The angels and the mortals to make happy,
And thus becomes so in diffusing joy:
What else can joy be but the spreading joy?

Lucifer. Ask of your sire, the exile fresh from Eden; Or of his first-born son; ask your own heart; It is not tranquil.

Alas! no! and you

If I am not, inquire

The cause of this all-spreading happiness
(Which you proclaim) of the all-great and good
Maker of life and living things; it is

His secret, and he keeps it. We must bear,
And some of us resist, and both in vain,
His seraphs say: but it is worth the trial,
Since better may not be without: there is
A wisdom in the spirit, which directs
To right, as in the dim blue air the eye
Of you, young mortals, lights at once upon
The star which watches, welcoming the morn.
Adah. It is a beautiful star; I love it for

Of the Invisible are the loveliest

Of what is visible; and yon bright star
Is leader of the host of heaven.

Adah.

Our father

Saith that he has beheld the God himself
Who made him and our mother.

Save in my father, who is God's own image;
Or in his angels, who are like to thee-
And brighter, yet less beautiful and powerful
In seeming: as the silent sunny noon,

All light they look upon us; but thou seem'st
Like an ethereal night, where long white clouds
Streak the deep purple, and unnumber'd stars
Spangle the wonderful mysterious vault
With things that look as if they would be suns;
So beautiful, unnumber'd, and endearing,
Not dazzling, and yet drawing us to them,
They fill my eyes with tears, and so dost thou.
Thou seem'st unhappy: do not make us so,
And I will weep for thee.

Lucifer.

The million millions

The myriad myriads-the all-peopled earth

The unpeopled earth-and the o'er-peopled Hell,

Of which thy bosom is the germ.

Lucifer.

To a place

Whence he shall come back to thee in an hour;
But in that hour see things of many days.

Adah. How can that be?

Lucifer.

Did not your Maker make
Out of old worlds this new one in few days?
And cannot I, who aided in this work,

Show in an hour what he hath made in many,
Or hath destroy'd in few?

Cain.

Adah.

Lead on.

Will he

He shall.

In sooth return within an hour?

Lucifer.

With us acts are exempt from time, and we
Can crowd eternity into an hour,

Or stretch an hour into eternity:

We breathe not by a mortal measurement-
But that's a mystery. Cain, come on with me.
Adah. Will he return?

Lucifer.

Ay, woman! he alone

Of mortals from that place (the first and last

Who shall return, save ONE)—shall come back to thee To make that silent and expectant world

As populous as this: at present there

Are few inhabitants.

Adah.

Where dwellest thou?

Lucifer. Throughout all space. Where should I
dwell? Where are

Thy God or Gods-there am I: all things are
Divided with me; life and death-and time-
Eternity-and heaven and earth-and that

Which is not heaven nor earth, but peopled with
Those who once peopled or shall people both—
These are my realms! So that I do divide
His, and possess a kingdom which is not
His. If I were not that which I have said,
Could I stand here? His angels are within
Your vision.

Adah.

So they were when the fair serpent
Spoke with our mother first.
Lucifer.

Cain! thou hast heard.

If thou dost long for knowledge, I can satiate
That thirst; nor ask thee to partake of fruits
Which shall deprive thee of a single good
The conqueror has left thee.

Cain. Spirit, I have said it.

Follow me.

[Exeunt LUCIFER and CAIN.

Adah (follows, exclaiming) Cain! my brother! Cain!

ACT II. SCENE I.

The Abyss of Space.

Cain. I tread on air, and sink not; yet I fear To sink.

Lucifer. Have faith in me, and thou shalt be Borne on the air, of which I am the prince. Cain. Can I do so without impiety?

Lucifer. Believe-and sink not! doubt-and perish! thus

Would run the edict of the other God,

Who names me demon to his angels; they

Echo the sound to miserable things,

Which, knowing nought beyond their shallow senses,
Worship the word which strikes their ear, and deem
Evil or good what is proclaim'd to them

In their abasement. I will have none such:
Worship or worship not, thou shalt behold
The worlds beyond thy little world, nor be
Amerced, for doubts beyond thy little life,
With torture of my dooming. There will come
An hour, when, toss'd upon some water-drops,
A man shall say to a man, "Believe in me,
And walk the waters;" and the man shall walk
The billows and be safe. I will not say,
Believe in me, as a conditional creed
To save thee; but fly with me o'er the gulf
Of space an equal flight, and I will show