High up in Heav'n, with fongs to hymn his throne, To whom the warrior Angel foon reply'd. 945 Satan, and couldft thou faithful add? O name, 950 Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew? Was this your discipline and faith engag'd, Allegiance to th' acknowledg'd Pow'r fupreme? 945. And practic'd diftances to cringe, not fight.] With is understood. With fongs to hymn his throne, and with practic'd diftances to cringe, not fight. Dr. Bentley has ftrangely mistaken it. 962. award. arreed] To decree, to 965.- I drag thee] The prefent tenfe ufed for the future, to fignify the immediate execution of the menace. Hume, 955 Heav'n's A Latinism, and very emphatical. 966. And feal thee fo,] This feems to allude to the chaining of the dragon, that old ferpent, which is the Devil and Satan, mention'd in the Revelation: And he caft him into the bottomless pit, and fhut him up, and fet a feal upon him. XX. 3. Hume. 971. Proud Heav'n's awful monarch? wherefore but in hope 960 To difpoffefs him, and thyself to reign? But mark what I arreed thee now, Avant; Fly thither whence thou fledft: if from this hour. 965 And feal thee fo, as henceforth not to scorn So threaten'd he; but Satan to no threats Gave heed, but waxing more in rage reply'd. Then when I am thy captive talk of chains, 970 Proud limitary Cherub, but ere then Far heavier load thyfelf expect to feel From my prevailing arm, though Heaven's king 975 In if from this hour Within thefe hallow'd limits thou appear. 971. Proud limitary Cherub,] limitaneus. Digeft. And as Mr. Thou proud prefcribing Angel that Thyer farther obferves, the word profumeft to limit me, and appoint is intended as a fcornful fneer upon my prifon, according to Mr. Hume. what Gabriel had just faid, Or rather limitary, fet to guard the bounds; a taunt infulting the good Angel as one employ'd on a little mean office, according to Mr. Richardfon. For limitary (as Dr. Heyhin remarks) is from limitaneus. Milites limitanti are foldiers in garrifon upon the frontiers. So Dux 974. Ride on thy wings, &c.] This feems to allude to Ezekiel's vifion, where four Cherubims are appointed to the four wheels: And Gg+ the In progress through the road of Heav'n ftar-pav'd. the Cherubims did lift up their wings, and the wheels befides them, and the glory of the God of Ifrael was over them above. See Chap. I. and X. and XI. 22. 980 Her tions of the army after Agamemnon's speech to the waving of the ears of corn. Iliad. II. 147. Ως δ' ότε κινησεις Ζεφυρα βαθύ ληϊον ελθών 977. While ibus he fpake, &c.] Λαβρα επαιγίζων, επι τ' εμυθ The conference between Gabriel and Satan abounds with fentiments proper for the occafion, and fuitable to the perfons of the two fpeakers. Satan clothing himself with terror, when he prepares for the combat, is truly fublime, and at least equal to Homer's defcription of Difcord celebrated by Longinus, or to that of Fame in Virgil, who are both represented with their feet ftanding upon the earth, and their heads reaching above the clouds. Addifon. 980. With ported fpears,] With their fpears born pointed towards him. A military term. Hume. αςαχνεσσιν Ως των πασ' азори And as on corn when western gufts defcend, Before the blast the lofty harvests bend: Thus o'er the field the moving hoft appears, With nodding plumes and groves of waving spears. Pope. 986. dilated food, &c.] Our author is indebted, I fancy, for this nervous expreffion to the following defcription of Taffo's Argantes addreffing himself to fight with Tancred, Gier. Lib. Cant. ig. St. 12. gante. 980-as thick as when a field &c.]. Ma diftefo e eretto il fero ArIt is familiar with the poets to compare an army with their fpears and fwords to a field of ftanding corn. Homer has a fimile much of the fame nature, comparing the mo Diftefo in Italian is exactly the fame with dilated in English, and expreffes very ftrongly the attitude of an Her bearded grove of ears, which way the wind Sways them; the careful plowman doubting stands, 985 His Quantus Athos, aut quantus Eryx, aut ipfe corufcis Cum fremit ilicibus quantus, gaudetque nivali Vertice fe attollens pater Apenninus ad auras. Like Eryx, or like Athos great he shows, Or father Apennine, when white with fnows, His head divine obfcure in clouds he hides, And shakes the founding forest on his fides. Dryden. Mr. Hume fays that the Peak of Teneriff is 15 miles high, and Mr. Richardson afferts that it is 45 miles perpendicular, if that be not moft that we can fuppofe is that it a falfe print 45 for 15: but the utis 15 miles from the very firft afcent of the hill till you come thro' the various turnings and windings to the top of all; for I have been affur'd from a gentleman who meafur'd it, that the perpendicular highth of it is no more than one mile and three quarters. 988. His His ftature reach'd the sky, and on his creft Sat horror plum'd; nor wanted in his grafp What seem'd both spear and shield: now dreadful deeds Might have enfued, nor only Paradise 989. Sat horror plum'd;] Horror is perfonify'd, and is made the plume of his helmet; and how much nobler an idea is this than the horses tails and fphinxes and dragons and other terrible animals on the helmets of the ancient heroes, or even than the Chimera vomiting flames on the crest of Turnus, Æn. VII. 785 990 Of Suftinet, Ætnæos eflantem fauci- A triple pile of plumes his creft 989.-nor wanted in his grafp&c.] This is faid to fignify that he wanted not arms, tho he was but juft raised out of the form of a toad. He was reprefented as in arms, II. 812. when he was upon the point of engaging with Death; and we muft fuppofe that his power, as an Angel, was fuch, that he could affume them upon occafion whenever he pleased. 991. nor only Paradife &c.] This reprefentation of what mutt have happen'd, if Gabriel and Satan had encounter'd, is imaged in thefe few lines with a nobleness fuitable to the occafion, and is an improvement upon a thought in Homer, where he represents the terrors which must have attended the conflict of two fuch powers as Cui triplici crinita juba galea alta Jupiter and Neptune, Iliad. XV. Chimæram 224. |