Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/170

Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.
Nearer his presence, Adam, though not awed,
Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek,
As to a superior nature, bowing low,360
Thus said:—"Native of Heaven—for other place
None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain—
Since, by descending from the Thrones above,
Those happy places thou hast deigned awhile
To want, and honor these, vouchsafe with us,
Two only, who yet by sovran gift possess
This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower
To rest, and what the garden choicest bears
To sit and taste, till this meridian heat
Be over, and the sun more cool decline."370
Whom thus the angelic Virtue answered mild:
"Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such
Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
As may not oft invite, though Spirits of Heaven
To visit thee. Lead on then where thy bower
O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
I have at will."—So to the silvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona's arbor smiled,
With flowerets decked, and fragrant smells; but Eve,
Undecked save with herself, more lovely fair380
Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess feigned
Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,