But what if he our conqu'ror (whom I now
Of force believe almighty, fince no less
Than fuch could have o'er-pow'r'd fuch force as ours) Have left us this our spi'rit and ftrength entire Strongly to fuffer and fupport our pains,
That we may fo fuffice his vengeful ire, Or do him mightier service as his thralls By right of war, whate'er his bufinefs 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 fuffering: but of this be sure, To do ought good never will be our task, But ever to do ill our fole delight,
As be'ing the contrary to his high will Whom we refift. If then his providence Out of our evil feek to bring forth good, Our labor 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 disturb His inmoft counfels from their deftin'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 ceases now To bellow through the vast and boundless deep. Let us not flip th' occafion, whether fcorn, 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 these fiery waves,
There reft, if any rest 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 sparkling blaz'd, his other parts befides. Prone on the flood, extended long and large Lay floting many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monftrous fize, Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove, Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
By ancient Tarfus held, or that fea-beaft Leviathan, which God of all his works Created hugeft that fwim th' ocean stream:
Him haply flumb'ring on the Norway foam The pilot of fome fmall night-founder'd skiff Deeming fome iland, oft, as fea-men tell, With fixed anchor in his skaly rind
Moors by his fide under the lee, while night Invests the fea, and wished morn delays:
So ftretch'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 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 shown On Man by him feduc'd, but on himself Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. 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
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 Of fubterranean wind transports a hill Torn from Pelorus, or the fhatter'd fide
Of thund'ring Ætna, whofe combuftible
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 smoke: Such refting found the fole Of unbleft feet. Him follow'd his next mate, Both glorying to have 'fcap'd the Stygian flood As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, Not by the fufferance of fupernal Power.
Is this the region, this the foil, the clime, Said then the loft Arch-Angel, this the feat
That we muft change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom For that celestial light? Be' it so, since he
Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
What fhall be right: fartheft 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
Infernal world, and thou profoundesft 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 Heaven, What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I fhould be, all but less than he
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 fecure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in Hell :
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' affociates and copartners of our lofs, Lie thus aftonish'd 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 Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell?
So Satan fpake, and him Beëlzebub 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 battel 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.
Was moving tow'ard the fhore; his pond'rous fhield,
He fcarce had ceas'd when the fuperior Fiend
Ethereal temper, maffy, large and round,
Behind him caft; 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 Fefolé, Or in Valdarno, to defcry new lands, Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe. His fpear, to equal which the tallest pine
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