# Paradise Lost (Manuscript)

​Imprimatur Tho. Tomkyns RRmo. in Christo Patri ac Domino Dño Gilberto divinâ Providentiâ Archiepiscopo Cantuarensi à Sacris domesticis.
Richard Royston
First book
Of mans first disobedience, & the fruit Of that forbidd'n tree, whose mortall tast Brought death into the world, & all our woe, With losse of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, & regaine the blisfull seate, Sing heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb or of Sinai didst inspire That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning how the Heav'ns & Earth Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion hill 10 Delight thee more, & Siloa's brooke that flow'd Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence Invoke thy aide to my adventrous song, That with no middle flight intends to soare Above th' Aonian Mount; while it persues Things unattempted yet in prose or rime. And cheifly thou O Spirit that dost prefer Before all temples th' upright heart & pure Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first Wast present, & with mighty wings outspread 20 Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abysse, And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is darke
That to the highth of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, And justifie the wayes of God to Men. Say first, for heav'n hides nothing from thy view Nor the deep tract of hell, say first what cause Mov'd our grand parents in that happie state, Favour'd of heav'n so highly, to fall off 30 From thir Creator, & transgresse his will For one restraint, Lords of the world besides? Who first seduc'd them to that fowle revolt? Th' infernal Serpent; hee it was, whose guile Stirrd up with envy & revenge, deceav'd The Mother of Mankind; what time his pride Had cast him out from heav'n; with all his host Of rebell Angells, by whose aid aspiring To set himselfe in glory above his peeres, Hee trusted to have equalld the most High, 40 If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aime Against the throne & Monarchy of God, Raisd impious warr in heav'n & battell proud With vaine attempt. Him the Almighty power Hurld headlong flameing from th' ethereal skie With hideous ruine & combustion downe
In adamantine chaines & penall fire Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to armes. Nine ti mes the space that measures day & night 50 To mortall men, hee with his horrid crue Lay vanquisht, row ling in the fi{[ai|e}}ry gulfe Confounded though immortall: But his doome Reservd him to more wrau th; for now the thought Both of lost happiness & lasting paine Torments him, round he throws his balefull eyes That witness'd huge affliction & dismay Mix'd with obdurate pride & stedfast hate: At once as farr as Angells kenne he views The dismal scituation wast & wilde 60 A dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames No light, but rather darknes visible Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, dolefull shades, where peace And rest can never dwell; Hope never comes That comes to all: but torture without end Still urges, & a fiery deluge fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsum'd: Such place eternall Justice had prepar'd 70 For these rebellious, here thir prison ordain'd
In utter darkness, & thir portion set As farr remov'd from God and light of Heav'n As from the Center thrice to th' utmost pole. O how unlike the place from whence they fell! There the companions of his fall orewhelmd With floods & whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, Hee soone discernes, & weltring by his side One next himselfe in power & next in crime, Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd 80 Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-enemy, And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words Breaking the horrid silence thus began. If thou beest he, But O how fal'n how chang'd From him who in the happie realmes of light Cloth'd with transcendent brightnesse didst outshine Myriads though bright: if hee whom mutuall league, United thoughts & counsells, equall hope, And hazard in the glorious enterprize Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd 90 In equall ruin: into what pit thou seest From what highth fall'n, so much the stronger prov'd Hee with his thunder: and till then who knew The force of those dire arm's? yet not for those
Nor what the potent victor in his rage Can else inflict doe I repent or change, Though chang'd in outward lustre; that fixt mind And high disdaine, from sence of injur'd merit, That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend, And to the fierce contention brought along 100 Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd That durst dislike his raign, & mee preferring, His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd In dubious battell on the plain's of Heav'n, And shook his throne. What though the field be lost? All is not lost; the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortall hate, And courage never to submitt or yield: And what is else not to be overcome? That glory never shall his wrauth or might 110 Extort from me. To bow & sue for grace With suppliant knee, and deifie his power Who from the terror of this arm so late Doubted his empire; that were low indeed, That were an ignominy and shame beneath This downfall. Since by fate the strength of God's And this Empyreall substance cannot faile, Since through experience of this great event
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't, Wee may with more successfull hope resolve 120 To wage by force or guile eternall warr Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe, Who now triumphs, & in th' excesse of joy Sole raigning holds the Tyranny of Heaven. So spake th' Apostate Angell, though in pain, Vaunting aloud, but wrackt with deep despair: And him thus answer'd soon his bold Compeer: O Prince, O Cheife of many throned powers, That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to warr Under thy Conduct, & in dreadfull deeds 130 Fearless; endanger'd Heavens perpetuall King; And put to proof his high Supremacy, Whither upheld by strength or chance or fate; Too well I see and rue the dire event, That with sad overthrow and foul defeat Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host In horrible destruction layd thus low As farr as Gods and heavenly Essences Can perish: for the mind and spirit remaines Invincible, and vigour soon returnes, 140 Though all our glory extinct, and happie state Here swallow'd up in endlesse misery.
But what if hee our conquerour, (whom I now Of force beleive Almighty, since no lesse Then such could have orepowr'd such force as ours) Have left us this our spirit, and strength intire Strongly to suffer and support our pains, That wee may so suffice his vengefull ire Or doe him mightier service as his thralls By right of warr, what e're his buis'nesse bee 150 Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire, Or doe his errands in the gloomy deep, What can it then availe though yet wee feele Strength undiminish'd, or eternall being To undergoe eternall punishment? Where to with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd. Fall'n Cherube, to bee weak is miserable Doing or suffering: but of this be sure To do aught good never will bee our task, But ever to doe ill our sole delight, 160 As being the contrary to his high will Whom wee resist. If then his providence Out of our evill seek to bring forth good, Our labour must be to pervert that end, And out of good still to find means of evill,
Which oftimes may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I faile not, and disturb His inmost counsells from thir destind aim. But see the Angry Victor hath recall'd His ministers of vengeance and persuit Back to the gates of Heaven: The sulphurous haile Shot after us in storm, oreblow'n hath layd This fiery Surge, that from the precipice Of heaven receiv'd us falling, and the thunder Wingd with red lightning and impetuous rage Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now To bellow through the vast and boundlesse deep. Let us not slip th' occasion: whether scorn, Or satiate fury yeild it from our foe. Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wilde, The seat of desolation, voyd of light, Save what the glimmering of these livid flames Casts pale and dreadfull! Thither let us tend From off the tossing of these fiery waves, There rest, if any rest can harbour there, And reassembling our afflicted powers, Consult how wee may hence forth most offend Our enemy, our owne losse how repair, How overcome this dire calamity, What reinforcement wee may gaine from hope, 190
If not what resolution from despair. Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate With head uplift above the wave, and eys That sparkling blaz'd, his other parts besides Prone on the flood, extended long and large Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monstrous size, Titanian, or earth-born, that warr'd on Jove, Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast 200 Leviathan, which God of all his works, Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream; Him haply slumbring on the Norway foame The Pilot of some small night-foundered skiff, Deeming some Iland, oft, as Seamen tell With fixed Anchor in his Scaly rinde Moores by his side under the Lee, while night Invests the sea, and wished morn delayes. So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay Chain'd on the burning lake, nor ever thence 210 Had risen or heav'd his head, but that the will And high permission of all-ruleing heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs, That with reiterated crimes hee might
Heap on himselfe damnation, while hee sought Evill to others, and enrag'd might see How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth Infinite goodnesse, grace and mercy, shewn On man by him seduc't, but on himselfe Treble confusion, wrauth and vengeance pour'd. 220 Forth with upright he rears from off the poole His mighty stature; on each hand the flames Driv'n backward slope thir poynting spires, & rowld In billows, leave ith' midst a horrid vale. Then with expanded wings he steares his flight Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air That felt unusuall waight, till on dry land He lights, if it were land that ever burn'd With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire, And such appear'd in hew; as when the force 230 Of subterranean wind transports a hill Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd side Of thundring Etna, whose combustible And fewell'd entrails thence conceiving fire Sublim'd with minerall fury, aid the winds, And leave a singed bottom all involv'd With stench and smoak. Such resting found the sole Of unblest feet: him followd his next Mat
Both glorying to have scap't the Stygian flood As Gods, and by thir own recover'd strength, 240 Not by the sufferance of supernall power. [Is this the region, this the soile, the clime, Said then the lost Archangell, this the seat That wee must change for Heav'n, this mournfull gloom For that celestial light? Be it so, since he, Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid What shall be right: fardest from him is best Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream Above his equals. Farewell happie fields Where joy for ever dwells: Hail Horrours, Haile 250 Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Receive thy new possessour: One who brings A mind not to be chang'd by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in it selfe Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but lesse then he Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least Wee shall be free; th' Almightie hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: 260 Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in hell: Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n. But wherefore let wee then our faithfull friends, Th' Associates and copartners of our losse Ly thus astonisht on th' oblivious poole, And call them not to share with us thir part In this unhappie Mansion, or once more With rallied arms to try what may be yet Regaind in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell? 270 So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub Thus answer'd. Leader of those Armies bright, Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foyl'd, If once they heare that voice, thir liveliest pledge Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge Of battell when it rag'd, in all assaults Thir surest signall, they will soon resume New courage and revive, though now they ly Groveling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, 280 As we ere while, astounded and amaz'd, No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious highth. Hee scarce had ceas't when the superiour fiend Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield Ethereal temper, massy, large and round Behind him cast; the broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the moon whose orb Through optick glasse the Tuscan Artist views At evening from the top of Fesole, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, 290 Rivers or Mountaines in her spotty globe. His speare, to equall which the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast Of some great Ammirall, were but a wand, He walkt with, to support uneasy steps Over the burning Marle, not like those steps On Heavens azure; and the torrid clime Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire; Nathlesse hee so endur'd, till on the beach Of that inflamed sea, hee stood and calld 300 His legions, Angell form's, who lay intrans't Thick as Autumnall leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High overarch't imbowre: or scatterd sedge Afloat when with fierce winds Orion arm'd Hath vext the red-sea coast, whose waves orethrew Busiris and his Memphian chivalry While with perfidious hatred they persu'd The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore thir floating carcasses 310
And broken chariot wheeles. so thick bestrown Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood, Under amazment of thir hideous change. He calld so loud, that all the hollow deeps Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates, Warriers, the flower of Heav'n, once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can seise Eternal spirits: or have ye chos'n this place After the toyle of battell to repose Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find 320 To slumber here, as in the vales of Heav'n? Or in this abject posture have yee sworne To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds Cherube and Seraph rowling in the flood With scatter'd arms and Ensigns, till anon His swift persuers from Heav'n gates discern Th' advantage, and descending tread us downe Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulfe. Awake, arise, or bee for ever fal'n. 330 [They heard, and were abash'd, and up they sprung Upon the wing; as when men wont to watch On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and bestirr themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evill plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; Yet to their Generalls voice they soon obai'd; Innumerable. As when the potent rod Of Amrams son in Egipts evill day Wav'd round the coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud 340 Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern wind, That ore the realm of impious Pharoah hung Like night, and dark'n'd all the Land of Nile. So numberless were those bad Angells seen Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell T'wixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires; Till, as a signal given, th' uplifted speare Of thir great Sultan waving to direct Their course, in even ballance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain; 350 A multitude, like which the populous North Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to passe Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons Came like a deluge on the South, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands. Forthwith from every squadron and each band The heads and Leaders thither hast where stood Thir great Commander; Godlike shap's & formes Excelling human, Princely dignities,
And powers that earst in Heaven sat on thrones; 360 Though of thir names in heavenly records now Be no memoriall, blotted out and raz'd, By thir rebellion, from the books of life. Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve Got them new names, till wandring ore the earth, Through Gods high sufferance for the trial of man, By falsities and lyes the greatest part Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake God thir Creator and th' invisible Glory of him that made them to transform 370 Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd With gay religions full of pomp and gold And divells to adore for deities: Then were they known to men by various names, And various Idolls through the heathen world. Say, Muse, thir names then known, who first, who last, Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery couch, At thir great Emperours call, as next in worth Came singly where hee stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof. 380 The cheife were those who from the pit of Hell Roaming to seek thir prey on earth, durst fix Their seats, long after, next the Seat of God,
Thir altars by his altar, gods ador'd Among the nations round, and durst abide Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd Between the Cherubim; yea often plac'd With in his sanctuary it selfe thir shrines, Abominations; and with cursed things His holy rites, and solemn feasts profan'd, 390 And with thir darknesse durst affront his light. First Moloch, horrid king besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents teares, Though, for the noise of drums & timbrells loud Thir childrens cries unheard, that past through fire To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipt in Rabba and her watry plain, In Argob, and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart 400 Of Solomon hee led by fraud to build His temple right against the temple of God On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove The pleasant vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence, And black Gehenna call'd, the type of Hell. Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moabs sons, From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild
Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon And Horonaim Seons realm, beyond The flowry dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleale to th' Asphaltick poole. Peor his other name, when he entic'd Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. Yet thence his lustfull Orgies he enlarg'd Even to that hill of scandall, by the grove Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate; Till good Josiah drove them thence to hell. With these came they, who from the bord'ring flood Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts Egipt from Syrian ground, had generall names Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male These feminine. For spirits when they please Can either sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is thir essence pure; Not ti'd or manacl'd with joint or lim, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chuse Dilated or condens'd, bright or obscure, Can execute thir aerie purposes, And works of love or enmity fulfill. For these the race of Israel oft forsook
Thir living strength, and unfrequented left His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down To bestiall gods; for which thir heads as low Bow'd down in battell, sunk before the spear Of despicable foes. With these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Astarte queen of heav'n, with crescent horns; To whose bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins pay'd thir vows and songs, In Sion also not unsung, where stood Her temple on th' offensive mountain, built By that uxorious king whose heart though large, Beguil'd by fair Idolatresses, fell To Idolls foule. Thammuz came next behind, Whose annuall wound in Lebanon allur'd The Syrian damsells to lament his fate In amorous dittyes all a summers day, While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, suppos'd with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale Infected Sions daughters with like heate, Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led His eye survay'd the dark Idolatries
Of alienated Judah. Next came one Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive Ark Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lopt off In his own temple, on the grundsell edge, Where he fell flat, and sham'd his worshippers: Dagon his name, sea monster, upward man And downward fish: yet had his temple high Rear'd in Azotus; dreaded through the coast Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon, And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds. Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightfull seat Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streames. He also against the house of God was bold: A leper once he lost and gain'd a King, Ahaz his sottish conquerour, whom he drew Gods altar to disparage and displace For one of Syrian mode, where on to burn His odious offrings, and adore the Gods Whom he had vanquisht. After these appear'd A crew who under names of old renown, Osiris, Isis, Orus and their train With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd Fanatic Egipt and her preists, to seek Thir wandring Gods disguis'd in brutish forms
Rather then human. Nor did Israel scape Th' infection when thir borrow'd gold compos'd The Calfe in Oreb: and the rebell King Doubl'd that sin in Bethel and in Dan, Likning his Maker to the grazed ox, Jehovah, who in one night when he past From Egipt marching, equall'd with one stroke Both her first born and all her bleating Gods. Belial came last, then whom a spirit more lewd Fell not from heaven, or more grosse to love Vice for it selfe: to him no temple stood Or altar smoakd; yet who more oft then hee In temples and at Altars, when the Preist Turns Atheist, as did Ely's sonns, who fill'd With lust and violence the house of God. In Courts and Palaces he also reigns And in luxurious cities, where the noise Of riot ascends above thir loftiest towers, And injury and outrage: and when night Darkens the streets then wander forth the sonns Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. Witnesse the streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when hospitable doors Yeilded thir Matrons to avoide worse rape. These were the prime in order and in might;
The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd, Th' Ionian Gods, of Javans issue held Gods, yet confest later then heav'n and earth Thir boasted parents; Titan heav'ns first born With his enormous brood, and birthright seis'd By younger Saturn, hee from mightier Jove His own and Rhea's sonne like measure found; So Jove usurping reign'd: these first in Creet And Ida known, thence on the snowy top Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle air Thir highest heav'n; or on the Delphian cliff Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian fields, And ore the Celtic roam'd the utmost Iles. All these and more came flocking; but with looks Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found thir cheife Not in despaire, to have found themselves not lost In loss it selfe; which on his count'nance cast Like doubtfull hew: but he his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Semblance of worth not substance, gently rais'd Their fainted courage, and dispell'd thir feares.
Then strait commands that at the warlike sound Of trumpets loud and clarions be uprear'd His mighty standard; that proud honour claim'd Azazel as his right, a Cherube tall: Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl'd Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanc't Shon like a Meteor streaming to the wind With gemms & golden lustre rich emblaz'd, Seraphic arms and trophies: all the while Sonorous mettle blowing Martiall sounds. At which the universall host upsent A shout that tore hells concave, and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night. All in a moment through the gloom were seen Ten thousand banners rise into the air With orient colours waving: with them rose A forrest huge of speares: and thronging helms Appear'd, and serried shields in thick array Of depth immeasurable: anon they move In perfet Phalanx to the Dorian mood Of flutes and soft recorders; such as rais'd To highth of noblest temper Hero's old Arming to battell, and in stead of rage Deliberate valour breath'd, firm and unmov'd
With dread of death to flight or foul retreat; Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage With solemn touches, troubl'd thoughts, and chase Anguish and doubt and feare and sorrow and pain From mortall or immortall minds. Thus they Breathing united force with fixed thought Mov'd on in silence to soft pipes that charm'd Thir painfull steps o're the burnt soyle; and now Advanc't in view they stand, a horrid front Of dreadfull length and dazling arms, in guise Of warriors old with order'd spear and shield, A-waiting what command thir mighty Chiefe Had to impose: hee through the armed files Darts his experienc'd eye, and soon travers The whole battalion views; thir order due, Thir visages and stature as of Gods, Thir number last he summs. And now his heart Distends with pride, and hardning in his strength Glories: for never since created man, Met such imbodied force, as nam'd with these Could merit more then that small infantry Warr'd on by Cranes: though all the giant brood Of Phlegra with th' Heroic race were joyn'd
That fought at Theb's and Ilium, on each side Mixt with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds In fable or Romance of Uthers sonne Begirt with Brittish and Armoric knights; And all who since, baptiz'd or infidell Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore When Charlemain with all his peerage fell By Fontarabbia. Thus farr these beyond Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd Thir dred Commander: hee above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent Stood like a towre; his forme had yet not lost All her original brightnesse, nor appear'd Lesse then Archangel ruin'd, and th' excess Of glory obscur'd: As when the sun new ris'n Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beames; or from behind the moon In dimme eclipse disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes Monarchs. Dark'n'd so, yet shon Above them all th' Archangel: but his face Deep scarrs of thunder had intrench't, and care Sat on his faded cheeke, but under browes
Of dauntless valour, and considerate pride Waiting revenge: cruell his eye, but cast Signes of remorse and passion to behold The fellows of his crime, the followers rather (Farr other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd For ever now to have thir lot in pain, [Mi]llions of spirits for his fault amerc'd Of Heav'n, and from eternal splendors flung For his revolt, yet faithfull how they stood, Thir glory witherd. As when Heavens fire Hath scath'd the forrest oakes, or mountain pines, With singed top thir stately growth though bare Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd To speak; where-at their doubl'd ranks they bend From wing to wing, and halfe inclose him round With all his peeres: attention held them mute. Thrice he assay'd, and thrice in spite of scorn, Tears such as angels weepe, burst forth: at last Words interwove with sighs found out thir way. O Myriads of immortall spirits, o powers Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire, As this place testifies, and this dire change Hatefull to utter: but what powre of mind Foreseeing or presaging, from the Depth
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 beleive, though after losse, That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied heav'n, shall faile to reascend Selfe-rais'd, and repossesse thir native seate For me, be witnesse all the host of heav'n, If counsells different, or danger shunn'd By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reignes Monarch in heav'n, till then as one secure Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, Consent or custome; and his regal state Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd, Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Hence forth his might we know, and know our own So as not either to provoke, or dread New warr, provok'd; our better part remaines To worke in close designe, by fraud or guile What force effected not: that he no lesse At length from us may find, who overcomes By force, hath overcome but half his foe. Space may produce new worlds; where of so rife
There went a fame in Heav'n, that hee ere long Intended to create, and therein plant A generation, whom his choice regard Should favour equall to the sonns of Heaven: Thither, if but to prie, shall be perhaps [ ]r first eruption; thither or else where: For this infernal pit shall never hold Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th' Abysse Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts Full counsell must mature: peace is despair'd, For who can think submission? warr then, warr Op'n or understood must be resolv'd. He spake: and to confirm his words, out flew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze Farr round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arm's Clash'd on thir sounding shields the din of warr, Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n. There stood a hill not farr whose griesly top Belch'd fire and rowling smoak; the rest entire Shon with a glossie scurf, undoubted signe That in his woomb was hid metallic Ore, The work of Sulphur. Thither wing'd with speed
A numerous brigad hasten'd. As when bands Of pioners with spade and pickaxe arm'd Forerun the royall camp, to trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on, Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell From heav'n, for even in heav'n his looks & thou[ ] Were alwayes downward bent, admiring more The riches of Heav'ns pavement, trod'n gold, Then aught divine or holy else enjoy'd In vision beatific: by him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught Ransack'd the center, and with impious hands Rifl'd the bowells of thir mother Earth For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew Op'n'd into the hill a spacious wound And dig'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire That riches grow in hell; that soyle may best Deserve the precious bane. And here let those Who boast in mortall things, and wondring tell Of Babell, and the works of Memphian kings, Learne how thir greatest monuments of fame, And strength and art are easily outdon By spirits reprobate, and in an houre What in an age they with incessant toyle And hands innumerable scarce perform. Nigh on the plain in many cells prepar'd
That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluc'd from the lake a second multitude With wondrous art founded the massy Ore, Severing each kind, and scum'd the bullion drosse: [ ]rd as soon had form'd within the ground [ ]arious mould, and from the boyleing cells [ ] strange conveiance fill'd each hollow nook: As in an Organ from one blast of wind To many a row of pipes the sound-bord breaths. Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet: Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlayd With golden Architrave; nor did there want Cornice or freeze with bossy sculptures grav'n, The roof was fretted gold. Not Babilon, Nor great Alcairo such magnificence Equall'd in all thir glories, to inshrine Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or seate Thir kings, when Egipt with Assyria strove In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores Op'ning thir brasen folds discover wide Within, her ample spaces, o're the smooth And level pavement: from the arched roof
Pendant by su[ ]e magic many a row Of Starry lamps and blazeing cressets fed With Naphtha and Asphaltus yielded light As from a sky. The hasty multitude Admiring enterd, and the work some praise And some the Architect: his hand was known In heav'n by many a towred structure high Where scepter'd Angels held thir 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 unador'd In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell From heav'n, they fabl'd, thrown by angry Jove Sheere o're the chrystall battlements: from Morn To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy eeve A summers day; and with the setting sun Dropt from the zenith like a falling starr, On Lemnos th' Ægæan ile: thus they relate, Erring; for he with this rebellious rout Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now To have built in heav'n high Towers; nor did he scape By all his engins, but was headlong sent With his industrious crew to build in hell.
[ ]n while the winged Haralds by [ ]mmand [ ] sovran power, with awfull ceremony [ ] trumpets sound throughout the host proclaime [ ]olemn councell forthwith to be held [ ] Pandæmonium, the high Capitall [ ] Satan and his peers: thir summons call'd [ ]om every band and squared regiment By place or choice the worthiest; they anon [ ]ith hundreds and with thousands trooping came Attended: all accesse was throng'd, the gates And porches wide, but chiefe the spacious hall (Though like a cover'd feild, where champions bold Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldans chair Defy'd the best of Paynim chivalry To mortall combat or carreer with lance) Thick swarm'd, both on the ground and in the air, Brusht with the hisse of russling wings. As bees In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides, Poure forth thir populous youth about the hive In clusters, they among fresh dews and flowers Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, The suburb of thir straw built cittadell, New rub'd with baume, expatiate and conferr Thir state affairs. So thick the aerie crowd Swarm'd and were straitn'd; till the signall giv'n Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd
Now lesse then smallest dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberless (illegible text) that pigmean race 780 Beyond the Indian mount, or Faerie Elves Whose midnight revells, by a forrest side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, Or dreams hee sees, while over head the Moon Sits arbitress, and neerer to the earth Wheels her pale course: they on thir mirth & d(illegible text) Intent, with jocond music charme his eare; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms Reduc'd thir shapes immense, and were at l(illegible text) 790 Though without number still amidst the hall Of that infernall court. But farr within And in thir own dimensions like themselves The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim In close recesse and secret conclave sat A thousand Demy-gods on golden seats Frequent and full. After short silence then And summons read, the great consult began.