And with disdainful look thus first began: 'Whence, and what art thou, execrable shape, That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, 680 685 Who first broke peace in heav'n, and faith, till then 690 Unbroken; and in proud rebellious arms, Drew after him the third part of heav'n's sons Conjur'd against the Highest; for which both thou 695 700 Thy ling'ring, or with one stroke of this dart Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before.' So speaking and so threat'ning, grew tenfold 705 More dreadful and deform. On th' other side, Incens'd with indignation, Satan stood 710 Each at the head Levell'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 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; so match'd they stood; 720 To meet so great a foe: and now great deeds Fast by hell-gate, and kept the fatal key, 725 Against thy father's head? and know'st for whom; 730 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; She spake, and at her words the hellish pest Forbore; then these to her Satan return'd: 'So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange What thing thou art, thus double-form'd, and why, Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son: 735 740 745 T' whom thus the portress of hell-gate replied: 750 Surpris'd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast 755 760 765 And fields were fought in heav'n; wherein remain'd (For what could else?) to our Almighty Foe Clear victory; to our part loss and rout, 770 Through all the empyréan: 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 this pow'rful key Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep 775 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, 780 Thine own begotten, breaking violent way, Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain 785 I fled: but he pursued (though more, it seems, These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry 790 795 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 800 Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round, Before mine eyes in opposition sits Grim Death, my son and foe; who sets them on, 805 810 His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I I come no enemy, but to set free From out this dark and dismal house of pain 815 825 Th' unfounded deep, and through the void immense To search with wand'ring 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 heav'n, and therein plac'd To know; and, this once known, shall soon return, 835 840 He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd, and Death Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear His famine should be fill'd; and blest his maw 850 And by command of heav'n's all-pow'rful 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. 855 But what owe I to his commands above Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down 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 865 But thee? whom follow? thou wilt bring me soon 870 Which, but herself, not all the Stygian powers 875 Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns Th' intricate wards, and every bolt and bar Of massy iron or solid rock with ease Unfastens. On a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound 880 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 stood, That with extended wings a banner'd host, 885 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. 890 Before their eyes in sudden view appear Without dimension, where length, breadth, and highth, Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce, 895 Their embryon atoms; they around the flag 900 Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow, Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the sands Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil, Levied to side with warring winds, and poise 905 Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere, He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits, 910 915 Stood on the brink of hell, and look'd a while, Pond'ring his voyage; for no narrow frith He had to cross. Nor was his ear less peal'd 920 With noises loud and ruinous (to compare Great things with small), than when Bellona storms, With all her battering engines bent to rase Some capital city; or less than if this frame Of heav'n were falling, and these elements 925 The stedfast earth. At last his il-broad vans He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke 930 Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops Ten thousand fathom deep; and to this hour Down had been falling, had not by ill chance 935 The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud, Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him As many miles aloft: that fury staid, Nor good dry land: nigh founder'd on he fares, 940 945 The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend O'er bog, or steep, through straight, rough, dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies: 950 At length, a universal hubbub wild Of stunning sounds, and voices all confus'd, Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his car |