Opening 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, fed 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 heaven by many a towered structure high, Where sceptred angels held their 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 heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the chrystal battlements; from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day;
Dropp'd from the
On Lemnos the
and with the setting sun zenith like a falling star,
'gean isle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with his rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor ought avail'd him now
To have built in heaven high towers; nor did he scape
By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in hell.
Mean while the winged heralds by command Of sovereign 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 Defy'd the best of Panim chivalry
To mortal combat or career 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 flowers Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, The suburb of their straw-built citadel, New-rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer Their state affairs. So thick the airy crowd Swarm'd and were straiten'd; till, the signal given, 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 faery 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 and dance
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,
Though without number still amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within,
And in their own dimensions like themselves, The 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.
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