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

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,650
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 join660
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 pushed670
Oblique the centric globe: some say, the sun