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 inexcusable³²⁷⁸ 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.

1	Now morn, her rosy steps in the eastern clime3279
2	Advancing, sowed the earth with orient3280 pearl,
3	When Adam waked, so customed,3281 for his sleep
4	Was airy-light, from pure digestion bred,3282
5	And temperate3283 vapors3284 bland,3285 which th’ only sound
6	Of leaves and fuming3286 rills, Aurora’s3287 fan,
7	Lightly dispersed,3288 and the shrill matin3289 song
8	Of birds on every bough, so much the more
9	His wonder was to find unwakened Eve
10	With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,
11	As through unquiet rest. He, on his side
12	Leaning half raised, with looks of cordial 3290 love
13	Hung over her enamored, and beheld
14	Beauty which, whether waking or asleep,
15	Shot forth peculiar3291 graces. Then with voice
16	Mild, as when Zephyrus3292 on Flora3293 breathes,
17	Her hand soft touching, whispered thus: “Awake,
18	My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,
19	Heav’n’s last best gift, my ever new delight!
20	Awake. The morning shines, and the fresh field
21	Calls us. We lose the prime, 3294 to mark3295 how spring3296
22	Our tender plants, how blows the citron grove,
23	What drops the myrrh,3297 and what the balmy reed,3298
24	How Nature paints her colors, how the bee
25	Sits on the bloom extracting liquid sweet.
26	Such whispering waked her, but with startled eye
27	On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spoke:
28	“O sole in whom my thoughts find all repose,
29	My glory, my perfection! Glad I see
30	Thy face, and morn returned, for I this night
31	(Such night till this I never passed) have dreamed
32	(If dreamed) not, as I oft am wont,3299 of thee,
33	Works of day past, or morrow’s next design,3300
34	But of offence and trouble, which my mind
35	Knew never till this irksome3301 night. Methought
36	Close at mine ear one called me forth to walk,
37	With gentle voice; I thought it thine. It said,
38	‘Why sleep’st thou, Eve? Now is the pleasant time,
39	The cool, the silent, save 3302 where silence yields
40	To the night-warbling bird, that now awake
41	Tunes sweetest his love-labored song. Now reigns
42	Full-orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light
43	Shadowy sets off the face of things. In vain,
44	If none regard.3303 Heav’n wakes with all his eyes,
45	Whom to behold but thee, Nature’s desire?
46	In whose sight all things joy, 3304 with ravishment 3305
47	Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.
48	I rose as at thy call, but found thee not;
49	To find thee I directed then my walk,
50	And on, methought, alone I passed through ways
51	That brought me on a sudden to the tree
52	Of interdicted3306 knowledge. Fair it seemed,
53	Much fairer to my fancy than by day,
54	And as I wond’ring looked, beside it stood
55	One shaped and winged like one of those from Heav’n
56	By us oft seen. His dewy locks distilled3307
57	Ambrosia. On that tree he also gazed,
58	And ‘O fair plant,’ said he, ‘with fruit surcharged,3308
59	Deigns none to ease thy load, and taste thy sweet,
60	Nor god, nor man? Is knowledge so despised?
61	Or envy, or what reserve3309 forbids to taste?
62	Forbid who will, none shall from me withhold
63	Longer thy offered good: why else set 3310 here?
64	This said, he paused not, but with venturous3311 arm
65	He plucked, he tasted; me damp3312 horror chilled
66	At such bold words vouched 3313 with a deed so bold,
67	But he thus, overjoyed: ‘O fruit divine,
68	Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropped,3314
69	Forbidden here, it seems, as only fit
70	For gods, yet able to make gods of men.
71	And why not gods of men? Since good, the more
72	Communicated, more abundant grows,
73	The author3315 not impaired, but honored more?
74	Here, happy creature, fair angelic Eve!
75	Partake thou also. Happy though thou art,
76	Happier thou may’st be, worthier canst not be.
77	Taste this, and be henceforth among the gods
78	Thyself a goddess, not to earth confined,
79	But sometimes in the air, as we, sometimes
80	Ascend to Heav’n, by merit thine, and see
81	What life the gods live there, and such live thou!
82	“So saying, he drew nigh, and to me held,
83	Ev’n to my mouth of that same fruit held part3316
84	Which he had plucked. The pleasant savory smell
85	So quickened appetite that I, methought,
86	Could not but taste. Forthwith up to the clouds
87	With him I flew, and underneath beheld
88	The earth outstretched immense, a prospect wide
89	And various, wond’ring at my flight and change
90	To this high exaltation. Suddenly
91	My guide was gone, and I, methought, sunk down,
92	And fell asleep. But O, how glad I waked
93	To find this but a dream!” Thus Eve her night
94	Related, and thus Adam answered, sad:3317
95	“Best image of myself, and dearer half,
96	The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
97	Affects me equally, nor can I like
98	This uncouth3318 dream, of evil sprung, I fear.
99	Yet evil whence? In thee can harbor none,
100	Created pure. But know that in the soul
101	Are many lesser faculties, that serve
102	Reason as chief; among these Fancy 3319 next 3320
103	Her office 3321 holds. Of all external things
104	Which the five watchful3322 senses represent,3323
105	She forms imaginations, airy shapes,
106	Which reason, joining or disjoining, frames
107	All what we affirm or what deny, and call 3324
108	Our knowledge or opinion, then retires
109	Into her private cell, when Nature rests.
110	Oft, in her absence, mimic Fancy wakes
111	To imitate her but, misjoining shapes,
112	Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams,
113	Ill matching words and deeds long past or late. 3325
114	Some such resemblances, methinks, I find
115	Of our last evening’s talk, in this thy dream,
116	But with addition strange. Yet be not sad.3326
117	Evil into the mind of god or man
118	May come and go, so unapproved, and leave
119	No spot or blame behind. Which gives me hope
120	That what in sleep thou didst abhor to dream,
121	Waking thou never will consent to do.
122	Be not disheartened, then, nor cloud those looks
123	That wont to be more cheerful and serene
124	Than when fair morning first smiles on the world.
125	And let us to our fresh employments rise
126	Among the groves, the fountains, and the flowers
127	That open now their choicest bosomed3327 smells,
128	Reserved from night, and kept for thee in store.
129	So cheered he his fair spouse, and she was cheered.
130	But silently a gentle tear let fall
131	From either eye, and wiped them with her hair.
132	Two other precious drops that ready stood,
133	Each in their crystal sluice, 3328 he ere they fell
134	Kissed, as the gracious signs of sweet remorse
135	And pious awe, that feared to have offended.
136	So all was cleared, and to the field they haste.
137	But first, from under shady arborous roof
138	Soon as they forth were come to open sight
139	Of day-spring, and the sun, who scarce up-risen,
140	With wheels yet hov’ring o’er the ocean-brim,
141	Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray,
142	Discovering 3329 in wide landscape all the east
143	Of Paradise and Eden’s happy plains,
144	Lowly they bowed adoring, and began
145	Their orisons,3330 each morning duly paid
146	In various3331 style, for neither various style
147	Nor holy rapture wanted 3332 they to praise
148	Their Maker, in fit 3333 strains3334 pronounced, or sung
149	Unmeditated, such prompt3335 eloquence
150	Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous3336 verse,
151	More tuneable 3337 than needed lute or harp
152	To add more sweetness. And they thus began:
153	“These are Thy glorious works, Parent of good,
154	Almighty! Thine this universal frame, 3338
155	Thus wondrous fair. Thyself how wondrous then!
156	Unspeakable, who sit’st above these. Heav’ns
157	To us invisible, or dimly seen
158	In these Thy lowest works. Yet these declare
159	Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
160	Speak ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
161	Angels, for ye behold Him, and with songs
162	And choral symphonies,3339 day without night,
163	Circle His throne rejoicing, ye in Heav’n!
164	On earth join all ye creatures to extol
165	Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without end!
166	Fairest of stars,3340 last in the train of night
167	(If better thou belong not to the dawn)
168	Sure pledge3341 of day that crown’st the smiling morn
169	With thy bright circlet,3342 praise Him in thy sphere,
170	While day arises, that sweet hour of prime. 3343
171	Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
172	Acknowledge Him thy greater, sound His praise
173	In thse, both when thou climb’st
174	And when high noon hast gained,3344 and when thou fall’st.
175	Moon, that now meet’st the orient3345 sun, now fly’st 3346
176	With the fixed stars, fixed in their orb that flies,3347
177	And ye five other wand’ring3348 fires3349 that move
178	In mystic dance not without song, resound
179	His praise, who out of darkness called up light.
180	Air, and ye Elements, the eldest birth
181	Of Nature’s womb, that in quaternion3350 run
182	Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix
183	And nourish all things: let your ceaseless change
184	Vary, 3351 to our great Maker still new praise.
185	Ye mists and exhalations that now rise
186	From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
187	Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
188	In honor to the world’s great Author rise,
189	Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored 3352 sky,
190	Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,
191	Rising or falling still advance His praise.
192	His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow,
193	Breathe soft or loud. And wave your tops, ye pines,
194	With every plant, in sign of worship wave!
195	Fountains,3353 and ye that warble as ye flow,
196	Melodious murmurs, warbling tune3354 His praise.
197	Join voices, all ye living souls! Ye birds,
198	That singing up to Heaven-gate ascend,
199	Bear on your wings, and in your notes, His praise.
200	Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
201	The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep,
202	Witness3355 if I be silent, morn or ev’n,
203	To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
204	Made vocal3356 by my song, and taught His praise.
205	Hail, universal Lord, be bounteous still3357
206	To give us only good. And if the night
207	Have gathered aught of evil, or concealed,
208	Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark!
209	So prayed they innocent, and to their thoughts
210	Firm peace recovered soon, and wonted3358 calm.
211	On to their morning’s rural 3359 work they haste,
212	Among sweet dews and flow’rs, where any row
213	Of fruit-trees over-woody reached too far
214	Their pampered boughs,3360 and needed hands to check
215	Fruitless 3361 embraces.3362 Or they led the vine
216	To wed her elm; she, spoused, about him twines
217	Her marriageable arms, and with him brings
218	Her dow’r, th’ adopted 3363 clusters,3364 to adorn
219	His barren3365 leaves. Them thus employed beheld
220	With pity Heav’n’s high King, 3366 and to him called
221	Raphael, the sociable Spirit that deigned
222	To travel with Tobias, and secured
223	His marriage with the seven-times-wedded maid.3367
224	“Raphael,” said He, “thou hear’st what stir on earth
225	Satan, from Hell ’scaped through the darksome gulf,
226	Hath raised in Paradise, and how disturbed
227	This night the human pair, how he designs3368
228	In them at once to ruin all mankind.
229	Go, therefore: half this day as friend with friend
230	Converse with Adam, in what bow’r or shade
231	Thou find’st him from the heat of noon retired,
232	To respite3369 his day-labor with repast3370
233	Or with repose, and such discourse bring on
234	As may advise him of his happy state,
235	Happiness in his power left free to will,
236	Left to his own free will, his will though free,
237	Yet mutable. 3371 Whence warn him to beware
238	He swerve not, too secure. 3372 Tell him withal 3373
239	His danger, and from whom—what enemy,
240	Late fall’n himself from Heav’n, is plotting now
241	The fall of others from like state of bliss.
242	By violence? No, for that shall be withstood,3374
243	But by deceit and lies. This let him know
244	Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend 3375
245	Surprisal, unadmonished,3376 unforewarned.
246	So spoke the Eternal Father, and fulfilled3377
247	All justice. Nor delayed the wingèd Saint
248	After his charge3378 received, but from among
249	Thousand celestial Ardors,3379 where he stood
250	Veiled 3380 with his gorgeous3381 wings, up springing light,
251	Flew through the midst of Heav’n. Th’ angelic choirs,
252	On each hand parting, to his speed gave way
253	Through all th’ empyreal road, till at the gate
254	Of Heav’n arrived, the gate self-opened wide
255	On golden hinges turning, as by work
256	Divine the sov’reign Architect had framed.3382
257	From hence no cloud, or to obstruct his sight,
258	Star interposed,3383 however small, he sees,
259	Not unconform3384 to other shining globes,
260	Earth, and the garden of God, with cedars crowned
261	Above all hills. As when by night the glass
262	Of Galileo, less assured,3385 observes
263	Imagined lands and regions in the moon,
264	Or pilot from amidst the Cyclades3386
265	Delos3387 or Samos3388 first appearing, kens3389
266	A cloudy spot. Down thither prone3390 in flight
267	He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
268	Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing
269	Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan3391
270	Winnows3392 the buxom3393 air, till within soar3394
271	Of tow’ring eagles, to all the fowls he seems
272	A phoenix,3395 gazed 3396 by all as that sole3397 bird,
273	When, to enshrine his3398 relics in the sun’s
274	Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
275	At once on th’ eastern cliff of Paradise
276	He3399 lights, and to his proper shape returns,
277	A Seraph winged. Six wings he wore, to shade
278	His lineaments3400 divine. The pair that clad
279	Each shoulder broad, came mantling3401 o’er his breast
280	With regal ornament; the middle pair
281	Girt like a starry zone3402 his waist, and round
282	Skirted3403 his loins and thighs with downy3404 gold
283	And colors dipped 3405 in Heav’n; the third his feet
284	Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
285	Sky-tinctured 3406 grain.3407 Like Maia’s son3408 he stood
286	And shook his plumes,3409 that 3410 Heav’nly fragrance filled
287	The circuit wide. 3411 Straight knew him all the bands
288	Of Angels under3412 watch, and to his state,
289	And to his message high, in honor rise,
290	For on some message high they guessed him bound.
291	Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come
292	Into the blissful 3413 field, through groves of myrrh,
293	And flowering odors, cassia, nard,3414 and balm—
294	A wilderness of sweets. For Nature here
295	Wantoned 3415 as in her prime, and played at will
296	Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet,
297	Wild above3416 rule or art, enormous bliss.
298	Him through the spicy3417 forest onward come
299	Adam discerned, as in the door he sat
300	Of his cool bow’r, while now the mounted sun
301	Shot down direct his fervid 3418 rays to warm
302	Earth’s inmost womb, more warmth than Adam needs.
303	And Eve within, due3419 at her hour prepared
304	For dinner savory fruits, of taste to please
305	True appetite, and not disrelish3420 thirst
306	Of nectarous draughts between, from milky stream,
307	Berry or grape. To whom thus Adam called:
308	“Haste hither, Eve, and worth thy sight behold
309	Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape
310	Comes this way moving, seems another morn
311	Ris’n on mid-noon! Some great behest3421 from Heav’n
312	To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe3422
313	This day to be our guest. But go with speed,
314	And what thy stores contain bring forth, and pour
315	Abundance, fit to honor and receive
316	Our Heav’nly stranger. Well we may afford
317	Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow3423
318	From large3424 bestowed, where Nature multiplies
319	Her fertile growth, and by disburthening3425 grows
320	More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.”3426
321	To whom thus Eve: “Adam, earth’s hallowed 3427
	mold,3428
322	Of God inspired, small store3429 will serve, 3430 where store,
323	All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk,
324	Save what by frugal3431 storing3432 firmness gains
325	To nourish, and superfluous3433 moist3434 consumes.
326	But I will haste, and from each bough and brake, 3435
327	Each plant and juiciest gourd, will pluck such choice
328	To entertain our Angel-guest, as he
329	Beholding shall confess, that here on earth
330	God hath dispensed His bounties as in Heav’n.
331	So saying, with dispatchful 3436 looks in haste
332	She turns, on hospitable3437 thoughts intent
333	What choice to choose for delicacy best,
334	What order, so contrived as not to mix
335	Tastes not well joined, inelegant, but bring
336	Taste after taste upheld 3438 with kindliest 3439 change.
337	Bestirs3440 her then, and from each tender stalk
338	Whatever earth, all-bearing mother, yields
339	In India east or west, or middle shore3441
340	In Pontus3442 or the Punic3443 coast, or where
341	Alcinous3444 reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat
342	Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,
343	She gathers tribute3445 large, and on the board 3446
344	Heaps with unsparing hand. For drink the grape
345	She crushes, inoffensive must,3447 and mead
346	From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed
347	She tempers3448 dulcet3449 creams.3450 Nor these to hold
348	Wants3451 her fit3452 vessels pure. Then strews the ground
349	With rose and odors from the shrub unfumed.3453
350	Meanwhile our primitive3454 great sire, to meet
351	His godlike guest, walks forth, without more train
352	Accompanied than with his own complete
353	Perfections. In himself was all his state,
354	More solemn3455 than the tedious pomp that waits
355	On princes, when their rich retinue long
356	Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold,
357	Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.
358	Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed,
359	Yet with submiss3456 approach and reverence meek,
360	As to a superior nature bowing low,
361	Thus said:
	“Native of Heav’n, for other pla
362	None can than Heav’n such glorious shape contain,
363	Since by descending from the thrones above
364	Those happy places thou hast deigned a while
365	To want,3457 and honor these, vouchsafe3458 with us
366	Two only, who yet by sov’reign gift possess
367	This spacious ground, in yonder shady bow’r
368	To rest, and what the garden choicest bears
369	To sit and taste, till this meridian3459 heat
370	Be over, and the sun more cool decline.”3460
371	Whom thus the angelic Virtue3461 answered mild:
372	“Adam, I therefore came, nor art thou such
373	Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
374	As may not oft invite, though Spirits of Heav’n,
375	To visit thee. Lead on, then, where thy bow’r
376	O’ershades, for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
377	I have at will.”3462 So to the sylvan3463 lodge
378	They came, that like Pomona’s3464 arbor3465 smiled,
379	With flow’rets decked, and fragrant smells. But Eve,
380	Undecked save with herself, more lovely fair
381	Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess feigned 3466
382	Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,3467
383	Stood to entertain her guest from Heav’n. No veil3468
384	She needed, virtue-proof: no thought infirm3469
385	Altered her cheek. On whom the Angel “Hail”
386	Bestowed, the holy salutation used
387	Long after to blest Mary, second Eve:
388	“Hail, mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb
389	Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,
390	Than with these various fruits the trees of God
391	Have heaped this table!
	—Raised of grassy tur
392	Their table was, and mossy seats had round,
393	And on her ample square3470 from side to side
394	All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here
395	Danced hand in hand. A while discourse they hold—
396	No fear lest dinner cool—when thus began
397	Our author:3471
	“Heav’nly stranger, please to taste
398	These bounties,3472 which our Nourisher, from whom
399	All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends,
400	To us for food and for delight hath caused
401	The earth to yield—unsavory food perhaps
402	To spiritual natures. Only this I know,
403	That one celestial Father gives to all.
404	To whom the Angel:
	“Therefore what He gives
405	(Whose praise be ever sung) to man in part 3473
406	Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found
407	No ungrateful3474 food. And food alike those pure
408	Intelligential substances require,
409	As doth your rational,3475 and both3476 contain
410	Within them every lower faculty
411	Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,
412	Tasting concoct,3477 digest, assimilate,
413	And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
414	For know, whatever was created, needs
415	To be sustained and fed. Of elements
416	The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,
417	Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
418	Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon,
419	Whence in her visage round 3478 those spots, unpurged 3479
420	Vapors not yet into her substance turned.
421	Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale
422	From her moist continent3480 to higher orbs.
423	The sun, that light imparts to all, receives
424	From all3481 his alimental 3482 recompence
425	In humid exhalations, and at ev’n3483
426	3484 with the ocean. Though in Heav’n the trees
427	Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
428	Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn
429	We brush mellifluous3485 dews, and find the ground
430	Covered with pearly grain; yet God hath here3486
431	Varied His bounty so with new delights
432	As may compare with Heaven, and to taste
433	Think not I shall be nice.”3487 So down they sat,
434	And to their viands3488 fell, nor seemingly3489
435	The Angel, nor in mist,3490 the common gloss3491
436	Of theologians, but with keen dispatch
437	Of real 3492 hunger, and concoctive3493 heat
438	To transubstantiate. 3494 What redounds,3495 transpires3496
439	Through Spirits with ease—nor wonder, if by fire
440	Of sooty coal the empiric3497 alchemist
441	Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,
442	Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold,
443	As from3498 the mine. Meanwhile at table Eve
444	Ministered 3499 naked, and their flowing cups
445	With pleasant liquors crowned.3500 O innocence
446	Deserving Paradise! If ever, then,
447	Then had the sons of God excuse to have been
448	Enamored at that sight. But in those hearts
449	Love unlibidinous3501 reigned, nor jealousy
450	Was understood, the injured lover’s hell.
451	Thus when with meats3502 and drinks they had sufficed,
452	Not burdened Nature, 3503 sudden mind arose
453	In Adam, not to let th’ occasion pass
454	Giv’n him by this great conference3504 to know
455	Of things above his world, and of their being
456	Who dwell in Heav’n, whose excellence he saw
457	Transcend his own so far, whose radiant forms,
458	Divine effulgence, 3505 whose high power, so far
459	Exceeded human. And his wary 3506 speech
460	Thus to the empyreal minister he framed:3507
461	“Inhabitant with God, now know I well
462	Thy favor, in this honor done to man,
463	Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed 3508
464	To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste,
465	Food not of Angels, yet accepted so
466	As that more willingly thou could’st not seem
467	At Heav’n’s high feasts t’ have fed. Yet what compare?
468	To whom the wingèd Hierarch3509 replied:
469	“O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom
470	All things proceed, and up to Him return,
471	If not depraved 3510 from good, created all
472	Such to perfection, one first3511 matter all,
473	Endued 3512 with various forms, various degrees
474	Of substance and, in things that live, of life,
475	But more refined, more spiritous, and pure,
476	As nearer to Him placed, or nearer tending
477	Each in their several active spheres assigned,
478	Till body up to spirit work, in bounds3513
479	Proportioned to each kind. So from the root
480	Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves
481	More airy, last the bright consummate 3514 flower
482	Spirits odorous breathes. Flow’rs and their fruit,
483	Man’s nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,3515
484	To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
485	To intellectual, give both life and sense,
486	Fancy and understanding, whence the soul
487	Reason receives, and reason is her being,
488	Discursive, or intuitive. 3516 Discourse
489	Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,
490	Differing but in degree, of kind the same.
491	Wonder not then, what God for you saw good
492	If I refuse not, but convert, as you,
493	To proper substance. Time may come when men
494	With Angels may participate, and find
495	No inconvenient 3517 diet, nor too light fare.
496	And from these corporal nutriments perhaps
497	Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit,
498	Improved by tract3518 of time and, winged, ascend
499	Ethereal, as we. Or may, at choice,
500	Here or in Heav’nly Paradises dwell,
501	If ye be found obedient, and retain
502	Unalterably firm His love entire,
503	Whose 3519 progeny 3520 you are. Meanwhile enjoy
504	Your fill what 3521 happiness this happy state
505	Can comprehend, incapable of more.
506	To whom the patriarch of mankind replied:
507	“O favorable Spirit, propitious3522 guest,
508	Well hast thou taught the way that might direct
509	Our knowledge, and the scale of Nature set
510	From center to circumference, whereon,
511	In contemplation of created things,
512	By steps we may ascend to God. But say,
513	What meant that caution joined,3523 ‘If ye be found
514	Obedient?’ Can we want 3524 obedience then
515	To Him, or possibly His love desert,
516	Who formed us from the dust and placed us here
517	Full to the utmost measure of what bliss
518	Human desires can seek or apprehend?
519	To whom the Angel:
	“Son of Heav’n and ear
520	Attend:3525 that thou art happy, owe to God;
521	That thou continuest such, owe to thyself—
522	That is, to thy obedience: therein stand.3526
523	This was that caution given thee: be advised.3527
524	God made thee perfect,3528 not immutable, 3529
525	And good He made thee, but to persevere
526	He left it in thy power, ordained thy will
527	By nature free, not overruled by fate
528	Inextricable, 3530 or strict necessity.
529	Our voluntary service He requires,
530	Not our necessitated. Such with Him
531	Finds no acceptance, nor can find, for how
532	Can hearts, not free, be tried 3531 whether they serve
533	Willing or no, who will but what they must 3532
534	By destiny, and can no other choose?
535	Myself, and all th’Angelic host that stand
536	In sight of God enthroned, our happy state
537	Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds,
538	On other surety 3533 none. Freely we serve,
539	Because we freely love, as in our will
540	To love or not. In this we stand or fall,
541	And some are fall’n, to disobedience fall’n,
542	And so from Heav’n to deepest Hell. O fall 3534
543	From what high state of bliss, into what woe!
544	To whom our great progenitor:3535
	“Thy words
545	Attentive, and with more delighted ear,
546	Divine instructor, I have heard, than when
547	Cherubic songs by night from neighboring hills
548	Aerial music send. Nor knew I not
549	To be both will and deed created free.
550	Yet that we never shall forget to love
551	Our Maker, and obey Him whose command,
552	Single, 3536 is yet so just, my constant thoughts
553	Assured me, and still assure. Though what thou tellest
554	Hath passed in Heav’n, some doubt within me move,3537
555	But more desire to hear, if thou consent,
556	The full relation,3538 which must needs be strange,
557	Worthy of sacred 3539 silence to be heard.
558	And we have yet large 3540 day, 3541 for scarce the sun
559	Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins
560	His other half in the great zone 3542 of Heav’n.
561	Thus Adam made request, and Raphael,
562	After short pause assenting, thus began:
563	“High matter thou enjoin’st 3543 me, O prime3544 of men,
564	Sad 3545 task and hard. For how shall I relate
565	To human sense the invisible exploits
566	Of warring Spirits? How, without remorse, 3546
567	The ruin of so many, glorious once,
568	And perfect while they stood? How last 3547 unfold
569	The secrets of another world, perhaps
570	Not lawful to reveal? Yet for thy good
571	This is dispensed,3548 and what surmounts the reach
572	Of human sense I shall delineate 3549 so,
573	By lik’ning spiritual to corporal forms,
574	As may express them best. Though what if earth
575	Be but a shadow 3550 of Heav’n, and things therein
576	Each t’ other like, more than on earth is thought?
577	“As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild
578	Reigned where these Heav’ns now roll, where earth now rests
579	Upon her center poised, when on a day
580	(For time, though in eternity, applied
581	To motion, measures all things durable
582	By present, past, and future), on such day
583	As Heav’n’s great year 3551 brings forth, the empyreal 3552 host
584	Of Angels by imperial summons called,
585	Innumerable before the Almighty’s throne
586	Forthwith, from all the ends of Heav’n, appeared
587	Under their Hierarchs 3553 in orders bright.
588	Ten thousand thousand ensigns 3554 high advanced,
589	Standards 3555 and gonfalons3556 ’twixt van3557 and rear
590	Stream in the air, and for distinction serve3558
591	Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees,
592	Or in their glittering tissues 3559 bear emblazed 3560
593	Holy memorials,3561 acts of zeal and love
594	Recorded eminent.3562 Thus when in orbs
595	Of circuit inexpressible they stood,
596	Orb within orb, the Father Infinite,
597	By whom in bliss embosomed3563 sat the Son,
598	Amidst as 3564 from a flaming mount whose top
599	Brightness had made invisible, thus spoke:
600	“‘Hear, all ye Angels, progeny 3565 of light,
601	Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers!
602	Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand.3566
603	This day I have begot 3567 whom3568 I declare
604	My only Son, and on this holy hill
605	Him have anointed, whom ye now behold
606	At my right hand. Your head I him appoint,
607	And by myself have sworn, to him shall bow
608	All knees in Heav’n, and shall confess3569 him Lord.
609	Under his great vice-gerent3570 reign abide
610	United, as one individual soul,
611	Forever happy. Him who disobeys,
612	Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day,
613	Cast out from God and blessèd vision, falls
614	Into utter darkness, deep engulfed,3571 his place
615	Ordained without redemption, without end.
616	“So spoke the Omnipotent, and with His words
617	All seemed well pleased—all seemed, but were not all.
618	That day, as other solemn days, they spent
619	In song and dance about the sacred hill,
620	Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
621	Of planets, and of fixed,3572 in all her wheels
622	Resembles nearest, mazes intricate,
623	Eccentric,3573 intervolved,3574 yet regular
624	Then most when most irregular they seem.
625	And in their motions harmony divine
626	So smooths3575 her 3576 charming tones,3577 that God’s own ear
627	Listens delighted. Ev’ning now approached
628	(For we have also our ev’ning and our morn,
629	We ours for change delectable, 3578 not need)
630	Forthwith from dance to sweet repast they turn
631	Desirous, all in circles as they stood.
632	Tables are set, and on a sudden piled
633	With Angels’ food, and rubied nectar flows
634	In pearl, in diamond,3579 and massy gold,
635	Fruit of delicious vines, the growth3580 of Heav’n.
636	On flow’rs reposed,3581 and with fresh flow’rets crowned,
637	They eat, they drink, and in communion3582 sweet
638	Quaff 3583 immortality and joy, secure
639	Of 3584 surfeit where full measure only bounds3585
640	Excess, before the all-bounteous King, who show’red
641	With copious3586 hand, rejoicing in their joy.
642	Now when ambrosial3587 night with clouds exhaled
643	From that high mount of God, whence light and shade
644	Spring both, the face of brightest Heav’n had changed
645	To grateful 3588 twilight ( for night comes not there
646	In darker veil), and roseate3589 dews disposed 3590
647	All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest.
648	Wide over all the plain, and wider far
649	Than all this globous3591 earth in plain outspread
650	(Such are the courts of God), th’Angelic throng,
651	Dispersed in bands and files, their camp extend
652	By living3592 streams among the trees of life,
653	Pavilions3593 numberless, and sudden reared,
654	Celestial tabernacles3594 where they slept,
655	Fanned with cool winds, save those who, in their course, 3595
656	Melodious hymns about the sov’reign throne
657	Alternate all night long. But not so waked
658	Satan—so call him now, his former name
659	Is heard no more in Heav’n. He of 3596 the first,
660	If not the first Arch-Angel, great in power,
661	In favor and pre-eminence, yet fraught3597
662	With envy against the Son of God, that day
663	Honored by his great Father, and proclaimed
664	Messiah, King anointed, could not bear
665	Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.3598
666	Deep malice thence conceiving, and disdain,
667	Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
668	Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
669	With all his legions to dislodge, 3599 and leave
670	Unworshipped, unobeyed, the throne supreme,
671	Contemptuous. And his next subordinate3600
672	Awak’ning, thus to him in secret spoke:
673	“‘Sleep’st thou, companion dear? What sleep can close
674	Thy eye-lids, and 3601 rememb’rest what decree
675	Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips
676	Of Heav’n’s Almighty? Thou to me thy thoughts
677	Wast wont,3602 I mine to thee was wont t’ impart.3603
678	Both waking, 3604 we were one. How then can now
679	Thy sleep dissent?3605 New laws thou see’st imposed:
680	New laws from Him who reigns, new minds may raise
681	In us who serve, new counsels to debate
682	What doubtful may ensue. More in this place
683	To utter is not safe. Assemble thou
684	Of all those myriads3606 which we lead the chief.3607
685	Tell them that by command, ere yet dim night
686	Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste, 3608
687	And all who under me their banners wave,
688	Homeward, with flying3609 march, where we possess3610
689	The quarters3611 of the North, there to prepare
690	Fit entertainment to receive our King,
691	The great Messiah, and his new commands,
692	Who speedily through all the hierarchies3612
693	Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.
694	“So spoke the false Arch-Angel, and infused 3613
695	Bad influence3614 into th’ unwary breast
696	Of his associate. He3615 together calls,
697	Or several 3616 one by one, 3617 the regent 3618 Powers
698	Under him Regent;3619 tells, as he was taught,
699	That the Most High commanding, now ere night,
700	Now ere dim night had disincumbered 3620 Heav’n,
701	The great hierarchal standard3621 was to move;
702	Tells the suggested cause, and casts between
703	Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound 3622
704	Or taint 3623 integrity. But all obeyed
705	The wonted 3624 signal and superior voice3625
706	Of their great Potentate, 3626 for great indeed
707	His name, and high was his degree3627 in Heav’n.
708	His count’nance, as the morning-star that guides
709	The starry flock, allured 3628 them, and with lies
710	Drew after him the third part of Heav’n’s host.
711	Meanwhile th’ Eternal eye, whose sight discerns
712	Abstrusest 3629 thoughts, from forth His holy mount
713	And from within the golden lamps that burn
714	Nightly before Him, saw without their light
715	Rebellion rising, saw in whom, how spread
716	Among the sons of morn, what multitudes
717	Were banded to oppose His high decree
718	And, smiling, to His only Son thus said:
719	“‘Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
720	In full resplendence, heir of all my might,
721	Nearly 3630 it now concerns us to be sure
722	Of our omnipotence, and with what arms
723	We mean to hold what anciently 3631 we claim
724	Of deity or empire. Such a foe
725	Is rising who intends t’ erect his throne
726	Equal to ours, throughout the spacious North,
727	Nor so content, hath in his thought to try
728	In battle what our power is, or our right.
729	Let us advise, 3632 and to this hazard 3633 draw
730	With speed what force is left, and all employ
731	In our defence, lest unawares we lose
732	This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.
733	To whom the Son with calm aspect and clear,
734	Ligh’tning divine, ineffable, 3634 serene,
735	Made answer:
	‘Mighty Father, Thou Thy foe
736	Justly hast in derision and, secure, 3635
737	Laugh’st at their vain designs and tumults3636 vain,
738	Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
739	Illustrates,3637 when they see all regal power
740	Giv’n me, to quell 3638 their pride, 3639 and in event3640
741	Know whether I be dextrous3641 to subdue
742	Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heav’n.
743	“So spoke the Son. But Satan, with his Powers,
744	Far was advanced on3642 wingèd speed, an host
745	Innumerable3643 as the stars of night,
746	Or stars of morning, dew-drops, which the sun
747	Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
748	Regions they passed, the mighty regencies
749	Of Seraphim, and Potentates, and Thrones
750	In their triple degrees3644 —regions to which
751	All thy dominion, Adam, is no more
752	Than what this garden is to all the earth
753	And all the sea, from one entire globose3645
754	Stretched into longitude3646 —which, having passed,
755	At length into the limits3647 of the North
756	They came. And Satan to his royal seat
757	High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount
758	Raised on a mount, with pyramids and tow’rs
759	From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold,
760	The palace of great Lucifer (so call
761	That structure, in the dialect of men
762	Interpreted)3648 which, not long after, he
763	(Affecting all equality with God)
764	In imitation of that mount whereon
765	Messiah was declared, in sight of Heav’n,
766	The Mountain of the Congregation called,
767	For thither he assembled all his train,
768	Pretending3649 so commanded to consult
769	About the great reception of their King,
770	Thither to come, and with calumnious3650 art
771	Of counterfeited truth thus held their ears:
772	“‘Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers—
773	If these magnific titles yet remain
774	Not merely titular, 3651 since by decree
775	Another now hath to himself engrossed 3652
776	All power, and us eclipsed under the name
777	Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
778	Of midnight-march and hurried meeting here,
779	This only to consult how we may best,
780	With what may be devised of honors new,
781	Receive him coming to receive from us
782	Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile!
783	Too much to one! But double how endured,
784	To one and to His image3653 now proclaimed?
785	But what if better counsels might erect 3654
786	Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?
787	Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend
788	The supple knee? Ye will not, if I trust
789	To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves
790	Natives and sons of Heav’n, possessed before
791	By none, and if not equal all, yet free,
792	Equally free, for orders and degrees
793	Jar not with liberty, but well consist.3655
794	Who can in reason, then, or right, assume
795	Monarchy over such as live by right
796	His equals, if in power and splendor less,
797	In freedom equal? Or can introduce
798	Law and edict on us, who without law
799	Err not? Much less for this to be our Lord
800	And look for adoration, to th’ abuse3656
801	Of those imperial titles which assert
802	Our being ordained to govern, not to serve.
803	“Thus far his bold discourse without control3657
804	Had audience, when among the Seraphim
805	Abdiel,3658 than whom none with more zeal adored
806	The Deity, and divine commands obeyed,
807	Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe3659
808	The current 3660 of his fury thus opposed:
809	“‘O argument blasphemous, false, and proud!
810	Words which no ear ever to hear in Heav’n
811	Expected, least of all from thee, ingrate,
812	In place thyself so high above thy peers.
813	Canst thou with impious obloquy3661 condemn
814	The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn,
815	That to His only Son, by right endued3662
816	With regal scepter, every soul in Heav’n
817	Shall bend the knee, and in that honor due3663
818	Confess3664 him rightful King? Unjust, thou say’st,
819	Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,
820	And equal over equals to let reign,
821	One over all with unsucceeded 3665 power.
822	Shalt thou give law to God? Shalt thou dispute
823	With Him the points of liberty, who made
824	Thee what thou art, and formed the Powers of Heav’n
825	Such as He pleased, and circumscribed3666 their being?
826	Yet, by experience taught, we know how good,
827	And of our good and of our dignity
828	How provident 3667 He is, how far from thought
829	To make us less, bent3668 rather to exalt
830	Our happy state, under one head more near3669
831	United. But to grant it thee unjust3670
832	That equal over equals monarch reign:
833	Thyself, though great and glorious, dost thou count—
834	Or all Angelic nature joined in one
835	Equal to him, begotten Son? By whom,
836	As by His Word, the Mighty Father made
837	All things, ev’n thee, and all the Spirits of Heav’n
838	By Him created in their bright degrees,
839	Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named
840	Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers,
841	Essential Powers, nor by His reign obscured 3671
842	But more illustrious made, since He the head
843	One of our number thus reduced becomes,
844	His laws our laws, all honor to Him done
845	Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage,
846	And tempt not these, 3672 but hasten to appease3673
847	Th’ incensèd Father and th’ incensèd Son,
848	While pardon may be found, in time3674 besought.
849	“So spoke the fervent 3675 Angel, but his zeal
850	None seconded, as out of season3676 judged,
851	Or singular 3677 and rash.3678 Whereat rejoiced
852	Th’ apostate and, more haughty, thus replied:
853	“‘That we were formed then, say’st thou? And the work
854	Of secondary 3679 hands, by task transferred
855	From Father to His Son? Strange3680 point and new!
856	Doctrine which we would know whence learned. Who saw
857	When this creation was? Remember’st thou
858	Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?
859	We know no time when we were not as now,
860	Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised
861	By our own quick’ning 3681 power, when fatal3682 course
862	Had circled his full orb, the birth mature3683
863	Of this our native Heav’n, ethereal3684 sons.
864	Our puissance3685 is our own: our own right hand
865	Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try
866	Who is our equal. Then thou shalt behold
867	Whether by supplication we intend
868	Address,3686 and to begirt 3687 th’ Almighty throne
869	Beseeching or besieging. This report,
870	These tidings carry to th’ anointed King,
871	And fly, 3688 ere evil intercept thy flight.
872	“He said, and as the sound of waters deep
873	Hoarse murmur echoed to his words applause, 3689
874	Through the infinite host. Nor less for that
875	The flaming Seraph fearless, though alone,
876	Encompassed round with foes, thus answered bold:
877	“‘O alienate3690 from God, O Spirit accursed,
878	Forsaken of all good! I see thy fall
879	Determined,3691 and thy hapless3692 crew involved
880	In this perfidious fraud, contagion spread
881	Both of thy crime and punishment. Henceforth
882	No more be troubled how to quit the yoke
883	Of God’s Messiah. Those indulgent 3693 laws
884	Will not be now vouchsafed;3694 other decrees
885	Against thee are gone forth without recall.
886	That golden scepter, which thou did’st reject,
887	Is now an iron rod to bruise3695 and break
888	Thy disobedience. Well thou didst advise. 3696
889	Yet not for thy advice or threats I fly
890	These wicked tents devoted,3697 lest the wrath
891	Impendent,3698 raging into sudden flame,
892	Distinguish not.3699 For soon expect to feel
893	His thunder on thy head, devouring fire.
894	Then who created thee lamenting learn,
895	When who can uncreate thee thou shalt know.
896	“So spoke the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found
897	Among the faithless, faithful only he,
898	Among innumerable false. Unmoved,
899	Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
900	His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal,
901	Nor number, nor example, with him wrought 3700
902	To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind,
903	Though single. 3701 From amidst them forth he passed,
904	Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustained
905	Superior, nor of violence3702 feared aught,
906	And with retorted 3703 scorn, his back he turned
907	On those proud tow’rs to swift destruction doomed.

The End of the Fifth Book