The Complete Poems

by John Milton

All these and more came flocking; but with looks

  Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appeared

  Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief

  525 Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost

  In loss itself; which on his count’nance cast

  Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride

  Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore

  Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised

  530 Their fainting courage and dispelled their fears.

  Then straight commands that at the warlike sound

  Of trumpets loud and clarions be upreared

  His mighty standard; that proud honour claimed

  Azazel as his right, a Cherub tall:

  535 Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled

  Th’ imperial ensign, which full high advanced

  Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind

  With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed,

  Seraphic arms and trophies: all the while

  540 Sonórous metal blowing martial sounds:

  At which the universal host upsent

  A shout that tore Hell’s concave, and beyond

  Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.

  All in a moment through the gloom were seen

  545 Ten thousand banners rise into the air

  With orient colours waving: with them rose

  A forest huge of spears: and thronging helms

  Appeared, and serried shields in thick array

  Of depth immeasurable: anon they move

  550 In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood

  Of flutes and soft recorders; such as raised

  To heighth of noblest temper heroes old

  Arming to battle, and instead of rage

  Deliberate valour breathed, firm and unmoved

  555 With dread of death to flight or foul retreat,

  Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage

  With solemn touches, troubled thoughts, and chase

  Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain

  From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they

  560 Breathing united force with fixèd thought

  Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed

  Their painful steps o’er the burnt soil; and now

  Advanced in view they stand, a horrid front

  Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise

  565 Of warriors old with ordered spear and shield,

  Awaiting what command their mighty chief

  Had to impose: he through the armèd files

  Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse

  The whole battalion views; their order due,

  570 Their visages and stature as of gods,

  Their number last he sums. And now his heart

  Distends with pride, and hard’ning in his strength

  Glories: for never since created man,

  Met such embodied force, as named with these

  575 Could merit more than that small infantry

  Warred on by cranes: though all the Giant brood

  Of Phlegra with th’ heroic race were joined

  That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side

  Mixed with auxiliar gods; and what resounds

  580 In fable or romance of Uther’s son

  Begirt with British and Armorie knights;

  And all who since, baptized or infidel

  Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,

  Damasco, or Morocco, or Trebizond,

  585 Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore

  When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell

  By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond

  Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed

  Their dread commander: he above the rest

  590 In shape and gesture proudly eminent

  Stood like a tow’r; his form had yet not lost

  All her original brightness, nor appeared

  Less than Archangel ruined, and th’ excess

  Of glory obscured: as when the sun new ris’n

  595 Looks through the horizontal misty air

  Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon

  In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds

  On half the nations, and with fear of change

  Perplexes monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone

  600 Above them all th’ Archangel: but his face

  Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care

  Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows

  Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride

  Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast

  605 Signs of remorse and passion to behold

  The fellows of his crime, the followers rather

  (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned

  For ever now to have their lot in pain,

  Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced

  610 Of Heav’n, and from eternal splendours flung

  For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood,

  Their glory withered. As when Heaven’s fire

  Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines,

  With singèd top their stately growth though bare

  615 Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared

  To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend

  From wing to wing, and half enclose him round

  With all his peers: attention held them mute.

  Thrice he assayed, and thrice in spite of scorn,

  620 Tears such as angels weep, burst forth: at last

  Words interwove with sighs found out their way.

  O myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers

  Matchless, but with th’ Almighty, and that strife

  Was not inglorious, though th’ event was dire,

  625 As this place testifies, and this dire change

  Hateful to utter: but what power of mind

  Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth

  Of knowledge past or present, could have feared,

  How such united force of gods, how such

  630 As stood like these, could ever know repulse?

  For who can yet believe, though after loss,

  That all these puissant legions, whose exíle

  Hath emptied Heav’n, shall fail to reascend

  Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?

  635 For me be witness all the host of Heav’n,

  If counsels different, or danger shunned

  By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns

  Monarch in Heav’n, till then as one secure

  Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,

  640 Consent or custom, and his regal state

  Put forth at full, but still his strength concealed,

  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

  645 New war, provoked; our better part remains

  To work in close design, by fraud or guile

  What force effected not: that he no less

  At length from us may find, who overcomes

  By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

  650 Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife

  There went a fame in Heav’n that he ere long

  Intended to create, and therein plant

  A generation, whom his choice regard

  Should favour equal to the sons of Heav’n:

  655 Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps

  Our first eruption; thither or elsewhere:

  For this infernal pit shall never hold

  Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th’ abyss

  Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts

  660 Full counsel must mature: peace is despaired,

  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

  665 Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze

  Far round illumined Hell: highly they raged

  Against the Highest, and fierce with graspèd arms

  Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war,

  Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav’n.

  670 There stood a hill not far whose grisly top

  Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire

  Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign

  That in his womb was hid metallic ore,

  The work of sulphur. Thither winged with speed

  675 A numerous brígade hastened. As when bands

  Of pioneers 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

  680 From Heav’n, for ev’n in Heav’n his looks and thoughts

  Were always downward bent, admiring more

  The riches of Heav’n’s pavement, trodden gold,

  Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed

  In vision beatific: by him first

  685 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

  690 And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire

  That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best

  Deserve the precious bane. And here let those

  Who boast in mortal things, and wond’ring tell

  Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings,

  695 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.

  700 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:

  705 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.

  710 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

  715 With golden architrave; nor did there want

  Cornice or frieze with bossy sculptures grav’n;

  The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon,

  Nor great Alcairo such magnificence

  Equalled in all their glories, to enshrine

  720 Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat

  Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove

  In wealth and luxury. Th’ ascending pile

  Stood fixed her stately heighth, and straight the doors

  Op’ning their brazen folds discover wide

  725 Within, her ample spaces, o’er the smooth

  And level pavement: from the archèd roof

  Pendent by subtle magic many a row

  Of starry lamps and blazing cressets fed

  With naphtha and asphaltus yielded light

  730 As from a sky. The hasty multitude

  Admiring entered, and the work some praise

  And some the architect: his hand was known

  In Heav’n by many a towered structure high,

  Where sceptred angels held their residence,

  735 And sat as princes, whom the súpreme 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 Ausonian land

  740 Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell

  From Heav’n, they fabled, thrown by angry 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

  745 Dropped from the zenith like a falling star,

  On Lemnos th’ Aégean isle: thus they relate,

  Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

  Fell long before; nor aught availed him now

  To have built in Heav’n high tow’rs; nor did he ’scape

  750 By all his engines, but was headlong sent

  With his industrious crew to build in Hell.

  Meanwhile the wingèd heralds by command

  Of sov’reign power, with awful ceremony

  And trumpets’ sound throughout the host proclaim

  755 A solemn council forthwith to be held

  At Pandaemonium, the high capital

  Of Satan and his peers: their summons called

  From every band and squarèd regiment

  By place or choice the worthiest; they anon

  760 With hundreds and with thousands trooping came

  Attended: all accéss was thronged, the gates

  And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall

  (Though like a covered field, where champions bold

  Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan’s chair

  765 Defied the best of paynim 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 springtime, when the sun with Taurus rides,

  770 Pour forth their populous youth about the hive

  In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers

  Fly to and fro, or on the smoothèd plank,

  The suburb of their straw-built citadel,

  New rubbed with balm, expatiate and confer

  775 Their state affairs. So thick the airy crowd

  Swarmed and were straitened; till the signal giv’n,

  Behold a wonder! They but now who seemed

  In bigness to surpass Earth’s Giant sons

  Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room

  780 Throng numberless, like that Pygméan race

  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

  785 Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

  Wheels her pale course: they on their mirth and dance

  Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

  At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

  Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms

  790 Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large,

  Though without number still amidst the hall

  Of that infernal Court. But far within

  And in their own dimensions like themselves

  The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim

  795 In close recess and secret conclave sat

  A thousand demi-gods on golden seats,

  Frequent and full. After short silence then

  And summons read, the great consult began.

  BOOK II

  The Argument

  The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle

  be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it,

  others dissuade: a third proposal is preferred, mentioned

  before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or

  5 tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another
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  kind of creature equal or not much inferior to themselves,

  about this time to be created: their doubt who shall be sent

  on this difficult search: Satan their chief undertakes alone the

  voyage, is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended,

  10 the rest betake them several ways and to several employments,

  as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan

  return. He passes on his journey to Hell gates, finds them

  shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length

  they are opened, and discover to him the great gulf between

  15 Hell and Heaven; with what difficulty he passes through,

  directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of

  this new world which he sought.

  High on a throne of royal state, which far

  Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

  Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand

  Show’rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,

  5 Satan exalted sat, by merit raised

  To that bad eminence; and from despair

  Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires

  Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue

  Vain war with Heav’n, and by success untaught

  10 His proud imaginations thus displayed.

  Powers and Dominions, deities of Heaven,

  For since no deep within her gulf can hold

  Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fall’n,

  I give not Heav’n for lost. From this descent

  15 Celestial Virtues rising, will appear

  More glorious and more dread than from no fall,

  And trust themselves to fear no second fate:

  Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heav’n

  Did first create your leader, next, free choice,

  20 With what besides, in counsel or in fight,

  Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss

  Thus far at least recovered, hath much more

  Established in a safe unenvied throne

  Yielded with full consent. The happier state

  25 In Heav’n, which follows dignity, might draw

  Envy from each inferior; but who here

  Will envy whom the highest place exposes

  Foremost to stand against the Thunderer’s aim

  Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share

  30 Of endless pain? Where there is then no good

  For which to strive, no strife can grow up there

  From faction; for none sure will claim in Hell

  Precédence, none, whose portion is so small

  Of present pain, that with ambitious mind

  35 Will covet more. With this advantage then

  To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,

  More than can be in Heav’n, we now return