Gabriel. Michael. Chorus

Gabriel:

Alas! alas! alas! how things have changed! Why triumph here? Our triumph is in vain: Ah! vain display, these plundered flags and arms!

Michael:

What hear I, Gabriel?

Gabriel:

Oh! Adam's fallen: The father and the stem of all mankind, Most pitiful and sad! brought to his fall So soon. He is undone.

Michael:

That bursts even like A sudden thunder-peal upon our ears. Although I shudder, yet I long to hear This overthrow described. Doth then the Chief Accursed, also on Earth his warfare wage?

Gabriel:

The battle o'er, he called his scattered host Unto his side, though first his chieftains bold, Who to each other turned abhorring gaze; And then, to shun the swift, all-searching rays Of the all-seeing Eye, he veiled them round With gloomy mists, that formed a hollow cloud, A dark, obscure, and gruesome lair of fog, Where shone no light, where gleamed no glow of fire Save what did shine from their own blazing eyes. And in that dim, infernal consistory, High-seated 'mid his Councillors of State, With bitter rage 'gainst God he thus began: "Ye Powers, who for our righteous cause have borne, With such fierce pride, this injury, 'tis time To be revengèd for our wrongs: with hate Irreconcilable and furious craft The Heavens to persecute and circumvent In their own chosen image, man, and him To smother at his birth, in his ascent, Ere that his sinews gain their promised strength And ere he multiply. 'Tis my design, Both Adam and his seed now to corrupt. I know how, through transgression of the law Him first enjoined, to stain him with a blot Indelible; so that he with his seed, In soul and body poisoned, never shall Usurp the throne from which ourselves were thrust: Though it may be that some shall yet ascend On high, a number small and slight; and these Alone through thousand deaths and suffering And labor shall attain the state and crown To us denied. Lo! miseries forthwith Shall follow aft in Adam's wake, and spread, From age to age, throughout the whole wide world. Even Nature shall, attainted by this blow, Almost decay, and wish again to turn To chaos and its primal nothingness. I see mankind, in God's own image made, From God's similitude debased, estranged, And tarnished, even in will and memory And understanding, while the holy light Within created is obscured and dimmed: Yea, all yet in their mother's anxious womb, That wait with sorrow for their natal hour, I now, forsooth, behold a helpless prey To Death's relentless jaws. I shall exalt My tyranny with e'er-increasing pride, While you, my sons, I then shall see adored As Deities, on altars and in fanes Innumerable that tower to Heaven, where burns The sacrificial victim, 'mid the smoke Of censers and the dazzling sheen of gold, In praise most reverential. I see hosts Of men, whose multitudes are even beyond The power of tongue to name—yea, all that spring From Adam's loins—for all eternity Accursed by their deeds abominable, Done in defiance of God's name. So dear To Him the cost of triumph o'er my crown."

Michael:

Accursèd one, even yet to be so bold In thy defiance 'gainst thy God! Ere long Thou shalt from us this blasphemy unlearn.

Gabriel:

Even thus spake Lucifer, and then he sent Prince Belial down, that he forthwith might cause Mankind to fall: who took upon himself The form of that most cunning of all beasts, The Serpent, type of wickedness itself, That he might with a gloss of words adorn His luring snares, which then those creatures pure In guileless innocence even thus received, As, swinging from the tempting bough of knowledge, That lone forbidden tree, he hung aloft: "Hath God, upon the pain of death, with such Severity and at so high a price, Deprived you of the freedom of this fruit? —The taste of even the choicest tree of all? Nay, Eve, thou simple dove, indeed thou dost Mistake. But once behold this apple, pray! Aye! see how glows this radiant fruit with gold And crimson mingled! An alluring feast! Yea, daughter, nearer draw; no venom lurks up In this immortal leaf. How tempts this fruit! Yea, pluck; yea, freely pluck: I promise thee All light and knowledge. Come, why shouldst thou shrink For fear of sin? Aye, taste, and thus become Equal to God Himself in cognizance, Honor and wisdom, truth and majesty: Even though He much may wish thee to deny. Thus must distinctions be discerned in things. Their nature, entities, and qualities." Forthwith begins the heart of the fair bride To burn and to enkindle, till she flames To see the praised fruit, which first allures The eye: the eye the mouth, that sighs to taste. Desire doth urge the hand, all quivering, To pluck. And thus she plucks, and tastes and eats (Oh! how this shall afflict her progeny!) With Adam, and as soon as then their eyes Are opened and they see their nakedness, They deck themselves with leaves—with leaves of fig, Their shame, disgrace, and taint original— And in the trees and shadows hide themselves; But hide in vain from the all-piercing Eye. Then gradually the sky grows black. They see The rainbow, as a warning messenger And portent of God's plagues, stretched o'er the Heavens, That weep, in mourning clad. Nor wringing hands, Nor sad lament, nor cries avail the pair. Alas! the lightnings gleam, with flash on flash, And shaking thunders roll there, peal on peal. And naught is heard but sighs, and naught is seen But fright and gloom. They even their shadows flee; But ne'er can 'scape that dread heart-cankering worm, The sting of conscience. Thus, with knees that knock Together, step by step they stumble on, Their faces ghastly pale, and eyes, o'er-brimmed With tears, blind to the light. How spiritless, They who but now their heads so proudly held! The sound of rustling leaf or whispering brook, The faintest noise, doth them confound; the while A pregnant cloud descends, that bursts and bears, By slow degrees, a light and radiant glow, Wherein the great Supreme appears in shape Impressive, thundering with His Voice, that fells Them to the earth.