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 dev'lish engine, back recoils
Upon himself: horror and doubt distract

15

20

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 Conscience wakes Despair
That slumber d, wakes the bitter memory

25

Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worse; of worse deeds worse suff'rings must ensue.
Sometimes tow'rds Eden, which now in his view
Lay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad;

30

Sometimes tow'rds Heav'n and the full-blazing Sun,
Which now sat high in his meridian tow'r:
Then much revolving, thus in sighs began:

35

40

O thou that with surpassing glory crown'd, Look'st from thy sole dominion like the God Of this new world; at whose sight 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 Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless King: Ah wherefore! he deserved no such 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 recompense, and pay him thanks, How due! yet all his good proved ill in me, And wrought but malice; lifted up so high, I sdeign'd subjection, and thought one step higher Would set me high'st, and in a moment quit The debt immense of endless gratitude,

45

51

24. Memory is here used in the sense of reflection or conside. ration.

32. Milton first thought of writing a tragedy on the Loss of Paradise, and the first ten lines of this speech formed its opening. 50. Sdeign'd, for disdain'd, from the Italian, sdegnare.

So burdensome still paying, still to owe,
Forgetful what frem Him I still received,
And understood not that a grateful mind
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
Indebted and discharged: what burden then?
O had his pow'rful destiny ordain'd
Me some inferior Angel, I had stood

Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised
Ambition. Yet, why not? some other Pow'r,

53

60

As great might have aspired, and me, though mean,
Drawn to his part; but other Pow'rs as great
Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within
Or from without, to all temptations arm'd.

65

Hadst thou the same free will and pow'r to stand?

Thou hadst. Whom hast thou then or what t' accuse, But Heav'n's free love dealt equally to all?

Be then his love accursed, since love or hate,

To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

TO

Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy will
Chose freely what it now so justly rues.

Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?

Which way
And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threat'ning to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav'n
O then at last relent. Is there no place
Left for repentance, none for pardon left?
None left but by submission; and that word
DISDAIN forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced
With other promises and other vaunts
Than to submit, 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,

I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;

75

80

85

While they adore me on the throne of Hell!

With diadem and sceptre high advanced,
The lower still I fall, only supreme

In misery! such joy ambition finds.

But say I could repent, and could obtain

55. Understood not, to be connected with the preceding verts.

94

By act of grace my former state, how soon
Would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay
What feign'd submission swore! ease would recant
Vows made in pain, as violent and void;
For never can true reconcilement grow

100

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse,
And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear
Short intermission bought with double smart.
This knows my Punisher: therefore, as far
From granting he, as I from begging peace.
All hope excluded thus, behold, instead
of us outcast, exiled, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this world.
So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,
Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost:
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 shall know.

105

110

Thus while he spake, each passion dimm'd his face;
Thrice changed with pale, ire, envy, and despair; 115
Which marr'd his borrow'd visage, and betray'd
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.

For heav'nly minds from such distempers foul
Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware,

Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm, 120
Artificer of fraud; and was the first

That practised falsehood under saintly show,

Deep malice to conceal, couch'd with revenge:

Yet not enough had practised to deceive

Uriel once warn'd; whose eye pursued him down 125
The way he went, and on th' Assyrian mount
Saw him disfigured more than could befall
Spirit of happy sort; his gestures fierce

He mark'd and mad demeanour, then alone,
As he supposed, all unobserved, unseen.
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 champaign head
Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,

130

185

Well pleased they slack their course, and many a
Cheer'd with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles:
So entertain'd those odorous sweets the Fiend
Who came their bane, though with them better pleased
Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume

That drove him, though enamour'd, from the spouse

151. The description which Milton has given of Paradise is similar to those of Homer, Spenser, and Tasso, in their accounts of the gardens in which the scene of their poems sometimes lies. To these may be added Ariosto's and Marino's, it being generally allowed, that though Milton's is superior to any other, that the Italian come nearest in beauty and perfection.

158. An imitation is here observed of Shakspeare in the Twelfth Night, or of Ariosto, Orlan. Fur. 6. 34. st. 51.

162. Mozambique is an island on the eastern coast of Africa. As the north-east wind blows contrary to those who have doubled the Cape, they are nence obliged to slack their course.-Sabean from Saba, a city and province of Arabia Felix