Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/241

 BOOK NINTH

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��Thou sever not: trial will come unsought. Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, ap- prove First thy obedience; the other who can

know,

Not seeing thee attempted, who attest ? But, if thou think trial unsought may find Us both securer than thus warned thou seem'st, 371

Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee

more.

Go in thy native innocence; rely On what thou hast of virtue; summon all; For God towards thee hath done his part:

do thine." So spake the Patriarch of Mankind; but

Eve

Persisted; yet submiss, though last, re- plied: " With thy permission, then, and thus

forewarned, Chiefly by what thy own last reasoning

words

Touched only, that our trial, when least sought, 380

May find us both perhaps far less prepared, The willinger I go, nor much expect A Foe so proud will first the weaker seek; So bent, the more shall shame him his re- pulse." Thus saying, from her husband's hand

her hand Soft she withdrew, and, like a wood-nymph

light,

Oread or Dryad, or of Delia's train, Betook her to the groves, but Delia's self In gait surpassed and goddess-like deport, Though not as she with bow and quiver armed, 390

But with such gardening tools as Art, yet

rude, Guiltless of fire had formed, or Angels

brought.

To Pales, or Pomona, thus adorned, Likest she seemed Pomona when she

fled

Vertumnus or to Ceres in her prime, Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove. Her long with ardent look his eye pursued Delighted, but desiring more her stay. Oft he to her his charge of quick return Repeated; she to him as oft engaged 400 To be returned by noon amid the bower, And all things in best order to invite Noontide repast, or afternoon's repose.

��O much deceived, much failing, hapless

Eve,

Of thy presumed return ! event perverse ! Thou never from that hour in Paradise Found'st either sweet repast or sound re- pose ; Such ambush, hid among sweet flowers and

shades,

Waited, with hellish rancour imminent, To intercept thy way, or send thee back 410 Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss. For now, and since first break of dawn, the

Fiend, Mere Serpent in appearance, forth was

come, And on his quest where likeliest he might

find

The only two of mankind, but in them The whole included race, his purposed prey. In bower and field he sought, where any

tuft

Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay, Their tendance or plantation for delight; By fountain or by shady rivulet 420

He sought them both, but wished his hap

might find

Eve separate ; he wished, but not with hope Of what so seldom chanced, when to his

wish,

Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies, Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she

stood,

Half-spied, so thick the roses bushing round About her glowed, oft stooping to support Each flower of tender stalk, whose head,

though gay Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with

gold, Hung drooping unsustained. Them she

upstays 430

Gently with myrtle band, mindless the

while

Herself, though fairest unsupported flower, From her best prop so far, and storm so

nigh.

Nearer he drew, and many a walk tra- versed

Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm; Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen Among thick-woven arborets, and flowers Imbordered on each bank, the hand of Eve : Spot more delicious than those gardens

feigned

Or of revived Adonis, or renowned 44*

Alcinoiis, host of old Laertes' son,

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