Humbly our faults, and pardon beg; with tears Watering the ground, and with our sighs the air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek? Undoubtedly he will relent and turn
From his displeasure; in whose look serene, When angry most he seemed and most severe, What else but favour, grace, and mercy shone?" So spake our father penitent, nor Eve Felt less remorse; they, forthwith to the place Repairing where he judged them, prostrate fell Before him reverent; and both confessed Humbly their faults, and pardon begged with tears Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign Of sorrow unfeigned, and humiliation meek.
Sown with contrition in his heart than those Which, his own hand manuring, all the trees Of Paradise could have produced, ere fallen From innocence. Now therefore bend thine ear To supplication; hear his sighs, though mute; Unskilful with what words to pray, let me Interpret for him, me, his advocate And propitiation; all his works on me, Good or not good, ingraft; my merit those Shall perfect, and for these my death shall pay. Accept me; and in me, from these receive The smell of peace toward mankind: let him live Before thee reconciled, at least his days Numbered, though sad, till death, his doom, (which I To mitigate thus plead, not to reverse,)
To better life shall yield him; where with me All my redeemed may dwell in joy and bliss; Made one with me as I with thee am one."
To whom the Father, without cloud, serene: "All thy request for man, accepted Son, Obtain; all thy request was my decree: The Son of God presents to his Father the prayers of our But longer in that Paradise to dwell, first parents now repenting, and intercedes for them; God ac- The law I gave to nature him forbids: cepts them, but declares that they must no longer abide in Pa- Those pure immortal elements, that know radise; sends Michael with a band of cherubim to dispossess No gross, no unharmonious mixture foul, thern; but first to reveal to Adam future things: Michael's Eject him, tainted now; and purge him off he discerns Michael's approach; goes out to meet him; the As a distemper, gross, to air as gross, angel denounces their departure. Eve's lamentation. Adam And mortal food; as may dispose him best pleads, but submits: the angel leads him up to a high hill; sets before him in vision what shall happen till the flood.
coming down. Adam shows to Eve certain ominous signs;
THUS they, in lowliest plight, repentant stood Praying; for from the mercy-seat above Prevenient grace descended had removed The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh Regenerate grow instead, that sighs now breathed Unutterable; which the Spirit of prayer Inspired, and winged for Heaven with speedier flight
Than loudest oratory: yet their sport Not of mean suitors, nor important less
For dissolution wrought by sin, that first Distempered all things, and of incorrupt Corrupted. I, at first, with two fair gifts Created him endowed; with happiness And immortality: that fondly lost, This other served but to eternize wo, Till I provided death: so death becomes His final remedy; and, after life
Tried in sharp tribulation, and refined By faith and faithful works, to second life, Waked in the renovatian of the just,
Resigns him up with Heaven and earth renewed. But let us call to synod all the blest
Seemed their petition, than when the ancient pair Through Heaven's wide bounds; from them I will
In fables old, less ancient yet than these, Deucalion and chaste Pyrrha, to restore The race of mankind drowned, before the shrine Of Themis stood devout. To Heaven their prayers Flew up, nor missed the way, by envious winds Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they passed Dimensionless through heavenly doors; then, clad With incense, where the golden altar fumed, By their great Intercessor, came in sight Before the Father's throne: them the glad Son Presenting, thus to intercede began:
My judgments; how with mankind I proceed, As how with peccant angels late they saw, And in their state, though firm, stood more con- firmed."
He ended, and the Son gave signal high To the bright minister that watched; he blew His trumpet, heard in Oreb since perhaps When God descended, and perhaps once more To sound at general doom. The angelic blast Filled all the regions; from their blissful bowers
"See, Father, what first fruits on earth are Of amaranthine shade, fountain or spring,
From thy implanted grace in man, these sighs And prayers, which in this golden censer mixed With incense, I thy priest before thee bring: Fruits of more pleasing savour from thy seed
By the waters of life, where'er they sat In fellowships of joy, the sons of light Hasted, resorting to the summons high And took their seats; till from his throne supreme Th' Almighty thus pronounced his sovereign will.
"O sons, like one of us man is become To know both good and evil, since his taste Of that defended fruit; but let him boast His knowledge of good lost, and evil got; Happier! had it sufficed him to have known Good by itself, and evil not at all.
He sorrows now, repents, and prays contrite, My motions in him; longer than they move, His heart I know, how variable and vain, Self-left. Lest therefore his now bolder hand Reach also of the tree of life, and eat, And live for ever, dream at least to live For ever, to remove him I decree,
And send him from the garden forth to till The ground whence he was taken, fitter soil. Michael, this my behest have thou in charge; Take to thee from among the cherubim Thy choice of flaming warriors, lest the fiend, Or in behalf of man, or to invade Vacant possession, some new trouble raise: Haste thee, and from the Paradise of God Without revenge drive out the sinful pair; From hallowed ground the unholy; and denounce To them, and to their progeny, from thence Perpetual banishment. Yet, lest they faint At the sad sentence rigorously urged, For I behold them softened and with tears Bewailing their excess, all terror hide. If patiently thy bidding they obey, Dismiss them not disconsolate; reveal To Adam what shall come in future days, As I shall thee enlighten; intermix My covenant in the woman's seed renewed, So send them forth, though sorrowing, yet in peace And, on the east side of the garden, place, Where entrance up from Eden easiest climbs, Cherubic watch; and of a sword the flame Wide-waving; all approach far off to fright, And guard all passage to the tree of life; Lest Paradise a receptacle prove
To spirits foul, and all my trees their prey, With whose stolen fruit man once more to delude." He ceased; and the archangelic power prepared For swift descent; with him the cohort bright Of watchful cherubim: four faces each Had, like a double Janus; all their shape Spangled with eyes, more numerous than those Of Argus, and more wakeful than to drowse, Charmed with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed Of Hermus, or his opiate rod. Meanwhile, To resalute the world with sacred light, Leucothea waked, and with fresh dews embalmed The earth; when Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their orisons, and found Strength added from above, new hope to spring Out of despair; joy, but with fear yet linked; Which thus to Eve his welcome words renewed. "Eve, easily may faith admit, that all The good which we enjoy from Heaven descends;
But that from us aught should ascend to Heaven So prevalent as to concern the mind
Of God high-blest, or to incline his will, Hard to belief may seem; yet this will prayer, Or one short sigh of human breath, upborne Even to the seat of God. For since I sought By prayer the offended Deity to appease, Kneeled, and before him humbled all my heart, Methought I saw him placable and mild, Bending his ear; persuasion in me grew That I was heard with favour; peace returned Home to my breast, and to my memory
His promise, that thy seed shall bruise our foe: Which, then not minded in dismay, yet now Assures me that the bitterness of death Is past, and we shall live. Whence hail to thee, Eve rightly called, mother of all mankind, Mother of all things living, since by thee Man is to live, and all things live for man."
To whom thus Eve with sad demeanour meek. "Ill worthy I such title should belong To me transgressor, who, for thee ordained A help, became thy snare; to me reproach Rather belongs, distrust, and all dispraise : But infinite in pardon was my Judge, That I, who first brought death on all, am graced The source of life; next unfavourable thou, Who highly thus to entitle me vouchsaf'st Far other name deserving. But the field To labour calls us, now with sweat imposed, Though after sleepless night; for see! the morn, All unconcerned with our unrest, begins Her rosy progress smiling; let us forth; I never from thy side henceforth to stray. Where'er our day's work lies, though now en- joined
Laborious, till day droop; while here we dwell, What can be toilsome in these pleasant walks? Here let us live, though in fallen state, content." So spake, so wished much humbled Eve; but fate
Subscribed not; Nature first gave signs, impressed On bird, beast, air; air suddenly eclipsed After short blush of morn; nigh in her sight The bird of Jove, stooped from his aery-tour, Two birds of gayest plume before him drove; Down from a hill the beast that reigns in woods, First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace, Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind; Direct to the eastern gate was bent their flight. Adam observed, and, with his eye the chase Pursuing, not unmoved, to Eve thus spake. "O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh, Which Heaven, by these mute signs in nature, shows
Forerunners of his purpose; or to warn Us, haply too secure, of our discharge From penalty, because from death released Some days: how long, and what till then our life,
Who knows? or more than this, that we are dust, | May'st cover: well may then thy Lord, appeased, And thither must return, and be no more? Why else this double object in our sight
Of flight pursued in the air, and o'er the ground, One way the self-same hour? why in the east Darkness ere day's mid course, and morning light More orient in yon western cloud, that draws O'er the blue firmament a radiant white,
And slow descends, with something Heavenly fraught?"
He erred not; for by this the heavenly bands Down from a sky of jasper lighted now In Paradise, and on a hill made halt: A glorious apparition, had not doubt And carnal fear that day dimmed Adam's eye. Not that more glorious, when the angels met Jacob in Mahanaim, where he saw
The field pavilioned with his guardians bright; Nor that, which on the flaming mount appeared In Dothan, covered with a camp of fire, Against the Syrian king, who to surprise One man, assassin-like, had levied war, War unproclaimed. The princely Hierarch In their bright stand there left his powers, to seize Posssession of the garden; he alone, To find where Adam sheltered, took his way, Not unperceived of Adam; who to Eve, While the great visitant approached, thus spake. "Eve, now expect great tidings, which perhaps, Of us will soon determine, or impose New laws to be observed; for I descry, From yonder blazing cloud that veils the hill, One of the Heavenly host, and, by his gait, None of the meanest; some great potentate, Or of the thrones above, such majesty Invests him coming! yet not terrible, That I should fear, nor sociably mild, As Raphael, that I should much confide; But solemn and sublime, whom not to offend, With reverence I must meet, and thou retire." He ended; and the archangel soon drew nigh, Not in his shape celestial, but as man Clad to meet man; over his lucid arms A military vest of purple flowed, Livelier than Melibaan, or the grain Of Sarra, worn by kings and heroes old In time of truce; Iris had dipped the woof; His starry helm unbuckled showed him prime In manhood where youth ended; by his side, As in a glistering zodiac hung the sword, Satan's dire dread, and in his hand the spear. Adam bowed low; he, kingly, from his state Inclined not, but his coming thus declared. "Adam, Heaven's high behest no preface needs: Sufficient that thy prayers are heard; and Death, Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress, Defeated of his seizure many days
Given thee of grace; wherein thou may'st repent, And one bad act with many deeds well done
Redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim; But longer in this Paradise to dwell Permits not; to remove thee I ain come, And send thee from the garden forth to till The ground whence thou wast taken, fitter soil.' He added not, for Adam at the news Heart-struck with chilling gripe of sorrow stood, That all his senses bound: Eve, who unseen, Yet all had heard, with audible lament Discovered soon the place of her retire.
"O unexpected stroke, worse than of death! Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades, Fit haunt of gods? where I had hope to spend, Quiet though sad, the respite of that day That must be mortal to us both. O flowers, That never will in other climate grow, My early visitation, and my last
At even, which I bred up with tender hand From the first opening bud, and gave ye names! Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank Your tribes, and water from th' ambrosial fount? Thee, lastly, nuptial bower, by me adorned With what to sight or smell was sweet! from thee How shall I part, and whither wander down Into a lower world, to this obscure
And wild? how shall we breathe in other air Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits?"
Whom thus the angel interrupted mild. "Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign What justly thou hast lost; nor set thy heart, Thus over-fond, on that which is not thine: Thy going is not lonely; with thee goes Thy husband; him to follow thou art bound: Where he abides, think there thy native soil." Adam, by this from the cold sudden damp Recovering, and his scattered spirits returned, To Michael thus his humble words addressed.
"Celestial, whether among the thrones, or named Of them the highest, for such of shape may seem Prince above princes! gently hast thou told Thy message, which might else in telling wound, And in performing end us; what besides Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring Departure from this happy place, our sweet Recess, and only consolation left Familiar to our eyes! all happy else Inhospitable appear, and desolate,
Nor knowing us, nor known: and, if by prayer Incessant I could hope to change the will Of Him who all things can, I would not cease To weary him with my assiduous cries: But prayer against his absolute decree No more avails than breath against the wind, Blown stifling back on him that breathes it forth; Therefore to his great bidding I submit, This most afflicts me, that, departing hence,
As from his face I shall be hid, deprived His blessed countenance: here I could frequent With worship place by place where he vouch-
Presence divine; and to my sons relate, 'On this mount he appeared; under this tree Stood visible; among these pines his voice I heard; here with him at this fountain talked: So many grateful altars I would rear Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone Of lustre from the brook, in memory, Or monument to ages; and thereon Offer sweet-smelling gums, and fruits, and flowers: In yonder nether world where shall I seek His bright appearances, or footstep trace? For though I fled him angry, yet, recalled To life prolonged and promised race, I now Gladly behold though but his utmost skirts Of glory; and far off his steps adore."
To whom thus Michael with regard benign. "Adam, thou knowest Heaven his, and all the earth;
Not this rock only; his omnipresence fills Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives, Fomented by his virtual power and warmed: All the earth he gave thee to possess and rule, No despicable gift; surmise not then His presence to these narrow bounds confined Of Paradise or Eden: this had been
Ascend, I follow thee, safe guide, the path Thou lead'st me; and to the hand of Heaven submit,
However chastening; to the evil turn My obvious breast; arming to overcome By suffering, and earn rest from labour won, If so I may attain." So both ascend In the visions of God: It was a hill, Of Paradise the highest, from whose top The hemisphere of earth, in clearest ken, Stretched out to the amplest reach of prospect lay Not higher that hill, nor wider looking round, Whereon, for different cause, the tempter set Our second Adam, in the wilderness,
To show him all earth's kingdoms, and their glory. His eye might there command wherever stood City of old or modern fame, the seat
Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls Of Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Can, And Samarchand by Oxus, Temir's throne, To Paquin of Sinæan kings; and thence To Agra and Lahor of great Mogul, Down to the golden Chersonese; or where The Persian in Ecbatan sat, or since In Hispahan; or where the Russian ksar In Mosco; or the sultan in Bizance, Turchestan-born; nor could his eye not ken The empire of Negus to his utmost port Ercoco, and the less maritime kings,
Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread Mombaza, and Quiloa, and Melind,
All generations, and had hither come From all the ends of the earth, to celebrate And reverence thee, their great progenitor. But this pre-eminence thou hast lost, brought down
To dwell on even ground now with thy sons: Yet doubt not but in valley, and in plain, God is, as here; and will found alike Present; and of his presence many a sign Still following thee, still compassing thee round With goodness and paternal love, his face Express, and of his steps the tract divine. Which that thou may'st believe, and be confirmed Ere thou from hence depart; know I am sent To show thee what shall come in future days To thee and to thy offspring; good with bad Expect to hear; supernal grace contending With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn True patience, and to temper joy with fear And pious sorrow; equally innured By moderation either state to bear, Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead Safest thy life, and best prepared endure Thy mortal passage when it comes. Ascend This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched her eyes) Here sleep below while thou to foresight wak'st; As once thou sleep'st, while she to life was formed."
To whom thus Adam gratefully replied.
And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm Of Congo, and Angola farthest south; Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount The kingdoms of Almansor, Fez, and Sus, Morocco, and Algiers, and Tremisen;
On Europe thence, and where Rome was to sway The world: in spirit perhaps he also saw
Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume, And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat Of Atabalipa; and yet unspoiled Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons Call El Dorado. But to nobler sights Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed, Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see; And from the well of life three drops instilled. So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, Even to the inmost seat of mental sight, That Adam now enforced to close his eyes, Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced; But him the gentle angel by the hand Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled.
"Adam, now ope thine eyes: and first behold The effects which thy original crime hath wrought In some to spring from thee; who never touched The excepted tree; nor with the snake conspired Nor sinned thy sin; yet from that sin derive Corruption, to bring forth more violent deeds."
His eyes he opened, and beheld a field, Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves New reaped, the other part sheep-walks and folds; I' th' midst an altar as the land-mark stood, Rustic, of grassy sord; thither anon A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf, Unculled, as came to hand; a shepherd next, More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock Choicest and best; then, sacrificing, laid
The inwards and their fat, with incense strowed, On the cleft wood, and all due rites performed. His offering soon propitious fire from Heaven
And moonstruck madness, pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence, Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint racking rheums. Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; Despair Tended the sick busiest from couch to couch; And over them triumphant Death his dart Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked With vows, as their chief good, and final hope Sight so deform what heart of rock could long Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept, Though not of woman born; compassion quelled His best of man, and gave him up to tears A space, till firmer thoughts restrained excess;
Consumed with nimble glance, and grateful steam; | And, scarce recovering words, his plaint renewed.
The other's not, for his was not sincere: Whereat he inly raged, and, as they talked, Smote him into the midriff with a stone That beat out life; he fell; and, deadly pale, Groaned out his soul with gushing flood effused. Much at that sight was Adam in his heart Dismayed, and thus in haste to th' angel cried. "O teacher, some great mischief hath befallen: To that meek man who well had sacrificed; Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?”
To whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied: "These two are brethren, Adam, and to come Out of thy loins; th' unjust the just hath slain, For envy that his brother's offering found From Heaven acceptance; but the bloody fact Will be avenged; and the other's faith approved, Lose no reward; though here thou see him die, Rolling in dust and gore." To which our sire: "Alas! both for the deed and for the cause! But have I now seen Death? Is this the way I must return to native dust? O sight Of terror, foul and ugly to behold, Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!"
"O miserable mankind, to what fall Degraded, to what wretched state reserved! Better end here unborn. Why is life given To be thus wrested from us? rather, why Obtruded on us thus? who, if we knew What we receive, would either not accept Life offered, or soon beg to lay it down;
| Glad to be so dismissed in peace. Can thus The image of God in man, created once So goodly and erect, though faulty since, To such unsightly sufferings be debased Under inhuman pains? Why should not man Retaining still divine similitude
In part, from such deformities be free, And, for his Maker's image sake, exempt?" "Their Maker's image," answered Michael, "then
Forsook them, when themselves they vilified To serve ungoverned appetite, and took His image whom they served, a brutish vice, Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve. Therefore so abject is their punishment. Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own;
To whom thus Michael. "Death thou hast Or if his likeness, by themselves defaced;
In his first shape on man; but many shapes Of Death, and many are the ways that lead To his grim cave, all dismal; yet to sense More terrible at th' entrance than within. Some, as thou sawest, by violent stroke shall die; By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more
In meats and drinks, which on the earth shall bring
Diseases dire, of which a monstrous crew
While they pervert pure nature's healthful rules To loathsome sickness; worthily, since they God's image did not reverence in themselves."
"I yield it just," said Adam, "and submit. But is there yet no other way, besides These painful passages, how we may come To death, and mix with our connatural dust?" "There is," said Michael, "if thou well ob-
The rule of Not too much; by temperance taught,
Before thee shall appear; that thou mayest know In what thou eat'st and drink'st; seeking from
What misery the inabstinence of Eve Shall bring on men." Immediately a place Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark A lazar-house it seemed; wherein were laid Numbers of all diseased; all maladies
Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds, Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, Intestine stone and ulcer, colic pangs, Demoniac phrenzy moping melancholy,
Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight, Till many years over thy head return:
So may'st thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop Into thy mother's lap; or be with ease Gathered, not harshly plucked, for death mature: This is old age; but then thou must outlive Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty; which will change
To withered, weak, and gray; thy senses then
« السابقةمتابعة » |