Wide-waving, all approach far off to fright,
And guard all passage to the Tree of Life:
Lest Paradise a receptacle prove
To spirits foul, and all my trees their prey,
With whose stol’n fruit man once more to delude.”
He ceased; and th’ archangelic power prepared
For swift descent, with him the cohort bright
Of watchful Cherubim; four faces each
Had, like a double Janus129, all their shape
Spangled with eyes more numerous than those
Of Argus131, and more wakeful than to drowse,
Charmed with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed
Of Hermes, or his opiate rod. Meanwhile
To resalute the world with sacred light
Leucothea135 waked, and with fresh dews imbalmed
The Earth, when Adam and first matron Eve
Had ended now their orisons, and found
Strength added from above, new hope to spring
Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked;
Which thus to Eve his welcome words renewed.
“Eve, easily may faith admit, that all
The good which we enjoy, from Heav’n descends;
But that from us aught should ascend to Heav’n
So prevalent144 as to concern the mind
Of God high-blest, or to incline his will,
Hard to belief may seem; yet this will prayer,
Or one short sigh of human breath, upborne
Ev’n to the seat of God. For since I sought
By prayer th’ offended Deity to appease,
Kneeled and before him humbled all my heart,
Methought I saw him placable and mild,
Bending his ear; persuasion in me grew
That I was heard with favor; peace returned
Home to my breast, and to my memory
His promise, that thy seed shall bruise our foe;
Which then not minded in dismay, yet now
Assures157 me that the bitterness of death
Is past, and we shall live. Whence hail to thee158,
Eve rightly called159, Mother of all Mankind,
Mother of all things living, since by thee
Man is to live, and all things live for man.”
To whom thus Eve with sad demeanor meek.
“Ill-worthy I such title should belong
To me transgressor, who for thee ordained
A help, became thy snare; to me reproach
Rather belongs, distrust and all dispraise:
But infinite in pardon was my judge,
That I who first brought death on all, am graced
The source of life; next favorable thou,
Who highly thus to entitle me vouchsaf’st,
Far other name deserving. But the field
To labor calls us now with sweat imposed,
Though after sleepless night; for see the morn,
All unconcerned with our unrest, begins
Her rosy progress smiling; let us forth,
I never from thy side henceforth to stray,
Where’er our day’s work lies, though now enjoined
Laborious, till day droop; while here we dwell,
What can be toilsome in these pleasant walks?
Here let us live, though in fall’n state, content.”
So spake, so wished much-humbled Eve, but fate
Subscribed not; nature first gave signs, impressed
On bird, beast, air, air suddenly eclipsed
After short blush of morn; nigh in her sight
The bird of Jove185, stooped from his airy tour,
Two birds of gayest plume186 before him drove:
Down from a hill the beast that reigns187 in woods,
First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace188,
Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind;
Direct to th’ eastern gate was bent their flight.
Adam observed, and with his eye the chase
Pursuing, not unmoved to Eve thus spake.
“O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh,
Which Heav’n by these mute signs in nature shows
Forerunners of his purpose, or to warn
Us haply too secure196 of our discharge
From penalty, because from death released
Some days; how long, and what till then our life,
Who knows, or more than this, that we are dust,
And thither must return and be no more.
Why else this double object in our sight
Of flight pursued in th’ air and o’er the ground
One way the selfsame hour? Why in the east
Darkness ere day’s mid-course, and morning light
More orient205 in yon western cloud that draws
O’re the blue firmament a radiant white,
And slow descends, with something Heav’nly fraught.”
He erred not, for by this208 the Heav’nly bands
Down from a sky of jasper lighted209 now
In Paradise, and on a hill made halt210,
A glorious apparition, had not doubt
And carnal fear that day dimmed Adam’s eye.
Not that more glorious, when the angels met
Jacob in Mahanaim214, where he saw
The field pavilioned215 with his guardians bright;
Nor that216 which on the flaming mount appeared
In Dothan, covered with a camp of fire,
Against the Syrian king, who to surprise
One man, assassin-like had levied war,
War unproclaimed. The princely hierarch
In their bright stand221, there left his powers to seize
Possession of the garden; he alone,
To find where Adam sheltered, took his way,
Not unperceived of Adam, who to Eve,
While the great visitant approached, thus spake.
“Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps
Of us will soon determine227, or impose
New laws to be observed; for I descry
From yonder blazing cloud that veils the hill
One of the Heav’nly host, and by his gait
None of the meanest, some great potentate
Or of the Thrones above, such majesty
Invests him coming; yet not terrible,
That I should fear, nor sociably mild,
As Raphael, that I should much confide,
But solemn and sublime, whom not to offend,
With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.”
He ended; and th’ archangel soon drew nigh,
Not in his shape celestial, but as man
Clad to meet man; over his lucid240 arms
A military vest of purple flowed
Livelier than Meliboean242, or the grain
Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
In time of truce; Iris had dipped the woof244;
His starry helm unbuckled showed him prime
In manhood where youth ended; by his side
As in a glistering zodiac hung the sword,
Satan’s dire dread, and in his hand the spear.
Adam bowed low, he kingly from his state
Inclined not, but his coming thus declared.
“Adam, Heav’n’s high behest no preface needs:
Sufficient that thy prayers are heard, and death,
Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress,
Defeated254 of his seizure many days
Giv’n thee of grace, wherein thou may’st repent,
And one256 bad act with many deeds well done
May’st cover: well may then thy Lord appeased
Redeem thee quite from death’s rapacious claim;
But longer in this Paradise to dwell259
Permits not; to remove thee I am come,
And send thee from the garden forth to till
The ground whence thou wast tak’n, fitter soil.”
; He added not, for Adam at the news
Heart-strook with chilling grip264 of sorrow stood,
That all his senses bound; Eve, who unseen
Yet all had heard, with audible lament
Discovered267 soon the place of her retire.
“O unexpected stroke, worse than of death!
Must I thus leave thee Paradise? Thus leave
Thee native soil270, these happy walks and shades,
Fit haunt of gods? Where I had hope to spend,
Quiet though sad, the respite272 of that day
That must be mortal to us both. O flow’rs,
That never will in other climate grow,
My early visitation, and my last
At ev’n, which I bred up with tender hand
From the first op’ning bud, and gave ye names277,
Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank
Your tribes, and water from th’ ambrosial fount?
Thee lastly nuptial bower, by me adorned
With what to sight or smell was sweet; from thee
How shall I part, and whither wander down
Into a lower world, to this283 obscure
And wild, how shall we breathe in other air
Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits?”
Whom thus the angel interrupted mild.
“Lament not Eve, but patiently resign
What justly thou hast lost; nor set thy heart,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine;
Thy going is not lonely, with thee goes290
Thy husband, him to follow thou art bound;
Where he abides, think there thy native soil.”
Adam by this293 from the cold sudden damp
Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned,
To Michael thus his humble words addressed.
“Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or named
Of them the highest, for such of shape may seem
Prince above princes, gently hast thou told
Thy message, which might else in telling wound,
And in performing end us; what besides
Of sorrow and dejection and despair
Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring,
Departure from this happy place, our sweet
Recess, and only consolation left
Familiar to our eyes, all places else
Inhospitable appear and desolate,
Nor knowing us nor known: and if by prayer
Incessant I could hope to change the will
Of him who all things can309, I would not cease
To weary him with my assiduous cries:
But prayer against his absolute decree
No more avails than breath against the wind,
Blown stifling back on him that breathes it forth:
Therefore to his great bidding I submit.
This most afflicts me, that departing hence,
As from his face I shall be hid316, deprived
His blessed count’nance; here I could frequent,
With worship, place by place where he vouchsafed
Presence divine, and to my sons relate,
“On this Mount he appeared, under this tree
Stood visible, among these pines his voice
I heard, here with him at this fountain talked.”
So many grateful altars I would rear
Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone
Of luster from the brook, in memory,
Or monument to ages, and thereon
Offer sweet smelling gums and fruits and flow’rs:
In yonder nether world where shall I seek
His bright appearances, or footstep trace?
For though I fled him angry, yet recalled
To life prolonged and promised race331, I now
Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts
Of glory, and far off his steps adore.”
To whom thus Michael with regard benign.
“Adam, thou know’st Heav’n his, and all the Earth,
Not this rock only; his omnipresence fills
Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives,
Fomented338 by his virtual power and warmed:
All th’ Earth he gave thee to possess and rule,
No despicable gift; surmise not then
His presence to these narrow bounds confined
Of Paradise or Eden: this had been
Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread
All generations, and had hither come
From all the ends of th’ Earth, to celebrate
And reverence thee their great progenitor.
But this preeminence thou hast lost, brought down
To dwell on even ground now with thy sons:
Yet doubt not but in valley and in plain
God is as here, and will be found alike
Present, and of his presence many a sign
Still following thee, still compassing thee round
With goodness and paternal love, his face
Express, and of his steps the track divine.
Which that thou may’st believe, and be confirmed
Ere thou from hence depart, know I am sent356
To show thee what shall come in future days356
To thee and to thy offspring356; good with bad
Expect to hear, supernal grace contending
With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn
True patience361, and to temper joy with fear
And pious sorrow, equally inured
By moderation either state to bear,
Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead
Safest thy life, and best prepared endure
Thy mortal passage when it comes. Ascend
This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched367 her eyes)
Here sleep below while thou to foresight wak’st,
As once thou slept’st, while she to life was formed.”
To whom thus Adam gratefully replied.
“Ascend, I follow thee, safe guide, the path
Thou lead’st me, and to the hand of Heav’n submit,
However chast’ning, to the evil turn
My obvious374 breast, arming to overcome
By suffering, and earn rest from labor won,
If so I may attain.” So both ascend
Of Paradise the highest, from whose top
The hemisphere of earth in clearest ken
Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect lay.
Not higher that hill nor wider looking round,
Whereon for different cause the Tempter set
Our second Adam383 in the wilderness,
To show him all Earth’s kingdoms and their glory.
His eye might there command wherever stood
City of old or modern fame, the seat
Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
Of Cambalu388, seat of Cathayan Khan
And Samarkand by Oxus389, Temir’s throne,
To Paquin390 of Sinaean kings, and thence
To Agra391 and Lahore of Great Mogul
Down to the golden Chersonese392, or where
The Persian in Ecbatan393 sat, or since
In Hispahan, or where the Russian Czar
In Moscow, or the Sultan in Bizance395,
Turkestan-born396; nor could his eye not ken
Th’ Empire of Negus397 to his utmost port
Ercoco398 and the less maritime kings
Mombaza399, and Quiloa, and Melind,
And Sofala thought Ophir, to the realm
Of Congo, and Angola farthest south;
Or thence from Niger402 flood to Atlas mount
The kingdoms of Almansor403, Fez and Sus,
Morocco and Algiers, and Tremisen404;
On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway
The world: in spirit406 perhaps he also saw
Rich Mexico the seat of Mo
tezume407,
And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat
Of Atabalipa409, and yet unspoiled
Guiana, whose great city Geryon’s sons410
Call El Dorado411: but to nobler sights
Michael from Adam’s eyes the film removed412
Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight
Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue414
The visual nerve, for he had much to see;
And from the Well of Life416 three drops instilled.
So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,
Even to the inmost seat of mental sight,
That Adam now enforced to close his eyes,
Sunk down and all his spirits became entranced:
But him the gentle angel by the hand
Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled.
“Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold
Th’ effects which thy original crime hath wrought
In some to spring from thee, who never touched
Th’ excepted426 tree, nor with the snake conspired,
Nor sinned thy sin, yet from that sin427 derive
Corruption to bring forth more violent deeds.”
His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,
Part arable and tilth430, whereon were sheaves
New reapt, the other part sheep-walks and folds;
I’ th’ midst an altar as the landmark stood
Rustic, of grassy sward433; thither anon
A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf,
Unculled436, as came to hand; a shepherd next
More meek came with the firstlings of his flock
Choicest and best; then sacrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incense strewed,
On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed.
His off’ring soon propitious fire from heav’n441
Consumed with nimble glance442, and grateful steam;
The other’s not, for his was not sincere;
Whereat he inly raged, and as they talked,
Smote him into the midriff with a stone
That beat out life; he fell, and deadly pale
Groaned out his soul with gushing blood effused447.
Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
Dismayed, and thus in haste to th’ angel cried.
“O teacher, some great mischief hath befall’n
To that meek man, who well had sacrificed;
Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?”
T’ whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied.
“These two are brethren, Adam, and to come
Out of thy loins; th’ unjust the just hath slain,
For envy that his brother’s offering found
From Heav’n acceptance; but the bloody fact457
Will be avenged, and th’ other’s faith approved
Lose no reward, though here thou see him die,