Instantly crushed, and buried in his birth.
Satan. At length pronounce thy orders!
Say what thou wilt, and with a hundred tongues
Speak, speak! that instant in a hundred works
Satan may toil, and Hell strain all her powers.

Lucifer. Behold, to smooth the rough and arduous way
By which they deem they may ascend to glory,
Behold a God assumes

A human form in vain!

A mode too prompt and easy,
To crush the race of mortals,

The ancient God affords to new-porn man.
Nature herself too much inclines, or rather
Forces this creature, to support his life,
Frequent to feed on various viands; hence
Since on delicious dainties

His bitter fall depends,

He may be tempted now to fruit forbidden,
And by the paths of death,

As he was nothing once, return to nothing.
Beelzebub. Great Angel! greatly thought!
Lucifer. Rather the noble spirit

Of higher towering thought prompts me to speak,
That God perchance indignant that his hands
Have stooped to stain themselves in abject clay,
Seeing how different angel is from man,

Repenting of his work,

Forbad him to support his frail existence
Upon this sweet allurement; hence to sin
Prompted by natural motives, though tyrannic,
He should himself the earth's destroyer prove,
Converting his vile clay to dust again;
And plucking up again

The rooted world, thus to the highest heaven

Open a faithful passage,

Repenting of his wrong to us of old

Its ornaments sublime!

Satan. Pardon, O pardon, if my humble thought

Aspiring by my tongue

Too high, perhaps offend your sovereign ear!

Long as this man shall rest

Alive, and breathe on earth,

Exhausted we must bear

Fierce war, in endless terror of the Word.

Lucifer. Man yet shall rest alive, he yet shall breathe,

And sinning even to death,

This new-made race of mortals

Shall cover all the earth,

And reign o'er all its creatures;

His soul shall prove eternal,

The image of his God.

Yet shall the Incarnate Word, I trust, be foiled.

Beelzebub. Oh! precious tidings to angelic ears,
That heal the wounds of all our shattered host.

Lucifer. Let man exist to sin, since he by sinning
Shall make the weight of sin his heritage,
Which shall be in his race

Proclaimed original;

So that mankind existing but to sin,

And sinning still to death,

And still to error born,

In evil hour the Word

Will wear the sinner's form, if rightly deemed
The enemy of sin.

Now rise, ye Spirits, from the dark abyss,

You who would rest assured

That man the sinner is now doomed to death.

Scene IV.—Melecano, Lurcone, Lucifer, Satan, and

Beelzebub.

Melecano. Command us, mighty Lord; what are thy wishes? Wouldst thou extinguish the new-risen sun?

Behold what stores I bring

Of darkness and of fire!

Alas! with fury Melecano burns.

Lurcone. Behold Lurcone, thou supreme of Hell,

Who 'gainst the highest heaven

Pants to direct his rage, whence light of limb,

Though loaded deep with wrath,

He stands with threatening aspect in thy presence.

Lucifer. Thou, Melecan, assume the name of Pride;

Lurcone, thou of Envy; both united,

(Since power combined with power

Acquires new force) to man direct your way;

Nor him alone essay, it is my will

That woman also mourn;

Contrive that she may murmur at her God,

Because in birth not prior to the man;

Since every future man is now ordained

To draw his life from woman, with such thoughts
Let her wax envious, that she cannot soar

Above the man, as high as now below him.

Hence, Lurcon, be it thine to make her proud;

Let her give law to her Creator God,

Wishing o'er man priority of birth.

Melecano. Behold, where Melecan, a dog in fierceness,

The savage dog of hell,

Darts growling to his prey!

He flies, and he returns

All covered and all drenched with human gore.

Lurcone. I rapid too depart,

And on a swifter wing

Than through the cloudless air

Darts the keen eagle to his earthly prey.
Behold, I too return,

My beak with carnage filled, and talons full.
Lucifer. Haste, Arfarat and Ruspican, rise all,
Rise from the centre to survey the earth!

SCENE V.-RUSPICAN, ARFARAT, LUCIFER, Satan, and
BEELZEBUB.

Ruspican. Soon as I heard the name of Ruspican, With rapid pinions spread, I sought the skies,

To bend before the great Tartarean chief,

And aggravate the woes

Of this new mortal blest with air and light.

Arfarat. Scarce had thy mighty voice Re-echoed through the deep,

When the Tartarean fires

Flying I left for this serener sky,

Forth from my lips, and heart,

Breathing fierce rancour 'gainst the life of man.

Lucifer. Fly, Ruspican, with all your force and fury!

Since now I call thee by the name of Anger,

Find Eve, and tell her that the fair endowment

Of her free will, deserves not she should live

In vassalage to man;

That she alone in value far exceeds

All that the sun in his bright circle warms;

That she from flesh, man from the meaner dust
Arose to life, in the fair garden she
Created pure, he in the baser field.

Ruspican. I joy to change the name of Ruspican
For Anger, dark and deadly:

Hence now by my tremendous aid, destructive

And deadly be this day!

Behold I go with all my force and fury;

Behold I now transfuse

My anger all into the breast of woman!
Lucifer. Of Avarice I give,

O Arfarat, to thee the name and works;

Go, see, contend, and conquer !

Contrive that wandering Eve,

With down-cast eyes, may in the fruitful garden

Search with solicitude for hidden treasure:

Then stimulate her heart,

To wish no other Lord,

Except herself, of Eden and the world.

Arfarat. See me already plumed

With wings of gems and gold;

See with an eye of sapphire

I gaze upon the fair ·

Behold to her I speak,

With lips that emulate the ruby's lustre.

1

Receive now as thy own

(Thus I accost her) all the world's vast wealth!
If she reject my gift

Then will I tempt her with a shower of pearls,
A fashion yet unknown;

Thus will she melt, and thus I hope at last
In chains of gold to drag her to destruction.
Lucifer. Rise, Guliar, Dulciato, and Maltia !
To make the band of enemies complete,
That, like a deadly Hydra,

Shall dart against this man

Your seven crests portentous and terrific.

SCENE VI.-MALTIA, DULCIATO, GULIAR, LUCifer, Satan, and BEELZEBUB.

BEHOLD! we come with emulation fierce

To your severe command,

In prompt obedience let us rise to heaven;
Let us with wrath assail

This human enemy of abject clay.

Lucifer. Maltia, thou shalt take the name of Sloth: Sudden invest thyself with drowsy charms

And mischievous repose;

Now wait on Eve, in slothfulness absorbed,

Let all this pomp of flowers,

And all these tuneful birds

Be held by her in scorn:

And from her consort flying,

Now let her feel no wishes but for death.

Maltia. What shall I say? shall I, to others mute,
Announce to thee my sanguinary works?

Savage and silent, I

Would be loquacious in my deeds alone.

Lucifer. Thee, Dulciato, we name Luxury;
Haste thou to Eve, and fill her with desires
To decorate her fragile form with flowers,
To bind her tresses with a golden fillet,
With various vain devices to allure

A new-found paramour;

And to her heart suggest,

That to exchange her love may prove delightful.

Dulciato. Can Lord so mighty, from his humble slave,

Demand no higher task?

The way to purchase honour

Now will I teach all Hell,

By the completion of my glorious triumph.

Already Eve beside a crystal fount

Exults to vanquish the vermilion rose

With cheeks of sweeter bloom,

And to exceed the lily

By her yet whiter bosom ;

Now beauteous threads of gold
She thinks her tresses floating in the air;
Now amorous and charming,

Her radiant eyes she reckons suns of love,
Fit to inflame the very coldest heart.

Lucifer. Guliar, be thou called Gluttony; now go, Reveal to Eve that the forbidden fruit

Is manna all within,

And that such food in heaven

Forms the repast of angels and of God.
Guliar. Of all the powerful foes
Leagued against man, Guliar is only he
Who can induce him to oppose his Maker;
Hence rapidly I fly

To work the woe of mortals.

Satan. To arms, to arms! to ruin and to blood!

Yes, now to blood, infernal leeches all!

Again, again proclaiming war to Heaven,

And let us put to flight

Every audacious foe

That ventures to disturb our ancient peace.
Beelzebub. Now, now, great chief, with feet
That testify thy triumph,

I see thee crush the sun,

The moon, and all the stars;

For where thy radiance shines,

O Lucifer! all other beams are blind.

Lucifer. Away. Heaven shudders at the mighty ruin

That threatens it from our infernal host :

Already I behold the moon opaque,

And light-supplying sun,

The wandering stars, and fixt,

With terror pale, and sinking in eclipse.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-Chorus of Angels singing.

Now let us garlands weave

Of all the fairest flowers,

Now at this early dawn,

For new-made man, and his companion dear;

Let all with festive joy,

And with melodious song,

Of the great Architect

Applaud this noblest work,

And speak the joyous sound,

Man is the wonder both of Earth and Heaven.

FIRST ANGEL.

Your warbling now suspend,

You pure angelic progeny of God,

Behold the labour emulous of Heaven!