Their inward state of mind, calm region once Superiour sway: from thus distempered breast, Would thou hadst hearkened to my words, and staid With me, as I besought thee, when that strange Desire of wandering, this unhappy morn, I know not whence possessed thee; we had then Of all our good; shamed, naked, miserable! To whom, soon moved with touch of blame, thus Eve. What words have passed thy lips, Adam severe ! Imput'st thou that to my default, or will Of wandering, as thou call'st it, which who knows Or here the attempt, thou couldst not have discerned Command me absolutely not to go, Going into such danger, as thou saidst? That lay in wait: beyond this, had been force; I also erred, in overmuch admiring What seemed in thee so perfect, that I thought Thus they in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning; And of their vain contést appeared no end. END OF THE NINTH BOOK. ARGUMENT. Man's transgression known, the guardian-Angels forsake Paradise, and return up to Heaven to approve their vigilance, and are approved; God declaring that the entrance of Satan could not be by them prevented. He sends his Son to judge the transgressors; who descends and gives sentence accordingly; then in pity clothes them both, and reascends. Sin and Death, sitting till then at the gates of Hell, by wonderous sympathy feeling the success of Satan in this new world, and the sin by Man there committed, resolve to sit no longer confined in Hell, but to follow Satan their sire up to the place of Man: to make the way easier from Hell to this world to and fro, they pave a broad high-way or bridge over Chaos, according to the track that Satan first made; then, preparing for Earth, they meet him, proud of his success, returning to Hell: their mutual gratulation. Satan arrives at Pandemonium; in full assembly relates with boasting his success against Man; instead of applause is entertained with a general hiss by all his audience, transformed with himself also suddenly into serpents, according to his doom given in Paradise; then, deluded with a shew of the forbidden tree springing up before them, they, greedily reaching to take of the fruit, chew dust and bitter ashes. The proceedings of Sin and Death: God foretels the final victory of his Son over them, and the renewing of all things; but, for the present, commands his Angels to make several alterations in the Heavens and elements. Adam, more and more perceiving his fallen condition, heavily bewails; rejects the condolement of Eve: she persists, and at length appeases him then, to evade the curse likely to fall on their offspring, proposes to Adam violent ways, which he approves not; but, conceiving better hope, puts her in mind of the late promise made them, that her seed should be revenged on the Serpent; and exhorts her with him to seek peace of the offended Deity, by repentance and supplication. |