Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell? 270 So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub
Thus anfwer'd: Leader of those Armies bright,
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foil'd,
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard fo oft
In worst extreams, and on the perillous edge
Of battel when it rag'd, in all affaults
Their fureft fignal, they will foon resume
New Courage and revive, tho' now they lye
Grov❜ling and proftrate on yon Lake of Fire, 280
As we c'erwhile, aftounded and amaz'd,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious heighth.
He fcarce had ceas'd when the fuperiour Fiend
Was moving toward the hoar; his pond'rous field
Ethereal temper, maffie, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad Circumference
Hung on his Shoulders like the Moon, whofe Orb
Thro' Optick Glafs the Tuscan Artist views
At Ev'ning from the Top of Fefole,
Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands,
Rivers or Mountains on her spotty Globe.
His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine
Hewn on Norwegian Hills, to be the Maft
Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to fupport uneafie steps
Over the burning Marl, not like those Steps
On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime
Smote on him fore befides, vaulted with Fire;
Nathlefs he fo endur'd, 'till on the Beach
Of that inflamed Sea, he food and call'd
His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay entrans't
Thick as Autumnal Leaves that ftrow the Brooks
In Vallembrofa, where th' Etrurian Shades,
High over-arch'd embowr; or scatter'd fedge
Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea Coast, whofe waves o'er-
Bufiris and his Memphian Chivalry,
While with perfidious Hatred they purfu'd
The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld
From the fafe Shoar their floating Carkafes
And broken Chariot Wheels; fo thick beftrown,
Abject and loft lay these, covering the Floud,
Under Amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow Deep
Of Hell refounded. Princes, Potentates,
Warriours, the Flow'r of Heav'n, once yours, now loft,
If such astonishment as this can seize
Eternal Spirits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toyl of Battel to repose
Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find
To flumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?
Or in this abject Pofture have ye fwom
To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rowling in the Floud,
With scatter'd Arms and Enfigns, 'till anon
His fwift purfuers from Heav'n Gates difcern
Th' advantage, and descending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts
Transfix us to the Bottom of this Gulfe.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abafht, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouze and beftir themselves e'er well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their General's Voice they foon obey'd Innumerable. As when the potent Rod
Of Amram's Son in Egypt's evil day
Wav'd round the Coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud 340
Of Locufts, warping on the Eastern Wind,
That o'er the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile:
So numberless were thofe bad Angels feen
Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell
'Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding Fires;
Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' up-lifted Spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Their course, in even ballance down they light
On the firm brimftone, and fill all the Plain; 350
A multitude, like which the populous North
Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pafs
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons
Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread
Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian fands.
Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band
The Heads and Leaders thither haft where ftood
Their great Commander; God-like shapes and forms
Excelling human, Princely Dignities,
And Powers that earft in Heaven fat on Thrones;
Tho' of their Names in Heav'nly Records now 361 Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By their Rebellion, from the Books of Life.
Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve
Got them new Names, 'till wand'ring o'er the Earth,
Thro' God's high fufferance for the trial of man,
By falfities and lyes the greatest part
Of Mankind they corrupted to forfake
God their Creator, and th' invisible
Glory of him that made them, to transform
Oft to the Image of a Brute, adorn'd
With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,
And Devils to adore for Deities;
Then were they known to Men by various Names,
And various Idols thro' the Heathen World.
Say, Mufe, their Names then known, who first, who
Rouz'd from the flumber, on that fiery Couch, [laft,
At their great Emperors call, as next in worth,
Came fingly where he ftood on the bare strand,
While the promiscuous croud ftood yet aloof?
380
The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell
Roaming to feek their prey on earth, durft fix
Their Seats long after next the Seat of God,
Their Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd
Among the Nations round, and durft abide
Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd
Within his Sanctury it felf their Shrines,
Abominations; and with curfed Things
His holy Rites and folemn Feasts prophan'd, 390
And with their darkness durft affront his light.
First Moloch, horrid King befmear'd with blood
Of human facrifice, and parents tears,
Tho' for the noife of Drums and Timbrels loud
Their childrens cries unheard, that past thro' Fire 395
To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshipp'd in Rabba and her watry Plain,
In Argob and in Bafan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with fuch
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon, he led by fraud to build
His Temple right against the Temple of God
On the opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove
The pleafant Vally of Hinnon, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell.
Next Chemos, th' obfcené dread of Moab's Sons,
From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of Southmoft Abarim; in Hefebon
And Heronaim, Seon's Realm, beyond
The flow'ry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines, 410 And Eleale to th' Affhitick Pool.
Peor his other Name, when he entic'd
Ifrael in Sittim on their march from Nile,
To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe.
Yet thence his luftful Orgies he enlarg'd
Even to that Hill of fcandal, by the Grove
Of Moloch homicide, luft hard by hate;
Till good Jofiah drove them thence to Hell.
With thefe came they, who from the bord'ring floud
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