I alfo; at which time this pow'rful key
Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep
These gates
for ever fhut, which none can pass
Without my opening. 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 feeft
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 iffued, 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 pursued, (though more, it seems,
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 monsters, that with ceafelefs cry
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 foc, 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 refist.
44 She finish'd, and the fubtle Fiend his lore
Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus anfwer'd smooth.
Dear Daughter, fince thou clam'ft me for thy fire,
And my fair fon here fhow'ft me, the dear pledge
Of dalliance had with thee in Heav'n, and joys
Then fweet, 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 host
Of Spirits, 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
Myfelf expofe, 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 bliss
In the pourlieus of Heav'n, and therein plac'd
A race of upstart 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 secret now design'd, I haste
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 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 fmile, to hear
His famin 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,
Who hates me, and hath hither thrust 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 clamors compass'd round
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou
My being gav'ft 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 eafe, where I shall 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, she took ;
And towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge porteullis high up drew,
Which but herself not all the Stygian Powers
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns.
Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar
Of maffy ir'on or folid rock with ease
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 shook
Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut
Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open food,
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 smoke and ruddy flame.
Before their
eyes in fudden view appear
The fecrets of the hoary deep, a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound,
Without dimenfion, where length, breadth, and highth,
And time, and place are loft; where eldeft Night
And Chaos, ancestors of nature, hold
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise
Of endless wars, and by confufion ftand.
For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for maft'ry, and to battel bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their feveral clans,
Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, fimooth, fwift or flow,
Swarm populous, un-number'd as the fands
Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid foil,
Levied to fide with warring winds, and poife
Their lighter wings. To whom thefe most adhere,
He rules a moment; Chaos umpire fits,
And by decifion more embroils the fray
By which he reigns:
Chance governs all.
The womb of nature and perhaps her grave,
Of neither fea, nor fhore, 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 abyfs 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 crofs. Nor was his car lefs peal'd
With noifes loud and ruinous (to compare
Great things with fmall) than when Bellona ftorms,.
With all her battering engins bent, to rafe
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