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 aëry crowd 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 fairy elves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while over head the moon Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and Intent, with jocund music charm his ear; [dance At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms
Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large, Though without number still, amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimensions like themselves, The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim, In close recess and secret conclave sat, A thousand Demi-gods on golden seats, Frequent and full. After short silence then, And summons read, the great consult began.
777. We here see the use of the lines on the nature of spirits, which prepare the reader for the wonders afterward related. 785. Arbitress, witness, or spectatress. Allusion is here made to the superstitious belief in the power of witches over the moon 797. Frequent. like the Latin frequens, meaning full.
The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle De to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it, others dissuade: a third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature, equal or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created: their doubt who shall be sent on this difficult search: Satan their chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways, and to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell-gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the great gulf between Hell and Heaven; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought.
HIGH on a throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heaven; and, by success untaught, His proud imaginations thus display'd:
Pow'rs and Dominions, Deities of Heaven,
For since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigour, though oppress'd and fall'n, I give not Heav'n for lost. From this descent Celestial virtues rising, will appear
More glorious and more dread than from no fall, And trust themselves to fear no second fate. Me, though just right, and the fix'd laws of Heav'n, Did first create your leader, next free choice, With what besides, in council or in fight, Hath been achieved of merit; yet this loss, Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more Establish'd in a safe unenvied throne,
2. Ormus is an island in the Persian Gulf, and, together with India, produces many of the treasures enumerated in this passage. 11. St. Paul divides the angeis, into thrones, dominions, principalities, &c.-See Col. i. 16.
Yielded with full consent. The happier state In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw Envy from each inferior; but who here Will envy whom the highest place exposes Foremost to stand against the Thund'rer's aim Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share Of endless pain? Where there is then no good For which to strive, no strife can grow up there From faction; for none sure will claim in Hell Precedence; none, whose portion is so small Of present pain, that with ambitious mind Will covet more. With this advantage then To union, and firm faith, and firm accord, More than can be in Heav'n, we now return To claim our just inheritance of old, Surer to prosper than prosperity
Could have assured us; and by what best way, Whether of open war or covert guile,
We now debate: who can advise, may speak.
He ceased and next him Moloch, scepter'd king, Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest Sp❜rit That fought in Heav'n, now fiercer by despair. 45 His trust was with th' Eternal to be deem'd Equal in strength; and rather than be less, Cared not to be at all. With that care lost Went all his fear: of God, or Hell, or worse, He reck'd not; and these words thereafter spake: 50 My sentence is for open war of wiles
More unexpert I boast not them let those
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now. For while they sit contriving, shall the rest, Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait The signal to ascend, sit ling'ring here
Heav'n's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame, The prison of his tyranny who reigns
By our delay? No, let us rather choose,
Arm'd with Hell-flames and fury, all at once
O'er Heav'n's high tow'rs to force resistless way, Turning our tortures into horrid arms
Against the torturer; when to meet the noise Of his almighty engine he shall hear, Infernal thunder, and for lightning see
Black fire and horror shot with equal rage Among his Angels, and his throne itself Mix'd with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire, His own invented torments. But perhaps The way seems difficult and steep, to scale With upright wing against a higher foe. Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench Of that forgetful lake benumb not still, That in our proper motion we ascend Up to our native seat; descent and fall To us is adverse. Who but felt of late, When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear Insulting, and pursued us through the deep, With what compulsion and laborious flight We sunk thus low? Th' ascent is easy then; Th' event is fear'd. Should we again provoke Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find To our destruction, if there be in Hell
Fear to be worse destroy'd. What can be worse 85 Than to dwell here, driv'n out from bliss, condemn'd In this abhorred deep to utter woe,
Where pain of unextinguishable fire
Must exercise us without hope of end,
The vassals of his anger, when the scourge Inexorably, and the tort'ring hour
Calls us to penance? More destroy'd than thus, We should be quite abolish'd, and expire.
What fear we then? what doubt we to incense His utmost ire? which to the height enraged Will either quite consume us, and reduce To nothing this essential, happier far Than mis'rable to have eternal being. Or if our substance be indeed divine, And cannot cease to be, we are at worst On this side nothing; and by proof we feel Our pow'r sufficient to disturb his Heav'n, And with perpetual inroads to alarm, Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:
89. Exercised, this word is here used in the sense of the Latin exerceo, that is, to vex or trouble.
91. Inexorably-in some editions, inexorable.
92. By calling to penance, Milton seems to intimate, that the sufferings of the condemned spirits are not always equally severe. 104. Fatal, that is, upheld by fate.
Which, if not victory, is yet revenge.
He ended frowning, and his look denounced Desp❜rate revenge, and battle dangerous To less than Gods. On th' other side up rose Belial, in act more graceful and humane : A fairer person lost not Heav'n; he seem'd For dignity composed and high exploit: But all was false and hollow, though his tongue Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, to perplex and dash Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low; To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds Tim'rous and slothful: yet he pleased the ear, And with persuasive accent thus began:
I should be much for open war, O Peers! As not behind in hate, if what was urged Main reason to persuade immediate war, Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast Ominous conjecture on the whole success: When he who most excels in fact of arms, In what he counsels and in what excels Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair, And utter dissolution, as the scope
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.
First, what revenge? The tow'rs of Heav'n are fill'd With armed watch, that render all access
Impregnable; oft on the bord'ring deep Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing Scout far and wide into the realm of night, Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way By force, and at our heels all hell should rise With blackest insurrection, to confound Heav'n's purest light, yet our Great Enemy, All incorruptible, would on his throne Sit unpolluted, and th' ethereal mould Incapable of stain would soon expel Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final nope Is flat despair. We must exasperate
109. Belial's speech is in admirable conformity with the description given of his character in the first book. It is throughout that of a luxurious and base spirit, and is in fine contrast to that of Moloch.
124. Fact of arms from the Italian fatto d'arme, a battle.
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