Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/49

 REDEMPTION. 43

Empeopled by plodding death, or altars Drench'd in human goro. Less than such emprise, peers, I spurn : for this, fearless I arm, And wage eternal warfare for the right."

The monster ended with a wrathful scowl, And hell, oppress' d, breath'd freer at the close, llelieved, and deeper drew the air. So, they, Who sudd'nly submerged, after long absence, To the surface brought, stifled and panting, Deep inspiration draw; or so, who through Some smoldry ruin make their way, begrim'd With soot and smoke, when to fresh air restored, Gasp for their breath, and heave with lab'ring sighs. For, though they sought revenge, most dreaded war Far more than hell, or hottest of hell's fires.

Not daunted, next the serpent Python rose; Fabled a serpent, sprung from out the mud And stagnant pools of the Deucalion flood; Or, as others say, produced by Juno, To persecute Latona, and after, By Apollo slain; tale more fitly told In th' Egyptian myth of Ob and Horus; But fables all. He fell from heav'n long time Before, with all the rebel rout, and lost His pristine form angelic, when Satan, From the ruin'd world return'd, his sad tale Told of Eve deceived, and first fell serpent Prone, as first t' applaud, and first to startle At his accent, changed from heav'nly cadence T' a serpent's hiss, as long time since was sung; Voice changed, and form, but subtil wisdom left, And afterwards display'd, at Delphi's fane,

�� �