CYPRIAN: 
Now, since the fury
Of this earthquaking hurricane is still, 95
And the crystalline Heaven has reassumed
Its windless calm so quickly, that it seems
As if its heavy wrath had been awakened
Only to overwhelm that vessel,—­speak,
Who art thou, and whence comest thou?

DAEMON: 
Far more 100
My coming hither cost, than thou hast seen
Or I can tell.  Among my misadventures
This shipwreck is the least.  Wilt thou hear?

CYPRIAN: 
Speak.

DAEMON: 
Since thou desirest, I will then unveil
Myself to thee;—­for in myself I am 105
A world of happiness and misery;
This I have lost, and that I must lament
Forever.  In my attributes I stood
So high and so heroically great,
In lineage so supreme, and with a genius 110
Which penetrated with a glance the world
Beneath my feet, that, won by my high merit,
A king—­whom I may call the King of kings,
Because all others tremble in their pride
Before the terrors of His countenance, 115
In His high palace roofed with brightest gems
Of living light—­call them the stars of Heaven—­
Named me His counsellor.  But the high praise
Stung me with pride and envy, and I rose
In mighty competition, to ascend 120
His seat and place my foot triumphantly
Upon His subject thrones.  Chastised, I know
The depth to which ambition falls; too mad
Was the attempt, and yet more mad were now
Repentance of the irrevocable deed:—­ 125
Therefore I chose this ruin, with the glory
Of not to be subdued, before the shame
Of reconciling me with Him who reigns
By coward cession.—­Nor was I alone,
Nor am I now, nor shall I be alone; 130
And there was hope, and there may still be hope,
For many suffrages among His vassals
Hailed me their lord and king, and many still
Are mine, and many more, perchance shall be. 
Thus vanquished, though in fact victorious, 135
I left His seat of empire, from mine eye
Shooting forth poisonous lightning, while my words
With inauspicious thunderings shook Heaven,
Proclaiming vengeance, public as my wrong,
And imprecating on His prostrate slaves 140
Rapine, and death, and outrage.  Then I sailed
Over the mighty fabric of the world,—­
A pirate ambushed in its pathless sands,
A lynx crouched watchfully among its caves
And craggy shores; and I have wandered over 145
The expanse of these wide wildernesses
In this great ship, whose bulk is now dissolved
In the light breathings of the invisible wind,