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 mayst believe, and be confirmed
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 drenched her eyes

Here sleep below, while thou to foresight wakest; As once thou sleptest, while she to life was formed. To whom thus Adam gratefully replied:

Ascend, I follow thee, safe guide, the path

Thou leadest me; and to the hand of Heaven submit,

However chastening; to the evil turn

My obvious breast, arming to overcome

By suffering, and earn rest from labor won,

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,
Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect, lay.
Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round,
Whereon, for different cause, the Tempter set

Our second Adam, in the wilderness,

To show him all Earth's kingdoms, and their glory.

His eye might there command w..erever stood
City of old or modern fame, the seat

Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Cham,
And Samarcand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
To Paquin, of Sinæan kings; and thence
To Agra, and Lahor, 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
The empire of Negus to his utmost port
Ercoco, and the less maritime kings,
Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
And Sofala-thought Ophir - to the realm
Of Congo, and Angola farthest south:

Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount,
The kingdoms of Almanzor, Fez and Sus,
Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen;

On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway The world. In spirit, perhaps, he also saw

Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,

And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat

Of Atabalipa, and yet unspoiled
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 instilled.
So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,
Even 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 recalled:

Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold
The effects which thy original crime hath wrought
In some to spring from thee, who never touched
The excepted tree, nor with the snake conspired,
Nor sinned thy sin; yet from that sin derive
Corruption, to bring forth more violent deeds.
His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,
Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves
New reaped; the other part, sheep-walks and folds;
In the midst an altar, as the landmark stood,
Rustic, of grassy sward. Thither, anon,

A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
First-fruits, the green ear and the yellow sheaf,
Unculled, as came to hand; a shepherd next,
More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock,
Choicest and best; then, sacrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incense strewed,
On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed.
His offering soon propitious fire from Heaven
Consumed with nimble glance, and grateful steam;
The other's not, for his was not sincere.
Whereat he inly raged, and, as they talked,
Smote him into the midriff with a stone
That beat out life. He fell, and, deadly pale,
Groaned out his soul, with gushing blood effused.
Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
Dismayed, and thus in haste to the Angel cried:

O Teacher, some great mischief hath befallen

To that meek man, who well had sacrificed;
Is piety thus, and pure devotion, paid?

To whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied:
These two are brethren, Adam, and to come
Out of thy loins. The unjust the just hath slain,
For envy that his brother's offering found