Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/394

Assemble, and harangues are heard; but soon
In factious opposition; till at last,
Of middle-age one rising, eminent
In wise deport, spake much of right and wrong,
Of justice, of religion, truth, and peace,
And judgement from above. Him old and young
Exploded, and had seized with violent hands,
Had not a cloud descending snatched him thence,670
Unseen amid the throng. So violence
Proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law,
Through all the plain, and refuge none was found.
Adam was all in tears, and to his guide
Lamenting turned full sad:—"Oh, what are these?
Death's ministers, not men, who thus deal death
Inhumanly to men, and multiply
Ten-thousandfold the sin of him who slew
His brother; for of whom such massacre
Make they but of their brethren, men of men?680
But who was that just man, whom had not Heaven
Rescued, had in his righteousness been lost?"
To whom thus Michael:—"These are the product
Of those ill-mated marriages thou sawest,
Where good with bad were matched, who of themselves
Abhor to join, and, by imprudence mixed,
Produce prodigious births of body or mind.
Such were these Giants, men of high renown;