After Satan is cast out from heaven for competing with God, Satan and his army of rebel angels find themselves suffering in Hell. It’s not long, however, before Satan—despite the inevitability of losing to God—attempts to rally his troops to continue their battle against God and the heavenly angels.
“Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool/His mighty stature,” 1866, by Gustav Doré for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” Engraving. (Public Domain)
First, Milton says:
“Thither let us tend
From off the tossing of these fiery waves,
There rest, if any rest can harbour there,
And reassembling our afflicted powers,
Consult how we may henceforth most offend
Our enemy, our own loss how repair,
How overcome this dire calamity,
What reinforcement we may gain from hope,
If not what resolution from despair.
Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blazed…
(Book 1, lines 183-194).”…