154 BYRON’S

Cain. Most assuredly:

What should I be without her?

Lucifer. What am I ?

Cain . Dost thou lore nothing?

Lucifer. What does thy God love?

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

Lucifer. And, therefore, thou canst not .see if Ilove

Or no, except some vast'and general purpose,

To which particular things must melt like snows.Cain . Snows 1 what are they?

Lucifer. Be happier in not knowing

What thy remoter offspring must encounter;

But bask beneath the clime which knows nowinter l

Cain . But dost thou not love something like thy-self?

Lucifer. And dost thou love thyself tCam. Yes, but love more

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 loveWill cease, like any other appetite.

Cain . Cease to be beautiful I how can that be ?Lucifer. With time.

Gain. But time has pass’d, and hithertoEven Adam and my mother both are fair:

Not fair like Adah and the seraphim—

But very fair.

Lucifer. All that must pass awayIn them and her.

Cain . I’m sorry for it; but

Cannot conceive my love for her the less.

And when her beauty disappears, methinksHe who creates all beauty will lose moreThan 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 thyGod .

Cain . And so do I.

Lucifer. Tis well and meekly done.

Cain . Meekly!

Lucifer. He is the second horn of flesh,

And is his mother's favourite.

Cain . Let him keep

Her favour, since the serpent was the firstTo 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 barr’d Paradise—

He, too, looks smilingly on Abel .

Cain . I

Ne’er saw him, and I know not if He smiles.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 ofthis ?

Lucifer. Because thou hast thought of this erenow.

Cain . And if

WORKS.

I have thought, why recall aT thought that- (he

pauses, as agitated J—Spirit*

Here, wo are in thy world: speak not of mint.

Thou hast shown me wonders; thou hast shown

me those $

Mighty pre-Adamites who walk’d the earthOf which ours is the wreck; thou hast pointed outMyriads of starry worlds, of which our ownIs the dim and remote companion, inInfinity of life; thou hast shown me shadowsOf that existence, with the dreaded nameWhich my sire brought us—Death; thou hastshown 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;

All temporary breathing creatures theirPeculiar element; and things which haveLong 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. Per-chance

An unity of purpose might make unionIn elements which seem now jarr d in storms.

How came ye, being spirits, wise and infinite,

To separate ? Are ye not as brethren inYour essence, and your nature, and your glory ?Lucifer. Art thou not Abel ’s brother? , i

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 see3t

Yon blue immensity, is boundless? i

Lucifer. Ay.

Cain . And cannot ye both reign then?—is therenot

Enough ?—why should ye differ ?

Lucifer. We both ?eig

Cain . But one of you makes evil.

Lucifer. Which ?

Cain . Thou! f° r

If thou canst do man good, why dost thou not?

Lucifer. And why not He who made? I man© t vye not;

Ye are His creatures, and not mine.

Cain . Then leave u 9

His creatures, as thou say’st we are, or show meThy dwelling, or His dwelling. j

Lucifer. I could show thee

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

Cain . And why not now ? _ ^

Lucifer. Thy human mind hath scarcely graspgather

The little I have shown thee into calmAnd clear thought; and thou wouldBt go on asp 111 'mg