Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or named
Of them the highest-for such of shape may seem
Prince above princes-gently hast thou told
Thy message, which might else in telling wound,
And in performing end us. What besides

Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair,
Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring-
Departure from this happy place, our sweet
Recess, and only consolation left

Familiar to our eyes; all places else

Inhospitable appear, and desolate,

Nor knowing us, nor known.

And, if by prayer

Incessant I could hope to change the will

Of Him who all things can, I would not cease
To weary him with my assiduous cries;

But prayer against his absolute decree

No more avails than breath against the wind,

Blown stifling back on him that breathes it forth :
Therefore to his great bidding I submit.
This most afflicts me that, departing hence,
As from his face I shall be hid, deprived
His blessed countenance. Here I could frequent,
With worship, place by place where he voutsafed
Presence Divine, and to my sons relate,
'On this mount He appeared; under this tree
Stood visible; among these pines his voice

I heard; here with him at this fountain talked.'

So many grateful altars I would rear

Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone

Of lustre from the brook, in memory

Or monument to ages, and thereon

Offer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers.
In yonder nether world where shall I seek
His bright appearances, or footstep trace?
For, though I fled him angry, yet, recalled

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To life prolonged and promised race, I now
Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts

Of glory, and far off his steps adore."

To whom thus Michael, with regard benign :Adam, thou know'st Heaven his, and all the Earth, Not this rock only; his omnipresence fills

Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives,
Fomented by his virtual power and warmed.
All the Earth he gave thee to possess and rule,
No despicable gift; surmise not, then,
His presence to these narrow bounds confined

Of Paradise or Eden. This had been

Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread
All generations, and had hither come,

From all the ends of the Earth, to celebrate

And reverence thee their great progenitor.

But this pre-eminence thou hast lost, brought down
To dwell on even ground now with thy sons:

Yet doubt not but in valley and in plain

God is, as here, and will be found alike
Present, and of his presence many a sign
Still following thee, still compassing thee round
With goodness and paternal love, his face
Express, and of his steps the track divine.

Which that thou may'st believe, and be confirmed
Ere thou from hence depart, know I am sent
To show thee what shall come in future days
To thee and to thy offspring.

Good with bad

Expect to hear, supernal grace contending
With sinfulness of men-thereby to learn
True patience, and to temper joy with fear
And pious sorrow, equally inured
By moderation either state to bear,
Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead
Safest thy life, and best prepared endure

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Thy mortal passage when it comes.

Ascend

This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched her eyes)
Here sleep below while thou to foresight wak'st,
As once thou slept'st while she to life was formed.”
To whom thus Adam gratefully replied :—
"Ascend; I follow thee, safe guide, the path
Thou lead'st me, and to the hand of Heaven submit,
However chastening-to the evil turn

My obvious breast, arming to overcome

By suffering, and earn rest from labour won,
If so I may attain.” So both ascend

In the visions of God. It was a hill,

Of Paradise the highest, from whose top

The hemisphere of Earth in clearest ken

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Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect lay. 380
Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round,
Whereon for different cause the Tempter set

Our second Adam, in the wilderness,

To show him all Earth's kingdoms and their glory.
His eye might there command wherever stood

City of old or modern fame, the seat

Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,
And Samarchand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
To Paquin, of Sinæan kings, and thence
To Agra and Lahor of Great Mogul,
Down to the golden Chersonese, or where
The Persian in Ecbatan sat, or since
In Hispahan, or where the Russian Ksar
In Mosco, or the Sultan in Bizance,
Turchestan-born; nor could his eye not ken
The empire of Negus to his utmost port
Ercoco, and the less maritime kings,
Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
And Sofala (thought Ophir), to the realm

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Of Congo, and Angola farthest south,

Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount,
The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez and Sus,
Marocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen ;

On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway
The world in spirit perhaps he also saw

Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,

And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat

Of Atabalipa, and yet unspoiled
Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons
Call El Dorado. But to nobler sights.
Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed
Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight
Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue

The visual nerve, for he had much to see,
And from the well of life three drops instilled.
So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,
Even to the inmost seat of mental sight,
That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes,
Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced.
But him the gentle Angel by the hand
Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled :-

"Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold
The effects which thy original crime hath wrought
In some to spring from thee, who never touched
The excepted tree, nor with the Snake conspired,
Nor sinned thy sin, yet from that sin derive
Corruption to bring forth more violent deeds."

His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,
Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves
New-reaped, the other part sheep-walks and folds;

I' the midst an altar as the landmark stood,
Rustic, of grassy sord. Thither anon

A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
First-fruits, the green ear and the yellow sheaf,

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Unculled, as came to hand. A shepherd next,
More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock,
Choicest and best; then, sacrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incense strewed,
On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed.
His offering soon propitious fire from heaven
Consumed, with nimble glance and grateful steam;
The other's not, for his was not sincere:
Whereat he inly raged, and, as they talked,
Smote him into the midriff with a stone
That beat out life; he fell, and, deadly pale,
Groaned out his soul, with gushing blood effused.
Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
Dismayed, and thus in haste to the Angel cried :-

"O Teacher, some great mischief hath befallen
To that meek man, who well had sacrificed :
Is piety thus and pure devotion paid ?"

To whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied :

"These two are brethren, Adam, and to come

Out of thy loins.

The unjust the just hath slain,

For envy that his brother's offering found.
From Heaven acceptance; but the bloody fact
Will be avenged, and the other's faith approved
Lose no reward, though here thou see him die,
Rolling in dust and gore." To which our Sire:-
"Alas, both for the deed and for the cause!
But have I now seen Death?
Is this the way
O sight

I must return to native dust?

Of terror, foul and ugly to behold!

Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!"

To whom thus Michaël :-" Death thou hast seen

In his first shape on Man; but many shapes
Of Death, and many are the ways that lead
To his grim cave-all dismal, yet to sense
More terrible at the entrance than within.

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