<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=421420" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Paradise Lost: Book 03</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn, <br>Or of the Eternal coeternal beam <br>May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light, <br>And never but in unapproached light <br>Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee <br>Bright effluence of bright essence increate. <br>Or hear&quot;st thou rather pure ethereal stream, <br>Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun, <br>Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice <br>Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest *** <br>The rising world of waters dark and deep, <br>Won from the void and formless infinite. <br>Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing, <br>Escap'd the Stygian pool, though long detain'd <br>In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight <br>Through utter and through middle darkness borne, <br>With other notes than to the Orphean lyre <br>I sung of Chaos and eternal Night; <br>Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down <br>The dark descent, and up to re-ascend, <br>Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safe, <br>And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou <br>Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain <br>To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; <br>So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs, <br>Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more <br>Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt, <br>Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill, <br>Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief <br>Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath, <br>That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow, <br>Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget <br>So were I equall'd with them in renown, <br>Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace; <br>Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides, <br>And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old: <br>Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move <br>Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird <br>Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid <br>Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year <br>Seasons return; but not to me returns <br>Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, <br>Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, <br>Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; <br>But cloud instead, and ever-during dark <br>Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men <br>Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair <br>Presented with a universal blank <br>Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd, <br>And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. <br>So much the rather thou, celestial Light, <br>Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers <br>Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence <br>Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell <br>Of things invisible to mortal sight. <br>Now had the Almighty Father from above, <br>From the pure empyrean where he sits <br>High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye <br>His own works and their works at once to view: <br>About him all the Sanctities of Heaven <br>Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd <br>Beatitude past utterance; on his right <br>The radiant image of his glory sat, <br>His only son; on earth he first beheld <br>Our two first parents, yet the only two <br>Of mankind in the happy garden plac'd <br>Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, <br>Uninterrupted joy, unrivall'd love, <br>In blissful solitude; he then survey'd <br>Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there <br>Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night <br>In the dun air sublime, and ready now <br>To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet, <br>On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd <br>Firm land imbosom'd, without firmament, <br>Uncertain which, in ocean or in air. <br>Him God beholding from his prospect high, <br>Wherein past, present, future, he beholds, <br>Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake. <br>Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage <br>Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds <br>Prescrib'd no bars of Hell, nor all the chains <br>Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss <br>Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems <br>On desperate revenge, that shall redound <br>Upon his own rebellious head. And now, <br>Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way <br>Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light, <br>Directly towards the new created world, <br>And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay <br>If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, <br>By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; <br>For man will hearken to his glozing lies, <br>And easily transgress the sole command, <br>Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall <br>He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault? <br>Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me <br>All he could have; I made him just and right, <br>Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. <br>Such I created all the ethereal Powers <br>And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd; <br>Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. <br>Not free, what proof could they have given sincere <br>Of true allegiance, constant faith or love, <br>Where only what they needs must do appear'd, <br>Not what they would? what praise could they receive? <br>What pleasure I from such obedience paid, <br>When will and reason (reason also is choice) <br>Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd, <br>Made passive both, had serv'd necessity, <br>Not me? they therefore, as to right belong$ 'd, <br>So were created, nor can justly accuse <br>Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, <br>As if predestination over-rul'd <br>Their will dispos'd by absolute decree <br>Or high foreknowledge they themselves decreed <br>Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew, <br>Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, <br>Which had no less proved certain unforeknown. <br>So without least impulse or shadow of fate, <br>Or aught by me immutably foreseen, <br>They trespass, authors to themselves in all <br>Both what they judge, and what they choose; for so <br>I form'd them free: and free they must remain, <br>Till they enthrall themselves; I else must change <br>Their nature, and revoke the high decree <br>Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd <br>$THeir freedom: they themselves ordain'd their fall. <br>The first sort by their own suggestion fell, <br>Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'd <br>By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace, <br>The other none: In mercy and justice both, <br>Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel; <br>But Mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine. <br>Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd <br>All Heaven, and in the blessed Spirits elect <br>Sense of new joy ineffable diffus'd. <br>Beyond compare the Son of God was seen <br>Most glorious; in him all his Father shone <br>Substantially express'd; and in his face <br>Divine compassion visibly appear'd, <br>Love without end, and without measure grace, <br>Which uttering, thus he to his Father spake. <br>O Father, gracious was that word which clos'd <br>Thy sovran command, that Man should find grace; <br>, that Man should find grace; <br>For which both Heaven and earth shall high extol <br>Thy praises, with the innumerable sound <br>Of hymns and sacred songs, wherewith thy throne <br>Encompass'd shall resound thee ever blest. <br>For should Man finally be lost, should Man, <br>Thy creature late so lov'd, thy youngest son, <br>Fall circumvented thus by fraud, though join'd <br>With his own folly? that be from thee far, <br>That far be from thee, Father, who art judge <br>Of all things made, and judgest only right. <br>Or shall the Adversary thus obtain <br>His end, and frustrate thine? shall he fulfill <br>His malice, and thy goodness bring to nought, <br>Or proud return, though to his heavier doom, <br>Yet with revenge accomplish'd, and to Hell <br>Draw after him the whole race of mankind, <br>By him corrupted? or wilt thou thyself <br>Abolish thy creation, and unmake <br>For him, what for thy glory thou hast made? <br>So should thy goodness and thy greatness both <br>Be question'd and blasphem'd without defence. <br>To whom the great Creator thus replied. <br>O son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, <br>Son of my bosom, Son who art alone. <br>My word, my wisdom, and effectual might, <br>All hast thou spoken as my thoughts are, all <br>As my eternal purpose hath decreed; <br>Man shall not quite be lost, but sav'd who will; <br>Yet not of will in him, but grace in me <br>Freely vouchsaf'd; once more I will renew <br>His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthrall'd <br>By sin to foul exorbitant desires; <br>Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand <br>On even ground against his mortal foe; <br>By me upheld, that he may know how frail <br>His fallen condition is, and to me owe <br>All his deliverance, and to none but me. <br>Some I have chosen of peculiar grace, <br>Elect above the rest; so is my will: <br>The rest shall hear me call, and oft be warn'd <br>Their sinful state, and to appease betimes <br>The incensed Deity, while offer'd grace <br>Invites; for I will clear their senses dark, <br>What may suffice, and soften stony hearts <br>To pray, repent, and bring obedience due. <br>To prayer, repentance, and obedience due, <br>Though but endeavour'd with sincere intent, <br>Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut. <br>And I will place within them as a guide, <br>My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear, <br>Light after light, well us'd, they shall attain, <br>And to the end, persisting, safe arrive. <br>This my long sufferance, and my day of grace, <br>They who neglect and scorn, shall never taste; <br>But hard be harden'd, blind be blinded more, <br>That they may stumble on, and deeper fall; <br>And none but such from mercy I exclude. <br>But yet all is not done; Man disobeying, <br>Disloyal, breaks his fealty, and sins <br>Against the high supremacy of Heaven, <br>Affecting God-head, and, so losing all, <br>To expiate his treason hath nought left, <br>But to destruction sacred and devote, <br>He, with his whole posterity, must die, <br>Die he or justice must; unless for him <br>Some other able, and as willing, pay <br>The rigid satisfaction, death for death. <br>Say, heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love? <br>Which of you will be mortal, to redeem <br>Man's mortal crime, and just the unjust to save? <br>Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear? <br>And silence was in Heaven: $ on Man's behalf <br>He ask'd, but all the heavenly quire stood mute, <br>Patron or intercessour none appear'd, <br>Much less that durst upon his own head draw <br>The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. <br>And now without redemption all mankind <br>Must have been lost, adjudg'd to Death and Hell <br>By doom severe, had not the Son of God, <br>In whom the fulness dwells of love divine, <br>His dearest mediation thus renew'd. <br>Father, thy word is past, Man shall find grace; <br>And shall grace not find means, that finds her way, <br>The speediest of thy winged messengers, <br>To visit all thy creatures, and to all <br>Comes unprevented, unimplor'd, unsought? <br>Happy for Man, so coming; he her aid <br>Can never seek, once dead in sins, and lost; <br>Atonement for himself, or offering meet, <br>Indebted and undone, hath none to bring; <br>Behold me then: me for him, life for life <br>I offer: on me let thine anger fall; <br>Account me Man; I for his sake will leave <br> Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee <br> Freely put off, and for him lastly die <br> Well pleased; on me let Death wreak all his rage. <br> Under his gloomy power I shall not long <br> Lie vanquished. Thou hast given me to possess <br> Life in myself for ever; by thee I live; <br> Though now to Death I yield, and am his due, <br> All that of me can die, yet, that debt paid, <br> $ thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave <br> His prey, nor suffer my unspotted soul <br> For ever with corruption there to dwell; <br> But I shall rise victorious, and subdue <br> My vanquisher, spoiled of his vaunted spoil. <br> Death his death's wound shall then receive, and stoop <br> Inglorious, of his mortal sting disarmed; <br> I through the ample air in triumph high <br> Shall lead Hell captive maugre Hell, and show <br>The powers of darkness bound. Thou, at the sight <br> Pleased, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile, <br> While, by thee raised, I ruin all my foes; <br> Death last, and with his carcase glut the grave; <br> Then, with the multitude of my redeemed, <br> Shall enter Heaven, long absent, and return, <br> Father, to see thy face, wherein no cloud <br> Of anger shall remain, but peace assured <br> And reconcilement: wrath shall be no more <br> Thenceforth, but in thy presence joy entire. <br> His words here ended; but his meek aspect <br> Silent yet spake, and breathed immortal love <br> To mortal men, above which only shone <br> Filial obedience: as a sacrifice <br> Glad to be offered, he attends the will <br> Of his great Father. Admiration seized <br> All Heaven, what this might mean, and whither tend, <br> Wondering; but soon th' Almighty thus replied. <br> O thou in Heaven and Earth the only peace <br> Found out for mankind under wrath, O thou <br> My sole complacence! Well thou know'st how dear <br> To me are all my works; nor Man the least, <br> Though last created, that for him I spare <br> Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save, <br> By losing thee a while, the whole race lost. <br> <br> Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem, <br> Their nature also to thy nature join; <br> And be thyself Man among men on Earth, <br> Made flesh, when time shall be, of virgin seed, <br> By wondrous birth; be thou in Adam's room <br>The head of all mankind, though Adam's son. <br>As in him perish all men, so in thee, <br>As from a second root, shall be restored <br>As many as are restored, without thee none. <br>His crime makes guilty all his sons; thy merit, <br>Imputed, shall absolve them who renounce <br>Their own both righteous and unrighteous deeds, <br>And live in thee transplanted, and from thee <br>Receive new life. So Man, as is most just, <br>Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die, <br>And dying rise, and rising with him raise <br>His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life. <br>So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate, <br>Giving to death, and dying to redeem, <br>So dearly to redeem what hellish hate <br>So easily destroyed, and still destroys <br>In those who, when they may, accept not grace. <br>Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume <br>Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own. <br>Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss <br>Equal to God, and equally enjoying <br>God-like fruition, quitted all, to save <br>A world from utter loss, and hast been found <br>By merit more than birthright Son of God, <br>Found worthiest to be so by being good, <br>Far more than great or high; because in thee <br>Love hath abounded more than glory abounds; <br>Therefore thy humiliation shall exalt <br>With thee thy manhood also to this throne: <br>Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt reign <br>Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man, <br>Anointed universal King; all power <br>I give thee; reign for ever, and assume <br>Thy merits; under thee, as head supreme, <br>Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions, I reduce: <br>All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide <br>In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell. <br>When thou, attended gloriously from Heaven, <br>Shalt in the sky appear, and from thee send <br>The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaim <br>Thy dread tribunal; forthwith from all winds, <br>The living, and forthwith the cited dead <br>Of all past ages, to the general doom <br>Shall hasten; such a peal shall rouse their sleep. <br>Then, all thy saints assembled, thou shalt judge <br>Bad Men and Angels; they, arraigned, shall sink <br>Beneath thy sentence; Hell, her numbers full, <br>Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while <br>The world shall burn, and from her ashes spring <br>New Heaven and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell, <br>And, after all their tribulations long, <br>See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds, <br>With joy and peace triumphing, and fair truth. <br>Then thou thy regal scepter shalt lay by, <br>For regal scepter then no more shall need, <br>God shall be all in all. But, all ye Gods, <br>Adore him, who to compass all this dies; <br>Adore the Son, and honour him as me. <br>No sooner had the Almighty ceased, but all <br>The multitude of Angels, with a shout <br>Loud as from numbers without number, sweet <br>As from blest voices, uttering joy, Heaven rung <br>With jubilee, and loud Hosannas filled <br>The eternal regions: Lowly reverent <br>Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground <br>With solemn adoration down they cast <br>Their crowns inwove with amarant and gold; <br>Immortal amarant, a flower which once <br>In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, <br>Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence <br>To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows, <br>And flowers aloft shading the fount of life, <br>And where the river of bliss through midst of Heaven <br>Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream; <br>With these that never fade the Spirits elect <br>Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams; <br>Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright <br>Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone, <br>Impurpled with celestial roses smiled. <br>Then, crowned again, their golden harps they took, <br>Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side <br>Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet <br>Of charming symphony they introduce <br>Their sacred song, and waken raptures high; <br>No voice exempt, no voice but well could join <br>Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven. <br>Thee, Father, first they sung Omnipotent, <br>Immutable, Immortal, Infinite, <br>Eternal King; the Author of all being, <br>Fonntain of light, thyself invisible <br>Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st <br>Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest <br>The full blaze of thy beams, and, through a cloud <br>Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine, <br>Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear, <br>Yet dazzle Heaven, that brightest Seraphim <br>Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes. <br>Thee next they sang of all creation first, <br>Begotten Son, Divine Similitude, <br>In whose conspicuous countenance, without cloud <br>Made visible, the Almighty Father shines, <br>Whom else no creature can behold; on thee <br>Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides, <br>Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests. <br>He Heaven of Heavens and all the Powers therein <br>By thee created; and by thee threw down <br>The aspiring Dominations: Thou that day <br>Thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare, <br>Nor stop thy flaming chariot-wheels, that shook <br>Heaven's everlasting frame, while o'er the necks <br>Thou drovest of warring Angels disarrayed. <br>Back from pursuit thy Powers with loud acclaim <br>Thee only extolled, Son of thy Father's might, <br>To execute fierce vengeance on his foes, <br>Not so on Man: Him through their malice fallen, <br>Father of mercy and grace, thou didst not doom <br>So strictly, but much more to pity incline: <br>No sooner did thy dear and only Son <br>Perceive thee purposed not to doom frail Man <br>So strictly, but much more to pity inclined, <br>He to appease thy wrath, and end the strife <br>Of mercy and justice in thy face discerned, <br>Regardless of the bliss wherein he sat <br>Second to thee, offered himself to die <br>For Man's offence. O unexampled love, <br>Love no where to be found less than Divine! <br>Hail, Son of God, Saviour of Men! Thy name <br>Shall be the copious matter of my song <br>Henceforth, and never shall my heart thy praise <br>Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin. <br>Thus they in Heaven, above the starry sphere, <br>Their happy hours in joy and hymning spent. <br>Mean while upon the firm opacous globe <br>Of this round world, whose first convex divides <br>The luminous inferiour orbs, enclosed <br>From Chaos, and the inroad of Darkness old, <br>Satan alighted walks: A globe far off <br>It seemed, now seems a boundless continent <br>Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of Night <br>Starless exposed, and ever-threatening storms <br>Of Chaos blustering round, inclement sky; <br>Save on that side which from the wall of Heaven, <br>Though distant far, some small reflection gains <br>Of glimmering air less vexed with tempest loud: <br>Here walked the Fiend at large in spacious field. <br>As when a vultur on Imaus bred, <br>Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, <br>Dislodging from a region scarce of prey <br>To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids, <br>On hills where flocks are fed, flies toward the springs <br>Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams; <br>But in his way lights on the barren plains <br>Of Sericana, where Chineses drive <br>With sails and wind their cany waggons light: <br>So, on this windy sea of land, the Fiend <br>Walked up and down alone, bent on his prey; <br>Alone, for other creature in this place, <br>Living or lifeless, to be found was none; <br>None yet, but store hereafter from the earth <br>Up hither like aereal vapours flew <br>Of all things transitory and vain, when sin <br>With vanity had filled the works of men: <br>Both all things vain, and all who in vain things <br>Built their fond hopes of glory or lasting fame, <br>Or happiness in this or the other life; <br>All who have their reward on earth, the fruits <br>Of painful superstition and blind zeal, <br>Nought seeking but the praise of men, here find <br>Fit retribution, empty as their deeds; <br>All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, <br>Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed, <br>Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain, <br>Till final dissolution, wander here; <br>Not in the neighbouring moon as some have dreamed; <br>Those argent fields more likely habitants, <br>Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold <br>Betwixt the angelical and human kind. <br>Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born <br>First from the ancient world those giants came <br>With many a vain exploit, though then renowned: <br>The builders next of Babel on the plain <br>Of Sennaar, and still with vain design, <br>New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build: <br>Others came single; he, who, to be deemed <br>A God, leaped fondly into Aetna flames, <br>Empedocles; and he, who, to enjoy <br>Plato's Elysium, leaped into the sea, <br>Cleombrotus; and many more too long, <br>Embryos, and idiots, eremites, and friars <br>White, black, and gray, with all their trumpery. <br>Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek <br>In Golgotha him dead, who lives in Heaven; <br>And they, who to be sure of Paradise, <br>Dying, put on the weeds of Dominick, <br>Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised; <br>They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed, <br>And that crystalling sphere whose balance weighs <br>The trepidation talked, and that first moved; <br>And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems <br>To wait them with his keys, and now at foot <br>Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo <br>A violent cross wind from either coast <br>Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry <br>Into the devious air: Then might ye see <br>Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tost <br>And fluttered into rags; then reliques, beads, <br>Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls, <br>The sport of winds: All these, upwhirled aloft, <br>Fly o'er the backside of the world far off <br>Into a Limbo large and broad, since called <br>The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown <br>Long after; now unpeopled, and untrod. <br>All this dark globe the Fiend found as he passed, <br>And long he wandered, till at last a gleam <br>Of dawning light turned thither-ward in haste <br>His travelled steps: far distant he descries <br>Ascending by degrees magnificent <br>Up to the wall of Heaven a structure high; <br>At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared <br>The work as of a kingly palace-gate, <br>With frontispiece of diamond and gold <br>Embellished; thick with sparkling orient gems <br>The portal shone, inimitable on earth <br>By model, or by shading pencil, drawn. <br>These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw <br>Angels ascending and descending, bands <br>Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled <br>To Padan-Aram, in the field of Luz <br>Dreaming by night under the open sky <br>And waking cried, This is the gate of Heaven. <br>Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood <br>There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes <br>Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed <br>Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon <br>Who after came from earth, failing arrived <br>Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake <br>Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds. <br>The stairs were then let down, whether to dare <br>The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate <br>His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss: <br>Direct against which opened from beneath, <br>Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise, <br>A passage down to the Earth, a passage wide, <br>Wider by far than that of after-times <br>Over mount Sion, and, though that were large, <br>Over the Promised Land to God so dear; <br>By which, to visit oft those happy tribes, <br>On high behests his angels to and fro <br>Passed frequent, and his eye with choice regard <br>From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood, <br>To Beersaba, where the Holy Land <br>Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore; <br>So wide the opening seemed, where bounds were set <br>To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave. <br>Satan from hence, now on the lower stair, <br>That scaled by steps of gold to Heaven-gate, <br>Looks down with wonder at the sudden view <br>Of all this world at once. As when a scout, <br>Through dark?;nd desart ways with?oeril gone <br>All?might,?;t?kast by break of cheerful dawn <br>Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, <br>Which to his eye discovers unaware <br>The goodly prospect of some foreign land <br>First seen, or some renowned metropolis <br>With glistering spires and pinnacles adorned, <br>Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams: <br>Such wonder seised, though after Heaven seen, <br>The Spirit malign, but much more envy seised, <br>At sight of all this world beheld so fair. <br>Round he surveys (and well might, where he stood <br>So high above the circling canopy <br>Of night's extended shade,) from eastern point <br>Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears <br>Andromeda far off Atlantick seas <br>Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole <br>He views in breadth, and without longer pause <br>Down right into the world's first region throws <br>His flight precipitant, and winds with ease <br>Through the pure marble air his oblique way <br>Amongst innumerable stars, that shone <br>Stars distant, but nigh hand seemed other worlds; <br>Or other worlds they seemed, or happy isles, <br>Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old, <br>Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales, <br>Thrice happy isles; but who dwelt happy there <br>He staid not to inquire: Above them all <br>The golden sun, in splendour likest Heaven, <br>Allured his eye; thither his course he bends <br>Through the calm firmament, (but up or down, <br>By center, or eccentrick, hard to tell, <br>Or longitude,) where the great luminary <br>Aloof the vulgar constellations thick, <br>That from his lordly eye keep distance due, <br>Dispenses light from far; they, as they move <br>Their starry dance in numbers that compute <br>Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp <br>Turn swift their various motions, or are turned <br>By his magnetick beam, that gently warms <br>The universe, and to each inward part <br>With gentle penetration, though unseen, <br>Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep; <br>So wonderously was set his station bright. <br>There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps <br>Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb <br>Through his glazed optick tube yet never saw. <br>The place he found beyond expression bright, <br>Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone; <br>Not all parts like, but all alike informed <br>With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire; <br>If metal, part seemed gold, part silver clear; <br>If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite, <br>Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone <br>In Aaron's breast-plate, and a stone besides <br>Imagined rather oft than elsewhere seen, <br>That stone, or like to that which here below <br>Philosophers in vain so long have sought, <br>In vain, though by their powerful art they bind <br>Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound <br>In various shapes old Proteus from the sea, <br>Drained through a limbeck to his native form. <br>What wonder then if fields and regions here <br>Breathe forth Elixir pure, and rivers run <br>Potable gold, when with one virtuous touch <br>The arch-chemick sun, so far from us remote, <br>Produces, with terrestrial humour mixed, <br>Here in the dark so many precious things <br>Of colour glorious, and effect so rare? <br>Here matter new to gaze the Devil met <br>Undazzled; far and wide his eye commands; <br>For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade, <br>But all sun-shine, as when his beams at noon <br>Culminate from the equator, as they now <br>Shot upward still direct, whence no way round <br>Shadow from body opaque can fall; and the air, <br>No where so clear, sharpened his visual ray <br>To objects distant far, whereby he soon <br>Saw within ken a glorious Angel stand, <br>The same whom John saw also in the sun: <br>His back was turned, but not his brightness hid; <br>Of beaming sunny rays a golden tiar <br>Circled his head, nor less his locks behind <br>Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings <br>Lay waving round; on some great charge employed <br>He seemed, or fixed in cogitation deep. <br>Glad was the Spirit impure, as now in hope <br>To find who might direct his wandering flight <br>To Paradise, the happy seat of Man, <br>His journey's end and our beginning woe. <br>But first he casts to change his proper shape, <br>Which else might work him danger or delay: <br>And now a stripling Cherub he appears, <br>Not of the prime, yet such as in his face <br>Youth smiled celestial, and to every limb <br>Suitable grace diffused, so well he feigned: <br>Under a coronet his flowing hair <br>In curls on either cheek played; wings he wore <br>Of many a coloured plume, sprinkled with gold; <br>His habit fit for speed succinct, and held <br>Before his decent steps a silver wand. <br>He drew not nigh unheard; the Angel bright, <br>Ere he drew nigh, his radiant visage turned, <br>Admonished by his ear, and straight was known <br>The Arch-Angel Uriel, one of the seven <br>Who in God's presence, nearest to his throne, <br>Stand ready at command, and are his eyes <br>That run through all the Heavens, or down to the Earth <br>Bear his swift errands over moist and dry, <br>O'er sea and land: him Satan thus accosts. <br>Uriel, for thou of those seven Spirits that stand <br>In sight of God's high throne, gloriously bright, <br>The first art wont his great authentick will <br>Interpreter through highest Heaven to bring, <br>Where all his sons thy embassy attend; <br>And here art likeliest by supreme decree <br>Like honour to obtain, and as his eye <br>To visit oft this new creation round; <br>Unspeakable desire to see, and know <br>All these his wonderous works, but chiefly Man, <br>His chief delight and favour, him for whom <br>All these his works so wonderous he ordained, <br>Hath brought me from the quires of Cherubim <br>Alone thus wandering. Brightest Seraph, tell <br>In which of all these shining orbs hath Man <br>His fixed seat, or fixed seat hath none, <br>But all these shining orbs his choice to dwell; <br>That I may find him, and with secret gaze <br>Or open admiration him behold, <br>On whom the great Creator hath bestowed <br>Worlds, and on whom hath all these graces poured; <br>That both in him and all things, as is meet, <br>The universal Maker we may praise; <br>Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes <br>To deepest Hell, and, to repair that loss, <br>Created this new happy race of Men <br>To serve him better: Wise are all his ways. <br>So spake the false dissembler unperceived; <br>For neither Man nor Angel can discern <br>Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks <br>Invisible, except to God alone, <br>By his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth: <br>And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps <br>At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity <br>Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill <br>Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguiled <br>Uriel, though regent of the sun, and held <br>The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven; <br>Who to the fraudulent impostor foul, <br>In his uprightness, answer thus returned. <br>Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know <br>The works of God, thereby to glorify <br>The great Work-master, leads to no excess <br>That reaches blame, but rather merits praise <br>The more it seems excess, that led thee hither <br>From thy empyreal mansion thus alone, <br>To witness with thine eyes what some perhaps, <br>Contented with report, hear only in Heaven: <br>For wonderful indeed are all his works, <br>Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all <br>Had in remembrance always with delight; <br>But what created mind can comprehend <br>Their number, or the wisdom infinite <br>That brought them forth, but hid their causes deep? <br>I saw when at his word the formless mass, <br>This world's material mould, came to a heap: <br>Confusion heard his voice, and wild uproar <br>Stood ruled, stood vast infinitude confined; <br>Till at his second bidding Darkness fled, <br>Light shone, and order from disorder sprung: <br>Swift to their several quarters hasted then <br>The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire; <br>And this ethereal quintessence of Heaven <br>Flew upward, spirited with various forms, <br>That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars <br>Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; <br>Each had his place appointed, each his course; <br>The rest in circuit walls this universe. <br>Look downward on that globe, whose hither side <br>With light from hence, though but reflected, shines; <br>That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light <br>His day, which else, as the other hemisphere, <br>Night would invade; but there the neighbouring moon <br>So call that opposite fair star) her aid <br>Timely interposes, and her monthly round <br>Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heaven, <br>With borrowed light her countenance triform <br>Hence fills and empties to enlighten the Earth, <br>And in her pale dominion checks the night. <br>That spot, to which I point, is Paradise, <br>Adam's abode; those lofty shades, his bower. <br>Thy way thou canst not miss, me mine requires. <br>Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low, <br>As to superiour Spirits is wont in Heaven, <br>Where honour due and reverence none neglects, <br>Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath, <br>Down from the ecliptick, sped with hoped success, <br>Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel; <br>Nor staid, till on Niphates' top he lights.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=John+Milton">John Milton</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=421420" data-title="Paradise Lost: Book 03 de John Milton" data-description="Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn, Or of the Eternal coeternal beam May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light, And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee Bright effluence of bright essence ..."></div> </div> </div>

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