More terrible at th' entrance than within.
Some, as thou saw'ft, by violent ftroke shall die,
By fire, flood, famin, by intemp'rance more
In meats and drinks, which on the earth fhall bri
Diseases dire; of which a monstrous crew
Before thee shall appear, that thou mayst know 4
What mifery th' inabftinence of Eve
Shall bring on men. Immediately a place
Before his eyes appear'd, fad, noisome, dark,
A lazar-house it seem'd, wherein were laid
Numbers of all diseas'd, all maladies
Of ghaftly fpafm, or racking torture, qualms
Of heart-fick agony, all feverous kinds,
Convulfions, epilepfies, fierce catarrhs,
Intestin stone and ulcer, colic pangs,
Demoniac phrenzy, moaping melancholy,
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
Marasmus, and wide-wasting peftilence,
Dropfies, and asthma's, and joint-racking rheum
Dire was the toffing, deep the groans; Despair
Tended the fick busieft from couch to couch;
And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook, but delay'd to ftrike, though oft invok'd
With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.
Sight so deform what heart of rock could long
Dry-ey'd behold? Adam could not, but wept,
Though not of woman born; compaffion quel
His best of man, and gave him up to tears
A space, till firmer thoughts restrain'd excess;
And scarce recovering words his plaint renew'd.
O miserable mankind, to what fall Degraded, to what wretched state reserv'd!
Better end here unborn. Why is life given
To be thus wrested from us? rather why
Obtruded on us thus? who if we knew
What we receive, would either not accept
Life offer'd, or foon beg to lay it down,
Glad to be fo difmifs'd in peace. Can thus
Th' image of God in man created once
So goodly and erect, though faulty since,
To fuch unfightly fufferings be debas'd
Under inhuman pains? Why should not man,
Retaining still divine fimilitude
In part, from fuch deformities be free,
And for his Maker's image fake exempt?
Their Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then 515 Forsook them, when themselves they vilify'd
To serve ungovern'd appetite, and took
His image whom they serv'd, a brutish vice,
Inductive mainly to the fin of Eve.
Therefore so abject is their punishment,
Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own;
Or if his likeness, by themselves defac'd,
While they pervert pure nature's healthful rules
To loathsome sickness, worthily, fince they
God's image did not reverence in themselves.
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I yield it just, said Adam, and submit. But is there yet no other way, besides These painful passages, how we may come To death, and mix with our connatural duft? There is, faid Michael, if thou well obferve The rule of not too much, by temp'rance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st, seeking from then Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight, Till many years over thy head return:
So mayft thou live, till like ripe fruit, thou drop 5
Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease
Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature:
This is old age; but then thou must outlive
Thy youth, thy ftrength, thy beauty, which will chan
To wither'd, weak, and gray; thy fenses then, 5
Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forgo,
To what thou haft; and for the air of youth,
Hopeful and chearful, in thy blood will reign
A melancholy damp of cold and dry
To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume
The balm of life. To whom our ancestor.
Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong
Life much, bent rather how I may be quit
Fairest and easiest of this cumbrous charge,
Which I must keep till my appointed day
Of rendring up, and patiently attend
My diffolution. Michaël reply'd.
Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv
Live well, how long or short permit to Heaven:
And now prepare thee for another fight.
He look'd, and faw a spacious plain, whereon Were tents of various hue; by fome were herds Of cattel grazing; others, whence the found Of inftruments that made melodious chime Was heard, of harp and organ; and who mov'd 560 Their stops and chords was seen; his volant touch, Inftinct through all proportions low and high, Fled and pursu'd, transverse,the resonant fugue. In other part stood one who at the forge Lab'ring, two maffy clods of iron and brass Had melted, (whether found where casual fire Had wasted woods, on mountain or in vale, Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot To fome cave's mouth, or whether wash'd by stream From underground) the liquid ore he drain'd Into fit molds prepar'd; from which he form'd First his own tools; then, what might elfe be wrought Fufil or grav'n in metal. After these,
But on the hither side, a different fort
From the high neighb'ring hills, which was their seat,
Down to the plain descended: by their guise
Juft men they seem'd, and all their study bent
To worship God aright, and know his works
Not hid, nor those things laft which might preserve
Freedom and peace to men: they on the plain 580
Long had not walk'd, when from the tents behold
A bevy of fair women, richly gay
In
gems and wanton drefs; to th' harp they fung
Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on:
The men though grave, ey'd them, and let their eye
Rove without rein; till,in the amorous net
Faft caught, they lik'd, and each his liking chose;
And now of love they treat, till th' evening star,
Love's harbinger, appear'd; then all in heat
They light the nuptial torch, and bid invoke
Hymen, then first to marriage rites invok'd:
With feaft and music all the tents refound.
Such happy interview and fair event
Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flower And charming symphonies, attach'd the heart
Of Adam, soon inclin'd t'admit delight,
The bent of nature; which he thus exprefs'd.
True opener
of mine eyes, prime Angel blest,
Much better seems this vifion, and more hope
Of peaceful days portends, than those two past; 60
Those were of hate and death, or pain, much wor
Here nature feems fulfill'd in all her ends.
To whom thus Michael. Judge not what is be By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet; Created, as thou art, to nobler end,
Holy and pure, conformity divine.
Those tents thou saw'st so pleasant, were the tent
Of wickedness, wherein fhall dwell his race
Who flew his brother; ftudious they appear
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