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the sound

      Of Dulcet Symphonies and voices sweet,

      Built like a Temple, where Pilasters round

      Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid

      With Golden Architrave; nor did there want

      Cornice or Freeze, with bossy Sculptures grav’n,

      The Roof was fretted Gold. Not Babilon,

      Nor great Alcairo such magnificence

      Equal’d in all thir glories, to inshrine

      Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or seat

      Thir Kings, when AEgypt with Assyria strove

      In wealth and luxurie. Th’ ascending pile

      Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores

      Op’ning thir brazen foulds discover wide

      Within, her ample spaces, o’re the smooth

      And level pavement: from the arched roof

      Pendant by suttle Magic many a row

      Of Starry Lamps and blazing Cressets fed

      With Naphtha and Asphaltus yeilded light

      As from a sky. The hasty multitude

      Admiring enter’d and the work some praise

      And some the Architect: his hand was known

      In Heav’n by many a Towred structure high,

      Where Scepter’d Angels held thir residence,

      And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King

      Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,

      Each in his Herarchie, the Orders bright.

      Nor was his name unheard or unador’d

      In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land

      Men called him Mulciber; and how he fell

      From Heav’n, they fabl’d, thrown by angry Jove

      Sheer o’re the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn

      To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,

      A Summers day; and with the setting Sun

      Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star,

      On Lemnos th’ AEgean Ile: thus they relate,

      Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

      Fell long before; nor aught avail’d him now

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

      By all his Engins, but was headlong sent

      With his industrious crew to build in hell.

      Mean while the winged Haralds by command

      Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony

      And Trumpets sound throughout the Host proclaim

      A solemn Councel forthwith to be held

      At Pandaemonium, the high Capital

      Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons call’d

      From every Band and squared Regiment

      By place or choice the worthiest; they anon

      With hunderds and with thousands trooping came

      Attended: all access was throng’d, the Gates

      And Porches wide, but chief the spacious Hall

      (Though like a cover’d field, where Champions bold

      Wont ride in arm’d, and at the Soldans chair

      Defi’d the best of Panim chivalry

      To mortal combat or carreer with Lance)

      Thick swarm’d, both on the ground and in the air,

      Brusht with the hiss of russling wings. As Bees

      In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,

      Poure forth thir populous youth about the Hive

      In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers

      Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank,

      The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel,

      New rub’d with Baume, expatiate and confer

      Thir State affairs. So thick the aerie crowd

      Swann’d and were straitn’d; till the Signal giv’n,

      Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd

      In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons

      Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room

      Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race

      Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves,

      Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side

      Or Fountain some belated Peasant sees,

      Or dreams he sees, while over head the Moon

      Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth

      Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth & dance

      Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear;

      At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

      Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms

      Reduc’d thir shapes immense, and were at large,

      Though without number still amidst the Hall

      Of that infernal Court. But far within

      And in thir own dimensions like themselves

      The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim

      In close recess and secret conclave sat

      A thousand Demy-Gods on golden seat’s,

      Frequent and full. After short silence then

      And summons read, the great consult began.

       Thir summons call’d From every Band and squared Regiment By place or choice the worthiest;

      Book II

      The Argument

      Table of Contents

      The Consultation begun, Satan debates whether another Battel be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it, others dissuade: A third proposal is prefer’d, mention’d before by Satan, to search the truth of that Prophesie or Tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature equal or not much inferiour to themselves, about this time to be created: Thir doubt who shall be sent on this difficult search: Satan thir chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honourd and applauded. The Councel thus ended, the rest betake them several wayes and to several imployments, as thir 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 op’nd, and discover to him the great Gulf between 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 Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

      HIGH on a Throne of Royal State, which far

      Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,

      Or

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