled, obstruct the mouth of Hell

Forever, and seal up his ravenous jaws.

Then heav’n and earth renewed shall be made pure

To sanctity that shall receive no stain:

Till then the curse pronounced on both precedes⁶⁴⁰.”

   He ended, and the Heav’nly audience loud

Sung hallelujah, as the sound of seas,

Through multitude that sung: “Just are thy ways,

Righteous are thy decrees on all thy works;

Who can extenuate⁶⁴⁵ thee? Next, to the Son,

Destined restorer of mankind, by whom

New heav’n and earth shall to the ages rise,

Or down from Heav’n descend.” Such was their song,

While the Creator calling forth by name

His mighty angels gave them several charge,

As sorted best with present things. The sun

Had first his precept so to move, so shine,

As might affect the Earth with cold and heat

Scarce tolerable, and from the north to call

Decrepit winter, from the south to bring

Solstitial summer’s heat. To the blank⁶⁵⁶ moon

Her office they prescribed, to th’ other five

Their planetary motions and aspects⁶⁵⁸

In sextile⁶⁵⁹, square, and trine, and opposite,

Of noxious efficacy, and when to join

In synod⁶⁶¹ unbenign, and taught the fixed

Their influence malignant when to show’r,

Which of them rising with the sun, or falling,

Should prove tempestuous: to the winds they set

Their corners, when with bluster to confound

Sea, air, and shore, the thunder when to roll

With terror through the dark aerial hall.

Some say he bid his angels turn askance⁶⁶⁸

The poles of Earth twice ten degrees and more

From the sun’s axle; they with labor pushed

Oblique the centric globe: some say the sun

Was bid⁶⁷² turn reins from th’ equinoctial road

Like distant breadth to Taurus with the sev’n

Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan Twins

Up to the Tropic Crab; thence down amain

By Leo and the Virgin and the Scales,

As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change

Of seasons to each clime; else had the spring

Perpetual smiled on Earth with vernant flow’rs,

Equal in days and nights, except to those

Beyond the polar circles; to them day

Had unbenighted shone, while the low sun

To recompense his distance, in their sight

Had rounded still th’ horizon, and not known

Or east or west, which had forbid the snow

From cold Estotiland⁶⁸⁶, and south as far

Beneath Magellan⁶⁸⁷. At that tasted fruit

The sun, as from Thyestean banquet⁶⁸⁸, turned

His course intended; else how had the world

Inhabited, though sinless, more than now,

Avoided pinching cold and scorching heat?

These changes in the heav’ns, though slow, produced

Like change on sea and land, sideral blast⁶⁹³,

Vapor, and mist, and exhalation hot,

Corrupt and pestilent: now from the north

Of Norumbega⁶⁹⁶, and the Samoed shore

Bursting their brazen dungeon⁶⁹⁷, armed with ice

And snow and hail and stormy gust and flaw,

Boreas and⁶⁹⁹ Caecias and Argestes loud

And Thrascias rend the woods and seas upturn;

With adverse blast upturns them from the south

Notus and Afer black with thund’rous clouds

From Serraliona; thwart of these as fierce

Forth rush the Levant and the ponent winds

Eurus and Zephyr with their lateral noise,

Sirocco, and Libecchio. Thus began

Outrage from lifeless things; but Discord first

Daughter of Sin, among th’ irrational,

Death introduced through fierce antipathy:

Beast now with beast gan war, and fowl with fowl,

And fish with fish; to graze the herb all leaving,

Devoured each other; nor stood much in awe

Of man, but fled him, or with count’nance grim

Glared on him passing: these⁷¹⁴ were from without

The growing miseries, which Adam saw

Already in part, though hid in gloomiest shade,

To sorrow abandoned, but worse felt within,

And in a troubled sea of passion tossed,

Thus to disburden sought with sad complaint.

   “O miserable of happy! Is this the end

Of this new glorious world, and me so late

The glory of that glory? Who now become

Accursed of blessed; hide me from the face

Of God, whom to behold was then my highth

Of happiness: yet well, if here would end

The misery, I deserved it, and would bear

My own deservings; but this will not serve;

All that I eat or drink, or shall beget,

Is propagated curse⁷²⁹. O voice once heard

Delightfully, ‘Increase and multiply,’

Now death to hear! For what can I increase

Or multiply, but curses on my head?

Who of all ages to succeed, but feeling

The evil on him brought by me, will curse

My head, ‘Ill fare our ancestor impure,

For this we may thank Adam’? But his thanks

Shall be the execration; so besides

Mine own that bide upon me, all from me

Shall with a fierce reflux on me redound,

On me⁷⁴⁰ as on their natural center light

Heavy, though in their place. O fleeting joys

Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes!

Did I⁷⁴³ request thee, Maker, from my clay

To mold me man, did I solicit thee

From darkness to promote me, or here place

In this delicious garden? As my will

Concurred not to my being, it were but right

And equal⁷⁴⁸ to reduce me to my dust,

Desirous to resign, and render back

All I received, unable to perform

Thy terms too hard, by which I was to hold

The good I sought not. To the loss of that,

Sufficient penalty, why hast thou added

The sense of endless woes? Inexplicable

Thy justice seems; yet to say truth, too late,

I thus contest; then should have been refused

Those terms whatever, when they were proposed:

Thou⁷⁵⁸ didst accept them; wilt thou enjoy the good,

Then cavil the conditions? And though God

Made thee without thy leave, what if thy son

Prove disobedient, and reproved, retort,

‘Wherefore didst⁷⁶² thou beget me? I sought it not,’

Wouldst thou admit for his contempt of thee

That proud excuse? Yet him not thy election,

But natural necessity begot.

God made thee of choice his own, and of his own

To serve him, thy reward was of his grace,

Thy punishment then justly is at his will.

Be it so, for I submit, his doom is fair,

That dust I am, and shall to dust return:

O welcome hour whenever! Why delays

His hand to execute what his decree

Fixed on this day? Why do I overlive,

Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out

To deathless pain? How gladly would I meet

Mortality my sentence, and be earth

Insensible, how glad would lay me down

As in my mother’s lap! There I should rest

And sleep secure; his dreadful voice no more

Would thunder in my ears, no fear of worse

To me and to my offspring would torment me

With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt⁷⁸²

Pursues me still, lest all⁷⁸³ I cannot die,

Lest that pure breath of life, the spirit of man

Which God inspired, cannot together perish

With this corporeal clod; then⁷⁸⁶ in the grave,

Or in some other dismal place who knows

But I shall die a living death? O thought

Horrid, if true! Yet why? It was but breath

Of Life that sinned; what dies but what had life

And sin? The body properly hath neither⁷⁹¹.

All of me then shall die: let this appease

The doubt, since human reach no further knows.

For though the Lord of all be infinite,

Is his wrath also? Be it, man is not so,

But mortal doomed. How can he exercise

Wrath without end on man whom death must end?

Can he make⁷⁹⁸ deathless death? That were to make

Strange contradiction, which to God himself

Impossible is held, as argument

Of weakness, not of power. Will he draw out,

For anger’s sake, finite to infinite

In punished man, to satisfy his rigor

Satisfied never? That were to extend

His sentence beyond dust and nature’s law,

By which all causes else according still

To the reception of their matter act,

Not to th’ extent of their own sphere. But say

That death be not one stroke, as I supposed,

Bereaving sense, but endless misery

From this day onward, which l feel begun

Both in me, and without me, and so last

To perpetuity; ay me, that fear

Comes thund’ring back with dreadful revolution

On my⁸¹⁵ defenseless head; both Death and I

Am found eternal, and incorporate both,

Nor I on my part single, in me all

Posterity stands cursed: fair patrimony

That I must leave ye, sons; O were I able

To waste it all myself, and leave ye none!

So disinherited how would ye bless

Me now your curse! Ah, why should all mankind

For one man’s fault thus guiltless be condemned,

If guiltless? But from me what can proceed,

But all corrupt, both mind and will depraved,

Not to do only, but to will the same

With me? How can they then acquitted stand

In sight of God? Him after all disputes

Forced I absolve: all my evasions vain,

And reasonings, though through mazes, lead me still

But to my own conviction⁸³¹: first and last

On me, me only, as the source and spring

Of all corruption, all the blame lights due;

So might the wrath. Fond wish! Couldst thou support

That burden heavier than the Earth to bear,

Than all the world much heavier, though divided

With that bad woman? Thus what thou desir’st⁸³⁷

And what thou fear’st, alike destroys all hope

Of refuge, and concludes thee miserable

Beyond all past example and future,

To Satan only like both crime and doom.

O conscience⁸⁴², into what abyss of fears

And horrors hast thou driv’n me; out of which

I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!”

   Thus Adam to himself lamented loud

Through the still night, not now, as ere man fell,

Wholesome and cool, and mild, but with black air

Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom,

Which to his evil conscience represented⁸⁴⁹

All things with double terror⁸⁴⁹: on the ground

Outstretched he lay, on the cold ground, and oft

Cursed his creation, Death as oft accused

Of tardy execution, since denounced⁸⁵³

The day of his offense⁸⁵³. “Why comes not Death,”

Said he, “with one thrice acceptable stroke

To end me? Shall Truth fail to keep her word,

Justice Divine not hasten to be just?

But Death comes not at call, Justice Divine

Mends not her slowest pace for prayers or cries.

O woods, O fountains, hillocks, dales and bow’rs,

With other echo late I taught your shades

To answer, and resound far other song.”

Whom thus afflicted when sad Eve beheld,

Desolate where she sat, approaching nigh,

Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed:

But her with stern regard he thus repell’d.

   “Out of my⁸⁶⁷ sight, thou serpent, that name best

Befits thee with him leagued, thyself as false

And hateful; nothing wants, but that thy shape,

Like his, and color serpentine may show

Thy inward fraud, to warn all creatures from thee

Henceforth; lest that too Heav’nly form, pretended⁸⁷²

To⁸⁷² Hellish falsehood, snare them. But for thee

I had persisted happy, had not thy pride

And wand’ring vanity, when least was safe,

Rejected my forewarning, and disdained

Not to be trusted, longing to be seen

Though by the Devil himself, him overweening

To overreach, but with the serpent meeting

Fooled and beguiled, by him thou, I by thee,

To trust thee from my side, imagined wise,

Constant, mature, proof against all assaults,

And understood not all was but a show

Rather than solid virtue, all but a rib

Crooked by nature, bent, as now appears,

More to the part sinister⁸⁸⁶ from me drawn,

Well if⁸⁸⁷ thrown out, as supernumerary

To my just number found. O why⁸⁸⁸ did God,

Creator wise, that peopled highest Heav’n

With spirits masculine⁸⁹⁰, create at last

This novelty on Earth, this fair defect⁸⁹¹

Of nature⁸⁹¹, and not fill the world at once

With men as angels without feminine,

Or find some other way to generate

Mankind? This mischief had not then befall’n,

And more that shall befall, innumerable

Disturbances on Earth through female snares,

And strait conjunction with this sex: for either

He never shall find out fit mate, but such

As some misfortune brings him, or mistake,

Or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain

Through her perverseness, but shall see her gained

By a far worse, or if she love, withheld

By parents, or his happiest choice too late

Shall meet, already linked and wedlock-bound

To a fell adversary, his hate or shame:

Which infinite calamity shall cause

To human life, and household peace confound.”

   He added not, and from her turned, but Eve

Not so repulsed, with tears that ceased not flowing,

And tresses all disordered, at his feet

Fell humble, and embracing them, besought

His peace, and thus proceeded in her plaint.

   “Forsake me not thus, Adam, witness Heav’n

What love sincere, and reverence in my heart

I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,

Unhappily deceived; thy suppliant

I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not,

Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid,

Thy counsel in this uttermost distress,

My only strength and stay: forlorn of thee,

Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?

While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,

Between us two let there be peace, both joining,

As joined⁹²⁵ in injuries, one enmity

Against a foe by doom express assigned us,

That cruel serpent: on me exercise not

Thy hatred for this misery befall’n,

On me already lost, me than thyself

More miserable; both have sinned, but thou

Against God only, I against God and thee,

And to the place of judgment will return,

There with my cries importune Heaven, that all

The sentence from thy head removed may light

On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe,

Me me only just object of his ire.”

   She ended weeping, and her lowly plight,

Immovable till peace obtained from fault

Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam wrought

Commiseration⁹⁴⁰; soon his heart relented

Towards her, his life so late and sole delight,

Now at his feet submissive in distress,

Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking,

His counsel whom she had displeased, his aid;

As one disarmed, his anger all he lost,

And thus with peaceful words upraised her soon.

   “Unwary, and too desirous, as before,

So now of what thou know’st not, who desir’st

The punishment all on thyself; alas,

Bear thine own first, ill able to sustain

His full wrath whose thou feel’st as yet least part,

And my displeasure bear’st so ill. If prayers

Could alter high decrees, I to that place

Would speed before thee, and be louder heard,

That on my head all might be visited,

Thy frailty and infirmer sex forgiv’n,

To me committed and by me exposed.

But rise, let us no more contend, nor blame

Each other, blamed enough elsewhere, but strive

In offices of love, how we may light’n

Each other’s burden in our share of woe;

Since this day’s death denounced, if aught I see,

Will prove no sudden, but a slow-paced evil,

A long day’s dying to augment our pain,

And to our seed (O hapless seed!) derived⁹⁶⁵.”

   To whom thus Eve, recovering heart, replied.

“Adam, by sad experiment I know

How little weight my words with thee can find,

Found so erroneous, thence by just event⁹⁶⁹

Found so unfortunate; nevertheless,

Restored by thee, vile as I am, to place

Of new acceptance, hopeful to regain

Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart,

Living or dying, from thee I will not hide

What thoughts in my unquiet breast are ris’n,

Tending to some relief of our extremes,

Or end, though sharp and sad, yet tolerable,

As in⁹⁷⁸ our evils, and of easier choice.

If care⁹⁷⁹ of our descent perplex us most,

Which must be born to certain woe, devoured

By Death at last, and miserable it is

To be to others cause of misery,

Our own begotten, and of our loins to bring

Into this cursèd world a woful race,

That after wretched life must be at last

Food for so foul a monster, in thy power

It lies, yet ere conception to prevent

The race unblest, to being yet unbegot.

Childless thou⁹⁸⁹ art, childless remain: so Death

Shall be deceived⁹⁹⁰ his glut, and with us two

Be forced to satisfy his rav’nous maw.

But if thou judge it hard and difficult,

Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain

From love’s due rites, nuptial embraces sweet⁹⁹⁴,

And with desire to languish without hope,

Before the present object languishing

With like⁹⁹⁷ desire, which would be misery

And torment less than none of what we dread,

Then both ourselves and seed at once to free

From what we fear for both, let us make short,

Let us seek Death, or he not found, supply

With our own hands his office on ourselves;

Why stand we longer shivering under fears,

That show no end but death, and have the power,

Of many ways to die the shortest choosing,

Destruction with destruction to destroy?”

   She ended here, or vehement despair

Broke off the rest; so much of death her thoughts

Had entertained, as dyed her cheeks with pale.

But Adam with such counsel nothing swayed,

To better hopes his more attentive mind

Laboring had raised, and thus to Eve replied.

   “Eve, thy contempt of life and pleasure seems

To argue in thee something more sublime

And excellent than what thy mind contemns;

But self-destruction therefore sought, refutes

That excellence thought in thee, and implies,

Not thy contempt, but anguish and regret

For loss of life and pleasure overloved.

Or if thou covet death, as utmost end

Of misery, so thinking to evade

The penalty pronounced, doubt not but God

Hath wiselier armed his vengeful ire than so

To be forestalled; much more I fear lest death

So snatched will not exempt us from the pain

We are by doom to pay; rather such acts

Of contumacy will provoke the Highest

To make death in us live: then let us seek

Some safer resolution, which methinks

I have¹⁰³⁰ in view, calling to mind with heed

Part of our sentence, that thy seed shall bruise

The serpent’s head; piteous amends, unless

Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand foe

Satan, who in the serpent hath contrived

Against us this deceit: to crush his head

Would be revenge indeed, which will be lost

By death brought on ourselves, or childless days

Resolved, as thou proposest; so our foe

Shall scape his punishment ordained, and we

Instead shall double ours upon our heads.

No more be mentioned then of violence

Against ourselves, and willful barrenness,

That cuts us off from hope, and savors only

Rancor and pride, impatience and despite,

Reluctance against God and his just yoke

Laid on our necks. Remember with what mild

And gracious temper he both heard and judged

Without wrath or reviling; we expected

Immediate dissolution, which we thought

Was meant by death that day, when lo, to thee

Pains only in child-bearing were foretold,

And bringing forth, soon recompensed with joy,

Fruit of thy womb¹⁰⁵³: on me the curse aslope

Glanced on the ground, with labor I must earn

My bread; what harm? Idleness had been worse;

My labor will sustain me; and lest cold

Or heat should injure us, his timely care

Hath unbesought provided, and his hands

Clothed us unworthy, pitying while he judged;

How much more, if we pray him, will his ear

Be open, and his heart to pity incline,

And teach us further by what means¹⁰⁶² to shun

Th’ inclement seasons, rain, ice, hail and snow,

Which now the sky with various face begins

To show us in this mountain, while the winds

Blow moist and keen, shattering¹⁰⁶⁶ the graceful locks

Of these fair spreading trees; which bids us seek

Some better shroud¹⁰⁶⁸, some better warmth to cherish

Our limbs benumbed, ere this diurnal star

Leave cold the night, how we his gathered beams

Reflected, may with matter sere foment¹⁰⁷¹,

Or by collision of two bodies grind

The air attrite¹⁰⁷³ to fire, as late the clouds

Justling or pushed with winds rude in their shock

Tine¹⁰⁷⁵ the slant lightning, whose thwart flame driv’n down

Kindles the gummy bark of fir or pine,

And sends a comfortable heat from far,

Which might supply the sun: such fire to use,

And what may else be remedy or cure

To evils which our own misdeeds have wrought,

He will instruct us praying, and of grace

Beseeching him, so as we need not fear

To pass commodiously this life, sustained

By him with many comforts, till we end

In dust, our final rest and native home.

1086 What better¹⁰⁸⁶ can we do, than to the place

Repairing where he judged us, prostrate fall

Before him reverent, and there confess

Humbly our faults, and pardon beg, with tears

Watering the ground, and with our sighs the air

Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign

Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.

Undoubtedly he will relent and turn

From his displeasure; in whose look serene,

When angry most he seemed and most severe,

What else but favor, grace, and mercy shone?”

   So spake our father penitent, nor Eve

Felt less remorse: they forthwith to the place

Repairing where he judged them prostrate fell

Before him reverent, and both confessed

Humbly their faults, and pardon begged, with tears

Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air

Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign

Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.

10. Complete: fully equipped.

12. still: always.

16. manifold in sin: various in sin. On the multiplicity of the sin of the Fall, see CD 1.11 (MLM 1235–36); A. Williams 121–22.

29–31. Accountable … approved: “The guardian angels, accountable for their actions, hastily approached the throne to plead their vigilance, which God readily confirmed: the guards were not to blame.”

40. speed: be successful.

45. moment: the minimum weight necessary to disturb the equilibrium of a balance (the even scale of l. 47). Cp. 6.239, 245–46.

48. rests: remains.

53. Forbearance no acquittance: A debt is not settled just because payment has not yet been demanded; see Tilley F584.

54. “Man will not scorn my justice [for not being duly delivered] as he scorned my gift of Paradise.”

56–57. to thee … judgment: John 5.22.

78. illustrate most: show above all.

79. Them: justice and mercy. Cp. Nat Ode, stanza 15.

80. Attendance none shall need: “I will not need a retinue.”

82. the third: Satan.

83. Convict: convicted.

84. Conviction: both “proof of guilt” and “condition of being convinced of sin” (OED 8).

86. collateral: side by side.

90–91. the speed … winged: The implication is that time, however finely measured, contains no unit short enough to express the instantaneous speed of the Son.

92. cadence: falling.

106. obvious: The word, meaning (1) “plain” and (2) “coming in the way,” defines both the obviousness of the duty and the duty to be obvious before a visiting deity.

118. revile: reviling.

120. still: always, ever.

128. other self: See 8.450n.

135. Devolved: caused to fall upon (OED 3c).

137–43. Here Milton elaborates Gen. 3.12. Contrast Eve’s simple confession in lines 159–62, where he closely follows Gen. 3.13.

155–56. part/And person: role and character (in a play).

165–66. unable … instrument: The serpent is unable to transfer the guilt to Satan, who made the serpent his instrument.

173. mysterious: mystical, prefiguring.

175–81. A major passage in the design of the poem, in that these mysterious terms are progressively opened or dilated in the remaining books until they convey the entirety of the Christian revelation. At lines 504–17 the curse on the serpent is literally transferred to Satan and the devils. The mysterious terms are then gradually explicated in lines 1030–40; 11.115–16, 154–55; 12.327–30, 376–85, 429–35, 451–55, 620–23. Genesis 3.15, on which this passage is based, is sometimes termed a “protevangelium” or “first gospel.” Luther thought the first gospel was intended to console Eve, since second Eve (l. 183) will contribute humanity to Jesus, while Calvin insisted that “seed of the woman” meant all mankind. Milton presents both views. See Hunter et al., A Milton Encyclopedia, “Protevangelium.”

183. second Eve: an idea familiar in Christian “figural” interpretation of the Bible (see Auerbach 11–78), as is the corresponding notion of Jesus as second or “last” Adam (1 Cor. 15.45).

184. Satan fall like lightning: Luke 10.18–19.

185. Prince of the Air: a commonplace epithet for Satan (Eph. 2.2). Cp. PR 1.39–47.

195–96. thy husband’s … rule: Milton in CD 1.10 (MLM 1222) maintains that Adam’s authority over Eve is strengthened after the Fall, but there are intimations in the poem that postlapsarian Adam and Eve enjoy new equalities—equal in guilt, equal in their Christian enmity toward the serpent, equal in “one faith unanimous” (12.603).

210. denounced: announced as a calamity soon to occur.

215. See John 13.5.

217–18. or … Or: either … or. The skins of Gen. 3.21 had long been a provocation to exegetes, as Hume noted: “Interpreters torment the text … with their curious inquiries, ‘Who slew the beasts? Who flay’d ’em?’ ”

219. thought not much: thought it nothing to object to or hesitate to perform (OED 10d).

222. robe of righteousness: Isa. 61.10.

230. Sin and Death: Book 10 “has a greater variety of persons in it than any other in the whole poem. The author, upon the winding up of his action, introduces all those who had any concern in it, and shows with great beauty the influence which it had upon each of them. It is like the last act of a well-written tragedy” (Addison 157).

236. author: father.

241. like this: so well as this.

243–45. Methinks … deep: Since Adam and Eve feel wings growing on them soon after the Fall (9.1009–10), Sin’s similar illusion may appear at the same moment (Fowler). Sin lays claim to the “dominion” originally given to Adam and Eve (4.430–32), and extends that rule to include Adam, Eve, and their offspring.

249. conveyance: communication.

254–323. Leonard notes that prodigious feats of building are conventional in epic; Milton has already represented the raising of Pandaemonium (1.678–730), the invention of cannon (6.507–23), and the Creation.

257. main: Chaos’s ocean.

261. transmigration: permanent migration to Earth.

264. meager: emaciated.

272. snuffed: detected by means of its odor.

275. Against: in anticipation of.

277. designed: marked out for.

279. feature: shape, form.

280. murky: dark.

281. Sagacious: (1) quick of scent and (2) wise. “A fit comparison for the chief hell-hound” (Hume).

284. diverse: in different directions.

288. shoaling: crowding together.

290. Cronian Sea: Arctic Ocean (icebound).

291–93. th’ imagined way … Coast: the fabled northeast passage between Siberia—where the Pechora (Petsora) River is found; see Milton’s Muscovia in Yale 8:479—and China (Cathay) that explorers such as Henry Hudson only imagined, since the waters were blocked with ice.

293–98. The aggregated soil … slime: With his petrifying mace (scepter), Death fixes the cold and dry qualities, and isolates the hot and moist, which he turns into a mortar, using both asphalt and his Gorgon-like ability to turn the objects of his gaze to stone.

296. Delos: Neptune secured the floating island of Delos by chains to the bottom of the Aegean Sea so that Latona could safely give birth to Apollo and Diana.

300. mole: great causeway or bridge.

305. inoffensive: free from obstacles, with a punning glance back at fenceless in line 303.

307–11. Xerxes of Persia built a bridge of ships across the Hellespont in order to invade Greece and ordered the sea whipped when the bridge was destroyed.

308. Susa: the winter palace of Persian kings, called Memnonian after Memnos, legendary son of Tithonus and Aurora.

311. indignant: both “resentful” from the Latin indignans and “unworthy of punishment” from the Latin indignis (Fowler).

312–13. art/Pontifical: both “bridge-building art” and “popish art.” Eighteenth-century editors thought the pun in dubious taste (Todd).

314. vexed: storm torn.

321. confines: borders.

328–29. Betwixt … zenith: Satan flies between the Centaur (Sagittarius) and the Scorpion (Scorpio), where the constellation Anguis, the serpent held by Ophiucus, is located. Satan entered the universe at the head of the serpent, in Libra (3.556–61n), and now leaves it at the tail of the serpent, enacting in astrological terms his possession of the snake. See Fowler for details. His entrance and exit also participate in the root image systems of eating and digestion.

334. sequel: consequence.

342–45. list’ning … time: This can only refer to lines 1030–40, which imply that the entire turbulent night of lines 720–1104 takes place earlier in chronological time than the present encounter between Satan, Sin, and Death (Leonard).

344. which understood: which he understood.

364. consequence: of which Satan is the cause or author; evil’s consequence is established in the opening lines of the epic, in the “fruit” whose taste brings Death into the world, and again when Satan as “cause” is first named at 1.34.

371. portentous: marvelous and ominous.

378. doom: judgment; alienated: See 9.9 for the apparent truth of Sin’s claim; she does not yet understand the Incarnation, the countermovement to God’s alienation.

379. Sin implies the Manichaean idea of a universe divided between God’s and Satan’s empires; see 4.110–12.

381. His quadrature: “And the city [of God] lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth” (Rev. 21.16). The bounds of Heaven are left undetermined at 2.1048.

386–87. The name Satan is Hebrew for “adversary.”

390. The triumphal arch of the bridge memorializes Satan’s triumph on Earth.

400. Here Satan parodies God, who gave “dominion” over Creation to Adam and Eve. See lines 243–45n.

404. Plenipotent: fully powerful.

408. prevails: 1674; the 1667 edition reads “prevail.”

409. No detriment need fear: alluding to the formula (Providere nequid respublica detrimenti accipiat) by which the Roman Senate conferred special powers on consuls (Newton); detriment: injury.

412. blasted: withered; an effect usually ascribed to ill wind or malignant astral influence.

413. planet-struck: struck by a malignant planet; real eclipse: not just apparently darkened, as in an eclipse beheld on earth, but really darkened.

415. causey: causeway, a raised and paved highway (OED 3).

416. Chaos, disparted (divided into parts) by the creation of the bridge, is enraged by Satan’s betrayal (see 2.981–87).

426. bright star: Lucifer, the morning star; see 5.760, 7.131; paragoned: compared.

427. the grand: the “grand infernal Peers” of 2.507.

428. solicitous: concerned.

431–36. As when … Casbeen: The Tartars retreat from their Russian conquerors near Astracan, the ancient Tartar capital. The Bactrian Sophy, or Shah of Persia, retreats from the crescent battle formations of the Turks (horns/Of Turkish crescent) to Tabriz (Tauris) and Kazvin (Casbeen), Iranian cities, laying waste to lands once under the rule of King Aladule. Leonard notes that both of these defeated enemies were still dangerous.

438. reduced: led back, drawn together, diminished.

441–55. Analogues in the epic tradition include Homer, Od. 7.35–145; Vergil, Aen. 1.579–94; and Tasso, GL, 10.32–50. See S. Fallon 1984.

445. state: canopy. See Arcades 14n.

451. permissive: permitted (by God); cp. the “high permission” of 1.212.

453. sudden blaze: Cp. Lyc 74, where the context is also a nurtured ambition ready to publicize its achievements and about to be thwarted; PR 3.47.

457. divan: council (OED 1b). The Turkish origins of the term fit with Satan as “sultan” (1.348). The military successes of King Suleiman I (1520–1566) in Hungary, Armenia, Persia, and Africa caused widespread alarm in Europe, and led to commonplace associations between Turks and devils.

458. Congratulant: expressing congratulation.

460. The Father, when exalting his Son, was the first to use these titles (5.601), the meaning of which Satan (5.772) and Abdiel (5.840) dispute. Satan now declares the titles to be theirs not only by right but by possession (of estates formerly controlled by God).

471. unreal: formless, the equivalent of unreality in Aristotelian metaphysics.

475. uncouth: strange, unusual.

477. unoriginal: without origin, uncreated.

477–78. Chaos … opposed: Though the journey through Chaos was difficult, Chaos and Night hardly opposed Satan (2.910–1009); but see Chaos’s indignation at lines 415–18.

480. Protesting fate supreme: Satan here identifies himself with supreme Fate, as usual parodying God (7.173).

481–82. fame … foretold: See 1.651–56, 2.345–76.

494–99. Like most of the biblical commentators (A. Williams 128), Satan supposes that the first part of the protevangelium (see 175–81n), condemning the serpent to grovel in the dust, applies only to the snake, whereas the second part, in which the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent in the head and be itself bruised in the heel, applies to him (Satan). He is about to be proven wrong. On the transformation of the devils into serpents, see Kerrigan 2004.

508–9. universal hiss … scorn: There is only one sound intelligible within the sign system of human language that both men and snakes can produce, and that is the hiss that greets a bad show. See Shakespeare’s “serpent’s tongue” (MND 5.1.433). On scorn, see Kerrigan 2000, 150–52.

509. wondered: ironically remembering Eve, who found the human speech of the serpent a “wonder” (9.566), as Satan now wonders at the serpentine hiss of his audience.

511–15. The passage imitates the serpent metamorphoses in Ovid, Met. 4.572–603, and Dante, Inf. 24, 25.

513. supplanted: tripped up, overthrown.

515. Reluctant: primarily in the sense of “writhing or struggling against” (Lat. reluctari).

517. doom: the judgment at lines 175–81.

524. amphisbaena: mythical snake with a head at both ends.

525. Cerastes horned: a snake with four horns; hydrus … ellops: water snakes.

526. dipsas: The bite of dipsas (from the Gk. word for “thirst”) caused scalding thirst (l.

528. Ophiusa: a Mediterranean island, from the Gk. “full of snakes.”

529. dragon Satan had long been identified with the “great dragon” of Rev. 12.9. Cp. Fletcher, The Purple Island 7.11.

530. Pythian vale: Delphi.

531. Python: the great serpent born of the slime left behind by Deucalion’s flood (Ovid, Met. 1.438) and eventually slain by Apollo.

536. Sublime: exalted, elated.

556. 526–27. soil … Gorgon: As Perseus flew over Libya with the head of Medusa, drops of her blood fell to the earth and became snakes—which explains why, according to Ovid, Met. 3.616, and Lucan, Pharsalia 9.696, serpents are so common there.

559–60. snaky locks … Megaera: Her hair, like Medusa’s, was serpents (Ovid, Met. 4.771).

560–68. the bituminous lake is the Dead Sea, beside which Sodom and Gomorrah were situated. According to Josephus, Wars 4.8.4, the ashes of Sodom grow in the fruit of the area, which when plucked dissolve into smoke and ashes.

565. gust: gusto.

568. drugged: nauseated.

575. some say: A source has not been found for Milton’s account of the annual metamorphosis of the devils.

578–84. Fowler notes that purchase can mean “annual return or rent from land,” and thus alludes to the annual metamorphosis. According to some authorities, Milton says, the devils spread stories of primordial serpents in the ancient world, among them that of Ophion (from Gk. for “serpent”) and Eurynome, the first rulers of Olympus.

584. Dictaean: Jove was raised in Crete, in the vicinity of Mount Dicte.

586–87. there … body: a brief history of sin in Paradise: there by power or potential before the Fall, then actual at the Fall, now in body, as the character Sin arrives.

590. pale horse: See Rev. 6.8.

601. unhidebound: skin so loose that it can hold a great deal.

611. unimmortal: mortal; the negative of immortal neatly conveys the effect of the Fall.

617. havoc: Kings victorious on the battlefield had the privilege of shouting “havoc,” a signal that no quarter should be given in slaughter and pillage. See Shakespeare, JC 3.1.273.

627. quitted: handed over.

630. draff: refuse, swill.

633–34. at one sling … arm: “The souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling” (1 Sam. 25.29).

640. precedes: has precedence.

645. extenuate: disparage.

656. blank: pale.

658. aspects: astrological positions.

659. A list of aspects: sextile (60°), square (90°), trine (120°), and opposite (180°).

661. synod: conjunction; cp. 6.156n; fixed: fixed stars.

668–87. Before the Fall, the ecliptic follows the equinoctial road (l. 672) or equator, which produces spring/Perpetual (ll. 678–79), and a sun always in Aries. There are two ways to modify these conditions in order to produce a result consistent with astrological observations in the fallen world. In a heliocentric (Copernican) system, the axis of the earth must be tilted around 23°. In a terracentric (Ptolemaic) system, the plane of the sun’s orbit must be tilted like distant breadth (that is, around 23°). Milton presents both explanations and does not choose between them. Some say (l. 668) the one, some say (l. 671) the other.

672–77. Was bid … Capricorn: Once resident in Aries, the sun now travels through the zodiac.

686. Estotiland: northern Labrador.

687. Magellan: Strait of Magellan.

688. Thyestean banquet: In Seneca’s tragedy Thyestes, the sun turns aside in horror from the sight of Thyestes eating his sons. A chorus (789–881) wonders if the sun’s departure might not signal a return to “formless chaos” (832).

693. sideral blast: probably not malign astral influences, as Fowler and Leonard suggest, because Milton has shifted from celestial to terrestial change; perhaps exhalations or vapors released from the earth, drawn toward the stars (sideral) by the sun’s heat, and thought to produce various blasts or explosions, such as shooting stars and comets.

696. Norumbega: a province of North America; Samoed: northeastern Siberia.

697. brazen dungeon: where Aeolus imprisoned the winds (Aen. 1.141).

699–706. The northern winds of Boreas, Caecias, Argestes, and Thrascias are opposed by the southern winds of Notus and Afer. This system is attacked at various side angles to the east and west (thwart) by winds named Levant et cetera.

714–17. these … within: a beautiful effect: the chain of bad external causes in lines 651–714 has led to the part (l. 716) Adam already sees, whereupon Milton shifts to his inner turbulence, which Adam then seeks to disburden through externalizing speech. We have moved back in time before the arrival of Sin and Death on Earth (342–45n).

729. propagated curse: the curses of Adam’s children upon their original forefather, increased and multiplied by the act of propagation. The commandment to “increase and multiply” is now literally transformed into ramifying curses, as Milton, an author much concerned with fame, has Adam confront the terror of infamy.

740–41. On me … place: When a body occupies its natural center in Aristotle’s physics, it is weightless, but the curses of Adam’s children are mysteriously heavy.

743–46. Isa. 45.9: “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! … Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?”

748. equal: equitable.

758. Thou: “I myself.” Adam here addresses himself, not his Maker, as in lines 743–55.

762. Isa. 45.10: “Woe unto him that saith unto his father, ‘What begettest thou?’ ”

782. one doubt: The same doubt reroutes the thoughts of Hamlet in his “To be, or not to be” soliloquy (3.1.56–88).

783. all: altogether, entirely.

786–92. then … die: Adam’s reasoning here closely follows Milton’s formulation of the mortalist heresy—the idea that body and soul die together (CD 1.13).

791. The body properly hath neither: Augustine, City of God 14.3.

798–801. “The power of God is not exerted in those kinds of things which … imply a contradiction” (CD 1.2 in MLM 1150).

815–16. Death and I take the singular verb am because they are incorporate, united in one body.

831. conviction: See 84n.

831–34. first and last … wish!: Eve later gives voice to the same fond wish (ll. 933–36). The only being with the power to realize this desire is the Son (3.236–37).

837–38. what thou desir’st: Death; what thou fear’st: Death.

842–44. O conscience … plunged!: evoking 4.75–78, and thus indeed To Satan only like (l. 841).

849–50. Which … terror: Greville observes that frightening hallucinations provoked by darkness “proper reflections of the error [original sin] be,/And images of self-confusednesses/ Which hurt imaginations only see;/And from this nothing seen, tells news of devils,/Which but expressions be of inward evils” (Caelica C).

853–54. since … offense: “since it was announced that death would fall on the day man ate the fruit.” Adam forgets that the sentence was delayed (see ll. 209–11).

867–908. The speech bristles with misogyny, some of it standard, such as the opening allusion to a false etymology deriving Eve from hevia (Heb. for “snake”), the insult terming Eve but a rib/Crooked by nature (ll. 884–85), or the disparagement of the act of propagation, and some of it Miltonic, such as the closing catalog of the ways in which marriage will fail in the fallen world, which echoes complaints in the poet’s divorce tracts. But it would be a mistake to confuse Adam’s sour diatribe with Milton’s own attitudes. His representation of Adam and Eve’s subsequent behavior shows that the author did not subscribe to the articles of Adam’s vituperation.

872–73. pretended/To: masking.

886. sinister: literally “left,” figuratively “unlucky.”

887. The line itself contains, in its feminine ending, a supernumerary syllable.

888–95. O why … Mankind: Adam’s lament that God created woman at all follows Euripides, Hippolytus 616–19.

890. spirits masculine: Although, as we have earlier been told (1.424), angels (or at least fallen angels) can assume either sex, the ability to take on female form is evidently not the same thing as being female in sex. The angels of the poem are unwaveringly masculine in look and attitude.

891–92. defect/Of nature: as Aristotle had maintained in On Generation 737a28, 766a31–32, 766b8–15, 767b8–9.

925. Eve calls attention to the joint enmity against the serpent foretold in the protevangelium (175–81n).

940. Commiseration: compassion for another’s misery, precisely what was missing in his misogynistic diatribe (ll. 867–908).

965. derived: passed down by descent. Adam’s return to the question of seed prompts Eve’s next speech.

969. event: outcome, with a rueful pun on her name.

978. As in: considering.

979–1006. Adam has been lamenting at length his forthcoming infamy, but Eve cuts to the chase. Dread of our seed comes down to this: we can either abstain from the sexual act and have no seed, or, if such frustration seems unendurable, we can kill ourselves and again leave no seed. The speech seems to lift a veil from Adam’s mind, reminding us that, as Milton emphasized at 9.1187–89, fallen men discern mistakes in others that they do not mark in themselves.

989. In early editions the words “so Death” were placed at the beginning of line 990. This is most likely an error, since otherwise 989 would be the only tetrameter line, and 990 the only hexameter line, in the poem.

990. deceived: cheated of.

994. sweet: The reintroduction of this key word in unfallen eroticism (4.298, 311, 641–56; 5.296; 8.603; 9.238, 407) suggests how severe the pangs of frustration would be and deftly reminds Adam of their mutual pleasures.

997–98. Satan has already verified that sexual frustration is “not the least” of Hell’s torments (4.509–11).

1030–40. Again the protevangelium revives and guides.

1053. Fruit of thy womb: anticipating Luke 1.41–42; aslope: Adam’s curse (to earn his bread with labor) glanced off him and hit the ground (l. 201: Cursed is the ground) more directly than it hit him. Earlier, when he was in despair (ll. 720–42), his blessings seemed curses. Now that he is reinvigorated, his curse seems a blessing.

1062. by what means: The entire future of peaceful technology is anticipated here.

1066. shattering: shaking, breaking into pieces, as in Lyc 5, where leaves are also the verb’s object.

1068. shroud: shelter.

1071. foment: heat.

1073. attrite: rubbed at.

1075. Tine: ignite. On the theological and philosophical implication of Adam’s invention of fire, see Hoerner 1995.

1086–1104. Another of the poem’s many mirroring effects, this one being the only imitation in Milton’s work of the extensive formulaic repetition found in Homer (e.g., Il. 9.122–57, 264–99). (Lines 1093–96 are not repeated because Adam and Eve’s punishment will eventually include expulsion from Paradise.) Tayler 1979, 84 remarks that “not only do the narrator’s words place a doctrinal seal upon this stage in the process of repentance” but they also create “a moment of stasis in which we all [Adam and Eve, the narrator, the reader] see things the same way”: this is indeed the best thing to say, the best thing to do.

BOOK XI

THE ARGUMENT

The Son of God presents to his Father the prayers of our first parents now repenting, and intercedes for them. God accepts them, but declares that they must no longer abide in Paradise; sends Michael with a band of Cherubim to dispossess them; but first to reveal to Adam future things; Michael’s coming down. Adam shows to Eve certain ominous signs; he discerns Michael’s approach, goes out to meet him: the angel denounces their departure. Eve’s lamentation. Adam pleads, but submits. The angel leads him up to a high hill, sets before him in vision what shall happen till the Flood.

Thus they in lowliest plight repentant stood¹

Praying, for from the mercy-seat² above

Prevenient grace³ descending had removed

The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh⁴

Regenerate grow instead, that sighs now breathed⁵

Unutterable, which the spirit of prayer

Inspired, and winged for Heav’n with speedier flight

Then loudest oratory: yet their port⁸

Not of mean suitors, nor important less

Seemed their petition, than when th’ ancient pair¹⁰

In fables old, less ancient yet than these,

Deucalion and chaste Pyrrha to restore

The race of mankind drowned, before the shrine

Of Themis stood devout. To Heav’n¹⁴ their prayers

Flew up, nor miss’d the way, by envious winds

Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they passed

Dimensionless¹⁷ through Heav’nly doors; then clad

With incense¹⁸, where the golden altar fumed,

By their great Intercessor, came in sight

Before the Father’s throne: them the glad Son

Presenting, thus to intercede began.

   “See Father, what first fruits on Earth are sprung

From thy implanted grace in man, these sighs

And prayers, which in this golden censer, mixed

With incense, I thy priest before thee bring,

Fruits of more pleasing savor from thy seed

Sown with contrition in his heart, than those

Which his own hand manuring²⁸ all the trees

Of Paradise could have produced, ere fall’n

From innocence. Now therefore bend thine ear

To supplication, hear his sighs though mute;

Unskillful with what words to pray, let me

Interpret for him, me³³ his advocate

And propitiation, all his works on me

Good or not good ingraft³⁵; my merit those

Shall perfect, and for these my death shall pay.

Accept me, and in me from these receive

The smell of peace toward mankind, let him live

Before thee reconciled, at least his days

Numbered, though sad, till death, his doom (which I

To mitigate thus plead, not to reverse)

To better life shall yield him, where with me

All my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss,

Made one⁴⁴ with me as I with thee am one.”

   To whom the Father, without cloud, serene.

“All thy request for man, accepted Son,

Obtain, all thy request was my decree:

But longer in that Paradise to dwell,

The law I gave to nature him forbids:

Those pure immortal elements that know

No gross, no unharmonious mixture foul,

Eject him tainted now, and purge him off

As a distemper⁵³, gross to air as gross,

And mortal food, as may dispose him best

For dissolution⁵⁵ wrought by sin, that first

Distempered all things, and of incorrupt

Corrupted. I at first with two fair gifts

Created him endowed, with happiness

And immortality: that fondly⁵⁹ lost,

This other⁶⁰ served but to eternize woe;

Till I provided death; so death becomes

His final remedy, and after life

Tried in sharp tribulation, and refined

By faith and faithful works, to second life,⁶⁴

Waked in the renovation of the just,

Resigns⁶⁶ him up with heav’n and Earth renewed.

But let us call to synod all the blest

Through Heav’n’s wide bounds; from them I will not hide

My judgments, how with mankind I proceed,

As how with peccant angels late they saw;

And in their state, though firm, stood more confirmed.”

   He ended, and the Son gave signal high

To the bright minister that watched; he blew

His trumpet, heard in Oreb⁷⁴ since perhaps

When God descended, and perhaps once more⁷⁵

To sound at general doom. Th’ angelic blast

Filled all the regions: from their blissful bow’rs

Of amarantine⁷⁸ shade, fountain or spring,

By the waters of life, where’er they sat

In fellowships of joy: the sons of light

Hasted, resorting to the summons high,

And took their seats; till from his throne supreme

Th’ Almighty thus pronounced his sov’reign will.

   “O Sons, like one of us man is become

To know both good and evil, since his taste

Of that defended⁸⁶ fruit; but let him boast

His knowledge of good lost, and evil got,

Happier, had it sufficed him to have known

Good by itself, and evil not at all.

He sorrows now, repents, and prays contrite,

My motions⁹¹ in him; longer than they move,

His heart I know, how variable and vain

Self-left⁹³. Lest therefore his now bolder hand

Reach also of the Tree of Life, and eat,

And live forever, dream at least to live

Forever, to remove him I decree,

And send him from the garden forth to till

The ground whence he was taken, fitter soil.

   “Michael, this my behest have thou in charge,

Take to thee from among the Cherubim

Thy choice of flaming warriors, lest the fiend

Or in behalf of man, or¹⁰² to invade

Vacant possession, some new trouble raise:

Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God

Without remorse drive out the sinful pair,

From hallowed ground th’ unholy, and denounce¹⁰⁶

To them and to their progeny from thence

Perpetual banishment. Yet lest they faint¹⁰⁸

At the sad sentence rigorously urged,

For I behold them softened and with tears

Bewailing their excess¹¹¹, all terror hide.

If patiently thy bidding they obey,

Dismiss them not disconsolate; reveal

To Adam what shall come in future days,

As I shall thee enlighten, intermix

My cov’nant in the woman’s seed renewed;

So send them forth, though sorrowing, yet in peace:

And on the east side of the garden place,

Where entrance up from Eden easiest climbs,

Cherubic watch, and of a sword the flame

Wide-waving, all approach far off to fright,

And guard all passage to the Tree of Life:

Lest Paradise a receptacle prove

To spirits foul, and all my trees their prey,

With whose stol’n fruit man once more to delude.”

   He ceased; and th’ archangelic power prepared

For swift descent, with him the cohort bright

Of watchful Cherubim; four faces each

Had, like a double Janus¹²⁹, all their shape

Spangled with eyes more numerous than those

Of Argus¹³¹, and more wakeful than to drowse,

Charmed with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed

Of Hermes, or his opiate rod. Meanwhile

To resalute the world with sacred light

Leucothea¹³⁵ waked, and with fresh dews imbalmed

The Earth, when Adam and first matron Eve

Had ended now their orisons, and found

Strength added from above, new hope to spring

Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked;

Which thus to Eve his welcome words renewed.

   “Eve, easily may faith admit, that all

The good which we enjoy, from Heav’n descends;

But that from us aught should ascend to Heav’n

So prevalent¹⁴⁴ as to concern the mind

Of God high-blest, or to incline his will,

Hard to belief may seem; yet this will prayer,

Or one short sigh of human breath, upborne

Ev’n to the seat of God. For since I sought

By prayer th’ offended Deity to appease,

Kneeled and before him humbled all my heart,

Methought I saw him placable and mild,

Bending his ear; persuasion in me grew

That I was heard with favor; peace returned

Home to my breast, and to my memory

His promise, that thy seed shall bruise our foe;

Which then not minded in dismay, yet now

Assures¹⁵⁷ me that the bitterness of death

Is past, and we shall live. Whence hail to thee¹⁵⁸,

Eve rightly called¹⁵⁹, Mother of all Mankind,

Mother of all things living, since by thee

Man is to live, and all things live for man.”

   To whom thus Eve with sad demeanor meek.

“Ill-worthy I such title should belong

To me transgressor, who for thee ordained

A help, became thy snare; to me reproach

Rather belongs, distrust and all dispraise:

But infinite in pardon was my judge,

That I who first brought death on all, am graced

The source of life; next favorable thou,

Who highly thus to entitle me vouchsaf’st,

Far other name deserving. But the field

To labor calls us now with sweat imposed,

Though after sleepless night; for see the morn,

All unconcerned with our unrest, begins

Her rosy progress smiling; let us forth,

I never from thy side henceforth to stray,

Where’er our day’s work lies, though now enjoined

Laborious, till day droop; while here we dwell,

What can be toilsome in these pleasant walks?

Here let us live, though in fall’n state, content.”

   So spake, so wished much-humbled Eve, but fate

Subscribed not; nature first gave signs, impressed

On bird, beast, air, air suddenly eclipsed

After short blush of morn; nigh in her sight

The bird of Jove¹⁸⁵, stooped from his airy tour,

Two birds of gayest plume¹⁸⁶ before him drove:

Down from a hill the beast that reigns¹⁸⁷ in woods,

First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace¹⁸⁸,

Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind;

Direct to th’ eastern gate was bent their flight.

Adam observed, and with his eye the chase

Pursuing, not unmoved to Eve thus spake.

   “O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh,

Which Heav’n by these mute signs in nature shows

Forerunners of his purpose, or to warn

Us haply too secure¹⁹⁶ of our discharge

From penalty, because from death released

Some days; how long, and what till then our life,

Who knows, or more than this, that we are dust,

And thither must return and be no more.

Why else this double object in our sight

Of flight pursued in th’ air and o’er the ground

One way the selfsame hour? Why in the east

Darkness ere day’s mid-course, and morning light

More orient²⁰⁵ in yon western cloud that draws

O’re the blue firmament a radiant white,

And slow descends, with something Heav’nly fraught.”

   He erred not, for by this²⁰⁸ the Heav’nly bands

Down from a sky of jasper lighted²⁰⁹ now

In Paradise, and on a hill made halt²¹⁰,

A glorious apparition, had not doubt

And carnal fear that day dimmed Adam’s eye.

Not that more glorious, when the angels met

Jacob in Mahanaim²¹⁴, where he saw

The field pavilioned²¹⁵ with his guardians bright;

Nor that²¹⁶ which on the flaming mount appeared

In Dothan, covered with a camp of fire,

Against the Syrian king, who to surprise

One man, assassin-like had levied war,

War unproclaimed. The princely hierarch

In their bright stand²²¹, there left his powers to seize

Possession of the garden; he alone,

To find where Adam sheltered, took his way,

Not unperceived of Adam, who to Eve,

While the great visitant approached, thus spake.

   “Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps

Of us will soon determine²²⁷, or impose

New laws to be observed; for I descry

From yonder blazing cloud that veils the hill

One of the Heav’nly host, and by his gait

None of the meanest, some great potentate

Or of the Thrones above, such majesty

Invests him coming; yet not terrible,

That I should fear, nor sociably mild,

As Raphael, that I should much confide,

But solemn and sublime, whom not to offend,

With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.”

He ended; and th’ archangel soon drew nigh,

Not in his shape celestial, but as man

Clad to meet man; over his lucid²⁴⁰ arms

A military vest of purple flowed

Livelier than Meliboean²⁴², or the grain

Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old

In time of truce; Iris had dipped the woof²⁴⁴;

His starry helm unbuckled showed him prime

In manhood where youth ended; by his side

As in a glistering zodiac hung the sword,

Satan’s dire dread, and in his hand the spear.

Adam bowed low, he kingly from his state

Inclined not, but his coming thus declared.

   “Adam, Heav’n’s high behest no preface needs:

Sufficient that thy prayers are heard, and death,

Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress,

Defeated²⁵⁴ of his seizure many days

Giv’n thee of grace, wherein thou may’st repent,

And one²⁵⁶ bad act with many deeds well done

May’st cover: well may then thy Lord appeased

Redeem thee quite from death’s rapacious claim;

But longer in this Paradise to dwell²⁵⁹

Permits not; to remove thee I am come,

And send thee from the garden forth to till

The ground whence thou wast tak’n, fitter soil.”

   He added not, for Adam at the news

Heart-strook with chilling grip²⁶⁴ of sorrow stood,

That all his senses bound; Eve, who unseen

Yet all had heard, with audible lament

Discovered²⁶⁷ soon the place of her retire.

   “O unexpected stroke, worse than of death!

Must I thus leave thee Paradise? Thus leave

Thee native soil²⁷⁰, these happy walks and shades,

Fit haunt of gods? Where I had hope to spend,

Quiet though sad, the respite²⁷² of that day

That must be mortal to us both. O flow’rs,

That never will in other climate grow,

My early visitation, and my last

At ev’n, which I bred up with tender hand

From the first op’ning bud, and gave ye names²⁷⁷,

Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank

Your tribes, and water from th’ ambrosial fount?

Thee lastly nuptial bower, by me adorned

With what to sight or smell was sweet; from thee

How shall I part, and whither wander down

Into a lower world, to this²⁸³ obscure

And wild, how shall we breathe in other air

Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits?”

   Whom thus the angel interrupted mild.

“Lament not Eve, but patiently resign

What justly thou hast lost; nor set thy heart,

Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine;

Thy going is not lonely, with thee goes²⁹⁰

Thy husband, him to follow thou art bound;

Where he abides, think there thy native soil.”

   Adam by this²⁹³ from the cold sudden damp

Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned,

To Michael thus his humble words addressed.

   “Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or named

Of them the highest, for such of shape may seem

Prince above princes, gently hast thou told

Thy message, which might else in telling wound,

And in performing end us; what besides

Of sorrow and dejection and despair

Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring,

Departure from this happy place, our sweet

Recess, and only consolation left

Familiar to our eyes, all places else

Inhospitable appear and desolate,

Nor knowing us nor known: and if by prayer

Incessant I could hope to change the will

Of him who all things can³⁰⁹, I would not cease

To weary him with my assiduous cries:

But prayer against his absolute decree

No more avails than breath against the wind,

Blown stifling back on him that breathes it forth:

Therefore to his great bidding I submit.

This most afflicts me, that departing hence,

As from his face I shall be hid³¹⁶, deprived

His blessed count’nance; here I could frequent,

With worship, place by place where he vouchsafed

Presence divine, and to my sons relate,

“On this Mount he appeared, under this tree

Stood visible, among these pines his voice

I heard, here with him at this fountain talked.”

So many grateful altars I would rear

Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone

Of luster from the brook, in memory,

Or monument to ages, and thereon

Offer sweet smelling gums and fruits and flow’rs:

In yonder nether world where shall I seek

His bright appearances, or footstep trace?

For though I fled him angry, yet recalled

To life prolonged and promised race³³¹, I now

Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts

Of glory, and far off his steps adore.”

   To whom thus Michael with regard benign.

“Adam, thou know’st Heav’n his, and all the Earth,

Not this rock only; his omnipresence fills

Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives,

Fomented³³⁸ by his virtual power and warmed:

All th’ Earth he gave thee to possess and rule,

No despicable gift; surmise not then

His presence to these narrow bounds confined

Of Paradise or Eden: this had been

Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread

All generations, and had hither come

From all the ends of th’ Earth, to celebrate

And reverence thee their great progenitor.

But this preeminence thou hast lost, brought down

To dwell on even ground now with thy sons:

Yet doubt not but in valley and in plain

God is as here, and will be found alike

Present, and of his presence many a sign

Still following thee, still compassing thee round

With goodness and paternal love, his face

Express, and of his steps the track divine.

Which that thou may’st believe, and be confirmed

Ere thou from hence depart, know I am sent³⁵⁶

To show thee what shall come in future days³⁵⁶

To thee and to thy offspring³⁵⁶; good with bad

Expect to hear, supernal grace contending

With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn

True patience³⁶¹, and to temper joy with fear

And pious sorrow, equally inured

By moderation either state to bear,

Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead

Safest thy life, and best prepared endure

Thy mortal passage when it comes. Ascend

This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched³⁶⁷ her eyes)

Here sleep below while thou to foresight wak’st,

As once thou slept’st, while she to life was formed.”

   To whom thus Adam gratefully replied.

“Ascend, I follow thee, safe guide, the path

Thou lead’st me, and to the hand of Heav’n submit,

However chast’ning, to the evil turn

My obvious³⁷⁴ breast, arming to overcome

By suffering, and earn rest from labor won,

If so I may attain.” So both ascend

In the visions of God³⁷⁷: it was a hill

Of Paradise the highest, from whose top

The hemisphere of earth in clearest ken

Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect lay.

Not higher that hill nor wider looking round,

Whereon for different cause the Tempter set

Our second Adam³⁸³ in the wilderness,

To show him all Earth’s kingdoms and their glory.

His eye might there command wherever stood

City of old or modern fame, the seat

Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls

Of Cambalu³⁸⁸, seat of Cathayan Khan

And Samarkand by Oxus³⁸⁹, Temir’s throne,

To Paquin³⁹⁰ of Sinaean kings, and thence

To Agra³⁹¹ and Lahore of Great Mogul

Down to the golden Chersonese³⁹², or where

The Persian in Ecbatan³⁹³ sat, or since

In Hispahan, or where the Russian Czar

In Moscow, or the Sultan in Bizance³⁹⁵,

Turkestan-born³⁹⁶; nor could his eye not ken

Th’ Empire of Negus³⁹⁷ to his utmost port

Ercoco³⁹⁸ and the less maritime kings

Mombaza³⁹⁹, and Quiloa, and Melind,

And Sofala thought Ophir, to the realm

Of Congo, and Angola farthest south;

Or thence from Niger⁴⁰² flood to Atlas mount

The kingdoms of Almansor⁴⁰³, Fez and Sus,

Morocco and Algiers, and Tremisen⁴⁰⁴;

On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway

The world: in spirit⁴⁰⁶ perhaps he also saw

Rich Mexico the seat of Motezume⁴⁰⁷,

And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat

Of Atabalipa⁴⁰⁹, and yet unspoiled

Guiana, whose great city Geryon’s sons⁴¹⁰

Call El Dorado⁴¹¹: but to nobler sights

Michael from Adam’s eyes the film removed⁴¹²

Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight

Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue⁴¹⁴

The visual nerve, for he had much to see;

And from the Well of Life⁴¹⁶ three drops instilled.

So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,

Even to the inmost seat of mental sight,

That Adam now enforced to close his eyes,

Sunk down and all his spirits became entranced:

But him the gentle angel by the hand

Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled.

   “Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold

Th’ effects which thy original crime hath wrought

In some to spring from thee, who never touched

Th’ excepted⁴²⁶ tree, nor with the snake conspired,

Nor sinned thy sin, yet from that sin⁴²⁷ derive

Corruption to bring forth more violent deeds.”

   His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,

Part arable and tilth⁴³⁰, whereon were sheaves

New reapt, the other part sheep-walks and folds;

I’ th’ midst an altar as the landmark stood

Rustic, of grassy sward⁴³³; thither anon

A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought

First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf,

Unculled⁴³⁶, as came to hand; a shepherd next

More meek came with the firstlings of his flock

Choicest and best; then sacrificing, laid

The inwards and their fat, with incense strewed,

On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed.

His off’ring soon propitious fire from heav’n⁴⁴¹

Consumed with nimble glance⁴⁴², and grateful steam;

The other’s not, for his was not sincere;

Whereat he inly raged, and as they talked,

Smote him into the midriff with a stone

That beat out life; he fell, and deadly pale

Groaned out his soul with gushing blood effused⁴⁴⁷.

Much at that sight was Adam in his heart

Dismayed, and thus in haste to th’ angel cried.

   “O teacher, some great mischief hath befall’n

To that meek man, who well had sacrificed;

Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?”

   T’ whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied.

“These two are brethren, Adam, and to come

Out of thy loins; th’ unjust the just hath slain,

For envy that his brother’s offering found

From Heav’n acceptance; but the bloody fact⁴⁵⁷

Will be avenged, and th’ other’s faith approved

Lose no reward, though here thou see him die,

Rolling in dust and gore.” To which our sire.

   “Alas, both for the deed and for the cause!

But have I now seen death? Is this the way

I must return to native dust? O sight

Of terror, foul and ugly to behold,

Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!”

   To whom thus Michael. “Death thou hast seen

In his first shape on man; but many shapes

Of Death, and many are the ways that lead

To his grim cave⁴⁶⁹, all dismal; yet to sense

More terrible at th’ entrance than within.

Some, as thou saw’st, by violent stroke shall die,

By fire, flood, famine; by intemperance more

In meats and drinks, which on the Earth shall bring

Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew

Before thee shall appear; that thou may’st know

What misery th’ inabstinence of Eve

Shall bring on men.” Immediately a place

Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark,

A lazar-house⁴⁷⁹ it seemed, wherein were laid

Numbers of all diseased, all maladies

Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms⁴⁸¹

Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,

Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,

Intestine stone and ulcer, colic pangs,

Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy⁴⁸⁵

And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,

Marasmus⁴⁸⁷, and wide-wasting pestilence,

Dropsies⁴⁸⁸, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.

Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair

Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch;

And over them triumphant Death his dart

Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked

With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.

Sight so deform what heart of rock could long

Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,

Though not of woman born⁴⁹⁶; compassion quelled

His best of man⁴⁹⁷, and gave him up to tears

A space, till firmer thoughts restrained excess,

And scarce recovering words his plaint renewed.

   “O miserable mankind, to what fall

Degraded, to what wretched state reserved!

Better⁵⁰² end here unborn. Why is life giv’n

To be thus wrested from us? Rather why

Obtruded on us thus? Who if we knew

What we receive, would either not accept

Life offered, or soon beg to lay it down,

Glad to be so dismissed in peace. Can thus

Th’ image of God in man created once

So goodly and erect, though faulty since,

To such unsightly sufferings be debased

Under inhuman pains? Why should not man,

Retaining still divine similitude

In part, from such deformities be free,

And for his Maker’s image sake exempt?”

   “Their Maker’s image,” answered Michael, “then

Forsook them, when themselves they vilified

To serve ungoverned appetite, and took

His image whom they served, a brutish vice,

Inductive⁵¹⁹ mainly to the sin of Eve.

Therefore so abject is their punishment,

Disfiguring not God’s likeness, but their own,

Or if his likeness, by themselves defaced

While they pervert pure nature’s healthful rules

To loathsome sickness, worthily, since they

God’s image did not reverence in themselves.”

   “I yield it just,” said Adam, “and submit.

But is there yet no other way, besides

These painful passages, how we may come

To death, and mix with our connatural dust?”

   “There is,” said Michael, “if thou well observe

The rule of⁵³¹ not too much, by temperance taught

In what thou eat’st and drink’st, seeking from thence

Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,

Till many years over thy head return:

So may’st⁵³⁵ thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop

Into thy mother’s lap, or be with ease

Gathered, not harshly plucked, for death mature:

This is old age; but then thou must outlive

Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change

To withered weak and gray; thy senses then

Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forgo,

To what thou hast, and for the air of youth

Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign

A melancholy damp⁵⁴⁴ of cold and dry

To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume

The balm of life.” To whom our ancestor.

   “Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong

Life much, bent rather how I may be quit

Fairest and easiest of this cumbrous charge,

Which I must keep till my appointed day

Of rend’ring⁵⁵¹ up, and patiently attend

My dissolution.” Michael replied,

   “Nor love thy life, nor hate⁵⁵³; but what thou liv’st

Live well, how long or short permit to Heav’n:

And now prepare thee for another sight.”

He looked and saw a spacious plain, whereon⁵⁵⁶

Were tents of various hue; by some were herds

Of cattle grazing: others, whence the sound

Of instruments that made melodious chime

Was heard, of harp and organ; and who moved

Their stops and chords was seen: his volant⁵⁶¹ touch

Instinct through all proportions low and high⁵⁶²

Fled and pursued transverse the resonant fugue⁵⁶³.

In other part stood one who at the forge

Laboring, two massy clods of iron and brass

Had melted (whether found where casual fire

Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale,

Down to the veins of Earth, thence gliding hot

To some cave’s mouth, or whether washed by stream

From underground) the liquid ore he drained

Into fit molds prepared; from which he formed

First his own tools; then, what might else be wrought

Fusile⁵⁷³ or grav’n in metal. After these,

But on the hither side a different sort

From the high neighboring hills, which was their seat,

Down to the plain descended: by their guise

Just men they seemed, and all their study bent

To worship God aright, and know his works

Not hid, nor those things last which might preserve

Freedom and peace to men: they on the plain

Long had not walked, when from the tents behold

A bevy of fair women, richly gay

In gems and wanton dress; to the harp they sung

Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on:

The men though grave, eyed them, and let their eyes

Rove without rein, till in the amorous net⁵⁸⁶

Fast caught, they liked, and each his liking chose;

And now of love they treat till th’ ev’ning star

Love’s harbinger appeared; then all in heat

They light the nuptial torch, and bid invoke

Hymen, then first to marriage rites invoked;

With feast and music all the tents resound.

Such happy interview⁵⁹³ and fair event

Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flow’rs,

And charming symphonies attached⁵⁹⁵ the heart

Of Adam, soon inclined to admit delight,

The bent of nature; which he thus expressed.

   “True opener of mine eyes, prime angel blest,

Much better seems this vision, and more hope

Of peaceful days portends, than those two past;

Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse,

Here nature seems fulfilled in all her ends.”

   To whom thus Michael. “Judge not what is best

By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet,

Created, as thou art, to nobler end

Holy and pure, conformity divine.

Those tents⁶⁰⁷ thou saw’st so pleasant, were the tents

Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race

Who slew his brother; studious they appear

Of arts that polish life, inventors rare,

Unmindful of their Maker, though his spirit

Taught them, but they his gifts acknowledged none.

Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget;

For that fair female troop thou saw’st, that seemed

Of goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay,

Yet empty of all good wherein consists

Woman’s domestic honor and chief praise;

Bred only and completed to the taste

Of lustful appetence⁶¹⁹, to sing, to dance,

To dress, and troll⁶²⁰ the tongue, and roll the eye.

To these that sober race of men, whose lives

Religious titled them the Sons of God⁶²²,

Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame

Ignobly, to the trains⁶²⁴ and to the smiles

Of these fair atheists, and now swim in joy,

(Erelong to swim at large⁶²⁶) and laugh; for which

The world erelong a world of tears must weep.”

   To whom thus Adam of short joy bereft.

“O pity and shame, that they who to live well

Entered so fair, should turn aside to tread

Paths indirect, or in the mid way⁶³¹ faint!

But still I see the tenor of man’s woe⁶³²

Holds on the same, from woman to begin.”

   From man’s effeminate slackness it begins,”

Said th’ angel, “who should better hold his place

By wisdom, and superior gifts received.

But now prepare thee for another scene.”

   He looked⁶³⁸ and saw wide territory spread

Before him, towns, and rural works between,

Cities of men with lofty gates and tow’rs,

Concourse in arms, fierce faces threat’ning war,

Giants of mighty bone, and bold emprise⁶⁴²;

Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed⁶⁴³,

Single or in array of battle ranged⁶⁴⁴

Both horse and foot, nor idly must’ring stood;

One way a band select from forage drives

A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine

From a fat meadow ground; or fleecy flock,

Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain,

Their booty; scarce with life the shepherds fly,

But call in aid, which makes a bloody fray;

With cruel tournament the squadrons join;

Where cattle pastured late, now scattered lies

With carcasses and arms th’ ensanguined⁶⁵⁴ field

Deserted: others to a city strong

Lay siege, encamped; by battery, scale, and mine⁶⁵⁶,

Assaulting; others from the wall defend

With dart and jav’lin, stones and sulfurous fire;

On each hand slaughter and gigantic deeds.

In other part the sceptered heralds call

To council in the city gates: anon

Grey-headed men and grave, with warriors mixed,

Assemble, and harangues are heard, but soon

In factious opposition, till at last

Of middle age one rising⁶⁶⁵, eminent

In wise deport, spake much of right and wrong,

Of justice, of religion, truth and peace,

And judgment from above: him old and young

Exploded⁶⁶⁹ and had seized with violent hands,

Had not a cloud descending snatched him thence

Unseen amid the throng: so violence

Proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law

Through all the plain, and refuge none was found.

Adam was all in tears, and to his guide

Lamenting turned full sad: “O what are these,

Death’s ministers, not men, who thus deal death

Inhumanly to men, and multiply

Ten-thousandfold the sin of him who slew

His brother; for of whom such massacre

Make they but of their brethren, men of men?

But who was that just man, whom had not Heav’n

Rescued, had in his righteousness been lost?”

   To whom thus Michael. “These are the product

Of those ill-mated marriages thou saw’st:

Where good with bad were matched, who of themselves

Abhor to join; and by imprudence mixed,

Produce prodigious births of body or mind.⁶⁸⁷

Such were these giants, men of high renown;

For in those days might only shall be admired,

And valor and heroic virtue called;

To overcome in battle, and subdue

Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite

Manslaughter, shall be held the highest pitch

Of human glory, and for glory done

Of triumph, to be styled great conquerors,

Patrons of mankind, gods, and sons of gods,

Destroyers rightlier called and plagues of men.

Thus fame shall be achieved, renown on earth,

And what most merits fame in silence hid.

But he the sev’nth from thee⁷⁰⁰, whom thou beheld’st

The only righteous in a world perverse,

And therefore hated, therefore so beset

With foes for daring single to be just,

And utter odious truth, that God would come

To judge them with his saints: him the Most High

Rapt in a balmy cloud with wingèd steeds

Did, as thou saw’st, receive⁷⁰⁷, to walk with God

High in salvation and the climes of bliss,

Exempt from death, to show thee what reward

Awaits the good, the rest what punishment;

Which now direct thine eyes and soon behold.”

   He looked,⁷¹² and saw the face of things quite changed;

The brazen throat of war had ceased to roar,

All now was turned to jollity and game,

To luxury⁷¹⁵ and riot, feast and dance,

Marrying or prostituting, as befell,

Rape or adultery, where passing fair⁷¹⁷

Allured them; thence from cups to civil broils.

At length a reverend sire⁷¹⁹ among them came,

And of their doings great dislike declared,

And testified against their ways; he oft

Frequented their assemblies, whereso met,

Triumphs or festivals, and to them preached

Conversion and repentance, as to souls

In prison under judgments imminent:

But all in vain: which when he saw, he ceased

Contending, and removed his tents far off;

Then from the mountain hewing timber tall,

Began to build a vessel of huge bulk,

Measured by cubit⁷³⁰, length, and breadth, and highth,

Smeared round with pitch, and in the side a door

Contrived, and of provisions laid in large

For man and beast: when lo a wonder strange!

Of every beast, and bird, and insect⁷³⁴ small

Came sevens and pairs⁷³⁵, and entered in, as taught

Their order: last the sire, and his three sons

With their four wives; and God made fast the door.

Meanwhile the⁷³⁸ south wind rose, and with black wings

Wide hovering, all the clouds together drove

From under Heav’n; the hills to their supply⁷⁴⁰

Vapor, and exhalation dusk⁷⁴¹ and moist,

Sent up amain; and now the thickened sky

Like a dark ceiling stood; down rushed the rain

Impetuous, and continued till the earth

No more was seen; the floating vessel swum

Uplifted, and secure with beakèd prow

Rode tilting o’er the waves, all dwellings else

Flood overwhelmed, and them with all their pomp

Deep under water rolled; sea covered sea,

Sea without shore; and in their palaces

Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped

And stabled; of mankind, so numerous late,

All left, in one small bottom⁷⁵³ swum embarked.

How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold

The end of all thy offspring, end so sad,⁷⁵⁵

Depopulation⁷⁵⁵; thee another flood,

Of tears and sorrow a flood thee also drowned,

And sunk thee as thy sons; till gently reared

By th’ angel, on thy feet thou stood’st at last,

Though comfortless, as when a father mourns

His children, all in view destroyed at once;

And scarce to th’ angel utter’dst thus thy plaint.

   “O visions ill foreseen! Better had I

Lived ignorant of future, so had borne

My part of evil only, each day’s lot

Enough to bear; those now, that were dispensed⁷⁶⁶

The burd’n of many ages, on me light

At once, by my foreknowledge gaining birth

Abortive, to torment me ere their being,

With thought that they must be. Let no man seek

Henceforth to be foretold what shall befall

Him or his childern, evil he may be sure,

Which neither his foreknowing can prevent,

And he the future evil shall no less

In apprehension than in substance feel

Grievous to bear: but that care now is past,

Man is not whom⁷⁷⁷ to warn: those few escaped

Famine and anguish will at last consume

Wand’ring that wat’ry desert: I had hope

When violence was ceased, and war on Earth,

All would have then gone well, peace would have crowned

With length of happy days the race of man;

But I was far deceived; for now I see

Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste.

How comes it thus? Unfold, celestial guide,

And whether here the race of man will end.”

   To whom thus Michael. “Those whom last thou saw’st

In triumph and luxurious wealth, are they

First seen in acts of prowess eminent

And great exploits, but of true virtue void;

Who having spilt much blood, and done much waste

Subduing nations, and achieved thereby

Fame in the world, high titles, and rich prey,

Shall change their course to pleasure, ease, and sloth,

Surfeit, and lust, till wantonness and pride

Raise out of friendship hostile deeds in peace.

The conquered⁷⁹⁷ also, and enslaved by war

Shall with their freedom lost all virtue lose

And fear of God, from whom their piety feigned

In sharp contest of battle found no aid

Against invaders; therefore cooled in zeal

Thenceforth shall practice how to live secure,

Worldly or dissolute, on what their lords

Shall leave them to enjoy; for th’ earth shall bear

More than enough, that temperance may be tried:

So all shall turn degenerate, all depraved,

Justice and temperance, truth and faith forgot;

One man⁸⁰⁸ except, the only son of light

In a dark age, against example good,

Against allurement, custom, and a world

Offended; fearless of reproach and scorn,

Or violence, he of their wicked ways

Shall them admonish, and before them set

The paths of righteousness, how much more safe,

And full of peace, denouncing⁸¹⁵ wrath to come

On their impenitence; and shall return

Of them derided, but of God observed

The one just man alive; by his command

Shall build a wondrous ark, as thou beheld’st,

To save himself and household from amidst

A world devote⁸²¹ to universal wrack.

No sooner he with them of man and beast

Select for life shall in the ark be lodged,

And sheltered round, but all the cataracts

Of heav’n set open on the earth shall pour

Rain day and night, all fountains of the deep

Broke up, shall heave the ocean to usurp

Beyond all bounds, till inundation rise

Above the highest hills: then shall this mount

Of Paradise by might of waves be moved

Out of his place, pushed by the hornèd flood,

With all his verdure spoiled, and trees adrift

Down the great river to the op’ning gulf,

And there take root an island salt and bare,

The haunt of seals and orcs⁸³⁵, and sea-mews’ clang.

To teach thee that God attributes to place⁸³⁶

No sanctity⁸³⁶, if none be thither brought

By men who there frequent, or therein dwell.

And now what further shall ensue, behold.”

   He looked,⁸⁴⁰ and saw the ark hull on the flood,

Which now abated, for the clouds were fled,

Driv’n by a keen north wind, that blowing dry

Wrinkled the face of deluge, as decayed;

And the clear sun on his wide wat’ry glass

Gazed hot, and of the fresh wave largely drew⁸⁴⁵,

As after thirst, which made their flowing shrink

From standing lake to tripping⁸⁴⁷ ebb, that stole

With soft foot towards the deep, who now had stopped

His sluices, as the heav’n his windows shut.

The ark no more now floats, but seems on ground

Fast on the top of some high mountain⁸⁵¹ fixed.

And now the tops of hills as rocks appear;

With clamor thence the rapid currents drive

Towards the retreating sea their furious tide.

Forthwith from out the ark a raven flies,

And after him, the surer messenger⁸⁵⁶,

A dove sent forth once and again to spy

Green tree or ground whereon his foot may light;

The second time returning, in his bill

An olive leaf he brings, pacific sign:

Anon dry ground appears, and from his ark

The ancient sire descends with all his train;

Then with uplifted hands, and eyes devout,

Grateful to Heav’n, over his head beholds

A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow

Conspicuous with three listed colors⁸⁶⁶ gay,

Betok’ning peace from God, and cov’nant new⁸⁶⁷.

Whereat the heart of Adam erst so sad

Greatly rejoiced, and thus his joy broke forth.

   “O thou who future things canst represent

As present, Heav’nly instructor, I revive

At this last sight, assured that man shall live

With all the creatures, and their seed preserve.

Far less I now lament for one whole world

Of wicked sons destroyed, than I rejoice

For one man found so perfect and so just,

That God vouchsafes to raise another world

From him, and all his anger to forget.

But say, what mean those colored streaks in heav’n,

Distended⁸⁸⁰ as the brow of God appeased,

Or serve they as a flow’ry verge⁸⁸¹ to bind

The fluid skirts of that same wat’ry cloud,

Lest it again dissolve and show’r the Earth?”

   To whom th’ Archangel. “Dextrously thou aim’st;

So willingly⁸⁸⁵ doth God remit his ire,

Though late⁸⁸⁶ repenting him of man depraved,

Grieved at his heart, when looking down he saw

The whole Earth filled with violence, and all flesh

Corrupting each their way; yet those removed,

Such grace shall one just man find in his sight,

That he relents, not to blot out mankind,

And makes a cov’nant never to destroy

The Earth again by flood, nor let the sea

Surpass his bounds, nor rain to drown the world

With man therein or beast; but when he brings

Over the Earth a cloud, will therein set

His triple-colored bow, whereon to look

And call to mind his cov’nant: day and night,

Seed time and harvest, heat and hoary frost

Shall hold their course, till fire purge all things new,

Both heav’n and earth, wherein the just shall dwell.”

1. stood: remained; the word, which may imply spiritual regeneration, is not intended to contradict “prostrate” in 10.1099.

2. mercy-seat: the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, whose cherubim represented intercession in Heaven; see Exod. 25.17–23.

3. Prevenient grace: grace that literally “comes before” human choice.

4. stony … flesh: From Ezek. 11.19: “I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”

5–6. sighs now breathed/Unutterable: Cp. Rom. 8.26, where “groanings which cannot be uttered” intercede for humankind. Cp. Eikon 16 (Yale 3:507).

8. port: bearing.

10–14. th’ ancient pair … devout: Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, figures in Greek mythology, survived the flood in an ark. Themis, goddess of justice, told them to throw stones behind them, and the stones turned into people (echoing the transformation from stony to fleshly hearts in l. 4).

14–16. To Heav’n … frustrate: Cp. the Paradise of Fools at 3.485–89.

17. Dimensionless: without spatial extension.

18. incense: See Rev. 8.3.

28. manuring: tending (by hand).

33–34. me … propitiation: “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2.1–2). The repeated me in these lines echoes 3.178–82, 236–38. Cp. 10.830–32.

35. ingraft: See Rom. 11.16–24, for Protestants a key text on the superiority of faith to good works.

44. John 17.22–23: “that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me.” Note how the symmetry of Milton’s line takes shape about the central as I.

53. distemper: medical term, denoting an imbalance of the four humors. The expulsion of Adam and Eve is here presented as an automatic purgation in which immortal elements rid themselves of tainted elements.

55. dissolution: death, disintegration.

59. fondly: foolishly.

60. This other: immortality (l. 59).

64. Cp. 12.427; CD 1.22.

66. Resigns: The subject of the verb is death (l. 61).

74. heard in Oreb: A trumpet sounded when God delivered the Ten Commandments (Exod. 19.19); see Nat Ode 156–59.

75. perhaps once more: reminiscent of the opening of Lycidas, which alludes to the “yet once more” of Heb. 12.26–27.

78. amarantine: bloodred and unfading, like the legendary flower amaranthus (see 3.353).

86. defended: forbidden.

91. motions: inward promptings of the soul; cp. PR 1.290, SA 1382.

93. Self-left: when left to itself.

93–98. Lest … soil: The passage is based on Gen. 3.22–23.

102. Or … or: either … or.

106. denounce: announce.

108. faint: lose heart.

111. excess: transgression. Cp. 3.696.

129. Janus: two-faced Roman god of gates, beginnings, transitions.

131. Argus: The hundred-eyed giant set to guard Io, whom Hermes (Mercury) put to sleep with his pipe and his opiate rod, then killed. See Ovid, Met. 1.568–779.

135. Leucothea: goddess of the dawn.

144. prevalent: potent.

157–58. Assures … past: Echoing the words of Agag (“surely the bitterness of death is past”) just before he is killed by Samuel (1 Sam. 15.32).

158. hail to thee: Adam prefigures the Annunciation (Ave Maria).

159. Eve rightly called: Here Adam confirms the epithet mother first given to Eve by the voice of God (4.475); Eve is cognate with Heb. chai or “life.” See Gen. 3.20.

185. The bird of Jove: the eagle; stooped: having swooped down to strike his prey (technical term in falconry).

186. Two birds of gayest plume: The eagle chasing these birds is an augury of Michael’s expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden.

187. the beast that reigns: the lion, who is to land animals what the eagle is to birds. Another augury of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden.

188. brace: pair.

196. secure: overconfident.

205. orient: bright.

208. by this: by this time.

209. lighted: landed.

210. made halt: came to a halt (military term).

214. Mahanaim: Jacob named the place (Heb. for “armies”) when he saw an army of angels there (Gen. 32.1–2).

215. pavilioned: encamped. See Milton’s version of Psalm 3, lines 17–18.

216–20. Nor that … unproclaimed: Elisha and his fearful servant also had a vision of an angelic army with “horses and chariots of fire” when the Syrian king laid siege to the city of Dothan (2 Kings 6.7).

221. stand: station (military term).

227. determine: bring to an end.

240. lucid: bright.

242–43. Meliboean … Sarra: The cities of Meliboea and Tyre (Sarra) were famous for dyes (grain = dye) made from local fish.

244. Iris … woof: Iris is goddess of the rainbow. Cp. Masque 83, where the Attendant Spirit doffs “sky robes spun out of Iris’ woof,” and PL 11.895–98.

254. Defeated: cheated.

256–57. one … cover: 1 Pet. 4.8: “For charity covers a multitude of sins.”

259–62. Varied only slightly from lines 48–49, 96–98, in the manner of Homer’s repetitive treatment of messages.

264. grip: spasm.

267. Discovered: revealed; retire: withdrawal.

270. native soil: “Paradise was the native place of Eve; but Adam was formed out of the dust of the ground, and was afterwards brought into Paradise” (Newton).

272. respite: temporary suspension of a death sentence (legal term).

277. gave ye names: Presumably this naming of the flowers, which has no biblical precedent, entailed, like Adam’s naming of the creatures, an intuitive understanding of “their nature” (8.353).

283. to this: compared to this.

290–92. Eve will make this view her own in the last speech in the poem (12.615–18).

293. by this: by this time; damp: stupor, depression.

309. can: is able to do, has knowledge of.

316. from … hid: a biblical idiom (Gen. 4.14, Ps. 104.27). Cp. 12.106–9 and SA 1749.

331. promised race: the human race.

338. Fomented: nurtured; virtual: potent.

356–58. Ere … offspring: As Addison was among the first to note, the idea of Adam’s vision was probably suggested to Milton by the vision of his descendants given to Aeneas in the last book of the Aeneid. Addison also noted that the vision was necessary to console Adam, who “sees his offspring triumphing over his great enemy, and himself restored to a happier Paradise” (49).

361. True patience: Christian patience, which includes hope, as opposed to the apathy recommended by stoicism.

367. drenched: administered medicine (a sleeping potion) to. Cp. 2.73n.

374. obvious: vulnerable.

377. visions of God: visions sent by God.

383. second Adam: See 10.183n.

388. Cambalu: capital of Cathay (China), modern Beijing, seat of the khans. Milton’s geography of imperialism to come moves from east to west, like the sun, and like history as traditionally conceived in the West (see Chambers 1961).

389. Samarkand by Oxus: an Uzbekistan city on the river Oxus, the birthplace and royal residence of Tamburlaine (Temir).

390. Paquin: also a name for modern Beijing, where Chinese (Sinaean) kings ruled.

391. Agra: Mogul capital, where Akbar built the Taj Mahal; Lahore: Pakistani city where Mogul emperors sometimes resided.

392. golden Chersonese: area to the east of India, fabled for its wealth.

393–94. Ecbatan: Ecbatana, modern Hamadan in Iran, once the summer residence of Persian kings; Hispahan: Isfahan in Iran, made the Persian capital in the sixteenth century.

395. Bizance: Byzantium (modern Istanbul), conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century.

396. Turkestan-born: The Ottoman Turks originated in Turkistan.

397. Negus: title of Abyssinian emperors.

398. Ercoco: Arkiko, in modern Ethiopia.

399–400. Mombaza (modern Mombasa, in Kenya), Quiloa (Kilwa, in Tanzania), Melind (Malindi, in Kenya), and Sofala (in Mozambique) are port cities in eastern Africa visited by Vasco da Gama. Sofala was one of a number of candidates for the biblical Ophir, where Solomon found gold.

402. Niger: a West African river; Atlas mount: the Atlas Mountains of westernmost Africa.

403. Almansor: Muslim kings claimed the surname Al-Mansur (made victorious by God), and ruled over Fez, a Moroccan city, and Sus (Tunis).

404. Tremisen: an area of Algeria.

406. in spirit: in a visionary extension of eyesight; the New World would have been hidden by the curvature of the earth.

407. Motezume: the Aztec emperor Montezuma, who surrendered to Hernán Cortés in 1520.

409. Atabalipa: Atahualpa, the Incan emperor slain by Francisco Pizarro in 1533; his Peruvian capital of Cusco fell to the Spaniards.

410. Geryon’s sons: an epithet for Spaniards, based on a mythical monster named Geryon, who lived on a Spanish island and was slain by Hercules.

411. El Dorado: a mythical city in the New World that Sir Walter Ralegh among others sought in vain. See Ralegh’s The Discoverie of Guiana (1595), 10.

412. the film removed: A god clearing mortal eyes is an epic convention (Il. 5.126; Aen. 2.604; GL 18.92f), but given the real physiological effects of the forbidden fruit (9.1011–12, 1044–51), it seems likely that this film is actual rather than metaphorical: Adam had incipient gutta serena, the “dim suffusion” (3.26) from which Milton suffered.

414. euphrasy and rue: medicinal herbs used in the treatment of eyesight. Milton might have taken salves made of these herbs in the course of going blind.

416. the Well of Life: perhaps the “fountain of life” of Ps. 36.9; three drops: a conspicuous dose in a poem that is not conventionally trinitarian.

426. excepted: forbidden.

427. that sin: 1667; 1674 drops “sin,” spoiling the meter.

430. tilth: cultivated land.

433. sward: turf.

436. Unculled: not picked by design.

441. propitious fire from heav’n: After Abel follows the rules for sacrificing in Lev. 1–8, Heaven consumes his offering (Gen. 4.4).

442. glance: flash.

447. effused: poured out.

457. fact: crime.

469. his grim cave: Cp. the cave to the underworld in Aen. 6.237, 273–94.

479. lazar-house: hospital for those with infectious diseases, especially the dreaded leprosy; lazar comes from the name of the beggar in Luke 16.20. There were a number of lazar houses in England (Wilson 1963, 81).

481. qualms: faintings.

485–87. These lines were added in 1674.

487. Marasmus: consumption.

488. Dropsies: morbid retentions of fluid; rheums: mucous discharges.

496. Though not of woman born: Although the phrasing evokes MAC 4.1.80 and 5.3.13, Milton draws on Shakespeare’s association between a man’s tears and his internalized mother in H5 4.6.30–32 and TN 2.1.35–38.

497. best of man: manliness, normally impervious to tears. But Milton’s Adam, apparently no exponent of tearless masculinity, weeps on his own here, and at lines 675, 754–58, and 12.372–73; Eve weeps on her own at 5.130–35, 9.990–91, and 10.910; they cry together at 9.1121, 10.1101–2, and 12.645.

502–507. Better … peace: A commonplace of both classical literature (Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1224–26; Theognis of Megara, Maxims, 425–28; Seneca, Ad Marciam: De Consolatione 22.3) and Renaissance literature (2H4 3.1.45–56; Jonson, “To the Immortal Memory … Sir. Lucius Cary and Sir H. Morison,” 1–20).

519. Inductive: traceable.

531. The rule of not too much: “Nothing too much” was inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi (Plato, Protagoras 343B; see also Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics 2.2.16).

535–37. The comparison stems from Cicero, De Senectute 19; cp. Donne, “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”: “As virtuous men pass mildly away.…”

544. damp: Cp. 293; 9.45.

551–52. The first edition had only one line here: “Of rend’ring up. Michael to him replied.”

553. Nor love thy life, nor hate: from Martial, Epigrams, 10.47.

556–97. Adam’s third vision, concerning the descendants of Cain, derives from Gen. 4.19–22, 6.2–4.

561. volant: rapid, flying.

562. Instinct: instinctively.

563. fugue: from the Latin fuga (flight). A “skilful organist” plays fugues in Of Ed (MLM 979).

573. Fusile: shaped by means of melting.

586. amorous net: Cp. PR 2.161–62; nets were conventional in erotic contexts.

593. interview: a mutual viewing as well as a verbal exchange; event: outcome.

595. attached: seized. Adam too readily warms to the sight of youthful pleasure not lost.

607. tents: Jabal was the father of tent dwellers (Gen. 4.20).

619. appetence: desire.

620. troll: wag; note the flashy rhyme with roll.

622. Sons of God: See 5.446–48n.

624. trains: tricks, stratagems.

626. Erelong to swim at large: Michael anticipates the Flood, the forthcoming punishment for this swimming in lewd joy.

631. mid way: Cp. 6.91n.

632–33. man’s woe … woman: Adam turns man’s woe into “woe-man,” an old misogynistic joke.

638–73. The fourth vision is based on Gen. 6.4, with touches drawn from Homer’s description of the shield of Achilles (Il. 18.478–540) and Vergil’s imitation of it in Aen. 8.626–728.

642. bold emprise: martial enterprise; also found in Masque 610.

643. curb the foaming steed: Cp. 2.531n.

644. ranged: arranged.

654. ensanguined: blood-soaked.

656. battery, scale, and mine: The sieging army can break through the walls of the city (battery), climb over them (scale = ladder), and dig underneath them (mine).

665. one rising: Enoch, the first of several forthcoming examples of solitary, Abdiel-like heroism (see 5.897–903).

669. Exploded: silenced with mockery, hissed.

687–88. “There were giants in the earth in those days” (Gen. 6.4).

700. the sev’nth from thee: See Jude 14.

707. receive: Enoch is one of only two men in the Bible to be received into Heaven without dying. The other is Elijah (see 2 Kings 2). For Milton’s interest in this phenomenon, and its relation to the mortalist heresy, see Kerrigan 1975, 127–44.

712–53. The fifth vision concerns the Flood and the corruption that preceded it (Gen. 6–9).

715. luxury: lust.

717. passing fair: both “women passing by” and “surpassing beauty.”

719. reverend sire: Noah. Cp. Lyc 103.

730. cubit: a unit of length (the distance from the elbow to the fingertips); for the dimensions of the ark in cubits, see Gen. 6.15.

734. insect: Commentators often excluded insects from Noah’s ark because they were thought to reproduce without coupling.

735. sevens and pairs: The ark contained seven pairs each of all clean animals and only one pair each of unclean animals (Gen. 7.2).

738–53. This passage draws from the description of Deucalion’s flood in Ovid, Met. 1.262–347.

740. supply: assistance.

741. exhalation dusk: dark mist.

753. bottom: boat.

755–56. The end … Depopulation: See Matt. 6.34.

766. dispensed: portioned out (so much evil for this age, so much for that age, et cetera).

777. Man is not whom: No one remains.

797–807. In both his poetry and his prose, Milton often states his belief that moral corruption and the loss of political liberty go hand in hand. See SA 268–71.

808. One man: Noah.

815. denouncing: proclaiming.

821. devote: consecrated to utter destruction, doomed.

835. orcs: whales; sea-mews: gulls; clang: shrill cry.

836–37. to place/No sanctity: One sign of the lack of sanctity for locality is the virtual absence of place names in Book 11. Indeed, even proper names are withheld, as if cults of personality were as false and distracting as cults of location.

840–69. Adam’s sixth and final vision focuses on God’s turn to peace and reconciliation after the judgmental wrath of the Flood.

840. hull: drift.

845. of the fresh wave largely drew: Cp. the thirsty sun of 5.422–26.

847. tripping: softly flowing.

851. some high mountain: “The Ark rested … upon the mountains of Ararat” (Gen. 8.4).

856. the surer messenger: surer, because the dove represents peace.

866. three listed colors: stripes formed from the primary colors, red, yellow, and blue.

867. cov’nant new: The covenant, as explained in lines 892–901, that God will never again flood the earth, which will instead be renewed by a purging fire.

880. Distended: expanded or loosened, as opposed to a brow contracted in anger.

881. verge: border, hem.

885–87. So willingly … heart: based on Gen. 6.6–7, a passage central to Milton’s discussion of metaphor in the biblical representation of God (CD 1.2 in MLM 1147).

886–901. Here Milton weaves together Gen. 6.6, 9, 11–12; 8.22; 9.11–17; 2 Pet. 3.12–13.

BOOK XII

THE ARGUMENT

The angel Michael continues from the Flood to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of Abraham, comes by degrees to explain who that seed of the woman shall be which was promised Adam and Eve in the Fall; his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension; the state of the church till his second coming. Adam greatly satisfied and recomforted by these relations and promises descends the hill with Michael; wakens Eve, who all this while had slept, but with gentle dreams composed to quietness of mind and submission. Michael in either hand leads them out of Paradise, the fiery sword waving behind them, and the Cherubim taking their stations to guard the place.

As one¹ who in his journey bates at noon,

Though bent on speed, so here the Archangel paused

Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored,

If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;

Then with transition sweet new speech resumes.

   “Thus thou hast seen one world begin and end;

And man as from a second stock⁷ proceed.

Much thou hast yet to see, but I perceive

Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine

Must needs impair and weary human sense:

Henceforth what is to come I will relate¹¹,

Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.

This second source of men, while yet but few,

And while the dread of judgment past remains

Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,

With some regard to what is just and right

Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace,

Laboring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,

Corn, wine and oil; and from the herd or flock,

Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,

With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred feast,

Shall spend their days in joy unblamed, and dwell

Long time in peace by families and tribes

Under paternal rule; till one shall rise²⁴

Of proud ambitious heart, who not content

With fair equality, fraternal state,

Will arrogate dominion²⁷ undeserved

Over his brethren, and quite dispossess

Concord and law of nature from the Earth;

Hunting³⁰ (and men not beasts shall be his game)

With war and hostile snare such as refuse

Subjection to his empire tyrannous:

A mighty hunter thence he shall be styled

Before the Lord, as in despite³⁴ of Heav’n,

Or from Heav’n claiming second sov’reignty;

And from³⁶ rebellion shall derive his name,

Though of rebellion others he accuse.

He with³⁸ a crew, whom like ambition joins

With him or under him to tyrannize,

Marching from Eden towards the west, shall find

The plain⁴¹, wherein a black bituminous gurge

Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell;

Of brick, and of that stuff they cast to build

A city and tow’r, whose top may reach to Heav’n;

And get themselves a name, lest far dispersed

In foreign lands their memory be lost,

Regardless whether good or evil fame.

But God who oft descends to visit men

Unseen, and through their habitations walks

To mark their doings, them beholding soon,

Comes down to see their city, ere the tower

Obstruct Heav’n tow’rs, and in derision⁵² sets

Upon their tongues a various spirit to raze⁵³

Quite out their native language, and instead

To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:

Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud

Among the builders; each to other calls

Not understood, till hoarse, and all in rage,

As mocked they storm; great laughter was in Heav’n

And looking down, to see the hubbub⁶⁰ strange

And hear the din; thus was the building left

Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named⁶².”

   Whereto thus Adam fatherly displeased.

“O execrable son so to aspire

Above his brethren, to himself assuming

Authority usurped, from God not giv’n:

He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl

Dominion absolute; that right we hold

By his donation; but man over men

He made not lord; such title to himself

Reserving, human left from human free.

But this usurper his encroachment proud

Stays not on man; to God his tow’r intends

Siege and defiance. Wretched man! What food

Will he convey up thither to sustain

Himself and his rash army, where thin air

Above the clouds will pine his entrails gross,

And famish him of breath, if not of bread?”

   To whom thus Michael. “Justly thou abhorr’st

That son, who on the quiet state of men

Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue

Rational liberty⁸²; yet know withal,

Since thy original lapse, true liberty

Is lost, which always with right reason⁸⁴ dwells

Twinned, and from her hath no dividual⁸⁵ being:

Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,

Immediately inordinate desires

And upstart passions catch the government

From reason, and to servitude reduce

Man till then free. Therefore since he permits

Within himself unworthy powers to reign

Over free reason, God in judgment just

Subjects him from without to violent lords;

Who oft as undeservedly enthrall

His outward freedom: tyranny must be,

Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.

Yet sometimes nations will decline so low

From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,

But justice, and some fatal curse annexed

Deprives them of their outward liberty,

Their inward lost: witness th’ irreverent son

Of him who built the ark, who for the shame

Done to his father, heard this heavy curse¹⁰³,

‘Servant of servants,’ on his vicious race¹⁰⁴.

Thus will this latter, as the former world,

Still tend from bad to worse, till God at last

Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw

His presence from among them, and avert

His holy eyes, resolving from thenceforth

To leave them to their own polluted ways;

And one peculiar nation¹¹¹ to select

From all the rest, of whom to be invoked,

A nation from one faithful man¹¹³ to spring:

Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,

Bred up in idol-worship¹¹⁵; O that men

(Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,

While yet the patriarch¹¹⁷ lived, who scaped the Flood,

As to forsake the living God, and fall

To worship their own work in wood and stone

For gods! Yet him God the Most High vouchsafes

To call by vision from his father’s house,

His kindred and false gods, into a land

Which he will show him, and from him will raise

A mighty nation, and upon him shower

His benediction so, that in his seed

All nations shall be blest; he straight obeys,

Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes:

I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith

He leaves his gods, his friends, and native soil

Ur¹³⁰ of Chaldea, passing now the ford

To Haran¹³¹, after him a cumbrous train

Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude¹³²;

Not wand’ring poor, but trusting all his wealth

With God, who called him, in a land unknown.

Canaan he now attains, I see his tents

Pitched about Sechem¹³⁶, and the neighboring plain

Of Moreh; there by promise he receives

Gift to his progeny of all that land;

From Hamath¹³⁹ northward to the desert south

(Things by their names I call¹⁴⁰, though yet unnamed)

From Hermon east to the great western sea,

Mount Hermon, yonder sea, each place behold

In prospect, as I point them; on the shore

Mount Carmel; here the double-founted stream

Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons

Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.

This ponder, that all nations of the Earth

Shall in his seed be blessed; by that seed

Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise

The serpent’s head; whereof to thee anon

Plainlier shall be revealed. This patriarch blest,

Whom ‘faithful Abraham’ due time shall call,

A son¹⁵³, and of his son a grandchild leaves,

Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown;

The grandchild with twelve sons increased, departs

From Canaan, to a land hereafter called

Egypt, divided by the river Nile;

See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths

Into the sea: to sojourn in that land

He comes invited by a younger son¹⁶⁰

In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds

Raise him to be the second in that realm

Of Pharaoh: there he dies, and leaves his race

Growing into a nation, and now grown

Suspected to¹⁶⁵ a sequent king, who seeks

To stop their overgrowth¹⁶⁶, as inmate guests

Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves

Inhospitably, and kills their infant males:

Till by two brethren (those two brethren call

Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim

His people from enthralment, they return

With glory and spoil back to their promised land.

But first the lawless tyrant, who denies¹⁷³

To know their God, or message to regard,

Must be compelled by signs and judgments dire¹⁷⁵;

To blood unshed the rivers must be turned,

Frogs, lice and flies must all his palace fill

With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land;

His cattle must of rot and murrain¹⁷⁹ die,

Botches¹⁸⁰ and blains must all his flesh emboss,

And all his people; thunder mixed with hail,

Hail mixed with fire must rend th’ Egyptian sky

And wheel on th’ earth, devouring where it rolls;

What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,

A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down

Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green:

Darkness must overshadow all his bounds,

Palpable darkness¹⁸⁸, and blot out three days;

Last with one midnight stroke all the first-born

Of Egypt must lie dead. Thus with ten wounds

The river-dragon tamed at length submits

To let his sojourners depart, and oft

Humbles his stubborn heart, but still as ice

More hardened after thaw, till in his rage

Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea

Swallows him with his host, but them lets pass

As on dry land between two crystal walls,

Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand

Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:

Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend,

Though present in his angel, who shall go

Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire,

By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire,

To guide them in their journey, and remove

Behind them, while th’ obdurate king pursues:

All night he will pursue, but his approach

Darkness defends²⁰⁷ between till morning watch;

Then through the fiery pillar and the cloud

God looking forth will trouble all his host

And craze²¹⁰ their chariot wheels: when by command

Moses once more his potent rod extends

Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys;

On their embattled ranks the waves return,

And overwhelm their war²¹⁴: the race elect

Safe towards Canaan from the shore advance

Through the wild desert, not the readiest way²¹⁶,

Lest ent’ring on the Canaanite alarmed²¹⁷

War terrify them inexpert, and fear

Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather

Inglorious life with servitude; for life

To noble and ignoble is more sweet

Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.

This also shall they gain by their delay

In the wide wilderness, there they shall found

Their government, and their great senate²²⁵ choose

Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordained:

God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top

Shall tremble, he descending, will himself

In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpet’s sound

Ordain them laws; part such as appertain

To civil justice, part religious rites

Of sacrifice, informing them, by types²³²

And shadows, of that destined seed to bruise

The serpent, by what means he shall achieve

Mankind’s deliverance. But the voice of God

To mortal ear is dreadful; they beseech

That Moses might report to them his will,

And terror cease; he grants what they besought

Instructed that to God is no access

Without mediator, whose high office now

Moses in figure bears²⁴¹, to introduce

One greater, of whose day he shall foretell,

And all the prophets in their age the times

Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus laws and rites

Established, such delight hath God in men

Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes

Among them to set up his tabernacle²⁴⁷,

The Holy One with mortal men to dwell:

By his prescript a sanctuary is framed

Of cedar, overlaid with gold, therein

An ark, and in the ark his testimony,

The records of his cov’nant, over these

A mercy-seat of gold between the wings

Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn

255 Seven lamps as in a zodiac²⁵⁵ representing

The heav’nly fires; over the tent a cloud

Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night,

Save when they journey, and at length they come,

Conducted by his angel to the land

Promised to Abraham and his seed: the rest

Were long to tell, how many battles fought,

How many kings destroyed, and kingdoms won,

Or how the sun shall in mid-heav’n stand still

A day entire, and night’s due course adjourn,

Man’s voice commanding, ‘Sun²⁶⁵ in Gibeon stand,

And thou moon in the vale of Aialon,

Till Israel overcome’; so call the third²⁶⁷

From Abraham, son of Isaac, and from him

His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.”

   Here Adam interposed. “O sent from Heav’n,

Enlight’ner of my darkness, gracious things

Thou hast revealed, those chiefly which concern

Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find

Mine eyes true op’ning²⁷⁴, and my heart much eased,

Erewhile perplexed with thoughts what would become

Of me and all mankind; but now I see

His²⁷⁷ day, in whom all nations shall be blest,

Favor unmerited by me, who sought

Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.

This yet I apprehend not, why to those

Among whom God will deign to dwell on Earth

So many and so various laws are giv’n;

So many laws argue so many sins

Among them; how can God with such reside?”

   To whom thus Michael. “Doubt not but that sin

Will reign among them, as of thee begot;

And therefore was law given them²⁸⁷ to evince

Their natural pravity²⁸⁸, by stirring up

Sin against law to fight; that when they see

Law can discover sin, but not remove,

Save by those shadowy expiations weak,

The blood of bulls and goats²⁹², they may conclude

Some blood more precious²⁹³ must be paid for man,

Just for unjust, that in such righteousness

To them by faith imputed²⁹⁵, they may find

Justification²⁹⁶ towards God, and peace

Of conscience, which the law by ceremonies

Cannot appease, nor man the moral part

Perform, and not performing cannot live.

So law appears imperfect, and but giv’n

With purpose to resign them in full time

Up to a better cov’nant, disciplined

From shadowy types to truth, from flesh to spirit,

From imposition of strict laws to free

Acceptance of large grace, from servile fear

To filial, works of law to works of faith.

And therefore shall not Moses, though of God

Highly beloved, being but the minister

Of law, his people into Canaan lead;

But Joshua whom the Gentiles Jesus call³¹⁰,

His name and office bearing, who shall quell

The adversary serpent, and bring back

Through the world’s wilderness long wandered man

Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.

Meanwhile they in their earthly Canaan placed

Long time shall dwell and prosper, but³¹⁶ when sins

National interrupt their public peace,

Provoking God to raise them enemies:

From whom as oft he saves them penitent

By judges first, then under kings; of whom

The second, both for piety renowned

And puissant deeds, a promise³²² shall receive

Irrevocable, that his regal throne

Forever shall endure; the like shall sing

All prophecy, that of the royal stock

Of David (so I name this king) shall rise

A son, the woman’s seed to thee foretold,

Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust

All nations, and to kings foretold, of kings

The last, for of his reign shall be no end.

But first a long succession must ensue,

And his next son³³² for wealth and wisdom famed,

The clouded ark of God till then in tents

Wand’ring, shall in a glorious temple enshrine.

Such follow him, as shall be registered

Part good, part bad, of bad the longer scroll,

Whose foul idolatries and other faults

Heaped to the popular sum³³⁸, will so incense

God, as to leave them, and expose their land,

Their city, his temple, and his holy ark

With all his sacred things, a scorn and prey

To that proud city, whose high walls thou saw’st

Left in confusion, Babylon thence called.³⁴³

There in captivity he lets them dwell

The space of seventy years, then brings them back,

Rememb’ring mercy, and his cov’nant sworn

To David, ‘stablished as the days of Heav’n.

Returned from Babylon by leave of kings³⁴⁸

Their Lords, whom God disposed³⁴⁹, the house of God

They first re-edify³⁵⁰, and for a while

In mean estate live moderate, till grown

In wealth and multitude, factious they grow;

But first among the priests dissension springs,

Men who attend the altar, and should most

Endeavor peace: their strife pollution brings

Upon the temple itself: at last they seize

The scepter, and regard not David’s sons,

Then lose it to a stranger³⁵⁸, that the true

Anointed King Messiah might be born

Barred of³⁶⁰ his right; yet at his birth a star

Unseen before in Heav’n proclaims him come,

And guides the eastern sages, who inquire

His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold;

His place of birth a solemn angel tells

To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;

They gladly thither haste, and by a choir

Of squadroned angels hear his carol sung.

A virgin is his mother, but his sire

The power of the Most High; he shall ascend

The throne hereditary, and bound his reign

With Earth’s wide bounds, his glory with the Heav’ns.”

   He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy

Surcharged, as had like grief been dewed in tears,

Without the vent of words, which these he breathed.

   “O prophet of glad tidings, finisher

Of utmost hope! Now clear I understand

What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain,

Why our great expectation should be called

The seed of woman: Virgin Mother, hail³⁷⁹,

High in the love of Heav’n, yet from my loins

Thou shalt proceed, and from thy womb the Son

Of God Most High; so God with man unites.

Needs must the serpent now his capital³⁸³ bruise

Expect with mortal pain: say where and when

Their fight, what stroke shall bruise the victor’s heel.”

   To whom thus Michael. “Dream not of their fight,

As of a duel, or the local wounds

Of head or heel: not therefore joins the Son

Manhood to Godhead, with more strength to foil

Thy enemy; nor so is overcome

Satan, whose fall from Heav’n, a deadlier bruise,

Disabled not to give thee thy death’s wound:

Which he who comes thy Savior shall recure³⁹³,

Not by destroying Satan, but his works

In thee and in thy seed: nor can this be,

But by fulfilling that which thou didst want³⁹⁶,

Obedience to the law of God, imposed

On penalty of death, and suffering death,

The penalty to thy transgression due,

And due to theirs which out of thine will grow:

So only can high justice rest apaid⁴⁰¹.

The law of God exact he shall fulfill

Both by obedience and by love⁴⁰³, though love

Alone fulfill the law; thy punishment

He shall endure by coming in the flesh

To a⁴⁰⁶ reproachful life and cursèd death,

Proclaiming life to all who shall believe

In his redemption, and that his obedience

Imputed⁴⁰⁹ becomes theirs by faith, his merits

To save them, not their own, though legal works.

For this he shall live hated, be blasphemed,

Seized on by force, judged, and to death condemned

A shameful and accursed, nailed to the cross

By his own nation, slain for bringing life;

But to the cross⁴¹⁵ he nails thy enemies,

The law that is against thee, and the sins

Of all mankind, with him there crucified,

Never to hurt them more who rightly trust

In this his satisfaction; so he dies,

But soon revives, Death over him no power

Shall long usurp; ere the third dawning light

Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise

Out of his grave, fresh as the dawning light⁴²³,

Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems,

His death for man, as many as offered life

Neglect not, and the benefit embrace

By faith not void of works: this Godlike act

Annuls thy doom, the death thou shouldst have died,

In sin forever lost from life; this act

Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength

Defeating Sin and Death, his two main arms,

And fix far deeper in his head⁴³² their stings

Than temporal death shall bruise the victor’s heel,

Or theirs whom he redeems, a death like sleep,

A gentle wafting to immortal life.

Nor after resurrection shall he stay

Longer on Earth than certain times to appear

To his disciples, men who in his life

Still followed him; to them shall leave in charge

To teach all nations what of him they learned

And his salvation, them who shall believe

Baptizing in the profluent⁴⁴² stream, the sign

Of washing them from guilt of sin to life

Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befall,

For death, like that which the Redeemer died.

All nations they shall teach; for from that day

Not only to the sons of Abraham’s loins

Salvation shall be preached, but to the sons

Of Abraham’s faith wherever through the world;

So in his seed all nations shall be blest.

Then to the Heav’n of Heav’ns he shall ascend

With victory, triumphing through the air

Over his foes and thine; there shall surprise

The serpent, Prince of Air⁴⁵⁴, and drag in chains

Through all his realm, and there confounded leave;

Then enter into glory, and resume

His seat at God’s right hand, exalted high

Above all names in Heav’n; and thence shall come,

When this world’s dissolution shall be ripe,

With glory and power to judge both quick⁴⁶⁰ and dead,

To judge th’ unfaithful dead, but to reward

His faithful, and receive them into bliss,

Whether in Heav’n or Earth, for then the Earth

Shall all be Paradise, far happier place

Than this of Eden, and far happier days.”

   So spake th’ Archangel Michael, then paused,

As at the world’s great period⁴⁶⁷; and our sire

Replete with joy and wonder thus replied.

   “O goodness infinite, goodness immense!

That all this good of evil shall produce⁴⁷⁰,

And evil turn to good; more wonderful

Than that which by creation first brought forth

Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,

Whether I should repent me now of sin

By me done and occasioned, or rejoice⁴⁷⁵

Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring,

To God more glory, more good will to men

From God, and over wrath grace shall abound⁴⁷⁸.

But say, if our Deliverer up to Heav’n

Must reascend, what will betide the few

His faithful, left among th’ unfaithful herd,

The enemies of truth; who then shall guide

His people, who defend? Will they not deal

Worse with his followers than with him they dealt?”

   “Be sure they will,” said th’ angel. “But from Heav’n

He to his own a comforter⁴⁸⁶ will send,

The promise of the Father, who shall dwell

His Spirit within them, and the law of faith⁴⁸⁸

Working through love, upon their hearts shall write⁴⁸⁹,

To guide them in all truth, and also arm

With spiritual armor⁴⁹¹, able to resist

Satan’s assaults, and quench his fiery darts,

What man can do against them, not afraid,

Though to the death, against such cruelties

With inward consolations recompensed,

And oft supported so as shall amaze

Their proudest persecutors: for the Spirit

Poured first on his apostles, whom he sends

To evangelize the nations, then on all

Baptized, shall them with wondrous gifts endue

To speak all tongues⁵⁰¹, and do all miracles,

As did their Lord before them. Thus they win

Great numbers of each nation to receive

With joy the tidings brought from Heav’n: at length

Their ministry performed, and race well run,

Their doctrine and their story written left,

They die; but in their room, as they forewarn,

Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves⁵⁰⁸,

Who all the sacred mysteries of Heav’n

To their own vile advantages shall turn

Of lucre and ambition, and the truth⁵¹¹

With superstitions and traditions taint,

Left only in those written records pure,

Though not but by the Spirit understood.

Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names,

Places and titles, and with these to join

Secular power, though feigning still to act

By spiritual, to themselves appropriating

The Spirit of God, promised alike and giv’n

To all believers; and from that pretense,

Spiritual laws by carnal power shall force

On every conscience; laws which none shall find

Left them enrolled⁵²³, or what the Spirit within

Shall on the heart engrave. What will they then

But force the Spirit of Grace itself, and bind

His consort Liberty; what, but unbuild

His living temples⁵²⁷, built by faith to stand,

Their own faith not another’s: for on Earth⁵²⁸

Who against faith and conscience can be heard

Infallible? Yet many will presume:

Whence heavy persecution shall arise

On all who in the worship persevere

Of Spirit and Truth; the rest, far greater part,

Will deem in outward rites and specious forms⁵³⁴

Religion satisfied; Truth shall retire

Bestuck with sland’rous darts, and works of faith

Rarely be found: so shall the world go on,

To good malignant, to bad men benign,

Under her own weight groaning⁵³⁹ till the day

Appear of respiration⁵⁴⁰ to the just,

And vengeance to the wicked, at return

Of him so lately promised to thy aid

The woman’s seed, obscurely then foretold,

Now amplier known thy Savior and thy Lord,

Last in the clouds from Heav’n to be revealed

In glory of the Father, to dissolve⁵⁴⁶

Satan with his perverted world, then raise

From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined,

New heav’ns, new earth⁵⁴⁹, ages of endless date

Founded in righteousness and peace and love

To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss.”

   He ended; and thus Adam last replied.

“How soon hath thy prediction, seer blest,

Measured this transient world, the race of time,

Till time stand fixed⁵⁵⁵: beyond is all abyss,

Eternity, whose end no eye can reach.

Greatly instructed I shall hence depart,

Greatly in peace of thought, and have my fill

Of knowledge, what this vessel⁵⁵⁹ can contain;

Beyond which was my folly to aspire.

Henceforth I learn, that to obey is best,

And love with fear the only God, to walk

As in his presence, ever to observe

His providence, and on him sole depend,

Merciful over all his works, with good⁵⁶⁴

Still overcoming evil, and by small

Accomplishing great things⁵⁶⁷, by things deemed weak

Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise

By simply meek; that suffering for truth’s sake

Is fortitude to highest victory,

And, to the faithful, death the gate of life;

Taught this by his example whom I now

Acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.”

   To whom thus also th’ angel last replied:

“This having learnt, thou hast attained the sum

Of wisdom; hope no higher, though all the stars

Thou knew’st by name, and all th’ ethereal powers,

All secrets of the deep, all nature’s works,

Or works of God in heav’n, air, earth, or sea,

And all the riches of this world enjoyedst,

And all the rule, one empire; only add⁵⁸¹

Deeds to thy knowledge answerable⁵⁸², add faith,

Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love,

By name to come called charity, the soul

Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath

To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess

A paradise within⁵⁸⁷ thee, happier far.

Let us descend now therefore from this top

Of speculation; for the hour precise

Exacts our parting hence; and see the guards,

By me encamped on yonder hill, expect

Their motion, at whose front a flaming sword,

In signal of remove, waves fiercely round;

We may no longer stay: go⁵⁹⁴, waken Eve;

Her also I with gentle dreams have calmed

Portending good, and all her spirits composed

To meek submission: thou at season fit

Let her with thee partake what thou hast heard,

Chiefly what may concern her faith to know,

The great deliverance by her seed to come

(For by the woman’s seed) on all mankind.

That ye may live, which will be many days,

Both in one faith unanimous though sad,

With cause for evils past⁶⁰⁴, yet much more cheered

With meditation on the happy end.”

   He ended, and they both descend the hill;

Descended, Adam to the bower where Eve

Lay sleeping ran before⁶⁰⁸, but found her waked;

And thus with words not sad she him received.

   “Whence thou return’st, and whither went’st, I know;

For God is also in sleep, and dreams advise,

Which he hath sent propitious, some great good

Presaging, since with sorrow and heart’s distress

Wearied I fell asleep: but now lead on;

In me⁶¹⁵ is no delay; with thee to go,

Is to stay here; without thee here to stay,

Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me

Art all things under Heav’n, all places thou,

Who for my willful crime art banished hence.

This further consolation yet secure

I carry hence; though all by me is lost,

Such favor I unworthy am vouchsafed,

By me the promised seed shall all restore.”

   So spake our mother Eve, and Adam heard

Well pleased, but answered not; for now too nigh

Th’ Archangel stood, and from the other hill

To their fixed station, all in bright array

The Cherubim descended; on the ground

Gliding meteorous⁶²⁹, as ev’ning mist

Ris’n from a river o’re the marish⁶³⁰ glides,

And gathers ground fast at the laborer’s heel⁶³¹

Homeward returning. High in front advanced,

The brandished sword of God before them blazed

Fierce as a comet; which with torrid heat,

And vapor as the Libyan air adust⁶³⁵,

Began to parch that temperate clime; whereat

In either hand the hast’ning Angel caught

Our ling’ring parents, and to th’ eastern gate

Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast

To the subjected⁶⁴⁰ plain; then disappeared.

They looking back, all th’ eastern side beheld

Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,

Waved over by that flaming brand⁶⁴³, the gate

With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms:

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and providence their guide:

They hand in hand⁶⁴⁸ with wand’ring steps and slow,

Through Eden took their solitary way.

1–5. This passage first appeared in 1674, where the long Book 10 of 1667 was divided into the current Books 11 and 12.

1. bates: pauses at an inn for refreshment.

7. second stock: Noah now takes the place of Adam, but the passage also glances at Christ, the stock onto which we are grafted in Rom. 11.17–27.

11. I will relate: Adam’s instruction switches from visions to narrations, and the pace doubles, since the visions of Book 11 were first described and then explained. The six visions in Book 11 are structurally balanced by Michael’s six main speeches in Book 12.

24. one shall rise: Nimrod; as in Book 11, proper names and place names are for the time being withheld.

27. arrogate dominion: In biblical history, Nimrod is the first tyrant; see Ralegh, History of the World, 1.10.1.

30. Hunting: In Gen. 10.9, Nimrod is “a mighty hunter before the Lord.”

34–35. as in despite … sov’reignty: Michael says that Nimrod’s epithet (see previous note) means that he either brazenly defies God or invents the blasphemous doctrine of the divine right of kings.

36. Nimrod was sometimes said to derive from the Hebrew marad, “to rebel.” The sense is that he is rebelling against God.

38–62. In presenting Nimrod as the builder of Babel, Milton follows the view of Josephus (Antiq. 1.4.2).

41. The plain: the site of Babylon; gurge: whirlpool.

52. in derision: “The Lord shall have them in derision” (Ps. 2.4).

53–54. to raze … language: In the context of Paradise Lost, this well-known biblical episode suggests both the original names of the rebel angels razed from the Books of Life (1.362–63) and the senseless hissing and spitting of the metamorphosed devils (10.504–77).

60. hubbub: reminiscent of Chaos, “a universal hubbub wild/Of stunning sounds and voices all confused” (2.951–52).

62. Confusion named: Babel was sometimes said to derive from the Hebrew balal, “to confound.”

82. Rational liberty: the freedom proper to rational animals (but not to the subjected beasts).

84. right reason: conscience, innate knowledge of what is just and right. See Hoopes. Michael observes that this faculty was impaired by the Fall, so that true liberty, which is obedience to right reason, was lost in the microcosm of the human soul before it was lost in the macrocosm of human government. Cp. 6.42n.

85. dividual: separate.

103. this heavy curse: See Noah’s curse on Ham’s sons in Gen. 9.25.

104. race: descendants.

111. one peculiar nation: Peculiar, meaning “uniquely favored” and used of the Jews or of Christian believers in phrases such as “peculiar nation” or “peculiar people,” was once a common idiom sanctioned by Bible translation (OED B.1.1a).

113. one faithful man: Abraham; Milton’s account of him derives from Gen. 11–25.

115. Bred up in idol-worship: See Josh. 24.2.

117. the patriarch: Noah lived 350 years after the Flood (Gen. 9.28).

130. Ur: a city in ancient Babylonia.

131. Haran: a city on the Belikh, a tributary of the Euphrates, on the border of Canaan.

132. servitude: slaves and servants.

136. Sechem: commercial center in Canaan, present-day Nablus.

139–45. A precise description of the Promised Land, drawn mostly from Num. 34. Its northern border is the district of Hamath, its southern the desert of Zin, its western the Mediterranean (great western sea), and its eastern the river Jordan, double-founted because of the supposed confluence of the Jor and the Dan.

140. Things by their names I call: Michael calls attention to the sudden reintroduction of place names and (with Abraham in line 152) proper names, hitherto missing from Adam’s second education (see 11.836–37n; 12.24n).

153. son: Isaac; grandchild: Jacob.

160. younger son: Joseph.

165. Suspected to: an object of suspicion to.

166. overgrowth: excessive growth.

173. denies: refuses.

175. signs and judgments dire: the ten plagues of Exod. 7–12.

179. murrain: a cattle plague.

180. Botches: boils; blains: pustules; emboss: swell.

188. Palpable darkness: See 2.406n.

207. defends: prevents.

210. craze: shatter.

214. war: soldiers.

216. not the readiest way: The detour was intended to circumvent the warlike Philistines (Exod. 13).

217. alarmed: called to arms.

225. great senate: the Seventy Elders of Exod. 24.19 and Num. 11.16–30. Milton cites the Sanhedrin as a model senate in REW (MLM 1124).

232–33. types/And shadows: prefigurations of Christianity; cp. shadowy types (l. 303).

241. Moses in figure bears: Moses prefigures Christ as mediator between man and God.

247. his tabernacle: the Ark of the Covenant, which contained manna, the tables of the law, and Aaron’s rod.

255. Seven lamps as in a zodiac: Josephus, Antiq., 3.6–7, maintained that the seven lamps of the candlestick (Exod. 25.37) represented the seven planets.

265–67. Sun … overcome: Paraphrasing the words of Joshua when routing the five Amorite kings at Gibeon (Josh. 10.12–13). The episode appears among the subjects for a tragic poem listed in the CMS.

267. so call the third: Jacob, who is named Israel (“he that strives with God”) by a mysterious wrestling opponent in Gen. 32.24–28.

274. eyes true op’ning: Adam alludes to the opening of the eyes Satan falsely promised Eve upon her eating the forbidden fruit (9.706–8, 985, 1053).

277. His: Abraham’s.

287. therefore was law given them: It is a dictum of Christian (especially Protestant) theology, stemming from Paul, that law can discover sin but not purge it (Rom. 3.19–28, 4.15–16, 5.12–15).

288. natural pravity: original sin. See CD 1.11.

292. blood of bulls and goats: “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb. 10.4).

293. blood more precious: “the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1.19).

295. imputed: attributed vicariously.

296. Justification: a theological term: “The judgment of God … by virtue of which those who are regenerate … are absolved from sins and from death through Christ’s absolutely full satisfaction, … not by the works of the law but through faith” (CD 1.22, Yale 6:485).

310. Joshua … Jesus call: Joshua in Hebrew and Jesus in Greek both mean “savior.”

316. but: except.

322. a promise: “Thy throne shall be established forever,” Nathan promises King David (2 Sam. 7.16).

332. his next son: Solomon.

338. Heaped to the popular sum: added to the sins of the people.

343–47. The seventy years of the Babylonian Captivity were foretold in Jer. 25.12 and are described in 2 Kings 25, 2 Chron. 36.

348. kings: Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the Persian kings under whom Jerusalem was rebuilt.

349. disposed: put in a favorable mood.

350. re-edify: rebuild, with spiritual overtones (see Coolidge 23–54).

358. a stranger: Antipater, whom Julius Caesar appointed ruler of Judea (now a Roman colony).

360. Barred of: barred from; a star: the star of Bethlehem, proclaiming Christ the true king.

379. hail: See 11.158n.

383. capital: both “on the head” and “fatal.”

393. recure: heal.

396. want: lack.

401. apaid: satisfied, the debt paid; see 3.246.

403. by love: “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13.10).

406. Crucifixion for the Jews was an ultimate punishment, virtually damnation (Gal. 3.13). The Romans also regarded it as the “extreme and ultimate punishment of slaves” (Cicero, Against Verres, 2.5.169).

409. Imputed: See 295n. In the Protestant doctrine of justification, Christ’s obedience is imputed or “attributed vicariously” to the faithful Christian, who cannot by means of his own works merit salvation.

415–16. to the cross … sins: See Col. 2.14.

423. fresh as the dawning light: Although dawn as a symbol of resurrection was commonplace, Milton found great poetry in it; recall the various dawns in Nativity Ode and Lycidas.

432. fix far deeper in his head: The stings of Sin and Death are returned to their source in Satan’s head (Flannagan); see 2.758.

442. profluent: flowing; Milton favored baptism in profluentum aquam (running water) (CD 1.28 in MLM 1280).

447–50. The universal teaching of the Apostles fulfills the promise to Abraham that all nations (men of faith throughout the world) shall be blessed in his seed.

454. Prince of Air: as in Eph. 2.2; drag in chains: as in Rev. 20.1.

460. quick: living.

467. period: end.

470. shall produce: The subject of this verb is goodness in line 469.

475. or rejoice: See Lovejoy 1937 on the tradition of the felix culpa or “fortunate fall,” and Danielson (202–27) for a vigorous denial of its relevance to Paradise Lost. Milton’s version of the felix culpa is the central paradox of the epic. The Fall is not fortunate; the Fall is fortunate. Though Danielson may go too far in excluding the fortunate fall from the poem, he demonstrates that Milton’s is importantly more subdued than some versions of felix culpa. Adam wonders whether his sin is the precondition of Christian salvation. But he does not rejoice in his disobedience, emphasizing instead the glorious power of God to create, even from his sin, goodness immense (l. 469).

478. over wrath grace shall abound: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5.20).

486. a comforter: the Holy Spirit.

488. the law of faith: Rom. 3.27.

489. upon their hearts shall write: See Paul’s contrast between the Old Testament Law, written “on tables of stone,” and the Gospel, written by “the Spirit of the living God” on “fleshly tables of the heart” (2 Cor. 3.3).

491. spiritual armor: See Eph. 6.11–17.

501. speak all tongues: See Mark 16–17, Acts 2.4–7; this miracle is precisely opposite to Babel’s confusion of tongues (ll. 52–59).

508. grievous wolves: See Paul’s warning about corrupt priests in Acts 20.29; and see 4.193n.

511–14. the truth … understood: Protestants believe that God’s truth in the Scriptures must be apprehended not through church tradition or the teachings of the priesthood but by the individual believer, whose interpretation will ideally be guided by the Holy Spirit.

523–24. enrolled … engrave: The oppressive laws binding the Christian conscience will be found neither in biblical writing (enrolled) nor in the Spirit’s writing on the heart (see 489n).

527. living temples: 1 Cor. 3.16: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” Cp. 1.17.

528–30. for on Earth … Infallible?: a dismissal of the idea of papal infallibility. See A Treatise of Civil Power (Yale 7:244).

534. Here we print “Will” (1667) rather than “Well” (1674).

539. Under her own weight groaning: a groaning that began with sighing at the moment of Eve’s fall (9.783) and continued with a second groan at the moment of Adam’s fall (9.1001).

540. respiration: breathing space.

546. dissolve: terminate. It is impossible to decide on the basis of this one verb whether Milton has here altered his opinion on the endless sufferings of the devils in Hell (CD 1.33 in MLM 1310).

549. New heav’ns, new earth: See 2 Pet. 3.13.

555. stand fixed: stands out clearly.

559. vessel: human being.

565. Merciful … works: “His tender mercies are over all his works” (Ps. 145.9).

565–66. with good … evil: “Overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12.21).

567–68. things … strong: “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1.27).

581–85. only add … rest: A similar list of virtues, also emphasizing charity, appears in 2 Pet. 1.

582. answerable: corresponding with.

587. The paradise within is not biblical. It is Milton’s addition to the largely traditional, biblical, Pauline spiritual vocabulary of Book 12, and has behind it the entire weight of his poem; cp. Satan’s Hell within (4.20). See Duncan (257–68) for analogues. happier far: happier than continuing, having fallen, to live in Eden (for which Adam and Eve yearned at 11.263–333).

594. stay: go: Note the conjunction of these words, for they will appear in Eve’s forthcoming speech; see 9.372 for the first conjoining of go and stay.

604. With cause for evils past: “With good reason (referring back to sad in l. 603), in view of past misdeeds.”

608. ran before: who had run before (to the bower); found her waked: In the prose Argument, Adam wakens Eve.

615–20. Now the words linked at 9.372 (see note) and 12.594 (see note) are woven into a beautiful love lyric, full of internal rhymes and repetitions, in which the paradise within widens to include their love and marriage: with thee to go,/Is to stay here, in Paradise. Cp. Shakespeare, ANT 1.3.101–5.

629. meteorous: above the ground; see Hill (in Hill and Kerrigan 117–28) on the word’s associations with Aristophanes, Plato, and Luke 12.29.

630. marish: marsh.

631. laborer’s heel: Milton’s myth spills out into everyday reality: Adam, and all after him, bear the curse of laboring, and their heel, in the terms of the protevangelium (see 10.175–81n), will one day feel the serpent sting of death.

635. adust: burnt up, scorched.

640. subjected: lying beneath.

643. brand: sword.

648–49. The end-words of the last two lines quietly, satisfyingly rhyme with go and stay (see ll. 615–20n).

648. hand in hand: See 4.448, 689, 739.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to our editor, Judy Sternlight, for her numerous good turns, and to the crack production team at Random House for the superb detailing and overall beauty of the published book. We were ably assisted in our editorial work by Phillip Albonetti, Yaser Amad, Joel Dodson, Jonathan Lamb, Mary Maddox, Jennifer Nichols, Shea Suski, Natalie Tenner, Claire Fallon, Joseph Rumrich, and Amelia Kerrigan.

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ABOUT THE EDITORS

WILLIAM KERRIGAN is the author of many books, including The Sacred Complex: On the Psychogenesis of Paradise Lost, for which he won the James Holly Hanford Award of the Milton Society of America. A former president of the Milton Society, he has also earned numerous honors and distinctions from that group, including its award for lifetime achievement. He is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts.

JOHN RUMRICH is the author of Matter of Glory: A New Preface to Paradise Lost and Milton Unbound: Controversy and Reinterpretation. An award-winning editor and writer, he is Thaman Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches early modern British literature.

STEPHEN M. FALLON is the author of Milton’s Peculiar Grace: Self-Representation and Authority and Milton among the Philosophers: Poetry and Materialism in Seventeenth-Century England, winner of the Milton Society’s Hanford Award. He is professor of liberal studies and English at the University of Notre Dame.

THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD

Maya Angelou

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A. S. Byatt

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Caleb Carr

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Christopher Cerf

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Harold Evans

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Charles Frazier

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Vartan Gregorian

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Jessica Hagedorn

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Richard Howard

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Charles Johnson

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Jon Krakauer

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Edmund Morris

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Azar Nafisi

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Joyce Carol Oates

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Elaine Pagels

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John Richardson

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Salman Rushdie

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Oliver Sacks

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Carolyn See

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Gore Vidal