Woe to th' inhabitants on earth! that now, While time was, our first Parents had been warn'd The coming of their secret Foe, and 'scap'd, Haply so 'scap'd his mortal snare: for now Satan, now first inflam'd with rage, came down, The tempter ere th' accuser of Mankind, To wreck on innocent frail Man his loss Of that first battel, 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 nigh the birth Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast, And like a devi❜lish 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 25 Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must
Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his view Lay pleasant, his griev'd look he fixes sad; Sometimes towards Heav'n and the full-blazing sun, Which now sat high in his meridian tow'r: 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 40 Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless King: Ah wherefore! he deserv'd no such return
me, whom he created what I was
From 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 recompence, and pay him thanks, How due! yet all his good prov'd ill in me, And wrought but malice; lifted up so high I sdeign'd subjection, and thought one step higher Would set me hig'hest, and in a moment quit The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burdensome still paying, still to owe, Forgetful what from him I still receiv'd, And understood not that a grateful mind By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and discharg'd; what burden then? O had his powerful destiny ordain'd Me some inferior angel, I had stood
Then happy; no unbounded hope had rais'd Ambition. Yet why not? some other power As great might have aspir'd, and me though mean Drawn to his part; but other powers as great
Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within Or from without, to all temptations arm'd. Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand? Thou hadst whom hast thou then or what t' ac- But Heav'n's free love dealt equally to all? [cuse, Be then his love accurs'd, since love or hate, To me alike, it deals eternal woe.
Nay curs'd 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 threat'ning 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 seduc'd With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit, boasting I could subdue 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 sceptre high advanc'd 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; how soon Would highth 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 pierc'd so deep: Which would but lead me to a worse relapse 100 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 in stead Of us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight, Mankind created, and for him this world. So farewel Hope, and with hope farewel Fear, Farewel Remorse: all good to me is lost; 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; As Man ere long, and this new world shall know. Thus while he spake, each passion dimm'd his face
Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and despair; Which marr'd his borrow'd visage, and betray'd 116 Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.
For heav'nly 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 practis'd falsehood under saintly show,
Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge: Yet not enough had practis'd to deceive
Uriel once warn'd; whose eye pursued him down The way he went, and on th' Assyrian mount 126 Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befal Spirit of happy sort, his gestures fierce He mark'd and mad demeanor, then alone, As he suppos'd, all unobserv'd, unseen. So on he fares, and to the border comes Of Eden, where delicious Paradise, Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green, As with a rural mound, the champain head Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild, Access deny'd; and over head up grew Insuperable highth of loftiest shade, Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, A sylvan scene, and as the ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woody theatre Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops The verd'rous 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 at once of golden hue, Appear'd, with gay enamell'd colors mix'd: On which the sun more glad impress'd his beams Than in fair evening cloud or humid bow,
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