239
His danger, and from whom—what enemy,
240
Late fall’n himself from Heav’n, is plotting now
241
The fall of others from like state of bliss.
242
By violence? No, for that shall be withstood,3374
243
But by deceit and lies. This let him know
244
Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend 3375
245
Surprisal, unadmonished,3376 unforewarned.
246
So spoke the Eternal Father, and fulfilled3377
247
All justice. Nor delayed the wingèd Saint
248
After his charge3378 received, but from among
249
Thousand celestial Ardors,3379 where he stood
250
Veiled 3380 with his gorgeous3381 wings, up springing light,
251
Flew through the midst of Heav’n. Th’ angelic choirs,
252
On each hand parting, to his speed gave way
253
Through all th’ empyreal road, till at the gate
254
Of Heav’n arrived, the gate self-opened wide
255
On golden hinges turning, as by work
256
Divine the sov’reign Architect had framed.3382
257
From hence no cloud, or to obstruct his sight,
258
Star interposed,3383 however small, he sees,
259
Not unconform3384 to other shining globes,
260
Earth, and the garden of God, with cedars crowned
261
Above all hills. As when by night the glass
262
Of Galileo, less assured,3385 observes
263
Imagined lands and regions in the moon,
264
Or pilot from amidst the Cyclades3386
265
Delos3387 or Samos3388 first appearing, kens3389
266
A cloudy spot. Down thither prone3390 in flight
267
He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
268
Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing
269
Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan3391
270
Winnows3392 the buxom3393 air, till within soar3394
271
Of tow’ring eagles, to all the fowls he seems
272
A phoenix,3395 gazed 3396 by all as that sole3397 bird,
273
When, to enshrine his3398 relics in the sun’s
274
Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
275
At once on th’ eastern cliff of Paradise
276
He3399 lights, and to his proper shape returns,
277
A Seraph winged. Six wings he wore, to shade
278
His lineaments3400 divine. The pair that clad
279
Each shoulder broad, came mantling3401 o’er his breast
280
With regal ornament; the middle pair
281
Girt like a starry zone3402 his waist, and round
282
Skirted3403 his loins and thighs with downy3404 gold
283
And colors dipped 3405 in Heav’n; the third his feet
284
Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
285
Sky-tinctured 3406 grain.3407 Like Maia’s son3408 he stood
286
And shook his plumes,3409 that 3410 Heav’nly fragrance filled
287
The circuit wide. 3411 Straight knew him all the bands
288
Of Angels under3412 watch, and to his state,
289
And to his message high, in honor rise,
290
For on some message high they guessed him bound.
291
Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come
292
Into the blissful 3413 field, through groves of myrrh,
293
And flowering odors, cassia, nard,3414 and balm—
294
A wilderness of sweets. For Nature here
295
Wantoned 3415 as in her prime, and played at will
296
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet,
297
Wild above3416 rule or art, enormous bliss.
298
Him through the spicy3417 forest onward come
299
Adam discerned, as in the door he sat
300
Of his cool bow’r, while now the mounted sun
301
Shot down direct his fervid 3418 rays to warm
302
Earth’s inmost womb, more warmth than Adam needs.
303
And Eve within, due3419 at her hour prepared
304
For dinner savory fruits, of taste to please
305
True appetite, and not disrelish3420 thirst
306
Of nectarous draughts between, from milky stream,
307
Berry or grape. To whom thus Adam called:
308
“Haste hither, Eve, and worth thy sight behold
309
Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape
310
Comes this way moving, seems another morn
311
Ris’n on mid-noon! Some great behest3421 from Heav’n
312
To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe3422
313
This day to be our guest. But go with speed,
314
And what thy stores contain bring forth, and pour
315
Abundance, fit to honor and receive
316
Our Heav’nly stranger. Well we may afford
317
Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow3423
318
From large3424 bestowed, where Nature multiplies
319
Her fertile growth, and by disburthening3425 grows
320
More fruitful, which instructs us not to spare.”3426
321
To whom thus Eve:
“Adam, earth’s hallowed 3427
mold,3428
322
Of God inspired, small store3429 will serve, 3430 where store,
323
All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk,
324
Save what by frugal3431 storing3432 firmness gains
325
To nourish, and superfluous3433 moist3434 consumes.
326
But I will haste, and from each bough and brake, 3435
327
Each plant and juiciest gourd, will pluck such choice
328
To entertain our Angel-guest, as he
329
Beholding shall confess, that here on earth
330
God hath dispensed His bounties as in Heav’n.
331
So saying, with dispatchful 3436 looks in haste
332
She turns, on hospitable3437 thoughts intent
333
What choice to choose for delicacy best,
334
What order, so contrived as not to mix
335
Tastes not well joined, inelegant, but bring
336
Taste after taste upheld 3438 with kindliest 3439 change.
337
Bestirs3440 her then, and from each tender stalk
338
Whatever earth, all-bearing mother, yie
lds
339
In India east or west, or middle shore3441
340
In Pontus3442 or the Punic3443 coast, or where
341
Alcinous3444 reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat
342
Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell,
343
She gathers tribute3445 large, and on the board 3446
344
Heaps with unsparing hand. For drink the grape
345
She crushes, inoffensive must,3447 and mead
346
From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed
347
She tempers3448 dulcet3449 creams.3450 Nor these to hold
348
Wants3451 her fit3452 vessels pure. Then strews the ground
349
With rose and odors from the shrub unfumed.3453
350
Meanwhile our primitive3454 great sire, to meet
351
His godlike guest, walks forth, without more train
352
Accompanied than with his own complete
353
Perfections. In himself was all his state,
354
More solemn3455 than the tedious pomp that waits
355
On princes, when their rich retinue long
356
Of horses led, and grooms besmeared with gold,
357
Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.
358
Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed,
359
Yet with submiss3456 approach and reverence meek,
360
As to a superior nature bowing low,
361
Thus said:
“Native of Heav’n, for other pla
362
None can than Heav’n such glorious shape contain,
363
Since by descending from the thrones above
364
Those happy places thou hast deigned a while
365
To want,3457 and honor these, vouchsafe3458 with us
366
Two only, who yet by sov’reign gift possess
367
This spacious ground, in yonder shady bow’r
368
To rest, and what the garden choicest bears
369
To sit and taste, till this meridian3459 heat
370
Be over, and the sun more cool decline.”3460
371
Whom thus the angelic Virtue3461 answered mild:
372
“Adam, I therefore came, nor art thou such
373
Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
374
As may not oft invite, though Spirits of Heav’n,
375
To visit thee. Lead on, then, where thy bow’r
376
O’ershades, for these mid-hours, till evening rise,
377
I have at will.”3462 So to the sylvan3463 lodge
378
They came, that like Pomona’s3464 arbor3465 smiled,
379
With flow’rets decked, and fragrant smells. But Eve,
380
Undecked save with herself, more lovely fair
381
Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess feigned 3466
382
Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,3467
383
Stood to entertain her guest from Heav’n. No veil3468
384
She needed, virtue-proof: no thought infirm3469
385
Altered her cheek. On whom the Angel “Hail”
386
Bestowed, the holy salutation used
387
Long after to blest Mary, second Eve:
388
“Hail, mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb
389
Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,
390
Than with these various fruits the trees of God
391
Have heaped this table!
—Raised of grassy tur
392
Their table was, and mossy seats had round,
393
And on her ample square3470 from side to side
394
All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here
395
Danced hand in hand. A while discourse they hold—
396
No fear lest dinner cool—when thus began
397
Our author:3471
“Heav’nly stranger, please to taste
398
These bounties,3472 which our Nourisher, from whom
399
All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends,
400
To us for food and for delight hath caused
401
The earth to yield—unsavory food perhaps
402
To spiritual natures. Only this I know,
403
That one celestial Father gives to all.
404
To whom the Angel:
“Therefore what He gives
405
(Whose praise be ever sung) to man in part 3473
406
Spiritual, may of purest Spirits be found
407
No ungrateful3474 food. And food alike those pure
408
Intelligential substances require,
409
As doth your rational,3475 and both3476 contain
410
Within them every lower faculty
411
Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste,
412
Tasting concoct,3477 digest, assimilate,
413
And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
414
For know, whatever was created, needs
415
To be sustained and fed. Of elements
416
The grosser feeds the purer, earth the sea,
417
Earth and the sea feed air, the air those fires
418
Ethereal, and as lowest first the moon,
419
Whence in her visage round 3478 those spots, unpurged 3479
420
Vapors not yet into her substance turned.
421
Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale
422
From her moist continent3480 to higher orbs.
423
The sun, that light imparts to all, receives
424
From all3481 his alimental 3482 recompence
425
In humid exhalations, and at ev’n3483
426
3484 with the ocean. Though in Heav’n the trees
427
Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
428
Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn
429
We brush mellifluous3485 dews, and find the ground
430
Covered with pearly grain; yet God hath here3486
431
Varied His bounty so with new delights
432
As may compare with Heaven, and to taste
433
Think not I shall be nice.”3487 So down they sat,
434
And to their viands3488 fell, nor seemingly3489
435
The Angel, nor in mist,3490 the common gloss3491
436
Of theologians, but with keen dispatch
437
Of real 3492 hunger, and concoctive3493 heat
438
To transubstantiate. 3494 What redounds,3495 transpires3496
439
Through Spirits with ease—nor wonder,
if by fire
440
Of sooty coal the empiric3497 alchemist
441
Can turn, or holds it possible to turn,
442
The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Page 31
