"Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned; "That they may have their wish, to try with me "In battle which the stronger proves-they all, "Or I alone against them; since by strength They measure all, of other excellence

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"Not emulous, nor care who them excels:
"Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.'
"So spake the Son; and into terror changed
"His countenance, too severe to be beheld,
"And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
"At once the Four spread out their starry wings
"With dreadful shade contiguous; and the orbs
"Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
"Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.
"He on his impious foes right onward drove,

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Gloomy as night: under his burning wheels "The steadfast empyréan shook throughout, "All but the throne itself of God. Full soon

Among them he arrived, in his right hand "Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent "Before him, such as in their souls infixed

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Plagues they, astonished, all resistance lost

"All courage: down their idle weapons dropt:

820

830

"O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode 840 "Of thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate;

"That wished the mountains now might be again

"Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
"Nor less, on either side, tempestuous fell
"His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four,
"Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels
"Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;

"One spirit in them ruled; and every eye

"Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire

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Among the accursed, that withered all their strength, 850

"And of their wonted vigour left them drained—

"Exhausted-spiritless-afflicted-fallen!

"Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked

"His thunder in mid volley; for he meant

"Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven :

"The overthrown he raised; and as a herd

“Of goats, or timorous flock together thronged,
"Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued
"With terrors and with furies, to the bounds
"And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide,
"Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
"Into the wastful deep: the monstrous sight
"Struck them with horror backward; but far worse
"Urged them behind: headlong themselves they threw
"Down from the verge of Heaven: eternal wrath
"Burned after them to the bottomless pit.

"Hell heard the insufferable noise: Hell saw
"Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled

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Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep "Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.

860

870

"Nine days they fell: confounded Chaos roared, "And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

"Through his wild anarchy; so huge a rout

"Encumbered him with ruin: Hell at last

"Yawning received them whole, and on them closed;— "Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire

Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain. "Disburdened Heaven rejoiced, and soon repaired "Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled. "Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes, "Messiah his triumphal chariot turned : "To meet him all his saints, who silent stood Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,

"With jubilee advanced; and, as they went,
"Shaded with branching palm, each order bright,

Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King, "Son, Heir, and Lord! to him dominion given, "Worthiest to reign. He, celebrated, rode

66 Triumphant through mid Heaven, into the courts
"And temple of his mighty Father throned
"On high! who into glory him received,
"Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.

880

890

66 Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on Earth, "At thy request, and that thou mayest beware

"By what is past, to thee I have revealed

"What might have else to human race been hid;

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"The discord which befell, and war in Heaven
Among the angelic Powers, and the deep fall
"Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled
"With Satan :-he who envies now thy state,
"Who now is plotting how he may seduce
"Thee also from obedience, that, with him
"Bereaved of happiness, thou mayest partake
"His punishment-eternal misery;

"Which would be all his solace and revenge,
"As a despite done against the Most High,
"Thee once to gain companion of his woe.
"But listen not to his temptations: warn
"Thy weaker: let it profit thee to have heard,
"By terrible example, the reward

"Of disobedience: firm they might have stood,
"Yet fell. Remember! and fear to transgress."

900

910

RAPHAEL, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his angels out of Heaven, declared his pleasure to create another world, and other creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son with glory, and attendance of angels, to perform the work of creation in six days; the angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his reascension into Heaven.

DESCEND from Heaven, Urania! by that name
If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegaséan wing.

The meaning, not the name, I call: for thou,
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwell'st; but, heavenly-born,
Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed
Thou with Eternal Wisdom didst converse-
Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
With thy celestial song. Up-led by thee,
Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
Thy tempering with like safety guided down,
Return me to my native element;

Lest, from this flying steed unreined, (as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime,)
Dismounted, on the Aleïan field I fall,
Erroneous there to wander, and forlorn.

Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
Within the visible diurnal sphere:

Standing on earth, not rapt above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days;
On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues;
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
And solitude! yet not alone, while thou
Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when Morn
Purples the East: still govern thou my song,
Urania! and fit audience find, though few:
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers-the race
Of that vile rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamour drowned
Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend
Her son.
So fail not thou, who thee implores !
For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.
Say, Goddess, what ensued, when Raphaël,
The affable archangel, had forewarned
Adam, by dire example, to beware
Apostasy, by what befell in Heaven
To these apostates; lest the like befall
In Paradise to Adam, or his race,

Charged not to touch the interdicted tree,

If they transgress, and slight that sole command,
So easily obeyed amid the choice

Of all tastes else to please their appetite,

30

40

Though wandering.

He, with his consorted Eve,

50

With admiration, and deep muse, to hear

The story heard attentive, and was filled

Of things so high and strange-things, to their thought

So unimaginable, as hate in Heaven,

And war so near the peace of God in bliss,

With such confusion: but the evil, soon

Driven back, redounded as a flood on those
From whom it sprung; impossible to mix
With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed
The doubts that in his heart arose; and now
Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know

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