V

How dreadful the dominion of the impure!

Why should the Song be tardy to proclaim

That less than power unbounded[91] could not tame

That soul of Evil—which, from hell let loose,

Had filled the astonished world with such abuse

As boundless patience only could endure?

—Wide-wasted regions—cities wrapt in flame—

Who sees,[92] may lift a streaming eye

To Heaven;—who never saw, may heave a sigh;