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as ye have receivd, so have ye don

       Invincibly; but of this cursed crew

       The punishment to other hand belongs,

       Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints;

       Number to this dayes work is not ordain’d

       Nor multitude, stand onely and behold

       Gods indignation on these Godless pourd

       By mee; not you but mee they have despis’d,

       Yet envied; against mee is all thir rage,

       Because the Father, t’ whom in Heav’n supream

       Kingdom and Power and Glorie appertains,

       Hath honourd me according to his will.

       Therefore to mee thir doom he hath assig’n’d;

       That they may have thir wish, to trie with mee

       In Battel which the stronger proves, they all,

       Or I alone against them, since by strength

       They measure all, of other excellence

       Not emulous, nor care who them excells;

       Nor other strife with them do I voutsafe.

      So spake the Son, and into terrour chang’d

       His count’nance too severe to be beheld

       And full of wrauth bent on his Enemies.

       At once the Four spred out thir Starrie wings

       With dreadful shade contiguous, and the Orbes

       Of his fierce Chariot rowld, as with the sound

       Of torrent Floods, or of a numerous Host.

       Hee on his impious Foes right onward drove,

       Gloomie as Night; under his burning Wheeles

       The stedfast Empyrean shook throughout,

       All but the Throne it self of God. Full soon

       Among them he arriv’d; in his right hand

       Grasping ten thousand Thunders, which he sent

       Before him, such as in thir Soules infix’d

       Plagues; they astonisht all resistance lost,

       All courage; down thir idle weapons drop’d;

       O’re Shields and Helmes, and helmed heads he rode

       Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,

       That wish’d the Mountains now might be again

       Thrown on them as a shelter from his ire.

       Nor less on either side tempestuous fell

       His arrows, from the fourfold-visag’d Foure,

       Distinct with eyes, and from the living Wheels,

       Distinct alike with multitude of eyes,

       One Spirit in them rul’d, and every eye

       Glar’d lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire

       Among th’ accurst, that witherd all thir strength,

       And of thir wonted vigour left them draind,

       Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fall’n.

       Yet half his strength he put not forth, but check’d

       His Thunder in mid Volie, for he meant

       Not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n:

       The overthrown he rais’d, and as a Heard

       Of Goats or timerous flock together throngd

       Drove them before him Thunder-struck, pursu’d

       With terrors and with furies to the bounds

       And Chrystall wall of Heav’n, which op’ning wide,

       Rowld inward, and a spacious Gap disclos’d

       Into the wastful Deep; the monstrous sight

       Strook them with horror backward, but far worse

       Urg’d them behind; headlong themselvs they threw

       Down from the verge of Heav’n, Eternal wrauth

       Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

      Hell heard th’ unsufferable noise, Hell saw

       Heav’n ruining from Heav’n and would have fled

       Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep

       Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.

       Nine dayes they fell; confounded Chaos roard, And felt tenfold confusion in thir fall Through his wilde Anarchie, so huge a rout Incumberd him with ruin: Hell at last Yawning receavd them whole, and on them clos’d, Hell thir fit habitation fraught with fire Unquenchable, the house of woe and paine. Disburd’nd Heav’n rejoic’d, and soon repaird Her mural breach, returning whence it rowld. Sole Victor from th’ expulsion of his Foes Messiah his triumphal Chariot turnd: To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood Eye witnesses of his Almightie Acts, With Jubilie advanc’d; and as they went, Shaded with branching Palme, each order bright, Sung Triumph, and him sung Victorious King, Son, Heire, and Lord, to him Dominion giv’n, Worthiest to Reign: he celebrated rode Triumphant through mid Heav’n, into the Courts And Temple of his mightie Father Thron’d On high; who into Glorie him receav’d, Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.

      Thus measuring things in Heav’n by things on Earth

       At thy request, and that thou maist beware

       By what is past, to thee I have reveal’d

       What might have else to human Race bin hid;

       The discord which befel, and Warr in Heav’n

       Among th’ Angelic Powers, and the deep fall

       Of those too high aspiring, who rebelld

       With Satan, hee who envies now thy state, Who now is plotting how he may seduce Thee also from obedience, that with him Bereavd of happiness thou maist partake His punishment, Eternal miserie; Which would be all his solace and revenge, As a despite don against the most High, Thee once to gaine Companion of his woe. But list’n not to his Temptations, warne Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard By terrible Example the reward Of disobedience; firm they might have stood, Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.

      THE END OF THE SIXTH BOOK.

      PARADISE LOST.

      BOOK VII.

       Table of Contents

      Descend from Heav’n Urania, by that name If rightly thou art call’d, whose Voice divine Following, above th’ Olympian Hill I soare, Above the flight of Pegasean wing. The meaning, not the Name I call: for thou Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top Of old Olympus dwell’st, but Heav’nlie borne, Before the Hills appeerd, or Fountain flow’d, Thou with Eternal wisdom didst converse, Wisdom thy Sister, and with her didst play In presence of th’ Almightie Father, pleas’d With thy Celestial Song. Up led by thee Into the Heav’n of Heav’ns I have presum’d, An Earthlie Guest, and drawn Empyreal Aire, Thy tempring; with like safetie guided down Return me to my Native Element: Least from this flying Steed unrein’d, (as once Bellerophon, though from a lower Clime) Dismounted, on th’ Aleian Field I fall Erroneous, there to wander and forlorne. Half yet remaines unsung, but narrower bound Within the visible Diurnal Spheare; Standing on Earth, not rapt above the Pole, More safe I Sing with mortal voice, unchang’d To hoarce or mute, though fall’n on evil dayes, On evil dayes though fall’n, and evil tongues; In darkness, and with dangers compast rouud, And solitude; yet not alone, while thou Visit’st my slumbers Nightly, or when Morn Purples the East: still govern thou my Song, Urania, and fit

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