es from the hill, upon which he has alighted, into
Paradise. The fact that he is outcast both from heaven and earth fills
Satan with alternate sorrow and fierce wrath, under impulse of which
emotions his face becomes fearfully distorted. This change and his
fierce gestures are seen by Uriel, who curiously follows his flight,
and who now for the first time suspects he may have escaped from hell.

After describing the wonders of Eden--which far surpass all fairy
tales,--Milton relates how Satan, springing lightly over the dividing
wall, lands within its precincts, and in the guise of a cormorant
perches upon a tree, whence he beholds two God-like shapes "in naked
majesty clad." One of these is Adam, formed for contemplation and
valor, the other Eve, formed for softness and grace. They two sit
beneath a tree, the beasts of the earth playing peacefully around
them, and Satan, watching them, wonders whether they are destined to
occupy his former place in heaven, and vows he will ruin their present
happiness and deliver them up to woe! After arguing he must do so to
secure a better abode for himself and his followers, the fiend
transforms himself first into one beast and then into another, and,
having approached the pair unnoticed, listens to their conversation.
In this way he learns Eve's wonder on first opening her eyes and
gazing around her on the flowers and trees, her amazement at her own
reflection in the water, and her following a voice which promised to
lead her to her counterpart, who would make her mother of the human
race. But, the figure she thus found proving less attractive than the
one she had just seen in the waters, she was about to retreat, when
Adam claimed her as the other half of his being. Since then, they two
have dwelt in bliss in this garden, where everything is at their
disposal save the fruit of one tree. Thus Satan discovers the
prohibition laid upon our first parents. He immediately Dedie's to
bring about their ruin by inciting them to scorn divine commands,
assuring them that the knowledge of good and evil will make them equal
to God, and having discovered this method of compassing his purpose,
steals away to devise means to reach his ends.

Meantime, near the eastern gate of Paradise, Gabriel, chief of the
angelic host, watches the joyful evolutions of the guards who at
nightfall are to patrol the boundaries of Paradise. While thus
engaged, Uriel comes glancing down through the evening air on a