From that high mount of God, whence light and fhade
Spring both, the face of brightest Heav'n had chang'd
To grateful twilight (for night comes not there 645
In darker veil) and rofeat dews difpos'd

All but th' unsleeping eyes of God to reft;
Wide over all the plain, and wider far

Than all this globous earth in plain outspread,
(Such are the courts of God) th' angelic throng, 650
Difpers'd in bands and files, their camp extend
By living ftreams among the trees of life,

life, and in thy light shall we fee light. If thefe verfes were left out, then (as Dr. Pearce rightly obferves) the words in ver. 641. which reprefent God as rejoicing in their joy, would refer to something that is -no where to be found; and therefore Milton (he fuppofes) inferted thefe verfes in the fecond edition, that the joy of the Angels might be exprefs'd. Secure of furfeit, are in no danger of it, are not liable to it, as men are. Where full measure only bounds excefs, full measure is the only thing that ftints and limits them; the utmoft they are capable of containing is the only bound fet to them; they have full meafure, but they cannot be too full, they cannot overflow; without o'erflowing full.

641.—rejoicing in their joy.] What an idea of the divine goodnefs, whofe perfect happinefs ieems to receive an addition from that of his creatures! Richardson.

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Αλλοι μεν τα Θεος

Euda wanuxin Aiz d' az ixa vn

Th' immortals

Pavilions numberlefs, and fudden rear'd.

Celestial tabernacles, where they slept

654

Fann'd with cool winds; fave those who in their course
Melodious hymns about the fovran throne
Alternate all night long: but not so wak'd
Satan; fo call him now, his former name

Is heard no more in Heav'n; he of the first,
If not the first Arch-Angel, great in power,
In favor and præeminence, yet fraught

With envy' against the Son of God, that day
Honor'd by his great Father, and proclam'd
Meffiah King anointed, could not bear

660

664

Through pride that fight, and thought himselfimpair'd.
Deep malice thence conceiving and disdain,
Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour

Friend

Th' immortals flumber'd on their thrones above,

Illi alternantes multa vi prælia mifcent.

All, but the ever-wakeful eyes Virg. Georg. III. 220. of two bulls

Pope.

of Jove. 653.—and fudden rear'd,] There is no need to read rear with Dr. Bentley. Rear'd here is a participle. Their tents were numberlefs, and rear'd of a fudden.

657. Alternate all night long:] Alternate is a verb here; alternate bymns, fing by turns, and answer one another.

8

fighting.

Hæc alternanti potior fententia vi

Friendliest to fleep and filence, he refolv'd
With all his legions to dislodge, and leave
Unworshipt, unobey'd the throne fupreme
Contemptuous, and his next subordinate
Awak'ning, thus to him in fecret spake.

679

Sleep'ft thou, Companion dear, what fleep can clofe Thy eye-lids? and remember'st what decree

Of yesterday, fo late hath pass'd the lips

675

Of Heav'n's Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts Waft wont, I mine to thee was wont to' impart; Both waking we were one; how then can now

Thy fleep diffent? New laws thou seest impos'd; New laws from him who reigns, new minds may raise In us who serve, new counsels, to debate

What doubtful may enfue: more in this place

681

Το

673. Sleep't thou, Companion dear, what fleep can clofe

Thy eye-lids? and remember what decree &c.] We have printed the paffage with Milton's own punctuation. Sleep'ft thou, Companion dear, Evdes Arp ; Iliad. II. 23. What fleep can clofe thy eye-lids? and remember'ft &c. that is, when thou remember'ft &c.

potes hoc fub cafu ducere fomnos ?

It is juft the fame manner of speaking as in II. 730.

what fury, O Son,

Poffeffes thee to bend that mortal dart

Against thy Father's head? and know'ft for ubom;

at the fame time that thou know'st for whom.

682.

more in this place

To utter is not fafe.] This is a verfe, but I believe the reader will

Virg. Æn. IV. 560._ agree, that it could not have had

Då 3

fo

To utter is not fafe. Affemble thou

Of all thofe myriads which we lead the chief;
Tell them that by command, ere yet dim night 685
Her fhadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste,
And all who under me their banners wave,
Homeward with flying march where we poffefs

fo good an effect, had it been an entire verfe by itself, as it has now it is broken and made part of two verfes.

684. Of all thofe myriads which we lead the chief] Dr. Bentley reads the chiefs: but Milton fpeaks after the fame manner as here, in II. 469. Others among the chief &c. And in both places the chief fignifies the fame as the chiefs, only this is a fubftantive, and that is an adjective, agreeing with the word Angels understood in the con

ftruction.

Pearce.

685. Tell them that by command, &c.] He begins his revolt with a lie. So well doth Milton preferve the character given of him in Scripture. John VIII. 44. The Devil is a har, and the father of lies.

699. The quarters of the xerth:] See Sannazarius De partu Virginis, III. 40.

Vos, quum emne arderet cœlum

fervilibus armis, Artoumque fuior pertenderet impius axem Scandere, e in gelidos regnum transferre Triones, Fida manus mecum manfiftis.

The

There are other paffages in the fame poem of which Milton has made use. Jortin.

intended, but I dare fay he was Some have thought that Milton above intending here, a reflection upon Scotland, tho' being himself affection for the Scotch Prefby ean Independent, he had no great rians. He had the authority, we fee, of Sannazarius for fixing Satan's rebellion in the quarters of the north, and he had much better authority, the fame that Sannazarius had, that of the Prophet, whofe words though apply'd to the king of Babylon, yet allude to this rebellion of Satan, Ifaiah XIV. 12, 13. Hew art theu fall'n from Heaven, O Lucifer, fon of the morning!

For thou haft faid in thine heart, I will afcend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will fit elfo upon the mount of the congregation in the fides of the norib. The north conveys the idea of a difagreeable cold inclement fky: and in Scripture we read, Out of the north an evil fhall break ferit, Jer. I. 14. I avill bring evil from the north and a great deftruction, Jet. IV 6. Evil appeareth out of the

3

The quarters of the north; there to prepare
Fit entertainment to receive our king
The great Meffiah, and his new commands,
Who speedily through all the hierarchies
Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws.
So fpake the falfe Arch-Angel, and infus'd

north, Jer. VI. 1. St. Auftin fays that the Devil and his Angels, being averfe from the light and fervor of charity, grew torpid as it were with an icy hardnets; and are therefore by a figure placed in the north. Diabolus igitur et Angeli ejus a luce atque fervore caritatis averfi, et nimis in fuperbiam invidiamque progreffi, velut glaciali duritia torpuerunt. Et ideo per figuram tanquam in aquilone ponuntur. Epift. 140. Sect. 55. And Shakespear in like manner calls Satan the monarch of the north, Henry VI. A& V.

690

Bad

tione. This poem is longer than the Iliad, for it confifts of five and twenty books; but it equals the Iliad in nothing but in length, for the poetry is very indifferent. However in fome particulars the plan of this poem is very like Paradife Loft. It opens with the exaltation of the Son of God, and thereupon Lucifer revolts, and draws a third part of the Angels after him into the quarters of the north.

-pars tertia lavam Hoc duce perfequitur, gelidoqu aquilone locatur.

n

is

ing

Ore

hofe

It is more probable, that Milton had feen this poem than fome others, from which he is charged with borrowing largely. He was indeed an univerfal scholar, and read all forts of authors, and took hints from the Moderns as well as the Ancients. He was a great ge nius, but a great genius formed by reading; and as it was faid of Vigil, he collected gold out of the dung of other authors.

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702. Tells