The Annotated Milton: Complete English Poems
Page 58
412
Michael from Adam’s eyes the film removed,
413
Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight
414
Had bred, then purged with euphrasy5966 and rue5967
415
The visual nerve, for he had much to see,
416
And from the well of life three drops instilled.
417
So deep the power of these ingredients pierced,
418
Ev’n to the inmost seat of mental sight,
419
That Adam, now enforced5968 to close his eyes,
420
Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced.
421
But him the gentle Angel by the hand
422
Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled:
423
“Adam, now ope thine eyes, and first behold
424
Th’ effects, which thy original crime hath wrought
425
In some to spring from thee, who never touched
426
Th’ excepted 5969 tree, nor with the snake conspired,
427
Nor sinned thy sin, yet from that sin derive5970
428
Corruption to bring forth more violent deeds.”
429
His eyes he opened, and beheld a field,
430
Part arable 5971 and tilth,5972 whereon were sheaves
431
New reaped, the other part sheep-walks and folds.
432
In th’ midst an altar as the landmark stood,
433
Rustic, of grassy sord.5973 Thither 5974 anon5975
434
A sweaty reaper5976 from his tillage brought
435
First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf,
436
Unculled,5977 as5978 came to hand. A shepherd next,
437
More meek,5979 came with the firstlings of his flock,
438
Choicest and best, then sacrificing, laid
439
The inwards5980 and their fat, with incense strewn,
440
On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed.
441
His offering soon propitious5981 fire from Heav’n
442
Consumed with nimble 5982 glance5983 and grateful steam;
443
The other’s5984 not, for his was not sincere,
444
Whereat he inly raged and, as they talked,
445
Smote him5985 into the midriff with a stone
446
That beat out life. He fell, and deadly pale
447
Groaned out his soul with gushing blood effused.5986
448
Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
449
Dismayed, and thus in haste to th’ Angel cried:
450
“O Teacher, some great mischief 5987 hath befall’n
451
To that meek man, who well had sacrificed.
452
Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?”
453
T’ whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied:
454
“These two are brethren, Adam, and to come
455
Out of thy loins. Th’ unjust the just hath slain,
456
For envy that his brother’s offering found
457
From Heav’n acceptance. But the bloody fact5988
458
Will be avenged, and th’ other’s faith, approved,5989
459
Lose no reward, though here thou see him die,
460
Rolling in dust and gore.”5990 To which our sire:
461
“Alas! both for the deed, and for the cause!
462
But have I now seen Death? Is this the way
463
I must return to native 5991 dust? O sight
464
Of terror, foul and ugly to behold,
465
Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!”
466
To whom thus Michael:5992
“Death thou hast seen
467
In his first shape on man, but many shapes5993
468
Of Death, and many are the ways that lead
469
To his grim cave, all dismal, yet to sense
470
More terrible at th’ entrance, than within.
471
Some, as thou saw’st, by violent stroke shall die,
472
By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more
473
In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
474
Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew
475
Before thee shall appear, that thou may’st know
476
What misery th’ inabstinence5994 of Eve
477
Shall bring on men.”
Immediately a place
478
Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome,5995 dark,
479
A lazar 5996 -house it seemed, wherein were laid
480
Numbers of all diseased, all maladies
481
Of ghastly spasm, or racking 5997 torture, qualms5998
482
Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
483
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,5999
484
Intestine stone and ulcer, colic 6000 pangs,
485
Daemoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
486
And moon-struck6001 madness, pining6002 atrophy,6003
487
Marasmus,6004 and wide-wasting pestilence,6005
488
Dropsies,6006 and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.
489
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans. Despair
490
Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch,
491
And over them triumphant Death his dart
492
Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked
493
With vows, as their chief good and final hope.
494
Sight so deform6007 what heart of rock could long
495
Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,
496
Though not of woman born. Compassion quelled6008
497
His best of man, and gave him up to tears
498
A space, till firmer thoughts restrained excess
499
And, scarce recovering words, his plaint renewed:
500
“O miserable mankind, to what fall
501
Degraded, to what wretched state reserved!
502
Better end here unborn. Why is life giv’n
503
To be thus wrested 6009 from us? Rather, why
504
Obtruded6010 on us thus? Who, if we knew
505
What we receive, would either not accept
506
Life offered, or soon beg to lay it down,
507
Glad to be so dismissed in peace. Can thus
508
The image of God in man, created once
509
So goodly6011 and erect, though faulty since,
510
To such unsightly sufferings be debased
511
Under inhuman pains? Why should not man,
512
Retaining still divine similitude6012
513
514
And, for his Maker’s image sake, exempt?”
515
“Their Maker’s image,” answered Michael, “then
516
Forsook them, when themselves they vilified 6013
517
To serve ungoverned appetite, and took
518
His image whom they served, a brutish6014 vice,
519
Inductive6015 mainly to the sin of Eve.
520
Therefore so abject is their punishment,
521
Disfiguring not God’s likeness, but their own,
522
Or if His likeness, by themselves defaced,
523
While they pervert pure Nature’s healthful rules
524
To loathsome sickness—worthily, since they
525
God’s image did not reverence in themselves.”
526
“I yield it just,” said Adam, “and submit.
527
But is there yet no other way, besides
528
These painful passages,6016 how we may come
529
To Death, and mix with our connatural 6017 dust?”
530
“There is,” said Michael, “if thou well observe
531
The rule of not too much, by temperance taught,
532
In what thou eat’st and drink’st, seeking from thence
533
Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,
534
Till many years over thy head return.6018
535
So may’st thou live till, like ripe fruit, thou drop
536
Into thy mother’s lap, or be with ease
537
Gathered, nor harshly plucked, for Death mature:
538
This is old age. But then thou must outlive
539
Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change
540
To withered, weak, and gray. Thy senses, then
541
Obtuse,6019 all taste of pleasure must forego,6020
542
To what thou hast 6021 and, for the air of youth,
543
Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reign
544
A melancholy damp6022 of cold and dry
545
To weigh thy spirits down, and last6023 consume
546
The balm of life.” To whom our ancestor:
547
“Henceforth I fly not Death, nor would prolong
548
Life much, bent 6024 rather how I may be quit,6025
549
Fairest and easiest, of this cumbrous6026 charge,6027
550
Which I must keep till my appointed day
551
Of rend’ring up,6028 and patiently attend6029
552
My dissolution.” Michael6030 replied:
553
“Nor6031 love thy life, nor hate, but what thouliv’st
554
Live well. How long, or short, permit 6032 to Heav’n.
555
And now prepare thee for another sight.”
556
He looked, and saw a spacious plain whereon
557
Were tents of various hue. By some,6033 were herds
558
Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound
559
Of instruments, that made melodious chime,6034
560
Was heard, of harp and organ, and who6035 moved
561
Their stops and chords was seen, his volant 6036 touch,
562
Instinct 6037 through all proportions, low and high,
563
Fled and pursued transverse the resonant fugue.
564
In other part stood one who, at the forge
565
Laboring, two massy clods of iron and brass
566
Had melted (whether found where casual6038 fire
567
Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale,
568
Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot
569
To some cave’s mouth, or whether washed by stream
570
From underground). The liquid ore he drained
571
Into fit moulds prepared, from which he formed
572
First his own tools, then what might else be wrought,6039
573
Fusil6040 or graven6041 in metal. After these,
574
But on the hither 6042 side, a different sort
575
From the high neighboring hills, which was their seat,
576
Down to the plain descended. By their guise6043
577
Just 6044 men they seemed, and all their study bent
578
To worship God aright, and know His works
579
Not hid, nor those things last 6045 which might preserve
580
Freedom and peace to men. They on the plain
581
Long had not walked when, from the tents, behold!
582
A bevy6046 of fair women, richly gay
583
In gems and wanton6047 dress! To th’ harp they sung
584
Soft amorous ditties,6048 and in dance came on.6049
585
The men, though grave,6050 eyed them, and let their eyes
586
Rove without rein till, in the amorous net
587
Fast caught, they liked, and each his liking chose,
588
And now of love they treat,6051 till the ev’ningstar, 6052
589
Love’s harbinger,6053 appeared. Then all in heat
590
They light the nuptial torch, and bid6054 invoke6055
591
Hymen,6056 then first 6057 to marriage rites invoked:
592
With feast and music all the tents resound.
593
Such happy6058 interview6059 and fair event 6060
594
Of love and youth not lost, songs, garlands, flow’rs,
595
And charming symphonies,6061 attached6062 the heart
596
Of Adam, soon inclined t’ admit 6063 delight,
597
The bent6064 of Nature, which he thus expressed:
598
“True opener of mine eyes, prime Angel blest,
599
Much better seems this vision, and more hope
600
Of peaceful days portends,6065 than those two past.
601
Those were of hate and Death, or pain much worse.
602
Here Nature seems fulfilled in all her ends.”6066
603
To whom thus Michael:
“Judge not what is best
604
By pleasure, though to Nature seeming meet,6067
605
Created, as thou art, to nobler end
606
Holy and pure, conformity6068 divine.
607
Those tents thou saw’st so pleasant were the tents
608
Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race
609
Who slew his brother. Studious they appear
610
Of arts that polish6069 life, inventors rare,6070
611
Unmindful of their Maker, though His Spirit
612
Taught them, but they His gifts acknowledged none.
&n
bsp; 613
Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget,
614
For that fair female troop thou saw’st, that seemed
615
Of goddesses, so blithe,6071 so smooth, so gay,
616
Yet empty of all good wherein consists
617