Admiring enter'd; and the work some praise,
Aud some the architect; his hand was known
In Heaven by many a tower'd structure high,
Where scepter'd angels held their residence,
And sat as princes; whom the supreme King,
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Each in his hierarchy, to orders bright.
Nor was his name unheard, or unador'd

In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land
Men call'd him Mulciber: and how he fell
From Heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove
Sheer o'er the cristal battlements: from morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day, and with the setting sun
Dropt from the zenith like a falling star,
On Lemnos the Ægean isle: thus they relate,
Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

Fell long before; nor ought avail'd him now
To have built in Heaven high towers; nor did he' scape

By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew, to build in Hell.
Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command
Of sov'ran power, with awful ceremony
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim
A solemn council, forthwith to be held

At Pandemonium; the high capital

Of Satan and his peers: their summons call'd
From every band and squared regiment
By place or choice the worthiest; they anon,
With hundreds and with thousands, trooping came
Attended: all access was throng'd: the gates
And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall

Maravigliando; e quegli l' opra estolle
E questi l'architetto; in ciel nota era
Sua man per molte estrutte eccelse moli
U' scettrati angeli quai prenci, stanza
E sede avean; cui il sommo Rege a tanta
Levò possanza e a regger pose ognuno
In gerarchia sua gli ordini lucenti.
Non fu suo nome ignoto o inadorato
In Grecia antica; e lui l'Ausonie terre
Chiamar Vulcano e favolar che cadde
Dal ciel lanciato dall' irato Giove
Da merli cristallin. Cadè da mane
Pel mezzodi fino a rorata sera

Per un di estivo, e con il sol che muore
Tomò dal sommo, qual cadente stella,
In Lenno isola egèa: cosi narraro
Errando; ch' ei con tal ribelle turba
Cadè assai prima; nè or l'eccelse torri
Giovarlo erette in ciel, nè suoi strumenti
Lo campar, chè precipitato a oprare
Fu con sua ciurma industre giù in inferno.
Gli alati araldi intanto per comando
Del sovran duce, con augusta pompa
E suon di trombe indicono per l'oste
Un solenne concilio aprirsi tosto

Al Pandemonio, la città reina

Di Satano e suoi grandi, ed alto appellano
Da ogni drappello ed ordinata squadra
I più degni per grado o scelta: ei subito
Con cento paggi e cento in folla traggono
Aspettati: ogni accesso è ingombro, e soglic
Ed atri vasti, e più la sala immensa

(Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldan's chair Defied the best of Panim chivalry

To mortal combat, or career with lance)
Thick swarm'd, both on the ground and in the air
Brush'd with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees
In spring-time, when the sun 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 smoothed plank,
The suburb of their straw-built citadel,

New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer
Their state-affairs. So thick the airy crowd
Swarm'd and were straiten'd; till, the signal given,
Behold a wonder!

They but now who seem'd
In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons,
Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberless, like that pygmean 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 over-head the moon
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

Reduc'd 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,

(Qual pieno campo ù stean campioni audaci
Usi equitar armati e innanzi al trono
Sultano il fior de' cavalier pagani

Sfidare a mortal pugna o a correr lancia)
Folta ribolle, e sul terreno e in aria
Fenduta da ali stridole. Si l'api

A primavera entrando in Tauro il sole
Traggono in frotte intorno all' arnie i giovani
Lor popoli; ei tra fiori freschi e roridi
Volan di quà di là, o su piana tavola,
Qual borgo al pagliericcio lor castello,
Di mel spalmata, a spazïar e cure
Trattar di stato; tal l' aerea torma
Folta era e stretta, infin che al dato segno,
Ecco stupor!

Quei ch' or in corpo enorme
Vincer parean di terra i figli mostri
Più piccoli or de' nani più piccini
Stan molti in brevi spazî, quai pigmei
Ch' oltre i monti Indi stan; o quali spirti
Folletti cui in notturne feste, a selve
Vicini o a fonti villico annottato
O vede o sogna, mentre luna in alto
Splende reina e più dappresso a terra
Volge sue bianche rote; ei gaudi e danze
Curan, suon grato a lui l'orecchio molce,
Ma insiem di gioia e tema il cor gli balza.
Cosi incorporei spirti in parve forme
Strinser lor membra ingenti, e stavan larghi
Benchè infiniti in quella vasta sala
D'inferna corte. Ma lontano e dentro
E in lor fattezze prime stanno i grandi

The great seraphic lords and cherubim
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.