Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw ;
When Adam thus to Eve: "Fair consort, the h
Of night, and all things now retired to rest,
Mind us of like repose, since God hath set
Labor and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive; and the timely dew of sleep,
Now falling with soft slumbrous weight, incline
Our eyelids other creatures all day long
Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest:
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of Heaven on all his ways;
While other animals unactive range,
And of their doings God takes no account.
To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
With first approach of light, we must be risen,
And at our pleasant labor, to reform
Yon flowery arbors, yonder alleys green,
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown,
That mock our scant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to lop their wanton grow
Those blossoms also and those dropping gums
That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease;
Meanwhile, as nature wills, night bids us rest.”
To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty ador "My author and disposer, what thou bidd'st Unargued I obey, so God ordains:
God is thy law, thou mine; to know no more Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.
608. Apparent, manifest; evident.
615. inclines, weighs down. 625. reform, form anew; re-ar
628. manuring, manoeu working with the hand. 632. ask, require. — clearance.
637. thou mine. See li
With thee conversing I forget all time;
All seasons and their change, all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun,
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful evening mild; then silent night,
With this her solemn bird and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath of morn when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful evening mild, nor silent night
With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon
Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.
But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom
This glorious sight, when sleep hath shut all eyes?"
To whom our general ancestor replied:
Daughter of God and Man, accomplished Eve, 660 These have their course to finish round the earth
By morrow evening, and from land to land
In order, though to nations yet unborn,
Ministering light prepared, they set and rise;
Lest total darkness should by night regain
Her old possession, and extinguish life
In nature and all things, which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat
Of various influence foment and warm,
Temper or nourish, or in part shed down
Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow
642. charm, chorus; song. 647. grateful, pleasing.
648. her solemn bird. See line 602.
660. accomplished, perfected; endowed with all gifts.
671. stellar virtue, influence of the stars, which, in the days of
On earth, made hereby apter to receive Perfection from the sun's more potent ray; These then, though unbeheld in deep of night, Shine not in vain. Nor think, though mer
That heaven would want spectators, God want
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both when we wake and when we slee
All these with ceaseless praise his works behold
Both day and night. How often from the stee
Of echoing hill or thicket, have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or responsive each to other's note,
Singing the great Creator! oft in bands
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding wa
With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds
In full harmonic number joined, their songs
Divide the night and lift our thoughts to Heave
Thus talking, hand in hand alone they passed On to their blissful bower: it was a place Chosen by the sovran planter, when he framed All things to Man's delightful use: the roof Of thickest covert was inwoven shade, Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side Acanthus and each odorous bushy shrub Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flo Iris all hues, roses and jessamine,
Reared high their flourished heads between, wrought
Mosaic; underfoot the violet,
Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay
astrology, were supposed to have power over things on the earth.
688. Divide the night. In a Roman camp the night was divided into watches by the sound of trumpets.
698. all hues, of all hues. 699. flourished, adorned flowers.-wrought, made by different colors.
Broidered the ground, more colored than with stone
Of costliest emblem: other creature here,
Beast, bird, insect, or worm, durst enter none,
Such was their awe of Man. In shadier bower
More sacred and sequestered, though but feigned,
Pan or Sylvanus never slept, nor Nymph
Nor Faunus haunted. Here, in close recess,
With flowers, garlands, and sweet smelling herbs,
Espoused Eve decked first her nuptial bed;
And heavenly quires the hymenæan sung,
What day the genial angel to our sire
Brought her, in naked beauty more adorned,
More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods
Endowed with all their gifts, and O too like
In sad event! when to the unwiser son
Of Japhet brought by Hermes she ensnared
Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged
On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire.
Thus at their shady lodge arrived, both stood,
Both turned, and under open sky adored
The God that made sky, air, earth, and heaven
Which they beheld, the moon's resplendent globe,
And starry pole: "Thou also mad'st the night,
Maker omnipotent! and thou the day,
703. emblem, inlaid or mosaic first woman, Pandora (all-giftwork.
ed), on whom the gods had conferred every charm. Hermes, or Mercury, brought her to Epimetheus, the unwiser son of Japhet, who, despite the warning of his brother Prometheus, took her to wife. She had brought with her from heaven a box containing all the ills that afflict humanity. When the box was opened, these escaped and spread over the earth, Hope alone remaining. This was the sad event, or consequence. authentic, of which he was the author.
Which we in our appointed work employed
Have finished, happy in our mutual help
And mutual love, the crown of all our bliss,
Ordained by thee; and this delicious place
For us too large, where thy abundance wants
Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground.
But thou hast promised from us two a race
To fill the earth, who shall with us extol
Thy goodness infinite, both when we wake,
And when we seek, as now, thy gift of sleep."
This said unanimous, and other rites Observing none, but adoration pure Which God likes best, into their inmost bower Handed they went; and, eased the putting off These troublesome disguises which we wear, Straight side by side were laid; nor turn
Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites
Mysterious of connubial love refused;
Whatever hypocrites austerely talk
Of purity, and place, and innocence,
Defaming as impure what God declares
Pure, and commands to some, leaves free to all.
Our Maker bids increase; who bids abstain
But our destroyer, foe to God and Man?
Hail, wedded love! mysterious law, true source
Of human offspring, sole propriety
In Paradise of all things common else.
By thee adulterous lust was driven from men
Among the bestial herds to range; by thee,
Founded in reason, loyal, just and pure,
Relations dear, and all the charities
Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
731. uncropt, ungathered. 735. thy gift. "He giveth his beloved sleep." Psalm cxxvii. 2.
739. handed, hand in ha eased, spared.
751. propriety, property.
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