"Tis feign'd, that first Alcides forc'd a way, And gave this passage to the indignant sea. And here perchance a lengthen'd tract of land With one continu'd mound the flood restrain'd, But now the furious main, with rushing tides, From towering Calpè Abyla divides; A strait 'twixt Libya now and Spain appears, Such is the force of time and change of years! Four times the east had seen the rising sun, Since first the vessel had its course begun: Nor sheltering bays, nor ports its speed delay, It shoots the strait, and leaves the midland sea. But what are seas to ocean's vast profound, Whose circling arms the spacious earth surround? Soon from the sight, amid the waves, are lost The fertile Gades, and each neighbouring coast. Behind, the lessening shores retreating fly; Sky bounds the ocean, ocean bounds the sky.
Satan's Voyage through Chaos.
He passes on his journey to hell gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them; by whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the great gulf between Hell and Heaven; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought. Milton.
-From her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our wo, she took; And, towards the gate rolling her bestiał train, Forthwith the huge portcullis high updrew, 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 massy iron or solid rock with ease Unfastens on a sudden open fly,
With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open stood, That with extended wings a banner'd host, Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array; So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame. Before their eyes in sudden view appear The secrets of the hoary deep, a dark Illimitable ocean, without bound,
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place are lost; where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
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, Light arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow, Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the sands Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere, He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits, And by decision 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 shore, nor air, nor fire, But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd Confusedly, 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 looked a while, Pond'ring his voyage; for no narrow frith
He had to cross. Nor was his ear less peall'd With noises loud and ruinous (to compare Great things with small) than when Bellona storms With all her battering engines, bent to raze Some capital city; or less than if this frame Of Heav'n were falling, and these elements In mutiny had from her axle torn
The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad vans He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke Uplifted spurns the ground; thence many a league, As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides
Audacious; but, that seat soon falling, meets A vast vacuity: all unawares,
Fluttering his pennons vain, plump 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 consistence, half on foot, Half flying; behooves him now both oar and sail. As when a gryphon, through the wilderness With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale, Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend
O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies: At length a universal hubbub wild
Of stunning sounds and voices all confus'd, Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear With loudest vehemence: thither he plies, Undaunted to meet there whatever power Or spirit of the nethermost abyss
Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies
Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne.
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthron'd Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things, The consort of his reign; and by them stood Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
Of Demo gorgon; Rumour next, and Chance, And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroill'd, And Discord with a thousand various mouths. T'whom Satan, turning boldly, thus: "Ye powers And spirits of this nethermost abyss, Chaos and ancient Night! I come no spy, With purpose to explore or to disturb
The secrets of your realm; but, by constraint Wandering this darksome desert, as my way Lies through your spacious empire up to light, Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds Confine with Heaven; or if some other place, From your dominion won, th' ethereal King Possesses 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 usurpation 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: Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge." Thus Satan; and him thus the anarch old, With falt'ring speech and visage incompos'd, Answer'd: "I know thee, stranger! who thou art, That mighty leading angel who of late
Made head against Heaven's King, though overthrown. I saw and heard; for such a numerous host
Fled not in silence through the frighted deep,
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
Confusion worse confounded; and Heaven gates
Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands
Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here
Keep residence; if all I can will serve
That little which is left so to defend,
Encroach'd on still through your intestine broils Weak'ning the sceptre of old Night: first Hell, Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath; Now lately Heav'n and Earth, another world, Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain To that side 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 spoil, and ruin are my gain."
He ceas'd; and Satan stay'd not to reply, But, glad that now his sea should find a shore, With fresh alacrity and force renew'd, Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire, Into the wild expanse, and through the shock Of fighting elements, on all sides round Environ'd, wins his way; harder beset, And more endanger'd, than when Argo pass'd Through Bosphorus, betwixt the justling rocks, Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunn'd Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steer'd. So he with diff'culty and labour hard Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he: But, he once pass'd, soon after, when man fell, Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain Following his track, such was the will of Heav'n. Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf 'Tamely endur'd a bridge of wond'rous length, From Hell continued, reaching th' utmost orb Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverse With easy intercourse pass to and fro To tempt or punish mortals, except whom God and good angels guard by special grace. But now at last the sacred 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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