Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

I'sdeind subjection, and thought one step higher 50
Would fet me highest, and in a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude,
So burdenfome, ftill paying, ftill to owe;
Forgetful what from him I ftill 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

Then happy; no unbounded hope had rais'd
Ambition. Yet, why not? fome other Power

'55

60

65.

As great might have aspir'd, and me, though mean,
Drawn to his part; but other Pow'rs as great
Fell not, but ftand unfhaken, from within
Or from without, to all temptations arm'd.
Hadft thou the fame free will and pow'r to ftand?
Thou hadft: whom haft thou then or what to accufe,
But Heav'n's free love dealt equally to all?

Be then his love accurs'd, fince love or hate,

To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

70.

Nay curs'd be thou; fince,against his, thy will

Chose freely, what it now fo juftly rues.

Me miserable! which way fhall 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 threatning to devour me,opens wide,

75

To

To which the Hell I fuffer 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
Difdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the Spirits beneath; whom I feduc'd
With other promises, and other vaunts,
Than to submit; boasting I could fubdue
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 scepter high advanc'd,
The lower still I fall, only fupreme

In mifery; fuch joy ambition finds.

But say I could repent,and could obtain,
By act of grace,my former flate; how foon

80

90

Would highth recall high thoughts, how foon unfay
What feign'd submission swore? ease would recant 96
Vows made in pain, as violent and void,
For never can true reconcilement grow

100

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd fo deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse,
And heavier fall: fo fhould I purchase dear
Short intermiffion,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 ftead

105

Of

Of us, out-caft, 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 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 ere long, and this new world shall know.

110

Thus while he spake, each passion dimm'd his face Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and despair; 115 Which marr'd his borrow'd vifage, and betray'd Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.

For heavn❜ly minds from fuch diftempers foul
Are ever clear. Whereof he foon aware,

Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm, 120
Artificer of fraud; and was the first

That practic'd falfhood under faintly show,
Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge:
Yet not enough had practic'd to deceive

Uriel, once warn'd; whose eye pursued him down 125
The way he went, and,on th' Affyrian mount,
Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befall
Spirit of happy fort: his gestures fierce

He mark'd and mad demeanour, then alone,

As he suppos'd, all unobserv'd, unseen.

130

So on he fares, and to the border comes

Of Eden, where delicious Paradife,

Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green,

P

As

135

140

As with a rural mound, the champain head
Of a steep wilderness; whose hairy fides
With thicket overgrown, grottefque and wild,
Accefs deny'd; and over head up grew
Infuperable highth of loftieft fhade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A fylvan scene; and as the ranks ascend,
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of statelieft view. Yet higher than their tops
The verd'rous wall of Paradife up sprung:
Which to our general fire gave prospect large
Into his nether empire neighb'ring round.
And higher than that wall,a circling row
Of goodlieft trees, loaden with faireft 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 150
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath fhow'rd the earth; fo lovely feem'd
That landskip: And of pure,now purer air

Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All fadness but despair: now gentle gales,
Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense
Native perfumes; and whisper whence they flole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who fail
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are paft
Mozambic, off at fea north-eaft winds blow

145

155

160

Sabean

Sabean odors from the spicy shore

Of Araby the bleft; with such delay

170

Well pleas'd they flack their course; and many a league,
Chear'd with the grateful smell,old Ocean fmiles: 165
So entertain'd thofe odorous fweets the Fiend
Who came their bane; though with them better pleas'd
Than Afmodeus with the fifhy fume,
That drove him, though enamour'd, from the spouse
Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
From Media poft to Egypt, there fast bound.
Now to th'afcent of that fleep favage hill
Satan had journey'd on, pensive and flow;
But further way found none, fo 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 fide: which when th'arch-felon faw,
Due entrance he disdain'd, and in contempt,
At one flight bound high over leap'd all bound
Of hill or higheft wall, and sheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
Watching where fhepherds pen their flocks at eve,185
In hurdled cotes, amid the field fecure,

Leaps o'er the fence with eafe into the fold:
Or as a thief, bent to unhord the cash

Of fome rich burgher, whofe fubftantial doors,

P 2

175

180

Cross-barr'd

« AnteriorContinuar »