Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.

211

215

So judg'd he man, both Judge and Saviour sent; And th' instant stroke of death denounc'd that day 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 servant to assume; As when he wash'd his servants' feet, so now As father of his family he clad Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain, 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 beasts, but inward nakedness, much more Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness, Arraying, cover'd from his Father's sight. To him with swift ascent he up return'd. Into his blissful bosom reassum'd

In glory as of old; to him appeas'd

All, though all-knowing, what had past with man Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

220

295

Meanwhile, ere thus was sinn'd and judg'd on

earth,

Within the gates of hell sat Sin and Death,
In counterview within the gates, that now
Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame

232 belching] Spens. F. Q. i. xi. 44.

'As burning Etna from his boyling stew
Doth belch out flames.'

Todd.

230

Far into Chaos, since the fiend pass'd through,
Sin opening, who thus now to Death began.

O son, why sit we here, each other viewing
Idly, while Satan our great author thrives
In other worlds, and happier seat provides
For us his offspring dear? It cannot be
But that success attends him; if mishap,
Ere this he had return'd, with fury driv'n
By his avengers, since 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 sympathy, or some connatural force,
Powerful at greatest distance to unite
With secret amity things of like kind
By secretest conveyance. Thou my shade
Inseparable must with me along;

For Death from Sin no power can separate.
But lest the difficulty of passing back

Stay his return perhaps over this gulf
Impassable, impervious, let us try

Advent❜rous work, yet to thy power 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,

235

240

245

250

255

249 shade] 'Shade' used in the same manner in class. authors. Hor.

Sat. ii. 8. 22.

'quos Mecenas adduxerat umbras! Newton.

Easing their passage hence, for intercourse,
Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead.
Nor can I miss the way so strongly drawn
By this new felt attraction and instinct.

Whom thus the meagre shadow answer'd soon.
Go whither fate and inclination strong
Leads thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err,
The way thou leading, such a scent I draw
Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste

The savour of death from all things there that live: Nor shall 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
Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,
Against the day of battle, to a field,

260

265

270

275

Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lur'd
With scent of living carcasses design'd

For death, the following day, in bloody fight:
So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd
His nostril wide into the murky air,

266 err] Newton has thus pointed the text:

'I shall not lag behind, nor err

The way, thou leading.'

280

Well may he call it a remarkable expression; but it should thus be stopt:

'I shall not lag behind, nor err,

The way thou leading.'

This error is retained in Mr. Todd's edition. It is, however, proper to observe, that the punctuation of Milton's own editions agrees with Newton's.

268 innumerable] 'Exuberant.' Bentl. MS.

Sagacious of his quarry from so far.

Then both from out hell-gates into the waste
Wide anarchy of Chaos damp and dark

Flew diverse; and with power, (their power was

great,)

Hovering upon the waters, what they met
Solid or slimy, as in raging sea

285

290

295

Tost up and down, together crowded drove
From each side shoaling towards the mouth of hell.
As when two polar winds, blowing adverse
Upon the Cronian sea, together drive
Mountains of ice, that stop th' imagin'd way
Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich
Cathaian coast. The aggregated soil
Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry,
As with a trident smote, and fix'd as firm
As Delos floating once; the rest his look
Bound with Gorgonian rigour not to move,
And with Asphaltic slime, broad as the gate,
Deep to the roots of hell the gather'd beach
They fasten'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,

294 mace] So Marlowe and Nash's Trag. of Dido. 1594. 'Whose memory, like pale Death's stony mace,

Beates forth my senses.'

297 Gorgonian] Claud. Rufin. i. 279.

Richardson.

'Rigida cum Gorgone Perseus! Pearce.

Smooth, easy, inoffensive, down to hell.

So, if great things to small may be compar'd,
Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke,
From Susa his Memnonian palace high
Came to the sea, and over Hellespont
Bridging his way, Europe with Asia join'd,

305

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-same place where he
First lighted from his wing, and landed safe
From out of Chaos, to the outside bare

315

305 inoffensive] Unobstructed. Stillingfleet notes the same Latin idiom in b. viii. 164.

312

i. 53.

'Or she [Earth] from west her silent course advance
With inoffensive pace.'

by wondrous art

Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock] So Sannazarii Epig. lib.

De Jocundo architecto

'Jucundus geminos fecit tibi, Sequana, pontes :

Jure tuum potes hunc dicere Pontificem.'

313 ridge] Bridge. Bentl. MS.

315 Of Satan] Newton has altered the pointing of the first edition, by inserting a comma after Chaos, but I think the passage would be clear, if thus read.

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-same place where he

First lighted from his wing, and landed safe

From out of Chaos) to the outside bare

Of this round world.

The part that relates to Satan's path being parenthetical.