Paradise Lost - Milton John - Страница 35

Fell with his flaming Legions through the Deep

Into his place, and the great Son returnd

Victorious with his Saints, th' Omnipotent

Eternal Father from his Throne beheld

Thir multitude, and to his Son thus spake.

At least our envious Foe hath fail'd, who thought

All like himself rebellious, by whose aid

This inaccessible high strength, the seat

Of Deitie supream, us dispossest,

He trusted to have seis'd, and into fraud

Drew many, whom thir place knows here no more;

Yet farr the greater part have kept, I see,

Thir station, Heav'n yet populous retaines

Number sufficient to possess her Realmes

Though wide, and this high Temple to frequent

With Ministeries due and solemn Rites:

But least his heart exalt him in the harme

Already done, to have dispeopl'd Heav'n,

My damage fondly deem'd, I can repaire

That detriment, if such it be to lose

Self-lost, and in a moment will create

Another World, out of one man a Race

Of men innumerable, there to dwell,

Not here, till by degrees of merit rais'd

They open to themselves at length the way

Up hither, under long obedience tri'd,

And Earth be chang'd to Heavn, & Heav'n to Earth,

One Kingdom, Joy and Union without end.

Mean while inhabit laxe, ye Powers of Heav'n,

And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee

This I perform, speak thou, and be it don:

My overshadowing Spirit and might with thee

I send along, ride forth, and bid the Deep

Within appointed bounds be Heav'n and Earth,

Boundless the Deep, because I am who fill

Infinitude, nor vacuous the space.

Though I uncircumscrib'd my self retire,

And put not forth my goodness, which is free

To act or not, Necessitie and Chance

Approach not mee, and what I will is Fate.

So spake th' Almightie, and to what he spake

His Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect.

Immediate are the Acts of God, more swift

Then time or motion, but to human ears

Cannot without process of speech be told,

So told as earthly notion can receave.

Great triumph and rejoycing was in Heav'n

When such was heard declar'd the Almightie's will;

Glorie they sung to the most High, good will

To future men, and in thir dwellings peace:

Glorie to him whose just avenging ire

Had driven out th' ungodly from his sight

And th' habitations of the just; to him

Glorie and praise, whose wisdom had ordain'd

Good out of evil to create, in stead

Of Spirits maligne a better Race to bring

Into thir vacant room, and thence diffuse

His good to Worlds and Ages infinite.

So sang the Hierarchies: Mean while the Son

On his great Expedition now appeer'd,

Girt with Omnipotence, with Radiance crown'd

Of Majestie Divine, Sapience and Love

Immense, and all his Father in him shon.

About his Chariot numberless were pour'd

Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,

And Vertues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing'd,

From the Armoury of God, where stand of old

Myriads between two brazen Mountains lodg'd

Against a solemn day, harnest at hand,

Celestial Equipage; and now came forth

Spontaneous, for within them Spirit livd,

Attendant on thir Lord: Heav'n op'nd wide

Her ever during Gates, Harmonious sound

On golden Hinges moving, to let forth

The King of Glorie in his powerful Word

And Spirit coming to create new Worlds.

On heav'nly ground they stood, and from the shore

They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss

Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wilde,

Up from the bottom turn'd by furious windes

And surging waves, as Mountains to assault

Heav'ns highth, and with the Center mix the Pole.

Silence, ye troubl'd waves, and thou Deep, peace,

Said then th' Omnific Word, your discord end:

Nor staid, but on the Wings of Cherubim

Uplifted, in Paternal Glorie rode

Farr into CHAOS, and the World unborn;

For CHAOS heard his voice: him all his Traine

Follow'd in bright procession to behold

Creation, and the wonders of his might.

Then staid the fervid Wheeles, and in his hand

He took the golden Compasses, prepar'd

In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe

This Universe, and all created things:

One foot he center'd, and the other turn'd

Round through the vast profunditie obscure,

And said, thus farr extend, thus farr thy bounds,

This be thy just Circumference, O World.

Thus God the Heav'n created, thus the Earth,

Matter unform'd and void: Darkness profound

Cover'd th' Abyss: but on the watrie calme

His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspred,

And vital vertue infus'd, and vital warmth

Throughout the fluid Mass, but downward purg'd

The black tartareous cold infernal dregs

Adverse to life: then founded, then conglob'd

Like things to like, the rest to several place

Disparted, and between spun out the Air,

And Earth self-ballanc't on her Center hung.

Let ther be Light, said God, and forthwith Light

Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure

Sprung from the Deep, and from her Native East

To journie through the airie gloom began,

Sphear'd in a radiant Cloud, for yet the Sun

Was not; shee in a cloudie Tabernacle

Sojourn'd the while. God saw the Light was good;

And light from darkness by the Hemisphere

Divided: Light the Day, and Darkness Night

He nam'd. Thus was the first Day Eev'n and Morn:

Nor past uncelebrated, nor unsung

By the Celestial Quires, when Orient Light

Exhaling first from Darkness they beheld;

Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth; with joy and shout

The hollow Universal Orb they fill'd,

And touch't thir Golden Harps, & hymning prais'd

God and his works, Creatour him they sung,

Both when first Eevning was, and when first Morn.

Again, God said, let ther be Firmament

Amid the Waters, and let it divide

The Waters from the Waters: and God made

The Firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,

Transparent, Elemental Air, diffus'd

In circuit to the uttermost convex

Of this great Round: partition firm and sure,

The Waters underneath from those above

Dividing: for as Earth, so hee the World

Built on circumfluous Waters calme, in wide

Crystallin Ocean, and the loud misrule

Of CHAOS farr remov'd, least fierce extreames

Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:

And Heav'n he nam'd the Firmament: So Eev'n

And Morning CHORUS sung the second Day.

The Earth was form'd, but in the Womb as yet

Of Waters, Embryon immature involv'd,

Appeer'd not: over all the face of Earth

Main Ocean flow'd, not idle, but with warme

Prolific humour soft'ning all her Globe,

Fermented the great Mother to conceave,

Satiate with genial moisture, when God said

Be gather'd now ye Waters under Heav'n

Into one place, and let dry Land appeer.

Immediately the Mountains huge appeer

Emergent, and thir broad bare backs upheave

Into the Clouds, thir tops ascend the Skie:

So high as heav'd the tumid Hills, so low

Down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep,

Capacious bed of Waters: thither they

Hasted with glad precipitance, uprowld

As drops on dust conglobing from the drie;

Part rise in crystal Wall, or ridge direct,

For haste; such flight the great command impress'd

On the swift flouds: as Armies at the call

Of Trumpet (for of Armies thou hast heard)

Troop to thir Standard, so the watrie throng,

Wave rowling after Wave, where way they found,

If steep, with torrent rapture, if through Plaine,