Where joy for ever dwells: hail horrors, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundeft 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 itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.
What matter where, if I be ftill the fame,
And what I fhould be, all but lefs than he
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at last
We fhall 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 co-partners of our lofs
Lie thus aftonifh'd on th' oblivious pool,
And call them not to fhare 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 loft in hell?
So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub
Thus anfwer'd. Leader of thefe 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 so oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battle when it rag'd, in all affaults,
Their surest fignal, they will foon refume
New courage and revive, though now they lie
Groveling and proftrate on yon lake of fire,
As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a perricious height.
He fcarce had ceas'd when the fuperior fiend
Was moving tow'ard the fhore; his pond'rous fhield,
Ethereal temper, maffy, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad circumference
Hung on his fhoulders like the moon, whose orb
Through optic glafs the Tufcan 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 talest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of fome great admiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to fupport uneasy steps
Over the burning marl, (not like thofe fteps
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 flood, 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 over arch'd imbow'r; or scatter'd fedge
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-fea coaft, whofe waves o'erthrew
Abject and loft lay thefe, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow deep
Of hell refounded. Princes, potentates,
Wariors, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now loft,
If fuch astonishment as this can feize
Eternal fp'rits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battle to repofe
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the vales of heav'n?
Or in this abject pofture have ye fworn
T'adore the conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood
With fcatter'd arms and enfigns, till anon
His fwift purfuers from heav'n gates difcern
Th' advantage, and defcending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulph.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abafh'd, and up they fprung
To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe.
Yet thence his luftful orgies he enlarg'd
Ev'n to that hill of fcandal, by the
Of Moloch homicide; lufl hard by hate;
Till good Jofiah drove them thence to hell.
With thefe came they, who from the bord'ring flood
Of old Euphrates, to the brook that parts
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names
Of Baalim and Afhtaroth; thofe male,
Thefe feminine. For fpirits when they please
Can either fex affume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their effence pure ;
Not ti'd or manacled with joint or limb,
Nor founded on the brittle #trength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what fhape they chuse
Dilated or condens'd, bright or obfcure,
Cap execute their airy purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For thofe the race of Ifrael oft forfook
Their living ftrength, and unfrequented left
His righteous altar, bowing lowly down
To beftial gods; for which their heads as low
Bow'd down in battle, funk before the fpear
Of defpicable foes. With these in troop
Came Aftoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd
Aftarte, queen of heav'n, with crefcent horns;
To which bright image nightly by the moon
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and fongs;
In Sion alfo not unfung, where stood
Her temple on th' offenfive mountain, built
By that uxorious king, whofe heart, though large,
Beguil'd by fair idolatreffes, fell
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,
Whofe annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damfels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a fummer's day;
While fmooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the fea, fuppos'd with blood
Of Thaimuz yearly wounded: the love-tale
Infected Sion's daughters with like heat;
Whose wanton paflions in the facred porch
Ezekiel faw, when, by the vifion led,
His eye survey'd the dark idolatries
Of alienated Judah. Next came one,
Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive ark
Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lopt off
In his own temple, on the grunfel edge,
Where he fell flat, and fham'd his worthippers:
Dagon his name, fea monfter, upward man
And downward fifh: yet had his temple high
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
Of Palestine, in Gath, and Afcalon,
And Accaron, and Gaza's frontier bounds.
Him follow'd Rimmon, whofe delightful feat
Was fair Damafcus, on the fertile banks
Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.
He also against the house of God was bold:
A leper once he lost, and gain'd a king
Ahaz, his fottifh conqu'ror, whom he drew
GOD's altar to disparage, and displace,
For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn
His odious off'rings, and adore the gods
Whom he had vanquifh'd. After thefe appear'd
A crew, who under names of old renown,
Ofiris, fis, Orus, and their train.
With monftrous fhapes and forceries abus'd
Fanatic Egypt, and her pries, to feek
Their wand'ring gods disguis'd in brutish forms,
Rather than human. Nor did Ifr’el 'scape
Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd
The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king
Doubled that fin in Bethel and in Dan,
Lik'ning his Maker to the grazed ox,
Jehovah; who in one night, when he pass'd
From Egypt marching, equall'd with one stroke
Both her firit-born and all her bleating gods.
Belial came laft, than whom a fp'rit more lewd 490
Fell not from heaven, or more grofs to love
Vice for itself: to him no temple stood
Or altar fmok'd; yet who more oft than he
In temples and at altars. when the priest
Turns atheist, as did Eli's fons, who fill'd
That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each fide
Mix'd with auxiliar gods; and what refounds
In fable or romance of Uther's fon
Begirt with British and Armoric knights; And all who fince, baptiz'd or infidel, Joufted in Afpramont or Montalban, Damafco, or Morocco, or Trebifond; Or whom Biferta fent from Afric fhore, When Charlemain with all his peerage fell By Fontarabbia. Thus far thefe beyond Compare of mortal prowefs, yet obferv'd Their dread commander: he, above the rest In fhape and gefture proudly eminent, Stood like a tow'r; his form had yet not loft All her original brightness, nor appear'd Lefs than arch angel ruin'd, and th' excefs Of glory obfcur'd: as when the fun new ris'n Looks through the horrizontal misty air Shorn of his beams : or from behind the moon, In dim eclipfe, difaftrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and, with fear of change Perplexes monarchs. Darken'd fo, yet fhone Above them all th' arch angel: but his face Deep fears of thunder had entrench'd, and care Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows Of dauntless courage, and confiderate pride Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorfe and paffion to behold The fellows of his crime, the foll❜wers rather, (Far other once beheld in blifs,) condemn'd For ever now to have their lot in pain; Millions of fpirits for his fault amerc'd Of heav'n, and from eternal splendours flung For his revolt; yet faithful how they ftood, Their glory wither'd: as when heav'n's fire Hath fcath'd the forest-oaks, or mountain pines, With finged top their ftately growth. though bare, Stands on the blafted heath. He now prepar'd 615 To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend From wing to wing, and half inclofe him round With all his peers: attention held him mute.
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