{
 "id": "john-milton/book-i",
 "title": "Book I",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Milton",
 "poet_slug": "john-milton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Paradise Lost",
 "book_slug": "paradise-lost",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 1,
 "container": "Book I",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1674,
  "venue": "Paradise Lost (1674)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://github.com/standardebooks/john-milton_paradise-lost"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-milton_paradise-lost",
  "file": "book-1.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000634929"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 798,
  "n_stanzas": 21,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 56,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of that forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brought death into the world, and all our woe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With loss of Eden, till one greater Man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sing Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the beginning how the Heavens and Earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rose out of Chaos: Or if Zion hill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fast by the oracle of God, I thence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That with no middle flight intends to soar",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Before all temples the upright heart and pure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Instruct me, for thou know’st; thou from the first",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Illumine, what is low raise and support;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That to the highth of this great argument",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I may assert the Eternal Providence,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And justify the ways of God to men.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Say first (for Heaven hides nothing from thy view,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor the deep tract of Hell) say first what cause",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Moved our grand parents in that happy state,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From their Creator, and transgress his will",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For one restraint, lords of the world besides.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Mother of Mankind, what time his pride",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To set himself in glory above his peers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He trusted to have equalled the Most High,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If he opposed; and with ambitious aim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Against the throne and monarchy of God",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With hideous ruin and combustion, down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To bottomless perdition; there to dwell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In adamantine chains and penal fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Nine times the space that measures day and night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To mortal men, he with his horrid crew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Confounded though immortal. But his doom",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Both of lost happiness and lasting pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At once, as far as angels ken, he views",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dismal situation waste and wild:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No light, but rather darkness visible",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Served only to discover sights of woe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And rest can never dwell, hope never comes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That comes to all; but torture without end",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Such place Eternal Justice had prepared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For those rebellious, here their prison ordained",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In utter darkness, and their portion set,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As far removed from God and light of Heaven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O how unlike the place from whence they fell!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There the companions of his fall, o’erwhelmed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He soon discerns; and weltering by his side,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One next himself in power, and next in crime,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Long after known in Palestine, and named",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beelzebub. To whom the Arch-Enemy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold words",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Breaking the horrid silence thus began:",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“If thou beest he⁠—But Oh how fallen! how changed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From him, who in the happy realms of light,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Myriads, though bright! if he whom mutual league,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "United thoughts and counsels, equal hope",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hazard in the glorious enterprise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Joined with me once, now misery hath joined",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In equal ruin: into what pit thou seest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From what highth fallen, so much the stronger proved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He with his thunder: and till then who knew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor what the potent victor in his rage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can else inflict, do I repent, or change,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And high disdain from sense of injured merit,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That with the Mightiest raised me to contend,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And to the fierce contention brought along",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Innumerable force of Spirits armed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His utmost power with adverse power opposed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All is not lost; the unconquerable will,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And study of revenge, immortal hate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And courage never to submit or yield:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And what is else not to be overcome?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That glory never shall his wrath or might",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With suppliant knee, and deify his power",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who, from the terror of this arm, so late",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Doubted his empire⁠—that were low indeed;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That were an ignominy and shame beneath",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This downfall; since by fate the strength of gods",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And this empyreal substance cannot fail;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Since, through experience of this great event,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We may with more successful hope resolve",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To wage by force or guile eternal war,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Irreconcileable to our grand foe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And him thus answered soon his bold compeer:",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O Prince, O Chief of many throned powers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That led the embattled Seraphim to war",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fearless, endangered Heaven’s perpetual King,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And put to proof his high supremacy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Too well I see and rue the dire event",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That with sad overthrow and foul defeat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In horrible destruction laid thus low,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As far as gods and Heavenly essences",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Invincible, and vigour soon returns,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though all our glory extinct, and happy state",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here swallowed up in endless misery.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But what if he our conqueror, (whom I now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of force believe almighty, since no less",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than such could have o’erpowered such force as ours)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strongly to suffer and support our pains,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That we may so suffice his vengeful ire;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or do him mightier service, as his thralls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By right of war, whate’er his business be,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or do his errands in the gloomy deep?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What can it then avail, though yet we feel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strength undiminished, or eternal being",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To undergo eternal punishment?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Whereto with speedy words the Arch-Fiend replied:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Doing or suffering: but of this be sure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To do aught good never will be our task,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But ever to do ill our sole delight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As being the contrary to his high will",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whom we resist. If then his providence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our labour must be to pervert that end,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And out of good still to find means of evil;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His inmost counsels from their destined aim.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But see! the angry victor hath recalled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His ministers of vengeance and pursuit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Back to the gates of Heaven: the sulphurous hail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shot after us in storm, o’erblown hath laid",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fiery surge that from the precipice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Heaven received us falling; and the thunder,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To bellow through the vast and boundless deep.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or satiate fury yield it from our foe.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The seat of desolation, void of light,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Save what the glimmering of these livid flames",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From off the tossing of these fiery waves;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There rest, if any rest can harbour there;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, re-assembling our afflicted powers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Consult how we may henceforth most offend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our enemy, our own loss how repair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How overcome this dire calamity,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What reinforcement we may gain from hope,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If not what resolution from despair.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With head uplift above the wave, and eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Prone on the flood, extended long and large,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As whom the fables name of monstrous size,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Titanian, or Earth-born, that warred on Jove,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Briarios or Typhon, whom the den",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leviathan, which God of all his works",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Created hugest that swim the ocean-stream.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Him, haply, slumbering on the Norway foam,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With fixèd anchor in his skaly rind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Moors by his side under the lee, while night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Invests the sea, and wished morn delays.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So stretched out huge in length the Arch-Fiend lay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chained on the burning lake; nor ever thence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And high permission of all-ruling Heaven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Left him at large to his own dark designs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That with reiterated crimes he might",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Heap on himself damnation, while he sought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Evil to others, and enraged might see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How all his malice served but to bring forth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Man by him seduced, but on himself",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance poured.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His mighty stature; on each hand the flames",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Driven backward slope their pointing spires, and, rolled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In billows, leave i’ the midst a horrid vale.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then with expanded wings he steers his flight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That felt unusual weight; till on dry land",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He lights⁠—if it were land that ever burned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With solid, as the lake with liquid fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And such appeared in hue, as when the force",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of subterranean wind transports a hill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Torn from Pelorus, or the shattered side",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of thundering Aetna, whose combustible",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And fuelled entrails thence conceiving fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And leave a singed bottom all involved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With stench and smoke: such resting found the sole",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian flood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As gods, and by their own recovered strength,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not by the sufferance of supernal power.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Said then the lost Archangel, “this the seat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That we must change for Heaven? this mournful gloom",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For that celestial light? Be it so, since he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who now is sovereign can dispose and bid",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What shall be right: farthest from him is best,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where joy for ever dwells! Hail horrors! hail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Receive thy new possessor, one who brings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A mind not to be changed by place or time.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The mind is its own place, and in itself",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What matter where, if I be still the same,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And what I should be, all but less than he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Here we may reign secure, and in my choice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The associates and co-partners of our loss",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And call them not to share with us their part",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In this unhappy mansion, or once more",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With rallied arms to try what may be yet",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus answered. “Leader of those armies bright,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which but the Omnipotent none could have foiled,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of hope in fears and dangers⁠—heard so oft",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of battle when it raged, in all assaults",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their surest signal⁠—they will soon resume",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "New courage and revive, though now they lie",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Groveling and prostrate on yon lake of fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As we erewhile, astounded and amazed⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No wonder, fallen such a pernicious highth!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He scarce had ceased when the superior Fiend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behind him cast; the broad circumference",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At evening from the top of Fesole,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His spear⁠—to equal which the tallest pine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of some great ammiral, were but a wand⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He walked with, to support uneasy steps",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over the burning marle, not like those steps",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Heaven’s azure; and the torrid clime",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nathless he so endured, till on the beach",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of that inflamed sea, he stood, and called",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His legions, Angel forms, who lay entranced",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "High overarched embower; or scattered sedge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion armed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves o’erthrew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Busiris and his Memphian chivalry,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While with perfidious hatred they pursued",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the safe shore their floating carcases",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And broken chariot wheels: so thick bestrown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Under amazement of their hideous change.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He called so loud, that all the hollow deep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Hell resounded: “Princes, Potentates,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Warriors, the flower of Heaven, once yours, now lost,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If such astonishment as this can seize",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Eternal spirits: or have ye chosen this place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "After the toil of battle to repose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or in this abject posture have ye sworn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To adore the conqueror, who now beholds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The advantage, and descending tread us down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor did they not perceive the evil plight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet to their General’s voice they soon obeyed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Innumerable. As when the potent rod",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Amram’s son in Egypt’s evil day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy cloud",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That o’er the realm of impious Pharoah hung",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So numberless were those bad Angels seen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till, as a signal given, the uplifted spear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of their great Sultan waving to direct",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their course, in even balance down they light",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A multitude, like which the populous North",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came like a deluge on the South, and spread",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Forthwith from every squadron and each band,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The heads and leaders thither haste where stood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their great Commander; godlike shapes, and forms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Excelling human, princely dignities,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though of their names in heavenly records now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be no memorial, blotted out and rased",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By their rebellion from the Books of Life.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Got them new names, till, wandering o’er the Earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through God’s high sufferance for the trial of Man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By falsities and lies the greatest part",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God their Creator, and the invisible",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Glory of him that made them to transform",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Oft to the image of a brute, adorned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With gay religions full of pomp and gold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And devils to adore for deities.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then were they known to men by various names,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And various idols through the heathen world.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who last,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At their great Emperor’s call, as next in worth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The chief were those who, from the pit of Hell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their seats long after next the seat of God,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their altars by his altar, gods adored",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Among the nations round, and durst abide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jehovah thundering out of Zion, throned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Between the Cherubim; yea, often placed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within his sanctuary itself their shrines,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Abominations; and with cursed things",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His holy rites, and solemn feasts profaned,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And with their darkness durst affront his light.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their children’s cries unheard, that passed through fire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Argob and in Basan, to the stream",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Solomon he led by fraud to build",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His Temple right against the temple of God",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab’s Sons,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Heronaim, Seon’s realm, beyond",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Eleale to the Asphaltic Pool.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Peor his other name, when he enticed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Israel in Sittim on their march from Nile,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With these came they, who from the bordering flood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Baalim and Ashtaroth⁠—those male,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These feminine. For Spirits when they please",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can either sex assume, or both; so soft",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And uncompounded is their essence pure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not tied or manacled with joint or limb,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can execute their aery purposes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And works of love or enmity fulfil.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For those the race of Israel oft forsook",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their living Strength, and unfrequented left",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His righteous altar, bowing lowly down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To bestial gods; for which their heads as low",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of despicable foes. With these in troop",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Astarte, Queen of Heaven, with crescent horns;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To whose bright image nightly by the moon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Zion also not unsung, where stood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her temple on the offensive mountain, built",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By that uxorious king, whose heart though large,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Syrian damsels to lament his fate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In amorous ditties all a summer’s day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While smooth Adonis from his native rock",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Infected Zion’s daughters with like heat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His eye surveyed the dark idolatries",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of alienated Judah. Next came one",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopt off",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In his own temple, on the grunsel-edge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshipers:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dagon his Name, sea-monster, upward man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And downward fish: yet had his temple high",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Accaron and Gaza’s frontier bounds.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Him followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He also against the house of God was bold:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A leper once he lost and gained a king,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God’s altar to disparage and displace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His odious offerings, and adore the gods",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A crew who under names of old renown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Osiris, Isis, Orus and their train,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rather then human. Nor did Israel scape",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The infection, when their borrowed gold composed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Likening his Maker to the grazed ox⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jehovah, who, in one night, when he passed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Egypt marching, equalled with one stroke",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Both her first-born and all her bleating gods.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Belial came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Vice for itself. To him no temple stood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or altar smoked; yet who more oft then he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In temples and at altars, when the priest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Turns atheist, as did Eli’s sons, who filled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With lust and violence the house of God?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In courts and palaces he also reigns",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in luxurious cities, where the noise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And injury and outrage; and when night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Gibeah, when the hospitable door",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Exposed a matron, to prevent worse rape.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "These were the prime in order and in might;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The rest were long to tell, though far renowned,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Ionian Gods⁠—of Javan’s issue held",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Gods, yet confessed later than Heaven and Earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their boasted parents: Titan, Heaven’s first born,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With his enormous brood, and birthright seized",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His own and Rhea’s son, like measure found;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So Jove usurping reigned. These, first in Crete",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Ida known, thence on the snowy top",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of cold Olympus ruled the middle air,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their highest Heaven; or on the Delphian cliff,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And o’er the Celtic roamed the utmost isles.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All these and more came flocking; but with looks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appeared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their Chief",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In loss itself; which on his countenance cast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like doubtful hue. But he, his wonted pride",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Semblance of worth not substance, gently raised",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then strait commands that, at the warlike sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of trumpets loud and clarions, be upreared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His mighty standard. That proud honour claimed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Azazel as his right, a Cherub tall:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The imperial ensign, which full high advanced,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At which the universal host up-sent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A shout that tore Hell’s concave, and beyond",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All in a moment through the gloom were seen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ten thousand banners rise into the air,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With orient colours waving; with them rose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A forest huge of spears; and thronging helms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Appeared, and serried shields in thick array",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of depth immeasurable. Anon they move",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of flutes and soft recorders; such as raised",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To highth of noblest temper heroes old",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Arming to battle, and instead of rage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Deliberate valour breathed, firm and unmoved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With dread of death to flight or foul retreat;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With solemn touches, troubled thoughts, and chase",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Breathing united force with fixed thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their painful steps o’er the burnt soil; and now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Advanced in view they stand, a horrid front",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of warriors old with ordered spear and shield,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Awaiting what command their mighty Chief",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had to impose. He through the armed files",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The whole battalion views⁠—their order due,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their visages and stature as of gods;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their number last he sums. And now his heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Distends with pride, and hardening in his strength",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Glories: for never, since created Man,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Met such imbodied force as, named with these,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Could merit more then that small infantry",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Warred on by cranes: though all the giant brood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Phlegra with the heroic race were joined",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mixed with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In fable or romance of Uther’s son,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Begirt with British and Armoric knights;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all who since, baptized or infidel,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When Charlemain with all his peerage fell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their dread Commander. He, above the rest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In shape and gesture proudly eminent,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stood like a tower; his form had yet not lost",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All her original brightness, nor appeared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Less than Archangel ruined, and the excess",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Glory obscured: as when the sun new risen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Looks through the horizontal misty air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On half the nations, and with fear of change",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Perplexes monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Above them all the Archangel; but his face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Waiting revenge. Cruel his eye, but cast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Signs of remorse and passion, to behold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fellows of his crime, the followers rather",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For ever now to have their lot in pain;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Heaven, and from eternal splendours flung",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For his revolt; yet faithful how they stood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their glory withered: as, when Heaven’s fire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pines,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With singed top their stately growth, though bare",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From wing to wing, and half enclose him round",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With all his peers: attention held them mute.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thrice he assayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Words interwove with sighs found out their way:",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O Myriads of immortal Spirits! O Powers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Matchless, but with the Almighty!⁠—and that strife",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was not inglorious, though the event was dire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As this place testifies, and this dire change,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hateful to utter. But what power of mind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of knowledge past or present, could have feared",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How such united force of gods, how such",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As stood like these, could ever know repulse?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For who can yet believe, though after loss,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That all these puissant legions, whose exile",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For me, be witness all the host of Heaven,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If counsels different, or danger shunned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Monarch in Heaven, till then as one secure",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Consent or custom, and his regal state",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Put forth at full, but still his strength concealed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Henceforth his might we know, and know our own,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So as not either to provoke, or dread",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "New war, provoked; our better part remains",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To work in close design, by fraud or guile,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What force effected not; that he no less",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At length from us may find, who overcomes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By force, hath overcome but half his foe.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Intended to create, and therein plant",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A generation whom his choice regard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For this infernal pit shall never hold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor the Abyss",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Full counsel must mature. Peace is despaired,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For who can think submission? War, then, war",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Open or understood, must be resolved.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He spake; and to confirm his words, out-flew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Far round illumined Hell. Highly they raged",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Against the Highest, and fierce with graspèd arms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That in his womb was hid metallic ore,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The work of sulphur. Thither, winged with speed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A numerous brigad hastened; as when bands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of pioners with spade and pickaxe armed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From heaven, for even in heaven his looks and thoughts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were always downward bent, admiring more",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The riches of Heaven’s pavement, trodden gold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In vision beatific. By him first",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Men also, and by his suggestion taught,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Opened into the hill a spacious wound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Deserve the precious bane. And here let those",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Learn how their greatest monuments of fame,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And strength, and art, are easily outdone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What in an age they, with incessant toil",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hands innumerable, scarce perform.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That underneath had veins of liquid fire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With wondrous art founded the massy ore,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion-dross.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A third as soon had formed within the ground",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A various mould, and from the boiling cells",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By strange conveyance filled each hollow nook:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As in an organ, from one blast of wind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Anon out of the earth a fabric huge",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rose like an exhalation, with the sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Built like a temple, where pilasters round",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With golden architrave; nor did there want",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Equalled in all their glories, to enshrine",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stood fixed her stately highth, and strait the doors,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within, her ample spaces, o’er the smooth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And level pavement: from the arched roof,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pendent by subtle magic, many a row",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As from a sky. The hasty multitude",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Admiring entered, and the work some praise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And some the architect: his hand was known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Heaven by many a towered structure high,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where sceptred Angels held their residence,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sat as princes, whom the supreme King",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each in his Hierarchy, the Orders bright.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor was his name unheard or unadored",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sheer o’er the crystal battlements: from morn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A summer’s day; and with the setting sun",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dropt from the zenith like a falling star,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On Lemnos, the Aegaean isle. Thus they relate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Erring; for he with this rebellious rout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fell long before; nor aught availed him now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To have built in Heaven high towers; nor did he scape",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By all his engines, but was headlong sent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With his industrious crew to build in Hell.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Meanwhile the winged haralds, by command",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And trumpet’s sound, throughout the host proclaim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A solemn council forthwith to be held",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At Pandemonium, the high capital",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Satan and his peers. Their summons called",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From every band and squared regiment",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By place or choice the worthiest; they anon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With hundreds and with thousands trooping came",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Attended. All access was thronged, the gates",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Though like a covered field, where champions bold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wont ride in armed, and at the Sultan’s chair",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Defied the best of Panim chivalry",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To mortal combat or career with lance)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In spring-time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pour forth their populous youth about the hive",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The suburb of their straw-built citadel,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "New rubbed with balm, expatiate and confer",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their state affairs. So thick the aery crowd",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swarmed and were straitened; till the signal given,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behold a wonder! they but now who seemed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In bigness to surpass Earth’s giant sons,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Throng numberless, like that pygmean race",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beyond the Indian mount; or faery elves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and dance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Intent, with jocond music charm his ear;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though without number still, amidst the hall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of that infernal court. But far within,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And in their own dimensions like themselves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In close recess and secret conclave sat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A thousand demigods on golden seats,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Frequent and full. After short silence then,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And summons read, the great consult began.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}