When I am present, and thy trial choose
With me, best witness of thy virtue try'd?
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 renew'd.
If this be our condition, thus to dwell
In narrow circuit straiten'd by a foe,
Subtle or violent, we not endu'd
Single with like defence, wherever met,
How are we happy, still in fear of harm?
But harm precedes not sin: only our foe
Tempting affronts us with his foul esteem
Of our integrity: his foul esteem
Sticks no dishonour on our front, but turns
Foul on himself; then wherefore shunn'd or fear'd
By us? who rather double honour gain
From his surmise prov'd false, find peace within,
Favour from heaven, our witness, from th' event.
And what is faith, love, virtue, unassay'd
Alone, without exterior help sustain❜d?
Let us not then suspect our happy state
Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,
As not secure to single or combin'd.
Frail is our happiness, if this be so,
And Eden were no Eden thus expos'd.
To whom thus Adam fervently reply'd.
O woman, best are all things as the will
316 thy] Fenton reads 'the trial.'
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,
Lest by some fair appearing good surpriz'd
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 oft, and mind thou me.
Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve,
Since reason not impossibly may meet
Some specious object by the foe suborn'd,
And fall into deception unaware,
Not keeping strictest watch, as she was warn'd.
Seek not temptation then, which to avoid
Were better, and most likely, if from me
Thou sever not: trial will come unsought.
Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, approve
First thy obedience; th' other who can know,
Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?
But if thou think trial unsought may find
Us both securer than thus warn'd thou seem'st,
Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;
Go in thy native innocence, rely
On what thou hast of virtue, summon all,
For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.
So spake the patriarch of mankind, but Eve
Persisted, yet submiss, though last, reply'd.
With thy permission then, and thus forewarn'd,
Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words
Touch'd only, that our trial, when least sought,
May find us both perhaps far less prepar'd,
The willinger I go, nor much expect
A foe so proud will first the weaker seek;
So bent, the more shall shame him his repulse.
Thus saying, from her husband's hand her hand
Soft she withdrew; and like a wood-nymph light 386
Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,
Betook her to the groves, but Delia's self
In gait surpass'd and goddess-like deport,
Though not as she with bow and quiver arm'd
But with such gard'ning tools as art, yet rude,
Guiltless of fire had form'd, or angels brought.
To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorn'd,
Likest she seem'd Pomona when she fled
Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove.
394 Likest] So in Milton's first ed.; in the second, by mistake, it is printed 'Likeliest.' Newton.
394 fled] Not when Pomona fled Vertumnus, but when she had her tools. Bentl. MS.
396 virgin] This expression, 'Virgin of Proserpina,' however violent or uncommon it may be, is doubtless that which Milton gave. I once conjectured that it might have been written 'or,' as I do not think Pearce's objection of force. Proserpine certainly, as he says,
Her long with ardent look his eye pursu'd
Delighted, but desiring more her stay:
Oft he to her his charge of quick return
Repeated, she to him as oft engag'd
To be return'd by noon amid the bow'r,
And all things in best order to invite
Noontide repast, or afternoon's repose.
O much deceiv'd, much failing, hapless Eve,
Of thy presum❜d return! event perverse!
Thou never from that hour in paradise
Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose;
Such ambush hid among sweet flowers and shades
Waited with hellish rancor imminent
To intercept thy way, or send thee back
Despoil'd of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
For now, and since first break of dawn the fiend,
Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of mankind, but in them
'had nothing to do with husbandry or gardening;' but, like Eve, she was gathering flowers, an employment sufficiently similar for a poetical comparison; but I think Milton would not have resembled Eve to both the mother and the daughter; his active imagination, and learned memory, would have supplied him with another name :and this idiom, though uncommon, is in Milton's manner: it is considered 'noble' by Lord Monboddo, and 'elegant' by Warburton; besides, Proserpina from Jove' would be a construction more violent than the one admitted.
408 hid] In Tonson's ed. 1711, it is printed
which reading has been followed by Tickell, Fenton, and Bentley. Newton restored the genuine reading 'hid.' Todd.
The whole included race, his purpos'd prey.
In bow'r and field he sought, where any tuft
Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,
Their tendance or plantation for delight;
By fountain or by shady rivulet
He sought them both, but wish'd his hap might find
Eve separate; he wish'd, but not with hope
Of what so seldom chanc'd, when to his wish,
Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,
Veil'd in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood, 425
Half spy'd, so thick the roses bushing round
About her glow'd, oft stooping to support
Each flow'r of slender stalk, whose head though gay
Carnation, purple, azure, or speck'd with gold,
Hung drooping unsustain'd; them she upstays
Gently with myrtle 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 travers'd
Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm,
Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen
Among thick-woven arborets and flowers
Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve:
Spot more delicious than those gardens feign'd
424 separate] See Beaumont's Psyche. c. vi. st. 215. and A. Ramsæi Poem. Sacr. 1. p. 26.
'Incomitata viro, forte uxor sola, per hortum,
Regali incedit gressu.'
436 and bold] Voluble in folds. Bentl. MS.
438 Imborder'd] 'Imborder' is one of those Miltonic words of which Johnson takes no notice in his dictionary. Todd.
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