第13章 12
Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Vertues, Powers, [ 460 ]
For in possession such, not onely of right,
I call ye and declare ye now, returnd
Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth
Triumphant out of this infernal Pit
Abominable, accurst, the house of woe, [ 465 ]
And Dungeon of our Tyrant: Now possess,
As Lords, a spacious World, to our native Heaven
Little inferiour, by my adventure hard
With peril great atchievd. Long were to tell
What I have don, what sufferd, with what paine [ 470 ]
Voyagd th unreal, vast, unbounded deep
Of horrible confusion, over which
By Sin and Death a broad way now is pavd
To expedite your glorious march; but I
Toild out my uncouth passage, forct to ride [ 475 ]
Th untractable Abysse, plungd in the womb
Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wilde,
That jealous of thir secrets fiercely opposd
My journey strange, with clamorous uproare
Protesting Fate supreame; thence how I found [ 480 ]
The new created World, which fame in Heavn
Long had foretold, a Fabrick wonderful
Of absolute perfection, therein Man
Plact in a Paradise, by our exile
Made happie: Him by fraud I have seducd [ 485 ]
From his Creator, and the more to increase
Your wonder, with an Apple; he thereat
Offended, worth your laughter, hath givn up
Both his beloved Man and all his World,
To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us, [ 490 ]
Without our hazard, labour, or allarme,
To range in, and to dwell, and over Man
To rule, as over all he should have ruld.
True is, mee also he hath judgd, or rather
Mee not, but the brute Serpent in whose shape [ 495 ]
Man I deceavd: that which to mee belongs,
Is enmity, which he will put between
Mee and Mankinde; I am to bruise his heel;
His Seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head:
A World who would not purchase with a bruise, [ 500 ]
Or much more grievous pain? Ye have th account
Of my performance: What remains, ye Gods,
But up and enter now into full bliss.