Artificer of fraud; and was the firft
That practis'd falfehood under faintly fhew,
Deep malice to conceal, coucht with revenge.
Yet not enough had practis'd to deceive
URIEL once warn'd; whofe eye perfu'd him down
The way he went, and on th' ASSYRIAN
Saw him disfigur'd, more than could befall
Spirit of happy fort: his geftures fierce
He mark'd, and mad demeanor, then alone,
As he fuppos'd, all unobferv'd, unfeen.
So on he fares, and to the border comes
Of EDEN, where delicious Paradise,
Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the champain head
Of a steep wilderness; whofe hairy fides
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Accefs deny'd: and over head up grew
Infuperable height of loftieft fhade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A fylvan fcene; and as the ranks afcend
Shade above fhade, a woody theatre
Of ftatelieft view. Yet higher than their tops
The verdurous wall of Paradife up-fprung:
Which to our general fire gave profpect large
Into his neather empire, neighb'ring round.
And higher than that wall a circling row
Of goodlieft trees, loaden with fairelt fruit,
Bloffoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
Appear'd, with gay enamel'd colors mix'd:
On which the Sun more glad imprefs'd his beams, 150
Than in fair evening cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath fhow'rd the earth; fo lovely feem'd
That landscape! and of pure now purer air
Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All fadness but defpair: now gentle gales
Fanning their odoriferous wings difpenfe
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole
Those balmy fpoils. As when to them who fail Beyond the CAPE OF HOPE, and now are paft 160 MOZAMBIC, off at fea north-eaft winds blow SABAAN odor from the fpicy shore
Of ARABY the bleft, with fuch delay.
Well pleas'd they flack their courfe, & many a league
Chear'd with the grateful fmell old OCEAN fimiles:
So entertain'd thole odorous fweets the Fiend, 166
Who came their bane; though with them better pleas'd
Than ASMODEUS with the fishy fume
That drove him, though enamor'd, from the spouse
Of TOBIT's fon, and with a vengeance fent 170
From MEDIA poft to ÆGYPT, there faft bound.
Now to th' afcent of that fteep favage hill
SATAN had journied on, penfive and flow;
But further way found none, fo thick entwin'd,
As one continu'd brake, the undergrowth
Of fhrubs and tangling bufhes had perplex'd
All path of man or beat that paft that way.
One gate there only was, and that look'd east
On th' other fide: which when th' Arch-fellon faw
Due entrance he difdain'd, and in contempt,
At one flight bound high over-leap'd all bound
Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within
Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to feek new haunt for prey,
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve 185
In hurdled cotes amid the field fecure,
Leaps o'er the fence with eafe into the fold:
Or as a thief bent to unhoard the cash
of fome rich burgher, whofe fubftantial doors,
Crofs-barr'd and bolted faft, fear no affault,
In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles:
So clomb this firft grand thief into GoD's fold;
(So fince into his Church lewd hirelings climb.)
Thence up he flew, and on the tree of Life,
(The middle tree, and highest there that grew) 193
Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life
Thereby regain'd, but fat devifing death
To them who liv'd: nor on the virtue thought
Of that life-giving plant, but only us'd
For profpect, what well us'd had been the pledge 200
Of immortality. (So little knows
Any, but GoD alone, to value right
The good before him, but perverts beft things
To worst abufe, or to their meanest use.)
Beneath him with new wonder now he views, 205
To all delight of human fenfe expos'd
In narrow room, nature's whole wealth, yea more,
A heav'n on earth! for blifsful Paradife
Of GOD the garden was, by him in th' eaft
Of EDEN planted; EDEN ftretch'd her line
From AURAN eastward to the royal tow'rs
Of great SELEUCIA, built by GRECIAN Kings,
Or where the fons of EDEN long before
Dwelt in TELASSAR. In this pleasant foil
His far more pleafant garden GOD ordain'd:
Out of the fertile ground he caus'd to grow
All trees of nobleft kind for fight, fmell, tafte;
And all amid them ftood the tree of Life,
High eminent, blooming ambrofial fruit
Of vegetable gold: and next to life,
Our death, the Tree of knowledge, grew faft by;
Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill!
Southward through EDEN went a river large,
Nor chang'd his courfe, but through the fhaggy hill
Pafs'd underneath ingulf'd, for GOD had thrown 225
That mountain as his garden mound high rais'd
Upon the rapid current, which through veins
Of porous earth with kindly thirst up drawn,
Rofe a fresh fountain, and with many a rill
Water'd the garden; thence united fell
Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood
Which from his darkfome paffage now appears:
And now divided into four main ftreams,
F
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