About the wine-press where sweet must is pour'd, that they are of the degrading kind, and unworthy of the subject they were intended to illustrate. In Milton, on the contrary, the simile is perfectly appropriate, and designedly introduced here in order to diminish and degrade the character of the Tempter, which in other parts of the poem it had been found convenient to invest with a portion of dignity. The low cunning and base arts of an insidious adversary may be with propriety elucidated by a comparison of an insect or a reptile. It may be observed, that va in Greek, and musea in Latin, are used to signify a pertinacious parasite. So Antiphanes in his Пgoyovos of a Parasite, δειπνειν άκλητος, μυια And Stephens, in his Thesaurus, interprets musea by homo molestus, importunus. And Lipsius in a note on Plautus, Mercat. a. ii. s. iii. 26. says, Ægyptios orus tradit, cum impudentiam significare vellent, museam pinxisse, quod nimirum vix abacta nihilominus continuo redeat. Dunster. 18. Or surging waves against a solid rock, &c.] There can be but one opinion respecting this simile. "It presents an image," says Mr. Thyer, " which not only fills and satisfies the imagination, but also perfectly expresses both the unmoved stedfastness of our Saviour, and the frustrated attempts of Satan." Though all to shivers dash'd, th' assault renew, Met ever, and to shameful silence brought, He brought our Saviour to the western side Of that high mountain, whence he might behold 20 25 That screen'd the fruits of th' earth and seats of men 30 On each side an imperial city stood, Saxa fremunt, laterique illisa refunditur alga. 35 27. The ridge of hills here does not mean the Alps, but the As we may Virgil himself to Apennines, which divide the Homer, Il. xv. 618. south-west part of Italy from the north-west; and in which the Tiber has its source. The plain, between these hills and the Mediterranean, consists of the old Etruria, Latium, and Campania; the two latter being divided from the former by the course of the Tiber. Dunster. 35. On sev'n small hills,] Virgil, Georg. ii. 535. Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces. 35. And so Horace describes Rome, Carm. sec. 7. and Propertius, El. iii. 10. Statius, 4 Sylv. i. 6. and Prudentius, Rom. Mart. supplicium, 414. Dunster. Porches and theatres, baths, aqueducts, 35. —with palaces adorn'd, Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xvi. c. 10. and Rutilius, in his Itinerarium, 102. The baths even of private persons were very lofty buildings, and superbly ornamented. The expence of one seems to be estimated by Juvenal, Sat. vii. 178, at nearly £5000 of our money. See also Seneca, ep. lxxxvi. and Statius, 1 Sylv. v. 47. The aqueducts were some of the noblest works of the Romans. See the treatise of Frontinus, de Aquæductibus urbis Romæ; Pliny, lib. xxxvi. c. 15. and Rutilius, Itinerar. 97. The passion of the Romans for statues appears from the number of antique statues yet remaining at Rome, after the numerous desolations of that city. Greece, Asia, and Egypt, were all plundered to ornament it with statues. Among the most conspicuous of these, on a bird's eye view of the city, were the colossal images of some of their emperors standing on superb columns. These may be what the poet here intends. Rutilius, Itinerar. 91. notices the numberless trophies which decorated every part of the city of Rome. With these also, as well as with statues and the most curious sculpture, they adorned their triumphal arches in later times, particularly those of Titus and Constantine. See Claudian, In secund. Cons. Stilich. 65. As to their gardens and groves, these are well known to have been high_articles of luxury among the Romans. See Tacit. Annal. xi. 1. Martial, lib. xii. ep. 50. Dunster. Gardens and groves presented to his eyes, 40. By what strange parallax or optic skill &c.] The learned have been very idly busy in contriving the manner in which Satan shewed to our Saviour all the kingdoms of the world. Some suppose it was done by vision; others by Satan's creating phantasms or species of different kingdoms, and presenting them to our Saviour's sight, &c. &c. But what Milton here alludes to is a fanciful notion which I find imputed to our famous countryman Hugh Broughton. Cornelius a Lapide, in summing up the various opinions upon this subject, gives it in these words: Alii subtiliter imaginantur, quod Dæmon per multa specula sibi invicem objecta species regnorum ex uno speculo in aliud et aliud continuò reflexerit, idque fecerit usque ad oculos Christi. In locum Matthai. For want of a proper index I could not find the place in Broughton's works. But Wolfius, in his Curæ Philologicæ in SS. Evangelia, fathers this whim upon him: Alii cum Hugone Broughtono ad instrumenta artis optica se recipiunt. Vid. Wolf. in Matt. iv. 8. Thyer. The learned Bochart has a Dissertation on this subject; 40 45 and there is a passage in it (tom. i. p. 949.) which may perhaps have been in Milton's recollection, in which he notices the optic skill of men, and concludes that the devil, as prince of the air, may easily have surpassed them. But by the words were curious to inquire, Milton may be supposed to glance at the idly busy enquiries of the learned on such a subject. So Horace says, lib. iv. od. 4. -quibus Mos unde deductus per omne Tempus Amazoniâ securi Dextras obarmet, quærere distuli ; on which the Delphin commentator observes, Hæc ironiam sane continent in quosdam eo tempore de nugis ejusmodi acrius et perperam disputantes. Dunster. 45. great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth, So Rutilius, Itinerar. lib. i. 47. So far renown'd, &c.] Exaudi, Regina tui pulcherrima mundi, &c. And in the same manner the Latin poets generally address her. Of the spoils of nations with which Rome was enriched, see Lucan, Pharsal. iii. 155167. Of the capitol, her citadel So far renown'd, and with the spoils enrich'd impregnable, see Virgil, Æn. viii. &c. Dunster. 57. My aery microscope] He had called it telescope before, ver. 42. here microscope, being altogether uncertain what sort of glass it was, or how this vision was performed: but microscope seems to be the more proper word here, as here our Saviour is presented with a view of minuter objects. 58. Outside and inside both,] So Menippus, in Lucian's Icaro 50 55 60 Menippus, could see clearly and distinctly from the moon cities and men upon the earth, and what they were doing, both without doors and within, where they thought themselves most secret. xaтaxufas yovv es tny and, έωρων σαφως της πολείς, τους ανθρωπους, τα γιγνομένα, και OV τα ὑπαιθρῳ μονον, άλλα και όποσα οικοί επραττον, οιόμενοι λανθανειν. Luciani Op. vol. ii. p. 197. ed. Græv. Calton. 59. the hand of fam'd artificers] The handywork, as in Virg. En. i. 455. Artificumque manus inter se operumque laborem Miratur. 59. And in Par. Lost, ix. 438, where see the notes. E. 60. In cedar, marble, ivory, or gold.] The Romans were incredibly expensive in the columns and roofs, or ceilings of their |