and the Seraphs; he looks not
Like them.

_Cain_. But there are spirits loftier still--
The archangels.

_Lucifer_. And still loftier than the archangels.

_Adah_. Aye--but not blessed.

_Lucifer_. If the blessedness
Consists in slavery--no.

_Adah_. I have heard it said, 420
The Seraphs _love most_--Cherubim _know most_[107]--
And this should be a Cherub--since he loves not.

_Lucifer_. And if the higher knowledge quenches love,
What must _he be_ you cannot love when known?[ca]
Since the all-knowing Cherubim love least,
The Seraphs' love can be but ignorance:
That they are not compatible, the doom
Of thy fond parents, for their daring, proves.
Choose betwixt Love and Knowledge--since there is
No other choice: your sire hath chosen already: 430
His worship is but fear.

_Adah_. Oh, Cain! choose Love.

_Cain_. For thee, my Adah, I choose not--It was
Born with me--but I love nought else.

_Adah_. Our parents?

_Cain_. Did they love us when they snatched from the Tree
That which hath driven us all from Paradise?

_Adah_. We were not born then--and if we had been,
Should we not love them--and our children, Cain?

_Cain_. My little Enoch! and his lisping sister!
Could I but deem them happy, I would half
Forget----but it can never be forgotten 440
Through thrice a thousand generations! never
Shall men love the remembrance of the man
Who sowed the seed of evil and mankind
In the same hour! They plucked the tree of science
And sin--and, not content with their own sorrow,
Begot _me_--_thee_--and all the few that are,
And all the unnumbered and innumerable
Multitudes, millions, myriads, which may be,
To inherit agonies accumulated
By ages!--and _I_ must be sire of such things! 450
Thy beauty and thy love--my love and joy,
The rapturous moment and the placid hour,
All we love in our children and each other,
But lead them and ourselves through many years
Of sin and pain--or few, but still of sorrow,
Interchecked with an instant of brief pleasure,
To Death--the unknown! Methinks the Tree of Knowledge
Hath not fulfilled its promise:--if they sinned,