Where scepter'd angels held their residence, And set as princes; whom the supreme King Exalted to such 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 Ausonian 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 summer's day; and with the setting sun Dropt from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos th' Ægean isle; 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 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 trumpets sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn counsel forthwith to be held
At Pandamonium, 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 Defy'd 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 rufling wings. As bees In spring time, when the sun 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 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.
The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle is to be hazarded for the recovery of heaven: some advise it, others dissuade. A third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or tradition in heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature, equal, or not much inferior to them◄ selves, about this time to be created: Their doubt who shall be sent on this difficult search: Satan their chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways, and to several employ ments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He passes on his jour ney to hell-gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the gulf between hell and heaven; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought.
IGH on a throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence; and from despair Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires Beyond thus high; insatiate to pursue
Vain war with heaven; and, by success untaught, His proud imagination thus display'd:
Pow'rs and dominions, deities of heaven! For since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigour, though oppress'd and fall'n, I give not heaven for lost. From this descent Celestial virtues, rising, will appear
More glorious and more dread than from no fall, And trust themselves to fear no second. fate.
Me, though just right and the fix'd laws of heav'n Did first create your leader, next free choice; With what besides, in counsel or in fight, Hath been atchiev'd of merit; yet this loss, Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more Establish'd in a safe unenvied throne,
Yielded with full consent. The happier state In heav'n, which follows dignity, might draw Envy from each inferior: but who here Will envy whom the highest place exposes Foremost to stand against the Thund'rer's aim Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share Of endless pain? Where there is then no good For which to strive, no strife can grow up there From faction: for none sure will claim in hell Precedence; none whose portion is so small Of present pain, that with ambitious mind Will covet more. With this advantage then To union, and firm faith, and firm accord, More than can be in heav'n, we now return To claim our just inheritance of old, Surer to prosper than prosperity
Could have assured us; and by what best way, Whether of open war or covert guile,
We now debate: who can advise, may speak.
He ceas'd; and next him Moloch, scepter'd king, Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit That fought in heav'n, now fiercer by despair: His trust was with th' Eternal to be deem'd Equal in strength; and rather than be less,
Car'd not to be at all; with that care lost Went all his fear: of God, or hell, or worse He reck'd not: and these words thereafter spake : My sentence is for open war: of wiles,
More unexpert, I boast not: then let those Contrive who need: or when they need, not now; For while they sit contriving, shall the rest, Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait The signal to ascend, sit lingʼring here Heav'n's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame, The prison of his tyranny who reigns
By our delay? No, let us rather choose, Arm'd with hell flames and fury, all at once O'er heav'n's high tow'rs to force resistless way, Turning our tortures into horrid arms Against the torturer; when to meet the noise Of his almighty engine he shall hear Infernal thunder: and for lightning, see Black fire and horror shot with equal rage. Among his angels: and his throne itself Mix'd with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire, His own invented torments. But perhaps The way seems difficult and steep to scale With upright wing against a higher foe. Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench Of that forgetful lake benumb not still, That in our proper motion we ascend Up to our native seat; descent and fall To us is adverse. Who but felt of late, When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear Insulting, and pursu'd us through the deep, With what compulsion and laborious flight We sunk thus low? The ascent is easy then; Th' event is fear'd; should we again provoke Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find To our destruction; if there be in hell
Fear to be worse destroy'd. What can be worse Than to dwell here, driv'n out from bliss, condemn'd
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