Alcinous reign'd, fruit of all kinds, in coat, Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell, She gathers, tribute large, and on the board Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape She crushes, innoffensive must, and meaths From many a berry, and from sweet kernels press'd She tempers dulcet creams, nor these to hold Wants her fit vessels pure; then strews the ground With rose and odours from the shrub unfumed. Meanwhile our primitive great sire, to meet His god-like guest, walks forth, without more train Accompanied than with his own complete Perfections; in himself was all his state, More solemn than the tedious pomp that waits On princes, when their rich retinue long
Of horses led, and grooms besmear'd with gold, Dazzles the crowd, and sets them all agape. Nearer his presence Adam, though not awed, Yet with submiss approach and reverence meek, As to a superior nature, bowing low,
Thus said Native of heaven, for other place None can than heaven such glorious shape contain; Since by descending from the thrones above, Those happy places thou hast deign'd a while To want, and honour these, vouchsafe with us Two only, who yet by sovereign gift possess This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower 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 answer'd mild : Adam, I therefore came, nor art thou such Created, or such place hast here to dwell, As may not oft invite, though spirits of heaven, To visit thee; lead on then where thy bower O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise, I have at will. So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona's arbour smiled With flowerets deck'd and fragrant smells; but Eve Undeck'd, save with herself, more lovely fair Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess feign'd Of three that in Mount Ida naked strove,
Stood to entertain her guest from heaven; no veil She needed, virtue-proof; no thought infirm Alter'd her cheek. On whom the angel Hail Bestow'd, the holy salutation used
Long after to bless'd 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 heap'd this table. Raised of grassy turf Their tabie 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. A while 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; unsavoury food, perhaps, To spiritual natures; only this I know, That one celestial Father gives to all.
To whom the angel: Therefore what he gives, Whose praise be ever sung, to man in part Spiritual, may of purest spirits be found
No ungrateful food: and food alike those pure Intelligential substances require,
As doth your rational; and both contain Within them every lower faculty
Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste, Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate,
And corporeal to incorporeal turn.
For know, whatever was created needs
To be sustain'd and fed; of elements
The grosser feeds the purer; earth the sea; Earth and the sea feed air; the air those fires Ethereal; and as lowest first the moon;
Whence in her visage round those spots, unpurged Vapours not yet into her substance turn'd. Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale From her moist continent to higher orbs. The sun, that light imparts to all, receives From all his alimental recompence
In humid exhalations, and at even
Sups with the ocean. Though in heaven the trees Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines
Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground Cover'd with pearly grain; yet God hath here Varied his bounty so with new delights, As may compare with heaven; and to taste Think not I shall be nice. So down they sat, And to their viands fell; nor seemingly The angel, nor in mist, the common gloss Of theologians; but with keen despatch Of real hunger, and concoctive heat
To transubstantiate: what redounds, transpires Through spirits with ease; nor wonder, if by fire Of sooty coal the empyric alchymist
Can turn, or holds it possible to turn, Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold,
As from the mine. Meanwhile, at table Eve Minister'd naked, and their flowing cups
With pleasant liquors crown'd. O innocence Deserving Paradise! if ever, then,
Then had the sons of God excuse to have been Enamour'd at that sight; but in those hearts Love unlibidinous reign'd, nor jealousy
Was understood, the injured lover's hell.
Thus when with meats and drinks they had sufficed, Not burden'd nature, sudden mind arose
In Adam, not to let the occasion pass, Given him by this great conference, to know Of things above his world, and of their being Who dwell in heaven, whose excellence he saw Transcend his own so far; whose radiant forms, Divine effulgence, whose high power so far Exceeded human; and his wary speech Thus to the empyreal minister he framed : Inhabitant with God, now know I well Thy favour, in this honour done to man, Under whose lowly roof thou hast vouchsafed To enter, and these earthly fruits to taste, Food not of angels, yet accepted so,
As that more willingly thou couldst not seem
At heaven's high feasts to have fed: yet what compare? To whom the winged Hierarch replied:
O Adam, one Almighty is, from whom All things proceed, and up to him return, If not depraved from good, created all Such to perfection, one first matter all, Indued with various forms, various degrees Of substance, and, in things that live, of life; But more refined, more spirituous, and pure, As nearer to him placed, or nearer tending, Each in their several active spheres assign'd, Till body up to spirit work, in bounds Proportion'd to each kind. So from the root Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves More aery, last the bright consummate flower Spirits odorous breathes; flowers and their fruit, Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed, To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
To intellectual, give both life and sense, Fancy and understanding; whence the soul Reason receives, and reason is her being, Discursive or intuitive; discourse
Is oftest yours, the latter most is ours,
Differing but in degree, of kind the same.
Wonder not, then, what God for you saw good
If I refuse not, but convert, as you,
To proper substance: time may come, when men With angels may participate, and find
No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare;
And from these corporeal nutriments, perhaps,
Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit, Improved by tract of time, and wing'd ascend Ethereal, as we, or may at choice
Here or in heavenly paradises dwell; If ye be found obedient, and retain Unalterably firm his love entire,
Whose progeny you are. Meanwhile enjoy Your fill what happiness this happy state Can comprehend, incapable of more.
To whom the patriarch of mankind replied: O favourable spirit, propitious guest,
Well hast thou taught the way that might direct Our knowledge, and the scale of nature set From centre to circumference, whereon, In contemplation of created things,
By steps we may ascend to God. But say, What meant that caution join'd, If ye be found Obedient? Can we want obedience then To him, or possibly his love desert,
Who form'd us from the dust and placed us here Full to the utmost measure of what bliss Human desires can seek or apprehend?
To whom the angel: Son of heaven and earth Attend that thou art happy, owe to God; That thou continuest such, owe to thyself, That is, to thy obedience; therein stand. This was that caution given thee; be advised. God made thee perfect, not immutable; And good he made thee; but to persevere He left it in thy power, ordain'd thy will By nature free, not overruled by fate Inextricable, or strict necessity: Our voluntary service he requires, Not our necessitated; such with him
Finds no acceptance, nor can find; for how Can hearts, not free, be tried whether they serve Willing or no, who will but what they must By destiny, and can no other choose? Myself and all the angelic host, that stand In sight of God enthroned, our happy state Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds ; On other surety none; freely we serve, Because we freely love, as in our will To love or not; in this we stand or fall. And some are fallen, to disobedience fallen, And so from heaven to deepest hell: O fall From what high state of bliss into what woe!
To whom our great progenitor: Thy words Attentive, and with more delighted ear, Divine instructor, I have heard, than when Cherubic songs by night from neighbouring hills Aëreal music send: nor knew I not
To be both will and deed created free; Yet that we never shall forget to love Our Maker, and obey him whose command Single is yet so just, my constant thoughts
Assured me, and still assure; though what thou tell'st Hath pass'd in heaven, some doubt within me move, But more desire to hear, if thou consent,
The full relation, which must needs be strange, Worthy of sacred silence to be heard ;
And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun Hath finish'd half his journey, and scarce begins His other half in the great zone of heaven. Thus Adam made request, and Raphael, After short pause, assenting thus began:
High matter thou enjoinest me, O prime of men, Sad task and hard; for how shall I relate
To human sense the invisible exploits Of warring spirits? how without remorse The ruin of so many, glorious once
And perfect while they stood? how last unfold The secrets of another world, perhaps Not lawful to reveal? yet for thy good,
This is dispensed; and what surmounts the reach Of human sense I shall delineate so,
By likening spiritual to corporal forms,
As may express them best; though what if earth Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein Each to other like, more than on earth is thought? As yet this world was not, and Chaos wild
Reign'd where these heavens now roll, where earth now
Upon her centre poised; when on a day,
For time, though in eternity, applied
To motion, measures all things durable By present, past, and future; on such day
As heaven's great year brings forth, the empyreal host Of angels, by imperial summons call'd, Innumerable before the Almighty's throne
Forthwith from all the ends of heaven appear'd; Under their hierarchs in orders bright
Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced, Standards and gonfalons 'twixt van and rear Stream in the air, and for distinction serve Of hierarchies, of orders, and degrees; Or in their glittering tissues bear imblazed Holy memorials, acts of zeal and love Recorded eminent. Thus when in orbs Of circuit inexpressible they stood, Orb within orb, the Father infinite, By whom in bliss embosom'd sat the Son, Amidst, as from a flaming mount, whose top Brightness had made invisible, thus spake :
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