Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/145

 BOOK FIRST

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��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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