There dwell and reign in bliss, thence on the earth Dominion exercise and in the air,
Chiefly on man, sole lord of all declar'd;
Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill.
My substitutes I send ye, and create
Plenipotent on earth, of matchless might
Issuing from me: on your joint vigor now
My hold of this new kingdom all depends,
Through sin to death expos'd by my exploit.
If your joint power prevail, th' affairs of hell
No detriment need fear; go and be strong.
So saying he dismiss'd them; they with speed Their course through thickest constellations held Spreading their bane; the blasted stars look'd wan, And planets, planet-struck, real eclipse
Then suffer'd. Th' other way Satan went down
The causey to hell-gate: on either side
Disparted Chaos over built exclaim'd,
And with rebounding surge the bars assail'd,
That scorn'd his indignation. Through the gate,
Wide open and unguarded, Satan pass'd,
And all about found desolate; for those
Appointed to sit there had left their charge,
408 prevail] In the second edition,' prevails.'
412 stars] P. Fletcher's Locusts, p. 58.
417 rebounding] Virg. Geo. ii. p. 161.
'Lucrinoque addita claustra;
Atque indignatum magnis stridoribus æquor.' Newton.
Flown to the upper world; the rest were all
Far to the inland retir'd, about the walls
Of Pandemonium, city and proud seat
Of Lucifer, so by allusion call'd,
Of that bright star to Satan paragon'd.
There kept their watch the legions, while the Grand
In council sat, solicitous what chance
Might intercept their emperor sent; so he
Departing gave command, and they observ'd.
As when the Tartar from his Russian foe
By Astracan over the snowy plains
Retires, or Bactrian Sophi from the horns
Of Turkish crescent leaves all waste beyond
The realm of Aladule in his retreat
To Tauris or Casbeen: so these, the late
Heaven-banish'd host, left desert utmost hell
Many a dark league, reduc'd in careful watch
Round their metropolis, and now expecting
Each hour their great adventurer from the search 440 Of foreign worlds: he thro' the midst unmark'd,
In show plebeian angel militant
Of lowest order, pass'd; and from the door
Of that Plutonian hall invisible
Ascended his high throne, which, under state
Of richest texture spread, at th' upper end
Was plac'd in regal lustre. Down a while
426 paragon'd] v. Othello, act ii. sc. 1.
'That paragons description and wild fame.' Todd.
He sat, and round about him saw unseen:
At last as from a cloud his fulgent head
And shape star-bright appear'd, or brighter, clad
With what permissive glory since his fall
Was left him, or false glitter. All amaz'd
At that so sudden blaze the Stygian throng
Bent their aspect, and whom they wish'd beheld, Their mighty chief return'd: loud was th' acclaim. Forth rush'd in haste the great consulting peers, Rais'd from their dark divan, and with like joy Congratulant approach'd him, who with hand Silence, and with these words attention, won. Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues,
For in possession such, not only of right,
I call ye and declare ye now, return'd
Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth
Triumphant out of this infernal pit
Abominable, accurs'd, the house of woe,
448 unseen] Tasso, Fairfax, vii. 36.
'Within a tarras sate on high the queen,
And heard, and saw, and kept herself unseene.' Bowle.
'Yet in such sorts as they might see unseen.' Sidney's Arcadia, vol.
i. p. 234, ed. 1725. A. Dyce.
449 fulgent] v. Val. Flacc. v. 402, 466.
Sideris ora ferens.'
Sylvester's Du Bartas, p. 201.
'O miracle! whose star-bright beaming head.'
450 star-bright] v. Hom. Il. vi. ver. 295.
v. Ellis's Spec. ii. 381. (Smith's Chloris, 1596.)
And dungeon of our tyrant: now possess,
As lords, a spacious world, to our native heaven
Little inferior, by my adventure hard
With peril great achiev'd. Long were to tell
What I have done, what suffer'd, with what pain 470
Voyag'd th' unreal, vast, unbounded deep
Of horrible confusion, over which
By Sin and Death a broad way now is pav'd
To expedite your glorious march: but I
Toil'd out my uncouth passage, forc'd to ride
Th' untractable abyss, plung'd in the womb
Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wild,
That jealous of their secrets fiercely oppos'd
My journey strange, with clamorous uproar
Protesting fate supreme; thence how I found
The new created world, which fame in heaven
Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful
Of absolute perfection; therein man
Plac'd in a paradise, by our exile
Made happy him by fraud I have seduc'd
From his Creator, and, the more to increase
Your wonder, with an apple; He thereat
Offended, worth your laughter! hath giv'n up
Both his beloved man and all his world
To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us,
Without our hazard, labour, or alarm,
To range in, and to dwell, and over man
484 erile] Milton always accentuates this word on the last syllable; Shakespeare uses it both ways; Chaucer and Spenser on the last syllable only. Todd.
To rule, as over all he should have rul'd.
True is, me also he hath judg'd, or rather
Me not, but the brute serpent, in whose shape
Man I deceiv'd: that which to me belongs
Is enmity, which he will put between
Me and mankind; I am to bruise his heel;
His seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head.
A world who would not purchase with a bruise, 500
Or much more grievous pain? Ye have th' account
Of my performance: what remains, ye gods,
But up and enter now into full bliss?
So having said, a while he stood, expecting
Their universal shout and high applause
To fill his ear; when contrary he hears
On all sides, from innumerable tongues,
A dismal universal hiss, the sound
Of public scorn; he wonder'd, but not long
Had leisure, wond'ring at himself now more :
His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare,
His arms clung to his ribs, his legs entwining
Each other, till supplanted down he fell
A monstrous serpent on his belly prone,
Reluctant, but in vain; a greater power
Now rul'd him, punish'd in the shape he sinn'd,
According to his doom. He would have spoke,
But hiss for hiss return'd with forked tongue
To forked tongue; for now were all transform'd
Alike, to serpents all as accessories
To his bold riot: dreadful was the din
Of hissing through the hall, thick swarming now
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