Riff'd the bowels of thir mother Earth
For Treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
Op'nd into the Hill a fpacious wound
And dig'd out ribs of Gold. Let none admire 690
That riches grow in Hell; that foyle may best
Deserve the pretious bane. And here let those
Who boast in mortal things, and wondring tell
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings,
Learn how thir greatest Monuments of Fame,
And Strength and Art are easily outdone
By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour
What in an age they with inceffant toyle
And hands innumerable scarce 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 founded the maffie Ore,
Severing each kinde, and scum'd the Bullion drofs:
A third as foon had form'd within the ground
A- various mould, and from the boyling cells
By strange 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.
A non out of the earth a Fabrick huge
Rofe like an Exhalation, with the found
Of Dulcet Symphonies 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 Sculptures grav'n,
The Roof was fretted Gold. Not Babilon,
Nor great Alcairo fuch magnificence
Equal'd in all thir glories, to inshrine
Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or feat
Thir Kings, when Ægypt with Affyria strove
In wealth and luxurie. Th' afcending pile
Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores
Op'ning thir brazen foulds discover wide
Within, her ample spaces, o're the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof
Pendant by futtle Magic many a row
Of Starry Lamps and blazing Creffets fed
With Naphtha and Afphaltus yeilded light
As from a sky. The hafty multitude
Admiring enter'd, and the work some praise
And fome the Architect: his hand was known
In Heav'n by many a Towred ftructure high,
Where Scepter'd Angels held thir refidence,
And fat as Princes, whom the fupreme King
Exalted to fuch power, and gave to rule,
Each in his Herarchie, 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 fabl'd, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o're the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn
To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,
A Summers day; and with the setting Sun
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star,
On Lemnos th' Egaan Ile: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now
To have built in Heav'n high Towrs; nor did he
By all his Engins, but was headlong fent [fcape
With his induftrious crew to build in hell.
Mean while the winged Haralds by command
Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony
And Trumpets found throughout the Hoft proclaim
A folemn Councel forthwith to be held
At Pandamonium, the high Capital
Of Satan and his Peers: thir fummons call'd
From every Band and squared Regiment
By place or choice the worthieft; they anon
With hunderds and with thousands trooping came
Attended: all access was throng'd, the Gates 761
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
Defi'd the best of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat or carreer with Lance)
Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground and in the air,
Brusht with the hiss of rusfling wings. As Bees
In fpring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,
Poure forth thir populous youth about the Hive
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank,
The fuburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel,
New rub'd with Baume, expatiate and confer
Thir State affairs. So thick the aerie crowd
Swarm'd and were ftraitn'd; till the Signal giv'n,
Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd
In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons
Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberlefs, like that Pigmean Race
Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves,
Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest fide
Or Fountain fome belated Peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while over head the Moon
Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth
Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth & dance
Intent, with jocond Mufic charm his ear;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms
Reduc'd thir fhapes immenfe, and were at large,
Though without number still amidst the Hall 791
Of that infernal Court. But far within
And in thir own dimenfions like themselves
The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim
In close recess and secret conclave fat
A thousand Demy-Gods on golden feats,
Frequent and full. After short filence then
And fummons read, the great confult began.
The End of the First Book.
IGH on a Throne of Royal State, which far
Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Showrs on her Kings Barbaric Pearl and Gold, Satan exalted fat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, infatiate to pursue
Vain Warr with Heav'n, and by fuccefs untaught
His proud imaginations thus difplaid.
Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav'n,
For fince no deep within her gulf can hold
Immortal vigor, though oppreft and fall'n,
I give not Heav'n for loft.
Celestial vertues rifing, will
More glorious and more dread then from no fall,
And trust themselves to fear no fecond fate:
Mee though just right, and the fixt Laws of Heav'n
Did first create your Leader, next, free choice,
With what befides, in Counsel or in Fight,
Hath bin achievd of merit, yet this lofs
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