Hic effudit aquas implacati horridus amnis
Styx Odii: hìc fqualens Acheron mœrore profundo
Volvitur ater, iners; tum fluctum trifte fonantem
Urget Cocytus, nomen cui fæva dederunt
Lamenta horrendas volgo exaudita per undas:
Extremus Phlegethontis atrox ebulliit æftus
Igne fluens, rabiemque animat, geminatque furores.
Lethæus procul hinc tacitos tardo agmine fluctus
Rivus agit, variifque vagans oblivia ducit
Flexibus; hinc quicunque haurit, monumenta prioris
Expungit vitæ, luctufque & gaudia delet.
Hunc ultra fluvium æternâ densata pruinâ
Terra jacet latè informis, rapidifque procellis
Turbinibusque agitata feris, & grandine dirâ,
Quæ firmo durata folo coalefcit acervos
In rigidos, veterifque imitatur fragmina molis.
Hinc atque hinc circum horrefcit nix alta geluque,
Ore patens rabido gurges, Serbonia qualis
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 these, a flow and filent ftream,
Lethe, the river of Oblivion, rolls
Her wat'ry Labyrinth; whereof who drinks,
Forthwith his former ftate and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.
Beyond this food 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: all elfe, deep Snow and Ice:
A gulf profound as that Serbonian Bog
"Twixt Damiata, and mount Cafius old;
Vasta palus Damiatam inter Cafumque cacumen
Antiquum, innumeras acies quæ fæva recepit
Immani barathro abforptas; furit efferus ardor
Aere fub gelido & concretum frigus adurit.
Huc olim, quotcunque luunt commiffa fub Orco,
Harpyiis tracti, Furiarumque unguibus uncis,
Deveniunt; hìc dira pati contraria diris
Afperaque alternis juffi mutare, per ipfas
Afperiora vices: flammarum è gurgite vixdum
Emerfus Calor æthereæ divinior auræ
Frigoribus torpet duris, mollifque animai
Fixa gelu natura riget; quotiefque recurrens
Hora vocat, fævos torrenda refertur in ignes.
Quòque dolor crefcat, Lethaa hæc flumina crebro
Transmittunt curfu, & multùm luctantur anheli
Labra ferè lambente oblivia ducere lymphâ.
Fata obstant, vetitumque vadum terrore Medusa
Gorgonio cingit frendens: quin fponte recedit
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 Lethean Sound
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 lofe
In fweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
All in one moment, and fo near the brink:
But Fate withstands; and to oppose th' attempt
Medufa with Gorgonian terror guards
Unda fugax fallitque avidos, quo more fefellit
Trepido fic agmine triftes
Erravere, vagæ fine lege, fine ordine, turma,
Pallentes vultu immani gelidoque rigentes
Membra metu; Sors dira premit, nec meta laborum,
Nec requies; palant obscurâ nocte per umbras,
Per mæstas latè valles atque Alpium iniqua
Per juga, seu denfata gelu, feu livida flammis;
Antra, lacus, fcopulos, loca morte horrentia latè:
Quæ Pater omnipotens nigris devota creavit
Aufpiciis, atque apta malo; quà nulla refulget
Vitai facies; Lethum undique & undique Terror.
Hic partu producta fero cuncta improba, cuncta
Nafcuntur portenta, infanda, inamænaque visu:
Qualia nec vates finxere, nec horruit unquam
Credulitas; graviora omni miracula monstro,
Gorgonibufque, Hydrifque, triformifque igne Chimera.
Efferus intereà Satanas Hominifque DE Ique
The Ford; and of it felf the water flies
All tafte of living wight, as once it fled
The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on
In confus'd march forlorn th' advent'rous Bands,
With fhudd'ring horror pale, and eyes agaft,
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
O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,
Rocks, Caves, Lakes, Fens, Bogs, Dens, and fhades
A universe of death, with GoD by curfe [of death;
Created evil, for Evil only good:
Where all life dies, death lives; and Nature breeds
Perverse, all monftrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, inutterable; and worfe
Than Fables yet have feign'd, or Fear conceiv'd,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.
Mean while the Adverfary of GoD and Man,
Idem hoftis, magnum flammato pectore cœptum
Volvit atrox; Erebi ad portas pernicibus alis
Urget iter durum folus, jam littora dextra
Jamque finiftra petens; celeris libramine pennæ
Nunc altum radit; nunc rurfus ad ignea fertur
Sublimis Convexa.
Ut pendula nubibus altis
(Noctibus æqua dies ubi Etefia flabra reducit)
Apparet longè Claffis, quam thuris odori
Multâ mole gravem dives Gangetica tellus
Emifit; notum illa fecans mercantibus æftum
Certa procul juga montis adit, noctuque per æquor
Æthiopum tendit, proramque obliquat in auftros.
Talis erat Satana procul exfurgentis Imago:
Ingentes tandem muros confpexit Averni
Fornicis horrendi fummum contingere, & altè
Portas ter triplices invictam opponere molem.
Ter fefe circum æra tulerunt, ter grave ferri
Pondus, ter rupes adamantina; fæva vibrantum
Satan, with thoughts inflam'd of highest defign,
Puts on fwift wings, and tow'rds the gates of Hell
Explores his folitary flight: fometimes
He fcours the right-hand coaft, fometimes the left:
Now fhaves with level wing the Deep; then foars
Up to the fiery Concave tow'ring high.
As when far off at Sea a Fleet defcry'd
Hangs in the clouds, by Equinoctial winds
Close failing from Bengala, or the Ifles
Of Ternate and Tidore, whence Merchants bring
Their spicy drugs: they on the Trading Flood
Through the wide Æthiopian to the Cape
Ply, ftemming nightly tow'rd the Pole: So feem'd
Far off the flying Fiend. At laft appear
Hell bounds, high-reaching to the horrid Roof,
And thrice threefold the Gates: three folds were
Three Iron, three of Adamantine Rock; [Brass,
Impenetrable, impal'd with circling Fire,
Flammarum illæfos armârunt fpicula poftes.
Tum Formæ horrificæ dextrâ lævâque fedebant;
Altera fœmineâ facie fpectanda fuperne,
Zona pulchra tenus; fed turpiter exit in anguem,
Squamofum, ingentem, finuofa volumina vastæ
Oftentans caudæ, ftimuloque armata trifulco..
Complexu mediam cingens inferna canum vis
Cerbereos pandit rictus & voce tremendâ
Infonat; hi matris fubeuntes vifcera, fiquod
Fortè malum accedat, notâ ftabulantur in alvo,
Latratusque iterant, ventremque ululatibus implent.
Non tam deformes miferæ quondam inguina Scylle
Vexavere Canes merfantis gurgite membra,
Trinacria raucis Calabros qui dividit oris :
Nec fic horrendæ, Sagam quas cingere fama est
Noctivagam, quoties nimbo volat acta per auras
Sanguinem odorata infantum, & feftina fororum
Ferales venit ad choreas; irata recondit
Yet unconfum'd. Before the Gates there fat
On either fide a formidable Shape;
The one feem'd Woman to the waist, and fair;
But ended foul in many a fcaly fold,
Voluminous and vaft, a Serpent arm'd
With mortal fting. About her middle round
A cry of Hell-Hounds never ceafing bark'd
With wide Cerberian mouths full loud, and rung
A hideous Peal; yet, when they lift, would creep,
If ought difturb'd their noife, into her womb,
And kennel there; yet there ftill bark'd, and how'ld
Within unseen. Far lefs abhorr'd than these
Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the Sea that parts
Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian fhore :
Nor uglier follow the Night-Hag, when call'd
In fecret, riding through the Air she comes
Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland Witches, while the lab'ring Moon
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