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Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering
His zenith, while the sun in Aries rose.

Disguised he came; but those his children dear 330 Their parent soon discern'd, though in disguise.

He, after Eve seduced, unminded slunk

Into the wood fast by, and changing shape T'observe the sequel, saw his guileful act By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded Upon her husband, saw their shame that sought Vain covertures; but when he saw descend The Son of God to judge them, terrify'd He fled, not hoping to escape, but shun The present, fearing guilty what his wrath Might suddenly inflict; that pass'd, return'd By night, and list'ning where the hapless pair Sat in their sad discourse, and various plaint, Thence gather'd his own doom, which understood Not instant, but of future time, with joy And tidings fraught, to Hell he now return'd, And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhoped Met who to meet him came, his offspring dear. Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight Of that stupendous bridge his joy increased. Long he admiring stood, till Sin, his fair Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke:

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O Parent, these are thy magnific deeds,

Thy trophies, which thou view'st as not thine own! Thou art their author and prime architect:

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For I no sooner in my heart divined,

My heart, which by a secret harmony

Still moves with thine, join'd in connexion sweet,

That thou on earth hadst prosper'd, which thy looks

Now also evidence, but straight I felt,

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Tho' distant from thee worlds between, yet felt
That I must after thee with this thy son;
Such fatal consequence unites us three:
Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds,
Nor this unvoyageable gulf obscure
Detain from following thy illustrious track.
Thou hast achieved our liberty, confined

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Within Heli-gates till now; thou us impower'd

328. To avoid the observation of Uriel, the constellations through which Satan passed being the most distant from Aries.

To fortify thus far, and overlay

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With this portentous bridge the dark abyss.
Thine now is all this world; thy virtue' hath won
What thy hands builded not; thy wisdom gain'd
With odds what war hath lost, and fully 'venged 374
Our foil in Heav'n: here thou shalt monarch reign;
There didst not; there let him still victor sway,
As battle hath adjudged, from this new world
Retiring, by his own doom alienated,
And henceforth monarchy with thee divide
Of all things parted by th' empyreal bounds,
His quadrature, from thy orbicular world,
Or try thee now more dangerous to his throne.
Whom thus the Prince of darkness answer'd glad;
Fair Daughter, and thou Son and Grandchild both,
High proof ye now have given to be the race
Of Satan (for I glory in the name,

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Antagonist of Heav'n s Almighty King);

Amply have merited of me, of all

Th' infernal empire, that so near Heav'n's door
Triumphal with triumphal act have met,

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Mine with this glorious work, and made one realm
Hell and this world, one realm, one continent
Of easy thoroughfare. Therefore, while I

Descend through darkness, on your road with ease,

To my associate Pow'rs, them to acquaint
With these successes, and with them rejoice,

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You two this way, among these numerous orbs
All yours, right down to Paradise descend;
There dwell and reign in bliss, thence on the earth
Dominion exercise, and in the air,
Chiefly on Man, sole lord of all declared;
Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill.
My substitutes I send ye, and create
Plenipotent on earth, of matchless might
Issuing from me. On your joint vigour now
My hold of this new kingdom all depends,
Through Sin to Death exposed by my exploit.
If your joint pow'r prevail, th' affairs of Hell
No detriment need fear. Go, and be strong.

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So saying, he dismiss'd them; they with speed 410 Their course through thickest constellations held,

38. Antagonist, the meaning of the Hebrew word Satan

Spreading their bane; the blasted stars look'd wan,
And planets, planet-struck, real eclipse

Then suffer'd. Th' other way Satan went down
The causey to Hell-gate; on either side
Disparted Chaos over-built exclaim'd,

And with rebounding surge the bars assail'd
That scorn'd his indignation. Through the gate,
Wide open and unguarded, Satan pass'd,
And all about found desolate; for those
Appointed to sit there had left their charge,
Flown to the upper world; the rest were all
Far to th' inland retired, about the walls

Of Pandemonium, city and proud seat
Of Lucifer, so by allusion call'd,

Of that bright star to Satan paragon'd.

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There kept their watch the legions, while the Grand

In council sat, solicitous what chance

Might intercept their emperor sent; so he

Departing, gave command; and they observed. 430
As when the Tartar from his Russian foe

By Astracan over the snowy plains
Retires, or Bactrian Sophi from the horns
Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond
The realm of Aladule, in his retreat

To Tauris or Casbeen, so these the late
Heav'n-banish'd host, left desert utmost Hell
Many a dark league, reduced in careful watch
Round their metropolis, and now expecting

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Each hour their great advent'rer from the search 440
Of foreign worlds; he through the midst, unmark'd,
In show plebeian Angel militant

Of lowest order, pass'd; and from the door
Of that Plutonian hall, invisible,
Ascended his high throne, which under state
Of richest texture spread, at th' upper end
Was placed in regal lustre. Down a while
He sat, and round about him saw, unseen.

412. See Ovid, Met. ii. 791.

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426. Paragon'd, from the French parungonner. 432. Astracan, a large city in one of the islands of the Volga. -Sophi, the king of Persia, who is styled Bactrian, from one of the richest of the Persian provinces.

435. Aladule, the greater Armenia.-Tauris, a city in Persia, now called Ecbatana-Casbeen, another great city in the same Country.

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At last, as from a cloud, his fulgent head

And shape star-bright appear'd, or brighter, clad 450
With what permissive glory since his fall
Was left him, or false glitter. All amazed
At that so sudden blaze, the Stygian throng
Bent their aspect, and whom they wish'd beheld,
Their mighty chief return'd. Loud was th' acclaim:
Forth rush'd in haste the great consulting peers, 456
Raised from their dark Divan, and with like joy
Congratulant approach'd him, who with hand
Silence, and with these words attention won:

Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Pow'rs,

For in possession such, not only' of right,

I call ye, and declare ye now, return'd
Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth
Triumphant out of this infernal pit
Abominable, accursed, the house of woe,
And dungeon of our tyrant. Now possess,

As Lords, a spacious world, to' our native Heav'n

Little inferior, by my adventure hard

With peril great achieved. Long were to tell

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What I have done, what suffer'd, with what pain 470 Voyaged th' unreal, vast, unbounded deep

Of horrible confusion, over which

By Sin and Death a broad way now is paved
To expedite your glorious march; but I
Toil'd out my uncouth passage, forced to ride
Th' untractable abyss, plunged in the womb
Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wild,
That jealous of their secrets fiercely opposed
My journey strange, with clamorous uproar
Protesting Fate supreme; thence how I found
The new-created world, which fame in Heav'n
Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful,
Of absolute perfection, therein Man
Placed in a Paradise, by our exile

Made happy. Him by fraud I have seduced
From his Creator, and the more to' increase
Your wonder, with an apple! He thereat
Offended (worth your laughter) hath given up
Both his beloved Man and all his world,
To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us,
Without our hazard, labour, or alarm,

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To range in, and to dwell, and over Man
To rule, as over all he should have ruled.
True is, me also he hath judged, or rather
Me not, but the brute Serpent, in whose shape
Man I deceived. That which to me belongs
Is enmity, which he will put between

Me and mankind: I am to bruise his heel;

His seed (when is not set) shall bruise my head.

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A world who would not purchase with a bruise, 500
Or much more grievous pain? Ye have th' account
Of my performance: What remains, ye Gods,
But up and enter now into full bliss?

So having said, a while he stood, expecting
Their universal shout and high applause
To fill his ear; when, contrary, he hears
On all sides, from innumerable tongues
A dismal universal hiss, the sound
Of public scorn. He wonder'd, but not long
Had leisure, wond'ring at himself now more:
His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare,
His arms clung to his ribs, his legs intwining
Each other, till supplanted down he fell
A monstrous serpent on his belly prone,
Reluctant, but in vain; a greater Pow'r
Now ruled him, punish'd in the shape he sinn'd,
According to his doom. He would have spoke,
But hiss for hiss return'd with forked tongue
To forked tongue; for now were all transform'd
Alike; to serpents all as accessories
To his bold riot. Dreadful was the din

Of hissing through the hall, thick swarming now
With complicated monsters, head and tail,
Scorpion, and Asp, and Amphisbæna dire,
Cerastes horn'd, Hydrus, and Elops drear,
And Dipsas (not so thick swarm'd once the soil

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504. The transformation of the fallen angels mentioned in this passage is a fine invention, and one of those bold marvels which so well fit the nature of epic poetry.

513. Supplanted, here used in its original sense, from the Latin supplantare, to trip up by the heels.

524. Amphisbæna, a serpent with a head at both ends of its body; Cerastes, as here called, a horned snake; Hydrus, a water snake; Elops, a serpent which gives no notice of its approach⚫ and Dipsas, one which occasions a feverish thirst by its bite.

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