THE KING'S MIRROR 



from their sight; and they began to till the earth as God 

 had commanded. 



Now I have done as you requested, having explained 

 briefly why the serpent sought speech with the woman 

 and what caused him to egg the woman on to violate 

 the law. Still, I have taken up only what is most easily 

 grasped in this speech; for the task of glossing our dis- 

 course after deep meditation I prefer to leave to others. 

 But let us continue straight ahead in the discussion as 

 we have begun, since we do not have time to do both. 



XLVIII 



A COMMENTARY ON THE STORY OF LUCIFER 



Son. I now see clearly why you regard the answers 

 to my last questions as glosses and interpretations of 

 the speeches which you gave earlier rather than a con- 

 tinuation of our original plan; and I fear that, if I 

 should ask you to enlarge further upon this subject, 

 you will consider my questions unwise. But having been 

 granted freedom to ask about whatever I have the curi- 

 osity to know, I shall venture another question: and I 

 shall continue to look for good answers as before, even 

 though my questions be childish. Now you have brought 

 out that, when the serpent spoke to the woman as he 

 did, it was the spirit speaking with the serpent's tongue. 

 You have likewise shown me why the woman was led 

 into sin; that Lucifer was inspired by malicious envy 

 to hinder man from coming into the dominion from 

 which he himself had been expelled. And in your dis- 

 cussion of the judgments of God you had something to 



