Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/64

58 Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems Of ancient pile, all else deep snow and ice; A gulf profound, as that Serbonian bog Betwixt Damiata and mount Casius old, Where armies whole have sunk: the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire. Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled, At certain revolutions, all the damned Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine, Immovable, infixed, and frozen round, Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire. They ferry over this Lethear sound, Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment, And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe, All in one moment, and so near the brink. But Fate withstands, and, to oppose the attempt, Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards The ford, and of itself the water flies All taste of living wight, as once it fled