No More Learning

_Cain_. Yes--as being 230
The road to happiness!

_Lucifer_. If truth be so,
Thou hast it.

_Cain_. Then my father's God did well
When he prohibited the fatal Tree.

_Lucifer_. But had done better in not planting it.
But ignorance of evil doth not save
From evil; it must still roll on the same,
A part of all things.

_Cain_. Not of all things. No--
I'll not believe it--for I thirst for good.

_Lucifer_. And who and what doth not? _Who_ covets evil
For its own bitter sake? --_None_--nothing! 'tis 240
The leaven of all life, and lifelessness.

_Cain_. Within those glorious orbs which we behold,
Distant, and dazzling, and innumerable,
Ere we came down into this phantom realm,
Ill cannot come: they are too beautiful.

_Lucifer_. Thou hast seen them from afar.

_Cain_. And what of that?
Distance can but diminish glory--they,
When nearer, must be more ineffable.

_Lucifer_. Approach the things of earth most beautiful,
And judge their beauty near.

_Cain_. I have done this-- 250
The loveliest thing I know is loveliest nearest.

_Lucifer_. Then there must be delusion. --What is that
Which being nearest to thine eyes is still
More beautiful than beauteous things remote?

_Cain_. My sister Adah. --All the stars of heaven,
The deep blue noon of night, lit by an orb
Which looks a spirit, or a spirit's world--
The hues of twilight--the Sun's gorgeous coming--
His setting indescribable, which fills
My eyes with pleasant tears as I behold 260
Him sink, and feel my heart float softly with him
Along that western paradise of clouds--
The forest shade, the green bough, the bird's voice--
The vesper bird's, which seems to sing of love,
And mingles with the song of Cherubim,
As the day closes over Eden's walls;--
All these are nothing, to my eyes and heart,
Like Adah's face: I turn from earth and heaven
To gaze on it.

_Lucifer_. 'Tis fair as frail mortality,
In the first dawn and bloom of young creation, 270
And earliest embraces of earth's parents,
Can make its offspring; still it is delusion.

_Cain_. You think so, being not her brother.

_Lucifer_. Mortal!
My brotherhood's with those who have no children.

_Cain_. Then thou canst have no fellowship with us.

_Lucifer_. It may be that thine own shall be for me.
But if thou dost possess a beautiful
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? 280
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 asked
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 290
Lay foaming on the earth, beneath the vain
And piteous bleating of its restless dam;
My father plucked 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! [118]

_Lucifer_. What didst thou answer?

_Cain_. Nothing; for
He is my father: but I thought, that 'twere 300
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
Dispelled by antidotes.

_Lucifer_. But as thou saidst
Of all beloved things thou lovest her
Who shared thy mother's milk, and giveth hers
Unto thy children----

_Cain_. Most assuredly:
What should I be without her?

_Lucifer_. What am I?

_Cain_. Dost thou love nothing?

_Lucifer_. What does thy God love? 310

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

_Lucifer_. 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?

_Lucifer_. 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?

_Lucifer_. And dost thou love _thyself_?

_Cain_. Yes, but love more 320
What makes my feelings more endurable,
And is more than myself, because I love it!

_Lucifer_. 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. [119]

_Cain_. Cease to be beautiful! how can that be?

_Lucifer_. With time.

_Cain_. But time has passed, and hitherto
Even Adam and my mother both are fair:
Not fair like Adah and the Seraphim-- 330
But very fair.

_Lucifer_. All that must pass away
In them and her.

_Cain_. I'm sorry for it; but
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.

_Lucifer_. I pity thee who lovest what must perish.

_Cain_. And I thee who lov'st nothing.

_Lucifer_. And thy brother--
Sits he not near thy heart?

_Cain_. Why should he not?

_Lucifer_. Thy father loves him well--so does thy God. 340

_Cain_. 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!