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The first, at least, of these I thought denied
To beasts, whom God, on their creation-day,
Created mute to all articulate sound:
The latter I demur; for in their looks
Much reason, & in their actions, oft appears.
Thee, Serpent, subtlest beast of all the field
I knew, but not with human voice endued;
Redouble then this miracle, and say
How camest thou speakable of mute; and how
To me so friendly grown, above the rest
Of brutal kind, that daily are in sight:
Say, for such wonder claims attention due."

To whom the guileful tempter thus replied.
"Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve,
Easy to me it is to tell thee all [obeyed.
What thou commandst, & right thou shouldst be
I was, at first, as other beasts that graze
The trodden herb, of abject thoughts, and low
As was my food; nor ought but food discern'd,
Or sex, and apprehended nothing high:
Till on a day, roving the field, I chanced
A goodly tree, far distant, to behold.
Loaden with fruit of fairest colours, mix'd
Ruddy and gold: I nearer drew to gaze,
When from the boughs a savoury odour blown,
Grateful to appetite, more pleased my sense
Than smell of sweetest fennel, or the teats
Of ewe or goat, dropping with milk at even,
Unsuck'd of lamb or kid, that tend their play,
To satisfy the sharp desire I had
Of tasting those fair apples, I resolved
Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once,
Powerful persuaders, quicken'd at the scent
Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen.
About the mossy trunk I wound me soon;
For, high from ground, the branches would require
Thy utmost reach, or Adam's: round the tree,
All other beasts that saw, with like desire,
Longing & envying stood, but could not reach.
Amid the tree now got, where plenty hung,
Tempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill
I spared not; for such pleasure, till that hour,
At feed or fountain never had I found.
Sated at length; ere long I might perceive
Strange alteration in me, to degree
Of reason, in my inward powers; & speech
Wanted not long, tho' to this shape retain'd.

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Thenceforth, to speculations high or deep
I turn'd my thoughts, & with capacious mind,
Consider'd all things visible in Heaven,
Or earth, or middle, all things fair and good;
But all that fair and good, in thy divine
Semblance, & in thy beauty's heavenly ray,
United I beheld; no fair to thine
Equivalent, or second; which compell'd
Me thus, though importune perhaps, to come
And gaze, and worship thee, of right declar'd
Sovereign of creatures, universal dame."

So talk'd the spirited sly Snake: and Eve,
Yet more amazed, unwary thus replied.
"Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt
The virtue of that fruit, in thee first proved:

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But say, where grows the tree, from hence how far?

For many are the trees of God, that grow

In Paradise, and various, yet unknown
To us; in such abundance lies our choice,
As leaves a greater store of fruit untouch'd,
Still hanging incorruptible, till men
Grow up to their provision, and more hands
Help to disburden nature of her birth."

To whom the wily Adder, blythe and glad.
"Empress, the way is ready, and not long,
Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat,
Fast by a fountain, one small thicket passed
Of blowing myrrh and balm; if thou accept
My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon."
"Lead then," said Eve. He, leading, swiftly roll'd
In tangles and made intricate seem straight,
To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy
Brightens his crest; as when a wandering fire,
Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night
Condenses, and the cold environs round,
Kindled, through agitation, to a flame;
Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,
Hovering and blazing with delusive light,
Misleads the amaz'd night-wanderer from his way,
Through bogs & mires, & oft through pond or pool,
There swallowed up and lost, from succour far:
So glistered the dire Snake, and into fraud
Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe:
Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
"Serpent, we might have spared our coming hither,
Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess;

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The credit of whose virtue rests with thee,
Wonderous 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 replied.
"Indeed? hath God then said, of the fruit
Of all these garden trees ye shall not eat,
Yet Lords declared 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.""

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She scarce had said, though brief, when now more bold,

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The Tempter, but with show of zeal and love
To man, and indignation at his wrong,
New part puts on; and as to passion moved,
Fluctuates disturb'd, yet comely, and in act
Raised, as of some great matter to begin.
As when of old some orator renowned,
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 upgrown,
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 threatener? 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 venturing 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 denounced, whatever thing death be,

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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 you low and ignorant,
His worshippers. He knows that in the day
You 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,

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Tho' threaten'd, which no worse than this can bring.

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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 enclosed
Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies

:

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The 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

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In heavenly breasts? These, these, & 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,
In to her heart too easy entrance won.
Fix'd on the fruit she gazed, 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, & waked
An eager appetite, raised by the smell
So savoury of that fruit, which with desire,
Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,

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Solicited her longing eye; yet first,
Pausing awhile, thus to herself she mused.

"Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits,
Though kept from man, & worthy to be admired;
Whose taste, too long forborne, at first essay,
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 & 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 eaten and lives,
And knows, & speaks, & reasons, & discerns,
Irrational till then. For us alone

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Was death invented? or to us denied

This intellectual food, for beasts reserved?

For beasts it seems: yet that one beast, which first

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Hath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy
The good befallen him, author unsuspect,
Friendly to man, far from deceit or 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 & mind?"
So saying, her rash hand, in evil hour,
Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck'd, she eat:
Earth felt the wound, & nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
That all was lost. Back to the thicket slunk
The guilty serpent; and well might, for Eve,
Intent now wholly on her taste, nought else
Regarded, such delight till then, as seem'd,
In fruit she never tasted, whether true
Or fancied so, through expectation high

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