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In darkness can thy mighty hand

Or wondrous acts be known?
Thy justice in the gloomy land
Of dark oblivion ?

But I to thee, O Lord, do cry,

Ere yet my life be spent,

And up to thee my pray'r doth hie,
Each morn, and thee prevent.

Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake,
And hide thy face from me,
That am already bruised, and shake
With terror sent from thee?

Bruised and afflicted, and so low
As ready to expire,
While I thy terrors undergo
Astonish'd with thine ire.

Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow,
Thy threat'nings cut me through:
All day they round about me go,
Like waves they me pursue.

Lover and friend thou hast removed,
And sever'd from me far:
They fly me now whom I have loved,
And as in darkness are.

A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV.1

WHEN the blest seed of Terah's faithful son,
After long toil their liberty had won,
And past from Pharian fields to Canaan land,
Led by the strength of the Almighty's hand,
Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown,
His praise and glory was in Israel known.
That saw the troubled sea, and shivering fled,

1 This and the following Psalm are Milton's earliest performances.-WAR

TON. The first he afterwards translated into Greek.

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And sought to hide his froth-becurled head
Low in the earth; Jordan's clear streams recoil,
As a faint host that had received the foil.1
The high, huge-bellied mountains skip like rams
Amongst their ewes, the little hills like lambs.
Why fled the ocean? And why skipt the mountains?
Why turned Jordan toward his crystal fountains ?
Shake, Earth, and at the presence be aghast
Of him that ever was, and aye shall last

That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush,
And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush.

PSALM CXXXVI.

LET us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind,
For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

Let us blaze his name abroad,

For of Gods he is the God:
For his, &c.

O let us his praises tell,

Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell:

For his, &c.

Who with his miracles doth make

Amazed heav'n and earth to shake:
For his, &c.

Who by his wisdom did create

The painted heavens so full of state:

For his, &c.

Who did the solid earth ordain
To rise above the watery plain:
For his, &c.

1 Defeat.

Who by his all-commanding might
Did fill the new-made world with light:
For his, &c.

And caused the golden-tressed sun
All the day long his course to run:
For his, &c.

The hornèd moon to shine by night,
Amongst her spangled sisters bright:
For his, &c.

He with his thunder-clasping hand
Smote the first-born of Egypt land :
For his, &c.

And in despite of Pharaoh fell,
He brought from thence his Israel:
For his, &c.

The ruddy waves he cleft in twain,
Of the Erythræan main : 1

For his, &c.

The floods stood still like walls of glass, While the Hebrew bands did pass:

For his, &c.

But full soon they did devour

The tawny king with all his power:

For his, &c.

His chosen people he did bless

In the wasteful wilderness:

For his, &c.

In bloody battle he brought down
Kings of prowess and renown:
For his, &c.

He foil'd bold Seon and his host,
That ruled the Amorrean coast:
For his, &c.

1 Red Sea.

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All living creatures he doth feed,

And with full hand supplies their need.

For his, &c.

Let us therefore warble forth
His mighty majesty and worth:
For his, &c.

That his mansion hath on high
Above the reach of mortal eye:
For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.

PSALM CXIV.

Ἰσραὴλ ὅτε παῖδες, ὅτ ̓ ἀγλαὸ φῦλ ̓ Ἰακώβου
Αἰγύπτιον λίπε δῆμον, ἀπεχθέα, βαρβαρόφωνον,
Δὴ τότε μοῦνον ἔην ὅσιον γένος υἷες Ἰοῦδα.
Ἐν δὲ θεὸς λαοῖσι μέγα κρείων βασίλευεν.
Εἶδε, καὶ ἐντροπάδην φύγαδ ̓ ἐῤῥώησε θάλασσα
Κύματι εἰλυμένη ῥοθίῳ, ὁδ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐστυφελίχθη
Ιρὸς Ιορδάνης ποτὶ ἀργυροειδέα πηγήν.
Εκ' δ' ὄρεα σκαρθμοῖσιν ἀπειρέσια κλονέοντο,
̔Ως κριοὶ σφριγόωντες ἐϋτραφερῷ ἐν ἀλωῆ.

Βαιοτέραι δ ̓ ἅμα πάσαι ἀνασκίρτησαν ἔρίπναι,
Οἷα παραὶ σύριγγι φίλῃ ὑπὸ μητέρι ἄρνες.
Τίπτε σύγ ̓, αἰνὰ θάλασσα, πέλωρ φύγαδ ̓ ἐῤῥώησας
Κύματι εἰλυμένη ῥοθίῳ, τί δ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐστυφελίχθης
Ἰρὸς Ἰορδάνη ποτὶ ἀργυροειδέα πηγήν;
Τίπτ ̓ ὄρεα, σκαρθμοῖσιν ἀπειρέσια κλονέεσθε,
̔Ως κριοὶ σφριγόωντες ἐϋτραφερῷ ἐν ἀλωῇ;
Βαιοτέραι τὶ δ ἀρ ̓ ὕμμες ἀνασκιρτήσατ ̓ ἔρίπναι,
Οἷα παραὶ σύριγγι φίλῃ ὑπὸ μητέρι ἄρνες;
Σείεο γαῖα τρέουσα θεὸν μεγάλ ̓ ἐκτυπέοντα
Γαῖα, θεὸν τρείουσ ̓ ὕπατον σέβας Ισσακίδαο,
Ος τε καὶ ἐκ σπιλάδων ποταμοὺς χέε μορμύροντας,
Κρήνηντ ̓ ἀέναον πέτρης ἀπὸ δακρυοέσσης.

Philosophus ad regem quendam, qui eum ignotum et insontem inter reos forte captum inscius damnaverat, τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ πορευόμενος, hæc subito misit.

Ω ἄνα, εἰ ὀλέσης με τὸν ἔννομον, οὐδέ τιν ̓ ἀνδρῶν
Δεινὸν ὅλως δράσαντα, σοφώτατον ἴσθι κάρηνον
Ρηϊδίως ἀφέλοιο, τὸ δ ̓ ὕστερον αὖθι νοήσεις,
Μαψιδίως δ ̓ ἀρ ̓ ἔπειτα τεὸν πρὸς θυμὸν ὀδυρὴ,
Τοιόνδ ̓ ἐκ πόλιος περιώνυμον ἄλκαρ ὀλέσσας.

In Effigiei ejus Sculptorem.

̓Αμαθεῖ γεγράφθαι χειρὶ τήνδε μὲν εἰκόνα
Φαίῃς τάχ ̓ ἂν, πρὸς εἶδος αὐτοφυὲς βλέπων.
Τὸν δ ̓ ἐκτυπωτὸν οὐκ ἐπιγνόντες, φίλοι,
Γελᾶτε φαύλου δυσμίμημα ζωγράφου.

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