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Tu verò vitæ mihi fons, Tu fanguinis auctor
Atque animæ: cui me potiùs præftare fidelem,
Quemve fequi malim? Quin Te duce regna beata
Luce novâ accedam, fuperûmque admiffa quietis
Læta Choris, carpam dulces ignara laborum
Delicias; folioque fruar Te propter amœno,
Quale decet caram, Genitor, tua gaudia, Natam.
Dixerat: & Clavem demiffam à pectore, Clavem
Horrendam, unde omnes noftri fluxere dolores,
Corripit; undantifque ad portas agmina caudæ
Turpia convolvens, ingentia pondera ferri
Serrati fublime levat; quæ tota labore
Vis Stygia immani junctoque attollere nifu
Plurima tentâsset nequicquam, Hæc sustulit una.
Jamque feræ flexus properè fcrutata recurvos,
Duratos ferro folidove adamante refigit

Vectes, clauftra, obices: Ingenti protinùs actu
Infernæ refilire fores, & cardine fulmen

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 bliss, among
The Gods who live at ease, where I fhall reign
At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems
Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.

Thus faying, from her fide the fatal Key,

Sad inftrument of all our woe, fhe took;
And tow'rds the Gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge Portcullis high up-drew,
Which but herself, 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 cafe
Unfaftens. On a sudden open fly
With impetuous recoil and jarring found

M 2

Stri

Stridenti fonere horrificum, quo Tartara motu

Quaffa tremunt latè, atque Erebi domus ima remugit.
Pandere Quæ potuit portas, compagibus arctis

Claudere nefcivit. Stabant latè bipatentes,

Quanto fe fpatio fluitantia figna fecutus
Explicet extendens vaftas Exercitus alas
Ordinibus laxis, cum belligero comitatu,
Quadrigis & equis: tantum patuere vomentes
Hinc atque hinc veluti magno fornacis ab ore
Candentem flammam undantisque volumina fumi.
Continuò ante oculos cani Secreta Profundi

Apparent; fine formâ horrens, fine limite, opacus
Panditur Oceanus: vafto Menfura barathro
Omnis ibi periit, Tempus periere Locufque.
Nec non Naturæ Proavi Nox cæca Chaofque
Bella iterant fremitu æterno, rixifque fruuntur.
Pugnat & Humori Ariditas, Frigufque Calorque
Inter fe adverfum luctantur, & acriter omnes

Th' infernal doors; and on their hinges grate
Harsh Thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus. She open'd; but to fhut
Excell'd her pow'r: the Gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd Host
Under spread Enfigns marching might pass 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,

[height,
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 confufion ftand. [fierce
For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four Champions

De

De regno certant Pugiles: in prælia ducit
Quifque fuas Atomorum acies, quæ figna fecutæ
Diverfa, & varias variâ fub imagine partes,
Hæ levibus cinctæ telis, gravioribus illæ,
Condenfæ agglomerant: Barca quot littus arenas
Solibus exuftum jactat torrenfve Cyrene,

:

Tot numeris fervent, Ventisque hinc inde citatæ
Belligeris, librant pennas. Quem maxima cingit
Pars Atomûm, fceptrum Ille gerit mutabile puncto
Temporis hic lites dirimens Chaos arbiter, ipfas
Auget & ingeminat, cæci fundamina regni.
Proximus Huic rerum Cafus moderatur habenas.
In vastum hoc barathrum (quo fe Natura capaci
Prima utero effudit, quod forfitan ipfa fepulcrum
Inveniet; quà nec terræ nec certa videntur
Equora, non ignes certi, non aeris auræ,
Confufa at moles pugnas habitura perennes,
Ni fòrs Omnipotens venturæ femina vitæ

Strive here for Maft'ry, and to Battle bring
Their embryon Atoms. They around the flag
Of each his Faction, in their sev'ral Clans,
Light-arm'd, or heavy, fharp, fmooth, fwift, or flow,
Swarm populous: un-number'd as the Sands
Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid foil,

Levy'd to fide with warring Winds, and poife
Their lighter wings. To whom These most adhere,
He rules a moment. Chaos Umpire fits,

And by decifion 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 thefe 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)

His tenebris premat, atque alios hinc deftinet orbes)
Hoc adeò in barathrum, ftans margine triftis Averni
Cautior emifit Satanas mirantia longè

Lumina, continuitque gradum & difcrimina volvit
Magna viæ; nec enim inde freti fpatia arcta tuetur.
Nec diris minus horrefcunt clangoribus aures
Attonitæ (fi fas parvis componere magna)
Quam fonitu cum fæva fremens Bellona minaci
Tormentis turres quatit & nutantia latè
Mœnia; vel cœli penitus compage folutâ

Si rumpant Elementa fidem, altisonansque procella'
Axe fuo avolfam rapido ruat impete terram.
Jamque fugam parat, atque alarum carbafa tendit,
Fumoque ut curru nebularum invectus opaco
Spernit humum, & nifu confurgit in ardua longè
Impavido; fedes cum tandem infida relabens
Corruit. Ille repente tremens plausisque laborans
Nequicquam pennis cecidit per multa Profundi

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 no cross. Nor was his ear lefs peal'd
With noifes loud and ruinous, (to compare
Great things with fmall) than when Bellona ftorms
With all her batt'ring Engines, bent to rafe
Some Capital City; or lefs than if this frame.
Of Heav'n were falling, and these Elements

In mutiny had from her Axle torn

The ftedfaft Earth. At laft his Sail-broad Vans
He spreads for flight; and in the furging smoke
Uplifted fpurns the ground: thence many a League,
As in a cloudy Chair, afcending rides
Audacious; but that feat foon failing, meets
A vaft Vacuity. All unawares

Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops
Ten thoufand fathom deep: and to this hour

Juge

Jugera; & adhuc caderet, ni adverfo turbine Nubes
Occurfans flammifque & fulphure fœta retortum
Vi rapidâ totidem fpatia in fublime tuliffet.
Hæc ubi tempeftas pofuit, cæno obfitus alto
Limofam cadit in Syrtem; (nec dicere terram
Nec pelagus poffis) malè cocta coagula iniquis
Jam calcat pedibus Satanas, jam commovet alas,
Velaque anhelanti nifu remofque fatigat.
Qualis congefto Gryphem fpoliaverit auro
Si furtim Scytha, prædonem pedibusque secuta
Et pennis montes ultra vallefque paluftres
Urget Avis. Satanas fic denfa & rara locorum,
Asp'ra, angusta avidus vincit; per flumina fertur,
Per vada, per clivos; membris fimul omnibus alifque,
Innatat, & cadit, ingreditur, ferpitque, volatque.
At vocum interea variarum diffonus horror

Fulmineo per Inane cavum clangore refultans
Ingeminat, fremituque obfeffas verberat aures.

Down had been falling, had not by ill chance
The ftrong 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 Se,
Nor good dry Land, nigh founder'd on he fares,
Treading the crude confiftence, half on foot,
Half flying: behoves him now both Oar and Sail.
As when a Gryfon, through the Wilderness
With winged courfe o'er Hill, or moory Dale,

Pursues the Arimafpian, who by ftealth
Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd
The guarded Gold: fo eagerly the Fiend
O'er bog, o'er steep, through strait, rough, dense,

or rare,

With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way;
And fwims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.
At length an univerfal Hubbub wild
Of stunning founds, and voices all confus'd,
Born through the hollow Dark assaults his ear

Huc

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