Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf, Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes, A dungeon horrible on all sides round As one great furnace flam'd, yet from those flames Ριψε, ποδος πελαγων, απο βηλου θεσπε 010100 Hurl'd headlong downward from th' ethereal height. Pope. 46. With hideous ruin and combustion,] Ruin is derived from ruo, and includes the idea of falling with violence and precipitation, and combustion is more than flaming in the foregoing verse, it is burning in a dreadful manner. So that he was not only hurl'd headlong flaming, but he was hurled headlong flaming with hideous ruin and combustion; and what occasion is there then for reading with Dr. Bentley confusion instead of combustion ? 55 60 48. In adamantine chains] Eschylus, Prometh. 6. Αδαμαντίνων δεσμών εν αῤῥηκίοις πέδαις. 50. Nine times, &c.] The nine days' astonishment, in which the angels lay intranced after their dreadful overthrow and fall from heaven before they could recover either the use of thought or speech, is a noble circumstance, and very finely imagined. The division of hell into seas of fire, and into firm ground impregnant with the same furious element, with that particular circumstance of the exclusion of hope from those infernal regions, are instances of the same great and fruitful invention. Addison. No light, but rather darkness visible Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all; but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed 65 With ever-burning sulphur unconsum'd: For those rebellious, here their pris❜on ordain'd In utter darkness, and their portion set 70 63. -darkness visible] Seneca has a like expression, speaking of the Grotta of Pausilipo, Epist. lvii. Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus obscurius, quæ nobis præstant, non ut per tenebras videamus, sed ut ipsas. And, as Mons. Voltaire observes, Antonio de Solis, in his excellent history of Mexico, hath ventured on the same thought, when speaking of the place wherein Montezuma was wont , to consult his deities; "Twas a large dark subterraneous vault, says he, where some dismal tapers afforded just light enough to see the obscurity." See his Essay on Epic Poetry, p. 44. Euripides too expresses himself in the same poetical manner. Bac. 510. 66 πως αν σκοτιον είσορα κνεφας. There is much the same image in Spenser, but not so bold. Faery Queen, b. i. cant. i. st. 14. A little glooming light, much like a shade. Or, after all, the author might perhaps take the hint from himself in his Il Penseroso, Where glowing embers through the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom. 72. In utter darkness.] Dr. Bentley reads outer here and in many other places of this poem, because it is in Scripture το σκοτος tell me that utter and outer are το εξωτερον: but my dictionaries both the same word, differently spelt and pronounced. Milton, in the argument of this book, says, in a place of utter darkness, and no where throughout the poem does the poet use outer. Pearce. Spenser justifies the present reading, by frequently using the word utter for outer; as in Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. ii. st. 34. And inly grieve, as doth an hidden moth The inner garment fret, not th' utter touch. And again, b. iv. cant. 10. st.11. Till to the bridge's utter gate I Thyer. came. As far remov'd from God and light of heav'n, And thence in heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words 74. As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.] Thrice as far as it is from the centre of the earth (which is the centre of the world according to Milton's system, ix. 103. and x. 671.) to the pole of the world; for it is the pole of the universe, far beyond the pole of the earth, which is here called the utmost pole. It is observable that Homer makes the seat of hell as far beneath the deepest pit of earth, as the heaven is above the earth, Τόσσον ενερθ αΐδεω, ὅσον ουρανός επ' από yans. Iliad. viii. 16. Virgil makes it twice as far, Tum Tartarus ipse And Milton thrice as far, But Milton's whole description of hell as much exceeds theirs, as in this single circumstance of the depth of it. And how cool and unaffecting is the ragragov gosta, the ringelaite wudai xat xλov oudos of Homer, and the lugentes campi, the ferrea turris, and horrisono stridentes cardine porte of Virgil, in comparison with this description by Milton, concluding with that artful contrast, O how unlike the place from whence they fell! 81. Beelzebub.] The lord of flies, an idol worshipped at Ekron, a city of the Philistines, 2 Kings i. 2. He is called prince of the devils, Matt. xii. 24. therefore deservedly here made second to Satan himself. Hume. 82. And thence in heav'n called Satan,] For the word Satan in As far remov'd from God and light of Hebrew signifies an enemy; he heaven, As from the centre thrice to th' ut most pole. is the enemy by way of eminence, the chief enemy of God and man. If thou beest he; but O how fall'n! how chang'd And hazard in the glorious enterprise, Join'd with me once, now misery hath join'd son. 85 90 84. but O how fall'n! how He imitates Isaiah and Virgil at 84. If thou beest he; &c.] The proud unrelenting mind. Richardthoughts in the first speech and description of Satan, who is one of the principal actors in this poem, are wonderfully proper to give us a full idea of him. His pride, envy, and revenge, obstinacy, despair, and impenitence, are all of them very artfully interwoven. In short, his first speech is a complication of all those passions, which discover themselves separately in several other of his speeches in the poem. Addison. The change and confusion of these enemies of God is most artfully expressed in the abruptness of the beginning of this speech: If thou art he, that Beëlzebub He stops, and falls into a bitter reflection on their present condition, compared with that in which they lately were. He attempts again to open his mind; cannot proceed on what he intends to say, but returns to those sad thoughts; still doubting whether it is really his associate in the revolt, as now in misery and ruin; by that time he had expatiated on this (his heart was oppressed with it) he is assured to whom he speaks, and goes on to declare his VOL. I. Hei mihi qualis erat! quantum mutatus ab illo ! 86. Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst outshine Myriads though bright !] Imitated from Homer, Odyss. vi. 110. where Diana excels all her nymphs in beauty, though all of them be beautiful. Ρεια δ' αρίγνωτη πέλεται, καλαι δε σε πάσαι. Bentley. 91. In equal ruin :] So it is in all the editions. And equal ruin is Dr. Bentley's emendation, which Dr. Pearce allows (and I believe every body must allow) to be just and proper; it being very easy to mistake one of these words for the other; and other instances perhaps may occur in the course of this work. Equal ruin hath joined now, as equal hope joined before; somewhat like that in Ovid's Metamorphosis, i. 351. C From what height fall'n, so much the stronger prov'd Can else inflict, do I repent or change, Though chang'd in outward lustre, that fix'd mind, That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring, 95 100 What though the field be lost? truelis origo, Deinde torus junxit, nunc ipsa pericula jungunt. In equal ruin cannot answer to in the glorious enterprise, because Milton places a comma after enterprise, and in construction it follows after hazard, and not after join'd. 93. He with his thunder:] There is an uncommon beauty in this expression. Satan disdains to utter the name of God, though he cannot but acknowledge his superiority. So again ver. 257. -all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater. 94. -yet not for those, 98. And high disdain] This is a favourite expression of Spenser's. Thus in the Faery Queen, b. i. cant. i. st. 19. His gall did grate for grief and high disdain. This is the alto sdegno of the Nor what the potent victor in Italians, from whom no doubt |