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That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he fought
Evil to others; and enrag'd might fee
How all his malice ferv'd but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy thewn
On man by him seduc'd; but on himself
Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. 220
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty stature; on each hand the flames
Driv'n backward slope their pointing spires, and rowl'd
In billows, leave i'th midft a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight 225
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air,
That felt unusual weight; till on dry land
He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd
With folid, as the lake with liquid fire;
And fuch appear'd in hue, as when the force
Of fubterranean wind transports a hill
Torn from PELORUS, or the shatter'd fide
Of thund'ring ÆTNA, whose combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds,
And leave a finged bottom all involv'd
With stench and smoke; such resting found the fole
Of unbless'd feet. Him follow'd his next mate,
Both glorying to have 'scap'd the STYGIAN flood,
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 240

Not by the fuffrance of fupernal pow'r.

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Is this the region, this the fail, the clime,
Said then the loft Arch-Angel, this the feat
That we must change for heav'n? this mournful gloom
For that cœleftial light? be it so, fince he
Who now is fov'rain can dispose and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best,
Whom reason equall'd, force hath made fupreme
Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells! hail horrors! hail 250

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Infernal world! and thou profoundest hell
Receive thy new poffeffor! one who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in it felf
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n. 255
What matter where, if I be still the fame,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy; will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure; and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, tho' in hell:
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,

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Th'associates and copartners of our loss,
Lye thus aftonish'd on th' oblivious pool,
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy manfion, or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regain'd in heav'n, or what more lost in hell? 270

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SO SATAN spake, and him BEELZEBUB
Thus answer'd: Leader of those armies bright,
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have toil'd,
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battel when it rag'd, in all affaults
Their surest signal, they will foon refume
New courage and revive, tho' now they lye
Grov'ling and prostrate on yon lake of fire,
As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious height.

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He scarce had ceas'd when the superior fiend
Was moving tow'rd the shore; his pond'rous shield
Ethereal temper, massie, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad circumference

As

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Hung Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose orb Thro optic glass the TUSCAN artist views

At ev'ning from the top of FESOLE,
Or in VALDARNO, to descry new lands,
Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe.
His spear (to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on NORWEGIAN hills, to be the mast
Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand)
He walk'd with to support uneasie steps
Over the burning marle (not like those steps
On heaven's azure!) and the torrid clime
Smote on him fore besides, vaulted with fire.
Nathless he to endur'd, 'till on the beach
Of that inflamed sea, he stood and call'd
His legions, Angel forms, who lay entrans'd,
Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
In VALLOMBROSA, where th' ETRURIAN shades
High over-arch'd embow'r; or scatter'd fedge
Afloat, when with fierce winds ORION arm'd 305
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea-coaft, whose waves o'erthrew
BUSIRIS and his MEMPHIAN chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they perfu'd
The sojourners of GOSHEN, who beheld
From the fafe shoar their floating carcases
And broken chariot wheels: so thick bestrown,
Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep
Of hell refounded: Princes, Potentates,
Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now lost,
If fuch astonishment as this can seize

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Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battel to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To slumber here, as in the vales of heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
T'adore the conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rowling in the flood,

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