Book II

1. High on a throne of royal state, which far

2. Outshone the wealth or Ormus and of Ind,

3. Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

4. Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,

5. Satan exalted sat, by merit raised

6. To that bad eminence; and, from despair

7. Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires

8. Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue

9. Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught,

10. His proud imaginations thus displayed:--

11. "Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven!--

12. For, since no deep within her gulf can hold

13. Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen,

14. I give not Heaven for lost: from this descent

15. Celestial Virtues rising will appear

16. More glorious and more dread than from no fall,

17. And trust themselves to fear no second fate!--

18. Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven,

19. Did first create your leader--next, free choice

20. With what besides in council or in fight

21. Hath been achieved of merit--yet this loss,

22. Thus far at least recovered, hath much more

23. Established in a safe, unenvied throne,

24. Yielded with full consent. The happier state

25. In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw

26. Envy from each inferior; but who here

27. Will envy whom the highest place exposes

28. Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim

29. Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share

30. Of endless pain? Where there is, then, no good

31. For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

32. From faction: for none sure will claim in Hell

33. Precedence; none whose portion is so small

34. Of present pain that with ambitious mind

35. Will covet more! With this advantage, then,

36. To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,

37. More than can be in Heaven, we now return

38. To claim our just inheritance of old,

39. Surer to prosper than prosperity

40. Could have assured us; and by what best way,

41. Whether of open war or covert guile,

42. We now debate. Who can advise may speak."

43. He ceased; and next him Moloch, sceptred king,

44. Stood up--the strongest and the fiercest Spirit

45. That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair.

46. His trust was with th' Eternal to be deemed

47. Equal in strength, and rather than be less

48. Cared not to be at all; with that care lost

49. Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse,

50. He recked not, and these words thereafter spake:--

51. "My sentence is for open war. Of wiles,

52. More unexpert, I boast not: them let those

53. Contrive who need, or when they need; not now.

54. For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest--

55. Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait

56. The signal to ascend--sit lingering here,

57. Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place

58. Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame,

59. The prison of his ryranny who reigns

60. By our delay? No! let us rather choose,

61. Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once

62. O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way,

63. Turning our tortures into horrid arms

64. Against the Torturer; when, to meet the noise

65. Of his almighty engine, he shall hear

66. Infernal thunder, and, for lightning, see

67. Black fire and horror shot with equal rage

68. Among his Angels, and his throne itself

69. Mixed with Tartarean sulphur and strange fire,

70. His own invented torments. But perhaps

71. The way seems difficult, and steep to scale

72. With upright wing against a higher foe!

73. Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench

74. Of that forgetful lake benumb not still,

75. That in our porper motion we ascend

76. Up to our native seat; descent and fall

77. To us is adverse. Who but felt of late,

78. When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear

79. Insulting, and pursued us through the Deep,

80. With what compulsion and laborious flight

81. We sunk thus low? Th' ascent is easy, then;

82. Th' event is feared! Should we again provoke

83. Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find

84. To our destruction, if there be in Hell

85. Fear to be worse destroyed! What can be worse

86. Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemned

87. In this abhorred deep to utter woe!

88. Where pain of unextinguishable fire

89. Must exercise us without hope of end

90. The vassals of his anger, when the scourge

91. Inexorably, and the torturing hour,

92. Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus,

93. We should be quite abolished, and expire.

94. What fear we then? what doubt we to incense

95. His utmost ire? which, to the height enraged,

96. Will either quite consume us, and reduce

97. To nothing this essential--happier far

98. Than miserable to have eternal being!--

99. Or, if our substance be indeed divine,

100.And cannot cease to be, we are at worst

101.On this side nothing; and by proof we feel

102.Our power sufficient to disturb his Heaven,

103.And with perpetual inroads to alarm,

104.Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:

105.Which, if not victory, is yet revenge."

106. He ended frowning, and his look denounced

107.Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous

108.To less than gods. On th' other side up rose

109.Belial, in act more graceful and humane.

110.A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed

111.For dignity composed, and high exploit.

112.But all was false and hollow; though his tongue

113.Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear

114.The better reason, to perplex and dash

115.Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low--

116. To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds

117.Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear,

118.And with persuasive accent thus began:--

119. "I should be much for open war, O Peers,

120.As not behind in hate, if what was urged

121.Main reason to persuade immediate war

122.Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast

123.Ominous conjecture on the whole success;

124.When he who most excels in fact of arms,

125.In what he counsels and in what excels

126.Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair

127.And utter dissolution, as the scope

128.Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.

129.First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are filled

130.With armed watch, that render all access

131.Impregnable: oft on the bodering Deep

132.Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing

133.Scout far and wide into the realm of Night,

134.Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way

135.By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise

136.With blackest insurrection to confound

137.Heaven's purest light, yet our great Enemy,

138.All incorruptible, would on his throne

139.Sit unpolluted, and th' ethereal mould,

140.Incapable of stain, would soon expel

141.Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire,

142.Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope

143.Is flat despair: we must exasperate

144.Th' Almighty Victor to spend all his rage;

145.And that must end us; that must be our cure--

146.To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose,

147.Though full of pain, this intellectual being,

148.Those thoughts that wander through eternity,

149.To perish rather, swallowed up and lost

150.In the wide womb of uncreated Night,

151.Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows,

152.Let this be good, whether our angry Foe

153.Can give it, or will ever? How he can

154.Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.

155.Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire,

156.Belike through impotence or unaware,

157.To give his enemies their wish, and end

158.Them in his anger whom his anger saves

159.To punish endless? 'Wherefore cease we, then?'

160.Say they who counsel war; 'we are decreed,

161.Reserved, and destined to eternal woe;

162.Whatever doing, what can we suffer more,

163.What can we suffer worse?' Is this, then, worst--

164.Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms?

165.What when we fled amain, pursued and struck

166.With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought

167.The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed

168.A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay

169.Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse.

170.What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,

171.Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,

172.And plunge us in the flames; or from above

173.Should intermitted vengeance arm again

174.His red right hand to plague us? What if all

175.Her stores were opened, and this firmament

176.Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire,

177.Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall

178.One day upon our heads; while we perhaps,

179.Designing or exhorting glorious war,

180.Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,

181.Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey

182.Or racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk

183.Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains,

184.There to converse with everlasting groans,

185.Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,

186.Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse.

187.War, therefore, open or concealed, alike

188.My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile

189.With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye

190.Views all things at one view? He from Heaven's height

191.All these our motions vain sees and derides,

192.Not more almighty to resist our might

193.Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles.

194.Shall we, then, live thus vile--the race of Heaven

195.Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here

196.Chains and these torments? Better these than worse,

197.By my advice; since fate inevitable

198.Subdues us, and omnipotent decree,

199.The Victor's will. To suffer, as to do,

200.Our strength is equal; nor the law unjust

201.That so ordains. This was at first resolved,

202.If we were wise, against so great a foe

203.Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.

204.I laugh when those who at the spear are bold

205.And venturous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear

206.What yet they know must follow--to endure

207.Exile, or igominy, or bonds, or pain,

208.The sentence of their Conqueror. This is now

209.Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,

210.Our Supreme Foe in time may much remit

211.His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed,

212.Not mind us not offending, satisfied

213.With what is punished; whence these raging fires

214.Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.

215.Our purer essence then will overcome

216.Their noxious vapour; or, inured, not feel;

217.Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed

218.In temper and in nature, will receive

219.Familiar the fierce heat; and, void of pain,

220.This horror will grow mild, this darkness light;

221.Besides what hope the never-ending flight

222.Of future days may bring, what chance, what change

223.Worth waiting--since our present lot appears

224.For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,

225.If we procure not to ourselves more woe."

226. Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb,

227.Counselled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth,

228.Not peace; and after him thus Mammon spake:--

229. "Either to disenthrone the King of Heaven

230.We war, if war be best, or to regain

231.Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then

232.May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield

233.To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife.

234.The former, vain to hope, argues as vain

235.The latter; for what place can be for us

236.Within Heaven's bound, unless Heaven's Lord supreme

237.We overpower? Suppose he should relent

238.And publish grace to all, on promise made

239.Of new subjection; with what eyes could we

240.Stand in his presence humble, and receive

241.Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne

242.With warbled hyms, and to his Godhead sing

243.Forced hallelujahs, while he lordly sits

244.Our envied sovereign, and his altar breathes

245.Ambrosial odours and ambrosial flowers,

246.Our servile offerings? This must be our task

247.In Heaven, this our delight. How wearisome

248.Eternity so spent in worship paid

249.To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue,

250.By force impossible, by leave obtained

251.Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state

252.Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek

253.Our own good from ourselves, and from our own

254.Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess,

255.Free and to none accountable, preferring

256.Hard liberty before the easy yoke

257.Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear

258.Then most conspicuous when great things of small,

259.Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse,

260.We can create, and in what place soe'er

261.Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain

262.Through labour and endurance. This deep world

263.Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst

264.Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven's all-ruling Sire

265.Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,

266.And with the majesty of darkness round

267.Covers his throne, from whence deep thunders roar.

268.Mustering their rage, and Heaven resembles Hell!

269.As he our darkness, cannot we his light

270.Imitate when we please? This desert soil

271.Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold;

272.Nor want we skill or art from whence to raise

273.Magnificence; and what can Heaven show more?

274.Our torments also may, in length of time,

275.Become our elements, these piercing fires

276.As soft as now severe, our temper changed

277.Into their temper; which must needs remove

278.The sensible of pain. All things invite

279.To peaceful counsels, and the settled state

280.Of order, how in safety best we may

281.Compose our present evils, with regard

282.Of what we are and where, dismissing quite

283.All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise."

284. He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled

285.Th' assembly as when hollow rocks retain

286.The sound of blustering winds, which all night long

287.Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull

288.Seafaring men o'erwatched, whose bark by chance

289.Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay

290.After the tempest. Such applause was heard

291.As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased,

292.Advising peace: for such another field

293.They dreaded worse than Hell; so much the fear

294.Of thunder and the sword of Michael

295.Wrought still within them; and no less desire

296.To found this nether empire, which might rise,

297.By policy and long process of time,

298.In emulation opposite to Heaven.

299.Which when Beelzebub perceived--than whom,

300.Satan except, none higher sat--with grave

301.Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed

302.A pillar of state. Deep on his front engraven

303.Deliberation sat, and public care;

304.And princely counsel in his face yet shone,

305.Majestic, though in ruin. Sage he stood

306.With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear

307.The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look

308.Drew audience and attention still as night

309.Or summer's noontide air, while thus he spake:--

310. "Thrones and Imperial Powers, Offspring of Heaven,

311.Ethereal Virtues! or these titles now

312.Must we renounce, and, changing style, be called

313.Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote

314.Inclines--here to continue, and build up here

315.A growing empire; doubtless! while we dream,

316.And know not that the King of Heaven hath doomed

317.This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat

318.Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt

319.From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league

320.Banded against his throne, but to remain

321.In strictest bondage, though thus far removed,

322.Under th' inevitable curb, reserved

323.His captive multitude. For he, to be sure,

324.In height or depth, still first and last will reign

325.Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part

326.By our revolt, but over Hell extend

327.His empire, and with iron sceptre rule

328.Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven.

329.What sit we then projecting peace and war?

330.War hath determined us and foiled with loss

331.Irreparable; terms of peace yet none

332.Vouchsafed or sought; for what peace will be given

333.To us enslaved, but custody severe,

334.And stripes and arbitrary punishment

335.Inflicted? and what peace can we return,

336.But, to our power, hostility and hate,

337.Untamed reluctance, and revenge, though slow,

338.Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least

339.May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice

340.In doing what we most in suffering feel?

341.Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need

342.With dangerous expedition to invade

343.Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege,

344.Or ambush from the Deep. What if we find

345.Some easier enterprise? There is a place

346.(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven

347.Err not)--another World, the happy seat

348.Of some new race, called Man, about this time

349.To be created like to us, though less

350.In power and excellence, but favoured more

351.Of him who rules above; so was his will

352.Pronounced among the Gods, and by an oath

353.That shook Heaven's whole circumference confirmed.

354.Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn

355.What creatures there inhabit, of what mould

356.Or substance, how endued, and what their power

357.And where their weakness: how attempted best,

358.By force of subtlety. Though Heaven be shut,

359.And Heaven's high Arbitrator sit secure

360.In his own strength, this place may lie exposed,

361.The utmost border of his kingdom, left

362.To their defence who hold it: here, perhaps,

363.Some advantageous act may be achieved

364.By sudden onset--either with Hell-fire

365.To waste his whole creation, or possess

366.All as our own, and drive, as we were driven,

367.The puny habitants; or, if not drive,

368.Seduce them to our party, that their God

369.May prove their foe, and with repenting hand

370.Abolish his own works. This would surpass

371.Common revenge, and interrupt his joy

372.In our confusion, and our joy upraise

373.In his disturbance; when his darling sons,

374.Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse

375.Their frail original, and faded bliss--

376.Faded so soon! Advise if this be worth

377.Attempting, or to sit in darkness here

378.Hatching vain empires." Thus beelzebub

379.Pleaded his devilish counsel--first devised

380.By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence,

381.But from the author of all ill, could spring

382.So deep a malice, to confound the race

383.Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell

384.To mingle and involve, done all to spite

385.The great Creator? But their spite still serves

386.His glory to augment. The bold design

387.Pleased highly those infernal States, and joy

388.Sparkled in all their eyes: with full assent

389.They vote: whereat his speech he thus renews:--

390."Well have ye judged, well ended long debate,

391.Synod of Gods, and, like to what ye are,

392.Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep

393.Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate,

394.Nearer our ancient seat--perhaps in view

395.Of those bright confines, whence, with neighbouring arms,

396.And opportune excursion, we may chance

397.Re-enter Heaven; or else in some mild zone

398.Dwell, not unvisited of Heaven's fair light,

399.Secure, and at the brightening orient beam

400.Purge off this gloom: the soft delicious air,

401.To heal the scar of these corrosive fires,

402.Shall breathe her balm. But, first, whom shall we send

403.In search of this new World? whom shall we find

404.Sufficient? who shall tempt with wandering feet

405.The dark, unbottomed, infinite Abyss,

406.And through the palpable obscure find out

407.His uncouth way, or spread his airy flight,

408.Upborne with indefatigable wings

409.Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive

410.The happy Isle? What strength, what art, can then

411.Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe,

412.Through the strict senteries and stations thick

413.Of Angels watching round? Here he had need

414.All circumspection: and we now no less

415.Choice in our suffrage; for on whom we send

416.The weight of all, and our last hope, relies."

417. This said, he sat; and expectation held

418.His look suspense, awaiting who appeared

419.To second, or oppose, or undertake

420.The perilous attempt. But all sat mute,

421.Pondering the danger with deep thoughts; and each

422.In other's countenance read his own dismay,

423.Astonished. None among the choice and prime

424.Of those Heaven-warring champions could be found

425.So hardy as to proffer or accept,

426.Alone, the dreadful voyage; till, at last,

427.Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised

428.Above his fellows, with monarchal pride

429.Conscious of highest worth, unmoved thus spake:--

430. "O Progeny of Heaven! Empyreal Thrones!

431.With reason hath deep silence and demur

432.Seized us, though undismayed. Long is the way

433.And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.

434.Our prison strong, this huge convex of fire,

435.Outrageous to devour, immures us round

436.Ninefold; and gates of burning adamant,

437.Barred over us, prohibit all egress.

438.These passed, if any pass, the void profound

439.Of unessential Night receives him next,

440.Wide-gaping, and with utter loss of being

441.Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf.

442.If thence he scape, into whatever world,

443.Or unknown region, what remains him less

444.Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape?

445.But I should ill become this throne, O Peers,

446.And this imperial sovereignty, adorned

447.With splendour, armed with power, if aught proposed

448.And judged of public moment in the shape

449.Of difficulty or danger, could deter

450.Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume

451.These royalties, and not refuse to reign,

452.Refusing to accept as great a share

453.Of hazard as of honour, due alike

454.To him who reigns, and so much to him due

455.Of hazard more as he above the rest

456.High honoured sits? Go, therefore, mighty Powers,

457.Terror of Heaven, though fallen; intend at home,

458.While here shall be our home, what best may ease

459.The present misery, and render Hell

460.More tolerable; if there be cure or charm

461.To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain

462.Of this ill mansion: intermit no watch

463.Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad

464.Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek

465.Deliverance for us all. This enterprise

466.None shall partake with me." Thus saying, rose

467.The Monarch, and prevented all reply;

468.Prudent lest, from his resolution raised,

469.Others among the chief might offer now,

470.Certain to be refused, what erst they feared,

471.And, so refused, might in opinion stand

472.His rivals, winning cheap the high repute

473.Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they

474.Dreaded not more th' adventure than his voice

475.Forbidding; and at once with him they rose.

476.Their rising all at once was as the sound

477.Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend

478.With awful reverence prone, and as a God

479.Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven.

480.Nor failed they to express how much they praised

481.That for the general safety he despised

482.His own: for neither do the Spirits damned

483.Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast

484.Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites,

485.Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal.

486. Thus they their doubtful consultations dark

487.Ended, rejoicing in their matchless Chief:

488.As, when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds

489.Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o'erspread

490.Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element

491.Scowls o'er the darkened landscape snow or shower,

492.If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet,

493.Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,

494.The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds

495.Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.

496.O shame to men! Devil with devil damned

497.Firm concord holds; men only disagree

498.Of creatures rational, though under hope

499.Of heavenly grace, and, God proclaiming peace,

500.Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife

501.Among themselves, and levy cruel wars

502.Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:

503.As if (which might induce us to accord)

504.Man had not hellish foes enow besides,

505.That day and night for his destruction wait!

506. The Stygian council thus dissolved; and forth

507.In order came the grand infernal Peers:

508.Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed

509.Alone th' antagonist of Heaven, nor less

510.Than Hell's dread Emperor, with pomp supreme,

511.And god-like imitated state: him round

512.A globe of fiery Seraphim enclosed

513.With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms.

514.Then of their session ended they bid cry

515.With trumpet's regal sound the great result:

516.Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim

517.Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy,

518.By herald's voice explained; the hollow Abyss

519.Heard far adn wide, and all the host of Hell

520.With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim.

521.Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised

522.By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers

523.Disband; and, wandering, each his several way

524.Pursues, as inclination or sad choice

525.Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find

526.Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain

527.The irksome hours, till his great Chief return.

528.Part on the plain, or in the air sublime,

529.Upon the wing or in swift race contend,

530.As at th' Olympian games or Pythian fields;

531.Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal

532.With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form:

533.As when, to warn proud cities, war appears

534.Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush

535.To battle in the clouds; before each van

536.Prick forth the airy knights, and couch their spears,

537.Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms

538.From either end of heaven the welkin burns.

539.Others, with vast Typhoean rage, more fell,

540.Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air

541.In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar:--

542.As when Alcides, from Oechalia crowned

543.With conquest, felt th' envenomed robe, and tore

544.Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines,

545.And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw

546.Into th' Euboic sea. Others, more mild,

547.Retreated in a silent valley, sing

548.With notes angelical to many a harp

549.Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall

550.By doom of battle, and complain that Fate

551.Free Virtue should enthrall to Force or Chance.

552.Their song was partial; but the harmony

553.(What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?)

554.Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment

555.The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet

556.(For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the Sense)

557.Others apart sat on a hill retired,

558.In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high

559.Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate--

560.Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,

561.And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.

562.Of good and evil much they argued then,

563.Of happiness and final misery,

564.Passion and apathy, and glory and shame:

565.Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy!--

566.Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm

567.Pain for a while or anguish, and excite

568.Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast

569.With stubborn patience as with triple steel.

570.Another part, in squadrons and gross bands,

571.On bold adventure to discover wide

572.That dismal world, if any clime perhaps

573.Might yield them easier habitation, bend

574.Four ways their flying march, along the banks

575.Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge

576.Into the burning lake their baleful streams--

577.Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;

578.Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep;

579.Cocytus, named of lamentation loud

580.Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton,

581.Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.

582.Far off from these, a slow and silent stream,

583.Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls

584.Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks

585.Forthwith his former state and being forgets--

586.Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.

587.Beyond this flood a frozen continent

588.Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms

589.Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land

590.Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems

591.Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice,

592.A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog

593.Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,

594.Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air

595.Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire.

596.Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled,

597.At certain revolutions all the damned

598.Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change

599.Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,

600.From beds of raging fire to starve in ice

601.Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine

602.Immovable, infixed, and frozen round

603.Periods of time,--thence hurried back to fire.

604.They ferry over this Lethean sound

605.Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment,

606.And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach

607.The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose

608.In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,

609.All in one moment, and so near the brink;

610.But Fate withstands, and, to oppose th' attempt,

611.Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards

612.The ford, and of itself the water flies

613.All taste of living wight, as once it fled

614.The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on

615.In confused march forlorn, th' adventurous bands,

616.With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast,

617.Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found

618.No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale

619.They passed, and many a region dolorous,

620.O'er many a frozen, many a fiery alp,

621.Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death--

622.A universe of death, which God by curse

623.Created evil, for evil only good;

624.Where all life dies, death lives, and Nature breeds,

625.Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,

626.Obominable, inutterable, and worse

627.Than fables yet have feigned or fear conceived,

628.Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.

629. Meanwhile the Adversary of God and Man,

630.Satan, with thoughts inflamed of highest design,

631.Puts on swift wings, and toward the gates of Hell

632.Explores his solitary flight: sometimes

633.He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left;

634.Now shaves with level wing the deep, then soars

635.Up to the fiery concave towering high.

636.As when far off at sea a fleet descried

637.Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds

638.Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles

639.Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring

640.Their spicy drugs; they on the trading flood,

641.Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape,

642.Ply stemming nightly toward the pole: so seemed

643.Far off the flying Fiend. At last appear

644.Hell-bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof,

645.And thrice threefold the gates; three folds were brass,

646.Three iron, three of adamantine rock,

647.Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire,

648.Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat

649.On either side a formidable Shape.

650.The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair,

651.But ended foul in many a scaly fold,

652.Voluminous and vast--a serpent armed

653.With mortal sting. About her middle round

654.A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked

655.With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung

656.A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would creep,

657.If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb,

658.And kennel there; yet there still barked and howled

659.Within unseen. Far less abhorred than these

660.Vexed Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts

661.Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore;

662.Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, called

663.In secret, riding through the air she comes,

664.Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance

665.With Lapland witches, while the labouring moon

666.Eclipses at their charms. The other Shape--

667.If shape it might be called that shape had none

668.Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb;

669.Or substance might be called that shadow seemed,

670.For each seemed either--black it stood as Night,

671.Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,

672.And shook a dreadful dart: what seemed his head

673.The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

674.Satan was now at hand, and from his seat

675.The monster moving onward came as fast

676.With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode.

677.Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admired--

678.Admired, not feared (God and his Son except,

679.Created thing naught valued he nor shunned),

680.And with disdainful look thus first began:--

681. "Whence and what art thou, execrable Shape,

682.That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance

683.Thy miscreated front athwart my way

684.To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass,

685.That be assured, without leave asked of thee.

686.Retire; or taste thy folly, and learn by proof,

687.Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven."

688. To whom the Goblin, full of wrath, replied:--

689."Art thou that traitor Angel? art thou he,

690.Who first broke peace in Heaven and faith, till then

691.Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms

692.Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons,

693.Conjured against the Highest--for which both thou

694.And they, outcast from God, are here condemned

695.To waste eternal days in woe and pain?

696.And reckon'st thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven

697.Hell-doomed, and breath'st defiance here and scorn,

698.Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more,

699.Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,

700.False fugitive; and to thy speed add wings,

701.Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue

702.Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart

703.Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before."

704. So spake the grisly Terror, and in shape,

705.So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold,

706.More dreadful and deform. On th' other side,

707.Incensed with indignation, Satan stood

708.Unterrified, and like a comet burned,

709.That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge

710.In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair

711.Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head

712.Levelled his deadly aim; their fatal hands

713.No second stroke intend; and such a frown

714.Each cast at th' other as when two black clouds,

715.With heaven's artillery fraught, came rattling on

716.Over the Caspian,--then stand front to front

717.Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow

718.To join their dark encounter in mid-air.

719.So frowned the mighty combatants that Hell

720.Grew darker at their frown; so matched they stood;

721.For never but once more was wither like

722.To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds

723.Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,

724.Had not the snaky Sorceress, that sat

725.Fast by Hell-gate and kept the fatal key,

726.Risen, and with hideous outcry rushed between.

727. "O father, what intends thy hand," she cried,

728."Against thy only son? What fury, O son,

729.Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart

730.Against thy father's head? And know'st for whom?

731.For him who sits above, and laughs the while

732.At thee, ordained his drudge to execute

733.Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids--

734.His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both!"

735. She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest

736.Forbore: then these to her Satan returned:--

737. "So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange

738.Thou interposest, that my sudden hand,

739.Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds

740.What it intends, till first I know of thee

741.What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why,

742.In this infernal vale first met, thou call'st

743.Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son.

744.I know thee not, nor ever saw till now

745.Sight more detestable than him and thee."

746. T' whom thus the Portress of Hell-gate replied:--

747."Hast thou forgot me, then; and do I seem

748.Now in thine eye so foul?--once deemed so fair

749.In Heaven, when at th' assembly, and in sight

750.Of all the Seraphim with thee combined

751.In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King,

752.All on a sudden miserable pain

753.Surprised thee, dim thine eyes and dizzy swum

754.In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast

755.Threw forth, till on the left side opening wide,

756.Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright,

757.Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess armed,

758.Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized

759.All th' host of Heaven; back they recoiled afraid

760.At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign

761.Portentous held me; but, familiar grown,

762.I pleased, and with attractive graces won

763.The most averse--thee chiefly, who, full oft

764.Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing,

765.Becam'st enamoured; and such joy thou took'st

766.With me in secret that my womb conceived

767.A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose,

768.And fields were fought in Heaven: wherein remained

769.(For what could else?) to our Almighty Foe

770.Clear victory; to our part loss and rout

771.Through all the Empyrean. Down they fell,

772.Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down

773.Into this Deep; and in the general fall

774.I also: at which time this powerful key

775.Into my hands was given, with charge to keep

776.These gates for ever shut, which none can pass

777.Without my opening. Pensive here I sat

778.Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb,

779.Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown,

780.Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.

781.At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,

782.Thine own begotten, breaking violent way,

783.Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain

784.Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew

785.Transformed: but he my inbred enemy

786.Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,

787.Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out Death!

788.Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed

789.From all her caves, and back resounded Death!

790.I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems,

791.Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far,

792.Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed,

793.And, in embraces forcible and foul

794.Engendering with me, of that rape begot

795.These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry

796.Surround me, as thou saw'st--hourly conceived

797.And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

798.To me; for, when they list, into the womb

799.That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw

800.My bowels, their repast; then, bursting forth

801.Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round,

802.That rest or intermission none I find.

803.Before mine eyes in opposition sits

804.Grim Death, my son and foe, who set them on,

805.And me, his parent, would full soon devour

806.For want of other prey, but that he knows

807.His end with mine involved, and knows that I

808.Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,

809.Whenever that shall be: so Fate pronounced.

810.But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, shun

811.His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope

812.To be invulnerable in those bright arms,

813.Through tempered heavenly; for that mortal dint,

814.Save he who reigns above, none can resist."

815. She finished; and the subtle Fiend his lore

816.Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered smooth:--

817. "Dear daughter--since thou claim'st me for thy sire,

818.And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge

819.Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys

820.Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change

821.Befallen us unforeseen, unthought-of--know,

822.I come no enemy, but to set free

823.From out this dark and dismal house of pain

824.Both him and thee, and all the heavenly host

825.Of Spirits that, in our just pretences armed,

826.Fell with us from on high. From them I go

827.This uncouth errand sole, and one for all

828.Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

829.Th' unfounded Deep, and through the void immense

830.To search, with wandering quest, a place foretold

831.Should be--and, by concurring signs, ere now

832.Created vast and round--a place of bliss

833.In the purlieus of Heaven; and therein placed

834.A race of upstart creatures, to supply

835.Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed,

836.Lest Heaven, surcharged with potent multitude,

837.Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught

838.Than this more secret, now designed, I haste

839.To know; and, this once known, shall soon return,

840.And bring ye to the place where thou and Death

841.Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen

842.Wing silently the buxom air, embalmed

843.With odours. There ye shall be fed and filled

844.Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey."

845. He ceased; for both seemed highly pleased, and Death

846.Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

847.His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw

848.Destined to that good hour. No less rejoiced

849.His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire:--

850. "The key of this infernal Pit, by due

851.And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King,

852.I keep, by him forbidden to unlock

853.These adamantine gates; against all force

854.Death ready stands to interpose his dart,

855.Fearless to be o'ermatched by living might.

856.But what owe I to his commands above,

857.Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down

858.Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,

859.To sit in hateful office here confined,

860.Inhabitant of Heaven and heavenly born--

861.Here in perpetual agony and pain,

862.With terrors and with clamours compassed round

863.Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?

864.Thou art my father, thou my author, thou

865.My being gav'st me; whom should I obey

866.But thee? whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon

867.To that new world of light and bliss, among

868.The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign

869.At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems

870.Thy daughter and thy darling, without end."

871. Thus saying, from her side the fatal key,

872.Sad instrument of all our woe, she took;

873.And, towards the gate rolling her bestial train,

874.Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew,

875.Which, but herself, not all the Stygian Powers

876.Could once have moved; then in the key-hole turns

877.Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar

878.Of massy iron or solid rock with ease

879.Unfastens. On a sudden open fly,

880.With impetuous recoil and jarring sound,

881.Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate

882.Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook

883.Of Erebus. She opened; but to shut

884.Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood,

885.That with extended wings a bannered host,

886.Under spread ensigns marching, mibht pass through

887.With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;

888.So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth

889.Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.

890.Before their eyes in sudden view appear

891.The secrets of the hoary Deep--a dark

892.Illimitable ocean, without bound,

893.Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height,

894.And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night

895.And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

896.Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

897.Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.

898.For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce,

899.Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring

900.Their embryon atoms: they around the flag

901.Of each his faction, in their several clans,

902.Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow,

903.Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands

904.Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,

905.Levied to side with warring winds, and poise

906.Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere

907.He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits,

908.And by decision more embroils the fray

909.By which he reigns: next him, high arbiter,

910.Chance governs all. Into this wild Abyss,

911.The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave,

912.Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,

913.But all these in their pregnant causes mixed

914.Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,

915.Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain

916.His dark materials to create more worlds--

917.Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend

918.Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,

919.Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith

920.He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed

921.With noises loud and ruinous (to compare

922.Great things with small) than when Bellona storms

923.With all her battering engines, bent to rase

924.Some capital city; or less than if this frame

925.Of Heaven were falling, and these elements

926.In mutiny had from her axle torn

927.The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans

928.He spread for flight, and, in the surging smoke

929.Uplifted, spurns the ground; thence many a league,

930.As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides

931.Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets

932.A vast vacuity. All unawares,

933.Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb-down he drops

934.Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour

935.Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance,

936.The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud,

937.Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him

938.As many miles aloft. That fury stayed--

939.Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea,

940.Nor good dry land--nigh foundered, on he fares,

941.Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,

942.Half flying; behoves him now both oar and sail.

943.As when a gryphon through the wilderness

944.With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale,

945.Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth

946.Had from his wakeful custody purloined

947.The guarded gold; so eagerly the Fiend

948.O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,

949.With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,

950.And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.

951.At length a universal hubbub wild

952.Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused,

953.Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear

954.With loudest vehemence. Thither he plies

955.Undaunted, to meet there whatever Power

956.Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss

957.Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask

958.Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies

959.Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne

960.Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread

961.Wide on the wasteful Deep! With him enthroned

962.Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things,

963.The consort of his reign; and by them stood

964.Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name

965.Of Demogorgon; Rumour next, and Chance,

966.And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled,

967.And Discord with a thousand various mouths.

968. T' whom Satan, turning boldly, thus:--"Ye Powers

969.And Spirtis of this nethermost Abyss,

970.Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy

971.With purpose to explore or to disturb

972.The secrets of your realm; but, by constraint

973.Wandering this darksome desert, as my way

974.Lies through your spacious empire up to light,

975.Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek,

976.What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds

977.Confine with Heaven; or, if some other place,

978.From your dominion won, th' Ethereal King

979.Possesses lately, thither to arrive

980.I travel this profound. Direct my course:

981.Directed, no mean recompense it brings

982.To your behoof, if I that region lost,

983.All usurpation thence expelled, reduce

984.To her original darkness and your sway

985.(Which is my present journey), and once more

986.Erect the standard there of ancient Night.

987.Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge!"

988. Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old,

989.With faltering speech and visage incomposed,

990.Answered: "I know thee, stranger, who thou art-- ***

991.That mighty leading Angel, who of late

992.Made head against Heaven's King, though overthrown.

993.I saw and heard; for such a numerous host

994.Fled not in silence through the frighted Deep,

995.With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

996.Confusion worse confounded; and Heaven-gates

997.Poured out by millions her victorious bands,

998.Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here

999.Keep residence; if all I can will serve

1000. That little which is left so to defend,

1001. Encroached on still through our intestine broils

1002. Weakening the sceptre of old Night: first, Hell,

1003. Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath;

1004. Now lately Heaven and Earth, another world

1005. Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain

1006. To that side Heaven from whence your legions fell!

1007. If that way be your walk, you have not far;

1008. So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed;

1009. Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain."

1010. He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply,

1011. But, glad that now his sea should find a shore,

1012. With fresh alacrity and force renewed

1013. Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire,

1014. Into the wild expanse, and through the shock

1015. Of fighting elements, on all sides round

1016. Environed, wins his way; harder beset

1017. And more endangered than when Argo passed

1018. Through Bosporus betwixt the justling rocks,

1019. Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned

1020. Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steered.

1021. So he with difficulty and labour hard

1022. Moved on, with difficulty and labour he;

1023. But, he once passed, soon after, when Man fell,

1024. Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain,

1025. Following his track (such was the will of Heaven)

1026. Paved after him a broad and beaten way

1027. Over the dark Abyss, whose boiling gulf

1028. Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length,

1029. From Hell continued, reaching th' utmost orb

1030. Of this frail World; by which the Spirits perverse

1031. With easy intercourse pass to and fro

1032. To tempt or punish mortals, except whom

1033. God and good Angels guard by special grace.

1034. But now at last the sacred influence

1035. Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven

1036. Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night

1037. A glimmering dawn. Here Nature first begins

1038. Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire,

1039. As from her outmost works, a broken foe,

1040. With tumult less and with less hostile din;

1041. That Satan with less toil, and now with ease,

1042. Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light,

1043. And, like a weather-beaten vessel, holds

1044. Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn;

1045. Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,

1046. Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold

1047. Far off th' empyreal Heaven, extended wide

1048. In circuit, undetermined square or round,

1049. With opal towers and battlements adorned

1050. Of living sapphire, once his native seat;

1051. And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain,

1052. This pendent World, in bigness as a star

1053. Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.

1054. Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge,

1055. Accursed, and in a cursed hour, he hies.