[o undergo eternal punishment ?"

In billows, leave i' the midst a horrid vale. · \Vhereto with speedy words the arch-fiend replied, Then with expanded wings he steers his flight “ Fall'n cherub, to be weak is miserable

Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air Doing or suffering; but of this be sure,

That felt unusual weight; till on dry land Io do aught good never will be our task,

He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd But ever to do ill our sole delight,

With solid, as the lake with liquid fire; As being the contrary to his high will

And such appear'd in hue, as when the force Whom we resist. If then his providence

Of subterranean wind transports a hill Dut of our evil seek to bring forth good,

Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd side Dur labour must be to pervert that end,

Of thundering Ætna, whose combustible And out of good still to find means of evil; And fuellid entrails thence conceiving fire, Which oft-times may succeed, so as perhaps

Sublim'd with mineral fury, aid the winds, Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb

And leave a singed bottom all involv'd His inmost counsels from their destin'd aim. With stench and smoke : such resting found the But see, the angry victor hath recallid

sole His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

Of unblest feet. Him follow'd his next mate. Back to the gates of Heaven : the sulphurous hail, Both glorying to have 'scap'd the Stygian flood Shot after us in storm, o'erblown, hath laid

As gods, and by their own recover'd strength, The fiery surge, that from the precipice

Not by the sufferance of supernal Power. of Heaven receiv'd us falling, and the thunder, “ Is this the region, this the soil, the climc," Wing'd with red lightning and impetuous rage, Said then the lost arch-angel, “ this the seat Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now That we must change for Heaven : this mournful To bellow through the vast and boundless deep.

gloom Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn, For that celestial light ? Be it so, since he, Or satiate fury, yield it from our foe.

Who now is Sovran, can dispose and bid Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, What shall be right : farthest from him is best, The seat of desolation, void of light,

Whom reason hath equall'd, force hath made suSave what the glimmering of these livid flames

preme Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields, From off the tossing of these fiery waves ;

Where joy for ever dwells. Hail horrours, hail There rest, if any rest can harbour there;

Infernal world, and thou, profoundest Hell, And, re-assembling our afflicted powers,

Receive thy new possessor, one who brings Consult how we may henceforth most offend A mind not to be chang'd by place or time : Our enemy; our own loss how repair;

The mind is its own place, and in itself How overcome this dire calamity ;

Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What reinforcement we may gain from hope ; What matter where, if I be still the same, If not, what resolution from despair.'

And what I should be, all but less than he Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate,

Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes. We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built That sparkling blaz’d; bis other parts besides, Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : Prone on the flood, extended long and large, Here we may reign secure, and, in my choice, Lay floating many a rood; in bulk as huge To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell : As whom the fables name of monstrous size, Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove; But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, Briareos or Typhon, whom the den

The associates and copartners of our loss, By ancient Tarsus held; or that sea-beast

Lie thus astonish'd on the oblivious pool, Leviathan, which God of all his works

And call them not to share with us their part Created hugest that swim the ocean stream: In this unhappy mansion ; or once more Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam With rallied arms to try what may be yet The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff Regain'd in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?” Deeming some island, oft, as sea-men tell,

So Satan spake, and him Beëlzebub With fixed anchor in his scaly rind

Thus answer'd; “ Leader of those armies bright, Moors by his side under the lee, while night Which but the Omnipotent none could have foil'd, Invests the sea, and wished morn delays :

If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge So stretch'd out huge in length the arch-fiend lay Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft Chain’d on the burning lake : nor ever thence In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Had ris'n or heav'd his head; but that the will Of battle when it rag'd, in all assaults And high permission of all-ruling Heaven Their surest signal, they will soon resume Left him at large to his own dark designs ;

New courage and revive ; though now they lie That with reiterated crimes he might

Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, Heap on himself damnation, while he sought As we ere while, astounded and amaz’d; Evil to others; and, enrag'd, might see

No wonder, fall’n such a pernicious highth.” How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth

He scarce had ceas'd when the superior fiend Infinite goodness, grace and mercy, shown

Was moving toward the shore : his ponderous On Man by him seduc'd; but on himself

shield, Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour’d. Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool Behind him cast ; the broad circumference His mighty stature ; on each hand the flames, Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose orb Driven backward, slope their pointing spires, and Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views rollid

At evening from the top of Pesolé,

Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,

Their great commander ; godlike shapes and forts Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.

Excelling human, princely, dignities, His spear, to equal with the tallest pine

And powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones, Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast

Though of their names in heavenly records now Of some great ammiral, were but a wand,

Be no memorial; blotted out and ras'd He walk'd with, to support uneasy steps

By their rebellion from the books of life. Over the burning marle, not like those steps Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve On Heaven's azure, and the torrid clime

Got them new names, till, wandering o'er the Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire :

Earth, Nathless he so endur'd, till on the beach

Through God's high sufferance for the trial of Of that inflamed sea he stood, and call'd

man,
His legions, angel forms, who lay intranc'd By falsities and lies the greatest part
Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks Of mankind they corrupted to forsake
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades, God their Creator, and th' invisible
High over-arch'd, imbower; or scatter'd sedge Glory of him that made them to transform
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'er- With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
threw

And devils to adore for deities :
Busiris, and his Memphian chivalry,

Then were they known to men by various names, While with perfidious hatred they pursued And various idols through the Heathen world.

I The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld

Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, From the safe shore their floating carcasses

who last,
And broken chariot wheels : so thick bestrown, Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery couch,
Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood, At their great emperor's call, as next in worth
Under amazement of their hideous change.

Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep

While the promiscuous cloud stood yet aloof. Of Hell resounded. “ Princes, potentates,

The chief were those, who, from the pit of Hell Warriors, the flower of Heaven, once yours, now Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix lost,

Their seats long after next the seat of God. If such astonishment as this can seize

Their altars by his altar, gods ador'd Eternal spirits ; or have ye chos'n this place Among the nations round, and durst abide After the toil of battle to repose

Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find

Between the cherubim ; yea, often plac'd To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven ? Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, Or in this abject posture have ye sworn

Abominations; and with cursed things T'adore the Conqueror ? who now beholds His holy rites and solemn feasts profan'd, Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood

And with their darkness durst affront his light. With scatter'd arms and ensigns, till anon

First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears ; Th' advantage, and, descending, tread us down Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Their

children's cries unhcard, that pass'd through Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf,

fire
Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n.” (sprung To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite

They heard, and were abas'd, and up they Worshipt in Rabba and her watry plain,
Upon the wing ; as when men wont to watch In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake; Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight

Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; His temple right against the temple of God,
Yet to their general's voice they soon obey

On that opprobrious hill; and made his grove
Innumerable. As when the potent rod

The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day,

And black Gehenna callid, the type of Hell. Wav'd round the coast, up call’d a pitchy cloud Next, Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moab's sons, Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,

| From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild
That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung | Of southmost Abarim ; in Hesebon
Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile : And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
So numberless were those bad angels seen

The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines,
Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell, And Eleale to th’ Asphaltic pool.
Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires, Peor his other name, when he entic'd
Till, as a signal given, the up-lifted spear

Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,
Of their great Sultan waving to direct

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.
Their course, in even balance down they light Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarg'd
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain. Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove
A multitude, like which the populous North Of Moloch homicide ; lust hard by hate ;
Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass

Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell,
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons With these came they, who, from the bord'ring
Came like a deluge on the South, and spread

flood Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands.

Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts Forthwith from ev'ry squadron and each band Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names The heads and leaders thither haste where stood Of Baalim and Ashtaroth; those male,

11

These feminine : for spirits, when they please, Vice for itself: to him no temple stood
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft

Or altar smok'd; yet who more oft than he
And uncompounded is their essence pure; In temples and at altars, when the priest
Not tied or manacled with joint or limb,

Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who fill'd Not founded on the brittle strength of bones, With lust and violence the house of God? Likė cumbrous flesh; but, in what slape they in courts and palaces he also reigns, choose,

And in luxurious cities, where the noise Dilated or condens'd, bright or obscure,

Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers, Can execute their aery purposes,

And injury and outrage : and when night And works of love or enmity fulfil.

Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons For those the race of Israel oft forsook

Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. Their living strength, and unfrequented left Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night His righteous altar, bowing lowly down

In Gibeah, when the hospitable door To bestial gods ; for which their heads as low Expos'd a matron, to avoid worse rape. Bow'd down in battle, sunk before the spear These were the prime in order and in might : Of despicable foes. With these in troop

The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd, Came Astoreth, whom the Phænicians call'd The Ionian gods, of Javan's issue ; held Astarte, queen of Heaven, with crescent horns ; Gods, yet confess'd later than Heaven and Earth, To whose bright image nightly by the Moon Their boasted parents : Titan, Heaven's first-born, Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs; With his enormous brood, and birthright seiz'd In Sion also not unsung, where stood

By younger Saturn; he from mightier Jove, Her temple on the offensive mountain, built His own and Rhea's son, like measure found; By that uxorious king, whose heart, though large, So Jove usurping reign'd : these first in Crete Beguil'd by fair idolatresses, fell

And Ida known, thence on the snowy top To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Of bold Olympus, rul'd the middle air, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd

Their highest Heaven ; or on the Delphian cliff, The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds In amorous ditties all a summer's day;

Of Doric land : or who with Saturn old While smooth Adonis from his native rock

Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields, Ran purple to the sea, suppos'd with blood

And o'er the Celtic roam'd the utmost isles. of Thammuz yearly wounded : the love-tale All these and more came flocking ; but with Infected Sion's daughters with like heat ;

looks Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch

Down-cast and damp; yet such wherein appear'd Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led,

Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their His eye survey'd the dark idolatries

chief Of alienated Judah. Next came one

Not in despair, to 'ave found themselves not lost Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive ark In loss itself ; which on his countenance cast Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lopt off Like doubtful hue : but he, his wonted pride In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,

Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Where he fell flat, and sham'd his worshippers : Semblance of worth, not substance, gently rais d Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man Their fainting courage, and dispellid their fears. And downward fish: yet had his temple high Then straight commands, that at the warlike sound Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast Of trumpets loud and clarions be uprear'd Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,

His mighty standard ; that proud honour claim'd And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.

Azazel as his right, a cherub tall ; Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful seat Who forthwith froin the glittering staff unfurl'd Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks

The imperial ensign ; which, full high advanc'd, Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.

Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind, He also against the house of God was bold ! With gems and golden lustre rich imblaz’d, A leper once he lost, and gain'd a king;

Seraphic arms and trophies; all the while Ahaz his sottish conqueror, whom he drew

Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds : God's altar to disparage and displace

At which the universal host up-sent For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn

A shout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond His odious offerings, and adore the gods

Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night, Whom he had vanquish'd. After these appear'd All in a moment through the gloom were seen A crew, who, under names of old reŋown,

Ten thousand banners rise into the air Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train,

With orient colours waving : with them rose With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd A forest huge of spears; and thronging helms Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek

Appear'd, and serried shields in thick array
Their wandering gods disguis'd in brutish forms Of depth immeasurable ; anon they move
Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood
The infection, when their borrow'd gold compos'd Of Autes and soft recorders; such as rais'd
The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king

To highth of noblest temper heroes old
Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,

Arming to battle ; and instead of rage Likening his Maker to the grazed ox ;

Deliberate valour breath'd, firm and unmovid Jehovah, who in one night, when he pass'd With dread of death to flight or foul retreat : From Egypt marching, equall'd with one stroke Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage Both her first-born and all her bleating gods. With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase Belial came last, than whoin a spirit more lewd Anguish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love

pain,

From mortal or immortal minds.

Thus they, How such united force of gods, how such Breathing united force, with fixed thought, As stood like these, could ever know repulse ? Mov'd on in silence to soft pipes, that charm'd For who can yet believe, though after loss, Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil : and now. That all these puissant legions, whose exile Advanc'd in view they stand; a horrid front Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to re-ascend Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise Self-rais'd, and repossess their native seat ? Of warriors old with order'd spear and shield; For me, be witness all the host of Heaven, Awaiting what command their mighty chief If counsels different, or dangers shunn'd Had to impose : he through the armed files By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns Darts his experienc'd eye, and soon traverse Monarch in Heaven, till then as one secure The whole battalion views, their order due,

Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, Their visages and stature as of gods;

Consent or custom; and his regal state Their number last he sums. And now his heart Put forth at full, but still his strength conceald, Distends with pride, and hardening in his strength Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Glories : for never, since created man,

Henceforth his might we know and know our own : Met such imbodied force, as nam'd with these So as not either to provoke, or dread Could merit more than that small infantry

New war, provok'd; our better part remains
Warr'd on by cranes : though all the giant brood To work in close design, by fraud or guile,
Of Phlegra with the heroic race were join'd

What force effected not : that he no less
That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side At length from us may find, who overcomes
Mix'd with auxiliar gods; and what resounds By force, hath overcome but half his foe.
In fable or romance of Uther's son

Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife Begirt with British and Armoric knights ;

There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long And all who since, baptiz'd or infidel,

Intended to create, and therein plant Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban,

A generation, whom his choice regard Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,

Should favour equal to the sons of Heaven : Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore,

Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps When Charlemain with all his peerage fell

Our first eruption; thither or elsewhere ; By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond

For this infernal pit shall never hold Compare of mortal prowess, yet obscrv'd

Celestial spirits in bondage, nor the abyss Their dread commander : he, above the rest Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts In shape and gesture proudly eminent,

Full counsel must mature: peace is despaird ; Stood like a tower ; his form had yet not lost For who can think submission? War, then, war, All her original brightness; nor appear'd

Open or understood, must be resolv'd." Less than arch-angel ruin'd, and the excess

He spake : and, to confirm his words, out-flew Of glory obscur'd: as when the Sun, new risen, Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Looks through the horizontal misty air

Of mighty cherubim; the sudden blaze
Shorn of his beams; or from behind the Moon, Far round illumin’d Hell : highly they rag'd
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds

Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms, On half the nations, and with fear of change Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war, Perplexes monarchs. Darken'd so, yet shone Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven. Above them all the arch-angel : but his face

There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Deep scars of thunder had intrench’d; and care Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows

Shone with a glossy scurf; undoubted sign Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride That in his womb was hid metallic ore, Waiting revenge; cruel his eye, but cast

The work of sulphur. Thither, wing'd with speed, Signs of remorse and passion, to behold

A numerous brigade hasten'd: as when bands The fellows of his crime, the followers ratlier, Of pioneers, with spade and pick-ax arm'd, (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, For ever now to have their lot in pain :

Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on : Millions of spirits for his fault amere'd

Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell Of Heaven, and from eternal splendours flung From Heaven; for e'en in Heaven his looks and For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,

thoughts Their glory wither'd: as when Heaven's fire Were always downward bent, admiring more Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines, The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Than aught, divine or holy, else enjoy'd Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd In vision beatific: by him first To speak ; whereat their doubled ranks they bend Men also, and by his suggestion taught, From wing to wing, and half enclose him round Ransack'd the centre, and with impious hands With all his peers : attention held them mute. Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth Thrice he assay'd, and thrice, in spite of scorn, For treasures, better hid. Soon had his crew Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth : at last Open'd into the hill a spacious wound, Words, interwove with sighs, found out their way. And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admise

“O myriads of immortal spirits, O powers That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best Matchless, but with the Almighty; and that strife Deserve the precious bane. And here let those, Was not inglorious, though the event was dire, Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell As this place testifies, and this dire change, Of Bahel, and the works of Memphian kings, Hateful to utter : but what power of mind, Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth

And strength and art, are easily out-done Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd By spirits reprobate, and in an hour

;

What in an age they with incessant toil

To mortal combat, or career with lance) And hands innumerable scarce perform.

Thick swarm’d, both on the ground and in the air Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepar'd,

Brush'd with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees That underneath had veins of liquid fire

In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides, Sluic'd from the lake, a second multitude

Pour forth their populous youth about the hive With wonderous art founded the massy ore, In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers Severing each kind, and scumm’d the bullion dross: Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, A third as soon had form'd within the ground The suburb of their straw-built citadel, A various mould, and from the boiling cells, New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer By strange conveyance, fill'd each hollow nook ; Their state affairs. So thick the aery croud As in an organ, from one blast of wind,

Swarm'd and were straiten’d; till, the signal given, To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes. Behold a wonder! They but now who seem'd Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge

In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons, Rose like an exhalation, with the sound

Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room Of dulcet symphonies and voices swect,

Throng numberless, like that pygmean race Built like a temple, where pilasters round

Beyond the Indian mount; or faery elves, Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side With golden architrave ; nor did there want Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven : Or dreains he sees while over-head the Moon The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence

Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and Equall'd in all their glories, to enshrine

dance Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat

Intent, with jocund music charm his ear Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms Stood fix'd her stately height: and straight the Reduce their shapes immense, and were at large, doors,

Though without number still, amidst the hall Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide

Of that infernal court. But far within, Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth

And in their own dimensions, like themselves, And level pavement; from the arched roof The great seraphic lords and cherubim Pendent by subtle magic many a row

In close recess and secret conclave sat;
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed

A thousand demi-gods on golden seats,
With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light Frequent and full. After short silence then,
As from a sky. The hasty multitude

And summons read, the great consult began.
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,

Book II.
Where scepter'd angels held their residence,
And sat as princes; whom the supreme king

The Argument.
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright.

The consultation begun, Satan debates whether anNor was his name unheard, or unador'd,

other battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land

Heaven : some advise it, others dissuade: a Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell

third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by From Heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or Sheer o'er the crystal battlements : from morn tradition in Heaven concerning another world, To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,

and another kind of creature equal or not much A summer's day; and with the setting Sun

inferior to themselves, about this time to be Dropt from the zenith like a falling star,

created. Their doubt, who shall be sent on this On Lemnos the Ægean isle : thus they relate, difficult search; Satan their chief undertakes Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

alone the voyage, is honoured and applauded. Fell long before ; nor aught avail'd him now

The council thus ended, the rest betake them To liave built in Heaven high towers; nor did he several ways, and to several employments, as 'scape

their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time By all his engines, but was headlong sent

till Satan return. He passes on his journey to With his industrious crew, to build in Hell.

Hell gates ; finds them shut, and who sat there Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command to guard them; by whom at length they are Of sovran power, with awful ceremony

opened, and discover to him the great gulf beAnd trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim tween Hell and Heaven ; with what difficulty he A solemn council, forthwith to be held

passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of At Pandemonium; the high capital

that place, to the sight of this new world which Of Satan and his peers; their summons call’d he sought. From every band and squared regiment By place or choice the worthiest ; they anon, High on a throne of royal state, which far With hundreds and with thousands, trooping came, Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Attended : all access was throng'd : the gates Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, (Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold Satan exalted sat, by merit rais’d Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldan's chair To that bad eminence : and, from despair Defied the best of Panim chivalry

Thus high uplifted bevond hope, aspires