Wherewith to scorn the Earth. Far other operation first display'd, Carnal desire inflaming: he on Eve Began to cast lascivious eyes; she him As wantonly repaid; in lust they burn, Till Adam thus 'gan Eve to dalliance move: "Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste, And elegant, of sapience no small part; Since to each meaning savour we apply, And palate call judicious. I the praise
Yield thee, so well this day thou hast purvey'd. Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstain'd From this delightful fruit, nor known till now True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be In things to us forbidden, it might be wish'd For this one tree had been forbidden ten. But come; so well refresh'd, now let us play, As meet is, after such delicious fare; For never did thy beauty, since the day I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorn'd With all perfections, so inflame my sense With ardour to enjoy thee, fairer now Than ever, bounty of this virtuous tree!"
So said he, and forbore not glance or toy Of amorous intent, well understood
Of Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire.
Her hand he seized, and to a shady bank,
Thick overhead with verdant roof embower'd,
He led her, nothing loth; flowers were the couch, Pansies, and violets, and asphodel,
And hyacinth, Earth's freshest, softest lap.
There they their fill of love and love's disport
Took largely, of their mutual guilt the seal,
The solace of their sin, till dewy sleep
Oppress'd them, wearied with their amorous play. Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit, That with exhilarating vapour bland
About their spirits had play'd, and inmost powers Made err, was now exhaled, and grosser sleep, Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams
Encumber'd, now had left them, up they rose As from unrest, and, each the other viewing, Soon found their eyes how open'd, and their minds How darken'd. Innocence, that as a veil Had shadow'd them from knowing ill, was gone; Just confidence, and native righteousness, And honour, from about them, naked left To guilty Shame: he cover'd, but his robe. Uncover'd more. So rose the Danite strong, Herculean Samson, from the harlot-lap Of Philistean Delilah, and waked
Shorn of his strength; they destitute and bare Of all their virtue. Silent, and in face Confounded, long they sat, as strucken mute; Till Adam, though not less than Eve abash'd, At length gave utterance to these words constrain'd: "O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear To that false worm, of whomsoever taught To counterfeit Man's voice, true in our fall, False in our promised rising; since our eyes Open'd 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 purity,
Our wonted ornaments, now soil'd and stain'd, And in our faces evident the signs
Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store, Even shame, the last of evils; of the first Be sure then. How shall I behold the face Henceforth of God or Angel, erst with joy And rapture so oft beheld? those heavenly shapes Will dazzle now this earthly with their blaze Insufferably bright. Oh, might I here In solitude live savage, in some glade Obscured, where highest woods, impenetrable To star or sunlight, spread their umbrage broad, And brown as evening! Cover me, ye pines! Ye cedars, with innumerable boughs
Hide me, where I may never see them more!
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 sew'd, And girded on our loins, may cover round Those middle parts, that this new comer, Shame, There sit not, and reproach us as unclean."
So counsell'd he, and both together went Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose The fig-tree, not that kind of fruit renown'd, But such as at this day, to Indians known, In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms Branching so broad and long that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade High overarch'd, and echoing walks between : There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds At loop-holes cut through thickest shade. Those leaves They gather'd, broad as Amazonian targe, And with what skill they had together sew'd, To gird their waist; vain covering, if to hide Their guilt and dreaded shame! Oh how unlike To that first naked glory! Such of late Columbus found the American, so girt
With feather'd cincture, naked else and wild
Among the trees on isles and woody shores.
Thus fenced, and, as they thought, their shame in part
Cover'd, but not at rest or ease of mind,
They sat them down to weep; nor only tears
Rain'd at their eyes, but high winds worse within
Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate, Mistrust, suspicion, discord, and shook sore Their inward state of mind, calm region once And full of peace, now tost and turbulent: For Understanding ruled not, and the Will Heard not her lore, both in subjection now To sensual Appetite, who from beneath Usurping over sovran Reason claim'd
Superior sway. From thus distemper'd breast Adam, estranged in look and alter'd style, Speech intermitted thus to Eve renew'd:
"Would thou hadst hearken'd to my words, and stay'd With me, as I besought thee, when that strange Desire of wandering, this unhappy morn,
I know not whence possess'd thee! we had then Remain'd still happy, not, as now, despoil'd
Of all our good, shamed, naked, miserable.
Let none henceforth seek needless cause to approve 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 pass'd thy lips, Adam severe ! Imputest thou that to my default, or will
Of wandering, as thou call'st it, which who knows But might as ill have happen'd, thou being by, Or to thyself perhaps? Hadst thou been there, Or here the attempt, thou couldst not have discern'd Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake ; No ground of enmity between us known, Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm. Was I to have never parted from thy side? As good have grown there still, a lifeless rib. Being as I am, why didst not thou, the head, Command me absolutely not to go,
Going into such danger, as thou saidst? Too facile then, thou didst not much gainsay, Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dismiss. Hadst thou been firm and fix'd in thy dissent, Neither had I transgress'd, nor thou with me." To whom, then first incensed, Adam replied: "Is this the love, is this the recompense Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve, express'd Immutable when thou wert lost, not I, Who might have lived, and joy'd 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?
I warn'd thee, I admonish'd thee, foretold The danger, and the lurking enemy
That lay in wait; beyond this had been force, And force upon free will hath here no place. But confidence then bore thee on, secure Either to meet no danger, or to find Matter of glorious trial; and perhaps I also err'd in overmuch admiring
What seem'd in thee so perfect, that I thought No evil durst attempt thee; but I rue
That error now, which is become my crime, And thou the accuser. Thus it shall befall Him who, to worth in women overtrusting, Lets her will rule: restraint she will not brook; And, left to herself, if evil thence ensue, She first his weak indulgence will accuse." Thus they in mutual accusation spent
The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning; And of their vain contest appear'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 leclaring that the entrance of Satan could not be by them prevented. ends 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 he success of Satan in this new World, and the sin by Man there committed, esolve to sit no longer confined in Hell, but to follow Satan, their sire, up o 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 rack that Satan first made; then, preparing for Earth, they meet him, proud of his success, returning to Hell; their mutual gratulation. Satan urrives at Pandemonium; in full assembly relates, with boasting, his success
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