Paradise Lost - Milton John - Страница 15

Walk'd up and down alone bent on his prey,

Alone, for other Creature in this place

Living or liveless to be found was none,

None yet, but store hereafter from the earth

Up hither like Aereal vapours flew

Of all things transitorie and vain, when Sin

With vanity had filld the works of men:

Both all things vain, and all who in vain things

Built thir fond hopes of Glorie or lasting fame,

Or happiness in this or th' other life;

All who have thir reward on Earth, the fruits

Of painful Superstition and blind Zeal,

Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find

Fit retribution, emptie as thir deeds;

All th' unaccomplisht works of Natures hand,

Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixt,

Dissolvd on earth, fleet hither, and in vain,

Till final dissolution, wander here,

Not in the neighbouring Moon, as some have dreamd;

Those argent Fields more likely habitants,

Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold

Betwixt th' Angelical and Human kinde:

Hither of ill-joynd Sons and Daughters born

First from the ancient World those Giants came

With many a vain exploit, though then renownd:

The builders next of BABEL on the Plain

Of SENNAAR, and still with vain designe

New BABELS, had they wherewithall, would build:

Others came single; hee who to be deemd

A God, leap'd fondly into AETNA flames,

EMPEDOCLES, and hee who to enjoy

PLATO'S ELYSIUM, leap'd into the Sea,

CLEOMBROTUS, and many more too long,

Embryo's and Idiots, Eremits and Friers

White, Black and Grey, with all thir trumperie.

Here Pilgrims roam, that stray'd so farr to seek

In GOLGOTHA him dead, who lives in Heav'n;

And they who to be sure of Paradise

Dying put on the weeds of DOMINIC,

Or in FRANCISCAN think to pass disguis'd;

They pass the Planets seven, and pass the fixt,

And that Crystalline Sphear whose ballance weighs

The Trepidation talkt, and that first mov'd;

And now Saint PETER at Heav'ns Wicket seems

To wait them with his Keys, and now at foot

Of Heav'ns ascent they lift thir Feet, when loe

A violent cross wind from either Coast

Blows them transverse ten thousand Leagues awry

Into the devious Air; then might ye see

Cowles, Hoods and Habits with thir wearers tost

And flutterd into Raggs, then Reliques, Beads,

Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls,

The sport of Winds: all these upwhirld aloft

Fly o're the backside of the World farr off

Into a LIMBO large and broad, since calld

The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown

Long after, now unpeopl'd, and untrod;

All this dark Globe the Fiend found as he pass'd,

And long he wanderd, till at last a gleame

Of dawning light turnd thither-ward in haste

His travell'd steps; farr distant hee descries

Ascending by degrees magnificent

Up to the wall of Heaven a Structure high,

At top whereof, but farr more rich appeerd

The work as of a Kingly Palace Gate

With Frontispice of Diamond and Gold

Imbellisht, thick with sparkling orient Gemmes

The Portal shon, inimitable on Earth

By Model, or by shading Pencil drawn.

The Stairs were such as whereon JACOB saw

Angels ascending and descending, bands

Of Guardians bright, when he from ESAU fled

To PADAN-ARAM in the field of LUZ,

Dreaming by night under the open Skie,

And waking cri'd, This is the Gate of Heav'n.

Each Stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood

There alwaies, but drawn up to Heav'n somtimes

Viewless, and underneath a bright Sea flow'd

Of Jasper, or of liquid Pearle, whereon

Who after came from Earth, sayling arriv'd,

Wafted by Angels, or flew o're the Lake

Rapt in a Chariot drawn by fiery Steeds.

The Stairs were then let down, whether to dare

The Fiend by easie ascent, or aggravate

His sad exclusion from the dores of Bliss.

Direct against which op'nd from beneath,

Just o're the blissful seat of Paradise,

A passage down to th' Earth, a passage wide,

Wider by farr then that of after-times

Over Mount SION, and, though that were large,

Over the PROMIS'D LAND to God so dear,

By which, to visit oft those happy Tribes,

On high behests his Angels to and fro

Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard

From PANEAS the fount of JORDANS flood

To BEERSABA, where the HOLY LAND

Borders on AEGYPT and the ARABIAN shoare;

So wide the op'ning seemd, where bounds were set

To darkness, such as bound the Ocean wave.

SATAN from hence now on the lower stair

That scal'd by steps of Gold to Heav'n Gate

Looks down with wonder at the sudden view

Of all this World at once. As when a Scout

Through dark and desart wayes with peril gone

All night; at last by break of chearful dawne

Obtains the brow of some high-climbing Hill,

Which to his eye discovers unaware

The goodly prospect of some forein land

First-seen, or some renownd Metropolis

With glistering Spires and Pinnacles adornd,

Which now the Rising Sun guilds with his beams.

Such wonder seis'd, though after Heaven seen,

The Spirit maligne, but much more envy seis'd

At sight of all this World beheld so faire.

Round he surveys, and well might, where he stood

So high above the circling Canopie

Of Nights extended shade; from Eastern Point

Of LIBRA to the fleecie Starr that bears

ANDROMEDA farr off ATLANTICK Seas

Beyond th' HORIZON; then from Pole to Pole

He views in bredth, and without longer pause

Down right into the Worlds first Region throws

His flight precipitant, and windes with ease

Through the pure marble Air his oblique way

Amongst innumerable Starrs, that shon

Stars distant, but nigh hand seemd other Worlds,

Or other Worlds they seemd, or happy Iles,

Like those HESPERIAN Gardens fam'd of old,

Fortunate Fields, and Groves and flourie Vales,

Thrice happy Iles, but who dwelt happy there

He stayd not to enquire: above them all

The golden Sun in splendor likest Heaven

Allur'd his eye: Thither his course he bends

Through the calm Firmament; but up or downe

By center, or eccentric, hard to tell,

Or Longitude, where the great Luminarie

Alooff the vulgar Constellations thick,

That from his Lordly eye keep distance due,

Dispenses Light from farr; they as they move

Thir Sarry dance in numbers that compute

Days, months, and years, towards his all-chearing Lamp

Turn swift their various motions, or are turnd

By his Magnetic beam, that gently warms

The Univers, and to each inward part

With gentle penetration, though unseen,

Shoots invisible vertue even to the deep:

So wondrously was set his Station bright.

There lands the Fiend, a spot like which perhaps

Astronomer in the Sun's lucent Orbe

Through his glaz'd Optic Tube yet never saw.

The place he found beyond expression bright,

Compar'd with aught on Earth, Medal or Stone;

Not all parts like, but all alike informd

Which radiant light, as glowing Iron with fire;

If mettal, part seemd Gold, part Silver cleer;

If stone, Carbuncle most or Chrysolite,

Rubie or Topaz, to the Twelve that shon

In AARONS Brest-plate, and a stone besides

Imagind rather oft then elsewhere seen,

That stone, or like to that which here below

Philosophers in vain so long have sought,

In vain, though by thir powerful Art they binde

Volatil HERMES, and call up unbound

In various shapes old PROTEUS from the Sea,

Draind through a Limbec to his Native forme.