冰雹，神圣的光，天堂的长子，或永恒的共同永恒的光束的后代，我可以毫无怨言地表达你吗?既然上帝是光，只有在不可接近的光中，才有永恒的居所，那么，在你身上，就会产生光明本质的光辉。或者听到“你是纯净的溪流，谁能说出它的源头?”你在太阳之前，在诸天之前，一听上帝的声音，你就像披上了一件斗篷，把那从虚无无定的无限中拯救出来的，黑暗而深邃的水的升起的世界包裹起来。现在我又展翅远行，逃过了冥河的水潭，虽然在那偏僻的地方逗留了很长一段时间，在我的飞行中，在茫茫的黑暗中，我用别的音调，而不是对着俄耳甫斯七弦琴，歌唱混乱和永恒的黑夜;天上的缪斯教我勇敢地走下黑暗的深渊，再爬上去，尽管艰难而难得:我平安地回到你身边，感到你那闪烁的生机之灯;但你没有再去看这双眼睛，它们徒劳地转动着，寻找你的刺眼的光线，却找不到黎明;那么浓的一滴宁静的水滴熄灭了它们的眼珠，或遮蔽了朦胧的弥漫。然而，我却不停地徜徉在缪斯女神常出没的地方，清泉，林荫，山峦，沉浸在对圣歌的热爱之中;但你，锡安，和下面那洗净你圣洁的脚的花溪，那潺潺的流水，每夜我都要去拜访;有时我也不会忘记，我在名望上与它们齐名，你的神圣命令，使人类得到恩典; Blind Thamyris, and blind Maeonides, And Tiresias, and Phineus, prophets old: Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year Seasons return; but not to me returns Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of nature's works to me expung'd and ras'd, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. So much the rather thou, celestial Light, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight. Now had the Almighty Father from above, From the pure empyrean where he sits High thron'd above all highth, bent down his eye His own works and their works at once to view: About him all the Sanctities of Heaven Stood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'd Beatitude past utterance; on his right The radiant image of his glory sat, His only son; on earth he first beheld Our two first parents, yet the only two Of mankind in the happy garden plac'd Reaping immortal fruits of joy and love, Uninterrupted joy, unrivall'd love, In blissful solitude; he then survey'd Hell and the gulf between, and Satan there Coasting the wall of Heaven on this side Night In the dun air sublime, and ready now To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet, On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd Firm land imbosom'd, without firmament, Uncertain which, in ocean or in air. Him God beholding from his prospect high, Wherein past, present, future, he beholds, Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake. Only begotten Son, seest thou what rage Transports our Adversary? whom no bounds Prescrib'd no bars of Hell, nor all the chains Heap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyss Wide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seems On desperate revenge, that shall redound Upon his own rebellious head. And now, Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his way Not far off Heaven, in the precincts of light, Directly towards the new created world, And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert; For man will hearken to his glozing lies, And easily transgress the sole command, Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fall He and his faithless progeny: Whose fault? Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of me All he could have; I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the ethereal Powers And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd; Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith or love, Where only what they needs must do appear'd, Not what they would? what praise could they receive? What pleasure I fr