Their maker, or their making, or their fate,
As if predestination over-rul'd

Their will, difpos'd by abfolute decree

Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreed
Their own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,
Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,
Which had no less prov'd certain unforeknown.
So without least impulse or shadow' of fate,
Or ought by me immutably foreseen,
They trefpafs, authors to themselves in all

115

120

Both what they judge and what they choose; for fo
I form'd them free, and free they must remain,
Till they inthrall themselves; I elfe muft change 125
Their nature, and revoke the high decree
Unchangeable, eternal, which ordain'd

Their freedom, they themselves ordain'd their fall.
The first fort by their own fuggeftion fell,

Self-tempted, felf-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'd 130
By th' other first: Man therefore shall find grace,
The other none: in mercy' and justice both,
Through Heav'n and Earth, so shall my glory' excel,
But mercy first and laft shall brightest shine.
Thus while God fpake, ambrofial fragrance fill'd
All Heav'n, and in the blessed Spi'rits elect
Senfe of new joy ineffable diffus'd:
Beyond compare the Son of God was feen
Most glorious; in him all his Father fhone
Substantially exprefs'd; and in his face
Divine compaffion visibly appear'd,

Love without end, and without measure grace,

140

985

To her original darkness and your sway
(Which is my present journey) and once more
Erect the standard there of ancient Night;
Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge.
Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old,
With faltring fpeech and vifage incompos'd,
Answer'd. I know thee, ftranger, who thou art, 990
That mighty leading Angel, who of late

Made head against Heav'n's king, though overthrown.
I faw and heard, for fuch a numerous hoft

Fled not in filence through the frighted deep
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

Confufion worse confounded; and Heav'n gates
Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands
Pursuing. upon my frontiers here

Keep refidence; if all I can will ferve
That little which is left fo to defend,

995

1000

Encroach'd on ftill through your inteftin broils Weakning the scepter of old Night: first Hell Your dungeon ftretching far and wide beneath; Now lately Heav'n and Earth, another world, Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain To that fide Heav'n from whence your legions fell: If that be have not far; walk, you way your So much the nearer danger; go and speed;

Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.

He ceas'd; and Satan stay'd not to reply,
But glad that now his fea fhould find a fhore,
With fresh alacrity and force renew'd
Springs upward like a pyramid of fire

1005

1010

Into

τους

1020

Into the wild expanfe, and through the shock
Of fighting elements, on all fides round
Environ'd wins his way; harder befet
And more indanger'd, than when Argo pass'd
Through Bosporus betwixt the juftling rocks:
Or when Ulyffes on the larbord shunn'd
Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool fteer'd.
So he with difficulty and labor hard
Mov'd on, with difficulty and labor he;
But he once paft, foon after when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain
Following his track, fuch was the will of Heaven,
Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way
Over the dark abyfs, whose boiling gulf
Tamely indur'd a bridge of wondrous length
From Hell continued reaching th' utmost orb
Of this frail world; by which the Spirits perverfe 1030
With easy intercourfe pafs to and fro

To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
God and good Angels guard by special grace.
But now at laft the facred influence

Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven
Shoots far into the bofom of dim Night
A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins
Her fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire
As from her outmoft works a broken foe
With tumult lefs and with lefs hoftile din,
That Satan with lefs toil, and now with ease
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light,
And like a weather-beaten vessel holds

F 3

1040

Gladly

Gladly the port, though fhrouds and tackle torn;
Or in the emptier waite, refembling air,
Weighs his fpread wings, at leifure to behold
Far off th' empyreal Heav'n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermin'd fquare or round,
With opal tow'rs and battlements adorned
Of living faphir, once his native feat;
And faft by hanging in a golden chain
This pendent worid, in bignefs as a star
Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a curfed hour he hies.

1045

1050

1055

THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK.

THE

THE

THIRD BOOK

OF

PARADISE

LOST.