No More Learning

And so do I.

_Lucifer_. 'Tis well and meekly done.

_Cain_. Meekly!

_Lucifer_. He is the second born of flesh,
And is his mother's favourite.

_Cain_. Let him keep
Her favour, since the Serpent was the first
To win it.

_Lucifer_. And his father's?

_Cain_. What is that
To me? should I not love that which all love?

_Lucifer_. And the Jehovah--the indulgent Lord,
And bounteous planter of barred Paradise--
He, too, looks smilingly on Abel.

_Cain_. I
Ne'er saw him, and I know not if he smiles. 350

_Lucifer_. But you have seen his angels.

_Cain_. Rarely.

_Lucifer_. But
Sufficiently to see they love your brother:
_His_ sacrifices are acceptable.

_Cain_. So be they! wherefore speak to me of this?

_Lucifer_. 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 walked the earth
Of which ours is the wreck: thou hast pointed out 360
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;[cj] thou hast shown me much
But not all: show me where Jehovah dwells,
In his especial Paradise--or _thine_:
Where is it?

_Lucifer_. _Here_, and o'er all space.

_Cain_. But ye
Have some allotted dwelling--as all things;
Clay has its earth, and other worlds their tenants; 370
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?

_Lucifer_. 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 jarred in storms.
How came ye, being Spirits wise and infinite, 380
To separate? Are ye not as brethren in
Your essence--and your nature, and your glory?

_Lucifer_. Art not thou 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?

_Lucifer_. To reign.

_Cain_. Did ye not tell me that
Ye are both eternal?

_Lucifer_. Yea!


_Cain_. And what I have seen--
Yon blue immensity, is boundless?

_Lucifer_. Aye. 390
_Cain_. And cannot ye both _reign_, then? --is there not
Enough? --why should ye differ?

_Lucifer_. We _both_ reign.

_Cain_. But one of you makes evil.

_Lucifer_. Which?

_Cain_. Thou! for
If thou canst do man good, why dost thou not?

_Lucifer_. And why not he who made? _I_ made ye not;
Ye are _his_ creatures, and not mine.

_Cain_. Then leave us
_His_ creatures, as thou say'st we are, or show me
Thy dwelling, or _his_ dwelling.

_Lucifer_. I could show thee
Both; but the time will come thou shalt see one
Of them for evermore. [120]

_Cain_. And why not now? 400

_Lucifer_. 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_! [121]
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!

_Lucifer_. There
The son of her who snatched the apple spake!
But thou wouldst only perish, and not see them; 410
That sight is for the other state.

_Cain_. Of Death?

_Lucifer_. That is the prelude.

_Cain_. Then I dread it less,
Now that I know it leads to something definite.

_Lucifer_. And now I will convey thee to thy world,
Where thou shall 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?

_Lucifer_. Didst thou not require
Knowledge? And have I not, in what I showed,
Taught thee to know thyself?

_Cain_. Alas! I seem 420
Nothing. [122]

_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 space,
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 God 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 God 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?

_Adah_. Surely, 'tis well done.

_Cain_. One altar may suffice; _I_ have no offering.

_Adah_. The fruits of the earth,[128] the early, beautiful,
Blossom and bud--and bloom of flowers and fruits--
These are a goodly offering to the Lord,
Given with a gentle and a contrite spirit.

_Cain_. I have toiled, and tilled, and sweaten in the sun,
According to the curse:--must I do more? 110
For what should I be gentle? for a war
With all the elements ere they will yield
The bread we eat? For what must I be grateful?
For being dust, and grovelling in the dust,
Till I return to dust? If I am nothing--
For nothing shall I be an hypocrite,
And seem well-pleased with pain? For what should I
Be contrite? for my father's sin, already
Expiate with what we all have undergone,
And to be more than expiated by 120
The ages prophesied, upon our seed.
Little deems our young blooming sleeper, there,
The germs of an eternal misery
To myriads is within him! better 'twere
I snatched him in his sleep, and dashed him 'gainst
The rocks, than let him live to----

_Adah_. Oh, my God!
Touch not the child--my child! _thy_ child! Oh, Cain!

_Cain_. Fear not! for all the stars, and all the power
Which sways them, I would not accost yon infant
With ruder greeting than a father's kiss. 130

_Adah_. Then, why so awful in thy speech?

_Cain_. I said,
'Twere better that he ceased to live, than give
Life to so much of sorrow as he must
Endure, and, harder still, bequeath; but since
That saying jars you, let us only say--
'Twere better that he never had been born.

_Adah_. Oh, do not say so! Where were then the joys,
The mother's joys of watching, nourishing,
And loving him? Soft! he awakes. Sweet Enoch!
[_She goes to the child_.
Oh, Cain! look on him; see how full of life, 140
Of strength, of bloom, of beauty, and of joy--
How like to me--how like to thee, when gentle--
For _then_ we are _all_ alike; is't not so, Cain?
Mother, and sire, and son, our features are
Reflected in each other; as they are
In the clear waters, when _they_ are _gentle_, and
When _thou_ art _gentle_. Love us, then, my Cain!
And love thyself for our sakes, for we love thee.
Look! how he laughs and stretches out his arms,
And opens wide his blue eyes upon thine, 150
To hail his father; while his little form
Flutters as winged with joy. Talk not of pain!
The childless cherubs well might envy thee
The pleasures of a parent! Bless him, Cain!
As yet he hath no words to thank thee, but
His heart will, and thine own too.

_Cain_. Bless thee, boy!
If that a mortal blessing may avail thee,
To save thee from the Serpent's curse!

_Adah_. It shall.
Surely a father's blessing may avert
A reptile's subtlety.

_Cain_. Of that I doubt; 160
But bless him ne'er the less.

_Adah_. Our brother comes.

_Cain_. Thy brother Abel.

_Enter_ ABEL.

_Abel_. Welcome, Cain! My brother,
The peace of God be on thee!

_Cain_. Abel, hail!

_Abel_. Our sister tells me that thou hast been wandering,
In high communion with a Spirit, far
Beyond our wonted range. Was he of those
We have seen and spoken with, like to our father?

_Cain_. No.

_Abel_. Why then commune with him? he may be
A foe to the Most High.

_Cain_. And friend to man.
Has the Most High been so--if so you term him? 170

_Abel_. _Term him! _ your words are strange to-day, my brother.
My sister Adah, leave us for awhile--
We mean to sacrifice[129].

_Adah_. Farewell, my Cain;
But first embrace thy son. May his soft spirit,
And Abel's pious ministry, recall thee
To peace and holiness! [_Exit_ ADAH, _with her child_.

_Abel_. Where hast thou been?

_Cain_. I know not.

_Abel_. Nor what thou hast seen?

_Cain_. The dead--
The Immortal--the Unbounded--the Omnipotent--
The overpowering mysteries of space--
The innumerable worlds that were and are-- 180
A whirlwind of such overwhelming things,
Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced spheres
Singing in thunder round me, as have made me
Unfit for mortal converse: leave me, Abel.

_Abel_. Thine eyes are flashing with unnatural light--
Thy cheek is flushed with an unnatural hue--
Thy words are fraught with an unnatural sound--
What may this mean?

_Cain_. It means--I pray thee, leave me.

_Abel_. Not till we have prayed and sacrificed together.

_Cain_. Abel, I pray thee, sacrifice alone-- 190
Jehovah loves thee well.

_Abel_. _Both_ well, I hope.

_Cain_. But thee the better: I care not for that;
Thou art fitter for his worship than I am;
Revere him, then--but let it be alone--
At least, without me.

_Abel_. Brother, I should ill
Deserve the name of our great father's son,
If, as my elder, I revered thee not,
And in the worship of our God, called not
On thee to join me, and precede me in
Our priesthood--'tis thy place.

_Cain_. But I have ne'er 200
Asserted it.

_Abel_. The more my grief; I pray thee
To do so now: thy soul seems labouring in
Some strong delusion; it will calm thee.

_Cain_. No;
Nothing can calm me more. _Calm! _ say I? Never
Knew I what calm was in the soul, although
I have seen the elements stilled. My Abel, leave me!
Or let me leave thee to thy pious purpose.

_Abel_. Neither; we must perform our task together.
Spurn me not.

_Cain_. If it must be so----well, then,
What shall I do?

_Abel_. Choose one of those two altars. 210

_Cain_. Choose for me: they to me are so much turf
And stone.

_Abel_. Choose thou!

_Cain_. I have chosen.

_Abel_. 'Tis the highest,
And suits thee, as the elder. Now prepare
Thine offerings.

_Cain_. Where are thine?

_Abel_. Behold them here--
The firstlings of the flock, and fat thereof--
A shepherd's humble offering.

_Cain_. I have no flocks;
I am a tiller of the ground, and must
Yield what it yieldeth to my toil--its fruit:
[_He gathers fruits_.
Behold them in their various bloom and ripeness.
[_They dress their altars, and kindle aflame upon them_[130].

_Abel_. My brother, as the elder, offer first 220
Thy prayer and thanksgiving with sacrifice.

_Cain_. No--I am new to this; lead thou the way,
And I will follow--as I may.

_Abel_ (_kneeling_). Oh, God!
Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life
Within our nostrils, who hath blessed us,
And spared, despite our father's sin, to make
His children all lost, as they might have been,
Had not thy justice been so tempered with
The mercy which is thy delight, as to
Accord a pardon like a Paradise, 230
Compared with our great crimes:--Sole Lord of light!
Of good, and glory, and eternity!
Without whom all were evil, and with whom
Nothing can err, except to some good end
Of thine omnipotent benevolence!
Inscrutable, but still to be fulfilled!
Accept from out thy humble first of shepherds'
First of the first-born flocks--an offering,
In itself nothing--as what offering can be
Aught unto thee? --but yet accept it for 240
The thanksgiving of him who spreads it in
The face of thy high heaven--bowing his own
Even to the dust, of which he is--in honour
Of thee, and of thy name, for evermore!

_Cain_ (_standing erect during this speech_).
Spirit whate'er or whosoe'er thou art,
Omnipotent, it may be--and, if good,
Shown in the exemption of thy deeds from evil;
Jehovah upon earth! and God in heaven!
And it may be with other names, because
Thine attributes seem many, as thy works:-- 250
If thou must be propitiated with prayers,
Take them! If thou must be induced with altars,
And softened with a sacrifice, receive them;
Two beings here erect them unto thee.
If thou lov'st blood, the shepherd's shrine, which smokes
On my right hand, hath shed it for thy service
In the first of his flock, whose limbs now reek
In sanguinary incense to thy skies;
Or, if the sweet and blooming fruits of earth,
And milder seasons, which the unstained turf 260
I spread them on now offers in the face
Of the broad sun which ripened them, may seem
Good to thee--inasmuch as they have not
Suffered in limb or life--and rather form
A sample of thy works, than supplication
To look on ours! If a shrine without victim,
And altar without gore, may win thy favour,
Look on it! and for him who dresseth it,
He is--such as thou mad'st him; and seeks nothing
Which must be won by kneeling: if he's evil[ck], 270
Strike him! thou art omnipotent, and may'st--
For what can he oppose? If he be good,
Strike him, or spare him, as thou wilt! since all
Rests upon thee; and Good and Evil seem
To have no power themselves, save in thy will--
And whether that be good or ill I know not,
Not being omnipotent, nor fit to judge
Omnipotence--but merely to endure
Its mandate; which thus far I have endured.

[_The fire upon the altar of_ ABEL _kindles into a column
of the brightest flame, and ascends to heaven;
while a whirlwind throws down the altar of_
CAIN, _and scatters the fruits abroad
upon the earths_[131]

_Abel_ (_kneeling_).
Oh, brother, pray! Jehovah's wroth with thee. 280

_Cain_. Why so?

_Abel_. Thy fruits are scattered on the earth.

_Cain_.