Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/282

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276
PARADISE LOST.

Of heavier on himself, fearless returned.—
By night he fled, and at midnight returned,
From compassing the earth; cautious of day,
Since Uriel, regent of the sun, descried 60
His entrance, and forewarned the Cherubim
That kept their watch. Thence, full of anguish, driven
The space of seven continued nights he rode
With darkness; thrice the equinoctial line
He circled, four times crossed the car of Night
From pole to pole, traversing each colure;
On the eighth return, and, on the coast averse
From entrance or cherubic watch, by stealth
Found unsuspected way. There was a place
—Now not, though sin, not time, first wrought the change— 70
Where Tigris, at the foot of Paradise,
Into a gulf shot underground, till part
Rose up a fountain by the Tree of Life.
In with the river sunk, and with it rose
Satan, involved in rising mist; then sought
Where to lie hid. Sea he had searched and land,
From Eden over Pontus, and the pool
Mæotis, up beyond the river Ob;
Downward as far antarctic; and in length
West from Orontes to the ocean barred 80
At Dariën, thence to the land where flows
Ganges and Indus. Thus the orb he roamed