BOOK THIRD
��So spake the false dissembler unper-
ceived ;
For neither man uor angel can discern Hypocrisy the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone, By his permissive will, through Heaven and
Earth ; And oft, though Wisdom wake, Suspicion
sleeps
At Wisdom's gate, and to Simplicity Resigns her charge, while Goodness thinks
no ill Where no ill seems: which now for once
beguiled
Uriel, though Regent of the Sun, and held The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Hea- ven; 691 Who to the fraudulent impostor foul, In his uprightness, answer thus returned: " Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to
know
The works of God, thereby to glorify The great Work-maister, leads to no ex- cess That reaches blame, but rather merits
praise The more it seems excess, that led thee
hither
From thy empyreal mansion thus alone, To witness with thine eyes what some per- haps, 700 Contented with report, hear only in Hea- ven:
For wonderful indeed are all his works, Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all Had in remembrance always with delight ! But what created mind can comprehend Their number, or the wisdom infinite That brought them forth, but hid their
causes deep ? I saw when, at his word, the formless
mass, This World's material mould, came to a
heap:
Confusion heard his voice, and wild Up- roar 710 Stood ruled, stood vast Infinitude confined; Till, at his second bidding, Darkness fled,
��Light shon, and order from disorder sprung.
Swift to their several quarters hasted then
The cumbrous elements Earth, Flood, Air, Fire;
And this ethereal quint'essence of Heaven
Flew upward, spirited with various forms,
That rowled orbicular, and turned to stars
Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move:
Each had his place appointed, each his course; 720
The rest in circuit walls this Universe.
Look downward on that globe, whose hither side
With light from hence, though but reflected, shines:
That place is Earth, the seat of Man; that light
His day, which else, as the other hemi- sphere,
Night would invade; but there the neigh- bouring Moon
(So call that opposite fair star) her aid
Timely interposes, and, her monthly round
Still ending, still renewing, through mid- heaven,
With borrowed light her countenance tri- form 730
Hence fills and empties, to enlighten the Earth,
And in her pale dominion checks the night.
That spot to which I point is Paradise,
Adam's abode ; those lofty shades his bower.
Thy way thou canst not miss; me mine re- quires."
Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low,
As to superior Spirits is wont in Heaven,
Where honour due and reverence none neg- lects,
Took leave, and toward the coast of Earth beneath,
Down from the ecliptic, sped with hoped success, 740
Throws his steep flight in many an aerie wheel,
Nor staid till on Niphates' top he lights.
�� �
