Their state affairs: So thick the aery 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 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
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms Reduc'd their shapes immense, and were at large, 790 Though without number still, amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimensions like themselves, 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.
784 dreams] See Ap. Rhod. Arg. iv. 1479. Virg. Æn. vi.
785 arbitress] v. Hor. Ep. v. 49.
'Non infideles arbitræ Nox et Diana.' Heylin.
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 great 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.
HIGH on a throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous east with richest hand
1 High] Compare with this the opening of the second book
2 Ormus] See View of Ormus, in Buckingham's Travels
Show'rs on her kings Barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence; and, from despair Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with heav'n, and by success untaught His proud imaginations thus display'd.
Powers and Dominions, Deities of heav'n, For since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigor, though oppress'd and fall'n, I give not heav'n for lost: from this descent Celestial virtues rising will appear
More glorious and more dread, than from no fall, And trust themselves to fear no second fate. Me though just right and the fix'd laws of heav'n Did first create your leader, next free choice, With what besides, in council or in fight, Hath been achiev'd of merit; yet this loss, Thus far at least recover'd, hath much more Establish'd in a safe unenvied throne, Yielded with full consent. The happier state In heav'n, which follows dignity, might draw Envy from each inferior; but who here Will envy whom the highest place exposes Foremost to stand against the Thund'rer's aim Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share
Barbaric] Lucret. lib. ii. 500. Barbaricæ vestes.' Euripid. Iph. Aul. 73. de Paride:
χρυσῷ τε λάμπρος, βαρβάρῳ χλιδήματι.
and Virg. Æn. ii. 504.
Of endless pain? Where there is then no good 30 For which to strive, no strife can grow up there From faction; for none sure will claim in hell Precedence, none, whose portion is so small Of present pain, that with ambitious mind Will covet more. With this advantage then 35 To union, and firm faith, and firm accord, More than can be in heav'n, we now return To claim our just inheritance of old, Surer to prosper than prosperity
Could have assur'd us; and by what best way, 40 Whether of open war or covert guile, We now debate; who can advise, may speak. He ceas'd; and next him Moloc, scepter'd king, Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit That fought in heav'n, now fiercer by despair: 45 His trust was with th' Eternal to be deem'd Equal in strength, and rather than be less Car'd not to be at all; with that care lost
our just inheritance] See Crashaw's Steps to the Temple, p. 64. (1646.)
́ And for the never fading fields of light, My fair inheritance, he confines me here :'
and Beaumont's Psyche, c. i. st. 24.
'Was't not enough against the righteous law Of primogeniture to throw us down,
From that bright home which all the world does know Was by confest inheritance our own.'
40 best way] Compare Spenser's F. Queen, vii. vi, 21 and
Went all his fear of God, or hell, or worse, He reck'd not; and these words thereafter spake: My sentence is for open war: of wiles, More unexpert, I boast not: them let those Contrive who need, or when they need, not now: For while they sit contriving, shall the rest, Millions that stand in arms and longing wait 5% The signal to ascend, sit ling'ring here Heav'n's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame, The prison of his tyranny who reigns By our delay? no, let us rather choose, Arm'd with hell flames and fury, all at once O'er heav'n's high tow'rs to force resistless way, Turning our tortures into horrid arms
Against the torturer; when to meet the noise Of his almighty engine he shall hear Infernal thunder, and for lightning see Black fire and horror shot with equal rage Among his angels; and his throne itself
54 sit contriving] See Milton's Prose Works, vol. ii. 380 ii. 24. But to sit contriving.'
" Black fire] See Æschyli Prometheus, ver. 930. Ὃς δὴ κεραυνοῦ κρέισσον ἐυρήσει φλόγα,
Βροντῆς θ' ὑπερβάλλοντα καρτερὸν κτύπον.
and see Statii Theb. iv. 133. furiarum lampade nigra.' Silv. i. iv. 64. * fulminis atri.' Lucan Ph. ii. 301. ‹ ignes atros.'
'I talk of flames, and yet I call hell dark;
Flames I confess they are, but black.'
See M. Stevenson's Poems (1654), p. 113, (A Guesse a Hell.)
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