Dramatis Personae.

BELZEBUB, } BELIAL, } Rebellious Chiefs.

APOLLION, } GABRIEL, G.o.d's Herald of Mysteries.

CHORUS OF ANGELS.

LUCIFER, Stadtholder.

LUCIFERIANS, Seditious Spirits.

MICHAEL, Field-marshal.

RAFAEL, Guardian Angel.

URIEL, Michael's Armor-bearer.

Lucifer.

ACT I.

Belzebub:

My Belial hence hath sped on aery wings To see where lingers our Apollion, Whom for such flight most fit Chief Lucifer Hath sent to Earth that he might gain for him A better sense of Adam's bliss, the state, Where placed by Powers Omnipotent he dwells.

And lo! the time draws nigh that he return Unto these courts. He cannot now be far.

A watchful servant heeds his master's glance And, faithful, stays his throne with neck and shoulder. 10

Belial:

Lord Belzebub, thou Privy Councillor Of Heaven's Stadtholder, he riseth steep And wheels from sphere to sphere into our view; The wind he pa.s.ses by and leaves a track Of light and splendor in his wake, where cleave, His speedy wings the clouds; and now our air He scents in other day and brighter sun, Whose glow is mirrored in the crystal blue.

The heavenly globes beneath behold his flight, As up he mounts, and each with wonder sees 20 His speed and G.o.dlike grace. He seems to them No more an Angel but a flying fire.

No star so swiftly shoots. Behold him now, Here upwards soaring, and within his hands He bears a golden bough. The steep incline He hath accomplished happily.

Belzebub:

What brings Apollion?

Apollion:

I have, Lord Belzebub, The low terrene observed with keenest eye.

And now I offer thee the fruits grown there So far below these heights, 'neath other skies 30 And other sun: now judge thou from the fruit The land and garden which even G.o.d Himself Hath blessed and planted for mankind's delight.

Belzebub:

I see the golden leaves, all laden with Ethereal pearls, the sparkling silvery dew.

What sweet perfume exhale those radiant leaves Of tint unfading! How alluring glows That pleasant fruit with crimson and with gold!

'Twere pity to pollute it with the hands.

The eye doth tempt the mouth. Who would not l.u.s.t 40 For earthly luxury! He loathes our day And food celestial, who the fruit may pluck Of Earth. One would for Adam's garden curse Our Paradise. The bliss of Angels fades In that of man.

Apollion:

Too true. Lord Belzebub, Though high our Heaven may seem, 'tis far too low, For what I saw with mine own eyes deceives Me not. The world's delights, yea, Eden's fields Alone, our Paradise excel.

Belzebub:

Proceed.

We'll hear what thou shalt say. We'll hear together. 50

Apollion:

I'll pa.s.s my journey thither by nor tell How downward sweeping through nine spheres I sped.

That swift as arrows round their centre whirl.

The wheel of sense revolves within our thoughts Not with such speed, as I beneath the moon And clouds dropped down. Where then aloft I hung, On floating pinions, to survey that sh.o.r.e, That Eastern landscape far that marks the face Of that great sphere the flowing ocean rounds, Wherein so many kinds of monsters swarm. 60 Afar I saw a lofty mount emerge, From which a waterfall, fount of four streams, Dashed with a roar into the vale below.

Headlong I steered my course oblique, with steep Descent, until I gained the mountain's brow, Whence, resting, all the nether world I viewed, Its happy fields and glowing opulence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "I see golden leaves, all laden with Ethereal pearls, the sparkling silvery dew."]

Belzebub:

Now picture us the garden and its shape.

Apollion:

Round is the garden, as the world itself.

Above the centre looms the mount from which 70 The fountain gushes that divides in four, And waters all the land, refreshing trees And fields; and flows in unreflective rills Of crystal purity. The streams their rich Alluvion bring and nourish all the ground.

Here Onyx gleams and Bdellion doth shine; And bright as Heaven glows with glittering stars; So here Dame Nature sowed her constellations Of stones that pale our stars. Here dazzle veins Of gold; for Nature wished to gather all 80 Her treasures in one lap.

Belzebub:

What of the air That hovers round whereby that creature lives?

Apollion:

No Angel us among, a breath exhales So soft and sweet as the pure draught refreshing That there meets man, that lightly cools his face And with its gentle, vivifying touch All things caresses in its blissful course: There swells the bosom of the fertile field "With herb and hue and bud and branch and bloom And odors manifold, which nightly dews 90 Refresh. The rising and the setting sun Know and observe their proper, measured time And so unto the need of every plant Temper their mighty rays that flower and fruit Are all within the selfsame season found.

Belzebub:

Now tell me of man's features and his form.

Apollion:

Who would our state for that of man prefer, When one beholdeth beings, all-surpa.s.sing, Beneath whose sway all other beings stand!

I saw a hundred thousand creatures move 100 Before me there: all they that tread the earth And they that cleave the clouds, or swim the stream, As is their wont, each in his element.

Who should the nature and the attributes Of each one know as Adam! For 'twas he That gave them, one by one, their various names.

The mountain-lion wagged his tail and smiled Upon his lord. And, at his sovereign's feet, The tiger, too, his fierceness laid. The bull Bowed low his horns; the elephant, his trunk. 110 The bear forgot his rage. The griffin heard His call; the eagle and the dragon dread, Behemoth and even great Leviathan.

Nor shall I tell what praise rings in man's ears, Amid those warbling bowers, replete with songs in many tongues; while zephyrs rustle through The leaves, and brooks purl 'neath their sylvan banks A murmurous harmony that wearies never.

Had but Apollion his mission then Accomplished, sooth, in Adam's Paradise 120 He soon had lost all memory of Heaven.