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Alternate all night long: but not so waked
Satan: so call him now, his former name
Is heard no more in Heaven; he of the first,
If not the first Arch-Angel, great in power,
In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honor'd by his great Father, and proclaimed
Messiah king annointed, could not bear

Through pride that sight, and thought himself impair'd,
Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
Friendliest to sleep and silence, he resolved
With all his legions to dislodge, and leave
Unworshipped unobey'd, the throne supreme,
Contemptuos; and his next subordinate
Awakening, thus to him in secret spake :
Sleep'st thou, companion dear? What sleep can close
Thy eyelids? and remember'st what decree

Of yesterday, so late hath pass'd the lips

Of Heaven's Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts
Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart :
Both waking we were one: how then can now
They sleep dissent? new laws thou seest imposed;
New laws from him who reigns new minds may raise
In us who serve, new counsels to debate

What doubtful may ensue : More in this place
To utter is not safe. Assemble thou

Of all those myriads which we lead the chief;
Hell them, that by command, ere yet dim night
Her shadowy clouds withdraws, I am to haste,
And all who under me their banners wave,
Homeward, with flying march, where we possess
The quarters of the north; there to prepare
Fit entertainment to receive our King,
The great Messiah, and his new commands,
Who speedily through all the hierarchies
Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.

So spake the false Arch-Angel, and infused
Bad influence into the unwary breast
Of his associate: he together calls,

Or several one by one, the regent powers,
Under him regent; tells, as he was taught,
That the Most High commanding, now ere night,
Now ere dim night had disencumber'd Heaven,
The great hierarchal standered was to move;
Hells the suggested cause, and cast between
Ambigous words and jealousies to sound
Or taint integrity; but all obey'd

The wonted signal, and superior voice
Of their great Potentate; for great indeed
His name, and high was his degree in Heaven;
His countenance, as the morning star that guides
The starry flock, allured them, and with lies
Drew after him the third part of Heaven's host.
Meanwhile the Eternal eye, whose sight discerns
Abstrusest thoughts, from forth his holy mount,
And from within the golden lamps that burn
Nightly before him, saw without their light
Rebellion rising; saw in whom how spread
Among the sons of morn, what multitudes
Were banded to oppose his high decree ;
And, smiling, to his only Son thus said:

"Son, thou in whom my glory I behold
In full resplendence, Heir of all my might
Nearly it now concerns us to be sure
Of Our Omnipotence, and with what arms
We mean to hold what anciently we claim
Of deity or empire: such a foe

Is rising, who intends to erect his throne
Equal to ours, throughout the spacious north;
Not so content, hath in his thought to try,
In battle, what our power is, or our right.
Let us advise, and to this hazard draw
With speed what force is left, and all employ

In our defence; lest unawares we lose

This our high place, our sanctuary, our hill.'

To whom the Son, with calm aspect and clear,
Lightning divine, ineffable, secure,

Made answer: Mighty Father, thou thy foes
Justly hast in derision, and, secure,

Laugh'st at their vain designs and tumults vain ;
Matter to me of glory, whom their hate
Illustrates, when they see all regal power
Given to quell their pride, and in event
Know whether I be dexterous to subdue
Thy rebels, or be found the worse in Heaven.

So spake the Son; but Satan, with his powers Far was advanced on winged speed; a host Innumerable as the stars of night,

Or stars of morning, dewdrops, which the sun
Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
Regions they pass'd, the mighty regencies
Of Seraphim and Potentates, and Thrones,
In their triple degrees; regions to which
All thy dominion, Adam is no more
Than what this garden is to all the Earth
And all the sea, from one entire globose
Stretch'd into longitude; which having pass'd,
At length into the limits of the north
They came; and Satan to his royal seat
High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount
Raised on a mount, with pyramids and towers
From diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of gold;
The palace of great Lucifer (so call
That structure in the dia ect of men
Interpreted,) which not long after, he
Affecting all equality with God,

In imitation of that mount whereon
Messiah was declared in sight of Heaven,
The mountain of the congregation call'd;
For thither he assembled all his train,

Pretending so commanded to consult
About the great reception of their King,
Thither to come, and with calumnious art
Of counterfeited truth thus held their ear:

'Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers; If these magnific titles yet remain

Not merely titular, since by decree
Another now hath to himself engross'd

All power, and us eclipsed, under the name
Of King anointed, for whom all this haste
Of midnight march, and hurried meeting here,
This only to consult how we may best,
With what may be devised of honors new,
Receive him coming to receive from us
Knee-tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile!
Too much to one? but do uble how endured,
To one, and to his image now proclaim'd?
But what if better counsels might erect
Our minds, and teach us to cast off this yoke?
Will ye submit your necks, and choose to bend
The supple knee? Ye will not; if I trust
To know ye right, or if ye know yourselves
Natives and sons of Heaven possess'd before
By none; and if not equal all, yet free,
Equally free; for orders and degrees
Jar not with liberty, but well consist.
Who can in reason then, or right assume
Monarchy over such as live by right

His equals, if in power and splendour less,

In freedom equal? or can introduce
Law and edict on us, who without law
Err not? much less for this to be our Lord,
And look for adoration, to the abuse
Of those imperial titles, which assert
Our being ordain'd to govern, not to serve "

Thus far his bold discourse without control
Had audience; when among the Seraphim

Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored
The deity, and divine commands obey'd,
Stood up, and in a flame of zeal severe
The current of his fury thus opposed.

"O argument blasphemous, false, and proud!
Words which no ear ever to hear in Heaven
Expected, least of all from thee, Ingrate,
In place thyself so high above thy peers.
Canst thou with impious obloquy condemn
The just decree of God pronounced and sworn,
That to his only Son, by right endued.
With regal sceptre, every soul in Heaven
Shall bend the knee, and in that honor due
Confess him rightful King? unjust thou say'st,
Flatly unjust, to bind with laws the free,
And equal over equals to let reign,
One over all with unsucceeded power.

Shalt thou give law to God? shalt thou dispute
With him the points of liberty, who made
Thee what thou art, and form'd the powers of Heaven
Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being?
Yet by experience taught, we know how good,
And of our good and of our dignity

How provident he is; how far from thought

To make us less, bent rather to exalt

Our happy state, under one head more near

United. But to grant it thee unjust,

That equal over equals monarch reign

Thyself, though great and glorious, dost thou count, Or all angelic nature join'd in one,

Equal to him begotten Son? by whom,

As by his Lord, the mighty Father made

All things, e'en thee; and all the Spirits of Heaven

By him created in their bright degrees,

Crown'd them with glory and to their glory named Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers, sential powers; nor by his reign obscured,

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