Paradise Lost

by John Milton

Hail, universal Lord, be bounteous still To give us only good;

Heaven’s high King, and to him called Raphael, the sociable Spirit, that deigned To travel with Tobias, and secured His marriage with the seventimes-wedded maid. Raphael, said he, thou hearest what stir on Earth 225 Satan, from Hell ’scaped through the darksome gulf, Hath raised in Paradise; and how disturbed This night the human pair; how he designs In them at once to ruin all mankind.

Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend 230 Converse with Adam, in what bower or shade Thou findest him from the heat of noon retired, To respite his day-labour with repast, Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,

Happiness in his power left free to will, Left to his own free will, his will though free, Yet mutable;

Tell him withal His danger, and from whom; what enemy, 240 Late fallen himself from Heaven, is plotting now The fall of others from like state of bliss; By violence? no, for that shall be withstood; But by deceit and lies:

At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise He lights, and to his proper shape returns A Seraph winged: Six wings he wore, to shade His lineaments divine; the pair that clad Each shoulder broad, came mantling o’er his breast 280 With regal ornament; the middle pair Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold And colours dipt in Heaven; the third his feet Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail, 285 Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia’s son he stood, And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance filled The circuit wide. Straight knew him all the bands Of Angels under watch; and to his state, And to his message high, in honour rise;

Adam, earth’s hallowed mould, Of God inspired!

a superiour nature bowing low, Thus said. Native of Heaven, for other place None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain;

the Angel Hail Bestowed, the holy salutation used Long after to blest Mary, second Eve. Hail, Mother of Mankind, whose fruitful womb Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons, 390 Than with these various fruits the trees of God Have heaped this table!—Raised

whatever was created, needs 415 To be sustained and fed: Of elements The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea, Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon;

One Almighty is, from whom 470 All things proceed, and up to him return,

more refined, more spiritous, and pure, As nearer to him placed, or nearer tending Each in their several active spheres assigned, Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportioned to each kind.

So from the root 480 Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aery, last the bright consummate flower Spirits odorous breathes: flowers and their fruit, Man’s nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,

To vital spirits aspire, to animal, 485 To intellectual; give both life and sense, Fancy and understanding; whence the soul Reason receives, and reason is her being, Discursive, or intuitive; discourse Is oftest yours, the latter...

With Angels may participate, and find 495 No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare; And from these corporal nutriments perhaps Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit, Improved by tract of time, and, winged, ascend Ethereal, as we; or may, at choice, 500 Here or in heavenly Paradises dwell; If ye be found obedient, and retain Unalterably firm his love entire, Whose progeny you are. Mean while enjoy Your fill what happiness this happy state 505 Can comprehend, incapable of more.

In contemplation of created things, By steps we may ascend to God.

If ye be found Obedient? Can we want obedience then 515 To him, or possibly his love desert, Who formed us from the dust and placed us here Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend?

God made thee perfect, not immutable; 525 And good he made thee, but to persevere He left it in thy power; ordained thy will By nature free, not over-ruled by fate Inextricable,

Our voluntary service he requires, 530 Not our necessitated; such with him Finds no acceptance,

for how Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must By de...

Freely we serve, Because we freely love, as in our will 540 To love or not; in this we stand or fall:

To be both will and deed created free; 550 Yet that we never shall forget to love Our Maker, and obey him whose command Single is yet so just,

how shall I relate 565 To human sense the invisible exploits Of warring Spirits?

yet for thy good This is dispensed; and what surmounts the reach Of human sense, I shall delineate so, By likening spiritual to corporal forms, As may express them best; though what if Earth 575 Be but a shadow of Heaven,

As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild Reigned where these Heavens now roll, where Earth now rests Upon her center poised;

(For time, though in eternity, applied To motion, measures all things durable By present, past, and future,)

the empyreal host Of Angels by imperial summons called, 585 Innumerable before the Almighty’s throne Forthwith, from all the ends of Heaven, appeared Under their Hierarchs in orders bright:

the Father Infinite, By whom in bliss imbosomed sat the Son, Amidst as from a flaming mount, whose top Brightness had made invisible,

Hear my decree, which unrevoked shall stand. This day I have begot whom I declare My only Son, and on this holy hill 605 Him have anointed, whom ye now behold At my right hand; your head I him appoint; And by myself have sworn, to him shall bow All knees in Heaven, and shall confess him Lord:

United, as one individual soul, For ever happy: Him who disobeys, Me disobeys, breaks union, and that day, Cast out from God and blessed vision, falls Into utter darkness, deep ingulfed, his place 615 Ordained without redemption, without end.

They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet Quaff immortality and joy, secure Of surfeit, where full measure only bounds 640 Excess, before the all-bounteous King, who showered With copious hand, rejoicing in their joy.

Celestial tabernacles, where they slept 655 Fanned with cool winds; save those, who, in their course, Melodious hymns about the sovran throne Alternate all night long: but not so waked Satan; so call him now, his former name Is heard no more in Heaven; he of the first, 660 If not the first Arch-Angel, great in power, In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught With envy against the Son of God, that day Honoured by his great Father, and proclaimed Messiah King anointed, could not bear 665 Through pride that sight, and thought himself impaired. Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain, Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved With all his legions to dislodge, and leave 670 Unworshipt, unobeyed, the throne supreme,

Assemble thou Of all those myriads which we lead the chief; 685 Tell them, that by command, ere yet dim night Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste, And all who under me their banners wave, Homeward, with flying march, where we possess The quarters of the north; there to prepare 690 Fit entertainment to receive our King, The great Messiah, and his new commands, Who speedily through all the hierarchies Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws. So spake the false Arch-Angel, and infused 695 Bad influence into the unwary breast Of his associate:

The great hierarchal standard was to move; Tells the suggested cause, and casts between Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sound Or taint integrity: But all obeyed 705 The wonted signal,

the Eternal eye, whose sight discerns Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount, And from within the golden lamps that burn Nightly before him, saw without their light 715 Rebellion rising; saw in whom, how spread Among the sons of morn, what multitudes Were banded to oppose his high decree;

And, smiling, to his only Son thus said. Son, thou in whom my glory I behold 720 In full resplendence, Heir of all my might, Nearly it now concerns us to be sure Of our Omnipotence,

Such a foe 725 Is rising, who intends to erect his throne Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north; Nor so content, hath in his thought to try In battle, what our power is, or our right.

With speed what force is left, and all employ In our defence; lest unawares we lose This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill. To whom the Son with calm aspect and clear, Lightning divine, ineffable, serene, 735 Made answer. Mighty Father, thou thy foes Justly hast in derision, and, secure, Laughest at their vain designs and tumults vain, Matter to me of glory, whom their hate Illustrates, when they see all regal power 740 Given me to quell their pride, and in event Know whether I be dextrous to subdue Thy rebels, or be found the worst in Heaven. So spake the Son;

In imitation of that mount whereon 765 Messiah was declared in sight of Heaven, The Mountain of the Congregation called; For thither he assembled all his train, Pretending so commanded to consult About the great reception of their King, 770 Thither to come, and with calumnious art Of counterfeited truth thus held their ears.

Who can in reason then, or right, assume 795 Monarchy over such as live by right His equals, if in power and splendour less, In freedom equal? or can introduce Law and edict on us, who without law Err not? much less for this to be our Lord, 800 And look for adoration, to the abuse Of those imperial titles, which assert Our being ordained to govern, not to serve.

Canst thou with impious obloquy condemn The just decree of God, pronounced and sworn, 815 That to his only Son, by right endued With regal scepter, every soul in Heaven Shall bend the knee, and in that honour due Confess him rightful King? unjust, thou sayest, Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free, 820 And equal over equals to let reign, One over all with unsucceeded power. Shalt thou give law to God? shalt thou dispute With him the points of liberty, who made Thee what thou art, and formed the Powers of Heaven 825 Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?

Equal to him begotten Son? by whom, As by his Word, the Mighty Father made All things, even thee; and all the Spirits of Heaven By him created in their bright degrees, Crowned them with glory, and to their glory named 840 Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers, Essential Powers;

His laws our laws; all honour to him done 845 Returns our own. Cease then this impious rage, And tempt not these; but hasten to appease The incensed Father, and the incensed Son, While pardon may be found in time besought. So spake the fervent Angel; but his zeal 850 None seconded,

the work Of secondary hands, by task transferred 855 From Father to his Son?

We know no time when we were not as now; 860 Know none before us, self-begot, self-raised By our own quickening power,

our own right hand 865 Shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try Who is our equal:

This report, 870 These tidings carry to the anointed King;

Forsaken of all good! I see thy fall Determined, and thy hapless crew involved 880 In this perfidious fraud, contagion spread Both of thy crime and punishment: Henceforth No more be troubled how to quit the yoke Of God’s Messiah;

Dostoevsky

That golden scepter, which thou didst reject, Is now an iron rod to bruise and break Thy disobedience.

Then who created thee lamenting learn, 895 When who can uncreate thee thou shalt know. So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found Among the faithless, faithful only he;