More dreadful and deform. On the other gide, 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 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 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 Hellgate replied Hast thou forgot me then and do I seem Now in thine eye so foul? once deen'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
Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swam fr darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast Threw forth; till, on the left side opening wide, 755 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,
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
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 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 reest
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, andishing 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! 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
These yelling monsters that with ceaseless cry Surround me, as thou saw'st: hourly conceived 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 involved; and knows that I Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane, Whenever that shall be; so Fate pronounced. But thou, O Father! I forewarn thee, shun His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope To be invulnerable in those bright arms, 'Ihough temper'd heavenly; for that mortal dint, Save he who reigns above, none can resist.
She finish'd; and the subtle Fiend s 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
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
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,
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 is commands above
Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To sit in hateful office here confined,
Inhabitant of Heaven, and heavenly born, Here in perpetual agony and pain,
With terrors and with clamo urs compass'd round
Of mine own brood, that on iny bowels feed?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou My being gavest me; whom should I ober But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me soon To that new world of light and bliss, among The gods who live at case, 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 woe, she took ; And, toward the gate rolling her bestial train, Forthwith the huge portcullis high updrew, Which but herself, not all the Stygian Powers
Could once have moved; then in the keyhole turns
The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of massy iron or solid rock with case Unfastens: On a sudden open fly
With impetuous recoil and jaring sound
The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut
Excell'd her power; the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd host,
Under spread ensigns, marching, might pass through With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array:
So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame. Before their eyes in sudden view appear The secrets of the hoary deep; a dark Illimitable ocean, without bound,
Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place are lost; where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
« PreviousContinue » |