He ended, and his words impreffion left
Of much amazement to th' infernal crew,
Distracted and furpris'd with deep difmay
At these fad tidings; but no time was then
For long indulgence to their fears or grief:
Unanimous they all commit the care
And management of this main enterprize
To him their great dictator, whofe attempt
At first against mankind fo well had thriv'd
In Adam's overthrow, and led their march
From Hell's deep-vaulted den to dwell in light,

110

115

Regents and potentates, and kings, yea Gods

Of many a pleasant realm and province wide.
So to the coast of Jordan he directs

nefs, where our Saviour underwent his forty days temptation, was on the fame bank of Jordan where the baptifm of John was, St. Luke witneffing it, that Jefus being now baptized ύπεςρεψεν απο το Ιορδαve, returned from Jordan, namely from the fame tract, whereby he came thither. His eafy steps, for here was not that danger and difficulty as in his first expedition to ruin mankind. It is faid in reference to what he had spoken before,

I, when no other durft, fole undertook

The difmal expedition to find out

And ruin Adam

His

His cafy fteps, girded with fnaky wiles,

120

Where he might likelieft find this new-declar'd,

This man of men, attefted Son of God,

Temptation and all guile on him to try;

So to fubvert whom he fufpected rais'd

To end his reign on earth fo long enjoy'd:
But, contrary unweeting he fulfill'd

125

The purpos'd counsel pre-ordain'd and fix'd
Of the most High, who in full frequence bright
Of Angels, thus to Gabriel smiling spake.

Gabriel, this day by proof thou shalt behold, 130
Thou and all Angels converfant on earth
With man or mens affairs, how I begin

120. - girded with fnaky wiles,] The imagery very fine, and the circumftance extremely proper. Satan is here figured engaging on a great expedition, fuccinct, and his habit girt about him with a girdle of fnakes; which puts us in mind of the inftrument of the fall.

Warburton.

122. This man of men, attefted Son of God,] The phrafe is low and idiotic; and I wish the poet had rather written

To

and Heaven of Heavens are truly grand expreffions: but then there is an idea of greatness in the words themselves to fupport the dignity of the phrafe; which is wanting in Milton's man of men. Calton.

-129. thus to Gabriel smiling

Spake.] This fpeech is properly addrefs'd to Gabriel particularly among the Angels, as he feems to have been the Angel particularly employed in the embaffies and tranfactions relating to the Gospel. Gabriel was fent to inform Daniel of the famous prophecy of the feventy weeks; Gabriel notified the In the holy Scriptures God of Gods, conception of John the Baptift to

This man, of Heav'n attefted
Son of God.

To verify that folemn meffage late,

On which I fent thee to the Virgin pure

In Galilee, that she should bear a fon

135

Great in renown, and call'd the Son of God;

Then toldft her doubting how these things could be
To her a virgin, that on her should come

The Holy Ghost, and the pow'r of the Higheft
O'er-shadow her: this man born and now up-grown,
To show him worthy of his birth divine
And high prediction, henceforth I expofe
To Satan; let him tempt and now affay

141

His utmost subtlety, because he boasts
And vaunts of his great cunning to the throng 145

:

his father Zacharias, and of our bleffed Saviour to his virgin mother. And the Jewish Rabbi's fay, that Michael was the minifter of feverity, but Gabriel of mercy and accordingly our poet makes Gabriel the guardian Angel of Paradife, and employs Michael to expel our first parents out of Paradife and for the fame reason this speech is directed to Gabriel in particular. And God's being represented as smiling may be juftified not only by the Heathen poets, as Virg. Æn. I. 254.

Olli fubridens hominum fator atque deorum:

Of

but by the authority of Scripture itself. See Paradife Loft, V. 718.

131. Thou and all Angels converSant on earth

With man or mens affairs,] This feems to be taken from the verses

attributed to Orpheus.

Αγελοι, οισι μεμηλε βροτοις ὡς πανία τελείται. 144. -because be boafts what Satan had juft before said to And vaunts &c] This alludes to his companions, ver. 100.

I, when no other durft, fole undertook &c.

Thyer.
163. That

Of his apostasy; he might have learnt
Lefs overweening, fince he fail'd in Job,
Whofe conftant perfeverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent.
He now fhall know I can produce a man

Of female feed, far abler to refift

All his folicitations, and at length

All his vaft force, and drive him back to Hell,
Winning by conqueft what the first man loft
By fallacy furpris'd. But first I mean
To exercise him in the wilderness,

There he shall first lay down the rudiments
Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth
To conquer
Sin and Death, the two grand foes,
By humiliation and strong sufferance:

His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength,
And all the world, and mafs of finful flesh;
That all the Angels and ethereal Powers,

They now,, and men hereafter

may difcern,

From what confummate virtue I have chofe
This perfect man, by merit call'd my Son,
To earn falvation for the fons of men.

160

165

Sa

monftrant. Lactantius. Div. Inft. Lib. IV. 6. Cum igitur a prophetis idem manus Dei, & virtus, & fermo dicatur. ibid. 29. Paradise Loft. VI. 713.

Into thee fuch virtue and

grace

Again, the words confummate virtue
are ambiguous, and may be re-
ferred to the divine nature of Chrift
as well as the human, Their pre-
fent connexion applies them direct-
ly to the human nature: but they
had a fecret reference, I conceive,
in the poet's meaning to the ma-
jefty of that heavenly part of him,
which denominates Christ in the
holy Scriptures the wisdom of God
and the power (or virtue) of God,
O Suwaμiv, Dei virtutem, Lat.
Vulg. 1 Cor. I. 24. Hunc tamen
folum primogenitum divini nominis
appellatione dignatus eft, patria sci-
licet virtute, ac majeftate pollen-
tem. Effe autem fummi Dei filium,
qui fit poteftate maxima præditus, fignify for or because of
non tantùm voces prophetarum,
fed etiam Sibyllarum vaticinia de-
VOL, I.

Immenfe I have transfus'd. Chrift show'd his heavenly wif dom upon every trial: but his divine virtue broke out, to the amazement of the tempter, in the last. Note that the præpofition from,

From what confummate virtue

is ufed here as o and præ, to

Calton.

168. Sa