Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/154

 PARADISE LOST

��With golden architrave ; nor did there want Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures

graven:

The roof was fretted gold. Not Babilon Nor great Alcairo such magnificence Equalled in all their glories, to inshrine Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat 730 Their kings, when ^Egypt with Assyria

strove

In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile Stood fixed her stately bighth; 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 With naphtha and aspbaltus, yielded light As from a sky. The hasty multitude 730 Admiring entered; and the work some

praise, And some the Architect. His hand was

kuown In Heaven by many a towered structure

high,

Where sceptred Angels held their resi- dence, And sat as Princes, whom the supreme

King

Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, Each in his hierarchy, the Orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unadored In ancient Greece; and in Ausouian laud Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell 740

From Heaven they fabled, thrown by an- gry 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, the ^Egsean isle. Thus they

relate,

Erring; for be with this rebellious rout Fell long before; nor aught availed him

now To have built in Heaven high towers; nor

did he scape

By all his engines, but was headlong sent, 750

With his industrious crew, to build in Hell. Meanwhile the winged Haralds, by com- mand Of sovran power, with awful ceremony

��And trumpet's sound, throughout the host

proclaim

A solemn council forthwith to be held At Pandsemonium, the high capital Of Satan and his peers. Their summons

called

From every band and squared regiment By place or choice the worthiest: they anon With hundreds and with thousands troop- ing came 760 Attended. All access was thronged; the

gates And porches wide, but chief the spacious

hall

(Though like a covered field, where cham- pions bold Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan's

chair

Defied the best of Panim chivalry To mortal combat, or career with lance), Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in

the air, Brushed 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 rubbed with balm, expatiate, and

confer

Their state-affairs: so thick the aerie crowd Swarmed and were straitened; till, the

signal given, Behold a wonder ! They but now who

seemed

In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons, Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow

room Throng numberless like that pygmean

race 780

Beyond the Indian mount; or faery elves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while overhead the

Moon

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth Wheels her pale course: they, on their

mirth and dance

Intent, with jocond music charm his ear; At once with joy and fear his heart re- bounds.

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