36 PARADISE LOST. BOCK IL Their embryon atoms ; they around the flag 900 Of each his fation, in their fev'ral clans, Light-arm'd or heavy, (harp, fmocth, fwift or flow, Swarm populous, un-numbred as the fands Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid foil, Levi'd to fide with warring winds, and poire 905 Their lighter wing. To whf,,m thefe molt adhere, He rules a moment ; Chaos umpire fvs, And by decifion more embroils the fray By which he reigns : next him high arbiter Chance governs all. Into this wild Abyfs, 910 (The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave,) Of neither lea, nor fhore, nor air, nor fire, But all thefe in their pregnant caufes mix'd Confus'dly, and which thus moll ever fight, (Unlefs th' Almighty Maker them ordain 915 His dark materials to create more worlds) Into this wild abyfs the wary fiend Stood on the brink of hell, and iock'd a while, Pond'ring his voyage ; (for no narrow frith He had to crofs) : nor was his ear Ids peat'd 920 With noifes loud and ruinous (to compare Great things with fmall) than when Bellona norms, With all her batt'ring engines bent to rale Some capital city ; or less than if this frame Of heav'n were falling, and thefe elements 925 In mutiny had front her axle torn The ftedfaft earth. At !aft his fail broad vans He fpreads for flight, and in the surging 'Make Uplifted fpurns the ground : thence many a league, As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides 93° Audacious ; but that feat loon failing, meets A van vacuity: all unawares Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops Ten thourand fathom deep, and to this hour Down
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