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 fhall fubmit; he over thee fhall rule.

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195

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

199

I charg'd thee, faying, Thou fhalt not eat thereof:
Curs'd is the ground for thy fake; thou in sorrow
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;
Thorns alfo and thistles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid; and thou shalt eat th' herb of the field,
In the fweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,
For duft thou art, and fhalt to duft return.

205

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,

215

As father of his family, he clad

Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or flain,

Or

Or as the fnake 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 fwift 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.

220

225

(Earth,

230

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, since 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 fuccess 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 ftrength within me rise,
Wings growing, and dominion giv'n me large
Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on,

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245

Or

Or fympathy, or some connatural force,
Pow'rful at greatest distance to unite,
With fecret amity, things of like kind
By secreteft conveyance. Thou, my shade
Inseparable,must with me along:

250

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.

260

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

soon.

265

Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste

The favor of Death from all things there that live: Nor fhall I to the work thou enterprisest

270

Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.

So faying, with delight he snuff'd the smell Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock

Of

Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, Against the day of battel, to a field,

275

Where armies lie incamp'd, come flying, lur'd

With fent of living carcaffes defign'd

For death, the following day, in bloody fight:

So fented the grim Feature, and upturn'd

His noftril wide into the murky air,

280

Sagacious of his quarry from fo far.

Then both, from out Hell gates into the wafte,
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

285

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

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295

Mountains of ice, that stop th' imagin'd way
Beyond Petfora eastward, 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

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.

305

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,

310

And scourg'd,with many a stroke,th' indignant waves.

Now had they brought the work by wondrous art Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock,

Over the vex'd abyss; following the track
Of Satan to the self fame 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,

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320

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