Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/399

Shall change their course to pleasure, ease, and sloth,
Surfeit and lust, till wantonness and pride
Raise out of friendship hostile deeds in peace.
The conquered also and enslaved by war
Shall, with their freedom lost, all virtue lose
And fear of God, from whom their piety feigned
In sharp contest of battle found no aid800
Against invaders; therefore, cooled in zeal,
Thenceforth shall practise how to live secure,
Worldly or dissolute, on what their lords
Shall leave them to enjoy; for the earth shall bear
More than enough, that temperance may be tried.
So all shall turn degenerate, all depraved,
Justice and temperance, truth and faith forgot;
One man except, the only sun of light
In a dark age, against example good,
Against allurement, custom, and a world810
Offended; fearless of reproach and scorn,
Or violence, he of their wicked ways
Shall them admonish, and before them set
The paths of righteousness, how much more safe,
And full of peace, denouncing wrath to come
On their impenitence; and shall return
Of them derided, but of God observed
The one just man alive: by his command
Shall build a wondrous ark, as thou beheldest,
To save himself and household, from amidst820