第2005页 Book 3, Satan's soliloquy

(Written "several years b/f the poem was begun," and was intended to begin a drama on the top, Adam Unparadised.)
O thou that with surpassing Glory crownd,
Look'st from thy sole Dominion like the God
Of this new World; at whose sight all the Starrs
Hide thir diminisht heads; to thee I call, [ 35 ]
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name
O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell, how glorious once above thy Spheare; 

(* Thee: Sun
* Satan, though he certainly knows better, entertains what later will be called a pagan conception of God: the sun as a god.
* Paraphrase: the sun rules diminished stars like God in his dominion, the sky. I am speaking to you but not in a friendly voice, b/c you remind me of my once glorious home, the heaven. 
* Sun = God, Dominion; Stars = fallen angels?)
Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down [ 40 ]
Warring in Heav'n against Heav'ns matchless King:
Ah wherefore! he deservd no such return
From me, whom he created what I was ***1***
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. [ 45 ]
What could be less then to afford him praise,
The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,
How due! 

(1: This is an example of Satan contradicting himself. Compare to 5.860 where he claims that angels are "self-begot." Satan seems, in these few lines of soliloquy, to be unusually candid, admitting his mistake to himself if to no one else.
* Paraphrase: It was my pride and ambition that condemned me to hell and made me wage a matchless war with God. God does not deserve this, for he created me, in his great eminence did not reprimand me, and service to him was not very hard. Wouldn't it be easy - and just - to give him my thanks and repentance? 
* Heav'n's matchless King: political at all? James I & IV???
* Satan admits it is his fault - his "Pride and worse Ambition!" Compared to Book 1: thunderbolts are more advanced weapons)
yet all his good prov'd ill in me,
And wrought but malice; lifted up so high
I sdeind subjection, and thought one step higher [ 50 ]
Would set me highest, and in a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude,
So burthensome, still paying, still to ow;

(* Paraphrase: But all his good will was not good to me, and brought out malice in me. Because he lifted me up so high that I despised subjection, and I thought one step higher I would become God of heaven himself; and in doing so swiftly I would be able to repay the huge debt that requires endless, burdensome gratitude and that no matter how much I pay would always be unpaid.)
Forgetful what from him I still receivd,
And understood not that a grateful mind [ 55 ]
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
Indebted and dischargd; what burden then?

(* Paraphrase: But if I think like this, I am forgetting that I always receive something from him, and am understanding not that to be grateful itself pays the debt. So I will always be paying my debt, which by the act itself is repaid. The debt is at once indebted and discharged. Then why should his kindness be a burden? That is, I should not want to be the highest in heaven (so that I can pay my debt), because the debt is already paid. Why then did I want to be highest/whom should I blame for wanting to be higher? Me? No, God - he gave me free will and love(see later)) 
O had his powerful Destiny ordaind
Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood
Then happie; no unbounded hope had rais'd [ 60 ]
Ambition. 

(* Paraphrase: Oh if he made me some inferior angel, I would have lived in heaven in happiness, without uplifted ambition raised by limitless hope. )
Yet why not? som other Power
As great might have aspir'd, and me though mean
Drawn to his part; but other Powers as great
Fell not, but stand unshak'n, from within
Or from without, to all temptations arm'd. [ 65 ]
Hadst thou the same free Will and Power to stand?
Thou hadst: 

(* Paraphrase: But why didn't these inferior angel aspire more? Some angels as great as me might aspire more, and like me although inferior but is drawn to God's role; but some angels as great as me did not fall, but rather stand unshaken, armed to temptation. Do I have the same free will and power to stand to temptation? Yes, I did.)
whom hast thou then or what to accuse,
But Heav'ns free Love dealt equally to all?
Be then his Love accurst, since love or hate,
To me alike, it deals eternal woe. [ 70 ]

(* Paraphrase: If I have the free will and power to resist temptation, and I didn't, whom do I have then to blame but God's free love distributed equally to all? Curse his love, b/c to me love and hate result equally in eternal woe.) 
Nay curs'd be thou; since against his thy will
Chose freely what it now so justly rues. 
Me miserable! which way shall I flie
Infinite wrauth, and infinite despaire?
Which way I flie is Hell; my self am Hell; [ 75 ]

(* Paraphrase: No, I curse myself, b/c I chose freely a path against his will, which I justly rue now. Oh miserable me! Which way should I go - infinite wrath (=angry at God for giving me free will to want to be highest) or infinite despair (=despair at my inability to stand temptation)?
* Satan, for at least a brief moment, agrees with God's description of the rebellion in Book 3: "Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.")
And in the lowest deep a lower deep
Still threatning to devour me opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav'n.
O then at last relent: is there no place ***2***
Left for Repentance, none for Pardon left? [ 80 ]

(* Paraphrase: Whichever way I fly is hell, because I am hell. And beneath the lowest hell, a still lower hell appears wide and threatens to devour me, so that the Hell I suffered in seems like a Heaven. Oh then please at last just relent! Is there no place left for repentance and pardon?
* I am Hell - compare with Book 1, 254, where Satain claims "the mind is its own place"
* 2. at last relent: Lines 79-80 appear to echo Claudius's attempts at repentance in Hamlet 3.3.40 and following. The phrase "place for repentance" also echoes the language of Hebrews 12: 17 concerning Esau's sale of his birthright, a story found in Genesis 25: 24-34. See also Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (B-Text) 2.2.21. Satan, however, cannot repent, because repentance, according to Milton's God, is not possible without divine prompting; see PL 3.174-191.)
None left but by submission; and that word
Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the Spirits beneath, whom I seduc'd
With other promises and other vaunts
Then to submit, boasting I could subdue [ 85 ]
Th' Omnipotent. Ay me, they little know
How dearly I abide that boast so vaine,
Under what torments inwardly I groane:
While they adore me on the Throne of Hell,
With Diadem and Sceptre high advanc'd [ 90 ]
The lower still I fall, onely Supream
In miserie; such joy Ambition findes.

(* Paraphrase: There is none repentance or pardon left but submission. But out of disdain I cannot submit; and I would be ashamed to go back to the angels in hell, whom I seduced to submit to me by promising and boasting to them that I could subdue God. Oh my, they know little how dearly I pay the price for boasting so vainly, or under what internal torments I groan. While they adore me high on the Throne of Hell with diadem and scepter, I I still falling lower, only higher in misery. Look at what joy my ambition has found! ) 
But say I could repent and could obtaine
By Act of Grace my former state; how soon
Would higth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay [ 95 ]
What feign'd 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 peirc'd so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse [ 100 ]
And heavier fall: so should I purchase deare
Short intermission bought with double smart.

(* Paraphrase: But just say I could repent and obtain by act of grace my former position in heaven: how soon would my high position recall ambitious thoughts, and how soon would I go back on my feigned promise of submission? Ease would recant vows made in pain as violent and void. Because true reconciliation can never grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep. To do this (repent) would but lead me to a worse relapse and a heavier fall.
* so should I purchase deare / Short intermission bought with double smart: ???)
This knows my punisher; therefore as farr
From granting hee, as I from begging peace:
All hope excluded thus, behold in stead [ 105 ]
Of us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this World.
So farewel Hope, and with Hope farewel Fear,
Farewel Remorse: all Good to me is lost;
Evil be thou my Good; by thee at least [ 110 ]
Divided Empire with Heav'ns King I hold
By thee, and more then half perhaps will reigne;
As Man ere long, and this new World shall know.

(* Punisher = God; before, God = Heav'n's matchless King (41, 111), Hreav'n (68), created what I was (43)
* Lost: paradise, later Eden, but to Satan Hope, Fear, Remorese, all Good to me
* Evil vs. Good: Evil be thou my good
* Return to ambition - by thee at least / Divided Empire with Heav'ns King I hold / By thee, and more then half perhaps will reigne. But DIDN'T HE START FROM HERE FROM BOOK 1?!!)