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Unda fugax fallitque avidos, quo more fefellit

Tantaleas fauces.

Trepido fic agmine triftes

Erravere, vagæ fine lege, fine ordine, turmæ,

Pallentes vultu immani gelidoque rigentes

Membra metu; Sors dira premit, nec meta laborum,
Nec requies; palant obscurâ nocte per umbras,
Per mæstas latè valles atque Alpium iniqua
Per juga, feu denfata gelu, feu livida flammis;
Antra, lacus, fcopulos, loca morte horrentia latè :
Quæ Pater omnipotens nigris devota creavit
Aufpiciis, atque apta malo; quà nulla refulget
Vitai facies; Lethum undique & undique Terror.
Hic partu producta fero cuncta improba, cuncta
Nascuntur portenta, infanda, inamænaque visu :
Qualia nec vates finxere, nec horruit unquam
Credulitas; graviora omni miracula monstro,
Gorgonibufque, Hydrifque, triformifque igne Chimara.
Efferus intereà Satanas Hominifque DE Ique

The Ford; and of it felf the water flies
All taste of living wight, as once it fled
The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on
In confus'd march forlorn th' advent'rous Bands,
With fhudd'ring horror pale, and eyes agaft,
View'd first their lamentable lot, and found
No reft through many a dark and dreary Vale
They pafs'd, and many a Region dolorous
O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,

Rocks, Caves, Lakes, Fens, Bogs, Dens, and fhades
A universe of death, with GoD by curfe [of death;
Created evil, for Evil only good:

Where all life dies, death lives; and Nature breeds
Perverse, all monftrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, inutterable; and worfe

Than Fables yet have feign'd, or Fear conceiv'd,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.

Mean while the Adverfary of GoD and Man,

Idem hoftis, magnum flammato pectore cœptum
Volvit atrox; Erebi ad portas pernicibus alis
Urget iter durum folus, jam littora dextra
Jamque finiftra petens; celeris libramine pennæ
Nunc altum radit; nunc rurfus ad ignea fertur
Sublimis Convexa.
Ut pendula nubibus altis
(Noctibus æqua dies ubi Etefia flabra reducit)
Apparet longè Claffis, quam thuris odori
Multâ mole gravem dives Gangetica tellus
Emifit; notum illa fecans mercantibus æftum
Certa procul juga montis adit, noctuque per æquor
Æthiopum tendit, proramque obliquat in auftros.
Talis erat Satanæ procul exfurgentis Imago:
Ingentes tandem muros confpexit Averni
Fornicis horrendi fummum contingere, & altè
Portas ter triplices invictam opponere molem.
Ter fefe circum æra tulerunt, ter grave ferri
Pondus, ter rupes adamantina; fæva vibrantum

Satan, with thoughts inflam'd of highest defign,
Puts on fwift wings, and tow'rds the gates of Hell
Explores his folitary flight: fometimes

He fcours the right-hand coaft, fometimes the left:
Now fhaves with level wing the Deep; then foars
Up to the fiery Concave tow'ring high.
As when far off at Sea a Fleet defcry'd
Hangs in the clouds, by Equinoctial winds
Clofe failing from Bengala, or the Ifles

Of Ternate and Tidore, whence Merchants bring
Their fpicy drugs: they on the Trading Flood
Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape
Ply, ftemming nightly tow'rd the Pole: So feem'd
Far off the flying Fiend. At last appear
Hell bounds, high-reaching to the horrid Roof,
And thrice threefold the Gates: three folds were
Three Iron, three of Adamantine Rock; [Brafs,
Impenetrable, impal'd with circling Fire,

Flam

Flammarum illæfos armârunt fpicula poftes.

Tum Formæ horrificæ dextrâ lævâque fedebant;
Altera fœmineâ facie fpectanda fuperne,

Zona pulchra tenus; fed turpiter exit in anguem,
Squamofum, ingentem, finuofa volumina vastæ
Oftentans caudæ, ftimuloque armata trifulco.
Complexu mediam cingens inferna canum vis
Cerbereos pandit rictus & voce tremendâ

Infonat; hi matris fubeuntes viscera, fiquod
Fortè malum accedat, notâ ftabulantur in alvo,
Latratufque iterant, ventremque ululatibus implent.
Non tam deformes miferæ quondam inguina Scylle
Vexavere Canes merfantis gurgite membra,
Trinacria raucis Calabros qui dividit oris:
Nec fic horrendæ, Sagam quas cingere fama est
Noctivagam, quoties nimbo volat acta per auras
Sanguinem odorata infantum, & feftina fororum
Ferales venit ad choreas; irata recondit

Yet unconfum'd. Before the Gates there fat
On either fide a formidable Shape;

The one feem'd Woman to the waift, and fair;
But ended foul in many a scaly fold,
Voluminous and vaft, a Serpent arm'd
With mortal fting. About her middle round
A cry of Hell-Hounds never ceafing bark'd
With wide Cerberian mouths full loud, and rung
A hideous Peal; yet, when they lift, would creep,

If ought difturb'd their noife, into her womb,
And kennel there; yet there ftill bark'd, and how'ld
Within unseen. Far lefs abhorr'd than these
Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the Sea that parts
Calabria from the hoarfe Trinacrian fhore:
Nor uglier follow the Night-Hag, when call'd
In fecret, riding through the Air fhe comes
Lur'd with the fmell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland Witches, while the lab'ring Moon

Luna

Luna caput, dirisque fugit conterrita Sacris.
Altera Formarum (poterat fi Forma vocari
Umbra rudis membrifque carens) terroribus omnes
Evicit Furias, Noctemque Erebumque tenebris.
Tum jaculum lethale quatit: quà frontis imago
Cernitur, effigies celfi diadematis ardet.

Jamque propinquabat Satanas; jam sede relictâ
Adversis latè spatians se paffibus effert

Monftrum ingens, immane; domus tremit omnis Averni.
Miratur vifum hoc cœli implacabilis Hoftis;

Miratur, neque enim metuit: non Ille creati

Horreret quidquam aut fugeret: Timor unicus Olli
Magnus erat Pater, & magnum Patris Incrementum.
Ipfe indignanti tandem prior ore locutus:

Unde venis, quam te memorem, Forma horrida, turpem Ausa mihi frontem torvofque opponere vultus,

Ad portas iter hinc claudens? hâc tendere certum est,
Nec te obtestabor: dignas dabis, improbe, pœnas,

Eclipfes at their charms. The other Shape,

(If Shape it might be call'd, that Shape had none
Diftinguishable in member, joint, or limb;
Or fubftance might be call'd that shadow seem'd,
For each feem'd either:) black it stood as Night,
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,

With horrid ftrides: Hell trembled as he ftrode.
Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd;
Admir'd, not fear'd. GoD and his Son except,
Created thing not valued he, nor fhun'd;
And with disdainful look thus first began:
Whence, and What art thou, execrable Shape,

And shook a dreadful dart: what feem'd his Head, That dar'ft, though grim and terrible, advance

The likeness of a Kingly Crown had on.
Satan was now at hand; and from his feat
The Monster moving onward came as fast

Thy mif-created Front athwart my way
To yonder gates? Through them I mean to país,
That be affur'd, without leave ask'd of thee.

Ni fugis hinc præceps, certâ jam clade docendus,
Quàm malè cum Divis Soboles contendat Averni.

Cui Spectrum hæc, iræ impatiens: Tune ætheris ifte
Defertor, Tune ifte, fidem qui primus in oris
Æthereis nec læfa priùs fanctiffima rupit
Fœdera; quem comitata ducem pars tertia cœli
Intulit arma ferox fupremo infanda Tonanti :
Qui deinde hic tecum triftes æterna fevero
Exilio, & mæfto confumunt fæcula luctu?

Tuque inter fuperas Orco damnate Cohortes
Te numeras? Tune infanos faftufque minasque

Hic fpiras Me Rege, animumque quod acriùs urat,
Rege Tuo Dominoque? Fuge hinc, repete ociùs antrum
Tartareum; fuge, Defertor, pernicibus alis,

Ne Te viperei cunctantem verbere flagri
Infequar; aut hujus femel ictum cufpide teli
Corripiat dirus tremor, infolitique dolores.

Hæc, linguâ fimul horrendâ vultuque minatus,

Retire, or tafte thy folly, and learn by proof,
Hell-born! not to contend with Spirits of Heav'n.
To whom the Goblin full of wrath reply'd:
Art thou that Traitor-Angel, art thou He,

To waste eternal days in woe and pain?

And reckon'st Thou thy felf with Spirits of Heav'n,
Hell-doom'd? and breath'ft defiance here and scorn,
Where I reign King, and to enrage thee more,

Who first broke peace in Heav'n, and Faith, till Thy King and Lord? Back to thy punishment,

then

Unbroken; and in proud rebellious arms
Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's Sons,
Conjur'd again the Highest: for which both Thou
And They, outcaft from God, are here condemn'd

Falfe fugitive, and to thy speed add wings;
Left with a whip of Scorpions I pursue
Thy lingring; or with one stroke of this dart
Strange horror feize thee, and pangs unfelt before.
So fpake the griefly Terror; and in fhape,

Dixit ;

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