PL 11 607-636 (Michael and Adam)

“Those tents thou saw’st so pleasant, were the tents
Of wickedness, wherein shall dwell his race
Who slew his brother; studious they appear
Of arts that polish life, inventors rare,
Unmindful of their Maker, though his spirit
Taught them, but they his gifts acknowledged none. To whom thus Adam of short joy bereft.
Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget; “O pity and shame, that they who to live well
For that fair female troop thou saw’st, that seemd Entered so faire, should turn aside to tread
Of goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay, Paths indirect, or in the mid way faint!
Yet empty of all good wherein consists But still I see the tenor of man’s woe
Woman’s domestic honor and chief praise; Holds on the same, from woman to begin.”
Bred only and completed to the taste “From man’s effeminate slackness it begins,”
Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance, Said th' Angel, “who should better hold his place
To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye. By wisdom, and superior gifts received.”
To these that sober race of men, whose lives
Religious titled them the Sons of God,
Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame
Ignobly, to the trains and to the smiles
Of these fair atheists, and now swim in joy,
(Erelong to swim at large) and laugh; for which
The world erelong a world of tears must weep.”