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.
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
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
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)
332. Exod. xxxiii. 22, 23.
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
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 suffering, and earn rest from labour won, 375 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
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,
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 In spirit perhaps he also saw
Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,
And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat
Of Atabalipa, and yet unspoil'd
Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons
Call El Dorado: but to nobler sights
Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed,
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.
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
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
First fruits; the green ear and the yellow sheaf, 439
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 commenta 'ors in the filling up of this passage, which is principally taken frow 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 glancé 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
Out of thy loins. Th' unjust the just hath slain, 453
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
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
477. The invention of the poet is finely exercised in the
circumstances of this vision.
Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noisome, dark,
A lazar-house it seem'd, wherein were laid
Numbers of all diseased, all maladies
Of ghastly spasm or racking torture, qualms
Of heart-sick agony, all fev'rous kinds,
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,
Intestine stone and ulcer, colic pangs,
Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair
Tended the sick, busiest, from couch to couch; 490
And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook, but delay'd to strike, though oft invoked
With vows, as their chief good and final hope.
Sight so deform, what heart of rock could long
Dry-eyed behold! Adam could not, but wept,
Though not of woman born. Compassion quell'd
His best of man, and gave him up to tears
A space, till firmer thoughts restrain'd excess;
And, scarce recov'ring words, his plaint renew'd.
O miserable mankind! to what fall
Degraded to what wretched state reserved!
Better end here unborn. Why is life given
To be thus wrested from us? Rather, why
Obtruded on us thus? who if we knew
What we receive, would either not accept
Life offer'd, or soon beg to lay it down,
Glad to be so dismiss'd in peace. Can thus
The image of God, in man created once
So goodly and erect, though faulty since,
To such unsightly suff'rings be debased
Under inhuman pains? Why should not man,
Retaining still divine similitude
In part, from such deformities be free,
And for his Maker's image sake exempt?
Their Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then 515 Forsook them when themselves they vilify'd To serve ungovern'd appetite, and took
517. There is a considerable error, I imagine, in the ideas thus put into the mouth of Michael. By supposing Eve swayed, as here said, by a brutish vice, the consequences of the fall and the
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