PARADISE LOST by John Milton From line 69.

Such place eternal justice had prepared,
For those rebellious, here their prison ordained
In utter darkness and their portion set,
As far removed from God and light of heaven
As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole.
Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!
There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,
He soon discerns and weltering by his side
One next himself in power, and next in crime,
Long after known in Palestine, and named
Beelzebub. To whom the arch enemy,
And thence in heaven called Satan, with bold words
Braking the horrid silence, thus begun:
"If thou beest he . . . . but O how fallen, how changed
From him, who in the happy realms of light
Clothed with transcendent brightness didst outshine
Myriads though bright - if he whom mutual league,
United thoughts and counsel, equal hope
And hazard in the glorious enterprise,
Joined with me once, now misery hath joined
In equal ruin: into what pit thou seest
From what highth fallen, so much the stronger proved
He with his thunder, and till then who knew
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,
Nor what the potent vicar in his rage
Can else inflict, do I repent or change,
Though changed in outward lustre that fixed mind
And high disdain, from sensed of injured merit
That with the mightiest raised me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of spirits armed
That durst dislike his reign, and me prefering,
His utmost power with adverse power opposed,
In dubious battle on the plains of heaven,
And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield:
And what is else not to overcome?

. . . . . . To line 109. To be contd.

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