My heart, which by a secret harmony
Still moves with thine, join'd in connexion fweet, That thou on earth hadft prosper'd, which thy looks Now alfo evidence, but ftrait I felt.
Though diftant from thee worlds between, yet felt That I must after thee, with this thy fon,
Such fatal confequence unites us three:
Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds;
Nor this unvoyageable gulf obscure
Detain from following thy illustrious track.
Thou haft achiev'd our liberty, confin'd
Within Hell gates till now;
thou us impower'd
To fortify thus far, and overlay,
With this portentous bridge, the dark abyss.
Thine now is all this world; thy virtue hath won
What thy hands builded not; thy wisdom gain'd
With odds what war hath loft, and fully aveng'd
Our foil in Heav'n; here thou fhalt monarch reign,
There didft not; there let him,ftill victor,fway, 376
As battel hath adjudg'd, from this new world
Retiring, by his own doom alienated;
And henceforth monarchy with thee divide
Of all things parted by th'empyreal bounds,
His quadrature, from thy orbicular world,
Or try thee now more dange rous to his throne.
Whom thus the Prince of darkness answer'd glad.
Fair Daughter, and thou Son and Grandchild both,
High proof ye now have giv'n to be the race
Of Satan, (for I glory in the name,
Antagonist of Heav'n's almighty king)
Amply have merited of me, of all
Th'infernal empire, that so near Heav'n's door
Triumphal with triumphal act have met,
Mine with this glorious work, and made one realm
Hell and this world; one realm, one continent
Of eafy thorough-fare. Therefore while I
Descend through darkness, on your road with ease,
To my associate Pow'rs, them to acquaint
With these fucceffes, and with them rejoice,
You two this way, among these numerous orbs,
All yours, right down to Paradise defcend;
There dwell and reign in bliss; thence on the earth Dominion exercise, and in the air,
Chiefly on Man, fole lord of all declar'd,
Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill.
My substitutes I send ye, and create
Plenipotent on earth, of matchless might
Iffuing from me: on your joint vigor now
My hold of this new kingdom all depends,
Through Sin to Death expos'd by my exploit.
If your joint pow'r prevail, th' affairs of Hell
No detriment need fear; go,and be strong.
So faying he difmifs'd them; they with speed 410 Their course through thickest constellations held, Spreading their bane; the blasted stars look'd wan; And planets, planet-struck, real eclipse
Whom he shall tread at laft under our feet;
Ev'n he who now foretold his fatal bruise,
And to the Woman thus his fentence turn'd.
Thy forrow I will greatly multiply
By thy conception; children thou shalt bring
In forrow forth; and to thy husband's will
Thine shall submit; he over thee fhall rule.
On Adam laft thus judgment he pronounc'd. Because thou' haft hearken'd to the voice of thy wife, And eaten of the tree, concerning which
I charg'd thee, faying, Thou fhalt not eat thereof:
Curs'd is the ground for thy fake; thou in forrow
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;
Thorns alfo and thiftles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid; and thou fhalt eat th' herb of the field,
In the sweat of thy face fhalt thou eat bread,
Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
Out of the ground waft taken, know thy birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.
So judg'd he Man, both judge and saviour sent, And th' inftant ftroke of death, denounc'd that day, 210 Remov'd far off; then pitying how they stood Before him naked to the air, that now Must suffer change, disdain'd not to begin Thenceforth the form of fervant to affume,
As when he wash'd his fervants feet, so now,
As father of his family, he clad
Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or flain,
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 beafts, but inward nakedness, much more
Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness
Arraying, cover'd from his Father's fight.
To him with swift ascent he up return'd,
Into his blissful bofom reaffum'd
In glory as of old; to him appeas'd
All, tho' all-knowing, what had pafs'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 fecreteft conveyance. Thou, my shade
Infeparable,must with me along:
For Death from Sin no pow'r can seperate.
But left the difficulty of paffing back
Stay his return, perhaps, over this gulf
Impassable, impervious, let us try
Adventrous work, yet to thy pow'r and mine
Not unagreeable, to found a path
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 fhall 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 ftrong
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
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