Their visages and stature as of gods;
Their number last he sums. And now his heart Distends with pride, and nard'ning in his strength Glories: for never since created man
Met such embodied force, as nam'd with these
Could merit more than that small infantry
Warr'd on by cranes; though all the giant brood
Of Phlegra with th' heroic race were join'd,
That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each sid
Mix'd with auxiliar gods; and what resounds
In fable or romance of Uther's son,
Begirt with British and Armoric knights;
And all who since baptiz'd or infidel,
Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalbar,
Damasco, or Morocco, or Trebisond;
Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore,
When Charlemain with all his peerage fell
By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd
Their dread commander: he, above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
Stood like a tower: his form had not yet lost
All her original brightness, nor appear'd
Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess
Of glory obscur'd: as when the sun new risen
Looks through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon,
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations, and with fear of change,
Perplexes monarchs; darken'd so, yet shone
Above them all th' archangel: but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd, and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage, and considerate 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 heaven, and from eternal splendours flung
For his revolt; yet faithful how they stood,
Their glory wither'd: as when heaven's fire
Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines,
With singed top their stately growth, though bare,
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd 615 To spean, whereat their doubled ranks they bend From wing to wing, and half enclose him round With all his peers: attention held them mute : Thrice he assay'd, and thrice in spite of scorn, Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth; at last 620 Words interwove with sighs found out their way.
"O myriads of immortal spirits! O powers Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire, As this place testifies, and this dire change, Hateful to utter: but what power of mind, Forseeing, or presaging, from the depth Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd, How such united force of gods, how such As stood like these, could ever know repulse? For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied Leaven, shall fail to reascend Self-rais'd, and repossess their native seat? For me be witness all the host of heaven, If counsels different, or danger shunn'd By me, have lost our hopes: but he who reigns Monarch in heaven, till then as one secure Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, Consent, or custom, and his regal state 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 645/
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 so rif 650
There went a fame in heaven, that he, ere long,
Intended to create; and therein plant
A generation, whom his choice regard
Should favour equal to the sons of heaven:
Thither, if but to pry, shall 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 despair'd,
For who can think subraission? War then, war
Open or understood, must be resolv'd."
He spake and to confirm his words out flew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty cherubim: the sudden blaze Far round illumin'd hell; highly they rag'd Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of heaven.
There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glassy scurf; (undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic ore, The work of sulphur,) thither wing'd with speed A numerous brigade hasten'd: as when bands 675 Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd, Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or cast a rampart: Mammon led them on, Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From heaven: for even in heaven his looks and
Were always downward bent; admiring more
The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
Than ought divine or holy else, enjoy'd
In vision beatific: by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
Ransack'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 spacious wound,
And digg d out ribs of gold. (Let none admire 690
That riches grow in hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane.) And here let thosc
Who boas. 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 outdone
By spirits 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
Sluic'd from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore
Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross.
A third as soon had form'd within the ground
A various mould; and from the boiling 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 sound-board breathes. Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
Rose like an exhalation, with the sound
Of dulcet symphonics, 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 frieze, with bossy sculptures graven;
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence
Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine
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
Op'ning 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 heaven by many a tow'red structure high,
Where sceptred angels held their residence,
And sat as princes; whom the supreme King
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Bach 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 heaven 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
Dropp'd 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 heaven high towers; nor did he scape
By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in hell.
Meanwhile the winged herald's by command
Of sov'reign power, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council forthwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers: their summons call'd,
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 gutes
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
Defied 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 770
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
The suburb of their straw-built citadel,)
New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer
Their state affairs: so thick the airy crowd
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,
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees; while over head the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her paie course; they on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charni his ear:
At once with joy and fear his neart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms
|