780 "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 785"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!' 790 "I fled; but he pursu'd, (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, "Engendering with me, of that rape begot 795"These yelling monsters, that, with ceaseless cry, "Surround me, as thou saw'st; hourly conceiv'd, "And hourly born, with sorrow infinite 800 805 "To me; for, when they list, into the womb "That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw 66 My bowels, their repast; then, bursting forth 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 "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. 810"But thou, O father! I forewarn thee, shun "His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope "To be invulnerable in those bright arms, "Though temper'd heavenly; for that mortal dint, "Save He who reigns above, none can resist." 815 She finish'd; and the subtle fiend his lore "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 heaven, and joys 820"Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change "Befall'n us, unforeseen, unthought of; know, "I come no enemy, but to set free 825 830 835 840 845 850 "From out this dark and dismal house of pain Perhaps our vacant room; though more removed, "To know; and, this once known, shall soon return, Wing silently the buxom air embalm'd "With odours: there ye shall be fed and fill'd He ceas'd, for both seem'd highly pleas'd; and Death His famine should be fill'd; and bless'd his maw "And by command of heaven's all-powerful King, "These adamantine gates; against all force E "Death ready stands to interpose his dart, 855 "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 "To sit in hateful office here confin'd, "With terrors and with clamours compass'd round "Of mine own brood that on my bowels feed? "Thou art my father-thou my author-thou 865 "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 870 "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, 875 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, 880 With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Excell'd her power: the gates wide open stood, 890 Illimitable ocean, without bound, Without dimension; where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night 895 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 mastery, and to battle bring 900 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, (unnumber'd as the sands Of Barca, or Cyrene's torrid soil, 905 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: 910 Chance governs all. all. next him high arbiter Into this wild abyss, Stood on the brink of hell, and look'd a while, 920 He had to cross. Nor was his ear less peal'd The steadfast earth. At last his sail-broad vans 930 As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides Audacious; but, that seat soon failing, meets Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb down he drops 940 Nor good dry land; nigh founder'd on he fares, The guarded gold: so eagerly the fiend O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, Of stunning sounds, and voices all confus'd, 955 Undaunted, to meet there whatever power Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask 960 Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread Wide on the wasteful deep! With him enthron'd And Discord with a thousand various mouths! |