Reduc'd their shapes immense; and were at large,›
Though without number still, amidst the hall
Of that infernal court. But far within.
And in their own dimensions like themselves,
The great Saraphic lords, and cherubim,
In close recess and secret conclave sat;
Athousand demi-gods on golden seats.
Frequent and full! After short silence then,
And summons read, the great consult began.
The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle is to be hazarded for the recovery of heaven: some advise it, others dissuade. A third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or tradition in heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature, equal, or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created: their doubt who hall be sent on this difficult search: Satan, their chief, undertakes alone the voyage; is houred and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways, and to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. passes on his journey to hell gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the great gulf be tween hell and heaven: with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought.
HIGH on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind;
Or where the gorgeous east with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold.
Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence: and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high; insatiate to pursue
Vain war with heaven; and by success untaught, His proud imaginations thus display'd·
"Powers, and dominions, deities of heaven' (For since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigour, though oppress'd and fallen, I give not heaven for lost from this descent Celestial virtues rising, will appear
More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
And trust themselves to fear no second fate.)
Me, though just right and the fix'd laws of heaven
Did first create your leader; next free choice;
With what besides, in council or in fight
Hath been achiev'd of merit: yet this loss
Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more
Establish'd in a safe unenvied throne,
Yielded with full consent. The happier state
In heaven, which follows dignity, might draw
Envy from each inferior: but who here
Will envy whom the highest place exposes
Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim,
Your bulwark; and condemns to greatest share
Of endless pain? Where there is then no good 30
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there
From faction: for none sure will claim in hell
Precedence; none, whose portion is so small
Of present pain, that with ambitious mind
Will covet more! with this advantage then
To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,
More than can be in heaven, we now return
To claim our just inheritance of old,
Surer to prosper than prosperity
Could have assur'd us; and by what best way,
Whether of open war, or covert guile,
We now debate: who can advise may speak."
He ceas'd; and next him Moloch, sceptred king, Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit That fought in heaven, now fiercer by despair: 45 His trust was with th' Eternal to be deem'd Equal in strength, and rather than be less, Cared not to be at all; with that care iost Went all his fear of God, or hell, or worse, He reck'd not; and these words thereafter spake
66 'My sentence is for open war; of wiles, More unexpert, I boast not: them let those Contrive who need; or when they need, not now
For while they sit contriving, shall the rest,
Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait
The signal to ascend, sit ling'ring here
Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place
Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame,
The prison of his tyranny who reigns
No! let us rather choose,
Arm'd with hell-flames and fury, all at once
O'er heaven's high towers to force resistless way
Turning our tortures into horrid arms
Against the Torturer: when to meet the noise
Of his Almighty engine he shall hear
Infernal thunder; and, for lightning, see
Black fire and horror shot with equal rage
Among his angels: and his throne itself
Mix'd with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire,
His own invented torments.-But, perhaps,
The way seems difficult and steep, to scale
With upright wing against a higher foe -
Let such bethink them, (if the sleepy drench
Of that forgetful lake benumb not still,)
That in our proper motion we ascend
Up to our native seat: descent and fall
To us is adverse. Who but felt of late,
When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear
Insulting, and pursu'd us through the deep,
With what compulsion, and laborious flight
We sunk thus low? Th' ascent is easy then;
Th' event is fear'd; should we again provoke
Our strenger, some worse way his wrath may find
To our destruction (if there be in hell
Fear to be worse destroy'd,) What can be worse 85
Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemn'd
In this abhorred deep to utter wo!
Where pair of unextinguishable fire
Must exercise us, without hope of end,
The vassals of his arger, when the scourge
Inexorably, and the torturing hour,
Calls us to penance? more destroy'd than thus,
We should be quite abolish'd, and expire.
What fear we then? what doubt we to incense
His utmost ire? which to the height enrag'd,
Will either quite consume us, and reduce
To nothing this essential; happier far,
Than miserable to have eternal being;
Or if our substance be indeed divine,
And cannot cease to be, we are at worst
On this side nothing: and by proof we feel
Our power sufficient to disturb his heaven,
And with perpetual inroads to alarm,
Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:
Which, if not victory, is yet revenge."
He ended frowning, and his look denounc'd
Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous
To less than gods. On th' other side uprose
Belial, in act more graceful and humane:
A fairer person lost not heaven; he seem'd
For dignity compos'd, and high exploit:
But all was false and hollow: though his tongue
Dropp'd manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low: 115
To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds
Timorous and slothful: yet he pleas'd the ear
And with persuasive accents thus began:
"I should be much for open war, O peers,
As not behind in hate, if what was urg'd
Main reason to persuade imrvediate war,
Did not dissuade me most; and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success;
When he who most excels in fact of arms,
In what he counsels, and in what excels,
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair,
And utter dissolution, as the scope
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
First, what revenge? The towers of heaven are fill'd With armed watch, that render all access
Impregnable: oft on the bordering deep
Encamp their legions; or with obscure wing,
Scout far and wide into the realm of night,
Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way
By force, and at our heels all hell should rise
With blackest insurrection, to confound
Heaven's purest light; yet our great enemy,
All incorruptible, would on his throne
Sit unpolluted; and th' ethereal mould
Incapable of stain, would soon expel
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire,
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