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. Thus saying rose
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.
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 490
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. 505 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
4E9 sleeps] Hom. Il. v. 524.
ὄφρ' εὔδησι μένος Βορέαο. Newton.
490 cheerful] Spens. F. Q. ii. xii. 34.
'And heaven's cheerful face enveloped.' Thyer.
12 globe] Virg. Æn. x. 373.
Qua globus ille virûm densissimus urget
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: 520
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.
633 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 Typhœan 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 Eta 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 550 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.
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, 58, Longave multifori delectat tibia buxi:
Sed noctem sermone trahunt; virtusque loquendi
566 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.'
560 triple] Hor. Od. i. iii. 9.
• Illi robur, et as triplex
Circa pectus erat.
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