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 less 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 favour equal to the sons of heaven; Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere: For this infernal pit shall never hold Celestial spirits in bondage, nor th' abyss Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts Full counsel must mature: peace is despair'd; For who can think submission? War then, war Open or understood, must be resolv'd.
He spake and to confirm his words, out flew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty cherubim; the sudden blaze Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n. There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic ore, The work of sulphur. Thither, wing'd with speed, A num'rous brigade hasten'd: as when bands Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd, Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on, Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell From heav'n; for e'en in heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
Than ought divine or holy else enjoy'd In vision beatific; by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught, Ransack'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 spacious wound,
And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire That riches grow in hell; that soil may best Deserve 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 outdone 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 Sluic'd from the lake, a second multitude With wond'rous art founded the massy ore, Sev'ring each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross ; A third as soon 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 blast of wind,
To many a row of pipes the soundboard breathes. Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid
With golden architrave; nor did they want Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven ; The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence Equall'd in all their glories, to enshrine Belus or Serapis, their gods, or seat
Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile Stood fix'd her stately height; and straight the doors, Opening their brazen folds, discover wide Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth And level pavement; from the arched roof, Pendent by subtle magic, many a row Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light As from a sky. The hasty multitude Admiring enter'd; and the work some praise, And some the architect: his hand was known In heaven by many a tower'd structure high, Where scepter'd angels held their residence, And sat as princes, whom the supreme King Exalted to such a pow'r, and gave to rule, Each in his hierachy, the orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unador'd In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell From heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements: from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eye, A summer's day; and with the setting sun Dropt from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos th' Egean isle: thus they relate, Erring; for he with this rebellious rout Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now T' have built in heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'scape By all his engines, but was headlong sent With his industrious crew to build in hell.
Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command Of sov'reign pow'r, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council, forthwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers: their summons call'd From every band and squared regiment By place or choice the worthiest; they anon With hundreds and with thousands trooping came
Attended all access 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, Defied the best of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or career with lance)
Thick swarm'd, both on the ground, and in the air Brush'd with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides, Pour forth the pop'lous youth about the hive In clusters; they among fresh dews and flow'rs Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, The suburb of their straw-built citadel New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer Their state affairs. So thick the airy crowd Swarm'd and were straiten'd; till, the signal given, Behold a wonder! They but now who seem'd In bigness to surpass earth's giant sons, Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberless; like that pygmean race Beyond the Indian mount; or fairy elves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while over-head the moon Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and dance Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;
At once with joy and fear, his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms Reduc'd their shapes immense, and were at large, Though without number still, amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimensions, like themselves, The great seraphic lords and cherubim In close recess and secret conclave sat ; A thousand demi-gods on golden seats, Frequent and full. After short silence then, And summons. read, the great consult began.
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