Thanks to the fruit, his progeny shall prove.

To that exalted seat

By destiny our due,

Can Death's vile prey ascend,

Now in superior joys

Who now lies prostrate at the feet of Hell?
Serpent. Silence, no more!
Ye quick and fluttering spirits,
Now, now, your wings expand,
And active in your pleasure,
Weave a delightful dance !

SCENE V.-A Chorus of SPRITES in the shape of ANTICS, SERPENT, SATAN, VOLAN, CANORO, VAIN GLORY, and SPIRITS.

To thee behold us flying,
Round thee behold us sporting,

O monarch of Avernus!

To recreate thy heart in joyous dance.
Come, let us dance, happy and light,
Ye little Sprites;

Man was of flesh, now all of dust,

Such is the will of hideous Death;
A blessed lot

No more is his, wretched in all.

Now let us weave, joyous and dancing,
Ties as many,

As now Hell's prosperous chieftain

Spreads around man, who weeps and wails,

And now lifeless,

Is almost rendered by his anguish.

Enjoy, enjoy in fragile vesture,

Man, O heaven;

Stygian Serpent has o'erwhelmed him,
Wherefore let each dance in triumph,

Full of glory,

Since our king has proved victorious.

But, what thinkst thou Heaven in sorrow?

On the sudden,

He will spring to scenes celestial;

And he there will wreak his vengeance

On the Godhead,

That is now in heaven so troubled.

Serpent. Ah, what lofty sounding trumpets

Through the extensive fields of heaven rebellow?

Vain Glory. Ah, from my triumph now I fall to hell,

Through subterraneous scenes exhaling fire,

With all my fatal pomp at once I sink!

Serpent. And I, alas, am plunging

With thee to deepest horror!

Satan. Avoid, avoid, companions,

This unexpected lustre,

That brings, alas, to us a night of horror!

Volano. Alas, why should we tarry?

Fly all, O fly with speed

This inimical splendour,

These dread and deadly accents,

The utterance of God!

SCENE VI.-GOD THE FATHER, Angels, Adam, and Eve.

GOD THE FATHER.

AND is it thus you keep the law of heaven,
Adam and Eve? O ye too faithless found,
Ye children of a truly tender father!

Thou most unhappy, how much hast thou lost,
And in a moment, Adam!

Fool, to regard the Serpent more than God.
Ah, could repentance e'er belong to Him
Who cannot err, then might I well repent me
Of having made this man.

Now, Adam, thou hast tasted

The apple, thou hast sinned,

Thou hast corrupted God's exalted bounty:
The elements, the heavens,

The stars, the moon, the sun, and whatsoever
Has been for man created,

Now seems by man abhorred, and as unworthy
Now to retain existence,

To his destruction he solicits death.

But since 'tis just that I, who had proportioned
Reward to merit, should now make chastisement
Keep pace with guilt, contemplating myself,
I view Astrea, in whose righteous stroke
Lo, I myself descend, for I am justice.
Why pausest thou, O sinner, in his presence,
Who on a starry throne,

As an offended judge prepares thy sentence?
Appear to whom do I address me? Adam,

Adam, where art thou? say! dost thou not hear?

Adam. Great Sovereign of heaven! if to those accents,

Of which one single one formed earth and heaven,

My God, if to that voice,

That called on Adam, a deaf asp I seemed,
It was terror struck me dumb:

Since to my great confusion,

I was constrained, naked, to come before thee.

GOD THE FATHER.

And who with nakedness has made acquainted

Him, who although he was created naked,

With innocence was clothed?

Adam. Of knowledge the dread fruit that I have tasted; The fault of my companion!

Eve. Too true it is, that the malignant serpent,

Made me so lightly think of thy injunction,
That the supreme forbiddance
Little or nought I valued.

GOD THE FATHER.

Adam, thou sinner! O thou bud corrupted
By the vile worm of error!

Though eager to ascend celestial seats,
An angel in thy pride, thy feeble wings
Left thee to fall into the depths of hell.
By thy disdain of life,

Death is thy acquisition;
Unworthy now of favour,

I strip thee of thy honours;

And soon thou shalt behold the herbs and flowers Turned into thorns and thistles,

The earth itself this day by me accurst.

Then shalt thou utter sighs in want of food,

And from thy altered brow thou shalt distil
Streams of laborious sweat,

A supplicant for bread;

Nor ever shall the strife of man have end,
Till, as he rose from dust, to dust he turn.
And thou, first author of the first offence,
With pain thou shalt produce the human birth,
As thou hast taught, with anguish infinite,
The world this fatal day to bring forth sin.
Thee, cruel Serpent, I pronounce accursed;
Be it henceforth thy destiny to creep

Prone on the ground, and on the dust to feed.
Eternal strife between thee and the woman,
Strife barbarous and deadly,

This day do I denounce :

If one has fallen, the other, yet victorious,
Shall live to bruise thy formidable head.

Now, midst the starry spheres,

Myself I will seclude from human sight.

SCENE VII.-An ANGEL, ADAM, and EVE,

Angel. Ah, Eve, what hast thou lost,

Of thy dread Sovereign slighting the commands !

Thou Adam, thou hast sinned;

And Eve too sinning with thee,

Ye have together, of the highest heaven

Shut fast the gates, and opened those of hell!

In seeking sweeter life,

Ye prove a bitter death;

And for a short delight

A thousand tedious sufferings.

How much it had been better for this man
To say, I have offended, pardon, Lord!

2 K

Than to accuse his partner, she the serpent:
Hence let these skins of beasts, thrown over both,
Become your humble clothing;

And hence let each be taught

That God approves the humble,

And God in anger punishes the proud.

Adam. O man! O dust! O my frail destiny!

O my offence! O death!

Eve. O woman! O of evil

Sole gluttonous producer!

O fruit! my sin! O serpent! O deceit !

Angel. Now let these skins that you support upon you, Tell you the grievous troubles

That you have to sustain ;

Rude vestments are these skins,

From whence you may perceive

That much of misery must be endured

Now in the field of life,

Till death shall reap ye both.

Now, now lament and weep,

From him solicit mercy,

For still your mighty Maker may be found
Gracious in heaven, indulgent to the world,
Most merciful to man,

If equal to the pride

That made him err, his penitence will weep.
Adam. Ah, whither art thou fled?

Where lonely dost thou leave me?_

Oh, too disgusting apple,

If thou canst render man to angels hateful.

Alas, my dread destruction

Springs from a source so high,

That it will find no end.

Most miserable Adam! if thou fallest,

Ah, who will raise thee up?

If those eternal hands

That should uphold the heaven, the world, and man,
Closed for thy good, are open for thy ill,

How much shouldst thou express! but tears and grief

Fetter the tongue and overwhelm the heart!

O sin! O agony !

Eve. Adam, my Adam, I will call thee mine, Although I may have lost thee!

Unhappy Eve acknowledges her error,

She weeps, and she laments it.

She sees thee in great anguish :

O could her tears wash out the grievous stain

Thou hast upon thy visage!

Adam! alas, thou answerest not, and I
Suffer in seeing thee so pale and pensive,
Thy hands united in the folds of pain!

But if through deed of mine thou hast occasion

For endless shame and silence,

Wilt thou reply to me? do I deserve it?
I merit only woe by being woman;
Eve has invented weeping,

Eve has discovered anguish,
Labour and lassitude,

Distraction and affright;

Eve, Eve has ministered to death and hell!
Adam. Enjoy, enjoy, O woman,

My anguish, my perdition, and my death;
Banish me hence for loving thee too well!
Ah, if thou wert desirous of my tears,

Now, now extend thy hands, receive these streams
That I must pour abundant from mine eyes;

If thou didst wish my sighs, lo, sighs I give thee;
If anguish, view it; if my blood, 'tis thine;
Rather my death, it will be easy to thee

Now to procure my death,

If thou hast rendered me of life unworthy.

SCENE VIII.-The ARCHANGEL MICHAEL, ADAM, and EVE.

Michael. Why this delay? come on, be quick, depart, Corrupted branches, from this fair and beauteous

Terrestrial paradise! Are ye so bold,

Ye putrid worms? come on, be quick, depart,

Since with a scourge of fire I thus command you.

Adam. Alas! I am destroyed

By the fierce blow of this severe avenger !
Eve. Now sunk in vital power

I feel my sad existence,

E'en at the menace from this scourge of fire.

Michael. These stony plains now must thy naked foot

Press, in the stead of sweet and beauteous flowers,

Since thy erroneous folly

Forbids thy dwelling in this pleasant garden.

Behold in me the punisher of those

Who against their God rebel, and hence I bear

These radiant arms that with tremendous power
Make me invincible. I was the spirit

Who, in the mighty conflict,

Advancing to the north,

Struck down great Lucifer, the haughty leader

Of wicked angels, so that into hell

They plunged precipitate and all subdued;

And thus it has seemed good to my tremendous
Celestial chief, that I shall also drive

Man, rebel to his God, with this my sword

Of ever-blazing fire,

Drive him for ever from this seat of bliss.

You angels all depart, and now with me
Expand your plumes for heaven;