Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

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,

585

590

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

600

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,

605

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

620

[ocr errors]

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;

625

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

635

Clofe

Close failing from Bengala, or the iles

640

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,

646

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,

650

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,

660

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

Eclipfes

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,

675

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.

680

685

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

691

And

695

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

700

Thy lingring, or with one ftroke of this dart

705

710

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

Το

« AnteriorContinuar »