So faithful love unequal'd; but I feel
Far otherwise th' event, not death, but life
Augmented, open'd eyes, new hopes, new joys, 985
Taste so divine, that what of sweet before
Hath touch'd my fenfe, flat seems to this, and harsh.
On my experience, Adam, freely taste,
And fear of death deliver to the winds.
So faying, fhe embrac'd him, and for joy
Tenderly wept, much won that he his love
Had fo ennobled, as of choice to' incur
Divine difpleafure for her fake, or death.
In recompenfe (for fuch compliance bad
Such recompenfe beft merits) from the bough
She gave him of that fair enticing fruit
With liberal hand: he fcrupled not to eat
Against his better knowledge, not deceiv'd,
But fondly overcome with female charm.
Earth trembled from her entrails, as again
In pangs, and Nature gave a second groan,
Sky lour'd, and muttering thunder, fome fad drops
Wept at completing of the mortal fin
They fwim in mirth, and fancy that they feel
Divinity within them breeding wings,
Wherewith to fcorn the earth: but that false fruit
Far other operation first difplay'd,
Carnal defire inflaming; he on Eve
Began to caft lascivious eyes, she him
As wantonly repaid; in luft they burn:
Till Adam thus 'gan Eve to dalliance move.
Eve, now I fee thou art exact of taste,
And elegant, of fapience no fmall part,
Since to each meaning favor we apply,
And palate call judicious; I the praise
Yield thee, fo well this day thou haft purvey'd.
Much pleasure we have loft, while we abstain'd
From this delightful fruit, nor known till now
True relish, tafting; if fuch pleasure be
In things to us forbidd'n, it might be wish'd,
For this one tree had been forbidden ten.
But come, fo well refresh'd, now let us play,
As meet is, after fuch delicious fare;
For never did thy beauty since the day
I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorn'd
With all perfections, fo inflame my fenfe
With ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now
Than ever, bounty of this virtuous tree.
So faid he, and forbore not glance or toy
Of amorous intent, well understood
Of Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire.
Her hand he feiz'd, and to a fhady bank,
Thick overhead with verdant roof imbowr'd,
He led her nothing loath; flow'rs were the couch,
Panfies and violets, and afphodel,
And hyacinth, earth's freshest foftest lap.
There they their fill of love and love's disport
Took largely, of their mutual guilt the seal,
The folace of their fin, till dewy fleep
Opprefs'd them, wearied with their amorous play. 1045
Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit,
That with exhilarating vapor bland
About their spi'rits had play'd, and inmost powers
Made err, was now exhal'd; and groffer fleep
Bred of unkindly fumes, with confcious dreams 1050
Incumber'd, now had left them; up they rofe
As from unrest, and each the other viewing,
Soon found their eyes how open'd, and their minds
How darken'd; innocence, that as a veil
Had fhadow'd them from knowing ill, was gone, 1055
Juft confidence, and native righteousness,
And honor from about them, naked left
To guilty shame; he cover'd, but his robe
Uncover'd more. So rofe the Danite strong
Herculean Samfon from the harlot-lap
Of Philiftéan Dalilah, and wak'd
Shorn of his ftrength. They deftitute and bare
Of all their virtue: filent, and in face
Confounded long they fat, as ftrucken mute,
Till Adam, though not less than Eve abash'd, 1065
At length gave utterance to these words conftrain'd.
O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear
To that false worm, of whomsoever taught
To counterfeit Man's voice, true in our fall,
Falfe in our promis'd rifing; fince our eyes
Open'd we find indeed, and find we know
Both good and ev'il, good loft, and evil got,
Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know,
Which leaves us naked thus, of honor void,
Of innocence, of faith, of purity,
Our wonted ornaments now foil'd and ftain'd,
And in our faces evident the figns
Of foul concupifcence; whence evil ftore;
Ev'n fhame, the laft of evils; of the firft
Be fure then. How fhall I behold the face
Henceforth of God or Angel, erft with joy
And rapture fo' oft beheld? those heav'nly shapes
Will dazzle now this earthly with their blaze
Infufferably bright. O might I here
In folitude live favage, in fome glade
Obfcur'd, where highest woods impenetrable
To ftar or fun-light, fpread their umbrage broad
And brown as evening: Cover me, ye Pines,
Ye Cedars, with innumerable boughs
Hide me, where I may never fee them more.
But let us now, as in bad plight, devise
What beft may for the prefent ferve to hide
The parts of each from other, that feem moft
To shame obnoxious, and unfeemliest seen;
Some tree, whofe broad fmooth leaves together fow'd,
And girded on our loins, may cover round
Thofe middle parts, that this new comer, fhame,
There fit not, and reproach us as unclean.
So counsel'd he, and both together went
Into the thickest wood; there foon they chose
The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renown'd,
But fuch as at this day to Indians known
In Malabar or Decan spreads her arms
Branching fo broad and long, that in the ground
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow 1105
About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade
High overarch'd, and echoing walks between;
There oft the Indian herdfman fhunning heat
Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds
At loopholes cut through thickeft fhade: Thofe leaves
They gather'd, broad as Amazonian targe,
And with what skill they had, together fow'd,
To gird their wafte, vain covering if to hide
Their guilt and dreaded fhame; O how unlike
To that first naked glory! Such of late
Columbus found th' American, fo girt
With feather'd cincture, naked elfe and wild
Among the trees on iles and woody shores.
Thus fenc'd, and, as they thought, their shame in part Cover'd, but not at reft or ease of mind,
They fat them down to weep; nor only tears
Rain'd at their eyes, but high winds worse within
Began to rife, high paffions, anger, hate,
Miftruft, fufpicion, difcord, and fhook fore
Their inward state of mind, calm region once
And full of peace, now toft and turbulent:
For understanding rul'd not, and the will
Heard not her lore, both in subjection now
To fenfual appetite, who from beneath
Ufurping over fovran reason clam'd
Superior fway from thus diftemper'd breaft,
Adam, eftrang'd in look and alter'd ftile,
|