which may often fucceed, fo as perhaps fhall moleft him, (if I fail not) and hinder his moft fecret Designs and Councils from their intended Aim. But look, the angry Conqueror hath recall'd his (p) Minifters of Purfuit and Vengeance back to Heaven; the fiery Hail, that was shot after us in a Storm, is now blown over, and hath laid the burning Flood, which from the Precipice of Heaven receiv'd us as we fell, and the Thunder which broke on us, following red Lightning with violent Force, perhaps hath spent its Shafts; for now it ceafes to bellow through the great and boundless Deep: Then let us not flip the Opportunity, whether Scorn or fatisfied Fury yield it us from our Enemy. Doft thou fee yonder dismal Plain, wild and comfortless, a Seat of Defolation and without Light, except what the glimmering of thefe livid Flames cafts pale and very dreadful? Thither let us repair from off the violent and painful Toffing of these Waves of Fire; there let us reft, if any Reft can be had there, and affembling our afflicted Powers again, confult how we may henceforward most annoy our great Foe, how repair our own Lofs, how overcome this doleful Calamity, what new Strength and Courage we may gain from Hope, and if none from thence, what Refolution we may gain from Despair. THUS SATAN kept talking to BEELZEBUB, with his Head lifted up above the Waves, and glancing his Eyes from Side to Side: As for his other Parts, he lay extended in a melancholy Condition, floating in Length and Breadth over a vast Space of the Abyss; as large in Bulk as thofe, whom Fables have nam'd of prodigious Size, as TITANIAN, (9) or Earth-born, (p) Minifters; Fr. Lat. Ser vants. Here, the Executioners of God's Vengeance upon thefe Rebels; the Holy Angels. See Pfalm 103. 20. who who is faid to have made War on JovE; BRIAREUS, or TYPHON, (r) who was buried in a Cave by antient TARSUS; (s) or LEVIATHAN, (t) which GOD created Earth or Mud. The Fable is thus, Titan was the elder Brother of Saturn, he gave the Right of Inheritance to him, upon Condition that none of his Male Children fhould live; fo the Government fhould return to him and his Iffue. But finding that Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto were brought up fecretly, he with his Sons made War upon Saturn; took him, his Wife and Children Prisoners, until Jupiter came to Age, who defeated Titan with his Thunder-bolts, and punifh'd the Titans in Hell and other Places. The Truth of this Story is taken from the old Giants, the Builders of Babel, Gen. xi. 2. The Giants War is defcribed by the Poets with all Might, Terror and Greatness; but our Author has beautifully improv'd it here and in his fixth Book, in the fuppofed War of the Fallen Angels against God. (r) Typhon or Typheus; Heb. and Phanic. i. e. An Inundation, Gr. i. e. An Inflammation or Smoaking; because he was Thunder-ftruck by Jupiter. A monftrous Giant, half Man, half Serpent. His Head, they fay, reached to Heaven, his Hands from one End of the Earth to the other, and he blew Fire out of his Mouth. These two were the chief of the Giants. In the War with the Gods they heaped Mountains upon Mountains, and batter'd Heaven with huge Rocks and Islands pluck'd out of the Sea: Jupiter truck him with Thunder-bolts and laid him under Mount Etna. By this Fable they meant the Winds which blow from one End of Heaven to the other, and from it to the Earth; Jupiter's conquering him fignifies, that the Sun moderates and tempers the Winds. (s) Tarfus; In a Cave near this City Typhon was buried, according to fome Authors, whom our Author follows; but others fay it was under Mount Etna. Strabo fays, that Anchiale and Tarfus were built by Sardanapalus, the laft Emperor of the Affyrian Monarchy, about A. M. 3242, both in one Day: And that Tarfus excell'd Athens, Alexandria, and Rome for polite Literature. Tarfus; Lat. Gr. from the Heb. i. e. Searched or found out. The chief City of Cilicia, in the leffer Afia upon the River Cydnus, founded by Tarshish the fecond Son of Javan, Gen. x. 4. now called Terase and Tarfis, about 304 Miles from Jerufalem towards the North. It is famous for the Flight of Jonas the Prophet, for being the Birth-Place of St. Paul, and many other learned Men. (t) Leviathan; Lat. Gr. from the Heb. i. e. A Heap of Serpents; as if many Serpents were gathered together into one, to make up that one huge Creature: fome take it to be the Whale, but ted the largest of all the Creatures that fwim in the Ocean; (who fometimes fleeping on the GERMAN Sea, which washes NORWAY, (u) GREENLAND, and ICELAND, the Pilot of fome fmall Skiff, ready to fink in the Night, mistakes for fome Island, and, as Mariners relate, fixes Anchor into his Scales, and moors by his Side under the Lee, while Night covers the Sea with Darkness, and keeps off the defir'd Morning) in fuch Manner lay SATAN, prodigioufly ftretch'd out and huge in Length, chain'd upon the burning Lake; nor had he ever rifen, or lifted his Head from thence, but that the Will and high Permiffion of the all-ruling Power, left him at large to his own dark Purposes and Defigns; that with repeated Crimes he might heap upon himself Damnation, at the fame Time that he fought to bring Evil upon others; and might be mortify'd to fee, how all his Malice only ferv'd to bring forth Grace, infinite Goodness and Mercy, fhewn to MAN, who should be feduc'd by him, but upon himfelf Wrath, Vengeance pour'd out, and threefold Confufion. THUS permitted, he raises up his mighty Stature from off the Pool, and driving the Flames backward on each Hand, they roll in pointed Spires, and leave in the Middle an horrid Vale: Then with out-ftretch'd Wings he flies upward, floating along upon the dusky Air, that never before had born fuch a Weight; at length he alighted upon dry Land, if that may be pro but the Whale hath no Scales; others the Crocodile or Alligator. It is beautifully defcribed, Job 41. 15. (x) Norway; Sax. i. e. The North Way. A Country on the North of Europe, about 1300 Miles in Length, and 260 in Breadth. Here the German Ocean, which washeth Norway, perly Greenland, and Iceland: The Whales live in thefe cold Northern Seas, and alfo in the cold Coast of Patagonia, near the Straits of Magellan, in great Abundance; but rarely in the warm, because of their exceffive Fatnefs; for they would melt and be parboiled in hot Waters. perly call'd fo, that ever burn'd with folid, as the Lake did with liquid Fire; the Colour of which was as when the Force of pent-up fubterranean Wind, removes a Hill torn from PELORUS, (x) or the fhatter'd Sides of thundering Mount TNA; (y) whofe combuftible and bituminous Entrails from thence catching Fire, working with mineral Force, affifts the Winds, and leaves a parch'd and fing'd-up Bottom, mix'd with Stench and Smoak. No better Refting-place than this was found by the unblefs'd Feet of SATAN, who was immediately follow'd by BEELZEBUB; both of them glorying to have efcap'd from the burning Lake, which they imputed to their own natural and recover'd Strength, and not to the Permiffion of Gop. (x) Pelorus; Lat. Gr. Heb. and Phan. A Pilot; or Gr. from Pelorus an African Pilot whom they fay Hannibal flew and buried, fuppofing he had betray'd him; but finding his Miftake, he erected a Statue for him in a high Place near the Sea, which he call'd Peloris. It is one of the three Promontories of Sicily, on the North Side, about a Mile and a half from Italy, now call'd Capo di Faro, Ital. i. e. The Cape of the Light-House. i.e. But here it is taken for the whole Ifland of Sicily, which is very Jubject to Earthquakes. (y) Etna; Lat. Gr. from the Heb. Attuna, i. e. A Furnace, a Chimney, or tuna, i. e. A Mift; because of the perpetual Smoak afcending from the Top of it. Pindar, an antient Greek Poet, calls it a celeftial Column, from its Height, being the higheft Mountain there; on the Top of it one may fee all the Ifland, Is ; and to Africa. A Vulcano, or burning Mountain on the Eaft Side of Sicily, about 60 Miles in Compafs, 100 Feet perpendicular, and a Mile of Afcent which always cafts up Smoak, Flames, Afhes, and fometimes great Stones, liquid Metal and Sulphur, which devour all Things before it. This Mountain has burnt above 3000 Years past, but is not in the leaft confumed; it hath Snow upon the Top, Vineyards and fruitful Paftures on the Sides, and at the Bottom. It hath had nine terrible Eruptions that we know of; the most dreadful were in A. D. 1538, 1669, and 1693. It is now called Gibello by the Arabs, i. e. The Mountain, by Way of Emi'nence. Befides this there are divers other Vulcanoes in Europe, Afia, Africa, and America, which are caufed by the Abundance of Suphur in their Bowels, Is this the Kingdom? faid the fall'n Arch-angel (z). Is this the Soil, the Climate? This the Seat that we muft exchange for Heaven? This difmal Gloom for that heavenly Light? Then be it fo; fince he who is now abfolute Sovereign can decree and bid what fhall be right; to be fartheft from him is beft, fince he whom Reason makes but equal, Force hath made fupreme above his Equals. Ye happy Fields where Joy dwells for ever! Farewell. Hail Horrors! Hail this infernal World! and thou profoundeft Hell, fartheft from Heaven, receive me! I am thy new Poffeffor, I am one who bring a Mind which is not to be chang'd by Time or Place; for the Mind is its own Place, and can of itfelf make a Heaven of Hell, or a Hell of Heaven. What Matter is it where I am, if I am ftill the fame, and what I fhould be, only that I am lefs than he, whom Thunder has made greater? At least here we fhall be free, the Thunderer hath not built this Place for his Envy, he will not drive us out from hence, we may reign fecure here, and if I am to make my Choice, I fhould think it worth my Ambition to reign, though but in Hell; thinking it better to reign in Hell, than to ferve in Heaven. But why do we let our faithful Friends, the numerous Companions, and Copartners of our Lofs, lie thus aftonifh'd on the Gulph of burning Fire, and not call them to fhare with us their Part alfo in this unhappy Habitation, or with reunited Arms to try what may be yet recover'd in Heaven, or what more is poffible to be loft in Hell. So fpoke SATAN, and BEELZEBUB reply'd: (z) Arch Angel, Gr. i. e. An Arch or Principal Angel, who has Power over others. See Dan. 8. 16. Luk. 1. 19. Rev. 12. 7. LEADER Here Satan. And probably he is the only Arch-Angel that is out of Heaven. |