Lucif. So, now they lie secure in love, and steep
Their sated senses in full draughts of sleep.
By what sure means can I their bliss invade?
By violence? No, for they are immortal made.
Their reason sleeps, but mimic fancy wakes,
Supplies her part, and wild ideas takes,
From words and things, ill sorted and misjoined;
The anarchy of thought, and chaos of the mind:
Hence dreams, confused and various, may arise;
These will I set before the woman's eyes;
The weaker she, and made my easier prey;
Vain shows and pomp the softer sex betray. [Lucifer sits down by Eve, and seems to whisper in her ear.
A Vision, where a tree rises loaden with fruit; four Spirits rise with it, and draw a canopy out of the tree; other Spirits dance about the tree in deformed shapes; after the dance an Angel enters, with a Woman, habited like Eve.
Angel. [Singing.]
Look up, look up, and see,
What heaven prepares for thee;
Look up, and this fair fruit behold,
Ruddy it smiles, and rich with streaks of gold.
The loaded branches downward bend,
Willing they stoop, and thy fair hand attend.
Fair mother of mankind, make haste
And bless, and bless thy senses with the taste.
Woman. No, 'tis forbidden; I
In tasting it shall die.
Angel. Say, who enjoined this harsh command?
Woman. 'Twas heaven; and who can heaven withstand?
Angel. Why was it made so fair, why placed in sight?
Heaven is too good to envy man's delight.
See, we before thy face will try
What thou so fearest, and will not die. [The Angel takes the fruit, and gives to the Spirits who danced; they immediately put off their deformed shapes, and appear Angels.
Angel. [Singing.]
Behold what a change on a sudden is here!
How glorious in beauty, how bright they appear!
Prom spirits deformed they are deities made,
Their pinions at pleasure the clouds can invade, [The Angel gives to the Woman, who eats.
Till equal in honour they rise,
With him who commands in the skies;
Then taste without fear, and be happy and wise.
Woman. Ah, now I believe! such a pleasure I find,
As enlightens my eyes, and enlivens my mind. [The Spirits, who are turned Angels, fly up when they have tasted.
I only repent,
I deferred my content.
Angel. Now wiser experience has taught you to prove,
What a folly it is,
Out of fear to shun bliss.
To the joy that's forbidden we eagerly move;
It inhances the price, and increases the love.