This fall of the Angels, with the war in Heaven which preceded it, is finely describ'd by _Ovid_, in his war of the _Titans_ against _Jupiter_; casting mountain upon mountain, and hill upon hill (_Pelion_ upon _Ossa_) in order to scale the Adamantine walls, and break open the gates of _Heaven_; till _Jupiter_ struck them with his thunder-bolts and overwhelm'd them in the abyss: _Vide Ovid Metam._ new translation, lib. i. p. 19. "Nor were the Gods themselves secure on high, "For now the _Gyants_ strove to storm _the sky_, "The lawless brood with bold attempt invade "THE GODS, and mountains upon mountains _laid_. "But now the _bolt_, enrag'd _the Father_ took, "_Olympus_ from her deep foundations shook, "Their structure nodded at the mighty stroke, "And _Ossa_'s shatter'd top o'er _Pelion_ broke, "They're in their own ungodly ruines slain.-- Then again speaking of _Jupiter_, resolving in council to destroy mankind by a deluge, and giving the reasons of it to the heavenly Host, say thus, speaking of the demy-Gods alluding to good men below. "Think you that they in safety can remain, "When I my self who o'er Immortals reign, "Who send the lightning, and Heaven's empire sway, "The stern [4] Lycaon practis'd to betray. _ib._ p. 10. Since then so much poetic liberty is taken with the Devil, relating to his most early state, and the time before his fall, give me leave to make an excursion of the like kind, relating to his History immediately after the fall, and till the creation of man; an interval which I think much of the Devil's story is to be seen in, and which Mr. _Milton_ has taken little notice of, at least it does not seem compleatly fill'd up; after which I shall return to honest Prose again, and persue the duty of an Historian. _Satan_, with hideous ruin thus supprest _Expell'd_ the seat of blessedness and rest, Look'd back and saw the _high eternal mound_, Where all _his rebel host_ their _outlet_ found _Restor'd impregnable_: The breach made up, And garrisons of Angels rang'd a top; In front a hundred thousand thunders roll, And lightnings temper'd to transfix a soul, Terror of _Devils_. _Satan_ and his host, Now to themselves _as well as station lost_, Unable to support the hated sight, } Expand _seraphic wings_, and swift as light } Seek for new safety in _eternal Night_. }