Let none admire

That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best

Deserve the precious bane.

Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer

Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,

Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first

Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread

Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss

And mad'st it pregnant: What is in me dark

Illumine, what is low raise and support;

That to the heighth of this great Argument

I may assert Eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men.

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?

Th' infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile,

Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived

The mother of mankind, what time his pride

Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host

Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring

To set himself in glory above his peers,

He trusted to have equalled the Most High,

If he opposed, and with ambitious aim

Against the throne and monarchy of God,

Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,

With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power

Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,

With hideous ruin and combustion, down

To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

In adamantine chains and penal fire,

Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light;

Besides what hope the never-ending flight

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change

Worth waiting--since our present lot appears

For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,

If we procure not to ourselves more woe.

Men only disagree

Of Creatures rational, though under hope

Of heavenly Grace; and God proclaiming peace,

Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife

Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,

Wasting the Earth, each other to destroy:

As if (which might induce us to accord)

Man had not hellish foes enough besides,

That day and night for his destruction wait.

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,

As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames

No light; but rather darkness visible

Served only to discover sights of woe,

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

That comes to all, but torture without end

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.

Such place Eternal Justice has prepared

For those rebellious; here their prison ordained

In utter darkness, and their portion set,

As far removed from God and light of Heaven

As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.

I will place within them as a guide

My umpire Conscience, whom if they will hear,

Light after light well us'd they shall attain,

And to the end persisting, safe arrive.

Heav'nly love shall outdo Hellish hate.

So little knows

Any, but God alone, but perverts best things

To worst abuse, or to their meanest use.

Man hath his daily work of body or mind

Appointed, which declares his dignity,

And the regard of Heav'n on all his ways;

While other animals unactive range,

And of their doings God takes no account.

Knowledge forbidden?

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord

Envy them that? Can it be sin to know,

Can it be death? And do they only stand

By ignorance? Is that their happy state,

The proof of their obedience and their faith?

O fair foundation laid whereon to build

Their ruin!

That thou art happy, owe to God;

That thou continu'st such, owe to thy self,

That is, to thy obedience; therein stand.

These are thy glorious works Parent of Good,

Almighty, thine this universal Frame,

Thus wondrous fair; thy self how wondrous then!

Unspeakable, who sitst above these Heavens

To us invisible or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works, yet these declare

Thy goodness beyond thought, and Power Divine:

Speak ye who best can tell, ye Sons of light,

Angels, for ye behold him, and with songs

And choral symphonies, Day without Night,

Circle his Throne rejoicing, ye in Heav'n,

On Earth join all ye Creatures to extoll

Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.

And some are fall'n, to disobedience fall'n,

And so from Heav'n to deepest Hell; O fall

From what high state of bliss into what woe!

Hail universal Lord, be bounteous still

To give us only good; and if the night

Have gathered aught of evil or concealed,

Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark.

Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

Invisible, except to God alone.

Capricious, wanton, bold, and brutal Lust

Is meanly selfish; when resisted, cruel;

And, like the blast of Pestilential Winds,

Taints the sweet bloom of Nature's fairest forms.

And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been lost, adjudged to death and hell
By doom severe.

JOHN MILTON, Paradise Lost

For evil news rides post, while good news baits.

JOHN MILTON, Samson Agonistes

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