"And send thee from the garden forth, to till
"The ground whence thou wast taken-fitter soil."
He added not; for Adam, at the news
Heart-struck, with chilling gripe of sorrow, stood,
That all his senses bound: Eve, who unseen
Yet all had heard, with audible lament
Discovered soon the place of her retire:

"O unexpected stroke, worse than of death!
"Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
"Thee, native soil! these happy walks and shades,
"Fit haunt of Gods? where I had hope to spend,
"Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day
"That must be mortal to us both.

O flowers, "That never will in other climate grow,

"My early visitation, and my last

"At even ; which I bred up with tender hand
"From the first opening bud, and gave ye names!
"Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank
"Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount?
"Thee lastly, nuptial bower! by me adorned
"With what to sight or smell was sweet! from thee
"How shall I part! and whither wander down
"Into a lower world-to this obscure

"And wild! how shall we breathe in other air
"Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits-"
Whom thus the Angel interrupted mild :
"Lament not, Eve! but patiently resign
"What justly thou hast lost; nor set thy heart,
"Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine :
"Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes
66 Thy husband; him to follow thou art bound:
"Where he abides, think there thy native soil."
Adam, by this from the cold sudden damp
Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned,
To Michael thus his humble words addressed :

"Celestial! whether among the Thrones, or named "Of them the highest ; for such of shape may seem

"Prince above Princes! gently hast thou told

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Thy message, which might else in telling wound, "And in performing end us: what besides

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"Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair,
"Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring;
"Departure from this happy place, our sweet
"Recess, and only consolation left

"Familiar to our eyes! All places else

"Nor knowing us, nor known: and, if by prayer
"Incessant I could hope to change the will
"Of Him who all things can, I would not cease
"To weary him with my assiduous cries:
"But prayer against his absolute decree
"No more avails than breath against the wind,
"Blown stifling back on him that breathed it forth :
"Therefore to his great bidding I submit.
"This most afflicts me, that, departing hence,
"As from his face I shall be hid, deprived

"His blessed countenance: here I could frequent,
"With worship, place by place where he vouchsafed
"Presence Divine; and to my sons relate ;-
"On this mount he appeared; under this tree
"Stood visible; among these pines his voice

66 I heard; here with him at this fountain talked :'

"So many grateful altars I would rear

"Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone "Of lustre from the brook, in memory

"Or monument to ages; and thereon

"Offer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers.
"In yonder nether world where shall I seek
"His bright appearances, or footstep trace?
"For though I fled him angry, yet, recalled
"To life prolonged and promised race, I now
"Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts
"Of glory; and far off his steps adore."

To whom thus Michael with regard benign:
"Adam! thou knowst Heaven his, and all the Earth,
"Not this rock only; his omnipresence fills
"Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives,
"Fomented by his virtual power, and warmed:
"All the Earth he gave thee to possess and rule,
"No despicable gift! surmise not then

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"His presence to these narrow bounds confined
"Of Paradise, or Eden: this had been

"Perhaps thy capital seat; from whence had spread
"All generations, and had hither come
"From all ends of the Earth, to celebrate

"And reverence thee, their great progenitor.

"But this pre-eminence thou hast lost, brought down
"To dwell on even ground now with thy sons.
"Yet doubt not but in valley and in plain,
"God is, as here, and will be found alike
"Present; and of his presence many a sign
"Still following thee, still compassing thee round
"With goodness and parental love, his face

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Express, and of his steps the track divine.

"Which that thou mayst believe, and be confirmed
"Ere thou from hence depart, know, I am sent
"To show thee what shall come in future days
"To thee and to thy offspring: good with bad
66 Expect to hear; supernal grace contending
"With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn
"True patience; and to temper joy with fear
"And pious sorrow; equally inured

"By moderation either state to bear,

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Prosperous or advérse: so shalt thou lead "Safest thy life, and best prepared endure "Thy mortal passage when it comes.

Ascend

"This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched her eyes)
"Here sleep below, while thou to foresight wakest ;
"As once thou sleptst, while she to life was formed."
To whom thus Adam gratefully replied:

"Ascend; I follow thee, safe guide! the path

"Thou leadst me; and to the hand of Heaven submit, "However chastening; to the evil turn

My obvious breast: arming to overcome "By suffering, and earn rest from labour won,

"If so I may attain."

So both ascend

In the visions of God. It was a hill,
Of Paradise the highest; from whose top,
The hemisphere of Earth, in clearest ken,

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Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect lay.
Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round,
Whereon, for different cause, the tempter set
Our second Adam, in the wilderness,

To show him all Earth's kingdoms, and their glory.
His eye might there command wherever stood
City, of old or modern fame, the seat

Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can,
And Samarchand by Oxus, Temir's throne,
To Paquin of Sinæan kings; and thence
To Agra and Lahor of Great Mogul,

Down to the Golden Chersonese; or where
The Persian in Ecbatan sat, or since
In Hispahan; or where the Russian Czar
In Mosco; or the Sultan in Bizance,
Turchestan-born: nor could his eye not ken
The empire of Negus to his utmost port
Ercoco, and the less maritime kings,
Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm
Of Congo, and Angola, farthest south;

Or thence, from Niger flood to Atlas mount,
The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez, and Sus,
Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen ;

On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway
The world in spirit perhaps he also saw

Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,

And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat
Of Atabalipa; and yet unspoiled
Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons
Call El Dorado. But, to nobler sights,
Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed,
Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight
Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue
The visual nerve, for he had much to see;
And from the well of life three drops instilled.
So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,
Even to the inmost seat of mental sight,
That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes,

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Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced;
But him the gentle Angel by the hand
Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled:

"Adam! now ope thine eyes; and first behold
"The effects, which thy original crime hath wrought
"In some to spring from thee; who never touched
"The excepted tree; nor with the snake conspired;
"Nor sinned thy sin; yet from that sin derive

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Corruption, to bring forth more violent deeds."
His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,

Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves
New-reaped; the other part sheep-walks and folds :
In the midst an altar as the landmark stood,
Rustic, of grassy sward: thither anon
A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought
First fruits-the green ear, and the yellow sheaf,
Unculled, as came to hand: a shepherd next,
More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock,
Choicest and best; then, sacrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incense strewed,
On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed:
His offering soon propitious fire from Heaven
Consumed with nimble glance, and grateful steam;
The other's not, for his was not sincere ;
Whereat he inly raged, and, as they talked,
Smote him into the midriff with a stone
That beat out life: he fell; and, deadly pale,
Groaned out his soul, with gushing blood effused!
Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
Dismayed, and thus in haste to the Angel cried :
"O teacher! some great mischief hath befallen
"To that meek man, who well had sacrificed :
"Is piety thus, and pure devotion, paid?"

To whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied:
"These too are brethren, Adam, and to come
"Out of thy loins: the unjust the just hath slain
"For envy that his brother's offering found
“From Heaven acceptance; but the bloody fact
"Will be avenged; and the other's faith, approved,
"Lose no reward: though here thou see him die,

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