REDEMPTION. 79
Make treach'rous way within the fated lines ;
So now, averted from direct assault,
Satan, oblique essays to spring his mines
With sly surreption, and attain his aim,
That else, sore press'd, seein'd e'er to mock him, foil'd.
With such intent, choice spirits, not inept,
Who jacent all the while reposed, he soon
Deploy'd, and sent, with zeal icarean
Inclined, on various messages of ill.
Some ruled the winds, and ready stood to sweep
Impetuous down amain, with fury arm'd,
To pour o'er land and sea; some, pestilence,
And noxious vapors breath'd, exhaling death;
Those hurl'd the forked light' ning through the air,
Or deluged earth with rain, or blew the clouds
Afar and parch'd with heat the fertile ground;
These kindled subterranean fires, and heaved
Tumultuous, with fearful sounds, the plains.
But, in abeyance, all their powers he held,
And kept astrict until, his plans disposed,
He gave their baleful forces scope. Meanwhile,
With steady bent, he plies the Virgin's kin ;
In dreams by night misleads their vagrant thoughts,
By day inflames their hopes with vaulting schemes,
And vain ambition's incohative fires.
Deem not the project trivial, or beneath.
His care ; for, so the Tempter tempted Eve
Eat, and become as gods, know good and ill;
So after, tempted he the Son of God
The kingdoms of the earth to thee I'll give,
If thou wilt bend the knee and me adore ;
And every heart of man, he thus inflames,
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