The account of Satan's (Lucifer's) rebellion and fall from heaven with all his followers takes up a major portion of the plot of Paradise Lost. The Biblical sources of this occurance are brief, but early church writings had fleshed out these lines by the time Milton began composing his epic.
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How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations!
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And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
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12You, the bright morning star, Lucifer, have fallen from the sky! You brought down other nations; now you are brought down. 13You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven and place my throne above the highest stars. I'll sit there with the gods far away in the north. 14I'll be above the clouds, just like God Most High." 15But now you are deep in the world of the dead.
4With its tail, it dragged a third of the stars from the sky and threw them down to the earth. Then the dragon turned toward the woman, because it wanted to eat her child as soon as it was born. 7A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. 8But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven 9and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan. |