Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/251

 BOOK TENTH

��209

��Let none henceforth seek needless cause to

approve 1 140

The faith they owe; when earnestly they

seek Such proof, conclude they then begin to

fail." To whom, soon moved with touch of

blame, thus Eve: " What words have passed thy lips, Adam

severe ?

Imput'st thou that to my default, or will Of wandering, as thou call'st it, which who

knows But might as ill have happened thou being

t>y>

Or to thyself perhaps ? Hadst thou been there,

Or here the attempt, thou couldst not have discerned

Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake; 1150

No ground of enmity between us known

Why he should mean me ill or seek to harm.

Was I to have never parted from thy side ?

As good have grown there still, a lifeless rib.

Being as I am, why didst not thou, the Head,

Command me absolutely not to go,

Going into such danger, as thou saidst ?

Too facile then, thou didst not much gain- say,

Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dis- miss.

Hadst thou been firm and fixed in thy dis- sent, 1160

��Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with

me."

To whom, then first incensed, Adam re- plied:

" Is this the love, is this the recompense Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve, expressed Immutable when thou wert lost, not I Who might have lived, and joyed immortal

bliss,

Yet willingly chose rather death with thee ? And am I now upbraided as the cause Of thy transgressing ? not enough severe, It seems, in thy restraint ! What could 1 more ? n 70

I warned thee, I admonished thee, foretold The danger, and the lurking Enemy That lay in wait; beyond this had been

force,

And force upon free will hath here no place. But confidence then bore thee on, secure Either to meet no danger, or to find Matter of glorious trial; and perhaps I also erred in overmuch admiring What seemed in thee so perfet that I

thought

No evil durst attempt thee. But I rue no That error now, which is become my crime, And thou the accuser. Thus it shall befall Him who, to worth in women overtrusting, Lets her will rule: restraint she will not

brook;

And, left to herself, if evil thence ensue, She first his weak indulgence will accuse."

Thus they in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours, but neither self-con- demning; And of their vain contest' appeared no end.

��BOOK X

��THE ARGUMENT

Man's transgression known, the guardian Angels for- sake Paradise, and return up to Heaven to approve their vigilance, and are approved; God declaring that the entrance of Satan could not be by them prevented. He sends his Son to judge the Transgressors; who de- scends, and gives sentence accordingly; then, in pity, clothes them both, and reascends. Sin and Death, sit- ting till then at the gates of Hell, by wondrous sympa- thy feeling the success of Satan in this new World, and the sin by Man there committed, resolve to sit no longer confined in Hell, but to follow Satan, their sire, up to the place of Man : to make the way easier from Hell to this World to and fro, they pave a broad high- way or bridge over Chaos, according to the track that Satan first made ; then, preparing for Earth, they meet him, proud of his success, returning to Hell; their mu-

��tual gratulation. Satan arrives at Pandemonium ; in full assembly relates, with boasting, his success against Man ; instead of applause is entertained with a general hiss by all his audience, transformed, with himself also, suddenly into Serpents, according to his doom given in Paradise; then, deluded with a shew of the For- bidden Tree springing up before them, they, greedily reaching to take of the Fruit, chew dust and bitter ashes. The proceedings of Sin and Death : God fore- tells the final victory of his Son over them, and the re- newing of all things; but, for the present, commands his Angels to make several alterations in the Heavens and Elements. Adam, more and more perceiving his fallen condition, heavily bewails, rejects the condole- ment of Eve; she persists, and at length appeases him: then, to evade the curse likely to fall on their off- spring, proposes to Adam violent ways; which he ap- proves not, but, conceiving better hope, puts her in mind of the late promise made them, that her seed should be revenged on the Serpent, and exhorts her, with him, to seek peace of the offended Deity by re. pentance and supplication.

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