Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/186

180 Not merely titular, since by decree Another now hath to himself engrossed All power, and us eclipsed, under the name Of King, anointed; for whom all this haste Of midnight-march, and hurried meeting here, This only to consult how we may best, With what may be devised of honors new, Receive him, coming to receive from us Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile, Too much to one, but double how endured To one and to his image now proclaimed? But what if better counsels might erect Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke! Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend The supple knee?—ye will not, if I trust To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves, Natives and sons of Heaven, possessed before By none; and if not equal all, yet free, Equally free; for orders and degrees Jar not with liberty, but well consist. Who can in reason then, or right, assume Monarchy over such as live by right His equals, if in power and splendor less, In freedom equal? or can introduce Law and edict on us, who without law Err not? much less for this to be our Lord, And look for adoration, to the abuse Of those imperial titles, which assert