If chance the radiant Sun with farewel sweet
Extend his ev'ning beam, the fields revive,
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Atteft their joy, that hill and valley rings.
O fhame to men! Devil with Devil damn'd
Firm concord holds; men only disagree
Of creatures rational, though under hope
Of heav'nly grace, and GoD proclaiming peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity and ftrife
Among themfelves, and levy cruel wars,
Wafting the earth, each other to destroy:
As if (which might induce us to accord)
Man had not hellish foes enow befides,
That day and night for his deftruction wait.
The STYGIAN council thus diffolv'd, and forth
In order came the grand infernal Peers:
'Midft came their mighty Paramount, and feem'd Alone th' antagonift of Heav'n, nor lefs
Than Hell's dread Emperor, with pomp fupreme, 510
And God-like imitated ftate: him round
A globe of fiery Seraphim inclos'd
With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms.
Then of their feffion ended they bid cry
With trumpets regal found the great result :
Tow'rds the four winds four fpeedy Cherubim
Put to their mouths the founding alchymy,
By heralds voice explain'd: the hollow Abyss
Heard far and wide, and all the hoft of Hell
With deaf'ning fhout return'd them loud acclaim. 520
Thence more at eafe their minds, and fomewhat rais'd By falfe prefumptuous hope, the ranged Pow'rs Disband, and wand'ring, each his feveral way Perfues, as inclination or fad choice
Leads him perplext, where he may likelieft find 525Truce to his refliefs thoughts, and entertain
The irkfome hours, till his great chief return.
Part on the plain, or in the air fublime
Upon the wing, or in fwift race contend,
As at th' OLYMPIAN games or PYTHIAN fields
Part curb their fiery fteeds, or fhun the goal
With rapid wheels, or fronted brigads form.
As when, to warn proud cities, war appears
Wag'd in the troubl'd sky, and armies rufh
To battel in the clouds, before each van
Prick forth the aery Knights, and couch their fpears
Till thickeft legions clofe; with feats of arms
From either end of heav'n the welkin burns.
Others, with vaft TYPHAN rage, more fell
Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
In whirlwind: Hell fcarce holds the wild uproar.
As when ALCIDES from OECHALIA crown'd
With conqueft, felt th' invenom'd robe, and tore
Through pain up by the roots THESSALIAN pines,
And LICHAS from the top of OETA threw
Into th' EU BOIC Sea. Others more mild,
Retreated in a filent valley, fing
With notes angelical to many a harp
Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall
By doom of battel: and complain that Fate
Free virtue fhould inthrall to force or chance.
Their fong was partial, but the harmony
(What could it lefs when fpirits immortal fing?)
Sufpended Hell, and took with ravishment
The thronging audience. In difcourfe more sweet 555 (For eloquence the foul, fong charms the fenfe) Others apart fat on a hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reafon'd high,
Of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate,
Fixt fate, free will, foreknowledge abfolute;
And found no end, in wandring mazes loft.
Of good and evil much they argu'd then,
Of happiness and final mifery,
Paffion and apathy, and glory and fhame,
Vain wisdom all, and falfe philofophy:
Yet with a pleafing forcery could charm
Pain for a while, or anguifh; and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdurate breast
With ftubborn patience, as with triple steel.
Another part, in fquadrons and grofs bands,
On bold adventure to discover wide
That difmal world, if any clime perhaps
Might yield them eafier habitation, bend
Four ways their flying march, along the banks
Of four infernal rivers, that difgorge
Into the burning lake their baleful ftreams;
Abhorred STYX, the flood of deadly hate;
Sad ACHERON, of forrow black and deep;
COCYTUS, nam'd of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful ftream; fierce PHLEGETON,
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from thefe 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 feems
Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice;
A gulf profound, as that SERBONIAN bog
Betwixt DA MIATA and mount CASIUS 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 ftarve in ice
Their foft ethereal warmth, and there to pine
Immoveable, infixt, and frozen round,
Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire.
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