940

Down had been folling, had not by ill chance 935.
The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud,
Intina 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 confistence, 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 hilt or moory dale,
Purfues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd
The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend
O'er bog or steep, thro' strait, rough, denfe, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
And swims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies:
At length an universal hubbub wild
Of stunning sounds, and voices all confus'd,
Borne through the hollow dark, affaults his ear
With loudest vehemence: thither he plies,
Undaunted, to meet there whatever pow'r -
Or spirit of the nethermost abyss
Might in that noise reside, of whom to afk
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies
Bord'ring on light; when strait behold the throne
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthron'd
Sat fable-vested Night, eldest of things,
The confort of his reign; and by them stood
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name

958

9555

960

Of Damogorgon; Rumour next, and Chance, 965
And Tumult, and Confufion, all embroil'd,
And Discord with a thousand various mouths.

To whom Satan turning boldly, thus. Ye pow'rs

And fpirits of this nethermost abyss,

Chaos

970

975

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 darksome defert, as my way
Lies through your spacious empire up to light,
Alone, and without guide, half loft, I seek
What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds
Confine with heav'n; or if some other place,
From your dominion won, th' ethereal King
Poffefses lately, thither to arrive
I travel this profound; direct my course;
Directed, no mean recompense 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 present journey), and once more 985
Erect the standard there of ancient Night;
Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge.

980

995

Thus Satan; and him thus the anarch old, With fault'ring speech and visage incompos'd, Answer'd. I know thee, stranger, who thou art, 990 That mighty leading angel, who of late Made head against heav'n's King, tho' overthrown. I faw, and heard; for such a num'rous hoft Fled not in filence through the frighted deep, With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confufion worse confounded; and heav'n-gates Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here Keep refidence; if all I can will ferve That little which is left so to defend, Encroach'd on still thro' your intestine broils Weak'ning the sceptre of old Night: first Hell, Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath; Now lately Heav'n and Earth, another world,

1000

Hung

Hung o'er my realm, link'd in a golden chain 1005
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;
Havock, and fpoil, and ruin, are my gain.

He ceas'd; and Satan stay'd not to reply,
But glad that now his fea should find a fhore,
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 beset,
And more indanger'd, than when Argo pass'd
Thro' Bosporus, betwixt the justling rocks:
Or when Ulyffes on the larboard shunn'd

10100

1015

Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool steer'd. 1020 So he with difficulty and labour hard :

Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he;:

But he once pass'd, foon after when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain

Following his track, such was the will of Heav'n,..

1026

Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way
Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf
Tamely endur'd a bridge of wondrous length,
From hell continu'd, reaching th' utmost orb
Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverse,

With easy intercourse, pass to and fro

To tempt or punish mortals, except whom

God and good angels guard by special grace.

But now at last the facred influence

103F

Of light appears, and from the walls of heav'n 1035
Shoots far into the bofom of dim Night
A glimm'ring dawn: here Nature first begins

Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire

As from her outmost works a broken foe

With tumult less, 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 vessel holds
Gladly the port, tho' shrouds and tackle torn;
Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,
Weighs his fpread wings, at leifure to behold
Far off th' empyreal heav'n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermin'd square or round,
With opal tow'rs and battlements adorn'd
Of living faphir, once his native seat;
And fast by, hanging in a golden chain,
This pendent world, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon.
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a curfed hour he hies.

1040

1045

1050

1055

END of the SECOND BOOK.

ARGU

God fitting on his throne fees Satan flying towards the world, then newly created: shews him to the Son who fat at his right hand; foretells the fuccess of Satan in perverting mankind; clears his own justice and wisdom from all imputation, having created man free, and able enough to have withstood his tempter, yet declares his purpose of grace towards him, in regard he fell not of his own malice, as did Satan, but by him feduced. The Son of God renders praises to bis Father for the manifestation of his gracious purpose towards man: but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards man without the fatisfaction of divine justice; man hath offended the majesty of God by aspiring to Godhead; and therefore, with all his progeny, devoted to death, must die, unless some one can be found fufficient to answer for his offence, and undergo his punishment. The Son of God freely offers himself a ransom for man : the Father accepts him, ordains his incarnation, pronounces his exaltation above all names in heaven and earth; commands all the angels to adore him: They: obey; and hymning to their harps in full quire, celebrate the Father and the Son. Mean-while Satan alights upon the bare convex of this world's outermost orb; where wandering he first finds a place, fince called the Limbo of Vanity; what perfons and things fly up thither: Thence comes to the gate of heaven, described afcending by stairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: his passage thence to the orb of the Sun; be finds there Uriel, the regent of that orb, but first changes himself into the shape of a meaner angel; and pretending a zealous defire to behold the new creation, and man, whom God had placed here, inquires of him the place of his habitation, and is directed; alights first on mount Niphates. PARADISE: