More terrible at the entrance than within.

Some, as thou saw'st, by violent stroke shall die;
By fire, flood, famine; by intemperance 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 the inabstinence of Eve

Shall bring on men." Immediately a place
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 feverous 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;
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 recovering 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

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480

490

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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 sufferings 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 ?"

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“Their Maker's image," answer'd Michael, “then Forsook them, when themselves they vilified To serve ungovern'd appetite, and took His image whom they served, a brutish vice, Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve. Therefore so abject is their punishment, Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own; Or if his likeness, by themselves defaced; While they pervert pure nature's healthful rules To loathsome sickness; worthily, since they God's image did not reverence in themselves." "I yield it just," said Adam, " and submit: But is there yet no other way, besides These painful passages, how we may come To death, and mix with our connatural dust ?”

"There is," said Michael, "if thou well observe 530 The rule of Not too much,' by temperance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st, seeking from thence Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight;

Till many years over thy head return,

So may'st thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop
Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease

Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature :

This is old age; but, then, thou must outlive

540

Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change
To wither'd, weak, and grey; thy senses then,
Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forego,
To what thou hast; and for the air of youth,
Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign
A melancholy damp of cold and dry,

To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume
The balm of life." To whom our ancestor :

"Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong
Life much; bent, rather, how I may be quit,
Fairest and easiest, of this cumbrous charge,
Which I must keep till my appointed day
Of rendering up, and patiently attend
My dissolution." Michael replied:

550

"Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest Live well; how long, or short, permit to Heaven: And now prepare thee for another sight."

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He look'd, and saw a spacious plain, whereon Were tents of various hue; by some were herds Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound Of instruments, that made melodious chime, Was heard, of harp and organ, and who moved Their stops and chords was seen; his volant touch, Instinct through all proportions, low and high Fled and pursued transverse the resonant fugue. In other part stood one who, at the forge Labouring, two massy clods of iron and brass. Had melted (whether found where casual fire Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale, Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot To some cave's mouth, or whether wash'd by stream From under ground); the liquid ore he drain'd Into fit moulds prepared, from which he form'd,

570

First, his own tools; then, what might else be wrought Fusil or graven in metal. After these,

But on the hither side, a different sort,

From the high neighbouring hills, which was their seat,
Down to the plain descended; by their guise
Just men they seem'd, and all their study bent
To worship God aright, and know his works

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Not hid; nor those things last, which might preserve
Freedom and peace to men: they on the plain
Long had not walk'd, when from the tents, behold,
A bevy of fair women, richly gay

In

gems and wanton dress; to the harp they sung Soft amorous ditties, and in dance came on:

The men, though grave, eyed them; and let their eyes
Rove without rein; till, in the amorous net

Fast caught, they liked; and each his liking chose.
And now of love they treat, till the evening star,
Love's harbinger, appear'd; then, all in heat,
They light the nuptial torch, and bid invoke
Hymen, then first to marriage rites invoked:
With feast and music all the tents resound.
Such happy interview, and fair event

Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flowers,
And charming symphonies, attach'd the heart
Of Adam, soon inclined to admit delight,
The bent of nature; which he thus express'd:

"True opener of mine eyes, prime angel blest,
Much better seems this vision, and more hope
Of peaceful days portends, than those two past;
Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse:
Here nature seems fulfill'd in all her ends."

To whom thus Michael: "Judge not what is best By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet; Created, as thou art, to nobler end,

Holy and pure, conformity divine.

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6co

Those tents thou saw'st so pleasant, were the tents
Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race
Who slew his brother; studious they appear
Of arts that polish life, inventors rare;
Unmindful of their Maker, though his Spirit
Taught them: but they his gifts acknowledged none.

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