


These fallen angels think that they need to escape from their chains through their power, but Milton makes it clear that God alone has allowed them to try to to this. Each devil is introduced during the formal cataloging of demons. As they are available, Milton is in a position to list the main devils that now occupy Hell: Moloch, Chemos, Baalim, Ashtaroth, Astarte, Astoreth, Dagon, Rimmon, Osiris, Isis, Orus, Mammon, and Belial. From the plain, Satan calls the opposite fallen angels to hitch him, and one by one they rise from the lake and fly to their leader. He flies to a barren plain, followed by Beelzebub.
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With effort, Satan is in a position to free himself from his chains and rise from the hearth. Still he adds that it’s his intention to continue the struggle against God, saying, “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” (263). Satan comments on how Beelzebub has been transformed for the more severe by the punishment of God. Next to Satan lies Beelzebub, Satan’s second in command.

Lying on the lake, Satan is described as gigantic he’s compared to a Titan or the Leviathan. They were defeated and cast from Heaven into the fires of Hell. Satan, who had been Lucifer, the best angel, and his compatriots warred against God. The poem thus commences within the middle of the story, as epics traditionally do. Following the prologue and invocation, Milton begins the epic with an outline of Satan, lying on his back with the opposite rebellious angels, chained on a lake of fireside.
