In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile Stood fix'd her stately highth: 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, Pendent by subtle magick, many a row Of starry lamps and blazing cressets,1 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 scepter'd Angels held their residence, And sat as princes; whom the Supreme King Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, Each in his hierarchy, the Orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unador'd In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian 2 land Men called 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 Dropt from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos, the Æ'gean isle: thus they relate, Erring; for he with his rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now
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 sovran power, with awful ceremony
1 'Cressets:' beacon lights, which anciently had a cross on their top, and were called croisettes.'-2 Ausonian:' Italian.-3 Mulciber:' Vulcan.
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council, forthwith to be held
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's1 chair Defied the best of Panim2 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 straw-built citadel, New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer 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, Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberless, like that Pygmean race Beyond the Indian mount; or faery elves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon
1'Soldan:' Sultan.-2 Panim :' Pagan; referring to ancient single combats between the Christians and Saracens.-3 Taurus:' the Bull-the sign of April.
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
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 Seraphic Lords and Cherubim In close recess and secret conclave sat ; A thousand demigods 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 be 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, equal, or not much inferior, 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 applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake 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 sat 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 1 and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence and, from despair Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires Beyond thus high; insatiate to pursue
Vain war with heaven; and, by success 2 untaught, His 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
1 Ormus:' an island in the Persian Gulf.-2 Success:' i. e., bad success.
Celestial 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 council or in fight, Hath been achiev'd 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 inferiour; 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 assur'd us; and, by what best way, Whether of open war or covert guile, We now debate: Who can advise, may speak.
He ceas'd; and next him Moloch, scepter'd 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 Car'd not to be at all; with that care lost
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