Satan begins the debate. He claims that he is even more happy than in heaven because in heaven he would be afraid other angels would envy his exalted position, but nobody is going to envy him being the first in hell, so they are going to be united more than ever. He wants to wage war on heaven, the only question is whether it’s going to be open or “by covert guile”. Moloch is the first to speak and he advises open war. His arguments are that while they sit here plotting, the multitudes of other devils are suffering. The ascent is natural for the fallen angels, while the descent, like the one they just suffered, is very painful to them. Besides, what worse thing can happen to them?
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