Of Babel and the works of Memphian kings,
Learn how their greatest monuments of fame,
And strength and art, are easily out-done
By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour
What in an age they, with incessant toil
And hands innumerable, scarce perform.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepar'd,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluic'd from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore,

Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross

A third as soon had form'd within the ground

A various mould, and from the boiling cells

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By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook,

As in an organ from one blast of wind

To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes.
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge

Cornice or freze, with bossy sculptures graven;

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The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence

Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine

Belus or Serapis their Gods, or seat

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

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In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile

Stood fix'd her stately height; and straight the doors,

Op'ning their brazen folds, discover wide

Within her ample spaces, o'er the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof,
Pendant 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,

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Admiring, enter'd; and the work some praise
And some the architect: his hand was known
In Heav'n by many a tow'red structure high,
Where scepter'd angels held their residence,
And sat as princes, whom the supreme King
Exalted to such pow'r and gave to rule,
Each in his hierarchy the orders bright.
Nor was his name unheard or unador'd
In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell

From Heav'n 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
Dropt from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos th' Ægean isle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before: nor ought avail'd him now

T' have built in Heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'scape.

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735

740

745

By all his engines, but was headlong sent

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 throng'd, the gates

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And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall

To mortal combat or career with lance)

(Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldan's chair Defy'd the best of Panim chivalry

Thick swarm'd both on the ground and in the air,

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Brush'd 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-rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer
Their state af
affairs; so thick the airy crowd
Swarm'd and were straiten'd; till the signal giv'n,
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'd 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 dance 785

Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

Thus incorporeal Spi'rits to smallest forms

Reduc'd 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.

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795

END OF THE FIRST BOOK.

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK II.

ARGUMENT.

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 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.