Said then the loft Arch Angel, this the seat
That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful
For that celestial light? Be it so, since hee [gloom
Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right: fardest from him is best
Whom reason hath equald, force hath made fupream
Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Poffeffor: One who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What matter where, if I be still the fame,
And what I should be, all but less then hee
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:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than ferve in Heav'n.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' affociates and copartners of our lofs
Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious Pool,
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy Manfion, or once more
With rallied Arms to try what may be yet
Regaind in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell?
So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub
Thus answer'd. Leader of those Armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyld, If once they hear that voyce, their liveliest pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard fo oft
In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge
Of battel when it rag'd, in all affaults
Their surest signal, they will foon resume
New courage and revive, though now they lye
Groveling and proftrate on yon Lake of Fire, 280
As we erewhile, aftounded and amaz'd,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious highth.
He scarce had ceas't when the fuperiour Fiend Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield Ethereal temper, maffy, large and round, Behind him caft; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whofe Orb Through Optic Glafs the Tuscan Artist views At Ev'ning from the top of Fefale, Or in Valdarno, to defcry new Lands, Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe. His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand, He walkt with to support uneafie steps Over the burning Marle, not like those steps On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime Smote on him fore besides, vaulted with Fire; Nathless he fo endur'd, till on the Beach Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call'd His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't Thick as Autumnal Leaves that ftrow the Brooks In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian shades High overarch❜t imbowr; or scatterd fedge Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd
Hath vext the Red-Sea Coaft, whose waves ore
Bufiris and his Memphian Chivalrie,
While with perfidious hatred they purfu'd
The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floating Carkafes
And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown
Abject and loft lay these, covering the Flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow Deep
Of Hell refounded. Princes, Potentates,
Warriers, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now loft,
If fuch astonishment as this can fieze
Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toyl of Battel to repose
Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?
Or in this abject posture have ye fworn
To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds
Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood
With scatter'd Arms and Enfigns, till anon
His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates difcern
Th' advantage, and descending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe.
Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and beftir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceave the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their Generals Voyce they soon obeyd Innumerable. As when the potent Rod
Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day
Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud
Of Locufts, warping on the Eastern Wind,
That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile :
So numberless were those bad Angels feen
Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell
"Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires;
Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Thir course, in even ballance 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 loyns, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons
Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian fands.
Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band
The Heads and Leaders thither haft where stood
Their great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms
Excelling human, Princely Dignities,
And Powers that earft in Heaven fat on Thrones; Though of their Names in heav'nly Records now Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.
Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve
Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth,
Through Gods high fufferance for the tryal of man,
By falfities and lyes the greatest part
Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake
God their Creator, and th' invisible
Glory of him, that made them, to transform
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.
Say, Mufe, their Names then known, who first,
who last,
Rous'd from the flumber, on that fiery Couch,
At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth
Came fingly where he stood on the bare strand,
While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof?
The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell
Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durft fix
Their Seats long after next the Seat of God,
Their Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd
Among the Nations round, and durst abide
Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd
Within his Sanctuary it self their Shrines,
Abominations; and with cursed things
His holy Rites, and folemn Feasts profan'd,
And with their darkness durft affront his light.
First Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood
Of human facrifice, and parents tears,
Though for the noyfe of Drums and Timbrels loud
Their childrens cries unheard, that past through fire
To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipt in Rabba and her watry Plain,
In Argob and in Bafan, to the ftream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with fuch
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
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