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
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.
IGH on a throne of royal state, which far
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,
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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