LUCIFERIANS. CHORUS OF ANGELS.
Luciferians:
How oft belief proves but delusive hope!
Alas! how things have changed. We deemed no rank
Than ours more happy in this rising Realm,--
Yea, thought our state even like unto God's own,
More blessed than Earth and e'er unchangeable.--
Till Gabriel met us with his trumpet bold,
And from the golden port the hosts astounded
With this new-made decree, that shall deprive
The Angels of the good, the highest good,
First from the Godhead's breast to them outpoured. 10
How is our glory dimmed! We now behold
The beauty and the dazzling radiance
That streamed so proudly from our ancient splendor
In darkness quenched. We see the Hierarchies
Of Heaven thrown into confusion strange,
And man to such a rank, to such proud height
Exalted, that we tremble even as slaves
Beneath his sway. O unexpected blow
And change of lot! Ah! comrades in one grief.
Ah! come and gather round in groups and sigh 20
And weep with us together here. Tis time
To rend this shining raiment, meet for feasts,
To voice our plaints; for none can this forbid.
Our gladness fades and our first sorrow dawns.
Alas! alas! ye choristers of Heaven,
O brothers, tear those garlands from your brows
And change the blithesome livery of joy
For sorrow's gruesome garb. Oh! droop your eyes.
Seek shadows even as we; for sorrow shuns
The light. Let each one raise his voice to ours 30
And utter fearful plaints. Drown in your grief;
Sink down in mournful thought. To voice your woe,
The burdened heart relieves. Now joy to groan:
For groaning heals the smart. Now shout aloud,
As with one voice, and follow these our woes:
Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed?
Chorus of Angels.
What plaint arises here, unpleasant sound?
The Heavens shrink back in fright. This air on high
Hath not been wont to hear the wail of woe
On sad notes sobbing through these joyful vaults. 40
Nay, wreaths and palms and loud triumphal song
And tuneful harps are far more meet for us.
What can this be? Who crouches here with head
Down-hanging, sad, forlorn, and needlessly
Oppressed? Who gave them food for grief? Who can
The reason guess? O fellow choristers,
Come then, 'tis needful that we ask the cause
Of their lament and this dark cloud of woe,
That robs our splendor of its radiance
And dims and dulls the bright translucent glow 50
Of the eternal feast. Heaven is a court
Where joy and peace and all delights abound.
Grief never nestled 'neath these lucid eaves,
Nor woeful pain. Ah! fellow choristers.
Oh! come, console them in their heaviness.
Luciferian.
Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed?
Chorus:
Companions dear in our high happiness.
Oh! brothers, why? Oh! sons of the glad Light,
Why thus depressed at heart? Who gave you cause
Thus to complain and thus to mourn? Ye had 60
Begun to lift your heads aloft to Heaven,
To bloom amid the day, whose lustre streams
From God's deep glow. The Heavens brought you forth
To mount in rapid flight from firmament
To firmament beyond, from court to court;
To flit amid the shadeless light content,
In one delightful life, an endless feast;
And e'er to taste the heavenly manna sweet
Of God's eternity, among your friends
In peaceful joys. Oh! why? This is not meet 70
For dwellers of the Spirit world. Oh! nay.
Nor meet for Dominations, Powers, and Thrones,
Nor for the ruling Heavens. Ye gorge your grief,
And sit perplexed and dumb. Give voice to your
Necessity: reveal it to your friends.
Reveal your heart-sore, that we may relieve.
[Illustration: "Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed?"]
Luciferians:
O brothers, can ye ask with earnestness
Why we thus grieve? Did ye also not hear
What Gabriel's trump revealed: how we through this
New-given command, down from our state are thrust 80
Into a slavery of Earth and of
As many souls as from a little blood
And seed may haply spring? What have we done
Amiss? how erred, that God a water-bubble,
Blown full of vapid air, exalts. His sons,
The Angels, to abase?--a bastardy
Exalts, formed out of clay and dust? But now
We stood as trusty pillars, consecrate
Unto His court, adorned our various place
As faithful members of His Realm; and now, 90
In one brief hour, we are expelled and shorn
Of all our dignity,--oppressed, alas!
Too sternly and with too much heaviness.
The charter and the primal privilege
Received from God are now by Him repealed.
And there where we had thought to rule with God
And under God, shall now this Adam reign,
Triumphant in his seed and blood forever.
The sun of Spirits hath set for them too soon.
Ah I comrades, hear our sorrow and our woes. 100
Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed?
Chorus.
And doth the charge that Gabriel brought from God
You thus disturb? This but a frenzy seems.
Who dares to reprehend the high command?
Who so presumptuous himself against
The Godhead to oppose? To give to God
His honor and His Right, to rest upon
His law, this is our bounden charge. Who dares
To enter here with God's Omnipotence
In such dispute? His word and nod and will 110
Serve as our law and pace and precept firm.
Who contradiction breathes doth break the seal
Of the Most High. Obedience doth please
The Ruler of this Realm far more than smell
Of incense or divinest harmonies.
Ye are (oh! be ye not so vain, we pray,
Of boasted lineage) created more
For such subjection than for rulership.
O brothers, cease this wailing and lament.
And bow beneath the yoke of the Power Supreme. 120
Luciferians:
Say rather 'neath the yoke of swarming ants.
Chorus:
Whene'er it pleases Him, ye should submit.
Luciferians:
What have we done amiss? The reasons tell.
Chorus:
Amiss? Impatience doth God's crown offend.
Luciferians:
Through sorrow we complain, through discontent.
Chorus:
Ye should instead your will resign to God.
Luciferians:
We rest upon the Rights given us by law.
Chorus:
Subject to God your Rights and law remain.
Luciferians:
How can the greater to the lesser yield?
Chorus:
Who is resigned--to serve God is to rule. 130
Luciferians:
Most freely, let but man rule there below.
Chorus:
Though small his lot, man lives in sweet content.
Luciferians:
But man is destined for a higher lot.
Chorus:
Ages shall come and go ere this shall be.
Luciferians:
An age below is but an instant here.
Chorus:
Thus be it, if it be command supreme.
Luciferians:
Far better were this mystery ne'er disclosed.
Chorus:
God in His kindness thus reveals His heart.
Luciferians:
Yet kinder towards mankind, now placed above.
Chorus:
Allied with God's own nature, wonderful! 140
Luciferians:
O Angels, would that God did pair with you!
Chorus:
What pleases God is ever rightly praised.
Luciferians:
How could He thus exalt mankind so high?
Chorus:
Whatever God does, or yet may do, is well.
Luciferians:
How man shall dim the crown the Angels wear!
Chorus:
All Angels shall the God incarnate praise.
Luciferians:
And worship clay and dust down in the dust?
Chorus:
And praise God's name with odors and with song.
Luciferians:
And praise mankind, constrained by higher Powers?
APOLLION. BELIAL. CHORUS.
Apollion:
What murmur this? Dost hear a strife of tongues? 150
Belial:
What throngs lament here, plunged in sable hue.
With veils girt round the breast and loins? None would
Believe that one among the Spirits, amid
The joys unending and the feast eterne,
Could mourn, did we not see this wretched throng
Cast down in woeful grief. What great misfortune,
What dire disaster them disturbs? Oh! how?
O brothers, what doth cause this sad lament?
Who hath offended you? Your Rights we'll guard.
O brothers, speak. Why miserable? the cause? 160
Chorus:
They make complaint of man's approaching state
And triumph, as proclaimed by Gabriel's trumpet;
That he outranks the Angels and that God
Shall join His Being to Adam's--all the Spirits
Thus made subordinate unto man's sway.
This briefly, clearly, states their sorrow's cause.
Apollion:
'Tis hard such inequality to bear.
Belial:
It almost goes beyond our utmost strength.
Chorus:
We pray your aid this difference to compose.
Apollion:
What remedy? How can we them appease? 170
They rest secure upon their lawful Rights.
Chorus:
What Rights? The same power that ordaineth laws
Hath might to abrogate those laws as well.
Apollion:
How thus can Justice unjust verdicts speak?
Chorus:
Correct God's verdicts, thou! Write thou His laws!
Belial:
The child doth follow in his father's steps.
Chorus:
To walk where He hath trod is Him to heed.
Apollion:
The change in God's own will doth cause this strife.
Chorus:
While one He setteth on a throne. He casts
Another down: the one least worthy must 180
Unto the son more favored then submit.
Belial:
Equality of grace would best become
The Godhead. Now the darkness dares to dim
The light celestial, while the sons of night
Defy the day itself.
Chorus:
Whatever doth breathe
May rightly the Creator praises bring,
Who each his being gave and unto each
Gave his degree. Whene'er it pleaseth Him,
The element of earth shall change to air,
To water, or to fire; the Heaven itself, 190
To Earth; an Angel, to a beast; mankind,
To Angels or to something new and strange.
One Power rules over all, and thus can make
The proudest tower become the humblest base.
The least received is in pure money given.
Here is no choice. Here wit and knowledge fail.
In such unlikeness doth God's glory lie.
So see we with things lightest weighed those things
Of greatest weight, which thus e'en heavier grow:
Thus beauty fairer glows o'er beauty glossed, 200
Hue cast o'er hue, the diamond splendor over
The blue turquoise; so see 'gainst odors odors,
The light intense against the glimmer dim,
The galaxies unto the stars opposed.
Our place within the universal plan
Thus to disturb, into confusion all
Things throwing that once God did there dispose
And place; and all the creature may arrange:
This is mis-shapen to the inmost joint.
Cease, then, this murmuring. The Godhead can 210
The state of Angels miss; nor aided is
By others' service; for the glorious Realm
Eterne nor music needs, nor incense, nor
These odors swung, nor harmonies of praise.
Ungrateful Spirits, be still: your base tongues curb.
Ye know not God's design. Be ye content
With your established lot, and unto God
And Gabriel's decree yourselves submit.
Apollion:
Is then the high state of the ruling Spirits
So changeable? They stand on slippery ground, 220
How pitiable their lot! how miserable!
Chorus:
Because a lesser in this Realm shall reign?
We shall remain as now: how are we wronged?
Belial:
They are the nighest God, their refuge sure
And Father: they upon His breast have lain:
Now lies a lesser one more close than they.
Chorus:
For one to grieve o'er others' bliss shows lack
Of love, and scents of envy and of pride.
Let not this stain upon the purity
And brightness of the Angels thus remain. 230
To strive in concord, love, and faithfulness.
The one against the other here, doth please
The Father, who all things in ranks ordained.
Belial:
So they maintain the rank the Heavens them gave;
But hardly can endure man's slave to be.
Chorus:
That's disobedience, and from their rank
They thus shall fall away. Thou seest how, too,
The hosts of Heaven, in golden armor clad
And in appointed ranks arrayed, keep watch,
Each in his turn; how this star sets and that 240
Ascends; and how not one of all on high
The lustre dulls of others there more clear,
Nor yet of those more dim; how some stars, too,
A greater, others lesser orbits trace:
Those nearest to Heaven most swift and those beyond
More slowly turn: yet midst this all, among
These inequalities of light, degree,
And rank, of orbit, kind, and pace, thou seest
No discord, envy, strife. The Voice of Him
Who ruleth all this measured cadence leads, 250
That listens and Him faithfully obeys.
Belial:
The firmament remains, as God decreed.
Had it not pleased Him thus to disarrange
The state of Angels, they would not, as now,
Awake the stars from their harmonious peace,
Nor thus disturb with plaints these quiet courts,
Chorus:
Beware lest thou this discontent shouldst flame.
Apollion:
We would this low'ring cloud might leave our sky
Before it bursts and sets the vast expanse
Of Heaven in flames. They grow in numbers.
Who 260
Shall them appease? Who cometh hitherward?
LUCIFERIANS. BELZEBUB. CHORUS.
Luciferians:
Alas! alas! where is our bliss departed?
Belzebub:
All goeth well: we gain increase. In grief
The Angels now assemble, and in woe
Their heads they droop together. What doth move
You. Angel hosts, with sighs and groans to mourn?
Can, then, the bloom of happiness thus fade?
In peace all to possess that Spirit can wish
From God, the Giver--doth even this content
You not? Ye therefore stand in your own light. 270
And cherish mournfulness, whose cause I can
Nor fathom nor discern. Come, cease your groans,
Nor longer tear your standards and your robes
Without a cause; but clear your clouded face
And darkened forehead with new radiance,
O children of the Light! The voices shrill.
Whose deep-resounding songs the Godhead praise,
Grow faint, displeased that ye should mingle with
Their godlike melody such spurious sounds
And bastard tones. Your bitter moan doth mar 280
The rhythm of the celestial palace till
These vaults re-echo with your woe. The wail
Of sorrow through the highest arches rolls.
From sphere to sphere: nor without crime can ye
By such sad discord thus the growth disturb
Of God's great name and glorious majesty.
Luciferians:
Chief Lord, whose potent word unnumbered bands
Would call to arms, thou comest most opportune
To soothe our misery and to prevent
By thy great power this threatened injury 290
And undeserved disgrace. Shall Gabriel
The sacred crown of the holy Angels place
On Adam's head: through Adam's son and heir
Crush God's first-born? 'Twere better far had we
Not been made ere the splendor-dazzling sun
His chariot mounted and in Heaven shone.
The Godhead chose in vain the Spirits as guards
Of these immobile courts, if thus He shall.
Against their vested Rights, Himself oppose;
Who guiltless to resistance are provoked 300
By dire impatience and necessity.
We were rejoicing here, enraptured with
The praise to God outpoured, were bowing low
In deep humility, and worshipping
'Mid burning censers with devotion flamed:--
All-quivering with the rippling notes, the Heavens,
From choir to choir, unto the sound gave ear--
Yea, melted slowly in delicious joy,
With song and harp enchanted--when the trump
Of Gabriel 'mid the rising harmony 310
Blew that decree, and midst the glory fell
This sudden thunderbolt of night. There lay
We all amazed, dispersed, with gloom depressed.
The gladness died away. Hushed were the throats
Pregnant with praise. The youngest son was given
The crown, the sceptre, and the blessing, while
The eldest-born, thus disinherited,
By Majesty Supreme, marked as a slave
Remains. That is the part obedience,
Devotion, love, and faithfulness receive 320
From God's rich treasury, that mourning brings;
That wrath enkindles, and thoughts of revenge,
Grown out of righteous hate, to smother in
His blood this upstart man, ere he shall crush
The Angels in their state; and they be forced,
As base and craven slaves, with fetters bound,
To run before his lash and at his will,
Even as he keeps the beasts beneath in awe.
Chief Lord, thou canst prevent our fall, and by
Our charter yet preserve our Rights: protect 330
Us by thy power. We are prepared even now
To follow 'neath thy standard and command,
To be thy troops. Lead on. 'Tis glorious
To battle for one's honor, crown, and Right.
Belzebub:
Methinks that thou art wrong. O King of Lords,
'Twere better to avert this. Give no cause
For mutiny or discord: give no cause
Whereby Rebellion grows. What remedy?
How reconcile you with the Majesty
Supreme?
Luciferians:
He doth transgress the holy Right 340
Once to the Angels given.
Belzebub:
The lawful Rights
Of subjects to transgress can them inflame,
And fires enkindle that the very air
Would soon consume. How poor a recompense
For stainless faith! How shall we best conduct
Ourselves amid this mournful hopelessness?
Luciferians:
'Twill comfort us one bold attempt to make.
Belzebub:
What venture this? Adopt a softer pace.
Luciferians:
This violence needs, compulsion, and revenge.
Belzebub:
We might, mayhap, a safer method choose. 350
Luciferians:
Delay would bring us here not gain, but loss.
Belzebub:
One should his wrong with reason understand.
Luciferians:
Reason doth publish here: we are oppressed.
Belzebub:
With prayers ye first and best might gain your end.
Luciferians:
This plot to bare would foil its execution.
Belzebub:
Scarce can such plot be hidden from the light.
Luciferians:
We're gaining fast, and stand in equipoise.
Belzebub:
Their chance is best who with God's Marshal fight.
Luciferians:
This can be righted ne'er by fright nor moan.
Belzebub:
But what say Belial and Apollion? 360
Luciferians:
Both are with us, and strengthen our array.
Belzebub:
How gained ye them? 'Tis far, indeed, progressed.
Luciferians:
The Heavens flow toward us now with teeming floods.
Belzebub:
Trust not in armies formed of wavering throngs.
Luciferians:
Even now advantage towers, and danger flees.
Belzebub:
Who rashly dares should not advantage claim.
Luciferians:
All on the issue hangs. Before the event
All judgment errs. The gathered hosts demand
Thee as their leader and their sovran chief
In this our expedition.
Belzebub:
But who could 370
Be so bereft of wit as to defend
Your righteous cause, and by such course provoke
The battled hosts of Heaven? Aye, to yourselves
Be ye more merciful. Exempt me from
This charge. I choose to hold a neutral place.
Deliberation will yet make things right.
Chorus.
O! brothers, hear. Through mediators take
Unto God's Throne your supplications sad.
More ground is won by mediation than
Rebellion's steep ascent. With coolness act: 380
With reason and deliberation weigh.
We will on high your Rights defend. Be calm
Ye offend the crown of God, the Lord of Lords.
Luciferians:
And ye, our vested Right: be ye less bold.
Lord Belzebub, advance our lawful claim.
Place all the legions now in battle line.
We'll follow thee together.
Belzebub:
Stay, O think,
Ye flaming zealots, think, I pray you, farther.
I will precede you to the palace grand,
Unto the Throne, and there our Rights obtain 390
Through peaceful means and mutual covenants,
Made voluntarily and uncompelled.
Chorus:
Be still! be still! thou art by Michael spied.
[Illustration: "Be still! Be still! thou art by Michael spied!"]
MICHAEL. BELZEBUB. LUCIFERIANS.
Michael:
Where are we? What great noise arises here?
This seems a court of tumult and dispute,
Instead of peace, obedience, and faith.
Prince Belzebub, what reasons move thee thus,
Head of rebellious hordes, to aid a cause
So pregnant with such godless treachery,
Against that God the refuge of us all? 400
Belzebub:
Mercy, O Michael! Deem us worthy words
Explanatory, ere in zealous wrath
Thou dost thy sentence for God's honor pass.
Impute to us no guilt.
Michael:
Your innocence
Establish. I shall patiently attend.
Belzebub:
The assemblage of so many thousand troops,
Disturbed by God's command, through Gabriel's trumpet
From out the Throne of Thrones proclaimed, demands
Some mediation that shall quench this flame;
Wherefore I came to gain a better sense 410
Of the ground of their complaints, to quell as best
I could this mutiny. But they began
With frantic haste and raving recklessness
To force their clamorous claims upon me. I
Then made attempt their forces to disperse
(Let to my faith these faithful choristers
Their witness bear), to counsel that they pour
Their grievances before God's Throne; but 'mid
This tumult and this clamor, vain my zeal,
As if to calm a sea swollen to the skies. 420
Let now the Field-marshal lead on; we are
Prepared to follow, if he see a way
To smooth this difference.
Michael:
Who dares oppose
Himself to God and His most holy will?
And who so bold these warlike banners thus
To plant within the virgin Realm of peace?
If ye through envoys wish to treat on high,
For your defence, we will your cause assume
And mediate with God that He forgive:
Or else beware your heads! This ne'er succeeds. 430
Luciferians:
And wouldst thou then oppress our holy Right
By force of arms? Unto the Field-marshal
They were not given for such purpose dire.
We rest alone upon our vested Rights.
Most bold and strong is conscious righteousness.
Michael:
Least righteous he who would rebel 'gainst God.
Luciferians:
We serve God. He has for His service found
Us ever worthy. Let the Heavens remain
In their first state. Nor let the honored sons
Of the Fatherland celestial thus be placed 440
Beneath mankind in rank and dignity.
For such disgrace the Thrones and Hierarchies,
The Powers and Dominations, high and low,
Of Spirits, of Angels, and of great Archangels,
Shall ne'er endure. Ah! nay, although, forsooth,
Thy lightning spear should pierce them, breast on breast,
Through their most faithful hearts. From Adam's race
We never shall such bold defiance brook.
Michael:
I will that each depart, even as I wave
My hand. He God and Godhead doth oppose. 450
Who now, forsworn, 'gainst us shall take his stand.
Depart unto your posts. That is the duty
Of soldiers and of loyal sons of Heaven.
What violence? What impious threat is this?
Who wages war, save 'neath my banner bold,
Doth fight 'gainst God and doth oppose His Realm.
Luciferians:
Who wards his Right need fear no violence.
Nature made each defender of his Right.
Michael:
'Tis my command ye lay your weapons down.
Such gathering breaks your honor and your oath. 460
Luciferians:
The hosts Angelic are by nature bound
In union strong. They stand or fall together.
Not one alone is touched in this dispute,
But one and all.
Michael:
Would ye with weapons then
In such tumultuousness the Heavens embroil?
These were not given you to use 'gainst God.
Abuse your power, then fear the Power Supreme.
Luciferians:
The Stadtholder we hourly here await.
In haste he hath been summoned to attend.
We'll venture all, 'gainst Gods arraying Gods, 470
Rather than thus our Rights resign through force.
Michael:
So great an indiscretion I shall never
From Heaven's Stadtholder await.
Luciferians:
It seems
More like an indiscretion thus to place
Those older and first born, like servile slaves,
Beneath the yoke of him, the youngest-born.
But that the Angels now defend their kind,
And here against their peers, in rank and state
And being, contend, is indiscretion called.
Michael:
O stiff-necked kind, ye are no longer sons 480
Of Light; but rather are a bastard race,
Which yields not even to God. Ye but provoke
The lightning stroke and wrath implacable.
Harden your hearts, lo! what calamity
And what a fall for you reserved! Ye heed
Nor counsel nor advice. We'll see what us
Enjoined is on high by Voice Supreme.
Come, then; I wish now all the choristers
And hosts yet righteous and yet virtuous
To part, at once, from these rebellious throngs. 490
Luciferians:
Let part who will; but we shall keep together.
Michael:
Come follow, O ye faithful choristers,
God's Field-marshal behind.
Luciferians:
Depart in peace.
BELZEBUB. LUCIFER. LUCIFERIANS.
Belzebub:
The Field-marshal, in haste, to God hath gone,
Bearing complaint. Keep heart: Prince Lucifer
Speeds hitherward on winged chariot.
Ye should therefore at once deliberate.
Helpless the battled host without a chief:
As to myself, the post is far too grave.
Lucifer:
Afar and wide, the Heavens vibrate and shake 500
With the sound of your disputes. The legions stand
Divided, split in twain. The tumult wins
Increase. Our great necessity enjoins
Much prudence here, disaster to prevent.
Luciferians:
Lord Stadtholder, of all the Spirits brave.
Retreat and refuge sure, we hope that thou
Shalt ne'er, as Michael, doom the neck of the Angels
To be thrust 'neath the feet of Adam's brood,
And then, as he, go gild and bloom this shame
And insult with the show of equity; 510
And with thy might sustain the bold ascent
Of man, this gross and Earth-born race. To God,
By him so seldom seen, what incense brings he?
Why stand we charged to serve a worm so base,
To bear him on our hands, to heed his voice?
Made God the boundless Heavens and Angels then
For him alone? 'Twere better far had we
Never been made, sooth, had we never been.
Oh! pity, Lucifer, do not permit
Our Order now so low to be abased, 520
And, guiltless, to decline, while man, thus made
The Chief of Angels, e'er shall shine and glow
Amid the splendor inaccessible,
Before which Seraphim as shadows fade,
With dreadful trembling. If thou'lt condescend
So great injustice in this Realm to quell,
And shalt maintain our Rights, we swear together
E'er to support thy mighty arm. Then grasp
This battle-axe. Help us our Rights to ward.
We swear, by force, in majesty undimmed, 530
To set thee on the Throne for Adam made.
We swear with one accord support. Then grasp
This battle-axe. Help us our Rights to ward.
Lucifer:
My sons, upon whose faith and loyalty
No stain of treason lies, all that God wills,
All He demands of us, is right: I know
No other law; and stay, as Stadtholder
Of God, His late decree and His resolve
With all my might. This sceptre which I bear,
To my right hand the great Omnipotent 540
Gave, as a mark of mercy and a sign
Of His love and affection for us all.
Doth now His mind and heart to Adam turn,
And doth it please Him now to set mankind
In full dominion us above--them over
Both you and me to crown, though in our charge
We ne'er grew weary, yet what remedy?
Who will oppose such resolution here?
Had He to Adam given an equal rank,
A nature like unto the Angel world, 550
It were supportable for all the sons
Of Heaven, sprung from God's lineage; now let
Them be displeased, if such displeasure be
On high not counted as a stain. However,
There is a danger on each side--to yield
Through fearfulness, or boldly to oppose.
I wish that your resentment He forgive.
Luciferians:
Lord Stadtholder, aye, grasp this battle-axe.
Protect our holy Right. We'll follow thee.
We'll follow on. Lead thou with speedy wings: 560
We'll perish, or triumphant overcome.
Lucifer:
That breaks our oath and Gabriel's command.
Luciferians:
That violates God's self, sets man above.
Lucifer:
Let God His honor, Throne, and majesty
Himself preserve.
Luciferians:
Do thou preserve thy throne.
As pillars we will stay thee, and the state
Of the Angel world as well. Mankind shall never
Our crown, the crown of God, tread in the dust.
Lucifer:
Soon shall the Field-marshal, great Michael, armed
With blessings from on high, 'gainst us appear, 570
With all his host. His army 'gainst your own--
How great the difference!
Luciferians:
If not one half.
At least a third part of the Spirits, thou
Shalt sweep with thee, when thou shalt join our side.
Lucifer:
Then shall we venture all, our favor lost
To the oppressors of your lawful Right.
Luciferians:
Courage, hope, insult, sorrow, and despair,
Prudence and injury and vengeance for
Such inequality, not otherwise
Composed: all this, and what on this depends, 580
Shall nerve our arms to strike the blow.
Belzebub:
Even now
The Holy Realm is in our power. Whatever
May be resolved, our weapons shall enforce,
Our arms shall soon compel. Once place us here
In battle rank, and they who waver yet,
Soon toward our side shall lean.
Lucifer:
I trust me, then,
This violence with violence to oppose.
Belzebub:
Mount, then, these steps. O bravest of the brave!
Lord Stadtholder, we pray, ascend this throne,
That thee we now allegiance may swear. 590
Lucifer:
Prince Belzebub, bear witness; also ye,
O Lords illustrious; Apollion,
Bear witness thou, and thou, Prince Belial bold,
That I, constrainèd by necessity
And by compulsion, shall advance this cause.
Thus to defend God's Realm and to ward off
Our own impending ruin.
Belzebub:
Then bring on
Our standard, that we may, beneath its folds.
Swear God allegiance and our Morning-star.
Luciferians:
We swear alike by God and Lucifer. 600
Belzebub:
Now bring the censers on, ye faithful hosts.
Faithful to God. Praise Lucifer with bowl.
Rich with perfume, and flaming candle-sticks:
Him glorify with light and glow and torch.
Extol him then with poem, music, song.
Trumpet and pipe. It doth behoove us now
Him with such pomp and splendor to attend:
Raise, then, sonorous lays to his great crown.
Chorus of Luciferians:
Forward, O ye hosts, Lucifer's minions;
Banners wave! 610
Marshal now your bands, spread your swift pinions--
On, ye brave!
Follow your God where his drumbeats command.
Guard well your Rights and Fatherland.
Help him Michael now hurl to confusion,
War, your mood!
Fighting 'gainst Heaven for Adam's exclusion.
And his brood!
Follow this hero to trumpet and drum.
Protect our crown, whate'er may come. 620
See, oh! see now the Morning-star shining!
In that light
Soon shall our foe's proud flag be declining
Into night!
Now in triumph we crown God Lucifer:
Come worship him; revere his star.
Chorus of Angels:
_Strophe_.
What sad surprises waken.
Since Heaven's civil war
Burst with divisive jar;
And blindly hath been taken 630
The sword for mad attempt!
Who 'mong celestial legions.
Or wins or falls, exempt
From grief, to view in the regions
Of joy such misery
'Mong their fellows and their brothers:
How some, overcome, would flee,
While in exile wander others?
O sons of God on high,
Where errs your destiny? 640
_Antistrophe_.
Alas! where now those erring
Spirits? What sorcery
From their dear certainty
Seduced them, vainly luring
Them from their rank and state?
Led them to wicked daring?
Our bliss became too great,
Too wanton for our bearing;
E'en Heaven's altitude
The Angels were outgrowing; 650
And then came Envy's brood.
Seeds of Rebellion sowing
In the peaceful Fatherland.
Who cools War's lurid brand?
_Epode_.
Doth not soon some power transcending
War's fierce flames in bounds enchain,
What will unconsumed remain?
Treason's horrors are impending:
Fires of discord shall profane
Heaven and Earth and sea and plain. 660
Treason seeks her justifying
In her triumph; then she would
God's own mandates be defying:
Treason knows nor God nor blood. 664