(ll. 75-80) Then once more spake the leader of the fiends; he was
chastened anew, and racked with pangs of torment. Black with
fire and poison, he began to speak; no pleasant joy was this as
he poured forth his words in pain:
(ll. 81-92) "I was once a holy angel, dear unto God in heaven,
and knew great joy before the face of the Lord God, likewise this
multitude. But I resolved in my heart to overthrow the Lord of
glory, the Son of God, and have myself the power to rule the
world, and all this wretched host which I have led unto a home in
hell. Bethink ye of the token and the curse, that I was
banished, deep below the earth, in the bottomless abyss. I have
led you all from out your native home unto a house of bondage.
(ll. 92-105) "Here is no glory of the blessed, neither wine-halls
of the proud, nor worldly joys nor angel throngs, nor may we have
possession of high heaven. This loathsome dwelling burns with
fire. I am God's foe. Dragons dwell ever at the gates of hell,
inflamed and furious; they may not help us! This woeful house is
filled with torment. In this deep darkness there is yet no place
to shelter us, that we may hide therein. Here is the adder's
hiss; here serpents dwell. Firmly the bonds of torment are
fastened upon us. Fierce are the fiends, swarthy and black.
Here never gleameth day in the gloom of hell-shadows, nor the
radiant light of God.
(ll. 106-124) "Once I had power and glory, before I earned God's
judgment on my sin in this loathsome realm, upon the floor of
hell. Now I have come, and brought a host of fiends, unto this
home of darkness. But, flying forth from hell from time to time,
I needs must visit every land, and others of you also, who had
part in our presumptuous deeds. We need not hope the King of
glory will ever grant us a home and dwelling, as He did of old,
and everlasting power. For the Son of God hath power of all
things, of glory and affliction. Wherefore, downcast and
wretched, I must wander far, an exile journey, stripped of glory,
shorn of virtue, bereft of joy in heaven among the angels,
because I said of old that I was King of glory and Lord of all."