Following Paul

After situating mankind vis a vis the other living creatures, Paradise Lost turns to the relation of the sexes in IV.300 ff:

Not equal, as thir sex not equal seemd;

For contemplation hee and valour formd,

For softness shee and sweet attractive Grace,

Hee for God only, shee for God in him

:His fair large Front and Eye sublime declar'd [ 300 ]

Absolute rule; and Hyacinthin Locks

Round from his parted forelock manly hung

Clustring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:

Shee as a vail down to the slender waste

Her unadorned golden tresses wore [ 305 ]

Disheveld, but in wanton ringlets wav'd

As the Vine curles her tendrils, which impli'd

Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway,

And by her yielded, by him best receivd,

Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, [ 310 ]

And sweet reluctant amorous delay.

Nor those mysterious parts were then conceald,

Then was not guiltie shame, dishonest shame

Of natures works, honor dishonorable,

Sin-bred, how have ye troubl'd all mankind [ 315 ]

With shews instead, meer shews of seeming pure,

And banisht from mans life his happiest life,

Simplicitie and spotless innocence.

So passd they naked on, nor shund the sight

Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill: [ 320 ]

So hand in hand they passd, the lovliest pair

That ever since in loves imbraces met,

Adam the goodliest man of men since borne

His Sons, the fairest of her Daughters Eve.

As noted, Milton is largely following Paul, who begins the chapter from Paul's I Corinthians Ch. 11 by talking about following. Here it is in the KJV:

1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. 

 ³ But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

 ⁴Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

 ⁵But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

 ⁶For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

 ⁷For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

 ⁸For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.

 ⁹Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

 ¹⁰For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

 ¹¹Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

 ¹²For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

 ¹³Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

 ¹⁴Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

 ¹⁵But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.