As when two polar winds, blowing adverfe Upon the Cronian fea, together drive Mountains of ice, that stop th' imagin'd way Beyond Petfora eastward, to the rich Cathaian coaft. The aggregated foil Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry, As with a trident Imote, and fix'd as firm As Delos floting once; the reft his look Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move; And with Afphaltic flime, broad as the gate, Deep to the roots of Hell the gather'd beach They faften'd, and the mole immenfe wrought on Over the foaming deep high arch'd, a bridge 301 Of length prodigious, joining to the wall Immoveable of this now fencelefs world Forfeit to Death; from hence a paffage broad, Smooth, eafy, inoffenfive down to Hell. So, if great things to fmall may be compar'd Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke, From Sufa his Memnonian palace high Came to the fea, and over Hellefpont Bridging his way, Europe with Afia join'd, And fourg'd with many a ftroke th' indignant
Difguis'd he came, but thofe his children dear 350 Their parent foon difcern'd, though in disguise. He after Eve feduc'd, unminded flunk Into the wood faft by, and changing shape To' obferve the fequel, faw his guileful act By Eve, though all unweeting, feconded 335 Upon her husband, faw their fhame that fought Vain covertures; but when he faw defcend The Son of God to judge them, terrify'd He fled, not hoping to efcape, but shun The prefent, fearing guilty what his wrath Might fuddenly inflict; that paft, return'd By night, and lift'ning where the hapless pair Sat in their fad difcourfe, and various plaint, Thence gather'd his own doom, which understood Not inftant, but of future time, with joy And tidings fraught, to Hell he now return'd, And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhop'd Met who to meet him came, his offspring dear. Great joy was at their meeting, and at fight 350 Of that itupendous bridge his joy increas'd. Long he admiring ftood, till Sin, his fair Inchanting daughter, thus the filence broke. O Parent, these are thy magnific deeds, Thy trophies, which thou view't as not thine 355
Thou art their author and prime architect:
For I no fooner in my heart divin'd,
My heart, which by a fecret harmony
That I muft after thee with this thy fon,
Such fatal confequence unites us three:
Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds, 365 Nor this unvoyageable gulf obfcure
Detain from following thy illustrious track. Thou haft atchiev'd our liberty, confin'd
Within Hell gates till now, thou us impower'd To fortify thus far, and overlay With this portentous bridge the dark abyfs. Thine now is all this world; thy virtue' hath won What thy hands builded not, thy wisdom gain'd With odds what war hath loft, and fully' aveng'd Our foil in Heav'n; here thou shalt monarch reign, 375
There didft not; there let him fill victor fway, As battel hath adjudg'd, from this new world Retiring, by his own doom alienated, And henceforth monarchy with thee divide
Of all things parted by th' empyreal bounds, 380 His quadrature, from thy orbicular world, Or try thee now more dangerous to his throne. Whom thus the Prince of darknefs anfwer'd
Fair Daughter, and thou Son and Grandchild both,
High proof ye now have giv'n to be the race 385 Of Satan, (for I glory in the name, Antagonist of Heav'n's almighty king) Amply have merited of me, of all 2 [L] 2
So faying he dismiss'd them; they with speed Their courfe through thickeft conftellations held Spreading their bane; the blafted ftars look'd wan, And planets, planet-ftruck, real eclipfe Then fuffer'd. Th' other way Satan went down The caufey to Hell gate; on either fide Difparted Chaos over built exclaim'd, And with rebounding furge the bars affail'd, That fcorn'd his indignation: through the gate, Wide open and unguarded, Satan pafs'd, And all about found defolate: for thofe Appointed to fit there, had left their charge, Flown to the upper world; the rest were all Far to th' inland retir'd, about the walls Of Pandemonium, city and proud feat Of Lucifer, fo by allufion call'd Of that bright ftar to Satan paragon'd. There kept their watch the legions, while the
In council fat, folicitous what chance Might intercept their empe'ror fent; fo he Departing gave command, and they obferv'd. 430 As when the Tartar from his Ruffian foe By Aftracan over the fnowy plains Retires, or Bactrian Sophi from the horns Of Turkish crefcent, leaves all wafte beyond The realm of Aladule, in his retreat To Tauris or Cafbeen: So thefe the late Heav'n-banish'd hoft, left defert utmoft Hell Many a dark league, reduc'd in careful watch Round their metropolis, and now expecting Each hour their great adventurer from the search Of foreign worlds; he through the midst un- mark'd,
In fhow plebeian Angel militant
Of loweft order, pafs'd; and from the door Of that Plutonian hall, invifible
Forth rufn'd in hafte the great confulting peers, Rais'd from their dark Divan, and with like y Congratulant approach'd him, who with band Silence, and with thefe werds attention won. Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virta, Powers,
For in poffeffion fuch, not only' of right, I call you and declare you now, return'd Successful beyond hope, to lead you forth Triumphant out of this inferna! pit Abominable, accurs'd, the houfe of woe, And dungeon of our tyrant: now poffefs, As Lords, a fpacious world, to' our native Hea
Little inferior, by my adventure hard With peril great achiev'd. Long were to tell What I have done, what fuffer'd, with what pai Voyag'd th' unreal, vaft, unbounded deep Of horrible confufion, over which By Sin and Death a broad way now is pav'd To expedite your glorious march; butl Foil'd out my uncouth paffage, forc'd to ride 4 Th' untractable abyfs, plung'd in the womb Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wild, That jealous of their fecrets fiercely' oppos'd My journey ftrange, with clamorous uproar Protefting fate fupreme; thence how I found 48 The new-created world, which fame in Heave Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful Of abfolute perfection, therein Man Plac'd in a Paradife, by our exile Made happy: Him by fraud I have feduc'd From his Creator, and the more to increase Your wonder, with an apple; he thereat Offended, worth your laughter, hath giv'n up Both his beloved Man and all his world, To Sin and Death a prey, and fo to us, Without our hazard, labor, or alarm, To range in, and to dwell, and over Man To rule, as over ali he fhould have rul'd. True is, me alfo he hath judg'd, or rather Me not, but the brute ferpent in whofe fhape 43 Man I deceiv'd that which to me belongs, Is enmity, which he will put between Me and mankind; I am to bruise his heel; His feed, when is not fet, fhall bruise head: A world who would not purchase with a bruit, Or much more grievous pain? Ye have tha
Of my performance: What remains, ye Gods, But up and enter now into full blifs?
So having faid, a while he stood, expecting Their univerfal fhout and high applause To fill his ear, when contrary he hears On all fides, from innumerable tongues A difmal univerfal hifs, the found Of public fcorn; he wonder'd, but not long
Had leifure, wond'ring at himself now more; 510 | Whom they triumph'd once laps'd. Thus were His vilage drawn he felt to sharp and spare,
His arms clung to his ribs, his legs intwining Each other, till fupplanted down he fell A monftrous ferpent on his belly prone, Reluctant, but in vain, a greater power Now rul'd him, punish'd in the shape he finn'd According to his doom: he would have spoke, But hifs for hifs return'd with forked tongue To forked tongue, for now were all transform'd Alike, to ferpents all as acceffories
To his bold riot: dreadful was the din
Of hiffing through the hall, thick fwarming now With complicated monfters head and tail, Scorpion, and Afp, and Amphisbæna dire, Cerates horn'd, Hydrus, and Elops drear, And Dipfas (not fo thick fwarm'd once the foil Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the ile Ophiufa) but still greatest he the midst, Now Dragon grown, larger than whom the fun Ingender'd in the Pythian vale on flime, 530 Huge Python, and his pow'r no tefs he feem'd Above the reft ftill to retain; they all Him follow'd iffuing forth to th' open field, Where all yet left of that revolted rout Heav'n-fall'n, in ftation ftood or just array, 535 Sublime with expectation when to fee
In triumph iffuing forth their glorious chief: They faw, but other fight instead, a crowd Of ugly ferpents; horror on them fell, And horrid fympathy; for what they faw, They felt themselves now changing; down their
Down fell both fpear and fhield, down they as fast, And the dire hifs renew'd, and the dire form Catch'd by contagion, like in punishment,
As in their crime. Thus was th' applause they 545 Turn'd to exploding hifs, triumph to fhame Caft on themselves from their own mouths. There flood
A grove hard by, fprung up with this their change, His will who reigns above, to aggravate Their penance, laden with fair fruit, like that 550 Which grew in Paradife, the bait of Eve Us'd by the Tempter: on that prospect strange Their carneft eyes they fix'd, imagining For one forbidden tree a multitude
Now ris'n, to work them further woe or fhame; Yet parch'd with fcalding thirft and hunger fierce, Though to delude them fent, could not abstain, Fut on they roll'd in heaps, and up the trees Climbing, fat thicker than the fnaky locks That curl'd Megara: greedily they pluck'd 560 The fruitage fair to fight, like that which grew Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flam'd; This more delufive, not the touch, but tafte Deceiv'd; they fondly thinking to allay Their appetite with guft, instead of fruit Chew'd bitter afhes, which th' offended tafte With fpattering noife rejected: oft they' affay'd, Hunger and thirst conftraining, drug'd as oft, With hatefulleft difrelish writh'd their jaws With foot and cinders fill'd: so oft they fell 570 Into the fame illufion, not as Man
And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hifs, Till their loft fhape, permitted, they refum'd, Yearly injoin'd, fome fay, to undergo 575 This annual humbling certain number'd days, To dafh their pride, and joy for man feduc'd. However fome tradition they difpers'd Among the Heathen of their purchase got, And fabled how the Serpent, whom they call'd Ophion with Eurynome, the wide Encroaching Eve perhaps, had first the rule Of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driven And Ops, ere yet Dictæan Jove was born. Mean while in Paradife the hellish pair Too foon arriv'd, Sin there in pow'r before, Once actual, now in body, and to dwell Habitual habitant; behind her Death Clofe following pace for pace, not mounted yet On his pale horse: to whom Sin thus began. 590 Second of Satan fprung, all-conqu'ring Death, What think'st thou of our empire now, though earn'd
With travel difficult, not better far
Feed first, on each beaft next, and fish, and fowl, No homely morfels; and whatever thing The fithe of Time nowes down, devour unfpar'd; Till I in Man refiding through the race, His thoughts, his looks, words, actions all infect, And feafon him thy last and sweetest prey.
This faid, they both betook them several ways, Both to deftroy, or unimmortal make All kinds, and for deftruction to mature Sooner or later; which th' Almighty seeing, From his tranfcendent feat the Saints among, To those bright Orders utter'd thus his voice. 615 See with what heat thefe dogs of Hell advance To waste and havoc yonder world, which I So fair and good created, and had still Kept in that ftate, had not the folly' of Man Let in these wafteful furies, who impute Folly to me, fo doth the prince of Hell And his adherents, that with so much ease I fuffer them to enter and poffefs
A place fo heav'nly, and conniving feem To gratify my fcornful enemies,
That laugh, as if, tranfported with fome fit Of paffion, I to them had quitted all,
At random yielded up to their mifrule;
And know not that I call'd and drew them thither My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and filth Which Man's polluting fin with taint hath shed On what was pure, till cramm'd and gorg'd, nigh
With fuck'd and glutted ofal, at one fling 633 | Of thy victorious arm, well-pleating Son, Both Sin, and Death, and yawning Grave at laft Through Chaos hurl'd, obftruct the mouth of Hell For ever, and feal up his ravenous jaws. 637
Then Heav'n and Earth renew'd fhall be made pure
To fanctity that fhall receive no ftain: Till then the curfe pronounc'd on both precedes. He ended, and the heav'nly audience loud 641 Sung Halleluiah, as the found of feas, Through multitude that fung: Juft are thy ways, Righteous are thy decrees on all thy works; Who can extenuate thee? Next, to the Son, 645 Deftin'd restorer of mankind, by whom New Heav'n and Earth fhall to the ages rife, Or down from Heav'n defcend. Such was their fong,
While the Creator calling forth by name
His mighty Angels gave them feveral charge 650 As forted beft with prefent things. The fun Had first his precept fo to move, fo fhine, As might affect the earth with cold and heat Scarce tolerable, and from the north to cali Decrepit winter, from the fouth to bring Solftitial fummer's heat. To the blanc moon Her office they prefcrib'd, to th' other five Their planetary motions and afpécts In fextile, fquare, and trine, and oppofit Of noxious efficacy, and when to join In fynod unbenign; and taught the fix'd Their influence malignant when to shower, Which of them rifing with the fun, or falling, Should prove tempeftuous: To the winds they fet Their corners, when with blufter to confound Sea, air, and fhore, the thunder when to roll 666 With terror through the dark acreal hall. Some fay he bid his angels turn afcanfe The poles of earth twice ten degrees and more From the fun's axle, they with labor pufh'd 670 Oblique the centric globe: Some fay the fun Was bid turn reins from th' equinoctial road Like diftant breadth to Taurus with the feven Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan Twins Up to the Tropic Crab: thence down amain 675 By Leo and the Virgin and the Scales, As deep as Capricorn, to bring in change Of feafons to each clime; elfe had the spring Perpetua! fmil'd on earth with vernant flowers, Equal in days and nights, except to thefe Beyond the polar circles; to them day Had unbenighted fhone, while the low fun To recompenfe his distance, in their fight Had rounded still th' horizon, and not known
Or east or weft, which had forbid the fnow 685 From cold Eftotiland, and fouth as far Beneath Magellan. At that tafted fruit The fun, as from Thyéftean banquet, turn'd His courfe intended; elfe how had the world Inhabited, though finlefs, more than now, Avoided pinching cold and fcorching heat? Thefe changes in the Heav'ns, though flow, produc'd
Jike change on fea and land, fideral blatt, V. por, and mift, and exhalation hot,
Corrupt and peftilent: Now from the north 695 Of Norumbega, and the Samoed fhore, Bursting their brazen dungeon, arm'd with ice And fnow and hail and ftormy guft and flaw, Boreas and Cacias and Argeftes loud
And Thrafcias rend the woods and feas upturn; 700 With adverfe blaft upturns them from the fouth Notus and Afer black with thundrous clouds From Serraliona; thwart of thefe as fierce Forth rufh the Levant and the Ponent winds Eurus and Zephyr with their lateral nuife, 705 Sirocco, and Libecchio. Thus began Outrage from lifeless things; but Difcord first Daughter of Sin, among th' irrational, Death introduc'd through fierce antipathy: Beaft now with beaft 'gan war, and fowl with fowl,
And fish with fish; to graze the herb all leaving, Devour'd each other; nor ftood much in awe Of Man, but fled him, or with count'nance grim Glar'd on him paffing. Thefe were from without The growing miferies which Adam faw 715 Already' in part, though hid in gloomieft shade, To forrow' abandon'd, but worfe felt within, And in a troubled fea of paffion toft, Thus to difburden fought with fad complaint.
O miferable of happy! is this the end Of this new glorious world, and me fo late The glory of that glory, who now become Accurs'd of ble ffed, hide me from the face Of God, whom to behold was then my highth Of happiness! Yet well, if here would end 75 The mifery; I deferv'd it, and would bear My own defervings; but this will not ferve; All that I eat or drink, or fhall beget, Is propagated curfe. O voice once heard Delightfully, Increase and multiply,
Now death to hear! for what can I increase Or multiply, but curfes on my head? Who of all ages to fucceed, but feeling The evil on him brought by me, will curfe My head? Ill fare our anceftor impure, For this we may thank Adam; but his thanks Shall be the execration! So befides Mine own that bide upon me, all from me Shall with a fierce reflux on me redound, On me as on their natural center light Heavy, though in their place. O flecting joys Of Paradife, dear bought with lafting woes! Did I requeft thee, Maker, from my clay To mold me Man, did I folicit thee From darkness to promote me, or here place 745 In this delicious garden? as my will Concur'd not to my be'ing, it were but right And equal to reduce me to my duft, Defirous to refign and render back All I receiv'd, unable to perform
Thy terms too hard, by which I was to holl The good I fought not. To the lofs of that, Sufficient penalty, why haft thou added The fenfe of endlefs woes? inexplicable Thy juftice feems. Yet, to fay truth, too late 733 I thus conteft; then fhould have been refus'd Thofe terms whatever, when they were propos'd: Thou didst accept them: wilt thou enjoy the good,
Then cavil the conditions? and though God Made thee without thy leave, what if thy fon 760 Prove difobedient, and reprov'd, retort, Wherefore didft thou beget me? fought it not: Wouldst thou admit for his contempt of thee That proud excufe? yet him not thy election But natural neceffity begot.
765 God made thee' of choice his own, and of his own To ferve him; thy reward was of his grace, Thy punishment then justly' is at his will. Be' it fo, for I fubmit; his doom is fair, That duft I am, and fhall to dust return: O welcome hour whenever! why delays His hand to execute what his decree Fix'd on this day? why do I overlive, Why am I mock'd with death, and lengthen'd out To deathlefs pain? how gladly would I meet 775 Mortality my fentence, and be earth Infenfible! how glad would lay me down As in my mother's lap? there I should reft And fleep fecure; his dreadful voice no more Would thunder in my ears, no fear of worse 780 To me and to my offspring would torment me With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt Purfues me ftill, left all I cannot die,
Left that pure breath of life, the fpi'rit of Man Which God infpir'd, cannot together perish 785 With this corporeal clod; then in the grave, Or in fome other dismal place, who knows But I fhall die a living death? O thought Horrid, if true! yet why? it was but breath Of life that finn'd; what dies but what had life And fin? the body properly hath neither. All of me then fhall die: let this appeafe The doubt, fince human reach no further knows. For though the Lord of all be infinite, Is his wrath alfo? be it, Man is not fo, But mortal doom'd. How can he exercise Wrath without end on Man whom death muft end?
For one man's fault thus guiltlefs be condemn'd, If guiltless? But from me what can proceed, But all corrupt, both mind and will deprav'd Not to do only, but to will the same With me? how can they then acquitted ftand In fight of God? Him after all difputes Forc'd I abfolve: all my evafions vain, And reafonings, though through mazes, lead me ftill 830
But to my own conviction: first and last On me, me only, as the fource and spring Of all corruption, all the blante lights due; So might the wrath. Fond with! couldst thou
That burden heavier than the earth to bear, 835 Than all the world much heavier, though divided With that bad Woman? Thus what thou defir'st And what thou fear'ft, alike destroys all hope Of refuge, and concludes thee miferable Beyond all paft example and futúre, To Satan only like both crime and doom. O Confcience, into what abyfs of fears And horrors haft thou driv'n me; out of which I find no way, from deep to deeper plung'd. Thus Adam to himself lamented loud Through the ftill night, not now, as cre Man fell, Wholefome and cool, and mild, but with black air Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom, Which to his evil confcience reprefented
All things with double terror: on the ground 850 Outftretch'd he lay, on the cold ground, and oft Curs'd his creation, death as oft accus'd Of tardy execution, fince denounc'd The day of his offenfe. Why comes not death, Said he, with one thrice acceptable stroke 855 To end me? fhall truth fail to keep her word,
795 Juftice divine not haften to be juft?
But death comes not at call, justice divine Mends not her floweft pace for prayers or cries. O woods, O fountains, hillocs, dales and bowers, With other echo late I taught your fhades To answer, and refound far other fong. Whom thus afflicted when fad Eve beheld, Defolate where the fat, approaching nigh, Soft words to his fierce paflion the aflay'd: But her with stern regard he thus repell'd.
Out of my fight, thou Serpent; that name beft Befits thee with him leagu'd, thyfelf as falfe And hateful; nothing wants, but that thy fhape, Like his, and color ferpentine, may show 870 Thy inward fraud, to warn all creatures from thee Henceforth; left that too heav'nly form, pro
To hellish falfhood, fnare them. But for thee I had perfifted happy', had not thy pride And wand'ring vanity, when leaft was fafe, 875 Rejected my forewarning, and difdain`d Not to be trufted, longing to be feen Though by the Dev'il himself, him overweening To over-reach, but with the ferpent meeting Fool'd and beguil'd, by him thou, I by thee, 88> To trust thee from my fide, imagin'd wife Conftant, mature, proof againft all affaults, And understood not all was but a fhow Rather than folid virtue', all but a rib
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