And his who gave them breath, but higher sung,
Blind Melesigenes, thence Homer call'd,
Whose poem Phoebus challeng'd for his own. 260
Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught
In Chorus or Iambick, teachers best
Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd,
In brief sententious precepts, while they treat
Of fate, and chance, and change in human life; 265
High actions and high passions best describing.
Thence to the famous orators repair,
Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democraty,
Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece,
To Macedon, and Artaxerxes' throne:
To sage philosophy next lend thine ear,
From heav'n descended to the low-rooft house
Of Socrates; see there his tenement,
Whom well inspir'd the oracle pronounc'd
Wisest of men; from whose mouth issu'd forth
269 Wielded] Sackville's Gorboduc, act ii. sc. 1.
'Worthy to wield a large and mighty realm.' 270 fulmin'd] Aristoph. Acharn. v. 530, of Pericles,
Ηστράπτεν, ἐβρόντα, ξυνεκύκα τὴν ̓Ελλάδα. Newton.
261 lofty] 'The tragical poet who wrote his Poesies with so grave and lofty a style.' Holland's Plinie, p. 607.
276 Wisest of men] Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiv. c. 12. vol. vi. p. 65, ed. Brot. and lib. vii. c. xxxi. 31. vol. ii. p. 124, 'Socrati cunctis ab eodem deo sapientia prælato.' 'Apud Græcos Socrates, oraculo Apollinis Pythii (sapientia) prælatus cunctis;' and Apulii Apologia, p. 425. ed. Delph. Vir (Socrates) omnium sapientissimus.'
Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools
Of Academics old and new, with those
Surnam❜d Peripateticks, and the sect
Epicurean, and the Stoic severe;
These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home,
Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight;
These rules will render thee a king complete
Within thy self, much more with empire join'd.
To whom our Saviour sagely thus reply'd.
Think not but that I know these things, or think
I know them not; not therefore am I short
Of knowing what I ought: he who receives
Light from above, from the fountain of light,
No other doctrine needs, though granted true:
But these are false, or little else but dreams,
Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.
The first and wisest of them all profess'd
To know this only, that he nothing knew ;
The next to fabling fell, and smooth conceits;
A third sort doubted all things, though plain sense;
Others in virtue plac'd felicity,
But virtue join'd with riches and long life;
In corporal pleasure he and careless ease;
277 water'd] Manilius, speaking of Homer, ii. 8. -Cujusque ex ore profusos
Omnis posteritas latices in carmina duxit.
and Ovid. Amor. iii. ix. 25.
Dunster.
299 pleasure he] He' is here contemptuously emphatical. Dunster. I wonder therefore that the commentators did not acknowledge the
The Stoic last in philosophic pride,
By him call'd virtue; and his virtuous man,
Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing,
Equal to God, oft shames not to prefer,
As fearing God nor man, contemning all
Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life, 305
Which when he lists he leaves, or boasts he can,
For all his tedious talk is but vain boast,
Or subtle shifts conviction to evade.
Alas! what can they teach and not mislead,
Ignorant of themselves, of God much more,
And how the world began, and how man fell
Degraded by himself, on grace depending?
Much of the soul they talk, but all awry,
And in themselves seek virtue, and to themselves
All glory arrogate, to God give none;
Rather accuse him under usual names,
Fortune and fate, as one regardless quite
Of mortal things. Who therefore seeks in these
True wisdom, finds her not, or by delusion
Far worse, her false resemblance only meets,
'So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe
Of Angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumy bows received HIM Soft.'
That is, our Saviour,' 'him' xať ¿¿ózny.
303 Equal] Newton reads 'equals.' 313 awry] Drayton's Polyolbion, s. 1.
'But their opinions fail'd, by error led awry.' Dunster.
VOL. II.
18
emphasis of 'Him,' at ver. 583, instead of accusing Milton of grammatical inaccuracy.
An empty cloud. However, many books
Wise men have said are wearisome; who reads
Incessantly, and to his reading brings not
A spirit and judgment equal or superior,
(And what he brings what need he elsewhere seek?) 325 Uncertain and unsettled still remains,
Deep vers❜d in books, and shallow in himself,
Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys,
And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge;
As children gath'ring pebbles on the shore.
Or if I would delight my private hours
With music or with poem, where so soon
As in our native language can I find
That solace? all our law and story strew'd
With hymns, our psalms with artful terms inscrib'd,
Our Hebrew songs and harps in Babylon,
That pleas'd so well our victor's ear, declare
That rather Greece from us these arts deriv'd;
Ill imitated, while they loudest sing
The vices of their deities and their own
In fable, hymn, or song, so personating
Their gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame.
Remove their swelling epithets, thick laid
As varnish on a harlot's cheek, the rest,
Thin sown with aught of profit or delight,
344 varnish] Hamlet, act iii. sc. i.
"The harlot's cheek, beautied with plast'ring art.' Dunster.
321 books] Butler's Rem. by Thyer, vol. ii. p. 489, 'No man is the wiser for his books until he is above them.'
Will far be found unworthy to compare
With Sion's songs, to all true tastes excelling,
Where God is prais'd aright, and godlike men,
The holiest of holies, and his saints:
(Such are from God inspir'd, not such from thee,) 350 Unless where moral virtue is express'd
By light of nature not in all quite lost.
Their orators thou then extoll'st, as those
The top of eloquence, statists indeed,
And lovers of their country, as may seem;
But herein to our prophets far beneath,
As men divinely taught, and better teaching
The solid rules of civil
government
In their majestic unaffected style,
Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome.
In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt,
What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so,
What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat;
These only with our law best form a king.
Thin sown with aught of profit or delight,
Will far be found unworthy to compare
With Sion's songs; (to all true taste excelling
Where God is prais'd aright, and god-like men,
The holiest of holies, and his saints,
Such are from God inspir'd, not sent from thee ;)
Unless where moral virtue is express'd.
Thus, without any alteration, I think the passage is clear.
350 Such are] This passage is considered obscure and perplexed by the commentators. Mr. Dunster's transposition (placing verse 351 and 352 after verse 345) certainly renders it clearer; but this being unauthorized by any edition, I would read thus
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