For each seemed either; black it stood as night, Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as hell,

And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

Satan was now at hand, and from his seat

The monster moving onward, came as fast
With horrid strides; hell trembled as he strode.

The undaunted fiend what this might be admired, Admired not fear'd; God and his Son except, Created thing naught valued he, nor shunn'd; And with disdainful look, thus first began:

"Whence, and what art thou, execrable shape, That darest, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, That be assured, without leave ask'd of thee: Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with spirits of heaven." To whom the goblin, full of wrath, replied: "Art thou that traitor-angel, art thou he, Who first broke peace in heaven, and faith till then Unbroken; and in proud, rebellious arms, Drew after him the third part of heaven's sons, Conjured against the Highest; for which both thou And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd To waste eternal days in woe and pain? And reckon'st thou thyself with spirits of heaven, Hell-doom'd, and breath'st defiance here and scorn, Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more, Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment, False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings, Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue

Thy lingering, or, with one stroke of this dart,
Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before."
So spake the grisly terror, and in shape,

So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold
More dreadful and deform. On the other side,
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burn'd,
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the artic sky, and from his horrid hair

Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head
Levell'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands
No second stroke intend; and such a frown
Each cast at the other, as when two black clouds,
With heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on
Over the Caspian, then stand front to front,
Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow

To join their dark encounter in mid-air :
So frown'd the mighty combatants, that hell
Grew darker at their frown; so match'd they stood;
For never but once more was either like

To meet so great a foe: and now great deeds
Had been achieved, whereof all hell had rung,
Had not the snaky sorceress, that sat
Fast by hell-gate, and kept the fatal key,
Risen, and, with hideous outcry, rush'd between.
"O father, what intends thy hands," she cried,
"Against thy only son? What fury, O son,
Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart

Against thy father's head? and know'st for whom?
For him who sits above and laughs the while
At thee, ordain'd his drudge, to execute
Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids;
His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both."
She spake, and at her words the hellish pest
Forbore then these to her Satan return'd:

"So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange Thou interposest, that my sudden hand,

Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds
What it intends, till first I know of thee,

What thing thou art, thus double-form'd; and why,
In this infernal vale first met, thou call'st

Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son:

I know thee not, nor ever saw, till now,

Sight more detestable than him and thee."

To whom thus the portress of hell-gate replied:
"Hast thou forgot me, then, and do I seem
Now in thine eye so foul? once deem'd so fair
In heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight
Of all the seraphim with thee combined
In bold conspiracy against heaven's King,
All on a sudden miserable pain

Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
Threw forth; till, on the left side opening wide,
Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright,
Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess arm'd,
Out of thy head I sprung; amazement seized
All the host of heaven; back they recoil'd, afraid
At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a sign
Portentous held me; but, familiar grown,
I pleased, and with attractive graces won
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing,
Becamest enamour'd, and such joy thou took'st
With me in secret, that my womb conceived
A growing burden. Meanwhile, war arose,
And fields were fought in heaven; wherein remain'd
(For what could else?) to our Almighty Foe
Clear victory; to our part loss and rout
Through all the empyréan: down they fell,
Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down
Into this deep; and in the general fall
I also; at which time this powerful key
Into my hands was given, with charge to keep
These gates for ever shut, which none can pass
Without my opening. Pensive here I sat

Alone; but long I sat not, till my womb,
Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown,
Prodigious motion felt, and rueful throes.
At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,
Thine own begotten, breaking violent way,
Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain
Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew
Transform'd: but he my inbred enemy
Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,
Made to destroy. I fled, and cried out, Death!
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd
From all her caves, and back resounded, Death!
I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems,
Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far,
Me overtook, his mother, all dismay'd,
And in embraces, forcible and foul,
Engendering with me, of that rape begot
These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry
Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceived
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

To me; for, when they list, into the womb
That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw
My bowels, their repast; then bursting forth
Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round,

That rest or intermission none I find.

Before mine eyes in opposition sits

Grim Death, my son and foe; who sets them on,
And me, his parent, would full soon devour
For want of other prey, but that he knows
His end with mine involved; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
Whenever that shall be; so fate pronounced.
But thou, Q father, I forewarn thee, shun
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope