"Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown, 780"Prodigious motion felt, and rueful throes. 785 "At last this odious offspring whom thou seest, "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!' 790 "I fled; but he pursu'd, (though more, it seems, "Inflam'd with lust than rage,) and, swifter far, "Me overtook-his mother-all dismay'd, "And, in embraces forcible and foul, 66 Engendering with me, of that rape begot 795 "These yelling monsters, that, with ceaseless cry, "Surround me, as thou saw'st; hourly conceiv'd, "And hourly born, with sorrow infinite "To me; for, when they list, into the womb. "That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw 800 "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, 805 "And me his parent would full soon devour "For want of other prey, but that he knows "His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I "Should prove a bitter morsel and his bane, "Whenever that shall be; so Fate pronounc'd. 810"But thou, O father! I forewarn thee, shun "His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope 815 "To be invulnerable in those bright arms, 66 Though temper'd heavenly; for that mortal dint, "Save He who reigns above, none can resist." She finish'd; and the subtle fiend his lore Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth: "Dear daughter! since thou claim'st me for thy sire, "And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge "Of dalliance had with thee in heaven, and joys 820 "Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change "Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of; know, "I come no enemy, but to set free 825 "From out this dark and dismal house of pain. 66 Myself expose with lonely steps to tread “The unfounded deep, and through the void immense 830 "To search with wandering quest a place foretold "Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now Created, vast and round;-a place of bliss "In the purlieus of heaven, and therein plac'd "A race of upstart creatures, to supply 835 840 845 850 66 Perhaps our vacant room; though more removed, "Lest heaven, surcharged with potent multitude, "Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught "Than this more secret, now design'd, I haste "To know; and, this once known, shall soon return, "And bring ye to the place where thou and Death "Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen Wing silently the buxom air embalm'd "With odours: there ye shall be fed and fill'd 66 Immeasurably all things shall be your prey." He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd; and Death His famine should be fill'd; and bless'd his maw His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire: "And by command of heaven's all-powerful King, "These adamantine gates; against all force E 855 "Death ready stands to interpose his dart, "Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down "Into this gloom of Tartarus profound, "To sit in hateful office here confin'd, 860"Inhabitant of heaven, and heavenly-born; 66 66 Here, in perpetual agony and pain, "With terrors and with clamours compass'd round "Of mine own brood that on my bowels feed? "Thou art my father-thou my author-thou 865 My being gav'st me; whom should I obey "But thee?-whom follow? thou wilt bring me soon "To that new world of light and bliss, among "The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign "At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems 870"Thy daughter and thy darling, without end." Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our woe, she took; 880 With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, Excell'd her power: the gates wide open stood, 890 Illimitable ocean, without bound, Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night 895 And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce, Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring 900 Their embryon atoms; they around the flag Of each his faction, in their several clans, Light-arm'd, or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow, Swarm populous, (unnumber'd as the sands Of Barca, or Cyrene's torrid soil, 905 Levied to side with warring winds,) and poise And by decision more embroils the fray 910 Chance governs all. next him high arbiter Into this wild abyss, The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave, Stood on the brink of hell, and look'd a while, 920 He had to cross. Nor was his ear less peal'd The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad vans 930 As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops As many miles aloft: that fury staid, 940 Nor good dry land; nigh founder'd on he fares, The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, Of stunning sounds, and voices all confus'd, 955 Undaunted, to meet there whatever power Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask 960 Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread Wide on the wasteful deep! With him enthron'd The consort of his reign; and by them stood And Discord with a thousand various mouths! |