The Complete Poetry of John Milton (74 page)

   460     
Those argent Fields more likely habitants,

               
Translated Saints,
²³
or middle Spirits hold

               
Betwixt th’ Angelical and Human kind:

               
Hither of ill-joynd Sons and Daughters born

               
First from the ancient World those Giants came

   465     
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; he who to be deemd

   470     
A God, leap’d fondly into
Ætna
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

   475     
White, Black and Grey,
²⁴
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
,

   480     
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
²⁵
talkt, and that first mov’d;

               
And now Saint
Peter
at Heav’ns Wicket seems

   485     
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

   490     
Cowls, Hoods and Habits with thir wearers tost

               
And fluttered 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

   495     
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 gleam

   500     
Of dawning light turnd thither-ward in haste

               
His traveird steps; farr distant he descries

               
Ascending by degrees magnificent

               
Up to the wall of Heav’n a Structure high,

               
At top whereof, but farr more rich appeerd

   505     
The work as of a Kingly Palace Gate

               
With Frontispice of Diamond and Gold

               
Imbellisht, thick with sparkling orient Gemms

               
The Portal shon, inimitable on Earth

               
By Model, or by shading Pencil drawn.

   510     
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,

   515     
And waking cri’d,
This is the Gate of Heav’n.
²⁶

               
Each Stair mysteriously
²⁷
was meant, nor stood

               
There alwayes, but drawn up to Heav’n somtimes

               
Viewless, and underneath a bright Sea flow’d

               
Of Jasper, or of liquid Pearl, whereon

   520     
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.
²⁸

               
The Stairs were then let down, whether to dare

               
The Fiend by easie ascent, or aggravate

   525     
His sad exclusion from the dores of Bliss.

               
Direct against which op’n’d 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

   530     
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

   535     
From
Paneas
²⁹
the fount of
Jordans
flood

               
To
Beërsaba
, where the
Holy Land

               
Borders on
Ægypt
and th’
Arabian
shoar;

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

               
To darkness, such as bound the Ocean wave.

   540     
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

   545     
All night; at last by break of chearful dawn

               
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 renown’d Metropolis

   550     
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 fair.

   555     
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
³⁰
that bears

               
Andromeda
farr off
Atlantic
Seas

   560     
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 winds with ease

               
Through the pure marble Air his oblique way

   565     
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,
³¹

               
Fortunate Fields, and Groves and flowrie Vales,

   570     
Thrice happy Iles, but who dwelt happy there

               
He stayd not to enquire: above them all

               
The golden Sun in splendor likest Heav’n

               
Allur’d his eye: Thither his course he bends

               
Through the calm Firmament; but up or down

   575     
By center, or eccentric,
³²
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

   580     
Thir Starry dance in numbers that compute

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

               
Turn swift thir various motions, or are turnd

               
By his Magnetic beam, that gently warms

               
The Univers, and to each inward part

   585     
With gentle penetration, though unseen,

               
Shoots invisible vertue ev’n 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 Orb

   590     
Through his glaz’d Optic Tube yet never saw.
³³

               
The place he found beyond expression bright,

               
Compar’d with aught on Earth, Mettal or Stone;

               
Not all parts like, but all alike informd
³⁴

               
With radiant light, as glowing Iron with fire;

   595     
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
³⁵
besides

               
Imagind rather oft then elsewhere seen,

   600     
That stone, or like to that which here below

               
Philosophers in vain so long have sought,

               
In vain, though by thir powerful Art they bind

               
Volatil
Hermes
, and call up unbound

               
In various shapes old
Proteus
from the Sea,

   605     
Draind through a Limbec to his Native form.

               
What wonder then if fields and regions here

               
Breathe forth
Elixir
pure, and Rivers run

               
Potable Gold, when with one vertuous touch

               
Th’ Arch-chimic Sun so farr from us remote

   610     
Produces with Terrestrial Humor mixt

               
Here in the dark so many precious things

               
Of colour glorious and effect so rare?

               
Here matter new to gaze the Devil met

               
Undazl’d, farr and wide his eye commands,