_Cain_. No; Nothing can calm me more. _Calm!_ say I? Never Knew I what calm was in the soul, although I have seen the elements stilled. My Abel, leave me! Or let me leave thee to thy pious purpose. _Abel_. Neither; we must perform our task together. Spurn me not. _Cain_. If it must be so----well, then, What shall I do? _Abel_. Choose one of those two altars. 210 _Cain_. Choose for me: they to me are so much turf And stone. _Abel_. Choose thou! _Cain_. I have chosen. _Abel_. 'Tis the highest, And suits thee, as the elder. Now prepare Thine offerings. _Cain_. Where are thine? _Abel_. Behold them here-- The firstlings of the flock, and fat thereof-- A shepherd's humble offering. _Cain_. I have no flocks; I am a tiller of the ground, and must Yield what it yieldeth to my toil--its fruit: [_He gathers fruits_. Behold them in their various bloom and ripeness. [_They dress their altars, and kindle aflame upon them_[130]. _Abel_. My brother, as the elder, offer first 220 Thy prayer and thanksgiving with sacrifice. _Cain_. No--I am new to this; lead thou the way, And I will follow--as I may. _Abel_ (_kneeling_). Oh, God! Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life Within our nostrils, who hath blessed us, And spared, despite our father's sin, to make His children all lost, as they might have been, Had not thy justice been so tempered with The mercy which is thy delight, as to Accord a pardon like a Paradise, 230 Compared with our great crimes:--Sole Lord of light! Of good, and glory, and eternity! Without whom all were evil, and with whom Nothing can err, except to some good end Of thine omnipotent benevolence! Inscrutable, but still to be fulfilled! Accept from out thy humble first of shepherds' First of the first-born flocks--an offering, In itself nothing--as what offering can be Aught unto thee?--but yet accept it for 240 The thanksgiving of him who spreads it in The face of thy high heaven--bowing his own Even to the dust, of which he is--in honour Of thee, and of thy name, for evermore!