Where to lie hid: sea he had searched, and land, Downward as far antarctic;2 and in length, 80 At Darien ; thence to the land where flows Ganges and Indus: thus the orb he roamed With narrow search; and with inspection deep Most opportune might serve his wiles; and found 85 Of thoughts revolved, his final sentence chose ; 1 From Eden over Pontus, &c.--Pontus, the Black Sea. Pool Mæotis,— the Sea of Azof, a marshy lake north-east of the Black Sea, and connected with it by the Cimmerian Bosphorus, or Straits of Caffa or Yenikale. Ob, or Oby, —a large river in Siberia, discharging itself into a gulf of the same name to the east of Nova Zembla. 2 Downward as far antarctic ;-as the northern regions are called Arctic, from Arctos, the Greek name for the Great Bear, the most conspicuous constellation near the north pole, the southern regions are called Antarctic, as being in the opposite quarter of the earth. The south is spoken of as downward, in allusion to the usual position of the terrestrial globe. 3 Orontes,-a famous river in Syria, rising in Mount Lebanon, and watering the city of Antioch on its way to the Levant. 4 Darien, the isthmus of that name, connecting North and South America, and barring the Atlantic Ocean from mingling its waters with the Pacific. Compare Job xxxviii. 10. 5 The serpent subtlest beast,--See Gen. iii. 1. 6 Fittest imp of fraud,-"imp," a young shoot of a tree such as is removed for the purpose of being grafted on a tree of a different species; used here to signify "tool," "instrument." "O Earth, how like to Heaven,1 if not preferred "More justly-seat worthier of Gods, as built "With second thoughts, reforming what was old! "For what God, after better, worse would build ? "Terrestrial Heaven, danced round by other Heavens "That shine, yet bear their bright officious2 lamps, "Light above light, for thee alone, as seems; "In thee concentring all their precious beams "Of sacred influence! As God in Heaven "Is centre, yet extends to all; so thou, 100 105 "Centring, receivest from all those orbs: in thee, "Not in themselves, all their known virtue appears 110 "Productive in herb, plant, and nobler birth "Of creatures animate with gradual life,3 "Of growth, sense, reason, all summed up in Man. 4 "Find place or refuge; and the more I see 115 120 10 Earth, how like to Heaven, &c.-This speech fully exemplifies Satan's envy, remorse, ambition, contempt of his Maker, and malignant spite. It gives a fine instance, too, of the common error of evil-doers, in undervaluing what they have lost by their folly and wickedness, and overvaluing what good they hope to attain. The remains of the archangel, and ruins of a superior nature, appear in the sudden starts of recollection upon the meanness and folly of his undertaking. 2 Officious,-rendering good offices; serviceable. 3 Creatures animate with gradual life, &c.-Life is exhibited in gradual stages of perfection in the various tribes of created beings. Thus, as Linnæus remarked, "Stones grow," though they have no life; "plants grow and live," and "animals grow, live, and feel." Man stands on a higher level of perfection, being distinguished from the other creatures of God on this earth by the noble faculty of reason, superadded to the characteristics of the inferior modes of existence. 4 Place, to dwell in: refuge,-from punishment. 5 As from the hateful siege of contraries.-siege, in the old Saxon sense of rushing down; as used here, equivalent to furious onset. "Him lord pronounced; and, O indignity! 155 “ In every bush and brake, where hap may find 160 "With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained "Into a beast; and, mixed with bestial slime, 165 "This essence to incarnate and imbrute, "That to the height of deity aspired! "But what will not ambition and revenge "Descend to? Who aspires, must down3 as low "As high he soared; obnoxious, first or last, 170 "To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet, "Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils : "Let it; I reck not, so it light well aimed So saying, through each thicket dank or dry, 175 1 Subjected to his service angel-wings,-Satan reproaches the angels with what is their glory, namely, to execute missions of good to man. See Heb. i. 14; 1 Pet. i. 12, last clause. Flaming ministers, Ps. civ. 4. 2 Am now constrained into a beast, and... to incarnate, &c.,—a peculiar construction, the noun "beast" being coupled with the infinitives "to incarnate and imbrute," and both dependent on the same participle "constrained." See a similar example in line 402-She engaged to be returned and [engaged or promised] all things in best order. ... 3 Must down,—a more nervous expression than if the verb of motion had been supplied. Shakespeare uses such adverbs in a similar way without the verbs, Hen. IV. p. ii. :— "For now a time is come to mock at form, ✦ (Since higher I fall short),—i. e. if I aim higher (at God, namely), my revenge falls short, and does not reach its aim. Like a black mist low creeping, he held on His midnight search, where soonest he might find His head the midst, well stored with subtle wiles : 180 185 In heart or head, possessing, soon inspired With act intelligential; but his sleep 190 Disturbed not, waiting close the approach of morn. 195 With grateful smell,1 forth came the human pair, 200 205 "This garden, still to tend plant, herb, and flower— "Our pleasant task enjoined; but, till more hands 1 And his nostrils fill with grateful smell,-See Gen. viii. 21. 210 2 The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs,-Milton speaks here from experience: he mentions his early habits with pleasure in his prose writ ings even. Compare line 447-451 of this book. 3 Wild,-wildness; adjective used as a substantive. |