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Created thing not valued he nor shun'd;
And with disdainful look thus first began.

680

Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way To yonder gates? through them I mean to pass, That be affur'd, without leave ask'd of thee. 685 Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, Hell-born! not to contend with spirits of Heav'n.

695

To whom the Goblin full of wrath reply'd;
Art thou that Traitor-Angel, art thou he,
Who first broke peace in Heav'n, and faith, till then
Unbroken; and in proud rebellious arms
691
Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's fons,
Conjur'd against the Highest; for which both thou
And they outcast from God, are here condemn'd
To waste eternal days in woe and pain?
And reckon'st thou thy felf with fpirits of Heav'n,
Hell-doom'd! and breath'ft defiance here and scorn
Where I reign King, and to enrage thee more,
Thy King and Lord? Back to thy punishment,
False fugitive! and to thy speed add wings;
Left with a whip of scorpions I perfue
Thy lingring; or with one stroke of this dart
Strange horror feize thee, and pangs unfelt before.

So spake the griefly Terror, and in shape,
So speaking and so threatning, grew tenfold
More dreadful and deform. On th' other fide
Incens'd with indignation SATAN stood
Unterrify'd; and like a Comet burn'd,
That fires the length of OPHIUCUS huge
In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes peftilence and war. Each at the head
Level'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands
No second stroke intend; and such a frown

700

705

710

Each

1

Each caft at th' other, as when two black clouds
With Heav'n's artill'ry fraught, come rattling on 715
Over the CASPIAN; then stand front to front
Hov'ring a space, till winds the fignal blow
To join their dark encounter in mid air :
So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell
Grew darker at their frown: fo match'd they stood, 720
For never but once more was either like
To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds
Had been atchiev'd, whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the snaky forceress that fat
East by hell-gate, and kept the fatal key,
Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between.

725

O father! what intends thy hand, the cry'd, Against thy only fon? What fury, O fon, Poffeffes thee, to bend that mortal dart Against thy father's head? and know'st for whom; 730 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 destroy ye both.

She spake, and at her words the hellish pest 735 Forbore; then these to her SATAN return'd.

740

So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange Thou interposest, that my sudden hand Prevented spares to tell thee yet by deeds What it intends; till first I know of thee, What thing thou art, thus double-form'd; and why, In this infernal vale first met, thou call'it Me father, and that phanta'm call'st my fon: 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; Haft thou forgot me then, and do I feem

745

Now

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