Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven:
Nor fail'd they to express how much they prais'd, That for the general safety he despis'd
His own for neither do the Spirits damn'd Lose all their virtue; lest bad men should boast Their specious deeds on Earth, which glory excites, Or close ambition, varnish'd o'er with zeal.
Thus they their doubtful consultations dark Ended, rejoicing in their matchless Chief: As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds Ascending, while the north-wind sleeps, o'erspread Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element Scowls o'er the darken'd landskip snow, or shower; If chance'the radiant sun with farewell sweet Extend his evening-beam, the fields revive, The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. O shame to men! Devil with devil damn'd Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational, though under hope Of heavenly grace: and, (God proclaiming peace,) Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife, Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, Wasting the earth, each other to destroy: As if (which might induce us to accord) Man had not hellish foes enow besides, That, day and night, for his destruction wait.
The Stygian council thus dissolv'd; and forth In order came the grand infernal peers; Midst came their mighty paramount, and seem'd Alone the antagonist of Heaven, nor less
Than Hell's dread emperor, with pomp supreme,
And god-like imitated state : him round A globe of fiery Seraphim inclos'd,
With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms. Then of their session ended they bid cry With trumpets' regal sound the great result. Towards the four winds four speedy Cherubim Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy, By herald's voice explain'd; the hollow abyss Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell With deafening shout return'd them loud acclaim. Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat rais'd By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers Disband, and wandering, each his several way Pursues, as inclination or sad choice
Leads him perplex'd, where he may likeliest find Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain The irksome hours, till his great chief return. Part on the plain, or in the air sublime, Upon the wing, or in swift race contend, As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields; Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form.
As when, to warn proud cities, war appears Wag'd in the troubled sky, and armies rush To battle in the clouds, before each van
Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms From either end of Heaven the welkin burns. Others, with vast Typhœan rage more fell, Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar; As when Alcides, from Oechalia crown'd
With conquest, felt the envenom'd robe, and tore Through pain, up by the roots Thessalian pines, And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw
Others more mild,
Retreated in a silent valley, sing
With notes angelical to many a harp Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall By doom of battle; and complain that fate Free virtue should inthral to force or chance. Their song was partial; but the harmony (What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?) Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment
The thronging audience. 1
(For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense,) Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in wandering mazes lost. Of good and evil much they argued then, Of happiness and final misery, Passion and apathy, and glory, and shame, Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy! Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm Pain for a while or anguish, and excite Fallacious hope, or arm the obdured breast With stubborn patience, as with triple steel.
Another part, in squadrons and gross bands, On bold adventure to discover wide
That dismal world, if any clime perhaps
Might yield them easier habitation, bend
Four ways their flying march, along the banks Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge
Into the burning lake their baleful streams; Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon, Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. Far off from these, a slow and silent stream, Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks, Forthwith his former state and being forgets, Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. Beyond this flood a frozen continent
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems Of ancient pile; or else deep snow and ice, A gulf profound, as that Serbonian bog Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old,
Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire, Thither by harpy-footed furies haul’'d,
At certain revolutions, all the damn'd
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice
Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round, Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire. They ferry over this Lethean sound
Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment,
And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach
The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
All in one moment, and so near the brink; But Fate withstands, and to oppose the attempt, Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards
The ford, and of itself the water flies All taste of living wight, as once it fled The lip of Tantalus.
In confus'd march forlorn, the adventurous bands With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast, View'd first their lamentable lot, and found No rest through many a dark and dreary vale They pass'd, and many a region dolorous,
O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,
Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, A universe of death! which God by curse
Created evil, for evil only good,
Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds, Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, Abominable, inutterable, and worse
Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd, Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.
Meanwhile, the Adversary of God and Man, Satan, with thoughts inflam'd of highest design, Puts on swift wings, and towards the gates of Hell Explores his solitary flight: sometimes
He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left; Now shaves with level wing the deep, then soars Up to the fiery concave towering high.
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