Save what I am. He conquered; let him reign! 130
Cain. Who?
Lucifer. Thy Sire's maker—and the Earth's.
Cain. And Heaven's,
And all that in them is. So I have heard
His Seraphs sing; and so my father saith.
Lucifer. They say—what they must sing and say, on
pain
Of being that which I am,—and thou art—
Of spirits and of men.
Cain. And what is that?
Lucifer. Souls who dare use their immortality—
Souls who dare look the Omnipotent tyrant in
His everlasting face, and tell him that
His evil is not good! If he has made, 140
As he saith—which I know not, nor believe—
But, if he made us—he cannot unmake:
We are immortal!—nay, he'd have us so,
That he may torture:—let him! He is great—
But, in his greatness, is no happier than
We in our conflict! Goodness would not make
Evil; and what else hath he made? But let him
Sit on his vast and solitary throne—
Creating worlds, to make eternity
Less burthensome to his immense existence 150
And unparticipated solitude;[1]
Let him crowd orb on orb: he is alone
Indefinite, Indissoluble Tyrant;
Could he but crush himself, 'twere the best boon
He ever granted: but let him reign on!
And multiply himself in misery!
Spirits and Men, at least we sympathise—
And, suffering in concert, make our pangs
- ↑ [Compare—
"Let him unite above
Star upon star, moon, Sun;
And let his God-head toil
To re-adorn and re-illume his Heaven,
Since in the end derision
Shall prove his works and all his efforts vain."
Adam, a Sacred Drama, by Giovanni Battista Andreini; Cowper's Milton, 1810, iii. 24, sqq.
