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 replied:
'Art thou that traitor angel, art thou he,

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
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

695

700

Thy ling'ring, or with one stroke of this dart

Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before.'
So spake the grisly terror, and in shape,

So speaking and so threat'ning, grew tenfold

705

More dreadful and deform. On th' other side,

Incens'd with indignation, Satan stood
Unterrified, and like a comet burn'd,
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war.

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
For never but once more was either like

To meet so great a foe: and now great deeds
Had been achiev'd, whereof all hell had rung,
Had not the snaky sorceress, that sat

Fast by hell-gate, and kept the fatal key,
Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between.
'O father, what intends thy hand', she cried,
'Against thy only son? What fury, O son,
Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart

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;
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 phantasm call'st my son:
I know thee not, nor ever saw till now
Sight more detestable than him and thee."

735

740

745

T' whom thus the portress of hell-gate replied:
'Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem
Now in thine eye so foul? once deem'd so fair
In heav'n, when at th' assembly, and in sight
Of all the Seraphim with thee combin'd
In bold conspiracy against heav'n's King,
All on a sudden miserable pain

750

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 count'nance bright,
Then shining heav'nly fair, a goddess arm'd,
Out of thy head I sprung; amazement seiz'd
All th' host of heav'n; 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. Meanwhile war arose,

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,
Prodigious motion felt, and rueful throes.
At last this odious offspring whom thou seest,

780

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 cried out Death!
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd
From all her caves, and back resounded, Death!

785

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,
And in embraces forcible and foul
Ingend'ring with me, of that rape begot

These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry
Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceiv'd
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite

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,
That rest or intermission none I find.

Before mine eyes in opposition sits

Grim Death, my son and foe; who sets them on,
And me his parent would full soon devour
For want of other prey, but that he knows

805

810

His end with mine involv'd; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
Whenever that shall be; so fate pronounc'd.
But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, shun
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 resist.'
She finish'd; and the subtle fiend his lore
Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth:
'Dear daughter, since thou claim'st me for thy sire,
And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge
Of dalliance had with thee in heav'n, and joys
Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change 820
Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of; know,

I come no enemy, but to set 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 sole; and one for all
Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

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
A race of upstart creatures, to supply
Perhaps our vacant room: though more remov'd
Lest heav'n, 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 odours; there ye shall be fed and fill'a
Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey.'

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
Destin'd to that good hour: no less rejoic'd
His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire:
The key of this infernal pit by due,

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
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 woe, she took;
And, towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew,

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
The secrets of the hoary deep; a dark
Iflimitable ocean, without bound,

Without dimension, where length, breadth, and highth,
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, moist, and dry, four champions fierce,
Strive here for mast'ry, and to battle bring

895

Their embryon atoms; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their several clans,

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,
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 th' Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds;
Into this wild abyss the wary fiend

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
In mutiny had from her axle torn

925

The stedfast earth. At last his il-broad vans

He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke
Uplifted spurns the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides
Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets
A vast vacuity: all unawares

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,
Quench'd in a boggy syrtis, neither sea,

Nor good dry land: nigh founder'd on he fares,
Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,
Half flying; behoves him now both oar and sail.
As when a gryphon through the wilderness
With winged course o'er hill or moory dale,
Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd

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
With loudest vehemence; thither he plies,