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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 bliss, 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, fhe took;

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And tow'ards 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

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Of maffy ir'on or folid rock with ease

Unfaftens on a fudden open fly,

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With impetuous recoil and jarring found,
Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the loweft bottom fhook
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 thro'
With horfe and chariots rank'd in loose array;
So wide they food, and like a furnace-mouth
Caft forth redounding fmoke and ruddy flame.
Before their eyes in fudden view appear
The fecrets of the hoary deep; a dark

Illimitable ocean, without bound,

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Without dimenfion, where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place are loft; where eldeft Night

And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

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Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

Of endless wars, and by confufion ftand.

For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce, Strive here for mast'ry, and to battle bring

Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their several clans,

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Light arm'd or heavy, fharp, fmooth, fwift, 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 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 abyfs the wary fiend

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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 batt'ring engines bent to raze
Some capital city'; or lefs than if this frame
Of heav'n were falling, and these elements
In mutiny had from her axle torn

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The ftedfaft earth. At laft his fail-broad vans
He fpreads for flight, and in the furging smoke
Uplifted fpurns the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides

Audacious; but that feat foon failing, meets

A vast vacuity: all unawares

Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops
Ten thoufand fathoms deep; and to this hour

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Down had been falling, had not by ill chance
The ftrong rebuff of fome tumultuous cloud,
Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him
As many miles aloft: that fury ftay'd,
Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis, neither fea,

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Nor good dry land: nigh founder'd on he fares, 940
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 Arimafpian, 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 strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way;
And fwims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
At length an univerfal hubbub wild
Of stunning founds, and voices all confus'd,
Borne through the hollow dark, affaults his ear
With loudest vehemence: thither he plies,
Undaunted to meet there whatever power
Or fpirit of the nethermost abyss

Might in that noife refide, of whom to ask
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies
Bord'ring on light; when ftrait behold the throne
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread

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Wide on the wafteful deep; with him enthron'd
Sat fable-vested Night, eldest of things,

The confort of his reign; and by them stood
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name.

Of Demogorgon; Rumour next, and Chance, 965
And Tumult, and Confufion all embroil'd,
And Difcord with a thoufand various mouths.

T'whom Satan turning boldly, thus. Ye powers And fpirits of this nethermolt abyss,

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Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy
With purpose to explore or to disturb
The fecrets of your realm; but by constraint
Wand'ring this darkfome defert, as my way
Lies through your fpacious empire up to light,
Alone, and without guide, half loft, I feek
What readieft 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 course :
Directed, no mean recompense it brings
To your behoof; if I that region lost,
All ufurpation thence expell'd, reduce
To her original darkness, and your sway,
(Which is my present journey), and once more
Erect the standard there of ancient Night;

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Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge.
Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old,
With falt'ring fpeech and vifage incompos'd,
Anfwer'd. I know thee, ftranger, who thou art, 990
That mighty leading angel, who of late.

Made head against heav'n's King, though overthrown.
I faw, and heard; for fuch a numerous hoft

Fled not in filence thro' the frighted deep,
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,

Confufion worfe confounded; and heav'n-gates
Pourid 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,
Encroach'd on still thro' your inteftine broils
Weak'ning the fceptre of old Night: first hell,
Your dungeon, ftretching far and wide beneath;
Now lately heav'n and earth, another world,

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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;
Havock, and fpoil, and ruin are my gain.

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He ceas'd; and Satan ftay'd not to reply,
But glad that now his fea fhould find a shore,
With freth alacrity, and force renew'd,
Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire,
Into the wild expanfe; and through the shock
Of fighting elements, on all fides round.
Environ'd, wins his way; harder beset,
And more indanger'd, than when Argo país'd
Thro' Bofphorus, betwixt the justling rocks:
Or when Ulyffes on the larboard fhunn'd-
Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steer'd.
So he with difficulty and labour hard
Mov'd on; with difficulty and labour he ;
But he once pass'd foon after, when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain
Following his track, fuch was the will of Heaven,
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 fpi'rits perverfe
With eafy intercourse pass to and fro,

To tempt or punifh mortals, except whom
God and good angels guard by special grace.

But now at laft the facred influence

Of light appears, and from the walls of heaven-
Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night
A glimmering dawn: here Nature first begins.
Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire,
As from her outmost works a broken foe,

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