Admiring enter'd; and the work some praise, Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command scape And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council, forthwith to be held At Pandemonium; the high capital Of Satan and his peers : their summons call'd (Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold To mortal combat, or career with lance) They but now who seem'd Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 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. Reduc'd their shapes immense, and were at large, And in their own dimensions, like themselves, The great seraphic lords and cherubim BOOK THE SECOND. : THE ARGUMENT. The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it, others dissuade: a third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or tradition in Heaven, concerning another world, and another kind of creature equal, or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created their doubt who shall be sent on this difficult search; Satan, their chief, undertakes alone the voyage, is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways, and to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell-gates; finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the great gulf between Hell and Heaven; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought. High on a throne of royal state, which far To that bad eminence : and, from despair |