Milton gives us a moment of stillness before the journey begins. The fallen angels remain behind in Pandemonium — busy, restless, trying to build a kind of order in their ruin. But Satan rises above them all, not merely in rank, but in will. He chooses the hardest path. Not out of humility — Milton never lets us mistake that — but out of a fierce, consuming pride. Better to reign in Hell, he has said. And now he will prove it by action.