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Then lighted from his gorgeous throne, for now
'Twixt hoft and host but narrow space was left,
A dreadful interval, and front to front
Prefented stood in terrible array

Of hideous length: before the cloudy van,
On the rough edge of battel ere it join'd,
Satan with vaft and haughty ftrides advanc'd
Came towring, arm'd in adamant and gold;
Abdiel that fight indur'd not, where he stood
Among the mightieft, bent on highest deeds,
And thus his own undaunted heart explores.

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O Heav'n! that fuch resemblance of the Highest Should

111. Abdiel that fight indur'd not,] A foliloquy upon fuch an occafion Virg. Æn. II. 407. is only making the person think aloud. And as it is obferved by a

Non tulit hanc fpeciem furiatâ very good judge in these matters, mente Chorobus.

113. And thus his own undaunted heart explores.] Such foliloquies are not uncommon in the poets at the beginning and even in the midft of battels. Thus Hector, Iliad. XXII. 98. explores his own magnanimous heart, before he engages with Achilles,

Oxbnoas d'acg time μεγαλήτορα θυμόν.

this ufe of foliloquies by the epic poets, who might fo much more eafily than the dramatic defcribe the workings of the mind in narrative, feems to be much in favor of the latter in their use of them, however the modern critics agree (as I think they generally do agree) in condemning them as unnatural, tho' not only frequent, but generally the most beautiful parts in the beft plays ancient and modern; and I believe very few, if any,

He flood, and queftion'd thus his have been wrote without them. mighty mind.

Pope.

115.- where

Should yet remain, where faith and reälty

115

120

Remain not: wherefore should not strength and might
There fail where virtue fails, or weakest prove
Where boldeft, though to fight unconquerable?
His puiffance, trufting in th' Almighty's aid,
I mean to try, whose reason I have try'd
Unfound and falfe; nor is it ought but juft,
That he who in debate of truth hath won,
Should win in arms, in both disputes alike
Victor; though brutish that contéft and foul,
When reafon hath to deal with force, yet fo
Moft reafon is that reafon overcome.
So pondering, and from his armed
Forth stepping oppofit, half way he met

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peers

125

His

deed without the divine aid and affiftance he would have been by no means a match for fo fuperior an Angel.

135. -fool, not to think bows
vain &c.] So Waller in his
Verses on the taking of Salle,
Fools to provoke the fov'reign of
the fea!

And Virgil, En. VI. 590.
Demens, qui nimbos et non imi-

tabile fulmen &c.

AndHomer frequently, from whence the reft feem to have borrow'd it,

tho'

His daring foe, at this prevention more

Incens'd, and thus fecurely him defy'd.

130

Proud, art thou met? thy hope was to have reach'd

The highth of thy afpiring unoppos'd,

The throne of God unguarded, and his fide
Abandon'd at the terror of thy power

Or potent tongue: fool, not to think how vain
Against th' Omnipotent to rife in arms;
Who out of smalleft things could without end
Have rais'd inceffant armies to defeat

Thy folly; or with folitary hand

Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow

135

140

Unaided could have finish'd thee, and whelm'd
Thy legions under darkness: but thou seest

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All are not of thy train; there be who faith

Prefer, and piety to God, though then
To thee not visible, when I alone

145

Seem'd in thy world erroneous to diffent

From all: my fect thou feeft; now learn too late
How few fometimes may know, when thousands err.
Whom the grand foe with fcornful eye afkance
Thus anfwer'd. Ill for thee, but in wifh'd hour 150
Of my revenge, first fought for thou return'st
From flight, feditious Angel, to receive

Thy merited reward, the firft affay

Of this right hand provok'd, fince first that tongue Infpir'd with contradiction durft oppose

147. my feet thou feeft; &c] The ufe of the word feat in this place feems a little forc'd and fingular; and I can't help thinking but Milton brought it in in order to fneer the Loyalifts of his time, who branded all diffenters, of whom he was one, with the opprobrious name of Sectaries. This alfo accounts for the word few in the next line, inasmuch as it fuited Milton's particular view better to establish a general maxim than to apply it merely to the fingle cafe of Abdiel. Thyer. 148. How few fometimes may know,] Thefe few here are ftill too many. To come up to the point he fhould

155

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may

160

show

A third part of the Gods, in fynod met
Their deities to affert, who while they feel
Vigor divine within them, can allow
Omnipotence to none. But well thou com'st
Before thy fellows, ambitious to win
From me some plume, that thy fuccefs
Destruction to the reft: this pause between
(Unanswer'd left thou boast) to let thee know;
At first I thought that Liberty and Heaven
To heav'nly fouls had been all one; but now 165
I fee that most through floth had rather serve,
Miniftring Spi'rits, train'd up in feast and song;
Such haft thou arm'd, the minstrelsy of Heaven,

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Servility

167. Miniftring Spirits,] So they are called Heb. I. 14. Are they not all miniflring Spirits? and Satan this with that of Virg. Æn. IX. mentions it in derifion. Compare 614.

Vobis picta croco et fulgenti mu-
rice veftis:
Defidiæ cordi: juvat indulgere
choreis:

Et tunica manicas et habent redi-
micula mitræ.

O vere Phrygiæ, neque enim Phry-
ges! ite per alta
Dindyma, ubi affuetis biforem dat
tibia cantum.-

Tym

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