_Gabriel._ I do not dream. This is not heaven, even in a dream; nor earth, As earth was once,--first breathed among the stars,-- Articulate glory from the mouth divine,-- To which the myriad spheres thrill'd audibly, Touch'd like a lute-string,--and the sons of God Said AMEN, singing it. I know that this Is earth, not new created, but new cursed-- This, Eden's gate, not open'd, but built up With a final cloud of sunset. Do I dream? Alas, not so! this is the Eden lost By Lucifer the serpent! this the sword (This sword, alive with justice and with fire,) That smote upon the forehead, Lucifer The angel! Wherefore, angel, go ... depart-- Enough is sinn'd and suffer'd. _Lucifer._ By no means." It will be observed, that in this passage Gabriel thrice desires Lucifer to "move on;" it will also be observed that Gabriel has a sword--or perhaps it may be the revolving sword which guards Paradise that he speaks of; but be it so or not, he threatens Lucifer with the edge of the sword unless he decamps; and yet, although the warning is repeated, as we have said, three distinct times, and although Lucifer pertinaciously refuses to stir a step, still the weapon remains innocuous, and the arch-fiend remains intact. This is not the way in which Milton manages matters. Towards the conclusion of the fourth book of Paradise Lost, this same Gabriel orders Satan to leave his presence-- "Avant! Fly thither whence thou fledd'st." The rebel angel refuses to retire:--upon which, without more ado, both sides prepare themselves for battle. On the side of Gabriel "Th'angelic squadron bright _Turned fiery red_, sharpening in mooned horns Their phalanx." What an intense picture of ardour preparatory to action (it is night, remember) is presented to our imaginations by the words "turned fiery red!" "On t'other side, Satan alarm'd, Collecting all his might, dilated stood, Like Teneriff, or Atlas, unremov'd: His stature reach'd the sky." Then would have come the tug of war--then "Dreadful deeds Might have ensued;" and would have ensued-- "Had not soon The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray, Hung forth in heaven his golden scales."-- "The fiend look'd up and knew His mounted scale aloft; nor more, but fled Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night."