Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide on the wafteful Deep: with him inthron'd Sat fable-vefted Night, eldeft of things,
The confort of his reign: and by them stood Orchus, and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Demogorgen: Rumor next, and Chance, And Tumult, and Confufion all imbroil❜d, And Difcord with a thousand 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 darksome defart, as my way Lies through your spacious empire up to light, Alone, and without guide, half loft, I feek 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 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 fway, (Which is my prefent journey) and once more Erect the standard 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 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 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 Pour'd out by millions her victorious bands Pursuing. upon my frontiers here Keep refidence; if all I can will serve, That little which is left fo to defend,
Encroach'd on ftill through our inteftine broiles, Weak'ning the fceptre of old Night: first 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! Havoc, and spoil, and ruin are my gain.
He ceas'd, and Satan staid not to reply, But glad that now his fea fhould find a shore, With fresh alacrity, and force renew'd, Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire, Into the wild expanse; and through the fhock Of fighting elements, on all fides round Environ'd, wins his way: harder beset, And more endanger'd, than when Argo pafs'd Through Bofphorus, betwixt the justling rocks & Or when Ulysses on the Larboard shunn'd
Charybdis, and by th' other whirlpool fteer'd.
So he with difficulty, and labor hard Mov'd on: with difficulty and labor he; But he once paft, foon after, when man fell, Strange alteration! Sin, and Death, a-main Following his track (such was the will of heav'n !) Pav'd after him a broad and beaten way 1026 Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf Tamely endur'd a bridge of wond'rous length, From hell continu'd, reaching th' utmost orb Of this frail world; by which the fpirits perverse With eafie 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 heav'n 1035 Shoots far into the bofom of dim night
A glimmering dawn: here Nature first begins Her fartheft verge, and Chaos to retire, As from her outmost works a broken foe, With tumult lefs, and with less hoftile din; 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 shrouds and tackle torn: Or in the emptier waste, resembling air, Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold Far off th' empyreal heav'n, extended wide In circuit, undetermin'd fquare or round: With opal tow'rs, and battlements adora'd
Of living faphir, (once his native feat!) And faft by, hanging in a golden chain, This pendant 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,
The End of the Second Book.
The ARGUMENT.
God fitting on his throne fees Satan flying towards this 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 justice and wifdom 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 feduc'd. The Son of God renders praises to his Father for the manifeftation of his gracious purpose towards Man; but God again declares, that grace cannot be extended towards Man without the fatisfaction of divine justice; Man
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