[Similarly to Homer’s opening of
the Odyssey, “Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story…,”
OF Mans First Disobedience,
and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one
greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, [ 5 ]
Sing Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai,
did inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen
Seed,
In
the Beginning how the Heavens and Earth
Rose out
of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill [ 10 ]
Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flowed
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above the Aonian Mount, while it pursues [ 15 ]
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhyme.
And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou knowest; Thou from the first
Was present, and with mighty wings outspread [ 20 ]
Dove-like
sat
brooding on the vast Abyss
And made it pregnant:
What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the height of this great Argument
I may assert Eternal Providence, [ 25 ]
And justify the ways of God to men
***
Who first seduced
them [Eve and Adam] to that foul
revolt?
The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
Stirred up with Envy and Revenge, deceived [ 35 ]
The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his Host
Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in Glory above his Peers,
He trusted to have equaled the most High, [ 40 ]
If he opposed; and with ambitious aim
Against the Throne and Monarchy of God
Raised impious War in Heaven
and Battle proud
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from the Ethereal Sky [ 45 ]
With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In Adamantine
Chains and penal Fire,
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to Arms.
Nine
times the Space that measures Day and Night [50]
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquished, rowling
in the fiery Gulf
Confounded though immortal: But his doom
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain [ 55 ]
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate:
At once as far as Angels [can] he views
The dismal Situation waste and wild, [ 60 ]
A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round
As one great Furnace flamed, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to
discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace [ 65 ]
And rest can never dwell, hope
never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
With ever-burning Sulphur unconsumed:
Such place Eternal Justice had prepared [ 70 ]
For those rebellious, here their Prison ordained
In utter darkness, and their portion set
As far removed from God and light of Heaven
As from
the Center thrice to the' utmost Pole.
O how unlike the place from whence they fell! [ 75 ]
***
[Satan
speaks to his rebel host]
Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,
Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat
That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful
gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he [ 245 ]
Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best
Whom reason hath equaled,
force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewell happy Fields
Where Joy forever dwells: Hail horrors, hail [ 250 ]
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be changed by Place or Time.
The
mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. [ 255 ]
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less then he
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: [ 260 ]
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve
in Heav'n.
Book
IV
[Satan
speaks to his rebel host]
All hope excluded thus, behold in stead [ 105 ]
Of us out-cast, exiled,
his new delight,
Mankind
created, and for him this World.
So farewell Hope, and with Hope farewell Fear,
Farewell Remorse: all Good to me is lost;
Evil be thou my Good; [ 110 ]
***
[Satan
sees Eve and Adam]
O Hell! what do
mine eyes with grief behold,
Into our room
of bliss thus high advanced
Creatures of other mould, earth-born perhaps, [ 360 ]
Not Spirits, yet to heavenly Spirits bright
Little
inferior; whom my thoughts pursue
With wonder, and could love, so lively shines
In them Divine resemblance, and such grace
The hand that formed them on their shape hath poured.
Ah gentle
pair, ye little think how nigh
Your change approaches, when all these delights
Will vanish and deliver ye to woe,
More woe, the more your taste is now of joy;
Book
IX
Thoughts, whither have ye led me, with what
sweet
Compulsion thus transported to forget
What hither brought us, hate, not love, nor hope [ 475 ]
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 [ 480 ]
The Woman,
***
So saying, her
rash hand in evil hour [780 ]
Forth reaching to the Fruit, she plucked, she eat:
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost.
***
Thus Eve with Countenance blithe her story
told;
But in her Cheek distemper flushing glowed.
On the' other side, Adam,
soon as he heard
The fatal Trespass done by Eve,
amazed,
Astounded stood and Blank, while horror chill [890 ]
Ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;
From his slack hand the Garland wreathed for Eve
Down dropped, and all the faded Roses shed:
Speechless he stood and pale, till thus at length
First to himself he inward silence broke. [895
]
[Adam
questions and scolds Eve]
O fairest of Creation, last
and best
Of all Gods works, Creature in whom excelled
Whatever can to sight or thought be formed,
Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet!
How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost, [900 ]
Defaced, deflowered,
and now to Death devote?
Rather how hast thou yielded to transgress
The strict forbiddance, how to violate
The sacred Fruit forbidden! some
cursed fraud
Of Enemy hath beguiled
thee, yet unknown, [905
]
And me with thee hath ruined,
for with thee
Certain my resolution is to Die;
How can I live without thee, how forego
Thy sweet Converse and Love so dearly joined,
To live again in these wild Woods forlorn? [910 ]
Should God create another Eve, and I
Another Rib afford, yet loss of thee
Would never from my heart; no no, I feel
The Link of Nature draw me: Flesh of Flesh,
Bone of my Bone thou art, and from thy State [915 ]
Mine never shall be parted, bliss
or woe.
***
So saying, she embraced
him, and for joy [990
]
Tenderly wept, much won that he his Love
Had so ennobled, as of choice to incur
Divine displeasure for her sake, or Death.
In recompense (for such compliance
bad
Such recompense best merits) from the bough [995 ]
She gave him of that fair enticing Fruit
With liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat
Against his better knowledge, not deceived,
But fondly overcome with Female charm.
Earth trembled from her entrails, as again [1000]
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Sky lowered, and
muttering Thunder, some sad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal Sin
Original;
***[Eve
asks Adam]
Was I to have never parted from thy
side?
As good have grown there still a lifeless Rib.
Being as I am, why didst not thou the Head [1155]
Command me absolutely not to go,
Going into such danger as thou says?
Too facile then thou didst not much gainsay,
Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dismiss.
Had thou [been] firm
and fixed in thy dissent, [1160 ]
Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with me.
[Adam
responds]
To whom then first incensed Adam replied,
Is this the Love, is this the recompense
Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve, expressed
Immutable when thou wert lost, not I, [1165 ]
Who might have lived and joyed
immortal bliss,
Yet willingly chose rather Death with thee:
And am I now upbraided, as the cause
Of thy transgressing? not enough severe,
It seems, in thy restraint: what could I more? [1170 ]
I warned thee, I admonished
thee, foretold
The danger, and the lurking Enemy
That lay in wait; beyond this had been force,
And force upon free Will hath here no place.
But confidence then bore thee on, secure [1175 ]
Either to meet no danger, or to find
Matter of glorious trial; and perhaps
I also erred in overmuch admiring
What seemed in thee so perfect,
that I thought
No evil durst attempt thee, but I rue [1180 ]
That error now, which is become my crime,
And thou the' accuser. Thus it shall befall
Him who to worth in Women
overtrusting
Lets her Will rule; restraint she will not brook,
And left to her self, if evil thence ensue, [1185
]
She first his weak indulgence will accuse.
Book
X
[God
comes to the garden]
***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 [100 ]
The thickest Trees, both Man and Wife, till God
Approaching, thus to Adam called
aloud.
[God
calls to Adam]
Where art thou Adam,
wont
with joy to meet
My coming seen far off? I
miss thee here,
Not pleased, thus entertained
with solitude, [105
]
Where obvious duty erewhile appeared
unsought:
Or come I less conspicuous, or what change
Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth.
He came, and with him Eve,
more loath, though first
To offend, discountenanced both, and 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.
[Adam
responds]
Whence Adam faltering long, thus answered
brief. [115 ]
I heard thee in the Garden, and of thy
voice
Afraid, being naked, hid my self. To whom
The gracious Judge without revile
replied.
[God
questions Adam]
My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast
not feared,
But still rejoiced, how is it now become [120 ]
So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked, who
Hath told thee? hast thou eaten of the Tree
Whereof I
gave thee charge thou should not eat?
[Adam
confesses]
To whom thus Adam
sore beset replied.
O Heav'n! in evil straight
this day I stand [125 ]
Before my Judge, either to undergo
My self 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 [130 ]
By my complaint; but strict necessity
Subdues me, and calamitous constraint
Least 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 maddest to be my help,
And gave me as thy perfect
gift, so good,
So fit, so acceptable, so Divine,
That from her hand I could suspect no ill, [140 ]
And what she did, whatever in itself,
Her doing seemed to justify
the deed;
She gave me of the Tree, and I did eat.
[God
upbraids Adam]
To whom the Sovereign
Presence thus replied.
Was she thy God,
that her thou didst obey [145 ]
Before his voice, or was she made thy guide,
Superior, or but equal, that to her
Thou did resign thy
Manhood, and the Place
Wherein God set thee above her made of thee,
And for thee, whose perfection
far excelled [150 ]
Hers in all real dignity: Adorned
She was indeed, and lovely to attract
Thy Love, not thy Subjection, and her Gifts
Were such as under Government well seemed,
Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part [155 ]
And
person, had thou known
thy self aright.
[God
queries Eve and she confesses]
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 overwhelmed,
Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge [160 ]
Bold or loquacious, thus abashed replied.
The Serpent me beguiled
and I did eat.
***
The growing miseries, which Adam saw [ 715 ]
Already in part, though hid in gloomiest shade,
To sorrow abandoned, but worse felt within,
And in a troubled Sea of passion tossed,
Thus to disburden sought with sad
complaint.
[Adam
laments his fallen state]
O miserable of happy! is this
the end [ 720 ]
Of this new glorious World, and me so late
The Glory of that Glory, who now become
Accursed of blessed, hide me from the face
Of God, whom to behold was then my height
Of happiness: yet well, if here would end [ 725 ]
The misery, I deserved
it, and would bear
My own deservings; but this will not serve;
All that I eat or drink, or shall beget,
Is propagated
curse. O voice once heard
Delightfully, Increase and multiply, [ 730 ]
Now death to hear! for what can I increase
Or multiply, but curses on my head?
Who of all Ages to succeed, but feeling
The evil on him brought by me, will curse
My Head, Ill
fare our Ancestor impure, [ 735 ]
For this we may thank Adam; but his thanks
Shall be the execration; so besides
Mine
own that bide upon me, all from me
Shall with a fierce reflux on me redound,
On me as on their
natural center light [
740 ]
Heavy, though in their
place. O fleeting joys
Of Paradise, dear bought with lasting woes!
Did I request thee, Maker,
from my Clay
To mould me Man, did I solicit
thee
From darkness to promote me, or here place [ 745 ]
In this delicious Garden? as my Will
Concurred not to my being, it were but right
And
equal to reduce me to my dust,
Desirous to resign, and render back
All I received, unable to perform [ 750 ]
Thy terms too hard, by which I was to hold
The good I sought not. To the loss of that,
Sufficient penalty, why hast thou added
The sense of endless woes? inexplicable
Thy Justice seems; yet to say truth, too late, [ 755 ]
I thus contest; then should have been refused
Those terms whatever, when they were proposed:
Thou
didst accept them; wilt thou enjoy the
good,
Then cavil the conditions? and though God
Made thee without thy leave, what if thy Son [ 760 ]
Prove disobedient, and reproved, retort,
Wherefore didst thou beget
me? I sought it not
Wouldst thou admit for his contempt of thee
That proud excuse? yet him not thy election,
But Natural necessity begot. [
765 ]
God made thee of choice his own, and of his own
To serve him, thy reward was of his grace,
Thy punishment then justly is at his Will.
Be it so, for I submit, his doom is fair,
That dust I am, and shall to dust return: [ 770 ]
O welcome hour whenever! why delays
His hand to execute what his Decree
Fixed on this day? why do I over
live,
Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out
To deathless pain? how gladly would I meet [ 775 ]
Mortality my sentence, and be Earth
Insensible, how glad would lay me down
As in my Mothers lap! There I should rest
And sleep secure; his dreadful voice no more
Would Thunder in my ears, no fear of worse [ 780 ]
To me and to my offspring
would torment me
With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt
Pursues me still, least all I cannot die,
Least that pure breath of Life, the Spirit of Man
Which God inspired, cannot together perish [ 785 ]
With this corporeal Clod; then in the Grave,
Or in some other dismal place who knows
But I shall die a living
Death? O thought
Horrid, if true! yet why? it was but breath
Of Life that sinned; what dies but what had life [ 790 ]
And sin? the Body properly hath neither.
All
of me then shall die: let this appease
The doubt, since humane reach no further knows.
For though the Lord of all be infinite,
Is his wrath also? be it, man is not so, [ 795 ]
But mortal doomed. How can he exercise
Wrath without end on Man whom Death must end?
Can he make deathless Death? that were to make
Strange contradiction, which to God himself
Impossible is held, as Argument [ 800 ]
Of weakness, not of Power. Will he, draw out,
For angers sake, finite to infinite
In punished man, to satisfy
his rigor
Satisfied never; that were to extend
His Sentence beyond dust and Natures Law, [ 805 ]
By which all Causes else according still
To the reception of their matter act,
Not to the' extent of their
own Sphere. But say
That Death be not one stroke, as I supposed,
Bereaving
sense, but endless misery [ 810 ]
From this day onward, which I feel begun
Both in me, and without me, and so last
To perpetuity; Ay me, that fear
Comes thundering back with dreadful revolution
On my defenseless head; both Death and I [ 815 ]
Am found Eternal, and incorporate
both,
Nor I on my part single, in me all
Posterity stands curst:
Fair Patrimony
That I must leave ye, Sons; O were I able
To waste it all my self, and leave ye none! [ 820 ]
So disinherited how would ye bless
Me now your curse! Ah, why should all mankind
For one mans fault thus guiltless be condemned,
If guiltless? But from me what can proceed,
But all corrupt, both Mind
and Will depraved, [ 825 ]
Not to do only, but to will the same
With me? how can they then acquitted stand
In sight of God? Him after all Disputes
Forced I absolve: all my
evasions vain
And reasonings, though through Mazes, lead me still
But to my own conviction: first and last
On me, me only,
as the source and spring
Of all corruption, all the blame lights due;
So might the wrath. Fond wish! couldst thou support
That burden heavier then the Earth to bear [ 835 ]
Then all the World much heavier, though divided
With that bad Woman? Thus what thou desir'st,
And what thou fearst, alike destroys
all hope
Of refuge, and concludes thee miserable
Beyond all past example and future, [ 840 ]
To
Satan only like both crime and doom.
O Conscience, into what Abyss of fears
And horrors hast thou driven me; out of which
I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!
Thus Adam
to himself lamented loud [
845 ]
Through the still Night, not now, as ere man fell,
Wholesome and cool, and mild, but with black Air
Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom,
Which to his evil Conscience represented
All things with double terror: On the ground [ 850 ]
Outstretched he lay, on the cold ground, and oft
Cursed his Creation, Death as oft accused
Of tardy execution, since denounced
The day of his offence.