第18章 17
She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest [ 735 ]
Forbore, then these to her Satan returnd:
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, [ 740 ]
What thing thou art, thus double-formd, and why
In this infernal Vaile first met thou callst
Me Father, and that Fantasm callst my Son?
I know thee not, nor ever saw till now
Sight more detestable then him and thee. [ 745 ]
T whom thus the Portress of Hell Gate replyd;
Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem
Now in thine eye so foul, once deemd so fair
In Heavn, when at th Assembly, and in sight
Of all the Seraphim with thee combind [ 750 ]
In bold conspiracy against Heavns King,
All on a sudden miserable pain
Surprisd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzie swumm
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
Threw forth, till on the left side opning wide, [ 755 ]
Likest to thee in shape and countnance bright,
Then shining Heavnly fair, a Goddess armd
Out of thy head I sprung; amazement seisd
All th Host of Heavn back they recoild affraid
At first, and calld me Sin, and for a Sign [ 760 ]
Portentous held me; but familiar grown,
I pleasd, and with attractive graces won
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft
Thy self in me thy perfect image viewing
Becamst enamourd, and such joy thou tookst [ 765 ]
With me in secret, that my womb conceivd
A growing burden. Mean while Warr arose,
And fields were fought in Heavn; wherein remaind
(For what could else) to our Almighty Foe
Cleer Victory, to our part loss and rout [ 770 ]
Through all the Empyrean: down they fell
Drivn 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 givn, with charge to keep [ 755 ]
These Gates for ever shut, which none can pass
Without my opning. 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. [ 780 ]
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
Transformd: but he my inbred enemie [ 785 ]
Forth issud, brandishing his fatal Dart
Made to destroy: I fled, and cryd out Death;
Hell trembld at the hideous Name, and sighd
From all her Caves, and back resounded Death.
I fled, but he pursud (though more, it seems, [ 790 ]
Inflamd with lust then rage) and swifter far,
Mee overtook his mother all dismaid,
And in embraces forcible and foule
Ingendring with me, of that rape begot
These yelling Monsters that with ceasless cry [ 795 ]
Surround me, as thou sawst, hourly conceivd
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite
To me, for when they list into the womb
That bred them they return, and howle and gnaw
My Bowels, thir repast; then bursting forth [ 800 ]
A fresh with conscious terrours vex me round,
That rest or intermission none I find.