Hades
Lucifer and Cain
Cain. How silent and how vast are these dim worlds!
For they seem more than one, and yet more peopled
Than the huge brilliant luminous orbs which swung
So thickly in the upper air, that I
Had deemed them rather the bright populace
Of some all unimaginable Heaven
Than things to be inhabited themselves
But that on drawing near them I beheld
Their swelling into palpable immensity
Of matter, which seemed made for life to dwell on
Rather than life itself. But here, all is
So shadowy, and so full of twilight, that
It speaks of a day past
Lucifer.It is the realm
Of Death.—Wouldst have it present?
Cain.Till I know
That which it really is, I cannot answer
But if it be as I have heard my father
Deal out in his long homilies, 'tis a thing—
Oh God! I dare not think on't! Curséd be
He who invented Life that leads to Death!
Or the dull mass of life, that, being life
Could not retain, but needs must forfeit it—
Even for the innocent!
Lucifer.Dost thou curse thy father?
Cain. Cursed he not me in giving me my birth?
Cursed he not me before my birth, in daring
To pluck the fruit forbidden?
Lucifer.Thou say'st well
The curse is mutual 'twixt thy sire and thee—
But for thy sons and brother?
Cain.Let them share it
With me, their sire and brother! What else is
Bequeathed to me? I leave them my inheritance!
Oh, ye interminable gloomy realms
Of swimming shadows and enormous shapes
Some fully shown, some indistinct, and all
Mighty and melancholy—what are ye?
Live ye, or have ye lived?
Lucifer.Somewhat of both
Cain. Then what is Death?
Lucifer.What? Hath not he who made ye
Said 'tis another life?
Cain.Till now he hath
Said nothing, save that all shall die
Lucifer.Perhaps
He one day will unfold that further secret
Cain. Happy the day!
Lucifer.Yes; happy! when unfolded
Through agonies unspeakable, and clogged
With agonies eternal, to innumerable
Yet unborn myriads of unconscious atoms
All to be animated for this only!
Cain. What are these mighty phantoms which I see
Floating around me?—They wear not the form
Of the Intelligences I have seen
Round our regretted and unentered Eden
Nor wear the form of man as I have viewed it
In Adam's and in Abel's, and in mine
Nor in my sister-bride's, nor in my children's
And yet they have an aspect, which, though not
Of men nor angels, looks like something, which
If not the last, rose higher than the first
Haughty, and high, and beautiful, and full
Of seeming strength, but of inexplicable
Shape; for I never saw such. They bear not
The wing of Seraph, nor the face of man
Nor form of mightiest brute, nor aught that is
Now breathing; mighty yet and beautiful
As the most beautiful and mighty which
Live, and yet so unlike them, that I scarce
Can call them living
Lucifer.Yet they lived
Cain.Where?
Lucifer.Where
Thou livest
Cain.When?
Lucifer.On what thou callest earth
They did inhabit
Cain.Adam is the first
Lucifer. Of thine, I grant thee—but too mean to be
The last of these
Cain.And what are they?
Lucifer.That which
Thou shalt be
Cain.But what were they?
Lucifer.Living, high
Intelligent, good, great, and glorious things
As much superior unto all thy sire
Adam could e'er have been in Eden, as
The sixty-thousandth generation shall be
In its dull damp degeneracy, to
Thee and thy son;—and how weak they are, judge
By thy own flesh
Cain.Ah me! and did they perish?
Lucifer. Yes, from their earth, as thou wilt fade from thine
Cain. But was mine theirs?
Lucifer.It was
Cain.But not as now
It is too little and too lowly to
Sustain such creatures
Lucifer.True, it was more glorious
Cain. And wherefore did it fall?
Lucifer.Ask him who fells
Cain. But how?
Lucifer.By a most crushing and inexorable
Destruction and disorder of the elements
Which struck a world to chaos, as a chaos
Subsiding has struck out a world: such things
Though rare in time, are frequent in eternity.—
Pass on, and gaze upon the past
Cain.'Tis awful!
Lucifer. And true. Behold these phantoms! they were once
Material as thou art
Cain.And must I be
Like them?
Lucifer.Let He[116] who made thee answer that
I show thee what thy predecessors are
And what they were thou feelest, in degree
Inferior as thy petty feelings and
Thy pettier portion of the immortal part
Of high intelligence and earthly strength
What ye in common have with what they had
Is Life, and what ye shall have—Death: the rest
Of your poor attributes is such as suits
Reptiles engendered out of the subsiding
Slime of a mighty universe, crushed into
A scarcely-yet shaped planet, peopled with
Things whose enjoyment was to be in blindness—
A Paradise of Ignorance, from which
Knowledge was barred as poison. But behold
What these superior beings are or were
Or, if it irk thee, turn thee back and till
The earth, thy task—I'll waft thee there in safety
Cain. No: I'll stay here
Lucifer.How long?
Cain.For ever! Since
I must one day return here from the earth
I rather would remain; I am sick of all
That dust has shown me—let me dwell in shadows
Lucifer. It cannot be: thou now beholdest as
A vision that which is reality
To make thyself fit for this dwelling, thou
Must pass through what the things thou seest have passed—
The gates of Death
Cain.By what gate have we entered
Even now?
Lucifer.By mine! But, plighted to return
My spirit buoys thee up to breathe in regions
Where all is breathless save thyself. Gaze on
But do not think to dwell here till thine hour
Is come!
Cain.And these, too—can they ne'er repass
To earth again?
Lucifer.Their earth is gone for ever—
So changed by its convulsion, they would not
Be conscious to a single present spot
Of its new scarcely hardened surface—'twas—
Oh, what a beautiful world it was!
Cain.And is!
It is not with the earth, though I must till it
I feel at war—but that I may not profit
By what it bears of beautiful, untoiling
Nor gratify my thousand swelling thoughts
With knowledge, nor allay my thousand fears
Of Death and Life
Lucifer.What thy world is, thou see'st
But canst not comprehend the shadow of
That which it was
Cain.And those enormous creatures
Phantoms inferior in intelligence
(At least so seeming) to the things we have passed
Resembling somewhat the wild habitants
Of the deep woods of earth, the hugest which
Roar nightly in the forest, but ten-fold
In magnitude and terror; taller than
The cherub-guarded walls of Eden—with
Eyes flashing like the fiery swords which fence them—
And tusks projecting like the trees stripped of
Their bark and branches—what were they?
Lucifer.That which
The Mammoth is in thy world;—but these lie
By myriads underneath its surface
Cain.But
None on it?
Lucifer.No: for thy frail race to war
With them would render the curse on it useless—
'Twould be destroyed so early
Cain.But why war?
Lucifer. You have forgotten the denunciation
Which drove your race from Eden—war with all things
And death to all things, and disease to most things
And pangs, and bitterness; these were the fruits
Of the forbidden tree
Cain.But animals—
Did they, too, eat of it, that they must die?
Lucifer. Your Maker told ye, they were made for you
As you for him.—You would not have their doom
Superior to your own? Had Adam not
Fallen, all had stood
Cain.Alas! the hopeless wretches!
They too must share my sire's fate, like his sons
Like them, too, without having shared the apple
Like them, too, without the so dear-bought knowledge!
It was a lying tree—for we know nothing
At least it promised knowledge at the price
Of death—but knowledge still: but what knows man?
Lucifer. It may be death leads to the highest knowledge
And being of all things the sole thing certain
At least leads to the surest science: therefore
The Tree was true, though deadly
Cain.These dim realms!
I see them, but I know them not
Lucifer.Because
Thy hour is yet afar, and matter cannot
Comprehend spirit wholly—but 'tis something
To know there are such realms
Cain.We knew already
That there was Death
Lucifer.But not what was beyond it
Cain. Nor know I now
Lucifer.Thou knowest that there is
A state, and many states beyond thine own—
And this thou knewest not this morn
Cain.But all
Seems dim and shadowy
Lucifer.Be content; it will
Seem clearer to thine immortality
Cain. And yon immeasurable liquid space
Of glorious azure which floats on beyond us
Which looks like water, and which I should deem
The river which flows out of Paradise
Past my own dwelling, but that it is bankless
And boundless, and of an ethereal hue—
What is it?
Lucifer. There is still some such on earth
Although inferior, and thy children shall
Dwell near it—'tis the phantasm of an Ocean
Cain. 'Tis like another world; a liquid sun—
And those inordinate creatures sporting o'er
Its shining surface?
Lucifer.Are its inhabitants
The past Leviathans
Cain.And yon immense190
Serpent, which rears his dripping mane and vasty
Head, ten times higher than the haughtiest cedar
Forth from the abyss, looking as he could coil
Himself around the orbs we lately looked on—
Is he not of the kind which basked beneath
The Tree in Eden?
Lucifer.Eve, thy mother, best
Can tell what shape of serpent tempted her
Cain. This seems too terrible. No doubt the other
Had more of beauty
Lucifer.Hast thou ne'er beheld him?
Cain. Many of the same kind (at least so called)
But never that precisely, which persuaded
The fatal fruit, nor even of the same aspect
Lucifer. Your father saw him not?
Cain.No: 'twas my mother
Who tempted him—she tempted by the serpent
Lucifer. Good man! whene'er thy wife, or thy sons' wives
Tempt thee or them to aught that's new or strange
Be sure thou seest first who hath tempted them!
Cain. Thy precept comes too late: there is no more
For serpents to tempt woman to
Lucifer.But there
Are some things still which woman may tempt man to
And man tempt woman:—let thy sons look to it!
My counsel is a kind one; for 'tis even
Given chiefly at my own expense; 'tis true
'Twill not be followed, so there's little lost
Cain. I understand not this
Lucifer.The happier thou!—
Thy world and thou are still too young! Thou thinkest
Thyself most wicked and unhappy—is it
Not so?
Cain. For crime, I know not; but for pain
I have felt much
Lucifer.First-born of the first man!
Thy present state of sin—and thou art evil
Of sorrow—and thou sufferest, are both Eden
In all its innocence compared to what
Thou shortly may'st be; and that state again
In its redoubled wretchedness, a Paradise
To what thy sons' sons' sons, accumulating
In generations like to dust (which they
In fact but add to), shall endure and do.—
Now let us back to earth!
Cain.And wherefore didst thou
Lead me here only to inform me this?
Lucifer. Was not thy quest for knowledge?
Cain.Yes—as being
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
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
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
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?
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
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!
Lucifer.What didst thou answer?
Cain.Nothing; for
He is my father: but I thought, that 'twere
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 belovéd 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?
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
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
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—
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
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
Lucifer. But you have seen his angels
CainRarely
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
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
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
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
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
Cain.And why not now?
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!
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
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
Nothing
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
Homage he has from all—but none from me
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!
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
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
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