No More Learning

_Angel_. Thou hast slain thy brother,
And who shall warrant thee against thy son?

_Adah_. Angel of Light! be merciful, nor say
That this poor aching breast now nourishes
A murderer in my boy, and of his father.

_Angel_. Then he would but be what his father is.
Did not the milk of Eve give nutriment 490
To him thou now seest so besmeared with blood?
The fratricide might well engender parricides. --
But it shall not be so--the Lord thy God
And mine commandeth me to set his seal
On Cain, so that he may go forth in safety.
Who slayeth Cain, a sevenfold vengeance shall
Be taken on his head. Come hither!

_Cain_. What
Wouldst thou with me?

_Angel_.
To mark upon thy brow[cl]
Exemption from such deeds as thou hast done.

_Cain_. No, let me die!

_Angel_. It must not be.
[_The_ ANGEL _sets the mark on_ CAIN'S _brow_.

_Cain_. It burns 500
My brow, but nought to that which is within it!
Is there more? let me meet it as I may.

_Angel_. Stern hast thou been and stubborn from the womb,
As the ground thou must henceforth till; but he
Thou slew'st was gentle as the flocks he tended.

_Cain_. After the fall too soon was I begotten;
Ere yet my mother's mind subsided from
The Serpent, and my sire still mourned for Eden.
That which I am, I am; I did not seek
For life, nor did I make myself; but could I 510
With my own death redeem him from the dust--
And why not so? let him return to day,
And I lie ghastly!