_Asm._ Prince of the thrones, who in the fields of light Led'st forth the embattled seraphim to fight; Who shook the power of heaven's eternal state, Had broke it too, if not upheld by fate; But now those hopes are fled: Thus low we lie, Shut from his day, and that contended sky, And lost, as far as heavenly forms can die; Yet, not all perished: We defy him still, And yet wage war, with our unconquered will. _Lucif._ Strength may return. _Asm._ Already of thy virtue I partake, Erected by thy voice. _Lucif._ See on the lake Our troops, like scattered leaves in autumn, lie; First let us raise ourselves, and seek the dry, Perhaps more easy dwelling. _Asm._ From the beach Thy well-known voice the sleeping gods will reach, And wake the immortal sense, which thunder's noise Had quelled, and lightning deep had driven within them. _Lucif._ With wings expanded wide, ourselves we'll rear, And fly incumbent on the dusky air.-- Hell, thy new lord receive! Heaven cannot envy me an empire here. [_Both fly to dry Land._ _Asm._ Thus far we have prevailed; if that be gain, Which is but change of place, not change of pain. Now summon we the rest. _Lucif._ Dominions, Powers, ye chiefs of heaven's bright host, (Of heaven, once your's; but now in battle lost) Wake from your slumber! Are your beds of down? Sleep you so easy there? Or fear the frown Of him who threw you hence, and joys to see Your abject state confess his victory? Rise, rise, ere from his battlements he view Your prostrate postures, and his bolts renew, To strike you deeper down. _Asm._ They wake, they hear, Shake off their slumber first, and next their fear; And only for the appointed signal stay. _Lucif._ Rise from the flood, and hither wing your way. _Mol._ [_From the Lake._] Thine to command; our part is to obey. [_The rest of the Devils rise up, and fly to the Land._ _Lucif._ So, now we are ourselves again an host, Fit to tempt fate, once more, for what we lost; To o'erleap the etherial fence, or if so high We cannot climb, to undermine his sky, And blow him up, who justly rules us now, Because more strong: Should he be forced to bow. The right were ours again: 'Tis just to win The highest place; to attempt, and fail, is sin. _Mol._ Changed as we are, we're yet from homage free; We have, by hell, at least gained liberty: That's worth our fall; thus low though we are driven, Better to rule in hell, than serve in heaven. _Lucif._ There spoke the better half of Lucifer! _Asm._ 'Tis fit in frequent senate we confer, And then determine how to steer our course; To wage new war by fraud, or open force. The doom's now past; submission were in vain. _Mol._ And were it not, such baseness I disdain; I would not stoop, to purchase all above, And should contemn a power, whom prayer could move, As one unworthy to have conquered me.