Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/8

2 on, he refers to a full council. What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the Deep; the infernal Peers there sit in council.

Man's first disobedience and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste, Brought death into the World and all our 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 the more, and Siloa's brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rime.
 * And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer

Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou knowest; thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dovelike satest brooding on the vast Abyss, And madest it pregnant. What in me is dark