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 choice, 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' associates and copartners of our loss, Lie thus astonish'd on th' oblivious pool, And call them not to share with us their part, In this unhappy mansion; or once more With ralli'd arms, to try what may be yet Regain'd in heav'n, or what more lost in hell? So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub
Thus answer'd: Leader of those armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foiled! If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Of battle when it rag'd, in all assaults Their surest signal, they will soon resume New courage, and revive, though now they lie Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, As we ere while, astounded and amaz'd; No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious height.
He scarce had ceas'd, when the superior fiend Was moving to the shore: his pond'rous shield, Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, Behind him cast; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of Fesole, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. His spear, to equal which the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast Of some great admiral, were but a wand, He walk'd with, to support uneasy steps Over the burning marle, not like those steps On heaven's azure; and the torrid clime
THIS first book proposes, first in brief, the whole subject, Man's disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was placed: Then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the serpent; who revolting from God, and drawing to his side many legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his crew into the great deep. Which action passed over, the poem hastens into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his angels now falling into Hell described here, not in the centre (for Heaven and Earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed,) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest called Chaos: Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in order and dignity lay by him; they confer of their miserable fall, Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded. They rise, their numbers, array of battle, their chief leaders named, according to the idols known afterwards in Canaan and the countries adjoining. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new world and new kind of creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy, or report in Heaven; for that Angels were long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many Ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council. What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium, the palace of Satan, rises, suddenly built out of the deep: The infernal peers there sit in council.
And various idols through the heathen world. [last, Say, Muse, their names then known; who first, who Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery couch, At their great emp'ror's call, as next in worth Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. The chief were those, who, from the pit of hell Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix Their seats long after, next the seat of God, Their altars by his altar; gods ador'd Among the nations round; and durst abide Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd Between the cherubim; yea, often plac'd Within his sanctuary itself, their shrines, Abominations; and with cursed things His holy rites and solemn feasts profan'd, And with their darkness durst affront his light. First, Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears,
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud Their children's cries unheard, that passed through To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipp'd in Rabba and her wat❜ry plain, In Argob, and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon; nor content with such Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart Of Solomon, he led by fraud, to build His temple right against the temple of God, On that opprobrious hill; and made his grove The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the type of hell. Next, Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moab's sons, From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of southmost Abarim: in Hesebon And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flow'ry dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleale to th' Asphaltic pool.
Peor his other name, when he entic'd Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,
To do him wanton rites, which cost them wo. Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarg'd E'en to that hill of scandal, by the grove Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate; Till good Josiah drove them thence to hell. With these came they, who, from the bord'ring flood Of old Euphrates, to the brook that parts Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baalim and Ashtorath, those male, These feminine for spirits, when they please, Can either sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is their essence pure, Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose, Dilated or condens'd, bright or obscure,
Can execute their airy purposes,
And works of love or enmity fulfil.
For those the race of Israel oft forsook
Their living strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods; for which their heads as low Bow'd down in battle, sunk before the spear Of despicable foes. With these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Astarte, queen of Heav'n, with crescent horns: To whose bright image nightly by the moon, Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs; In Sion, also not unsung, where stood Her temple on th' offensive mountain, built By that uxorious king, whose heart, though large, Beguil'd by fair idolatresses, fell
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon, allur'd The Syrian damsels to lament his fate In amorous ditties all a summer's day, While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale
« PreviousContinue » |