Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/20

14 Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed Hath vexed the Red-sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcases And broken chariot-wheels; so thick bestrown, Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He called so loud that all the hollow deep Of Hell resounded: "Princes, Potentates, Warriors, the flower of Heaven, once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can seize Eternal Spirits. Or have ye chosen this place After the toil of battle to repose Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn To adore the conqueror—who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood With scattered arms and ensigns—tilttill [sic] anon His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern The advantage, and descending tread us down, Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf?— Awake! arise! or be for ever fallen."