Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/162

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��PARADISE LOST

��Wasting the earth, each other to destroy: As if (which might induce us to accord) Man had not hellish foes enow besides, That day and night for his destruction

wait ! The Stygian council thus dissolved; and

forth

In order came the grand Infernal Peers: Midst came their mighty Paramount, and

seemed

Alone the Antagonist of Heaven, nor less Than Hell's dread Emperor, with pomp supreme, 510

And god-like imitated state: him round A globe of fiery Seraphim inclosed With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms. Then of their session ended they bid cry With trumpet's regal sound the great re- sult:

Toward the four winds four speedy Cheru- bim

Put to their mouths the sounding alchymy, By harald's voice explained; the hollow

Abyss Heard far and wide, and all the host of

Hell

With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim. 520

Thence more at ease their minds, and some- what raised By false presumptuous hope, the ranged

Powers Disband; and, wandering, each his several

way

Pursues, as inclination or sad choice Leads him perplexed, where he may likeli- est find

Truce to his restless thoughts, and enter- tain The irksome hours, till his great Chief

return.

Part on the plain, or in the air sublime, Upon the wing or in swift race contend, As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields ; 530

Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the

goal With rapid wheels, or fronted brigads

form:

As when, to warn proud cities, war appears Waged in the troubled sky, and armies

rush

To battle in the clouds; before each van Prick forth the aerie knights, and couch their spears,

��Till thickest legions close; with feats of

arms From either end of heaven the welkin

burns.

Others, with vast Typhcean rage, more fell, Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the

air 540

In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild

uproar:

As when Alcides, from (Echalia crowned With conquest, felt the envenomed robe,

and tore Through pain up by the roots Thtssalian

pines,

And Lichas from the top of (Eta threw Into the Euboic sea. Others, more mild, Retreated in a silent valley, sing With notes angelical to many a harp Their o\vn heroic deeds, and hapless fall By doom of battle, and complain that Fate Free Virtue should enthrall to Force or

Chance. 551

Their song was partial; but the harmony (What could it less when Spirits immortal

sing ?)

Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment The thronging audience. In discourse more

sweet (For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the

Sense)

Others apart sat on a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned

high Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and

Fate

Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge ab- solute 560 And found no end, in wandering mazes

lost.

Of good and evil much they argued then, Of happiness and final misery, Passion and apathy, and glory and shame: Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy ! Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm Pain for a while or anguish, and excite Fallacious hope, or arm the obdured breast With stubborn patience as with triple

steel. Another part, in squadrons and gross

bands, 570

On bold adventure to discover wide That dismal world, if any clime perhaps Might yield them easier habitation, bend Four ways their flying march, along the

banks

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