As in our native Language can I find That solace? All our Law and Story strew'd With Hymns, our Psalms with artful terms inscrib'd, [ 335 ] Our Hebrew Songs and Harps in Babylon, That pleas'd so well our Victors ear, declare That rather Greece from us these Arts deriv'd; Ill imitated, while they loudest sing The vices of thir Deities, and thir own [ 340 ] In Fable, Hymn, or Song, so personating Thir Gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame.

Thus they the Son of God our Saviour meek Sung Victor, and, from Heavenly Feast refresht Brought on his way with joy; hee unobserv'd Home to his Mothers house private return'd.

And now the Tempter thus his silence broke. The City which thou seest no other deem Then great and glorious Rome, Queen of the Earth [ 45

So spake the Son of God; and here again [ 145 ] Satan had not to answer, but stood struck With guilt of his own sin, for he himself Insatiable of glory had lost all, Yet of another Plea bethought him soon.

To whom our Saviour answer'd thus unmov'd.

Besides to give a Kingdom hath been thought Greater and nobler done, and to lay down Far more magnanimous, then to assume. Riches are needless then, both for themselves, And for thy reason why they should be sought, [ 485 ] To gain a Scepter, oftest better miss't.

In ample space under the broadest shade A Table richly spred, in regal mode, [ 340 ] With dishes pil'd, and meats of noblest sort And savour

To whom thus Jesus; What conclud'st thou hence? They all had need, I as thou seest, have none.

When suddenly a man before him stood, Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad, As one in City, or Court, or Palace bred, [ 300 ] And with fair speech these words to him address'd.

When suddenly a man before him stood, Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad, As one in City, or Court, or Palace bred, [ 300 ] And with fair speech these words to him address'd.

Thus we rejoyc'd, but soon our joy is turn'd Into perplexity and new amaze: For whither is he gone, what accident Hath rapt him from us?

this the argument. Victory and triumph to the Son of God Now entring his great duel, not of arms, But to vanquish by wisdom hellish wiles. [ 175 ]

my Mother soon perceiving By words at times cast forth inly rejoyc'd, And said to me apart, high are thy thoughts O Son, but nourish them and let them soar

To which my Spirit aspir'd; victorious deeds [ 215 ] Flam'd in my heart, heroic acts; one while To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke, Then to subdue and quell o're all the earth Brute violence and proud Tyrannick pow'r, Till truth were freed, and equity restor'

How many Ages, as the years of men, This Universe we have possest, and rul'd In manner at our will th' affairs of Earth, [ 50 ]

Recover'd Paradise to all mankind,

To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A Paradise within thee, happier farr.

To leave them to thir own polluted wayes; [ 110 ] And one peculiar Nation to select From all the rest, of whom to be invok'd, A Nation from one faithful man to spring: Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,

Since thy original lapse, true Libertie Is lost, which alwayes with right Reason dwells Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being: [ 85 ] Reason in man obscur'd, or not obeyd, Immediately inordinate desires And upstart Passions catch the Government From Reason, and to servitude reduce Man till then free. Therefore since hee permits [ 90 ] Within himself unworthie Powers to reign Over free Reason, God in Judgement just Subjects him from without to violent Lords;

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

AS one who in his journey bates at Noone, Though bent on speed, so heer the Archangel paus'd

So willingly doth God remit his Ire, [ 885 ] Though late repenting him of Man deprav'd, Griev'd at his heart, when looking down he saw The whole Earth fill'd with violence, and all flesh Corrupting each thir way; yet those remoov'd, Such grace shall one just Man find in his sight, [ 890 ] That he relents, not to blot out mankind, And makes a Covenant never to destroy The Earth again by flood,

Our second Adam in the Wilderness, To shew him all Earths Kingdomes and thir Glory. His Eye might there command wherever stood [ 385 ] City of old or modern Fame

This Hill; let Eve (for I have drencht her eyes) Here sleep below while thou to foresight wak'st, As once thou slepst, while Shee to life was formd

And reverence thee thir great Progenitor. But this præeminence thou hast lost, brought down To dwell on eeven ground now with thy Sons: Yet doubt not but in Vallie and in Plaine God is as here, and will be found alike

Michael, this my behest have thou in charge, Take to thee from among the Cherubim [ 100 ] Thy choice of flaming Warriours, least the Fiend Or in behalf of Man, or to invade Vacant possession som new trouble raise:

This other serv'd but to eternize woe; [ 60 ] Till I provided Death; so Death becomes His final remedie, and after Life Tri'd in sharp tribulation, and refin'd By Faith and faithful works, to second Life,

So spake our Father penitent, nor Eve Felt less remorse: they forthwith to the place Repairing where he judg'd them prostrate fell Before him reverent, and both confess'd

The Race unblest, to being yet unbegot. Childless thou art, Childless remaine:

More miserable; both have sin'd, but thou [ 930 ] Against God onely, 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 remov'd may light On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe, [ 935 ] Mee mee onely just object of his ire.

Met who to meet him came, his Ofspring dear. Great joy was at thir meeting, and at sight [ 350 ] Of that stupendious Bridge his joy encreas'd. Long hee admiring stood, till Sin, his faire Inchanting Daughter, thus the silence broke.

Came the mild Judge and Intercessor both To sentence Man: the voice of God they heard Now walking in the Garden, by soft windes Brought to thir Ears, while day declin'd, they heard, And from his presence hid themselves among [ 100 ] The thickest Trees, both Man and Wife, till God Approaching, thus to Adam call'd aloud

In Femal Sex, the more to draw his Love, And render me more equal, and perhaps, A thing not undesireable, somtime 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 more, And Adam wedded to another Eve, Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct; A death to think. Confirm'd then I resolve, [ 830 ] 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.

he wish'd, but not with hope Of what so seldom chanc'd, when to his wish, Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,

Betook her to the Groves, but Delia's self In gate surpass'd and Goddess-like deport, Though not as shee with Bow and Quiver armd, [ 390 ] But with such Gardning Tools as Art yet rude,

Thus it shall befall Him who to worth in Women overtrusting Lets her Will rule; restraint she will not brook, And left to her self, if evil thence ensue, [ 1185 ] Shee first his weak indulgence will accuse.

The season, prime for sweetest Sents and Aires: [ 200 ] Then commune how that day they best may ply Thir growing work: for much thir work outgrew The hands dispatch of two Gardning so wide. And Eve first to her Husband thus began.

In every Bush and Brake, where hap may finde [ 160 ] The Serpent sleeping, in whose mazie foulds To hide me, and the dark intent I bring.

The Serpent suttlest Beast of all the Field. Him after long debate, irresolute Of thoughts revolv'd, his final sentence chose Fit Vessel, fittest Imp of fraud, in whom To enter, and his dark suggestions hide [ 90 ] From sharpest sight:

Of my Celestial Patroness, who deignes Her nightly visitation unimplor'd, And dictates to me slumb'ring, or inspires Easie my unpremeditated Verse: Since first this Subject for Heroic Song [ 25 ] Pleas'd me long choosing, and beginning late;

I follow'd her, she what was Honour knew, And with obsequious Majestie approv'd My pleaded reason. To the Nuptial Bowre [ 510 ] I led her blushing like the Morn: all Heav'n, And happie Constellations on that houre Shed thir selectest influence; the Earth Gave sign of gratulation,

; I, ere thou spak'st, Knew it not good for Man to be alone, [ 445 ] And no such companie as then thou saw'st Intended thee, for trial onely brought, To see how thou could'st judge of fit and meet:

As new wak't from soundest sleep Soft on the flourie herb I found me laid In Balmie Sweat, which with his Beames the Sun [ 255 ] Soon dri'd, and on the reaking moisture fed. Strait toward Heav'n my wondring Eyes I turnd, And gaz'd a while the ample Skie, till rais'd By quick instinctive motion up I sprung, As thitherward endevoring, and upright [ 260 ] Stood on my feet;

For I that Day was absent, as befell, Bound on a voyage uncouth and obscure, [ 230 ]

Thee I have heard relating what was don Ere my remembrance: now hear mee relate My Storie, which perhaps thou hast not heard; [ 205 ] And Day is yet not spent; till then thou seest How suttly to detaine thee I devise, Inviting thee to hear while I relate,

Yet went she not, as not with such discourse Delighted, or not capable her eare Of what was high: such pleasure she reserv'd, [ 50 ] Adam relating, she sole Auditress; Her Husband the Relater she preferr'd

All things proceed, and up to him return, [ 470 ] If not deprav'd from good, created all Such to perfection, one first matter all, Indu'd with various forms, various degrees Of substance, and in things that live, of life; But more refin'd, more spiritous, and pure, [ 475 ] As neerer to him plac't or neerer tending Each in thir several active Sphears assignd, Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportiond to each kind.

In favour and præeminence, yet fraught With envie against the Son of God, that day Honourd by his great Father, and proclaimd Messiah King anointed, could not beare Through pride that sight, & thought himself impaird.

Of Planets and of fixt in all her Wheeles Resembles nearest, mazes intricate, Eccentric, intervolv'd, yet regular

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, unpurg'd Vapours not yet into her substance turnd. [ 420 ] Nor doth the Moon no nourishment exhale From her moist Continent to higher Orbes. The Sun that light imparts to all, receives From all his alimental recompence In humid exhalations, and at Even [ 425 ] Sups with the Ocean: though in Heav'n the Trees Of life ambrosial frutage bear, and vines Yield Nectar, though from off the boughs each Morn We brush mellifluous Dewes, and find the ground Cover'd with pearly grain: yet God hath here [ 430 ] Varied his bounty so with new delights, As may compare with Heaven; and to taste Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat, And to thir viands fell,

This uncouth dream, of evil sprung I fear; Yet evil whence?

And on, methought, alone I pass'd through ways [ 50 ] That brought me on a sudden to the Tree Of interdicted Knowledge: fair it seem'd, Much fairer to my Fancie then by day: And as I wondring lookt, beside it stood One shap'd and wing'd like one of those from Heav'n [ 55 ] By us oft seen;

nly Abdiel a Seraph,

DEscend from Heav'n Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose Voice divine Following, above th' Olympian Hill I soare, Above the flight of Pegasean wing. The meaning, not the Name I call: for thou [ 5 ] Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st, but Heav'nlie borne, Before the Hills appeerd, or Fountain flow'd, Thou with Eternal Wisdom

But list'n not to his Temptations, warne Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard By terrible Example the reward [ 910 ] Of disobedience; firm they might have stood, Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.

Two dayes are therefore past, the third is thine; For thee I have ordain'd it, and thus farr [ 700 ] Have sufferd, that the Glorie may be thine Of ending this great Warr, since none but Thou Can end

Yet soon he heal'd; for Spirits that live throughout Vital in every part, not as frail man [ 345 ] In Entrailes, Heart or Head, Liver or Reines; Cannot but by annihilating die; Nor in thir liquid texture mortal wound Receive, no more then can the fluid Aire: All Heart they live, all Head, all Eye, all Eare, [ 350 ] All Intellect, all Sense, and as they please, They Limb themselves, and colour, shape or size Assume, as likes them best, condense or rare.

two dayes are past, Two dayes, as we compute the dayes of Heav'n, [ 685 ] Since Michael and his Powers went forth to tame These disobedient; sore hath been thir fight,

to subdue [ 40 ] By force, who reason for thir Law refuse, Right reason for thir Law, and for thir King Messiah, who by right of merit Reigns.

From thir own mouths; all is not theirs it seems: One fatal Tree there stands of Knowledge call'd, Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidd'n? [ 515 ] Suspicious, reasonless. Why should thir Lord Envie them that? can it be sin to know, Can it be death? and do they onely stand By Ignorance, is that thir happie state, The proof of thir obedience and thir faith?

O Hell! what doe mine eyes with grief behold, Into our room of bliss thus high advanc't

Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of Life, The middle Tree and highest there that grew, [ 195 ] Sat like a Cormorant; yet not true Life Thereby regaind, but sat devising Death

The way he went, and on th' Assyrian mount

O had his powerful Destiny ordaind Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood Then happie; no unbounded hope had rais'd [ 60 ] Ambition.

Of what he was, what is, and what must be [

Of all reproach the most with shame that ever Could have befall'n thee and thy Fathers house.

I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart, Who with a grain of manhood well resolv'd Might easily have shook off all her snares: But foul effeminacy held me yok't [ 410 ] Her Bond-slave; O indignity, O blot To Honour and Religion!

Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole Tribe, [ 265 ] They had by this possess'd the Towers of Gath, And lorded over them whom now they serve; But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt, And by thir vices brought to servitude, Then to love Bondage more then Liberty, [ 270 ] Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty; And to despise, or envy, or suspect Whom God hath of his special Favour rais'd As thir Deliverer; if he aught begin, How frequent to desert him, and at last [ 275 ] To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?

nd buried; but O yet more miserable! My self, my Sepulcher, a moving Grave, Buried, yet not exempt By priviledge of death and burial From worst of other evils, pains and wrongs, [ 105 ] But made hereby obnoxious more To all the miseries of life, Life in captivity Among inhuman foes.

The Sun to me is dark And silent as the Moon, When she deserts the night Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.

Under the Seal of silence could not keep, But weakly to a woman must reveal it, [ 50 ] O'recome with importunity and tears. O impotence of mind, in body strong! But what is strength without a double share Of wisdom, vast, unwieldy, burdensom, Proudly secure, yet liable to fall [ 55 ] By weakest subtleties, not made to rule, But to subserve where wisdom bears command.

Divine Prediction;

Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath, Down from th' Ecliptic, sped with hop'd success, [ 740 ] Throws his steep flight in many an Aerie wheele, Nor staid, till on Niphates top he lights.

s if predestination over-rul'd Thir will, dispos'd by absolute Decree [ 115 ] Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed Thir own revolt, not I: if I foreknew, Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown.

When Will and Reason (Reason also is choice) Useless and vain, of freedom both despoild, Made passive both, had servd necessitie, [ 110 ] Not mee.

inds a place since call'd The Lymbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither;

O Progeny of Heav'n, Empyreal Thrones, [ 430 ] With reason hath deep silence and demurr Seis'd us, though undismaid: long is the way And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light; Our prison strong, this huge convex of Fire, Outrageous to devour, immures us round [ 435 ] Ninefold, and gates of burning Adamant Barr'd over us prohibit all egress.

n circuit, undetermind square or round, With Opal Towrs and Battlements adorn'd Of living Saphire, once his native Seat; [ 1050 ] And fast by hanging in a golden Chain This pendant world, in bigness as a Starr Of smallest Magnitude close by the Moon.

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 [ 240 ] Strict Laws impos'd, to celebrate his Throne With warbl'd Hymns, and to his Godhead sing Forc't Halleluiah's; while he Lordly sits Our envied Sovran, and his Altar breathes Ambrosial Odours and Ambrosial Flowers, [ 245 ] Our servile offerings.

There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere longIntended to create, and therein plantA generation, whom his choice regardShould favour equal to the Sons of Heaven:

In Fable or Romance of Uthers Son [ 580 ]Begirt with British and Armoric Knights;And all who since, Baptiz'd or InfidelJousted in Aspramont or Montalban,Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore [ 585 ]

Consult how we may henceforth most offendOur Enemy, our own loss how repair,How overcome this dire Calamity,What reinforcement we may gain from Hope, [ 190 ]If not what resolution from despare.

Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd [ 80 ]Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold wordsBreaking the horrid silence thus began.

If then his ProvidenceOut of our evil seek to bring forth good,Our labour must be to pervert that end,And out of good still to find means of evil;

the unconquerable Will,

Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd [ 70 ]For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordain'dIn utter darkness, and thir portion setAs far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n

I may assert Eternal Providence, [ 25 ] And justifie the wayes of God to men.