by John Milton

Original Text John Milton, Paradise Lost. 2nd edn. 1674.

1 Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

2 Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

3 Brought death into the world and all our woe,

5 Restore us and regain the blissful seat,

9 In the beginning how the heav’ns and earth

10 Rose out of Chaos; or if Sion hill

11 Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flow’d

12 Fast by the oracle of God, I thence

13 Invoke thy aid to my advent’rous song,

14 That with no middle flight intends to soar

16 Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

18 Before all temples th’ upright heart and pure,

19 Instruct me, for thou know’st; thou from the first

20 Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,

21 Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss

22 And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark

23 Illumine, what is low raise and support,

25 I may assert Eternal Providence

27 Say first–for Heav’n hides nothing from thy view,

28 Nor the deep tract of Hell–say first what cause

29 Mov’d our grand parents in that happy state,

30 Favour’d of Heav’n so highly, to fall off

32 For one restraint, lords of the world besides?

33 Who first seduc’d them to that foul revolt?

34 Th’ infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile,

35 Stirr’d up with envy and revenge, deceiv’d

36 The Mother of Mankind, what time his pride

37 Had cast him out from Heav’n, with all his host

38 Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring

39 To set himself in glory above his peers,

40 He trusted to have equall’d the Most High,

41 If he oppos’d; and with ambitious aim

42 Against the throne and monarchy of God

43 Rais’d impious war in Heav’n and battle proud,

44 With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power

45 Hurl’d headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky,

47 To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

48 In adamantine chains and penal fire,

49 Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.

50 Nine times the space that measures day and night

51 To mortal men, he with his horrid crew

53 Confounded though immortal. But his doom

54 Reserv’d him to more wrath; for now the thought

55 Both of lost happiness and lasting pain

58 Mix’d with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.

60 The dismal situation waste and wild:

61 A dungeon horrible on all sides round

62 As one great furnace flam’d; yet from those flames

63 No light, but rather darkness visible

64 Serv’d only to discover sights of woe,

65 Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace

66 And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

67 That comes to all, but torture without end

69 With ever-burning sulphur unconsum’d.

70 Such place Eternal Justice had prepar’d

71 For those rebellious; here their prison ordain’d

73 As far remov’d from God and light of Heav’n

75 Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!

76 There the companions of his fall, o’erwhelm’d

77 With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,

79 One next himself in power and next in crime,

80 Long after known in Palestine and nam’d

83 Breaking the horrid silence, thus began:

84 “If thou beest he–but oh how fall’n! how chang’d

85 From him who, in the happy realms of light,

86 Cloth’d with transcendent brightness didst outshine

87 Myriads though bright!–if he whom mutual league,

88 United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

89 And hazard in the glorious enterprise,

90 Join’d with me once, now misery hath join’d

91 In equal ruin, into what pit thou seest

92 From what highth fall’n. So much the stronger prov’d

94 The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,

95 Nor what the potent victor in his rage

96 Can else inflict, do I repent or change,

97 Though chang’d in outward lustre, that fix’d mind,

99 That with the mightiest rais’d me to contend,

100 And to the fierce contention brought along

101 Innumerable force of Spirits arm’d,

102 That durst dislike his reign and, me preferring,

103 His utmost power with adverse power oppos’d

104 In dubious battle on the plains of Heav’n,

105 And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?

106 All is not lost–the unconquerable will,

108 And courage never to submit or yield:

109 And what is else not to be overcome?

110 That glory never shall his wrath or might

111 Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace

112 With suppliant knee, and deify his power

113 Who from the terror of this arm so late

114 Doubted his empire, that were low indeed;

115 That were an ignominy and shame beneath

116 This downfall: since by fate the strength of Gods

118 Since through experience of this great event

119 In arms not worse, in foresight much advanc’d,

120 We may with more successful hope resolve

121 To wage by force or guile eternal war,

122 Irreconcilable to our grand foe,

123 Who now triumphs and, in th’ excess of joy

125 So spake th’ apostate Angel, though in pain,

126 Vaunting aloud, but rack’d with deep despair.

127 And him thus answer’d soon his bold compeer:

128 “O Prince, O Chief of many throned Powers,

129 That led th’ embattl’d Seraphim to war

130 Under thy conduct and, in dreadful deeds

131 Fearless, endanger’d Heav’n’s perpetual King,

132 And put to proof his high supremacy,

133 Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate,

134 Too well I see and rue the dire event

135 That with sad overthrow and foul defeat

136 Hath lost us Heav’n, and all this mighty host

137 In horrible destruction laid thus low,

139 Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains

140 Invincible, and vigour soon returns,

141 Though all our glory extinct, and happy state

142 Here swallow’d up in endless misery.

143 But what if he our conqueror (whom I now

145 Than such could have o’erpow’r’d such force as ours)

146 Have left us this our spirit and strength entire,

147 Strongly to suffer and support our pains,

148 That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,

149 Or do him mightier service as his thralls

150 By right of war, whate’er his business be,

151 Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire,

152 Or do his errands in the gloomy deep:

153 What can it then avail though yet we feel

154 Strength undiminish’d, or eternal being

155 To undergo eternal punishment?”

156 Whereto with speedy words th’ Arch-Fiend replied:

158 Doing or suffering: but of this be sure,

159 To do aught good never will be our task,

160 But ever to do ill our sole delight,

161 As being the contrary to his high will

162 Whom we resist. If then his providence

163 Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,

164 Our labour must be to pervert that end,

165 And out of good still to find means of evil;

166 Which ofttimes may succeed so as perhaps

168 His inmost counsels from their destin’d aim.

169 But see! the angry victor hath recall’d

170 His ministers of vengeance and pursuit

171 Back to the gates of Heav’n: the sulphurous hail,

172 Shot after us in storm, o’erblown hath laid

173 The fiery surge that from the precipice

174 Of Heav’n receiv’d us falling, and the thunder,

175 Wing’d with red lightning and impetuous rage,

176 Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now

177 To bellow through the vast and boundless deep.

178 Let us not slip th’ occasion, whether scorn

179 Or satiate fury yield it from our foe.

180 Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild,

181 The seat of desolation, void of light,

182 Save what the glimmering of these livid flames

183 Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend

184 From off the tossing of these fiery waves;

185 There rest, if any rest can harbour there,

188 Our enemy, our own loss how repair,

189 How overcome this dire calamity,

190 What reinforcement we may gain from hope,

191 If not, what resolution from despair.”

192 Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate,

193 With head uplift above the wave, and eyes

194 That sparkling blaz’d; his other parts besides,

196 Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge

197 As whom the fables name of monstrous size,

200 By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast

202 Created hugest that swim th’ ocean-stream:

203 Him haply slumb’ring on the Norway foam

204 The pilot of some small night-founder’d skiff,

205 Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,

206 With fixed anchor in his scaly rind

207 Moors by his side under the lee, while night

208 Invests the sea, and wished morn delays.

209 So stretch’d out huge in length the Arch-Fiend lay

211 Had ris’n or heav’d his head, but that the will

212 And high permission of all-ruling Heaven

213 Left him at large to his own dark designs,

214 That with reiterated crimes he might

215 Heap on himself damnation, while he sought

216 Evil to others, and enrag’d might see

217 How all his malice serv’d but to bring forth

218 Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy shewn

219 On Man by him seduc’d, but on himself

220 Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour’d.

221 Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool

222 His mighty stature; on each hand the flames

223 Driv’n backward slope their pointing spires and, roll’d

224 In billows, leave i’ th’ midst a horrid vale.

225 Then with expanded wings he steers his flight

227 That felt unusual weight, till on dry land

228 He lights–if it were land that ever burn’d

229 With solid, as the lake with liquid fire,

231 Of subterranean wind transports a hill

234 And fuell’d entrails, thence conceiving fire,

235 Sublim’d with mineral fury, aid the winds,

237 With stench and smoke: such resting found the sole

238 Of unblest feet. Him follow’d his next mate,

240 As Gods, and by their own recover’d strength,

241 Not by the sufferance of Supernal Power.

243 Said then the lost Archangel, “this the seat

245 For that celestial light? Be it so, since he

246 Who now is sovran can dispose and bid

247 What shall be right: farthest from him is best

248 Whom reason hath equall’d, force hath made supreme

249 Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields

250 Where joy for ever dwells! hail horrors, hail

251 Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell,

252 Receive thy new possessor: one who brings

253 A mind not to be chang’d by place or time.

254 The mind is its own place, and in itself

255 Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.

256 What matter where, if I be still the same

258 Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least

260 Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

261 Here we may reign secure, and in my choice

262 To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:

263 Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav’n.

264 But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,

265 Th’ associates and co-partners of our loss,

267 And call them not to share with us their part

268 In this unhappy mansion, or once more

269 With rallied arms to try what may be yet

270 Regain’d in Heav’n, or what more lost in Hell?”

271 So Satan spake; and him Beëlzebub

272 Thus answer’d: “Leader of those armies bright,

273 Which but th’ Omnipotent none could have foil’d,

274 If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge

275 Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft

276 In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge

277 Of battle when it rag’d, in all assaults

278 Their surest signal, they will soon resume

279 New courage and revive, though now they lie

280 Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire,

283 He scarce had ceas’d when the superior Fiend

284 Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield,

285 Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,

286 Behind him cast; the broad circumference

287 Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

291 Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.

292 His spear–to equal which the tallest pine

293 Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast

295 He walk’d with, to support uneasy steps

297 On Heaven’s azure, and the torrid clime

298 Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire.

299 Nathless he so endur’d, till on the beach

300 Of that inflamed sea, he stood and call’d

302 Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks

306 Hath vex’d the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o’erthrew

309 The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld

310 From the safe shore their floating carcases

311 And broken chariot-wheels: so thick bestrown,

312 Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood,

313 Under amazement of their hideous change.

314 He call’d so loud that all the hollow deep

315 Of Hell resounded: “Princes, Potentates,

316 Warriors, the flow’r of Heav’n, once yours, now lost

317 If such astonishment as this can seize

318 Eternal spirits–or have ye chos’n this place

319 After the toil of battle to repose

321 To slumber here, as in the vales of Heav’n?

322 Or in this abject posture have ye sworn

323 To adore the conqueror, who now beholds

324 Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood

325 With scatter’d arms and ensigns, till anon

326 His swift pursuers from Heav’n-gates discern

327 Th’ advantage, and descending tread us down

328 Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts

329 Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf?–

330 Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n!”

331 They heard, and were abash’d, and up they sprung

332 Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch,

333 On duty sleeping found by whom they dread,

334 Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.

336 In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;

337 Yet to their General’s voice they soon obey’d

338 Innumerable. As when the potent rod

342 That o’er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung

343 Like night, and darken’d all the land of Nile:

344 So numberless were those bad Angels seen

346 ‘Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires;

347 Till, as a signal giv’n, th’ uplifted spear

348 Of their great Sultan waving to direct

349 Their course, in even balance down they light

350 On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain:

352 Pour’d never from her frozen loins, to pass

353 Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons

354 Came like a deluge on the South, and spread

355 Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands.

356 Forthwith, from every squadron and each band,

357 The heads and leaders thither haste where stood

358 Their great Commander: godlike shapes and forms

359 Excelling human, princely dignities,

360 And Powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones,

362 Be no memorial, blotted out and ras’d

363 By their rebellion from the Books of Life.

364 Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve

365 Got them new names, till wand’ring o’er the earth,

366 Through God’s high sufferance for the trial of man,

367 By falsities and lies the greatest part

368 Of mankind they corrupted to forsake

369 God their Creator, and th’ invisible

371 Oft to the image of a brute, adorn’d

374 Then were they known to men by various names,

375 And various idols through the heathen world.

377 Rous’d from the slumber on that fiery couch,

378 At their great Emperor’s call, as next in worth

379 Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,

381 The chief were those who, from the pit of Hell

382 Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix

383 Their seats, long after, next the seat of God,

384 Their altars by his altar, Gods ador’d

385 Among the nations round, and durst abide

387 Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac’d

388 Within his sanctuary itself their shrines,

389 Abominations; and with cursed things

390 His holy rites and solemn feasts profan’d,

391 And with their darkness durst affront his light.

393 Of human sacrifice and parents’ tears–

394 Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud

395 Their children’s cries unheard, that pass’d through fire

399 Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such

400 Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart

401 Of Solomon he led by fraud to build

402 His temple right against the temple of God

404 The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence

407 From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild

408 Of southmost Abarim, in Hesebon

409 And Horonaim, Seon’s realm, beyond

410 The flow’ry dale of Sibma clad with vines,

411 And Elealè to th’ Asphaltic pool:

412 Peor his other name, when he entic’d

413 Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile,

414 To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe;

415 Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarg’d

416 Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove

417 Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;

418 Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.

419 With these came they who, from the bord’ring flood

421 Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names

423 These feminine. (For spirits when they please

424 Can either sex assume, or both; so soft

425 And uncompounded is their essence pure,

426 Not tied or manacl’d with joint or limb,

427 Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,

428 Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose,

429 Dilated or condens’d, bright or obscure,

430 Can execute their aery purposes,

431 And works of love or enmity fulfil.)

432 For those the race of Israel oft forsook

433 Their living strength, and unfrequented left

434 His righteous altar, bowing lowly down

435 To bestial Gods; for which their heads, as low

436 Bow’d down in battle, sunk before the spear

437 Of despicable foes. With these in troop

439 Astarte, Queen of Heav’n, with crescent horns;

440 To whose bright image nightly by the moon

441 Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs;

442 In Sion also not unsung, where stood

443 Her temple on th’ offensive mountain, built

444 By that uxorious king whose heart, though large,

445 Beguil’d by fair idolatresses, fell

447 Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur’d

448 The Syrian damsels to lament his fate

449 In amorous ditties all a summer’s day,

450 While smooth Adonis from his native rock

451 Ran purple to the sea, suppos’d with blood

452 Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale

453 Infected Sion’s daughters with like heat,

454 Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch

455 Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led

456 His eye survey’d the dark idolatries

457 Of alienated Judah. Next came one

458 Who mourn’d in earnest, when the captive ark

459 Maim’d his brute image, head and hands lopp’d off

460 In his own temple, on the grunsel-edge,

461 Where he fell flat and sham’d his worshippers:

463 And downward fish, yet had his temple high

464 Rear’d in Azotus, dreaded through the coast

465 Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,

466 And Accaron and Gaza’s frontier bounds.

468 Was fair Damascus on the fertile banks

469 Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams;

470 He also against the house of God was bold:

471 A leper once he lost and gain’d a king,

472 Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew

473 God’s altar to disparage and displace

474 For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn

475 His odious off’rings, and adore the Gods

476 Whom he had vanquish’d. After these appear’d

477 A crew who, under names of old renown,

479 With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus’d

480 Fanatic Egypt and her priests to seek

481 Their wand’ring Gods disguis’d in brutish forms

482 Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape

483 Th’ infection when their borrow’d gold compos’d

484 The calf in Oreb, and the rebel king

485 Doubl’d that sin in Bethel and in Dan,

486 Lik’ning his Maker to the grazed ox–

487 Jehovah, who, in one night, when he pass’d

488 From Egypt marching, equall’d with one stroke

489 Both her first born and all her bleating Gods.

491 Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love

492 Vice for itself; to him no temple stood

493 Or altar smok’d, yet who more oft than he

494 In temples and at altars, when the priest

495 Turns atheist as did Eli’s sons, who fill’d

496 With lust and violence the house of God?

497 In courts and palaces he also reigns,

498 And in luxurious cities, where the noise

499 Of riot ascends above their loftiest tow’rs,

500 And injury and outrage; and, when night

501 Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons

502 Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine:

503 Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night

504 In Gibeah, when the hospitable door

505 Expos’d a matron to avoid worse rape.

506 These were the prime in order and in might.

507 The rest were long to tell. Though far renown’d,

509 Gods, yet confess’d later than Heav’n and Earth,

510 Their boasted parents: Titan, Heav’n’s first born,

511 With his enormous brood, and birthright seiz’d

512 By younger Saturn: he from mightier Jove,

513 His own and Rhea’s son, like measure found:

514 So Jove usurping reign’d. These, first in Crete

515 And Ida known, thence on the snowy top

516 Of cold Olympus rul’d the middle air,

517 Their highest heav’n; or on the Delphian cliff,

518 Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds

519 Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old

520 Fled over Adria to th’ Hesperian fields,

521 And o’er the Celtic roam’d the utmost isles.

522 All these and more came flocking; but with looks

523 Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appear’d

524 Obscure some glimpse of joy to have found their Chief

525 Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost

526 In loss itself; which on his count’nance cast

527 Like doubtful hue. But he his wonted pride

528 Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore

529 Semblance of worth, not substance, gently rais’d

530 Their fainting courage, and dispell’d their fears;

531 Then straight commands that, at the warlike sound

532 Of trumpets loud and clarions, be uprear’d

533 His mighty standard. That proud honour claim’d

535 Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl’d

537 Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind

538 With gems and golden lustre rich emblaz’d,

540 Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds:

541 At which the universal host up-sent

543 Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.

544 All in a moment through the gloom were seen

545 Ten thousand banners rise into the air,

547 A forest huge of spears, and thronging helms

549 Of depth immeasurable. Anon they move

552 To highth of noblest temper heroes old

553 Arming to battle, and instead of rage

554 Deliberate valour breath’d, firm and unmov’d

555 With dread of death to flight or foul retreat;

556 Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage

557 With solemn touches troubl’d thoughts, and chase

558 Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain

559 From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they,

561 Mov’d on in silence to soft pipes that charm’d

562 Their painful steps o’er the burnt soil; and now

564 Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise

565 Of warriors old with order’d spear and shield,

566 Awaiting what command their mighty Chief

567 Had to impose. He through the armed files

569 The whole battalion views, their order due,

570 Their visages and stature as of Gods;

571 Their number last he sums. And now his heart

572 Distends with pride and, hard’ning in his strength,

574 Met such embodied force as, nam’d with these,

576 Warr’d on by cranes–though all the giant brood

578 That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side

579 Mix’d with auxiliar Gods, and what resounds

582 And all who since, baptiz’d or infidel,

587 By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond

588 Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ’d

589 Their dread Commander. He, above the rest

590 In shape and gesture proudly eminent,

591 Stood like a tow’r; his form had yet not lost

592 All her original brightness, nor appear’d

593 Less than Archangel ruin’d, and th’ excess

594 Of glory obscur’d: as when the sun new-ris’n

595 Looks through the horizontal misty air

596 Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon

598 On half the nations, and with fear of change

599 Perplexes monarchs. Dark’n’d so, yet shone

600 Above them all th’ Archangel; but his face

601 Deep scars of thunder had intrench’d, and care

602 Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows

604 Waiting revenge; cruel his eye, but cast

606 The fellows of his crime, the followers rather

607 (Far other once beheld in bliss), condemn’d

608 For ever now to have their lot in pain–

610 Of Heav’n, and from eternal splendours flung

611 For his revolt–yet faithful how they stood,

612 Their glory wither’d: as, when Heaven’s fire

613 Hath scath’d the forest oaks, or mountain pines,

614 With singed top their stately growth, though bare,

615 Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar’d

616 To speak; whereat their doubl’d ranks they bend

617 From wing to wing, and half enclose him round

619 Thrice he assay’d, and thrice, in spite of scorn,

620 Tears such as Angels weep burst forth; at last

621 Words interwove with sighs found out their way:

622 “O myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers,

623 Matchless but with th’ Almighty!–and that strife

625 As this place testifies, and this dire change

626 Hateful to utter. But what power of mind,

627 Foreseeing or presaging from the depth

628 Of knowledge past or present, could have fear’d

629 How such united force of Gods, how such

630 As stood like these, could ever know repulse?

631 For who can yet believe, though after loss,

632 That all these puissant legions, whose exile

634 Self-rais’d, and repossess their native seat?

635 For me, be witness all the host of Heav’n,

637 By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns

638 Monarch in Heav’n till then as one secure

639 Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,

640 Consent, or custom, and his regal state

641 Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal’d;

642 Which tempted our attempt and wrought our fall.

643 Henceforth his might we know, and know our own,

644 So as not either to provoke or dread

645 New war provok’d; our better part remains

646 To work, in close design, by fraud or guile

647 What force effected not: that he no less

648 At length from us may find, who overcomes

649 By force hath overcome but half his foe.

650 Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife

652 Intended to create, and therein plant

653 A generation whom his choice regard

654 Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven.

655 Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps

656 Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere;

657 For this infernal pit shall never hold

658 Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th’ Abyss

659 Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts

661 For who can think submission? War then, war

663 He spake; and, to confirm his words, out-flew

664 Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs

665 Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze

666 Far round illumin’d Hell. Highly they rag’d

667 Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms

668 Clash’d on their sounding shields the din of war,

669 Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav’n.

670 There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top

671 Belch’d fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire

674 The work of sulphur. Thither, wing’d with speed,

675 A num’rous brigad hasten’d; as when bands

677 Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,

680 From Heav’n; for ev’n in Heav’n his looks and thoughts

681 Were always downward bent, admiring more

683 Than aught divine or holy else enjoy’d

684 In vision beatific; by him first

685 Men also, and by his suggestion taught,

687 Rifl’d the bowels of their mother Earth

688 For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew

689 Op’n’d into the hill a spacious wound

691 That riches grow in Hell: that soil may best

692 Deserve the precious bane. And here let those

693 Who boast in mortal things, and wond’ring tell

695 Learn how their greatest monuments of fame,

696 And strength, and art, are easily outdone

697 By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour

698 What in an age they, with incessant toil

699 And hands innumerable, scarce perform.

701 That underneath had veins of liquid fire

705 A third as soon had form’d within the ground

706 A various mould, and from the boiling cells

707 By strange conveyance fill’d each hollow nook,

708 As in an organ from one blast of wind

709 To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes.

710 Anon out of the earth a fabric huge

712 Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet,

718 Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence

719 Equall’d in all their glories, to enshrine

720 Belus or Serapis their Gods, or seat

721 Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

722 In wealth and luxury. Th’ ascending pile

723 Stood fix’d her stately highth; and straight the doors,

725 Within her ample spaces o’er the smooth

726 And level pavement; from the arched roof,

727 Pendant by subtle magic, many a row

729 With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light

731 Admiring enter’d, and the work some praise

733 In Heav’n by many a tower’d structure high,

734 Where sceptred Angels held their residence,

735 And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King

736 Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,

738 Nor was his name unheard or unador’d

739 In ancient Greece, and in Ausonian land

740 Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell

741 From Heav’n they fabl’d, thrown by angry Jove

742 Sheer o’er the crystal battlements: from morn

743 To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,

744 A summer’s day, and with the setting sun

745 Dropt from the zenith, like a falling star,

746 On Lemnos, th’ Ægæan isle. Thus they relate,

747 Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

748 Fell long before; nor aught avail’d him now

749 To have built in Heav’n high tow’rs; nor did he scape

750 By all his engines, but was headlong sent

751 With his industrious crew to build in Hell.

752 Meanwhile the winged haralds, by command

754 And trumpets’ sound, throughout the host proclaim

755 A solemn council forthwith to be held

757 Of Satan and his peers. Their summons call’d

759 By place or choice the worthiest; they anon

760 With hundreds and with thousands trooping came

761 Attended: all access was throng’d; the gates

763 (Though like a cover’d field, where champions bold

764 Wont ride in arm’d, and at the Soldan’s chair

765 Defied the best of Paynim chivalry

766 To mortal combat or career with lance)

767 Thick swarm’d, both on the ground and in the air,

769 In spring-time, when the sun with Taurus rides,

770 Pour forth their populous youth about the hive

771 In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers

772 Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,

773 The suburb of their straw-built citadel,

774 New rubb’d with balm, expatiate and confer

775 Their state-affairs: so thick the aery crowd

777 Behold a wonder!–they but now who seem’d

779 Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room

782 Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side

783 Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,

784 Or dreams he sees, while overhead the Moon

785 Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

786 Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and dance

787 Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

788 At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

789 Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms

790 Reduc’d their shapes immense, and were at large,

791 Though without number still, amidst the hall

792 Of that infernal court. But far within,

794 The great Seraphic lords and Cherubim

795 In close recess and secret conclave sat,

796 A thousand demi-gods on golden seats,

798 And summons read, the great consult began.