By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast 200 Leviathan, which God of all his works Created hugest that swim the ocean-stream. Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, 205 With fixed anchor in his scaly rind,
Moors by his side under the lee, while night Invests 10 the sea, and wishèd morn delays. So stretched out huge in length the Arch- Fiend lay,
1 if I mistake not 2 its 3 blue-black go 5 injure 6cf. ll. 509 ff. 7 gigantic monsters of Greek mythology in Job xli: 1 the crocodile, but here the whale overtaken by night covers
Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool His mighty stature; on each hand the flames Driven backward slope their pointing spires, ⚫and, rolled
In billows, leave in the midst a horrid vale. Then with expanded wings he steers his flight Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air, 226 That felt unusual weight; till on dry land He lights—if it were land that ever burned With solid, as the lake with liquid fire, And such appeared in hue, as when the force Of subterranean wind transports a hill Torn from Pelorus,' or the shattered side Of thundering Etna, whose combustible And fuelled entrails thence conceiving fire, Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds, And leave a singèd bottom all involved With stench and smoke: such resting found the sole
Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate, Both glorying to have 'scaped the Stygian flood
239 As gods, and by their own recovered strength, Not by the sufferance of supernal power.
"Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,” Said then the lost Archangel, "this the seat That we must change for Heaven? this mournful gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he Who now is sovran can dispose and bid 246 What shall be right: farthest from him is best, Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made
A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, 256 And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater?. Here at least
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy,' will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, The associates and co-partners of our loss, 265 Lie thus astonished on the oblivious3 pool, And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy mansion, or once more With rallied arms to try what may be yet Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?"
So Satan spake; and him Beelzebub Thus answered: - "Leader of those armies bright
Which but the Omnipotent none could have foiled,
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge
Of hope in fears and dangers-heard so oft In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge Of battle when it raged, in all assaults Their surest signal - they will soon resume New courage and revive, though now they lie Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, As we erewhile, astounded and amazed: 281 No wonder, fallen such a pernicious highth!"
He scarce had ceased when the superior Fiend
Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield,
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, 285 Behind him cast. The broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb
If such astonishment as this can seize Eternal Spirits! Or have ye chosen this place After the toil of battle to repose Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn To adore the Conqueror, who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon 325 His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern The advantage, and descending tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf? Awake, arise, or be forever fallen!"
That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile: So numberless were those bad angels seen Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell, 345 'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires; Till, as a signal given, the uplifted spear Of their great Sultan waving to direct Their course, in even balance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain : A multitude like which the populous North Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass Rhene1 or the Danaw,2 when her barbarous sons 3
Came like a deluge on the South, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands. 355 Forthwith, from every squadron and each band,
The heads and leaders thither haste where stood
Their great Commander; godlike shapes, and forms
Excelling human, princely Dignities,
And Powers that erst in Heaven sat on
Though of their names in Heavenly records
By falsities and lies the greatest part Of mankind they corrupted to forsake God their Creator, and the invisible Glory of him that made them, to transform Oft to the image of a brute, adorned With gay religions full of pomp and gold, And devils to adore for deities:
Then were they known to men by various
And various idols through the heathen world. Say, Muse, their names then known, who
first, who last, 376 Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch, At their great Emperor's call, as next in worth, Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. The chief were those who, from the pit of Hell
1 Rhine 2 Danube 3 Vandals and other barbarians, who overran the Roman Empire south of " formerly religious rites
Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix Their seats, long after, next the seat of God, Their altars by his altar, gods adored Among the nations round, and durst abide Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned 386 Between the Cherubim; yea, often placed Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, Abominations; and with cursed things His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned, And with their darkness durst affront his light. 391
First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears, Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard that passed through fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain, In Argob and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart Of Solomon he led by fraud to build His temple right against the temple of God On that opprobrious 1 hill, and made his grove The pleasant valley of Hinnon, Tophet thence And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell. Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's
From Aroar to Nebo and the wild
Of southmost Abarim; in Hesebon
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond
The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleale to the Asphaltic pool.2 Peor his other name, when he enticed Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile, To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged 415 Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate, Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell. With these came they who, from the bordering flood
Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts 420 Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baälim and Ashtaroth those male, These feminine. For Spirits, when they please,
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is their essence pure, 425 Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
1 offensive 2 the Dead Sea
Like cumbrous flesh; but, in what shape they choose,
Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their aery purposes, And works of love or enmity fulfil. For those the race of Israel oft forsook Their living Strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down 434 To bestial gods; for which their heads as low Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear Of despicable foes. With these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called Astarte, Queen of Heaven, with crescent horns; To whose bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs; In Sion also not unsung, where stood Her temple on the offensive mountain, built By that uxorious king1 whose heart, though large,
Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell
445 To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured The Syrian damsels to lament his fate In amorous ditties all a summer's day, While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the love-tale Infected Sion's daughters with like heat, Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led, His eye surveyed the dark idolatries Of alienated Judah. Next came one Who mourned in earnest, when the captive
Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopt off
In his own temple,3 on the grunsel-edge, 460 Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshippers: Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man And downward fish; yet had his temple high Reared in Azotus,5 dreaded through the coast Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon, And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds. Him followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams. He also against the house of God was bold: 470 A leper once he lost, and gained a king, Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew God's altar to disparage and displace For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn His odious offerings, and adore the gods 475
1 Solomon 2 Ezek. viii: 14 3 Cf. Ode on the Nativity, 1. 199 4 threshold 5 Ashdod 6 Naaman
Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared
A crew who, under names of old renown, Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train,
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms
Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape The infection, when their borrowed gold composed
The calf in Oreb; and the rebel king Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan, Likening his Maker to the grazed ox Jehovah, who, in one night, when he passed From Egypt marching, equalled with one stroke
Both her first-born and all her bleating gods. Belial came last, than whom a Spirit more lewd
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love Vice for itself. To him no temple stcod 492 Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he In temples and at altars, when the priest Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled With lust and violence the house of God? 496 In courts and palaces he also reigns, And in luxurious cities, where the noise Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers, And injury and outrage; and when night 500 Darkens the streets, then wander forth the
Their highest Heaven; or on the Delphian cliff,
Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields,1 520 And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost isles. 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
Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost 525 In loss itself; which on his countenance cast Like doubtful hue. But he, his wonted pride Soon recollecting,2 with high words that bore Semblance of worth, not substance, gently 3 raised
Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears: 530 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: Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled
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 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 In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 550 Of flutes and soft recorders - such as raised To highth of noblest temper heroes old Arming to battle, and instead of rage Deliberate valour breathed, firm and unmoved With dread of death to flight or foul retreat; Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage, With solemn touches, troubled thoughts, and chase 557
2 resuming gallantly ornamented
5 music of the solemn Dorian mode 6 assuage
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