600)

605

A

Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
Of half the nations, and with fear of change...
Perplexes Monarcus; darken'd so, yet shone
Above them all th' Arch-Angel: but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd, and care
Sate on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage, and confiderate pride
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion to behold
The fellows of his crime, the followers rather,
Far other once beheld in bliss, condemn'd
For ever now to have their lot in pain;
Millions of spirits for his fault amerc'd
Of heav'n, and from eternal splendors flung
For his revolt, yet faithful now they stoodud T
Their glory wither'd: as when Heaven's fire
Hath scath'd the foreft oaks, or mountain pines,
With finged top their stately growth tho bare
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd
To speak, whereat their doubled ranks they bend
From wing to wing, and half inclose him round
With all his Peers: attention held them mute:
Thrice he assay'd, and thrice in fpite of feorn
Tears, such as Angels weep, burst forth: : at laft 620
Words interwove with fighs found out their way
O myriads of immortal fpirits! O Pow'rs

st

615

event was dire,

ποτέπο
625

Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife
Was not inglorious, tho' th'
As this place restifies, and this dire change, cha
Hateful to utter: but what pow'r of mind,
Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth
Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd,
How such united force of Gods, how fuch
As ftood like these, could ever know repulfe? 630

T

A

For who can yet believe, tho' after lofs,
That all these puissant legions, whose exile

Hath emptied Heav'n, shall fail to re-afcend

B2

1

635

Self-rais'd, and re-possess their native feat
For me be witness all the host of heaven,
If counsels different, or danger shunn'd
By me, have loft our hopes: but he who reigns

Monarch in Heav'n, 'till then as one fecure
Sate on his throne, upheld by old repute,

Consent or custom, and his regal frate

640

Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd, Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Henceforth his might we know, and know our own; So as not either to provoke, or dread

New war, provok'd; our better part remains
To work in close design, by fraud or guile,
What force effected not: that he no less
At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.
Space may produce new worlds; whereof fo rife 650
There went a fame in Heav'n, that he ere long

645

ما

Intended to create; and therein plant
A generation, whon his choice regard
Should favour equal to the fons of Heav'n:
Thither, if but to pry, fhall be perhaps
Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestial spirits in bondage, nor th'abyss
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature: peace is defpair'd,
For who can think fubmiffion? war then, war

Open or understood must be refolv'd.

655

660

He spake: and to confirm his words out-flew Millions of flamming swords, drawn from the thighs

Of mighty Cherubim: the sudden blaze

665

Far round illumin'd Hell; highly they rag'd Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms Clash'd on their founding shields the din of waL,

Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav'n.

There ftood a hill not far, whose grifly top 670

Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire

Shone

4

675

Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted fign
That in his womb was hid metallic ore,
The work of fulphur. Thither wing'd with speed
A numerous brigad haften'd: as when bands
Of pioneers, with spade and pickax arm'd,
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Or caft a rampart. Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From Heav'n; for ev'n in Heav'n his looks and thoughts
Where always downward bent; admiring more 681
The riches of Heav'n's pavement, trodden gold,
Than ought divine or holy elfe, enjoy'd

690

In vision beatific: by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
Ranfack'd the center, and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother earth,
For treasures better hid. Soon had his crewi
Open'd into the hill a spacious wound,
And dig'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire
That riches grow in Hell; that foil may best
Deserve the precious bane. And here let those .:
Who boaft in mortal things, and wond'ring tell
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings,
Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, 695
And strength and art are easily our-done
By fpirits reprobate, and in an hour
What in an age they with incessant toil
And hands innumerable scarce perform.
Nigh on the plain in many cells prepar'd,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Słuc'd from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art found out the massy ore;
Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross;
A third as foon had form'd within the ground.
A various mold; and from the boiling cells
By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook:
As in an Organ from one blaft of wind

;

1.

700

t

705

To many a row of pipes the found-board breathes..

B3

Anon

Ahond

out of the earth a

fabric huge

710

T

715

725

Rose like an exhalation, with the found
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet,
Built like a temple, where pilasters round
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid
With golden architrave: nor did there want
Cornice or freeze, with bossy sculptures graven;
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo such magnificence
Equal'd in all their glories, to inshrine
Belus, or Serapis their Gods, or feat
Their kings, when Egypt with Affyria strove
In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile
Stood fix'd her stately height, and strait 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 fubtle magic many a row
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky. The hasty multitude
Admiring enter'd, and the work some praise
And fome the architect: his hand was known
In Heav'n by many a tow'red structure high,
Where sceptered angels held their residence,
And fate as Princes; whom the fupreme king
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Each in Hierarchy, the orders bright.
Not 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 chrystal battlements; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy ever bor bo
A fummer's day; and with the fetting fun

a

730

735

boa M

740

To edolg A

Dropt from the zenith like
falling ftar, toind d
On Lemnos the Aegean ifle; thus they relate
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

745

Fell

1

Book I.

PARADISE Los ST.
wont qeeb elle 10

163

A

Fell long before; nói ought avail'd tavat'd him now
T' have built in Heave'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'scape
By all his engines, but was headlong fent
With his industrious crew to build in Hell,

750

Mean while the winged heralds by command Of fov'reign pow'r, with awful ceremony And trumpets found, troughout the hoft proclaime A folemn council forthwith to be held At Pandemonium, the high capital Of Satan and his Peers: their fummons call'd

10

755

vom al

760

bnA

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 Soldans chair

Defy'd the best of Panim chivalry

nem m

ni A

765

air

To mortal combat, or career with lanceti
Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground and in the air
Brush'd with the hiss of rusling winds. As bees
In spring time, when the fun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive 770
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
The fuburb of their straw-built citadel,
New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer
Their state affairs. So thick the aery croud
Swarm'd and were ftraiten'd; till, the signal giv'n,

T

775

Behold a wonder! they but now who feem'd
In bigness to furpass earth's giant fons,

Now lefs than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room

Throng numberless, like that pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount, or fairy elves,
Whose midnight revels by a foreft fide"

780

1

Or fountain, fome belated peafant fees,

Or dreams he fees, while over-head the moon

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth