Paradise Lost

  Meanwhile the heinous and despiteful act

  Of Satan done in Paradise, and how

  He in the serpent, had perverted Eve,

  Her husband she, to taste the fatal fruit,

  Was known in Heav’n; for what can scape the eye

  Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart

  Omniscient, who in all things wise and just,

  Hindered not Satan to attempt the mind

  Of man, with strength entire, and free will armed,

  Complete10 to have discovered and repulsed

  Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.

  For still12 they knew, and ought to have still remembered

  The high injunction not to taste that fruit,

  Whoever tempted; which they not obeying,

  Incurred, what could they less, the penalty,

  And manifold in sin16, deserved to fall.

  Up into Heav’n from Paradise in haste

  Th’ angelic guards ascended, mute and sad

  For man, for of his state by this they knew,

  Much wond’ring how the subtle fiend had stol’n

  Entrance unseen. Soon as th’ unwelcome news

  From Earth arriv’d at Heaven Gate, displeased

  All were who heard, dim sadness did not spare

  That time celestial visages, yet mixed

  With pity, violated not their bliss.

  About the new-arrived, in multitudes

  Th’ ethereal people ran, to hear and know

  How all befell: they towards the throne supreme

  Accountable29 made haste to make appear

  With righteous plea, their utmost vigilance,

  And easily approved; when the Most High

  Eternal Father from his secret cloud,

  Amidst in thunder uttered thus his voice.

  “Assembled angels, and ye Powers returned

  From unsuccessful charge, be not dismayed,

  Nor troubled at these tidings from the Earth,

  Which your sincerest care could not prevent,

  Foretold so lately what would come to pass,

  When first this Tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.

  I told ye then he should prevail and speed40

  On his bad errand, man should be seduced

  And flattered out of all, believing lies

  Against his Maker; no decree of mine

  Concurring to necessitate his fall,

  Or touch with lightest moment45 of impulse

  His free will, to her own inclining left

  In even scale. But fall’n he is, and now

  What rests48 but that the mortal sentence pass

  On his transgression, death denounced that day,

  Which he presumes already vain and void,

  Because not yet inflicted, as he feared,

  By some immediate stroke; but soon shall find

  Forbearance no acquittance53 ere day end.

  Justice shall54 not return as bounty scorned.

  But whom send I to judge them? Whom but thee

  Vicegerent Son, to thee56 I have transferred

  All judgment, whether in Heav’n, or Earth, or Hell.

  Easy it might be seen that I intend

  Mercy colleague with justice, sending thee

  Man’s friend, his Mediator, his designed

  Both ransom and Redeemer voluntary,

  And destined man himself to judge man fall’n.”

  So spake the Father, and unfolding bright

  Toward the right hand his glory, on the Son

  65 Blazed forth unclouded deity; he full

  Resplendent all his Father manifest

  Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild.

  “Father Eternal, thine is to decree,

  Mine both in Heav’n and Earth to do thy will

  Supreme, that thou in me thy Son beloved

  May’st ever rest well pleased. I go to judge

  On Earth these thy transgressors, but thou know’st,

  Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,

  When time shall be, for so I undertook

  Before thee; and not repenting, this obtain

  Of right, that I may mitigate their doom

  On me derived, yet I shall temper so

  Justice with mercy, as may illustrate most78

  Them79 fully satisfied, and thee appease.

  Attendance none shall need80, nor train, where none

  Are to behold the judgment but the judged,

  Those two; the third82 best absent is condemned,

  Convict83 by flight, and rebel to all law;

  Conviction84 to the serpent none belongs.”

  Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose

  Of high collateral86 glory: him Thrones and Powers,

  Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant

  Accompanied to Heaven gate, from whence

  Eden and all the coast in prospect lay.

  Down he descended straight; the speed90 of gods

  Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.

  Now was the sun in western cadence92 low

  From noon, and gentle airs due at their hour

  To fan the earth now waked, and usher in

  The evening cool, when he from wrath more cool

  Came the mild Judge and Intercessor both

  To sentence man: the voice of God they heard

  Now walking in the garden, by soft winds

  Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard,

  And from his presence hid themselves among

  The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God

  Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud.

  “Where art thou Adam, wont with joy to meet

  My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,

  Not pleased, thus entertained with solitude,

  Where obvious106 duty erewhile appeared unsought:

  Or come I less conspicuous, or what change

  Absents thee, or what chance detain? Come forth.”

  He came, and with him Eve, more loath, though first

  To offend, discount’nanced both, and discomposed;

  Love was not in their looks, either to God

  Or to each other, but apparent guilt,

  And shame, and perturbation, and despair,

  Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.

  Whence Adam falt’ring long, thus answered brief.

  “I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice

  Afraid, being naked, hid myself.” To whom

  The gracious judge without revile118 replied.

  “My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared,

  But still120 rejoiced, how is it now become

  So dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who

  Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree

  Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?”

  To whom thus Adam sore beset replied.

  “O Heav’n! In evil strait this day I stand

  Before my Judge, either to undergo

  Myself the total crime, or to accuse

  My other self128, the partner of my life;

  Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,

  I should conceal, and not expose to blame

  By my complaint; but strict necessity

  Subdues me, and calamitous constraint

  Lest on my head both sin and punishment,

  However insupportable, be all

  Devolved135; though should I hold my peace, yet thou

  Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.

  This woman137 whom thou mad’st to be my help,

  And gav’st me as thy perfect gift, so good,

  So fit, so acceptable, so divine,

  That from her hand I could suspect no ill,

  And what she did, whatever in itself,

  Her doing seemed to justify the deed;

  She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

  To whom the sov??
?reign Presence thus replied.

  “Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey

  Before his voice, or was she made thy guide,

  Superior, or but equal, that to her

  Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place

  Wherein God set thee above her made of thee,

  And for thee, whose perfection far excelled

  Hers in all real dignity: adorned

  She was indeed, and lovely to attract

  Thy love, not thy subjection, and her gifts

  Were such as under government well seemed,

  Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part155

  And person, hadst thou known thyself aright.”

  So having said, he thus to Eve in few:

  “Say woman, what is this which thou hast done?”

  To whom sad Eve with shame nigh overwhelmed,

  Confessing soon, yet not before her judge

  Bold or loquacious, thus abashed replied.

  “The Serpent me beguiled and I did eat.”

  Which when the Lord God heard, without delay

  To judgment he proceeded on th’ accused

  Serpent though brute, unable165 to transfer

  The guilt on him who made him instrument

  Of mischief, and polluted from the end

  Of his creation; justly then accursed,

  As vitiated in nature: more to know

  Concerned not man (since he no further knew)

  Nor altered his offense; yet God at last

  To Satan first in sin his doom applied,

  Though in mysterious173 terms, judged as then best:

  And on the serpent thus his curse let fall.

  “Because thou175 hast done this, thou art accursed

  Above all cattle, each beast of the field;

  Upon thy belly groveling thou shalt go,

  And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.

  Between thee and the woman I will put

  Enmity, and between thine and her seed;

  Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.”

  So spake this oracle, then verified

  When Jesus son of Mary, second Eve183,

  Saw Satan fall like lightning184 down from heav’n,

  Prince of the Air185; then rising from his grave

  Spoiled Principalities and Powers, triumphed

  In open show, and with ascension bright

  Captivity led captive through the air,

  The realm itself of Satan long usurped,

  Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;

  Even he who now foretold his fatal bruise,

  And to the woman thus his sentence turned.

  “Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply

  By thy conception; children thou shalt bring

  In sorrow forth, and to thy husband’s will195

  Thine shall submit, he over thee shall rule195.”

  On Adam last thus judgment he pronounced.

  “Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife,

  And eaten of the tree concerning which

  I charged thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat thereof,’

  Cursed is the ground for thy sake, thou in sorrow

  Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;

  Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth

  Unbid, and thou shalt eat th’ herb of th’ field,

  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,

  Till thou return unto the ground, for thou

  Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,

  For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.”

  So judged he man, both Judge and Savior sent,

  And th’ instant stroke of death denounced210 that day

  Removed far off; then pitying how they stood

  Before him naked to the air, that now

  Must suffer change, disdained not to begin

  Thenceforth the form of servant to assume,

  As when215 he washed his servants’ feet, so now

  As father of his family he clad

  Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain, Or217 as the snake with youthful coat repaid;

  And thought not much219 to clothe his enemies:

  Nor he their outward only with the skins

  Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more

  Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness222,

  Arraying covered from his Father’s sight.

  To him with swift ascent he up returned,

  Into his blissful bosom reassumed

  In glory as of old, to him appeased

  All, though all-knowing, what had passed with man

  Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

  Meanwhile ere thus was sinned and judged on Earth,

  Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death230,

  In counterview within the gates, that now

  Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame

  Far into Chaos, since the fiend passed through,

  Sin opening, who thus now to Death began.

  “O Son, why sit we here each other viewing

  Idly, while Satan our great author236 thrives

  In other worlds, and happier seat provides

  For us his offspring dear? It cannot be

  But that success attends him; if mishap,

  Ere this he had returned, with fury driv’n

  By his avengers, since no place like this241

  Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.

  Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,243

  Wings growing, and dominion giv’n me large243

  Beyond this deep243; whatever draws me on,

  Or sympathy, or some connatural force

  Powerful at greatest distance to unite

  With secret amity things of like kind

  By secretest conveyance249. Thou my shade

  Inseparable must with me along:

  For Death from Sin no power can separate.

  But lest the difficulty of passing back

  Stay his return perhaps over this gulf

  Impassable, impervious,254 let us try

  Advent’rous work, yet to thy power and mine

  Not unagreeable, to found a path

  Over this main257 from Hell to that new world

  Where Satan now prevails, a monument

  Of merit high to all th’ infernal host,

  Easing their passage hence, for intercourse,

  Or transmigration261, as their lot shall lead.

  Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn

  By this new felt attraction and instinct.”

  Whom thus the meager264 shadow answered soon.

  “Go whither fate and inclination strong

  Leads thee, I shall not lag behind, nor err

  The way, thou leading, such a scent I draw

  Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste

  The savor of death from all things there that live:

  Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest

  Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.”

  So saying, with delight he snuffed272 the smell

  Of mortal change on Earth. As when a flock

  Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,

  Against275 the day of battle, to a field

  Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured

  With scent of living carcasses designed277

  For death, the following day, in bloody fight.

  So scented the grim feature279, and upturned

  His nostril wide into the murky280 air,

  Sagacious281 of his quarry from so far.

  Then both from out Hell gates into the waste

  Wide anarchy of Chaos damp and dark

  Flew diverse284, and with power (their power was great)

  Hovering upon the waters; what they met

  Solid or slimy, as in raging sea

  Tossed up and down, together crowded drove

  From each side sho
aling288 towards the mouth of Hell.

  As when two polar winds blowing adverse

  Upon the Cronian Sea290, together drive

  Mountains of ice, that stop th’ imagined way291

  Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich291

  Cathayan Coast291. The aggregated soil293

  Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry,

  As with a trident smote, and fixed as firm

  As Delos296 floating once; the rest his look

  Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move,

  And with asphaltic slime; broad as the gate,

  Deep to the roots of Hell the gathered beach

  They fastened, and the mole300 immense wrought on

  Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge

  Of length prodigious joining to the wall

  Immovable of this now fenceless world

  Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,

  Smooth, easy, inoffensive305 down to Hell.

  So, if great things to small may be compared,

  Xerxes307, the liberty of Greece to yoke,

  From Susa308 his Memnonian palace high

  Came to the sea, and over Hellespont

  Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,

  And scourged with many a stroke th’ indignant311 waves.

  Now had they brought the work by wondrous art312

  Pontifical312, a ridge of pendant rock

  Over the vexed314 abyss, following the track

  Of Satan, to the selfsame place where he

  First lighted from his wing, and landed safe

  From out of Chaos to the outside bare

  Of this round world: with pins of adamant

  And chains they made all fast, too fast they made

  And durable; and now in little space

  The confines321 met of empyrean Heav’n

  And of this world, and on the left hand Hell

  With long reach interposed; three sev’ral ways

  In sight, to each of these three places led.

  And now their way to Earth they had descried,

  To Paradise first tending, when behold

  Satan in likeness of an angel bright

  Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering328

  His zenith328, while the sun in Aries rose:

  Disguised he came, but those his children dear

  Their parent soon discerned, though in disguise.

  He after Eve seduced, unminded slunk

  Into the wood fast by, and changing shape

  To observe the sequel334, saw his guileful act

  By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded

  Upon her husband, saw their shame that sought

  Vain covertures; but when he saw descend

  The Son of God to judge them, terrified