This Woman, whom thou mad'st to be my help,
And gav'st me as thy perfect gift, so good,
So fit, so acceptable, so divine,

That from her hand I could suspect no ill;
And what she did, whatever in itself,

140

Her doing seem'd to justify the deed;

She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

To whom the Sov'reign Presence thus reply'd: Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey Before his voice? or was she made thy guide, Superior, or but equal, that to her

145

Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place
Wherein God set thee 'bove her, made of thee,
And for thee, whose perfection far excell'd
Hers in all real dignity? Adorn'd
She was indeed, and lovely to attract
Thy love, not thy subjection; and her gifts
Were such as under government well seem'd,
Unseemly to bear rule, which was thy part
And person, hadst thou known thyself aright.
So having said, he thus to Eve in few:
Say, Woman, what is this which thou hast done?

150

155

160

To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelm'd, Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge Bold or loquacious, thus abash'd, reply'd:

The Serpent me beguiled, and I did eat.

Which when the Lord God heard, without delay

To judgment he proceeded on th' accused
Serpent, though brute, unable to transfer

The guilt on him who made him instrument

165

Of mischief, and polluted from the end
Of his creation; justly then accursed,

As vitiated in nature: more to know

Concern'd not Man (since he no further knew) 170
Nor alter'd his offence; yet God at last

To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied,
Though in mysterious terms, judged as then best;
And on the serpent thus his curse let fall:

156. Person, here used in the sense of the Latin persona, cha

racter.

169. Warburton conjectures from this passage that Milton had not the intention when he wrote it, of making Michael give Adam the information on redemption which is found in the xiith book. If it be not so, the passage as he observes is out of place.

Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed
Above all cattle, each beast of the field;
Upon thy belly grov'ling thou shalt go,
And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.
Between thee and the Woman I will put
Enmity, and between thine and her seed:

175

180

Her Seed shall bruise thy head; thou bruise his heel. So spake this Oracle, then verify'd

When Jesus, Son of Mary, second Eve,

Saw Satan fall like lightning down from Heav'n,

185

Prince of the air; then, rising from his grave,
Spoil'd principalities and pow'rs, triumph'd
In open show, and, with ascension bright,
Captivity led captive through the air,
The realm itself of Satan long usurp'd;
Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;
E'en he who now foretold his fatal bruise,
And to the Woman thus his sentence turn'd:
Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply

By thy conception: Children thou shalt bring
In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will
Thine shall submit: he over thee shall rule.

190

195

On Adam last thus judgment he pronounced: Because thou'st hearken'd to th' voice of thy wife, And eaten of the tree, concerning which

199

I charged thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof;
Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life:
Thorns also' and thistles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid; and thou shalt eat th' herb of the field;
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
Till thou return unto the ground; for thou
Out of the ground wast taken (know thy birth);
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.

205

211

So judged he Man, both Judge and Saviour sent, And th' instant stroke of death denounced, that day Removed far off; then pitying how they stood Before him naked to the air, that now Must suffer change, disdain'd not to begin Thenceforth the form of servant to assume,

184. There are several allusions to Scripture in this and the following lines, Luke x. 18. Eph. ii. 2. and Rom. xxi. 20.

Col. ii. 15. Ps. Ixviii. 18.

214. Philip. il. 7.

As when he wash'd his servants' feet, so now,
As Father of his family, he clad

215

Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain,
Or as the snake with youthful coat repaid;
And thought not much to clothe his enemies :
Nor he their outward only with the skins
Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more
Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness,
Arraying, cover'd from his Father's sight.
To him with swift ascent he up return'd,
Into his blissful bosom re-assumed
In glory, as of old; to him appeased

220

225

All, tho' all-knowing, what had pass'd with Man
Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

Meanwhile ere thus was sinn'd and judged on Earth, Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death, In counterview within the gates, that now Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame Far into Chaos, since the Fiend pass'd through, Sin opening, who thus now to Death began:

230

O Son, why sit we here each other viewing
Idly, while Satan our great author thrives
In other worlds, and happier seat provides
For us, his offspring dear? It cannot be
But that success attends him; if mishap,
Ere this he had return'd, with fury driven
By his avengers, since no place like this
Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.
Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,
Wings growing, and dominion given me large
Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on,
Or sympathy, or some connat❜ral force,
Pow'rful at greatest distance, to unite
With secret amity things of like kind

235

240

245

By secretest conveyance. Thou my shade
Inseparable, must with me along;

250

For Death from Sin no power can separate.

216. It was formerly believed that some animals shed their skins like snakes: but the most common supposition is, that the skins mentioned in this part of Scripture history were those of animals offered in sacrifice, which it is generally supposed were .nstituted in the earliest period of man's existence.

222. Isaiah Ixi. 10.

229 Sinn'd and judged, impersonal verbs.

But lest the difficulty of passing back

Stay his return perhaps over this gulf

Impassable, impervious, let us try

Advent'rous work, yet to thy pow'r and mine
Not unagreeable, to found a path

255

Over this main from Hell to that New World
Where Satan now prevails, a monument
Of merit high to all th' infernal host,
Easing their passage hence, for intercourse
Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead.
Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn
By this new-felt attraction and instinct.

260

Whom thus the meagre Shadow answer'd soon:

Go whither Fate and inclination strong
Leads thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err

265

The way, thou leading, such a scent I draw

Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste

The savour of Death from all things there that live: Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest

270

Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.

So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell

Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock

Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote,
Against the day of battle, to a field

275

Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lured
With scent of living carcases design'd

For death the following day, in bloody fight;

So scented the grim Feature, and upturn'd
His nostril wide into the murky air,

280

Sagacious of his quarry from so far.

Then both from out Hell-gates into the waste

Wide anarchy of Chaos, damp and dark,

Flew diverse, and with pow'r (their pow'r was great)

Hov'ring upon the waters, what they met,

Solid or slimy, as in raging sea

Tost up and down, together crowded drove

As when two polar winds, blowing adverse
Upon the Cronian sea, together drive

285.

From each side shoaling towards the mouth of Hell:

Mountains of ice, that stop th' imagined way

266. Nor err, nor mistake.

290

290. Cronian sea, the northern frozen ocean.-Petsora, a province on the north eastern extremity of Muscovy.-Cathaian coast, the north of China.

295

Beyond Petsora eastward, to the rich
Cathaian coast. The aggregated soil
Death with his mace petrific, cold and dry,
As with a trident smote, and fix'd as firm
As Delos floating once; the rest his look
Bound with Gorgonian rigour not to move;
And with Asphaltic slime, broad as the gate,
Deep to the roots of Hell the gather'd beach
They fasten'd, and the mole immense wrought on 300
Over the foaming deep high arch'd, a bridge
Of length prodigious, joining to the wall
Immoveable of this now fenceless world
Forfeit to Death: from hence a passage broad,
Smooth, easy, inoffensive down to Hell.
So, if great things to small may be compared,
Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke,

From Susa his Memnonian palace high

305

Came to the sea, and over Hellespont

Bridging his way, Europe with Asia join'd,

310

And scourged with many a stroke th' indignant waves.

Now had they brought the work by wondrous art
Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock,

Over the vex'd abyss, following the track

Of Satan to the self-same place where he

315

First lighted from his wing, and landed safe
From out of Chaos, to the outside bare

Of this round world. With pins of adamant
And chains they made all fast, too fast they made
And durable; and now in little space

320

The confines met of Empyrean Heav'n

And of this World, and on the left hand Hell

With long reach interposed: three sev'ral ways

In sight, to each of these three places led.

And now their way to Earth they had descry'd, 325 To Paradise first tending, when, behold,

Satan, in likeness of an Angel bright,

296. After it became the birth-place of Apollo, Delos ceased, it is said, to noat as formerly.

304. Matt. vii. 13.

306. Xerxes, the king of Persia, built a bridge over the Hellespont to invade Greece.-Susa was the capital of Susiana, a province of Persia.

312. The art of raising bridges was among the most wonderful in antiquity; and the high-priest of the Romans derived his name Pontifex, from pons, a bridge, and facere, to make.

322. Hell is placed on the left hand according to our Saviour's account. Matt. xxv. 41.