So never more in Hell than when in Heaven. What but thy malice mov'd thee to misdeem 420 Of righteous Job, then cruelly to' afflict him 425 The other service was thy chosen task, For lying is thy fuftenance, thy food. Yet thou pretend'ft to truth; all oracles 430 By thee are giv'n, and what confefs'd more true 417. Imparts to thee] In all the editions it is printed Imports to thee, but in the Errata of the first edition we are defired to read Imparts to thee. It is no wonder that the errors of the first edition are continued in the fubfequent ones, when thofe errors do not much disturb the fense: but even where they make downright nonsense of the paffage, they are still continued ; and we had a most remarkable instance a little before in ver. 400. Never acquainted for Nearer acquainted. Ambiguous 426. With all inflictions? but his patience won.] So Mr. Fenton points this paffage in his edition, and fo it fhould be pointed. And the verb won I think is not often used as a verb neuter, but I find it fo in Spenfer's Faery Queen. B. 1. Cant. 6. St. 39. And he the ftoutest knight that ever won. 434. But what have been thy an fwers, what but dark,] The oracles were often fo obfcure and dubious, Ambiguous and with double fenfe deluding, Which they who ask'd have feldom understood, And not well understood as good not known? Who ever by confulting at thy fhrine Return'd the wifer, or the more inftruct 435 To fly or follow what concern'd him most, 440 For dubious, that there was need of other oracles to explain them. Sed jam ad te venio, Sancte Apollo, qui umbilicum certum terrarum obfides, Unde fuperftitiofa primum fava evafit vox fera, tuis enim oraculis Chryfippus totum volumen implevit, partim falfis, ut ego opinor, partim cafu veris, ut fit in omni oratione fæpiffime; partim flexiloquis, & obfcuris, ut interpres egeat interprete, & fors ipfa ad fortes referenda fit; partim ambiguis, & qua ad dialecticum deferenda fint. Cicero De Div. II. 56. Calton. Milton in thefe lines about the Heathen oracles feems to have had in view what Eufebius fays more copiously upon this fubject in the fifth book of his Præparatio Evangelica. That learned father reafons in the very fame way about them, and gives many inftances from history of their delufive and double meanings. It may not perhaps be impertinent to mention Crœ one by way of illustration. fus fending to confult the Delphic oracle about the fuccefs of his infian received this anfwer, tended expedition againft the Per κρεισσ Αλων διαβας μεγαλώ αργω καταλύσει, Crofus Halym penetrans magnam pervertet opum vim, which by the ambiguity of one word might either fignify the conqueft of the Perfian empire, or the ruin of his own: but he, as it was natural enough for an ambitious prince to do, conftruing it according to his own flattering hopes, was overcome and lost his kingdom. Thyer. 447. But from him or his Angels prefident] Utitur etiam eis Deus (Dæmonibus) ad veritatis manifeftationem per ipfos fiendam, dum divina myfteria eis per Angelos revelantur. The words are quoted from Aquinas (zda zdæ Quæft. 172. Art. 6.) but the opinion is as old at leaft as St. Auftin, whofe authority he For God hath justly giv'n the nations up Among them to declare his providence 445 To thee not known, whence haft thou then thy truth, But from him or his Angels president In every province? who themselves disdaining he and Peter Lombard alledge for it. Calton. This notion Milton very probably had from Tertullian and St. Austin. Tertullian fpeaking of the Gods of the Heathens and their oracles fays Difpofitiones etiam Dei & tunc prophetis concionantibus exceperunt, & nunc lectionibus refonantibus carpunt. ita & hinc fumentes quafdam temporum fortes æmulantur divinitatem, dum furantur divinationem. In oraculis autem, quo ingenio ambiguitates temperent in eventus, fciunt Cræfi, fciunt Pyrrhi. Apol. C. 22. St. Auftin more appofitely to our prefent purpose, anfwering the Heathen boafts of their oracles says tamen nec ifta ipfa, quæ ab eis vix raro & clanculo proferuntur, movere nos debent, fi cuiquam Dæmonum extortum eft id prodere cultoribus fuis, quod didicerat ex eloquiis prophetarum, vel oraculis Angelorum. Aug. De Div. Dæmonum. Sect. 12. Tom. 6. Ed. Bened. And again Cum enim vult Deus etiam per infimos infermofque fpiritus aliquem vera cog T'approach nofcere, temporalia dumtaxat atque ad iftam mortalitatem pertinentia, facile eft, & non incongruum, ut omnipotens & juftus ad eorum pœnam, quibus ifta prædicuntur, ut malum quod eis impendet ante quam veniat prænofcendo patiantur, occulto apparatu minifteriorum fuorum etiam fpiritibus talibus aliquid divinationis impertiat, ut quod audiunt ab Angelis, prænuntient hominibus. De Div. Quæft. ad Simpl. L. 2. S. 3. Tom. 6. The following paffage from the fame place of St. Auftin may ferve to illuftrate what Milton fays above at ver. 432. that hath been thy craft, By mixing fomewhat true to vent more lies. 450 T'approach thy temples, give thee in command 453. Then to thyself afcrib'ft the truth foretold.] The Demons (Lactantius fays) could certainly forefee, and truly foretel many future events, from the knowledge they had of the difpofitions of Providence before their fall. And then they affumed all the honor to themselves, pretending to be the authors, and doers of what they predicted. Nam cum difpofitiones Dei præfentiant, quippe qui miniftri ejus fuerunt, interponunt fe in his rebus; ut quæcunque à Deo vel facta funt, vel fiunt, ipfi potiffimum facere, aut feciffe videantur. Div. Inft. II. 16. Calton. 456. henceforth oracles are ceas'd,] I would not cenfure Milton for mentioning the filence of oracles, at our Saviour's appear ing in the world, both here and in his elegant hymn on Christ's nativity, because it adorns the poems, tho' it be a vulgar error. Fortin. As Milton had before adopted the No ancient opinion of oracles being the operations of the fall'n Angels, το here allo again he follows the fame authority in making them cease at the coming of our Saviour. See this matter fully dif cufs'd in Fontenelle's hiftory of oracles, and father Baltus's answer to him. Thyer. 458. at Delphos] In the famous controversy about ancient and modern learning Mr. Wotton reproves Sir William Temple, for where in his Effays. Mr. Boyle putting Delphos for Delphi, every juftifies it, and fays that it is ufed by all the finest writers of our tongue, and beft judges of it, par&c. If thefe authorities may juticularly Waller, Dryden, Creech ftify Sir William Temple, they may also justify Milton; but certainly the true way of writing is not Delphos in the accufative cafe, but Delhi in the nominative. And though one would not condemn those excellent writers, who have unawares fallen into the common error, yet to defend Delphos upon this only pretence, that it has been the cuftom of our English writers το No more fhalt thou by oracling abuse The Gentiles; henceforth oracles are ceas'd, to call it fo; is, as Dr. Bentley replies, like the Popish priest, who for 30 years together had read Mumpfimus in his breviary inftead of Sumpfimus; and when a learned man told him of his blunder, I'll not change, fays he, my old Mumpfimus for your new Sumpfimus. 460. God hath now fent his living oracle Into the world] This heavenly oracle delivers himself here, in term's clear enough to alarm the Tempter: but it was not time yet to put an end to the temptation by giving him full conviction. Tantum vero ei innotuit (Chriftus) quantum voluit: tantum autem voluit, quantum oportuit. [Aug. De Civ. Dei IX. 21. I have put ei for eis to fuit it to my prefent purpofe] The Son of God was fent, a man amongst men, to teach them viva voce, conveying his inftructions to the understanding by the ear. In this view he was a living oracle, and diftinguifh'd from the other oracle, the Holy Spirit, who communicates himself by filent impreffions upon the mind within. 455 460 Into But Chrift had a nobler meaning. In the Greek Fathers he is ftil'd aurown, (woa Buλn, rozC (wv effential life, the living counfel, and the living word of God. And St. John fays, that in him was life, and the life was the light of men. I. 4. This meaning was not unobferved by the Tempter. He eafily perceived that the eternal Word might be the living oracle intended: and his words a little below ver. 475. feem to be a feign'd acknowledgment of what he would not yet believe, tho' he feared it might be true. But thou art plac'd above me, thou art Lord; From thee I can and must fubmifs indure Check or reproof, and glad to fcape fo quit. |