Dreaded not more th' adventure than his voice
Forbidding; and at once with him they rofe;
Their rifing all at once was as the found
Of thunder heard remote. Tow'ards him they bend.
With awful reverence prone; and as a God
Extol him equal to the Hig'heft in Heav'n:
Nor fail'd they to exprefs how much they prais'd, 480
That for the general fafety he defpis'd
His own: for neither do the Spirits damn'd Lofe all their virtue; left bad men fhould boast Their fpecious deeds on earth, which glory' excites, Or clofe ambition varnish'd o'er with zeal. Thus they their doubtful confultations dark Ended rejoicing in their matchless chief: As when from mountain tops the dusky clouds Afcending, while the north-wind fleeps, o'er-fpread Heav'n's chearful face, the louring element Scowls o'er the darken'd landskip fnow, or shower; If chance the radiant fun with farewel fweet Extend his evening beam, the fields revive, The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds Atteft their joy, that hill and valley rings. O fhame to men! Devil with Devil damn'd Firm concord holds, men only disagree
Of creatures rational, though under hope
Of heav'nly grace: and God proclaming peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,
Wafting the earth, each other to destroy:
As if (which might induce us to accord)
Man had not hellish foes enow besides,
That day and night for his deftruction wait.
The Stygian council thus diffolv'd; and forth
In order came the grand infernal peers:
Midst came their mighty paramount, and seem'd
Alone th' antagonist of Heav'n, nor less
Than Hell's dread emperor with pomp fupreme,
And God-like imitated state; him round
A globe of fiery Seraphim inclos'd
With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms.
Then of their feffion ended they bid cry
With trumpets regal found the great refult:
Tow'ards the four winds four speedy Cherubim
Put to their mouths the founding alchemy
By heralds voice explain'd; the hollow' abyss
Heard far and wide, and all the hoft of Hell
With deafning shout return'd them loud acclame. 520
Thence more at ease their minds, and fomewhat rais'd
By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers
Disband, and, wand'ring, each his feveral way
Purfues, as inclination or fad choice
Leads him perplex'd, where he may likelieft find 525
Truce to his reftlefs thoughts, and entertain
The irksome hours, till his great chief return.
Part on the plain, or in the air fublime,
Upon the wing, or in swift race contend,
As at th' Olympian games or Pythian fields;
Part curb their fiery steeds, or fhun the goal
With rapid wheels, or fronted brigads form.
As when to warn proud cities war appears
Wag'd in the troubled fky, and armies rush
To battel in the clouds, before each van
Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears
Till thickeft legions clofe; with feats of arms
From either end of Heav'n the welkin burns.
Others with vaft Typhoean rage more fell
Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
In whirlwind; Hell fcarce holds the wild uproar.
As when Alcides, from Oechalia crown'd
With conqueft, felt th' envenom'd robe, and tore
Through pain up by the roots Theffalian pines,
And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw
Into th' Euboic fea. Others more mild,
Retreated in a filent valley, fing
With notes angelical to many a harp
Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall
By doom of battel; and complain that fate
Free virtue should inthrall to force or chance.
Their fong was partial, but the harmony
(What could it lefs when Spi'rits immortal fing?) Sufpended Hell, and took with ravishment
The thronging audience. In difcourfe more sweet 555 (For eloquence the foul, fong charms the fenfe,) Others apart fat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,
Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge abfolute,
And found no end, in wand'ring mazes loft.
Of good and evil much they argued then,
Of happiness and final mifery,
Paffion and apathy, and glory' and shame,
Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy :
Yet with a pleasing forcery could charm
Pain for a while or anguish, and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast
With stubborn patience as with triple steel.
Another part in fquadrons and grofs bands,
On bold adventure to difcover wide
That difmal world, if any clime perhaps
Might yield them easier habitation, bend
Four ways their flying march, along the banks
Of four infernal rivers, that difgorge
Into the burning lake their baleful streams;
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
Sad Acheron of forrow, black and deep;
Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful ftream; fierce Phlegethon
Whofe waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from thefe a flow and filent ftream,
Lethe the river of oblivion rolls
Her watry labyrinth, whereof who drinks,
Forthwith his former state and be'ing forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.
Beyond this flood a frozen continent
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms
Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin feems
Of ancient pile; or elfe deep fnow and ice,
A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog
Betwixt Damiata and Mount Cafius old,
Where armies whole have funk: the parching air
Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire.
Thither by harpy-footed furies hal'd
At certain revolutions all the damn'd
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
Their foft ethereal warmth, and there to pine
Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round,
Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire.
They ferry over this Lethéan found
Both to and fro, their forrow to augment,
And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach
The tempting ftream, with one fmall drop to lose
In fweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
All in one moment, and fo near the brink;
But fate withstands, and to oppose th' attempt
Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards
The ford, and of itself the water flies
All taste of living wight, as once it fled
The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on
In cónfus'd march forlorn, th' adventrous bands 615
With fhudd'ring horror pale, and eyes aghast,
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,
Ofer many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,
Rocks, caves,lakes, fens, hogs, dens, and shades of death,
A universe of death, which God by curfe
Created ev'il, for evil only good,
|