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Over the Caspian; then stand front to front
Hov'ring a space, till winds the signal blow
To join their dark encounter in mid-air.

So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell

Grew darker at their frown, so 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 achieved, whereof all Hell had rung,
Had not the snaky sorceress that sat

Fast by Hell gate, and kept the fatal key,

725

Ris'n, and with hideous outery rush'd between.

O Father, what intends thy hand, she cry'd, Against thy only Son? What fury, O Son, Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart

Against thy Father's head? and know'st for whom?
For Him who sits 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.

730

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

735

So strange thy outery, 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,

740

716. The Caspian is said to be subject to violent storms. Hor. Ode. ii. 9 : 2. 721. Once more: In the person of Jesus Christ (734). Heb. ii. 14. 758. Out of thy head I sprung: An allusion to the heathen fable of the goddess Minerva springing out of the head of Jupiter. Her appearance is represented as producing, among the heavenly beings, at first, amazement and terror; but afterwards securing the approbation and favour of a multitude of them. This representation exhibits the horror in which the idea of sinning against God was first regarded, and the change of views among the sinning angels, upon becoming accustomed to acts of transgression. The same thing is true among men, particularly among the young when led astray from a moral course.

In the seventh and eighth chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and in the first chapter of the Epistle of James, may be found, also, a vivid personification of sin.

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