Belus or Serapis their Gods, or feat
Their Kings, when Ægypt with Assyria strove
In wealth and luxury. Th' afcending pile
Stood fixt her stately heighth, and freight the doors Op'ning their brazen folds difcover wide
Within her ample spaces, o'er the smooth
And level pavement: from the arched roof,
Pendent by fubtle Magic, many a row
Of Starry Lamps and blazing Creffets, fed
With Naphtha and Afphaltus, yielded light
As from a Sky. The hafty multitude
Admiring enter'd, and the work fome praise
And fome the Architect: his hand was known
In Heav'n by many a Towred ftructure high,
Where Sceptred Angels held their refidence,
And fate as Princes, whom the fupreme King 735
Exalted to fuch 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 Aufonian Land
Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell
From Heav'n, they fabl'd thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o'er the Chrystal Battlements; from Mora
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' Agean Ifle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now
T' have built in Heav'n high Towrs; nor did he scape
By all his Engins, but was headlong fent
With his induftrious crew to build in Hell.
Mean while the winged Heralds by command
Of Sov'reign Pow'r, with awful Ceremony
And Trumpets found, throughout the Hoft pr claim A folemn Council forthwith to be held
At Pandamonium, the high Capital
Of Satan and his Peers: their fummons call'd
From every Band and fquared Regiment
By place or choice the worthieft; they anon
With hundreds and with thousands trooping came
Attended: all accefs 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 beft of Panim Chivalry
To mortal Combat, or carriere with Lance)
Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground and in the air,
Brush'd with the hifs of rufling Winds. As Bees
In fpring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the Hive 770
In clusters; they among fresh Dews and Flow IS
Fly to and fro, or on the fmoothed Plank,
The Suburb of their Straw-built Cittadel,
New rubb'd with Baum, expatiate and confer
Their State affairs. So thick the aery crowd
Swarm'd and were ftraitn'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 numberlefs, like that Pigmean Race
Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faery Elves,
Whofe midnight Revels, by a Foreft fide
Or Fountain fome belated Peafant fees,
Or dreams he fees, while over-head the Moon
Sits Arbitrefs, and nearer to the Earth
Wheels her pale course, they on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund Mufic charm his Ear;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms
Reduc'd their Shapes immenfe, and were at large, 790
Though without number ftill amidft the Hall
Of that infernal Court. But far within,
And in their own dimensions like themselves,
The great Seraphick Lords and Cherubim,
In clofe recefs and fecret conclave fate
A thousand Demy Gods on golden feats,
Frequent and full. After short filence then
And fummons read, the great Consult began,
The End of the First Book.
The Confultation begun, Satan debates whether another Buttel he to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven fome advife it, others diffuade: A third propofal is preferr'd, mention'd before by Satan, to fearch the truth of that Prophecy or Tradition in Heaven concerning another World, and another kind of Creature, equal, or not much inferiour to themfelves, about this time to be created: Their doubt who fhall be feat on this difficult fearch: Satan their Chief
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