Shall yield us, pregnant with infernal flame;
Which into hollow engines, long and round,
Thick ramm'd, at th' other bore with touch of fire 485
Dilated and infuriate, shall send forth
From far, with thund'ring noise among our foes,
Such implements of mischief, as shall dash
To pieces, and o'erwhelm whatever stands
Adverse, that they shall fear we have disarm'd 490
The Thund'rer of his only dreaded bolt.
Nor long shall be our labour; yet ere dawn,
Effect shall end our wish. Mean while revive;
Abandon fear; to strength and council join'd
Think nothing hard, much less to be despair'd. 495
He ended, and his words their drooping cheer
Enlighten'd, and their languish'd hope revived.
Th' invention all admired, and each, how he
To be th' inventor miss'd; so easy' it seem'd
Once found, which yet unfound most would have
Impossible; yet haply of thy race
In future days, if malice should abound,
Some one intent on mischief, or inspired
With dev'lish machination, might devise
Like instrument to plague the sons of men
For sin, on war and mutual slaughter bent.
Forthwith from council to the work they flew ;
None arguing stood; innumerable hands
Were ready; in a moment up they turn'd
Wide the celestial soil, and saw beneath
Th' originals of nature in their crude
Conception; sulphurous and nitrous foam
They found, they mingled, and with subtle art,
Concocted and adjusted they reduced
To blackest grain, and into store convey'd.
Part hidden veins digg'd up (nor hath this earth
Entrails unlike) of mineral and stone,
Whereof to found their engines and their balls
Of missive ruin; part incentive reed
Provide, pernicious with one touch to fire.
So all ere day-spring, under conscious night,
Secret they finish'd, and in order set,
20 Pernicious; to be understood, it is probable, as the Lati
With silent circumspection unespy'd.
Now when fair morn orient in Heav'n appear'd,
Up rose the victor Angels, and to arms
The matin-trumpet sung. In arms they stood
Of golden panoply, refulgent host,
Soon banded: others from the dawning hills
Look'd round, and scouts each coast light-armed scour, Each quarter, to descry the distant foe,
Where lodged, or whither fled, or if for fight,
In motion or in halt. Him soon they met
Under spread ensigns moving nigh, in slow
But firm battalion. Back with speediest sail
Zophiel, of Cherubim the swiftest wing,
Came flying, and in mid-air aloud thus cry'd:
Arm, Warriors, arm for fight; the foe at hand,
Whom fled we thought, will save us long pursuit
This day. Fear not his flight; so thick a cloud
He comes, and settled in his face I see
Sad resolution and secure. Let each
His adamantine coat gird well, and each
Fit well his helm, gripe fast his orbed shield,
Borne ev'n or high; for this day will pour down,
If I conjecture aught, no drizzling show'r,
But rattling storm of arrows barb'd with fire.
So warn'd he them, aware themselves, and soon In order, quit of all impediment;
Instant without disturb they took alarm,
And onward moved embattled; when behold,
Not distant far with heavy pace the foe
Approaching gross and huge, in hollow cube
Training his devilish engin'ry, impaled
On ev'ry side with shadowing squadrons deep,
To hide the fraud. At interview both stood
A while; but suddenly at head appear'd
Satan, and thus was heard commanding loud:
Vanguard, to right and left the front unfold,
That all may see who hate us, how we seek
Peace and composure, and with open breast
527. Panoply, complete armour.
535. Zophiel, the spy of God.
$41. Sad, sullen, or as in old authors grave and serious. 648. Impediment, like the Latin impedimenta, the baggage
533. Training, drawing in train.
Stand ready to receive them, if they like
Our overture, and turn not back perverse;
But that I doubt. However witness Heaven,
Heav'n witness thou anon, while we discharge
Freely our part; ye who appointed stand,
Do as ye have in charge, and briefly touch
What we propound, and loud that all may hear.
So scoffing in ambiguous words, he scarce
Had ended; when to right and left the front
Divided, and to either flank retired:
Which to our eyes discover'd, new and strange,
A triple mounted row of pillars laid
On wheels (for like to pillars most they seem'd,
Or hollow'd bodies made of oak or fir,
With branches lopt, in wood or mountain fell'd) 575
Brass, iron, stony mold, had not their mouths
With hideous orifice gaped on us wide,
Portending hollow truce. At each, behind,
A Seraph stood, and in his hand, a reed
Stood waving, tipt with fire: while we suspense 580 Collected stood within our thoughts amused,
Not long, for sudden all at once their reeds
Put forth, and to a narrow vent apply'd
With nicest touch. Immediate in a flame,
But soon obscured with smoke, all Heav'n appear'd,
From those deep-throated engines belch'd, whose roar
Imbowel'd with outrageous noise the air,
And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul
Their dev'lish glut, chain'd thunderbolts and hail
Of iron globes; which on the victor host
Levell'd with such impetuous fury smote,
That whom they hit, none on their feet might stand,
Though standing else as rocks, but down they fell
By thousands, Angel on Arch-Angel roll'd;
The sooner for their arms; unarm'd they might 595
Have easily as Spirits evaded swift
By quick contraction or remove; but now
Foul dissipation follow'd and forced rout;
Nor served it to relax their serried files.
576. Mold, substance. There are stone cannon, it is said, at Delft in Holland, and Milton is supposed to have taken this idea from having seen them,
580. Held, instead of stood, is proposed as a new reading. 599, Serried, from the Italian serrato; close, compact.
What should they do? lí on they rush'd, repulse 600
Repeated, and indecent overthrow
Doubled, would render them yet more despised,
And to their foes a laughter; for in view
Stood rank'd of Seraphim another row,
In posture to displode their second tire
Of thunder: back defeated to return
They worse abhorr'd. Satan beheld their plight,
And to his mates thus in derision call'd:
O Friends, why come not on these victors proud? Ere while they fierce were coming; and when we To entertain them fair with open front
And breast (what could we more ?) propounded terms Of composition, straight they changed their minds, Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell,
As they would dance; yet for a dance they seem'd
Somewhat extravagant and wild, perhaps
For joy of offer'd peace. But I suppose,
If our proposals once again were heard,
We should compel them to a quick result.
To whom thus Belial, in like gamesome mood: 620
Leader, the terms we sent were terms of weight,
Of hard contents, and full of force urged home,
Such as we might perceive amused them all,
And stumbled many; who receives them right,
Had need from head to foot well understand;
Not understood, this gift they have besides,
They shew us when our foes walk not upright.
So they among themselves in pleasant vein,
Stood scoffing, heighten'd in their thoughts beyond
All doubt of victory; Eternal Might
To match with their inventions they presumed
So easy', and of his thunder made a scorn,
And all his host derided, while they stood
A while in trouble: but they stood not long;
Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms
Against such hellish mischief fit to' oppose
Forthwith (behold the excellence, the pow'r,
Which God hath in his mighty Angels placed !)
Their arms away they threw, and to the hills
(For earth hath this variety from Heav'n
620. Belial was most fitted by his character to make the answe 635. See Virgil, Æn. i. 150.
Of pleasure situate in hill and dale)
Light as the lightning glimpse they ran, they flew;
From their foundations loos'ning to and fro,
They pluck'd the seated hills with all their load,
Rocks, waters, woods, and, by the shaggy tops
Uplifting, bore them in their hands. Amaze,
Be sure, and terror seized the rebel host,
When coming towards them so dread they saw
The bottom of the mountains upward turn'd;
Till on those cursed engines triple-row
They saw them whelm'd, and all their confidence
Under the weight of mountains buried deep;
Themselves invaded next, and on their heads
Main promontories flung, which in the air
Came shadowing, and oppress'd whole legions arm'd.
Their armour help'd their harm,crush'd in and bruis'd
Into their substance pent, which wrought them pain
Implacable, and many a dolorous groan
Long struggling underneath, ere they could wind
Out of such pris'n, though Spirits of purest light; 660
Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown.
The rest in imitation to like arms
Betook them, and the neighb'ring hills uptore:
So hills amid the air encounter'd hills,
Hurl'd to and fro with jaculation dire,
That under ground they fought in dismal shade;
Infernal noise! War seem'd a civil game
To this uproar: horrid confusion heap'd
Upon confusion rose: and now all Heav'n
Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread,
Had not th' Almighty Father, where he sits
Shrined in his sanctuary of Heav'n secure,
Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen
This tumult, and permitted all, advised:
That his great purpose he might so fulfil,
To honour his anointed Son avenged
661. It is hardly necessary to call the reader's attention to the admirable moral lesson given by the idea in this line.
669. It should be observed how the horrors thicken as this war of angels proceeds: no poet ever equalled the terrible sublimity of these descriptions. Homer we cannot doubt would have done so, had he had Milton's subject and the prophets' light which revelation gave him, but as it was, he could soar no higher than the hignest point of earth, which though he made it the very throne of sublimity was still but earth.
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