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 groveling 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 verify'd
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 Pow'rs, 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; Ev'n he who now foretold his fatal bruise, And to the Woman thus his sentence turn'd.
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 thus judgment he pronounc'd. "Because thou' hast hearken'd to the' voice of thy
And eaten of the tree, concerning which
I charg'd thee, say'ing, 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, 207 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, tho' 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,
Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame
Far into Chaos, since the Fiend pass'd through, 233 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 giv'n me large Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on, Or sympathy, or some connatural force Pow'rful 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 pow'r can separate. But lest the difficulty of passing back Stay his return perhaps over this gulf Impassable, impervious, let us try
Advent'rous work, yet to thy pow'r 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 instinct." 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 276
With scent of living carcases design'd
For death, the following day, in bloody fight: So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd His nostril 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 pow'r (their pow'r was great)
Hovering upon the waters, what they met,
Solid or slimy, as in raging sea
Tost up and down, together crowded drove
From each side shoaling towards 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 his 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
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