Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree, Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?" To whom thus Adam sore beset replied "O heav'n! in evil strait this day I stand 125 Whose failing, while her faith to me remains, 130 By my complaint: but strict necessity Devolv'd; though should I hold my peace, yet thou Wouldst easily detect what I conceal. 136 This woman, whom thou mad'st to be my help, And gav'st me as thy perfect gift, so good, So fit, so acceptable, so divine, That from her hand I could suspect no ill, 140 And what she did, (whatever in itself,) Her doing seem'd to justify the deed; She gave me of the tree, and I did eat." To whom the Sov'reign Presence thus replied: "Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey 145 Before his voice? or was she made thy guide, Thou didst resign thy manhood, and the place 150 She was indeed, and lovely, to attract Thy love, not thy subjection: and her gifts Were such, as, under government, well seem'd; 155 66 Say, woman, what is this which thou hast done?" 160 To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelm'd, Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge Bold or loquacious, thus abash'd replied: "The serpent me beguil'd, and I did eat." Which when the Lord God heard, without delay To judgment he proceeded on th' accus'd Serpent, though brute; unable to transfer The guilt on him who made him instrument Of mischief, and polluted from the end Of his creation: justly then accurs'd As vitiated in nature: more to know 165 Concern'd not man, (since he no farther knew,) 170 Though in mysterious terms, judg'd as then best: "Because thou hast done this, thou art accurs'd Above all cattle, each beast of the field; Upon thy belly grov'ling thou shalt go, And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life. Between thee and the woman I will put Enmity, and between thine and her seed; 176 180 Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel." So spake this oracle, then verified When Jesus, son of Mary, second Eve, Saw Satan fall, like lightning, down from heav'n, Prince of the air; then, rising from his grave, 66 By thy conception; children thou shalt bring 185 190 In sorrow forth; and to thy husband's will 195 On Adam last thus judgment he pronounc'd: "Because thou hast hearken'd to the voice of thy wife, And eaten of the tree concerning which I charg'd thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof: 205 Sin and Death become aware in some wonderful manner of Satan's success, and prepare a road from hell to the earth, Satan returns to hell, and convenes a council to listen to the narrative of his triumph, but God punishes his pride by transforming him and his accomplices into serpents. BOOK XI. THE ARGUMENT. God accepts the prayers of our first parents, but declares that they must no longer abide in Paradise; sends Michael with a band of cherubim to dispossess them; but first to reveal to Adam future things; Michael's coming down. "O SONS, like one of us man is become 85 90 90 95 And send him from the garden forth to till The ground whence he was taken, fitter soil. 100 Thy choice of flaming warriors, lest the Fiend, Or in behalf of man, or to invade Vacant possession, some new trouble raise: Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God Without remorse drive out the sinful pair; 105 110 115 If patiently thy bidding they obey, To spirits foul, and all my trees their prey; 120 With whose stol'n fruit man once more to delude." In the remainder of the book, Michael, according to God's instructions, takes Adam up to a high hill, and shows him in vision the history of his descendants till the time of the Flood. In the twelfth book, Michael narrates to Adam the history of man from the flood to the end of the world, dwelling specially on the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus Christ, the descendant of the woman who undid the work of the devil. After descending from the mount, the angel proceeds to fulfil his commission by expelling our first parents from Eden: their expulsion is thus described. |