That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way
To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass, That be assur'd, without leave ask'd of thee; Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with spirits of heav'n. To whom the goblin full of wrath reply'd: Art thou that traitor Angel, art thou he
Who first broke peace in heav'n, and faith till then Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms
Drew after him the third part of heav'n's sons Conjur'd against the Highest, for which both thou And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd To waste eternal days in wo and pain?
And reckon'st thou thyself with spirits of heav'n, 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 ling'ring, 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 threat'ning, grew tenfold More dreadful and deform: on th' other side Incens'd with indignation, Satan stood Unterrify'd, and like a comet burn'd, That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge In th' arctic 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 th' other, as when two black clouds With heav'n'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 achiev'd, whereof all hell had rung, Had not the snaky sorceress that sat
Fast by hell gate, and kept the fatal key, Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between. O Father, what intends thy hand, she cry'd, 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,
T'whom thus the port'ress of hell gate reply'd: Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem Now in thine eye so foul? once deem'd so fair In heav'n, when at th' assembly, and in sight Of all the Seraphim with thee combin'd In bold conspiracy 'gainst heav'n's King, All on a sudden, miserable pain
Surpriz'd 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 count'nance bright, Then shining heav'nly fair, a goddess arm'd Out of thy head I sprung; amazement seiz'd All th' host of heav'n; back they recoil'd afraid
At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a sign Portentous held me; but familiar grown, I pleas'd, and with attractive graces won The most averse; thee chiefly, who full oft Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing, Becam❜st enamour'd, and such joy thou took'st With me in secret, that my womb conceiv'd A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose And fields were fought in heav'n; wherein remain'd (For what could else?) to our almighty foe Clear victory, to our part loss and rout Through all the empyrean: down they fell Into this deep, and in the gen'ral fall I also; at which time this pow'rful key Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heav'n, down Into my hand was giv'n, 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 begotton, 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 cry'd 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, Inflam'd with lust than rage) and swifter far, Me overtook his mother all dismay'd, And in embraces forcible and foul Engend'ring with me, of that rape begot 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 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 involv'd; and knows that I Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane, Whenever that shall be; so Fate pronounc'd But thou, O Father, I forewarn thee, shun His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope To be invulnerable in those bright arms, Though temper'd heav'nly, 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 heav'n, and joys Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change Befall'n us unforseen, unthought of; know
I come no enemy, but to set free
From out this dark and dismal house of pain Both him and thee, and all the heav'nly host Of spirits, that in our just pretences arm'd, Fell with us from on high: from them I go This uncouth errand sole, and one for all Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread Th' unfounded deep, and through the void immense To search with wand'ring quest a place foretold Should be, and by concurring signs, ere now Created vast and round, a place of bliss In the purlieus of heav'n, and therein plac'd A race of upstart creatures, to supply Perhaps our vacant room, though more remov'd Lest heav'n surcharg'd 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 Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.
He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd, and Death Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
His famine should be fill'd, and bless'd his maw Destin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire. The key of this infernal pit by due
And by command of Heav'n's all-pow'rful King I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
These admantine gates; against all force Death ready stands to interpose his dart, Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might. But what owe I to his commands above Who hates me, and hath thither thrust me down Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To sit in hateful office here confin'd, Inhabitant of heav'n, and heav'nly born, 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 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 Thy daughter and thy darling without end. Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our wo, she took; And tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train, Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,
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