In troop or caravan? for fingle none Durft ever, who return'd, and dropt not here His carcass, pin'd with hunger and with drouth. 325 For that to me thou feem'ft the man, whom late Of Jordan honor'd fo, and call'd thee Son Of God; I faw and heard, for we fometimes 330 Who dwell this wild, conftrain'd by want, come forth To town or village nigh (nighest is far) Where ought we hear, and curious are to hear, To whom the Son of God. Who brought me hither, Will bring me hence; no other guide I seek. 323. In troop or caravan?] A caravan, as Tavernier fays, is a great convoy of merchants, which meet at certain times and places, to put themselves into a condition of defenfe from thieves, who ride in troops in several defert places upon the road. A caravan is like an army, confifting ordinarily of five or fix hundred camels, and near as many horses; and fometimes more. This makes it the fafeft way of travelling in Turky and Perfia with the caravan, though it goes indeed flower, than in lefs company, or with a guide alone, as fome will do. See travels into 336 By Perfia in Harris, Vol. II. B. 2. ch. 2. 339.-tough roots and tubs] This muft certainly be a mistake of the printer, and instead of stubs it ought to be read fhrubs. It is no uncommon thing to read of hermits and afcetics living in deferts upon roots and fhrubs, but I never heard of fubs being used for food, nor indeed is it reconcileable to common fenfe. Some have thought that the axpider, which the Scripture fays were the meat of the Baptift, were the tops of plants or fhrubs. Thyer. I find the word ftubs used in Spenfer. Faery Queen B. 1, Cant. 9. St. 34. And By miracle he may, reply'd the fwain, What other way I fee not, for we here Live on tough roots and ftubs, to thirst inur'd Men to much mifery and hardship born; But if thou be the Son of God, command 340 That out of these hard ftones be made thee bread, With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste, 345 He ended, and the Son of God reply'd. Think'ft thou fuch force in bread? is it not written (For I difcern thee other than thou feem'ft) Man lives not by bread only, but each word Proceeding from the mouth of God, who fed 350 Our And all about old stocks and ferves in his phyfical obfervations flubs of trees: but this only proves the ufe of the word, and not of the thing as food, which feems impoffible, and therefore I embrace the former ingenious conjecture. 340. More than the camel,] It is commonly faid that camels will go without water three or four days. Sitim & quatriduo tolerant. Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib. 8. Sect. 26. But Tavernier fays, that they will ordinarily live without drink eight or nine days. See Harris ibid. And therefore, as Dr. Shaw juftly obVOL. I. on Arabia Petræa, p. 389. we cannot and wifdom of God in providing fufficiently admire the great care the camel for the traffic and com- 350. Proceeding from the mouth of D The Our fathers here with Manna? in the mount 355 [guis'd. Who leagu'd with millions more in rash revolt The feventh, and perhaps fome other editions, have pointed it thus, Proceeding from the mouth of God who fed a; Our fathers here with Manna In the first and fecond editions there is a femicolon in both places, which is ftill worse. A comma would be fufficient after God, and the mark of interrogation fhould clofe the period after Manna. Calton. 360 With when he found himfelf difcovered, is remarkable. Hitherto he has been called an aged man, and the Swain; and we have no intimation from the poet, that Satan was concealed under this appearance, which adds to our pleasure by an agreeable furprife upon the difcovery. In the first book of the Eneid, Æneas being driven by a form upon an unknown coaft, and going in company with Achates to take a furvey of the country, is met 356. Knowing who I am,] This in a thick wood by a lady, in the is not to be understood of Chrift's divine nature. The Tempter knew him to be the perfon declared the Son of God by a voice from Heaven, ver. 385, and that was all that he knew of him. Calton. 358. 'Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate, &c.] Satan's franknefs in confeffing who he was, habit of a huntrefs. She inquires of them, if they had seen two fifters of hers in a like drefs, employed in the chace. Eneas addreffes her as Diana, or one of her nymphs, and begs he would tell him the name and ftate of the country the tempeft had thrown him upon. She declines his compliment, informs him fhe was no Goddess, but only a Tyrian With them from blifs to the bottomless deep, Leaving my dolorous prifon I enjoy Large liberty to round this globe of earth, 365 Or range in th' air, nor from the Heaven of Heav'ns I came among the fons of God, when he To prove him, and illuftrate his high worth; Tyrian maid, gives an account of the place, and a full relation of Dido's hiftory and fettlement there. In return, Æneas acquaints her with his ftory, and particularly the lofs of great part of his fleet in the late ftorm. Upon which the affures him, from an omen which appeared to them, that his fhips were fafe, bids him expect a kind reception from the queen; and then turning to go away, Æneas difcovers her to be his mother, the Goddess of love. If Virgil had not informed us of her being Venus, till this time, and in this manner, it would have had an agreeable effect in furprising the reader, as much as fhe did neas: but his conduct has been quite the reverfe, for in the beginning of the ftory, he lets the reader into the fecret, and takes care every now and then to remind him. 370 And Cui mater media fefe tulit obvia fylva, &c. See An Effay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, p. 60. 360. Kept not my happy station,] A manner of fpeaking borrowed from the Scripture. Jude 6. And the Angels which kept not their first eftate. 365.--to round this globe of earth,] Milton ufes the fame phrafe in his Paradife Loft, X. 684. speaking of the fun : Had rounded fill th' horizon And when to all his Angels he propos'd To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud 372. To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud] That is, into mifchief, as fraus fometimes means in Latin. Fortin. The reader may fee an inflance of fraud and fraus used in this fenfe in the Paradife Loft, IX. 643, and the note there. And this ftory of Ahab is related, 1 Kings XXII. 19, &c. I faw the Lord fitting on his throne, and all the host of Heaven ftanding by him, on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord faid, Who fhall perfuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one faid on this manner, and another on that manner. And there came forth a Spirit, and food before the Lord, and faid, I will perfuade him. And 375 380 What the Lord faid unto him, Wherewith? To hear attent Thy wisdom,] Milton feems to have borrowed this word, and this emphatical manner of applying it, from Spenfer, Faery Queen, B. 6. Cant. 9. St. 26. Whilft |