When Satan who late fled before the threats
Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improv'd
In meditated fraud and malice, bent
On Man's deftruction, maugre what might hap Of heavier on himself, fearless return'd. By night he fled, and at midnight return'd From compaffing the earth, cautious of day, Since Uriel regent of the fun defcry'd His entrance, and forewarn'd the Cherubim That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driven, The space of fev'n continued nights he rode With darkness, thrice the equinoctial line He circled, four times cross'd the car of night From pole to pole, travérfing each colure; On th' eighth return'd, and on the coast averse From entrance or Cherubic watch, by stealth Found unfufpected way. There was a place, Now not, though fin, not time, first wrought the change, Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise
Into a gulf shot under ground, till part
Rofe up a fountain by the tree of life;
In with the river funk, and with it rofe
Satan involv'd in rifing mift, then fought
Where to lie hid; sea he had search'd and land
From Eden over Pontus, and the pool
Mæotis, up beyond the river Ob;
Downward as far antarctic; and in length
Weft from Orontes to the ocean barr'd
At Darien, thence to the land where flows
Ganges and Indus: thus the orb he roam'd
With narrow fearch, and with infpection deep
Confider'd every creature, which of all
Most opportune might ferve his wiles, and found
The Serpent fubtlest beast of all the field.
Him after long debate, irrefolute
Of thoughts revolv'd, his final fentence chofe
Fit veffel, fitteft imp of fraud, in whom
To enter, and his dark fuggeftions hide
From sharpeft fight: for in the wily fnake,
Whatever fleights none would suspicious mark,
As from his wit and native subtlety
Proceeding, which in other beasts obferv'd
Doubt might beget of diabolic power
Active within beyond the sense of brute.
Thus he refolv'd, but firft from inward grief
His bursting paffion into plaints thus pour'd.
O Earth, how like to Heav'n, if not preferr'd
More juftly, feat worthier of Gods, as built
With fecond thoughts, reforming what was old!
For what God after better worse would build ?
Terreftrial Heav'n, danc'd round by other Heavens
That shine, yet bear their bright officious lamps,
Light above light, for thee alone, as feems,
In thee concentring all their precious beams
Of facred influence! As God in Heaven
Is center, yet extends to all, fo thou
Centring receiv'ft from all thofe orbs; in thee,
Not in themselves, all their known virtue' appears 110
Productive in herb, plant, and nobler birth
Of creatures animate with gradual life
Of growth, fenfe, reason, all fumm'd up in Man.
With what delight could I have walk'd thee round,
If I could joy in ought, fweet interchange 115
Of hill, and valley, rivers, woods, and plains,
Now land, now fea, and fhores with forest crown'd,
Rocks, dens, and caves! but I in none of these
Find place or refuge; and the more I fee
Pleasures about me, fo much more I feel
Torment within me', as from the hateful siege
Of contraries; all good to me becomes
Bane, and in Heav'n much worfe would be my state. But neither here feek I, no nor in Heaven
To dwell, unless by mast'ring Heav'n's Supreme; 125 Nor hope to be myself less miserable
By what I feek, but others to make fuch
As I, though thereby worse to me redound:
For only in destroying I find ease
To my relentless thoughts; and him destroy'd,
Or won to what may work his utter lofs,
For whom all this was made, all this will foon
Follow, as to him link'd in weal or woe;
In woe then; that deftruction wide may range:
To me fhall be the glory fole among
Th' infernal Pow'rs, in one day to have marr'd
What he Almighty ftil'd, fix nights and days
Continued making, and who knows how long
Before had been contriving, though perhaps
Not longer than fince I in one night freed
From fervitude inglorious well nigh half
Th' angelic name, and thinner left the throng
Of his adorers: he to be aveng'd,
And to repair his numbers thus impair'd,
Whether fuch virtue spent of old now fail'd
More Angels to create, if they at least
Are his created, or to fpite us more,
Determin'd to advance into our room
A creature form'd of earth, and him endow,
Exalted from fo base original,
With heav'nly spoils, our spoils: What he decreed
He' effected; Man he made, and for him built
Magnificent this world, and earth his feat,
Him lord pronounc'd, and, O indignity!
Subjected to his service Angel wings,
And flaming minifters to watch and tend
Their earthly charge: Of these the vigilance
I dread, and to elude, thus wrapt in mist
Of midnight vapor glide obfcure, and pry
In every bush and brake, where hap may find
The ferpent sleeping, in whofe mazy folds
To hide me, and the dark intent I bring.
O foul defcent! that I who erft contended
With Gods to fit the high'eft, am now constrain'd
Into a beaft, and mix'd with beftial flime,
To bafeft things. Revenge, at firft though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils;
Let it; I reck not, fo it light well aim'd,
Since higher I fall short, on him who next
Provokes my envy, this new favorite
Of Heav'n, this man of clay, son of despite,
Whom us the more to fpite his Maker rais'd
From duft: fpite then with spite is best repaid.
So faying, through each thicket dank or dry,
Like a black mist low creeping, he held on
His midnight search, where foonest he might find
The serpent him fast sleeping soon he found
In labyrinth of many a round felf-roll'd,
His head the midft, well ftor'd with fubtle wiles:
in horrid fhade or difmal den,
Nor nocent yet, but on the graffy herb
Fearless unfear'd he flept: in at his mouth
The Devil enter'd, and his brutal sense,
In heart or head, poffeffing foon infpir'd
With act intelligential; but his fleep
Disturb'd not, waiting close th' approach of morn.
Now when as facred light began to dawn
In Eden on the humid flow'rs, that breath'd
Their morning incense, when all things that breathe,
From th' earth's great altar fend up filent praise 195
To the Creator, and his noftrils fill
With grateful fmell, forth came the human pair,
And join'd their vocal worship to the quire
Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake
The feafon, prime for sweetest scents and airs:
Then commune how that day they best may ply
Their growing work: for much their work outgrew
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