O for that warning voice which he who saw The apocalypse, heard cry in Heaven aloud, Then when the dragon put to second rout Came furious down to be revenged on Men, Woe to the inhabitants on Earth! that now, While time was, our first parents had been warn'd The coming of their secret foe, and escaped— Haply so escaped his mortal snare; For now Satan, now first inflamed with rage, came down, The tempter ere the accuser of mankind, To wreak on innocent frail Man his loss Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell: Yet not rejoicing in his speed though bold Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast, Begins his dire attempt; which night the birth Now rolling broils in his tumultuous breast, And like a Devilish engine back recoils Upon himself; horror and doubt distract His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir The Hell within him; for within him Hell He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell One step, no more than from himself, can fly
By change of place: Now conscience wakes despair That slumber'd; wakes the bitter memory
Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue. Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixed sad;
Sometimes towards Heaven, and the full-blazing Snu.
Which now sat high in his meridian tower: Then, much revolving, thus in sighs began; "O thou, that, with surpassing glory crown'd, Look'st from thy sole dominion like the God Of this new World; at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads; to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name, O Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere; Till pride and worse ambition threw me down Warring in Heaven against Heaven's matchless King; Ah, wherefore! he deserved no such return From me, whom he created what I was In that bright eminence, and with his good Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. What could be less than to afford him praise, The easiest recompense, and pay him thanks, How due! yet all his good proved ill in me, And wrought but malice; lifted up so high I disdain' d subjection, and thought one step higher Would set me highest, and in a moment quit The debt immense, of endless gratitude, So burdensome still paying still to owe: Forgetful what from him I still received, And understood not that a grateful mind By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and discharged; what burden then? O! had his powerful destiny ordain'd Me some inferior Angel, I had stood
Then happy no unbounded hope had raised Ambition! Yet why not? some other power As great might have aspired, and me though mean Drawn to his part; but other powers as great Fell not but stand unshaken, from wherein Or from without, to all temptations arm'd.
Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand;
Thou hadst: whom hadst thou then or what to accuse,
But Heaven's free love dealt equally to all!
Be then his love accursed, since love or hate,
To me alike it deals eternal woe.
Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy will Chose freely what it now so justly rues. Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell ; And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep Still threatening to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven. O, then, at last relent: Is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit boasting I could subdue The Omnipotent. Oh me! they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain, Under what torments inwardly I groan, While they adore me on the throne of Hell. With diadem and sceptre high advanced, The lower still I fall only Supreme In misery: Such joy ambition finds. But say I could repent, and could obtain,
By act of grace, my former state; Would height recal high thoughts, how soon unsay What feign'd submission swore? Ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. For never can true reconcilement grow,
Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep: Which would but lead me to a worse relapse And heavier fall; so should I purchase dear Short intermission bought with double smart. This knows my punisher; therefore as far
From granting he, as I from begging, peace; All hope excluded thus, behold, instead Of us outcast, exiled his new delight, Mankind created, and for him this World. So farewell, hope; and with hope farewell, Farewell, remorse! all good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my good; by these at least Divided empire with Heaven's King I hold, By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign'd; As Man, ere long, and this new World shall know." Thus while he spake, each passion dimn'd his face Thrice changed with pale, ire, envy and despair Which marr'd his borrow'd visage, and betray'd Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld,
For Heavenly minds from such distempers foul Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm Artificer of fraud; and was the first
That practised falsehood under saintly show, Deep malice to conceal couch'd with revenge Yet not enough had practised to deceive Uriel once warn'd whose eye pursued him down The way he went and on the Assyrian mount Saw his disfigured, more than could betal Spirit of happy sort: His gestures fierce He mark'd and mad demeanor, then alone, As he supposed, all unobserved, unseen. So on he fares, and to the border comes Of Eden, where delicious Paradise, Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green, As with a rural mound, the champaign head Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild, Access denied; and overhead up grew Insuperable height of loftiest shade, Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, A silvan scene; and as the ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops The verduous wall of Paradise up sprung: Which to our general sire gave prospect large Into his nether empire neighboring round. And higher than that wall a circling row Of goodliest trees, loaden with fairest fruit, Blossoms and fruits a once of golden hue Appear'd, with gay enamell'd colors mix'd; On which the sun more glad impress'd his beams Than on fair evening cloud or human bow, When God hath shower'd the earth; so lovely seem'd That landscape; and of pure now purer air Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All sadness but despair. Now gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail Beyond the cape of Hope, and now are pass'd Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow Sabean odors from the spicy shore
Of Araby the bless'd; with such delay
Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league Cheer'd with the grateful smell old ocean smiles;
So entertain'd those odorous sweets the Fiend,
Who came their bane; though with them better pleased Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume
That drove him, through enamour'd, from the spouse Of Tobit's Son, and with a vengeance sent From Media post to Egypt, their fast bound. Now to the ascent of that steep savage hill Satan had journey'd on, pensive and slow; But further way found none, so thick entwined, As one continued brake, the undergrowth Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplex'd All path of man or beast that pass'd that way. One gate there only was, and that look'd east
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