And broken chariot-wheels: so thick bestrown,
Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep
Of hell resounded:

Princes, Potentates,

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,20 for the ease you find
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,21 till anon22
His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern
The advantage, and, descending, tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linkèd thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf?
Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!

They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung
Upon the wing, 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

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

20 virtue, manhood, strength.
21 ensigns, standards, banners.

22

anon, in one (instant).

Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amram's son,23 in Egypt's evil day,24
Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy cloud25
Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,
That o'er the realm of impious Pharoah hung
Like Night, and darken'd all the land of Nile ;26
So numberless were those bad Angels seen
Hovering on wing under the cope2 of Hell,
"Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires;
Till, at 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 :
A multitude, like which the populous North
Poured never from her frozen loins,28 to pass
Rhene or the Danaw,29 when her barbarous sons
Came like a deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands.30
Forthwith, from every squadron and each band
Their heads and leaders thither haste, where stood
Their great Commander; godlike Shapes and Forms
Excelling human; princely Dignities,

And Powers, that erst31 in Heaven sat on thrones;

Though of their names in Heavenly records now
Be 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,
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
Oft to the image of a brute,32 adorn'd
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.38

40

HYMN TO THE CREATOR.

"THESE are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty! Thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair; Thyself how wondrous then,
Unspeakable who sitt'st above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen

66

In these Thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Speak, ye who best can tell, ye Sons of Light,
Angels-for ye behold Him, and with songs
And choral symphonies,2 day without night,

32 Many of the Egyptian idols espe
cially were in brute form.

33 In the middle ages it was believed

that the devils had got themselves adored by the heathen.

1 (Thou) unspeakable (One).

2 choral symphonies, harmonious songs in choirs.

Circle His throne rejoicing:-ye, in Heaven;3
On Earth, join, all ye creatures, to extol

Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without end.
"Fairest of Stars! last in the train of Night,
If better thou belong not to the Dawn,-

Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling Morn With thy bright circlet,-praise Him in thy sphere,5 While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.

"Thou Sun, of this great World both eye and soul, Acknowledge Him thy greater; sound His praise In thy eternal course, both when thou climb'st, And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fall'st. "Moon, that now meet'st the orient Sun, now fliest, With the fixed Stars,-fixed in their orb that flies;3

Ye, do so in heaven; on earth, let

all creatures, &c.

4 The planet Venus. The words that
follow refer to its being some-
times called Phosphorus, or the
Morning Star: sometimes Hes-
perus, or the Evening Star.
sphere, the path through which it
glides round the sun.
6 prime, an ecclesiastical word,

meaning the hour, at dawn, that
succeeded to lauds. Or, hour of
dawn.

7 orient, rising, or eastern.

8 Milton writes according to the old or Ptolemaic idea of the structure of the heavens. Attentive knowledge of this will explain many things in Paradise Lost.

The earth was considered the great centre, round which all things moved. Earth, the most stable of the elements, held the lowest place, and supported water, the

second element; above water,
came air, the third element.
Then, above air, came fire, the
fourth element. Beyond that, ether
extended indefinitely.

Beyond, or in the ether, were
eight heavens, each above the
other, and each containing an im-
mense crystalline sphere or circle.
Inside the smallest of these, the
earth was enclosed, and the others
had each, one or more of the
heavenly bodies fixed in it,
and moving round with it-
"fixed in their orb, that flies."
The nearest sphere to that of the
earth was that of the moon: then
came, successively, spheres or
orbs, in which, one beyond the
other, Mercury, Venus, the Sun,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the
fixed stars were fixed.
These spheres all had a motion of
their own, round the earth.

And ye five other wandering Fires! that move
In mystic1o dance, not without song, resound
His praise, who out of Darkness called up Light.
"Air, and ye Elements! the eldest birth
Of Nature's womb, that in quarternion" run
Perpetual circle, multiform,12 and mix

And nourish all things, let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise.
"Ye Mists and Exhalations, that now rise
From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
Till the Sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honour to the World's great Author rise;
Whether to deck with clouds the uncoloured sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,
Rising or falling, still advance His praise.

"His praise, ye Winds, that from four quarters blow, Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye Pines, With every Plant, in sign of worship, wave.

"Fountains! and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling, tune His praise.
"Join voices, all ye living Souls! Ye Birds,
That, singing, up to Heaven-gate ascend,
Bear on your wings, and in your notes, His praise.
"Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep,
Witness if I be silent, morn or even,

To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught His praise.

9 The five planets (see page 79), besides

the Sun and Moon.

10 mystic, mysterious.

11 quarternion, fourfold combina

tion of earth, air, fire, water. These were thought to be the four elements. 12 The Spheres crossed each other; hence, multiform.