For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood, Their glory wither'd: as when Heav'n's fire Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepar'd. 615 To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend From wing to wing, and half enclose him round With all his peers: attention held them mute. Thrice he assay'd; and thrice, in spite of scorn, Tears, such as Angels weep, burst forth : at last 620 Words, interwove with sighs, found out their way. "O Myriads of immortal Spi'rits, O Powers Matchless, but with th' Almighty; and that strife Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire, As this place testifies, and this dire change, Hateful to utter: but what pow'r of mind, Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd How such united force of Gods, how such As stood like these, could ever know repulse? 630 For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heav'n, shall fail to reascend, Self-rais'd, and re-possess their native seat? For me be witness all the host of Heav'n, If counsels different, or danger shunn'd By me, have lost our hopes. But he, who reigns Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, Consent or custom, and his regal state Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd, Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Henceforth his might we know, and know our own, So as not either to provoke, or dread
New war, provok'd; our better part remains 645 To work in close design, by fraud or guile, What force effected not; that he no less At length from us may find, who overcomes By force hath overcome but half his foe.
Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long 650 Intended to create, and therein plant
A generation, whom his choice regard
Should favour equal to the sons of Heaven : Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere; For this infernal pit shall never hold Celestial Spi'rits 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, out flew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze
Far round illumin'd Hell: highly they rag'd Against the High'est, and fierce with grasped arms Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war, Hurling defiance tow'ard the vault of Heaven. 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 brigade hasten'd: as when bands 675 Of pioneers, with spade and pickax arm'd, Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on; Mammon, the least erected Spi'rit that fell From Heav'n; for ev'n in Heav'n his looks ard
Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of Heav'n's pavement, trodden gold, Than ought divine or holy else enjoy'd
In vision beatific: by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
Ransack'd the centre, 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,
And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire 690 That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best Reserve 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, 695 And strength and art, are easily out-done 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 wondrous art founded the massy ore, 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
To 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 Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven;
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 fix'd her stately height; 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,
Pendent 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 Heav'n by many a tow'red structure high, Where scepter'd angels held their residence, And sat as princes, whom the supreme King Exalted to such pow'r, 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' Egean isle: thus they relate, Erring; for he with this rebellious rout Fell long before: nor ought avail'd him now T'have built in Heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'scape By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in Hell. Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command
Of sov'reign pow'r, with awful ceremony
And trumpets' sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council forthwith to be held At Pandemonium, 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 (Tho' 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 rustling wings. As bees In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides, Pour forth their populous youth about the hive 770 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 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'd 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 corse, they, on their mirth and dance Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal Spi'rits to smallest forms Reduc'd their shapes immense, and were at large, Though without number, still amidst the hall 791 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.
« AnteriorContinuar » |