John Milton - Paradise Lost, Book 8 lyrics

No more of talk where God or Angel guest With Man, as with his friend, familiar us'd To sit indulgent, and with him partake Rural repast; permitting him the while Venial discourse unblam'd. I now must change Those notes to tragick; foul distrust, and breach Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt And disobedience: on the part of Heaven Now alienated, distance and distaste Anger and just rebuke, and judgement given That brought into this world a world of woe, Sin and her shadow d**h, and Miserie d**h's harbinger: Sad talk!yet argument Not less but more heroick than the wrath Of stern Achilles on his foe pursued Thrice fugitive about Troy wall; or rage Of Turnus for Lavinia disespous'd; Or Neptune's ire, or Juno's, that so long Perplexed the Greek, and Cytherea's son: If answerable style I can obtain Of my celestial patroness, who deigns Her nightly visitation unimplor'd And dictates to me slumbering; or inspires Easy my unpremeditated verse: Since first this subject for heroick song Pleas'd me long choosing, and beginning late; Not sedulous by nature to indite Wars, hitherto the only argument Heroick deem'd chief mastery to dissect With long and tedious havock fabled knights In battles feign'd; the better fortitude Of patience and heroick martyrdom Unsung; or to describe races and games Or tilting furniture, imblazon'd shields Impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights At joust and tournament; then marshall'd feast Serv'd up in hall with sewers and seneshals; The sk** of Artifice or Office mean Not that which justly gives Heroic name To Person, or to Poem. Mee of these Nor sk**d nor studious, higher Argument Remains; sufficient of itself to raise That name, unless an age too late, or cold Climate, or years, damp my intended wing Depress'd; and much they may, if all be mine Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear The sun was sunk, and after him the star Of Hesperus, whose office is to bring Twilight upon the earth, short arbiter "twixt day and night, and now from end to end Night's hemisphere had veil'd the horizon round: When satan, who late fled before the threats Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improv'd In meditated fraud and malice, bent On Man's destruction, maugre what might hap Of heavier on himself, fearless returned From compa**ing the earth; cautious of day Since Uriel, regent of the sun, descried His entrance, and foreworned the Cherubim That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driv'n The space of seven continued nights he rode With darkness; thrice the equinoctial line He circled; four times crossed the car of night From pole to pole, traversing each Colure; On the eighth returned; and, on the coast averse From entrance or Cherubick Watch, by stealth Found unsuspected way. There was a place Now not, though sin, not time, first wrought the change Where TIGRIS, at the foot of Paradise Into a gulf shot under ground, till part Rose up a fountain by the Tree of Life: In with the river sunk, and with it rose Satan, involved in rising mist; then sought Where to lie hid; sea he had searched, and land From Eden over Pontus and the pool Maeotis, up beyond the river Ob; Downward as far antarctick; and in length West from Orontes to the ocean barr'd At Darien ; thence to the land where flows Ganges and Indus: Thus the orb he roam'd With narrow search; and with inspection deep Considered every creature, which of all Most opportune might serve his wiles; and found The Serpent subtlest beast of all the field Him after long debate, irresolute Of thoughts revolved, his final sentence chose Fit Vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom To enter, and his dark suggestions hide From sharpest sight: for, in the wily snake Whatever sleights, none would suspicious mark As from his wit and native subtlety Proceeding; which, in other beasts observed Doubt might beget of diabolick power Active within, beyond the sense of brute Thus he resolv'd, but first from inward grief His bursting pa**ion into plaints thus poured More justly, seat worthier of Gods, as built With second thoughts, reforming what was old! O Earth, how like to Heaven, if not preferred For what God, after better, worse would build? Terrestrial Heaven, danced round by other Heavens That shine, yet bear their bright officious Lamps, Light above light, for thee alone, as seems, In thee concentring all their precious beams Of sacred influence! As God in Heav'n Is Center, yet extends to all; so thou Centring, receav'st from all those Orbs: in thee, Not in themselves, all thir known virtue appears Productive in Herb, Plant, and nobler birth Of creatures animate with gradual life Of Growth, Sense, Reason, all summ'd up in Man. With what delight could I have walked thee round If I could joy in aught, sweet interchange Of hill, and valley, rivers, woods, and plains Now land, now sea and shores with forest crowned Rocks, dens, and caves! But I in none of these Find place or refuge; and the more I see Pleasures about me, so much more I feel Torment within me, as from the hateful siege Of contraries: all good to me becomes Bane, and in Heaven much worse would be my state But neither here seek I, no nor in Heav'n To dwell, unless by mastering Heav'ns Supreame; Nor hope to be myself less miserable By what I seek, but others to make such As I, though thereby worse to me redound: For only in destroying I find ease To my relentless thoughts; and, him destroyd Or won to what may work his utter loss, For whom all this was made, all this will soon Follow, as to him linked in weal or woe, In woe then; that destruction wide may range: To me shall be the glory sole among The infernal Powers, in one day to have marred What he, Almighty styled, six nights and days Continued making; and who knows how long Before had been contriving? though perhaps Not longer than since I in one Night, freed From servitude inglorious well nigh half The angelick name, and thinner left the throng Of his adorers: He, to be avenged And to repair his numbers thus impaired Whether such virtue spent of old now failed More Angels to create, if they at least Are his created, or, to spite us more Determined to advance into our room A creature formed of earth, and him endow Exalted from so base original With heavenly spoils, our spoils: What he decreed He effected; Man he made, and for him built Magnificent this World, and Earth his seat, Him Lord pronounc'd; and, O indignity! Subjected to his service angel-wings And flaming ministers to watch and tend Their earthly charge: Of these the vigilance I dread; and, to elude; thus wrapt in mist Of midnight vapour glide obscure, and prie In every Bush and Brake, where hap may find The serpent sleeping; in whose mazy folds To hide me, and the dark intent I bring. O foul descent! that I, who erst contended With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained Into a beast; and, mixed with bestial slime This essence to incarnate and imbrute That to the highth of Deity aspired! But what will not Ambition and Revenge Descend to? Who aspires, must down as low As high he soared; obnoxious, first or last To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils: Let it; I reck not, so it light well aimed Since higher I fall short, on him who next Provokes my envy, this new favourite Of Heaven, this man of clay, son of despite Whom, us the more to spite, his Maker raised From dust: Spite then with spite is best repaid So saying, through each Thicket Dank or Drie, Like a black mist low-creeping, he held on His midnight-search, where soonest he might found The Serpent; him fast-sleeping soon he found In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled His head the midst, well stored with subtile wiles: Not yet in horrid Shade or dismal Den Nor nocent yet; but, on the gra**ie Herbe Fearless unfeared he slept: in at his mouth The Devil entered; and his brutal sense In heart or head, possessing, soon inspired With act intelligential; but his sleep Disturbed not, waiting close the approach of morn Now, when as sacred light began to dawn In Eden on the humid flowers, that breathed Their morning incense, when all things, that breathe From the Earth's great altar send up silent praise To the Creator, and his nostrils fill With grateful smell, forth came the human pair And joined their vocal worship to the quire Of creatures wanting voice; that done, partake The season prime for sweetest scents and airs: Then commune, how that day they best may ply Their growing work: for much their work out-grew The hands' dispatch of two gardening so wide And EVE first to her husband thus began. Adam, well may we labour still to dress This garden, still to tend plant, herb, and flower Our pleasant task enjoined; but till more hands Aid us, the work under our labour grows Luxurious by restraint; what we by day Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind One night or two with wanton growth derides Tending to wild. Thou therefore now advise Or bear what to my mind first thoughts present, Let us divide our labours; thou, where choice Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind The woodbine round this arbour, or direct The clasping ivy where to climb; while I In yonder spring of roses intermixed With myrtle, find what to redress till noon: For, while so near each other thus all day Our task we choose, what wonder if so near Looks intervene and smiles, or object new Casual discourse draw on; which intermits Our day's work, brought to little, though begun Early, and the hour of supper comes unearned? To whom mild answer ADAM thus return'd, Sole Eve, a**ociate sole, to me beyond Compare above all living creatures dear! Well hast thou motion'd, well thy thoughts imployd How we might best fulfil the work which here God hath a**ign'd us; nor of me shalt pa** Unprais'd: for nothing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study houshold good And good works in her husband to promote Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed Labour, as to debar us when we need Refreshment, whether food, or talk between Food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse Of looks and smiles; for smiles from reason flow To brute denied, and are of love the food; Love, not the lowest end of human life For not to irksome toil, but to delight He made us, and delight to reason joined These paths and Bowers doubt not but our joynt Will keep from Wilderness with ease, as wide As we need walk, till younger hands ere long Assist us; But, if much converse perhaps Thee satiate, to short absence I could yield: For solitude sometimes is best society And short retirement urges sweet return But other doubt possesses me, lest harm Befall thee severed from me; for thou knowest What hath been warned us, what malicious foe Envying our happiness, and of his own Despairing, seeks to work us woe and shame By sly a**ault; and somewhere nigh at hand Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find His wish and best advantage, us asunder; Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each To other speedy aid might lend at need: Whether his first design be to withdraw Our fealty from God, or to disturb Conjugal love, than which perhaps no bliss Enjoyed by us excites his envy more; Or this, or worse, leave not the faithful side That gave thee being, still shades thee, and protects The wife, where danger or dishonour lurks Safest and seemliest by her husband stays Who guards her, or with her the worst endures To whom the Virgin Majestie of EVE, As one who loves, and some unkindness meets With sweet austere composure thus reply'd. Ofspring of Heav'n and Earth, and all Earths Lord, That such an enemy we have, who seeks Our ruin, both by thee informed I learn And from the parting Angel over-heard As in a shady nook I stood behind Just then returned at shut of Evening Flours. But, that thou shouldst my firmness therefore doubt To God or thee, because we have a foe May tempt it, I expected not to hear His violence thou fearest not, being such As we, not capable of d**h or pain Can either not receive, or can repel His fraud is then thy fear; which plain infers Thy equal fear, that my firm faith and love Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced; Thoughts, which how found they harbour in thy breast Adam, mis-thought of her to thee so dear? To whom with healing words ADAM reply'd. Daughter of God and Man, immortal EVE, For such thou art; from sin and blame entire: Not diffident of thee do I dissuade Thy absence from my sight, but to avoid The attempt itself, intended by our foe For he who tempts, though in vain, at least asperses The tempted with dishonour foul; suppos'd Not incorruptible of Faith, not proff Against temptation: Thou thyself with scorn And anger wouldst resent the offer'd wrong Though ineffectual found: misdeem not then, If such affront I labour to avert From thee alone, which on us both at once The enemy, though bold, will hardly dare; Or daring, first on me th' a**ault shall light. Nor thou his malice and false guile contemn; Subtle he needs must be, who could seduce Angels; nor think superfluous other's aid I, from the influence of thy looks, receive Access in every Vertue; in thy sight More wise, more watchful, stronger, if need were Of outward strength; while shame, thou looking on Shame to be overcome or over-reacht Would utmost vigour raise, and rais'd unite. Why shouldst not thou like sense within thee feel When I am present, and thy trial choose With me, best witness of thy Vertue tri'd. So spake domestick ADAM in his care And Matrimonial Love; but EVE, who thought Less attributed to her Faith sincere, Thus her reply with accent sweet renewed. If this be our condition, thus to dwell In narrow circuit straitened by a foe Subtle or violent, we not endued Single with like defence, wherever met; How are we happy, still in fear of harm? But harm precedes not sin: only our foe Tempting, affronts us with his foul esteem Of our integrity: his foul esteem Sticks no dishonour on our front, but turns Foul on himself; then wherefore shunned or feard By us? who rather double honour gain From his surmise proved false; find peace within Favour from Heaven, our witness, from the event And what is faith, love, virtue, una**ayed Alone, without exteriour help sustained? Let us not then suspect our happie State Left so imperfect by the Maker wise, As not secure to single or combin'd Frail is our happiness, if this be so And Eden were no Eden, thus exposed To whom thus ADAM fervently reply'd. O Woman, best are all things as the will Of God ordaind them: His creating hand Nothing imperfect or deficient left Of all that he created, much less Man Or aught that might his happy state secure Secure from outward force; within himself The danger lies, yet lies within his power: Against his will he can receive no harm But God left free the will; for what obeyes Reason, is free; and Reason he made right, But bid her well be ware, and still erect, Lest, by some fair-appearing good surpris'd She dictate false; and missinform the Will To do what God expressly hath forbid. Not then mistrust, but tender love, enjoynes, That I should mind thee oft, and mind thou me. Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve; Since Reason not impossibly may meet Some specious object by the Foe suborn'd, And fall into deception unaware, Not keeping strictest watch, as she was warnd. Seek not temptation then, which to avoid Were better, and most likely if from me Thou sever not; Trial will come unsought. Wouldst thou approve thy constancie, approve First thy obedience; th' other who can know, Not seeing thee attempted, who attest? But if thou think, trial unsought may find Us both securer than thus warned thou seemest, Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more; Go in thy native innocence, relie On what thou hast of virtue, summon all, For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine So spake the Patriarch of Mankinde; but EVE Persisted, yet submiss, though last, repli'd. With thy permission then, and thus forewarnd Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words Touched only; that our trial, when least sought, May find us both perhaps far less prepar'd, The willinger I goe, nor much expect A foe so proud will first the weaker seek; So bent, the more shall shame him his repulse Thus saying, from her Husbands hand her hand Soft she withdrew, and, like a Wood-Nymph light Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train Betook her to the groves; but Delia's self In gait surpa**ed, and Goddess-like deport Though not as she with bow and quiver armed But with such gardening tools as Art yet rude Guiltless of fire, had formed, or Angels brought, To Pales, or Pomona, thus adornd, Likest she seemed, POMONA when she fled VERTUMNUS, or to Ceres in her Prime Yet Virgin of PROSERPINA from Jove Her long with ardent look his eye pursued Delighted, but desiring more her stay. Oft he to her his charge of quick returne, Repeated; shee to him as oft engag'd To be returned by Noon amid the Bowre, And all things in best order to invite Noontide repast, or Afternoon's repose. O much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve Of thy presumed return! event perverse! Thou never from that hour in Paradise Foundst either sweet repast, or sound repose; Such ambush, hid among sweet flowers and shades Waited with hellish rancour imminent To intercept thy way, or send thee back Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss! For now, and since first break of dawn, the Fiend, Meer Serpent in appearance, forth was come, And on his Quest, where likeliest he might finde The only two of Mankinde, but in them The whole included Race, his purposed prey. In Bowre and Field he sought, where any tuft Of Grove or Garden-Plot more pleasant lay, Their tendance, or Plantation for delight, By fountain or by shady rivulet He sought them both, but wished his hap might find Eve separate; he wished, but not with hope Of what so seldom chanced; when to his wish, Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood Half spied, so thick the roses blushing round About her glowed, oft stooping to support Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold Hung drooping unsustained; them she upstays Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while Herself, though fairest unsupported flower From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh Neererhe drew, and many a walk travers'd Of stateliest Covert, cedar, pine, or palm; Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen Among thick-wov'n Arborets, and Flours Imborderd on each Bank, the hand of EVE: Spot more delicious than those gardens feigned Or of revived Adonis, or renowned Alcinous, host of old Laertes' son; Or that, not mystick, where the sapient king Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse Much he the Place admir'd, the Person more. As one who long in populous city pent Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air Forth issuing on a summer's morn, to breathe Among the pleasant villages and farms Adjoined, from each thing met conceives delight; The smell of grain, or tedded gra**, or kine Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound; If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pa** What pleasing seemed, for her now pleases more; She most, and in her look sums all Delight. Such pleasure took the Serpent to behold This Flourie Plat, the sweet recess of EVE Thus early, thus alone: Her heavenly form Angelick, but more soft, and feminine Her graceful innocence, her every air Of gesture, or least action, overawed His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought: That space the Evil-one abstracted stood From his own evil, and for the time remained Stupidly good; of enmitie disarm'd, Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge: But the hot Hell that always in him burns Though in mid Heaven, soon ended his delight And tortures him now more, the more he sees Of pleasure, not for him ordained: then soon Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts Of mischief, gratulating, thus excites Thoughts, whither have ye led me! with what sweet Compulsion thus transported, to forget What hither brought us! hate, not love;nor hope Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to taste Of pleasure; but all pleasure to destroy Save what is in destroying; other joy To me is lost. Then, let me not let pa** Occasion which now smiles; behold alone The woman, opportune to all attempts Her husband, for I view far round, not nigh Whose higher intellectual more I shun And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb Heroick built, though of terrestrial mould; Foe not informidable! exempt from wound I not; so much hath Hell debased, and pain Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heaven She fair, divinely fair, fit love for Gods! Not terrible, though terrour be in Love And beautie, not approached by stronger hate, Hate stronger, under show of love well feign'd, The way which to her ruin now I tend. So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed In serpent, inmate bad! and toward Eve Addressed his way: not with indented wave Prone on the ground, as since; but on his rear Circular base of rising folds, that towered Fold above fold, a surging maze! his Head Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes; With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling spires, that on the gra** Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape, And lovely; never since of Serpent kind Lovelier, not those that in Illyria chang'd Hermione and Cadmus, or the god In Epidaurus; nor to which transformed Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline, was seen; He with Olympias; this with her who bore Scipio, the highth of Rome. With tract oblique At first, as one who sought access, but feard To interrupt, side-long he works his way. As when a Ship, by skilful Steersmen wrought Nigh Rivers mouth or Foreland, where the Wind Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her Saile; So varied he, and of his tortuous Traine Curld many a wanton wreath in sight of EVE, To lure her Eye; she, busied, heard the sound Of rusling leaves, but minded not, as used To such disport before her through the field From every beast; more duteous at her call Then at Circean call the herd disguis'd Hee boulder now, uncall'd before her stood; But as in gaze admiring: Oft he bowed His turret crest, and sleek enamel'd Neck, Fawning, and licked the ground whereon she trod His gentle dumb expression turnd at length The Eye of EVE to mark his play; he, glad Of her attention gaind, with Serpent Tongue Organick, or impulse of vocal Air, His fraudulent temptation thus began. Wonder not, sovran Mistress, if perhaps Thou canst, who art sole Wonder! much less arm Thy looks, the Heav'n of mildness, with disdain, Displeas'd that I approach thee thus, and gaze Insatiate; I thus single;nor have feared Thy awful brow, more awful thus retir'd Fairest resemblance of thy Maker faire, Thee all living things gaze on, all things thine By gift, and thy Celestial Beautie adore With ravishment beheld, there best beheld Where universally admir'd; but here In this enclosure wild, these Beasts among, Beholders rude, and shallow to discerne Half what in thee is fair, one man except, Who sees thee? (and what is one?) who should be seen A Goddess among Gods, ador'd and serv'd By Angels numberless, thy daily Train. So glozed the Tempter, and his proem tun'd: Into the Heart of EVE his words made way, Though at the voice much marvelling; at length Not unamaz'd, she thus in answer spake. What may this mean? language of man pronounced By tongue of brute, and human sense expressed? The first, at least, of these I thought denied To beasts; whom God, on their creation-day Created mute to all articulate sound: The latter I demur; for in their looks Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears Thee, Serpent, subtlest beast of all the field I knew, but not with human voice endu'd; Redouble then this miracle, and say, How cam'st thou speakable of mute, and how To me so friendly grown above the rest Of brutal kind, that daily are in sight? Say, for such wonder claims attention due To whom the guileful Tempter thus reply'd. Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve! Easie to mee it is to tell thee all What thou commandest; and right thou shouldst be obeyd: I was at first as other Beasts that graze The trodden herb, of abject thoughts and low As was my food; nor aught but food discern'd Or Sex, and apprehended nothing high: Till, on a day roving the field, I chanced A goodly tree far distant to behold Loaden with fruit of fairest colours mixed Ruddy and gold: I nearer drew to gaze; When from the boughs a savoury odour blow'n, Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense Than smell of sweetest fennel, or the teats Of ewe or goat dropping with milk at even Uns**ed of lamb or kid, that tend their play To satisfy the sharp desire I had Of tasting those fair Apples, I resolv'd Not to deferr; hunger and thirst at once, Powerful persuaders, quick'nd at the scent Of that alluring fruit, urg'd me so keene. About the mossy trunk I wound me soon; For, high from ground, the branches would require Thy utmost reach or Adam's: Round the Tree All other Beasts that saw, with like desire Longing and envying stood, but could not reach. Amid the Tree now got, where plenty hung Tempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill I spar'd not, for such pleasure till that hour At Feed or Fountain never had I found Sated at length, ere long I might perceave Strange alteration in me, to degree Of reason in my inward powers; and speech Wanted not long; though to this shape retaind. Thenceforth to Speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind Considered all things visible in Heav'n Or Earth, or Middle, all things fair and good; But all that fair and good in thy Divine Semblance, and in thy Beauties heavenly Ray United I beheld; no Fair to thine Equivalent or second, which compel'd Mee thus, though importune perhaps, to come And gaze, and worship thee of right declar'd Sovran of Creatures, universal Dame. So talk'd the spirited sly Snake; and Eve Yet more amazed, unwary thus replied Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt The virtue of that fruit, in thee first proved: But say, where grows the tree? from hence how far? For many are the trees of God that grow In Paradise, and various, yet unknown To us; in such abundance lies our choice As leaves a greater store of fruit untouched Still hanging incorruptible, till men Grow up to their provision, and more hands Help to disburden Nature of her birth To whom the wily Adder, blithe and glad. Empress, the way is ready, and not long; Beyond a row of Myrtles, on a Flat, Fast by a Fountain, one small Thicket past Of blowing Myrrh and Balme: if thou accept My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon Lead then, said EVE. Hee leading, swiftly rolled In tangles, and made intricate seem straight To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy Bright'ns his Crest; as when a wandering fire Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night Condenses, and the cold environs round Kindled through agitation to a flame Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attends Hovering and blazing with delusive light Misleads the amazed night-wanderer from his way To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool; There swallow'd up and lost, from succour farr. So glister'd the dire Snake, and into fraud Led EVE, our credulous mMother, to the tree Of prohibition, root of all our woe; Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake. Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess The credit of whose virtue rest with thee; Wonderous indeed, if cause of such effects But of this tree we may not taste nor touch; God so commanded, and left that command Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live Law to ourselves; our reason is our law To whom the Tempter guilefully replied Indeed! hath God then said that of the fruit Of all these garden-trees ye shall not eat Yet Lords declared of all in earth or air? To whom thus EVE, yet sinless. Of the Fruit Of each Tree in the Garden we may eate, But of the Fruit of this fair Tree amidst The Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eate Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die. She scarse had said, though brief, when now more bold The Tempter, but with show of Zeale and Love To Man, and indignation at his wrong, New part puts on; and, as to pa**ion mov'd Fluctuates disturbed, yet comely, and in act Rais'd, as of some great matter to begin. As when of old some Orator renound In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence Flourished, since mute! to some great cause addrest, Stood in himself collected, while each part, Motion, each act, won audience ere the tongue, Sometimes in highth began, as no delay Of preface brooking, through his Zeal of Right. So standing, moving, or to highth upgrown The Tempter all impa**iond thus began. O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant, Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power Within me cleere, not only to discern Things in their causes, but to trace the ways Of highest agents, deemd however wise. Queen of this Universe, doe not believe Those rigid threats of d**h: ye shall not die: How should you? by the fruit? it gives you life To knowledge; By the Threatener? look on mee, Me, who have touched and tasted; yet both live, And life more perfect have attaind than Fate Meant mee, by ventring higher than my Lot. Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast Is open? or will God incense his ire For such a petty Trespa**, and not praise Rather your dauntless vertue, whom the pain Of d**h denounc't, whatever thing d**h be, Deterred not from achieving what might leade To happier life, knowledge of Good and Evil; Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evil Be real, why not known, since easier shunnd? God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just; Not just, not God; not feared then, nor obeyed: Your fear itself of d**h removes the fear Why then was this forbid? Why, but to awe, Why, but to keep ye low and ignorant, His worshippers; He knows that in the day Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as Gods Knowing both good and evil, as they know That ye shall be as Gods, since I as Man Internal Man, is but proportion meet; I, of brute, human; ye, of human, Gods So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off Human, to put on Gods, d**h to be wisht, Though threat'nd, which no worse than this can bring And what are Gods that Man may not become As they, participating God-like food? The Gods are first, and that advantage use On our belief, that all from them proceeds, I question it, for this fair Earth I see, Warmed by the Sun, producing every kind, Them, nothing: if they all things, who enclos'd Knowledge of Good and Evil in this Tree, That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies Th' offence, that Man should thus attain to know? What can your knowledge hurt him, or this Tree Impart against his will if all be his? Or is it envy? and can envy dwell In heav'nly breasts? these, these, and many more Causes import your need of this fair Fruit. Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste He ended; and his words, replete with guile Into her heart too easy entrance won: Fixed on the Fruit she gazed, which to behold Might tempt alone; and in her ears the sound Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregned With reason, to her seeming, and with truth: Mean while the hour of noon drew on, and waked An eager appetite, raised by the smell So savoury of that fruit, which with desire Inclinable now grown to touch or taste Solicited her longing eye; yet first Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits Though kept from man, and worthy to be admired; Whose taste, too long forborn, at first a**ay Gave elocution to the mute, and taught The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise: Thy praise he also, who forbids thy use, Conceals not from us, naming thee the tree Of knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil; Forbids us then to taste, but his forbidding Commends thee more, while it infers the good By thee communicated, and our want: For good unknown sure is not had; or, had And yet unknown, is as not had at all In plain then, what forbids he but to know Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise? Such prohibitions bind not. But, if d**h Bind us with after-bands, what profits then Our inward freedom? In the day we eate Of this fair Fruit, our doom is, we shall die. How dies the Serpent? he hath eaten and lives And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns Irrational till then. For us alone Was d**h invent'd? or to us deni'd This intellectual food, for beasts reserv'd? For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first Hath tasted envies not, but brings with joy The good befall'n him, author unsuspect Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile What fear I then? rather, what know to feare Under this ignorance of Good and Evil, Of God or d**h, of law or Penaltie? Here grows the Cure of all, this Fruit Divine Fair to the Eye, inviting to the Taste, Of virtue to make wise: what hinders then To reach, and feed at once both Bodie and Mind? So saying, her rash hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck'd, she eat Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe, That all was lost. Back to the Thicket slunk The guiltie Serpent, and well might;for Eve Intent now wholly on her taste, nought else Regarded; such delight till then, as seemed In fruit she never tasted, whether true Or fancied so, through expectation high Of knowledge; nor was Godhead from her thought Greedily she ingorged without restraint And knew not eating d**h: Satiate at length And hight'nd as with wine, jocund and boon, Thus to herself she pleasingly began, O sovran, virtuous, precious of all trees In Paradise! of operation blest To sapience, hitherto obscured, infamed And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end Created; but henceforth my early care Not without song, each morning, and due praise Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease Of thy full branches offered free to all; Till, dieted by thee I grow mature In knowledge, as the Gods who all things know; Though others envy what they cannot give; For had the gift been theirs, it had not here Thus grown. Experience, next, to thee I owe, Best guide; not following thee, I had remained In ignorance, thou op'net Wisdom's way, And giv'st access, though secret she retire. And I perhaps am secret: Heaven is high High, and remote to see from thence distinct Each thing on Earth; and other care perhaps May have diverted from continual watch Our great Forbidder, safe with all his Spies About him. But to Adam in what sort Shall I appear? shall I to him make known As yet my change, and give him to partake Full happiness with me, or rather not But keeps the odds of knowledge in my power Without copartner? so to add what wants In female s**, the more to draw his love And render me more equal; and perhaps A thing not undesirable, somtime Superiour; for inferiour who is free? This may be well: But what if God have seen And d**h ensue? then I shall be no more! And Adam, wedded to another Eve Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct; A d**h to think! Confirmed then I resolve Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe: So dear I love him, that with him all d**hs I could endure, without him live no life So saying, from the Tree her step she turnd, But first low reverence done, as to the Power That dwelt within, whose presence had infused Into the plant sciential sap, derived From nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while Waiting desirous her return, had wove Of choicest flowers a garland, to adorn Her tresses, and her rural labours crown; As reapers oft are won't their harvest-queen Great joy he promis'd to his thoughts, and new Solace in her return, so long delay'd: Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill Misgave him; he the faltering measure felt; And forth to meet her went, the way she took That Morn when first they parted; by the Tree Of Knowledge he must pa**, there he her met, Scarce from the Tree returning; in her hand A bough of fairest fruit that downy smil'd, New gatherd, and ambrosial smell diffus'd, To him she hasted; in her face excuse Came prologue, and apology too prompt; Which, with bland words at will, she thus addrest. Hast thou not wondered, Adam, at my stay? Thee I have missed, and thought it long, deprived Thy presence; agony of love till now Not felt, nor shall be twice; for never more Mean I to try, what rash untried I sought The pain of absence from thy sight. But strange Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear: This tree is not, as we are told, a tree Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown Opening the way, but of divine effect To open eyes, and make them Gods who taste; And hath been tasted such; The serpent wise Or not restrained as we, or not obeying Hath eat'n of the fruit, and is become, Not dead, as we are threaten'd, but thenceforth Endu'd with human voice and human sense, Reasoning to admiration, and with mee Perswasively hath so prevaild, that I Have also tasted, and have also found Th' effects to correspond, opener mine Eyes, Dimm erst, dilated Spirits, ampler heart, And growing up to Godhead; which for thee Chiefly I sought, without thee can despise. For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss, Tedious, unshar'd with thee, and odious soon. Thou therefore also taste, that equal Lot May joyne us, equal Joy, as equal Love; Least, thou not tasting, different degree Disjoyne us, and I then too late renounce Deity for thee, when Fate will not permit Thus Eve with countenance blithe her story told; But in her cheek distemper flushing glowed On the other side Adam, soon as he heard The fatal trespa** done by Eve, amazed Astonied stood and blank, while horrour chill Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed; From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve Down dropt, and all the faded Roses shed: Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at length First to himself he inward silence broke. O fairest of Creation, last and best Of all God's works, Creature in whom excell'd Whatever can to sight or thought be found, Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet! How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost Defaced, deflowered, and now to d**h devote! Rather how hast thou yeelded to transgress The strict forbiddance, how to violate The sacred Fruit forbidd'n! som cursed fraud Of Enemie hath beguil'd thee, yet unknown, And mee with thee hath ruined; for with thee Certain my resolution is to die: How can I live without thee! how forego Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined To live again in these wild woods forlorn! Should God create another Eve, and I Another rib afford, yet loss of thee Would never from my heart: no, no, I feel The Link of Nature draw me: flesh of flesh Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy state Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe So having said, as one from sad dismay Recomforted, and after thoughts disturbed Submitting to what seemed remediless, Thus in calm mood his Words to EVE he turnd. Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve And peril great provok't, who thus hast dar'd Had it been only coveting to Eye That sacred Fruit, sacred to abstinence, Much more to taste it under banne to touch. But past who can recall, or done undoe? Not God omnipotent, for Fate; yet so Perhaps thou shalt not Die, perhaps the fact Is not so heinous now, foretasted fruit Profaned first by the serpent, by him first Made common, and unhallowed, ere our taste; Nor yet on him found deadly; yet he lives; Lives, as thou saidst, and gains to live, as Man Higher degree of life; inducement strong To us, as likely tasting to attain Proportional ascent; which cannot be But to be Gods, or Angels Demi-Gods. Nor can I think that God, Creator wise Though threatening, will in earnest so destroy Us his prime creatures, dignifi'd so high, Set over all his Works; which in our Fall For us created, needs with us must faile, Dependent made; so God shall uncreate Be frustrate, do, undo, and labour lose; Not well conceived of God, who, though his power Creation could repeat, yet would be loth Us to abolish, lest the Adversary Triumph, and say; "Fickle their state whom God "Most favours; who can please him long? Me first "He ruined, now Mankind; whom will he next?" Matter of scorn, not to be given the Foe. However I with thee have fixed my lot Certain to undergo like doom: if d**h Consort with thee, d**h is to mee as life; So forcible within my heart I feel The bond of Nature draw me to my owne, My own in thee, for what thou art is mine; Our State cannot be severd, we are one, One Flesh; to loose thee were to loose my self. So ADAM; and thus EVE to him repli'd. O glorious trial of exceeding Love, Illustrious evidence, example high! Ingaging me to emulate, but short Of thy perfection, how shall I attaine, ADAM, from whose dear side I boast me sprung, And gladly of our Union heare thee speak, One Heart, one Soul in both; whereof good prooff This day affords, declaring thee resolvd, Rather than d**h or aught than d**h more dread Shall separate us, linked in love so dear To undergo with me one guilt, one crime If any be, of tasting this fair fruit; Whose vertue, for of good still good proceeds, Direct, or by occasion hath presented This happie trial of thy Love, which else So eminently never had bin known. Were it I thought d**h menac't would ensue This my attempt, I would sustain alone The worst, and not persuade thee, rather die Deserted, than oblige thee with a fact Pernicious to thy Peace, chiefly a**ur'd Remarkably so late of thy so true, So faithful Love unequald; but I feel Far otherwise th; event; not d**h, but Life Augmented, op'nd Eyes, new Hopes, new Joyes, Taste so Divine, that what of sweet before Hath touched my sense, flat seems to this, and harsh. On my experience, Adam, freely taste And fear of d**h deliver to the Windes. So saying, she embrac'd him, and for joy Tenderly wept, much won that he his love Had so ennobled, as of choice to incur Divine displeasure for her sake, or d**h In recompence for such compliance bad Such recompence best merits from the bough She gave him of that fair enticing fruit With liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat Against his better knowledge; not deceived But fondly overcome with female charm Earth trembled from her entrails, as again In pangs; and Nature gave a second groan; Skie lowr'd, and muttering Thunder, som sad drops Wept at compleating of the mortal Sin Original; while Adam took no thought Eating his fill; nor Eve to iterate Her former trespa** feared, the more to soothe Him with her lov'd societie, that now As with new wine intoxicated both They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel Divinity within them breeding wings Wherewith to scorn the earth: but that false fruit Farr other operation first displaid, Carnal desire enflaming, he on Eve Began to cast lascivious Eyes, she him As wantonly repaid; in lust they burn: Till ADAM thus 'gan EVE to dalliance move, Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste And elegant, of sapience no small part; Since to each meaning savour we apply And palate call judicious; I the praise Yield thee, so well this day thou hast purvey'd. Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstained From this delightful fruit, nor known till now True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be In things to us forbidden, it might be wished For this one tree had been forbidden ten But come, so well refreshed, now let us play As meet is, after such delicious fare; For never did thy Beautie, since the day I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorn'd With all perfections, so enflame my sense With ardour to enjoy thee, fairer now Than ever, bountie of this virtuous tree! So said he, and forbore not glance or toy Of amorous intent, well understood Of Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire Her hand he seis'd, and to a shadie bank Thick overhead with verdant roof imbow'rd He led her nothing loth; Flours were the Couch, Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel And Hyacinth, Earths freshest softest lap. There they their fill of love and love's disport Took largely, of their mutual guilt the Seale, The solace of their sin, till dewy sleep Oppress'd them, wearied with their amorous play. Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit That with exhilarating vapour bland About their spirits had plaid, and inmost powers Made erre, was now exhal'd, and grosser sleep Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams Encumbered, now had left them, up they rose As from unrest; and, each the other viewing, Soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds How darkened; innocence, that as a veil Had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone; Just confidence, and native righteousness, And honour from about them, naked left To guilty Shame; he covered, but his robe Uncovered more. So rose the Danite strong Herculean Samson, from the harlot-lap Of Philistean Dalilah, and waked Shorn of his strength. They destitute and bare Of all their virtue: silent, and in face Confounded, long they sate, as struck'n mute: Till ADAM, though not less than EVE abash't, At length gave utterance to these words constraind. O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give care To that false worm, of whomsoever taught To counterfeit Mans voice; true in our Fall, False in our promis'd Rising; since our Eyes Op'nd we find indeed, and find we know Both good and evil; good lost, and evil got; Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know; Which leaves us naked thus, of honour void Of innocence, of faith, of purity Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained And in our faces evident the signs Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store; Even shame, the last of evils; of the first Be sure then. How shall I behold the face Henceforth of God or Angel, earst with joy And rapture so oft beheld? those heav'nly shapes Will dazle now this earthly, with their blaze Insufferably bright. O might I here In solitude live savage, in some glad Obscur'd, where highest Woods, impenetrable To Starr or Sun-light, spread their umbrage broad, And brown as Evening: Cover me ye Pines, Ye Cedars, with innumerable boughs Hide me, where I may never see them more. But let us now, as in bad plight, devise What best may for the present serve to hide The parts of each from other, that seem most To shame obnoxious, and unseemliest seen, Some tree, whose broad smooth leaves together sewed And girded on our loins, may cover round Those middle parts; that this new comer, Shame There sit not, and reproach us as unclean So couns'led hee, and both together went Into the thickest Wood; there soon they chose The fig-tree; not that kind for fruit renowned But such as at this day, to Indians known In Malabar or Decan spreads her arms Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree, a pillared shade High over-arched, and echoing walks between: There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds At loop-holes cut through thickest shade: Those Leaves They gathered, broad as AMAZONIAN Targe, And with what sk** they had, together sewed To gird their waist; vain Covering if to hide Their guilt and dreaded shame; O how unlike To that first naked Glory! Such of late Columbus found the American, so girt With feathered cincture; naked else, and wild Among the trees on isles and woody shores Thus fenced, and, as they thought, thir shame in part Coverd, but not at rest or ease of Mind, They sat them down to weep, nor onely Teares Raind at their Eyes, but high winds worse within Began to rise, high pa**ions, anger, hate Mistrust, suspicion, discord; and shook sore Their inward state of mind, calm region once And full of peace, now tost and turbulent: For Understanding ruled not, and the Will Heard not her lore; both in subjection now To sensual Appetite, who from beneath Usurping over sovran Reason claimed Superiour sway: From thus distempered breast, ADAM, estrang'd in look and alterd stile, Speech intermitted thus to EVE renewed. Would thou hadst heark'nd to my words, & stai'd With me, as I besought thee, when that strange Desire of wandring, this unhappie Morn, I know not whence possessed thee; we had then Remained still happie, not as now, despoiled Of all our good, sham'd, naked, miserable. Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve The Faith they owe; when earnestly they seek Such proof, conclude, they then begin to faile. To whom, soon mov'd with touch of blame thus EVE. What words have pa**ed thy Lips, ADAM severe, Imput'st thou that to my default, or will Of wandering, as thou call'st it, which who knows But might as ill have happ'nd thou being by, Or to thyself perhaps: hadst thou been there, Or here th' attempt, thou couldst not have discernd Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake; No ground of enmitie between us known, Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harme. Was I to have never parted from thy side? As good have grown there still a liveless Rib. Being as I am, why didst not thou the Head Command me absolutely not to go, Going into such danger as thou saidst? Too facil then thou didst not much gainsay, Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dismiss. Hadst thou been firm and fixt in thy dissent, Neither had I transgress'd, nor thou with mee. To whom then first incenst ADAM repli'd. Is this the Love, is this the recompence Of mine to thee, ingrateful EVE, exprest Immutable when thou wert lost, not I, Who might have liv'd and joyed immortal bliss, Yet willingly chose rather d**h with thee: And am I now upbraided, as the cause Of thy transgressing? not enough severe, It seems, in thy restraint: what could I more? I warn'd thee, I admonish'd thee, foretold The danger, and the lurking Enemie That lay in wait; beyond this had been force, And force upon free Will hath here no place. But confidence then bore thee on, secure Either to meet no danger, or to find Matter of glorious trial; and perhaps I also err'd, in overmuch admiring What seemed in thee so perfet, that I thought No evil durst attempt thee, but I rue The errour now, which is become my crime, And thou th' accuser. Thus it shall befall Him who to worth in Women overtrusting Lets her Will rule; restraint she will not brook, And left to her self, if evil thence ensue, She first his weak indulgence will accuse. Thus they in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning; And of thir vain contest appear'd no end.