Page:Paradise Lost (1667).djvu/79

---

Harſh Thunder, that the loweſt bottom ſhook
Of Erebus. She op'nd, but to ſhut
Excel'd her power; the Gates wide op'n ſtood,
That with extended wings a Bannerd Hoſt
Under ſpread Enſigns marching might paſs through
With Horſe and Chariots rankt in looſe array;
So wide they ſtood, and like a Furnace mouth
Cast forth redounding ſmoak and ruddy flame.
890Before thir eyes in ſudden view appear
The ſecrets of the hoarie deep, a dark
Illimitable Ocean without bound,
Without dimenſion, where length, breadth, and highth,
And time and place are loſt; where eldeſt Night
And Chaos, Anceſtors of Nature, hold
Eternal Anarchie, amidſt the noiſe
Of endleſs warrs, and by confuſion ſtand.
For hot, cold, moiſt, and dry, four Champions fierce,
Strive here for Maiſtrie, and to Battel bring
900Thir embryon Atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their ſeveral Clans,
Light-arm'd or heavy, ſharp, ſmooth, ſwift or ſlow,
Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the Sands
Of Barca or Cyrene’s torrid ſoil,
Levied to ſide with warring Winds, and poiſe
Thir lighter wings. To whom theſe moſt adhere
Hee rules a moment; Chaos Umpire ſits,
And by decision more imbroiles the fray
By which he Reigns: next him high Arbiter,
910Chance governs all. Into this wilde Abyſs,
The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,
Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,
But all theſe in their pregnant cauſes mixt