And put to proof his high supremacy,
Whether upheld by,ftrength, or chance, or fate;
Too well I fee and rue the dire event,
That with fad overthrow and foul deteat
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 perifh for the mind and fpi'rit remains
Invincible, and vigor foon returns,
Though all our glory' extinct, and happy ftate
Here fwallow'd up in endless misery,
But what if he our conqu'ror (whom I now
Of force believe almighty, fince no less
Than fuch could have o'er-power'd fuch force as ours)
Have left us this our spi'rit and strength entire,
Strongly to fuffer and fupport our pains,
That we may fo fuffice his vengeful ire,
Or do him mightier fervice 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 undiminish'd, 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 suffering: but of this be sure,
To do ought good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our fole delight,
As bei'ng 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, fo as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and difturb
His inmoft counfels from their deftir'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'erblown 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, 175
Perhaps hath spent his fhafts, and ceafes 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 wild,
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 thefe, fiery wayes,
There reft, if any reft can harbour there,
And re-affembling our afflicted Powers,
Confult how we may henceforth most offend
Our enemy, our own lofs 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 fparkling 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 monstrous size,
Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Joye,
Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
By ancient Tarfus held, or that sea-beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugeft that fwim th' ocean ftream;
Him haply dumb'ring on the Norway foam
The pilot of fome small night-founder'd skiff
Deeming some island, oft, as feamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his fkaly rind
Moors by his fide under the lee, while night
Invests the fea, and wished morn delays;
So stretch'd 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 defigns,
That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he fought
Evil to others, and enrag'd might see
How all his malice ferv'd but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy fhown
On Man by him feduc'd, but on himself
Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. 220
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty ftature; on each hand the flames
Driv'n backward flope their pointing spires, and roll'd
In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings, he steers his flight 225
Aloft, incumbent on the dulky 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 transports a hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the fhatter'd fide
Of thund'ring Etna, whofe combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds,
And leave a finged bottom all involv❜d
With stench and fmoke: Such refting found the fole
Of unbleft feet. Him follow'd his next mate,
Both glorying to have 'scap'd the Stygion flood
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 240
Not by the sufferance of fuperior 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 Sov'rain can difpofe and bid What shall be right: farthest from him is beft, Whom reas'on hath equal'd, force hath made fupreme Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail 250 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. 255
What matter where, if I be ftill the fame,
And what I thould be, all but less 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, though in hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than ferve in Heaven.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' affociates and copartners of our lofs,
Lie thus aftonifh'd on th' oblivious pool,
And call them not to fhare with us their part
In this unhappy manfion, or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell? 270
So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub
Thus anfwer'd. Leader of thofe 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 fo oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battle when it rag'd, in all affaults
Their fureft fignal, they will foon resume
New courage and revive, though now they lie
Groveling and proftrate on yon lake of fire,
As we ere while, aftounded and amaz'd,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious highth.
He scarce had ceas'd when the fuperior Fiend
Was moving tow'rds the shore; his pond'rous fhield, Ethereal temper, maffy, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whofe orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening from the top of Fefole,
Or in Valdarno, to defcry new lands,
Rivers or mountains in her fpotty globe.
His fpear, to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegion hills, to be the mast
Of some great admiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to support uneafy steps
Over the burning marle, not like those steps
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 stood, and call'd
His legions, Angel forms, who lay intranc'd
Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks
In Vollombrofa, where th' Etrurian shades
High over-arch'd imbow'r; or fcatter'd fedge
Affote, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd 305 Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew
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