Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had thrown That mountain as his garden mould high-raised Upon the rapid current, which through veins Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn, Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill Watered the garden; thence united fell Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood, Which from his darksome passage now appears, And, now divided into four main streams,
Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account; But rather to tell how, if art could tell, How from that sapphire. fount the crisped brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, With mazy error under pendent shades Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious knots, but nature boon Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain, Both where the morning sun first warmly smote The open field, and where the unpierced shade- Imbrowned the noontide bowers: thus was this place A happy rural seat of various view;
Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm; Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind, Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
Or palmy hillock, or the flowery lap
Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er`which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake, That to the fringéd bank with myrtle crowned Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams. The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs, Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune The trembling leaves, while universal Pan, Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, Led on the eternal Spring. Not that fair field Of Enna, where Prosérpine gathering flowers, Herself a fairer flower by gloomy Dis
Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain To seek her through the world; nor that sweet grove Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspired Castalian spring, might with this Paradise Of Eden strive; nor that Nyseian isle Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham, Whom Gentiles Ammon call and Libyan Jove, Hid Amalthea, and her florid son
Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye; Nor where Abassin kings their issue guard, Mount Amara, though this by some supposed True Paradise, under the Ethiop line
By Nilus' head, enclosed with shining rock, A whole day's journey high, but wide remote From this Assyrian garden, where the fiend Saw, undelighted, all delight, all kind
Of living creatures, new to sight, and strange. Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall,
Godlike erect, with native honour clad In naked majesty seemed lords of all: And worthy seemed; for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker shone, Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure (Severe, but in true filial freedom placed), Whence true authority in men; though both Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed; For contemplation he and valour formed; For softness she, and sweet attractive grace; He for God only, she for God in him: His fair large front and eye sublime declared Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad: She, as a veil, down to the slender waist Her unadornéd golden tresses wore Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved, As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied Subjection, but required with gentle sway, And by her yielded, by him best received, Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair That ever since in love's embraces met; Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve. Under a tuft of shade that on a green Stood whispering soft, by a fresh fountain-side They sat them down; and, after no more toil Of their sweet gardening labour than sufficed To recommend cool zephyr, and made ease
More easy, wholesome thirst and appetite More grateful, to their supper-fruits they fell, Nectarine fruits, which the compliant boughs Yielded them, sidelong as they sat recline On the soft downy bank damasked with flowers: The savoury pulp they chew, and in the rind, Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream. About them frisking played
All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase
In wood or wilderness, forest or den;
Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw
Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards,
Gambolled before them; the unwieldy elephant,
To make them mirth used all his might, and wreathed His lithe proboscis; close the serpent sly, Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine
His braided train, and of his fatal guile
Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass
Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat, Or bedward ruminating.
The angel Raphael is sent by God to the happy pair to warn them of danger. After his message has been delivered, he satisfies their curiosity in regard to many points about which they would naturally be inquisitive. Adam, delighted with the conversation of his celestial visitant, contrives to detain him by inquiring into subjects of an abstruse character. Eve retires to tend her flowers.
So spake our sire, and by his countenance seemed Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve
Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight, With lowliness majestic from her seat,
And grace that won who saw to wish her stay, Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers, To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom, Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew. Yet went she not, as not with such discourse Delighted, or not capable her ear
Of what was high: such pleasure she reserved, Adam relating, she sole auditress:
Her husband the relater she preferred
Before the angel, and of him to ask
Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute With conjugal caresses: from his lip
Not words alone pleased her. O! when meet now Such pairs in love and mutual honour joined ? With goddess-like demeanour forth she went,
Not unattended; for on her, as queen, A pomp of winning graces waited still, And from about her shot darts of desire Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.
After having his doubts solved by the angel, Adam, still further to detain his guest, gives an account of his own creation.
ADAM'S ACCOUNT OF HIS CREATION.
For man to tell how human life began Is hard; for who himself beginning knew? Desire with thee still longer to converse Induced me. As new waked from soundest sleep,
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