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Воок II.—994-1029]

Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things,¹

The consort of his reign; and by them stood

Orcus and Hades,² and the dreaded name

Of Demogorgon;³ Rumour next, and Chance,

And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled,

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, With purpose to explore or to disturb The secrets of your realm; but, by constraint Wandering this darksome desert, 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; 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 revenge.

Thus Satan: and him thus the Anarch old,

With faltering speech and visage incomposed,

Answered: I know thee, stranger, who thou art;

That mighty leading Angel, who of late

Made head 'gainst 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, Encroached on still through your intestine broils Weakening the sceptre of old Night. First Hell, Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath; Now lately heaven and earth another world, Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain, To that side heaven, from whence your legions fell. If that way be your walk, you have not far; So much the nearer danger; go, and speed; Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain.

He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply, But, glad that now his sea should find a shore, With fresh alacrity and force renewed, Springs upward like a pyramid of fire, Into the wild expanse, and, through the shock Of fighting elements, on all sides round Environed, wins his way; harder beset And more endangered, than when Argo passed Through Bosphorus, betwixt the justling rocks; Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned Charybdis, and by the other whirlpool steered. So he with difficulty and labour hard Moved on, with difficulty and labour he; But he once passed, soon after, when man fell-Strange alteration!—Sin and Death amain Following his track, such was the will of Heaven, Paved after him a broad and beaten way Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length, From hell continued, reaching the utmost orb

Night, eldest of things.—The command, "Let there be light," supposes darkness—night to be older than day,

^\ Orcus and Hades.—Orcus is supposed to mean Pluto—Hades his dark home.

\ Demogorgon.—An infernal deity, believed to be of great power; the most frightful effects were supposed to follow from the skilled use of his name.