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Would not admit: thine, and of all thy fons,
The weal or woe in thee is plac'd; beware!
I in, thy perfevering fhall rejoyce,

And all the bleft. Stand faft! to ftand or fall
Free in thine own arbitrement it lies:
Perfect within, no outward aid requires,
And all temptation to trangrefs repel.

So faying, he arofe: whom ADAM thus
Follow'd with benediction. Since to part!
Go heav'nly gueft, ethereal meffenger,
Sent from whofe fov'reign goodness I adore!
Gentle to me, and affable, hath been

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Thy condefcenfion, and shall be honor'd ever
With grateful memory: thou to mankind,
Be good, and friendly ftill, and oft return!

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So parted they, the Angel up to Heav'n
From the thick hade, and ADAM to his bow'r.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK IX.

THE

ARGUMENT.

Satan having compaft the earth, with meditated guile returns as a mift by night into Paradife, and enters into the ferpent fleeping. Adam and Eve in the morning go forth to their labors, which Eve propofes to divide in feveral places, each laboring apart: Adam confents not, alleging the danger left that enemy, of whom they

were

were forewarn'd, fhould attempt her found alone: Eve, (loth to be thought not circumfpect or firm enough) urges her going apart, the rather defirous to make tryal of her ftrength; Adam at last yields: the ferpent finds her alone; his fubtile approach, firft gazing, then Speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other Creatures. Eve, wond'ring to hear the ferpent fpeak, asks how he attain'd to human speech, and fuch understanding not 'till now; the ferpent answers, that by tafting of a certain tree in the garden he attain'd both to fpeech and reafon, 'till then void of both: Eve requires him to bring her to that tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge forbidden: the ferpent, now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments indaces her at length to eat; fhe, pleas'd with the taste, deliberates a-while whether to impart thereof to Adam, or not at last brings him of the fruit, relates what perfuaded her to eat thereof: Adam at first amaz'd, but perceiving her loft, refolves (through vehemence of love) to perifh with her, extenuating the trespass eats alfo of the fruit: the effects thereof in them both t they feek to cover their nakedness: then fall to variance, and accufation of one another.

O more of talk where Gob, of Angelguest,

With Man, as with his friend, familiar us'd

To fit indulgent, and with him partake

Rural repaft; permitting him the while

Venial difcourfe un-blam'd. I now muft change f Thofe notes to tragic! Foul diftruft, and breach

Disloyal on the part of man, revolt,

And difobedience: on the part of Heav'n
(Now alienated!) diftance, and diftafte,

Anger, and juft rebuke, and judgement giv'n, ΤΟ
That brought into this world a world of woe;
Sin, and her fhadow Death, and mifery

Death's

Death's harbinger. Sad task! yet argument
Not lefs, but more heroic than the wrath
Of stern ACHILLES on his foe perfu'd
Thrice fugitive about TROY wall or rage
Of TURNUS for LAVINIA dis-efpous'd.
Or NEPTUNE's ire, or JUNO's, that fo long
Perplex'd the GREEK, and CYTHEREA's fon:
If answerable ftyle I can obtain

Of my cœleftial patronefs, who deigns

Her nightly vifitation unimplor'd,

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And dictates to me lumbring; or infpires

Eafie my unpremeditated verfe:

Since first this fubject for Heroic fong

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Pleas'd me, long chufing, and beginning late;

Not fedulous by nature to indite

Wars, hitherto the only argument

Heroic deem'd; chief maft'ry to diffect

With long and tedious havock fabled Knights
In battels feign'd: (the better fortitude
Of patience, and Heroic Martyrdom,
Unfung) or to defcribe Races, and Games,
Or tilting furniture, emblazon'd fhields,
Impreffes quaint, caparifons, and steeds;
Bafes, and tinfel trappings, gorgeous Knights
At jouft, and tornament; then marshal'd feast,
Serv'd up in hall with fewers, and feneshals:
The skil of artifice, or office, mean!
Not that which juftly gives Heroic name
To perfon, or to poem. Me (of these
Nor skill'd, nor ftudious) higher argument
Remains; fufficient of itself to raise

That name, unless an age too late, or cold
Climate, or years, damp my intended wing
Depreft: and much they may, if all be mine,
Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear.

The Sun was funk, and after him the star
OF HESPERUs, whofe office is to bring

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Twilight

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