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Illumin, what is low raife and fupport;

That to the highth of this great argument

I

may affert eternal Providence,

And juftify the ways of God to Men.

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Say firft, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell, fay first what cause

Mov'd

bird, becaufe the defcent of the Holy Ghoft is compared to a dove in Scripture, Luke III. 22. As Milton ftudied the Scriptures in the original languages, his images and expreffions are oftner copied from them, than from our tranflation.

26. And juffify the ways of God

informed by thofe, who had opportunities of converfing with his widow, that he was wont to say that he did really look upon himself as infpir'd, and I think his works are not without á fpirit of enthufiafm. In the beginning of his 2d book of The Reafon of Church government, fpeaking of his defign of writing a poem in the English language, he fays, "It was not to be obtained "by the invocation of Dame Me"mory and her Siren daughters, "but by devout prayer to that "eternal Spirit who can enrich "with all utterance and know"ledge, and fends out his Sera- It is not eafy to conceive any good " phim, with the hallow'd fire of "his altar, to touch and purify the "lips of whom he pleases, p. 61. Edit. 1738.

19. Inftruct me, for Thou know'ft;] Theocrit. Idyl. XXII. 116.

Ειπε θεά, συ γαρ οιπα. 21. Dove-like fatft brooding] Alluding to Gen. I. 2. the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters; for the word that we tranflate moved fignifies properly brooded, as a bird doth upon her eggs; and he fays like a dove rather than any other

to Men.] A verfe, which Mr. Pope has thought fit to borrow with fome little variation, in the beginning of his Effay on Man, But vindicate the ways of God to

Man.

reafon for Mr. Pope's preferring the word vindicate, but Milton makes ufe of the word justify, as it is the Scripture word, That thou mighteft be juftified in thy fayings, Rom. II. 4. And the ways of God to Men are juftified in the many argumentative difcourfes throughout the poem, and particularly in the conferences between God the Father and the Son.

27. Say firft, for Heav'n bides no thing from thy view,

Nor the deep tract of Hell,-] The poets attribute a kind of omnifcience

K

2

Mov'd our grand parents, in that happy state,
Favor'd of Heav'n fo highly, to fall off

From their Creator, and tranfgrefs his will
For one restraint, lords of the world befides?
Who first feduc'd them to that foul revolt?
Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whofe guile,
Stirr'd
up with envy and revenge, deceiv'd
The mother of mankind, what time his pride

fcience to the Mufe, and very rightly, as it enables them to speak of things which could not otherwife be fuppofed to come to their knowledge. Thus Homer, Iliad. II. 485.

Υμείς γαρ θεαι 5%, παρετε τε, ι5ε τε πανία.

And Virgil Æn. VII. 645.

Et meminiftis enim, Divæ, et me

morare poteftis.

Milton's Mufe, being the Holy Spirit, muft of courfe be omnifcient. And the mention of Heaven and Hell is very proper in this place, as the fcene of fo great a part of the poem is laid fometimes in Hell, and fometimes in Heaven.

32. For one refraint,] For one thing that was reftain'd, every thing else being freely indulged to them, and only the tree of knowledge forbidden.

30

35

Had

Th' infernal Serpent;] An imitation of Homer, Iliad. I. 8. where the question is afk'd, and the anfwer return'd much in the fame manner.

Τις τ' αρ σφων θεων έριδι ξωνει
κε μαχεσθαι;
Λητες καὶ ΔιΘ ύιθ.

38. by chofe aid afpiring
To fet himself in glory above bis

peers,] Here Dr. Bentley objects, that Satan's crime was not, his aiming above his peers: he was in place high above them before, as the Doctor proves from V. 812. But tho' this be true, yet Milton may be right here; for the force of the words feems, not that Satan afpir'd to fet himself above his peers, but that he afpir'd to fet himself in glory, &c that is in divine glory, in fuch glory as God and his Son were fet in. Here was his crime: and this is what God charges him

33. Who firft feduc'd them to that with in V. 725. foul revolt?

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Had caft him out from Heav'n, with all his hoft
Of rebel Angels, by whofe aid afpiring
To set himself in glory' above his peers,
He trufted to have equal'd the most High,
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God
Rais'd impious war in Heav'n and battel proud
With vain attempt. Him the almighty Power

40

Hurl'd

who intends to' erect his often cuts off the vowel at the end

throne

Equal to ours,

of a word, when the next word begins with a vowel; though he does not like the Greeks wholly

And in VI. 88. Milton fays that the drop the vowel, but still retains it

rebel Angels hop'd

To win the mount of God, and on his throne

in writing like the Latins. Another liberty, that he takes likewise for the greater improvement and

To fet the envier of his ftate, the variety of his verfification, is pro

proud Afpirer.

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nouncing the fame word fometimes as two fyllables, and fometimes as only one fyllable or two short ones. We have frequent inftances in fpirit, ruin, riot, reafon, highest, and feveral other words. But then these excellencies in Milton's verse are attended with this inconvenience, that his numbers feem embarass'd to fuch readers, as know not, or know not readily, where fuch eli

fion or abbreviation of vowels is to take place; and therefore for their fakes we shall take care throughout this edition to mark fuch vowels as are to be cut off, and fuch as are to be contracted and abbreviated, thus'.

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Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantin chains and penal fire,
Who durft defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

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Nine times the space that measures day and night 50
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew

Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded though immortal: But his doom
Referv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought

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Hurl'd headlong downward from

th' ethereal height. Pope.

46. With hideous ruin and combuftion,] Ruin is deriv'd from ruo, and includes the idea of falling with violence and precipitation, and combuftion is more than flaming in the foregoing verfe, it is burning in a dreadful manner. So that he was not only burl'd head long flaming, but he was hurl'd headlong flaming with hideous ruin and combuftion; and what occafion is there then for reading with Dr. Bentley confufion inftead of combuftion?

Both

48. In adamantin chains ] Æschy. lus Prometh. 6.

Αδαμαντίναις πεδησιν.

50. Nine times &c.] The nine days aftonishment, in which the Angels lay intranced after their dreadful overthrow and fall from Heaven, before they could recover either the use of thought or fpeech, is a noble circumftance, and very finely imagined. The divifion of Hell into feas of fire, and into firm ground impregnant with the fame furious element, with that particular circumftance of the exclufion of hope from thofe infernal regions, are inftances of the fame great and fruitful invention.

Addifon.

63. darkness vifible] Milton feems to have used thefe words to fignify gloom: Abfolute darkness

Both of loft happiness and lafting pain

Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witness'd huge affliction and difmay
Mix'd with obdurate pride and stedfaft hate:
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
The difmal fituation wafte and wild;

A dungeon horrible on all fides round

As one great furnace flam'd, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness vifible 11

Serv'd only to difcover fights of woe,

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60

Regions

"forded juft light enough to fee "the obfcurity." See his Effay on Epic Poetry, p. 44. Euripides too expreffes himself in the fame poetical manner. Bac. 510.

is ftrictly speaking invifible; but "where fome difmal tapers afwhere there is a gloom only, there is fo much light remaining as ferves to fhow that there are objects, and yet that those objects cannot be diftinctly feen: In this fenfe Milton feems to use the strong and bold expreffion, darkness vifible. Pearce.

Seneca has a like expreffion, fpeaking of the Grotta of Paufilypo, Senec. Epift. LVII. Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus obfcurius, quæ nobis præftant, non ut per tenebras videamus, fed ut ipfas.

And, as Monf. Voltaire obferves, Antonio de Solis, in his excellent Hiftory of Mexico hath ventur'd on the fame thought, when fpeaking of the place wherein Montezuma was wont to confult his Deities; " "Twas a large dark "fubterraneous vault, fays he,

πως αν σκοτιον είσορα κνέφας. There is much the fame image in Spenfer, but not fo bold, Fairy Queen, B. 1. Cant. 1. St. 14.

A little glooming light, much like a fhade.

Or after all, the author might perhaps take the hint from himself in his Il Penferofo,

Where glowing embers through

the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.

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