Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne, Chios and Crete, and how they quaff in gold, And studs of pearl, to me should'st tell who thirst 120 117. Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne, Chios and Crete,] The three former were Italian, and the two latter were Greek wines, much admired and commended by the ancients. 117. Campania was famous for the wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne. See Plin. Hist. Nat. iii. 5. The Falernian was commonly considered as the best. See Virg. Georg. ii. 96. Tibullus, 1. i. el. 9. and Varro de R. R. i. 2. Setine wine, according to Pliny, xiv. 6. was the favourite wine of Augustus. Horace speaks of the Calenian wine as a luxury of the highest kind, 1. i. od. xxxi. 9. Horace also praises the Chian wine, 2 sat. iii. 115. and 1. iii. od. xix. 5. as Cretan wine is celebrated by Martial, 1. xiii. ep. 106. and Juvenal, xiv. 270. Dunster. 119. Crystal and myrrhine cups imboss'd with gems And studs of pearl,] Crystal and myrrhine cups are often joined together by ancient authors. Murrhina et crystallina ex eadem terra effodimus, quibus precium faceret ipsa fragilitas. Hoc argumentum opum, hæc vera luxuriæ gloria existimata est, habere quod posset statim totum perire. Plin. lib. xxxiii. sect. 2. We see that Pliny reckons myrrhine cups among fossils; Scaliger, Salmasius, and others, contend from this verse of Propertius iv. v. 26. Murrhæque in Parthis pocula cocta focis, that they were like our porcelain: but if they were so very fragile as they are represented to be, it is not easy to conceive how they could be imbossed with gems and studs of pearl. I suppose our author asserted it from the words immediately following in Pliny. Nec hoc fuit satis: turba gemmarum potamus, et smaragdis teximus calices: ac temulentiæ causa tenere Indiam juvat: et aurum jam accessio est. Or perhaps the words imbossed with gems, &c. refer only to gold first mentioned, which is no unusual construction. They quaff in gold imbossed with gems and studs of pearl. 119. That the ancients quaffed in gold embossed with gems, &c. appears from numberless passages of their writers. See Cic. in Verrem, iv. 27. Virgil, Æn. i. 728. Sil. Ital. xiv. 661. Juvenal, s. x. 27. v. 39. Juvenal also, Statius, and Martial mention crystal and myrrhine cups together. For the great price given for these cups, see Meursius de luxu Romanorum, c. 8. The myrrhine cups seem sometimes to have been considered as gems, see Seneca, De Benefic. vii. 9. Many suppose the large vases shewn in Italy, as being onyx, agate, &c. to be of this myrrhine kind. See Mr. Holdsworth on Virg. Georg. ii. 506. Dunster. And hunger still; then embassies thou show'st 124. So many hollow compli ments and lies Outlandish flatteries?] Possibly not without an allusion to the congratulatory_embassies on the Restoration. Dunster. 130. Let his tormentor conscience find him out;] Milton had in view what Tacitus and Suetonius have related. Tacitus, Ann. vi. 6. Insigne visum est earum Caesaris litterarum initium; nam his verbis exorsus est: Quid scribam vobis P. C. aut quomodo scribam, aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore, Dii me Deæque pejus perdant quam perire quotidie sentio, si scio. Adeo facinora atque flagitia sua ipsi quoque in supplicium verterant. Suetonius, Tiber. 67. Postremo semet ipse pertæsus talis epistolæ principio tantum non summam malorum suorum professus est: Quid scribam &c. where perhaps it should be, tali epistolæ principio. Jortin. 132. That people victor once, now vile and base, &c.] This description of the corruption and 125 130 decline of the Roman empire, in this and the following ten lines, is at once concisely fine, and accurately just. The expression peeling their provinces might be suggested by the answer of Tiberius to some provincial governors, who urged him to require an increase of tribute, boni pastoris esse tondere pecus, non deglubere. Sueton. Tiber. 32. xsigiobai peoV TA πρόβατα, αλλ' ουκ αποξυρεσθαι, βου oua. Dion Cassius, lvii. As to their provinces being exhausted by lust and rapine it is notorious. Some idea of their exactions and oppressions may be gained from Cicero's Orations, In Verrem, and In L. Pisonem, c. 35, 40. See also his oration De Provinciis Consularibus, c. 3, 4, 6. and Justin, 1. xxxviii. c. 7. Aulus Gellius, 1. xv. c. 12. and Livy, 1. xxix. 17. See also Cic. In Pisonem, c. 25. for a description of that insulting vanity, a Roman triumph. As to that connexion between luxury, cruelty, and effeminacy, which the poet de Deservedly made vassal, who once just, Frugal, and mild, and temp'rate, conquer'd well, Peeling their provinces, exhausted all Then cruel, by their sports to blood inur'd What wise and valiant man would seek to free scribes, v. 139-142. it has been Nec nobis tantum sylvestria cernere monstra Contigit, æquoreos ego cum certantibus ursis Spectavi vitulos. Dunster. 140. Of fighting beasts, and men to beasts expos'd,] The fighting beasts are a poor instance of the Roman cruelty in their sports, in comparison of the gladiators, 135 140 145 who might have been introduced so naturally, and easily here, only by putting the word gladiators in place of the other two, that one may very well be surprised at the poet's omitting them. See Seneca's seventh epistle. Calton. 141. Luxurious by their wealth, and greedier still,] So Manilius, iv. 10. Luxuriamque lucris emimus, luxuque rapinas. Dunster. 145. Or could of inward slaves make outward free?] This noble sentiment Milton explains more fully, and expresses more diffusively in his Paradise Lost, xii. 90. Know therefore when my season comes to sit Licence they mean when they cry For who loves that must first be wise No one had ever more refined notions of true liberty than Milton, and I have often thought that there never was a greater proof of the weakness of human nature, than that he with a head so clear, and a heart I really believe perfectly honest and disinterested, should concur in supporting such a tyrant and professed trampler upon the liberties of his country as Cromwell was. Thyer. There is a passage in a truly philosophical work, (Ferguson on Civil Society, p. 6. s. 5.) which is a good comment on this and the two preceding lines; "the project of bestowing liberty on a people who are actually servile, is perhaps of all others the most difficult. Men are qualified to receive this blessing, only in proportion as they are made to apprehend their own rights, and to respect the just pretensions of mankind; in proportion as they are willing to sustain in their own persons the burthen of government and of national defence, and to prefer the engagements of a liberal mind to the enjoyments of sloth, and the 150 delusive hopes of a safety purchased by submission and fear." Dunster. 146. Know therefore when my season comes to sit &c.] A particular manner of expression, but frequent in Milton; as if he had said, Know therefore when the season comes for me to sit on David's throne, it shall be like a tree, &c. It refers to throne. The throne of David shall then be like a tree, &c; alluding to the parable of the mustard-seed grown into a tree, so that the birds lodge in the branches thereof, Matt. xiii. 32. and to (what that parable also respects) Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great tree whose height reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth, Dan. iv. 11. Tertullian also compares the kingdom of Christ to that of Nebuchadnezzar. See Grotius in Matt. Or as a stone, &c; alluding to the stone in another of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, which brake the image in pieces, and so this kingdom shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Dan. ii. 44. And of my kingdom there shall be no end: the very words of Luke i. 33. with only the necessary change of the person; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell. 162. All these, which in a mo ment thou behold'st, The kingdoms of the world &c.] And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give unto thee, and the glory of them for that is delivered unto and unto whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. Luke iv. 5, 6, 7. Dunster. 166. On this condition, if thou wilt fall down, &c.] In my opinion (and Mr. Thyer concurs with me in the same observation) there is not any thing in the disposition and conduct of the whole poem so justly liable to censure as the aukward and preposterous introduction of this incident in this place. The Tempter should have proposed VOL. III. 155 160 165 the condition at the same time that he offered the gifts; as he doth likewise in Scripture: but after his gifts had been absolutely refused, to what purpose was it to propose the impious condition? Could he imagine that our Saviour would accept the kingdoms of the world upon the abominable terms of falling down and worshipping him, just after he had rejected them unclogged with any terms at all? Well might the author say that Satan impudent replied: but I think that doth not entirely solve the objection. 166. I conceive this passage to be, on the contrary, a striking instance of the great judgment of the poet, in arranging his work, as well as of his great skill in decorating it. The conduct of Satan had hitherto been artfully plausible, and such as N |