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Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell
From heav'n, they fabl'd, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o're the chrystal battlements; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A fummer's day; and with the setting fun
Dropt from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos th' Ægean ifle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now
To have built in heav'n high towrs; nor did he scape
By all his engines, but was headlong sent

With his induftrious crew to build in hell.
Mean while the winged heralds by command
Of fovran power, with awful ceremony
And trumpets found throughout the hoft proclaim
A folemn council forthwith to be held

At Pandæmonium, the high capital

Of Satan and his peers: their fummons call'd
From every band and fquared regiment

By place or choice the worthiest; they anon
With hundreds and with thousands trooping came
Attended: all accefs was thong'd, the gates
And porches wide, but chief the fpacious hall
(Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold
Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldan's chair
Defi'd the best of Panim chivalry

To mortal combat or career with lance)

Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground and in the air,
Brusht with the hiss of rufling wings. As bees
In fpring-time, when the fun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive

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In clufters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
The fuburb of their straw-built cittadel,
New-rubb'd with baum, expatiate and confer
Their ftate affairs, so thick the airy crowd
Swarm'd and were straiten'd: till the signal giv'n,
Behold a wonder! they but now who feem'd
In bigness to surpass earth's giant fons

Now lefs than smalleft dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberless, like that pigmean race
Beyond the Indian mount, or fairie elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forreft fide
Or fountain fome belated peasant fees,
Or dreams he fees, while overhead the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale course, they on their mirth and danc

Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms
Reduc'd their shapes immense, and were at large,
Though without number still amidst the hall
Of that infernal court. But far within
And in their own dimensions like themselves
The great feraphic lords and cherubim
In close recefs and fecret conclave fat
A thousand demy-gods on golden feats,
Frequent and full. After fhort filence then
And fummons read, the great confult began.

The End of the First Book.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK II.

IGH on a throne of royal state, which far

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Out fhone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous eaft with richest hand
Showrs on her kings Barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted fat, by merit rais'd

To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, afpires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to purfue

Vain war with heav'n, and by success untaught
His proud imaginations thus displaid.

Powers and dominions, deities of heav'n,
For fince no deep within her gulph can hold
Immortal vigour, though oppreft and fall'n,
I give not heav'n for loft. From this defcent
Celestial virtues rifing, will appear

More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
And trust themselves to fear no fecond fate :

Me though just right, and the fixt laws of heav'n
Did first create your leader, next free choice,
With what befides, in counsel or in fight,
Hath been atchiev'd of merit, yet this lofs
Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more
Establisht in a safe unenvied throne

Yielded with full confent. The happier state
In heav'n, which follows dignity, might draw
Envy from each inferior; but who here
Will envy whom the highest place expofes

Foremost to stand against the thunderer's aim
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
Of endless pain? where there is then no good
For which to ftrive, no ftrife can grow up there
From faction; for none fure will claim in hell
Precedence, none, whose portion is so small
Of present pain, that with ambitious mind
Will covet more. With this advantage then
To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,
More than can be in heav'n, we now return
To claim our juft inheritance of old,
Surer to profper than profperity

Could have affur'd us; and by what beft way,
Whether of open war or cover'd guile,

We now debate; who can advise, may speak.
He ceas'd, and next him Moloc, fcepter'd king
Stood up, the strongest and the fierceft spirit
That fought in heav'n; now fiercer by despair :
His truft was with th'Eternal to be deem'd
Equal in ftrength, and rather than be less
Car'd not to be at all; with that care.loft
Went all his fear of God, or hell, or worfe
He reck'd not, and these words thereafter spake.
My fentence is for open war: of wiles,
More unexpert, I boast not: them let thofe
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now,
For while they fit contriving, shall the reft,
Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait
The fignal to afcend, fit lingring here
Heav'ns fugitives, and for their dwelling place
Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame,

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The prison of his tyranny who reigns
By our delay no, let us rather chuse
Arm'd with hell-flames and fury all at once
O're heav'ns high towrs to force refiftless way,
Turning our tortures into horrid arms
Against the torturer; when to meet the noise
Of his almighty engine he shall hear
Infernal thunder, and for lightning fee
Black fire and horror fhot with equal rage
Among his angels; and his throne itself
Mixt with Tartarean fulphur, and ftrange fire,
His own invented torments. But perhaps
The way seems difficult and fteep, to scale
With upright wing against a higher foe.
Let fuch bethink them, if the fleepy drench
Of that forgetful lake benumn not still,
That in our proper motion we afcend
Up to our native feat: defcent and fall
To us is adverfe. Who but felt of late
When the fierce foe hung on our brok'n rear
Insulting, and pursu'd us through the deep,
With what compulfion and laborious flight
We funk thus low? the afcent is easy then;
Th'event is fear'd; fhould we again provoke
Our stronger, fome worse way his wrath may find
To our deftru&tion: if there be in hell

Fear to be worse destroy'd: what can be worfe
Than to dwell here, driv'n out from blifs, condemn'd
In this abhorred deep to utter woe;

Where pain of unextinguishable fire
Muft exercise us without hope of end,

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