The Garden of Eden is the living place of Adam and Eve. The action of Book IX takes place in Paradise in The Garden of Eden. The second book of Genesis of the Old Testament of "The Bible' says, "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden: and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." From this reference Milton has built a magnificent world by his power of imagination.
Paradise is situated on the eastern border of Eden. Around the earth there are other heavens rotate for our benefit. They bear one or more bright planets and the stars. They are arranged 'light above light'. They are shedding their influence on the earth. The Earth is suspended in space static. The other luminous bodies are dancing attendance on it. The Equator is running around it horizontally from pole to pole. It bears sea and land on its surface. Rivers like the Ob, the Tigris, the Ganges and the Indus flow on it. From the poem we get an idea of the location of Eden. Starting from Eden and travels west, Satan crosses the River Orontes, the Mediterranean lake, the Atlantic, the Isthmus of Darien in Central America, the whole stretch of the Pacific, until he alights on the plains of Hindustan, crosses the Ganges and the Indus, and passes over Afghanistan to the eastern border of Eden.
Paradise is surrounded by hills formed by God. At one side there is a gate. This is the official entrance. This is guarded by the Cherubim, the heavenly angels. The river Tigris was going underground at the foot of paradise shot up as a fountain in the garden of Eden near the Tree of Life. Through this river Satan entered. The Tree of Life was so high. From the top one could have a view of the whole paradise. The Tree of Knowledge stood beside it. It is the source of all our woe. Around this place were the gardens of bower and the herbarium. There were 'thick woven arborets' and a rose garden. The serpent met Eve at this rose garden. The two trees 'The Tree of Life' and the Tree of Knowledge' are rare and supernatural specimens. But all the other trees are our well-known earthly varieties. All the animals and birds were pious creatures. When the holy warm light of the early sun began to light the Garden of Eden all living creatures stood before God's altar and sent up their silent prayers to their great creator. The beasts are gentle, friendly to each other and devoted to Adam and Eve. But the subtlest beast was the serpent. It is a pleasant gleaming creature.
After they ate the fruit they found themselves naked. They tried to cover their nakedness. Their covering seemed to expose them all the more. They had lost all their virtue. They plucked the leaves of the Indian fig-tree and covered their nakedness. The leaves of this particular Indian fig tree' are 'broad as Amazonian targe' sweeping shield like leaves. But our own trees have very small leaves. It is impious to apply our modern botany to an immortal epic.
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