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Of Demogorgon; Rumor next and Chance,

And Tumult and Confufion all imbroil'd,

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And Difcord with a thousand various mouths.

To whom Satan turning boldly, thus. Ye Powers And Spirits of this nethermost Abyss,

Chaos and ancient Night, I come no Spy,

With purpose to explore or to disturb

The Secrets of your Realm; but by constraint

Wandring this darkfom Defart, as my way,

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Lies through your spacious Empire up to light,

Alone, and without guide, half loft, I seek

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What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds

Confine with Heav'n; Or if some other place,

From your Dominion won, th' Ethereal King
Poffeffes lately, thither to arrive

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I travel this Profound, Direct my course;
Directed no mean recompence it brings
To your behoof, if I that Region loft,
All ufurpation thence expell'd, reduce
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 fault'ring fpeech and vifage incompos'd,

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Anfwerd. I know thee, Stranger, who thou art, 998 That mighty leading Angel, who of late

Made head against Heav'ns King, though overthrown.

I faw and heard: for fuch a numerous Hoft

Fled not in filence through the frighted Deep

Confufion worse confounded; and Heav'n Gates

With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

Pour'd out by millions her victorious Bands

Purfuing. Iupon my Frontiers here

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Keep refidence; if all I can will ferve

That little which is left fo to defend,

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Encroacht on still through our intestine broiles.
Weakning the Sceptre of old Night: firft 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 way be your Walk, you have not far;
So much the nearer danger; go and speed;
Havock and spoil and ruin are my gain.

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IOIS

He ceas'd; and Satan ftaid not to reply, But glad that now his Sea fhould find a Shore, With fresh alacrity and force renew'd Springs upward like a Pyramid of firë Into the wild expanfe, and through the shock Of fighting Elements, on all fides round Environ'd, wins his way; harder befet And more endanger'd, than when Argo pafs'd Through Bosphorus betwixt the justling Rocks : Or when Ulyffes on the Larbord fhunn' d Charybdis; and by th' other whirlpool steer'd. So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov'd on; with difficulty and labour he; But he once paft, foon after when man fell, (Strange alteration!) Sin and Death amain Following his track, fuch was the will of Heav'n, rozs Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way Over the dark Abyss, whose boiling Gulf Tamely endur'd a Bridge of wond'rous length From Hell continu'd reaching th' utmost Orbe

Of this frail World; by which the Spirits perverfe

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With eafie intercourse pass too and fro

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To tempt or punish mortals, except whom

God and good Angels guard by special grace.

But now at last the facred influence

Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav'n
Shoots far into the bofom of dim Night

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A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins

Her

Her fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire
As from her out moft 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 veffel holds

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Gladly the Port, though fhrouds and tackle torn;
Or in the emptier wäfte, resembling Air,
Weighs his spread wings, at leifure to behold
Far off th' Empyreal Heav'n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermin'd square or round.
With Opal Tow'rs and Battlements adorn'd
Of living Saphire, once his native Seat;
And faft by hanging in a golden Chain
This pendant world, in bigness as a Star
Of smallest Magnitude, close by the Moon.
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accurft, and in a curfed hour he hies.

The End of the Second Book:

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PARADISE LOST.

воок III.

The ARGUMENT.

God fitting on his Throne fees Satan flying towards this World,then newly created; fhews him to the Son who fat at his right hand; foretells the fuccefs of Satan in perverting Mankind; clears his own Juftice and Wifdom from all imputation, having created Man Free,and able enough to have withstood his Tempter; yet declares his purpose of Grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own Malice, as did Satan, but by him feduc'd. The Son of God renders praises to bis Father for the manifeftation of his gracious purpose towards Man; but God again declares, that Grace cannot be extended towards Man without the Satisfaction of divine Justice; Man hath offended the majesty of God by afpiring to Godhead, and therefore

with

with all his Progeny devoted to death must die, unless Jome one can be found fufficient to answer for his offence, and undergo his Punishment. The Son of God freely offers himfelf à Ranfome for Man: the Father accepts him, ordains his Incarnation, pronounces his Exaltation above all Names in Heaven and Earth; commands all the An.. gels to adore him; they obey, and hymning to their Harps in full Choir, celebrate the Father and the Son. Mean while Satan alights upon the bare Convex of this World's outermoft Orb; where wandring he first finds a place, fince call'd the Limbo of Vanity; what persons and things fly up thither ; thence comes to the Gate of Heaven,defcrib'd afcending by ftairs, and the waters above the Firmament that flow about it: His paffage thence to the Orb of the Sun; he finds there Uriel the Regent of that Orb, but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner Angel; and pretending a zealous defire to behold the new Creation, and Man whom God hath plac'd here, enquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed; alights firft on Mount Niphates.

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