There is nothing where Satan is walking up and down “alone bent on his prey.” Later in the history of the World, Milton tells us, this place on the perimeter of the World will become Limbo. Here will be found the souls of those who are more misguided than sinful, who can’t be sent to Hell but aren’t good enough to enter Heaven. They will include the builders of the Tower of Babel and the Greek Philosophers who wanted to become gods. Milton especially mentions those Roman Catholics who believed that putting on religious garments would get them into Heaven.
NOTE: MILTON’S CHRISTIAN INDIVIDUALISM
England had become a Protestant nation in 1539, not for purely religious reasons but because King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife and the Roman Catholic Church opposed divorce, as it still does. So Henry declared a Church of England, with himself as head.
The main difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism comes in the matter of access to God. The Roman Catholic Church believes in the need for intercession with God, through a priesthood specially trained to act as intermediary for the people. Protestants believe they can address God directly through prayer. Their clergy, who are permitted to marry, are counselors and advisors more than intercessors with God.
As Protestantism developed, groups arose believing that even the reduced priestly function of the Church of England was too much. The extreme is probably the Quakers, who have no priests at all. Milton was closest to being a Puritan, but his kind of Christianity is really unique to him. We can best describe him as a Christian individualist. He believed that he should obey only God and God’s law, which was immediately obvious to anyone who believed with a pure heart. Milton had no use at all for the external shows of religion- even symbols like the cross.
Thus you can see why he despises Roman Catholic “Indulgences, Dispenses, Pardons, Bulls.” All those who believed in them would be blown away from Heaven and whirled into Limbo, the Paradise of Fools.
LINES 498-629. SATAN ON THE SUN
Leaving Limbo, Satan comes to the opening in the top of the World where he can look down into the concentric circles and up the stairs to Heaven. He stands in amazement looking down into the World, like a soldier on military reconnaissance who finds himself suddenly looking down on a new land or a magnificent city.
He throws himself down into the World and passes through the circle of the stars to land on the sun. The place is “beyond expression bright,” brighter than jewels or the philosophers’ stone which was said to turn any metal into gold. There are of course no shadows on the sun, so Satan easily sees an angel standing there with his back to him.
LINES 630-742. THE DECEPTION OF THE ANGEL URIEL
Satan is always daring and always deceitful. It seems no problem for him to change himself into a young angel or cherub with curling hair, gold-sprinkled wings, and a wand in his hand. He approaches the angel, who proves to be Uriel, one of the seven around God’s throne, and addresses him.
Satan gives the flimsiest excuse for his presence: he has a great desire to see God’s new creation, man, so much talked of in Heaven. Will Uriel kindly point out on which of the circling spheres Man is to be found?
Uriel suspects nothing. In fact, Milton tells us that only God can know the truth hidden by hypocrisy; not even angels can penetrate a lying appearance, especially when they are so good that suspicion is not part of their nature. Uriel praises the little cherub for his desire to see God’s works and tells him with pride that he was present when the World was made. The globe down there at the center, the one half lit by the sun and half by the moon reflecting the sun’s light, is earth. Uriel even points his finger directly at Paradise and tells Satan that he can’t miss the way.
Satan bows respectfully, as a cherub would to a senior angel, and swoops down from the sun to the earth, landing on the top of Niphates, a mountain in the Armenian Taurus range.
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