And bring ye to the place where Thou and Death 840
Shall dwell at eafe, and up and down unseen
wing filently the buxom Air, imbalm'd
With odours; there ye shall 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 ghaftly fmile, to hear
His famine fhould be fill'd, and bleft is maw
Deftin'd to that good hour: no less 1 ejoyc’d
His Mother bad, and thus bespake her Sire:
The Key of this infernal Pit by due,
And by command of Heav'ns all-powerful King
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
These Adamantine Gates; against all force
Death ready ftands 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 the 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 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 eafe, where I fhall reign.
At thy right hand voluptuous, as befeems
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 her felf, not all the Stygian powers 875
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns
Th' intricate Wards, and every Bolt and Bar
Of maffie Iron or follid Rock with ease
Unfaftens: On a sudden open fly
With impetuous recoil and jarring found
Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh Thunder, that the lowest bottom hook
Of Erebus. She open'd, but to fhut
Excell'd her power; the Gates wide open ftood,
That with extended wings a banner'd Hoft
Under spread Enfigns marching might pass through
With Horfe and Chariors rank'd in loose array;
So wide they ftood, and like a Furnace mouth
Caft forth redounding smoak and ruddy flame.
Before their Eyes in fudden view appear
The fecrets of the hoary deep, and dark
Illimitable Ocean without bound,
[heighth, 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 900
Of each his Faction, in their fev'ral Clans,
Light-arm'd or heavy, fharp, fmooth, swift or flow,
Swarm populous, un-numbred as the Sands
Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid foil,
Levi'd to fide with warring Winds, and poise 905
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: next him high Arbiter
Chance governs all. Into this wild Abyss,
The Womb of Nature, and perhaps her Grave,
Of neither Sea, nor Shoar, nor Air, nor Fire,
But all thefe in their pregnant caufes mixt
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 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 920
With noifes loud and ruinous (to compare
Great things with fmail) than when Bellona ftorms,
With all her battering Engines bent to rafe
Some Capital City; or lefs than if this frame
Of Heav'n were falling, and thefe Elements
In mutiny had from her Axle torn
The ftedfaft Earth. At laft his Sail-broad Vannes He fpreads for flight, and in the furging smoke Uplifted fpurns the ground, thence many a League
As in a cloudy Chair, ascending rides
Audacious, but that feat foon 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 935
The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud
Inftinct with Fire and Nitre hurried him
As many miles aloft: that fury ftay'd,
Quencht 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 Sail.
As when a Gryfon through the Wildernefs
With winged courfe o'er Hill or moary Dale,
Purfues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd
The guarded Gold: So 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: 95€
At length a univerfal hubbub wild
Of ftunning founds and voices all confus'd
Born through the hollow dark affaults his ear
With loudeft vehemence: thither he plies,
Undaunted to meet there whatever power
Or Spirit of the nethermoft Abyss.
Might in that noife refide, of whom to ask
Which way the nearest coaft 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 enthron'd Sate Sable- vefted Night, eldest of things,
The Confort of his Reign; and by them ftood
Orchus 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 Spirits of this nethermoft 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 darksom Defart, as my way,
Lies through your fpacious Empire up to light,
Alone, and without guide, half loft, I seek
What readieft path leads where your gloomie bounds
Confine with Heav'n; or if fome other place
From your Dominien 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 expell'd, reduce
To her original darkness and your sway
(Which is my present journey) and once more 985
Eret the Standard there of ancient Nights
Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge.
Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old.
With fault'ring fpeech and vifage incompos'd.
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