1040 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

  1045 Oppressed them, wearied with their amorous play.

  Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit,

  That with exhilarating vapour bland

  About their spirits had played, and inmost powers

  Made err, was now exhaled, and grosser sleep

  1050 Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams

  Encumbered, now had left them, up they rose

  As from unrest, and each the other viewing,

  Soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds

  How darkened; innocence, that as a veil

  1055 Had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone;

  Just confidence, and native righteousness

  And honour from about them, naked left

  To guilty Shame: he covered, but his robe

  Uncovered more. So rose the Danite strong

  1060 Hercúlean Samson from the harlot-lap

  Of Phílistéan Dálila, 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,

  1065 Till Adam, though not less than Eve abashed,

  At length gave utterance to these words constrained.

  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,

  1070 False in our promised rising; since our eyes

  Opened 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,

  1075 Of innocence, of faith, of purity,

  Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained,

  And in our faces evident the signs

  Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store;

  Even shame, the last of evils; of the first

  1080 Be sure then. How shall I behold the face

  Henceforth of God or angel, erst with joy

  And rapture so oft beheld? those Heav’nly shapes

  Will dazzle now this earthly, with their blaze

  Insufferably bright. O might I here

  1085 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

  1090 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;

  1095 Some tree whose broad smooth leaves together sewed,

  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 counselled he, and both together went

  1100 Into the thickest wood, there soon they chose

  The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renowned,

  But such as at this day to Indians known

  In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms

  Branching so broad and long, that in the ground

  1105 The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow

  About the mother tree, a pillared shade

  High overarched, and echoing walks between;

  There oft the Indian herdsman shunning heat

  Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds

  1110 At loopholes cut through thickest shade: those leaves

  They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe,

  And with what skill they had, together sewed,

  To gird their waist, vain covering if to hide

  Their guilt and dreaded shame; O how unlike

  1115 To that first naked glory. Such of late

  Columbus found th’ American so girt

  With feathered cincture, naked else and wild

  Among the trees on isles and woody shores.

  Thus fenced, and as they thought, their shame in part

  1120 Covered, but not at rest or ease of mind,

  They sat them down to weep, nor only tears

  Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within

  Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate,

  Mistrust, suspicion, discord, and shook sore

  1125 Their inward state of mind, calm region once

  And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent:

  For understanding ruled not, and the will

  Heard not her lore, both in subjection now

  To sensual appetite, who from beneath

  1130 Usurping over sov’reign reason claimed

  Superior sway: from thus distempered breast,

  Adam, estranged in look and altered style,

  Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewed.

  Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and stayed

  1135 With me, as I besought thee, when that strange

  Desire of wand’ring this unhappy morn,

  I know not whence possessed thee; we had then

  Remained still happy, not as now, despoiled

  Of all our good, shamed, naked, miserable.

  1140 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 passed thy lips, Adam severe,

  1145 Imput’st thou that to my default, or will

  Of wand’ring, as thou call’st it, which who knows

  But might as ill have happened thou being by,

  Or to thyself perhaps: hadst thou been there,

  Or here th’ attempt, thou couldst not have discerned

  1150 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.

  1155 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.

  1160 Hadst thou been firm and fixed in thy dissent,

  Neither had I transgressed, 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, expressed

  1165 Immutable when thou wert lost, not I,

  Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss,

  Yet willingly chose rather death with thee:

  And am I now upbraided, as the cause

  Of thy transgressing? not enough severe,

  1170 It seems, in thy restraint: what could I more?

  I warned thee, I admonished 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.

  1175 But confidence then bore thee on, secure

  Either to meet no danger, or to find

  Matter of glorious trial, and perhaps

  I also erred in overmuch admiring

  What seemed in thee so perfect, that I thought

  1180 No evil durst attempt thee, but I rue

  That error
now, which is become my crime,

  And thou th’ accuser. Thus it shall befall

  Him who to worth in women overtrusting

  Lets her will rule; restraint she will not brook,

  1185 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 contést appeared no end.

  BOOK X

  The Argument

  Man’s transgression known, the guardian angels forsake Paradise,

  and return up to Heaven to approve their vigilance, and

  are approved, God declaring that the entrance of Satan could

  not be by them prevented. He sends his Son to judge the

  5 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 the success of Satan in this new world, and the sin by

  man there committed, resolve to sit no longer confined in

  10 Hell, but to follow Satan their sire up to 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

  track that Satan first made; then preparing for earth, they

  meet him proud of his success returning to Hell; their mutual

  15 gratulation. Satan arrives at Pandaemonium, in full assembly

  relates with boasting his success against man; instead of

  applause is entertained with a general hiss by all his audience,

  transformed with himself also suddenly into serpents, according

  to his doom given in Paradise; then deluded with a show

  20 of the Forbidden Tree springing up before them, they greedily

  reaching to take of the fruit, chew dust and bitter ashes. The

  proceedings of Sin and Death; God foretells the final victory

  of his Son over them, and the renewing of all things; but for

  the present commands his angels to make several alterations

  25 in the heavens and elements. Adam more and more perceiving

  his fallen condition heavily bewails, rejects the condolement

  of Eve; she persists and at length appeases him: then to evade

  the curse likely to fall on their offspring, proposes to Adam

  violent ways which he approves not, but conceiving better

  30 hope, puts her in mind of the late promise made them, that

  her seed should be revenged on the serpent, and exhorts her

  with him to seek peace of the offended Deity, by repentance

  and supplication.

  Meanwhile the heinous and despiteful act

  Of Satan done in Paradise, and how

  He in the serpent had perverted Eve,

  Her husband she, to taste the fatal fruit,

  5 Was known in Heav’n; for what can ’scape the eye

  Of God all-seeing, or deceive his heart

  Omniscient, who in all things wise and just,

  Hindered not Satan to attempt the mind

  Of man, with strength entire, and free will armed,

  10 Complete to have discovered and repulsed

  Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend.

  For still they knew, and ought to have still remembered

  The high injunction not to taste that fruit,

  Whoever tempted; which they not obeying,

  15 Incurred, what could they less, the penalty,

  And manifold in sin, deserved to fall.

  Up into Heav’n from Paradise in haste

  Th’ angelic guards ascended, mute and sad

  For man, for of his state by this they knew,

  20 Much wond’ring how the subtle Fiend had stol’n

  Entrance unseen. Soon as th’ unwelcome news

  From earth arrived at Heaven gate, displeased

  All were who heard, dim sadness did not spare

  That time celestial visages, yet mixed

  25 With pity, violated not their bliss.

  About the new-arrived, in multitudes

  Th’ ethereal people ran, to hear and know

  How all befell: they towards the throne supreme

  Accountable made haste to make appear

  30 With righteous plea, their utmost vigilance,

  And easily approved; when the Most High

  Eternal Father from his secret cloud,

  Amidst in thunder uttered thus his voice.

  Assembled angels, and ye Powers returned

  35 From unsuccessful charge, be not dismayed,

  Nor troubled at these tidings from the earth,

  Which your sincerest care could not prevent,

  Foretold so lately what would come to pass,

  When first this Tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.

  40 I told ye then he should prevail and speed

  On his bad errand, man should be seduced

  And flattered out of all, believing lies

  Against his Maker; no decree of mine

  Concurring to necessitate his Fall,

  45 Or touch with lightest moment of impúlse

  His free will, to her own inclining left

  In even scale. But fall’n he is, and now

  What rests but that the mortal sentence pass

  On his transgression, death denounced that day,

  50 Which he presumes already vain and void,

  Because not yet inflicted, as he feared,

  By some immediate stroke; but soon shall find

  Forbearance no acquittance ere day end.

  Justice shall not return as bounty scorned.

  55 But whom send I to judge them? whom but thee

  Vicegerent Son, to thee I have transferred

  All judgement, whether in Heav’n, or earth, or Hell.

  Easy it might be seen that I intend

  Mercy colléague with justice, sending thee

  60 Man’s friend, his Mediator, his designed

  Both ransom and Redeemer voluntary,

  And destined man himself to judge man fall’n.

  So spake the Father, and unfolding bright

  Toward the right hand his glory, on the Son

  65 Blazed forth unclouded deity; he full

  Resplendent all his Father manifest

  Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild.

  Father Eternal, thine is to decree,

  Mine both in Heav’n and earth to do thy will

  70 Supreme, that thou in me thy Son beloved

  May’st ever rest well pleased. I go to judge

  On earth these thy transgressors, but thou know’st,

  Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,

  When time shall be, for so I undertook

  75 Before thee; and not repenting, this obtain

  Of right, that I may mitigate their doom

  On me derived; yet I shall temper so

  Justice with mercy, as may illústrate most

  Them fully satisfied, and thee appease.

  80 Attendance none shall need, nor train, where none

  Are to behold the judgement, but the judged,

  Those two; the third best absent is condemned,

  Convíct by flight, and rebel to all law;

  Conviction to the serpent none belongs.

  85 Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose

  Of high collateral glory: him Thrones and Powers,

  Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant

  Accompanied to Heaven gate, from whence

  Eden and all the coast in prospect lay.

  90 Down he descended straight; the speed of Gods

  Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.

  Now was the sun in western cadence low

  From noon, and
gentle airs due at their hour

  To fan the earth now waked, and usher in

  95 The ev’ning cool when he from wrath more cool

  Came the mild Judge and Intercessor both

  To sentence man: the voice of God they heard

  Now walking in the garden, by soft winds

  Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard

  100 And from his presence hid themselves among

  The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God

  Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud.

  Where art thou Adam, wont with joy to meet

  My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,

  105 Not pleased, thus entertained with solitude,

  Where obvious duty erewhile appeared unsought:

  Or come I less conspicuous, or what change

  Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth.

  He came, and with him Eve, more loath, though first

  110 To offend, discount’nanced both, and discomposed;

  Love was not in their looks, either to God

  Or to each other, but apparent guilt,

  And shame, and perturbation, and despair,

  Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.

  115 Whence Adam falt’ring long, thus answered brief.

  I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice

  Afraid, being naked, hid myself. To whom

  The gracious Judge without revile replied.

  My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared,

  120 But still rejoiced, how is it now become

  So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked, who

  Hath told thee? hast thou eaten of the tree

  Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?

  To whom thus Adam sore beset replied.

  125 O Heav’n! in evil strait this day I stand

  Before my Judge, either to undergo

  Myself the total crime, or to accuse

  My other self, the partner of my life;

  Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,

  130 I should conceal, and not expose to blame

  By my complaint; but strict necessity

  Subdues me, and calamitous constraint,

  Lest on my head both sin and punishment,

  However insupportable, be all

  135 Devolved; though should I hold my peace, yet thou

  Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.

  This woman whom thou mad’st to be my help,

  And gav’st me as thy perfect gift, so good,

  So fit, so ácceptáble, so divine,

  140 That from her hand I could suspect no ill,

  And what she did, whatever in itself,

  Her doing seemed to justify the deed;

  She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

  To whom the sov’reign Presence thus replied.

  145 Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey