Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose Of high collateral glory: him thrones, & powers, Princedoms, and dominations ministrant, Accompanied to Heaven gate; from whence Eden and all the coast in prospect lay. Down he descended straight; the speed of gods Time counts not, tho' with swiftest minutes wir.g'd. Now was the sun in western cadence low From noon, and gentle airs, due at their hour, To fan the earth now waked, and usher in The evening cool; when he from wrath more cool, Came the mild Judge, and Intercessor both, To sentence man: the voice of God they heard, Now walking in the garden, by soft winds Brought to their ears, while day declined; they heard, And from his presence hid themselves among The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God Approaching, thus to Adam call'd aloud.

"Where art thou, Adam, wont with joy to meet My coming, seen far off? I miss thee here, Not pleased, thus entertained with solitude, Where obvious duty ere while appear'd unsought : Or come I less conspicuous, or what change Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth."

He came, & with him Eve, more loath, though first
To offend, discountenanced both, & discomposed;
Love was not in their looks, either to God,
Or to each other; but apparent guilt,
And shame, and perturbation, and despair,
Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.
Whence Adam, faltering long, thus answer'd brief.
"I heard thee in the garden, and of thy voice
Afraid, being naked, hid myself.” To whom
The gracious Judge, without revile, replied.
"My voice thou oft hast heard, & hast not fear'd,
But still rejoiced: how is it now become

So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked, who
Hath told thee? hast thou eaten of the tree,
Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?"
To whom thus Adam, sore beset, replied.
"O Heaven! in evil strait this day I stand
Before my Judge, either to undergo
Myself the total crime, or to accuse
My other self, the partner of my life;
Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,
I should conceal, and not expose to blame
By my complaint; but strict necessity

Subdues me, and calamitous constraint,

Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
However insupportable, be all

Devolved though should I hold my peace, yet thou
Wouldst easily detect what I conceal.
This woman, whom thou madest to be my help,
And gavest me as thy perfect gift, so good,
So fit, so acceptable, so divine,
That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
And what she did, whatever in itself,
Her doing seem'd to justify the deed;
She gave me of the tree, and I did eat."
To whom the sovereign Presence thus replied.
Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey
Before his voice, or was she made thy guide,
Superior, or but equal, that to her
Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place
Wherein God set thee above her, made of thee,
And for thee, whose perfection far excell'd
Her's, in all real dignity? Adorn'd
She was indeed, and lovely to attract
Thy love, not thy subjection; and her gifts
Were such as, under government, well seem'd,
Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part
And person, hadst thou known thyself aright."
So having said, he thus to Eve in few.

'Say woman, what is this which thou hast done?" To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelm'd, Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge Bold or loquacious, thus abash'd, replied. "The serpent me beguiled, and I did eat." Which, when the Lord God heard, without delay, To judgment he proceeded, on the accused Serpent, though brute, unable to transfer The guilt on him, who made him instrument Of mischief, and polluted from the end Of his creation; justly then accursed, As vitiated in nature. More to know Concern'd not man, since he no further knew, Nor alter'd his offence; yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied, Though in mysterious terms, judged as then best: And on the Serpent thus his curse let fall.

"Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed Above all cattle, each beast of the field; Upon thy belly grovelling thou shalt go, And dust shalt eat, all the days of thy life.

Between thee and the woman I will put
Enmity, and between thine and her seed;
Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel."
So spake this Oracle, then verified
When Jesus, son of Mary, second Eve,

Saw Satan fall like lightning, down from Heaven,
Prince of the air; then rising from his grave,
Spoil'd principalities and powers, triumph'd
In open show, and, with ascension bright,
Captivity let captive through the air,
The realm itself of Satan, long usurp'd;
Whom he shall tread at last under our feet,
Even he, who now foretold his fatal bruise;
And to the woman thus his sentence turn'd.
"Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply,
By thy conception; children thou shalt bring
In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will
Thine shall submit; he over thee shall rule.”
On Adam last thus judgment he pronounced.
"Because thou hast hearken'd to the voice of thy
And eaten of the tree, concerning which [wife
I charged thee, saying, 'Thou shalt not eat thereof;,
Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thou, in sorrow,
Shalt eat thereof, all the days of thy life;
Thorns also, & thistles, it shall bring thee forth,
Unbid; & thou shalt eat the herb of the field,
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
Out of the ground wast taken; know thy birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return."

So judged he man, both Judge & Saviour sent;
And the instant stroke of death, denounc'd that day
Remov'd far off; then pitying how they stood
Before him, naked to the air, that now
Must suffer change, disdained not to begin,
Thenceforth, the form of Servant to assume,
As when he wash'd his servants' feet; so now
As Father of his family, he clad

Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain,
Or, as the snake, with youthful coat repaid;
And thought not much to clothe his enemies :
Nor he their outward only, with the skins
Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more
Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness,
Arraying, cover'd from his Father's sight.
To him, with swift ascent, he up return'd,
Into his blissful bosom re-assumed

In glory, as of old; to him appeased,
All, though all-knowing, what had pass'd with Man
Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

Meanwhile, ere thus was sinn'd & judg'd on earth,
Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death,
In counter-view within the gates, that now
Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame,
Far into Chaos, since the Fiend pass'd through,
Sin opening, who thus now to Death began.

"O Son, why sit we here, each other viewing Idly, while Satan, our great author, thrives In other worlds, & happier seat provides For us, his offspring dear? It cannot be But that success attends him; if mishap, Ere this he had return'd, with fury driven By his avengers, since, no place like this Can fit his punishment, or their revenge. Methinks I feel new strength within me rise; Wings growing, and dominion given me, large Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on, Or sympathy, or some connatural force, Powerful at greatest distance to unite, With secret amity, things of like kind, By secretest conveyance; thou, my shade Inseparable, must with me along: For Death from Sin no power can separate. But best the difficulty of passing back Stay his return, perhaps over this gulf Impassable, impervious, let us try, Adventrous work, yet to thy power & mine Not unagreeable, to found a path Over this main, from Hell, to that new world Where Satan now prevails; a monument Of merit high, to all the infernal host; Easing their passage hence, for intercourse, Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead. Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn, By this new-felt attraction and instinct."

Whom thus the meagre Shadow answer'd soon. "Go whither fate, and inclination strong, Leads thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err The way, thou leading; such a scent I draw Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste [live: The savour of Death, from all things there that Nor shall I, to the work thou enterprisest, Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid."

So saying, with delight, he snuff'd the smell

Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock
Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,
Against the day of battle, to a field,
Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying lured
With scent of living carcases, design'd
For death, the following day, in bloody fight:
So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd
His nostrils wide into the murky air,
Sagacious of his quarry from so far.
Then both from out Hell-gates into the waste
Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark, [great,
Flew diverse; and with power, their power was
Hovering upon the waters, what they met,
Solid or slimy, as in raging sea

Toss'd up and down, together crowded drove,
From each side shoaling towards the mouth of Hell:
As when two polar winds, blowing adverse,
Upon the Cronian sea, together drive
Mountains of ice, that stop the imagin'd way,
Beyond Petzora, eastward, to the rich
Cathaian coast. The aggregated soil,
Death, with his mace petrific, cold and dry,
As with a trident, smote, and fix'd as firm
As Delos, floating once; the rest, his look
Bound, with Gorgonian rigour, not to move;
And with Asphaltic slime, broad as the gate,
Deep to the roots of Hell the gather'd beach
They fasten'd; & the mole immense wrought on,
Over the foaming deep, high arch'd, a bridge,
Of length prodigious, joining to the wall,
Immoveable, of this new fenceless world,
Forfeit to death; from hence, a passage broad,
Smooth, easy, inoffensive, down to Hell.
So, if great things to small may be compared,
Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke,
From Susa his Memnonian palace high,
Came to the sea; and, over Hellespont
Bridging his way, Europe with Asia join'd, [waves.
And scourged with many a stroke the indignant
Now had they brought the work, by wondrous art
Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock,
Over the vex'd abyss, following the track
Of Satan, to the self-same place, where he
First lighted from his wing, and landed safe
From out of Chaos, to the outside bare
Of this round world with pins of adamant,
And chains, they made all fast; too fast they made