Though in mysterious terms, judg'd as then best; And on the serpent thus his curse let fall: "Because thou hast done this, thou art accurs'd Above all cattle, each beast of the field; Upon thy belly grov'ling thou shalt go, And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life. Between thee and the woman I will put Enmity, and between thine and her seed; Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel!" So spake this oracle, then verified
When Jesus, son of Mary, second Eve,
Saw Satan fall like lightning down from heaven, Prince of the air; then rising from his grave Spoil'd principalities and powers, triumph'd In open show, and with ascension bright Captivity led captive through the air, The realm itself of Satan long usurp'd, Whom he shall tread at last under our feet; Even he who now foretold his fatal bruise, And to the woman thus his sentence turn'd
"Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply By thy conception; children thou shalt bring In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will Thine shall submit; he over thee shall rule." On Adam last this judgment he pronounc'd: "Because thou' hast hearken'd to the' voice of thy And eaten of the tree, concerning which [wife, I charg'd thee saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof:' Curs'd is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;
Thorns also' and thistles it shall bring thee forth Unbid; and thou shalt eat th' herb of the field, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, Till thou return unto the ground; for thou Out of the ground wast taken; know thy birth, For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return."
So judg'd he man, both Judge and Saviour sent, And th' instant stroke of death, denounc'd, that day Remov'd far off; then pitying how they stood Before him naked to the air, that now Must suffer change, disdain'd not to begin
Thenceforth the form of servant to assume, As when he wash'd his servants' feet; so now As father of his family, he clad
Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain, Or as the snake with youthful coat repaid; And thought not much to clothe his enemies: Nor he their outward only with the skins Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness, Arraying, cover'd from his Father's sight. To him with swift ascent he up return'd, Into his blissful bosom reassum'd In glory as of old; to him appeas'd,
All, though all-knowing, what had pass'd with man Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
Meanwhile, ere thus was sinn'd and judg'd on earth, Within the gates of hell sat Sin and Death, In counterview within the gates, that now Stood open wide, belehing outrageous flame Far into Chaos, since the fiend pass'd through, Sin opening, who thus now to Death began:
"O Son, why sit we here each other viewing Idly, while Satan our great author thrives In other worlds, and happier seat provides For us his offspring dear! It cannot be But that success attends him; if mishap, Ere this he had return'd, with fury driven By his avengers, since no place like this Can fit his punishment or their revenge, Methinks I feel new strength within me rise, Wings growing, and dominion given me large Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on, Or sympathy, or some connatʼral force Powerful at greatest distance to unite With secret amity things of like kind By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade Inseparable, must with me along:
For Death from Sin no power can separate, But lest the difficulty of passing back Stay his return, perhaps, over this gulf Impassible, impervious, let us try
Advent'rous work, yet to thy power and mine Not unagreeable, to found a path
Over this main from hell to that new world Where Satan now prevails, a monument Of merit high to all th' infernal host, Easing their passage hence, for intercourse, Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead. Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn By this new-felt attraction and instinet.” Whom thus the meagre Shadow answer'd soon: "Go whither fate and inclination strong Leads thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err The way, thou leading, such a scent I draw Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste The savour of death from all things there that live: Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest
Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.”
So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, Against the day of battle, to a field,
Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lur'd With scent of living earcasses design'd For death, the following day, in bloody fight: So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd His nostrils wide into the murky air, Sagacious of his quarry from so far.
Then both from out hell-gates into the waste Wide anarchy of Chaos damp and dark
Flew diverse, and with power (their power was great)
Hovering upon the waters, what they met,
Solid or slimy, as in raging sea
Toss'd up and down, together crowded drove
From each side shoaling tow'rds the mouth of hell. As when two polar winds, blowing adverse
Upon the Cronian sea, together drive Mountains of ice, that stop th' imagin'd way Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich Cathaian coast. The aggregated soil Death with bis mace petrific, cold and dry, As with a trident smote, and fix'd as firm
As Delos floating once; the rest his look Bound with Gorgonian rigour not to move; And with asphaltic slime, broad as the gate, Deep to the roots of hell, the gather'd beach They fasten'd, and the mole immense wrought on Over the foaming deep high-arch'd; a bridge Of length prodigious, joining to the wall Immoveable of this now fenceless world Forfeit to death: from bence a passage broad, Smooth, easy, inoffensive, down to hell. So, if great things to small may be compar'd, Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke, From Susa his Memnonian palace high Came to the sea, and over Hellespont Bridging his way, Europe with Asia join'd, And scourg'd with many a stroke th' indignant waves. Now had they brought the work by wondrous art Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock,
Over the vex'd abyss, following the track Of Satan to the self-same place where he First lighted from his wing, and landed safe From out of Chaos, to the outside bare Of this round world; with pins of adamant And chains they made all fast; too fast they made, And durable! And now in little space
The confines met of empyrean heaven
And of this world, and on the left hand, hell With long reach interpos'd; three several ways In sight, to each of these three places led. And now their way to earth they had descried, To Paradise first tending, when behold Satan in likeness of an angel bright
Betwixt the Centaur and the Scorpion, steering His zenith, while the sun in Aries rose: Disguis'd he came, but those his children dear Their parent soon discern'd, though in disguise. He, after Eve seduc'd, unminded slunk Into the wood fast by, and changing shape To' observe the sequel, saw his guileful act By Eve, though all unweeting, seconded Upon her husband; saw their shame that sought
Vain covertures; but when he saw descend The Son of God to judge them, terrified He fled, not hoping to escape, but shun The present; fearing, guilty, what his wrath Might suddenly inflict: that past, return'd By night, and list'ning where the hapless pair Sat in their sad discourse, and various plaint, Thence gather'd his own doom, which understood Not instant, but of future time, with joy And tidings fraught, to hell he now return'd; And at the brink of Chaos, near the foot Of this new wondrous pontifice, unhop'd Met, who to meet him came, his offspring dear. Great joy was at their meeting, and at sight Of that stupendous bridge his joy increas'd. Long he admiring stood, till Sin, his fair Enchanting daughter, thus the silence broke: "O parent, these are thy magnific deeds, Thy trophies, which thou view'st as not thine own; Thou art their author and prime architect: For I no sooner in my heart divin'd
(My heart, which by a secret harmony
Still moves with thine, join'd in connexion sweet,) That thou on earth had'st prosper'd, which thy looks Now also evidence, but straight I felt,
Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt That I must after thee with this thy son, Such fatal consequence unites us three: Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds, Nor this unvoyageable gulf obscure Detain from following thy illustrious track. Thou hast achiev'd our liberty, confin'd Within hell-gates till now; thou us impower'd To fortify thus far, and overlay
With this portentous bridge the dark abyss. Thine now is all this world; thy virtue' hath won What thy hands builded not, thy wisdom gain'd With odds what war hath lost, and fully' aveng'd Our foil in heaven; here thou shalt monarch reign, There didst not; there let him still victor sway, As battle hath adjudg'd, from this new world
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