Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/351

Rh Who can extenuate thee? Next, to the Son, Destined restorer of mankind, by whom New heaven and earth shall to the ages rise, Or down from Heaven descend."—Such was their song; While the Creator, calling forth by name His mighty Angels, gave them several charge, As sorted best with present things. The sun Had first his precept so to move, so shine, As might affect the earth with cold and heat Scarce tolerable, and from the north to call Decrepit winter, from the south to bring Solstitial summer's heat; to the blanc moon Her office they prescribed; to the other five Their planetary motions and aspects, In sextile, square, and trine, and opposite Of noxious efficacy, and when to join In synod unbenign; and taught the fixed Their influence malignant when to shower, Which of them, rising with the sun or falling, Should prove tempestuous: to the winds they set Their corners, when with bluster to confound Sea, air, and shore; the thunder when to roll With terror through the dark aërial hall. Some say, he bid his Angels turn askance The poles of earth twice ten degrees and more From the sun's axle; they with labor pushed Oblique the centric globe: some say, the sun