In all my wanderings through this world of care,
In all my griefs-and God has given my share-
I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown,
Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down;
To husband out life's taper at its close,
And keep the flame from wasting, by repose;
I still had hopes, for pride attends us still,
Amidst the swains to show my booklearn'd skill,
Around my fire an evening group to draw,
And tell of all I felt and all I saw ;
And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue,
Pants to the place from whence at first it flew,
I still had hopes, my long vexations past,
Here to return-and die at home at last.
Terrarum quodcunque ærumnis lassus obivi-
Nec pauca a divo sunt mala missa mihi—
Spes suberat tamen una-dies decorare supremos
Sub trabibus parvis hic, requieque frui,
Jam defecturam vitæ producere flammam,
Vimque quiescentis posse fovere senis:
Spes erat, ut senibus superest sua gloria, doctum
Me fore ruricolis semper in ore senem:
Sub noctemque focum circa invitare sodales,
Quæ percepta oculis, quæ mihi mente, loqui.
Utque, canes vocesque lepus quum fugit, anhelans
Unde loci primus venit et ante, redit:
Sic spes, emeritum longoque labore peracto,
Illa domûs intra limina nota mori.
So spake the grisly terror, and in shape
So speaking and so threatening grew tenfold
More dreadful and deform: on the other side,
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet turned,
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the Arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war.
Levelled his deadly aim;
Each at the head their fatal hands
No second stroke intend; and such a frown
Each cast at the other, as when two black clouds,
With heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on
Over the Caspian, then stand front to front,
Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow
To join their dark encounter in mid air:
So frowned the mighty combatants, that Hell
Grew darker at their frown, so matched they stood.
MILTON. P. L. Bk. ii. c. 704-720.
Dixerat: at monstrum media inter dicta minasque
Aspectu horridius multo et deformius ibat.
Hinc autem Satanas odioque incensus et irâ
Stat contra immotus, qualis quum sepæ refixa
Arctois flammis Ophiuchi sidera longi
Transcurrunt nexus, et crine volantia pestem
Dejiciunt bellique vices. Vibrabat uterque
Spicula in adversum infestus caput, altera numquam
Verbera torsurus. Necnon et torva tuentes
Obducunt frontes, gravidi Jovis imbre tonantis
Ceu nimbi glomerant per Caspia regna procellam:
Tum vero adversi sistunt breve, flamina signum
Dum crepitent, quo jam concurrere turbine nigro
Omnia ventorum certamina in æthere cæco.
Sic illi glomerant frontes, ut Tartarus ipse
Nigrescat, paribus miratus corpora nervis.
Stiff with eternal ice, and hidden snow,
That fell a thousand centuries ago
The Mountain stands: nor can the rising sun
Unfix her frosts, and teach them how to run:
No Spring nor Summer on the mountain seen
Smiles with gay fruits, or with delightful green;
But hoary Winter unadorned, and bare,
Dwells in the dire retreat and freezes there:
There she assembles all her blackest storms,
And the rude hail in rattling tempests forms;
Thither the loud tumultuous winds resort,
And on the mountain keep their boisterous court,
That in thick showers her rocky summit shrouds,
And darkens all the broken view with clouds.
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