_Aho._ He was our father's father; The eldest born of man, the strongest, bravest, And most enduring:--Shall I blush for him 420 From whom we had our being? Look upon Our race; behold their stature and their beauty, Their courage, strength, and length of days---- _Japh._ They are numbered. _Aho._ Be it so! but while yet their hours endure, I glory in my brethren and our fathers. _Japh._ My sire and race but glory in their God, Anah! and thou?---- _Anah_. Whate'er our God decrees, The God of Seth as Cain, I must obey, And will endeavour patiently to obey. But could I dare to pray in his dread hour 430 Of universal vengeance (if such should be), It would not be to live, alone exempt Of all my house. My sister! oh, my sister! What were the world, or other worlds, or all The brightest future, without the sweet past-- Thy love, my father's, all the life, and all The things which sprang up with me, like the stars, Making my dim existence radiant with Soft lights which were not mine? Aholibamah! Oh! if there should be mercy--seek it, find it: 440 I abhor Death, because that thou must die. _Aho._ What, hath this dreamer, with his father's ark, The bugbear he hath built to scare the world, Shaken _my_ sister? Are _we_ not the loved Of Seraphs? and if we were not, must we Cling to a son of Noah for our lives? Rather than thus----But the enthusiast dreams The worst of dreams, the fantasies engendered By hopeless love and heated vigils. Who Shall shake these solid mountains, this firm earth, 450 And bid those clouds and waters take a shape Distinct from that which we and all our sires Have seen them wear on their eternal way? Who shall do this? _Japh._ He whose one word produced them. _Aho._ Who _heard_ that word? _Japh._ The universe, which leaped To life before it. Ah! smilest thou still in scorn? Turn to thy Seraphs: if they attest it not, They are none. _Sam._ Aholibamah, own thy God! _Aho._ I have ever hailed our Maker, Samiasa, As thine, and mine: a God of Love, not Sorrow. 460 _Japh._ Alas! what else is Love but Sorrow? Even He who made earth in love had soon to grieve Above its first and best inhabitants. _Aho._ 'Tis said so. _Japh._ It is even so. _Enter_ NOAH _and_ SHEM. _Noah_. Japhet! What Dost thou here with these children of the wicked? Dread'st thou not to partake their coming doom?