Grim Death my fon and foe, who sets them on,
And me his parent would full foon devour
For want of other prey, but that he knows
His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morfel, and his bane,
Whenever that fhall be; fo fate pronounc'd.
But thou, O Father, I forewarn thee, fhun
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
To be invulnerable in those bright arms,
Though temper'd heav'nly, for that mortal dint,
Save he who reigns above, none can resist.
She finish'd, and the fubtle Fiend his lore
Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd fmooth.
Dear Daughter, fince thou clam'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 sad to mention, through dire change
Befall'n us unforeseen, unthought of; know
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 host
Of Spirits, that in our just pretences arm'd
Fell with us from on high: from them I go
This uncouth errand fole, and one for all
Myfelf expofe, with lonely steps to tread
Th' unfounded deep, and through the void immense To fearch with wand'ring quest a place foretold Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now Created vast and round, a place of bliss
In the pourlieus of Heav'n, and therein plac'd
A race of upstart creatures, to supply
Perhaps our vacant room, though more remov'd, 835
Lest Heav'n furcharg'd with potent multitude
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, fhall foon return,
And bring ye to the place where Thou and Death
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unfeen
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 famin fhould be fill'd, and bleft his maw
Destin'd to that good hour: no lefs rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus bespake her fire.
The key of this infernal pit by due,
Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
My being gav'ft me; whom should 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 ease, 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 bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,
Which but herself not all the Stygian Powers
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns
Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of mafly ir'on 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
Harth thunder, that the lowest bottom shook.
Of Erebus. She open'd, but to fhut
Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd host
Under spread 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 smoke 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 highth,
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 feveral clans,
Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, fwift or flow,
Swarm populous, un-number'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 decision more embroils the fray
By which he reigns:
Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,
The womb of nature and perhaps her grave,
Of neither fea, nor fhore, 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 fmall) than when Bellona ftorms,
With all her battering engins. bent to rafe
Some capital city'; or lefs than if this frame
Of Heav'n were falling, and these elements
In mutiny had from her axle torn
The ftedfaft earth. At laft his fail-broad vans
He spreads for flight, and in the furging smoke
Uplifted spurns the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides
Audacious; but that feat foon failing, meets
A vaft vacuity: 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,
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,
Treading the crude confiftence, half on foot,
Half fly'ing; behoves him now both oar and fail.
As when a gryphon through the wilderness
With winged courfe, o'er hill or moory dale,
Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd
The guarded gold: So eagerly the Fiend
O'er bog, or fteep, through ftrait, rough, denfe, 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 founds and voices all confus'd,
Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear
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