Relations dear, and all the charities 760 Of father, fon, and brother firft were known. 756. and all the charities] Charities is ufed in the Latin fignification, and like caritates comprehends all the relations, all the indearments of confanguinity and affinity, as in Cicero De Officiis, I. 17. Cari funt parentes, cari liberi, propinqui, familiares; fed omnes omnium caritates patria una complexa eft. It is ufed likewife in this manner in the Italian, and by Taffo in the place which our author is here imitating, Ma la charita del fglivolo, e del padre. 761. Whofe bed is undefil'd and chafte pronounc'd,] In allufion to Heb. XIII. 4. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. And Milton must have had a good opinion of marriage, or he would never have had three wives. And tho' this panegyric upon wedded Cafual love may be condemned as a digreffion, yet it can hardly be call'd a digreffion, when it grows fo naturally out of the fubject, and is introduced fo properly, while the action of the poem is in a manner fufpended, and while Adam and Eve are lying down to fleep; and if morality be one great end of poetry, that end cannot be better promoted than by fuch digreffions as this and that upon hypocrify at the latter part of the third book. 765. Reigns here and revels;] What our author here fays of marriage Marino applies in the fame terms to Venus in his defcription of her, Adon. Cant. 2. St. 114. and 'tis probable that Milton alluded to this and other fuch extravagances of the poets, and meant to say, that what they had extra vagantly Cafual fruition; nor in court amours, 770 Mix'd dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball, 775 No happier state, and know to know no more. cone vagantly and falfly applied to loofe wanton love, was really truc of that paffion in its state of innocence. Quiui Amor fi traftulla, e quindi impera. Thyer. 769. Or ferenate, which the ftarv'd lover fings] We commonly fay ferenade with the French, but Milton keeps, as ufual, the Italian word ferenate, which the ftarv'd lover fings, ftarv'd as this compliment was commonly pay'd in fereno, in clear cold nights. Horace mentions this circumftance, Od. III. X. 1. Extremum Tanain fi biberes, Lyce, Plorares aquilonibus: Half and in another of his odes he has Me tuo longas pereunte noctes, 776. Now badnight meafur'd with ber fhadowy cone] A cone is a figure round at bottom, and leffening all the way ends in a point. This is the form of the fhadow of the earth, the bafe of the cone ftanding upon that fide of the globe where the fun is not, and confequently when 'tis night there. This cone to those who are on the darken'd fide of the earth, could it be feen, would mount as the fun fell lower, and be at its utmost highth in the vault of their heaven when it was midnight. The fhadowy cone had now arifen half way; confequently fuppofing it to Y be Half way up hill this vaft fublunar vault, 780 Uzziel, half these draw off, and coaft the fouth With ftricteft watch; thefe other wheel the north; Our circuit meets full weft. As flame they part, Half wheeling to the fhield, half to the fpear. 785 From thefe, two strong and subtle Spirits he call'd That be about the time when the days and nights were of equal length (as it was X. 329.) it must be now about nine o' clock, the ufual time of the Angels fetting their fentries, as it immediately follows. This is marking the time very poetically. Richardjon. 777. Half way up hill] The expreffion is fomething dark, but it's right. Half way up bill, half way towards midnight, the third hour of the night; th' accuftom'd hour for the first military watch to take their rounds. Spenfer, Faery Queen, B. 1. Cant. 2. St. 1. Phoebus was climbing up the ca ftern bill. Bentley. 777.-this waft fublunar vault,] For the fhadow of the earth fweeps as it were the whole arch or vault of Heaven between the earth and moon, and extends beyond the orbit of the moon, as appears from the lunar eclipses. 778. And from their ivory port &c.] We cannot conceive that here is any allufion to the ivory gate of fleep, mention'd by Homer and Virgil, from whence falfe dreams proceeded; for the poet could never intend to infinuate that what he was faying about the angelic guards was all a fiction. As the rock was of alabafter, ver. 543. fo he makes the gate of ivory, which was very proper for an eaftern gate, as the finest ivory cometh from the caft; India mittit ebur, Virg. Georg. I. 57. and houfes and palaces of ivory are mention'd as inftances of magnificence in Scripture, as are likewife doors of ivory in Ovid. Met. IV. 185. Lemmius That near him ftood, and gave them thus in charge. Ithuriel and Zephon, with wing'd speed Search through this garden, leave unfearch'd no nook ; But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge, 790 This evening from the fun's decline arriv'd Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) efcap'd 795 Such 784. As flame they part,] This break in the verfe is excellently adapted to the fubject. They part as the flame divides into feparate wreaths. A fhort fimile, but expreffive of their quicknefs and rapidity, and of their brightnefs and the fplendor of their armour at the fame time. Homer in the fecond book of the Iliad compares the march of the Trojans to the flame, but this fimile is better fuited to thofe beings, of whom the Scripture fays, He maketh his angels Spirits, and his minifters a flame of fire. 785. Half wheeling to the shield, half to the pear.] Declinare ad baftam vel ad fcutum. Livy. to As all the Angels ftood in the eawheel to the right or left. Hume. stern gate, their right hand was to the north, to the pear; their left hand to the fouth, to the field. From these that wheel'd to the fpear Gabriel calls out two: He himself then was in that company. Shield and Spear for left hand and right, while the men are fuppofed in arms, gives a dignity of expreffion, more than the common words have. Bentley. 788. Ithariel and Zephon,] Two Angels having their names as indication of their offices. Ithuriel in Hebrew the difcovery of God. Zephon in Hebrew a fecret or fearcher of fecrets. Hume. Such where ye find, feise fast, and hither bring. So faying, on he led his radiant files, Dazling the moon; these to the bow'r direct In search of whom they fought: him there they found Squat like a toad, clofe at the ear of Eve, Affaying by his devilish art to reach 800 The organs of her fancy', and with them forge 796.- and hither bring.] Dr. Bentley reads thither to the oppofit fide, the weft; where the parting fquadrons would meet after their half circuits; and accordingly (fays he) they brought Satan thither, to the western point, ver. 862. But there are twelve lines fince the weft was mention'd, and that was in another speech, at too great a diftance for thither to be referred to it. It is not mention'd in this fpeech, and I fee no reason why we may not understand these words with Mr. Richardson, bring hither, that is to me wherefoever I happen to be. 104. Or if infpiring venom, &c] 805 |