BOOK SIXTH
��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 rowled Of smoke and bickering flame and sparkles
dire. Attended with ten thousand thousand
Saints,
He onward came; far off his coming shon; 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 crystallin sky, in saphir throned Illustrious far and wide, but by his own First seen. Them unexpected joy sur- prised
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed Aloft, by Angels borne, his Sign in Heaven ; Under whose conduct Michael soon reduced His army, circtimfused on either wing, Under their Head embodied all in one. Before him Power Divine his way pre- pared ; 780 At his command the uprooted hills retired Each to his place; they heard his voice, and
went
Obsequious; Heaven his wonted face re- newed, 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 perverse- ness dwell ?
But to convince the proud what signs avail, Or wonders move the obdurate to relent ? 790 They, hardened more by what might most
reclaim,
Grieving to see his glory, at the sight Took envy, and, aspiring to his highth, Stood re-imbattled fierce, by force or fraud Weening to prosper, and at length prevail Against God and Messiah, or to fall In universal ruin last; and now To final battle drew, disdaining flight, Or faint retreat: when the great Son of
God
To all his host on either hand thus spake: 800
��" ' Stand still in bright array, ye Saints;
here stand,
Ye Angels armed ; this day from battle rest. Faithful hath been your warfare, and of
God
Accepted, fearless in his righteous cause; And, as ye have received, so have ye done, Invincibly. But of this cursed crew The punishment to other hand belongs; Vengeance is his, or whose He sole ap- points.
Number to this day's work is not ordained, Nor multitude; stand only and behold 810 God's indignation on these godless poured By me. Not you, but me, they have de- spised,
Yet envied ; against me is all their rage, Because the Father, to whom in Heaven
supreme
Kingdom and power and glory appertains, Hath honoured me, according to his will. Therefore to me their doom he hath as- signed, That they may have their wish, to try with
me In battle which the stronger proves they
all,
Or I alone against them; since by strength 820
They measure all, of other excellence Not emulous, nor care who them excels ; Nor other strife with them do I voutsafe.' " So spake the Son, and into terror
changed
His countenance, too severe to be beheld, And full of wrauth bent on his enemies. At once the Four spread out their starry
wings With dreadful shade contiguous, and the
orbs Of his fierce chariot rowled, as with the
sound
Of torrent floods, or of a numerous host. 830 He on his impious foes right onward drove, Gloomy as Night. Under his burning wheels The steadfast Empyrean shook throughout, All but the Throne itself of God. Full soon Among them he arrived, in his right hand Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he
sent
Before him, such as in their souls infixed Plagues. They, astonished, all resistance
lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropt;
�� �
