However, and to 'scape his punishment! So judge thou still, presumptuous! till the wrath, But wherefore thou alone? wherefore with thee To which the fiend thus answer'd, frowning stern: To wing the desolate abyss, and spy 927. thy fiercest, enemy, opponent. 928. vollied: discharged with a volley, sudden burst. 915 920 925 930 935 Better abode, and my afflicted powers To settle here on earth, or in mid air; 940 Though for possession put to try once more To whom the warrior-angel soon replied: To say and straight unsay, pretending first 945 Wise to fly pain, professing next the spy, Argues no leader, but a liar traced, Satan and couldst thou faithful add? O name, 950 And thou, sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem Once fawn'd, and cringed, and servily adored 942. dare against (possession) or against (me). 945. to cringe: (with) practised distances: studied, accustomed homage, respect there appears to be a play on the word distance, which also signifies the space kept between two antagonists in fencing. 959. servily: Todd retains this reading in his edition of Milton, but has not supplied its omission in Johnson's Dict. The more usual form is servilely. But mark what I aread thee now, Avaunt! So threaten'd he; but Satan to no threats 965 Then when I am thy captive talk of chains, 970 Proud limitary cherub! but ere then Far heavier load thyself expect to feel From my prevailing arm, though Heaven's King 980 962. aread: or areed, or arreed: I advise, direct, order. ib. avaunt: on, forward, begone: from the French avant. 971. limitary: 'set to guard the bounds, as 1. 878. a taunt, insulting the good angel as one employed on a little, mean office.' RICHARDSON. 974. This seems to allude to Ezekiel's vision, where four Cherubims are appointed to the four wheels: And the Cherubims did lift up their wings, and the wheels besides them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.' See ch. i, x. xi. 22. N. 980. ported spears: carried in a direction towards the enemy; held in a posture ready for attack. 981. Homer has a simile much of the same nature, comparing Her bearded grove of ears, which way the wind Sways them; the careful ploughman doubting stands, Lest on the threshing-floor his hopeful sheaves Prove chaff. On the other side, Satan, alarm'd, 985 Collecting all his might, dilated stood, Like Teneriff or Atlas, unremoved: His stature reached the sky, and on his crest What seem'd both spear and shield. Now dreadful deeds Might have ensued, nor only Paradise, 990 In this commotion, but the starry cope Of heaven perhaps, or all the elements At least had gone to wrack, disturb'd and torn 995 The Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray, the motion of the army after Agamemnon's speech to the waving of the ears of corn: II. B. 147. Ὡς δ ̓ ὅτε κινήσει Ζέφυρος βαθὺ λήϊον ἐλθὼν, λάβρος ἐπαιγίζων, ἐπί τ ̓ ἠμύει ἀσταχύεσσιν· 987. Virgil has applied the same comparison to his hero, Æn. xii. 701. Quantus Athos, aut quantus Eryx, aut ipse coruscis Vertice se attollens pater Apenninus ad auras.' N. The Peak of Teneriffe is on an island of the same name, the largest of the Canaries. Atlas is a long chain of mountains in Mauritania. unremoved: for immovable as unreproved, 1. 492. 988. Thus Homer says of Discord, II. A. 443. οὐρανῷ ἐστήριξε κάρη, καὶ ἐπὶ χθονὶ βαίνει : and Virgil of Fame, Æn. iv. 177. Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit.' N. 989. plumed: placed as a plume. 994. wrack or wreck are used indifferently by old writers. Hung forth in heaven his golden scales, yet seen (Wherein all things created first he weigh'd, The pendulous round earth with balanced air 1000 The latter quick up-flew, and kick'd the beam ; Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the fiend: 1005 Satan, I know thy strength, and thou know'st mine; Neither our own, but given: what folly then 997. golden scales: as in Hom. Il. viii. 69. Kal TÓTE dǹ Xpúσela πατὴρ ἐτίταινε τάλαντα. Compare also Virg. An. xii. 725. 998. Libra or the Scales is one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, between Astrea, or Virgo, and the Scorpion. 999. This weighing the creation at first and all events since gives us a sublime idea of Providence, and is conformable to the style of Scripture: Job xxviii. 25. To make the weight for the winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure:' xxxvii. 16. 'Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds?' Isaiah xl. 12. "Who weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?' 1 Sam. ii. 3. By him actions are weighed.' Prov. xvi. 2. The Lord weigheth the spirits.' Dan. v. 26. 'God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; thou art weighed in the balances.'' N. 1001. (And in which he) now ponders all events, (chiefly the events of) battles and realms. 1003. God put in the golden scales two weights; in the one scale he put the weight, which was the sequel (represented the consequence) of Satan's parting from them; in the other scale he put the weight, which was the sequel of Satan's fighting. The latter scale, by ascending, showed him that he was light in arms, and could not obtain victory; the other, having descended, was a sign that his going off quietly would be his wisest and weightiest attempt.' PEARCE. |