He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep Of Hell resounded: 66 'Princes, Potentates, "Warriors! the flow'r of heav'n, once yours; now lost, "If1 such astonishment as this can seize "Eternal spirits! Or have ye chos'n this place "Your wearied virtue,3 for the ease you find 66 'His swift pursuers from Heav'n-gates discern They heard, and were abash'd, and up they sprung In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; 337 Yet to their gen'ral's voice they soon obey'd i "If" depends on "lost," in Ihc preceding line. 2" Or....or." This passage, obscure to many readers, has not been explained by the commentators. This structure of sentences is strictly on ancient classical principles: the first conjunction "or" does not join the clause which it commences with the preceding, but is an inceptive, and referring to the latter "or." It begins the first clause of a logical disjunctive proposition, and means "cither" or "whether." So in Latin, "Ne....an," "Seu ... seu," "An....an," etc. are used as reciprocally referential. Satan ironically asks his followers whether, in consequence of tbe ease they experienced on the burning lake, they chose it as a resting-place, as comfortable as they found heaven to be; or, not so choosing it, but finding it full of horrors, they basely swore to adore the conqueror by remaining in that abject posture in which he placed them. s "Virtue," in the original sense o( virtus, or xper, personal prowess and courage. In the progress of civilisation, when the regulation of human conduct became of more value than bodily courage or power, the word was taken in a moral sense. Virgil, Ma. i. 44., gives somewhat a similar representation of Ajax Oileus:— "Ilium expirantem transfixo pectorc flammaa Turbine corripuit, scopuloque inlixil aculo."-(N.J 5 This use of the double negative to express a full affirmative is a pure and a beautiful Grxcism. Iliad, xiii. 28: ουδ' ηγνοίησαν ανακτα. The best Latin poets adopted it. See Virgil, Gcorg. ii. 449. 6 The use of the word "to," as the sign of the dative case, depending on the verb "obeyed," is quite a Latinism. There are, however, other instances of it in English poets. Fairy Queen, III. xi. 35 .— "Lo! uow the heavens obey to me alone." "Yet." I have often known readers feel a difficulty here. If the angels so well knew the evil plight and the licrce pains in which they were, and which were attributable to Innumerable! As when the potent rod 1 Wav'd round the coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud sso And Pow'rs that erst in heaven sat on thrones! their former submission lo Satan's orders and counsels, why should they now start up so promptly at his call? The explanation is to be found in the word "dread," in the preceding simile, which, though one of the most homely, is one of the most beautifully expressive in the whole poem. So strong was their esteem and awe, and so rooted their feeling of obedience to their chief, that, (bough still stupified with the effects of their defeat, and racked with pain, they rose up at bis command, as it were involuntarily and by impulse. i This refers to one of the plagues brought on Egypt by Moses, (Exod. x. 13,) when ha stretched forth his rod in consequence of Pharaoh's refusal to allow the Israelites to deport." Warping," a nautical term, i. e. working laboriously forward in a sort of sidelong motion. The rod of Moses was the staff generally used by him for driving his flocks. This God commanded him to take with him for working miracles before Pharaoh. Exod. iv. * "Sultan" was the title of chief ruler among the Turks and Arabians, and is selected here as the designation of Satan, because the Mahometan despots were the greatest enemies of Christianity.—(N.) * He refers to the irruption of the Goths, Huns, Vandals, etc. from the north of Europe, which, from the immense numbers it sent on the south, barbarously destroying every vestige of art and learning, was called "the northern hive." He uses "Rhene" of the Latin, and "Danaw" of the German, in place of the common names, Rhine and Danube, as being more ancient and classical. "Beneath Gibraltar" means more southward (as they landed in Africa), the north being uppermost on the globe.—(N.) These three similes rise beautifully above each other, and do not merely give an illustration of the numbers of the fallen angels, but, as Dunster has well observed, of the different stales in which they are represented. In the first, while lying supinely on the lake, they are compared to heaps of dead leaves strewing the brooks of Valiombrosa; in the second, when on the wing lo obey their leader's order, they are compared to the multitudes of locusts on their flight to Egypt; in the third, when lighting on the firm brimstone, and ranging themselves under their several chiefs for the purpose of projecting new hostilities, they are compared lo the most numerous bodies of troops which all history records as engaged in military expedition. This succession of similes will recall lo the classical reader's memory the succession of similes in the second and third books of the Iliad. Though of their names in heav'nly records now By their rebellion from the books * of life. Got them new names; till wand'ring o'er the earth, Then were they known to men by various names, And various idols through the heathen world. 4 Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who last, Rous'd from the slumber on that fiery couch, At their great emp'ror's call, as next in worth, Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof.8 The chief were those, who, from the pit of hell Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix Their seats long after next the seat of God; Their altars by his altar;—gods ador'd Among the nations round;—and durst abide Jehovah thund'ring out of Sion, thron'd Between the Cherubim : yea, often plac'd t88 Within his sanctuary itself their shrines-7 6 1 Several critics of high authority would read here" book" in place of "books," as more conformable to the style of the epic and of Scripture. Rev. iii. 5: "I will not blot his name out of the book of life." » /. e. by false idols belying, under a corporal representation, the true God. So Rom. i. 22, 23: "They changed the truth of God into a lie." Amos ii. 4: "Their lies caused them to err."-(Up.) "Religions" here is used, like religionet sometimes in Livy and Cicero, to signify, religious rites. Milton, in imitation of Homer (II. ii.) in his catalogue of the ships, and of Virgil (En. viii.) in his catalogue of warriors, invokes his muse anew in his catalogue of the principal fallen angels. This catalogue has been much praised, as a most learned epitome of the whole system of the Syrian and Arabian idolatries; and is considered peculiarly appropriate here, as deducing the origin of superstition, without an explanation or which this religious poem would be imperfect. "Whom first, whom last." So Homer, II. v. 703 :— Virg. En. ii. 664 : Τινα πρωτον, τινα ο ὕστερον. "Quem telo prlmum, quem pottremom." Ovid, Met. xiii. l :— -vulgl itaute corona.* Consult I Kings vl. 23; 2 Kings xii. 15; xxi. 4, 5; Exod. XIT. 22; Eiek. vii. 20 ; viii. 8, 6; xliii. 8; Jer. vii. 30.—(N.) i The ark, or chest, which contained the tables on which were written the Command 399 Abominations! and with cursed things His holy rites and solemn feasts profan'd, And with their darkness durst affront his light. First, Moloch, horrid king! besmear'd with blood Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, In Argob, and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such ments, and was deposited in the Sanctuary or Holy of Holies, the inner part of the temple, to which none but the high priest had access, and this only once a year, was encircled by two golden figures of winged cherubim. It was here God is said to have been enthroned. The ark was two cubits and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. It was made of shittim wood, (which was whitish, hard, close, and incorruptible,) and covered with plates or gold. (See Exod. xxv. 10—22.) The blossoming rod of Aaron was also deposited there (Numb. xvii. 10), and the omer (a six-pint measure) of manna gathered in the wilderness (Exod. xvi. 33). It is generally believed to have been taken off to Babylon at the lime of the captivity, and never restored. It was not in the second temple. It is remarkable that the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, imitating, but corrupting, this part of the Jewish religion, had their cista, containing their most sacred things, and deposited in the recesses of their temples. See Spencer de Lcgib. Hebræor.; Apuleius de Asino Aurco, ix. xi; Plutarch on Isis and Osiris; Euseb. Præpar. Evangel, ii. 5; and Calmet. i Consult l Kings xi. 7; 2 Kings xxiii. 10; Deut. xviii. 10; Levit. xviii. 21; xx. 2; Jer. xxxii. 35; Ezek. xxv.; 2 Sam. xii. 27.—"Moloch" means king; and "horrid" refers to the sacrifices offered to him. He was the chief divinity of the Ammonites, whose capital city was Rabba, and the southern boundary of whose country was the river Arnon. The riles observed in his worship varied according to place and circumstances; sometimes children and grown-up persons were obliged to pats only through the lire kindled in bis honour by way of purification, or charm against disease or evil; this was also the mode, it is said, of consecrating persons to the ministry of his priesthood. It is not certain whether the votaries actually passed over the lire, and through the blaze; or only between two large fires kindled close to one another: the former is more probable. Human victims were also sacrificed to him; sometimes by being burned on a pile before bis image; somelimes they were shut up within the idol, which was made of brass, and healed to such a pitch that the wretched victim was consumed. It is said to have contained seven apartments for the diflerenl sorts of victims, human and brute animals. Sometimes the image was wicker, or wooden, and set on fire, together with the victims CDclosed in it, until both were destroyed. Julius Cæsar, in his account of the Druidism of Gaul, says, that numbers of human victims were periodically sacrificed in this way. The Rabbins describe the idol of Moloch as of brass, sitting on a throne, and wearing a crown; having the head of a calf, with open blood-stained mouth, and bis arms extended to receive the miserable victims. In Sonnerat's Travels, there is a curious account of the custom of passing through the fire, even now existing in a part of India, at the annual feast of Dermah Rajah .—"For eighteen days the votaries sleep on the ground, fast, and observe the strictest chastity; at the expiration of that time, an intense fire, forty feet long, is kindled, round which the images of Dermah and his wife are carried with great pomp, amidst the sound of musical instruments and the prayers of the multitude. Then the votaries, their heads covered with garlands of flowers, and their bodies anointed with saffron oil, and their foreheads rubbed with the ashes of the holy fire, proceed naked through the blazing element, while the musical instruments continue playing. Some carry children in their arms; some spears, targets, etc.; and some, other objects of Ibeir affection. It often happens that several perish in the flame; those who survive the operation are much caressed, and relics of what they bore with them are coveted and preserved by the spectators." The drums and musical instruments were, it is said, used in the riles of Moloch to drown the cries of the sufferers. 1 do not sec why they should not have been considered as having been also used in honour of the divinity and of the rite. Many commentators of high authority say, that Saturn of tho Carthaginians, 406 Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart Next, Chkmos,1 the obscene dread of Moab's sons, the descendants of the Phoenicians, td whom, it is notorious, human sacrifices were offered, was the eastern Moloch; some think him to be the Mars of European and mora modern Paganism. l "Chemos" is derived by the best antiquaries from an Arabic root which signifies to hasten, and is supposed by them to be the same as the sun, the speed of whose course and light may well procure it the name of swift. Slrabo, b. xv. and Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. when they mention Apollo Chomeus, are supposed to allude to the same deity as Chemos of the Moabites. Others say that Chemos was the same as Ammon. Now Macrobius shows that Ammon was the sun, and that the horns with which he is represented denote his rays. Lucan, Pharsal. ix. says that Ammon was the divinity worshipped by the Ethiopians, Arabians, and Indians :— Quamvls vthiopum populis, Arabumque bealls Ai Hilton, no doubt following the authority of Jerom and others, takes Chemos Tor Baal Peor, (though the best supported opinions identify Baal Peor with Thamuz or Adonis,) 1 will in this place mention the principal circumstances connected with the worship of Baal Peor in particular, and of Baal in general; for there were many deities under tho general name of Baal, according to the place and circumstances of the peculiar worship, and the attributes of the particular divinity. Baal is Lord or Master; and Peor, aperture: Baal Peor is the Lord of opening, and the title is generally believed to refer to him as the deity who presided over the formation and production of animal matter; and was, according to Origen and St. Jerom, the same as Priapus of the Romans, and Bacchus of the Greeks, the worship of whom was attended with some grossly obscene circumstances. He was the chief divinity of the Moabites, who generally appointed women to officiate at the religious rites. These rites were of the most licentious kind; though the people did not think them revolting to decency, but expressive of meritorious homage to the great generative and producing power. The image of the god was naked, somewhat resembling the Phallic image of the Grecian Bacchus. Herodotus says that the Greeks themselves could give no eiplanalion of the cause of the Phallic worship of Bacchus, or of the time and circumstances of its introduction, though it was to him clear that it came from the East. 1 think there can be little doubt that it followed in the train of Cadmus, the Phoenician, who introduced so many important changes in the language, institutions, and customs of Greece. The votaries, while paying Peor worship, were naked. The Egyptians, in the worship or Orus and Osiris, observed rites and adored a power similar to those of Peor. The festival of Saklipujah, observed by the Hindoos to this day, resembles that of Chemos. See Fr. Paolino, Voyage to East Indies. "Orgies," from pyn, furor, were properly the wild, licentious rites of Bacchus, and correctly referred here to the rites of Chemos. Some authors imagine that Baal Peor means the "Lord of Mount Peor," where this deity was worshipped with peculiar honour, as Jupiter was called Olympius; Apollo, Clarius; Mercury, Cyllenius, etc. from the places where they were worshipped. When the Israelites were encamped in the vicinity of Moab, Balak, the king, fearing such an immense multitude would attack, perhaps overrun, his country, consulted Balaam, a native of Pethor, on the Euphrates, famous in all those regions as a diviner and a prophet. Balaam advised that the Moabite women should form sexual connexion with the Israelites, and thus lure them by the attractions of their religious ceremonies, to idolatry, which would deprive them of the protection S{ God, gradually destroy their peculiarity as a separate people, incorporate them with the Moabites, and eventually enfeeble, if not destroy them. This counsel was acted on, and the Israelites were seduced to carnal intercourse and idolatry. This so exasperated Moses that he ordered one thousand of the principal delinquents to be slain; twenty-three thousand more perished by plague, as a visitation from God. Solomon erected a sacred grove and statue for this divinity on the Mount of Olives, as he did for Moloch, (hence the words "opprobrious |