So dreadful to thee? that thou art naked, who

Hath told thee? hast thou eaten of the Tree

Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?

To whom thus ADAM sore beset repli'd.

O Heav'n! in evil strait this day I stand

Before my Judge, either to undergoe

My self the total Crime, or to accuse

My other self, the partner of my life;

Whose failing, while her Faith to me remaines,

I should conceal, and not expose to blame

By my complaint; but strict necessitie

Subdues me, and calamitous constraint,

Least on my head both sin and punishment,

However insupportable, be all

Devolv'd; though should I hold my peace, yet thou

Wouldst easily detect what I conceale.

This Woman whom thou mad'st to be my help,

And gav'st me as thy perfet gift, so good,

So fit, so acceptable, so Divine,

That from her hand I could suspect no ill,

And what she did, whatever in it self,

Her doing seem'd to justifie the deed;

Shee gave me of the Tree, and I did eate.

To whom the sovran Presence thus repli'd.

Was shee thy God, that her thou didst obey

Before his voice, or was shee made thy guide,

Superior, or but equal, that to her

Thou did'st resigne thy Manhood, and the Place

Wherein God set thee above her made of thee,

And for thee, whose perfection farr excell'd

Hers in all real dignitie: Adornd

She was indeed, and lovely to attract

Thy Love, not thy Subjection, and her Gifts

Were such as under Government well seem'd,

Unseemly to beare rule, which was thy part

And person, had'st thou known thy self aright.

So having said, he thus to EVE in few:

Say Woman, what is this which thou hast done?

To whom sad EVE with shame nigh overwhelm'd,

Confessing soon, yet not before her Judge

Bold or loquacious, thus abasht repli'd.

The Serpent me beguil'd and I did eate.

Which when the Lord God heard, without delay

To Judgement he proceeded on th' accus'd

Serpent though brute, unable to transferre

The Guilt on him who made him instrument

Of mischief, and polluted from the end

Of his Creation; justly then accurst,

As vitiated in Nature: more to know

Concern'd not Man (since he no further knew)

Nor alter'd his offence; yet God at last

To Satan first in sin his doom apply'd,

Though in mysterious terms, judg'd as then best:

And on the Serpent thus his curse let fall.

Because thou hast done this, thou art accurst

Above all Cattel, each Beast of the Field;

Upon thy Belly groveling thou shalt goe,

And dust shalt eat all the days of thy Life.

Between Thee and the Woman I will put

Enmitie, and between thine and her Seed;

Her Seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel.

So spake this Oracle, then verifi'd

When JESUS son of MARY second EVE,

Saw Satan fall like Lightning down from Heav'n,

Prince of the Aire; then rising from his Grave

Spoild Principalities and Powers, triumpht

In open shew, and with ascention bright

Captivity led captive through the Aire,

The Realme it self of Satan long usurpt,

Whom he shall tread at last under our feet;

Eevn hee who now foretold his fatal bruise,

And to the Woman thus his Sentence turn'd.

Thy sorrow I will greatly multiplie

By thy Conception; Children thou shalt bring

In sorrow forth, and to thy Husbands will

Thine shall submit, hee over thee shall rule.

On ADAM last thus judgement he pronounc'd.

Because thou hast heark'nd to the voice of thy Wife,

And eaten of the Tree concerning which

I charg'd thee, saying: Thou shalt not eate thereof,

Curs'd is the ground for thy sake, thou in sorrow

Shalt eate thereof all the days of thy Life;

Thornes also and Thistles it shall bring thee forth

Unbid, and thou shalt eate th' Herb of th' Field,

In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eate Bread,

Till thou return unto the ground, for thou

Out of the ground wast taken, know thy Birth,

For dust thou art, and shalt to dust returne.

So judg'd he Man, both Judge and Saviour sent,

And th' instant stroke of Death denounc't that day

Remov'd farr off; then pittying how they stood

Before him naked to the aire, that now

Must suffer change, disdain'd not to begin

Thenceforth the forme of servant to assume,

As when he wash'd his servants feet, so now

As Father of his Familie he clad

Thir nakedness with Skins of Beasts, or slain,

Or as the Snake with youthful Coate repaid;

And thought not much to cloath his Enemies:

Nor hee thir outward onely with the Skins

Of Beasts, but inward nakedness, much more

Opprobrious, with his Robe of righteousness,

Araying cover'd from his Fathers sight.

To him with swift ascent he up returnd,

Into his blissful bosom reassum'd

In glory as of old, to him appeas'd

All, though all-knowing, what had past with Man

Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

Meanwhile ere thus was sin'd and judg'd on Earth,

Within the Gates of Hell sate Sin and Death,

In counterview within the Gates, that now

Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame

Farr into CHAOS, since the Fiend pass'd through,

Sin opening, who thus now to Death began.

O Son, why sit we here each other viewing

Idlely, while Satan our great Author thrives

In other Worlds, and happier Seat provides

For us his ofspring deare? It cannot be

But that success attends him; if mishap,

Ere this he had return'd, with fury driv'n

By his Avenger, since no place like this

Can fit his punishment, or their revenge.

Methinks I feel new strength within me rise,

Wings growing, and Dominion giv'n me large

Beyond this Deep; whatever drawes me on,

Or sympathie, or som connatural force

Powerful at greatest distance to unite

With secret amity things of like kinde

By secretest conveyance. Thou my Shade

Inseparable must with mee along:

For Death from Sin no power can separate.

But least the difficultie of passing back

Stay his returne perhaps over this Gulfe

Impassable, impervious, let us try

Adventrous work, yet to thy power and mine

Not unagreeable, to found a path

Over this Maine from Hell to that new World

Where Satan now prevailes, a Monument

Of merit high to all th' infernal Host,

Easing thir passage hence, for intercourse,

Or transmigration, as thir lot shall lead.

Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn

By this new felt attraction and instinct.

Whom thus the meager Shadow answerd soon.

Goe whither Fate and inclination strong

Leads thee, I shall not lag behinde, nor erre

The way, thou leading, such a sent I draw

Of carnage, prey innumerable, and taste

The savour of Death from all things there that live:

Nor shall I to the work thou enterprisest

Be wanting, but afford thee equal aid.

So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell

Of mortal change on Earth. As when a flock

Of ravenous Fowl, though many a League remote,

Against the day of Battel, to a Field,

Where Armies lie encampt, come flying, lur'd

With sent of living Carcasses design'd

For death, the following day, in bloodie fight.

So sented the grim Feature, and upturn'd

His Nostril wide into the murkie Air,

Sagacious of his Quarrey from so farr.

Then Both from out Hell Gates into the waste

Wide Anarchie of CHAOS damp and dark

Flew divers, & with Power (thir Power was great)

Hovering upon the Waters; what they met

Solid or slimie, as in raging Sea