his punishment; or, at the least,
My sorrow.

_Sam._ Sorrow! I ne'er thought till now
To hear an Adamite speak riddles to me.

_Japh._ And hath not the Most High expounded them?
Then ye are lost as they are lost.

_Aho._ So be it!
If they love as they are loved, they will not shrink
More to be mortal, than I would to dare 360
An immortality of agonies
With Samiasa!

_Anah_. Sister! sister! speak not
Thus.

_Aza._ Fearest thou, my Anah?

_Anah_. Yes, for thee:
I would resign the greater remnant of
This little life of mine, before one hour
Of thine eternity should know a pang.

_Japh._ It is for _him_, then! for the Seraph thou
Hast left me! That is nothing, if thou hast not
Left thy God too! for unions like to these,
Between a mortal and an immortal, cannot 370
Be happy or be hallowed. We are sent
Upon the earth to toil and die; and they
Are made to minister on high unto
The Highest: but if he can _save_ thee, soon
The hour will come in which celestial aid
Alone can do so.

_Anah_. Ah! he speaks of Death.

_Sam._ Of death to _us_! and those who are with us!
But that the man seems full of sorrow, I
Could smile.

_Japh._ I grieve not for myself, nor fear.
I am safe, not for my own deserts, but those 380
Of a well-doing sire, who hath been found
Righteous enough to save his children. Would
His power was greater of redemption! or
That by exchanging my own life for hers,
Who could alone have made mine happy, she,
The last and loveliest of Cain's race, could share
The ark which shall receive a remnant of
The seed of Seth!

_Aho._ And dost thou think that we,
With Cain's, the eldest born of Adam's, blood
Warm in our veins,--strong Cain! who was begotten 390
In Paradise[152],--would mingle with Seth's children?
Seth, the last offspring of old Adam's dotage?
No, not to save all Earth, were Earth in peril!
Our race hath always dwelt apart from thine
From the beginning, and shall do so ever.

_Japh._ I did not speak to thee, Aholibamah!
Too much of the forefather whom thou vauntest
Has come down in that haughty blood which springs