The Stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw [ 510 ]
Angels asding and desding, bands
Of Guardians bright, when he from Esau fled
To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night uhe open Skie,
And waking crid, This is the Gate of Heavn [ 515 ]
Each Stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There alwayes, but drawn up to Heavn somtimes
Viewless, and underh a bright Sea flowd
Of Jasper, or of liquid Pearle, whereon
Who after came from Earth, sayling arrivd, [ 520 ]
Wafted by Angels, or flew ore the Lake
Rapt in a Chariot drawn by fiery Steeds.
The Stairs were the down, whether to dare
The Fiend by easie ast, ravate
His sad exclusion from the dores of Bliss. [ 525 ]
Direct against which opnd from beh,
Just ore the blissful seat of Paradise,
A passage down to th Earth, a passage wide,
Wider by farr then that of after-times
Over Mount Sion, and, though that were large, [ 530 ]
Over the Promisd Land to God so dear,
By which, to visit oft those happy Tribes,
On high behests his Ao and fro
Passd frequent, and his eye with choice regard
From Pahe fount of Jordans flood [ 535 ]
To Beersaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Ægypt and th Arabian shoare;
So wide the opning seemd, where bounds were set
To darkness, such as bound the O wave.
Satan from henow on the lower stair [ 540 ]
That scald by steps of Gold to Heavn Gate
Looks down with wo the sudden view
Of all this World at once. As when a Scout
Through dark a wayes with peril gone
All night; at last by break of chearful dawne [ 545 ]
Obtains the brow of some high-climbing Hill,
Which to his eye discovers unaware
The goodly prospect of some forein land
First-seen, or some renowropolis
With glistering Spires and Pinnacles adornd, [ 550 ]
Whiow the Rising Sun guilds with his beams.
Such wonder seisd, though after Heaven seen,
The Spirit maligne, but much more envy seisd
At sight of all this World beheld so faire.