Destruction to the rest: this pause between 165 As both their deeds compar'd this day shall prové. 170 A postate, still thou err'st, nor end wilt find 167. Ministring spirits,] So Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice Et tunicæ manicas et habent redimi- O vere Phrygiæ, neque enim Phry- Dindyma, ubi assuetis biforem dat 175 180 Yet lewdly dar'st ou Reign thou in hell th In heav'n God ever Behests obey, worth Yet chains in hell, n From me return'd, a This greeting on thy So say'ing, a nobl Which hung not, bu On the proud crest c Nor motion of swift Such ruin intercept: He back recoil'd; t His massy spear ups thyself inthrall'd;] So sat. ii. vii. 81. Tu mihi qui imperitas, al Quisnam igitur liber? sap qui imperiosus. And as to what is here servitude, see Aristotle's I b. i. c. 3, and 4. 183. -in hell thy kin Not that it was so at This is said by way of pation. God had order to be cast out, ver. 52. ar the Almighty had pronc the good angel looks u done. And this sentimen Reign thou in hell thy king me serve In heav'n God ever blest, is designed as a contrast tan's vaunt in i. 263. Better to reign in hell, tha in heaven. Winds under ground, or waters forcing way Presage of victory, and fierce desire 201 Of battle: whereat Michael bid sound Th' archangel trumpet; through the vast of heaven 205 The adverse legions, nor less hideous join'd 210 Whose false foundation waves have wash'd away, Cygnus to an oak or a rock falling, Scut. Herc. 421. Ηριπι δ', ὡς ὅτε τις δρυς ηριπεν, η ότε πετρη Ηλίβατος, πληγείσα Διος ψολοεντι κεραυνω. And similes of this kind are very frequent amongst the ancient poets, but though our author might take the hint of his from thence, yet we must allow, that he has with great art and judgment heightened it in proportion to the superior dignity of his subject. But perhaps he might rather more probably allude to Spenser's description of the fall of the old dragon, under which allegory he intended to represent a Christian's victory over the devil. Faery Queen, b. i. cant. xi. st. 54. So down he fell, as an huge rocky clift, With dreadful poise is from the main land rift, &c. Thyer. 210. -and the madding wheels] What strong and daring figures are here! Every thing is alive and animated. The very chariot wheels are mad and raging. And how rough and jarring are the verses, and how admirably do they bray the horrible discord they would describe! The word bray (probably from the Greek βραχω strepo) signifies to make any kind of noise. It is applied by Spenser to the sound of a trumpet, Faery Queen, b. iii. cant. xii. st. 6. And when it ceas'd, shrill trumpets loud did bray. But it usually signifies any disagreeable noise, as b. i. cant. vi. st. 7. Of brazen chariots rag'd; dire was the noise Of fiery darts in flaming vollies flew, Her shrill outcries and shrieks so and b. i. cant. viii. st. 11. He loudly bray'd with beastly yelling sound: and sometimes it is used as a verb active, as here in Milton; Faery Queen, b. v. cant. xi. st. 20. Even blasphemous words, which she doth bray: and in Shakespeare's Hamlet, act i. The kettle drum and trumpet thus 212. -over head the dismal Of fiery darts] Now the author is come to that part of his poem, where he is most to exert what faculty he has of ύψος, magniloquence of style, and sublimity of thought, Nunc, veneranda Pales, magno nune ore sonandum. Virg. Georg. iii. 294. He has executed it to admiration: but the danger is, of being hurried away by his unbridled steed; and of deserting propriety, while he is hunting after sound and tumor. And it is hard to guess, what fault to charge on the printer, since poetic fury is commonly both thought and allowed to be regardless of syntax. But here in this sentence, which is certainly vicious, the hiss flew in vollies, and the hiss vaulted the hosts with fire: the author may be fairly thought to have given it -over head with dismal hiss The fiery darts in flaming vollies flew. Bentley. But if there be any place in this poem, where the sublimity of the thought will allow the accuracy of expression to give way to the strength of it, it is here. There is a peculiar force sometimes in ascribing that to a circumstance of the thing, which more properly belongs to the thing itself; to the hiss, which belongs to the darts. See my note on ii. 654. Pearce. As the learned Mr. Upton remarks in his Critical Observations on Shakespeare, the substantive is sometimes to be construed adjectively when governing a genitive case. Aristophanes in Plut. 268. Ω χρυσον αγγει λας επων, Ο thou who tellest me a gold of words, that is, golden words. Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, p. 2. opening the cherry of her lips, that is, cherry lips. So here the hiss of darts is hissing darts. 214. And flying vaulted either host with fire. Our author has frequently had his eye upon Hesiod's giant-war as well as upon Homer, and has imitated several passages; but commonly exceeds his original, as he has done in this particular. Hesiod says that the Titans were overshadowed with darts, Theog. 716. 215 So under fiery cope together rush'd Dreadful combustion warring, and disturb, -κατα δ' εσκιασαν βελείσσι Τιτηνας, but Milton has improved the horror of the description, and a shade of darts is not near so great and dreadful an image as a fiery cope or vault of flaming darts. 229. -though number'd such &c.] Each legion was in number like an army, each single warrior was in strength like a legion, and though led in fight 220 225 230 235 |