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 averfe, thee chiefly, who full oft Thyfelf in me thy perfect image viewing, Becam'ft enamour'd, and fuch joy thou took't With me in fecret, that my womb conceiv'd A growing burden. Mean while war arofe, And fields were fought in heav'n; wherein remain'd (For what could elfe?) to our almighty foe Clear victory, to our part lofs and rout, Through all the empyrean: down they fell Driv'n headlong from the pitch of heav'n, down Into this deep; and in the gen'ral fall
I alfo; at which time this pow'rful key
Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep Thefe gates for ever fhut, which none can pass
Without my op'ning. 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 laft this odious offspring whom thou seest, Thine own begotten, breaking violent way Tore thro' my intrails, that with fear and pain. Distorted, all my nether fhape thus grew Transform'd: but he my inbred enemy: Forth iffu'd, brandishing his fatal dart,
Made to deftroy: 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 purfu'd, (tho' 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
lagend'ring with me, of that rape begot FA
Thefe yelling monsters, that with ceafelefs cry 795 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 800 Afrefh, with confcious terrors vex me round, That reft or intermiffion none I find. Before mine eyes in oppofition 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 fhall 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,
Tho' temper'd heav'nly; for that mortal dint, Save he who reigns above, none can resist.
She finish'd; and the fubtle fiend his lore Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus anfwer'd fmooth.
Dear daughter, fince thou claim'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, thro' dire change Befall'n us, unforefeen, unthought of; know I come no enemy, but to fet free
From out this dark and difmal houfe 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 My felf expofe, with lonely fteps to tread
Th' unfounded deep, and thro' 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 parlieus of heav'n, and therein plac'd A race of upstart creatures. to supply
Perhaps our vacant room, tho' more remov'd, 835 Lést heav'n surcharg'd with potent multitude Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or ought Than this more fecret, now defign'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 eafe, and up and down unfeen Wing filently the buxom air,' imbalm'd
With odours; there ye shall be fed and fill'd, Immeasurably, all things fhall be your prey.
He ceas'd, for both feem'd highly pleas'd, and Death
Grinn'd horrible'a ghastfy'smile; to hear
His famine fhould be fill'd, and blefs'd his maw
Deftin'd to that good hour: no lefs rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus befpake her fire. The key of this infernal pit by due,
And by command of heav'n's all-pow'rful King,
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock 2.
Thefe adamantine gates; against all force
Death ready flands to interpofe 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 hateful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of heav'n, and heav'nly born,
Here in perpetual agony and pain,
With terrors and with clamours compafs'd round Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed?
My being gav'it me; whom fhould 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, fhe took; And tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train, Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,
Which, but herself, not all the Stygian pow'rs 875 Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns Th' intricate wards, and ev'ry 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 fhut Excell'd her pow'r; the gates wide open flood, That with extended wings a banner'd hoft, Under fpread enfigns marching, might pafs thro' With horfe and chariots rank'd in loofe array; So wide they flood, 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 height, And time, and place, are loft; where eldeft Night. And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noife
Of endless wars, and by confufion ftand.
For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce, Strive here for maft'ry, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their several clans, Light-arm'd or heavy, fharp, fmooth, fwift, or flow, Swarm populous, unnumber'd as the fands Gf Barca or Cyrene's torrid foil,
Levy'd to fide with warring winds, and poife
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere, He rules a moment: Chaos umpire fits, And by decifion more embroils the fray
next him high arbiter
Into this wild abyfs,
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 must 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 ear lefs peal'd 920 With noifes loud and ruinous, (to compare
Great things with fmall), than when Bellona ftorms, With all her batt'ring engines bent to raze
Some capital city'; or lefs than if this frame Of heav'n were falling, and thefe elements In mutiny had from her axle torn
The ftedfaft earth. At laft his fail-broad vans He fpreads for flight, and in the furging smoke Uplifted fpurns the ground; thence many a league, As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides.
Audacious; but that feat foon failing, meets
A valt vacuity: all unawares
Flutt'ring his pennons vain, plumb down he drops Ten thousand fathoms deep, and to this hour
« ForrigeFortsæt » |