Paradise Lost.
Manuscript of Book I, in the hand of an amanuensis, ca. 1665.
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1904
In utter darkness, & thir portion set
As farr remov'd from God and light of Heav'n
As from the Center thrice to th' utmost pole.
O how unlike the place from whence they fell!
There the companions of his fall orewhelmd
With floods & whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
Hee soone discernes, & weltring by his side
One next himselfe in power & next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd
Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-enemy,
And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words
Breaking the horrid silence thus began.
If thou beest he, But O how fal'n how chang'd
From him who in the happie realmes of light
Cloth'd with transcendent brightnesse didst outshine
Myriads though bright: if hee whom mutuall league,
United thoughts & counsells, equall hope,
And hazard in the glorious enterprize
Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd
In equall ruin: into what pit thou seest
From what highth fall'n, so much the stronger prov'd
Hee with his thunder: and till then who knew
The force of those dire arm's? yet not for those