The text is from the second edition of 1674. The notes are my own. I’ve only just begun adding annotations; be patient.
The other books are available here.
THE ARGUMENT |
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| 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, declar’d 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 dayes: the Angels celebrate with Hymns the performance thereof, and his reascention into Heaven. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 7.5 | The meaning, not the Name I call: for thou | |
| 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 didst converse, | ||
| 7.10 | Wisdom thy Sister, and with her didst play | |
| In presence of th’ Almightie Father, pleas’d | ||
| With thy Celestial Song. Up led by thee | ||
| Into the Heav’n of Heav’ns I have presum’d, | ||
| An Earthlie Guest, and drawn Empyreal Aire, | ||
| 7.15 | Thy tempring; with like safetie guided down | |
| Return me to my Native Element: | ||
| Least from this flying Steed unrein’d, (as once | ||
| Bellerophon, though from a lower Clime) | climate | |
| Dismounted, on th’ Aleian Field I fall | ||
| 7.20 | Erroneous there to wander and forlorne. | |
| Half yet remaines unsung, but narrower bound | ||
| Within the visible Diurnal Spheare; | ||
| Standing on Earth, not rapt above the Pole, | ||
| More safe I Sing with mortal voice, unchang’d | ||
| 7.25 | To hoarce or mute, though fall’n on evil dayes, | |
| On evil dayes though fall’n, and evil tongues; | ||
| In darkness, and with dangers compast round, | ||
| And solitude; yet not alone, while thou | ||
| Visit’st my slumbers Nightly, or when Morn | ||
| 7.30 | Purples the East: still govern thou my Song, | |
| Urania, and fit audience find, though few. | ||
| But drive farr off the barbarous dissonance | ||
| Of Bacchus and his Revellers, the Race | ||
| Of that wilde Rout that tore the Thracian Bard | ||
| 7.35 | In Rhodope, where Woods and Rocks had Eares | |
| To rapture, till the savage clamor dround | ||
| Both Harp and Voice; nor could the Muse defend | ||
| Her Son. So fail not thou, who thee implores: | ||
| For thou art Heav’nlie, shee an empty dreame. | ||
| 7.40 | Say Goddess, what ensu’d when Raphael, | |
| The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarn’d | ||
| Adam by dire example to beware | ||
| Apostasie, by what befell in Heaven | ||
| To those Apostates, least the like befall | infidels | |
| 7.45 | In Paradise to Adam or his Race, | |
| Charg’d not to touch the interdicted Tree, | ||
| If they transgress, and slight that sole command, | ||
| So easily obeyd amid the choice | ||
| Of all tastes else to please thir appetite, | ||
| 7.50 | Though wandring. He with his consorted Eve | companion |
| The storie heard attentive, and was fill’d | ||
| With admiration, and deep Muse to heare | ||
| Of things so high and strange, things to thir thought | ||
| So unimaginable as hate in Heav’n, | ||
| 7.55 | And Warr so neer the Peace of God in bliss | |
| With such confusion: but the evil soon | ruin | |
| Driv’n back redounded as a flood on those | ||
| From whom it sprung, impossible to mix | ||
| With Blessedness. Whence Adam soon repeal’d | from which | |
| 7.60 | The doubts that in his heart arose: and now | |
| Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know | ||
| What neerer might concern him, how this World | ||
| Of Heav’n and Earth conspicious first began, | ||
| When, and whereof created, for what cause, | ||
| 7.65 | What within Eden or without was done | |
| Before his memorie, as one whose drouth | ||
| Yet scarce allay’d still eyes the current streame, | ||
| Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites, | ||
| Proceeded thus to ask his Heav’nly Guest. | ||
| 7.70 | Great things, and full of wonder in our eares, | |
| Farr differing from this World, thou hast reveal’d | ||
| Divine interpreter, by favour sent | ||
| Down from the Empyrean to forewarne | ||
| Us timely of what might else have bin our loss, | ||
| 7.75 | Unknown, which human knowledg could not reach: | |
| For which to the infinitly Good we owe | ||
| Immortal thanks, and his admonishment | ||
| Receave with solemne purpose to observe | ||
| Immutably his sovran will, the end | sovereign | |
| 7.80 | Of what we are. But since thou hast voutsaf’t | |
| Gently for our instruction to impart | ||
| Things above Earthly thought, which yet concernd | ||
| Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemd, | ||
| Deign to descend now lower, and relate | ||
| 7.85 | What may no less perhaps availe us known, | |
| How first began this Heav’n which we behold | ||
| Distant so high, with moving Fires adornd | ||
| Innumerable, and this which yeelds or fills | ||
| All space, the ambient Aire, wide interfus’d | ||
| 7.90 | Imbracing round this florid Earth, what cause | |
| Mov’d the Creator in his holy Rest | ||
| Through all Eternitie so late to build | lately | |
| In Chaos, and the work begun, how soon | ||
| Absolv’d, if unforbid thou maist unfould | ||
| 7.95 | What wee, not to explore the secrets aske | |
| Of his Eternal Empire, but the more | ||
| To magnifie his works, the more we know. | ||
| And the great Light of Day yet wants to run | ||
| Much of his Race though steep, suspens in Heav’n | ||
| 7.100 | Held by thy voice, thy potent voice he heares, | |
| And longer will delay to heare thee tell | ||
| His Generation, and the rising Birth | ||
| Of Nature from the unapparent Deep: | ||
| Or if the Starr of Eevning and the Moon | ||
| 7.105 | Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring | |
| Silence, and Sleep listning to thee will watch, | ||
| Or we can bid his absence, till thy Song | ||
| End, and dismiss thee ere the Morning shine. | before | |
| Thus Adam his illustrious Guest besought: | ||
| 7.110 | And thus the Godlike Angel answerd milde. | |
| This also thy request with caution askt | ||
| Obtaine: though to recount Almightie works | ||
| What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice, | angel | |
| Or heart of man suffice to comprehend? | ||
| 7.115 | Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve | |
| To glorifie the Maker, and inferr | ||
| Thee also happier, shall not be withheld | ||
| Thy hearing, such Commission from above | ||
| I have receav’d, to answer thy desire | ||
| 7.120 | Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain | |
| To ask, nor let thine own inventions hope | ||
| Things not reveal’d, which th’ invisible King, | ||
| Onely Omniscient hath supprest in Night, | ||
| To none communicable in Earth or Heaven: | ||
| 7.125 | Anough 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 Surfet, and soon turns | ||
| 7.130 | Wisdom to Folly, as Nourishment to Winde. | |
| Know then, that after Lucifer from Heav’n | ||
| (So call him, brighter once amidst the Host | army | |
| Of Angels, then that Starr the Starrs among) | ||
| Fell with his flaming Legions through the Deep | ||
| 7.135 | Into his place, and the great Son returnd | |
| Victorious with his Saints, th’ Omnipotent | ||
| Eternal Father from his Throne beheld | ||
| Thir multitude, and to his Son thus spake. | ||
| At least our envious Foe hath fail’d, who thought | ||
| 7.140 | All like himself rebellious, by whose aid | |
| This inaccessible high strength, the seat | ||
| Of Deitie supream, us dispossest, | ||
| He trusted to have seis’d, and into fraud | ||
| Drew many, whom thir place knows here no more; | ||
| 7.145 | Yet farr the greater part have kept, I see, | |
| Thir station, Heav’n yet populous retaines | ||
| Number sufficient to possess her Realmes | ||
| Though wide, and this high Temple to frequent | ||
| With Ministeries due and solemn Rites: | ||
| 7.150 | But least his heart exalt him in the harme | |
| Already done, to have dispeopl’d Heav’n | ||
| My damage fondly deem’d, I can repaire | ||
| That detriment, if such it be to lose | ||
| Self-lost, and in a moment will create | ||
| 7.155 | Another World, out of one man a Race | |
| Of men innumerable, there to dwell, | ||
| Not here, till by degrees of merit rais’d | ||
| They open to themselves at length the way | ||
| Up hither, under long obedience tri’d, | to here | |
| 7.160 | And Earth be chang’d to Heav’n, & Heav’n to Earth, | |
| One Kingdom, Joy and Union without end. | ||
| Mean while inhabit laxe, ye Powers of Heav’n, | ||
| And by my Word, begotten Son, by thee | ||
| This I perform, speak thou, and be it don: | ||
| 7.165 | My overshadowing Spirit and might with thee | |
| I send along, ride forth, and bid the Deep | ||
| Within appointed bounds be Heav’n and Earth, | ||
| Boundless the Deep, because I am who fill | ||
| Infinitude, nor vacuous the space. | ||
| 7.170 | Though I uncircumscrib’d my self retire, | |
| And put not forth my goodness, which is free | ||
| To act or not, Necessitie and Chance | ||
| Approach not mee, and what I will is Fate. | ||
| So spake th’ Almightie, and to what he spake | ||
| 7.175 | His Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect. | |
| Immediate are the Acts of God, more swift | ||
| Then time or motion, but to human ears | ||
| Cannot without process of speech be told, | ||
| So told as earthly notion can receave. | ||
| 7.180 | Great triumph and rejoycing was in Heav’n | |
| When such was heard declar’d the Almightie’s will; | ||
| Glorie they sung to the most High, good will | ||
| To future men, and in thir dwellings peace: | ||
| Glorie to him whose just avenging ire | ||
| 7.185 | Had driven out th’ ungodly from his sight | |
| And th’ habitations of the just; to him | ||
| Glorie and praise, whose wisdom had ordain’d | ||
| Good out of evil to create, in stead | ||
| Of Spirits maligne a better Race to bring | ||
| 7.190 | Into thir vacant room, and thence diffuse | from there |
| His good to Worlds and Ages infinite. | ||
| So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son | ||
| On his great Expedition now appeer’d, | ||
| Girt with Omnipotence, with Radiance crown’d | ||
| 7.195 | Of Majestie Divine, Sapience and Love | |
| Immense, and all his Father in him shon. | ||
| About his Chariot numberless were pour’d | ||
| Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones, | (kinds of angels) — rulers | |
| And Vertues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing’d, | ||
| 7.200 | From the Armoury of God, where stand of old | |
| Myriads between two brazen Mountains lodg’d | ||
| Against a solemn day, harnest at hand, | ||
| Celestial Equipage; and now came forth | ||
| Spontaneous, for within them Spirit livd, | ||
| 7.205 | Attendant on thir Lord: Heav’n op’nd wide | |
| Her ever during Gates, Harmonious sound | ||
| On golden Hinges moving, to let forth | ||
| The King of Glorie in his powerful Word | ||
| And Spirit coming to create new Worlds. | ||
| 7.210 | On heav’nly ground they stood, and from the shore | |
| They view’d the vast immeasurable Abyss | ||
| Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde, | ||
| Up from the bottom turn’d by furious windes | ||
| And surging waves, as Mountains to assault | ||
| 7.215 | Heav’ns highth, and with the Center mix the Pole. | height |
| Silence, ye troubl’d waves, and thou Deep, peace, | ||
| Said then th’ Omnific Word, your discord end: | ||
| Nor staid, but on the Wings of Cherubim | angels | |
| Uplifted, in Paternal Glorie rode | ||
| 7.220 | Farr into Chaos, and the World unborn; | |
| For Chaos heard his voice: him all his Traine | ||
| Follow’d in bright procession to behold | ||
| Creation, and the wonders of his might. | ||
| Then staid the fervid Wheeles, and in his hand | ||
| 7.225 | He took the golden Compasses, prepar’d | |
| In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe | ||
| This Universe, and all created things: | ||
| One foot he center’d, and the other turn’d | ||
| Round through the vast profunditie obscure, | depth — dark | |
| 7.230 | And said, thus farr extend, thus farr thy bounds, | |
| This be thy just Circumference, O World. | ||
| Thus God the Heav’n created, thus the Earth, | ||
| Matter unform’d and void: Darkness profound | ||
| Cover’d th’ Abyss: but on the watrie calme | ||
| 7.235 | His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspred, | |
| And vital vertue infus’d, and vital warmth | ||
| Throughout the fluid Mass, but downward purg’d | ||
| The black tartareous cold Infernal dregs | ||
| Adverse to life: then founded, then conglob’d | ||
| 7.240 | Like things to like, the rest to several place | |
| Disparted, and between spun out the Air, | ||
| And Earth self ballanc’t on her Center hung. | ||
| Let ther be Light, said God, and forthwith Light | ||
| Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure | ||
| 7.245 | Sprung from the Deep, and from her Native East | |
| To journie through the airie gloom began, | ||
| Sphear’d in a radiant Cloud, for yet the Sun | ||
| Was not; shee in a cloudie Tabernacle | ||
| Sojourn’d the while. God saw the Light was good; | ||
| 7.250 | And light from darkness by the Hemisphere | |
| Divided: Light the Day, and Darkness Night | ||
| He nam’d. Thus was the first Day Eev’n and Morn: | ||
| Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung | ||
| By the Celestial Quires, when Orient Light | choirs — eastern | |
| 7.255 | Exhaling first from Darkness they beheld; | |
| Birth-day of Heav’n and Earth; with joy and shout | ||
| The hollow Universal Orb they fill’d, | ||
| And touch’d thir Golden Harps, and hymning prais’d | ||
| God and his works, Creatour him they sung, | ||
| 7.260 | Both when first Eevning was, and when first Morn. | |
| Again, God said, let ther be Firmament | ||
| Amid the Waters, and let it divide | ||
| The Waters from the Waters: and God made | ||
| The Firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, | ||
| 7.265 | Transparent, Elemental Air, diffus’d | |
| In circuit to the uttermost convex | ||
| Of this great Round: partition firm and sure, | ||
| The Waters underneath from those above | ||
| Dividing: for as Earth, so he the World | ||
| 7.270 | Built on circumfluous Waters calme, in wide | |
| Crystallin Ocean, and the loud misrule | ||
| Of Chaos farr remov’d, least fierce extreames | ||
| Contiguous might distemper the whole frame: | sicken | |
| And Heav’n he nam’d the Firmament: So Eev’n | ||
| 7.275 | And Morning Chorus sung the second Day. | |
| The Earth was form’d, but in the Womb as yet | ||
| Of Waters, Embryon immature involv’d, | ||
| Appeer’d not: over all the face of Earth | ||
| Main Ocean flow’d, not idle, but with warme | ||
| 7.280 | Prolific humour soft’ning all her Globe, | liquid |
| Fermented the great Mother to conceave, | ||
| Satiate with genial moisture, when God said | ||
| Be gather’d now ye Waters under Heav’n | ||
| Into one place, and let dry Land appeer. | ||
| 7.285 | Immediately the Mountains huge appeer | |
| Emergent, and thir broad bare backs upheave | ||
| Into the Clouds, thir tops ascend the Skie: | ||
| So high as heav’d the tumid Hills, so low | ||
| Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep, | ||
| 7.290 | Capacious bed of Waters: thither they | to there |
| Hasted with glad precipitance, uprowld | ||
| As drops on dust conglobing from the drie; | ||
| Part rise in crystal Wall, or ridge direct, | ||
| For haste; such flight the great command impress’d | ||
| 7.295 | On the swift flouds: as Armies at the call | |
| Of Trumpet (for of Armies thou hast heard) | ||
| Troop to thir Standard, so the watrie throng, | ||
| Wave rowling after Wave, where way they found, | ||
| If steep, with torrent rapture, if through Plaine, | ||
| 7.300 | Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them Rock or Hill, | |
| But they, or under ground, or circuit wide | ||
| With Serpent errour wandring, found thir way, | ||
| And on the washie Oose deep Channels wore; | ||
| Easie, e’re God had bid the ground be drie, | ||
| 7.305 | All but within those banks, where Rivers now | |
| Stream, and perpetual draw thir humid traine. | ||
| The dry Land, Earth, and the great receptacle | ||
| Of congregated Waters he call’d Seas: | ||
| And saw that it was good, and said, Let th’ Earth | ||
| 7.310 | Put forth the verdant Grass, Herb yielding Seed, | |
| And Fruit Tree yielding Fruit after her kind; | ||
| Whose Seed is in her self upon the Earth. | ||
| He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, till then | ||
| Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn’d, | ||
| 7.315 | Brought forth the tender Grass, whose verdure clad | |
| Her Universal Face with pleasant green, | ||
| Then Herbs of every leaf, that sudden flour’d | ||
| Op’ning thir various colours, and made gay | ||
| Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown, | ||
| 7.320 | Forth flourish’t thick the clustring Vine, forth crept | |
| The smelling Gourd, up stood the cornie Reed | ||
| Embattell’d in her field: and the humble Shrub, | ||
| And Bush with frizl’d hair implicit: last | ||
| Rose as in Dance the stately Trees, and spred | ||
| 7.325 | Thir branches hung with copious Fruit; or gemm’d | |
| Thir blossoms: with high woods the hills were crownd, | ||
| With tufts the vallies and each fountain side, | ||
| With borders long the Rivers. That Earth now | ||
| Seemd like to Heav’n, a seat where Gods might dwell, | ||
| 7.330 | Or wander with delight, and love to haunt | |
| Her sacred shades: though God had yet not rain’d | ||
| Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground | ||
| None was, but from the Earth a dewie Mist | ||
| Went up and waterd all the ground, and each | ||
| 7.335 | Plant of the field, which e’re it was in the Earth | |
| God made, and every Herb, before it grew | ||
| On the green stemm; God saw that it was good. | ||
| So Eev’n and Morn recorded the Third Day. | ||
| Again th’ Almightie spake: Let there be Lights | ||
| 7.340 | High in th’ expanse of Heaven to divide | |
| The Day from Night; and let them be for Signes, | ||
| For Seasons, and for Dayes, and circling Years, | ||
| And let them be for Lights as I ordaine | ||
| Thir Office in the Firmament of Heav’n | ||
| 7.345 | To give Light on the Earth; and it was so. | |
| And God made two great Lights, great for thir use | ||
| To Man, the greater to have rule by Day, | ||
| The less by Night alterne: and made the Starrs, | ||
| And set them in the Firmament of Heav’n | ||
| 7.350 | To illuminate the Earth, and rule the Day | |
| In thir vicissitude, 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 | ||
| 7.355 | A mightie Spheare he fram’d, unlightsom first, | |
| Though of Ethereal Mould: then form’d the Moon | ||
| Globose, and every magnitude of Starrs, | ||
| And sowd with Starrs the Heav’n thick as a field: | ||
| Of Light by farr the greater part he took, | ||
| 7.360 | Transplanted from her cloudie Shrine, and plac’d | |
| In the Suns Orb, made porous to receive | ||
| And drink the liquid Light, firm to retaine | ||
| Her gather’d beams, great Palace now of Light. | ||
| Hither as to thir Fountain other Starrs | ||
| 7.365 | Repairing, in thir gold’n Urns draw Light, | |
| And hence the Morning Planet guilds her horns; | ||
| By tincture or reflection they augment | ||
| Thir small peculiar, though from human sight | ||
| So farr remote, with diminution seen. | ||
| 7.370 | First in his East the glorious Lamp was seen, | |
| Regent of Day, and all th’ Horizon round | ||
| Invested with bright Rayes, jocond to run | ||
| His Longitude through Heav’n’s high rode: the gray | ||
| Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc’d | ||
| 7.375 | Shedding sweet influence: less bright the Moon, | |
| But opposite in leveld West was set | ||
| His mirror, with full face borrowing her Light | ||
| From him, for other light she needed none | ||
| In that aspect, and still that distance keepes | ||
| 7.380 | Till night, then in the East her turn she shines, | |
| Revolvd on Heav’ns great Axle, and her Reign | ||
| With thousand lesser Lights dividual holds, | ||
| With thousand thousand Starres, that then appeer’d | ||
| Spangling the Hemisphere: then first adornd | ||
| 7.385 | With thir bright Luminaries that Set and Rose, | |
| Glad Eevning and glad Morn crownd the fourth day. | ||
| And God said, let the Waters generate | ||
| Reptil with Spawn abundant, living Soule: | ||
| And let Fowle flie above the Earth, with wings | ||
| 7.390 | Displayd 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 thir kindes, | ||
| And every Bird of wing after his kinde; | ||
| 7.395 | And saw that it was good, and bless’d them, saying, | |
| Be fruitful, multiply, and in the Seas | ||
| And Lakes and running Streams the waters fill; | ||
| And let the Fowle be multiply’d on the Earth. | ||
| Forthwith the Sounds and Seas, each Creek and Bay | ||
| 7.400 | With Frie innumerable swarme, and Shoales | |
| Of Fish that with thir Finns and shining Scales | ||
| Glide under the green Wave, in Sculles that oft | ||
| Bank the mid Sea: part single or with mate | ||
| Graze the Sea weed thir pasture, and through Groves | ||
| 7.405 | Of Coral stray, or sporting with quick glance | |
| Show to the Sun thir wav’d coats dropt with Gold, | ||
| Or in thir Pearlie shells at ease, attend | ||
| Moist nutriment, or under Rocks thir food | ||
| In jointed Armour watch: on smooth the Seale, | ||
| 7.410 | And bended Dolphins play: part huge of bulk | |
| Wallowing unweildie, enormous in thir Gate | ||
| Tempest the Ocean: there Leviathan | ||
| Hugest of living Creatures, on the Deep | ||
| Stretcht like a Promontorie sleeps or swimmes, | ||
| 7.415 | And seems a moving Land, and at his Gilles | |
| Draws in, and at his Trunck spouts out a Sea. | ||
| Mean while the tepid Caves, and Fens and shoares | ||
| Thir Brood as numerous hatch, from the Egg that soon | ||
| Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos’d | ||
| 7.420 | Thir callow young, but featherd soon and fledge | |
| They summ’d thir Penns, and soaring th’ air sublime | ||
| With clang despis’d the ground, under a cloud | ||
| In prospect; there the Eagle and the Stork | ||
| On Cliffs and Cedar tops thir Eyries build: | ||
| 7.425 | Part loosly wing the Region, part more wise | |
| In common, rang’d in figure wedge thir way, | ||
| Intelligent of seasons, and set forth | ||
| Thir Aierie Caravan high over Sea’s | ||
| Flying, and over Lands with mutual wing | ||
| 7.430 | Easing thir flight; so stears the prudent Crane | |
| Her annual Voiage, born on Windes; the Aire, | ||
| Floats, as they pass, fann’d with unnumber’d plumes: | ||
| From Branch to Branch the smaller Birds with song | ||
| Solac’d the Woods, and spred thir painted wings | ||
| 7.435 | Till Ev’n, nor then the solemn Nightingal | |
| Ceas’d warbling, but all night tun’d her soft layes: | ||
| Others on Silver Lakes and Rivers Bath’d | ||
| Thir downie Brest; the Swan with Arched neck | ||
| Between her white wings mantling proudly, Rowes | ||
| 7.440 | Her state with Oarie feet: yet oft they quit | |
| The Dank, and rising on stiff Pennons, towre | ||
| The mid Aereal Skie: Others on ground | ||
| Walk’d firm; the crested Cock whose clarion sounds | trumpet | |
| The silent hours, and th’ other whose gay Traine | ||
| 7.445 | Adorns him, colour’d with the Florid hue | |
| Of Rainbows and Starrie Eyes. The Waters thus | ||
| With Fish replenisht, and the Aire with Fowle, | ||
| Ev’ning and Morn solemniz’d the Fift day. | ||
| The Sixt, and of Creation last arose | ||
| 7.450 | With Eevning Harps and Mattin, when God said, | |
| Let th’ Earth bring forth Foul living in her kinde, | ||
| Cattel and Creeping things, and Beast of the Earth, | ||
| Each in their kinde. The Earth obey’d, and strait | immediately | |
| Op’ning her fertile Woomb teem’d at a Birth | ||
| 7.455 | Innumerous living Creatures, perfet formes, | |
| Limb’d and full grown: out of the ground up rose | ||
| As from his Laire the wilde Beast where he wonns | ||
| In Forrest wilde, in Thicket, Brake, or Den; | ||
| Among the Trees in Pairs they rose, they walk’d: | ||
| 7.460 | The Cattel in the Fields and Meddowes green: | |
| Those rare and solitarie, these in flocks | ||
| Pasturing at once, and in broad Herds upsprung. | ||
| The grassie Clods now Calv’d, now half appeer’d | ||
| The Tawnie Lion, pawing to get free | ||
| 7.465 | His hinder parts, then springs as broke from Bonds, | |
| And Rampant shakes his Brinded main; the Ounce, | ||
| The Libbard, and the Tyger, as the Moale | ||
| Rising, the crumbl’d Earth above them threw | ||
| In Hillocks; the swift Stag from under ground | ||
| 7.470 | Bore up his branching head: scarse from his mould | |
| Behemoth biggest born of Earth upheav’d | ||
| His vastness: Fleec’t the Flocks and bleating rose, | ||
| As Plants: ambiguous between Sea and Land | ||
| The River Horse and scalie Crocodile. | ||
| 7.475 | At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, | |
| Insect or Worme; those wav’d thir limber fans | ||
| For wings, and smallest Lineaments exact | ||
| In all the Liveries dect of Summers pride | ||
| With spots of Gold and Purple, azure and green: | ||
| 7.480 | These as a line thir long dimension drew, | |
| Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all | ||
| Minims of Nature; some of Serpent kinde | ||
| Wondrous in length and corpulence involv’d | ||
| Thir Snakie foulds, and added wings. First crept | ||
| 7.485 | The Parsimonious Emmet, provident | |
| Of future, in small room large heart enclos’d, | ||
| Pattern of just equalitie perhaps | ||
| Hereafter, join’d in her popular Tribes | ||
| Of Commonaltie: swarming next appeer’d | ||
| 7.490 | The Female Bee that feeds her Husband Drone | |
| Deliciously, and builds her waxen Cells | ||
| With Honey stor’d: the rest are numberless, | ||
| And thou thir Natures know’st, & gav’st them Names, | ||
| Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown | ||
| 7.495 | The Serpent suttl’st Beast of all the field, | |
| Of huge extent somtimes, with brazen Eyes | ||
| And hairie Main terrific, though to thee | ||
| Not noxious, but obedient at thy call. | ||
| Now Heav’n in all her Glorie shon, and rowld | ||
| 7.500 | Her motions, as the great first-Movers hand | |
| First wheeld thir course; Earth in her rich attire | ||
| Consummate lovly smil’d; Aire, Water, Earth, | ||
| By Fowl, Fish, Beast, was flown, was swum, was walkt | ||
| Frequent; and of the Sixt day yet remain’d; | ||
| 7.505 | There wanted yet the Master work, the end | was lacking |
| Of all yet don; a Creature who not prone | ||
| And Brute as other Creatures, but endu’d | ||
| With Sanctitie of Reason, might erect | ||
| His Stature, and upright with Front serene | forehead | |
| 7.510 | Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence | there |
| Magnanimous to correspond with Heav’n, | ||
| But grateful to acknowledge whence his good | from where | |
| Descends, thither with heart and voice and eyes | to there | |
| Directed in Devotion, to adore | ||
| 7.515 | And worship God Supream, who made him chief | |
| Of all his works: therefore the Omnipotent | ||
| Eternal Father (For where is not hee | ||
| Present) thus to his Son audibly spake. | ||
| Let us make now Man in our image, Man | ||
| 7.520 | In our similitude, and let them rule | |
| Over the Fish and Fowle of Sea and Aire, | ||
| Beast of the Field, and over all the Earth, | ||
| And every creeping thing that creeps the ground. | ||
| This said, he formd thee, Adam, thee O Man | ||
| 7.525 | Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath’d | |
| The breath of Life; in his own Image hee | ||
| Created thee, in the Image of God | ||
| Express, and thou becam’st a living Soul. | ||
| Male he created thee, but thy consort | companion | |
| 7.530 | Female for Race; then bless’d Mankinde, and said, | |
| Be fruitful, multiplie, and fill the Earth, | ||
| Subdue it, and throughout Dominion hold | ||
| Over Fish of the Sea, and Fowle of the Aire, | ||
| And every living thing that moves on the Earth. | ||
| 7.535 | Wherever thus created, for no place | |
| Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know’st | from there | |
| He brought thee into this delicious Grove, | ||
| This Garden, planted with the Trees of God, | ||
| Delectable both to behold and taste; | ||
| 7.540 | And freely all thir pleasant fruit for food | |
| Gave thee, all sorts are here that all th’ Earth yields, | ||
| Varietie without end; but of the Tree | ||
| Which tasted works knowledge of Good and Evil, | ||
| Thou mai’st not; in the day thou eat’st, thou di’st; | ||
| 7.545 | Death is the penaltie impos’d, beware, | |
| And govern well thy appetite, least sin | ||
| Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death. | ||
| Here finish’d hee, and all that he had made | ||
| View’d, and behold all was entirely good; | ||
| 7.550 | So Ev’n and Morn accomplish’t the Sixt day: | |
| Yet not till the Creator from his work | ||
| Desisting, though unwearied, up returnd | ||
| Up to the Heav’n of Heav’ns his high abode, | ||
| Thence to behold this new created World | from there | |
| 7.555 | Th’ addition of his Empire, how it shew’d | |
| In prospect from his Throne, how good, how faire, | ||
| Answering his great Idea. Up he rode | ||
| Followd with acclamation and the sound | ||
| Symphonious of ten thousand Harpes that tun’d | ||
| 7.560 | Angelic harmonies: the Earth, the Aire, | |
| Resounded, (thou remember’st for thou heardst) | ||
| The Heav’ns and all the Constellations rung, | ||
| The Planets in thir stations list’ning stood, | ||
| While the bright Pomp ascended jubilant. | ||
| 7.565 | Open, ye everlasting Gates, they sung, | |
| Open, ye Heav’ns, your living dores; let in | ||
| The great Creator from his work returnd | ||
| Magnificent, his Six days work, a World; | ||
| Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deigne | from now on | |
| 7.570 | To visit oft the dwellings of just Men | |
| Delighted, and with frequent intercourse | ||
| Thither will send his winged Messengers | to there | |
| On errands of supernal Grace. So sung | ||
| The glorious Train ascending: He through Heav’n, | ||
| 7.575 | That open’d wide her blazing Portals, led | |
| To Gods Eternal house direct the way, | ||
| A broad and ample rode, whose dust is Gold | ||
| And pavement Starrs, as Starrs to thee appeer, | ||
| Seen in the Galaxie, that Milkie way | ||
| 7.580 | Which nightly as a circling Zone thou seest | |
| Pouderd with Starrs. And now on Earth the Seventh | ||
| Eev’ning arose in Eden, for the Sun | ||
| Was set, and twilight from the East came on, | ||
| Forerunning Night; when at the holy mount | ||
| 7.585 | Of Heav’ns high-seated top, th’ Impereal Throne | |
| Of Godhead, fixt for ever firm and sure, | ||
| The Filial Power arriv’d, and sate him down | ||
| With his great Father (for he also went | ||
| Invisible, yet staid, such priviledge | ||
| 7.590 | Hath Omnipresence) and the work ordain’d, | |
| Author and end of all things, and from work | ||
| Now resting, bless’d and hallowd the Seav’nth day, | ||
| As resting on that day from all his work, | ||
| But not in silence holy kept; the Harp | ||
| 7.595 | Had work and rested not, the solemn Pipe, | |
| And Dulcimer, all Organs of sweet stop, | ||
| All sounds on Fret by String or Golden Wire | ||
| Temper’d soft Tunings, intermixt with Voice | ||
| Choral or Unison; of incense Clouds | ||
| 7.600 | Fuming from Golden Censers hid the Mount. | |
| Creation and the Six dayes 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 | ||
| 7.605 | Then from the Giant Angels; thee that day | |
| Thy Thunders magnifi’d; but to create | ||
| Is greater then created to destroy. | ||
| Who can impair thee, mighty King, or bound | ||
| Thy Empire? easily the proud attempt | ||
| 7.610 | Of Spirits apostat and thir Counsels vaine | infidel |
| Thou hast repeld, while impiously they thought | ||
| Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw | ||
| The number of thy worshippers. Who seekes | ||
| To lessen thee, against his purpose serves | ||
| 7.615 | To manifest the more thy might: his evil | |
| Thou usest, and from thence creat’st more good. | there | |
| Witness this new-made World, another Heav’n | ||
| From Heaven Gate not farr, founded in view | ||
| On the cleer Hyaline, the Glassie Sea; | ||
| 7.620 | Of amplitude almost immense, with Starr’s | |
| Numerous, and every Starr perhaps a World | ||
| Of destind habitation; but thou know’st | ||
| Thir seasons: among these the seat of men, | ||
| Earth with her nether Ocean circumfus’d, | ||
| 7.625 | Thir pleasant dwelling place. Thrice happie men, | |
| And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanc’t, | ||
| Created in his Image, there to dwell | ||
| And worship him, and in reward to rule | ||
| Over his Works, on Earth, in Sea, or Air, | ||
| 7.630 | And multiply a Race of Worshippers | |
| Holy and just: thrice happie if they know | ||
| Thir happiness, and persevere upright. | ||
| So sung they, and the Empyrean rung, | ||
| With Halleluiahs: Thus was Sabbath kept. | ||
| 7.635 | And thy request think now fulfill’d, that ask’d | |
| How first this World and face of things began, | ||
| And what before thy memorie was don | ||
| From the beginning, that posteritie | ||
| Informd by thee might know; if else thou seek’st | ||
| 7.640 | Aught, not surpassing human measure, say. | |
The End of the Seventh Book. |
| ← Book 6 | Book 8 → |