So far remote, with diminution seen.
First in the east his glorious lamp was seen, Regent of day, and all th' horizon round
Invested with bright rays jocund to run
His longitude through Heav'n's high road; the grey Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danc'd, Shedding sweet influence; less bright the moon, But opposite in level'd west was set
His mirror, with full face borrowing her light From him; for other light she needed none In that aspect; and still that distance keeps Till night, then in the east her turn she shines, Revolv'd on Heav'n's great axle, and her reign With thousand lesser lights dividual holds, With thousand thousand stars, that then appear'd Spangling the hemisphere: then first adorn'd With their bright luminaries that set and rose: Glad ev'ning and glad morn crown'd the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters generate Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul; And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings Display'd on th' open firmament of Heaven. And God created the great whales, and each Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously The waters generated by their kind,
And every bird of wing after his kind;
And saw that it was good, and bless'd them, saying, Be fruitful, multiply, and in the seas,
And lakes, and running streams, the waters fill; And let the fowl be multiply'd on th❜earth. Forthwith the sounds and seas, each creek and bay, With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals Of fish, that with their fins and shining scales Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft Bank the mid sea: part single or with mate Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves Of coral stray; or sporting with quick glance, Show to the sun their way'd coats dropt with gold; Or in their pearly shells at ease, attend
Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food In jointed armour watch: on smooth the seal, And bended dolphins play: part huge of buik Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep Stretch'd like a promontory, sleeps or swims, And seems a moving land, and at his gills Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea. Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores, Their brood as numerous hatch, from th' egg that soon Bursting with kindly rupture forth disclos'd
Their callow young, but feather'd soon and fledge They summ'd their pens, and soaring th' air sublime With clang despis'd the ground, under a cloud In prospect; there the eagle and the stork On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build: Part loosely wing the region, part more wise In common, rang'd in figure wedge their way, Intelligent of seasons, and set forth
Their airy caravan high over seas
Flying, and over lands with mutual wing Easing their flight, so steers the prudent crane Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air Floats, as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes; From branch to branch the smaller birds with song Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings Till ev'n; nor then the solemn nightingale Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays: Others on silver lakes and rivers bath'd
Their downy breast; the swan, with arched neck Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit The dank, and rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid aerial sky; others on ground
Walk'd firm; the crested cock, whose clarion sounds The silent hours; and th' other, whose gay train Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue
Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus
With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl, Ev'ning and morn solemniz'd the fifth day.
The sixth, and of creation last, arose
With ev'ning harps and matin; when God said, Let th' earth bring forth soul living in her kind, Cattle, and creeping things, and beast of th' earth Each in their kind. The earth obey'd, and straight Op'ning her fertile womb, teem'd at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown; out of the ground up-rose As from his lair, the wild beast where he wons In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den; Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk❜U; The cattle in the fields and meadows green; Those rare and solitary, these in flocks Pasturing at once, and in broad herbs upsprung. The grassy clods now calv'd, now half appear The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, And rampant shakes his brinded mane: the ounce, The libbard, and the tyger, as the mole
Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw In hillocks: the swift stag from under ground Bore up his branching head: scarce from his mould Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheav'd
His vastness: fleec'd the flocks and bleating rose, As plants; ambiguous between sea and land The river horse and scaly crocodile.
At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, Insect or worm: those wav'd their limber fans For wings, and smallest lineaments exact In all the liveries deck'd of summer's pride, With spots of gold and purple, azure and green: These as a line their long dimension drew, Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all Minims of nature; some of serpent-kind, Wondrous in length and corpulence, involv❜d Their snaky folds, and added wings. First crept The parsimonious emmet, provident
Of future, in small room large heart inclos'd, Pattern of just equality perhaps
Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd The female bee, that feeds her husband drone Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells
With honey stor❜d: the rest are numberless, And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them names Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field, Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes And hairy mane terrific, though to thee Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.
Now Heav'n in all her glory shone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand First wheel'd their course; earth in her rich attire Consummate lovely smil'd; air, waters, earth, By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd: There wanted yet the master-work, the end Of all yet done; a creature who not prone And brute as other creatures, but endu'd With sanctity of reason, might erect
llis stature, and upright with front serene Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence Magnanimous to correspond with heav'n, But grateful to acknowledge whence his good: Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes Directed in devotion, to adore
And worship. God supreme, who made him chief Of all his works: therefore th? Omnipotent Eternal Father (for where is not he
Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake:
Let us make now man in our image, man
In our similitude, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the ground. This said, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O Man,
Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd The breath of life; in his own image he Created thee, in the image of God Express, and thou becam❜st a living soul, Male he created thee, but thy consort Female for race; then bless'd mankind, and said, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold Over fish of the sea, and fowl of th' air, And every living thing that moves on th' earth. Wherever thus created, for no place
Is yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know'st, He brought thee into this delicious grove, This garden planted with the trees of God, Delectable both to behold and taste;
And freely all their pleasant fruit for food Gave thee; all sorts are here that all th' earth yields, Variety without end; but of the tree,
Which tasted works knowledge of good and evil, Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'st, thou dy'st; Death is the penalty impos'd; beware,
And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death. Here finish'd he, and all that he had made View'd, and, behold, all was entirely good; So ev❜n and morn accomplish'd the sixth day; Yet not till the Creator from his work Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd, Up to the Heav'n of Heav'ns, his high abode, Thence to behold this new created world, Th' addition of his empire, how it show'd In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair, Answering his great idea. Up he rode, Follow'd with acclamation, and the sound Symphonious of ten thousand harps that tun'd Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air
Resounded, (thou remember'st, for thou heard'st) The heav'ns and all the constellations rung, The planets in their station list'ning stood,
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