'56
��PARADISE LOST
��On golden hinges turning, as by work Divine the sovran Architect had framed. From hence no cloud or, to obstruct his
sight,
Star interposed, however small he sees, Not unconform to other shining globes, Earth, and the Garden of God, with cedars
crowned 260
Above all hills ; as when by night the glass Of Galileo, less assured, observes Imagined lands and regions in the Moon; Or pilot from amidst the Cyclades Delos or Samos first appearing kens, A cloudy spot. Down thither prone in
flight He speeds, and through the vast ethereal
sky Sails between worlds and worlds, with
steady wing
Now on the polar winds; then with quick fan Winnows the buxom air, till, within soar Of towering eagles, to all the fowls he
seems 271
A phoenix, gazed by all, as that sole bird, When, to enshrine his relics in the Sun's Bright temple, to ./Egyptian Thebs he flies. At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise He lights, and to his proper shape returns, A Seraph winged. Six wings he wore, to
shade
His lineaments divine: the pair that clad Each shoulder broad came mantling o'er
his breast
With regal ornament; the middle pair 280 Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round Skirted his loins and thighs with downy
gold And colours dipt in heaven ; the third his
feet Shadowed from either heel with feathered
mail, Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he
stood,
And shook his plumes, that heavenly fra- grance filled The circuit wide. Straight knew him all
the bands
Of Angels under watch, and to his state And to his message high in honour rise; For on some message high they guessed
him bound. 290
Their glittering tents he passed, and DOW
is come Into the blissful field, through groves of
myrrh,
��And flowering odours, cassia, nard, and
balm,
A wilderness of sweets; for Nature here Wantoned as in her prime, and played at
will Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more
sweet,
Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss. Him, through the spicy forest onward come, Adam discerned, as in the door he sat Of his cool bower, while now the mounted
Sun 300
Shot down direct his fervid rays, to warm Earth's inmost womb, more warmth than
Adam needs;
And Eve, within, due at her hour, prepared For dinner savoury fruits, of taste to please True appetite, and not disrelish thirst Of nectarous draughts between, from
milky stream, Berry or grape: to whom thus Adam
called : " Haste hither, Eve, and, worth thy sight,
behold Eastward among those trees what glorious
Shape Comes this way moving; seems another
morn 310
Risen on mid-noon. Some great behest
from Heaven
To us perhaps he brings, and will voutsafe This day to be our guest. But go with
speed, And what thy stores contain bring forth,
and pour
Abundance fit to honour and receive Our heavenly stranger; well we may afford Our givers their own gifts, and large be- stow
From large bestowed, where Nature multi- plies Her fertile growth, and by disburdening
grows More fruitful; which instructs us not to
spare." 320
To whom thus Eve: "Adam, Earth's
hallowed mould, Of God inspired, small store will serve
where store, All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the
stalk;
Save what, by frugal storing, firmness gains To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes. But I will haste, and from each bough and
brake,
�� �
