Or as the snake with youthful coat repaid;
And thought not much to clothe his enemies:
Nor he their outward only, with the skins
Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more
Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness
Arraying, cover'd from his Father's fight.
To him with swift afcent he up return'd,
Into his blissful bosom reassum'd
In glory as of old; to him appeas'd
All, tho' all-knowing, what had pass'd with Man
Recounted, mixing interceffion sweet.
Mean while, ere thus was finn'd and judg'd on Within the gates of Hell fat Sin and Death, In counterview within the gates, that now Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame Far into Chaos, fince the Fiend pass'd through, Sin opening, who thus now to Death began.
O Son, why fit we here each other viewing 235 Idly, while Satan,our great author, thrives
In other worlds, and happier seat provides
For us his ofspring dear? It cannot be
But that success attends him; if mishap,
Ere this he had return'd, with fury driven
By his avengers, fince no place like this
Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.
Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,
Wings growing, and dominion giv'n me large
Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on,
Or fympathy, or some connatural force,
Pow'rful at greatest distance to unite,
With fecret amity, things of like kind
By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade
Inseparable,must with me along:
Over this main, from Hell to that new world
Where Satan now prevails; a monument
Of merit high to all th'infernal host,
Eafing their paffage hence, for intercourse,
Or tranfmigration, as their lot shall lead.
Nor can I miss the way, fo ftrongly drawn
By this new felt attraction and instinct.
Whom thus the meager Shadow answer'd
Go,whither fate and inclination strong
Leads thee; I fhall not lag behind, nor err
The way, thou leading; such a sent I draw
Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste
The favor of Death from all things there that live: Nor fhall I to the work thou enterprisest
Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.
So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock
Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, Against the day of battel, to a field,
Where armies lie incamp'd, come flying, lur'd
With fent of living carcaffes defign'd
So fented the grim Feature, and upturn'd
For death, the following day, in bloody fight:
His noftril wide into the murky air,
Sagacious of his quarry from fo far.
Then both, from out Hell gates into the waste,
Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark,
Flew diverse; and with pow'r (their pow'r was great)
Hovering upon the waters, what they met
Solid or flimy, as in raging sea
Toft up and down, together crouded drove
From each side shoaling towards the mouth of Hell :
As when two polar winds, blowing adverse
Upon the Cronian sea, together drive
Mountains of ice, that stop th' imagin'd way
Beyond Petfora eaftward, to the rich
Cathaian coaft. The aggregated foil
Death, with his mace petrific, cold and dry,
As with a trident smote, and fix'd as firm
As Delos, floting once; the reft his look
Bound with Gorgonian rigor not to move;
And with Asphaltic flime, broad as the gate,
Deep to the roots of Hell the gather'd beach
They faften'd, and the mole immense wrought on 300
Over the foaming deep, high arch'd; a bridge
Tt
Of length prodigious, joining to the wall
Immoveable of this, now fenceless, world,
Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,
Smooth, eafy, inoffenfive down to Hell.
So, if great things to small may be compar'd,
Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke,
From Sufa,his Memnonian palace high,
Came to the fea; and over Hellefpont
Bridging his way, Europe with Asia join'd,
And scourg'd,with many a ftroke,th' indignant waves.
Now had they brought the work by wondrous art Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock,
Over the vex'd abyfs; following the track
Of Satan to the self same place where he
First lighted from his wing, and landed safe
From out of Chaos, to the outside bare
Of this round world: with pins of adamant
And chains they made all fast; too fast they made
And durable; and now, in little space,
The confines met of empyréan Heaven
And of this World; and on the left hand Hell,
With long reach,interpos'd; three several ways
In fight, to each of these three places led.
And now their way to Earth they had descry'd, 325
To Paradise first tending, when behold
Satan,in likeness of an Angel bright,
Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering
His zenith, while the fun in Aries rofe:
Difguis'd he came, but those his children dear
Their parent foon difcern'd, though in disguise.
He, after Eve feduc'd, unminded,flunk
Into the wood fast by; and,changing shape
To observe the sequel, faw his guileful act
By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded
Upon her husband; faw their fhame that fought
Vain covertures; but when he faw defcend
The Son of God to judge them, terrify'd,
He fled; not hoping to escape, but fhun
The present; fearing, guilty, what his wrath
Might fuddenly inflict; that paft, return'd
By night, and list'ning where the hapless pair
Sat in their fad discourse, and various plaint,
Thence gather'd his own doom, which understood
Not inftant, but of future time, with joy
And tidings fraught, to Hell he now return'd;
And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot
Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhop'd,
Met who to meet him came, his ofspring dear.
Great joy was at their meeting, and at fight
Of that ftupendous bridge his joy increas'd.
Long he admiring ftood; till Sin, his fair
Inchanting daughter, thus the filence broke.
O Parent, these are thy magnific deeds,
Thy trophies, which thou view'ft as not thine own;
Thou art their author and prime architect:
For I no fooner in my heart divin'd,
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