Book 12 Summary

Michael continues telling Adam of events to come. Adam has now seen one world end and another begin. The second race of men will dwell in peace, worshipping God and making sacrifices until a tyrant rises. The tyrant and his followers will build a tower up to the sky, in order to earn lasting fame among men. Angered, God curses their tongues, so that their power of language is lost and all speech is heard as meaningless babble. The tower is abandoned.

Adam vilifies the tyrant. Michael explains that when men subject themselves to unworthy passions and ignore reason, God punishes them with subjection to tyrants. The world goes from bad to worse, until God withdraws from all but one chosen nation. This nation will spring from Abraham, and God promises them a gift of land. The Redeemer will be a child of...