By force, who reafon for their law refuse,

Right reason for their law, and for their king
Meffiah, who by right of merit reigns.
Go Michael of celeftial armies prince,
And thou in military prowess next

Gabriel, lead forth to battel these my sons
Invincible, lead forth my armed Saints

By thousands and by millions rang'd for fight,
Equal in number to that Godless crew
Rebellious; them with fire and hostile arms
Fearless affault, and to the brow of Heaven
Pursuing drive them out from God and bliss
Into their place of punishment, the gulf
Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide

41. reafon for their law] Alluding to the word Ao..

44. Go Michael of celestial armies

prince,] As this battel of the Angels is founded principally on Rev. XII. 7, 8. There was war in Heaven; Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon, and the Dragon fought and his Angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven; Michael is rightly made by Milton the leader of the heavenly armies, and the name in Hebrew fignifies the power of God. But it may be cenfur'd perhaps as a piece of wrong con

45

50

His

duct in the poem, that the commiffion here given is not executed; they are order'd to drive the rebel Angels out from God and bliss, but this is effected at last by the Meffiah alone. Some reasons for it are affign'd in the fpeech of God, ver. 680. and in that of the Meffiah, ver. 801. in this book.

55. His fiery Chaos] Chaos may mean any place of confufion; but if we take it ftrictly, Tartarus or Hell was built in Chaos (II. 1002.) and therefore that part of it, being ftor'd with fire, may not improperly be call'd a fiery Chaos,

Dr.

His fiery Chaos to receive their fall.

So fpake the sovran voice, and clouds began
To darken all the hill, and smoke to roll

In dusky wreaths, reluctant flames, the fign
Of wrath awak'd; nor with lefs dread the loud
Ethereal trumpet from on high 'gan blow:
At which command the Powers militant,

That stood for Heav'n, in mighty quadrate join'd
Of union irresistible, mov'd on

In filence their bright legions, to the found
Of inftrumental harmony, that breath'd
Heroic ardor to adventrous deeds

Under their God-like leaders, in the cause
Of God and his Meffiah. On they move

Dr. Bentley's change of his into its, because which (not who) went 'before, proceeds upon a fuppofition that which is not to be referred to a perfon; though it is well known that formerly which was as often apply'd to a perfon as who: as Dr. Pearce obferves.

56.
and clouds began
To darken all the hill, and smoke

to roll &c.] In this defcription the author manifeftly alludes to that of God defcending upon mount Sinai, Exod. XIX. 16, &c. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thun

55

60

65

In

and mount

ders, and lightnings, and a thick
cloud upon the mount
Sinai was altogether on a smoke, be-
caufe the Lord defcended upon it in
fire.

58.- reluctant flames,] As flow
and unwilling to break forth,
Stupa vomens tardum fumum.

Virg. Æn. V.682.

64. In filence] So Homer obferves, Iliad. III. 8. to the honor of his countrymen the Grecians, that they march'd on in filence, while the Trojans advanc'd with noife and clamor.

71.-for

Indiffolubly firm; nor obvious hill,

69

Nor ftrait'ning vale, nor wood, nor ftream divides Their perfect ranks; for high above the ground

Their march was, and the paffive air upbore

Their nimble tread; as when the total kind
Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came fummon'd over Eden to receive

Their names of thee; fo over many a tract

75

Of Heav'n they march'd, and many a province wide
Tenfold the length of this terrene: at last
Far in th' horizon to the north appear'd

71. — for high above the ground &c.] Our author attributes the fame kind of motion to the Angels, as the Ancients did to their Gods; which was gliding thro' the air without ever touching the ground with their feet, or as Milton elfewhere elegantly expreffes it (B.VIII. 302.) fmooth-fliding without ftep. And Homer, Iliad. V. 778. compares the motion of two Goddeffes to the flight of doves, as Milton here compares the march of the Angels to the birds coming on the wing to Adam to receive their

names,

From

73-as when the total kind &c.] Homer has ufed the fimile of a flight of fowls twice in his Iliad, to exprefs the number and the motions, the order and the clamors of an army.

See Iliad II. 459III. 2. As Virgil has done the fame number of times in his Æneid, VII. 699. X. 264. But this fimile exceeds any of those; Firft, as it rifes fo naturally out of the subject, and was a comparison fo familiar to Adam. Secondly, the Angels were marching thro' the air, and not on the ground, which gives it another propriety; and here I believe the poet intended the chief

AI SE BATHY THрwσl wiredσly likeness. Thirdly, The total kind

αθμαθ' ομοια

of birds much more properly expreffes a prodigious number than

Smooth as the failing doves they any particular species, or a collection in any particular place. Thus

glide along.

Pope.

From skirt to skirt a fiery region, ftretch'd
In battailous afpéct, and nearer view

Bristled with upright beams innumerable
Of rigid fpears, and helmets throng'd, and shields
Various, with boastful argument portray'd,

The banded Pow'rs of Satan hafting on
With furious expedition; for they ween'd
That felf-fame day by fight, or by furprise,
To win the mount of God, and on his throne
To fet the envier of his ftate, the proud
Afpirer, but their thoughts prov'd fond and vain

84. Various, with boastful argu

ment portray'd,] Shields various are varied with diverfe fculptures and paintings; an elegant Latinifm. And the thought of attributing fields various, with boaftful argument portray'd, to the evil Angels feems to be taken from the Phoeniffe of Euripides, where the heroes who befiege Thebes are defcrib'd with the like boastful shields, only the prophet Amphiaraus hath no fuch boastful argument on his fhield, but a fhield without argument as became a modest man, ver. 1117.

Ο μαλις Αμφιαρα, ο σημεί

έχων Υβρισμένο, αλλα σωφρόνως ασημε

όπλα.

93. And

In the mid way: though ftrange to us it seem'd
At first, that Angel fhould with Angel war,
And in fierce hofting meet, who wont to meet
So oft in festivals of joy and love

Unanimous, as fons of one great fire

95

Hymning th' eternal Father: but the shout
Of battel now began, and rufhing found
Of onfet ended foon each milder thought.
High in the midst exalted as a God
Th' Apoftate in his fun-bright chariot fat,
Idol of majesty divine, inclos'd

With flaming Cherubim and golden fhields;

93. And in fierce bofting meet, This word bofing feems to have been first coin'd by our author. It is a very expreffive word, and plainly form'd from the fubftantive boft: And if ever it is right to make new words, it is when the occafion is fo new and extraordi

nary.

101. Idol of majefty divine,] This is the very fame with what Abdiel afterwards at ver. 114. calls refemblance of the Higheft, but how judiciously has Milton cull'd out the word idol, which though it be in its original fignification the fame as resemblance, yet by its common application always in a bad fenfe

100

Then