Paradise Lost (1890)/Book 8

by John Milton

PARADISE LOST.

BOOK VIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

Adam inquires concerning celestial motions, is doubtfully answered, and exhorted to search rather things more worthy of knowledge: Adam assents, and still desirous to detain Raphael, relates to him what he remembered since his own creation, his placing in Paradise, his talk with God concerning solitude and fit society, his first meeting and nuptials with Eve, his discourse with the Angel thereupon; who after admonitions repeated departs.

The Angel ended, and in Adam's ear
So charming left his voice that he awhile
Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear;
Then, as new waked, thus gratefully replied:
"What thanks sufficient, or what recompense
Equal, have I to render thee? divine
Historian, who thus largely hast allayed
The thirst I had of knowledge, and vouchsafed
This friendly condescention to relate
Things else by me unsearchable, now heard10
With wonder, but delight, and, as is due,

With glory attributed to the high
Creator. Something yet of doubt remains,
Which only the solution can resolve.—
When I behold this goodly frame, this World
Of heaven and earth consisting, and compute
Their magnitudes; this earth, a spot, a grain,
An atom, with the firmament compared
And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll
Spaces incomprehensible—for such20
Their distance argues, and their swift return
Diurnal—merely to officiate light
Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot,
One day and night, in all their vast survey
Useless besides—reasoning I oft admire
How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit
Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater so manifold, to this one use,
For aught appears, and on their orbs impose30
Such restless revolution, day by day
Repeated, while the sedentary earth,
That better might with far less compass move,
Served by more noble than herself, attains
Her end without least motion, and receives,
As tribute, such a sumless journey brought
Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light;
Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails."
So spake our sire, and by his countenance seemed

Entering on studious thoughts abstruse; which Eve
Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight,41
With lowliness majestic from her seat,
And grace that won who saw to wish her stay,
Rose, and went forth among her fruits and flowers,
To visit how they prospered, bud and bloom,
Her nursery; they at her coming sprung,
And, touched by her fair tendance, gladlier grew.
Yet went she not, as not with such discourse
Delighted, or not capable her ear
Of what was high. Such pleasure she reserved,50
Adam relating, she sole auditress;
Her husband the relator she preferred
Before the Angel, and of him to ask
Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix
Grateful digressions, and solve high dispute
With conjugal caresses; from his lip
Not words alone pleased her. Oh, when meet now
Such pairs, in love and mutual honor joined!
With goddess-like demeanor forth she went,
Not unattended, for on her as queen60
A pomp of winning Graces waited still,
And from about her shot darts of desire
Into all eyes, to wish her still in sight.
And Raphael now, to Adam's doubt proposed

Benevolent and facile thus replied:
"To ask or search I blame thee not, for heaven
Is as the book of God before thee set,
Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn
His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years—
This to attain, whether heaven move or earth,70
Imports not, if thou reckon right—the rest
From Man or Angel the great Architect
Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
His secrets, to be scanned by them who ought
Rather admire; or, if they list to try
Conjecture, he his fabric of the heavens
Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter; when they come to model heaven
And calculate the stars, how they will wield80
The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive,
To save appearances, how gird the sphere
With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er,
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb.
Already by thy reasoning this I guess,
Who art to lead thy offspring, and supposes
That bodies bright and greater should not serve
The less not bright, nor heaven such journeys run,
Earth sitting still, when she alone receives
The benefit. Consider first, that great90
Or bright infers not excellence: the earth,

Though, in comparison of heaven, so small,
Nor glistering, may of solid good contain
More plenty than the sun that barren shines,
Whose virtue on itself works no effect,
But in the fruitful earth; there first received,
His beams, unactive else, their vigor find.
Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries
Officious, but to thee, earth's habitant.
And for the heaven's wide circuit, let it speak100
The Maker's high magnificence, who built
So spacious, and his line stretched out so far,
That Man may know he dwells not in his own;
An edifice too large for him to fill,
Lodged in a small partition, and the rest
Ordained for uses to his Lord best known.
The swiftness of those circles attribute,
Though numberless, to his omnipotence,
That to corporeal substances could add109
Speed almost spiritual. Me thou thinkest not slow,
Who since the morning-hour set out from Heaven
Where God resides, and ere mid-day arrived
In Eden, distance inexpressible
By numbers that have name. But this I urge,
Admitting motion in the heavens, to shew
Invalid that which thee to doubt it moved;
Not that I so affirm, though so it seem
To thee who hast thy dwelling here on earth.

God, to remove his ways from human sense,
Placed heaven from earth so far, that earthy sight,
If it presumes, might err in things too high,121
And no advantage gain. What if the sun
Be centre to the World, and other stars,
By his attractive virtue and their own
Incited, dance about him various rounds!
Their wandering course, now high, now low, then hid,
Progressive, retrograde, or standing still,
In six thou seest; and what if seven to these
The planet-earth, so steadfast though she seem,
Insensibly three different motions move!130
Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe
Moved contrary with thwart obliquities;
Or save the sun his labor, and that swift
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb supposed,
Invisible else above all stars, the wheel
Of day and night; which needs not thy belief
If earth, industrious of herself, fetch day
Traveling east, and with her part averse
From the sun's beam meet night, her other part
Still luminous by his ray. What if that light140
Sent from her, through the wide transpicuous air,
To the terrestrial moon, be as a star
Enlightening her by day, as she by night
This earth! reciprocal, if land be there,
Fields and inhabitants. Her spots thou seest

As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce
Fruits in her softened soil, for some to eat
Alloted there; and other suns perhaps,
With their attendant moons, thou wilt descry
Communicating male and female light150
—Which two great sexes animate the World—
Stored in each orb perhaps with some that live.
For such vast room in nature unpossessed
By living soul, desert and desolate,
Only to shine, yet scarce to contribute
Each orb a glimpse of light, conveyed so far
Down to this habitable, which returns
Light back to them, is obvious to dispute.—
But whether thus these things or whether not,
Whether the sun, predominant in heaven,160
Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun,
He from the east his flaming road begin,
Or she from west her silent course advance,
With inoffensive pace, that spinning sleeps
On her soft axle, while she paces even,
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along,
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid;
Leave them to God above; him serve and fear
Of other creatures, as him pleases best,
Wherever placed, let him dispose; joy thou170
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise
And thy fair Eve; heaven is for thee too high
To know what passes there. Be lowly wise;

Think only what concerns thee and thy being;
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there
Live, in what state, condition, or degree,
Contented that thus far hath been revealed
Not of Earth only, but of highest Heaven."
To whom thus Adam, cleared of doubt, replied:
"How fully hast thou satisfied me, pure180
Intelligence of Heaven, Angel serene:
And, freed from intricacies, thought to live
The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts
To interrupt the sweet of life, from which
God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,
And not molest us, unless we ourselves
Seek them with wandering thoughts, and notions vain.
But apt the mind or fancy is to rove
Unchecked; and of her roving is no end,
Till warned, or by experience taught, she learn190
That not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and subtle, but to know
That which before us lies in daily life
Is the prime wisdom; what is more, is fume,
Or emptiness, or fond impertinence,
And renders us in things that most concern
Unpractised, unprepared, and still to seek.
Therefore from this high pitch let us descend
A lower flight, and speak of things at hand,

Useful, whence haply mention may arise200
Of something not unseasonable to ask,
By sufferance, and thy wonted favor, deigned.—
Thee I have heard relating what was done
Ere my rememberance; now hear me relate
My story, which perhaps thou hast not heard.
And day is not yet spent; till then thou seest
How subtly to detain thee I devise,
Inviting thee to hear while I relate,—
Fond! were it not in hope of thy reply.
For while I sit with thee I seem in Heaven,210
And sweeter thy discourse is to my ear
Than fruits of palm-tree, pleasantest to thirst
And hunger both, from labor, at the hour
Of sweet repast. They satiate and soon fill,
Though pleasant; but thy words, with grace divine
Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety."
To whom thus Raphael answered, heavenly meek:
"Nor are thy lips ungraceful, sire of men,
Nor tongue ineloquent; for God on thee
Abundantly his gifts hath also poured,220
Inward and outward both his image fair:
Speaking or mute all comeliness and grace
Attends thee, and each word, each motion forms.
Nor less think we in Heaven of thee on Earth
Than of our fellow-servant, and inquire
Gladly into the ways of God with Man;

For God, we see, hath honored thee, and set
On Man his equal love. Say therefore on;
For I that day was absent, as befell,
Bound on a voyage uncouth and obscure,230
Far on excursion toward the gates of Hell;
Squared in full legion—such command we had—
To see that none thence issued forth a spy
Or enemy, while God was in his work;
Lest he, incensed at such eruption bold,
Destruction with creation might have mixed.
Not that they durst without his leave attempt;
But us he sends upon his high behests
For state, as sovran King, and to endure
Our prompt obedience. Fast we found, fast shut,240
The dismal gates, and barricadoed strong;
But, long ere our approaching, heard within
Noise, other than the sound of dance or song,
Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage.
Glad we returned up to the coasts of light,
Ere Sabbath-evening; so we had in charge.
But thy relations now; for I attend,
Pleased with thy words no less than thou with mine."
So spake the godlike Power, and thus our Sire:
"For Man to tell how human life began250
Is hard; for who himself beginning knew?
Desire with the still longer to converse

Induced me.—As new waked from soundest sleep
Soft on the flowery herb I found me laid,
In balmy sweat, which with his beams the sun
Soon dried, and on the reeking moisture fed.
Straight toward heaven my wondering eyes I turned,
And gazed awhile the ample sky, till, raised
By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung,
As thitherward endeavoring, and upright260
Stood on my feet. About me round I saw
Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,
And liquid lapse of murmuring streams; by these,
Creatures that lived and moved, and walked or flew,
Birds on the branches warbling; all things smiled:
With fragrance and with joy my heart o'erflowed.
Myself I then perused, and limb by limb
Surveyed, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran
With supple joints, as lively vigor led;
But who I was, or where, or from what cause,270
Knew not. To speak I tried, and forthwith spake;
My tongue obeyed, and readily could name
Whate'er I saw. 'Thou sun,' said I, 'fair light.
And thou enlightened earth, so fresh and gay,
Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains,
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell,
Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here.
Not of myself; by some great Maker then,

In goodness and in power pre-eminent.
Tell me how may I know him, how adore,280
From whom I have that thus I move and live,
And feel that I am happier than I know.
"While thus I called, and strayed I knew not whither,
From where I first drew air, and first beheld
This happy light, when answer none returned,
On a green shady bank, profuse of flowers,
Pensive I sat me down; there gentle sleep
First found me, and with soft oppression seized
My drowsied sense, untroubled though I thought
I then was passing to my former state290
Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve:
When suddenly stood at my head a dream,
Whose inward apparition gently moved
My fancy to believe I yet had being,
And lived. One came, methought, of shape divine,
And said:—'Thy mansion wants thee, Adam; rise,
First Man, of men innumerable ordained
First Father! called by thee, I come thy guide
To the garden of bliss, thy seat prepared.'—
So saying, by the hand he took me, raised,300
And over fields and waters, as in air,
Smooth sliding without step, last led me up
A woody mountain, whose high top was plain,
A circuit wide, enclosed, with goodliest trees
Planted, with walks and bowers, that what I saw

Of earth before scarce pleasant seemed. Each tree
Loaden with fairest fruit that, hung to the eye
Tempting, stirred in me sudden appetite
To pluck and eat; whereat I waked, and found
Before mine eyes all real, as the dream310
Had lively shadowed. Here had new begun
My wandering, had not He, who was my guide
Up hither, from among the trees appeared
Presence divine. Rejoicing, but with awe,
In adoration at his feet I fell
Submiss; he reared me, and, 'Whom thou soughtest I am,'
Said mildly, 'Author of all this thou seest
Above, or round about thee, or beneath.
This Paradise I give thee, count it thine
To till and keep, and of the fruit to eat.320
Of every tree that in the garden grows
Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth.
But of the tree whose operation brings
Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set,
The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith,
Amid the garden by the Tree of Life
—Remember what I warn thee—shun to taste,
And shun the bitter consequence; for know,
The day thou eatest thereof, my sole command
Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die,330
From that day mortal, and this happy state
Shalt lose, expelled from hence into a world

Of woe and sorrow.' Sternly he pronounced
The rigid interdiction, which resounds
Yet dreadful in mine ear, though in my choice
Not to incur; but soon his clear aspect
Returned, and gracious purpose thus renewed:
'Not only these fair bounds, but all the Earth
To Thee and to thy race I give; as lords
Possess it, and all things that therein live,340
Or live in sea or air, beast, fish, and fowl.
In sign whereof, each bird and beast, behold!
After their kinds, I bring them to receive
From thee their names, and pay thee feälty
With low subjection. Understand the same
Of fish within their watery residence,
Not hither summoned, since they cannot change
Their element to draw the thinner air.'—
As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold
Approaching two and two; these cowering low350
With blandishment, each bird stooped on his wing.
I named them, as they passed, and understood
Their nature, with such knowledge God endued
My sudden apprehension. But in these
I found not what, methought, I wanted still;
And to the heavenly Vision thus presumed:
"'Oh, by what name, for thou above all these,
Above mankind, or aught than mankind higher.

Surpassest far my naming, how may I
Adore thee, Author of this Universe,360
And all this good to Man? for whose well-being
So amply, and with hand so liberal,
Thou hast provided all things. But with me
I see not who partakes. In solitude
What happiness? who can enjoy alone?
Or, all enjoying, what contentment find?'—
Thus I presumptuous; and the Vision bright,
As with a smile more brightened, thus replied:
"'What callest thou solitude? Is not the earth
With various living creatures, and the air370
Replenished, and all these at thy command
To come and play before thee? Knowest thou not
Their language and their ways? They also know,
And reason not contemptibly; with these
Find pastime, and bear rule; thy realm is large.'—
So spake the universal Lord, and seemed
So ordering. I, with leave of speech implored,
And humble deprecation, thus replied:
"'Let not my words offend thee, heavenly Power,
My Maker, be propitious while I speak.380
Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,
And these inferior far beneath me set?
Among unequals what society
Can sort, what harmony or true delight?
Which must be mutual, in proportion due

Given and received; but in disparity,
The one intense, the other still remiss,
Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
Tedious alike. Of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek, fit to participate390
All rational delight, wherein the brute
Cannot be human consort. They rejoice
Each with their kind, lion with lioness;
So fitly them in pair thou hast combined.
Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl
So well converse, nor with the ox the ape;
Worse then can man with beast, and least of all.'
"Whereto the Almighty answered, not displeased:
'A nice and subtle happiness, I see,
Thou to thyself proposest, in the choice400
Of thy associates, Adam, and wait taste
No pleasure, though in pleasure, solitary.
What thinkest thou then of me, and this my state?
Seem I to thee sufficiently possessed
Of happiness, or not? who am alone
From all eternity; for none I know
Second to me or like, equal much less,
How have I then with whom to hold converse?
Save with the creatures which I made, and those
To me inferior, infinite descents410
Beneath what other creatures are to thee.'
"He ceased; I lowly answered:—'To attain

The highth and depth of thy eternal ways
All human thoughts come short, Supreme of things!
Thou in thyself art perfect, and in thee
Is no deficience found; not so is Man,
But in degree, the cause of his desire
By conversation with his like to help
Or solace his defects. No need that thou
Shouldest propagate, already infinite,420
And through all numbers absolute, though one.
But Man by number is to manifest
His single imperfection, and beget
Like of his like, his image multiplied,
In unity defective, which requires
Collateral love, and dearest amity.
Thou in thy secrecy although alone,
Best with thyself accompanied, seekest not
Social communication, yet, so pleased,
Canst raise thy creature to what highth thou wilt
Of union or communion, deified;431
I, by conversing, cannot these erect
From prone, nor in their ways complacence find.'—
Thus I emboldened spake, and freedom used
Permissive, and acceptance found, which gained
This answer from the gracious Voice divine:
"'Thus far to try thee, Adam, I was pleased,
And find thee knowing not of beasts alone,

Which thou hast rightly named, but of thyself
Expressing well the spirit within thee free,440
My image, not imparted to the brute,
Whose fellowship therefore, unmeet for thee,
Good reason was thou freely shouldest dislike;
And be so minded still. I, ere thou spakest,
Knew it not good for Man to be alone,
And no such company as then thou sawest
Intended thee, for trial only brought,
To see how thou couldest judge of fit and meet
What next I bring shall please thee, be assured,
Thy likeness, thy fit help, thy other self,450
Thy wish exactly to thy heart's desire.'
"He ended, or I heard no more; for now
My earthly by his heavenly overpowered,
Which it had long stood under, strained to the highth
In that celestial colloquy sublime,
As with an object that excels the sense,
Dazzled and spent sunk down, and sought repair
Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called
By Nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes.
Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell460
Of fancy, my internal sight, by which,
Abstract as in a trance, methought I saw,
Though sleeping, where I lay and saw the Shape
Still glorious before whom awake I stood;
Who stooping opened my left side, and took

From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm,
And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,
But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed.
The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands:
Under his forming hands a creature grew,470
Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair,
That what seemed fair in all the world seemed now
Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained,
And in her looks, which from that time infused
Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before,
And into all things from her air inspired
The spirit of love and amorous delight.
She disappeared, and left me dark; I waked
To find her, or forever to deplore
Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure:480
When, out of hope, behold her not far off,
Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned
With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow,
To make her amiable. On she came,
Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen
And guided by his voice; nor uninformed
Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rights.
Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,
In every gesture dignity and love.
I overjoyed could not forbear aloud:
"'This turn hath made amends; thou hast fulfilled

Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,
Giver of all things fair! but fairest this
Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself
Before me; Woman's her name, of Man
Extracted; for this cause he shall forgo
Father and mother, and to his wife adhere;
And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul.'
'She heard me thus; and, though divinely brought,500
Yet innocence and virgin modesty,
Her virtue and the conscience of her worth,
That would be wooed, and not unsought be won,
Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired,
The more desirable; or, to say all,
Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought,
Wrought in her so, that seeing me she turned;
I followed her, she what was honor knew,
And with obsequious majesty approved
My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower510
I led her blushing like the Morn: all heaven,
And happy constellations, on that hour
Shed their selectest influence; the earth
Gave signs of gratulation, and each hill;
Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs
Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy shrub,
Disporting, till the amorous bird of night

Sung spousal, and bid haste the Evening-star
On his hill-top, to light the bridal lamp.520
"Thus have I told thee all my state, and brought
My story to the sum of earthly bliss
Which I enjoy; and must confess to find
In all things else delight indeed, but such
As, used or not, works in the mind no change,
Nor vehement desire; these delicacies
I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers,
Walks, and the melody of birds: but here,
Far otherwise, transported I behold,
Transported touch; here passion first I felt,530
Commotion strange, in all enjoyments else
Superior and unmoved, here only weak
Against the charm of beauty's powerful glance.
Or Nature failed in me, and left some part
Not proof enough such object to sustain,
Or, from my side subducting, took perhaps
More than enough; at least on her bestowed
Too much of ornament, in outward shew
Elaborate, of inward less exact.
For well I understand, in the prime end540
Of Nature, her the inferior, in the mind
And inward faculties, which most excel;
In outward also her resembling less
His image who made both, and less expressing
The character of that dominion given

O'er other creatures; yet when I approach
Her loveliness, so abolute she seems
And in herself complete, so well to know
Her own, that what she wills to do or say,
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best.550
All higher Knowledge in her presence falls,
Degraded; Wisdom in discourse with her
Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shews;
Authority and Reason on her wait,
As one intended first, not after made
Occasionally; and, to consummate all,
Greatness of mind and Nobleness their seat
Build in her loveliest, and create an awe
About her, as a guard angelic placed."
To whom the Angel with contracted brow:560
"Accuse not Nature, she hath done her part;
Do thou but thine, and be not diffident
Of Wisdom; she deserts thee not, if thou
Dismiss not her, when most thou needest her nigh,
By attributing overmuch to things
Less excellent, as thou thyself perceivest.
For what admirest thou? what transports thee so?
An outside; fair, no doubt, and worthy well
Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and thy love,
Not thy subjection. Weigh with her thyself;570
Then value. Oft-times nothing profits more
Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right,
Well managed; of that skill the more thou knowest,

The more she will acknowledge thee her head,
And to realities yield all her shews;
Made so adorn for thy delight the more,
So awful, that with honor thou mayest love
Thy mate, who sees when thou art seen least wise.
But if the sense of touch, whereby mankind
Is propagated, seem such dear delight580
Beyond all other, think the same vouchsafed
To cattle and each beast; which would not be
To them made common and divulged, if aught
Therein ehjoyed were worthy to subdue
The soul of Man, or passion in him move.
What higher in her society thou findest,
Attractive, human, rational, love still;
In loving thou dost well; in passion not,
Wherein true love consists not; love refines
The thought, and heart enlarges, hath his seat590
In reason, and is judicious, is the scale
By which to heavenly love thou mayst ascend,
Not sunk in carnal pleasure; for which cause
Among the beasts no mate for thee was found."
To whom thus, half abashed, Adam, replied:
"Neither her outside formed so fair, nor aught
In procreation, common to all kinds—
Though higher of the genial bed by far,
And with mysterious reverence I deem—
So much delights me, as those graceful acts,600
Those thousand decencies, that daily flow

From all her words and actions, mixed with love
And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned
Union of mind, or in us both one soul;
Harmony to behold in wedded pair
More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.
Yet these subject not; I to thee disclose
What inward thence I feel, not therefore foiled,
Who meet with various objects, from the sense
Variously representing, yet still free610
Approve the best, and follow what I approve.
To love thou blamest me not, for love thou sayest
Leads up to Heaven, is both the way and guide.
Bear with me then, if lawful what I ask.—
Love not the heavenly Spirits? and how their love
Express they? by looks only, or do they mix
Irradiance, virtual or immediate touch?"
To whom the Angel, with a smile that glowed
Celestial rosy-red, love's proper hue,
Answered:—"Let it suffice thee that thou knowest
Us happy, and without love no happiness.621
Whatever pure thou in the body enjoyest—
And pure thou wert created—we enjoy
In eminence, and obstacle find none
Of membrane, joint, or limb, exclusive bars:
Easier than air with air, if Spirits embrace,
Total they mix, union of pure with pure
Desiring, nor restrained conveyance need
As flesh to mix with flesh, or soul with soul.—

But I can now no more; the parting sun630
Beyond the earth's Green Cape and Verdant Isles
Hesperean sets, my signal to depart.
Be strong, live happy, and love! but first of all
Him whom to love is to obey, and keep
His great command; take heed lest passion sway
Thy judgment to do aught, which else free-will
Would not admit; thine, and of all thy sons
The weal or woe in thee is placed; beware!
I in thy persevering shall rejoice,
And all the Blest. Stand fast; to stand or fall640
Free in thine own arbitrement it lies.
Perfect within, no outward aid require;
And all temptations to trangress repel."
So saying, he arose; whom Adam thus
Followed with benediction:—"Since to part,
Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger,
Sent from whose sovran goodness I adore.
Gentle to me and affable hath been
Thy condescension, and shall be honored ever
With grateful memory; thou to mankind650
Be good and friendly still, and oft return."
So parted they, the Angel up to Heaven
From the thick shade, and Adam to his bower.