Read The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Online
Authors: John Milton,Burton Raffel
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Literary Collections, #Poetry, #Classics, #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #English poetry
457
Dissolved on earth, fleet
2586
hither, and in vain,
458
Till final dissolution, wander here,
459
Not in the neighboring moon, as some have dreamed.
460
Those argent
2587
fields’ more likely habitants,
461
462
Betwixt th’ angelical and human kind.
463
Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born
464
First from the ancient world those giants came,
465
With many a vain exploit, though then renowned.
466
The builders next of Babel on the plain
467
Of Sennaär,
2590
and still with vain design,
468
469
470
A god, leaped fondly
2596
into Aetna’s flames,
471
Empedocles; and he,
2597
who to enjoy
472
Plato’s Elysium,
2598
leaped into the sea,
473
Cleombrotus; and many more too long,
2599
474
Embryos and idiots, eremites,
2600
and friars
475
White,
2601
black,
2602
and gray,
2603
with all their trumpery.
2604
476
Here pilgrims roam, that strayed so far to seek
477
In Golgotha
2605
him dead who lives in Heav’n,
478
And they who to be sure of Paradise,
479
480
Or in Franciscan
2608
think to pass disguised.
481
They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed,
482
And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs
483
484
And now Saint Peter at Heav’n’s wicket
2611
seems
485
To wait
2612
them with his keys, and now at foot
486
Of Heav’n’s ascent they lift their feet, when lo!
487
A violent
2613
cross wind from either coast
488
489
Into the devious
2617
air. Then might ye see
490
Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed
491
And fluttered into rags, then relics, beads,
492
Indulgences, dispenses,
2618
pardons, bulls,
493
The sport of winds. All these, upwhirled aloft,
494
Fly o’er the backside
2619
of the world far off
495
Into a limbo large and broad, since called
496
The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown
497
Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod.
498
All this dark globe the fiend found as he passed,
499
And long he wandered, till at last a gleam
500
Of dawning light
2620
turned thitherward in haste
501
His travelled steps. Far distant he descries,
2621
502
Ascending by degrees
2622
magnificent
503
Up to the wall of Heav’n, a structure high
504
At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared
505
The work as of a kingly palace-gate,
506
With frontispiece
2623
of diamond and gold
507
Embellished. Thick with sparkling orient
2624
gems
508
The portal
2625
shone, inimitable on earth
509
By model or by shading
2626
pencil drawn.
510
These stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw
511
Angels ascending and descending, bands
512
Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled
513
514
Dreaming by night under the open sky
515
And waking cried, “This is the gate of Heav’n!
516
Each stair mysteriously
2629
was meant, nor stood
517
There always, but drawn up
2630
to Heav’n sometimes,
518
Viewless.
2631
And underneath a bright sea flowed
519
Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
520
Who after came from earth, sailing arrived,
521
Wafted by Angels, or flew o’er the lake
522
Rapt
2632
in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds.
523
The stairs were then let down, whether to dare
524
The fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate
2633
525
His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss,
526
Direct against which opened from beneath,
527
Just o’er the blissful seat of Paradise,
528
A passage down to th’ earth, a passage wide,
529
Wider by far than that of after-times
530
Over Mount Sion and, though that were large,
531
Over the Promised Land, to God so dear,
532
By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,
533
On high behests
2634
His Angels to and fro
534
Passed frequent, and His eye with choice regard
2635
535
536
To Beersaba,
2639
where the Holy Land
537
Borders on Egypt and th’Arabian shore.
538
So wide the op’ning seemed, where bounds were set
539
To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.
540
Satan from hence, now on the lower stair
541
That scaled by steps of gold to Heav’n-gate,
542
Looks down with wonder at the sudden view
543
Of all this world at once. As when a scout,
2640