The Expulsion (after Massacio, 1425)

As I walked in the garden at dusk, on its eastern edge, where the lush, leafy forest path turns to rocky barrenness, a young couple hurried by. They were naked, save for a few leaves hastily contrived to clothe themselves. Seeing me, the man put his hands to his face and turned away, while the woman covered her breasts and groin. She was sobbing.

“Good heavens, have you had an accident” I called. “Can I help?”

“No,” the man said “no one can help. It is finished.”

“We are condemned to die,” The woman said. “We are banished,”

“Condemned? banished? what talk is this?” I aaked, removing my coat and offering it to the woman, who hesitated, then accented it,

“Oh, my fellow man, forgive me!” she burst into tears.

“Forgive yon? for what? You have done nothing against me. What is all this?”

“I have brought us all to ruin, all of us, It’s all my fault,”

“Ho!” the man shouted. “I share the blame.”

“But I made you do it,” she insisted, “You might have gone on but for me——at least you, my darling.” “1 could not have,” he countered • “It was unbear­able before you came, even in the garden. I would rather live by your side in the wasteland than spend an eternity in the garden without you.”

They embraced, and her grief slowed. “We must qc on,” he said. “You are welcome to join us if you wish.”

“Wait,” I said. “I still don’t understand what has brought this misery upon you0 You live in the garden and bring no harm. What drives you from its sanctuary?”

“The Lord God,” said the man.

“The Lord God? for what purpose?”

“We broke the Law. We ate of the forbidden fruit.”

“I tempted it to him,” said the woman.

“No, the serpent tempted you, and you did not know him.”

“I should have recognized him,” she said.

“It was not possible. but I should have, and I should have told you--warned you of him.”

“How could you?” she asked. “Nothing was said of it. No word was given.”

“Ah, but I had a sense. For my part the fault is greater because of it.”

“You never said it,” she said.

“I didn’t expect it, but I sensed that one day ano­ther thing would appear. I didn’t know what form it might take, but I knew that it would be another thing, hideous, and I would know it. I hoped to destroy it.”

“I should have shown you,” she said.

“In time its image faded, I saw only you, and your happiness and beauty. I thought all was right, and good.”

“My poor dear~” she cried.

“Had I seen the thing, had I only seen the wicked thing——!” he shouted.

Again they embraced, and after a time grew calm. “We must no on,” he repeated.

“Wait a little more,” I said. “It’s clear to me tha.t some terrible accident has befallen you both which you do not understand in your exhaustion. Even God could not hold you accountable for something you did not understand. You must go back.”

“That is quite impossible,” the man said.

“Perhaps not,” I replied quickly.

“No, what the Lord has commanded must be obeyed, or even the worse will come of it,” he insisted.

I felt myself growing angry and perplexed. “We must reconcile this matter,” I said. “It is intolerable to think that an injustice should go unreconciled. Please. Give me a moment to consider.’

I sensed somehow that their plight was my own. My mind was awhirl with fear and pity for them, yet I forced my feelings back, and gradually the matter straightened.

“Now, as I see it, you were both victimized by the deceit of another. That much von will agree to?”

“Deceived? Perhaps, to an extent, but we still broke the Law, and must accept our fate,” the man replied.,

“No, wait,’ 1 insisted. “You did not intend to break the law, and no one can hold von responsible for something done with no criminal intent on your part. That is the first rule of law. You knew not what you did, therefore you cannot be held responsible.” My mind was elevated by this truth, and I regained my confidence.

“You do not understand, my friend,” the man said. “I was clearly warned——most emphatically warned.”

“In what way?”

“By the Lord Sod Himself,” he shuddered. “~ voice from nowhere, yet from everywhere, said as if within me, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’ He commanded it so, and I under­stood fully.”

“And you accepted this?”

“I thought it strange, but yes, I accented it. I had dominion over all things——the beasts of the field, the birds of the air—— .“

“And you were happy?”

The man paused and looked away • “Not happy,” he said slowly. “I was alone then. I pondered it until I could think no more. For many days, till I grew too weary to comprehend. At last I accepted it, and trusted that If I were ever tried, I would somehow prove worthy, and vowed to myself never to approach the tree, and slept.”

“I see. Very understandable.”

“When I awoke the reward of my trust was with me,” he said, turning to her radiantly, “She was beside me. My love and my life. She was beautiful—more beautiful than all else. Then, from that moment, I was happy.”

His troubled eyes beamed as he held her.

“And the Lord commanded her also?” I asked.

His hands dropped. “No.”

“Ah, and did you tell her”

“No.”

“She knew not, then!” I exclaimed. “She is blameless, for she knew not the commandment. Surely you see it.”

“I did not tell her. I would not trouble her. She was lovelier than the sun and the moon and the stars. I would not lessen her by telling her.’

I was proud of him. “She is blameless, blameless as a new babe,” I said.

“I didn’t know,” she cried. “It’s true, I honestly didn’t know.”

“So, there you have it,” I said.

“But I--,” the man countered, “I ate also, and I did know, but I still disobeyed.”

The man and the woman turned and hurried away in shame.

“Wait, wait,” I cried, running after them. “Stop!” nearly breathless, I caught up with them. ‘Don’t leave, hear me out. Don’t you see? What you are—— everything you are——the Lord made you. What you have, the Lord gave you, and what you knew, the Lord gave you to know. No more and no less.”

“That is true,” the man said. His Law.”

“But don’t you understand,” I answered, “that the choice was not your own? Can you not see the, given what you were, and what you are, that you could have done no other thing? that the Lord gave you this woman, gave you your love for her, gave you your desire to please her, and in so doing gave you your very inability to warn her of the danger?”

“It changes nothing,” said the man. “It is so, perhaps, but I still broke the Law by my own hand.”

“No, no, not by your hand, He gave that also. He gave that capacity, and permitted it——no, forced it to happen; He made it happen from the moment you were created. The seed of your despair was in you from the start, and He planted it! You must not be held responsible. You must not accept it! Any rabbit in a cage with a carrot would have done the same thing. Any living thing will obey its nature.”

The man regarded me with mixed awe and despair in his eyes for a long time.
“You have been deceived from the first——tricked.”

They were speechless, both. After a long time, the spoke once more:

“Perhaps you are right, but it is too late,”

“No, not too late,” I insisted.

“But it is. I cannot be forgiven.”

“You must, and you will.”

“No, never. I am absolutely certain of that, if of nothing else.”

“Nonsense! The circumstances——the extenuating circum­stances of the matter——wait, listen: you harbor no ill against her yet?”

“Certainly not!” he said forcefully.

“Of course not • And against your God, who made you both, and everything about you, you do not hate Him?”

“I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind,” he proclaimed from his depths “Praise Him!”

“Despite what He has done, despite these miserable conditions, despite His withdrawal of love, and support, and. all things from yon--and worst of all despite the with­drawal of eternal Hope from your breast, yet you forgive him entirely?” I cried.

“Entirely, if ever he wronged me, which I could never believe,” he sobbed piteously.

“You see!” I shouted. “You are but a man, and have been sorely victimized, yet you entirely forgive your prosecutor though he forgives you not, his victim! Your Almighty, Great God, ruler of the universe, creator of all things, bestower of love and mercy arid goodness upon all he has made, wills to punish you eternally for a crime instigated by a totally different agent--not you, Madam, who were unaware of the fact and utterly blameless—— the serpent. There we have it! Let me ask you, who do you think permitted the serpent to exist in the garden?”

The man did not answer. “Who, indeed!” I repeated, “Of course, the Evil one!”

“No, no, he did not create the Garden, he did not create the tree, he did not create you--who let him in? Who suffered him to trick you?”

The man trembled and the woman clung to him violently.

“Who!” I pressed.

He opened his mouth to speak, but could not. I waited tensely for what seemed an eternity. The sun had set for some while, and night was nearly upon us in the wasteland. Nearby, something whisked through the sand among the rocks and was gone. Behind us to the west, the lest rays of light silhouetted the far outline of the garden, then receded into darkness.