Book X
God sends Christ to judge Adam and Eve; He pronounces sentence but shows mercy; Nature is corrupted.
10 argumentative units
- 01God announces judgment and sends the Son to Eden
God, knowing all that happened in Paradise, tells the angels they are not to blame; He declares that Man has fallen and must face the penalty, and sends the Son as judge and mediator.
- 02The Son accepts the role of judge and descends
The Son accepts God's commission with perfect obedience, promising to temper justice with mercy; He descends swiftly to Eden while the angelic host accompanies him to Heaven's gate.
- 03Adam and Eve hide in shame; the Son calls them forth
As evening falls the Son arrives in the cool garden; Adam and Eve, hearing God's voice, hide themselves among the thickest trees until the Son calls Adam to come forth.
- 04Adam blames Eve before the divine judge
Adam, beset and afraid, admits he heard God and hid because he was naked; under questioning he shifts the blame to Eve, saying she gave him the tree and he ate.
- 05Eve blames the serpent; God pronounces the curse
Eve confesses simply that the serpent beguiled her; God, hearing this, proceeds to judgment and curses the serpent, then turns to pronounce sentence on Eve and Adam.
- 06Christ pronounces the curse on serpent, woman, and Adam
God curses the serpent to crawl on its belly, promises enmity between its seed and Eve's, multiplies Eve's sorrow in childbearing, and sentences Adam to labor and eventual return to dust.
- 07The Son shows mercy, clothing Adam and Eve
Even in judgment the Son defers the immediate stroke of death; acting as father of his family he clothes Adam and Eve with skins, covering their outward and inward nakedness before returning to Heaven.
- 08Sin and Death build the bridge; Satan boasts and is punished
Sin and Death build a vast bridge from Hell to Earth; Satan returns to Pandemonium to boast of his victory, but at the moment of triumph he and all the fallen angels are transformed into hissing serpents.
- 09Adam laments his ruin and the corruption of nature
God commands nature to become harsh—cold, storms, seasons—as a consequence of the Fall; Adam, alone and anguished, cries out in despair, cursing his creation and longing for death.
- 10Eve humbles herself; Adam and Eve reconcile and pray
Eve throws herself at Adam's feet in tears; Adam relents, raises her, and together they resolve to bear their punishment with patience and to pray before God in penitence.