Of that high mountain, whence he might behold That screen'd the fruits of the earth, and seats of men, On each side an imperial city stood, And now the tempter thus his silence broke : • Another plain, &c. 30 35 40 The learned reader need not be informed that the country here meant is Italy, which indeed is long but not broad, and is washed by the Mediterranean on the south, and screened by the Alps on the north, and divided in the midst by the river Tiber.-NEWTON. The ridge of hills here does not mean the Alps, but the Apennines, which divide the south-west part of Italy from the north-west, and in which the river Tiber has its source. The plain, contained between these hills and the Mediterranean sea, consists of the old Etruria, Latium, and Campania; the two latter being divided from the former by the course of the Tiber.-DUNSTER. With towers and temples proudly elevate, &c. Thus Spenser, in his "Ruins of Time," where Verulam, comparing herself with Rome, describes "the beauty of her buildings fair:" High towers, fair temples, goodly theatres, Thus Virgil, "Georg." ii. 535, speaking of Rome, "Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces."-NEWTON. h With palaces adorn'd, Porches, and theatres, baths, aqueducts, Statues, and trophies, and triumphal arcs. All these articles of grandeur and expense, both public and private, are recorded and minutely illustrated, by Hakewill, in his "Apologie of the Power and Providence of God," through several sections of a chapter entitled, "Of the Romans excessiue luxurie in building."-TODD. i Gardens, and groves. The extravagance of the Romans in these articles of luxury was carried to a ridiculous height. They planted “gardens and orchards and groues vpon their house toppes; therein like Antipodes running a contrary course to nature, as Seneca truly and justly taxes them, Epist. 122." Hakewill's "Apologie," &c., in the chapter entitled, "Their [the Romans] prodigall sumptuousnesse in their private buildings, in regard of the largenesse and height of their houses, as also in regard of their marble pillars, walls, roofes, beames, and pauement full of art and cost," p. 404. Compare ver. 58, &c.—TODD. i By what strange parallax, or optick skill Of vision, multiplied through air, or glass Or telescope. The learned have been very idly busy in contriving the manner in which Satan The city, which thou seest, no other deem In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold. Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see Prætors, proconsuls to their provinces Hasting, or on return, in robes of state P, 45 50 55 showed to our Saviour all the kingdoms of the world. Some suppose it was done by vision; others, by Satan's creating phantasms or species of different kingdoms, and presenting them to our Saviour's sight, &c. But what Milton here alludes to is a fanciful notion which I find imputed to our famous countryman Hugh Broughton. Cornelius a Lapide, in summing up the various opinions upon this subject, gives it in these words:"Alii subtiliter imaginantur, quod dæmon per multa specula sibi invicem objecta species regnorum ex uno speculo in aliud et aliud continuo reflexerit, idque fecerit usque ad oculos Christi."-THYER. * Great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth. See "Par. Lost," b. xi. 405.-Dunster. Of nations. With the spoils enrich'd This refers to the immense sums carried to Rome, and deposited in the treasury by their generals; and to what was amassed by the fines which the Romans arbitrarily set upon other states and kingdoms, as the price of their friendship.-DUNSTER. This might be said of Paris in the time of Napoleon. m There Mount Palatine, The imperial palace, compass huge, and high See Claudian, "De vI. Cons. Hon." 35.-Dunster. n Turrets, and terraces. Mr. Dunster remarks, that Milton here seems to have blended the old English castle with his Roman view and Mr. Warton thinks that Milton was impressed with this idea from his vicinity to Windsor Castle. See "Comus," ver. 934.-TODD. • Outside and inside both. So Menippus, in Lucian's "Icaro-Menippus," could see clearly and distinctly, from the moon, cities and men upon the earth, and what they were doing, both without doors and within, where they thought themselves most secret. p. 197, edit. Græv.-CALTON. P Prætors, proconsuls to their provinces Hasting, or on return, in robes of state, &c. Luciani Opp. vol. ii. The rapacity of the Roman provincial governors, and their eagerness to take possession of their prey, is here strongly marked by the word "hasting." Their Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power, In various habits, on the Appian road, Or on the Emilian: some from farthest south, And utmost Indian isle Taprobane, Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed "; Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north pride and vanity were not less than their rapacity, and were displayed, not only in their triumphs, but in their magisterial state upon all occasions.-DUNSTER. q Turms. Troops of horse; a word coined from the Latin, turma. Virg. Æn." v. 560::66 equitum turmæ."-NEWTON. On the Appian road, Or on the Emilian. The Appian road from Rome led towards the south of Italy, and the Emilian towards the north. The nations on the Appian road are included in ver. 69-76, those on the Emilian in ver. 77-79.-NEWTON. Syene. Some from farthest south, Milton had in view what he read in Pliny and other authors; that Syene was the limit of the Roman empire, and the remotest place to the south that belonged to it. Or it may be said, that poets have not scrupled to give the epithets extremi, ultimi, to any people that lived a great way off; and that possibly Milton intended farthest south to be so applied both to Syene and to Meroe.-JORTIN. And Parthian among these. The tempter having failed to captivate our Lord with the view of the immense forces of the Parthians and their military preparations and skill, now endeavours to impress upon him a sense of the great power of the Roman empire.-DUNSTER. Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed. I have been told, that a truly respectable prelate, whose taste and literary acquirements are of the first eminence, has noticed this verse as one of the most picturesque lines that he has ever met with in poetry: almost every word conveys a distinct idea, and generally one of great effect.-DUNSTER. ▾ Gades. The old Roman name for Cadiz or Cales, a principal sea-port of Spain without the Straits of Gibraltar and is here put to signify the part of Spain most distant from Rome; which the Romans distinguished by the name of "Hispania ulterior.”—DUNSTER. The Danube was the southern boundary of ancient Germany. From the mouth of the Danube to the Palus Mæotis, all along the shores of the Euxine sea, lay the European Scythians; and beyond them northward, the Sauromatæ, Sarmatæ, or Sarmatians: all the intermixed nations seem at the time of the Christian æra to have ranked under the general head of Scythians or Sarmatians. Milton may therefore be understood, in this description, as meaning to comprehend all the European nations from the banks of the Danube, and the shores of the Euxine, to the Northern ocean.-DUNSTER. To Rome's great emperour, whose wide domain, Civility of manners, arts, and arms, And long renown, thou justly mayst prefer All publick cares, and yet of him suspicious; Mightst thou expel this monster b from his throne, And with my help thou mayst; to me the power 85 90 95 100 The tempter had before advised our Saviour to prefer the Parthian, b. iii. 363: but this shuffling and inconsistency is very natural and agreeable to the father of lies, and by these touches his character is set in a proper light.-NEWTON. There appears to me here no inconsistency whatever. What is here said rather marks the great and accomplished art of the tempter, than indicates a shuffling.' Satan only varies the attack, by changing the ground on which it had not been successful. His manner of doing it is perfectly plausible. "You," says he, "may very possibly prefer an alliance with the Romans, whose power and splendour I have just displayed, to one with the Parthians; and you judge wisely in so doing."-DUNSTER. y I have shown thee all The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory. The poet, in the preceding book, had displayed at large the military power of the Parthian empire. In the beginning of this book he shows and describes imperial Rome, the "queen of the earth," in all her magnificence of splendour and pride of power; and introduces the rest of the world as subject to her, doing homage to her greatness, and suing to her with embassies.-Dunster. 2 This emperour, &c. This account of the emperor Tiberius is perfectly agreeable to Suetonius and Tacitus, who have painted this monster, as Milton calls him, in such colours as he deserved to be described in.-NEWTON. A wicked favourite. Our poet, I dare say, read, with great displeasure and disgust, the fulsome praises of Paterculus on Sejanus, in his history.-Jos. WARTON. b Expel this monster. Thus Cicero, "II. in Catilin." 1.—Dunster. See also Juvenal, Sat. iv. 2. To me the power Is given, and by that right I give it thee. Luke iv. 6.-DUNSTER. Aim therefore at no less than all the world; To whom the Son of God, unmoved, replied: Much less my mind; though thou shouldst add to tell On citron tables or Atlantick stone e, 105 110 115 (For I have also heard, perhaps have read) Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne, Chios, and Crete f, and how they quaff in gold, d Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts. 120 125 130 The poet had here perhaps in his mind the account given by Suetonius, cap. 13, of the sumptuous gluttonies of Vitellius; or the immense sums expended in this way by the famous Apicius; of which see Seneca, "De Consolat. ad Helv." cap. 10.-Dunster. • On citron tables or Atlantick stone. Tables made of citron wood were in such request among the Romans, that Pliny calls it mensarum insania. They were beautifully veined and spotted. See his account of them, lib. xiii. sect. 29. I do not find that the "Atlantick stone or marble was so celebrated the Numidicus lapis and Numidicum marmor are often mentioned in Roman authors.-NEWTON. : Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne, The three former were of the most famous Campanian wines among the Romans : the Falernian was commonly considered as their prime wine.-Dunster. "Crystal and myrrhine cups" are often joined together by ancient authors. "Murrhina et crystallina ex eadem terra effodimus, quibus pretium faceret ipsa fragilitas. Hoc argumentum opum, hæc vera luxuriæ gloria existimata est, habere quod posset statim totum perire." Plin. lib. xxxiii. Proem.-NEWTON. h So many hollow compliments and lies, Possibly not without an allusion to the congratulatory embassies on the Restoration. -DUNSTER. i Let his tormentor conscience find him out. Milton, as Dr. Jortin observes, had here in his mind Tacitus; the extraordinary letters written by Tiberius to the senate, adds, who, having related "Adeo facinora atque |