Hinc medium ante diem tenebræ nascuntur eois
Tractibus: hefperiâque hinc nube aurora refulgens
Clarior albenti radiorum illuftrat amictu
Æthera cœruleum, descendens lenta, decufque
Nefcio quod cœlefte ferens.-Nec imagine vanâ
Fallitur. Ardentes liquidæ per iafpidis auras
Jam superis cœleste plagis descenderat agmen,
Et paradifei confidit vertice montis;
Illuftres vifu formæ! ni offufa pavoris
Attonitos caligo oculos hebetârat Adamo.
At neque nobiliora pius fpectacula vidit
Ifacides, radiare tuens tentoria latè
Ætherea, & claris cinctos cuftodibus agros.
Gloria nec quondam Dothaneo in monte reluxit
Splendidior, fenfit quà flammea fulgere caftra
Affyriæ rex ille, unum qui turpibus ardens
Exceptare virum infidiis, clam bella parârat,
Ceu prædo infamis. Turmas ftatione morantes
Darkness e'er day's mid-course? and morning- A glorious apparition! had not doubt
light.
More orient in yon western cloud, that draws
O'er the blue firmament a radiant white,
And flow defcends, with fomething heav'nly
fraught ?
He err'd not; for by this the heav'nly bands
Down from a sky of jasper lighted now
In paradife, and on a hill made alt: · VOL. II.
And carnal fear that day dim'd Adam's eye.
Not that more glorious, when the Angels met
Jacob in Mahanaim; where he faw
The field pavilion'd with his guardians bright :
Nor that, which on the flaming mount appear'd
In Dotham, cover'd with a camp of fire,
Against the Syrian king; who to furprize
One man, affaffin like, had levy'd war,
F f
Præfidio radiante hortos circumdare juffit
Agminis ætherei dux regius: ipfe per umbras
Solus abit, fiquà tacitis reperiret Adamum
Silvarum hofpitiis: longè fervabat Adamus;
Atque hæc deinde Evæ, magnus dum accederet hofpes,
Incipit: Expectanda tibi fublimia, conjux,
Nuntia, quæ forfan nobis fata ultima demum
Indicent, legefve novas ac fœdera pandent.
Namque aureâ de nube, operit qui culmina montis
Iftius, en! oculis fefe obtulit agminis unus
Ætherei: fublimi habitu geftuque videtur
Ordinibus fuperum ex primis, fceptrifque potitus:
Is venientem illuftrat honos! verùm omnis ab ore
Terror abeft: fed nec facilis Raphialis amici
Elucet favor, ut mihi cor fiducia firmet.
Hofpitis ipfe adeò adventum veneratus, honore
Obvius excipiam digno; Tu deinde recedas.
Finierat Genitor. Cœleftiaque exuit ora
War un-proclaim'd. The princely hierarch
In their bright ftand there left his pow'rs to feize
Poffeffion of the garden: he alone,
To find where Adam shelter'd, took his way;
Not un-perceiv'd of Adam, who to Eve,
While the great vifitant approach'd, thus fpake:
Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps
of us will foon determine; or impose
New laws to be obferv'd; for I defcry,
From yonder blazing cloud that veils the hill,
One of the heav'nly hoft; and by his gait,
None of the meaneft: fome great potentate,
Or of the thrones above; fuch majefty
Invests him coming! yet not terrible,
That I should fear; nor fociably mild,
As Raphael, that I should much confide;
But folemn and fublime: whom not t'offend,
With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.
Dux fuperûm, humanæque homini fub imagine formæ
Maluit occurfare: fuper lucentibus armis
Fufa finus rutilos fluitabat bellica veftis,
Cui vivo neque certârit Meliboa nitore
Nec Sarrana chlamys, veterum gestamina quondam
Heroum, regumque fequeftrâ pace fruentum;
Tinxerat ipfa Iris fubtemina. Deinde foluto
Stellantis vinclo galeæ, virtute virili
Effulfit, mixtisque rofis & flore juventæ.
Hasta manum armârat; laterique affixus, ut orbe
Signifero pendens, ardebat fulgidus enfis,
Enfis atrox, Satanæ terror. Tum flexit Adamus
Genua humilis: non inclinato regius Hofpes
Vertice, fic mandata refert fublimis: Adame,
Nil opus eft fermonum ambagibus, ardua fummi
Juffa Dei ut memorem; fat erit tua vota precesque
Audiri: tibi mors indicta, & crimine in ipfo
Debita, jam cœli blando mediante favore,
He ended; and th' Arch-angel foon drew nigh; As in a glift'ring zodiack, hung the fword,
Not in his fhape cœleftial, but as man
Clad to meet man: over his lucid arms
A military veft of purple flow'd;
Livelier than Melibaan, or the grain
Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old,
In time of truce; Iris had dip'd the wooff.
His ftarry helm unbuckled fhew'd him prime
In manhood, where youth ended: by his fide
Satan's dire dread; and in his hand the spear.
Adam bow'd low: he kingly from his state
Inclin'd not, but his coming thus declar'd:
Adam, heav'n's high beheft no preface needs:
Sufficient that thy pray'rs are heard, and death,
Then due by fentence when thou didst tranfgrefs,
Defeated of his feizure, many days
Giv'n thee of grace, wherein thou may'ft repent, Ff2 Ufque
Ufque dies etiam in feros dilata receffit.
At te pœniteat culpæ; in meliufque relatis
Moribus, innumeris noxam virtutibus unam
Obvolvas: hâc lege Deus placabilis, ultro
Servatum nigri miferis ex faucibus orci
Eripiet: fed enim paradifi in fede morari
Non finit ulteriùs. Jam te miffurus ab horto
Adveni viridante; fola ut magis apta, genufque
Unde trahis, terram affiduo infectere labore.
Nec plura his. Subitus namque ima gelârat Adamo
Corda dolor, fenfusque ferox perftrinxerat omnes:
Horrendum fimul Eva fonum, quà tecta latebat,
Accipiens, queftuque & fœmineo ululatu
Prodidit arcanos densâ fub fronde receffus:
Improvifa mali, letho mihi pejor, imago!
Siccine te, Paradise, ah lege coercita durâ,
Te linquam, natale folum! spatia hæc peramœna,
Has umbras, loca digna Deis? quà, mente dolorem
And one bad act with many deeds well done
May'ft cover: well may then thy Lord appeas'd
Redeem thee quite from death's rapacious claim.
But longer in this paradife to dwell
Permits not to remove thee I am come,
And send thee from the garden forth, to till
The ground whence thou waft taken, fitter foil.
He added not; for Adam at the news
Heart-ftruck with chilling gripe of forrow ftood,
That all his fenfes bound. Eve, who un-seen
Yet all had heard, with audible lament
Discover'd foon the place of her retire:
O unexpected ftroke, worse than of death!
Muft I thus leave thee, paradife? thus leave
Thee, native foil! thefe happy walks and fhades,
Fit haunt of Gods? where I had hope to spend,
Mæsta fovens tacitâ, fperabam agitare diei
Quod fupereft potuiffe, fupremæ munera lucis.
Vos ô, non alio rifuri fidere, Flores,
Mane novo mihi prima atque ultima vefpere cura,
Quos colui, tenerâque fovens nova germina dextrâ,
Nomina cuique dedi! quis vos, quis lucida colla
Eriget ad folem quondam? quis fæcla tribusque
Digeret, ambrofiis fpargens è fontibus imbres?
Te-ne etiam, Thalame ô frondens, decora omnia paffim
Cui legi, formâque & odore placentia; te-ne
Abfcedam? quonam inferiùs dehinc orbe vagabor,
Deserto, horrenti? quo more fub aere crasso
Spirandum, affuetis poma immortalia pasci?
Illam incendentem luctus caftigat amicè
Nuntius: Eva, queri defifte, lubenfque relinque,
Quæ meritò amittis; neve anxia pectore vano
Non tua fufpires nimiùm. Nec fola recedis ;
Quiet, though fad, the refpite of that day
That must be mortal to us both! O flow'rs,
That never will in other climate grow;
My early vifitation, and my laft
At ev❜n, which I bred up with tender hand
From the first op'ning bud, and gave ye names!
Who now shall rear ye to the fun, or rank
Your tribes, and water from th' ambrofial fount?
Thee laftly, nuptial bow'r, by me adorn'd
With what to fight or fmell was fweet! from thee
How fhall I part; and whither wander down
Into a lower world, to this obfcure,
And wild? how fhall we breathe in other air
Lefs
pure, accuftom'd to immortal fruits?
Whom thus the Angel interrupted mild:
Lament not, Eve, but patiently refign
What juftly thou haft loft: nor fet thy heart,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine.
Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
Thy husband; him to follow thou art bound:
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