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Paradise Lost.

BOOK IV.

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For that warning voice, which he who saw Th' Apocalypse heard cry in Heav'n aloud, Then when the Dragon, put to second rout, Came furious down to be reveng'd on men, "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 battle, 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 devilish 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

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Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue,
Sometimes tow'ards Eden, which now in his view
Lay pleasant, his griev'd look he fixes sad;

Sometimes tow'ards Heav'n and the full blazing sun,
Which now sat high in his meridian tower:
Then, much revolving, thus in sighs began.

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"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 Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless King: Ah! wherefore! he deserv'd no such 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 less than to afford him praise, The easiest recompense, 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 high'est, 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 pow'rful destiny ordain'd Me some inferior Angel, I had stood

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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 Pow'rs as great
Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within
Or from without, to all temptations arm'd.

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Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand? Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to' accuse,

But Heav'n's free love dealt equally to all?
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

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By act of grace my former state; how soon

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Would height 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,

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Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse
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, outcast, exil'd, his new delight,

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Mankind created, and for him this world.
So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,
Farewell 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, 120
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

Uriël once warn'd; whose eye pursued him down
The way he went, and on th' Assyrian mount
Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befall
Spirit of happy sort: his gestures fierce

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He mark'd and mad demeanour, then alone,

As he suppos'd, all unobserv'd, unseen.
So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,.

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Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure 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 overhead upgrew
Insuperable height of loftiest shade,

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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 neighb'ring round.

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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 enamel'd colours mix'd;
On which the sun more glad impress'd his beams
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath show'r'd the earth; so lovely seem'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 sadness but despair; now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past
Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabean odours from the spicy shore
Of Araby the blest; with such delay
Well pleas'd they slack their course, and many a league,
Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles:
So entertain'd those odorous sweets the Fiend 166
Who came their bane, tho' with them better pleas'd
Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume
That drove him, tho' enamour'd, from the spouse
Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound.
Now to th' ascent of that steep savage hill

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Satan had journey'd on, pensive and slow;
But further way found none, so thick intwin'd,
As one continued brake, the undergrowth
Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplex'd
All path of man or beast that pass'd that way:
One gate there only was, and that look'd east
On th' other side; which when the Arch-felon saw,
Due entrance he disdain'd, and in contempt,
At one slight bound high overleap'd all bound
Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,

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