Out of despair, joy, but with fear yet
Which thus to Eve his welcome words renew'd: 140
Eve, easily may faith admit, that all
The good which we enjoy from heav'n descends;
But that from us aught should ascend to heaven,
So prevalent as to concern the mind
Of God high-bleft, or to incline his will,
Hard to belief may feem; yet this will prayer,
Or one short figh of human breath, upborne
Ev'n to the feat of God. For fince I fought
By pray'r th' offended Deity to appease,
Kneel'd and before him humbled all my heart,
Methought I saw him placable and mild,
Bending his ear; perfuafion in me grew
That I was heard with favour; peace return'd
Home to my breaft, and to my memory
His promife, that thy feed fhall bruife our foe;
Which then not minded in difmay, yet now
Affures me that the bitterness of death
Is paft, and we fhall live. Whence hail to thee,
Eve rightly call'd, mother of all mankind,
Mother of all things living, fince by thee
Man is to live, and all things live for man.
To whom thus Eve with fad demeanour meek:
Ill worthy I fuch title fhould belong
To me tranfgreffor, who, for thee ordain'd
A help, became thy fnare; to ine reproach
Rather belongs, distrust and all difpraife:
But infinite in pardon was my Judge,
That I, who first brought death on all, am grac'd
The fource of life; next favourable thou,
Who highly thus to entitle me vouchfaf'it,
Far other name deferving. But the field
To labour calls us now with fweet impos'd
Though after fleepless night; for fee the Morn,
All unconcern'd with our unreft, begins
Her roly progrefs fimiling; let us forth,
I never from thy fide henceforth to stray,
Where'er our day's work lies, though now enjoin'd j Laborious till day droop; while here we dwell,
What can be toilfome in thefe pleasant walks?
Here let us live, though in fall'n ftate, content.
So fpake, fo wish'd much humbled Eve, but Fate
Subfcrib'd not; Nature firft gave figns, imprefs'd
On bird, beaft, air, air fuddenly eclips'd
After fhort blufh of Morn; nigh in her fight
The bird of Jove ftoop'd from his airy tour,
Two birds of gayeft plume before him drove ;
Down from a hill the beast that reigns in woods,
First hunter then, purfu'd a gentle brace,
Goodliest of all the foreft, hart and hind;
Direct to th' eastern gate was bent their flight:
Adam obferv'd, and with his eye the chafe
Pursuing, not unmov'd, to Eve thus fpake:
O Eve, fome further change awaits us nigh,
Which Heav'n by these mute figns in nature fhows,
Forerunners of his purpofe, or to warn
Us haply too fecure of our discharge
From penalty, becaufe from death releas'd
Some days; how long, and what till then our life,
Who knows, or more than this, that we are duft,
And thither muft return, and be no more?
Why elfe this double obje&t in our fight
Of flight purfu'd in th' air, and o'er the ground,
One way the felf-fame hour? why in the east
Darknets e'er day's mid-courfe, and morning light
More orient in yon western cloud, that draws
O'er the blue firmament a radiant white,
And flow defcends, with fomething heav'nly fraught?
He err'd not, for by this the heav'nly bands
Down from a fky of jafper lighted now
In Paradife, and on a hill made halt,
A glorious apparition, had not doubt
And carnal fear that day dimm'd Adam's eye.
Not that more glorious, when the angels met
Jacob in Mahanaim, where he faw
The field pavilion'd with his guardians bright
Nor that which on the flaming mount appear'd
In Dothan, cover'd with a camp of fire,
Against the Syrian king, who to furprife
One man, affaffin-like, had levied war,
War unproclaim'd. The princely Hierarch
In their bright ftand there left his pow'rs to feize
Poffeffion of the garden; he alone
To find where Adam fhelter'd took his way,
Not unperceiv'd of Adam, who to Eve,
While the great vifitant approach'd, thus fpake: 225
Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps
Of us will toon determine, or impofe
New laws to be obferv'd; for I defcry
From yonder blazing cloud, that veils the hill,
One of the heav'nly hoft, and by his gait
None of the meanest, fome great potentate
Or of the thrones above, fuch majefty
Invests him coming; yet not terrible,
That I fhould fear, not fociably mild,
As Raphael, that I should much confide,
But folemn and fublime, whom not t' offend,
With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.
He ended; and th' arch-angel foon drew nigh;
Not in his fhape celeftial, but as man
Clad to meet man; over his lucid arms
A military vest of purple flow'd,
Livelier than Meliboean, or the grain
Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old
In time of truce; Iris had dipt the woof;
His ftarry helm unbuckled fhow'd him prime
In manhood, where youth ended; by his fide
As in a glift'ring zodiac hung the fword,
Satan's dire dread, and in his hand the spear.
Adam bow'd low; he kingly from his state
Inclin'd not, but his coming thus declar'd:
Adam, Heav'n's high behest no preface needs;
Sufficient that thy pray'rs are heard, and Death,
Then due by fentence when thou didst tranfgrefs,
Defeated of his feizure, many days
Giv'n thee of grace, wherein thou may'ft repent, 255
And one bad act with many deeds well done
May'ft cover: well may then thy Lord appeas'd
Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim;
But longer in this Paradife to dwell
Permits not; to remove thee I am come,
And fend thee from the garden forth to till
The ground whence thou wait taken, fitter foil.
He added not; for Adam at the news
Heart-truck, with chilling gripe of forrow flood,
That all his fenfes bound. Eve, who, unfeen,
Yet all had heard, with audible lament
Difcover'd foon the place of her retire:
O unexpected ftroke, worse than of death
Muft I thus leave thee, Paradife? thus leave
Thee, native foil, thefe happy walks and shades,
Fit haunt of gods? where I had hope to spend,
Quiet, though fad, the respite of that day
That muft-be mortal to us both.
O flowers,
That never will in other climate grow,
My early vifitation, and my laft
At even, which I bred up with tender hand
From the first opening bud, and gave ye names,
Who now shall rear ye to the fun, or rank
Your tribes, and water from th' ambrofial fount?
Thee laftly, nuptial bow'r, by me adorn'd
With what to fight or fmell was fweet, from thee
How fhall I part, and whither wander down
Into a lower world, to this obfcure
And wild? how shall we breathe in other air
Lefs pure, accuftom'd to immortal fruits?
Whom thus the angel interrupted mild:
Lament not, Eve, but patiently refign
What justly thou haft loft; nor fet thy heart,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine;
Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
Thy hufband; him to follow thou art bound;
Where he abides, think there thy native foil.
Adam by this, from the cold fudden damp
Recovering, and his scatter'd spirits return'd,
To Michael thus his humble words addrefs'd:
Celestial, whether among the thrones, or nam'd Of them the higheft, for fuch of fhape may feem Prince above princes, gently haft thou told
Thy meffage, which might elfe in teling wound.
And in performing end us; what befides
Of forrow, and dejection, and despair,
Our frailty can fuftain; thy tidings bring
Departure from this happy place, our sweet
Recets, and only confolation left
Familiar to our eyes; all places elfe
Inhofpitable appear and defolate,
Nor knowing us nor known: and if by pray'r
Inceffant I could hope to change the will
Of him who all things can, I would not cease
To weary him with my affiduous cries :
But pay'r against his abfolute decree
No more avails than breath against the wind,
Blown ftifling back on him that breathes it forth:
Therefore to his great bidding I fubmit.
This most afflicts me, that departing hence,
As from his face I fhall be hid, depriv'd
His bleffed count'nance; here I could frequent
With worship place by place where he vouchsaf'd
Prefence divine, and to my fons relate,
On this mount he appear'd, under this tree
Stood vifible, among thefe pines his voice
I heard, here with him at this fountain talk'd:
So many grateful altars I would rear
Of graffy turf, and pile up every stone
Of luftre from the brook, in memory,
Or monument to ages, and thereon
Offer fweet Imelling gums and fruits and flowers:
In yonder nether world where fhall I feek
His bright appearances, or footftep trace?
For though I fled him angry, yet, recall'd
To life prolong'd and promis'd race, I now
Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts
Of glory, and far off his steps adore.
To whom thus Michael with regard benign.
Adam, thou know'ft heav'n his, and all the earth, 335
Not this rock only'; his omniprefence fills
Land, fea, and air, and every kind that lives,
Fomented by his virtual power and warm'd :
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