His utmost pow'r with adverse pow'r oppos'd

In dubious battel on the plains of Heav'n gr

And fhook his throne. What tho' the field be loft? 105
All is not loft; th' unconquerable will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to fubmit or yield,
And what is elfe not to be overcome;
That glory never fhall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and fue for grace
With fuppliant knee, and deify his pow'r,
Who from the terror of this arm fo late
Doubted his empire; that were low indeed.
That were an ignominy and fhame beneath
This downfall; fince by fate the strength of Gods
And this empyreal fubftance cannot fail,
Since through experience of this great event
In arms not worse, in forefight much advanc'd,
We may with more fuccessful hope refolve
To wage by force or guile eternal war

Irréconcileable, to our grand foe,

Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of heaven.

n

120

So fpake the apoftate Angel, though in pain,:~125
Vaunting aloud, but rack'd with deep despair:
And him thus anfwer'd foon his bold compéer.
O Prince, O chief of many throned Powers
That led th' imbattel'd Seraphim to war
Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds
Fearless, endanger'd Heav'n's perpetual king,
And put to proof his high fupremacy,

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 deftruction laid thus low,
As far as Gods and heav'nly effences
Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains
Invincible, and vigor foon returns,

130

135

140 Though

A

Though all our glory extinct, and happy flater.
Here fwallow'd up in endlefs mifery.

But what if he our conqu'ror, whom I now

Of force believe almighty, fince no less

Than fuch could have o'er-pow'r'd fuch force as ours

Have left us this our spirit and ftrength entire

Strongly to fuffer and fupport our pains,
That we may fo fuffice his vengeful ire,
Or do him mightier fervice as his thralls

t

By right of war, whate'er his bufinefs 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 made
To undergo eternal punishment?

5 146

Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.

Fall'n Cherub, to be weak is miferable

Doing or fuffering: 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 seek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert that end
And out of good still to find means of evil;
Which oft-times may fucceed, so as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb

160

165

His inmost counsels from their destin'd aim.

But fee! the angry victor hath recall'd

His minifters of vengeance and perfuit

170

Back to the gates of Heav'n: the fulphurous hail

Shot after us in storm, o'er-blown hath laid
The fiery furge, that from the precipice
Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling; and the thunder
Wing'd with red lightning and impetuous rage,
Perhaps hath spent his fhafts, and ceafes now
To bellow through the vaft and boundless deep.
Let us not flip th' occafion, whether (corn,

175

Or fatiate fury yield it from our foe.

Seeft thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
The feat of defolation, void of light,
Save what the glimmering of thefe 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,
If not what refolution from despair.

Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blaz'd, his other parts befides
Prone on the flood, extended long and large
Lay floating many a rood in bulk as huge
As whom the fables name of monftrous fize,
Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove,
Briareus or Typhon, whom the den

By ancient Tarfus held, or that fea-beaft
Leviathan, which God of all his works!
Created hugeft that swim th' ocean stream:
Him haply flumb'ring on the Norway foam
The pilot of fome fmall night-founder'd fkiff
Deeming fome ifland, oft, as sea-men tell,
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind

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185

190

195

200

205

Moors by his fide under the lee, while night
Inveft the fea, and wifhed morn delays:

So stretch'd out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay,
Chain'd on the burning lake, nor ever thence

210

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

Eyil to others, and enrag'd might fee

How

220

3

225

How all his malice ferv'd but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy fhown."
On Man by him feduc'd, but on himself..
Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool
His mighty ftature; on each hand the flames
Driv'n backward flope their pointing fpires, and roll'a
In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid vale.
Then with expanded wings he fteers his flight
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air
That felt unufual weight, till on dry land
He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd
With folid, as the lake with liquid fire; ne us
And fuch appear'd in hue, as when the force
Of fubterranean wind transports a hill
Torn from Pelorus, or the fhatter'd fide
Of thund'ring Aetna, whofe combustible
And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire,
Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds,
And leave a finged bottom all involv'de
With stench and smoke; Such refting found the fole
Of unbleft feet. Him follow'd his next mate,
Both glorying to have 'fcap'd the Stygian flood:
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength,
Not by the fufferance of fupernal Power.

Is this the region, this the foil, the clime,
Said then the loft Arch-Angel, this the feat

230%.

235

240

That we must change for heav'n, this mournful gloom

For that celeftial light? Be it fo, fince he

Who now is fov'rain can difpofe and bid

What fhall be right: fartheft from him is beft,
Whom reafon equall'd, force hath made fupreme
Above his equals.. Farewell happy fields,
Where joy for ever dwells! Hail horrors! hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new poffeffor; one who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself

A 5

Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
What matter where, if I be still 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 Heaven.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends
Th' affociates and copartners of our lofs,
Lie thus aftonish'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 yeter

255

en 260

265

Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell? 270 So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub

Thus answer'd. Leader of thofe armies bright,
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foil'd,

If once they hear that voice, their livelieft pledge.
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge
Of battel when it rag'd, in all assaults
Their fureft fignal, they will foon resume
New courage and revive, tho' now they lie
Groveling and proftrate on yon lake of fire,42
As we ere while, astounded and amaz’d,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicous height.

He fcarce had ceas'd when the fuperior Fiend

275

280

285

Was moving toward the fhore; his pond'rous shield,
Ethereal temper, maffy, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad circumference
Hung on his fhoulders like the Moon, whofe orb
Through optic glafs the Tufcan artift views
At evening from the top of Fefolé,

Or in Valdarno, to defcry new lands,
Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.
His fpear, to equal which the tallest pine

290

Hewn