Of, force believe Almighty, fince no lefs
Than fuch could have o'erpower'd fuch force as ours) Have left us this our fpirit and ftrength 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 undiminifh'd, or eternal Being,
To undergo eternal punishment?——————
Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.
Fall'n Cherub! to be weak is miserable,
Doing or fuffering; but of this be fure, 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 fucceed, fo as perhaps Shall grieve Him (if I fail not) and difturb His inmoft counfels from their deftin'd aim. But fee! the angry victor hath recall'd
His ministers of vengeance and purfuit,
Back to the gates of heav'n: the fulph'rous hail Shot after us in ftorm, o'er-blown, 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, Perhaps hath spent his fhafts, and ceases now To bellow through the vaft 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 these fiery waves ; There reft if any reft can harbour there: And re-affembling our afflicted pow'rs, 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 floating many a rood: in bulk as huge As whom the fables name, of monftrous fize, TITANIAN, OF EARTH-born, that warr'd on Jove, BRIAREUS, or TYPHON, whom the den By ancient TARSUS held; or that fea-beaft LEVIATHAN, which God of all his works Created hugeft that swim th' ocean stream : (Him, haply flumb'ring on the NORWAY fɔam, The pilot of fome small night-founder'd skiff, Deeming fome ifland, oft, as feamen tell, With fixed anchor in his fcaly rind,
Moors by his fide under the Lee, while night Invefts 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 defigns: 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 goodnefs, grace, and mercy fhewn 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 fpires, and rowl'd In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid yale.
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air, That felt unufual 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 tranfports a hill Torn from PELORUS, or the fhatter'd fide Of thund'ring ÆTNA, 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 ftench and smoke: fuch refting found the foal Of unblefs'd 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 fuff'rance of fupernal pow'r.
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 cœleftial light? be it fo! fince He
Who now is Sov'reign can difpofe, and bid
What shall be right: fartheft from him is beft,
Whom reafon hath equall'd, force hath made fupreme
Above his equals. Farewel happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells! hail horrors! hail
Infernal world! and thou profoundest hell Receive thy new peffeffor! 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. What matter where, if I be ftill the fame, And what I fhould be, all but lefs than He Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least We fhall be free; th' Almighty hath not built Here for His envy; will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign fecure; and in
To reign is worth ambition, tho' 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 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 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 so 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, tho' now they lie Grov❜ling and proftrate on yon lake of fire, (As we erewhile) astounded and amaz'd; No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious height!
He scarce had ceas'd, when the fuperior fiend Was moving tow'rd the fhoar: his pond'rous fhield, Ethereal temper, maffy, large, and round, Behind him caft; the broad circumference Hung on his fhoulders like the Moon, whofe orb. Thro' optick glafs the TUSCAN artist views At ev'ning, from the top of FESOLE, Or in VALDARNO, to descry new lands, Rivers, or Mountains, in her fpotty globe. His fpear (to equal with the tallest pine Hewn on NORWEGIAN hills, to be the maft Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand) He walk'd with, to fupport uneafy iteps Over the burning marle (not like thofe fteps On heaven's azure!) and the torrid clime Smote on him fore befides,, vaulted with fire.
Nathlefs he fo indur'd, 'till on the beach Of that inflamed fea he ftood, and call'd His legions, Angel-forms, who lay intrans'd, Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks In VALLOMBROSA, where th' ETRURIAN: fhades High over-arch'd imbow'r; or fcatter'd fedge Afloat, when with fierce winds ORION arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coaft, whofe waves o'erthrew
BUSIRIS and his MEMPHIAN chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they purfu'd
The fojourners of GOSHEN, who beheld
From the fafe fhoar their floating carcafes,
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,
Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n! once yours, now loft, If fuch astonishment as this can feize
ancial spirits: Or have ye chos'n this place
After the toil of battel to repofe
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find To flumber here, as in the vales of heav'n? Or in this abject pofture have ye fworn T'adore the conqueror? who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rowling in the flood, With scatter'd arms and enfigns; 'till anon His fwift purfuers from heav'n-gates difcern: Th' advantage, and defcending tread us down Thus drooping: or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulph. Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n!
They heard, and were abafh'd, and up they sprung Upon the wing; as when men wont, to watch On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouze and beftir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their General's voice they foon obey'd,
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