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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; heav'n 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
As yet my change, and give him to partake

805. Though others envy what
they cannot give ;] She resolves
to eat of the tree till she equals
the Gods in knowledge, though
others envy;
she means the Gods,
though for decency's sake she
names them not. She had said
before, ver. 770. that the beast
which first hath tasted envies not
&c. but others envy. She is now
arrived to that pitch of impiety,
that she attributes envy to the
Gods, as Satan had taught her,
ver. 729. and questions whether
this tree was their gift, as Satan
had likewise suggested, ver. 718.
&c. such impression had his doc-
trines made upon her.

811. And I perhaps am secret ;] She questions even God's omniscience, and flatters herself that she is still in secret, like other sinners, who say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God

805

810

815

of Jacob regard it, Psal. xciv. 7.

815. Our great forbidder, safe with all his spies

About him.]

Dr. Bentley declares safe to be pure nonsense here, and therefore alters the verse thus,

Our great forbidder's eye, with all his spies &c.

But safe signifies here as in the vulgar phrases, I have him safe, or he is safe asleep where not the safety of the person secured or asleep is meant, but the safety of others with respect to any danger from him. This is indeed a sense of the word not usual in poetry; but common speech will justify it so far, as to make the Doctor's emendation unnecessary. Pearce.

818. and give him to partake

Full happiness with me, or rather not,
But keep the odds of knowledge in my power
Without copartner? so to add what wants

In female sex, the more to draw his love,
And render me more equal, and perhaps,
A thing not undesirable, sometime
Superior; for inferior who is free?

This may be well but what if God have seen,
And death ensue? then I shall be no more,
And Adam wedded to another Eve,

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820

825

his favourite Milton, in this place and in i. 736.

-and gave to rule,

Each in his hierarchy, the orders
bright.

823. -and perhaps,
A thing not undesirable, some-

time

Superior; for inferior who is free?]

There is a very humourous tale in Chaucer, which is also versified by Dryden, wherein the question is proposed, what it is that women most affect and desire? Some say wealth, some beauty, some flattery, some in short one thing, and some another; but the true answer is sovereignty. And the thought of attaining the superiority over her husband is very artfully made one of the first that Eve entertains after her eating of the forbidden fruit: but still her love of Adam and jealousy of another Eve prevail even over that; so just is the observation of Solomon, Cant. viii. 6. Love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave.

Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct;

A death to think. Confirm'd then I resolve,
Adam shall share with me in bliss or woe:
So dear I love him, that with him all deaths
I could indure, without him live no life.

So saying, from the tree her step she turn'd,
But first low reverence done, as to the Power
That dwelt within, whose presence had infus'd
Into the plant sciential sap, deriv'd
From nectar, drink of Gods. Adam the while
Waiting desirous her return, had wove
Of choicest flow'rs a garland to adorn
Her tresses, and her rural labours crown,

As reapers oft are wont their harvest queen.
Great joy he promis'd to his thoughts, and new
Solace in her return, so long delay'd ;
Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill,
Misgave him; he the falt'ring measure felt;

832. So dear I love him, that

with him all deaths I could endure, without him live no life.]

How much stronger and more pathetic is this than that of Horace, Od. iii. ix. 24.

Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens !

835. But first low reverence done, as to the Power That dwelt within,] Eve falling into idolatry upon the taste of the forbidden tree, as the first fruit of disobedience, is finely imagined. Richardson. -Adam the while &c.] Andromache is thus described as amusing herself, and prepar

838.

830

835

840

845

ing for the return of Hector, not knowing that he was already slain by Achilles. Hom. Iliad. xxii. 440. Aλx' ny' 150v ¿Quive. &c.

845. -divine of something ill,] Foreboding something ill; a Latin phrase, as in Hor. od. iii. xxvii. 10.

Imbrium divina avis imminentum :

and again, De Arte Poet. 218.
Utiliumque sagax rerum, et divina
futuri
Sortilegis non discrepuit sententia
Delphis.

846. —he the faltʼring measure felt ;] He found his heart kept not true time, he felt the false and intermitting measure; the natural description of our minds

And forth to meet her went, the way she took
That morn when first they parted; by the tree
Of knowledge he must pass, there he her met,
Scarce from the tree returning; in her hand
A bough of fairest fruit, that downy smil'd,
New gather'd, and ambrosial smell diffus'd.
To him she hasted; in her face excuse

Came prologue, and apology too prompt,

850

Which with bland words at will she thus address'd. 855
Hast thou not wonder'd, Adam, at my stay?
Thee I have miss'd, and thought it long, depriv'd

Thy presence, agony of love till now

Not felt, nor shall be twice, for never more

Mean I to try, what rash untried I sought,

The pain of absence from thy sight. But strange
Hath been the cause, and wonderful to hear:
This tree is not as we are told, a tree
Of danger tasted, nor to' evil unknown
Opening the way, but of divine effect

To open eyes, and make them Gods who taste;
And hath been tasted such; the Serpent wise,
Or not restrain'd as we, or not obeying,

foreboding ill, by the unequal
beatings of the heart and pulse.
Hume.

851. A bough of fairest fruit,
that downy smil'd,
New gather'd, and ambrosial

smell diffus'd.]
That downy smiled, that covered
with soft down looked sweetly.

Ipse ego cana legam tenerâ lanu

gine mala. Virg. Ecl. ii. 51. and ambrosial smell diffused, Virgil's very words,

860

865

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Hath eaten of the fruit, and is become,

Not dead, as we are threaten'd, but thenceforth
Indued with human voice and human sense,
Reasoning to admiration, and with me
Persuasively hath so prevail'd, that I
Have also tasted, and have also found
Th' effects to correspond, opener mine eyes,
Dim erst, dilated spirits, ampler heart,
And growing up to Godhead; which for thee
Chiefly I sought, without thee can despise.
For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss,
Tedious, unshar'd with thee, and odious soon.
Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot
May join us, equal joy, as equal love;
Lest thou not tasting, different degree
Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce
Deity for thee, when fate will not permit.

870

875

880

885

Thus Eve with count'nance blithe her story told;

But in her cheek distemper flushing glow'd.
On th' other side, Adam, soon as he heard
The fatal trespass done by Eve, amaz'd,
Astonied stood and blank, while horror chill

875. -opener mine eyes,
Dim erst, dilated spirits, ampler
heart,

And growing up to Godhead ;] Milton in the manner of expression here seems pretty plainly to allude to what Thyrsis in Tasso's Aminta says of himself upon his seeing Phoebus and the Muses. Act i. sc. 2.

Sentii mè far di mé stesso maggiore,
Pien di noua virtu, pieno di noua
Deitade.

890

890. Astonied stood and blank, while horror chill

Ran through his veins, and all his joints relax'd;]

Obstupuere animi, gelidusque per
ima cucurrit

Ossa tremor. Virg. Æn. ii. 120.
Illi solvuntur frigore membra.

En. xii. 951.
Hume.

890.] See note on Psalm vi. 21. E.

Thyer.

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