He ceased; and next him Moloch, sceptred king,1 Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair: His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed Equal in strength; and rather than be less Cared not to be at all; with that care lost Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse, He reck'd not: and these words thereafter spake. "My sentence is for open war: of wiles, "More unexpert, I boast not; them let those "Contrive who need, or when they need,-not now. "For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest, "Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait "The signal to ascend, sit lingering here "Heaven's fugitives; and for their dwelling-place 66 Accept this dark, opprobrious den of shame, "The prison of his tyranny who reigns "By our delay? no; let us rather choose, 60 "Arm'd with Hell-flames and fury, all at once "O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way. "Turning our tortures into horrid arms "Against the Torturer; when, to meet the noise "Of his almighty engine he shall hear 65 "Infernal thunder; and, for lightning, see "Black fire and horror shot with equal rage "Among his angels: and his throne itself "Mixed with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire, 70 75 "To us is adverse. Who but felt of late, 1 Moloch, sceptred king-alluding to the meaning of his name.- Sce h. i, 1. 392. 2 Such, understand [as deem the way difficult] 46 "When the fierce Foe hung on our broken rear 80 “Fear to be worse destroyed: what can be worse 85 "Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemned "In this abhorred deep to utter woe; "Where pain of unextinguishable fire "Must exercise us without hope of end, “The vassals of his anger, when the scourge 90 “Inexorable, and the torturing hour "Calls us to penance? more destroyed than thus, "We should be quite abolished, and expire. "What fear we then? what doubt we to incense "Will either quite consume us, and reduce He ended frowning, and his look denounced 1 Exercise, like the Latin ererceo, which sometimes means to "vex or harass," as well as to employ. 2 Penance, punishment. Milton assumes that the sufferings of these fallen angels may have some intermissions. 3 Fatal, upheld by fate-as b. i. 1 133. For dignity composed and high exploit: 115 "I should be much for open war, O peers! "As not behind in hate; if what was urged, "Main reason to persuade immediate war, "Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast "Ominous conjecture on the whole success: "When he who most excels in fact of arms,1 "In what he counsels and in what excels "Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair "And utter dissolution, as the scope 120 125 "Of all his aim, after some dire revenge. "First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are filled "With armed watch, that render all access 130 66 Impregnable: oft on the bordering deep 66 Encamp their legions; or, with obscure wing, "Scout far and wide into the realm of night, 66 Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way "By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise, "With blackest insurrection, to confound "Heaven's purest light; yet our great enemy, "All incorruptible, would on his throne "Sit unpolluted; and the ethereal mould, 66 Incapable of stain, would soon expel "Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire "Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope "Is flat despair: we must exasperate 135 140 "The Almighty Victor to spend all his rage, "And that must end us;-that must be our care, 145 1 Fact of arms; said to be from the Italian fatto d'arme, a battle, compare line 537. 2 Sit unpolluted; in reply to Moloch's threatening, 1. 69, 70. “To be no more: sad cure! for who would lose, 150 "Devoid of sense and motion? and who knows,— "Let this be good,-whether our angry Foe “Can give it, or will ever? how he can, “Is doubtful; that he never will, is sure. 66 « Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire, 155 “To punish endless? Wherefore cease we, then?' "Say they who counsel war; 'we are decreed, 160 165 170 « What can we suffer worse? Is this then worst, “ Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms? "What! when we fled amain, pursued and struck "With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought "The deep to shelter us? this Hell then seemed "A refuge from those wounds: or when we lay "Chained on the burning lake? That, sure, was worse. "What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, "Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage, "And plunge us in the flames? or, from above, "Should intermitted vengeance arm again "His3 red right hand to plague us? What, if all "Her stores were opened, and this firmament "Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire, "Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall “One day upon our heads? while we, perhaps, "Designing or exhorting glorious war, 1 Let this be good-even if this be supposed to be good. 2 Impotence, want of wise self-control-ironically spoken. 175 3 His refers to God; her stores to Hell, as mention is made afterwards of "her cataracts of fire." 66 Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled "Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey Ages of hopeless end! This would be worse. "War therefore, open or concealed, alike 180 185 My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile "With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye "Views all things at one view? He from Heaven's height 190 "All these our motions vain sees, and derides;2 "Not more almighty to resist our might, "Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. "Shall we then live thus vile, the race of Heaven, “Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here 195 "Chains and these torments? Better these than worse, "By my advice; since fate inevitable "Subdues us, and omnipotent decree, 3 « The Victor's will. To suffer, as to do,3 200 205 1 Wracking whirlwinds-destructive whirlwinds; corresponding with the use of the word "wrack" by Milton, in the sense of destruction. 2 Sees and derides-compare Ps. ii. 4. 3 To suffer, as to do,-thus Scævola boasted that, as a Roman, he knew how to suffer, as well as to do deeds of valour.-Liv. ii. 12. 4 This was at first resolved,-i.e., submission and not resistance, since we were made capable of suffering as well as acting, and the result of opposition was doubtful. D |