Of what we are and where, dismissing quite

All thoughts of war: ye have what I advise.

He scarce had finish'd, when such murmur fill'd
Th' assembly, as when hollow rocks retain
The sound of blust'ring winds, which all night long
Had rous'd the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull
Sea-faring men o'er-watch'd, whose bark by chance
Or pinnace anchors in a craggy bay

After the tempest: Such applause was heard
As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleas'd,
Advising peace: for such another field

It is thus in the first edition: in
the second edition it is, with re-
gard of what we are and were:
and it is varied sometimes the
one and sometimes the other in
the subsequent editions. If we
read with regard of what we are
and were, the sense is, with re-
gard to our present and our
past condition; if we read with
regard of what we are and where,
the sense is, with regard to our
present condition and the place
where we are; which latter
seems much better.

285. —as when hollow rocks retain &c.] Virgil compares the assent given by the assembly of the gods to Juno's speech, An. x. 96. to the rising wind, which our author assimilates to its decreasing murmurs,

-cunctique fremebant Calicolæ assensu vario: ceu flamina prima,

Cum deprensa fremunt sylvis, et cæca volutant

Murmura, venturos nautis proden.

tia ventos.

Hume.

The conduct of both poets is

285

290

equally just and proper. The intent of Juno's speech was to rouse and inflame the assembly of the gods, and the effect of it is therefore properly compared by Virgil to the rising wind: but the design of Mammon's speech is to quiet and compose the infernal assembly, and the effect of this therefore is as properly compared by Milton to the wind falling after a tempest. Claudian has a simile of the same kind in his description of the infernal council. In Rufinum, i. 70.

ceu murmurat alti Impacata quies pelagi, cum flargine fracto

Durat adhuc sævitque tumor, dubiumque per æstum

Lassa recedentis fluitant vestigia venti.

And in other particulars our author seems to have drawn his council of devils with an eye to Claudian's council of furies; and the reader may compare Alecto's speech with Moloch's, and Megara's with Belial's or rather with Beelzebub's.

They dreaded worse than hell: so much the fear
Of thunder and the sword of Michaël

Wrought still within them; and no less desire

To found this nether empire, which might rise
By policy, and long procéss of time,
In emulation opposite to heaven.

Which when Beelzebub perceiv'd, than whom,
Satan except, none higher sat, with grave
Aspéct he rose, and in his rising seem'd
A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven
Deliberation sat and public care ;

And princely counsel in his face yet shone,
Majestic though in ruin: sage he stood
With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear
The weight of mightiest monarchies; his look
Drew audience and attention still as night
Or summer's noon-tide air, while thus he spake.

294. -the sword of Michaël] The words Michael, Raphael, &c. are sometimes pronounced as of two syllables, and sometimes they are made to consist of three. When they are to be pronounced as of three syllables, we shall distinguish them in printing thus, Michaël, Raphaël.

302. A pillar of state;] Pillar is to be pronounced contractedly as of one syllable, or two short ones; and again in book xii. 202, 203. The metaphor is plain and easy enough to be understood; and thus James, and Peter, and John are called pillars in Gal. ii. 9. And so Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. act i.

295

300

305

Brave peers of England, pillars of

the state.

306. With Atlantean shoulders] A metaphor to express his vast capacity. Atlas was so great an astronomer, that he is said to have borne heaven on his shoulders. The whole picture from ver. 299. to the end of the paragraph is admirable! Richardson.

309. Or summer's noon-tide air,] Noon-tide is the same as noontime, when in hot countries there is hardly a breath of wind stirring, and men and beasts, by reason of the intense heat, retire to shade and rest. This is the custom of Italy particularly, where our author lived some time.

Thrones and Imperial Pow'rs, Offspring of Heaven, Ethereal Virtues; or these titles now

Must we renounce, and changing style be call'd
Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote
Inclines, here to continue', and build up here
A growing empire; doubtless; while we dream,
And know not that the King of heav'n hath doom'd
This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat

Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt

309. —while thus he spake.] Beelzebub, who is reckoned the second in dignity that fell, and is, in the first book, the second that awakens out of the trance, and confers with Satan upon the situation of their affairs, maintains his rank in the book now before us. There is a wonderful majesty described in his rising up to speak. He acts as a kind of moderator between the two opposite parties, and proposes a third undertaking, which the whole assembly gives into. The motion he makes of detaching one of their body in search of a new world is grounded upon a project devised by Satan, and cursorily proposed by him in the following lines of the first book.

Space may produce new worlds, &c. ver. 650.

It is on this project that Beëlzebub grounds his proposal,

-What if we find

311

315

Some easier enterprise? &c. The reader may observe how just it was not to omit in the first book the project upon which the whole poem turns: as also that the prince of the fallen angels was the only proper person to give it birth, and that the next to him in dignity was the fittest to second and support it. There is besides, I think, something wonderfully beautiful, and very apt to affect the reader's imagination in this ancient prophecy or report in heaven, concerning the creation of man. Nothing could shew more the dignity of the species, than this tradition which ran of them before their existence. They are represented to have been the talk of heaven, before they were created. Virgil, in compliment to the Roman commonwealth, makes the heroes of it appear in their state of pre-existence; but Milton does a far greater honour to mankind in general, as he gives us a glimpse of them even before they are in being. Addison.

From heav'n's high jurisdiction, in new league
Banded against his throne, but to remain

In strictest bondage, though thus far remov'd
Under th' inevitable curb, reserv'd

His captive multitude: for he, be sure,

In highth or depth, still first and last will reign
Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part

By our revolt, but over hell extend

His empire, and with iron sceptre rule

Us here, as with his golden those in heaven.
What sit we then projecting peace and war?

War hath determin'd us, and foil'd with loss
Irreparable; terms of peace yet none

Vouchsaf'd or sought; for what peace will be given
To us enslav'd, but custody severe,

And stripes, and arbitrary punishment
Inflicted? and what peace can we return,

327. —and with iron sceptre rule

Us here, as with his golden

those in heaven.]

The iron sceptre is in allusion to
Psalm ii. 9. as that of gold to
Esther v. 2. Hume.

329. What sit we then projecting peace and war?] What seems to be used here like the Latin Quid, which signifies both what and why.

332. Vouchsaf'd] Milton constantly writes this verb voutsafe, and this is rather of a softer sound, but the other seems more agreeable to the etymology of the word.

332. for what peace will be given

320

325

330

335

To us enslav'd, but custody severe?

--and what peace can we return

But to our pow'r hostility and hate?]

In both these passages there is an unusual construction of the particle but; it seems to put custody severe &c. in the one, and hostility and hate &c. in the other on the foot of peace. There are some very few instances where the Latins have used nisi (except, or but) in a like construction. One is in Plautus's Menæchmi Prol. 59. Ei liberorum, nisi divitiæ, nihil erat. Richardson.

W

Their noxious vapour, or inur'd not feel,
Or chang'd at length, and to the place conform'd
In temper and in nature, will receive

Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain;

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light,
Besides what hope the never-ending flight

220

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change
Worth waiting, since our present lot appears

For happy though but ill, for ill not worst,
If we procure not to ourselves more woe,

Thus Belial with words cloth'd in reason's garb
Counsell❜d ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth,
Not peace and after him thus Mammon spake.
Either to disenthrone the King of heaven

220. This horror will grow mild, this darkness light,] It is quite too much, as Dr. Bentley says, that the darkness should turn into light: but light, I conceive, is an adjective here as well as mild; and the meaning is, This darkness will in time become easy, as this horror will grow mild; or, as Mr. Thyer thinks, it is an adjective used in the same sense as when we say It is a light night. It is not well expressed, and the worse as it rimes with the following line.

227. Counsell'd ignoble ease,] Virgil. Studiis ignobilis ott. Georg. iv. 564.

228. Mammon spake.] Mammon's character is so fully drawn in the first book, that the poet adds nothing to it in the second. We were before told, that he was the first who taught mankind to ransack the earth for

225

gold and silver, and that he was the architect of Pandemonium, or the infernal palace, where the evil spirits were to meet in council. His speech in this book is every way suitable to so depraved a character. How proper is that reflection, of their being unable to taste the happiness of heaven were they ac tually there, in the mouth of

one, who while he was in heaven, is said to have had his mind dazzled with the outward pomps and glories of the place, and to have been more intent on the riches of the pavement, than on the beatific vision! I shall also leave the reader to judge how agreeable the following sentiments are to the same character.

-This deep world Of darkness do we dread? How oft amidst, &c.

Addison.