Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Milton

Triumphal with triumphal act have met,

  Mine with this glorious Work, and made one Realm

  Hell and this World, one Realm, one Continent

  Of easie thorough-fare. Therefore while I

  Descend through Darkness, on your Rode with ease

  395

  To my associate Powers, them to acquaint

  With these successes, and with them rejoyce,

  You two this way, among those numerous Orbs

  All yours, right down to Paradise descend;

  There dwell and Reign in bliss, thence on the Earth

  400

  Dominion exercise and in the Air,

  Chiefly on Man, sole Lord of all declar’d,

  Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill.

  My Substitutes I send ye, and Create

  Plenipotent on Earth, of matchless might

  405

  Issuing from mee: on your joynt vigor now

  My hold of this new Kingdom all depends,

  Through Sin to Death expos’d by my exploit.39

  If your joynt power prevail, th’ affaires of Hell

  No detriment need fear, goe and be strong.

  410

  So saying he dismiss’d them, they with speed

  Thir course through thickest Constellations held

  Spreading thir bane; the blasted Starrs lookt wan,

  And Planets, Planet-strook,40 real Eclips41

  Then sufferd. Th’ other way Satan went down

  415

  The Causey42 to Hell Gate; on either side

  Disparted Chaos over built exclaimd,

  And with rebounding surge the barrs assaild,

  That scorn’d his indignation: through the Gate,

  Wide open and unguarded, Satan pass’d,

  420

  And all about found desolate; for those

  Appointed to sit there, had left thir charge,

  Flown to the upper World; the rest were all

  Farr to the inland retir’d, about the walls

  Of Pandæmonium, Citie and proud seat

  425

  Of Lucifer, so by allusion calld,

  Of that bright Starr to Satan paragond.43

  There kept thir Watch the Legions, while the Grand

  In Council sate, sollicitous what chance

  Might intercept thir Emperour sent, so hee

  430

  Departing gave command, and they observ’d.44

  As when the Tartar from his Russian Foe

  By Astracan45 over the Snowie Plains

  Retires, or Bactrian Sophi46 from the horns

  Of Turkish Crescent, leaves all waste beyond

  435

  The Realm of Aladule, in his retreat

  To Tauris or Casbeen.47 So these the late

  Heav’n-banisht Host, left desert utmost Hell

  Many a dark League, reduc’t48 in careful Watch

  Round thir Metropolis, and now expecting

  440

  Each hour their great adventurer from the search

  Of Forrein Worlds: he through the midst unmarkt,

  In shew plebeian Angel militant

  Of lowest order, past; and from the dore

  Of that Plutonian Hall, invisible

  445

  Ascended his high Throne, which under state49

  Of richest texture spred, at th’ upper end

  Was plac’t in regal lustre. Down a while

  He sate, and round about him saw unseen:

  At last as from a Cloud his fulgent head

  450

  And shape Starr bright appeer’d, or brighter, clad

  With what permissive glory since his fall

  Was left him, or false glitter: All amaz’d

  At that so sudden blaze the Stygian throng

  Bent thir aspect, and whom they wish’d beheld,

  455

  Thir mighty Chief returnd: loud was th’ acclaim:

  Forth rush’d in haste the great consulting Peers,

  Rais’d from thir dark Divan,50 and with like joy

  Congratulant approach’d him, who with hand

  Silence, and with these words attention won.

  460

  Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Vertues, Powers,

  For in possession such, not onely of right,

  I call ye and declare ye now, returnd

  Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth

  Triumphant out of this infernal Pit

  465

  Abominable, accurst, the house of woe,

  And Dungeon of our Tyrant: Now possess,

  As Lords, a spacious World, t’ our native Heav’n

  Little inferiour, by my adventure hard

  With peril great atchiev’d. Long were to tell

  470

  What I have don, what sufferd, with what pain

  Voyag’d th’ unreal, vast, unbounded deep

  Of horrible confusion, over which

  By Sin and Death a broad way now is pav’d

  To expedite your glorious march; but I

  475

  Toild out my uncouth51 passage, forc’t to ride

  Th’ untractable Abyss, plung’d in the womb

  Of unoriginal52 Night and Chaos wild,

  That jealous of thir secrets fiercely oppos’d

  My journey strange, with clamorous uproar

  480

  Protesting Fate supream; thence how I found

  The new created World, which fame in Heav’n

  Long had foretold, a Fabrick wonderful

  Of absolute perfection, therein Man

  Plac’t in a Paradise, by our exile

  485

  Made happie: Him by fraud I have seduc’d

  From his Creator, and the more to increase

  Your wonder, with an Apple; he thereat

  Offended, worth your laughter,53 hath giv’n up

  Both his beloved Man and all his World,

  490

  To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us,

  Without our hazard, labour, or allarm,

  To range in, and to dwell, and over Man

  To rule, as over all he should have rul’d.

  True is, mee also he hath judg’d, or rather

  495

  Mee not, but the brute Serpent in whose shape

  Man I deceav’d: that which to mee belongs,

  Is enmity, which he will put between

  Mee and Mankind; I am to bruise his heel;

  His Seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head:

  500

  A World who would not purchase with a bruise,

  Or much more grievous pain? Ye have th’ account

  Of my performance: What remains, ye Gods,

  But up and enter now into full bliss.

  So having said, a while he stood, expecting

  505

  Thir universal shout and high applause

  To fill his ear, when contrary he hears

  On all sides, from innumerable tongues

  A dismal universal hiss, the sound

  Of public scorn; he wonderd, but not long

  510

  Had leasure, wondring at himself now more;

  His Visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare,

  His Armes clung to his Ribs, his Leggs entwining

  Each other, till supplanted54 down he fell

  A monstrous Serpent on his Belly prone,

  515

  Reluctant, but in vain, a greater power

  Now rul’d him, punisht in the shape he sin’d,

  According to his doom: he would have spoke,

  But hiss for hiss returnd with forked tongue

  To forked tongue, for now were all transform’d

  520

  Alike, to Serpents all as accessories

  To his bold Riot:55 dreadful was the din

  Of hissing through the Hall, thick swarming now

  With complicated56 monsters, head and tail,

  Scorpion and Asp, and Amphisbæ
na dire,

  525

  Cerastes hornd, Hydrus, and Ellops drear,

  And Dipsas (not so thick swarm’d once the Soil

  Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the Isle

  Ophiusa) but still greatest hee the midst,

  Now Dragon grown, larger then whom the Sun

  530

  Ingenderd in the Pythian Vale on slime,

  Huge Python, and his Power no less he seem’d

  Above the rest still to retain; they all

  Him follow’d issuing forth to th’ open Field,

  Where all yet left of that revolted Rout

  535

  Heav’n-fall’n, in station stood or just array,

  Sublime57 with expectation when to see

  In Triumph issuing forth thir glorious Chief;

  They saw, but other sight instead, a crowd

  Of ugly Serpents; horror on them fell,

  540

  And horrid sympathie; for what they saw,

  They felt themselvs now changing; down thir arms,

  Down fell both Spear and Shield, down they as fast,

  And the dire hiss renew’d, and the dire form

  Catcht by Contagion, like in punishment,

  545

  As in thir crime. Thus was th’ applause they meant,

  Turnd to exploding hiss, triumph to shame

  Cast on themselves from thir own mouths. There stood

  A Grove hard by, sprung up with this thir change,

  His will who reigns above, to aggravate

  550

  Thir penance, laden with fair Fruit like that

  Which grew in Paradise, the bait of Eve

  Us’d by the Tempter: on that prospect strange

  Thir earnest eyes they fix’d, imagining

  For one forbidden Tree a multitude

  555

  Now ris’n, to work them furder woe or shame;

  Yet parcnt with scalding thurst and hunger fierce,

  Though to delude them sent, could not abstain,

  But on they rould in heaps, and up the Trees

  Climbing, sat thicker then the snakie locks

  560

  That curld Megæra:58 greedily they pluck’d

  The Fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew

  Neer that bituminous Lake59 where Sodom flam’d;

  This more delusive, not the touch, but taste

  Deceav’d; they fondly thinking to allay

  565

  Thir appetite with gust,60 instead of Fruit

  Chewd bitter Ashes, which th’ offended taste

  With spattering noise rejected: oft they assayd,

  Hunger and thirst constraining, drug’d61 as oft,

  With hatefullest disrelish writh’d thir jaws

  570

  With soot and cinders fill’d; so oft they fell

  Into the same illusion, not as Man

  Whom they triumph’d once lapst. Thus were they plagu’d

  And worn with Famin, long and ceasless hiss,

  Till thir lost shape, permitted, they resum’d,

  575

  Yearly enjoynd, some say, to undergo

  This annual humbling certain number’d days,

  To dash thir pride, and joy for Man seduc’t.

  However some tradition they dispers’d

  Among the Heathen of thir purchase got,

  580

  And Fabl’d how the Serpent, whom they calld

  Ophion62 with Eurynome, the wide-Encroaching

  Eve perhaps, had first the rule

  Of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driv’n

  And Ops, ere yet Dictæan Jove was born.

  585

  Mean while in Paradise the hellish pair

  Too soon arriv’d, Sin there in power before,

  Once actual, now in body, and to dwell

  Habitual habitant; behind her Death

  Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet

  590

  On his pale Horse:63 to whom Sin thus began.

  Second of Satan sprung, all conquering Death,

  What thinkst thou of our Empire now, though earnd

  With travail difficult, not better farr

  Then still at Hells dark threshold to have sate watch,

  595

  Unnam’d, undreaded, and thy self half starv’d?64

  Whom thus the Sin-born Monster answerd soon.

  To mee, who with eternal Famin pine,

  Alike is Hell, or Paradise, or Heaven,

  There best, where most with ravin I may meet;

  600

  Which here, though plenteous, all too little seems

  To stuff this Maw, this vast unhide-bound65 Corps.

  To whom th’ incestuous Mother thus repli’d.

  Thou therefore on these Herbs, and Fruits, and Flowrs

  Feed first, on each Beast next, and Fish, and Fowl,

  605

  No homely morsels, and whatever thing

  The Sithe of Time mows down, devour unspar’d,

  Till I in Man residing through the Race,

  His thoughts, his looks, words, actions all infect,

  And season him thy last and sweetest prey.

  610

  This said, they both betook them several wayes,

  Both to destroy, or unimmortal make

  All kinds, and for destruction to mature

  Sooner or later; which th’ Almightie seeing,

  From his transcendent Seat the Saints among,

  615

  To those bright Orders utterd thus his voice.

  See with what heat these Dogs of Hell advance

  To waste and havoc yonder World, which I

  So fair and good created, and had still

  Kept in that state, had not the folly of Man

  620

  Let in these wastful Furies, who impute

  Folly to mee, so doth the Prince of Hell

  And his Adherents, that with so much ease

  I suffer them to enter and possess

  A place so heav’nly, and conniving66 seem

  625

  To gratifie my scornful Enemies,

  That laugh, as if transported with some fit

  Of Passion, I to them had quitted all,

  At random yeilded up to their misrule;

  And know not that I call’d and drew them thither

  630

  My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and filth

  Which mans polluting Sin with taint hath shed

  On what was pure, till cramm’d and gorg’d, nigh burst

  With suckt and glutted offal, at one sling

  Of thy victorious Arm, well-pleasing Son,

  635

  Both Sin, and Death, and yawning Grave at last

  Through Chaos hurld, obstruct the mouth of Hell

  For ever, and seal up his ravenous Jaws.

  Then Heav’n and Earth renewd shall be made pure

  To sanctitie that shall receive no stain:

  640

  Till then the Curse pronounc’t on both precedes.

  He ended, and the heav’nly Audience loud

  Sung Halleluia, as the sound of Seas,

  Through multitude that sung: Just are thy ways,

  Righteous are thy Decrees on all thy Works;67

  645

  Who can extenuate68 thee? Next, to the Son,

  Destin’d restorer of Mankind, by whom

  New Heav’n and Earth shall to the Ages rise,

  Or down from Heav’n descend. Such was thir song,

  While the Creator calling forth by name

  650

  His mightie Angels gave them several charge,

  As sorted69 best with present things. The Sun

  Had first his precept so to move, so shine,

  As might affect the Earth with cold and heat

  Scarce tollerable, and from the North to call

  655

  Decrepit Winter, from the South to bring

  So
lstitial summers heat. To the blanc Moon

  Her office they prescrib’d, to th’ other five70

  Thir planetarie motions and aspects

  In Sextile, Square, and Trine, and Opposite,71

  660

  Of noxious efficacie, and when to joyn

  In Synod unbenigne, and taught the fixt

  Thir influence malignant when to showr,

  Which of them rising with the Sun, or falling,

  Should prove tempestuous: To the Winds they set

  665

  Thir corners, when with bluster to confound

  Sea, Air, and Shoar, the Thunder when to rowl

  With terror through the dark Aereal Hall.

  Some say he bid his Angels turn ascanse

  The Poles of Earth twice ten degrees and more

  670

  From the Suns Axle;72 they with labour push’d

  Oblique the Centric Globe: Som say the Sun

  Was bid turn Reins from th’ Equinoctial Rode

  Like distant breadth to Taurus with the Seav’n

  Atlantick Sisters, and the Spartan Twins

  675

  Up to the Tropic Crab; thence down amain

  By Leo and the Virgin and the Scales,

  As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change

  Of Seasons to each Clime; else had the Spring

  Perpetual smil’d on Earth with vernant Flowrs,

  680

  Equal in Days and Nights, except to those

  Beyond the Polar Circles; to them Day

  Had unbenighted shon, while the low Sun

  To recompence his distance, in thir sight

  Had rounded still th’ Horizon, and not known

  685

  Or East or West, which had forbid the Snow

  From cold Estotiland,73 and South as farr

  Beneath Magellan. At that tasted Fruit

  The Sun, as from Thyestean Banquet,74 turn’d

  His course intended; else how had the World

  690

  Inhabited, though sinless, more then now,

  Avoided pinching cold and scorching heat?

  These changes in the Heav’ns, though slow, produc’d