That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation, while he fought Evil to others; and enrag'd might fee How all his malice ferv'd but to bring forth Infinite goodness, grace and mercy thewn On man by him seduc'd; but on himself Treble confufion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. 220 Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool His mighty stature; on each hand the flames Driv'n backward slope their pointing spires, and rowl'd In billows, leave i'th midft a horrid vale. Then with expanded wings he steers his flight 225 Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air, That felt unusual weight; till on dry land He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd With folid, as the lake with liquid fire; And fuch appear'd in hue, as when the force Of fubterranean wind transports a hill Torn from PELORUS, or the shatter'd fide Of thund'ring ÆTNA, whose combustible And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire, Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds, And leave a finged bottom all involv'd With stench and smoke; such resting found the fole Of unbless'd feet. Him follow'd his next mate, Both glorying to have 'scap'd the STYGIAN flood, As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 240
Not by the fuffrance of fupernal pow'r.
Is this the region, this the fail, the clime, Said then the loft Arch-Angel, this the feat That we must change for heav'n? this mournful gloom For that cœleftial light? be it so, fince he Who now is fov'rain can dispose and bid What shall be right: farthest from him is best, Whom reason equall'd, force hath made fupreme Above his equals. Farewell happy fields, Where joy for ever dwells! hail horrors! hail 250
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 it felf Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n. 255 What matter where, if I be still the fame, And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater? here at least 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 serve in heav'n. But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
Th'associates and copartners of our loss, Lye thus aftonish'd on th' oblivious pool, And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy manfion, or once more With rallied arms to try what may be yet Regain'd in heav'n, or what more lost in hell? 270
SO SATAN spake, and him BEELZEBUB Thus answer'd: Leader of those armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have toil'd, If once they hear that voice, their liveliest 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 affaults Their surest signal, they will foon refume New courage and revive, tho' now they lye Grov'ling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd, No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious height.
He scarce had ceas'd when the superior fiend Was moving tow'rd the shore; his pond'rous shield Ethereal temper, massie, large and round, Behind him caft; the broad circumference
285
Hung
Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose orb Thro optic glass the TUSCAN artist views
At ev'ning from the top of FESOLE, Or in VALDARNO, to descry new lands, Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. His spear (to equal which the tallest pine Hewn on NORWEGIAN hills, to be the mast Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand) He walk'd with to support uneasie steps Over the burning marle (not like those steps On heaven's azure!) and the torrid clime Smote on him fore besides, vaulted with fire. Nathless he to endur'd, 'till on the beach Of that inflamed sea, he stood and call'd His legions, Angel forms, who lay entrans'd, Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In VALLOMBROSA, where th' ETRURIAN shades High over-arch'd embow'r; or scatter'd fedge Afloat, when with fierce winds ORION arm'd 305 Hath vex'd the Red-Sea-coaft, whose waves o'erthrew BUSIRIS and his MEMPHIAN chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they perfu'd The sojourners of GOSHEN, who beheld From the fafe shoar their floating carcases And broken chariot wheels: so thick bestrown, Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep Of hell refounded: Princes, Potentates, Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now lost, If fuch astonishment as this can seize
Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place After the toil of battel to repose Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find To slumber here, as in the vales of heaven? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn T'adore the conqueror? who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rowling in the flood,
« ZurückWeiter » |