our own, and drive out the puny (7) Inhabitants, as we are driven; or if not drive them out, feduce them to our Party, that their GoD may prove their Enemy, and with a repenting Hand deftroy his own Works: This would be an Action furpaffing common Revenge, and interrupt the Joy he had in our Confufion, as well as raise up our Joy in his Disturbance; when his Favourite Creatures hurled headlong to partake with us our Damnation, fhall curfe their frail Original, and faded Blifs; faded fo foon. Think well, if this be worth attempting, or whether it be better to fit here in Darkness, contriving vain Empires.

THUS BEELZEBUB fpoke his devilish Counsel, which was first devised, and had been in Part propofed by SATAN; for from whence, but from the Author of all Evil, could fpring fo deadly a Malice; to confound the Race of Mankind in the firft Root, and mingle and involve Earth with Hell; done all to fpite the great Creator? But their Spite ftill ferves to advance his Honour and Glory.

THE bold Defign highly pleafed those Infernal States, and Joy fhone vifible in all their Eyes: They voted with free Affent to what he had propofed; whereupon he renewed his Speech.

SYNOD of Gods! well have ye judged, and like to what ye are have refolved great Things, and ended long Debate: This from the lowest Deep (in Spite of Fate) will lift up once more, nearer our antient Seat, perhaps in View of the bright Confines of Heaven, from whence by fome advantageous Excurfion we may chance to re-enter Heaven; or else in fome

(1) Puny; Fr. Lat. i. e. Born after others; little, mean, infirm, younger. Here Man is

fo called by Beelzebub, in Contempt and Derifion, because Man was created after theAngels.

mild

mild Zone (m), or Place of lefs Torment dwell fecure, not unvifited by its fair Light, and at the brightening Beams of the Eaft purge off this Gloom : The foft delightful Air fhall breathe Balm, to heal the Scorchings of these corrofive Fires.-But firft let us confider whom we fhall fend in Search of this new World, whom fhall we find fufficient to attempt, with wandering Feet, the dark, infinite, and bottomlefs Abyss? That can find out his uncouth Way, through grofs and palpable Darknefs, or take hisFlight, born upward with indefatigable Wings over the pathlefs Space, before he arrives at the happy World where MAN is placed? What Strength or Art can be enough, or what Evasion can ever bear him fafe, through the ftrict Senteries and thick Stations of Angels, that doubtlefs are watching round it? Here he had Need of the greatest Circumfpection, and we need no lefs now in the Choice of whom we are to fend; for on him our laft Hope and the Weight of all relies.

HAVING faid thus, he fat down, and looked expecting who would fecond him, or undertake this dangerous Enterprize:. But they all fat mute, with deep Thoughts confidering the Danger; and each of them, in the Countenance of others, might have seen how himfelf looked difmayed; all were aftonished; none among the choice and chiefeft of thofe Champions, who had warred in Heaven, could be found fo hardy, as to profer, or confent alone to undertake, the dreadful Journey; 'till at laft SATAN, whom now tranfcendant Glory raised above his Companions, with Regal Pride, as confcious of highest Worth, spoke

thus:

(m) Zone; Lat. Gr. i. e. A Belt or Girdle; because it girds the World. An Aftronomical Term. Aftronomers divide the Heavens into five Zones ; one is extreme hot, between the two

Tropics; two are temperate, between the two Tropics and the Polar Circles; and two are extreme cold, between the two Polar Circles and the two Poles.

Он!

OH! Progeny of Heaven! where perhaps ye ftill have Thrones, with Reason, deep Silence and Demur have feized us, though we are undifmayed: The Way that leads up to Light, out of Hell, is long and hard; our Prison is ftrong; this huge Convex of Fire, the immenfe Vault of Hell, outragious to devour, furrounds us on all Sides, and Gates of burning Adamant barred over us, hinder all Paffage out. After thefe are paft, (if that be by any one poffible) the void and bottomlefs Depth of Hell and Night gaping wide, receives him next who makes the Attempt, and plunged in that abortive Gulph, he is threatened with utter Lofs of Being. If he escape thence, in whatever World or unknown Region it may be, what lefs remains for him than' unknown Dangers, and Perils difficult to go through? But I fhould very ill become this Throne, and this Imperial Sovereignty, adorned as I am with Splendor and arm'd with Power, if any Thing could be propofed, judged to be of publick Moment, that in the Shape of Difficulty or Danger, I could be deterred from attempting. Wherefore do I affume these Royalties? Why do I not refufe to reign, if I refufe to accept as great a Share of Hazard as I do of Honour ? Since to him who reigns they are alike due, and fo much the more of Hazard due to him, as he fits high honoured above the reft? Therefore, ye mighty Powers, the Terror of Heaven, (though fallen) go and confult at Home, (while here shall be our Home) what may best give Eafe to prefent Mifery, and render Hell more tolerable; if there be Cure or Charm to refpite, deceive, or mitigate the Pain of this ill Manfion. Neglect no Watch against fo wakeful a Foe, while I far off, through all the untrod Paths of dark Destruction, feek a Deliverance for us all: None shall partake this Enterprize with me.

THUS

THUS faying, SATAN arofe, and prudently prevented all Reply; left others among the Chiefs, their Spirits raised from his Refolution, and certain to be refufed, might offer now what they before feared; and fo might stand in Opinion his Rivals, cheaply winning the high Reputation, which he had to acquire through extream great Hazard. But they did not dread the Adventure more than his forbidding Voice; with him they rofe all at once, and their Rising was as the Sound of distant Thunder: They bend towards him, and bow with awful Reverence, extolling him as a God, and equal to the highest in Heaven: Nor did they fail to exprefs their Praise, that he defpifed his own, for the general Safety: (For neither do the damned Spirits lofe all their Virtue; left bad Men should boaft their fpecious Deeds upon Earth, to which they are excited only by Glory, or close Ambition, varnished over with Zeal). Thus they ended their doubtful and dark Confultations, greatly rejoicing in their General, whom they esteemed matchlefs: As when after a Storm, if the Sun extends his warm Beams, the Fields revive, the Birds renew their Songs, and the Herds bleat, and with their Joy make the Hills and the Vallies ring. What Shame to MEN! Devil with Devil damned holds firm Concord; of rational Creatures, MEN only difagree; though they are under Hope of Heavenly Grace, and though GoD proclaims Peace, yet live in Hatred, Strife, and Envy, among themselves, levying cruel Wars, and wafting the Earth, to destroy each other: As if (which Confideration itself might induce us to Unity) MAN had not hellish Foes enough befides, that Day and Night wait for his Deftruction.

CHAP.

CHAP. II.

The Council thus ended, the rest betake them several Ways, and to feveral Employments, as their Inclinations lead them, 'till Satan returns.

HUS the Infernal Council broke up, and
Peers of it came forth in Order; in

the Midft came SATAN their Sovereign, and feemed of himself alone ftrong enough to be an Oppofition to Heaven; nothing elfe than Hell's dread Emperor, with fupreme Pomp and State, imitating GOD: Around him a Company of fiery Seraphim, who enclosed him with fhining and dreadful Enfigns and Arms. Then they ordered the great Refult of their Councils to be proclaimed with the Sound of Trumpets: Four fwift Cherubim founding towards \ the four Winds, the Meaning of which was explained by the Voice of a Herald, which founded far and wide, and all the Hoft of Hell fhouted out aloud for Joy.

FROM thence their Minds grew more at Eafe, and being somewhat encouraged by falfe and ill-grounded Hope, the ranged Bands difperfe, and each wanders his several Way, as Inclination or fad Choice perplexedly leads him, where he may likelieft find fome Eafe to his reftlefs Thoughts, and pafs the painful Hours 'till his great Chief fhould return.

PART of them on the Plain, Part hovering in the Air, others contending in fwift Race, as in the (n) OLYMPIAN

(n) Olympian, of Olympus. The Olympic Games of Greece were inftituted by Hercules, and

celebrated near the City Olym pia in Peloponnefus, in Honour of Jupiter Olympus's Father on