Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Milton

  Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch

  Of human Glorie, and for Glorie done

  695

  Of triumph, to be styl’d great Conquerours,

  Patrons of Mankind, Gods, and Sons of Gods,

  Destroyers rightlier call’d and Plagues of men.

  Thus Fame shall be atchiev’d, renown on Earth,

  And what most merits fame in silence hid.

  700

  But hee the seventh from thee,56 whom thou beheldst

  The onely righteous in a World perverse,

  And therefore hated, therefore so beset

  With Foes for daring single to be just,

  And utter odious Truth, that God would come

  705

  To judge them with his Saints: Him the most High

  Rapt in a balmie Cloud with winged Steeds

  Did, as thou sawst, receave, to walk with God

  High in Salvation and the Climes of bliss,

  Exempt from Death; to shew thee what reward

  710

  Awaits the good, the rest what punishment;

  Which now direct thine eyes and soon behold.

  He look’d, and saw the face of things quite chang’d;

  The brazen Throat of Warr had ceast to roar,

  All now was turn’d to jollitie and game,

  715

  To luxurie and riot, feast and dance,

  Marrying or prostituting, as befell,

  Rape or Adulterie, where passing fair

  Allurd them; thence from Cups to civil Broils.

  At length a Reverend Sire57 among them came,

  720

  And of thir doings great dislike declar’d,

  And testifi’d against thir wayes; hee oft

  Frequented thir Assemblies, whereso met,

  Triumphs58 or Festivals, and to them preach’d

  Conversion and Repentance, as to Souls

  725

  In Prison under Judgements imminent:

  But all in vain: which when he saw, he ceas’d

  Contending, and remov’d his Tents farr off;

  Then from the Mountain hewing Timber tall,

  Began to build a Vessel of huge bulk,

  730

  Measur’d by Cubit, length, and breadth, and highth,

  Smeard round with Pitch, and in the side a dore

  Contriv’d, and of provisions laid in large

  For Man and Beast: when loe a wonder strange!

  Of every Beast, and Bird, and Insect small

  735

  Came seavens, and pairs,59 and enterd in, as taught

  Thir order; last the Sire, and his three Sons

  With thir four Wives; and God made fast the dore.

  Meanwhile the Southwind rose, and with black wings

  Wide hovering, all the Clouds together drove

  740

  From under Heav’n; the Hills to their supplie

  Vapour, and Exhalation dusk and moist,

  Sent up amain; and now the thick’n’d Skie

  Like a dark Ceeling stood; down rush’d the Rain

  Impetuous, and continu’d till the Earth

  745

  No more was seen; the floating Vessel swum

  Uplifted; and secure with beaked prow

  Rode tilting o’re the Waves, all dwellings else

  Flood overwhelmd, and them with all thir pomp

  Deep under water rould; Sea cover’d Sea,

  750

  Sea without shoar; and in thir Palaces

  Where luxurie late reign’d, Sea-monsters whelp’d

  And stabl’d; of Mankind, so numerous late,

  All left, in one small bottom swum imbark’t.

  How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold

  755

  The end of all thy Ofspring, end so sad,

  Depopulation; thee another Floud,

  Of tears and sorrow a Floud thee also drown’d,

  And sunk thee as thy Sons; till gently reard

  By th’ Angel, on thy feet thou stoodst at last,

  760

  Though comfortless, as when a Father mourns

  His Childern, all in view destroyd at once;

  And scarce to th’ Angel utterdst thus thy plaint

  O Visions ill foreseen! better had I

  Liv’d ignorant of future, so had borne

  765

  My part of evil onely, each dayes lot

  Anough to bear; those now, that were dispenst60

  The burd’n of many Ages, on me light

  At once, by my foreknowledge gaining Birth

  Abortive, to torment me ere thir being,

  770

  With thought that they must be. Let no man seek

  Henceforth to be foretold what shall befall

  Him or his Childern, evil he may be sure,

  Which neither his foreknowing can prevent,

  And hee the future evil shall no less

  775

  In apprehension then in substance feel

  Grievous to bear: but that care now is past,

  Man is not whom to warn: those few escap’t

  Famin and anguish will at last consume

  Wandring that watrie Desert: I had hope

  780

  When violence was ceas’t, and Warr on Earth,

  All would have then gon well, peace would have crownd

  With length of happy dayes the race of man;

  But I was farr deceav’d; for now I see

  Peace to corrupt no less then Warr to waste.

  785

  How comes it thus? unfould, Celestial Guide,

  And whether here the Race of man will end.

  To whom thus Michael. Those whom last thou sawst

  In triumph and luxurious wealth, are they

  First seen in acts of prowess eminent

  790

  And great exploits, but of true vertu void;

  Who having spilt much blood, and don much waste

  Subduing Nations, and achiev’d thereby

  Fame in the World, high titles, and rich prey,

  Shall change thir course to pleasure, ease, and sloth,

  795

  Surfet, and lust, till wantonness and pride

  Raise out of friendship hostil deeds in Peace.

  The conquerd also, and enslav’d by Warr

  Shall with thir freedom lost all vertu loose

  And fear of God, from whom thir pietie feign’d

  800

  In sharp contest of Battel found no aid

  Against invaders; therefore coold in zeal

  Thenceforth shall practice how to live secure,

  Worldlie or dissolute, on what thir Lords

  Shall leave them to enjoy; for th’ Earth shall bear

  805

  More then anough, that temperance may be tri’d:

  So all shall turn degenerate, all deprav’d,

  Justice and Temperance, Truth and Faith forgot;

  One Man except, the onely Son of light

  In a dark Age, against example good,

  810

  Against allurement, custom, and a World

  Offended; fearless of reproach and scorn,

  Or violence, hee of thir wicked wayes

  Shall them admonish, and before them set

  The paths of righteousness, how much more safe,

  815

  And full of peace, denouncing wrauth to come

  On thir impenitence; and shall return

  Of them derided, but of God observ’d

  The one just Man alive; by his command

  Shall build a wondrous Ark, as thou beheldst,

  820

  To save himself and houshold from amidst

  A World devote to universal rack.

  No sooner hee with them of Man and Beast

  Select for life shall in the Ark be lodg’d,

  And shelterd round, but all the Cataracts

  825

  Of Heav’n set open on the Earth
shall powr

  Rain day and night, all fountains of the Deep

  Broke up, shall heave the Ocean to usurp

  Beyond all bounds, till inundation rise

  Above the highest Hills: then shall this Mount

  830

  Of Paradise by might of Waves be moov’d

  Out of his place, pushd by the horned61 floud,

  With all his verdure spoil’d, and Trees adrift

  Down the great River62 to the op’ning Gulf,

  And there take root an Iland salt and bare,

  835

  The haunt of Seals and Orcs,63 and Sea-mews clang.64

  To teach thee that God attributes to place

  No sanctitie, if none be thither brought

  By Men who there frequent, or therein dwell.

  And now what further shall ensue, behold.

  840

  He look’d, and saw the Ark hull65 on the floud,

  Which now abated, for the Clouds were fled,

  Drivn by a keen North-wind, that blowing drie

  Wrinkl’d the face of Deluge, as decai’d;

  And the cleer Sun on his wide watrie Glass

  845

  Gaz’d hot, and of the fresh Wave largely drew,

  As after thirst, which made thir flowing shrink

  From standing lake to tripping ebb, that stole

  With soft foot towards the deep, who now had stopt

  His Sluces, as the Heav’n his windows shut.

  850

  The Ark no more now flotes, but seems on ground

  Fast on the top of som high mountain fixt.

  And now the tops of Hills as Rocks appeer;

  With clamor thence the rapid Currents drive

  Towards the retreating Sea thir furious tyde.

  855

  Forthwith from out the Ark a Raven flies,

  And after him, the surer messenger,

  A Dove sent forth once and agen to spie

  Green Tree or ground whereon his foot may light;

  The second time returning, in his Bill

  860

  An Olive leaf he brings, pacific signe:

  Anon drie ground appeers, and from his Ark

  The ancient Sire descends with all his Train;

  Then with uplifted hands, and eyes devout,

  Grateful to Heav’n, over his head beholds

  865

  A dewie Cloud, and in the Cloud a Bow

  Conspicuous with three listed66 colours gay,

  Betok’ning peace from God, and Cov’nant new.

  Whereat the heart of Adam erst so sad

  Greatly rejoyc’d, and thus his joy broke forth.

  870

  O thou who future things canst represent

  As present, Heav’nly instructer, I revive

  At this last sight, assur’d that Man shall live

  With all the Creatures, and thir seed preserve.

  Farr less I now lament for one whole World

  875

  Of wicked Sons destroyd, then I rejoyce

  For one Man found so perfet and so just,

  That God voutsafes to raise another World

  From him, and all his anger to forget.

  But say, what mean those colourd streaks in Heavn,

  880

  Distended as the Brow of God appeas’d,

  Or serve they as a flowrie verge to bind

  The fluid skirts of that same watrie Cloud,

  Least it again dissolve and showr the Earth?

  To whom th’ Archangel. Dextrously thou aim’st;

  885

  So willingly doth God remit his Ire,

  Though late repenting him of Man deprav’d,

  Griev’d at his heart, when looking down he saw

  The whole Earth fill’d with violence, and all flesh

  Corrupting each thir way; yet those remoov’d,

  890

  Such grace shall one just Man find in his sight,

  That he relents, not to blot out mankind,

  And makes a Covenant never to destroy

  The Earth again by flood, nor let the Sea

  Surpass his bounds, nor Rain to drown the World

  895

  With Man therein or Beast; but when he brings

  Over the Earth a Cloud, will therein set

  His triple-colour’d Bow, whereon to look

  And call to mind his Cov’nant: Day and Night,

  Seed time and Harvest, Heat and hoary Frost

  900

  Shall hold thir course, till fire purge all things new,

  Both Heav’n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell.67

  * * *

  1 a plate on which was sprinkled the blood of sacrificed animals; thus, the throne of God.

  2 grace which precedes (repentance).

  3 Ezek. xi. 19: “and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.”

  4 goddess of justice. Deucalion and Pyrrha, surviving from the flood, cast stones to earth (compare l. 4) from which humans then sprang up.

  5 cultivating.

  6 Horeb or Mt. Sinai when Moses was given the Ten Commandments.

  7 Judgment Day.

  8 symbol of immortality.

  9 forbidden.

  10 left to itself.

  11 in regard to.

  12 pity.

  13 The four faces of the cherubim, “full of eyes” (Ezek. i. 15, 18), command the four quarters of the earth. Janus was the two-faced god of gates; Argus was a monster with a hundred eyes, who guarded Io and who was put to sleep by Hermes’ reed and his caduceus.

  14 goddess of the dawn.

  15 Gen. iii. 20: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

  16 grave.

  17 darkened.

  18 the eagle, which swooped down (“stoopt”) from its high nest.

  19 the lion.

  20 halt.

  21 referring to Gen. xxxii. 1–2.

  22 The servant of Elisha saw a mountain full of horses and chariots, which had been sent by the king of Syria to seize Elisha, besieged by fire (2 Kings vi. 13–17).

  23 of a town in Thessaly. Sarra is Tyre, famous for dyes.

  24 belt.

  25 revealed.

  26 put your plants into rows.

  27 bathed (with warmth).

  28 efficacious.

  29 Christ.

  30 the Khan of China (Mongolia).

  31 the Mongolian conqueror Tamerlane’s throne on the river Oxus.

  32 Peking of Chinese Kings.

  33 the Malay peninsula. The following geographic references include Persian cities (Ecbatan, Hispahan), Turkish Byzantium (Bizance), Abyssinia (the empire of the negus or king), coastal towns in eastern Africa (Ercoco, Mombaza, Quiloa, Melind, Sofala), and areas of northwestern Africa (ll. 403–4). For rich Ophir, see 1 Kings ix. 28; Sofala trafficked in gold.

  34 Atahualpa, the Inca king conquered by Pizarro.

  35 the Spaniards. El Dorado (the Gilded One) was a legendary king of South America, but here, a city of fabulous richness.

  36 herbs beneficial to eyesight.

  37 sward, turf.

  38 Cain, who envied his meek brother Abel (l. 436).

  39 unselected (to choose only the best).

  40 consumption.

  41 Appetite (the image of Satan as Covetousness, Lust, and Gluttony); compare Phil. iii. 19: “whose God is their belly.”

  42 See II, n. 44.

  43 await.

  44 See Gen. iv. 16 ff. for Cain’s descendants.

  45 imbued (by the music of the spheres).

  46 fused or cast.

  47 See Gen. vi. 1–4 for Seth’s descendants (“Sons of God,” l. 622).

  48 Venus.

  49 wag.

  50 tricks.

  51 What he sees owes much to the description of Achilles’ shield in Iliad, XVIII, 478 ff.

  52 rapidly diverges into.

  53 Enoch.

>   54 assailed with contempt.

  55 As John M. Steadman has pointed out (PQ, XL, 1961, 580–86), Milton’s characterization of giants and the terminology of heroic virtue derives from the giants of Genesis; “might” is equated with “heroism.”

  56 Enoch.

  57 Noah.

  58 processions.

  59 Gen. vii. 2: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.”

  60 given.

  61 divided into branches.

  62 the Euphrates, which flows into the Persian Gulf.

  63 whales.

  64 noise of gulls.

  65 a verb, “loom up” and “float.”

  66 striped.

  67 2 Peter iii. 12–13: “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Compare also Naturam non pati senium.

  BOOK XII

  THE ARGUMENT

  The Angel Michael continues from the Flood to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of Abraham, comes by degrees to explain, who that Seed of the Woman shall be, which was promised Adam and Eve in the Fall; his Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascention; the state of the Church till his second Coming. Adam greatly satisfied and recomforted by these Relations and Promises descends the Hill with Michael; wakens Eve, who all this while had slept, but with gentle dreams compos’d to quietness of mind and submission. Michael in either hand leads them out of Paradise, the fiery Sword waving behind them, and the Cherubim taking thir Stations to guard the Place.

  As one who in his journey bates1 at Noon,

  Though bent on speed, so heer th’ Archangel paus’d

  Betwixt the world destroy’d and world restor’d,

  If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;

  5

  Then with transition sweet new Speech resumes.

  Thus thou hast seen one World begin and end;

  And Man as from a second stock proceed.

  Much thou hast yet to see, but I perceave