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��PARADISE LOST
��The Apostat in his sun-bright chariot sat, Idol of majesty divine, enclosed 101
With flaming Cherubim and golden shields; Then lighted from his gorgeous Throne
for now 'Twixt host and host but narrow space was
left,
A dreadful interval, and front to front Presented stood, in terrible array Of hideous length. Before the cloudy van, On the rough edge of battle ere it joined, Satan, with vast and haughty strides ad- vanced,
Came towering, armed in adamant and
gold. no
Abdiel that sight endured not, where he
stood Among the mightiest, bent on highest
deeds,
And thus his own undaunted heart ex- plores: " ' O Heaven ! that such resemblance of
the Highest
Should yet remain, where faith and realty Remain not ! Wherefore should not
strength and might There fail where virtue fails, or weakest
prove
Where boldest, though to sight unconquer- able ?
His puissance, trusting in the Almighty's aid, 1 19
I mean to try, whose reason I have tried Unsound and false; nor is it aught but just That he who in debate of truth hath won Should win in arms, in both disputes alike Victor. Though brutish that contest' and
foul, When reason hath to deal with force, yet
so
Most reason is that reason overcome.' " So pondering, and from his armed
peers
Forth-stepping opposite, half-way he met His daring foe, at this prevention more Incensed, and thus securely him defied: " ' Proud, art thou met ? Thy hope was to have reached 131
The highth of thy aspiring unopposed The Throne of God unguarded, and his
side
Abandoned at the terror of thy power Or potent tongue. Fool ! not to think how
vain Against the Omnipotent to rise in arms;
��Who, out of smallest things, could without
end
Have raised incessant armies to defeat Thy folly; or with solitary hand, Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow, 140 Unaided could have finished thee, and
whelmed Thy legions under darkness ! But thou
seest All are not of thy train; there be who
faith
Prefer, and piety to God, though then To thee not visible when I alone Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent From all: my Sect thou seest; now learn
too late
How few sometimes may know when thou- sands err.' " Whom the grand Foe, with scornful
eye askance, Thus answered : '111 for thee, but in
wished hour 130
Of my revenge, first sought for, thou re-
turn'st
From flight, seditious Angel, to receive Thy merited reward, the first assay Of this right hand provoked, since first that
tongue,
Inspired with contradiction, durst oppose A third part of the Gods, in synod met Their deities to assert: who, while they feel Vigour divine within them, can allow Omnipotence to none. But well thou
com'st
Before thy fellows, ambitious to win 160 From me some plume, that thy success may
show
Destruction to the rest. This pause be- tween (Unanswered lest thou boast) to let thee
know.
At first I thought that Liberty and Heaven To heavenly souls had been all one; but
now I see that most through sloth had rather
serve, Ministering Spirits, trained up in feast and
song: Such hast thou armed, the minstrelsy of
heaven
Servility with freedom to contend, As both their deeds compared this day
shall prove.' 170
" To whom, in brief, thus Abdiel stern
replied :
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