Gabriel. Michael

Gabriel:

The whole of Heaven glows with the fierce blaze Of tumult and of treachery. I now Command thee, as ambassador from God, And His high Throne, to rise without delay And burn out with a glow of fire and zeal These dark, polluting stains in God's great name, And in the name of the unstained Heavens. Prince Lucifer defies with trump and drum.

Michael:

Has Lucifer, alas! been faithless found?

Gabriel:

The third part of the Heavens swore but now The standard of that fickle Morning-star Their firm allegiance, perfumed his throne With incense, even as if he were a God; And with the blasphemous sounds of godless music Him praises sang. Now hitherward they come, Thronging with mighty hordes that threaten all, How terribly! to burst with violence The gate that leads unto the armoury. A crash of tempests fierce and wild doth roar On every side. The lightnings rage and rave. The thunders, in their travail laboring, Shake even the ponderous pillars of these courts. We hear no Seraphim, nor sounds of praise. Each sits apart, enwrapped in voiceless gloom. Now hushed at once are all the Angel choirs, And then again they cry aloud in grief And in their pity o'er this blind revolt Of the blessed Angel world, and o'er the fall Of the Angelic race. Aye, 'tis full time That thou perform thy charge, that thou observe The sacred oath that thou, as Field-marshal, Didst swear upon the lightning's lurid edge, By God's most holy name.