Others four ways their flying march
Bend by four rivers broad,
Whose waters various four
And in the lake disgorge;
Abhorred Styx, the flood of hate;
Sad Acheron of wo;
Cocytus next, a river great,
That lamentations show; Phlegethon fierce, a painful stream, Whose waves of torrent fire, Inflame with rage both sharp and keen, In flaming sheets entire. Far off from these a silent one, Lethe its waters flow,
The river of oblivion;
Who drink forget all wo.
Meanwhile Satan, the old arch fiend,
A foe to God and man,
In high designs put on swift wing
To execute his plan,
And bent towards Hell gates his course
In solitary flights:
Sometimes he scours the right hand coast,
Sometimes the left he strikes ;
Now shaves with level wing the deep,
Then soars aloft again,
Up to the fiery concave steep,
Still urging on amain.
As when a fleet far of descry'd
Seems haging in the clouds;
Yet swims on ocean's swelling tide,
With riging, sail and shrouds."
So seem'd far off the flying fiend :
At length Hell hounds appear,
High reaching to the roof extend;
Nor op'ning far or near.
And thrice threefold the massy gates:
Three folds were solid brass,
Three iron strong in solid plates,
And adamant the rest.
On either side the gates were plac'd
A formidable shape;
The one seem'd woman to the waist
But ended like a snake,
A serpent arm'd, arm'd with mortal sting:
About her middle parts,
A cry of Hellhounds never ceasing,
Forever hid'ous bark,
Yet when they list, would creep or tare,
If aught disturbed them,
Into her womb and kennel there,
Yet bark and howl within.
The other shape stood black as night,
Fierce as ten furies dark,
As terrible as Hell, at sight,
And shook a dreadful dart;
What seem'd his head the likeness of,
A kingly crown had on,
The king of terrors dread he was,
And crown'd o'er ev'ry one.
Nearer now the fiend approach'd,
And lo! the monster show'd
More horror, as his looks bespoke;
Hell trembled as he strode.
Th' undaunted fiend what that might be
Admir'd, admir'd, not fear'd,
Except God and his Son only
He shunn'd or ever car'd;
And soon these words disdainful spake :
"Whence and what art thou,
Thou horrid execrable shape,
With miscreated brow,
How dost thou dare to thwart my path?
To yonder barr'd gates, see,
Through them, be sure, I mean to pass
Without leave ask'd of thee;
Back, or taste thy folly, too late,
And learn by proof, Hell born,
Not to contend with spirits great
That highest Heaven adorn."
To whom the goblin soon repli'd,
With wrath and vengeance fill'd.
"Art thou that traitor angel proud,
Fall'n, adjudg'd to Hell,
Who first broke peace and faith above,
Unbroken till by thee,
And into hate thus changed love,
Which wrought thy misery,
And drew a third of Heaven's sons
In proud rebellious fight
After him, nor the vict'ry won,
But cast from realms of light,
And now are here condemn'd to waste
Eternal days in pain,
And with spirits of Heaven reck'n,st
Thou thyself again,
Hell-doom'd and breath'st defiance here,
And scorn where I reign king,
And to increase thy rage and fear
I am thy Lord and King?
Back to thy punishment in haste,
And to thy speed add wings,
Lest I peruse thy ling'ring pace
With whip of scorpion's stings,
Or with one stroke of this my dart
Strange horror dire sieze thee,
And pangs unfelt before whose smart
Shall thy destruction be."
So spake the horrid grisly form
That in so threat'ning grew
Tenfold more dreadful and deform'd
And black and angry too:
Satan unmov'd, on the other side,
With resolution firm,
Incens'd with wrath, unterrifi'd,
And like a comet burned.
Now each levell'd his deadly blow
Each at the others brain;
Their hands intend no second throw,
At one the vict❜ry gain;
Such a frown each on th' other brought,
As when two clouds heavy
With Heav'n's dread artillery fraught
Come rattling o'er the sea,
And frontinling stand, hov'ring afar,
Till winds the signal blow
To join their dark encounter in air,
And thunderbolts to throw :-
And now great deeds had been achiev'd,
Whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the snaky form perceiv'd
Th' intent of her grim son,
And with outcry most hideous.
Now rising from her seat,
And suddenly between them rush'd
And thus began her speech:
In time to check their horrid plans,
And evil soon to come.
"O Father what intends thy hands
Against thine only son?
Why fierce, O Son, to bend thy dart
Against thy Father's head,
Or know'st thou not from whence thou art?
He is thy sire," she said.
So spake the portress of Hell's door,
Who kept the fatal key,
At which the hellish pest forebore;
And Satan thus said free:
"So strange thy words thus interpos'd,
My hand prevented spares
To tell thee yet by fatal blows
What it intends, and where;
Till first I knew or heard of thee,
Hateful as penal fire,
Thee in this horrid vale I see;
First met thou call'st me sire,
And this phantom thou call'st my son,
I know thee not," said he.
Nor saw sight more detested one
So foul as him and thee.".
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