The more it feems excefs, that led thee hither
From thy empyreal manfion thus alone,

To witness with thine eyes what fome perhaps 700
Contented with report hear only' in Heaven:
For wonderful indeed are all his works,
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
Had in remembrance always with delight;
But what created mind can comprehend
Their number, or the wifdom infinite

705

That brought them forth, but hid their caufes deep?
I saw when at his word the formless mafs,
This world's material mold, came to a heap :
Confufion heard his voice, and wild uproar
Stood rul'd, ftood vaft infinitude confin'd;
Till at his fecond bidding darkness fled,
Light fhone, and order from diforder sprung:

poet fhown in taking off the drynefs of a mere moral fentence by throwing it into the form of a fhort and beautiful allegory! Thyer.

694. Fair Angel, &c.] In the anfwer which this Angel returns to the difguis'd evil Spirit, there is fuch a becoming majefty as is altogether fuitable to a fuperior being. The part of it, in which he rep efents himself as prefent at the creation, is very noble in itfelf, and not only proper where it is introduced, but requifite to prepare the reader for what follows in the fe

719

and order from diforder Sprung:] So Plato in Timeo

Swift to their several quarters hafted then

The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire; 715
And this ethereal quinteffence of Heaven
Flew upward, fpirited with various forms,
That roll'd orbicular, and turn'd to ftars

Numberless, as thou feeft, and how they move;
Each had his place appointed, each his course; 720
The reft in circuit walls this univerfe.

Look downward on that globe, whose hither side
With light from hence, though but reflected, shines
That place is earth the feat of Man, that light
His day, which elfe as th' other hemifphere
Night would invade; but there the
but there the neighb'ring

moon

Εις ταξιν αυτό ηγαγεν εκ της αταξίας, which Tully renders in Latin thus, Id ex inordinato in ordinem adduxit. Cicero de Univ. So alfo Philo the Jew after his master Plato, Επειδη γαρ την εσίαν ατακίων και συγκ μιχυμενην ήσαν εις τάξιν εξ αταξίας,

221

725

(So

air and fre are fo in comparifon of the ethereal quinteffence, celeftial fire, or pure fpirit. Richardfon.

716. And this ethereal quintef

fence of Heaven] The four elements halled to their quarters, but this fifth elence few upward. It fhould be bis, as it is in Milton's own editions: and not the ethereal quintefence, as it is in Bentley's, Fenton's, and fome other editions. For the Angel who speaks is in the fun, and therefore fays this, as the fun was a part of this ethereal quinteffence. And 715. The cambrous elements.] Even this notion our author berrow'd

εκ συγχύσεως εις διάκρισιν αγων ὁ κοσμοπλασης, κοσμείν ήρξατο. It would be no finall pleasure to the curious reader to compare Uriel's account of the creation with that in Plato's Timæus. This inftance plainly fhows that Milton had that in his eye. Thyer.

from

(So call that oppofit fair star) her aid

Timely' interposes, and her monthly round
Still ending, still renewing, through mid Heaven,
With borrow'd light her countenance triform 730
Hence fills and empties to inlighten th' Earth,
And in her pale dominion checks the night.
That spot to which I point is Paradise,
Adam's abode, those lofty shades his bower.
Thy way

thou canst not mifs, me mine requires. 735
Thus faid, he turn'd; and Satan bowing low,
As to fuperior Spi'rits is wont in Heaven,
Where honor due and reverence none neglects,
Took leave, and tow'ard the coast of earth beneath,
Down from th' ecliptic, fped with hop'd fuccess, 740

from Ariftotle and others of the
ancient philofophers, who fuppofed
that befides the four elements there
was likewise an ethereal quintef-
fence or fifth effence, out of which
the ftars and Heavens were form-
ed, and its motion was orbicular;
B1Yc21 મંડ παρα τα τεσσαρα τοιχεία,
και άλλο πέμπλον, εξ & τα ειθερια
συνεςάναι αλλοιαν δ' αυτε
νησιν είναι, κυκλοφορικήν γαρ : which
are the very words of Dioge-
genes Laertius in his life of Ari-
totle; and it would be eafy to
make a parade of learning and
multiply quotations, but this is au-

3

Throws his steep flight in many an aery wheel, Nor ftay'd, till on Niphates' top he lights.