Nominis haud vani; lætâ nam voce faluto,
Nunc decus antiquum atque infignia veftra tenentes:
Faufta adeò fortuna viæ mihi ceffit, & ipfas
Spes fuperans: hinc vos lugubri ex gurgite ducam,
Victor ego incedens, diro horrificoque barathro,
Carcere quo claudi, mœrorum fedibus atris,
Ifte fuos voluit rex implacabilis hoftes.
Hinc properate alacres, mundique immenfa tenete
Regna novi, quæ vix cœli natalibus oris
Concedant; ego quæ vobis per mille labores
Hâc rapui, per mille ruens difcrimina, dextrâ.
Quid memorem, mala quæ prædura, ac tædia paffus,
Quam varios cafus; quanto molimine fudans
Trans vacua atque immenfa, feroque agitata tumultu
Vix tandem obnitens ierim vada: quæ fuper, Ate
Grande pavimentum magni jam condidit Hadis
Auxiliis: ea vos facili via tramite ducet.
Aft ego, præruptumque atque intractabile abyffi
For, in poffeffion fuch, not only of right
I call you, and declare you now; return'd
Successful beyond hope, to lead you forth
Triumphant out of this infernal pit
Abominable, accurs'd, the house of woe,
And dungeon of our tyrant! now possess,
As lords, a fpacious world; to our native heav'n
Little inferior, by my adventure hard
With peril great atchiev'd. Long were to tell
What I have done; what fuffer'd; with what pain
Voyag'd th' un-real, vaft, un-bounded deep
Of horrible confufion! over which,
By fin and death, a broad way now is pav'd,
To expedite your glorious march: but I
Toil'd out my uncouth paffage, forc'd to ride
Per barathrum, arduum iter vici, longùm obrutus atrâ
Æternæ Noctifque Chaûfque ferocis in alvo:
Nam, fua ne cæco obruerem fecreta profundo,
Noxque Chaofque viam infuetam prohibere frementi
Invidiâ; & rabido latè clamore fupremum
Fas obteftari. Tenebris emerfus ab iftis
Orbem deinde novum inveni, quem fama futurum
Cœlo olim cecinit, concinnum atque omnibus orbem
Perfectum numeris; hominemque ibi dulcia regna
Felicefque domos fibi noftrâ ex clade trahentem.
Huic egomet magni legem violare parentis
Persuasi, pomoque trahens mirabile! vici.
Inde ardens pater, & ridendâ concitus irâ,
Ipfe ultro dilectum hominem & nova regna remittens,
Tædia non belli, non ulla pericula paffis
Prædam Ati facilem atque Hadi, nobifque proinde
Conceffit; loca nos latè ditione tenentes
Immensâ, læto fpatiabimur orbe, datifque
Th' untractable abyfs, plung'd in the womb
Of un-original night, and Chaos wild:
That, jealous of their fecrets, fiercely oppos'd
My journey ftrange, with clamorous uproar
Protesting fate fupreme: thence, how I found
The new-created world, which fame in heav'n
Long had fore-told: a fabric wonderful,
Of abfolute perfection! therein man,
Plac'd in a paradife, by our exile
Made happy. Him by fraud I have feduc'd
From his creator; and, the more to increase
Your wonder, with an apple. He thereat
Offended, (worth your laughter!) hath giv'n up
Both his belov'd man, and all his world,
To fin and death, a prey; and fo to us;
Without our hazard, labor, or alarm;
To range in, and to dwell, and over man
Quondam homini imperiis hominem exercebimus ipfum.
Et mihi, (fabor enim) aut serpenti denique bruto,
Quem fraudes adeò occultas mentitus agebam,
Judicii pœnam indixit: quod me attinet, inter
Meque hominemque odio æterno fera bella trahentur.
Eft mihi conterere huic calcem: Semenque viciffim
Hujus, at incertum quâ tempeftate, caput mî
Atteret: attritâ cute quis dubitaverit orbem
Mercari, aut longè gravioris vulnere pœnæ ?
Scilicet hæc vobis peperi. Quin gaudia adite
Celfa, Dei, uberibus femper manantia rivis.
Constitit his dictis paulum, fremitusque secundos
Et plaufus comitum expectans: at fibila contra
Innumeris miferanda audit ftridentia linguis,
Ludibrii figna unanimis. Stupet infcius ingens
Portentum; fua deinde magis ftupet ipfius ora
In longum protracta apicem, concretaque coftis
To rule, as over all he should have rul`d.
True is, me alfo he hath judg'd, or rather
Me not, but the brute ferpent, in whose shape
Man I deceiv'd. That which to me belongs,
Is enmity, which he will put between
Me and mankind. I am to bruife his heel;
His feed, when is not fet, fhall bruife my head.
A world who would not purchase with a bruise,
Or much more grievous pain? you have th' account
Of my performance: what remains, ye gods,
up, and enter now into full blifs?
So having said, a-while he ftood, expecting
Their universal shout and high applause,
To fill his ear: when, contrary, he hears
On all fides from innumerable tongues,
A difmal univerfal hifs, the found
Of public fcorn! he wonder'd, but not long
Had leifure, wond'ring at himself now more :
His visage drawn he felt to sharp, and spare;
Brachia, multiplicique implexa volumine crura.
Tum ruit, ad terramque abjecto pectore pronus
Concidit, informi spectandus corpore ferpens,
Multa ferox contra obluctans molimine vano:
Vi tenuit durâ jam dextra potentior, ipsâ
Pendentem, modo quâ peccârat imagine, pœnas;
Namque ita judicii data lex. Dein farier orfus
Sibila vana dedit, linguifque arguta trifulcis
Lingua trifulca fonos fimili ftridore remifit:
Serpentis nam forma omnes jam adduxerat, omnes
Participes cœpti immanis fcelerisque miniftros.
Atria terrificis complentur vafta fufurris;
Tot colubri capita implexi caudafque minaces,
Sibila tot fpiffo ftrident examine monftra,
Scorpios atque Afpis, dira Amphisbæna, Ceraftes
Corniger, Hydrusque ac Dipfas: quot triftibus agris
Haud quondam effudit tellus confperfa cruore
Gorgonio, aut horrens serpentum Ophiusa creatrix.
His arms clung to his ribs; his legs intwining
Each other, till supplanted down he fell :
A monftrous ferpent on his belly prone
Reluctant, but in vain : a greater pow'r
Now rul'd him, punifh'd in the shape he fin'd,
According to his doom. He would have spoke;
But, hifs for hifs return'd, with forked tongue,
To forked tongue: for now were all transform'd
Alike, to ferpents all, as acceffories
To his bold riot: dreadful was the din
Of hiffing thro' the hall! thick fwarming now
With complicated monfters, head and tail;
Scorpion and Afp, and Amphifbæna dire,
Ceraftes horn'd, Hydrus, and Ellops drear,
And Dipfas. Not fo thick fwarm'd once the foil
Bedrop'd with blood of Gorgon: or, the isle
At celfis medius Satanas cervicibus extat,
Vastâ mole Draco; major, quàm vallibus olim
Limofis genuit folis quem torrida flamma,
Immanis Python: vifus nec imagine tantùm,
At virtute etiamnum omnes fuperare feroci.
Illum omnis campos abeuntem turba patentes
Infequitur, profugæ cœlo quà tota cohortis,
Quanta fuper vis effet adhuc, ftatione potiti,
Aut longè explicuere acies, regemque tueri
Ducentem lætos avidi cupiere triumphos.
Ecce vident, heu longè alia spectacula, cœtus
Serpentum informes; gelidus fimul omnibus horror
Incidit, & cognata lues: qualesque tuentur,
Protinus induti fœdas ftupuere figuras.
Brachia lapfa cadunt; clypeus procumbit & hasta,
Procumbunt fimul ipfi, & fibila dira repente
Inftaurant, miferæ paffi contagia peftis;
Ophiufa. But ftill greateft he the midft,
They faw, but other fight instead! a crowd
And horrid fympathy: for what they saw,
They felt themselves, now changing : down their
Now dragon grown; larger than whom the fun Of ugly ferpents: horror on them fell,
Ingender'd in the Pythian vale on flime,
Huge Python! and his pow'r no lefs he feem'd
Above the reft ftill to retain. They all
Him follow'd, iffuing forth to th' open field;
Where all yet left of that revolted rout,
Heav'n-fall'n, in ftation ftood, or juft array;
Sublime with expectation, when to fee
In triumph iffuing forth their glorious chief,
Down fell both fpear and fhield; down they as
faft:
And the dire hiss renew'd, and the dire form
Catch'd by contagion; like in punishment,
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