My coming seen far off? I miss thee here, Not pleas'd, thus entertain'd with solitude, Where obvious duty ere while appear'd unsought; Or come I less conspicuous, or what change Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth.
He came, and with him Eve, more loath, tho' first T'offend; discount'àanc'd both, and discompos'd: Love was not in their looks, either to God Or to each other; but apparent guilt,
And shame, and perturbation, and despair, Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile. Whence Adam, falt'ring long, thus answer'd brief: I heard thee in the gard'n, and of thy voice Afraid, being naked, hid myself. To whom The gracious judge without revile reply'd: My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not fear'd, But still rejoic'd; how is it now become
So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked, who Hath told thee? hast thou eaten of the tree Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat? To whom thus Adam sore beset reply'd:
O Heav'n! in evil straight this day I stand Before my judge, either to undergo Myself the total crime, or to accuse
My other self, the partner of my life; Whose failing, while her faith to me remains, I should conceal, and not expose to blame By my complaint: but strict necessity Subdues me, and calamitous constraint, Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
However insupportable, be all
Devolv'd ; tho' should I hold my peace, yet thou
Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.
This woman, whom thou mad'st to be my help, And gav'st me as thy perfect gift, so good,
So fit, so acceptable, so divine,
That from her hand I could suspect no ill; And what she did, whatever in itself, Her doing seem'd to justify the deed;
She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
To whom the Sov'reign Presence thus reply'd: Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey Before his voice? or was she made thy guide, Superior, or but equal, that to her
Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place Wherein God set thee above her, made of thee, And for thee, whose perfection far excell'd Her's in all real dignity? Adorn'd
She was indeed, and lovely to attract
Thy love, not thy subjection; and her gifts Were such, as under government well seem'd, Unseemly to bear rule; which was thy part And person, hadst thou known thyself aright. So having said, he thus to Eve in few:
Say, woman, what is this which thou hast done? To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelm'd, Confessing soon, yet not before her judge Bold or loquacious, thus abash'd reply'd· The serpent me beguil'd, and I did eat. Which, when the Lord God heard, without delay To judgment he proceeded on th' accurs'd Serpent, tho' brute, unable to transfer The guilt on him who made him instrument Of mischief, and polluted from the end Of his creation; justly then accurs'd, As vitiated in nature; more to know Concern'd not man, (since he, no further knew), Nor alter'd his offence; yet God at last To Satan first in sin his doom apply'd, Tho' in mysterious terms, judg'd as then best: And on the serpent thus his curse let fall, Because thou hast done this, thou art accurs'd Above all cattle, each beast of the field; Upon thy belly groveling thou shalt go, And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life. Between thee and the woman I will put Enmity, and between thine and her seed;
Iler seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.
So spake this oracle, then verify'd
When Jesus son of Mary, second Eve,
Saw Satan fall like light'ning down from heav'n, Prince of the air; then rising from his grave Spoil'd principalities and pow'rs, triumph'd In open show, and with ascension bright Captivity led captive through the air, The realm itself of Satan long usurp'd: Whom he shall tread at last under our feet; Ev'n he who now foretold his fatal bruise, And to the woman thus his sentence turn'd: Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply By thy conception; children thou shalt bring In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will Thine shall submit; he over thee shall rule.
On Adam last, thus judgment he pronounc'd, Because thou hast hearken'd to the voice of thy wife, And eaten of the tree, concerning which
I charg'd thee, saying, thou shalt not eat thereof: Curs'd is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth Unbid; and thou shalt eat th' herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, Till thou return unto the ground; for thou Out of the ground wast taken, know thy birth, For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.
So judg'd he man, both judge and saviour sent, And th' instant stroke of death denounc'd that day Remov'd far off; then pitying how they stood Before him naked to the air, that now
Must suffer change, disdain'd not to begin Thenceforth the form of servant to assume: As when he wash'd his servants' feet, so now, As father of his family, he clad
Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain, Or as the snake with youthful coat repaid: And thought not much to clothe his enemies: Nor he their outward only with the skins
Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness, Arraying cover'd from his Father's sight. To him with swift ascent he up return'd, Into his blissful bosom re-assum'd In glory as of old; to him appeas'd,
All, though all-knowing, what had pass'd with man Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
Meanwhile, ere thus was sinn'd and judg'd on earth, Within the gates of hell sat Sin and Death, In counterview within the gates, that now Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame Far into Chaos, since the fiend pass'd through, Sin opening, who thus now to Death began:
O son, why sit we here each other viewing Idly, while Satan, our great author, thrives In other worlds, and happier seat provides For us his offspring dear? It cannot be But that success attends him; if mishap, Ere this he had return'd, with fury driv'n By his avengers; since no place like this Can fit his punishment, or their revenge, Methinks I feel new strength within me rise, Wings growing, and dominion giv'n me large Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on, Or sympathy, or some connat❜ral force, Pow'rful at greatest distance to unite With secret amity things of like kind By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade Inseparable, must with me along:
For Death from Sin no pow'r can separate. But lest the difficulty of passing back
Stay his return, perhaps over this gulf
Impassable, impervious, let us try
Advent'rous work, yet to thy power and mine
Not unagreeable, to found a path
Over this main from hell to that new world
Where Satan now prevails; a monument
Of merit high to all th' infernal host
Easing their passage hence, for intercourse, Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead. Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn By this new-felt attraction and instinct.
Whom thus the meagre shadow answer'd soon: Go whither fate and inclination strong Leads thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err The way, thou leading; such ascent I draw Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste The savour of death from all things there that live: Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest
Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.
So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smelt Of moral change on earth. As when a flock Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, Against the day of battle, to a field,
Where armies lie incamp'd, come flying, lur'd With scent of living carcases design'd
For death, the following day, in bloody fight: So scented the grim feature, and upturn'd His nostril wide into the milky air,
Sagacious of his quarry from so far.
Then both from out hell gates, into the waste Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark,
Flew diverse; and with pow'r (their pow'r was great) Hovering upon the waters, what they met
Solid or slimy, as in raging sea
Tost up and down, together crowded drove, From each side shoaling tow'rds the mouth of hell; As when two polar winds, blowing adverse
Upon the Cronian sea, together drive Mountains of ice, that stop the imagin'd way Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich Cathaian coast. The aggregated soil Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry As with a trident smote, and fix'd as firm As Delos floating once; the rest his look Bound with Gorgonian rigour not to move; And with Asphaltic slime, broad as the gate,
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