Their rifing all at once was as the found

Of thunder heard remote. Tow'ards him they bend With awful reverence prone; and as a God

Extol him equal to the Hig'heft in Heaven:

Nor fail'd they to express how much they prais'd, That for the general fafety he defpis'd

His own for neither do the Spirits damn'd

476. Their rifing all at once was

as the found

Of thunder beard remote.] The rifing of this great affembly is described in a very fublime and poetical manner. Addifon..

J

481

Lofe

that, and made that remark to prevent their boafting. Pearce.

As our author has drawn Satan with fome remains of the beauty, fo he reprefents him likewife with fome of the other perfections of an Arch-Angel; and herein he has follow'd the rule of Ariftotle in his Poetics, chap. 15. that the manners fhould be as good as the na ture of the subject will poffibly admit. A Devil all made up of wickednefs would be too fhocking to any reader or writer.

483.-left bad men should boaft &c.] Here Dr Bentley afks, whether the Devils retain fome of their virtue, on purpose left bad men fhould boaft &c. This being an abfurdity, he reads lefs bould bad men boaft &c. But there is no occafion for the alteration. To take the force of the word left, we muft fuppofe the author to have left his reader to fupply fome fuch expreffion as this, This ένδησι μυθ Βορέαο, remark (of the Devils not lofing opp u♪nos μ&✪ Bopeœo, — all their virtue) I make, left bad men should boaft &c. Dr. Bentley knows that in Greek, and ne in Latin are often thus ufed. Milton here seems to have had in view Eph. II. 8, 9. By grace ye are faved through faith. not of works, left any man should boaft. Not, that they were faved not of works, on purpose left any man should boaft; but St. Paul puts them in mind of

489.-while the north wind fleeps,] So Homer expreffes it, Iliad. V. 524.

that wind generally clearing the fky, and difperfing the clouds. Every body muft be wonderfully delighted with this fimilitude. The images are not more pleafing in nature, than they are refreshing to the reader after his attention to the foregoing debate. We have a fimile of the fame kind in Homer, but apply'd upon a very different occafion, Iliad. XVI. 297.

Ως

485

Lofe all their virtue; left bad men fhould boast
Their fpecious deeds on earth, which glory' excites,
Or clofe ambition varnish'd o'er with zeal.
Thus they their doubtful confultations dark
Ended rejoicing in their matchlefs chief:
As when from mountain tops the dusky clouds
Afcending, while the north-wind fleeps, o'er-fpread
Heav'n's

Ds ♪ ör* aq" úfnans xopvens - Homer fays only that he remov'd

the thick clouds from the mountain

ρεΘ μεγάλοιο Kirnoes wuxirlw regel sen- top, and fo it is explained in the

@pwoves anegi,

Και ναπαι, κρανόθεν δ' αρ' ὑπερ

ραγη απετα αιθηρ.

So when thick clouds inwrap the
mountain's head,

O'er Heav'n's expanfe like one
black cieling fpread;
Sudden, the Thund'rer with a
*flashing ray,

Burfts through the darkness, and
lets down the day:
The hills fhine out, the rocks in
profpect rife,

And ftreams, and vales, and fo-
refts ftrike the eyes,
The smiling scene wide opens to
the fight,

And all th' unmeasur'd æther

flames with light.

Mr. Pope tranflates it as if Jupiter lighten'd, which makes it a horrid rather than a pleafing scene; but

1

note of Pope's Homer, which fhows that the translation and notes were not always made by the fame perfon. We have a fimile too, much of the fame nature in a Sonnet of Spenfer, as Mr. Thyer hath obferved. Sonnet 49.

Mark when the smiles with amiable chear,

Heav'n's chearful face, the louring element

81

490

Scowls o'er the darken'd landskip show, or shower;
If chance the radiant fun with farewel fweet
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Atteft their joy, that hill and valley rings.

fhame 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 proclaming peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and ftrife
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,
Wafting the earth, each other to destroy:
As if (which might induce us to accord)

Come forth afresh out of their late

difmay,

And to the light lift up their drooping head. So my ftorm-beaten heart likewife is cheared, With that fun-fhine, when cloudy looks are cleared.. See also a fimile of the fame kind in Boethius De Conf. L. 1. and in Dante's Inferno. C. 24.

489. der spread Heart'n's chearful face,] Spenfer, Fairy Queen, B. 2. Cant. Lz. St. 34. And Heaven's chearful face enveloped. Thyor.

495

500

Man

494.-bleating herds]: Dr. Bentley reads flocks, and fays that berd is a word proper to cattel, that do not bleat. But berd is originally the common name for a number of any fort of cattel: Hence Shepherd, that is Sheepherdsman, see VII. 462. Pearce.

-Bleating herds is much fuch an expreflion as Spenfer's fleecy cattel in Colin Clout's come home again.

496. O shame to men! &c.] This reflection will appear the more pertinent and natural, when one confiders the contentious age, in which Milton liv'd and wrote. Thyer.

Man had not hellish foes, enow befides,

That day and night for his deftruction wait.

The Stygian council thus diffolv'd; and forth In order came the grand infernal peers:

595

Midft came their mighty paramount, and feem'd
Alone th' antagonist of Heav'n, nor less
Than Hell's dread emperor with pomp fupreme, 514
And God-like imitated ftate; him round

A globe of fiery Seraphim inclos'd

With bright imblazonry, and horrent arms,
Then of their feffion ended they bid

cry

With trumpets regal found the great refult:
Tow'ards the four winds four speedy Cherubim
Put to their mouths the founding alchemy

512. A globe of fiery Seraphim] A globe fignifies here a battalion in circle furrounding him, as Virgil fays, En. X. 373.

~~ qua globus ille virum denfiffi

mus urget.

513 horrent arms.] Horrent includes the idea both of terrible and prickly, fet up like the briftles of a wild boar.

Horrentia Martis arma.

Virg. Æn. I. denfos acie atque

barrentibus haftis. En. X. 178. 517.-ike founding alchemy ]

515

By

Dr. Bentley reads orichale: but fince he allows that gold and filver coin, as well as brass and pewter, are al chemy, being mix'd metals, for that reafon alchemy will do here; efpecially being join'd to the epithet founding, which determins it to mean a trumpet, made perhaps of the mix'd metals of brafs, filver, &c.

Pearce Alchemy, the name of that art which is the fublimer part of chemistry, the tranfmutation of metals. Milton names no particular metal, but leaves the imagination at large, any metal poffible to be produced by that mysterious art; R 4

'tis

By heralds voice explain'd; the hollow' abyfs
Heard far and wide, and all the hoft of Hell.
With deafning fhout return'd them loud acclame.
Thence more at eafe their minds, and fomewhat

By false presumptuous hope, the ranged Powers
Disband, and wand'ring, each his feveral way
Purfues, as inclination or fad choice

Leads him perplex'd, where he may likelieft find 525 Truce to his restlefs thoughts, and entertain