Which every wife and virtuous man attains:
And who attains not, ill afpires to rule
Cities of men, or head-ftrong multitudes,
Subject himself to anarchy within,

Or lawless paffions in him which he ferves.
But to guide nations in the way of truth
By faving doctrin, and from error lead
To know, and knowing worship God aright,
Is yet more kingly; this attracts the foul,
Governs the inner man, the nobler part;
That other o'er the body only reigns,
And oft by force, which to a generous mind.
So reigning can be no fincere delight.
Besides to give a kingdom hath been thought

Quifnam igitur liber? Sapiens; fibi qui imperiofus, &c.

473. But to guide nations &c.] In this fpeech concerning riches and realms, our poet has cull'd all the choiceft, finest flowers out of the heathen poets and philofophers who have written upon thefe fubjects; it is not fo much their words, as their substance sublimated and improv'd: but here he foars above them, and nothing could have given him fo complete an idea of a divine teacher, as the life and character of our bleffed Saviour,

470

475

480

Greater

481. Befides to give a kingdom &c] So Hephæftion to those who transferred the kingdom of Sidon from themselves to another. Quint. Curt. IV. 1. Vos quidem macti virtute, inquit, eftote, qui primi intellexiftis, quanto majus effet, regnum faftidire quam accipere &c. Diocletian, Charles V, and others who have refign'd the crown were no doubt in our author's thoughts upon this occafion. For as Seneca fays, Thyeft. III. 529.

Habere regnum, cafus eft: virtus, dare.

Greater and nobler done, and to lay down

Far more magnanimous, than to affume.

Riches are needless then, both for themselves,

And for thy reason why they should be fought, 485 To gain a scepter, ofteft better mifs'd,

The end of the Second Book.

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III.

So fpake the Son of God, and Satan stood
A while as mute confounded what to say,
What to reply, confuted and convinc'd
Of his weak arguing, and fallacious drift;
At length collecting all his ferpent wiles,
With foothing words renew'd, him thus accosts.
I fee thou know'ft what is of use to know,
What beft to fay canft fay, to do canft do;
Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words
To thy large heart give utterance due, thy heart

Contains of good, wife, juft, the perfect shape.] Milton, no doubt, by the word fhape intended to exprefs the meaning of the Greek term dea, but in my opinion it does not at all come up to it, and feems rather harsh and inelegant. There are words in all languages, which cannot well be tranflated without lofing much of their beauty, and even some of their meaning; of this fort I take the word idea to be, Tully renders it by the word fpecies with as little fuccefs in my opinion as Milton has done here by his English fhape.

Thyer..

5

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Contains

of good, wife, just, the perfect shape. I fhould rather think it exprefs'd from the perfecta forma honeftatis, and the forma ipfa honefti of Cicero. De Fin. II. 15. Habes undique expletam et perfectam, Torquate, formam honeftatis, &c. De Off. I. 5. Formam quidem ipfam, Marcé fili, et tanquam faciem boneßi vides; quæ, fi oculis cerneretur &c. And the more, because he renders forma by fhap: in the Paradise Loft. IV. 848.

Virtue in her bape how lovely.

13. ---as