Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
His inmost counfels from their destin'd aim.
But fee the angry victor hath recall'd
His minifters of vengeance and purfuit
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 ceafes 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 wild, 180
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, 190
If not, what refolution from despair.
Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes
That fparkling blaz'd, his other parts besides
Prone on the flood, extended long and large
Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
As whom the fables name of monstrous fize,
Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove,
Briareos or Typhon, whom the den
By ancient Tarfus held, or that sea-beast
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 ifland, oft, as feamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his fkaly 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 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 goodness, grace and mercy thown
On Man by him feduc'd, but on himself
Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. 220,
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty ftature; on each hand the flames
Driv'n backward flope their pointing fpires and roll'd
In billows, leave i'th' midft a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings, he fteers his flight 225
Aloft, incumbent on the dufky 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 tranfports a hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the fhatter'd fide
Of thund'ring Etna, 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 fmoke: Such refting found the fole
Of unbleft feet. Him follow'd his next mate,
Both glorying to have 'cap'd the Stygion flood
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 240
Not by the fufferance of fuperior power.
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 celestial light? Be' it so, since he
Who now is Sov'rain can difpofe and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best,
Whom reas'on hath equal'd, force hath made fupreme
Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail 250
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 itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. 255
What matter where, if I be ftill the fame,
And what I should be, all but less 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 my choice.
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than ferve 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
Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell? 270 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 battle when it rag'd, in all assaults
Their fureft fignal, they will foon refume
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.
He fcarce had ceas'd when the fuperior Fiend
Was moving tow'rds the fhore; his pond'rous fhield,
Etherial temper, maffy, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad circumference
Hung on his fhoulders like the moon, whofe orb
Through optic glafs the Tufcan artist views
At evening from the top of Fefole,
Or in Valdarno, to defcry new lands,
Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.
His fpear, to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of fome great admiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to fupport uneasy steps
Over the burning marle, not like those steps
On Heaven's azure, and the torrid clime
Smote on him fore befides, vaulted with fire:
Nathlefs he fo endur'd till on the beach
Of that inflamed fea he ftood, and call'd
His legions, Angel forms, who lay intranc'd
Thick as autumnal leaves that ftrow the brooks
In Vollombrofa, where th' Etrurian shades
High over-arch'd imbow'r; or scatter'd fedge
Aflote, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coast, whofe waves o'erthrew
Bufiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they purfued
The fojourners of Gofhen, who beheld
From the fafe shore 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 such astonishment as this can seise
Eternal Spi'rits; or have you chos'n this place
After the toil of battle to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye fworn
To' adore the conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood
With fcatter'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 gulf.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abash'd, 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 perceive the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their general's voice they foon obey'd Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amram's fon, in Egypt's evil day,
Wav'd round the coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud 340 Of locufts, warping on the eastern wind,
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