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Of, force believe Almighty, fince no lefs

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Than fuch could have o'erpower'd fuch force as ours)
Have left us this our fpirit and ftrength entire,
Strongly to fuffer and fupport our pains;
That we may fo fuffice His vengeful ire,
Or do Him mightier fervice, as His thralls
By right of war, whate'er His business be,
Here in the heart of hell to work in fire,
Or do his errands in the gloomy Deep?
What can it then avail, though yet we feel
Strength undiminifh'd, or eternal Being,

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To undergo eternal punishment?——————

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Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.

Fall'n Cherub! to be weak is miserable,

Doing or fuffering; but of this be fure,
To do ought good never will be our task;
But ever to do ill our fole delight:

As being the contrary to His high will
Whom we refift. If then His Providence
Out of our evil feek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good still to find means of evil:
Which oft-times may fucceed, fo as perhaps
Shall grieve Him (if I fail not) and difturb
His inmoft counfels from their deftin'd aim.
But fee! the angry victor hath recall'd

His ministers of vengeance and purfuit,

Back to the gates of heav'n: the fulph'rous hail
Shot after us in ftorm, o'er-blown, hath laid
The fiery furge, that from the precipice
Of heav'n receiv'd us falling: and the thunder,
Wing'd with red lightning and impetuous rage,
Perhaps hath spent his fhafts, and ceases now
To bellow through the vaft and boundless Deep.
Let us not flip th'occafion, whether scorn,
Or fatiate fury, yield it from our foe.

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Seeft thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
The feat of defolation, void of light,

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Save what the glimmering of these livid flames

Cafts

Cafts pale and dreadful? thither let us tend
From off the toffing of these fiery waves ;
There reft if any reft can harbour there:
And re-affembling our afflicted pow'rs,
Confult how we may henceforth most offend
Our enemy; our own lofs how repair;
How overcome this dire calamity;
What reinforcement we may gain from hope;
If not, what refolution from despair.

Thus SATAN talking to his nearest mate,
With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blaz'd; his other parts befides
Prone on the flood, extended long and large,
Lay floating many a rood: in bulk as huge
As whom the fables name, of monftrous fize,
TITANIAN, OF EARTH-born, that warr'd on Jove,
BRIAREUS, or TYPHON, whom the den
By ancient TARSUS held; or that fea-beaft
LEVIATHAN, which God of all his works
Created hugeft that swim th' ocean stream :
(Him, haply flumb'ring on the NORWAY fɔam,
The pilot of fome small night-founder'd skiff,
Deeming fome ifland, oft, as feamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his fcaly rind,

Moors by his fide under the Lee, while night
Invefts the fea, and wished morn delays )

So ftretch'd out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay,
Chain'd on the burning lake: nor ever thence
Had ris'n, or heav'd his head, but that the will
And high permiffion of all-ruling heaven,
Left him at large to his own dark defigns:
That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he fought
Evil to others; and enrag'd might fee,
How all his malice ferv'd but to bring forth
Infinite goodnefs, grace, and mercy fhewn
On man by him feduc'd: but on himself
Treble confufion, wrath, and vengeance pour'd.
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool

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His mighty ftature; on each hand the flames

Driv'n backward flope their pointing fpires, and rowl'd
In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid yale.

Then with expanded wings he steers his flight
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air,
That felt unufual weight; till on dry land
He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd
With folid, as the lake with liquid fire:
And fuch appear'd in hue, as when the force
Of fubterranean wind tranfports a hill
Torn from PELORUS, or the fhatter'd fide
Of thund'ring ÆTNA, whofe combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds,
And leave a finged bottom all involv'd

With ftench and smoke: fuch refting found the foal
Of unblefs'd feet! Him follow'd his next mate,
Both glorying to have 'fcap'd the STYGIAN flood,
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength;
Not by the fuff'rance of fupernal pow'r.

Is this the region, this the foil, the clime, (Said then the loft Arch-Angel) this the feat,

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That we must change for heav'n? this mournful gloom For that cœleftial light? be it fo! fince He

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Who now is Sov'reign can difpofe, and bid

What shall be right: fartheft from him is beft,

Whom reafon hath equall'd, force hath made fupreme

Above his equals. Farewel happy fields,

Where joy for ever dwells! hail horrors! hail

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Infernal world! and thou profoundest hell
Receive thy new peffeffor! One, who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by place or time,
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.
What matter where, if I be ftill the fame,
And what I fhould be, all but lefs than He
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We fhall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for His envy; will not drive us hence:

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Here

Here we may reign fecure; and in

my

choice

To reign is worth ambition, tho' in hell:
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' affociates and copartners of our lofs,
Lie thus aftonish'd on th" oblivious pool,
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy manfion: or once more
With rallied arms to try, what may be yet
Regain'd in heav'n, or what more loft in hell?

So SATAN fpake, and him BEELZEBUB
Thus anfwer'd: Leader of thofe Armies bright,
Which but th'Omnipotent none could have foil'd!
If once they hear that voice, their livelieft pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battel when it rag'd, in all affaults
Their fureft fignal, they will foon resume
New courage, and revive, tho' now they lie
Grov❜ling and proftrate on yon lake of fire,
(As we erewhile) astounded and amaz'd;
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious height!

He scarce had ceas'd, when the fuperior fiend
Was moving tow'rd the fhoar: his pond'rous fhield,
Ethereal temper, maffy, large, and round,
Behind him caft; the broad circumference
Hung on his fhoulders like the Moon, whofe orb.
Thro' optick glafs the TUSCAN artist views
At ev'ning, from the top of FESOLE,
Or in VALDARNO, to descry new lands,
Rivers, or Mountains, in her fpotty globe.
His fpear (to equal with the tallest pine
Hewn on NORWEGIAN hills, to be the maft
Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand)
He walk'd with, to fupport uneafy iteps
Over the burning marle (not like thofe fteps
On heaven's azure!) and the torrid clime
Smote on him fore befides,, vaulted with fire.

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Nathlefs

Nathlefs he fo indur'd, 'till on the beach
Of that inflamed fea he ftood, and call'd
His legions, Angel-forms, who lay intrans'd,
Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks
In VALLOMBROSA, where th' ETRURIAN: fhades
High over-arch'd imbow'r; or fcatter'd fedge
Afloat, when with fierce winds ORION arm'd

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Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coaft, whofe waves o'erthrew

BUSIRIS and his MEMPHIAN chivalry,

While with perfidious hatred they purfu'd

The fojourners of GOSHEN, who beheld

From the fafe fhoar their floating carcafes,

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And broken chariot wheels: fo thick beftrown,
Abject and loft lay thefe, covering the flood,.
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow Deep
Of hell refounded: Princes, Potentates,

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Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n! once yours, now loft,
If fuch astonishment as this can feize

ancial spirits: Or have ye chos'n this place

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After the toil of battel to repofe

Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the vales of heav'n?
Or in this abject pofture have ye fworn
T'adore the conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rowling in the flood,
With scatter'd arms and enfigns; 'till anon
His fwift purfuers from heav'n-gates difcern:
Th' advantage, and defcending tread us down
Thus drooping: or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulph.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n!

They heard, and were abafh'd, and up they sprung
Upon the wing; as when men wont, to watch
On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread,
Rouze and beftir themselves ere well awake.
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight

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In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
Yet to their General's voice they foon obey'd,

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