To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe
Confounded though immortal: But his doom
Referv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of loft happiness and lasting pain
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate :
At once as far as Angels kenn he views
The difmal Situation waste and wilde,
A Dungeon horrible, on all fides round
As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness vifible
Serv'd only to discover fights of woe,
Regions of forrow, doleful fhades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
With ever-burning Sulphur unconfum'd:
Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd
For those rebellious, here their Prifon ordain'd
In utter darkness, and their portion set
As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n
As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole.
O how unlike the place from whence they fell!
There the companions of his fall, o'rewhelm'd
With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempeftuous fire,
He foon difcerns, and weltring by his fide
One next himself in power, and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd
Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,
And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words
Breaking the horrid filence thus began.
If thou beeft he; But O how fall'n! how chang'd From him, who in the happy Realms of Light Cloth'd with transcendent brightnes didst outshine Myriads though bright: If he whom.mutual league, United thoughts and counsels, equal hope, And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize, Joynd with me once, now mifery hath joynd 90 In equal ruin into what Pit thou feest From what highth fal'n, so much the stronger provd He with his Thunder: and till then who knew The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage Can elfe inflict do I repent or change, Though chang'd in outward luftre; that fixt mind And high disdain, from fence of injur'd merit, That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend, And to the fierce contention brought along Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd
That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,
His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd
In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav'n,
And shook his throne. What though the field be loft?
All is not loft; the unconquerable Will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to fubmit or yield:
And what is elfe not to be overcome?
That Glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and fue for
With fuppliant knee, and deifie his power
Who from the terrour of this Arm fo late
Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,
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 despare : 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 fupport 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 miserable
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 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 succeed, so as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
His inmoft counfels from their destind aim.
But fee the angry Victor hath recall'd
His Minifters of vengeance and pursuit
Back to the Gates of Heav'n: The Sulphurous Hail
Shot after us in ftorm, 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 fhafts, 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 lofs 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 fome 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
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