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from Paradise Lost
by John Milton, 1667
1: Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
2: Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
3: Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
4: With loss of EDEN, till one greater Man
5: Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
6: Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
7: Of OREB, or of SINAI, didst inspire
8: That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
9: In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
10: Rose out of CHAOS: Or if SION Hill
11: Delight thee more, and SILOA'S Brook that flow'd
12: Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
13: Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
14: That with no middle flight intends to soar
15: Above th' AONIAN Mount, while it pursues
16: Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
17: And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
18: Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,
19: Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first
20: Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
21: Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
22: And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
23: Illumine, what is low raise and support;
24: That to the highth of this great Argument
25: I may assert th' Eternal Providence,
26: And justifie the wayes of God to men.
27: Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view
28: Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause
29: Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State,
30: Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off
31: From their Creator, and transgress his Will
32: For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?
33: Who first seduc'd them to that fowl revolt?
34: Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
35: Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd
36: The Mother of Mankinde, what time his Pride
37: Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host
38: Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
39: To set himself in Glory above his Peers,
40: He trusted to have equal'd the most High,
41: If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
42: Against the Throne and Monarchy of God
43: Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud
44: With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
45: Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie
46: With hideous ruine and combustion down
47: To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
48: In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
49: Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.
50: Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night
51: To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
52: Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe
53: Confounded though immortal: But his doom
54: Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
55: Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
56: Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes
57: That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
58: Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:
59: At once as far as Angels kenn he views
60: The dismal Situation waste and wilde,
61: A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round
62: As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames
63: No light, but rather darkness visible
64: Serv'd only to discover sights of woe,
65: Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
66: And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
67: That comes to all; but torture without end
68: Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
69: With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd:
70: Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd
71: For those rebellious, here their Prison ordain'd
72: In utter darkness, and their portion set
73: As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n
74: As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole.
75: O how unlike the place from whence they fell!
76: There the companions of his fall, o'rewhelm'd
77: With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
78: He soon discerns, and weltring by his side
79: One next himself in power, and next in crime,
80: Long after known in PALESTINE, and nam'd
81: BEELZEBUB. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,
82: And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words
83: Breaking the horrid silence thus began.
84: If thou beest he; But O how fall'n! how chang'd
85: From him, who in the happy Realms of Light
86: Cloth'd with transcendent brightnes didst outshine
87: Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league,
88: United thoughts and counsels, equal hope,
89: And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,
90: Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd
91: In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest
92: From what highth fal'n, so much the stronger provd
93: He with his Thunder: and till then who knew
94: The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those
95: Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage
96: Can else inflict do I repent or change,
97: Though chang'd in outward lustre; that fixt mind
98: And high disdain, from sence of injur'd merit,
99: That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend,
100: And to the fierce contention brought along
101: Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd
102: That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,
103: His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd
104: In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav'n,
105: And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
106: All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,
107: And study of revenge, immortal hate,
108: And courage never to submit or yield:
109: And what is else not to be overcome?
110: That Glory never shall his wrath or might
111: Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
112: With suppliant knee, and deifie his power
113: Who from the terrour of this Arm so late
114: Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,
115: That were an ignominy and shame beneath
116: This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods
117: And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,
118: Since through experience of this great event
119: In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't,
120: We may with more successful hope resolve
121: To wage by force or guile eternal Warr
122: Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,
123: Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy
124: Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav'n.
125: So spake th' Apostate Angel, though in pain,
126: Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare:
127: And him thus answer'd soon his bold Compeer.
128: O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers,
129: That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to Warr
130: Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds
131: Fearless, endanger'd Heav'ns perpetual King;
132: And put to proof his high Supremacy,
133: Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate,
134: Too well I see and rue the dire event,
135: That with sad overthrow and foul defeat
136: Hath lost us Heav'n, and all this mighty Host
137: In horrible destruction laid thus low,
138: As far as Gods and Heav'nly Essences
139: Can Perish: for the mind and spirit remains
140: Invincible, and vigour soon returns,
141: Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state
142: Here swallow'd up in endless misery.
143: But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now
144: Of force believe Almighty, since no less
145: Then such could hav orepow'rd such force as ours)
146: Have left us this our spirit and strength intire
147: Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
148: That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,
149: Or do him mightier service as his thralls
150: By right of Warr, what e're his business be
151: Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire,
152: Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep;
153: What can it then avail though yet we feel
154: Strength undiminisht, or eternal being
155: To undergo eternal punishment?
156: Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.
157: Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable
158: Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,
159: To do ought good never will be our task,
160: But ever to do ill our sole delight,
161: As being the contrary to his high will
162: Whom we resist. If then his Providence
163: Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
164: Our labour must be to pervert that end,
165: And out of good still to find means of evil;
166: Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps
167: Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
168: His inmost counsels from their destind aim.
169: But see the angry Victor hath recall'd
170: His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit
171: Back to the Gates of Heav'n: The Sulphurous Hail
172: Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid
173: The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice
174: Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling, and the Thunder,
175: Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage,
176: Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now
177: To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.
178: Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn,
179: Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.
180: Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde,
181: The seat of desolation, voyd of light,
182: Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
183: Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend
184: From off the tossing of these fiery waves,
185: There rest, if any rest can harbour there,
186: And reassembling our afflicted Powers,
187: Consult how we may henceforth most offend
188: Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,
189: How overcome this dire Calamity,
190: What reinforcement we may gain from Hope,
191: If not what resolution from despare.
192: Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate
193: With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes
194: That sparkling blaz'd, his other Parts besides
195: Prone on the Flood, extended long and large
196: Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
197: As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,
198: TITANIAN, or EARTH-BORN, that warr'd on JOVE,
199: BRIARIOS or TYPHON, whom the Den
200: By ancient TARSUS held, or that Sea-beast
201: LEVIATHAN, which God of all his works
202: Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream:
203: Him haply slumbring on the NORWAY foam
204: The Pilot of some small night-founder'd Skiff,
205: Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell,
206: With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind
207: Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night
208: Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes:
209: So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay
210: Chain'd on the burning Lake, nor ever thence
211: Had ris'n or heav'd his head, but that the will
212: And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
213: Left him at large to his own dark designs,
214: That with reiterated crimes he might
215: Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
216: Evil to others, and enrag'd might see
217: How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth
218: Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn
219: On Man by him seduc't, but on himself
220: Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd.
221: Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool
222: His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames
223: Drivn backward slope their pointing spires, & rowld
224: In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid Vale.
225: Then with expanded wings he stears his flight
226: Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air
227: That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land
228: He lights, if it were Land that ever burn'd
229: With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire;
230: And such appear'd in hue, as when the force
231: Of subterranean wind transports a Hill
232: Torn from PELORUS, or the shatter'd side
233: Of thundring AETNA, whose combustible
234: And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire,
235: Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds,
236: And leave a singed bottom all involv'd
237: With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole
238: Of unblest feet. Him followed his next Mate,
239: Both glorying to have scap't the STYGIAN flood
240: As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength,
241: Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.
242: Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,
243: Said then the lost Arch Angel, this the seat
244: That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom
245: For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee
246: Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
247: What shall be right: fardest from him is best
248: Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream
249: Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields
250: Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail
251: Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
252: Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
253: A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.
254: The mind is its own place, and in it self
255: Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
256: What matter where, if I be still the same,
257: And what I should be, all but less then hee
258: Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
259: We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
260: Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
261: Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
262: To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
263: Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.
264: But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
265: Th' associates and copartners of our loss
266: Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious Pool,
267: And call them not to share with us their part
268: In this unhappy Mansion, or once more
269: With rallied Arms to try what may be yet
270: Regaind in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell?
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