Millions that stand in arms, and, longing, wait
The signal to ascend, sit ling'ring here
Heav'n's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place
Accept this dark opprobious den of shame,
5 The prison of his tyranny who reigns
By our delay? No, let us rather choose,
Arm'd with Hell-flames and fury, all at once,
O'er Heav'n's high tow'rs to force resistless way,
Turning our tortures into horrid arms,

10 Against the Torturer; when to meet the noise
Of his almighty engine he shall hear
Infernal thunder, and for lightning, see
Black fire and horror shot with equal rage
Among his Angels, and his throne itself,
15 Mix'd with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire,
His own invented torments. (。) But perhaps
The way seems difficult and steep, to scale
With upright wing against a higher fóe.
Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench
20 Of that forgetful lake benumb not still,
That in our proper motion we ascend
Up to our native seat: descent and fall
To us is adverse. Who but felt of late,
When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear,
25 Insulting, and pursued us through the deep,
With what compulsion and laborious flight
We sunk thus low? Th' ascent is easy then;
Th' event is fear'd; should we again provoke
Our stronger, some worse way his wrath
30 To our destruction, if there be in Hell

may

find

Fear to be worse destroy'd: what can be worse

Than to dwell hère, driv'n out from bliss, condemn'd

In this abhorred deep to utter woe:
Where pain of unextinguishable fire

Must exercise us without hope of end

5 The vassals of his anger, when the scourge.
Inexorable, and the torturing hour,

Calls us to penance? More destroy'd than thus,
We should be quite abolish'd, and expire.

What fear we then? what doubt we to incense
10 His utmost ire? which, to the height enrag'd,
Will either quite consume us, and reduce
To nothing this essential, (happier far
Than miserable, to have eternal being,)
Or, if our substance be indeed divine,
15 And cannot cease to be, we are at worst
On this side nothing; and by proof we feel
Our pow'r sufficient to disturb his Heaven,
And with perpetual inroads to alarm,
Though inaccessible, his fatal throne;
20 Which if not victory, is yet revenge."

13. I should be much for open war, O peers!
As not behind in hate, if what was urg'd,
Main reason to persuade immediate war,
Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast
25 Ominous conjecture on the whole success,—
When he, who most excels in fact of arms,
In what he counsels, and in what excels,
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair,
And utter dissolution, as the scope

30 Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.

First, what revenge? The tow'rs of Heav'n are fill'd
With armed watch, that render all access
Impregnable; oft on the bord'ring deep
Encamp their legions, or, with obscure wing,
5 Scout far and wide into the realm of night,
Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way
By force, and at our heels all hell should rise,
With blackest insurrection, to confound
Heav'n's purest light, yet our great enemy,
10 All incorruptible, would on his throne
Sit unpolluted, and th' ethereal mould,
Incapable of stain, would soon expel
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire,
Victorious. Thus repuls'd, our final hope
15 Is flat despair: we must exasperate

Th' almighty Victor to spend all his rage,
And that must end us, that must be our cure,
To be no more: sad cure; for who would lose,
Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
20 Those thoughts that wander through eternity,
To perish rather, swallow'd up and lost
In the wide womb of uncreated night,
Devoid of sense and motion? and who knows,
Let this be good, whether our angry foe
25 Can give it, or will ever? how he càn
Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.

14.

Aside the Devil turn'd

For envy, yet with jealous leer malign

Milton.

Ey'd them askance, and to himself thus plain'd. 30 “Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two

1

Imparadis'd in one another's arms,

The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
5 (Amongst our other torments not the least,)
Still unfulfill'd, with pain of longing pines.
Yet let me not forget what I have gain'd

From their own mouths: all is not theirs it seems;
One fatal tree there stands, (of knowledge call'd,)
10 Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge forbidden?
Suspicious, reasonless! Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be sín to know?
Can it be death? and do they only stand
By ígnorance? is that their happy state,
15 The proof of their obedience and their faith?
O fair foundation laid whereon to build

Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds,
With more desire to know, and to reject
Envious commands, invented with design

20 To keep them low whom knowledge might exàlt,
Equal with Gods; aspiring to be such,

?

They taste and dìe; what likelier can ensue
But first with narrow search I must walk round
This garden, and no corner leave unspy'd;
25 A chance, but chance, may lead where I may meet
Some wand'ring Spi'rit of Heav'n, by fountain side,
Or in thick shade retir'd, from him to draw

What further would be learn'd. Live while ye may,
Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return,

30 Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed."
So saying, his proud step he scornful turn'd,

But with sly circumspection, and began,

Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his
Milton.

roam.

In the following speech, where an emphatic clause is in Italic, or has the mark of monotone, it requires a firm, full voice, and generally a low note.

15.

Speech of Titus Quinctius to the Romans.

THOUGH I am not conscious, O Romans, of any crime by me committed, it is yet with the utmost shame and confusion that I appear in your assembly. You have seen it-posterity will know it!-in the fourth consul5 ship of Titus Quinctius, the Æqui and Volsci, (scarce a match for the Hernici alone,) came in arms, to the very gātes of Rōme,—(6) and went away unchastised! The course of our manners, indeed, and the state of our affairs, have long been such, that I had no reason to pre10 sage much good; but, could I have imagined that so great an ignominy would have befallen me this year, I would, by banishment or death, (if all other means had failed,) have avoided the station I am now in. (°)What? might Rome then have been taken, if those men who 15 were at our gates had not wanted courage for the attempt?-Rōme taken, whilst I was cónsul?—(。)Of honours I had sufficient-of life enough-more than enough -I should have died in my third consulate.

But who are they that our dastardly enemies thus des20 pise ?--the consuls, or you, Romans? If we are in fault, depòse us, or punish us yet more severely. If you are to blame-may neither gods nor men punish your faults! only may you rèpènt !—Nò, Romans, the confi