The present misery, and render Hell More tolerable; if there be cure or charm
To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain Of this ill mansion: intermit no watch Against a wakeful Foe, while I abroad
Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek Deliverance for us all: this enterprise
None shall partake with me. Thus saying rose The Monarch, and prevented all reply; Prudent, lest, from his resolution raised, Others among the chief might offer now (Certain to be refused) what erst they feared; And, so refused, might in opinion stand His rivals; winning cheap the high repute, Which he through hazard huge must earn. Dreaded not more the adventure, than his voice Forbidding; and at once with him they rose: Their rising all at once, was as the sound
Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend
With awful reverence prone; and as a God
Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven:
Nor failed they to express how much they praised, That for the general safety he despised
His own: For neither do the Spirits damned Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites,
Or close ambition, varnished o'er with zeal. Thus they their doubtful consultations dark Ended, rejoicing in their matchless Chief: As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds Ascending, while the north-wind sleeps, o'erspread Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element Scowls o'er the darkened landskip snow, or shower; If chance the radiant sun with farewell sweet Extend his evening-beam, the fields revive, The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. O shame to men! Devil with Devil damned Firm concord holds; men only disagree
Of creatures rational, though under hope Of heavenly grace: and, God proclaiming peace, Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife,
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:
As if (which might induce us to accord) Man had not hellish foes enow besides, That, day and night, for his destruction wait.
The Stygian council thus dissolved; and forth
In order came the grand infernal Peers: Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed Alone the Antagonist of Heaven, nor less Than Hell's dread Emperour, with pomp supreme,
And God-like imitated state: him round A globe of fiery Seraphim enclosed
With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms. Then of their session ended they bid cry With trumpets' regal sound the great result: Towards the four winds four speedy Cherubim Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy, By herald's voice explained; the hollow abyss Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell,
With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim.
Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised
By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers
Disband; and, wandering, each his several way Pursues, as inclination or sad choice
Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain The irksome hours, till his great Chief return. Part on the plain, or in the air sublime, Upon the wing, or in swift race contend, As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields; Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal With rapid wheels, or fronted brigads form. As when, to warn proud cities, war appears Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush To battle in the clouds, before each van Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their
Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms From either end of Heaven the welkin burns. Others, with vast Typhoan rage more fell, Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar. As when Alcides, from Oechalia crowned
With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and tore Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines, And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw Into the Euboick sea. Others more mild, Retreated in a silent valley, sing With notes angelical to many a harp
Their own heroick deeds and hapless fall
By doom of battle; and complain that fate Free virtue should enthrall to force or chance. Their song was partial; but the harmony (What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?) Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet, (For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense,) Others apart sat on a hill retired,
In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate ; Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute; And found no end, in wandering mazes lost. Of good and evil much they argued then,
Of happiness and final misery, Passion and apathy, and glory and shame; Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy! Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm Pain for a while or anguish, and excite Fallacious hope, or arm the obdured breast With stubborn patience, as with triple steel. Another part, in squadrons and gross bands, On bold adventure to discover wide That dismal world, if any
Might yield them easier habitation, bend
Four ways their flying march, along the banks Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge
Into the burning lake their baleful streams;
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate Sad Acheron, of sorrow, black and deep; Cocytus, named of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. Far off from these, a slow and silent stream, Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks Forthwith his former state and being forgets, Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. Beyond this flood a frozen continent
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms
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