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(Thy felf in me thy perfect image viewing)
Becam'it inamor'd, and fuch joy thou took't 765
With me in fecret, that my womb conceiv'd
A growing burthen. Mean while war arose,
And fields were fought in heav'n; wherein remain'd
(For what could elfe?) to our Almighty foe
Clear victory; to our part lofs, and rout,
Through all the empyrean; 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 pow'rful key

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Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep 775
Thefe gates for ever fhut, which none can pafs
Without my op'ning. Penfive here I fat
Alone, but long I fat not, till my womb
Pregnant by thee, and now exceffive grown,
Prodigious motion felt, and rueful throes!
At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,
Thine own begotten, breaking violent way
Tore through my intrails; that with fear, and pain
Distorted, all my nether shape thus drew
Transform'd. But he, my inbred enemy
Forth-iffu'd, brandishing his fatal dart,

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Made to destroy: I fled, and cry'd out DEATH!
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and figh'd
From all her caves, and back refounded, DEATH!
I fled, but he purfu'd (though more, it feems, 790
Inflam'd with luft than rage) and, swifter far!
Me overtook his mother, all difmay'd:

And in embraces forcible, and foul,
Ingendring with me, of that rape begot

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Thefe yelling monfters; that with ceafelefs cry 795
Surround me, as thou faw'ft; hourly conceiv'd,
And hourly born, with forrow infinite

To me! For, when they lift, into the womb

That

That bred them they return; and howl, and gnaw

My bowels, their repaft: then bursting forth,

Afresh with confcious terrors vex me round,
That reft, or intermiffion none I find.
Before mine eyes in oppofition fits

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Grim DEATH, my fon and foe; who fets them on,
And me his parent would full foon devour
For want of other prey, but that he knows
His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morfel, and his bane,
Whenever that fhall be; fo Fate pronounc'd.
But thou, O father! I forewarn thee, fhun
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 refift!

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SHE finish'd, and the fubtle fiend his lore Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus anfwer'd fmooth.

DEAR daughter! fince thou claim'ft me for thy fire, And my fair fon here show'ft me (the dear pledge Of dalliance had with thee in heav'n, and joys Then sweet, now fad to mention, thro' dire change Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of!) know I come no enemy, but to fet free

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From out this dark and difmal house of pain,
Both him, and thee, and all the heav'nly hoft
Of fpirits that, in our juft pretenfes arm'd,
Fell with us from on high: from them I go
This uncouth errand fole; and one for all
My felf expofe, with lonely fteps to tread
Th' unfounded Deep, and through the void immense
To fearch with wandring queft a place foretold 830
Should be, and, by concurring figns, ere-now

Created,

Created, vast and round; a place of blifs
In the pourlieus of heav'n, and therein plac'd
A race of upftart creatures, to fupply

Perhaps our vacant room; though more remov'd,
Left heav'n, furcharg'd with potent multitude, 836
Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or ought
Than this more fecret, now defign'd, I hafte

:

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To know and this once known, fhall foon return,
And bring ye to the place where thou, and DEATH,
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen
Wing filently the buxom air, imbalm'd
With odors: there ye fhall be fed, and fill'd
Immeafurably, all things fhall be your prey.

HE ceas'd, for both feem'd highly pleas'd, and DEATH Grinn'd horrible a ghaftly fmile, to hear

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His famine fhould be fill'd; and bleft his maw

Deftin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus befpake her fire:

THE key of this infernal pit by due,
And by command of heav'n's all-pow'rful King,

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I keep; by him forbidden to unlock

These adamantine gates; against all force

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DEATH ready ftands to interpofe his dart,
Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living wight.
But what owe I to his commands above
Who hates me, and bath hither thruft me down
Into this gloom of TARTARUS profound,
To fit in hateful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of heav'n, and heav'nly-born,
Here in perpetual agony, and pain,

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With terrors, and with clamours compafs'd round, Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed? Thou art my father, thou my author, thou

My

My being gav't me; whom should I obey
But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me foon
To that new world of light and blifs, among
The Gods who live at ease, where I fhall reign
At thy right hand voluptuous, as befeems
Thy daughter, and thy darling, without end.

THUS faying, from her fide the fatal key,
Sad inftrument of all our woe! fhe took ;
And tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew;

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Which but herself, not all the STYGIAN Pow'rs 875 Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar

Of maffy iron, or folid rock, with cafe

Unfaftens on a fudden open fly,

With impetuous recoil, and jarring found,

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Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate

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Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom fhook
Of EREBUS She open'd, but to shut
Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open ftood,
That with extended wings a banner'd hoft,
Under fpread enfigns marching, might pafs through
With horfe, and chariots, rank'd in loose array,
So wide they stood! and, like a furnace mouth,
Caft forth redounding finoke, and ruddy flame.
Before their eyes in fudden view appear

The fecrets of the hoary Deep; a dark
Illimitable ocean! without bound,

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Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place are loft; where eldeft NIGHT And CHAOS, ancestors of nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidft the noife

Of endless wars, and by confufion stand:

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For, hot, cold, moift, and dry, four champions fierce,

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Strive here for mast'ry, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their fev'ral clans,
Light-arm'd, or heavy, fharp, fmooth, fwift, or flow,
Swarm populous, un-number'd as the fands
Of BARCA, or CYRENE's torrid foil,
Levy'd to fide with warring winds, and poife
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,
He rules a moment: CHAOS umpire fits,
And by decifion more embroils the fray,

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By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
CHANCE governs all. Into this wild Abyfs, 910
(The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave)
Of neither fea, nor fhoar, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd
Confus'dly, and which thus muft ever fight,
(Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds)
Into this wild abyss the wary fiend
Stood on the brink of hell, and look'd a-while,
Pond'ring his voyage; (for no narrow frith
He had to cross): nor was his ear lefs peal'd
With noifes loud, and ruinous, (to compare
Great things with small) than when BELLONA ftorms,
With all her battering engines bent to rafe
Some capital city; or less than if this frame
Of heav'n were falling, and these elements
In mutiny bad from her axle torn

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The ftedfaft earth. At laft his fail-broad vans
He spreads for flight, and in the furging fmoke
Up-lifted fpurns the ground: thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides

Audacious; but that feat foon failing, meets

A vaft vacuity; all unawares

Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops

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Ten

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