But thou O father! I forewarn thee, fhun
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
To be invuln'rable in those bright arms,
Though temper'd heav'nly; for that mortal dint,
Save He who reigns above, none can refift!
She finish'd, and the subtile fiend his lore Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth. Dear daughter! fince thou claim'ft me for thy fire, And my fair fon here show'ft me (the dear pledge Of dalliance had with thee in heav'n, and joys Then sweet, now fad to mention, thro' dire change Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of!) know 821 I come no enemy, but to fet free
From out this dark and dismal house of pain,
Both him, and thee, and all the heav'nly hoft
Of fpirits that (in our just pretenfes arm'd,)
Fell with us from on high: from them I go
This uncouth errand fole; and one for all
My felf expofe, with lonely steps to tread
Th' unfounded Deep, and through the void immenfe
To fearch with wandring quest a place foretold 830
Should be, and, by concurring figns, e'er-now
Created, vaft and round; a place of blifs
In the pourlieues of heav'n, and therein plac'd
A race of upftart creatures, to supply.
Perhaps our vacant room; though more remov'd,
Left heav'n furcharg'd with potent multitude 836
Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or ought
Than this more fecret, now defign'd, I haste
To know; and this once known, shall foon return,
And bring ye to the place where Thou, and Death,
Shall dwell at eafe, and up and down unfeen 841
Wing filently the buxom air, imbalm'd
With odors: there ye fhall be fed, and fill'd
Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.
He ceas'd, for both feem'd highly pleas'd, and Death Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
His famine fhould be fill'd; and bleft his maw
Deftin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus bespake her fire:
The key of this infernal pit by due,
And by command of heav'n's all-pow'rful King,
I keep; by Him forbidden to unlock
These adamantine gates; against all force
Death ready stands to interpose his dart,
Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might.
But what owe I to His commands above
Who hates me, and hath hither thruft me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To fit in hateful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of heav'n, and heav'nly-born,
Here in perpetual agony, and pain,
With terrors, and with clamors compass'd round,
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
My Being gav'ft me; whom fhould I obey
But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me foon
To that new world of light and blifs, 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. 870
Thus faying, from her fide the fatal key,
Sad inftrument of all our woe! she took;
And tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew;
Which but her felf, not all the Stygian Pow'rs
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns
Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of maffy iron, or folid rock, with eafe
Unfaftens on a fudden open fly,
With impetuous recoil, and jarring found,
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,
885
Under fpread enfigns marching, might pafs through
With horfe, and chariots, rank'd in loose array,
So wide they stood! 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,
Without dimenfion; where length, breadth, and
And time, and place are loft; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand:
For, hot, cold, moift, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for maft'ry, and to battel bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their fev'ral clans,
Light-arm'd, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or flow,
Swarm populous, un-number'd as the fands
Of Barca, or Cyrene's torrid foil,
Levy'd to fide with warring winds, and poife 905
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,
He rules a moment: Chaos umpire fits,
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 fea, nor shoar, 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 abyss the wary fiend
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 small) than when Bellona ftorms,
With all her batt'ring engins bent to rase
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 laft his fail-broad vans
He spreads for flight, and in the furging smoke
Up-lifted fpurns the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides
Audacious; but that seat soon failing, meets
A vaft vacuity: all unawares
Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb 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, 940
Treading the crude confiftence, half on foot,
Half flying; behooves him now both oar and fail.
As when a gryfon, through the wilderness
With winged courfe o'er hill, or moory dale,
Purfues the Arimafpian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd
The guarded gold: fo eagerly the fiend
O'er bog or steep, through ftrait, rough, dense or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way;
And swims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. 950
At length a univerfal hubbub wild
Of stunning founds, and voices all confus'd,
Born through the hollow dark affaults his ear
With loudest vehemence: thither he plies,
Undaunted to meet there whatever Pow'r,
Or fpirit, of the nethermost abyss,
Might in that noise refide, of whom to ask
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies,
Bordering on light; when strait behold the throne
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