Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore,
When Charlemain with all his peerage fell
By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed
Their dread Commander; he, above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
Stood like a tower: his form had yet not lost
All her original brightness; nor appear'd
Less than Archangel ruin'd, and the excess
Of glory obscured: 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 Archangel: but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd; and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows

585

590

595

600

Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold

605

610

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 amerced
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 scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pine;
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 essay'd, 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
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

625

630

635

640

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, provoked: 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.

645

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
Our first eruption; thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestia. Spirits in bondage, nor the abyss
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature Peace is despair'd;

655

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
Far round illumined hell: Highly they raged
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.

665

There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top 670 Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf; undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic ore,

675

The work of sulphur. Thither, wing'd with speed,
A numerous brigade 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. Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell [thoughts
From Heaven; for e'en in Heaven his looks and

Ransack'd the centre, and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth

For treasures, better hid. Soon had his crew
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

690

695

700

And hands innumerable scarce perform.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,
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 scumm'd the bullion dross.
A third as soon had form'd within the ground

705

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 soundboard 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
Equal'd in all their glories, to enshrine

Belus or Sérapis, their Gods; or seat

720

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile

725

Stood fix'd her stately height; and straight the doors,
Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide
Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof
Pendant by subtle magic, many a row
Of starry lamps and blazen cressets, fed
With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky. The hasty multitude
Admiring enter'd; and the work some praise,
And some the architect: his hand was known
In Heaven by many a tower'd structure high,
Where sceptred Angels held their residence,
And sat as princes: whom the supreme King
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,

730

735

Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright.
Nor was his name unheard, or unadored,
In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell
From Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o'er the crystal battlements: from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropp'd from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos the Egean isle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with his rebellious rout

Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now

740

745

To have built in Heaven high towers; nor did he scape

By all his engines, but was headlong sent

With his industrious crew to build in Hell.

Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command

Of sov'reign power, with awful ceremony

750

And trumpet's 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 call'd
From every band and squared regiment

By place or choice the worthiest; they anon,

With hundreds and with thousands, trooping came, Attended all access was throng'd; the gates

:

And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall
(Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold
Wont ride in arm'd and at the Soldan's chair
Defied the best of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or career with lance,)
Thick swarm'd both on the ground and in the air
Brush'd 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
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
The suburb of their strawbuilt citadel,
New rubb'd with baim, expatiate and confer

761

765

770