The gracious judge without revile reply'd. My voice thou oft haft heard, and haft not fear'd, So dreadful to thee? that thou' art naked, who 0 Heav'n! in evil strait this day I stand 120 125 My other self, the partner of my life; Whose failing, while her faith to me remains, By my complaint; but ftrict neceffity Left on my head both fin and punishment, However infupportable, be all 130 134 Devolv'd; though should I hold my peace, yet thou Wouldst eafily detect what I conceal, This Woman, whom thou mad'ft to be my help, That from her hand I could fufpect no ill, 149 To whom the fovran Prefence thus reply'd, Was the thy God, that her thou didst obey 143 Before his voice, or was she made thy guide, Superior, or but equal, that to her Thou didst refign thy manhood, and the place And for thee, whofe perfection far excell'd 150 She 137. This Woman, whom thou mad ft to be my help, And gav ft me as thy perfect giftShe gave me of the tree, and I did eat.] Gen. III. 12. And the Man faid, The Woman, whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. We fee that he still preferves all that is Scripture, though he intermixes other things which were likely enough to have been faid and done. Adam fpeaks of Eve much in the 155 She was indeed, and lovely to attract 160 Which when the Lord God heard, without delay To judgment he proceeded on th' accus'd Serpent though brute, unable to transfer The guilt on him who made him inftrument 165 Of Thy cherishing, thy honoring, and ter, illam vero gravitatis, feveritatis thy love, Not thy fubjection. And in other parts of his works our author feems to have been a ftrenuous advocate for keeping up the authority of the husband. 155. thy part And perfon.] A pure Latinifm. The perfonæ dramatis. So Cicero pro Muren. c. 2. Has partes leni tatis et mifericordiæ, quas me natura ipfa docuit, femper ago liben perfonam non appetivi Milton in his Hiftory of England, p. 37. Edit. Tol. ufes the word thus, " If it "were an honor to that perfon "which he fuftain'd. Richardson. 158. Say Woman, what is this which thou haft done?] Gen. III. 13. And the Lord God faid unto the Woman, What is this that thou haft done? 162. The Serpent me beguil'd, and I did eat.] And the Woman Jaid P 4 Of mischief, and polluted from the end As vitiated in nature: more to know Concern'd not Man (fince he no further knew) 170 Because thou haft done this, thou art accurs'd 175 Above faid, The Serpent beguiled me, and I above every beaft of the field: p did eat. 169. --more to know Concern'd not Man (fince he no further know)] This is badly exprefs'd. The meaning is, As Man was not to be let into the mystery of the redemption at this time, it did not concern him to know that the ferpent was but the inftrument of the Devil. When Milton wrote this, I fancy he had it not then in his thoughts to make Michael reveal to Adam in the laft book the doctrin of redemption; or if he did intend it, he forgot that a theological comment on thofe words in Genefis would ill agree with what was to follow. Warburton. 175. Because thou hast done this, &c.] As near as may be to the very words of Scripture, Gen. III. 14, 15. And the Lord God faid unto the Serpent, Becaufe thou hast done this, thou art curfed above all cattel, and thy belly fhalt thou go, and duft fa thou eat all the days of thy life: As I will put enmity between thee and the Woman, and between thy fead and her feed: it fall bruise thy beat, and thou shalt bruife his heel. Or author was certainly here more in the right than ever in adhering reli gioufly to the words of Scripture, tho' he has thereby fpoil'd the har mony of his verfe. He thoug without doubt that to mix any thing of his own would be a violation c decency, and a profanation, like that of Uzzah's putting forth h hand to the ark of God. And the fentence is very well explain'd by him, that it was pronounc'd imme diately upon the Serpent as mat the inftrument of mischief and vita ted in nature, but is to be app mediately to Satan, the old Serpent, though in mysterious terms: And as the author explains how the fentence was to be understood before he re Above all cattel, each beaft of the field; Enmity, and between thine and her feed; 180 Her feed fhall bruife thy head, thou bruise his heel. So fpake this oracle, then verify'd When Jefus fon of Mary, fecond Eve, Saw Satan fall like lightning down from Heaven, ates it, fo he shows afterwards how Prince cramp'd down by a wrong choice, without the expected applaufe. Bentley. 184. Saw Satan fall like lightning oracle, then verify'à When Jefus Son of Mary, &c] Here i a manifeft indication, That, down from Heaven, &c. when Milton wrote this paffage, he Here are feveral allufions to Scripthought Paradife was chiefly re- ture; as particularly to Luke X. 18. gain'd at our Saviour's refurrection. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from This would have been a copious Heaven. Prince of the air, fo he is and fublime fubject for a fecond call'd Eph. II. 2. the prince of the pem. The wonders then to be power of the air. Spoil'd Principadefcribed would have erected even lities and Pow'rs, triumph'd in open an ordinary poet's genius; and in how, according to Col. II. 15. And epifodes he might have introduc'd having Spoiled Principalities and his conception, birth, miracles, and Powers, he made a fhow of them all the hiftory of his adminiftration, openly, triumphing over them in it. while on earth. And I much And with afcenfion bright captivity grieve, that inftead of this he led captive, led captive thofe who fhould choose for the argument of had led us captive. Pfal. LXVIII. his Paradife Regain'd the fourth 18. Thou haft afcended on high, thou chapter of Luke, the temptation in haft led captivity captive, applied to the wilderness; a dry, barren, and our Saviour by St. Paul, Eph. IV. 8. narrow ground, to build an epic The air the realm of Satan, who is In that work he has therefore call'd the prince of the amplified his fcanty materials to a power of the air, as we quoted befurprising dignity; but yet, being fore. Whom he shall tread at last poem on. under |