Anguish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and pain, 558 From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they, Breathing united force, with fixed thought, Mov'd on in silence to soft pipes, that charm'd Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil: and now, Advanc'd in view, they stand; a horrid front Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise Of warriours old with order'd spear and shield; Awaiting what command their mighty Chief Had to impose: He through the armed files Darts his experienc'd eye, and soon traverse The whole battalion views; their order due; Their visages and stature as of gods;
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 imbodied force, as nam'd with these Could merit more than that small infantry1 Warr'd on by cranes; though all the giant brood Of Phlegra with the heroic race were join'd That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side Mix'd with auxiliar gods; and what resounds In fable or romance of Uther's son2 Begirt with British and Armorick knights; And all who since, baptiz'd or infidel, Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban, Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, Or whom Biserta sent from Africk shore, When Charlemain with all his peerage fell By Fontarabbia.3 Thus far these beyond Compare of mortal prowess yet observ'd
1 'Small infantry:'Pygmies.-2 Uther's son:' King Arthur.-8. Aspramont,' 'Montalban,' 'Biserta,' 'Fontarabbia,' &c.; all places famous in romantic history, and chiefly for contests between Saracens and Christians.
Their dread Commander: He, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent, Stood like a tower: his form had yet not lost All its original brightness; nor appear'd Less than Arch-Angel ruin'd, and the excess Of glory obscur'd: as when the sun, new risen Looks through the horizontal misty air
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. Darken'd so, yet shone Above them all, the Arch-Angel: but his face Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd; and care Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorse and passion, to behold The fellows of his crime, the followers rather, (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd For ever now to have their lot in pain ; Millions of spirits for his fault amerc'd Of Heaven, and from eternal splendours flung For his revolt; yet faithful how they stood, Their glory wither'd as when Heaven's fire Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd 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 assay'd, and thrice, in spite of scorn, Tears, such as Angels weep, burst forth at last 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 Hateful to utter: but what power of mind, Foreseeing, or presaging, from the depth Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd How such united force of gods, how such As stood like these, could ever know repulse? 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, If counsels different, or dangers shunn'd 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
Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd, 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 provok'd: our better part remains 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 There went a fame in Heaven that he erelong 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 Our first eruption; thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal pit shall never hold Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor the abyss Long under darkness cover.
Full counsel must mature: Peace is despair'd;
For who can think submission?
Open or understood, must be resolv'd.
He spake and, to confirm his words, out flew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
Far round illumin'd Hell: Highly they rag'd Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms, Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven.
There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf; undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallick ore,
The work of sulphur.1 Thither, wing'd with speed, A numerous brigad hasten'd; as when bands Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd, Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon2 led them on; Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell
From Heaven; for e'en in Heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, Than aught, divine or holy, else enjoy'd In vision beatifick by him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, Ransack'd the center, and with impious hands Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth,
For treasures, better hid. Soon had his crew
1The work of sulphur:' sulphur in ancient days was thought the genitrix of gold.-Mammon:' the word is Syriac, and signifies riches.
Open'd into the hill a spacious wound,
And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire 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, 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 prepar'd, That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude With wonderous art, founded the massy ore, Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross : A third as soon had form'd within the ground A various mould, and from the boiling cells By strange conveyance fill'd 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 Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Dorick pillars overlaid With golden architrave; nor did there want Cornice or freeze, with bossy sculptures graven: The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence Equall'd in all their glories, to enshrine Belus or Sérapis,1 their gods; or seat Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
1 Sérapis:' an Egyptian god.
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