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.

T'whom thus the portress of Hell gate reply'd:

Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem
Now in thine eyes so foul? once deem'd so fair
In Heav'n, when at th' assembly, and in sight
Of all the Seraphim with thee combined
In bold conspiracy against Heav'n's King,
All on a sudden miserable pain

745

750

Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum

In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast
Threw forth, till on the left side op'ning 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 seized

755

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 pleased, 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 conceived

760

765

A growing burthen. Meanwhile war arose,

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 empyrean. Down they fell,

Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heav'n, down

Into this deep, and in the general fall

760. For a sign: As a prodigy, or phenomenon.

767. Growing burthen: This symbolizes the increasing atrocity and hideousness of a course of transgression, or its tendency to propagate itself.

772. Pitch: Height.

I also; at which time this powerful key

Into my hand was giv'n, with charge to keep
These gates for ever shut; which none can pass
Without my op'ning. 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

775

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
Transform'd: but he my inbred enemy
Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart,

785

Made to destroy. I fled, and cry'd out DEATH;
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd
From all her caves, and back resounded Death.
I fled, but he pursued (though more, it seems,
Inflamed 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 conceived
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.

787. Death: Death is represented, in the Holy Scriptures, as the product of sin. Rom. v. 12, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death hath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,”

789. An imitation of Virg. Æn. ii. 53.

Insonuere cavæ, gemitumque dedere cavernæ."

H.

795. Yelling monsters: These creatures symbolize the pangs of remorse which torment the sinner, and his fearful apprehensions in prospect of death. See Heb. x. 27.

802. Rest: See Isaiah lviii. 20, 21.

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 involved; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
Whenever that shall be. So Fate pronounced.
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.

805

810

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
Befall'n us unforeseen, unthought of; know

815

820

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

805-7. There is a beautiful circumstance alluded to in these lines-A. 807. His end, &c.: Death lives by sin.

825

809. The heathen poets make Jupiter superior to Fate. Iliad i. 5; Æn. iii. 375; iv. 614. But Milton, with great propriety, makes the fallen angels and Sin here attribute events to Fate, without any mention of the Supreme Being.-N.

813. Dint: Stroke.

817. Dear daughter: Satan had now learned his lore or lesson, and the reader will observe how artfully he changes his language. He had said before (745), that he had never seen sight more detestable; but now it is dear daughter, and my fair son.

824. Both him and thee, &c.: The reader will observe how naturally the three persons concerned in this allegory are tempted by one common interest to enter into a confederacy together, and how properly Sin is made the portress of Hell, and the only being that can open the gates to that world of torture.

Fell with us from on high: from them I
This uncouth errand sole, and one for all
Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread

go

Th' unfounded deep, and through the void immense
To search with wand'ring quest a place foretold
Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now
Created vast and round, a place of bliss

In the purlieus of Heav'n, and therein placed
A race of upstart creatures to supply
Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed,
Lest Heav'n surcharged 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, embalm'd
With odours: there ye shall be fed and fill'd
Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.

830

835

840

He ceased, for both seem'd highly pleased; and Death 845 Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear

His famine should be fill'd, and blest his maw
Destined to that good hour: no less rejoiced

His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire:
The key of this infernal pit by due,

And by command of Heav'n's all-powerful King,
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock

These adamantine gates; against all force
Death ready stands to interpose his dart,

827. Uncouth: Unusual. Sole: Alone.

833. Purlicus: Neighbourhood.

850

840. Bring ye: It was Satan's horrid design to introduce sin and death into our world.

842. Buxom: Yielding, flexible, from a Saxon word, signifying "to bend." The word has this sense in a prose sentence of Milton: "Thinking thereby to make them more tractable and buxom to his government."-N.

850. Due: Right.

854. Death: The penalty of disobeying God.

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 tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train,

870

855. Living might: Except that of God, at whose command Sin and Death were appointed to guard the gates of Hell.

856. Owe I: Sin refuses obedience to God, casts off allegiance to Him.

860. Sin was born in Heaven when Satan committed his first offence (864-5).

866. Whom follow: That is, whom shall I follow? Sin yields obedience to Satan. So every act of human transgression is represented in Scripture as an act of homage to Satan. John viii. 44; Ephes. ii. 1-3.

871. It is one great part of the poet's art, to know when to describe things in general, and when to be very circumstantial and particular. Milton has, in this and the following lines, shown his judgment in this respect. The first opening of the gates of Hell by Sin, is an incident of such importance, that every reader's attention must have been greatly excited, and, consequently, as highly gratified by the minute detail of particulars our author has given us. It may, with justice, be further observed, that in no part of the poem the versification is better accommodated to the sense. The drawing up of the portcullis, the turning of the key, the sudden shooting of the bolts, and the flying open of the doors, are, in some sort, described by the very break and sound of the verse.-T.

872. Sad instrument of all our woe: The escape of Satan to our world was the occasion of human sin and misery.