explaining he has enveloped Eve in slumbers, which will hold her
entranced while he reveals to Adam the earth's kingdoms and their
glory.

"Know I am sent
To show thee what shall come in future days
To thee and to thy offspring; good with bad
Expect to hear, supernal grace contending
With sinfulness of men; thereby to learn
True patience, and to temper joy with fear,
And pious sorrow, equally inured
By moderation either state to bear,
Prosperous or adverse: so shalt thou lead
Safest thy life, and best prepared endure
Thy mortal passage when it comes. Ascend
This hill; let Eve (for I have drenched her eyes)
Here sleep below, while thou to foresight wakest.
As once thou slept'st, while she to life was formed."

From a hill in Paradise,--after purging Adam's eyes with three drops
of water from the well of life,--Michael vouchsafes him a glimpse of
all that is to take place upon our earth. Thus, Cain and Abel first
pass before their father's eyes, but death is so unintelligible to
Adam that the angel has to explain what it means. Overwhelmed at the
thought that so awful a thing has come into the world through his
transgression, Adam is further horrified when the angel reveals all
the suffering which will visit mankind, explaining that, since much of
it will be due to evil living, it behooves Adam to observe temperance
in food and drink. But he warns him that, in spite of all precautions,
old age will come upon him as a precursor of death. In a panorama Adam