More tolerable; if there be cure or charm To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain Of this ill mansion. Intermit no watch Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek Deliverance for us all: this enterprize
None shall partake with me. The monarch, and prevented all reply; Prudent, lest from his resolution rais'd Others among the chief might offer now, Certain to be refus'd, what erst they fear'd; And so refus'd might in opinion stand His rivals, winning cheap the high repute, Which he through hazard huge must earn. But
Dreaded not more th' adventure, than his voice Forbidding; and at once with him they rose: 475 Their rising all at once was as the sound
Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend With awful reverence prone; and as a God Extol him equal to the highest in heav'n: Nor fail'd they to express how much they prais'd, 480 That for the general safety he despis'd
His own; for neither do the spirits damn'd Lose all their virtue, lest bad men should boast Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites, Or close ambition varnish'd o'er with zeal. Thus they their doubtful consultations dark Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief: As when from mountain tops the dusky clouds
Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o'erpread Heav'n's cheerful face, the low'ring element Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape snow, or show'r; If chance the radiant sun with farewell sweet Extend his ev'ning beam, the fields revive, The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. O shame to men! devil with devil damn'd Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational, though under hope Of heav'nly grace; and God proclaiming peace, Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, Wasting the earth, each other to destroy: As if, which might induce us to accord, Man had not hellish foes enow besides,
That day and night for his destruction wait.
The Stygian council thus dissolv'd; and forth In order came the grand infernal peers; Midst came their mighty paramount, and seem'd Alone th' antagonist of heav'n, nor less Than hell's dread emperor, with pomp supreme 510 And God-like imitated state: him round A globe of fiery Seraphim inclos'd
489 sleeps] Hom. II. v. 524.
—ὄφρ' εἴδησι μένος Βορέαο. Newton.
490 cheerful] Spens. F. Q. ii. xii. 34.
And heaven's cheerful face enveloped.' Thyer.
512 globe] Virg. Æn. x. 373.
Qua globus ille virûm densissimus urget.' Newton.
With bright imblazonry and horrent arms. Then of their session ended they bid cry With trumpets regal sound the great result: Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim Put to their mouths the sounding alchymy, By haralds voice explain'd: the hollow abyss Heard far and wide, and all the host of hell With deaf'ning shout return'd them loud acclaim. Thence, more at ease their minds, and somewhat
By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers Disband, and wand'ring each his several way Pursues, as inclination or sad choice
Leads him perplex'd, where he may likeliest find 525 Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain The irksome hours, till his great chief return. Part, on the plain or in the air sublime, Upon the wing or in swift race contend, As at the Olympian games, or Pythian fields: 530 Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal With rapid wheels, or fronted brigads form.
513 horrent] Virg. Æn. i. Horrentia Martis arma,' and En. x. 178. Horrentibus hastis.'
528 Part, on the plain] Compare Ovid. Metam. iv. 445, and Fasti. vi. 327.
'Hi temere errabant in opacæ vallibus Idæ :
Pars jacet et molli gramine membra levat. Hi ludunt, hos somnus habet; pars brachia nectit, Et viridem celeri ter pede pulsat humum.' curb] 'How got they steeds and harps?' v. 348. Bentl. MS.
532 rapid] rapid even before the race.' Bentl. MS.
As when to warn proud cities war appears Wag'd in the troubled sky, and armies rush To battel in the clouds, before each van Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms From either end of heav'n the welkin burns. Others with vast Typhoan rage more fell
Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air 540 In whirlwind: hell scarce holds the wild uproar. As when Alcides from Echalia crown'd
With conquest felt th' envenom'd robe, and tore Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines, And Lichas from the top of ta threw Into th' Euboic sea. Others more mild, Retreated in a silent valley, sing With notes angelical to many a harp Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall By doom of battel; and complain that fate Free virtue should inthral to force or chance. Their song was partial; but the harmony, What could it less when spirits immortal sing? Suspended hell, and took with ravishment The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet, For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense, Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
557 others apart] Compare Horat. Od. ii. 13. 23.
Sedesque discretas piorum.' 558 elevate] Compare Ovidii Metam. xii. 157.
'Non illos Citharæ, non illos carmina vocum,
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute; 560 And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost. Of good and evil much they argued then, Of happiness and final misery, Passion and apathy, and glory and shame, Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy: Yet with a pleasing sorcery could charm Pain for a while or anguish, and excite Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast With stubborn patience as with triple steel. Another part in squadrons and gross bands, On bold adventure to discover wide That dismal world, if any clime perhaps, Might yield them easier habitation, bend Four ways their flying march, along the banks Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge
Into the burning lake their baleful streams; Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton, 580 Longave multifori delectat tibia buxi :
Sed noctem sermone trahunt; virtusque loquendi
666 pleasing sorcery] See Marino's Sl. of the Innocents, 1. 4, 8. (1675).
' And with a pleasing tyranny had there
Shed his Lethean water on their sight.'
569 triple] Hor. Od. i. iii. 9.
Illi robur, et æs triplex Circa pectus erat.'
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