The poetical works which now bear Cædmon's name received that name from
Junius, the first editor, in 1655, on the ground of the general
agreement of the subjects with Bede's description of Cædmon's works. In
this book we find a first part containing the most prominent narratives
from the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel; and a second part
containing the Descent of Christ into Hades and the delivery of the
patriarchs from their captivity, according to the apocryphal Gospel of
Nicodemus and the constant legend of the Middle Ages. This comprises a
kind of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Of all this, the part which
has attracted most notice is a part of which the materials are found
neither in Scripture nor in any known Apocrypha. The nearest
approximation yet indicated is in the hexameters of Avitus, described
above.[68] This problematical part describes the Fall of Man as the
sequel of the Fall of the Angels, substantially running on the same
lines as Milton's famous treatment of the same subject. It has often
been surmised that Milton may have known of Cædmon through Junius, and
that this knowledge may have affected the cast of his great poem as well
as suggested some of his most famous touches.[69]

The precipitation is thus described:--

329 wæron tha befeallene
fyre to botme
on tha hatan hell
thurh hygeleaste
and thurh ofermetto.
Sohten other land
thæt wæs leohtes leas
and wæs liges full