Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill. Southward through Eden went a river large, Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had thrown That mountain as his garden-mould high raised Upon the rapid current, which, through veins Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn, Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill Watered the garden; thence united fell Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood, Which from his darksome passage now appears, And now, divided into four main streams1, Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account; But rather to tell how, if Art could tell,
How from that sapphire fount the crispèd brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, With mazy error under pendant shades Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
Flowers worthy of Paradise; thus was this place A 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 flocks Grazing the tender herb, were interposed, Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap Of some irriguous 3 valley spread her store, Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose Another side, umbrageous grots and caves Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake, That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams. The birds their choir apply; airs, vernal airs, Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune The trembling leaves, while universal Pan 5,
1 Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. See Genesis ii. 10-14.
5 Pan, according to Servius, a
Knit with the Graces1 and the Hours in dance, Led on the eternal Spring. * * Saw, undelighted, all delight, all kind Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange. Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, God-like erect, with native honour clad In naked majesty seemed lords of all: And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine The 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 both Not 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 declared Absolute rule; and hyacinthine3 locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad: She, as a veil, down to the slender waist Her unadorned golden tresses wore Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied Subjection, but required with gentle sway.
Under a tuft of shade that on a green Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain side They sat them down; and, after no more toil Of their sweet gardening labour than sufficed To recommend cool Zephyr, and made ease More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite More grateful, to their supper-fruits they fell, Nectarine fruits which the compliant boughs Yielded them, side-long as they sat recline On the soft downy bank damasked with flowers: The savoury pulp they chew, and in the rind,
commentator on Virgil, was consi- dered as the god of Nature, or a per- sonification of the Universe. Hence his name Пav, all, or the whole.
1 The Graces (or Charites), the goddesses of joy and gracefulness. Their names, according to Hesiod,
were Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne.
2 Personifications or goddesses of the order of nature or the seasons. 3 Dark-coloured.
4 Zephyrus, the west wind.
Still as they thirsted, scooped the brimming stream.
About them frisking played
All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase In wood or wilderness, forest or den;
Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw
Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,
Gambolled before them; the unwieldy elephant,
To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly,
Insinuating, wove with Gordian 1 twine
His braided train, and of his fatal guile
Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass
Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat, Or bedward ruminating; for the sun,
Declined, was hasting now with prone 2 career To the ocean isles, and in the ascending scale Of Heaven the stars that usher evening rose: When Satan still in gaze, as first he stood, Scarce thus at length failed speech recovered sad. "O Hell! what do mine eyes with grief behold! Into our room of bliss thus high advanced Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps, Not Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright Little inferior; whom my thoughts pursue With wonder, and could love, so lively shines In them divine resemblance, and such grace
The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured. Ah! gentle pair, ye little think how nigh
Your change approaches, when all these delights
Will vanish, and deliver ye to woe;
More woe, the more your taste is now of joy; Happy, but for so happy ill secured
Long to continue, and this high seat your Heaven Ill fenced for Heaven to keep out such a foe
As now is entered:- *
To entertain you two, her widest gates, And send forth all her kings; there will be room, Not like these narrow limits, to receive Your numerous offspring; if no better place,
1 An allusion to the "Gordian" knot, which fastened the yoke to the beam of a celebrated chariot at Gordium in Phrygia with such intricacy,
Thank him who puts me, loth, to this revenge
On you, who wrong me not, for him who wronged. And should I at your harmless innocence Melt, as I do, yet public reason just,
Honour and empire with revenge enlarged, By conquering this new world, compels me now To do what else, though damned, I should abhor.” So spake the Fiend, and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds. Then from his lofty stand on that high tree Down he alights among the sportful herd Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one, Now other, as their shape served best his end Nearer to view his prey, and, unespied,
To mark what of their state he more might learn,
By word or action marked: About them round A lion now he stalks with fiery glare; Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied In some purlieu two gentle fawns at play, Straight couches close, then, rising, changes oft His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground, Whence rushing, he might surest seize them both, Griped in each paw: when Adam, first of men, To first of women Eve thus moving speech, Turned him, all ear to hear new utterance flow,
"Sole partner, and sole part, of all these joys; Dearer thyself than all; needs must the Power That made us, and for us this ample world, Be infinitely good, and of his good
As liberal and free as infinite;
That raised us from the dust, and placed us here In all this happiness, who at his hand Have nothing merited, nor can perform
Aught whereof He hath need; He who requires From us no other service than to keep This one, this easy charge, of all the trees In Paradise that bear delicious fruit So various, not to taste that only tree Of knowledge, planted by the tree of life; * * Then let us not think hard One easy prohibition, who enjoy
Free leave so large to all things else, and choice Unlimited of manifold delights:
But let us ever praise him, and extol
His bounty, following our delightful task,
To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers, Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet."
To whom thus Eve replied:- "O thou for whom And from whom I was formed, flesh of thy flesh, And without whom am to no end, my guide And head! what thou hast said is just and right. For we to Him indeed all praises owe, And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy So far the happier lot, enjoying thee Pre-eminent by so much odds, while thou Like consort to thyself canst no where find. That day I oft remember, when from sleep I first awaked, and found myself reposed
Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how. Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a cave, and spread Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved Pure as the expanse of Heaven; I thither went With unexperienced thought, and laid me down On the green bank, to look into the clear Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky. As I bent down to look, just opposite A shape within the watery gleam appeared, Bending to look on me: I started back, It started back; but pleased I soon returned, Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks Of sympathy and love: there I had fixed
Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warned me: What thou seest, What there thou seest, fair creature, is thyself;
With thee it came and goes: but follow me.' * * * What could I do,
But follow straight, invisibly thus led? Till I espied thee, fair indeed and tall, Under a platane; yet methought less fair, Less winning soft, less amiably mild,
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