Will once more lift us up in spite of fate, Nearer our ancient seat; perhaps in view Of those bright confines, whence with neigh b'ring arms
chance And opportune excursion we may Re-enter Heav'n; or else in some mild zone Dwell not unvisited of Heav'n's fair light Secure, and at the brightning orient beam Purge off this gloom; this soft delicious air, To heal the scar of those corrosive fires, Shall breathe her balm. But first, whom [find shall we send In search of this new world; whom shall we Sufficient? who shall tempt with wand'ring
The dark unbottom'd infinite abyss, And through the palpable obscure find out His uncouth way, or spread his aery flight Upborne with indefatigable wings Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive The happy isle? what strength, what art can
Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe Through the strict senteries and stations thick Of angels watching round? Here he had need All circumspection, and we now no less Choice in our suffrage? for on whom we send, The weight of all and our last hope relies.
This said, he sat; and expectation held His looks suspence, awaiting who appear'd To second, or oppose, or undertake The perilous attempt: but all sat mute, Pond'ring the danger with deep thoughts; and each
In others count'nance read his own dismay Astonish'd: none among the choice and prime Of those Heav'n-warring champions, could be found
So hardy as to proffer or accept Alone the dreadful voyage: till at last Satan, whom now transcendent glory rais'd Above his fellows, with monarchial pride Conscious of highest worth, unmov'd thus spake:
O Progeny of Heav'n! empyreal Thrones! With reason hath deep silence and demur Seis'd us, though undismay'd: long is the
Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape? But I should ill become this throne, O Peers! And this imperial sov'rignty, adorn`d With splendor, arm'd with pow'r, if ought, propos'd
And judg'd of public moment, in the shape Of difficulty or danger could deter Me from attempting. Wherefore do I asume These royalties, and not refuse to reign, Refusing to accept as great a share.
Of hazard as of honour, due alike To him who reigns, and so much to him due. Of hazard more, as he above the rest High honour'd sits? Go, therefore, mighty Powers, [home,
Terror of Heav'n, though fall'n; intend at While here shall be our home, what best may.
Scowls o'er the darken'd landskip, snow, or shower;
If chance the radiant sun with farewel sweet Extend his ev'ning beam, the fields revive, The birds their notes renew, aud bleating herds
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. O shame to men, devil v ith devil danı'd Firm concord holds, man only disagree Of creatures rational, though under hope Of heavenly grace: and God proclaiming
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, Wasting the earth, each other to destroy: As if (which might induce us to accord) Man had not hellish foes enow besides, That day and night for his destruction wait. Thy Stygiau council thus dissolv'd; and
In order came the grand infernal Peers: Midst came their mighty paramount, and seein'd
Alone th' autagonist of Heav'n, nor less
Others, with vast Typhœan rage more fell, Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air In whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild up
As when Alcides, from Oechalia crown'd With conquest, felt th' envenom'd robe, and
Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines, And Lichas from the top of Octa threw Into the Euboic sea. Others more mild, Retreated in a silent valley, siug With notes augelical to many a harp Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall By doom of battle; and complain that Fate Free virtue should enthrall to force or chance. Their song was partial, but the harmony (What could it less when sp'rits immortal sing?)
Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment The thronging audience. In discourse more
(For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense) Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, aud reasou'd high
Than Hell's dread emperor with pomp su- Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,
And Godlike imitated state; him round
A globe of fiery seraphim inclus'd
With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms. Then of their session ended they bid cry With trumpets' regal sound the great result: Tow'rds the four winds four speedy che- rubim
Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy By herald's voice explain'd; the hollow abyss Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell With deaf'ning shout return'd them loud acclame. [what rais'd Thence more at ease their minds, and some- By false presumptuous hope, the ranged
Disband, and wand'ring, each his several way Pursues, as inclination or sad choice
Leads him perplex'd, where he might likeliest find
Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain The irksome hours, till his great chief return. Part on the plain, or in the air sublime, Upon the wing, or in swift race contend, As at th' Olympian games or Pythian fields. Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal With rapid wheels, or fronted brigade form, As when to warn proud cities war appears Wag'd in troubled sky, and armies rush To battle in the clouds, before each van Pick forth the acry knights, and couch their
Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms From either end of Heav'n the welkin burns.
Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost. Of good and evil much they argued then, Of happiness and final misery, Passion and apathy, and glory and shame, Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy : Yet with a pleasing sorcery could charm Pain for a while or anguish, and excite Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast With stubborn patience as with triple steel. Another part, in squadrons and gross bands, In bold adventure to discover wide That dismal world, if any clime perhaps Might yield them easier habitation, bend Four ways their flying march, along the
Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge Into the burning lake their baleful streams; Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. Far off from these a slow and silent stream, Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls Her watry labyrinth, whereof who drinks, Forthwith his former state and being forgets, Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain, Beyond this flood a frozen continent Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gather heaps, and ruin seems Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice, A gulph profound as that Serbonian bog
Betwixt Damiata and mount Casins old, Where armies whole have sunk: the parching
Burns frore, and cold perfumes th' effect of fire. Thither by harpy footed furies hal'd At certain revolutions all the damu'd
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change [fierce, Officrce extremes, extremes by change more From beds of raging fire to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round, Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire. They ferry over this Lethean sound Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment, And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose
In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
All in one moment, and so near the brink; But fate withstands, and to oppose th' attempt Medusa, with Gorgonian terror, guards The ford, and of itself the water flies All taste of living wight, as once it fled The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on In coufus'd march forlorn, th' advent'rous bands
With shudd'ring horror pale, and eyes aghast, View'd first their lamentable lot, and found No rest: through many a dark and dreary vale They pass'd, and many a regiou dolorous, O'er many a frozen, many a tiery Alp, Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bugs, dens, and shades of death,
A universe of death, which God by curse Created evil, for evil only good,
Far off the flying fiend: at last appear Hell bounds high reaching to the horrid roof, And thrice three-fold the gates; three folds were bass,
Three iron, three of adamantin rock, Impenetrable, impal'd with circling fire, Yet unconsum'd. Before the gates there sat On either side a formidable shape;
The one seem'd woman to the waste, and fair,
But ended foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast, a serpent arm'd With mortal sting: about her middle round A cry of hell-bounds never ceasing bark With wide Cerberean mouths full lond, and [creep,
A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would If ought disturb'd their noise, into her womb, And kennel there, yet there still bark'd and howl'd
| Within, unseen. Far less abhorr`d than these Vex'd Scylla bathing in the sea that parts Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore: Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when call'd In secret, riding through the air she comes, Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance With Lapland witches, while the lab'ring mooa Eclipses at their charms. The other shape, If shape it might be call'd that shape had uoue Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb, Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd,
For each seem'd either; black it stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head
Where all life dies, death lives, and nature The likeness of a kingly crown had on.
Perverse, ali monstrous, all prodigious things, Abominable, inutterable, and worse Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd, Gorgons, and hydras, and chimeras dire.
Mean while the adversary of God and Man, Satan, with thoughts inflam'd of high'st design, [hell Puts ou swift wings, and tow'rds the gates of Explores his solitary flight; sometimes
Satan was now at hand, and from his seat The mouster moving onward came as fast With horrid strides, bell trembled as he strode. Th' undaunted fiend what this might be admir'd,
Admir'd, not fear'd; God and his son except, Created thing nought valued he nor shunn'd; And with disdainful look thus first began:
Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, That dars't, though grim and terrible, advance
He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the Thy miscreated front athwart my way
To yonder gates? through them I mean tẹ
Conjur'd against the High'st, for which both [condemn'd here
And they, outcast from God, are To waste eternal days in woe and pain? And reckon'st thou thyself with sprits of Heav'n, [scorn Hell-doom'd, and breath'st defiance here and Where I reign king, and to enrage thee more, Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment, False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings, Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue Thy ling'ring, or with one stroke of this dart Strange horror seise thee, and pangs unfelt before.
So spake the grisly terror, and in shape, So speaking and so threatening, grew ten-fold More dreadful and deform: on th' other side Inceus'd with indignation, Satan stood Unterrify'd, and like a comet burn'd, That fires the length of Opinchus huge In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head Level'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands No second stroke intend, and such a frown Each cast at th' other, as when two black clouds, [on
With Heav'n's artillery fraught, come rattling Over the Caspian, then stand front to front Hov'ring a space, till winds the signal blow To join their dark encounter in mid air: So frown'd the mighty combatants, that hell Grew darker at their frown, so match'd they stood;
For never but once more was either like To meet so great a foe:, and now great deeds Had been achiev'd, whereof all hell had rung, Had not the snaky sorceress that sat Fast by hell gate, and kept the fatal key, Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between. O Father, what intends thy hand, she cry'd, Against thy only son? What fury, O Son, Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart Against thy father's head? and know'st for whom;
For him who sits above and laughs the while At thee ordain'd his drudge, to execute Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids;
His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both. She spake, and at her words the bellish pest Forbore, then these to her Satan return'd.
So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange
Thou interposest, that my sudden hand Prevented spares to tell thee yet by deeds What it intends; till first I know of thee, What thing thou art, thus double-form'd, and why
In this infernal vale, first met, thou call'st
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and Threw forth, till on the left side opening wide, Likest to thee in shape and count'nauce bright,
Then shining heav'nly fair, a goddess arm'd Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seis'd All th' host of Heav'n; back they recoil'd afraid
At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a sign Portentous held me; but familiar grown, I pleas'd, and with attractive graces won The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing, Becam'st enamour'd, and such joy thou
With me in secret, that my womb conceiv'd A growing burden. Mean while war arose, And fields were fought in Heav'n; wherein remain'd
(For what could else?) to our almighty foe Clear victory, to our part loss and rout Through all the empyréan, down they fell Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heav'n,
Into this deep, and in the general fall
I also! at which time this powerful key Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep These gates for ever shut, which none cas pass
Without my op'ning. Pensive here I sat Alone, but long I sat not, till my womb, Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown, Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes. At last this odious offspring whom thou seest Thine own begotten, breaking violent way Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain
Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew Transform'd: but be my inbred enemy Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart Made to destroy: I fled, and cry'd out Death; Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd From all her caves, and back resounded
I fled, but he pursued (though more, it seems,
Inflam'd with lust than rage) and swifter far, Me overtook his mother all dismay'd, And in embraces forcible and foul Ingendring with me, of that rape begot These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry
Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceiv'd Aud hourly born, with sorrow infinite To me; for when they list into the womb That bred them, they return, and howl and gnaw
My bowels, their repast; then bursting forth Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round, That rest or intermission none I find. Before my eyes in opposition sits
Grim Death, my son and foe, who sets them on, And me his parent would full soon devour For want of other prey, but that he knows His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane, Whenever that shall be; so fate pronounc'd, But thou, O Father, I forewarn thee, shun His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope To be invulnerable in those bright arms, Though temper'd heav'nly, for that mortal dint,
Save he who reigns above, none can resist.
She finish'd, and the subtle Fiend his lore Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth:
Dear daughter, since thou claim'st me for thy sire,
And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge Of dalliance had with thee in Heav'n, and joys Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change
Befall'n us unforseen, unthought of; know I come no enemy, but to set free From out this dark and dismal house of pain Both him and thee, and all the heav'nly host Of spirits, that in our just pretences arm'd Fell with us from on high: from them I go This uncouth errand sole, and one for all Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread Th' unfounded deep, and through the void immense
To search with wand'ring quest a place foretold Should be, and, by concurring sigus, ere now Created vast and round, a place of bliss In the purlieus of Heav'n, and therein plac'd A race of upstart creatures, to supply Perhaps our vacant room, though more re-
Lest Heav'n surcharg'd with potent multitude Might hap to move new broils: be this or aught Than this more secret now design'd, I haste To know, and this once known, shall soon re- turn,
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen Wing silently the buxom air, inbalın'd With odours; there we shall be fed and fill'd Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey. He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd,
Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear His famine should be fill'd, and blest his maw Destin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire: The key of this infernal pit by due, And by command of Heav'n's all-powerful king
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock These adamantine gates; against all force Death ready stands to interpose his dart, Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might. But what owe i to his commands above Who hates me, and bath hither thrust me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound, To sit in hateful office here confin'd, Inbabitant of Heav'n, and heav'nly born, Here in perpetual agony and pain, With terrors and with clamours compass'd round
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed? Thou art my father, thou my author, thou My being gav'st me; who should I obey But thee, whom follow? thou wilt bring me
To that new world of light and bliss, among The Gods who live at ease, where I shall reign At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.
Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our woe, she took; And towards the gate rolling her bestial train, Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew, Which but herself, not all the Stygian powers Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole
Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar Of massy iron or solid rock with ease Unfastens on a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut Excell'd her pow'r, the gates wide open stood, That with extended wings a banner'd host Under spread ensigns marching might pass through
With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array; So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth Cast forth rebounding smoke and ruddy flame. Before their eyes in sudden view appear The secrets of the hoary deep, a dark
And bring ye to the place where thou and Death || Blimitable ocean, without bound,
N. III.—N, S. Continued from the Poetical Part of No. II.
« PředchozíPokračovat » |