How are you fallen from heaven, day star, son of the dawn! How are you fallen to earth, conqueror of the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God; I will set my throne on high … I will ascend upon the high clouds.…” But you are brought down to darkness [or: the underworld, sheol], to the depths of the pit (Isa. 14:12–15). Nearly two and a half thousand years after Isaiah wrote, this luminous falling star, his name translated into Latin as Lucifer (“light-bearer”) was transformed by Milton into the protagonist of Paradise Lost.
