The Sun was sunk, and after him the Starr
Of Hesperus, whose Office is t
Twilight upon the Earth, short Arbiter [ 50 ]
Twixt Day and Night, and now from end to end
Nights Hemisphere had veild the Horizon round:
When Satan who late fled before the threats
Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improvd
Iated fraud and malice, bent [ 55 ]
On maruaugre what might hap
Of heavier on himself, fearless returnd.
By Night he fled, and at Midnight returnd.
From passing the Earth, cautious of day,
Since Uriel Regent of the Sun descrid [ 60 ]
His entrance, and forewarnd the Cherubim
That kept thir watch; thence full of anguish drivn,
The space of seven tinud Nights he rode
With darkness, thrice the Equinoctial Line
He circld, four times crossd the Carr of Night [ 65 ]
From Pole to Pole, traversing each Colure;
On the eighth returnd, and on the Coast averse
From entrance or Cherubic Watch, by stealth
Found unsuspected way. There lace,
Now not, though Sin, not Time, first wraught the ge, [ 70 ]
Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise
Into a Gulf shot under ground, till part
Rose up a Fountain by the Tree of Life;
In with the River sunk, and with it rose
Satan involvd in rising Mist, then sought [ 75 ]
Where to lie hid; Sea he had searcht and Land
From Eden over Pontus, and the Poole
Mæotis, up beyond the River Ob;
Downward as farr Antartid ih
West from Oroo the O barrd [ 80 ]
At Darien, theo the Land where flowes
Ganges and Indus: thus the Orb he roamd
With narrow search; and with iion deep
siderd every Creature, which of all
Most opportune might serve his Wiles, and found [ 85 ]
The Serpent suttlest Beast of all the Field.