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Of Angels and Men

Of Angels and Men Lyrics

Song Of Angels and Men
Artist H.E.R.R.
Album Vondel's Lucifer - First Movement
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作词 : Joost van den Vondel
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.
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 passes 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
His speed and godlike 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
And other sun: now judge thou from the fruit
The land and garden which even God 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 lust
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.
Apollion:
I'll pass 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 shore,
That Eastern landscape far that marks the face
Of that great sphere the flowing ocean rounds,
Wherein so many kinds of monsters swarm.
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.
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
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
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
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-surpassing,
Beneath whose sway all other beings stand!
I saw a hundred thousand creatures move
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.
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
He soon had lost all memory of Heaven.
Belzebub:
But what, pray, of the twain thou sawest there?
Apollion:
No creature hath on high mine eye so pleased
As those below. Who could so subtly soul
With body weave and two-fold Angels form
From clay and bone? The body's shapely mould
Attests the Maker's art, that in the face,
The mirror of the mind, doth best appear.
But wonderful! upon the face is stamped
The image of the soul. All beauty here
Concentres, while a god looks through the eyes.
Above the whole the reasoning soul doth hover,
And while the dumb and brutish beasts all look
Down towards their feet, man proudly lifts alone
His head to Heaven, in lofty praise to God.
Belzebub:
His praise is not in vain for gifts so rare.
Apollion:
He rules even like a god whom all must serve.
The invisible soul consists of spirit and not
Of matter, and it rules in every limb:
The brain it makes its seat, and there holds court.
It is immortal, nor fears aught of rust,
Or other injury. 'Tis past our sense.
Knowledge and prudence, virtue and free-will,
Are its possessions. Dumb all Spirits stand
Before its majesty. Ere long the world
Shall teem with men. It waits, from little seed,
A harvest rich in souls; and therefore God
Did man to woman join.
Belzebub:
Now say me how
Thou dost regard his rib—his lovèd spouse?
Apollion:
I covered with my wings mine eyes and face
That I might curb my thoughts and deep delight,
When erst she filled my gaze, as Adam led her
Into their arborous bower with gentle hand:
From time to time he stopped, in contemplation;
And gazing thus, a holy fire began
His pure breast to inflame. And then he kissed
His bride and she her bridegroom: thus on joy
Their nuptials fed—on feasts of fiery love,
Better imagined far than told, a bliss
Divine beyond all Angel ken. How poor
Our loneliness! For us no union sweet
Of two-fold sex, of maiden and of man.
Alas! how much of good we miss: we know
No mate or happy marriage in a Heaven
Devoid of woman.
Belzebub:
Thus in time a world
Of men shall be begotten there below?
Apollion:
The love of beauty, fashioned in the brain,
Deeply impressèd by the senses keen,
This makes their union strong. Their life consists
Alone in loving and in being loved-
One sweet, one mutual joy, by them indulged
Perpetually, yet e'er unquenchable.
Belzebub:
Now picture me the bride, described from life.
Apollion:
That Nature's pencil needs, nor lesser hues
Than sunbeams. Perfect are both man and wife;
Of equal beauty they, from head to foot.
By right doth Adam Eve excel in strength
Of form and majesty of bearing, as
One chosen for the sovereignty of Earth:
But Eve combines all that her bridegroom joys:
A tenderness of limb and softer skin
And flesh, a lovelier tint and eyes enchanting,
A charming, gracious mouth, a sweeter voice,
Whose power lies in a sound more exquisite;
Two founts of ivory and what besides
No tongue should dare to name, lest Spirits should
Be tempted. And though all the Angels now
Impress our eyes as beautiful and fair.
How ill their forms and faces would appear
If seen within the rosy morning-light
Of maidenhood!
Belzebub:
It seems that passion for
This feminine creature hath thy heart inflamed.
Apollion:
In that delightful blaze, my great wing-plumes
I singed. Most hard it was for me to rise
And wheel my way to this our high abode.
I parted, though with pain, and thrice turned back
My gaze. There shines no Seraph in the courts
Celestial, here on high, as she amid
Her hanging hair, that forms a golden niche
Of sunbeams that in beauteous waves roll down
From her fair head, and flow along her back.
So, even as from a light, she comes to view,
And day rejoices with her radiant face.
Though pearl and mother-o'-pearl seem purity,
Her whiteness even theirs surpasses far.
Belzebub:
What profits human glory, if even as
A flower of the field it fades and dies?
Apollion:
So long their garden fruit doth give, shall this
Most happy pair live by an apple sweet,
Grown on the central tree, that nurture finds
Beside the stream that laves its tender roots.
This wondrous tree is called the tree of life.
'Tis incorruptible, and through it man
Joys life eterne and all immortal things,
While of his Angel brothers he becomes
The peer, yea, and shall in the end surpass
Them all, until his power and sway and realm
Spread over all. For who can clip his wings?
No Angel hath the power to multiply
His being a thousand thousand times, in swarms
Innumerable. Now do thou calculate
What shall from this, in time, the outcome be.
Belzebub:
Great is man's might, that thus even ours out-grows!
Apollion:
Soon shall his increase frighten and astound.
Though now his sway stoops lower than the moon,
And though 'tis now determinate, he shall
Yet higher rise and place himself upon
The highest seat in Heaven. If God prevent
Not this, how then can we prevent it? For
God loves man well and for him made all things.
Belzebub:
What hear I there? A trumpet? Surely then
A voice will follow. Go, see, while we here
Await.
Apollion:
The Archangel Gabriel is at hand,
And in his wake the choristers of Heaven,
In the name of Him, the Highest, to unfold,
As Herald from the towering Throne of Thrones,
What there him was enjoined.
Belzebub:
We please to hear
Whatever the Archangel shall command.
zuo ci : Joost van den Vondel
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.
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 passes 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
His speed and godlike 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
And other sun: now judge thou from the fruit
The land and garden which even God 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 lust
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.
Apollion:
I' ll pass 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 shore,
That Eastern landscape far that marks the face
Of that great sphere the flowing ocean rounds,
Wherein so many kinds of monsters swarm.
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.
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
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
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
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, allsurpassing,
Beneath whose sway all other beings stand!
I saw a hundred thousand creatures move
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 mountainlion 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.
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
He soon had lost all memory of Heaven.
Belzebub:
But what, pray, of the twain thou sawest there?
Apollion:
No creature hath on high mine eye so pleased
As those below. Who could so subtly soul
With body weave and twofold Angels form
From clay and bone? The body' s shapely mould
Attests the Maker' s art, that in the face,
The mirror of the mind, doth best appear.
But wonderful! upon the face is stamped
The image of the soul. All beauty here
Concentres, while a god looks through the eyes.
Above the whole the reasoning soul doth hover,
And while the dumb and brutish beasts all look
Down towards their feet, man proudly lifts alone
His head to Heaven, in lofty praise to God.
Belzebub:
His praise is not in vain for gifts so rare.
Apollion:
He rules even like a god whom all must serve.
The invisible soul consists of spirit and not
Of matter, and it rules in every limb:
The brain it makes its seat, and there holds court.
It is immortal, nor fears aught of rust,
Or other injury. ' Tis past our sense.
Knowledge and prudence, virtue and freewill,
Are its possessions. Dumb all Spirits stand
Before its majesty. Ere long the world
Shall teem with men. It waits, from little seed,
A harvest rich in souls and therefore God
Did man to woman join.
Belzebub:
Now say me how
Thou dost regard his rib his love d spouse?
Apollion:
I covered with my wings mine eyes and face
That I might curb my thoughts and deep delight,
When erst she filled my gaze, as Adam led her
Into their arborous bower with gentle hand:
From time to time he stopped, in contemplation
And gazing thus, a holy fire began
His pure breast to inflame. And then he kissed
His bride and she her bridegroom: thus on joy
Their nuptials fed on feasts of fiery love,
Better imagined far than told, a bliss
Divine beyond all Angel ken. How poor
Our loneliness! For us no union sweet
Of twofold sex, of maiden and of man.
Alas! how much of good we miss: we know
No mate or happy marriage in a Heaven
Devoid of woman.
Belzebub:
Thus in time a world
Of men shall be begotten there below?
Apollion:
The love of beauty, fashioned in the brain,
Deeply impresse d by the senses keen,
This makes their union strong. Their life consists
Alone in loving and in being loved
One sweet, one mutual joy, by them indulged
Perpetually, yet e' er unquenchable.
Belzebub:
Now picture me the bride, described from life.
Apollion:
That Nature' s pencil needs, nor lesser hues
Than sunbeams. Perfect are both man and wife
Of equal beauty they, from head to foot.
By right doth Adam Eve excel in strength
Of form and majesty of bearing, as
One chosen for the sovereignty of Earth:
But Eve combines all that her bridegroom joys:
A tenderness of limb and softer skin
And flesh, a lovelier tint and eyes enchanting,
A charming, gracious mouth, a sweeter voice,
Whose power lies in a sound more exquisite
Two founts of ivory and what besides
No tongue should dare to name, lest Spirits should
Be tempted. And though all the Angels now
Impress our eyes as beautiful and fair.
How ill their forms and faces would appear
If seen within the rosy morninglight
Of maidenhood!
Belzebub:
It seems that passion for
This feminine creature hath thy heart inflamed.
Apollion:
In that delightful blaze, my great wingplumes
I singed. Most hard it was for me to rise
And wheel my way to this our high abode.
I parted, though with pain, and thrice turned back
My gaze. There shines no Seraph in the courts
Celestial, here on high, as she amid
Her hanging hair, that forms a golden niche
Of sunbeams that in beauteous waves roll down
From her fair head, and flow along her back.
So, even as from a light, she comes to view,
And day rejoices with her radiant face.
Though pearl and mothero' pearl seem purity,
Her whiteness even theirs surpasses far.
Belzebub:
What profits human glory, if even as
A flower of the field it fades and dies?
Apollion:
So long their garden fruit doth give, shall this
Most happy pair live by an apple sweet,
Grown on the central tree, that nurture finds
Beside the stream that laves its tender roots.
This wondrous tree is called the tree of life.
' Tis incorruptible, and through it man
Joys life eterne and all immortal things,
While of his Angel brothers he becomes
The peer, yea, and shall in the end surpass
Them all, until his power and sway and realm
Spread over all. For who can clip his wings?
No Angel hath the power to multiply
His being a thousand thousand times, in swarms
Innumerable. Now do thou calculate
What shall from this, in time, the outcome be.
Belzebub:
Great is man' s might, that thus even ours outgrows!
Apollion:
Soon shall his increase frighten and astound.
Though now his sway stoops lower than the moon,
And though ' tis now determinate, he shall
Yet higher rise and place himself upon
The highest seat in Heaven. If God prevent
Not this, how then can we prevent it? For
God loves man well and for him made all things.
Belzebub:
What hear I there? A trumpet? Surely then
A voice will follow. Go, see, while we here
Await.
Apollion:
The Archangel Gabriel is at hand,
And in his wake the choristers of Heaven,
In the name of Him, the Highest, to unfold,
As Herald from the towering Throne of Thrones,
What there him was enjoined.
Belzebub:
We please to hear
Whatever the Archangel shall command.
zuò cí : Joost van den Vondel
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.
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 passes 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
His speed and godlike 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
And other sun: now judge thou from the fruit
The land and garden which even God 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 lust
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.
Apollion:
I' ll pass 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 shore,
That Eastern landscape far that marks the face
Of that great sphere the flowing ocean rounds,
Wherein so many kinds of monsters swarm.
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.
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
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
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
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, allsurpassing,
Beneath whose sway all other beings stand!
I saw a hundred thousand creatures move
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 mountainlion 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.
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
He soon had lost all memory of Heaven.
Belzebub:
But what, pray, of the twain thou sawest there?
Apollion:
No creature hath on high mine eye so pleased
As those below. Who could so subtly soul
With body weave and twofold Angels form
From clay and bone? The body' s shapely mould
Attests the Maker' s art, that in the face,
The mirror of the mind, doth best appear.
But wonderful! upon the face is stamped
The image of the soul. All beauty here
Concentres, while a god looks through the eyes.
Above the whole the reasoning soul doth hover,
And while the dumb and brutish beasts all look
Down towards their feet, man proudly lifts alone
His head to Heaven, in lofty praise to God.
Belzebub:
His praise is not in vain for gifts so rare.
Apollion:
He rules even like a god whom all must serve.
The invisible soul consists of spirit and not
Of matter, and it rules in every limb:
The brain it makes its seat, and there holds court.
It is immortal, nor fears aught of rust,
Or other injury. ' Tis past our sense.
Knowledge and prudence, virtue and freewill,
Are its possessions. Dumb all Spirits stand
Before its majesty. Ere long the world
Shall teem with men. It waits, from little seed,
A harvest rich in souls and therefore God
Did man to woman join.
Belzebub:
Now say me how
Thou dost regard his rib his lovè d spouse?
Apollion:
I covered with my wings mine eyes and face
That I might curb my thoughts and deep delight,
When erst she filled my gaze, as Adam led her
Into their arborous bower with gentle hand:
From time to time he stopped, in contemplation
And gazing thus, a holy fire began
His pure breast to inflame. And then he kissed
His bride and she her bridegroom: thus on joy
Their nuptials fed on feasts of fiery love,
Better imagined far than told, a bliss
Divine beyond all Angel ken. How poor
Our loneliness! For us no union sweet
Of twofold sex, of maiden and of man.
Alas! how much of good we miss: we know
No mate or happy marriage in a Heaven
Devoid of woman.
Belzebub:
Thus in time a world
Of men shall be begotten there below?
Apollion:
The love of beauty, fashioned in the brain,
Deeply impressè d by the senses keen,
This makes their union strong. Their life consists
Alone in loving and in being loved
One sweet, one mutual joy, by them indulged
Perpetually, yet e' er unquenchable.
Belzebub:
Now picture me the bride, described from life.
Apollion:
That Nature' s pencil needs, nor lesser hues
Than sunbeams. Perfect are both man and wife
Of equal beauty they, from head to foot.
By right doth Adam Eve excel in strength
Of form and majesty of bearing, as
One chosen for the sovereignty of Earth:
But Eve combines all that her bridegroom joys:
A tenderness of limb and softer skin
And flesh, a lovelier tint and eyes enchanting,
A charming, gracious mouth, a sweeter voice,
Whose power lies in a sound more exquisite
Two founts of ivory and what besides
No tongue should dare to name, lest Spirits should
Be tempted. And though all the Angels now
Impress our eyes as beautiful and fair.
How ill their forms and faces would appear
If seen within the rosy morninglight
Of maidenhood!
Belzebub:
It seems that passion for
This feminine creature hath thy heart inflamed.
Apollion:
In that delightful blaze, my great wingplumes
I singed. Most hard it was for me to rise
And wheel my way to this our high abode.
I parted, though with pain, and thrice turned back
My gaze. There shines no Seraph in the courts
Celestial, here on high, as she amid
Her hanging hair, that forms a golden niche
Of sunbeams that in beauteous waves roll down
From her fair head, and flow along her back.
So, even as from a light, she comes to view,
And day rejoices with her radiant face.
Though pearl and mothero' pearl seem purity,
Her whiteness even theirs surpasses far.
Belzebub:
What profits human glory, if even as
A flower of the field it fades and dies?
Apollion:
So long their garden fruit doth give, shall this
Most happy pair live by an apple sweet,
Grown on the central tree, that nurture finds
Beside the stream that laves its tender roots.
This wondrous tree is called the tree of life.
' Tis incorruptible, and through it man
Joys life eterne and all immortal things,
While of his Angel brothers he becomes
The peer, yea, and shall in the end surpass
Them all, until his power and sway and realm
Spread over all. For who can clip his wings?
No Angel hath the power to multiply
His being a thousand thousand times, in swarms
Innumerable. Now do thou calculate
What shall from this, in time, the outcome be.
Belzebub:
Great is man' s might, that thus even ours outgrows!
Apollion:
Soon shall his increase frighten and astound.
Though now his sway stoops lower than the moon,
And though ' tis now determinate, he shall
Yet higher rise and place himself upon
The highest seat in Heaven. If God prevent
Not this, how then can we prevent it? For
God loves man well and for him made all things.
Belzebub:
What hear I there? A trumpet? Surely then
A voice will follow. Go, see, while we here
Await.
Apollion:
The Archangel Gabriel is at hand,
And in his wake the choristers of Heaven,
In the name of Him, the Highest, to unfold,
As Herald from the towering Throne of Thrones,
What there him was enjoined.
Belzebub:
We please to hear
Whatever the Archangel shall command.
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