Book i. 266-281.

We give also the original:

"Nam quoties tumido perrumpit flumine ripas Alveus, et nigris campos perinundat arenis, Ubertas taxatur aqua, cœloque vacante Terrestrem pluviam diffusus porrigit annis. Tunc inclusa latet lato sub gurgite Memphis, Et super absentis possessor navigat agros. Terminus omnis abest, æquatur judice fluctu Annua suspendens contectus jurgia limes. Gramina nota videt lactus subsidere pastor, Inque pecorum viridantis jugere campi Succedunt nantes aliena per æquora pisces. Ast postquam largo fecundans germina potu Lympha maritavit sitientis viscera terræ, Regraditur Nilus, sparsasque recolligit undas: Fit fluvius pereunte lacu; tum redditur alveo Pristina riparum conclusis fluctibus obex," etc.

An analogous phenomenon--far more vast and terrible--the descent of the waters of the upper firmament, and the overflow of earthly floods, is described by St. Avitus in his poem on _The Deluge_.

In the second part of the triad, _Original Sin_, the sacred traditions are implicitly followed; something is to be found of Andreini's conception of the prince of hell preserving in the demon the grandeur of the angel, carrying into the pit of evil the traces of a heavenly nature. The Satan of St. Avitus is not the devil of mere traditions, odious, hideous, malignant, with no elevation of feeling. He retains some traits of his first estate and a certain moral grandeur. Nevertheless the conception lacks the sublimity of Andreini's and Milton's, presenting none of those fierce conflicts of the soul, those appalling contrasts, which are so effective. It has, however, originality and energy, forcibly impressing the reader.

Satan, first entering paradise, and perceiving Adam and Eve, is thus portrayed:

"When he beheld the new-created pair In their fair home, their happy sinless life, Under God's laws the sovereigns of the earth, With tranquil joy surveying all around In peace their sway confessing--jealous rage Like lightning raised a tempest in his soul; Like to volcanic fires his fury burned. Too recent his great loss; hurled down from heaven, Down to the infernal pit, and with him fallen The troop who shared his fate! The agony, The shame of such defeat, with added pangs And horror, rose afresh, when he beheld Those happy ones; and full of bitter grief, Envy, despite, he poured his anger forth. Ah! woe is me; this new world sprung to life, This odious race the offspring of our ruin! Woe! Heaven was mine; from heaven I am expelled, This dust of earth to angels' pomp succeeding! Frail clay, to fair form moulded, will usurp The power, the sovereignty torn from our hands, To him transferred! Yet not of all despoiled, Some power we hold, some evil we can do. Be it done without delay! I yearn for strife! I long to meet these foes; yea, now to meet them, In their simplicity, which knows as yet Naught of deceit; naught but the things they see, Which leaves them shieldless. Easier the task To tempt them and mislead, while thus alone, Ere they have thrown a vast posterity Into the eternity of ages!--No-- We will not suffer any thing immortal To rise from earth! Let us destroy the race Here in its source! Oh! that its chiefs defeat May be the seed of death! Life's principle Give rise to pangs of death! all struck in one! The root cut and the tree for ever prone! Such consolation in my fall is mine; If I must never more ascend to heaven, At least its portals shall be closed 'gainst these! The misery I suffer is less keen Knowing these creatures lost by a like fall; If they, accomplices in my destruction, Become companions in my punishment, Sharing with us the flames I now discern Prepared for us! But to allure them on, I, who have fallen, must show them the same road, That the same pride which drove me out of heaven May chase man from the bounds of paradise. He spoke, and heaving a deep sigh, was silent."