Down had been falling, had not by ill chance 935:
The ftrong rebuff of fome tumultuous cloud,
Inftinct 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 courfe, o'er hill or moory dale,
Purfues the Arimafpian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd
The guarded gold: fo eagerly the fiend
O'er bog or steep, thro' ftrait, rough, denfe, or rare,
With head, hands, wings, or feet, purfues his way,
And fwims, 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 fpirit of the nethermoft abyss
Might in that noise refide, of whom to afk
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies
Bord'ring on light; when ftrait behold the throne
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide on the wafteful 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; Rumour next, and Chance, 965 And Tumult, and Confufion, all embroil'd,
And Discord with a thoufand various mouths.
T'whom Satan turning boldly, thus. Ye pow'rs And fpirits of this nethermoft 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 loft, I feek
What readieft 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 courfe;
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 present journey), and once more 985
Erect the ftandard there of ancient Night;
Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge.
Thus Satan; and him thus the anarch old,
With fault'ring fpeech and vifage incompos'd,
Answer'd. I know thee, ftranger, 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 fuch 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 fo to defend,
Encroach'd on ftill thro' your inteftine broils
Weak'ning the fceptre of old Night: firft 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 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 ftay'd not to reply,
But glad that now his sea should find a fhore,
With fresh alacrity and force renew'd
Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire,
Into the wild expanfe, and through the fhock
Of fighting elements, on all fides round
Environ'd, wins his way; harder befet,
And more indanger'd, than when Argo pafs'd ·
Thro' Bosporus, betwixt the juftling rocks:
Or when Ulyffes on the larboard shunn'd
Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool fteer'd. 10200 So he with difficulty and labour hard
Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he;
But he once pafs'd, foon after when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain
Following his track, fuch was the will of Heav'n,
Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way
Over the dark abyfs, 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 fpi'rits perverfe,
With eafy intercourfe, pafs 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
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 fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire
As from her outmoft works a broken foe
With tumult lefs, and with lefs hoftile din,
That Satan with lefs toil, and now with cafe
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light,
And like a weather-beaten veffet holds
Gladly the port, tho' fhrouds and tackle torn;
Or in the emptier wafte, resembling 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 smallest magnitude, clofe by the moon.
Thither full fraught with mifchievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a curfed hour he hies.
God fitting on his throne fees Satan flying towards the world, then newly created: fhews him to the Son who fat at his right hand; foretells the fuccefs of Satan in perverting mankind; clears his own juftice and wisdom from all imputation, having created man free, and able enough to have withflood his tempter; yet declares his purpofe 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 manifeftation of his gracious pur-: pofe towards man: but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards man without the fatisfaction of divine juftice; man hath offended the majefty of God by afpiring to Godhead; and therefore, with all his progeny, devoted to death, muft die, unless fome 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 outermoft 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, defcribed afcending by ftairs, and the waters above the firmament that flow about it: his paffage 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 firft on mount Niphates. PARADISE:
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