Night has brought some comfort, and Adam exclaims that, since the penalty of death is to be postponed, they must show their penitence by laboring hard, working henceforth side by side as contentedly as their fallen state will allow.  On the way to the scene of their wonted labors they notice an eagle pursuing another bird and see wild beasts hunting one another.  Besides these ominous signs Adam, descrying a bright light travelling rapidly toward them, informs Eve some message is on its way.  He is not mistaken, for Michael soon emerges from this cloud of light so, while Eve hurries off to prepare for his entertainment Adam steps forward to receive him.

Clad in celestial panoply, the angel announces he has been sent to inform Adam that although the penalty of death is indefinitely postponed, he is no longer to inhabit Paradise, but is to go forth into the world and till the ground from whence he sprang.  Horror-stricken at these tidings, Adam remains mute, and Eve, hearing the decree from a distance, wails aloud at the thought of leaving home.  To comfort her, the angel bids her dry her tears and follow her husband, making her home wherever he abides.  Then Adam wonders whether by incessant prayer and penitence the Almighty could be induced to alter his decree and let them remain in Paradise, saying he hoped to point out to his descendants the places where he met and conversed with his Maker.  But Michael rejoining he will find God everywhere invites Adam to follow him to the top of a neighboring hill, 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