much failing of thy promis'd and prefum'd Return! Fatal Event indeed! Thou from that Hour didft never more find in PARADISE either fweet Repast, or found Repofe! there was what waited in Ambush, among the Shades and fweet Flowers, with confirm'd and hellish Rancour, to intercept thy Way, or fend thee back again divefted of thy Innocence, thy Faith, and Blifs! For now, and ever fince the first Break of Day, SATAN (a mere Serpent only in Appearance) was come forth, and upon his Search; where he might likelieft find his purpos'd Prey, the only two of MANKIND living, but in them the whole Race included. He fought in every Field and every Bower, where any Grove of Trees, or Piece of Garden-Plot lay pleasanter than the reft, that look'd like what was under daily Tendance, or had been planted for Pleafure by the fhady Banks of Rivers, or the Side of Fountains. He fought for them both, but wifh'd that it might be his Lot to find EvE feparate; but could not hope to meet with what so seldom happened; when beyond his Hope, and agreeable to his With, he fpy'd EVE alone; fhe ftood but half dif cover'd, hid behind, and bufied with Rofes and other Flowers, that grew thick round about: She was half ftooping to fupport fuch Flowers, whofe Stalks were weak and flender, whofe Bloffoms, though gay, purple, red, or blue, or fpeckled with Gold, being too heavy for the Stem, hung drooping down: She ties them up gently with Bands of Myrtle; at the fame Time not reflecting, that the herfelf was unfuftain'd; fo far from her beft Prop, and the Storm fo nigh. SATAN (in the Serpent) drew nearer, and crofs'd many a Walk under Shade of Cedars, Pines, or Palm Trees; then rowling to and fro boldly; fometimes hid, fometimes feen, among the Arbours, and Flowers that grew upon the Borders of the Banks, and had been planted there by EVE; a more delightful Spot than the fabulous Gardens of ADONIS, or of fa mous mous ALCINOUS, (2) who entertain'd ULYSSES; or that, which is no Fiction, made by SOLOMON, where he held Dalliance with his fair EGYPTIAN Queen, the Daughter of PHARAOH. The Place SATAN admir'd much, but more the Perfon of EVE: As one who has been long pent up in a great and populous City, where by Reafon of the Number of Inhabitants, and Want of Room to breath more freely, the Air is become unhealthy, going out on a Summer's Morning, to breath among the neighbouring pleafant Villages and Farms, takes Delight in every Thing he meets with, the Smell of the fresh-mow'd Grafs, Cattle, or Dairy, and every Sight and Sound that belongs to a Country Life; then if by Chance fome fair Virgin pafs gracefully along, what before feem'd pleafing, for her Sake now pleases more, fhe moft, and in her Look all Pleasure is fumm'd up: Such Pleasure the Serpent took to behold this Bed of Flowers, the fweet Retirement of EVE, thus early and alone. The heavenly Form of Ev E, angelical, (but only more foft and feminine) her graceful Innocence, her Air in every Gesture or leaft Action, when the Devil faw, it overaw'd his Malice, and was fo charming that it bereav'd him of the Fierceness and Cruelty of his Intention. That Moment he was abfent, and abstracted from his evil Self, and for the Time became negatively and ftupidly good; difarmed of his Enmity, Fraud, Hate, Envy, and Revenge. But the hot Hell, that always burns in him, (though he should be in the Midft of Heaven) foon ended his Pleasure, and tortures him now the more, the more that he fees of Pleafure not ordain'd for him: Then he foon recollected himself, gathers together all his fierce Envy and Hate, and thus rejoicing (n) Alcinous entertained Ulyes in his Difafters, as Homer relates. in his Purpose, excites all his Thoughts of Mifchief: WHITHER, my Thoughts, have you led me! how fweetly carried me into fuch a Tranfport, as could make me forget what brought me hither! Love brought me not, but Hate; not the Hope to tafte Pleasure here, and exchange PARADISE for Hell, but to deftroy all Pleasure, excepting that which I take in Destruction; all other Joy is loft to me! then don't let me flip the Opportunity which now fo favourably offers. Behold the Woman alone, liable to all Attempts! and her Hufband (for I can fee far round) not near her; whofe better Understanding I rather fhun, as well as his Strength, he being of a haughty Courage, though made of Earth, yet compos'd of Limbs heroic and not weak, and as I cannot wound him nor touch his Body, no inconfiderable Foe: It is not fo with me, fo much hath Hell debas'd, and Pain weaken'd me to what I was in Heaven, that I am liable to all: She is divinely fair, and fit Love for Gods, not terrible; though Terror be in Love and Beauty, unless it is approach'd by a Mind arm'd with Hate as mine is; a Hate the greater, as it is difguis'd under diffembled Love, which is the Way I propofe to take to bring her Ruin to pass. THUS fpake the great Enemy of MANKIND, having poffefs'd the Serpent, and made his Way towards EVE; not prone and waving upon the Ground, as Serpents are now, but rifing from his Tail in Circles one above another: He had upon his Head a Creft, which he bore aloft, and his Eyes resembled Carbuncles; his Neck a bright Grafs green, finely touch'd up (as Painters expreis it) with Gold, rifing up in circling Spires from his Body, which lay and floated about upon the Grafs; his Shape was very lovely and pleafing, never fince of Serpent-kind was more beautiful; not thofe that HERMIONE (0) and CADMUS (p) were feign'd to be chang'd into, in ILLYRIA; or the God worshipp'd in EPIDAURUS; (q) nor those to which it was pretended JUPITER AM U (0) Hermione; Lat. Gr. from the Heb. i. e. The Eaft; from M. Hermon in the East of Canaan, where he was born. She was the Daughter of Mars and Penus, and the Wife of Cadmus, of which the Poets made many Fables. (P) Cadmus; Lat. Gr. Heb. i. e. The Eaft: An antient Phanician, born at Sidon, laid to be the Son, rather the General, of Agenor, King of Phenicia,about A. M. 2660. But more likely he was a Cadomite, about M. Hermon. The Cadomites are mentioned, Gen. 15. 19. About the Time of Jobua, Cadmus fled from his victorious Arms, came into Greece, fettled a Colony of the Old Phænicians there, built Thebes in Boetia, taught the Greeks the Ufe of Letters, Steel, Copper, Brafs and other Arts; for which he was highly celebrated. He married Hermione, flew a terrible Serpent that lay by the Well Dirce, which deftroyed Man and Beaft thereabout, and all his own Men, but five; and at last both his Wife and he were changed into Serpents: Becaufe he killed one, that was facred to Mars. Truth is, Cadmus was an Hivite. Heb. i. e. a Serpent, the reftoring his Men to Life is, to enlift them into his Army; the Spears of Brafs were faid to be the Teeth The ; (q) Epidaurus, or Epitaurus; as Euftatius and Strabo call it Lat. from the Gr. i. e. Near the Bull. An antient City of Agria, a fmall Region of the Peloponnefus or Morea, upon the Egean Sea, built by Darius, the Son of Hyftafpes, according to Pliny, Lib. 6. c. 27. But by Titon, the Father of Memnon, who came to affift at theSiege of Troy, according to Strabo, about A. M. 2976. and fo called in Memory of Jupiter's carrying Europa from Phenice into Greece, and landing there, about A. M.2660. There Efculapius was born, buried and worshipped; now called Efculapio after him: Thither the Sick reforted for Cures. The Romans were directed in a raging Plague, to fetch him, in the Year 461. The Epidaurians were unwilling to part with their God, in the mean time an huge Serpent (wam into their Ship, and wound itself round in the Stern, which they took for the God, and carried him to Rome. There it quitted the Ship, and went into a little Ifle in the River Tiber; the Peftilence abated; and therefore they erected a Temple to Æfculapius without the Walls; MON (r) was transform'd, when he begot ALEXANDER the Great upon OLYMPIA; (s) or JUPITER CAPITOLINE, (t) when he affum'd fuch a Shape, to enjoy the Mother of SCIPIO, (u) the Glory of ROME. (x) Walls; and worshipped him under that Form. The People of this Place are celebrated by Virgil for their useful Art of taming Horses. There is another City of this Name in Dalmatia, near the Gulph of Venice. (r) Jupiter Ammon; Ham, the Son of Noah, who had Afriça for his Share. In the fandy hot Defarts of Lybia, a famous Temple and Oracle were erected to his Memory, whom the Greeks called Jupiter Hammon. (S) Capitaline; of the Capitol Lai. i. e. the Head of ToLus, which was found buried there, when they dug for the Foundation of it. The Capitol is the grand Caftle of Rome, where Jupiter Capitolinus was worshipped in a most stately and rich Temple, who under the Form of another Serpent is faid to have converfed with the Mother of Scipio Africanus: This Temple was begun by Tarquin I. the fifth King of Rome, A. M. 3372. upon the Mount Tarpeius, and finished by his Nephew Tarquin the Proud. It was burnt under Vitellius, and rebuilt by Vefpafian, again under Titus, and rebuilt by Domitian, with great Pomp. (i) Olympia; Lat. from the Gr. i. e. All Light; her first At Name was Myrtalis; Lat. Gr. i. e. A Myrtle-tree. Juftin. Lib.g. 7. 13. the Wife of Philip, King of Macedon, and Mother of Alexander the Great: She is faid to have conceived him, not of her own Husband, but of another huge Serpent. Hence, the flattering Greeks perfuaded Alexander, that Jupiter Hammon, in the Form of a Serpent, was his real Father: Therefore he marched through the vast Defart of Lybia to vifit him, which the cunning Prieft confirmed, and called him, the Son of Jupiter. This is related by Juftin, Pliny, 2. Curtius, &c. (u) Scipio; Lat. i. e. A Staff. This was Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanns, who conquered Hannibal, razed Carthage, added Africa to the Roman Empire, and advanced it to the Height of all its Glory for which the Senate decreed that he fhould be filed, The best Man. But it was reported, that he was the Son of Jupiter Capitolinus, who converfed with his Mother in the Form of another Serpent alfo. Liv. Decad. 3. L. 6. (x) Rome; Heb. i. e. High; being built on feven Hills; or Gr. i. e. Strength and Power. The chief City of Italy upon both Sides of the Tyber, ten both |