What nearer might concern him-how this world "Great things and full of wonder in our ears, "Far differing from this world thou hast revealed, "Divine interpreter! by favour sent 70 "Down from the empyréan, to forewarn "Us, timely, of what might else have been our loss But since thou hast vouchsafed "Gently, for our instruction, to impart 66 Things above earthly thought, which yet concerned "Our knowing, as to highest wisdom seemed, "Deign to descend now lower, and relate 66 Embracing round this florid Earth-what cause "Moved the Creator, in his holy rest 66 Through all eternity, so late to build "In Chaos; and the work begun, how soon 80 90 "Much of his race, though steep, suspense in Heaven "Held by thy voice: thy potent voice he hears, 100 "And longer will delay to hear thee tell "His generation, and the rising birth "Or if the Star of evening and the Moon "Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring "Silence; and Sleep, listening to thee, will watch; "Or we can bid his absence, till thy song 66 End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine." Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought; And thus the godlike angel answered mild: "This also thy request, with caution asked, "Obtain: though, to recount almighty works, "What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice, "Or heart of man suffice to comprehend? "Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve "To glorify the Maker, and infer "Thee also happier, shall not be withheld 66 Thy hearing; such commission from above "I have received, to answer thy desire "Of knowledge within bounds; beyond, abstain "To ask; nor let thine own inventions hope 66 Things not revealed, which the invisible King, Only Omniscient, hath suppressed in night, "To none communicable in Earth or Heaven: Enough is left besides to search and know: "But knowledge is as food, and needs no less "Her temperance over appetite, to know "In measure what the mind may well contain; 66 Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns "Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind. "Know then, that, after Lucifer from Heaven "(So call him, brighter once amidst the host "At least our envious foe hath failed, who thought IIO 120 130 140 "Of Deity supreme, us dispossessed, "He trusted to have seized; and into fraud "Drew many, whom their place knows here no more: "Self-lost; and in a moment will create 66 Up hither, under long obedience tried; 150 "And Earth be changed to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth "One kingdom, joy, and union, without end. Within appointed bounds be Heaven and Earth; "Boundless the deep, because I AM who fill "Infinitude: nor vacuous the space "Though I, uncircumscribed myself, retire, "And put not forth my goodness, which is free. "To act or not: necessity and chance Approach not me; and what I will is fate.' "So spake the Almighty, and to what he spake, "His Word, the filial Godhead, gave effect. "Immediate are the acts of God, more swift "Than time or motion; but to human ears "Cannot without procéss of speech be told, "So told as earthly notion can receive.. "Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven, 160 170 180 "When such was heard declared the Almighty's will; 'Glory they sung to the Most High-good will "To future men, and in their dwellings peace- "And the habitations of the just--to him Glory and praise, whose wisdom had ordained "Good out of evil to create--instead "Of spirits malign, a better race to bring "So sang the Hierarchies: meanwhile the Son 66 Immense, and all his Father in him shone. "About his chariot numberless were poured 66 "Celestial equipage! and now came forth 66 Spontaneous, for within them Spirit lived, "Attendant on their Lord: Heaven opened wide "Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound! "On golden hinges moving, to let forth "The King of Glory, in his powerful Word "And Spirit, coming to create new worlds. 190 200 "On heavenly ground they stood; and from the shore 210 "They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss 66 Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, Up from the bottom turned by furious winds, "And surging waves, as mountains, to assault "Heaven's height, and with the centre mix the pole. "Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, peace!' "Said then the Omnific Word; 'your discord end!' "Nor staid; but, on the wings of Cherubim Uplifted, in paternal glory rode "Far into Chaos, and the world unborn; 220 "For Chaos heard his voice: him all his train Thus God the Heaven created, thus the Earth,- 66 Throughout the fluid mass; but downward purged "The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs, "Adverse to life: then founded, then conglobed "Like things to like; the rest to several place "Disparted; and, between, spun out the air : "And Earth, self-balanced, on her centre hung. "Let there be light,' said God; and forthwith light "Ethereal-first of things-quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep; and from her native East "To journey through the airy gloom began, ་་ Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun "Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle 66 Sojourned the while. God saw the light was good; "And light from darkness by the hemisphere "Divided: light the Day, and darkness Night "He named. Thus was the first day even and morn: "Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung 66 By the celestial quires, when orient light "Exhaling first from darkness they beheld Birthday of Heaven and Earth! with joy and shout "The hollow universal orb they filled, "And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised "God and his works; Creator him they sung, 230 240 250 "Both when first evening was, and when first morn. 260 |