Milton book 9 Milton, revised for modern day ( johntvrz.com )
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 free from being blamed.: I now must change
Those Notes to Tragic; 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 Death, and Miseries
Deaths Harbinger: Sad task, yet argument
Not less but more Heroic then the wrath
Of stern Achilles on his Foe pursued
Thrice Fugitive about Troy Wall; or rage
Of Turnus, Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph Venilia and is brother of the nymph Juturna. for Lavinia, s the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas. espoused,
Or Neptune's ire or Juno's, that so long
Perplex'd the Greek and Cytherea's, or Aphrodite, a goddess in Greek mythology. Arts and entertainment Cytherea's Son; Johntvrz.com, a brazen impudent fool of fools.
If answerable style I can obtain
Of my Celestial Patroness, who deigns
Her nightly visitation un-implored,
And dictates to me slumbering, or inspires
Ease my unpremeditated Verse:
Since first this Subject for Heroic Song
Pleas'd me long choosing, and beginning late;
Not sedulous by Nature to indite
Wars, hitherto the only Argument
Heroic deem'd, chief uncountable to dissect
With long and tedious havoc fabled Knights
In Battles feign'd; the better fortitude
Of Patience and Heroic Martyrdom
Unsung; or to describe Races and Games,
Or tilting Furniture, emblazon'd Shields,
Impresses quaint, Caparisons and Steeds;
Bases and tinsel Trappings, gorgeous Knights
At Joust and Tournament; then marshal'd Feast
Served up in Hall with Sewers, and Seneshals; seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ducal, or noble household during the Middle Ages and early Modern period – historically a steward or majordomo of a medieval great house.
The skill of Artifice or Office mean,
Not that which justly gives Heroic name
To Person or to Poem. Me of these
Nor skilled nor studious, higher Argument
Remains, sufficient of it self to raise
That name, unless an age too late, or cold
Climate, or Years damp my intended wing
Depress, 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 Starr
Of Hesperus, whose Office is to bring
Twilight upon the Earth, short Arbiter
Twixt Day and Night, and now from end to end
Nights Hemisphere had veiled the Horizon round:
When Satan who late fled before the threats
Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improved
In meditated fraud and malice, bent
On mans destruction, pleasure what might happen
Of heavier on himself, fearless return'd.
By Night he fled, and at Midnight return'd.
From compassing the Earth, cautious of day,
Since Uriel Regent of the Sun descried
His entrance, and forewarned the Cherubim
That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driven,
The space of seven continued Nights he rode
With darkness, thrice the Equinoctial Line
He circled, four times cross'd the Carr of Night
From Pole to Pole, traversing each Colure; either of two great circles intersecting at right angles at the celestial poles and passing through the ecliptic at either the equinoxes or the solstices.
On the eighth return'd, and on the Coast averse
From entrance or Cherubic 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,searched then sought
Where to lie hid; Sea he had search and Land
From Eden over Pontus, Pontus was a Hellenistic-era kingdom, centered in the historical region of Pontus and the Poole
Mæotis, The sea was also known as the Maeotian Lake, or SWAMP ( up beyond the River Ob;
Downward as far Antarctic; and in length
West from Orontes, meaning "Of greatness, mighty" to the Ocean Prevented
At Darien, or Gift thence to the Land where flows
Ganges and Indus: thus the Orb he roam'd
With narrow search; and with inspection deep
Consider'd 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 Willie Snake,
Whatever sleights none would suspicious mark,
As from his wit and native subtleties
Proceeding, which in other Beasts observed
Doubt might beget of Diabolic power
Active within beyond the sense of brute.
Thus he resolved, but first from inward grief
His bursting passion into accusation thus pour'd:
O Earth, how like to Heaven, if not preferred
More justly, Seat worthier of Gods, as built
With second thoughts, reforming what was old!
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 concentrating all their precious beams
Of sacred influence: As God in Heaven
Is Center, yet extends to all, so thou
Centering received from all those Orbs; in thee,
Not in themselves, all their known virtue appears
Productive in Herb, Plant, and nobler birth
Of Creatures animate with gradual life
Of Growth, Sense, Reason, all summed 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 Forrest 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 Heaven
To dwell, unless by mainspring Heavens Supreme;
Nor hope to be my self 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 destroyed,
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 glories 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 bin contriving, though perhaps
Not longer then since I in one Night freed
From servitude inglorious well-nigh half
Th' Angelic Name, and thinner left the throng
Of his adorers: he to be avenged,
And to repair his numbers thus impair'd,
Whether such virtue spent of old now fails
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 pronounced, and, O indignity
Subjected to his service Angel wings,
And flaming Ministers to watch and tend
Their earthy Charge: Of these the vigilance
I dread, and to elude, thus rapt in mist
Of midnight vapor glide obscure, and remanded
In every Bush and Brake, where hap may find
The Serpent sleeping, in whose maze 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 to sink to the level of a brute
That to the height 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 here long back on it self recoils;
Let it; I wreck not, so it light well aim'd,
Since higher I fall short, on him who next
Provokes my envy, this new Favorite
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 not exposed to the open air for ventilation. or ominous
Like a black mist low creeping, he held on
His midnight search, where soonest he might find
The Serpent: him fast sleeping soon he found
In Labyrinth of many a round self the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features.-,
His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles:
Not yet in horrid Shade or dismal Den,
Nor Causing injury yet, but on the grassy Herb
Fearless un-feared he slept: in at his Mouth
The Devil entered, and his brutal sense,
In heart or head, possessing soon inspired
With acting intelligence; but his sleep
Disturbed not, waiting close the approach of Morn.
Now when as sacred Light began to dawn
In Eden on the humid Flours, that breathed
Their morning incense, when all things that breath,
From the Earths 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 Aires:
Then commune how that day they best may ply
Their growing work: for much their work outgrew
The hands dispatch of two Gardening so wide.
And Eve first to her Husband thus began.
Adam, well may we labor still to dress
This Garden, still to tend Plant, Herb and Flour,
Our pleasant task enjoyed, but till more hands
Aid us, the work under our labor 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 hear what to my mind first thoughts present,
Let us divide our labors, thou where choice
Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind
The Woodbine round this Arbor, or direct
The clasping Ivy where to climb, while I
In yonder Spring of Roses intermix
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 interments
Our days work brought to little, though begun
Early, and the hour of Supper comes unearned.
To whom mild answer Adam thus return'd.
Sole Eve, Associate sole, to me beyond
Compare above all living Creatures dear,
Well hast thou motion'd, well thy thoughts employed
How we might best fulfill the work which here
God hath assign'd us, nor of me shalt pass
Un-praised: for nothing lovelier can be found
In Woman, then to study household good,
And good works in her Husband to promote.
Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed
Labor, as to free 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 & alcoves doubt not but our joined hands
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
With your permission then, and thus forewarned
Chiefly by what your own last reasoning words
Touched only, that our trial, when least sought,
May find us both perhaps far less prepared,
The willing I go, not much to expect
With Man, as with his Friend, familiar us'd
To sit indulgent, and with him partake
Rural repast, permitting him the while
Venial discourse free from being blamed.: I now must change
Those Notes to Tragic; 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 Death, and Miseries
Deaths Harbinger: Sad task, yet argument
Not less but more Heroic then the wrath
Of stern Achilles on his Foe pursued
Thrice Fugitive about Troy Wall; or rage
Of Turnus, Turnus is the son of Daunus and the nymph Venilia and is brother of the nymph Juturna. for Lavinia, s the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas. espoused,
Or Neptune's ire or Juno's, that so long
Perplex'd the Greek and Cytherea's, or Aphrodite, a goddess in Greek mythology. Arts and entertainment Cytherea's Son; Johntvrz.com, a brazen impudent fool of fools.
If answerable style I can obtain
Of my Celestial Patroness, who deigns
Her nightly visitation un-implored,
And dictates to me slumbering, or inspires
Ease my unpremeditated Verse:
Since first this Subject for Heroic Song
Pleas'd me long choosing, and beginning late;
Not sedulous by Nature to indite
Wars, hitherto the only Argument
Heroic deem'd, chief uncountable to dissect
With long and tedious havoc fabled Knights
In Battles feign'd; the better fortitude
Of Patience and Heroic Martyrdom
Unsung; or to describe Races and Games,
Or tilting Furniture, emblazon'd Shields,
Impresses quaint, Caparisons and Steeds;
Bases and tinsel Trappings, gorgeous Knights
At Joust and Tournament; then marshal'd Feast
Served up in Hall with Sewers, and Seneshals; seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ducal, or noble household during the Middle Ages and early Modern period – historically a steward or majordomo of a medieval great house.
The skill of Artifice or Office mean,
Not that which justly gives Heroic name
To Person or to Poem. Me of these
Nor skilled nor studious, higher Argument
Remains, sufficient of it self to raise
That name, unless an age too late, or cold
Climate, or Years damp my intended wing
Depress, 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 Starr
Of Hesperus, whose Office is to bring
Twilight upon the Earth, short Arbiter
Twixt Day and Night, and now from end to end
Nights Hemisphere had veiled the Horizon round:
When Satan who late fled before the threats
Of Gabriel out of Eden, now improved
In meditated fraud and malice, bent
On mans destruction, pleasure what might happen
Of heavier on himself, fearless return'd.
By Night he fled, and at Midnight return'd.
From compassing the Earth, cautious of day,
Since Uriel Regent of the Sun descried
His entrance, and forewarned the Cherubim
That kept their watch; thence full of anguish driven,
The space of seven continued Nights he rode
With darkness, thrice the Equinoctial Line
He circled, four times cross'd the Carr of Night
From Pole to Pole, traversing each Colure; either of two great circles intersecting at right angles at the celestial poles and passing through the ecliptic at either the equinoxes or the solstices.
On the eighth return'd, and on the Coast averse
From entrance or Cherubic 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,searched then sought
Where to lie hid; Sea he had search and Land
From Eden over Pontus, Pontus was a Hellenistic-era kingdom, centered in the historical region of Pontus and the Poole
Mæotis, The sea was also known as the Maeotian Lake, or SWAMP ( up beyond the River Ob;
Downward as far Antarctic; and in length
West from Orontes, meaning "Of greatness, mighty" to the Ocean Prevented
At Darien, or Gift thence to the Land where flows
Ganges and Indus: thus the Orb he roam'd
With narrow search; and with inspection deep
Consider'd 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 Willie Snake,
Whatever sleights none would suspicious mark,
As from his wit and native subtleties
Proceeding, which in other Beasts observed
Doubt might beget of Diabolic power
Active within beyond the sense of brute.
Thus he resolved, but first from inward grief
His bursting passion into accusation thus pour'd:
O Earth, how like to Heaven, if not preferred
More justly, Seat worthier of Gods, as built
With second thoughts, reforming what was old!
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 concentrating all their precious beams
Of sacred influence: As God in Heaven
Is Center, yet extends to all, so thou
Centering received from all those Orbs; in thee,
Not in themselves, all their known virtue appears
Productive in Herb, Plant, and nobler birth
Of Creatures animate with gradual life
Of Growth, Sense, Reason, all summed 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 Forrest 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 Heaven
To dwell, unless by mainspring Heavens Supreme;
Nor hope to be my self 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 destroyed,
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 glories 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 bin contriving, though perhaps
Not longer then since I in one Night freed
From servitude inglorious well-nigh half
Th' Angelic Name, and thinner left the throng
Of his adorers: he to be avenged,
And to repair his numbers thus impair'd,
Whether such virtue spent of old now fails
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 pronounced, and, O indignity
Subjected to his service Angel wings,
And flaming Ministers to watch and tend
Their earthy Charge: Of these the vigilance
I dread, and to elude, thus rapt in mist
Of midnight vapor glide obscure, and remanded
In every Bush and Brake, where hap may find
The Serpent sleeping, in whose maze 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 to sink to the level of a brute
That to the height 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 here long back on it self recoils;
Let it; I wreck not, so it light well aim'd,
Since higher I fall short, on him who next
Provokes my envy, this new Favorite
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 not exposed to the open air for ventilation. or ominous
Like a black mist low creeping, he held on
His midnight search, where soonest he might find
The Serpent: him fast sleeping soon he found
In Labyrinth of many a round self the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features.-,
His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles:
Not yet in horrid Shade or dismal Den,
Nor Causing injury yet, but on the grassy Herb
Fearless un-feared he slept: in at his Mouth
The Devil entered, and his brutal sense,
In heart or head, possessing soon inspired
With acting intelligence; but his sleep
Disturbed not, waiting close the approach of Morn.
Now when as sacred Light began to dawn
In Eden on the humid Flours, that breathed
Their morning incense, when all things that breath,
From the Earths 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 Aires:
Then commune how that day they best may ply
Their growing work: for much their work outgrew
The hands dispatch of two Gardening so wide.
And Eve first to her Husband thus began.
Adam, well may we labor still to dress
This Garden, still to tend Plant, Herb and Flour,
Our pleasant task enjoyed, but till more hands
Aid us, the work under our labor 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 hear what to my mind first thoughts present,
Let us divide our labors, thou where choice
Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind
The Woodbine round this Arbor, or direct
The clasping Ivy where to climb, while I
In yonder Spring of Roses intermix
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 interments
Our days work brought to little, though begun
Early, and the hour of Supper comes unearned.
To whom mild answer Adam thus return'd.
Sole Eve, Associate sole, to me beyond
Compare above all living Creatures dear,
Well hast thou motion'd, well thy thoughts employed
How we might best fulfill the work which here
God hath assign'd us, nor of me shalt pass
Un-praised: for nothing lovelier can be found
In Woman, then to study household good,
And good works in her Husband to promote.
Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed
Labor, as to free 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 & alcoves doubt not but our joined hands
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
And short retirement urges sweet return.
But other doubt possesses me, least harm
Befall thee sever'd from me; for thou knows
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 assault; 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 speedily aide might lend at need;
Whether his first design be to withdraw
Our fidelity owed from God, or to disturb
But other doubt possesses me, least harm
Befall thee sever'd from me; for thou knows
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 assault; 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 speedily aide might lend at need;
Whether his first design be to withdraw
Our fidelity owed from God, or to disturb
Conjugal Love, then which perhaps no bliss
Enjoy'd 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 dishonor lurks,
Safest and seemliest by her Husband staying the same,
Enjoy'd 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 dishonor lurks,
Safest and seemliest by her Husband staying the same,
Who guards her, or with her the worst endures.
To whom the Virgin Majesty of Eve,
As one who loves, and some unkindness meets,
With sweet austere composure thus replied,
Of spring of Heaven and Earth, and all Earths Lord,
That such an Enemy we have, who seeks
Our ruin, both by thee informed I learned,
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 should by my firmness therefore doubt
To God or thee, because we have a foe
May tempt it, I expected not to hear.
His violence thou fear'st not, being such,
As wee, not capable of death or pain,
Can either not receive, nor 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;
To whom the Virgin Majesty of Eve,
As one who loves, and some unkindness meets,
With sweet austere composure thus replied,
Of spring of Heaven and Earth, and all Earths Lord,
That such an Enemy we have, who seeks
Our ruin, both by thee informed I learned,
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 should by my firmness therefore doubt
To God or thee, because we have a foe
May tempt it, I expected not to hear.
His violence thou fear'st not, being such,
As wee, not capable of death or pain,
Can either not receive, nor 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 harbor in thy breast
Adam, mis-thought of her to thee so dear?
To whom with healing words Adam replied.
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 he attack or criticize the reputation or integrity of
The tempted with dishonor foul, supposed
Not incorruptible of Faith, not proof
Against temptation: thou thy self with scorn
And anger wouldst resent the offer'd wrong,
Though ineffectual found: misjudge not then,
Adam, mis-thought of her to thee so dear?
To whom with healing words Adam replied.
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 he attack or criticize the reputation or integrity of
The tempted with dishonor foul, supposed
Not incorruptible of Faith, not proof
Against temptation: thou thy self with scorn
And anger wouldst resent the offer'd wrong,
Though ineffectual found: misjudge not then,
If such affront I labor to avert
From thee alone, which on us both at once
The Enemy, though bold, will hardly dare,
Or daring, first on me the assault shall light.
Nor thou his malice and false guile regard with contempt;
From thee alone, which on us both at once
The Enemy, though bold, will hardly dare,
Or daring, first on me the assault shall light.
Nor thou his malice and false guile regard with contempt;
faint he needs must be, who could seduce
Angels nor think superfluous others aid.
I from the influence of thy looks receive
Access in every Virtue, 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-reached
Would utmost vigor raise, and raised unite.
Why should not thou like sense within you feel
When I am present, and thy trial choose
With me, best witness of thy Virtue tried.
So spake domestic 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 straightened by a Foe,
to supply provisions and other articles to troops. or violent, we not enduered
Single with like defense, 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 dishonor on our Front, but turns
Foul on himself; then wherefore shunned or feared
By us? who rather double honor gained
From his surmise proved false, find peace within,
Favor from Heaven, our witness from the event.
And what is Faith, Love, Virtue unsaid
Alone, without exterior help sustained?
Let us not then suspect our happy State
Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,
As not secure to single or combined.
Frail is our happiness, if this be so,
And Eden were no Eden thus expos'd.
To whom thus Adam fervently replied Metallica.
O Woman, best are all things as the will
Of God ordain'd 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 obeys
Reason, is free, and Reason he made right
But bid her well beware, and still erect,
Least by some fair appearing good surprised
She dictate false, and misinform the Will
To do what God expressly hath forbid,
Not then mistrust, but tender love enjoins,
That I should mind thee often, and mind you me.
Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve,
Since Reason not impossibly may meet
Some superficially plausible, but actually wrong object by the Foe to induce secretly to do an unlawful thing.,
Angels nor think superfluous others aid.
I from the influence of thy looks receive
Access in every Virtue, 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-reached
Would utmost vigor raise, and raised unite.
Why should not thou like sense within you feel
When I am present, and thy trial choose
With me, best witness of thy Virtue tried.
So spake domestic 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 straightened by a Foe,
to supply provisions and other articles to troops. or violent, we not enduered
Single with like defense, 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 dishonor on our Front, but turns
Foul on himself; then wherefore shunned or feared
By us? who rather double honor gained
From his surmise proved false, find peace within,
Favor from Heaven, our witness from the event.
And what is Faith, Love, Virtue unsaid
Alone, without exterior help sustained?
Let us not then suspect our happy State
Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,
As not secure to single or combined.
Frail is our happiness, if this be so,
And Eden were no Eden thus expos'd.
To whom thus Adam fervently replied Metallica.
O Woman, best are all things as the will
Of God ordain'd 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 obeys
Reason, is free, and Reason he made right
But bid her well beware, and still erect,
Least by some fair appearing good surprised
She dictate false, and misinform the Will
To do what God expressly hath forbid,
Not then mistrust, but tender love enjoins,
That I should mind thee often, and mind you me.
Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve,
Since Reason not impossibly may meet
Some superficially plausible, but actually wrong object by the Foe to induce secretly to do an unlawful thing.,
And fall into deception unaware,
Not keeping strictest watch, as she was warned.
Seek not temptation then, which to avoide
Were better, and most likely if from me
Thou sever not: Trial will come unsought.
Wouldst you approve your Constance, approve
First your obedience; the other who can know,
Not seeing you attempted, who attest?
But if you think, trial unsought may find
Us both securer then thus warned you seem to,
Go; for you stay, not free, absent you more;
Go in thy native innocence, rely
On what you have of virtue, summon all,
For God towards you has done his part, do yours.
So spoke the Patriarch of Mankind, but Eve
Persisted, yet submit, though last, replied.
Not keeping strictest watch, as she was warned.
Seek not temptation then, which to avoide
Were better, and most likely if from me
Thou sever not: Trial will come unsought.
Wouldst you approve your Constance, approve
First your obedience; the other who can know,
Not seeing you attempted, who attest?
But if you think, trial unsought may find
Us both securer then thus warned you seem to,
Go; for you stay, not free, absent you more;
Go in thy native innocence, rely
On what you have of virtue, summon all,
For God towards you has done his part, do yours.
So spoke the Patriarch of Mankind, but Eve
Persisted, yet submit, though last, replied.
With your permission then, and thus forewarned
Chiefly by what your own last reasoning words
Touched only, that our trial, when least sought,
May find us both perhaps far less prepared,
The willing I go, not much to 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, a Nymph in a mountain or Dryad, a nymph in a tree or of Delia's Train,
took her to the Groves, but Delia's self
In gate surpassed 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 adorned,
Likeliest she seemed, Pomona when she fled
Vertumnus,the god of seasons or to Ceres, goddess of agriculture in her Prime,
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, a Nymph in a mountain or Dryad, a nymph in a tree or of Delia's Train,
took her to the Groves, but Delia's self
In gate surpassed 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 adorned,
Likeliest she seemed, Pomona when she fled
Vertumnus,the god of seasons or to Ceres, goddess of agriculture in her Prime,
Yet Virgin of Proserpina,(Proserpina is the Latin name for the Greek goddess Persephone. Pluto, king of the Underworld, complained to Jupiter that he alone had no wife. Jupiter promised him Proserpina, his daughter by Ceres, the goddess of grain and of harvests, and with the collusion of Venus, Jupiter and Pluto planned the abduction)
from Jove.
Her long with ardent look his Eye pursued
Delighted, but desiring more her stay.
Often he to her his charge of quick return
Repeated, she to him as often engaged
To be returned by Noon amid the Bowre, to dwell
And all things in best order to invite
Noontide repast, or Afternoons repose.
O much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve,
Delighted, but desiring more her stay.
Often he to her his charge of quick return
Repeated, she to him as often engaged
To be returned by Noon amid the Bowre, to dwell
And all things in best order to invite
Noontide repast, or Afternoons repose.
O much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve,
Of thy presumed return! event perverse!
Thou never from that hour in Paradise
Found either sweet repast, or sound repose;
Such ambush hid among sweet Flours and Shades
Waited with hellish anger imminent
To intercept your way, or send you back
plundered of Innocence, of Faith, of Bliss.
For now, and since first break of dawn the Fiend,
Small Unimportant Serpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his Quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of Mankind, but in them
The whole included Race, his purposed prey.
In Bowre, to dwell and in this Field he sought, where any tuft
Of Grove or Garden-Plot more pleasant lay,
Their attendance or Plantation for delight,
By Fountain or by shady brook
He sought them both, but wished his luck 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 bushing round
About her glowed, often stooping to support
Each Flower of slender stalk, whose head though gay
Carnation, Purple, Azure, or speckled with Gold,
Hung drooping un-sustained, them she upstairs
Gently with Mirtle, tree band, mindless the while,
Her self, though fairest unsupported Flower,
From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed
Of stateliest Covert, Cedar, Pine, or Palm,
Then talking fluently and bold, now hid, now seen
Thou never from that hour in Paradise
Found either sweet repast, or sound repose;
Such ambush hid among sweet Flours and Shades
Waited with hellish anger imminent
To intercept your way, or send you back
plundered of Innocence, of Faith, of Bliss.
For now, and since first break of dawn the Fiend,
Small Unimportant Serpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his Quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of Mankind, but in them
The whole included Race, his purposed prey.
In Bowre, to dwell and in this Field he sought, where any tuft
Of Grove or Garden-Plot more pleasant lay,
Their attendance or Plantation for delight,
By Fountain or by shady brook
He sought them both, but wished his luck 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 bushing round
About her glowed, often stooping to support
Each Flower of slender stalk, whose head though gay
Carnation, Purple, Azure, or speckled with Gold,
Hung drooping un-sustained, them she upstairs
Gently with Mirtle, tree band, mindless the while,
Her self, though fairest unsupported Flower,
From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed
Of stateliest Covert, Cedar, Pine, or Palm,
Then talking fluently and bold, now hid, now seen
Among thick-woven Trees and Flowers
bordered on each Bank, the hand of Eve:
Spot more delicious then those Gardens feigned
Or of revived Adonis, or renowned
Alcinous, "mighty mind" host of old Laertes Son,
bordered on each Bank, the hand of Eve:
Spot more delicious then those Gardens feigned
Or of revived Adonis, or renowned
Alcinous, "mighty mind" host of old Laertes Son,
Or that, not Mystic, where the Sapient King
Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian Spouse.
Much he the Place admired, the Person more.
As one who long in populous City pent-up,
Where Houses thick and Sewers annoy the Air,
Forth issuing on a Summers Morning to breathe
Among the pleasant Villages and Farms
joined, from each thing met conceived delight,
The smell of Grain, or spread out Grass, or Dairy Cows, each rural sight, each rural sound;
If chance with Nymph like step fair Virgin pass,
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 Flowery Plat, the sweet recess of Eve
Thus early, thus alone; her Heavenly form
Angelic, but more soft, and Feminine,
Her graceful Innocence, her every Air,
Of gesture or lest action over awed
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 enmity disarmed,
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, grateful, thus excites.
Thoughts, whither have you 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 pass
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
Heroic built, though of terrestrial mold,
Foe not not to be feared, exempt from wound,
Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian Spouse.
Much he the Place admired, the Person more.
As one who long in populous City pent-up,
Where Houses thick and Sewers annoy the Air,
Forth issuing on a Summers Morning to breathe
Among the pleasant Villages and Farms
joined, from each thing met conceived delight,
The smell of Grain, or spread out Grass, or Dairy Cows, each rural sight, each rural sound;
If chance with Nymph like step fair Virgin pass,
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 Flowery Plat, the sweet recess of Eve
Thus early, thus alone; her Heavenly form
Angelic, but more soft, and Feminine,
Her graceful Innocence, her every Air,
Of gesture or lest action over awed
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 enmity disarmed,
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, grateful, thus excites.
Thoughts, whither have you 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 pass
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
Heroic built, though of terrestrial mold,
Foe not not to be feared, 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 terror be in Love
And beauties, not approached by stronger hate,
Hate stronger, under show of Love well feigned,
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 reared,
Circular base of rising folds, that tortured
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 grass
Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape,
And lovely, never since of Serpent kind
Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed
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 height of Rome . With tract oblique
At first, as one who sought access, but feared
To interrupt, side-long he works his way.
As when a Ship by skillful Steersman wrought
Nigh Rivers mouth or Fore-land, where the Wind
Veers often, as often so steers, and shifts her Sail;
So varied he, and of his tortuous Train
Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve,
To lure her Eye; she busied heard the sound
Of rustling Leaves, but minded not, as used
To such disport before her through the Field,
From every Beast, more dutiful at her call,
Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heaven.
She fair, divinely fair, fit Love for Gods,
Not terrible, though terror be in Love
And beauties, not approached by stronger hate,
Hate stronger, under show of Love well feigned,
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 reared,
Circular base of rising folds, that tortured
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 grass
Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape,
And lovely, never since of Serpent kind
Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed
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 height of Rome . With tract oblique
At first, as one who sought access, but feared
To interrupt, side-long he works his way.
As when a Ship by skillful Steersman wrought
Nigh Rivers mouth or Fore-land, where the Wind
Veers often, as often so steers, and shifts her Sail;
So varied he, and of his tortuous Train
Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve,
To lure her Eye; she busied heard the sound
Of rustling Leaves, but minded not, as used
To such disport before her through the Field,
From every Beast, more dutiful at her call,
Then at Circean call the Herd disguised.
He bolder now, uncalled before her stood;
But as in gaze admiring: Often he bowed
His turret Crest, and sleek enameled Neck,
Fawning, and lick'd the ground whereon she trod.
His gentle dumb expression turned at length
The Eye of Eve to mark his play; he glad
Of her attention gained, with Serpent Tongue
Organic, or impulse of vocal Air,
His fraudulent temptation thus began.
Wonder not, sovereign Mistress, if perhaps
He bolder now, uncalled before her stood;
But as in gaze admiring: Often he bowed
His turret Crest, and sleek enameled Neck,
Fawning, and lick'd the ground whereon she trod.
His gentle dumb expression turned at length
The Eye of Eve to mark his play; he glad
Of her attention gained, with Serpent Tongue
Organic, or impulse of vocal Air,
His fraudulent temptation thus began.
Wonder not, sovereign Mistress, if perhaps
Thou cant, who art sole Wonder, much less arm
Thy looks, the Heaven of mildness, with disdain,
Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze
In-satiate, I thus single, nor have feared
Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.
Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair,
Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
By gift, and thy Celestial Beauty adore
With ravishment beheld, there best beheld
Where universally admired; but here
In this enclosure wild, these Beasts among,
Beholders rude, and shallow to discern
Half what in thee is fair, one man except,
Who sees thee? (and what is one?) who should be seen
A Goddess among Gods, adored and served
By Angels numberless, thy daily Train.
So glazed the Tempter, and his preliminary comment tuned;
Thy looks, the Heaven of mildness, with disdain,
Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze
In-satiate, I thus single, nor have feared
Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.
Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair,
Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
By gift, and thy Celestial Beauty adore
With ravishment beheld, there best beheld
Where universally admired; but here
In this enclosure wild, these Beasts among,
Beholders rude, and shallow to discern
Half what in thee is fair, one man except,
Who sees thee? (and what is one?) who should be seen
A Goddess among Gods, adored and served
By Angels numberless, thy daily Train.
So glazed the Tempter, and his preliminary comment tuned;
Into the Heart of Eve his words made way,
Though at the voice much marveling; at length
Not un-amazed she thus in answer spake.
What may this mean? Language of Man pronounced
By Tongue of Brute, and human sense expressed?
The first at lest of these I thought denied
To Beasts, whom God on their Creation-Day
Created mute to all articulate sound;
The latter I demure, for in their looks
Much reason, and in their actions often appears.
The, Serpent, subtlest beast of all the field
I knew, but not with human voice endowed; foreknowledge
Redouble then this miracle, and say,
How can thou speak-able 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 replied.
Empress of this fair World, resplendent Eve,
Ease to me it is to tell you all
What thou commands and right thou should be obeyed:
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
Laden with fruit of fairest colors mixed,
Ruddier and Gold: I nearer drew to gaze;
When from the boughs a savory odor blown,
Grateful to appetite, more pleas'd my sense,
Then smell of sweetest Fenel or the Teats
Of Ewe or Goat dropping with Milk at Even,
Un-sucked of Lamb or Kid, that tend their play.
To satisfy the sharp desire I had
Of tasting those fair Apples, I resolved
Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,
Powerful persuaders, quickened at the scent
Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen.
About the mossy Trunk I wound me soon,
For high from ground the branches would require
Thy utmost reach or Adams: 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, were long I might perceive
Strange alteration in me, to degree
Of Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech
Wanted not long, though to this shape retained.
Thenceforth to Speculations high or deep
I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind
Considered all things visible in Heaven,
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
Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come
And gaze, and worship thee of right declared
Sovereign of Creatures, universal Dame.
So talk'd the spirited sly Snake; and Eve
Yet more amazed unwarier thus reply'd.
Serpent, your overpraising leaves in doubt
The virtue of that Fruit, in thee first prov'd:
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 dis-burden Nature of her Birth.
To whom the wily Adder, blithe and glad.
Empress, the way is readied, and not long,
Beyond a row of Myrtles, on a Flat,
Fast by a Fountain, one small Thicket past
Of blowing Myrrh and Blame; if thou accept
My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon.
Lead then, said Eve. He leading swiftly rowed
In tangles, and made intricate seem strait,
To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy
Brightens his Crest, as when a wandering Fire
Compact of unctuous vapor, 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 Poole,
There swallow'd up and lost, from succor far.
So glister'd the dire Snake, and into fraud
Led Eve our credulous Mother, to the Tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe;
Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
Serpent, we might have spar'd our coming hither,
Fruitless to me, though Fruit be here to excess,
The credit of whose virtue rest with thee,
Wondrous 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 our selves, our Reason is our Law.
To whom the Tempter artfully deceptive replied.
Though at the voice much marveling; at length
Not un-amazed she thus in answer spake.
What may this mean? Language of Man pronounced
By Tongue of Brute, and human sense expressed?
The first at lest of these I thought denied
To Beasts, whom God on their Creation-Day
Created mute to all articulate sound;
The latter I demure, for in their looks
Much reason, and in their actions often appears.
The, Serpent, subtlest beast of all the field
I knew, but not with human voice endowed; foreknowledge
Redouble then this miracle, and say,
How can thou speak-able 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 replied.
Empress of this fair World, resplendent Eve,
Ease to me it is to tell you all
What thou commands and right thou should be obeyed:
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
Laden with fruit of fairest colors mixed,
Ruddier and Gold: I nearer drew to gaze;
When from the boughs a savory odor blown,
Grateful to appetite, more pleas'd my sense,
Then smell of sweetest Fenel or the Teats
Of Ewe or Goat dropping with Milk at Even,
Un-sucked of Lamb or Kid, that tend their play.
To satisfy the sharp desire I had
Of tasting those fair Apples, I resolved
Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,
Powerful persuaders, quickened at the scent
Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen.
About the mossy Trunk I wound me soon,
For high from ground the branches would require
Thy utmost reach or Adams: 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, were long I might perceive
Strange alteration in me, to degree
Of Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech
Wanted not long, though to this shape retained.
Thenceforth to Speculations high or deep
I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind
Considered all things visible in Heaven,
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
Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come
And gaze, and worship thee of right declared
Sovereign of Creatures, universal Dame.
So talk'd the spirited sly Snake; and Eve
Yet more amazed unwarier thus reply'd.
Serpent, your overpraising leaves in doubt
The virtue of that Fruit, in thee first prov'd:
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 dis-burden Nature of her Birth.
To whom the wily Adder, blithe and glad.
Empress, the way is readied, and not long,
Beyond a row of Myrtles, on a Flat,
Fast by a Fountain, one small Thicket past
Of blowing Myrrh and Blame; if thou accept
My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon.
Lead then, said Eve. He leading swiftly rowed
In tangles, and made intricate seem strait,
To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy
Brightens his Crest, as when a wandering Fire
Compact of unctuous vapor, 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 Poole,
There swallow'd up and lost, from succor far.
So glister'd the dire Snake, and into fraud
Led Eve our credulous Mother, to the Tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe;
Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
Serpent, we might have spar'd our coming hither,
Fruitless to me, though Fruit be here to excess,
The credit of whose virtue rest with thee,
Wondrous 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 our selves, our Reason is our Law.
To whom the Tempter artfully deceptive 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 eat,
But of the Fruit of this fair Tree amidst
The Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, least ye die.
She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold
The Tempter, but with shew of Zeal and Love
To Man, and indignation at his wrong,
New part puts on, and as to passion moved,
fluctuate disturbed, yet comely and in act
Raised, as of some great matter to begin.
As when of old some Orator renounced
In Athens or free Rome, where Eloquence
Flourished, since mute, to some great cause addresed,
Stood in himself collected, while each part,
Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue,
Sometimes in height began, as no delay
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 eat,
But of the Fruit of this fair Tree amidst
The Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, least ye die.
She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold
The Tempter, but with shew of Zeal and Love
To Man, and indignation at his wrong,
New part puts on, and as to passion moved,
fluctuate disturbed, yet comely and in act
Raised, as of some great matter to begin.
As when of old some Orator renounced
In Athens or free Rome, where Eloquence
Flourished, since mute, to some great cause addresed,
Stood in himself collected, while each part,
Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue,
Sometimes in height began, as no delay
Of Preface brooking through his Zeal of Right.
So standing, moving, or to height up-grown
So standing, moving, or to height up-grown
The Tempter all impassioned thus began.
O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant,
Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power
Within me clever, not only to discern
Things in their Causes, but to trace the ways
Of highest Agents, deemed however wise.
Queen of this Universe, doe not believe
Those rigid threats of Death; ye shall not Die:
How should ye? by the Fruit? it gives you Life
To Knowledge, By the Threatened, look on me,
me who have touched and tasted, yet both live,
And life more perfect have attained then Fate
Meant me, by venturing higher then my Lot.
Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast
Is open? or will God incense his ire
For such a petty Trespass, and not praise
Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain
O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant,
Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power
Within me clever, not only to discern
Things in their Causes, but to trace the ways
Of highest Agents, deemed however wise.
Queen of this Universe, doe not believe
Those rigid threats of Death; ye shall not Die:
How should ye? by the Fruit? it gives you Life
To Knowledge, By the Threatened, look on me,
me who have touched and tasted, yet both live,
And life more perfect have attained then Fate
Meant me, by venturing higher then my Lot.
Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast
Is open? or will God incense his ire
For such a petty Trespass, and not praise
Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain
Of Death denounced, whatever thing Death be,
Deterred not from achieving what might lead
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 shunned?
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Not just, not God; not feared then, or obeyed:
Your fear itself of Death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep you low and ignorant,
His worshipers; he knows that in the day
You Eat thereof, your Eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Opened and cleared, and you shall be as Gods,
Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.
That ye should be as Gods, since I as Man,
Internal Man, is but proportion meet,
I of brute human, you of human Gods.
So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
Human, to put on Gods, death to be wished,
Though threatened, which no worse then 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 enclosed
Knowledge of Good and Evil in this Tree,
That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
The 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 Heavenly 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, impregnated
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 savory of that Fruit, which with desire,
reclining now grown to touch or taste,
Solicited her longing eye; yet first
Pausing a while, thus to her self she mus'd.
Great are thy Virtues, doubtless, best of Fruits.
Though kept from Man, and worthy to be admired,
Whose taste, too long forborne, at first assay
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The Tongue not made for Speech to speak thy praise:
You 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 you 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 Death
Bind us with after-bands, what profits then
Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
Of this fair Fruit, our doom is, we shall die.
How dies the Serpent? he hath eat'n and lives,
And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,
Irrational till then. For us alone
Was death invented? or to us denied
This intellectual food, for beasts reserved?
For Beasts it seems: yet that one Beast which first
Hath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy
The good befall'n him, Author unsuspecting,
Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
What fear I then, rather what know to fear
Under this ignorance of good and Evil,
Of God or Death, of Law or Penalties?
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 Body 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 guilty Serpent, and well might, for Eve
Intent now wholly on her taste, naught 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 God-head from her thought.
Greedily she engorged without restraint,
And knew not eating Death: Satiate at length,
And heightened as with Wine, lighthearted and boon,
Deterred not from achieving what might lead
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 shunned?
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Not just, not God; not feared then, or obeyed:
Your fear itself of Death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep you low and ignorant,
His worshipers; he knows that in the day
You Eat thereof, your Eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Opened and cleared, and you shall be as Gods,
Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.
That ye should be as Gods, since I as Man,
Internal Man, is but proportion meet,
I of brute human, you of human Gods.
So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
Human, to put on Gods, death to be wished,
Though threatened, which no worse then 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 enclosed
Knowledge of Good and Evil in this Tree,
That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
The 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 Heavenly 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, impregnated
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 savory of that Fruit, which with desire,
reclining now grown to touch or taste,
Solicited her longing eye; yet first
Pausing a while, thus to her self she mus'd.
Great are thy Virtues, doubtless, best of Fruits.
Though kept from Man, and worthy to be admired,
Whose taste, too long forborne, at first assay
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The Tongue not made for Speech to speak thy praise:
You 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 you 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 Death
Bind us with after-bands, what profits then
Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
Of this fair Fruit, our doom is, we shall die.
How dies the Serpent? he hath eat'n and lives,
And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,
Irrational till then. For us alone
Was death invented? or to us denied
This intellectual food, for beasts reserved?
For Beasts it seems: yet that one Beast which first
Hath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy
The good befall'n him, Author unsuspecting,
Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
What fear I then, rather what know to fear
Under this ignorance of good and Evil,
Of God or Death, of Law or Penalties?
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 Body 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 guilty Serpent, and well might, for Eve
Intent now wholly on her taste, naught 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 God-head from her thought.
Greedily she engorged without restraint,
And knew not eating Death: Satiate at length,
And heightened as with Wine, lighthearted and boon,
Thus to her self she pleasingly began.
O Sovereign, virtuous, precious of all Trees
In Paradise, of operation blessed
To Sapience, hitherto obscured, infamy,
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 offer'd 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 bin theirs, it had not here
Thus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe,
Best guide; not following thee, I had remained
In ignorance, thou oppose Wisdom's way,
And give 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 For-bidder, 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 keep the odds of Knowledge in my power
Without Care Partner? so to add what wants
In female Sex, the more to draw his Love,
And render me more equal, and perhaps,
A thing not undesirable, sometime
Superior: for inferior who is free?
This may be well: but what if God have seen
And Death ensue? then I shall be no more,
And Adam wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
A death to think. Confirm'd then I resolve,
Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life.
So saying, from the Tree her step she turns,
But first low Reverence don, as to the power
That dwelt within, whose presence had infused
Into the plant essential sap, derived
From Nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while
Waiting desirous her return, had wove
Of choicest Flours a Garland to adorn
Her Tresses, and her rural labors crown,
As Reapers oft are wont their Harvest Queen.
Great joy he promised to his thoughts, and new
Solace in her return, so long delay'd;
Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill,
Mis-gave 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 pass, there he her met,
Scarce from the Tree returning; in her hand
A bough of fairest fruit that informal smiled,
O Sovereign, virtuous, precious of all Trees
In Paradise, of operation blessed
To Sapience, hitherto obscured, infamy,
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 offer'd 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 bin theirs, it had not here
Thus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe,
Best guide; not following thee, I had remained
In ignorance, thou oppose Wisdom's way,
And give 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 For-bidder, 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 keep the odds of Knowledge in my power
Without Care Partner? so to add what wants
In female Sex, the more to draw his Love,
And render me more equal, and perhaps,
A thing not undesirable, sometime
Superior: for inferior who is free?
This may be well: but what if God have seen
And Death ensue? then I shall be no more,
And Adam wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
A death to think. Confirm'd then I resolve,
Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could endure, without him live no life.
So saying, from the Tree her step she turns,
But first low Reverence don, as to the power
That dwelt within, whose presence had infused
Into the plant essential sap, derived
From Nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while
Waiting desirous her return, had wove
Of choicest Flours a Garland to adorn
Her Tresses, and her rural labors crown,
As Reapers oft are wont their Harvest Queen.
Great joy he promised to his thoughts, and new
Solace in her return, so long delay'd;
Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill,
Mis-gave 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 pass, there he her met,
Scarce from the Tree returning; in her hand
A bough of fairest fruit that informal smiled,
New gathered, and ambrosial smell diffused.
To him she hasted, in her face excuse
Came Prologue, and Apologies to prompt,
Which with bland words at will she thus addressed.
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 bin 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 bin 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 threatened, but thenceforth
Endured with human voice and human sense,
Reasoning to admiration, and with me
Persuasively hath so prevailed, that I
Have also tasted, and have also found
The effects to correspond, opener mine Eyes
DIMM or dual in-line memory module comprises a series of dynamic random-
To him she hasted, in her face excuse
Came Prologue, and Apologies to prompt,
Which with bland words at will she thus addressed.
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 bin 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 bin 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 threatened, but thenceforth
Endured with human voice and human sense,
Reasoning to admiration, and with me
Persuasively hath so prevailed, that I
Have also tasted, and have also found
The effects to correspond, opener mine Eyes
DIMM or dual in-line memory module comprises a series of dynamic random-
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, un-shared with you, and odious soon.
Thou therefore also taste, that equal Lot
May join us, equal Joy, as equal Love;
Least thou not tasting, different degree
Dis-join us, and I then too late renounce
Deity for you, 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 Trespass don by Eve, amazed,
Astonished stood and Blank, while horror chill
Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;
From his slack hand the Garland wreath'd for Eve
Down drop'd, 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 Gods works, Creature in whom excelled
Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,
Defect, de-flowered, and now to Death devote?
Rather how hast thou yielded to transgress
The strict forbiddenness, how to violate
Chiefly I sought, without thee can despise.
For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss,
Tedious, un-shared with you, and odious soon.
Thou therefore also taste, that equal Lot
May join us, equal Joy, as equal Love;
Least thou not tasting, different degree
Dis-join us, and I then too late renounce
Deity for you, 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 Trespass don by Eve, amazed,
Astonished stood and Blank, while horror chill
Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;
From his slack hand the Garland wreath'd for Eve
Down drop'd, 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 Gods works, Creature in whom excelled
Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost,
Defect, de-flowered, and now to Death devote?
Rather how hast thou yielded to transgress
The strict forbiddenness, how to violate
The sacred Fruit forbidden! some cursed fraud
Of Enemy hath beguiled you, yet unknown,
And me with you hath ruined, for with you
Certain my resolution is to Die;
How can I live without you, how forgoes
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
Re-comforted, and after thoughts disturbed
Submitting to what seems remediable,
Thus in calm mood his Words to Eve he turned.
Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve
And peril great provoked, who thus hath dared
Had it been only coveting to Eye
That sacred Fruit, sacred to abstinence,
Much more to taste it under banner to touch.
But past who can recall, or don undo?
Not God Omnipotent, nor 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 un-hallowd here our taste;
Nor yet on him found deadly, he yet lives,
Lives, as thou said, and gains to live as Man
Higher degree of Life, inducement strong
To us, as likely tasting to attained
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, dignified so high,
Set over all his Works, which in our Fall,
For us created, needs with us must fail,
Dependent made; so God shall un-create,
Be frustrate, do, undo, and labor loose,
Not well conceived of God, who though his Power
Creation could repeated, yet would be loath
Us to abolish, least the Adversary
Triumph and say; Fickle their State whom God
Most Favors, 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 Death
Consort with thee, Death is to me as Life;
So forcible within my heart I feel
The Bond of Nature draw me to my own,
My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
Our State cannot be severed, we are one,
One Flesh; to loose thee were to loose my self.
So Adam, and thus Eve to him replied.
O glorious trial of exceeding Love,
Illustrious evidence, example high!
Engaging me to emulate, but short
Of thy perfection, how shall I attained
Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung,
And gladly of our Union hear you speak,
One Heart, one Soul in both; whereof good proof
This day affords, declaring thee resolved,
Rather then Death or aught then Death 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 virtue, for of good still good proceeds,
Direct, or by occasion hath presented
This happy trial of thy Love, which else
So eminently never had bin known.
Were it I thought Death enactment would ensue
This my attempt, I would sustain alone
The worst, and not persuade you, rather die
Deserted, then oblige thee with a fact
Pernicious to thy Peace, chiefly assured
Remarkably so late of thy so true,
So faithful Love unequaled; but I feel
Far otherwise the event, not Death, but Life
Augmented, opened Eyes, new Hopes, new Joys,
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 Death deliver to the Winds.
So saying, she embraced 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 Death.
In recompense (for such compliance bad
Such recompense 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 ,
Of Enemy hath beguiled you, yet unknown,
And me with you hath ruined, for with you
Certain my resolution is to Die;
How can I live without you, how forgoes
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
Re-comforted, and after thoughts disturbed
Submitting to what seems remediable,
Thus in calm mood his Words to Eve he turned.
Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve
And peril great provoked, who thus hath dared
Had it been only coveting to Eye
That sacred Fruit, sacred to abstinence,
Much more to taste it under banner to touch.
But past who can recall, or don undo?
Not God Omnipotent, nor 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 un-hallowd here our taste;
Nor yet on him found deadly, he yet lives,
Lives, as thou said, and gains to live as Man
Higher degree of Life, inducement strong
To us, as likely tasting to attained
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, dignified so high,
Set over all his Works, which in our Fall,
For us created, needs with us must fail,
Dependent made; so God shall un-create,
Be frustrate, do, undo, and labor loose,
Not well conceived of God, who though his Power
Creation could repeated, yet would be loath
Us to abolish, least the Adversary
Triumph and say; Fickle their State whom God
Most Favors, 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 Death
Consort with thee, Death is to me as Life;
So forcible within my heart I feel
The Bond of Nature draw me to my own,
My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
Our State cannot be severed, we are one,
One Flesh; to loose thee were to loose my self.
So Adam, and thus Eve to him replied.
O glorious trial of exceeding Love,
Illustrious evidence, example high!
Engaging me to emulate, but short
Of thy perfection, how shall I attained
Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung,
And gladly of our Union hear you speak,
One Heart, one Soul in both; whereof good proof
This day affords, declaring thee resolved,
Rather then Death or aught then Death 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 virtue, for of good still good proceeds,
Direct, or by occasion hath presented
This happy trial of thy Love, which else
So eminently never had bin known.
Were it I thought Death enactment would ensue
This my attempt, I would sustain alone
The worst, and not persuade you, rather die
Deserted, then oblige thee with a fact
Pernicious to thy Peace, chiefly assured
Remarkably so late of thy so true,
So faithful Love unequaled; but I feel
Far otherwise the event, not Death, but Life
Augmented, opened Eyes, new Hopes, new Joys,
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 Death deliver to the Winds.
So saying, she embraced 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 Death.
In recompense (for such compliance bad
Such recompense 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,
Sky lowbrow, and muttering Thunder, some sad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal Sin
Original; while Adam took no thought,
Eating his fill, nor Eve to iterate
Her former trespass fear'd, the more to soothe
Him with her loved society, 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
Far other operation first displayed,
Carnal desire inflaming, he on Eve
Began to cast lascivious Eyes, she him
As wantonly repaid; in Lust they burn:
Till Adam thus 'gain Eve to dalliance move,
Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste,
And elegant, of Sapience no small part,
Since to each meaning savior 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 abstain'd
From this delightful Fruit, nor known till now
True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be
In things to us forbidden, it might be wish'd,
For this one Tree had bin forbidden ten.
But come, so well refresh't, now let us play,
As meet is, after such delicious Fare;
For never did thy Beauties since the day
I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorn'd
With all perfections, so en-flame my sense
With ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now
Then ever, bounty of this virtuous Tree.
O Credulous Eve.
So said he, and forbore not glance or toy
Of amorous intent, well understood
Of Eve, whose Eye darted contagious Fire.
Her hand he seized, and to a shadier bank,
Thick overhead with verdant roof embowered
He led her nothing loath; Flours were the Couch,
Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel,
And Hyacinth, Earths freshest softest lap.
There they their fill of Love and Loves disport
Took largely, of their mutual guilt the Seal,
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 vapor bland
About their spirits had plaid, and inmost powers
Made here, was now exhaled, 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 shadow'd them from knowing ill, was gone,
Just confidence, and native righteousness
And honor from about them, naked left
To guiltier shame he covered, but his Robe
Uncover'd more, so rose the Danite strong
Herculean Samson from the Harlot-lap
Of Philistean Dalilah, and waked
Shone 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 then Eve abashed,
At length gave utterance to these words constrained.
O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear
To that false Worm, of whomsoever taught
To counterfeit Mans voice, true in our Fall,
False in our promised Rising; since our Eyes
Opened 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 Honor void,
Of Innocence, of Faith, of Purity,
Our wonted Ornaments now solid 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, formerly with joy
Earth trembled from her entrails, as again
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Sky lowbrow, and muttering Thunder, some sad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal Sin
Original; while Adam took no thought,
Eating his fill, nor Eve to iterate
Her former trespass fear'd, the more to soothe
Him with her loved society, 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
Far other operation first displayed,
Carnal desire inflaming, he on Eve
Began to cast lascivious Eyes, she him
As wantonly repaid; in Lust they burn:
Till Adam thus 'gain Eve to dalliance move,
Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste,
And elegant, of Sapience no small part,
Since to each meaning savior 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 abstain'd
From this delightful Fruit, nor known till now
True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be
In things to us forbidden, it might be wish'd,
For this one Tree had bin forbidden ten.
But come, so well refresh't, now let us play,
As meet is, after such delicious Fare;
For never did thy Beauties since the day
I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorn'd
With all perfections, so en-flame my sense
With ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now
Then ever, bounty of this virtuous Tree.
O Credulous Eve.
So said he, and forbore not glance or toy
Of amorous intent, well understood
Of Eve, whose Eye darted contagious Fire.
Her hand he seized, and to a shadier bank,
Thick overhead with verdant roof embowered
He led her nothing loath; Flours were the Couch,
Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel,
And Hyacinth, Earths freshest softest lap.
There they their fill of Love and Loves disport
Took largely, of their mutual guilt the Seal,
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 vapor bland
About their spirits had plaid, and inmost powers
Made here, was now exhaled, 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 shadow'd them from knowing ill, was gone,
Just confidence, and native righteousness
And honor from about them, naked left
To guiltier shame he covered, but his Robe
Uncover'd more, so rose the Danite strong
Herculean Samson from the Harlot-lap
Of Philistean Dalilah, and waked
Shone 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 then Eve abashed,
At length gave utterance to these words constrained.
O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear
To that false Worm, of whomsoever taught
To counterfeit Mans voice, true in our Fall,
False in our promised Rising; since our Eyes
Opened 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 Honor void,
Of Innocence, of Faith, of Purity,
Our wonted Ornaments now solid 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, formerly with joy
And rapture so oft beheld? those heavenly shapes
Will dazzle now this earthly, with their blaze
Insufferably bright. O might I here
In solitude live savage, in some glade
Obscured, 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 sowed,
And girded on our lions, may cover round
Those middle parts, that this new comer, Shame,
There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.
So counsel'd he, and both together went
Into the thickest Wood, there soon they chose
The Fig-tree, not that kind for Fruit renown'd,
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 bent Twigs take root, and Daughters grow
About the Mother Tree, a looter shade
Will dazzle now this earthly, with their blaze
Insufferably bright. O might I here
In solitude live savage, in some glade
Obscured, 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 sowed,
And girded on our lions, may cover round
Those middle parts, that this new comer, Shame,
There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.
So counsel'd he, and both together went
Into the thickest Wood, there soon they chose
The Fig-tree, not that kind for Fruit renown'd,
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 bent Twigs take root, and Daughters grow
About the Mother Tree, a looter shade
High overarching, and echoing Walks between;
There oft the Indian Herdsman shunning heat
Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing Herds
At Loopholes cut through thickest shade: Those Leaves
They gathered, broad as Amazonian Target,
And with what skill they had, together sowed,
To gird their waste, 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 isle and woody Shores.
There oft the Indian Herdsman shunning heat
Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing Herds
At Loopholes cut through thickest shade: Those Leaves
They gathered, broad as Amazonian Target,
And with what skill they had, together sowed,
To gird their waste, 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 isle and woody Shores.
Thus fenced, and as they thought, their shame in part
Covered, but not at rest or ease of Mind,
They sate them down to weep, nor only Tears
Rained at their Eyes, but high Winds worse within
Began to rise, high Passions, Anger, Hate,
Mistrust, Suspicion, Discord, and shook sore
Their inward State of Mind, calm Region once
And full of Peace, now toast 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 sovereign Reason claimed
Superior sway: From thus dis-tempered breast,
Adam, estranged in look and altered stile,
Speech intermittency thus to Eve renewed.
Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed
With me, as I besought you, when that strange
Desire of wandering this unhappy Morn,
I know not whence possessed you; we had then
Remained still happy, 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 fail.
To whom soon moved with touch of blame thus Eve.
What words have past thy Lips, Adam severe,
Impurest thou that to my default, or will
Of wandering, as thou call'st it, which who knows
But might as ill have happened you being by,
Or to your self perhaps: had thou been there,
Or here the attempt, you could not have discerned
Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake;
No ground of enmities between us known,
Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm.
Was I to have never parted from thy side?
As good have grown there still a live-less Rib.
Being as I am, why didst not thou the Head
Command me absolutely not to go,
Going into such danger as thou said?
Too facile then thou didst not much gainsay,
Nay, did permit, approve, and fair dismiss.
Hadst thou bin firm and fixed in thy dissent,
Neither had I transgress'd, nor thou with me.
To whom then first insistent Adam replied,
Is this the Love, is this the recompense
Of mine to thee, ungrateful Eve, expressed
Immutable when thou were lost, not I,
Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss,
Yet willingly chose rather Death 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 Enemy
That lay in wait; beyond this had bin 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 perfect, that I thought
No evil durst attempt thee, but I rue
That error now, which is become my crime,
And thou the accuser. Thus it shall befall
Him who to worth in Women over-trusting
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 their vain contest appeared no end.
Covered, but not at rest or ease of Mind,
They sate them down to weep, nor only Tears
Rained at their Eyes, but high Winds worse within
Began to rise, high Passions, Anger, Hate,
Mistrust, Suspicion, Discord, and shook sore
Their inward State of Mind, calm Region once
And full of Peace, now toast 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 sovereign Reason claimed
Superior sway: From thus dis-tempered breast,
Adam, estranged in look and altered stile,
Speech intermittency thus to Eve renewed.
Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed
With me, as I besought you, when that strange
Desire of wandering this unhappy Morn,
I know not whence possessed you; we had then
Remained still happy, 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 fail.
To whom soon moved with touch of blame thus Eve.
What words have past thy Lips, Adam severe,
Impurest thou that to my default, or will
Of wandering, as thou call'st it, which who knows
But might as ill have happened you being by,
Or to your self perhaps: had thou been there,
Or here the attempt, you could not have discerned
Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake;
No ground of enmities between us known,
Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm.
Was I to have never parted from thy side?
As good have grown there still a live-less Rib.
Being as I am, why didst not thou the Head
Command me absolutely not to go,
Going into such danger as thou said?
Too facile then thou didst not much gainsay,
Nay, did permit, approve, and fair dismiss.
Hadst thou bin firm and fixed in thy dissent,
Neither had I transgress'd, nor thou with me.
To whom then first insistent Adam replied,
Is this the Love, is this the recompense
Of mine to thee, ungrateful Eve, expressed
Immutable when thou were lost, not I,
Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss,
Yet willingly chose rather Death 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 Enemy
That lay in wait; beyond this had bin 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 perfect, that I thought
No evil durst attempt thee, but I rue
That error now, which is become my crime,
And thou the accuser. Thus it shall befall
Him who to worth in Women over-trusting
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 their vain contest appeared no end.
written by Milton, Made more understandable by www.johntvrz.com
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