Cleombrotus; and many more too long, Embryos and ideots, eremites and friars White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery. Here pilgrims roam, that stray'd so far to seek In Golgotha, him dead, who lives in Heaven; And they who to be sure of Paradise
Dying put on the weeds of Dominic, Or in Franciscan think to pass disguis'd; They pass the planets seven, and pass the fix'd, And that crystallin sphere whose balance weighs The trepidation talk'd, and that first mov'd; And now Saint Peter at Heaven's wicket seems To wait them with his keys, and now at foot Of Heaven's ascent they lift their feet, when lo, A violent cross wind from either coast
Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry Into the devious air; then might ye see
Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, toss'd And flutter'd into rags; then reliques, beads, Indulgences, dispenses, pardons, bulls,
The sport of winds: all these upwhirl'd aloft Fly o'er the backside of the world far off Into a Limbo large and broad, since call'd
The Paradise of fools, to few unknown
Long after, now unpeopled, and untrod.
All this dark globe the Fiend found as he pass'd, And long he wander'd, till at last a gleam Of dawning light turn'd thither-ward in haste His travell'd steps; far distant he descries. Ascending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of Heaven, a structure high, At top whereof, but far more rich, appear'd The work as of a kingly palace gate, With frontispiece of diamond and gold Embellish'd, thick with sparkling orient gems The portal shone, inimitable on earth By model, or by shading pencil drawn.. The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw Angels ascending and descending, bands Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz, Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cry'd, This is the gate of Heaven. Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood There always, but drawn up to Heaven sometimes Viewless, and underneath a bright sea flow'd
Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
Who after came from earth, sailing arriv'd, Wafted by Angels, or flew o'er the lake
Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds. The stairs were then let down, whether to dare The Fiend by easy ascent, or aggravate His sad exclusion from the doors of bliss: Direct against which open'd from beneath, Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
A passage down to the earth, a passage wide, Wider by far than that of after-times Over Mount Zion, and, though that were large, Over the Promis'd Land, to God so dear,
By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,
On high behests his Angels to and fro
Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard From Paneas the fount of Jordan's flood
To Beersaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;
So wide the opening seem'd, where bounds were set To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave. Satan from hence now on the lower stair That scal'd by steps of gold to Heaven gate,
Looks down with wonder at the sudden view Of all this world at once. As when a scout Through dark and desart ways with peril gone All night; at last by break of cheerful dawn Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, Which to his eye discovers unaware The goodly prospect of some foreign land First seen, or some renown'd metropolis With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd, Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams: Such wonder seis'd, though after Heaven seen, The Spirit malign, but much more envy seis'd At sight of all this world beheld so fair.
Round he surveys, (and well might, where he stood So high above the circling canopy
Of Night's extended shade ;) from eastern point Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantic seas
Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole He views in breadth, and without longer pause Down right into the world's first region throws His flight precipitant, and winds with ease Through the pure marble air his oblique way
Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
Stars distant, but nigh hand seem'd other worlds; Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy iles, Like those Hesperian gardens fam'd of old, Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales, Thrice happy iles, but who dwelt happy there He stay'd not to enquire: above them all The golden sun in splendor likest Heaven Allur'd his eye: thither his course he bends Through the calm firmament; (but up or down, By centre, or eccentric, hard to tell, Or longitude,) where the great luminary Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,
That from his lordly eye keep distance due, Dispenses light from far; they as they move Their starry dance in numbers that compute Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering lamp Turn swift their various motions, or are turn'd By his magnetic beam, that gently warms The universe, and to each inward part With gentle penetration, though unseen, Shoots invisible vertue even to the deep: So wondrously was set his station bright.
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