At his command the uprooted hills retired Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renew'd, And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled. This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured, And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers, Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.
In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell? But to convince the proud what signs avail, Or wonders move the obdurate to relent?
They, harden'd more by what might most reclaim, Grieving to see his glory, at the sight Took envy; and, aspiring to his height, Stood reembattled fierce, by force or fraud 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; when the great Son of God
To all his host on either hand thus spake :
Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand,
Ye Angels arm'd; this day from battle rest:
Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause; And as ye have received, so have ye done, Invincibly but of this cursed crew The punishment to other hand belongs ; Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints: Number to this day's work is not ordain'd, Nor multitude; stand only, and behold God's indignation on these godless pour'd By me; not you, but me they have despised,
Yet envied; against me is all their rage,
Because the Father, to whom in Heaven supreme
Kingdom and power and glory appertains,
Hath honour'd me, according to his will.
Therefore to me their doom he hath assign'd;
That they may have their wish, to try with me
In battle which the stronger proves; they all, Or I alone against them; since by strength They measure all, of other excellence Not emulous, nor care who them excels; Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe. So spake the Son, and into terror changed His countenance too severe to be beheld, And full of wrath bent on his enemies. At once the Four spread out their starry wings With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs Of his fierce chariot roll'd, as with the sound Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host. He on his impious foes right onward drove, Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels The steadfast empyrean shook throughout, All but the throne itself of God.
Among them he arrived; in his right hand Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent Before him, such as in their souls infix'd
Plagues they, astonish'd, all resistance lost, All courage; down their idle weapons dropp'd:
O'er shields and helms and helmed heads he rode 840
Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,
That wish'd the mountains now might be again Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire Nor less on either side tempestuous fell His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire Among the accursed, that wither'd all their strength, And of their wonted vigour left them drain'd,
Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.
Yet half his strength he put not forth, but check'd
His thunder in mid volley; for he meant
Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:
The overthrown he raised; and, as a herd
Of goats or timorous flock together throng'd, Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursued With terrors, and with furies, to the bounds
And crystal wall of Heaven: which, opening wide, 860 Roll'd inward, and a spacious gap disclosed Into the wasteful deep: the monstrous sight Struck them with horror backward, but far worse Urged them behind: headlong themselves they threw Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath 865 Burn'd after them to the bottomless pit.
Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound. Nine days they fell: confounded Chaos roar'd, And felt tenfold confusion in their fall
Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout
Encumber'd him with ruin: Hell at last
Yawning received them whole, and on them closed; Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain. Disburden'd Heaven rejoiced, and soon repair'd Her mural breach, returning whence it roll'd. Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes,
Messiah his triumphal chariot turn'd:
To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood
Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,
With jubilee advanced; and, as they went,
Shaded with branching palm, each Order bright 885 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 And temple of his Mighty Father throned
On high; who into glory him received,
Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss. [Earth, Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on At thy request, and that thou mayst beware
By what is pass'd, to thee I have reveal'd What might have else to human race been hid; The discord which befel, and war in Heaven Among the angelic Powers, and the deep fall Of those too high aspiring, who rebell'd With Satan; he who envies now thy state, Who now is plotting how he may seduce Thee also from obedience, that, with him Bereaved of happiness, thou mayst partake His punishment, eternal misery ;
Which would be all his solace and revenge, As a despite done against the Host High, Thee once to gain companion of his woe. But listen not to his temptations, warn
Thy weaker: let it profit thee to have heard, By terrible example, the reward
Of disobedience; firm they might have stood, Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.
Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declared his pleasure to create another world, and other creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son with glory, and attendance of Angels, to perform the work of Creation in six days: the Angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his reascension into Heaven.
DESCEND from Heaven, Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine Following, above the Olympian hill I soar, Above the flight of Pegaséan wing!
The meaning, not the name, I call for thou Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell'st; but heavenly born, Before the hills appear'd or fountain flow'd, Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased With thy celestial song. Up led by thee Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed, An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air, Thy tempering: with like safety guided down Return me to my native element:
Lest from this flying steed unrein'd (as once Bellerophon, though from a lower clime,) Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall, Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn.
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound Within the visible diurnal sphere; Standing on earth, not wrapp'd above the pole,
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