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 fail-broad vans He fpreads for flight, and in the furging smoke Uplifted fpurns the ground; thence many a league, As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides Audacious; but that feat foon failing, meets A vaft vacuity: all unawares
Fluttering 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 ftrong rebuff of fome tumultuous cloud, Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him As many miles aloft: that fury stay'd, Quench'd in a boggy Syrtis, neither fea,
Nor good dry land: nigh founder'd on he fares, 940 Treading the crude confiftence, half on foot, Half fly'ing; behoves him now both oar and fail. 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, denfe, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And fwims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies: At length a univerfal hubbub wild
Of ftunning founds and voices all confus'd,
Borne through the hollow dark, affaults his ear
With loudest vehemence: thither he plies, Undaunted to meet there whatever Power Or Spirit of the nethermoft abyss
Might in that noife refide, of whom to ask Which way the nearest coaft of darkness lies Bord'ring on light; when strait behold the throne Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion fpread Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthron'd Sat fable-vefted Night, eldest of things,
The confort of his reign; and by them stood Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Damogorgon; Rumor next and Chance,
And Tumult and Confufion all embroil'd,
And Difcord with a thoufand 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 fecrets of your realm, but by constraint Wand'ring this darkfome defert, as my way Lies through your fpacious empire up to light,
Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek
What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds
Confine with Heav'n; or if fome other place,
From your dominion won, th' ethereal king Poffeffes lately, thither to arrive
I travel this profound; direct my course; Directed no mean recompenfe it brings To your behoof, if I that region loft, All ufurpation thence expell'd, reduce
To her original darkness and your sway (Which is my prefent journey) and once more Erect the ftandard there of ancient Night; Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge. Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old, With faltring speech and vifage incompos'd, Anfwer'd. I know thee, ftranger, who thou art, 990 That mighty leading Angel, who of late
Made head against Heav'n's king, though overthrown. I faw and heard, for fuch a numerous hoft
Fled not in filence through the frighted deep With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
Confufion worfe confounded; and Heav'n gates Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands Purfuing. I upon my frontiers here Keep refidence; if all I can will ferve That little which is left fo to defend,
Encroach'd on ftill through your inteftin broils Weakning the fcepter of old Night: first Hell Your dungeon ftretching 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 fide 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; Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.
He ceas'd; and Satan stay'd not to reply, But glad that now his fea fhould 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 fides round Environ'd wins his way; harder befet And more indanger'd, than when Argo país'd Through Bofporus betwixt the juftling rocks: Or when Ulyffes on the larbord shunn'd Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool fteer'd. So he with difficulty and labor hard Mov'd on, with difficulty and labor he; But he once paft, foon after when man fell, Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain Following his track, fuch was the will of Heaven, Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way Over the dark abyfs, whofe boiling gulf Tamely indur'd a bridge of wondrous length From Hell continued reaching th' utmost orb
Of this frail world; by which the Spirits perverfe 1030 With easy intercourse pass to and fro
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom God and good Angels guard by fpecial grace. But now at laft the facred influence Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven Shoots far into the bofom of dim Night A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins Her fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire As from her outmoft works a broken foe With tumult lefs and with less hoftile din, That Satan with less toil, and now with ease Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light, And like a weather-beaten veffel holds
Gladly the port, though fhrouds and tackle torn; Or in the emptier wafte, refembling air, Weighs his fpread wings, at leifure to behold Far off th' empyreal Heav'n, extended wide In circuit, undetermin'd fquare or round, With opal tow'rs and battlements adorn'd Of living faphir, once his native feat; And faft by hanging in a golden chain This pendent world, in bignefs as a star
Of fmalleft magnitude clofe by the moon.
Thither full fraught with mifchievous revenge, Accurs'd, and in a curfed hour he hies.
THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK.
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