Yet of a sterner and a sadder aspect
Of spiritual essence:why do I quake?
Why should I fear him more than other spirits,
Whom I see daily wave their fiery swords
Before the gates round which I linger oft,
In Twilight's hour, to catch a glimpse of those
Gardens which are my just inheritance,
Ere the night closes o'er the inhibited walls
And the immortal trees which overtop
The Cherubim-defended battlements?90
If I shrink not from these, the fire-armed angels,
Why should I quail from him who now approaches?
Yet—he seems mightier far than them, nor less
Beauteous, and yet not all as beautiful
As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems
Half of his immortality.[1] And is it
So? and can aught grieve save Humanity?
He cometh.
Enter lucifer.
Lucifer. Mortal!
Cain.Spirit, who art thou ?
Lucifer. Master of spirits.
Cain.And being so, canst thou
Leave them, and walk with dust ?
Lucifer. I know the thoughts100
Of dust, and feel for it, and with you.
Cain. How!
You know my thoughts?
Lucifer. They are the thoughts of all
Worthy of thought;—'tis your immortal part[2]
- ↑ I. [Compare—
"...his form had not yet lost
All her original brightness, nor appears
Less than Arch-angel mind, and the excess
Of glory obscure."Paradise Lost, i. 591-953.Compare, too—
"...but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care
Sat on his faded cheek."Ibid., i, 600-602] - ↑ [According to the Manichaeans, the divinely created and immortal
