I look'd for fome great change; to honor? no,
But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold,
That to the fall and rifing he should be
Of many in Ifraël, and to a fign

Spoken against, that through my very foul

A sword shall pierce; this is my favor'd lot,
My exaltation to afflictions high;

Afflicted I may be, it feems, and bleft;
I will not argue that, nor will repine.

But where delays he now? fome great intent

90

95

Conceals him: when twelve years he scarce had seen,

I lost him, but fo found, as well I faw

He could not lofe himself; but went about
His Father's business; what he meant I mus'd,
Since understand; much more his abfence now

93. Afflicted I may be, it seems, and bleft; I will not argue that, nor will repine.

But where delays he now? fome great intent Conceals him:] How charmingly does Milton here verify the character he had before given of the bleffed Virgin in the lines above? Within her breast though calm, her breast though pure,

Motherly cares and fears got head.
We fee at one view the piety of the faint, and

100

Thus

Thus long to fome great purpose he obfcures.
But I to wait with patience am inur'd;
My heart hath been a store-house long of things
And say'ings laid up, portending strange events.
Thus Mary pond'ring oft, and oft to mind.
Recalling what remarkably had pass'd
Since first her falutation heard, with thoughts
Meekly compos'd awaited the fulfilling:
The while her fon tracing the defert wild,
Sole but with holiest meditations fed,
Into himself defcended, and at once
All his great work to come before him set;
How to begin, how to accomplish best
His end of being on earth, and mission high:
For Satan with fly preface to return

105

IIO

115

Had

103. My heart hath been a store-boufe long of expreffion very fignificant, and the fame with

that in Paradife Loft. III. 37.

Then feed on thoughts &c.

Thyer.

Had left him vacant, and with speed was gone

Up to the middle region of thick air,

Where all his potentates in council fat ;
There without fign of boaft, or fign of joy,
Solicitous and blank he thus began.

I 20

Princes, Heav'n's ancient Sons, ethereal Thrones, Demonian Spirits now, from th' element Each of his reign allotted, rightlier call'd Pow'rs of fire, air, water, and earth beneath, So may we hold our place and these mild seats Without new trouble; fuch an enemy

125

Is

but preface is better, alluding to what Satan αέρι τε, και ύδατι, ώς μηδεν κοσμο μερου ημερο had faid I. 483.

permit me

To hear thee when I come &c.

χης αμοιρον είναι, as Alcinous in his fummary of the Platonic doctrins fays cap. 5. Michael Pfellus, in his dialogue concerning the operation of Demons, from whence Milton bor

Satan's concluding speech at their first meeting rowed fome of his notions of Spirits, (as we was a preface to their meeting again.

Each of his reign allotted, rightlier call'd Pow'rs of fire, air, water, and earth beneath,] It was a notion among the Ancients, especially among the Platonifts, that there were Demons in each element, fome vifible, others invifible, in the æther, and fre, and air, and water, το that no part of the world was devoid of foul: εισι δε και άλλοι δαιμονες, &ς και καλοίη αν τις γυνητες θεός, καθ' έκαςον των στοιχείων, οἱ μήν ipaтol, ci de aceaтoi, & Tε autεt, xou wue,

observed in a note upon the Paradife Loft I. 423.) fpeaks to the fame purpose, that there are many kinds of Demons, and of all forts of forms and bodies, fo that the air above us and around us is full, the earth and the fea are full, and the inmoft and deepest receffes: πολλα δαιμονων γενη, και παντοδαπα τας ιδέας και τα σώματα· ὡς είναι πληρη μέρα τον αέρα, τον τε ύπερθεν ήμων και τον περί ήμας πληρη δε γαιαν και θαλατίαν, και τις μυχαι TATUS NOU BUDIUS [RUDIUS] TOTss. p. 41. and he divides them into fix kinds, the fiery, the aery, the earthy, the watry, the fubterraneous,

and

Is rifen to invade us, who no less

Threatens than our expulfion down to Hell;

I, as I undertook, and with the vote

Confenting in full frequence was impower'd,

130

Have found him, view'd him, tafted him, but find

Far other labor to be undergone

Than when I dealt with Adam firft of Men,

Though Adam by his wife's allurement fell,
However to this man inferior far,

If he be man by mother's fide at least,

With more than human gifts from Heav'n adorn'd,

135

Per

136. If he be man by mother's fide at least, ] The Tempter had no doubt of Chrift's being a man by the mother's fide: but the want of a comma in its due place after man, hath puzzled both the fenfe and the conftruction. He is must be understood at the end of the verse, to fupport the syntax.

If he be man, by mother's fide at least [he is].
Calton.

We have still preferved the pointing of Mil-
ton's own edition; for fome perhaps may.
choose to join the whole together, and under-

ftand it thus. Satan had heard him declar'd from Heaven, and knew him to be the Son

of God; and now after the trial that he had
made of him, he questions whether he be man
even by the mother's fide,

If he be man by mother's fide at least.
I 2

And

Perfections abfolute, graces divine,

And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.
Therefore I am return'd, left confidence
Of my fuccefs with Eve in Paradife
Deceive ye to perfuafion over-fure

Of like fucceeding here; I fummon all
Rather to be in readiness, with hand

Or counsel to affift; left I who erft

Thought none my equal, now be over-match'd.

So fpake th❜ old Serpent doubting, and from all With clamor was affur'd their utmost aid

At his command; when from amidst them rose

And it is the purport of Satan in this speech not to fay any thing to the evil Spirits that may leffen, but every thing that may raife their idea of his antagonist.

139. And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds.] There is a great deal of dignity as well as fignificancy in this expreffion, and none certainly could have been better felected to exprefs the idea which the poet intended to convey. He borrowed it very probably from the following paffage in Tully's Tufc. Difp. II. 25. Hoc igitur tibi propone, amplitudinem et quafi quandam exaggerationem quam altiffimam animi, quæ maxime eminet contemnendis et defpiciendis doloribus, unam effe omnium rem pulcherrimam. Milton had a very happy talent in the choice of words, and indeed it is a very confiderable part of the poet's art. Let the

140

145

Belial,

reader but try to substitute any other word of the fame fignification in the place of amplitude in this verse, and he will foon be convinc'd, that none can be found to fill it up with equal beauty and propriety. Thyer.

150. Belial, the diffoluteft &c] I have heard these three lines objected to as harsh and inharmonious, but in my opinion the very objection points out a remarkable beauty in them. It is true, they don't run very fmoothly off the tongue, but then they are with much better judgment fo contriv'd, that the reader is oblig'd to lay a particular emphasis, and to dwell as it were for fome time upon that word in each verfe which most strongly expreffes the character defcrib'd, viz. dissoluteft, fenfualleft, fleshlieft. This has a very good effect by impreffing the idea more ftrongly upon the mind,

and