Thy legions under darkness: but thou seest Seem'd in thy world erroneous to dissent 145 From all my sect thou seest; now learn too late Thy merited reward, the first assay Of this right hand provok'd, since first that tongue A third part of the gods, in synod met Their deities to assert, who while they feel 150 155 Omnipotence to none. But well thou com'st Before thy fellows, ambitious to win 160 From me some plume, that thy success may show 147. —my sect thou seest; &c.] shew] Thy success, thy ill suc The use of the word sect in this place seems a little forced and singular; and I cannot help thinking but Milton brought it in in order to sneer the Loyalists of his time, who branded all dissenters, of whom he was one, with the opprobious name of Sectaries. This also accounts for the word few in the next line, inasmuch as it suited Milton's particular view better to establish a general maxim than to apply it merely to the single case of Abdiel. Thyer. 161. that thy success may cess; the word success is used in the same sense, ii. 9. Richardson. 161. that thy success may show Destruction to the rest :] Bentley says, a detestable fault : it should be instruction. Mr. Pope says, success ironicé. I do not know what this means. The text is right, and the meaning is, that thy success may shew thy fellows the road to destruction, or the way to destroy their enemies. Warburton. Destruction to the rest: this pause between 165 As both their deeds compar'd this day shall prove. 170 Or Nature: God and Nature bid the same, 167. Minist'ring spirits,] So they are called Heb. i. 14. Are they not all minist'ring spirits? and Satan mentions it in derision. Compare this with that of Virgil, En. ix. 614. Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis: 175 180 Tympana vos buxusque vocat Berecynthia matris Idææ sinite arma viris, et cedite 172. Apostate, still thou err'st, Desidiæ cordi: juvat indulgere cho- Something like this is what Juno reis: Et tunicæ manicas et habent redimi cula mitræ. O vere Phrygiæ, neque enim Phryges! ite per alta Dindyma, ubi assuetis biforem dat tibia cantum. says to Jupiter, Iliad. xix. 107. Ψευστήσεις, ουδ' αυτε τέλος μυθω επι θήσεις. Thyer. 181. Thyself not free, but to Yet lewdly dar'st our minist'ring upbraid. Reign thou in hell thy kingdom; let me serve Yet chains in hell, not realms expect: mean while So say'ing, a noble stroke he lifted high, He back recoil'd; the tenth on bended knee thyself inthrall'd;] So Horace, sat. ii. vii. 81. Tu mihi qui imperitas, aliis servis miser Quisnam igitur liber? sapiens, sibi qui imperiosus. And as to what is here said of servitude, see Aristotle's Politics, b. i. c. 3, and 4. 183. in hell thy kingdom;] Not that it was so at present. This is said by way of anticipation. God had ordered him to be cast out, ver. 52. and what the Almighty had pronounced, the good angel looks upon as done. And this sentiment, Reign thou in hell thy kingdom; let me serve In heav'n God ever blest, is designed as a contrast to Satan's vaunt in i. 263. Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven. 185 190 195 187. From me return'd, as erst thou saidst, from flight, This greeting &c.] So Ascanius in Virgil retorts his adversary's term of reproach, En. ix. 635. Bis capti Phryges hæc Rutulis responsa remittunt, alluding to ver. 599. 189. So "say'ing, &c.] Saying is here contracted into one syllable, or is to be pronounced as two short ones, which very well expresses the eagerness of the angel. He struck at his foe before he had finished his speech, while he was speaking, which is much better than Dr. Bentley's reading So said, as if he had not aimed his blow, till after he had spoken. 195. as if on earth Winds under ground, &c.] Hesiod compares the fall of Winds under ground, or waters forcing way Thus foil'd their mightiest; ours joy fill'd, and shout, Presage of victory, and fierce desire Of battle: whereat Michäel bid sound Th' archangel trumpet; through the vast of heaven Cygnus to an oak or a rock Ηριπε δ', ὡς ὅτε τις δρυς ήριπεν, η ότε πέτρη Ηλίβατος, πληγείσα Διος ψολοιντι κι gausa. 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. 201 205 210 Whose false foundation waves have wash'd away, 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 Beax 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 dis So down he fell, as an huge rocky agreeable noise, as b. i. cant. vi. clift, st. 7. Of brazen chariots rag'd; dire was the noise 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. hosts with fire: the author may But if there be any place in this The kettle drum and trumpet thus thing itself; to the hiss, which bray out 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. N xęvoor ayıyrı as a, O 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. |