The found of blustering winds, which all night long Had rous'd the fea, now with hoarfe cadence lull Sea-faring men o'er-watch'd, whofe bark by chance, Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay After the tempeft: Such applause was heard 290 As Mammon ended, and his fentence pleas'd, Advising peace for such another field They dreaded worfe than Hell: So much the fear Wrought ftill within them; and no lefs defire 295 300 Which when Beelzebub perceiv'd, than whom engraven Pietas Jefuitica, and his Locufts or Apollyonists, published at Cambridge in 1627, difplays fimilar fcenery. See note, B. i. 795. Of Fletcher's Latin poem fee further mention in the Inquiry into the Origin of Paradife Loft, in the notes on Paradife Regained, B. i. 42, and on the beautiful poem In Quintum Novembris. TODD. Ver. 301. Afpéct] So Milton always accents this word, agreeably to the practice of our elder poets. It began to be accented, however, on the first fyllable, in Milton's time. See Baron's Cyprian Academy, 1648. B. ii. 72. "I' the comely áfpect of the Paphian Queene." TODD. Ver. 302. A pillar of state;] The fame expreffion is in Shakfpeare, Hen. VI. P. ii. A. i. "Brave peers of England, pillars of the ftate!" NEWTON. 305 Deliberation fat, and publick care; 310 Ethereal Virtues! or thefe titles now And in Gascoigne's Poems, 1587. p. 116. Thus alfo Milton, in his Tractate on Education, recommends the ftudy of Politicks to Youth, that they may become "stedfaft pillars of the state." TODD. Ver. 305. Majeftick, though in ruin:] Thefe words are to be joined in conftruction with his face, and not with princely counfel, as Dr. Bentley imagined. NEWTON. Ver. 306. With Atlanteun fhoulders] A metaphor to exprefs his vaft capacity. Atlas was fo great an aftronomer, that he is faid to have borne Heaven on his fhoulders. The whole picture from ver. 299, to the end of the paragraph, is admirable! RICHARDSON. Ver. 309. Or fummer's noon-tide air,] Noon-tide is the fame as noon-time, when in hot countries there is hardly a breath of wind ftirring, and men and beafts, by reason of the intense heat, retire to fhade and reft. This is the custom of Italy particularly, where our author lived fome time. NEWTON. This place our dungeon; not our fafe retreat His captive multitude: For he, be sure, 320 In highth or depth, still first and last will reign Sole king, and of his kingdom lofe no part 325 By our revolt; but over Hell extend His empire, and with iron fcepter rule Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven. To us enflav'd, but cuftody fevere, Ver. 327. and with iron fcepter rule Us here, as with his golden thofe in Heaven.] The iron fcepter is an allufion to Pfalm ii. 9, as the golden is to Efther v. 2. HUME. Ver. 332. for what peace will be given To us enflav'd, but cuftody fevere, and what peace can we return, But to our power hoftility and hate,] In both thefe paffages there is an unufual conftruction of the particle but; it may 340 Untam'd reluctance, and revenge though flow, 345 In power and excellence, but favour'd more 350 Of Him who rules above; fo was his will Pronounc'd among the Gods, and by an oath, That shook Heaven's whole circumference, con firm'd. Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn feems to put" cuftody fevere &c." in the one, and "hoftility and hate &c." in the other, on the foot of peace. There are fome very few inftances where the Latins have used nifi (except, or but) in a like conftruction. One is in Plautus's Menæchmi, Prol. v. 59. Ei liberorum, niji divitiæ, nihil erat." Lambinus fays, this expreflion feems too unufual; for the particle nifi can except none but things like, or of a like kind. Ver. 352. and by an oath, RICHARDSON. That hook Heaven's whole circumference, confirm'd.] "He confirmed it by an oath," are the very words of St. Paul, What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, 355 Or fubftance, how endued, and what their power, And where their weakness, how attempted beft, By force or fubtlety. Though Heaven be fhut, And Heaven's high Arbitrator fit fecure In his own ftrength, this place may lie expos'd, The utmost border of his kingdom, left 361 Heb. vi. 17. And this oath is faid to shake Heaven's whole circumference, in allufion to Jupiter's oath in Virgil, En. ix. 104, &c.; as Virgil had imitated Homer, Iliad i. 528-530. Ver. 360. this place may lie expos'd, The utmost border of his kingdom, left NEWTON. To their defence who hold it :] It has been objected, that there is a contradiction between this part of Beelzebub'sfpeech, and what he fays afterwards, fpeaking of the fame thing and of a meffenger proper to be sent in search of this new world, ver. 410. "What strength, what art can then "Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe "Through the ftri& fenteries and stations thick "Of Angels watching round?" How can this earth be faid to lie expofed &c. and yet to be ftrictly guarded by stationed Angels? The objection is very ingenious but it is not faid that the earth doth lie expofed, but only that it may lie expofed: and it may be confidered, that the defign of Beelzebub is different in thefe different fpeeches; in the former, where he is encouraging the affembly to undertake an expedition against this world, he fays things to lessen the difficulty and danger; but in the latter, when they have determined. upon the expedition, and are confulting of a proper perfon to employ in it, then he fays things to magnify the difficulty and danger, to make them more cautious in their choice. NEWTON. |