To know what passes there; be lowly wise:
Think only what concerns thee, and thy being;
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
Live, in what state, condition or degree,
Contented that thus far hath been revealed,
Not of earth only, but of Highest Heaven.

To whom thus Adam, cleared of doubt, replied:
How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure
Intelligence of Heaven, Angel serene!
And, freed from intricacies, taught to live
The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts
To interrupt the sweet of life, from which
God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,

And not molest us, unless we ourselves

Seek them with wandering thoughts, and notions vain. But apt the mind or fancy is to rove

Unchecked, and of her roving is no end;

Till warned, or by experience taught, she learn,
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and subtle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life,

Is the prime wisdom: what is more, is fume,
Or emptiness, or fond impertinence,
And renders us, in things that most concern,
Unpracticed, unprepared, and still to seek.
Therefore from this high pitch let us descend
A lower flight, and speak of things at hand,
Useful, whence, haply, mention may arise
Or something not unseasonable to ask,
By sufferance, and thy wonted favor, deigned.
Thee I have heard relating what was done
Ere my remembrance. Now, hear me relate
My story, which, perhaps, thou hast not heard;
And day is not yet spent, till then thou seest
How subtly to detain thee I devise,
Inviting thee to hear while I relate;

Fond, were it not in hope of thy reply.

For, while I sit with thee, I seem in Heaven;
And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear

Than fruits of palm-tree pleasantest to thirst
And hunger both, from labor, at the hour
Of sweet repast; they satiate, and soon fill,
Though pleasant; but thy words, with grace divine
Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety.

To whom thus Raphael answered heavenly meek:
Nor are thy lips ungraceful, sire of men,
Nor tongue ineloquent; for God on thee
Abundantly his gifts hath also poured,
Inward and outward both, his image fair:
Speaking, or mute, all comeliness and grace
Attends thee, and each word, each motion, forms.
Nor less think we in Heaven of thee on earth
Than of our fellow-servant, and inquire

Gladly into the ways of God with Man;
For God, we see, hath honored thee, and set
On man his equal love. Say therefore on;
For I that day was absent, as befell,
Bound on a voyage uncouth and obscure,
Far on excursion toward the gates of Hell;
Squared in full legion- such command we had
To see that none thence issued forth a spy,
Or enemy, while God was in his work;
Lest He, incensed at such eruption bold,
Destruction with creation might have mixed.
Not that they durst without his leave attempt;
But us He sends upon his high behests
For state, as sovereign King, and to inure

Our prompt obedience. Fast we found, fast shut,
The dismal gates, and barricadoed strong.
But, long ere our approaching, heard within.
Noise, other than the sound of dance or song;
Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.

Glad we returned up to the coasts of light
Ere Sabbath evening. So we had in charge.
But thy relation now; for I attend,

Pleased with thy words no less than thou with mine.
So spake the Godlike Power, and thus our Sire:
For man to tell how human life began

Is hard; for who himself beginning knew?
Desire with thee still longer to converse
Induced me. As new waked from soundest sleep
Soft on the flowery herb I found me laid,
In balmy sweat, which with his beams the sun
Soon dried, and on the reeking moisture fed.
Straight toward Heaven my wondering eyes I turned,
And gazed awhile the ample sky; till, raised
By quick, instinctive motion, up I sprung,
As thitherward endeavoring, and upright
Stood on my feet. About me round I saw
Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,
And liquid lapse of murmuring streams; by these
Creatures that lived and moved, and walked or flew;
Birds on the branches warbling: all things smiled;
With fragrance and with joy my heart o'erflowed.
Myself I then perused, and limb by limb
Surveyed, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran
With supple joints, as lively vigor led.

But who I was, or where, or from what cause,
Knew not. To speak I tried, and forthwith spake;
My tongue obeyed, and readily could name
Whatever I saw. Thou Sun, said I, fair light
And thou enlightened Earth, so fresh and gay,
Ye hills, and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains,
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell,
Tell if ye saw, how came I thus, how here?
Not of myself; by some great Maker then,
In goodness and in power pre-eminent.
Tell me how may I know Him, how adore;

From whom I have that thus I move and live,

And feel that I am happier than I know?

While thus I called, and strayed I knew not whither,

From where I first drew air, and first beheld
This happy light; when answer none returned,
On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers,
Pensive I sat me down: there gentle sleep
First found me, and with soft oppression seized
My drowsed sense, untroubled, though I thought
I then was passing to my former state
Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve.

When suddenly stood at my head a dream,
Whose inward apparition gently moved

My fancy to believe I yet had being,

And lived. One came, me thought, of shape divine,
And said, Thy mansion wants thee, Adam; rise,

First man, of men innumerable ordained
First father! Called by thee, I come thy guide
To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepared,
So saying, by the hand he took me, raised,
And over fields and waters, as in air
Smooth sliding without step, last led me up
A woody mountain, whose high top was plain,
A circuit wide enclosed, with goodliest trees
Planted, with walks and bowers; that what I saw
Of earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree,
Loaden with fairest fruit, that hung to the eye
Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite
To pluck and eat; whereat I waked, and found
Before mine eyes all real, as the dream

Had lively shadowed. Here had new begun

My wandering, had not He, who was my guide
Up hither, from among the trees appeared,

Presence Divine. Rejoicing, but with awe,

In adoration at His feet I fell

Submiss. He reared me, and, Whom thou sought'st I am,