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Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed 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 Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly Thou, O Spirit,2 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, Dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, And madest it pregnant. What in me is dark, Illumine; what is low raise and support; That to the height of this great argument I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.

Say first—for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,

Nor the deep tract of Hell—say first, what cause

Moved our grand parents,³ in that happy state,

Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off

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

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,

\\Above the Aonian Mount.—Mount Helicon, the seat of the Greek Muses. The poet aims at higher things the could have come from their inspiration.

\\And chiefly Thou, 6 Spirit.—It is thus that Milton seeks, not only the inspiration which has given us Hebrew sanctity.

\\Grand Parents.—Visco Spirit.\—Uses the Spirit.\—Uses Spirit.\—Visco Spirit.\—Visco Spirit.\—Visco Spirit.\—Visco Spirit.\—Visc

Воок І.—41-74]

PARADISE LOST.

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, 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. Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, though immortal. But his doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him. Round he throws his baleful eyes, That witnessed huge affliction and dismay, Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. At once, as far as angels' ken, he views The dismal situation waste and wild. A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, 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 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 had prepared 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.

A Combustion. - Crushed and scattered by elemental forces.

\ That critected. - Expressed - showed.