In Chaos, and the work begun, how soon

  Absolv’d,14 if unforbid thou maist unfould

  95

  What wee, not to explore the secrets ask

  Of his Eternal Empire, but the more

  To magnifie his works, the more we know.

  And the great Light of Day yet wants to run

  Much of his Race though steep, suspense in Heav’n

  100

  Held by thy voice, thy potent voice he heares,

  And longer will delay to hear thee tell

  His Generation, and the rising Birth

  Of Nature from the unapparent15 Deep:

  Or if the Starr of Eevning and the Moon

  105

  Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring

  Silence, and Sleep listning to thee will watch,16

  Or we can bid his absence, till thy Song

  End, and dismiss thee ere the Morning shine.

  Thus Adam his illustrious Guest besought:

  110

  And thus the Godlike Angel answerd mild.

  This also thy request with caution askt

  Obtain: though to recount Almightie works

  What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,

  Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?

  115

  Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve

  To glorifie the Maker, and inferr

  Thee also happier, shall not be withheld

  Thy hearing, such Commission from above

  I have receav’d, to answer thy desire

  120

  Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain

  To ask, nor let thine own inventions hope

  Things not reveal’d, which th’ invisible King,

  Onely Omniscient, hath supprest in Night,

  To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:

  125

  Anough is left besides to search and know.

  But Knowledge is as food, and needs no less

  Her Temperance over Appetite, to know

  In measure what the mind may well contain,

  Oppresses else with Surfet, and soon turns

  130

  Wisdom to Folly, as Nourishment to Wind.

  Know then, that after Lucifer from Heav’n

  (So call him, brighter once amidst the Host

  Of Angels, then that Starr17 the Starrs among)

  Fell with his flaming Legions through the Deep

  135

  Into his place, and the great Son returnd

  Victorious with his saints, th’ Omnipotent

  Eternal Father from his Throne beheld

  Thir multitude, and to his Son thus spake.

  At least our envious Foe hath fail’d, who thought

  140

  All like himself rebellious, by whose aid

  This inaccessible high strength, the seat

  Of Deitie supream, us dispossest,

  He trusted to have seis’d, and into fraud

  Drew many, whom thir place knows here no more;18

  145

  Yet farr the greater part have kept, I see,

  Thir station, Heav’n yet populous retains

  Number sufficient to possess her Realmes

  Though wide, and this high Temple to frequent

  With Ministeries due and solemn Rites:

  150

  But least his heart exalt him in the harm

  Already done, to have dispeopl’d Heav’n,

  My damage fondly19 deem’d, I can repair

  That detriment, if such it be to lose

  Self-lost, and in a moment will create

  155

  Another World, out of one man a Race

  Of men innumerable, there to dwell,

  Not here, till by degrees of merit rais’d

  They open to themselves at length the way

  Up hither, under long obedience tri’d,

  160

  And Earth be chang’d to Heav’n, and Heav’n to Earth,

  One Kingdom, Joy and Union without end.

  Mean while inhabit lax,20 ye Powers of Heav’n,

  And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee

  This I perform, speak thou, and be it don:

  165

  My overshadowing Spirit and might with thee

  I send along, ride forth, and bid the Deep

  Within appointed bounds be Heav’n and Earth,

  Boundless the Deep, because I am who fill

  Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.

  170

  Though I uncircumscrib’d my self retire,21

  And put not forth my goodness, which is free

  To act or not, Necessitie and Chance

  Approach not mee, and what I will is Fate.

  So spake th’ Almightie, and to what he spake

  175

  His Word, the filial Godhead, gave effect.

  Immediate are the Acts of God, more swift

  Then time or motion, but to human ears

  Cannot without process of speech be told,

  So told as earthly notion can receave.

  180

  Great triumph and rejoycing was in Heav’n

  When such was heard declar’d th’ Almightie’s will;

  Glorie they sung to the most High, good will

  To future men, and in thir dwellings peace:

  Glorie to him whose just avenging ire

  185

  Had driven out th’ ungodly from his sight

  And th’ habitations of the just; to him

  Glorie and praise, whose wisdom had ordain’d

  Good out of evil to create, in stead

  Of Spirits maligne a better Race to bring

  190

  Into thir vacant room, and thence diffuse

  His good to Worlds and Ages infinite.

  So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son

  On his great Expedition now appeer’d,

  Girt with Omnipotence, with Radiance crown’d

  195

  Of Majestie Divine, Sapience and Love

  Immense, and all his Father in him shon.

  About his Chariot numberless were pour’d

  Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,

  And Vertues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing’d,

  200

  From th’ Armoury of God, where stand of old

  Myriads between two brazen Mountains lodg’d

  Against a solemn day, harnest at hand,

  Celestial Equipage; and now came forth

  Spontaneous, for within them Spirit liv’d,

  205

  Attendant on thir Lord: Heav’n op’n’d wide

  Her ever during22 Gates, Harmonious sound

  On golden Hinges moving, to let forth

  The King of Glorie in his powerful Word

  And Spirit coming to create new Worlds.

  210

  On heav’nly ground they stood, and from the shore

  They view’d the vast immeasurable Abyss

  Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wild,

  Up from the bottom turn’d by furious winds

  And surging waves, as Mountains to assault

  215

  Heav’ns highth, and with the Center mix the Pole.

  Silence, ye troubl’d waves, and thou Deep, peace,

  Said then th’ Omnific23 Word, your discord end:

  Nor staid, but on the Wings of Cherubim

  Uplifted, in Paternal Glorie rode

  220

  Farr into Chaos, and the World unborn;

  For Chaos heard his voice: him all his Train

  Follow’d in bright procession to behold

  Creation, and the wonders of his might.

  Then staid the fervid Wheels, and in his hand

  225

  He took the golden Compasses,24 prepar’d

  In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe

  This Universe, and all created things:

  One foot he
center’d, and the other turn’d

  Round through the vast profunditie obscure,

  230

  And said, thus farr extend, thus farr thy bounds,

  This be thy just Circumference, O World.

  Thus God the Heav’n created, thus the Earth,

  Matter unform’d and void: Darkness profound

  Cover’d th’ Abyss: but on the watrie calm

  235

  His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspred,

  And vital vertue infus’d, and vital warmth

  Throughout the fluid Mass, but downward purg’d

  The black tartareous25 cold infernal dregs

  Adverse to life: then founded, then conglob’d26

  240

  Like things to like, the rest to several place

  Disparted, and between spun out the Air,

  And Earth self ballanc’t on her Center hung.

  Let ther be Light, said God,27 and forthwith Light

  Ethereal, first of things, quintessence28 pure

  245

  Sprung from the Deep, and from her Native East

  To journie through the airie gloom began,

  Sphear’d in a radiant Cloud, for yet the Sun

  Was not; shee in a cloudie Tabernacle29

  Sojourn’d the while. God saw the Light was good;

  250

  And light from darkness by the Hemisphere

  Divided: Light the Day, and Darkness Night

  He nam’d. Thus was the first Day Eev’n and Morn:

  Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung

  By the Celestial Quires, when Orient Light

  255

  Exhaling first from Darkness they beheld;

  Birth-day of Heav’n and Earth; with joy and shout

  The hollow Universal Orb they fill’d,

  And touch’t thir Golden Harps, and hymning prais’d

  God and his works, Creatour him they sung,

  260

  Both when first Eevning was, and when first Morn.

  Again, God said, let ther be Firmament30

  Amid the Waters, and let it divide

  The Waters from the Waters: and God made

  The Firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,

  265

  Transparent, Elemental Air, diffus’d

  In circuit to the uttermost convex

  Of this great Round: partition firm and sure,

  The Waters underneath from those above

  Dividing: for as Earth, so he the World

  270

  Built on circumfluous Waters calm, in wide

  Crystallin Ocean, and the loud misrule

  Of Chaos farr remov’d, least fierce extreams

  Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:

  And Heav’n he nam’d the Firmament: So Eev’n

  275

  And Morning Chorus sung the second Day.

  The Earth was form’d, but in the Womb as yet

  Of Waters, Embryon immature involv’d,31

  Appeer’d not: over all the face of Earth

  Main32 Ocean flow’d, not idle, but with warm

  280

  Prolific humour soft’ning all her Globe,

  Fermented the great Mother to conceave,

  Satiate with genial33 moisture, when God said

  Be gather’d now ye Waters under Heav’n

  Into one place, and let dry Land appeer.

  285

  Immediately the Mountains huge appeer

  Emergent, and thir broad bare backs upheave

  Into the Clouds, thir tops ascend the Skie:

  So high as heav’d the tumid Hills, so low

  Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,

  290

  Capacious bed of Waters: thither they

  Hasted with glad precipitance,34 uprowl’d

  As drops on dust conglobing from the drie;

  Part rise in crystal Wall, or ridge direct,

  For haste; such flight the great command impress’d

  295

  On the swift flouds: as Armies at the call

  Of Trumpet (for of Armies thou hast heard)

  Troop to thir Standard, so the watrie throng,

  Wave rowling after Wave, where way they found,

  If steep, with torrent rapture,35 if through Plain,

  300

  Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them Rock or Hill,

  But they, or under ground, or circuit wide

  With Serpent errour36 wandring, found thir way,

  And on the washie Oose deep Channels wore;

  Easie, e’re God had bid the ground be drie,

  305

  All but within those banks, where Rivers now

  Stream, and perpetual draw thir humid train.37

  The dry Land, Earth, and the great receptacle

  Of congregated Waters he call’d Seas:

  And saw that it was good, and said, Let th’ Earth

  310

  Put forth the verdant Grass, Herb yeilding Seed,

  And Fruit Tree yeilding Fruit after her kind;

  Whose Seed is in her self upon the Earth.

  He scarce had said, when the bare Earth, till then

  Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorn’d,

  315

  Brought forth the tender Grass, whose verdure clad

  Her Universal Face with pleasant green,

  Then Herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowr’d

  Op’ning thir various colours, and made gay

  Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown,

  320

  Forth flourish’t thick the clustring Vine, forth crept

  The smelling Gourd, up stood the cornie Reed

  Embattell’d in her field: and the humble Shrub,

  And Bush with frizl’d hair implicit:38 last

  Rose as in Dance the stately Trees, and spred

  325

  Thir branches hung with copious Fruit; or gemm’d39

  Thir blossoms: with high woods the hills were crownd,

  With tufts40 the vallies and each fountain side,

  With borders long the Rivers. That Earth now

  Seemd like to Heav’n, a seat where Gods might dwell,

  330

  Or wander with delight, and love to haunt

  Her sacred shades: though God had yet not rain’d

  Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground

  None was, but from the Earth a dewie Mist

  Went up and waterd all the ground, and each

  335

  Plant of the field, which e’re it was in th’ Earth

  God made, and every Herb, before it grew

  On the green stemm; God saw that it was good.

  So Eev’n and Morn recorded the Third Day.

  Again th’ Almightie spake: Let there be Lights

  340

  High in th’ expanse of Heaven to divide

  The Day from Night; and let them be for Signes,

  For Seasons, and for Dayes, and circling Years,

  And let them be for Lights as I ordain

  Thir Office in the Firmament of Heav’n

  345

  To give Light on the Earth; and it was so.

  And God made two great Lights, great for thir use

  To Man, the greater to have rule by Day,

  The less by Night altern: and made the Starrs,

  And set them in the Firmament of Heav’n

  350

  T’ illuminate the Earth, and rule the Day

  In thir vicissitude, and rule the Night,

  And Light from Darkness to divide. God saw,

  Surveying his great Work, that it was good:

  For of Celestial Bodies first the Sun

  355

  A mightie Sphear he fram’d, unlightsom first,

  Though of Ethereal Mould: then form’d the Moon

  Globose, and every magnitude of Starrs,

  And sowd with Starrs the Heav’n thick as a field:

  Of Light by farr the
greater part he took,

  360

  Transplanted from her cloudie Shrine, and plac’d

  In the Suns Orb, made porous to receive

  And drink the liquid Light, firm to retain

  Her gather’d beams, great Palace now of Light

  Hither as to thir Fountain other Starrs

  365

  Repairing, in thir gold’n Urns draw Light,

  And hence the Morning Planet guilds her horns;41

  By tincture42 or reflection they augment

  Thir small peculiar, though from human sight

  So farr remote, with diminution seen.

  370

  First in his East the glorious Lamp was seen,

  Regent of Day, and all th’ Horizon round

  Invested with bright Rayes, jocond to run

  His Longitude through Heav’ns high rode: the gray

  Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc’d

  375

  Shedding sweet influence: less bright the Moon,

  But opposite in leveld West was set

  His mirror, with full face borrowing her Light

  From him, for other light she needed none

  In that aspect, and still that distance keeps

  380

  Till night, then in the East her turn she shines,

  Revolv’d on Heav’ns great Axle, and her Reign

  With thousand lesser Lights dividual43 holds,

  With thousand thousand Starrs, that then appeer’d

  Spangling the Hemisphere: then first adornd

  385

  With thir bright Luminaries that Set and Rose,

  Glad Eevning and glad Morn crownd the fourth day.

  And God said, let the Waters generate

  Reptil44 with Spawn abundant, living Soul:

  And let Fowl flie above the Earth, with wings

  390

  Displayd on th’ op’n Firmament of Heav’n.

  And God created the great Whales, and each

  Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously

  The waters generated by thir kinds,

  And every Bird of wing after his kind;

  395

  And saw that it was good, and bless’d them, saying,