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 aery 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.

425

429

435

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

425 region] Spens. F. Q. iv. 8. 9. Bentl. MS.

430 steers] See Sir J. Davies on Dancing, p. 158. (1602.)

Yet do the cranes deserve a greater praise,

Which keep such measure in their airy ways,

As when they all in order ranked are.’

431 air] See Esch. Prom. v. 125.

ἀιθὴρ δ' ἐλαφραῖς

Πτερύγων ῥιπαῖς ὑποσυρίζει.” Todd.

434 Solac'd] Virg. Æn. vii. 32.

'Ethera mulcebant cantu.'

Todd.

438 Swan] See Donne's Poems, p. 297. (1633.)
'When goodly like a ship in her full trim,
A swan so white that you may unto him
Compare all whitenesse, but himself to none,
Glided along, and as he glided watch'd,
And with his arched neck this poor fish catch'd,
It mov'd with state.'

440

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 [sounds
Walk'd firm: the crested cock, whose clarion
The silent hours, and th' other, whose gay train
Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue

445

449

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 the earth bring forth soul living in her kind,
Cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth,
Each in their kind. The earth obey'd, and straight
Op'ning her fertile womb teem'd at a birth

440 oary] Sil. Ital. xiv. 190.

'Innatat albus olor, pronoque immobile corpus
Dat fluvio, et pedibus tacitas eremigat undas.'

443 crested cock] See Martial. Epig. xiv. 223.
'Cristatæque sonant undique lucis aves.

See Sylvester's Du Bartas, p. 30.

Wakefield.

'The crested cock sings "Hunt is up to him.'

446 starry eyes] See Beaumont's Psyche, c. i. st. 61. v. 2. 'As when the gallant peacock doth display

His starry train.'

and A. Ramsæi Poem. Sacr. vol. i. p. 8.

'Dum tumet, et caudæ stellata syrmata spectat."

451 soul] In Milton's own edition 'foul living.' Bentley pointed out the error and corrected it.

452 things] Bentley and Newton consider that there is an error in the text, and that we ought to read thing.'

Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms, Limb'd and full grown. Out of the ground up rose As from his laire the wild beast, where he wonns In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den ;

460

Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd;
The cattle in the fields and meadows green:
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks
Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.
The grassy clods now calv'd; now half appear'd
The tawny lion, pawing to get free

464

His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds, And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,

457 wonns] Fairfax's Tasso, b. xvi. st. 67.

'A thousand devils in Limbo deep that wonne.' Todd. 462 broad] Hom. Il. xi. 678.

ἀιπόλια πλατε' ἀιγῶν. Richardson. 463 calv'd] See Nonni Dionysiaca, iv. 427.

Καὶ στάχυς αυτολόχευτος ἀνηέξηπο γιγάντων, Ων ὃ μὲν ὑψικάρηνος ἀνέδραμεν ἄκρα τιταίνων Στήθεος ἐνθώρηκος, δ δὲ προθορόντι καρήνω Φρικτὸν ἀνοιγομένης ὑπερέσχεθεν ὦμον αρούρης· *Αλλος ἄνω πρόνκυψεν ἐς ὄμφαλόν· ὅς δ' ἔπι γαῖη Ἡμετελὴς ἀνέτελλε, πεδότρεφὲς ὅπλον ἀέιρων· *Αλλος ὑπερκύπτοντα λόφον προβλῆτα τιταῖνων, Ουπω στέρνον ἔφαινε, καὶ ἔισέτι μητρὸς ἀνέρπων Ἐκ λαγόνων κατὰ βαιὸν ἀταρβέϊ μάρνατο Καδμῳ. 466 broke] Virg. Æn. xi. 492.

'Abruptis fugit præsepia vinclis.'

466 shakes] A. Ramsæi P. Sacr. vol. i. p. 9.

'Hinc Leo prædator, Lybicis nova incola campis,
Ore fremens, oculis scintillans, perque torosa
Colla jubas jactans.'-

The libbard, and the tiger, 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.

471

480

At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, 475
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

485

Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd
The female bee, that feeds her husband drone 490

484 snaky folds] A. Rams. P. Sacr. i. 10.

'Atque orbibus orbes

Implexos sinuantem anguem.'

485 provident-large heart] The former part from Hor. Sat. I. i. 35, and the latter from Virg. Georg. iv. 83. Newton.

Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells

495

With honey stor❜d: the rest are numberless,
And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them
Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown [names,
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 heaven in all her glory shone, and roll'd
Her motions, as the great First Mover's hand 500
First wheel'd their course; earth in her rich attire
Consummate lovely smil'd; air, water, earth,
By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was
walk'd

505

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 indu'd
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence 510

491 waxen cells] So Marino's Sl. of the Innocents, p. 28. 'Or when the bees, like murmuring armies, hide The tops of flowers, where sweetest nectar flows, And on their laden wings the odorous prey

In troops, unto their waxen camp convey.'

497 hairy mane] See Virg. Æn. ii. 206. Petronii Trojæ Elosis, v. 38. J. Obsequens de Prodigiis, p. 54. 'Angues jubati.' Plauti Amphitr. act. v. sc. i. 'Jubatus anguis major solitis.' Capitolin. Vit. Anton. Pii, ix. 35, ed. Putman.