啊，那警告的声音，他看到了天启，听到在天堂大声呼喊，然后，当龙，第二次击溃，愤怒地下来报复人类，祸哉，地球上的居民!现在，趁时间还早的时候，我们的先祖已经被警告过他们的秘密敌人的到来，并且“逃脱了，大概是这样”，逃脱了他的致命的圈套;因为现在，撒旦，在人类的控告者面前，首先勃发雷霆，降临人间，引诱着无辜的脆弱的人类，使他在第一次战斗中失败，并使他逃向地狱;然而，尽管他胆大妄为，但并不为他的速度感到高兴，也没有理由自夸，开始了他可怕的企图;他在临产的时候，在他那狂暴的胸脯里翻滚沸腾，像一台恶魔的发动机，向后倒转;恐惧和怀疑分散了他混乱的思想，从底层激起了他内心的地狱;因为他把地狱带进了他的内心，把他的周围也带进了地狱，换一个地方，谁也逃不出地狱，就像逃不出他自己一样。唤醒他痛苦的回忆:他过去是什么样的人，现在是什么样的人，还有更糟的人;更坏的行为必然带来更坏的痛苦。有时，他对着伊甸园——现在在他看来是愉快的——却显出忧伤的神色;有时是向天，望着此刻高高地坐在他的子午线塔上的炽热的太阳。接着，他又转了许多圈，开始这样叹息起来。啊，你戴着无上的荣耀，从你唯一的主宰中，仿佛是这个新世界的上帝; at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name, Of Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere; Till pride and worse ambition threw me down Warring in Heaven against Heaven's matchless King: Ah, wherefore! he deserved no such return From me, whom he created what I was In that bright eminence, and with his good Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. What could be less than to afford him praise, The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks, How due! yet all his good proved ill in me, And wrought but malice; lifted up so high I sdeined subjection, and thought one step higher Would set me highest, and in a moment quit The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burdensome still paying, still to owe, Forgetful what from him I still received, And understood not that a grateful mind By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and discharged; what burden then O, had his powerful destiny ordained Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood Then happy; no unbounded hope had raised Ambition! Yet why not some other Power As great might have aspired, and me, though mean, Drawn to his part; but other Powers as great Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within Or from without, to all temptations armed. Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand? Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse, But Heaven's free love dealt equally to all? Be then his love accursed, since love or hate, To me alike, it deals eternal woe. Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy will Chose freely what it now so justly rues. Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep Still threatening to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven. O, then, at last relent: Is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduced With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit, boasting I could subdue The Omnipotent. Ay me! they little know How dearly I abide that boast so vain, Under what torments inwardly I groan, While they adore me on the throne of Hell. With diadem and scepter high advanced, The lower still I fall, only supreme In misery: Such joy ambition finds. But say I could repent, and could obtain, By act of grace, my former state; how soon Would highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay What feigned submission swore? Ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. For never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep: Which would but lead me to a worse relapse And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear Short intermission bought with double smart. This knows my Punisher; therefore as far From granting he, as I from begging, peace; All hope excluded thus, behold, in stead Mankind created, and for him this world.