Satan now in prospect of Eden, and nigh the place where he must now attempt the bold enterprize which he undertook alone against God and Man, falls into many doubts with himself, and many passions, fear, envy, and despair; but at length confirms himself in evil, journeys on to Paradise, whose outward prospect and situation is described, overleaps the bounds, sits in the shape of a cormorant on the tree of Life, as highest in the garden, to look about him. The garden described; Satan's first sight of Adam and Eve; his wonder at their excellent form and happy state, but with resolution to work their fall; overhears their discourse, thence gathers that the tree of Knowledge was forbidden them to eat of, under penalty of death; and thereon intends to found his temptation, by seducing them to transgress: then leaves them awhile, to know further of their state by some other means. ing on a sun-beam warns Gabriel, who had in charge the gate of Paradise, that some evil Spirit had escaped the deep, Mean while Uriel descendand passed at noon by his sphere in the shape of a good Angel down to Paradise, discovered after by his furious gestures in the mount, Gabriel promises to find him ere moruing. Night coming on, Adam and Eve discourse of going to their rest: their bower described; their evening worship. Gabriel drawing forth his bands of night-watch to walk the ground of Paradise, appoints two strong Angels to Adam's bower, lest the evil Spirit should be there doing some barm to Adam or Eve sleeping; there they find him at the ear of Eve, tempting her in a dream, and bring him, though unwilling, to Gabriel; by whom questioned, he scornfully answers, prepares resistance, but hindred by a sigu from Heaven, flies out of Paradise.
O FOR that warning voice, which he who saw Th' Apocalypse heard cry in Heav'n aloud Then when the Dragon, put to second rout, Came furious down to be reveng'd on men, "Woe to th' inhabitants on earth!" that now, While time was, our first parents had been warn'd
The coming of their secret foe, and 'scap'd, Haply so 'scap'd his mortal snare: for now Satan, now first inflam'd with rage, came down,
The tempter ere th' accuser of mankind, To wreck on innocent frail man his loss Of that first battle, and his flight to Hell: Yet not rejoicing in his speed, though bold Far off and fearless, nor with cause to boast, Begins his dire attempt, which nigh the birth| Now rolling boils in his tumultuous breast, And like a devilish engine back recoils Upon himself; horror and doubt distract His troubled thoughts, and from the bottom stir
The Hell within him; for within him Hell He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
One step no more than from himself can fly By change of place: now conscience wakes despair
That slumber'd, wakes the bitter memory Of what he was, what is, and what must be Worse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must
Which now sat high in his meridian tower: Then much revolving, thus in sighs began.
O thou that with surpassing glory crown'd, Look'st from thy sole dominion like the God Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads; to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what
I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere; Till pride, and worse ambition threw me down Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless king:
Ah wherefore! he deserv'd no such return From me, whom he created what I was In that bright eminence, and with his good Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. What could be less than to afford him praise, The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks, How duc! yet all his good prov'd ill in me, Aud wrought but malice; lifted up so high I 'sdain'd subjection, and thought one step higher
Would set me high'st, and in a moment quit The debt immense of endless gratitude, So burdensome still paying, still to owe, Forgetful what from him I still receiv'd, And understood not that a grateful mind By owing owes not, but still pays, at once Indebted and discharg'd; what burden then? O had his pow'rful destiny ordain'd Me some inferior Angel, I had stood Then happy; no unbounded hope had rais'd Ambition. Yet why not? Some other Power As great might have aspir'd, and me though
Drawn to his part; but other Pow'rs as great Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within Or from without, to all temptations arm’d. Hadst thou the same free will and pow'r to stand?
Thou hadst whom hast thou then or what to
But Heav'n's free love dealt equally to all? Be then his love accurs'd, since love or hate, To me alike, it deals eternal woe.
Thrice chang'd with pale, ire, envy, and despair;
[tray'd Which marr'd his borrow'd visage, and beHim counterfeit, if any eye beheld. For heav'nly minds from such distempers foul Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware, Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm,
Artificer of frand; and was the first
That practis'd falsehood under saintly show,
Nay, curs'd be thou; since against his thy will Deep malice to conceal, ceuch'd with revenge:
Chose freely what it now so justly rues. Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; And in the lowest deep a lower deep Still threat'ning to devour me opeus wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven. O then at last relent: is there no place Left for repentance, none for pardon left? None left but by submission; and that word Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame Among the Spirits beueath, whom I seduc'd With other promises and other vaunts Than to submit, boasting I could subdue Th' Omnipotent. Ay ine, they little know How dearly 1 abide that boast so vain, Under what torments inwardly I groan, While they adore me on the throne of Hell. With diadem and sceptre high advanc'd, The lower still I fall, only supreme In inisery; such joy ambition finds. But say I could repent and could obtain
By act of grace my former state; how soon Would height recal high thoughts, how soon
Yet not enough had practis'd to deceive Uriel once warn'd; whose eye pursued him
The way he went, and ou th' Assyrian mount Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befal Spirit of happy sort: his gestures fierce He mark'd, and mad demeanour, then alone, As he suppos'd, all unobserv`d, unseen. So on he fares, and to the border comes Of Eden, where delicious Paradise, Now nearer, crowns with her inclosure green, As with a rural mound, the champain head Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild, Access deny'd; and over head upgrew Insuperable height of loftiest shade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene, and as the ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops The verd'rous wall of Paradise up sprung: Which to our general sire gave prospect large Into his nether empire neighb'ring round And higher than that wall a circling row
What feign'd submission swore! case would Of goodliest trees loaden with fairest fruit,
Vows made in pain, as violent and void. For never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse And heavier fall: so should I purchase dear Short intermission bought with double smart. This knows my punisher; therefore as far From granting he, as 1 from begging peace: All hope excluded thus, behold in stead of us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight, Mankind created, and for him this world. So farewel hope, and with hope farewel fear, Farewel remorse: all good to me is lost; Evil be thou my good; by thee at least Divided empire with Heav'n's king I hold, By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign; As Man ere long, and this new world shall know.
Thus while he spake, each passion dimm'd his face
Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue, Appear'd with gay enamel'd colours mix'd? On which the sun more glad impress a beams
Then in fair evening cloud, or humid bow, When God hath show 'r'd the earth; so love'7
That landskip: and of pure now purer air Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All sadness but despair: now gentle gales Fanning their odoriferous wings dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow Sabean odours from the spicy shore Of Araby the blest; with such delay Well pleas'd they slack their course, and many a league [smiles: Cheer'd with the grateful smell old Ocean
So entertai'd thuse ogorous sweets the Fiend Who came their baue, though with them better pleas'd
Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume That drove him, though enamour'd, from the
Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound. Now to th' ascent of that steep savage hill Satan had journey'd on, pensive and slow; But further way found none, so thick intwin'd As one continued brake, the undergrowth Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplex'd All path of man or beast that pass'd that way: Que gate there only was, and that look'd east On the other side: which when th' arch felon
Due entrance he disdain'd, and in contempt, At one slight bound high everleap'd all bound Of hill or highest 'wall, and sheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf, Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt, for prey,
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks
In hurdled cotes amid the field secure, Leaps o'er the fence with case into the fold: Or as a thief bent to unhoard the cash Of some rich burgler, whose substantial doors, Cross-barr'd and bolted fast, fear no assault, In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles: So clomb this first grand thief into God's fold; So since into his church lewd hirelings climb. Thence up he flew, and on the tree of Life, The middle tree and highest there that grew, Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life "Thereby regain'd, but sat devising death Ta them who liv`d; nor on the virtue thought Of that life-giving plant, but only us'd For prospect, what well us'd had been the pledge
Of immortality. So little knows
Any, but God alone, to value right The good before him, but perverts best things To worst abuse, or to their meanest use. Beneath him with new wonder now he views To all delight of hunfan sense expos'd In narrow room Nature's whole wealth, yea
A Heav'n on Earth: for blissful Paradise Of God the garden was, by him in th’east Of Eden planted; Eden stretch'd her line From Auran eastward to the royal towers Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings, Or where the sons of Eden long before Dwelt in Telassar: in this pleasant soil His far more pleasant garden God ordain'd; Out of the fertile ground he caus'd to grow
Southward through Eden went a river large, Nor chang'd bis course, but through the shaggy hill
Pass'd underneath ingulf'd; for God had thrown
That mountain as his garden men'd high rais'd Upon the rapid current, which through veins Of porous earth with kindly thirst up drawn, Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill Water'd the garden; thence suited fell Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
Which from bis darksome passage now appears, And now divided into four main streams, Runs diverse, wand'ring many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account But rather to tell how, if Art could tell, low from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, With mazy error under pendent shades Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed Flow'rs, worthy of Paradise, which not nice
Another side, umbrageons grotes and caves Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape, aud gently creeps Luxuriant; mean while murm'ring waters fall Down the slope hills, dispers'd, or in a lake, That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams. The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs, Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste, ! The trembling leaves, while universal Pan
Kuit with the Graces and the Hours in dance Led on th' eterual spring Not that fair field
Of Emma, where Proserpine gathering flowers Herself a fairer flow'r by gloomy Dis
Was gather'd, which cost Ceres all that pain Toseck her through the world; nor that sweet
Of Daphne by Orontes, and th`' inspir'd Castalian spring, might with this Paradise Of Eden strive; nor that Nyscian isle Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham, Whom Gentiles Ammou call and Lybian Jove,
Hid Amalthea and her florid son
Young Bacchus from his stepdame Rhea's eye;
Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard, Mount Amara, though this by some suppos'd True Paradise under the Ethiop line
By Nilus' head, inclos'd with shining rock, A whole day's journey high, but wide remote From this Assyrian garden, where the Fiend Saw undelighted all delight, all kind
Of living creatures new to sight and strange. Two of far uabler shape, erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad In naked majesty, seem'd lords of all, And worthy seem'd; for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure, (Severe, but in true filial freedom plac'd) Whence true authority in men; though both Not equal, as their sex not equal seem'd ; For contemplation he and valour formu'd, For softness she and sweet attractive grace, He for God only, she for God in him : His fair large frout and eye sublime declar'd Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks Round from his parted forclock manly hung Clust'ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
She as a reil down to the slender waist Her unadorned goiden tresses wore Disheveld, but in wauton ringlets way'd As the vine curls her tendrils, which imply'd Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway, And by her yielded, by him best receiv'd, Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, And sweet reluctant amorous delay.
Nor those myst'rious parts were then conceard,
Thea was not guilty shame, dishonest shame Of Nature's works, honour dishonourable, Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure,
And banish'd from man's life his happiest life, Simplicity and spotless innocence !
Of God or Angel, for they thought no ili: So hand in hand they pass'd, the loveliest pair
That ever since in love's embraces met; Adam the goodlist man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve. Under a tuft of shade that on a green Stood whisping soft, by a fresh fountain side
They sat thera down: and after no more toil Of their sweet gard'ning labour then suffic'd To recommend cool Zephyr, and made ense More casy, wholesome thirst and appetite More grateful, to their supper fruits they fell,
Nectarine fruits which the compliant bonghs Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline On the soft downy bank damask'd with flowers;
The savoury palp they chew, and in the rind Still as they thirsted scoop the brimming
Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smiles Wanted, nor youthful dalliance as besecms Fair couple, link'd in happy nuptial league, Alone as they. About them frisking play'ć All beasts of th' earth, since wild, and of a chase
In woods or wilderness, forest or den; Sporting the lion ramp'd, and in his paw
I Dandied the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards, Gambul'd before them; th' unwieldy elephant To make them mirth us'd all his might, and wreath'd
His lithe probocis; close the serpent sly Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine His braided train, and of his fatal guile Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass Couch'd, and now fill'd with pasture gazing sat,
Or bedward ruminating; for the sun Deelin'd was basting now with prone carcer To th' occau isles, and in th' ascending scale Of Heav'n the stars that usher ovening rose : When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood, Scarce thus at length fail'd speech recover'ð sad. [hold"
O Hell! what do mine eyes with grief bcInto our room of bliss thus high advanc'd Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps, Not Spirits, yet to heav'nly Spirits bright Little inferior; whom my thoughts pursue With wonder, and could love, so lively shanes In them divine resemblance, and such grace The hand that form'd them on their shape
Ab gentle pair, se httle think how righ
Your change approaches, when all these delights
Will vanish and deliver ye to woc,
Have nothing merited, nor can perform Ought whereof he hath need, he who requires From us no other service than to keep
More woe, the more your taste is now of joy; This one, this easy charge, of all the trees Happy, but for so happy ill secur'd In Paradise that bears delicious fruit
Long to continue, and this high seat your So various, not to taste that only tree
Ill fenc'd for Heav'u to keep out such a foe As now is enter'd; yet no purpos'd foe To you, whom I could pity thus forlorn, Though I unpitied: league with you I seck, And mutual amity so strait, so close, That with you must dwell, or you with me Henceforth; my dwelling haply may not please,
Like this fair Paradise, your sense, yet such Accept your Maker's work; he gave it me, Which as freely give; Hell shall unfold, To entertain you two, her widest gates, And send forth all her kings; there will be
To do what else though damn'd I should ab- So spake the Fiend, and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excus'd his devilish deeds. Then from his lofty stand on that high tree Down he alights among the sportive herd Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one, Now other, as their shape serv'd best his end Nearer to view his prey, and unespy'd To mark what of their state he more might learu
By word or action mark`d: about them round A lion now he stalks with fiery glare; Then as a tiger, who by chance bath spy'd In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play, Strait couches close, then rising changes oft His couchant watch, as one who chose his|| ground,
Whence rushing he might surest seize them Grip'd in each paw: when Adam first of men To first of women Eve thus moving speech, Turn'd him all ear to hear new utterance flow, Sole partner, and sole part, of all these j›ys, Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power That made us, aud for us this ample world, As liberal and free as infinite;
That rais'd us from the dust and plac'd us
In all this happiness, who at his hand
Of Knowledge, planted by the tree of Life; So near grows death to life, whate'er death is, Some dreadfui thing no doubt; for well thou
One easy prohibition, who enjoy
Free leave so large to all things else, and choice
Unlimited of manifold delights:
But let us ever praise him, and extol His bounty, following our delightful task To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers, [sweet. Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were To whom thus Eve reply'd. O thou for whom [flesh, And from whom I was form'd flesh of thy And without whom am to no end, my guide And head, what thou hast said is just and right.
For we to him indeed all praises owe, Aud daily thanks; I chiefly who enjoy So far the happier lot, enjoying thee Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou Like concert to thyself canst no where find. That day I oft remember, when from sleep I first awak'd, and found myself repos'd Under a shade on flow'rs, much wond'ring [how.
And what I was, whence thither brought, and Not distant far from thence a murm'ring
Of waters issued from a cave, and spread Into a liquid plain, then stood unmov'd Pure as the expance of Heav'n; I thither went With unexperienc'd thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear Smooth lake, that to me seem'd another skye As I bent down to look, just opposite A shape within the wat’ry gleam appear'd, Bending to look on ine: 1 started back, It started back; but pleas'd I soon return'd, Pleas'd it return'd as soon with answ'ring looks
Of sympathy and love: there I had fix'd Mine eyes till now, and piu'd with vain desire
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