Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue

Of rainbows and starry eyes. The waters thus
With fish replenish'd, and the air with fowl,
Evening and morn solemniz'd the fifth day.

The sixth, and of creation last, arose
With evening harps and matin, when God said,
Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind,

445

450

455

Cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth,
Each in their kind. The earth obey'd, and straight
Op'ning her fertile womb teem'd at a birth
Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,
Limb'd and full grown. Out of the ground up rose
As from his laire the wild beast, where he wonns
In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den;
Among the trees in pairs they rose, they walk'd;
The cattle in the fields and meadows

green:

Those rare and solitary, these in flocks

Pasturing at once, and in broad herds upsprung.

446 starry eyes] See Beaumont's Psyche, c. i. st. 61. v. 2. 'As when the gallant peacock doth display

His starry train.'

and A. Ramsæi Poem. Sacr. vol. i. p. 8.

'Dum tumet, et caudæ stellate syrmata spectat.'

460

451 soul] In Milton's own edition 'foul living.' Bentley pointed out the error and corrected it.

452 things] Bentley and Newton consider that there is an error in

the text, and that we ought to read thing.'

457 wonns] Fairfax's Tasso, b. xvi. st. 67.

'A thousand devils in Limbo deep that wonne.' Todd.

462 broad] Hom. Il. xi. 678.

-ἀιπόλια πλάτες αιγῶν. Richardson.

The grassy clods now calv'd; now half appear'd
The tawny lion, pawing to get free

464

His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brinded mane; the ounce,
The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole

Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks; the swift stag from under ground
Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould
Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheav'd
His vastness: fleec'd the flocks and bleating rose,
As plants ambiguous between sea and land
The river horse and scaly crocodile.

471

At once came forth whatever creeps the ground, 475
Insect or worm; those wav'd their limber fans
For wings, and smallest lineaments exact

In all the liveries deck'd of summer's pride
With spots of gold and purple, azure and green:

463 calv'd] See Nonni Dionysiaca, iv. 427.

Καὶ στάχυς αυτολόχευτος ἀνηέξητο γιγάντων,
Ων ὃ μὲν ὑψικάρηνος ἀνέδραμεν ἄκρα τιταίνων
Στήθεος ἐνθώρηκος, ὃ δὲ προβορόντι καρήνω
Φρικτὸν ἀνοιγομένης ὑπερέσχεθεν ὦμον ἀρούρης·
*Αλλος ἄνω πρόεκυψεν ἐς ἔμφαλόν· ὃς δ ̓ ἔπι γαῖη
Ημετελὴς ἀνέτελλε, πεδότρεφὲς ὅπλον ἀέτρων
*Αλλος ὑπερκύπτοντα λόφον προβλῆτα τιταίνων,

Ουπω στέρνον ἔφαινε, καὶ ἔισέτι μήτρὸς ἀνέρπων
Ἐκ λαγόνων κατὰ βαιὸν ἀταρβέϊ μάρνατο Καδμῳ.

465 broke] Virg. Æn. xi. 492.

'Abruptis fugit præsepia vinclis.'

466 shakes] A. Ramsæi P. Sacr. vol. i. p. 9.

'Hinc Leo prædator, Lybicis nova incola campis,

Ore fremens, oculis scintillans, perque torosa
Colla jubas jactans.'-

These as a line their long dimension drew,
Streaking the ground with sinuous trace; not all
Minims of nature; some of serpent kind,
Wondrous in length and corpulence, involv'd
Their snaky folds and added wings. First crept
The parsimonious emmet, provident

Of future, in small room large heart inclos'd,
Pattern of just equality perhaps

Hereafter, joined in her popular tribes

Of commonalty: swarming next appear'd

The female bee, that feeds her husband drone
Deliciously, and builds her waxen cells

With honey stor❜d: the rest are numberless,

480

485

490

And thou their natures know'st, and gav'st them

names,

Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown

The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field,

Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee
Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.

484 snaky folds] A. Rams. P. Sacr. i. 10.

'Atque orbibus orbes

Implexos sinuantem anguem.'

495

485 provident-large heart] The former part from Hor. Sat. I. i. 35, and the latter from Virg. Georg. iv. 83. Newton.

491 waxen cells] So Marino's Sl. of the Innocents, p. 28.

'Or when the bees, like murmuring armies, hide
The tops of flowers, where sweetest nectar flows,
And on their laden wings the odorous prey

In troops, unto their waxen camp convey.'
497 hairy mane] See Virg. Æn. ii. 206.
38. J. Obsequens de Prodigiis, p. 54.

Petronii Troja Elosis, v.

Angues jubati.' Plauti

500

505

Now heaven in all her glory shone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great First Mover's hand First wheel'd their course; earth in her rich attire Consummate lovely smil'd; air, water, earth, By fowl, fish, beast, was flown, was swum, was walk'd Frequent; and of the sixth day yet remain'd; There wanted yet the master-work, the end Of all yet done; a creature, who not prone And brute as other creatures, but indued With sanctity of reason, might erect His stature, and upright with front serene Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence 510 Magnanimous to correspond with heaven;

But grateful to acknowledge whence his good Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes Directed in devotion, to adore

And worship GoD supreme, who made him chief 515 Of all his works: therefore the omnipotent

Eternal Father, (for where is not he

Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake.

Let us make now man in our image, man

In our similitude, and let them rule

Over the fish and fowl of sea and air,

Beast of the field, and over all the earth,

And every creeping thing that creeps the ground. This said, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O man,

520

Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breath'd 525 The breath of life in his own image he

Amphitr. act. v. sc. i. 'Jubatus anguis major solitis.' Capitolin. Vit. Anton. Pii, ix. 35, ed. Putman.

Created thee, in the image of GOD
Express, and thou becam'st a living soul.
Male he created thee, but thy consort

Female for race; then bless'd mankind, and said, 530
Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth,
Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air,
And every living thing that moves on the earth.
Wherever thus created, for no place

Is

yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know'st, He brought thee into this delicious grove, This garden, planted with the trees of GOD, Delectable both to behold and taste;

And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

535

540

Gave thee; all sorts are here that all th' earth yields,

Variety without end; but of the tree,

Which tasted, works knowledge of good and evil, Thou may'st not in the day thou eat'st thou dy'st; Death is the penalty impos'd, beware,

And govern well thy appetite, lest Sin

Surprise thee, and her black attendant Death.

Here finish'd he, and all that he had made
View'd, and behold all was entirely good;
So ev❜n and morn accomplish'd the sixth day :
Yet not, till the Creator from his work
Desisting, though unwearied, up return'd,
Up to the heaven of heavens his high abode,

545

550

536 thence] Tickell, Fenton, and Bentley have adopted in this passage a wrong punctuation, putting only a comma after 'earth' (534), and a full stop after 'name' (536). Newton restored the reading of Milton's own editions.