Page:Milton - Milton's Paradise Lost, tra il 1882 e il 1891.djvu/38

22 Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings, Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, And strength, and art, are easily outdone 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 prepared, That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude, With wondrous art, founded the massy ore, Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion dross. A third as soon had formed within the ground A various mould, and from the boiling cells, By strange conveyance, filled each hollow nook, As in an organ, from one blast of wind, To many a row of pipes the soundboard 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 Equalled in all their glories, to enshrine Belus or Serapis, their gods, or seat Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile Soon fixed her stately height; and straight the doors, Opening 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