To the most gross and petty paltry wants, Of thine enjoyments a sweet degradation, To lure thee on to the renewal of Fresh souls and bodies, all foredoom'd to be Know nought of death, save as a dreadful thing No less than life; a heritage not happy, He shut him forth from Paradise, with death I may be in the rest as angels are. Lucifer. I am angelic: wouldst thou be as I am? Cain. I know not what thou art: I see thy power, And see thou show'st me things beyond my power, Beyond all power of my born faculties, Although inferior still to my desires And my conceptions. Lucifer. What are they which dwell So humbly in their pride, as to sojourn Cain. And what art thou who dwellest So haughtily in spirit, and canst range Seem'st sorrowful? Lucifer. I seem that which I am; And therefore do I ask of thee, if thou Wouldst be immortal? Cain. Thou hast said, I must be 90 Immortal in despite of me. I knew not This until lately-but since it must be, To anticipate my immortality. Lucifer. Thou didst before I came upon thee. Lucifer. By suffering. Cain. How? And must torture be immortal? Lucifer. We and thy sons will try. But now, behold! Is it not glorious? And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased And still increasing lights! what are ye? what Is this blue wilderness of interminable Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden? O God! O Gods! or whatsoe'er ye are ! And knowledge! My thoughts are not in this hour Spirit! let me expire, or see them nearer. 100 ΣΤΟ Lucifer. Art thou not nearer? Look back to thine earth! Cain. Where is it? I see nothing save a mass Of most innumerable lights. 120 And wilt thou tell me so? Cain. That!-yonder! Lucifer. Cain. Why, I have seen the fire-flies and fire-worms Lucifer. Thou hast seen both worms and worlds, And the immortal star in its great course, Must both be guided. 130 Wouldst thou behold things mortal or immortal? Cain. Why, what are things? Lucifer. What, if I show to thee things which have died, As I have shown thee much which cannot die? Cain. Do so. Lucifer. Away, then, on our mighty wings. Cain. Oh, how we cleave the blue! The stars fade from us! . The earth! where is my earth ? Let me look on it, For I was made of it. Lucifer. 'Tis now beyond thee, Less, in the universe, than thou in it; Yet deem not that thou canst escape it: thou Shalt soon return to earth and all its dust : 'Tis part of thy eternity, and mine. Cain. Where dost thou lead me? 150 To what was before thee The phantasm of the world; of which thy world Cain. What is it not then new? Lucifer. No more than life is; and that was ere thou Or I were, or the things which seem to us Greater than either: many things will have No end; and some, which would pretend to have Cain. 160 But the lights fade from me fast, And some till now grew larger as we approach'd, Lucifer. 170 And such they are. Lucifer. Wouldst thou have men without them? must Are beings past, and shadows still to come. Cain. But it grows dark, and dark-the stars are gone! Lucifer. And yet thou seest. 'Tis a fearful light! 180 Cain. Huge dusky masses: but unlike the worlds With luminous belts, and floating moons, which took, But distinct. Lucifer. Cain. I seek it not: but as I know there are To such, I would behold at once, what I Must one day see perforce. 190 Lucifer. Cain. Behold. 'Tis darkness. |