Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy shewn,
On Man, by him seduced; but on himself
Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance pour'd. 220
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty stature; on each hand the flames
Driv'n backward slope their pointing spires, and rollid
In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight 225
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air,
That felt unusual weight; till on dry land
He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd
With solid, as the lake with liquid fire ;
And such appear'd in hue, as when the force 230
Of subterranean wind transports a hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd side
Of thund'ring Ætna, whose combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublimed with min'ral fury, aid the winds, 235
And leave a singed bottom all involved
With stench and smoke : such resting found the sole
Of unblest feet. Him follow'd his next mate,
Both glorying to have 'scap'd the Stygian flood
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 240
Not by the suff'rance of Supernal Power.

Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,
Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat
That we must change for heav'n, this mournful gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he 245
Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best,
Whom reason hath equall’d, force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail 250
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new possessor; one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. 255

226. Said to be borrowed from Spenser, Book i. Canto 2. 231. Winds is sometimes read instead of wind. 232. Pelorus is a Sicilian promontory now called Capo di Faro. 246. Sovran is abridged from the Italian Sovrano.

254. This sentiment is the great foundation on which the Stoles built their whole system of Ethics.

What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : 260
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell ;
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' associates and copartners of our loss,

205
Lie thus astonish'd on th' oblivious pool,
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy mansion, or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regain'd in heav'n, or what more lost in Hell? 270

So Satan spake ; and him Beëlzebub Thus answer'd : Leader of those armies bright, Whicb but th' Omnipotent none could have toild, If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft 275 In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Of battle when it raged, in all assaults Their surest signal, they will soon resume New courage and revive, though now they lie Grov'ling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, 280 As we ere while, astounded and amazed, No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious height.

He scarce had ceased when the superior Fiend Was moving tow're the shore; his pond'rous shield, Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, 285 Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like tlie moon, whose orb Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of Fesolé, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,

290 Rivers, or mountains, on her spotty globe. His spear, to equal which the tallest pine

263. The same sentiment is put by Æschylus into the mouth of Prometheus, and it was the well-known saying of Julius Cæsar, that he would rather be the first man in a village, than the second in Rome. 287. So Homer and Ossian compare the shields of their heroes,

289. Fesole and Valdarno, the one a city, the other a valley, in Tuscany.

с

Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great ammiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to support uneasy steps

295
Over the burning marle; not like those steps
On Heaven's azure, and the torrid clime
Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire:
Nathless he so endured, till on the beach
Of that inflamed sea he stood, and call'd

300 His legions, Angel forms, who lay entranced Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades High over-arch'd imbow'r; or scatter'd sedge Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion arm’d 305 Hath vex'd the Red Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrow Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcases 310 And broken chariot wheels : so thick bestrown, Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He call's so loud, that all the hollow deep Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates,

315 Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can seize Eternal spirits; or have ye chos’n this place After the toil of battle to repose Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find 320 To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn T'adore the conqueror? who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood With scatter'd arins and ensigns, till anon

325

293. Milton here again enlarges on the idea of the great preceding poets, who had given their heroes a pine for their wands or spears. 294. Ammiral from the German amiral or the Italian ammiraglio.

303. A famous valley in Tuscany. The name is compounded of vallis and umbra.

305. Orion is the most stormy of the constellations, and, as the Red Sea abounds with sedge, it is here represented as exercising its influence over it.

307. Pharaoh has been supposed to be the same with Busiris, which opinion Milton appears to have held. Chivalry is used in the poets to denote, not only those who fight on horses, but those who go to battle in chariots dray't. bs them.

His swift pursaers from heav'n gates discern
Th’advantage, and descending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf.
Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n.

330
They heard, and were abash'd, and up they sprung
Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,
Ronse and bestir themselves ere well awake.
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight 335
In which they were, or the fierce pains pot feel;
Yet to their gen'ral's voice they soon obey'd
Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day,
Waved round the coast, up call’d a pitchy cloud 340
Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,
That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile:
So numberless were those bad Angels seen
Hov'ring on wing under the cope of Hell

345 'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires; Till, as a signal giv'n, th' uplifted spear Of their great Sultan waving to direct Their course, in even balance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain; 350 A multitude, like which the populous north Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barb'rous sons Cane like a deluge on the south, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands. Forthwith from ev'ry squadron and each band The heads and leaders thither haste where stood Their great commander; Godlike shapes and forms Excelling human, princely dignities, And Pow'rs that erst in Heaven sat on thrones; 360 Though of their names in heav'nly records now Be no memorial, blotted out and rased By their rebellion from the books of life.

355

329. An allusion is here made to the story of Ajax Olleus, Æn. i. 44.

Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve

364 Got them new names, till wand'ring o'er the earth, Thro' God's high suff'rance for the trial of man, By falsities and lies the greatest part Of mankind they corrupted, to forsake God their Creator, and th' invisible Glory of him that made them to transform 370 Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd With gay religions full of pomp and gold, And Devils to adore for Deities : Then were they known to men by various names, And various idols through the Heathen world. 373 Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who Roused from the slumber, on tha: fiery couch, [last At their great emp’ror's call, as next in worth Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. 380 The chief were those who from the pit of Hell Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix Their seats long after next the seat of God, Their altars by his altar, Gods adored Among the nations round, and durst abide 385 Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, throned Between the Cherubim ; yea, often placed Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, Aboininations; and with cursed things His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned, 390 And with their darkness durst affront his light. First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears, Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud