Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/59

Rh None shall partake with me."—Thus saying rose The monarch and prevented all reply, Prudent, lest from his resolution raised, Others among the chief might offer now— Certain to be refused—what erst they feared; And, so refused, might in opinion stand His rivals, winning cheap the high repute Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they Dreaded not more the adventure than his voice Forbidding; and at once with him they rose. Their rising all at once was as the sound Of thunder heard remote. Toward him they bend With awful reverence prone; and as a God Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven. Nor failed they to express how much they praised That for the general safety he despised His own; for neither do the Spirits damned Lose all their virtue, lest men should boast Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal.
 * Thus they their doubtful consultations dark

Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief. As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds Ascending, while the North-wind sleeps, o're-spread