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Ten thousand fathom deep and to this hour
Down had been falling, had not by ill chance
The strong rebuff of fome tumultuous cloud,
Inftinct with fire and nitre, hurried him
As many miles aloft: that fury stay'd,
Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea,

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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 ARIMASPIAN, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd
The guarded gold: fo eagerly the fiend

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O'er bog or steep, through ftrait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, purfues his way;
And fwims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
At length a univerfal hubbub wild

Of stunning founds, and voices all confus'd,
Born through the hollow dark, assaults his ear
With loudest vehemence : thither he plies,
Undaunted to meet there whatever Pow'r,
Or fpirit, of the nethermoft abyfs,

:

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Might in that noife refide, of whom to afk
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies,
Bordering on light; when ftrait behold the throne
Of CHAOS, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide on the wafteful Deep with him inthron'd
Sat fable-vested NIGHT, eldeft of things,
The confort of his reign and by them ftood
ORCUS, and HADES, and the dreaded name
Of DEMOGORGON: RUMOR next, and CHANCE, 965
And TUMULT, and CONFUSION all imbroil'd,
And DISCORD with a thoufand various mouths.
T'whom SATAN turning boldly, thus- Ye Pow'rs!

And

And spirits of this nethermoft abyfs,

CHAOS and ANTIENT NIGHT! I come no fpy
With purpose to explore, or to disturb,

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The fecrets of your realm; but by constraint
Wand'ring this dark fome 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 3
Directed, no mean recompenfe it brings
Το your behoof: if I that region loft,
All ufurpation thence expell'd, reduce
To her original darkness, and your fway,
Which is my prefent journey, and once more
Erect the ftandard there of ANTIENT NIGHT;
Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge!

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THUS SATAN; and him thus the anarch old,
With faultring fpeech, and vifage incompos'd,
Anfwer'd. I know thee, ftranger, who thou art,
That mighty leading Angel, who of late
Made head against heav'n's King, tho' overthrown.
I faw, and heard; for fuch a num'rous hoft
Fled not in filence thro' the frighted Deep,
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
Confufion worfe confounded; and heav'n-gates

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Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands
Purfuing. I upon my frontiers here

Keep refidence; if all I can will ferve,

That little which is left fo to defend,

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Encroach'd on ftill through our inteftine broils,
Weak'ning the fceptre of old NIGHT: firft hell,

Your

Your dungeon, ftretching far and wide beneath :
Now lately heav'n, and earth, another world
Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain, 1005
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 !
Havoc, and fpoil, and ruin are my gain.

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HE ceas'd, and SATAN ftaid not to reply,
But glad that now his fea fhould find a fhore,
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, than when ARGO pafs'd
Through BOSPHORUS, betwixt the juftling rocks:
Or when ULYSSES on the Larboard fhunn'd
CHARYBDIS, and by th' other whirlpool fteer'd. 1020
So he with difficulty, and labour hard

Mov'd on with difficulty and labour he;
But he once paft, foon after, when man fell,
Strange alteration! SIN, and DEATH, a-main
Following his track, fuch was the will of heav'n!
Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way
Over the dark abyfs, whofe boiling gulf
Tamely endur'd a bridge of wondrous length,
From hell continu'd, reaching th' utmost orb
Of this frail world; by which the fpirits perverfe
With eafy intercourfe pafs to and fro,
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
GOD and good Angels guard by fpecial grace.

BUT now at last the facred influence
Of light appears, and from the walls of heav'n

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Shoots

Shoots far into the bofom of dim night.
A glimmering dawn: here Nature first begins
Her fartheft verge, and CHAOS to retire,
As from her outmost works a broken foe,
With tumult less, and with less hoftile din ;
That SATAN with lefs toil, and now with ease,
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light;
And like a weather-beaten veffel holds
Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn :
Or in the emptier wafte, refembling air,
Weighs his fpread wings, at leifure to behold.
Far off th' empyreal heav'n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermin'd fquare or round :
With opal tow'rs, and battlements adorn'd
Of living faphir, once his native seat !
And faft by, hanging in a golden chain,
This pendent world, in bignefs as a star
Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon.

Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a curfed hour he hies.

The end of the fecond Book.

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THE

THE

THIRD BOOK

OF

PARADISE LOST.

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