126
��PARADISE LOST
��Audacious ; but, that seat soon failing, meets A vast vacuity. All unawares, Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb-down
he drops
Ten thousand fadom deep, and to this hour Down had been falling, had not, by ill
chance, The strong rebuff of some tumultuous
cloud,
Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him As many miles aloft. That fury stayed Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea, Nor good dry land nigh foundered, on
he fares, 940
Treading the crude consistence, half on
foot, Half flying; behoves him now both oar and
sail.
As when a gryfon through the wilderness With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale, Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth Had from his wakeful custody purloined The guarded gold; so eagerly the Fiend O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough,
dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues
his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps,
or flies. 950
At length a universal hubbub wild Of stunning sounds, and voices all confused, Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his
ear
With loudest vehemence. Thither he plies Undaunted, to meet there whatever Power Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask Which way the nearest coast of darkness
lies Bordering on light; when straight behold
the throne
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread 96 Wide on the wasteful Deep ! With him
enthroned
Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things, The consort of his reign ; and by them stood Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Demogorgon ; Rumour next, and
Chance,
And Tumult, and Confusion, all imbroiled, And Discord with a thousand various
mouths. To whom Satan, turning boldly, thus:
"Ye Powers And Spirits of this nethermost Abyss,
��Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy 97 With purpose to explore or to disturb The secrets of your realm; but, by con- straint Wandering this darksome desart, as my
way Lies through your spacious empire up to
light, '
Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek, What readiest path leads where your
gloomy bounds Confine with Heaven; or, if some other
place, From your dominion won, the Ethereal
King
Possesses lately, thither to arrive I travel this profound. Direct my course : 980
Directed, no mean recompense it brings To your behoof, if I that region lost, All usurpation thence expelled, reduce To her original darkness and your sway (Which is my present journey), and once
more
Erect the standard there of ancient Night. Yours be the advantage all, mine the re- venge ! "
Thus Satan ; and him thus the Anarch old, With faltering speech and visage incom-
posed,
Answered: "I know thee, stranger, who thou art 99
That mighty leading Angel, who of late Made head against Heaven's King, though
overthrown.
I saw and heard; for such a numerous host Fled not in silence through the frighted
Deep,
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, Confusion worse confounded; and Heaven- gates
Poured out by millions her victorious bands, Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here Keep residence; if all I can will serve That little which is left so to defend, 1000 Encroached on still through our intestine
broils Weakening the sceptre of old Night: first,
Hell,
Your dungeon, stretching far and wide be- neath; Now lately Heaven and Earth, another
world
Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain
�� �
