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, 700 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 ten-fold 705 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 710 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 716 Hov'ring 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 731 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 735 Forbore, then these to her Satan return'd. So strange thy outery, 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 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 against Heav'n's King, All on a sudden miserable pain
Surpris'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, 755 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 enamor'd, and such joy thou took'st 765 With me in secret, that my womb conceiv'd A growing burden. Mean while 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 empyréan: down they fell Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heav'n, down Into this deep, and in the general fall
I also; at which time this powerful key
Into my hand was given, with charge to keep 773 These gates for ever shut, which none can pass Without any ope'ning. 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 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, 791 Me overtook his mother all dismay'd,
And in embraces forcible and foul Ingendring with me, of that rape begot
These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry 795 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 800 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 810 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 815 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 unforeseen, unthought of; know 821 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 spi'rits that in our just pretences arm'd 825 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 831 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 836 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 841 Wing silently the buxom air, imbalm'd
With odors; there ye shall be fed and fill'd Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey. He ceas'd, for both scem'd highly pleas'd, and
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