Seeing it now as nothing more or less than the greatest trial of their kinship, Eve embraced the distressed Adam, as he took the accursed fruit from her palm (for the previous episode in this story, please click here). As the first man and woman embraced, so was man’s Paradise Lost forever, or so it seemed. Triumph his at last, Satan released his grip on the Serpent, making good his escape from Eden, for well did he know the retribution that would soon be vented upon the once serene Garden.
Adam and Eve hide from the Lord Engraving by Gustave Doré |
As fear polluted the earthly Paradise, word arrived in unearthly Paradise of Man’s transgression, for what can escape the eye of the Almighty, and what deceive the Omniscient? Satan’s ploy had run unhindered by the Most High, for to all things had he granted free will, even his first and greatest Creation, Lucifer, as he was once known. Great consternation there was in Heaven, for the angels loyal still sat distraught, for how could the Fiend have penetrated the Garden? With a crash of glorious thunder the voice of the Lord rang true, ‘Be not dismayed, nor troubled at these tidings from the Earth, which your sincerest care could not prevent’. He had not interfered, but Man had fallen still, and now judgement must be done. To his radiant Son the Lord turned, ‘Man’s friend, his Mediator, his designed both ransom and redeemer’. The Son blazed forth in ethereal glory, resplendent in the magnificence of Heaven, as he decreed that the transgressors would be judged, but one day would come their redemption with his own fall. From his mighty throne did he rise, and flash down to Earth, such purity to a now unclean land.
The voice of the Lord sounded in Eden, and Adam was afraid. In shame deplorable did Adam and Eve seek to conceal themselves from his coming within the trees. ‘Where art thou Adam, wont with joy to meet my coming seen far off?’ spoke the voice of the Lord. Terror flooding his body, the first man found no place to hide. His voice trembling, the first man replied, ‘I heard thee in the Garden, and of thy voice afraid, being naked, hid myself’. ‘My voice thou oft hast heard, and hast not feared, but still rejoiced, how is it now become so dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat?’ Throwing his head high, Adam cried, ‘O Heav’n! In evil strait this day I stand before my judge…’. He confessed it all, his crime and that of Eve, both their calamitous sin. ‘Was she thy God, that her thou didst obey?’ replied the voice of the Lord. To Eve he turned, ‘Say woman, what is this thou hast done?’ Hanging her head, the first woman told her tale, of her temptation by the Serpent, and her crime. When the Lord heard this he turned at once to the Serpent, though it was but an instrument of the Fallen Angel:
“ Because thou hast done this, thou art accursed
Above all cattle, each beast of the field;
Upon thy belly grovelling thou shalt go,
And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life.
Between thee and the woman I will pout Enmity, and between thine and her seed;
Her seed shall bruise thy head, and thou bruise his heel ”
- THE JUDGEMENT OF THE SERPENT
So ever after, all serpents crawled along the ground, and were the foe of Man. To Eve now the Lord turned, and his sentence turned:
“ Thy sorrow I will greatly multiply,
By thy conception; children thou shalt bring
In sorrow forth, and to thy husband’s will
Thine shall submit, he over thee shall rule ”
- THE JUDGEMENT OF EVE
So ever after, woman was cursed to give birth only through extreme pain, and to be subservient to men. Now to Adam the Lord did turn with curse new:
“ Cursed is the ground for thy sake, thou in sorrow
Shalt eat thereof all the days of thy life;
Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth
Unbid, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field,
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
Till thou return unto the ground, for thou
Out of the ground was taken; know thy birth,
For dust thou art, and shalt to dust return… ”
- THE JUDGEMENT OF ADAM
So ever after, man was cursed to need food to survive, and be able to obtain only through the sweat of his brow, labouring in the fields, cursed in the knowledge that one day he too would lie in the dust. Justice passed, the Son returned to the Most High, though pity great did he feel for the first man and woman, clothing them before he left.
Sin and Death Engraving by Gustave Doré |
A blinding light, a shout of triumph, both heralds of Satan’s return, coming now resplendent as a burning angel of Heaven. Jubilation was his, and greater still, when he saw the mighty bridge now yonder, craft of his children. Hell, his daughter proud, exclaimed with joy her foreknowledge of his triumphs, for Hell could bind them no longer. The Great Liberator they hailed now. Their great defeat had been avenged. Satan smiled upon his kin, proclaiming Eden theirs forever to rule, bidding them go forth and grant their Dominion to the race of Men. Bidding them make all haste, the Morning Star sped on down into the depths, unguarded as they were, for all the Infernal host had gained word of their leader’s victory.
To Pandaemonium the fiery city did he soar, summoning High Council amongst his brethren, one third of the angelic host of Heaven of old, blackened by the soot of Hell. Blazing with regal glory, all that was left of his once Heavenly brilliance, he marched forth, and deafening was his acclaim. ‘I call ye and declare ye now, returned successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth, triumphant out of this infernal Pit, abominable, accursed, the house of woe, and dungeon of our Tyrant’. Proud of his craft, Satan told his story:
“ The new created world, which fame in Heav’n
Long had foretold, a fabric wonderful
Of absolute perfection, therein man
Placed in a Paradise, by our exile
Made happy: him by fraud I have seduced
From his Creator, and the more to increase
Your wonder, with an apple; he thereat
Offended, worth your laughter, hath giv’n up
Both his beloved man and all his world,
To Sin and Death a prey, and so to us… ”
- THE TRIUMPH OF SATAN
The Fallen Angels Metamorphise Engraving by Gustave Doré |
Then in their midst sprung up a grove, not unlike the Forbidden Tree of Eden, instrument of Man’s demise. Suddenly the power of the Lord waxed strong again, and his retribution terrible. Each one among them felt a ‘scalding thirst and hunger fierce’, as fruit burst forth from the seductive boughs of the Tree. Desperate from their pangs, they fell upon it, each and all, and sunk their razor teeth into the fruit. But here fell God’s curse anew, as the fruit turned to bitter ashes in their mouths. Each among them spat in frustrated agony. Thus was the fallen host ‘plagued and worn with famine, long and ceaseless hiss’, until the time came they assumed their former shapes. Once a year, on the anniversary of the temptation of the first man and woman, the spirits of the Pit undergo this transformation, ‘to dash their pride, and joy for man seduced’…
United Kingdom
Paradise Lost:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(A sweeping epic poem telling the story of mankind's fall and Satan's rebellion against God)
United States
Paradise Lost:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(A sweeping epic poem telling the story of mankind's fall and Satan's rebellion against God)
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