BOOK V.

nourish all things, let your ceaseless change to our great Maker still new praise. ists and exhalations that now rise

185

hill or steaming lake, dusky or grey, he sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold, nour to the world's great author rise, cher to deck with clouds the uncolour'd sky, et the thirsty earth with falling showers, 190 g or falling still advance his praise. ▪raise, ye winds that from four quarters blow, he soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines, every plant, in sign of worship wave. Sive] Verum etiam quinque stellas, quæ vulgo vaga pantur.'

v. Apul. de Deo Socratis, ed. Delph. vol. ii. p. 666. quaternion] Heywood's Hier. p. 193.

'What ternions and classes be

In the cælestial hierarchie.'

19

200

Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise;
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep;
Witness if I be silent, morn or even,

To hill, or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
Hail universal Lord, be bounteous still
To give us only good; and if the night
Have gather'd aught of evil, or conceal'd,
Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark.

His barren leaves. Them thus employ'd beheld
With pity heav'n's high King, and to him call'd
Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deign'd
To travel with Tobias, and secur'd

His marriage with the seventimes-wedded maid.
Raphael, said he, thou hear'st what stir on earth
Satan, from hell scap'd through the darksome gulf,
Hath rais'd in paradise, and how disturb'd
This night the human pair, how he designs
In them at once to ruin all mankind:

Go therefore, half this day as friend with friend
Converse with Adam, in what bower or shade 230
Thou find'st him from the heat of noon retir'd,
To respit his day-labour with repast,
Or with repose; and such discourse bring on,
As may advise him of his happy state,
Happiness in his power left free to will,
Left to his own free will, his will though free,
Yet mutable; whence warn him to beware
He swerve not too secure: tell him withal
His danger, and from whom; what enemy
Late fall'n himself from heaven, is plotting now
The fall of others from like state of bliss ;
By violence? no; for that shall be withstood,
But by deceit and lies; this let him know,
Lest wilfully transgressing he pretend
Surprisal, unadmonish'd, unforewarn'd.
So spake th' eternal Father, and fulfill'd
All justice: nor delay'd the winged saint
After his charge receiv'd; but from among

245

2

25

Earth and the garden of GoD, with cedars crown'd Above all hills: as when by night the glass

Of Galileo, less assur'd, observes

Imagin'd lands and regions in the moon :
Or pilot from amidst the Cyclades

Delos, or Samos, first appearing kens

265

BOOK V.

temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies. ce on th' eastern cliff of paradise

275

hts, and to his proper shape returns -ph wing'd: six wings he wore, to shade neaments divine; the pair that clad shoulder broad came mantling o'er his breast regal ornament; the middle pair

ke a starry zone his waist, and round

280

his loins and thighs with downy gold plours dipp'd in heav'n; the third his feet w'd from either heel with feather'd mail nctur'd grain. Like Maia's son he stood, 285

ade] Statii Silv. iii. 4. 30.

Ex humeris nullæ fulgentibus umbræ.'

arry zone] Compare Marino's Sl. of the Innocents, t. xcvi. describing an angel.

When in celestial colours art contends

ith azure gold, and white with purest red.

r skirts girt at the waste, then each depends osely, nor further than the knees are spread. hich, lest thy waving be too much display'd, golden clasp restrains, with gems inlay'd. tended on his shining back a pair

ample wings their glorious colours show; ost choice perfumes enrich his curling hair, nd to the air the graceful tresses flow,' &c. n] See Dante, Il Purg. c. 8.

E vidi uscir dell'alto, e scender giue Du' Angeli con due spade affocate,

Verdi, come fogliette pur mo nate,
Erano 'n veste, che da verdi penne
Percosse traén dietro e ventilate.