PARADISE LOST

Book I

The Argument:

The first book proposes, first in brief, the whole subject, man's disobedience,
and the loss thereupon of Paradise, wherein he was placed; then touches the prime
cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent; who, revolting
from God, and drawing to his side many legions of angels, was, by the command of
God, driven out of Heaven, with all his crew, into the great deep. Which action
passed over, the Poem hastens into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his
angels now falling into Hell, described here, not in the center, for Heaven and
Earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed, but in a place
of utter darkness, fitliest called Chaos. Here Satan, with his angels, lying on
the burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished, after a certain space recovers, as
from confusion, calls up to him who next in order and dignity lay by him; they
confer of their miserable fall; Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then
in the same manner confounded. They rise; their numbers; array of battle; their
chief leaders named, according to the idols known afterward in Canaan and the
countries adjoining. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope
yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new world, and a new kind of
creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy, or report in Heaven; for,
that angels were long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many ancient
fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he
refers to a full council. What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium, the
palace of Satan, rises, suddenly built out of the deep: the infernal peers there
sit in council. 

	OF man's first disobedience, and the fruit
	Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
	Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
	With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
	Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
	Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top
	Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
	That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed
	In the beginning how the heavens and earth
	Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion hill
	Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
	Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
	Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
	That, with no middle flight, intends to soar
	Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
	Thing unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
	And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
	Before all temples the upright heart and pure,
	Instruct me, for thou know'st:  Thou from the first
	Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread,
	Dove-like, sat'st brooding on the vast abyss,
	And madest it pregnant.  What in me is dark,
	Illumine; what is low raise and support;
	That to the height of this great argument
	I may assert Eternal Providence,
	And justify the ways of God to men.
		Say first - for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,
	Nor the deep tract of Hell - say first, what cause
	Moved our grand parents, in that happy state,
	Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
	From their Creator, and transgress His will
	For one restraint, lords of the world besides?
	Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
	The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile,
	Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
	The mother of mankind; what time his pride
	Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
	Of rebel Angels; by whose aid, aspiring
	To set himself in glory above his peers,
	He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
	If he opposed; and, with ambitious aim,
	Against the throne and monarchy of God,
	Raised impious war in Heaven, and battle proud,
	With vain attempt.  Him the Almighty Power
	Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
	With hideous ruin and combustion, down
	To bottomless perdition; there to dwell
	In adamantine chains and penal fire,
	Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.
	Nine times the space that measures day and night
	To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
	Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,
	Confounded, though immortal.  But his doom
	Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
	Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
	Torments him.  Round he throws his baleful eyes,
	That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,
	Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.
	At once, as far as angels' ken, he views
	The dismal situation waste and wild.
	A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
	As one great furnace, flamed.  Yet from those flames
	No light, but rather darkness visible
	Served only to discover sights of woe,
	Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
	And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
	That comes to all; but torture without end
	Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
	With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
	Such place eternal justice had prepared
	For those rebellious; here their prison ordained
	In utter darkness, and their portion set
	As far removed from God and light of heaven,
	As from the center thrice to the utmost pole.
	Oh, how unlike the place from whence they fell!
	There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed
	With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
	He soon discerns; and weltering by his side
	One next himself in power, and next in crime,
	Long after known in Palestine, and named
	Beelzebub: to whom the arch-enemy,
	And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words
	Breaking the horrid silence, thus began:

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