Ages of hopeless end? this would be worse. War, therefore, open or concealed, alike
My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye
Views all things at one view? he from Heaven's height All these our motions vain sees and derides;1
Not more almighty to resist our might Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. Shall we then live thus vile, the race of Heaven
Thus trampled, thus expelled to suffer here
Chains and these torments? Better these than worse By my advice; since fate inevitable Subdues us, and omnipotent decree, The victor's will. To suffer, as to do, Our strength is equal, nor the law unjust That so ordains; this was at first resolved 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 And venturous, if that fail them, shrink and fear What yet they know must follow, to endure Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain,
The sentence of their conqueror; this is now Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear, Our supreme foe in time may much remit His anger, and perhaps thus far removed Not mind us not offending, satisfied
With what is punished; whence these raging fires Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. Our purer essence then will overcome Their noxious vapour, or inured not feel, Or changed at length and to the place conformed In temper and in nature, will receive Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain; This horror will grow mild, this darkness light, Besides what hope the never-ending flight
Of future days may bring, what chance, what change Worth waiting, since our present lot appears
For happy though but ill, for ill not worst, If we procure not to ourselves more woe."
2 Et facere, et pati. So Mucius Scævola boasted that he was a
Roman, and knew as well how to suffer as to act.
fortia Romanum est. Liv. ii. 11.-Newton.
Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb, Counselled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth, Not peace and after him thus Mammon spake. "Either to disenthrone the King of Heaven We war, if war be best, or to regain
Our own right lost him to unthrone we then May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife:1 The former vain to hope argues as vain The latter:3 for what place can be for us
Within Heaven's bound, unless Heaven's Lord supreme We overpower? Suppose he should relent, And publish grace to all on promise made Of new subjection; with what eyes could we Stand in his presence humble, and receive Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing Forced hallelujahs; while he lordly sits Our envied sovereign, and his altar breathes Ambrosial odours and ambrosial flowers, Our servile offerings? This must be our task In Heaven, this our delight; how wearisome Eternity so spent in worship paid
To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue By force impossible, by leave obtained Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek
Our own good from ourselves, and from our own Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess, Free, and to none accountable, preferring Hard liberty before the easy yoke
Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear
Then most conspicuous, when great things of small, Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse
We can create, and in what place soe'er Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain Through labour and endurance. This deep world Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven's all-ruling Sire Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,
1 i. e. the strife between God and ourselves. 2 i. e. to unthrone the King of Heaven.
3 i. e. to regain our lost rights.
4 Cf. Psalm xviii. 11-13, and xcvii. 2.
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 Imitate when we please? This desert soil Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold; Nor want we skill or art, from whence to raise Magnificence; and what can Heaven show more? Our torments also may in length of time Become our elements, these piercing fires As soft as now severe, our temper changed Into their temper; which must needs remove The sensible of pain. All things invite To peaceful counsels, and the settled state Of order, how in safety best we may Compose our present evils, with regard Of what we are and where,2 dismissing quite All thoughts of war.
He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled The assembly, as when hollow rocks retain
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 As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased, Advising peace; for such another field
They dreaded worse than Hell, so much the fear Of thunder and the sword of Michael
Wrought still within them; and no less desire To found this nether empire, which might rise By policy, and long procéss of time,
In emulation opposite to Heaven.
Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom, Satan except, none higher sat, with grave Aspéct he rose, and in his rising seemed A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat and public care;
3 Compare Virgil, Æn. x. 96 sq.
4 Cf. Shakspeare, 2 Hen. VI., act i. :
"Brave peers of England, pillars of the state."
And princely counsel in his face yet shone, Majestic though in ruin; sage he stood With Atlantean1 shoulders fit to bear The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look Drew audience and attention still as night Or summer's noontide 2 air, while thus he spake : "Thrones and imperial powers, offspring of Heaven, Ethereal virtues! or these titles now
Must we renounce, and, changing style, be called Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote Inclines, here to continue, and build up here A growing empire; doubtless; while we dream, And know not that the King of Heaven hath doomed This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt
From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league Banded against his throne, but to remain In strictest bondage, though thus far removed, Under the inevitable curb, reserved
His captive multitude; for he, be sure,
In height or depth, still first and last will reign Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part By our revolt, but over Hell extend
His empire, and with iron sceptre 3 rule Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven. What sit we then projecting peace and war? War hath determined us, and foiled with loss Irreparable; terms of peace yet none Vouchsafed or sought; for what peace will be given To us enslaved, but custody severe, And stripes, and arbitrary punishment
Inflicted? and what peace can we return,
But to our power hostility and hate,
Untamed reluctance, and revenge though slow,
Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least
1 Alluding to the fable of Atlas bearing Heaven on his shoulders. Cf. Eurip., Ion. i.
2 "Noontide" is the same as "noontime," when in hot countries there is hardly a breath of wind stirring, and men and beasts, by reason of the intense heat, retire to shade and rest. This is the custom of Italy particularly, where our author lived some time.
New!on.
3 Cf. Ps. ii. 9.
4 i. e. save, except.
May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice In doing what we most in suffering feel? Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need With dangerous expedition to invade
Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege, Or ambush from the deep. What if we find Some easier enterprise? There is a place (If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven Err not), another world, the happy seat Of some new race called Man, about this time To be created like to us, though less
In power and excellence, but favoured more Of him who rules above; so was his will Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath, That shook Heaven's whole circumference,1 confirmed. Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn What creatures there inhabit, of what mould Or substance, how endued, and what their power, And where their weakness, how attempted best, By force or subtlety. Though Heaven be shut, And Heaven's high arbitrator sit secure
In his own strength, this place may lie exposed, The utmost border of his kingdom, left To their defence who hold it: here, perhaps, Some advantageous act may be achieved By sudden onset, either with Hell-fire To waste his whole creation, or possess All as our own, and drive, as we were driven, The puny habitants; or if not drive, Seduce them to our party, that their God
"He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows; Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod, The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god; High Heaven with trembling the dread signal took And all Olympus to the centre shook."-Pope.
Compare Virgil, Æn. ix. :
"To seal his sacred vow, by Styx he swore, The lake with liquid pitch, the dreary shore, And Phlegethon's innavigable flood,
And the black regions of his brother god:
He said; and shook the skies with his imperial nod."
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