Et quæ fors divûm eft, quam non contingere poffent
Gens hominum, ambrofiæ tulerint fi munera frugis?
Dii nobis fuadere volunt, quòd fortè priores
Exftiterunt, folos latè fe cuncta creâffe:
Nempe fidem hoc fuperat: blando nam fole calentem
Tellurem hanc latè nitidam proferre beato
Omne genus gremio, nihil illos edere cerno.
Omnia fin illi; quis in arbore clauserat istâ
Egregias adeò dotes vimque alta docendi
Arcana, ut frugem fi quis decerpferit, illis
Mira etiam invitis fapientia crefcat edenti?
Ergo scire nefas homini? quid veftra noceret
Olli quantalibet fapientia? dona vel arbos
Quæ poffet conferre illo prohibente, gubernet
Omnia fi folus? donis fors talibus arcet
Invidus. Invidiam-ne fovent cœleftia corda?
Hæ certè, atque aliæ fuper his, fat lumine claro
Teftantur caufæ fructûs te dulcis egentem:
And what are gods, that man may not become
As they, participating god-like food?
The gods are firft, and that advantage ufe
On our belief, that all from them proceeds:
I question it! for this fair earth I fee,
Warm'd by the fun, producing every kind;
Them nothing: if they all things, who in-clos'd
Knowledge of good and evil, in this tree,
That whofo eats thereof, forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
Th' offence, that man should thus attain to know?
What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
Impart against his will, if all be his?
Or is it envy? and can envy dwell
In heav'nly breafts ?---thefe, thefe, and many more
Caufes import your need of this fair fruit:
Quin dextram dea tende humana, & vefcere læta.
Dixerat: & fœcunda dolis pellacia verba
Introitu per cor facili nimis infinuabant
Illius: obtutu fructum defixa filenti
Luftrabat, cujus fpecies vel fola labantes
Impuferit formâ fenfus: lætasque per aures
Vox fuadentis adhuc, æquum fuafiffe bonumque
Vifa, canora fonat. Cœli properabat ad axem
Sol medium interea fervens, reducemque ciebat
Efuriem, magis incenfam jam frugis odore
Ambrosio, dudum quæ follicitârat aventi
Lumina: dehinc ardet rapere & gustare; morata
Ante tamen, paulumque hærens, fic pectore fecum:
Magna tibi certe eft virtus, frugum optima, quamvis
Interdicta homini, & fummo digniffima cultu:
Quæ nimium neglecta diu, tentamine primo
Jam muto eloquii vires gustata dedisti,
Linguam adeò inftituens, haud natam in munera vocis,
Goddess humane, reach then, and freely tafte!
He ended; and his words, replete with guile,
Into her heart too easy entrance won:
Fix'd on the fruit fhe gaz'd, which to behold
Might tempt alone: and in her ears the found
Yet rung of his perfuafive words, impregn'd
With reason, (to her feeming) and with truth:
Mean-while the hour of noon drew on, and wak'd
An eager appetite, rais'd by the smell
VOL. II.
So favory of that fruit; which with defire,
(Inclinable now grown to touch, or taste)
Sollicited her longing eye: yet first
Paufing a-while, thus to her felf fhe mus'd.
Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits!
Tho' kept from man, and worthy to be admir'd;
Whofe tafte, too long forborn, at first affay
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise.
е
Te
Te liquidis celebrare modis. Præconia laudis
Nec filet ille tuæ, tanti qui muneris usu
Nos prohibet, facræ dignatus nomine plantæ,
Quæ dat fcire arcana, bonum dat fcire malumqe;
Dein vetuit guftare: at te magis inde tuumque
Commendat pretium, bona quæ largiris apertè
Teftatus, quantumque tuî fors indiga nostra est.
Nam bona quis poterit, quæ non cognôrit, habere?
Quid-ve juvent, ea possessor nisi noverit? ergo
Scire vetat, vetat ille boni contingere fontem,
Quin vetat & fapere. Imperiis parere neceffe eft
Talibus? at fævis fi mors exinde fecuta
Induerit vinclis, quid profit mente sub altâ
Libertas? quo poma die gustabimus ista,
(Nos ea fata manent) moriemur. an occidit Hydrus?
Guftavit tamen ille; etiamnum & vivit, & intus.
Res penetrat, fapit, eloquitur, difceptat acutè,
Cognofcitque fagax, ratione haud præditus ante.
Thy praise he also, who forbids thy use,
Conceals not from us, naming thee the tree
Of knowledge; knowledge both of good and evil:
Forbids us then to tafte! but his forbidding
Commends thee more, while it infers the good
By thee communicated, and our want:
For good-unknown, fure is not had; or had,
And yet un-known, is as not had at all,
In plain then, what forbids he but to know,
Forbids us good, forbids us to be wife?
Such prohibitions bind not.---But, if death
Bind us with after-bands, what profits then.
Our inward freedom? in the day we eat
Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we fhall die.-
How dies the ferpent? he hath eat'n, and lives,
And knows and fpeaks, and reafons and difcerns;
Nos
Nos propter folos mors-ne eft inventa? negatur
Ifte animi victus nobis, qui pectora luce
Exfaturat, brutæ gentis fervatus in ufus?
Nempe ita fervatum reor. At quæ bestia fola
Experta est morsu, non invidet; ipsa sed ultro
Gaudia deguftata offert; nec mî illius ulla
Sufpicio inciderit: quæ corde amplexa benigno
Sic hominem, fic blanda fovet, nec confcia fraudum.
Quodnam igitur timeo? potiùs, quæ caufa timoris
Cernitur? obcæcat me infcitia tanta bonique
Atque mali, legis, pœnæ, mortifque Deique.
En medicina mihi quæ leniat omnia, fruges
Alliciens divina oculos, cupienda palato,
Luce potens animum perfundere. Quid vetet ultra
Corripere, & fatiare avidam cum corpore mentem?
Dixit: & infaustâ temeraria porrigit horâ
Optatos dextram ad fructus, decerpit editque.
Vulnere contremuit tellus; & fedibus altis
Irrational 'till then. For us alone
Was death invented? or to us deny'd
This intellectual food, for beafts referv'd?
For beafts it seems! yet, that one beast which firft
Hath tafted, envies not; but brings with joy
The good befall'n him; author un-fufpect,
Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
What fear I then? rather, what know to fear
Under this ignorance of good and evil,
Of God or death, of law or penalty?
Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine!
Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
Of virtue to make wife! what hinders then
To reach and feed at once both body and mind?
So faying, her rafh hand in evil hour
Forth-reaching to the fruit, fhe pluck'd, fhe eat!
Earth felt the wound; and nature from her feat,
Perque omnes natura finus horrenda dolorum
Signa dedit gemitu, mundi teftata ruinam.
Confcius at ferpens furtim fubrepferat imas
Dumorum vafer in latebras; jam cetera mittit
Omnia, jam folis in fructibus Eva moratur.
Æquè dulcis enim non juverat ante palatum
Ullâ ex fruge fapor, verus-ne, an imagine vanâ
Creditus; ufque adeò fervebat amore sciendi
Indomito, divûmque fibi fperabat honores.
Efurie immensâ se ingurgitat, infcia mortem
Ore avido obforbens: tandem exfaturata, micanfque
Corde alacri, tanquam vini flagraverat æstu,
Hæc fecum exultans: ô quæ virtute potenti.
Præluces Edeni aliis præftantior una
Arboribus; cujus fapientia dia fapore
Effluit! hac obfcura tenus, penitufque malignâ
Nocte latens fruges. ramis intacta pependit.
Neglectis, veluti incaffum natura creârat.
Sighing through all her works, gave figns of woe
That all was loft. Back to thicket flunk
The guilty ferpent: and well might: for Eve
Intent now wholly on her tafte, nought elfe
Regarded: fuch delight 'till then, as feem'd,
In fruit fhe never tafted, whether true,
Or fancy'd so, through expectation high
Of knowledge; nor was god-head from her
thought.
Greedily fhe ingorg'd without reftraint;
And knew not eating death! fatiate at length,
And heighten'd as with wine, jocund, and boon..
Thus to her felf fhe pleafingly began,
O fov'reign, virtuous, precious of all trees
In paradife! of operation bleft
To fapience! hitherto obfcur'd, in-fam'd,
And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end
Created: but henceforth my early care.
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