720

725

730

Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence

Equall'd in all their glories, to enshrine
Belus or Serapis their Gods, or seat

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile

Stood fix'd her stately height; 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 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 some the architect: his hand was known
In Heav'n 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 pow'r, 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 land
Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell
From Heav'n 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 th' Egean isle: 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

735

740

745

By all his engines, but was headlong sent

With his industrious crew to build in Hell.

Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony

750

And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim

A solemn council, forthwith to be held

735

At Pandemonium, the high capital

Of Satan and his peers: their summons call'd
From every band and squarea 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's chair
Defy'd the best of Panim 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,

760

765

770

The suburb of their straw-built citadel,
New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer

Their state affairs. So thick the airy crowd

775

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 fairy elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side

780

Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,

Or dreams he sees, while over-head 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

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 demi-gods on golden seats,
Frequent and full. After short silence then,
And summons read, the great consult began.

END OF BOOK 1.

785

790

795

F

VOL. I.

THE

SECOND BOOK

OF

PARADISE LOST.