Page:Paradise Lost (1667).djvu/102

---

Wider by farr then that of after-times
530Over 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 Bëerſaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Ægypt and the Arabian ſhoare
So wide the op'ning ſeemd, where bounds were ſet
To darkneſs, ſuch as bound the Ocean wave.
540Satan 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
550With 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
560Beyond th' Horizon; then from Pole to Pole