from difcovering to all the world the inward agonies and torments under whieh he laboured." See Bishop Atterbury's Sermons, Vol. II. Serm. IV.. P. 114. who refers to Hooker's excellent reflections on this paffage of Tiberius; (Hook. p. 367.) and from whom the above is taken.

Suetonius, Tiberius. 67.

Poftremò femet ipfe pertafus talis epiftole principio tantùm non fummam malorum fuorum profeffus eft; Quid fcribam, &c."

Perhaps it fhould be, tali.

v. 157.

Nothing will please the difficult and nice.

Perhaps we should read,

thee, difficult and nice.

v. 215.

As by that early action

may

be judg'd,

When, flipping from thy mother's eye, thou went't

Alone into the temple; there was found

Amongst the graveft Rabbies.

Rather, waft.

v. 267.

Those ancient, whofe refiftlefs eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce Democratie,
Shook th' Arfenal, and fulmin'd over Greece.

Alluding

Alluding to what Ariftophanes has faid of Pericles, in his Acharnenfes, Act. II. Sc. 5...

Ησραπίεν, εβρονία, ξυνεκυκα την Ελλάδα. See Dr. Newton's note on the place.

v. 409. i

And either Tropic now

'Gan thunder; and both ends of heaven, the clouds From many a horrid rift abortive pour'd

Fierce rain, with lightning mixt.

Place the ftops thus ;

And either Tropic now

'Gan thunder, and both ends of heaven. The clouds From many, &c.

It thundered from both Tropics; that is, perhaps, from the right, and from the left. The Ancients had very different opinions concerning the right and the left fide of the world. Plutarch says, that Aristotle, Plato, and Pythagoras were of opinion, that the Eaft is the right fide, and the Weft the left; but that Empedocles held that the right fide is towards the fummer Tropic, and the left towards the winter, Tropic. Пuayopas, Πλάτων, Αρισοτέλης, δεξιὰ τῇ κόσμο τὰ ἀνατολικὰ μέρη, ἀφ ̓ ὧν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κινήσεως· ἀριστερὰ δὲ, τα δυτικά. Εμπεδοκλής δεξιά μεν τὰ καλὰ τὸν θερινὰν τροπικὸν ἀρι στερα δὲ τὰ καλὰ τὸν χειμερινόν. De Placit. Philof II. 10.

Αιγύπλιοι

Αιγύπτιοι οἴονται τὰ μεν ἑῶα, τα κόσμε πρόσωπου εἶναι, τὰ δὲ πρὸς βορρᾶν, δέξια, τὰ δὲ προς νότον αριστερά. Idem, de Ifid. p. 363,

If by either Tropic be meant the right fide and the left, then by both ends of heaven may be understood, before and behind. I know it may be objected, that the Tropics cannot be, the one the right fide, and the other the left, to thofe who are placed without the Tropics: But I do not think that objection to be very material,

I have another expofition to offer, which is thus:

It thundered all along the heaven; from the north Pole to the Tropic of Cancer, from thence to the Tropic of Capricorn, from thence to the South Pole. From Pole to Pole. The ends of heaven are the Poles. This is a poetical tempeft; like that in Virgil, Æn. I. 94.

Intonuere poli

"Id eft, extremæ partes cæli, -- a quibus totum calum contonuiffe fignificat." Servius.

v. 422.

Infernal ghosts and hellish furies round
Environ'd thee; fome howl'd, &c.

This description is taken from a print which I have feen, of the temptation of St. Anthony,

v. 563.

v. 563.

As when Earth's fon, Antæus, (to compare
Small things with greateft) in Iraffa ftrove
With Jove's Alcides.

Iraffa is a place in Lybia, mentioned by Herodotus, IV. 158. Ἔτι δὲ τῷ χώρῳ τέτῳ ὄνομα Γρασα, and from him by Stephanus Byzantius, who fays, Ιρασα, τόπο Λιβύης, εἰς ὃν μετήγαγον Βάτιον οἱ Λίβυες, ὡς Ἡρόδοις Where Berkelius notes, Hujus quoque meminit Pindarus, Pyth. IX. fed duplicis [read duplici s, or ss] fcribitur,

urbis

· Οἷοι Λιβύσσας

ἀμφὶ γυναικὸς ἔβαν

Ιρασσαν πρὸς πόλιν ̓Αναί

ου, μετὰ καλλίκομον μιας ῆρες αγακλέα κάραν.

Ad quem locum fic fcribit Scboliaftes : Ιρασσα πόλις Λιβύης, ἣν ᾤκησεν ̓Αναΐς, οὐχ ̓ ὁ παλαίσας Ἡρακλεί, ἐκεῖνΘ γαρ διαλλάσσει τοῖς χρόνοις, ἂν καὶ ἀνεῖλεν Ἡρακλῆς. Pindarus nomen urbis genere fœm. Protulit, quod Schol. Alio loco numero multitudinis et genere neut. efert: "Ενιοι γάρ φασιν, ὅτι ὁ ἀπὸ Ἡρακλέος καταγωνισθεὶς Αναι, Ιρασσεὺς ἦν, ἀπὸ Ἰρασσῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ Τριτωνίδι λίμνη, ὥς φησι Φερεκύδης,

From whence we may observe,

That in Herodotus and Stephanus, Irafa is the

name of a place; in Pindar and his Scholiaft, the name of a town.

That the name is Irafa in Herodotus, Hirafa in Stephanus, (though perhaps it should be Irafa, Ipara, there) Irassa in Pindar and his Scholiaft.

That the Scholiaft fays, Antæus dwelt at Iraffa; not he who wrestled with Hercules, but one of later date; which, if true, makes against Milton.

That he afterwards adds, that, according to the opinion of fome, the Antæus whom Hercules overcame, was Ἰρασσεύς, ἀπὸ Ἰρασσῶν : which Berkelius takes to be the genitive cafe of τὰ Κρασσά, though it may be αἱ Ιρασσαι.

ai

III. .

SAMSON

AGONISTES.

Verse 53.

But what is ftrength, without a double share

Of wisdom, &c.

Ovid, Met. XIII. 363, &c.

Tu vires fine mente geris : ·

tu tantùm Corpore prodes;

Nos animo. Quantogne ratem qui temperat, anteit

Remigis officium, &c.

V. 102.