Poetical Works Author:John Milton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PARADISE LOST. BOOK I. OF Man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all ou... more »r woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning, how the Heavens and Earth Rose out of Chaos : Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Silea's brook that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God ; I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss. And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine; what is low, raise and support; That to the highth of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to Men. Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from thy view. Nor the deep tract of Hell; say first, what cause Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state, Favour'd of Heaven so highly, to fall off From their Creator, and transgress his will For one restraint, lords of the world besides ? Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt ? The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile, Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd 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 equ...« less