Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/393

 POEMS IN VARIOUS METRES

��Propositi factique inone: quisquauine tuo-

rum

Audebit sunimi non jussa facessere Papse ? Perculsosque nietu subito, casuque stu-

peutes,

Invadat vel Gallus atrox, vel ssevus Iberus. Saecula sic illic tandem Mariana redibunt, Tuque in belligeros iterum dominaberis

Anglos.

Et, nequid tiineas, divos divasque secundas Accipe, quotque tuis celebrantur numiua

fastis." 130

Dixit, et adscitos ponens malefidus amictus Fugit ad iufandam, regnurn illa3tabile,

Lethen.

Jam rosea Eoas pandens Tithonia portas Vestit iuauratas redeunti lumine terras; Mcestaque adhuc nigri deplorans funera

nati

Irrigat ambrosiis montana cacumina guttis ; Cum somnos pepulit stellatse janitor aulae, Nocturnes visus et somnia grata revolvens.

Est locus aeterna septus caligine noctis, Vasta ruinosi quondam fundamina tecti, Nunc torvi spelunca Phoni, Prodotseque

bilinguis, 141

Effera quos uuo peperit Discordia partu. Hie inter csementa jacent prseruptaque saxa Ossa inhumata virum, et trajecta cadavera

ferro; Hie Dolus intortis semper sedet ater ocel-

lis, Jurgiaque, et stimulis armata Calumnia

fauces; Et Furor, atque vise moriendi mille, viden-

tur, Et Timor; exanguisque locum circumvolat

Horror ;

Perpetu6que leves per muta silentia Manes Exululaut; tellus et sanguine conscia stag-

nat. 150

Ipsi etiam pavidi latitant penetralibus

antri Et Phonos et Prodotes; nulloque sequente

per antrum, Autrum horrens, scopulosum, atrum ferali-

bus umbris,

Diffugiunt sontes, et retrb lumina vortunt. Hos pugiles Roma? per saecula longa fideles Evocat antistes Babylonius, atque itafatur: "Finibus occiduis circumfusum incolit

sequor

Gens exosa mihi; prudens Natura negavit Indignatn penitus nostro conjungere mundo. Illuc, sic jubeo, celeri contendite gressu, 160

��dare to refuse obedience to his Pope ? Then, when the nation is seized with panic terror, or stupefied by the catastrophe, either the Gaul or the savage Spaniard will invade them, and the days of Queen Mary will return. Once more thou shalt rule over the martial English. And, that thou mayest put away all fear, I tell thee that all the gods and goddesses, as many as thy church- rites celebrate, favor the plan." So speak- ing, he laid aside the dress he had assumed, and fled to the joyless realms of Lethe.

Now rosy dawu, opening the eastern gates, gilded the earth with returning light. Sorrowing for dead Memuon, she scattered the mountain tops with ambrosial tears. The porter of the heavenly halls drove away sleep, and rolled back the dreams and visions of the night.

There is a place girt eternally with the darkness of night, the vast foundations of a building long since given to ruin, now the cave of fierce Murder and double-tongued Treachery, whom the hag Discord brought forth at one birth. Here amid heaps of rubble and broken stones lie the unburied bodies of men, corpses impaled on steel. Here forever sits Craft, black, with dis- torted eyes ; and Contention ; and Calumny with viper jaws; and Fury ; and Fear ; and a thousand types of death. Pale Horror flies about the place. Perpetually through the silences howl the insubstantial ghosts. The earth is soaked with blood. In the in- most recesses of the cavern Murder and Treachery tremble, and though no one pur- sues them, they flee guiltily among the jagged stones and fierce shadows, casting back their eyes in terror.

These champions of Rome, faithful through long ages, the Babylonish priest [the Pope] calls together, and addresses thus : " On the western confines of the world dwells a people hateful to me ; their land is sea-girt, for scrupulous Nature has not held it worthy to be joined closely to our world. Thither, I command you, hasten

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