The First Book proposes, first in brief, the
whole subject, Man's disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise, wherein
he was plac’t: then touches the prime cause of his
fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent; who, revolting from God, and
drawing to his side many legions of Angels, was, by the command of God, driven
out of Heaven, with all his crew, into the great Deep. Which action passed
over, the Poem hastes into the midst of things; presenting Satan, with his
Angels, now fallen into Hell-described here not in the Centre (for heaven and
earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed), but in a
place of utter darkness, fitliest called Chaos. Here
Satan, with his Angels lying on the burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished
after a certain space recovers, as from confusion; calls up him who, next in
order and dignity, lay by him: they confer of their miserable fall. Satan
awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded. They
rise: their numbers; array of battle; their chief leaders named, according to
the idols known afterwards in Canaan and the countries adjoining. To these
Satan directs his speech; comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven; but
tells them, lastly, of a new world and new kind of creature to be created,
according to an ancient prophecy, or report, in Heaven-for that Angels were
long before this visible creation was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To
find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers
to a full council. What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium, the palace
of Satan, rises, suddenly built out of the Deep: the infernal Peers there sit
in council.
Of
Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing, Heav’nly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples th’ upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou knowst; Thou from the first
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss,
And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That, to the highth of this great argument,
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of
God to men.
The Consultation begun, Satan debates whether another Battel be to be
hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it,
others dissuade: A third proposal is prefer'd, mention'd before by Satan, to search the truth of that Prophesie
or Tradition in Heaven concerning another world, and another kind of creature
equal or not much inferiour to themselves, about this time
to be created:
Satan now in prospect of Eden, and nigh the
place where he must now attempt the bold enterprize
which he undertook alone against God and Man, falls into many doubts with
himself, and many passions, fear, envy, and despare;
but at length confirms himself in evil; journeys on to Paradise, whose outward
prospect and scituation is described, overleaps the
bounds, sits in the shape of a Cormorant on the Tree of life, as highest in the
Garden to look about him. The Garden describ'd; Satans first sight of Adam and Eve; his wonder at thir excellent form and happy state, but with resolution to
work thir fall; overhears thir
discourse, thence gathers that the Tree of knowledge was forbidden them to eat
of, under penalty of death; and thereon intends to found his Temptation, by
seducing them to transgress: then leaves them a while, to know further of thir state by some other means. Mean
while Uriel descending on a Sunbeam warns
Gabriel, who had in charge the Gate of Paradise, that some evil spirit had escap'd the Deep, and past at Noon
by his Sphere in the shape of a good Angel down to Paradise, discovered after
by his furious gestures in the Mount. Gabriel promises to find him ere morning.
Night coming on, Adam and Eve discourse of going to thir
rest: thir Bower describ'd;
thir Evening worship. Gabriel drawing forth his Bands
of Night-watch to walk the round of Paradise, appoints two strong Angels to
Adams Bower, least the evill spirit should be there
doing some harm to Adam or Eve sleeping; there they find him at the ear of Eve,
tempting her in a dream, and bring him, though unwilling, to Gabriel; by whom question'd, he scornfully answers, prepares resistance, but
hinder'd by a Sign from Heaven, flies out of
Paradise.
O For that warning voice,
which he who saw
Th' Apocalyps, heard
cry in Heaven aloud,
Then when the Dragon, put to second rout,
Came furious down to be reveng'd on men,
Wo to the inhabitants on Earth! that
now, [ 5 ]
While time was,
our first-Parents had bin warnd
The coming of thir secret foe, and scap'd
Haply so
scap'd his mortal snare; for now
Satan, now first inflam'd
with rage, came down,
The Tempter ere th' Accuser of man-kind, [ 10 ]
To wreck on
innocent frail man his loss
Of that first Battel, and his flight to Hell:
SATAN
SPEAKS:
O thou that with
surpassing Glory crownd,(32)
Look'st from thy sole Dominion like the God
Of this new World; at whose sight all the Starrs
Hide thir diminisht heads;
to thee I call, [ 35 ]
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name
O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell, how glorious once above thy Spheare;
Till Pride and worse Ambition threw me down [ 40 ]
Warring in Heav'n against Heav'ns matchless King:
Ah wherefore! he deservd no
such return
From me, whom he created
what I was
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided none; nor was his service hard. [ 45 ]
What could be less then to afford him praise,
The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,
How due! yet all his good prov'd ill in me,
And wrought but malice; lifted up so high
I sdeind
subjection, and thought one step higher [ 50 ]
Would set me highest, and in a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude,
So burthensome, still
paying, still to
ow;
Forgetful what from him I still receivd,
And understood not that a grateful mind [ 55 ]
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
Indebted and dischargd; what burden then?
O had his powerful Destiny ordaind
Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood
Then happie; no unbounded hope had rais'd [ 60 ]
Ambition. Yet why not?
Under what torments
inwardly I groane: (88)
While they adore me on the Throne of Hell,
With Diadem and Sceptre high advanc'd
[ 90 ]
The lower still I fall, onely Supream
In miserie; such joy Ambition findes.
But say I could repent and could obtaine
By Act of Grace my former state; how soon
Would higth recall high thoughts, how soon unsay [ 95
]
What feign'd submission swore: ease would recant
Vows made in pain, as violent and void.
For never can true reconcilement grow
Where wounds of deadly hate have peirc'd so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse [ 100 ]
And heavier fall: so should I purchase deare
Short intermission bought with double smart.
This knows my punisher; therefore as farr
From granting hee, as I from
begging peace:
Thence up he flew, and on the Tree of
Life,
The middle Tree and highest there that grew, [ 195 ]
Sat like a Cormorant;
yet not true Life
Thereby regaind, but sat devising Death
To them who liv'd; nor on the vertue
thought
Of that life-giving Plant, but only us'd
For prospect,
what well us'd had bin the
pledge [ 200 ]
Of immortality.
Out of the fertil ground he caus'd
to grow (216)
All Trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste;
And all amid them stood the Tree of Life,
High eminent, blooming Ambrosial Fruit
Of vegetable Gold; and next to Life [ 220 ]
Our Death the Tree of Knowledge grew fast by,
Knowledge of Good bought dear by
knowing ill.
SATAN
SEES ADAM and EVE
Of living Creatures new to
sight and strange: (287)
Two of far nobler shape erect and tall,
Godlike erect,
with native Honour clad
In naked Majestie seemd
Lords of all, [ 290 ]
And worthie seemd, for in thir looks Divine
The image of thir glorious Maker shon,
Truth, wisdome, Sanctitude
severe and pure,
Severe but in true filial freedom
plac't;
Whence true autority in men; though both [ 295 ]
Not equal, as thir sex
not equal seemd;
For contemplation hee and valour formd,
For softness shee and sweet attractive Grace,
Hee for God only, shee for God in him:
His fair large Front and
Eye sublime declar'd [ 300 ]
Absolute rule; and Hyacinthin Locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
Shee as a vail
down to the slender waste
Her unadorned golden tresses wore [ 305 ]
Disheveld,
but in wanton ringlets wav'd
As the Vine curles her tendrils,
which impli'd
Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best receivd,
Yielded with coy
submission, modest pride,
[ 310 ]
And sweet reluctant amorous delay.
Nor those mysterious parts were then conceald,
Then was not guiltie shame, dishonest
shame
Of natures works, honor dishonorable,
Sin-bred, how have ye troubl'd all mankind [ 315 ]
With shews instead, meer shews
of seeming pure,
And banisht from mans life
his happiest life,
Simplicitie and spotless innocence.
So passd they naked on, nor shund
the sight
Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill: [ 320 ]
So hand in hand they passd, the lovliest
pair
That ever since in loves imbraces met,
Adam the goodliest man of men since borne
His Sons, the fairest of her Daughters Eve.
Under a tuft of shade that on a green [ 325 ]
Stood whispering soft, by a fresh Fountain side
They sat them down, and after no more toil
SATAN SPEAKS:
O Hell! what doe mine eyes with grief
behold,
Into our room of bliss thus high advanc't
Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps, [ 360 ]
Not Spirits, yet to heav'nly Spirits bright
Little inferior;
whom my thoughts pursue
With wonder, and could love, so lively shines
In them Divine resemblance, and such grace
The hand that formd them on thir
shape hath pourd. [ 365 ]
Ah gentle pair,
yee little think how nigh
Your change approaches, when all these delights
Will vanish and deliver ye to woe,
More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;
Happie, but for so happie
ill secur'd [ 370 ]
So spake the Fiend,
ADAM
SPEAKS
Sole partner and sole part of all these
joyes,
Dearer thy self then all; needs must the Power
That made us, and for us this ample World
Be infinitly good, and of his good
As liberal and free as infinite, [ 415 ]
That rais'd us from the dust and
plac't us here
In all this happiness, who at his hand
Have nothing merited, nor can performe
Aught whereof hee hath need, hee
who requires
From us no other service then to keep [ 420 ]
This one, this easie charge, of all the Trees
In Paradise that bear delicious fruit
So various, not to taste that onely Tree
Of knowledge, planted by the Tree of Life,
So neer grows Death to Life, what ere Death is, [ 425
]
Som dreadful thing
no doubt; for well thou knowst
God hath pronounc't it death to taste that Tree,
The only sign of our obedience left
Among so many signes of power and rule
Conferrd upon us, and Dominion
giv'n [ 430 ]
Over all other Creatures that possess
Earth, Aire, and Sea. Then let us not think hard
One easie prohibition, who enjoy
Free leave so large to all things else, and choice
Unlimited of manifold delights: [ 435 ]
But let us ever praise him, and extoll
His bountie, following our delightful task
To prune these growing Plants, and tend these Flours,
Which were it toilsom, yet with thee were sweet.
EVE
SPEAKS
To whom thus Eve
repli'd. O thou for whom [ 440 ]
And from whom I was formd flesh of thy flesh,
And without whom am to
no end, my Guide
And Head, what thou hast said is just and right.
For wee to him indeed all praises owe,
And daily thanks, I chiefly who enjoy [ 445 ]
So farr the happier Lot, enjoying thee
Præeminent by so much odds,
while thou
Like consort to thy
self canst no where find.
That day I oft remember, when from sleep
I first awak't, and found my self
repos'd [ 450 ]
Under a shade of flours, much wondring where
And what I
was, whence thither brought, and how.
Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
Of waters issu'd from a Cave and spread
Into a liquid Plain, then stood unmov'd [ 455 ]
Pure as th' expanse of Heav'n;
I thither went
With unexperienc't thought, and laid me downe
On the green bank, to look into the cleer
Smooth Lake, that to me seemd another Skie.
As I bent down to look, just opposite, [ 460 ]
A Shape within the watry
gleam appeard
Bending to look on me, I started back,
It started back, but pleas'd I soon returnd,
Pleas'd it returnd as soon
with answering looks
Of sympathie and love; there I had fixt [ 465 ]
Mine eyes till now, and pin'd with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warnd me,
What thou seest,
What there thou seest fair Creature is thy self,
With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
And I will bring thee where no shadow staies
[ 470 ]
Thy coming, and thy soft imbraces, hee
Whose image thou
art, him thou shalt enjoy
Inseparablie thine, to him
shalt beare
Multitudes like thy self, and thence be call'd
Mother of human Race:
So spake our
general Mother, and with eyes
Of conjugal attraction unreprov'd,
And meek surrender, half imbracing leand
On our first Father, half her swelling Breast [ 495 ]
Naked met his under the flowing Gold
Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight
Both of her Beauty and
submissive Charms
Smil'd with superior Love, as Jupiter
On Juno
smiles, when he impregns
the Clouds [ 500 ]
That shed May Flowers; and press'd her Matron
lip
With kisses pure: aside the Devil turnd
For envie, yet with jealous leer maligne
Ey'd them askance, and to
himself thus plaind.
SATAN
SPEAKS:
Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus
these two [ 505 ]
Imparadis't in one anothers
arms
The happier Eden, shall enjoy thir fill
Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
Among our other torments not the least, [ 510 ]
Still unfulfill'd with pain of longing pines;
Yet let me not forget what I have gain'd
From thir own mouths; all is not theirs it seems:
One fatal Tree there stands of Knowledge call'd,
Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidd'n? [ 515 ]
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should thir Lord
Envie them that? can it be sin to know,
Can it be death? and do they onely
stand
By Ignorance, is that thir happie
state,
The proof of thir obedience and thir
faith? [ 520 ]
Adam inquires
concerning celestial motions; is doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search
rather things more worthy of knowledge. Adam assents, and, still desirous to
detain Raphael, relates to him what he remembered since his own creation-his
placing in Paradise; his talk with God concerning solitude and fit society; his
first meeting and nuptials with Eve. His discourse with the Angel thereupon;
who, after admonitions repeated, departs
RAPHAEL
SPEAKS:
Sollicit not thy thoughts with matters hid, (167)
Leave them to God above, him serve and feare;
Of other Creatures, as him pleases best,
Wherever plac't,
let him dispose: joy thou [ 170 ]
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
And thy faire Eve; Heav'n
is for thee too high
To know what passes there; be lowlie wise:
Think onely
what concernes
thee and thy being;
Dream not of other Worlds, what Creatures there [ 175 ]
Live, in what state, condition or degree,
Contented that thus farr
hath been reveal'd
Not of Earth onely
but of highest Heav'n.
To whom thus Adam cleerd of doubt, repli'd.
How fully hast thou satisfi'd me, pure [ 180 ]
Intelligence of Heav'n,
Angel serene,
And freed from intricacies, taught to live
The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts
To interrupt the sweet of Life, from which
God hath bid dwell farr
off all anxious cares, [ 185 ]
And not molest us, unless we our selves
Seek them with wandring
thoughts, and notions vain.
But apt the Mind or Fancy is to roave
Uncheckt,
and of her roaving
is no end;
Till warn'd,
or by experience taught, she learne,
[ 190 ]
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and suttle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life,
Is the prime Wisdom,
Satan having compast the Earth,
with meditated guile returns as a mist by Night into Paradise, enters into the
Serpent sleeping. Adam and Eve
in the Morning go forth to thir labours, which Eve
proposes to divide in several places, each labouring apart: Adam consents
not, alledging
the danger, lest that Enemy, of whom they were forewarn'd, should
attempt her found alone: Eve loath to be thought not
circumspect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather desirous to make tryal
of her strength; Adam at last yields: The Serpent
finds her alone; his subtle approach, first gazing, then speaking, with much
flattery extolling Eve above all other Creatures. Eve
wondring
to hear the Serpent speak, asks how he attain'd to human speech and such
understanding not till now; the Serpent answers, that by tasting of a certain
Tree in the Garden he attain'd both to Speech and Reason, till
then void of both: Eve requires him to bring her to
that Tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge forbidden: The Serpent now
grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length to eat; she pleas'd
with the taste deliberates a while whether to impart thereof to Adam
or not, at last brings him of the Fruit, relates what perswaded her to eat
thereof: Adam
at first amaz'd,
but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence of love to perish with her;
and extenuating the trespass, eats also of the Fruit: The Effects thereof in
them both; they seek to cover thir nakedness; then fall to variance and
accusation of one another.
SATAN SEES HIS OPPORTUNITY AND
SPEAKS TO EVE
(TEMPTATION
COMES WHEN LEAST EXPECTED)
SATAN SPEAKS:
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 hautie, and of limb
Heroic built, though of terrestrial mould, [ 485 ]
Foe not informidable, exempt from wound,
I not; so much hath Hell debas'd, and paine
Infeebl'd
me, to what I was in Heav'n.
Shee
fair, divinely fair, fit Love for Gods,
Not terrible, though terrour be in Love [ 490 ]
And beautie,
not approacht
by stronger hate,
Hate stronger, under shew
of Love well feign'd,
The way which to her ruin now I tend.
So spake the Enemie of Mankind, enclos'd
In Serpent, Inmate bad, and toward Eve [ 495 ]
Address'd
his way, not with indented wave,
Prone on the ground, as since, but on his reare,
Circular base of rising foulds, that tour'd
Fould
above fould
a surging Maze, his Head
Crested aloft, and Carbuncle his Eyes; [ 500 ]
With burnisht
Neck of verdant Gold, erect
Amidst his circling Spires, that on the grass
Floted
redundant: pleasing was his shape,
And lovely, never since of Serpent kind
Lovelier
TEMPTATION
COMES WHEN LEAST EXPECTED
Hee boulder now, uncall'd before her
stood;
But as in gaze admiring: Oft he bowd
His turret Crest, and sleek enamel'd Neck, [ 525 ]
Fawning, and lick'd
the ground whereon she trod.
His gentle dumb expression turnd at length
The Eye of Eve to mark his play; he glad
Of her attention gaind,
with Serpent Tongue
Organic, or impulse of vocal Air, [ 530 ]
His fraudulent temptation thus began
So gloz'd the Tempter, and
his Proem tun'd;
Into the Heart of Eve his words made way, [ 550 ]
Though at the voice much marveling; at length
Not unamaz'd
she thus in answer spake.
EVE SPEAKS:
What may this mean? Language of Man pronounc't
By Tongue of Brute, and human sense exprest?
The first at lest of
these I thought deni'd [ 555 ]
To Beasts, whom God on thir Creation-Day
Created mute to all articulat sound;
The latter I demurre, for in thir looks
Much reason, and in thir
actions oft appeers.
Thee, Serpent, suttlest
beast of all the field [ 560 ]
I knew, but not with human voice endu'd;
Redouble then this miracle, and say,
How cam'st
thou speakable of mute, and how
To me so friendly grown above the rest
Of brutal kind, that daily are in sight? [ 565 ]
Say, for such wonder claims attention due.
SATAN CLAIMS THAT HE WAS ONCE A
BRUTE TOO
To whom the guileful Tempter thus
reply'd.
Empress of this fair World, resplendent Eve,
Easie
to mee
it is to tell thee all
What thou commandst
and right thou shouldst
be obeyd: [ 570 ]
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 roaving
the field, I chanc'd [ 575 ]
A goodly Tree farr
distant to behold
Loaden with fruit of fairest colours mixt,
Ruddie
and Gold: I nearer drew to gaze;
When from the boughes
a savorie
odour
blow'n,
Grateful to appetite, more pleas'd my sense, [ 580 ]
Then smell of sweetest Fenel
or the Teats
Of Ewe or Goat dropping with Milk at Eevn,
Unsuckt
of Lamb or Kid, that tend thir play.
To satisfie
the sharp desire I had
Of tasting those fair Apples, I resolv'd [ 585 ]
Not to deferr;
hunger and thirst at once,
Powerful perswaders,
quick'nd
at the scent
Of that alluring fruit, urg'd me so keene.
About the mossie
Trunk I wound me soon,
For high from ground the branches would require [ 590 ]
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 [
595 ]
I spar'd
not, for such pleasure till that hour
At Feed or Fountain never had I found.
Sated at length, ere long I might perceave
Strange alteration in me, to degree
Of Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech [ 600 ]
Wanted not long, though to this shape retain'd.
Thenceforth to Speculations high or deep
I turnd
my thoughts, and with capacious mind
Considerd
all things visible in Heav'n,
Or Earth, or Middle, all things fair and good; [ 605 ]
But all that fair and good in thy Divine
Semblance, and in thy Beauties
heav'nly
Ray
United I beheld;
EVE
REPLIES:
Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt [ 615 ]
The vertue
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, [
620 ]
As leaves a greater store of Fruit untoucht,
Still hanging incorruptible, till men
Grow up to thir provision, and more
hands
Help to disburden Nature of her Bearth.
SATAN REPLIES:
To whom the wilie
Adder, blithe and glad. [ 625 ]
Empress, the way is readie,
and not long,
Beyond a row of Myrtles, on a Flat,
Fast by a Fountain, one small Thicket past
Of blowing Myrrh and Balme; if thou accept
My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon. [ 630 ]
Lead then, said Eve. Hee leading swiftly rowld
In tangles, and made intricate seem strait,
To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy
Bright'ns
his Crest, as when a wandring Fire
Compact of unctuous vapor, which the Night [
635 ]
Condenses, and the cold invirons round,
Kindl'd
through agitation to a Flame,
Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attends
Hovering and blazing with delusive Light,
Misleads th' amaz'd Night-wanderer from his way [ 640 ]
To Boggs and Mires, and
oft through Pond or Poole,
There swallow'd
up and lost, from succour
farr.
So glister'd the dire
Snake, and into fraud
Led Eve our credulous Mother, to the Tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe; [ 645 ]
Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
EVE SPEAKS AS THEY ARRIVE AT THE
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE
Serpent, we might have spar'd
our coming hither,
Fruitless to mee, though Fruit be here to excess,
The credit of whose vertue rest with thee,
Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects. [
650 ]
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.
SATAN REPLIES:
To whom the Tempter guilefully repli'd. [ 655 ]
Indeed? hath God then said that of the Fruit
Of all these Garden Trees ye shall not eate,
Yet Lords declar'd
of all in Earth or Aire?
To whom thus Eve yet sinless. Of the Fruit
Of each Tree in the Garden we may eate, [ 660 ]
But of the Fruit of this fair Tree amidst
The Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eate
Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, least
ye die.
SATAN
CLAIMS THE FRUIT WILL WORK MIRACLES
O Sacred, Wise, and
Wisdom-giving Plant,
Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power [ 680 ]
Within me cleere,
not onely
to discerne
Things in thir
Causes, but to trace the wayes
Of highest Agents, deemd however wise.
Queen of this Universe, doe not believe
Those rigid threats of Death; ye shall not Die: [ 685 ]
How should ye? by the Fruit? it gives you Life
To Knowledge, By the Threatner, look on mee,
Mee
who have touch'd
and tasted, yet both live,
And life more perfet
have attaind
then Fate
Meant mee,
by ventring
higher then my Lot. [ 690 ]
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 vertue, whom the pain
Of Death denounc't,
whatever thing Death be, [ 695 ]
Deterrd
not from atchieving
what might leade
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 shunnd?
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just; [ 700 ]
Not just, not God; not feard then, nor obeyd:
Your feare
it self of Death removes the feare.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshippers; he knows that in the day [
705 ]
Ye Eate
thereof, your Eyes that seem so cleere,
Yet are but dim, shall perfetly be then
Op'nd
and cleerd,
and ye shall be as Gods,
Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.
That ye should be as Gods, since I as Man, [ 710 ]
Internal Man, is but proportion meet,
I of brute human, yee
of human Gods.
SATAN WAITS
He ended, and his words replete with guile
Into her heart too easie entrance
won:
Fixt
on the Fruit she gaz'd,
which to behold [ 735 ]
Might tempt alone, and in her ears the sound
Yet rung of his perswasive words, impregn'd
With Reason, to her seeming, and with Truth;
Mean while the hour of Noon drew on, and wak'd
An eager appetite, rais'd
by the smell [ 740 ]
So savorie
of that Fruit, which with desire,
Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,
Sollicited
her longing eye; yet first
Pausing a while, thus to her self she mus'd.
EVE EATS THE APPLE
So saying, her rash hand in evil hour [
780 ]
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 guiltie
Serpent, and well might, for Eve [ 785 ]
Intent now wholly on her taste, naught else
Regarded, such delight till then, as seemd,
In Fruit she never tasted, whether true
Or fansied
so, through expectation high
Of knowledg,
nor was God-head from her thought. [ 790 ]
Greedily she ingorg'd
without restraint,
And knew not eating Death: Satiate at length,
And hight'nd
as with Wine, jocond
and boon,
Thus to her self she pleasingly began.
EVE BEGINS TO WORSHIP KNOWLEDGE
O Sovran, vertuous, precious of all Trees [ 795 ]
In Paradise, of operation blest
To Sapience, hitherto obscur'd, infam'd,
And thy fair Fruit let hang, as to no end
Created; but henceforth my early care,
Not without Song, each Morning, and due praise [ 800 ]
Shall tend thee, and the fertil 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 envie
what they cannot give; [ 805 ]
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 remaind
In ignorance, thou op'nst Wisdoms way,
BACK
TO ADAM
Hast thou not wonderd, Adam, at
my stay?
Thee I have misst,
and thought it long, depriv'd
Thy presence, agonie of love till now
Not felt, nor shall be twice, for never more
Mean I to trie,
what rash untri'd I sought, [ 860 ]
The pain of absence from thy sight. But strange
Hath bin the cause, and
wonderful to heare:
This Tree is not as we are told, a Tree
Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown
Op'ning
the way, but of Divine effect [ 865 ]
To open Eyes, and make them Gods who taste;
And hath bin tasted such: the Serpent wise,
Or not restraind
as wee, or not obeying,
Hath eat'n
of the fruit, and is become,
Not dead, as we are threatn'd, but thenceforth [ 870 ]
Endu'd
with human voice and human sense,
Reasoning to admiration, and with mee
Perswasively
hath so prevaild,
that I
Have also tasted, and have also found
Th' effects to correspond, opener mine Eyes [ 875 ]
Dimm
erst, dilated Spirits, ampler Heart,
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, unshar'd
with thee, and odious soon. [ 880 ]
Thou therefore also taste, that equal Lot
May joyne
us, equal Joy, as equal Love;
Least thou not tasting,
different degree
Disjoyne
us, and I then too late renounce
Deitie
for thee, when Fate will not permit. [ 885 ]
Thus Eve with Countnance blithe
her storie
told;
But in her Cheek distemper flushing glowd.
On th' other side, Adam, soon as he
heard
The fatal Trespass don by Eve, amaz'd,
Astonied
stood and Blank, while horror chill [ 890 ]
Ran through his veins, and all his joynts relax'd;
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. [ 895 ]
ADAM SPEAKS:
O fairest of Creation, last and best
Of all Gods works, Creature in whom excell'd
Whatever can to sight or thought be formd,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
How art thou lost, how on
a sudden lost, [ 900
]
Defac't,
deflourd,
and now to Death devote?
Rather how hast thou yeelded to transgress
The strict forbiddance, how to violate
The sacred Fruit forbidd'n! som cursed fraud
Of Enemie
hath beguil'd
thee, yet unknown, [ 905 ]
And mee
with thee hath ruind,
for with thee
Certain my resolution is to Die;
How can I live without
thee, how forgoe
Thy sweet Converse and Love so dearly joyn'd,
To live again in these wilde Woods forlorn? [ 910 ]
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
[ 915 ]
Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.
GOD PROBABLY WON’T
KILL US
Nor
can I think that God, Creator wise,
Though threatning,
will in earnest so destroy
Us his prime Creatures, dignifi'd so high, [ 940 ]
Set over all his Works, which in our Fall,
For us created, needs with us must faile,
Dependent made; so God shall uncreate,
Be frustrate, do, undo, and labour loose,
Not well conceav'd
of God, who though his Power [ 945 ]
Creation could repeate,
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; Mee first
He ruind,
now Mankind; whom will he next? [ 950 ]
Matter of scorne,
not to be given the Foe,
However I with thee have fixt my Lot,
Certain
to undergoe
like doom, if Death
Consort with thee, Death is to mee as Life;
So forcible within my heart I feel [ 955 ]
The Bond of Nature draw me to my owne,
My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;
Our State cannot be severd, we are one,
One Flesh; to loose thee
were to loose
my self.
ADAM EATS AND THEY “CONSUMMATE”
So saying, she embrac'd him, and for joy [ 990 ]
Tenderly wept, much won that he his Love
Had so enobl'd,
as of choice to incurr
Divine displeasure for her sake, or Death.
In recompence
(for such compliance bad
Such recompence
best merits) from the bough [ 995 ]
She gave him of that fair enticing Fruit
With liberal hand: he scrupl'd not to eat
Against his better knowledge, not deceav'd,
But fondly overcome with Femal charm.
Earth trembl'd
from her entrails, as again [ 1000 ]
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Skie
lowr'd,
and muttering Thunder, som sad drops
Wept at compleating
of the mortal Sin
Original; while Adam took no thought,
Eating his fill, nor Eve to
iterate [ 1005 ]
Her former trespass fear'd, the more to soothe
Him with her lov'd
societie,
that now
As with new Wine intoxicated both
They swim in mirth, and fansie that they feel
Divinitie
within them breeding wings [ 1010 ]
Wherewith to scorne
the Earth: but that false Fruit
Farr other operation first displaid,
Carnal desire enflaming,
hee
on Eve
Began to cast lascivious Eyes, she him
As wantonly repaid; in Lust they burne: [ 1015 ]
Till Adam thus 'gan Eve to dalliance move,
THEY HATE THE LIGHT
AND REALIZE THEIR NAKENESS
ADAM SPEAKS:
O
Eve, in evil hour thou didst give eare
To that false Worm, of whomsoever taught
To counterfet
Mans
voice, true in our Fall,
False in our promis'd
Rising; since our Eyes [ 1070 ]
Op'nd
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 Honour void,
Of Innocence, of Faith, of Puritie, [ 1075 ]
Our wonted Ornaments now soild and staind,
And in our Faces evident the signes
Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store;
Even shame, the last of evils; of the first
Be sure then. How shall I behold the face [ 1080 ]
Henceforth of God or Angel, earst with joy
And rapture so oft beheld? those heav'nly shapes
Will dazle
now this earthly, with thir blaze
Insufferably bright. O might I here
In solitude live savage, in some glade [ 1085 ]
Obscur'd,
where highest Woods impenetrable
To Starr or Sun-light,
spread thir
umbrage broad,
And brown as Evening: Cover me ye Pines,
Ye Cedars, with innumerable boughs
CLOTHES AND FASHION ARE INVENTED
Hide me, where I may never see them more. [
1090 ]
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 sowd, [ 1095 ]
And girded on our loyns,
may cover round
Those middle parts, that this new commer, Shame,
There sit not, and reproach us as unclean.
Mistrust, Suspicion, Discord, and shook
sore
Thir
inward State of Mind, calm Region once [ 1125 ]
And full of Peace, now tost and turbulent:
ADAM SPEAKS AND BLAMES EVE
Would thou hadst heark'nd
to my words, and stai'd
With me, as I besought thee, when that strange [ 1135 ]
Desire of wandring
this unhappie
Morn,
I know not whence possessd thee; we had then
Remaind
still happie,
not as now, despoild
Of all our good, sham'd,
naked, miserable.
EVE REPLIES AND BLAMES HIM
hadst thou been
there,
Or here th' attempt, thou couldst not have discernd
Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake; [ 1150 ]
No ground of enmitie
between us known,
Why hee
should mean me ill, or seek to harme.
Was I to have never parted from thy side?
As good have grown there still a liveless
Rib.
Being as I am, why didst not thou the Head [
1155 ]
Command me absolutely not to go,
THEY ARGUE ABOUT
WHOSE FAULT IT IS
(THE FIRST
HUSBAND-WIFE QUARREL)
Is this the Love, is this the recompence
Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve,
exprest
Immutable when thou wert lost, not I, [ 1165
]
Who might have liv'd
and joyd
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 ]
I warn'd
thee, I admonish'd
thee, foretold
The danger, and the lurking Enemie
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 [ 1175 ]
Thus they in mutual accusation
spent
The fruitless hours, but
neither self-condemning,
And of thir
vain contest appeer'd
no end.
Man's transgression
known, the guardian Angels forsake Paradise, and return up to Heaven to approve
their vigilance, and are approved; God declaring that the entrance of Satan
could not be by them prevented. He sends his Son to judge the Transgressors; who
descends, and gives sentence accordingly; then, in pity, clothes them both, and
reascends. Sin and Death, sitting till then at the
gates of Hell, by wondrous sympathy feeling the success of Satan in this new
World, and the sin by Man there committed, resolve to sit no longer confined in
Hell, but to follow Satan, their sire, up to the place of Man: to make the way
easier from Hell to this World to and fro, they pave
a broad highway or bridge over Chaos, according to the track that Satan first
made; then, preparing for Earth, they meet him, proud of his success, returning
to Hell; their mutual gratulation. Satan arrives at
Pandemonium; in full assembly relates, with boasting, his success against Man;
instead of applause is entertained with a general hiss by all his audience,
transformed, with himself also, suddenly into Serpents, according to his doom
given in Paradise; then, deluded with a shew of the
Forbidden Tree springing up before them, they, greedily reaching to take of the
Fruit, chew dust and bitter ashes. The proceedings of Sin and Death; God
foretells the final victory of his Son over them, and the renewing of all
things; but, for the present, commands his Angels to make several alterations
in the Heavens and Elements. Adam, more and more perceiving his fallen
condition, heavily bewails, rejects the condolement
of Eve; she persists, and at length appeases him: then, to evade the curse
likely to fall on their offspring, proposes to Adam violent ways; which he
approves not, but, conceiving better hope, puts her in mind of the late promise
made them, that her seed should be revenged on the Serpent, and exhorts her,
with him, to seek peace of the offended Deity by repentance and supplication.
THE BEGINNING OF
PREDATORS
VEGANS TURN INTO
THE FIRST CARNIVORES
Outrage from liveless things; but Discord first
Daughter of Sin, among th'
irrational,
Death introduc'd
through fierce antipathie:
Beast now with Beast gan war, and Fowle with Fowle, [ 710 ]
And Fish with Fish; to graze the Herb all leaving,
Devourd
each other; nor stood much in
awe
Of Man, but fled him, or with count'nance grim
Glar'd
on him passing: these were from without
The growing miseries, which Adam saw [ 715 ]
Alreadie
in part, though hid in gloomiest shade,
To sorrow abandond,
but worse felt within,
And in a troubl'd Sea of passion tost,
Thus to disburd'n
sought with sad complaint.
ADAM SPEAKS ABOUT DEATH AND SIN
O miserable of happie!
is this the end [ 720
]
Of this new glorious World, and mee so late
The Glory of that Glory, who now becom
Accurst
of blessed, hide me from the face
Of God, whom to behold was then my highth
Of happiness: yet well, if here would end [
725 ]
The miserie,
I deserv'd
it, and would beare
My own deservings; but this will not serve;
All that I eat or drink, or shall beget,
Is propagated curse. O voice once heard
Delightfully, Encrease and multiply, [ 730 ]
Now death to hear! for what can I encrease
Or multiplie,
but curses on my head?
Who of all Ages to succeed, but feeling
The evil on him brought by me, will curse
My Head,
ADAM CONTINUES TO
ASK . . .
Did
I request thee, Maker, from my Clay
To mould me Man, did I sollicite
thee
From darkness to promote me, or here place [
745 ]
In this delicious Garden? as my Will
Concurd
not to my being, it were but right
And equal to reduce me to my dust,
Desirous to resigne,
and render back
All I receav'd,
unable to performe [ 750 ]
Thy terms too hard, by which I was to hold
The good I sought not. To the loss of that,
Sufficient penaltie,
why hast thou added
The sense of endless woes?
OPTION ONE: WE CAN KILL OURSELVES
Be it so, for I submit, his doom is fair,
That dust I am, and shall to dust returne:
[ 770 ]
O welcom
hour whenever! why delayes
His hand to execute what his Decree
Fixd on this day? why do I overlive,
Why am I mockt
with death, and length'nd out
To deathless pain? how gladly would I meet [ 775 ]
Mortalitie
my sentence, and be Earth
Insensible, how glad would lay me down
As in my Mothers lap! There I
should rest
And sleep secure; his dreadful voice no more
Would Thunder in my ears, no fear of worse [ 780 ]
To mee
and to my ofspring
would torment me
With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt
Pursues me still, least
all I cannot die,
Least that pure breath of
Life, the Spirit of Man
Which God inspir'd,
cannot together perish [ 785 ]
With this corporeal Clod; then in the Grave,
Or in some other dismal place who knows
But I shall die a living Death?
ADAM ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY
Posteritie stands curst: Fair Patrimonie
That I must leave ye, Sons; O were I able
To waste it all my self, and
leave ye none! [ 820
]
So disinherited how would ye bless
Me now your curse! Ah, why should all mankind
For one mans
fault thus guiltless be condemn'd,
If guiltless? But from mee
what can proceed,
But all corrupt, both Mind and Will deprav'd, [ 825 ]
Not to do onely,
but to will the same
With me? how can they then acquitted stand
In sight of God? Him after all Disputes
Forc't I absolve: all my
evasions vain
And reasonings, though through Mazes, lead me still [ 830 ]
But to my own conviction: first and last
On mee, mee onely, as the sourse and spring
Of all corruption, all the blame lights due;
WHY DID GOD CREATE WOMEN
O why did
God,
Creator wise, that peopl'd highest Heav'n
With Spirits Masculine, create at last [ 890 ]
This noveltie 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?
EVE RECOGNIZES HER RESPONSIBILITY
While
yet we live, scarse
one short hour perhaps,
Between us two let there be peace, both joyning,
As joyn'd
in injuries, one enmitie [ 925 ]
Against a Foe by doom express assign'd us,
That cruel Serpent: On me exercise not
Thy hatred for this miserie befall'n,
On me alreadie
lost, mee
then thy self
More miserable; both have sin'd, but thou [ 930 ]
Against God onely,
I against God and thee,
And to the place of judgment will return,
There with my cries importune Heaven, that all
The sentence from thy head remov'd may light
On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe, [ 935 ]
Mee mee
onely just object of his
ire.
ADAM WILL ACCEPT FULL BLAME
His full wrauth whose thou feelst
as yet lest
part,
And my displeasure bearst so ill. If Prayers
Could alter high Decrees, I to that place
Would speed before thee, and be louder heard,
That on my head all might be visited, [ 955 ]
Thy frailtie
and infirmer Sex forgiv'n,
To me committed and by me expos'd.
But rise, let us no more contend, nor blame
Each other, blam'd
enough elsewhere, but strive
In offices of Love, how we may light'n
[ 960 ]
Each others
burden in our share of woe;
OPTION TWO: ABSTAIN FROM SEX
Our own begotten, and of our Loines
to bring
Into this cursed World a woful Race,
That after wretched Life must be at last [
985 ]
Food for so foule
a Monster, in thy power
It lies, yet ere Conception to prevent
The Race unblest,
to being yet unbegot.
Childless thou art, Childless remaine:
So Death shall be deceav'd his glut, and with us two [ 990 ]
Be forc'd
to satisfie
his Rav'nous
Maw.
OR MAYBE RECONSIDER OPTION ONE—KILL OURSELVES
QUICKLY
But if thou judge it hard and difficult,
Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain
From Loves due Rites, Nuptial imbraces sweet,
And with desire to languish without hope, [
995 ]
Before the present object languishing
With like desire, which would be miserie
And torment less then
none of what we dread,
Then both our selves and Seed at once to free
From what we fear for both, let us make short, [ 1000 ]
Let us seek Death, or he not found, supply
With our own hands his Office on our selves;
Why stand we longer shivering under feares,
That shew
no end but Death, and have the power,
Of many ways to die the shortest choosing, [
1005 ]
Destruction with destruction to destroy.
HAVE TO HAVE KIDS TO KICK SATAN’S BUTT
Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand
Foe
Satan, who in the Serpent hath contriv'd
Against us this deceit: to
crush his head [ 1035
]
Would be revenge indeed; which will be lost
By death brought on our selves, or childless days
Resolv'd,
as thou proposest; so our Foe
Shall scape his
punishment ordain'd,
and wee
Instead shall double ours upon our heads.
ADAM ASKS FORGIVENESS
So spake our
Father penitent, nor Eve
Felt less remorse: they forthwith to the place
Repairing where he judg'd
them prostrate fell
Before him reverent, and
both confess'd [ 1100 ]
Humbly thir faults, and pardon beg'd,
with tears
Watering the ground, and with thir sighs the Air
Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign
Of sorrow unfeign'd,
and humiliation meek.
The Angel Michael continues, from the
Flood, to relate what shall succeed; then, in the mention of Abraham, comes by
degrees to explain who that Seed of the Woman shall be which was promised Adam
and Eve in the Fall: his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension; the
state of the Church till his second coming. Adam, greatly satisfied and recomforted by these relations and promises, descends the
hill with Michael; wakens Eve, who all this while had slept, but with gentle
dreams composed to quietness of mind and submission. Michael in either hand
leads them out of Paradise, the fiery Sword waving behind them, and the
Cherubim taking their stations to guard the place.
BOOK 12--THEY LEAVE EDEN
They
looking back, all th' Eastern
side beheld
Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat,
Wav'd
over by that flaming Brand, the Gate
With dreadful Faces throng'd and fierie Armes:
Som
natural tears they drop'd, but wip'd them soon; [ 645 ]
The World was all before
them, where to choose
Thir
place of rest, and Providence thir guide:
They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow,
Through Eden took thir solitarie way.