Page:Paradise Lost (1667).djvu/26

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Book 1.
Paradise lost.
Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursuesThings unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost preferBefore all Temples th' upright heart and pure,Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the firstWast present, and with mighty wings outspread 20Dove-like satst brooding on the vast AbyssAnd mad'st it pregnant: What in me is darkIllumine, what is low raise and support;That to the highth of this great ArgumentI may assert th' Eternal Providence,And justifie the wayes of God to men. Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy viewNor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what causeMov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State,Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off 30From their Creator, and transgress his WillFor one restraint, Lords of the World besides?Who first seduc'd them to that fowl revolt?Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guileStird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'dThe Mother of Mankinde, what time his PrideHad cast him out from Heav'n, with all his HostOf Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiringTo set himself in Glory above his Peers,He trusted to have equal'd the most High, 40If he oppos'd, and with ambitious aimAgainst the Throne and Monarchy of GodRais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proudWith vain attempt. Him the Almighty PowerHurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal SkieWith hideous ruine and combustion down

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