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Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore,
When Charlemain with all his peerage fell
By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed
Their dread Commander; he, above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent,
Stood like a tower: his form had yet not lost
All her original brightness, nor appear`d
Less than Archangel ruin'd, and the excess
Of glory obscured as when the sun, new risen
Looks through the horizontal misty air
Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon,
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs. Darken'd so, yet shono
Above them all the Archangel: but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd; and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage, and considerate prido
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold

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The fellows of his crime, the followers rather
Far other once beheld in bliss), condemn'd
For ever now to have their lot in pain;
Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced

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Of Heaven, and from eternal splendours flung
For his revolt; yet faithful how they stood,
Their glory wither'd: as when Heaven's fire
flath scathed the forest oaks, or mountain pine;
With singed top their stately growth, though baro,
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared 615
To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend
From wing to wing, and half enclose him round
With all his peers: Attention held them mute.
Thrice he essay'd, and thrice, in spite of scorn,
T'ears, such as Angels weep, burst forth at last €20
Words, interwove with sighs, found out their way
Myriads of immortal Spirits! O Powers

Matchless, but with the Almighty! and that strifo
Was not inglorious, though the event was dire,
As this place testifies, and this dire change
Hateful to utter but what power of mind,
Foresecing or presaging, from the depth

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Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd,
How such united force of Gods, how such
As stood like these, could ever know repulse?
For who can yet believe, though after loss,
That all these puissant legions, whose exile
Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to reascend
Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?
For me, be witness all the host of Heaven,
If counsels different, or dangers shunn'd
By me have lost our hopes. But he, who reigns
Monarch in Heaven, till then as one secure
Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
Consent or custom; and his regal state
Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd,
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fali.
Henceforth his might we know, and know our ow:1;
So as not either to provoke, or dread

New war, provoked: our better part remains
To work in close design, by fraud or guile,
What force effected not: that he no less

At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

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Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife 650 There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long Intended to create, and therein plant

A generation, whom his choice regard

Should havour equal to the sons of Heaven
Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
Our first eruption; thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal pit shall never hold

Celestia. Spirits in bondage, nor the abysa
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts

Full counsel must mature Peace is despair'd;

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think submission? War then, War Open or unrstood must be resolved.

He spake and, to confirm his words, out flew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
Far round illumined hell: Highly they raged
Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms
Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heaven.

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There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top 670 Belch'd fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf; undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic ore,

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The work of sulphur. Thither, wing'd with speed,
A numerous brigade hasten'd: as when bands
Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd,
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on,
Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell [thoughts
From Heaven; for e'en in Heaven his looks and
Were always downward bent, admiring more

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The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold,

Than ought divine or holy clse enjoy'd

In vision beatific: by him first

Men also, and by his suggestion taught,

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Ransack'd the centre, and with impious hands
Rifled the boweis of their mother Earth
For treasures, better hid. Soon had his crew
Open'd into the hill a spacious wound,
And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire
That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane. And here let those
Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings,
Learn how their greatest monuments of fame,
And strength, and art, are casily outdono
By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour,
What in an age thy with incessant toil

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And hands innumerable scarce perform
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluiced 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

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A various mould, and from the boiling celis

By strange conveyance fiil'd each hollow nook;
As in an organ, from one blast of wind,

To many a row of pipes the soundboard breathes.

Anon, out of the earth, a fabric huge

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Rose like an exhalation, with the sound

Of dulcet symphonics and voices sweet,
Built like a temple, where pilasters round
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid

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

Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide

Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth

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And level pavement: from the arched roof
Pendant by subtle magic, many a row
Of starry lamps and blazen cressets, fed
With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded light
As from a sky. The hasty multitude
Admiring enter'd; and the work some praise
And some the architect: his hand was known
In Heaven by many a tower'd structure high,
Where sceptred Angels held their residence,
And sat as princes: whom the supreme King
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,

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Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright.
Nor was his name unheard, or unadored,
In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell
From Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o'er the crystal battements: from morn
Jnoon he fell, from noon to dewy cvc,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropp'd from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos the Ægean isle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with his rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now

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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.

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Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command

Of sov'reign power, with awful ceremony

And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council, forthwith to be held

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At Pandemonium; the high capital

Of Satan and his peers: their summons call'd

From every band and squared regiment

By place or choice the worthiest; they anon,

With hundreds and with thousands, trooping came, Attended: al access was throng'd; the gates

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And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall
(Though like a cover'd field, where champions bolú
Wont ride in arm'd and at the Soldan's chair
Defied the best of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat, or career with lance,)
Thick swarm'd both on the ground and in the air
Brush'd with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees
In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides,
l'our 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 strawbuilt citadel,
New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer

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