The aming some island, ost, as seamen teli, 205
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side under the lec, while night
Invests the sea, and wished morn delays:
So stretch'd our huge in length the Archfiend 'ay.
Chain’d on the burning lake: nor ever thence 216
llad risen, or heaved his head; but that the will
And high permission 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 sought 215
Evil to others; and, enraged, might see
How all his malice served but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shown
On Man by him seduced; but on himself
Treb'e confusion, wrath, and vengeance, pour'd. 220
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty stature : on each hand the flames,
Driven backward, slope their pointing spires, and rell'
In billows, leave i’ the niidst a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight

225
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 solid, as the lake with liquid fire :
And such appear'd in hue, as when the force 230
Of subterranean wind transports a hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd side
Of thundering Ætna, whos: combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving firo,
Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,

235 And leave a singed bottom all involved With stench and smoke: such resting found tho solo Of unbless'd feet. Him follow'd his next mate : Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian food As Gods, and by their own recorcr'd strength, 249 Vot by the sufferance of supernal Povrer.

Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,

Said thic a the lost Archangel, this the seat
That we must rhange for Heaven; this mournful glooma
For that celestial light? Be it so! since he, 245
Who cow is Sov'reign, can dispose and bid
What shall be right: furthest from him is best,
Whom reason hath equal'd, force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells! Hail horrors! hail, 250
Infernal world! And thou, profoundest Hell,
Receive thy new possessor! one who brings
A mind not to be changed by place or time :
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. 257
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be ; all but less than he
Whom thunder hath made greater ? Ilere at least
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy; will not drive us hence : 200
Here we may reign secure, and, in my choico,
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,
The associates and copartners of our loss

265 Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool, And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy mansion; or once more With rallied arms to try what may be yet legain'd in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell? 270

So Satan spake; and nin Beelzebub Thus answer'd. Leader of those armies bright, Which but the Omnipotent none could have foild! If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge Oi' hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft 275 in worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Of battic when it raged, in all assaults Their surest signal, they will soon resume New courage and revive; though now they lio Groveling and prostrate on yon le ke of fire, 284

As we erewhile, astounded and amazed :
No wonder, fallen such a pernicious height.

Ho sca.ce had ceased, when the superior Fiend
Was moving toward the shore: his ponderous shield,
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, 282
Behind him cast; the broad circumference
llung on his shoulders like the nioon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At Evening from the top of Fcsolé,
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,

200 Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. His spear, to equal which the tallest pine Ilcwn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast Of some great ammiral, werc !ut a wand, He walk'd witli, to support uneasy steps

205 Over the burning marle, not like those steps On Heaven's azure; and the torrid clime Smote on him sorc besides, vaulted with fire: Nathless he so endured, till on the beach Of that inflamed sca he stood, and callid

360 His legions, Angel forms, who lay entranced Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooke, In Vallambrosa, where the Etrurian shades, High overarchd, imbower; or scatter'd sedge Aloat, when with fierce winds Orion arm’d Hoth vex'd the Red Scacoast, whose waves o'ertl.rew Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, who behold From the safe shore their floating carcasses

319 And broken chariot whicels : so thick bestrown, Abject and lost lay these, covering the food, Under amazement of their hideous change. lle callid so loud, that all the hollow deep Uf liell resounded ! Princes, Potentates, Warriors, the flower of Heaven' once yours, now losta If such astonishment as this can jejzo Eternal Spirits; or have ye chosen this place

311

After the toil of battle to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you tind 320
To slumber here, as in tlie vales of Heaven?
Or in this abject posture have yo sworn
To adore the Conqueror! who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rolling in the food,
With scatter'd arms and cnsigns; till anon

325 llis swist pursuers from Heaven gates discern The advantage, and descending, tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf. Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!

330 They hcard, and were abash’d, and up they sprung Open the wing; as when men wont to watch On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, Rorise und bestir themselves cre well awake. Nor did they not perceive the cvil plight

335 In which they ivere, nor the fierce pains not feol; l’et to their General's voice they soon obey'd, Innumerable. As when the potent rod Of Amram's son, in Egypt's cvil day, Waved round the coast, up callid a pitchy cloud 340 Of locusts, warping or the eastern wind, That o'cr the realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nilo So numberless were those bad Angels soen Hovering on winy under the cope of Hell, 343 "Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires, Till, as a signal given, the uplifted spear Of their great Sultan, waving to direct Their course, in even balance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain; 358 A multitude, like which the populous North Pour'd never from her frozen loirs, to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons Came like a deluge on the South, and spread Baneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands. Forthwith fron every squadron, and cach band,

The heads and leaders thither haste where stood
Their great Coinmander; Godlike shapes, and forme
Excelling human; princely Dignities;
And Powers that crst in Heaven sat on thrones; 360
Though of their names in heavenly records now
Be no memoria!; blotted out and rased
By their rebellion from the bock of life.
Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve

364
Got them new names; till, wandering o'er the earth,
Through God's high sufferance for the trial of man,
By fulsities and lies the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forsake
God their creator, and the invisible
Glory of him that made them to transforma 370
Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd
With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
And Devils to adore for Deities :
Then were they known to men by various names
And various idols through the Heathen world. 375
Say, Muse, their names then known; who first, who last,
Roused from the slumber, on that fiory couch,
At their great Emperor's call, as next in worth
Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,
While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. 350
The chief were those, who from the pit of Hell
Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix
Their seats long after next the seat of God,
Their altars by his altar; Gods adored
Among the nations round: and durs! abide 385
Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned
Betwcen the cherubim; yea, often placed
Within liis sanctuary itself their shrines,
Abominations; and with cursed things
Ulis holy rites and solemn foasts profaned,

39 And with their darkness durst affront his light. First, Moloch, horrid king, besmcard with Llood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tcars ; "Inough, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,