O myriads of immortal Spi'rits, O Powers
Matchlefs, but with th' Almighty, and that strife
Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire,
As this place teftifies, and this dire change
Hateful to utter but what pow'r of mind
Foreseeing or prefaging, from the depth
Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd,
How fuch united force of gods, how fuch
As stood like thefe, could ever know repulfe?
For who can yet believe, though after lofs,
That all these puiffant legions, whofe exile
Hath emptied Heav'n, fhall fail to re-afcend
Self-rais'd, and repoffefs their native feat?
For me be witness all the host of Heav'n,
If counfels different, or danger shunn'd
By me, have loft our hopes. But he who reigns
Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one fecure
Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
Confent or custom, and his regal state
Put forth at full, but ftill his ftrength conceal'd,
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 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 650
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 fons of Heav'n
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' abyfs
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full council muft mature: peace is defpair'd,
For who can think fubmiffion? War then, war
Open or understood must be refolv'd.
He spake: and to confirm his words, out-few Millions of flaming swords, 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 grasped arms
Clash'd on their founding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav'n.
There stood a hill not far, whöfe grifly top
Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire
Shone with a gloffy fcurf, undoubted sign
That in his womb was hid metallic oré,
The work of fulphur. Thither wing'd with speed
A numerous brigad haften'd: as when bands
Of pioneers with spade and pickaxe arm'd
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Volume I.
Or caft a rampart. Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the leaft erected fpi'rit that fell
From Heav'n,for e'en in Heav'n his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more 681
The riches of Heav'n's pavement, trodden gold,
Than ought divine or holy elfe enjoy'd
In vifion beatific: by him first
Men alfo, and by his suggestion taught,
Ranfack'd the center, 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 690
That riches grow in Hell; that foil may best
Deferve 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 out-done
By fpirits reprobate, and in an hour
What in an age they with inceffant toil
And hands innumerable scarce perform.
Nigh on the plain in many cells perpar'd,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluc'd from the lake, a fecond multitude
With wondrous art founded the maffy ore,
Seve'ring each kind, and scumm'd the bullion drofs: A third as foon had form'd within the ground 705
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 found-board breathes.
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge
Stood fix'd her stately highth, and strait 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 fome praise
And fome the architect: his hand was known
In Heav'n by many a towered structure high,
Where scepter'd angels held their residence,
And fat as princes, whom the fúpreme King
Exalted to such power, and gave 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 crystal battlements; from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A fummer's day; and with the setting fun
Dropt from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos th' Æ'gean ile: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor ought avail'd him now
To' have built in Heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'scape
By all his engins, but was headlong fent
With his industrious crew to build in Hell.
Mean while the winged heralds by command
Of fovran pow'r, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's found, throughout the host proclama A folemn council forthwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers: their fummons call'd
From every band and fquared regiment
By place or choice the worthieft; they anon
With hundreds and with thousands trooping came
Attended: all access was throng'd, the gates,
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