BOOK FOURTH
��For envy; yet with jealous leer malign Eyed them askance, and to himself thus
plained : " Sight hateful, sight tormenting ! Thus
these two,
Imparadised in one another's arms, The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am
thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce de- sire, 509 Among our other torments not the least, Still unfulfilled, with pain of longing pines ! Yet let me not forget what I have gained From their own mouths. All is not theirs,
it seems; One fatal tree there stands, of Knowledge
called,
Forbidden them to taste. Knowledge for- bidden ? Suspicious, reasonless ! Why should their
Lord
Envy them that ? Can it be sin to know ? Can it be death ? And do they only stand By ignorance ? Is that their happy state, The proof of their obedience and their faith ? 52
O fair foundation laid whereon to build Their ruin ! Hence I will excite their
minds
With more desire to know, and to reject Envious commands, invented with design To keep them low, whom knowledge might
exalt
Equal with gods. Aspiring to be such, They taste and die: what likelier can en- sue ? But first with narrow search I must walk
round
This garden, and no corner leave unspied; A chance but chance may lead where I may meet 530
Some wandering Spirit of Heaven, by foun- tain-side,
Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw What further would be learned. Live
while ye may,
Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return, Short pleasures; for long woes are to suc- ceed ! " So saying, his proud step he scornful
turned,
But with sly circumspection, and began Through wood, through waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam.
��Meanwhile in utmost longitude, where
Heaven With Earth and Ocean meets, the setting
Sun 540
Slowly descended, and with right aspect' Against the eastern gate of Paradise Levelled his evening rays. It was a rock Of alablaster, piled up to the clouds, Conspicuous far, winding with one ascent Accessible from Earth, one entrance high; The rest was craggy cliff, that overhung Still as it rose, impossible to climb. Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat, Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting
night; 55 o
About him exercised heroic games The unarmed youth of Heaven; but nigh
at hand Celestial armoury, shields, helms, and
spears, Hung high, with diamond flaming and with
gold. Thither came Uriel, gliding through the
even
On a sunbeam, swift as a shooting star In autumn thwarts the night, when vapours
fired
Impress the air, and shews the mariner From what point of his compass to beware Impetuous winds. He thus began in
haste : 560
" Gabriel, to thee thy course by lot hath
given Charge and strict watch that to this happy
place
No evil thing approach or enter in. This day at highth of noon came to my
sphere
A Spirit, zealous, as he seemed, to know More of the Almighty's works, and chiefly
Man,
God's latest image. I described his way Bent all on speed, and marked his aerie
gait,
But in the mount that lies from Eden north, Where he first lighted, soon discerned his
looks 570
Alien from Heaven, with passions foul ob- scured. Mine eye pursued him still, but under
shade Lost sight of him. One of the banished
crew, I fear, hath ventured from the Deep, to
raise
�� �
