Paradise Lost

TITANIAN, or EARTH-BORN, that warr'd on JOVE, 
BRIARIOS or TYPHON, whom the Den 
By ancient TARSUS held, or that Sea-beast 
LEVIATHAN, which God of all his works 
Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream: 
Him haply slumbring on the NORWAY foam 
The Pilot of some small night-founder'd Skiff, 
Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell, 
With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind 
Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night 
Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes: 
So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay 
Chain'd on the burning Lake, nor ever thence 
Had ris'n or heav'd his head, but that the will 
And high permission of all-ruling Heaven 
Left him at large to his own dark designs, 
That with reiterated crimes he might 
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought 
Evil to others, and enrag'd might see 
How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth 
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn 
On Man by him seduc't, but on himself 
Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. 
Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool 
His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames 
Drivn backward slope their pointing spires, & rowld 
In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid Vale. 
Then with expanded wings he stears his flight 
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 solid, as the Lake with liquid fire; 
And such appear'd in hue, as when the force 
Of subterranean wind transports a Hill 
Torn from PELORUS, or the shatter'd side 
Of thundring AETNA, whose combustible 
And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire, 
Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds, 
And leave a singed bottom all involv'd 
With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole 
Of unblest feet.  Him followed his next Mate, 
Both glorying to have scap't the STYGIAN flood 
As Gods, and by their own recover'd strength, 
Not by the sufferance of supernal Power. 
  Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime, 
Said then the lost Arch Angel, this the seat 
That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom 
For that celestial light?  Be it so, since hee 
Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid 
What shall be right: fardest from him is best 
Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream 
Above his equals.  Farewel happy Fields 
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail 
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell 
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings 
A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time. 
The mind is its own place, and in it self 
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. 
What matter where, if I be still the same, 
And what I should be, all but less then hee 
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 choyce 
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: 
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n. 
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, 
Th' associates and copartners of our loss 
Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious Pool, 
And call them not to share with us their part 
In this unhappy Mansion, or once more 
With rallied Arms to try what may be yet 
Regaind in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell? 
  So SATAN spake, and him BEELZEBUB 
Thus answer'd.  Leader of those Armies bright, 
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyld, 
If once they hear that voyce, their liveliest pledge 
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft 
In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge 
Of battel when it rag'd, in all assaults 
Their surest signal, they will soon resume 
New courage and revive, though now they lye 
Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire, 
As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd, 
No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious highth. 
  He scarce had ceas't when the superiour Fiend 
Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield 
Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, 
Behind him cast; the broad circumference 
Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb 
Through 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 some great Ammiral, were but a wand, 
He walkt with to support uneasie steps 
Over the burning Marle, not like those steps 
On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime