Men call'd 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 fummer's day; and with the setting fun
Dropt from the zenith like a falling ftar,
On Lemnos th' Ægean ife: thus they relate,,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout
Fell long before; nor ought avail'd him now

740

745

To' have built in heav'n high tow'rs; nor did he 'fcape. By-all his engines, but was headlong fent

750

With his induftrious crew to build in hell.

Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command

Of fov'reign pow'r, with awful ceremony

And trumpets found, throughout the host proclaim
A folemn council forthwith to be held.

755

At Pandemonium, the high capital

Of Satan and his peers: their fummons call'd
From every band and fquared regiment

By place or choice the worthieft; they anon

L. 740. Mulciber.] Lat. i. e. a melter, or softener of iron. Vulcan, Jupiter's fon and founder, and god of the fmiths. Vulcan is Tubal-Cain, Gen. iv. 22.: his falling from heaven is nothing cle than the history of the fallen angels dreffed up in a poetical fable, which they had by long tradition from Noah, Mofes, &c.

L. 745. Falling ftar.] Sax. Gr. a philofophical, term. It is a fiery meteor, gendered in the air, which appears like a sky-rocket, and flieth about; but when the fulphureous spirits of it are confumed, it falleth, flashing like a real star; therefore, the vulgar fancy it to be one, which is really impossible in nature.

L. 746. Lemnos. Lat. Gr. i. e, well fixed and abiding; a large inland in the Archipelago, 600 miles round, oppofite to mount Athos, dedicated to Vulcan; because in his fall, the poets fay, ha pitched there, continued in it, wrought at the trade, and made Jupiter's darts. Here he had a temple, and was adored as a god.

L. 756. Pandemonium.; Milt. from the Gr. i. e. All-devils-hall; the infernal court or palace of all the demons or devils. Obf. Milton's pregnant imagination, wit, elocution, and learning, in the compofition and defeription of this court, have far outdone Ovid's in his description of the palace of the fun, and of all other ancient poets; fo that nothing extant among them comes up to this.

With hundreds, and with thoufands, trooping came 760
Attended all accefs 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 Soldan's chair
Defy'd the beft of Panim chivalry

To mortal combat, or career with lance)
Thick fwarm'd, both on the ground and in the air
Brush'd with the hifs of rufling wings. As bees
In fpring-time, when the fun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the fmoothed plank,
The fuburb of their ftraw-built citadel,
New rubb'd with balm, expatiate, and confer
Their ftate-affairs. So thick the airy croud-
Swarm'd, and were ftraiten'd;. till the fignal given,
Behold a wonder! they but now who feem'd
In bigness to furpafs earth's giant fons,
Now lefs than fmalleft dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberlefs, like that pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount; or fairy elves,

765

770

775

780

L. 778. Giants.] Lat. Gr. i. e. earth-born; because the poets feigned they were the fons of Titan and the earth after the deluge, who made war with the gods. Men of extraordinary stature. That there were fuch before the flood, and fince, is evident, from Gen.. vi. 4. Numb. xiii. 33. Deut. iii. IL.

L. 779. Dwarfs.] Sax. Dut. Teut. i. e. crooked, bunched; perfons of a moft low ftature, little and fmall people. Such are the *Laplanders, and fome little men and women in all places.

L. 780. Pygmies.] Gr. from the Heb. gomed; i. e. a cubit, or palm of the band; because they did not exceed a cubit, or a foot. and half at most in height. A little people, faid to live on the mountains of India or Africa, who had children at five years of age, died about eight, and hid themselves in caves for fear of the cranes, which fwallowed them up whole; they had every thing in proportion to their stature and length of days.

L. 781. Fairy elves.] From elf, Sax. O. Eng. hobgoblins, mischievous and fantastical spirits, haunting the woods and defolate: places;, of whom old women tell ftrange fables..

Whose midnight revels by a foreft fide

Or fountain fome belated peafant fees,

Or dreams he fees; while over-head the moon

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

785

Wheels her pale courfe; they on their mirth and dance.

Intent, with jocund mufick charm his ear ;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
Thus incorporeal fpi'rits to fmalleft forms

Reduc'd their shapes immenfe, and were at large, 790.
Though without number ftill, amidst the hall
Of that infernal court. But far within,
And in their own dimenfions like themselves,
The great Seraphick lords and Cherubim
In clofe recefs and fecret conclave fat,
A thoufand demi-gods on golden feats,
Frequent and full. After short filence then,
And fummons read, the great confult began..

795

L. 796. Demi-gods.] Sax. Lat. Jemones, q. femi-homines, i. c. half-men, or inferior gods among the Romans, i. e. half-gods, Here, the chiefs or captains among the fallen angels, met in this infernal council.

N. B. This book contains more of the Hebrew, Arabick, Phenician, and other oriental languages; more antiquity, history, both divine and human, mythology, or fables of the poets; more ancient geography, &c. than any of the following books; although the whole poem is filled with more learning of every fort than is contained in any one volume extant, in the most sublime, elegant, well-connected, and fhort compafs. The characters and speeches of the devils are wonderful and aftonishing, moft proper and mafterly; but his description of the Pandemonium tranfcends all hu man learning.

End of BooK FIKS F..

The ARGUMENT of Book II.

THE confultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of heaven : fome advife it, others diffuade. A third propofal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan, to fearch the truth of that prophecy or tradition in heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature, equal, or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created: Their doubt who shall be fent on this difficult fearch: Satan their chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended, the reft betake them feveral ways, and to feveral employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He paffes on his journey to hell-gates, finds them shut, and who fat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and difcover 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 fight of this new world which he fought.