PARADISE LOST.

BOOK I.

The subject, Man's Fall, proposed, with an invocation to the Muse and Holy Spirit.

OF Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

5 Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,
In the beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth.
IO Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion hill

Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
Fast by the oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
15 Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhime.
And chiefly Thou, O Spi'rit, that dost prefer
Before all temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou know'st; Thou from the first
20 Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread

Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark

Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great argument 25 I may assert Eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men.

Man's sin caused by Satan.

Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view Nor the deep tract of Hell, say first what cause Mov'd our grand parents in that happy state, 30 Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off

From their Creator, and transgress his will For one restraint, lords of the world besides? Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt?— Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile 35 Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd

The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his host
Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring

To set himself in Glory' above his peers,
40 He trusted to have equall'd the Most High,
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God
Rais'd impious war in Heav'n, and battel proud
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
45 Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky
With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

Satan represented in Hell, just fallen from Heaven. 50 Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquisht, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded though immortal: but his doom Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought 55 Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
Mixt with obdúrate pride and stedfast hate:
At once as far as angels ken he views

60 The dismal situation waste and wild;

A dungeon horrible on all sides round

As one great furnace flam'd; yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible

Serv'd only to discover sights of woe,

65 Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

With ever-burning sulphur unconsum'd:

70 Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd
For those rebellious, here their prison' ordain'd
In utter darkness, and their portion set

As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n
As from the center thrice to th' utmost pole.
75 O how unlike the place from whence they fell!
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelm'd

With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,

He soon discerns; and weltring by his side
One next himself in power, and next in crime,
80 Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd
Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,

And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words
Breaking the horrid silence thus began.

He encourages Beelzebub by the thought of their
immortality.

If thou beest he; but O how fall'n! how chang'd 85 From him, who in the happy realms of light

Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst outshine
Myriads though bright: if he whom mutual league,
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,

90 Join'd with me once, now misery hath join'd
In equal ru'in: into what pit thou seest

From what highth fall'n, so much the stronger prov'd

He with his thunder: and till then who knew
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,

95 Nor what the potent Victor in his rage

Can else inflict, do I repent or change

(Though changed in outward lustre) that fixt mind, And high disdain from sense of injur'd merit, That with the Mightiest rais'd me to contend, 100 And to the fierce contention brought along Innumerable force of spirits arm'd

That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,

His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd

In dubious battel on the plains of Heaven,

105 And shook his throne. What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the' unconquerable will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield,

And what is else not to be overcome?.

110 That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deify his power,
Who from the terror of this arm so late
Doubted his empire, that were low indeed,
115 That were an ignominy' and shame beneath
This downfall; since by fate the strength of gods
And this empyreal substance cannot fail,
Since through experience of this great event
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't,
120 We may with more successful hope resolve
To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Irreconcilable to our grand Foe

125

Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heav'n.'

So spake th' apostate Angel, though in pain,
Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despair:
And him thus answer'd soon his bold compeer.

Beelzebub replies: 'It will be an immortality of suffering.

'O Prince, O chief of many throned Powers, That led th' imbattled Seraphim to war