Others came single; he who, to be deem'd A God, leap'd fondly into Etna flames, Empedocles; and he who, to enjoy Plato's Elysium, leap'd into the sea, Cleombrotus; and many more too long, Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seek In Golgotha him dead who lives in Heaven; And they who, to be sure of Paradise, Dying, put on the weeds of Dominic, Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised; They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd, And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talk'd, and that first moved; And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems To wait them with his keys, and now at foot Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo A violent cross-wind from either coast Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry Into the devious air: Then might ye see
Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toss'd And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,
The sport of winds: All these, up-whirl'd aloft,
Fly o'er the backside of the world far off
Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd
The Paradise 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 haste His travel'd steps: far distant he descries
Ascending by degrees magnificent Up to the wall of Heaven 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 shone, inimitable on earth
By model, or by shading pencil drawn.
The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw Angels ascending and descending, bands Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flow'd Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon Who after came from earth, sailing arrived Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
Wrapp'd in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate
His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss:
Direct against which open'd from beneath, Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide, Wider by far than that of aftertimes
Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
Over the Promised Land to God so dear;
By which to visit oft those happy tribes,
On high behests his Angels to and fro
Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood, To Beersaba where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and the 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 stair, That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate, Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this world at once. As when a scout, Through dark and desert ways with peril gone
All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, Which to his eye discovers unaware
The goodly prospect of some foreign land First seen, or some renown'd metropolis With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd, Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams: Such wonder seized, though after Heaven seen, The Spirit malign, but much more envy seized, At sight of all this world beheld so fair.
Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood So high above the circling canopy
Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point
Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantic seas
Beyond the 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 distant, but nigh hand seem'd other worlds; Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy isles, Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old, Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales, Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there He staid not to inquire: Above them all The golden sun, in splendour likest Heaven, Allured his eye; thither his course 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 vulgar constellations thick, That from his lordly eye keep distance due, Dispenses light from far; they, as they move Their starry dance in numbers that compute Days, months, and years, towards his all cheering lamp Turn swift their various motions, or are turn'd
By his magnetic beam, that gently warms The universe, and to each inward part With gentle penetration, though unseen, Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;
So wondrously was set his station bright.
Their lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb
Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw. The place he found beyond expression bright, Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone; Not all parts like, but all alike inform'd With radient light, as glowing iron with fire; If metal, part seem'd gold, part silver clear; If stone, carbuncle most or crysolite, Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone In Aaron's breastplate, and a stone besides Imagined rather oft, than elsewhere seen, That stone, or like to that which here below Philosophers in vain so long have sought, In vain, though by their powerful art they bind Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound In various shapes old Proteus from the sea, Drain'd through a limbeck to his native form. What wonder then if fields and regions here Breathe forth elixir pure, and rivers run Portable gold, when with one virtuous touch The archchemic sun, so far from us remote, Produces, with terrestrial humour mix'd, Here in the dark so many precious things Of colour glorious and effect so rare? Here matter new to gaze the Devil met Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands, For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade, But all sunshine, as when his beams at noon Culminate from the equator, as they now Shot upward still direct, whence no way round Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air, No where so clear, sharpen'd his visual ray
To objects distant far, whereby he soon Saw within ken a glorious Angel stand,
The same whom John saw also in the sun :
His back was turn'd, but not his brightness hid; Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar
Circled his head, nor less his locks behind
Mustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings
Lay waving round; on some great charge employ
He seem'd, or fix'd in cogitation deep.
Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope
To find who might direct his wandering flight To Paradise, the happy seat of Man, His journey's end and our beginning woe. But first he casts to change his proper shape, Which else might work him danger or delay: And now a stripling Cherub he appears, Not of the prime, yet such as in his face Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb Suitable grace diffused, so well he feign'd: Under a coronet his flowing hair
In curls on either cheek play'd; wings he wore
Of many a colour'd plume, sprinkled with gold; His habit fit for speed succinct, and held Before his decent steps a silver wand.
He drew not nigh unheard; the Angel bright, Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turn'd, Admonish'd by his ear, and straight was known The Archangel Uriel, one of the seven
Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne,
Stand ready at command, and are his eyes
That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth
Bear his swift errands over moist and dry,
O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts:
Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand
In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright, 655 The first art wont his great authentic will, Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring. Where all his sons thy embassy attend;
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