Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

I may assert eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men.

25

30

35

Say first; for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell; say first what cause Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state, Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off From their Creator, and transgress his will For one restraint, lords of the world besides? Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt? Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile, Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heav'n with all his host Of rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equall'd the Most High, If he oppos'd; and, with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Rais'd impious war in Heav'n, and battle proud, With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurl'd headlong flaming from the etherial sky, 45 With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

40

51

55

Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded, though immortal: but his doom
Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay,
Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
The dismal situation waste and wild;
A dungeon horrible on all sides round

60

As one great furnace flam'd; yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible

[merged small][ocr errors]

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 65
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed

With ever-burning sulphur unconsum'd.
Such place eternal Justice had prepar'd

For those rebellious; here their pris'on ordain'd;

In utter darkness; and their portion set
As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n,
As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.

70

O how unlike the place from whence they fell! 75
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelm'd
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He soon discerns, and, welt'ring by his side,
One next himself in pow'r, and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd
Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch enemy,

80

And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words Breaking the horrid silence, thus began.

"If thou beest he; but O how fall'n! how chang'd From him who in the happy realms of light, 85 Cloth'd 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,

95

Join'd with me once, now misery hath join'd 90
In equal ruin; into what pit thou seest,
From what height fall'n; so much the stronger prov'd
He 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 chang'd in outward lustre) that fix'd mind,
And high disdain, from sense of injur'd merit,
That with the Mightiest rais'd me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd,

That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,

100

His utmost pow'r with adverse pow'r oppos'd
In dubious battle on the plains of Heav'n,

And shook his throne. What tho' the field be lost?

All is not lost; th' unconquerable will,

106

110

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 pow'r,
Who from the terror of this arm so late
Doubted his empire; that were low indeed!
That were an ignominy' and shame beneath
This downfall! since by fate the strength of Gods
And this empyreal substance cannot fail,
Since, through experience of this great event,
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanc'd,
We may with more successful hope resolve
To wage, by force or guile, eternal war;
Irreconcileable to our grand foe,

115

120

Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy,
Sole reigning, holds the tyranny of Heav'n."
So spake th' apostate Angel, though in pain, 125
Vaunting aloud, but rack'd with deep despair:
And him thus answer'd soon his bold compeer.
"O Prince, O Chief of many throned powers:
That led th' embattled Seraphim to war
Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds
Fearless, endanger'd Heav'n's perpetual King,
And put to proof his high supremacy;

130

Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate;
Too well I see and rue the dire event,
That with sad overthrow and foul defeat

135

Hath lost us Heav'n, and all this mighty host

In horrible destruction laid thus low,

As far as Gods and heav'nly essences

Can perish: for the mind and spi'rit remains
Invincible, and vigour soon returns,

140

Though all our glory' extinct, and happy state

Here swallow'd up in endless misery.

But what if he our Conqu'ror (whom I now
Of force believe almighty, since no less

Than such could have o'erpow'r'd' such force as ours)
Have left us this our spirit and strength entire, 146
Strongly to suffer and support our pains,
That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,
Or do him mightier service as his thralls
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 undiminish'd, or eternal being,
To undergo eternal punishment?"

150

155

Whereto with speedy words th' Arch Fiend reply'd. "Fall'n Cherub, to be weak is miserable,

Doing or suffering: but of this be sure,
To do ought good never will be our task,
But ever to do ill our sole delight:
As be'ing the contrary to his high will
Whom we resist. If then his providence
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,
Our labour must be to pervert 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

160

165

His inmost counsels from their destin'd aim.
But see, the angry Victor hath recall'd
His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

170

Back to the gates of Heaven: the sulphurous hail,
Shot after us in storm, o'erblown, hath laid
The fiery surge, that from the precipice

Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling; and the thunder,
Wing'd with red lightning and impetuous rage, 175
Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now
To bellow through the vast and boundless deep.
Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn,
Or satiate fury yield it from our foe.

Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, 180

The seat of desolation, void of light
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend
From off the tossing of these fiery waves;
There rest, if any rest can harbour there;
And, re-assembling our afflicted Powers,
Consult how we may henceforth most offend
Our enemy, our own loss how repair;
How overcome this dire calamity;

185

What reinforcement we may gain from hope; 190 If not, what resolution from despair."

Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blaz'd; his other parts besides
Prone on the flood, extending long and large, 195
Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
As whom the fables name of monstrous size,
Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove;
Briareos, 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 slumb'ring on the Norway foam,
The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,

Moors by his side under the lee, while night
Invests the sea, and wished morn delays:

200

205

So stretch'd out huge in length the Arch Fiend lay,
Chain'd on the burning lake; nor ever thence 210
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 shown
On Man, by him seduc'd; but on himself

215

« AnteriorContinuar »