Direct against which open'd from beneath, Over mount Sion, and, though that were large, By which, to visit oft those happy tribes, Pass'd frequent, and his eye with choice regard To Beërsaba, where the Holy Land 530 535 So wide the opening seem'd, where bounds were set 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, 545 550 Round he surveys (and well might where he stood 555 Of night's extended shade), from Eastern point 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 560 565 Stars distant, but nigh hand seem'd other worlds; The golden sun, in splendour likest heaven, 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 Through the calm firmament (but up or down, Or longitude), where the great luminary 575 That from his lordly eye keep distance due, 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 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, 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; Through his glazed optic tube yet never saw. 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 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 |