And he himself among them was baptis'd, 80 85 When his fierce thunder drove us to the deep; 90 Who this is we must learn, for man he seems thofe writers, Ignatius and others among the Ancients, and Beza and others among the Moderns, who believed that the Devil, tho' he might know Jefus to be fome extraordinary perfon, yet knew him not to be the Meffiah, the Son of God and the words of the Devil If thou be the Son of God feem to exprefs his uncertainty concerning that matter. The Devils indeed afterwards knew him and pro In claimed him to be the Son of God, but they might not know him to be fo at this time, before this tempta tion, or before he had enter'd upon his public miniftry, and manifefted himself by his miracles. And our author, who makes the Devil to hear the voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son, ftill makes him doubt in what fenfe Jefus was fo called. See IV. 514. Thence 1 In all his lineaments, though in his face Of hazard, which admits no long debate, 95 But must with something sudden be oppos'd, Not force, but well couch'd fraud, well woven fnares, appear Their king, their leader, and supreme on earth. I, when no other durft, fole undertook The dismal expedition to find out And ruin Adam, and th' exploit perform'd Successfully; a calmer voyage now Will waft me; and the way found profp'rous once Induces best to hope of like success. 100 105 He We'll ftrive to bear it for your worthy fake, To th' extreme edge of hazard. Milton applies this title very pro113. To him their great dictator,] perly to Satan in his prefent fituation, as the authority he is now vefted with is quite dictatorial, and the expedition on which he is going of the utmost consequence to the fallen Angels. Thyer. 119. So to the coaft of Jordan he directs His eafy teps, girded with fnaky wiles,] For as Lightfoot obferves Vol. II. P. 299. the wilder I nefs, He ended, and his words impreffion left * In Adam's overthrow, and led their march nefs, where our Saviour underwent his forty days temptation, was on the fame bank of Jordan where the baptifm of John was, St. Luke witnefling it, that Jefus being now baptized υπέσρεψεν απο το Ιορδανε, returned from Jordan, namely from the fame tract, whereby he came thither. His eafy steps, for here was not that danger and difficulty as in his first expedition to ruin mankind. It is faid in reference to what he had spoken before, I, when no other durft, fole undertook The difmal expedition to find out And ruin Adam His eafy steps, girded with fnaky wiles, 120 125 The purpos'd counsel pre-ordain'd and fix’d 120. girded with fnaky wiles,] The imagery very fine, and the circumftance extremely proper. Satan is here figured engaging on a great expedition, fuccinct, and his habit girt about him with a girdle of Inakes; which puts us in mind of the inftrument of the fall. Warburton. 122. This man of men, attefted Son of God,] The phrafe is low and idiotic; and I wish the poet had rather written This man, of Heav'n attefted To and Heaven of Heavens are truly grand expreffions: but then there is an idea of greatnefs in the words themselves to fupport the dignity of the phrafe; which is wanting in Milton's man of men. Calton. 129. thus to Gabriel fmiling Spake,] This fpeech is properly addrefs'd to Gabriel particularly among the Angels, as he seems to have been the Angel particularly employed in the embaffies and tranfactions relating to the Gofpel. Gabriel was fent to inform Daniel of the famous prophecy of the feventy weeks; Gabriel notified the In the holy Scriptures God of Gods, conception of John the Baptift to his B To verify that folemn meffage late, On which I fent thee to the Virgin pure In Galilee, that the should bear a fon 135 Great in renown, and call'd the Son of God Then toldft her doubting how these things could be To her a virgin, that on her should come The Holy Ghoft, and the pow'r of the Highest O'er-fhadow her; this man born and now up-grown, And high prediction, henceforth I expofe To Satan; let him tempt and now affay his father Zacharias, and of our bleffed Saviour to his virgin mother. And the Jewish Rabbi's fay, that Michael was the minifter of feverity, but Gabriel of mercy: and accordingly our poet makes Gabriel the guardian angel of Paradife, and employs Michael to expel our first parents out of Paradife and for the fame reason this fpeech is directed to Gabriel in particular. And God's being reprefented as smiling may be juftified not only by the Heathen poets, as Virg. Æn. I. 254. Olli fubridens hominum fator atque deorum : 141 145 Of but by the authority of Scripture itself. See Paradife Loft, V. 718. 131. Thou and all Angels converSant on earth With man or mens affairs,] This feems to be taken from the verses attributed to Orpheus. Αγγελοι, δισι με μπλε βροτοις ως what Satan had juft before said to And vaunts &c.] This alludes to his companions, ver. 100. I, when no other duft, fole undertook &c. Thyer. 163. That |