O shame to men! Devil with Devil damn'd 500 505 The Stygian council thus dissolved; and forth In order came the grand infernal peers: 'Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seem'd Alone th' antagonist of Heav'n, nor less Than Hell's dread emperor with pomp supreme, 510 And God-like imitated state; him round A globe of fiery Seraphim inclosed 515 With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms. Leads him perplex'd, where he may likeliest find 525 496. It has been well observed, that an allusion is probably made here to the troubled character of the times in which the author lived. 512. A globe, or a battalion surrounding him in a circle.-See Virgil, A. x. 373. 513. Horrent, rou.h and sharp. This epithet I imagine to have considerable force, because it implies the dense and com pact closeness of the globe of spirits surrounding Satan. The arnis were horrent, because standing out like a boar's bristle from this fiery body. 517. Alchemy, a very fine metonymy for the trumpets. 528. The occupations of the fallen spirits are conceived in the ighest strain both of poetry and philosophy. 530 535 Upon the wing, or in swift race contend, 540 545 (What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?) Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet 555 (For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense) Others apart sat on a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high 560 539. Typhoan-Typhoeus was one of the giants who warred against heaven. 542. Alcides-Hercules, so named from his ancestor Alcæus The allusion here made is familiar to every reader. 555. It has been observed, that Milton has here shewn the superiority of discourse and reasoning to song. The angels who rason are on hill; those who sing are in a valley.-But it should have been observed, at the same time, that it is only when song is what Milton calls partial, or confined to selfish or am bitious themes, that it is thus inferior to, or different from: philosophy. gh Passion and apathy, glory and shame, 565 570 Four ways their flying march, along the banks 575 Into the burning lake their baleful streams; Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Cocytus, named of lamentation loud Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon, 580 Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. Far off from these a slow and silent stream, Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls 585 590 Her wat'ry labyrinth; whereof who drinks, 577. Milton follows the Greeks in this description of the infernal rivers; but, as usual, improves upon the classical idea, as he represents them as emptying themselves into a vast and fearful lake of fire. Styx, according to its derivation, signifies hate; Acheron, flowing with pain; Cocytus, lamentation; Phlegethon, burning, and Lethe, forgetfulness. 592. Serbonis was a lake two hundred furlongs long, and one thousand round, between Mount Casius and Damiata, a city in Egypt. It was sometimes so covered by the loose sand of the reighbouring hills, as not to be distinguished from the land.See Herod. I. 3. and Lucan. viii. 539. 595. Frore, frosty.-See Virgil, Georg. i. 93. 21. Ps. cxxi. 6. Ecclus. xlii. 20, At certain revolutions, all the damn'd Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, From beds of raging fire to starve in ice 600 Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine Periods of time, thence hurried back to fire. They ferry over this Lethean sound Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment, 605 And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose All in one moment, and so near the brink; But Fate withstands, and to oppose th' attempt 610 Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards The ford, and of itself the water flies All taste of living wight, as once it fied The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on In confused march forlorn, th' advent'rous bands 615 With shudd'ring horror pale, and eyes aghast, View'd first their lamentable lot, and found No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, 620 Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, A universe of death, which God by curse Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds, Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, Abominable, inutterable, and worse Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceived, 625 Meanwhile the adversary' of God and Man, Satan, with thoughts infiamed of high'st design, Puts on swift wings, and tow'rds the gates of Hell Explores his solitary flight. Sometimes 636 He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left, Now shaves with level wing the deep, then soars Up to the fiery concave tow'ring high. 635 603. See Job xxiv. in the Vulgate translation.-See also Shakspeare Measure for Measure, Act iii. 611. Medusa, one of the Gorgon monsters. Far off the flying Fiend: at last appear Hell bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof, And thrice threefold the gates; three folds were brass, Three iron, three of adamantine rock, 646 Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire, Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat The one seem'd woman to the waist, and fair, 650 But ended foul in many a scaly fold With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung 655 660 If aught disturb'd their noise, into her womb, 636. A noble comparison. But Dr. Bentley asks why would not one ship do as well as a fleet? It has been answered, that many ships are a more noble figure than one. This, however, is only the case when so seen at a distance, that they may appear as one grand, dark, and sublime object. Ternate and Tidore are two of the Molucca Islands. 648. This is one of the most sublime passages in, the poem. Addison is generally ingenious in his criticisms, but not elevated, and when he objected to Milton's having introduced an allegory he shews that he was incapable of entering into the magnificent -onceptions of his author. Sin and Death are not allegorical beings in Paradise Lost; but real and active existences. They would have been allegorical, speaking or contending among men, but are not so in an abode of spirits, and addressing the Prince of darkness, see James i. 15. 661. Calabria, the extreme part of Italy towards the Mediter rauean. Trinacria, an ancient name of Sicily. |