Afcended his high throne, which under state
Of richest texture fpread, at th' upper end
Was place'd in regal luftre. Down a while
He fat, and round about him faw unfeen:
At last, as from a cloud, his fulgent head
And shape star-bright appear'd, or brighter, clad 450
With what permishwe glory fince his fall
Was left him, or false glitter. All amaz'd
At that fo fudden blaze the Stygian throng
Bent their afpéct; and whom they wifh'd beheld,
Their mighty chief return'd: loud was th' acclaim :
Forth rufh'd in hafte the great confulting peers, 456
Rais'd from their dark divan, and with like joy
Congratulant approach'd him, who with hand
Silence, and with thefe words attention won,
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers,
For in poffeffion fuch, not only' of right,
I call ye, and declare ye now, return'd
Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth
Triumphant out of this infernal pit
Abominable, accurs'd, the houfe of woe,
And dungeon of our tyrant: now poffefs,
As lords, a fpacious world, to' our native heaven
Little inferiour, by my adventure hard
With peril great achiev'd. Long were to tell
What I have done, what fuffer'd, with what pain 470
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; but I
Toil'd out my uncouth paffage, force'd to ride
Th' untractable abyss, plunge'd in the womb
Of unoriginal Night and Chaos wild,
That, jealous of their fecrets, fiercely' oppos'd
My journey strange, with clamorous úproar
Protefting Fate fupreme; thence how I found
The new-created world, which fame in heaven
Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful
Of abfolute perfection, therein man
Place'd in a Paradife, by our exile
Made happy: Him by fraud I have feduce'd
From his Creator, and, the more to' increase
Your wonder, with an apple; he thereat
Offended, worth your laughter, hath given up
Both his beloved man and all his world,
To Sin and Death a prey, and fo to us,
Without our hazard, labour, or alarm,
Το range in, and to dwell, and over man
To rule, as over all he should have rul'd.
True is, me also he hath judge'd, or rather
Me not, but the brute ferpent, in whofe fhape
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 my head:
A world who would not purchase with a bruise, 500 Or much more grievous pain? Ye have th' account Of my performance: what remains ye gods,
But up, and enter now into full blifs?
So having faid, a while he ftood, expecting
Their universal fhout and high applause
To fill his ear; when, contrary, he hears
On all fides, from innumerable tongues,
A dismal univerfal hifs, the found
Of public fcorn: he wonder'd, but not long
Had leisure, wond'ring at himself now more ;
His vifage drawn he felt to fharp and fpare,
His arms clung to his ribs, his legs intwining
Each other, till fupplanted down he fell
A monstrous ferpent on his belly prone,
Reluctant; but in vain, a greater power
Now rul'd him, punifh'd in the fhape he finn'd,
According to his doom: he would have spoke,
But hifs for his 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,
Ceraftes horn'd, Hydrus, and Elops drear,
And Dipfas, (not fo thick fwarm'd once the foil
Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the ifle
Ophiufa) but ftill greatest he the midft,
Now dragon grown, larger than whom the fun
Ingender'd in the Pythian vale on flime,
Huge Python, and his power no lefs 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
Heaven-fallen, in ftation ftood or just array,
Sublime with expectation when to fee
In triumph iffuing forth their glorious chief:
They faw, but other fight instead, a croud
Of ugly ferpents; horrour on them fell,
And horrid fympathy; for what they faw,
They felt themselves now changing; down their arms, Down fell both fpear and fhield, down they as faft, 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 meant,
Turn'd to exploding hifs, triumph to fhame
Caft on themselves from their own mouths. There stood
A grove hard by, fprung up with this their change,
His will who reigns above, to aggravate
Their pennance, laden with fair fruit, like that
Which grew in Paradise, the bait of Eve
Us'd by the tempter: on that profpect strange
Their earnest 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 scalding thirst and hunger fierce,
Though to delude them fent, could not abstain;
But 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
The fruitage fair to fight, like that which grew
Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flam'd;
This more delufive, not the touch, but taste
Deceiv'd they fondly thinking to allay
Their appetite with guft, instead of frøit
Chew'd bitter afhes, which th' offended tafte
With fpattering noife rejected: oft they' affay'd,'
Hunger and thirft constraining, drudge'd as oft,
With hatefullest difrelifh writh'd their jaws
With foot and cinders fill'd: fo oft they fell
Into the fame illufion; not as man,
Whom they triumph'd once laps'd. Thus were they
And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hifs,
Till their loft fhape, permitted, they refum'd;
Yearly injoin'd, fome fay, to undergo
This annual humbling certain number'd days,
To dafh their pride, and joy for man feduce'd.
However, fome tradition they difpers'd
Among the Heathen of their purchase got,
And fabled how the ferpent, whom they call'd
Ophion with Euronyme, the wide
Incroaching Eve perhaps, had first the rule
Of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driv'n
And Ops, ere yet Dictæan Jove was born.
Meanwhile in Paradise the hellish pair
Too foon arriv'd, Sin there in power 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.
Second of Satan fprung, all conqu'ring Death,
What think'st thou of our empire now, tho' earn'd
With travel difficult, not better far
Than ftill at hell's dark threshold to' have fat watch,
Unnam'd, undreaded, and thyfelf half ftarv'd? 599
Whom thus the Sin-born monster anfwer'd foon.
To me, who with eternal famine pine,
Alike is Hell, or Paradife, or Heaven,
There beft, where moft with ravin I may meet;
Which here, tho' plenteous, all too little feems
To stuff this maw, this vast unhide-bound corpse.
To whom th' incestuous mother thus reply'd. Thou therefore on these herbs, and fruits, and flowers Feed first, on each beast next, and fish, and fowl, No homely morfels; and whatever thing The scythe of Time mows 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 feveral ways, 610 Both to deftroy, or unimmortal make
All kinds, and for deftruction to mature
Sooner or latter: which th' Almighty feeing,
From his tranfcendent feat the faints among,
To thofe bright orders utter'd thus his voice.
|
