In rhombs and wedges, and half-moons, and wings. He look'd, and faw what numbers numberlefs The city gates out-pour'd, light armed troops 311 In coats of mail and military pride; In mail their horfes clad, yet fleet and strong, 309. In rhombs and wedges, Rhombs is a word formed from the Greek gou or Latin rhombus, a fgure of four fides, which being converted into one of three makes a wedge. In re militari etiam tranfformatum in triquetrum, cuneum feu roftrum vocamus. Rob. Stephens. In Greek it was called ρομβοΐδης φαλαγξ. 310.what numbers numberless] A manner of expreffion this, tho much cenfur'd in our author, very familiar with the best Greek poets. Æfchyl. Prom. 904. 315 And utrumque toto corpore tegunt: and from Appian De Bell. Parth. ὁι θ ̓ ἱπποι καταπεφραγμένοι χαλκοις και (ιδέροις (κεπασμασι. 315. Of many provinces from bound to bound;] He had mention'd before the principal cities of the Parthians, and now he recounts feveral of their provinces; Aracofia near the river Indus, μexF6 T8 Inde wolaps Tilausn, Strabo Lib. 11. p. 516. Candaor not Gandaor as in fome editions, I fuppofe the Candari a people of India mention'd by Pliny. Lib. 6. Sect. 18. who are different Father Harduin Απολεμος ὁδε γ ̓ ὁ πολεμο, απορα fays from the Gandari. These Подимо. Perfæ 682. ναες αναες αναες πολις απολις. Thyer. 313. In mail their horfes clad,] That this was the practice among the Parthians we learn from Juftin XLI. 2. Munimentum ipfis equifque loricæ plumatæ funt, quæ were provinces to the east, and to the north Margiana and Hyrcania, άπασαι γαρ αυται προσέχεις μεν εισι τη βόρεια πλευρα το Ταυρε. Strabo Lib. 2. p. 72, and mount Caucafus, and Iberia, which is called dark, as the country abounded with forefts, Iberi faltuofos locos incolentes. Tacitus Annal. Lib. 6. Atropatia lay weft of Media, n And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs Of Sufiana, to Balfara's haven. He saw them in their forms of battle rang'd. 320 How quick they wheel'd, and flying behind them shot Sharp fleet of arrowy show'rs against the face δε μεγαλη Μηδια προς δυσιν. Strabo Lib. II. P. 523. Adiabene was the western part of Babylonia, απο δε δύσεως Αδιαβηνη, and Strabo fays was a plain country, Tns Med εν Αδιαβηνης ή πλείςη πεδίας επι Strabo Lib. 16. p. 745. Sufiana was on the fouth, extending to the Perfian gulf, ή δε χωρα της Darating xalnues, Strabo Lib. 15. p. 728. where was alfo Balfara's baven, the fame as Teredon beforemention'd. And thus he furveys their provinces from bound to bound. And the reader cannot but remark with pleafure how very exat he is in his account of cities and countries, and how well he muât have remember'd, and how faithfully he has copied the ancient geographers and hiftorians. 323.-and flying behind them foot Sharp fleet of arrowy show'rs] In the first edition it was printed fhow'r by mistake, and is corrected how'rs among the Errata, but this notwithstanding the faulty reading Of is follow'd in all the editions fince. Sharp fleet &c is a metaphor, as Mr. Richardfon has noted, not unlike that in Virgil Æn. XI. 610. -fundunt fimul undique tela Crebra nivis ritu. And the custom of the Parthians of fhooting their arrows behind them and overcoming by flight is fo celebrated by hiftorians and poets, and is fo well known to every one of the leaft reading, that it is almost needless to bring any authorities to prove it. υπεφευγον γαρ άμα βαλλονίτες οι Παρθοι· και (οφωλαλον εςιν, αμυνομένες (ωζεσθαι, και της φυγής αφαίρειν το axo. Appian de Bel, Parth, Virg. Georg. III. 31. ЕТЬ 325 Of their purfuers, and overcame by flight; 326. The field all iron caft a gleaming brown] One cannot pafs over this line without taking notice of the particular beauty and expreffiveness of it. The fenfe contained in it would have served a common romance writer to have fpun out into a paragraph of half a page length. Thyer. I believe the reader will agree with me that it greatly exceeds Fairfax. Cant. 1. St. 64. Imbatteled in walls of iron brown. and even Virgil, Æn. XI. 601. tum late ferreus haftis Horret ager. 327. Nor wanted clouds of foot,] So we have in Homer Iliad IV. 274. YEOUS Wε(WV, and in Virgil Æn. VII. 793. nimbus peditum : but as Mr. Thyer obferves with me, this verfe is not very confiftent with what goes before, ver. 307. 330 To nor with what follows to the fame purpose ver. 344. Such and fo numerous was their chivalry. 328. Cuiraffiers all in feel] By cuiraffiers are to be understood horsemen armed with cuiraffes, which covered the body quite round from the neck to the waste. If what Chambers fays in his Dictionary be true, viz. that these fort of troops were not introduc'd till the year 1300, Milton has been guilty of a great anachronism. Thyer. But it appears that the Parthians had fuch troops, and particularly from the quotation which we lately made from Juftin; Munimentum ipfis equifque loricæ plumatæ funt, quæ utrumque toto corpore tegunt. XLI. 2. 329. elephants indors'd with towers] That is with towers upon their backs. The reader muft know very little of Milton's ftile, All horsemen, in which fight they who knoweth not that it is his me moft excel; thod to make ufe of words in their primary To lay hills plain, fell woods, or valleys fill, primary and original meaning, rather than according to their common acceptation. 330.nor of lab'ring pioneers Of pioneers with spade and With bridges rivers proud, as with a yoke ;] Alluding probably to Efchylus's defcription of Xerxes's bridge over the Hellefpont. Perfæ ver. 71. Πολυγομφον ὁδισμα Thyer. 337. Such forces met not, nor fo vide a camp, When Agrican &c] What Milton here alludes to is related in Boiardo's Orlando Inamorato L. 1. Cant. 10. The number of forces faid to be there affembled is in 335 Befieg'd credible, and extravagant even Ventidua centinaia di migliara campo, Cofa non mai udita And Sacripante the king of Circaffia, who comes to the affiftance of Gallaphrone, three hundred and eighty-two thoufand. It must be acknowledged, I think, by the greatest admirers of Milton, that the impreffion which romances had made upon his imagination in his youth, has in this place led him into a blameable excefs. Not to mention the notorious fabulouf nefs of the fact alluded to, which I doubt fome people will cenfure in a poem of fo grave a turn, the number of the troops of Agrican &c. is by far too much difproportion'd to any army, which the Parthian king by an hiftorical K 4 evidence Befieg'd Albracca, as romances tell, The city' of Gallaphrone, from whence to win 340 His daughter, fought by many proweft knights, Such and fo numerous was their chivalry; And to our Saviour thus his words renew'd. That thou may'st know I feek not to engage Thy virtue, and not every way fecure On no flight grounds thy fafety; hear, and mark Thou never fhalt obtain; prediction still evidence could be fuppofed to bring into the field. Thyer. 341. The fairest of her fex Ange lica &c] This is that Angelica who afterwards made her appearance in the fame character in Ariofto's Orlando Furiofo, which was intended as a continuation of the tory, which Boiardo had be 355 Without |