Being beyond all beauty in thine eyes,
Why art thou wretched?
Cain.
Why do I exist?
Why art thou wretched? why are all things so?
Ev'n he who made us must be, as the maker
Of things unhappy! To produce destruction
Can surely never be the task of joy,
And yet my sire says he's omnipotent:
Then why is evil-he being good? I ask'd
This question of my father; and he said,
Because this evil only was the path

To good. Strange good, that must arise from out
Its deadly opposite. I lately saw

A lamb stung by a reptile: the poor suckling
Lay foaming on the earth, beneath the vain
And piteous bleating of its restless dam;

My father pluck'd some herbs, and laid them to
The wound; and by degrees the helpless wretch
Resumed its careless life, and rose to drain
The mother's milk, who o'er it tremulous
Stood licking its reviving limbs with joy.
Behold, my son! said Adam, how from evil
Springs good!

Luc.

Cain.

What didst thou answer?

Nothing; for

He is my father: but I thought, that 'twere

A better portion for the animal

Never to have been stung at all, than to
Purchase renewal of its little life

With agonies unutterable, though

Dispell'd by antidotes.

Luc.

But as thou saidst

Of all beloved things thou lovest her

Who shared thy mother's milk, and giveth hers

Unto thy children

Cain.

What should I be without her?

Luc.

Most assuredly:

What am I?

What does thy God love?

Cain. Dost thou love nothing?
Luc.

Cain. All things, my father says; but I confess I see it not in their allotment here.

Luc. And, therefore, thou canst not see if I love Or no, except some vast and general purpose, To which particular things must melt like snows. Cain. Snows! what are they?

Luc.

Be happier in not knowing What thy remoter offspring must encounter; But bask beneath the clime which knows no winter! Cain. But dost thou not love something like thyself? Luc. And dost thou love thyself?

Cain. Yes, but love more What makes my feelings more endurable, And is more than myself, because I love it. Luc. Thou lovest it, because 'tis beautiful, As was the apple in thy mother's eye; And when it ceases to be so, thy love

Will cease, like any other appetite.

Cain. Cease to be beautiful! how can that be?
Luc. With time.

Cain.

But time has past, and hitherto

Even Adam and my mother both are fair:
Not fair like Adah and the seraphim-

But very fair.
Luc.

All that must pass away

In them and her.

I'm sorry for it; but

Cain.
Cannot conceive my love for her the less.
And when her beauty disappears, methinks
He who creates all beauty will lose more
Than me in seeing perish such a work.

Luc. I pity thee who lovest what must perish.
Cain. And I thee who lov'st nothing.
Luc.

Sits he not near thy heart?

Cain.

And thy brother

Why should he not?

Luc. Thy father loves him well-so does thy God.

Cain. And so do I.

Luc.

Cain. Meekly!

'Tis well and meekly done.

Luc.

He is the second born of flesh,

And is his mother's favourite.
Cain.
Let him keep
fler favour, since the serpent was the first
To win it.

Luc.

Cain.

And his father's?

What is that

To me should I not love that which all love?
Luc. And the Jehovah-the indulgent Lord,
And bounteous planter of barr'd Paradise-
He, too, looks smilingly on Abel.

I

Cain.
Ne'er saw him, and I know not if he smiles.
Luc. But you have seen his angels.

Cain.
Luc.

Rarely.

Sufficiently to see they love your brother:
His sacrifices are acceptable.

But

Cain. So be they! wherefore speak to me of this? Luc. Because thou hast thought of this ere now.

Cain. And if I have thought, why recall a thought that-- (he pauses, as agitated)-Spirit!

Here we are in thy world; speak not of mine. Thou hast shown me wonders; thou hast shown me those

Mighty Pre-Adamites who walk'd the earth

Of which ours is the wreck; thou hast pointed out
Myriads of starry worlds, of which our own
Is the dim and remote companion, in

Infinity of life: thou hast shown me shadows
Of that existence with the dreaded name

Which my sire brought us-Death; thou hast shown me much

But not all show me where Jehovah dwells,
In his especial Paradise-or thine:

Where is it?

Luc.

Carn.

Here, and o'er all space.

But ye

Have some allotted dwelling-as all things;
Clay has its earth, and cther worlds their tenants;

All temporary breathing creatures their
Peculiar element; and things which have

Long ceased to breathe our breath, have theirs, thou say'st;

And the Jehovah and thyself have thine-
Ye do not dwell together?

Luc.

No, we reign Together; but our dwellings are asunder.

Cain. Would there were only one of ye! perchance An unity of purpose might make union

In elements which seem now jarr'd in storms.
How came ye, being spirits, wise and infinite,
To separate? Are ye not as brethren in

Your essence, and your nature, and your glory?
Luc. Art thou not Abel's brother?

Cain.

We are brethren,

And so we shall remain; but were it not so,
Is spirit like to flesh? can it fall out?

Infinity with Immortality?

Jarring and turning space to misery-
For what?

Luc. To reign.

Cain.

Luc.

Did ye not tell me that

Yea!

And what I have seen,

Ay.

Yon blue immensity, is boundless?

Cain. And cannot ye both reign then ?-is there not Enough?-why should ye differ?

Luc.

We both reign.

Cain. But one of you makes evil.

Luc.

Which?

Cain. Thou! for If thou canst do man good, why dost thou not? Luc. And why not he who made? I made ye not; Ye are his creatures, and not mine.

Then leave us

Cain.
His creatures, as thou say'st we are, or show me
Thy dwelling, or his dwelling.

Luc.

I could show thee

Both; but the time will come thou shalt see one
Of them for evermore.

Cain.

And why not now? Luc. Thy human mind hath scarcely grasp to gather

The little I have shown thee into calm

And clear thought; and thou wouldst go on aspiring
To the great double Mysteries! the two Principles !
And gaze upon them on their secret thrones!
Dust! limit thy ambition; for to see
Either of these, would be for thee to perish!
Cain. And let me perish, so I see them!
Luc.
There
The son of her who snatch'd the apple spake!
But thou wouldst only perish, and not see them;
That sight is for the other state.

Cain.

Of death?

Luc. That is the prelude. Cain. Then I dread it less, Now that I know it leads to something definite. Luc. And now I will convey thee to thy world, Where thou shalt multiply the race of Adam, Eat, drink, toil, tremble, laugh, weep, sleep, and die. Cain. And to what end have I beheld these things Which thou hast shown me ?

Luc. Didst thou not require Knowledge? And have I not, in what I show'd," Taught thee to know thyself?

Cain. Nothing.

Alas! I seem

Luc. 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.

Luc.
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.