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Book 3.
Paradiſe loſt.
Of Natures works to mee expung’d and ras’d,
And wiſdome at one entrance quite ſhut out. 50
So much the rather thou Celeſtial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all miſt from thence
Purge and diſperse, that I may ſee and tell
Of things inviſible to mortal ſight.
Now had the Almighty Father from above,
From the pure Empyrean where he ſits
High Thron’d above all highth, bent down his eye,
His own works and their works at once to view:
About him all the Sanctities of Heaven 60
Stood thick as Starrs, and from his ſight receiv’d
Beatitude paſt utterance; on his right
The radiant image of his Glory ſat,
His onely Son; On Earth he firſt beheld
Our two firſt Parents, yet the onely two
Of mankind, in the happie Garden plac’t,
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,
Uninterrupted joy, unrivald love
In bliſsful solitude; he then ſurvey’d
Hell and the Gulf between, and Satan there 70
Coaſting the wall of Heav’n on this ſide Night
In the dun Air ſublime, and ready now
To ſtoop with wearied wings, and willing feet
On the bare outſide of this World, that ſeem’d
Firm land imboſom’d, without Firmament,
Uncertain which, in Ocean or in Air.
Him God beholding from his proſpect high,
Wherein paſt, preſent, future he beholds,
Thus to his onely Son foreſeeing ſpake.
Onely begotten Son, ſeeſt thou what rage 80
And wiſdome at one entrance quite ſhut out. 50
So much the rather thou Celeſtial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all miſt from thence
Purge and diſperse, that I may ſee and tell
Of things inviſible to mortal ſight.
Now had the Almighty Father from above,
From the pure Empyrean where he ſits
High Thron’d above all highth, bent down his eye,
His own works and their works at once to view:
About him all the Sanctities of Heaven 60
Stood thick as Starrs, and from his ſight receiv’d
Beatitude paſt utterance; on his right
The radiant image of his Glory ſat,
His onely Son; On Earth he firſt beheld
Our two firſt Parents, yet the onely two
Of mankind, in the happie Garden plac’t,
Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love,
Uninterrupted joy, unrivald love
In bliſsful solitude; he then ſurvey’d
Hell and the Gulf between, and Satan there 70
Coaſting the wall of Heav’n on this ſide Night
In the dun Air ſublime, and ready now
To ſtoop with wearied wings, and willing feet
On the bare outſide of this World, that ſeem’d
Firm land imboſom’d, without Firmament,
Uncertain which, in Ocean or in Air.
Him God beholding from his proſpect high,
Wherein paſt, preſent, future he beholds,
Thus to his onely Son foreſeeing ſpake.
Onely begotten Son, ſeeſt thou what rage 80
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