aspO
/898 a.

JOHN MILTON.

Stories of the Bible*

The People of the Chosen Land,

By Myles Endicott. Vols. I. and II. With illustrations
from Dore and other eminent artists. Price, Boards, 40 cents.
Cloth, 60 cents.

The children of our schools
have now the opportunity to
read together the history of
the remarkable development
of the Hebrew race, without
prejudice to the doctrines of
the sects.

How to give to our children
such knowledge without tres-
passing upon the theological
domain, has been attempted
many times but without sue
ctss. We believe Myles End
cott has solved the difificu'
in these volumes un'^'
title of Siories of the Bible. He has preserved mu
quaintness of the Old Testament style, and all of its 1
simplicity.

Stories of the Bible seems to me to be excep
written for school purposes — and it is handsome
H. T. Bailkv, Sup. o/Dt

GEOGRAPHY.

(e) Picture of a Village.

Geography for Young Folks.

Fully Illus. Boards. Price, 30 cents; Cloth, 40 cents.
The object of this little book is to give to the young pupil
every possible aid in obtaining a clear comprehension of
the fundamental principles of this important study. In
carrying out the scheme several novel features have been in-
troduced.

>ur Fatherland.

Cloth. Price, 50 cents.

LVIRA Carver, author of How to Teach Geography,

.A L. Pratt; profusely illustrated and embellished

ed maps, showing the early settlements, struggles

■al development of the country, its waterways,

its resources and its great commerce.

INTRODUCTION.

Milton, the author of Paradise Lost, was born in
London, England, on the 9th of December, 1608.
His education was carried on at home by various
masters, and by his father, who taught him to sing
and to play the organ, and implanted in him his
own love of music. Although his home was a
cheerful and happy place, he seems to have been
an unusually quiet, serious child, and prematurely
studious, if we may judge from some lines placed
by the engraver under a portrait of him, made when
he was ten yea.TS old :

" When I was yet a child, no childish play
To me M-as pleasing; all my mind was set
Serious to learn and know, and thence to do
What might be public good; myself I thought
Born to that end, born to promote all truth,
All righteous things." (Paradise Regained.)

At twelve he was sent to St. Paul's School, quite
near his home in the city of London, and he still
had tutors at home. He now worked very hard in-
deed for several years ; no trouble or expep-se was
grudged by his parents ; for they were very proud
of him, and had formed the highest hopes as to his
future. "My father," Milton says, 'destined me,
while yet a little boy, for the study of humane let-
ters, which I seized with such eagerness that from
the twelfth year of my age I scarce ever went from
my lessons to bed before midnight, which indeed
was the first cause of injury to my eyes, to whose
natural weakness there were also added frequent
headaches." In 1625, when in his seventeenth

11 INTRODUCTION.

year, he entered Christ's College, Cambridge, and
remained there until he was twenty-three.

Here came a break in his education, and with it
the question, What was he going to do in life? His
parents had destined him for the church ; but the
system of government by bishops and the tyranny
of Laud deterred him from entering the ministry.
His father seems to have left him free to choose a
calling for himself, and so we find him, about the
time of his leaving college, finally determined to fit
himself, by continued labor and study, and by a
strictly pure and blameless life, to achieve some
great work as a poet. Accordingly he now settled
at Horton, a quiet hamlet in Buckinghamshire,
within a short distance of Windsor and the Thames
in the house of his father, who had retired thither
to spend his old age.

Of the poems which he had already written the
chief was The Nativity Hynm, begun on Christmas
Day, 1629. His sonnet On Arriving at his 23rd
Year is of special interest at this point :

" How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,

Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year !

My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my fate Spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth

That I to manhood am arrived so near;

And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
Than some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.

Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even

To that same lot, however mean or high.
Toward \yhich Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;

All is, if I have grace to use it so,

As ever in my great Task- Master's eye."

He seems to have devoted himself to an extensive
course of "select reading," especially to a revision

INTRODUCTION. Ill

of classical and Italian literature, storing his mind
with all that was best worth appropriating, and be-
coming almost as familiar with Latin, Greek, and
Italian as with his native tongue. He did not write
more than five English poems of any great length
during this period — B Allegro, II Penseroso, Ar-
cades, Comus, and Lycidas — but they are amongst
the very best in the language : and yet, in the last
and the best of them, he is still dissatisfied with his
powers. In the spring of 1637 he had lost his
mother; next spring he started off to see Italy and
Greece, which for him would be exceptionally in-
teresting. But the tyranny of King Charles had at
last provoked his subjects in Scotland to rebeUion.
On hearing of this, Milton at once resolved to
to return and take his part with his countrymen
in the impending contest. In 1639 he was back.
He took a house in London, and settled there
for the rest of his life.

So far Milton's life had been one of quiet, se-
cluded study. For the next twenty years poetry
was banished, study and self-preparation were all
but given up, and he was to be found in the very
thick of the controversies of the day, — writing
against Episcopacy, defending the Execution of
Charles (in two books — the First and the Second
Defence), and exposing the notorious Eikon Bast-
like. He had, on setthng in London, begun to
take a few pupils : this led him to write an essay on
Education. But his only great and enduring work
in prose was his Arcopagitica, a plea for freedom of
opinion, and for freedom to express that opinion
by means of the printing-press, without the pre-
vious sanction of the Government Licenser. His
activity in the Parhamentary cause had led to his

IV INTRODUCTION.

being appointed, in 1649, Latin Secretary to the
Committee of Foreign Affairs, a post for which his
knowledge of foreign languages specially qualified
hjTi. It was during his tenure of this office that
he deliberately hastened his bHndness, which had
been coming on for some years, over the writing
of the Fii'si Defence, mentioned above.

It is evident that this must have been, in his
case, a terrible calamity, for he had not yet even
begun his great poem. The truly admirable way
in which he bore it is shown by the courage and
patience which characterized his subsequent hfe,
and by the various references to it which we find in
his writings.

But there were other misfortunes in store for
him : in 1660 the Parliamentary cause failed com-
pletely— for the time; Milton was imprisoned,
some of his prose writings were burnt by the hang-
man, and he lost most of his savings. He had in-
deed "fallen on evil days," and yet he bravely
took up and carried to completion the great work
of his life — his epic poem, Pai-adise Lost. He
had begun it before, the Restoration, probably in
1658; he finished it about 1663, spent two years
or so on its revision, and published it in 1667.
Meanwhile he had commenced its sequel. Paradise
Regained; then he wrote Samson Agonistes, a
dramatic poem, and several prose works.

His latter years were greatly cheered and bright-
ened by the fame which Pai-adise Lost brought him,
and by the frank recognition of his pre -eminence
by all parties. He died in London in 1674, and
was buried in the church at St. Giles, Cripplegate.

Three qualities stand out conspicuously in Mil-
ton's character. First, his deep sense of duty. He

INTRODUCTION. V

seems never to falter in his entire devotion to that
which he believes he ought to do at any particular
juncture. Two striking instances of this are, the
return from Italy in 1639, and the employment of
his failing eyesight in writing the Defence. Second,
the sincerity and the earnestness of his religious
and political convictions. Third, his magnanimity
and patience. Twenty years spent in a cause that,
for the time, failed ; loss of eyesight ; loss of sav-
ings ; loss of friends ; the restoration of a dissolute
monarch ; all this produced neither bitterness nor
murmur. '' Who best bear His mild yoke, they
serve Him best." So he wrote and so he lived.
Truly, as Macaulay says, he was weighed in the
balance and not found wanting.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

LITERARY.

Spenser born

• 1552

Bacon born

• 1561

Shakespeare born . .

■ ^l^"^

Galileo born

Jonson born

■ 1574

The Faerie Qiceeii pub-

lished

1590 6

Shakespeare's earlier

plays acted . . . .

• 1597

Bacon's Essays pul>

lished

. 1598

Milton born . . . .

. 1608

The Bible translated .

. 1611

Shakespeare dies . .

. 1616

The Marian Persecution, 1555

Massacre of St. Bartho-
lomew 1572

The Armada 1588

Battle of Ivry 1590

Edict of Nantes . . . 1598
Gunpowder Plot . . . 1605
Clarendon born . . . 1608

Milton goes to Cam-
bridge 1625

Thirty Years' War be^un, 161 8
The Mayflower sails, 1620

VI

INTRODUCTION.

Chronological Table. — Continued.

Bunyan born

Dryden born

Milton leaves Cam-
bridge and retires to
Horton 1632

n Allegro, II Penseroso,

Lycidas, etc. . . 1633-7

1628 Laud, Bp. of London,
1631

Milton goes abroad,
Milton settles in Lon-
don 1639

Newton born 1642

Areopngitica 1644

Eikonoklastes , . ... 1649

First Defence 1 65 1

Milton becomes blind, 1652
Paradise Lost begun

about 1658

Paradise Lost published, 1 667
Paradise Regained ... 1 67 1
Sains'^n Agunistes ... 1671

1638 The Covenant signed,

First Bishops' War .
Civil War begun

Charles L executed .

Cromwell Protector .
Cromwell dies . .
The Restoration
The Plague ...
Clarendon's fall
France and England
attack Holland

1628

1638

1639
1642

1649

1653
1658
1660
1665
1667

1672

Milton dies

[674 Clarendon dies

[674

INTRODUCTION.

The subject of Paradise Lost as given in Book I.
is the temptation and fall of man, that is, his dete-
rioration from the state of perfect goodness and
happiness, in which he was supposed to have been
created, to one made up of good and evil, of happi-
ness and unhappiness ; this ''fall " being symbolized
by the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise
or Eden. This is the central fact of the story ; to
it all the rest (Books I.— VIII.) is preparatory, and
with it the story ends. But the preparatory events
are so stupendous in their magnitude, so striking in
their character, and described in such impressive
language — forming, as they do, the best part of the
poem — that they tend to overshadow the doings in
the Garden ; and so we come to look upon Pai^adise
Lost as dealing rather with a series of connected
events, of which the " fall " is the first in importance
but not in interest. We may, therefore, regard
Paradise Lost as deahng with the whole universe,
in its widest possible aspect ; with the origin of its
various pa^ts, and their significance for man.

Anai^ysis of the Poem.

(A) The Fall : why and how it was brought
about. I.-VIII.

(B) Its results.' IX.-XII.

(C) Man's relation to the Universe and to God.

Part of V.
(The third point, though not prominent, is very
important in the scheme of the poem.)

VI INTRODUCTION.

(A) The Fall: ivhy and how it was bi'ought about:

( 1 ) Heaven ; the War :

(^) Its Cause, the refusal of Satan and his
followers to acknowledge the Son as
their head. V.

{b^ The War, the expulsion of the rebels. VI.

(2) The Creation of the World and of Man.

(3) Hell: [VIL, VIII.
{a) The rebels closed in and stunned by

their fall ; Satan rallies his followers. I.
{b) The leaders in Council ; Satan un- ^

dertakes to try to ruin Man. I ^^

{c) Hell and Chaos described. |

(^y) Satan's journey through Chaos. J

(4) The World ; Eden :

{a) Satan explores the W^orld. III.

{J)) Adam and Eve in Eden ; Satan's plot-
tings ; Raphael's warnings. IV. and V.
{c) The Fall effected. IX.

(B) The Results of the Fall:

(i) Punishment pronounced on Tempter and
Tempted by the Son. X.

(2) Sin and Death take possession of the
World, but their overthrow by the Son
(/. e. the Redemption) is foretold. X-

(3) Michael reveals the future to Adam, reas-
sures him of Redemption, and leads him
and Eve out of Paradise. XI. and XII.

(C) Man' s Relations to the Uni7^e7'se and to God,
as set forth by Raphael in Book V. 469-543, may
be summed up briefly thus : —

"One Almighty is"; all things are created by
Him, from "one first matter all"; all things are
perfect in their various degrees, but are more re-
fined and spiritual in proportion as they are near

INTRODUCTION. vii

Him. In nature "the grosser feeds the purer," the
soil is transformed, through the plant, into flower
and fruit; the Litter, used as man's nourishment, is
"sublimed" into the living force which sustains the
mind and the soul : thus there is complete contin-
uity from the lowest forms (/'. e. mere matter) lo
the highest (/. e. pure spirit) ; and "all things . . .
up to Him return, if not depraved from good."
Raphael concludes :

" Time may come when men
With Angels may participate, and find
No inconvenient. diet, nor too Hght fare;
And from these corporal nutriments, perhaps,
Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit,
Improved by tract of time, and winged ascend
Ethereal, as we; or may at choice
Here or in heavenly Paradise dwell,
If ye be found obedient."

With this compare VH. 155, where the Almighty
states His purpose in creating Man, viz. to replenish
Heaven, lest Satan should boast ot the damage in-
flicted : He will. He says, create

" Of one man a race
(Jf men mnumerable, there to dwell.
Not here, till, by degrees of merit raised,
They open to themselves at length the way,
Up hither, under long obedience tried," etc.

In this analysis the topics are arranged in chron-
ological order. The order in the poem, as the
references show, is very different, and it may be
helpful to indicate it.

(i) Milton plunges into the very midst of the
whole subject by depicting the rebels lying stunned
on the lake after their fall : they are roused by Satan, a
council is held, Man's ruin resohed on, and intrusted
to Satan. Hell and Chaos are described. I., H.

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

(2) Satan traverses Chaos, and explores the
World, finds Eden, and plots the Fall. II.-IV.

(3) Raphael now visits Adam and Eve. He
describes their position in the universe, and warns
them of their danger. In order to explain Satan's
attitude, and to gratify Adam's curiosity, Raphael
begins to narrate the course of events from the
beginning — V.

viz. : — the War in Heaven and the Expul-
sion ; VI.
and the Creation of the World. VII.
Adam tells Raphael of his finding himself in
Eden, and of the prohibition to touch the tree of
knowledge. Raphael repeats the warning, and
leaves him. VIII.

(4) They sin and are expelled. IX.-XII.

THE COSMOLOGY OF PARADISE LOST.

Much of Paradise Lost is occupied with events
that take place outside the universe as known to
man — in Heaven, Hell and Chaos; much, too,
with matters connected with that universe ; while
the relations of the various realms to one another,
and the nature of man's World as described or
assumed in the poem, are so peculiar and so funda-
mental, that clear ideas on the subject are of the
highest importance.

On reading the poem we find that Book I. does
not begin the story, for there the War in Heaven is
over and the rebels are undergoing punishment else-
where ; it is not till Books V.-VI. that the Angel
Raphael is introduced, giving Adam a " full narra-
tion " of things from the beginning — and it is
chiefly by means of these later books that we con-
struct the key to the earlier ones.

INTRODUCl'ION. IX

I. At the earliest period referred to by Raphael,
Space consists of two parts, Heaven or the Empy-
rean, and Chaos : ^ "as yet
this World was not," nor
Man, nor Hell. Heaven
alone is created, or formed :
the rest of space is a blank.
This stage we may symbol-
ize^ by figure i. Heaven,
we gather, is the region of
light and life, the abode of
God and the Angels — "the
Sons of God." Of its size ^'s-

and shape nothing definite is said. It is totally cut
off by means of a crystal floor from Chaos ; various
ornamental features are mentioned — as gates, bat-
tlements and walls ; and its beauty is suggested by
descriptions of ideal earthly scenery, "heavenly
paradises." The Angels are of two kinds — Cher-
ubim and Seraphim, arranged in three ranks —
Archangels or Chiefs, Princes, and individual Powers
or Intelligence,^ each kind having its special duties :
the peculiar nature and mode of existence of these
immaterial beings are described — their immortal-
ity, their might, their power of assuming any shape,
and so forth. In all this Milton follows hints from
the Scriptures, especially the vision of St. John (in
the Book of Revelation), Jewish writings, Dante,
and the traditions of the early and middle ages.

I. Heaven, perhaps that which is ** heaved" up: Empyrean Gk.),
" made of fire" ^he purest of the four elements ; Chaos, the chasm, cleft
or abyss.

2 The diagrams are merely symbolic: the form of Space, the relative
magnitude of Heaven, Chaos and Hell, and the exact position of the
World are not indicated in the poem.

3. Masson.

X INTRODUCTION.

He cautions us that his language is merely sym-
bolical.

The Almighty, Himself invisible, has His throne
on a central mount, clouded in dazzling brightness,
where He receives the adoration of His sons, and
makes known His commands.

Chaos,! ''the Deep" or '' the Abyss," is the name
which Milton gives to that portion of space which
Hes outside Heaven. Its nature is inconceivable
and indescribable, for it consists of that which has
not yet been organized into matter, — neither earth,
air, fire nor water. The whole region is utterly
devoid of life and light : it is left by the Almighty
in utter confusion and darkness — ''to the sway of
Anarchy and Night."

" a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound,

Without dimension : where length, breadth, and highth,
And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce.
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms" (II. 891-900J.

II. This division of space continues until the
revolt of the Angels, which leads to their expul-
sion : the floor of Heaven opens, they are driven
out through the gap, and fall through " the Abyss "
for nine days. Then they come to the place which
the Almighty has prepared for them out of a por-
tion of Chaos. It lies open to receive them, closes
above them, and imprisons them. This new abode
of theirs is called Hell : it is situated in the part of

I. The fullest description of Chaos and its presiding deity is given in
Book II. 890-1033.

INTRODUCTION.

Space remotest from Heaven, in "the bottomless

pit," and is partitioned off

from Chaos by walls and

roof of fire. Its shape is

not described, but the roof

is said to be vaulted (fig.

2). Within it was indeed a

place of torment, "created

evil, for evil only good," ''a

place of fierce extremes,"

" with many a frozen, many

a fiery Alp," " a universe of ^'^- ="•

death;" so that Satan exclaims, en surveying it,

" Here at least
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for His envy, will not drive us hence."

A means of exit into Chaos is afterwards discov-
ered, through a gateway, guarded by two beings
named Sin and Death. These open the gate for
Satan, but cannot close it again : so that the Infer-
nals can henceforth pass out and in at will.

III. After their fall the Angels lie stunned and
bewildered on a burning lake for nine days, and it
is during this period that the next change is brought
about. For some time the Almighty had purposed
creating a new World, and placing in it a new and
favored race. At His command the Messiah now
issues forth ''far into Chaos," and with "the golden
compass" "circumscribes this Universe" of Earth,
and Planets, and all that is cognizable by man.
This new World hangs from the floor of Heaven by
a golden chain attached to its topmost point, or
zenith : but whether it is suspended from the centre
of the Empyrean, and poised about the centre of

Xll INI RODUCTION.

Space (as suggested in diagram 3), and what its
relative size, cannot be determined.^

Man is thus in a middle
position, the Good above,
the Evil below, and he is
to be connected with both.
For the use of the good
angels a golden stairway is
let down from Heaven, and
for the use of the evil ones
a broad path, or bridge, is
made by Sin and Death
'^' ^' through the Deep in the

track taken by Satan on his journey of exploration
(II. 1024, etc.) The golden stair can be drawn
up as if to secure Heaven against unwished-for
visitants, but the lower bridge is never closed.
The two roads meet at the same point, where there
is an opening affording access to the interior of
the World.

IV. Let us now look at this new World. It was
created primarily- for a new race of beings, Man,
and his abode, the Earth, is appropriately made its
centre. It is a complicated system of ten hollow
spheres or shells fitted one within another, and
around the solid Earth. Each sphere has a motion
of its own, imparted, in the first place, by the out-
side shell, called the Primum Mobile, or First
Moved — how it is moved we are not told. Of

I. Professor Masson makes the radius of the World one-third of a to d,
and consequently the World stretches from a to e. This seems to agree
with I. 73, 74, but not with II. 1052-3, in which the World appears to
Satan in the distance " as a star of smallest m ignitude," nor with III.
427-8, where the World " from the wall of Heaven, though distant far,
some small reflection gains." The force of the passage I. 73-4 depends
on the meaning of the term " pole," which is rather vague, and in VII. 23,
seems applicable to the point a.

I Cp. VIII. 98-9.

INTRODUCTION.

Xlll

these spheres only two are material — the Primum
Mobile or hard, external casing, and the next
within it, the Crystalline Sphere, which consists of
a clear, watery fluid. The first is designed as a
protection to the whole system, the latter to mod-
erate the extremes of heat and cold which may
permeate the outer framework. The remaining
eight are, or may be regarded as, mere divisions of
space, in which the several planets or orbs have

Fig. 4.

their respective orbits. It was in all probability to
account for the different motions of the several
planets that the separate revolutions of the spheres
were assumed. The seven planetary spheres, be-
ginning with that nearest the Earth, are : the
Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn. The eighth sphere contains those stars

XIV INTRODUCTION.

which occupy a fixed position with regard to one
another, and it is therefore called the Fixed or the
Firmament : it revolves once daily, carrying all its
stars round with it. The Earth is supposed to be
stationary.

This theory of the World was gradually given up
in favor of the simpler one of Copernicus (1473-
1543), which was advocated by Galileo and others,
and finally established by Kepler and Newton.
According to this the Sun is the centre ^ of our
universe, and is almost stationary; the Earth and
the other planets revolve about it, whilst some of
these planets, <r. ^. the Earth, have satellites of their
own; and finally the ''fixed stars" are outside the
solar universe altogether.

Milton was well acquainted with the Copernican
system, and may quite possibly have accepted it;
but in a poem concerned with topics so far beyond
the pale of experience and knowledge, and so full
of ancient and mediaeval ideas, beliefs, and fancies,
the old theory, however erroneous, was not only
fitting, but necessary ; for it is involved in very
many of the thoughts borrowed by Milton, as it is
in some of our phrases at this day;- in Milton's
time it was generally still accepted, and it was un-
doubtedly more poetical than the new system.^

1. More correctly, the sun is not at the centre, but at the common
focus of the ellipses of the paths described by the planets.

2. Professor Masson instances such phrases as " out of one's sphere."

3. Consider e g the quaint fancy of the music of the spheres as ex-
pressed by Shakespeare {Merchatit of Venice, V. i 60).

" There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like nn angel sings,
Still quirmg t j the young-ey. d cherubims;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK I.

PARADISE LOST.

The Priute)' to the Reader.

Courteous Reader, there was no Argument at first intended
to the book; but for the satisfaction of many that have desired
it, I have procured it, and withal a reason of that which
stumbled many others, why the poem rimes not.

— S. Siininoiis.

The Verse.

The measure is English heroic verse without rime, as that of
Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin; rime being no
necessary adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verse, in
longer works especially, but the invention of a barbarous age
to set off wretched matter and lame metre; graced indeed since
by the use of some famous modern poets, carried away by
custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and
constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most
part worse, than else they would have expressed them. Not
without cause therefore, some both Italian and Spanish poets
of prime note have rejected rime both in longer and shorter
works, as have also long since our best English tragedies; as a
thing of itself, to all judicipus ears, trivial and of no true
musical delight; which consists only in apt numbers, tit quan-
tity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one
verse into another; not in the jingling sound of like endings, a
fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and all
good oratory. This neglect then of rime so little is to be taken
for a defect, though it may seem so, perhaps, to vulgar readers,
that it rather is to be esteemed an example set, the first jf^
English, of ancient liberty recovered to heroic poeip, from the
troublesome and modern bondage of riming.

The Argument.

The first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole subject;
Man's disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise where-
in he was placed : then touches the prime cause of his Fall, the
Serpent, or rather Satan in the serpent; who revolting from
God, and drawing to his side many legions of angels, was by
the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his crew
into the great deep. Which action passed over, the Poem
hastes into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his
angels now fallen into Hell, described here, not in the centre
(ior heaven and earth may be supposed as yet not made,
certainly not yet accursed), but in a place of utter darkness,
fitliest called Chaos : here Satan with his angels lying on the
burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished, after a certain
space recovers, as from confusion; calls up him who next in
order and dignity lay by him; they confer of their miserable
fall. Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the
same manner confounded. They rise; their numbers; array
of battle; their chief leaders named, according to the idols
kn(n\n afterwards in Canaan, and the countries adjoining. To
these Satan directs his speech ; comforts them with hope yet
of regaining Heaven; but tells them lastly of a new world
and new kind of creature to be created, according to an
ancient prophecy or report in Heaven : for that angels were
long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many
ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and
what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council. ^Yhat
his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the palace uf
Satan rises, suddenly built out of the deep. The infernal peers
there sit in counsel.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK I.

The subject of (he poem, Man's fall. Invocation of the
Holy Spirit'' s aid.

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, Avhose mortal taste

Brought death into the World, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Rest04-e us, and regain the blissful seat, 5

Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, dids't inspire

That shepherd who first taught .the chosen seed

2 mortal, rendering liable to death.

6. Sing, etc. All preceding epic poets — Homer, Virgil, Dante, et.\,
use a similar form of invocation; in Milton's case it is a devout prayer for
" that impulse or voice of God by which the prophets were inspired."

secret. This term probably refers to the manner in which Moses
received God's communications: see Exodus xix. 3, 12, 20; xxiv. 2
^" and Moses alone shall come nca-,") etc

7. Oreb (Horeb^, or of Sinai. Milton refers either to /wt? events —
the appearance in the burning bush {E.vodns iii ) and the giving of the
Law— or, mure probably, to the latter event alone, Sinai being a part of
Horeb, a mountain group north of the Red Sea.

8. that shepherd, etc. Moses, whose account of the creation is in
Genesis i. Cp. Psalm Ixxvii. 20.

the chosen seed : the Jews considered themselves to be God's
favored people.

6 PARADISE LOST.

In the beginning how the Heavens and Earth
Rose out of Chaos : or, if Sion hill ^°

Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song.
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues ^s

Things unattempted yet in prose or rhime.
And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou know'st ; thou from the first
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, 2°
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss,
And mad'st it pregnant :l what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support; I
That to the highth of this great argument
I may assert Eternal Providence, ^5

And justify the ways of God to men.

9. the Heavens and Earth, i.e. this Universe: see Cosmology.

10. Sion hill, where the Temple stood.

11. Siloa's brook, a stream flowing from the pool of Siloam into the
Kidron, just beneath the city walls and very near the Temple (," the
oracle," / Kings vi.).

15. Aonia ^or Mt. Helicon) in Bceotia was the supposed abode of the
nine Muses from whom the ancient poets sought inspiration. Cp. vii.
12-14, and ix. 1-47.

Milton means, therefore, either that he intends to surpass the ancient
poets. Homer and Virgil, or that he intends to wriie on subjects higher
than any they ever treated of.

19-22. Q,\i. Gejiesisx.; and for " dove-like," .l/rt///?<?7t/ iii 16.

21. Abyss, lit. the bottomless depth (of the sea, etc.) : here. Chaos.

22. pregnant, filled with life Cp. vii. 234-242.

24. highth, the correct form of the word: cp. depth, etc.

25. assert, defend in argument.

PARADISE LOST. 7

Mail's fall caused by Satan in revenge for his expulsion
from Heaven.

Say first — for Heaven hides nothing from thy
view,
Nor the deep tract of hell — say first what cause
Moved our grand parents, in that happy state,
Favored of Heaven so highly, to fall off 30

From their Creator, and transgress his will
For one restraint, lords of the World besides.
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt ?
The infernal Serpent ; he it was, whose guile,
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived 35

The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers.
He trusted to have equalled the Most High, 40

If he opposed ; and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God
Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud.
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, 45

29. grand parents, First parents, ancestors.

32. For one restraint, etc., '' because of one restraint, being, in all
else, lords," etc.

34. infernal, lit. belonging to the lower regions ^or "hell"): hence,
wicked, fiendish But the word is aUo used without the notion of
" wicked " : cp. " infernal court," 792.

36. what time, when: cp. Lycidas, 28, "what time the gray-fly
winds her sultry horn."

39. peers, equals. Satan's " peers" were his fellow-archangels.

45. flaming Cp. Luke x. 18, " I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
heaven "

8 PARADISE LOST.

With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.

Satan, recovering from his stupor, " 7'ie7vs the situation'''' :
Hell described.

Nine times the space that measures day and night so
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,
Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf.
Confounded, though immoital. But his doom
Reserved him to more wrath ; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain ss

Torments him ; round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,
Mixed with obdtirate pride and steadfast hate.
At once, as far as Angel's ken, he views
The dismal situation, waste and wild. ^°

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,

46. ruin, in its Latin sense, downfall.

combustion, confusion, uproar, tumult.

48. adamantine, lit made of adamant; that is, indestructible, un-
breakable: cp, u 646, " adamantine rock . . . impenetrable . . . luicon-
sumed " by fire: and ii. 168, " we lay chained on the burning lake." The
name "adamant " was applied to steel and the diamond.

penal fire, fire used as a means of inflicting punishment. Cp.
"penal laws," " penalty," etc.

50. nine was a sort of sacred number with the ancients, as being a
multiple of three. Cp. the use of the number seven in the Old Testament.

51. crew, any company of men, as a ship's crew.

57. witnessed, bore witness to.

59. ken may be taken either as a verb or as a noun; if the latter,
angels \s\\\\>t in the possessive case, either singular or plural, as the
mark of the possessive was in Milton's lime often omitted. (M. E
kennen, to know.)

PARADISE LOST. 9

As one great furnace flamed ; yet from those flames

No light ; but rather darkness visible

Served only to discover sights of woe,

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace ^s

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

That comes to all, but torture without end

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.

Such place Eternal Justice has prepared 7°

For those rebellious ; here their prison ordained

In utter darkness, and their portion set,

As far removed from God and light of Heaven,

As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole.

Oh, how unlike the place from whence they fell ! 75

There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed

63. darkness visible, clc. Cp. 181-183:

" The seat of desolation, void of light,

Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
Casts pale and dreadful."

The language used in the text is contradictory only if taken literally —
" the dungeiin flamed," i.e. the flames were visible, but the dull " glim-
mering" was only suflicient to reveal the prevailing horror and gloom.
Mr Beeching says, " The flame of a spirit-lamp in a dark room will sug-
gest what is meant." Cp. also Job x. 22.

63. darkness visible, that is, gloom. Darkness is not itself visible
any more than silence is audible, [What figure of speech is " darkness
visible," taken literally?]

66-67 " where) hope, that comes to all (mortals), never comes." The
thought is found in Euripides: and Dante Inferno iii.) has the famous
inscription over the gates of hell, " All hope abandon, ye who enter here."

68. urges, torments, harasses. A Latinism. Cp. ii. 88-89, " P^*" • • •
must exercise us."

72. utter, outer, further from Heaven, hence belonging to Hell; the
intervening bei g the." middle " darkness.

74. That is, three times the distance from the centre of this Universe
(the Earth) to the outside sphere the Piimum Mobile', or else to its
point of suspension from the Empyrean. For this use of " centre," cp.
686-687. On the position of the Universe in space, see Cosmology.

lO PARADISE LOST.

With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He soon discerns ; and, weltering by his side.
One next himself in power, and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and named ^°

Beelzebub. To whom the Arch-Enemy,
And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold

words
Breaking the horrid silence, thus began : —

Satan's speech to his comrade Beelzebub: he avcws undy-
ing hate^ and urges " eternal luarT

" If thou beest he — tut Oh, how fallen ! how

changed
From him ! — who, in the happy realms of light, ^5
Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine
Myriads, though bright — if he whom mutual league.
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprise.
Joined with me once, now misery hath joined 9°
In equal ruin ; into what pit thou seest
From what highth fallen : so much the stronger

proved
He with his thunder : and till then who knew
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those.

78. weltering, rolling about. In the Bible of 1549 we read, " He that
weltereth a stone " ; in the version of 1610, " He that roUeth a stone."
{^Proverbs xxvi. 27.)

79-81. Beelzebub, or Baalzebub, lit. " lord of flies," was a god of the
Philistines. His chief temple was at Ekron ; his wishes were probably-
interpreted by the humming and motions of flies.

82 Satan (Hebrew) enemy: his former name was Lucifer (" light-
bearer "J.

PARADISE LOS r. I I

Nor what the potent Victor in his rage 95

Can else inflict, do I repent, or change,
Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind,
And high disdain from sense of injured merit.
That with the Mightiest raised me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along ^°°

Innumerable force of spirits armed.
That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring.
His utmost power with adverse power opposed
In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven,
And shook his throne. What though the field be
lost? ^°5

All is not lost — the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield :
And what is else not to be overcome.
That glory never shall his wrath or might "°

Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace
With suppliant knee, and deify his power
Who, from the teiror of this arm, so late
Doubted his empire — that were low indeed ;

102. dislike, disapprove: not to " dislike " in our sense of the word:
the latter does not depend upon our " daring," the former may.

104. dubious, for a time uncertain as to the result: the battle lasted
three days. See Book vi.

109 "And in what else z'e besides these qualities) does not being
overcome consist? " The line is, properly, parenthetical, or explanatory:
and in some editions was printed in brackets. " That glory," then, refers
directly to " submit or yield."

Some editors, however, put a semicolon after " overcome," so that the
line means " and whatever other qualities are invincible," or " in what-
ever besides invincibility consists."

114. doubted his empire, felt insecure in regard to his supremacy.

12 PARADISE LOST.

That were an ignominy and shame beneath "s

This downfall ; since, by fate, the strength of gods,
And this empyreal substance, cannot fail ;
Since, through experience of this great event.
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,
We may with more successful hope resolve ^^°

To wage by force or guile eternal war.
Irreconcilable to our grand foe;
Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven."

So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain, ^^s
Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair;
And him thus answered soon his bold compeer : —

Beelzebub's reply: he is less hopeful: — " JVhat avails it
if7ve live only to suffer ? "

" O Prince, O Chief of many throned powers
That led the embattled Seraphim to war

ii6. by fate, etc. Satan regards the angels as equal to God in all but
)wer hence "gods") and equally free
ut, like Him, self-formed and immortal.

Eower hence " gods") and equally free; not created by the Almighty,
....

fate, necessity, the nature of things, regarded as unalterable and
beyond the power of God.

117. this empyreal substance. The four elements, according to the
ancients, were eartli, air, fire and water. Of these " fire" was considered
the noblest, and of it tlie angels, the heavens, etc., were supposed to be
formed, whereas man was formed of " earth." C]>. 137-139.

124. tyranny. In ancient Greece a tyrant was a man who usurped the
supreme authority, and governed :it will He was not necessarily a bad
ruler. It is probably in a neutral sense that tyranny is used here

125. apostate, as adj., false, traitorous: lit. one who deserts (his
religion, party, etc.''.

127. compeer, an associate or companion of equal rank.

128. throned pov<rers, i.e. powers of high rank: cp. line 360.

129. embattled, arranged in order of battle.

PARADISE LOST. 1 3

Under thy conduct, and, in dreadful deeds ^3©

Fearless, endangered Heaven's perpetual King,
And put to proof his high supremacy.
Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate !
Too well I see and rue the dire event
That, with sad overthrow and foul defeat, ^35

Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host
In horrible destruction laid thus low,
As far as gods and Heavenly essences
Can perish : for the mind and spirit remains
Invincible, and vigor soon returns, ^'^°

Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
Here swallowed up in endless misery.
But what if he our conqueror (whom I now
Of force believe almighty, since no less
Than such could have o'erpowered such force as
ours) ^45

Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,
Strongly to suffer and support our pains.
That we may so sufifice his vengeful ire.
Or do him mightier service as his thralls
l>y right of war, whate'er his business be, * ^s©

Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,
Or do his errands in the gloomy Deep ?
What can it then avail though yet we feel

130. conduct, leadership.

138. essences, beings.

144. of force, either perforce, of necessity; or depending on
" ahnighty."

152. the gloomy deep, Chaos.

14 PARADISE LOST.

Strength undiminished, or eternal being

To undergo eternal punishment? " ^ss

Whereto with speedy words the Arch-Fiend replied :

Satan^s rejoinder : " Revenge is sweet ; we can live to
thwart our enetnyy

" Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable.
Doing or suffering : but of this be sure —
To do aught good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight, ^^o

As being the contrary to his high will
Whom we resist. If then his providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labor must be to pervert that end.
And out of good still to find means of evil : ^^5

Which ofttimes may succeed so as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
His inmost counsels from their destined aim.

"The storm is over ; let us muster our forces and consult
together.''''

But see ! the angry victor hath recalled

His ministers of vengeance and pursuit '7°

Back to the gates of Heaven : the sulphurous hail,

Shot after us in storm, o'erblown hath laid

The fiery surge that from the precipice

Of Heaven received us falling ; and the thunder,

156. fiend, lit. hater, enemy.

172. laid, stilled, calmed. " The storm of hail having blown over, the
fiery waves become calm."

PARADISE LOST. 1 5

Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, ^75

Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now

To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.

Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn

Or satiate fury yield it from our foe.

Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, ^^°

The seat of desolation, void of light.

Save what the glimmermg of these livid flames

Casts pale and dreadful ? Thither let us tend

From off the tossing of these fiery waves ;

There rest, if any rest can harbor there ; ^^5

And, reassembhng our afflicted powers.

Consult how we may henceforth most offend

Our enemy, our own loss how repair.

How overcome this dire calamity.

What re-inforgement we may gain from hope, ^90

If not, what resolution from despair."

Satan's vashteis suggested by comparisons.

Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate.
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blazed ; his other parts besides
Prone on the flood, extended long and large.

t95

176. his, masculine, as "Thunder" is personified. At this time
(c. 1660) ** its " was just coming into use as the neuter of " his."
In the Bible of 1610 "its "occurs only once Leviticus xxv. 5), in
Milton's poems only four or five times.)

178. slip, let slip (transitive") Cp. J/^^r^^M, " I . . . sjipt the hour,"
and such current phrases as " slip a cable," etc.

186. afflicted, in its Latin sense, flung or dashed down, crushed,
powers, forces, armies.

187. offend, harm.

1 6 PARADISE LOST.

Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge

As whom the fables name of monstrous size,

Titanian or Earth-born, that warred on Jove,

Briareos or Typhon, whom the den

By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast ^°^

Leviathan, which God of all his works

Created hugest that swim the ocean stream.

Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam,

The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff.

Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, ^05

With fixed anchor in his scaly rind.

Moors by his side under the lee, while night

Invests the sea, and wished morn delays.

I/e is alloiucd to rise.

So Stretched out huge in length the Ajch-Fiend lay.
Chained on the burning lake ; nor ever thence '='^°

198-200. ^whether) Titanian or Earth born. The Tzians wer-; the
twelve sons of Uranus and (Je (i c. Heaven and Earth ; the Earih-horii,
offspring of the same parents, were the Giaiils. According to the legends
the Giants made war on Jove, and were destroyed for their insolence.
Briareos was one of the Titans, Typhon one of the (liants The latter
was supposed to dwell in a cave in Cilicia (in Asia Minor which Milton
denotes by Tarsus, its capital.

201. Leviathan, etc. The description fits the whale -except the
"scaly rind" (206 : the name v Hebrew) is found in Job xli , and seems
to be applied to the crocodile: but ia other passages of Scripture, as in
P&alms civ. 26, to any sea monster.

203-207. Olaus Magnus, a Swede in his History of the Northern
Nations, 1658) and other writers of Milton's time, tell of the whale's beuig
taken for an island by sailors, who anchor to his back, drive stakes into
him, etc. Milton speaks of him ^s "like a promontory" (vii. 414 ;
"fotir acres in ex'ent," says another writer!

204. night-foundered, lost in the darkness, stopped by the night
coming on. Strictly, yc^^w^t-r means to sink.)

skiff, ship. i^Now the word denotes a small boat.)

208. Invests, enshrouds, wraps (like a garment .

PARADISE LOST. I 7

Had risen, or heaved his head, but that the will

And high permission of all-ruling Heaven

Left him at large to his own dark designs,

That with reiterated crimes he might

Heap on himself damnation, while he sought ^'s

Evil to others, and enraged might see

How all his malice served but to bring forth

Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shown

On Man by him seduced, but on himself

Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured. ^^'^

Satan and Beelzebub fiy to land : the land descr bed.

Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty stature ; on each hand the flames
Driven backward slope their pointing spires, and,

rolled
In billows, leave in the midst a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight ^25
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air,
That felt unusual weight; till on dry land
He lights — if it were land that ever burned
With solid, as the lake with liquid fire.
And such appeared in hue as when the force ^30
Of subterranean wind transports a hill
Torn from Pelorus, or tlie shattered side
Of thundering .'Etna, whose combustible

232 Pelorus, now Cape Faro, N. E. of Sicily. It is near Etna. Prob-
ably " from " governs " shattered side."

1 8 PARADISE LOST.

And fueled entrails, thence conceiving fire,
Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds, ^35

And leave a singed bottom all involved
With stench and smoke. Such resting found the

sole
Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate;
Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian flood
As gods, and by their own recovered strength, ^^o
Not by the sufferance of supernal power.

Saian's soliloquy on viewing their new abode.

" Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,"
Said then the lost Archangel, '' this the seat
That we must change for Heaven ? this mournful

gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he ^^s

Who now is sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right : farthest from him is best,
Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made

supreme
Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields,

234-237. thence, etc. " The contents of the mountain catching fire
from this wind are changed into vapor by a heat like that of molten metals,
and, in their turn, increase the force of the wind " Properly, subliming
is a chemical operation in which volatile solids are separated from impuri-
ties, by heating, just as liquids are purified by distillation.)

involved, enveloped.

239 Stygian, hateful, horrible Cp. 195. The Styx (" hateful "), of
the classical mythology, was the chief river in the lower world.

246. sovran, O. F. soverain. A more correct form than sovereign —
confused with reign.

247-249 " Furthest from him is best for us; for though we are his
equals in reason, we are inferior to him in strength." Cp. 92-94, and
144-145.

PARADISE LOST. 1 9

Where joy forever dwells ! Hail, horrors ! hail, ^5°
Infernal world ! and thou, profoundest Hell,
Receive thy new possessor — one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
'The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven/^ss
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free ; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : ^^°

Here we may reign secure ; and, in my choice,
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell :
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

They agree to rouse and rally their folloiuers.

But wherefore let we then our faithful friends.
The associates and co-partners of our loss, ^^s

Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool,
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy mansion, or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell ? " ^7©
So Satan spake ; and him Beelzebub

266. astonished, stunned, " astounded" (281 , " confounded " (53^
"entranced " (301). Lit , struck senseless.

oblivious, causing forgetfulness. Cp. Macbeth, " oblivious anti-
dote " ; and " forgetful lake," ii. 74. Milton is thinking of the river Lethe
of the classical mythology, which caused all who drank of it to forget the
past.

268. mansion, place of abode.

20 PARADISE LOST.

Thus answered : — " Leader of those armies bright
Which, but the Omnipotent, none could have

foiled !
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers — heard so oft ^75
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battle, when it raged, in all assaults
Their surest signal — they will soon resume
New courage, and revive, though now they lie
Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, ^So

As we erewhile, astounded and amazed ;
No wonder, fallen such a pernicious highth ! "

The appearance of Satan as he makes for the shore, and
of his legions as they lie on the lake.

He scarce had ceased when the superior Fiend
Was moving toward the shore ; his ponderous

shield.
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, ^^s

Behind him cast. The broad circumference

274. pledge, surety,

276-277. perilous edge of battle, either the front line of battle, or at
the critical moment

281. astounded same as astonished See 266.

amazed, in a stronger sense than that in which it is now used:
bewildered, dazed. (.From tnaze.

"2^1. pernicious, destructive, ruinous.

285 Ethereal temper (a thing', wrought in Heaven, of heavenly
workmanship. Cp iv. 812:

** No falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper " (z'.i? Ithuriel's spear), etc.

{Temper, to bring to the proper degree of hardness, to mix metals in
due proportion.)

PARADISE LOST. 2 1

Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views

At evening, from the top of Fesole,

Or in Val^darno, to descry new lands, 290

Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe.

His spear — to equal which the tallest pine

Hewn on Norwegian hilly, to be the mast

Of some great ammiral, were but a wand —

He walked with, to support uneasy steps ^95

Over the burning marie, not like those steps

On Heaven's azure ; and the torrid chme

Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire.

Nathless he so endured, till on the beach

Of that inflamed sea he stood, and called 300

His legions — Angel forms, who lay entranced.

Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks

In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades

288. artist, a professor of an art: it also denoted a skilled worker, our
"artisan." The "Tuscan artist" is Galileo (1564-1642), a teacher of
mathematics and astronomy at P»sa. His improvements Ui the telescope
— for he did not invent it — enabled him to make discoveries which con-
vinced him of the truth of the Copernicari theory of astronomy.

289-290 Fesole, now Fiesole. is a hill near Florence. Valdarno, i.e.
Val d'Arno, the valley in which Florence is situated.

294. ammiral, the chief ship of a fleet, so called from its carrying the
superior officer.

296. marie, ground; properly a soft, rich soil. Cp. 562.

297 Heaven's azure, the crystal floor of Heaven.

299. Nathless, none the less; now displaced by nevertheless. The
word is common in Chaucer.

303. Vallombrosa (" shady valley ". a beautiful and thickly wooded
valley and hilly slope about eighteen mi es from Florence. It is said that
Milton spent several days at a monastery that stood here.

Etruria, Tuscany.

2 2 PARADISE LOST.

High over-arched imbower ; or scattered sedge
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed 305

Hath vexed the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'er-

threw
Busiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floating carcases 310

And broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrewn,
Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.

Satan taunts them for their inactivity, and calls them to
arms.

He called so loud, that all the hollow deep

Of Hell resounded : " Princes, Potentates, 315

304. sedge, in Hebrew the Red Sea is called " the sedgy sea," on
account of the large quantity of sea-weed found in it.

305 Orion (Orion, a constellation so named from a companion of
Artemis or Diana, the goddess of hunting. The time of year at which
this constellation sets — November or early December — was generally
associated by the poets with bad weather.

armed, some of the stars of Orion appear to be arranged in the
form of a sword and belt

307. Busiris, here identified with the Pharaoh of Exodus.

Memphian, Egyptian, from the ancient capital Memphis, on the
west bank of the Nile.

chivalry, army — horse and foot, though in this case mainly
horse. {Exodus, xiv 28 ) Doublet " cavalry." See 575 11. on infantry
and c ivalry.

308. perfidious. Pharaoh had given the Israelites permission to leave
Egypt.

309 sojourners, temporary dwellers in a place.

Goshen, a district east of the delta of the Nile.

who beheld, etc. See Exodus xxiv. 30.
311. abject, cast down.

PARADISE LOST. 23

Warriors, the flower of Heaven — once yours ; now

lost,
If such astonishment as this can seize
Eternal Spirits ! Or have ye chosen this place
After the toil of battle to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find 320

To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
To adore the conqueror, who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood
With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon 325

His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern
The advantage, and, descending, tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf? —
Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen ! " 330

Their appearance : their multitude suggested by comparisotis.

They heard, and were abashed, and up they
sprung
Upon the vving, as when men wont to watch.
On duty sleeping found by whom they dread,
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight 335

In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel ;
Yet to their General's voice they soon obeyed

318-322. Or . . . or, whether ... or

virtue, valor, bravery: lit. manliness.
337. obey, in M E. took a dative case.

24 PARADISE LOST.

Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amran's son, in Egypt's evil day,
Waved round the coast, up-called a pitchy cloud 340
Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind.
That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile ;
So numberless were those bad Angels seen
Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell, 345

'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires ;
Till, as a signal given, the uplifted spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Their course, in even balance, down they light
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain : 35°
A multitude like which the populous North
Poured never from her frozen loins to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons
Came like a deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands. 355

The leader's come forward — for the time being nameless.

Forthwith from every squadron and each band,

338, etc. Alluding to Moses and the plagues. See Exodus x 12, etc.

341. warping, " floating about " at the mercy of the wind.

345. cope, roof, vault.

348, sultan (or soldaii, 764 , victor, prince: in 378 " emperor."

SSJ^'SSS- 1'he Goths, from the provmce of Dacia, north of ihe Danube
{Damiw) , pressed iorward by the Huns, settled in " the Empire " in 376;
soon afterwards they defeated the Romans in battle Forty years later the
west Goths sacked Rome, and some passed mto Gaul and Spain. German
tribes, too, were at this time crossing the Rhine Rhctie) , and pressing on
into Gaul and Spain Hordes of Muns now attacked Romans, Goths, and
Germans alike, but were defeated in 451 at Chalons — one of the world's
critical battles. Some Germans called Vandals, who had at first settled in
Spain, crossed into Africa Libya in 429, and founded a kingdom, with
Carthage as capital. Even in Italy some east Goths settled. From these
various settlements the Romance nations sprung.

PARADISE LOST. 25

The heads and leaders thither haste where stood
Their great Commander — godhke shapes, and

forms
Excelling human ; princely dignities :
And powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones, 360
Though of their names in Heavenly records now
JJe no memorial, blotted out and rased
By their rebellion from the Books of Life.
Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve
Got them new names, till, wandering o'er the

Earth, 365

Through God's high sufferance for the trial of Man,
By falsities and lies the greatest part
Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake
God their Creator, and the invisible
Glory of him that made them to transform 370

Oft to the image of a brute, adorned
With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
And devils to adore for deities :
Then were they known to men by various names.
And various idols through the heathen world. 375

360. erst, superl. of ere ; once, at first.
For thrones, cp. 128 and 737 «.

362. rased, for " erased." What is the difference?

363. Books of Life. Revelation iii. 5.

372. religions, decor, tions. So, in Shakespeare's 5^«///<i- Ccesar,\.\\e
statues of Caesar are " decked with ceremonies."

358-375. Milton assumes the belief of the early Christian Church that
the Pa,i;an gods were fallen angels in disizuise. In Par. Reg. < e g. II.
i2i-»f26 he identifies the fallen angels with the " demon "of ihe four
elements.

26 PARADISE LOST.

Tr>e leaders enumerated and described under the names
they afterwards acquired as heathen deities.

Say, Muse, their names then known, who first,
who last.
Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch,
At their great Emperor's call, as next in worth
Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,
While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. 380
The chief were those who, from the pit of Hell
Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix
Their seats, long after, next the seat of God,
Their altars by his altar, gods adored
Among the nations round, and durst abide 385

Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned
Between the Cherubim ; yea, often placed
Within his sanctuary itself their shrines,
Abominations ; and with cursed things
His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned, 39°

And with their darkness durst affront his light.

380. promiscuous, mixed, confused.

382 Cp. / Peter v. 8, " Your adversary the devil . . . walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour."

383. seat of God, the Temple at Jerusalem.

385-386. durst abide, stood their ground in spite of. Cp. 470.

thundering out of Sion, referring perhaps to what \Nas
thundered (the ten commandments, one of which forbade idolatry).

387. Cherubim, two figures in the sanctuary of the Temple. / Kings
vi. 23.

388. shrines, altars. See 2 Kings xxi. 4, " And he {i.e. King
Manasseh) built altars in the house of the Lord."

389. abominations : -eferring to the idolatrous character of the
shrines.

PARADISE LOST. 27

First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears ;
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard that passed through
fire 395

To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain,
In Argob and in Bashan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart . 400

Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His temple right against the temple of God,
On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell. 405
Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's sons,
From Aroer to Nebo and the wild
Of southmost Abarim ; in Hesebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, 410

392-521. See the Table of Heathen Deities, p. 48

394. Timbrel, a kind of tambourine.

403. that opprobrious hill, that hill of scandal 416' , the ofTensive
mountain (443 , all refer to the Mt of Olives, near Jerusalem.

404-405 Hinnom was a deep narrow ravine bounding Jerusalem on
the south-west. To put an end to the idol worship carried on there —
with Us human sacrifices — Josiah rendered it " ceremonially unclean "
by spreading human bones, etc., in it. Henceforward the refuse of the
city was deposited there. r>y reason of its evil associations the later Jews
used its name Ce Hinitom or Gehenna , to denote the place of torment
Tophet was the south-eastern p rt of the valley. Here, facing the city on
the " hill of scandal," Solomon erected his high places to Moloch.
(Smith's Bible Diet.)

406. obscene, foul, repulsive.

409. Seon, King of the Ammonites.

2 8 PARADISE LOST.

And Eleale to the Asphaltic pool :

Peor his other name, when he enticed

Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.

Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged -^^s

Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove

Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate ;

Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.

With these came they who, from the bordering flood

Of pld Euphrates to the brook that parts 420

Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names

Of Baalim and Ashtaroth — those male.

These feminine. For Spirits, when they please,

Can either sex assume, or both ; so soft

And uncompounded is their essence pure, 425

Not tied or manacled with joint or limb.

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones.

Like cumbrous flesh ; but in what shape they choose,

Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure.

Can execute their aery pu'-poses, ^3°

And works of love or enmity fulfil.

For those the race of Israel oft forsook

Their living Strength, and unfrequented left

His righteous altar, bowing lowly down

To bestial gods ; for which their heads, as low ^^s

41 T. Asphaltic pool, Dead Sea.

419. bordering flood, because forming the south or south-west boun-
dary of Canaan, d'nesis xv. i8.

435 bestial, refers either to the grossness of their worship, or to 476-
489 below. In Egypt the sacred bulls " maintained ... in the great
temples of their respective cities were perpetu illy adored and prayed to by
thousands during their lives, and at their deaths were entombed with the
utmost care in huge sarcophagi, while all Egypt went into mourning for
them" (Rawlinson).

PARADISE LOST. 29

Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear

Of despicable foes. With these in troop

Came Ashtoreth, whom the Phoenicians called

Astarte, Queen of Heaven, with crescent horns ;

To whose bright image nightly by the moon 440

Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs ;

In Sion also not unsung, where stood

Her temple on the offensive mountain, built

By 'that uxorious king whose heart, though large.

Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell 445

To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind.

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured

The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

In amorous ditties all a summer's day.

While smooth Adonis from his native rock 450

Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood

Of Thammuz yearly wounded : the love-tale

Infected Sion's daughters with like heat,

Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch

Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led, 455

His eye surveyed the dark idolatries

Of alienated Judah. Next came one

Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark

Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopt off,

438. Astoreth or Ashtoreth Csingular form of Ashtaroth', representing
the moon, which might be considered the fainter reflection or wife of the
sun, and was, as the moon, addressed as " queen of heaven." Jeremiah
vii, 18 Sayce.j

455. See Ezekiel v\\\. 14, "Then he brought me to the door of the
gate of the Lord's house, . . . and behold, there sat women weeping for
Tammuz."

30 PARADISE LOST.

In his own temple, on the grunsel-edge, 460

Where he fell flat and shamed his worshippers :

Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man

And downward fish; yet had his temple high

Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast

Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon, 465

And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.

Him followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat

Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks

Of Abana and Pharphar, lucid streams.

He also against the house of God was bold : 470

A leper once he lost, and gained a king —

Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew

God's altar to disparage and displace

For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn

His odious offerings, and adore the gods 475

Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared

A crew who, under names of old renown — '

Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train —

With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused

Fanatic, Egypt and her priests to seek 480

Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms

Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape

The infection, when their borrowed gold composed

The calf in Oreb ; and the rebel king

Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan, 485

Likening his Maker to the grazed ox —

460. grunsel, i.e. groundsill or threshold.

485. Jeroboam, King of Israel, who rebelled against Rehoboam, set up
two golden calves.

PARADISE LOST. 3 I

Jehovah, who, in one night, when he passed
From Egypt marching, equalled with one stroke
Both her first-born and all her bleating gods.
Belial came last ; than whom a Spirit more lewd ^yo
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for itself. To him no temple stood
Or altar smoked ; yet who more oft than he
In temples and at altars, when the priest
Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled -^95

With lust and violence the house of God ?
In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise
Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers.
And injury and outrage ; and, when night 500

Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night
In Gibeah, when the hospitable door
Exposed a matron, to avoid worse rape. 505

These were the prime in order and in might :
The rest were long to tell ; though far renowned,
The Ionian gods of Javan's issue held
Gods, yet confessed later than Heaven and Earth,
Their boasted parents; — Titan, Heaven's first-
born, 5"o

487-489 As the Israelites were on the point of leaving Egypt, a plague
fell equally on the first-born of the Egyptians and on the animals which
they worshipped.

495. See / Samuel ii. 12 and 22.

508. Javan's issue, i.e. the Greeks, regarded as descended from Javan
or Ion, son of Japhet. (Genesis x. 2. Isaiah Ixvi. 19.;

510. Titan, see 198 «.

32 PARADISE LOST.

With his enormous brood, and birthright seized

By younger Saturn : he from mightier Jove,

His own and Rhea's son, like measure found ;

So Jove usurping reigned. These, first m Crete

And Ida known, thence on the snowy top s^s

Of cold Olympus ruled the middle air,

Their highest Heaven ; or on the Delphian cliff.

Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds

Of Doric land ; or who with Saturn old

Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields, 520

And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost isles.

The leaders having assembled, Satan cheers ihe/n and
bids Azazel raise the standard.

All these and more came flocking ; but with looks
Downcast and damp ; yet such wherein appeared
Obscure some glimpse of joy to have found their

Chief
Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost 525
In loss itself ; which on his countenance cast
Like doubtful hue. But he, his wonted pride

514-515. Ida, a mountain in Crete, and the birthplace of Zeus.

515-516. Olympus, the fabled abode of the GreeK gods, is a mountain
in Thessaly; its highest point is covered with snow most of the year.

517-518 Delphi, at the foot of the steep southern slope of Mount
Parnassus; Dodona, in Epirus. These were the seats of the two most
famous oracles of ancient Greece — of Apollo and Zeus respectively.

520-521. Virgil and Ovid both speak of Saturn as fleeing alone (over
the Hadriatic Sea) before his son Zeus, to Italy, called by the Greeks the
Hesperian (or western fields

521. the Celtic (fields), the western or Celtic parts ot the Continent,
especially France

(to^ the utmost isles, probably F>ritain, etc.

523. damp, depressed. Cp. "to damp a fire," "to damp one's spirits."

PARy^DISE LOST. 33

Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore
Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised
Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears : 53°
Then straight commands that, at the warlike" sound
Of trumpets loud and clarions, be upreared
His mighty standard. That proud honor claimed
Azazel as his right, a Cherub tall :
Who forthwith from the gUttering staff unfurled 535
The imperial: ensign ; which, full high advanced,
Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind,
With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed.
Seraphic arms and trophies ; all the while
Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds : s4o

At which the universal host upsent
A shout that tore Hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.

Thereupon their followers form in battle array and
march to Dorian music.

All in a moment through the gloom was seen

532. clarions, clear-sounding horns.

534. Azazel, probably the name of some evil spirit. The word means
"the solitary one," or "scape-goat." See Leviticus xvi. 8: "And
Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord and the
other for the scape-goat." (" Azazel," R.V.

538. emblazed, richly adorned, like a shield. To (^/rts^w is to portray
armorial bearings on a shield. (M. E. blason,z. shield.' Cp. v. 588:
" Ensigns high advanced ... in their glittering tissue, bear emblazed
holy memorials." The word is an heraldic term.

539. arms, probably the ensign itself; trophies, gems and gold, re-
garded as symbols of victory

542. concave, hollow roof, or vault.

543. Chaos, etc., see ii. R90-967, where Night is spoken of as "eldest
of things," and " eldest Night and Chaos " as ancestors of Nature, because
they preside over that out of which " things " are formed.

34 PARADISE LOST.

Ten thousand banners rise into tiie air, 545

With orient colors waving with them rose

A forest huge of spears ; and thronging helms

Appeared, and serried shields in thick array

Of depth immeasurable. Anon they move

In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 550

Of flutes and soft recorders — such as raised

To highth of noblest temper heroes old

Arming to battle, and instead of rage

Deliberate valor breathed, firm, and unmoved

With dread of death to flight or foul retreat ; 555

Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage

With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase

Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain

From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they,

Breathing united force with fix^d thought, 560

Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed

546. orient, constantly used as an epithet of gems. It is frequently
used by Milton in the sense of " bright," " clear," " shining."

550. phalanx. " A body of troops in close array with a long spear as
their principal weapon. It was among the Dorians, and especially among
the Spartans th^t this arrangement was most rigidly adhered to."
(Smith's Diet, of Antiquities.)

to the Dorian mood, i.e. to music of a grave, severe character,
supposed to inspire courage and endurance, as distinguished from the
Lydian or soothing, tender music (cp. L' Allegro, 139), and trumpet
music (540-541).

551. flutes and soft recorders. The modern flute is of recent German
origin: the flu'.e of Milton's day — the English flute — was called a
recorder. As he is speaking of Greek music, the e.vpression probably
refers in general terms to the so-called flutes ot the Greeks, which in-
cluded reed instruments. They were of various sizes, and the different
parts of the harmony — bass, tenor, etc — could be played on them.

554. breathed, infused, inspired, instilled.

556. mitigate, make soft, mild, less severe. •

561. charmed, in its old sense, denoting the effect of some mysterious
power or influence — as here, fascinated by means of music.

PARADISE LOST. 35

Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil. And now

Satan views his arniy, compared with whi h the greatest
forces of ancient or mediceval times are insignificant.

Advanced in view they stand — a horrid front
Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise
Of warriors old, with ordered spear and shield, 565
Awaiting what command their mighty Chief
Had to impose. He through the armcid files
Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse
The whole battalion views — their order due.
Their visages and stature as of gods , 570

Their number last he sums. And now his heart
Distends with pride, and, hardening in his strength,
Glories : for never, since created Man,
Met such embodied force as, named with these.
Could merit more than that small infantry 575

Warred on by cranes — thougn all the giant brood
Of Phlegra with the heroic race were joined
That fought at Thebes and IlHum, on each side

563. horrid, in its Latin sense, bristling (with spears ">. Cp. " Horrid
hair," ii. 710.

575. in antry. In the middle ages, the cavalry were considered as
forming the main body of the army; and the two terms " cavalry " and
" army " were convertible. Cp. chivalry, 307. The foot-men or infantry
were deemed little better than rabble (Trench) ; and probably the word is
used in this contemptuous sense here. (Span, and It. infanta, a child, a
servant, a foot-soldier.)

The reference here is to the pygmies (cp. 780) a fabulous race whose
stature was a ''/>/<gwi'' (about 13 1-2 in.) They are said by Homer to
have been attacked by cranes every spring, and according to the legends
they fought on the backs of rams and partridges.

576-579- Phlegra, the westernmost of the three small peninsulas lying
to the east of the Gulf of Salonica; the scene of the war between the
gods and the giants. See 198.

;^6 PARADISE LOST.

Mixed with auxiliar gods; and what resounds

In fable or romance of Uther's son, 580

Begirt with British and Armoric knights ;

And all who since, baptized or infidel,

Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,

Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,

Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore, 585

Thebes and Ilium. " The heroic race that fought at Thebes
and Ihum " symboHzes the great heroes of Greek hterature and legend. iry
history.

The story of the exploits of The Seven Greeks) against Thebes is told
by Aeschylus, the story of the Trojan war by Homer.

Troy in N. W. Asia Minor.

Thebes in Boeotia.

auxiliar gods refers to the part taken by the deities in the
siege of Troy

579-581. Uther's 'or Uther Pendragon's) son, /. r. King Arthur,
assisted by knights of liritain and of Brittany. Kor some tune aliout
iC)38-39) Milton had thought of taking the Artlnirian legends as the sub-
ject of his great poem.

582-587. Jousted, tilted; joust, literally, is tlie jostlittg together of
two knights on horseback at a tournament.

583-584. The names in these lines are said by some critics to have
been taken by Milton at random; but Mr Verity holds that each one was
carefully selected for its associations with the mediaival romances of
chivalry, by which Milton in his youth had been greatly attracted.

The names are in any case symbolical, like Thebes and Ilium above; at
the same time some of them, may be connected with particular events.

Aspramont, a castle near Nice. \ ^11 familiar names in the old
Damasco I romances, and specially associated

Trebisond, a town of great note f .^^i^ tournaments and jousts.
and splendor in the middle ages. )

Damasco was also the scene of several battles in the Crusades.

Montalban, a castle in Languedoc, of note in the wars of Charlemagne.

Marocco, Biserta, associated with the wars between the Christians
fSiJanianls) and llie Moors. l'"rom Biserta (the ancient Utica, near
Carthage) a Mi)orisli army started to attack the Christians under Charle-
magne in Spain; tiie defeat, however, was indicted, not h\ the Moors, but
by the Gascons at Roncesvalles, " by Fontarahbia," near I^iarritz.
(Charlemagne was not killed in the battle of 778: he lived till 814.;

PARADISK LOST.

37

When Charlemain with all his peerage fell
By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed

1 he appearance of Satan and his host suggested hy
various similes.

Their dread Commander. He above the rest

In shape and gesture proudly eminent, 590

Stood like a tower. His form had yet not lost

All her original brightness, nor appeared

Less than archangel ruined, and the excess

Of glory obscured : as when the sun new-risen

Looks through the horizontal misty air 595

Shorn of his beams, or, from behind the moon,

In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds

On half the nations, and with fear of change

Perplexes monarchs. darkened so, yet shone

Above them all the Archangel; but his face ^°"

Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care

Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows

Of dauntless courage, and consider.! te ])ride

Waiting revenge. Cruel his eye, but cast

Signs of remorse and passion, to behold ^^s

586. all his peerage, i.e. the brave Roland, the wise Oliver, and all the
rest of the twelve pt-ers or paladirs of France — except perhaps one.

592-593. " Nor (lid it appear less (noble and commanding) than that of
an archangel who was now fallen and his excessive brightness dimmed."

597-599. disastrous, unfavorable, of bad omen.

601. intrenched, marked, furrowed, cut into.

603. considerate, meditating revenge) planning, scheming.

604. " His eye was cruel, but showed," etc.

605. Passion, suffering, sorrow: not, as now, strong feeling only.

2,^ PARADISK LOST.

The fellows of his crime, the followers rather
(Far other once beheld in bliss), condemned
For ever now to have their lot in pain —
Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced
Of Heaven, and from eternal splendors flung ^^°
For his revolt — yet faithful how they stood.
Their glory withered ; as, when Heaven's fire
Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines.
With singed top their stately growth, though bare,
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared ^^s
To speak ; whereat their doubled ranks they bend
From wing to wing, and half enclose him round
With all his peers : attention held them mute.
Thrice he assayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn.
Tears, siich as Angels weep, burst forth ; at last ^^°
Words interwove with sighs found out their way : —

Satan harangues his host: " their defeat was due to ignorance
of the enetuy's strength^

" O myriads of immortal Spirits ! O Powers
Matchless, but with the Almighty ! — and that strife
Was not inglorious, though the event was dire,
x\s this place testifies, and this dire change ^^s

Hateful to utter. But what power of mind.
Foreseeing or presaging from the depth
Of knowledge past or present, could have feared.
How such united force of gods, hov. such
As stood like these, could ever know repulse ? ^30

609. amerced, deprived (by way of fine or punishment).
619. in spite of scorn, though scorning to weep.

PAR-AUISE LUST. 39

For who can yet believe, though after loss,

That all these puissant legions, whose exile

Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to reascend.

Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?

For me, be witness all the host of Heaven, ^35

If counsels different, or dangers shunned

By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns

Monarch in Heaven till then as one secure

Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,

Consent or custom, and his regal state ^-^^

Put forth at full, but still his strength concealed —

Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.

Henceforth they must oppose him by guile ; a visit to the
netv-formd rvorld suggested ; ivar resolved on.

Henceforth his might v/e know, and know our own.

So as not either to provoke, or dread

New war provoked : our better part remains '^45

To work in close design, by fraud or guile.

What force effected not ; that he no less

At length from us may find, who overcomes

By force hath overcome but half his foe.

Space may produce new worlds ; whereof so rife ^'5°

There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long

Intended to create, and therein plant

A generation whom his choice regard

Should favor equal to the sons of Heaven.

636. counsels different (from those of the rest), " divided counsels."
643-645. our better part: " henceforth our safest course is," etc.
650-651. so rife . . . fame so general a rumor.

40 PARADISE LOST.

Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps ^ss

Our first eruption — thither, or elsewhere ;
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor the Abyss
Long under darkness cover: But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature. Peace is despaired ; ^-^°
For who can think submission? War, then, war
Open or understood, must be resolved."

He spake ; and, to confirm his words, out-flew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim ; the sudden blaze ^^5

Far round illumined Hell. Highly they raged
Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms
Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war
Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven.

Led by Ma7nnion they quarry gold and cast it, ready Jor
use in building their palace.

There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top ^'70
Belched fire and rolling smoke ; the rest entire
Shone with a glossy scurf — undoubted sign

656. eruption, sortie, expedition: lit. "outbreak."

660-662. despaired, resolved : cp. 208 and note.

662. understood — among ourselves.

668 This was the custom of Roman soldiers when applauding a gen-
eral's speech. Note the expressiveness of this line through the repetition
of the notion of sound in the words cla tied, soitndt'ng and din. Cp 768

670. grisly, horrible, hideous. Cp. ii. 704.

671. the rest entire, " all the rest."

672-674. the work of sulphur. According to the alchemists, sulphur
(understood as a vague " principal of fixation," not the substance we call
sulphur was the chief agent in the formation 'of metals by its action on
" earth," on the " seeds of metals," etc. The phrase, work of sulphur,
refers to the metal either in the earth as metallic ore) or cropping out
(as a sulphide) in flakes on the surface (glossy scurf).

PARADISE LOS'l. 41

That in his womb was hid metallic ore,
The work of sulphur. Thither, winged with speed,
A numerous brigad hastened : as when bands ^75
Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe armed.
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field.
Or cast a rampart. Mammcn led them on —
Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell
From Heaven ; for even in Heaven his looks and
thoughts 6^°

Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, .
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed
In vision beatific. By him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught, ^^5

Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth
For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
Opened into the hill a spacious wound,
And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire ^9°
That riches grow in Hell ; that soil may best

675. brigad, brigade.

676 pioneers. Pioneers clear the way for an army by making roads,
etc.

678. Mammon (Syriac , riches, here used as a proper noun (like
P.eliai, 499 ).

679. erected, high-minded, upright, noble.

682. Revelation xxi 21.

684. vision beatific, a phrase used by early Christian writers to de-
note the " sight of CJod," for which they hoped, and which was to give
them perfect liappiness. Cp. Matt/tew v. 8.

688. For treasures better hid, I'.e for gold, better left undisturbed.

690. admire, wonder. Cp. ii. 677-678.

42 PARADISE LOST.

Deserve the precious bane. And here let those
Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings,
Learn how -their greatest monuments of fame, "^95
And strength, and art, are easily outdone
By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour
What in an age they, with incessant toil
And hands innumerable, scarce perform.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared, 7°°

That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore.
Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion-dross.
A third as soon had formed within the ground 705
A various mould, and from the boiling cells
By strange conveyance filled each hollow nook ;

694. Babel, probably Babylon, noted for its vast walls, its hanging
gardens, and the Temple of Belus (720 .

Memphian, Egyptian, as in 307, from Meviphis, the ancient
capital. Egypt was famous for its pyramids and for its temples of Serapis
(720 . In 1. 718 the new city of Memphis is mentioned under the name
Alcairo, the modern Cairo. Probably in the latter passage there is a
repetition of line 694 under different names. Note that in the second
passage Milton uses the more modern names, perhaps to suggest different
aspects of the cities. But possibly Babel denoies the tower of Babel, and
Memphian may be used in a much wider sense than Alcairo.

698-669. Herodotus tells us that there were 366,000 men employed for
twenty years in the building of the Great Pyramid.

702. Sluiced A sluice is a sliding gate for regulating the flow of a
liquid.

703 tounded, melted. The process of purifying is now called smelt-
ing; \\\\crcAs/07cnit iiig 705-707) denotes a later and final melting and
moulding of the metal

704. bullion refers to the unpurified metal ore.

dross, the impurities in the ore which float on the surface of the
molten metal, forming a scum; so that the bitlh'on-dross is the scum that
comes from the bullion.

PARADISE LOST. 43

As in an organ, from one blast of wind,

To many a row of pipes the sound- board- breathes.

Pandemonium described : its ar hitect, Mulciber.

Anon out of the earth a fabric huge 71°

Rose, like an exhalation, with the sound

Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet —

Built like a temple, where pilasters round

Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid

With golden architrave ; nor did there want 715

Cornice or frieze with bossy sculptures graven :

The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon

Nor great Alcairo such magnificence

Equalled in all their glories, to enshrine

Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat 720

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

706. various, elaborate, intricate; e.g. the frieze and the roof (706-
707) would require such mouldings.

708-709. All the pipes in an organ are supplied with wind from a wind-
chest, of which the sound-board forms the upper part.

712. dulcet symphonies, sweet accompanying chords or strains (on
instruments .

7 ■3-717 like a temple. In Greece and in Asia Minor there were
many temples, mostly Doric, and their rows of pillars formed a conspicu-
ous feature.

713. pilasters, square pillars partly sunk in a wall.

714. Doric Pillars, round pillar> of a massive, simple style, with plain
capital. Cp. note on "Dorian mood," 550. (The other two orders of
pillars are Ionic — fluted, with voluted capitals; and Corinthian — lighter
columns, with highly ornamented capitals.)

71 s. Architrave The beam or stone-work which rests immediately
on the top of a row of pillars ; above it is an ornament called the frieze,
and above that a projecting part, called the cornice. Architrave means
chief beam.

716. bossy, standing out prominently.

717-720. See 694 «.

44 PARADISE LOST.

In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile

Stood fixed her stately highth ; and straight the

doors,
Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide
Within, her ample spaces o'er the smooth 725

And level pavement : from the arched roof.
Pendant by subtle magic, many a row
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky. The hasty multitude 730

Admiring entered ; and the work some praise,
And some the architect. His hand was known
In Heaven by many a towered structure high.
Where sceptered Angels held their residence,
And sat as princes, whom the supreme King 735
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Each in his Hierarchy, the Orders bright.
Nor was his name unheard or unndored
In ancient (xrcece ; and in Ausonian land
Men called him Mulciber ; and how he fell 740

From Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove

728. A cresset was a lamp consisting of a small, open, iron cai^e or
vessel, in which was placed rope or tow steeped in pitch, etc It was
usually carried hanging from the top of a pole.

737. fn the middle ages it was supposed that the angels were of two
kinds. Cherubim and Sera])him, or angels of light and angels of love,
divided into three groups or Hierarchies, each consisting of three Orders

739 Ausonian land, Italy; from Ausonia, an ancient name for central
Italy.

740. Mulciber, the softener, the metal-founder. Another name for
Vulcan, the R(nuan god of fire. In Greece he was called Hephaestus.
He was smith and armorer to the gods of OlympuSj and was represented
as lame.

PARADISE LOS'l. 45

Sheer o'er the crystal battlenienls : from morn

To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,

A summer's day, and with the setting sun

Dropped from the zenith, like a falling star, 745

On ].emnos, the y5^]gean isle. Thus they relate,

Erring ; for he with this rebellious rout

Fell long before ; nor aught availed him now

To have built in Heaven high towers ; nor did he

scape
By ail his engines, but was headlong sent, 750

With his industrious crew, to build in Hell.

" The worthiest " sui?imoned to a council, they and theit-
attendants swarm in, and fill the hall " both on the ground
and in the air.\

Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command
Of sovran power, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host ]>roclaim
A solemn council forthwith to be held 755

At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers. Their summons called
From every band and squared regiment
By place or choice the worthiest : they anon
With hundreds and with thousands trooping came 7^°

746. Hence this island was sacred to Hephsestiis, and here he had his
forge !

750. engines, contrivances, ingenuity. Cp. Ben Jonson: " Sejaniis
worketh with all his ingine."

753. sovran. See 246 w.

aweful, awe-inspiring.

756. Pandemonium, the palace (or temple) " of all the demons."
Cp. Pantheon, a Roman temple to all the gods.

46 PARADISE LOST.

Attended. All access was thronged ; the gates
And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall
(Though like a covered field, where champions bold
Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan's chair
Defied the best of Panim chivalry 76s

To mortal combat, or career with lance).
Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air.
Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees
In spring-time, when the sun with Taurus rides.
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive 770
In clusters ; they among ft-esh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank.
The suburb of their straw-built citadel,
New rubbed with balm, expatiate, and confer
Their state affairs : so thick the aery crowd 775

Swarmed and were straitened ; till, the signal given.

The followers, at a signal, all contract : the leaders hold a
cotmcil.

Behold a wonder ! They, but now who seemed
In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons,

764. soldan's, sultan's.

765. Panim, belonging to a Pagan or heathen country.

766. career, the galloping of the combatants towards one another along
the course. Note the two Vinds of combat referred to; in the second the
points of the lanceS were blunted.

769. In April the sun traverses that part of the sky in which the con-
stellation Taurus is situated.

773. citadel, a little city — not a fort here.

974. balm, balsam; used by Milton for any fragrant resin or gum.

expatiate, spread out.

confer, discuss.
776. straitened, crowded close together for want of space.

PARADISE LOST. 47

Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room

'1 hrong numberless — like that pygmean race 780

Beyond the Indian mount ; or faery elves,

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side.

Or fountain, some belated peasant sees.

Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth 785

Wheels her pale course : they, on their mirth and

dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear ;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms
Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large, 79°
Though without number still, amidst the hall
Of that infernal court. But far within.
And in their own dmiensions like themselves,
The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim
In close recess and secret conclave sat, 79s

A thousand demigods on golden seats,
Frequent and full. After short silence then.
And summons read, the great consult began.

780. pygmean race. See 575 «.

781. Indian mount, the Himalayas.

785 arbitress, witness, spectator.

nearer to the earth. Fairies, witches, etc., were supposed to be
able to draw the moon down towards the earth by their enchantments.

795. recess, retirement, or, a retired place.

conclave, assembly. This is the name specially applied to the
secret meeting of cardinals at Rome when a pope is to be elected.

797. frequent, numerous, crowded; qualifying conclave.

798 consult, consultation.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK II.

The Argument.

The consultation begun, Satan debates, wheiher another
battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven : some
advise it, others dissuade. A third proposal is preferred,
mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that
prophecy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world,
and an other kind of creature equal or not much inferior to them-
selves, about this time to be created : their doubt who shall be
sent on this difficult search. Satan, their chief, undertakes
alone the voyage, is honored and applauded. The council
thus ended, the rest betake them several ways and to several
employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the
time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell-
gates; finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by
whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the
great gulf between Hell and Heaven : with what difficulty he
passes through, directed by Chaos, the Power of that place, to
the sight of this new world which he sought.

48

BOOK TI.

The council opened by Satan: " We are united^ and con-
Jident of our pozver; how can we best regain Heaven? ^^

High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the weahh of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised 5

To that bad eminence ; and, from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heaven, and, by success untaught.
His proud imaginations thus displayed : — '°

" Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven ! —

2. Ormus, on an is'and in the Persian Gulf, was at this time famous as
a great and wealthy trading centre, being specially renowned for jewels.
Ind, India.

4. Showers, etc. It was an Eastern cus'om to powder a monarch, at
his coronation, with gold-dust and seed-pe.irl, and to strew pearls and
jewels at his feet.

9. success, the result, namely — failure, defeat.

II. Powers, etc. In the middle ages it was supposed that the angels
were of two kinds. Cherubim and Seraiihim or angels of light and angels
of love .divided into three grades: Archangeis or Chiefs, e.ff. Michael,
Raphael, and Lucifer - afterward- Satan ; Princes of vari' us degrees, e.g.
Beezlel)ub, Mammon, Belial; and individual P .wers and Intel igniccs.
According to another scheme, however, there were three Hierar hi<. s, each
consisting of three Orders: i) Seraphim. Cherubim, an ! Throne*-; (2)
Dc-minatinns, Virtue-, and Powers; 3 Principalities Archangels, and
Angels. T'e matter is of little importance as regards this poem, for Milton
seems to use the titles at random.

49

50 PARADISE LOST.

For, since no deep within her gulf can hold
Immortal vigor, though oppressed and fallen,
I give not Heaven for lost : from this descent
Celestial Virtues rising will appear ^5

More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
And trust themselves to fear no second fate ! —
Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven,
Did first create your leader, next, free choice,
With what besides, in council or in fight, 2°

Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss.
Thus far at least reco/ered, hath much more
Established in a safe unenvied throne.
Yielded with full consent. The happier state
III Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw ^5
Envy from each inferior ; but who here
Will envy whom the highest place exposes
Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
Of endless pain? Where there is then no good 30
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

12, deep, Chaos.

gulf, the lowest part of Chaos, called also the " pit," " Hell," etc
See Introduction.

19. free choice. He had been accepted, if not chosen (1. 24). His
leadership seems to have been taken as a matter of course so far, but to
judge by this speech, Satan himself was far from feeling secure. Note how
skilfully he makes use of the assumption in 1. 11; that granted, the laws of
Heaven will have more force, which will strengthen his position as their
(natur^il) head. We shall see in the speeches following indications of an
independent spirit amongst the leaders.

11-42. Satan's speech.

(i) Why will the spirits appear " more glorious," etc., after rising?

(1 i6.'
(2 Note how anxious Satan is to keep his position as chief, whilst he

is showing what an unenviable post it is.
(3) Note how he ignores all possibility of failure or greater punishment.

PARADISE LOST. 5 I

From faction ; for none sure will claim in Hell

Precedence : none whose portion is so small

Of present pain that with ambitious mind

Will covet more. With this advantage, then, 35

To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,

More than can be in Heaven, we now return

To claim our just inheritance of old ;

Surer to prosper than prosperity

Could have assured us ; and, by what best way, 40

Whether of open war or covert guile.

We now debate ; who can advise may speak."

He ceased ; and next him Moloch, sceptered king,
Stood up : the strongest and the fiercest spirit
That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair. 45
His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed
Equal in strength, and rather than be less
Cared not to be at all. With that care lost
Went all his fear; of God, or Hell, or worse.
He recked not, and these words thereafter
spake : — 50

Moloc/i's speeih: "I vote for zvar forthwith; ev n if we fail
our lot cannot become worse^

" My sentence is for open war. Of wiles,
More unexpert, I boast not ; them let those
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.

43-45. Moloch (/>. king or ruler is specially mentioned in the war in
Heaven, where he is called " furious king" (bk. vi ), and he was the first
of the leaders to come up and greet Satan (and Beelzebub after the fall
(i. 392)-

51-52. sentence, vote.

52 P.ARADISE LOST.

For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest —

Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait 55

The signal to ascend — sit lingering here,

Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place

Accept this dark, opprobrious den of shame.

The prison of his tyranny who reigns

By our delay? No ! let us rather choose, ^°

Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once

O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way,

Turning our tortures into horrid arms

x-Xgainst the Torturer ; when, to meet the noise

Of his almighty engine, he shall hear ^s

Infernal thunder, and, for lightning, see

Black fire and horror shot with equal rage

Among his Angels, and his throne itself

Mixed with Tartarean sulphur and strange fire.

His own invented torments. But perhaps 7°

The way seems difficult and steep to scale

With upright wing against a higher foe.

Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench

54-56 stand in arms, probably, " are ready armed." Stand and sit
must not be taken literally, for the numberless spirits who were waiting in
the Hall of the Palace swarmed " both on the ground and in the air."

65. almighty engine. For description see vi 749-766. The term
engine is applied to any mechanical contrivance, as to Satan's cuunou.
Cp. also i. 750.

67. Black fire and horror, for " black horrid fire."

69. Tartarean, from Tartartis, part of the classical hell.

72. wing, course or flight.

73. drench, draught, that which drenches or soaks.

PARADISE LOST. 53

Of that forgetful lake benumb not still,
That in our proper motion we ascend 75

Up to our native seat ; descent and fall
To us is adverse. Who but,felt of late,
When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear
Insulting, and pursued us through the Deep,
With what compulsion and laborious flight 8°

We sunk thus low? The ascent is easy, then ;
The event is feared !. Should we again provoke
Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find
To our destruction, if there be in Hell
Fear to be worse destroyed ! What can be worse ^5
Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, con-
demned
In this abhorred Deep to utter woe ;
Where pain of unextinguishable fire
Must exercise us without hope of end.
The vassals of his anger, when the scourge 9°

Inexorably, and the torturing hour.
Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus,
We should be quite abolished, and expire.

74. forgetful. This word must be taken in a limited sense, for we find
that after their nine days stup.jr on (nr in) the " oblivious pool" (i. 266),
they could recall the past Indeed, the memory of the past seems to be
intended as part of their punishment vi. 717, 718). Hence this lake cor-
responds only slightly to the classical Lethe, though the names applied to
it constantly suggest the latter.

82 event, result, consequence.

83. Our stronger — foe; cp. 406, 409.

89. exercise, constantly torment, afflict.

without hope, etc. Cp. Belial's speech, 1 209, etc.
go vassals, slaves.
92. penance, punishment.

54 PAR-A.DISE LOST.

What fear we then ? What doubt we to incense

His utmost ire ? which, to the highth enraged, 95

Will either quite consume us, and reduce

To nothing this essential — happier far

Than miserable to have eternal being ! —

Or if our substance be indeed divine,

And cannot cease to be, we are at worst ^^

On this side nothing ; and by proof we feel

Our power sufficient to disturb his Heaven,

And with perpetual inroads to alarm.

Though inaccessible, his fatal throne ;

Which, if not victory, is yet revenge." ^°s

He ended frowning, and his look denounced
Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous
To less than gods. On the other side up rose
Belial, in act more graceful and humane ;

94. What doubt we, " why should we hesitate to provoke ? " etc.
97. essential, essence, being.

104. tatai, secured by fate: cp. i. ii6, 133 Byyie/t? the rebels meant
necessity; the nature cf things and course of events regarded as unalter-
able and beyond thi power of the Almighty. Cp. 197-199 and 232; and
contrast vii. 172, where the Almighty says —

" Necessity and Chance,
Approach not me; and what I will is Fate."
See note on 895-913.

51-105. Moloch's speech.

(i) Note Its abruptness; that Moloch speaks first (after Satan ; has
already made up his mind; sneers at those who differ from him;
and does not address the assembly by name. (Cp. Satan's
opening, Belial's, and Beelzebub's )

105. The speech ends forcibly with the strong and characteristic word
" revenge," pronounced, no doubt, in a loud voice, and emphasized with a
terrible frown. Milton makes a fine contrast between the undisguised
ferocity with which Moloch ends his speech, and the graceful uprising of
the next speaker.

106. denounced, signified in a threatening manner.

109. Belial. Cp. i. 490-505. Note the contrast between him and
Moloch.

humane, of polished manners Now it means pitiful, kind. ;

PARADISE LOST. 55

A fairer person lost not Heaven ; he seemed "°
For dignity composed and high exploit.
But all was false and hollow ; though his tongue
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels : for his thoughts were low — "s
To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear,
And with persuasive accent thus began : —

BeliaVs speech: " Better bear our present ills than risk
worse. ^^

" I should be much for open war, O Peers,
As not behind in hate, if what was urged '2°

Main reason to persuade immediate war
Did ndt dissuade me most, and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success ;
When he who most excels in fact of arms.
In what he counsels and in what excels ^^5

Mistrustful, 'grounds his courage on despair
And utter dissolution, as the scope
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven arc
filled

113. Dropt manna Cp. Homer's phrase," Speech softer than honey."
Manna tasted " like wafers made with honey " ; Exodus, xvi. 31.

113-114. made the worse . . . reason. This is called sophistry.

124. fact, same as/t-rt/

127. scope. This difficult word seems to refer to the range of Moloch's
hopes — from present misery, relieved by revenge, to " utter dissolution "
as the worst that can befall them.

56 PARADISE LOST.

With arm^d watch, that render all access ^3°

Impregnable ; oft on the bordering Deep

Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing

Scout far and wide into the realm of Night,

Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way

By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise ^35

With blackest insurrection, to confound

Heaven's purest light, yet our great enemy,

All incorruptible, would on his throne

Sit unpolluted, and the ethereal mould.

Incapable of stain, would soon expel ^4°

Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire.

Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope

Is flat despair : we must exasperate

The almighty victor to spend all his rage ;

And that must end us ; that must be our cure — ^45

To be no more. Sad cure ! for who would lose.

Though full of pain, this intellectual being.

Those thoughts that wander through eternity,

To perish rather, swallowed up and lo5t

In the wide womb of uncreated Night, ^s©

Devoid of sense and motion ? And who knows,

130. access, approach.

139. ethereal mould, the heavenly substance of which the angelic
beings were formed, namely, j'?r<', as the purest of the four elements. It
is also called empyreal substance \\. 117, , and Heaven is the Etnpyrean.

134-1^2. It should be noticed how closely Belial's reply follows the
arguments cf the preceding speech. Lines 134-142, 145-151, 159-185 re-
spectively answer 11 60-70, 97-98, 85-93. The only important part of
Moloch's speech which remains unanswered is the argument to show that
the fallen angels could easily rise upwards (see 11. 70-81). But Belial is
not bound to answer this, as he shows that even though they rose to heaven
they could not surprise its impregnable towers, and would be inevitably
defeated.

PARADISE LOST. 57

Let this be good, whether our angry foe

Can give it, or will ever? How he can,

Is doubtful ; that he never will is sure.

Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire, ^55

Belike through impotence or unaware.

To give his enemies their wish, and end

Them in his anger, whom his anger saves

To punish endless ! * Wherefore cease we then ? '

Say they who counsel war; 'we are decreed, ^^°

Reserved, and destined to eternal woe :

Whatever doing, what can we suffer more.

What can we suffer worse? ' Is this then worst —

Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms ?

What when we fled amain, pursued, and strook ^^s

With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought

The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed

A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay

Chained on the burning lake ? That sure was worse.

What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, ^7°

Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,

And plunge us in the flames ? or from above

Should intermitted vengeance arm again

His red right hand to plague us? What if all

Her stores were opened, and this firmament ^75

Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire,

Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall

156. Belike, indeed, forsooth. Ironical.

impotence, inabi ity to restrain his anger.)
165. amain, in large numbers and with haste. (Lit., " with force. "j

strook, siruck.
177. Impendent, overhanging.

58 PARADISE LOST.

One day upon our heads ; while we perhaps,
Designing or exhorting glorious war,
Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled, f^°

Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey
Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk
Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains.
There to converse with everlasting groans,
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved, ^^5

Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse.
War therefore, open or concealed, alike
My voice dissuades ; for what can force or guile
With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye
Views all things at one view? He from Heaven's

highth ^9^

All these our motions vain sees and derides, —
Not more almighty to resist our might
Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.
Shall we then live thus vile, — the race of Heaven
Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here ^95

Chains and these torments? Better these than

worse,
By my advice ; since fate inevitable
Subdues us, and omnipotent decree,

1S2. racking, harassing, distressing.

187. So far Belial has been answering Moloch's arguments. He now
treats the more general question of debate introduced by Satan. Cf. 11.
187, 188 with 1. 41.

196 Better these than worse, it is better to endure these than worse
torments Belial acts upon the principle expressed i • Hamlet's soliloquy,
where it is said th.it the dread of something after death

" Makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of."

PARADISE LOST. 59

The victor's will. To suffer, as to do,

Our strength is equal, nor the law unjust ^oo

That so ordains : this was at first resolved,

If we were wise, against so great a foe

Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.

I laugh, when those who at the spear are bold

And venturous, if that fail them, shrmk, and fear ^05

What yet they know must follow — to endure

Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain,

The sentence of their conqueror. This is now

Our doom ; which if we can sustain and bear.

Our supreme foe in time may much remit ^^°

His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed,

Not mind us not offending, satisfied

With what is punished ; whence these raging fires

Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.

Our purer essence then will overcome ^'s

Their noxious vapor ; or, inured, not feel ;

Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed

In temper and in nature, will receive

Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain ;

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light ; ^2°

Besides what ho])e the never-ending fiight

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change

Worth waiting, since our present lot appears

201. This was at first resolved. Belial means that, when they
entered upon their perilous attempt, they surely foresaw the possibility of
terrible punishment, and deliberately with their eyes open resolved to run
the risk. By the words " if we were wise " he implies that, if they did not
see all this clearly, they were very stupid.

213. what is punished, the amount of punishment inflicted.

6o PARADISE LOST.

For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
If we procure not to ourselves more woe." 225

Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,
Counselled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth,
Not peace : and after him thus Mammon spake : —

Ma?}imon's speech: " Lei tit give up all thought of returning
to Heaven, and 7/iake the best of our present lot, ivhich
may becovie easier in time.^'

" Either to disenthrone the King of Heaven
We war, if war be best, or to regain 230

Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then
May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield
To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife.
The foimer, vain to hope, argues as vain
The latter : for what place can be for us ^35

Within Heaven's' bound, unless Heaven's Lord

supreme
We overpower? Suppose he should relent.
And publish grace to all, on promise made
Of new subjection ; with what eyes could we
Stand in his presence humble, and receive ^^"^

Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne
With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing

228. Not peace This seems strange at first sight, seeing that Belial was
entirely opposed to war, admitted the justice of their doom 200, 201), and
urged patient submission thereto. He made no acknowledgment, however,
of sinful, but only of unwise action? (U. 201-203 ; suggested that they
should merely offend no further, not that they should confess their wrong,
ask forgiveness, and so become reconciled He assumed that they would
maintain their hostile attitude until the Almighty chose to relent. His
counsel then was to continue in their present antagonism.

Mammon, the least noble of the " spirits that fell." Ste i 678-688.

PARADISE LOST. 6 1

Forced Halleluiahs ; while he lordly sits

Our envied sovran, and his altar breathes

Ambrosial odors and ambrosial flowers, 245

Our servile offerings ? This must be our task

In Heaven, this our delight. How wearisome

Eternity so spent in worship paid

To whom we hate ! Let us not then pursue.

By force impossible, by leave obtained ^50

Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state

Of splendid vassalage ; but rather seek

Our own good from ourselves, and from our own

Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess.

Free and to none accountable, preferring ^ss

Hard Hberty before the easy yoke

Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear

Then most conspicuous, when great things of small.

Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse,

We can create, and in what place soe'er 2^°

Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain

Through labor and endurance. This deep world

Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst

Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven's all-ruling Sire

Choose to reside, his glory unobscured, =^^5

And with the majesty of darkness round

Covers his throne, from whence deep thunders roar

243 Halleluiahs, from halelu, praise ye, and Jah, Jehovah.

245. Ambrosial, fragrant; lit. divine, from Gk. ambrosia, the food of
the gods. A favorite word with Milton.

253. from our own — resources, labor, skill, etc., as e.\plained below.

263-267. Psalm xviii ii, 13, and.xcvii. 2.

62 PARADISE LOST.

Mustering their rage, and Heaven resembles Hell !

As he our darkness, cannot we his light

Imitate when we please ? This desert soil '7°

Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold ;

Nor want we skill or art, from whence to raise

Magnificence ; and what can Heaven show more?

Our torments also may in length of time

Become our elements, these piercing fires ^75

As soft as now severe, our temper changed

Into their temper ; which must needs remove

The sensible of pain. All things invite

To peaceful counsels, and the settled state

Of order, how in safety best we may ^So

Compose our present evils, with regard

Of what we are and where, dismissing quite

All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise."

He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled
The asseii.bly, as when hollow rocks retain ^^s

The sound of blustering winds, which all night long
Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull

270-273. It was Mammon who "led them on " to find gold for their
palace.

275. our elements. Perhaps in allusion to the common belief in the
middle ages that each of the four " elements " was inhabited by its own
peculiar demons, and that these demons were fallen spirits. See Par.
Reg.^n. \i\,t.\.c. Cp the phrase, " He is in his element."

278 sensible, sense. Cp. 97.

281. compose, settle, arrange.

229-283. Mammon's speech.

(i Does reconciliation with the Almighty seem possible in Mam-
mon's case?

(2) Note how the Almighty is assumed to be indifferent to what goes
on outside Heaven — at least is supposed not to interfere. But cp.
317, etc

(3) What new arguments does Mammon introduce?

PARADISE LOST. 6;^

Seafaring men o'er-watched, whose bark by chance,

Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay

After the tempest : such applause was heard ^^o

As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased,

Advising peace ; for such another field

They dreaded worse than Hell : so much the fear

Of thunder and the sword of Michael

Wrought still within them ; and no less desire ^95

To found this nether empire, which might rise.

By policy and long process of time,

In emulation opposite to Heaven.

Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom,

Satan except, none higher sat, with grave 300

A pect he rose, and in his rising seemed

A pillar of state ; deep on his front engraven

Deliberation sat, and public care ;

And princely counsel in his face yet shone,

Majestic though in ruin. Sage he stood, 305

With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear

The weight of mightiest monarchies : his look

Drew audience and attention still as night

288. o'er-watched, worn out through heing awake or on watch so
long

289. pinnace, a smaller vessel than a bark, having oars and sails, or
merely oars,

291. sentence, opinion.

296. nether, lower. C\). Netherlands. (The comparative of «<'«///.)

298. " In aims and aspirations a rival power to Heaven."

299 Beelzebub, Satan's " mate" and " compeer: " see Book i.

306. Atlantean Atlas was one of the Titans. He made wa>- upon
the Gods, and as a punishment had to bear the heavens on his shoulders.

308. audience, hearing.

64 PARADISE LOS'J'.

Or summer's noontide air, while thus he spake : —

Beelzebub's speeches : " Peace, 7oar, and the building up of on
empire are ail out of the question ; Heaven is shut
against us ; let us be revenge-d by spoiling his new
creation.''''

" Thrones and imperial Powers, Offspring of
Heaven, 310

Ethereal Virtues? or these titles now
Must we renounce, and, changing style, be called
Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote
Inclines, here to continue, and build up here
A growing empire ; doubtless, while we dream, 3^5
And know not that the King of Heaven hath

doomed
This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat
Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt
From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league
Banded against his throne, but to remain 320

In strictest bondage, though thus far removed.
Under the inevitable curb, reserved
His captive multitude. For he, be sure.
In highth or depth, still first and last will reign,
Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part 325

By our revolt, but over Hell extend
His empire, and with iron sceptre rule
Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven.

324 Cp. Rev., i II, " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last "

327-328. iron sceptre ..golden. For similar symbolism, cp. v. 886,
887, " golden sceptre,"" iron rod"; and Zjif/V/rt.?, iio-iii, where the
goldenkey admits to heaven, the iron excludes. Cp. Psalm ii. 9.

PARADISE LOST. 65

What sit we then projecting peace and war?

War hath determined us, and foiled with loss 330

Irreparable ; terms of peace yet none

Vouchsafed or sought ; for what peace will be given

To us enslaved, but custody severe.

And stripes, and arbitrary punishment

Inflicted? and what peace can we return, . 335

But to our power, hostility and hate,

Untamed reluctance, and revenge, though slow.

Yet ever plotting how the conqueror least

May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice

In doing what we most in suffering feel ? 340

Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need

With dangerous expedition to invade

Heaven, whose high walis fear no assault or siege.

Or ambush from the Deep. What if we find

Some easier enterprise ? There is a place 345

(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven

Err not), another world, the happy seat

Of some new race called Man, about this time

To be created like to us, though less

In power and excellence, but favored more 350

Of him who rules above ; so was his will

Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath.

determined, made an end of us as a power, been our ruin,
to our power, to the extent of our power.
Untamed reluctance, untamable resistance,
want, opportunity be wanting,
fame, report, rumor.

66 PARADISE LOST.

That shook Heaven's whole circumference, con-
firmed.
Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn
What creatures there inhabit, of v^hat mould, 355
Or substance, how endued, and what their power,
And where their weakness, how attempted best.
By force or subtlety. Though Heaven be shut,
And Heaven's high Arbitrator sit secure
In his own strength, this place may lie exposed, 360
The utmost border of his kingdom, left
To their defence who hold it : here, perhaps.
Some advantageous act may be achieved
By sudden onset — either with Hell-fire
To waste his whole creation, or possess 3b5

All as our own, and drive, as we are driven.
The puny inhabitants ; or, if not drive.
Seduce them to our party, that their God
May prove their foe, and with repenting hand
Abolish his own works. This would surpass 37°

Common revenge, and interrupt his joy
In our confusion, and our joy upraise
In his disturbance ; when his darling sons,
Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse
Their frail original, and faded bUss, 375

357. attempted, tempted, tried.

367. puny, probably " less in power and excellence" (349); possibly,
in literal sense, " later born "; (Fr puisne).

369-370. Cp. Genesis, vi. 7, "I will destroy man . . . ; it repenteth me
that 1 have made them "

375. original, origin or originator, au hor Adam).

PARADISE LOST. 67

Faded so soon ! Advise if this be worth

Attempting, or to sit in darkness here

Hatching vain empires." Thus Beelzebub

Pleaded his devilish counsel, first devised

By Satan, and in part proposed ; for whence, 380

But from the author of all ill, could spring

So deep a malice, to confound the race

Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell

To mingle and involve, done all to spite

The great Creator? But their spite srill serves 385

His glory to augment. The bold design

Pleased highly those infernal States, and joy

Sparkled in all their eyes. With full assent

They vote : whereat his speech he thus renews : —

'* This plan will raise us ou'. of Hell, procure us a pleasanter
abode, and perhaps enable us to atta k Heaven; hut w om
shall we send to explore this new JVorld ? "

" Well have ye judged, well ended long debate, 390
Synod of gods, and, like to what ye are,
Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep
Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate,
Nearer our ancient seat ; perhaps in view
Of those bright confines, whence, with neighboring
arms 395

376. Advise, consider.

379-380. See i. 650-654.

382. confound, ruin.

387. States, as in " three estates of the realm of Great Britain."
Often so used by Shakespeare.

391. Synod, an assembly, a council.

68 PARADISE LOST.

And opportune excursion, we may chance

Re-enter Heaven ; or else in some mild zone

Dwell not unvisited of Heaven's fair light,

Secure, and at the brightening orient beam

Purge off this gloom ; the soft delicious air, 4°°

To heal the scar of these corrosive fires.

Shall breathe her balm. But first, whom shall we

send
In search of this new world? whom shall we find
Sufficient? who shall tempt with wandering feet
The dark, unbottomed, infinite Abyss. 405

And through the palpable obscure find out
His uncouth way, or spread his aery flight.
Upborne with indefatigable wings
Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive
The happy isle? What strength, what art, can

then 4^°

Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe
Through the strict senteries, and stations thick
Of Angels watching round ? Here he had need
All circumspection, and we now no less
Choice in our suffrage ; for on whom we send, 415

396. excursion, sally.

404. tempt, try, investigate, venture into.

406. palpable obscure, thick darkness. Cp. ^jr<?rf?<j, x. 21, " dark-
ness which may be felt "

407. uncouth, unknown and strange. Cp. Scotch unco.
409. the vast abrupt, the vast and steep gulf.

412. senteries, perhaps a corruption of sentinel. Origin of word un-

PARADISE LOST. 69

The weight of all, and our last hope, relies."

This said, he sat ; and expectation held
His look suspense, awaiting who appeared
To second, or oppose, or undertake
The perilous attempt ; but all sat mute, 420

Pondering the danger with deep thoughts, and each
In other's countenance read his own dismay,
Astonished. None among the choice and prime
Of those Heaven-warring champions, could be

found
So hardy as to proffer or accept, 425

Alone, the dreadful voyage ; till, at last,
Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised
Above his fellows, with monarchal pride

310-378 and 390-416. Beelzebub's speeches.

3x5. Notice the rhetorical artifice by which Beelzebub using the first
person appears to include himself among the vain dreamers, whose
delusions he is exposing. He does this to avoid giving offence to Belial
and Mammon.

(i) He considers Hell to be their dungeon (317" ; hence, perhaps, his
dislike of the title " Princes of Hell."

(2 ) Why is peace out of the question?

It will be noticed that Satan takes no part in the debate; he resembles
the chairman of a meeting, rather than a general presiding over a council
of war After stating his proposition in the briefest terms (11.37,38 , he
leaves it to the Council to decide what shall be done. With respect to the
other four speakers and their speeches, it may be helpful to the student to
make a comparison, in tabular form, of the chief points; e. g. {a) the
character of the spe iker: (h) the style and tone of his speech; (c) his
motive and aims ; ( d < his plan ; {e any striking merit or defect in it ; etc.
Thus if we take the first. Moloch, very briefly, we find that a) he is
strong, fierce and reckless (11. 43-50 ; ^ he is blunt, lacking in cour-
tesy, and disparaging in referring to opponents (11. 51-54, and 73 ' ; ci his
motive is ambition to be equal to the Almighty and desire for revenge at
any cost (11. 46, 47, and 105 ; {d he has no plan— -urges mere brute
force; {e he assumes that punishment for the failure is out of the ques-
tion, because (i) their lot is already as bad as possible (11. 92, 93), and
(2) it will not improve (1. 89).

418. suspense, in suspense.

423. Astonished, filled with dismay, appalled at the daring sug.
gestion.

yO PARADISE LOST.

Conscious of highest worth, unmoved thus spake : —

Satan'' s second speech : " We may well pause; the undertaking
is a perilous one, but I accept as great a share of hazard
as of hotior, attd zvill make the attempt alone.''''

'* O Progeny of Heaven, empyreal Thrones ! 430
With reason hath deep silence and demur
Siezed us, though undismayed. Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light;
Our prison strong ; this huge convex of fire,
Outrageous to devour, immures us round ^^35

Ninefold, and gates of burning adamant.
Barred over us, prohibit all egress.
These passed, if any pass, the void profound
Of unessential Night receives him next.
Wide-gaping, and with utter loss of being 440

Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf.
If thence he 'scape into whatever world
Or unknown region, what remains him less
Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape?
But I should ill become this throne, O Peers, 445
And this imperial sovranty, adorned
With splendor, armed with power, if aught proposed
And judged of public moment, in the shape
Of difficulty or danger, could deter
Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume 450

434. convex, vaulted roof ; or perhaps the whole of Hell (See /«/r^.
fig/2.)
439. unessential, having no essence, or being.
441. abortive, producing nothing Cp. 149,150.

PARADISE LOST. 7 1

These royalties, and not refuse to reign,

Refusing to accept as great a share

Of hazard as of honor, due alike

To him who reigns, and so much to him due

Of hazard more, as he above the rest 455

High honored sits ? Go, therefore, mighty Powers,

Terror of Heaven, though fallen ! intend at home.

While here shall be our home, what best may ease

The present misery, and render Hell

More tolerable ; if there be cure or charm 460

To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain

Of this ill mansion : intermit no watch

Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad

Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek

Deliverance for us all. This enterprise 465

None shall partake with me."

The council over, the leaders issue forth 7uith Satan: their
con ord suggests to the poet the discord of men.

Thus saying, rose
The monarch, and prevented all reply ,
Prudent, lest, from his resolution raised,
Others among the chief might offer now
(Certain to be refused) what erst they feared ; 470
And, so refused, might in opinion stand
His rivals, winning cheap the high repute,

452. Refusing, if I refuse.

457. intend, attend to this, consider.

470. erst, at first, or before.

72 PARADISE LOST.-

Which he, through hazard huge, must earn. But

they
Dreaded not more the adventure than his voice
Forbidding ; and at once with him they rose. 475
Their rising all at once was as the sound
Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend
With awful reverence prone ; and as a god
Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven :
Nor failed they to express how much they praised
That for the general safety he despised 481

His own ; for neither do the spirits damned
Lose all their virtue ; lest bad men should boast
Their specious deeds on Earth, which glory excites,
Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal. 485

Thus they their doubtful consultations dark
Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief.
As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds
Ascending, while the North-wind sleeps, o'erspread
Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element 490

Scowls o'er the darkened landskip snow, or shower ;
If chance the radiant sun with farewell sweet
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive.
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. 495

O shame to men ! Devil with devil damned
Firm concord holds ; men only disagree
Of creatures rational, though under hope
Of heavenly grace ; and, God proclaiming peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife 500

PARADISE LOST. 73

Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,

Wasting the earth, each other to destroy :

As if (wliich might induce us to accord)

Man had not hellish foes enow besides,

That day and night for his destruction wait ! 505

The Stygian council thus dissolved ; and forth
In order came the grand infernal Peers :
Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed
Alone the antagonist of Heaven, nor less
Than Hell's dread Emperor, with pomp supreme, 510
And God-like imitated state. Him round
A globe of fiery Seraphim enclosed,
With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms.
Then of their session ended they bid cry
With trumpet's regal sound the great result. 515

Towards the four winds four speedy Cherubim
Put to their mouths the sounding alchymy,
By herald's voice exclaimed; the hollow Abyss
Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell
With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim 520

During Satati' s absence the spirits pass the time in gameSyivild
f7-eaks, music, discussion, or exploration.

Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat
raised

504. enow, enough.

513. horrent, bristling.

517. alchymy, the art of mixing and transmuting metals, then the mix-
ture so formed, especially a particular alloy much used ia the trumpet:
hence the trumpet itself.

74 - PARADISE LOST.

By false presumptuous hope, the ranged powers

Disband ; and, wandering, each his several way

Pursues, as inclination or sad choice

Leads him perplexed, where he may likehest find 525

Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain

The irksome hours, till his great chief return.

Part on the plain or in the air sublime

Upon the wing or in swift race contend.

As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields ; 530

Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal

With rapid wheels, or fronted brigads form :

As when to warn proud cities, war appears

Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush

To battle in the clouds ; before each van 535

Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears,

Till thickest legions close ; with feats of arms

From either end of heaven the welkin burns.

526. entertain, pass, while away.
528. sublime, 'raised) aloft.

530. The Olympian and Pythian games were national Greek festivals,
the former held at Olympia every fifth year and lasting for five days; the
latter at Delphi, in honor of Apollo. At Olympia foot-races were more
numerous than horse races (note 11. 531, 532). The only prize given was
a garland of wild olive The name and country state) of each competitor
were announced by a herald. (The Olympian games have lately been
revived 1896^, after a lapse of fifteen centuries.)

531. shun the goal, — in turning.
532 fronted, opposed.

536. Prick, spur.

couch, poise, bala ce ready for throwing.

533-538. Probably Milton is describing the appearance presented by
masses of black cloud in a red sky, as often seen towards sunset. Some
suggest the Aicrora Borenlis. Iri either case note the appropriateness of
burns. Striking phenomena of this kind, meteors, etc., were formerly
regarded as omens: hence warn 1. 533)- Cp. 1. 597-599 ;/ Note the
peculiar use of " heaven " here — "the heavens," the sky, the upheaved
part

PARADISE LOST. 75

Others, with vast Typhcean rage, more fell,

Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air 54°

In whirlwind ; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar :

As when Alcides, from CEchalia crowned

With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and tore

Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines,

And Lichas from the top of CEta threw 545

Into the Euboic sea. Others more mild,

Retreated in a silent valley, sing

With notes angelical to many a harp

Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall

By doom of battle : and complain that Fate 550

Free virtue should enthral to Force or Chance.

Their song was partial ; but the harmony

(What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?)

Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment

53q. vast Typhcean rage. Typhon or Typhosus was a giant with a
hundred heads. From his mouths and eyes he darted fire, and he uttered
horrid yells like the discordant shrieks of different animals. He made war
upon the gods and frightened them away, but at la-tZeus put him to flight
with his thunderbolts and burned him under Mount Etna.

542. Alcides, i.e. Hercules, — so called because he was the grandson of
Alcaius, — on returning home from CEch-^lia a town in Thessaly) where
he had slain Eu'ytus, received (at tlie hands of his comp nion 1-ichas) a
robe sent by his own wife, Deianira, who had previously dipped it in
a potion of some kind, hoping thereby to regain his :iffection The potion
proved poisonous Hercules in his rage hurled Lichas into the sea, then
ascended Mount (l^ta (in Thessaly) , built a large funeral pile and lay down
upon it to be burnt Jupiter, in admiration, took him up to heaven in a
chariot.

546. Euboic sea, east of Mount Q^ta, by the Island Euboea.

547. Retreated : not the past tense, but the participle — remote,
secluded.

552 partial, / e. in praise of their oivn deeds only, therefore contrasted
with their music, which pleased everybody.

554. Suspended, etc., held in suspense, made everyone pause from
what he was doing.

76 PARADISE LOST.

The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet 555

(For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense),

Others apart sat on a hill retired,

In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high

Of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate —

Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute — 560

And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.

Of good and evil much they argued then.

Of happiness and final misery.

Passion and apathy, and glory and shame —

Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy ! 565

Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm

Pain for a while, or anguish, and excite

Fallacious hope, or arm the obdured breast

With stubborn patience, as with triple steel.

Another part, in squadrons and gross bands, 570

On bold adventure to discover wide

That dismal world, if any clime perhaps

Might yield them easier habitation, bend

Four ways their flying march, along the banks

Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge 575

Into the burning lake their baleful streams —

Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate ;

Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep

564 Passion and apathy. In the Stoic philosophy, /^jj/i^jm (/^^A^j)
was any affection of the mind causing joy or grief; apathy, the mastery of
such feeUiigs

568. obdured, hardened

576, etc. The names of the five rivers are from the classics; the mean-
ing of each name is explained. It is Milton's own device to drain four of
them into the lake. Note the contrast between Phlegeton and Lethe.

PARADISE LOST. 77

Cocytus, named of lamentation loud

Heard on the rueful stream ; fierce Phlegeton, 580

Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.

Far off from these a slow and silent stream,

Lethe, the river of oblivion rolls

Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks

Forthwith his former state and being forgets, 585

Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.

Beyond this flood a frozen continent

Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms

Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land

Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems 590

Of ancient pile ; all else deep snow and ice,

A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog

Betwixt Damiata and Mount Cassius old.

Where armies whole have sunk : the parching air

Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire. 595

Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled,

At certain revolutions all the damned

Are brought ; and feel by turns the bitter change

581. torrent, scorching.

584. watery labyrinth, winding stream.

592-594. The lake or swamp Serbonis was a kind of lagoon east of
Damiata i^Damietta\ at the mouth of the Nile. Cassius was only a large
sand-hill. The place was evidently a quicksand and is now dried up.
Some Persian troops invading Egypt were lost here: but this is the only
known instance of such disaster.

595. frore, froren or frozen.

596. The Furies were goddes.ses of vengeance: the Harpies, winged
monsters having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture, and feet
armed with sliarp claws.

haled, hauled.

597. revolutions (of time), the ends of certain periods.

78 PARADISE LOST.

Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,

From beds of raging fire to starve in ice ^°°

Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine

Immovable, infixed, and frozen round

Periods of time ; thence hurried back to fire.

They ferry over this Lethean sound

Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment, 6°5

And wish and struggle, as they pass to reach

The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose

In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,

All in one moment, and so near the brink ;

But Fate withstands, and to oppose the attempt, ^^°

Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards

The ford, and of itself the water flies

All taste of living wight, as once it fled

The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on

In confused march forlorn, the adventurous bands, ^^5

With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast.

Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found

No rest. Through may a dark and dreary vale

They passed, and many a region dolorous.

600. starve, cause to perish. Formerly to starve or sterve was
simply to die " Christ sterved upon the cross," Chaucer ; now it means
to die of hunger.

611. Medusa was one of the Gorgons (628) — monsters having brazen
claws and wings; and hissing serpents or snakes for hair — and her head
was so terrible that to look at it caused death.

613. wight, creature, person.

614. Tantalus, a son of Zeus, divulged the secrets of the gods. For
punishment he was afflicted with a raging thirst and placed in a lake, the
waters of which receded when he tried to drink of them; and above his
head there hung a cluster of grapes which always withdrew from his grasp.
Hence the word " tantalize."

PARADISE LOST. 79

O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, ^^°

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, arid shades of

death —
A universe of death, which God by curse
Created evil, for evil only 'good ;
Where all life dies, death lives and nature breeds
Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, ^^5
Abominable, inutterable, and worse
Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimaeras dire.

Satan's Journey; at Hell-gate, he meets ivith Sin and Dtath,
its guardians.

Meanwhile the Adversary of God and Man,
Satan, with thoughts inflamed of highest design, ^3°
Puts on swift wings, and towards the gates of Hell
Explores his solitary flight : sometimes
He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left;
Now shaves with level wing the deep ; then soars
Up to the fiery concave, towering high. ^35

As when far off at sea a fleet descried
Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds
Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles

620. Alp, any high mountain. Gaelic alp, a mountain

628. Hydra. The Hydra of Lernae was a monster that ravaged the
country about Argos, and was slain by Hercules. It had nine heads, and
if one was cut off two others at once grew in its place Hercules, there-
fore, obtained the help of lolas, who, as soon as a head was cut off, applied
a burning iron to the wound.

Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster, a compound of lion, dragon,
and goat.

638. Close sailing, probably sailing close together, for protection.
Bengala, Bengal.

8o PARADISE LOST.

Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring
Their spicy drugs ; they on the trading flood, ^40
Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape,
Ply stemming nightly toward the pole ; so seemed
Far off the flying Fiend. • At last appear
Hell-bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof,
And thrice threefold the gates ; three folds were
brass, ^45

Three iron, three of adamantine rock.
Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire.
Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat
On either side a formidable Shape.
The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair, ^50
But ended foul in many a scaly fold
Voluminous and vast — a serpent armed
With mortal sting. About her middle round
A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked.
With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung ^55
A hideous peal ; yet, when they list, would creep,
If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb,

639. Ternate and Tidore, two of the Moluccas, famous for spices.

641 Ethiopian, Indian Ocean.

642. nightly: the comparison is between Satan flying through the
gloom of Hell towards its gate, and a fleet sailing by night towards the
pole. For other similes see i 192-210.

647. impaled, inclosed.

654. cry, pack ; a term used in hunting.

655 These hounds are compared to Cerhcriis, Pluto's many-headed
dog that guarded the gate of the lower regions, preventing the livmg from
entering "and the dead from escaping. Orpheus, when in search of
Eurydice, charmed Cerberus with his music.

656. list, please.

. PARADISE LOST. 8 1

And kennel there ; yet there still barked and

howled
Within unseen. Far less abhorred than these
Vexed Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts ^60

Calabria, from the hoarse Trinacrian shore;
Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, called
In secret, riding through the air she comes.
Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland witches, while the laboring moon ^^s
Eclipses at their charms. The other Shape —
If shape it might be called that shape had none
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb ;
Or substance might be called that shadow seemed,
For each seemed either — black it stood as Night, ^70

660. Scylla was a beautiful maiden who used to bathe in the strait.
Circe, out of jealousy, threw poisonous herbs into ihe water and so
caused her to assume a form something like that here attributed to Sin.
According to the legend she was afterwards changed into the rocks which
"Still bear her name.

661. Calabria, east of the straits of Messina.

Trinacria, Sicily, the north-east coast of which is steep and
rocky — hence the epithet jioarse.

662. the night-hag. probably Hecate, who was regarded in the middle
ages as the queen of witches. Cp. Macbeth, iii. 5, 20, " I am for the
air," etc.

665. Lapland is the traditional home of witches.

witches are said to have been specially addicted to killing infants,
laboring, in Latin sense {laborare, to be eclipsed). Witches
were supposed to be able to draw down the moon and to eclipse it.

648-673. Notice the skilful way in which Milton suggests rather than
describes these two "shapes," Sin and Death — the latter especially.
Both are " formidable " and vast, vague, and indistinct, and repulsive 111
the extreme. Sin is, at first view, *' fair" and attractive, but on a nearer
view her appearance indicates the cold, pitile>s,* deadly power of tl e
snake. The Hell-hounds are taken by Addison to symbolize " the terrors
of an evil conscience." Death is appropriately depicted as fierce and
aggressive, and at the same time more shadowy and iiit;mgible and so
more difflcult to combat. We shall see that Sin is'the offspring of Satan's
pride, and Death the child of Sin. The allegory is evidently based on
James i. 15.

82 PARADISE LOST.

Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,

And shook a dreadful dart; what seemed his head

The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

Satan was now at hand, and from his seat

The monster moving onward came as fast ^75

With horrid strides ; Hell trembled as he strode.

The undaunted Fiend what this might be admired —

Admired, not feared (God and his Son except,

Created thing naught valued he nor shunned),

And with disdainful look thus first began : ^^°

" Whence, and what art thou, execrable Shape,
That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance
Thy miscreated front athwart my way
To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass.
That be assured, without leave asked of thee. ^^s
Retire ; or taste thy folly, and learn by proof,
Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven."

To whom the Goblin, full of wrath, replied : —
*' Art thou that Traitor Angel, art thou he.
Who first brok,e peace in Heaven and faith, till
then 690

Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms
Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons.
Conjured against the Highest, for which both thou
And they, outcast from God, are here condemned
To waste eternal days in woe and pain ? ^95

And reckon'st thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven,

677, admired, wondered, marvelled.

678, 679. Compare Satan with Moloch.
693. Conjured, banded together by oath.

PARADISE *LOSl'. 83

Hell-doomed, and breath'st defiance here and scorn,
Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more.
Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,
False fugitive ; and to thy speed add wings, 7°°

Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue
Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart
Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before. *'

The impending combat is prevented by Sin, ivho explains
the situation.

So spake the grisly Terror, and in shape.
So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold 705
More dreadful and deform. On the other side.
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burned.
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair 710

Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head
Levelled his deadly aim ; their fatal hands
No second stroke intend ; and such a frown
Each cast at the other, as when two black clouds,
With Heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on 7^5
Over the Caspian, then stand front to front
Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow
To join their dark encounter in mid air :

701. whip, etc. Cp I Ki7igs,\\\.\\.

709. Ophiuchus, the Serpent, a very large constellation in the northern
hemisphere.

715. fraught, laden, charged.

716. the Caspian was supposed by the classical poets) to be specially
subject to violent storms.

84 PAR-^^TDISE LOST.

So frowned the mighty combatants, that Hell
Grew darker at their frown ; so matched they
stood ; 720

For never but once more was either like
To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds
Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the snaky Sorceress, that sat
Fast by Hell-gate, and kept the fatal key, 725

Risen, and with hideous outcry rushed between.

'' O father, what intends thy hand," she cried,
" Against thy only son ? What fury, O son,
Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart
Against thy father's head? and know'st for whom ; 73°
For him who sits above, and laughs the while
At thee, ordained his drudge, to execute
Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids —
His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both ! "

She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest 735
Forebore ; then these to her Satan returned : —

" So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange
Thou interposest that my sudden hand,
Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds
What it intends, till first I know of thee 740

What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why.
In this infernal vale first met, thou callest
Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son.
I know thee not, nor ever saw till now
Sight more detestable than him and thee." 745

721. See I Corinthiatis, xv. 26, and Hebretvs, ii. 14.

PARADISE LOST. 85

The reply of Sin to Satan.
To whom thus the portress of Hell-gate replied : —
" Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem
Now in thine eye so foul? — once deem'd so fair
In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight
Of all the Seraphim with thee combined 750

In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King,
All on a sudden miserable pain
Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
Threw forth ; till on the left side opening wide, 755
l.ikest to thee in shape and countenance bright,
Then shining Heavenly-fair, a goddess armed,
Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized
All the host of Heaven ; back they recoil'd afraid
At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign 760

Portentous held me ; but, familiar grown,
I pleased, and with attractive graces won
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing,
Becamest enamored and such joy thou took'st 765
With me in secret, that my womb conceived
A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose.
And fields were fought in Heaven ; wherein

remained
(For what could else?) to our almighty foe
Clear victory, to our part loss and rout 77°

Through all the Empyrean. Down they fell,

757, 758. This incident is based on the Greek legend of the birth of
Minerva from the head of Jupiter.

S6 PARADISE LOST.

Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down

Into this Deep, and in the general fall

I also; at which time this powerful key

Into my hands was given, with charge to keep 775

These gates for ever shut, which none can pass

Without my opening. Pensive here I sat

Alone ; but long I sat not, till my womb.

Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown,

Prodigious motion felt, and rueful throes. 780

At last this odious offspring whom thou seest.

Thine own begotten, breaking violent way,

Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain

Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew

Transformed ; but he, my inbred enemy, 785

Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart

Made to destroy. I fled and cried out Death!

Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed

From all her caves, and back resounded Death!

I fled ; but he pursued (though more, it seems, 79°

Inflamed with lust than rage) and, swifter far,

Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed.

And, in embraces forcible and foul

Engendering with me, of that rape begot

These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry 795

Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceived

And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

To me ; for when they list, into the womb

That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw

772. pitch, height. Pitch was a technical term for the height to
which the falcon soared in order to swoop on the quarry.

PARADISE LOST. 87

My bowels, their repast ; then bursting forth ^oo

Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round,

That rest or intermission none I find.

Before mine eyes in opposition sits

Grim Death, my son and foe, who sets them on.

And me, his parent, would full soon devour 8°5

For want of other prey, but that he knows

His end with mine involved, and knows that I

Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,.

Whenever that shall be ; so fate pronounced.

But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, shun ^^°

His deadly arrow ; neither vainly hope

To be invulnerable in those bright arms.

Though tempered heavenly ; for that mortal dint.

Save he who reigns above, none can resist."

Satan appears Jrietidly and explains his errand.

She finished ; and the subtle Fiend his lore ^^s
Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered

smooth : —
" Dear daughter — since thou claim'st me for thy

sire.
And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge
Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys
Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire

change ^""^

Befallen us unforseen, unthought of — know,
I come no enemy, but to set free

813. tempered heavenly, ^wrought in" heaven.

dint, blow.
815. lore, lesson.

88 PARADISE LOST.

From out this dark and dismal house of pain

Both him and thee, and all the Heavenly host

Of Spirits, that, in our just pretences armed, ^^s

Fell with us from on high. From them I go

This uncouth errand sole, and one for all

Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

The unfounded deep, and through the void immense

To search with wandering quest a place foretold ^3°

Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now

Created vast and round, a place of bliss

In the purlieus of Heaven, and therein placed

A race of upstart creatures, to supply

Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed, ^35

Lest Heaven, surcharged with potent multitude.

Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught

Than this more secret now designed, I haste

To know ; and, this once known, shall soon return.

And bring ye to the place where thou and Death ^40

Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen

Wing silently the buxom air, embalmed

With odors ; there ye shall be fed and filled

Immeasurably ; all things shall be your prey."

Sin explains her position, and unlocks the gate, but cannot
shut it.

He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased, and
Death ^45

Grinned horrible a ghastly smile to hear

825. pretences, claims.

827. uncouth, as in 407, unknown and strange.

829. unfounded, bottomless.

833. purlieus, outskirts, " The utmust border."

842. buxom, elastic, yielding.

PARADISE LOST. 89

His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw
Destined to that good hour. No less rejoiced
His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire : —

" The key of this infernal pit, by due ^5©

And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King,
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
These adamantine gates ; against all force
Death ready stands to interpose his dart.
Fearless to be o'ermatched by living might. ^55

But what owe I to his commands above
Who hates me and has hither thrust me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To sit in hateful office here confined.
Inhabitant of Heaven, and Heavenly-born, ^^°

Here in perpetual agony and pain,
With terrors and with clamors compassed round
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed ?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
My being gav'st me ; whom should I obey ^^5

But thee? whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon
To that new world of light and bliss, among
The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign
At thy right hand votuptuous, as beseems
Thy daughter and thy darling, without end." ^7°

Thus saying, from her side the fatal key,
Sad instrument of all our woe, she took ;
And, towards the gate rolhng her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew,

874. portcullis, a massive, harrow-like, iron gate, working up and
down in grooves.

90 PAR.\DISE LOST.

Which, but herself, not all the Stygean powers ^75
Could once have moved ; then in the key-hole turns
The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of massy iron or solid rock with ease
Unfastens. On a sudden open fly,
With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, ^^°

The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus. She opened, but to shut
Excelled her power : the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a bannered host, ^^5

Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through
With horse and chariots ranked in loose array ;
So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth,
Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.

Satan /asses out and travels on through Chaos till he
comes to the "pavilion " of its rulers.

Before their eyes in sudden view appear ^9°

The secrets ->ot the hoary Deep — a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound.
Without dimension ; where length, breadth, and

highth.
And time, and place, are lost ; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold ^95

883. Erebus, another classical name for Hell.

885 wings. Cp. i. 616, 617.

889 redounding, rolling back, like wave-^, "surging." (928.)

895. Nature, that part of the Universe which is ^ormed or created,
as opposed to Chaos.

PARADISE LOST. 9 1

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.

For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions

fierce,
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms ; they around the flag 900

Of each his faction, in their several clans,
Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow.
Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands
Of Barca, or Gyrene's torrid soil,
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise 905
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere
He rules a moment; Chaos umpire sits.
And by decision more embroils the fray
By which he reigns ; next him, high arbiter.
Chance governs all. Into this wild Abyss, 910

900. embryon, germ, germ-like.

904. Barca and Cyrene are two cities in N Africa.

905 Levied, perhaps in double sense of to levy troops and Fr. lever,
to raise: refers, of course, to sn?ids.

906. Their, / e , the winds.

910. Cp. Shakespeare —

" The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb."

895-913. This description of Chaos is based upon the philosophy of
Heraclitus c. 500 B. C. and Dem6critus (c. 400 H. C. . The latter
assumed, as the basis of nature, an infinitude of indivisible particles or
atoms, varying in size, shape, and weight, but all of the same quality.
These atones, floatmg about in empty space, impinged on one another,
and, being of various sizes and weights, moved at different rates 002).
Amidst this confusion and whirl, this " concourse of atoms," certain forces
or tendencies prevailed, according to which the atoms formed themselves
into groups, giving us "things" nature. Rut these "things" again
break up in course of time into their original atoms (911 . The ground,
or final cause, of this process (Chaos was Necessity or Fate, or as
Dem6critus called it. Chance (" high arbiter," 909, 910 . Heraclitus
regarded all growth and creation as due to the harmonious action of
hostile principles. " Strife is the father of all things," said he: hence the
description under the form of a battle. The tendencies mentioned above
to take the forms of earth, air, etc (898 and 912 , were suggested by
Empedocles {c. 444 B. C , and accepted till modern times.

92 PARADISE LOST.

The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave,

Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire.

But all these in their pregnant causes mixed

Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,

Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain 915

His dark materials to create more worlds —

Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend

Stood on the brink of Hell and looked awhile,

Pondering his voyage : for no narrow frith

He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed 92°

With noises loud and ruinous (to compare

Great things with small), than when Bellona storms.

With all her battering engines, bent to rase

Some capital city ; or less than if this frame

Of Heaven were falling, and these elements 925

In mutiny had from her axle torn

The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans

He spreads for flight, and, in the surging smoke

Uplifted, spurns the ground ; thence many a league

As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides 930

Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets

A vast vacuity. All unawares,

Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb-down he drops

912, 913. " Water, earth, air, and fire were not yet formed, but their
component atoms were there in readiness for creation."

920 pealed, stunned, dinned Cp. " the peaUpg organ."

921. ruinous, crashing 'as of a building falling\

922, Bellona, the goddess of war.

927. vans, wings; also used in its other form, fati,
933. pennons, pinions, wings.

PARADISK LOST. 93

Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour

Down had been falHng, had not, by ill chance, 935

The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud,

Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him

As many miles aloft. That fury stayed —

Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea.

Nor good dry land — nigh foundered, on he fares, 940

Treading the crude consistence, half on foot.

Half-flying; behoves him no.v both oar and sail.

As when a gryphon through the wilderness

With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale

Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth 945

Had from his wakeful custody purloined

The guarded gold ; so eagerly the Fiend

O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or

rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. 950
At length a universal hubbub wild
Of stunning sounds and voices all confused,

936. rebuff, in its literal sense, a sudden beating back.

937. nitre, the chief of the three constituents of gunpowder; here used
for gunpowder itself.

939. Syrtis — a quicksand. (Syrtis, a dangerous quicksand gulf on
north coast of Africa.)

940. foundered, sent to the bottom, sunk. (Distinguish* from wrecked.)
Cp i. 204.

942 behoves him, it is necessary for him to use, etc. Cp. " It behoved
Christ to suffer," Luke, xxiv. 46.

943-947. gryphon, or griffin, a monster, part eagle, part lion, " a kind
of wild beasts that fly." According to stories in Herodotus and Phny,
there were nold-mincs in the north of Europe which the griffins visited or
worked The Arimaspi were a one-eyed race who tried to steal the
griffin's gold.

94 PARADISE LOST.

Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear

With loudest vehemence. Thither he plies,

Undaunted to meet there whatever Power 955

Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss

Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask

Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies

Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne

Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread 960

Wide on the wasteful Deep. With him enthroned

Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things.

The consort of his reign ; and by them stood

Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name

Of Demogorgon ; Rumor next and Chance, 965

And Tumult and Confusion all embroiled.

And Discord with a thousand various mouths.

Sate, n mquires his 7vay, again promisijig recompense ; hears
from Chaos of iJie newly created World, and at last com-.s
within sight of it.

To whom Satan, turning boldly, thus : — ''Ye
Powers
And Spirits of this nethermost Abyss,
Chaos and ancient Night, I come^ no spy, 97°

With purpose to explore or to disturb
The secrets of your realm ; but, by constraint
Wandering this darksome desert, as my way
Lies through your spacious empire up to light,

961. wasteful, full of empty wastes.

964. Orcus and Ades (or Hades , other names of Pluto, or of his
realm.

965. Demogorgon, a dreaded name of a still more dreaded and myster-
ious " master ot the fates," " lord of Chaos," etc.

PARADISE L(3ST. 95

Alone and without guide, half lost, 1 seek, 975

What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds

Confine with Heaven ; or if some other place,

From your dominion won, the Ethereal King

Possesses lately, thither to arrive

I travel this profound. Direct my course : ^Sq

Directed, no mean recompense it brings

To your behoof, if I that region lost.

All usurpation thence expelled, reduce

To her original darkness and your sway

(Which is my present journey), and once more 985

Erect the standard there of ancient Night.

Yours be the advantage all, mine the revenge ! "

Thus Satan ; and him thus the Anarch old.
With faltering speech and visage incomposed.
Answered : — "I know thee, stranger, who thou
art — 990

That mighty leading Angel, who of late
Made head against Heaven's King, though over-
thrown.
I saw and heard ; for such a numerous host
Fled not in silence through the frighted Deep,
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, 995

Confusion worse confounded; and Heaven-gates
Poured out by millions Her victorious bands
Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here

977. Confine with, border on.

985. journey, quest, purpose.

989. incomposad, disordered or disturbed (?). Not elsewhere used by
Milton.

96 PARADISE LOST.

Keep residence ; if all I can will serve
That little which is left so to defend, ^°°°

Encroached on still through our intestine broils,
Weakening the sceptre of old Night : first Hell,
Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath ;
Now lately Heaven and Earth, another world
Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain ^°°5
To that side Heaven from whence your legions fell.
If that way be your walk, you have not far ;
So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed !
Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain,"

He ceased : and Satan stayed not to reply, ^°'^°
But, glad that now his sea should find a shore,
With fresh alacrity and force renewed
Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire,
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock
Of fighting elements, on all sides round '°^5

Environed, wins his way : harder beset
And more endangered than when Argo passed
Through Bosporus betwixt the justling rocks ;
Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned
Charybdis, and by the other whirlpool steered : ^°^°

1004. Heaven and E^rth (like the heavens and the earth " in Genesis,
j.) — the World not the Empyrean, which was before Hell).

loi 7-1020. Argo, the ship in which Jason and the fifty Argonauts went
in quest of. the golden fleece. The justling rocks were in the Straits of
Constantinople, and used to clash together when anything attempted to
pass between them. Jason was advised to send on a dove, and the rocks
closed; but the Argo was ready to pass through as they recoiled, and so
managed to get clear in time.

Scylla and Charybdis, two rocks in the Strait of Messina. The
passage between them is narro^v, and rendered dangerous by currents and
whirlpools. Thus in avoiding one peril there is risk of running into
another.

1019. larboard, left-hand side ; now />ort.

PARADISE T.OST. 97

So he with difficulty and labor hard
Moved on. With difficulty and labor he ;
But, he once passed, soon after, when Man fell,
Strange alteration ! Sin and Death amain,
Following his track (such was the will of Heaven) '°-5
Paved after him a broad and beaten way
Over the dark Abyss, whose boiling gulf
Tam.ely endured a bridge of wondrous length,
From Hell continued, reaching the utmost orb
Of this frail World ; by which the Spirits perverse
With easy intercourse pass to and fro ^°3i

To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
God and good Angels guard by special grace.

But now at last the sacred influence
Of Hght appears, and from the walls of Heaven ^°35
Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night
A glimmering dawn. Here Nature first begins
Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire.
As from her outmost works, a broken foe,
With tumult less, and with less hostile din ; ^°'^°

That Satan with less toil, and now with ease,
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light,
And, like a weather-beaten vessel, holds
Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn ;
Or, in the emptier waste, resembling air, ^°-*5

1028. The bridge is described in Book x. 293-321.

1029. utmost orb, outmost sphere: seefniro.

1034. influence, in Hteral sense, an in flowing, a stream.
1039. works, in the military sense.
1043. holds, makes for.

98 PARADISE LOST.

Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold
Far off the Empyreal Heaven, extended wide
In circuit, undetermined square or round,
With opal towers and battlements adorned
Of living sapphire, once his native seat ;
And fast by, hanging in a golden chain
This pendent world, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accursed, and in a cursed hour, he hies.

1046. Weighs, poises, balances evenly.

1049, 1050. Of living sapphire goes with " battlements."

PARADISE LOST. 99

TABLE OF DEITIES MENTIONED IN LL. 392-521.

Lines

Deities

By Whom
Worshipped.

Character.

Scripture
References

?92-

Moloch.

I The Ammon-

A fire or sun god ; sup-

Lev xviii.

405

ites.

posed to be able to

21.

2) The Jews at

ward off the destruc-

Ps. cvi.

Jerusalem.

tive heat of the sun.

, 37,38.

Jer. vu. 31.

406-

Chemos

(i)TheMoabites

Like Moloch.

2 Ki iii 27:

418

:ind Seen* their
invader.

The places
mentioned in

andxxiii.13.
*Num. XXI.

26.
fNum. XXV.

407-11 all lie
east of the Dead
Sea, between
Mt. Nebo in the
north and R
Arnon in the
south

2 The Jews at
the hill Peor
(hence the
plaguet) and at
Jerusalem.
•

2,3.9-

419-

Baai.im

(i) The various

These were national

t Kings xi.

446

and

Phoenician and

and other forms of

ASHTEROTH.

Canaanitish na-
tions from north
Euphrates to
south brook
Besor) .

(2' The Jews at
Jerusalem.

Moloch.

Judg. ii 13.
Gen. XV. 18.

446-

ThAMMI'Z.

The Syrians,

A legendary Phoenic-

J Ezek. viii.

457

Jews, X Egyp-
tians, etc.

ian prince killed by
a boar near the river
Adonis in Lebanon.
The coloring of the
stream in the spring
floods gave rise to the
legend of his " annual
wound."

14.

PARADISE LOST.
TABLE OF DEITIES — CoHiiHtted.

Lines.

Deities.

By Whom
Worshipped.

Character.

Scripture
References.

457-

Dagon.

The Philistines

Fish(? and corn god.

For the allusion

466

; A z 0 1 11 s =

Had the face and

see I Sam. V. 4.:

Ashdod; Ac-

hands of a man, and

" Dagon was

caron = Ek-

the tail of a fish.

fallen to the

ron).

ground . . . and
fhe head and
the palms were
cut off upon
the threshold."

467-

Rimmon.

The Syrians (at

Naaman, a Syr-

476

Damascus.

ian leper, when
cured by Eli-
sha, forsook
Rimmon 2 Ki.
V. . Later,
Ahaz, king of
Judah, set" up
a Syrian altar
(2 Kings xvi.)

476-

Osiris;

The Egyp-

Osirzs ("the Good"),

489

Isis and
Orus.

tians.

/si's, his consort, and
Orus, their " son.
Osiris has another
son, Typhon
("evil"), with whom
he is ever in conflict,
but, through the help
of Isis and Orus, is
never overcome.
Osiris was wor-
shipped under the
form of a bull
I Apis); Isis, of a
woman with cow's
horns.

490-

[Belial
Hebrew,

505

Whereas the deities

wickedness,

are identified with

worth less-

open, acknowledged

ness), not

wickedness, " Be-

a god, but

lial " is used by Mil-

a personifi-

ton to symbolize the

cation of

evil that is secret.

evil.]

or disguifed under
the cloak of religion,
wealth or rank.

PARADISE LOST.
TABLE OF DEITIES — Couin/ued.

lOI

Lines.

506-
521

The Toiian or Grecian
deities, sprung from
Uranus and Ge fiqS
;/. , Heaven and Earth

Krono- or

Saturn
and Rhea

Jove.

and ten
other
Titans

The Giants.

By Whom
Worshipped.

The Gr^ eks
"Javan's is-
sue'' — in
Crete, on
Olympus, at
Delphi and
Dodona, etc.
— Romans,
G a u Is and
Celts.

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