Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed: Thou art my father, thou my author, thou My being gav'st me; whom should I obey But thee, whom follow thou wilt bring me foon To that new world of light and bliss, among The Gods who live at cafe, where I fhall reign At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems Thy daughter and thy darling, without end, Thus faying, from her fide the fatal key, Sad inftrument of all our woe, she took ; And towards the gate rolling her beftial train, Forthwith the huge porcullis high up drew, Which but herself not all the Stygian powers Could once have moy'd; then in the key-hole turns Th'intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of maffie iron or folid rock with ease 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 fhook Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut
Excell'd her power; the gates wide open stood, ▾ That with extended wings a banner'd hoft Under spread enfigns marching might pass through With horfe and chariots rank'd in loose array; So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth Caft forth redounding fmoak and ruddy fame. Before their eyes in fudden view appear The fecrets of the hoarie deep, a dark
Illimitable Ocean without bound,
Without dimenfion, where length, breadth, and highth,
And time and place are loft; where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of nature, hold"
Eternal Anarchie, amidft the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion ftand.
For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce Strive here for maistrie, and to battle bring Their embryon atoms; they around the flag Of each his faction, in their several clans, Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or flow, Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the fands Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid foil,
Levied to fide with warring winds, and poise Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere, He rules a moment; Chaos umpire fits,
And by decifion more embroils the fray
By which he reigns
Chance governs all.
next him high arbiter
Into this wild abyfs,
The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave, Of neither fea, nor fhore, nor air, nor fire, But all these in their pregnant causes mixtamı Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight, Unless th'almighty Maker them ordain His dark materials to create more worlds, Into this wild abyfs the warie fiend p Stood on the brink of hell and look'd a while, Pondering 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) then when Bellona storms, With all her battering engines bent to rafe
Some capital city; or lefs than if this frame
Of heav'n were falling, and these elements In mutinie had from her axle torn
The ftedfaft earth. At laft his fail-broad vannes
He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoak Uplifted fpurns the ground, thence many a league As in a cloudy chair ascending rides
Audacious, but that feat foon failing, meets A vaft vacuitie: all unawares
Fluttering 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 Inftinct with fire and nitre hurried him As many miles aloft: that furie stay'd, Quencht in a boggie Syrtis, neither fea,
Nor good dry land nigh founder'd on he fares, Treading the crude consistence, hâlf on foot, Half flying; behoves him now both oar and fail. As when a Gryphon through the wilderness With winged courfe o'er hill and moarie dale, Pursues the Arimafpian, who by ftelth Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd The guarded gold: To eagerly the fiend
O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense or rare, With head, hands, wings or feet pursues his way, And swims or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies: At length a universal hubbub wild
Of stunning sounds and voices all confus'd Born through the hollow dark' affaults his ear With loudest vehemence thither he plyes, Undaunted to meet there whatever power
Or fpirit of the nethermoft abyss
Might in that noise refide, of whom to afk Which way the nearest coast of darkness ties Bordering on light; when ftrait behold the throne Of Chaos, and his dark pavillion fpread
Wide on the wafteful deep; with him enthron'd Sat fable-vefted Night; eldeft of things,
The confort of his reign; and by them food Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Demogorgon; Rumor next and Chance, And Tumult and Confufion all imbroil'd, And Difcord with a thousand various mouths. T'whom Satan turning boldly, thus. Ye powers And fpirits of this nethermost abyss, Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy, With purpose to explore or to disturb
The fecrets of your realm, but by constraint Wandring this darkfome defart, as my way Lies through your fpacious empire up to light, Alone, and without guide, half loft, I feek
What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds Confine with heav'n; or if fome other place From your dominion won, th'ethereal king Poffeffes lately, thither to arrive
I travel this profound, direct my courfe Directed no mean recompence it brings To your behoof, if I that region loft, All ufurpation thence expelt'd, reduce To her original darkness and your fway (Which is my present journey) and once more Erect the standard there of ancient night {
Your's be th'advantage all, mine the revenge.
Thus Satan; and him thus the anarch old With fault'ring fpeech and visage incompos'd Anfwer'd. I know thee, ftranger, who thou art, That mighty-leading angel, who of late
Made head againft heav'n's king, though overthrown. 1 faw and heard, for fuch a numerous hoft Fled not in filence through the frighted deep With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
Confufion worfe confounded; and heav'n gates Pour'd out by millions her victorious.bands Pursuing. I upon my frontieres here Keep refidence ; if all I can will serve, That little which is left fo to defend, Encroacht on fill through our inteftine broils Weakning the fceptre of old Night: first hell Your dungeon ftretching far and wide beneath; Now lately heav'n and earth, another world, Hung o're my realm, link'd in a golden chain To that fide heav'n from whence your legions fell: If that way be your walk, you have not far ;` So much the nearer danger; go and speed; Havock and spoil and ruin are my gain.
He ceas'd; and Satan stay'd not to reply, But glad that now his fea fhould find a shore, With fresh alacrity and force renew'd.... Springs upward like a pyramid of fire
Into the wild expanfe, and through the fhock Of fighting elements, on all fides round Environ'd wins his way; harder befet
And more endanger'd, then when Argo pass'd
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