To whom the tempter guilefully reply'd.
Indeed! hath God then faid that of the fruit
Of all these garden-trees ye fhall not eat,
Yet lords declar'd of all in earth or air?
To whom thus Eve yet finlefs. Of the fruit
Of each tree in the garden we may eat;
But of the fruit of this fair tree amidst
The garden, God hath faid, Ye shall not eat
Thereof, nor fhall ye touch it, left ye die.
She scarce had faid, tho' brief, when now more bold The tempter, but with fhow of zeal and love
To man, and indignation at his wrong,
New part puts on; and as to paffion mov'd,
Fluctuates difturb'd, yet comely and in act
Rais'd, as of fome great matter to begin.
As when of old fome orator renown'd
In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence
Flourish'd, fince mute, to fome great caufe addrefs'd
Stood in himself collected, while each part,
Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue,
Sometimes in height began, as no delay
Of preface brooking through his zeal of right:
So ftanding, moving, or to height up grown,
The tempter all impaffion'd thus began..
O facred, wife, and wifdom-giving plant,
Mother of fcience, now I feel thy power
Within me clear, not only to difcern
Things in their caufes, but to trace the ways
Of highest agents, deem'd however wise.
Queen of this univerfe, do not believe
Those rigid threats of death; ye fhall not die: 685
How fhould ye? by the fruit? it gives you life
To knowledge; by the threat'ner? look on me,
Me who have touch'd and tafted, yet both live,
And life more perfect have attain'd than fate
Meant me, by vent'ring higher than my lot.
Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast
Is open or will God incense his ire
For fuch a petty trespass, and not praise
Rather your dauntless virtue, whom the pain
Of death denounce'd, whatever thing death be, 695
Deterr'd not from achieving what might lead
To-happier life, knowledge of good and evil;
Of good, how juft? of evil, if what is evil
Be real, why not known, fince easier fhunn'd ?
God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be juft;
Not just, not God; not fear'd then, nor obey'd:
Your fear itfelf of death removes the fear.
Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshippers: he knows, that in the day
Ye eat thereof, your eyes that feem so clear,
Yet are but dim, fhall perfectly be then
Open'd and clear'd, and ye fhall be as gods,
Knowing both good and evil as they know.
That ye fhall be as gods, fince I as man,
Internal man, is but proportion meet;
I of brute, human; ye of human, gods.
So ye fhall die perhaps, by putting off
Human, to put on gods; death to be wish'd,
Tho' threaten'd, which no worse than this can bring.
And what are gods that man may not become
As they, participating godlike food?
The gods are firft, and that advantage ufe
On our belief, that all from them proceeds:
I question it; for this fair earth I fee,
Warm'd by the fun, producing every kind,
Them nothing if they all things, who inclos'd
Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
That whofo eats thereof, forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
Th' offence, that man fhould thus attain to know?
What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
Impart against his will, if all be his?
Or is it envy? and can envy dwell
In heavenly breasts? these, thefe, and many more 730
Caufes, import your need of this fair fruit.
Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste.
He ended; and his words replete with guile
Into her heart too eafy entrance won:
Fix'd on the fruit fhe gaz'd, which to behold
Might tempt alone; and in her ears the found
Yet rung of his perfuafive words, impregn'd
With reafon, to her feeming, and with truth;
Meanwhile the hour of noon drew on, and wak'd
An eager appetite, rais'd by the fmell
So favoury of that fruit, which with defire,
Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,
Solicited her longing eye: yet first
Paufing a while, thus to herself she mus'd.
Great are thy virtues, doubtless, beft of fruits,
Tho' kept from man, and worthy to be' admir'd;
Whose tafte, too long forborn, at first affay
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
The tongue not made for fpeech to fpeak thy praise:
Thy praise he alfo who forbids thy use,
Conceals not from us, naming thee the Tree
Of Knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;;
Forbids us then to tafte; but this forbidding
Commends thee more, while it infers the good
By thee communicated, and our want :
For good unknown, fure is not had; or had,
And yet unknown, is as not had at all.
In plain then, what forbids he but to know,
Forbids us good, forbids us to be wife ?
Such prohibitions bind not. But if death
Binds us with after-bands, what profits then
Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we fhall die.
How dies the ferpent? he hath eat'n and lives,
And knows, and speaks, and reafons, and difcerns, 765
Irrational till then. For us alone`
Was death invented? or to us deny'd
This intellectual food, for beafts referv'd?"
For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first
Hath tafted, envies not, but brings with joy
The good befall'n him, author unfufpect,
Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
What fear I then, rather what know to fear
Under this ignorance of good and evil
Of God or death, of law or penalty?:
Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,
Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
Of virtue to make wife: what hinders then
To reach, and feed at once both bady' and mind ?
So faying, her rash hand in evil hour 780 Forth reaching to the fruit, fhe pluck'd, the eat: Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her feat, Sighing through all her works, gave figns of woe, That all was left. Back to the thicket flunk The guilty ferpent: and well might; for Eve 785 Intent now wholly on her taste, nought elfe Regarded, fuch delight till then, as feem'd,
In fruit fhe never tafted, whether true
Or fancy'd fo, through expectation high
Of knowledge; nor was Godhead from her thought.
Greedily the ingorge'd without restraint,
And knew not eating death. Satiate at length,
And heighten'd as with wine, jocund and boon,
Thus to herself the pleafingly began.
✪ fov'reign, virtuous, precious of all trees
In Paradise, of operation blefs'd
To fapience, hitherto obfcur'd, infam'd,
And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end
Created; but henceforth my early care,
Not without fong, each morning, and due praife, 800
Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease
Of thy full branches, offer'd free to all;
Till dieted by thee I grow mature
In knowledge, as the gods, who all things know;
Though others envy what they cannot give;
For had the gift been theirs, it had not here
Thus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe,
Beft guide; not following thee, I had remain'd
In ignorance; thou open'ft wisdom's way,
And giv't accefs, though fecret she retire.
And I perhaps am fecret; heaven is high,
High, and remote to fee from thence diftinct
Each thing on earth; and other care perhaps
may have unveiled from commual watch
Our great forbidder, fafe with all his fpies.
About him. But to Adam in what fort
Shall I appear? Shall I to him make known
As yet my change, and give him to partake
Full happiness with me; or rather not,
But keep the odds of knowledge in my power
Without eopartner? fo to add what wants
In female fex, the more to draw his love,
And render me more equal, and perhaps,
A thing not undefirable, fometime
Superiour; for inferiour who is free?
This may be well. But what if God have feen,
And death enfue? then I fhall be no more,
And Adam, wedded to another Eve,
Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;
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