aliforma gional jility lira use EXPLANATORY NOTES B/BEV.,1. R.BOYD. nnU ^Uafcemfc SiUftfan. FEW Your. : A. S. BAENES & BUEE. ATi if w. ; . ST. i.ouis : KF.TH t: WOODS. ^ b. B. OOOKK A CO. W 01 I,EA> : J. R.f EL. MOri' J K. RAXDAIX.- -I!A1.TJM>>KF I J. W. 15O.\.) . ' *\ V THE PARADISE LOST JOHN MILTON. WITH NOTES EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL. EDITED BY REV. JAMES R. BO YD, A.M. AUTHOR OF "ELEMENTS OF RHETORIC," "ECLECTIC MORAL PHILOSOPHY," AND OF AN IMPROVED EDITION OF " KAMES 1 ELEMENTS," ETC. MILTON, WHOSE OKNIUS HAD ANOELIO WINGS, AND FED ON MANNA. NEW YORK: A. S. BARNES & BURR, 51 & 53 JOHN-STREET. 1860. Entered according to Act of Congress, in '.he year 1560, by BAKER AND SCRIBNER fa the < 'lerk's Office of the District Court of the United St&ie lor the South* rm District of New York. C. W . BENEDICT, Stereotypr** -.01 Williua at -V ? STACK ANNEX 3560 frl REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS AMERICAN EDITION. PARADISE LOST is, by common consent, pronounced to be a work of transcendent genius and taste. It takes rank with the Iliad of Homer, and with the yEneid of Virgil, as an Epic of incomparable merit. Dry- den was by no means extravagant in the praise which he bestowed upon it in his well-known lines : " Three poets in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn : The first in loftiness of thought surpassed ; The next in majesty ; in both the last. The force of nature could no further go : To make a third, she joined the other two." Its praise is often on the lips of every man endowed with the most moderate literary qualifications : but the work has been read by com- paratively fe\v persons. How few even of educated men can affirm that they have so read and understood it, as to appreciate all its parts ? How does this happen ? Is the poem considered unworthy of their most careful perusal ? Is it not inviting to the intellect, the imagina- tion, and the sensibilities? Is it not acknowledged to be superior to any other poetic composition, the Hebrew writings only excepted, to whose lofty strains of inspired song the blind bard of London was s greatly indebted for his own subordinate inspiration ? If inquiry should extensively be made, it will be ascertained that Paradise Lost; is but little read, less understood, and still less appre- ciated , though it may be found on the shelves of almost every library, or upon the parlor table of almost every dwelling. Every school boy, 2043779 4 REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS EDITION. and every school girl has read some beautiful extracts from it, anil has heard it extolled as an unrivalled production; and this is about all that is usually learned in regard to it, or appreciated. The question returns, and it is one of some literary interest, how is this treatment of the Paradise Lost to be accounted for? To this inquiry the following ob servations will, it is hoped, be considered appropriate and satisfactory. It is pre-eminently a learned work ; and has been well denominated " a book of universal knowledge." In its naked form, in its bare 'ext, it can be understood and appreciated by none but highly educated per- sons. The perusal of it cannot fail to be attended with a vivid im- pression of its great author's prodigious learning, and of the immense stores which he brought into use in its preparation. As one of his editors, (Sir Egerton Brydges,) remarks, " his great poems require such a stretch of mind in the reader, as to be almost painful. The most amazing copiousness of learning is sublimated into all his concep- tions and descriptions. His learning never oppressed his imagination ; and his imagination never obliterated or dimmed his learning; but even these would not have done without the addition of a great heart, and a pure and lofty mind. The poem is one which could not have been produced solely by the genius of Milton, without the addition of an equal extent and depth of learning, and an equal labor of reflection. It has always a great compression. Perhaps its perpetual allusion to all past literature and history were sometimes carried a little too far for the popular reader; and the latinised style requires to be read with the attention due to an ancient classic." To read it, therefore, intelli- gently and advantageously, no small acquaintance is needed with classical and various learning. While large portions of the poem are sufficiently lucid for the com- prehension of ordinary readers, there is frequently introduced an ob- scure paragraph, sentence, clause, or word ; which serves to break up the continuity of the poem in the reader's mind, to obstruct his pro- gress, to apprise him of his own ignorance or obtuseness, and thus to create no small degree of dissatisfaction. The obscurity arises, in some cases, from the highly learned character of the allusions to an- cient history and mythology; in other cases, from great inversion of REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS EDITION. 5 style, from the use of Latin and Greek forms of expression ; from pe- culiar modes of spelling; from references to exploded and unphiloso- phical notions in astronomy, chemistry, geology, and philosophy, with which but few persons are familiar. Besides all this, it has been truly observed by the writer before quoted, that " Milton has a language of his own ; I may say invented by himself. It is somewhat hard but it is all sincere : it is not ver- nacular, but has a latinised cast, which requires a little time to recon- cile a reader to it. It is best fitted to convey his own magnificent ideas ; its very learnedness impresses us with respect. It moves with a gigantic step : it does not flow like Shakspeare's style, nor dance like Spenser's. Now and then there are transpositions somewhat alien to the character of the English language, which is not well cal- culated for transposition ; but in Milton this is perhaps a merit, be- cause his lines are pregnant with deep thought and sublime imagery which requires us to dwell upon them, and contemplate them over and over. He ought never to be read rapidly." Such being some of the characteristics of Paradise Lost, it is not difficult to account for its general neglect, and for the scanty satisfac- tion experienced by most persons in the attempt to read it. Much of it. as we have remarked, cannot be understood; it abounds in to; many passages that convey to none but the learned any cleai idea: thus the common reader is repelled, and the sublimities and beauties of this incomparable poem are known only as echoes from the pages of criticism, of course inadequately. Not long since even a well-educated and popular preacher was asked how he managed in reading Paradise Lost ? His honest and truthful answer was, that he skipped over the hard places, and read the easier ; that he did not pretend fully to understand, or to appreciate the entire poem ; but admitted that not a few passages were not far from being a. dead letter to him, requiring for their just interpretation more research and study than he was willing or able to bestow. The fact undoubtedly is, that since a poem is addressed chiefly to the im- agination and the sensibilities; since it is read with a view to plea- surable excitement and not taken up as a production to be severely REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS EDITION. studied ; since a demand for mental labor and research interferes with the entertainment anticipated, in most cases the Paradise Lost is, on this account, laid aside, though possessing the highest literary merit, for poems of an inferior cast, hut of easier interpretation. It is possible also that the pious spirit which animates the entire poem, and the theological descriptions which abound in several of the Books, may, to the mass of readers, give it a repulsive aspect, ami cause them, though unwisely, to prefer other productions in which these elements are not found. To the causes now enumerated, rather than to those assigned by Dr Johnson may be referred the result which he thus describes: " Para- dise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton for in- struction, retire harrassed and overburdened, and look elsewhere for recreation : we desert our master, and seek for companions." But is there no remedy for this neglectful treatment of the finest poeti- cal composition in our language 1 May not something be done to pre- pare American readers generally to appreciate it, and, in the perusal, to gratify their intellects and regale their fancy, among its grandeurs and beauties, and also among its learned allusions, and scientific infor- mations ^ The attainment of this important end is the design of the present edition: it is therefore furnished with a large body of notes; with notes sufficiently numerous and full, it is presumed, to clear up the ob- scurities to wh'ch we have referred j to place the unlearned reader, so far as the possession of the information requisite to understand the poem is concerned, on the same level with the learned ; and to direct attention to the parts most deserving of admiration, and to the grounds upon which they should be admired. The editions hitherto published in this country, it is believed, are either destitute of notes, or the notes are altogether too few and too brief to afford the aid which is generally required. About half a century after the publication of the Paradise Lost, Us reputation was much advanced by a series of papers which came REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS EDITION. 7 out weekly in the celebrated Spectator, from the graceful j.n ol Addison. "These," as Hallam justly remarks, "were perhaps superior to any criticisms that had been written in our language, and we must always acknowledge their good sense, their judiciousness, and the vast service they did to our literature, in setting the Paradise Lost on its proper level." But modern periodicals, and modern essays are fast crowding out the once familiar volumes of that excel- lent British classic ; and those once famous criticisms are now seldom met with, so that modern readers, with rare exceptions, derive from them no benefit in the reading of the Paradise Lost. The Editor has evinced his own high sense of their value, and has, moreover, rendered them far more available to the illustration of the poem, than they are, as found in the Spectator, by selecting such criti- cisms as appeared to him to possess the highest merit, and distributing them in the form of notes, to the several parts of the poem which they serve to illustrate and adorn. After this labor had been performed, however, and a principal part of the other notes had been prepared, it was ascertained with some surprise, on procuring a London copy of Bp. Newton's edition of Milton, now quite scarce, that the same course iiad a century ago been pursued by him ; though the same pains had not been taken by Newton to distribute in detail to every part of the poem the criticisms of Addison. Besides this, he introduced them entire, and thus occupied his pages with much matter quite inferior to that which has been provided, in this edition, from recent souices. The notes of the present edition will be found to embrace, besides mvc.h nther matter, all that is excellent and worth preservation in those of Newton, Todd, Brydges, and Stebbing; comprehending also some of the richest treasures of learned and ingenious criticism which the Paradise Lost has called into existence, and which have hitherto been scattered through the pages of many volumes of Reviews and miscellaneous literature : and these have been so arranged as to illus- trate the several parts of the poem to which they retale. It was not deemed important to occupy space in the discussion of certain questions, more curious than useful or generally interesting, relating to some earlier authors, to whom it has been alleged that Mil 8 REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS EDITION. ton was greatly indebted for the plan and some prominent features of the Paradise Lost. Yet it has been a pleasant, and more profitable task, to discover by personal research, and by aid of the research of others, those parts of classical authors a familiar acquaintance with which has enabled the learned poet so wonderfully to enrich and adorn his beautiful production. These classic gems of thought and expres- sion have been introduced in the notes, only for the gratification of those persons who are able to appreciate the language of the Roman and Grecian poets; and who may have a taste for observing the coin- cidences between their language and that of the great master of Eng- lish verse. Not long before the composition of Paradise Lost, Milton thus epeaks of the qualifications which he regarded as requisite and which he hoped to employ in preparing it: "A work not to be raised from the heat of youth or the vapors of wine ; nor to be obtained of dame Memory and her siren daughters, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases. To this must be added industrious and select reading, steady observation, insight into all seemly and generous arts and affairs." This, T am convinced,' says Sir E. B. already quoted, is the true origin of Paradise Loft. Shakspeare's originality might be still more impugned, if an anticipation of hints and similar stories were to be taken as proof of plagiarism. In many of the dramatist's most beauti- ful plays the whole tale is borrowed ; but Shakspeare and Milton turn brass into gold. This sort of passage hunting has been carried a great deal too far. and has disgusted and repelled the reader of feeling and taste. The novelty is in the raciness, the life, the force, the ju.-t association, the probability, the truth; that which is striking because it is extravagant is a false novelty. He who borrows to make patches is a plagiarist; but what patch is there in Milton? All is inter- woven and forms part of one web. No doubt the holy bard was al- ways intent upon sacred poetry, and drew his principal inspirations from Scripture. This distinguishes his style and spirit from all other REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS EDITION. poets; and gives him a solemnity which has not oeen surpassed, save in the book whence welled that inspiration.' The Editor is fully aware of the boldness of the attempt to furnish a full commentary on such a poem as this : he is also painfully sensi- ble that much higher qualifications than he possesses could profitably and honorably be laid out in the undertaking. He has long wondered, and regretted, that such an edition of Paradise Lost, as the American public needs, has not been furnished; and in the absence of a belter, he offers this edition, as adapted, in his humble opinion, to render a most desirable and profitable service to the reading community, while it may contribute, as he hopes, to bring this poem from the state of unmerited neglect into which it has fallen, and cause it to be more generally read and studied, for the cultivation of a literary taste and for the expansion of the intellectual and moral powers. Ours is an age in which the best writings of the seventeenth century have been generally republished, and thus have been put upon a new career of fame and usefulness. Shakspeare has had, for more than half a century, his learned annotators, without whose aid large por- tions of his plays would be nearly unintelligible. He has been hon- ored with public lectures also, to illustrate his genius, and to bring to view his masterly sketches of the human heart and manners. There have recently started up public readers also, by whose popular exertions he has been brought into more general admiration. It seems to be full time that a higher appreciation of the great epic of Milton than has hitherto prevailed among us, and that a more extended use- fulness also, should be secured to it, by the publication of critical and explanatory notes, such as the circumstances of the reading class ob- viously require. Ever valuable will it be, for its varied learning, for its exquisit beauties of poetic diction and measure ; for its classical, scientific and scriptural allusions; for its graphic delineations of the domestic state and its duties; for its adaptation, when duly explained and understood, to enlarge the intellect, to entertain the imagination, to improve lite- rary taste, and cultivate the social and the devout affections ; for its grand account of creation, providence, and redemption, embracing a 10 REASONS FOR PREPARING THIS EDITION. most beautiful narrative and explanation of some of the most interest ing events connected with the history of our race. Nor should men. tion he omitted, of those excellent counsels, and maxims of conduct which it so frequently suggests, conveyed in language too appropriate and beautiful to be easily erased from the memory, or carelessly disre- garded. In conclusion, we may confidently adopt the words of Brydges. who has said, that to study Milton's poetry is not merely the delight of every accomplished mind, but it is a duty. He who is not conversant with it, cannot conceive how far the genius of the Muse can go. The hard, whatever might have been his inborn genius, could never have at- tained this height of argument and execution but by a life of laborious and holy preparation ; a constant conversance with the ideas sug- gested by the sacred writings; the habitual resolve to lift his mird and heart above earthly thoughts ; the incessant exercise of all the strongest faculties of the intellect : retirement, temperance, courage, hope, faith. He had all the aids of learning; all the fruit of all the wisdom of ages ; all the effect of all that poetic genius, and all that philosophy had achieved. His poetry is pure majesty; the sober strength, the wisdom from above, that instructs and awes. It speaks as an oracle ; not with a mortal voice. And indeed, it will not be too much to say, that of all uninspired writings, Milton's are the most worthy of profound study by all minds which would know the crea- tiveness, the splendor, the learning, the eloquence, the wisdom, to which the human intellect can attain. NOTE. The names of the authors most frequently quoted will be indi- cted simply by the initial letters : those authors are Addisofl. Xewton. E. Irydges, Todd, Hume, Kitto, Richardson, Thyer, Stebbing and Pearce. The introductory Remarks upon the several Books are, generally, those found in Sir Egerton Brydges' edition, with the omission of such remarks as were leemed either incorrect, or of little interest and importance. BOOK I THE ARGUMENT. THIS first Book proposes, first, in brief, the whole subject, Man's disobe- dience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise, wherein he was placed : then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the ser- pent ; who revolting from God, and drawing to his side many legions of Angels, was, by the command of God, driven out of Heaven, with all his crew, into the great deep. Which action passed over, the poem hastens into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell, . described here, not in the centre (for Heaven and Earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest called Chaos : here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished, after a certain space recovers, as from confu- sion, calls up him who next in order and dignity lay by him ; they confer of their miserable fall. Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded : they rise ; their numbers, array of battle, their chief leaders named, according to the idols known afterward in Canaan and the countries adjoining. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new world and new kind of creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy or report in Heaven ; for that Angels were long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council. What his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium, the palace of Satan, rises, sud- denly built out of the deep : the : nfernal peers there sit in council. BOOK I. INTKODUCTORY REMARKS. THIS Book on the whole is so perfect from beginning to end, that it would be difficult to find a single superfluous passage. The matter, the illustra- tions and the allusions, are historically, naturally, and philosophically true. The learning is of every extent and diversity ; recondite, classical, scientific, antiquarian. But the most surprising thing is, the manner in which he vivi- fies every topic he touches : he gives life and picturesqueness to the driest catalogue of buried names, personal or geographical. They who bring no learning, yet feel themselves charmed by sounds and epithets which give a vague pleasure, and stir up the imagination into an indistinct emotion. Poetical imagination is the power, not only of conceiving, but of creating embodied illustrations of abstract truths, which are sublime, or pathetic, or beautiful ; but those ideas, which Milton has embodied, no imagination but his own would have dared to attempt ; none else would have risen ' to the height of this great argument/ Every one else would have fallen short ol it, and degraded it. Among the miraculous acquirements of Milton, was hjs deep and familial intimacy with all classical and all chivalrous literature ; the amalgamation in his mind of all the philosophy and all the sublime and ornamental literature of the ancients, and all the abstruse, the laborious, the immature learning of hose who again drew off the mantle of time from the ancient treasures of genius, and mingled with them their own crude conceptions and fantastic theories. He extracted from this mine all that would aid the imagination without shocking the reason. He never rejected philosophy; but where it was fabulous, only offered it as ornament. In Milton's language though there is internal force and splendor, there is outward plainness. Common readers think that it sounds and looks like prose. This is one of its attractions ; while all that is stilled, and decorated, and affected, soon fatigues and satiates. Johnson says that ''an inconvenience of Milton's design is. that it requires the description of what cannot be described, the agency of spirits. Ho saw BOOK I. 13 that immateriality supplied no images, and thai he could not show angels acting but by instruments of action : he therefore invested them with form and matter. This, being necessary, was therefore defensible, and he should have secured the consistency of his system by keeping immateriality out oi sight, and enticing his reader to drop it from his thoughts." Surely this was quite impossible, for the reason which Johnson himself has given. The im- agination, by its natural tendencies, always embodies spirit. Poetry deals in pictures, though not exclusively in pictures. E. B. Upon the interesting topic here thus summarily though satisfactory dis- posed of, Macaulay has furnished the following, among other admit able remarks : The most fatal error which a poet can possibly commit in the manage- ment of his machinery, is that of attempting to philosophise too much. Milton has been often censured for ascribing to spirits many functions ol which spirits must be incapable. But these objections, though sanctioned by eminent names, originate, we venture to say, in profound ignorance of the art of poetry. What is spirit? What are our own minds, the portion of spirit with which we are best acquainted ? We observe certain phenomena. We can- not explain them into material causes. We therefore infer that there exists something which is not material, but of this something we have no idea. We can define it only by negatives. We can reason about it only by sym- bols. We use the word but we have no image of the thing; and the busi- ness of poetry is with images, and not with words. The poet uses words indeed, but they are merely the instruments of his art, not its objects. They are the materials which he is to dispose in such a manner as to present a picture to the mental eye. And, if they are not so disposed, they are no more entitled to he called poetry than a bale of canvas and a box of colors are to be called a painting. Logicians may reason about abstractions, but the great mass of mankind can never feel an interest in them. They must have images. The strong tendency of the multitude in all ages and nations to idolatry can be explained on no other principles. The first inhabitants of Greece, there is every rea- son to believe, worshipped one invisible Deity; but the necessity of having something more definite to adore produced, in a few centuries, the innumera- ble crowd of gods and goddesses. In .ike manner the ancient Persians tho ;ght it impious to exhibit the Creator under a human form. Yet even they transferred to the sun the worship which, speculatively, they consid- ered due only to the supreme mincf. The history of the Jews is the record of a continual struggle between pure Theism, supported by the most terrible sanctions, and the strangely fascinating desire of having some visible and tangible object of adoration. Perhaps none of the secondary causes which Gibbon has assigned for the rapidity with which Christianity spread over the world, while Judaism scarcely ever acquired a proselyte, operated more powerfully than this feeling God, the uncreated, the incomprehensible, the 14 PARADISE LOST. invisible, attracted but few worshippers. A philosopher might admire so noble a conception ; but the crowd turned away in disgust from words which presented no image to their minds. It was before Deity embodied in a hu- man form, walking among men, partaking of their infirmities, leaning on their bosoms, weeping over their graves, slumbering in the manger, bleeding on the cross, that the prejudices of the synagogue, and the doubts of llie Academy, and the pride of the Portico, and the forces of the liclor. and the swords of thirty legions, were humbled in the dust. Soon after Christianity had achieved its triumph, the principle which had assisted it began to corrupt it. It became a new Paganism. Patron saints assumed the offices of household gods. St. George took the place of Mars. St. Elmo consoled the mariner for the loss of Castor and Pollux. The vir- gin Mary and Cecilia succeed to Venus and the Muses. The fascination of sex and loveliness was again joined to that of celestial dignity ; and the homage of chivalry was blended with that of religion. Reformers have often made a stand against these feelings ; but never with more than appa- rent and partial success. The men who demolished the images in cathedrals have not always been able to demolish those which were enshrined in their minds. It would not be difficult to show that in politics the same rule holds good. Doctrines, we are afraid, must generally be embodied before they can excite strong public feeling The multitude is more easily interested for the most unmeaning badge, or the most insignificant name, than for the most important principle. From these considerations, we infer that no poet who should affect that metaphysical accuracy for the want of which Milton has been blamed, would escape a disgraceful failure, still, however, there was another extreme, which, though one less dangerous, was also to be avoided. The imagina- tions of men are in a great measure under the control of their opinions. The most exquisite art of a poetical coloring .can produce no illusion when it is employed to represent that which is at once perceived to be incongruous and absurd. Milton wrote in an age of philosophers and theologians. It was necessary therefore for him to abstain from giving such a shock to their un- derstandings, as might break the charm which it was his object to throw over their imaginations. This is the real explanation of the indistinctness and inconsistency with which he has often beeVi reproached. Dr. Johnson acknowledges that it was absolutely necessary for him to clothe his spirits with material forms. " But," says he, " he should have secured the consis- tency of his system, by keeping immateriality out of sight, and seducing the reader to drop it from his thoughts." This is easily said: but what if he could not seduce the reader to drop it from his thoughts ? What if the con- trary opinion had taken so full a possession of the minds of men, as to leave no room even for the quasi-bdief which poetry requires ? Such we suspect to have been the case. It was impossible for the poet to adopt altogether the material or the immaterial system. He therefore took his stand on the debateable ground. He left the whole in ambiguity. He has doubtless, by BOOK I. 15 so doing, laid himself open to the charge of inconsistency. But, though phi- losophically in the wrong, we cannot but believe that he was poetically in 'he right. This task, which almost any other writer would have found im- practicable, was easy to him. The peculiar art which he possessed of com- municating his meaning circuitously. through a long succession of associated ideas, and of intimating r.ore than he expressed, enabled him to disguise those incongruities which .ae could not avoid. The spirits of Milton are unlike those of almost all other writers. His fiends, in particular, are wonderful creations. They are not metaphysical abstractions. They are not wicked men. They are not ugly beasts. They have no horns, no tails. They have just enough in common wifh human nature to be intelligible to human beings. Their characters are. like theii forms, marked by a certain dim resemblance to those of men, but exagger. ted to gigant ; c dimensions and veiled in mysterious gloom. PARADISE LOST. OF man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, a Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top 1. As in the commencement of the Iliad, of the Odyssey, and of tne ^r.eid. so here the subject of the poem is the first announcement that is made, and precedes the verb with which it stands connected, thus giving it due prominence. Besides the plainness and simplicity of the exordium, theie is (as Newton has observed) a further beauty in the variety of the numbe's. which of themselves charm every reader without any sublimity of thought or pomp of expression; and this variety of the numbers consists chielly in the pause being so artfully varied that it falls upon a different syllable in almost every line. Thus, in the successive lines it occurs after the words disobedience, tree, world, Eden. us, Muse. In Milton's verse the pause is con- tinually varied according to the sense through all the ten syllables of which it is composed; and to this peculiarity is to be ascribed the surpassing har- mony of his numbers. 4. Eden: Here the whole is put for a part. It was the loss of Parm/ixc only, the garden, the most beautiful part of Eden ; for after the expulsi >n ol our first parents from Paradise we read of their pursuing their solitary way in Eden, which was an extensive region. 5. Regain, Sfc. : Compare XII. 4C3, whence it appears that in the opinion of Milton, after the general conflagration, the whole earth would be.fonned into another, and more beautiful, Paradise than the one that was !n;-t. 6. Muse: One of those nine imaginary heathen divinities, that were BOOK I. 17 Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth Rose out of Chaos. Or if Sion hill 1C Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God ; I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian Mount, while it pursues 15 Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly Thou, Spirit, that dost prefer thoi.ght to preside over certain arts and sciences, is here, in conformity to classical custom, addressed. Secret top : set apart, interdicted. The Israel- ites, during the delivery of the law, were not allowed to ascend that moun- tain. 7: Horeb and Sinai were the names of two contiguous eminences of the same chain of mountains. Compare Exod. iii. 1, with Acts vii. 30. 8 Snepherd: Moses. Exod. iii. 1. 12. Oracle : God's temple ; so called from the divine communications which were there granted to men. 15. The Aonian Mount ; or Mount Helicon, the fabled residence of the Muses, in Bceotia, the earlier name of which was Aonia. Virgil's Eclog. vi. 65. Georg. iii. 11. 16. Things unatienipted : There were but few circumstances upon which Milton could raise his poem, and in everything which he added out of his own invention he was obliged, from the nature of the subject, to proceed with the greatest caution ; yet he has filled his story with a surprising num- ber of incidents, which bear so close an analogy with what is delivered in holy writ that it is capable of pleasing the most delicate reader without giving offence to the most scrupulous. A. 17. Chiefly Thou, O Spirit : Invoking the Muse is commonly a mattei of mere form, wherein the (modern) poets neither mean, nor desire to be thought to mean, anything seriously. But the Holy Spirit, here invoked, is too solemn a name to be used insignificantly : and besides, our author, in the beginning of his next work. 'Paradise Regained,' scruples not to say to the same Divine Person " Inspire? As Thou art wont, my prompte.l song, else mute." This address therefore is no mere formality. HEYLIN. It is thought by Bp. Newton that the poet is liable to the charge of enthu siasm ; having expected from the Divine Spirit a kind and degree of inspira- tion similar to that which the writers of the sacred scriptures enjoyed. The 2 IS PARADISE LOST. Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st ; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread 20 Dovelike safst brooding on the vast abyss, And madest it pregnant : What in me is dark, Illumine ; what is low, raise and support ; That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, 25 And justify the ways of God to Men. Say rirst, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell ; say first what cause Moved our grand parents, in that happy state, Favor'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off 30 widow of Milton was accustomed to affirm that he considered himself as : n- spired ; and this report is confirmed by a passage in his Second Book ou Chnrch Government, already quoted in our preliminary observations. 24. The height of the argument is precisely what distinguishes this poem of Milton from all others. In other works of imagination the difficulty lies in giving sufficient elevation to the subject ; here it lies in raisini; the imagi- nation up to the grandeur of the subject, in adequate conception of its mighti- ness, and in finding language of such majesty as will not degrade it. A genius less gigantic and less holy than Milton's v.vukl have shrunk fr.;i:i tii" attempt. Milton not only does not lower ; but he ilium: enlarges the great: he expands his wings, and "sails with supr-ino . and Virgil. /En. vii. (> !r>. Milton's Muse, being the Holy Spirit, must of course be omniscient. \. 30. Greatness, is an important requisite in the action or subject of an epic poem ; ?-d Milton here surpasses both Homer and Virgil. The anger of Achilles embroiled the kings of Greece, destroyed the heroes of Troy.jmd engaged all the foils in factions. Eneas' settlement in Italy produced the Cicsars and gave hirth to the Roman empire. Milton's subject does not de- termine the fate merely of single persons, or of a nation, but of an entire species. The united powers of Hell are joined together for the destruction of mankind, which they effected in part and woul. have completed, had i,"t Omnipotence itself interposed. The principal actors are man i:i his greatest perfection, and woman in her highest beauty. Their enemies are the fallen angpJs ; the Messiah their friend, and th< Almighty their Protector. IP BOOK I. 19 From their Creator, and trangress his will For one restraint, lords of the world besides ? Who first seduced them to that foul revolt ? Th' infernal Serpent : he it was whose guile, Stirr'd up with envy and revenge, deceived 35 The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his host Of rebel Angels ; by whose aid aspiring To set himself in glory 'bove his peers, He trusted to have equall'd the Most High, 40 If he opposed ; and with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heav'n, and battle proud With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky, 45 With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition ; there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, abort, everything that is great in the whole circle of being, whether w.lhiii the range of nature or beyond it. finds a place in this admirable poem. A. " The sublimest of all subjects (says Cowper) was reserved for Milton ; and, bringing to the contemplation of that subject, not only a genius equal to the best of the ancients, but a heart also deeply impregnated with the divine truths which lay before him, it is no wonder that he has produced a compo- sition, on the whole, superior, to any that we have received from former ages But he who addresses himself to the perusal of this work with a mind en- tirely unaccustomed to serious and spiritual contemplation, unacquainted with the word of God, or prejudiced against it, is ill qualified to appreciate the value of a poem built upon it, or to taste its beauties. 32. One restraint : one subject of restraint the tree of knowledge oi good and evil. 34. Serpent. Compare Gen. iii. 1 Tim. ii. 14. John viii. 44. 38. Aspiring: I Tim. iii. 6. 39. In glory : a divine glory, such as God himself possessed. This charge is brought against him, V. 725 ; it is also asserted in line 40 ; again iu VI. 88. VII. 140. 46. Ruin is derived from rwo, and includes the idea of falling with vio- lence and precipitation : combustion is more than flaming in the foregoing line ; it is burning in a dreadful manner. N. 48. Chains Compare with Epistle of Jude v. 8. Also, Prometh. 6. 20 PARADISE LOST. Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day and night 50 To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded though immortal : But his doom Reserved him to more wrath ; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 55 Torments him ; round he throws his baleful eyes, That witness'd huge affliction and dismay, Mix'd with obdurate pride and steadfast hate : At once, as far as angels' ken, he views The dismal situation waste and wild : 60 A dungeon horrible on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed ; yet from those flames No light ; but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 65 And rest can never dwell : hope never comes, That comes to all : but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed : Such place eternal justice had prepared 70 50. Nine times the space, ffc. Propriety sometimes requires the use of circumlocution, as in this case. To have said nine days and nights would not have been proper when talking of a period before the creation of the sun, and consequently before time was portioned out to any being in that man- ner. CAMPBELL, Phil. Rhet. 52 3. The nine days' astonishment, in which the angels lay entranced after their dreadful overthrow and fall from heaven, before they could recover the use either of thought or speech, is a noble circumstance and very finely imagined. The division of hell into seas of fire, and into firm ground (227-8) impregnated with the same furious element, with that particulai circumstance of the exclusion of hope from those infernal regions, are in- stances of the same great and fruitful invention. A. 63. Darkness visible : gloom. Absolute darkness is, .strictly speaking, in- visible ; but where there is a gloom only, there is so much light remaining as serves to show that there are objects, and yet those objects cannot be dii* amtly seen. Compare with the Penseroso, 79, 80 : Where glowing embers through the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.'' R_ BOOK r. 21 For those rebellious ; here their pris'n ordained In utter darkness, and their portion set As far removed from God and light of heaven, As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole. how unlike the place from whence they fell ! 75 There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, He soon discerns, and welt'ring by his side One next himself in power, and next in crime, Long after known in Palestine, and named 80 Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy, And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words 72. Utter, has the same meaning as the word outer, which is applied to darkness in the Scriptures. Spenser uses utter in this sense. 74. Thrice as far as it is from the centre of the earth (which is the centre of the world, (universe,) according to Milton's system, IX. 103, and X. 671.) to the pole of the world ; for it is the pole of the universe, far beyond the pole of the earth, which is here called the utmost pole. It is observable that Homer makes the seat of hell as far beneath the deepest pit of earth as the heaven is above the earth, Iliad viii. 16 ; Virgil makes it twice as far, /Eneid vi. 577 ; and Milton thrice as far: as if these three great poets had stretched their utmost genius, and vied with each other, in extending his idea of Hell farthest. N 75. The language of the inspired writings (says Dugald Stewart) is on this as on other occasions, beautifully accommodated to the irresistible im- pressions of nature ; availing itself of such popular and familiar words as up- wards and downwards, above and below, in condescension to the frailty of the human mind, governed so much by sense and imagination, and so little by the abstractions of philosophy. Hence the expression of fallen angels, which, by recalling to us the eminence from which they fell, communicates. in a single word, a character of sublimity to the bottomless abyss. WORKS vol. iv. 288. 77 Fire. Compare with Mark ix. 45, 46. 81. Beelzebub. Compare with Mat. xii. 24. 2 Kings i. 2. " The word means god of flies. Here he is made second to Satan. 82. Satan. Many other names are assigned, to this arch enemy of God and man, in the sacred scriptures. He is called the Devil, the Dragon, the Evil One, the Angel of the Bottomless Pit, the Prince of this World, the Prince of the power of the air, the God of this World, Apollyon. Abaddon, Belial, Beel- zebub. Milton, it will be seen, applies some of these terms to other evil angels. 22 PARADISE LOST. Breaking the horrid silence thus began : If thou beest he ; but how fallen ! how changed From him who, iu the happy realms of light 85 Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst outshine Myriads though bright ! If he whom mutual league, United thoughts and counsels, equal hope And hazard in the glorious enterprise, Joined with me once, now misery hath join'd 90 In equal ruin : into what pit thou seest From what height fall'n, so much the stronger proved He with his thunder : and till then who knew The force of those dire arms ? yet not for those Nor what the potent victor in his rage 95 The term Satan denotes adversary ; the term Devil denotes an accuser, See Kitto's Bib. Cycl. Upon the character of Satan as described by Milton. Hazlitt has penned an admirable criticism, which will be found at the end of Book I. 84. The confusion of mind felt by Satan is happily shown by the abrupt and halting manner in which he commences this speech. Fallen; see Isaiah xiv. 12. Clianged : see Virg. JEn, ii. 274 : ' I!ei mihi qualis erat ! Quantum rautatns ah illo !*' 93. He with his thunder. There is an uncommon beauty in this expres- sion. Satan disdains to utter the name of God, though he cannot but ac- knowledge his superiority. So again, line 2-57. N. 94. Those: compare ^Esch. Prometh. 991. 95 116. Amidst those impieties which this enraged spirit utters in vari- ous parts of the poem, the author has taken care to introduce none that is not big with absurdity, and incapable of shocking a religious reader : his words, as the poet himself describes them, bearing only a ''semblance of worth, not substance." He is likewise with great art desciibed as owning his adversary to be Almighty. Whatever perverse interpretation he puts on the justice, mercy, and other attributes of the Supreme Being, he fre- quently confesses his omnipotence, that being the peri'ection he was funcd to allow, and the only consideration which could support his pride under (he shame of his defeat. A. Upon this important point Dr. Channing has made the following observa- tions: "Some have doubted whether the moral effect of such delineations (as Milton has given) of the stormy and terrible workings of the sci'I is good; whether ihe interest felt in a spirit so transcendent!}' evil ;i favors our sympathies with virtue. But our interest fastens. i:i this and like cases, on wha; is not evil. We gaze on Satan with an awe not unmixed BOOK I. 23 Can else inflict, do I repent or change, Though changed in outward lustre, that fix'd mind And high disdain from sense of injured merit, That with the Mightiest raised me to contend, And to the fierce contention brought along 100 (Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd, That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring, His utmost pow'r with adverse pow'r opposed In dubious battle on the plains of Heav'n, And shook his throne. What though the field be lost ? 105 All is not lost ; th' unconquerable will And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield : And what is else not to be overcome ; That glory never shall his wrath or might 110 Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee, and deify his pow'r, Who from the terror of this arm so late Doubted his empire ; that were low indeed ! That were an ignominy and shame beneath 115 This downfall : since by fate the strength of Gods And this empyreal substance cannot fail, r th mysterious pleasure, as on a miraculous manifestation of the power ofitr.nd. Yt hat chains us, as with a resistless spell, in such a character, is spiritual might (might of soul) , made visible by the racking pains which it over- powers. There is something kindling and ennobling in the consciousness however awakened, of the energy which resides in mind ; and many a vir- tuous man has borrowed new strength from the force, constancy, and daunt* less courage of evil agents." 109. And what, e drawn from the following lines of Cowley ; but, who does not admire the \ f ast improvements in form 1 He says of Goliath, li His spear, the trunk was of a lofty tree, Which nature meant some tall ship's mast should be. 1 ' Compare Horn. Odys. ix. 322. JEn. iii. 659. Tasso, canto vi. 40. 299. Nathless : nevertheless BOOK I. 33 Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades High over-arch 'd imbow'r ; or scatter 'd sedge Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd 305 Hath vex'd the Red Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursued The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcasses 31 C And broken chariot wheels : so thick bestrown, Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep 302, &c. : Here we see the impression of scenery made upon Milton's mind in his youth, when he was at Florence. This is a favorite passage with all readers of descriptive poetry. E. B. 302. Autumnal leaves. Compare Virgil's lines, JEn. vi. 309 : Quam multa in sylvis autumni frigore primo Lapsa cadunt foiia. " That as the leaves in autumn strow the woods." DRYDEN. But Milton's comparison is the more exact hy far ; it not only expresses a multitude but also the posture and situation of the angels. Their lying con- fusedly in heaps covering the lake is finely represented by this image of the leaves in the brooks. N. 303. Vallombrosa : a Tuscan valley : the name is composed of vcdlis and umbra, and thus denotes a shady valley. 05. Orion arni'd : Orion is a constellation represented in the figure of an armed man, and supposed to be attended with stormy weather, assurgent fluctu nimbosus Orion, Virg. JEu. i. 539. The Red Sea abounds so much with sedge that in the Hebrew Scriptures it is called the Sedgy Sea. The wind usually drives the sedge in great quantities against the shore. N. 306. Busiris: Bentley objects to Milton giving this name to Pharaoh since history does not support him in i<-. But Milton uses the liberty of a poet i.i giving Pharaoh this name, because some had already attached it to him. Chivalry, denotes here those who use horses in fight, whether by ridine on them, or riding in chariots drawn by them. See line 765. Also Para- Use Regained iii. 343, compared with line 328. 308. Perfidious : he permitted them to leave the country, but afterwara* pursued them. 2 34 PARADISE LOST. Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates, 315 Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can seize Eternal spirits ; or have ye chos'n this place After the toil of battle to repose Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find 320 To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven ? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn T ' adore the conqueror ? who now beholds Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon 325 His swift pursuers from heav'n gates discern Th' advantage, and descending tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf. Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n. 330 They heard, and were abash'd, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight 335 In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel ; Yet to their gen'ral's voice they soon obcy'd Innumerable. As when the potent rod Of Amram's son, in Egypt's evil day, Waved round the coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud 340 Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind, That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darken'd all the land of Nile : Bo numberless were those bad Angels seen >lf>. This magnificent call of Satan to his prostrate host could have been .tten by nobody but Milton. E. B. j25. Anon: Soon. 329. An allusion seems here to be made to the JE.neid, book i. 445. Ilium, exspirantem transfixo pt'Clore fla:nmas, Tuibine corripuit. scopulnque infixit acuto. 338. Jlmram's son : Moses. See Exod. x. 341. Warping: Moving like waves ; or, working themselves fo imstone, and fill all the plain ; 350 A multitude, like which the populous north Pour'd never from her frozen loins, to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barb'rous sons Came like a deluge on the south, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands. 355 Forthwith from ev'ry squadron and each band The heads and leaders thither haste where stood Their great commander ; Godlike shapes and forms Excelling human, princely dignities, And Pow'rs that erst in Heaven sat on thrones ; 360 Though of their names in heav'nly records now Be no memorial, blotted out and rased By their rebellion from the books of life. Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve Got them new names, till wand'ring o'er the earth, 365 445. Cope: Roof. 3b2. Frozen loins : In Scripture children are said to come out of the hint, i*n. xxxv. 11. The term frozen is here used only on account of the cold- ness of the climate. Rhene and Danaw, the one from the Latin, the other from the German, are chosen because uncommon. Barbarous : The Goths, Huns, and Vandals, wherever their conquests extended, destroyed the monu- ments of ancient learning and taste. Beneath Gibraltar : That is, southward of it, the northern portion of the globe being regarded as uppermost. N. The three comparisons relate to the three different states in which these fallen angels are represented. When abject and lying supine or. the lake, they are fitly compared to vast heaps of leaves which in autumn the poe himself had observed to bestrew the water-courses and bottoms of Vallom- brosa. When roused by their great leader's objurgatory summons, they are compared, in number, with the countless locusts of Egypt. The object oJ the third comparison is to illustrate their number when assembled as soi- diers on the firm brimstone, and here they are compared with the most nu- merous body of troops which history had made mention of. DUNSTKR. 360. Erst: Formerly. ^64-375. The subject of Ptradise Lost is the origin of vil jm eveul, Ut, 36 PARADISE LOST. Thro' God's high suff 'ranee for the trial of man, By falsities and lies the greatest part Of mankind they corrupted, to forsake God their Creator, and th' invisible Glory of him that made them to transform 370 Oft to the image of a brute, adorn'd With gay religions full of pomp and gold, And Devils to adore for Deities : Then were they known to men by various names, And various idols through the Heathen world. 375 Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who last Roused from the slumber, on that fiery couch, At their great emp'ror's call, as next in worth Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. 380 The chief were those who from the pit of Hell Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix Their seats long after next the seat of God, Their altars by his altar, Gods adored Among the nations round, and durst abide 385 its nature connected with everything important in the circumstances of hu man existence ; and, amid these circumstances, Milton saw that the Fables q Paganism were too important and poetical to be omitted. As a Christiac he was entitled wholly to neglect them, hut as a poet he chose to treat them not as the dreams of the human mind, hut as the delusions of infernal exist- ences. Thus anticipating a beautiful propriety for all classical allusions ; thus connecting and reconciling the co-existence of fable and of truth ; and thus identifying the fallen angels with the deities of "gay religions full of pomp and gold," he yoked the heathen mythology in triumph to his subject, and clothed himself in the spoils of superstition. EDINB. ENCYC. This subject is again presented in the last note on Book I. 369. Rom. i. 18-25. 372. Religions : That is, religious rites. 375. Hols : Heathen idols are here described as the representatives of thes demons. Addison remarks that the catalogue of evil spirits has abundance of learning in it and a very agreeable turn of poetry, which rises in ? greal. measure from its describing the places where they were worshipped, by those beautiful marks of rivers so frequent among the ancient poets. Thf author had doubtless in this place Homer's catalogue of ships, and Virgil'* list of warriors in his view. 376. When they apostatised, they acquired new and dishonorable names BOOK I. Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, throned , Between the Cherubim ; yea, often placed Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, Abominations ; and with cursed things His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned, i90 And with their darkness durst affront his light. First Moloch, horrid king, besmear'd with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears, Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud Their children's cries unheard, that peiss'd thro' fire 395 To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipp'd in Rabba and ner wat'ry plain, Jn Argob and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart 400 Of Solomon he led by fraud to build His temple right against the temple of God, On that opprobrious hill ; and made his grove The pleasant vale of Hinnom, Tophet thence 387. Cherubim : The golden figures placed over the ark in the Hebrew sap' tuary, Exod. xxv. See also 2 Kings xix. 15 " Lord God of Israel, whi' dwellest between the Cherubim." 392. Moloch: The national God of the Ammonites; properly denomi nated horrid, since to him children were offered in sacrifice. Consult 2 Kings xxiii. 10-13. The characters ascribed to Moloch and Belial prepare us for their respective speeches and behaviour in the second and sixth books. 397-8. Rabba, or Rabbah, was the principal city of the Ammonites, twenty miles northeast of Jericho, and on the east side of the Jordan. Ar- gob is not far distant. Bashan is a large district of country lying east of the Sea of Tiberias, celebrated for its cattle, and its oaks. At the time of the conquest of Canaan by the Hebrews, the Ammonites occupied the country east of Jordan, from the river jlrnon, which empties into the Dead Sea to the river Jabbok. The vale of Hinnom was near Jerusalem. 403. Solomon built a temple to Moloch on the Mount of Olives (1 Kings xi. 7) : it is hence called that opprobrious (or infamous) hill. 404. Tophet: In the Hebrew, drum; this and other noisy instruments being used to drown the cries of the miserable children who were offered to this idol ; and Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom. is in several places of the New Testament, and by our Saviour himself, made the name and type of hell. N. 38 PARADISE ; OST. And black Gehenna call'd. the type of Hell. 405 Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's sons, From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild Of southmost Abarim ; in Hesebon And Horonaim, Scon's realm, beyond The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, 410 And Eleale to th' Asphaltic pool. Poor his other name, when he enticed Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile, To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. Yet "thence his lustful orgies lie enlarged 415 E'en to that hill of scandal, by the grove Of Moloch homicide ; lust hard by hate ; Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell. 406. Chemos : The god of the Moabites. Consult 1 Kings xi. 6, 7. 2 Kings xxiii. 13. It is supposed to be same as Baal-Peor, and as Priapus. ^umb. xxv. 1-9. 408. Hesebon (Heshbon) : Twenty-one miles east of the mouth of the Jordan. Its situation is still marked by a few broken pillars, several large cisterns and wells, together with extensive ruins which overspread a high hill, commanding a wild and desolate scenery on every side. Jlbarim is a chain of mountains running north and south, east of the Dead Sea ; Pisgah is some eminence in this chain at the northern part, and Ncbo is supposed to be the summit of Pisgah. nearly opposite Jericho. It was here that the great leader of the Israelites was favored with a view of the land of promise, and yielded up his life at the command of the Lord. B. c. 1451. Jlroar (Aroer) was a place situated on the river Arnon, which formed the northern bound- ary of the kingdom of Moab. Seon (Sihon) was king of the Amorites. Sibma was half a mile from Heshbon; Ele'-le. two and a half miles south of it. The ^yphnltic pool is the Dead Sea. Sittim is written Shittim in the Bible. 41. Orgies : Wild, frantic rites. The term is generally applied to the feasts of Bacchus, but is equally applicable to the obscene practices connected with the worship of Chemos, or Peor. 417. Lust hard by hate : The figure contained in this verse conveys a strong moral truth. Had it not been, however, that the music of the verse would have been injured, the idea would have been more correct by the transposition of the words lust and hate. S. Our author might perhaps have in view Spenser's Mask of Cupid, where Anger, Strife, &c., are represented as immediately following Cupid iu th procession. 1' BOOK 1. 39 With these came they, who from the bord'ring flood Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts 430 Eygpt from Syrian ground, had general names Of Baalim and Ashtaroth ; those male, These feminine ; for spirits, when they please, Can either sex assume, or both ; so soft And uncom pounded is their essence pure 425 Not tied nor manacled with joint or limb ; Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh ; but, in what shape they choose Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their aery purposes, 430 And works of love or enmity fulfil. For those the race of Israel oft forsook 419. Bordering flood : The Euphrates formed the eastern border of the pro- mised land, Gen. xv. 18. It may be called old from the very early historic mention of it in Gen. ii. 14. See also Ps. Ixxx. 11. 420. Brook : Probably the brook Besor. 422. Baalim and Jlstaroth : There were many of these deities (so called) in Syria and adjacent regions. The sun and the ^tars are supposed to be in- tended under these names. 423. Milton probably derived these notions from a passage in a Greek author of antiquity, who, in a dialogue concerning Demons, tells a story of one appearing in the form of a woman, and upon this it is asserted that they .'an assume either sex, take what shape and color they please, and contract and dilate themselves at pleasure. N. 423. Spirits : The nature of spirits is here set forth, and the explanation of the manner in which spirits transform themselves by contraction or en- largement is introduced with great judgment, to make way for several sur- prising accidents in the sequel of the poem. There follows a passage near the very end of-the first book, which is what the French critics call marvel- lous, but at the same time is rendered probable when compared with Ihis passage. As soon as the infernal palace is finished, we are told, the multi- tude and rabble of spirits shrunk themselves into a small compass, that there might be room for such a numberless assembly in this capacious hall. But i f is the poet's refinement upon this thought which is most to be admired, and which indeed is very noble in ilself. For he tells us, that notwithstand- ing the vulgar among the fallen spirits contracted their forms, those of th first rank and dignity still preserved their natural dimensions. Consult the last ten lines of the first book. A. 432. Those : Those demons. 433. Strength : Jehovah, 40 PARADISE LOST. Their living Strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods ; for which their heads as low 435 Bow'd down in battle, sunk before the spear Of despicable foes. With these in troop Came Astorcth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns To whose bright image nightly by the moon 440 Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs ; In Sion also not unsung, where stood Her temple on th' offensive mountain, built By that uxorious king, whose heart, though large, Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell 445 To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured The Syrian damsels to lament his fate In amorous ditties all a summer's day ; While smooth Adonis from his native rock 450 Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded : the love-tale Infected Sion's daughters with like heat ; Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch Ezekiel saw, when by the vision led, 455 His eye survey'd the dark idolatries 438. Jerem. vii. 18; xliv. 17. 18. 1 Kings xi. 5. 2 Kings xxiii. 13. 443. Offensive : So called on account of the idolatrous worship there per- formed ; in other places called by Milton, for the same reason, the mountain of corruption, opprobrious hill, and hill of scandal. 44 1. Uxorious king : Solomon, who was too much influenced by his wives. 451. Thammuz: This idol is the same as the Phenician Adonis. Ezck. viii. 14. Adonis, in the heathen mythology, was a beautiful youth, son of Cinyrus. king of Cyprus, beloved by Venus, and killed by a wild hoar, to the great regret of the goddess. It is also the name of a river of Phenicia, on the banks of which Adonis, or Thammuz as he is called in thi- Ka>t. was sup- posed to nave been killed. At certain seasons of the ear this river acquires a high red color by the rains washing up red earth. The an< . cribed this to a sympathy in the river for the death of Admii.s. Thi was observed as a festival in the adjacent country. To thusc circumstance? Milton has here beautifully alluded. BKANOE'S Cvc. BOOK I. 41 Of alienated Judah. Next came one Who mourn'd in earnest, when the captive ark Maim'd his brute image, head and hands lopp'd off In his own temple, on the grunsel edge, 460 Where he fell flat, and shamed his worshippers : Pagon his name, sea-monster, upward man And downward fish : yet had his temple high Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast Of Palestine, in Gath arid AscaJon, 465 And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds. Him follow'd Kimmon, whose delightful seat Was fair Damascus, on the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams. He also 'gainst the house of God was bold : 470 A leper once he lost, and gain'd a king ; Ahaz his sottish conqu'ror, whom he drew God's altar to disparage and displace For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn His odious offerings, and adore the gods 475 Whom he had vanquish 'd. After these appear 'd A crew, who, under names of old renown, 460. Grunsel edge: Groundsill edge the threshold of the gate of the temple. 462. Dagon: A god of the Philistines. Consult Judges xvi. 23. 1 Sam. v 4 ; vi. 17. 467. Rimmon : A god of the Syrians. Consult 2 Kings v. 18. 467-9. The power of Milton's mind is stamped on every line. The fer- vour of his imagination melts down arid renders malleable, as in a furnace, the most contradictory materials. Milton's learning has all the effect of in- tuition. He describes objects, of which he could only have read in books, with the vividness of actual observation. His imagination has the force ol nature. He makes words tell as pictures, as in these lines. The word lurid, here used, gives us all the sparkling effect of the most perfect landscape There is great depth of impression in his descriptions of the objects of all the different senses, whether colours, or sounds, or smells ; the same absorption of mind in whatever engaged his attention at the time. He forms the most in- tense conceptions of things, and then embodies them by a single stroke of his pen. HAXLITT. 471. 2 Kings viii. xvi. 10. 2 Chron. xxvii.'. 23. 42 PARADISE LOST Osiris, Iris, Orus, and their train, With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek 480 Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms .-Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape Th' infection, when their borrow'd gold composed Tho calf in Oreb : and the rebel king ' O Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan, -485 Likening his Maker to the grazed ox ; Jehovah, who in one night when he pass'd From Egypt marching, equall'd with one stroke Both her first-born, and all her bleating gods. Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd 490 Fell not from heaven, or more gross to love Vice for itself: to whom no temple stood, Nor altar smoked; yet who more oft than he In temples and at altars, when the priest Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who fill'd 495 478. Osiris, one of the principal Egyptian gods, was brother to isis, and the father of Orus (Horns) . Osiris was worshipped under the form of the sacred bulls. Apis and Mnevis ; and as it is usual in the Egyptian symboli- cal language to represent their deities with human forms, and with the heads of the animals which were their representatives, we find statues of Osiris with the horns of a bull. ANTIION. The reason alleged for worshipping their gods under the monstrous forms uf bulls, cats, &c., is the fabulous tradition that when the Giants invaded hea- ven, the gods were so affrighted that they fled into Egypt, and there concealed themselves in the shapes of various animals. See Ovid Met. v. 319. N. 483. Infection : The Israelites, by dwelling so long in Egypt, were infected with the superstitions of the Egyptians. E. B. 484 Oreb: Horeb. Rebel king : Jeroboam. Consult 1 Kings xii. 26-33. 48.V Doubled that sm, by making two golden calves, probably in imitation of the Egyptians among whom he had been, who worshipped two oxen; one called Apis, at Memphis, the metropolis of Upper Egypt; the other called Mnevis. at Hieropolis, the chief city of Lower P'gypt. Bet lid And Dan were at the southern and northern extremities of Palestine. See Psalm cvi. 20. N. 489. Bleating gods : Sheep ; and hence shepherds who raised sheep to kill for food were "an abomination" to the Egyptians. 495. Eli's sons : C msult 1 Sam. ii. BOOK T 43 With lust and violence the house of God ? fn courts and palaces he also reigns, And in luxurious cities, where the noise Of riot ascands above their loftiest towers, And injury and outrage : and when night 500 Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when the hospitable door Exposed a matron, to avoid worse rape. Ji05 These were the prime in order and in might The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd, Th' Ionian gods, of Javan's issue held Gods, yet confess'd later than Heaven and Earth, Their boasted parents : Titan, HeavVs first-born, 510 With his enormous brood, and birthright seized By younger Saturn : he from mightier Jove, His own and Rhea's son, like measure found ; So Jove usurping reign'd : these first in Crete And Ida known, thence on the snowy top 515 Of cold Olympus, ruled the middle air, Their highest heav'n ; or on the Delphian cliff, Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds Of Doric land ; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian fields, 520 And o'er the Celtic roam'd the utmost isles. 502. Flown : A better reading is blown, inflated. Virg. EC. vi. 15. 504. Gibeah: Consult Judges xix. 14-30. 506. Prime : Being mentioned in the oldest records, the Hebrew. 508. Javan : The fourth son of Japhet, from whom the lonians and the Greeks are supposed to have descended. 509. Heaven and Earth : The god Uranus, and the goddess Gaia. 510-521. Titan was their eldest son: he was the father of the Giants and his empire was seized by nis younger brother Saturn, as Saturn's was by Jupiter, the son of Saturn and Rhea. These first were known in the island of Crete, now Candia, in which is Mount Ida, where Jupiter is said to have been born : thence passed over into Greece, and resided on Mount Olympus in Thessaly : the snotry top of cold Olympus, as Homer calls it, Iliad i. 420. xviii. 615, which mountain afterwards became the name of Heaven among their 44 PARADISE LOST. N All these and more came flocking ; but with looks Downcast and damp ; yet such wherein appeared Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief Not in despair, to have found themselves ,not lost 525 In loss itself: which on his count'nance cast Like doubtful hue : but he, his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Sc-mblance of worth, no* substance, gently raised Their fainting courage, and dispell'd their fears. 530 Then straight commands, that at the warlike sound Of trumpets loud and clarions bv acrear'd His mighty standard ; that proud honor clairn'd Azazel as his right, a cherub tall ; Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl 'd 535 Th' imperial ensign ; which, full high advanced, Shone like a meteor, streaming to the wind, With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed Seraphic arms and trophies ; all the while Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds : 540 At which the universal host up-sent A shout, that tore hell's concave, and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night. All in a moment through the gloom were seen Ten thousand banners rise into the air, 545 With orient colors waving : with them rose A forest huge of spears ; and thronging helms Appear'd, and serried shields in thick array worshippers; or on the Delphian cliff. Parnassus, on which was seated the city of Delphi, famous for the temple and oracle of Apollo ; or in Dodona, a city and wood adjoining, sacred to Jupiter ; and through a/I the bounds of Doric land, that is. of Greece, Doris being a part of Greece ; or fed over Hadria, the Adriatic sea, to the Hesperian Jirlds, to Italy : and o'er the Celtic. France and the other countries overrun by the Celts ; roamed the utmost -Wes, Great Britain, Ireland, the Orkneys, Thule, or Iceland, Ultinm Thulc, as it is called, the utmost boundary of the world. N. 534. Azazd : The name signifies brave in retreating. 543. Reign, in the sense of regnum, kingdom. 546. Orient.: Brilliant BOOK I. 45 Of depth immeasurable : anon they move In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 550 Of flutes and soft recorders ; such as raised To height of nohlest temper heroes old Ann ing to battle ; and instead of rage Deliberate valor breath'd, firm and unmoved With dread of death to flight or foul retreat 555 Nor wanting power to mitigate and 'suage, With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase Anguish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and pain From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they, Breathing united force, with fixed thought, 560 Moved on in silence, to soft pipes, that charm'd Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil : and now Advanced in view they stand ; a horrid front Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise Of warriors old with order'd spear and shield, 565 Awaiting what command their mighty chief Had to impose : he through the armed files Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse The whole battalion views, their order due, Their visages and stature as of gods : 570 Their number last he sums. And now his heart Distends with pride, and hardening in his strength Glories ; for never since created man Met sucL embodied force, as, named with these, Could merit more than that small infantry 575 548. Serried shields : Locked one within another, linked and clasped to- gether, from the French serrer, to lock, to shut close. HUME. 550. There were three kinds of music among the ancients; the Lydian. the most melancholy; the Phrygian, the most lively; and the Dorian, ihe most majestic, (exciting to cool and deliberate courage. N.) Milton has. been very exact in employing music fit for each particular purpose. S. 551. Recorders: Flageolets. 560. Homer's Iliad, iii. 8. 568. Traverte : across. 575 All the heroes and armies that ever were assembled were no more than pigmies in comparison with these angels. N. See note on Book L 780. 4<5 PARADfSE LOST. Warr'd on by cranes : though all the giant brood Of Phlegra with tli* heroic race were join'd That fought at Tfcebes and Ilium, on each side Mix'd with auxiliar gods ; and what resounds In fable or romance of Uther's son Begirt with British and Annoric knights ; And all who since, baptized or infidel, Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban, Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore, ft >6 When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell By Fontarabia. Thus far these beyond Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed Their dread commander : he, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent, 590 Stood like a tower ; his form had not yet lost 577. Phlegra : The earlier name of the peninsula Pallene in Macedonia and the fabled scene of a conflict between the gods and the earth-born Titans. 580. Uther was the father of king Arthur. This and the following allu sious are derived from the old romances on the subject. Charlemagne is said not to have died at Fontarabia, but some years after, and in peace. S. 581. Jirmork: Celtic those on the sea-coast of Brittany in the north- west part of France. 583. Jousted: Engaged in mock fights on horseback. Jlspramont and Montulban: Fictitious names of places mentioned in Orlando Furioso. 585. Biserta: Formerly called Utica. The Saracens are iriernM 1 . to as being sent thence to Spain. Fontarabia: Afortifted town in Biscay, in Spain, near France. 590-99. Here, says Burke, is a very noble picture; and in what does ibis poetical picture consist ? in images of a town, an archangel, the sun rising through mists, or in an eclipse, the ruin of monarch*, and the. revolution of kingdoms. The mind is hurried out of itself by a crowd of great ami con- fused images, which affect because they are crowded and confused: for separate them, and you lose much of the greatness ; join them, and , fallibly lose the clearness. There are reasons in nature why the idea, when properly conveyed, should be more affecting than the clear. It is our (comparative) ignorance of things that causes all our admiration, and chiefly excites our passions. Knowledge and acquaintance miike tii itriking causes affect but little. It is thus with the vulgar, and all men are as t lie vulgar in what they do not understand 47 All her original brightness, nor appear'd Less than archangel ruin'd, and the excess Of glory obscured ; as when tho sun, new risen. Looks through the horizontal misty air 595 Shern of his beams ; or from behind the moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes moriarchs. Darken'd so, yet shone Above them all the Arch-angel : but his face GOO Deep scars of thunder had intrench 'd, and care Sat on his faded cheek ; but under brows Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride Waiting revenge ; cruel his eye, but cast Signs of remorse and passion, to behold 605 The fellows of his crime, the followers rather 595-6. When Milton sought license to publish his poem, the licenser was strongly inclined to withhold it, on the ground that he discovered treason in. this noble simile of the sun eclipsed ! a striking example of the acute remark of Lord Lyttleton, that " the politics of Milton at that time brought his poetry into disgrace ; for it is a rule with the English to see no good in a man whose politics they dislike." T. 597. Eclipse : Derived from a Greek word which signifies to fail, to faint or swoon away ; since the moon, at the period of her greatest brightness, falling into the shadow of the earth, was imagined by the ancients to sicken and swoon, as if she were going to die. By some very ancient nations she was supposed, at such times, to be in pain ; and, in order to relieve her fan- cied distress, they lifted torches high in the atmosphere, blew r horns and trumpets, beat upon brazen vessels, and even, after the eclipse was over, they offered sacrifices to tho moon. The opinion also extensively prevailed, that it was in the power of witches, by their spells and charms, not only to darken the moon, but to bring her down from her orbit, and to compel her to shed her baleful influences upon the earth. In solar eclipses, also, especially when total, the sun was supposed to turn away his face in abhorrence of some atrocious crime, that had : ither been peipetrated, or was about to be perpetrated, and to threaten mankind with everlasting night, and the destruc- tion of the world. To such superstitHns Milton, in this passage, alludes. OLMSTED'S LETTERS ON ASTRON. No where is the person of Satan described with more sul limity than in ibis part of the poem. 600. Intrenched : Cut into, made trenches there. N. 606. Fellows. The nice moral discrimination displayed in this line, 'u worthy of notice. 48 PARADISE L;>ST. (Far other once beheld in bliss), condemned For ever now to have their lot iu pam : Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced Of heaven, and from eternal splendours flung 610 For his revolt, yet faithful how they stood, Their glory wither'd: as when Heav'u's fire Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth tho' bare Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared 615 To speak ; whereat their doubled ranks they bend From wing to wing, and half inclose him round With all his peers. Attention held them mute Thrice he essay'd, and thrice, in spite of scorn, Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth. At last 620 Words interwove with sighs found out their way. \ myriads of immortal Spirits, Powers Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife Was not inglorious, though the event was dire, As this place testifies, and this dire change, 626 Hateful to utter ; but what power of mind, Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd How such united force of Gods, how such As stood like these, could ever know repulse ; 630 For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puissant legions, whose exile 609. Jlmened: Judicially deprived. See Horn. Odys. viii. 64. 611. Yd faithful: We must refer to line 605, and thence supply here "to lehold." 619. Allusion to Ovid. Met. xi. 410 : Ter conata loqui, ter flctibus ora rigavit. 620. Tear*, such as angels weep . Like Homer's ichor of the gods, which was different from the blood of mortals. This weeping of Satan on survey- ing his numerous host, and the thoughts of their wretched state, puc one in mind of the story of Xerxes, weeping at the sight of his immense army, and reflecting that they were mortal, at the time that he was hastening them to their fate, and to the intended destruction of the most polished people >ti the world, to gratify his own vain glory. N. BOOK t. 49 Hath emptied Heav'n, shall fail to re-ascend Self-raised, and repossess their native seat ? For me, be witness all the host of Heav'n, 635 If counsels different, or danger shunn'd By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, Consent, or custom, and his regal state 640 Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd, Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Henceforth his might we know, and know our own, So as not either to provoke or dread New war, provoked ; our better part remains 645 To work in close design, by fraud or guile, What force effected not ; that he no less At length from us may find, who overcomes By force, hath overcome but half his foe. Space may produce new worlds ; whereof so rife 650 There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long Intended to create, and therein plant A generation, whom his choice regard Should favour equal to the sons of Heav'n : Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps 656 Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere : For this infernal pit shall never hold Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th' abyss . * ; Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts Full counsel must mature : Peace is despair'd, 660 For who can think submission ? War then, War, Oper or understood, must be resolved. He spake : and, to confirm his words, out flew 633. Emptied : An instance of arrogant boasting and falsehood. 642. Tempted our attempt : Words which, though well-chosen and signifi- cant enough, yet of jingling and unpleasant sound, and, like marriages be- tween persons too near of kin, to be avoided. 650. Rife : Prevalent. This fame, or report, serves to exalt the dignity and importance of our race. 662. Understood : Not declared. 4 8C PARADISE LOST. Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty Cherubim : the sudden blaze 665 Far round illumined Hell. Highly they raged Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war, Hurling defiance tow'rd the vault of Heaven. There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top 670 Belch'd fire and rolling smoke ; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic ore, The work of sulphur. Thither wingM with speed A num'rous brigade hasten'd : as when bands 6^5 Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd, Forerun the royal camp to trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on ; Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell From Heav'n : for e'en in Heav'n his looks and thoughts 680 Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of Heav'n's pavement, trodden gold, Than aught divine or holy else enjoy'd In vision beatific. By him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, 685 664. Drawnfrom the thighs : A Homeric expression, Iliad, i. 190, more dig- nified than " drawn from the sides." 668. Clashed : Alluding to a custom among Roman soldiers of striking their shields with their swords, when they applauded the speeches of their commanders. 671. Belched: An idea borrowed, perhaps, from an expression of Virgil (JEn. Hi. 576) , eructans, in describing ^Etna. 674. The work of sulphur : Metals were in the the time of Milton supposed to consist of two component parts, mercury, as the basis, or metallic matter; and sulphur as the binder or cement, which fixes the fluid mercury into a co- herent, malleable mass. So .Tonson in the Alchemist, Act 2, Scene 3 : ' It turns to sulphur, or to quicksilver. Who are the parents of all other metals." 678. Mammon: The god of riches; the same as the Pluto of the Greeks nd Romans. Tne delineation of his character and agency by Milton, abounds in literary beauties. 685. Suggestion: Milton here alludes to a superstitious opinion formerly BOOK I. 51 Ransack'd the centre, and with impious hands Rifled the bowels of their mother earth For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew Open'd into the hill a spacious wound, And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire 690 That riches grow in Hell ; that soil may best Deserve the precious bane. And here let those Who boast in mortal things, and wond'ring tell Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings, Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, 695 And strength, and art, are easily outdone By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour What in an age they with incessant toil And hands innumerable scarce perform. Nigh on the plain in many cells prepared, 7QO That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude With wond'rous art founded the massy ore, Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross ; A third as soon had forni'd within the ground 705 A various mould, and from the boiling cells current with the miners, that there is a sort of demons who have much to do with minerals, being frequently seen occupying themselves with the va- rious processes of the workmen. So tltat Milton (as Warburton remarks) poetically supposes Mammon and his clan to have taught the sons of earth by example and practical instruction, as well as precept and mental suggestion. 687. Compare Ovid Met. i. 138, &c. HUME. 688. Better hid. Compare Hor. Od. III. iii. 49: ' Aurum irrepertum. et sic melius situm." 694. Works : The pyramids. 696. Strength and art : These words are in the nominative case, connected with monuments. 699. Diodorus Siculus says, that 360,000 men were employed about twenty years on one of the pyramids. 7031. The sense of the passage is this: They founded, or melted, the ore that was in the mass, by separating, or severing, each kind, that is, the sul- phur, earth, &c., from the metal ; and. after that, they scummed the drosi that floated on the top of the boiling ore, or bullion. The word bullion doe* Dt here signify purified ore, but ore boiling. PEARCE. 52 PARADISE LOST. By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook, As in an organ, from one blast of wind, To many a row of pipes, the sound-board breathes. Anon out of the earth a fabric huge 710 Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid With golden architrave ; nor did there want 715 Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures grav'n : The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, Nor great Alcairo such magnificence Equall'd in all their glories, to inshrine Belus or Serapis their Gods, or seat 720 Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove In wealth and luxury. Th' ascending pile Stood fix'd her stately height ; and straight the doors, Op'ning their brazen folds, discover wide Within her ample spaces, o'er the smooth 725 And level pavement. From the arched roof, Pendant by subtle magic, many a row Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light As from a sky. The hasty multitude 730 708. Organ : A very complete simile is here used. Milton, being fond of music, often draws fine illustrations from it. 710. Anon: At once. 715. Architrave: The part of a pillar above the capital. Above this, is the t'rie.te, which is surmounted by the cornice. 718. Jllcairo: Cairo, a famous city in Egypt, built from the splendid ruins of Memphis, which was partially destroyed by Arabian invaders, in the seventh century. The god Serapis, is by some supposed to be the same as Osiris, or Apis. The Belus of Assyria is thought to be the same as the Hreat Bali of Hindoo mythology, and Baal mentioned in the Scriptures. 723. Her stately height: At her stately height. 725. Within : Is an adverb and not a preposition. So Virg. JEn. ii. 483. Apparet domus intut, et atria longa patescunt 728 Cressets: Torches. BOOK I. 53 Admiring enter'd ; and the work some praise, And some the architect : his hand was known In heaven by many a tower'd structure high, Where sceptred angels held their residence, And sat as princes ; whom the supreme King 735 Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unadored In ancient Greece ; and in Ausonian land Men call'd him Mulciber ; and how he fell 740 From Heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements : from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day ; and with the setting sun^ Dropt from the zenith like a falling star, 745 On Lemnos, th' ./Egean isle : thus they relate, Erring ; for he with this rebellious rout Fell long before ; nor ought avail'd him now T' have built in heav'n high tow'rs ; nor did he 'scape By all his engines, but was headlong sent 750 With his industrious crew to build in hell. Meanwhile, the winged heralds, by command Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony 740. Mulciber : Or Vulcan, to which god was ascribed the invention of arts connected with the melting and working of metals by fire. The term Vulcan is, hence, sometimes used as synonymous with fire. Haw he fell, 4 See Homers Iliad, i. 090. " Once in your cause I felt his (Jove's) matchless might, Hurl'd headlong downward from the ethereal height j Tost all the day in rapid circles round ; Nor till the sun descended, touched the ground : Breathless I fell, in giddy motion lost ; The Sinthians raised me on the Lemnian coast." It is worth observing how Milton lengthens out the time of Vulcan's fall. He not only says with Homer, that it was all day long, but we are led through the parts of the day from morn to noon, from noon to evening and this a summers day. N. 742. S/ieer : Quite, or at once. 750. Engines : It is said that in the old English, this word was oiten used for devices, wit, contrivance 54 PARADISE LOST. And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council, forthwith to be held 755 At Pandemonium, the high capital Of Satan and his peers : their summons call'd From every band and squared regiment By place or choice the worthiest : they anon, With hundreds and with thousands, trooping came 760 Attended : all access was throng'd : the gates And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall (Though like a cover 'd field, where champions bold Wont ride in arm'd, and at the soldan's chair Defied the best of Panim chivalry 765 To mortal combat, or career with lance), Thick swarm'd, both on the ground and in the air, Brush'd with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides, Pour forth their populous youth about the hive 770 In clusters ; they among fresh dews and flowers Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, The suburb of their straw-built citadel, New rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer Their state affairs ; so thick the aery crowd 775 Swarm'd and were straiten'd ; till, the signal given, Behold a wonder ! They but now who seem'd In bigness to surpass earth's giant sons, Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room 763. Covered: Enclosed. 764. Wont ride in : Were accustomed to ride in. Soldan's : Sultan'f. 765. Panim : Pagan, infidel. 79L Jit bees, $c. : Iliad, ii. 87. " As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees Clustering in heaps on heaps the diiving bees, Rolling and blackening, swarms succeeding swarm* With deeper murmurs and more hoarse alarms ; Dusky they spread, a close embodi'd crowd, And o'er the vale descends the living cloud. So." fcc. 769. Taunts : One of the signs of the Zodiac, Book X. 663. 777. Jl wonder : Consult the note on line 423. BOOK I. 55 Throng numberless, like that pygmean race 780 Beyond the Indian mount ; or fairy elves, Whose midnight revels, by a forest-side Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while over head the moon Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 785 Wheels her pale course ; they, on their mirth and dance Intent, with jocund music charm his ear ; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large, 790 Though without number still, amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimensions like themselves, The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim, In close recess and secret conclave sat, 79ft A thousand Demi-gods on golden seats, Frequent and full. After short silence then, And summons read, the great consult began. 780. Pygmean, fyc. : A fabulous nation of dwarfs that contended annually with cranes. They advanced against these birds mounted on the backs of rams and goats, and armed with bows and arrows. Iliad, iii. 3. 785. Nearer to the earth, fyc. : Referring to the superstitious notion that witches and fairies exert great power over the moon. 789. Spirits, fyc. : For some further account of the nature and properties of spirits consult Book VI. 344-353. 795. Secret conclave : An evident allusion to the conclaves of the cardinals on the death of a Pope. E. B. 797. Frequent : Crowded, as in the Latin phrase, frequent tenatu* 798. Consult: Consultation. Milton, in imitation of Homer and Virgil, opens his Paradise Lost with an infernal council, plotting the fall of man, which is the action he proposed to celebrate ; and as for those great actions, the battle of the angels and the creation of the world, which preceded, in point of time, and which would have entirely destroyed the unity of the principal action, had he related them in the same order in which they happened, he cast them into the fifth, sixth, and seventh books, by way of episode to this noble poem. It may be remarked of all the episodes introduced by Milton, that they arise naturally from the subject. In relating the fall of man, he has (by way of episode) 5(5 PARADISE LOST. related the fall of those angels who were his professed enemies ; and the two narratives are so conducted as not to destroy unity of action, having a close affinity for each other. In respect to the rule of epic poetry, whicn requires the action to be en- tire, or complete, in all its parts, having a beginning, a middle, and an end the action in the Paradise Lost, was contrived in Hell, executed upon Earth, and punished by Heaven. The parts are distinct, yet grow out trf one ano- ther in the moot natural method. A. THE CHARACTERS IN PARADISE LOST. Addison, in his Spectator, has some learned and interesting remarks upon this topic, of which the substance is now to be presented. Homer has ex- celled all the heroic poets in the multitude and variety of his characters. Every god that is admitted into the Iliad, acts a part which would have been suitable to no other deity. His princes are as much distinguished by their manners as by their dominions ; and even those among them, whose charac- ters seem wholly made up of courage, difier from one another as to the par- ticular kinds of courage in which they excel. Homer excels, moreover, in the novelty of his characters. Some of them, also, possess a dignity which adapts them, in a peculiar manner, to the nature of an heroic poem. If we look into the characters of Milton, we shall find that he has intro- duced all the variety his narrative was capable of receiving. The whole species of mankind was in two persons, at the time to which the subject of his poem is confined. We have, however, four distinct characters in these two persons. We see man and woman in the highest innocence and per- fection, and in the most abject state of guilt and infirmity. The last two characters are now, indeed, very common and obvious ; but the first two are not only more magnificent, but more new than any characters either in Vir- gil or Homer, or, indeed, in the whole circle of nature. To supply the lack of characters, Milton has brought into his poem two actors of a shadowy and fictitious nature, in the persons of Sin and Death, by which means he has wrought into the body of his fable a very beautiful and well-invented allegory. (See Note. Book II. 6-19.) Another principal actor in this poem, is the great Adversary of mankind. The part of Ulysses, in Homers Odyssey, is very much admired by Aris- totle, as perplexing that fable with very agreeable plots and intricacies, not only by the many adventures in his voyage, and the subtlety of his be- haviour, but by the various concealments and discoveries of his person in several parts of that poem. But the crafty being, mentioned above, makes a much longer voyage than Ulysses, puts in practice many more wiles and stratagems, and hides himself under a greater variety of shapes and appear- ances, all of which are severally detected, to the great delight and surprise of the reader. It may, likewise, be observed, with how much art the poet has varied BOOK I. 57 several characters of the persons that speak in his infernal assembly. On the contrary, he has represented the whole Godhead ixerting itself towaids man, in its full benevolence, under the threefold distinction of a Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter. The angels are as much diversified in Milton, and distinguished by their proper parts, as the gods are in Homer or Virgil. The reader will find nothing ascribed to Uriel, Gabriel. Michael, or Raphael, which is not in a particular manner suitable to their respective characters. The heroes of the Iliad and , Chains and these torments ? Better these than worse, By my advice : since fate inevitable Subdues us, and omnipotent decree, The Victor's will. To suffer, as to do, Our strength is equal ; nor the law unjust 200 That so ordains. This was at first resolved, If we were wise, against so great a Foe 180 See Note, Book I. 329. 181. Virg. JEn. vi. 75, " rapiclis ludibria ventis " 188. Can: Can (accomplish). 19_ Allusion to Ps. ii. 4. 199. To suffer, as to do: Scffivola boasted that he was a Roman, and knew as well how to suffer as to act. " Et facere et pati fortia Romantim est." Liw ii. io._ tf. '20 T. This was at first resolved: Our minds were made up at first to this. BOOK II. 69 Contending, and so doubtful what might fall. I laugh, when those who at the spear are bold And vent'rous, if that fail them, shrink and fear 20? What yet they know must follow, to endure Exile or ignominy, or bonds, or pain, The sentence of their Conqu'ror. This is now Our doom ; which if we can sustain and bear, Our Supreme Foe in time may much remit 210 His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed, Not mind us not offending, satisfy'd With what is punish'd ; whence these raging firea Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. Our purer essence then will overcome 215 Their noxious vapour, or inured not feel, Or changed at length, and to the place conform'd In temper and in nature, will receive Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain ; This horror will grow mild, this darkness light, 220 Besides what hope the never-ending flight Of future days may bring, what chance, what change Worth waiting, since our present lot appears For happy though but ill, for ill not worst, If we procure not to ourselves more woe. 225 Thus Belial, with words cloth'd in reason's garb, Counsel'd ignoble ease and peaceful sloth, Not peace : and after him thus Mammon spake : 218-19. Receive familiar : Receive as a matter made easy (by habit) The same idea is uttered by Mammon, 1. 274-78 of this Book. 223. Waiting: Waiting for. 223-25. Since our present lot appears for (as) a happy one, though it is, indeed, but an ill one, for, though ill, it is not the worst, &c. 228. Mammon : His character is so fully drawn in the First Book, that the poet adds nothing to it in the Second. We were before told that he was the first who taught mankind to ransack the earth for gold and silver ; and, that he was the architect of Pandemonium, or the infernal palace where the evil spirits were to meet in council. His speech, in this Book, is every way suitable to so depraved a character. How proper is that reflection of their being unable to taste the happiness of he? ren, were they actually 70 PARADISE LOST. Either to disenthrone the King of Heav'n We war, if war be best, or to regain 230 Our own right lost : him to unthrone we then May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife. The former vain to hope, argues as vain The latter ; for what place can be for us 235 Within Heav'n's bound, unless HeavVs Lord Supreme We ovcrpow'r ? Suppose he should relent, And publish grace to all, on promise made Of new subjection ; with what eyes could we Stand in his presence humble, and receive 240 Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing Forced hallelujahs, while he lordly sits Our envied Sovereign, and his altar breathes Ambrosial odours and ambrosial flow'rs, 245 Our servile offerings? This must be our task In Heav'n, this our delight. How wearisome Eternity so spent in worship paid To whom we hate ! Let us not then pursue By force impossible, by leave obtain 'd 250 Unacceptable, though in Heav'n, our state Of splendid vassalage ; but rather seek Our own good from ourselves, and from our own Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess, Free, and to none accountable, preferring 2o5 Hard liberty before the easy yoke there, in the mouth of one who, while he was in heaven, is said to have had his mind dazzled with the outward pomps and glories of the place, and to have been more intent on the riches of the pavement than on the beatific vision. The sentiments uttered in lines 262-213 are admirably charac- teristic of the same being. A. 233. T!ie strife : Between the King of Heaven and us, not between Fafe and Chance. PEARCE. 244. Breathes : Throws out the smell of, &c. See IV. 265. 250. By force, fyc. : What is impossible to attain by force, what is unaccept- able if obtained by permission BOOK II. 71 Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear Then most conspicuous, when great things of small, Useful of hurtful, prosp'rous of adverse, We can create, and in what place soe'er, 260 Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain Through labour and endurance. This deep world Of darkness do we dread : How oft amidst Thick clouds and dark doth Heav'n's all-ruling Sire Choose to reside, his glory unobscured, 265 And with the majesty of darkness round Covers his throne ; from whence deep thunders roar, Must 'ring their rage, and Heav'n resembles Hell ? As he our darkness, cannot we his light Imitate when we please : This desert soil 270 Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold ; Nor want we skill or art, from whence to raise Magnificence : and what can Heav'n shew more ? Our torments also may in length of time Become our elements ; these piercing fires 275 As soft as now severe, our temper changed Into their temper ; which must needs remove The sensible of pain. All things invite To peaceful counsels, and the settled state Of order, how in safety best we may 280 Compose our present evils, with regard Of what we are and where, dismissing quite All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise. He scarce had finish'd, when such murmur fill'd Th' assembly, as when hollow rocks retain 285 The sound of blust'ring winds, which all night long Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull Seafaring men o'erwatch'd, whose bark by chance Or pinnace anchors in a craggy bay 263-8. The imagery of this passage is drawn from Ps. xviii. 11,13; xcvii. 2. 278. Tlie sensible of pain : The feeling, the sensa ion of pain. 279. These speeches are wonderfully fine ; but t \e question is changed in th* coarse of the debate. N. 72 PARADISE LOST. After the tempest. Such applause was heard 290 As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased, Advising peace ; for such another field They dreaded worse than Hell : so much the fear Of thunder and the sword of Michael Wrought still within them ; and no less desire 295 To found this nether empire, which might rise By policy and long process of time, In emulation opposite to Heav'n : Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom, Satan except, none higher sat, with grave 300 Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd A pillar of state : deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat and public care ; And princely counsel in his face yet shone, Majestic though in ruin : sage he stood, 30o With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear 294. Michael: A holy angel, who, in the Book of Daniel, chap. x. 3-21, is represented as having charge of the Jewish nation; and, in the book of Jtide. verse 9, as contending with Satan about the body of Moses. His name is introduced also in Rev. xii. 7-9. 296. Nether: Lower. 299. Beelzebub : This evil spirit, who is reckoned the second in dignity that fell, and is. in the First Book, the second that awakes out of the trance, and confers with Satan upon the situation of their affairs, maintains his rank in the Book now before us. There is a wonderful majesty exhibited in his rising up to speak. He acts as a kind of moderator between the two oppo- site parties, and proposes a third undertaking, which the whole assembly approves. The motion he makes to detach one of their body in search of a neft world, is grounded upon a project devised by Satan, and cursorily pro- posed by him. in the First Book. GoO-660. It is on this project that Beelzebub grounds his proposal "What, if we find." &c. Book II. 314-353. It may be observed how just it was, not to omit in the First Book, the pioject upon which the whole poem turns; as, also, that the prince of the fallen angels was the only proper person to give it birth, and that the next to him in dignity wa-- the fitte t to second and support it. 306. Jltlnntcnn: An allusion to King Atlas, who, according to ancient mythology, was changed into a mountain on the northern coast of Africa, whi'-l:. from its great height, was represented as supporting the atmospher* BOOK II 73 The weight of mightiest monarchies ; his look Drew audience and attention still as night Or summer's noon-tide air, while thus he spake : Thrones and Imperial Powers, Offspring of Heav'n 310 Ethereal Virtues ; or these titles now Must we renounce, and changing style be call'd Princes of Hell ? for so the popular vote Inclines here to continue, and build up here A growing empire ; doubtless, while we dream, 315 And know not that the King of Heav'n hath doom'd This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt From Heav'n 's high jurisdiction, in new league Banded against his throne, but to remain 320 In strictest bondage, though thus far removed, Under th' inevitable curb, reserved His captive multitude : for he, be sure, In height or depth, still first and last will reign Sole King, and of his kingdom lose no part 825 By our revolt ; but over Hell extend His empire, and with iron sceptre rule Us here, as with his golden those in Heav'n. What sit we then projecting peace and war ? War hath determined us, and foil'd with loss 330 Irreparable : terms of peace yet none Vouchsafed or sought : for what peace will be giv'n To us enslaved, but custody severe, And stripes and arbitrary punishment Inflicted ? And what peace can we return, 335 But to our power hostility and hate, Untamed reluctance, and revenge though slow, Yet ever plotting how the Conqu'ror least May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice 329. What : For what ? or, why ? 336. But to : But according to. The word but in this line, and in line 333, is used with a poetic freedom, somewhat as the word except is employed in Ene 678, 74 PARADISE LOST. Jn doing what we most in suffring feel ? Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need With dang : rous expedition to invade Heav'n, whose high walls fear no assault or siege, Or ambush from the deep. What if we find Some easier enterprise ? There is a place, 345 (If ancient and prophetic fame in Heav'n Err not) another world, the happy seat Of some new race call'd Man, about this time To be created like to u.s. (hough less In pow'r and excellence, but favour'd more 350 Of Him who rules above ; so was his will Pronounced among the Gods, and by an oath, That shook Heav'n's whole circumference, confirm'd. Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn What creatures there inhabit, of what mould 355 Or substance, how endued, and what their pow'r, And where their weakness ; how attempted best, By force or subtlety. Though Heav'n be shut, And Heav'n's high Arbitrator sit secure In his own strength, this place may lie exposed 360 The utmost border of his kingdom, left To their defence who hold it. Here perhaps 346. Fame in Heaven : There is something wonderfully beautiful, and very apt to affect the reader's imagination, in this ancient prophecy, or report in Heaven, concerning the creation of man. Nothing could better show the dignity of the species, than this tradition respecting them before their exist- ence. They are represented to have been the talk of Heaven liefure they were created. A. 352. Heb. vi. 17. An allusion, also, to Jupiter's oath. Vug. JEn. ix. 104, Horn. Iliad, i. 528. 360. It has been objected that there is a contradiction between this part of Beelzebub's speech and what he says afterwards, speaking of the same thing; but, in reply, it may be observed, that his design is different in these different speeches. In the former, where he is encouraging the assembly to undertake an expedition against this world, he says things to lessen the diffi- culty and danger; but in the latter, when they are seeking a proper person to perform it, he says things to magnify the danger, in order to make them more cautious in their choice. N. BDOK II. 75 Some advantageous act may be achieved By sudden onset, either with Hell fire To waste his whole creation, or possess 365 All as our own, and drive, as we were driv'n, The puny habitants ; or if not drive, Seduce them to our party, that their God May prove their Foe, and with repenting hand Abolish his own works. This would surpass 370 Common revenge, and interrupt his joy In our confusion, and our joy upraise In his disturbance ; when his darling sons, Hurl'd headlong to partake with us, shall curse Their frail original and faded bliss, 375 Faded so soon. Advise if this be worth Attempting, or to sit in darkness here Hatching vain empires. Thus Beelzebub Pleaded his dev'lish counsel, first devised By Satan, and in part proposed : for whence, 380 But from the author of all ill, could spring So deep a malice, to confound the race Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell To mingle and involve, done all to spite The great Creator r But their spite still serves 385 His glory to augment. The bold design Pleased highly those infernal States, and joy Sparkled in all their eyes. With full assent They vote ; whereat his speech he thus renews : Well have ye judged, well ended long debate, 390 Synod of Gods, and like to what ye are, Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate. Nearer our ancient seat ; perhaps in view Of those bright confines, whence with neighb'ring arms 395 367. Puny: Newly-created; derived from the French expression, pwunit* born eince. The idea of feebleness is inv nlved. 382. Confound : Overthrow, destroy. 393. Fate : The decree of God. 76 PARADISE LOST. And opportune excursion, we may chance Re-enter Heav'n ; or else in some mild zone Dwell not unvisited of Heav'n's fair light Secure, and at the bright'ning orient beam Purge off this gloom : the soft delicious air, 400 To heal the scar of these corrosive fires, Shall breathe her balm. But first, whom shall we send In search of this new world ? whom shall we find Sufficient ? who shall 'tempt with wand'ring feet The dark unbottom'd infinite abyss, 405 And through the palpable obscure find out His uncouth way, or spread his aery flight, Upborne with indefatigable wings Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive The happy isle ? What strength, what art, can then 410 Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe Through the strict senteries and stations thick Of Angels watching round ? Here he had need All circumspection, and we now no less Choice in our suffrage ; for on whom we send, 415 The weight of all and our last hope relies. This said, he sat ; and expectation held His look suspense, awaiting who appear'd To second or oppose, or undertake The perilous attempt : but all sate mute 420 Pond'ring the danger with deep thoughts ; and each In other's count'nance read his own dismay 404. 'Tempt: Try. 405. Obscuri : Obscurity, an adjective being used for a substantive. 409. Arrive: Arrive at. 41 J. hie: The earth is so called because surrounded by an atmospheric ea ; or, perhaps, because swimming in space. 412. Had need: Would need, as in the phrase " You had better go." The meaning is, " You would better go"" It would be better for you tc go." 414. Jill: The greatest. 415. Choice : Judgment or care in choosing. 417. Expectation is here personified. His looks suspense means, His coun- tenance in a fixed, serious position. Compare Virg. JEn. ii. ] BOOK II. 77 Astonish'd. None among the choice and prime Of those Heav'n-warring champions could be found So hardy as to proffer or accept 425 Alone the dreadful voyage ; till at last Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised Above his fellows, with monarchal pride, Conscious of highest worth, unmoved, thus spake : Progeny of Heav'n, empyreal Thrones, 430 With reason hath deep silence and demur Seized us, though undismay'd : long is the way And hard that out of Hell leads up to light ; Our prison strong ; this huge convex of fire, Outrageous to devour, immures us round 435 Ninefold, and gates of burning adamant Barr'd over us prohibit all egress. These pass'd if any pass, the void profound Of unessential Night receives him next Wide gaping, and with utter loss of being 440 Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf. If thence he 'scape into whatever world, Or unknown region, what remains him less Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape ? But I should ill-become this throne, Peers, 445 And this imperial sov'reignty, adorn'd With splendour, arm'd with pow'r, if aught propos'd And judged of public moment, in the shape Of difficulty or danger, could deter Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume 450 429. Unmoved : That is, by the dangers in view. 431. Demur: Suspense. 434. Convex : Vault of fire, bending down on all sides around us. The word properly- denotes the exterior surface of a globe, and concave the interior, but the poets use them promiscuously, as here. What is here called convex is called concave in line 635. 436. Virg. JEn. vi. 439, 552. 439. Unessential : Unsubstantial, void of materiality. 445-466. An imitation of one of the noblest speeches in the Iliad, xii 310, &c. ; but a great improvement upon it. 78 PARADISE LOST. These royalties, and not refuse to reign, Refusing to accept as great a share Of hazard as of honour ; due alike To him who reigns, and so much to him duo Of hazard more, as he above the rest 45& High honourd sits ? Go, therefore, mighty Powers, Terror of Hcav'n, though fall'n ; intend at home, While here shall be our home, what best may ease The present misery, and render Hell More tolerable ; if there be cure or charm 4t>0 To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain Of this ill mansion ; intermit no watch Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad Through all the coasts of dark destruction, seek Dcliv'rance for us all. This enterprise 465 None shall partake with me. Thus saying rose The Monarch, and prevented all reply, Prudent, lest from his resolution raised, Others among the chief might offer now (Certain to be refused) what erst they fear'd : 470 And so refused might in opinion stand His rivals, winning cheap the high repute Which he through hazard huge must earn. But they Dreaded not more th' adventure than his voice Forbidding ; and at once with him they rose ; 475 Their rising all at once was as the sound Of thunder heard remote. Tow'rds him they bend With awful rev'rence prone ; and as a God Kxtol him equal to the High'st in Heav'n : Nor fail'd they to express how much they praised, 480 That for the gen'ral safety he despised His own : for neither do the Spirits datnn'd Lose all their virtue : lest bad men should boast 457. Intend : Regard, deliberate upon. 470. Ertt : At first. 482. For neither, fyc. : This seems to have been a sarcasm on the bad men ol Milton's time. E. B BOOK a. 7& Their specious deeds on earth, which glory excites, Or close ambition, varnish'd o'er with zeal. 485 Thus they their doubtful consultations dark Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief: As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o'erspread Heav'n's cheerful face, the low'ring element 490 Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape snow, or show'r ; If chance the radiant Sun with farewell sweet Extend his ev'ning beam, the fields revive, The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. 495 shame to men ! Devil with Devil damn'd Firm concord holds, men only disagree Of creatures rational, though under hope Of heav'nly grace : and God proclaiming peace, Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife 500 Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, Wasting the earth, each other to destroy ; As if (which might induce us to accord) Man had not hellish foes enough besides, 183. Lest: Before this word supply, or understand, "this remark is made." 485. Milton intimates above, that the iallen and degraded state of man, or his individual vice, is not at all disproved by some of his external actions not appearing totally base. The commentators should have observed, in ex- plaining this passage, that the whole grand mystery on which the poem de- pends, is the first fearful spiritual alienation of Satan from God, the only fountain of truth and all real positive good ; and that, when thus separated, whether the spirit be that of man or devil, it may perform actions fair in appearance, but not essentially good, because springing from no fixed prin ciple of good. S. 489. IVhile the north wind sleeps : A simile of perfect beauty : it illus- trates the delightful feeling resulting from the contrast of the stormy debate with the light that seems subsequently to break in upon the assembly. E. B. 491. Scowls: Drives in a frowning manner. 496. shame to men : The reflections of the poet here are of great prac- tical wisdom and importance. They were suggested, probably, by the civi/ rommotions and animosities of his own times. 80 PAKADISE LOST. That day and night for his destruction wait. 505 The Stygian council thus dissolved ; and forth In order came the grand infernal peers : 'Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seem'd Alone th' antagonist of Heav'n, nor less Than Hell's dread emperor with pomp supreme, 510 And God-like imitated state ; him round A globe of fiery Seraphim inclosed With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms. Then of their session ended they bid cry With trumpets' regal sound the great result : 515 Tow'rds the four winds four speedy Cherubim Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy By herald's voice explain'd ; the hollow abyss Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell With deaf ning shout return'd them loud acclaim. 520 Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat raised By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Pow'rs Disband, and wand'ring, each his sev'ral way Pursues, as inclination or sad choice Leads him perplex'd, where he may likeliest find 525 Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain The irksome hours till his great chief return. Part on the plain, or in the air sublime, 50 17 . Stygian : An epithet derived from Styx, the name of a distinguished river in the infernal regions, according to the Pagan mythology ; it heie means the same as the word infernal. 512. Globe : A hody of men formed into a circle. Virgil (^En. x. 373) uses a similar expression : " Qua globtis ille virflm densissimus urguet." 513 That is, with glittering ensigns, and bristled arms, or arms with points standing outward. The word horrent was, probably, suggested by u horrentia Martis arma," of the ^Eneid, book i., or by the " horrentibiis hastis" of JEn. x. 178. 517. Jllchcmy: An alloy or mixed metal, out of which the trumpets were made : here, by metonymy denotes trumpets. 528. Part on the plain, Sfc. : The diversions of the fallen angels, with the particular account of their place of habitation, are described with great pregnancy of thought and copiousness of invention. The diversions are bOOk 11. 81 Upon the wing, or in swift race contend, As at tli' Olympian games or Pythian fields, 530 Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal With rapid wheels, or fronted brigades form, As when to warn proud cities war appears Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush To battle in the clouds, before each van 535 Prick forth the airy knights, and couch their speara Till thickest legions close ; with feats of arms From either end of Heav'n the welkin burns. Others, with vast Typhosan rage more fell, Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air 540 In whirlwind ; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar. As when Alcides, from Oechalia crown'd With conquest, felt th' envenom'd robe, and tore every way suitable to beings who had nothing left them but strength and knowledge misapplied. Such are their contentions at the race, and in feats of arms, with their entertainment, described in lines 539-541, &c. A Compare Ovid, Met. iv. 445. 529-30. These warlike diversions of the fallen angels, seem to be copied from the military exercises of the Myrmidons during the absence of their chief from the war. Horn. Iliad, ii. 774, &c. See dso JEn. vi. 64. 531. Rapid wheels: Hor. Ode i. 1 : 4, "Metaque fervidis evitata rotis." 536. Couch their spears : Put them in a posture for attack : put them in their rests. 538. Welkin: Atmosphere. 539. Typhcean : Gigantic, from Typhccus, one of the giants of Pagan my- thology, that fought against Heaven. 542. Jllcides : A name of Hercules, from a word signifying strength. He was a celebrated hero, who received, after death, divine honours. Having killed the King of CEchalia, in Greece, and led away his beautiful daughter lole, as a captive, he raised an altai to Jupiter, and sent off for a splendid robe to wear when he should offer a sacrifice. Deianira, in a fit of jealousy, before sending the robe, tinged it with a certain poisonous preparation. Her cules soon found that the robe was consuming his flesh, and adhered so closely to his skin, that it could not be separated. In the agony of the mo- ment, he seized Lichas, the bearer of the robe, by the foot, and hurled him from the top of Mount (Eta, into the sea. This name is given to a chain of mountains in Thessaly. the eastern extremity of which, in conjurjction with the sea, formed the celebrated pass of Thermopylae. 6 82 PARADISE LOST. Throush pain up by the roots Thcssalian pines, And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw 545 Into th' Euboic sea. Others more mild, Retreated in a silent valley, sing With notes angelical to many a harp Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall By doom of battle ; and complain that Fate '350 Free virtue should inthrall to force or chance. Their song was partial, but the harmony (What could it less when Spirits immortal sing ?) Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet 555 (For eloquenc3 the soul, song charms the sense) Others apart sat on a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fix'd fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute, 560 And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost. Of good and evil much they argued then, Of happiness and final misery, Passion and apathy, glory and shame, Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy : 565 547. Sing, fyc. : Their music is employed in celebrating their own crimi- nal exploits, and their discourse in sounding the unfathomable depths of late, free-will, and foreknowledge. A. ">.")->. Partial: Too favourable to themselves. Or the word may express this idea . Confined to few and inferior topics those relating to war. :">."> 1. Suspended Hell : The effect of their singing is somewhat like that of Orpheus in Hell. Virg. Geor. iv. 481 . N. 556. Eloquence, ifc. : The preference is here given to intellect above th fleasuies of the senses. E. B. 557. .'{part : Hor. Ode ii. 13 : 23, " Sedesque Jifcrrtns pionim." 563. Good and evil, and de finibus bonorum et malorum. &c., were more particularly the subjects of disputation among the philosophers and sophists of old; as providence, free-will, &c., were among the school-men and divines of later times, especially upon the introduction of the free notions of Ar- minius upon these subjects ; and our author shows herein what an opinion he had of all books and learning of this kind. N. BOOK II. 83 Yet with a pleasing sorcery could charm Pain for a while, or anguish, and excite Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast With stubborn patience as with triple steel. Another part in squadrons and gross bands, 570 On bold adventure to discover wide That dismal world, if any clime perhaps Might yield them easier habitation, bend Four ways their flying march, along the banka Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge 575 Into the burning luke their baleful streams ; Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate ; Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep ;. 566. Charm : Allay, beguile. 569. Triple : Hor. Ode i. 3 : 9. " Illi robur, et ass triplex, Circa pectus erat." 575-591. Four infernal rivers, Sfc. : The several circumstances in the de- scription of Hell, are finely imagined ; as the four rivers which disgorge themselves into the sea of fire, the extremes of cold and heat, and the river of Oblivion. The monstrous animals produced in that infernal world, are re- presented by a single line, which gives us a more horrid idea of them than a much longer description would have done : " Nature breeds Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things," &c. This episode of the fallen spirits and their place of habitation, comes in very happily to unbend the mind of the reader from its attention 'to the debate. A. 577-614. Abhorred Styx, $c. : The Greeks reckon up five rivers in Hell, and call them after the names of the noxious springs and rivers in their own country. Our poet follows their example both as to the number and the names of these infernal rivers, and excellently describes their nature and properties, with the explanation of their names. As to the situation of these rivers, Milton does not confine himself to the statements of Greek or Latin poets, but draws out a new map of these rivers. He supposes a burning lake, agreeably to Scripture ; and into this lake he makes these four rivers to flow from different directions, which gives us a greater idea than any of the heathen poets have furnished. The river of Oblivion is rightly p laced far off from the rivers of Hatred, Sorrow, Lamentation, and Rage ; and divides the frozen continent from the region of fire, and, thereby, completei the map of Hull with its general divisions. N. 4 PARADISE LOST. Cocytus, named of lamentation loud Heard on the rueful stream ; fierce Phlegethon, 580 Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage Far off from these a slow and silent stream, Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls Her wat'ry labyrinth ; whereof who drinks, Forthwith his former state and being forgets, 585 Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. Beyond this flood a frozen continent Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems 590 Of ancient pile ; all else deep snow and ice A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old, Where armies whole have sunk : the parching air Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire. 595 Thither, by harpy-footed furies haled, At certain revolutions, all the damn'd Are brought : and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, From beds of raging fire to starve in ice 60W 589. Dire hail : Compare Horace, Ode ii., Dirce grandinis. 590. Gathers heap : Accumulates. 592. Serbonian bog: A morass between Egypt and Palestine, near Moun Casius. The loose sand of the adjacent country sometimes covered it \r such an extent as to give it the appearance of firm land. 594. Parching : Scorching, drying. Burns frore : Burns frosty, or \vith frost. Ecclus. xliii. 20, 21, ' ; When the mid north wind blo\veth, it devoureth the mountains, and burneth the wilderness, and consumeth the grass as fire." Xowton also refers us to the old English and Septuagint translations of Fs. cxxi. 6 : u The sun shall not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night." The same idea is introduced in Virgil, Georg. i. 93. ' " rapidive potcntia solis Acrior. aut Bortt pcncrrabilefri/rus aclvrat." assage may have been in the mind of Milton, as it ascribes & scorch- 'g, or parching influence alike to the vehement sun and to the pene- f the north wind. Kill with cold ; a sense common in England, but not used in ROOK U. 80 Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine Imruoveable, infix'd, and frozen round, Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire. They ferry over this Lethean sound Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment, 605 And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe, All in one moment, and so near the brink ; But fate withstands, and to oppose th' attempt 610 Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards The ford, and of itself the water flies All taste of living wight, as once it fled The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on In confused march forlorn, th' advent'rous bands 615 With shudd'ring horror pale, and eyes aghast, View'd first their lamentable lot, and found No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale They pass'd, and many a region dolorous, 603. Thence hurried, $c. : This circumstance of the damned's suffering the extremes of heat and cold by turns, is finely invented to aggravate the horror of the description, and seems to be founded on Job, xxiv. 19, in the Latin version, which Milton frequently used. '' Ad nimium calorern transeat ab aquis niviunn." So Jerome and other commentators understand it. N. 608. This is a fine allegory, designed to show that there is no forgetfulness in Hell. Memory makes a part of the punishment ot the damned, and the reflection but increases their misery. N. 611. Medusa: A fabulous being, who had two sisters. The three were called Gorgons, from their terrible aspect which turned the beholder into stone. The upper part of the body and the head, according to the fable, re- sembled those of a woman ; the lower part was like a serpent. 614. Tantalus: A Grecian prince, who, for cruelty to his son, was con- demned to perpetual hunger and thirst in hell. The English word tantalize is derived from this story, which is adapted, if not designed, to show that there is no forgetfulness in Hell, but that memory and reflection torture its inhabitants. 618-22. By words we have it in our power (says Burke) to make such tomlr.nations as we cannot possibly make otherwise. By this power of com- bining, we are able, by the addition of well-chosen circumstances, to give g5 PA I? A DISK LOST. O'er many a frozen, many a ti TJ Alp, 620 Rocks, caves, kkes, fens, bogs, deiis, arid shades of death, A universe of death, which God by curse Created evil, for evil only good, Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds, Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, 625 Abominable, iuutterable, and worse Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceived, Gorgons and Hydras, and Chimeras dire. new life and force to the simple object. The words rocks, caves, &c., would lose the greatest part of the effect if they were not the ]!ocks, caves, lakes, dens. bogs. fens, and shades of death." and the idea, caused by a word, which nothing but a word could annex to the others, raises a very great degree of the sublime ; which is raised yet higher by what follows, A UNIVERSE OF DEATH. 620. Milton's Hell is the most fantastic piece of fancy, based on the broad- est superstructure of imagination. It presents such a scene as though Switzer- land were set on fire. Such an uneven, colossal region, full of bogs, caves, hol- low valleys, broad lakes and towering Alps, has Milton's genius cut out from Chaos, and wrapped in devouring flames, leaving, indeed, here and there a snowy mountain, or a frozen lake, for a variety in the horror. This wilder- ness of death is the platform which imagination raises and peoples with the fallen thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, and powers. On it the same poem, in its playful fanciful mood, piles up the pandemonian palace, suggests the trick by which the giant fiends reduce their stature, shrinking into imps, and seats at the gates of Hell the monstrous forms of Sin and Death. These have often been objected to, as if they were unsuccessful and abortional ef- forts of imagination, whereas they are the curvettings and magnificent non- sense of that power after its proper work, the creation of Hell, has been performed. The great (literary) merit of Milton's Hell, especially as com- pared to Dante's, is the union of a general sublime indistinctness, with a cleai statuesque marking out from, or painting on, the gloom, of individual forms. The one describes Hell like an angel passing through it in haste, and with time only to behold its leading outlines and figures; the other, like a pilgrim, compelled with slow and painful steps, to thread all its high-ways and by. ways of pain and punishment. GILFILLAN. 623. Good: Adapted. 628. Hydra : A fabled monster serpent in the marsh of Lemnos in the Pelo- ponnesus, which had many heads, and those when cut off, were immediately replaced by others. Chimera : A fabulous monster, vomiting flames, having the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and tail of a serpent. Hence the term is now applied to an j thing self-contradictory or absurd to a mere creature of the imagination. BOOK II. 87 Meanwhile the adversary of God and Man, Satan, with thoughts inflamed of high'st design, 630 Puts on swift wings, and tow'rds the gates of Hell Explores his solitary flight. Sometimes He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left, Now shaves with level wing the deep, then soars Up to the fiery concave tow'ring high. 635 As when far off at sea a fleet descry 'd Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring Their spicy drugs ; they on the trading flood 640 Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape Ply stemming nightly tow'rd the pole. So seeiu'd Far off the flying Fiend : at last appear Hell bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof, And thrice threefold the gates ; three folds were brass, Three iron, three of adamantine rock, 645 Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire, Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat 636. As tvhen, fyc. : Satan, towering high, is here compared to a fleet af Jndiamen discovered at a distance, as it were, hanging in the clouds, as a fleet at a distance seems to do. Dr. Bentley asks, why a fleet when a first-rate man-of-war would do ? Dr. Pearce answers. Because a fleet gives a nobler image than a single ship ; and it is a fleet of Indiarnen, because, coming from so long a voyage, it is the fitter to be compared to Satan in this expedition. The equinoctial are the trade winds. The fleet is described as close sailing, and is therefore more proper to be compared to a single person. N. Dr. Pearce observes that Milton in his similitudes (as is the practice of Homer and Virgil too) , after he has shown the common resemblance (as here ii line 637) , often takes the liberty of wandering into some unresembling circumstances ; which have no other relation to the comparison than that it gave him the hint, and, as it were, set fire to the train of his imagination. 638-41. Bengala: Bengal. Ternate and Tidore : Spice islands east of Bor ueo. Ethiopian : Indian ocean. Cape : Of Good Hope. 64*2. By night they sail towards the north pole. 644. Hell bounds : The boundaries of HelK 647. Empaled: Paled in, enclosed. The old romances frequently speak of enchanted castles being empaled with circling fire. T. 648. The allegoi y that follows is a poetic paraphrase upon Jame i. J &. 88 PARADISE LOST. On either side a formidable shape ; The one seem'd woman to the waist, and fair, 650 But ended foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast, a serpent arm'd With mortal sting : about her middle round A cry of Hell-hounds never ceasing, bark'd With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung C55 "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it ia finished, bringeth forth death." 649. The picture of Sin here given, may have been suggested by a tine ii Horace. See Art. Poet. 4 : ' Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne." Or, Milton may have been indebted, in part, to Spenser's description of Error " Half like a serpent horribly displayed, But th' other half did woman's shape retain," &c. Hesiod's Echidna is also described as half woman, and half serpent. Theog. 298. The mention of the Hell-hounds about her middle, Milton has drawn from the fable of Scylla (660) . 649. On either side, Sfc. : The allegory concerning Sin and Death is a very finished piece, of its kind, though liable to objection when considered as a part of an epic poem. The genealogy of the several persons is contrived \ith great delicacy. Sin is the daughter of Satan, and Death the offspring of Sin. The incestuous mixture between Sin and Death, produces those monsters and Hell-hounds which, from time to time, enter into the mother and tear the bowels of her who gave them birth. These are the terrors oi an evil conscience, and the proper fruits of sin, which naturally arise from the apprehension of death. This is clearly intimated in the speech of Sin. Addison further calls our attention to the justness of thought whi'-li is observed in the generation of these several symbolical persons ; that Sin was produced upon the first revolt of Satan that Death appeared soon after he was cast into Hell, and, that the terrors of conscience were conceived at the gate of this place of torment. " This," says Stebbing, " is one of the most sublime passages in the poem. Addison is generally ingenious in his criticisms, but not elevated; and when he objected to Milton's having introduced an allegory, he shows that he was incapable of entering into the magnificent conceptions of his author. Sin and Death are not allegorical beings in Paradise Lost ; but real and active existences. They would have been allegorical, speaking or contending among men, but are not so in an abode of spirits, and addressing the Prince vf Darkness. See James i. 15." These remarks are a sufficient answer, also, to Dr. Johnson's objections. 655. Cerberean mouths : Mouths like those of the fabled infernal god Cer- BOOK II- 89 A hideous peal : yet, when they list, would creep, If aught disturb'd their noise, into her womb, And kennel there, yet there still bark'd and howl'd Within unseen. Far less abhorr'd than these Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts f-'S* Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore ; Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when call'd In secret, riding through the air she comes, Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance With Lapland witches, while the lab'ring moon 66{ Eclipses at their charms. The other shape, If shape it might be call'd that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb, Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, For each seem'd either; black it stood as Night, 670 berus, who possessed three heads, and guarded the entrance in Tartarus, to prevent the escape of the condemned. 660. Scylla: Scylla and Charybdis are the names, the former of a rock on the Italian shore, in t:ie strait between Sicily and the main land ; ar?d the latter of a whirlpool, or strong eddy, over against it on the Sicilian side. The ancients connected a fabulous story with each name. Scylla was origin- ally a beautiful woir.nn, hut was changed by Circe into a monster, the parts below her waist becoming a number of dogs, incessantly barking while she had twelve feet and hands, and six heads, with three rows ol teeth. Terrified at this metamorphosis, she threw herself into the sea, and was cnanged into the rocks which bear her name. Charybdis was a greedy woman, who stole the oxen of Hercules, and, for that offence, was turned into the gulf, 01 whirlpool, above mentioned. FISKE. See Ovid. Met. xiv 59, &c. 661. Trinacrian; Sicilian. Calabria: Southern part of Italy. 662. Uglier: Ugl-iei (beings). Night-hag: Witch. 655. The lab'ring moon : The ancients believed the moon to be greatl_ affected by magical practices; and the Latin poets call the eclipses of tlv moon laborcs lunce.. The three foregoing lines, and the former part of this, contain a short account of what was once believed, and in Milton's time not so ridiculous as now. R. 666. The other shape : The figure of Death, the regal crown upon his head, his menace of Satan, his advancing to the combat, the outcry at his birth, are circumstances that demand admiration. This description of Death, was pro bably suggested by Spenser, Faery Queen, book viii. cant. 7. 60 PARADISE LOST. Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, And shook a dreadful dart. What seem'd his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on. Satan was now at hand, and from his seat, The monster moving onward, came as fast 675 With horrid strides, Hell trembled as he strode. Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admired Admired, not fcar'd : Grod and his Son except, Created thing nought valued he nor shunn'd ; And with disdainful look thus first began : 680 Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, That darest, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way To yonder gates ? Through them 1 mean to pass, That be assured, without leave ask'd of thee : 685 Retire or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heav'n. To whom the goblin full of wrath reply'd, Art thou that traitor Angel, art thou He, W T ho first broke peace in Heav'n, and faith, till then 690 Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's sons, 671. Furies: An allusion to three daughters of Pluto, whose office it was to torment the guilty in Tartarus, and often to punish the living, by produc- ing fatal epidemics, the devastations of war, insanity, and murders. They were represented with vipers twining among their hair, usually with fright- ful countenances, in dark and bloody robes, and holding the torch of discord or vengeance. FISKE'S CL. MANUAL. 675, &c. That superior greatness and mock-majesty which is ascribed to the prince of fallen angels, is admirably preserved in every portion of this book. His opening and closing the debate : his taking on himself th;:' enterprise, at the thought of which the whole infernal assembly trembled ; his encountering the hideous phantom who guarded the gates of Hell, and appeared to him in all its terrors, are instances of that proud and daring mind which could not brook submission even to Omnipotence. The same boldness and intrepidity of behaviour discovers itself in the several adventures which he meets with during his passage through the regions of ut formed matter r and. particularly in his address to those tremen- dous Powers who are described (960-9~0) as presiding over it. A. BOOK II. 91 Conjured against the High'st, for which both thou And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd To waste eternal days in woe and pain ? 695 And reckon'st thou thyself with Spirits of Ileav'n, Hell-doom 'd, and breath'st defiance here and scorn Where I reign king, and to enrage thee more, Thy king and lord ? Back to thy punishment, False fugitive, -and to thy speed add wings, 700 Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue Thy ling'ring, or with one stroke of this dart Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before. So spake the grisly terror, and in shape, So speaking, and so threat'ning, grew tenfold 70S More dreadful and deform. On th' other svie, Incensed with indignation, Satan stood Unterrify'd, and like a comet buru'd, That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge In th' arctic sky, and from his horrid hair 710 Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head Levell'd his deadly aim ; their fatal hands No second stroke intend, and such a frown Each cast at th' other, as when two black clouds, With Heav'n's artill'ry fraught, come rattling on 715 676-679. Except : This passage will not bear a critical examination, for it implies that God and his Son are created things ; but the poet intended to convey no such idea. If for created, the word existing be substituted, the sense would be unembarassed. The word but is used with similar looseness in lines 333, 336. Richardson has pointed out a similar passage in Milton's Prose Works, " No place in Heaven and Earth, except Hell." 693. Conjured : Leagued together. Virg. Georg. i. 280. :; Et conjuratos coelutn rescindere fratres." 709. Ophiuchus, or Serpentarius : One of the northern constellations. 710. Pliny has this expression (ii. 22) , " Cometas horrentes crine sangui- neo." The ancient poets frequently compare a hero in his shining armour, to a comet. Poetry delights in omens, prodigies, and such wonderful events as were supposed to follow upon the appearance of comets, eclipses, and like events. N. 715. jirtillery: Thunder. 92 PARADISE LOST. Orer the Caspian ; then stand front to front Hov'ring a space, till winds the signal blow To join their dark encounter in mid-air. So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell Grew darker at their frown, so match'd they stood: 720 For never but once more was either like To meet so great a foe : and now great deeds Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung, Had not the snaky sorceress that sat Fast by Hell gate, and kept the fatal key, 725 Ris'n, and with hideous outcry rush'd between. Father, what intends thy hand, she cry'd, Against thy only Son ? What fury, Son, Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart Against thy Father's head ? and know'st for whom ? 730 For Him who sits above and laughs the while At thee ordain'd his drudge, to execute Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids : His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both. She spake, and at her words the hellish pest 735 Forbore ; then these to her Satan return'd. So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange Thou interposest, that my sudden hand Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds What it intends, till first I know of thee, 740 /16. The Caspian is said to be subject to violent storms. Hor. Ode. ii. 9 : 2 721. Once more : In (he person of Jesus Christ (734). Heb. ii. 14. 758. Out of thy head I sprung : An allusion to the heathen fable of t?e goddess Minerva springing out of the head of Jupiter. Her appearance is represented as producing, among the heavenly beings, at first, amazement and terror ; but afterwards securing the approbation and favour of a multi- tude of them. This representation exhibits the horror in which the idea of sinning against God was first regarded, and the change of views among the sinning angels, upon becoming accustomed to acts of transgression. The same thing is true among men, particularly among the young when led astray from a moral course. In the seventh and eighth chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and in the first chapter of the Epistle of James, may be found, also, a vivid personification of sin. BOOK II. 93 What thing thou art, thus double-form 'd, and why In this infernal vale first met thou call'st Me Father, and that phantasm call'st my Son ; I know thee not, nor ever saw till now Sight more detestable than him and thee. 745 T' whom thus the portress of Hell gate reply 'd : Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem Now in thine eyes so foul ? once deem'd so fair In Heav'n, when at th' assembly, and in sight Of all the Seraphim with thee combined 750 In bold conspiracy against Heav'n's King, All on a sudden miserable pain Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast Threw forth, till on the left side op'ning wide, 755 Likest to thee in shape and count'nance bright, Then shining heav'nly fair, a Goddess arm'd Out of thy head I sprung ; amazement seized All th' host of Heav'n ; back they recoil'd, afraid At first, and call'd me Sin, and for a sign 760 Portentous held me ; but familiar grown I pleased, and with attractive graces won The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing Becam'st enamour'd, and such joy thou took'st 765 With me in secret, that my womb conceived A growing burthen. Meanwhile war arose, And fields were fought in Heav'n ; wherein remain'd (For what could else ?) to our Almighty Foe Clear victory ; to our part loss and rout 770 Through all the empyrean. Down they fell, Driv'n headlong from the pitch of Heav'n, down Into this deep, and in the general fall 760. For a sign : As a prodigy, or phenomenon. 767. G-rauring burthen : This symbolizes the increasing atrocity and hideous* ness of a course of transgression, or its tendency to propagate itself. 772. Pitch: Height 94 PARADISE LOST. I also ; at which time this powerful key Into my hand was giv^n, with charge to keep 775 These gates for ever shut ; which none can pass Without my op'ning. Pensive here I sat Alone ; but long I sat not, till my womb Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown, Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes 780 At last this odious offspring whom thou seest Thine own begotten, breaking violent way, Tore through my entrails, that with fear and pain Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew Transform 'd : but he my inbred enemy 785 Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart, Made to destroy. I fled, and cry'd out DEATH ; Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sigh'd From all her caves, and back resounded Death. I fled, but he pursued (though more, it seems, 790 Inflamed with lust than rage), and swifter far, Me overtook, his mother all dismay'd, And in embraces forcible and foul Ingend'ring with me, of that rape begot These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry 795 Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceived And hourly born, with sorrow infinite To me ; for when they list, into the womb That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw My bowels, their repast ; then bursting forth 800 Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round, That rest or intermission none I find. 787 Death: Death is represented, in the Holy Scriptures, as the product of sin. Rom. v. 12, ' ; By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death hath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.'-' 789. An imitation of Virg. Mn. ii. 53. " Insonueie cavse, ijemitumque dedere cavernae." H. 795. Yelling monsters : These creatures symbolize the pangs of remorse which torment the sinner, and his fearful apprehensions in prospect of death. See Heb. x. 27. 802. Rest : See Isaiah Iviii. 20, 21 BOOK H. Before mine eyes in opposition sits Grim Death, my son and foe, who sets them on, And me, his parent, would full soon devour 805 For want of other prey, but that he knows His end with mine involved ; and knows that I Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane, Whenever that shall be. So Fate pronounced. But thou, Father, I forewarn thee, shun 810 His deadly arrow ; neither vainly hope To be invulnerable in those bright arms, Though temper'd heav'nly, for that mortal dint, Save He who reigns above, none can resist. She finish'd, and the subtle Fiend his lore 815 Soon learn'd, now milder, and thus answer'd smooth. Dear Daughter, since thou claim'st me for thy sire, And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge Of dalliance had with thee in Heav'n, and joys Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire change 820 Befall'n us unforeseen, unthought of ; know I come no enemy, but to set free From out this dark and dismal house of pain Both him and thee, and all the heav'nly host Of Spirits, that in our just pretences arm'd 825 805-7. There is a beautiful circumstance alluded to in these lines. A. 807. His end, Sfc. : Death lives by sin. 809. The heathen poets make Jupiter superior to Fate. Iliad i. 5 ; JEn. iii. 375 ; iv. 614. But Milton, with great propriety, makes the fallen angels and Sin here attribute events to Fate, without any mention of the Supreme Being. N. 813 Dint: Stroke. 817 Dear daughter: Satan had now learned his lore or lesson, arid the reader will observe how artfully he changes his language. He had said before (745) , that he had never seen sight more detestable ; but now it is dear daughter, and my fair son. 824. Both him and thee, fyc. : The reader will observe how naturally the three persons concerned in this allegory are tempted by one common interest to enter into a confederacy together, and how properly Sin is made the portress of Hell, and the only being that can open the gates to tha* world of tortuie. 96 PARADISE LOST. Fell with us from on high : from them I go This uncouth errand sole, and one for all Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread Th' unfounded deep, and through the void immense To search with wand'ring quest a place foretold 830 Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now Created vast and round, a place of bliss In the purlieus of Heav'n, and therein placed A race of upstart creatures to supply Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed, 836 Lest Heav'n surcharged with potent multitude Might hap to move new broils : Be this or aught Than this more secret now design'd, I haste To know, and this once known, shall soon return, And bring ye to the place where thou and Death 840 Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen Wing silently the buxom air, embalin'd With odours : there ye shall be fed and fill'd Immeasurably, all things shall Ne your prey. He ceased, for both seem'd highly pleased ; and Death 845 Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile, to hear His famine should be fill'd, and blest his maw Destined to that good hour : no less rejoiced His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire : The key of this infernal pit by due, 850 And by command of Ileav'n's all-powerful King, I keep, by him forbidden to unlock These adamantine gates ; against all force Death ready stands to interpose his dart, 827, Uncouth: Unusual. Sole: Alone. 833. Purlieus: Neighbourhood. 840. Bring ye : It was Satan's horrid design to introduce sin and death into our world. 842. Buxom: Yielding, flexible, from a Saxon word, signifying "to bend." The word has this sense in a prose sentence of Milton : " Thinking thereby to make them more tractable and buxom to his government." N, 800. Due: Right. 854. Death: The penalty of disobeving God. BOOK II. 97 Fearless to be o'ermatch'd by living might. 855 But what owe I to his commands above Who hates me, and hath hither thrust me down Into this gloom of Tartarus profound, To sit in hateful office here confined, Inhabitant of Heav'n, and heav'nly born, 860 Here in perpetual agony and pain, With terrors and with clamours compass'd round Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed ? Thou art my father, thou my author, thou My being gav'st me ; whom should I obey 865 But thee, whom follow ? thou wilt bring me soon To that new world of light and bliss, among The Gods who live at ease, where I shall reign At thy right hand voluptuous, as beseems Thy daughter and thy darling, without end. 870 Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our woe, she took ; And tow'rds the gate rolling her bestial train, 855. Living might : Except that of God, at whose command Sin and Death were appointed to guard the gates of Hell. 856. Owe I: Sin refuses obedience to God, casts off allegiance to Him. 860. Sin was born in Heaven when Satan committed his first offence (864-5) . 866. Whom follow : That is, whom shall I follow ? Sin yields obedience to Satan. So every act of human transgression is represented in Scripture as an act of homage to Satan. John viii. 44 ; Ephes. ii. 1-3. 871. It is one great part of the poet's art, to know when to describe things in general, and when to be very circumstantial and particular. Milton has, in this and the following lines, shown his judgment in this respect. The first opening of the gates of Hell by Sin, is an incident of such importance ihat every reader's attention must have been greatly excited, and, conse quently, as highly gratified by the minute detail of particulars our author has given us. It may, with justice, be^ further observed, that in no part of the poem the versification is better accommodated to the sense. The drawing up of the portcullis, the turning of the key, the sudden shooting of the bolts, and the flying open of the doors, are, in some sort, described by the very break and sound of the verse. T. 872. Sad instrument of all our woe : The escape of Satan to our world was the occasion of human sin and misery. 7 gg PARADISE LOST. Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew, Which but herself, not all the Stygian pow'rs 875 Could once have moved ; then in the key-hole turns Th' intricate wards, and ev'ry bolt and bar Of massy iron or solid rock with ease Unfastens. On a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring s6*und 880 Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook Of Erebus. She openM ; but to shut Excell'd her pow'r : the gates wide open stood, That with extended wings a banner'd host 885 Under spread ensigns marching might pass through "With horse and chariots rank'd in loose array ; So wide they stood, and like a furnace mouth 879-883. On a sudden, fyc. : The description just given of the gates is highly poetical, and now of the opening of the gates. There is a harshness in the sound of the words, that happily corresponds to the meaning con- veyed, or to the fact described. This correspondence of the sound of the language to the sense, is a great rhetorical beauty : in this case, it also ad- mirably serves to impress the mind with horror. 883. See Virg. Georg. iv. 471, "Erebi de sedibus imis." Erebus: Ac- cording to ideas of the Homeric and Hesiodic ages, the world or uuiverse was a hollow globe, divided into two equal portions by the flat disk of the earth. The external shell of this globe is called by the poets brazen and iron, pro- bably only to express its solidity. The superior hemisphere was named Heaven: the inferior one, Tartarus. The length of the diameter of the hollow sphere, is thus given by Hesiod. It would take, he says, nine days for an anvil to fall from Heaven to Earth; and an equal space of time would be occupied by its fall from Earth to the bottom of Tartarus. The luminaries which gave light to gods and men, shed their radiance through all the interior of the upper hemisphere ; while that of the inferior one was filled with gloom and darkness, and its still air was unmoved by any wind. Tartarus was regarded, at this period, as the prison of the gods, and not as the place of torment for wicked men, being to the gods what Erebus was to men the abode of those who were driven from the supernal world. Ere- bus lay between the Earth and Hades, beneath the latter of which was Tartarus. AXTHOX. 8S3-4. But to shut,