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Adam. I tremble at deceit.

Lucifer. Thou must have lost thy reason,

If thou canst fear thy mistress, and thy brother.
Cherubim. Fear, for they are thy foes.

Adam. Thou say'st thou art my brother, she my

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What enemy can man now have on earth?
Cherubim. The enemy of Eve.

Adam. He, who occasion'd misery to Eve,
And he, who was the cause, that from this brow
The painful sweat must now descend in streams.
Lucifer. So little wilt thou trust us?

So lightly dost thou love us?

Yet it is fit thy fault

Call forth the tears to flow into thy bosom.

The Flesh.

With treachery tis fit to treat with man

In gesture, tears, and voice,

Only to plunge him in Tartarean fires.

Adum. They weep in such abundance.

That every tear, they shed, strikes on my bosom,
And tho like marble hard,

I fear, I fear, that if it does not split,

It may at least be soften'd.

Angel. These are the poisonous waters of Avernus,

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(Incautious man!) that from their eyes distill. Lucifer. Ah heav'n! why didst thou form me, Why didst thou join my lot

With this ungrateful, misbelieving Adam,

That feels not his own good, or my affliction ?

Adam. Restrain thy grief, thy tears! and suffer me (If it is true, thy soul desires my good)

To speak to thee apart,

And I to thee will open all my thoughts.
Lucifer. Hast thou no other wish?
Adam. No! I require no more.

Lucifer. Behold us now apart! behold us far!

If any other wish

Strike thee, command! behold! we are obedient
Not to thy words alone, but to thy nod.

Adam. What wouldst thou, O my heart?

What is thy wish, my soul?

Now quiet thy desires! quiet thy pains!
Cherubim. Tell him, if he's thy brother,
And both descendants from the starry sphere,
They should with thee, in pure, and perfect zeal,
Adore the Maker of the heav'n, and earth.
Adam. That which my heart suggests, I now
will do.

The Flesh.

O tempter! now I fear

Some singular mischance.

Cherubim. Now, now the fraud is known.

Adam. Now brother, if you wish, With this your pure celestial paramour, Hail'd as the soul of love,

That I should think the one an heav'nly Adam,
And her the only love of our great Maker,
Now bend with me your humble knees to earth!
Lucifer. How in one instant can two opposites,
Humility, and pride,

Together reign in me ?

Adam. Can Adam so delay ?

Lucifer. I'll tell thee; ah it seems a thing unfit That a celestial knee

Should bend to this vile earth.

Adam. Thou hast already told me,

That in the high celestial plains above

Thou must no longer dwell,

But here with me enjoy delightful days,

Amid these sunny spots;

Let it not then displease thee

With earthly habitudes

To have thy breast, O Adam, fraught like mine!

The Flesh,

Well dost thou speak, O Adam! I am ready

To pay thee prompt obedience.

Lucifer. And I will also shew,

This fair one's pleasure shall my pleasure be.

Adam. Behold I bow myself! behold me bend!

Now let united hands be rais'd to heav'n.

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Lucifer. To make palm meet with palm in vain

we strive.

Adam. In truth there seems much pain.
Lucifer. Perhaps you wish

Our hands united thus !

Adam. No! what! do you not see That both united form a knot together,

Finger entwisting finger?

The Flesh.

Perhaps you chuse them thus !

Adam. Alas! th' example,

That with my hands before your eyes I shew you, Serves it so little ? heavens ! what do I see?

So destitute of sense

Are heav'nly creatures?

Lucifer.

Now behold them join'd.

The Flesh.

In truth I cannot tell,

If he!! this day more tries the strength of Adam,
Or Adam more torments the powers of hell.
Lucifer. Virgor ! soul! animation!
For in proportion as our strife is bloody,
So will our palm of conquest rise in glory.
Adam. Why do you this apart

In such confusion speak?

Now raise your eyes to heav'n,
And with delight contemplate
Of all those starry saphires

The pure resplendent rays,
And those fair blessed seats!
Alas thou shut'st thine eyes,

That stream upon the ground.

Lucifer. O Adam cease at length !

Those rays so splendid dazzle us too much.

Adam. This is my foe: I now discern him well.

The eagle of the sun

Is us'd with pleasure on the sun to gaze ;

And thou, an heav'nly eagle,

Accustom❜d to the brightest rays of heav'n,

Dost thou disdain, or shun them,

Dazzled, and in confusion?

The Flesh.

Who knows what splendors in high heav'n are kindled?

He, who surveys them oft,

Is satiated at last,

There's nought created so divine, and dear,

That in long intercourse becomes not tiresome. Adam. Celestial good ne'er satiates, but delights, And magnifies itself in God's perfection.

As the fair landscape's beauty

(Tho' tis a low example)

Becomes more perfect, and more flow'ry seems,
When the sun gilds the vallies, and the hills.
But as I wish what ye too both desire,

Now let your eyes be clos❜d

And with your op'ning lips pronounce these words

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