The hosts of Satan advance in apparently impregnable

array:

Each warrior single as in chief; expert

When to advance, or stand, or turn the sway
Of battle, open when, and when to close
The ridges of grim war: no thought of flight,
None of retreat; no unbecoming deed
That argued fear: each on himself relied
As only in his arm the moment lay
Of victory. Deeds of eternal fame

Were done, but infinite; for wide was spread
That war, and various: sometimes on firm ground
A standing fight; then, soaring on main wing,
Tormented all the air; all air seemed then
Conflicting fire. Long time in even scale
The battle hung; till Satan, who that day
Prodigious power had shown, and met in arms
No equal, ranging through the dire attack
Of fighting Seraphim confused, at length
Saw where the sword of Michael smote, and felled
Squadrons at once; with huge two-handed sway
Brandished aloft, the horrid edge came down
Wide wasting such destruction to withstand
He hasted, and opposed the rocky orb

:

Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield,

A vast circumference.

(VI. 233–256.)

The armies withdraw, and leave the champions face to face. There is another wordy war, and at last

They ended parle, and both addressed for fight
Unspeakable; for who, though with the tongue
Of Angels, can relate, or to what things
Liken on Earth conspicuous, that may lift
Human imagination to such highth

Of godlike power? for likest gods they seemed,
Stood they or moved, in stature, motion, arms;

Fit to decide the empire of great Heaven.
Now waved their fiery swords, and in the air
Made horrid circles: two broad suns their shields
Blazed opposite, while Expectation stood

In horror: from each hand with speed retired,
Where erst was thickest fight, the Angelic throng,
And left large field, unsafe within the wind
Of such commotion; such as, to set forth
Great things by small, if Nature's concord broke,
Among the constellations war were sprung,
Two planets rushing from aspect malign
Of fiercest opposition in mid-sky

Should combat, and their jarring spheres confound.
Together both, with next to almighty arm
Uplifted imminent, one stroke they aimed
That might determine, and not need repeat,
As not of power at once; nor odds appeared
In might or swift prevention. But the sword
Of Michael from the armory of God,
Was given him tempered so, that neither keen
Nor solid might resist that edge: it met
The sword of Satan with steep force to smite
Descending, and in half cut sheer; nor stayed,
But with swift wheel reverse, deep entering shared
All his right side. Then Satan first knew pain,
And writhed him to and fro convolved; so sore
The griding sword with discontinuous wound
Passed through him: but the ethereal substance closed,
Not long divisible; and from the gash

A stream of nectarous humor, issuing, flowed
Sanguine, such as celestial Spirits may bleed,
And all his armor stained, erewhile so bright.
Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run
By Angels many and strong, who interposed
Defence, while others bore him on their shields
Back to his chariot, where it stood retired
From off the files of war: there they him laid
Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame,
To find himself not matchless, and his pride

Humbled in that rebuke, so far beneath

His confidence to equal God in power.

(VI. 296-343.)

Satan is disabled for the moment: his followers share his reverse of fortune, and the first day closes with a nominal victory for the hosts of God.

The second day's struggle assumes Titanic proportions. It is no longer to be an orderly hand-to-hand struggle. Satan calls in the use of artillery. The army of God in desperation throw aside their arms

And to the hills,

Light as the lightning-glimpse, they ran, they flew :
From their foundations, loosening to and fro,
They plucked the seated hills, with all their load,
Rocks, waters, woods, and by their shaggy tops
Uplifting, bore them in their hands.

(VI. 639–647.)

Satan's artillery is overwhelmed; and his followers, desperate in their turn, have recourse to the same tremendous weapons:

Infernal noise! War seemed a civil game
To this uproar: horrid confusion heaped
Upon confusion rose: and now all Heaven
Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread,
Had not the Almighty Father, where he sits
Shrined in his sanctuary of Heaven secure,
Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen
This tumult, and permitted all, advised;
That his great purpose he might so fulfil,
To honor his Anointed Son, avenged
Upon his enemies, and to declare
All power on him transferred.

(VI. 667-678.)

The Son, endued with God's own omnipotence, pledges his willing service in the restoration of peace to Heaven by the overthrow and expulsion of the rebel crew.

And the third sacred morn began to shine,

Dawning thro' Heaven. Forth rushed with whirlwind sound
The chariot of Paternal Deity.

He, in celestial panoply all armed

Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought,
Ascended. At his right hand victory

Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored;
And from about him fierce effusion rolled
Of smoke and bickering flame and sparkles dire:
Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,
He onward came; far off his coming shone;
And twenty thousand (I their number heard)
Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen.
He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime
On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,
Illustrious far and wide, but by his own
First seen; them unexpected joy surprised,
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed
Aloft, by Angels borne, his sign in Heaven;
Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
His army, circumfused on either wing,
Under their Head embodied all in one.
Before him power divine his way prepared:
At his command the uprooted hills retired
Each to his place; they heard his voice, and went
Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed,
And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.

(VI. 748-751.)

(VI. 760-784.)

The rebel host perceive his coming with dismay, but stand resolute, determined to maintain their cause to the end. The Messiah addresses the faithful army of God; com

mends them for their fidelity and zeal, and shows them that it is fitting for him, the cause of the rebellion, the object of Satan's enmity, to be the instrument of God's power in restoring order and unanimity in Heaven.

So spake the Son, and into terror changed
His countenance, too severe to be beheld,
And full of wrath bent on his enemies.
At once the Four spread out their starry wings
With dreadful shade contiguous, and the orbs
Of his fierce chariot rolled, as with the sound
Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host.
He on his impious foes right onward drove,
Gloomy as night: under his burning wheels
The steadfast Empyrean shook throughout,
All but the throne itself of God. Full soon
Among them he arrived; in his right hand
Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
Before him, such as in their souls infixed
Plagues. They, astonished, all resistance lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropt;
O'er shields and helms and helmed heads he rode
Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim prostrate,
That wished the mountains now might be again
Thrown on them, as a shelter from his ire.
Nor less on either side tempestuous fell
His arrows, from the fourfold-visaged Four,
Distinct with eyes, and from the living wheels
Distinct alike with multitude of eyes;

One Spirit in them ruled, and every eye

Glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire
Among the accursed, that withered all their strength,
And of their wonted vigor left them drained,

Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen :

Yet half his strength he put not forth, but checked

His thunder in mid-volley; for he meant

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven.
The overthrown he raised, and, as a herd

Of goats or timorous flock together thronged,