"And I will bring thee where no shadow stays "Multitudes like thyself, and thence be called "Under a platane; yet, methought, less fair, 470 475 "Than that smooth watery image. Back I turned: 480 "Thou following criedst aloud, Return, fair Eve! 6 "Whom fliest thou? whom thou fliest, of him thou art, "His flesh, his bone;3 to give thee being I lent "Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart, "Substantial life; to have thee by my side "Henceforth an individual1 solace dear: 485 "Part of my soul, I seek thee, and thee claim, "My other half!' With that thy gentle hand "Seized mine: I yielded; and from that time see "How beauty is excelled by manly grace 490 "And wisdom, which alone is truly fair." So spake our general mother; and, with eyes 495 1 Where no shadow stays thy coming,-" no shadow" must be read as a parenthesis, describing the person who stays, awaits her coming: no shadow like what she saw, but as living a reality as herself. 2 Under a platane;-the plane tree, highly valued in the East for its umbrageous foliage. 3 His flesh, his bone;-Genesis ii. 23. 4 Individual,-inseparable. 5 As Jupiter on Juno smiles, &c.-Jupiter, in the ancient mythology the Deity personifying the upper ether, as Juno did the nether air surrounding On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds That shed May flowers; and pressed her matron lip For envy; yet with jealous leer malign Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained:1 500 "Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these two, 505 "Imparadised in one another's arms, "(The happier Eden !) shall enjoy their fill "From their own mouths: all is not theirs, it seems: 510 "Forbidden them to taste: knowledge forbidden !3 515 "Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord Envy them that? Can it be sin to know? "Can it be death? And do they only stand "By ignorance? Is that their happy state, "The proof of their obedience and their faith? "O fair foundation laid whereon to build "Their ruin! Hence I will excite their minds "With more desire to know, and to reject "Envious commands, invented with design "To keep them low, whom knowledge might exalt "Equal with gods: aspiring to be such, "They taste, and die! what likelier can ensue? "But first, with narrow search, I must walk round "This garden, and no corner leave unspied; 520 525 this globe. Their marriage typified the revived productiveness of nature in spring. 1 Plained, an antiquated word for "complained." 2 Where neither joy nor love,-Here, as often, Milton leaves the reader to supply the verb " is." 3 Knowledge forbidden!-Satan insinuates that useful and necessary knowledge was forbidden; whereas the knowledge of evil by the commission of it was alone forbidden. This glaring perversion of fact suits well the character of the tempter. "A chance but chance may lead where I may meet "Some wandering spirit of Heaven, by fountain side, "Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw "What farther would be learned. Live while ye may, "Yet happy pair! enjoy, till I return, "Short pleasures; for long woes are to succeed." So saying, his proud step he scornful turned, 530 535 But with sly circumspection, and began Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam. Meanwhile, in utmost longitude,1 where Heaven With Earth and Ocean meets, the setting sun 540 Slowly descended, and, with right aspéct Against the eastern gate of Paradise 545 550 The unarmed youth of Heaven; but nigh at hand Celestial armoury, shields, helms, and spears, Hung high, with diamond flaming, and with gold. 4 In autumn thwarts the night, when vapours fired 555 1 In utmost longitude,-as far as West is from East: the extent of the world in that direction being called its longitude or length, as the ancients knew more of it in that dimension, than from north to south, which was therefore called latitude. 2 With right aspect against the eastern gate, &c.-One would naturally expect the western gate to be mentioned in connection with the level rays of the setting sun. But it is before expressly said that there was but one gate, and that on the east side of Paradise, 1. 178. 3 Gabriel, an archangel who appeared to Daniel, and the Virgin Mary, Dan. viii. 9; Luke i. 26. The name signifies "God is my strength." 4 In autumn thwarts the night,--crosses the sky at night, as the meteors called shooting stars are observed to do, mostly in autumn. Impress the air, and show the mariner "Gabriel! to thee thy course by lot hath given1 Charge and strict watch, that to this happy place "No evil thing approach, or enter in. 560 "This day, at height of noon, came to my sphere 565 3 570 575 "Amid the sun's bright circle where thou sitt'st, "See far and wide: in at this gate none pass "The vigilance here placed, but such as come 580 "Well known from Heaven; and since meridian hour "No creature thence. If spirit of other sort, 585 Spiritual substance with corporeal bar. "But if within the circuit of these walks "In whatsoever shape he lurk, of whom "Thou tell'st, by morrow dawning I shall know." So promised he; and Uriel to his charge 1 Gabriel! to thee thy course by lot hath given,—alluding to the arrangements which allotted the duties of the temple service to the priests in several distinct courses, in succession. See 1 Chron. xxiv. and Luke i. 8, 9. 2 God's latest image,-Christ was the first: and before man were the angels. So in b. iii. 151, man is called God's youngest son. 3 I described his way,-closely observed, noted, marked. 66 650 655 "But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends "With charm of earliest birds; nor rising Sun "On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower, Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers; "Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night, "With this her solemn bird; nor walk by Moon, "Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.1 "But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom? "This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?" To whom our general ancestor replied: "Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve, "Those have their course to finish, round the Earth, By morrow evening; and from land to land "In order, though to nations yet unborn, 66 660 Ministering light prepared, they set and rise; "Lest total Darkness should by night regain "Her old possession, and extinguish life 665 "In Nature and all things; which these soft fires 670 "Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow "On earth, made hereby apter to receive "Perfection from the sun's more potent ray. "These then, though unbeheld in deep of night, "Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were none, 675 "That Heaven would want spectators, God want praise: "Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth "Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep; "All these, with ceaseless praise, his works behold "Both day and night. How often from the steep 680 "Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard "Celestial voices, to the midnight air 1 There is no piece of descriptive poetry in our language more justly admired than this, both for the pleasing variety of images introduced, and their sweet repetition. The style is pastoral, but it as much excels the ordinary poetry of that class, as the scene is above an ordinary field or meadow. Addison. |