Some capital city'; or lefs than if this frame
Of Heav'n were falling, and these elements
In mutiny had from her axle torn

925

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,

930

935

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

945

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,

955

960

The confort of his reign; and by them stood
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
Of Damogorgon; Rumor next and Chance,

965

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,

970

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

975

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

9800

985

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,

995

1000

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

1005

1010

1020

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

F 3

1040

Gladly

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

104-5

1050

Of fmalleft magnitude clofe by the moon.

Thither full fraught with mifchievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a curfed hour he hies.

1055

THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK.

THE