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If I did not know
that I loved Eve, at least I did not know that she might cease to love
me, and come to love some other Adam and desire my death. Can you find a
name for that knowledge?
THE SERPENT. Jealousy. Jealousy. Jealousy.
ADAM. A hideous word.
EVE [_shaking him_] Adam: you must not brood. You think too much.
ADAM [_angrily_] How can I help brooding when the future has become
uncertain? Anything is better than uncertainty. Life has become
uncertain. Love is uncertain. Have you a word for this new misery?
THE SERPENT. Fear. Fear. Fear.
ADAM. Have you a remedy for it?
THE SERPENT. Yes. Hope. Hope. Hope.
ADAM. What is hope?
THE SERPENT. As long as you do not know the future you do not know that
it will not be happier than the past. That is hope.
ADAM. It does not console me. Fear is stronger in me than hope. I must
have certainty. [_He rises threateningly_]. Give it to me; or I will
kill you when next I catch you asleep.
EVE [_throwing her arms round the serpent_] My beautiful snake. Oh no.
How can you even think such a horror?
ADAM.


Pages:
154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178