Both him and thee, and all the heavenly host

Of Spirits, that in our just pretences arm'd
Fell with us from on high.

«From them I go

This uncouth errand sole; and one for all
Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

The unfounded deep, and through the void immense
To search with wandering quest a place foretold
Should be, and by concurring signs, ere now
Created, vast and round, a place of bliss
In the purlieus of Heaven, and therein plac'd
A race of upstart creatures, to supply
Perhaps our vacant room; though more remov'd,
Lest Heaven, surcharg'd with potent multitude,
Might hap to move new broils. Be this or aught
Than this more secret now design'd, I haste
To know; and, this once known, shall soon return,
And bring ye to the place where thou and Death
Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen
Wing silently 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 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,
Destin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd

His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire:

The hey of this infernal pit by due,
And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King,
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock
These adamantine gates; against all force

Death ready stands to interpose his dart,

Lui e te, con tutte le celesti squadre
De' spirti che pei nostri dritti armati

Con noi tomar dall' alto.

Ignaro e solo

Men vado esplorator, e sol per tutti
Espongo me a calcar con passi incerti
L'abisso interminato, e per l'immenso
Vuoto a cercar vagando un già predetto
Loco e a concordi segni omai creato,
Vasto e rotondo, un loco di delizie
Presso i lembi del ciel, e qui locata
Vile e aggrandita stirpe i nostri forse
Vuotati seggi a empir, benchè or lontana,
Che non il ciel di troppe genti onusto
Mova novei tumulti. O questo od altro
Consiglio più segreto ei volga, io volo
Colà, e trovato appena tosto riedo,
Voi guido là a quel loco ove tu e morte
Liete abitar di su di giù non viste
Scorrendo l'aer dolce e soaveolente
Di odori; qui fia pasto e sazio appieno
Vostro desio, fia il tutto preda vostra. »

Disse, ed assai gioiro entrambi, e morte
Ringhiando orrenda e scarna rise a udire
Che fame sua fia queta, e queto il ventre
A tanto or ben serbato; ancor ne rise
Sua madre rea, che si parlò a suo padre:

L'infernal chiave a dritto e per comando

Del re de' cieli onnipossente io serbo,
Con suo divieto di mai schiuder queste
Adamantine porte; è presta morte
Contro ogni forza a trar suo telo audące

18

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 sit in hateful office here confin'd,
Inhabitant of Heaven, and heavenly-born,
Here in perpetual agony and pain,

With terrors and with clamour 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 soon
To that new world of light and bliss, 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 saying, from her side the fatal key,
Sad instrument of all our woc, she took ;
And, towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,
Which but herself, not all the Stygian powers
Could once have mov'd; then in the key-hole turns
The 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
The 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 power; the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a banner'd host,

Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through

E non domabil mai da viva possa.

Ma che io mi debba al comandar di lui,
Di lui che m'odia e m' ha qui giù cacciato
In quest' orror di tartaro profondo
A star qui astretta in odiato incarco,
Cittadina io del ciel, celeste io figlia,
Qui in sempiterne angosce e pene, cinta
Da terrori qui intorno e da clamori
Di prole mia che i visceri mici pașce?
Tu se' mio padre, tu mio autore e tu
Vita mi desti; e chi obbedir degg' io

Se non te? Chi seguir? Tu al nuovo mondo
M'addurrai tosto lucido e felice

Tra numi fortunati ove io beata,

Qual si conviene a figlia tua ed amante,
Alla tua destra regnerommi eterno. »
Dicea e dal fianco la fatale chiave
Tolse, triste cagion de' nostri guai;
E la bestial sua coda inver la porta
Svolgendo, senza sforzo alzò repente
La gran saracinesca, cui le posse
Tutte di Stige non avrian mai smossa;
La chiave gira poi per vie intricate,
E chiovi e barre di massiccio ferro

O salda pietra facil solve. Subito

Si spalancaro e rincular con impeto

Le porte cigolando, e dier sui cardini

Ferrei aspro tuon, che d' Erebo il più cupo
Fondo scoté. Ella aprì, ma riserrarle
Mai non potrà; stan elle aperte e vaste
Si che oste ponno accôr che ad ali stese
Di fronte marci sotto sparte insegne

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.
Before their eyes in sudden view appear
The secrets of the hoary deep; a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound,

Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height,
And time, and place are lost; where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise

Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.

For hot, cold, meist, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring

Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their several clans,
Light-arm'd or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow,
Swarm populous, un-number'd as the sands
Of Barca or Cyrene's torrid soil,

Levied to side with warring winds, and poise
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere
He rules a moment: Chaos umpire sits,
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 sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mix'd
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds.

Into this wild abyss the wary Fiend

Stood on the brink of Hell, and look'd awhile,