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605

Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows Of dauntless courage, and confiderate pride Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but caft Signs of remorfe and paffion, to behold The fellows of his crime, the followers rather, (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd For ever now to have their lot in pain; Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc'd Of Heaven, and from eternal fplendours flung 610 For his revolt; yet faithful how they stood, Their glory wither'd: as when Heaven's fire Hath fcath'd the foreft oaks, or mountain pines,.

fpeare, fpeaking of a fear, in All's Well that ends well, "It was this very fword intrench'd it." NEWTON.

Ver. 609.

amerc'd] Amerc'd has here a ftrange affinity with the Greek aμspdw, to deprive, to take away; as Homer has used it much to our purpose, Odys. viii. 64.

Οφθαλμῶν μὲν ΑΜΕΡΣΕ, δίδυ δ ̓ ἡδεῖαν ἀοιδὴν,

"The Mufe amerced him of his eyes, but gave of finging fweetly." HUME.

him the faculty

Amerce is an old English verb, and occurs in the drama of Tancred and Gifmund, 4to. 1591. fign. H. 3. b.

"Now, daughter, seest thou not how I amerce
"My wrath, that thus bereft thee of my loue,
"Vpon my head?" TODD.

Ver. 611.

yet faithful how they flood,] To fee the true conftruction of this, we must go back to ver. 605 for the verb. The fenfe then is this, to behold the fellows of his crime condemn'd &c. yet how they stood faithful. RICHARDSON.

Ver. 612.

as when Heaven's fire

Hath feath'd &c.] Hath hurt, hath damaged; a word frequently ufed in Chaucer, Spenfer, Shakspeare, and our old writers. This is a very beautiful and clofe fimile; it repre

With finged top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blafted heath. He now prepar'd 615 Tofpeak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend From wing to wing, and half enclose him round With all his peers: Attention held them mute. · Thrice he affay'd, and thrice, in spite of scorn, Tears, fuch as Angels weep, burft forth: at last

fents the majestick ftature, and withered glory, of the Angels: and the last with great propriety, fince their luftre was impaired by thunder, as well as that of the trees in the fimile: and befides, the blasted heath gives us fome idea of that finged burning foil, on which the Angels were standing. Homer and Virgil frequently ufe comparifons from trees, to exprefs the stature or falling of a hero, but none of them are applied with fuch variety and propriety of circumstances as this of Milton. See An Essay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 24. NEWTON.

Their ftately growth, though bare, will remind the reader of an elegant fimile in Lucan, Pharfal. i. 136.

66

Qualis frugifero quercus fublimis in agro,
"Exuvias veteres populi, facratáque geftans

"Dona ducum, nec jam validis radicibus hærens,
"Pondere fixa fuo eft, nudófque per aëra ramos

"Effundens, trunco, non frondibus, efficit umbram."

The blafted heath, as Mr. Dunfter alfo notices, is an expreffion of Shakspeare, which gives, as here, additional intereft to the defcription. It is where Macbeth is accofted by the witches, "with prophetick greetings, upon the blafted heath." TODD. Ver. 619. Thrice he affay'd, and thrice

Met. xi. 419.

Tears burst forth:] He had Ovid in his thought,

"Ter conata loqui, ter fletibus ora rigavit." BENTLEY. The turn of the words bears a near refemblance to Spenfer, Faer. Qu. i. xi. 41.

"Thrice he affaid it from his foote to draw,
"And thrice in vain to draw it did assay:"

Words, interwove with fighs, found out their way.

O Myriads of immortal Spirits! O Powers Matchlefs, but with the Almighty! and that strife Was not inglorious, though the event was dire, As this place teftifies, and this dire change 625 Hateful to utter: but what power of mind, Foreseeing or prefaging, from the depth Of knowledge paft or prefent, could have fear'd, How fuch united force of Gods, how fuch As stood like thefe, could ever know repulse? 630 For who can yet believe, though after lofs, That all these puiffant legions, whofe exíle Hath emptied Heaven, fhall fail to re-afcend

As alfo to Sackville, Induction Mir. for Magiftrates, ft. last, "Thryfe he began to tell his doleful tale,

"And thryfe the fighs did fwallow up his voyce."

BOWLE.

Milton perhaps had alfo in mind Agamemnon's address to the Grecian leaders, Il. ix. 13.

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Ως ὁ βαρυσενάχων ἔπε Αργείοσι μετηύδα. TODD.

Ver. 622. O Myriads &c.] Compare ver. 315, &c. And the fpeech in Taffo, Gier. Lib. C.

Ver. 623.

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iv. ft. 9, 10. TODD.

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Turpe fuit vinci, quàm contendiffe decorum eft."

NEWTON.

Ver. 633. Hath emptied Heaven,] It is conceived that a third part of the Angels fell with Satan, according to Rev. xii. 4. "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth :" And this opinion Milton has again ex

Self-rais'd, and repoffefs their native feat?
For
me, be witness all the hoft of Heaven, 635
If counfels different, or dangers fhunn'd

640

By ine, have loft our hopes. But he, who reigns
Monarch in Heaven, till then as one fecure
Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute,
Confent or custom; and his regal state
Put forth at full, but ftill his ftrength conceal'd,
Which tempted our attempt,and wrought our fall.
Henceforth his might we know, and know our

own;

So as not either to provoke, or dread

New war, provok'd: our better part remains 645
To work in close defign, by fraud or guile,
What force effected not: that he no lefs
At length from us may find, who overcomes
By force, hath overcome but half his foe. 649
Space may produce new worlds; whereof fo rife
There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long

preffed, B. ii. 692, B. v. 710, B. vi. 156. But Satan here talks big, and magnifies their number, as if their "exile had emptied Heaven." NEWTON.

Ver. 642. Which tempted our attempt,] The jingle of the times: So Sylvefter, Du Bartas, ed. 1621. p. 827.

"Shee dar'd, and did attempt to tempt mee too;
"But God forbad, &c." TODD.

Ver. 646.

by fraud &c.] From Marino. See the note on Par. Reg. B. i. 97. TODD.

Ver. 651. There went a fame &c.] This is a necessary circumftance, whereon to found the project on which the whole Poem turns; which project is with much judgement first flightly

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655

Intended to create, and therein plant
A generation, whom his choice regard
Should favour equal to the fons of Heaven:
Thither, if but to pry, fhall be perhaps
Our firft eruption; thither or elsewhere:
For this infernal pit fhall never hold
Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor the abyss
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts
Full counsel must mature: Peace is defpair'd; 660
For who can think fubmiffion? War then, War,
Open or understood, must be refolv'd.

He fpake: and, to confirm his words, out-flew Millions of flaming fwords, drawn from the thighs

665

Of mighty Cherubim; the fudden blaze
Far round illumin'd Hell: Highly they rag'd

touched upon in this firft book, and more fully developed in the fecond, previous to Satan's proceeding on his enterprise. See alfo the note on ver. 211. DUNSTER.

Ver. 664. Millions of flaming fwords,] Compare Taffo, Gier. Lib. c. v. ft, 28.

"Quafi in quel punto mille Spade ardenti
"Furon vedute fiammegiar infieme."

And Silius Italicus, L. i. v. 500.

"Mille fimul dextræ, denfufque micare videtur
Enfis." Bow LE.

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Ibid.

drawn from the thighs] It may be observed here, that Milton, to keep up the dignity of language, has purpofely avoided the trite phrafe drawn from the fides, and adopted the Greek way of expreffing it. Thus Homer, Il. i. 194.

Η ὄγε φάσγανον ὀξὺ ἐρυσσάμενος παρὰ μηρᾶ. THYER.

Ver. 665.

————— the fudden blaze

Far round illumin'd] "Traia l'efpee hors de

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