pleased with the spirit of liberty that breathes in the speech of our first ancestor. 84. —which always with right reason dwells Twinn'd,] Some editions read Twin'd, and Mr. Hume explains it twisted together with upright reason; but in Milton's own editions it is printed Twinn'd, and I presume he means twinn'd at a birth with right reason. Liberty and virtue (which is reason, ver. 98) are twin-sisters, and the one hath no being divided from the other. 199.-resolving from thenceforth To leave them &c.] And the Angel leaves them in like manaer, and confines his narration henceforward to the one peculiar nation of the race of Abraham, from whence the Messiah was so descend, 114. Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,] That is not get, when Michael was speaking; but yet when God resolved to select one peculiar nation from all the rest. 115. Bred up in idol-worship;] We read in Joshua xxiv. 2. "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor, and they served other Gods." Now as Terah, Abraham's father, was an idolater, I think we may be certain that Abraham was bred up in the religion of his father, though he renounced it afterwards, and in all probability converted his father likewise, for Terah removed with Abraham to Haran, and there died. See Gen. xi. 31, 32. 126.. -be strait obeys, Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes:] the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, xi. 8. According to 128. I see bim but thou canst not, &c.] As the principal design of this episode was to give Adam an idea of the holy Person who was to re-instate human nature in that happiness and perfection from which it had fallen, the poet confines himself to the line of Abraham, from whence the Messiah was to descend. Addison. Our poet, sensible that this long historical description might grow irksome, has varied the manner of representing it as much as possible, beginning first with supposing Adam to have a prospect of it before his eyes, next by making the Angel the relator of it, and lastly by uniting the two former methods, and making Michael see it as in vision, and giving a rapturous enlivened account of it to Adam. 130. Ur of Chaldæa,] Gen. xi. 31. " And they went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan." Chaldæa, a province of Asia, lying east of the Euphrates and west of the Tigris. Ur, a city of Chaldæa, the country of Terah and Abraham. The word Ur in Hebrew signifies light or fire; and this name was given to the city, because the sun and its symbol fire were worshipped therein. 132. and numerous servitude;] Many servants; the abstract for the concrete. 133. Not wand'ring poor, but trusting all his wealth] For Abraham took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all 'their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran: and they went forth to go into the land of -Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came." Gen. xii. 5. 135.-I see bis tents ·Pitch'd about Sechem, and the neighb’ring plain Of Moreb;-] Gen. xii 6. "And Abraham passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh." Sichem or Sechem, or Sychar (for it had all these names) was a town of the province of Samaria. 139. From Hameth northward &c.] As so much is said of the promised land, the poet very properly gives us the bounds of it. Hamath was a city of Syria, and the entering into Hamath, so frequently mentioned in Scripture, is the narrow pass leading from the land of Canaan to Syria, through the valley which lies between Libanus and Antilibanus. 140. Things by their names I call, though yet unnam'd] As 'Virgil's vision in the sixth neid probably gave Milton the hint of this whole episode, this line is a translation of that verse, wherein Anchises mentions the names of places, which they were to bear hereafter, ver. 776. Hæc tum nomine erunt, nunc sunt sine nomine terræ. Addison. 147. This ponder,] As if he had said, I mention other things for your information, but this you should particularly remember, and meditate upon. 181.-tbunder mix'd with bail, &c.] The storm of hail and fire, with the darkness that overspread the land for three days, are described with great strength. The beautiful passage which The river-dragon tam'd at length submits &c. The river dragon is an allusion to the crocodile, which inhabits the Nile, from whence Egypt derives her plenty. This allusion is taken from that sublime passage in Ezekiel, xxix. 3. "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee, Pharoah king of Egypt, the great dragon which lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself." 193. -as ice More barden'd after thaw,] For ice warmed gently into a thaw, is made more receptive of those saline and nitrous particles, which fill the freezing air, and insinuating themselves into the water already weakened, are the cause of a harder concretion. Stiriaque impexis induruit horrida barbis. Vir. Geor. iii. 366. Isicles freeze, as they drop, into a wonderful hardness. 210. And craze their chariot wheels :] Bruise or break them in pieces. Craze, from the French ecraser to bruize or break. So i. 311, the chariot wheels are said to have been broken, though Exod. xiv. 25, it is only said they were taken off, so that the chariots were driven heavily. Milton, who perfectly understood the original, has therefore expounded this taking off to be breaking; though that may mean no more, than what we do when we say such a one is crazy, broken with age and disabled Richardson. 216.- --not the readiest way, &c.] It is remarkable, that here Milton omits the moral cause (though he gives the poetical) of the Israelites wandering forty years in the wilderness, and this was their poltroon mutiny on the return of the spies. He omitted this with judgment, for this last speech of the Angel was to give such a representation of things, as might convey comfort to Adam: otherwise the story of the brazen serpent would have afforded noble imagery. Warburton. 227.-whose grey top] An usual epithet of mountains, because the snow lies longer there than in the vallies, and upon some of their lofty brows all the year long. -Gelidus canis cum montibus humor Liquitur. Virg. Georg. i. 43. Hume. But this epithet was more proper and peculiar to Sinai at that time, as it was covered with clouds and smoke. See Exod. xix. 230, &c. 245.] By these passages Milton seems to have understood no more of the Jewish institution than he saw in the small Presbyterian systems; otherwise the true idea of the theocracy would have afforded some noble observations. Warburton. Milton speaks of the civil and the ritual, that is, the judicial and the ceremonial precepts delivered to the Jews; but why did he omit the moral law contained in the ten commandments? Possibly his reason might be, because this was supposed to be written originally in the heart of Man, and therefore Adam must have been perfectly acquainted with it: but however I think, this should have been particularly mentioned, as it was published at this time in the most solemn manner by God from mount Sinai; and as it was thought worthy to be written with his own finger upon two tables of stone, when the rest were conveyed to the people by the writing and preaching of Moses, as a mediator between God and them. Greenwood. 258. Save when they journey,]" Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not, till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journies. Exod. xl. 34. 270. Here Adam interpos'd.] These interpositions of Adam have a very good effect, for otherwise the continued narration of the Angel would appear too long and tedious. 274. Mine eyes true opening,] For that was a false promise which the serpent had made. Gen. iii. 5. "Your eyes shall be open'd, &c." 277. His day,] An allusion to that of our Saviour, John viii. 56. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. 307. And therefore shall not Moses, &c.] Moses died in mount Nebo, in the land of Moab, from whence he had the prospect of the promised land, but not the honour of leading the Israelites in to possess it, which was reserved for Joshua. Deut. xxxiv. 311. His name and office bearing,] Joshua was in many things a type of Jesus; and the names are the same, Joshua according to the Hebrew, and Jesus in Greek. The Seventy always render Joshua by Jesus, and there are two passages in the New Testament where Jesus is used for Joshua, once by St. Stephen, Acts vii. 45. The tabernacle which our fathers brought in with Jesus,that is with Joshua, into the possession of the Gentiles;" and again by St Paul, Heb. iv. 8. "If Jesus, that is if Joshua, had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day." And the name Joshua or Jesus signifies a Saviour. 355-their strife pollution brings Upon the temple itself: &c.] For it was chiefly through the contests between Jason and Menelaus, high priest of the Jews, that the temple was polluted by Antiocus Epephanes. See 2 Maccabees. v. and Prideaux. At last they seize the sceptre, Aristobolus, eldest son of Hyrcanus, high priest of the Jews, was the first who assumed the title of king after the Babylonish captivity; before Christ 107. And regard not David's sons, none of that family having had the government since Zerubbabel. Then lose it to a stranger, to Herod who was an Idumean, in whose reign Christ was born. See Josephus and Prideaux. -and bounds bis reign 370.With earth's wide bounds, bis glory with the Heav'ns.] Imperium oceano, famam qui terminet astris. Virg. Æn. i. 287. 394. In thee and in thy seed:] 1 John iii. 8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil." 400. And due to theirs which out of thine will grow:] Punishment is due to men's actual transgressions, though the original depravity, the transgression of Adam, was the root of them. Richardson. 413. A shameful and accurs'd,] “For it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Gal. iii. 13; Deut. xxi. 23. |