2l8
��PARADISE LOST
��And season him thy last and sweetest
prey." This said, they both betook them several
ways, 610
Both to destroy, or uuimmortal make All kinds, and for destruction to mature Sooner or later; which the Almighty see- ing, From his transcendent Seat the Saints
among, To those bright Orders uttered thus his
voice: " See with what heat these dogs of Hell
advance
To waste and havoc yonder World, which I So fair and good created, and had still Kept in that state, had not the folly of
Man 619
Let in these wasteful furies, who impute Folly to me (so doth the Prince of Hell And his adherents), that with so much
ease
I suffer them to enter and possess A place so heavenly, and, conniving, seem To gratify my scornful enemies, That laugh, as if, transported with some
fit
Of passion, I to them had quitted all, At random yielded up to their misrule; And know not that I called and drew them
thither, My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and
filth 630
Which Man's polluting sin with taint hath
shed On what was pure; till, crammed and
gorged, nigh burst With sucked and glutted offal, at one
sling
Of thy victorious arm, well-pleasing Son, Both Sin and Death, and yawning Grave,
at last Through Chaos hurled, obstruct the mouth
of Hell
For ever, and seal up his ravenous jaws. Then Heaven and Earth, renewed, shall be
made pure
To sanctity that shall receive no stain: Till then the curse pronounced on both
precedes." 6 4 o
He ended, and the Heavenly Audience
loud
Sung Halleluiah, as the sound of seas, Through multitude that sung: "Just are
thy ways,
��thy decrees on all thy Next, to the
��Righteous are
works; Who can extenuate thee ?
Son,
Destined restorer of Mankind, by whom New Heaven and Earth shall to the ages
rise, Or down from Heaven descend." Such
was their song,
While the Creator, calling forth by name His mighty Angels, gave them several
charge, 650
As sorted best with present things. The
Sun
Had first his precept so to move, so shine, As might affect the Earth with cold and
heat Scarce tolerable, and from the north to
call
Decrepit winter, from the south to bring Solstitial summer's heat. To the blanc
Moon Her office they prescribed; to the other
five
Their planetary motions and aspects,' In sextile, square, and trine, and opposite, Of noxious efficacy, and when to join 660 In synod unbenign; and taught the fixed Their influence malignant when to shower Which of them, rising with the Sun or fall- ing, Should prove tempestuous To the winds
they set
Their corners, when with bluster to con- found Sea, air, and shore; the thunder when to
roll
With terror through the dark aerial hall. Some say he bid his Angels turn askance The poles of Earth twice ten degrees and
more From the Sun's axle; they with labour
pushed 670
Oblique the centric Globe: some say the
Sun Was bid turn reins from the equinoctial
road Like distant breadth to Taurus with the
seven
Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan Twins, Up to the Tropic Crab; thence down amaiu By Leo, and the Virgin, and the Scales, As deep as Capricorn; to bring in change Of seasons to each clime. Else had the
spring
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