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First seen. Them unexpected joy surprised
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed
Aloft, by Angels borne, his sign in Heaven;
Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
His army, circumfused on either wing,
Under their Head embodied all in one.
Before him Power Divine his way prepared;
At his command the uprooted hills retired

Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went
Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed,
And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.
"This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured,
And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,
Insensate, hope conceiving from despair.

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In Heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?

But to convince the proud what signs avail,

Or wonders move the obdurate to relent?

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They, hardened more by what might most reclaim,

Grieving to see his glory, at the sight

Took envy, and, aspiring to his highth,

Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud
Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
Against God and Messiah, or to fall
In universal ruin last; and now

To final battle drew, disdaining flight,

Or faint retreat: when the great Son of God

To all his host on either hand thus spake :—

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"Stand still in bright array, ye Saints; here stand,

Ye Angels armed; this day from battle rest.

Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God
Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause;
And, as ye have received, so have ye done,
Invincibly. But of this cursed crew
The punishment to other hand belongs;
Vengeance is his, or whose he sole appoints.
Number to this day's work is not ordained,
Nor multitude; stand only and behold
God's indignation on these godless poured
By me. Not you, but me, they have despised,
Yet envied; against me is all their rage,

Because the Father, to whom in Heaven supreme
Kingdom and power and glory appertains,
Hath honoured me, according to his will.
Therefore to me their doom he hath assigned,
That they may have their wish, to try with me
In battle which the stronger proves-they all,
Or I alone against them; since by strength
They measure all, of other excellence

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Not emulous, nor care who them excels;
Nor other strife with them do I voutsafe.'
"So spake the Son, and into terror changed
His countenance, too severe to be beheld,
And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
At once the Four spread out their starry wings
With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs
Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.
He on his impious foes right onward drove,
Gloomy as Night. Under his burning wheels
The steadfast Empyrean shook throughout,
All but the throne itself of God. Full soon
Among them he arrived, in his right hand
Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
Before him, such as in their souls infixed
Plagues. They, astonished, all resistance lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropt;

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O'er shields, and helms, and helmed heads he rode

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Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostráte,
That wished the mountains now might be again
Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four,
Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels,
Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;
One spirit in them ruled, and every eye

Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire

Among the accursed, that withered all their strength,

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And of their wonted vigour left them drained,
Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked
His thunder in mid-volley; for he meant

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven.
The overthrown he raised, and, as a herd
Of goats or timorous flock together thronged,
Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursued
With terrors and with furies to the bounds

And crystal wall of Heaven; which, opening wide,
Rolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
Into the wasteful Deep. The monstrous sight
Strook them with horror backward; but far worse

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Urged them behind: headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of Heaven: eternal wrath
Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

"Hell heard the unsufferable noise; Hell saw Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled Affrighted; but strict Fate had cast too deep

Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.

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Nine days they fell; confounded Chaos roared,
And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

Through his wild Anarchy; so huge a rout
Encumbered him with ruin. Hell at last,

Yawning, received them whole, and on them closed-
Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.

Disburdened Heaven rejoiced, and soon repaired

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Her mural breach, returning whence it rolled.
Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes
Messiah his triumphal chariot turned.

To meet him all his Saints, who silent stood
Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts,

With jubilee advanced; and, as they went,
Shaded with branching palm, each order bright
Sung triumph, and him sung victorious King,
Son, Heir, and Lord, to him dominion given,
Worthiest to reign. He celebrated rode,

Triumphant through mid Heaven, into the courts
And temple of his mighty Father throned
On high; who into glory him received,

Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss.

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Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on Earth,

At thy request, and that thou may'st beware

By what is past, to thee I have revealed

What might have else to human race been hid-
The discord which befell, and war in Heaven

Among the Angelic Powers, and the deep fall
Of those too high aspiring who rebelled
With Satan: he who envies now thy state,
Who now is plotting how he may seduce
Thee also from obedience, that, with him
Bereaved of happiness, thou may'st partake
His punishment, eternal misery;

Which would be all his solace and revenge,
As a despite done against the Most High,
Thee once to gain companion of his woe.
But listen not to his temptations; warn
Thy weaker; let it profit thee to have heard,
By terrible example, the reward

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Of disobedience. Firm they might have stood,
Yet fell. Remember, and fear to transgress."

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THE END OF THE SIXTH BOOK.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK VII.

THE ARGUMENT.

Raphael, at the request of Adam, relates how and wherefore this World was first created :that God, after the expelling of Satan and his Angels out of Heaven, declared his pleasure to create another World, and other creatures to dwell therein; sends his Son with glory, and attendance of Angels, to perform the work of creation in six days: the Angels celebrate with hymns the performance thereof, and his reascension into Heaven.

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Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegasean wing!

The meaning, not the name, I call; for thou
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Of old Olympus dwell'st; but, heavenly-born,
Before the hills appeared or fountain flowed,
Thou with Eternal Wisdom didst converse,
Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
With thy celestial song. Up led by thee,
Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed,
An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air,
Thy tempering. With like safety guided down,
Return me to my native element;

Lest, from this flying steed unreined (as once
Bellerophon, though from a lower clime)
Dismounted, on the Aleian field I fall,
Erroneous there to wander and forlorn.
Half yet remains unsung, but narrower bound
Within the visible Diurnal Sphere.

Standing on Earth, not rapt above the pole,
More safe I sing with mortal voice, unchanged
To hoarse or mute, though fallen on evil days,

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On evil days though fallen, and evil tongues,
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round,
And solitude; yet not alone, while thou
Visit'st my slumbers nightly, or when Morn
Purples the East. Still govern thou my song,
Urania, and fit audience find, though few.
But drive far off the barbarous dissonance
Of Bacchus and his revellers, the race

Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture, till the savage clamour drowned

Both harp and voice; nor could the Muse defend
Her son. So fail not thou who thee implores;

For thou art heavenly, she an empty dream.
Say, Goddess, what ensued when Raphael,
The affable Archangel, had forewarned
Adam, by dire example, to beware
Apostasy, by what befell in Heaven
To those apostates, lest the like befall

In Paradise to Adam or his race,

Charged not to touch the interdicted Tree,

If they transgress, and slight that sole command,

So easily obeyed amid the choice

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Of all tastes else to please their appetite,

Though wandering. He, with his consorted Eve,

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The story heard attentive, and was filled

With admiration and deep muse, to hear

Of things so high and strange-things to their thought

So unimaginable as hate in Heaven,

And war so near the peace of God in bliss,

With such confusion; but the evil, soon

Driven back, redounded as a flood on those
From whom it sprung, impossible to mix
With blessedness. Whence Adam soon repealed
The doubts that in his heart arose; and, now
Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know

What nearer might concern him-how this World
Of heaven and earth conspicuous first began:
When, and whereof, created; for what cause;
What within Eden, or without, was done
Before his memory-as one whose drouth,
Yet scarce allayed, still eyes the current stream,
Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites,
Proceeded thus to ask his Heavenly Guest :-

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"Great things, and full of wonder in our ears, Far differing from this World, thou hast revealed. Divine Interpreter ! by favour sent

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