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Into a lower world, to this obscure

And wild! How shall we breathe in other air,
Less pure, accustom'd to immortal fruits!

Whom thus the Angel interrupted mild: Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign

What justly thou hast lost; nor set thy heart,
Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine;
Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
Thy husband; him to follow thou art bound.
Where he abides, think there thy native soil.
Adam by this from the cold sudden damp
Recov'ring, and his scatter'd spirits return'd,
To Michael thus his humble words address'd:

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Celestial, whether among the Thrones, or named Of them the high'st, for such of shape may seem Prince above princes, gently hast thou told Thy message, which might else in telling wound, And in performing end us. What besides Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair,

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Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring,

Departure from this happy place, our sweet
Recess, and only consolation left
Familiar to our eyes, all places else

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Inhospitable' appear and desolate ;

Nor knowing us nor known: and if by prayer
Incessant I could hope to change the will

Of Him who all things can, I would not cease

To weary him with my assiduous cries.
But prayer against his absolute decree

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No more avails than breath against the wind,

Blown stifling back on him that breathes it forth: Therefore to his great bidding I submit.

This most afflicts me, that departing hence,
As from his face I shall be hid, deprived

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His blessed count'nance. Here I could frequent

With worship place by place where he vouchsafed Presence divine, and to my sons relate,

On this mount he appear'd; under this tree
Stood visible; among these pines his voice

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I heard; here with him at this fountain talk'd.

So many grateful altars I would rear

Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone

Of lustre from the brook, in' memory

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Or monument to ages, and thereon

Offer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flow'rs.
In yonder nether world, where shall I seek
His bright appearances, or foot-step trace?
For though I fled him angry, yet recall'd
To life prolong'd and promised race, I now
Gladly behold, though but his utmost skirts
Of glory, and far off his steps adore.

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To whom thus Michael, with regard benign: Adam, thou know'st Heav'n his, and all the Earth, Not this rock only'. His omnipresence fills Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives, Fomented by his virtual pow'r and warm'd. All th' earth he gave thee to possess and rule: No despicable gift: surmise not then His presence to these narrow bounds confined Of Paradise or Eden. This had been

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Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread
All generations, and had hither come
From all the ends of th' earth, to celebrate
And rev'rence thee, their great progenitor.
But this pre-eminence thou'st lost; brought down
To dwell on even ground now with thy sons.
Yet doubt not, but in valley and in plain
God is as here, and will be found alike
Present. and of his presence many a sign
Still following thee, still compassing thee round
With goodness and paternal love, his face
Express, and of his steps the track divine:
Which, that thou may'st believe, and be confirm'd
Ere thou from hence depart, know I am sent
To shew thee what shall come in future days
To thee and to thy offspring. Good with bad
Expect to hear, supernal grace contending
With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn
True patience, and to temper joy with fear
And pious sorrow, equally inured

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By moderation either state to bear,

Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead
Safest thy life, and, best prepared, endure

Thy mortal passage when it comes. Ascend

This hill. Let Eve (for I have drench'd her eyes)

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Here sleep below, while thou to foresight wak'st;
As once thou sleptst, while she to life was form'd.
To whom thus Adam gratefully reply'd:
Ascend, I follow thee, safe Guide, the path

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Thou lead'st me', and to the hand of Heav'n submit,

However chast'ning, to the evil turn

My obvious breast, arming to overcome

By suff'ring, and earn rest from labour won,

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If so I may attain. So both ascend

In the visions of God. It was a hill

Of Paradise the highest, from whose top

The hemisphere of earth in clearest ken

Stretch'd out to th' amplest reach of prospect lay.
Not higher that hill nor wider, looking round, 381
Whereon for diff'rent cause the Tempter set
Our second Adam in the wilderness,

To shew him all earth's kingdoms and their glory.

His eye might there command wherever stood
City of old or modern fame, the seat

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Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,

And Samarcand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
To Paquin of Sinæan kings, and thence
To Agra and Lahore of great Mogul,
Down to the golden Chersonese, or where
The Persian in Ecbatan sat, or since
In Hispahan, or where the Russian Czar
In Moscow, or the Sultan in Bizance,
Turchestan-born; nor could his eye not ken
Th' empire of Negus to his utmost port
Ercoco, and the less maritime kings,
Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,

381. Matt. iv. 8.

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387. There is here another instance of Milton's supposed affectation of learning. I do not conceive either this, or any of the other passages mentioned, to be so. To a mere cursory or idle reader it may seem a dry geographical catalogue, but it should be observed, that the countries mentioned recall by their names some of the most brilliant passages of history, and thus fill the page with the gorgeousness and magnificence of olden tradition. An observation hence occurs, which must at once strike the reader, that fully to enjoy Milton in all his excellences, much various knowledge is necessary. The simplest account we could here give of the several countries mentioned in these lines would Occupy too large a space for the size of the work, and would certainly not aid the reader in understanding better than at first the various allusions the passage presents.

And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm
Of Congo, and Angola farthest south;
Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount,
The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez, and Sus,
Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen;

On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway

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The world. In spirit perhaps he also saw
Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,

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Which that false fruit, that promised clearer sight,

Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue
The visual nerve, for he had much to see;
And from the well of life three drops instill'd.

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So deep the pow'r of these ingredients pierced,

E'en to the inmost seat of mental sight,

That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes,

Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced; But him the gentle Angel by the hand

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Soon raised, and his attention thus recall'd:
Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold

Th' effects which thy original crime hath wrought

In some to spring from thee, who never touch'd 425
Th' excepted tree, nor with the snake conspired,
Nor sinn'd thy sin; yet from that sin derive
Corruption, to bring forth more violent deeds.
His eyes he open'd, and beheld a field,
Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves
New reap'd, the other part sheep-walks and folds;
I' th' midst an altar as the land-mark stood,

Rustic, of grassy sord. Thither anon

A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought

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First fruits; the green ear and the yellow sheaf, 435
Uncull'd, as came to hand. A shepherd next,
More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock

414. Euphrasy, the herb called in English eye-bright.-Rue is still regarded as possessing some remarkable virtues.

420. Dan. x. 8. the idea in which seems to be copied here. 433. Sord or sward. Milton agrees with the best commentaors in the filling up of this passage, which is principally taken frou. Scripture.

Choicest and best; then sacrificing, laid

The inwards and their fat, with incense strow'd,
On the cleft wood, and all due rites perform'd. 440
His off'ring soon propitious fire from Heav'n
Consumed; with nimble glance and grateful steam:
The other's not, for his was not sincere;
Whereat he inly raged, and as they talk'd,
Smote him into the midriff with a stone
That beat our life. He fell, and, deadly pale,
Groan'd out his soul with gushing blood effused.
Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
Dismay'd; and thus in haste to th' Angel cry'd:
O Teacher, some great mischief hath befall'n 450
To that meek man, who well had sacrificed!

Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?

T'whom Michael thus (he also moved) reply'd: These two are brethren, Adam, and to come

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Out of thy loins. Th' unjust the just hath slain, 455
For envy that his brother's off'ring found
From Heav'n acceptance: but the bloody fact
Will be avenged, and th' other's faith approve 1
Lose no reward, though here thou see him die
Rolling in dust and gore. To which our sire:
Alas! both for the deed and for the cause!
But have I now seen Death? Is this the way
I must return to native dust?
O sight
Of terror, foul and ugly to behold!
Horrid to think! how horrible to feel!

To whom thus Michael: Death thou hast seen
In his first shape on Man: but many shapes
Of Death, and many are the ways that lead
To his grim cave, all dismal: yet to sense
More terrible at th' entrance than within.
Some, as thou saw'st, by violent stroke shall die,
By fire, flood, famine, by intemp'rance more

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In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew
Before thee shall appear; that thou may'st know
What misery th' inabstinence of Eve

Shall bring on men. Immediately a place

458. Heb. xi. 4.

477. The invention of the poet is finely exercised in the
circumstances of this vision.

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