Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/198

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��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,

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