2O2
��PARADISE LOST
��Thenceforth to speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts, and with capacious
mind
Considered all things visible in Heaven, Or Earth, or Middle, all things fair and
good.
But all that fair and good in thy divine Semblance, and in thy beauty's heavenly
ray,
United I beheld no fair to thine Equivalent or second; which compelled 609 Me thus, though importune perhaps, to
come
And gaze, and worship thee of right de- clared
Sovran of creatures, universal Dame ! " So talked the spirited sly Snake; and
Eve,
Yet more amazed, unwary thus replied: "Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in
doubt The virtue of that Fruit, in thee first
proved. But say, where grows the Tree ? from
hence how far ?
For many are the trees of God that grow In Paradise, and various, yet unknown 619 To us ; in such abundance lies our choice As leaves a greater store of fruit untouched, Still hanging incorruptible, till men Grow up to their provision, and more hands Help to disburden Nature of her bearth." To whom the wily Adder, blithe and
glad;
" Empress, the way is ready, and not long Beyond a row of myrtles, on a flat, Fast by a fountain, one small thicket past Of blowing myrrh and balm. If thou ac- cept 629 My conduct, I can bring thee thither soon." "Lead, then," said Eve. He, leading,
swiftly rowled
In tangles, and made intricate seem straight, To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joy Brightens his crest. As when a wandering
fire, Compact of unctuous vapour, which the
night
Condenses, and the cold invirons round, Kindled through agitation to a flame (Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit at- tends),
Hovering and blazing with delusive light, Misleads the amazed night-wanderer from bis way 640
��To bogs and mires, and oft through pond
or pool, There swallowed up and lost, from succour
far :
So glistered the dire Snake, and into fraud Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the Tree Of Prohibition, root of all our woe; Which when she saw, thus to her guide she
spake : " Serpent, we might have spared our
coming hither, Fruitless to me, though fruit be here to
excess,
The credit of whose virtue rest with thee Wondrous, indeed, if cause of such ef- fects ! 650 But of this tree we may not taste nor
touch;
God so commanded, and left that command Sole daughter of his voice : the rest, we live Law to ourselves; our Reason is our Law." To whom the Tempter guilefully re- plied: " Indeed ! Hath God then said that of the
fruit
Of all these garden-trees ye shall not eat, Yet lords declared of all in Earth or Air ? " To whom thus Eve, yet sinless : " Of
the fruit
Of each tree in the garden we may eat; 660 But of the fruit of this fair Tree, amidst The Garden, God hath said, ' Ye shall not
eat
Thereof, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die.' " She scarce had said, though brief, when
now more bold The Tempter, but, with *shew of zeal and
love
To Man, and indignation at his wrong, New part puts on, and, as to passion moved, Fluctuates disturbed, yet comely, and in
act
Raised, as of some great matter to begin. As when of old some orator renowned 670 In Athens or free Rome, where eloquence Flourished, since mute, to some great cause
addressed,
Stood in himself collected, while each part, Motion, each act, won audience ere the
tongue
Sometimes in highth began, as no delay Of preface brooking through his zeal of
right:
So standing, moving, or to highth up- grown,
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