Far off from these a flow and filent ftream,
Lethe, the river of oblivion,rolls
Her watry labyrinth; whereof who drinks, Forthwith his former ftate and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. Beyond this flood,a frozen continent Lies dark and wild; beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems Of ancient pile; all elfe deep fnow and ice; A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog, Betwixt Damiata and mount Cafius old,
Where armies whole have funk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire. 595 Thither, by harpy-footed furies hal'd,
At certain revolutions all the damn'd
Are brought; and feel,by turns, the bitter change
Of fierce extremes; extremes by change more fierce, From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
Their foft ethereal warmth, and there to pine
Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round,
Periods of times thence hurried back to fire, They ferry over this Lethean found,
Both to and fro, their forrow to augment, And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose, In fweet forgetfulness, all pain and woe;
All in one moment, and so near the brink;
But fate withstands; and to oppose th' attempt, 610 Medufa,with Gorgonian terror, guards
The ford; and of itself the water flies
All taste of living wight, as once it fled The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on,
In cónfus'd march forlorn, th' adventrous bands, 615 With fhudd'ring horror pale, and eyes aghaft, View'd firft their lamentable lot, and found No reft: through many a dark and dreary vale They pafs'd, and many a region dolorous; O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp,
Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and fhades of death; A universe of death, which God by curfe Created ev il, for evil only good;
Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds, Perverse, all monftrous, all prodigious things; Abominable, inutterable, and worse
Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd, Gorgons, and Hydra's, and Chimera's dire.
Mean while the Adversary of God and Man, Satan,with thoughts inflam'd of higheft defign, 630 Puts on swift wings, and towards the gates of Hell Explores his folitary flight; fometimes
He fcours the right hand coast, sometimes the left, Now fhaves,with level wing, the deep; then foars Up to the fiery concave, towring high.
As when,far off at sea,a fleet descry'd
Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds
Close failing from Bengala, or the iles
Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring Their spicy drugs: they on the trading flood Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape Ply, ftemming nightly toward the pole. So feem'd Far off the flying Fiend: at last appear
Hell bounds,high reaching to the horrid roof,
And thrice threefold the gates; three folds were brass,
Three iron, three of adamantin rock,
Impenetrable, impal'd with circling fire,
Yet unconfum'd. Before the gates there fat,
On either fide, a formidable shape;
The one, feem'd woman to the waste, and fair,
But ended foul in many a scaly fold, Voluminous and vast; a serpent,arm'd
With mortal fting: about her middle round
A cry of Hell hounds,never ceasing, bark'd,
With wide Cerberean mouths,full loud, and rung 655 A hideous peal; yet, when they list, would creep, If ought disturb'd their noise, into her womb, And kennel there, yet there still bark'd and howl'd, Within unfeen. Far less abhorr'd than these Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the fea that parts Calabria from the hoarfe Trinacrian shore: Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when,call'd In fecret, riding through the air fhe comes, Lur'd with the fmell of infant blood, to dance With Lapland witches; while the lab'ring moon 665
Eclipses at their charms. The other shape,
If shape it might be call'd, that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb,
Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, For each feem'd either; black it stood as Night, 670 Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,
And fhook a dreadful dart; what feem'd his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on. Satan was now at hand, and from his feat The monster, moving onward, came as fast With horrid ftrides; Hell trembled as he strode. Th'undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd; Admir'd, not fear'd, God and his Son except; Created thing nought valued he nor fhunn'd; And with difdainful look thus first began.
Whence, and what art thou, execrable shape, That dar'ft, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, That be assur'd, without leave ask'd of thee: Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven. To whom the goblin,full of wrath, reply'd. Art thou that traitor Angel, art thou He, Who first broke peace in Heav'n and faith, till then Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's fons Conjúr'd against the Highest; for which both thou
And they, outcaft from God, are here condemn'd To waste eternal days in woe and pain? And reckon't thou thyfelf with Spirits of Heaven, Hell-doom'd, and breath'st defiance here and scorn Where I reign king, and to enrage thee more, Thy king,and lord? Back to thy punishment, False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings; Left with a whip of scorpions,I pursue
Thy lingring, or with one ftroke of this dart
Strange horror seise thee, and pangs unfelt before. So fpake the grifly terror, and in shape, So fpeaking and fo threatning, grew tenfold More dreadful and deform: on th' other fide, Incens'd with indignation, Satan stood Unterrify'd, and like a comet burn'd, That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes peftilence and war. Each at the head Level'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands No fecond stroke intend; and such a frown Each caft at th' other, as when two black clouds, With Heav'n's artillery fraught, come rattling on 715 Over the Cafpian, then stand front to front, Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow To join their dark encounter in mid air: So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell Grew darker at their frown; fo match'd they flood; 720 For never but once more was either like
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