Admir'd, not fear'd; God and his Son except, Created thing nought valued he nor shunn'd; 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, That be assur'd, without leave ask'd of thee : Retire, or taste 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 Heaven's sons Conjúr'd against the Highest, for which both thou And they outcast from God, are here condemn'd To waste eternal days in woe and pain? 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? back to thy punishment, False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings,
Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue
Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart Strange horror seise thee,' and pangs unfelt before. So spake the grisly terror, and in shape, So speaking and so threatening, grew ten-fold More dreadful and deform: on the other side, Incens'd with indignation Satan stood Unterrify'd, and like a comet burn'd, That fires the length of Ophiucus huge In the Arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head Levell❜d his deadly aim; their fatal hands No second stroke intend, and such a frown Each cast at the other, as when two black clouds With Heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on 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 atchiev'd, 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 cry'd, 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 outcry, 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 fantasm 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 hell-gate reply'd :
Hast thou forgot me then? and do I seem Now in thine eye so foul? once deem'd so fair In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight Of all the Seraphim with thee combin'd
In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King,
All on a sudden miserable pain
Surpris'd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast Threw forth, till on the left side opening wide, Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright, Then shining heavenly fair, a goddess arm'd, Out of thy head I sprung: amazement seiz'd 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 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 such joy thou took'st With me in secret, that my womb conceiv'd A growing burden. Mean while 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 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 issued, brandishing his fatal dart
Made to destroy: I fled, and cry'd out Death; Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd From all her caves, and back resounded Death. I fled, but he pursued (though more, it seems, Inflam'd with lust than rage) and swifter far, Me overtook his mother all dismay'd,
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