_Lucifer_. And this should be the human sum Of knowledge, to know mortal nature"s nothingness; Bequeath that science to thy children, and "Twill spare them many tortures.
_Cain_. Haughty spirit!
Thou speak"st it proudly; but thyself, though proud, Hast a superior.
_Lucifer_. No! By heaven, which he Holds, and the abyss, and the immensity Of worlds and life, which I hold with him--No!
I have a Victor--true; but no superior.[123]
Homage he has from all--but none from me: 430 I battle it against him, as I battled In highest Heaven--through all Eternity, And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades, And the interminable realms of s.p.a.ce, And the infinity of endless ages, All, all, will I dispute! And world by world, And star by star, and universe by universe, Shall tremble in the balance, till the great Conflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease, Which it ne"er shall, till he or I be quenched! 440 And what can quench our immortality, Or mutual and irrevocable hate?
He as a conqueror will call the conquered _Evil_; but what will be the _Good_ he gives?
Were I the victor, _his_ works would be deemed The only evil ones. And you, ye new And scarce-born mortals, what have been his gifts To you already, in your little world?
_Cain_. But few; and some of those but bitter.
_Lucifer_. Back With me, then, to thine earth, and try the rest 450 Of his celestial boons to you and yours.
Evil and Good are things in their own essence, And not made good or evil by the Giver; But if he gives you good--so call him; if Evil springs from _him_, do not name it _mine_, Till ye know better its true fount; and judge Not by words, though of Spirits, but the fruits Of your existence, such as it must be.
_One good_ gift has the fatal apple given,-- Your _reason_:--let it not be overswayed 460 By tyrannous threats to force you into faith "Gainst all external sense and inward feeling: Think and endure,--and form an inner world In your own bosom--where the outward fails; So shall you nearer be the spiritual Nature, and war triumphant with your own.
[_They disappear_.
ACT III.
SCENE I.--_The Earth, near Eden, as in Act I_.
_Enter_ CAIN _and_ ADAH.
_Adah_. Hush! tread softly, Cain!
_Cain_. I will--but wherefore?
_Adah_. Our little Enoch sleeps upon yon bed Of leaves, beneath the cypress.
_Cain_. Cypress! "tis A gloomy tree, which looks as if it mourned O"er what it shadows; wherefore didst thou choose it For our child"s canopy?
_Adah_. Because its branches Shut out the sun like night, and therefore seemed Fitting to shadow slumber.
_Cain_. Aye, the last-- And longest; but no matter--lead me to him.
[_They go up to the child_.
How lovely he appears! his little cheeks, 10 In their pure incarnation,[124] vying with The rose leaves strewn beneath them.
_Adah_. And his lips, too, How beautifully parted! No; you shall not Kiss him, at least not now: he will awake soon-- His hour of mid-day rest is nearly over; But it were pity to disturb him till "Tis closed.
_Cain_. You have said well; I will contain My heart till then. He smiles, and sleeps!--sleep on, And smile, thou little, young inheritor Of a world scarce less young: sleep on, and smile! 20 Thine are the hours and days when both are cheering And innocent! _thou_ hast not plucked the fruit-- Thou know"st not thou art naked! Must the time Come thou shalt be amerced for sins unknown, Which were not thine nor mine? But now sleep on!
His cheeks are reddening into deeper smiles, And shining lids are trembling o"er his long Lashes,[125] dark as the cypress which waves o"er them; Half open, from beneath them the clear blue Laughs out, although in slumber. He must dream-- 30 Of what? Of Paradise!--Aye! dream of it, My disinherited boy! "Tis but a dream; For never more thyself, thy sons, nor fathers, Shall walk in that forbidden place of joy!
_Adah_. Dear Cain! Nay, do not whisper o"er our son Such melancholy yearnings o"er the past: Why wilt thou always mourn for Paradise?
Can we not make another?
_Cain_. Where?
_Adah_. Here, or Where"er thou wilt: where"er thou art, I feel not The want of this so much regretted Eden. 40 Have I not thee--our boy--our sire, and brother, And Zillah--our sweet sister, and our Eve, To whom we owe so much besides our birth?
_Cain_. Yes--Death, too, is amongst the debts we owe her.
_Adah_. Cain! that proud Spirit, who withdrew thee hence, Hath saddened thine still deeper. I had hoped The promised wonders which thou hast beheld, Visions, thou say"st, of past and present worlds, Would have composed thy mind into the calm Of a contented knowledge; but I see 50 Thy guide hath done thee evil: still I thank him, And can forgive him all, that he so soon Hath given thee back to us.
_Cain_. So soon?
_Adah_. "Tis scarcely Two hours since ye departed: two _long_ hours To _me_, but only _hours_ upon the sun.
_Cain_. And yet I have approached that sun, and seen Worlds which he once shone on, and never more Shall light; and worlds he never lit: methought Years had rolled o"er my absence.
_Adah_. Hardly hours.
_Cain_. The mind then hath capacity of time, 60 And measures it by that which it beholds, Pleasing or painful[126]; little or almighty.
I had beheld the immemorial works Of endless beings; skirred extinguished worlds; And, gazing on eternity, methought I had borrowed more by a few drops of ages From its immensity: but now I feel My littleness again. Well said the Spirit, That I was nothing!
_Adah_. Wherefore said he so?
Jehovah said not that.
_Cain_. No: _he_ contents him 70 With making us the _nothing_ which we are; And after flattering dust with glimpses of Eden and Immortality, resolves It back to dust again--for what?
_Adah_. Thou know"st-- Even for our parents" error.
_Cain_. What is that To us? they sinned, then _let them_ die!
_Adah_. Thou hast not spoken well, nor is that thought Thy own, but of the Spirit who was with thee.
Would _I_ could die for them, so _they_ might live!
_Cain_. Why, so say I--provided that one victim 80 Might satiate the Insatiable of life, And that our little rosy sleeper there Might never taste of death nor human sorrow, Nor hand it down to those who spring from him.
_Adah_. How know we that some such atonement one day May not redeem our race?
_Cain_. By sacrificing The harmless for the guilty? what atonement[127]
Were there? why, _we_ are innocent: what have we Done, that we must be victims for a deed Before our birth, or need have victims to 90 Atone for this mysterious, nameless sin-- If it be such a sin to seek for knowledge?
_Adah_. Alas! thou sinnest now, my Cain: thy words Sound impious in mine ears.
_Cain_. Then leave me!
_Adah_. Never, Though thy G.o.d left thee.
_Cain_. Say, what have we here?
_Adah_. Two altars, which our brother Abel made During thine absence, whereupon to offer A sacrifice to G.o.d on thy return.
_Cain_. And how knew _he_, that _I_ would be so ready With the burnt offerings, which he daily brings 100 With a meek brow, whose base humility Shows more of fear than worship--as a bribe To the Creator?