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Their pleasant dwelling-place. Thrice happy men,

And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanc'd,
Created in his image, there to dwell

And worship him, and in reward to rule
Over his works, on earth, in sea, or air,
And multiply a race of worshippers
Holy and just thrice happy, if they know
Their happiness, and persevere upright!'

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"So sung they, and the empyrean rung
With hallelujahs: thus was Sabbath kept.
And thy request think now fulfill'd, that ask'd
How first this world and face of things began,
And what before thy memory was done
From the beginning, that posterity

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Inform'd by thee might know; if else thou ster'st Cught, not surpassing human measure, say.”

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END OF BOOK SEVENTH.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK VIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

Adam inquires concerning celestial motions; is doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge Adam assents, and, still desirous to detain Raphul, relates to him what he remembered since his own creation, his placing in Paradise, his talk with God concerning solitude and fit society, his first meeting and nuptials with Eve; his discourse with the angel thereupon, who, after admonitions repeated, departs.

THE angel ended, and in Adam's car
So charming left his voice, that he awhile

Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear:
Then, as new wak'd, thus gratefully replied:

"What thanks sufficient, or what recompense

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Equal have I to render thee, divine

Historian! who thus largely hast allay'd

The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsaf'd
This friendly condescension, to relate

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Things else by me unsearchable, now heard
With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,
With glory attributed to the high
Creator? Something yet of doubt remains,
Which only thy solution can resolve.

When I behold this goodly frame, this world,
Of heaven and earth consisting, and compute
Their magnitudes, this earth a spot, a grain,
An atom, with the firmament compar'd

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And all her number'd stars, that seem to roll
Spaces incomprehensible, (for such
Their distance argues and their swift return
Diurnal,) merely to officiate light

Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot,
One day and night, in all their vast survey
Useless besides; reasoning, I oft admire
How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit
Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater so manifold, to this one use,
For ought appears, and on their orbs impose
Such restless revolution, day by day
Repeated, while the sedentary earth,

That better might with far less compass move,
Serv'd by more noble than herself, attains
Her end without ieast motion, and receives,
As tribute, such a sumless journey brought
Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light;
Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails."

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So spake our sire, and by his count'nance seem'd Ent'ring on studious thoughts abstruse, which Eve Perceiving, where she sat retir'd in sight With lowliness majestic from her seat,

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And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
Kose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
To visit how they prosper'd, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,

And, touch'd by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
Yet went she not, as not with such discourse
Delighted, or not capable her ear

Adam relating, the sole auditress;

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Of what was high: such pleasure she reserv'd

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Her husband the relater she preferr'd

Before the angel, and of him to ask

Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix

Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute

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With conjugal caresses; from his lip

Not words alone pleas'd her. (O! when meet now

Such pairs, in love and mutual honour join'd ?)
With goddess-like demeanour forth she went,
Not unattended, for on her as queen
A pomp of winning graces waited still,
And from about her shot darts of desire

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Into all eyes to wish her still in sight.
And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt propos'd,
Renevolent and facile thus replied:

"To ask or search I blame thee not, for heaven Is as the book of God before thee set, Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years; This to attain, whether heaven move or earth, Imports not if thou reckon right; the rest From man or angel the great Architect Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge His secrets to be scann'd by them who ought Rather admire; or if they list to try Conjecture, he his fabric of the heavens Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move His laughter at their quaint opinions wide Hereafter, when they come to model heaven And calculate the stars, how they will wield The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive To save appearances, how gird the sphere With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb;

Already by thy reasoning this I

guess

Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposest
That bodies bright and greater should not serve
The less not bright, nor heaven such journies run,
Earth sitting still, when she alone receives
The benefit. Consider first, that great
Or bright infers not excellence: the earth
Though, in comparison of heaven, so small,
Nor glist'ring, may of solid good contain
More plenty than the sun that barren shines,
Whose virtue on itself works no effect,
But in the fruitful earth; there, first receiv'd,
His beams, unactive else, their vigour find.
Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries
Officious, but to thee, earth's habitant.
And for the heaven's wide circuit, let it speak
The Maker's high magnificence, who built
So spacious, and his line stretch'd out so far;

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That man may know he dwells not in his own;
An edifice too large for him to fill,

Lodg'd in a small partition, and the rest

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Ordain'd for uses to his Lord best know

The swiftness of those circles attribute,

Though numberless, to his omnipotence,

That to corporeal substances could add

Speed almost spiritual: me thou think'st not slow, Who since the morning hour set out from heaven Where God resides, and ere mid-day arriv'd

In Eden; distance inexpressible

But this I urge,

By numbers that have name.
Admitting motion in the heavens, to show
Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov'd;
Not that I so affirm, though so it seem

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To thee who hast thy dwelling here on earth.

God, to remove his ways from human sense,

Plac'd heaven from earth so far, that earthly sight,

If it presume, might err in things too high,

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And no advantage gain. What if the sun

Be centre to the world, and other stars,

By his attractive virtue and their own

Incited, dance about him various rounds?

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Their wand'ring course now high, now low, then hid,
Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,

In six thou seest; and what if seventh to these
The planet earth, so steadfast though she seem,
Insensioiy three different motions move?
Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe,
Mov'd contrary with thwart obliquities,
Or save the sun his labour, and that swift
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb suppos'd,
Invisib se above all stars, the wheel

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night; which needs not thy belief, austrious of herself, fetch day Travelling east, and with her part averse

From the sun's beam meet night, her otner part

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Still luminous by his ray. What if that light, 140
Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air
To the terrestrial moon be as a star

Enlight'ning her by day, as she by night

This earth? reciprocal, if land be there,

Fields and inhabitants. Her spots thou seest

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As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce

Fruits in her soften'd soil, for some to eat

Allotted there; and other suns perhaps

With their attendant moons thou wilt descry
Communicating male and female light,
Which two great sexes animate the world.

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