245

but Milton diftinguishes it by the particular name of the olive grove of Academe, for the olive was particularly cultivated about Athens, being facred to Minerva the Goddefs of the city, and he has besides the exprefs authority of Ariftophanes Νεφέλα. Α. 3. Sc. 3.

Αλλ' εις Ακαδημίαν κατιων, ὑπο ταις μορίαις αποθρέξεις.

Sed in Academiam defcendens, fub facris olivis fpatiaberis. Where the Attic bird, the nightingale, for Philomela, who according to the fables was changed into a nightingale, was the daughter of Pandion king of Athens, and for the fame reafon the nightingale is called Atthis in Latin, quafi Attica avis. Martial Lib. 1. Ep. 46. Edit. Westm.

Το

Improba Cecropias offendit pica querelas.

Ludovicus de la Cerda in his notes upon Virgil obferves, how often the comparison of the nightingale; the ancient poets have made ufe of Sophocles has it no less than feven times, Homer twice, and Euripides

and feveral others: and we ob

ferved upon the Paradise Loft, how much Milton was delighted with the nightingale; no poet has introduc'd it fo often, or spoken of perhaps there never was a verse it with fuch rapture as he; and

more expreffive of the harmony of this fweet bird than the following,

Trills her thick-warbled notes

the fummer long.

So that upon the whole I believe it may be afferted, that Plato's Aca demy was never more beautifully defcribed than here in a few lines by Milton. Cicero, who has laid the fcene of one of his dialogues there, De Fin. Lib. V. and had been himself upon the spot, has not painted it in more lively colors.

247. There flow'ry bill Hymettus

Atthide lucus,

it Florea juga Hymetti, Argonauf, M 4

V.

251

V. 344. and the honey was fo much efteem'd and celebrated by the Ancients, that it was reckon'd the best of the Attic honey, as the Attic honey was faid to be the beft in the world. The poets often fpeak of the murmur of the bees as inviting to fleep, Virg. Ecl, I. 56.

Sæpi levi fomnum fuadebit inire fufurro:

but Milton gives a more elegant turn to it, and fays that it invites to ftudious mufing, which was more proper indeed for his purpose, as he is here defcribing the Attic learning.

249.

there Iliffus rolls

His whip'ring ftream:] Mr. Calton and Mr. Thyer have obferved with me, that Plato hath laid the fcene of his Phædres on the banks and at the spring of this pleafant river. χαριέλα γεν και καθαρά και διαφανή τα ύδατια φαίνεται. Nonne hinc aquulæ puræ ac pellucidæ jucundo murmure confluunt? Ed. Serr. Vol. 3. p. 229. The philofophical retreat at the fpring-head is beautifully defcrib'd by Plato in the next page, where Socrates and Phædrus are reprefented fit

There

ting on a green bank fhaded with a fpreading plantan, of which Cicero hath faid very prettily, that it feemeth to have grown not fo much by the water which is defcribed, as by Plato's eloquence; quæ mihi videtur non tam ipsa aquula, quæ defcribitur, quam Platonis oratione creviffe. De Orat. I. 7.

253. Lyceum there, and painted

Stoa next] Lyceum was another gymnafium of the Athenians, and was the fchool of Ariftotle, who had been tutor to Alexander the great, and was the founder of the fect of the Peripatetics, fo call'd ano τα περιπαλειν from his walking and teaching philofophy. Stoa was the fchool of Zeno, whofe difciples from the place had the name of Stoics; and this Stoa or portico, being adorn'd with variety of paintings, was called in Greek Ποίκιλη or various, and here by Milton very properly the painted Stoa. See Diogenes Laertius in the lives of Ariftotle and Zeno. But there is fome reason to question, whether the Lyceum was within the walls, as Milton afferts. For Suidas fays exprefsly, that it was a place in the fuburbs, built by Pe

ricles

262. In Chorus or Iambic,] These may be faid to be the two conftituent parts of the ancient tragedy, which was written either in Iambic verfe, or in verses of various meafures, whereof the Chorus ufually confifted. And the character here given of the ancient Greek tragedy is very juft and noble; and the English reader cannot form a better idea of it in its highest beauty and perfection than by reading our author's Samfon Agonistes.

267. Thence to the famous orators repair, &c.] How happily does Milton's verfification in this and the following lines concerning the Socratic philofophy exprefs what he is defcribing! In the firft we feel as it were the nervous rapid eloquence of Demofthenes, and the latter have all the gentlenefs and foftnefs of the humble modeft character of Socrates.

Thyer. 268. Those ancient,] For Milton was of the fame opinion as Cicero,

260

264

Thence

who preferred Pericles, Hyperides,

fchines, Demofthenes, and the orators of their times to Demetrius Phalereus and those of the fubfequent ages. See Cicero de claris Oratoribus. And in the judgment of Quintilian Demetrius Phalereus was the first who weaken'd eloquence, and the last almost of the Athenians who can be called an orator: is primus inclinaffe eloquentiam dicitur-ultimus eft fere ex Atticis qui dici poffit orator. De Inftit. Orat. X. 1.

270.-and fulmin'd over Greece,] Alluding (as Mr. Jortin has likewife obferved) to what Aristophanes has faid of Pericles in his Acharnenfes. Act. 2. Scene 5.

Η ραπίεν, εβρούα, ξυνεκυκα την Ελλαδα.

Since I have mentioned this paffage, I will add that Cicero has alluded to it in his Orator 9, speaking of Pericles. Qui fi tenui ge

nere