"Changed, and forsook thee? this from thee to me? Once noble spirit! Oh! had not too much My o'er fond heart adored thy fallacy, I had not, now, been here to bear thy keen reproach; Forsook thee in misfortune? at thy side I closer fought as peril thickened round, Watched o'er thee fallen: the light of heaven denied, But proved my love more fervent and profound. Prone as thou wert, had I been mortal-born, And owned as many lives as leaves there be, From all Hyrcania by his tempest torn I had lost, one by one, and given the last for thee. Oh! had thy plighted pact of faith been kept, Still unaccomplished were the curse of sin; 'Mid all the woes thy ruined followers wept, Had friendship lingered, hell could not have been." Phraerion, another fallen angel, but of a nature gentler than that of Zophiel, is thus introduced: Harmless Phraerion, formed to dwell on high, Retained the looks that had been his above; And his harmonious lip, and sweet, blue eye, Soothed the fallen seraph's heart, and changed his scorn to love; No soul-creative in this being born, Its restless, daring, fond aspirings hid: Within the vortex of rebellion drawn, He joined the shining ranks _as others did_. Success but little had advanced; defeat He thought so little, scarce to him were worse; And, as he held in heaven inferior seat, Less was his bliss, and lighter was his curse. He formed no plans for happiness: content To curl the tendril, fold the bud; his pain So light, he scarcely felt his banishment. Zophiel, perchance, had held him in disdain; But, formed for friendship, from his o'erfraught soul 'Twas such relief his burning thoughts to pour In other ears, that oft the strong control Of pride he felt them burst, and could restrain no more. Zophiel was soft, but yet all flame; by turns Love, grief, remorse, shame, pity, jealousy, Each boundless in his breast, impels or burns: His joy was bliss, his pain was agony. Such are the principal preter-human characters in the poem. Egla, the heroine, is a Hebress of perfect beauty, who lives with her parents not far from the city of Ecbatana, and has been saved, by stratagem, from a general massacre of captives, under a former king of Medea. Being brought before the reigning monarch to answer for the supposed murder of Meles, she exclaims, Sad from my birth, nay, born upon that day When perished all my race, my infant ears Were opened first with groans; and the first ray I saw, came dimly through my mother's tears.