Thus said: Native of Heaven, for other place None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain ; Since by descending from the thrones above, Those happy places thou hast deign'd a while To want, and honor these, vouchsafe with us Two only, who yet by sov'reign gift possess This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower To rest and what the garden choicest bears To sit and taste, till this meridian heat Be over, and the sun more cool decline."
Whom thus the Angelic virtue answer'd mild: "Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such Created, or such place hast here to dwell, Asmay not oft invite, though Spirits of Heaven, To visit thee; lead on then where thy bower O'ershades; for these midhours, till evening rise, I have at will." So to the silvan lodge They came, that like Pomona's arbor smiled,
With flowerets deck'd, and fragrant smells; but Eve, Undeck'd save with herself, more lovely fair
Than Wood-nymyh, or the fairest Goddess feign'd Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,
Stood to entertain her guest from Heaven; no veil She needed, virtue-proof; no thought inferm Alter'd her cheek. On whom the Angel Hail Bestow'd the holy salution used
Long after to bless'd Mary, second Eve
"Hail, mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons Than with these various fruits the trees of God. Have heap'd this table!-Raised of grassy turf Their table was, and mossy seats had round, And on her ample square from side to side All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here Danced hand in hand, A while discourse they hold; No fear lest dinner cool; when thus began Our author: Heavenly stranger, please to taste
These bounties which our Nourisher, from whom All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends, To us for food and for delight hath caused The Earth to yield; unsavory food perhaps To Spiritual nature; only this I know. That one celestial Father gives to all."
To whom the Angel: “Therefore what he gives (Whose praise be ever sung) to man in part Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found
No ingrateful food: and food alike those pure Intelligential substances require,
As doth your rational; and both contain
Within them every lower faculty
Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste, Tasting concoct, digest, assimulate,
And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
For know, whatever was created needs
To be sustain'd and fed: of elements
The grosser feeds the purer, Earth the Sea, Earth and the Sea feed air, the air those fires Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon; Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurged Vapors not yet into her substance turn'd. Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale From her moist continent to higher orbs. The sun, that light imparts to all, receives From all his alimental recompense
In humid exhalations, and at even
Sups with the ocean. Though in Heaven the trees Of life ambrosian fruitage bear, and vines Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground Cover'd with pearly grain: yet God hath here Varied his bounty so with new delights, As may compare with Heaven; and to taste Think not I shall be nice." So down they sat, And to their viands fell; nor seemingly
The Angel, nor in mist, the common gloss Of theologians; but with keen despatch Of real hunger, and concoctive heat
To transubstantiate: what redounds transpires Though spirits with ease: nor wonder; if by fire Of sooty coal the empiric alchemist
Can turn, or holds it possible to turn, Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold, As from the mine. Meanwhile at table Eve Minister'd naked, and their flowing cups With pleasant liquors crown'd: O innocence Deserving Paradise! If ever, then,
Then had the sons of God excuse to have been Enamor'd at that sight; but in those hearts Love unlibidinous reign'd, nor jealousy Was understood, the injured lover's hell. Thus when with meats and drinks they had sufficed Not burden'd nature, sudden mind arose
In Adam, not to let the occasion pass Given him by this great conference to know Of things above his world, and of their being Who dwell in Heaven, whose excellence he saw Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms, Divine effulgence, whose high power so far Exceeded human; and his wary speech Thus to the empyreal minister he framed: "Inhabitant with God, now know I well Thy favor, in this honor done to man; Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed To enter, and these Earthly fruits to taste, Food not of Angels, yet accepted so,
As that more willingly thou coulust not seem
At Heaven's high feasts to have fed; yet what compare? To whom the winged Herarch replied:
"O Adam, One Almighty is, from whom All things proceed, and up to him return, If not depraved from good, created all
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