Less attributed to her faith sincere,
Thus her reply, with accent sweet, renew'd.

"If this be our condition, thus to dwell
In narrow circuit, straiten'd by a foe,
Subtle or violent, we not endued,
Single, with like defence, wherever met,
How are we happy, still in fear of harm?
But harm precedes not sin; only our foe,
Tempting, affronts us with his foul esteem
Of our integrity; his foul esteem
Sticks no dishonour on our front, but turns
Foul on himself: then wherefore shunn'd or fear'd
By us? who rather double honour gain
From his surmise, proved false; find peace within,
Favour from Heaven, our witness from the even
And what is faith, love, virtue, unassay'd,
Alone, without exterior help sustain'd?
Let us not then suspect our happy state,
Left so imperfect by the Maker wise,
As not secure, to single, or combined.
Frail is our happiness if this be so,
And Eden were no Eden thus exposed."

To whom thus Adam fervently reply'd.
"O Woman! best are all things as the will
Of God ordain'd them; his creating hand
Nothing imperfect or deficient left.
Of all that he created, much less Man,
Or ought that might his happy state secure
Secure from outward force; within himself
The danger lies, yet lies within his power:
Against his will, he can receive no harm
But God left free the will; for what obeys
Reason, is free, and reason he made right
But bid her well beware, and still erect
Lest, by some fair appearing good surprised,
She dictate false, and misinform the will,
To do what God expressly hath forbid.
Not then mistrust, but tender love, enjoins
That I should mind thee oft, & mind thou me.
Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve;
Since reason not impossibly may meet
Some specious object, by the foe suborn'd,
And fall into deception unaware,
Not keeping strictest watch, as she was warn'd.
Seek not temptation then, which to avoid
Were better, and most likely, if from me
Thou sever not: trial will come unsought,

Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, approve
First thy obedience; the other who can know?
Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?
But if thou think, trial unsought may find
Us both securer, than thus warn'd thou seem'st,
Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more;
Go, in thy native innocence; rely
On what thou hast of virtue, summon all;
For God towards thee hath done his part; do thine."
So spake the patriarch of mankind; but Eve
Persisted, yet submiss, though last, reply'd.
"With thy permission then, & thus forwarned,
Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning words.
Touch'd only, that our trial, when least sought,
May find us both perhaps far less prepared;
The willinger I go; nor much expect
A foe so proud, will first the weaker seek;
So bent, the more shall shame him his repulse.'
Thus saying, from her husband's hand, her hand
Soft she withdrew; and like a Wood-Nymph light,
Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,

Betook her to the groves; but Delia's self
In gait surpass'd, and goddess-like deport;
Though not, as she, with bow & quiver armed,
But with such gardening tools, as art, yet rude,
Guiltless of fire, had form'd, or angels brought
To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorn'd,
Likest she seem'd; Pomona, when she fled
Vertumnus, or to Ceres in her prime,
Yet virgin of Proserpina, from Jove.
Her long, with ardent look, his eye pursu'd,
Delighted, but desired more her stay.
Oft he to her his charge of quick returr
Repeated; she to him as oft engaged
To be return'd by noon, amid the bower,
And all things in best order, to invite
Noontide repast, or afternoon's repose.
O much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve,
Of thy presumed return! event perverse!
Thou never, from that hour, in Paradise
Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose;
Such ambush, hid among sweet flowers & shades,
Waited, with hellish rancour imminent,
To intercept thy way, or send thee back
Despoil'd of innocence, of faith, of bliss.
For now, & since first break of dawn, the fiend,
Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come,

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And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of mankind; but in them
The whole included race, his purposed prey.
In bower and field he sought, where any tuft
Of grove, or garden-plot, more pleasant lay,
Their tendance, or plantation for delight;
By fountain, or by shady rivulet,

He sought them both; but wish'd his hap might find
Eve separate; he wish'd, but not with hope
Of what so seldom chanced, when, to his wish,
Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,
Veil'd in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,
Half spy'd, so thick the roses, blushing round
About her, glow'd, oft stooping to support
Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay,
Carnation, purple, azure, or speck'd with gold,
Hung drooping, unsustain'd: them she upstays
Gently with myrtle band; mindless the while
Herself, though fairest unsupported flower,
From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh.
Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed
Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm;
Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen,
Among thick-woven arborets and flowers,
Imbordered on each bank, the hand of Eve
Spot more delicious than those gardens feign'd
Or of reviv'd Adonis, or renown'd
Alcinous, host of old Laertes' son;
Or that, not mystic, where the sapient king
Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse.
Much he the place admired, the person more.
As one, who, long in populous city pent,
Where houses thick, and sewers, annoy the air,
Forth issuing, on a summer's morn, to breathe
Among the pleasant villages, and farms
Adjoin'd, from each thing met conceives delight,
The smell of grain, or tedded grass, or kine,
Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound;
If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pass,
What pleasing seem'd, for her, now pleases more,
She most, and in her look sums all delight:
Such pleasure took the Serpent to behold.
This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve,
Thus early, thus alone. Her heavenly form
Angelic, but more soft, and feminine,
Her graceful innocence, her every air
Of gesture or least action, over-awed

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His malice; and, with rapine sweet bereaved
His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought.
That space, the evil one abstracted stood
From his own evil, & for the time remain'd
Stupidly good, of enmity disarm'd,
Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge;
But the hot hell that always in him burns,
Though in mid Heaven, soon ended his delight,
And tortures him now more, the more he sees
Of pleasure, not for him ordain'd. Then soon
Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts
Of mischief, gratulating, thus excites.

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"Thoughts, whither have ye led me? with what sweet Compulsion, thus transported, to forget

What hither brought us? hate, not love, nor hope
Of Paradise for Hell; hope here to taste
Of pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy,
Save what is in destroying; other joy
To me is lost. Then let me not let pass
Occasion, which now smiles; behold alone
The woman, opportune to all attempts;
Her husband, for I view far round, not nigh;
Whose higher intellectual more I shun,
And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb
Heroic built, though of terrestrial mould,
Foe not informidable, exempt from wound;
I not; so much hath Hell debased, & pain
Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heaven.
She fair, divinely fair, fit love for gods;
Not terrible, though terror be in love
And beauty, not approach'd by stronger hate;
Hate stronger, under show of love well feign'd,
The way which to her ruin now I tend."

So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed
In serpent, inmate bad; and toward Eve
Address'd his way; not with indented wave,
Prone on the ground, as since; but on his rear,
Circular base of rising folds, that tower'd,
Fold above fold, a surging maze; his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes;
With burnish'd neck of verdant gold, erect
Amidst his circling spires, that on the
grass
Floated redundant: pleasing was his shape,
And lovely; never since of serpent kind
Lovelier; not those that in Illyra changed
Hermione and Cadmus, or the God
In Epidarus; nor to which transform'd,

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Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline was seen;
He with Olympias, this with her who bore
Scipio the highth of Rome. With tract oblique,
At first, as one who sought access, but fear'd
To interrupt, side-long he works his way:
As when a ship, by skilful steersman wrought,
Nigh river's mouth, or foreland, where the wind
Veers off, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail;
So varied he, and of his tortuous train
Curl'd many a wanton wreath, in sight of Eve,
To lure her eye; she, busied, heard the sound
Of rustling leaves, but minded not, as used
To such disport before her through the field,
From every beast; more duteous at her call,
Than at Čircean call, the herd disguised.
He, bolder now, uncall'd before her stood
But as in gaze admiring: oft he bow'd
His turret crest, and sleek enamell'd neck,
Fawning; & lick'd the ground whereon she trod.
His gentle dumb expression turn'd, at length,
The eye of Eve to mark his play; he, glad
Of her attention gain'd, with serpent tongue
Organic, or impulse of vocal air,
His fraudulent temptation thus began.

"Wonder not, sovereign mistress, if perhaps
Thou canst, who art sole wonder; much less arm
Thy looks, the heaven of mildness, with disdain,
Displeased that I approach thee thus, and gaze
Insatiate, I, thus single; nor have feared
Thy awful brow, more awful thus retired.
Fairest resemblance of thy Maker fair,
Thee all things living gaze on, all things thine
By gift, and thy celestial beauty adore,
With ravishment beheld; there best beheld
Where universally admired; but here,

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In this inclosure wild, these beasts among,
Beholders rude, and shallow to discern
Half what in thee is fair; one man except,

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Who sees thee? & what is one? who shouldst be seen,

A goddess among gods, adored and served

Ay angels numberless, thy daily train."

So glozed the Tempter, & his proem tuned ;

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Into the heart of Eve his words made way,
Though at the voice much marvelling; at length,
Not unamazed, she thus in answer spake.

'What may this mean? language of man, pronounced

By tongue of brute, and human sense express'd!