What raised Antipater the Edomite, And his son Herod placed on Judah's throned, (Thy throne) but gold, that got him puissant friends? To whom thus Jesus patiently replied": That seat, and reign in Israel without end. d What raised Antipater the Edomite, And his son Herod placed on Judah's throne, 425 435 440 This appears to be the fact from history. When Josephus introduces Antipater upon the stage, he speaks of him as abounding with great riches, " Antiq." lib. xiv. cap. 2. And his son Herod was declared king of Judea by the favour of Mark Antony, partly for the sake of the money which he promised to give him. Ibid. cap. xxvi.-NEWTON. e Get riches first, &c. Hor. "Epist." 1. i. 53 :— Quærenda pecunia primum est.-NEWTON. f Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand: This temptation we owe to our author's invention, as Mr. Thyer observes, who adds, that "it is very happily contrived, as it gradually leads the reader on to the stronger ones in the following books." It affords also a fine opportunity of concluding this book with some reflections, the beauty of which Mr. Thyer has justly noted, on the insufficiency of riches and power to the happiness of mankind. The language here reminds us of Spenser, who puts a similar speech in the mouth of Mammon, "Faer. Qu." ii. vii. 8.-DUNSTER. g To whom thus Jesus patiently replied. When our Saviour, a little before, refused to partake of the banquet to which Satan had invited him, the line ran thus, ver. 378: To whom thus Jesus temperately replied; but now, when Satan has reproached him with his poverty and low circumstances, the word is fitly altered, and the verse runs thus: To whom thus Jesus patiently replied.-NEWTON. h Gideon, and Jephthah, and the shepherd lad. Our Saviour is rightly made to cite his first instances from Scripture, and of his own nation, as being the best known to him; but it is with great art that the poet also supposes him not to be unacquainted with heathen history, for the sake of introducing a greater variety of examples. Gideon saith of himself:-"O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house," Judges vi. 15. And Jephthah "was the son of an harlot," and his brethren "thrust him out, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father's house, for thou art the son of a strange woman," Judges xi. 1, 2. And the exaltation of David from a sheep-hook to a sceptre is very well known.-NEWTON. Among the heathen, (for throughout the world For I esteem those names of men so poor, Who could do mighty things', and could contemn Accomplish what they did, perhaps and more? i Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus ? 445 450 Quintius Cincinnatus was twice invited from following the plough, to be consul and dictator of Rome; and after he had subdued the enemy, when the senate would have enriched him with public lands and private contributions, he rejected all these offers, and retired again to his cottage and old course of life. Fabricius could not be bribed by all the large offers of king Pyrrhus to aid him in negotiating a peace with the Romans; and yet he lived and died so poor, that he was buried at the public expense, and his daughters' fortunes were paid out of the treasury. Curius Dentatus would not accept of the lands which the senate had assigned him for the reward of his victories; and when the ambassadors of the Samnites offered him a large sum of money as he was sitting at the fire and roasting turnips with his own hands, he nobly refused to take it; saying that it was his ambition not to be rich, but to command those who were so: and Regulus, after performing many great exploits, was taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, and sent with the ambas sadors to Rome to treat of peace, upon oath to return to Carthage if no peace or exchange of prisoners should be agreed upon but was himself the first to dissuade a peace; and chose to leave his country, family, friends, everything, and return a glorious captive to certain tortures and death, rather than suffer the senate to conclude a dishonourable treaty. Our Saviour cites these instances of noble Romans in order of time, as he did those of his own nation: and, as Mr. Calton observes, the Romans in the most degenerate times were fond of these, and some other like examples of ancient virtue; and their writers of all sorts delight to introduce them but the greatest honour that poetry ever did them is here, by the praise of the Son of God.-NEWTON. For I esteem those names of men so poor, Who could do mighty things, &c. The author had here plainly Claudian in his mind, "De IV. Cons. Honor." 412 Discitur hinc quantum paupertas sobria possit : And again, "In Rufinum," i. 200. Semper inops, quicunque cupit. Contentus honesto It is probable that he remembered here some of his beloved republicans, those names of men so poor, Who could do mighty things; and it is possible that he might also think of himself, who could contemn Riches though offer'd from the hand of kings; if that story be true of his having been offered to be Latin secretary to Charles the Second, and of his refusing it.-NEWTON. With the citation of "Riches, though offer'd from the hand of kings," compare Plutarch, “ Life of Cicero :”—Καὶ δῶρα μὲν οὐδὲ τῶν βασιλέων διδόντων ἔλαβε.-DUNSTER. с с Extol not riches then, the toil of fools, The wise man's cumbrance, if not snare; more apt Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise'. 456 What if with like aversion I reject Riches and realms? yet not, for that a crown, Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights, When on his shoulders each man's burden lies; His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise, k Extol not riches then, &c. Milton concludes this book, and our Saviour's reply to Satan, with a series of thoughts as noble and just, and as worthy of the speaker, as can possibly be imagined. I think one may venture to affirm, that, as the "Paradise Regained" is a poem entirely moral and religious, the excellency of which does not consist so much in bold figures and strong images, as in deep and virtuous sentiments expressed with a becoming gravity, and a certain decent majesty; this is as true an instance of the sublime as the battles of the angels in the "Paradise Lost."—THYER.¡ This is an excellent note of Thyer, worthy to be always kept in remembrance. 1 The tail of fools, The wise man's cumbrance, if not snare; more apt To slacken Virtue, and abate her edge, Thus Juvenal, Sat. vi. 297 : Prima peregrinos obscoena pecunia mores And see Spenser, "Faery Queen," ii. vii. 12, 13.-DUNSTER. m For therein stands the office of a king, His honour, virtue, merit, and chief praise, That for the publick all this weight he bears. Milton, in the height of his political ardour, declared that he was not actuated by hatred to kings, but only to tyrants:" neither is there any occasion to question the truth of this assertion; but such was his apprehension of monarchical tyranny, that the current of his prejudices certainly ran very strongly in favour of a republican government. Even in one of his latest political publications, "The ready and easy Way to establish a Free Commonwealth," he professes, that "though there may be such a king, who may regard the common good before his own, yet this rarely happens in a monarchy not elective;" and, on this ground, he strongly remonstrates against the risk of admitting kingship. The contest however was now completely over; and our author, having seen the fallacy, not only of his hopes, but also of bis confidence in those persons, of whose consummate hypocrisy his ardent integrity had been the dupe, seems, in thus sketching out the laborious duties of a good and patriotic prince, to be somewhat more reconciled to kingly government. About this time, also, seemingly under the same impression, he had proceeded in his history, and composed the fifth and sixth books, in which we find no marks of any splenetic dislike to kings on the contrary, many of the characters of our early monarchs are drawn, not merely with an impartial hand, but often with a favourable one. The character of Alfred, in particular, is given with the most affectionate admiration; and is not without its resemblance to the compressed description of a good king in this place. See his "History of England," b. v.-DUNSTER. Yet he, who reigns within himself, &c. Such sentiments are inculcated not only by the philosophers, but also by the poets: as Hor. Ode 1. 9: Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king; Or lawless passions in him, which he serves °. Latius regnes avidum domando and see Sat. 1. vii. 83.-NEWTON. 470 473 480 The "Paradise Regained," Mr. Hayley very justly observes, " is a poem that particularly deserves to be recommended to ardent and ingenuous youth; as it is admirably calculated to inspire that spirit of self-command, which is, as Milton esteemed it, the truest heroism, and the triumph of Christianity." Life of Milton, p. 126.—Dunster. • Subject himself to anarchy within, Or lawless passions in him, which he serves. Palpably alluding to Charles the Second, and his dissolute manners. dise Lost," b. xii. 86, &c.-Dunster. P But to guide nations in the way of truth By saving doctrine, and from errour lead, Compare "Para In this speech concerning riches and realms, our poet has culled all the choicest, finest flowers out of the heathen poets and philosophers who have written upon these subjects. It is not so much their words, as their substance sublimed and improved: but here he soars above them; and nothing could have given him so complete an idea of a divine teacher, as the life and character of our blessed Saviour.-NEWTON. That other o'er the body only reigns, And oft by force; which, to a generous mind, So reigning, can be no sincere delight. This is perfectly consonant to our Lord's carly sentiments, as the poet describes him relating them in the first book of this poem, ver. 221, &c.—DUNSTER. Besides, to give a kingdom hath been thought So Hephaestion to those who transferred the kingdom of Sidon from themselves to another; Quint. Curt. iv. 1.-" Vos quidem macti virtute, inquit, estote, qui primi intellexistis, quanto majus esset regnum fastidire quam accipere," &c. Dioclesian, Charles V., and others, who have resigned the crown, were perhaps in our author's thought, upon this occasion: for, as Seneca says, Thyest. 1. 529: • Habere regnum, casus est; virtus, dare.-NEWTON. Possibly Milton had here in his mind the famous Christina, queen of Sweden, who after having reigned twenty-one years, resigned her crown to her cousin Charles Gustavus, when she was still a young woman, being only thirty years old. Our author had before paid her considerable compliments. The verses under Cromwell's picture, sent to Christina, have been generally supposed to be his; though Mr. Warton inclines to think they were written by Andrew Marvel; and adds, that he suspects "Milton's habit of facility in elegiac Far more magnanimous, than to assume3. Riches are needless then, both for themselves, Latinity had long ago ceased." What ground he had for this suspicion he does not specify, nor is it easy to conjecture. I should not willingly persuade myself that our author could soon lose any faculty which he had acquired. Besides, these verses must have been written before the year 1654, when Christina abdicated; and only nine years before that, when he published a collection of his Latin and English poems in 1645, he had added to his seventh Elegy ten lines, which sufficiently show that he then perfectly retained his elegiac Latinity; and why it should be supposed entirely to cease in eight or nine years more, I cannot imagine. As Marvel was not his associate in the secretaryship till the year 1657, Milton has officially the best claim to them: it was also an employment, which, we may well suppose, he was fond of; as at this time he certainly thought highly of Christina, and was particularly flattered with the idea, that, on reading his "Defensio Populi," she withdrew all her protection from his antagonist Salmasius, who was then resident at her court; and whom, it was then said, she dismissed with contempt, as a parasite and an advocate of tyranny. Accordingly, in his "Defensio Secunda," Milton honours her with a most splendid panegyric; and in appealing to her that he had no determined prejudices against kings, nor any wish wantonly to attack their rights, he particularly congratulates himself upon having a witness of his integrity tam vere regiam. The expression is sufficiently obvious and hackneyed in the flattery of royalty; but it is well worth observing, when it comes from one who so seldom sings in that strain. It may also be noticed here, as we trace a resemblance of it in some of the preceding lines; where our author, having said that in the laborious and disinterested discharge of magistracy consists the real and proper "office of a king," proceeds to ascribe a superior degree of royalty, of the most distinguished eminence, to him who is duly practised in the habit of selfcommand; and still more to him of mankind at large, religion; Yet he, who reigns within himself, and rules who conscientiously labours for the well-doing and well-being But to guide nations in the way of truth By saving doctrine, and from errour lead, Milton, it appears, however, was rather unfortunate in his selection of a favourite from among the crowned heads of his time. Mr. Warton, in his note on the "Verses to Christina," collects many curious anecdotes of her improprieties and absurdities; and Harte, the English historian of Gustavus Adolphus, terms her "an unaccountable woman; reading much, yet not extremely learned; a collector and critic in the fine arts, but collecting without judgment, and forming conclusions without taste; affecting pomp, and rendering herself a beggar; fond to receive servile dependence, yet divesting herself of the means; paying court to the most serious christians, and making profession of little less than atheism." But our author saw only the bright side of her character; and considered her as a learned, pious, patriotic, disinterested princess.-DUNSTER. See farther information, drawn from indisputable authority, relating to the extraordinary Christina, in my note on the poet's verses to her.-TODD. And to lay down Far more magnanimous than to assume. We may rather trace Milton here to Macrobius, than to the passage cited in a preceding note from Q. Curtius by Dr. Newton:-" Quid? quod duas virtutes, quæ inter nobiles quoque unice claræ sunt, in uno video fuisse mancipio; imperium regendi peritiam, et imperium contemnendi magnanimitatem. Anaxilaus enim Messenius, qui Messanam in Sicilia condidit, fuit Rheginorum tyrannus. Is, cum parvos relinqueret liberos, Micitho servo suo commendasse contentus est: is tutelam sancte gessit; imperiumque tam clementer obtinuit, ut Rhegini a servo regi non dedignarentur. Perductus deinde in ætatem pueris et bona et imperium tradidit. Ipse parvo viatico sumpto profectus est; et Olympie cum summa tranquillitate consenuit." Saturnal. i. 11.-DUNSTER. |