God therefore cannot hurt ye, and be just;
Not just, not God; not fear'd then, nor obey'd:
Your fear itself of death removes the fear.
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
Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then.
Open'd and clear'd, and ye shall be as gods,
Knowing both good and evil as they know.
That ye should be as gods, since I as man,
Internal man, is but proportion meet,
I, of brute, human; ye of human, gods.
So ye shall die perhaps, by putting off
Human, to put on gods; death to be wish'd,
Though threaten'd, which no worse than this can
And what are gods that man may not become
As they, participating godlike food?
The gods are first, and that advantage use
On our belief, that all from them proceeds;
I question it, for this fair earth I see,
Warm'd by the sun, producing every kind,
Them nothing: if they all things, who enclos'd
Knowledge of good and evil in this tree,
That whoso eats thereof forthwith attains
Wisdom without their leave? and wherein lies
Th' offence, that man should thus attain to know?
What can your knowledge hurt him, or this tree
Impart against his will if all be his?
Or is it envy; and can envy dwell
In heavenly breasts? These, these and many more
Causes import your need of this fair fruit.
Goddess humane, reach then, and freely taste.
He ended, and his words replete with guile
Into her heart too easy entrance won:
Fix'd on the fruit she gaz'd, which to behold
Might tempt alone, and in her ears the sound
Yet rung of his persuasive words, impregn'd
With reason, to her seeming, and with truth:
Mean while the hour of noon drew on, and wak'd
An eager appetite, rais'd by the smell
So savoury of that fruit, which with desire,
Inclinable now grown to touch or taste,
Solicited her longing eye; yet first
Pausing a while, thus to herself she mus'd.
Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits,
Though kept from man, and worthy to be admir'd,
Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assay
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught
735 behold] Grotii Adamus Exsul, p. 9.
Pomi dulcis adspectu color,
Gustus cupido, quod volo, spondent mihi.'
741 fruit] v. Beaumont's Psyche, vi. 252.
'These charms still ope the door into the heart
Of careless Eve, and thrust their poison in,
Besides the smiling apples plaid their part,
And her affections with her eye did win.'
745 Great] So in the Adamus Exsul of Grotius, Eve addresses the fruit, p. 45.
'O dulce pomum! quam tua hæc species meis
Adridet oculis! quam vel olfactus juvat!'
The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise: Thy praise he also who forbids thy use
Conceals not from us, naming thee the Tree
Of Knowledge, knowledge both of good and evil;
Forbids us then to taste! but his forbidding
Commends thee more, while it infers the good
By thee communicated, and our want:
For good unknown sure is not had, or had
And 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 bind not. But if death
Bind us with after-bands, what profits then
Our inward freedom? In the day we eat
Of this fair fruit, our doom is, we shall die.
How dies the serpent? he hath eaten and lives,
And knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns,
Irrational till then. For us alone
Was death invented? or to us deny'd
This intellectual food, for beasts reserv❜d?
For beasts it seems: yet that one beast which first
Hath tasted envies not, but brings with joy
The good befallen him, author unsuspect,
Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile.
What fear I then? rather what know to fear
Under this ignorance of good and evil,
Of GOD or death, of law or penalty?
Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,
Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,
Of virtue to make wise: what hinders then
To reach, and feed at once both body and mind?
So saying, her rash hand in evil hour
Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck'd, she eat:
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe,
That all was lost. Back to the thicket slunk
The guilty serpent, and well might, for Eve
Intent now wholly on her taste naught else
Regarded, such delight till then, as seem'd,
In fruit she never tasted, whether true
Or fancy'd so, through expectation high
Of knowledge; nor was Godhead from her thought.
Greedily she ingorg'd without restraint,
And knew not eating death: satiate at length,
782 wound] See Beaumont's Psyche, c. vi. st. 254. 'Up went her desperate hand, and reach'd away All the world's blesse; whilst she the apple took; When, loe, the earth did move; the heavens did stay, Beasts and birds shiver'd; absent Adam shook.'
782 Nature] v. the Sarcotis of Masenius on the same subject, lib. ii.
"Natura nefas horrescere visa,
Pondere tam gravium cœpit titubare malorum.'
'Tota anceps Natura stetit.'
'Tellus infecta veneno
784 slunk] So in the Adamus Exsul of Grotius, p. 47, after
the success of the temptation, Sathan says,
'Ego ad latebras tacitus abrepam meas.'
792 knew not] A Greek phrase used by the Latins. v. Opp. Halieut. ii. 106.
ουδ' ἐνοήσαν ἐὸν σπένδοντες ὄλεθρον. Richardson.
And heighten'd as with wine, jocond and boon, Thus to herself she pleasingly began.
O sov❜reign, virtuous, precious of all trees 795 In paradise! of operation blest
To sapience, hitherto obscur'd, infam'd,
And thy fair fruit let hang, as to no end
Created: but henceforth my early care,
Not without song, each morning, and due praise
Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease
Of thy full branches offer'd free to all;
Till dieted by thee I grow mature
In knowledge, as the gods who all things know;
Though others envy what they cannot give;
For had the gift been theirs, it had not here
Thus grown.
Experience, next to thee I owe,
Best guide; not following thee, I had remain'd
In ignorance; thou open'st wisdom's way,
And giv'st access, though secret she retire.
And I perhaps am secret; heaven is high,
High and remote to see from thence distinct
Each thing on earth: and other care perhaps
May have diverted from continual watch
Our great Forbidder, safe with all his spies
About him. But to Adam in what sort
Shall I appear? shall I to him make known
795 precious] The positive for the superlative. As Virgil, Æn. iv, 576.
'Sequimur te, sancte Deorum.' Richardson. 807 Experience] 'Thee Serpent.' Bentl. MS.
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