At least they ought to have known all things that are
Of knowledge--and the mystery of Death[cb]. 460
What do they know?--that they are miserable.
What need of snakes and fruits to teach us that?

_Adah_. I am not wretched, Cain, and if thou
Wert happy----

_Cain_. Be thou happy, then, alone--
I will have nought to do with happiness,
Which humbles me and mine.

_Adah_. Alone I could not,
Nor _would_ be happy; but with those around us
I think I could be so, despite of Death,
Which, as I know it not, I dread not, though
It seems an awful shadow--if I may 470
Judge from what I have heard.

_Lucifer_. And thou couldst not
_Alone_, thou say'st, be happy?

_Adah_. Alone! Oh, my God!
Who could be happy and alone, or good?
To me my solitude seems sin; unless
When I think how soon I shall see my brother,
His brother, and our children, and our parents.

_Lucifer_. Yet thy God is alone; and is he happy?
Lonely, and good?

_Adah_. He is not so; he hath
The angels and the mortals to make happy,
And thus becomes so in diffusing joy. 480
What else can joy be, but the spreading joy?[cc]

_Lucifer_. Ask of your sire, the exile fresh from Eden;
Or of his first-born son: ask your own heart;
It is not tranquil.

_Adah_. Alas! no! and you--
Are you of Heaven?

_Lucifer_. If I am not, enquire
The cause of this all-spreading happiness
(Which you proclaim) of the all-great and good
Maker of life and living things; it is
His secret, and he keeps it. _We_ must bear,
And some of us resist--and both in vain, 490
His Seraphs say: but it is worth the trial,
Since better may not be without: there is
A wisdom in the spirit, which directs
To right, as in the dim blue air the eye
Of you, young mortals, lights at once upon
The star which watches, welcoming the morn.

_Adah_. It is a beautiful star; I love it for
Its beauty.

_Lucifer_. And why not adore?

_Adah_. Our father
Adores the Invisible only.

_Lucifer_. But the symbols
Of the Invisible are the loveliest