Their highest heav'n; or on the Delphian cliff, Of Doric land; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian fields, 520 All these and more came flocking; but with looks Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd Obscure some glimpse of joy, to' have found their chief Not in despair, to' have found themselves not lost 525 In loss itself; which on his count'nance cast Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Semblance of worth not substance, gently rais'd Their fainting courage, and dispell'd their fears. Then straight commands that at the warlike sound Of trumpets loud and clarions be uprear'd His mighty standard; that proud honour claim'd Azazel as his right, a cherub tall ; 530 533.—that proud honour claim'd Azazel as his right, a cherub tall;] Azazel is not the scape-goat, as it is commonly called, but signifies some demon, as the learned Dr. Spencer hath abundantly proved in his dissertation De hirco emissario. He shews that this name is used for some demon or devil by several ancient authors Jewish and Christian, and derives it from two Hebrew words, Az and Azel, signifying brave in retreating, a proper appellation for the standard-bearer to the fallen angels. Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl'd 535 Th' imperial ensign, which full high advanc'd A shout, that tore hell's concave, and beyond 540 545 535. Who forthwith &c.] There are several other strokes in the first book wonderfully poetical, and instances of that sublime genius so peculiar to the author. Such is the description of Azazel's stature, and of the infernal standard which he unfurls; as also of that ghastly light, by which the fiends appear to one another in their place of torments: the shout of the whole host of fallen angels when drawn up in battle array: the review which the leader makes of his infernal army: the flash of light which appeared upon the drawing of their swords: the sudden production of the Pandemonium: and the artificial illuminations made in it. Addison. 537. Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind] Gray and Campbell have imitated this passage, but neither of them seems to have perceived that the comparison of the ensign to the streaming meteor depends mainly upon this, that it was "with With orient colours waving; with them rose 550 Sparse al vento ondeggiando ir le confused. There seem to have been three principal modes or measures among them, the Lydian, the Phrygian, and the Dorian. The Lydian was the most doleful, the Phrygian the most sprightly, and the Dorian the most grave and majestic. And Milton in another part of his works uses grave and Doric al"If most as synonymous terms. "we think to regulate printing, thereby to rectify manners, we "must regulate all recreations "and pastimes, all that is delightful to man. No music "must be heard, no song be set but what is grave and "Doric." (See his Speech for the liberty of unlicensed Printing, vol. i. p. 149. edit. 1738.) or sung, This therefore was the measure best adapted to the fallen angels at this juncture; and their instruments were flutes and pipes and soft recorders, for the same reason that Thucydides and other ancient historians assign for the Lacedemonians making use of these instruments, because they inspired them with a more cool and deliberate courage, whereas trumpets and other martial music incited and inflamed them more to rage. See Aules Gellius, lib. i. cap. 11. and Thucyd. lib. 5. 550. to the Dorian mood &c.] All accounts of the music of the Dr. Greenwood of Warwick, ancients are very uncertain and (whom I have the pleasure to Of flutes and soft recorder; such as rais'd call my friend as well as my re- they were but little above de"spair; in order to raise their fainting courage and dispel their "fears he commanded his stand"ard to be upreared at the war"like sound of trumpets and cla"rions; which immediately in 555 560 565 'spired them with such a flow "of spirits, that they are repre"sented as sending up a shout "that tore hell's concave. But "when this ardour was once "blown up, and they were to "move in perfect phalanx, then "the instruments are changed "for flutes and recorders to the "Dorian mood, which composed "them into a more cool and de"liberate valour, so that they "marched on with silence and "resolution." 560. Breathing united force Οι δ' αρισαν σιγή μινια πενεεντες Αχαιοί, The whole battalion views, their order due, Their number last he sums. And now his heart Met such embodied force, as nam'd with these 575. that small infantry Warr'd on by cranes ;] All the heroes and armies that ever were assembled were no more than pygmies in comparison with these angels; though all the giant brood of Phlegra, a city of Macedonia, where the giants fought with the gods, with the heroic race were join'd that fought at Thebes, a city in Boeotia, famous for the war between the sons of Edipus, celebrated by Statius in his Thebaid, and Ilium made still more famous by Homer's Iliad, where on each side the heroes were assisted by the gods, therefore called auxiliar gods; and what resounds even in fable or romance of Uther's son, king Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, whose exploits are romanticly extolled by Geoffry of Monmouth, begirt with British and Armoric knights, for he was often in alliance with the king of Armorica, since called Bretagne, of the Britons who settled there; and all who since jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, romantic names of places mentioned in Orlando Furioso, the latter perhaps Montaubon in France, Damasco or Marocco, Damascus or Morocco, but he calls them as they are called in 570 575 romances, or Trebisond, a city of Cappadocia in the lesser Asia, all these places are famous in romances, for joustings between the baptized and infidels; or whom Biserta, formerly called Utica, sent from Afric shore, that is the Saracens who passed from Biserta in Africa to Spain, when Charlemain with all his peerage fell by Fontarabbia. Charlemain king of France and emperor of Germany about the year 800 undertook a war against the Saracens in Spain, and Mariana and the Spanish historians are Milton's authors for saying that he and his army were routed in this manner at Fontarabbia, (which is a strong town in Biscay at the very entrance into Spain, and esteemed the key of the kingdom;) but Mezeray and the French writers give a quite different and more probable account of him, that he was at last victorious over his enemies, and died in peace. And though we cannot agree with Dr. Bentley in rejecting some of these lines as spurious, yet it is much to be wished that our poet had not so far indulged his taste for romances, of which he professes himself to have been fond in his younger years, and had not been |