Of ewe or goat, dropping with milk at ev'n,
Unfuck'd of lamb or kid, that tend their play.
To fatifsy the sharp defire I had
Of tasting those fair apples, I resolv'd
Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,
Pow'rful perfuaders, quicken'd at the sent
Of that alluring fruit, urg'd me so keen.
About the moffy trunk I wound me soon;
For,high from ground,the branches would require 590
Thy utmost reach or Adam's: Round the tree
All other beasts that faw, with like desire,
Longing and envying flood, but could not reach.
Amid the tree now got, where plenty hung
Tempting fo nigh, to pluck and eat my fill
I spar'd not; for fuch pleasure till that hour
At feed or fountain never had I found.
Sated at length, ere long I might perceive
Strange alteration in me, to degree
Of reason,in my inward pow'rs, and speech
Wanted not long, though to this shape retain'd.
Thenceforth to fpeculations high or deep
I turn'd my thoughts, and,with capacious mind,
Confider'd all things visible in Heaven,
Or Earth, or Middle; all things fair and good; 605 But all that fair and good in thy divine
Semblance, and in thy beauty's heav'nly ray
United I beheld; no fair to thine
Equivalent or fecond; which compell'd
Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come
And gaze, and worship thee, of right declar'd
Sovran of creatures, univerfal Dame.
So talk'd the spirited fly Snake; and Eve, Yet more amaz'd,unwary,thus reply'd. Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt The virtue of that fruit, in thee first prov'd: But say, where grows the tree, from hence how far? For many are the trees of God that grow In Paradise, and various, yet unknown To us, in fuch abundance lies our choice,
As leaves a greater store of fruit untouch'd,
Still hanging incorruptible, till men
Grow up to their provifion, and more hands
Help to disburden Nature of her birth.
To whom the wily Adder, blithe and glad. 625
Empress, the way is ready, and not long;
Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat,
Fast by a fountain, one small thicket past
Of blowing myrrh and balm; if thou accept
My conduct, I can bring thee thither foon.
Lead then, faid Eve. He, leading swiftly, roll'd
In tangles, and made intricate seem ftrait;
To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy
Brightens his crest; as when a wand'ring fire,
Compact of unctuous vapor, which the night
Condenses, and the cold environs round,
Kindled through agitation to a flame,
Which oft, they fay, fome evil Spirit attends,
Hovering and blazing with delusive light,
Misleads th'amaz'd night-wand'rer from his way 640
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool,
There swallow'd up and loft, from succour far:
So glifter'd the dire Snake; and into fraud
Led Eve,our credulous mother, to the tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe;
Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
Serpent, we might have spar'd our coming hither;
Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,
The credit of whose virtue reft with thee;
Wondrous indeed, if cause of fuch effects,
But of this tree we may not taste nor touch;
God fo commanded, and left that command
Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live
Law to ourselves; our reason is our law.
To whom the Tempter guilefully reply'd.
Indeed? hath God then faid, that of the fruit
Qf all these garden trees ye fhall not eat,
Yet Lords declar'd of all in earth or air?
To whom thus Eve, yet finless. Of the fruit
Of each tree in the garden we may eat,.
But of the fruit of this fair tree,amidst
The garden, God hath faid, Ye fhall not eat
Thereof, nor fhall ye touch it; left ye die. (bold She fcarce had faid, though brief, when now more The Tempter, but with show of zeal and love 665
L To Man, and indignation at his wrong,
New part puts on; and, as to passion mov'd,
Fluctuates disturb'd, yet comely, and in act
Rais'd, as of fome great matter to begin.
As when,of old, fome orator renown'd,
In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence
Florish'd, fince mute, to fome great caufe addrefs'd,
Stood in himself collected, while each part,
Motion, each act won audience,ere the tongue,
Sometimes in highth began, as no delay
Of preface brooking, through his zeal of right:
So ftanding, moving, or to highth up grown,
The Tempter, all impaffion'd, thus began.
O facred, wise, and wisdom-giving Plant,
Mother of science, now I feel thy power
Within me clear, not only to discern
Things in their causes, but to trace the ways
Of highest agents, deem'd however wise.
Queen of this universe, do not believe
Those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die: 685
How should ye? by the fruit? it gives you life
To knowledge; by the threatner? look on me;
Me, who have touch'd and tafted; yet both live,
And life more perfect have attain'd than fate
Meant me, by vent'ring higher than my lot.
Shall that be shut to Man, which to the Beast
Is
open? or will God incenfe his ire
For fuch a petty trespass, and not praise
Rather your dauntlefs virtue, whom the pain
Of death denounc'd, whatever thing death be, 695
Deterr'd not from achieving what might lead
To happier life, knowledge of good and evil;
Of good, how juft? of evil, if what is evil
Be real, why not known, fince easier fhunn'd?
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Not juft, not God; not fear'd then, nor obey'd:
Your fear itfself of death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshippers; he knows that in the day
Ye eat thereof, your eyes,that feem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Open'd and clear'd; and ye shall be as Gods,
Knowing both good and evil, as they know.
That ye fhall be as Gods, fince I as Man,
Internal Man, is but proportion meet;
I,of brute, human, ye,of human,Gods.
shall die perhaps, by putting off
Human, to put on Gods; death to be wish'd,
Though threaten'd, which no worse than this can bring.
And what are Gods, that Man may not become 716
As they, participating God-like food?
The Gods are first, and that advantage use
On our belief, that all from them proceeds;
I queftion it, for this fair earth I fee,
Warm'd by the fun, producing every kind,
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