Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb;

Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd,
For each seem'd either; black it stood as Night, 670
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,

And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head
The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

Satan was now at hand, and from his seat
The monster moving onward came as fast
With horrid strides; Hell trembled as he strode.
The undaunted Fiend what this might be admired;
Admired, not fear'd; God and his Son except,
Created thing nought valued he, nor shunn'd;
And with disdainful look thus first began:

675

680

685

691

Whence and what art thou, execrable shape! That darest, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way. To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, That be assured, without leave ask'd of thee: Retire or taste thy folly; and learn by proof, Hell-born! not to contend with Spirits of heaven. To whom the Goblin full of wrath replied: Art thou that Traitor-Angel, art thou He Who first broke peace in Heaven, and faith, till then Unbroken; and in proud rebellious arms Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons Conjured against the Highest; for which both thou And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd To waste eternal days in woe and pain? And reckon'st thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven, Hell-doom'd! and breathest 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 lingering; 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 threatening, grew tenfold

695

700

705

More dreadful and deform. On the other side,

710

Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
Unterrified; and like a comet burn'd,
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head
Level'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 Heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on 715
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 achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the snaky Sorceress that sat
Fast by Hell-gate, and kept the fatal key,
Risen, and with hideous outcry rush'd between.
O Father! what intends thy hand, she cried,
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 cxecute
Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids?
His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both!

721

725

731

Sie spake, and at her words the hellish Pest 735 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

740

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.

745

To whom thus the Portress of Hell-gate replied

Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem

Now in thine eye so foul? once deem'd so fair

In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight

Of all the Seraphim with thee combined
In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King,
All on a sudden miserable pain

750

755

Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swam
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
Threw forth; till, on the left side opening wide,
Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright
Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess arm'd,
Out of thy head I sprang; Amazement seized
All the host of Heaven; back they recoil'd afraid
At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a sign
Portentous held me; but, familiar grown,
I pleased, and with attractive graces won
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing
Becamest enamour'd; and such joy thou took'st 765
With me in secret that my womb conceived

A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose,

760

And fields were fought in Heaven; 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

770

Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, 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

770

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.

780

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 cried 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,
Inflamed with lust than rage,) and, swifter far,
Me overtook, his mother, all dismay'd;
And, in embraces forcible and foul
Ingendering with me, of that rape begot

785

790

These yelling monsters that with ceaseless cry
Surround me, as thou saw'st: hourly conceived
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

795

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,

800

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

805

For want of other prey, but that he knows

His end with mine involved; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
Whenever that shall be; so Fate pronounced.
But thou, O Father! 1 forewarn thee, shun
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
To be invulnerable in those bright arms,
Though temper'd heavenly; for that mortal dint,
Save he who reigns above, none can resist.

810

815

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

Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change
Befallen us, unforeseen, 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 heavenly 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

821

825

The unfounded deep, and through the void immense To search with wandering quest a place foretold 830 Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now

Created vast and round, a place of bliss

In the purlieus of Heaven, and therein placed
A race of upstart creatures, to supply

Perhaps our vacant room; though more removed, 835
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 840 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 ceased, for both seem'd highly pleased; and Death Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

846

His famine should be fill'd; and bless'd his maw

Destined to that good hour: No less rejoiced

His mother bad, and thus bespoke her sire
The key of this infernal pit by due,

850

And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King,
I keep; by him forbidden to unlock

These adamantine 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 cominands above

855

Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down