BOOK SIXTH
��'73
��" To whom thus Belial, in like game- some mood : 620
- Leader, the terms we sent were terms of
weight,
Of hard contents, and full of force urged home,
Such as we might perceive amused them all,
And stumbled many. Who receives them right
Had need from head to foot well under- stand ;
Not understood, this gift they have be- sides
They shew us when our foes walk not up- right.'
" So they among themselves in pleasant vein
Stood scoffing, highthened in their thoughts beyond
All doubt of victory; Eternal Might 630
To match with their inventions they pre- sumed
So easy, and of his thunder made a scorn,
And all his host derided, while they stood
A while in trouble. But they stood not long;
Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms
Against such hellish mischief fit to oppose.
Forthwith (behold the excellence, the power,
Which God hath in his mighty Angels placed !)
Their arms away they threw, and to the hills 639
(For Earth hath this variety from Heaven
Of pleasure situate in hill and dale)
Light as the lightning-glimpse they ran, they flew;
From their foundations, loosening to and fro>
They plucked the seated hills, with all their load,
Rocks, waters, woods, and, by the shaggy tops
Uplifting, bore them in their hands. Amaze,
Be sure, and terror, seized the rebel Host,
When coming towards them so dread they saw
The bottom of the mountains upward turned,
Till on those cursed engines' triple row 650
They saw them whelmed, and all their confidence
��Under the weight of mountains buried
deep; Themselves invaded next, and on their
heads
Main promontories flung, which in the air Came shadowing, and oppressed whole le- gions armed. Their armour helped their harm, crushed
in and bruised, Into their substance pent which wrought
them pain
Implacable, and many a dolorous groan, Long struggling underneath, ere they could
wind
Out of such prison, though Spirits of pur- est light, 660 Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown. The rest, in imitation, to like arms Betook them, and the neighbouring hills
uptore ;
So hills amid the air encountered hills, Hurled to and fro with jaculatiou dire, That underground they fought in dismal
shade :
Infernal noise ! war seemed a civil game To this uproar; horrid confusion heaped Upon confusion rose. And now all Heaven Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread, Had not the Almighty Father, where he sits 671
Shrined in his sanctuary of Heaven secure, Consulting on the sum of things, foreseen This tumult, and permitted all, advised, That his great purpose he might so fulfil, To honour his Anointed Son, avenged Upon his enemies, and to declare All power on him transferred. Whence
to his Son,
The assessor of his throne, he thus be- gan :
" ' Effulgence of my glory, Son beloved, Son in whose face invisible is beheld 681 Visibly, what by Deity I am, And in whose hand what by decree I do, Second Omnipotence ! two days are passed, Two days, as we compute the days of Hea- ven, Since Michael and his Powers went forth
to tame These disobedient. Sore hath been their
fight, As likeliest was when two such foes met
armed :
For to themselves I left them; and thou kuow'st
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