Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope
Is flat despair. We must exasperate
Th' Almighty Victor to spend all his rage,
And that must end us; that must be our cure,

145

To be no more? Sad cure; for who would lose,

Though full of pain, this intellectual being,

Those thoughts that wander through eternity,
To perish rather, swallow'd up and lost

In the wide womb of uncreated night,

150

Devoid of sense and motion? And who knows,

Let this be good, whether our angry Foe
Can give it, or will ever? How he can
Is doubtful; that he never will is sure.
Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire
Belike through impotence, or unaware,
To give his enemies their wish, and end
Them in his anger, whom his anger saves

155

To punish endless? Wherefore cease we then?
Say they who counsel war, we are decreed,
Reserved, and destined, to eternal woe:

160

Whatever doing, what can we suffer more,

What can we suffer worse? Is this then worst,

Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms?

165

What when we fled amain, pursued and struck
With Heav'n's afflicting thunder, and besought
The deep to shelter us? This Hell then seem'd
A refuge from those wounds: or when we lay
Chain'd on the burning lake? That sure was worse.
What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
Awaked should blow them into sev'nfold rage,
And plunge us in the flames? Or from above
Should intermitted vengeance arm again

152. Let this be good: Grant that this is good.

156. Belike: Perhaps. Impotence: Want of self-command.

170

159. Wherefore cease, &c.: Why then should we cease to exist? What reason is there to expect annihilation?

170. Is. xxx. 33.

His red right hand to plague us? What if all
Her stores were open'd, and this firmament
Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire,
Impendent horrors, threat'ning hideous fall
One day upon our heads; while we perhaps
Designing or exhorting glorious war,
Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurl'd

175

180

Each on his rock, transfix'd, the sport and prey

Of wracking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk

Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains;
There to converse with everlasting groans,
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved,

185

Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse.
War therefore, open or conceal'd, alike

My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile
With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye

Views all thing at one view? He from Heav'n's height 190
All these our motions vain, sees and derides:

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 Heav'n

Thus trampled, thus expell'd, to suffer here

195

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

180. See Note, Book I. 329.

181. Virg. Æn. vi. 75, ..... " rapidis ludibria ventis."

188. Can: Can (accomplish).

191. Allusion to Ps. ii. 4.

200

199. To suffer, as to do: Scævola boasted that he was a Roman, and knew as well how to suffer as to act. "Et facere et pati fortia Romanum est.”LIVY ii. 12.-N.

201. This was at first resolved: Our minds were made up at first to this.

Contending, and so doubtful what might fall.
I laugh, when those who at the spear are bold
And vent'rous, 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 Conqu'ror. 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,

205

210

Not mind us not offending, satisfy'd

With what is punish'd; whence these raging fires

Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.

Our purer essence then will overcome

215

Their noxious vapour, or inured not feel,

Or changed at length, and to the place conform'd

In temper and in nature, will receive

Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain;

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light,

220

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.

225

Thus Belial, with words cloth'd in reason's garb,

Counsel'd ignoble ease and peaceful sloth,

Not peace and after him thus Mammon spake :

218-19. Receive familiar: Receive as a matter made easy (by habit). The same idea is uttered by Mammon, 1. 274-78 of this Book.

223. Waiting: Waiting for.

223-25. Since our present lot appears for (as) a happy one, though it is, indeed, but an ill one, for, though ill, it is not the worst, &c.

228. Mammon: His character is so fully drawn in the First Book, that the poet adds nothing to it in the Second. We were before told that he was the first who taught mankind to ransack the earth for gold and silver; and, that he was the architect of Pandemonium, or the infernal palace where the evil spirits were to meet in council. His speech, in this Book, is every way suitable to so depraved a character. How proper is that reflection of their being unable to taste the happiness of heaven, were they actually

Either to disenthrone the King of Heav'n
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.
The former vain to hope, argues as vain

230

The latter; for what place can be for us

235

Within Heav'n's bound, unless Heav'n's Lord Supreme

We overpow'r? 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 flow'rs,

240

245

Our servile offerings? This must be our task
In Heav'n, 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 obtain❜d

250

Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, 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

255

Hard liberty before the easy yoke

there, in the mouth of one who, while he was in heaven, is said to have had his mind dazzled with the outward pomps and glories of the place, and to have been more intent on the riches of the pavement than on the beatific vision. The sentiments uttered in lines 262-273 are admirably characteristic of the same being.-A.

233. The strife: Between the King of Heaven and us, not between Fate and Chance.-PEARCE.

244. Breathes: Throws out the smell of, &c. See IV. 265.

250. By force, &c.: What is impossible to attain by force, what is unacceptable if obtained by permission.

Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear
Then most conspicuous, when great things of small,
Useful of hurtful, prosp'rous of adverse,

We can create, and in what place soe'er,
Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain

260

Through labour and endurance. This deep world

Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst

Thick clouds and dark doth Heav'n's all-ruling Sire
Choose to reside, his glory unobscured,

265

And with the majesty of darkness round

Covers his throne; from whence deep thunders roar,

Must'ring their rage, and Heav'n 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 Heav'n shew 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, dismissing quite
All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise.

270

275

280

He scarce had finish'd, when such murmur fill'd

Th' assembly, as when hollow rocks retain

285

The sound of blust'ring winds, which all night long
Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull
Seafaring men o'erwatch'd, whose bark by chance
Or pinnace anchors in a craggy bay

263-8. The imagery of this passage is drawn from Ps. xviii. 11, 13; xcvii. 2. 278. The sensible of pain: The feeling, the sensation of pain.

279. These speeches are wonderfully fine; but the question is changed in the course of the debate.-N.