O foul defcent! that I, who erst contended With Gods to fit the highest, am now constrain'd Into a beast; and mix'd with bestial flime, This effence to incarnate and imbrute,
That to the height of Deity aspir'd! But what will not ambition, and revenge, Descend to? who aspires, must down as low, As high he foar'd; obnoxious, first or last, To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter e're long back on it felf recoiles: Let it; I reck not, so it light well aim'd! Since higher I fall short, on him who next
Provokes my envy (this new favorite Of Heav'n, this man of clay, fon of despite, Whom, us the more to spite, his maker rais'd From duft) spite then with spite is best repaid.
So saying, through each thicket, dank or dry, Like a black mift low creeping, he held on His midnight-fearch, where sooneft he might find The ferpent: him faft-fleeping foon he found, In labyrinth of many a round self-rowl'd; His head the midst, well-ftor'd with fubtil wiles:
Not yet in horrid shade, or dismal den, Nor nocent yet; but, on the grassy herb, Fearless un-fear'd he flept. In at his mouth The Devil enter'd; and his brutal sense, (In heart, or head) poffeffing, foon infpir'd With act intelligential; but his fleep
Disturb'd not, waiting close th' approach of morn..
Now when as facred light began to dawn In EDEN on the humid flow'rs, that breath'd Their morning incenfe, when all things that breathe, From th' earth's great altar send up filent praise 195 To the Creator, and his noftrils fill
With grateful fmell, forth came the human pair, And join'd their vocal worship to the choir
Of creatures wanting voice: that done, partakeO The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs: 200 Then commune, how that day they best may ply Their growing work (for much their work out grew The hands difpatch of two, gard'ning fo wide) And Eve first to her husband thus began.
ADAM, well may we labor still to dress This garden, still to tend plant, herb and flow'r, Our pleasant task injoin'd; but 'till more hands Aid us, the work under our labor grows Luxurious by reftraint: what we by day Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind, 2ια One night or two with wanton growth derides, Tending to wild. Thou therefore now advise, Or hear what to my mind first thoughts prefent: Let us divide our labors: thou, where choice Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind The woodbine round this arbor, or direct The clafping ivy where to climb: while I, In yonder spring of rofes, intermix'd With myrtle, find what to redress till noon... For while fo near each each other thus all day 220 Our task we chufe, what wonder if fo near Looks intervene, and fimiles, or object new. Casual discourse draw on; which intermits Our day's-work, brought to little, though begun Early, and the hour of fupper comes un-earn'd. 225
To whom mild answer ADAM thus return'd.
Sole Eve, associate fole, to me beyond Compare, above all living creatures dear! Well haft thou motion'd, well thy thoughts employ'd, How we might beft fulfil the work, which here 230 Gon hath affign'd us; nor of me shalt pass Unprais'd: (for nothing lovelier can be found In woman, than to study household good, And good works in her husband to promote.)
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