As with a rural mound, the champaign head Of a steep wildernefs; whofe hairy fides With thicket overgrown, gottefque and wild, Accefs deny'd; and over head up grew Infuperable height of loftieft fhade,
Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, A fylvan feene; and as the ranks afcend, Shade above fhade, à woody theatre
Of statelieft view. Yet higher than their tops The verd'rous wall of Paradise up sprung: Which to our general fire gave profpect large Into his nether empire neighb'ring round. And higher than that wall a circling row Of goodlieft trees, loaden with fairest fruit, Bloffoms and fruits at once of golden hue, Appear'd, with gay enamell'd colours mix'd 1
On which the fun more glad imprefs'd his beams, 150 Than in fair evening-cloud, or humid bow,
When God hath shower'd the earth: fo lovely feem'd That landfcape: and of pure now purer air
Meets his approach, and to the heart infpires" Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All fadnefs but defpair: now gentle gales Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy fpoils. As when to them who fail Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past Mozambique, off at fea north-east winds blow Sabéan odours from the spicy fhore
Of Araby the Blefs'd; with fuch delay
Well pleas'd they flack their course, and many a league Cheer'd with the grateful smell old Ocean fmiles: 165 So entertain'd thefe odorous fweets the fiend,
Who came their bane; though with them better pleas'd Than Afmodeus with the fifhy fume
That drove him, though enamour'd, from the fpoufe
Of Tobit's fon, and with a vengeance fent From Media poft to Egypt, there faft bound. Now to th' afcent of that steep favage hill Satan had journey'd on, pensive and flow; But further way found none, fo thick intwin'd, As one continu'd brake, the undergrowth Of fhrubs and tangling bufhes had perplex'd'
All path of man or beast that pass'd that way. One gate there only was, and that look'd east
On th' other fide: which when th' archfelon faw, Due entrance he difdain'd, and, in contempt, At one flight bound high overleap'd all bound Of hill or higheft wall, and fheer within Lights on his feet. As when a prowling wolf, Whom hunger drives to feek new haunt for prey, Watching where fhepherds pen their flocks at eve. 185 In hurdled cotes amid the field fecure,
Leaps' o'er the fence with eafe into the fold:: Or as a thief, bent to unhoard the caff Of fome rich burgher, whose substantial doors, Crofs-barr'd and bolted fast, fear no assault, In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles: So clomb this first grand thief into God's fold; So fince into his church lewd hirelings climb. Thence up he flew, and on the tree of life, The middle tree, and highest there that grew, Sat like a cormorant; yet not true life
Thereby regain'd, but fat devifing death To them who liv'd; nor on the virtue thought Of that life-giving plant, but only us'd
For profpect, what well us'd had been the pledge 200 Of immortality. So little knows
Any, but God alone, to value right
The good before him, but perverts best things To worst abuse, or to their meaneft ufe.
Beneath him with new wonder now he views,
To all delight of human fenfe expos'd,
In narrow room, nature's whole wealth, yea more, A heav'n on earth: for blifsful Paradife Of God the garden was, by him in th' east Of Eden planted; Eden ftretch'd her line From Auran eastward to the royal towers Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings, Or where the fons of Eden long before Dwelt in Telaffar: in this pleafant foil His far more pleafant garden God ordain'd; Out of the fertile ground he caus'd to grow All trees of nobleft kind for fight, finell, tafte; And all amid them ftood the tree of life, High eminent, blooming ambrofial fruit Of vegetable gold: and next to life,
Our death, the tree of knowledge, grew faft by; Knowledge of good bought dear by knowing ill. Southward through Eden went a river large, Nor chang'd his courfe, but through the fhaggy hill Pafs'd underneath ingulf'd; for God had thrown 225 That mountain as his garden-mould high rais'd Upon the rapid current, which through veins Of porous earth with kindly thirft up drawn, Rofe a fresh fountain, and with many a rill Water'd the garden; thence united fell
Down the fteep glade, and met the nether flood, Which from his darkfome passage now appears; And now divided into four main streams, Runs diverfe, wand'ring many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account; But rather to tell how, if art could tell, How from that faphir fount the crifped brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and fands of gold, With mazy errour under pendent fhades
Ran nectar, vifiting each plant, and fed Flowers, worthy' of Paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious knots, but nature boon Pour'd forth profufe on hill, and dale, and plain, Both where the morning-fun first warmly fmote The open field, and where the unpierc'd fhade 245 Imbrown'd the noontide-bowers. Thus was this place A happy rural feat of various view:
Groves whofe rich trees wept odorous gums and balm; Others whofe fruit burnish'd with golden rind, Hung amiable, Hefperian fables true,
If true, here only', and of delicious taste :
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks Grafing the tender herb, were interpos'd,
Or palmy hillock; or the flow'ry lap
Qf fome irriguous valley spread her store, Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose : Another fide, umbrageous grots and caves Of cool recefs, o'er which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps Luxuriant; mean while murm'ring waters fall Down the flope hills, difpers'd, or in a lake, That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd Her cryftal mirrour holds, unite their ftreams. The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs, Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune The trembling leaves, while univerfal Pan, Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, Led on th' eternal fpring. Not that fair field Of Enna, where Prosérpine gathering flowers, Herself a fairer flow'r, by gloomy Dis
Was gather'd, which coft Ceres all that pain. To feek her through the world; nor that fweet grove
Of Daphne by Orontes, and th' infpir'd
Caftalian spring, might with this Paradise
Of Eden ftrive; nor that Nyfeian isle
Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham, Whom Gentiles Ammon call, and Libyan Jove, Hid Amalthea, and her florid fon
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye; Nor where Abaffin kings their iffue guard, Mount Amara, though this by fome fuppos'd True Paradife under the Ethiop line By Nilus head, inclos'd with fhining rock, A whole day's journey high, but wide remote From this Affyrian garden; where the fiend
Saw undelighted all delight, all kind
Of living creatures, new to fight, and strange. Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, Godlike erect, with native honour clad In naked majesty, feem'd lords. of all : And worthy feem'd; for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker fhone, Truth, wisdom, fanctitude fevere and pure, (Severe, but in true filial freedom plac'd), Whence true authority in men: though both Not equal, as their fex not equal feem'd: For contemplation he, and valour form'd; For foftnefs fhe, and fweet attractive He for God only, fhe for God in him. His fair large front and eye fublime declar'd Abfolute rule; and hyacinthine locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Cluft'ring, but not beneath his fhoulders broad: She, as a veil, down to the flender wate Her unadorned golden treffes wore Dilhevel'd, but in wanton ringlets wav'd, As the vine curls her tendrils, which imply'd Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway, And by her yielded, by him best receiv'd,
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