PARADISE LOST.

BOOK VII.

THE ARGUMENT.

APHAEL at the request of Adam relates how and

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wherefore this world was first created; that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declar'd his pleasure to create another World and other Creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son 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 reascension into Heaven.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK VII.

ESCEND from Heav'n Urania, by that name
If rightly thou art call'd, whose Voice divine
Following, above th' Olympian Hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegasean 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 Heav'nly born,
Before the Hills appear'd, or Fountain flow'd,
Thou with Eternal wisdom didst converse,
Wisdom thy Sister, and with her didst play
In presence of th' Almighty Father, pleas'd
With thy Celestial Song. Up led by thee
Into the Heav'n of Heav'ns I have presum'd,
An Earthly Guest, and drawn Empyreal Air,
Thy temp'ring; with like safety guided down
Return me to my Native Element:

Lest from this flying Steed unrein'd, (as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower Clime)
Dismounted, on th' Aleian Field I fall
Erroneous there to wander and forlorn.
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, unchang'd
To hoarse or mute, though fall'n on evil days,
On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues;
In darkness, and with dangers compast round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou

Visit'st my slumbers Nightly, or when Morn
Purples the East: still govern thou my Song,
Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his Revellers, the Race

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Of that wild Rout that tore the Thracian Bard
In Rhodope, where Woods and Rocks had Ears
rapture, till the savage clamour drown'd
Both Harp and Voice; nor could the Muse defend
Her Son. So fail not thou, who thee implores:
For thou art Heav'nly, shee an empty dream.
Say Goddess, what ensu'd when Raphael,
The affable Arch-Angel, had forewarn'd
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,
Charg'd not to touch the interdicted Tree,
If they transgress, and slight that sole command,
So easily obey'd amid the choice

Of all tastes else to please thir appetite,
Though wand'ring. He with his consorted Eve
The story heard attentive, and was fill'd
With admiration, and deep Muse to hear

Of things so high and strange, things to thir thought
So unimaginable as hate in Heav'n,

And War so near the Peace of God in bliss

With such confusion: but the evil soon

Driv'n back redounded as a flood on those

From whom it sprung, impossible to mix

With Blessedness. Whence Adam soon repeal'd The doubts that in his heart arose: and now