Paradise Lost

by John Milton

Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince, 45 And thou, in military prowess next, Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons Invincible; lead forth my armed Saints, By thousands and by millions,

Fool! not to think how vain Against the Omnipotent to rise in arms; Who out of smallest things could, without end, Have raised incessant armies to defeat Thy folly; or with solitary hand 140 Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow, Unaided, could have finished thee, and whelmed Thy legions under darkness:

chains in Hell, not realms, expect:

Whereat Michael bid sound The Arch-Angel trumpet; through the vast of Heaven It sounded, and the faithful armies rung 205 Hosanna to the Highest:

No thought of flight, None of retreat, no unbecoming deed That argued fear; each on himself relied,

How hast thou disturbed Heaven’s blessed peace, and into nature brought Misery, uncreated till the crime Of thy rebellion! how hast thou instilled 270 Thy malice into thousands, once upright And faithful, now proved false! But think not here To trouble holy rest; Heaven casts thee out From all her confines.

to what things Liken on earth conspicuous, that may lift 300 Human imagination to such highth Of Godlike power? for likest Gods they seemed, Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms, Fit to decide the empire of great Heaven.

Of Michael from the armoury of God Was given him tempered so, that neither keen Nor solid might resist that edge: it met The sword of Satan, with steep force to smite 325 Descending, and in half cut sheer; nor staid, But with swift wheel reverse, deep entering, shared All his right side: Then Satan first knew pain, And writhed him to and fro convolved; so sore The griding sword with discontinuous wound 330 Passed through him: But the ethereal substance closed, Not long divisible; and from the gash A stream of necturous humour issuing flowed Sanguine, such as celestial Spirits may bleed, And all his armour stained, ere while so bright.

Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame, To find himself not matchless, and his pride Humbled by such rebuke, so far beneath His confidence to equal God in power. Yet soon he healed; for Spirits that live throughout 345 Vital in every part, not as frail man In entrails, heart of head, liver or reins, Cannot but by annihilating die; Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound Receive, no more than can the fluid air:

those elect 375 Angels, contented with their fame in Heaven, Seek not the praise of men:

strength from truth divided,

ignominy; yet to glory aspires Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame: 385 Therefore eternal silence be their doom. And now, their mightiest quelled, the battle swerved,

Inducing darkness, grateful truce imposed, And silence on the odious din of war: Under her cloudy covert both retired, 410 Victor and vanquished: On the foughten field Michael and his Angels prevalent Encamping, placed in guard their watches round, Cherubick waving fires: On the other part, Satan with his rebellious disappeared, 415 Far in the dark dislodged; and, void of rest, His potentates to council called by night;

Who have sustained one day in doubtful fight, (And if one day, why not eternal days?) 425 What Heaven’s Lord had powerfullest to send Against us from about his throne, and judged Sufficient to subdue us to his will, But proves not so: Then fallible, it seems, Of future we may deem him, though till now 430 Omniscient thought.

in the assembly next upstood Nisroch, of Principalities the prime;

Enjoyment of our right as Gods; yet hard For Gods, and too unequal work we find, Against unequal arms to fight in pain, 455 Against unpained,

But pain is perfect misery, the worst Of evils, and, excessive, overturns All patience. He, who therefore can invent 465 With what more forcible we may offend Our yet unwounded enemies, or arm Ourselves with like defence,

Satan replied. 470 Not uninvented that, which thou aright

Forthwith from council to the work they flew; None arguing stood;

when fair morn orient in Heaven appeared, 525 Up rose the victor-Angels, and to arms The matin trumpet sung: In arms they stood Of golden panoply, refulgent host, Soon banded; others

all Heaven appeared,

Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts and hail 590 Of iron globes; which, on the victor host Levelled, with such impetuous fury smote, That, whom they hit, none on their feet might stand, Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell By thousands, Angel on Arch-Angel rolled;

(behold the excellence, the power, Which God hath in his mighty Angels placed!)

And now all Heaven 670 Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread; Had not the Almighty Father, where he sits Shrined in his sanctuary of Heaven secure, Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen This tumult, and permitted all,

That his great purpose he might so fulfil, To honour his anointed Son avenged Upon his enemies, and to declare All power on him transferred:

his Son, The Assessour of his throne, he thus began. 680 Effulgence of my glory, Son beloved, Son, in whose face invisible is beheld Visibly, what by Deity I am; And in whos...

Two days, as we compute the days of Heaven, Since Michael and his Powers went forth to tame These disobedient: Sore hath been their fight, As likeliest was, when two such foes met armed; For to themselves I left them; and thou knowest, 690 Equal in their creation they were formed, Save what sin hath impaired; which yet hath wrought Insensibly, for I suspend the...

Two days are therefore past, the third is thine; 700 For thee I have ordained it; and thus far Have suffered, that the glory may be thine Of ending this great war, since none but Thou Can end it.

Into thee such virtue and grace Immense I have transfused, that all may know 705 In Heaven and Hell thy power above compare; And, this perverse commotion governed thus, To manifest thee worthiest to be Heir Of all things; to be Heir, and to be King By sacred unction, thy deserved right.

Go then, Thou Mightiest, in thy Father’s might; Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels That shake Heaven’s basis, bring forth all my war, My bow and thunder, my almighty arms Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh; 715 Pursue these sons of dar...

O Father, O Supreme of heavenly Thrones, First, Highest, Holiest, Best; thou always seek’st 725 To glorify thy Son, I always thee, As is most just: This I my glory account, My exaltation, and my whole delight, That thou, in me well pleased, declarest thy will Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss. 730 Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume, And gladlier shall resign, when in the end Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee For ever; and in me all whom thou lovest:

Thy terrours, as I put thy mildness on, Image of thee in all things; and shall soon, Armed with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebelled;

That from thy just obedience could revolt, Whom to obey is happiness entire.

From the right hand of Glory where he sat; And the third sacred morn began to shine, Dawning through Heaven. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound 750 The chariot of Paternal Deity,

Before him Power Divine his way prepared; At his command the uprooted hills retired Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed, And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled. 785 This saw his hapless foes,

hope conceiving from despair.

to convince the proud what signs avail, 790 Or wonders move the obdurate to relent? They, hardened more by what might most reclaim, Grieving to see his glory, at the sight Took envy; and, aspiring to his highth, Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud 795 Weening to prosper, and at length prevail Against God and Messiah, or to fall In universal ruin last; and now To final battle drew, disdaining flight, Or faint retreat;

the great Son of God 800 To all his host on either hand thus spake. Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand, Ye Angels armed; this day from battle rest: Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause; 805 And as ye have received, so have ye done, Invincibly:

Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints:

behold God’s indignation on these godless poured By me; not you, but me, they have despised, Yet envied; against me is all their rage, Because the Father, to whom in Heaven s’preme 815 Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains, Hath honoured me, according to his will.

That they may have their wish, to try with me In battle which the stronger proves; they all, 820 Or I alone against them; since by strength They measure all,

So spake the Son, and into terrour changed 825 His countenance too severe to be beheld, And full of wrath bent on his enemies.

The stedfast empyrean shook throughout, All but the throne itself of God. Full soon 835 Among them he arrived; in his right hand Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent Before him, such as in their souls infixed Plagues: They, astonished, all resistance lost, All courage; down their idle weapons dropt: 840 O’er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate, That wished the mountains now might be again Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked His thunder in mid volley; for he meant 855 Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:

With terrours, and with furies, to the bounds 860 And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide, Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed Into the wasteful deep: The monstrous sight Struck them with horrour backward, but far worse Urged them behind:

Headlong themselves they threw 865 Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

Nine days they fell: Confounded Chaos roared, And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes, Messiah his triumphal chariot turned: To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts, With jubilee advanced;

as they went, 885 Shaded with branching palm, each Order bright, Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King, Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion given, Worthiest to reign: He, celebrated, rode Triumphant through mid Heaven,

into the courts 890 And temple of his Mighty Father throned On high; who into glory him received, Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss. Thus, mea...