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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