Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/222

Ascended; at his right hand Victory
Sat eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
And quiver, with three-bolted thunder stored,
And from about him fierce effusion rolled
Of smoke, and bickering flame, and sparkles dire.
Attended with ten thousand thousand Saints,
He onward came; far off his coming shone;
And twenty thousand—I their number heard—
Chariots of God, half on each hand, were seen.770
He on the wings of Cherub rode sublime,
On the crystalline sky, in sapphire throned,
Illustrious far and wide, but by his own
First seen; then unexpected joy surprised,
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed,
Aloft by Angels borne, his sign in Heaven;
Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced
His army, circumfused on either wing,
Under their Head embodied all in one.
Before him Power divine his way prepared;780
At his command the uprooted hills retired,
Each to his place; they heard his voice and went
Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face renewed,
And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled.
This saw his hapless foes, but stood obdured,
And to rebellious fight rallied their Powers,
Insensate, hope conceiving from despair;
In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?
But to convince the proud what signs avail,