He walked around the dark globe until,
directed by a gleam of light, he found the spot where a ladder led up to
Heaven. Just below it, down through the spheres, was the seat of Paradise
to which he was bending his way.
Down through the crystal spheres he bent his way toward the Sun, which
attracted him by its superior splendor. Espying Uriel, the Angel of the
Sun, he quickly took the form of a youthful Cherub, and, approaching
Uriel, told him that having heard of the new world he had been seized by a
longing to quit the bands of Cherubim and see for himself the wonderful
work of the Creator.
Directed by the unsuspecting Uriel, Satan sped downward and standing upon
the top of Niphates, surveyed Eden.
As he looked, his spirit was troubled. He had brought Hell with him, and
his unhappy thoughts boiled and surged in his troubled mind. "Sun, I hate
thee, because thy beams recall to me what I was and how I fell. The
matchless King of Heaven deserved no such return from me. His service was
easy. Had I only been created a lower Power!--But even then, might not
some higher one have led me into temptation? What shall I do, whither
shall I fly, to escape infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Hell is
around me, I myself am Hell! There is no hope for me. Submission is the
only way left, and I could not unsay what I have said; I could never
bridge the gulf made by my revolt.
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