That were an ignominy and shame beneath
This downfall; fince by Fate the strength of Gods
And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,
Since through experience of this great event
In Arms not worse, in forefight much advanc't,
We may with more fuccessful hope resolve
To wage by force or guile eternal Warr
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' Apostate Angel, though in pain, Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep defpare: And him thus anfwer'd foon his bold Compeer. O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers, That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to Warr Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds Fearless, endanger'd Heav'ns perpetual King; And put to proof his high Supremacy,
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 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 swallow'd up in endless mifery.
But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now
Of force believe Almighty, fince no less
Then fuch could hav orepow'rd fuch force as ours)
Have left us this our spirit and strength intire
Strongly to fuffer and support our pains,
That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,
Or do him mightier service as his thralls
By right of Warr, what e're 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 undiminisht, or eternal being
To undergo eternal punishment?
Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.
Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miferable
Doing or Suffering: but of this be fure,
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 inmoft counfels from their deftind aim.
But fee the angry Victor hath recall'd
His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit
Back to the Gates of Heav'n: The Sulphurous Hail
Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid
The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice
Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling, and the Thunder,
Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage,
Perhaps hath spent his shafts, 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, voyd 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 defpare.
Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate
With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes
That sparkling 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,
Briarios or Typhon, whom the Den
By ancient Tarfus held, or that Sea-beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugeft that swim th' Ocean stream:
Him haply flumbring on the Norway foam
The Pilot of some small night-founder'd Skiff,
Deeming fome Island, oft, as Sea-men tell,
With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind
Moors by his fide under the Lee, while Night
Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes:
So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay
Chain'd on the burning Lake, nor ever thence 210
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 fhewn
On Man by him feduc't, but on himself
Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd.
Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool
His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames
Drivn backward flope their pointing spires, & rowld
In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid Vale.
Then with expanded wings he stears 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 230
Of fubterranean wind transports a Hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd fide
Of thundring Ætna, whofe combustible
And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire,
Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds,
And leave a finged bottom all involv'd
With stench and smoak: Such refting 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, 240
Not by the sufferance of fupernal Power.
Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,
Said then the lost Arch Angel, this the seat
That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful
For that celestial light? Be it so, fince hee [gloom
Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right: fardest from him is best
Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream
Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail
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 it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What matter where, if I be still the fame,
And what I should be, all but less then hee
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' affociates and copartners of our lofs
Lye thus aftonisht on th' oblivious Pool,
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy Manfion, or once more
With rallied Arms to try what may
be yet
Regaind in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell?
So Satan spake, and him Bëëlzebub
Thus answer'd. Leader of thofe Armies bright,
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyld,
If once they hear that voyce, their livelieft pledge
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