失乐园学生阅读

Paradise Lost

（

Book I, lines 1-26: The Invocation

）

Of m

an?s

first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

1

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,

Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb,

2

or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd

3

who first taught the chosen seed

In the beginning how the heavens and earth

Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill

4

Delight thee more, and Siloa?s

5

brook that flowed

Fast by the oracle of God, I thence

6

Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song,

That with no middle flight intends to soar

Above th

?

Aonian mount,

7

while it pursues

Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

And chiefly thou, O Spirit,

8

that dost prefer

Before all temples th

?

upright heart and pure,

Instruct me, for t

hou know?st; Thou from the first

Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,

Dovelike

sat?st

brooding

9

on the vast abyss,

And mad?st it

pregnant: what in me is dark

Illumine; what is low, raise and support;

10

That to the height of this great argument,

11

I may assert Eternal Providence,

12

And justify the ways of God to men.

（

Book I, lines 105-191: Satan

?

s Speech

）

“…What though the field

13

be lost?

All is not lost:

14

the unconquerable will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield:

And what is else not to be overcome?

That glory

15

never shall his wrath or might

Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace

With suppliant knee, and deify his power

Who

16

from the terror of this arm so late

Doubted his empire

—

that were low indeed;

That were an ignominy and shame beneath

17

This downfall; since, by fate, the strength of gods

And this empyreal substance

18

cannot fail;

19

Since, through experience of this great event,

1

In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,

We may with more successful hope resolve

To wage by force or guile

20

eternal war,

Irreconcilable to our grand Foe,

Who now triumphs, and in th

?

excess of joy

Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heave

n.”

So spake th

?

apostate angel,

21

though in pain,

Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair;

And him thus answered soon his bold compeer:

22

“O

prince, O chief of many throned powers,

23

That led th

?

embattled seraphim

24

to war

Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds

Fearless, endangered Hea

ven?s perpetual King

,

And put to proof

25

his high supremacy,

Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate!

Too well I see and rue the dire event

That with sad overthrow and foul defeat

Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host

In horrible destruction laid thus low,

As far as gods and heavenly essences

26

Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains

Invincible, and vigor soon returns,

Though all our glory extinct, and happy state

Here swallowed up in endless misery.

But what if he our Conqueror, (whom I now

Of force believe almighty, since no less

Than such could have

o?

erpowerd such force as ours)

Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,

Strongly to suffer and support our pains,

That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,

27

Or do him mightier service as his thralls

28

By right of w

ar, whate?

er his business be,

Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,

Or do his errands in the gloomy deep?

29

What can it then avail though yet we feel

Strength undiminished, or eternal being

To undergo eternal punishment?”

30

Whereto with speedy words th

?

arch- fiend

31

replied:

“Fallen

cherub,

32

to be weak is miserable,

Doing or suffering: but of this be sure,

To do aught

33

good never will be our task,

But ever to do ill our sole delight,

As being the contrary to his high will

Whom we resist. If then his providence

34

2

Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,

Our labor must be to pervert that end,

And out of good still

35

to find means of evil;

Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps

Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb

His inmost counsels

36

from their destined aim.

But see! the angry Victor hath recalled

His ministers

37

of vengeance and pursuit

Back to the gates of Heaven; The Sulphurous hail,

Shot after us in storm, o?

erblown

38

hath laid

39

The fiery surge that from the precipice

40

Of Heaven received us falling; and the thunder,

Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,

Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now

To bellow through the vast and boundless deep.

Let us not slip th

?

occasion, whether scorn

Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.

41

Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,

The seat of desolation, void of light,

Save what the glimmering of these livid flames

Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend

42

From off the tossing of these fiery waves;

There rest, if any rest can harbor there;

And reassembling our afflicted

43

powers,

Consult how we may henceforth most offend

44

Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,

How overcome this dire calamity,

What reinforcement we may gain from hope,

If not, what resolution from despai

r.”

Notes

1.

one greater Man

: the Messiah. Messiah is the English transliteration of Mashiach,

the

Hebrew

word

meani

ng

“Anointed

One.”

The

Greek

form

of

this

meaning

is

Xristos, from where we get the English word Christ.

2.

Oreb

: also Horeb,

“

the mountain of God

”

in Arabia near Mount Sinai, where the

Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush.

3.

That shepherd

: referring to Moses.

4.

Sion hill

: the Mount Zion of David the psalmist.

5.

Siloa

: a pool outside Jerusalem flowing past the Temple, with the waters of which

Jesus healed a blind man.

6.

thence

: from there.

7.

Aonian mount

: Helicon in Boeotia, sacred to the Moses.

8.

Spirit

: referring to

“

Heavenly Muse

”

on line 6.

9.

brooding

: moving.

10. Illumine what is dark in me; raise and support what is low in me.

11.

argument

: subject.

3

12.

Eternal Providence

: God.

13.

field

: military campaign.

14.

All is not lost

: not all is lost.

15.

That glory

: the glory God wins by defeating Satan and making him subdued.

16.

who

: God.

17.

beneath

: worse than.

18.

empyreal substance

: referring to the angels.

19.

fail

: perish.

20.

by force or guile

: by force or by intrigue.

21.

the apostate Angel

: the disloyal Angel. referring to Satan.

22.

his bold compeer

: referring to Beelzebub.

23.

throned powers

: the rebellious Angels led by Satan. throned: of high place.

24.

seraphim

: Angels. plural noun of seraph.

25.

put to proof

: put to the test.

26.

Heavenly essences

: angels.

27.

ire

: wrath.

28.

thralls

: slaves.

29.

the gloomy deep

: Chaos.

30.

or

eternal

being/To

undergo

eternal

punishment?

:

or

being

eternal,

so

as

to

undergo eternal punishment?

31.

the arch-fiend

: Satan.

32.

cherub

: angel.

33.

aught

: anything.

34.

his providence

: referring to God.

35.

still

: always.

36.

inmost counsels

: the most secret plan.

37.

His ministers

: referring to the faithful angels.

38.

o’

erblown

: blown over.

39.

laid

: put to rest.

40.

precipice

: a headlong fall.

41.

whether scorn / Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe

: whether it should yield

scorn or satiate fury from our Foe. Foe: referring to God.

42.

tend

: make one

?

s way towards.

43.

afflicted

: defeated.

44.

offend

: hurt.

（

Book

Ⅸ

, lines 643-784: The Fall of Eve

）

So glistered the dire snake, and into fraud

Led Eve our credulous mother, to the tree

Of prohibition,

1

root

2

of all our woe:

Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake:

“Serpent, we might have spar

ed our coming hither,

Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,

The credit of whose virtue rest with thee

3

;

Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects!

But of this tree we may not taste nor touch:

God so commanded, and left that command

Sole daughter of his voice;

4

the rest

5

, we live

4