Sometimes tow’rds heav'n, and the full blazing fun,
Which now fat high in his meridian tow'r :
Then much revolving, thus în fighs began.

O thou! that, with furpaffing glory crown'd,
Look'ft from thy fole dominion like the God
Of this new world; at whose fight all the stars
Hide their diminish'd heads; to thee I call,
But with no friendly voice, an add thy name,
O Sun ! to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
That bring to my remembrance from what ftate
I fell how glorious once above thy sphere !
'Till pride, and worse ambition, threw me down,
Warring in heav'n against heav'n's matchless 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 service hard.
What could be lefs ! than to afford him praise,
(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 'fdein'd fubje&tion, and thought one step higher
Would fet me highest ; and in a moment quit
The debt immenfe of endless gratitude;
So burthenfome, ftill paying, ftill to owe;
Forgetful what from Him I ftill receiv'd:
And understood not that a grateful mind i.
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
Indebted, and discharg'd: what burden then?
O had His pow'rful deftiny ordain'd

Me fome inferior Angel I had food
Then happy; no unbounded hope had rais'd
Ambition! Yet why not? fome other Pow'r
As great might have afpir'd, and me though mean
Drawn to his part: but other Pow'rs as great
Fell not, but ftand unshaken; from within,
Or from without, to all temptations arm'd. ·
Hadft thou the fame free will, and pow'r, to hand?
Thou hadft! Whom haft thou then, or what, t'ac-
34. lcufe,
But heav'n's free love, dealt equally to all**
Be then His love accurft, fince love, or hate
To me alike, it deals eternal woe :

di

1

Nay, curft be thou! fince againft His thy will
Chofe freely what it now for juftly rues.
Me miferable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?:
Which way I fly is hell; my self am hell ;
And, in the loweft deep, a lower deep
Still threat'ning to devour me opens wide;
To which the hell I fuffer feems a heav'n.
O then at last relent! Is there no place
Left for repentance ? none for pardon left ?
None left, but by fubmiffion; and that word
Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the fpirits beneath, whom I feduc'd
With other promises, and other vaunts›
Than to fubmit, boasting 1 could fubdue
Th' Omnipotent. Ah me! they little know
How dearly I abide that boast so vain ;

1

Under what torments inwardly I groan,
While they adore me on the throne of hell.
With diadem, and sceptre, high advanc'd,
The lower ftill 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 soon
Would height recall high thoughts, how foon un

fay

What feign'd fubmiffion 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,
And heavier fall; fo should 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:1
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
As man e'er-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,
Which marr'd his borrow'd visage, and betray'di i

Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.
(For heav'nly minds from fuch diftempers foul
Are ever clear.) Whereof he foon aware,
Each perturbation fmooth'd with outward calm
Artificer of fraud and was the first

t

That practis'd falshood, under faintly shew. Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge Yet not enough had practis'd, to deceive Uriel once warn'd; whofe eye purfu'd him downg 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 demeanor, then alone, As he fuppos'd, all un-obferv'd, un-seen. So, on he fares; and to the border comes Of Eden, where delicious Paradife, Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green As with a rural mound, the champain head afa fteep wilderness; whofe hairy fides With thicket overgrown, grotesque, and wild, Access deny'd and over head up-grew Infuperable height of loftieft shadel, "Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm A fylvan fcene! and as the ranks fcend Shade above shade, a woody theatre Offtatelieft view. Yet higher than their tops The verdurous wall of Paradife up-fprung: Which to our general fire gave profpe& large Into his neather 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:
On which the fun more glad imprefs'd his beams
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath show'r'd the earth; so lovely
feem'd

That landscape! 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 whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who fail
Beyond the Cap of Hope, and now are past
Mozambic, off at fea north-eaft winds blow
Sabæan odor, from the spicy shore
Of Araby the Bleft, with fuch delay

Well-pleas'd they flack their course, and many a league

Chear'd with the grateful fmell old Ocean fmiles: So entertain'd those odorous fweets the fiend, Who came their bane; though with them better pleas'd

Than Afmodeus with the fishy fume

That drove him, though enamour'd, from the spouse
Of Tobit's fon, and with a vengeance fent

From Media poft to Ægypt, there fast bound.
Now to th' afcent of that steep favage hill
Satan had journied on, penfive, and flow i