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, enrag'd, might see
How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown
On Man by him seduc'd; but on himself
Treble confusion, 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 slope their pointing spires, and
In billows, leave i' th' midst 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 thund'ring Ætna, whose combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublim'd with min'ral fury, aid the winds, 235
And leave a singed bottom all involv❜d
With stench and smoke :-such resting found the
Him follow'd his next mate, Both glorying to have 'scap'd the Stygian flood
As gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 240 Not by the suff'rance of supernal Pow'r.
Is this the region, this the soil, the clime, Said then the lost Arch-angel, this the seat That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom
For that celestial light? Be' it so, since he 245 Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best, Whom reas'on hath equall'd, force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewel 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 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 still the same,
And what I should be, all but less than he
Whom thunder had made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy-will not drive us hence: 260
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th' associates and copartners of our loss,
Lie this astonish'd on th' 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
Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell? 270
So Satan spake, and him Beëlzebub
Thus answer'd. Leader of those armies bright!
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foil'd,
If once they hear that voice-their liveliest pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft 275
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battel when it rag'd, in all assaults
Their surest signal-they will soon resume
New courage and revive, though now they lie
Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, 280
(As we ere while) astounded and amaz'd,
No wonder! fall'n such a pernicious highth.
He scarce had ceas'd, when the superior Fiend Was moving tow'ard the shore; his pond'rous shield,
Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,
Behind him cast; the broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening from the top of Fesolé,
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe:
His spear, to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great ammiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to support uneasy steps
Over the burning marle (not like those steps
On Heaven's azure) and the torrid clime
Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire:
Nathless he so indur'd, till on the beach
Of that inflamed sea he stood, and call'd
His legions, angel forms, who lay intranc'd
Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks
In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades
High over-arch'd imbow'r; or scatter'd sedge
Aflote, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd 305
Hath vex'd the Red-sea coast, whose waves o'er-
threw
Busiris and his Memphian chivalry,
While with perfidious hatred they pursued
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the safe shore their floting carcases
And broken chariot wheels, so thick bestrown
Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood,
Under amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep
Of Hell resounded. Princes! Potentates! 315
Warriors! the flow'r of Heav'n! once yours, now
lost,
If such astonishment as this can seize
Eternal spi'rits; or have you chos'n this place
After the toil of battel to repose
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find
To slumber here, as in the vales of Heav'n?
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
To' adore the Conqueror! who now beholds
Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood
With scatter'd arms and 'ensigns, till anon
His swift pursuers from Heav'n gates discern
Th' 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 fall'n.
They heard, and were abash'd, and up they
Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch
On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,
Rouse and bestir 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 soon obey'd
Innumerable. As when the potent rod
Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day,
Wav'd round the coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud
Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,
341
That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile :
So numberless were those bad angels seen
Hov'ring on wing under the cope of Hell
'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires ;
Till, as a signal giv'n, th' 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; 350
A multitude, like which the pop'lous North
Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barb'rous sonS
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