The Poetical Works of John Milton


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So rife and celebrated in the mouths  
Of wisest men; that to the public good  
Private respects must yield; with grave authority'  
Took full possession of me and prevail'd;  
Vertue, as I thought, truth, duty so enjoyning.  
870  
Sam: I thought where all thy circling wiles would end;  
In feign'd Religion, smooth hypocrisie.  
But had thy love, still odiously pretended,  
Bin, as it ought, sincere, it would have taught thee  
Far other reasonings, brought forth other deeds.  
I before all the daughters of my Tribe  
And of my Nation chose thee from among  
My enemies, lov'd thee, as too well thou knew'st,  
Too well, unbosom'd all my secrets to thee,  
Not out of levity, but over-powr'd  
880  
By thy request, who could deny thee nothing;  
Yet now am judg'd an enemy. Why then  
Didst thou at first receive me for thy husband?  
Then, as since then, thy countries foe profest:  
Being once a wife, for me thou wast to leave  
Parents and countrey; nor was I their subject,  
Nor under their protection but my own,  
Thou mine, not theirs: if aught against my life  
Thy countrey sought of thee, it sought unjustly,  
Against the law of nature, law of nations,  
890  
749  


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747 748 749 750 751

Quick Jump
1 198 395 593 790