Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/400

A world devote to universal wrack.
No sooner he, with them of man and beast
Select for life, shall in the ark be lodged,
And sheltered round, but all the cataracts
Of heaven set open on the earth shall pour
Rain day and night; all fountains of the deep,
Broke up, shall heave the ocean to usurp
Beyond all bounds, till inundation rise
Above the highest hills. Then shall this mount
Of Paradise by might of waves be moved830
Out of his place, pushed by the horned flood,
With all his verdure spoiled, and trees adrift,
Down the Great River to the opening Gulf,
And there take root an island salt and bare,
The haunt of seals, and ores, and seamews' clang;
To teach thee that God attributes to place
No sanctity, if none be thither brought
By men who there frequent, or therein dwell.
And now what further shall ensue behold."
He looked, and saw the ark hull on the flood,840
Which now abated; for the clouds were fled,
Driven by a keen north-wind, that blowing dry
Wrinkled the face of deluge, as decayed;
And the clear sun on his wide watery glass
Gazed hot, and of the fresh wave largely drew,
As after thirst, which made their flowing shrink
From standing lake to tripping ebb, that stole