John Milton - Paradise Lost

Book I

Lines 1-26Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruitOf that forbidden tree whose mortal tasteBrought death into the World, and all our woe,With loss of Eden, till one greater ManRestore us, and regain the blissful seat,Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret topOf Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspireThat shepherd who first taught the chosen seedIn the beginning how the heavens and earthRose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hillDelight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowedFast by the oracle of God, I thenceInvoke thy aid to my adventurous song,That with no middle flight intends to soarAbove th' Aonian mount, while it pursuesThings unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost preferBefore all temples th' upright heart and pure,Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the firstWast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss,And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is darkIllumine, what is low raise and support;That, to the height of this great argument,I may assert Eternal Providence,And justify the ways of God to men.(…)

Lines 34-124Th' infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile,Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceivedThe mother of mankind, what time his prideHad cast him out from Heaven, with all his hostOf rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiringTo set himself in glory above his peers,He trusted to have equalled the Most High,If he opposed, and with ambitious aimAgainst the throne and monarchy of God,Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,With vain attempt. Him the Almighty PowerHurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,With hideous ruin and combustion, downTo bottomless perdition, there to dwellIn adamantine chains and penal fire,Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day and nightTo mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,Confounded, though immortal. But his doom

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Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thoughtBoth of lost happiness and lasting painTorments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.At once, as far as Angels ken, he viewsThe dismal situation waste and wild.A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flamesNo light; but rather darkness visibleServed only to discover sights of woe,Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peaceAnd rest can never dwell, hope never comesThat comes to all, but torture without endStill urges, and a fiery deluge, fedWith ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.Such place Eternal Justice has preparedFor those rebellious; here their prison ordainedIn utter darkness, and their portion set,As far removed from God and light of HeavenAs from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.Oh how unlike the place from whence they fell!There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmedWith floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,He soon discerns; and, weltering by his side,One next himself in power, and next in crime,Long after known in Palestine, and namedBeelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold wordsBreaking the horrid silence, thus began:-- "If thou beest he--but O how fallen! how changedFrom him who, in the happy realms of lightClothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshineMyriads, though bright!--if he whom mutual league,United thoughts and counsels, equal hopeAnd hazard in the glorious enterpriseJoined with me once, now misery hath joinedIn equal ruin; into what pit thou seestFrom what height fallen: so much the stronger provedHe with his thunder; and till then who knewThe force of those dire arms? Yet not for those,Nor what the potent Victor in his rageCan else inflict, do I repent, or change,Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind,And high disdain from sense of injured merit,That with the Mightiest raised me to contend,And to the fierce contentions brought alongInnumerable force of Spirits armed,That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring,His utmost power with adverse power opposedIn dubious battle on the plains of Heaven,And shook his throne. What though the field be lost?All is not lost--the unconquerable will,And study of revenge, immortal hate,And courage never to submit or yield:

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And what is else not to be overcome?That glory never shall his wrath or mightExtort from me. To bow and sue for graceWith suppliant knee, and deify his powerWho, from the terror of this arm, so lateDoubted his empire--that were low indeed;That were an ignominy and shame beneathThis downfall; since, by fate, the strength of Gods,And this empyreal sybstance, cannot fail;Since, through experience of this great event,In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced,We may with more successful hope resolveTo wage by force or guile eternal war,Irreconcilable to our grand Foe,Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joySole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven." Book III

Lines 56-134Now had the Almighty Father from above,From the pure empyrean where he sitsHigh thron'd above all highth, bent down his eyeHis own works and their works at once to view:About him all the Sanctities of HeavenStood thick as stars, and from his sight receiv'dBeatitude past utterance; on his rightThe radiant image of his glory sat,His only son; on earth he first beheldOur two first parents, yet the only twoOf mankind in the happy garden plac'dReaping immortal fruits of joy and love,Uninterrupted joy, unrivall'd love,In blissful solitude; he then survey'dHell and the gulf between, and Satan thereCoasting the wall of Heaven on this side NightIn the dun air sublime, and ready nowTo stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet,On the bare outside of this world, that seem'dFirm land imbosom'd, without firmament,Uncertain which, in ocean or in air.Him God beholding from his prospect high,Wherein past, present, future, he beholds,Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.Only begotten Son, seest thou what rageTransports our Adversary? whom no boundsPrescrib'd no bars of Hell, nor all the chainsHeap'd on him there, nor yet the main abyssWide interrupt, can hold; so bent he seemsOn desperate revenge, that shall redoundUpon his own rebellious head. And now,Through all restraint broke loose, he wings his wayNot far off Heaven, in the precincts of light,Directly towards the new created world,And man there plac'd, with purpose to assay

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If him by force he can destroy, or, worse,By some false guile pervert; and shall pervert;For man will hearken to his glozing lies,And easily transgress the sole command,Sole pledge of his obedience: So will fallHe and his faithless progeny: Whose fault?Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of meAll he could have; I made him just and right,Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.Such I created all the ethereal PowersAnd Spirits, both them who stood, and them who fail'd;Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.Not free, what proof could they have given sincereOf true allegiance, constant faith or love,Where only what they needs must do appear'd,Not what they would? what praise could they receive?What pleasure I from such obedience paid,When will and reason (reason also is choice)Useless and vain, of freedom both despoil'd,Made passive both, had serv'd necessity,Not me. They therefore, as to right belong'd,So were created, nor can justly accuseTheir Maker, or their making, or their fate,As if predestination over-rul'dTheir will dispos'd by absolute decreeOr high foreknowledge they themselves decreedTheir own revolt, not I; if I foreknew,Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.So without least impulse or shadow of fate,Or aught by me immutably foreseen,They trespass, authors to themselves in allBoth what they judge, and what they choose; for soI form'd them free: and free they must remain,Till they enthrall themselves; I else must changeTheir nature, and revoke the high decreeUnchangeable, eternal, which ordain'dTheir freedom: they themselves ordain'd their fall.The first sort by their own suggestion fell,Self-tempted, self-deprav'd: Man falls, deceiv'dBy the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,The other none: In mercy and justice both,Through Heaven and Earth, so shall my glory excel;But Mercy, first and last, shall brightest shine.

Book IV

Lines 23-113(…)Now conscience wakes despair,That slumbered; wakes the bitter memoryOf what he was, what is, and what must beWorse; of worse deeds worse sufferings must ensue.Sometimes towards Eden, which now in his viewLay pleasant, his grieved look he fixes sad;Sometimes towards Heaven, and the full-blazing sun,

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Which now sat high in his meridian tower:Then, much revolving, thus in sighs began.O thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned,Lookest from thy sole dominion like the GodOf this new world; at whose sight all the starsHide their diminished heads; to thee I call,But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,Of Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams,That bring to my remembrance from what stateI fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;Till pride and worse ambition threw me downWarring in Heaven against Heaven's matchless King:Ah, wherefore! he deserved no such returnFrom me, whom he created what I wasIn that bright eminence, and with his goodUpbraided none; nor was his service hard.What could be less than to afford him praise,The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks,How due! yet all his good proved ill in me,And wrought but malice; lifted up so highI 'sdeined subjection, and thought one step higherWould set me highest, and in a moment quitThe debt immense of endless gratitude,So burdensome still paying, still to owe,Forgetful what from him I still received,And understood not that a grateful mindBy owing owes not, but still pays, at onceIndebted and discharged; what burden thenO, had his powerful destiny ordainedMe some inferiour Angel, I had stoodThen happy; no unbounded hope had raisedAmbition! Yet why not some other PowerAs great might have aspired, and me, though mean,Drawn to his part; but other Powers as greatFell not, but stand unshaken, from withinOr from without, to all temptations armed.Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand?Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse,But Heaven's free love dealt equally to all?Be then his love accursed, since love or hate,To me alike, it deals eternal woe.Nay, cursed be thou; since against his thy willChose freely what it now so justly rues.Me miserable! which way shall I flyInfinite wrath, and infinite despair?Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell;And, in the lowest deep, a lower deepStill threatening to devour me opens wide,To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.O, then, at last relent: Is there no placeLeft for repentance, none for pardon left?None left but by submission; and that wordDisdain forbids me, and my dread of shameAmong the Spirits beneath, whom I seducedWith other promises and other vaunts

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Than to submit, boasting I could subdueThe Omnipotent. Ay me! they little knowHow dearly I abide that boast so vain,Under what torments inwardly I groan,While they adore me on the throne of Hell.With diadem and scepter high advanced,The lower still I fall, only supremeIn misery: Such joy ambition finds.But say I could repent, and could obtain,By act of grace, my former state; how soonWould highth recall high thoughts, how soon unsayWhat feigned submission swore? Ease would recantVows made in pain, as violent and void.For never can true reconcilement grow,Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep:Which would but lead me to a worse relapseAnd heavier fall: so should I purchase dearShort intermission bought with double smart.This knows my Punisher; therefore as farFrom granting he, as I from begging, peace;All hope excluded thus, behold, insteadOf us out-cast, exil'd, his new delight,Mankind created, and for him this world.So farewell, hope; and with hope farewell, fear;Farewell, remorse! all good to me is lost;Evil, be thou my good; by thee at leastDivided empire with Heaven's King I hold,By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;As Man ere long, and this new world, shall know.

(…)Lines 245-357Imbrowned the noontide bowers: Thus was this placeA happy rural seat of various view;Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,If true, here only, and of delicious taste:Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocksGrazing the tender herb, were interposed,Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lapOf some irriguous valley spread her store,Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:Another side, umbrageous grots and cavesOf cool recess, o'er which the mantling vineLays forth her purple grape, and gently creepsLuxuriant; mean while murmuring waters fallDown the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,That to the fringed bank with myrtle crownedHer crystal mirrour holds, unite their streams.The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,Breathing the smell of field and grove, attuneThe trembling leaves, while universal Pan,

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Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,Led on the eternal Spring. Not that fair fieldOf Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers,Herself a fairer flower by gloomy DisWas gathered, which cost Ceres all that painTo seek her through the world; nor that sweet groveOf Daphne by Orontes, and the inspiredCastalian spring, might with this ParadiseOf Eden strive; nor that Nyseian isleGirt with the river Triton, where old Cham,Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove,Hid Amalthea, and her florid sonYoung Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye;Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard,Mount Amara, though this by some supposedTrue Paradise under the Ethiop lineBy Nilus' head, enclosed with shining rock,A whole day's journey high, but wide remoteFrom this Assyrian garden, where the FiendSaw, undelighted, all delight, all kindOf living creatures, new to sight, and strangeTwo of far nobler shape, erect and tall,Godlike erect, with native honour cladIn naked majesty seemed lords of all:And worthy seemed; for in their looks divineThe image of their glorious Maker shone,Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure,(Severe, but in true filial freedom placed,)Whence true authority in men; though bothNot equal, as their sex not equal seemed;For contemplation he and valour formed;For softness she and sweet attractive grace;He for God only, she for God in him:His fair large front and eye sublime declaredAbsolute rule; and hyacinthine locksRound from his parted forelock manly hungClustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:She, as a veil, down to the slender waistHer unadorned golden tresses woreDishevelled, but in wanton ringlets wavedAs the vine curls her tendrils, which impliedSubjection, but required with gentle sway,And by her yielded, by him best received,Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed;Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shameOf nature's works, honour dishonourable,Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankindWith shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure,

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And banished from man's life his happiest life,Simplicity and spotless innocence!So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sightOf God or Angel; for they thought no ill:So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair,That ever since in love's embraces met;Adam the goodliest man of men since bornHis sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.Under a tuft of shade that on a greenStood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain sideThey sat them down; and, after no more toilOf their sweet gardening labour than sufficedTo recommend cool Zephyr, and made easeMore easy, wholesome thirst and appetiteMore grateful, to their supper-fruits they fell,Nectarine fruits which the compliant boughsYielded them, side-long as they sat reclineOn the soft downy bank damasked with flowers:The savoury pulp they chew, and in the rind,Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream;Nor gentle purpose, nor endearing smilesWanted, nor youthful dalliance, as beseemsFair couple, linked in happy nuptial league,Alone as they. About them frisking playedAll beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chaseIn wood or wilderness, forest or den;Sporting the lion ramped, and in his pawDandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,Gambolled before them; the unwieldy elephant,To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathedHis lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly,Insinuating, wove with Gordian twineHis braided train, and of his fatal guileGave proof unheeded; others on the grassCouched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat,Or bedward ruminating; for the sun,Declined, was hasting now with prone careerTo the ocean isles, and in the ascending scaleOf Heaven the stars that usher evening rose:When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood,Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered sad.

Book IXLines 647-1033Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither,Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,The credit of whose virtue rest with thee;Wonderous indeed, if cause of such effects.But of this tree we may not taste nor touch;God so commanded, and left that command

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Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we liveLaw to ourselves; our reason is our law.To whom the Tempter guilefully replied.Indeed! hath God then said that of the fruitOf all these garden-trees ye shall not eat,Yet Lords declared of all in earth or air?To whom thus Eve, yet sinless. Of the fruitOf each tree in the garden we may eat;But of the fruit of this fair tree amidstThe garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eatThereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.She scarce had said, though brief, when now more boldThe Tempter, but with show of zeal and loveTo Man, and indignation at his wrong,New part puts on; and, as to passion moved,Fluctuates disturbed, yet comely and in actRaised, as of some great matter to begin.As when of old some orator renowned,In Athens or free Rome, where eloquenceFlourished, since mute! to some great cause addressed,Stood in himself collected; while each part,Motion, each act, won audience ere the tongue;Sometimes in highth began, as no delayOf preface brooking, through his zeal of right:So standing, moving, or to highth up grown,The Tempter, all impassioned, thus began.O sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving Plant,Mother of science! now I feel thy powerWithin me clear; not only to discernThings in their causes, but to trace the waysOf highest agents, deemed however wise.Queen of this universe! do not believeThose rigid threats of death: ye shall not die:How should you? by the fruit? it gives you lifeTo knowledge; by the threatener? look on me,Me, who have touched and tasted; yet both live,And life more perfect have attained than FateMeant me, by venturing higher than my lot.Shall that be shut to Man, which to the BeastIs open? or will God incense his ireFor such a petty trespass? and not praiseRather your dauntless virtue, whom the painOf death denounced, whatever thing death be,Deterred not from achieving what might leadTo happier life, knowledge of good and evil;Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evilBe real, why not known, since easier shunned?God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;Not just, not God; not feared then, nor obeyed:Your fear itself of death removes the fear.

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Why then was this forbid? Why, but to awe;Why, but to keep ye low and ignorant,His worshippers? He knows that in the dayYe eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be thenOpened and cleared, and ye shall be as Gods,Knowing both good and evil, as they know.That ye shall be as Gods, since I as Man,Internal Man, is but proportion meet;I, of brute, human; ye, of human, Gods.So ye shall die perhaps, by putting offHuman, to put on Gods; death to be wished,Though threatened, which no worse than this can bring.And what are Gods, that Man may not becomeAs they, participating God-like food?The Gods are first, and that advantage useOn our belief, that all from them proceeds:I question it; for this fair earth I see,Warmed by the sun, producing every kind;Them, nothing: if they all things, who enclosedKnowledge of good and evil in this tree,That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attainsWisdom without their leave? and wherein liesThe offence, that Man should thus attain to know?What can your knowledge hurt him, or this treeImpart against his will, if all be his?Or is it envy? and can envy dwellIn heavenly breasts? These, these, and many moreCauses import your need of this fair fruit.Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste!He ended; and his words, replete with guile,Into her heart too easy entrance won:Fixed on the fruit she gazed, which to beholdMight tempt alone; and in her ears the soundYet rung of his persuasive words, impregnedWith reason, to her seeming, and with truth:Mean while the hour of noon drew on, and wakedAn eager appetite, raised by the smellSo savoury of that fruit, which with desire,Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,Solicited her longing eye; yet firstPausing a while, thus to herself she mused.Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits,Though kept from man, and worthy to be admired;Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assayGave elocution to the mute, and taughtThe tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise:Thy praise he also, who forbids thy use,Conceals not from us, naming thee the treeOf knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;

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Forbids us then to taste! but his forbiddingCommends thee more, while it infers the goodBy thee communicated, and our want:For good unknown sure is not had; or, hadAnd yet unknown, is as not had at all.In plain then, what forbids he but to know,Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?Such prohibitions bind not. But, if deathBind us with after-bands, what profits thenOur inward freedom? In the day we eatOf this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die!How dies the Serpent? he hath eaten and lives,And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,Irrational till then. For us aloneWas death invented? or to us deniedThis intellectual food, for beasts reserved?For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which firstHath tasted envies not, but brings with joyThe good befallen him, author unsuspect,Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.What fear I then? rather, what know to fearUnder 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 wise: What hinders thenTo reach, and feed at once both body and mind?So saying, her rash hand in evil hourForth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat!Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,That all was lost. Back to the thicket slunkThe guilty Serpent; and well might; for Eve,Intent now wholly on her taste, nought elseRegarded; such delight till then, as seemed,In fruit she never tasted, whether trueOr fancied so, through expectation highOf knowledge; not was Godhead from her thought.Greedily she ingorged without restraint,And knew not eating death: Satiate at length,And hightened as with wine, jocund and boon,Thus to herself she pleasingly began.O sovran, virtuous, precious of all treesIn Paradise! of operation blestTo sapience, hitherto obscured, infamed.And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no endCreated; but henceforth my early care,Not without song, each morning, and due praise,Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden easeOf thy full branches offered free to all;

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Till, dieted by thee, I grow matureIn knowledge, as the Gods, who all things know;Though others envy what they cannot give:For, had the gift been theirs, it had not hereThus grown. Experience, next, to thee I owe,Best guide; not following thee, I had remainedIn ignorance; thou openest wisdom's way,And givest access, though secret she retire.And I perhaps am secret: Heaven is high,High, and remote to see from thence distinctEach thing on Earth; and other care perhapsMay have diverted from continual watchOur great Forbidder, safe with all his spiesAbout him. But to Adam in what sortShall I appear? shall I to him make knownAs yet my change, and give him to partakeFull happiness with me, or rather not,But keeps the odds of knowledge in my powerWithout copartner? so to add what wantsIn female sex, the more to draw his love,And render me more equal; and perhaps,A thing not undesirable, sometimeSuperiour; for, inferiour, who is freeThis may be well: But what if God have seen,And death ensue? then I shall be no more!And Adam, wedded to another Eve,Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;A death to think! Confirmed then I resolve,Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:So dear I love him, that with him all deathsI could endure, without him live no life.So saying, from the tree her step she turned;But first low reverence done, as to the PowerThat dwelt within, whose presence had infusedInto the plant sciential sap, derivedFrom nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while,Waiting desirous her return, had woveOf choicest flowers a garland, to adornHer tresses, and her rural labours crown;As reapers oft are wont their harvest-queen.Great joy he promised to his thoughts, and newSolace in her return, so long delayed:Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill,Misgave him; he the faltering measure felt;And forth to meet her went, the way she tookThat morn when first they parted: by the treeOf knowledge he must pass; there he her met,Scarce from the tree returning; in her handA bough of fairest fruit, that downy smiled,New gathered, and ambrosial smell diffused.

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To him she hasted; in her face excuseCame prologue, and apology too prompt;Which, with bland words at will, she thus addressed.Hast thou not wondered, Adam, at my stay?Thee I have missed, and thought it long, deprivedThy presence; agony of love till nowNot felt, nor shall be twice; for never moreMean I to try, what rash untried I sought,The pain of absence from thy sight. But strangeHath been the cause, and wonderful to hear:This tree is not, as we are told, a treeOf danger tasted, nor to evil unknownOpening the way, but of divine effectTo open eyes, and make them Gods who taste;And hath been tasted such: The serpent wise,Or not restrained as we, or not obeying,Hath eaten of the fruit; and is become,Not dead, as we are threatened, but thenceforthEndued with human voice and human sense,Reasoning to admiration; and with mePersuasively hath so prevailed, that IHave also tasted, and have also foundThe effects to correspond; opener mine eyes,Dim erst, dilated spirits, ampler heart,And growing up to Godhead; which for theeChiefly I sought, without thee can despise.For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss;Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon.Thou therefore also taste, that equal lotMay join us, equal joy, as equal love;Lest, thou not tasting, different degreeDisjoin us, and I then too late renounceDeity for thee, when Fate will not permit.Thus Eve with countenance blithe her story told;But in her cheek distemper flushing glowed.On the other side Adam, soon as he heardThe fatal trespass done by Eve, amazed,Astonied stood and blank, while horrour chillRan through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;From his slack hand the garland wreathed for EveDown dropt, and all the faded roses shed:Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at lengthFirst to himself he inward silence broke.O fairest of Creation, last and bestOf all God's works, Creature in whom excelledWhatever can to sight or thought be formed,Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!How art thou lost! how on a sudden lost,Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote!Rather, how hast thou yielded to transgress

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The strict forbiddance, how to violateThe sacred fruit forbidden! Some cursed fraudOf enemy hath beguiled thee, yet unknown,And me with thee hath ruined; for with theeCertain my resolution is to die:How can I live without thee! how foregoThy sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,To live again in these wild woods forlorn!Should God create another Eve, and IAnother rib afford, yet loss of theeWould never from my heart: no, no! I feelThe link of Nature draw me: flesh of flesh,Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy stateMine never shall be parted, bliss or woe.So having said, as one from sad dismayRecomforted, and after thoughts disturbedSubmitting to what seemed remediless,Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turned.Bold deed thou hast presumed, adventurous Eve,And peril great provoked, who thus hast dared,Had it been only coveting to eyeThat sacred fruit, sacred to abstinence,Much more to taste it under ban to touch.But past who can recall, or done undo?Not God Omnipotent, nor Fate; yet soPerhaps thou shalt not die, perhaps the factIs not so heinous now, foretasted fruit,Profaned first by the serpent, by him firstMade common, and unhallowed, ere our taste;Nor yet on him found deadly; yet he lives;Lives, as thou saidst, and gains to live, as Man,Higher degree of life; inducement strongTo us, as likely tasting to attainProportional ascent; which cannot beBut to be Gods, or Angels, demi-Gods.Nor can I think that God, Creator wise,Though threatening, will in earnest so destroyUs his prime creatures, dignified so high,Set over all his works; which in our fall,For us created, needs with us must fail,Dependant made; so God shall uncreate,Be frustrate, do, undo, and labour lose;Not well conceived of God, who, though his powerCreation could repeat, yet would be lothUs to abolish, lest the AdversaryTriumph, and say; "Fickle their state whom GodMost favours; who can please him long? Me firstHe ruined, now Mankind; whom will he next?"Matter of scorn, not to be given the Foe.However I with thee have fixed my lot,

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Certain to undergo like doom: If deathConsort with thee, death is to me as life;So forcible within my heart I feelThe bond of Nature draw me to my own;My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;Our state cannot be severed; we are one,One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself.So Adam; and thus Eve to him replied.O glorious trial of exceeding love,Illustrious evidence, example high!Engaging me to emulate; but, shortOf thy perfection, how shall I attain,Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung,And gladly of our union hear thee speak,One heart, one soul in both; whereof good proofThis day affords, declaring thee resolved,Rather than death, or aught than death more dread,Shall separate us, linked in love so dear,To undergo with me one guilt, one crime,If any be, of tasting this fair fruit;Whose virtue for of good still good proceeds,Direct, or by occasion, hath presentedThis happy trial of thy love, which elseSo eminently never had been known?Were it I thought death menaced would ensueThis my attempt, I would sustain aloneThe worst, and not persuade thee, rather dieDeserted, than oblige thee with a factPernicious to thy peace; chiefly assuredRemarkably so late of thy so true,So faithful, love unequalled: but I feelFar otherwise the event; not death, but lifeAugmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new joys,Taste so divine, that what of sweet beforeHath touched my sense, flat seems to this, and harsh.On my experience, Adam, freely taste,And fear of death deliver to the winds.So saying, she embraced him, and for joyTenderly wept; much won, that he his loveHad so ennobled, as of choice to incurDivine displeasure for her sake, or death.In recompence (for such compliance badSuch recompence best merits) from the boughShe gave him of that fair enticing fruitWith liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat,Against his better knowledge; not deceived,But fondly overcome with female charm.Earth trembled from her entrails, as againIn pangs; and Nature gave a second groan;Sky loured; and, muttering thunder, some sad drops

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Wept at completing of the mortal sinOriginal: while Adam took no thought,Eating his fill; nor Eve to iterateHer former trespass feared, the more to soothHim with her loved society; that now,As with new wine intoxicated both,They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feelDivinity within them breeding wings,Wherewith to scorn the earth: But that false fruitFar other operation first displayed,Carnal desire inflaming; he on EveBegan to cast lascivious eyes; she himAs wantonly repaid; in lust they burn:Till Adam thus 'gan Eve to dalliance move.Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste,And elegant, of sapience no small part;Since to each meaning savour we apply,And palate call judicious; I the praiseYield thee, so well this day thou hast purveyed.Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstainedFrom this delightful fruit, nor known till nowTrue relish, tasting; if such pleasure beIn things to us forbidden, it might be wished,For this one tree had been forbidden ten.But come, so well refreshed, now let us play,As meet is, after such delicious fare;For never did thy beauty, since the dayI saw thee first and wedded thee, adornedWith all perfections, so inflame my senseWith ardour to enjoy thee, fairer nowThan ever; bounty of this virtuous tree!

Book XILines 1-71Thus they, in lowliest plight, repentant stoodPraying; for from the mercy-seat abovePrevenient grace descending had removedThe stony from their hearts, and made new fleshRegenerate grow instead; that sighs now breathedUnutterable; which the Spirit of prayerInspired, and winged for Heaven with speedier flightThan loudest oratory: Yet their portNot of mean suitors; nor important lessSeemed their petition, than when the ancient pairIn fables old, less ancient yet than these,Deucalion and chaste Pyrrha, to restoreThe race of mankind drowned, before the shrineOf Themis stood devout. To Heaven their prayersFlew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds

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Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they passedDimensionless through heavenly doors; then cladWith incense, where the golden altar fumed,By their great intercessour, came in sightBefore the Father's throne: them the glad SonPresenting, thus to intercede began.See Father, what first-fruits on earth are sprungFrom thy implanted grace in Man; these sighsAnd prayers, which in this golden censer mixedWith incense, I thy priest before thee bring;Fruits of more pleasing savour, from thy seedSown with contrition in his heart, than thoseWhich, his own hand manuring, all the treesOf Paradise could have produced, ere fallenFrom innocence. Now therefore, bend thine earTo supplication; hear his sighs, though mute;Unskilful with what words to pray, let meInterpret for him; me, his advocateAnd propitiation; all his works on me,Good, or not good, ingraft; my merit thoseShall perfect, and for these my death shall pay.Accept me; and, in me, from these receiveThe smell of peace toward mankind: let him liveBefore thee reconciled, at least his daysNumbered, though sad; till death, his doom, (which ITo mitigate thus plead, not to reverse,)To better life shall yield him: where with meAll my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss;Made one with me, as I with thee am one.To whom the Father, without cloud, serene.All thy request for Man, accepted Son,Obtain; all thy request was my decree:But, longer in that Paradise to dwell,The law I gave to Nature him forbids:Those pure immortal elements, that know,No gross, no unharmonious mixture foul,Eject him, tainted now; and purge him off,As a distemper, gross, to air as gross,And mortal food; as may dispose him bestFor dissolution wrought by sin, that firstDistempered all things, and of incorruptCorrupted. I, at first, with two fair giftsCreated him endowed; with happiness,And immortality: that fondly lost,This other served but to eternize woe;Till I provided death: so death becomesHis final remedy; and, after life,Tried in sharp tribulation, and refinedBy faith and faithful works, to second life,Waked in the renovation of the just,

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Resigns him up with Heaven and Earth renewed.But let us call to synod all the Blest,Through Heaven's wide bounds: from them I will not hideMy judgements; how with mankind I proceed,As how with peccant Angels late they saw,And in their state, though firm, stood more confirmed.

(…)Lines 293-333Adam, by this from the cold sudden dampRecovering, and his scattered spirits returned,To Michael thus his humble words addressed.Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or namedOf them the highest; for such of shape may seemPrince above princes! gently hast thou toldThy message, which might else in telling wound,And in performing end us; what besidesOf sorrow, and dejection, and despair,Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring,Departure from this happy place, our sweetRecess, and only consolation leftFamiliar to our eyes! all places elseInhospitable appear, and desolate;Nor knowing us, nor known: And, if by prayerIncessant I could hope to change the willOf Him who all things can, I would not ceaseTo weary him with my assiduous cries:But prayer against his absolute decreeNo 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 hid, deprivedHis blessed countenance: Here I could frequentWith worship place by place where he vouchsafedPresence Divine; and to my sons relate,On this mount he appeared; under this treeStood visible; among these pines his voiceI heard; here with him at this fountain talked:So many grateful altars I would rearOf grassy turf, and pile up every stoneOf lustre from the brook, in memory,Or monument to ages; and theronOffer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers:In yonder nether world where shall I seekHis bright appearances, or foot-step trace?For though I fled him angry, yet recalledTo life prolonged and promised race, I nowGladly behold though but his utmost skirtsOf glory; and far off his steps adore.

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