More terrible at the entrance, than within,

Some, as thou saw'st, by violent stroke shall die;
By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more

In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew

Before thee shall appear; that thou may'st know
What misery the inabstinence of Eve

Shall bring on men. Immediately a place
Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noisome, dark;
A lazar-house it seem'd; wherein were laid
Numbers of all diseased; all maladies

Of ghastly spasms, or racking torture, qualms
Of heartsick agony, all feverous kinds,
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,
Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs,
Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,

Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans, Despair
Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch;
And over them triumphant death his dart
Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invoked
With vows, as their chief good and final hope.
Sight so deform what heart of rock could long
Dry eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,
Though not of woman born; compassion quell'd
His best of man, and gave him up to tears
A space, till firmer thoughts restrain❜d excess;
And, scarce recovering words, his plaint renew'd:
"O miserable mankind, to what fall
Degraded, to what wretched state reserved!
Better end here unborn. Why is life given
To be thus wretched from us? rather, why
Obtruded on us thus? who, if we knew
What we receive, would either not accept
Life offer'd, or soon beg to lay it down;

Glad to be so dismiss'd in peace. Can thus
The Image of God in man, created once
So goodly and erect, though faulty sinee,
To such unsightly suffering be debased
Under inhuman pains? Why should not man,
Retaining still divine similitude

In part, from such deformities be free,
And, for his Maker's image sake, exempt?

Their Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then
Forsook them, when themselves they vilified
To serve ungovern'd Appetite; and took
His image whom they served, a brutish voice,
Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve.
Therefore so abject is their punishment,
Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own;
Or if his likeness, by themselves defaced;
While they pervert pure Nature's healthful rules
To loathsome sickness; worthily since they
God's image did not reverence in themselves.

I yield it just, said Adam, and submit ; But is there yet no other way, besides These painful passages, how we may come To death, and mix with our connatural dust? There is said Michael, if thou well observe The rule of Not too much; by temperance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st; seeking from thence Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,

Sill many years over thy head return:

So mayst thou live; till, like ripe fruit, thou drop
Into thy mother's lap; or be with ease

Gather'd not harshly pluck'd; for death mature:
This is Old Age; but then thou must outlive

Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty; which willchange
To wither'd, weak, and gray; thy senses then, }

Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forego,

To what thou hast; and, for the air of youth,

Uopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign

A melancholy damp of cold and dry

To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume
The balm of life. To whom our ancestor ;

"Henceforth a fly not death, nor would prolong
Life much bent rather, how I may be quit,
Fairest and easiest, of this cumbrous charge;
Which I must keep till my appointed day
Or rendering up, and patiently attend
My dissolution." Michael replied:

"Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest Live well how: long, or short, permit to Heaven And now prepare thee for another sight "

He look'd, and saw a spacious plain, when one Were tents of various hue; by some were herds Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound Of instruments, that made melodious chime, Was heard, of harp and organ; and, who moved Their stops and chords, was seen: his volant touch, Instinct through all proportions, low and high, Fled and pursued transverse the reasonant fugue In other part stood one who, at the forge labouring, two massy clods of iron and brass Had melted (whether found where casual fire Has wasted woods on mountain or in vale, Down to the veins of Earth; thence gliding hot To some cave's mouth; or whether wash'd by stream From under ground;) the liquid ore he drain'd Into fit moulds prepared; from which he form'd

First his own tools; them, what might else be wrought Fusil or graven in metal After these,

But on the hither side, a different sort

From the high neighbouring hills, which was their seat
Down to the plain descended; by their guise

Just men they seem'd, and all their study bent
To worship God aright, and know his works

Not him; nor those things last, which might preserve
Freedom and peace to men; they on the plain

Long had not walk'd, when from the tent's, behold!
A bevy of fair women, richly gay,

In gems and wonton dress; to the harp they sung
Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on:

The men, though grave, eyed them; and let their eyes
Rove within reign; till, in the amorous net

Fast caught, they liked; and each his liking chose;
And now of love they treat, till the evening star,
Love's harbinger, appear'd; then, all in heat
They light the nuptial torch, and did invoke
Hymen, then first to marriage rites invoked:
With feast and music all the tents resound.
Such happy interview, and fair event
Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flowers,
And charming symphonies, attach'd the heart
Of Adam, soon inclined to admit delight,
The bent of nature; which he thus express'd.
"True opener of mine eyes, prime Angel bless'd;
Much better seems this vision, and more hope
Of peaceful days portends, than those two pass'd
Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse;
Here nature seems fulfill'd in all her ends."

To whom thus Michael: "Judge not what is best By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet; Created, as thou art, to nobler end

Holy and pure, confirmity divine.

Those tents thou saw'st so pleasant were the tents
Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race
Who slew his brother; studious they appear
Of arts that polish life, inventors rare;
Unmindful of their Maker, though his Spirit

Taught them; but they his gifts acknowledged none
Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget;
For that fair female troop thou saw'st, that seem'd
Of Goddesses so blithe, so smooth, so gay,
Yet empty of all good wherein consists
Toman's domestic honour and chief praise;

Bred only and completed to the taste

Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance,

To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye:
To these that sober race of men, whose lives
Religious titled them the sons of God,
Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame
Ignobly, to the trains and to the smiles
Of these fair atheists; and now swim in joy,
Ere long to swim at large; and laugh for which
The world ere long a world of tears must weep."

To whom thus Adam, of short joy bereft :
O pity and shame, that they, who to live well
Enter'd so fair, should turn aside to tread
Paths indirect, or in the mid way faint!
But still I see the tenor of Man's woe
Holds on the same, from woman to begin.

"From man's effeminate slackness it begins,
Said the Angel, who should better hold his place
By wisdom, and superior gifts received
But now prepare thee for another scene."
He look'd and saw wide territory spread
Before him, towns, and rural works between ;
Cities of men with lofty gates and towers.
Concourse in arms, fierce faces threatening war,
Giants of mighty bone and bold emprise;

Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed,

Single or in array of battle ranged

Both horse and foot, nor idly mustering stood;
One way a band select from forage drives
A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine,
From a fat meadow ground; or fleecy flock,
Ewes and their bleating lambs over the plain,
Their booty; scarce with life the shepherds fly,
But call in aid, which makes a bloody fray;
With cruel tournament the squadrons join;
There cattle pastured late, now scatter'd lies
With carcasses and arms the ensanguined field,