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ty of Milton's descriptions. The Italian poets, even the very best of them are fond of such boyish fancies, and there is no doubt but we are obliged to them for this.

19. -war in procinct,] The Roman soldiers were said to stand in procinétu when ready to give the onset.

29. Servant of God,] So the name of Abdiel signifies in Hebrew.

44. Go Michael of celestial armies prince,] As this battle of the Angels is founded principally on Rev. xii. 7, 8, "There was war in Heaven; Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon, and the Dragon fought and his Angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven;" Michael is rightly made by Milton the leader of the heavenly armies, and the name in Hebrew signifies the power of God. But it may be censured perhaps as a piece of wrong conduct in the poem, that the commission here given is not executed; they are ordered to drive the rebel Angels out from God and bliss, but this is effected at last by the Messiah alone. Some reasons for it are assigned in the speech of God, ver. 680, and in that of the Messiah, ver. 801, in this book.

55. His fiery Chaos] Chaos may mean any place of confusion but if we take it strictly, Tartarus or Hell was built in Chaos (ii. 1002.), and therefore that part of it being stored with fire, may not improperly be called a fiery Chaos." 56. and clouds began

To darken all the bill, and smoke to roll, &c.] In this description the author manifestly alludes to that of God descending upon mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 16, &c.

64. In silence] So Homer observes, Iliad. iii. 8, to the honour of his countrymen the Grecians, that they marched on in silence, while the Trojans advanced with noise and cla

mour.

71.-for high above the ground &c.] Our author attributes the same kind of motion to the Angels, as the Ancients did to their Gods; which was gliding through the air without ever touching the ground with their feet, or as Milton elsewhere elegantly expresses it (b. viii. 302.) smooth sliding without step.

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Smooth as the sailing doves they glide along. 81. und nearer view &c.] To the north appeared a

fiery region, and nearer to the view appeared the banded powers of Satan. It appeared a fiery region indistinctly at first, but upon nearer view it proved to be Satan's rebel army.

82. Bristled with upright beams &c.] The Latins express this by the word horrere, taken from the bristling on a wild boar's or other animal's back. Virg. Æn. xi. 601.

-tum late ferreus hastis

Horret ager.

Milton has before, in ii. 513,the expression of borrent arms. 93. And in fierce hosting meet,] This word hosting seems to have been first coined by our author. It is a very expressive word, and formed from the substantive host.

101. Idol of majesty divine,] This is the very same with what Abdiel afterwards at ver. 114 calls resemblance of the Highest, but how judiciously has Milton culled out the word Idol, which though it be in its original signification the same as resemblance, yet by its common application always in a bad sense served much better to express the present character of Satan !

111. Abdiel that sight indur'd not,] Virg. En. ii. 407. Non tulit hanc speciem furiatâ mente Chorobus.

113. And thus his own undaunted heart explores.] Such soliliquies are not uncommon in the poets at the beginning and even in the midst of battles. A soliliquy upon such an occasion is only making the person think aloud.

119.trusting in th' Almighty's aid,] We may remark the piety of the good Angel: and indeed without the divine aid and assistance he would have been by no means a match for so superior an Angel.

137. Who out of smallest things] For Milton did not favour the opinion, that the creation was out of nothing. Could have raised incessant armies. Mat. xxvi. 53. "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels."

139.-solitary band] His single hand.

147. my set thou seest ; &c.] The use of the word sect in this place seems a little forced and singular; and I cannot help thinking but Milton brought it in in order to sneer the Loyalists of his time, who branded all dissenters, of whom he was one, with the opprobious name of Sectaries.

This also accounts for the word few in the next line, inasmuch as it suited Milton's particular view better to establish a general maxim than to apply it to the single case of Abdiel.

161. that thy success may show] Thy success, thy ill success; the word success is used in the same sense, ii. 9.

183.-in Hell thy kingdom;] Not that it was so at present. This is said by way of anticipation. God had ordered him to be cast out, ver. 52, and what the Almighty had pronounced the good Angel looks upon as done. And this sentiment,

Reign thou in Hell thy kingdom; let me serve

In Heav'n God ever blest,

is designed as a contrast to Satan's vaunt in i. 263.

Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n.

189. So say'ing, &c.] Saying is here contracted into one syllable, or is to be pronounced as two short ones, which very well expresses the eagerness of the Angel. He struck at his foe before he had finished his speech, while he was speaking, which is much bettter than Dr. Bentley's reading So said, as if he had not aimed his blow, till after he had spoken.

214. And flying vaulted either host with fire.] Our author has frequently had his eye upon Hesiod's giant-war, as well as upon Homer, and has imitated several passages; but commonly exceeds his original, as he has done in this particular. Hesiod says that the Titans were overshadowed with darts, Theog. 716; but Milton has improved the horror of the description, and a shade of darts is not near so great and dreadful an image as a fiery cope or vault of flaming darts.

229-though number'd such &c.] Each legion was in number like an army, each single warrior was in strength like a legion, and though led in fight was as expert as a comman der in chief. So that the Angels are celebrated first for their number, then for their strength, and lastly for their expertness in war.

236. The ridges of grim war:] A metaphor taken from a ploughed field; the men answer to the ridges, between whom, the intervals of the ranks, the furrows are. The ridges of grim war, that is the ranks of the army.

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236.no thought of flight,] So Homer, Iliad. xi. 71. None stoop'd a thought to base inglorious flight. 239. As only in his arm the moment lay

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Of victory; As if upon his single arm had depended the whole weight of the victory. The moment, the weight that turns the balance, as the word signifies in Latin. Ter. Andr. 1. V. 31. Dum in dubio est animus, paulo momento huc vel illuc impellitur.

242. That war and various, sometimes on firm ground

A standing fight, then soaring &c.] The syntax and sense is, The war was sometimes a standing fight on the ground, and sometimes the war soaring on main wing tormented all the air. Pearce.

244. Tormented all the air ;] Here Milton takes the same liberty of applying the word torment, which the Latin poets did in using the term vexare.

247.

-and met in arms

No equal,] The poet seems almost to have forgotten how Satan was foiled by Abdiel in the beginning of the action : but I suppose the poet did not consider Abdiel as equal to Satan, though he gained that accidental advantage over him. Satan no doubt would have proved an overmatch for Abdiel, only for the general engagement which ensued, and broke off the combat between them.

251-ith huge two-handed sway &c.] It shows how entirely the ideas of chivalry and romance had possessed him, to make Michael fight with a two handed sword.

262. Author of evil, &c.] These speeches give breath as it were to the reader after the hurry of the general battle: and prepare his mind, and raise his expectation the more for the ensuing combat between Michael and Satan. It is the practice likewise of Homer and Virgil, to make their heroes discourse before they fight; it renders the action more solemn, and more engages the reader's attention.

282. The Adversary.] Not as any enemy in fight may be called, but in a sense peculiar to him, Satan being his name, and Satan in Hebrew signifying the adversary.

289. The strife which thou call'st evil.] The author gave it The strife which thou cail'st hateful.

This appears from Michael's words above, ver. 264.

These acts of hateful strife, hateful to all.

Bentley.

But why may not this evil relate to ver. 262? where Satan is called the author of evil, of evil displayed in acts of hateful strife and so in ver. 275, evil go with thee along &c. I think that bateful would have been a more accurate expression, but evil is justifiable. Pearce.

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306.

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-while expectation stood

In borror ;] Expectation is personified in the like sublime manner in Shakespear, Hen. v. act ii.

For now sits expectation in the air. 311. if nature's concord broke,

Among the constellations war were strung,] The context shows (says Dr. Bentley) that Milton gave it warfare instead of war were.

321. from the armoury of God] Milton, notwithstanding the sublime genius he was master of, has in this book drawn to his assistance all the helps he could ineet with among the ancient poets. The sword of Michael, which makes so great a havoc among the bad Angels, was given him, we are told, out of the armoury of God.

The passage is a copy of that in Virgil, wherein the poet tells us, that the sword of Æneas, which was given him by a deity, broke into pieces the sword of 1 urnus, which came from a mortal forge.

325: -and in half cut sheer ;--] We have here a fair opportunity to observe how finely great geniuses imitate one another. There is a most beautiful passage in Homer's Iliad, iii. 363, where the sword of Menelaus in a duel with Paris breaks in pieces in his hand.

329. The griding sword with discontinuous wound] Discontinuous wound is said in allusion to the old definition of a wound, that it separates the continuity of the parts, vulnos est solutio continui: and griding is an old word for cutting, and used in Spenser, as in Faery Queen, b. ii. cant. 8. st. 36.

That through his thigh the mortal steel did gride. 335. -to his aid was run] A Latinism; so we have ventum est in the lines just before quoted from Virgil, -postquam arma dei ad Vulcania ventum est.

336. who interpos'd] Thus Eomer makes the chief of the Trojans interpose between their wounded hero when he

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