“O visions ill foreseen! Better had I Lived ignorant of future! so had borne My part of evil only, each day’s lot Enough to bear; those now, that were dispensed The burden of many ages, on me light At once, by my foreknowledge gaining birth Abortive, to torment me, ere their being, With thought that they must be. Let no man seek Henceforth to be foretold what shall befall Him or his children; evil he may be sure, Which neither his foreknowing can prevent, And he the future evil shall no less In apprehension than in substance feel Grievous to bear. But that care now is past; Man is not whom to warn; those few escaped Famine and anguish will at last consume, Wandering that watery desert. I had hope, When violence was ceased and war on Earth, All would have then gone well, peace would have crowned With length of happy days the race of Man; But I was far deceived, for now I see Peace to corrupt no less than war to waste. How comes it thus? Unfold, Celestial Guide, And whether here the race of Man will end.”