Matchlefs, but with th' Almighty, and that strife Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire, As this place teftifies, and this dire change Hateful to utter: but what pow'r of mind Foreseeing or prefaging, from the depth Of knowledge paft or prefent, could have fear'd, How fuch united force of Gods, how fuch As stood like thefe, could ever know repulfe? For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puiffant legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heav'n, fhall fail to re-ascend Self-rais'd, and repoffefs their native seat ? For me be witness all the host of Heaven, If counfels different, or danger fhunn'd By me, have loft our hopes. But he who reigns Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one fecure Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, Confent or custom, and his regal state
Put forth at full, but ftill his ftrength 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 To work in close design, by fraud or guile, What force effected not: that he no lefs At length from us may find, who overcomes By force, hath overcome but half his foe. Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long Intended to create, and therein plant
A generation, whom his choice regard Should favor equal to the fons of Heaven: Thither, if but to pry, fhall be perhaps Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere: For this infernal pit fhall never hold Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th' abyfs Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts Full counsel muft mature: Peace is despair'd, For who can think fubmiffion? War then, War Open or understood must be refolv'd.
He spake: and to confirm his words, out-flew Millions of flaming fwords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty Cherubim; the fudden blaze
Far round illumin'd Hell: highly they rag'd Against the High'eft, and fierce with grasped arms Clash'd on their founding fhields the din of war, Hurling defiance tow'ard the vault of Heaven.
There stood a hill not far, whofe grifly top Belch'd fire and rolling fmoke; the rest entire Shone with a gloffy fcurf, undoubted fign That in his womb was hid metallic ore, The work of fulphur. Thither wing'd with speed A numerous brigad haften'd: as when bands Of pioneers with spade and pickax arm'd Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or caft a rampart. Mammon led them on, Mammon, the leaft erected Spi'rit that fell
From Heav'n, for e'en in Heav'n his looks and thoughts ^. Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heav'n's pavement, trodden gold,
Than ought divine or holy elfe enjoy'd
In vifion beatific: by him first
Men alfo, and by his fuggeftion taught,
Ranfack'd the center, and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother earth
For treafures better hid.
Open'd into the hill a fpacious wound,
And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best Deferve the precious bane. And here let those Who boast in mortal things, and wond'ring tell Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings, Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, And strength, and art, are easily out-done 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 Sluc'd from the lake, a fecond multitude With wond'rous art founded the maffy ore, Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion drofs: A third as foon 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 blaft of wind
To many a row of pipes the found-board breathes. Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rofe like an exhalation, with the found Of dulcet fymphonies 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 graven; The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, Nor great Alcairo fuch magnificence Equal'd in all their glories, to infhrine Belus or Serapis their Gods, or feat Their kings, when Egypt with Affyria ftrove In wealth and luxury. Th' afcending pile Stood fix'd her ftately highth, and strait the doors Opening their brazen folds difcover wide Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth And level pavement: from the arched roof Pendent by fubtle magic many a row Of starry lamps and blazing creffets fed With Naphtha and Afphaltus yielded 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 tow'red structure high, Where scepter'd Angels held their refidence, And fat as princes, whom the fúpreme King Exalted to fuch pow'r, and gave to rule, Each in his hierarchy, 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 fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A fummer's day; and with the setting fun Dropt from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos th' 'gean ile: thus they relate, Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor ought avail'd him now T'have built in Heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'scape By all his engins, but was headlong fent
With his industrious crew to build in Hell.
Mean while the winged heralds by command Of fovran pow'r, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's found, throughout the hoft proclame A folemn council forthwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers: their summons call'd From every band and fquared regiment
By place or choice the worthieft; they anon With hundreds and with thousands trooping came Attended: all accefs was throng'd, the gates 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 Defy'd the beft of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or career with lance) Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground and in the air Brush'd with the hifs of rufling winds. As bees In fpring time, when the fun with Taurus rides, Pour forth their populous youth about the hive In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers Fly to and fro, or on the imoothed plank,
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