62
And destined, man himself, to judge man fallen.
63
So spoke the Father and, unfolding bright
64
Toward the right hand His glory, on the Son
65
Blazed forth unclouded Deity. He full
66
Resplendent all his Father manifest
67
Expressed, and thus divinely answered mild:
68
“Father Eternal, Thine is to decree,
69
Mine, both in Heav’n and earth, to do Thy will
70
Supreme, that Thou in me, Thy Son beloved,
71
May’st ever rest well pleased. I go to judge
72
On earth these Thy transgressors, but Thou know’st,
73
Whoever judged, the worst on me must light,5209
74
When time shall be, for so I undertook
75
Before Thee, and not repenting, this obtain5210
76
Of right, that I may mitigate5211 their doom5212
77
On me derived.5213 Yet I shall temper so
78
Justice with mercy, as may illustrate5214 most
79
Them fully satisfied,5215 and Thee appease. 5216
80
Attendance5217 none shall need,5218 nor train, where none
81
Are to behold the judgment but the judged,
82
Those two. The third,5219 best absent,5220 is condemned,
83
Convict 5221 by flight, and rebel to all law.
84
Conviction5222 to the serpent5223 none belongs.
85
Thus saying, from his radiant seat he rose
86
Of high collateral 5224 glory. Him Thrones, and Powers,
87
Princedoms, and Dominations ministrant 5225
88
Accompanied to Heaven-gate, from whence
89
Eden, and all the coast, in prospect lay.
90
Down he descended straight: the speed of gods
91
Time counts not, though with swiftest minutes winged.
92
Now was the sun in western cadence5226 low
93
From noon, and gentle airs, due at their hour,
94
To fan the earth now waked, and usher in
95
The ev’ning cool, when He, from wrath more cool,
96
Came the mild Judge and Intercessor5227 both,
97
To sentence man. The voice of God they heard
98
Now walking in the garden, by soft winds
99
Brought to their ears, while day decline. They heard,
100
And from His presence hid themselves among
101
The thickest trees, both man and wife, till God,
102
Approaching, thus to Adam called aloud:
103
“Where art thou, Adam, wont with joy to meet
104
My coming seen far off? I miss thee here,
105
Not pleased, thus entertained 5228 with solitude,
106
Where obvious duty erewhile appeared unsought.
107
Or 5229 come I less conspicuous,5230 or what change
108
Absents thee, or what chance detains? Come forth.
109
He came, and with him Eve, more loath, though first
110
T’ offend. Discount’nanced 5231 both, and discomposed.5232
111
Love was not in their looks, either to God
112
Or to each other, but apparent5233 guilt,
113
And shame, and perturbation, and despair,
114
Anger, and obstinacy, and hate, and guile.
115
Whence Adam, falt’ring long, thus answered brief:
116
“I heard Thee in the garden, and of Thy voice
117
Afraid, being naked hid myself.” To whom
118
The gracious Judge, without revile, 5234 replied:
119
“My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared,
120
But still rejoiced, How is it now become
121
So dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who
122
Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree
123
Whereof I gave thee charge5235 thou should’st not eat?
124
To whom thus Adam sore beset 5236 replied:
125
“O Heav’n! In evil strait 5237 this day I stand
126
Before my Judge, either to undergo5238
127
Myself the total crime, or to accuse
128
My other self, the partner of my life,
129
Whose failing, while her faith to me remains,
130
I should conceal, and not expose to blame
131
By my complaint. But strict necessity
132
Subdues me, and calamitous5239 constraint,
133
Lest on my head both sin and punishment,
134
However insupportable, 5240 be all
135
Devolved.5241 Though should I hold my peace, yet Thou
136
Would’st easily detect what I conceal.
137
“This woman, whom Thou mad’st to be my help,
138
And gav’st me as Thy perfect gift, so good,
139
So fit, so acceptable, 5242 so divine,
140
That from her hand I could suspect no ill,
141
And what she did, whatever in itself,
142
Her doing seemed to justify the deed.
143
She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
144
To whom the sov’reign Presence thus replied:
145
“Was she thy God, that her thou did’st obey
146
Before His voice? Or was she made thy guide,
147
Superior, 5243 or but5244 equal, that to her
148
Thou did’st resign thy manhood, and the place
149
Wherein God set thee above her, made of thee
150
And for thee, whose perfection far excelled
151
Hers in all real 5245 dignity?5246 Adorned
152
She was indeed, and lovely, to attract
153
Thy love, not thy subjection, and her gifts
154
Were such, as under government5247 well seemed,
155
Unseemly 5248 to bear rule, which was thy part
156
And person,5249 had’st thou known thyself aright.
157
So having said, He thus to Eve in few:
158
“Say, woman, what is this which thou hast done?
159
To whom sad Eve, with shame nigh overwhelmed,
160
Confessing soon,5250 yet not before her Judge
161
Bold or loquacious,5251 thus abashed replied:
162
“The serpent me beguiled, and I did eat.
163
Which when the Lord God heard, without delay
164
To judgment He proceeded on th’ accused
165
/>
Serpent (though brute, unable to transfer
166
The guilt on him who made him instrument
167
Of mischief, and polluted from the end5252
168
Of his creation), justly then accursed,
169
As vitiated5253 in Nature. More to know
170
Concerned not man (since he no further knew)
171
Nor altered his offense. Yet God at last5254
172
To Satan ( first in sin) his doom5255 applied,
173
Though in mysterious5256 terms, judged
174
And on the serpent thus His curse let fall:
175
“Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed
176
Above all cattle, 5257 each beast of the field.
177
Upon thy belly groveling thou shalt go,
178
And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.
179
Between thee and the woman I will put
180
Enmity, and between thine and her seed.
181
Her seed shall bruise5258 thy head, thou bruise his heel.
182
So spoke this oracle, then verified
183
When Jesus, Son of Mary, second Eve,
184
Saw Satan fall, like lightning, down from Heav’n,
185
Prince of the air. Then rising from his5259 grave
186
Spoiled 5260 Principalities and Powers, triumphed
187
In open show5261 and, with ascension bright,
188
Captivity led captive through the air,
189
The realm itself of Satan, long usurped,5262
190
Whom he 5263 shall tread at last under our feet,
191
Ev’n he, 5264 who now foretold his5265 fatal bruise, 5266
192
And to the woman thus His sentence turned:
193
“Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply
194
By thy conception.5267 Children thou shalt bring
195
In sorrow forth, and to thy husband’s will
196
Thine shall submit. He over thee shall rule.
197
On Adam last thus judgment He pronounced:
198
“Because thou hast heark’ned to the voice of thy wife,
199
And eaten of the tree, concerning which
200
I charged thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat thereof,
201
Cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thou in sorrow
202
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life.
203
Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth
204
Unbid,5268 and thou shalt eat th’ herb of the field.
205
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
206
Till thou return unto the ground, for thou
207
Out of the ground wast taken: know thy birth,
208
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.
209
So judged He man, both Judge and Savior sent,
210
And th’ instant stroke of death denounced 5269 that day,
211
Removed far off. Then pitying how they stood
212
Before Him, naked to the air, that now
213
Must suffer change, disdained not to begin
214
Thenceforth the form of servant to assume,
215
As when He washed His servant’s feet. So now,
216
As Father of His family, He clad
217
Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain,
218
Or as the snake with youthful coat5270 repaid,5271
219
And thought not much5272 to clothe His enemies.
220
Nor He their outward only with the skins
221
Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more
222
Opprobrious,5273 with His robe of righteousness
223
Arraying, covered from His Father’s sight.
224
To Him with swift ascent he up returned,
225
Into His blissful bosom reassumed
226
In glory, as of old. To Him appeased,5274
227
All (though all-knowing) what had passed with man
228
Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.
229
Meanwhile, ere thus was sinned and judged on earth,
230
Within the gates of Hell sat Sin and Death,
231
In counterview5275 within the gates, that now
232
Stood open wide, belching outrageous5276 flame
233
Far into Chaos, since the fiend passed through,
234
Sin opening, 5277 who thus now to Death began:
235
“O son, why sit we here, each other viewing
236
Idly, while Satan, our great author, thrives
237
In other worlds, and happier seat5278 provides
238
For us, his offspring dear? It cannot be
239
But that success attends him. If mishap,
240
Ere this he had returned, with fury driv’n
241
By his avengers, since no place like this
242
Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.
243
Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,
244
Wings growing, and dominion5279 giv’n me large5280
245
Beyond this deep. Whatever draws me on,5281
246
Or5282 sympathy, 5283 or some connatural 5284 force,
247
Powerful 5285 at greatest distance to unite,
248
With secret amity, things of like kind,
249
By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade
250
Inseparable, must with me along,
251
For Death from Sin no power can separate.
252
But lest the difficulty of passing back
253
Stay his return, perhaps, over this gulf 5286
254
Impassable, impervious,5287 let us try
255
Advent’rous5288 work, yet to thy power and mine
256
Not unagreeable, to found 5289 a path
257
Over this main5290 from Hell to that new world
258
Where Satan now prevails, a monument
259
Of merit high to all th’ infernal host,
260
Easing their passage hence, for intercourse5291
261
Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead.
262
Nor can I miss5292 the way, so strongly drawn
263
By this new-felt attraction and instinct.
264
Whom thus the meager shadow answered soon:
265
“Go whither Fate and inclination strong
266
Leads thee. I shall not lag behind, nor err5293
267
The way, thou leading—such a scent I draw5294
268
Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste5
295
269
The savor of death from all things there that live.
270
Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest5296
271
Be wanting, 5297 but afford thee equal aid.
272
So saying, with delight he snuffed the smell
The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems Page 51
