Ambiguous and with double sense deluding, 435 440 dubious, that there was need of Sancte Apollo, qui umbilicum tuis enim oraculis Chryfippus to- fors ipfa ad fortes referenda fit; Calton. Milton, in thefe lines about the Heathen oracles, feems to have had in view what Eufebius fays more copioufly upon this fubject in the fifth book of his Præparatio Evangelica. That learned father reafons in the very fame way about them, and gives many inftances from hiftory of their delufive and double meanings. It may not perhaps be impertinent to mention For one by way of illuftration. Cro fus, fending to confult the Delphic oracle about the fuccefs of his in tended expedition against the Perfian, received this answer, Κροίσο Αλον διαδας μεγάλην αρχήν καταλύσει, Crofus Halym penetrans mag nam pervertet opum vim, which by the ambiguity of one word might either fignify the conqueft of the Perfian empire, or the ruin of his own: but he, as it was natural enough for an ambitious prince to do, conftruing it according to his own flattering hopes, was overcome, and loft his kingdom. Thyer. 447. But from him or his Angels prefident] Utitur etiam eis Deus (Dæmonibus) ad veritatis manifeflationem per ipfos fiendam, dum divina myfteria eis per Angelos revelantur. The words are quoted from Aquinas (zda zdæ Quæft. 172. Art. 6.) but the opinion is as old at leaft as St. Auftin, whofe authority he 1 For God hath juftly giv'n the nations up 445 To thee not known, whence haft thou then thy truth, In every province ? who themselves difdaining he and Peter Lombard alledge for it. Calton. This notion Milton very probably had from Tertullian and St. Auftin. Tertullian, fpeaking of the Gods of the Heathens and their oracles, fays -Difpofitiones etiam Dei & tunc prophetis concionantibus exceperunt, & nunc lectionibus refonantibus carpunt, ita & hinc fumentes quafdam temporum fortes æmulantur divinitatem, dum furantur divinationem. In oraculis autem, quo ingenio ambiguitates temperent in eventus, fciunt Cræfi, fciunt Pyrrhi. Apol. C. 22. St. Auftin more appofitely to our prefent purpose, anfwering the Heathen boafts of their oracles, fays-tamen nec ifta ipfa, quæ ab eis vix raro & clanculo proferuntur, movere nos debent, fi cuiquam Dæmonum extortum eft id prodere cultoribus fuis quod didicerat ex eloquiis prophetarum, vel oraculis Angelorum. Aug. De Div. Dæmonum. Sect. 12. Tom. 6. Ed. Bened. And again, Cum enim vult Deus etiam per infimos infernofque fpiritus aliquem vera cog T'approach nofcere, temporalia dumtaxat atque ad iftam mortalitatem pertinentia, facile eft, & non incongruum, ut omnipotens & juftus ad corum pœnam, quibus ifta prædicuntur, ut malum quod eis impendet ante quam veniat prænofcendo patiantur, occulto apparatu minifteriorum fuorum etiam fpiritibus talibus aliquid divinationis impertiat, ut quod audiunt ab Angelis, prænuntient hominibus. De Div. Quæft. ad Simpl. L. 2. S. 3. Tom. 6. The following paffage from the fame place of St. Auftin may ferve to illuftrate what Milton fays above at ver. 432. that hath been thy craft, By mixing fomewhat true to vent more lies. Mifcent tamen isti (Dæmones) fallacias, & verum quod noffe potuerint, non docendi magis quam decipiendi fine prænunciant. Thyer. 447 or his Angels prefident In every province?] Milton has here followed the Septuagint read ing T'approach thy temples, give thee in command 453. Then to thyself afcrib'ft the truth foretold.] The Demons (Lanctantius fays) could certainly forefee, and truly foretel many future events, from the knowledge they had of the difpofitions of Providence before their fall. And then they affumed all the honor to themselves, pretending to be the authors, and doers of what they predicted. Nam cum difpofitiones Dei præfentiant, quippe qui miniftri ejus fuerunt, interponunt fe in his rebus ; ut quæcunque à Deo vel facta funt, vel fiunt, ipfi potiffimum facere, aut feciffe videantur. Div. Inft. II. 16. Calton. 456. benceforth oracles are ceas'd,] I would not cenfure Milton for mentioning the filence of oracles, at our Saviour's appearing in the world, both here and in his elegant hymn on Christ's nativity, because it adorns the poenis, tho' it be a vulgar error. Fortin. As Milton had before adopted the 450 No ancient opinion of oracles being the operations of the fallen Angels, fo here alfo again he follows the fame authority in making them ceafe at the coming of our Saviour. See this matter fully disoracles, and father Baltus's answer cuffed in Fontenelle's hiftory of Thyer. to him. 458. at Delphos] In the famous controverfy about ancient and modern learning, Mr. Wotton reproves Sir William Temple for putting Delphos for Delphi every where in his Effays. Mr. Boyle juftifies it, and fays that it is ufed by all the fineft writers of our tongue, and beft judges of it, particularly Waller, Dryden, Creech, &C. If these authorities may justify Sir William Temple, they may alfo juftify Milton; but certainly the true way of writing is not Delphos in the accufative cafe, but Delphi in the nominative. And though one would not condemn thofe excellent writers, who have unawares fallen into the common error, yet to defend Delphos upon this only pretence, that it has been the cuftom of our English writers to No more fhalt thou by oracling abuse to call it fo; is, as Dr. Bentley replies, like the Popish prieft, who for 30 years together had read Mumpfimus in his breviary inftead of Sumpfimus; and when a learned man told him of his blunder, I'll not change, fays he, my old Mumpfimus for your new Sumpfimus. 460. God hath now fent his living oracle Into the world] This heavenly oracle delivers himself here, in terms clear enough to alarm the Tempter but it was not time yet to put an end to the temptation by giving him full conviction. Tantum vero ei innotuit (Chriftus) quantum voluit: tantum autem voluit, quantum oportuit. [Aug. De Civ. Dei IX. 21. I have put ei for eis, to fuit it to my prefent purpofe] The Son of God was fent, a man amongst men, to teach them viva voce, conveying his inftructions to the understanding by the ear. In this view he was a living oracle, and diftinguifhed from the other oracle, the Holy Spirit, who communicates himself by filent impreffions upon the mind within. 2 455 460 Into But Chrift had a nobler meaning. In the Greek Fathers he is ftiled aurown, (wra Bean, λoy Cwv, effential life, the living counfel, and the living word of God. And St. John fays, that in him was life, and the life was the light of men. I. 4. This meaning was not unobferved by the Tempter. He eafily perceived that the eternal Word might be the living oracle intended: and his words a little below, ver. 475. feem to be a feigned acknowledgement of what he would not yet believe, tho' he feared it might be true. Into the world to teach his final will, And fends his Spirit of truth henceforth to dwell In pious hearts, an inward oracle To all truth requifite for men to know. So fpake our Saviour; but the fubtle Fiend, 465 Though inly ftung with anger and difdain Diffembled, and this answer smooth return'd. Sharply thou haft infifted on rebuke, And urg'd me hard with doings, which not will And not enforc'd oft-times to part from truth; Say and unfay, feign, flatter, or abjure? 470 But thou art plac'd above me, thou art Lord; 475 Check or reproof, and glad to 'scape so quit, Smooth have here corrected an error, which has prevailed in moft of the editions, loving oracle inflead of living oracle; and another a little afterward, and inward oracle inftead of an inward oracle. 474. Say and unfay, feign, flatter, or abjure?] Might not Milton poffibly intend here, and particularly by the word abjure, to lafh fome of his complying friends, who renounced their re publican |