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Grew darker at their frown, fo match'd they stood;
For never but once more was either like

To meet so great a foe: and now great deeds
Had been achiev'd, whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the fnaky forceress that fat:

Fast by Hell gate, and kept the fatal key,
Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between.

720

725

O Father, what intends thy hand, fhe cry'd,
Against thy only Son? What fury', O Son,
Poffeffes thee to bend that mortal darte 180. 01729
Against thy Father's head? and know'ft for whom;

Se vediste infieme mai fcontrar
dua toni

Da Levante a Ponente al ciel di-
verfo,

Cofi proprio s'urtar quei dua ba-
roni. Thyer.

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Pour down a tempeft by the Caf pian fhore.

722. fo great a foe:] Jefus Chrift who (as it follows ver. 734-)

715.-Heav'n's artillery] Thun- will one day deftroy both Death

der. Juv. Sat. XIII. 9.

Quicquid habent telorum arma-
mentaria coli. Hume.

716. Over the Cafpian, ] That
fea being particularly noted for
ftorms and tempefts. So Horace,

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and him that has the power of death that is the Devil, Heb. II. 14.

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And fo Fairfax, in Taffo, Cant. 6. fenfe of the words, they must be

St. 38.

read with a note of interrogation.

737. Se

For him who fits above and laughs the while
At thee ordain'd his drudge, to execute

Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids;
His wrath, which one day will deftroy ye both.

She fpake, and at her words the hellish peft 735 Forbore, then these to her Satan return'd.

So ftrange thy outcry, and thy words fo strange
Thou interpofest, that my sudden hand
Prevented fpares to tell thee yet by deeds

740

What it intends; till firft I know of thee,
What thing thou art, thus double-form'd, and why
In this infernal vale firft met thou call'ft
Me Father, and that phantafm call'ft my Son;
I know thee not, nor ever faw till now
Sight more deteftable than him and thee.

745

T'whom thus the portrefs of Hell gate reply'd.

Haft thou forgot me then, and do I feem
Now in thine eye fo foul? once deem'd fo fair
In Heav'n, when at th'affembly, and in fight

737. So frange thy outcry, and So

thy words fo frange] The change in the pofition of the words fo frange in this verfe has a peculiar beauty in it, which Dr. Bentley's alteration of the latter frange into new utterly destroys.

Of

ftrange thy outcry, and thy words fo new. How flat, lifelefs, and unharmonious, compar'd with the common reading!

758. Out of thy head I Sprung: ] Sin is rightly made to fpring out

of

Of all the Seraphim with thee combin'd

In bold confpiracy against Heav'n's king,
All on a fudden miferable pain

750

Surpris'd thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast-
Threw forth, till on the left fide opening wide, 755
Likest to thee in shape and count'nance bright,
Then fhining heav'nly fair, a Goddess arm'd
Out of thy head I fprung: amazement seis'd
All th' hoft of Heav'n; back they recoil'd afraid
At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a fign
Portentous held me; but familiar grown,
I pleas'd, and with attractive graces won
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing
Becam'ft enamour'd, and such joy thou took'ft 765
With me in fecret, that my womb conceiv'd

760

A growing burden. Mean while war arose, And fields were fought in Heav'n; wherein remain'd (For

of the head of Satan, as Wisdom or Minerva did out of Jupiter's: and Milton defcribes the birth of the one very much in the fame manner, as the ancient poets have that of the other, and particularly the author of the hymn to Mi

nerva vulgarly afcribed to Homer. And what follows feems to be an hint improv'd upon Minerva's being ravish'd foon after her birth by Vulcan, as we may learn from Lucian. Dial. Vulcani & Jovis, & De Domo.

771.-the

(For what could elfe?) to our almighty foe Clear victory, to our part lofs and rout

770

Through all the empyréan: down they fell
Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down
Into this deep, and in the general fall

I alfo; at which time this pow'rful key

with charge to keep 775

Into my hand was giv'n,

These gates for ever fhut,

which none can pass.

Alone, but long I fat

Without my opening. Penfive here I fat

not, till my womb

Pregnant by thee, and now exceffive

grown

Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.
At last this odious ofspring whom thou seest
Thine own begotten, breaking violent way

771.

the empyrean:] It is fomewhat remarkable that tho' the words emtyreal and empyrean are both fpelt in the fame manner, yet Milton confiantly pronounces emPyreal with the accent upon the third fyllable from the end, and empyrean with the accent upon the fecond. I once imagin'd that he did it to distinguish the fubftantive from the adjective; but I find one inftance where he uses the word empyrean as an adjective, and yet gives it the fame accent as when he makes it a fubstantive, X. 321. The confines met of empyréan

Heaven.

780

Tore

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Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain: I

Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew

Transform'd: but he my inbred enemy

Forth iffued, brandishing his fatal dart

785

Made to deftroy: I fled, and cry'd out Death;
Hell trembled at the hideous name, and figh'd

From all her caves, and back refounded Death. net
I fled, but he pursued, (though more, it seems, 790 i
Inflam'd with luft than rage) and fwifter far,
Me overtook his mother all dismay'd,
And in embraces forcible and foul...
Ingendring with me, of that rape begot

These yelling monfters, that with ceaseless

cry 1795

Surround me, as thou faw'ft, hourly conceiv'd

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...T

And

Infonuere cavæ, gemitumque de- only Death is made the laft word in

dere cavernæ. Hume.

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the fentence, and Eurydice for the fake of the verfe the firft. There is the like repetition in Ecl. VI. 43. His adjungit, Hylan nautæ quo

fonte relictum Clamaffent; ut littus, Hyla, Hyla, omne fonaret.

796. as thou fawft,] One would think it fhould be as thou feeft; but we muft fuppofe that now at this time these monsters were crept into her womb, and lay there unfeen,

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