Satan is on Mount Niphates and experiences a ‘mental breakdown’ of sorts. He reflects on how he came to be in such a miserable state.

19. …Horror and doubt distract
His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir
The hell within him. For within him hell
He brings, and round about him, nor from hell
One step, no more than from himself, can fly
By change of place. …

50. …Lifted up so high,
I [disdained] subjection, and thought one step higher
Would set me highest….

He then contemplates what it would be like to submit to God again and resume his place in Heaven, but again his pride gets in the way. He cannot abase himself before God now, especially since earlier in Hell he had so passionately declared to his followers absolute opposition to God.

70. Be then His love accursed, since love or hate
To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

76. Which way I fly is hell, myself am hell.

109. ‘So farewell hope. And with hope farewell fear.
Farewell remorse. All good to me is lost.

Line 76 is interesting, because it implies that not only is hell a place, but a state of being. It reminds me of something C.S Lewis said…

“Remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare…. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal… All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations…immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

So maybe hell isn’t exactly (or only) some hot, fiery place that “hapless” sinners get thrown into. Perhaps it is (also) a state of being they themselves choose through their own faulty reason and pride…Like Satan in Paradise Lost. Hmm.

Moving on, Uriel (the angel Satan tricked into directing him towards Eden by making himself still look like a heavenly being), looks down upon Mt. Niphates and sees Satan’s countenance.

129. …disfigured, more then could befall
Spirit of a happy sort. …

Satan, with his new resolve and assumption that he is unobserved, sets out towards Eden.

539. Through wood, through waste, o’er hill, o’er dale his roam.

And Uriel warns Gabriel (who is guarding the gate of Eden) that he saw one of the fallen enter the garden. Gabriel and two other angels promise to find him before morning.

Satan, now in Eden, observes the beauty of the plants and animals, and finally, Man. He overhears a conversation between Adam and Eve describing how they met.

Eve awakened to her existence on a bed of flowers. She rose and followed the sound of flowing water, which lead her to a lake. She looked at her reflection and felt desire for it until a voice told her it was her own image and that she must go find Adam.

479. ‘… I espied thee [Adam], fair indeed, and tall
Under a plantane; yet methought less fair,
Less winning soft, less amiably mild,
Than that smooth, watery image. Back I turned.
Thou following criedst aloud, “Return, fair Eve.
Whom flyest though? Whom thou flyest, of him thou art,
His flesh, his bone. To give thee being I lent
Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart,
Substantial life, to have thee by my side
Henceforth an individual solace dear.
Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim
My other half.” With that thy gentle hand
Seized mine. I yielded; and from that time see
How beauty is excelled by manly grace,
And wisdom, which alone is truly fair.’

Satan, witnessing them, cries:

501. ‘Sight hateful! Sight tormenting! Thus these two
Imparadised in one another’s arms.

…Which seems to imply that paradise is also a state of being and not just a “place.”

Adam and Eve retire to bed, for in the morning…

619. Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity.

And this next bit I find extremely poignant and romantic.

751. Hail, wedded love, mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring, sole propriety
In paradise of all things common else.
By thee adulterous lust was driven from man
Among the bestial herds to range. By thee
Founded in season, loyal, just and pure
Relations dear, and all the charities
Of father, son and brother, first were known.

Gabriel and the two other angels find Satan crouched beside Eve while she and Adam are sleeping, whispering thoughts into her head. They have a pretty badass confrontation – and no, it’s not a swordfight. I know, right? I was kinda disappointed too. I hope Milton throws one in there somewhere though…there are still eight books left. *crosses fingers*

Anyways, Gabriel inquires which of the fallen spirits Satan is. Satan is angry that he isn’t recognized when just a short time before he was among them. Gabriel informs that when Satan’s goodness departed from him, so did his glory and beauty. Now he resembles his

841. …sin and place of doom, obscure and foul…

Reminds me of The Circle Trilogy a bit…where one’s outward appearance reflects the state of the soul…

Gabriel then asks why Satan has left hell, to which Satan sneers:

887. ‘Gabriel? Thou hadst in Heaven the esteem of wise,
And such I held thee. But this question asked
Puts me in doubt. Lives there who loves his pain?
Who would not, finding a way, break loose from hell,
Though thither doomed?…’

Gabriel, “(905) Disdainfully, half smiling, thus replies”:

912. So wise he judges it to fly from pain,
However, and to escape punishment!
So judge thou still, presumptuous! Till the wrath,
Which thou incurrest by flying, meet thy flight
Sevenfold, and scourge that wisdom back to hell
That taught ye yet no better – that no pain
Can equal anger infinite provoked.

Satan then fled,

1015. Murmuring, and with him the shades of night.