Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/59

None shall partake with me."—Thus saying rose
The monarch and prevented all reply,
Prudent, lest from his resolution raised,
Others among the chief might offer now—
Certain to be refused—what erst they feared;470
And, so refused, might in opinion stand
His rivals, winning cheap the high repute
Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they
Dreaded not more the adventure than his voice
Forbidding; and at once with him they rose.
Their rising all at once was as the sound
Of thunder heard remote. Toward him they bend
With awful reverence prone; and as a God
Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven.
Nor failed they to express how much they praised480
That for the general safety he despised
His own; for neither do the Spirits damned
Lose all their virtue, lest men should boast
Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites
Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal.
Thus they their doubtful consultations dark
Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief.
As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds
Ascending, while the North-wind sleeps, o're-spread