To whom, then first incensed, Adam replied: "Is this the love, is this the recompense Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve? express'd Of thy transgressing? not enough severe, It seems, in thy restraint: what could I more? That lay in wait; beyond this, had been force; Either to meet no danger, or to find I also err'd, in overmuch admiring Adam, irrité pour la première fois, lui répliqua : «Est-ce là ton amour? est-ce là la récompense » du mien, Ève ingrate; de mon amour que je » t'ai déclaré inaltérable lorsque tu étais perdue, >> et que je ne l'étais pas; moi qui aurais pu vivre >> et jouir d'un éternel bonheur, et qui toutefois » ai volontairement préféré la mort avec toi? Et » maintenant tu me reproches d'être la cause de >> ta transgression! il te semble que je ne t'ai pas >> retenue avec assez de sévérité! Que pouvais-je » de plus? je t'avertis, je t'exhortai, je te prédis » le danger, l'ennemi aux aguets placé en em» buscade. Au delà de ceci, il ne restait que la force, et la force n'a point lieu contre une vo» lonté libre. Mais la confiance en toi-même t'a emportée, certaine que tu étais ou de ne pas » rencontrer de péril, ou d'y trouver matière » d'une glorieuse épreuve. Peut-être aussi ai-je » erré en admirant si excessivement ce qui semblait en toi si parfait que je croyais que le mal » n'oserait attenter sur toi; mais je maudis main>> tenant cette erreur devenue mon crime, et toi l'accusatrice! Ainsi il en arrivera à celui qui, » se fiant trop au mérite de la femme, laissera » gouverner la volonté de la femme: contrariée, » la femme ne supportera aucune contrainte; >> laissée à elle-même, si le mal s'ensuit, elle accusera d'abord la faible indulgence de >> l'homme. » Thus they in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning; And of their vain contest appear'd no end. Ainsi dans une mutuelle accusation, EvE et ADAM dépensaient les heures infructueuses; mais ni l'un ni l'autre ne se condamnant soi-même, à leur vaine dispute il semblait n'y avoir point de fin. THE ARGUMENT. MAN's transgression known, the guardian-angels forsake Paradise, and return up to heaven 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 transgressours; 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 wondrous 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 highway 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 show 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. |