Scene XIV

(A mountainous and treeless region, covered with snow and ice. The sun, like a red, rayless ball, is seen through a mist. Twilight. In the foreground, -an Esquimo hut, surrounded by a few dwarfed birches, junipers and bushes of blackthorn. Adam, as a superannuated man, with a staff, is seen, with Lucifer, descending the mountains.)

ADAM.
Wherefore roam we amid this world of snow,
Where death, all hollow eyed, where'er we go,
Meets us, and only here and there a seal
Doth stir, and at approaching steps doth feel
Affright, and throws itself into the sea?
All nature seemeth dead; no grass, no tree,
But dwarf'd boughs, and there the moon gleams red
Behind the mist, like a death-lamp in the dread
And dismal crypts. Lead hence, where the green

palm grows,
Where the sun shines bright, the fair home of the
rose.

There where man's soul, in consciousness of strength
Has fought, and conquered over all, at length.

LUCIFER.
But we are there. This blood red ball's thy sun;
Th' equator here beneath our feet doth run,
For science has not won the victory.

ADAM.
Grim world! Where only death a good can be,
To part gives me no pain, who long ago,
At mankind's cradle stood, and saw him grow,
And fought with him, for justice, truth and light
And with him, hoped for days of future bright,
Who while this mighty grave yard now I view,
O'er which doth rest, the pall's funereal hue,
By nature spread; I, who was once the first,
Now, last man on the earth; ah, me! I thirst
To know, how did my race fall? Did it die,
In glorious strife, with victory's proud cry
Upon its lips, or slowly did decay,
From sire to son, grow weaker with each day,
Unworthy of a tear?

LUCIFER.
I see that vain

Art thou of that soul of thine, as thou dost call
The force which makes the blood flow in the brain
Of youth, with mighty thoughts it to enthrall,
But do not ask to stand at thine own bier;
This hour will make it wonderfully clear
To thee, the reckonings of life unpaid,
Bright pictures by life's fevers drawn, must fade
And vanish, in death's agonizing throes ;
And what was life, but just a dream, who knows?
The feeble cry of this last woe of life
Is but a jeer at all our earthly strife.

ADAM.
Why then, was I not lost on yonder height,
Full conscious of my soul and strength? I might
Have spared myself all this, to hear my own
Funeral oration, in this mocking tone,
Delivered by a spirit, who to me
Has never shown one jot of sympathy,
Who for my valiant deeds, e'en does not care,
And who with me, my death e'en does not share.

LUCIFER.
I recognize thy genus by the tear
Thou shed'st; fantastic hankering for clear
Conceptions. Never fear; thy race must be
Still in existence. Look, and thou wilt see
A dwelling of mankind, and from his lair
Comes now the master, thy proud race's heir.
(An Esquimo, armed for a seal hunt, comes out of the hut.)

ADAM.
And in this caricature a man — my kin —
The heir of all the greatness I did win?
Why, Lucifer, did'st let me see, and know?
The solace is more bitter than the woe.

THE ESQUIMO.
Are gods above us still? Here I see two
Strange gods approaching me. I wish I knew
If their intent might good, or evil be ;
But safest 'tis from them to quickly flee.

(Starts to Retire.)

LUCIFER.
Stop man! one word!

ESQUIMO (Falling to his knees.)
Pity, my gracious Lord!
The first seal I can slay, I give my word,
I'll sacrifice to thee, but hear my prayer;
My life, O gracious sire, do thou but spare!

LUCIFER.
And to that seal, what right hast thou, tell me
That with Its life, thine own thou dost redeem?

ESQUIMO.
The right of force. Do I not always see
The insect snatched by fishes in the stream?
The seal devours the fish, the seal I slay.

LUCIFER.
And thou of the Great Spirit wilt be prey.

ESQUIMO.
I know, I know, but this brief span of time
He grants me in his mercy so sublime,
I purchase with a bloody sacrifice.

ADAM.
What cowardly views!

LUCIFER.
And did'st thou otherwise?
He sacrifices seals, while thou kill'dst men,
In honor of that God thy fancy wrought,
Just as his fancy, his own God has sought,
Why wilt thou be so proud and haughty, then?

ESQUIMO.
I see thou'rt wrathful, and the reason I
Can feel, because in woe, I dared to sigh
To him, the great and good sungod, who e'er
Spends his benevolence, and doth not care
To take, yet always gives ; tradition says,
He here did rule supreme, in ancient days.
Forgive, and him I'll curse for aye.

ADAM.
With shame
Oh! God! look down on man, whom in thy name,
In thine own image mad'st.

ESQUIMO.
Thy friend I see
Is very angry; may he hungry be?
LUCIFER.
He would not be so wrathful if he were.

ADAM.
Bad, ill timed jokes thou mak'st, I must aver.

LUCIFER.
No joke; the truth was that to him I said,
Thy logic's that but of the man well fed,
While this man with his empty stomach thinks;
From reason and philosophy he shrinks.
You can't convince each other; you'll agree
However, quick enough; as soon as he
A good meal has, and thou hast hungry grown,
Thou may'st idealize; what best is known
In man's the brute, and when his craving's stilled,
He is with proud selfconsciousness well filled,
And dareth to despise the elements
Which make him what he is.

ADAM.
Thy compliments
Are worthy of thyself. Do I not know
That all that's sacred thou drag'st into low,
Vile dross, maliciously, and that to thee
All that is good and great, is but the steam
Escaping from the boiling pot of life,
Or but a circumstance to be, doth seem ;
Which must obtain in this our daily strife,
As matter subject to some law supreme?

LUCIFER.
And dost thou truly think 'tis otherwise?
Dost think that at Thermopylae the prize
Of valor had Leonidas achieved,
If elsewhere than in Sparta he had lived?
In Sparta where they had no money e'en
And on plain brown soup fed? And dost thou mean
That had he known of the Lucullean feast,
And all the lustful pleasures of the east,
He'd now immortal be? Had Brutus died,
If to fair Portia's chambers he had hied
To rest from his encounters, and to dine?
To vice and virtue grow. Shall I assign
The cause thereof? One's bred in foulest air
And misery ; the other one, how e'er,
In warmth and light, created by the sun,
And love of freedom, which from sire to son,
Is left as an inheritance, and which,
Selfsame in form and substance, did enrich
The human race. How many men have said,
" I'm done with life ! " and barren of all hope,
Committed suicide, with a stout rope!
Were they howe'er, cut down in time and saved,
They had forgotten how death they had craved.
And were e'en glad to live. Let us suppose,
That Hunyadi the great, came not of those
Brave Magyars, but had been born as a slave,
Of Moorish parentage, what would have been
His place in life, in whom the world has seen
The greatest hero Christendom hath known?
If Luther had been to the papal throne
Elected, and had Leo chanced to be
Head of a German university,
The former would perhaps then have sent out
Encyclicals, while Leo, in his doubt,
Protested and reformed. And if a land
Had not with its life blood helped the wars, planned
By a Napoleon, would he be known?
His share were ignominy, not a throne.

ADAM (Interrupting.)
No more ! All that thou say'st seems plain and clear,
And true, yet all the more, thy views I fear,
For superstition blinds the imbecile.
Who still the soul within him does not feel,
Which 'mong us moves, in whomsoe'er it be,
In good, admits affinity to see,
If thy cold numbers did not ruthless kill
All nobler aims and purest thoughts.

LUCIFER.
But still,
List to thy fellowman, for he can give
To thee, some lessons in self knowledge.

ADAM.
Live
Still, many of you here?

ESQUIMO.
Yes, many more
Than on my fingers I can count. The gore
Of some I've spilled, and all would I have slain,
But others ceaseless come, 'tis all in vain.
Oh, please, if thou art God, grant my request;
Let not so many men our land infest,
And send into the world more of the seal,
And fewer men ; for this, I make appeal.

ADAM.
Let's go, Oh, Lucifer! Enough for me,
It is.

LUCIFER.
But let us wait his wife to see.

ADAM.
No ! We despise the man, when he sinks low ;
But if the woman thus her downfall show,
Who once embodied poesy hath been,
Our fair ideal, so depressed and mean
Laving in slough, it would revolting be,
To view the caricature. Then go, save me!
(Meanwhile Lucifer, having drawn Adam to the hut,)
pushes open the door, through which Eve, the
Esquimo's wife, is seen.)

LUCIFER.
Dost recognize, or hast forgotten her?
Embrace her quickly, or thou wilt incur
This honest man's displeasure, who indeed,
Would grieve, did'st thou not grant his spouse her
meed.

ADAM.
Embrace her, I, who Aspasia held
Within these arms? Shall I then, be compelled
This creature to embrace; in whom I see
Her features? but while kissing, she to me
Would seem a loathsome beast.

ESQUIMO.
My wife, a guest
Has just arrived, receive him kindly.

EVE.
Rest.
And be thou welcome, stranger!

(Embracing him.)

ADAM (Extricating himself.)
Help! from here
Let's flee, Oh! Lucifer! My future sphere
Let me no longer view, my dreadful fate,
The useless strife, now, I would meditate
On this, If I can e'er defy God more?

LUCIFER.
Awake then, Adam ! Now thy dream is o'er.