Paradise Lost - Book I

Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit     Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast     Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,     With loss of Eden, till one greater Man     Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,     Sing Heavnly Muse, that on the secret top     Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire     That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,     In the Beginning how the Heavns and Earth     Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill     Delight thee more, and Siloas Brook that flowd     Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence     Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,     That with no middle flight intends to soar     Above th Aonian Mount, while it pursues     Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.     And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer     Before all Temples th upright heart and pure,     Instruct me, for Thou knowst; Thou from the first     Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread     Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss     And madst it pregnant: What in me is dark     Illumine, what is low raise and support;     That to the highth of this great Argument     I may assert th Eternal Providence,     And justifie the wayes of God to men.     Say first, for Heavn hides nothing from thy view     Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause     Movd our Grand Parents in that happy State,     Favourd of Heavn so highly, to fall off     From their Creator, and transgress his Will     For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?     Who first seducd them to that fowl revolt?     Th infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile     Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceivd     The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride     Had cast him out from Heavn, with all his Host     Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring     To set himself in Glory above his Peers,     He trusted to have equald the most High,     If he opposd; and with ambitious aim     Against the Throne and Monarchy of God     Raisd impious War in Heavn and Battel proud     With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power     Hurld headlong flaming from th Ethereal Skie     With hideous ruine and combustion down     To bottomless perdition, there to dwell     In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,     Who durst defie th Omnipotent to Arms.     Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night     To mortal men, he with his horrid crew     Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe     Confounded though immortal: But his doom     Reservd him to more wrath; for now the thought     Both of lost happiness and lasting pain     Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes     That witnessd huge affliction and dismay     Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:     At once as far as Angels kenn he views     The dismal Situation waste and wilde,     A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round     As one great Furnace flamd, yet from those flames     No light, but rather darkness visible     Servd only to discover sights of woe,     Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace     And rest can never dwell, hope never comes     That comes to all; but torture without end     Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed     With ever-burning Sulphur unconsumd:     Such place Eternal Justice had prepard     For those rebellious, here their Prison ordaind     In utter darkness, and their portion set     As far removd from God and light of Heavn     As from the Center thrice to th utmost Pole.     O how unlike the place from whence they fell!     There the companions of his fall, orewhelmd     With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,     He soon discerns, and weltring by his side     One next himself in power, and next in crime,     Long after known in Palestine, and namd     Beelzebub. To whom th Arch-Enemy,     And thence in Heavn calld Satan, with bold words     Breaking the horrid silence thus began.     If thou beest he; But O how falln! how changd     From him, who in the happy Realms of Light     Clothd with transcendent brightnes didst outshine     Myriads though bright: If he whom mutual league,     United thoughts and counsels, equal hope,     And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,     Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd     In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest     From what highth faln, so much the stronger provd     He with his Thunder: and till then who knew     The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those     Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage     Can else inflict do I repent or change,     Though changd in outward lustre; that fixt mind     And high disdain, from sence of injurd merit,     That with the mightiest raisd me to contend,     And to the fierce contention brought along     Innumerable force of Spirits armd     That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,     His utmost power with adverse power opposd     In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heavn,     And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?     All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,     And study of revenge, immortal hate,     And courage never to submit or yield:     And what is else not to be overcome?     That Glory never shall his wrath or might     Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace     With suppliant knee, and deifie his power     Who from the terrour of this Arm so late     Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,     That were an ignominy and shame beneath     This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods     And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,     Since through experience of this great event     In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanct,     We may with more successful hope resolve     To wage by force or guile eternal Warr     Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,     Who now triumphs, and in th excess of joy     Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heavn.     So spake th Apostate Angel, though in pain,     Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare:     And him thus answerd soon his bold Compeer.     O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers,     That led th imbattelld Seraphim to Warr     Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds     Fearless, endangerd Heavns perpetual King;     And put to proof his high Supremacy,     Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate,     Too well I see and rue the dire event,     That with sad overthrow and foul defeat     Hath lost us Heavn, and all this mighty Host     In horrible destruction laid thus low,     As far as Gods and Heavnly Essences     Can Perish: for the mind and spirit remains     Invincible, and vigour soon returns,     Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state     Here swallowd up in endless misery.     But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now     Of force believe Almighty, since no less     Then such could hav orepowrd such force as ours)     Have left us this our spirit and strength intire     Strongly to suffer and support our pains,     That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,     Or do him mightier service as his thralls     By right of Warr, what ere his business be     Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire,     Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep;     What can it then avail though yet we feel     Strength undiminisht, or eternal being     To undergo eternal punishment?     Whereto with speedy words th Arch-fiend replyd.     Falln Cherube, to be weak is miserable     Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,     To do ought good never will be our task,     But ever to do ill our sole delight,     As being the contrary to his high will     Whom we resist. If then his Providence     Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,     Our labour must be to pervert that end,     And out of good still to find means of evil;     Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps     Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb     His inmost counsels from their destind aim.     But see the angry Victor hath recalld     His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit     Back to the Gates of Heavn: The Sulphurous Hail     Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid     The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice     Of Heavn receivd us falling, and the Thunder,     Wingd with red Lightning and impetuous rage,     Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now     To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.     Let us not slip th occasion, whether scorn,     Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.     Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde,     The seat of desolation, voyd of light,     Save what the glimmering of these livid flames     Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend     From off the tossing of these fiery waves,     There rest, if any rest can harbour there,     And reassembling our afflicted Powers,     Consult how we may henceforth most offend     Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,     How overcome this dire Calamity,     What reinforcement we may gain from Hope,     If not what resolution from despare.     Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate     With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes     That sparkling blazd, his other Parts besides     Prone on the Flood, extended long and large     Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge     As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,     Titanian, or Earth-born, that warrd on Jove,     Briarios or Typhon, whom the Den     By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast     Leviathan, which God of all his works     Created hugest that swim th Ocean stream:     Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam     The Pilot of some small night-founderd Skiff,     Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell,     With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind     Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night     Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes:     So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay     Chaind on the burning Lake, nor ever thence     Had risn or heavd his head, but that the will     And high permission of all-ruling Heaven     Left him at large to his own dark designs,     That with reiterated crimes he might     Heap on himself damnation, while he sought     Evil to others, and enragd might see     How all his malice servd but to bring forth     Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn     On Man by him seduct, but on himself     Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pourd.     Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool     His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames     Drivn backward slope their pointing spires, and rowld     In billows, leave ith midst a horrid Vale.     Then with expanded wings he stears his flight     Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air     That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land     He lights, if it were Land that ever burnd     With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire;     And such appeard in hue, as when the force     Of subterranean wind transports a Hill     Torn from Pelorus, or the shatterd side     Of thundring tna, whose combustible     And feweld entrals thence conceiving Fire,     Sublimd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds,     And leave a singed bottom all involvd     With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole     Of unblest feet. Him followed his next Mate,     Both glorying to have scapt the Stygian flood     As Gods, and by their own recoverd strength,     Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.     Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,     Said then the lost Arch Angel, this the seat     That we must change for Heavn, this mournful gloom     For that celestial light? Be it so, since he     Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid     What shall be right: fardest from him is best     Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream     Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields     Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail     Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell     Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings     A mind not to be changd by Place or Time.     The mind is its own place, and in it self     Can make a Heavn of Hell, a Hell of Heavn.     What matter where, if I be still the same,     And what I should be, all but less then he     Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least     We shall be free; th Almighty hath not built     Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:     Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce     To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:     Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heavn.     But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,     Th associates and copartners of our loss     Lye thus astonisht on th oblivious Pool,     And call them not to share with us their part     In this unhappy Mansion, or once more     With rallied Arms to try what may be yet     Regaind in Heavn, or what more lost in Hell?     So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub     Thus answerd. Leader of those Armies bright,     Which but th Omnipotent none could have foyld,     If once they hear that voyce, their liveliest pledge     Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft     In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge     Of battel when it ragd, in all assaults     Their surest signal, they will soon resume     New courage and revive, though now they lye     Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire,     As we erewhile, astounded and amazd,     No wonder, falln such a pernicious highth.     He scarce had ceast when the superiour Fiend     Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield     Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,     Behind him cast; the broad circumference     Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb     Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views     At Evning from the top of Fesole,     Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands,     Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.     His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine     Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast     Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand,     He walkt with to support uneasie steps     Over the burning Marle, not like those steps     On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime     Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire;     Nathless he so endurd, till on the Beach     Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and calld     His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intranst     Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks     In Vallombrosa, where th Etrurian shades     High overarcht imbowr; or scatterd sedge     Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion armd     Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew     Busiris and his Memphian Chivalrie,     While with perfidious hatred they pursud     The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld     From the safe shore their floating Carkases     And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown     Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood,     Under amazement of their hideous change.     He calld so loud, that all the hollow Deep     Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates,     Warriers, the Flowr of Heavn, once yours, now lost,     If such astonishment as this can sieze     Eternal spirits; or have ye chosn this place     After the toyl of Battel to repose     Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find     To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heavn?     Or in this abject posture have ye sworn     To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds     Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood     With scatterd Arms and Ensigns, till anon     His swift pursuers from Heavn Gates discern     Th advantage, and descending tread us down     Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts     Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe.     Awake, arise, or be for ever falln.     They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung     Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch     On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,     Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.     Nor did they not perceave the evil plight     In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;     Yet to their Generals Voyce they soon obeyd     Innumerable. As when the potent Rod     Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day     Wavd round the Coast, up calld a pitchy cloud     Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind,     That ore the Realm of impious Pharoah hung     Like Night, and darkend all the Land of Nile:     So numberless were those bad Angels seen     Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell     Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires;     Till, as a signal givn, th uplifted Spear     Of their great Sultan waving to direct     Thir course, in even ballance down they light     On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain;     A multitude, like which the populous North     Pourd never from her frozen loyns, to pass     Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons     Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread     Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands.     Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band     The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood     Their great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms     Excelling human, Princely Dignities,     And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones;     Though of their Names in heavnly Records now     Be no memorial, blotted out and rasd     By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.     Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve     Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth,     Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man,     By falsities and lyes the greatest part     Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake     God their Creator, and th invisible     Glory of him, that made them, to transform     Oft to the Image of a Brute, adornd     With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,     And Devils to adore for Deities:     Then were they known to men by various Names,     And various Idols through the Heathen World.     Say, Muse, their Names then known, who first, who last,     Rousd from the slumber, on that fiery Couch,     At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth     Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,     While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof?     The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell     Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix     Their Seats long after next the Seat of God,     Their Altars by his Altar, Gods adord     Among the Nations round, and durst abide     Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thrond     Between the Cherubim; yea, often placd     Within his Sanctuary it self their Shrines,     Abominations; and with cursed things     His holy Rites, and solemn Feasts profand,     And with their darkness durst affront his light.     First Moloch, horrid King besmeard with blood     Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,     Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud     Their childrens cries unheard, that past through fire     To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite     Worshipt in Rabba and her watry Plain,     In Argob and in Basan, to the stream     Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such     Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart     Of Solomon he led by fraud to build     His Temple right against the Temple of God     On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove     The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence     And black Gehenna calld, the Type of Hell.     Next Chemos, th obscene dread of Moabs Sons,     From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild     Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon     And Heronaim, Seons Realm, beyond     The flowry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines,     And Eleale to th Asphaltick Pool.     Peor his other Name, when he enticd     Israel in Sittim on their march from Nile     To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.     Yet thence his lustful Orgies he enlargd     Even to that Hill of scandal, by the Grove     Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;     Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.     With these came they, who from the bordring flood     Of old Euphrates to the Brook that parts     Egypt from Syrian ground, had general Names     Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male,     These Feminine. For Spirits when they please     Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft     And uncompounded is their Essence pure,     Not tid or manacld with joynt or limb,     Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,     Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose     Dilated or condenst, bright or obscure,     Can execute their aerie purposes,     And works of love or enmity fulfill.     For those the Race of Israel oft forsook     Their living strength, and unfrequented left     His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down     To bestial Gods; for which their heads as low     Bowd down in Battel, sunk before the Spear     Of despicable foes. With these in troop     Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians calld     Astarte, Queen of Heavn, with crescent Horns;     To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon     Sidonian Virgins paid their Vows and Songs,     In Sion also not unsung, where stood     Her Temple on th offensive Mountain, built     By that uxorious King, whose heart though large,     Beguild by fair Idolatresses, fell     To Idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,     Whose annual wound in Lebanon allurd     The Syrian Damsels to lament his fate     In amorous dittyes all a Summers day,     While smooth Adonis from his native Rock     Ran purple to the Sea, supposd with blood     Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale     Infected Sions daughters with like heat,     Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch     Ezekiel saw, when by the Vision led     His eye survayd the dark Idolatries     Of alienated Judah. Next came one     Who mournd in earnest, when the Captive Ark     Maimd his brute Image, head and hands lopt off     In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge,     Where he fell flat, and shamd his Worshipers:     Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man     And downward Fish: yet had his Temple high     Reard in Azotus, dreaded through the Coast     Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,     And Accaron and Gazas frontier bounds.     Him followd Rimmon, whose delightful Seat     Was fair Damascus, on the fertil Banks     Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.     He also against the house of God was bold:     A Leper once he lost and gaind a King,     Ahaz his sottish Conquerour, whom he drew     Gods Altar to disparage and displace     For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn     His odious offrings, and adore the Gods     Whom he had vanquisht. After these appeard     A crew who under Names of old Renown,     Osiris, Isis, Orus and their Train     With monstrous shapes and sorceries abusd     Fanatic Egypt and her Priests, to seek     Thir wandring Gods disguisd in brutish forms     Rather then human. Nor did Israel scape     Th infection when their borrowd Gold composd     The Calf in Oreb: and the Rebel King     Doubld that sin in Bethel and in Dan,     Likning his Maker to the Grazed Ox,     Jehovah, who in one Night when he passd     From Egypt marching, equald with one stroke     Both her first born and all her bleating Gods.     Belial came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd     Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love     Vice for it self: To him no Temple stood     Or Altar smoakd; yet who more oft then hee     In Temples and at Altars, when the Priest     Turns Atheist, as did Elys Sons, who filld     With lust and violence the house of God.     In Courts and Palaces he also Reigns     And in luxurious Cities, where the noyse     Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs,     And injury and outrage: And when Night     Darkens the Streets, then wander forth the Sons     Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.     Witness the Streets of Sodom, and that night     In Gibeah, when the hospitable door     Exposd a Matron to avoid worse rape.     These were the prime in order and in might;     The rest were long to tell, though far renownd,     Th Ionian Gods, of Javans Issue held     Gods, yet confest later then Heavn and Earth     Thir boasted Parents; Titan Heavns first born     With his enormous brood, and birthright seisd     By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove     His own and Rheas Son like measure found;     So Jove usurping reignd: these first in Creet     And Ida known, thence on the Snowy top     Of cold Olympus ruld the middle Air     Thir highest Heavn; or on the Delphian Cliff,     Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds     Of Doric Land; or who with Saturn old     Fled over Adria to th Hesperian Fields,     And ore the Celtic roamd the utmost Isles.     All these and more came flocking; but with looks     Down cast and damp, yet such wherein appeard     Obscure some glimps of joy, to have found thir chief     Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost     In loss it self; which on his countnance cast     Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride     Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore     Semblance of worth not substance, gently raisd     Their fainted courage, and dispeld their fears.     Then strait commands that at the warlike sound     Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard     His mighty Standard; that proud honour claimd     Azazel as his right, a Cherube tall:     Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld     Th Imperial Ensign, which full high advanct     Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind     With Gemms and Golden lustre rich imblazd,     Seraphic arms and Trophies: all the while     Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds:     At which the universal Host upsent     A shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond     Frighted the Reign of Chaos and old Night.     All in a moment through the gloom were seen     Ten thousand Banners rise into the Air     With Orient Colours waving: with them rose     A Forrest huge of Spears: and thronging Helms     Appeard, and serried Shields in thick array     Of depth immeasurable: Anon they move     In perfect Phalanx to the Dorian mood     Of Flutes and soft Recorders; such as raisd     To highth of noblest temper Heros old     Arming to Battel, and in stead of rage     Deliberate valour breathd, firm and unmovd     With dread of death to flight or foul retreat,     Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage     With solemn touches, troubld thoughts, and chase     Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain     From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they     Breathing united force with fixed thought     Movd on in silence to soft Pipes that charmd     Thir painful steps ore the burnt soyle; and now     Advanct in view they stand, a horrid Front     Of dreadful length and dazling Arms, in guise     Of Warriers old with orderd Spear and Shield,     Awaiting what command thir mighty Chief     Had to impose: He through the armed Files     Darts his experienct eye, and soon traverse     The whole Battalion views, thir order due,     Thir visages and stature as of Gods,     Thir number last he summs. And now his heart     Distends with pride, and hardning in his strength     Glories: For never since created man,     Met such imbodied force, as namd with these     Could merit more then that small infantry     Warrd on by Cranes: though all the Giant brood     Of Phlegra with th Heroic Race were joynd     That fought at Thebs and Ilium, on each side     Mixt with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds     In Fable or Romance of Uthers Son     Begirt with British and Armoric Knights;     And all who since, Baptizd or Infidel     Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,     Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,     Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore     When Charlemain with all his Peerage fell     By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond     Compare of mortal prowess, yet observd     Thir dread Commander: he above the rest     In shape and gesture proudly eminent     Stood like a Towr; his form had yet not lost     All her Original brightness, nor appeard     Less then Arch Angel ruind, and th excess     Of Glory obscurd: As when the Sun new risn     Looks through the Horizontal misty Air     Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon     In dim Eclips disastrous twilight sheds     On half the Nations, and with fear of change     Perplexes Monarchs. Darknd so, yet shon     Above them all th Arch Angel: but his face     Deep scars of Thunder had intrencht, and care     Sat on his faded cheek, but under Browes     Of dauntless courage, and considerate Pride     Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast     Signs of remorse and passion to behold     The fellows of his crime, the followers rather     (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemnd     For ever now to have their lot in pain,     Millions of Spirits for his fault amerct     Of Heavn, and from Eternal Splendors flung     For his revolt, yet faithfull how they stood,     Thir Glory witherd. As when Heavens Fire     Hath scathd the Forrest Oaks, or Mountain Pines,     With singed top their stately growth though bare     Stands on the blasted Heath. He now prepard     To speak; whereat their doubld Ranks they bend     From Wing to Wing, and half enclose him round     With all his Peers: attention held them mute.     Thrice he assayd, and thrice in spite of scorn,     Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last     Words interwove with sighs found out their way.     O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers     Matchless, but with th Almighty, and that strife     Was not inglorious, though th event was dire,     As this place testifies, and this dire change     Hateful to utter: but what power of mind     Foreseeing or presaging, from the Depth     Of knowledge past or present, could have feard,     How such united force of Gods, how such     As stood like these, could ever know repulse?     For who can yet beleeve, though after loss,     That all these puissant Legions, whose exile     Hath emptied Heavn, shall fail to re-ascend     Self-raisd, and repossess their native seat.     For me, be witness all the Host of Heavn,     If counsels different, or danger shund     By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns     Monarch in Heavn, till then as one secure     Sat on his Throne, upheld by old repute,     Consent or custome, and his Regal State     Put forth at full, but still his strength conceald,     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 warr, provokt; 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 Heavn 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     Caelestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th Abyss     Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts     Full Counsel must mature: Peace is despaird,     For who can think Submission? Warr then, Warr     Open or understood must be resolvd.     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 illumind hell: highly they ragd     Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms     Clashd on their sounding shields the din of war,     Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heavn.     There stood a Hill not far whose griesly top     Belchd fire and rowling smoak; the rest entire     Shon with a glossie scurff, undoubted sign     That in his womb was hid metallic Ore,     The work of Sulphur. Thither wingd with speed     A numerous Brigad hastend. As when bands     Of Pioners with Spade and Pickaxe armd     Forerun the Royal Camp, to trench a Field,     Or cast a Rampart. Mammon led them on,     Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell     From heavn, for evn in heavn his looks and thoughts     Were always downward bent, admiring more     The riches of Heavns pavement, trodn Gold,     Then aught divine or holy else enjoyd     In vision beatific: by him first     Men also, and by his suggestion taught,     Ransackd the Center, and with impious hands     Rifld the bowels of thir mother Earth     For Treasures better hid. Soon had his crew     Opnd into the Hill a spacious wound     And digd out ribs of Gold. Let none admire     That riches grow in Hell; that soyle may best     Deserve the pretious bane. And here let those     Who boast in mortal things, and wondring tell     Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings,     Learn how thir 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 toyle     And hands innumerable scarce perform     Nigh on the Plain in many cells prepard,     That underneath had veins of liquid fire     Slucd from the Lake, a second multitude     With wondrous Art founded the massie Ore,     Severing each kinde, and scumd the Bullion dross:     A third as soon had formd within the ground     A various mould, and from the boyling cells     By strange conveyance filld each hollow nook,     As in an Organ from one blast of wind     To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths.     Anon out of the earth a Fabrick 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 there want     Cornice or Freeze, with bossy Sculptures gravn,     The Roof was fretted Gold. Not Babilon,     Nor great Alcairo such magnificence     Equald in all thir glories, to inshrine     Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or seat     Thir Kings, when Aegypt with Assyria strove     In wealth and luxurie. Th ascending pile     Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores     Opning thir brazen foulds discover wide     Within, her ample spaces, ore the smooth     And level pavement: from the arched roof     Pendant by suttle Magic many a row     Of Starry Lamps and blazing Cressets fed     With Naphtha and Asphaltus yeilded light     As from a sky. The hasty multitude     Admiring enterd, and the work some praise     And some the Architect: his hand was known     In Heavn by many a Towred structure high,     Where Scepterd Angels held thir residence,     And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King     Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,     Each in his Hierarchie, the Orders bright.     Nor was his name unheard or unadord     In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land     Men calld him Mulciber; and how he fell     From Heavn, they fabld, thrown by angry Jove     Sheer ore the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn     To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,     A Summers day; and with the setting Sun     Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star,     On Lemnos th gaean Ile: thus they relate,     Erring; for he with this rebellious rout     Fell long before; nor aught availd him now     To have built in Heavn high Towrs; nor did he scape     By all his Engins, but was headlong sent     With his industrious crew to build in hell.     Mean while the winged Haralds by command     Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony     And Trumpets sound throughout the Host proclaim     A solemn Councel forthwith to be held     At Pandmonium, the high Capital     Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons calld     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 throngd, the Gates     And Porches wide, but chief the spacious Hall     (Though like a coverd field, where Champions bold     Wont ride in armd, and at the Soldans chair     Defid the best of Panim chivalry     To mortal combat or carreer with Lance)     Thick swarmd, both on the ground and in the air,     Brusht with the hiss of russling wings. As Bees     In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,     Pour forth thir populous youth about the Hive     In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers     Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank,     The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel,     New rubd with Baume, expatiate and confer     Thir State affairs. So thick the aerie crowd     Swarmd and were straitnd; till the Signal givn,     Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd     In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons     Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room     Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race     Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves,     Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side     Or Fountain some belated Peasant sees,     Or dreams he sees, while over head the Moon     Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth     Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth and dance     Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear;     At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.     Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms     Reducd thir shapes immense, and were at large,     Though without number still amidst the Hall     Of that infernal Court. But far within     And in thir own dimensions like themselves     The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim     In close recess and secret conclave sat     A thousand Demy-Gods on golden seats,     Frequent and full. After short silence then     And summons read, the great consult began.