Nor I on my part single, in me all
Posterity stands curs'd. Fair patrimony
That I must leave ye, sons; O were I able
To waste it all myself, and leave ye none !
So disinherited, how would ye bless

820

Me, now your curse! Ah! why should all mankind
For one man's fault thus guiltless be condemn'd,
If guiltless? But from me what can proceed,
But all corrupt, both mind and will deprav'd,
Not to do only, but to will the same
With me? how can they then acquitted stand
In sight of God? Him after all disputes

Forc'd I absolve all my evasions vain

825

And reasonings, tho' through mazes, lead me still 830 But to my own conviction: first and last

On me, me only, as the source and spring

Of all corruption, all the blame lights due;

835

So might the wrath! Fond wish! couldst thou support
That burden heavier than the earth to bear,
Than all the world much heavier, though divided
With that bad woman? Thus what thou desir'st,
And what thou fear'st, alike destroys all hope
Of refuge, and concludes thee miserable
Beyond all past example and future,
To Satan only like both crime and doom.
O Conscience, into what abyss of fears

840 future] v. Fairfax's Tasso, cxvii. 88.

'But not by art, or skill, of things futúre

Can the plaine troath revealed be, and told.' Newton.

840

And horrors hast thou driv'n me, out of which
I find no way, from deep to deeper plung'd!

Thus Adam to himself lamented loud
Through the still night, not now, as ere man fell,
Wholesome, and cool, and mild, but with black air
Accompany'd, with damps and dreadful gloom,
Which to his evil conscience represented
All things with double terror. On the ground
Outstretch'd he lay, on the cold ground, and oft
Curs'd his creation; death as oft accus'd
Of tardy execution, since denounc'd
The day of his offence. Why comes not death,
Said he, with one thrice acceptable stroke
To end me? Shall truth fail to keep her word,
Justice divine not hasten to be just?

But death comes not at call, justice divine
Mends not her slowest pace for prayers or cries.

845

850

855

O woods, O fountains, hillocks, dales, and bowers, 860
With other echo late I taught your shades
To answer, and resound far other song.
Whom thus afflicted when sad Eve beheld,
Desolate where she sat, approaching nigh,

851 cold ground] v. Sp. F. Queen. iii. iv. 53. 'The cold earth was his couch.'

and vi. iv. 40.

'On the cold ground maugre himself he threw.' Todd. 854 death] So Sophocl. Philoctetes. 793.

Ω θανατε, θάνατε, πῶς ἀεὶ καλόυμενος

Οὕτω κάτ ἦμαρ, οὐ δύνη μολεῖν ποτέ. Newton. 860 hillocks] Fenton proposes to read 'hills, rocks.' 861 shades] 'Caves.' Bentl. MS. iv. 257.

Soft words to his fierce passion she assay'd:
But her with stern regard he thus repell'd.

865

870

Out of my sight, thou serpent! that name best Befits thee with him leagu'd, thyself as false And hateful; nothing wants, but that thy shape, Like his, and colour serpentine may show Thy inward fraud, to warn all creatures from thee Henceforth; lest that too heavenly form, pretended To hellish falsehood, snare them. But for thee I had persisted happy, had not thy pride And wand'ring vanity, when least was safe, Rejected my forewarning, and disdain'd Not to be trusted, longing to be seen Though by the devil himself, him overweening To over-reach; but with the serpent meeting, Fool'd and beguil'd, by him thou, I by thee, To trust thee from my side, imagin'd wise, Constant, mature, proof against all assaults, And understood not all was but a show Rather than solid virtue, all but a rib Crooked by nature, bent, as now appears, More to the part sinister from me drawn, Well if thrown out, as supernumerary To my just number found. Oh! why did God, Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven

875

880

885

872 pretended] As in the Latin tongue, signifies 'placed before. Virg. Georg. i. 270. 'Segeti prætendere sepem.' and Æn. vi. 60.

Pearce.

888 God] Compare Euripidis Hippolytus, v. 616; and Medea. v. 573; and Ariosto Orl. Fur. c. xxvii. st. 120. Newton.

With spirits masculine, create at last
This novelty on earth, this fair defect

Of nature, and not fill the world at once
With men as angels without feminine,

Or find some other way to generate

Mankind? This mischief had not then befall'n,
And more that shall befall, innumerable
Disturbances on earth through female snares,
And straight conjunction with this sex: for either
He never shall find out fit mate, but such
As some misfortune brings him, or mistake,

890

895

Or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain
Through her perverseness; but shall see her gain'd
By a far worse; or if she love, withheld

By parents, or his happiest choice too late
Shall meet, already link'd and wedlock-bound
To a fell adversary, his hate or shame;
Which infinite calamity shall cause

To human life, and household peace confound.
He added not, and from her turn'd; but Eve
Not so repuls'd, with tears that ceas'd not flowing,
And tresses all disorder'd, at his feet

Fell humble, and, embracing them, besought
His peace, and thus proceeded in her plaint.

Forsake me not thus, Adam! witness heaven

900

905

911

914 Forsake me not] So in the Adamus Exsul of Grotius, p. 64,

Eve says,

'Per sancta thalami sacra, per jus nominis

Quodcunque nostri, sive me natam vocas,

Ex te creatam, sive communi Patre

What love sincere and reverence in my heart
I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,
Unhappily deceiv'd; thy suppliant

I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not
Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid,
Thy counsel in this uttermost distress,
My only strength and stay: forlorn of thee,
Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?
While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,
Between us two let there be peace, both joining,
As join'd in injuries, one enmity

Against a foe by doom express assign'd us,
That cruel serpent. On me exercise not
Thy hatred for this misery befallen,
On me already lost, me than thy self
More miserable; both have sinn'd, but thou
Against God only, I against God and thee;
And to the place of judgment will return,

Ortam, sororem, sive potius conjugem,

Ne me relinquas. Nunc tuo auxilio est opus,
Cum versa sors est. Unicum lapsæ mihi
Firmamen; unam spem gravi adflictæ malo.'

921 forlorn] Ov. Met. i. 358.

'Quid tibi, si sine me fatis erepta fuisses,

Nunc animi, miseranda, foret? quo sola timorem

Ferre modo posses? quo consolante doleres?

Namque ego, crede mihi, si te modo pontus haberet

Te sequerer, conjux.'

915

920

925

930

925 one enmity] Bentley reads 'in enmity,' which reading Newton thinks not improbable.

931 I against] So Grotii Adamus Exsul. p. 65.

Ego duplex feci nefas,

Cum fallor et cum fallo.'