Paradise Lost (Modern Library Classics) (47 page)

As is most just; this I my glory account,

My exaltation, and my whole delight,

That thou in me well pleased
⁷²⁸
, declar’st thy will

Fulfilled, which to fulfill is all my bliss.

Scepter and power, thy giving, I assume,

And gladlier shall resign, when in the end
⁷³¹

Thou shalt be all in all
⁷³¹
, and I in thee

Forever, and in me all whom thou lov’st:

But whom thou hat’st, I hate
⁷³⁴
, and can put on

Thy terrors, as I put thy mildness on,

Image of thee in all things; and shall soon,

Armed with thy might, rid Heav’n of these rebelled,

To their prepared ill mansion
⁷³⁸
driven down

To chains of darkness, and th’ undying worm,
⁷³⁹

That from thy just obedience could revolt,

Whom to obey is happiness entire.

Then shall thy saints unmixed, and from th’ impure

Far separate, circling thy holy mount

Unfeignèd hallelujahs
⁷⁴⁴
to thee sing,

Hymns of high praise, and I among them chief.’

So said, he o’er his scepter bowing, rose

From the right hand of glory where he sat,

And the third sacred morn began to shine

Dawning through Heav’n: forth
⁷⁴⁹
rushed with whirlwind sound

The chariot of paternal deity,

Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn,

Itself instinct with
⁷⁵²
spirit, but convoyed

By four cherubic shapes, four faces each

Had wondrous, as with stars their bodies all

And wings were set with eyes, with eyes the wheels

Of beryl
⁷⁵⁶
, and careering fires between;

Over their heads a crystal firmament,

Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure

Amber, and colors of the show’ry arch
⁷⁵⁹
.

He in celestial panoply all armed

Of radiant urim
⁷⁶¹
, work divinely wrought,

Ascended, at his right hand Victory
⁷⁶²

Sat eagle-winged, beside him hung his bow

And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored,

And from about him fierce effusion rolled

Of smoke and bickering
⁷⁶⁶
flame, and sparkles dire;

Attended with
⁷⁶⁷
ten thousand thousand saints,

He onward came, far off his coming shone,

And twenty thousand (I their number heard)

Chariots of God, half on each hand were seen:

He on
⁷⁷¹
the wings of Cherub rode sublime

On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned.

Illustrious
⁷⁷³
far and wide, but by his own

First seen, them unexpected joy surprised,

When the great ensign of Messiah blazed

Aloft by angels borne, his sign
⁷⁷⁶
in Heav’n:

Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
⁷⁷⁷

His army, circumfused on either wing,

Under their head
⁷⁷⁹
embodied all in one.

Before him power divine his way prepared;

At his command the uprooted hills retired

Each to his place, they heard his voice and went

Obsequious, Heav’n his wonted face renewed,

And with fresh flow’rets hill and valley smiled.

This saw his hapless foes but stood obdured
⁷⁸⁵
,

And to rebellious fight rallied their powers

Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.

In Heav’nly spirits could such perverseness dwell?

But to convince the proud what signs avail,

Or wonders move th’ obdurate to relent?

They hardened more
⁷⁹¹
by what might most reclaim,

Grieving to see his glory, at the sight

Took envy, and aspiring to his highth,

Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud

Weening to prosper, and at length prevail

Against God and Messiah, or to fall

In universal ruin last
⁷⁹⁷
, and now

To final battle drew, disdaining flight,

Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God

To all his host on either hand thus spake.

   “ ‘Stand still in bright array ye saints
⁸⁰¹
, here stand

Ye angels armed, this day from battle rest;

Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God

Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause,

And as ye have received, so have ye done

Invincibly; but of this cursèd crew

The punishment to other hand belongs,

Vengeance
⁸⁰⁸
is his, or whose he sole appoints;

Number to this day’s work is not ordained

Nor multitude, stand only and behold

God’s indignation on these godless poured

By me, not you but me they have despised,

Yet envied; against me is all their rage,

Because the Father, t’ whom in Heav’n supreme

Kingdom and
⁸¹⁵
power and glory appertains,

Hath honored me according to his will.

Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned;

That they may have their wish, to try with me

In battle which the stronger proves, they all,

Or I alone against them, since by strength

They measure all, of other excellence

Not emulous, nor care who them excels;

Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.’

   “So spake the Son, and into terror changed

His count’nance too severe to be beheld

And full of wrath bent on his enemies.

At once the Four
⁸²⁷
spread out their starry wings

With dreadful shade contiguous
⁸²⁸
, and the orbs

Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound

Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.

He on his impious foes right onward
⁸³¹
drove,

Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels

The steadfast empyrean shook throughout,
⁸³³

All but the throne itself of God
⁸³³
. Full soon

Among them he arrived; in his right hand

Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent

Before him, such as in their souls infixed

Plagues
⁸³⁸
; they astonished all resistance lost,

All courage; down their idle weapons dropped;

O’er shields
⁸⁴⁰
and helms, and helmèd heads he rode

Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,

That wished
⁸⁴²
the mountains now might be again

Thrown on them as a shelter from his ire.

Nor less on either side tempestuous fell

His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four,

Distinct
⁸⁴⁶
with eyes, and from the living wheels

Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;

One spirit in them ruled, and every eye

Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious
⁸⁴⁹
fire

Among th’ accursed, that withered all their strength,

And of their wonted vigor left them drained,

Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fall’n.

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked

His thunder in mid-volley, for he meant

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n:

The overthrown he raised, and as a herd

Of goats
⁸⁵⁷
or timorous flock together thronged

Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursued

With terrors and with furies to the bounds

And crystal wall of Heav’n, which op’ning wide,

Rolled inward
⁸⁶¹
, and a spacious gap disclosed

Into the wasteful
⁸⁶²
deep; the monstrous sight

Strook them with horror backward, but far worse

Urged them behind; headlong themselves they threw

Down from the verge of Heav’n; eternal wrath

Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

   “Hell heard th’ unsufferable noise, Hell saw

Heav’n ruining
⁸⁶⁸
from Heav’n and would have fled

Affrighted; but strict fate
⁸⁶⁹
had cast too deep

Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.

Nine days they fell
⁸⁷¹
; confounded Chaos roared,

And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout
⁸⁷³

“headlong themselves they threw / Down from the verge of Heav’n” (6.864–65).
(illustration credit 6.1)

Encumbered him with ruin: Hell at last
⁸⁷⁴

Yawning received them whole, and on them closed
⁸⁷⁴
,

Hell their fit habitation fraught with fire

Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.

Disburdened Heav’n rejoiced, and soon repaired

Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled.

Sole victor from th’ expulsion of his foes

Messiah his triumphal chariot turned:

To meet him all his saints, who silent stood

Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,

With jubilee
⁸⁸⁴
advanced; and as they went,

Shaded with branching palm
⁸⁸⁵
, each order bright

Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,

Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion giv’n,

Worthiest to reign: he celebrated rode

Triumphant through mid-Heav’n, into the courts

And temple of his mighty Father throned

On high: who into glory him received,

Where now he sits at the right hand
⁸⁹²
of bliss.

   “Thus measuring things in Heav’n by things on Earth

At thy request, and that thou may’st beware

By what is past, to thee I have revealed

What might have else to human race been hid;

The discord which befell, and war in Heav’n

Among th’ angelic powers, and the deep fall

Of those too high aspiring, who rebelled

With Satan,
⁹⁰⁰
he who envies now thy state,

Who now is plotting how he may seduce

Thee also from obedience, that with him

Bereaved of happiness thou may’st partake

His punishment, eternal misery;

Which would be all his solace and revenge,

As a despite done against the Most High,

Thee once to gain companion of his woe.

But listen not to his temptations, warn

Thy weaker
⁹⁰⁹
; let it profit thee to have heard

By terrible example the reward

Of disobedience; firm they might have stood,

Yet fell; remember, and fear to transgress.”

1.
dreadless angel
: Abdiel, fearless and without a doubt (see 5.899–905).

2.
champaign
: (1) wide expanse of open countryside; (2) common land (“The least turf of hallowed glebe is with God himself of more value than all the champaign of common possession,” Jeremy Taylor, 2.34); (3) a plain as a battlefield (see l. 15).

2–11.
Morn … Heav’n:
Like Book 5, Book 6 begins with an allusion to the best-known Homeric personification, rosy-fingered Dawn. Milton’s Dawn is distinctively awakened by the
Hours
in the
circling
configuration of a clock (cp. 4.267). Unlike Hesiod, who puts the abode of alternating day and night in the abyss (
Theog
. 744–54), Milton elevates their
perpetual round
to Heaven’s most sacred site,
fast by
(near) God’s
throne
. Milton grew up in a household with its own clock, at a time when it first became possible for wealthier citizens to own one.

10.
Obsequious
: obedient, sequent; like one observing rites of mourning (cp.
Lyc
headnote;
SA
1732).

19.
in procinct
: from the Latin
in procinctu
, “girded up, prepared for battle.”

29–30.
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant”(Matt. 25.21); “fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 6.12).

33–35.
for the testimony … violence:
“For thy sake I have borne reproach” (Ps. 69.7). Cp. Spenser: “Evil deeds may better than bad words be bore” (FQ 4.4.4).

42.
Right reason
: Scholastic theologians adapted the concept of an
a priori
faculty of moral judgment from the
recta ratio
of Stoic philosophy. Milton cites Cicero (
Philippics
11.12.28): “Right reason [is] derived from divine will which commands what is right and forbids what is wrong” (
1Def
, Yale 4:1.383; cp.
Brief Notes
, Yale 7:479). See Hoopes.

44.
Michael
: “Who is like God?” (Hebr.). He is named as Satan’s opponent in Revelation, Milton’s main source for the War in Heaven (12.7). Milton transfers to Christ many of the distinctions traditionally accorded Michael, including credit for vanquishing Satan.

46.
Gabriel
: “man of God” (Hebr.). See 4.549n.

49.
Equal
: Equality is a slippery concept in the epic. As Satan later acknowledges, “most” (two-thirds) of the angels remain loyal to God (l. 166; cp. l. 156, 2.692, 5.710).

54.
Tartarus
: Hell; see 2.69n.

55.
chaos
: Fowler glosses this usage as indicating the uncreated realm of primordial matter, but God uses the term in its primitive sense of “yawning gulf, chasm” (
OED
1; cp. ll. 871–75).

56–60.
Editors note that smoke, fire, and trumpet signal God’s presence when he gives Moses the Ten Commandments (Exod. 19.18–19). The typological structure of the narrative suggests that Milton alludes primarily to Hebrews 12, however, in which St. Paul localizes the Exodus account to insist on the apocalyptic transcendence and universality of Christ’s kingdom: “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet.… But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (18–22). Cp. 833–34n.

58.
reluctant
: struggling (of the fire working through smoke); cp. 4.311. The
OED
does not cite an example of the modern sense before the eighteenth century.

60.
gan
: began to.

62.
stood for Heav’n
: maintained loyalty to God (in contrast to the
Apostate;
cp. l. 100).

63–65.
Of union irresistible … harmony:
Cp. the quiet calm of the fallen angels, marching in squared formation to the sound of flutes playing Dorian music (1.549–61). “Homer thus marches his Grecians silent and sedate” (Todd;
Il
. 3.8).

69.
obvious
: standing in the way.

73–76.
Their nimble tread … thee:
Cp. Gen. 2.20.

78.
terrene
: earthly (referring back to
province
).

79–83.
horizon … shields:
The full extent of the northern horizon is filled with Satan’s troops, whose armor shines with fiery light. For Satan’s association with the north, see 5.689.

125–26.
reason … reason:
playing on the distinction between the principle or faculty of
reason
(capitalized in early editions) and
reason
as the rationale or explanation for an outcome (lowercase).

84.
argument
: design, subject (cp. 1.24, 9.13,
Damon
189).

86.
expedition
: speed, aggressiveness;
weened:
thought, expected.

90.
fond
: foolish, conceited.

91.
In the mid way
: little-used idiom, meaning “halfway through,” e.g., one’s life (11.631; cp. Mary Herbert’s translation of Ps. 102.24). In other words, Satan and his army fall well short of their intended goal. Fowler suspects numerological resonance because the Son ascends the chariot to defeat the rebels halfway through the epic (l. 762). Cp. 129n.

93.
hosting
: battle, from the noun
host
, “army” (see l. 104), but with a play on “entertain hospitably”;
wont:
were used.

100.
Apostate
: Greek
apo
(from, off),
stat
(stand).

107.
cloudy van
: the front line (van) of an army massed for battle and thus resembling a threatening cloud, as Milton’s simile at 2.533–38 indicates. On Satan’s proclivity for the front line or
edge
of battle, see 1.276–77.

115.
realty
: reality, sincerity.

118.
boldest
: most insolent, presumptuous.

120.
tried
: proved, judged after trial.

129.
prevention
: obstruction, in the literal sense of “coming before.” Abdiel stops Satan “in the mid way” (cp. l. 91).

130.
securely
: confidently.

131.
Proud
: continuing the evasion of Satan’s previous name, Abdiel names him according to his dominant trait.

137–39.
Who … folly:
“God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are: that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Cor. 1.27–29).

147.
sect
: body of followers or adherents; a term applied by contemptuous episcopal loyalists to all dissenters (“sectaries”), Milton among them. Cp.
Eikon:
“I never knew that time in England when men of truest religion were not counted sectaries” (
MLM
1066).

149.
askance
: a facial tic that becomes characteristic of Satan (cp. 4.504).

153.
assay
: endeavor, trial.

156.
synod
: assembly; during the seventeenth century, often used of ecclesiastical assemblies (especially Presbyterian) and astrological conjunctions (see 10.661). Shakespeare in his later plays also applies
synod
to meetings of gods, presumably because of the mythological identification of gods and heavenly bodies (see, e.g.,
ANT
3.10.4,
COR
5.2.68–69). Cp. 2.391.

161.
success
: what follows; as elsewhere, in ironic play with its more usual positive sense (see 2.9).

163.
Unanswered … boast
: i.e., lest Abdiel boast that Satan had no reply. How Abdiel will boast after the destruction threatened him is not addressed.

166–68.
Scripturally, angels are deemed “ministers” and carry out executive duties as God’s agents or representatives (Matt. 4.11, Heb. 1.14). Raphael on his mission to Paradise is thus called “empyreal minister” (5.640). Satan exploits the shared Latin root with
minstrel
to deride the obedient angels as servile entertainers, a theme he revisits at 4.941–45. Cp. Lear’s condemnation of the thundering elements as “servile ministers” (
LR
3.2.21), and Nashe’s anticipation of the wordplay: “What a stir he keeps against dumb ministers, and never writes nor talks of them, but he calleth them minstrels” (8).

169.
Servility with freedom
: slaves with free angels (abstract for concrete).

174.
deprav’st
: disparage.

176–78.
God … governs:
“God being the author of nature, her voice is but his instrument” (Hooker 1.3). The same assumption of agreement between divine and natural law underlies Milton’s concession in
Tetrachordon
that a wife would properly govern her husband if superior to him in reason (see
MLM
993).

182.
lewdly
: wickedly, basely; cp. 4.193.

183–84.
Reign … blest:
Satan voices his contrary preference at 1.263 (see n).

194.
bended knee
: Cp. the knee-tribute previously disdained (5.782, 787–88).

195–98.
as if … pines:
Raphael’s simile recalls the narrator’s resort to seismic pressures to convey the phenomena of Hell (see, e.g., 1.230–37). Mountains appear immovable, but Milton deems faith sufficient to move them, as 1 Cor. 13.2 implies (see ll. 649–50; cp. 4.987,
SA
1647–48).

199.
rebel Thrones
: A single angelic order stands for all (synecdoche). Leonard remarks that the choice of
Thrones
is “politically suggestive” (see 12.36).

210.
madding
: manic. The diction is odd, but the general point is clear; the jarring sounds and sights of war produce insane frenzy.

213–14.
The local conditions anticipate the environment of Hell, complete with a dome of fire produced by thick volleys of flaming arrows and the prophetic sound of their
dismal hiss
(cp. 1.298, 10.508).

216.
battles main
: central bodies of the armies.

222–23.
These elements … regions:
Raphael refers to the four
elements
that constitute Adam’s world—earth, air, fire, and water—each predominating in its
region
.

225.
combustion
: tumult, wild commotion.

229–36.
though numbered … war:
“Each legion was in number like an army, each single warrior was in strength like a legion, and, though led in fight, was as expert as a commander-in-chief. So that the angels are celebrated first for their
number
, then for their
strength
, and lastly for their
expertness
in war” (Newton).

236.
ridges
: ranks (per
close
in l. 235); the reference is probably agricultural (furrows), despite Lewis’s objection (135).

239.
moment
: determining influence, that which tips the balance.

243.
main
: powerful.

244.
Tormented
: disturbed, stirred.

248.
No equal
: The phrase has long stirred critical controversy because it seems to contradict the scene in which Satan is
foiled
by Abdiel (l. 200). Newton explains that Abdiel’s moment of triumph was accidental and that if the combat had continued, Satan would have “prov’d an overmatch for Abdiel.” A. H. Gilbert cites the inconsistency as evidence that the combat with Abdiel is a late insertion to a battle narrative that originally adhered more closely to a Homeric model, “in which the leaders of the hosts fight” (1947, 5). For Fish, the apparent inconsistency is a didactic trap set by the narrator to undermine Abdiel’s “sense of justice” and “military pretensions” (1967, 187). Those “pretensions” seem justified at lines 369–71, however, and the present editors take
no equal
to imply only that Abdiel is inferior to Satan in rank or hierarchical position. The primary sense of the noun
equal
signifies “one that is very similar to another in rank or position.” The significance and dramatic impact of Abdiel’s
noble stroke
is, if anything, underscored by his social inferiority.

250.
sword of Michael
: The Archangel’s grand weapon is a telling point of reference in Milton’s depiction of Satan (2.294–95, 11.247–48), though it has no basis in Scripture. Some regard it as the “two-handed engine” of
Lycidas
.

254–56.
rocky orb … circumference:
Satan’s shield, vast as the moon’s orb (1.287), is made of a mythical, impenetrable stone (
adamant
) ten layers thick.

259.
Intestine war
: civil war, but
intestine
also applies literally (e.g., ll. 587–88).

262–71.
Author … false:
Michael’s rage and wonder seem genuine, not merely rhetorical. In light of his princely status and angel’s characteristic imperturbability, this reaction is a striking measure of what Satan has wrought by his rebellion.