Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere ;
For this infernal pit shall never hold
Celestial spirits in bondage, nor th' Abyss
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature: peace is despair'd; 660
For who can think submission? war then, war
Open or understood, must be resolv'd.

He spake and to confirm his words outflew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd

665

Against the highest, and fierce with grasped arms
Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.

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,
The work of sulphur. Thither, wing'd with speed,
A numerous brigad hasten'd; as when bands 675
Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd,
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on,

669 vault of heav'n] Doctor Pearce approves Bentley's conjecture, walls of heaven,' and says the emendation is good. But I must differ from the opinions of both critics, and consider that this reading would much impair the beauty of the

passage.

⚫ Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance toward the vault of heaven,'

which collected and reverberated the clash of the shields.

Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell
From heav'n; for ev'n in heav'n his looks and

thoughts

Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of heav'n's pavement, trodden gold,
Than 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
Rifled the bowels of their mother earth

For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
Open'd into the hill a spacious wound,

680

625

And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire 690
That riches grow in hell; that soil
may best
Deserve the precious bane. And here let those
Who boast in mortal things, and wond'ring tell
Of Babel and the works of Memphian kings,
Learn how their greatest monuments of fame 6,5
And strength and art are easily outdone
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 wond'rous art founded the massy ore,

687

Rifled]

v. Ovid Met. i. 138.

'Itum est in viscera terræ,

Quasque recondiderat, Stygiisque admoverat umbris,
Effodiuntur opes.' Hume.

700

Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross.
A third as soon had form'd within the ground 705
A various mould, and from the boiling cells
By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook:
As in an organ from one blast of wind

710

Το many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes. 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 overlaid With golden architrave; nor did there want 715 Cornice or freeze with bossy sculptures grav'n; 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 In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile Stood fixt her stately highth, 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, 706 A various mould]' capacious moulds.' Bentl. MS. 711 Rose] Did like a shooting exhalation glide.'

714 Doric pillars]

fed

See Marlowe's Hero and Leander, p. 81.

'There findest thou some stately Doric frame.'
See Hall's Satires, ed. Singer, p. 133.

720

725

730

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 heav'n by many a towred structure high, Where scepter'd angels held their residence, And sat as princes; whom the supreme King 735 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 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 aught avail'd him now To have built in heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he

742

740

745

750

crystal battlements] See Beaumont's Psyche, cxx. 110. "Much higher than the proudest battlement of the old heavens.' See Don Quixote, vol. 3. p. 156, (trans. Shelton, 12mo. 1731.) I saw a princely and sumptuous palace, whose walls and battlements seemed to be made of transparent crystal;' and Miltoni Sylv. p. 323 (ed. Todd, ver. 63.)

ventum est Olympi, et regiam crystallinam.'

Mean while the winged haralds by command Of sov'reign power, with awful ceremony And trumpets sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council forthwith to be held At Pandæmonium, 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: all access was throng'd, the gates And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall, Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldan's chair Defi'd the best of Panim chivalry

To mortal combat or carreer with lance, Thick swarm'd, both on the ground and in the air, Brush'd with the hiss of rusling 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 flower Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, The suburb of their straw-built citadel, New rubb'd with balm, expatiate, and confer

752 Haralds] Par. Lost, 1st ed. Steevens' Shakesp. (Pe

ricles) ed. 1793, vol. xiii. p. 489.

769 Taurus] v. Virg. Georg. i. 217.

• Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum

Taurus.'-Hume.

774 expatiate] i. e. walk abroad. v. Virg. Æn. iv. 62. Cic.

Oart. iii. Ut palæstrice spatiari.' Todd.