<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=421423" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Paradise Lost: Book 06</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">All night the dreadless Angel, unpursued, <br>Through Heaven's wide champain held his way; till Morn, <br>Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand <br>Unbarred the gates of light. There is a cave <br>Within the mount of God, fast by his throne, <br>Where light and darkness in perpetual round <br>Lodge and dislodge by turns, which makes through Heaven <br>Grateful vicissitude, like day and night; <br>Light issues forth, and at the other door <br>Obsequious darkness enters, till her hour <br>To veil the Heaven, though darkness there might well <br>Seem twilight here: And now went forth the Morn <br>Such as in highest Heaven arrayed in gold <br>Empyreal; from before her vanished Night, <br>Shot through with orient beams; when all the plain <br>Covered with thick embattled squadrons bright, <br>Chariots, and flaming arms, and fiery steeds, <br>Reflecting blaze on blaze, first met his view: <br>War he perceived, war in procinct; and found <br>Already known what he for news had thought <br>To have reported: Gladly then he mixed <br>Among those friendly Powers, who him received <br>With joy and acclamations loud, that one, <br>That of so many myriads fallen, yet one <br>Returned not lost. On to the sacred hill <br>They led him high applauded, and present <br>Before the seat supreme; from whence a voice, <br>From midst a golden cloud, thus mild was heard. <br>Servant of God. Well done; well hast thou fought <br>The better fight, who single hast maintained <br>Against revolted multitudes the cause <br>Of truth, in word mightier than they in arms; <br>And for the testimony of truth hast borne <br>Universal reproach, far worse to bear <br>Than violence; for this was all thy care <br>To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds <br>Judged thee perverse: The easier conquest now <br>Remains thee, aided by this host of friends, <br>Back on thy foes more glorious to return, <br>Than scorned thou didst depart; and to subdue <br>By force, who reason for their law refuse, <br>Right reason for their law, and for their King <br>Messiah, who by right of merit reigns. <br>Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince, <br>And thou, in military prowess next, <br>Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons <br>Invincible; lead forth my armed Saints, <br>By thousands and by millions, ranged for fight, <br>Equal in number to that Godless crew <br>Rebellious: Them with fire and hostile arms <br>Fearless assault; and, to the brow of Heaven <br>Pursuing, drive them out from God and bliss, <br>Into their place of punishment, the gulf <br>Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide <br>His fiery Chaos to receive their fall. <br>So spake the Sovran Voice, and clouds began <br>To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll <br>In dusky wreaths, reluctant flames, the sign <br>Of wrath awaked; nor with less dread the loud <br>Ethereal trumpet from on high 'gan blow: <br>At which command the Powers militant, <br>That stood for Heaven, in mighty quadrate joined <br>Of union irresistible, moved on <br>In silence their bright legions, to the sound <br>Of instrumental harmony, that breathed <br>Heroick ardour to adventurous deeds <br>Under their God-like leaders, in the cause <br>Of God and his Messiah. On they move <br>Indissolubly firm; nor obvious hill, <br>Nor straitening vale, nor wood, nor stream, divides <br>Their perfect ranks; for high above the ground <br>Their march was, and the passive air upbore <br>Their nimble tread; as when the total kind <br>Of birds, in orderly array on wing, <br>Came summoned over Eden to receive <br>Their names of thee; so over many a tract <br>Of Heaven they marched, and many a province wide, <br>Tenfold the length of this terrene: At last, <br>Far in the horizon to the north appeared <br>From skirt to skirt a fiery region, stretched <br>In battailous aspect, and nearer view <br>Bristled with upright beams innumerable <br>Of rigid spears, and helmets thronged, and shields <br>Various, with boastful argument portrayed, <br>The banded Powers of Satan hasting on <br>With furious expedition; for they weened <br>That self-same day, by fight or by surprise, <br>To win the mount of God, and on his throne <br>To set the Envier of his state, the proud <br>Aspirer; but their thoughts proved fond and vain <br>In the mid way: Though strange to us it seemed <br>At first, that Angel should with Angel war, <br>And in fierce hosting meet, who wont to meet <br>So oft in festivals of joy and love <br>Unanimous, as sons of one great Sire, <br>Hymning the Eternal Father: But the shout <br>Of battle now began, and rushing sound <br>Of onset ended soon each milder thought. <br>High in the midst, exalted as a God, <br>The Apostate in his sun-bright chariot sat, <br>Idol of majesty divine, enclosed <br>With flaming Cherubim, and golden shields; <br>Then lighted from his gorgeous throne, for now <br>&quot;twixt host and host but narrow space was left, <br>A dreadful interval, and front to front <br>Presented stood in terrible array <br>Of hideous length: Before the cloudy van, <br>On the rough edge of battle ere it joined, <br>Satan, with vast and haughty strides advanced, <br>Came towering, armed in adamant and gold; <br>Abdiel that sight endured not, where he stood <br>Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds, <br>And thus his own undaunted heart explores. <br>O Heaven! that such resemblance of the Highest <br>Should yet remain, where faith and realty <br>Remain not: Wherefore should not strength and might <br>There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove <br>Where boldest, though to fight unconquerable? <br>His puissance, trusting in the Almighty's aid, <br>I mean to try, whose reason I have tried <br>Unsound and false; nor is it aught but just, <br>That he, who in debate of truth hath won, <br>Should win in arms, in both disputes alike <br>Victor; though brutish that contest and foul, <br>When reason hath to deal with force, yet so <br>Most reason is that reason overcome. <br>So pondering, and from his armed peers <br>Forth stepping opposite, half-way he met <br>His daring foe, at this prevention more <br>Incensed, and thus securely him defied. <br>Proud, art thou met? thy hope was to have reached <br>The highth of thy aspiring unopposed, <br>The throne of God unguarded, and his side <br>Abandoned, at the terrour of thy power <br>Or potent tongue: Fool!not to think how vain <br>Against the Omnipotent to rise in arms; <br>Who out of smallest things could, without end, <br>Have raised incessant armies to defeat <br>Thy folly; or with solitary hand <br>Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow, <br>Unaided, could have finished thee, and whelmed <br>Thy legions under darkness: But thou seest <br>All are not of thy train; there be, who faith <br>Prefer, and piety to God, though then <br>To thee not visible, when I alone <br>Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent <br>From all: My sect thou seest;now learn too late <br>How few sometimes may know, when thousands err. <br>Whom the grand foe, with scornful eye askance, <br>Thus answered. Ill for thee, but in wished hour <br>Of my revenge, first sought for, thou returnest <br>From flight, seditious Angel! to receive <br>Thy merited reward, the first assay <br>Of this right hand provoked, since first that tongue, <br>Inspired with contradiction, durst oppose <br>A third part of the Gods, in synod met <br>Their deities to assert; who, while they feel <br>Vigour divine within them, can allow <br>Omnipotence to none. But well thou comest <br>Before thy fellows, ambitious to win <br>From me some plume, that thy success may show <br>Destruction to the rest: This pause between, <br>(Unanswered lest thou boast) to let thee know, <br>At first I thought that Liberty and Heaven <br>To heavenly souls had been all one; but now <br>I see that most through sloth had rather serve, <br>Ministring Spirits, trained up in feast and song! <br>Such hast thou armed, the minstrelsy of Heaven, <br>Servility with freedom to contend, <br>As both their deeds compared this day shall prove. <br>To whom in brief thus Abdiel stern replied. <br>Apostate! still thou errest, nor end wilt find <br>Of erring, from the path of truth remote: <br>Unjustly thou depravest it with the name <br>Of servitude, to serve whom God ordains, <br>Or Nature: God and Nature bid the same, <br>When he who rules is worthiest, and excels <br>Them whom he governs. This is servitude, <br>To serve the unwise, or him who hath rebelled <br>Against his worthier, as thine now serve thee, <br>Thyself not free, but to thyself enthralled; <br>Yet lewdly darest our ministring upbraid. <br>Reign thou in Hell, thy kingdom; let me serve <br>In Heaven God ever blest, and his divine <br>Behests obey, worthiest to be obeyed; <br>Yet chains in Hell, not realms, expect: Mean while <br>From me returned, as erst thou saidst, from flight, <br>This greeting on thy impious crest receive. <br>So saying, a noble stroke he lifted high, <br>Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell <br>On the proud crest of Satan, that no sight, <br>Nor motion of swift thought, less could his shield, <br>Such ruin intercept: Ten paces huge <br>He back recoiled; the tenth on bended knee <br>His massy spear upstaid; as if on earth <br>Winds under ground, or waters forcing way, <br>Sidelong had pushed a mountain from his seat, <br>Half sunk with all his pines. Amazement seised <br>The rebel Thrones, but greater rage, to see <br>Thus foiled their mightiest; ours joy filled, and shout, <br>Presage of victory, and fierce desire <br>Of battle: Whereat Michael bid sound <br>The Arch-Angel trumpet; through the vast of Heaven <br>It sounded, and the faithful armies rung <br>Hosanna to the Highest: Nor stood at gaze <br>The adverse legions, nor less hideous joined <br>The horrid shock. Now storming fury rose, <br>And clamour such as heard in Heaven till now <br>Was never; arms on armour clashing brayed <br>Horrible discord, and the madding wheels <br>Of brazen chariots raged; dire was the noise <br>Of conflict; over head the dismal hiss <br>Of fiery darts in flaming vollies flew, <br>And flying vaulted either host with fire. <br>So under fiery cope together rushed <br>Both battles main, with ruinous assault <br>And inextinguishable rage. All Heaven <br>Resounded; and had Earth been then, all Earth <br>Had to her center shook. What wonder? when <br>Millions of fierce encountering Angels fought <br>On either side, the least of whom could wield <br>These elements, and arm him with the force <br>Of all their regions: How much more of power <br>Army against army numberless to raise <br>Dreadful combustion warring, and disturb, <br>Though not destroy, their happy native seat; <br>Had not the Eternal King Omnipotent, <br>From his strong hold of Heaven, high over-ruled <br>And limited their might; though numbered such <br>As each divided legion might have seemed <br>A numerous host; in strength each armed hand <br>A legion; led in fight, yet leader seemed <br>Each warriour single as in chief, expert <br>When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway <br>Of battle, open when, and when to close <br>The ridges of grim war: No thought of flight, <br>None of retreat, no unbecoming deed <br>That argued fear; each on himself relied, <br>As only in his arm the moment lay <br>Of victory: Deeds of eternal fame <br>Were done, but infinite; for wide was spread <br>That war and various; sometimes on firm ground <br>A standing fight, then, soaring on main wing, <br>Tormented all the air; all air seemed then <br>Conflicting fire. Long time in even scale <br>The battle hung; till Satan, who that day <br>Prodigious power had shown, and met in arms <br>No equal, ranging through the dire attack <br>Of fighting Seraphim confused, at length <br>Saw where the sword of Michael smote, and felled <br>Squadrons at once; with huge two-handed sway <br>Brandished aloft, the horrid edge came down <br>Wide-wasting; such destruction to withstand <br>He hasted, and opposed the rocky orb <br>Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield, <br>A vast circumference. At his approach <br>The great Arch-Angel from his warlike toil <br>Surceased, and glad, as hoping here to end <br>Intestine war in Heaven, the arch-foe subdued <br>Or captive dragged in chains, with hostile frown <br>And visage all inflamed first thus began. <br>Author of evil, unknown till thy revolt, <br>Unnamed in Heaven, now plenteous as thou seest <br>These acts of hateful strife, hateful to all, <br>Though heaviest by just measure on thyself, <br>And thy adherents: How hast thou disturbed <br>Heaven's blessed peace, and into nature brought <br>Misery, uncreated till the crime <br>Of thy rebellion! how hast thou instilled <br>Thy malice into thousands, once upright <br>And faithful, now proved false! But think not here <br>To trouble holy rest; Heaven casts thee out <br>From all her confines. Heaven, the seat of bliss, <br>Brooks not the works of violence and war. <br>Hence then, and evil go with thee along, <br>Thy offspring, to the place of evil, Hell; <br>Thou and thy wicked crew! there mingle broils, <br>Ere this avenging sword begin thy doom, <br>Or some more sudden vengeance, winged from God, <br>Precipitate thee with augmented pain. <br>So spake the Prince of Angels; to whom thus <br>The Adversary. Nor think thou with wind <br>Of aery threats to awe whom yet with deeds <br>Thou canst not. Hast thou turned the least of these <br>To flight, or if to fall, but that they rise <br>Unvanquished, easier to transact with me <br>That thou shouldst hope, imperious, and with threats <br>To chase me hence? err not, that so shall end <br>The strife which thou callest evil, but we style <br>The strife of glory; which we mean to win, <br>Or turn this Heaven itself into the Hell <br>Thou fablest; here however to dwell free, <br>If not to reign: Mean while thy utmost force, <br>And join him named Almighty to thy aid, <br>I fly not, but have sought thee far and nigh. <br>They ended parle, and both addressed for fight <br>Unspeakable; for who, though with the tongue <br>Of Angels, can relate, or to what things <br>Liken on earth conspicuous, that may lift <br>Human imagination to such highth <br>Of Godlike power? for likest Gods they seemed, <br>Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms, <br>Fit to decide the empire of great Heaven. <br>Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air <br>Made horrid circles; two broad suns their shields <br>Blazed opposite, while Expectation stood <br>In horrour: From each hand with speed retired, <br>Where erst was thickest fight, the angelick throng, <br>And left large field, unsafe within the wind <br>Of such commotion; such as, to set forth <br>Great things by small, if, nature's concord broke, <br>Among the constellations war were sprung, <br>Two planets, rushing from aspect malign <br>Of fiercest opposition, in mid sky <br>Should combat, and their jarring spheres confound. <br>Together both with next to almighty arm <br>Up-lifted imminent, one stroke they aimed <br>That might determine, and not need repeat, <br>As not of power at once; nor odds appeared <br>In might or swift prevention: But the sword <br>Of Michael from the armoury of God <br>Was given him tempered so, that neither keen <br>Nor solid might resist that edge: it met <br>The sword of Satan, with steep force to smite <br>Descending, and in half cut sheer; nor staid, <br>But with swift wheel reverse, deep entering, shared <br>All his right side: Then Satan first knew pain, <br>And writhed him to and fro convolved; so sore <br>The griding sword with discontinuous wound <br>Passed through him: But the ethereal substance closed, <br>Not long divisible; and from the gash <br>A stream of necturous humour issuing flowed <br>Sanguine, such as celestial Spirits may bleed, <br>And all his armour stained, ere while so bright. <br>Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run <br>By Angels many and strong, who interposed <br>Defence, while others bore him on their shields <br>Back to his chariot, where it stood retired <br>From off the files of war: There they him laid <br>Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame, <br>To find himself not matchless, and his pride <br>Humbled by such rebuke, so far beneath <br>His confidence to equal God in power. <br>Yet soon he healed; for Spirits that live throughout <br>Vital in every part, not as frail man <br>In entrails, heart of head, liver or reins, <br>Cannot but by annihilating die; <br>Nor in their liquid texture mortal wound <br>Receive, no more than can the fluid air: <br>All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear, <br>All intellect, all sense; and, as they please, <br>They limb themselves, and colour, shape, or size <br>Assume, as?kikes them best, condense or rare. <br>Mean while in other parts like deeds deserved <br>Memorial, where the might of Gabriel fought, <br>And with fierce ensigns pierced the deep array <br>Of Moloch, furious king; who him defied, <br>And at his chariot-wheels to drag him bound <br>Threatened, nor from the Holy One of Heaven <br>Refrained his tongue blasphemous; but anon <br>Down cloven to the waist, with shattered arms <br>And uncouth pain fled bellowing. On each wing <br>Uriel, and Raphael, his vaunting foe, <br>Though huge, and in a rock of diamond armed, <br>Vanquished Adramelech, and Asmadai, <br>Two potent Thrones, that to be less than Gods <br>Disdained, but meaner thoughts learned in their flight, <br>Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail. <br>Nor stood unmindful Abdiel to annoy <br>The atheist crew, but with redoubled blow <br>Ariel, and Arioch, and the violence <br>Of Ramiel scorched and blasted, overthrew. <br>I might relate of thousands, and their names <br>Eternize here on earth; but those elect <br>Angels, contented with their fame in Heaven, <br>Seek not the praise of men: The other sort, <br>In might though wonderous and in acts of war, <br>Nor of renown less eager, yet by doom <br>Cancelled from Heaven and sacred memory, <br>Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell. <br>For strength from truth divided, and from just, <br>Illaudable, nought merits but dispraise <br>And ignominy; yet to glory aspires <br>Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame: <br>Therefore eternal silence be their doom. <br>And now, their mightiest quelled, the battle swerved, <br>With many an inroad gored; deformed rout <br>Entered, and foul disorder; all the ground <br>With shivered armour strown, and on a heap <br>Chariot and charioteer lay overturned, <br>And fiery-foaming steeds; what stood, recoiled <br>O'er-wearied, through the faint Satanick host <br>Defensive scarce, or with pale fear surprised, <br>Then first with fear surprised, and sense of pain, <br>Fled ignominious, to such evil brought <br>By sin of disobedience; till that hour <br>Not liable to fear, or flight, or pain. <br>Far otherwise the inviolable Saints, <br>In cubick phalanx firm, advanced entire, <br>Invulnerable, impenetrably armed; <br>Such high advantages their innocence <br>Gave them above their foes; not to have sinned, <br>Not to have disobeyed; in fight they stood <br>Unwearied, unobnoxious to be pained <br>By wound, though from their place by violence moved, <br>Now Night her course began, and, over Heaven <br>Inducing darkness, grateful truce imposed, <br>And silence on the odious din of war: <br>Under her cloudy covert both retired, <br>Victor and vanquished: On the foughten field <br>Michael and his Angels prevalent <br>Encamping, placed in guard their watches round, <br>Cherubick waving fires: On the other part, <br>Satan with his rebellious disappeared, <br>Far in the dark dislodged; and, void of rest, <br>His potentates to council called by night; <br>And in the midst thus undismayed began. <br>O now in danger tried, now known in arms <br>Not to be overpowered, Companions dear, <br>Found worthy not of liberty alone, <br>Too mean pretence! but what we more affect, <br>Honour, dominion, glory, and renown; <br>Who have sustained one day in doubtful fight, <br>(And if one day, why not eternal days?) <br>What Heaven's Lord had powerfullest to send <br>Against us from about his throne, and judged <br>Sufficient to subdue us to his will, <br>But proves not so: Then fallible, it seems, <br>Of future we may deem him, though till now <br>Omniscient thought. True is, less firmly armed, <br>Some disadvantage we endured and pain, <br>Till now not known, but, known, as soon contemned; <br>Since now we find this our empyreal form <br>Incapable of mortal injury, <br>Imperishable, and, though pierced with wound, <br>Soon closing, and by native vigour healed. <br>Of evil then so small as easy think <br>The remedy; perhaps more valid arms, <br>Weapons more violent, when next we meet, <br>May serve to better us, and worse our foes, <br>Or equal what between us made the odds, <br>In nature none: If other hidden cause <br>Left them superiour, while we can preserve <br>Unhurt our minds, and understanding sound, <br>Due search and consultation will disclose. <br>He sat; and in the assembly next upstood <br>Nisroch, of Principalities the prime; <br>As one he stood escaped from cruel fight, <br>Sore toiled, his riven arms to havock hewn, <br>And cloudy in aspect thus answering spake. <br>Deliverer from new Lords, leader to free <br>Enjoyment of our right as Gods; yet hard <br>For Gods, and too unequal work we find, <br>Against unequal arms to fight in pain, <br>Against unpained, impassive; from which evil <br>Ruin must needs ensue; for what avails <br>Valour or strength, though matchless, quelled with pain <br>Which all subdues, and makes remiss the hands <br>Of mightiest? Sense of pleasure we may well <br>Spare out of life perhaps, and not repine, <br>But live content, which is the calmest life: <br>But pain is perfect misery, the worst <br>Of evils, and, excessive, overturns <br>All patience. He, who therefore can invent <br>With what more forcible we may offend <br>Our yet unwounded enemies, or arm <br>Ourselves with like defence, to me deserves <br>No less than for deliverance what we owe. <br>Whereto with look composed Satan replied. <br>Not uninvented that, which thou aright <br>Believest so main to our success, I bring. <br>Which of us who beholds the bright surface <br>Of this ethereous mould whereon we stand, <br>This continent of spacious Heaven, adorned <br>With plant, fruit, flower ambrosial, gems, and gold; <br>Whose eye so superficially surveys <br>These things, as not to mind from whence they grow <br>Deep under ground, materials dark and crude, <br>Of spiritous and fiery spume, till touched <br>With Heaven's ray, and tempered, they shoot forth <br>So beauteous, opening to the ambient light? <br>These in their dark nativity the deep <br>Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame; <br>Which, into hollow engines, long and round, <br>Thick rammed, at the other bore with touch of fire <br>Dilated and infuriate, shall send forth <br>From far, with thundering noise, among our foes <br>Such implements of mischief, as shall dash <br>To pieces, and o'erwhelm whatever stands <br>Adverse, that they shall fear we have disarmed <br>The Thunderer of his only dreaded bolt. <br>Nor long shall be our labour; yet ere dawn, <br>Effect shall end our wish. Mean while revive; <br>Abandon fear; to strength and counsel joined <br>Think nothing hard, much less to be despaired. <br>He ended, and his words their drooping cheer <br>Enlightened, and their languished hope revived. <br>The invention all admired, and each, how he <br>To be the inventer missed; so easy it seemed <br>Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought <br>Impossible: Yet, haply, of thy race <br>In future days, if malice should abound, <br>Some one intent on mischief, or inspired <br>With devilish machination, might devise <br>Like instrument to plague the sons of men <br>For sin, on war and mutual slaughter bent. <br>Forthwith from council to the work they flew; <br>None arguing stood; innumerable hands <br>Were ready; in a moment up they turned <br>Wide the celestial soil, and saw beneath <br>The originals of nature in their crude <br>Conception; sulphurous and nitrous foam <br>They found, they mingled, and, with subtle art, <br>Concocted and adusted they reduced <br>To blackest grain, and into store conveyed: <br>Part hidden veins digged up (nor hath this earth <br>Entrails unlike) of mineral and stone, <br>Whereof to found their engines and their balls <br>Of missive ruin; part incentive reed <br>Provide, pernicious with one touch to fire. <br>So all ere day-spring, under conscious night, <br>Secret they finished, and in order set, <br>With silent circumspection, unespied. <br>Now when fair morn orient in Heaven appeared, <br>Up rose the victor-Angels, and to arms <br>The matin trumpet sung: In arms they stood <br>Of golden panoply, refulgent host, <br>Soon banded; others from the dawning hills <br>Look round, and scouts each coast light-armed scour, <br>Each quarter to descry the distant foe, <br>Where lodged, or whither fled, or if for fight, <br>In motion or in halt: Him soon they met <br>Under spread ensigns moving nigh, in slow <br>But firm battalion; back with speediest sail <br>Zophiel, of Cherubim the swiftest wing, <br>Came flying, and in mid air aloud thus cried. <br>Arm, Warriours, arm for fight; the foe at hand, <br>Whom fled we thought, will save us long pursuit <br>This day; fear not his flight;so thick a cloud <br>He comes, and settled in his face I see <br>Sad resolution, and secure: Let each <br>His adamantine coat gird well, and each <br>Fit well his helm, gripe fast his orbed shield, <br>Borne even or high; for this day will pour down, <br>If I conjecture aught, no drizzling shower, <br>But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire. <br>So warned he them, aware themselves, and soon <br>In order, quit of all impediment; <br>Instant without disturb they took alarm, <br>And onward moved embattled: When behold! <br>Not distant far with heavy pace the foe <br>Approaching gross and huge, in hollow cube <br>Training his devilish enginery, impaled <br>On every side with shadowing squadrons deep, <br>To hide the fraud. At interview both stood <br>A while; but suddenly at head appeared <br>Satan, and thus was heard commanding loud. <br>Vanguard, to right and left the front unfold; <br>That all may see who hate us, how we seek <br>Peace and composure, and with open breast <br>Stand ready to receive them, if they like <br>Our overture; and turn not back perverse: <br>But that I doubt; however witness, Heaven! <br>Heaven, witness thou anon! while we discharge <br>Freely our part: ye, who appointed stand <br>Do as you have in charge, and briefly touch <br>What we propound, and loud that all may hear! <br>So scoffing in ambiguous words, he scarce <br>Had ended; when to right and left the front <br>Divided, and to either flank retired: <br>Which to our eyes discovered, new and strange, <br>A triple mounted row of pillars laid <br>On wheels (for like to pillars most they seemed, <br>Or hollowed bodies made of oak or fir, <br>With branches lopt, in wood or mountain felled,) <br>Brass, iron, stony mould, had not their mouths <br>With hideous orifice gaped on us wide, <br>Portending hollow truce: At each behind <br>A Seraph stood, and in his hand a reed <br>Stood waving tipt with fire; while we, suspense, <br>Collected stood within our thoughts amused, <br>Not long; for sudden all at once their reeds <br>Put forth, and to a narrow vent applied <br>With nicest touch. Immediate in a flame, <br>But soon obscured with smoke, all Heaven appeared, <br>From those deep-throated engines belched, whose roar <br>Embowelled with outrageous noise the air, <br>And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul <br>Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts and hail <br>Of iron globes; which, on the victor host <br>Levelled, with such impetuous fury smote, <br>That, whom they hit, none on their feet might stand, <br>Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell <br>By thousands, Angel on Arch-Angel rolled; <br>The sooner for their arms; unarmed, they might <br>Have easily, as Spirits, evaded swift <br>By quick contraction or remove; but now <br>Foul dissipation followed, and forced rout; <br>Nor served it to relax their serried files. <br>What should they do? if on they rushed, repulse <br>Repeated, and indecent overthrow <br>Doubled, would render them yet more despised, <br>And to their foes a laughter; for in view <br>Stood ranked of Seraphim another row, <br>In posture to displode their second tire <br>Of thunder: Back defeated to return <br>They worse abhorred. Satan beheld their plight, <br>And to his mates thus in derision called. <br>O Friends! why come not on these victors proud <br>Ere while they fierce were coming; and when we, <br>To entertain them fair with open front <br>And breast, (what could we more?) propounded terms <br>Of composition, straight they changed their minds, <br>Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell, <br>As they would dance; yet for a dance they seemed <br>Somewhat extravagant and wild; perhaps <br>For joy of offered peace: But I suppose, <br>If our proposals once again were heard, <br>We should compel them to a quick result. <br>To whom thus Belial, in like gamesome mood. <br>Leader! the terms we sent were terms of weight, <br>Of hard contents, and full of force urged home; <br>Such as we might perceive amused them all, <br>And stumbled many: Who receives them right, <br>Had need from head to foot well understand; <br>Not understood, this gift they have besides, <br>They show us when our foes walk not upright. <br>So they among themselves in pleasant vein <br>Stood scoffing, hightened in their thoughts beyond <br>All doubt of victory: Eternal Might <br>To match with their inventions they presumed <br>So easy, and of his thunder made a scorn, <br>And all his host derided, while they stood <br>A while in trouble: But they stood not long; <br>Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms <br>Against such hellish mischief fit to oppose. <br>Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power, <br>Which God hath in his mighty Angels placed!) <br>Their arms away they threw, and to the hills <br>(For Earth hath this variety from Heaven <br>Of pleasure situate in hill and dale,) <br>Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew; <br>From their foundations loosening to and fro, <br>They plucked the seated hills, with all their load, <br>Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops <br>Up-lifting bore them in their hands: Amaze, <br>Be sure, and terrour, seized the rebel host, <br>When coming towards them so dread they saw <br>The bottom of the mountains upward turned; <br>Till on those cursed engines' triple-row <br>They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence <br>Under the weight of mountains buried deep; <br>Themselves invaded next, and on their heads <br>Main promontories flung, which in the air <br>Came shadowing, and oppressed whole legions armed; <br>Their armour helped their harm, crushed in and bruised <br>Into their substance pent, which wrought them pain <br>Implacable, and many a dolorous groan; <br>Long struggling underneath, ere they could wind <br>Out of such prison, though Spirits of purest light, <br>Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown. <br>The rest, in imitation, to like arms <br>Betook them, and the neighbouring hills uptore: <br>So hills amid the air encountered hills, <br>Hurled to and fro with jaculation dire; <br>That under ground they fought in dismal shade; <br>Infernal noise! war seemed a civil game <br>To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped <br>Upon confusion rose: And now all Heaven <br>Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread; <br>Had not the Almighty Father, where he sits <br>Shrined in his sanctuary of Heaven secure, <br>Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen <br>This tumult, and permitted all, advised: <br>That his great purpose he might so fulfil, <br>To honour his anointed Son avenged <br>Upon his enemies, and to declare <br>All power on him transferred: Whence to his Son, <br>The Assessour of his throne, he thus began. <br>Effulgence of my glory, Son beloved, <br>Son, in whose face invisible is beheld <br>Visibly, what by Deity I am; <br>And in whose hand what by decree I do, <br>Second Omnipotence! two days are past, <br>Two days, as we compute the days of Heaven, <br>Since Michael and his Powers went forth to tame <br>These disobedient: Sore hath been their fight, <br>As likeliest was, when two such foes met armed; <br>For to themselves I left them; and thou knowest, <br>Equal in their creation they were formed, <br>Save what sin hath impaired; which yet hath wrought <br>Insensibly, for I suspend their doom; <br>Whence in perpetual fight they needs must last <br>Endless, and no solution will be found: <br>War wearied hath performed what war can do, <br>And to disordered rage let loose the reins <br>With mountains, as with weapons, armed; which makes <br>Wild work in Heaven, and dangerous to the main. <br>Two days are therefore past, the third is thine; <br>For thee I have ordained it; and thus far <br>Have suffered, that the glory may be thine <br>Of ending this great war, since none but Thou <br>Can end it. Into thee such virtue and grace <br>Immense I have transfused, that all may know <br>In Heaven and Hell thy power above compare; <br>And, this perverse commotion governed thus, <br>To manifest thee worthiest to be Heir <br>Of all things; to be Heir, and to be King <br>By sacred unction, thy deserved right. <br>Go then, Thou Mightiest, in thy Father's might; <br>Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels <br>That shake Heaven's basis, bring forth all my war, <br>My bow and thunder, my almighty arms <br>Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh; <br>Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out <br>From all Heaven's bounds into the utter deep: <br>There let them learn, as likes them, to despise <br>God, and Messiah his anointed King. <br>He said, and on his Son with rays direct <br>Shone full; he all his Father full expressed <br>Ineffably into his face received; <br>And thus the Filial Godhead answering spake. <br>O Father, O Supreme of heavenly Thrones, <br>First, Highest, Holiest, Best; thou always seek'st <br>To glorify thy Son, I always thee, <br>As is most just: This I my glory account, <br>My exaltation, and my whole delight, <br>That thou, in me well pleased, declarest thy will <br>Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss. <br>Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume, <br>And gladlier shall resign, when in the end <br>Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee <br>For ever; and in me all whom thou lovest: <br>But whom thou hatest, I hate, and can put on <br>Thy terrours, as I put thy mildness on, <br>Image of thee in all things; and shall soon, <br>Armed with thy might, rid Heaven of these rebelled; <br>To their prepared ill mansion driven down, <br>To chains of darkness, and the undying worm; <br>That from thy just obedience could revolt, <br>Whom to obey is happiness entire. <br>Then shall thy Saints unmixed, and from the impure <br>Far separate, circling thy holy mount, <br>Unfeigned Halleluiahs to thee sing, <br>Hymns of high praise, and I among them Chief. <br>So said, he, o'er his scepter bowing, rose <br>From the right hand of Glory where he sat; <br>And the third sacred morn began to shine, <br>Dawning through Heaven. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound <br>The chariot of Paternal Deity, <br>Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn, <br>Itself instinct with Spirit, but convoyed <br>By four Cherubick shapes; four faces each <br>Had wonderous; as with stars, their bodies all <br>And wings were set with eyes; with eyes the wheels <br>Of beryl, and careering fires between; <br>Over their heads a crystal firmament, <br>Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure <br>Amber, and colours of the showery arch. <br>He, in celestial panoply all armed <br>Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought, <br>Ascended; at his right hand Victory <br>Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow <br>And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored; <br>And from about him fierce effusion rolled <br>Of smoke, and bickering flame, and sparkles dire: <br>Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints, <br>He onward came; far off his coming shone; <br>And twenty thousand (I their number heard) <br>Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen; <br>He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime <br>On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned, <br>Illustrious far and wide; but by his own <br>First seen: Them unexpected joy surprised, <br>When the great ensign of Messiah blazed <br>Aloft by Angels borne, his sign in Heaven; <br>Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced <br>His army, circumfused on either wing, <br>Under their Head imbodied all in one. <br>Before him Power Divine his way prepared; <br>At his command the uprooted hills retired <br>Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went <br>Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed, <br>And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled. <br>This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured, <br>And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers, <br>Insensate, hope conceiving from despair. <br>In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell? <br>But to convince the proud what signs avail, <br>Or wonders move the obdurate to relent? <br>They, hardened more by what might most reclaim, <br>Grieving to see his glory, at the sight <br>Took envy; and, aspiring to his highth, <br>Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud <br>Weening to prosper, and at length prevail <br>Against God and Messiah, or to fall <br>In universal ruin last; and now <br>To final battle drew, disdaining flight, <br>Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God <br>To all his host on either hand thus spake. <br>Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand, <br>Ye Angels armed; this day from battle rest: <br>Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God <br>Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause; <br>And as ye have received, so have ye done, <br>Invincibly: But of this cursed crew <br>The punishment to other hand belongs; <br>Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints: <br>Number to this day's work is not ordained, <br>Nor multitude; stand only, and behold <br>God's indignation on these godless poured <br>By me; not you, but me, they have despised, <br>Yet envied; against me is all their rage, <br>Because the Father, to whom in Heaven s'preme <br>Kingdom, and power, and glory appertains, <br>Hath honoured me, according to his will. <br>Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned; <br>That they may have their wish, to try with me <br>In battle which the stronger proves; they all, <br>Or I alone against them; since by strength <br>They measure all, of other excellence <br>Not emulous, nor care who them excels; <br>Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe. <br>So spake the Son, and into terrour changed <br>His countenance too severe to be beheld, <br>And full of wrath bent on his enemies. <br>At once the Four spread out their starry wings <br>With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs <br>Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound <br>Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host. <br>He on his impious foes right onward drove, <br>Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels <br>The stedfast empyrean shook throughout, <br>All but the throne itself of God. Full soon <br>Among them he arrived; in his right hand <br>Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent <br>Before him, such as in their souls infixed <br>Plagues: They, astonished, all resistance lost, <br>All courage; down their idle weapons dropt: <br>O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode <br>Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate, <br>That wished the mountains now might be again <br>Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire. <br>Nor less on either side tempestuous fell <br>His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four <br>Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels <br>Distinct alike with multitude of eyes; <br>One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye <br>Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire <br>Among the accursed, that withered all their strength, <br>And of their wonted vigour left them drained, <br>Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen. <br>Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked <br>His thunder in mid volley; for he meant <br>Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven: <br>The overthrown he raised, and as a herd <br>Of goats or timorous flock together thronged <br>Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursued <br>With terrours, and with furies, to the bounds <br>And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide, <br>Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed <br>Into the wasteful deep: The monstrous sight <br>Struck them with horrour backward, but far worse <br>Urged them behind: Headlong themselves they threw <br>Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath <br>Burnt after them to the bottomless pit. <br>Hell heard the unsufferable noise, Hell saw <br>Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled <br>Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep <br>Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound. <br>Nine days they fell: Confounded Chaos roared, <br>And felt tenfold confusion in their fall <br>Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout <br>Incumbered him with ruin: Hell at last <br>Yawning received them whole, and on them closed; <br>Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire <br>Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain. <br>Disburdened Heaven rejoiced, and soon repaired <br>Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled. <br>Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes, <br>Messiah his triumphal chariot turned: <br>To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood <br>Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts, <br>With jubilee advanced; and, as they went, <br>Shaded with branching palm, each Order bright, <br>Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King, <br>Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion given, <br>Worthiest to reign: He, celebrated, rode <br>Triumphant through mid Heaven, into the courts <br>And temple of his Mighty Father throned <br>On high; who into glory him received, <br>Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss. <br>Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on Earth, <br>At thy request, and that thou mayest beware <br>By what is past, to thee I have revealed <br>What might have else to human race been hid; <br>The discord which befel, and war in Heaven <br>Among the angelick Powers, and the deep fall <br>Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled <br>With Satan; he who envies now thy state, <br>Who now is plotting how he may seduce <br>Thee also from obedience, that, with him <br>Bereaved of happiness, thou mayest partake <br>His punishment, eternal misery; <br>Which would be all his solace and revenge, <br>As a despite done against the Most High, <br>Thee once to gain companion of his woe. <br>But listen not to his temptations, warn <br>Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard, <br>By terrible example, the reward <br>Of disobedience; firm they might have stood, <br>Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.</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=421423" data-title="Paradise Lost: Book 06 de John Milton" data-description="All night the dreadless Angel, unpursued, Through Heaven's wide champain held his way; till Morn, Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand Unbarred the gates of light. There is a cave Within the mount of God, fast by his throne, Where ligh..."></div> </div> </div>

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