Page:Paradise Lost (1667).djvu/66

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None ſhall partake with me. Thus ſaying roſe
The Monarch, and prevented all reply,
Prudent, leaſt from his reſolution rais’d
Others among the chief might offer now,
470(Certain to be refus’d) what erſt they feard;
And ſo refus’d might in opinion ſtand
His rivals, winning cheap the high repute
Which he through hazard huge muſt earn. But they
Dreaded not more th’ adventure then his voice
Forbidding; and at once with him they roſe;
Thir riſing all at once was as the ſound
Of Thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend
With awful reverence prone; and as a God
Extoll him equal to the higheſt in Heav’n:
480Nor fail’d they to expreſs how much they prais’d,
That for the general ſafety he deſpis’d
His own: for neither do the Spirits damn’d
Looſe all thir vertue; leaſt bad men ſhould boaſt
Thir ſpecious deeds on earth, which glory excites,
Or cloſe ambition varniſht o’re with zeal.
Thus they thir doubtful conſultations dark
Ended rejoycing in thir matchleſs Chief:
As when from mountain tops the dusky clouds
Aſcending, while the North wind ſleeps, o’erſpread
490Heav’ns chearful face, the lowring Element
Scowls ore the dark’nd lantskip Snow, or ſhowre;
If chance the radiant Sun with farewell ſweet
Extend his ev’ning beam, the fields revive,
The birds thir notes renew, and bleating herds
Atteſt thir joy, that hill and valley rings.
O ſhame to men! Devil with Devil damn’d
Firm concord holds, men onely diſagree