And meek surrender, half embracing lean'd 495 On Juno smiles when he impregns the clouds 500 That shed May flow'rs; and press'd her matron lip For envy, yet with jealous leer malign Eyed them askance, and to himself thus 'plain'd: Sight hateful! sight tormenting! thus these two, Imparadised in one another's arms, 505 The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill Of bliss on bliss; while I to Hell am thrust, Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire, Among our other torments not the least, 510 Yet let me not forget what I have gain'd From their own mouths: all is not theirs, it seems; 515 The poet adds that the devil turned away, with envy at the sight of so much happiness.-A. 499-501. Jupiter and Juno, the principal male and female divinities of the heathen, are regarded sometimes as presiding over atmospheric phenomena, such as rain, wind, &c., and also as representing the productive energies of nature. Their marriage typified the union of Heaven and Earth in the fertilizing rains. The poet here ascribes to them the sending of those rains which produced the flowers of spring. The simile is drawn by Milton from the 14th book of the Iliad, and from the Georgics of Virgil, ii. 335. Pressed: That is, Adam pressed her matron (married) lip. 500. Impregns: Renders prolific. The word is pronounced impranes. 503. Leer malign: A malignant, oblique look. 505. Imparadised: Enjoying a Paradise, placed in a condition resembling that of Paradise. 509. Where, for where's. Milton not unfrequently omits the verb is, as in VIII. 621. 515. Knowledge forbidden: A most artful question from its generality, im Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord 520 525 330 Some wand'ring Spirit of Heav'n by fountain side, Or in thick shade retired, from him to draw What further would be learn'd. Live while ye may, Yet happy pair; enjoy, till I return, Short pleasures, for long woes are to succeed. 535 So saying, his proud step he scornful turn'd, But with sly circumspection, and began Thro' wood, thro' waste, o'er hill, o'er dale, his roam. Meanwhile in utmost longitude, where Heav'n With earth and ocean meets, the setting Sun 540 plying, falsely, that some useful knowledge had been forbidden, whereas, as Newton observes, the only knowledge that was prohibited was the knowledge of evil by the commission of it. 530. A chance, &c.: Pearce would include in a parenthesis (but chance), and thus read the passage: a chance, and it can be only a chance, may lead, &r. But perhaps it is best to read it without alteration, and interpret it thus:There is a chance, or possibility, that chance may lead, &c. Chance in the second instance is personified. We apply the word to effects or events that are produced by causes unknown, or by agents not intending to produce them. The word but is used improperly for that, as in Job xii. 2, “No doubt but ye are the people," &c. Addison abounds in the same faulty use of this word, as for example: "There is no question but Milton had," &c. 539. Longitude: Length or distance, particularly east and west. See note III. 555, 574. |