Direct against which open'd from beneath,
Just o'er the blissful seat of Paradise,
A passage down to the earth, a passage wide,
Wider by far than that of after-times

Over mount Sion, and, though that were large,
Over the Promised Land, to God so dear;

By which, to visit oft those happy tribes,
On high behests his angels to and fro

Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard
From Paneas, the fount of Jordan's flood,

To Beërsaba, where the Holy Land
Borders on Egypt and the Arabian shore;

530

535

So wide the opening seem'd, where bounds were set
To darkness, such as bound the ocean wave.
Satan from hence, now on the lower stair,

540

533. behests: commands, precepts, mandates: antiquated, except in poetry.

534. The Poet gave it, Pass'd frequent, as his eyes, with choice regard. It is taken from Apocalypse, v. 6. And seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.' And our Author bimself warrants it, iii. 650. speaking of the seven Arch-angels:

'and are his eyes

That run through all the Heavens; or down to the Earth.' And 660.

And as his eye,

To visit oft his new Creation round.'' BENTLEY.

If this correction be not admitted, we must understand his eye passed frequent.

535. From Paneas, a city at the foot of a mountain of the same name, part of mount Libanus where the river Jordan has its source, to Beerseba, or Beersheba, i. e. the whole extent of the promised land from north to south, where it is bounded by Egypt and Arabia. The limits of the Holy Land are thus expressed in Scrip. ture, From Dan even unto Beersheba.' Dan was afterwards called Paneas.' N.

538. Compare Job xxxviii. 11. 20.

That scaled by steps of gold to heaven-gate,
Looks down with wonder at the sudden view
Of all this world at once. As when a scout,
Through dark and desert ways with peril gone
All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn
Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill,
Which to his eye discovers unaware
The goodly prospect of some foreign land
First seen, or some renown'd metropolis
With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn'd,
Which now the rising sun gilds with his beams:
Such wonder seized, though after heaven seen,
The spirit malign, but much more envy seized,
At sight of all this world beheld so fair.

545

550

Round he surveys (and well might where he stood 555
So high above the circling canopy

Of night's extended shade), from Eastern point
Of Libra to the fleecy star that bears

546. high-climbing: high to climb, difficult to ascend.

556. circling canopy: 'the earth casts a shadow, the sun shining on it, which shadow however has a limited extent; where this is, it is Night. This then forms a sort of canopy of darkness over the unenlightened Hemisphere, and round as the Earth from whence it arises; but although it is a canopy to those under it, it is a cone, and so appeared to Satan, unless he saw it at the point, and then it must appear a circle: iv. 776.

'Now had Night measured with her shadowy cone

Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault.'' RICHARDSON. 558. He surveys from eastern point of Libra, one of the twelve signs exactly opposite to Aries, to the fleecy star, i. e. from east to west, for when Libra rises in the east, Aries sets full west; and Aries is said to bear Andromeda, because that constellation is placed just over Aries, and therefore when Aries sets, he seems to bear Andromeda far off Atlantic seas, the great western ocean, beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole he views in breadth, i, e. from north to south, because the ancients knowing more of the

Andromeda far off Atlantic seas,

Beyond the horizon; then from pole to pole
He views in breadth, and without longer pause
Downright into the world's first region throws
His flight precipitant, and winds with ease
Through the pure marble air his oblique way
Amongst innumerable stars, that shone

560

565

Stars distant, but nigh hand seem'd other worlds;
Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy isles,
Like those Hesperian gardens famed of old,
Fortunate fields, and groves, and flowery vales;
Thrice-happy isles; but who dwelt happy there 570
He staid not to inquire above them all

The golden sun, in splendour likest heaven,
Allured his eye; thither his course he bends

earth from east to west than from north to south, and`so having a much greater journey one way than the other, one was called length or longitude, the other breadth or latitude.' N. See 1. 576.

564. marble air: clear, white: used as the Latin marmor, marmoreus. Virg. G. i. 254. 'infidum remis impellere marmor:' Æn. vi. 729. Et quæ marmoreo fert monstra sub æquore pontus.' So in Hom. Il. E. 273. áλa μapμapéŋv: as the Greek adj. (from μapMalpa) combines the idea of splendor and brightness, this may also be included in Milton's use of the epithet. Newton adds that Shakspeare, in Othello Act iii, uses the expression Now by yond marble Heaven.' Todd compares Soph. Antig. 618. 'Oλúμжov μαρμαρόεσσαν αἴγλαν.

565. That shone like stars, appeared by their shining, when distant, to be stars.

568. Hesperian gardens: so called from Hesperus, Vesper, because placed in the west under the evening star. Some suppose them to correspond with the Cape Verd Islands, others with the Canaries.

569. Compare Virg. Æn. vi. 638.

"Devenere locos lætos, et amœna vireta
Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas.'

Through the calm firmament (but up or down,
By centre, or eccentric, hard to tell,

Or longitude), where the great luminary
Aloof the vulgar constellations thick,

575

That from his lordly eye keep distance due,
Dispenses light from far: they, as they move
Their starry dance in numbers that

compute

580

Days, months, and years, towards his all-cheering

lamp

Turn swift their various motions, or are turn'd

By his magnetic beam, that gently warms

The universe, and to each inward part

574. up or down: i. e. whether his course was north or south; thus in ix. 78. up beyond the river Ob; Downward as far antarctic. 575. Whether it was towards the centre, or from the centre, it not being determined whether the sun is the centre of the world or not.' N. Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary quotes the passage thus By centric or eccentric :' so in B. viii. 82. Now gird the sphere With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er:' i. e. with spheres whose centres are the same with or different from that of the earth. I think that Milton means: whether, in opposition to a direct course, from north to south, east to west or the reverse, Satan's flight was circular, and guided by any centre, or of an irregular, meandering kind.

576. longitude: i. e. from east to west: see 1. 558. So in B. v. 539.

'Meanwhile in utmost longitude, where Heaven

With earth and ocean meets, the setting sun
Slowly descended.'

577. aloof: all off, quite off, at a distance from.

578. his lordly eye: so the sun is addressed by Sophocles, Antig. 103.

ὦ χρυσέας ἁμέρας βλέφαρον.

580. dance: Hor. Od. iv. 14.

i. e. measures: Lucret. ii. 630.

Pleiadum choro:' in numbers,
Curetes inter se sorte catenas

Ludunt, in numerumque exsultant:' Virg. Ecl. vi. 27. Tum vero in numerum Faunosque ferasque videres Ludere.'

With gentle penetration, though unseen,

Shoots invisible virtue even to the deep;
So wondrously was set his station bright.
There lands the fiend, a spot like which perhaps
Astronomer in the sun's lucent orb

Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw.
The place he found beyond expression bright,
Compared with aught on earth, metal or stone;
Not all parts like, but all alike inform'd
With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire;
If metal, part seem'd gold, part silver clear;
If stone, carbuncle most or chrysolite,
Ruby or topaz, to the twelve that shone

585

590

595

585. To avoid the apparent tautology in this verse and the next, the words though unseen must he referred to penetration, and invisible to virtue.

586. This line must be scanned by making the last syllable of virtue coalesce with ev'n. The accent falls the same, in the word visibly, B. vi. 682.

'Son, in whose face invisible is bebeld
Visibly, what by Deity I am.'

ib. to the deep: usque ad profundum: the very depths of the

universe.

588. The spots in the sun are visible with a telescope; but astronomer perhaps never yet saw through his glazed optic tube, i. e. his telescope, such a spot as Satan now he was in the sun's orb.' N.

593. inform'd: endued, animated, influenced by; Pope, Odyss. While life informs these limbs, the king replied,

Well to deserve be all my cares employ'd.'

A poetical use of the word.

595. gold-carbuncle: compare Ovid's description of the palace of the Sun: Metam. lib. ii. init.

'Regia Solis erat, sublimibus alta columnis,

Clara micante auro, flammasque imitante pyropo.'

597. to the twelve, i. e. and all the rest reckoning to the twelve, that shone in Aaron's breast-plate. The poet had par