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
710
Go then, thou mightiest, in thy Father’s might.
711
Ascend my chariot, guide the rapid wheels
712
That shake Heav’n’s basis, bring forth all my war,
713
My bow and thunder. My almighty arms
714
Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh.
715
Pursue these sons of darkness, drive them out
716
From all Heav’n’s bounds into the utter deep.
717
There let them learn, as likes them,
4034
to despise
718
God, and Messiah his anointed King.
719
“He said, and on His Son with rays direct
720
Shone full. He all his Father full expressed
721
Ineffably
4035
into his face received,
722
And thus the Filial Godhead, answering, spoke:
723
“‘O Father, O Supreme of Heav’nly Thrones,
724
First, Highest, Holiest, Best! Thou always seek’st
725
To glorify Thy Son, I always Thee,
726
As is most just. This I my glory account,
4036
727
My exaltation, and my whole delight,
728
That Thou, in me well pleased, declar’st Thy will
729
Fulfilled, which to fulfil is all my bliss.
730
Scepter and power, Thy giving, I assume,
731
And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
732
Thou shalt be all in all, and I in Thee
733
Forever, and in me all whom Thou lov’st.
734
But whom Thou hat’st, I hate, and can put on
735
Thy terrors, as I put Thy mildness on,
736
Image of Thee in all things, and shall soon,
737
Armed with Thy might, rid Heav’n of these rebelled,
738
To their prepared ill mansion driven down,
739
To chains of darkness, and th’ undying worm,
4037
740
That from Thy just obedience could revolt,
741
Whom to obey is happiness entire.
742
Then shall Thy Saints unmixed,
4038
and from th’ impure
743
Far separate, circling Thy holy mount,
744
Unfeignèd Halleluiahs to Thee sing,
745
Hymns of high praise, and I among them chief.
746
“So said, he o’er his scepter bowing, rose
747
From the right hand of Glory where he sat.
748
And the third sacred morn began to shine,
749
Dawning through Heav’n. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound
750
The chariot of paternal Deity,
751
Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,
4039
752
753
By four Cherubic shapes. Four faces each
754
Had wondrous. As with stars, their bodies all
755
And wings were set with eyes, with eyes the wheels
756
Of beryl, and careering
4042
fires between.
757
Over their heads a crystal firmament,
758
Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure
759
760
He in celestial panoply all armed
761
Of radiant Urim,
4045
work divinely wrought,
762
Ascended. At his right hand victory
763
Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
764
And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored,
765
And from about him fierce effusion
4046
rolled
766
Of smoke, and bickering
4047
flame, and sparkles dire.
767
Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,
768
He onward came. Far off his coming shone,
769
And twenty thousand (I their number heard)
770
Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen.
771
He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime
4048
772
On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,
773
Illustrious
4049
far and wide, but by his own
774
First seen. Them unexpected joy surprised,
775
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed
776
Aloft, by Angels borne, his sign in Heav’n,
777
Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
4050
778
His army, circumfused
4051
on either wing,
779
780
Before him Power Divine his way prepared;
781
At his command the uprooted hills retired
4054
782
Each to his place. They heard his voice, and went
783
784
And with fresh flow’rets hill and valley smiled.
785
786
And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,
787
788
“In Heav’nly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?
789
But to convince the proud what signs avail,
790
Or wonders move th’ obdurate to relent?
791
They, hardened more by what might most reclaim,
4061
792
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
793
Took envy and, aspiring to his height,
794
Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud
795
Weening
4062
to prosper, and at length prevail
796
Against God and Messiah, or to fall
797
In universal ruin last.
4063
And now
798
To final battle drew, disdaining flight,
799
Or faint retreat. When the great Son of God
800
To all his host on either hand thus spoke: