Abel. Comfort poor Now.

Then may God forgive him! Cain, Zillah:-she has but one brother

[ABEL dies.

Cain. And I none !-Who makes me brotherless?
His eyes are open! then he is not dead!

Death is like sleep;1 and sleep shuts down our lids.
His lips, too, are apart; why then he breathes;
And yet I feel it not.-His heart!—his heart!—
Let me see, doth it beat? methinks-No!no!
This is a vision, else I am become

The native of another and worse world.

340

The earth swims round me:—what is this?-'tis wet;
[Puts his hand to his brow, and then looks at it.
And yet there are no dews! 'Tis blood-my blood-
My brother's and my own! and shed by me!
Then what have I further to do with life,
Since I have taken life from my own flesh?
But he can not be dead!-Is silence death?
No; he will wake; then let me watch by him.
Life cannot be so slight, as to be quenched
Thus quickly he hath spoken to me since-
What shall I say to him?-My brother!-No:
He will not answer to that name; for brethren
Smite not each other. Yet-yet-speak to me.
Oh! for a word more of that gentle voice,
That I may bear to hear my own again!

Enter ZILLAH.

350

Zillah. I heard a heavy sound; what can it be? 'Tis Cain; and watching by my husband. What Dost thou there, brother? Doth he sleep? Oh, Heaven! What means this paleness, and yon stream?—No, no! 361 It is not blood; for who would shed his blood? Abel! what's this?-who hath done this? He moves

not;

He breathes not: and his hands drop down from mine

1. [Compare

"How wonderful is Death
Death and his brother Sleep!'

"

Queen Mab, i. lines 1, 2.]

With stony lifelessness! Ah! cruel Cain!

Why camest thou not in time to save him from
This violence? Whatever hath assailed him,
Thou wert the stronger, and shouldst have stepped in
Between him and aggression! Father!-Eve!—
Adah!-come hither! Death is in the world!

370

[Exit ZILLAH, calling on her Parents, etc. Cain (solus). And who hath brought him there?—I—

who abhor

The name of Death so deeply, that the thought

Empoisoned all my life, before I knew

His aspect I have led him here, and given
My brother to his cold and still embrace,

As if he would not have asserted his
Inexorable claim without my aid.

I am awake at last-a dreary dream

Had maddened me ;-but he shall ne'er awake!

Enter ADAM, EVE, ADAH, and ZILLAH.

Adam. A voice of woe from Zillah brings me here- 380 What do I see?-'Tis true !-My son !-my son! Woman, behold the Serpent's work, and thine! [To EvE. Eve. Oh! speak not of it now: the Serpent's fangs Are in my heart! My best beloved, Abel!

Jehovah this is punishment beyond

A mother's sin, to take him from me!

Adam.

Who,

Or what hath done this deed?—speak, Cain, since thou
Wert present; was it some more hostile angel,

Who walks not with Jehovah? or some wild

Brute of the forest?

Eve.

Ah! a livid light

Breaks through, as from a thunder-cloud! yon brand
Massy and bloody! snatched from off the altar,

And black with smoke, and red with-
Adam.

Speak, and assure us, wretched as we are,
That we are not more miserable still.

390

Speak, my son !

Adah. Speak, Cain! and say it was not thou!
Eve.

It was!

I see it now-he hangs his guilty head,
And covers his ferocious eye with hands
Incarnadine !

Adah. Mother, thou dost him wrong-
Cain clear thee from this horrible accusal,
Which grief wrings from our parent.

Hear, Jehovah !

Eve.
May the eternal Serpent's curse be on him!
For he was fitter for his seed than ours.
May all his days be desolate! May-

Adah.

Curse him not, mother, for he is thy son-
Curse him not, mother, for he is my brother,
And my betrothed.

Eve.

Hold!

He hath left thee no brother

Zillah no husband-me no son! for thus

I curse him from my sight for evermore !

All bonds I break between us, as he broke

That of his nature, in yon-Oh Death! Death!

Why didst thou not take me, who first incurred thee?
Why dost thou not so now?

Adam.

Eve! let not this,
Thy natural grief, lead to impiety!

A heavy doom was long forespoken to us;
And now that it begins, let it be borne

In such sort as may show our God, that we

Are faithful servants to his holy will.

400

410

Eve (pointing to Cain). His will! the will of yon

Incarnate Spirit

Of Death, whom I have brought upon the earth

To strew it with the dead.

May all the curses

Of life be on him! and his agonies

Drive him forth o'er the wilderness, like us
From Eden, till his children do by him
As he did by his brother! May the swords
And wings of fiery Cherubim pursue him

By day and night-snakes spring up in his path—
Earth's fruits be ashes in his mouth—the leaves
On which he lays his head to sleep be strewed

420

With scorpions! May his dreams be of his victim! 430 His waking a continual dread of Death!

May the clear rivers turn to blood as he1
Stoops down to stain them with his raging lip!
May every element shun or change to him!
May he live in the pangs which others die with!
And Death itself wax something worse than Death
To him who first acquainted him with man!
Hence, fratricide! henceforth that word is Cain,
Through all the coming myriads of mankind,

Who shall abhor thee, though thou wert their sire! 440
May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust

A grave! the sun his light! and heaven her God! 2

[Exit EVE.

Adam. Cain! get thee forth: we dwell no more

together.

Depart! and leave the dead to me-I am

Henceforth alone-we never must meet more.

Adah. Oh, part not with him thus, my father: do not Add thy deep curse to Eve's upon his head!

Adam. I curse him not: his spirit be his curse. Come, Zillah!

Zillah.

I must watch my husband's corse.3 450 Adam. We will return again, when he is gone Who hath provided for us this dread office. Come, Zillah!

Zillah.

I. [Compare

Yet one kiss on yon pale clay,

"And Water shall hear me,

And know thee and fly thee;

And the Winds shall not touch thee

When they pass by thee.

And thou shalt seek Death

To release thee in vain."

The Curse of Kehama, by R. Southey, Canto II.]

2. [The last three lines of this terrible denunciation were not in the original MS. In forwarding them to Murray (September 12, 1821, Letters, 1901, v. 361), to be added to Eve's speech, Byron says, "There's as pretty a piece of Imprecation for you, when joined to the lines already sent, as you may wish to meet with in the course of your business. But don't forget the addition of these three lines, which are clinchers to Eve's speech."]

3. [If Byron had read his plays aloud, or been at pains to revise the proofs, he would hardly have allowed "corse" to remain in such close proximity to " curse."

And those lips once so warm-my heart! my heart! [Exeunt ADAM and ZILLAH weeping.

Adah. Cain! thou hast heard, we must go forth. I

am ready,

So shall our children be. I will bear Enoch,

And you his sister. Ere the sun declines
Let us depart, nor walk the wilderness

Under the cloud of night.-Nay, speak to me.
To me-thine own.

Cain.

Adah.

Leave me!

Why, all have left thee. 460

Cain. And wherefore lingerest thou? Dost thou not

fear

To dwell with one who hath done this?

Adah.

Nothing except to leave thee, much as I

I fear

Shrink from the deed which leaves thee brotherless.
I must not speak of this-it is between thee
And the great God.

A Voice from within exclaims. Cain! Cain!
Adah.

Hear'st thou that voice?

Angel.

Cain! what hast thou done? The voice of thy slain brother's blood cries out, 470 Even from the ground, unto the Lord !-Now art thou Cursed from the earth, which opened late her mouth

I. ["I have avoided introducing the Deity, as in Scripture (though Milton does, and not very wisely either); but have adopted his angel as sent to Cain instead, on purpose to avoid shocking any feelings on the subject, by falling short of what all uninspired men must fall short in, viz. giving an adequate notion of the effect of the presence of Jehovah. The Old Mysteries introduced him liberally enough, and this is avoided in the New."-Letter to Murray, February 8, 1822, Letters, 1901, vi. 13. Byron does not seem to have known that in the older portions of the Bible" Angel of the Lord" is only a name for the Second Person of the Trinity.]