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Excerpt from Book III of Paradise Lost by John Milton God explains his reason for creating free will in humans: So will fall, [ 95 ]Hee and his faithless Progenie: whose fault?Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of meeAll he could have; I made him just and right,Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.Such I created all th’ Ethereal Powers [ 100 ]And Spirits, both them who stood and them who faild;Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.Not free, what proof could they have givn sincereOf true allegiance, constant Faith or Love,Where onely what they needs must do, appeard, [ 105 ]Not what they would? what praise could they receive?What pleasure I from such obedience paid,When Will and Reason (Reason also is choice)Useless and vain, of freedom both despoild,Made passive both, had servd necessitie, [ 110 ]Not mee. They therefore as to right belongd,So were created, nor can justly accuseThir maker, or thir making, or thir Fate,As if predestination over-rul’dThir will, dispos’d by absolute Decree [ 115 ]Or high foreknowledge; they themselves decreedThir own revolt, not I: if I foreknew,Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault,Which had no less prov’d certain unforeknown.So without least impulse or shadow of Fate, [ 120 ]Or aught by me immutablie foreseen,They trespass, Authors to themselves in allBoth what they judge and what they choose; for soI formd them free, and free they must remain,Till they enthrall themselves: I else must change [ 125 ]Thir nature, and revoke the high DecreeUnchangeable, Eternal, which ordain’dThir freedom, they themselves ordain’d thir fall.The first sort by thir own suggestion fell,Self-tempted, self-deprav’d: Man falls deceiv’d [ 130 ]By the other first: Man therefore shall find grace,The other none: in Mercy and Justice both,Through Heav’n and Earth, so shall my glorie excel,But Mercy first and last shall brightest shine.
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BOOK 9 THE ARGUMENT Satan having compast the Earth, with meditated guile returns as a mist by Night into Paradise, enters into the Serpent sleeping. Adam and Eve in the Morning go forth to thir labours, which Eve proposes to divide in several places, each labouring apart: Adam consents not, alledging the danger, lest that Enemy, of whom they were forewarn’d, should attempt her found alone: Eve loath to be thought not circumspect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather desirous to make tryal of her strength; Adam at last yields: The Serpent finds her alone; his subtle approach, first gazing, then speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other Creatures. Eve wondring to hear the Serpent speak, asks how he attain’d to human speech and such understanding not till now; the Serpent answers, that by tasting of a certain Tree in the Garden he attain’d both to Speech and Reason, till then void of both: Eve requires him to bring her to that Tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge forbidden: The Serpent now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length to eat; she pleas’d with the taste deliberates a while whether to impart thereof to Adam or not, at last brings him of the Fruit, relates what perswaded her to eat thereof: Adam at first amaz’d, but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence of love to perish with her; and extenuating the trespass, eats also of the Fruit: The Effects thereof in them both; they seek to cover thir nakedness; then fall to variance and accusation of one another. ***In what follows, Satan (disguised as a serpent) approaches Eve, who is working alone in the Garden of Eden, and persuades her to eat an apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God has already warned them to stay away from that tree, and that if they eat its fruit, they will surely die. Satan’s goal is to persuade Eve to eat the forbidden fruit so that God forces both Adam and Eve out of Paradise. Such Pleasure took the Serpent to behold [ 455 ]This Flourie Plat, the sweet recess of EveThus earlie, thus alone; her Heav’nly formeAngelic, but more soft, and Feminine,Her graceful Innocence, her every AireOf gesture or lest action overawd [ 460 ]His Malice, and with rapine sweet bereav’dHis fierceness of the fierce intent it brought:That space the Evil one abstracted stoodFrom his own evil, and for the time remaindStupidly good, of enmitie disarm’d, [ 465 ]Of guile, of hate, of envie, of revenge;But the hot Hell that alwayes in him burnes,Though in mid Heav’n, soon ended his delight,And tortures him now more, the more he seesOf pleasure not for him ordain’d: then soon [ 470 ]Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughtsOf mischief, gratulating, thus excites. Thoughts, whither have ye led me, with what sweetCompulsion thus transported to forgetWhat hither brought us, hate, not love, nor hope [ 475 ]Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to tasteOf pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy,Save what is in destroying, other joyTo me is lost. Then let me not let passOccasion which now smiles, behold alone [ 480 ]The Woman, opportune to all attempts,Her Husband, for I view far round, not nigh,Whose higher intellectual more I shun,And strength, of courage hautie, and of limbHeroic built, though of terrestrial mould, [ 485 ]Foe not informidable, exempt from wound,I not; so much hath Hell debas’d, and paineInfeebl’d me, to what I was in Heav’n.Shee fair, divinely fair, fit Love for Gods,Not terrible, though terrour be in Love [ 490 ]And beautie, not approacht by stronger hate,Hate stronger, under shew of Love well feign’d,The way which to her ruin now I tend. So spake the Enemie of Mankind, enclos’dIn Serpent, Inmate bad, and toward Eve [ 495 ]Address’d his way, not with indented wave,Prone on the ground, as since, but on his reare,Circular base of rising foulds, that tour’dFould above fould a surging Maze, his HeadCrested aloft, and Carbuncle his Eyes; [ 500 ]With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold, erectAmidst his circling Spires, that on the grassFloted redundant: pleasing was his shape,And lovely, never since of Serpent kindLovelier, not those that in Illyria chang’d [ 505 ]Hermione and Cadmus, or the GodIn Epidaurus; nor to which transformdAmmonian Jove, or Capitoline was seen,Hee with Olympias, this with her who boreScipio the highth of Rome. With tract oblique [ 510 ]At first, as one who sought access, but feardTo interrupt, side-long he works his way.As when a Ship by skilful Stearsman wroughtNigh Rivers mouth or Foreland, where the WindVeres oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her Saile; [ 515 ]So varied hee, and of his tortuous TraineCurld many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve,To lure her Eye; shee busied heard the soundOf rusling Leaves, but minded not, as us’dTo such disport before her through the Field, [ 520 ]From every Beast, more duteous at her call,Then at Circean call the Herd disguis’d.Hee boulder now, uncall’d before her stood;But as in gaze admiring: Oft he bowdHis turret Crest, and sleek enamel’d Neck, [ 525 ]Fawning, and lick’d the ground whereon she trod.His gentle dumb expression turnd at lengthThe Eye of Eve to mark his play; he gladOf her attention gaind, with Serpent TongueOrganic, or impulse of vocal Air, [ 530 ]His fraudulent temptation thus began. Wonder not, sovran Mistress, if perhapsThou canst, who art sole Wonder, much less armThy looks, the Heav’n of mildness, with disdain,Displeas’d that I approach thee thus, and gaze [ 535 ]Insatiate, I thus single, nor have feardThy awful brow, more awful thus retir’d.Fairest resemblance of thy Maker faire,Thee all things living gaze on, all things thineBy gift, and thy Celestial Beautie adore [ 540 ]With ravishment beheld, there best beheldWhere universally admir’d; but hereIn this enclosure wild, these Beasts among,Beholders rude, and shallow to discerne Half what in thee is fair, one man except, [ 545 ]Who sees thee? (and what is one?) who shouldst be seenA Goddess among Gods, ador’d and serv’dBy Angels numberless, thy daily Train. So gloz’d the Tempter, and his Proem tun’d;Into the Heart of Eve his words made way, [ 550 ]Though at the voice much marveling; at lengthNot unamaz’d she thus in answer spake.What may this mean? Language of Man pronounc’tBy Tongue of Brute, and human sense exprest?The first at lest of these I thought deni’d [ 555 ]To Beasts, whom God on thir Creation-DayCreated mute to all articulat sound;The latter I demurre, for in thir looksMuch reason, and in thir actions oft appeers.Thee, Serpent, suttlest beast of all the field [ 560 ]I knew, but not with human voice endu’d;Redouble then this miracle, and say,How cam’st thou speakable of mute, and howTo me so friendly grown above the restOf brutal kind, that daily are in sight? [ 565 ]Say, for such wonder claims attention due. To whom the guileful Tempter thus reply’d.Empress of this fair World, resplendent Eve,Easie to mee it is to tell thee allWhat thou commandst and right thou shouldst be obeyd: [ 570 ]I was at first as other Beasts that grazeThe trodden Herb, of abject thoughts and low,As was my food, nor aught but food discern’dOr Sex, and apprehended nothing high:Till on a day roaving the field, I chanc’d [ 575 ]A goodly Tree farr distant to beholdLoaden with fruit of fairest colours mixt,Ruddie and Gold: I nearer drew to gaze;When from the boughes a savorie odour blow’n,Grateful to appetite, more pleas’d my sense, [ 580 ]Then smell of sweetest Fenel or the TeatsOf Ewe or Goat dropping with Milk at Eevn,Unsuckt of Lamb or Kid, that tend thir play.To satisfie the sharp desire I hadOf tasting those fair Apples, I resolv’d [ 585 ]Not to deferr; hunger and thirst at once,Powerful perswaders, quick’nd at the scentOf that alluring fruit, urg’d me so keene.About the mossie Trunk I wound me soon,For high from ground the branches would require [ 590 ]Thy utmost reach or Adams: Round the TreeAll other Beasts that saw, with like desireLonging and envying stood, but could not reach.Amid the Tree now got, where plenty hungTempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill [ 595 ]I spar’d not, for such pleasure till that hourAt Feed or Fountain never had I found.Sated at length, ere long I might perceaveStrange alteration in me, to degreeOf Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech [ 600 ]Wanted not long, though to this shape retain’d.Thenceforth to Speculations high or deepI turnd my thoughts, and with capacious mindConsiderd all things visible in Heav’n,Or Earth, or Middle, all things fair and good; [ 605 ]But all that fair and good in thy DivineSemblance, and in thy Beauties heav’nly RayUnited I beheld; no Fair to thineEquivalent or second, which compel’dMee thus, though importune perhaps, to come [ 610 ]And gaze, and worship thee of right declar’dSovran of Creatures, universal Dame. So talk’d the spirited sly Snake; and EveYet more amaz’d unwarie thus reply’d. Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt [ 615 ]The vertue of that Fruit, in thee first prov’d:But say, where grows the Tree, from hence how far?For many are the Trees of God that growIn Paradise, and various, yet unknownTo us, in such abundance lies our choice, [ 620 ]As leaves a greater store of Fruit untoucht,Still hanging incorruptible, till menGrow up to thir provision, and more handsHelp to disburden Nature of her Bearth. To whom the wilie Adder, blithe and glad. [ 625 ]Empress, the way is readie, and not long,Beyond a row of Myrtles, on a Flat,Fast by a Fountain, one small Thicket pastOf blowing Myrrh and Balme; if thou acceptMy conduct, I can bring thee thither soon. [ 630 ] Lead then, said Eve. Hee leading swiftly rowldIn tangles, and made intricate seem strait,To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joyBright’ns his Crest, as when a wandring FireCompact of unctuous vapor, which the Night [ 635 ]Condenses, and the cold invirons round,Kindl’d through agitation to a Flame,Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attendsHovering and blazing with delusive Light,Misleads th’ amaz’d Night-wanderer from his way [ 640 ]To Boggs and Mires, and oft through Pond or Poole,There swallow’d up and lost, from succour farr.So glister’d the dire Snake, and into fraudLed Eve our credulous Mother, to the TreeOf prohibition, root of all our woe; [ 645 ]Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake. Serpent, we might have spar’d our coming hither,Fruitless to mee, though Fruit be here to excess,The credit of whose vertue rest with thee,Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects. [ 650 ]But of this Tree we may not taste nor touch;God so commanded, and left that CommandSole Daughter of his voice; the rest, we liveLaw to our selves, our Reason is our Law. To whom the Tempter guilefully repli’d. [ 655 ]Indeed? hath God then said that of the FruitOf all these Garden Trees ye shall not eate,Yet Lords declar’d of all in Earth or Aire? To whom thus Eve yet sinless. Of the FruitOf each Tree in the Garden we may eate, [ 660 ]But of the Fruit of this fair Tree amidstThe Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eateThereof, nor shall ye touch it, least ye die. She scarse had said, though brief, when now more boldThe Tempter, but with shew of Zeale and Love [ 665 ]To Man, and indignation at his wrong,New part puts on, and as to passion mov’d,Fluctuats disturbd, yet comely and in actRais’d, as of som great matter to begin.As when of old som Orator renound [ 670 ]In Athens or free Rome, where EloquenceFlourishd, since mute, to som great cause addrest,Stood in himself collected, while each part,Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue,Somtimes in highth began, as no delay [ 675 ]Of Preface brooking through his Zeal of Right.So standing, moving, or to highth upgrownThe Tempter all impassiond thus began. O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant,Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power [ 680 ]Within me cleere, not onely to discerneThings in thir Causes, but to trace the wayesOf highest Agents, deemd however wise.Queen of this Universe, doe not believeThose rigid threats of Death; ye shall not Die: [ 685 ]How should ye? by the Fruit? it gives you LifeTo Knowledge, By the Threatner? look on mee,Mee who have touch’d and tasted, yet both live,And life more perfet have attaind then FateMeant mee, by ventring higher then my Lot. [ 690 ]Shall that be shut to Man, which to the BeastIs open? or will God incense his ireFor such a petty Trespass, and not praiseRather your dauntless vertue, whom the painOf Death denounc’t, whatever thing Death be, [ 695 ]Deterrd not from atchieving what might leadeTo happier life, knowledge of Good and Evil;Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evilBe real, why not known, since easier shunnd? God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just; [ 700 ]Not just, not God ; not feard then, nor obeyd:Your feare it self of Death removes the feare.Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,His worshippers; he knows that in the day [ 705 ]Ye Eate thereof, your Eyes that seem so cleere,Yet are but dim, shall perfetly be thenOp’nd and cleerd, and ye shall be as Gods,Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.That ye should be as Gods, since I as Man, [ 710 ]Internal Man, is but proportion meet,I of brute human, yee of human Gods.So ye shall die perhaps, by putting offHuman, to put on Gods, death to be wisht,Though threat’nd, which no worse then this can bring. [ 715 ]And what are Gods that Man may not becomeAs they, participating God-like food?The Gods are first, and that advantage useOn our belief, that all from them proceeds;I question it, for this fair Earth I see, [ 720 ]Warm’d by the Sun, producing every kind,Them nothing: If they all things, who enclos’dKnowledge of Good and Evil in this Tree,That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attainsWisdom without their leave? and wherein lies [ 725 ]Th’ offence, that Man should thus attain to know?What can your knowledge hurt him, or this TreeImpart against his will if all be his?Or is it envie, and can envie dwellIn Heav’nly brests? these, these and many more [ 730 ]Causes import your need of this fair Fruit.Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste. He ended, and his words replete with guileInto her heart too easie entrance won:Fixt on the Fruit she gaz’d, which to behold [ 735 ]Might tempt alone, and in her ears the soundYet rung of his perswasive words, impregn’dWith Reason, to her seeming, and with Truth;Mean while the hour of Noon drew on, and wak’dAn eager appetite, rais’d by the smell [ 740 ]So savorie of that Fruit, which with desire,Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,Sollicited her longing eye; yet firstPausing a while, thus to her self she mus’d. Great are thy Vertues, doubtless, best of Fruits. [ 745 ]Though kept from Man, and worthy to be admir’d,Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assayGave elocution to the mute, and taughtThe Tongue not made for Speech to speak thy praise:Thy praise hee also who forbids thy use, [ 750 ]Conceales not from us, naming thee the TreeOf Knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;Forbids us then to taste, but his forbiddingCommends thee more, while it inferrs the goodBy thee communicated, and our want: [ 755 ]For good unknown, sure is not had, or hadAnd yet unknown, is as not had at all.In plain then, what forbids he but to know,Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?Such prohibitions binde not. But if Death [ 760 ]Bind us with after-bands, what profits thenOur inward freedom? In the day we eateOf this fair Fruit, our doom is, we shall die.How dies the Serpent? hee hath eat’n and lives,And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns, [ 765 ]Irrational till then. For us aloneWas death invented? or to us deni’dThis intellectual food, for beasts reserv’d?For Beasts it seems: yet that one Beast which firstHath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy [ 770 ]The good befall’n him, Author unsuspect,Friendly to man, farr from deceit or guile.What fear I then, rather what know to feareUnder this ignorance of good and Evil,Of God or Death, of Law or Penaltie? [ 775 ]Here grows the Cure of all, this Fruit Divine,Fair to the Eye, inviting to the Taste,Of vertue to make wise: what hinders thenTo reach, and feed at once both Bodie and Mind? So saying, her rash hand in evil hour [ 780 ]Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck’d, she eat:Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seatSighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,That all was lost. Back to the Thicket slunkThe guiltie Serpent, and well might, for Eve [ 785 ]Intent now wholly on her taste, naught elseRegarded, such delight till then, as seemd,In Fruit she never tasted, whether trueOr fansied so, through expectation highOf knowledg, nor was God-head from her thought. [ 790 ]Greedily she ingorg’d without restraint,And knew not eating Death: Satiate at length,And hight’nd as with Wine, jocond and boon,Thus to her self she pleasingly began. O Sovran, vertuous, precious of all Trees [ 795 ]In Paradise, of operation blestTo Sapience, hitherto obscur’d, infam’d,And thy fair Fruit let hang, as to no endCreated; but henceforth my early care,Not without Song, each Morning, and due praise [ 800 ]Shall tend thee, and the fertil burden easeOf thy full branches offer’d free to all;Till dieted by thee I grow matureIn knowledge, as the Gods who all things know;Though others envie what they cannot give; [ 805 ]For had the gift bin theirs, it had not hereThus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe,Best guide; not following thee, I had remaindIn ignorance, thou op’nst Wisdoms way,And giv’st access, though secret she retire. [ 810 ]And I perhaps am secret; Heav’n is high,High and remote to see from thence distinctEach thing on Earth; and other care perhapsMay have diverted from continual watchOur great Forbidder, safe with all his Spies [ 815 ]About him. But to Adam in what sortShall I appeer? shall I to him make knownAs yet my change, and give him to partakeFull happiness with mee, or rather not,But keep the odds of Knowledge in my power [ 820 ]Without Copartner? so to add what wantsIn Femal Sex, the more to draw his Love,And render me more equal, and perhaps,A thing not undesireable, somtimeSuperior: for inferior who is free? [ 825 ]This may be well: but what if God have seenAnd Death ensue? then I shall be no more,And Adam wedded to another Eve,Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;A death to think. Confirm’d then I resolve, [ 830 ]Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:So dear I love him, that with him all deathsI could endure, without him live no life. Syllogistic Reasoning Major Premise: God is just Minor Premise: God cannot punish you and still be just Conclusion: God won’t punish you (if he’s just) If God does punish you, then he’s not just If he’s not just, then he’s not God If he’s not God, no reason to obey him anyway 10
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James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson, born in Florida in 1871, was a national organizer for the NAACP and an author of poetry and nonfiction. Perhaps best known for the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” he also wrote several poetry collections and novels, often exploring racial identity and the African American folk tradition. Bottom of Form The Creation James Weldon Johnson – 1871-1938 And God stepped out on space,And he looked around and said:I’m lonely—I’ll make me a world. And far as the eye of God could seeDarkness covered everything,Blacker than a hundred midnightsDown in a cypress swamp. Then God smiled,And the light broke,And the darkness rolled up on one side,And the light stood shining on the other,And God said: That’s good! Then God reached out and took the light in his hands,And God rolled the light around in his handsUntil he made the sun;And he set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.And the light that was left from making the sunGod gathered it up in a shining ballAnd flung it against the darkness,Spangling the night with the moon and stars.Then down betweenThe darkness and the lightHe hurled the world;And God said: That’s good! Then God himself stepped down—And the sun was on his right hand,And the moon was on his left;The stars were clustered about his head,And the earth was under his feet.And God walked, and where he trodHis footsteps hollowed the valleys outAnd bulged the mountains up. Then he stopped and looked and sawThat the earth was hot and barren.So God stepped over to the edge of the worldAnd he spat out the seven seas—He batted his eyes, and the lightnings flashed—He clapped his hands, and the thunders rolled—And the waters above the earth came down,The cooling waters came down. Then the green grass sprouted,And the little red flowers blossomed,The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,And the oak spread out his arms,The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,And the rivers ran down to the sea;And God smiled again,And the rainbow appeared,And curled itself around his shoulder. Then God raised his arm and he waved his handOver the sea and over the land,And he said: Bring forth! Bring forth!And quicker than God could drop his hand,Fishes and fowlsAnd beasts and birdsSwam the rivers and the seas,Roamed the forests and the woods,And split the air with their wings.And God said: That’s good! Then God walked around,And God looked aroundOn all that he had made.He looked at his sun,And he looked at his moon,And he looked at his little stars;He looked on his worldWith all its living things,And God said: I’m lonely still. Then God sat down—On the side of a hill where he could think;By a deep, wide river he sat down;With his head in his hands,God thought and thought,Till he thought: I’ll make me a man! Up from the bed of the riverGod scooped the clay;And by the bank of the riverHe kneeled him down;And there the great God AlmightyWho lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,Who rounded the earth in the middle of his hand;This great God,Like a mammy bending over her baby,Kneeled down in the dustToiling over a lump of clayTill he shaped it in is his own image; Then into it he blew the breath of life,And man became a living soul.Amen.      Amen. From God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson. Copyright © 1927 The Viking Press, Inc., renewed 1955 by Grace Nail Johnson. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.
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BOOK 9 THE ARGUMENT Satan having compast the Earth, with meditated guile returns as a mist by Night into Paradise, enters into the Serpent sleeping. Adam and Eve in the Morning go forth to thir labours, which Eve proposes to divide in several places, each labouring apart: Adam consents not, alledging the danger, lest that Enemy, of whom they were forewarn’d, should attempt her found alone: Eve loath to be thought not circumspect or firm enough, urges her going apart, the rather desirous to make tryal of her strength; Adam at last yields: The Serpent finds her alone; his subtle approach, first gazing, then speaking, with much flattery extolling Eve above all other Creatures. Eve wondring to hear the Serpent speak, asks how he attain’d to human speech and such understanding not till now; the Serpent answers, that by tasting of a certain Tree in the Garden he attain’d both to Speech and Reason, till then void of both: Eve requires him to bring her to that Tree, and finds it to be the Tree of Knowledge forbidden: The Serpent now grown bolder, with many wiles and arguments induces her at length to eat; she pleas’d with the taste deliberates a while whether to impart thereof to Adam or not, at last brings him of the Fruit, relates what perswaded her to eat thereof: Adam at first amaz’d, but perceiving her lost, resolves through vehemence of love to perish with her; and extenuating the trespass, eats also of the Fruit: The Effects thereof in them both; they seek to cover thir nakedness; then fall to variance and accusation of one another. ***In what follows, Satan (disguised as a serpent) approaches Eve, who is working alone in the Garden of Eden, and persuades her to eat an apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God has already warned them to stay away from that tree, and that if they eat its fruit, they will surely die. Satan’s goal is to persuade Eve to eat the forbidden fruit so that God forces both Adam and Eve out of Paradise. Such Pleasure took the Serpent to behold [ 455 ]This Flourie Plat, the sweet recess of EveThus earlie, thus alone; her Heav’nly formeAngelic, but more soft, and Feminine,Her graceful Innocence, her every AireOf gesture or lest action overawd [ 460 ]His Malice, and with rapine sweet bereav’dHis fierceness of the fierce intent it brought:That space the Evil one abstracted stoodFrom his own evil, and for the time remaindStupidly good, of enmitie disarm’d, [ 465 ]Of guile, of hate, of envie, of revenge;But the hot Hell that alwayes in him burnes,Though in mid Heav’n, soon ended his delight,And tortures him now more, the more he seesOf pleasure not for him ordain’d: then soon [ 470 ]Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughtsOf mischief, gratulating, thus excites. Thoughts, whither have ye led me, with what sweetCompulsion thus transported to forgetWhat hither brought us, hate, not love, nor hope [ 475 ]Of Paradise for Hell, hope here to tasteOf pleasure, but all pleasure to destroy,Save what is in destroying, other joyTo me is lost. Then let me not let passOccasion which now smiles, behold alone [ 480 ]The Woman, opportune to all attempts,Her Husband, for I view far round, not nigh,Whose higher intellectual more I shun,And strength, of courage hautie, and of limbHeroic built, though of terrestrial mould, [ 485 ]Foe not informidable, exempt from wound,I not; so much hath Hell debas’d, and paineInfeebl’d me, to what I was in Heav’n.Shee fair, divinely fair, fit Love for Gods,Not terrible, though terrour be in Love [ 490 ]And beautie, not approacht by stronger hate,Hate stronger, under shew of Love well feign’d,The way which to her ruin now I tend. So spake the Enemie of Mankind, enclos’dIn Serpent, Inmate bad, and toward Eve [ 495 ]Address’d his way, not with indented wave,Prone on the ground, as since, but on his reare,Circular base of rising foulds, that tour’dFould above fould a surging Maze, his HeadCrested aloft, and Carbuncle his Eyes; [ 500 ]With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold, erectAmidst his circling Spires, that on the grassFloted redundant: pleasing was his shape,And lovely, never since of Serpent kindLovelier, not those that in Illyria chang’d [ 505 ]Hermione and Cadmus, or the GodIn Epidaurus; nor to which transformdAmmonian Jove, or Capitoline was seen,Hee with Olympias, this with her who boreScipio the highth of Rome. With tract oblique [ 510 ]At first, as one who sought access, but feardTo interrupt, side-long he works his way.As when a Ship by skilful Stearsman wroughtNigh Rivers mouth or Foreland, where the WindVeres oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her Saile; [ 515 ]So varied hee, and of his tortuous TraineCurld many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve,To lure her Eye; shee busied heard the soundOf rusling Leaves, but minded not, as us’dTo such disport before her through the Field, [ 520 ]From every Beast, more duteous at her call,Then at Circean call the Herd disguis’d.Hee boulder now, uncall’d before her stood;But as in gaze admiring: Oft he bowdHis turret Crest, and sleek enamel’d Neck, [ 525 ]Fawning, and lick’d the ground whereon she trod.His gentle dumb expression turnd at lengthThe Eye of Eve to mark his play; he gladOf her attention gaind, with Serpent TongueOrganic, or impulse of vocal Air, [ 530 ]His fraudulent temptation thus began. Wonder not, sovran Mistress, if perhapsThou canst, who art sole Wonder, much less armThy looks, the Heav’n of mildness, with disdain,Displeas’d that I approach thee thus, and gaze [ 535 ]Insatiate, I thus single, nor have feardThy awful brow, more awful thus retir’d.Fairest resemblance of thy Maker faire,Thee all things living gaze on, all things thineBy gift, and thy Celestial Beautie adore [ 540 ]With ravishment beheld, there best beheldWhere universally admir’d; but hereIn this enclosure wild, these Beasts among,Beholders rude, and shallow to discerne Half what in thee is fair, one man except, [ 545 ]Who sees thee? (and what is one?) who shouldst be seenA Goddess among Gods, ador’d and serv’dBy Angels numberless, thy daily Train. So gloz’d the Tempter, and his Proem tun’d;Into the Heart of Eve his words made way, [ 550 ]Though at the voice much marveling; at lengthNot unamaz’d she thus in answer spake.What may this mean? Language of Man pronounc’tBy Tongue of Brute, and human sense exprest?The first at lest of these I thought deni’d [ 555 ]To Beasts, whom God on thir Creation-DayCreated mute to all articulat sound;The latter I demurre, for in thir looksMuch reason, and in thir actions oft appeers.Thee, Serpent, suttlest beast of all the field [ 560 ]I knew, but not with human voice endu’d;Redouble then this miracle, and say,How cam’st thou speakable of mute, and howTo me so friendly grown above the restOf brutal kind, that daily are in sight? [ 565 ]Say, for such wonder claims attention due. To whom the guileful Tempter thus reply’d.Empress of this fair World, resplendent Eve,Easie to mee it is to tell thee allWhat thou commandst and right thou shouldst be obeyd: [ 570 ]I was at first as other Beasts that grazeThe trodden Herb, of abject thoughts and low,As was my food, nor aught but food discern’dOr Sex, and apprehended nothing high:Till on a day roaving the field, I chanc’d [ 575 ]A goodly Tree farr distant to beholdLoaden with fruit of fairest colours mixt,Ruddie and Gold: I nearer drew to gaze;When from the boughes a savorie odour blow’n,Grateful to appetite, more pleas’d my sense, [ 580 ]Then smell of sweetest Fenel or the TeatsOf Ewe or Goat dropping with Milk at Eevn,Unsuckt of Lamb or Kid, that tend thir play.To satisfie the sharp desire I hadOf tasting those fair Apples, I resolv’d [ 585 ]Not to deferr; hunger and thirst at once,Powerful perswaders, quick’nd at the scentOf that alluring fruit, urg’d me so keene.About the mossie Trunk I wound me soon,For high from ground the branches would require [ 590 ]Thy utmost reach or Adams: Round the TreeAll other Beasts that saw, with like desireLonging and envying stood, but could not reach.Amid the Tree now got, where plenty hungTempting so nigh, to pluck and eat my fill [ 595 ]I spar’d not, for such pleasure till that hourAt Feed or Fountain never had I found.Sated at length, ere long I might perceaveStrange alteration in me, to degreeOf Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech [ 600 ]Wanted not long, though to this shape retain’d.Thenceforth to Speculations high or deepI turnd my thoughts, and with capacious mindConsiderd all things visible in Heav’n,Or Earth, or Middle, all things fair and good; [ 605 ]But all that fair and good in thy DivineSemblance, and in thy Beauties heav’nly RayUnited I beheld; no Fair to thineEquivalent or second, which compel’dMee thus, though importune perhaps, to come [ 610 ]And gaze, and worship thee of right declar’dSovran of Creatures, universal Dame. So talk’d the spirited sly Snake; and EveYet more amaz’d unwarie thus reply’d. Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt [ 615 ]The vertue of that Fruit, in thee first prov’d:But say, where grows the Tree, from hence how far?For many are the Trees of God that growIn Paradise, and various, yet unknownTo us, in such abundance lies our choice, [ 620 ]As leaves a greater store of Fruit untoucht,Still hanging incorruptible, till menGrow up to thir provision, and more handsHelp to disburden Nature of her Bearth. To whom the wilie Adder, blithe and glad. [ 625 ]Empress, the way is readie, and not long,Beyond a row of Myrtles, on a Flat,Fast by a Fountain, one small Thicket pastOf blowing Myrrh and Balme; if thou acceptMy conduct, I can bring thee thither soon. [ 630 ] Lead then, said Eve. Hee leading swiftly rowldIn tangles, and made intricate seem strait,To mischief swift. Hope elevates, and joyBright’ns his Crest, as when a wandring FireCompact of unctuous vapor, which the Night [ 635 ]Condenses, and the cold invirons round,Kindl’d through agitation to a Flame,Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attendsHovering and blazing with delusive Light,Misleads th’ amaz’d Night-wanderer from his way [ 640 ]To Boggs and Mires, and oft through Pond or Poole,There swallow’d up and lost, from succour farr.So glister’d the dire Snake, and into fraudLed Eve our credulous Mother, to the TreeOf prohibition, root of all our woe; [ 645 ]Which when she saw, thus to her guide she spake. Serpent, we might have spar’d our coming hither,Fruitless to mee, though Fruit be here to excess,The credit of whose vertue rest with thee,Wondrous indeed, if cause of such effects. [ 650 ]But of this Tree we may not taste nor touch;God so commanded, and left that CommandSole Daughter of his voice; the rest, we liveLaw to our selves, our Reason is our Law. To whom the Tempter guilefully repli’d. [ 655 ]Indeed? hath God then said that of the FruitOf all these Garden Trees ye shall not eate,Yet Lords declar’d of all in Earth or Aire? To whom thus Eve yet sinless. Of the FruitOf each Tree in the Garden we may eate, [ 660 ]But of the Fruit of this fair Tree amidstThe Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eateThereof, nor shall ye touch it, least ye die. She scarse had said, though brief, when now more boldThe Tempter, but with shew of Zeale and Love [ 665 ]To Man, and indignation at his wrong,New part puts on, and as to passion mov’d,Fluctuats disturbd, yet comely and in actRais’d, as of som great matter to begin.As when of old som Orator renound [ 670 ]In Athens or free Rome, where EloquenceFlourishd, since mute, to som great cause addrest,Stood in himself collected, while each part,Motion, each act won audience ere the tongue,Somtimes in highth began, as no delay [ 675 ]Of Preface brooking through his Zeal of Right.So standing, moving, or to highth upgrownThe Tempter all impassiond thus began. O Sacred, Wise, and Wisdom-giving Plant,Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power [ 680 ]Within me cleere, not onely to discerneThings in thir Causes, but to trace the wayesOf highest Agents, deemd however wise.Queen of this Universe, doe not believeThose rigid threats of Death; ye shall not Die: [ 685 ]How should ye? by the Fruit? it gives you LifeTo Knowledge, By the Threatner? look on mee,Mee who have touch’d and tasted, yet both live,And life more perfet have attaind then FateMeant mee, by ventring higher then my Lot. [ 690 ]Shall that be shut to Man, which to the BeastIs open? or will God incense his ireFor such a petty Trespass, and not praiseRather your dauntless vertue, whom the painOf Death denounc’t, whatever thing Death be, [ 695 ]Deterrd not from atchieving what might leadeTo happier life, knowledge of Good and Evil;Of good, how just? of evil, if what is evilBe real, why not known, since easier shunnd? God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just; [ 700 ]Not just, not God ; not feard then, nor obeyd:Your feare it self of Death removes the feare.Why then was this forbid? Why but to awe,Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,His worshippers; he knows that in the day [ 705 ]Ye Eate thereof, your Eyes that seem so cleere,Yet are but dim, shall perfetly be thenOp’nd and cleerd, and ye shall be as Gods,Knowing both Good and Evil as they know.That ye should be as Gods, since I as Man, [ 710 ]Internal Man, is but proportion meet,I of brute human, yee of human Gods.So ye shall die perhaps, by putting offHuman, to put on Gods, death to be wisht,Though threat’nd, which no worse then this can bring. [ 715 ]And what are Gods that Man may not becomeAs they, participating God-like food?The Gods are first, and that advantage useOn our belief, that all from them proceeds;I question it, for this fair Earth I see, [ 720 ]Warm’d by the Sun, producing every kind,Them nothing: If they all things, who enclos’dKnowledge of Good and Evil in this Tree,That whoso eats thereof, forthwith attainsWisdom without their leave? and wherein lies [ 725 ]Th’ offence, that Man should thus attain to know?What can your knowledge hurt him, or this TreeImpart against his will if all be his?Or is it envie, and can envie dwellIn Heav’nly brests? these, these and many more [ 730 ]Causes import your need of this fair Fruit.Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste. He ended, and his words replete with guileInto her heart too easie entrance won:Fixt on the Fruit she gaz’d, which to behold [ 735 ]Might tempt alone, and in her ears the soundYet rung of his perswasive words, impregn’dWith Reason, to her seeming, and with Truth;Mean while the hour of Noon drew on, and wak’dAn eager appetite, rais’d by the smell [ 740 ]So savorie of that Fruit, which with desire,Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,Sollicited her longing eye; yet firstPausing a while, thus to her self she mus’d. Great are thy Vertues, doubtless, best of Fruits. [ 745 ]Though kept from Man, and worthy to be admir’d,Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assayGave elocution to the mute, and taughtThe Tongue not made for Speech to speak thy praise:Thy praise hee also who forbids thy use, [ 750 ]Conceales not from us, naming thee the TreeOf Knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;Forbids us then to taste, but his forbiddingCommends thee more, while it inferrs the goodBy thee communicated, and our want: [ 755 ]For good unknown, sure is not had, or hadAnd yet unknown, is as not had at all.In plain then, what forbids he but to know,Forbids us good, forbids us to be wise?Such prohibitions binde not. But if Death [ 760 ]Bind us with after-bands, what profits thenOur inward freedom? In the day we eateOf this fair Fruit, our doom is, we shall die.How dies the Serpent? hee hath eat’n and lives,And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns, [ 765 ]Irrational till then. For us aloneWas death invented? or to us deni’dThis intellectual food, for beasts reserv’d?For Beasts it seems: yet that one Beast which firstHath tasted, envies not, but brings with joy [ 770 ]The good befall’n him, Author unsuspect,Friendly to man, farr from deceit or guile.What fear I then, rather what know to feareUnder this ignorance of good and Evil,Of God or Death, of Law or Penaltie? [ 775 ]Here grows the Cure of all, this Fruit Divine,Fair to the Eye, inviting to the Taste,Of vertue to make wise: what hinders thenTo reach, and feed at once both Bodie and Mind? So saying, her rash hand in evil hour [ 780 ]Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck’d, she eat:Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seatSighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,That all was lost. Back to the Thicket slunkThe guiltie Serpent, and well might, for Eve [ 785 ]Intent now wholly on her taste, naught elseRegarded, such delight till then, as seemd,In Fruit she never tasted, whether trueOr fansied so, through expectation highOf knowledg, nor was God-head from her thought. [ 790 ]Greedily she ingorg’d without restraint,And knew not eating Death: Satiate at length,And hight’nd as with Wine, jocond and boon,Thus to her self she pleasingly began. O Sovran, vertuous, precious of all Trees [ 795 ]In Paradise, of operation blestTo Sapience, hitherto obscur’d, infam’d,And thy fair Fruit let hang, as to no endCreated; but henceforth my early care,Not without Song, each Morning, and due praise [ 800 ]Shall tend thee, and the fertil burden easeOf thy full branches offer’d free to all;Till dieted by thee I grow matureIn knowledge, as the Gods who all things know;Though others envie what they cannot give; [ 805 ]For had the gift bin theirs, it had not hereThus grown. Experience, next to thee I owe,Best guide; not following thee, I had remaindIn ignorance, thou op’nst Wisdoms way,And giv’st access, though secret she retire. [ 810 ]And I perhaps am secret; Heav’n is high,High and remote to see from thence distinctEach thing on Earth; and other care perhapsMay have diverted from continual watchOur great Forbidder, safe with all his Spies [ 815 ]About him. But to Adam in what sortShall I appeer? shall I to him make knownAs yet my change, and give him to partakeFull happiness with mee, or rather not,But keep the odds of Knowledge in my power [ 820 ]Without Copartner? so to add what wantsIn Femal Sex, the more to draw his Love,And render me more equal, and perhaps,A thing not undesireable, somtimeSuperior: for inferior who is free? [ 825 ]This may be well: but what if God have seenAnd Death ensue? then I shall be no more,And Adam wedded to another Eve,Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;A death to think. Confirm’d then I resolve, [ 830 ]Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:So dear I love him, that with him all deathsI could endure, without him live no life. Syllogistic Reasoning Major Premise: God is just Minor Premise: God cannot punish you and still be just Conclusion: God won’t punish you (if he’s just) If God does punish you, then he’s not just If he’s not just, then he’s not God If he’s not God, no reason to obey him anyway 10