to death all of himself that can die.  He entreats, however, that the Father will not leave him in the loathsome grave, but will permit his soul to rise victorious, leading to heaven those ransomed from sin, death, and hell through his devotion.  The angels, hearing this proposal, are seized with admiration, and the Father, bending a loving glance upon the Son, accepts his sacrifice, proclaiming he shall in due time appear on earth in the flesh to take the place of our first father, and that, just “as in Adam all were lost, so in him all shall be saved.”  Then, further to recompense his Son for his devotion, God promises he shall reign his equal for ever and judge mankind, ere he bids the heavenly host worship their new master.  Removing their crowns of amaranth and gold, the angels kneel before Christ in adoration, and, tuning their harps, sing the praises of Father and Son, proclaiming the latter “Saviour of man.”

While the angels are thus occupied, Satan, speeding through Chaos, passes through a place peopled by the idolatries, superstitions, and vanities of the world, all of which are to be punished here later on.  Then, past the stairway leading up to heaven, he hurries to a passage leading down to earth, toward which he whirls through space like a tumbler pigeon, landing at last upon the sun.  There, in the guise of a stripling cherub, Satan tells the archangel Uriel that, having been absent at the time of creation, he longs to behold the earth so as to glorify God.  Thereupon Uriel proudly rejoins he witnessed the performance, and describes how at God’s voice darkness fled and solids converged into spheres, which began to roll around their appointed orbits.  Then he points out to Satan the newly-created earth, whither the Evil Spirit eagerly speeds.

  Thus said, he turned; and Satan, bowing low,
  As to superior spirits is wont in heaven,
  Where honor due and reverence none neglects,
  Took leave, and toward the coast of earth beneath,
  Down from the ecliptic, sped with hoped success,
  Throws his steep flight in many an airy wheel,
  Nor stayed, till on Niphates’ top he lights.

Book IV. Wishing his voice were loud enough to warn our first parents of coming woe and thus forestall the misfortunes ready to pounce upon them, the poet describes how Satan, “with hell raging in his heart,” gazes from the hill, upon which he has alighted, into Paradise.  The fact that he is outcast both from heaven and earth fills Satan with alternate sorrow and fierce wrath, under impulse of which emotions his face becomes fearfully distorted.  This change and his fierce gestures are seen by Uriel, who curiously follows his flight, and who now for the first time suspects he may have escaped from hell.