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Barr'd over us, prohibit all egrefs.
Thefe pafs'd, if any pass, the void profound
Cf uneffential night receives him next
Wide gaping, and with utter lofs of being
Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf,
If thence he 'fcape into whatever world,
Or unknown region, what remains him lefs
Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape?
But I fhould ill become this throne, O peers,
And this imperial fov'reignty, adorn'd

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With splendour, arm'd with pow'r, if ought propos'd And judg'd of public moment, in the shape

Of difficulty or danger, could deter

Me from attempting. Wherefore do 1 affume

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These royalties, and not refufe to reign,

Refufing to accept as great a fhare

Of hazard as of honour, due alike

To him who reigns, and fo much to him due
Of hazard more, as he above the rest

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High honour'd fits? Go therefore, mighty powers,

Terror of heav'n, though fall'n; intend at home,

While here fhall be our home, what beft may ease
The prefent mifery, and render hell

More tolerable; if there be 'cure' or charm,
To refpite, or deceive, or flack the pain
Of this ill manfion : intermit no watch
Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad

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Through all the coasts of dark destruction feek
Deliv'rance for us all: this enterprise

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None fhall partake with me. Thus faying rofe

The monarch, and prevented all reply;

Prudent, left, from his resolution rais'd,
Others among the chief might offer now

(Certain to be refus'd) what erft they fear'd;

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And fo refus'd, might in opinion stand
His rivals; winning cheap the high repute,
Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they
Dreaded not more th' adventure, than his voice
Forbidding; and at once with him they rofe:

Their rifing all at once was as the found

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Of thunder heard remote. Tow'ards him they bend "With awful rev'rence prone; and as a god

Extol him equal to the Higheft in heav'n;

Nor fail'd they to exprefs how much they prais'd, 480 That for the general fafety he defpis'd

His own: for neither do the spirits damn'd

Lofe all their virtue: left bad men fhould boaft

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Their fpecious deeds on earth, which glory 'excites, Or close ambition varnish'd o'er with zeal. Thus they their doubtful confultations dark Ended, rejoicing in their matchlefs chief: As when from mountain tops the dufky clouds Afcending, while the north wind fleeps. o'erspread Heav'n's chearful face, the louring element 490 Scowls o'er the darken'd landskip, fnow, or shower; *. If chance the radiant fun with farewel fweet Extends his ey❜ning beam, the fields revive, The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds Atteft their joy, that hill and valley rings, O fhame to men! devil to devil damn'd

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Firm concord holds, men only disagree

Of creatures rational, though under hope

Of heav'nly grace: and GoD proclaining peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife
Among themfelves, and levy cruel wars,
Wafting the earth, each other to destroy;
As if (which might enduce us to accord)
Man had not hellish foes enow befides,
That, day and night, for his destruction wait.

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The Stygian council thus diffolv'd; and forth

In order came the grand infernal peers :

*Midft came their mighty paramount, and seem'd Alone th' antagonist of heav'n, nor lefs

Than hell's dread emperor, with pomp fupreme, 510 And God-like imitated ftate; him round

A globe of fiery Seraphim inclos'd.

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With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms,
Then of their feffion ended, they bid cry
With trumpets regal found the great refult;
Tow'ards the four winds four fpeedy Cherubim
Put to their mouths the founding alchemy,
By herald's voice explain'd; the hollow' abyfs
Heard far and wide, and all the host of hell
With deaf'ning fhout return'd them loud acclaim. 520

Thence more at eafe their minds, and fomewhat rais'd
By falfe prefumpr'ous hope, the ranged powers
Difband, and wand'ring, each his feveral way
Purfues, as inclination or fad choice

Leads him perplex'd, where he may likelieft find 525
Truce to his retlefs thoughts, and entertain
The irkfome hours, till his great chief return.
Part on the plain, or in the air fublime,
Upon the wing, or in swift race contend,
As at th' Olympian games or Pythian fields;
Part curb their fiery fleeds, or fun the goal
With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form.
As when, to warn proud cities, war appears
Wag'd in the troubled fky, and armies rufh
To battle in the clouds, before each van

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Prick forth the airy knights and couch their fpears,
Till thickeft legions clofe; with feats of arms
From either end of heav'n the welkin burns.
Others, with vaft Typhoean rage more fell,
Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
In whirlwind; Hell fearce holds the wild uproar.
As when Alcides, from Oechalia crown'd
With conqueft, felt th' invenom'd robe, and tore
Through pain up by the roots Theffalian pines;
And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw
Into th' Luboic fea. Others more mild,
Retreated in a filent valley, fing

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With notes angelical to many a harp

Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall

By doom of battle; and complain that fate

Free virtue fhould inthrall to force or chance.

Their fongs were partial; but the harmony
(What could it lefs when fp'rits immortal fing?)
Sufpended hell, and took with ravifhment

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The thronging audience. In difcourfe more fweet, 555
(For eloquence the foul, fong charms the fenfe),
Others apart fat on a hill retir'd,

In thoughts more elevate, and reafon'd high
Of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate;
Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge abfolute;
And found no end, in wand'ring mazes loft,
Of good and evil much they argu'd then,

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Of happiness and final mifery,
Paffion and apathy, and glory' and fhame;
Vain wifdom all, and falfe philofophy:
Yet, with a pleafing forcery, could charm
Pain for a while, or anguith, and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast
With flubborn patience, as with triple steel.
Another part, in fquadrons and grofs bands,
On bold adventure to discover wide
That difmal world, if any clime perhaps
Might yield them eafier habitation, bend
Four ways their flying march, along the banks
Of four infernal rivers, that difgorge
Into the burning lake their baleful streams;
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
Sad Acheron, of forrow, black and deep :
Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud

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Heard on the rueful ftream; fierce Phlegethon, 580
Whofe waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.

Far off from thefe, a flow and filent ftream,
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls

Her wat'ry labyrinth; whereof who drinks,
Forthwith his former flate and be'ing forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleafure and pain.
Beyond this flood a frozen continent
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual forms
Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin feenis
Of ancient pile; all elfe deep fnow and ice;
A gulph profound, as that Serbonian bog
Betwixt Damiata and mount Cafius old,

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Where armies whole have funk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire. 595 Thither by harpy-footed furies hal'd,

At certain revolutions, all the damn'd

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Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce ;
From beds of raging fire to ftarve in ice:
Their foft etherial warmth, and there to pine
Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round,
Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire.
"They ferry over this Lethean found

Hell born, not to contend with sp'rits of heav'n.

To whom the goblin full of wrath reply'd,

Art thou that traitor angel, art thou he,

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Who first broke peace in heav'n and faith, till then
Unbroken; and in proud rebellious arms
Drew after him the third part of heav'n's fons,
Conjur'd against the High'eft; for which both thou
And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd
To wafte eternal days in woe and pain?
And reckon't thou thyfelf with fp'rits of heav'n,
Hell doom'd, and breath'ft defiance here and scorn,
Where I reign king; and, to enrage thee more,
Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,
Falfe fugitive, and to thy speed add wings;
Left with a whip of fcorpions I pursue
Thy ling'ring, or with one ftroke of this dart
Strange horror feize thee', and pangs unfelt before.
So fpake the grifly terror, and in fhape,

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So fpeaking and fo threat'ning, grew tenfold

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More dreadful and deform. On th' other fide

Incens'd with indignation Satan stood
Unterrify'd; and like a comet burn'd
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In th' arctic fky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes peftilence and war. Each at the head
Level'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands
No fecond stroke intend; and fuch a frown

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Each cast at th' other, as when two black clouds,
With heav'n's artillery fraught, come rattling on 715
Over the Cafpian, then stand front to front,
Hovering a pace, till winds the fignal blow

To join their dark encounter in mid air:
So frown'd the mighty combatants, that hell

Grew darker at their frown; fo match'd they stood;

For never but once more was either like

To meet fo great a foe: and now great deeds
Had been atchiev'd, whereof all hell had rung,
Had not the fnaky forcerefs that fat
Faft by hell gate, and kept the fatal key,
Ris'n, and with hideous outcry, rufh'd between.

O father, what intends thy hand, fhe cri'd, 'Gainft thy only fon? What fury, O fon,

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