Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/153

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��Put forth at full, but still his strength con- cealed 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 provoked: our better part re- mains

To work in close design, by fraud or guile, What force effected not; that he no less At length from us may find, Who over- comes

By force hath overcome but half his foe. Space may produce new Worlds; whereof so rife 650

There went a fame in Heaven that He ere

long

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 Caelestial Spirits in bondage, nor the Abyss Long under darkness cover. But these

thoughts

Full counsel must mature. Peace is de- spaired; 660 For who can think submission ? War, then,

war

Open or understood, must be resolved." 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 illumined Hell. Highly they

raged Against the Highest and fierce with

grasped arms Clashed on their sounding shields the din

of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of

Heaven.

There stood a hill not far, whose griesly

top 670

Belched fire and rowling smoke; the rest

entire

Shon with a glossy scurf undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic ore, The work of sulphur. Thither, winged

with speed,

A numerous brigad hastened: as when bands

��Of piouers, with spade and pickaxe armed, Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them

on

Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell From Heaven; for even in Heaven his

looks and thoughts 680

Were always downward bent, admiring

more The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden

gold,

Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed In vision beatific. By him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, Ransacked the Centre, and with impious

hands

Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth For treasures better hid. Soon had his

crew

Opened into the hill a spacious wound, And digged out ribs of gold. Let none

admire 690

That riches grow in Hell; that soil may

best Deserve the pretious bane. And here let

those Who boast in mortal things, and wondering

tell 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 701 Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude With wondrous art founded the massy ore, Severing each kind, and scummed the bul- lion-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 sound-board

breathes.

Anon out of the earth a fabric huge T 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

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