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construction of the first universe of Pythagorean form and harmony, the second fall of the Zoas and Emanations into chaos is inevitable because their disorientation must compound itself.

The second fall is traced in two sub-sections that examine the environments of Los and Urizen respectively. The first sub-section examines Los and demonstrates that his environment is an Arcadian illusion. The second sub-section traces Urizen and demonstrates that his environment is a rational illusion.

The Arcadian illusion of Los

The role of sexual gratification is central to an understanding of the collapse of the first universe. From the instant of the first fall, the emotional and sexual relations between the Zoas and Emanations are inverted. Typically, the 'males drive all the other males and the females drive all the other females away'. The sexual relations between Zoa and Emanation are thus characterized by a self-destructive, mutually enforced abstinence on the part of both male and female. When intercourse does take place, as in the case of the Spectre of Tharmas and Enion, it is sexually violent. Further, the psychosexual potencies of Luvah and Vala are sacrificed in order to 'energies' the first universe so that Urizen, in turn, can build his palace and mundane shell. The sacrifice of the psychosexual dynamic of Luvah and Vala results in an Arcadian environment in which the Hellenic bliss of Los and Enitharmon is characterized by sexual impotence. The depiction of this impotent environment, it should be noted, is found chiefly in a major addition to the text of Night the Second (K. II. 302-382). The impotence of Urizen's Pythagorean universe is the prime reason for its collapse.

Los and Enitharmon exist in a parody of Hellenic bliss: He is like Apollo; Enitharmon is like Artemis; and around the two is the harmony of the spheres: