BOOK SEVENTH
��177
��BOOK VII
THE ARGUMENT
Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this World was first created : that God, after the expelling of Satan ami his Angels out of Hea- ven, declared his pleasure to create another World, and other creatures to dwell therein; sends his Sou with glory, and attendance of Angels, to perform the work of creation in six days : the Angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his reasceusiou into Hea- ven.
DESCEND from Heaven, Urania, by that name
If rightly thou art called, whose voice di- vine
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Fegaseau wing !
The meaning, not the name, I call; for thou
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwell'st; but, heavenly- born,
Before the hills appeared or fountain flowed,
Thou with Eternal Wisdom didst converse,
Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play 10
In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
With thy celestial song. Up led by thee,
Into the Heaven of Heavens I have pre- sumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
Thy tempering. With like safety guided down,
Return me to my native element;
Lest, from this flying steed unreined (as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime)
Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,
Erroneous there to wander and forlorn. 20
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
Within the visible Diurnal Sphere.
Standing on Earth, not rapt above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, un- changed
To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days.
On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues,
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
And solitude ; yet not alone, while thou
��Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when
Morn
Purples the East. Still govern thou niy song, 3 o
Urania, and fit audience find, though few. But drive far off the barbarous dissonance Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race Of that wild rout that tore the Thraciau
Bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears To rapture, till the savage clamour drowned Both harp and voice ; nor could the Muse
defend
Her sou. So fail not thou who thee im- plores ; For thou art heavenly, she an empty
dream.
Say, Goddess, what ensued when Ra- phael, 4 o The affable Archangel, had forewarned Adam, by dire example, to beware Apostasy, by what befell in Heaven To those apostates, lest the like befall In Paradise to Adam or his race, Charged not to touch the interdicted Tree, If they transgress, and slight that sole
command,
So easily obeyed amid the choice Of all tastes else to please their appetite, Though wandering. He, with his con- sorted Eve, 50 The story heard attentive, and was filled With admiration and deep muse, to hear Of things so high and strange things to
their thought
So unimaginable as hate in Heaven, And war so near the peace of God in bliss, With such confusion; but the evil, soon Driven back, redounded as a flood on those From whom it sprung, impossible to mix With blessedness. Whence Adam soon re- pealed
The doubts that in his heart arose; and, now 60
Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know What nearer might concern him how this
World
Of heaven and earth conspicuous first be- gan; When, and whereof, created; for what
cause ;
What within Eden, or without, was done Before his memory as one whose drouth, Yet scarce allayed, still eyes the current stream,
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