Vondel's Lucifer

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 notOf 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 standBefore its majesty. Ere long the worldShall teem with men. It waits, from little seed,A harvest rich in souls; and therefore GodDid man to woman join.

Belzebub:

Now say me howThou dost regard his rib—his lovèd spouse?

Apollion:

I covered with my wings mine eyes and faceThat I might curb my thoughts and deep delight,When erst she filled my gaze, as Adam led herInto their arborous bower with gentle hand:From time to time he stopped, in contemplation;And gazing thus, a holy fire beganHis pure breast to inflame. And then he kissedHis bride and she her bridegroom: thus on joyTheir nuptials fed—on feasts of fiery love,Better imagined far than told, a blissDivine beyond all Angel ken. How poorOur loneliness! For us no union sweetOf two-fold sex, of maiden and of man.Alas! how much of good we miss: we knowNo mate or happy marriage in a HeavenDevoid of woman.

Belzebub:

Thus in time a worldOf 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 consistsAlone in loving and in being loved-One sweet, one mutual joy, by them indulgedPerpetually, yet e'er unquenchable.

Belzebub:

Now picture me the bride, described from life.

Apollion:

That Nature's pencil needs, nor lesser huesThan sunbeams. Perfect are both man and wife;Of equal beauty they, from head to foot.By right doth Adam Eve excel in strengthOf form and majesty of bearing, asOne chosen for the sovereignty of Earth:But Eve combines all that her bridegroom joys:A tenderness of limb and softer skinAnd 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 besidesNo tongue should dare to name, lest Spirits shouldBe tempted. And though all the Angels nowImpress our eyes as beautiful and fair.How ill their forms and faces would appearIf seen within the rosy morning-lightOf maidenhood!

"Perfect are both man and wife;Of equal beauty they from head to foot."

Belzebub:

It seems that passion forThis feminine creature hath thy heart inflamed.

Apollion:

In that delightful blaze, my great wing-plumesI singed. Most hard it was for me to riseAnd wheel my way to this our high abode.I parted, though with pain, and thrice turned backMy gaze. There shines no Seraph in the courtsCelestial, here on high, as she amidHer hanging hair, that forms a golden nicheOf sunbeams that in beauteous waves roll downFrom 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 asA flower of the field it fades and dies?

Apollion:

So long their garden fruit doth give, shall thisMost happy pair live by an apple sweet,Grown on the central tree, that nurture findsBeside the stream that laves its tender roots.This wondrous tree is called the tree of life.'Tis incorruptible, and through it manJoys life eterne and all immortal things,While of his Angel brothers he becomesThe peer, yea, and shall in the end surpassThem all, until his power and sway and realmSpread over all. For who can clip his wings?No Angel hath the power to multiplyHis being a thousand thousand times, in swarmsInnumerable. Now do thou calculateWhat 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 shallYet higher rise and place himself uponThe highest seat in Heaven. If God preventNot this, how then can we prevent it? ForGod loves man well and for him made all things.

Belzebub:

What hear I there? A trumpet? Surely thenA voice will follow. Go, see, while we hereAwait.

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 hearWhatever the Archangel shall command.

GABRIEL. CHORUS OF ANGELS.

Gabriel:

Give ear, ye Angels all; give ear, ye hostsOf Heaven. The highest Goodness, from whose breastFlow all things good and all things holy, whoOf His beneficence ne'er wearied growsAnd of whose teeming grace the riches neverShall know decrease; whose might and Being transcendThe comprehension of His creatures all:This Goodness, in the image of Himself,Formed man, also the Angels that they mightTogether here with Him securely holdThe Realm eterne—the good ne'er-comprehended.Having the while with faithfulness maintainedHis firm prescribed law. He also builtThis wondrous universe, the world belowMade manifest, and meet for God and man,That in this garden man might rule and thereMight multiply; acknowledge God with allHis seed; Him ever serve and e'er revere,And thus mount up, by the stairway of the world,The firmament of beatific lightWithin, into the ne'er-created glow.Though Spirits may seem pre-eminent, aboveAll other beings, yet God hath decreed,Even from eternity, that man shall highExalted be, even o'er the Angel world;Him destined for a glory and a crownOf splendor not inferior to His own.Ye shall behold the eternal Word above,When clad in flesh and bone, anointed LordAnd Chief and Judge, mete justice to the hostsOf Spirits, to Angels and to men alike,From His high seat, in His unshadowed Realm.There in the centre stands the holy ThroneAlready consecrate. Let all the hostsAngelic then have care to worship Him,When He shall ride in triumph in, who hathThe human form exalted o'er our own.Then dimly shines the bright translucent flameOf Seraphim, beside this light of man,This glow and radiance divine. The raysOf Mercy shall all Nature's splendors drown.'Tis fated thus—and stands irrevocable.

Chorus.

All that the Heavens ordain shall please God's hosts.

Gabriel:

So be ye faithful, ever rendering thusBoth God and man your service: since mankindSo well belovèd are by God Himself.Who honors Adam wins his Father's heart.And men and Angels, issuing from one stem.Are brothers and companions, chosen forOne lot, the sons and heirs of the Most High,A stainless line. One undivided will,One undivided love, be this your law.Ye know how all the Angel hosts intoThree Hierarchies and lesser Orders nineAre duly separate: of SeraphimAnd Cherubim and Thrones, the highest, theyWho form God's inmost Council and confirmAll His commands; the second Hierarchy,Of Dominations. Virtues. Powers, that onThe mandates of God's secret Council waitAnd minister to man's well-being and bliss.The third and lowest Hierarchy, composedOf Principalities and all ArchangelsAnd Angels, is unto the middle rankSubordinate, and service finds beneathThe sphere of purest crystalline, in theirParticular charge, that wide is as the vaultOf starry space. And when the world shall spreadIts widening bounds without, shall unto eachOf these some province there allotted be,Or he shall know what town or house or beingIs to his care committed, to the praiseAnd honor of God's crown. Ye faithful ones,Ye Gods immortal, go then and obeyChief Lucifer, bound by your God's commands.Bring glory to high Heaven in serving man,Each in his own retreat, each on his watch.Let some before the Godhead incense burnAnd lay before His towering Throne their prayers,Their wishes and their offerings for mankind,Singing the Godhead praise until the soundsRe-echo through the corridors of Heaven,In endless jubilation. Let some whirlThe constellations and the globes of Heaven,Or open wide the skies, or pile them highWith pregnant clouds, to bless the mount belowWith sunshine, or with soft, refreshing showersOf manna and of pure mellifluous dews;Where God is by the happy pair adored,The primal innocence 'mid Eden's bowers.Let those that air and fire and earth and seaO'er range, each, in his element, his paceSo moderate, as Adam may require;Or chain in bands the lightnings, curb the storm,Or break the ocean's fury on the strand.Let others make a charge of man himself.Even to a hair the sovran DeityKnoweth the hairs upon his head. Then bearHim gently on your hands, lest he should dashHis foot against a stone. Let one now asAmbassador from the OmnipotentBe sent below to Adam. King of Earth.That he perform his bounden charge. I voiceThe orders to my trump on high enjoined.To these the Godhead holds you firmly bound.

Chorus of Angels:

Strophe.

Who is it on His Throne, high-seated,So deep in boundless realms of light,Whose measure, space nor time hath meted,Nor e'en eternity; whose might,Supportless, yet itself maintaineth,Floating on pinions of repose;Who, in His mightiness ordainethWhat round and in Him changeless flowsAnd what revolves and what is drivenAround Him, centre of His plan;The sun of suns, the spirit-leavenOf space; the soul of all we canConceive, and of the unconceivèd,The heart, the life, the fount, the sea,And source of all things here perceivèd,That from Him spring, that His decreeOmnipotent and Mercy flowingAnd Wisdom from naught did evoke,Ere this full-crownèd palace glowing,The Heaven of Heavens, the darkness broke?Where o'er our eyes our wings extendingTo veil His dazzling Majesty,'Mid harmonies to Him ascending,We fall before Him tremblinglyAnd kneel, confused, in awe together.Who is it? Name, or picture thenHis Being with a Seraph's feather.Or is't beyond your tongue and ken?

"Who is it on His Throne, high-seated?"

Antistrophe.

'Tis God: Being infinite, eternal,Of everything that being has.Forgive us, O! Thou Power supernal,By all that is and ever wasNe'er fully praised, ne'er to be spoken;Forgive us, nor incensed depart,Since no imagining, tongue nor tokenCan Thee proclaim. Thou wert. Thou artFore'er the same. All Angel praisingAnd knowledge is but faint and tame.'Tis but foul sacrilege, their phrasing;For each bears his peculiar nameSave Thee. And who can by declaringReveal Thy name? And who make knownThine oracles? Who is so daring?He who Thou art Thou art alone.Save Thee none knows Thy power transcendent.Who grasps Thy full divinity?Who dares to face Thy Throne resplendent,The fierce glow of eternity?To whom the light of light revealèd?What's hid behind Thy sacred veil,From us Thy Mercy hath concealèd.Such bliss transcends the narrow paleOf our weak might. Our life is waning;But Thine, Lord, shall know endless days.Our being in Thine finds its sustaining!Exalt the Godhead! Sing His praise!

Epode.

Holy! holy! once more holy!Three times holy! Honor God!Without Him is nothing holy!Holy is His mighty nod!Strong in mystery He reigneth!His commands our tongues compelTo proclaim what He ordaineth,What the faithful GabrielWith his trumpet came expounding.Praise of man to God redounding!All that pleaseth God is well.

ACT II

LUCIFER. BELZEBUB.

Lucifer:

Ye speedy Spirits, stay our chariot now,God's Morning-star in its full zenith stands;Its height is reached; and lo! the moment comesWhen Lucifer must set before this star,This double star that rises from belowAnd seeks the way above, to tarnish HeavenWith earthly glow. No more should ye adornProud Lucifer's apparel with glittering crowns,Nor gild his forehead with the glorious dawnOf morning-star, to which Archangels kneel.Another splendor sweeps into the lightOf God, whose radiance drowns our vaunted glory.As to the eyes of man, below, the sun,By day, puts out the stars. The shades of nightBedim the Angels and the suns of Heaven:For man hath won the heart of the Most High,Within his new-created Paradise.He is the friend of Heaven. Our slaveryEven now begins. Go hence, rejoice and serveAnd honor this new race like servile slaves.For God was man created; we, for him.Let then the Angels bend their necks beneathHis feet. Let each one now upon him waitAnd bear him even unto the highest ThronesOn hands or wings: for our inheritanceShall pass to him, the chosen son of God.We, the first-born, shall suffer in this Realm.The son, born on that day, the sixth, and madeIn the image of the Father, shall attainThe crown. And rightly unto him was givenThe mighty sceptre, which shall cause even us,The ones first born, to tremble and to shake.Here holds no contradiction now: ye heardWhat Gabriel's trump spake at the golden port?

Belzebub:

O! Stadtholder of God's superior Powers,Alas! we hear too well, amid the praiseOf choristers, a discord that makes sadThe feast eterne. The charge of GabrielIs clear. It needs no tongue of CherubimTo unfold its sense. Nor was there need to sendApollion below, a nearer viewTo gain of Adam's realm beneath the moon.How gloriously the Godhead dealt with himDoth well appear. He hath, for his defence,Even given a life-guard, many thousands strong,While He supports his rank and dignity,As if he were the supreme Chief of Spirits.The massive gate of Heaven stands ajarFor Adam's seed. An earth-worm that hath crawledOut of the dust—out of a clod of clayDefies thy power. Thou shalt yet man beholdO'er thee exalted, so that thou shalt fallUpon thy knees and there, abased, adore,With drooping eyes, his lofty eminence,His power and high authority. He shall,When glorified by the Omnipotent,Yet seat himself, even by the side of God,Empowered to reign beyond the farthest roundsAnd endless circles of eternity.That, from the bounds of time and space set free,Revolve unceasingly around one God,Who is their centre and circumference.What clearer proof need we to see that GodShall glorify mankind, and us degrade?For we were born to serve, and man, to rule.Then henceforth put the sceptre from thy hand:There is another one below, who reigns,Or soon shall reign. Put off thy morning raysAnd wreaths of light before this sun, or elseHave care to bring him in with songs of joyAnd triumph and with honors full divine.We soon shall see the Heavens changed in state.Behold! the stars look out and from their pathsRetreat, aglow with longing to receiveWith reverence this new and coming light.

Lucifer:

That shall I thwart, if in my power it be.

Belzebub:

There hear I Lucifer and him behold.Who from Heaven's face can drive the night away.Where he appears, day's glory dawns anew.His crescent light, the first and nighest God,Shall ne'er grow dim. His word is stern command;His will and nod a law by none transgressed.The Godhead is in him obeyed and served,Praised, honored, and adored. Should then a voiceMore faint than his now thunder from God's Throne?Than his be more obeyed? Should God exaltA younger son, begot of Adam's loins,Even over him? That would most violateThe heirship of the eldest-born and robHis splendor of its rays. 'Neath God HimselfNone is so great as thou. The Godhead onceSet thee the first in glory at His feet.Then let not man dare thus our order greatProfane, nor thus cast down these vested Rights"Without a cause, or all of Heaven shall springTo arms 'gainst one.

"Thou shalt not yet man beholdO'er thee exalted, son that thou shalt fallUpon thy knees, and there, abased, adore,With drooping eyes his lofty eminence."

Lucifer:

Indeed, thou sayest well:It is not meet for Dominations grave,Powers well-disposed in state, thus to give upSo loosely their established rights; and sinceThe Supreme Power is by His laws most bound.To change becomes Him least. Am I a sonOf Light, a ruler of the light, my placeI shall maintain, to no usurper bow,Not even this Arch-usurper. Let all yieldWho will, not one foot shall I e'er retreat.Here is my Fatherland. Nor hardships direNor yet disaster nor anathemasShall me intimidate, or tame. To die,Or to gain port around this dreadful cape,This is my destiny. Doth fate decreeThat I must fall, of rank and honors shorn,Then let me fall; but fall with this my crownUpon my brow, this sceptre in my grasp,With my own retinue of faithful troops,And with these many thousands on my side.Aye, thus to fall brings honor and shall shedUnfading glory on my name: besides,To be the first prince in some lower courtIs better than within the Blessed LightTo be the second, or even less. 'Tis thusI weigh the stroke, nor harm nor hindrance fear.But here, hardby, comes Heaven's InterpreterAnd Herald vigilant, with God's own bookOf mysteries, committed to his care.Most opportune for us his coming hither;For I would question him. I shall accostHim then, and from my chariot descend.

GABRIEL. LUCIFER.

Gabriel:

Lord Stadtholder, how? Whither bound?

Lucifer:

To thee,O Herald and Interpreter of Heaven.

Gabriel:

Methinks I read thy purpose on thy brow.

Lucifer:

Thou who canst fathom and who canst reveal,Through the deep-searching light of thy mind's eye,The shadowy mysteries of God, relieveMe with thy coming.

Gabriel:

What doth burden thee?

Lucifer:

The late decision of the ruling Powers,The new decree made by the Godhead, whoEsteems celestial joys as of less worthThan earthly elements, oppresses Heaven,Even from the low abyss the Earth exaltsAbove the stars, sets man high in the seatOf the Angels, whom, shorn of primordial powers,He then commands for human happinessTo sweat and slave. The Spirits once consecrateTo service in empyreal palacesShall serve an Earth-worm that from out the dustHath crawled and grown; and on his bidding wait,And see him them excel in rank and numbers.Why doth the endless Mercy us degradeSo soon? What Angel hath forgot to renderDue reverence? How could the DeityMingle with base mankind and thus pass byThe nature of His chosen Angels here,While His own nature and His Being He poursInto a body?—thus eternityUnite with its beginning, time, and whatIs highest to what is lowest of the low?—The great Creator to His creature bind?Who can the import glean of this decree?Shall now eternity's bright, quenchless sunSet in the gathering darkness of the world?Shall we, the Stadtholder of God, thus kneelBefore this shadow power, this puny lord;And see the countless hosts of souls divineAnd incorporeal bow themselves beforeA gross and sluggish element uponWhich God hath stamped His Being and majesty?We Spirits are yet too gross to comprehendThis mystery. Thou, who the key dost guardOf God's rich treasure-house of mysteries,Unlock, if so thou mayest, this secret darkFrom out thy sealèd book: unfold to usThe will of Heaven.

Gabriel:

As much as is to usPermitted to unfold out of God's book:Much knowledge doth not profit one alway;Indeed, may damage bring. The Sovran PowerRevealeth only what He deems most fit.The inner light blinds even Seraphim.The spotless Wisdom would, in part, her willConceal, in part would it disclose. HimselfE'er to submit and to conform untoA well-established law, this best becomesThe subject, who unto his master's willAnd charge stands bound. The reason why the Lord(Which secret we shall know, when first shall passA lineage of Earth-born generations)Who, in the course of time, both God and manBecome, shall reign,—shall sceptre sway, and rule,Afar and wide, the stars, the sea, the EarthAnd all that live, the Heavens conceal from thee:Time shall divulge the cause. God's trumpet heed:His will thou now hast heard.

Lucifer:

Shall then on highA worm, an alien, wield the greatest power?Must they who native are to Heaven thus yieldTo foreign rule? Shall man then found a throneEven o'er the Throne of God?

Gabriel:

Content thee withThy lot, the rank and state and worthinessOnce granted thee by God. For thee He madeThe head of all the Hierarchies, though notTo envy others' glory or renown.Rebellion flattens both her crown and head,Whene'er she rears her crest 'gainst God's commands.Thy splendor owes its lustre to God's powerAlone.

Lucifer:

Till now my crown hath bowed to noneBut God.

Gabriel:

Then also bow before this lastDecree of God, who leadeth all that haveTheir being from naught, yea, all that e'er shall live,Unto their end and certain destiny,Though we may fail to comprehend His plan.

Lucifer:

Thus to see man into the light of GodExalted, to behold him deifiedWith God on His high Throne, to see towards himThe censers swinging 'mid the joyous tonesOf thousand thousand holy choristers,With one voice pealing symphonies of praise—Such grandeur doth bedim the lofty splendors,And diamond rays of our own morning-star,That dazzles then no more, while Heaven's joyShall pine in grief away.

Gabriel:

The highest blissAlone in calm contentment can be foundAnd in agreement with God's will, in fullCompliance with His law.

Lucifer:

The majestyOf God and of the Godhead is debased,If with the blood of man his nature everUnites, combines, or otherwise is bound.We Spirits to God and His deep nature comeFar closer, as children from one father sprung;And are like Him, if unto us it beAllowed to bring in such similitudeThis inequality of endless powersWith those determinate, of definite mightWith might indefinite. Should once the sunErr from his orbit's path, and veil himselfBehind a mist, to light the globe of EarthThrough clouds of smoke and darkling damps, how soonThe joys of Earth would die! How would the raceBelow then want all light and life! How tooThe sun would lack his dazzling majesty,Circling his daily round! I see the skiesPiled up with gloom, the stars confused with fright.Disorders fell and chaos, where now lawAnd order reign, should once the fount of lightPlunge with its splendors into some dark fen.Think not too harshly then, I do beseechThee, Gabriel, if now thy trumpet's voice,The new-made law given by the High Command,I do resist, or seemingly oppose.We strive for God's own honor, yea, to giveTo God His Right, should I become thus daringAnd wander far beyond the narrow pathOf my obedience.

Gabriel:

Thou art, indeed,Most zealous for the glory of God's name;Though truly without weighing well that God,The point wherein His majesty doth lie,Far better knows than we. Cease therefore nowThis inquisition. For when God as manShall have become, He shall this book of HisOwn mysteries, now sealed with seven seals.Himself unseal. To taste the kern withinIs not for thee; thou seest the shell alone.Then of this long concealment we shall learnThe cause and hidden reason, all the whileDeep-gazing; in the unveiled Holy of Holies.It now behooves us ever to obeyAnd to revere this rising dawn, to useOur light with thankfulness until the timeWhen knowledge in her power shall drive all doubtAway, even as the sun the night. Now learnWe gradually, with modest reverence,God's Wisdom to approach. And this to usReveals, by slow degrees, the light of truthAnd knowledge, and requires that, on his watch,Each shall submit himself to reason's rule,Lord Stadtholder, be calm. Be foremost, thou,Now to maintain the law. God sends me hence.I must away.

Lucifer:

I shall observe it well!

BELZEBUB. LUCIFER.

Belzebub:

The Stadtholder now hears the meaning ofThis proclamation grave so proudly blownBy Gabriel's trumpet bold. How well he showedThee God's design! whose purpose thou may'st scent:Thus shall he clip the wings of thy great power.

"But here hardby comes Heaven's interpreter."

Lucifer:

But not so easily: Ah! nay, forsooth;I shall have care this purpose to prevent.Let not a power inferior thus dreamTo rule the Powers above.

Belzebub: