Warr'd on by cranes; though all the giant brood 580 585 590 595 ostentatious of such reading, as perhaps had better never have been read. 589. he above the rest &c.] What a noble description is here of Satan's person! and how different from the common and ridiculous representations of him, with horns and a tail and cloven feet! and yet Tasso hath so described him, cant. iv. The greatest masters in painting had not such sublime ideas as Milton, and among all their devils have drawn no portrait comparable to this; as every body must allow who hath seen the pictures or the prints of Michael and the devil by Raphael, and of the same by Guido, and of the last judgment by Michael Angelo. On half the nations, and with fear of change The fellows of his crime, the followers rather (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd 598. and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.] It is said that this noble poem was in danger of being suppressed by the Licencer on account of this simile, as if it contained some latent treason in it: but it is saying little more than poets have said under the most absolute monarchies; as Virgil, Georg. i. 464. 600 605 610 cut. Shakespeare uses the same word speaking of a scar, It was this very sword intrenched it. All's well that ends well, act ii. 609. amerc'd] This word is not used here in its proper lawsense, of mulcted, fined, &c. but, as Mr. Hume rightly observes, has a strange affinity with the Greek augda, to deprive, to take away, as Homer has used it -Ille etiam cæcos instare tumul- much to our purpose. tus Sæpe monet, fraudemque, et operta tumescere bella. 598. In the same manner Tasso, Hier. lib. cant. vii. st. 52. -Cometa A i purpurei tiranni infausta luce. 600. —his face Had cut into, had made trenches Οφθαλμων μεν αμερσε, δίδου δ' ηδείαν αοιδην. The Muse amerced him of his eyes, but gave him the faculty of singing sweetly. Odyss. viii. 64. And the word is used in the same sense in Spenser. 611. yet faithful how they stood,] To see the true construction of this we must go back to ver. 605. for the verb. The sense then is this, to behold the fellows of his crime condemned Their glory wither'd: as when heaven's fire 615 620 &c. yet how they stood faithful. He had Ovid in his thought, Richardson. Metam. xi. 419. Ter conata loqui, ter fletibus ora rigavit. Bentley. Tears such as angels weep, like Homer's Ichor of the gods which was different from the blood of mortals. This weeping of Satan and the thoughts of their wretchon surveying his numerous host, ed state, puts one in mind of the story of Xerxes weeping on see 612. —as when heaven's fire Hath scath'd &c.] Hath hurt, hath damaged; a word frequently used in Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and our old writers. This is a very beautiful and close simile; it represents the majestic stature, and withered glory of the angels; and the last with great propriety, since their lustre was impaired by thunder, as well as that of the trees in the simile: and being his vast army, and reflecting sides, the blasted heath gives us some idea of that singed burning soil, on which the angels were standing. Homer and Virgil frequently use comparisons from trees, to express the stature or falling of a hero, but none of them are applied with such variety and propriety of circumstances as this of Milton. See An Essay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 24. 619. Thrice he assay'd, and thrice Tears burst forth] that they were mortal, at the to their fate, and to the intended time that he was hastening them destruction of the greatest people in the world, to gratify his own vain glory. 621. Words interwove with sighs found out their way.] Not unlike a line in Fairfax's Tasso, xii. 26. Her sighs her dire complaint did Interwove is almost peculiar to Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd, As stood like these, could ever know repulse? Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd, 623. —and that strife Was not inglorious,] Ovid, Met. ix. 6. -nec nam Turpe fuit vinci, quàm contendisse decorum est. 633. Hath emplied heav'n,] It is conceived that a third part of the angels fell with Satan, according to Rev. xii. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth; and this opinion Milton hath expressed in several places, ii. 692. v. 710. vi. 156: but Satan here talks big and mag 625 630 635 640 nifies their number, as if their exile had emptied heaven. 634. Self-rais'd,] Milton is fond of self in composition. See other instances, in Par. Lost, iii. 130. v. 860, 254. vii. 154, 242, 510. viii. 572. ix. 183, 607, 1188. x. 1016. xi. 93. Comus, 597. T. Warton. 642. Which tempted our attempt,] Words though well chosen and significative enough, yet of jingling and unpleasant sound, and like marriages between persons too near of kin, to be avoided. Hume. Henceforth his might we know, and know our own, New war, provok'd; our better part remains What force effected not: that he no less This kind of jingle was undoubtedly thought an elegance by Milton, and many instances of it may be shewn not only in his works, but I believe in all the best poets both ancient and modern, though the latter I am afraid have been sometimes too liberal of them. 647. --that he no less &c.] Satan had owned just before, ver. 642. that they had been deceived by God's concealing his strength; he now says, He also shall find himself mistaken in his turn; He shall find our cunning such 1 645 650 655 660 as that though we have been overpowered, we are not more than half subdued. Richardson. 650. rife] Milton uses and explains rife which is fresh, recent, common, customary, and the like, in Sams. Agon. 866. -that grounded maxim So rife and celebrated in the mouths Of wisest men. Rife would be well translated into Latin by celebris. T. Warton. Rife is prevalent, abounding. Johnson. 662. understood] Notexpressed, |