No More Learning

I would have made ye
Gods; and even He who thrust ye forth, so thrust ye
Because "ye should not eat the fruits of life,
And become gods as we. " Were those his words?

_Cain_. They were, as I have heard from those who heard them,
In thunder.

_Lucifer_. Then who was the Demon? He
Who would not let ye live, or he who would
Have made ye live for ever, in the joy
And power of Knowledge?

_Cain_. Would they had snatched both 210
The fruits, or neither!

_Lucifer_. One is yours already,
The other may be still.

_Cain_. How so?

_Lucifer_. By being
Yourselves, in your resistance.
Nothing can
Quench the mind, if the mind will be itself
And centre of surrounding things--'tis made
To sway.

_Cain_. But didst thou tempt my parents?

_Lucifer_. I?
Poor clay--what should I tempt them for, or how?

_Cain_. They say the Serpent was a spirit.

_Lucifer_. Who
Saith that? It is not written so on high:
The proud One will not so far falsify, 220
Though man's vast fears and little vanity
Would make him cast upon the spiritual nature
His own low failing. The snake _was_ the snake--
No more;[102] and yet not less than those he tempted,
In nature being earth also--_more_ in _wisdom_,
Since he could overcome them, and foreknew
The knowledge fatal to their narrow joys.
Think'st thou I'd take the shape of things that die?

_Cain_. But the thing had a demon?

_Lucifer_.