So high above the circling canopy Of night's extended shade) from eastern point Beyond th' horizon; then from pole to pole might in his present fituation, fo high above the circling canopy of night's extended fhade. Dr. Bentley objects to the expreffion of circling canopy, when the fhade of night muft needs be a cone: but as Dr. Pearce replies, to Satan who look'd down upon it from fuch an highth, it appear'd not a cone as it really was, but a circle. In this fituation then be furveys from eaftern point of Libra, one of the twelve figns exactly oppofit to Aries, to the fleecy far, Aries or the Ram, that is from eaft to weft, for when Libra rifes in the eaft, Aries fets full weft; and Aries is faid to bear Andromeda, because that conftellation reprefented as a woman is placed juft over Aries, and therefore when Aries fets he feems to bear Andromeda far off Atlantic feas, the great western ocean, beyond th' horizon; then from pole to pole he views in breadth, that is from north to fouth, and that is faid to be in breadth, because the Ancients knowing more of the earth from east to west than from north to fouth, and fo having a 560 His much greater journey one way than the other, one was called length or longitude, the other breadth or latitude. It is fine, as it is natural, to reprefent Satan as taking a view of the world before he threw himfelf into it. 562. Downright into the world's &c.] Satan after having furvey'd the whole creation, immediately without longer paufe throws himself into it, and is defcrib'd as making two different motions. At firft he drops down perpendicularly fome way into it,downright into the world's firft region throws his fight precipi tant, and aftewards winds his oblique way, turns and winds this way and that, if he might any where elpy the feat of Man; for tho' in ver. 527 it is faid that the paffage was juft over Paradife, yet it is evident that Satan did not know it, and therefore as it was natural for him to do, winds about in fearch of it through the pure marble air. The firft epithet pure determins the sense of the second, and fhows why the air is compared to marble, namely for His flight precipitant, and winds with ease Through the pure marble air his oblique way Stars diftant, but nigh hand feem'd other worlds; for its clearness and whitenefs, without any regard to its hardness: and the word marmor, marble, is derived from a Greek word Марparpe that fignifies to fhine and glifter. And as Milton uses the expreffion of the marble air, fo Virgil does likewife of the marble fea, Georg. I. 254 565 Thrice (Waller) has faid in his verses upon his miftreffes paffing through croud of people; The yielding marble of a snowy breaft. And what is nearer to our purpose, Othello in Shakespear is reprefented as fwearing A& III. Et quando infidum remis impellere Now by yond marble Heaven. marmor Conveniat : And Æn. VI. 729. It is common with the Ancients, and those who write in the fpirit and manner of the Ancients, in their metaphors and fimiles, if they Et quæ marmoreo fert monftra fub agree in the main circumftance, æquore pontus : And elsewhere he calls Orpheus's neck marble, Georg. IV. 523. Tum quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulfum. And Ovid in like manner fpeaks of Narciffus his marble hands, Met. III. 481. Nudaque marmoreis percuffit pectora palmis. to have no regard to leffer particulars. Stars diftant,] They appeared by their fhining to be ftars. "Tis a Greek expreffion, as Plato in an epigram on his friend Stella preferved by Diogenes Laertius. You fhone whilft living a morning flar, but dead you now fhine Hefperus among the fhades. Richardfon. 568. Like thofe Hefperian gardens So call'd of Hesperus, Vefper, be And a famous poet of our own caufe placed in the weft under the A a 2 evening Thrice happy iles, but who dwelt happy there 570 He stay'd not to inquire: above them all Allur'd his eye: thither his course he bends evening ftar. Thofe famous gardens were the iles about Cape Verd in Africa, whose most western point is ftill call'd Hefperium cornu. Others will have 'em the Canaries. Hume. 573: thither his courfe he bends &c.] His flight between the feveral worlds that fhined on every fide of him, with the particular defcription of the fun, are fet forth in all the wantonnefs of a luxuriant imagination. His fhape, fpeech, and behaviour upon his transforming himself into an Angel of light, are touch'd with exquifite beauty. The poet's thought of directing Satan to the fun, which in the vulgar opinion of mankind is the molt confpicuous part of the creation, and the placing in it an Angel, is a circumftance finely con 575 580 Days By center, or eccentric, bard to tell, Or longitude,)] These words (as Dr. Pearce obferves) fhould be included in a parenthefis, and then the conftruction of the reft will be plain and easy. Satan had now paffed the fix'd ftars, and was directing his courfe towards the fun; but it is hard to tell (fays the poet) whether his courfe was up or down, that is north or fouth, for fo up and down fignifies in IX. 78. and Days months and years, towards his all-chearing lamp 585 Shoots invifible virtue ev'n to the deep; So wondrously was fet his station bright. Through his glaz'd optic tube yet never saw. 590 X. 675, the north being uppermoft in our globes, hic vertex nobis femper fub limis: Virg. Georg. I. 242. or whether it was by center, or eccentric, towards the center, or from the center, it not being determin'd whether the fun is the center of the world or not; or whether it was by longitude, that is in length, east or weft, as appears from IV. 539. and VII. 373 580.in numbers] That is in measures. Richardson. 586. Shoots invifible virtue ev'n to the deep;] Dr. Bentley fays invifible makes mere tautology with though unfeen; but I think not; the words though unfeen relate to penetration, and invifible is the epithet to virtue, which is a diftinct Compar'd thing from the penetration before mention'd, and which might have been vifible, though the other was not fo. But the Doctor fays that invifible spoils the measure of the verfe. Milton feems to have thought this no blemish to his poem, for he frequently in the beginning of a verfe chooses this artificial negligence of measure; So in II. 302, 880. III. 358. XI. 79, 377. There is no need therefore of reading with Dr. Bentley Shoots vital virtue, &c. Pearce The number of fyllables in this verfe feems not ill contriv'd to express the depth to which the fun's beams penetrated. 590. Through his glaz'd optic tube] The fpots in the fun are visible with a telescope: but aftronomer perhaps never yet faw through his Aa3 glax's Compar'd with ought on earth, metal or ftone; glaz'd optic tube, that is his telefcope, fuch a fpot as Satan now he was in the fun's orb. The poet mentions this glafs the oftner in honor of Galileo, whom he means here by the aftronomer. 592. metal or fone ;] In the first editions it is medal or flone, and Mr. Richardfon juftifies it,as the repetition of the fame word immediately after is avoided: but for that very reason it appears that this is an error of the prefs, and that it ought to be read metal or flone, as both metal and ftone are repeated afterwards; ver. 595. If metal, fo and fo; and ver. 596. If ftone, fo and fo. 593. Not all parts like, &c.] Ovid has given us a defcription of the palace of the fun, but few have defcribed the fun himself: and I know not whether our author has fhown more fancy or more judgment in the defcription. An ordinary poet would in all probability have infifted chiefly upon its exceffive heat; but that was no 595 That thing to Satan who was come from the hotter region of Hell; and therefore Milton judiciously omits it, and inlarges upon the riches of the place, the gold and filver and precious stones which abounded therein, and by these means exhibits a pleasing picture instead of a disagreeable one. |