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��PARADISE LOST

��The sacred Fruit forbidden ? Some cursed

fraud

Of enemy hath beguiled thee, yet unknown, And me with thee hath ruined; for with

thee

Certain my resolution is to die. How can I live without thee ? how forgo Thy sweet converse, and love so dearly

joined,

To live again in these wild woods forlorn ? Should God create another Eve, and I 911 Another rib afford, yet loss of thee Would never from my heart. No, no ! I

feel

The link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh, Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy

state

Mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe." So having said, as one from sad dismay Recomf orted, and, after thoughts disturbed, Submitting to what seemed remediless, Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he

turned: 920

" Bold deed thou hast presumed, adven-

trous Eve, And peril great provoked, who thus hast

dared

Had it been only coveting to eye That sacred Food, sacred to abstinence; Much more to taste it, under ban to touch. But past who can recall, or done undo ? Not God Omnipotent, nor Fate ! Yet so Perhaps thou shalt not die; perhaps the

fact

Is not so hainous now foretasted Fruit, Profaned first by the Serpent, by him

first Made common and unhallowed ere our

taste, 931

Nor yet on him found deadly. He yet

lives Lives, as thou saidst, and gains to live, as

Man,

Higher degree of life : inducement strong To us, as likely, tasting, to attain Proportional ascent; which cannot be But to be Gods, or Angels, Demi-gods. Nor can I think that God, Creator wise, Though threatening, will in earnest so de- stroy

Us, his prime creatures, dignified so high, Set overall his works; which, in our fall, For us created, needs with us must fail, 942 Dependent made. So God shall uncreate, Be frustrate, do, undo, and labour lose

��Not well conceived of God; who, though

his power

Creation could repeat, yet would be loth Us to abolish, lest the Adversary Triumph and say : ' Fickle their state whom

God Most favours ; who can please him long ?

Me first He ruined, now Mankind; whom will he

next ? ' 950

Matter of scorn not to be given the Foe. However, I with thee have fixed my lot, Certain to undergo like doom. If death Consort with thee, death is to me as life ; So forcible within my heart I feel The bond of Nature draw me to my own My own in thee ; for what thou art is mine. Our state cannot be severed; we are one, One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself." So Adam ; and thus Eve to him re-

plied: 960

" O glorious trial of exceeding love, Illustrious evidence, example high ! Ingaging me to emulate; but, short Of thy perfection, how shall I attain, Adam ? from whose dear side I boast me

sprung,

And gladly of our union hear thee speak, One heart, one soul in both; whereof good

proof

This day affords, declaring thee resolved, Rather than death, or aught than death

more dread,

Shall separate us, linked in love so dear, 970 To undergo with me one guilt, one crime, If any be, of tasting this fair Fruit; Whose virtue (for of good still good pro-

ceeds,

Direct, or by occasion) hath presented This happy trial of thy love, which else So eminently never had been known. Were it I thought death menaced would

ensue

This my attempt, I would sustain alone The worst, and not persuade thee rather

die

Deserted than oblige thee with a fact 980 Pernicious to thy peace, chiefly assured Remarkably so late of thy so true, So faithful love unequalled. But I feel Far otherwise the event not death, but

life Augmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new

��Taste so divine that what of sweet before

�� �