BOOK FIRST
��103
��The infernal Serpent; he it was whose
guile,
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind, what time his
pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all
his host
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most
High, 40
If he opposed, and, with ambitious aim Against the throiie and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heaven and battle
proud, With vain attempt. Him the Almighty
Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal
sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day
and night 50
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew, Lay vanquished, rowling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, though immortal. But his
doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the
thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him: round he throws his baleful
eyes,
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay, Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast
hate.
At once, as far as Angel's ken, he views The dismal situation waste and wild. 60 A dungeon Jiorrible, on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed; yet from
those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible Served onely to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where
peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all, but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur uncousumed. Such place Eternal Justice had prepared For those rebellious; here their prison or- dained 71 In utter darkness, and their portion set,
��As far removed from God and light of Heaven
As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole.
Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!
There the companions of his fall, o'er- whelmed
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He soon discerns; and, weltering by his side,
One next himself in power, and next in crime, .- 79
Long after known in Palestine, and named
BEELZEBUB. To whom the Arch-Enemy,
And thence in Heaven called SATAN, with bold words
Breaking the horrid silence, thus began: " If thou beest he -but Oh how fallen 1 how changed
From him ! who, in the happy realms of light,
Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine
Myriads, though bright if he whom mu- tual league,
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,
Joined with me once, now nlisery hath joined 90
In equal ruin; into what pit thou seest
From what highth fallen: so much the stronger proved
He with his thunder: and till then who
knew
4The force of those dire arms ? Yet not for those,
Nor what the potent Victor in his rage
Can else inflict, do I repent, or change,
Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind,
And high disdain from sense of injured merit,
That with the Mightiest raised me to con- tend,
And to the fierce contention brought along 100
Innumerable force of Spirits armed,
That durst dislike his reign, and, me pre- ferring,
His utmost power with adverse power op- posed
In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven,
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