Before his eyes appear'd, sad, noisome, dark, O miserable mankind! to what fall 480 485 490 495 500 505 So goodly and erect, though faulty since, To such unsightly suff'rings be debased 510 Under inhuman pains? Why should not man, In part, from such deformities be free, And for his Maker's image sake exempt? Their Maker's image, answer'd Michael, then 515 Forsook them when themselves they vilify'd To serve ungovern'd appetite, and took 517. There is a considerable error, I imagine, in the ideas thus put into the mouth of Michael. By supposing Eve swayed, as here said, by a brutisk vice, the consequences of the fall and the His image whom they served (a brutish vice) 520 525 To death, and mix with our connatural dust? 530 Till many years over thy head return: So may'st thou live till, like ripe fruit, thou drop 535 Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature. Thy youth,thy strength, thy beauty, which will change To what thou hast; and for the air of youth, To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume 545 Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong 550 corruption which it produced are anticipated. There is not suffi cient authority in Scripture for this strong introduction of low sensual feeling, as the whole passage in which the fall is related turns upon the strong desire felt by Eve to become as the gods, accomplished in the knowledge of good and evil. I am a little surprised Milton's commentators have not remarked this.-See Gen. iii. 5, 6. 552. In the first edition it was, of rendering up, Michael to kım replied. Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st Live well; how long or short permit to Heav'n. And now prepare thee for another sight. 555 He look'd, and saw a spacious plain, whereon Were tents of various hue: by some were herds Of cattle grazing; others, whence the sound Of instruments that made melodious chime Was heard, of harp and organ, and who moved 560 Their stops and chords, was seen. His volant touch Instinct, through all proportions low and high, Fled and pursued transverse the resonant fugue. In other part stood one who, at the forge Labouring, two massy clods of iron and brass Had melted (whether found where casual fire Had wasted woods on mountain or in vale, Down to the veins of earth, thence gliding hot To some cave's mouth, or whether wash'd by stream From under ground): the liquid ore he drain'd Into fit moulds prepared; from which he form'd First his own tools; then, what might else be wrought Fusile, or grav'n in metal. After these, 565 570 But on the hither side, a different sort In gems and wanton dress. To th' harp they sung The men, tho' grave, eyed them, and let their eyes 585 Rove without rein, till in the amorous net Fast caught, they liked, and each his liking chose: 557. Gen. iv. 20-22. 573. Fusil, cast in moulds. The account of the descendants of Seth is partly derived from Scripture, and partly from other sources. 582. In allusion to the union mentioned in Scripture, which the sons of God, or the descendants of his true worshippers, formed with the daughters of Cain's posterity. See Gen. vi. 1, 2. That the sons of God meant celestial beings, an idea once supported by some divines, and that on which Mr. Moore has founded his poem of the Loves of the Angels, has been long ago an exploded supposition. T 596 And now of love they treat, till th' ev'ning star, 595 Of peaceful days portends, than those two past: 600 Those were of hate and death, or pain much worse: Here Nature seems fulfill'd in all her ends. To whom thus Michael: Judge not what is best By pleasure, though to nature seeming meet, Created, as thou art, to nobler end, Holy and pure, conformity divine. 605 610 Those tents thou saw'st so pleasant, were the tents 615 For that fair female troop thou saw'st, that seem'd Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance, To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye. 620 Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame, To whom thus Adam (of short joy bereft): O pity' and shame, that they who to live well 614. For that; As for that. 025 630 Enter'd so fair, should turn aside to tread He look'd, and saw wide territory spread 640 Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed, Both horse and foot; nor idly must'ring stood. 645 655 Lay siege, encamp'd; by battery, scale, and mine, With dart and javelin, stones and sulph'rous fire: To council in the city gates. Anon 600 Grey-headed men and grave, with warriors mix'd, Of middle age one rising, eminent 665 645. Nor idly must'ring stood: there is supposed to be an allusion here, and in one or two other similar lines, to the situation of the English army at the time Milton was writing. 660. There are several imitations of Homer in this description. Iliad, xviii. 661. The judges are described in Scripture as sitting in the gates of the cities. Gen. xxxiv. 20. Zech. viii. 16, &c. 665. Of middle age, as the years of life were then numbered. Enoch was 365 years old when translated, Gen. v. 23. |