120
��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
�� �
