To pray.

_Cain_. Have ye not prayed?

_Adam_. We have, most fervently.

_Cain_. And loudly: I
Have heard you.

_Adam_. So will God, I trust.

_Abel_. Amen!

_Adam_. But thou my eldest born? art silent still?

_Cain_. 'Tis better I should be so.

_Adam_. Wherefore so?

_Cain_. I have nought to ask.

_Adam_. Nor aught to thank for?

_Cain_. No.

_Adam_. Dost thou not _live_?

_Cain_. Must I not die?

_Eve_. Alas!
The fruit of our forbidden tree begins 30
To fall.

_Adam_. And we must gather it again.
Oh God! why didst thou plant the tree of knowledge?

_Cain_. And wherefore plucked ye not the tree of life?
Ye might have then defied him.

_Adam_. Oh! my son,
Blaspheme not: these are Serpent's words.

_Cain_. Why not?
The snake spoke _truth_; it _was_ the Tree of Knowledge;
It _was_ the Tree of Life: knowledge is good,
And Life is good; and how can both be evil?

_Eve_. My boy! thou speakest as I spoke in sin,
Before thy birth: let me not see renewed 40
My misery in thine. I have repented.
Let me not see my offspring fall into
The snares beyond the walls of Paradise,
Which even in Paradise destroyed his parents.
Content thee with what _is_. Had we been so,
Thou now hadst been contented.--Oh, my son!

_Adam_. Our orisons completed, let us hence,
Each to his task of toil--not heavy, though
Needful: the earth is young, and yields us kindly
Her fruits with little labour.

_Eve_. Cain--my son-- 50
Behold thy father cheerful and resigned--
And do as he doth. [_Exeunt_ ADAM _and_ EVE.

_Zillah_. Wilt thou not, my brother?

_Abel_. Why wilt thou wear this gloom upon thy brow,
Which can avail thee nothing, save to rouse
The Eternal anger?

_Adah_. My beloved Cain
Wilt thou frown even on me?

_Cain_. No, Adah! no;
I fain would b