Flown to the upper world; the rest were all Far to the inland retir'd, about the walls Of Pandæmonium, city and proud seat Of Lucifer, so by allusion call'd,
Of that bright star to Satan paragon'd.
There kept their watch the legions, while the Grand In council sat, solicitous what chance Might intercept their emperor sent; so he Departing gave command, and they observ'd. As when the Tartar from his Russian foe By Astracan over the snowy plains Retires, or Bactrian Sophi from the horns Of Turkish crescent leaves all waste beyond The realm of Aladule in his retreat
To Tauris or Casbeen: so these, the late Heaven-banish'd host, left desert utmost hell Many a dark league, reduc'd in careful watch Round their metropolis, and now expecting Each hour their great adventurer from the search 440 Of foreign worlds: he thro' the midst unmark'd,
In show plebeian angel militant
Of lowest order, pass'd; and from the door Of that Plutonian hall invisible
Ascended his high throne, which, under state Of richest texture spread, at th' upper end Was plac'd in regal lustre. Down a while
426 paragon'd] v. Othello, act ii. sc. 1.
"That paragons description and wild fame.' Todd.
He sat, and round about him saw unseen: At last as from a cloud his fulgent head And shape star-bright appear'd, or brighter, clad With what permissive glory since his fall Was left him, or false glitter. All amaz'd At that so sudden blaze the Stygian throng Bent their aspect, and whom they wish'd beheld, Their mighty chief return'd: loud was th' acclaim. Forth rush'd in haste the great consulting peers, Rais'd from their dark divan, and with like joy Congratulant approach'd him, who with hand Silence, and with these words attention, won. Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues,
For in possession such, not only of right, I call ye and declare ye now, return'd Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth Triumphant out of this infernal pit Abominable, accurs'd, the house of woe,
448 unseen] Tasso, Fairfax, vii. 36.
'Within a tarras sate on high the queen,
And heard, and saw, and kept herself unseene.'
'Yet in such sorts as they might see unseen.' Sidney's Arcadia, vol.
Sideris ora ferens.'
Sylvester's Du Bartas, p. 201.
'O miracle! whose star-bright beaming head.'
450 star-bright] v. Hom. II. vi. ver. 295.
"Thy star-bright eyes.'
v. Ellis's Spec. ii. 381. (Smith's Chloris, 1596.)
And dungeon of our tyrant: now possess, As lords, a spacious world, to our native heaven Little inferior, by my adventure hard
With peril great achiev'd. Long were to tell What I have done, what suffer'd, with what pain 470 Voyag'd th' unreal, vast, unbounded deep
Of horrible confusion, over which
By Sin and Death a broad way now is pav'd To expedite your glorious march: but I Toil'd out my uncouth passage, forc'd to ride Th' untractable abyss, plung'd in the womb Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wild, That jealous of their secrets fiercely oppos'd My journey strange, with clamorous uproar Protesting fate supreme; thence how I found The new created world, which fame in heaven Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful
Of absolute perfection; therein man Plac'd in a paradise, by our exile
Made happy him by fraud I have seduc'd From his Creator, and, the more to increase Your wonder, with an apple; He thereat Offended, worth your laughter! hath giv'n up Both his beloved man and all his world To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us, Without our hazard, labour, or alarm, Το range in, and to dwell, and over man
484 exile] Milton always accentuates this word on the last syllable; Shakespeare uses it both ways; Chaucer and Spenser on the last syllable only. Todd.
To rule, as over all he should have rul'd. True is, me also he hath judg'd, or rather Me not, but the brute serpent, in whose shape Man I deceiv'd: that which to me belongs Is enmity, which he will put between
Me and mankind; I am to bruise his heel;
His seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head. A world who would not purchase with a bruise, 500 Or much more grievous pain? Ye have th' account Of my performance: what remains, ye gods, But up and enter now into full bliss?
So having said, a while he stood, expecting Their universal shout and high applause To fill his ear; when contrary he hears On all sides, from innumerable tongues, A dismal universal hiss, the sound
Of public scorn; he wonder'd, but not long Had leisure, wond'ring at himself now more : His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare, His arms clung to his ribs, his legs entwining Each other, till supplanted down he fell A monstrous serpent on his belly prone, Reluctant, but in vain; a greater power Now rul'd him, punish'd in the shape he sinn'd, According to his doom. He would have spoke, But hiss for hiss return'd with forked tongue To forked tongue; for now were all transform'd Alike, to serpents all as accessories
To his bold riot: dreadful was the din
Of hissing through the hall, thick swarming now
With complicated monsters head and tail, Scorpion, and asp, and amphisbæna dire, Cerastes horn'd, hydrus, and ellops drear, And dipsas; (not so thick swarm'd once the soil Bedropp'd with blood of Gorgon, or the isle Ophiusa ;) but still greatest he the midst, Now dragon, grown larger than whom the sun Ingender'd in the Pythian vale on slime, Huge Python, and his power no less he seem'd Above the rest still to retain. They all Him follow'd issuing forth to th' open field, Where all yet left of that revolted rout Heaven-fall'n in station stood or just array, Sublime with expectation when to see In triumph issuing forth their glorious chief: They saw, but other sight instead, a crowd Of ugly serpents; horror on them fell, And horrid sympathy; for what they saw,
They felt themselves now changing: down their arms, Down fell both spear and shield; down they as fast; And the dire hiss renew'd, and the dire form Catch'd by contagion, like in punishment,
As in their crime. Thus was th' applause they meant Turn'd to exploding hiss, triumph to shame, Cast on themselves from their own mouths.
524 asp] v. Hagthorpe's Divine Meditations, p. 18. 'The aspe, and two-headed amphisbena,
The horned Cerastes, Alexandrian sckinke, Dipsas and Drymas.'
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