John Milton

“ This novelty on Earth, this fair defect
Of Nature, and not fill the world at once
With men as Angels, without feminine?
Or find some other way to generate
Mankind? This mischief had not then befallen,
And more that shall befall; innumerable
Disturbances on Earth through female snares,
And strait conjunction with this sex. For either
He never shall find out fit mate, but such
As some misfortune brings him, or mistake;900
Or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain,
Through her perverseness, but shall see her gained
By a far worse; or, if she love, withheld
By parents ”

“ All yours, right-down to Paradise descend;
There dwell and reign in bliss; thence on the earth
Dominion exercise and in the air,400
Chiefly on Man, sole lord of all declared;
Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill. ”

“ Than all the World much heavier, though divided
With that bad Woman? Thus, what thou desirest,
And what thou fearest, alike destroys all hope
Of refuge, and concludes thee miserable,
Beyond all past example and future;840
To Satan only like, both crime and doom.
O Conscience, into what abyss of fears
And horrors hast thou driven me! out of which
I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged."
Thus Adam to himself lamented loud,
Through the still night; not now, as ere Man fell,
Wholesome, and cool, and mild, but with black air
Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom ”

“ Issuing from me. On your joint vigor now
My hold of this new kingdom all depends,
Through Sin to Death exposed by my exploit.
If your joint power prevail, the affairs of Hell
No detriment need fear; go, and be strong!"
So saying he dismissed them: they with speed410
Their course through thickest constellations held,
Spreading their bane—the blasted stars looked wan,
And planets, planet-struck, real eclipse
Then suffered—The other way Satan went down
The causey to Hell-gate. ”

“ 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:
"Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed
Above all cattle, each beast of the field:
Upon thy belly groveling 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;180
Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel."
So spake this oracle, then verified
When Jesus, son of Mary, second Eve,
Saw Satan fall like lightning down from heaven,
Prince of the air ”

“ The savor of death from all things there that live.
Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest270
Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid."
So saying, with delight he snuffed 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,
Where armies lie encamped, come flying, lured
With sent of living carcases designed
For death, the following day, in bloody fight:
So sented the grim Feature, and upturned
His nostril wide into the murky air,280
Sagacious of his quarry from so far. ”

“ And to the place of judgement will return,
There with my cries importune Heaven, that all
The sentence, from thy head removed, may light
On me, sole cause to thee of all this woe,
Me, me only, just object of his ire."
She ended weeping, and her lowly plight,
Immovable till peace obtained from fault
Acknowledged and deplored, to Adam wrought
Commiseration. Soon his heart relented940
Toward her, his life so late and sole delight,
Now at his feet submissive in distress;
Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking,
His counsel, whom she had displeased, his aid. ”

“ For Man; for of his state by this they knew,
Much wondering how the subtle Fiend had stolen 20
Entrance unseen. Soon as the unwelcome news
From Earth arrived at Heaven-gate, displeased
All were who heard; dim sadness did not spare
That time celestial visages, yet, mixed
With pity, violated not their bliss. ”

“ Man's transgression know, the guardian Angels forsake Paradise, and return up to Heaven to approve their vigilance, and are approved; God declaring that the entrance of Satan could not be by them prevented. He sends his Son to judge the transgressors, who descends and gives sentence accordingly: then in pity clothes them both, and reascends. ”

“ Why stand we longer shivering under fears,
That shew no end but death, and have the power,
Of many ways to die the shortest choosing,
Destruction with destruction to destroy?"
She ended here, or vehement despair
Broke off the rest; so much of death her thoughts
Had entertained as dyed her cheeks with pale.
But Adam, with such counsel nothing swayed,1010
To better hopes his more attentive mind
Laboring had raised, and thus to Eve replied:
"Eve, thy contempt of life and pleasure seems
To argue in thee something more sublime
And excellent than what thy mind contemns ”

“ We are by doom to pay; rather such acts
Of contumacy will provoke the Highest
To make death in us live. Then let us seek
Some safer resolution, which methinks
I have in view, calling to mind with heed1030
Part of our sentence, that thy seed shall bruise
The Serpent's head: piteous amends! unless
Be meant, whom I conjecture, our grand foe,
Satan, who in the serpent hath contrived
Against us this deceit. To crush his head
Would be revenge indeed; which will be lost
By death brought on ourselves, or childless days
Resolved as thou proposest ”

“ God fortels the final victory of his Son over them, and the renewing of all things; but for the present commands his Angels to make several alterations in the heavens and elements. Adam more and more perceiving his fallen condition heavily bewails, rejects the condolement of Eve; she persists, and at length appeases him: then, to evade the curse likely to fall on their offspring, proposes to adopt violent ways, which he approves not ”

“ Sin and Death sitting till then at the gates of Hell, by wondrous sympathy feeling the success of Satan in this new world, and the sin by Man there committed, resolve to sit no longer confined in Hell, but to follow Satan their sire up to the place of Man: to make the way easier from Hell to this world to and fro, they pave a broad high-way or bridge over Chaos, according to the track that Satan first made ”

“ Fruit of thy womb; on me the curse aslope
Glanced on the ground. With labor I must earn
My bread; what harm? Idleness had been worse.
My labor will sustain me; and, lest cold
Or heat should injure us, his timely care
Hath unbesought provided, and his hands
Clothed us unworthy, pitying while he judged.
How much more, if we pray him, will his ear1060
Be open, and his heart to pity incline,
And teach us further by what means to shun
The inclement seasons, rain, ice, hail, and snow! ”

“ Satan arrives at Pandemonium, in full assembly relates with boasting his success against Man; instead of applause is entertained with a general hiss by all his audience, transformed with himself also suddenly into serpents, according to his doom given in Paradise ”

“ Kindles the gummy bark of fir or pine,
And sends a comfortable heat from far,
Which might supply the sun. ”

“ Are to behold the judgement, but the judged, 81
Those two; the third best absent is condemned,
Convict by flight, and rebel to all law;
Conviction to the Serpent none belongs."
Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose
Of high collateral glory; him Thrones and Powers,
Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant
Accompanied to Heaven-gate, from whence
Eden and all the coast in prospect lay.
Down he descended straight; the speed of Gods 90
Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged. ”