Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
Henceforth His might we know, and know our own;
So as not either to provoke, or drean
New war, provok'd. Our better part remains
To work in close defign, by fraud or guile,
What force effected not: that He no lefs
At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.
Space may produce new worlds; whereof fo rife
There went a fame in heav'n, that He ere-long
Intended to create; and therein plant
A generation, whom His choice regard
Should favor equal to the fons of heav'n :
Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
Our firft eruption, thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestial fpirits in bondage, nor th' Abyss
Long under darkness cover... But these thoughts
Full counsel muft mature: Peace is despair'd,
For who can think fubmiffion? War then, war
Open or understood must be refolv'd.
He spake and to confirm his words out-flew
Millions of flaming fwords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim : the fudden blaze
Far round illumin'd Hell; highly they rag'd
Against the Highest, and fierce with grafped arms
Clash'd on their founding shields the din of war
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.
There ftood a hill not far, whofe grisly top Belch'd fire and rowling smoke; the rest entire, Tome I.
Shone with a gloffy fcurf; (undoubted sign
That in his womb was hid metallick ore,
The work of fulphur) thither wing'd with speed
A numerous brigad haften'd: as when bands
Of pioneers, with fpade and pickax arım'd,
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Or caft a Rampart : Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the leaft erected spirit that fell
From heav'n: for ev'n in heav'n looks and thoughts,
Were always downward bent; admiring more
The riches of heav'n's pavement, trodden gold,
Than ought divine or holy elfe, enjoy'd
Il vifion beatific by him firft
Men alfo, and by his fuggeftion taught,
Ranfack'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 fpacious wound,
And dig'd out ribs of gold. (Let none admire
That riches grow in hell; that foil may beft
Deferve the precious bane.) And here let thofe
Who boaft in mortal things, and wond'ring tell
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings,
Learn how their greateft monuments of fame,
And ftrength, and art, are easily out-done
By fpirits reprobates and in an hour,
What in an age they with inceffant toil,
And hands innumerable, fcarce perform
Nigh on the plain in many cells prepar'd,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluc'd from the lake, a fecond multitude
With wondrous art found out the maffy ore;
Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion drofs:
A third as foon had form'd within the ground
A various mold; and from the boiling cells
By ftrange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook:
As in an Organ, from one blast of wind,
To many a row of pipes the found-board breaths.
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
Rofe like an exhalation, with the found
Of dulcet fymphonies, and voices sweet;
Built like a temple, where pilafters round
Were fet, and Doric pillars, overlaid
With golden architrave: nor did there want
Cornice, or freeze, with boffy fculptures grav'ng
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo, fuch magnificence
Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine
Belus, or Serapis, their Gods; or feat
Their Kings, when Egypt with Affyria ftrove
In wealth and luxury. Th' afcending pile
Stood fixt her stately height : and strait the doors
Op'ning their brazen folds, difcover wide
Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof,
Pendent by fubtle magic, many a row
Offtarry lainps, and blazing creffets, fed
With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky. The hafty multitude
Admiring enter'd, and the work fome praife,
And fome the archite&; his hand was known
In heav'n by many a towred structure high,
Where fceptred angels held their residence,
And fat as Princes; whom the supreme King
Exalted to fuch pow'r, and grave to rule,
Each in his Hierarchy, the Orders bright:
Nor was his name unheard, or unador'd,
In ancient Greece; and in Aufonian land
Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell
From heav'n they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o'er the chryftal battlements; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A fummer's day; and with the setting fun
Drop'd from the Zenith like a falling ftar,
On Lemnos th' Ægean ille: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor ought avail'd him now
T'have built in heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he scape
By all his engins, but was headlong fent
With his induftrious crew to build in hell.
Mean while the winged heralds by command
Of foy'reign pow'r, 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 squared regiment,
By place or choice the worthieft, they anon
With hundreds, and with thousands, trooping came
Attended all accefs was throng'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 beft of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or carriere with lance)
Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground, and in the air,
Brush'd with the hifs of rufling wings. As bees
In fpring time, when the fun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
In clusters; they among fresh dews, and flowr's,
Fly to and fro, or on the fmoothed plank,
(The fuburb of their ftraw-built cittadel,)
New rub'd with baulm, expatiate, and confer
Their ftate-affairs: fo thick the acry crowd
Swarm'd, and were ftreighten'd; till the fignal giv'n:
Behold a wonder! they but now who feem'd
In Bignefs to furpass Earth's Giant fons,
Now lefs than fmalleft dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberlefs, like that Pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount; or Fairy Elves;
Whofe midnight revels, by a foreft fide,
Or fountain some belated peasant fees,
Or dreams he fees; while over-head the moon
Sits arbitrefs, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale course; they on their mirth and
Intent, with jocund mufic charm his ear:
At once with joy, and fear, his heart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal fpirits to finalleft forms
Reduc'd their shapes immenfe ; and were at large
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