(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
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,
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
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 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
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!
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
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, 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
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
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,
I keep; by him forbidden to unlock
These adamantine gates; against all force
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,
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 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;
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,
Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
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,
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:
For, hot, cold, moift, and dry, four champions fierce,
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,
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
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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