The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems (114 page)

Read The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Online

Authors: John Milton,Burton Raffel

Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Literary Collections, #Poetry, #Classics, #English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, #English poetry

BOOK: The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems
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270

      

Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest
5296

271

      

Be wanting,
5297
but afford thee equal aid.

272

      

   
So saying, with delight he snuffed the smell

273

      

Of mortal
5298
change on earth. As when a flock

274

      

Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,

275

      

Against the day of battle, to a field

276

      

Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured

277

      

With scent of living carcasses designed

278

      

For death the following day, in bloody fight,

279

      

So scented the grim feature,
5299
and upturned

280

      

His nostril wide into the murky air,

281

      

Sagacious
5300
of his quarry from so far.

282

      

Then both from out Hell-gates, into the waste,

283

      

Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark,

284

      

Flew diverse,
5301
and with power (their power was great)

285

      

Hovering
5302
upon the waters, what
5303
they met

286

      

Solid or slimy, as in raging sea

287

      

Tossed up and down, together crowded drove,

288

      

From each side shoaling
5304
towards the mouth of Hell,

289

      

As when two polar winds, blowing adverse

290

      

Upon the Cronian
5305
sea, together drive

291

      

Mountains of ice, that stop
5306
th’ imagined
5307
way

292

      

Beyond Petsora
5308
eastward, to the rich

293

      

Cathaian
5309
coast. The aggregated soil
5310

294

      

Death with his mace petrific,
5311
cold and dry,

295

      

As with a trident,
5312
smote, and fixed as firm

296

      

As Delos,
5313
floating once. The rest his look

297

      

Bound with Gorgonian
5314
rigor
5315
not to move,

298

      

And with asphaltic
5316
slime, broad as the gate,

299

      

Deep to the roots of Hell the gathered beach
5317

300

      

They fastened, and the mole
5318
immense wrought
5319
on

301

      

Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge

302

      

Of length prodigious, joining to the wall

303

      

Immoveable
5320
of this now fenceless
5321
world,

304

      

Forfeit
5322
to Death. From hence a passage broad,

305

      

Smooth, easy, inoffensive,
5323
down to Hell.

306

      

So (if great things to small may be compared)

307

      

Xerxes,
5324
the liberty of Greece to yoke,

308

      

From Susa,
5325
his Memnonian palace high,

309

      

Came to the sea, and over Hellespont
5326

310

      

Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,

311

      

And scourged
5327
with many a stroke th’ indignant waves.

312

      

   
Now had they brought the work by wondrous art

313

      

Pontifical,
5328
a ridge of pendant
5329
rock

314

      

Over the vexed
5330
abyss, following the track

315

      

Of Satan to the self-same place where he

316

      

First lighted
5331
from his wing,
5332
and landed safe

317

      

From out of Chaos, to the outside bare

318

      

Of this round world. With pins of adamant

319

      

And chains they made all fast—too fast they made

320

      

And durable! And now in little space

321

      

The confines
5333
met of empyrean Heav’n

322

      

And of this world, and on the left hand Hell

323

      

With long reach interposed.
5334
Three sev’ral
5335
ways
5336

324

      

In sight, to each of these three places led.

325

      

   
And now their way to earth they had descried,
5337

326

      

To Paradise first tending
5338
—when, behold!

327

      

Satan, in likeness of an Angel bright,

328

      

Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion steering

329

      

His zenith,
5339
while the sun in Aries rose.
5340

330

      

Disguised he came, but those his children dear

331

      

Their parent soon discerned,
5341
though in disguise.

332

      

He, after Eve seduced, unminded
5342
slunk

333

      

Into the wood fast by and, changing shape

334

      

T’ observe the sequel, saw his guileful act

335

      

By Eve, though all unweeting,
5343
seconded

336

      

Upon her husband, saw their shame that sought

337

      

Vain covertures,
5344
but when he saw descend

338

      

The Son of God to judge them, terrified

339

      

He fled, not hoping to escape, but shun

340

      

The present, fearing, guilty, what His
5345
wrath

341

      

Might suddenly inflict. That past, returned
5346

342

      

By night, and list’ning where the hapless
5347
pair

343

      

Sat in their sad discourse and various plaint,

344

      

Thence gathered his own doom, which understood

345

      

Not instant, but of future time. With joy

346

      

And tidings fraught,
5348
to Hell he now returned,

347

      

And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot

348

      

Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhoped

349

      

Met who to meet him came, his offspring dear.

350

      

Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight

351

      

Of that stupendious bridge his joy increased.

352

      

Long he admiring stood, till Sin, his fair

353

      

Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke:

354

      

   
“O parent, these are thy magnific deeds,

355

      

Thy trophies! which thou view’st as not thine own.

356

      

Thou art their author and prime architect,

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