Perhaps our vacant room; though more removed,
Lest heaven, surcharged with potent multitude,
Might hap to move new broils. Be tbis, or ought
Than this more secret, now design'd, I baste
To know; and, this once kuown, shall soon return
And bring ye to the place where thou and Death
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen
Wing silently the buxom air, embalm'd
With odours; there ye shall be fed and fill'd
Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey."
He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd, and
Death
Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
His famine should be fill'd; and blest his maw
Destined to that good hour: no less rejoiced
His mother bad, and thus bespake ber sire:
“ The key of this infernal pit by due,
And by command of heaven'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 hath bither thrust me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To sit in hateful office bere confined,
Inhabitant of heaven, and heavenly-born,
Here, in perpetual agony and pain,
With terrors and with clamours compassid round
Of mine own brood that on my bowels feed ?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
Ny being gavest me; whom should I obey
But thee? whom follow ? thou wilt bring me soon
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, toward the gate rolling her bestial train,
Furth with the buge,portcullis high up-drewng
Which, but herself, not all the Stygian powers
Could once have moved ; then in the key-hole turns
The 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
The infernal doors, and on their binges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut
Excell'd her power : 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 stoud! and like a furnace mouth
Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame.
Before their eyes in sudden view appear
The secrets of the hoary deep; a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound, [height,
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and
And time and place, are lost; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal apareby, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their several clans,
Light-arm'd, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow
Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the sands
Of Barea or Cyrene's torrid soil,
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,
He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits,
And by decision more embroils the fray
By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,
The womb Nature, and perhaps her grave,
Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds;
Into this wild abyss the wary fiend
Stood on the brink of bell, and look'd a while,
Pondering his voyage, (sor no narrow frith
He had to cross): nor was bis ear less peal'd
With noises loud and ruinous (to compare
Great things with small), than when Bellona storms,
With all her battering engines bent te raze
Some capital city; or less than if this frame
Of beaven were falling, and these elements
In mutiny had from her axle torn
The steadfast earth. At last bis sail-broad vans
He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke
Uplifted spurns the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy ehair, ascending rides
Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets
A vast vacuity: all unawares
Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down be drops
Ten thousand fathom deep; and to this hour
Down had been falling, had not by ill chance
The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud,
Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him
As many miles aloft : that fury staid,
Quench'd in a boggy syrtis, neither sea
Nor good dry land, nigh founder'd on he fares
Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,
Half flying; behoves him now both oar and sail.
As when a gryphon through the wilderness
With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale,
Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd
The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend
O'er bog, or steep, through straight, rough, dense,
or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or fies. At length a universal hubbub wild Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused, Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear With loudest vehemence: thither he plies, Undaunted, to meet there whatever power
Which, but herself, not all the Stygian powers
Could once bave moved; then in the key-hole turns
The 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
The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Or Erebus. She open'd, but to shut
Excell'd her power : 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 redounding smoke and ruddy flame,
Before their eyes in sudden view appear
The secrets of the boary deep; a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound, [height,
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and
And time and place, are lost; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anareby, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.
For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce,
Strive liere for mastery, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each bis faction, in their several clans,
Light-arm’d, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow
Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the sands
Of Barea or Cyrene's torrid soil,
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,
He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits,
And hy decision more embroils the fray
By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,
The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave,
Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds; Into this wild abyss the wary fiend Ştood on the brink of bell, and look'd a while, Pondering his voyage, (for no narrow frith He had to cross): nor was his ear less peal'd With noises loud and ruinous (to compare Great things with small), than when Bellona storms, With all her battering engines bent to raze Some capital city; or less than if this frame Of beaven were falling, and these elements In mutiny had from her axle torn The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad vans He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke Uplifted spurns the ground; thence many a league, As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets A vast vacuity: all unawares Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down be drops Ten thousand fathom deep; and to this hour Down had been falling, bad not by ill chance The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud, Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him As many miles aloft : that fury staid, Quench'd in a boggy syrtis, neither sea Nor good dry land, nigh founder'd on he fares Treading the crude consistence, half on foot, Half flying; behoves him now both oar and sail. As when a gryphon through the wilderness With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale, Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend O'er bog, or steep, through straight, rough, dense,
or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. At length a universal hubbub wild Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused, Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear With loudest vehemence: thither he plies, Undaunted, to meet there whatever power
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