Page:Paradise lost by Milton, John.djvu/170

164 Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape. Nearer his presence, Adam, though not awed, Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek, As to a superior nature, bowing low, Thus said:—"Native of Heaven—for other place None can than Heaven such glorious shape contain— Since, by descending from the Thrones above, Those happy places thou hast deigned awhile To want, and honor these, vouchsafe with us, Two only, who yet by sovran gift possess This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower To rest, and what the garden choicest bears To sit and taste, till this meridian heat Be over, and the sun more cool decline."
 * Whom thus the angelic Virtue answered mild:

"Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such Created, or such place hast here to dwell, As may not oft invite, though Spirits of Heaven To visit thee. Lead on then where thy bower O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise, I have at will."—So to the silvan lodge They came, that like Pomona's arbor smiled, With flowerets decked, and fragrant smells; but Eve, Undecked save with herself, more lovely fair Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess feigned Of three that in mount Ida naked strove,