Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Henceforth His might we know, and know our own; So as not either to provoke, or drean
New war, provok'd. Our better part remains To work in close defign, 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 fo 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 heav'n : Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps Our firft eruption, thither or elsewhere: For this infernal pit shall never hold Celestial fpirits in bondage, nor th' Abyss 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 Highest, and fierce with grafped arms Clash'd on their founding shields the din of war Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.
There ftood a hill not far, whofe grisly top Belch'd fire and rowling smoke; the rest entire, Tome I.
Shone with a gloffy fcurf; (undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallick ore, The work of fulphur) thither wing'd with speed A numerous brigad haften'd: as when bands Of pioneers, with fpade and pickax arım'd, Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or caft a Rampart : Mammon led them on, Mammon, the leaft erected spirit that fell From heav'n: for ev'n in heav'n 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 Il vifion beatific by him firft
Men alfo, and by his fuggeftion taught, Ranfack'd the centre, and with impious hands Rifled the bowels of their mother earth For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew Open'd into the hill a fpacious wound, And dig'd out ribs of gold. (Let none admire That riches grow in hell; that foil may beft Deferve the precious bane.) And here let thofe Who boaft in mortal things, and wond'ring tell Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings, Learn how their greateft monuments of fame, And ftrength, and art, are easily out-done By fpirits reprobates and in an hour, What in an age they with inceffant toil, And hands innumerable, fcarce 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 wondrous art found out the maffy ore; Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion drofs: A third as foon had form'd within the ground A various mold; and from the boiling cells By ftrange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook: As in an Organ, from one blast of wind, To many a row of pipes the found-board breaths. 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 fculptures grav'ng The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, Nor great Alcairo, fuch magnificence Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine Belus, or Serapis, their Gods; or feat Their Kings, when Egypt with Affyria ftrove In wealth and luxury. Th' afcending pile Stood fixt her stately height : and strait the doors Op'ning 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 Offtarry lainps, and blazing creffets, fed With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light As from a sky. The hafty multitude Admiring enter'd, and the work fome praife,
And fome the archite&; his hand was known In heav'n by many a towred structure high, Where fceptred angels held their residence, And fat as Princes; whom the supreme King Exalted to fuch pow'r, and grave 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 chryftal battlements; from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A fummer's day; and with the setting fun Drop'd from the Zenith like a falling ftar, On Lemnos th' Ægean ille: 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 induftrious crew to build in hell.
Mean while the winged heralds by command Of foy'reign pow'r, with awful ceremony And trumpets found, throughout the hoft proclaim A folemn council forthwith to be held
At Pandæmonium, the high Capital
Of Satan and his Peers: their fummons call'd, From every band and squared 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 fpacious hall (Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldan's Chair Defi'd the beft of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or carriere with lance) Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground, and in the air, Brush'd with the hifs of rufling wings. 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 flowr's, Fly to and fro, or on the fmoothed plank, (The fuburb of their ftraw-built cittadel,) New rub'd with baulm, expatiate, and confer Their ftate-affairs: fo thick the acry crowd Swarm'd, and were ftreighten'd; till the fignal giv'n: Behold a wonder! they but now who feem'd In Bignefs to furpass Earth's Giant fons, Now lefs than fmalleft dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberlefs, like that Pygmean race Beyond the Indian mount; or Fairy Elves; Whofe midnight revels, by a foreft fide, Or fountain some belated peasant fees, Or dreams he fees; while over-head the moon Sits arbitrefs, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale course; they on their mirth and
Intent, with jocund mufic charm his ear:
At once with joy, and fear, his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal fpirits to finalleft forms
Reduc'd their shapes immenfe ; and were at large
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