THE ARGUMENT.—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 shall be sent on this difficult search: Satan, their chief, undertakes
alone the voyage; is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest
betake them several ways and to several imployments, as their inclinations lead
them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He 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 between 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.
tl;dr Satan basically holds a "debate/discussion" about what to do to get even with Heaven. Satan eventually suggests going after God's special creatures in Eden. Overall, Satan is going to do what he wants regardless of how everyone in Hell feels.
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HIGH on a throne of royal state, which far | Satan was sitting on his throne | |
Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, | which was a lot nicer and fancier | |
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand | than any other chair on the market. | |
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, | ||
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised |
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Satan finally felt like a "King." |
To that bad eminence; and, from despair | ||
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires | He felt as though he deserved everything about | |
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue | his status, but being the prideful jerk he was, he wanted more | |
Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught, | Instead of learning from his mistake of warring with Heaven, he wanted to fight again. | |
His proud imaginations thus displayed:— |
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He decided to let his buddies know what was on his mind. |
“Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven!— | "Hey you guys, so we're finally like our own bosses now | |
For, since no deep within her gulf can hold | down here. We've still go our immortal power and nothing can stop us even though we're in Hell. | |
Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen, | ||
I give not Heaven for lost: from this descent | I'm not giving up on getting even with Heaven. | |
Celestial Virtues rising will appear |
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I'm pretty confident we can rise up, even more glorious than before. |
More glorious and more dread than from no fall, | Heaven is going to fear us as long | |
And trust themselves to fear no second fate!— | as we aren't scared of losing again. | |
Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven, | I am your true leader. | |
Did first create your leader—next, free choice, | We have free will, and we can do what we want. | |
With what besides in council or in fight |
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Hath been achieved of merit—yet this loss, | What we have accomplished so far has given us honor and glory. | |
Thus far at least recovered, hath much more | We're back now, | |
Established in a safe, unenvied throne, | and we're in a safer place that we can call our home | |
Yielded with full consent. The happier state | Those who rule in Heaven might be envied, | |
In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw |
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Envy from each inferior; but who here | but who is going to envy those who rule in Hell? | |
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 |
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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, |
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To union, and firm faith, and firm accord, | We are more firmly united | |
More than can be in Heaven, we now return | than we could ever be in Heaven. Now we can | |
To claim our just inheritance of old, | fight for what is ours. | |
Surer to prosper than prosperity | ||
Could have assured us; and by what best way, |
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Whether of open war or covert guile, | Now it's all a matter of how we want to fight. Will it be all out war or will it be something more covert and sneaky? | |
We now debate. Who can advise may speak.” | Does anyone have any good ideas?" | |
He ceased; and next him Moloch, sceptred king, | After Satan was done speaking, Moloch | |
Stood up—the strongest and the fiercest Spirit | stood up, he was the strongest and fiercest | |
That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair. |
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Angel that fought in Heaven. He was stronger now because of his pain. |
His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed | Moloch wanted to be as strong as God. | |
Equal in strength, and rather than be less | To be an equal, instead of being inferior. | |
Cared not to be at all; with that care lost | He was willing to risk everything for that chance | |
Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse, | ||
He recked not, and these words thereafter spake:— |
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He was also stern in his contribution to the counsel when he said: |
“My sentence is for open war. Of wiles, | "I vote for war. Because I don't know about using trickery | |
More unexpert, I boast not: them let those | on the battlefield. Those of you who want to plan and | |
Contrive who need, or when they need; not now. | conspire, you can do that on your own time! | |
For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest— | ||
Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait |
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Do you really expect us to wait while we make plans? |
The signal to ascend—sit lingering here, | Waiting for the time to strike? | |
Heaven’s fugitives, and for their dwelling-place | ||
Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame, | ||
The prison of His tyranny who reigns | Why should we let God even continue to reign | |
By our delay? No! let us rather choose, |
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because we're delaying our attack. The time to attack is now! |
Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once | With full force all at once! | |
O’er Heaven’s high towers to force resistless way, | ||
Turning our tortures into horrid arms | We can turn our pain and anguish and direct it to our enemies on the battlefield | |
Against the torturer; when, to meet the noise | against God. | |
Of his almighty engine, he shall hear |
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Infernal thunder, and, for lightning, see | ||
Black fire and horror shot with equal rage | ||
Among his Angels and his throne itself | ||
Mixed with Tartarean sulphur and strange fire, | ||
His own invented torments. But perhaps |
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The way seems difficult, and steep to scale | It may seem hard right now, but | |
With upright wing against a higher foe! | we still have the advantage of taking them | |
Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench | by surprise. | |
Of that forgetful lake benumb not still, | ||
That in our proper motion we ascend |
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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 pursued us through the Deep, | ||
With what compulsion and laborious flight |
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We sunk thus low? The ascent is easy, then; | ||
The event is feared! Should we again provoke | Are you all afraid to make God and Heaven angry again? | |
Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find | Seriously, what more can he do to us. We're already in | |
To our destruction, if there be in Hell | the worst place. We're already in Hell! | |
Fear to be worse destroyed! What can be worse |
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What is worse than this anyway? |
Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemned | ||
In this abhorred deep to utter woe; | ||
Where pain of unextinguishable fire | Where there is endless pain | |
Must exercise us without hope of end | ||
The vassals of his anger, when the scourge |
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And we are at the mercy of Hell's devices. |
Inexorably, and the torturing hour, | ||
Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus, | Really, how much more worse can things get? | |
We should be quite abolished, and expire. | If he ends up killing us, he can do that then. | |
What fear we then? what doubt we to incense | ||
His utmost ire? which, to the highth enraged, |
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Will either quite consume us, and reduce | ||
To nothing this essential—happier far | If we do die, then it'll be better than | |
Than miserable to have eternal being!— | being here forever. | |
Or, if our substance be indeed Divine, | And hey, if we really are immortal and cannot be destroyed | |
And cannot cease to be, we are at worst |
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On this side nothing; and by proof we feel | then we can use that to our advantage | |
Our power sufficient to disturb his Heaven, | and harass Heaven | |
And with perpetual inroads to alarm, | with repeated attacks forever! | |
Though inaccessible, his fatal Throne: | ||
Which, if not victory, is yet revenge.” |
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If we don't achieve victory, at least we'll have our revenge." |
He ended frowning, and his look denounced | When Moloch finished, his face braced for opposing opinions. | |
Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous | ||
To less than gods. On the other side up rose | The next to speak was Belial. He was good at acting | |
Belial, in act more graceful and humane. | graceful | |
A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed |
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and he was also handsome |
For dignity composed, and high exploit. | ||
But all was false and hollow, though his tongue | but he was a good con artist. | |
Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear | ||
The better reason, to perplex and dash | ||
Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low— |
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To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds | He was decietful and | |
Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear, | lazy. His voice was pleasing to the ear, and | |
And with persuasive accent thus began:— | persuasive. He began to speak | |
“I should be much for open war, O Peers, | "War sounds good and all, but | |
As not behind in hate, if what was urged |
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Main reason to persuade immediate 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, | our best warrior | |
In what he counsels and in what excels |
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Moloch seems like he is basing everything |
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair | on despair and | |
And utter dissolution, as the scope | ||
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge. | hope to accomplish revenge. | |
First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are filled | First of all, what revenge? How can we even think of | |
With armèd watch, that render all access |
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revenge when Heaven is surrounded by guards |
Impregnable: oft on the bordering Deep | ||
Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing | ||
Scout far and wide into the realm of Night, | and scouts that patrol the furthest borders. | |
Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way | There's no way we have the element of surprise on our side | |
By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise |
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With blackest insurrection to confound | ||
Heaven’s purest light, yet our great Enemy, | ||
All incorruptible, would on his throne | I doubt we could even touch Heaven again | |
Sit unpolluted, and the ethereal mould, | ||
Incapable of stain, would soon expel |
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And we'd just get thrown back into Hell as if nothing happened. |
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire, | ||
Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope | Would our last hope be to | |
Is flat despair: we must exasperate | ||
The Almighty Victor to spend all his rage: | make God angry enough to | |
And that must end us; that must be our cure— |
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finally just destroy us? |
To be no more. Sad cure! for who would lose, | No. I don't want to die. Who would want that? | |
Though full of pain, this intellectual being, | ||
Those thoughts that wander through eternity, | ||
To perish rather, swallowed up and lost | ||
In the wide womb of uncreated Night, |
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Devoid of sense and motion? and who knows, | Even if we did want death | |
Let this be good, whether our angry Foe | ||
Can give it, or will ever? How he can | I don't think God would kill us. | |
Is doubtful; that he never will is sure. | ||
Will He, so wise, let loose at once his ire, |
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God is too smart |
Belike through impotence or unaware, | ||
To give his enemies their wish, and end | to give us what we want. | |
Them in his anger whom his anger saves | Because you see, God wants to keep us alive | |
To punish endless? ‘Wherefore cease we, then?’ | so he can punish us forever. | |
Say they who counsel war; ‘we are decreed, |
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Reserved, and destined to eternal woe; | ||
Whatever doing, what can we suffer more, | And you know what, whatever we do we can't make things worse. | |
What can we suffer worse?’ Is this, then, worst— | Is this the worst thing right now? | |
Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms? | We're here sitting around and talking, and we even still have our weapons. | |
What when we fled amain, pursued and strook |
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Remember when we were |
With Heaven’s afflicting thunder, and besought | bombarded with Heaven's thunder? | |
The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed | I'd say that this Hell | |
A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay | is like a kind of refuge from those bolts. Or what about | |
Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse. | being chained to that lake? That was worse. | |
What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, |
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And what about those flames around us, |
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage, | what if they exploded and covered all of us | |
And plunge us in the flames; or from above | in fire? | |
Should intermitted vengeance arm again | ||
His red right hand to plague us? What if all | You know God can just | |
Her stores were opened, and this firmament |
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Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire, | raise a storm and | |
Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall | ruin us again | |
One day upon our heads; while we perhaps, | even as we plan our war | |
Designing or exhorting glorious war, | ||
Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled. |
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Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey | we can very well end up | |
Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk | ||
Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains, | chained to the burning lake forever. | |
There to converse with everlasting groans, | ||
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved, |
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Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse. | Now that would be worse. | |
War, therefore, open or concealed, alike | I guess what I'm saying is, I'm against another war, be it open | |
My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile | or concealed through trickery. | |
With Him, or who deceive His mind, whose eye | Especially with God, he sees everything. | |
Views all things at one view? He from Heaven’s highth |
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He could probably be watching |
All these our motions vain sees and derides, | us right now. And laughing at our plans. | |
Not more almighty to resist our might | He isn't just stronger than us | |
Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. | but he can get in our minds. | |
Shall we, then, live thus vile—the race of Heaven | So let's just accept our new home. | |
Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here |
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Chains and these torments? Better these than worse | It's better that we have these horrors than whatever God might have planned for us if we plan on attacking again. | |
By my advice; since fate inevitable | ||
Subdues us, and omnipotent decree, | We can't fight this, because this is our fate. | |
The Victor’s will. To suffer, as to do, | We have to suffer. | |
Our strength is equal; nor the law unjust |
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If we are strong enough to fight, we should be strong enough to |
That so ordains. This was at first resolved, | take the consequences. | |
If we were wise, against so great a foe | ||
Contending, and so doubtful what might fall. | ||
I laugh when those who at the spear are bold | It's funny that fighters can be so brave yet | |
And ventrous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear |
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they act surprised when they find out |
What yet they know must follow—to endure | that they have to | |
Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain, | suffer consequences if they | |
The sentence of their conqueror. This is now | end up losing. We lost. | |
Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear, | If we just shut up and accept our defeat | |
Our Supreme Foe in time may such remit |
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then maybe God will leave us alone |
His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed, | He might forget about us | |
Not mind us not offending, satisfied | and be satisfied with the results. | |
With what is punished; whence these raging fires | ||
Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. | ||
Our purer essence then will overcome |
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Their noxious vapour; or, inured, not feel; | ||
Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed | We could get used to it down here and be just fine. | |
In temper and in nature, will receive | ||
Familiar the fierce heat; and void of pain, | ||
This horror will grow mild, this darkness light; |
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Besides what hope the never-ending flight | We don't know what the future | |
Of future days may bring, what chance, what change | will bring. Things may be different. But it | |
Worth waiting—since our present lot appears | is worth the wait I think. | |
For happy though but ill, for ill not worst, | Let's just wait and see what happens, I don't | |
If we procure not to ourselves more woe.” |
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want to make things worse." |
Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason’s garb, | Belial stopped his speech. | |
Counselled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth, | It was a lazy contribution from him. | |
Not peace; and after him thus Mammon spake:— | Mammon stepped up to speak. | |
“Either to disinthrone the King of Heaven | ||
We war, if war be best, or to regain |
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"Our chances of winning are slim if we did engage in war again. |
Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then | ||
May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield | ||
To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife. | ||
The former, vain to hope, argues as vain | and there is no point in hoping for the best. | |
The latter; for what place can be for us |
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If we want to regain |
Within Heaven’s bound, unless Heaven’s Lord Supreme | what we have lost | |
We overpower? Suppose he should relent, | we might have to fight for it. | |
And publish grace to all, on promise made | What if God forgives us if we promise to worship him | |
Of new subjection; with what eyes could we | ||
Stand in his presence humble, and receive |
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Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne | and follow his laws | |
With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing | sing and praise him | |
Forced Halleluiahs, while he lordly sits | ||
Our envied sovran, and his altar breathes | ||
Ambrosial odours and ambrosial flowers, |
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and bring him flowers? |
Our servile offerings? This must be our task | ||
In Heaven, this our delight. How wearisome | ||
Eternity so spent in worship paid | I wouldn't want to spend an eternity doing that. | |
To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue, | Especially for someone that we hate. Let's forget about | |
By force impossible, by leave obtained |
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trying to wage a war that we know we can't win |
Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state | and forget about trying to get back into Heave | |
Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek | just to be enslaved yet again. | |
Our own good from ourselves, and from our own | ||
Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess, | Let's make the best of what we have here. | |
Free and none accountable, preferring |
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It's better to be |
Hard liberty before the easy yoke | free and liberated here than to be slaves in Heaven. | |
Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear | I'd say, it's more impressive if we end up thriving | |
Then most conspicuous when great things of small, | under these poor conditions. | |
Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse, | ||
We can create, and in what place soe’er |
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Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain | ||
Through labour and indurance. This deep world | There's really | |
Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst | nothing so terrible about this darkness in Hell. | |
Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven’s all-ruling Sire | ||
Choose to reside, his glory unobscured, |
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And with the majesty of darkness round | ||
Covers his throne, from whence deep thunders roar, | ||
Mustering their rage, and Heaven resembles Hell! | ||
As He our darkness, cannot we His light | God can create darkness out of light. | |
Imitate when we please? This desart soil |
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Why can't we do the same and create light out of darkness? |
Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold; | We found riches under this ground | |
Nor want we skill or art from whence to raise | and we can build great things. | |
Magnificence; and what can Heaven shew more? | What does Heaven have to offer more than all of this? | |
Our torments also may, in length of time, | I'm sure, that in due time | |
Become our elements, these piercing fires |
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these painful flames |
As soft as now severe, our temper changed | won't hurt as much | |
Into their temper; which must needs remove | ||
The sensible of pain. All things invite | and we will get used to Hell. | |
To peaceful counsels, and the settled state | Let's instead find ways to | |
Of order, how in safety best we may |
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make things better down here |
Compose our present evils, with regard | and improve our conditions. | |
Of what we are and where, dismissing quite | ||
All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise.” | Let's just forget about war altogether." | |
He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled | When he had finished speaking, there was murmuring | |
The assembly as when hollow rocks retain |
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coming from everyone. |
The sound of blustering winds, which all night long | ||
Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull | ||
Seafaring men o’erwatched, whose bark by chance, | ||
Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay | ||
After the tempest. Such applause was heard |
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It seemed as though everyone was pleased by the speech. |
As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased, | ||
Advising peace: for such another field | The concept of peace and not going to war | |
They dreaded worse than Hell; so much the fear | was enough for them. | |
Of thunder and the sword of Michaël | ||
Wrought still within them; and no less desire |
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Although they were still a bit mad, |
To found this nether empire, which might rise, | they were looking forward to building their own empire in | |
By policy and long process’ of time, | Hell that would | |
In emulation opposite to Heaven. | maybe someday match Heaven. | |
Which when Beëlzebub perceived—than whom, | Beelzebub | |
Satan except, none higher sat—with grave |
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who was next in rank to Satan |
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed | stood up. | |
A pillar of state. Deep on his front engraven | ||
Deliberation sat, and public care; | ||
And princely counsel in his face yet shon, | He had a concerned look on his face. | |
Majestic, though in ruin. Sage he stood, |
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With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear | ||
The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look | ||
Drew audience and attention still as night | The audience became silent in anticipation. | |
Or summer’s noontide air, while thus he spake:— | ||
“Thrones and Imperial Powers, Offspring of Heaven, |
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"Imperial Powers...Sons of Heaven... |
Ethereal Virtues! or these titles now | ||
Must we renounce, and, changing style, be called | or should I say | |
Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote | Princes of Hell? If that's what you want to be called. | |
Inclines—here to continue, and build up here | It seems like all of you want to build an ideal empire | |
A growing empire; doubtless! while we dream; |
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down here. |
And know not that the king of Heaven hath doomed | ||
This place our dungeon—not our safe retreat | Don't forget that we are still captives here, and this shouldn't | |
Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt | be considered a safe retreat away from | |
From Heaven’s high jurisdiction, in new league | Heaven and God's law. | |
Banded against his throne, but to remain |
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In strictest bondage, though thus far removed, | ||
Under the inevitable curb, reserved | ||
His captive multitude. For He, be sure, | God is not going to | |
In highth of depth, still first and last will reign | ||
Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part |
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give up any part of his kingdom, |
By our revolt, but over Hell extend | ||
His empire, and with iron sceptre rule | or any of the power that he still has over us. | |
Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven, | ||
What sit we then projecting peace and war? | Why are we here debating war and peace? | |
War hath determined us and foiled with loss |
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We already fought and we already lost. |
Irreparable; terms of peace yet none | There are no terms of peace. | |
Voutsafed or sought; for what peace will be given | ||
To us enslaved, but custody severe, | We are slaves now, and we are at the mercy of | |
And stripes and arbitrary punishment | his punishment. | |
Inflicted? and what peace can we return, |
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But, to out power, hostility and hate, | In return all we can do is give | |
Untamed reluctance, and revenge, though slow, | him our hate | |
Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least | and eventual revenge. We will never stop plotting our | |
May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice | ways to get back at Heaven. | |
In doing what we most in suffering feel? |
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Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need | We don't have to try | |
With dangerous expedition to invade | the impossible by | |
Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege, | invading Heaven. | |
Or ambush from the Deep. What if we find | ||
Some easier enterprise? There is a place |
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There may be an easier way. |
(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven | If the prophecy in Heaven | |
Err not)—another World, the happy seat | is true, | |
Of some new rave, called Man, about this time | There's another world and a creature called Man that might have been created by now. | |
To be created like to us, though less | Man would be like us, but a lot less powerful. | |
In power and excellence, but favoured more |
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But God would love Man more than |
Of Him who rules above; so was His will | the Angels. | |
Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath | ||
That shook Heaven’s whole circumference confirmed. | ||
Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn | We should find out more about these new creatures. | |
What creatures there inhabit, of what mould |
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Or substance, how endued, and what their power | ||
And where their weakness; how attempted best, | ||
By force or subtlety. Though Heaven be shut, | Heaven may be out of our reach, but | |
And Heaven’s high Arbitrator sit secure | ||
In his own strength, this place may lie exposed, |
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This new world may be less defended. |
The utmost border of his kingdom, left | ||
To their defence who hold it: here, perhaps, | It may be easier to infiltrate. | |
Some advantageous act may be achieved | ||
By sudden onset—either with Hell-fire | We can destroy that new world, | |
To waste his whole creation, or possess |
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or take it as our own. |
All as our own, and drive, as we are driven, | ||
The puny habitants; or, if not drive, | ||
Seduce them to our party, that their God | Or even make them join our side, so that God might decide | |
May prove their foe, and with repenting hand | to destroy his own creation in anger. | |
Abolish his own works. This would surpass |
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Common revenge, and interrupt His joy | That would be the best revenge in my opinion. | |
In our confusion, and our joy upraise | ||
In His disturbance; when his darling sons, | Just think about God's creations | |
Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse | thrown into the fire to join us. | |
Their frail original, and faded bliss— |
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Faded so soon! Advise if this be worth | ||
Attempting, or to sit in darkness here | What do you guys think?" | |
Hatching vain empires.” Thus Beëlzebub, | ||
Pleaded his devilish counsel—first devised | This plan had already been thought up by Satan. | |
By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence, |
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|
But from the author of all ill, could spring | ||
So deep a malice, to confound the race | Only the master of lies could come up with a | |
Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell | plan to turn Earth into a Hell | |
To mingle and involve, done all to spite | to spite God. | |
The great Creator? But their spite still serves |
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|
His glory to augment. The bold design | ||
Pleased highly those Infernal States, and joy | The counsel was all for the idea and voted for it. | |
Sparkled in all their eyes: with full assent | ||
They vote: whereat his speech he thus renews:— | ||
“Well have ye judged, well ended long debate, |
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Beezlebub continued and said "We have made a great decision. It will make everything better. |
Synod of Gods and, like to what ye are, | ||
Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep | ||
Will once more lift us up, in spite of Fate, | ||
Nearer our ancient Seat—perhaps in view | ||
Of those bright confines, whence, with neighbouring arms, |
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|
And opportune excursion, we may chance | If everything goes well, we might even regain Heaven, or | |
Re-enter Heaven; or else in some mild zone | be relocated somewhere else | |
Dwell, not unvisited of Heaven’s fair light, | that is within Heaven's light. | |
Secure, and at the brightening orient beam | ||
Purge off this gloom: the soft delicious air, |
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|
To heal the scar of these corrosive fires, | ||
Shall breathe her balm. But, first, whom shall we send | For now, we need to decide who | |
In search of this new World? whom shall we find | will we send to search for this new world of Man. | |
Sufficient? who shall tempt with wandering feet | ||
The dark, unbottomed, infinite Abyss, |
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We need someone to brave the black chaos |
And through the palpable obscure find out | ||
His uncouth way, or spread his aerie flight, | ||
Upborne with indefatigable wings | ||
Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive | ||
The happy Isle? What strength, what art, can then |
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|
Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe | ||
Through the strict senteries and stations thick | ||
Of Angels watching round? Here he had need | and slip past the guards and patrols of Heaven. | |
All circumspection: and we now no less | ||
Choice in our suffrage; for on whom we send |
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We need to choose someone carefully. |
The weight of all, and our last hope, relies.” | They will be our last and only hope." | |
This said, he sat; and expectation held | After he was finished, he sat down | |
His look suspense, awaiting who appeared | ||
To second, or oppose, or undertake | ||
The perilous attempt. But all sat mute, |
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while everyone became silent. |
Pondering the danger with deep thoughts; and each | ||
In other’s countenance read his own dismay, | Everyone looked at each other expecting | |
Astonished. None among the choice and prime | ||
Of those Heaven-warring champions could be found | someone to take the risk. They were warriors on the field, | |
So hardy as to proffer or accept, |
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but none would step forward to volunteer. |
Alone, the dreadful voyage; till, at last, | ||
Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised | The proud Satan rose up to the opportunity | |
Above his fellows, with monarchal pride | ||
Conscious of highest worth, unmoved thus spake:— | knowing that this would be a way to prove himself better. He spoke | |
“O Progeny of Heaven! Empyreal Thrones! |
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With reason hath deep silence and demur | "All of you are silent | |
Seized us, though undismayed. Long is the way | and that's okay, because it is a long journey | |
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light. | out of Hell and to Heaven. | |
Our prison strong, this huge convex of fire, | This is a strong prison | |
Outrageous to devour, immures us round |
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|
Ninefold; and gates of burning adamant, | and you have to get past the | |
Barred over us, prohibit all egress. | gates that keep us in. | |
These passed, if any pass, the void profound | Beyond the gates is the endless void | |
Of unessential Night receives him next, | that can swallow you until | |
Wide-gaping, and with utter loss of being |
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you disappear |
Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf. | into the blackness. | |
If thence he scape, into whatever world, | If you do make if through | |
Or unknown region, what remains him less | to the unknown world, who knows what | |
Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape? | other dangers there may be? | |
But I should ill become this throne, O Peers, |
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I wouldn't be worthy of this throne |
And this imperial sovranty, adorned | ||
With splendour, armed with power, if aught proposed | if I didn't undertake this | |
And judged of public moment in the shape | ||
Of difficulty or danger, could deter | dangerous quest for you my friends. | |
Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume |
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I will go. |
These royalties, and not refuse to reign, | What right | |
Refusing to accept as great a share | would I have to assume the | |
Of hazard as of honour, due alike | glory of this throne but not the dangers? | |
To him who reigns, and so much to him due | ||
Of hazard more as he above the rest |
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|
High honoured sits? Go, therefore, mighty Powers, | ||
Terror of Heaven, though fallen; intend at home, | While I'm gone | |
While here shall be our home, what best may ease | you guys go ahead and | |
The present misery, and render Hell | explore this place | |
More tolerable; if there be cure or charm |
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and see what ways you can make it better. |
To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain | ||
Of this ill mansion: intermit no watch | Don't let your guard down though, | |
Against a wakeful Foe, while I abroad | keep watch just in case there is an attack. | |
Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek | ||
Deliverance for us all. This enterprise |
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I will go forth and |
None shall partake with me.” Thus saying, rose | do this quest alone." | |
The Monarch, and prevented all reply; | Satan said this, so that no one could try and look brave by offering to join him. | |
Prudent lest, from his resolution raised, | Satan wouldn't have let anyone come with him anyway | |
Others among the chief might offer now, | because he wanted all the credit and glory to himself. | |
Certain to be refused, what erst they feared, |
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|
And, so refused, might in opinion stand | ||
His rivals, winning cheap the high repute | ||
Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they | The rest got the idea and kept quiet. | |
Dreaded not more the adventure than his voice | ||
Forbidding; and at once with him they rose. |
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|
Their rising all at once was as the sound | Everyone rose at once, and it sounded | |
Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend | like thunder. | |
With awful reverence prone, and as a God | ||
Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven. | Then the bowed to Satan as their God. | |
Nor failed they to express how much they praised |
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They then started to praise |
That for the general safety he despised | him for risking his safety for the good of the rest. | |
His own: for neither do the Spirits damned | ||
Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast | ||
Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites, | ||
Or close ambition varnished o’er with zeal. |
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|
Thus they their doubtful consultations dark | The counsel ended | |
Ended, rejoicing in their matchless Chief: | while they rejoiced in the presence of Satan their king. | |
As, when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds | ||
Ascending, while the North-wind sleeps, o’erspread | ||
Heaven’s cheerful face, the louring element |
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|
Scowls o’er the darkened lantskip snow or shower, | ||
If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet, | ||
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive, | ||
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds | ||
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. |
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|
O shame to men! Devil with devil damned | It's strange how Devils can come to agree on something | |
Firm concord holds; men only disagree | but men cannot. | |
Of creatures rational, though under hope | ||
Of heavenly grace, and, God proclaiming peace, | ||
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife |
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|
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars | ||
Wasting the earth, each other to destroy: | ||
As if (which might induce us to accord) | ||
Man had not hellish foes enow besides, | ||
That day and night for his destruction wait! |
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|
The Stygian council thus dissolved; and forth | The leaders came out of their palace | |
In order came the grand Infernal Peers: | in order | |
Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed | Satan was in the middle | |
Alone the Antagonist of Heaven, nor less | ||
Than Hell’s dread Emperor, with pomp supreme, |
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|
And god-like imitated state: him round | surrounded by attendants | |
A globe of fiery Seraphim inclosed | ||
With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms. | with banners | |
Then of their session ended they bid cry | ||
With trumpet’s regal sound the great result: |
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Trumpets were being played |
Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim | by cherubs | |
Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy, | ||
By harald’s voice explained; the hollow Abyss | ||
Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell | Everyone cheered | |
With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim. |
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|
Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised | Everyone's hopes were raised by the good news og | |
By false presumptuous hope, the rangèd Powers | Satan's "sacrifice" | |
Disband; and, wandering, each his several way | Then everyone disbanded | |
Pursues, as inclination or sad choice, | and wandered about | |
Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find |
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looking for ways |
Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain | to amuse themselves | |
The irksome hours, till his great Chief return. | until Satan would return | |
Part on the plain, or in the air sublime, | ||
Upon the wing or in swift race contend, | Some of them had races | |
As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields; |
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and others played Olympic games |
Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal | ||
With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form: | ||
As when, to warn proud cities, war appears | ||
Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush | ||
To battle in the clouds; before each van |
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|
Prick forth the aerie knights, and couch their spears, | ||
Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms | ||
From either end of heaven the welkin burns. | ||
Others, with vast Typhœan rage, more fell, | Others let their anger out | |
Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air |
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by destroying the rocks and hills. |
In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar:— | ||
As when Alcides, from Oechalia crowned | ||
With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and tore | ||
Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines, | ||
And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw |
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|
Into the Euboic sea. Others, more mild, | Other angels | |
Retreated in a silent valley, sing | went to seclude themselves | |
With notes angelical to many a harp | and made up | |
Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall | songs about what had happened with their fall from | |
By doom of battle, and complain that Fate |
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heaven and their battles |
Free Virtue should enthrall to Force or Chance. | ||
Their song was partial; but the harmony | ||
(What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?) | ||
Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment | ||
The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet |
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Another group had discussions |
(For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the Sense) | ||
Others apart sat on a hill retired, | ||
In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high | ||
Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate— | about good and evil, free will, and fate. | |
Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute— |
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|
And found no end, in wandering mazes lost. | They had mixed | |
Of good and evil much they argued then, | arguments and points. | |
Of happiness and final misery, | ||
Passion and apathy, and glory and shame: | ||
Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy!— |
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But they were having a good time overall. |
Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm | ||
Pain for a while or anguish, and excite | ||
Fallacious hope, or arm the obdured breast | ||
With stubborn patience as with triple steel. | ||
Another part, in squadrons and gross bands, |
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There was another group that |
On bold adventure to discover wide | went exploring to see | |
That dismal world, if any clime perhaps | ||
Might yield them easier habitation, bend | if they could find better conditions. | |
Four ways their flying march, along the banks | They broke off into four groups and | |
Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge |
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followed four rivers that |
Into the burning lake their baleful streams— | led to the lake of fire. | |
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; | Styx was the river of hate | |
Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; | Acheron was the river of sadness | |
Cocytus, named of lamentation loud | Cocytus was the river of crying | |
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton, |
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and Phlegeton was the river of anger. |
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. | ||
Far off from these, a slow and silent stream, | Far away from these rivers was a slow and silent stream | |
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rowls | Lethe was the river | |
Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks | ||
Forthwith his former state and being forgets— |
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that if anyone drank from it, they would forget everything. |
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. | ||
Beyond this flood a frozen continent | Beyond this was ice and snowstorms | |
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms | ||
Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land | ||
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems |
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|
Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice, | ||
A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog | ||
Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, | ||
Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air | ||
Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire. |
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|
Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled, | ||
At certain revolutions all the damned | When the damned go to Hell | |
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change | they may be brought to these places so | |
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, | they can experience the pain and shock of opposite extremees | |
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice |
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|
Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine | ||
Immovable, infixed, and frozen round | They'll be frozen in ice | |
Periods of time,—thence hurried back to fire. | and then brought back to the fire | |
They ferry over this Lethean sound | They'll even try to drink from the Lethe river to try and forget their sorrow. | |
Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment, |
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|
And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach | ||
The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose | ||
In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe, | ||
All in one moment, and so near the brink; | ||
But Fate withstands, and, to oppose the attempt, |
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|
|
Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards | Monsters guard the river | |
The ford, and of itself the water flies | and anyone who gets close enough to drink, the water | |
All taste of living wight, as once it fled | moves away from | |
The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on | their lips. The angels were horrified by these things | |
In confused march forlorn, the adventrous bands, |
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|
With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast, | ||
Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found | ||
No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale | ||
They passed, and many a region dolorous, | ||
O’er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, |
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|
|
Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death— | The angels passed through all these terrible places. | |
A universe of death, which God by curse | ||
Created evil, for evil only good; | God created all this evil, just for them. | |
Where all life dies, death lives, and Nature breeds, | This is the place where life dies, and death lives. And nature | |
Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, |
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|
creates monsters. |
Abominable, inutterable, and worse | ||
Than fables yet have feigned or fear conceived, | ||
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimæras dire. | ||
Meanwhile the Adversary of God and Man, | Meanwhile, Satan | |
Satan, with thoughts inflamed of highest design, |
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|
|
Puts on swift wings, and toward the gates of Hell | flew towards the gates of Hell | |
Explores his solitary flight: sometimes | alone. | |
He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left; | ||
Now shaves with level wing the Deep, then soars | ||
Up to the fiery concave towering high. |
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|
|
As when far off at sea a fleet descried | ||
Hangs in the clouds, by æquinoctial winds | ||
Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles | ||
Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring | ||
Their spicy drugs; they on the trading flood, |
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|
|
Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape, | ||
Ply stemming nightly toward the pole: so seemed | ||
Far off the flying Fiend. At last appear | ||
Hell-hounds, high reaching to the horrid roof, | ||
And thrice threefold the gates; three folds were brass, |
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|
The gates were made of nine layers: three brass, |
Three iron, three of adamantine rock, | three iron, and three of impenetrable rock. | |
Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire, | Flames were circling around, but didn't | |
Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat | burn them. There were two figures sitting in | |
On either side a formidable Shape. | front of the gate. | |
The one seemed a woman to the waist, and fair, |
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|
One was a beautiful woman, half of a woman rather |
But ended foul in many a scaly fold, | because her bottom half | |
Voluminous and vast—a serpent armed | was a snake's body. | |
With mortal sting. About her middle round | ||
A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked | There were dogs, next to her. | |
With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung |
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|
|
A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would creep, | ||
If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb, | ||
And kennel there; yet there still barked and howled | ||
With in unseen. Far less abhorred than these | ||
Vexed Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts |
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|
|
Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore; | ||
Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, called | ||
In secret, riding through the air she comes, | ||
Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance | ||
With Lapland witches, while the labouring moon |
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|
|
Eclipses at their charms. The other Shape— | The other creature didn't have | |
If shape it might be called that shape had none | a clear shape. | |
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb; | ||
Or substance might be called that shadow seemed, | It was more like a shadow. | |
For each seemed either—black it stood as Night, |
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|
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, | It seemed very fierce and as terrible as Hell | |
And shook a dreadful dart: what seemed his head | and it carried a dart. | |
The likeness of a kingly crown had on. | There was a crown on its head, | |
Satan was now at hand, and from his seat | When Satan got close, the creature immediately | |
The monster moving onward came as fast |
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got up and approached him. |
With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode. | The shadow's footsteps shook the ground | |
The undaunted Fiend what this might be admired— | ||
Admired, not feared (God and his Son except, | Satan was impressed with this being, but he wasn't afraid. Satan was only afraid of God and his Son. | |
Created thing naught valued he nor shunned), | ||
And with disdainful look thus first began:— |
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Satan spoke to the shadow: |
“Whence and what art thou, execrable Shape, | "What and who do you think you are? I'm trying to get through and you | |
That dar’st though grim and terrible, advance | need to get the Hell out of my way! | |
Thy miscreated front athwart my way | ||
To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass, | ||
That be assured, without leave asked of thee. |
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|
|
Retire; or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, | You better move or I'll make you sorry!" | |
Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven.” | ||
To whom the Goblin, full of wrauth, replied:— | The creature replied, | |
“Art thou that Traitor-Angel, art thou he, | "Lol aren't you that fool of | |
Who first broke peace in Heaven and faith, till then |
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|
a traitor who rebelled |
Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms | ||
Drew after him the third part of Heaven’s sons, | and led 1/3 of Heaven | |
Conjured against the Highest—for which both thou | against God? | |
And they, outcast from God, are here condemned | ||
To waste eternal days in woe and pain? |
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|
|
And reckon’st thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven, | ||
Hell-doomed, and breath’st defiance here and scorn, | Don't try to get tough with me, | |
Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more, | I'm king down here. | |
Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment, | Get back to your dungeon, | |
False fugitive; and to thy speed add wings, |
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|
and move fast. |
Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue | Before I whip you with scorpions | |
Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart | and stab with with this dart. I'll make you | |
Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before.” | feel horrible pain that you've never felt before!" | |
So spake the griesly Terror, and in shape, | ||
So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold |
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|
|
More dreadful and deform. On the other side, | ||
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood | ||
Unterrified, and like a comet burned, | Satan wasn't afraid. | |
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge | ||
In the artick sky, and from his horrid hair |
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|
|
Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head | ||
Levelled his deadly aim; their fatal hands | ||
No second stroke intend; and such a frown | ||
Each cast at the other as when two black clouds, | They were ready to fight one another. | |
With Heaven’s artillery fraught, come rattling on |
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|
|
Over the Caspian,—then stand front to front | ||
Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow | ||
To join their dark encounter in mid-air. | ||
So frowned the mighty combatants that Hell | ||
Grew darker at their frown; so matched they stood; |
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|
|
For never but once more was either like | ||
To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds | This would've been a great fight | |
Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung, | ||
Had not the snaky Sorceress, that sat | if the woman had not intervened. | |
Fast by Hell-gate and kept the fatal key, |
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|
Her job was to sit by the gates and keep the key. |
Risen, and with hideous outcry rushed between. | ||
“O father, what intends thy hand,” she cried, | The woman cried: "Father why | |
“Against thy only son? What fury, O son, | do you want to harm your only son? And son, | |
Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart | why are you aiming that dagger at | |
Against thy father’s head? And know’st for whom? |
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|
your father's head? |
For Him who sits above, and laughs the while | God above is laughing at the both of you, | |
At thee, ordained his drudge to execute | while you're doing his dirty work | |
Whate’er his wrauth, which He calls justice, bids— | and giving him the satisfaction of justice! | |
His wrauth, which one day will destroy ye both!” | One of these days, he is going to kill you both!" | |
She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest |
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|
The both of them were stunned. |
Forbore: then these to her Satan returned:— | Satan replied: | |
“So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange | "I'll stop for now | |
Thou interposest, that my sudden hand, | ||
Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds | that is until you tell me | |
What it intends, till first I know of thee |
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|
|
What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why | who and what are you | |
In this infernal vale first met, thou call’st | ||
Me father, and that fantasm call’st my son. | and why you're calling me father and why you are calling that shadow creature my son. | |
I know thee not, nor ever saw till now | I don't know you, | |
Sight more detestable than him and thee.” |
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|
and I've never seen a more disgusting sight than the two of you." |
To whom thus the Portress of Hell-gate replied:— | The woman answered: | |
“Hast thou forgot me, then; and do I seem | "Hm, so you don't remember me. | |
Now in thine eyes so foul?—once deemed so fair | Am I that ugly now? You didn't think so before. | |
In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight | In Heaven | |
Of all the Seraphim with thee combined |
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|
|
In bold conspiracy against Heaven’s King, | when you were planning your rebellion with all your followers | |
All on a sudden miserable pain | out of your pain and misery | |
Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum | ||
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast | your head burst into flames | |
Threw forth, till on the left side opening wide, |
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|
and I came out of the left side of your head. |
Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright, | ||
Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess armed, | ||
Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized | It shocked everyone | |
All the host of Heaven; back they recoiled afraid | ||
At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign |
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|
and they called me 'Sin' |
Portentous held me; but, familiar grown, | At first they were afraid, but then they began to like me | |
I pleased, and with attractive graces won | ||
The most averse—thee chiefly, who, full oft | ||
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing, | ||
Becam’st enamoured; and such joy thou took’st |
765
|
especially you. We had sex and |
With me in secret that my womb conceived | I became pregnant. | |
A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose, | ||
And fields were fought in Heaven: wherein remained | When the war broke out | |
(For what could else?) to our Almighty Foe | and you lost | |
Clear victory; to our part loss and rout |
770
|
|
Through all the Empyrean. Down they fell, | I fell into Hell with all of you. | |
Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down | ||
Into this Deep; and in the general fall | ||
I also: at which time this powerful Key | I was given this key and | |
Into my hands was given, with charge to keep |
775
|
|
These gates for ever shut, which none can pass | I was told that I had to keep these gates shut forever. | |
Without my opening. Pensive here I sat | ||
Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb, | I then soon gave birth | |
Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown, | ||
Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes. |
780
|
|
At last this odious offspring whom thou seest, | to this shadowy creature you now see before you | |
Thine own begotten, breaking violent way, | And it was a violent delivery | |
Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain | he tore my intestines up in his way out | |
Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew | and that's how I got this snake shape as my lower half | |
Transformed: but he my inbred enemy |
785
|
|
Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart, | He came out waving his dart | |
Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out Death! | And I screamed Death | |
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed | ||
From all her caves, and back resounded Death! | ||
I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems, |
790
|
I ran away but he chased me |
Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far, | ||
Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed, | and raped me | |
And, in embraces forcible and foul | ||
Engendering with me, of that rape begot | From that rape came more | |
These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry |
795
|
offspring. These |
Surround me, as thou saw’st—hourly conceived | dogs that now surround me. | |
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite | They never leave. | |
To me: for, when they list, into the womb | They go back inside of me | |
That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw | whenever they want | |
My bowels, their repast; then, bursting forth |
800
|
and howl and chew my insides. And then I give |
Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round, | birth to them again and again. | |
That rest or intermission none I find. | ||
Before mine eyes in opposition sits | ||
Grim Death, my son and foe, who sets them on, | ||
And me, his parent, would full soon devour |
805
|
|
For want of other prey, but that he knows | ||
His end with mine involved, and knows that I | ||
Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane, | ||
Whenever that shall be: so Fate pronounced. | ||
But thou, O Father, I forewarn thee, shun | 810 | |
His deadly arrow: neither vainly hope | ||
To be invulnerable in those bright arms, | ||
Though tempered heavenly; for that mortal dint, | ||
Save He who reigns above, none can resist.” | ||
She finished; and the subtle Fiend his lore |
815
|
|
Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered smooth:— | Satan calmed down and said: | |
“Dear daughter—since thou claim’st me for thy sire, | "Oh, so you're my daughter | |
And my fair son here show’st me, the dear pledge | and he is my Son. | |
Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys | This is the result of the pleasure we had in Heaven | |
Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change | 820 | and now it has turned into sadness down here. |
Befallen us unforeseen, unthought-of—know, | ||
I come no enemy, but to set free | I am not an enemy | |
From out this dark and dismal house of pain | I am here to set you free and all of my followers. | |
Both him and thee, and all the Heavenly host | ||
Of Spirits that, in our just pretences armed, |
825
|
|
Fell with us from on high. From them I go | ||
This uncouth errand sole, and one for all | ||
Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread | ||
The unfounded Deep, and through the void immense | I'm going out there to search for a new place that is said | |
To search, with wandering quest, a place foretold | 830 | |
Should be—and, by concurring signs, ere now | ||
Created vast and round—a place of bliss | ||
In the pourlieues of Heaven; and therein placed | to be near Heaven. | |
A race of upstart creatures, to supply | I hear there are new creatures | |
Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed, |
835
|
that are supposed to take our place. |
Lest Heaven, surcharged with potent multitude, | ||
Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught | I'm going to find out what's out there | |
Than this more secret, now designed, I haste | ||
To know; and this once known, shall soon return | ||
And bring ye to the place where thou and Death |
840
|
Then I'll bring you and Death there |
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen | where you can live comfortably and fly around invisible | |
Wing silently the buxom air, imbalmed | ||
With odours. There ye shall be fed and filled | and have plenty to eat." | |
Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey.” | ||
He ceased; for both seemed highly pleased, and Death | 845 | This pleased Sin and Death. Death |
Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear | smiled and | |
His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw | was looking forward to it. | |
Destined to that good hour. No less rejoiced | ||
His mother bad, and thus bespake her Sire:— | ||
“The key of this infernal Pit, by due |
850
|
Sin said: "I'm supposed to |
And by command of Heaven’s all-powerful King, | keep these gates locked | |
I keep, by Him forbidden to unlock | because God said so | |
These adamantine gates; against all force | ||
Death ready stands to interpose his dart, | and Death is also supposed to kill whoever who tries to get past. | |
Fearless to be o’ermatched by living might. | 855 | |
But what I owe I to His commands above, | But what do I owe God? Why | |
Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down | should I listen to someone who hates me and threw | |
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound, | me down into this pit? | |
To sit in hateful office here confined, | ||
Inhabitant of Heaven and heavenly-born— | 860 | |
Here in perpetual agony and pain, | ||
With terrors and with clamours compassed round | ||
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed? | ||
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou | You Satan, are my father and you're the one who I should obey. | |
My being gav’st me; whom should I obey |
865
|
|
But thee? whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon | Soon | |
To that new world of light and bliss, among | in that new world | |
The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign | ||
At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems | we will rule together | |
Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.” | 870 | I'll be your daughter and your lover forever." |
Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, | After she finished speaking, she took the key | |
Sad instrument of all our woe, she took; | ||
And, toward the gate rowling her bestial train, | and put it into the gate. | |
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew, | ||
Which, but herself, not all the Stygian Powers |
875
|
She opened the gate that no one else could open |
Could once have moved; then in the keyhole turns | ||
The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar | ||
Of massy iron or solid rock with ease | ||
Unfastens. On a sudden open fly, | ||
With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, |
880
|
|
The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate | ||
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook | ||
Of Erebus. She opened; but to shut | She was only able to open it | |
Excelled her power: the gates wide open stood, | and she didn't have the power to close it. | |
That with extended wings a bannered host, | 885 | |
Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through | ||
With horse and chariots ranked in loose array; | ||
So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth | ||
Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame. | ||
Before their eyes in sudden view appear |
890
|
|
The secrets of the hoary Deep—a dark | ||
Illimitable ocean, without bound, | ||
Without dimension: where length, breadth, and highth, | Through the opening there was | |
And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night | no space or time. Only NIght | |
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold | 895 | and Chaos who would later create Nature |
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise | ||
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. | ||
For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce, | ||
Strive here for maistrie, and to battle bring | ||
Their embryon atoms: they around the flag | 900 | |
Of each his faction, in their several clans, | ||
Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow, | ||
Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands | ||
Of Barca or Cyrene’s torrid soil, | ||
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise | 905 | |
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere | ||
He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits, | This was the realm that Chaos | |
And by decision more imbroils the fray | ||
By which he reigns: next him, high arbiter, | ||
Chance governs all. Into this wild Abyss, | 910 | and Chance ruled. |
The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave, | ||
Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire, | ||
But all these in their pregnant causes mixed | ||
Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight, | ||
Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain | 915 | This was where all the |
His dark materials to create more worlds— | materials were kept. The raw elements to create | |
Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend | ||
Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while, | Satan stood there and just watched for a while. | |
Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith | ||
He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed |
920
|
|
With noises loud and ruinous (to compare | ||
Great things with small) than when Bellona storms | ||
With all her battering engines, bent to rase | ||
Some capital city; or less than if this frame | ||
Of heaven were falling, and these elements | 925 | |
In mutiny had from her axle torn | ||
The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans | ||
He spreads for flight, and, in the surging smoke | He finally took flight. | |
Uplifted, spurns the ground; thence many a league, | ||
As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides |
930
|
|
Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets | ||
A vast vacuity. All unawares, | And then he suddenly ended up in a vacuum | |
Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb-down he drops | and then fell again | |
Ten thousand fadom deep, and to this hour | ||
Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance, |
935
|
until a wind blew him |
The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud, | ||
Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him | ||
As many miles aloft. That fury stayed— | and he ended up far away | |
Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea, | in a bog | |
Nor good dry land-nigh foundered, on he fares, | 940 | where it was hard to walk |
Treading the crude consistence, half on foot, | he had to walk through it | |
Half flying; behoves him now both oar and sail. | while flying every now and then | |
As when a gryfon through the wilderness | ||
With wingèd course, o’er hill or moory dale, | ||
Pursues the Arimpasian, who by stealth |
945
|
|
Had from his wakeful custody purloined | ||
The guarded gold; so eagerly the Fiend | ||
O’er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, | ||
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, | ||
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. | 950 | |
At length, a universal hubbub wild | After a while he heard some wild noises | |
Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused, | ||
Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear | ||
With loudest vehemence. Thither he plies | So he followed the noises | |
Undaunted, to meet there whatever Power |
955
|
|
Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss | ||
Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask | ||
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies | ||
Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne | And it led him to | |
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread | 960 | Chaos, and |
Wide on the wasteful Deep! With him enthroned | ||
Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things, | next to him sat Night | |
The consort of his reign; and by them stood | ||
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name | ||
Of Demogorgon; Rumour next, and Chance, |
965
|
There was also Rumour, Chance |
And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled, | Tumult, and Confusion | |
And Discord with a thousand various mouths. | and Discord | |
To whom Satan, turning boldly, thus:—“Ye Powers | Satan then explained himself: "I don't mean to disturb you | |
And Spirits of this nethermost Abyss, | ||
Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy | 970 | |
With purpose to explore or to disturb | ||
The secrets of your realm; but, by constraint | ||
Wandering this darksome desert, as my way | I was just passing through wandering | |
Lies through your spacious empire up to light, | ||
Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek, |
975
|
and I got lost. |
What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds | I'm trying to find my way out of this place and | |
Confine with Heaven; or, if some other place, | find where Heaven's light is. | |
From your dominion won, the Ethereal King | ||
Possesses lately, thither to arrive | ||
I travel this profound. Direct my course; | 980 | If you can show me where to go |
Directed, no mean recompense it brings | I can make it up to you and make it worth your while. | |
To your behoof, if I that region lost. | ||
All usurpation thence expelled, reduce | ||
To her original darkness and your sway | ||
(Which is my present journey), and once more |
985
|
|
Erect the standard there of ancient Night. | ||
Yours be the advantage all, mine the revenge!” | You'll get something out of it while I have my revenge!" | |
Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old, | ||
With faltering speech and visage incomposed, | Chaos spoke: | |
Answered:—“I know thee, stranger, who thou art— | 990 | "I know all about your and your |
That mighty leading Angel, who of late | little war. | |
Made head against Heaven’s King, though overthrown. | It was hard to miss | |
I saw and heard; for such a numerous host | your entire army falling down | |
Fled not in silence through the frighted Deep, | into the the pits of Hell! | |
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, | 995 | |
Confusion worse confounded; and Heaven-gates | ||
Poured out by millions her victorious bands, | ||
Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here | ||
Keep residence; if all I can will serve | I'm just getting sick of my domain being taken over | |
That little which is left so to defend, |
1000
|
|
Encroached on still through our intestine broils | first by | |
Weakening the sceptre of old Night: first, Hell, | Hell | |
Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath; | ||
Now lately Heaven and Earth, another world | and now Heaven and Earth | |
Hung o’er my realm, linked in a golden chain | 1005 | |
To that side Heaven from whence your legions fell! | ||
If that way be your walk, you have not far; | You don't have to go far to get to Earth. | |
So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed; | Just go do what you have to do, | |
Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain.” | it's all good for all of us if you succeed." | |
He ceased; and Satan staid not to reply, | 1010 | |
But, glad that now his sea should find a shore, | ||
With fresh alacrity and force renewed | Satan became enthusiastic | |
Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire, | and sped away | |
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock | ||
Of fighting elements, on all sides round |
1015
|
|
Environed, wins his way; harder beset | ||
And more endangered than when Argo passed | ||
Through Bosporus betwixt the justling rocks, | ||
Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned | ||
Charybdis, and by the other Whirlpool steered. | 1020 | |
So he with difficulty and labour hard | ||
Moved on. With difficulty and labour he; | His journey was hard | |
But, he once passed, soon after, when Man fell, | but later when Man fell | |
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain, | Sin and Death | |
Following his track (such was the will of Heaven) |
1025
|
|
Paved after him a broad and beaten way | created a road | |
Over the dark Abyss, whose boiling gulf | ||
Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length, | ||
From Hell continued, reaching the utmost Orb | between Hell and earth | |
Of this frail World; by which the Spirits perverse |
1030
|
where Devils and Demons |
With easy intercourse pass to and fro | could travel quickly | |
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom | ||
God and good Angels guard by special grace. | ||
But now at last the sacred influence | ||
Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven | 1035 | Satan was nearing closer to Heaven's light. |
Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night | ||
A glimmering dawn. Here Nature first begins | ||
Her fardest verge, and Chaos to retire, | ||
As from her utmost works, a broken foe, | ||
With tumult less and with less hostile din; |
1040
|
|
That Satan with less toil, and now with ease, | ||
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light, | ||
And, like a weather-beaten vessel, holds | ||
Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn; | ||
Or in the emptier waste, resembling air, | 1045 | |
Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold | ||
Far off the imperial Heaven, extended wide | ||
In circuit, undetermined square or round, | ||
With opal towers and battlements adorned | ||
Of living sapphire, once his native seat, | 1050 | |
And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain, | ||
This pendent World, in bigness as a star | ||
Of smallest magnitude close by the moon. | ||
Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge, | With revenge on his mind he was headed to his destination. | |
Accurst, and in a cursed hour, he hies. |
1055
|
|
Thank you so much, this is a perfect way to keep reading on track!
ReplyDeletei love this i was really having a hard time understanding some parts and this cleared it up for me.
ReplyDeleteIdk if it's just me, but I can't access past book 2. Any help would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI hope this site is finished soon!! It's amazing!
ReplyDeleteWhen will the site be finished?
ReplyDeleteCheers, and thanks for the feedback everyone! This site will be finished eventually, but I have yet to "translate" the rest of the books! It's a grueling process since I'm still new at HTML. I'll try to get things moving along ASAP.
ReplyDeleteConsidering there are no other line by line translations for PL this site will be huge when finished!! So many students will want to use this to aide their readings. Love it! Hope it's finished soon! thanks!
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Thank u so much love!
ReplyDeleteThis has helped me so much, thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteWow. You saved my rear end here. I was having a hard time understanding the original text, but this makes it so much easier. Thank's for posting!
ReplyDeleteJust found this gem, and I hope the creator will finish it soon! I would love to be able to read past Book 5. As another user pointed out I haven't been able to find any other line by line translation for Paradise Lost.
ReplyDeleteWow! I love this so much! Not only do I understand it far better, this makes it really, well, FUN TO READ! Please tell me that you're still working on completing it, it's so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I was having a hard time reading Paradise Lost and your commentary is not only helpful, but funny too, in its abruptness.
ReplyDeleteThis is great. Thank you :)))
ReplyDeleteNo Problem!
DeleteAs an English major, this is absolutely perfect, thank you for your work!
ReplyDeleteAmazing work, thanks!
ReplyDelete