The Nightmare of Eve

Here it was at last. After an arduous journey across the cosmos (for the previous episode in this story, please click here), Satan looked hungrily down upon the Garden of Eden. Once the brightest of all angels, the Morning Star, thrown down from the fold of the Most High for daring to seize the Heavenly throne, Satan had resolved upon means other than open war to defy his Creator. Alone of the Fallen Angels, it had been he who first had spoken treacherous words in Heaven, and who now ventured to humble God by tearing down his most dearest Creation - Man.

Satan enters the Garden of Eden
Engraving by Gustave Doré

As he soared forth into the world of Men, and the light of the Sun touched his proud face, Satan was shaken. Not since he had served the Lord in Heaven had he felt such warmth, such invigoration, such happiness. For though treacherous, proud and deceitful, he remained an angel still, and here was a land to which he should belong:

    " O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams
       That bring to my remembrance
       from what state I fell,
       how glorious once above thy sphere;
       Till pride and worse ambition
       threw me down... "
                      - SATAN'S REMORSE

Wracked with guilt and remorse, Satan dreamt in vain that he were created a lesser being, devoid of ambition and immune to temptation. There was a moment, as the Morning Star touched upon the grass, that he even wondered whether he could know redemption, whether pardon could yet be his. Should he repent, would God forgive him of his crimes? Imagining himself, on bent knee before the Lord, surrounded by the Heavenly array, in his pride Satan thought only of the humiliation of it. Intolerable! Thinking too, of the horrors of the infernal prison from whence he had come and to where he must return, inflamed with rage once more, Satan focused his mind on the fell task he had volunteered to undertake. But his moment of inner conflict had gone not unnoticed. For there behind stood Uriel still, the angel Satan had deceived by disguise. Suspicious of seeing a pained expression in a place so pure, Uriel made haste to his brethren upon the Mount.

The Garden of Eden
Painting by Wenzel Peter

Not even the fiery heart of the Fallen One was hard to the beauty of the place he now saw. Such a verdant, sylvan scene there never was in all the cosmos! Boundless wilderness of cedar, pine and fir, towering high with the mightiest saplings groaning under the burden of their glorious fruit. The colour too! Regal golds glowing from the bounty of fruit, rich blossoms flourishing upon their boughs, bathed in the radiant glow of the high Sun. A soft breeze, a showering in the perfumed scents of the trees.  A place devoid of all sadness yet for the despair of what was to come. Not even he, that impious fiend, could hide his marvel. With a mighty leap, such as had broken the lines of Heaven in his doomed War, Satan broke through the undergrowth and penetrated to the Garden's core. His wings flared, he came to rest upon the highest tree at the very heart of the Garden, the Tree of Life, where in irony his thoughts were of nothing but death. Such a vista from that place there was no equal. The blissful fields of Paradise stretched yonder, in all their verdant glory. Nearby rose the Tree of Knowledge, from whose seed man would fall, astride a great azure river that channelled life across the Garden's plains. There, in a grove not far, laden with grapes of the deepest purple and flowers worthy only of Heaven, they lay:

                      " In naked majesty seemed lords of all,
                         And worthy seemed, for in their looks divine
                         The image of their glorious maker shone... "
                                              - ADAM AND EVE

There in regal splendour stood Adam, formed by God's own hand. Woven from Adam's own flesh, there too stood Eve, wondrous to behold. There was no flaw to be seen in the first man and woman, for they were crafted in God's own image, and here in Eden they were lord and lady to all the beasts, masters of this land in perfect innocence. Though they were unclad, there was no shame, no guilty thought of nature's wonder. Around them played all the beasts in harmony; lions, tigers, kids, bears, birds, horses all gathered in blissful serenity. Even the serpent here gave no heed of suspicion of what he would soon do. Envy and jealously raw blazed in the heart of Satan as a world in flames. Even he, the father of sin, was loath to bring such calamity upon such a scene. Pity for Adam and Eve struck him then, pity that they should suffer so much pain, when another was his foe. "Thank him who puts me to this loath revenge", he thought, "to do what else though damned I should abhor". So the proud angel justified his fell deed.

Adam and Eve
Engraving by by Gustave Doré

To learn more of this land, so that he might overturn it, Satan shifted his form once more. Now he was a lion, fierce and strong, then a tiger, stalking without sound. Approaching softly, he listened intently to the voice of Adam, noble yet oblivious. The First Man spoke in praise of the Lord, who in his benevolence had granted so much. The only sign of their obedience to God that remained was honour his command not to taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, for it would bring death, "whate'er death is, some dreadful thing no doubt". To grant them both dominion over Earth, Sea and Air for such a little price, Adam raised his hands in prayer, as Eve did too, to give praise to the Lord. Jubliant, Eve embraced Adam:




                             " Aside the Devil turned,
                               For envy, yet with jealous leer malign,                         
                               Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained.                               
                               Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two,                         
                               Imparadised in one another's arms,
                               The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill,
                               Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust! "
                                                    - THE ENVY OF SATAN

Blind to all other gifts, Satan thought only of God's command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Seething once more, the Fallen one could reason nothing more than they too were but slaves to God. They were not to receive this Knowledge? "Why should their Lord envy them that? Can it be sin to know, Can it be death?", he thought. As night fell on the Garden of Eden, a dark night brought on by the presence of a spirit who was welcome not there, Satan saw at last how he could defy the Most High. He would turn God's own Creation against him.

The Nightmare of Eve
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Meanwhile, high overhead, as the rays of the setting Sun levelled against the sky, the Archangel Gabriel sat enthroned upon the Mount. All around him the youth of Heaven exercised in divine sport, gilded helms, shields and spears glinting in the warm glow. Soaring through the evening rays, Uriel at last arrived. Urgently pouring out his suspicions, the Archangel confessed to Gabriel that he had granted passage to this dark newcomer, his foul thoughts veiled in fair disguise. Word too, had already reached Gabriel's ear of a breakout from Hell. But who was this stranger in their midst? The Archangel immediately sent forth the swiftest angels to find the source of this new disturbance. Far below, the night closed in, and the First Man and First Woman marvelled in the beauty of the stars and gave thanks to God, before laying down to sleep on their laurel bed. As Eve lay in slumber, little could she know as the Fallen Angel crept silently up to her, careful not to rouse Adam as he moved. Lying beside her peaceful body, Satan bent low and whispered fell incantations into her ear, channelling all manner of ghastly apparitions into her mind. As the venomed words flowed on, Eve convulsed violently in her nightmare. Soon Satan was no longer able to maintain his disguise, as no form but his true one could contain the grim phantasms within. Every doubt, every suspicion, every curious thought now gripped Eve's mind such that never again would she know innocence. Satan's senses heightened, his hour of glory approached at last.

Satan is banished from the Garden of Eden
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Just as he was about to implant the idea of eating from the Tree of Knowledge, however, the scene was suddenly interrupted. Ithuriel and Zephon, two loyal angels of Gabriel, drawn to the dark power emanating from that grove, appeared suddenly. Both spirits stood stunned, aghast to see an accursed angel here, in Paradise so very far from Hell. Recovering quickly, they demanded him to reveal his identity. Torn abruptly from his foul deed, Satan rounded on them, with a baleful gaze that would break the soul of any man. "Know ye not me?" he scornfully mocked, "Ye knew me once...". The terrible truth dawning upon them at last, Zephon valiantly rebuked Satan for his base treachery, swearing to bind him in chains if he had to. Taken aback by the young angel's boldness, Satan's anger grew greater still, anger that this young spirit clung to a virtue he never could. No bonds would be necessary, for the Morning Star flew to confront Gabriel without restraint. Recognising at once the stature of the Prince of Hell, Gabriel ordered Satan to reveal his purpose in Eden, a dwelling "God hath planted here in bliss". Both spirits , who had once held the other in great esteem, eyed each other warily. Who would not break free of Hell if they could, the Fallen One replied, what being willingly undergoes pain and torture? He simply came to admire the beauty of the place, a thing his own quarters lacked. Certain of deceit, Gabriel grew frustrated, unable to discover Satan's true intent as he was. Relentless, however, he demanded why he had come alone, why not the rest of his foul horde? For if there was pain in Hell, why had the rest not come. "Courageous chief, the first in flight from pain", Gabriel mocked. Taken aback by this insult, Satan angrily retorted that he alone had volunteered to undertake this enterprise, and he had hoped to settle here on Earth in peace.


But the Archangel Gabriel was wise to Satan's lies. "Thou sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem Patron of Liberty, who more than thou once fawneded, and servilely adored Heav'n's awful Monarch?" Gabriel angrily spat. For whilst Satan might claim to be seeking freedom for himself and his kin, his true purpose to seize God's throne was laid bare before all. The angelic host raised their glittering weapons in defiance, as Gabriel chastised him one final time, vowing to personally cast Satan back to Hell. With a shout of all his pent up guilt, rage and secret hopes of redemption now truly lost, Satan advanced on the loyal spirit. But just then, a flash of light, and bolt of thunder shook the cosmos. Sensing the gaze of the Lord, Satan turned his back on the Heavenly crew, as the angel of the Lord banished him from the Garden. Little could Gabriel see, however, the smile on the Morning Star's face. For his foul stratagem remained veiled to Heaven, and the seeds of discord had been sown. All he now needed was to complete what the angels had interrupted. He would not be able to break into the Garden personally again, that much was sure. Spying a nearby serpent however, Satan suddenly had an idea. Far away, meanwhile, Eve awoke with a pang of terror, distraught at the monstrous visions of her dreams...

United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

United States

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

The War in Heaven

So the Archangel Lucifer revealed his true nature openly at last (for the course of events leading up to this, click here). The loyal angel Abdiel tore through the night to the vault of Heaven, bearing the gravest of news, that one third of the angelic host had declared open rebellion against God’s mastery of the cosmos. Reaching the most high, Abdiel found that word of his grim tidings had already found the ears of God, as his eyes fell upon the angelic host arming itself as though for war. There was acclamation and shouts of joy at his return, as the loyal host had feared the worst. The angels led him forth with applause to the high, and from a golden cloud was heard a voice, the voice of God. God honours Abdiel for his loyalty in the face of the revolted multitude, before commanding his two remaining Archangels who remain loyal:

                                “ Go Michael of celestial armies prince,

                                  And thou in military prowess next,

                                  Gabriel, lead forth to battle these my sons

                                  Invincible, lead forth my armed saints

                                  By thousands and by millions ranged for fight... ”

                                             - GOD  GIVES HIS COMMAND

The sovereign voice of Heaven spoke, and condemned the traitorous legions to be cast into the fiery chaos of Hell. The clouds began to darken, and smoke rose in Heaven and the ethereal trumpets sounded in the sky, as the loyal host drew forth its battle line. Then, on the northern horizon, the fallen angels appeared, bent on winning the Mount of God, and setting the Morning Star upon his immortal throne. Spears bristled, helmets thronged and proud shields bore witness to the coming field of war. Eclipsing all, the Apostate himself rode forth “High in the midst exalted as a god... Idol of majesty divine”. Beholding the Fallen one resplendent in his vast chariot of fire, clad in adamant and gold, Abdiel could bare to stand idle no longer. Stepping forth from the loyal lines, the angel marched alone against Satan, meeting him before each host. Trying once more to dissuade him from his ways, Abdiel rebukes Satan “Fool, not to think how vain against th’ Omnipotent to rise in arms”. Satan strikes back in anger, disgusted that none before him will join him “I see that most through sloth had rather serve, Minist’ring Spirits, trained up in feast and song”. Despairing, Abdiel declares Satan a traitor to God, and condemns him to reign in Hell. Raising his blade, Abdiel lands the first blow. The Fallen Archangel raises his shield of gold, but is forced on to one knee. Shock spreads through the rebel ranks, though soon replaced with impious rage at the exultation in the angelic host. The Archangel Michael sounds his battle horn, blasting through the vastness of Heaven:

Battle is joined in Heaven
Engraving by Gustave Doré

“ Now storming fury rose,

  And clamour such as heard in Heav’n

  Was never; arms on armour clashing bray

  Horrible discord, and the madding wheels

  Of brazen chariots raged dire was the noise

  Of conflict... ”

           - THE WAR BEGINS

St. Michael the Archangel wounds Satan
Painting by Luca Giordano 

All Heaven rang and shook to the sound of the very first war. Millions marched on millions, each alone able to wield the power of the elements. The battle hung in the balance, and Satan “who that day prodigious power had shown, and met in arms no equal”, smote battalion after battalion of fighting Seraphim, finding at last the Archangel Michael within his grasp. Michael denounces Satan for disturbing the blessed peace of Heaven, and giving birth to misery. Satan swears to conquer the field of Heaven, Heaven which under the tyranny of God would only become true Hell. Words failing them both now, they circle each other and duel, their blazing shields as though suns in the sky. But the fiery sword of Michael was blessed by God, that no force may resist its edge. Michael breaks Satan’s blade, driving the point into the Traitor’s flesh, and Satan first knew pain. Nectarous humour spat forth from the wound, staining his armour, as Satan gnashed in pain and anger to find himself not matchless. Fallen angels rush to his side and bear him on their shields to his chariot to recover. Meanwhile, Moloch, Adramelech and Asmodai, all powerful among the rebel host, are conquered by the Archangels Uriel, Gabriel and Raphael, and the fallen armies fall back in rout.

Falling back to their encampment for the night, the rebel angels hold council. Nisroch, a former prince of Heaven, laments the sensation of pain, one never felt before that day, deplored as the worst of evils. Satan urges more violent battle, and in his malice, conceives a terrible new weapon – gunpowder. All looked on in admiration at the Traitor’s craft, and their hope revives. Satan curses mankind to one day discover his dread contraption:

                                        “ In future days, if malice should abound,

                                          Someone intent on mischief, or inspired

                                          With dev’lish machination might devise

                                          Like instrument to plague the sons of men... ”

                                                          - SATAN CURSES MANKIND

The next day, the Heavenly host watches as the rebel host advances, in slow but firm order. Zophiel warns his loyalist comrades to hold firm in face of Satan’s devilry, as an ominous feeling grips his side. At last, suddenly revealed, Satan was heard commanding aloud his fallen brethren to stand proud and visible, opening fire. Fire and smoke engulf the plain, and the ground trembles at the unholy barrage. Devastation abounds in the heavenly ranks, as they too discover the feeling of pain. Satan beheld their plight, delighting at his work, as Belial too joins his master in scoffing at this army of God. Hearing the taunts, the loyal Seraphim cast aside their weapons, and tear up the mountains themselves and hurl them upon the Fallen ones. Some are trapped, other cry out in pain, though they cannot die, yet Satan’s infernal machines are destroyed. Enraged, the betrayers imitate, and launch the very stuff of Heaven in defiance.

The Messiah casts the Fallen angels from Heaven
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Thus would Heaven have been ruined utterly, had God himself not decided to intervene, resigned to forgo His pledge of free will. Turning to his Son, he transfers upon him all his power and bids him know mastery of Heaven and Hell, and drive out the accursed angels from incorruptible Heaven. As the banner of the Messiah rises in the angelic ranks, the Son of God rides forth, bestriding His brilliant chariot, framed with the glory of Heaven, as thunder breaks the sky around, Victory seated eagle winged at His right hand. Ten thousand thousand saints follow in his wake, and bear down upon the Satanic forces. Their spirit restored and fired anew, the host of Heaven bore down upon the Traitor’s legions, “God’s indignation on these Godless poured”. Full of wrath bent on His enemies, the Messiah crashed into the impious ranks, all but the throne of God itself shaking. Grasping ten thousand bolts of flaming thunder, He blasts the rebel angels through the crystal walls of Heaven, hurling them and their dread commander headlong into a fall to the fiery pit of Hell:

The rebel host falls into the Pit of Hell
Engraving by Gustave Doré

“ Nine days they fell; fell Chaos roared,

  And felt tenfold confusion in their fall

  Through his wide anarchy, so huge a rout

  Encumbered him with ruin: Hell at last

  Yawning received them whole,

  And on them closed... ”

            - THE TRAITORS FALL TO HELL

So the order of the world, and birth of good and of evil, was born. The blissful paradise and peace of Heaven lay tattered and broken, reeling in shock at the audacious revolution of the Morning Star. Once the greatest of all the Archangels of Heaven now lay in the Pit of Fire with his impious kin, defeated and broken. Or so it seemed. Though condemned to eternal damnation, however broken down they might be, they were immortal and could not die. Where steel and sword had failed, other designs now emerged in Satan's dark thoughts. Heaven was too strong to be sieged again, for now. The rule of God must be weakened first, he thought. A dark smile broke the Morning Star's face as he realised God's propensity for boundless compassion was both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. Scheming anew, the fallen angels began to plan a new war to drive the Most High from the Heavenly Mount, though this time, Satan's target was no angel nor heavenly deity, but a new creation - Man.

Paradise Lost, a true classic of the English language, deserves to be read and its story told. Perhaps you too will be inspired by Milton's words, and pick up a copy. You will not regret it. Copies are easily found for a mere couple of pounds at Amazon:

United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

United States

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)