Solicited her longing eye; yet first
Pausing a while, thus to herself she mus'd.
Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits, 745 Though kept from man, and worthy to be' admir'd, Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assay Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise: Thy praise he also who forbids thy use,
Conceals not from us, naming thee the tree Of knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil; Forbids us then to taste, but his forbidding Commends thee more, while it infers the good
By thee communicated, and our want:
For good unknown, fure is not had, or had And yet unknown, is as not had at all. In plain then, what forbids he but to know, Forbids us good, forbids us to be wife? Such prohibitions bind not. But if death Binds us with after-bands, what profits then Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die. How dies the Serpent? he hath eat'n and lives,
And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and difcerns, 765 Irrational till then. For us alone
Was death invented? or to us deny'd
This intellectual food, for beasts reserv'd?
For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first Hath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy The good befall'n him, author unsuspect, Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
What fear I then, rather what know to fear Under this ignorance of good and evil, Of God or death, of law or penalty?
Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine, Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
Of virtue to make wife: what hinders then To reach, and feed at once both body' and mind? So faying, her rash hand in evil hour Forth reaching to the fruit, fhe pluck'd, the eat: Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her feat Sighing through all her works gave figns of woe, That all was loft. Back to the thicket flunk The guilty Serpent, and well might, for Eve Intent now wholly on her taste, nought elfe Regarded, fuch delight till then, as feem'd, In fruit fhe never tasted, whether true Or fancy'd fo, through expectation high
Of knowledge, nor was God-head from her thought. Greedily the ingorg'd without restraint,
And knew not eating death: Satiate at length, And highten'd as with wine, jocond and boon, Thus to herself the pleasingly began.
O fovran, virtuous, precious of all trees In Paradife, of operation bleft
To fapience, hitherto obfcur'd, infam'd, And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end Created; but henceforth my early care,
Not without fong, each morning, and due praife, 800 Shall tend thee, and the fertil burden ease
Of thy full branches offer'd free to all;
Till dieted by thee I grow mature
In knowledge, as the Gods who all things know; Though others envy what they cannot give; For had the gift been theirs, it had not here Thus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe, Beft guide; not following thee, I had remain'd In ignorance; thou open'st wisdom's way, And giv'ft access, though secret she retire. And I perhaps am fecret; Heav'n is high, High, and remote to fee from thence diftinct Each thing on earth; and other care perhaps May have diverted from continual watch Our great forbidder, safe with all his spies About him. But to Adam in what fort Shall I appear? fhall I to him make known As yet my change, and give him to partake Full happiness with me, or rather not, But keep the odds of knowledge in my power Without copartner? fo to add what wants In female fex, the more to draw his love, And render me more equal, and perhaps, A thing not undefirable, fometime
Superior; for inferior who is free?
This may be well: but what if God hath feen, And death enfue? then I fhall be no more, And Adam wedded to another Eve, Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
A death to think. Confirm'd then I refolve, Adam fhall fhare with me in blifs or woe: So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could indure, without him live no life.
So faying, from the tree her step she turn'd, But firft low reverence done, as to the Power That dwelt within, whose presence had infus'd Into the plant fciential sap, deriv'd
From nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while, Waiting defirous her return, had wove Of choicest flow'rs a garland to adorn Her treffes, and her rural labors crown,
As reapers oft are wont their harvest queen.
Great joy he promis'd to his thoughts, and new Solace in her return, fo long delay'd;
Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill, Mifgave him; he the faltring measure felt;
And forth to meet her went, the way she took That morn when first they parted; by the tree Of knowledge he must pass, there he her met, Scarce from the tree returning; in her hand A bough of faireft fruit, that downy fmil'd, New gather'd, and ambrofial smell diffus'd. To him the hafted; in her face excufe Came prologue, and apology too prompt,
Which with bland words at will fhe thus addrefs'd. 855 Haft thou not wonder'd, Adam, at my stay?
Thee I have miss'd, and thought it long, depriv'd
Thy prefence, agony of love till now
Not felt, nor fhall be twice, for never more
Mean I to try, what rash untry'd I fought,
The pain of abfence from thy fight. But ftrange
Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear:
This tree is not as we are told, a tree Of danger tasted, nor to' evil unknown Opening the way, but of divine effect
To open eyes, and make them Gods who taste; And hath been tafted fuch; the ferpent wife, Or not restrain'd as we, or not obeying,
Hath eaten of the fruit, and is become,
Not dead, as we are threaten'd, but thenceforth 870
Indued with human voice and human fenfe,
Reasoning to admiration, and with me Persuasively hath so prevail'd, that I Have also tafted, and have also found Th' effects to correfpond, opener mine eyes, Dim erft, dilated spirits, ampler heart, And growing up to Godhead; which for thee Chiefly I fought, without thee can despise. For blifs, as thou haft part, to me is blifs, Tedious, unfhar'd with thee, and odious foon. Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot May join us, equal joy, as equal love; Left, thou not tafting, different degree Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce Deity for thee, when fate will not permit.
Thus Eve with count'nance blithe her story told;
But in her cheek distemper flushing glow'd. On th' other fide, Adam, foon as he heard The fatal trefpafs done by Eve, amaz'd, Aftonied ftood and blank, while horror chill Ran through his veins, and all his joints relax'd; From his flack hand the garland wreath'd for Eve
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