Kindled through agitation to a flame,
Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,
Hovering and blazing with delusive light,
Misleads th' amaz'd night-wanderer from his way 640
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool,
There swallow'd up and lost, from succour far:
So glister'd the dire snake, and into fraud
Led Eve our credulous mother, to the tree
Of prohibition, root of all our woe:
Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake.
Serpent, we might have spar'd our coming hither,
Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to excess,
The credit of whose virtue rest with thee;
Wond'rous indeed, if cause of such effects.
But of this tree we may not taste nor touch,
GOD so commanded; and left that command
Sole daughter of his voice; the rest, we live
Law to our selves; our reason is our law.
To whom the tempter guilefully reply'd.
Indeed? hath GOD then said that of the fruit
Of all these garden trees ye shall not eat,
Yet lords declar'd of all in earth or air?
To whom thus Eve yet sinless. Of the fruit
Of each tree in the garden we may eat,
But of the fruit of this fair tree amidst
640 Misleads] So Mids. N. Dream, act ii. sc. 1.
'Misleads night wanderers, laughing at their harm.' 643 fraud] Fraud' signifies hurt, damage. Virg. Æn. x. 72. 'Quis deus in fraudem, quæ dura potentia nostra Egit?'
The garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat
Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
She scarce had said, though brief, when now more
The tempter, but with show of zeal and love
To man, and indignation at his wrong,
New part puts on, and, as to passion mov’d,
Fluctuates disturb'd, yet comely, and in act
Rais'd, as of some great matter to begin.
As when of old some orator renown'd
In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence
Flourish'd, since mute, to some great cause address'd,
Stood in himself collected, while each part,
Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue;
Sometimes in highth began, as no delay
Of preface brooking through his zeal of right:
So standing, moving, or to highth upgrown,
The tempter all impassion'd thus began.
O sacred, wise, and wisdom-giving plant,
Mother of science! now I feel thy power
Within me clear, not only to discern
Things in their causes, but to trace the ways
Of highest agents, deem'd however wise.
Queen of this universe, do not believe
Those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die: 685 How should ye? by the fruit? it gives you life
686 How] In Milton's own edition the passage is thus improperly pointed.
How should ye? by the fruit? it gives you life
To knowledge? by the threatener, look on me.
Tickell follows Tonson's early editions in retaining the note of
To knowledge: by the threatener? look on me,
Me who have touch'd and tasted, yet both live,
And life more perfect have attain'd than fate
Meant me, by vent'ring higher than my lot.
Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast
Is open? or will God incense his ire
For such a petty trespass, and not praise
Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain
Of death denounc'd, whatever thing death be,
Deterr'd not from achieving what might lead
To happier life, knowledge of good and evil?
Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evil
Be real, why not known, since easier shunn'd?
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Not just, not God; not fear'd then, nor obey'd:
Your fear itself of death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshippers; he knows that in the day
Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Open'd and clear'd, and ye shall be as gods,
Knowing both good and evil as they know.
That ye should be as gods, since I as man,
Internal man, is but proportion meet;
I, of brute, human; ye of human, gods.
So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
interrogation after knowledge, but in supplying another after 'threatener.' Fenton corrected the error, and he has been since followed. Todd.
Human, to put on gods; death to be wish'd,
Though threaten'd, which no worse than this can
And what are gods that man may not become
As they, participating godlike food?
The gods are first, and that advantage use
On our belief, that all from them proceeds;
I question it, for this fair earth I see,
Warm'd by the sun, producing every kind,
Them nothing: if they all things, who enclos'd
Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
That whoso eats thereof forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
Th' offence, that man should thus attain to know?
What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
Impart against his will if all be his?
Or is it envy; and can envy dwell
In heavenly breasts? these, these and many more 730
Causes import your need of this fair fruit.
Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste.
He ended, and his words replete with guile Into her heart too easy entrance won: Fix'd on the fruit she gaz'd, which to behold Might tempt alone, and in her ears the sound Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregn'd With reason, to her seeming, and with truth: Mean while the hour of noon drew on, and wak'd
735 behold] Grotii Adamus Exsul, p. 9.
- Pomi dulcis adspectu color,
Gustus cupido, quod volo, spondent mihi.'
An eager appetite, rais'd by the smell
So savoury of that fruit, which with desire,
Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,
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 sure 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 wise?
Such prohibitions bind not. But if death
Bind us with after-bands, what profits then
741 fruit] v. Beaumont's Psyche, vi. 252.
'These charms still ope the door into the heart
Of careless Eve, and thrust their poison in,
Besides the smiling apples plaid their part,
And her affections with her eye did win.'
745 Great] So in the Adamus Exsul of Grotius, Eve addresses the
O dulce pomum! quam tua hæc species meis
Adridet oculis! quam vel olfactus juvat!'
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