Of prohibition, root of all our wo;
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 t' excess, The credit of whose virtue rest with thee, Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects. But of this tree we may not taste nor touch; God so 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 said that of the fruit Of all these garden trees ye shall not eat, Yet lords declar'd of all in earth or air?
To whom thus Eve yet sinless: 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 said, Ye shall not eat Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold
The tempter, but with show of zeal and love 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 if some great matter to begin. As when of old some orator renown'd In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence Flourish'd, since mute, to some great cause address'd, Stood in himself collected, while each part, Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue, Sometimes in height began, as no delay Of preface brooking through his zeal of right: So standing, moving, or to height up grown, The tempter all impassion'd thus began:
O sacred, 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 : How should ye? by the fruit? it gives you life To knowledge; by the threat'ner? look on me, Me who have touch'd and tasted, 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 incense his ire For such a petty trespass, and not praise Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain Of death denounc'd, whatever thing death be, Deterr'd not from achieving what might lead To happier life, knowledge of good and evil; Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evil Be real, why not known, since easier shunn'd. God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just; Not just, not God; not fear'd then, nor obey'd; Your fear itself 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 seem 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 shall be as gods, since I as man, Internal man, is but proportion meet; I of brute human, ye of human, gods; So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off Human, to put on gods; death to be wish'd,
Tho' threaten'd, which no worse than this can bring. And what are gods that man may not become
As they, participating god-like food? The gods are first, and that advantage use On our belief, that all from them proceeds; I question it, for this fair earth I see, Warm'd by the sun, producing every kind,
Them nothing: if they all things, who enclos'd Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies Th' offence, that man should thus attain to know? What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree Impart against his will if all be his?
Or is it envy, and can envy dwell
In heav'nly breasts? these, these and many more Causes import your need of this fair fruit. Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste. He ended, and his words replete with guile Into her heart too easy entrance won: Fix'd on the fruit she gaz'd, which to behold Might tempt alone, and in her ears the sound Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregn'd With reason, to her seeming, and with truth; Meanwhile the hour of noon drew on, and wak'd An eager appetite, rais'd by the smell
So savoury of that fruit, which with desire, Inclinable now grown to touch or taste, Solicited her longing eye: yet first
Pausing awhile, thus to herself she mus'd:
Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits, Though kept from man, and worthy to be admir'd, Whose taste, too long forborne, at first assay Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise. Thy praise he also who forbids thy use, Conceals not from us, naming thee the tree Of knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil; Forbids us then to taste, but his forbidding Commends thee more, while it infers the good By thee communicated, and our want For good unknown, sure is not had, or had And yet unknown, is as not had at all. In plain then, what forbids he but to know, Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise? Such prohibitions bind not. But if death
Bind us with after-bands, what profits then Our inward freedom? In the day we eat Of this fair fruit, our doom is we shall die. How dies the serpent? he hath eat'n and lives, And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns, Irrational till then. For us alone
Was death invented? or to us deny'd
This intellectual food, for beasts reserv'd? For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first Hath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy The good befall'n him, author unsuspect, Friendly to man, far from deceit to guile. What fear I then, rather what know to fear Under this ignorance of good and evil, Of God or death, of law or penalty? Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine, Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
Of virtue to make wise: what hinders then To reach, and feed at once both body and mind? So saying, her rash hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck'd, she eat: Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat Sighing through all her works gave signs of wo That all was lost. Back to the thicket slunk The guilty serpent, and well might, for Eve Intent now wholly on her taste, naught else Regarded, such delight till then, as seem'd, In fruit she never tasted, whether true Or fancy'd so, through expectation high Of knowledge, nor was godhead from her thought. Greedily she ingorg'd without restraint,
And knew not eating death: satiate at length, And heighten'd as with wine, jocund and boon Thus to herself she pleasantly began:
O sov'reign, virtuous, precious of all trees In Paradise, of operation blest
To sapience, hitherto obscur'd, infam'd, And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end Created; but henceforth my early care,
Not without song, each morning and due praise, Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease Of thy full branches offer'd free to all; Till dieted by thee I grow mature
In knowledge, as the gods who all things know; Though others envy what they cannot give; For had the gift been theirs, it had not here Thus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe, Best guide; not following thee I had remain'd In ignorance; thou open'st wisdom's way, And giv'st access, though secret she retire. And I perhaps am secret; heav'n is high, High, and remote to see from thence distinct Each thing on earth; and other care perhaps May have diverted from continual watch Our great forbidder, safe with all his spies About him. But to Adam in what sort Shall I appear ? shall I to him make known As yet my change, and give him to partake Full happiness with me, or rather not, But keep the odds of knowledge in my power Without co-partner? so to add what wants In female sex, the more to draw his love, And render me more equal, and perhaps, A thing not undesirable, sometime Superior; for inferior who is free?
This may be well: but what if God have seen, And death ensue? then I shall be no more, And Adam wedded to another Eve, Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct; A death to think. Confirm'd then I resolve, Adam shall share with me in bliss or wo; So dear I love him, that with him all deaths I could endure, without him live no life.
So saying, from the tree her step she turn'd, But first low reverence done, as to the power That dwelt within, whose presence had infus'd, Into the plant sciential sap, deriv'd
From nectar, drink of gods. Adam the while
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