In this infernal vale first met, thou call'st
Me father, and that phantasm calllit my fona
I know thee not, nor ever faw till nowso a
Sight more detestable than him, and thee me 745
T' whom thus the portress of hell-gate reply'd:
Hast thou forgot me then, and dos feem of sin
Now in thine eye fo foul? once deem'd so fair
In Heav'n', when at th' affembly, and in fight w
Of all the Seraphim, with thee combin'de 750
In bold confpiracy against Heav'n's King,
All on a sudden miferable pain ...
Surpriz'd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and faft
Threw forth, till on the left side op'ning 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 seiz'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,
Thy felf in me thy perfect image viewing,
Becam'st inamour'd, and fuch joy thou took'ft
With me in fecret, that my womb conceiv'd
A growing burthen. Meanwhile war arose,
And fields were fought in Heav'n; wherein remain'd,
For what could else, to our almighty foe
Clear victory; to our part lofs and rout,
Through all the empyréani down they fell
Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down
Into this deep; and in the gen'ral fall
I also: at which time this powerful key is it il 10 Into my hand was giv'ty, with charge to keepw 475 These gates for eved thumbmwhich none can pafs
Without my op'ninguna Benfivarhere I fac
Alone, but long 1 far notiwiHomewomb 19
Pregnant by thee, and now excefive grown,
Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes: 780
At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,....
Thine own begotten, breaking violent ways
Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain
Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew uo
Transform'd: but he my inbred enemy
Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,mus
Made to destroy: I fled, and cry'd out Deathh
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and figh'd..
From all her caves, and back refounded, Death!
I fled, but he pursued, though more, it seems, 790
Inflam'd with lust than rage, and swifter far,
Me overtook his mother, all disinay'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 faw'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 gnawi
My bowels, their repaft; then bursting forth
Afresh with confcious terrors vex me rounde
That reft or intermiffion none I find.com w
Before mine eyes in opposition fits
Grim Death my fon and foe; who sets 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 Lety
Should prove a bitter morfel, and his bane
Whenever that shall be; fo Fate pronounced
But thou, O father! I forewarn thee, shund 810
His deadly arrow, neither vainly opera
To be invuln'rable in those bright arms,
D
Though temper'd heav'nly; for that mortal dint,
Save he who reigns above, none can refitt.
She finifh'd, and the fubtle Fiend his lore 0815. Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth.
Dear daughter, since thou claim'st 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 Theen sweet, now fad to mention, thro' dire change 820 Befall'n us unforeseen, unthought of; know
I come no enemy, but to fet free
From out this dark and difinal house of pain
Both him and thee, and all the heav'nly hoft
Of fpirits 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 quest a place foretold
Should be, and, by concurring figns, ere now
Created vaft and round, a place of blifs
In the pourlieus of Heav'n, and therein plac'd
A race of upitart 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 fecret now design'd, I haste
To know, and this once known, shall foon return,
And bring ye to the place where Thou and Death 840
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen
Wing filently the buxom air, imbalm'd
With odors: there ye shall be fed, and fill'd
Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.
He ceas'd, for both feem'd highly pleas'd, and Death
Grinn'd horrible a ghaftly smile, to hear
His famine should be filld, and blest his maw
Destin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus bespake her fire:
The key of this infernal pit by due,
And by command of Heav'n'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 commands above
Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To fit in hareful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of Heav'n, and heav'nly-born,
Here in perpetual agony and pain,
With terrors and with clamors compass'd round
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
My being gav'st 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 shall reign
At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems
Thy daughter and thy darling, without end.
Thus faying, from her fide the fatal key,
Sad inftrument of all our woe! she took;
And towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge Portcullis high up-drew;
Which but her felf, not all the Stygian Pow'rs
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 eafe
Unfastens: on a sudden 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 stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd hoft,
Under spread ensings marching, might pass through
With horfe and chariots rank'd in loose array;
So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth
Caft forth redounding smoke 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 lenght, breadth, and height,
And time, and place are loft; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, holde
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noife
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand....
For hot, coldy moift, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mast'ry, and to battel bringsdo
Their embryon atoms; they around the flaggód
Of each his faction, in their sev'ral clans,ooo
Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, fwift or flow,
Swarm populous, un-number'd as the fands
Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid foils Are
Levied to fide with warring winds, and poise
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere,
He rules a moment; Chaos umpire fits,
And by decision more embroils the fray
By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
Chance governs all. Into this wild abyss,
The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave,
Of neither fea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixdow Lor
Confus'dly, and which thus must everfighted
Into this wild abyss the wary Fiend molls
Unless th' almighty Maker them ordainholt swimsутрои His dark materials to create more worlds
Stood on the brink of Hell, and look'danwhile,
Pond'ring his voyage; for no narrowfrith wow A
He had to cross: nor was his eat less pealdus
With noises loud and ruinous, to compareto aldimale
Great things with small, than when Bellona storms
With all her batt'ring engins bent toasei won asbro 10
Some capital city; oroless than if this frame τις πωςπιο).
Of Heav'n were falling, and these elements
In mutiny had from her axle torn new to or th
The stedfast earth. At last his fail-broad barns
He spreads for flight, and in the furging smoke
Uplifted spurns the ground: thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides
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