"Thou erring Morning-star, oh! spare thyself."
Lucifer:
How now? Am I not then God's Stadtholder? 280
Rafael:
That art thou, and from the unbounded Realm
Thou didst receive a power determinate.
Thou rulest in His name.
Lucifer:
Alas! how long?
Until Prince Adam shall make us ashamed:
When he, placed o'er the Angel world, shall from
The bounteous bosom of the Deity
His crown receive, and take his seat by God.
Rafael:
Even though the sovran Lord should thus divide
His power with His inferiors; though He should
Command that man upon his head shall place 290
The brightest crown; him consecrate the Chief
Of Spirits, o'er all that crown or sceptre bear.
Or e'er shall bear: learn thou submissively
To bow 'neath God's decree.
Lucifer:
That is the stone
Whereon this battle-axe shall whet its edge.
Rafael:
Thou'lt whet it rashly for thine own proud neck.
Think where we are. The Heavens can bear no stain
Of pride, hate, envy, or malevolence.
The wrath of Deity doth threaten soon
To wipe this blot away. Here not avails 300
Dissembling. Oh! that I this blasphemy
Could hide from the all-seeing Sun and from
The all-penetrating Eye. O Lucifer,
Where is thy glory now?
Lucifer:
My glory was
Long since to Adam given, and to his seed.
I am no longer called the eldest heir,
The son first consecrate.
Rafael:
Prince Lucifer,
Oh! spare thyself: submit unto the wish
Of the Most High. Oh! deem us worthy now
To bear such joyful tidings up above. 310
Each waits with longing eyes for my return.
Before thy splendor I most humbly kneel.
Oh! for the sake of God, beware lest thou
Encouragement shalt give to mutiny,
That on thy will and word doth henceforth turn,
As on its axis. Wouldst thou thus, against
The courts of Heaven, this air so full of peace
And holiness, for the first time disturb
By the clash of countless warring myriads?—
Thus to the sound of trump and drum unfurl 320
These battle-banners bold?—Thyself to God
The matchless wrestler thus oppose?
Lucifer:
'Tis we
That are opposed. Were unto Adam's race
But given a rank and throne, even similar
To that the Angels own, 'twere to be borne.
Now fly, instead, o'er all the roofs of Heaven
The sparks blown from this burning in the skies.
Peace! Angels all, and reverentially
Your homage bring, for all that you possess,
To Adam and his seed. To strive 'gainst man 330
Is the Godhead to oppose! Oh! how could God,
Within His heart, so low, so deep degrade
Him whom He for the mightiest sceptre formed:
A worthiness once sanctified to rule,
So sadly thus abase for one so low,
And thus disrobe of all its splendid pomp,
And cause it thus to curse the glorious dawn
Of its ascent—to wish far rather that
It had remained a shadow without hue,
A nothing without life? For not to be 340
Is better thousand times than such a fall.
Rafael:
A vassal's power is no inheritance:
It stands free and apart.
Lucifer:
This power is then
No boon, if power it may be called.
Rafael:
Thy place
Maintain: or hast thou then forgot thy charge?
Thy place, as Stadtholder, to thee was given
That in thy wisdom thou mightst keep all things
In peace and order here. And dost thou now.
The perjured chief of blind conspirators.
Put on this coat of mail to fight thy God? 350
Lucifer:
Necessity and self-defence compelled
These arms; nor wished we to engage with God.
Reason would speak, even though our arms were dumb.
We fight in Freedom's cause, denied this bliss?
Rafael:
No bliss is glorious, where in one realm
The embattled squadrons of the state must fight
Against their peers. Most pitiful it is,
When brothers of the selfsame order must,
At last, even by their brothers be o'ercome.
Oh! Stadtholder, for our sake, and for fear 360
Of God and of His threatened punishment,
Send hence thy gathered legions, send them hence.
Oh! melt, I pray, beneath my prayers. I hear,
'Tis terrible! the chains a-forging now,
That thee shall drag, when vanquished and bound,
In triumph through the skies. And hark! I hear
A din, and see the hosts of Michael draw
With nearing tread. 'Tis time, yea, 'tis high time,
Thou cease this mad attempt.
Lucifer:
What profits it
Even though unto the utmost I repent? 370
Here is no hope of grace.
Rafael:
But I assure
Thee mercy; for I now appoint myself
Thy mediator up above and as
Thy hostage there.
Lucifer:
My star to plunge in shame
And darkness: yea, to see my enemies
Defiant on my throne?
Rafael:
O Lucifer,
Beware! I see the lake of brimstone down
Below, with opened mouth, gape horribly.
Shalt thou, the fairest far of all things ever
By God created, henceforth serve as food 380
For the devouring bowels of Hell's abyss—
Flames never satisfied nor quenched? May God
Forbid! Oh! oh! yield to our prayers. Receive
This branch of peace: we offer thee God's grace.
Lucifer:
What creature else so wretched is as I?
On the one side flicker feeble rays of hope,
While on the other yawns a flaming horror.
A triumph is most dubious; defeat
Most hard to shun. In such uncertainty,
God and His banner to oppose?—the first 390
To be a standard to unfurl 'gainst God,
His trump celestial and revealed command?
—Of rebels thus to make myself the chief,
And 'gainst the law of Heaven another law
To oppose?—to fall into the dreadful curse
Of a most base ingratitude?—to wound
The mercy, love, and majesty of Him,
The Father bountiful, source of all good
That e'er was given or may yet be received?
How have I erred so far from duty's path? 400
I have abjured my Maker: how can I
Before that Light disguise my blasphemy
And wickedness? Retreat availeth not.
Nay, I have gone too far. What remedy?
What best to do amid this hopelessness?
The time brooks no delay. One moment's time
Is not enough, if time it may be called,
This brevity 'twixt bliss and endless doom.
But 'tis too late. No cleansing for my stain
Is here. All hope is past. What remedy? 410
Hark I there I hear God's trumpet blow without,
APOLLION. LUCIFER. RAFAEL.
Apollion:
Lord Stadtholder, awake! not now the time
For loitering. God's Marshal Michael nears,
With all his stars and legions, and defies
Thee in the open field. The time demands
That thou array for battle. Come, advance!
Advance with us: we see the battle won.
Lucifer:
Won? Ah! that is too soon: 'tis not commenced.
The heavy bolt of war should not be weighed
Too lightly.
Apollion:
I saw even in Michael's face 420
The hue of fright, while all his legions pale
Looked backwards. Ah! we long. O doubt it not,
To humble and destroy them. Lo! here come
The various chieftains with our streaming standard.
Lucifer:
Each in his rank! Let each his banner ward.
Now let the trump and bugle boldly blow.
Apollion:
We wait upon thy word.
Lucifer:
Then follow on,
As I this signal give.
Rafael:
Alas! but now
He stood in doubt suspended: now, despair
Incites him on. In what calamities, 430
Alas! shall soon the proud Archangel plunge
His followers? Now may he nevermore
In joy appear on high unless God shall
In His compassion this prevent. Oh! come,
Ye Heavenly choristers, and breathe your prayers.
It may be that your supplications, rising,
May yet avert this dire, impending blow:
Oft prayer can break a heart of adamant.
CHORUS OF ANGELS. RAFAEL.
Chorus:
O Father, who no incense, gold,
Or hymnal praise dost dearer hold 440
Than the tranquil trust and soul-reposing
Calmness of him who humbly heeds
Thy word, and where Thy spirit leads
Doth leave himself in Thy disposing:
Thou seest. O Author of us all,
Our Spirit-Chief his banners tall
'Gainst Thee so wickedly unfurling;
And how, 'mid roar of trump and drum,
On battle-chariot he doth come,
So blind, and fierce defiance hurling! 450
Ah! heed not their wild blasphemy,
And save from endless misery
The thousand thousand ones deluded,
Who, weak, and woefully misled
By their proud and rebellious head,
Are 'mong his legions now included.
Rafael:
Spare in Thy mercy, spare, ah! spare
The Stadtholder, who now would wear
Thy crown of crowns, who, deifying
Himself, would triumph over all: 460
From such foul stain, oh! where else shall
The cleansing come, him purifying?
Chorus:
Oh! suffer not that soul to die.
The fairest e'er seen by Thine eye
Oh I keep the Archangel e'er in Heaven;
Let him atone this impious deed.
And still retain his rank, we plead
Let not his guilt be unforgiven. 468
Act V.
RAFAEL. URIEL.
Rafael:
The whole of Heaven, from base to topmost crown
Of her chief palaces, resounds with joy,
As Michael's trumpets blow and banners wave.
The field is won. Our shields shine splendidly,
Shaping new suns. From every shield-sun streams
A day triumphant forth. Lo! from the fight,
See, Uriel proud, the armor-bearer, comes;
And waves the flaming, keen, two-edged sword,
That, whet with Heaven's wrath and vengeance, flashed,
Amid the fray, through shield and mail and helm 10
Of diamond, left and right, through all that dared
Oppose the all-piercing Power, Omnipotence.
O armor-bearer, most austere, who art
The executioner on high, and dost
With one strong, righteous stroke compose the Wrong
That would rebel against eternal Right,
Blest be thy sword and arm, that thus maintain
And guard the honor of our Angel Realm.
What praise reserved for thee by Majesty
Supreme! Oh! pray relate to us the strife: 20
Unfold to us the management of this,
The first campaign in Heaven. We listen, then,
In expectation rapt.
Uriel:
Your wish inflames
My spirit to begin, this fearful fray
In calmness to describe, with sequence just,
Success the army crowns that fights with God.
The Field-marshal, great Michael (being warned
By the envoy of Heaven, who from above
Flew downward, downward swifter than a star
That shoots athwart the sky, with the tidings how, 30
Against the high decree proud Lucifer
Himself so openly opposed, prepared
To lead his incense-swinging worshippers—
All who his standard and his morning-star
Had sworn their bold allegiance), quickly donned,
At Gabriel's report—that Herald true—
His scaly coat of mail, and with firm voice
He forthwith then gave charge to all his chiefs,
His captains, lords, and officers to place,
In the name of God, the troops in battle rank, 40
That, with united forces and with all
Their strength, they might sweep from the airy vast
Of purest crystalline this perjured scum:
To cast in darkness all those Spirits vile,
Ere unawares they us surprise. Upon
This charge the legions rapidly deployed
Themselves in battle-line, as speedily
As flies the nimble arrow from the bow.
We saw there countless throngs together swarm
In bright array and glowing martial pomp, 50
Until they formed, in serried rank, one firm
Trilateral host that, like a triangle,
Thrust out its edges sharp upon the eye.
We saw a solid mass, like one dense light,
Three-pointed, polished mirror-smooth, even like
To diamond, and a battle-front advance
By God more than by Spirit understood.
The Field-marshal towered in the army's heart,
Full-faced before God's banner, with the glow
Of lurid lightnings in his lifted hand. 60
Who courage would preserve.—would victory
And triumph e'er attain.—should first have care
To make sure of and then to gain the heart.
Rafael:
But where the host accursed that us would storm?
Uriel:
It came into the field of daring full
With all its primal faith, obedience,
Honor, and oath, and what besides, forgot
In this base and presumptuous attempt
'Gainst God, despite our prayers. It swiftly waxed.
And pointed like a crescent moon its ends. 70
It sharpened both its points, and these, even like
Two horns, closed in upon us, as amid
The Zodiac the Bull doth threaten with
His golden horns the other animals
Celestial and the monsters that revolve
Around. Upon the right horn there advanced
Prince Belzebub, whose purpose was to clip
Our spreading wings, and also to keep guard.
The left horn to Prince Belial was assigned.
Thus both stood there in shining panoply, 80
Vying in splendors grand. The Stadtholder,
Now Field-marshal 'gainst God, the centre held
Of this array, that he might guard the key,—
The point strategic of the legions there.
The lofty standard, from whose morning-star
The day did seem to stream, Apollion
Behind him bore, as bravely as he could,
In his full glory seated high to view.
Rafael:
Alas! what dares—what dares the great Archangel
Attempt? Oh! if I only could in time 90
Have brought him to desist. However, now
Describe to me the aspect of their march,
And with what show the Prince his legions led.
Uriel:
Surrounded by his staff and retinue
In green, he, wickedly impelled by hate
Irreconcilable, in golden mail,
That brightly shone upon his martial vest
Of glowing purple, mounted then his car,
Whose golden wheels with rubies were emblazed.
The lion and the dragon fell, prepared 100
For speedy flight, with backs sown full of stars
And to the chariot joined by pearly traces,
Panted for strife, and for destruction flamed.
Within his hand a battle-axe he bore,
And from his left arm hung a glimmering shield,
Wherein his morning-star was artfully
Embossed: thus stood he poised to venture all.
Rafael:
O Lucifer, thou shalt this pride repent.
Thou phoenix 'mongst God's worshippers on high.
How grand thou dost appear amid thy legions, 110
With helm, head, neck, and shoulders eminent!
How gloriously thine armor thee becomes,
As if by nature fitted to thy form!
Oh! Chief of Spirits, no farther go; turn back.
Uriel:
Confronted thus they stood embattled, troop
By troop, each in his air and station placed,
All ranked by files 'neath their respective chiefs,
Both sides arrayed with fairest pomp to view.
When furious drum and clarion trumpet sound,
Their medley resonance nerves every arm 120
And sharpens every sword; and mounts on high
Into the firmament of the holy Light
Supreme, a din whereat a pregnant cloud
Of darts doth burst with pealing thunder-showers
Of fiery hail, a storm and tempest fierce,
That makes afraid the very Heaven and shakes
The pillars of its palaces. The stars
And spheres, perplexed, from their appointed paths
And orbits err, or on their circled watch
Bewildered stand, not knowing where to turn: 130
Or East or West, or upwards or below.
All that is seen is lightning flash and flame;
All that is heard is thunder. What remains
In its primeval place? That which was once
The highest now becomes the thing most low.
The squadrons, when the deep-vibrating shock
Of their artillery's first volleyed roar
Has died away, now struggle hand to hand
With halberd, sabre, dagger, club, and spear.
All stab and slash, that can. All formed by nature 140
For fell destruction and for greedy spoil
Now haste to strike the violating blow.
All thoughts of kin and brotherhood have ceased;
Nor knoweth any one his fellow more.
Above are whirling, like a cloud of dust,
Proud crests of pearl with curlèd locks of hair,
And plumes and wings refulgent with a gleam
Drawn from the singeing lightning's glow. Behold!
In rich confusion mingled, blue turquoise,
With gold and diamond, necklaces of pearl, 150
And all that can adorn the hair or head.
Wings lopped in twain, and broken arrows, whirl
Athwart the sky. A horrid battle-cry
Rises from out the cohorts clad in green:
Their regiments, in danger, are compelled
By our hot onset to retreat. Three times
The maddened Lucifer the fight renews,
And proudly stays his faltering followers,
Even as a rock beats back the ocean surge
That, wave on wave, with foaming rage assails 160
In vain attempt.
Rafael:
Indeed, 'tis something this:
To fight, armed by despair.
Uriel:
Then straightway caused
The valiant Michael all the trumps to sound:
"Glory to God!" His legions, thus made bold
By this their watchword, and by his command,
Begin by circling wheels to soar aloft,
To gain the wind-side of their battling foe,
Who also rises, but with heavier sail,
And finally to leeward slowly drifts:
As if one heavenward a falcon saw, 170
Mounting with pinions bold into the sky.
Ere that the drowsing herons are aware.
Who in a wood, hard by a pleasant mead,
Tremble with fright, when from their lofty nest
They see their dreaded foe. The heron cries,
And, fearful of the falcon's direful claw,
Awaits him on his beak, thus to impale
His enemy's soft breast from there beneath,
When swoops the falcon with unerring wings
Upon his prey.
Rafael:
O Lucifer, for thee 180
What remedy? It seems most terrible!
Now art thou in the open field, where port
Nor wall defend. A horrid whirlwind soon
Shall suddenly swoop down and bury thee
Deep in some gulf and bottomless abyss.
Uriel:
What fair perspective it was, thus to view
A hemisphere or crescent moon beneath,
And up above a point trilateral:
To see the legions, that upon the word
Of their commanding chiefs close in their ranks, 190
Or them deploy, in their battalions stand
As firm as walls of iron, as if they,
With all their ordnance, dumb artillery,
And martial engines, there in equipoise
Were placed, full-weighted 'gainst the balanced air!
They hang suspended like a silent cloud,
A cloud whereon the sun doth pour his beams,
And which he paints with shade and varied hue
And airy rainbows. So then, steeply flown
Aloft, the bold celestial eagle sees 200
God's foe, the hawk, circling his flight beneath.
He strikes his wings together valiantly;
But brooks awhile the hawk's wild wheeling there,
And vain defiance, while he flames ere long
To swoop upon his feathered back and pluck
His glossy plumes: when, in the aery vast,
"With curvèd beak and talons he shall seize
His prey, or drive it, with the wind behind,
Far from his eyes. Thus they precipitate
Themselves, and stream down from their place on high. 210
Even like some inland lake, or waterfall.
In some far, Northern wild, that from the cliffs
Dashes with thundering resonance that frights
The beasts and monsters in deep-hidden dells;
Where from the precipice, rocks, loosened, fall,
With massive torrents and uprooted trees
In countless numbers, that in their fierce plunge
Crush and destroy all that the violence
Of stream and stone and wood cannot withstand.
The point of the advancing column strikes 220
The crescent's centre with assault most fell
Of brimstone, red and blue, and flames, with stroke
On stroke and quick-succeeding thunderbolts
A piercing cry ascends. Their army's heart,
Endangered, now begins, by slow degrees,
To fail support of the accursèd one.
The half-moon's bow, beneath the strain, begins
To crack and break (for the ends together curve);
So that they who the centre hold, must yield
Before that onset fierce, and flee, if soon 230
Deliverance be not brought from their distress.
Prince Lucifer, swift-driven here and there,
Approaches at this cry, and fearlessly
Himself exposes on his car, to show
His valor in this crisis dire. This gives
New heart unto the faltering ones. Then, from
The foaming bit of his now furious team.
He wards the feilest blows and fiercest strokes.
The lion and the dragon blue, enraged,
Leap forward at his word with fearful strides: 240
One bellows, bites, and rends, while poison shoots
Out from the other's forkèd tongue, who thus
A pest provokes, and, raving, fills the air
With smoke blown from his nostrils far and wide.
Rafael:
Now will the burning strike him from on high?
Uriel:
He waves his battle-axe aloft to fell
God's banner, that, descending, darts the beams
And fairer radiance of God's name into
His glowing face. Oh! think what envy then
Him filled, to see this portent on our side. 250
With battle-axe in hand, now here, now there,
He parries every stroke, or breaks their force
Upon his shield, till Michael comes before
Him, clad in glittering armor, like a God
Amid a ring of suns: "Cease, Lucifer;
Give God the victory. Lay down your arms
And standard; yield to God. Come, lead away
This wicked crew, this impious horde. Or else,
Beware thy head!" Thus shouts he from on high.
The Grand Foe of God's name, stiff-necked, unmoved, 260
And more defiant at these words, renews
The fight with haste precipitate, and thrice
With war-axe strives to cleave the diamond shield
Where glowed God's holy name. But who provokes
The Deity shall feel His wrath. The axe
The holy diamond strikes, but lo! rebounds,
And shivers into fragments. Then aloft
His right hand Michael lifts, and through the helm
And head of that rebellious one he smites,
Helped by the great Omnipotent, his lightnings, 270
Cleaving unto his eyes with violence
So great that he falls backward, and is hurled
Down from his chariot, that forthwith follows
Him, whirling round and round in its descent;
Thus lion, dragon, driver, all plunge down.
The standard of the Star doth cease to shine,
When feels Apollion my flaming sword.
Whereon his banner, straightway, he doth leave
As plunder in my hands; while in fierce swarms
Tumultuous their warring myriads 280
Attempt, in vain, to stay the falling Chief
Of all the hosts infernal, and to save
Him from this fate and great calamity.
Here fights Prince Belzebub, and there opposed
Stands Belial. Thus their squadrons are confused:
And with the Stadtholder's important fall
The crescent's bow soon into shivers breaks.
Then comes Apollion into the field,
With all the monsters from the firmament.
The giant Orion shrieks, until the sound 290
The very air makes faint; then with his club
He strives to crush the head of our assault,
That, heedless of Orion or his club,
Moves grandly on. The Northern Bears rear back
Upon their haunches, that their brutish strength
May blindly us oppose. The Hydra gapes
With fifty throats, that vomit poison forth.
I view a gallery of battle-scenes,
All happening in the fray, as far as eye
Can see.
"Thus lion, dragon, driver, all plunge down."