Vex'd Scylla bathing in the fea that parts
Calabria from the hoarfe Trinacrian shore:
Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when call'd
In fecret, riding through the air she comes,
Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland witches, while the lab'ring moon 665
Eclipses at their charms. The other shape,
If fhape it might be call'd that shape had none
Diftinguishable in member, joint, or limb,
Or substance might be call'd that shadow feem'd,
For each feem'd either; black it stood as night 670
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell,
And fhook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head
The likeness of a kingly crown had on.
Satan was now at hand, and from his feat
The monster moving onward came as faft
With horrid ftrides, Hell trembled as he strode.
Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd,
Admir'd, not fear'd; God and his Son except,
Created thing nought valu'd he nor shunn'd;
And with disdainful look thus first began.
Whence and what art thou, execrable shape,
Thar dar'st though grim and terrible advance,
Thy mifcreated front athwart my way
To yonder gates ? through them I mean to pass,
That be affur'd, without leave ask'd of thee:
Retire, or tafte thy folly', and learn by proof,
Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven.
To whom the goblin full of wrath reply'd.
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 Heav'n's fons
Conjur'd against the High'eft, for which both thou
And they, outcafst from God, are here condemn'd
To waste eternal days in woe and pain?
566 And reckon'st thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven,
Hell-doom'd, and breath'st defiance here and scorn
Where I reign king, and to enrage thee more,
Thy king and lord? Beck to thy punishment,
False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings,
65 Left with a whip of scorpions I purfue
Thy lingring, or with one stroke of this dart
Strange horror feize thee', and pangs unfelt before.
So fpake the grifly terror, and in shape,
So speaking and so threatning, grew tenfold
More dreadful and deform; on the other fide
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
Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head
Level'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands
No second stroke intend, and fuch a frown
Each caft at the other, as when two black clouds,
With Heav'n'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, fo match'd they stood;
For never but once more was either like
To meet fo great a foe: and now great deeds
Had been atchiev'd, whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the snaky forceress that fat
Fast by Hell gate, and kept the fatal key,
Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rufh'd between. 725
O Father, what intends thy hand, the cry'd,
Against thy only Son? What Fury', O Son,
Poffeffes thee to bend the mortal dart
Against thy Father's head? and know'st for whom; 730
For him who fits 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 fpake, and at her words the hellish pest 735
Forbore, than these to her Satan return'd.
So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange t
Thou interpofest, that my fudden handso
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 faw till now
Sight more detestable than him and thee.
T' whom the portress of Hell gate reply'd. Haft thou forgot me then, and do I feem Now in thine eye fo foul? once deem'd fo fair In Heav'n, when at th' affembly, and in fight Of all the Seraphim with thee combin'd In bold confpiracy against Heav'n's king, All on a sudden miferable pain Surpris'd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy fwum In darkness, while thy head flames thick and faft 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 feiz'd All the host of Heav'n; back they recoil'd afraid At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a fign 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 enamour'd, and fuch joy thou took'ft 765
With me in fecret, 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 elfe) to our almighty foe
Clear victory, to our part loss and rout
Through all the empyrean: down they fell
Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down
Into this deep, and in the general fall
I also; at which time the pow'rful key
Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep
These gates for ever shut, which none can pass
Without my opening. Pensive here I fat
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 issu'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 resounded Death;
I fled, but he pursu'd (though more, it seems, 790
Inflam'd with lust than rage) and swifter far,
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 forrow 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 confcious terrors vex me round,
That rest or intermission none I find.
Before mine eyes in opposition 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 shall be: fo fate pronounc'd.
But thou, O Father, I forewarn thee, shun
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
To be invulnerable in those bright arms,
Though temper'd heav'nly, for that mortal dint,
Save he that reigns above, none can refift.
She finish'd, and the fubtle Fiend his lore Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth. Dear daughter, since thou clam'st me for thy fire, And my fair fon here show'st me, the dear pledge Of dalliance had with thee in Heav'n, and joys Then sweet, now fad to mention, through dire change Befall'n us unforeseen, unthought of; know I come no enemy, but to fet free
From out this dark and dismal house of pain
Both him and thee, and all the heav'nly hoft
Of Spi'rits, that in our just pretences arm'd
Fell with us from on high: from them I go
This uncouth errand fole, and one for all
Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread
Th' unfounded deep, and through the void immenfe
To fearch with wand'ring queft a place foretold 830
Should be, and, by concurring figns, ere now
Created vast and round, a place of bliss
In the purlieus of Heav'n, and therein plac'd
A race of unstart creatures, to fupply
Perhaps our vacant room, though more remov'd, 835
Left Heav'n furcharg'd with potent multitude
Might hap to move new broils: Be this or ought
Than this more facred now design'd, I hafte
To know, and this once known, shall foon return,
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