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 quench'd! And what can quench our immortality, Or mutual and irrevocable hate?
He as a conqueror will call the conquer'd Evil; but what will be the good he gives? Were I the victor, his works would be deem'd The only evil ones. And you, ye new And scarce born mortals, what have been his gifts To you already, in your little world? I
Cain. But few! and some of those but bitter. Lucifer.
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 over-sway'd 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.
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 'T is 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! Thine are the hours and days when both are cheering And innocent! thou hast not pluck'd the fruit- Thou know'st not thou art naked! Must the time Come thou shalt be amerced for sins unknown, Which were not mine nor thine? But now sleep on! His cheeks are reddening into deeper smiles, And shining lids are trembling o'er his long Lashes, 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 Of what? Of Paradise!- Ay ! dream of it, My disinherited boy! 'T is but a dream; For never more thyself, thy sons, nor fathers, Shall walk in that forbidden place of joy! 3
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?
1["Whatever we enjoy is purely a free gift from our Creator; but that we enjoy no more, can never sure be deemed an injury, or a just reason to question his infinite benevolence. All our happiness is owing to his goodness; but that it is no greater, is owing only to ourselves; that is, to our not having any inherent right to any happiness, or even to any existence at all." JENYNS.]
2 [As to the question of the origin of evil, Lord Byron has neither thrown any new light upon it, nor darkened the previous knowledge which we possessed It remains just where it was, in its mighty, unfathomed obscurity. Lordship may, it is true, have recapitulated some of the arguments with a more concise and 'cavalier air than the old schoolmen or fathers; but the result is the same. no poetical road to metaphysics. In one view, however, which our rhapsodist has taken of the subject, we conceive he has done well. He represents the temptations held out to Cain by Satan, as constantly succeeding and corresponding to some previous discontent and gloomy disposition in his
Where'er thou wilt: where'er thou art, I feel not The want of this so much regretted Eden. Have I not thee, our boy, our sire, and brother, And Zillahour 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. [hence,
Adah. Cain! that proud spirit, who withdrew thee
own mind; so that Lucifer is little more than the personified demon of his imagination: and further, the acts of guilt and folly into which Cain is hurried are not treated as accidental, or as occasioned by passing causes, but as springing from an internal fury, a morbid state akin to phrensy, a mind dissatisfied with itself and all things, and haunted by an insatiable, stubborn longing after knowledge rather than happiness, and a fatal proneness to dwell on the evil side of things rather than the good. We here see the dreadful consequences of not curbing this disposition (which is, after all, perhaps, the sin that most easily besets humanity,) exemplified in a striking point of view; and we so far think, that the moral to be derived from a perusal of this Mystery is a valuable one.- JEFFREY.]
3 [The censorious may say what they will, but there are speeches in the mouth of Cain and Adah, especially regarding their child, which nothing in English poetry but the "woodnotes wild" of Shakspeare ever equalled. SIR EGERTON BRYDGES.]
No: he contents him 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.
Even for our parents' error.
Cain. One altar may suffice; I have no offering. Adah. The fruits of the earth, 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 toil'd, and till'd, and sweaten in the sun According to the curse:-must I do more? 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
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 't were
I snatch'd him in his sleep, and dash'd him 'gainst The rocks, than let him live to-
Cain. Fear not! for all the stars, and all the power Which sways them, I would not accost yon infant Thou know'st- With ruder greeting than a father's kiss. Adah. Then, why so awful in thy speech? Cain. I said, 'T were 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-
What is that To us? they sinn'd, then let them die ! [thought Adah. Thou hast not spoken well, nor is that 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 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. [day Adah. How know we that some such atonement one May not redeem our race?
'T were 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 Encch! [She goes to the child.
Oh Cain! look on him; see how full of life, 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, To hail his father; while his little form Flutters as wing'd 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. 1 Cain.
sacrifice which his brother is about to offer. Here are some passages of no common beauty. That which strikes us most is when the parents are hanging over their sleeping boy.HEBER.]
[Exit ADAH, with her child.
Where hast thou been?
Nor what thou hast seen? The dead,
The immortal, the unbounded, the omnipotent, The overpowering mysteries of space-
The innumerable worlds that were and are- A whirlwind of such overwhelming things, [spheres Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced Singing in thunder round me, as have made me Unfit for mortal converse: leave me, Abel.
Abel. Thine eyes are flashing with unnatural light— Thy cheek is flush'd with an unnatural hue Thy words are fraught with an unnatural sound What may this mean?
Cain. It means- -I pray thee, leave me. Abel. Not till we have pray'd and sacrificed together. Cain. Abel, I pray thee, sacrifice aloneJehovah loves thee well.
And suits thee, as the elder. Thine offerings.
"Tis the highest, Now prepare
The firstlings of the flock, and fat thereof— A shepherd's humble offering. Cuin.
Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life Within our nostrils, who hath blessed us,
And spared, despite our father's sin, to make His children all lost, as they might have been, Had not thy justice been so temper'd with The mercy which is thy delight, as to Accord a pardon like a Paradise, Compared with our great crimes: - - Sole Lord of light! Of good, and glory, and eternity; Without whom all were evil, and with whom Nothing can err, except to some good end Of thine omnipotent benevolence- Inscrutable, but still to be fulfill'd— Accept from out thy humble first of shepherd's First of the first-born flocks- an offering, In itself nothing-as what offering can be Aught unto thee?- -but yet accept it for The thanksgiving of him who spreads it in The face of thy high heaven, bowing his own Even to the dust, of which he is, in honour Of thee, and of thy name, for evermore !
Cain (standing erect during this speech). Spirit! whate'er or whosoe'er thou art,
Omnipotent, it may be—and, if good, Shown in the exemption of thy deeds from evil; Jehovah upon earth! and God in heaven! And it may be with other names, because Thine attributes seem many, as thy works:- If thou must be propitiated with prayers, Take them! If thou must be induced with altars, And soften'd with a sacrifice, receive them! Two beings here erect them unto thee. If thou lov'st blood, the shepherd's shrine, which On my right hand, hath shed it for thy service In the first of his flock, whose limbs now reek
In sanguinary incense to thy skies;
Or if the sweet and blooming fruits of earth, And milder seasons, which the unstain'd turf I spread them on now offers in the face
Of the broad sun which ripen'd them, may seem Good to thee, inasmuch as they have not Suffer'd in limb or life, and rather form A sample of thy works, than supplication To look on ours! If a shrine without victim, And altar without gore, may win thy favour, Look on it! and for him who dresseth it,
He is such as thou mad'st him; and seeks nothing Which must be won by kneeling: if he's evil, Strike him thou art omnipotent, and may'st- For what can he oppose? If he be good, Strike him, or spare him, as thou wilt! since all Rests upon thee; and good and evil seem To have no power themselves, save in thy will; And whether that be good or ill I know not, Not being omnipotent, nor fit to judge Omnipotence, but merely to endure
Its mandate; which thus far I have endured. [The fire upon the altar of ABEL kindles into a column of the brightest flame, and ascends to heaven; while a whirlwind throws down the altar of CAIN, and scatters the fruits abroad upon the earth.
Abel (kneeling). Oh, brother, pray! Jehovah's wroth with thee.
[It is evident that Lord Byron had studied his subject very deeply; and, though he has varied a little from, or gone a little beyond, the letter of Scripture, which is very concise, yet he has apparently entered with great exactness into the minds of Cain and Abel in this most interesting scene: and were it allowable to ascribe to the author of a dramatic work the principles or feelings of all or any of his characters, except as adopting them for his particular purpose, one would be at a loss to say, whether Lord Byron ought most to be identified with Cain, or with Abel; so appropriately has he maintained the character of each. — GRANT's "Notes on Cain," p. 401.]
2 [As a whole, this scene is heavy and clumsily managed. It can hardly fail to strike the reader as a defect in poetry, no less than a departure from history, that the event which is the
Abel (falls). What hast thou done, my brother? Cain. Brother!
Oh, God! receive thy servant, and
Forgive his slayer, for he knew not what
He did Cain, give me—give me thy hand; and tell Poor Zillah
Cain (after a moment's stupefuction). My hand! 't is all red, and withWhat?
[A long pause. Looking slowly round.
Where am I? alone! Where's Abel? where Cain ? Can it be that I am he? My brother, Awake! why liest thou so on the green earth?
'Tis not the hour of slumber; why so pale? What, hast thou! thou wert full of life this morn! Abel! I pray thee, mock me not! I smote Too fiercely, but not fatally. Ah, why Wouldst thou oppose me? This is mockery; And only done to daunt me: 't was a blow- And but a blow. Stir-stir-nay, only stir! Why, so- that's well!-thou breath'st! breathe Oh, God! Oh, God! [upon me!
Abel (very faintly). What's he who speaks of God? Cain. Thy murderer.
Then may God forgive him! Cain, Comfort poor Zillah : she has but one brother Now.
catastrophe of the drama, is no otherwise than incidentally we may say accidentally, produced by those which precede it. Cain, whose whole character is represented in Scripture as envious and malicious, rather than impious; this Cain, as painted by Lord Byron, has no quarrel with his brother whatever, nor, except in a single word, does he intimate any jealousy of him. Two acts, and half the third, are passed without our advancing a single step towards the conclusion; and Abel at length falls by a randomn blow given in a struggle of which the object is not his destruction, but the overthrow of Jehovah's altar. If we could suppose a reader to sit down to the perusal of the drama in ignorance of its catastrophe, he could scarcely be less surprised by its termination in such a stroke of chance-medley, than if Abel had been made to drop down in an apoplexy, or Cain to die of grief over his body. HEBER.]
Cain. And I none!-Who makes me brotherless? His eyes are open! then he is not dead! Death is like sleep; and sleep shuts down our lids. His lips, too, are apart; why then he breathes ! And yet I feel it not. His heart!- his heart!- Let me see, doth it beat? methinks This is a vision, else I am become The native of another and worse world. The earth swims round me: - what is this? —'t is [Puts his hand to his brow, and then looks at it. And yet there are no dews! 'Tis blood—my blood — My brother's and my own! and shed by me! Then what have I further to do with life, Since I have taken life from my own flesh ? But he can not be dead! - Is silence death? No; he will wake: then let me watch by him. Life cannot be so slight, as to be quench'd
Thus quickly! - he hath spoken to me since - What shall I say to him? - My brother! - No : He will not answer to that name; for brethren Smite not each other. Yet - yet - speak to me. Oh! for a word more of that gentle voice, That I may bear to hear my own again!
He breathes not: and his hands drop down from mine With stony lifelessness! Ah! cruel Cain ! Why cam'st thou not in time to save him from This violence? Whatever hath assail'd him, Thou wert the stronger, and should'st have stepp'd in Between him and aggression ! Father! Eve! - Adah!come hither! Death is in the world!
[Erit ZILLAH, calling on her Parents, &c. Cain (solus). And who hath brought him there? -I who abhor
The name of Death so deeply, that the thought Empoison'd all my life, before I knew
Curse him not, mother, for he is thy sonCurse him not, mother, for he is my brother, And my betroth'd.
He hath left thee no brother Zillah no husband-me no son ! — for thus I curse him from my sight for evermore! All bonds I break between us! as he broke That of his nature, in yon-Oh death! death! Why didst thou not take me, who first incurr'd thee? Why dost thou not so now? Adam.
Thy natural grief, lead to impiety! A heavy doom was long forespoken to us; And now that it begins, let it be borne
In such sort as may show our God, that we Are faithful servants to his holy will.
Eve (pointing to Cain). His will!! the will of yon incarnate spirit
Of death, whom I have brought upon the earth To strew it with the dead. May all the curses Of life be on him! and his agonies
Drive him forth o'er the wilderness, like us
From Eden, till his children do by him As he did by his brother! May the swords And wings of fiery cherubim pursue him
By day and night-snakes spring up in his path- Earth's fruits be ashes in his mouth-the leaves On which he lays his head to sleep be strew'd With scorpions! May his dreams be of his victim! His waking a continual dread of death! May the clear rivers turn to blood as he Stoops down to stain them with his raging lip! May every element shun or change to him! May he live in the pangs which others die with! And death itself wax something worse than death To him who first acquainted him with man! Hence, fratricide! henceforth that word is Cain, Through all the coming myriads of mankind, Who shall abhor thee, though thou wert their sire! May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust
A grave! the sun his light! and heaven her God! ! [Exit Eve.
for you, when joined to the lines already sent, as you may wish to meet with in the course of your business. But don't forget the addition of these three lines, which are clinchers to Eve's Z
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