And in embraces forcible and foul
Engend’ring with me, of that rape begot
These yelling795 monsters that with ceaseless cry
Surround me, as thou saw’st, hourly conceived
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite
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
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 involved; and knows that I
Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane,
Whenever that shall be; so fate pronounced809.
But thou O father, I forewarn thee, shun
His deadly arrow; neither vainly hope
To be invulnerable in those bright arms,
Though tempered Heav’nly, for that mortal dint813,
Save he who reigns above, none can resist.”
She finished, and the subtle Fiend his lore
Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered 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
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 pretenses825 armed
Fell with us from on high: from them I go
This uncouth errand sole827, and one for all
Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread
Th’ unfounded829 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 purlieus833 of Heav’n, and therein placed
A race of upstart creatures, to supply
Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed,
Lest Heav’n surcharged836 with potent multitude
Might hap to move new broils837: be this or aught
Than this more secret now designed, 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 buxom842 air, embalmed
With odors; there ye shall be fed and filled
Immeasurably, all things shall be your prey.”
He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased, and Deat
Grinned horrible a ghastly smile, to hear
His famine should be filled, and blessed 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,
Fearless to be o’ermatched by living might.
But what owe I to his commands above
Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound,
To sit in hateful office here confined,
Inhabitant of Heav’n, and Heav’nly-born,
Here in perpetual agony and pain,861
With terrors and with clamors compassed round
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
But thee, whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon
The gods who live at ease868, where I shall reign
At thy869 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 woe872, she took;
And towards the gate rolling her bestial train,
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up drew,
Which but herself not all the Stygian powers
Could once have moved; then876 in the key-hole turns
Th’ intricate wards877, and every bolt and bar
Of massy iron or solid rock with ease
Unfastens: on a sudden open fly
With880 impetuous recoil and jarring sound
Th’ infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook
Of Erebus883. She opened, but to shut
Excelled her power; the gates wide open stood,
That with extended wings a bannered host
Under spread ensigns marching might pass through
With horse and chariots ranked in loose array;
So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth
Cast forth redounding889 smoke and ruddy flame.
Before their eyes in sudden view appear
The secrets891 of the hoary deep, a dark
Illimitable ocean without bound,
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and highth,
And time and place are lost; where894 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 Dry898, four champions fierce
Strive here for mast’ry, and to battle bring
Their embryon atoms900; they around the flag
Of each his faction, in their several clans,
Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift or slow,
Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands
Of Barca or Cyrene’s904 torrid soil,
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise
Their lighter wings. To whom these906 most adhere,
He rules a moment; Chaos907 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 perhaps911 her grave,
Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixed
Confus’dly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless th’915 Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more worlds,
Into this wild abyss the wary Fiend
Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,
Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith919
He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed920
With noises loud and ruinous (to compare
Great things with small) than when Bellona922 storms,
With all her battering engines bent to raze
Some capital city; or less than if this frame924
Of heav’n were falling, and these elements
In mutiny had from her axle torn
The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans927
He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke
Uplifted spurns the ground, thence many a league
As in a cloudy chair930 ascending rides
Audacious, but that seat soon failing, meets
A vast vacuity: all unawares
Flutt’ring his pennons933 vain plumb down he drops
Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour
Down935 had been falling, had not by ill chance
The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud
Instinct with fire and niter hurried him
As many miles aloft: that fury stayed,
Quenched in a boggy Syrtis939, neither sea,
Nor good dry land: nigh foundered on he fares,
Treading the crude consistence, half on foot,
Half flying; behooves him now both oar and sail942.
As when a gryphon943 through the wilderness
With wingèd course o’er hill or moory dale,
Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful custody purloined
The guarded gold: so eagerly the Fiend
O’er bog948 or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
With head, hands, wings or feet pursues his way,
And swims or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies:
At length a universal hubbub951 wild
Of stunning sounds and voices all confused
Born through the hollow dark assaults his ear
With loudest vehemence954: thither he plies,
Undaunted to meet there whatever power
Or spirit of the nethermost abyss
Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask
Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies
Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne
Of Chaos960, and his dark pavilion spread
Wide on the wasteful961 deep; with him enthroned
Sat sable-vested Night962, eldest of things,
The consort of his reign; and by them stood
Orcus and Ades964, and the dreaded name
Of Demogorgon965; Rumor next and Chance,
And Tumult and Confusion all embroiled,
And Discord967 with a thousand various mouths.
T’ whom Satan turning boldly, thus. “Ye Powers
And Spirits of this nethermost abyss,
Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy,
With purpose to explore or to disturb
The secrets of your realm, but by constraint
Wand’ring this darksome desert, as my way
Lies through your spacious empire up to light,
Alone, and without guide, half lost, I seek
What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds
Confine with977 Heav’n; or if some other place
From your dominion won, th’ Ethereal King
Possesses lately, thither to arrive
I travel this profound980, direct my course;
Directed, no mean recompense it brings
To your behoof982, if I that region lost,
All usurpation thence expelled, reduce
To her original darkness and your sway
(Which is my present journey) and once more
Erect the standard there of ancient Night;
Yours be th’ advantage all, mine the revenge.”
Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch988 old
With falt’ring speech and visage incomposed989
Answered. “I know thee, stranger, who thou art,
That mighty leading angel, who of late
Made head against Heav’n’s King, though overthrown.
I saw993 and heard, for such a numerous host
Fled not in silence through the frighted deep
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout,
Confusion worse confounded; and Heav’n gates
Poured out by millions her victorious bands
Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here
Keep residence; if all I can will serve,
That little which is left so to defend,
Encroached on still through our1001 intestine broils
Weak’ning the scepter of old Night: first Hell
Your dungeon stretching far and wide beneath;
Now lately heaven1004 and Earth, another world
Hung o’er my realm, linked in a golden chain1005
To that side Heav’n from whence your legions fell:
If that way be your walk1007, you have not far;
So much the nearer danger1008; go and speed;
Havoc and spoil and ruin are my gain.”
He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply,
But glad that now his sea should find a shore,
With fresh alacrity and force renewed
Springs upward1013 like a pyramid of fire
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock
Of fighting elements, on all sides round
Environed wins his way; harder beset
And more endangered, than when Argo1017 passed
Through Bosporus betwixt the jostling rocks:
Or when Ulysses on the larboard1019 shunned
Charybdis1020, and by th’ other whirlpool steered.
So he with difficulty and labor hard
Moved on, with difficulty and labor he;
But he once passed, soon after when man fell,
Strange alteration! Sin1024 and Death amain
Following his track, such was the will of Heav’n,
Paved after him a broad and beaten way
Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf
Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length
From Hell continued reaching th’ utmost orb
Of this frail world; by which the spirits perverse
With easy intercourse pass to and fro
To tempt or punish mortals, except whom
God and good angels guard by special grace1033.
But now at last the sacred influence1034
Of light appears, and from the walls of Heav’n
Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night
A glimmering dawn; here Nature first begins
Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire
As from her outmost works1039 a broken foe
With tumult less and with less hostile din,
That Satan with less toil, and now with ease
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light
And like a weather-beaten vessel holds1043
Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle1044 torn;
Or in the emptier waste, resembling air,
Weighs1046 his spread wings, at leisure to behold
Far off th’ empyreal Heav’n, extended wide
In circuit, undetermined1048 square or round,
With opal tow’rs and battlements adorned
Of living1050 sapphire, once his native seat;
And fast by hanging in a golden chain
This pendant world1052, in bigness as a star
Of smallest magnitude close by the moon.
Thither full fraught with mischievous revenge,
Accursed, and in a cursèd hour he hies1055.
2. Ormus: Hormuz, famously wealthy island town ideally situated in the Persian Gulf for trade in spices and jewels. Ships of the British East India Company helped the Dutch take it from the Portuguese in 1622. For acquiescing in the unauthorized aggression, King James and the Duke of Buckingham pocketed large bribes. Ind: India, celebrated for precious stones; cp. Masque 606.
4. barbaric: Greek for “foreign,” primarily used of Asia or the gorgeous East. Classical authors depict Asian rulers as profligate despots; hence Vergil describes the doors of Priam’s palace as “proud with the spoils of barbaric gold” (Aen. 2.504).
5. merit: desert, good or bad.
9. success: outcome; like merit, ironically complicated by its more usual positive sense.
11. Powers and Dominions: two kinds of angels (Col. 1.16).
14. I … lost: “I refuse to concede the loss of Heaven.”
15. Virtues: efficacious qualities (not moral virtues); also, members of a rank of angels.
18–21. Me … merit: The tortuous syntax makes Stoic principles—just right and fixed laws—agents of Satan’s creation as leader. The direct object (Me) begins the clause. His created status, Satan says, has been confirmed by
the free choice of his followers and by his own deeds.
89. exercise: a range of meanings applies, from “agitate” or “vex” to the more common “train” or “cause to undergo a physical regimen or ascetic discipline.”
90. vassals: slaves (see PR 4.133).
91. torturing hour: Shakespeare’s Theseus seeks entertainment “to ease the anguish of a torturing hour”—the time between the marriage rite and its consummation (MND 5.1.37). The fallen angels will also pursue diversions from pain (ll. 458–62, 523–27), not least that of endlessly frustrated desire (4.508–11).
24–25. happier … dignity: Satan claims that in Heaven, the higher one’s rank, the happier one’s existence, and that in Hell the reverse holds true, which should deter envy and promote unity.
28. Thunderer: classical epithet for Jove.
43. Moloch: Hebrew for “king”; see 1.392n; sceptered king: translates Homer’s formulaic epithet for kings (e.g., Il. 1.279).
50. reck’d: heeded; cared.
51. sentence: judgment. Cp. line 291.
52. More unexpert: less knowledgeable or experienced.
243. hallelujahs: songs of praise; in Hebrew, hallelujah means “praise God.”
244. breathes: exhales or emanates, as a fragrance; cp. 5.482.
63. horrid: bristling (with Hell flames).
65. engine: instrument of war (cp. 4.17); here, God’s lightning and thunder.
69. Tartarean: infernal; horrible. Tartarus confines the rebellious Titans, according to Homer and Hesiod (Il. 14.278; 8.478–91; Theog. 713–45). strange fire: “Nadab and Abihu died because they offered strange fire before the Lord” (Num. 26.61; cp. Lev. 10.1). The Geneva Bible glosses strange fire as fire “not taken of the altar”—that is, unholy or illicit fire.
73. drench: dose; douse. Cp. Animad (Yale 1:685).
74. forgetful: causing a state of oblivion; cp. “oblivious pool” (1.266).
79. Insulting: springing upon scornfully; trampling in triumph. Cp. 1.327.
81. For Fowler, Moloch’s claim is “belied by the allusion to Aen. 6.126–29”: “easy is the descent to Avernus … but to recall thy steps and pass out to the upper air, this is the task, this the toil!” Cp. PL 2.432–33, 3.20–21. Unlike Aeneas, however, the rebels are spiritual beings: “bodies compounded and elemented of Earth do naturally descend; but to spirits, those divine, airy, agile beings, as our poet well observes, … all motion downward seems forced and contrary” (Hume).
82. event: outcome.
94. doubt we: makes us hesitate.
97. essential: essence or being (adj. for noun). On the active disposition to suicide represented by Moloch, see 1.158n.
100–101. we … nothing: “we could not be in a worse state than we are now.” Cp. PR 3.204–11.
101. proof: experience, trial; also, testing artillery by firing a heavy charge (see 6.584–99).