Shall bring on men. Immediately a place Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noisome, dark, A lazar house it seem'd, wherein were laid Numbers of all diseas'd, all maladies
Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms
Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds, Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, Intestine stone and ulcer, colic pangs, Demoniac phrenzy, moping melancholy,
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums. Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch; And over them triumphant Death his dart Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invok'd With vows, as their chief good and final hope. Sight so deform what heart of rock could long Dry-ey'd behold? Adam could not, but wept, Though not of woman born; compassion quell'd His best of man, and gave him up to tears A space, till firmer thoughts restrain'd excess; And scarce recovering words his plaint renew'd. O MISERABLE mankind, to what fall Degraded, to what wretched state reserv'd! Better end here unborn. Why is life given To be thus wrested from us? Rather why Obtruded on us thus? Who if we knew What we receive, would either not accept
Life offer'd, or soon beg to lay it down, Glad to be so dismiss'd in peace. Can thus
Th' image of God in man created once
So goodly and erect, though faulty since,
To such unsightly sufferings be debas'd
Under inhuman pains? Why should not man, Retaining still divine similitude
In part, from such deformities be free,
And for his Maker's image sake exempt?
THEIR Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then 515 Forsook them, when themselves they vilify'd
To serve ungovern'd appetite, and took
His image whom they serv'd, a brutish vice, Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve.
Therefore so abject is their punishment,
Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own, Or if his likeness, by themselves defac'd While they pervert pure nature's heathful rules To loathsome sickness, worthily, since they God's image did not reverence in themselves. I YIELD it just, said Adam, and submit. But is there yet no other way, besides These painful passages, how we may come To death, and mix with our connatural dust?
THERE is, said Michael, if thou well observe
The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught,
In what thou eat'st and drink'st, seeking from thence Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,
Till many years over thy head return :
So may'st thou live, till like ripe fruit thou drop 535
Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease
Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature:
This is old age; but then thou must outlive
Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change To wither'd, weak, and grey; thy senses then Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forego, To what thou hast ; and for the air of youth, Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign A melancholy damp of cold and dry
To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume The balm of life. To whom our ancestor. Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong Life much, bent rather how I may be quit
Fairest and easiest of this cumb'rous charge,
Which I must keep till my appointed day
Of rend'ring up, and patiently attend
My dissolution. Michael reply'd.
Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st Live well, how long or short permit to Heaven: And now prepare thee for another sight.
He look'd, and saw a spacious plain, whereon Were tents of various hue; by some were herds Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound Of instruments that made melodious chime Was heard, of harp and organ; and who mov'd Their stops and chords was seen: his volant touch Instinct through all proportions low and high Fled and pursu'd transverse the resonant fugue. In other part stood one who at the forge Lab'ring, two massy clods of ir'on and brass Had melted, (whether found where casual fire Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale, Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot To some cave's mouth, or whether wash'd by stream
From under-ground) the liquid ore he drain'd
Into fit moulds prepar'd; from which he form'd
First his own tools; then, what might else be wrought Fusile or grav'n in metal. After these,
But on the hither side, a different sort
From the high neighb'ring hills, which was their seat, Down to the plain descended: by their guise
Just men they seem'd, and all their study bent
In gems and wanton dress; to th' harp they sung Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on: The men though grave, ey'd them, and let their eyes Rove without rein, till in the amorous net
To worship God aright, and know his works Not hid, nor those things last which might preserve Freedom and peace to men; they on the plain Long had not walk'd, when from the tents behold A bevy of fair women, richly gay
Fast caught, they lik'd, and each his liking chose; And now of love they treat, till th' evening star, Love's harbinger appear'd; then all in heat They light the nuptial torch, and bid invoke Hymen, then first to marriage rites invok'd: With feast and music all the tents resound. Such happy interview and fair event
Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flowers,
And charming symphonies attach'd the heart
Of Adam, soon inclin'd t' admit delight, The bent of nature; which he thus express'd. TRUE opener of mine eyes, prime Angel blest, Much better seems this vision, and more hope Of peaceful days portends, than those two past;
Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse; Here nature seems fulfill'd in all her ends.
To whom thus Michael. Judge not what is best By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet, Created, as thou art, to nobler end
Holy and pure, conformity divine.
Those tents thou saw'st so pleasant, were the tents Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race Who slew his brother; studious they appear Of arts that polish life, inventors rare, Unmindful of their Maker, though his Spirit
Taught them, but they his gifts acknowledg'd none. Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget;
For that fair female troop thou saw'st that seem'd
Of Goddesses so blithe, so smooth, so gay,
Yet empty of all good wherein consists Woman's domestic honour and chief praise; Bred only and completed to the taste Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance,
To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye; To these that sober race of men, whose lives Religious titled them the sons of God, Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame Ignobly, to the trains and to the smiles Of these fair atheists, and now swim in, joy, Erelong to swim at large, and laugh, for which The world erelong a world of tears must weep. To whom thus Adam of short joy bereft. O pity' and shame, that they who to live well Enter'd so fair, should turn aside to tread
« PreviousContinue » |