To gird their waist; vain covering, if to hide Their guilt and dreaded shame! O how unlike 1115 With feathered cincture;1 naked else, and wild Among the trees, on isles and woody shores. Thus fenced, and, as they thought, their shame in part Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind, 1120 They sat them down to weep; nor only tears Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within Their inward state of mind-calm region once 1125 1130 Superior sway. From thus distempered breast, Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewed: 1135 "Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed "With me, as I besought thee, when that strange "Desire of wandering, this unhappy morn, "I know not whence, possessed thee! we had then "Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve* 1140 which Milton compares the leaves used by our first parents, Targe,-an obsolete form of "target." 1 With feathered cincture,—a covering for the loins, resembling a kilt or short petticoat, made of feathers, worn by some of the aborigines of America, when first discovered by Columbus. 2 Lore,-learning, lesson. 3 In its way, there is nothing in the poem more finely imagined, or clothed in more choice expressions, than this description of the mental and moral change which had taken place in Adam and Eve after having sinned, beginning at line 1119. • Approve,―here used for "prove," "put to the test;"' Adam alludes to Eve's boasting at L. 329-336. Faith,-fidelity, faithfulness. "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 passed thy lips, Adam severe ! Imputest thou that to my default, or will "Of wandering, as thou callst it, which who knows 1145 "Or here the attempt,1 thou couldst not have discerned "Fraud in the serpent, speaking as he spake; 1150 "No ground of enmity between us known, "Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm. "Going into such danger, as thou saidst? "Too facile then, thou didst not much gainsay; 1155 1160 "Of mine to thee, ungrateful Eve! expressed "6 Immutable, when thou wert lost, not I; 1165 "Who might have lived, and joyed3 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? 1170 "That lay in wait; beyond this, had been force; 1175 1 Or here the attempt,—had the temptation been offered here. 2 Facile,-pliant, flexible. Joyed,-an obsolete use of the word for "enjoyed." “The faith they owe; when earnestly they seek "Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.” 1145 To whom, soon moved with touch of blame, thus Eve: "What words have passed thy lips, Adam severe ! "Imputest thou that to my default, or will "Of wandering, as thou callst it, which who knows "But might as ill have happened, thou being by, "Or to thyself perhaps? Hadst thou been there, “Or here the attempt,1 thou couldst not have discerned "Fraud in the serpent, speaking as he spake; 1150 "No ground of enmity between us known, "Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm. 1155 "Too facile then, thou didst not much gainsay; 1160 "Immutable, when thou wert lost, not I; 1165 "Who might have lived, and joyed3 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, 1170 "That lay in wait; beyond this, had been force; 1175 1 Or here the attempt,-had the temptation been offered here. 2 Facile,-pliant, flexible. Joyed,-an obsolete use of the word for "enjoyed." "Either to meet no danger, or to find "Matter of glorious trial: and perhaps "I also erred, in overmuch admiring "What seemed in thee so perfect, that I thought "No evil durst attempt thee; but I rue 1180 "That error now, which is become my crime, "And thou the accuser! Thus it shall befall "Him who, to worth in woman overtrusting,1 "Lets her will rule: restraint she will not brook; "And, left to herself, if evil thence ensue, 1185 "She first his weak indulgence will accuse." Thus they in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning; 1 To worth in woman overtrusting,-Women is the reading of the old editions. Bentley suggests woman, on account of the singular pronouns in the following lines. But such transitions from the plural to the singular are to be met with in the best classical authors. N. T |