Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/13

To wage by force or guile eternal war,
Irreconcilable to our grand foe,
Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven . . ."
So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain,
Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair;
And him thus answered soon his bold compeer:
⁠"O prince, O chief of many throned Powers,
That led the embattled Seraphim to war
Under thy conduct, and, in dreadful deeds,130
Fearless endangered Heaven's perpetual King,
And put to proof his high supremacy,
Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate;
Too well I see and rue the dire event,
That, with sad overthrow and foul defeat,
Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host
In horrible destruction laid thus low,
As far as Gods and heavenly essences
Can perish; for the mind and spirit remains
Invincible, and vigor soon returns,140
Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
Here swallowed up in endless misery.
But what if he our conqueror—whom I now
Of force believe almighty, since no less
Than such could have o'erpow'red such force as ours—
Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,
Strongly to suffer and support our pains,