All her original brightness, nor appear'd
Less than archangel ruin'd, and th' excess
Of glory obscur'd: as when the sun, new ris'n,
Looks through the horizontal misty air

Shorn of his beams; or, from behind the moon,
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds

On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs; darken'd so, yet shone
Above them all th' Arch-Angel: but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrench'd; * and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold
The fellows of his crime,—the followers rather,—
(Far other once beheld in bliss!) condemn'd
For ever now to have their lot in pain:
Millions of spirits for his fault amerc'd

3

Of heav'n, and from eternal splendours flung
For his revolt! yet faithful how they stood,'
Their glory wither'd! as when heaven's fire
«i3 Hath scath'd the forest oaks, or mountain pines,

1 He compares him to the morning sun seen through a haze, or when eclipsed: in an eclipse ot iie sun, the moon is between it and the earth. It is said that the book was near being suppressed in consequence of this passage, which was interpreted as intimating new political convulsions, and the insecurity of royal power. But in truth, Virgil said nearly the same in the court of Augustus, whose government succeeded a commonwealth, as did that of Charles, and was more despotic. Georg. i. 464 :—

"Sol tibt slgna dablt, solem quia diccre falsum
Audeatt ille etlam Mbcos instare tumultus

Sape monet, fraudemquo et operla tumescere bella."

Milton had perhaps also in view the following beautiful simile in Sbakspeare, (Rich. II. iii. S,) where Richard is compared, in his discontent and indignation, to—

"the blushing discontented snn

From out the liery portals of the east,

When be pcrceircs the envious clouds are bent

To dim his glory..

Yet looks he like a king."

Thus he embodies the two similes; indicating the prognostics by the one, and the dimmed lustre by the other. His judgment in these similes has been much admired. As be only meant to convey the ideas of loftiness, and firmness, which are inseparable from a lower, he does not describe it; but, as the diminution of the sun's light is an occasional effect, he does give a description. Burke says, "These great images produce their powerful effect because they are crowded and confused."—" Disastrous," is here classically used in its original signification of an evil conjunction of stars—d^s or POV. —(See A., Warb., D.)

"Intrenched," furrowed. So Sbakspeare (All's Well),

"This very sword intrench'd It."

* Read a semicolon after "pain." •

"Amerced" here means, deprived, from the Greek aμɛpow, aμepow. Odys. viii. 64. Οφθαλμων μεν αμερσε, δίδου δ' ηδείαν αοιδήν. (Η.)

The construction depends on "" behold," 605; yet to behold how they stood faithful.

2

With singed top their stately growth, though bare,
Stands on the blasted heath.1 He now prepar'd
To speak: whereat their doubled ranks they bend
From wing to wing, and half enclose him round
With all his peers; attention held them mute:
Thrice he assay'd, and thrice, in spite of scorn,
Tears, such as angels weep, burst forth; 3 at last
Words, interwove with sighs, found out their way.
"O myriads of immortal spirits! O pow'rs
"Matchless, but with the Almighty! and that strife
"Was not inglorious; though the event was dire,
"As this place testifies, and this dire change

66

66

5

'Hateful to utter! But what power of mind,

6

'Foreseeing, or presaging, from the depth "Of knowledge, past or present, could have fear'd "How such united force of gods,—how such "As stood like these, could ever know repulse? "For who can yet believe, though after loss, "That all these puissant legions, whose exile «33"Hath emptied heaven, 7 shall fail to reascend,

i There is a peculiar propriety in this splendid comparison, as "heaven's fire" and thunder produced the same effect on the angels, as on the oaks and pines, the stateliest of all trees.— The blasted heath" corresponds with "the burning soil" on which the angels stood.—(N.)

Homer frequently represents his warriors as mute with silent attention, xXNY EYEVOYTO

σιωπη.

3 Ovid. Met. li. 41? :

"Ter conata loqnl, tor flclibus ora roeavlt."

Homer represents his heroes, Achilles and Agamemnon, shedding tears, not from pusillanimity, but from grief mingled with indignation and rage. II. ix. 13 : xv Ayxupɛμτων ιστατο δακρυχέων. Thus Achilles in the first Iliad, 349 : αυταρ Αχιλλευς δάκρυσα; : Pope. "Such as angels weep;" i. e. of a different kind from the tears of mortals. So vi. 332, when Satan is wounded by Michael, from the wound—

"A stream of neclarous humour issuing flowed
Sanguine, such as celestial spirits may bleed."

So in Homer, 11. v. 340, the wounded divinity does not yield blood, but a thinner substance, called tyup. When the soldier pierced the side of our crucified Saviour with a

spear, "forthwith came thereout blood and water." John xi*. 31.

The irregular structure of sentences in this speech represents Satan's perturbation or mind, is in accordance with his position, and resembles that in the speech, 315. « Ovid. Met. Ix. 6:

"nec tam

Turpc tuit vinci, quam conteudisso decorum est."

One of the most beautiful passages in that most perfect of all ancient or modern orations, the speech of Demosthenes "On the Crown," is where he consoles the Athenians on their defeat; that they only obeyed the irresistible call ef honour and duly in engaging in the war, leaving the issue to fortune. I may here observe, that the speeches in Milton, especially in the first and second books, are very much in the spirit, style, and manner of Demosthenes.

6 Hor. iii. Od. ii. 17 .—

"Tirtua repulsæ nescia sordidæ."

7 Though, ii. 692, v. 710, and vi. 156, it is said that only one-third or the angels fell; and this is the number mentioned in the Apocalypse xii. 4.—" And his tail drew the third pari of the stars of heaven after it, and cast them to the earth;" yet Satan artfully,

668

1

"Self-rais'd, and repossess their native seat?
"For me,—be witness all the host of heav'n,
"If counsels different, ' or dangers shunn'd
"By me, have lost our hopes! But He who reigns
"Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure

Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
"Consent, or custom; and his regal state
"Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd,
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
Henceforth his might we know, and know our own,
"So as not either to provoke, or dread

66

64

"New war, provok'd. Our better part remains
"To work in close design, by fraud or guile,
"What force effected not; that he no less

66

2

'At length from us may find, who overcomes
"By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

66

Space may produce new worlds; whereof so rife
"There went a fame in heaven, that He ere long
"Intended to create ; 3 and therein plant
"A generation, whom his choice regard
"Should favour, equal to the sons of heaven :
"Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps
"Our first eruption; thither or elsewhere;
"For this infernal pit shall never hold
"Celestial spirits in bondage, nor th' abyss
"Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
"Full counsel must mature: peace is despair'd;
"For who can think submission ? War then,—war,
Open or understood,* must be resolv'd."

He spake; and, to confirm his words, out flew
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs
Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze

5

Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd

Against the Highest; and fierce, with grasped arms,
Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,

6

by way of vaunt, and to encourage his followers, speaks or having emptied heaven. -(N.)

• /. «. different from those of his followers.

Nevertheless. He says the Almighty deceived them by concealing his strength at first, and so effected their fall. But, nevertheless, he will lind himself matched by their artifice, though not by their might.—(R.)

This is a very important part of the poem, as showing the design of man's creation to be antecedent to the revolt. See Mole on ii. 346. Bead a comma after "create." » /. «. implied, though not expressed.—(P.)

5 Drawing the tword from the thigh is a phrase often used by Homer. II. i. 184, et alibi :

Η ογε φασγανον οξύ ερυσσάμενος παρά μηρού.

6 Milton here alludes to the custom of the ancient soldiers signifying their approbation of their leader's address by shouting, and striking their spears or swords on their

695

Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.
There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top
Belch'd fire and rolling smoke;1 the rest entire
Shone with a glossy scurf; undoubted sign
That in his womb 2 was hid metallic ore,

3

The work of sulphur. Thither, wing'd with speed,
A num'rous brigade hasten'd: as when bands
Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe arm'd,
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field,
Or cast a rampart. MAMMON" led them on:
Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell

From heav'n; for e'en in heaven his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,5
Than aught, divine or holy, else enjoy'd

In vision beatific: by him first

6

Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
Ransack'd the centre, and with impious hands,
Rifled the bowels of their mother earth,
For treasures, better hid.7 Soon had his crew
Open'd into the hill a spacious wound,

And digg'd out ribs of gold. Let none admire
That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane. And here let those,
Who boast in mortal things, and wond'ring tell
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings,"
Learn how their greatest monuments of fame,

shields. (See my Note on Livy, i. 50.) Tacitus, Germanla, c. n • "Si placnit sentenlia frameas concutiunt : honoratissimum consensus genus armis laudare."

I have often heard a pugnacious Irishman say, in his native language, "I strike the shield and call for battle;" a phrase, no doubt, derived from the custom of the Celtic tribes. See Fairy Queen, i. 4, 40.

i En. iii. 576 :—

"Interdum scopulos eruplaqoo Tlscera monlis
Erlgit eructant."

* Womb is here used, as uterus sometimes is in Virgil, to signify the belly of a male animal. See Ma. vii. 499, xi. 809.—(N.)

8. In Milton's time, metals were thought to consist of mercury as the basis, and sulphur as the binder.—(N.)

"Mammon," in Syriac, means "riches." Read a semicolon after "on." * II. iv. 2: xpvsiu sv dWcfto. Rev. xxi. 2«.—(N.)

1

6 Rentley says there was but one cause, and that is improperly divided into two. Warburton defends the division by referring to a superstition among miners, that there are a sort of devils who are very busy in the various operations of mining, some cleansing, some smelting, etc. So the devils may be said to teach the art by example as well as by precept. But in all likelihood the words are to be taken as a poetical amplification, (by the figure hendyad, sv dia dvory,) of dividing a proposition into parts.

1 Hor. iii. Od. iii. 49:

"Aurum irrepertnm et sfc melius sllum."

8 Diodorus Siculus, i. and Pliny, xxxvi, 12, say, that 360,000 men were employed for twenty years on one of the pyramids of Egypt, which were near Memphis, the capital. -(A.)

722

And strength, and art, are easily outdone
By spirits reprobate; and ' in an hour
What in an age they with incessant toil
And hands innumerable scarce perform.
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepar'd.
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluic'd from the lake, a second multitude,
With wondrous art, founded the massy ore,
Sev'ring each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross : 2
A third as soon had form'd within the ground
A various mould, and from the boiling cells
By strange conveyance flll'd each hollow nook:
As in an organ, from one blast of wind,

4

To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes.
Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge
Bose like an exhalation,3 with the sound
Of dulcet symphonies, and voices sweet;
Built like a temple, where pilasters round
Were set, and Doric pillars, overlaid
With golden architrave: nor did there want
Cornice, or frieze, with bossy sculptures grav'n :
The roof was fretted gold.B Not Babylon,
Nor great Alcairo, such magnificence
Equall'd in all their glories, to enshrine
Belus, or Serapis,7 their gods; or seat

6

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove
In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile

i It outdone, must be supplied; thus, "And That tbey in an age scarce perform, is outdone in an hour."

"Sluiced," conveyed in sluices.— Founded," melted, from [undo.—"Severing,' separating the sulphur, earth, etc. from the metal.—"Bullion" is an adjective, referring not to the metal in a purified state, but in a crude, while under the smelting process.— "Dross," what floated on the boiling metal.-P., R.)

s Some commentators imagine that Milton borrowed this conception from the stage machinery and scenes, which suddenly appeared as if they started out of the ground, designed by Inigo Jones for the masks of Charles I. But how did Inigo Jones himself get the thought? I think both may have borrowed from the magical creations so often described in the stories of romance.

Read a comma after "sweet."

* "Pilasters," ornamental pillars set in a wall, with about one-fourth of their thickness outside." Architrave," the lower division of an entablature, or that part which rests on the capital or upper part of the column.—" Cornice," the uppermost member of the entablature, or the highest projection; it crowns the order.—"Frieze," that flat part between the architrave and cornice, generally ornamented with figures.—"Fretted," ornamented with fretwork or fillets interwoven at parallel distances.—(N., Johnson.)

* Hilton has been censured by Bentley for substituting Cairo here, which was long subsequent to the existence of Memphis; but as it was built near the site of Memphis, and as it is said by some learned writers to signify "the City," by way of eminence, (see Calmet) Milton may be justified for using the word.

7 "Serapis," the same as Apis, or Osiris. The word was generally pronounced Serapis ; but Milton has the authority of Prudentius and Capella, independently of the privilege of poelry, for writing it Scr'apis.—(P.)