With sleep irriguous He doth perfuse;
That from his left rib woman softlier
45 May formed be, and that by mixture twin
His substance may add firmness to her limbs.
To her the name of “Life”—which is called “Eve”—
Is given: wherefore sons, as custom is,
Their parents leave, and, with a settled home,
50 Cleave to their wives.
The seventh came, when God
At His works’ end did rest, decreeing it
Sacred unto the coming ages’ joys.
Straightway—the crowds of living things deployed
Before him—Adam’s cunning skill (the gift
55 Of the good Lord) gives severally to all
The name which still is permanent. Himself,
And, joined with him, his Eve, God deigns address
“Grow, for the times to come, with manifold
Increase, that with your seed the pole and earth
60 Be filled; and, as Mine heirs, the varied fruits
Pluck ye, which groves and champaigns render you,
From their rich turf.” Thus after He discoursed,
In gladsome court a paradise is strewn,
And looks towards the rays of th’ early sun.
65 These joys among, a tree with deadly fruits,
Breeding, conjoined, the taste of life and death,
Arises. In the midst of the demesne
Flows with pure tide a stream, which irrigates
Fair offsprings from its liquid waves, and cuts
70 Quadrified paths from out its bubbling fount
Here wealthy Phison, with auriferous waves,
Swells, and with hoarse tide wears conspicuous gems,
This prasinus, that glowing carbuncle,
By name; and raves, transparent in its shoals,
75 The margin of the land of Havilath.
Next Gihon, gliding by the Æthiops,
Enriches them. The Tigris is the third,
Adjoined to fair Euphrates, furrowing
Disjunctively with rapid flood the land
80 Of Asshur. Adam, with his faithful wife,
Placed here as guard and workman, is informed
By such the Thunderer’s speech: “Tremble ye not
To pluck together the permitted fruits
Which, with its leafy bough, the unshorn grove
85 Hath furnished; anxious only lest perchance
Ye cull the hurtful apple, which is green