that I know it leads to something definite.

_Lucifer_. And now I will convey thee to thy world,
Where thou shall multiply the race of Adam,
Eat, drink, toil, tremble, laugh, weep, sleep--and die!

_Cain_. And to what end have I beheld these things
Which thou hast shown me?

_Lucifer_. Didst thou not require
Knowledge? And have I not, in what I showed,
Taught thee to know thyself?

_Cain_. Alas! I seem 420
Nothing.[122]

_Lucifer_. And this should be the human sum
Of knowledge, to know mortal nature's nothingness;
Bequeath that science to thy children, and
'Twill spare them many tortures.

_Cain_. Haughty spirit!
Thou speak'st it proudly; but thyself, though proud,
Hast a superior.

_Lucifer_. No! By heaven, which he
Holds, and the abyss, and the immensity
Of worlds and life, which I hold with him--No!
I have a Victor--true; but no superior.[123]
Homage he has from all--but none from me: 430
I battle it against him, as I battled
In highest Heaven--through all Eternity,
And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades,
And the interminable realms of space,
And the infinity of endless ages,
All, all, will I dispute! And world by world,
And star by star, and universe by universe,
Shall tremble in the balance, till the great
Conflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease,
Which it ne'er shall, till he or I be quenched! 440
And what can quench our immortality,
Or mutual and irrevocable hate?
He as a conqueror will call the conquered
_Evil_; but what will be the _Good_ he gives?
Were I the victor, _his_ works would be deemed
The only evil ones. And you, ye new
And scarce-born mortals, what have been his gifts
To you already, in your little world?

_Cain_. But few; and some of those but bitter.

_Lucifer_. Back
With me, then, to thine earth, and try the rest 450
Of his celestial boons to you and yours.
Evil and Good are things in their own essence,
And not made good or evil by the Giver;
But if he gives you good--so call him; if
Evil springs from _him_, do not name it _mine_,
Till ye know better its true fount; and judge
Not by words,