By change of place: now confcience wakes despair
That flumber'd, wakes the bitter memory

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35

Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worfe; of worfe deeds worfe fufferings must enfue.
Sometimes tow'ards Eden, which now in his view
Lay pleafant, Kis griev'd look he fixes fad;
Sometimes towards Heav'n and the full-blazing fun,
Which now fat high in his meridian tower:
Then much revolving, thus in fighs began.
O thou that with furpaffing glory crown'd,
Look'ft from thy fole dominion like the God
Of this new world; at whofe fight 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 worfe ambition threw me down
Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchlefs king:
Ah wherefore! he deferv'd no fuch return
From me, whom he created what I was
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided none; nor was his fervice hard.
What could be lefs than to afford him praife,
The eafieft recompenfe, and pay him thanks,
How due! yet all his good prov'd ill in me,
And wrought but malice; lifted up fo high
I fdeind subjection, and thought one step higher.
Would fet me highest, and in a moment quit
The debt immenfe of endless gratitude,

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145

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So

So burdenfome still paying, ftill to owe,
Forgetful what from him I still receiv'd,
And understood not that a grateful mind
By owing owes not, but ftill pays, at once
Indebted and difcharg'd; what burden then?
O had his pow'rful destiny ordain'd
Me fome inferior Angel, I had ftood

60

Then happy; no unbounded hope had rais'd
Ambition. Yet why not? fome other Power
As great might have afpir'd, and me though mean
Drawn to his part; but other Pow'rs as great
Fell not, but ftand unfhaken, from within
Or from without, to all temptations arm'd.
Hadft thou the fame free will and pow'r to stand ?
Thou hadft: whom haft thou then or what t' accufe,
But Heav'n's free love dealt equally to all?

Be then his love accurs'd, fince love or hate,
To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

Nay curs'd be thou; fince againft his thy will
Chofe freely what it now fo juftly rues.
Me miferable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite defpair?
Which way I fly is Hell; myfelf am Hell;
And in the loweft deep a lower deep
Still threatning to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I fuffer feems a Heaven.
O then at last relent: is there no place
Left for repentance, none for pardon left?
None left but by fubmiflion; and that word
Difdain forbids me, and my dread of fhame

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Among the Spirits beneath, whom I feduc'd
With other promises and other vaunts
Than to fubmit, boasting I could fubdue
Th' Omnipotent. Ay 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 fcepter high advanc'd,
'The lower still I fall, only fupreme
In mifery; fuch joy ambition finds.
But fay I could repent, and could obtain

By act of grace my former state; how foon

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90

Would highth recall high thoughts, how foon unfay
What feign'd fubmiffion fwore? cafe would recant
Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
For never can true reconcilement grow,

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd fo deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse
And heavier fall: fo fhould I purchase dear
Short intermiffion bought with double fmart.
This knows my punisher; therefore as far
From granting he, as I from begging peace:
All hope excluded thus, behold in stead
of us out-caft, exil'd, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this world.
So farewel hope, and with hope farewel fear,
Farewel remorfe: all good to me is loft;
Evil be thou my good; by thee at least
Divided empire with Heav'n's king I hold,
By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;

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As

As Man ere long, and this new world shall know.

Thus while he fpake, each paffion dimm'd his face ;
Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and despair; 115
Which marr'd his borrow'd vifage, and betray'd
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.

For heav'nly minds from fuch difteinpers foul
Are ever clear. Whereof he foon aware,

Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm, 120
Artificer of fraud; and was the first

That practis'd falfhood under faintly show,
Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge:
Yet not enough had practis'd to deceive

Uriel once warn'd; whofe eye pursued him down 125
The way he went, and on th' Affyrian mount
Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befall
Spirit of happy fort: his geftures fierce

He mark'd and mad demeanour, then alone,
As he fuppos'd, all unobferv'd, unfeen.
So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

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Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green,

As with a rural mound, the champaign head

Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy fides

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With thicket overgrown, grottefque and wild,
Access deny'd; and over head up grew
Infuperable highth of loftieft fhade,

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A fylvan fcene, and as the ranks afcend

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Shade above fhade, a woody theatre

Of statelieft view. Yet higher than their tops

The

The verd'rous wall of Paradife up fprung:
Which to our general fire gave profpect large
Into his nether empire neighb'ring round.
And higher than that wall a circling row
Of goodlieft trees loaden with fairest fruit,
Bloffoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
Appear'd, with gay enamel'd colors mix'd:

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155

On which the fun more glad imprefs'd his beams 150
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath fhow'r'd the earth; fo lovely feem'd
That landskip: And of pure now purer air
Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All fadnefs but defpair: now gentle gales
Fanning their odoriferous wings dispense
Native perfumes, and whifper whence they stole
Thofe balmy spoils. As when to them who fail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
Mozambic, off at fea north-eaft winds blow
Sabean odors from the spicy fhore

Of Araby the bleft; with fuch delay

160

Well pleas'd they flack their courfe, and many a league Chear'd with the grateful fmell old Ocean fmiles: 165 So entertain'd thofe odorous sweets the Fiend

Who came their bane, though with them better pleas'd Than Afmodeus with the fishy fume

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That drove him, though enamour'd, from the spouse
Of Tobit's fon, and with a vengeance fent
From Mcdia poft to Egypt, there faft bound.

Now to th' afcent of that fteep favage hill

Satan