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		<title>Book VII</title>
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		<section id="book-7" epub:type="chapter">
			<h2>
				<span epub:type="label">Book</span>
				<span epub:type="ordinal z3998:roman">VII</span>
			</h2>
			<section id="argument-7" epub:type="preamble">
				<header>
					<p>The Argument</p>
				</header>
				<p>Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this World was first created: that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declared 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.</p>
			</section>
			<section id="poem-7" epub:type="z3998:poem">
				<p>
					<span>Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that name</span>
					<br/>
					<span>If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Above the flight of Pegasean wing!</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The meaning, not the name, I call; for thou</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of old Olympus dwell’st; but Heavenly-born,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Before the hills appeared or fountain flowed,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With thy celestial song. Up led by thee,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thy tempering: with like safety guided down,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Return me to my native element;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Lest from this flying steed unreined (as once</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Bellerophon, though from a lower clime)</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Erroneous there to wander and forlorn.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Within the visible diurnal sphere.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Standing on Earth, not rapt above the pole,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And solitude; yet not alone, while thou</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Visit’st my slumbers nightly, or when morn</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Purples the east. Still govern thou my song,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Urania, and fit audience find, though few;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>But drive far off the barbarous dissonance</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To rapture, till the savage clamour drowned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her son. So fail not thou who thee implores;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>For thou art Heavenly, she an empty dream.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphael,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The affable Archangel, had forewarned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Adam by dire example to beware</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Apostasy, by what befell in Heaven</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To those apostates, lest the like befall</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In Paradise to Adam or his race,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Charged not to touch the interdicted Tree,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>If they transgress, and slight that sole command,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>So easily obeyed amid the choice</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of all tastes else to please their appetite,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Though wandering. He with his consorted Eve</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The story heard attentive, and was filled</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With admiration and deep muse, to hear</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of things so high and strange, things to their thought</span>
					<br/>
					<span>So unimaginable as hate in Heaven,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And war so near the peace of God in bliss,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With such confusion; but the evil, soon</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Driven back, redounded as a flood on those</span>
					<br/>
					<span>From whom it sprung, impossible to mix</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The doubts that in his heart arose; and now</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know</span>
					<br/>
					<span>What nearer might concern him, how this World</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Heaven and Earth conspicuous first began;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>When, and whereof, created; for what cause;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>What within Eden, or without, was done</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Before his memory⁠—as one whose drouth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Yet scarce allayed still eyes the current stream,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites⁠—</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Proceeded thus to ask his Heavenly guest:</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“Great things, and full of wonder in our ears,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Far differing from this World, thou hast revealed,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Divine interpreter! by favour sent</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Down from the Empyrean to forewarn</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Us timely of what might else have been our loss,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Unknown, which human knowledge could not reach;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>For which to the infinitely Good we owe</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Immortal thanks, and his admonishment</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Receive with solemn purpose to observe</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Immutably his sovran will, the end</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of what we are. But, since thou hast vouchsafed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Gently, for our instruction, to impart</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Things above earthly thought, which yet concerned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Our knowing, as to highest Wisdom seemed,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Deign to descend now lower, and relate</span>
					<br/>
					<span>What may no less perhaps avail us known:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>How first began this heaven which we behold</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Distant so high, with moving fires adorned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Innumerable; and this which yields or fills</span>
					<br/>
					<span>All space, the ambient air wide interfused,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Embracing round this florid Earth; what cause</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Moved the Creator, in his holy rest</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Through all eternity, so late to build</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In Chaos; and the work begun how soon</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Absolved; if unforbid thou may’st unfold</span>
					<br/>
					<span>What we not to explore the secrets ask</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of his eternal empire, but the more</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To magnify his works the more we know.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And the great light of day yet wants to run</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Much of his race, though steep; suspense in heaven,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Held by thy voice, thy potent voice, he hears,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And longer will delay to hear thee tell</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His generation, and the rising birth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Nature from the unapparent Deep;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Or if the star of evening and the moon</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Haste to thy audience, Night with her will bring</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Silence, and Sleep listening to thee will watch;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Or we can bid his absence till thy song</span>
					<br/>
					<span>End, and dismiss thee ere the morning shine.”</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>Thus Adam his illustrious guest besought;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And thus the godlike Angel answered mild:</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“This also thy request, with caution asked,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Obtain; though to recount almighty works</span>
					<br/>
					<span>What words or tongue of Seraph can suffice,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Or heart of man suffice to comprehend?</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Yet what thou canst attain, which best may serve</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To glorify the Maker, and infer</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thee also happier, shall not be withheld</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thy hearing; such commission from above</span>
					<br/>
					<span>I have received, to answer thy desire</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of knowledge within bounds; beyond abstain</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To ask, nor let thine own inventions hope</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Things not revealed, which the invisible King,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Only omniscient, hath suppressed in night,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To none communicable in Earth or Heaven:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Enough is left besides to search and know.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>But knowledge is as food, and needs no less</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her temperance over appetite, to know</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In measure what the mind may well contain;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“Know then that after Lucifer from Heaven</span>
					<br/>
					<span>(So call him, brighter once amidst the host</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Angels than that star the stars among)</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Fell with his flaming legions through the Deep</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Into his place, and the great Son returned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Victorious with his Saints, the omnipotent</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Eternal Father from his throne beheld</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their multitude, and to his Son thus spake:</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“ ‘At least our envious foe hath failed, who thought</span>
					<br/>
					<span>All like himself rebellious; by whose aid</span>
					<br/>
					<span>This inaccessible high strength, the seat</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Deity supreme, us dispossessed,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>He trusted to have seized, and into fraud</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Drew many whom their place, knows here no more:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Yet far the greater part have kept, I see,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their station; Heaven, yet populous, retains</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Number sufficient to possess her realms</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Though wide, and this high temple to frequent</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With ministeries due and solemn rites.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>But lest his heart exalt him in the harm</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Already done, to have dispeopled Heaven⁠—</span>
					<br/>
					<span>My damage fondly deemed⁠—I can repair</span>
					<br/>
					<span>That detriment, if such it be to lose</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Self-lost, and in a moment will create</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Another world, out of one man a race</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of men innumerable, there to dwell,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Not here, till, by degrees of merit raised,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>They open to themselves at length the way</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Up hither, under long obedience tried,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And Earth be changed to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>One kingdom, joy and union without end.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye Powers of Heaven;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And thou, my Word, begotten Son, by thee</span>
					<br/>
					<span>This I perform; speak thou, and be it done!</span>
					<br/>
					<span>My overshadowing Spirit and might with thee</span>
					<br/>
					<span>I send along; ride forth, and bid the Deep</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Within appointed bounds be Heaven and Earth;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Boundless the Deep, because I am who fill</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Infinitude; nor vacuous the space,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Though I uncircumscribed myself retire,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And put not forth my goodness, which is free</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To act or not: Necessity and Chance</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Approach not me, and what I will is Fate.’</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“So spake the Almighty, and to what he spake</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His Word, the Filial Godhead, gave effect.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Immediate are the acts of God, more swift</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Than time or motion, but to human ears</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Cannot without process of speech be told,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>So told as earthly notion can receive.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Great triumph and rejoicing was in Heaven,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>When such was heard declared the Almighty’s will;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Glory they sung to the Most High, good-will</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To future men, and in their dwellings peace;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Glory to Him whose just avenging ire</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Had driven out the ungodly from his sight</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And the habitations of the just; to Him</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Glory and praise whose wisdom had ordained</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Good out of evil to create; instead</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Spirits malign, a better race to bring</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Into their vacant room, and thence diffuse</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His good to worlds and ages infinite.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“So sang the Hierarchies. Meanwhile the Son</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On his great expedition now appeared,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Girt with omnipotence, with radiance crowned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of majesty divine, sapience and love</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Immense; and all his Father in him shone.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>About his chariot numberless were poured</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And Virtues, winged Spirits, and chariots winged</span>
					<br/>
					<span>From the armoury of God, where stand of old</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Myriads, between two brazen mountains lodged</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Against a solemn day, harnessed at hand,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Celestial equipage; and now came forth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Spontaneous, for within them Spirit lived,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Attendant on their Lord. Heaven opened wide</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On golden hinges moving, to let forth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The King of Glory, in his powerful Word</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And Spirit coming to create new worlds.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On Heavenly ground they stood, and from the shore</span>
					<br/>
					<span>They viewed the vast immeasurable Abyss,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Up from the bottom turned by furious winds</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And surging waves, as mountains, to assault</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Heaven’s highth, and with the centre mix the pole.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“ ‘Silence, ye troubled waves, and, thou Deep, peace!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Said then the omnific Word: ‘your discord end!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Nor stayed; but, on the wings of Cherubim</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Uplifted, in paternal glory rode</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Far into Chaos and the World unborn;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>For Chaos heard his voice. Him all his train</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Followed in bright procession, to behold</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Creation, and the wonders of his might.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Then stayed the fervid wheels and in his hand</span>
					<br/>
					<span>He took the golden compasses, prepared</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe</span>
					<br/>
					<span>This Universe, and all created things,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>One foot he centred, and the other turned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Round through the vast profundity obscure,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And said, ‘Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>This be thy just circumference, O World!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thus God the heaven created, thus the Earth,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Matter unformed and void. Darkness profound</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Covered the Abyss; but on the watery calm</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Throughout the fluid mass, but downward purged</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The black, tartareous, cold, infernal dregs,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Adverse to life; then founded, then conglobed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Like things to like, the rest to several place</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Disparted, and between spun out the air,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And Earth, self-balanced, on her centre hung.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“ ‘Let there be light!’ said God; and forthwith light</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Sprung from the Deep, and from her native east</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To journey through the aery gloom began,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Was not; she in a cloudy tabernacle</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Sojourned the while. God saw the light was good;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And light from darkness by the hemisphere</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Divided: light the Day, and darkness Night,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>He named. Thus was the first day even and morn;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Nor passed uncelebrated, nor unsung</span>
					<br/>
					<span>By the celestial choirs, when orient light</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Exhaling first from darkness they beheld,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Birth-day of Heaven and Earth; with joy and shout</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The hollow universal orb they filled,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And touched their golden harps, and hymning praised</span>
					<br/>
					<span>God and his works; Creator him they sung,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Both when first evening was, and when first morn.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“Again, God said, ‘Let there be firmament</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Amid the waters, and let it divide</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The waters from the waters!’ And God made</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Transparent, elemental air, diffused</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In circuit to the uttermost convex</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of this great round⁠—partition firm and sure,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The waters underneath from those above</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Dividing; for as Earth, so he the World</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Crystalline ocean, and the loud misrule</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Chaos far removed, lest fierce extremes</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Contiguous might distemper the whole frame:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And heaven he named the firmament. So even</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And morning chorus sung the second day.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“The Earth was formed, but, in the womb as yet</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of waters, embryon, immature, involved,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Appeared not; over all the face of Earth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Main ocean flowed, not idle, but, with warm</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Prolific humour softening all her globe,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Fermented the great mother to conceive,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Satiate with genial moisture; when God said,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>‘Be gathered now, ye waters under heaven,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Into one place, and let dry land appear!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Immediately the mountains huge appear</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Into the clouds; their tops ascend the sky.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Capacious bed of waters; thither they</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Hasted with glad precipitance, uprolled,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>As drops on dust conglobing from the dry;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Part rise in crystal wall, or ridge direct,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>For haste; such flight the great command impressed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On the swift floods. As armies at the call</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of trumpet (for of armies thou hast heard)</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Troop to the standard, so the watery throng,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Wave rolling after wave, where way they found:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>If steep, with torrent rapture, if through plain,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Soft-ebbing; nor withstood them rock or hill;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>But they, or underground, or circuit wide</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With serpent error wandering, found their way,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And on the washy ooze deep channels wore;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Easy, ere God had bid the ground be dry,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>All but within those banks where rivers now</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The dry land Earth, and the great receptacle</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of congregated waters he called seas;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And saw that it was good, and said, ‘Let the Earth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Whose seed is in herself upon the Earth!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>He scarce had said when the bare Earth, till then</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her universal face with pleasant green;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Opening their various colours, and made gay</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her bosom, smelling sweet; and, these scarce blown,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Forth flourished thick the clustering vine, forth crept</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The smelling gourd, up stood the corny reed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Embattled in her field: add the humble shrub,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And bush with frizzled hair implicit: last</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their blossoms. With high woods the hills were crowned,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With tufts the valleys and each fountain-side,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With borders long the rivers; that Earth now</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Seemed like to Heaven, a seat where gods might dwell,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Or wander with delight, and love to haunt</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her sacred shades; though God had yet not rained</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Upon the Earth, and man to till the ground</span>
					<br/>
					<span>None was, but from the Earth a dewy mist</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Went up and watered all the ground, and each</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Plant of the field, which ere it was in the Earth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>God made, and every herb, before it grew</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On the green stem. God saw that it was good;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>So even and morn recorded the third day.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“Again the Almighty spake, ‘Let there be lights</span>
					<br/>
					<span>High in the expanse of heaven, to divide</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The day from night; and let them be for signs,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>For seasons, and for days, and circling years;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And let them be for lights, as I ordain</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their office in the firmament of heaven,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To give light on the Earth!’ and it was so.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And God made two great lights, great for their use</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To Man, the greater to have rule, by day,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The less by night, altern; and made the stars,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And set them in the firmament of heaven</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In their vicissitude, and rule the night,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And light from darkness to divide. God saw,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Surveying his great work, that it was good:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>For, of celestial bodies, first the sun</span>
					<br/>
					<span>A mighty sphere he framed, unlightsome first,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Though of ethereal mould; then formed the moon</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Globose, and every magnitude of stars,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And sowed with stars the heaven thick as a field.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of light by far the greater part he took,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Transplanted from her cloudy shrine, and placed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In the sun’s orb, made porous to receive</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And drink the liquid light, firm to retain</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her gathered beams, great palace now of light.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Hither, as to their fountain, other stars</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Repairing, in their golden urns draw light,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And hence the morning planet gilds her horns;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>By tincture or reflection they augment</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their small peculiar, though, from human sight</span>
					<br/>
					<span>So far remote, with diminution seen.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>First in his east the glorious lamp was seen,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Regent of day, and all the horizon round</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Invested with bright rays, jocund to run</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His longitude through heaven’s high road; the grey</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Dawn, and the Pleiades, before him danced,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Shedding sweet influence. Less bright the moon,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>But opposite in levelled west, was set.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His mirror, with full face borrowing her light</span>
					<br/>
					<span>From him; for other light she needed none</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In that aspect, and still that distance keeps</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Till night; then in the east her turn she shines,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Revolved on heaven’s great axle, and her reign</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With thousand lesser lights dividual holds,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With thousand thousand stars, that then appeared</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Spangling the hemisphere. Then first adorned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With her bright luminaries, that set and rose,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Glad evening and glad morn crowned the fourth day.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“And God said, ‘Let the waters generate</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And let fowl fly above the Earth, with wings</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Displayed on the open firmament of heaven!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And God created the great whales, and each</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The waters generated by their kinds,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And every bird of wing after his kind;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And saw that it was good, and blessed them, saying,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>‘Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And let the fowl be multiplied on the Earth!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of fish that with their fins and shining scales</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Glide under the green wave in sculls that oft</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Bank the mid-sea. Part, single or with mate,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Graze the sea-weed, their pasture, and through groves</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of coral stray, or, sporting with quick glance,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Show to the sun their waved coats dropt with gold;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Moist nutriment, or under rocks their food</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In jointed armour watch; on smooth the seal</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And bended dolphins play; part, huge of bulk,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Tempest the ocean. There leviathan,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Hugest of living creatures, on the deep</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Stretched like a promontory, sleeps or swims,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And seems a moving land, and at his gills</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their brood as numerous hatch from the egg, that soon,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their callow young; but feathered soon and fledge</span>
					<br/>
					<span>They summed their pens, and, soaring the air sublime,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With clang despised the ground, under a cloud</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In prospect. There the eagle and the stork</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Part loosely wing the region; part more wise,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Intelligent of seasons, and set forth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their aery caravan, high over seas</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Easing their flight; so steers the prudent crane</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Floats as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>From branch to branch the smaller birds with song</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Solaced the woods, and spread their painted wings,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Others, on silver lakes and rivers, bathed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their downy breast; the swan, with arched neck</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The mid aerial sky. Others on ground</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Walked firm: the crested cock whose clarion sounds</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The silent hours, and the other whose gay train</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Adorns him, coloured with the florid hue</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With fish replenished, and the air with fowl,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Evening and morn solemnized the fifth day.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“The sixth, and of Creation last, arose</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With evening harps and matin; when God said,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>‘Let the Earth bring forth soul living in her kind,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of the Earth,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Each in their kind!’ The Earth obeyed, and straight,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Opening her fertile womb, teemed at a birth</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Limbed and full-grown. Out of the ground up rose,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>As from his lair, the wild beast, where he wons</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walked;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The cattle in the fields and meadows green:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Those rare and solitary, these in flocks</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The grassy clods now calved; now half appeared</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The tawny lion, pawing to get free</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His hinder parts, then springs, as broke from bonds,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In hillocks; the swift stag from underground</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His vastness; fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>As plants; ambiguous between sea and land,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The river-horse and scaly crocodile.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>At once came forth whatever creeps the ground,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Insect or worm. Those waved their limber fans</span>
					<br/>
					<span>For wings, and smallest lineaments exact</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In all the liveries decked of summer’s pride,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With spots of gold and purple, azure and green;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>These as a line their long dimension drew,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Streaking the ground with sinuous trace: not all</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Minims of nature; some of serpent kind,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Wondrous in length and corpulence, involved</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The parsimonious emmet, provident</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of future, in small room large heart enclosed;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Pattern of just equality perhaps</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of commonalty. Swarming next appeared</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The female bee, that feeds her husband drone</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With honey stored. The rest are numberless,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And thou their natures know’st, and gav’st them names,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And hairy mane terrific, though to thee</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“Now Heaven in all her glory shone, and rolled</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Her motions, as the great First Mover’s hand</span>
					<br/>
					<span>First wheeled their course; Earth in her rich attire</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Consummate lovely smiled; air, water, earth,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walked,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remained.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>There wanted yet the master-work, the end</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of all yet done; a creature who, not prone</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And brute as other creatures, but endued</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With sanctity of reason, might erect</span>
					<br/>
					<span>His stature, and upright with front serene</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>But grateful to acknowledge whence his good</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Descends; thither with heart, and voice, and eyes,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Directed in devotion, to adore</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And worship God supreme, who made him chief</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of all his works. Therefore the omnipotent</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Eternal Father (for where is not he</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake:</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“ ‘Let us make now Man in our image, Man</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In our similitude, and let them rule</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Beast of the field, and over all the Earth,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And every creeping thing that creeps the ground!</span>
					<br/>
					<span>This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee, O Man,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The breath of life; in his own image he</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Created thee, in the image of God</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Express, and thou becam’st a living soul.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Male he created thee, but thy consort</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Female, for race; then blessed mankind, and said,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And every living thing that moves on the Earth!’</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Wherever thus created (for no place</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Is yet distinct by name), thence, as thou know’st,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>He brought thee into this delicious grove,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>This garden, planted with the trees of God,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Delectable both to behold and taste;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And freely all their pleasant fruit for food</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Gave thee: all sorts are here that all the Earth yields,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Variety without end; but of the Tree</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Which tasted works knowledge of good and evil</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thou may’st not; in the day thou eat’st, thou diest.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Death is the penalty imposed; beware,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Surprise thee, and her black attendant, Death.</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“Here finished he, and all that he had made</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Viewed, and behold! all was entirely good.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>So even and morn accomplished the sixth day;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Yet not till the Creator, from his work</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Desisting, though unwearied, up returned,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Up to the Heaven of Heavens, his high abode,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thence to behold this new-created World,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The addition of his empire⁠—how it showed</span>
					<br/>
					<span>In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Answering his great idea. Up he rode,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Followed with acclamation and the sound</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Angelic harmonies. The Earth, the air</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Resounded (thou remember’st, for thou heard’st),</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The heavens and all the constellations rung,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The planets in their stations listening stood,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>‘Open, ye everlasting gates!’ they sung;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>‘Open, ye Heavens, your living doors! let in</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The great Creator, from his work returned</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Magnificent, his six days’ work, a World!</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Open, and henceforth oft; for God will deign</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To visit oft the dwellings of just men,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Delighted, and with frequent intercourse</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thither will send his winged messengers</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On errands of supernal grace.’ So sung</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The glorious train ascending. He through Heaven,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>That opened wide her blazing portals, led</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To God’s eternal house direct the way;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Seen in the Galaxy, that milky way</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Powdered with stars. And now on Earth the seventh</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Evening arose in Eden, for the sun</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Was set, and twilight from the east came on,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Forerunning night; when at the holy mount</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Heaven’s high-seated top, the imperial throne</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Godhead, fixed for ever firm and sure,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The Filial Power arrived, and sat him down</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With his great Father; for he also went</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Invisible, yet stayed (such privilege</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Hath Omnipresence), and the work ordained,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Author and end of all things, and, from work</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Now resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh day,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>As resting on that day from all his work;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>But not in silence holy kept: the harp</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Had work and rested not; the solemn pipe,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>All sounds on fret by string or golden wire,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Tempered soft tunings, intermixed with voice</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Choral or unison; of incense clouds,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Fuming from golden censers, hid the mount.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Creation and the six days’ acts they sung:</span>
					<br/>
					<span>‘Great are thy works, Jehovah! infinite</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thy power! what thought can measure thee, or tongue</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Relate thee? greater now in thy return</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Than from the Giant-angels: thee that day</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thy thunders magnified; but to create</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Is greater than created to destroy.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Who can impair thee, mighty King, or bound</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thy empire? Easily the proud attempt</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of Spirits apostate and their counsels vain</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thou hast repelled, while impiously they thought</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thee to diminish, and from thee withdraw</span>
					<br/>
					<span>The number of thy worshippers. Who seeks</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To lessen thee, against his purpose serves</span>
					<br/>
					<span>To manifest the more thy might; his evil</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Thou usest, and from thence creat’st more good.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Witness this new-made World, another Heaven</span>
					<br/>
					<span>From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view</span>
					<br/>
					<span>On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of amplitude almost immense, with stars</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Numerous, and every star perhaps a world</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Of destined habitation; but thou know’st</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their seasons; among these the seat of Men,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Earth, with her nether ocean circumfused,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy Men,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And sons of Men! whom God hath thus advanced,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Created in his image, there to dwell</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And worship him, and in reward to rule</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And multiply a race of worshippers</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Holy and just; thrice happy, if they know</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Their happiness, and persevere upright!”</span>
				</p>
				<p>
					<span>“So sung they, and the Empyrean rung</span>
					<br/>
					<span>With halleluiahs. Thus was Sabbath kept.</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And thy request think now fulfilled, that asked</span>
					<br/>
					<span>How first this World and face of things began,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>And what before thy memory was done</span>
					<br/>
					<span>From the beginning, that posterity,</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Informed by thee, might know. If else thou seek’st</span>
					<br/>
					<span>Aught, not surpassing human measure, say.”</span>
				</p>
			</section>
		</section>
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