Chorus

Oh! oh! 'twere better far, Had mankind ne'er been made. This teaches them By such a juicy fruit to be beguiled.

Gabriel:

"O Adam," thunders God, "where art thou hid?" "Forgive me. Lord; I flee thy countenance, Naked and all ashamed." "Who taught thee thus," Asks God, "thy shame and nakedness to know? Didst dare profane thy lips with the forbidden Fruit?" "Aye, my bride, my wife, alas! did tempt." She says, "The wily Serpent hath deceived Me with this lure." Thus each the charge denies Of being the cause of their sad wretchedness.

Chorus:

Mercy! What penalty hangs o'er their crime?

Gabriel:

The woman, who hath Adam thus seduced, God threatens with the pains of tears and travail, And her subjection, and the man with care And labor, sweat and arduous slavery; The soil, where man, at last, shall find his grave, With noxious weeds and great calamities; The Serpent, for the sly misuse thus made Of his most subtle tongue, shall, o'er the ground, Upon his belly creep, and live alone On dust and earth. But as a comfort sure, In such a misery, to poor mankind God promises, in truth, out of the seed And blood of the first woman, to raise up The Strong One, who shall crush the Serpent's head, This Dragon vile, through deadly hate, by time Nor yet eternity to be removed. And though this raging monster make attempt To bite His heel, yet shall the Hero win; And from the strife shall come with honors crowned. I come, in the name of Him, the Highest One, To thee this sad disaster to reveal. Forthwith all things in wonted order place, Ere they, for us, shall further mischief brew.

Michael:

Come, Uriel, armor-bearer, who dost guard The Right divine and punishest the Wrong: Take up thy flaming sword: fly down below, And drive the twain from Eden, who have dared Transgress, so rash and blind, the primal law. Go, guard the gate of the Paradise profaned, And forcibly the exiles drive away From this rare food, this tree, prolonging life. Permit not that they pluck the immortal fruit, Nor their abuse of heavenly gifts allow. Thou art placed, as sentinel, the garden over, And o'er this tree. Then see that Adam shall Be driven out, and that from morn to eve He plough the field, and till the clayey ground From which, the breath of God once fashioned him, Ozias, to whose hand once God Himself With honor did entrust the ponderous hammer Of bright-hewn diamond made, also the chains Of ruby and the clamps so sharp of teeth, Go hence, and capture and securely bind The host of the infernal animals, Also the lion and the dragon fell, That furiously against our standards rage. Sweep from the sky these hordes accursed, and bind Them neck and claw, and chain them forcibly. This key of the black bottomless abyss And all its dungeons is unto your care, Azarias, enjoined. Go hence, and lock All that our power assail within those vaults. Maceda, take this torch, to you this flame Is given: go light the deep lake sulphurous. Down in the centre of the Earth, and there Torment thou Lucifer, who hath brought forth Such numerous horrors, in the eternal fire Unquenchable, with chilling frosts commingled: There Grief and Horror and Obduracy, And Hunger, Thirst, and comfortless Despair, The sting of Conscience, Wrath implacable, The punishments given for this mad attempt, Amid the smoke from God's deep glow concealed, Bear witness to the blasting curse of Heaven, Passed on this Spirit impious, the while Shall come the promised Seed, the Reconciler, Who shall appease the blazing wrath of God, And in His wondrous love to man restore All that by Adam's trespass has been lost.