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 shewn 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 fpires, & rowld In billows, leave i'th' midft a horrid Vale. Then with expanded wings he ftears 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 tranfports a Hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd fide Of thundring Ætna, whose 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 ftrength, 240 Not by the fufferance of fupernal Power.
Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,
Said then the loft Arch Angel, this the feat That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful For that celestial light? Be it fo, fince hee [gloom Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid What shall be right: fardest from him is best Whom reafon hath equald, force hath made fupream 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 loss 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 Beelzebub
Thus answer'd. Leader of those Armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyld, If once they hear that voyce, their livelieft pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge Of battel when it rag'd, in all affaults Their fureft fignal, they will foon resume New courage and revive, though now they lye Groveling and proftrate on yon Lake of Fire, 280 As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd, No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious highth.
He scarce had ceas't when the superiour Fiend Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous fhield Ethereal temper, maffy, large and round, Behind him caft; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whofe Orb Through Optic Glafs the Tuscan Artist views At Ev'ning from the top of Fefale,
Or in Valdarno, to defcry 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 fome great Ammiral, were but a wand, He walkt with to support uneafie steps Over the burning Marle, not like those steps On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime Smote on him fore befides, vaulted with Fire; Nathless he fo endur'd, till on the Beach Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call'd His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't Thick as Autumnal Leaves that ftrow the Brooks In Vallombrofa, where th' Etrurian shades High overarch❜t imbowr; or scatterd fedge Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd
Hath vext the Red-Sea Coaft, whofe waves ore
Bufiris and his Memphian Chivalrie, While with perfidious hatred they purfu'd The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating Carkafes And broken Chariot Wheels, fo thick beftrown Abject and loft lay thefe, covering the Flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow Deep Of Hell refounded. Princes, Potentates, Warriers, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now loft, If fuch astonishment as this can fieze
Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place After the toyl of Battel to repofe
Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find To flumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n? Or in this abject posture have ye fworn To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood With scatter'd Arms and Enfigns, till anon His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern Th' advantage, and descending tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe. Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and beftir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceave the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their Generals Voyce they soon obeyd Innumerable. As when the potent Rod
Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind, That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile: So numberless were those bad Angels feen Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell "Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding Fires; Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear Of their great Sultan waving to direct Thir course, in even ballance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain; 350 A multitude, like which the populous North Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands. Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band The Heads and Leaders thither haft where stood Their great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms Excelling human, Princely Dignities,
And Powers that earft in Heaven fat on Thrones;
Though of their Names in heav'nly Records now Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life. Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve
Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth, Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man, By falfities and lyes the greatest part Of Mankind they corrupted to forfake God their Creator, and th' invifible
Glory of him, that made them, to transform
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