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Not mind us not offending, satisfied

With what is punish'd; whence these raging fires
Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.

Our purer essence then will overcome

Their noxious vapour; or, inured, not feel;

Or changed at length, and to the place conform'd
In temper and in nature, will receive

Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain;

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This horror will grow mild, this darkness light; 220
Besides what hope the never ending flight

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change
Worth waiting; since our present lot appears
For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
If we procure not to ourselves more woe.

Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,
Counsel'd ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth,
Not peace: And after him thus Mammon spake

Either to disenthrone the King of Heaven
We war, if war be best, or to regain
Our own right lost: Him to unthrone we then
May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield ·
To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife:
The former, vain to hope, argues as vain
The latter: For what place can be for us

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Within Heaven's bound, unless Heaven's Lord supreme We overpower? Suppose he should relent,

And publish grace to all, on promise made

Of new subjection; with what eyes could we

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Stand in his presence humble, and receive
Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne
With warbled hymns and to his Godhead sing
Forced Hallelujahs: while he lordly sits
Our envied Sov'reign, and his altar breather
Ambrosial odours and ambrosial flowers,
Our servile offerings? This must be our task
In Heaven, this our delight; how wearisome
Eternity so spent, in worship paid

To whom we hate! Let us not then presume

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By force impossible, by leave obtain❜d
Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state
Oi splendid vassalage; but rather seek

Our own good from ourselves, and from our own
Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess,
Free, and to none accountable, preferring
Haia liberty before the easy yoke

Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear

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Then most conspicuous, when great things of small, Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse,

We can create; and in what place soe'er
Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain,

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Through labour and endurance. This deep world
Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst
Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven's all-ruling Sire
Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,
And with the majesty of darkness round
Covers his throne; from whence deep thunders roar
Mustering their rage, and Heaven resembles Hell'
As he our darkness, cannot we his light
Imitate when we please? This desert soil
Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold;
Nor want we skill or art, from whence to faise
Magnificence; and what can Heaven show more?
Our torments also may in length of time
Become our elements; these piercing fires
As soft as now severe, our temper changed

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Into their temper; which must needs remove
The sensible of pain. All things invite
To peaceful counsels, and the settled state
Of order, how in safety best we may
Compose our present evils, with regard

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Of what we are, and where; dismissing quite

All thoughts of war: Ye have what I advise.

He scarce had finish'd, when such murmur fill'd The assembly as when hollow rocks retain The sound of blustering winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull

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Seafaring men o'erwatch'd, whose bark by chance,
Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay

After the tempest: Such applause was heard
As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased,
Advising peace: for such another field

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They dreaded worse than Heli: so much the fear
Of thunder and the sword of Michaël

Wrought still within them; and no less desire

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To found this nether empire, which might rise
By policy, and long procéss of time,

In emulation opposite to Heaven.

Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom
Satan except none higher sat, with grave
Aspéct he rose, and in his rising seem'd
A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven
Deliberation sat, and public care;

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Or summer's noontide air, while thus he spake.

Thrones and Imperial Powers, Offspring of Heaven, Ethereal Virtues! or these titles now

Must we renounce, and, changing style, be call'd
Princes of Hell! for so the popular vote

Inclines, here to continue, and build up here

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A growing empire; doubtless! while we dream, 315 And know not that the King of Heaven hath doom'd This place our dungeon; not our safe retreat

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In height or depth, still first and last will reign
Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part

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By our revolt; but over Hell extend

His empire, and with iron sceptre rule

Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven.
What sit we then projecting peace and war?

War hath determined us, and foil'd with loss
Irreparable; terms of peace yet none

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Vouchsafed or sought; for what peace will be given

'Io us enslaved, but custody severe,

And stripes, and arbitrary punishment

Inflicted? and what peace can we return,

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But to our power hostility and hate,

Untamed reluctance, and revenge though slow
Yet ever plotting how the conqueror least

May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice

In doing what we most in suffering feel?
Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need

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With dangerous expedition to invade

Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault nor siege,

Or ambush from the deep. What if we find

Some easier enterprise? There is a place

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(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven

Err not,) another world, the happy seat

Of some new race call'd Man, about this time
To be created like to us, though less

In power and excellence, but favour'd more

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Of Him who rules above; so was his will

Pronounced among the Gods, and by an oath,

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That shook Heaven's whole circumference, confirm'd.
Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn
What creatures there inhabit, of what mould,
Or substance, how endued, and what their power,
And where their weakness, how attempted best,
By force or subtlety. Though Heaven be shut,
And Heaven's high Arbitrator sit secure

In his own strength, this place may lie exposed, 360

The utmost border of his kingdom, left

To their defence who hold it: Here perhaps

Some advantageous act may be achieved

By sudden onset; either with Hell fire

To waste his whole creation, or possess

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All as our own, and drive, as we were driven,
The puny habitants; or, if not drive,

Seduce them to our party, that their God

May prove their foe, and with repenting hand

Abolish his own works. This would surpass
Common revenge, and interrupt his joy

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In our confusion, and our joy upraise

In his disturbance; when his darling sons,

Hurl'd headlong to partake with us, shall curse

Their frail original, and faded bliss,

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Faded so soon. Advise, if this be worth

Attempting, or to sit in darkness here
Hatching vain empires. Thus Beelzebub
Pleaded his devilish counsel, first devised

By Satan, and in part proposed: For whence,
But from the author of all ill, could spring
So deep a malice, to confound the race

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Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell

To mingle and involve, done all to spite

The great Creator? But their spite still serves

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His glory to augment. The bold design

Pleased highly those infernal States, and joy

Sparkled in all their eyes; with full assent

They vote whereat his speech he thus renews.

Well have ye judged, well ended long debate, 390 Synod of Gods! and, like to what ye are,

Great things resolved, which, from the lowest deep, Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate,

Nearer our ancient seat; perhaps in view

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Of those bright confines, whence, with neighbouring
And opportune excursion, we may chance
Reenter Heaven; or else in some mild zone

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Dwell, not unvisited of Heaven's fair light,
Secure; and at the brightening orient beam
Purge off this gloom: the soft delicious air,
To heal the scar of these corrosive fires,

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