Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds
Fearless, endanger'd heav'n's perpetual King, And put to proof his high fupremacy,
Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate; Too well I fee, and rue the dire event,
That with fad overthrow and foul defeat
Hath loft us heav'n, and all this mighty host In horrible deftruction laid thus low, As far as gods and heavenly effences
Can perifh for the mind and fpi'rit remains Invincible, and vigour foon returns,
Though all our glory' extinct, and happy ftate Here fwallow'd up in endless mifery.
But what if he our conqu'ror (whom I now
Of force believe Almighty, fince no lefs
Than fuch could have o'erpower'd fuch force as ours)
Have left us this our fpi'rit and ftrength entire
Strongly to fuffer and fupport our pains, That we may fo fuffice his vengeful ire, Or do him mightier fervice as his thralls By right of war, whate'er his business be
Here in the heart of hell to work in fire,
Or do his errands in the gloomy deep; What can it then avail, though yet we feel Strength undiminish'd, or eternal being
To undergo eternal punishment?
Whereto with speedy words th' Archfiend reply'd.
Fall'n Cherub, to be weak is miserable
Doing or fuffering: but of this be fure, To do ought good never will be our task, But ever to do ill our fole delight, As bei'ng the contrary to his high will Whom we refift. If then his providence Out of our evil feek to bring forth good, Our labour must be to pervert that end,
And out of good ftill to find means of evil; Which oft-times may fucceed, fo as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
His inmoft counfels from their deftin'd aim. But fee the angry Victor hath recall'd
His minifters of vengeance and purfuit
Back to the gates of heav'n; the fulphurous hail Shot after us in ftorm, o'erblown, hath laid
The fiery furge, that from the precipice
Of heav'n receiv'd us falling; and the thunder, Wing'd with red lightning and impetuous rage, 175 Perhaps hath spent his fhafts, and ceases now To bellow through the vaft and boundless deep. Let us not flip th' occafion, whether fcorn, Or fatiate fury yield it from our foe.
Seeft thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, The feat of Defolation, void of light, Save what the glimmering of these livid flames Cafts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend From off the toffing of these fiery waves;
There reft, if any reft can harbour there;
And reaffembling our afflicted powers,
Confult how we may henceforth most offend Our enemy, our own lofs how repair,
How overcome this dire calamity,
What reinforcement we may gain from Hope, If not, what refolution from Despair.
Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate With head uplift above the wave, and eyes That fparkling blaz'd, his other parts befides Prone on the flood, extended long and large Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monftrous fize, Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove, Briareus or Typhon, whom the den
By ancient Tarfus held, or that fea-beaft Leviathan, which God of all his works Created hugest that swim th' ocean stream: Him haply flumb'ring on the Norway foam The pilot of fome small night-founder'd skiff Deeming fome ifland, oft, as feamen tell, With fixed anchor in his fcaly rind
Moors by his fide under the lee, while night Invests the fea, and wifhed morn delays:
So ftretch'd out huge in length the Archfiend lay Chain'd on the burning lake: nor ever thence Had ris'n, or heav'd his head, but that the will And high permiffion of all-ruling Heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs; That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation, while he fought Evil to others; and enrag'd might fee How all his malice ferv'd but to bring forth Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown On man by him feduc'd; but on himself Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool His mighty ftature; on each hand the flames Driv'n backward flope their pointing fpires, and roll'd In billows, leave i'the midst a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings he fteers his flight.
Aloft, incumbent on the dufky air,
That felt unusual weight; till on dry land He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd: With folid, as the lake with liquid fire And fuch appear'd in hue, as when the force Of fubterranean wind tranfports a hill Torn from Pelorus, or the fhatter'd fide Of thund'ring Ætna, whofe combustible: And fuel'd intrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds,
And leave a finged bottom all involv'd
With stench and smoke: such resting found the fole Of unblefs'd feet. Him follow'd his next mate, Both glorying to have 'fcap'd the Stygian flood As gods, and by their own recover'd strength, Not by the fufferance of fupernal power.
Is this the region, this the foil, the clime, Said then the loft Archangel, this the feat That we must change for heav'n, this mournful gloom For that celeftial light? Be' it fo, fince he Who now as Sov'reign can dispose and bid
What shall be right: fartheft from him is best, Whom reas'on hath equall'd, force hath made fupreme Above his equals. Farewel happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells! Hail horrours, hail
Infernal world! and thou profoundest hell
Receive thy new poffeffour; one who brings A mind not to be chang'd 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. What matter where if I be still the fame, And what I fhould be, all but lefs than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at leaft
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign fecure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition, though in hell: Better to reign in hell, than ferve in heaven. But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' affociates and copartners of our lofs,
Lie thus aftonish'd on the oblivious pool,
And call them not to fhare with us their part In this unhappy manfion, or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regain'd in heav'n, or what more loft in hell?
So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub
Thus anfwer'd. Leader of thofe armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foil'd, If once they hear that voice, their livelieft pledge. Of hope in fears and dangers, heard fo oft In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Of battle when it rag'd, in all affaults Their fureft fignal, they will foon refume New courage and revive, though now they lie. Grov'ling and proftrate on yon lake of fire, As we erewhile, aftounded and amaz'd, No wonder, fall'n fueh a pernicious height. He fcarce had ceas'd when the fuperiour fiend
Was moving tow'ard the fhore; his pond'rous fhield, Ethereal temper, mafly, large, and round, Behind him caft; the broad circumference Hung on his fhoulders like the moon, whofe orb Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of Fefolé, Or in Valdarno, to defcry new lands, Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe. His fpear, to equal which the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast Of some great admiral, were but a wand, He walk'd with to fupport uneafy steps Over the burning marle, (not like those steps On heaven's azure), and the torrid clime Smote on him fore befides, vaulted with fire. Nathlefs he fo endur'd, till on the beach Of that inflamed fea he ftood,, and call'd His legions, angel-forms; who lay intranc'd Thick as autumnal leaves that frow the brooks In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian fhades High overarch'd imbow'r; or scatter'd fedge
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