Lucifer monologue (Act 3) — Vondel's Lucifer

Lord Rafael, I nor threat Nor wrath deserve. My heroes both by God And Lucifer have sworn, and under oaths To Heaven have raised this standard thus aloft. Let rumors, therefore, far and wide be spread Throughout the Heavens: I battle under God For the defence of these His choristers, And for the Charter and the Rights which were Their lawful heritage ere Adam saw The rising sun: yea, ere o'er Paradise 240 The daylight shone. No human power, no yoke Of man, shall plague the necks of Spirits, nor shall The Angel world, like any servile slave, Support the throne of Adam with its neck, Unfettered now, unless in some abyss The Heavens shall bury us, together with The sceptres, crowns, and splendors that to us The Godhead from His bosom gave, for time And for eternity! Let burst what will, I shall maintain the holy Right, compelled 250 By high necessity, thus urged at length, Though much against my will, by the complaints And mournful groans of myriad tongues. Go hence, This message bear unto the Father, whom I serve, and under whom I thus unfurl This warlike standard for our Fatherland.