Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more loft in Hell? 270 So Satan fpake, and him Beelzebub
Thus answer'd: Leader of thofe Armies bright,
Which but th' Omnipotent none could have foil'd,
If once they hear that voice, their livelieft pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers, heard to oft
In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge.
Of battel when it rag d, in all affaults
Their fureft fignal, they will foon resume
New Courage and revive, tho' now they lye
Grov❜ling and proftrate on yon Lake of Fire, 280
As we e'erwhile, aftounded and amaz'd,
No wonder, fall'n fuch a pernicious heighth.
He fcarce had ceas'd when the superiour Fiend
Was moving toward the hoar; his pond'rous fhield
Ethereal temper, maffie, large and round,
Behind him caft; the broad Circumference
Hung on his Shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb
Thro' Optick Glafs the Tufcan Artist views
At Ev'ning from the Top of Fefole,
Or in Valdarno, to defcry new Lands,
Rivers or Mountains on her spotty Globe.
His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine
Hewn on Norwegian Hills, to be the Mast
Of fome great Ammiral, were but a wand,
He walk'd with to fupport uneafie steps
Over the burning Marl, not like those Steps
On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime
Smote on him fore befides, vaulted with Fire;
Tathlefs he fo endur'd, 'till on the Beach
Of that inflamed Sea, he ftood and call'd
His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay entrans't
Thick as Autumnal Leaves that ftrow the Brooks
In Vall mbrofa, where th' Etrurian Shades,
High over-arch'd embowr; or fcatter'd fedge
Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea Coaft, whofe waves o'er-
Bufiru and his Memphian Chivalry,
While with perfidious Hatred they pursu'd
The Sojourners of Cofben, who beheld
From the fafe Shoar their floating Carkafes
And broken Chariot Wheels; fo thick beftrown,
Abject and loft lay thefe, covering the Floud,
Under Amazement of their hideous change.
He call'd fo loud, that all the hollow Deep
Of Hell refounded. Princes, Potentates,
Warriours, the Flow'r of Heav'n, once yours,now loft,
If fuch aftonifhment as this can seize
Eternal Spirits; or have ye chos'n this place
After the toyl of Battel to repofe
Your wearied vertue, for the eafe you find
To flumber here, as in the Vaies of Heav'n?
Or in this abject Posture have ye fworn
To adore the Conquerour ? who now beholds
Cherub and Seraph rowling in the Floud,
With fcatter'd Arms and Enfigns, 'till anon
His fwift purfuers from Heav'n Gates difcern
Th' advantage, and defcending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts
Transfix us to the Bottom of this Gulfe.
Awake, arife, or be for ever fall'n.
They heard, and were abashit, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, fleeping found by whom they dread, Rouze and beftir themselves e'er well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight
In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;
Yet to their General's Voice they soon obey'd
Innumerable. As when the potent Rod
Of Amram's Son in Egypt's evil day
Way'd round the Coaft, up call'd a pitchy cloud 340
Of Locufts, warping on the Eastern Wind,
That o'er the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung
Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile:
So numberless were those bad Angels feen
Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell
'Twixt upper, nether, and furrounding Fires;
Till, as a fignal giv'n, th' up-lifted Spear
Of their great Sultan waving to direct
Their courfe, in even ballance down they light
On the firm brimftone, and fill all the Plain; 350
A multitude, like which the populous North
Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons
Came like a Deluge on the South, and fpread
Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian fands.
Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band The Heads and Leaders thither haft where ftood Their great Commander; God-like shapes and forms Excelling human, Princely Dignities,
And Powers that earft in Heaven fat on Thrones;
Tho' of their Names in Heav'nly Records now 361 Be no memorial, blotted out and ras'd
By their Rebellion, from the Books of Life.
Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve
Got them new Names, 'till wand'ring o'er the Earth,
Thro' God's high fufferance for the trial of man,
By falfities and lyes the greateft part
Of Mankind they corrupted to forfake
God their Creator, and th' invifible
Glory of him that made them, to transform
Oft to the Image of a Brute, adorn'd
With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,
And Devils to adore for Deities ;
Then were they known to Men by various Names,
And various Idols thro' the Heathen World.
Say, Mufe, their Names then known, who firft, who
Rouz'd from the flumber, on that fiery Couch, [laft,
At their great Emperors call, as next in worth,
Came fingly where he stood on the bare ftrand,
While the promiscuous croad stood yet aloof? 380
The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell
Roaming to feek their prey on earth, durft fix.
Their Seats long after next the Seat of God,
Their Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd
Among the Nations round, and durft abide
Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd
Between the Cherubim ; yea, often plac'd
Within his Sanctury it felf their Shrines,
Abominations; and with curfed Things
His holy Rites and folemn Feasts prophan'd, 390
And with their darkness durft affront his light.
First Meloch, horrid King befmear'd with blood
Of human facrifice, and parents tears,
Tho' for the noife of Drums and Timbrels loud Their childrens cries unheard, that paft thro' Fire 395 To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipp'd in Rabba and her watry Plain, In Argob and in Bafan, to the stream Of utmoft Arnon. Nor content with fuch Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart Of Solomon he led by fraud to build His Temple right against the Temple of God On the opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove The pleafant Vally of Hinnon, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell. Next Chemos, th' obfcene dread of Moab's Sons, From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild
Of Southmoft Abarim; in Hefebon
And Heronaim, Seon's Realm, beyond
The flow'ry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines, 410
And Eleale to th' Asphaltick Pool.
Peor his other Name, when he entic'd
Ifrael in Sittim on their march from Nile,
To do him wanton rites, which coft them woe.
Yet thence his luftful Orgies he enlarg'd
Even to that Hill of fcandal, by the Grove
Of Moloch homicide, luft hard by hate;
Till good Jofiah drove them thence to Hell.
ith thefe came they, who from the bord'ring floud
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