Cain and Abel

Though much is written, read, preached and even painted of the fall of Adam and Eve, somewhat less is their fate after their expulsion spoken of. But the trials and pains of the first Man and Woman had barely begun when their teeth first sank into the Forbidden Fruit...

Abel - Son of Adam and Eve
Painting by Theophanes the Greek

Fear and guilt their only companions now, Adam and Eve took their first steps beyond the Gates of Eden, a cherubim hovering high above, sword of piercing fire gleaming bright. Outcasts, accursed and exiled they were, but free. The whole world stretched before them, a world before the dominion of Men. For seven days and seven nights they mourned and lamented in grief. But on the eighth day, the tears stayed their fall, and the blow softened. A new emotion rose within, for in place of sadness their struck the pangs of hunger. For seven days the first Man and Wife wandered the bare land in search of food, a long time indeed for us today, longer still for the couple who once called Eden home. Far and wide they searched and still no food they found. Then at last they came to the Tigris river. Grieving at the pain of loss and pain of hunger, Eve wept by the banks of the great river. Then it was that Satan the Adversary, Lucifer of old, came down to her. With honeyed words the Fallen Archangel soothed her and led her back to Adam, but Adam, fooled once but not again, saw the truth behind the veil of beauty. "Hast thou again been ensnared by our adversary, by whose means we have been estranged from our abode in paradise and spiritual joy?"

It was then that Eve saw through it too at last, and loud was her wail, as she railed against the accursed one "Woe unto thee, thou devil. Why dost thou attack us for no cause? What hast thou to do with us? What hath we done to thee?... Why dost thou harry us, thou enemy and persecute us to the death in wickedness and envy?".

It was then at last that He the Adversary of Man, Satan was allowed the chance to vent his fury upon the two:


         " All my hostility, envy, and sorrow is for thee, since it is for thee that
           I have been expelled from my glory, which I possessed in the Heavens,
           for in the midst of the angels and for thee was I cast out in the Earth...

          ...and Michael the Archangel went out and called the angels saying:
          Worship the image of God as the Lord God hath commanded...
          and I answered, I hath no need to worship Adam..
          Why dost thou urge me? I will not worship an inferior and younger being
          that I, for I am his senior in the Creation, before he was made was I already made.
          It is his duty to worship me... "
               - THE CRAFT OF SATAN

Bided rage and wounded pride did he pour upon the first Man and Woman, his disguises cast aside, Serpent no longer, but Fallen Angel. But near his match was the anger of Adam, who saw the very source of his ruin before him now. "O Lord my God, my life is in thy hands. Banish this Adversary far from me, who seeketh to destroy my soul", spake he, and in that moment the Lord of Hell vanished from sight, the gentle breeze all that punctuated the silence. But a moment had passed when a flash of light heralded the arrival of the Archangel Michael, who bore the pity of Heaven to the first couple, and unto Adam he imparted the knowledge of the land, how to work it, and how he might grow food from it so that he might be sustained. To Eve he brought tidings of coming pain, "Prepare thee to bear", said he, and to Heaven he swiftly returned.

The Fratricide of Cain
Painting by Peter Paul Rubens

Adam beheld his wife and saw she was with child, and soon enough the progeny was born who would bring such disaster to the Line of Adam. Upon the grass the babe lay, and in his tiny hand he took a blade of grass, and eagerly gave it to Eve. To him they gave the name of Cain. It was not so long later that Eve gave birth again, to a son again. To him they gave the name of Abel. But the birth was far from easy, for a terrible nightmare afflicted Eve. A gory phantasm had emerged in the blackness of her dreams, the blood of her newborn son in the hand of Cain, and her first born was gulping it down as a ravenous beast. From whence, or whom, this ghastly vision had been sent, was a mystery, though it came when the Morning Star was at its brightest. The last time so wretched a vision had come to her, terrible indeed were the consequences...

Adam, fearful of this premonition, acted swiftly, determined to avoid further catastrophe in their lot in life. He decreed that the boys would be separated from each other, and each would live in his own dwelling. Adam raises Cain in his own ways, a tiller of the ground and tender of Earth, whilst Abel becomes a shepherd of his flock, caring for his sheep.

Adam and Eve weep over the body of Abel
Painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

So the sons of Adam grew strong, and under their care the earth grew bountiful in Cain's flora, and Abel's fauna. But over time, lonely Cain grew envious of his brother and the company of his flock, where he had naught but plants to share his plot with. When the time came to pass, and the first harvest rose from Earth's tilled pastures, Cain offered the bounty of the land to God. When the first lambs breathed the air of the pure skies, Abel offered the finest of his flock unto God. God looked kindly upon the offer of Abel, "but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell". Feeling humiliation course through him, Cain's anger grew at with injustice. The Morning Star glowed brightly. Denied the presence of God, Cain looked upon Abel, and saw not a brother of his flesh, but one who had taken the favour of the Lord in place of him. Then it was that Cain spake with his brother, and it came to pass that together they walked in his long tamed fields. Brighter still glowed the Morning Star. The fire of injustice burned in the veins of Cain, and, seizing a bough from his own tree, the first born of Adam struck Abel upon his crown, and slew him upon the face of the Earth. His bearing regaining as he panted with the exertion, Cain looked upon the broken corpse of Abel, and an ominous feeling gripped him, as it had his father when the flesh of the apple had touched his lips.

The sky darkened, and the voice of the Lord sounded unto Cain. "Where is Abel thy brother? And Cain spake, I know not: am I my brother's keeper? To him the Lord called, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground". Cain fell to his knees, for he knew that nothing could be hidden from the Most High. The judgement of God thundered across the fields of the Earth, "And now thou art cursed from the Earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth...". The punishment was more than Cain could bear, and he feared that any who found him would slay him now. "Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him".

Banished to the Land if Nod to the east of Eden, Cain set forth upon his ageless exile, unable to face his mother and father after what he had done. So was set the curse of Cain, that would linger in his descendants, that the Great Flood would one day seek to purge. Great was the lamentation of Adam and Eve when they came upon the body of Abel, their son, and sorrow too was to be found even in the eyes of his flock, who wept for their fallen master. But the trials of the first family were far from over...
         

The story of Cain and Abel can be found in the Book of Genesis, Chapter four of the Biblical Old Testament. However, much more can be found in several of the many books rejected from the original Bible, a collection of scripts known as the Apocrypha. Cain's treachery can be found in the following excerpts:


United Kingdom

The Apocrypha
The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Vol. 14 of 14: With an Historical Survey and Descriptions (Classic Reprint)
(Containing many books rejected from the Bible more than a thousand years ago, adding enormously to the stories of Genesis)

United States

The Apocrypha
The Lives Of Adam And Eve From The Old Testament Apocrypha
(Containing many books rejected from the Bible more than a thousand years ago, adding enormously to the stories of Genesis)

The Temptation of Eve

His dark presence in Eden's verdant groves unveiled to the angels of the Lord, Satan cursed his brethren of old (for the previous episode in this story, please click here). In truth, deep down in his burdened heart, deepest sorrow welled up as his chance for redemption waned ever more remote. Now that he had seen the fields of Paradise with his own eyes, and the peace that could have been his, should have been his, his rage at the Most High burned anew, as his mind turned once again to malice...

The Angels vigilant
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Uriel, the Archangel of the Lord, unnerved by the ease at which the Morning Star had broken free of his infernal bonds, and cast his deception over him, sent word far and wide. Cherubim far and wide stood vigilant, wary that the eternal purity of the Garden, that abode of sanctity, had been breached. Meanwhile, high above, the Morning Star searched far and wide, all thought bent on bringing his fell task to fruition. For whilst he had plagued Eve with hideous nightmares, his final hand was stayed by the angels of the Lord. For seven days and seven nights he circled the Earth, casting his eye over all the Gates of Paradise, and on the eighth his vile stratagem came at last into his head. There lay not far away various of the fauna that called Eden home, and Satan cast his gaze upon them, and:



                           " With narrow search; and with inspection deep
                             Considered every creature, which of all
                             Most opportune might serve his wiles, and found
                             The Serpent subtlest beast of all the field... "
                                            - SATAN AND THE SERPENT

For within the wily snake, Satan saw its slender charm, its natural cunning and innate wit, and his mind was made. The Serpent would be the instrument of his fresh schemes, desperate to relieve his own suffering through the destruction of others as he was. Though in painful truth he remembered his humiliating fall from Heaven, he took fresh heart from the knowledge that he "in one night freed from servitude inglorious well nigh half th' angelic name". Where strength of arms failed, only by turning God's own creations against their master could he now seek solace through vengeance. Descending through the mists of the twilight, through the serpent's mouth passed that malevolent spirit as it slept. As Dawn arose over resplendent Eden, the serpent awoke, but its mind was no longer its own. "O foul descent!", Satan cried, "that I who erst contended with Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained into a beast!" As the perfumed scents of the bountiful trees swept through the Garden, the serpent froze, for it heard the footfalls of two approaching beings.

The Creation of Adam
Painting by Michelangelo

With the sun rising in the eastern skies, Adam, formed from God's own hand, and Eve, born of Adam's flesh, set about a new day in the Garden. Still shaken from the ghastly phantasmagoria which had wracked her dreams, Eve suggested to Adam that they divide their labours in Eden, so that they might better serve the command of the Lord. Adam thought back to the moment of his creation, and the Word of God to rule over the beings of the world. The warning of Raphael, however, still rang in his ears, that evil forces were at work, and that they should ever beware of its veiled presence, and stay together. Eve soothed her husband's fears however, reasoning that they themselves had inflicted no wrong upon this nameless evil. Why then, should it visit harm upon them? Reassured in his innocence, Adam, though harbouring secret fears at the back of his mind, relented. Cautioning once again on the danger of temptation of which the Archangel had spoken, Adam bade Eve farewell. As the first man strolled off into the undergrowth, little did he realise that ageless evil had already found them, and would soon bring about their utter ruin.

With Eve alone at last, Satan seized his chance. Flexing his newfound form, the Morning Star darted forward through the forest, though not on his underbelly as serpents do today, for this was an age before that accursed creature chewed the dust. There, "veiled in a cloud of fragrance", there she stood, framed by the finest roses. The striking sight before him could not fail to move the heart of Satan, for despite his betrayal and his shattered soul, he remained an angel still. Mourning that so fair a being as that before him must suffer, for God to suffer, the Morning Star came before the first woman.

As Eve stood tending the glorious wonders of the forest, her eyes caught sight of a serpent approaching. The snake licked the ground where she had stood, and his gentle expression could not help but heighten her curiosity.  To her profound amazement, the Serpent reared its slender head and spoke. "Wonder not, sov'reign mistress, if perhaps thou canst, who art sole wonder, much less arm thy looks, the Heav'n of mildness, with disdain, displeased that I approach thee thus...", spake the Serpent, and his words were straight and true, touching the heart of the first lady. "What may this mean? Language of man pronounced by tongue of brute, and human sense expressed?" she thought. How had this creature acquired the power of human speech and feeling? Sensing her question, the Serpent wove his trap:

                          " Till on a day roving the field, I chanced
                             A goodly tree far distant to behold
                             Loaden with fruit of fairest colours mixed... "
                                                  - SATAN SPEAKS OF THE TREE TO EVE

The Serpent told Eve of the great enlightenment that the fruit of the tree gave to him from the moment it touched his lips, how a great feeling of epiphany had gripped his coiled form, how he found the power of speech henceforth stood in place of a hiss, how a sudden realisation of a boundless new mind had come to him. Her curiosity rising further still, Eve asked the Serpent where one could find this most enchanting tree. The Serpent flattered Eve, telling her of its location, near the thicket "of blowing myrrh and balm".  "Lead then", quothed the first woman, and duly, the Serpent lead her on her road to ruin.

The Temptation of Eve
Painting by Michelangelo

When the clearing came, and Eve saw the tree of which the beguiling Serpent spoke, great was the despair that filled her. For the tree he had lead her to was the Tree of Knowledge, of which the Lord had forbidden them to eat. She told the Serpent of her fears, and the mandate of the Lord. Bracing himself greater than all the finest orators of mankind allied, and focusing his divine charisma beyond all restraint, Satan calmed her fears with soothing comfort:




   " Queen of this universe, do not believe those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die:
     How should ye? By the fruit? It gives you life to knowledge. By the Threat'ner?
     Look on me, Me who have touched and tasted, yet both live, and life more perfect
     have attained than Fate meant me, by vent'ring higher than my lot..."
                                          - THE TEMPTATION OF EVE

What harm was there, the Serpent spoke, in possessing the knowledge of good and evil? Won over by his charming words, the first woman, "her rash hand ito the fruit, she plucked, she ate: Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat sighing through all her works gave signs of woe, that all was lost...". Victory at last in his rebellious grasp, Satan took his leave from the grove, forever to haunt the destiny of man as it was, as Eve gorged greedily upon the forbidden fruit. Never before had she tasted such a sweet thing before, and never would she ever taste sweetness again.

Barely a moment passed of the new accursed age, when Adam, born of the Lord's own hand, happened upon the blackened grove. Greeting her husband merrily, Eve joyfully proclaimed, "This tree is not as we are told, a tree of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown op'ning the way, but of divine effect to open eyes, and make them gods who taste...". But when the terrible truth of Eve's deed reached Adam's ears he was :

                                " Astonied stood and blank, while horror chill
                                   ran through his veins, and all his joints relaxed;
                                   From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve
                                   down dropped, and all the faded roses shed... "
                                                 - ADAM LEARNS THE TERRIBLE TRUTH

Raw anguish and terror course through Adam's veins, as mankind first felt remorse. The serene bliss of the Garden was at once shattered by the first man's cries of broken hope. Until now immortal as the spirits high above, now forever would the dark spectre of Death haunt man's destiny. But even now, Adam could not turn away from Eve, as he cried "Should God create another Eve , and I another rib afford, yet loss of thee would never from my heart: no, no, I feel the link of nature draw me: flesh of flesh, bone of my bone thou art , and from thy state mine never shall be parted, bliss or woe". Bound together more closely than man or woman ever was, Adam resolved to share Eve's fate through doom or redemption. Seeing his Paradise now truly lost, Adam took the fruit from Eve's outstretched palm, forever resigned to the coming storm...


United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

United States

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

The Nightmare of Eve

Here it was at last. After an arduous journey across the cosmos (for the previous episode in this story, please click here), Satan looked hungrily down upon the Garden of Eden. Once the brightest of all angels, the Morning Star, thrown down from the fold of the Most High for daring to seize the Heavenly throne, Satan had resolved upon means other than open war to defy his Creator. Alone of the Fallen Angels, it had been he who first had spoken treacherous words in Heaven, and who now ventured to humble God by tearing down his most dearest Creation - Man.

Satan enters the Garden of Eden
Engraving by Gustave Doré

As he soared forth into the world of Men, and the light of the Sun touched his proud face, Satan was shaken. Not since he had served the Lord in Heaven had he felt such warmth, such invigoration, such happiness. For though treacherous, proud and deceitful, he remained an angel still, and here was a land to which he should belong:

    " O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams
       That bring to my remembrance
       from what state I fell,
       how glorious once above thy sphere;
       Till pride and worse ambition
       threw me down... "
                      - SATAN'S REMORSE

Wracked with guilt and remorse, Satan dreamt in vain that he were created a lesser being, devoid of ambition and immune to temptation. There was a moment, as the Morning Star touched upon the grass, that he even wondered whether he could know redemption, whether pardon could yet be his. Should he repent, would God forgive him of his crimes? Imagining himself, on bent knee before the Lord, surrounded by the Heavenly array, in his pride Satan thought only of the humiliation of it. Intolerable! Thinking too, of the horrors of the infernal prison from whence he had come and to where he must return, inflamed with rage once more, Satan focused his mind on the fell task he had volunteered to undertake. But his moment of inner conflict had gone not unnoticed. For there behind stood Uriel still, the angel Satan had deceived by disguise. Suspicious of seeing a pained expression in a place so pure, Uriel made haste to his brethren upon the Mount.

The Garden of Eden
Painting by Wenzel Peter

Not even the fiery heart of the Fallen One was hard to the beauty of the place he now saw. Such a verdant, sylvan scene there never was in all the cosmos! Boundless wilderness of cedar, pine and fir, towering high with the mightiest saplings groaning under the burden of their glorious fruit. The colour too! Regal golds glowing from the bounty of fruit, rich blossoms flourishing upon their boughs, bathed in the radiant glow of the high Sun. A soft breeze, a showering in the perfumed scents of the trees.  A place devoid of all sadness yet for the despair of what was to come. Not even he, that impious fiend, could hide his marvel. With a mighty leap, such as had broken the lines of Heaven in his doomed War, Satan broke through the undergrowth and penetrated to the Garden's core. His wings flared, he came to rest upon the highest tree at the very heart of the Garden, the Tree of Life, where in irony his thoughts were of nothing but death. Such a vista from that place there was no equal. The blissful fields of Paradise stretched yonder, in all their verdant glory. Nearby rose the Tree of Knowledge, from whose seed man would fall, astride a great azure river that channelled life across the Garden's plains. There, in a grove not far, laden with grapes of the deepest purple and flowers worthy only of Heaven, they lay:

                      " In naked majesty seemed lords of all,
                         And worthy seemed, for in their looks divine
                         The image of their glorious maker shone... "
                                              - ADAM AND EVE

There in regal splendour stood Adam, formed by God's own hand. Woven from Adam's own flesh, there too stood Eve, wondrous to behold. There was no flaw to be seen in the first man and woman, for they were crafted in God's own image, and here in Eden they were lord and lady to all the beasts, masters of this land in perfect innocence. Though they were unclad, there was no shame, no guilty thought of nature's wonder. Around them played all the beasts in harmony; lions, tigers, kids, bears, birds, horses all gathered in blissful serenity. Even the serpent here gave no heed of suspicion of what he would soon do. Envy and jealously raw blazed in the heart of Satan as a world in flames. Even he, the father of sin, was loath to bring such calamity upon such a scene. Pity for Adam and Eve struck him then, pity that they should suffer so much pain, when another was his foe. "Thank him who puts me to this loath revenge", he thought, "to do what else though damned I should abhor". So the proud angel justified his fell deed.

Adam and Eve
Engraving by by Gustave Doré

To learn more of this land, so that he might overturn it, Satan shifted his form once more. Now he was a lion, fierce and strong, then a tiger, stalking without sound. Approaching softly, he listened intently to the voice of Adam, noble yet oblivious. The First Man spoke in praise of the Lord, who in his benevolence had granted so much. The only sign of their obedience to God that remained was honour his command not to taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, for it would bring death, "whate'er death is, some dreadful thing no doubt". To grant them both dominion over Earth, Sea and Air for such a little price, Adam raised his hands in prayer, as Eve did too, to give praise to the Lord. Jubliant, Eve embraced Adam:




                             " Aside the Devil turned,
                               For envy, yet with jealous leer malign,                         
                               Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained.                               
                               Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two,                         
                               Imparadised in one another's arms,
                               The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill,
                               Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust! "
                                                    - THE ENVY OF SATAN

Blind to all other gifts, Satan thought only of God's command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Seething once more, the Fallen one could reason nothing more than they too were but slaves to God. They were not to receive this Knowledge? "Why should their Lord envy them that? Can it be sin to know, Can it be death?", he thought. As night fell on the Garden of Eden, a dark night brought on by the presence of a spirit who was welcome not there, Satan saw at last how he could defy the Most High. He would turn God's own Creation against him.

The Nightmare of Eve
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Meanwhile, high overhead, as the rays of the setting Sun levelled against the sky, the Archangel Gabriel sat enthroned upon the Mount. All around him the youth of Heaven exercised in divine sport, gilded helms, shields and spears glinting in the warm glow. Soaring through the evening rays, Uriel at last arrived. Urgently pouring out his suspicions, the Archangel confessed to Gabriel that he had granted passage to this dark newcomer, his foul thoughts veiled in fair disguise. Word too, had already reached Gabriel's ear of a breakout from Hell. But who was this stranger in their midst? The Archangel immediately sent forth the swiftest angels to find the source of this new disturbance. Far below, the night closed in, and the First Man and First Woman marvelled in the beauty of the stars and gave thanks to God, before laying down to sleep on their laurel bed. As Eve lay in slumber, little could she know as the Fallen Angel crept silently up to her, careful not to rouse Adam as he moved. Lying beside her peaceful body, Satan bent low and whispered fell incantations into her ear, channelling all manner of ghastly apparitions into her mind. As the venomed words flowed on, Eve convulsed violently in her nightmare. Soon Satan was no longer able to maintain his disguise, as no form but his true one could contain the grim phantasms within. Every doubt, every suspicion, every curious thought now gripped Eve's mind such that never again would she know innocence. Satan's senses heightened, his hour of glory approached at last.

Satan is banished from the Garden of Eden
Engraving by Gustave Doré

Just as he was about to implant the idea of eating from the Tree of Knowledge, however, the scene was suddenly interrupted. Ithuriel and Zephon, two loyal angels of Gabriel, drawn to the dark power emanating from that grove, appeared suddenly. Both spirits stood stunned, aghast to see an accursed angel here, in Paradise so very far from Hell. Recovering quickly, they demanded him to reveal his identity. Torn abruptly from his foul deed, Satan rounded on them, with a baleful gaze that would break the soul of any man. "Know ye not me?" he scornfully mocked, "Ye knew me once...". The terrible truth dawning upon them at last, Zephon valiantly rebuked Satan for his base treachery, swearing to bind him in chains if he had to. Taken aback by the young angel's boldness, Satan's anger grew greater still, anger that this young spirit clung to a virtue he never could. No bonds would be necessary, for the Morning Star flew to confront Gabriel without restraint. Recognising at once the stature of the Prince of Hell, Gabriel ordered Satan to reveal his purpose in Eden, a dwelling "God hath planted here in bliss". Both spirits , who had once held the other in great esteem, eyed each other warily. Who would not break free of Hell if they could, the Fallen One replied, what being willingly undergoes pain and torture? He simply came to admire the beauty of the place, a thing his own quarters lacked. Certain of deceit, Gabriel grew frustrated, unable to discover Satan's true intent as he was. Relentless, however, he demanded why he had come alone, why not the rest of his foul horde? For if there was pain in Hell, why had the rest not come. "Courageous chief, the first in flight from pain", Gabriel mocked. Taken aback by this insult, Satan angrily retorted that he alone had volunteered to undertake this enterprise, and he had hoped to settle here on Earth in peace.


But the Archangel Gabriel was wise to Satan's lies. "Thou sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem Patron of Liberty, who more than thou once fawneded, and servilely adored Heav'n's awful Monarch?" Gabriel angrily spat. For whilst Satan might claim to be seeking freedom for himself and his kin, his true purpose to seize God's throne was laid bare before all. The angelic host raised their glittering weapons in defiance, as Gabriel chastised him one final time, vowing to personally cast Satan back to Hell. With a shout of all his pent up guilt, rage and secret hopes of redemption now truly lost, Satan advanced on the loyal spirit. But just then, a flash of light, and bolt of thunder shook the cosmos. Sensing the gaze of the Lord, Satan turned his back on the Heavenly crew, as the angel of the Lord banished him from the Garden. Little could Gabriel see, however, the smile on the Morning Star's face. For his foul stratagem remained veiled to Heaven, and the seeds of discord had been sown. All he now needed was to complete what the angels had interrupted. He would not be able to break into the Garden personally again, that much was sure. Spying a nearby serpent however, Satan suddenly had an idea. Far away, meanwhile, Eve awoke with a pang of terror, distraught at the monstrous visions of her dreams...

United Kingdom

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

United States

Penguin Classics:
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)

Oxford World's Classics:
Paradise Lost (Oxford World's Classics)
(Paradise Lost is written in English, so text choice is personal preference)