275

280

285

When to enshrine his reliques in the Sun's
Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies.
At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise
He lights, and to his proper shape returns,
A seraph winged: six wings he wore to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad came mantling o'er his breast
With regal ornament; the middle pair
Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
And colors dipped in heaven; the third his feet
Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,
Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he stood,
And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance filled
The circuit wide. Straight knew him all the bands
Of angels under watch, and to his state
And to his message high in honor rise,
For on some message high they guessed him bound.
Their glittering tents he passed, and now is come
Into the blissful field, through groves of myrrh,
And flowering odors, cassia, nard, and balm,
A wilderness of sweets; for Nature here
Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet,
Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss.
Him, through the spicy forest onward come,
Adam discerned, as in the door he sat

bird that, after having lived five hundred years, built for itself a funeral pile of cinnamon, spikenard, and myrrh. As it drew its last breath, a young Phoenix sprang from its ashes, to live another five hundred years, and then die in like manner. Thus it was that sole bird. The young bird carried the nest which contained the ashes of its parent, his reliques, to Egypt, there to enshrine it in the Temple of the Sun. 277-285. See line 250.

289

295

278. lineaments, form as described or marked by lines.

281. zone, girdle.

284. with feathered mail, covering with feathers overlapping each other like plates of armor.

285. Sky-tinctured grain, tinged with the grain or color of the sky. -Maia's son, Mercury, the messenger of the gods, whose feet were winged. See III. 603.

289. in, in sign of.

297. enormous, beyond or without measure.

Of his cool bower, while now the mounted
Shot down direct his fervid rays to warm
Earth's inmost womb, more warmth th
needs;

And Eve within due at her hour prepared
For dinner savory fruits, of taste to please
True appetite, and not disrelish thirst
Of nectarous draughts between, from milky
Berry or grape; to whom thus Adam calle

"Haste hither, Eve, and, worth thy sight Eastward among those trees what glorious s Comes this way moving, seems another mor Risen on mid-noon; some great behest from To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe This day to be our guest. But go with spe And what thy stores contain bring forth, an Abundance, fit to honor and receive

Our heavenly stranger: well we may afford Our givers their own gifts, and large bestow From large bestowed, where Nature multipl Her fertile growth, and by disburdening gro More fruitful, which instructs us not to spar

To whom thus Eve: 66

mould,

'Adam, earth's

Of God inspired! small store will serve whe All seasons ripe for use hangs on the stalk; Save what by frugal storing firmness gains To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes. But I will haste, and from each bough and Each plant and juiciest gourd, will pluck su To entertain our angel guest, as he

Beholding shall confess, that here on Earth God hath dispensed his bounties as in Heave

303. due, punctual. 310. seems, that seems.

321. See Genesis ii. 328. as, that.

So saying, with despatchful looks in haste She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent What choice to choose for delicacy best,

335

340

What order so contrived as not to mix
Tastes, not well joined, inelegant, but bring
Taste after taste upheld with kindliest change;
Bestirs her then, and from each tender stalk
Whatever Earth, all bearing mother, yields
In India East or West, or middle shore,
In Pontus or the Punic coast, or where
Alcinõus reigned, fruit of all kinds, in coat
Rough or smooth rined, or bearded husk, or shell,
She gathers, tribute large, and on the board
Heaps with unsparing hand: for drink the grape
She crushes, inoffensive must, and meathes
From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed
She tempers dulcet creams; nor these to hold
Wants her fit vessels pure: then strews the ground
With rose and odors from the shrub unfumed.

Meanwhile our primitive great sire, to meet
His godlike guest, walks forth, without more train
Accompanied than with his own complete
Perfections; in himself was all his state,

333. What choice, her thought was, what choice.

335. not well joined, inelegant, if not well joined or mixed after careful selection, then not pleasing.

339. middle shore, what lies between.

340. Pontus was in the northern part of Asia Minor. — the Punic coast was the coast of Carthage, in the north of Africa. 341. where Alcinous reigned. Alcinous was the ruler of the Phæacians, who entertained Ulysses in his island of Scheria, on the west of Greece, as related by Homer in the Odyssey.

For

345

350

the scanning of this line, see note on III. 36. Here the second foot consists of three syllables.

342. Rough or smooth rined or rinded, having a rough or smooth rind.

345. must, new wine pressed from the grape, but not fermented; therefore inoffensive, without intoxicating qualities.meathes, meads.

347. tempers, suitably prepares. 348. Wants her, has she any lack of.

349. unfumed, giving forth its fragrance without being burned like incense.

More solemn than the tedious pomp that wa
On princes, when their rich retinue long
Of horses led and grooms besmeared with g
Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape.
Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed
Yet with submiss approach and reverence m
As to a superior nature, bowing low,

Thus said: "Native of Heaven! for other
None can than Heaven such glorious shape
Since, by descending from the thrones abov
Those happy places thou hast deigned awhil
To want and honor these, vouchsafe with us
Two only, who yet by sovran gift possess
This spacious ground, in yonder shady bow
To rest, and what the garden choicest bears
To sit and taste, till this meridian heat
Be over, and the sun more cool decline."

Whom thus the angelic Virtue answered
"Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou suc
Created, or such place hast here to dwell,
As may not oft invite, though spirits of Hea
To visit thee: lead on then where thy bowe
O'ershades; for these midhours, till evening
I have at will." So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona's arbor smiled
With flowerets decked and fragrant smells;
Undecked save with herself, more lovely fai
Than wood-nymph or the fairest goddess fei
Of three that in Mount Ida naked strove,

358. Nearer, when nearer to.
359. submiss, submissive.
365. To want, to be without;

to leave.

371. Virtue. See II. 311. 374. though spirits, even spirits. 378. Pomona presided over fruit and its culture.

382. three Juno, M Venus each claimed beauty. Jupiter se Mount Ida, where P Priam king of Troy, his flocks. He adjud to Venus, the fai feigned. His decisio the Judgment of Par

Stood to entertain her guest from Heaven: no veil
She needed, virtue-proof; no thought infirm

Altered her cheek. On whom the angel Hail!
Bestowed, the holy salutation used
Long after to blest Mary, second Eve:
"Hail, mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb
Shall fill the world more numerous with thy sons,
Than with these various fruits the trees of God
Have heaped this table!" Raised of grassy turf
Their table was, and mossy seats had round,
And on her ample square from side to side
All autumn piled, though spring and autumn here
Danced hand in hand. Awhile discourse they hold
(No fear lest dinner cool), when thus began
Our author: Heavenly stranger, please to taste
These bounties, which our nourisher, from whom
All perfect good unmeasured out descends
To us for food and for delight, hath caused
The earth to yield; unsavory food perhaps
To spiritual natures; only this I know,
That one celestial Father gives to all."

385

390

396

400

To whom the angel: "Therefore what he gives (Whose praise be ever sung!) to man in part Spiritual, may of purest spirits be found

405

No ingrateful food and food alike those pure
Intelligential substances require,

As doth your rational; and both contain
Within them every lower faculty

410

Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste;

384. virtue-proof, strong or safe in virtue.

386. the holy salutation. "And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored." Luke i. 28.

392. round is an adverb. 393. her, its.

394. piled, had all autumn, the fruits of autumn, piled.

397. Our author, him from whom we derive our origin; our first ancestor.

406. of, by.

407. ingrateful, unpleasing. 409. rational, rational substance.