hosts, induced the mother of mankind to sin. He adds how, hurled from
the ethereal sky to the bottomless pit, Satan lands in a burning lake
of asphalt. There, oppressed by the sense of lost happiness and
lasting pain, he casts his eyes about him, and, flames making the
darkness visible, beholds those enveloped in his doom suffering the
same dire pangs. Full of immortal hate, unconquerable will, and a
determination never to submit or yield, Satan, confident his
companions will not fail him, and enriched by past experiences,
determines to continue disputing the mastery of heaven from the
Almighty.

Beside Satan, on the burning marl, lies Beelzebub, his bold compeer,
who dreads lest the Almighty comes after them and further punish them.
But Satan, rejoining that "to be weak is miserable, doing or
suffering," urges that they try and pervert God's aims. Then, gazing
upward, he perceives God has recalled his avenging hosts, that the
rain of sulphur has ceased, and that lightning no longer furrows the
sky. He, therefore, deems this a fitting opportunity to rise from the
burning lake, reconnoitre their new place of abode, and take measures
to redeem their losses.

"Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
The seat of desolation, void of light,
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend
From off the tossing of these fiery waves,
There rest, if any rest can harbor there,
And, reassembling our afflicted powers,
Consult how we may henceforth most offend
Our enemy; our own loss how repair;