But from him or his Angels prefident In every province? who themselves disdaining 450 455 Shalt future events, from the knowledge they had of the difpofitions of Providence before their fall. And then they affumed all the honor to themselves, pretending to be the authors, and doers of what they predicted. Nam cum difpofitiones Dei præfentiant, quippe qui miniftri ejus fuerunt, interponunt fe in his rebus; ut quæcunque à Deo vel facta funt, vel fiunt, ipfi potiffimum facere, aut feciffe videantur. Div. Inft. II. 16. Calton. 456. benceforth oracles are ceas'd, ] I would not cenfure Milton for mentioning the filence of oracles, at our Saviour's appearing in the world, both here and in his elegant hymn on Chrift's nativity, because it adorns the poems, tho' it be a vulgar error. As Milton had before adopted the ancient Fortin. opinion of oracles being the operations of the fall'n Angels, fo here alfo again he follows G the Shalt be inquir'd at Delphos or elsewhere, At least in vain, for they fhall find thee mute. Into the world to teach his final will, And fends his Spirit of truth henceforth to dwell To all truth requifite for men to know. So fpake our Saviour; but the fubtle Fiend, Though inly stung with anger and disdain, Diffembled, and this anfwer fmooth return'd. Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke, the fame authority in making them ceafe at the coming of our Saviour. See this matter fully difcufs'd in Fontenelle's history of oracles, and father Baltus's anfwer to him. Thyer. 458. -at Delphos ] In the famous controverfy about ancient and modern learning Mr. Wotton reproves Sir William Temple, for putting Delphos for Delphi, every where in his Effays. Mr. Boyle juftifies it, and fays that it is used by all the fineft writers of our tongue, and beft judges of it, particularly Waller, Dryden, Creech &c. If these authorities may justify Sir William Temple, they may also justify Milton; but certainly the true way of writing is not Delphos in the accufative cafe, but Delphi in the nominative. And though one would not condemn thofe excellent writers, who have unawares fallen into 460 465 And the common error, yet to defend Delphos upon this only pretence, that it has been the custom of our English writers to call it fo; is, as Dr. Bentley replies, like the Popish priest, who for 30 years together had read Mumpfimus in his breviary instead of Sumpfimus; and when a learned man told him of his blunder, I'll not change, fays he, my old Mumpfimus for your new Sumpfimus. 460. God hath now fent his living oracle Into the world] This heavenly oracle delivers himself here, in terms clear enough to alarm the Tempter: but it was not time yet to put an end to the temptation by giving him full conviction. Tantum vero ei innotuit (Chriftus) quantum voluit: tantum autem voluit, quantum oportuit. [Aug. De Civ. Dei IX. 21. I have put ei for eis to fuit it to my prefent And urg'd me hard with doings, which not will 470 475 And not enforc'd oft-times to part from truth; prefent purpose] The Son of God was fent, a man amongst men, to teach them viva voce, conveying his inftructions to the understanding by the ear. In this view he was a living oracle, and distinguish'd from the other oracle, the Holy Spirit, who communicates himself by filent impreffions upon the mind within. But Christ had a nobler meaning. In the Greek Fathers he is ftil'd αυτοζωή, ζωσα βέλη, λογα Zwv, effential life, the living counfel, and the living word of God. And St. John fays, that in him was life, and the life was the light of men. I. 4. This meaning was not unobferved by the Tempter. He easily perceived that the eternal Word might be the living oracle intended and his words a little below ver. 475. seem to be a feign'd acknowledgment of what he would not yet believe, tho' he feared it might be true. And But thou art plac'd above me, thou art Lord; From thee I can and must submiss indure Check or reproof, and glad to 'scape fo quit. Thou art the first begotten of God, and Lord of all things; and thou canft remand me to that dreadful deep, whither thy thunder drove me out of Heaven. Calton. 460. bis living oracle] We have here corrected an error, which has prevailed in most of the editions, loving oracle instead of living oracle; and another a little afterward, and inward oracle instead of an inward oracle. 474. Say and unfay, feign, flatter, or abjure?] Might not Milton poffibly intend here, and particularly by the word abjure, to lash fome of his complying friends, who renounc'd their republican principles at the Restoration? Thyer. most 480 And tuneable as fylvan pipe or song; What wonder then if I delight to hear Her dictates from thy mouth? most men admire To whom our Saviour with unalter'd brow. 485 and Satan bowing low 490 495 His His gray diffimulation,] An expreffion this, which your little word-catching critics will very probably cenfure, but readers of true taste admire. It is a true inftance of the feliciter audet. There is another of the fame kind in His gray diffimulation, disappear'd Into thin air diffus'd: for now began Night with her fullen wings to double-shade 500 The defert; fowls in their clay nests were couch'd; And now wild beafts came forth the woods to roam. this book, where the poet fays, fpeaking of the angelic quire, ver. 170. —and in celestial measures mov'd, Circling the throne and finging, while the band 498. Thyer. disappear'd 500. -to double-fbade The defert;] He has expreffed the fame thought elsewhere In double night of darkness, and of shades. And the reader will naturally observe, how properly the images are taken from the place, where the scene is laid. It is not a defcription of night at large, but of a night in the defert: Into thin air diffus'd:] So Virgil of Mer- and as Mr. Thyer fays, is very fhort, tho' cury. Æn. IV. 278. poetical. The reason no doubt was, because the poet had before labor'd this fcene to the Et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram. utmost perfection in his Paradise Loft. The end of the Firft Book. |