|
[16581665; æt. 5057.] OF Mans first disobedience, and the fruit | |
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste | |
Brought death into the world, and all our woe, | |
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man | |
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, | 5 |
Sing, heavenly muse, that on the secret top | |
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire | |
That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, | |
In the beginning how the heavens and earth | |
Rose out of chaos: or, if Sion hill | 10 |
Delight thee more, and Siloas brook that flowd | |
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence | |
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song, | |
That with no middle flight intends to soar | |
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues | 15 |
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. | |
And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer | |
Before all temples the upright heart and pure, | |
Instruct me, for thou knowst; thou from the first | |
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, | 20 |
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast abyss, | |
And madst it pregnant: what in me is dark, | |
Illumine; what is low, raise and support; | |
That to the height of this great argument | |
I may assert eternal Providence, | 25 |
And justify the ways of God to men. | |
Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from thy view, | |
Nor the deep tract of hell; say first, what cause | |
Moved our grand parents, in that happy state, | |
Favourd of Heaven so highly, to fall off | 30 |
From their Creator, and transgress his will | |
For one restraint, lords of the world besides? | |
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? | |
The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile, | |
Stirrd up with envy and revenge, deceived | 35 |
The mother of mankind, what time his pride | |
Had cast him out from heaven, with all his host | |
Of rebel angels; by whose aid, aspiring | |
To set himself in glory above his peers, | |
He trusted to have equalld the Most High, | 40 |
If he opposed; and, with ambitious aim | |
Against the throne and monarchy of God, | |
Raised impious war in heaven, and battle proud, | |
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power | |
Hurld headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, | 45 |
With hideous ruin and combustion, down | |
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell | |
In adamantine chains and penal fire, | |
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. | |
Nine times the space that measures day and night | 50 |
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew | |
Lay vanquishd, rolling in the fiery gulf, | |
Confounded, though immortal: but his doom | |
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought | |
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain | 55 |
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes, | |
That witnessd huge affliction and dismay, | |
Mixd with obdurate pride and steadfast hate: | |
At once, as far as angels ken, he views | |
The dismal situation waste and wild; | 60 |
A dungeon horrible on all sides round, | |
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames | |
No light, but rather darkness visible | |
Served only to discover sights of woe, | |
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace | 65 |
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes | |
That comes to all; but torture without end | |
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed | |
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed: | |
Such place eternal justice had prepared | 70 |
For those rebellious; here their prison ordaind | |
In utter darkness, and their portion set | |
As far removed from God and light of heaven, | |
As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole. | |
O, how unlike the place from whence they fell! | 75 |
There the companions of his fall, oerwhelmd | |
With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, | |
He soon discerns, and weltering by his side | |
One next himself in power, and next in crime, | |
Long after known in Palestine, and named | 80 |
Beëlzebub. To whom the arch-enemy, | |
And thence in heaven calld Satan, with bold words | |
Breaking the horrid silence, thus began: | |
If thou beest he; but O, how fallen! how changed | |
From him, who, in the happy realms of light, | 85 |
Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine | |
Myriads though bright! If he whom mutual league, | |
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope | |
And hazard in the glorious enterprise, | |
Joind with me once, now misery hath joind | 90 |
In equal ruin: into what pit thou seest | |
From what height fallen, so much the stronger proved | |
He with his thunder: and till then who knew | |
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those, | |
Nor what the potent Victor in his rage | 95 |
Can else inflict, do I repent or change, | |
Though changed in outward lustre, that fixd mind, | |
And high disdain from sense of injured merit, | |
That with the Mightiest raised me to contend, | |
And to the fierce contention brought along | 100 |
Innumerable force of spirits armd, | |
That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring, | |
His utmost power with adverse power opposed | |
In dubious battle on the plains of heaven, | |
And shook his throne. What though the field be lost, | 105 |
All is not lost; the unconquerable will, | |
And study of revenge, immortal hate, | |
And courage never to submit or yield, | |
And what is else not to be overcome; | |
That glory never shall his wrath or might | 110 |
Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace | |
With suppliant knee, and deify his power | |
Who from the terror of this arm so late | |
Doubted his empire; that were low indeed, | |
That were an ignominy, and shame beneath | 115 |
This downfall: since by fate the strength of gods, | |
And this empyreal substance cannot fail: | |
Since through experience of this great event | |
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced, | |
We may with more successful hope resolve | 120 |
To wage by force or guile eternal war, | |
Irreconcilable to our grand foe, | |
Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy | |
Sole reigning, holds the tyranny of heaven. | |
So spake the apostate angel, though in pain, | 125 |
Vaunting aloud, but rackd with deep despair: | |
And him thus answered soon his bold compeer. | |
O prince, O chief of many-throned powers, | |
That led the embattled seraphim to war | |
Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds | 130 |
Fearless, endangerd heavens perpetual King, | |
And put to proof his high supremacy, | |
Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate; | |
Too well I see, and rue the dire event, | |
That with sad overthrow, and foul defeat, | 135 |
Hath lost us heaven, and all this mighty host | |
In horrible destruction laid thus low, | |
As far as gods and heavenly essences | |
Can perish: for the mind and spirit remain | |
Invincible, and vigour soon returns, | 140 |
Though all our glory extinct, and happy state | |
Here swallowd up in endless misery. | |
But what if he our Conqueror (whom I now | |
Of force believe almighty, since no less | |
Than such could have oerpowerd such force as ours) | 145 |
Have left us this our spirit and strength entire | |
Strongly to suffer and support our pains, | |
That we may so suffice his vengeful ire, | |
Or do him mightier service as his thralls | |
By right of war, whateer his business be, | 150 |
Here in the heart of hell to work in fire, | |
Or do his errands in the gloomy deep? | |
What can it then avail, though yet we feel | |
Strength undiminishd, or eternal being | |
To undergo eternal punishment? | 155 |
Whereto with speedy words the arch-fiend replied: | |
Falln cherub, to be weak is miserable | |
Doing or suffering; but of this be sure, | |
To do aught good never will be our task, | |
But ever to do ill our sole delight, | 160 |
As being the contrary to his high will | |
Whom we resist. If then his providence | |
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, | |
Our labour must be to pervert that end, | |
And out of good still to find means of evil, | 165 |
Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps | |
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb | |
His inmost counsels from their destined aim. | |
But see, the angry Victor hath recalld | |
His ministers of vengeance and pursuit | 170 |
Back to the gates of heaven: the sulphurous hail, | |
Shot after us in storm, oerblown, hath laid | |
The fiery surge, that from the precipice | |
Of heaven received us falling; and the thunder, | |
Wingd with red lightning and impetuous rage, | 175 |
Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now | |
To bellow through the vast and boundless deep. | |
Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn | |
Or satiate fury yield it from our foe. | |
Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, | 180 |
The seat of desolation, void of light, | |
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames | |
Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend | |
From off the tossing of these fiery waves; | |
There rest, if any rest can harbour there; | 185 |
And, reassembling our afflicted powers, | |
Consult how we may henceforth most offend | |
Our enemy; our own loss how repair; | |
How overcome this dire calamity; | |
What reinforcement we may gain from hope; | 190 |
If not, what resolution from despair. | |
Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, | |
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes | |
That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides | |
Prone on the flood, extending long and large, | 195 |
Lay floating many a rood; in bulk as huge | |
As whom the fables name of monstrous size, | |
Titanian, or Earth-born, that warrd on Jove; | |
Briareos or Typhon, whom the den | |
By ancient Tarsus held; or that sea-beast | 200 |
Leviathan, which God of all his works | |
Created hugest that swim the ocean stream: | |
Him, haply, slumbering on the Norway foam, | |
The pilot of some small night-founderd skiff | |
Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, | 205 |
With fixed anchor in his scaly rind | |
Moors by his side under the lee, while night | |
Invests the sea, and wished morn delays: | |
So stretchd out huge in length the archfiend lay | |
Chaind on the burning lake: nor ever thence | 210 |
Had risen, or heaved his head; but that the will | |
And high permission of all-ruling heaven | |
Left him at large to his own dark designs; | |
That with reiterated crimes he might | |
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought | 215 |
Evil to others; and, enraged, might see | |
How all his malice served but to bring forth | |
Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shewn | |
On man by him seduced; but on himself | |
Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance pourd. | 220 |
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool | |
His mighty stature; on each hand the flames, | |
Driven backward, slope their pointing spires, and, rolld | |
In billows, leave in the midst a horrid vale. | |
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight | 225 |
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air, | |
That felt unusual weight; till on dry land | |
He lights, if it were land that ever burnd | |
With solid, as the lake with liquid fire; | |
And such appeard in hue, as when the force | 230 |
Of subterranean wind transports a hill | |
Torn from Pelorus, or the shatterd side | |
Of thundering Ætna, whose combustible | |
And fuelld entrails thence conceiving fire, | |
Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds, | 235 |
And leave a singed bottom all involved | |
With stench and smoke: such resting found the sole | |
Of unblest feet. Him followd his next mate: | |
Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian flood | |
As gods, and by their own recoverd strength, | 240 |
Not by the sufferance of supernal power. | |
Is this the region, this the soil, the clime, | |
Said then the lost archangel, this the seat | |
That we must change for heaven; this mournful gloom | |
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he | 245 |
Who now is Sovereign, can dispose and bid | |
What shall be right; farthest from him is best, | |
Whom reason hath equalld, force hath made supreme | |
Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields, | |
Where joy for ever dwells! Hail horrors, hail | 250 |
Infernal world, and thou profoundest hell, | |
Receive thy new possessor; one who brings | |
A mind not to be changed by place or time: | |
The mind is its own place, and in itself | |
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. | 255 |
What matter where, if I be still the same, | |
And what I should be; all but less than he | |
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least | |
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built | |
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: | 260 |
Here we may reign secure, and, in my choice, | |
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell: | |
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. | |
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, | |
The associates and copartners of our loss, | 265 |
Lie thus astonishd on the oblivious pool, | |
And call them not to share with us their part | |
In this unhappy mansion, or once more, | |
With rallied arms, to try what may be yet | |
Regaind in heaven, or what more lost in hell? | 270 |
So Satan spake, and him Beëlzebub | |
Thus answerd. Leader of those armies bright, | |
Which but the Omnipotent none could have foild, | |
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge | |
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft | 275 |
In worse extremes, and on the perilous edge | |
Of battle when it raged, in all assaults | |
Their surest signal, they will soon resume | |
New courage and revive; though now they lie | |
Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, | 280 |
As we erewhile, astounded and amazed; | |
No wonder, falln such a pernicious height. | |
He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend | |
Was moving toward the shore: his ponderous shield, | |
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, | 285 |
Behind him cast; the broad circumference | |
Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb | |
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views | |
At evening from the top of Fesole, | |
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, | 290 |
Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. | |
His spear, to equal which the tallest pine | |
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast | |
Of some great ammiral, were but a wand | |
He walkd with, to support uneasy steps | 295 |
Over the burning marle, not like those steps | |
On heavens azure; and the torrid clime | |
Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire: | |
Nathless he so endured, till on the beach | |
Of that inflamed sea he stood, and calld | 300 |
His legions, angel forms, who lay entranced | |
Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks | |
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades, | |
High over-archd, embower; or scatterd sedge | |
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armd | 305 |
Hath vexd the Red-Sea coast, whose waves oerthrew | |
Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, | |
While with perfidious hatred they pursued | |
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld | |
From the safe shore their floating carcasses | 310 |
And broken chariot wheels: so thick bestrewn, | |
Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, | |
Under amazement of their hideous change. | |
He calld so loud, that all the hollow deep | |
Of hell resounded. Princes, potentates, | 315 |
Warriors, the flower of heaven, once yours, now lost, | |
If such astonishment as this can seize | |
Eternal spirits; or have ye chosen this place | |
After the toil of battle to repose | |
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find | 320 |
To slumber here, as in the vales of heaven? | |
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn | |
To adore the Conqueror? who now beholds | |
Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood | |
With scatterd arms and ensigns, till anon | 325 |
His swift pursuers from heaven-gates discern | |
The advantage, and descending, tread us down | |
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts | |
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf, | |
Awake, arise, or be for ever falln. | 330 |
They heard, and were abashd, and up they sprung | |
Upon the wing; as when men wont to watch | |
On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, | |
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. | |
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight | 335 |
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; | |
Yet to their generals voice they soon obeyd, | |
Innumerable. As when the potent rod | |
Of Amrams son, in Egypts evil day, | |
Wavd round the coast, upcalld a pitchy cloud | 340 |
Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind, | |
That oer the realm of impious Pharaoh hung | |
Like night, and darkend all the land of Nile: | |
So numberless were those bad angels seen | |
Hovering on wing under the cope of hell, | 345 |
Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires; | |
Till at a signal given, the uplifted spear | |
Of their great sultan waving to direct | |
Their course, in even balance down they light | |
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain: | 350 |
A multitude like which the populous north | |
Pourd never from her frozen loins, to pass | |
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons | |
Came like a deluge on the south, and spread | |
Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands. | 355 |
Forthwith from every squadron and each band | |
The heads and leaders thither haste where stood | |
Their great commander; godlike shapes and forms | |
Excelling human, princely dignities; | |
And powers that erst in heaven sat on thrones, | 360 |
Though of their names in heavenly records now | |
Be no memorial; blotted out and rased | |
By their rebellion from the books of life. | |
Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve | |
Got them new names; till, wandering oer the earth, | 365 |
Through Gods high sufferance for the trial of man, | |
By falsities and lies the greatest part | |
Of mankind they corrupted to forsake | |
God their Creator, and the invisible | |
Glory of him that made them to transform | 370 |
Oft to the image of a brute, adornd | |
With gay religions, full of pomp and gold, | |
And devils to adore for deities: | |
Then were they known to men by various names | |
And various idols through the heathen world. | 375 |
Say, muse, their names then known, who first, who last | |
Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch, | |
At their great emperors call, as next in worth | |
Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, | |
While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. | 380 |
The chief were those, who, from the pit of hell, | |
Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix | |
Their seats long after next the seat of God, | |
Their altars by his altar, gods adored | |
Among the nations round, and durst abide | 385 |
Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned | |
Between the cherubim; yea, often placed | |
Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, | |
Abominations; and with cursed things | |
His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned, | 390 |
And with their darkness durst affront his light. | |
First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeard with blood | |
Of human sacrifice, and parents tears; | |
Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud | |
Their childrens cries unheard, that passd through fire | 395 |
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite | |
Worshippd in Rabba and her watery plain, | |
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream | |
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such | |
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart | 400 |
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build | |
His temple right against the temple of God | |
On that opprobrious hill; and made his grove | |
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence | |
And black Gehenna calld, the type of hell. | 405 |
Next, Chemos, the obscene dread of Moabs sons, | |
From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild | |
Of southmost Abarim; in Hesebon | |
And Horonaim, Seons realm, beyond | |
The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, | 410 |
And Eleäle to the asphaltic pool. | |
Peor his other name, when he enticed | |
Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile, | |
To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. | |
Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged | 415 |
Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove | |
Of Moloch homicide; lust hard by hate; | |
Till good Josiah drove them thence to hell. | |
With these came they, who, from the bordering flood | |
Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts | 420 |
Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names | |
Of Baälim and Ashtaroth; those male, | |
These feminine: for spirits, when they please, | |
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft | |
And uncompounded is their essence pure; | 425 |
Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, | |
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, | |
Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose | |
Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, | |
Can execute their airy purposes, | 430 |
And works of love or enmity fulfil. | |
For those the race of Israel oft forsook | |
Their living strength, and unfrequented left | |
His righteous altar, bowing lowly down | |
To bestial gods; for which their heads as low | 435 |
Bowd down in battle, sunk before the spear | |
Of despicable foes. With these in troop | |
Came Astoreth, whom the Phnicians calld | |
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns; | |
To whose bright image nightly by the moon | 440 |
Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs; | |
In Sion also not unsung, where stood | |
Her temple on the offensive mountain, built | |
By that uxorious king, whose heart, though large, | |
Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell | 445 |
To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, | |
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured | |
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate | |
In amorous ditties all a summers day; | |
While smooth Adonis from his native rock | 450 |
Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood | |
Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale | |
Infected Sions daughters with like heat, | |
Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch | |
Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led, | 455 |
His eye surveyd the dark idolatries | |
Of alienated Judah. Next came one | |
Who mournd in earnest, when the captive ark | |
Maimd his brute image, head and hands loppd off | |
In his own temple, on the grunsel-edge, | 460 |
Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshippers: | |
Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man | |
And downward fish: yet had his temple high | |
Reard in Azotus, dreaded through the coast | |
Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon, | 465 |
And Accaron and Gazas frontier bounds. | |
Him followd Rimmon, whose delightful seat | |
Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks | |
Of Abana and Pharphar, lucid streams. | |
He also gainst the house of God was bold: | 470 |
A leper once he lost, and gaind a king; | |
Ahaz his sottish conqueror, whom he drew | |
Gods altar to disparage and displace | |
For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn | |
His odious offerings, and adore the gods | 475 |
Whom he had vanquishd. After these appeard | |
A crew, who, under names of old renown, | |
Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train, | |
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused | |
Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek | 480 |
Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms | |
Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape | |
The infection, when their borrowd gold composed | |
The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king | |
Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan, | 485 |
Likening his Maker to the grazed ox; | |
Jehovah, who in one night, when he passd | |
From Egypt marching, equalld with one stroke | |
Both her first-born and all her bleating gods. | |
Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd | 490 |
Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love | |
Vice for itself: to him no temple stood, | |
Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he | |
In temples and at altars, when the priest | |
Turns atheist, as did Elis sons, who filld | 495 |
With lust and violence the house of God? | |
In courts and palaces he also reigns | |
And in luxurious cities, where the noise | |
Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers, | |
And injury and outrage: and when night | 500 |
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons | |
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. | |
Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night | |
In Gibeah, when the hospitable door | |
Exposed a matron, to avoid worse rape. | 505 |
These were the prime in order and in might: | |
The rest were long to tell, though far renownd, | |
The Ionian gods, of Javans issue; held | |
Gods, yet confessd later than heaven and earth, | |
Their boasted parents: Titan, heavens first-born, | 510 |
With his enormous brood, and birthright seized | |
By younger Saturn; he from mightier Jove, | |
His own and Rheas son, like measure found; | |
So Jove usurping reignd: these first in Crete | |
And Ida known, thence on the snowy top | 515 |
Of cold Olympus, ruled the middle air, | |
Their highest heaven; or on the Delphian cliff, | |
Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds | |
Of Doric land: or who with Saturn old | |
Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields, | 520 |
And oer the Celtic roamd the utmost isles. | |
All these and more came flocking; but with looks | |
Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appeard | |
Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief | |
Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost | 525 |
In loss itself: which on his countenance cast | |
Like doubtful hue: but he, his wonted pride | |
Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore | |
Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised | |
Their fainting courage, and dispelld their fears. | 530 |
Then straight commands, that at the warlike sound | |
Of trumpets loud and clarions be upreard | |
His mighty standard; that proud honour claimd | |
Azazel as his right, a cherub tall: | |
Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurld | 535 |
The imperial ensign; which, full high advanced, | |
Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind, | |
With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed, | |
Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while | |
Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds; | 540 |
At which the universal host up-sent | |
A shout, that tore hells concave, and beyond | |
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night. | |
All in a moment through the gloom were seen | |
Ten thousand banners rise into the air | 545 |
With orient colours waving: with them rose | |
A forest huge of spears; and thronging helms | |
Appeard, and serried shields in thick array | |
Of depth immeasurable: anon they move | |
In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood | 550 |
Of flutes and soft recorders; such as raised | |
To height of noblest temper heroes old | |
Arming to battle; and instead of rage, | |
Deliberate valour breathed, firm and unmoved | |
With dread of death to flight or foul retreat: | 555 |
Nor wanting power to mitigate and suage | |
With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase | |
Anguish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and pain | |
From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they, | |
Breathing united force, with fixed thought, | 560 |
Moved on in silence to soft pipes, that charmd | |
Their painful steps oer the burnt soil: and now | |
Advanced in view they stand; a horrid front | |
Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise | |
Of warriors old with orderd spear and shield! | 565 |
Awaiting what command their mighty chief | |
Had to impose: he through the armed files | |
Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse | |
The whole battalion views, their order due, | |
Their visages and stature as of gods; | 570 |
Their number last he sums. And now his heart | |
Distends with pride, and hardening in his strength | |
Glories; for never since created man | |
Met such embodied force, as named with these | |
Could merit more than that small infantry | 575 |
Warrd on by cranes: though all the giant brood | |
Of Phlegra with the heroic race were joind | |
That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side | |
Mixd with auxiliar gods; and what resounds | |
In fable or romance of Uthers son | 580 |
Begirt with British and Armoric knights; | |
And all who since, baptized or infidel, | |
Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban, | |
Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, | |
Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore, | 585 |
When Charlemain with all his peerage fell | |
By Fontarabia. Thus far these beyond | |
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed | |
Their dread commander; he, above the rest | |
In shape and gesture proudly eminent, | 590 |
Stood like a tower; his form had yet not lost | |
All her original brightness, nor appeard | |
Less than archangel ruind, and the excess | |
Of glory obscured; as when the sun, new risen, | |
Looks through the horizontal misty air | 595 |
Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon, | |
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds | |
On half the nations, and with fear of change | |
Perplexes monarchs. Darkend so, yet shone | |
Above them all the archangel; but his face | 600 |
Deep scars of thunder had intrenchd; and care | |
Sat on his faded cheek; but under brows | |
Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride | |
Waiting revenge; cruel his eyes, but cast | |
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold | 605 |
The fellows of his crime, the followers rather | |
(Far other once beheld in bliss), condemnd | |
For ever now to have their lot in pain: | |
Millions of spirits for his fault amerced | |
Of heaven, and from eternal splendours flung | 610 |
For his revolt; yet faithful how they stood, | |
Their glory witherd: as when heavens fire | |
Hath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pines, | |
With singed top their stately growth, though bare, | |
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared | 615 |
To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend | |
From wing to wing, and half enclose him round | |
With all his peers: attention held them mute. | |
Thrice he assayd, and thrice, in spite of scorn, | |
Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth: at last | 620 |
Words interwove with sighs found out their way. | |
O myriads of immortal spirits! O powers | |
Matchless, but with the Almighty; and that strife | |
Was not inglorious, though the event was dire, | |
As this place testifies, and this dire change | 625 |
Hateful to utter! but what power of mind, | |
Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth | |
Of knowledge, past or present, could have feard, | |
How such united force of gods, how such | |
As stood like these, could ever know repulse? | 630 |
For who can yet believe, though after loss, | |
That all these puissant legions, whose exile | |
Hath emptied heaven, shall fail to reascend | |
Self-raised, and repossess their native seat? | |
For me, be witness all the host of heaven, | 635 |
If counsels different, or dangers shunnd | |
By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns | |
Monarch in heaven, till then as one secure | |
Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, | |
Consent or custom; and his regal state | 640 |
Put forth at full, but still his strength conceald, | |
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. | |
Henceforth his might we know, and know our own; | |
So as not either to provoke, or dread | |
New war, provoked; our better part remains | 645 |
To work in close design, by fraud or guile, | |
What force effected not: that he no less | |
At length from us may find, who overcomes | |
By force, hath overcome but half his foe. | |
Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife | 650 |
There went a fame in heaven that he ere long | |
Intended to create, and therein plant | |
A generation, whom his choice regard | |
Should favour equal to the sons of heaven: | |
Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps | 655 |
Our first eruption: thither or elsewhere; | |
For this infernal pit shall never hold | |
Celestial spirits in bondage, nor the abyss | |
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts | |
Full counsel must mature: peace is despaird; | 660 |
For who can think submission? War then, war, | |
Open or understood, must be resolved. | |
He spake; and, to confirm his words, out-flew | |
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs | |
Of mighty cherubim; the sudden blaze | 665 |
Far round illumined hell: highly they raged | |
Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms | |
Clashd on their sounding shields the din of war, | |
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heaven. | |
There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top | 670 |
Belchd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire | |
Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign | |
That in his womb was hid metallic ore, | |
The work of sulphur. Thither, winged with speed, | |
A numerous brigade hastend: as when bands | 675 |
Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe armd | |
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, | |
Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on, | |
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell | |
From heaven; for een in heaven his looks and thoughts | 680 |
Were always downward bent, admiring more | |
The riches of heavens pavement, trodden gold, | |
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyd | |
In vision beatific: by him first | |
Men also, and by his suggestion taught, | 685 |
Ransackd the centre, and with impious hands | |
Rifled the bowels of their mother earth | |
For treasures, better hid. Soon had his crew | |
Opend into the hill a spacious wound, | |
And diggd out ribs of gold. Let none admire | 690 |
That riches grow in hell; that soil may best | |
Deserve the precious bane. And here let those | |
Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell | |
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings, | |
Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, | 695 |
And strength and art, are easily outdone | |
By spirits reprobate, and in an hour, | |
What in an age they with incessant toil | |
And hands innumerable scarce perform. | |
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared, | 700 |
That underneath had veins of liquid fire | |
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude | |
With wondrous art founded the massy ore, | |
Severing each kind, and scummd the bullion dross: | |
A third as soon had formd within the ground | 705 |
A various mould, and from the boiling cells, | |
By strange conveyance, filld each hollow nook; | |
As in an organ, from one blast of wind | |
To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes, | |
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge | 710 |
Rose like an exhalation, with the sound | |
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet, | |
Built like a temple, where pilasters round | |
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid | |
With golden architrave; nor did there want | 715 |
Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven; | |
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, | |
Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence | |
Equalld in all their glories, to enshrine | |
Belus or Serapis, their gods, or seat | 720 |
Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove | |
In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile | |
Stood fixd her stately height: and straight the doors, | |
Opening their brazen folds, discover wide | |
Within, her ample spaces oer the smooth | 725 |
And level pavement: from the arched roof | |
Pendent by subtle magic many a row | |
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed | |
With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light | |
As from a sky. The hasty multitude | 730 |
Admiring enterd; and the work some praise, | |
And some the architect: his hand was known | |
In heaven by many a towerd structure high, | |
Where sceptred angels held their residence, | |
And sat as princes; whom the supreme King | 735 |
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, | |
Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright. | |
Nor was his name unheard or unadored | |
In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land | |
Men calld him Mulciber; and how he fell | 740 |
From heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove | |
Sheer oer the crystal battlements: from morn | |
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, | |
A summers day; and with the setting sun | |
Dropped from the zenith like a falling star, | 745 |
On Lemnos the Ægean isle: thus they relate, | |
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout | |
Fell long before; nor aught availed him now | |
To have built in heaven high towers; nor did he scape | |
By all his engines, but was headlong sent | 750 |
With his industrious crew to build in hell. | |
Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command | |
Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony | |
And trumpets sound, throughout the host proclaim | |
A solemn council forthwith to be held | 755 |
At Pandemonium, the high capital | |
Of Satan and his peers: their summons calld | |
From every band and squared regiment | |
By place or choice the worthiest; they anon | |
With hundreds and with thousands trooping came | 760 |
Attended: all access was throngd, the gates | |
And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall | |
(Though like a coverd field, where champions bold | |
Wont ride in armd, and at the soldans chair | |
Defied the best of Panim chivalry | 765 |
To mortal combat, or career with lance), | |
Thick swarmd, both on the ground and in the air | |
Brushd with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees | |
In spring-time, when the sun with Taurus rides, | |
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive | 770 |
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers | |
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, | |
The suburb of their straw-built citadel, | |
New rubbd with balm, expatiate and confer | |
Their state affairs: so thick the airy crowd | 775 |
Swarmd and were straitend; till, the signal given, | |
Behold a wonder! They but now who seemd | |
In bigness to surpass earths giant sons, | |
Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room | |
Throng numberless, like that pygmean race | 780 |
Beyond the Indian mount, or fairy elves, | |
Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side | |
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, | |
Or dreams he sees, while over head the moon | |
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth | 785 |
Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and dance | |
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear; | |
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. | |
Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms | |
Reducd their shapes immense, and were at large, | 790 |
Though without number still, amidst the hall | |
Of that infernal court. But far within, | |
And in their own dimensions, like themselves, | |
The great seraphic lords and cherubim | |
In close recess and secret conclave sat, | 795 |
A thousand demigods on golden seats, | |
Frequent and full. After short silence then | |
And summons read, the great consult began. | |
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