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At his command the uprooted hills retired
Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went
Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renew'd,
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, harden'd more by what might most reclaim,
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight
Took envy; and, aspiring to his height,
Stood reembattled fierce, by force or fraud
Weening to prosper, and at length prevail
Against God and Messiah, or to fall

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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 arm'd; 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 ordain'd,
Nor multitude; stand only, and behold
God's indignation on these godless pour'd
By me; not you, but me they have despised,

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Yet envied; against me is all their rage,

Because the Father, to whom in Heaven supreme

Kingdom and power and glory appertains,

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Hath honour'd me, according to his will.

Therefore to me their doom he hath assign'd;

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
Not emulous, nor care who them excels;
Nor other strife with them do I vouchsafe.
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 roll'd, 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 infix'd

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Plagues they, astonish'd, all resistance lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropp'd:

O'er shields and helms and helmed heads he rode 840

Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,

That wish'd 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;

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One Spirit in them ruled; and every eye
Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
Among the accursed, that wither'd all their strength,
And of their wonted vigour left them drain'd,

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Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen.

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but check'd

His thunder in mid volley; for he meant

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven:

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The overthrown he raised; and, as a herd

Of goats or timorous flock together throng'd,
Drove them before him thunderstruck, pursued
With terrors, and with furies, to the bounds

And crystal wall of Heaven: which, opening wide, 860
Roll'd inward, and a spacious gap disclosed
Into the wasteful deep: the monstrous sight
Struck them with horror backward, but far worse
Urged them behind: headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of Heaven; eternal wrath 865
Burn'd 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.
Nine days they fell: confounded Chaos roar'd,
And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

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Through his wild anarchy, so huge a rout

Encumber'd him with ruin: Hell at last

Yawning received them whole, and on them closed; Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire

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Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.
Disburden'd Heaven rejoiced, and soon repair'd
Her mural breach, returning whence it roll'd.
Sole victor, from the expulsion of his foes,

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Messiah his triumphal chariot turn'd:

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 885
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,

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Where now he sits at the right hand of bliss. [Earth, Thus, measuring things in Heaven by things on At thy request, and that thou mayst beware

By what is pass'd, to thee I have reveal'd
What might have else to human race been hid;
The discord which befel, and war in Heaven
Among the angelic Powers, and the deep fall
Of those too high aspiring, who rebell'd
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 mayst partake
His punishment, eternal misery ;

Which would be all his solace and revenge,
As a despite done against the Host High,
Thee once to gain companion of his woe.
But listen not to his temptations, warn

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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.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK VII.

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.

DESCEND from Heaven, Urania, by that name
If rightly thou art call'd, whose voice divine
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar,
Above the flight of Pegaséan 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 appear'd or fountain flow'd,
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:

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Lest from this flying steed unrein'd (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 wrapp'd above the pole,

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