As when a gryphon through the wilderness
With winged courfe, o'er hill or moory dale,
Pursues the Arimafpian, who by stealth, 945
Had from his wakeful cuftody purloin'd
The guarded gold: fo eagerly the Fiend
O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough,
dense, or rare,

With head, hands, wings or feet purfues his

way,

And swims, or finks, or wades, or creeps, or flies:

At length a univerfal hubbub wild

950

Of stunning founds and voices all confus'd, Borne through the hallow dark, affaults his

ear

With loudeft vehemence: thither he plies, Undaunted to meet there whatever Power 955 Or fpirit of the nethermost abyss

Might in that noise refide, of whom to ask Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies Bordering on light; when strait behold the

throne

960

Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide on the wasteful deep: with him inthron'd
Sate fable-vefted Night, eldeft of things,
The confort of his reign; and by them stood
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
Of Demogorgon: Rumor next and Chance, 965
And Tumult and Confufion all imbroil'd,

And Discord with a thousand various mouths. T' whom Satan turning boldly, thus.

Powers,

And fpirits of this nethermost abyss,

Ye

Chaos and ancient Night, I come no fpy, 970 With purpose to explore or to disturb

The fecrets of your realm, but by constraint -Wand'ring this darksome defart, as my way Lies through your spacious empire up to light,' Alone, and without guide, half loft, 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 courfe; 980
Directed no mean recompenfe it brings
To your behoof, if I that region lost,
All ufurpation thence expell'á, reduce
To her original darkness, and your fway,
Which is my prefent journey, and once

Erect the standard there of ancient Night; Yours be th' advantage all, mine the revenge. Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old, With falt'ring fpeech and vifage incompos'd, Answer'd. I know thee, ftranger, who thou

art,

That mighty leading Angel, who of late

990

Made head against Heav'n's King, though

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 worfe confounded: and Heav'n

gates

995

1000

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 still through our intestine broils,
Weakning the scepter of old Night; first Hell,
Your dungeon, stretching 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! Havoc, and fpoil, and ruin are my gain.

He ceas'd; and Satan ftaid not to reply, 1010 But glad that now his sea should find a shore, 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 1015

Environ'd, wins his way: harder befet
And more endanger'd, than when Argo pass'd
Through Bosporus, betwixt the juftling rocks:
Or when Ulyffes on the larboard fhunn'd
Charybdis; and by th' other whirlpool
fteer'd..

1020

So he with difficulty and labour hard
Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour he;
But he once past, soon after when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin and Death amain

Following his track, fuch was the will of

Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way,
Over the dark abyfs, whose boiling gulf
Tamely endur'd a bridge of wond'rous length,
From Hell continued reaching th' utmost orb.
Of this frail world; by which the fpirits per-
verfe

1030

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 laft the facred influence

Of light appears, and from the walls of

Heaven

Shoots far into the bofom of dim Night

1035

A glimmering dawn: here Nature first begins Her fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire

As from her outmost works à brocken foe With tumult lefs and with lefs hoftile din; 1040

That Satan with lefs toil, and now with ease Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light, And like a weather beaten vessel holds

Gladly the port, though fhrouds and tackle

torn:

Or in the emptier wafte, refembling air, 1045
Weighs his spread wings, at leasure 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 feat;
And fast by hanging in a golden chain
This pendent world, in bignefs as a star
Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon.
Tither full fraught with mifchievous revenge,
Accurs'd, and in a cursed hour he hies. 1055

The End of the Second Book.

1050