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[BOOK X.-197-230

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On Adam last thus judgment he pronounced:

Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife,

And eaten of the tree concerning which

I charged thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof,

I charged thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat thereof,

Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thou in sorrow

Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;

Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;

Thorns, also, and thistles, it shall bring thee forth,

Unbid, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,

Till thou return unto the ground; for thou

Out of the earth wast taken, know thy birth,

For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return.

So judged he man, both Judge and Saviour sen And the instant stroke of death, denounced that day, Removed far off. Then pitying how they stood Before him, naked to the air, that now Must suffer change, disdained not to begin Thenceforth the form of servant to assume; As when he washed his servants' feet; so now As Father of his family, he clad Their nakedness with skins of beasts, or slain, Or, as the snake, with youthful coat repaid, And thought not much to clothe his enemies. Nor he their outward only with the skins Of beasts, but inward nakedness, much more Opprobrious, with his robe of righteousness Arraying, covered from his Father's sight. To Him, with swift ascent, he up returned, Into his blissful bosom reassumed, In glory, as of old; to Him, appeased, All, though all-knowing, what had passed with Man Recounted, mixing intercession sweet.

Meanwhile, ere thus was sinned and judged on earth,

Within the gates of hell sat Sin and Death,

1 To dust return, -Gen. iii. 15-19

In counterview within the gates, that now Stood open wide, belching outrageous flame Far into Chaos, since the fiend passed through, Sin opening; who thus now to Death began:

O son, why sit we here, each other viewing Idly, while Satan, our great author, thrives In other worlds, and happier seat provides For us, his offspring dear? It cannot be But that success attends him; if mishap, Ere this he had returned, with fury driven By his avengers; since no place like this Can fit his punishment, or their revenge. Methinks I feel new strength within me rise, Wings growing, and dominion given me large, Beyond this deep; whatever draws me on, Or sympathy, or some connatural force, Powerful at greatest distance to unite, With secret amity, things of like kind, By secretest conveyance. Thou, my shade Inseparable, must with me along, For Death from Sin no power can separate. But lest the difficulty of passing back Stay his return, perhaps, over this gulf Impassable, impervious, let us try Adventurous work, yet to thy power and mine Not unagreeable, to found a path Over this main from Hell to that new World, Where Satan now prevails; a monument Of merit high to all the infernal host, Easing their passage hence, for intercourse, Or transmigration, as their lot shall lead, Nor can I miss the way, so strongly drawn By this new-felt attraction and instinct.

Whom thus the meagre shadow answered soon:

Go, whither fate, and inclination strong,

Lead thee; I shall not lag behind, nor err