To wage by force or guile eternal war, Irreconcileable to our grand foe,
Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy Sole reigning holds the tyranny of heav'n. So fpake th'apoftate angel, though in pain, Vaunting aloud, but rack'd with deep despair : And him thus answer'd foon his bold compeer. O prince, O chief of many throned powers, That led th'imbattell'd feraphim to war Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds Fearless, endanger'd heav'n's perpetual king; And put to proof his high supremacy, Whether upheld by ftrength, or chance, or fate, Foo 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 destruction laid thus low, As far as gods and heav'nly effences
Can perish; for the mind and spirit remains Invincible, and vigour foon returns,
Though all our glory extinct, and happy state Here fwallow'd up in endless mifery.
But what if he our conqueror, (whom I now Of force believe almighty, fince no less
Than fuch could have o'erpow'r'd fuch force as ours) Have left us this our spirit and strength intire Strongly to fuffer and support our pains, That we may fo fuffice his vengeful ire, Or do him mightier service 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 undeminisht, or eternal being To undergo eternal punishment?
Whereto with speedy words th'arch-fiend reply'd. Fall'n cherub, to be weak is miferable Doing or fuffering: but of this be sure, To do ought good never will be our task, But ever to do ill our fole delight, As being 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 still to find means of evil; Which oft times may fucceed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb His inmost councils from their deftin'd aim. But fee the angry victor hath recall'd His minifters of vengeance and pursuit
Back to the gates of heav'n: the fulphurous hail Shot after us in ftorm, o'reblown 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, Perhaps has spent his fhafts, and ceases now To bellow through the vast and boundless deep. Let us not flip th'occafion, whether scorn, Or fatiate fury yield it from our foe.
Seeft thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wilde, 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 loss 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 up-lift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blaz'd, his other parts besides, 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, Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
By ancient Tarfus held, or that sea beaft Leviathan, which God of all his works Created hugeft that swim the ocean stream: Him haply numbering on the Norway foam, The pilot of fome fmall night-founder'd skiff, Deeming fome island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his skaly rind,
Moors by his fide under the lee, while night Invests the fea, and wished morn delays : So ftretcht out huge in length the arch-fiend 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 shew'n On man by him seduc'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 rowl'd In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid vale. Then with expanded wings he steers his flight 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 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 thundring Aetna, whofe combustible And fewel'd intrals thence conceiving fire, Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds, And leave a finged bottom all involv'd
With stench and smoak: such resting found the fole Of unbleft feet. Him followed his next mate,
Both glorying to have fcap't 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 arch-angel, this the feat
That we must change for heav'n, this mournful gloom
For that celeftial light? be it fo, fince he Who now is fov rain can dispose and bid
What shall be right: fartheft from him is best Whom reafon hath equal'd, force hath made fupream Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells: hail horrors, haił 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 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 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 tho' 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, Ly thus astonish't 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 loft in hell? So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub
Thus answer'd. Leader of those armies bright, Which but th'Omnipotent none could have foyl'd, If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft
« PreviousContinue » |