'Their state affairs. So thick the aery crowd Swarm'd and were straiten'd; till, the signal given Behold a wonder! They but now who seem'd In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons, New less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberless, like that Pygmcan race Beyond the Indian mount: or fairy clves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon
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. Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms
Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large, 790 Though without number still, amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimensions, like themselves, The great Seraphie Lords and Cherubim In close recess and secret conclave sat ; A thousand Demi-gods on golden seats, Frequent and full. After short silence then, And summons read, the great consult began
the consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle b 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 equa, or not much aferior 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 applaud ed. The council thus ended, the rest botake 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 sa: 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 Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
To that eminence: and, from despair
high uplifted beyond hope, aspires Beyond thus high: insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heaven; and, by success, untaught,
Ilis proud imaginations thus display'd.
Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven!
For since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigour, though oppress'd and fallen, I give not Heaven for lost. From this descent Celestia virtues rising will appear
More glorious and more dread than from no fall, And trust themselves to fear no second fate. Me though just right and the fix'd laws of Heaven Did first create your Leader; next, free choice, With what besides, in counsel or in fight, Hath been achieved of merit; yet this loss,
Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more Establish'd in a safe unenvied throne, Yielded with full consent. The happier state In heaven, which follows dignity, might draw Envy from each inferior; but who here Will envy whom the highest place exposes 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 strive, no strife can grow up, there From faction; for none sure 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 Heaven, we now return To claim our just inheritance of old, Surer to prosper than prosperity
Could have assured us; and, by what best way, Whether of open war, or covert guile,
We now debate: Who can advise may speak.
He ceased and next to him Moloch, sceptred king Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest Spirit That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair: His trust was with the Eternal to be deem'd Equal in strength; and rather than be less Cared not to be at all; with that care lost Went all his fear of God, or Hell, or worse, He reck'd not; and these words thereafter spake. 50 My sentence is for open war: Of wiles,
More unexpert, I boast not: them let those
Contrive who need, or when they need; not now,
For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest, Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait
The signal to ascend, sit lingering here Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling place Accept this dark opprobricus den of shame, The prison of his tyranny who reigns
PARADISE LOST.
By our delay? No! let us rather choose
Arm'd with Hell flames and fury, all at once, O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless 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, sce Black fire and horror shot with equal rage Among his Angels; and his throne itself
Mix'd with Tartarean sulphur and strange fire, His own invented torments. But perhaps The way seems difficult and steep to scale With upright wing against a higher foc. Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench Of that forgetful lake benumb not still, That in our proper motion we ascend Up to our native seat: Descent and fall To us is adverse. Who but felt of late,
When the fierce Foc hung on our broken rear Insulting, and pursued us through the deep, With what compulsion and laborious flight We sunk thus low? The ascent is easy then; The event is fear'd; should we again provoke Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find To our destruction; if there be in Hell
Fear to be worse destroy'd: What can be worse
That to dwell here, driven out from bliss, condemn'd
Calls us to penance! More destroy'd than thus, We should be quite abolish'd, and expire
What fear we then? what doubt we to incense His utmost ire? which, to the height enraged, Will either quite consume us, and reduce To nothing this essential; happier far
Than miserable to have eternal being. Or if our substance be indeed divine, And cannot cease to be, we are at worst On this side nothing; and by proof we feel Our power suflicient to disturb his heaven, And with perpetual inroads to alarm, Though inaccessible, his fatal throne Which, if not victory, is yet revenge.
Ile ended frowning, and his look denounced Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous To less than Gods. On the other side uprose Belial, in act more graceful and humane: A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seem'd For dignity composed, and high exploit: But all was false and hollow; though his tongue Dropp'd manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, to perplex and dash Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds fimorous and slothful: yet he pleased the car, And with persuasive accent thus began.
I should be much for open war, O Peers, As not behind in hate; if what was urged Main reason to persuade immediate war Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast Ominous conjecture on the whole success; When he, who most excels in fact of arms, In what he counsels, and in what excels, Mistrustful, grounds his courage on desparr Aad utter dissolution, as the scope
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are fill'd With armed watch, that render all access
Impregnable: oft on the bordering deep Encamp their legions; or, with obscure wing Scout far and wide into the realm of night, Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise
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