Of what was high: such pleasure she referv'd,
Adam relating, fhe fole auditress;
Her husband the relator fhe preferr'd
Before the Angel, and of him to ask
Chose rather; he, she knew, would intermix
Grateful digreffions, and folve high difpute
With conjugal caresses; from his lip
Not words alone pleas'd her. O when meet now
Such pairs, in love and mutual honor join’d?
With Goddess-like demeanour forth fhe went,
Not unattended, for on her,as queen,
A pomp of winning graces waited still,
And from about her shot darts of defire
Into all eyes to wish her still in fight.
And Raphael,now, to Adam's doubt propos'd,
Benevolent and facil, thus reply'd.
To ask or search I blame thee not, for Heaven
Is as the book of God before thee fet,
Wherein to read his wondrous works, and learn
His feasons, hours, or days, or months, or years:
This to attain, whether Heav'n move or Earth,
Imports not, if thou reckon right; the rest,
From Man or Angel, the great Architect
Did wifely to conceal, and not divulge
His fecrets to be scann'd by them who ought
Rather admire; or if they lift to try
Conjecture, he his fabric of the Heavens
Hath left to their difputes, perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter, when they come to model Heaven,
And calculate the stars, how they will wield
The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive
To fave appearances; how gird the sphere
With centric and eccentric fcribled o'er,
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb:
Already by thy reafoning this I guess,
Who art to lead thy ofspring, and supposest
That bodies bright and greater should not serve
The less not bright, nor Heav'n fuch journeys run,
Earth fitting ftill, when she alone receives
The benefit: confider first, that great
Or bright infers not excellence: the earth
Though, in comparison of Heav'n, so small,
Nor glift'ring, may of folid good contain
More plenty than the fun, that barren shines,
Whose virtue on itself works no effect,
But in the fruitful earth; there first receiv'd
His beams, unactive elfe, their vigor find.
Yet not to earth are those bright luminaries
Officious, but to thee earth's habitant.
And for the Heav'ns wide circuit, let it speak
The Maker's high magnificence, who built
So spacious, and his line stretch'd out so far;
That Man may know he dwells not in his own;
An edifice too large for him to fill,
Lodg'd in a small partition, and the rest
Ordain'd for ufes to his Lord best known.
The swiftness of thofe circles attribúte,
Though numberless, to his omnipotence,
That to corporeal substances could add
Speed almost Spiritual; me thou think'ft not flow, 110
Who fince the morning hour set out from Heaven,
Where God refides, and ere mid-day arriv'd
In Eden; distance inexpreffible
By numbers that have name.
Admitting motion in the Heav'ns, to show
Invalid that which thee to doubt it mov'd;
Not that I fo affirm, though so it seem
To thee, who haft thy dwelling here on earth.
God,to remove his ways from human fenfe,
Plac'd Heav'n from Earth so far, that earthly fight, 120
If it prefume, might err in things too high,
And no advantage gain. What if the fun
Be center to the world; and other stars,
By his attractive virtue and their own
Incited, dance about him various rounds?
Their wand'ring course now high, now low, then hid,
Progreffive, retrograde, or standing still,
In fix thou feeft; and what, if fev'nth to these,
The planet earth, so stedfast though she seem,
Infenfibly three different motions move?
Which else to several spheres thou must ascribe,
Mov'd contrary, with thwart obliquities,
Or fave the fun his labor, and that swift
Nocturnal and diurnal rhomb suppos'd,
Invisible else above all ftars, the wheel
Of day and night; which needs not thy belief,
If earth industrious of herself fetch day
Traveling east, and with her part averse
From the fun's beam meet night, her other part
Still luminous by his ray. What if that light
Sent from her through the wide transpicuous air,
To the terreftrial moon be as a star
Inlightning her by day, as fhe by night
This earth? reciprocal, if land be there,
Fields and inhabitants: Her fpots thou seest
As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce
Fruits in her foften'd foil, for fome to eat
Allotted there; and other funs,perhaps,
With their attendent moons, thou wilt defcry,
Communicating male and female light,
Which two great sexes animate the world,
Stor'd in each orb, perhaps, with some that live.
For fuch vaft room in nature unpoffefs'd
By living foul, defert and defolate,
Only to shine, yet scarce to contribúte
Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd so far
Down to this habitable, which returns
Light back to them, is obvious to difpute.
But whether thus these things, or whether not,
Whether the fun,predominant in Heaven,
Rife on the earth, or earth rise on the sun,
He from the east his flaming road begin,
Or fhe from weft her filent course advance
With innoffenfive pace, that, spinning, fleeps
On her foft axle, while fhe paces even,
And bears thee foft with the fmooth air along,
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid,
Leave them to God above, him ferve and fear;
Of other creatures, as him pleases beft,
Wherever plac'd, let him difpofe: joy thou
In what he gives to thee, this Paradise,
And thy fair Eve; Heav'n is for thee too high
To know what passes there; be lowly wife:
Think only what concerns thee and thy being;
Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there 175
Live, in what state, condition or degree;
Contented that thus far hath been reveal'd
Not of Earth only but of highest Heaven.
To whom thus Adam, clear'd of doubt, reply'd. How fully haft thou satisfy'd me, pure Intelligence of Heav'n, Angel ferene, And freed from intricacies, taught to live, The easiest way, nor with perplexing thoughts To interrupt the sweet of life, from which
God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,
And not moleft us, unless we ourselves
Seek them with wand'ring thoughts, and notions vain.
But apt the mind or fancy is to rove,
Uncheck'd, and of her roving is no end;
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