We may with more fuccessful Hope refolve To wage by Force or Guile Eternal War Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,
Who now triumphs, and in th’excefs of Joy Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav'n.
So fpake th' Apoftate Angel, though in Pain, 125 Vaunting aloud, but rack'd with deep Despair: And him thus answer'd foon his bold Compeer. O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers, That led th'imbattell'd Seraphim to Warr Under thy Conduct, and in dreadful Deeds Fearlefs, endanger'd Heav'n's 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 Destruction 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 fwallow'd up in endless Misery.
But what if he our Conqu'ror (whom I now Of force believe Almighty, fince no less
Than fuch could have o'er-power'd fuch Force as ours)
Have left us this our Spirit and Strength entire Strongly to fuffer and support our Pains, That we may fo fuffice his vengeful Ire, Or do him mightier Service as his thrals
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 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 Suffering: 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 fill 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 purfuit
Back to the Gates of Heav'n: The fulphurous Hail Shot after us in Storm, o'er-blown 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, 175 Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceafes now To bellow through the vaft and boundless Deep. Let us not flip th' occafion, whether fcorn, Or fatiate fury yield it from our Foc,
Seeft thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wild, The Seat 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 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, 196 If not what refolution from defpare.
Thus Satan talking to his nearest Mate With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes That sparkiing blaz'd, his other Parts besides Prone on the Floud, extended long and large, 195 Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the Fables name of monst'rous size, Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove, Briareus 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 ftream: Him haply flumb'ring on the Norway foam, The Pilot of fome fmall night-founder'd Skiff, Deeming fome Ifland, oft, as Sea-men tell, With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind,
Moors by his Side under the Lee, while Night Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delays:
So ftreach't out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay,
Chain'd on the burning Lake, nor ever thence ZIO 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 215 Evil to others, and enrag'd might fee
How all his malice ferv'd but to bring forth Infinite goodness, grace and mercy fhewn 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 Stature; on each hand the Flames Driv'n backward flope their pointing Spires, and In Billows, leave i'th'midst a horrid Vale. [rowl'd Then with expanded Wings he fteers his flight 225. Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air
That felt unufual Weight, 'till on dry Land He lights, if it were Land that ever burn'de With folid, as the Lake with liquid fire ;- And fuch appear'd in hue, as when the force Of fubterranean Wind transports a Hill w Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd fide Of thund'ring Etna, whose combustible And fiel'd entrails thence conceiving Fire, Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid, the Winds, And leave a finged bottom all involv'd With french and fmoak: Such Refting found the Soal Of unblefs' feet. Him follow'd his next Mate, Both glorying to have 'cap'd the Stygian floud,
As Gods, and by their own recover'd ftrength, 240 Not by the Sufferance of fupernal Power.
Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime, Said then the loft Arch-Angel, this the Seat
[gloom That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful For that Celestial Light Be it fo, fince he Who now is Sov'rain can dispose and bid
What shall be right: fardest from him is best Whom Reason hath equall'd, Force hath made fu- Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields, [pream Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail Horrours, hail 250 Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Receive thy new Poffeffour: One who brings A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time. The mind is its own place, and in it self. 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 fhould be, all but lefs than he Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at leaft We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure, and in my Choice To reign is worth ambition tho' in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than ferve in Heav'n. But wherefore let we then our faithful Friends, Th' affociares and copartners of our lofs, Lye thus astonish'd on th' oblivious Pool, And call them not to fhare with us their part In this unhappy Manfion, or once more With rallied Arms to try what may be yet
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