Stood fixed her stately height: and straight 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 entered, and the work some praise, And some the architect: his hand was know i In Heaven by many a towered structure high Where sceptred angels held their residence, And sat as princes; whom the supreme King Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unadored In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell
From Heaven 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, Dropped from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos, the Æ'gean isle: thus they relate, Erring; for he, with this rebellious rout,
Fell long before; nor aught availed him now
To have built in Heaven high towers; nor did he 'scape
By all his engines; but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in Hell.
Meanwhile, the wingèd heralds, by command
Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony
And trumpets' sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council, forwith to be held
At Pandemonium, the high capital
Of Satan and his peers; their summons called 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 thronged; the gates
And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall, (Though like a covered field, where champions bold Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan's chair Defied the best of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or career with lance,) Thick swarmed, both on the ground, and in the air, Brushed 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 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 rubbed with balm, expatiate, and confer Their state affairs: so thick the airy crowd
Swarmed and were straitened; till, the signal given, Behold a wonder! they, but now who seemed In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons,
Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberless, like that Pygmëan 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 dance Intent, with jocund music charm his ear:
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.
THE Consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle be 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 Showers 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 displayed:
"Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven! "For, since no deep within her gulf can hold "Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen, "I give not Heaven for lost. From this descent "Celestial virtues rising, will appear
"More glorious and more dread than from no fall,
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