Torments1 him. Round he throws his baleful2 eyes,
That witnessed 3 huge affliction and dismay,
Mixed with obdurate pride, and steadfast hate.
At once, as far as angel's ken,5 he views
The dismal situation waste and wild.
A dungeon horrible on all sides round

As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible 8

Served only to discover9 sights of woe,

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell; hope never comes,
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges,10 and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
Such place Eternal Justice had prepared
For those rebellious, here their prison ordained
In utter 11 darkness, and their portion set

As far removed from God and light of heaven
As from the center thrice to the utmost pole.12
(0, how unlike the place from whence they fell!)

1 torments. The historical present: give subsequent examples.

2 baleful, causing bale, or sorrow. 3 witnessed, bore witness to. The word is always used in this sense in Shakespeare and Milton, and not (as now) as merely equivalent to saw.

4 obdurate.

ond syllable.

5 ken. See Glossary.

8 darkness visible. De Quincey explains this as "a sullen light intermingled with massy darkness.” 9 discover, disclose.

10

urges, presses, drives.

11 utter, outer. See Matt. xxii. 13.

12 center thrice to the utmost

Accent on the sec- pole, According to Milton's system, the center of the earth is also the center of the universe, and the "utmost pole" here meant is not the pole of the earth, but that of the universe.

6 situation, site, region.

7 no light. Supply the missing verb.

There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He soon discerns, and, weltering1 by his side,
One next himself in power and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine and named
Beelzebub: 2 to whom the arch-enemy,-

And thence in heaven called Satan,3- with bold words.
Breaking the horrid silence, thus began:

"If thou beest he, but O, how fallen! how

changed

From him, who, in the happy realms of light, Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine Myriads though bright!—if he, whom mutual league, United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

And hazard in the glorious enterprise,

Joined with me once, now misery hath joined

In equal ruin; into what pit, thou seest,

From what height fallen! so much the stronger proved
He5 with his thunder: and till then who knew
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,
Nor what the potent victor in his rage

Can else inflict, do I repent or change

(Though changed in outward luster) that fixed mind

1 weltering. From Anglo-Saxon wæltan, to roll.

3 and thence... Satan. Thence, because "Satan is a Hebrew word signifying enemy, adversary.

2 Beelzebub. This term signifies literally "Lord of Flies;" and 4 beest, not subjunctive, but secit is said that Beëlzebub was wor-ond pers. sing. pres. indic. of beon, shipped in Ekron, a city of Pales- to be. It is now obsolete, but is tine, on a moist soil in a hot used in a passage in Julius Cæsar. climate and infested with flies, (See p. 58.) against which the protection of the idol was invoked.

5 He: i.e., the Almighty.
6 luster. Give a synonym.

And high disdain from sense of injured merit
That with the Mightiest raised me to contend,1
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of spirits armed,

That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,
His utmost power with adverse power opposed
In dubious 2 battle on the plains of heaven,
And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
All is not lost-the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
And what is else not to be overcome,
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace,
With suppliant knee, and deify his power
Who from the terror of this arm so late
Doubted his empire,5 that were low indeed,
That were an ignominy and shame beneath
This downfall; since by fate the strength of gods
And this empyreal substance can not fail,8

7

Since through experience of this great event
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,
We may with more successful hope resolve

To what

1 That... contend. word is this clause an adjunct? 2 dubious. See Glossary. 8 study here has the sense of the Latin original, studium, endeavor. 4 extort. See Glossary.

5 empire here has the force of the Latin original, imperium, supreme authority.

6 ignominy. Here shortened (as always in Shakespeare) to ignomy. 7 empyreal substance, fiery essence.

8

can not fail; that is, is indestructible.

9 Since through experience, etc. What kind of sentence grammatically? Rhetorically?

To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Irreconcilable to our grand Foe2

3

Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of heaven."

So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain,
Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair;
And him thus answered soon his bold compeer:
"O Prince, O chief of many thronéd Powers,
That led the embattled seraphim to war
Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds
Fearless, endangered heaven's perpetual King,
And put to proof his high supremacy,-
Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate,
Too well I see and rue the dire event
That with sad overthrow and foul defeat
Hath lost us heaven, and all this mighty host
In horrible destruction laid thus low,
As far as gods and heavenly essences

Can perish; for the mind and spirit remains
Invincible, and vigor soon returns,

Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
Here swallowed up in endless misery.

But what if he our Conqueror (whom I now

1 guile. See Glossary.

5

6 seraphim. What number? See

2 grand Foe. To whom is the Glossary. reference?

7 spirit. Pronounce as one syl

3 triumphs. Accent on second lable. syllable.

4 tyranny, supreme rule.

5 compeer. Accent on last syllable. See Glossary.

8 glory extinct. In reading, the final y in "glory" is to be elided. "Extinct " = = extinguished like a flame.

Of force1 believe Almighty, since no less

Than such could have o'erpowered such force as ours)
Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,
Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
That we may so suffice2 his vengeful ire,
Or do him mightier service as his thralls3
By right of war, whate'er his business be,
Here in the heart of hell to work in fire,
Or do his errands in the gloomy deep?
What can it then avail, though yet we feel
Strength undiminished, or eternal being,
To undergo eternal punishment?"

Whereto with speedy words the Arch-fiend replied:

"Fallen Cherub! to be weak is miserable,

Doing or suffering; but of this be sure,
To do aught good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight,
As being the contrary to His high will,
Whom we resist. If then his providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labor must be to pervert 5 that end,
And out of good still to find means of evil;
Which oft-times may succeed, so as perhaps
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb
His inmost counsels from their destined aim.
But see! the angry Victor hath recalled
His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

1 of force=perforce, necessarily. 2 suffice, gratify.

3 thralls. See Glossary.

4 Arch-fiend.

Who is meant?

5 pervert. See Glossary.
6 if I fail not, if I err not.