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 651 Intended to create, and therein plant
A generation, whom his choice regard Should favor equal to the sons 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' abyss Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts Full council must mature: peace is despair'd, 660 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 tow'ard the vault of Heav'n.
There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top 670 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 numerous brigade hasten'd: as when bands 675 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 spi'rit that fell
From Heav'n, for e'en in Heav'n his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heav'n's pavement, trodden gold, Than aught divine or holy else enjoy'd'
In vision beatific: by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
Ransack'd the center, and with impious hands Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth
For treasures better hid.
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 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 695 And strength and art are easily out-done 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 Sluc'd from the lake, a second multitude With wondrous art founded the massy ore, Seve'ring each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross': A third as soon 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 sound-board 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 there want 7 Cornice or freeze, with bossy sculptures graven; The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, Nor great Alcairo such magnificence Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine 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 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 some praise And some the architect: his hand was known In Heav'n by many a towered structure high, Where scepter'd angels held their residence, And sat as princes, whom the supreme King 735
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unadorn'd In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell 740 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' 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 sent 750 With his industrious crew to build in Hell. Meanwhile the winged heralds by command Of sovian 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, 761 And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall (Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold Wont side 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 rustling wings. As bees In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides, Pour forth their populous youth about the hive 770 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 æry crowd 775 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 faery elves, Whose midnight revels by a forest side Or fountain some belated peasant secs,“ Or dreams he sees, while over-head the Moon Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 785 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 791 Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimensions like themselves,
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