But thou O father! I forewarn thee, fhun His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope To be invuln'rable in those bright arms, Though temper'd heav'nly; for that mortal dint, Save He who reigns above, none can refift!
She finish'd, and the subtile fiend his lore Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth. Dear daughter! fince thou claim'ft me for thy fire, And my fair fon here show'ft me (the dear pledge Of dalliance had with thee in heav'n, and joys Then sweet, now fad to mention, thro' dire change Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of!) know 821 I come no enemy, but to fet free
From out this dark and dismal house of pain, Both him, and thee, and all the heav'nly hoft Of fpirits that (in our just pretenfes arm'd,) Fell with us from on high: from them I go This uncouth errand fole; and one for all My felf expofe, with lonely steps to tread Th' unfounded Deep, and through the void immenfe To fearch with wandring quest a place foretold 830 Should be, and, by concurring figns, e'er-now Created, vaft and round; a place of blifs
In the pourlieues of heav'n, and therein plac'd A race of upftart creatures, to supply. Perhaps our vacant room; though more remov'd, Left heav'n furcharg'd with potent multitude 836 Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or ought Than this more fecret, now defign'd, I haste To know; and this once known, shall foon return,
And bring ye to the place where Thou, and Death, Shall dwell at eafe, and up and down unfeen 841 Wing filently the buxom air, imbalm'd
With odors: there ye fhall be fed, and fill'd Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.
He ceas'd, for both feem'd highly pleas'd, and Death Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
His famine fhould be fill'd; and bleft his maw
Deftin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus bespake her fire: The key of this infernal pit by due, And by command of heav'n's all-pow'rful King, I keep; by Him forbidden to unlock These adamantine gates; against all force Death ready stands to interpose his dart, Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might. But what owe I to His commands above Who hates me, and hath hither thruft me down Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To fit in hateful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of heav'n, and heav'nly-born,
Here in perpetual agony, and pain,
With terrors, and with clamors compass'd round, Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed? Thou art my father, thou my author, thou My Being gav'ft me; whom fhould I obey But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me foon To that new world of light and blifs, among The Gods who live at eafe, where I fhall reign At thy right hand voluptuous, as befeems
Thy daughter, and thy darling, without end. 870 Thus faying, from her fide the fatal key, Sad inftrument of all our woe! she took; And tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train, Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew; Which but her felf, not all the Stygian Pow'rs Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar Of maffy iron, or folid rock, with eafe Unfaftens on a fudden open fly, With impetuous recoil, and jarring found, Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open stood, That with extended wings a banner'd host, 885 Under fpread enfigns marching, might pafs through With horfe, and chariots, rank'd in loose array, So wide they stood! and, like a furnace mouth, Caft forth redounding fmoke, and ruddy flame. Before their eyes in fudden view appear The fecrets of the hoary Deep; a dark Illimitable ocean! without bound,
Without dimenfion; where length, breadth, and
And time, and place are loft; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand:
For, hot, cold, moift, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for maft'ry, and to battel bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag Of each his faction, in their fev'ral clans, Light-arm'd, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or flow, Swarm populous, un-number'd as the fands Of Barca, or Cyrene's torrid foil,
Levy'd to fide with warring winds, and poife 905 Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere, He rules a moment: Chaos umpire fits,
And by decision more embroils the fray, By which he reigns: next him high arbiter Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss, (The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave) Of neither fea, nor shoar, nor air, nor fire, But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, (Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain His dark materials to create more worlds) Into this wild abyss the wary fiend
Stood on the brink of hell, and look'd a-while, Pond'ring his voyage; (for no narrow frith He had to crofs): nor was his ear lefs peal'd With noifes loud, and ruinous, (to compare Great things with small) than when Bellona ftorms, With all her batt'ring engins bent to rase
Some capital city; or less than if this frame Of heav'n were falling, and these elements
In mutiny had from her axle torn
The steadfast earth. At laft his fail-broad vans He spreads for flight, and in the furging smoke Up-lifted fpurns the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides Audacious; but that seat soon failing, meets A vaft vacuity: all unawares
Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops Ten thousand fathom deep: and to this hour Down had been falling, had not by ill chance The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud, Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him As many miles aloft: that fury stay'd, Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea,
Nor good dry land, nigh founder'd on he fares, 940 Treading the crude confiftence, half on foot, Half flying; behooves him now both oar and fail. As when a gryfon, through the wilderness With winged courfe o'er hill, or moory dale, Purfues the Arimafpian, who by stealth Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd The guarded gold: fo eagerly the fiend
O'er bog or steep, through ftrait, rough, dense or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way; And swims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. 950 At length a univerfal hubbub wild
Of stunning founds, and voices all confus'd, Born through the hollow dark affaults his ear With loudest vehemence: thither he plies, Undaunted to meet there whatever Pow'r, Or fpirit, of the nethermost abyss, Might in that noise refide, of whom to ask Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies, Bordering on light; when strait behold the throne
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