Of telescope, were curious to inquire:) And now the tempter thus his silence broke:— Than great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth, Thence to the gates cast round thine eye, and see 45 50 55 60 Hasting, or on return, in robes of state, Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power, Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings: 65 Or on the Emilian: some from farthest south, Meroe, Nilotick isle; and, more to west, The realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor sea; From the Asian kings, and Parthian among these; From India and the golden Chersonese, And utmost Indian isle Taprobane, 75 Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed; From Gallia, Gades, and the British west; Germans, and Scythians, and Sarmatians, north 66. Turms: Troops, from the Latin turma. 68. The Appian road led towards the south, to Brundusium, whence travellers embarked for Greece. The Emilian led towards the north. 69. Farthest south, Syene, the limit of the Roman empire, south. Meroe was an island with a city of the same name, in Ethiopia, south of the tropic of Cancer, and of course at the summer solstice had Its shadow fall to the south. 80 72. Realm of Bocchus. Bocchus was king of Gætulia, a province of Africa, south of Numidia. By Black-moor sea, Milton probably means that part of the Mediterranean along the coast of Mauritania, the country of the black or dark Moors. 74. Golden Chersonese: Malacca. Taprobane: Ceylon. 77. Gades: Cadiz. Taurick pool: the Palus Mæotis, or Sea of Azof. And long renown, thou justly mayst prefer there All publick cares, and yet of him suspicious; To whom the Son of God, unmoved, replied: Nor doth this grandeur and majestick show Of luxury, though call'd magnificence, Much less my mind; though thou shouldst add to tell On citron tables or Atlantick stone, Their sumptuous gluttonies, and gorgeous feasts (For I have also heard, perhaps have read,) Their wines of Setia, Cales, and Falerne, So many hollow compliments and lies, 90. This emperor: Tiberius. Wicked ever used marble for tables. favourite: Sejanus. 115. Citron tables, &c. This citron wood, which grew upon Mount Atlas in Mauritania, was held by the Romans equally valuable with gold. Atlantick, therefore, must have a reference to this citron wood, for it does not appear that the Romans 115 120 125 It was probably called Atlantick stone, from its marble-like appearance, being veined and spotted.-DUNSTER. 117. Their wines, &c. The first three mentioned were the most famous Campanian wines of the Romans, of which the Falernian was considered the best. Expel a devil who first made him such? By lust and rapine; first ambitious grown Then cruel, by their sports to blood inured What wise and valiant man would seek to free 130 135 140 145 All monarchies besides throughout the world; 150 And of my kingdom there shall be no end: Means there shall be to this; but what the means, Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell. To whom the tempter, impudent, replied: I see all offers made by me how slight Nor what I part with mean to give for naught: 155 160 165 Whom thus our Saviour answer'd with disdain: 170 I never liked thy talk, thy offers less; 132. That people, &c. This description of the corruption and decline of the Roman empire, contained in this and the following ten lines, is at once concisely fine and accurately just.-DUNSTER. 139. The connection of luxury, cruelty, and effeminacy, has been often remarked in all ages. 140. Not only men to beasts exposed, but men to men, as the gladiators. In the gladiatoral school at Capua, 40,000 men were regularly trained to kill each other -or, as Byron has it Butcher'd, to make a Roman holiday. 147. Tree, &c. See Matt. xiii. 32; Dan. iv. 11, and ii. 44; Luke i. 33. But I endure the time, till which expired Thou hast permission on me. It is written, 175 The first of all commandments, Thou shalt worship Long since. Wert thou so void of fear or shame, To me my own, on such abhorred pact, 180 185 190 Get thee behind me; plain thou now appear'st To whom the fiend, with fear abash'd, replied: 195 Be not so sore offended, Son of God, Though sons of God both angels are and men, Than these thou bear'st that title, have proposed When, slipping from thy mother's eye, thou went'st Among the gravest rabbies, disputant On points and questions fitting Moses' chair, 200 205 210 215 Teaching, not taught. The childhood shows the man, 220 185. King of kings. 1 Tim. vi. 15; Rom. ix. 5. 203. The devil, in Scripture, is termed the God of this world: 2 Cor. iv. 4. 219. Moses' chair was the chair in which the doctors expounded the Law. See Matt. xxiii. 2. By wisdom; as thy empire must extend, 225 230 Errour by his own arms is best evinced. 235 Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount, Westward, much nearer by south-west, behold; Where on the Ægean shore a city stands, Built nobly; pure the air, and light the soil; 240 Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts City or suburban, studious walks and shades. Plato's retirement, where the Attick bird 245 Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long; There flowery hill Hymettus, with the sound Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites To studious musing; there Ilissus rolls His whispering stream: within the walls then view 250 There shalt thou hear and learn the secret power By voice or hand; and various-measured verse, 240. The eye of Greece. Athens and Sparta were called the two eyes of Greece; but the metaphor is infinitely more proper as applied to the former city, so distinguished for its learning and wisdom, while the latter is known only for its brute force, and military skill and valor. 242. Hospitable: That is, hospitable to wits of other countries, by admitting all persons, whatever, to the benefit of the instructions communicated by her philosophers. 244. Academe. Dr. Newton has justly observed that Plato's Academy was never more beautifully described. 245. Attick bird. Philomela, who, ac cording to the fable, was changed into a nightingale, was the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens. Of line 246, Dr. Newton observes that "there never was 256 a verse more expressive of the harmony" (melody?) "of the nightingale, than this." 251. Who bred great Alexander. When Alexander was born, his father Philip wrote to Aristotle that he thanked the gods not so much for the birth of a son, as that he was born at a time when he could receive the benefit of his instruction. 252. Painted Stoa. The Stoa or Portico was the school of Zeno, whose disciples were therefore called Stoicks. The build ing was adorned with various paintings, and hence the appropriate epithet, painted, by our poet, whose epithets are al ways not only exceedingly beautiful, but critically correct. 257. Eolian charms, referring to the poets Acæus and Sappho, who were both |