"Ah, sad Eve, without dear form,[69]
what brought thee from the River Tigris
without the warrant of the King of Justice,
without a pure accompanying angel?"
When Eve heard that,
the reproaches of Adam,
she fell to the ground,
she came near to speedy death.
(A long conversation follows between Adam and the Devil; Adam demands why the Devil pursues them with such perpetual hatred and, in reply, Lucifer recounts his fall from heaven, which he says was caused by his refusal to obey the command of God that he should worship Adam. This command he refused, because he, as the first-created, felt it unworthy of him to adore Adam, the youngest-born of created things. He details his present miseries, and his determination to take revenge on Adam and Eve. The poem or canto ends with the coming of Adam out of the river, and the history of their children, Seth, Cain, and Abel.)
FOOTNOTES:
[56] i.e. instead of passing in his body direct to heaven, without dying, his days henceforth were numbered.
[57] Lit. "summons."
[58] The word is óetiu, probably óitiu="youth"; L. B. has áitte aille ocus slanti cen galar, "beautiful places and health without sickness."
[59] Balthai (?). There is a word baltadh, "a border" (O'R); L. B. has blathi, "blooming" or "prosperous."
[60] Aithbi derrit?
[61] Fédim?