Book i. 211-257

The Latin is as follows:

"Ergo ubi transmissis mundi caput incipit Indis, Quo perhibent terram confinia jungere cœlo, Lucus inaccessa cunctis mortalibus arca Permanet, æterno conclusus limite, postquam Decidit expulsus primævi criminis auctor, Atque reis digne felici a sede revulsis, Cœlestes hæc sancta capit nunc aula ministros, Non hic alterni succedit temporis unquam Bruma, nec æstivi redeunt post frigora soles, Excelsus calidum cum reddit circulus annum, Vel densante gelu canescunt arva pruinis. Hic ver assiduum cœli clementia servat; Turbidus Auster abest, semperque sub ære sudo Nubila diffugiunt jugi cessura sereno. Nec poscit natura loci quos non habet imbres, Sed contenta suo dotantur germina rore. Perpetuo viret omne solum, terræque tepentis Blanda nitet facies; stant semper collibus herbæ, Arboribusque comæ; quæ cum se flore frequenti Diffundunt, celeri confortant germina succo. Nam quidquid nobis toto nunc nascitur anno; Menstrua maturo dant illic tempora fructu. Lilia perlucent nullo flaccentia sole, Nec tactus violat violas, roseumque ruborem Servans perpetuo suffundit gratia vultu. Sic cum desit hiems, nec torrida ferveat æstas, Fructibus autumnus, ver floribus occupat annum. Hic quæ donari mentitur fama Sabæsis Cinnama nascuntur, vivax quæ colligit ales, Natali cum fine perit, nidoque perusta Succedens sibimet quæsita morte resurgit; Nec contenta suo tantum semel ordine nasci; Longa veternosi renovatur corporis ætas, Incensamque levant exordia crebra senectam, Illic desudans fragrantia balsama ramus Perpetuum promit pingui de stipite fluxum. Tum si forte levis movit spiramina ventus, Flatibus exiguis, lenique impulsa susurro, Dives silva tremit foliis, ac flora salubri, Qui sparsus late maves dispensat odores. Hic fons perspicuo resplendens gurgita surgit. Talis in argento non fulget gratia, tantam Nec crystalla trahunt nitido defrigore lucem. Margine riparum virides micuere lapilli, Et quas miratur mundi jactantia gemmas, Illis saxa jacent; varios dant arva colores, Et naturali campos diademate pingunt."

The parallel passage of Milton runs thus:

"Thus was this place, A happy rural seat of various view; Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm, Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind, Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true, If true, here only, and of delicious taste. Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks Grazing the tender herb, were interposed, Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap Of some irriguous valley spread her store, Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose; Another side, umbrageous grots and caves Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps Luxuriant; meanwhile, murmuring waters fall Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams. The birds their choir apply; airs, vernal airs, Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune The trembling leaves, while universal Pan Knit with the graces and the hours in dance, Led on th' eternal spring."

_Paradise Lost_, iv. 246, etc.

The Nile, according to religious traditions, was one of the four rivers of paradise. In his description of its fertilizing inundation, St. Avitus paints, in a poetical figure, the view presented in after-years:

"When, swollen, the river overflows its banks, Strewing the plains with dark slime, fertile then The soil with calm skies and terrestrial rain; Then Memphis in the midst of a vast lake Appears, and o'er their fields submerged in crafts The laborers sail. The flood's decree sweeps forth All boundaries, equalizing all, and stays The season's labors. Joyful sees the shepherd His meadows swallowed, and from foreign seas Strange shoals of fish where erst his herds were fed. Then, when the waters have espoused the earth, Impregnating its gems, the Nile recedes, Calls back its scattered waters, and the lake, Once more a river, to its bed returns, Its floods encompassed in the ancient dyke."