It seem'd, now seems a boundless continent,
Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night
Starless expos'd, and ever-threat'ning storms
Of Chaos bluft'ring round, inclement sky;
Save on that fide which from the wall of Heaven,
Though diftant far, fome small reflection gains
Of glimmering air, lefs vex'd with tempeft loud:
Here walk'd the Fiend at large in spacious field.
As when a vulture, on Imaus bred,
Whofe fnowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds,
Diflodging from a region scarce of prey,
To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids
On hills where flocks are fed, flies tow'ard the springs
Of Ganges or Hydafpes, Indian streams;
But in his way lights on the barren plains
Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
With fails and wind their cany waggons light:
So, on this windy fea of land, the Fiend
and down alone, bent on his prey; Alone, for other creature in this place,
Living or lifeless, to be found was none;
None yet; but ftore hereafter from the earth
Up hither like aerial vapours flew
Of all things tranfitory' and vain, when fin
With vanity had fill'd the works of men;
Both all things vain, and all who in vain things
Built their fond hopes of glory' or lafting fame,
Or happiness in this or th' other life;
All who have their reward on earth, the fruits
Of painful fuperftition and blind zeal,
Nought feeking but the praise of men, here find
Fit retribution, empty as their deeds;
All the unaccomplish'd works of Nature's hand,
Abortive, monftrous, or unkindly mix'd,
Diffolv'd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,
Till final diffolution, wander here,
Not in the neighb'ring moon, as fome have dream'd;
Those argent fields more likely habitants,
Tranflated Saints, or middle Spirits, hold,
Betwixt th' angelical and human kind.
Hither, of ill-join'd fons and daughters born,
First from the ancient world those giants came
With many a vain exploit, though then renown'd:
The builders next of Babel on the plain
Of Sennaar, and still with vain defign
New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build;
Others came fingle; he who, to be deem'd
A God, leap'd fondly into Etna flames,
Empedocles; and he who, to enjoy
Plato's Elyfium, leap'd into the fea,
Cleombrotus; and many more too long,
Embryos and idiots, eremites and friars,
White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery,
Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to feek
In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven;
And they who, to be fure of Paradise,
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic,
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd;
They pass the planets feven, and pafs the fix'd,
And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
The trepidation talk'd, and that first mov'd:
And now Saint Peter at Heay'n's wicket seems
To wait them with his keys, and now at foot
Of Heav'n's afcent they lift their feet, when lo
A violent crofs wind from either coaft
Blows them transverse ten thousand leagues awry
Into the devious air; then might ye fee
Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toft
And flutter'd into rags, then reliques, beads,
Indulgences, difpenfes, pardons, bulls,
The sport of winds: all these, upwhirl'd aloft,
Fly o'er the backfide of the world far off
Into a Limbo large and broad, fince call'd
The Paradife of Fools, to few unknown
Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod.
All this dark globe the Fiend found as he pass'd,
And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam
Of dawning light turn'd thither-ward in hafte
His travel'd steps: far diftant he defcries,
Afcending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heav'n, a structure high,
At top whereof, but far more rich, appear'd
The work as of a kingly palace gate,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Embellish'd; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal fhone, inimitable on earth
By model, or by shading pencil drawn.
The stairs were fuch as whereon Jacob faw
Angels afcending and defcending, bands
Of guardians bright, when he from Efau fled
To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cry'd, "This is the gate of Heaven."
Each star mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There always, but drawn up to Heav'n fometimes
Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flow'd
Of jafper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
Who after came from earth, failing arriv'd,
Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by easy' ascent, or aggravate
His fad exclufion from the doors of blifs :
Direct against which open'd from beneath,
Juft o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
A paffage down to th' Earth, a passage wide,
Wider by far than that of after-times
Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
Over the Promis'd Land to God fo dear,
By which, to vifit oft thofe happy tribes,
On high behefts his Angels to and fro
Pafs'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard
From Paneas the fount of Jordan's flood
To Beerfaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and th' Arabian shore;
So wide the opening seem'd, where bounds were set
To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.
Satan from hence, now on the lower ftair
That fcal'd by steps of gold to Heaven gate,
Looks down with wonder at the fudden view
Of all this world at once. As when a scout,
Through dark and defert ways with peril gone
All night, at last, by break of cheerful dawn,
Obtains the brow of fome high-climbing hill,
The goodly profpect of some foreign land
First seen, or fome renown'd metropolis
With glift'ring fpires and pinnacles adorn'd,
Which now the rifing fun gilds with his beams:
Such wonder feiz'd, though after Heaven seen,
The Spi'rit malign, but much more envy feiz'd
At fight of all this world beheld so fair.
Round he furveys (and well might where he stood
So high above the circling canopy
Of night's extended fhade) from eastern point
Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears
Andromeda far off Atlantic seas
Beyond th' horizon; then from pole to pole
He views in breadth, and without longer pause
Down right into the world's first region throws
His flight precipitant, and winds with ease,
Through the pure marble air, his oblique way
Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
Stars diftant, but nigh hand seem'd other worlds;
Or other worlds they feem'd, or happy ifles,
Like those Hefperian gardens fam'd of old,
Fortunate fields, and groves, and flow'ry vales,
Thrice happy ifles, but who dwelt happy there
He stay'd not to inquire: above them all
The golden fun, in fplendour likeft Heaven,
Allur'd his eye;
thither his courfe he bends
Through the calm firmament, (but up or down,
By centre, or eccentric, hard to tell,
Or longitude) where the great luminary,
Aloof the yulgar conftellations thick,
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