Woe to th' inhabitants on earth! that now,
While time was, our first Parents had been warn'd The coming of their secret Foe, and 'scap'd, Haply fo 'fcap'd his mortal snare: for now Satan, now first inflam'd with rage, came down, The tempter ere th' accufer of Mankind, To wreck on innocent frail Man his lofs Of that first battel, and his flight to Hell: Yet not rejoicing in his speed, though bold Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast, Begins his dire attempt, which nigh the birth Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast, And like a devi’lish engin back recoils Upon himself; horror and doubt distract
His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir The hell within him; for within him hell He brings, and round about him, nor from hell One step no more than from himself can fly By change of place: now Confcience wakes Despair That flumber'd, wakes the bitter memory
Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worfe; of worse deeds worse sufferings must enfue. Sometimes tow'ards Eden, which now in his view Lay pleasant, his griev'd look he fixes fad; Sometimes towards Heav'n and the full-blazing fun, Which now fat high in his meridian tow'r : Then much revolving, thus in fighs began.
Look'ft from thy sole dominion like the God Of this new world; at whose fight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads; to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;
Till pride and worse ambition threw me down 40 Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless King: Ah wherefore! he deferv'd no fuch return From me, whom he created what I was In that bright eminence, and with his good Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. What could be less than to afford him praise, The easiest recompenfe, and pay him thanks, How due! yet all his good prov'd ill in me, And wrought but malice; lifted up fo high
I fdeind subjection, and thought one step higher 50 Would fet me hig'heft, and in a moment quit The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burdenfome still paying, still to owe, Forgetful what from him I still 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 ? Q had his powerful destiny ordain'd Me fome inferior angel, I had stood
Then happy; no unbounded hope had rais'd
Ambition. Yet why not? fome other power
As great might have aspir'd, and me though mean Drawn to his part; but other powers as great Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within Or from without, to all temptations arm'd. Hadft thou the fame free will and power to stand? Thou hadft: whom haft thou then or what t' accuse, 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.
Nay curs'd be thou: since against his thy will Chose freely what it now so justly 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 threat'ning to devour me opens wide, To which the hell I fuffer feems 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 fpi'rits beneath, whom I feduc'd With other promises and other vaunts Than to fubmit, boasting I could subdue 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 fay I could repent, and could obtain
By act of grace my former ftate; how soon
Would highth recal high thoughts, how foon unsay What feign'd submission swore? ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void : For never can true reconcilement grow
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 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 Remorfe: 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 fhall know.
Thus while he spake, each paffion dimm'd his face Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and despair; Which marr'd his borrow'd vifage, and betray'd 116
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.
For heav'nly 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 practis'd falfhood under faintly show, Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge: Yet not enough had practis'd to deceive Uriel once warn'd; whose eye pursued him down The way he went, and on th’Affyrian mount Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befal Spirit of happy fort: his gestures fierce
He mark'd and mad demeanour, then alone, As he fuppos'd, all unobferv'd, unfeen.
So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,
Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the champain head
Of a steep wilderness, whofe hairy fides With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild, Access deny'd; and over head up grew Infuperable highth of loftiest shade, Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, A fylvan fcene, and as the ranks afcend Shade above fhade, a woody theatre Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops The verd'rous wall of Paradise up fprung: Which to our general Sire gave prospect large
« AnteriorContinua » |