Neither earth, Heaven nor Hell, this is a region where earth, air, fire and water, the traditional primary elements of the universe, are in complete disorder and constant conflict.

… Chaos umpire sits,
And by decision more embroils the fray
By which he reigns: next him, high arbiter
Chance governs all”
Book II: 907-910

Struggling through this formless region, Satan has reached

… the throne
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthroned
Sat Sable-vested Night, eldest of things,
The consort of his reign, and by them stood
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
Of Demogorgon, Rumor next, and Chance,
And Tumult and Confusion, all embroiled,
And Discord with a thousand various mouths.
Book II: 959-67

In this passage Milton introduces Satan to an appropriately chaotic mixture of ancient myth and allegory. In Greek and Roman myth, Orcus and Ades (or Hades) are both names for rulers of the dead. Demogorgon is a name that was not actually used in ancient religion, but was coined in early Christian times for an invented pagan god or demon. The remaining figures, including Chaos and Night, are simply personifications of familiar abstract entities.

Satan, Chaos, and Night are easy to identify. At the left of the painting Satan ‘springs upward’, to depart. The feeble king Chaos sits in the center of the group of figures at the right, clutching a star-tipped scepter with the hand that rests on the shoulder of his queen, the black-robed (‘sable-vested’) Night. But how do we match the eight names that Milton has given with the eight other faces in the painting?

One way to begin is to guess that the artist has in some way followed the sequence of names in Milton’s list.

ORCUS AND ADES

Directly behind Chaos and Night are two virile, patriarchal figures, one seems to whisper in his ear. These seem to be the king’s chief councilors, and it makes sense to give them the names that Milton mentions first, Orcus and Ades. The heads are appropriately kingly -- suited to rulers of the dead.

DEMOGORGON

Next comes a monstrous figure with its back turned, who appears to be man above and serpent below. The darkness and poor condition of the painting in this area makes it difficult to read, but it is at least plausible that the head and torso join to the serpent’s tail, either at the very right edge of the painting or just outside the edge. This figure can be given the next name in Milton’s sequence: Demogorgon. Demogorgon is a shadowy figure, both in the painting and in literary tradition, but associated with terror and with primal force, beyond good and evil. The serpentine tail of this figure, curling around Chaos and Night, may allude to the representation of Eternity as a serpent with its tail in its mouth. Night, “eldest of things” rests her foot on the serpent.

RUMOR

Following the tail of the serpent along the bottom of the painting we are led to the figure between Satan’s legs. With his right hand Demogorgon points in the same direction, suggesting that this figure is the next in Milton’s list, Rumor. The figure resembles conventional representations of the winds, with pursed lips, puffed cheeks, and wind-blown hair and drapery -- all appropriate for a being whose nature is to spread words abroad.

CHANCE

As Rumor looks up, the next figure to the right seems to look down and return his gaze. It makes sense to call this figure Chance, since Milton pairs Chance with Rumor. This is the most feminine of the figures, which is appropriate because the Greek and Roman deities associated with good or bad fortune (Tyche, Fortuna, and Nemesis) are female. The figure’s averted face could be an indication of coming misfortune -- for Earth, which Satan will corrupt, but also for Satan and Chaos, since Earth will not be ruined and restored to Chaos’ realm, but ultimately redeemed.

TUMULT AND CONFUSION

Continuing from left to right: Confusion, with finger in mouth and an expression of idiotic vacancy, is followed by the blindfolded Tumult, with upraised sword. The reversed order of these two figures is the one change from Milton’s sequence, and might be justified by the fact that Milton describes the two as “embroiled”. It may also be that the painter felt that Tumult and Discord were too much akin to be separated in the picture by Confusion, and unlike Milton he did not have to submit his sequence of names to the requirements of iambic pentameter.

DISCORD

Discord, brandishing a torch, appears, like Medusa, to have snakes for hair. Thus Discord has indeed, as Milton says, “a thousand various mouths” -- the mouths of the serpents.

The attributes of Discord and Tumult: blindfold, sword, torch, and snake-filled hair, are intuitively appropriate, but they are also specifically mentioned in the Iconologia of Cesare Ripa.

If these identifications of Chaos’ courtiers are correct, the painter of Satan Leaving the Court of Chaos has chosen to follow Milton’s sequence almost exactly, but not as a simple procession from left to right. Instead, the figures form a spiral, beginning just behind the ear of Chaos and moving around him and Night.

But it is a chaotic spiral, formed by figures who gaze in every direction, and ultimately leading nowhere.