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Book II: Satan has drawn all the fallen angels into a large counsel in his Temple, perched on a volcano top. He addresses them to give them courage. After all, he says, they need not fear ever falling again. He asks for suggestion on how best to continue battling heaven. Moloch stands up and suggests open warfare on the battlefield. They have nothing to loose, he says, there is no hell worse than this that …

…to the hell hounds that now suround her. Note that Satan tries to kill his only son, Death, when he first approaches the gates of hell. This will contrast with the circumstances that will surround God sacrificing his only son in later books. The personificaiton of concepts, in this case Death and Sin, was a common literary tool in Milton's time, seen most prominently in Spencer's "The Faerie Queene," which greatly influenced Milton's own work.